Friday, March 1, 2013

Update at the Clouse House!

So it's been a loooong time since I've posted, but wanted to catch you all up on what's going on at the Clouse house!

The boys are growing...kind of :) They are now 16 months old and running all over the place. They love to run around the circle in our house and think that being chased is really fun! They just got their 2nd haircuts this week, it seems like their hair must grow as fast as mine does!



Luke -before and after 


Logan -before and after 

In addition to new haircuts, they have been growing and developing a ton lately! They don't talk too much yet (just mama, dada, and No), they can totally understand many of the things we say and if we ask them to do something. They know to sit down and grab their shoes when we ask, they definitely know that a "dog" and Eddie are the same thing, and they are working on being able to point out their facial features, including their tongues, noses and heads. They love to smile and laugh and really can have fun together. I sat them in a laundry basket the other day and I showed them they can shake each others' hands, give each other high 5 and then Logan gave Luke a big hug. It definitely warmed my heart, and they thought it was pretty cool too! 

There are also a few difficult things we have gone through over the past few months. In January both boys got a respiratory illness (the Doctor said it was likely a form of RSV), so the boys and I spent a week indoors together and it was definitely a little rough as they both felt rotten. We also finally took away all their day-time bottles of milk. They are so stubborn though! They know how to drink out of sippy cups and have been drinking water out of them for months, however the minute they know you put milk in a sippy cup they throw it across the room. So, we just do milk at night (in bottles) and then they get water during the day. We also supplement with lots of yogurt and cheese, which they love. Also a sidenote, since they don't drink much milk anymore, we have noticed they eat like little monsters!! They are always hungry and love food! They eat all tablefood and stuff that we eat now (done with babyfood), and so it's always a challenge to find lots of healthy options for them, but they do like a lot of fruit and "healthier" foods, so that's a good step in the right direction. One other bad issue that has arisen is biting and hitting. When they get frustrated or mad, like if they are fighting over a toy, or a spot by the window to look out the house, they tend to bite or hit. Luke is more of the biter and poor little Logan has gotten several big bites and bruises from his brother. Logan likes to hit more, although he will still bite, especially when he's frustrated. 

Overall, my little boys are growing up and I can't believe how much they grow, develop, etc every day! I am really enjoying spending more time with them, I absolutely believe my decision to quit my full-time job and spend time with them has been the right one! I am currently teaching an MBA-level accounting class at Strayer University which has been fun and a challenge. I also work part-time for an accounting consulting firm, Kaiser Consulting. Once my class is over in a few weeks, I'll be just focusing on the consulting job for the time being and spending as much time with my little guys as possible. (also I try to get out to work-out in several times a week, which has been great!). Tim has been very busy with work, as always,and will be working in Tiffin quite a bit over the next few months. We are working on a solution for his long-distance work arrangement, but I'll post about that later! Here are a few more pictures of the boys, enjoy!!

 Logan Play Date picture for Valentine's Day
 Both boys!
 Luke at the playdate for Valentine's Day
 We think each other are pretty funny
 Love to hang out in the clothes baskety
 Picture of Mommy and the boys
 Cutie Luke playing on the Ipad
 Not sure what happened in this picture, but LOVE Logan's facial expression
 One of Luke's favorite pastimes, ripping up paper (and later trying to eat it!)
 Luke's cute smoldering look
 My attempt at getting both in a picture while we played outside

Logan hanging out with Daddy and his truck :)

Thursday, January 3, 2013

New post coming soon.... :)

I clicked on my blog and the first picture I see is my big pregnant belly. So it looks like it's time to get another post up there pronto! I'll be posting soon, hopefully within the week! Until then, here's a much better picture to leave you with!


Thursday, November 15, 2012

Luke & Logan turned 1!

I can’t believe my little itty bitty boys turned on year old on October 21st! It is amazing to me that a whole year has passed! They were such little guys when they were born, and my how they have developed since then! They are so active and busy these days, it’s hard to remember how things were a year ago! Here are a few pictures of way when last October/November 2011:

About 2 hours before I gave birth..yikes!


Luke - 1 Day old

Luke Eating!

Daddy and Luke time - kangarooing

Logan - my little trooper!

1st picture together - 1 week old

Logan eating in full Buckeye Spirit!

Going Home from the Hospital - we are very little, but very ready to get out of this place!

First stretch once we got home!

All bundled up

Hanging out with Mommy

My little pint-sized monsters

Loving each other

Very proud papa



We also had a very fun 1st birthday party for the boys. We had close family share in their big day! We went with a sesame street theme and the cupcakes turned out great! I would like to thank Tim, my mom, my sisters and everyone else that helped make the decorations and the food for their big day. They ended up having a lot fun playing with their cousins and the balloons we had. They didn’t tear into their cakes too much, but Luke is definitely more of the sweet tooth out of the two! Overall it was a great first birthday and I’m sure it will be hard to top next year!
Birthday festivities - blowing out candles, eating cake, opening presents and of course very tired and relaxing on their new couch at the end of the day!

The boys had a lot of fun with their cousins and all the balloons and toys!

We LOVE our family - Thank you for everything!!

All the fun Sesame Street Decorations (and the smash cakes - can you see the hand print in the chocolate one?)




Changing my mind and balancing my priorities!

I usually post about our family and the boys, but thought I would take a quick break and let you know about a big change coming into our lives.

You would think by now I would have made up my mind, but it’s amazing what having two little boys can do to your life!  At this point I definitely want to spend more time with Luke & Logan and really enjoy them while they are growing up! Thus, I have recently left my full-time job at Cardinal Health to spend more time with the boys! It was a tough decision as I loved working there and had built some very good relationships while there, but in the end spending more time with my family was more important to me. A motto I have been thinking about lately is “you work to live, not live to work”.  I have thought a lot lately about what we live for and what is important in life and in the end my boys, my family, (and my sanity J) were more important than staying on some imaginary career path that I had made for myself. It’s amazing how your priorities shift throughout your life.

So now I’m just rolling with the punches and trying to figure out the right balance. I plan to still work on a part-time basis as I do have my CPA and Masters degree and don’t want to completely forget about all the hard work I’ve put into things so far, so we’ll see how things go. There are a few things that I have in the works right now, so I think I’m on the right track. All I know at this point, is that this is definitely the right decision for me and our family right now. I’m sure there will be a lot of big things to come and I’ll try to keep you all posted as they arise!

A few boring pictures from my last of work J

I had a really nice corner "cube" with a huge window!

Look at all that paper - cleaning house for the next guy!

Of course my screensaver has pictures of the boys on it :)

Packing just a few bags

Thursday, November 1, 2012

The kinds of "toys" we like

Luke & Logan - while enjoy playing with the toys we buy them, really enjoy playing with "non-toys". This can be a variety of things such as bottles, bottle caps, empty gallon jugs, empty boxes, balloons, remote controls, etc, etc. Here are some pics of the boys loving their non-traditional toys :)

Empty Gallon Jug

Balloons!

Crawling around with clothing in our mouth

Tissue boxes

Vacuum Cleaner  - we LOVE this!

climbing in our high chair seats - we also love to do this with our car seats

Love boxes!

TECHNOLOGY - can't get enough of ipads, cell phones, etc

Good old remote controls, fan favorite

clothes bin

newspaper adds
Luke loves to climb in things! (cute little face he does for us!)

Sunglasses (Logan's cheese face :))