More Than Enough

Happy late St. Patrick's Day! We celebrated by making green muffins, my sister celebrated by flying to Ireland. But who's comparing? Apart from dropping too many zeros on fixing our truck this week, we feel like pretty lucky people overall. It's been a while since I felt my T-Swift experience kind of lucky, but being a mom is its own kind of lucky every day. This week my friend's mom released a song that I had fun helping with a little bit. I think it's such a great reminder that every single one of us makes a difference to the children in our life just by loving them and being who we are. We are all in each other's life for a reason. Here's the video:

"More Than Enough"

Michael:

worked a lot this week, then took a test for work this weekend. He also works a lot in our garden and makes our backyard a fun extension of our home. I love how much he loves it, and Westin's favorite things to do are cook in the kitchen with Mom or help in the yard with Dad. He's loving all the fresh oranges growing by our house and is intent on getting a juicer now. Send any recommendations. Also, he is putting together a good supply of sticks next to our woodpile for starting fires, and our neighborhood hawk is now hanging out in our backyard pretty often with Michael. We're not sure if he's eyeing our sticks or our cat, so... there's that.

Maddie:

had a long week. But a week ago a package arrived in the mail from an anonymous friend that has meant so much to us. It was full of labeled things to help when we were feeling down, or feeling bored, or needing a distraction, etc. and I cannot tell you how much it has brightened up these long days for my boys and for me. I have been so grateful for that kind act of service! I never want to forget how meaningful other's acts of service feel at this stage of my life; I want to keep an eye out for young moms for years to come and just help in little ways. Like being nice to them on plane rides and helping to entertain their kids. Plane rides in the little kid stage are no joke. I also loved going to High classes this week, and I know I always say that, but I seriously love them. It's the first time I've loved exercising again since being on dance team in high school. Also, I cleaned my blinds this week and I don't know if I've ever felt like more of an adult. 

Westin:

is a helper through and through. It's his favorite thing to do right now. "Oh, I'll help you!" "Helping mommy!" "Westin do that!" His help can be both helpful and sometimes hindering but he's such a sweetie that either type is appreciated. He has also finally gotten the phrases "Thank you mama" and "You're welcome" down extremely well and is saying them ALL the time. It's kind of hilarious. Every little thing I do for him right now comes with a thank you, and if I forget to say you're welcome every time then he just throws in a "You're welcome, Westy" himself for good measure. He's so much fun right now. We made this delicious recipe for dinner (again) and he put every single thing in the blender for the sauce and had so much fun doing it. 

Bennett:

is a sleeper! Life change over here. He eats twice a night but a couple nights this week he even ate just once around 3:00 a.m. and it felt magical. My favorite part of Bennett's day is going in to get him from his naps and he does a little wiggly dance because he's so happy to see you. It's adorable and such contagious happiness. He's almost sitting up by himself, always spitting up by himself. I love him and his baby ways but I won't lie about being really excited for the days that he's done making a mess of both our outfits multiple times a day. I love watching him laugh so much.

No dandelion is safe in our yard.

He takes a nap the same time as Westin does, wakes up for the middle of it, then starts another nap before Westin wakes up. That one-on-one time between is a good time around here.

Cooking with mom, favorite spot.

Leprechaun muffins! No footprints. No presents. Just spinach in muffins over here, but we'll count it.

From Instagram:

Five months for Bennett! (Last week, as always.) He's getting chubbier each day. Loves, loves his brother. Eats at midnight and 4am now that he's in his own room and I could handle that schedule forever -- such an improvement over here. So ticklish, happy, sweet, and smiley. I love getting to know my babies. #bennettdae

From Instagram:

These brothers always stop me in my tracks when they love on each other. Bennett is forever a willing participant, Westin is coming around more each day. He refers to the Bumbo as "baby's rainbow" and likes to "get baby Benny laughin'" when he's sitting up in it. Also, we just had our first only-one-feeding night and so you know what that means -- a trip is coming up! I swear I always have plans lined up once my babies figure out sleeping and then we backtrack. But it's cool. They're cool. #westindae #bennettdae#daetwylerfamily

Lately I am slow to let this cat hang out on my lap, a direct result of ALWAYS BEING TOUCHED by my children.
So, this happens anytime Michael parks it on a couch for more than 3 seconds.

He loves to leave his shirt on his head like this when changing clothes; he barks like a dog and says "Westin puppy!" while he runs around like a puppy. Then he says "No Toby!" very forcefully, which may or may not be the name of our incredibly annoying neighbor dog.

I found him like this. Just snacking on a string cheese, contemplating life.

Sweetheart.

Finally filled the last empty wall in Westin's room with letters and numbers. He loves letters but numbers are still a little confusing to him. He tries to say that 2's are S's, 3's are E's, etc. 

He hast started giving Bennett turns with his toys. These turns last for about 3 seconds before, "No, now Westin's turn!" but this is a start. We'll take it. And Bennett doesn't seem too disappointed.

He loves daddy's cowboy hat and wants us to both put it on often.