Trying to burn the place down and other Misc. stuff

So last weekend I tried to burn the house down. Well not really so much tried as accidentally started a grease fire on the stove, but it sounds so much more dramatic the other way. Mom and Dad were down for my birthday (29 again) and I was making them a very yummy lunch from the blog Our Best Bites. I was frying up the little tortilla strips to top it with and on my 3rd little batch, whoosh. Commence freaking out, lid, salt, fire extinguisher, it goes out. Starts again, fire extinguisher, starts again!, fire extinguisher. It stays out, I send the guys outside with it. Melted wires, charred stove. Buh bye! So I got a new stove, and since the microwave has been falling apart piece by piece and would be the last white appliance, got one of those too. Managed without a stove for Sunday and Monday morning, nice guys from Sears come and take away the old one that by the way was sitting on my front snowbank (giggle) and install nice new one! Flat top (I know, I am the last person on the plant who had an old style electric stove with the rings), sensor probe for meat, convection bake. Ahhhh I love it! Got the microwave installed today, Jamie and I managed it ourselves. What a pain in the tukus! But now it looks so nice, they all match (black and stainless) and nothing is currently falling apart. When the new washer and dryer come we will have replaced all the appliances in the house. Sad that they didn't last longer than 10 years, but they were the cheap builder grade ones. I know that now something else will fail. Dishwasher again? Furnace? Water softener or A/C? They are the only things left to replace at this point.

Grandma is turning 90! next week. Big party at mom's. I am bringing chicken alfredo, I hope it turns out. What do you buy for a wonderful Grandma who is turning 90!?

Joseph is getting over his third ear infection since October. Sigh. Poor guy.
I had to create my own diaper rash cream for his poor raw bum from the antibiotics. Recipe for future reference:
Malox liquid antacid (about 1/4 of the bottle)
1/2 tube each: anti fungal, hydorcortizone and A&D.
Mix well. I used the Target brand of all of this. It worked better than anything else. I will be making this again when we have bad diaper rash around here.

Happy New Year! 2010

So how do you say 2010. I am partial to twenty ten, my husband and mother, two thousand ten. I wonder which way of saying it will prevail by the end of the year? I am sure a lot of it will depend on the media. I was researching it a bit, and found that back in 1901-1909 they said nineteen aught one, ect... I thought that was interesting.

We start the new year with a house full of sickies. Jamie has a mild tummy bug and headache, I have been battling a migraine all day, and this afternoon Christopher has started vomiting.

I always like to look back on the past year at this time, see where we have been, how much has changed. This time last year Joseph was just entering the toddler stage at just over one. Now he is thoroughly entrenched in the toddler years and changes every day. He is trying not to be my baby anymore. Although I am not ready for him to move on to that, he does it anyways. This is Christopher's last school year before he starts Kindergarten. I have debated if he will be too young to go next year, but Jamie really feels he is ready. Sigh, another baby growing up way to fast for me.

This year we finally broke down and bought a commercial grade carpet cleaner, as the daycare has been doing a real number on the light carpet upstairs. It is nice to be able to spot clean when needed. We also bought a new front loading washer and dryer. They will be delivered in February. It will be so nice to have a dryer that actually dries clothes in a reasonable amount of time. My current one is 10 years old and for the past 5 years has not been working properly. It takes a minimum of one 75 minute cycle to dry a small load, up to 2 complete cycles to dry jeans or towels. Makes laundry take so much longer. The new ones will hold twice as much and be done faster. I am so excited, how sad is that? I can get excited about new appliances!

Jamie's business continues to be successful, it has its ups and downs like all businesses do, but I am very proud of him for weathering out this recession with a relatively new business.

Starting next week I will be very, very busy with daycare. I will have 3 babies under 1 on two mornings a week, and 2 babies every day. I had to get a variance from licensing for this, but they are all existing families, that I love, and have all been with me for years. One of them is the third child I have cared for from the same family and another is the sibling of my very first daycare family. The two littlest ones are only 2 weeks apart, both born in September. Between these babies and some families talking about having another child, I may not be able to take on another infant from an outside family for several years or longer. They are keeping me in business that is for sure.


New Years Resolutions:
I am actually starting this year weighing less than I started last year at, so I am going to work on continuing that trend. End every year weighing less until I can get back down to pre baby weight. (I wonder how old my children can be and still get away with calling it baby weight? I am going with 18 years or so)

My other resolution this year is to take my house back from the clutter. Especially the paperwork and outgrown clothes. I want to get one of the bedrooms in the basement turned completely into an office for Jamie and I . The boys are outgrowing clothes so fast I can't keep up. I just need a better system for handling them instead of waiting until there is a huge pile. I want the file cabinet out of our bedroom as well!

Have a great New Year!

My news interview.

And now for the quick summary....

So since I am the slacker blogger let's do a condensed version of the past month.

Christopher is not going to preschool this year, just got the registration check back in the mail this week, so even though he was the first one on the waiting list, he didn't get in. :( So it is all on me to make sure he is ready for Kindergarten next fall.
Christopher has started reading some of the Bob Books. Yeah! He can do the first 3 right now and we continue to work on them ever week. His attention span is a bit short. ;)

Joseph is a monkey! He has climbed anything and everything, even things you would never dream he could climb. Crib, pack n play, tables, counters, beds, walls (well ok maybe not really, I think it was me climbing the walls.....)
Currently teething, working the bottom two molars right now. Poor guy is having a really hard time of them.

Daycare is getting crazy with all the new babies. Bella has a baby sister, Cordelia and Pryia/Caiden have a baby sister, Ruby. Both in two weeks. So come January I will have 3! babies under 1! Yikes. And I think it is crazy now? I can only imagine then! But I will get my fill of baby cuddles, so all is good.

Homemade Laundry Soap

So after much research online this is the recipe for homemade laundry soap I decided to use:
4 cups baking soda (Yes I decided on this versus washing soda, mostly for the gentleness)
4 cups borax
2 - 7 oz bars of Zote, grated and then finely chopped in the food processor. (This time I had grated and chopped it ahead of time and gave it time in a big bowl to dry up some, mostly because I didn't have washing soda and couldn't decide if I should try baking soda or not)

Combine all ingredients and then run through food processor one more time to break the soap down even further. I slowly drizzled in some Buttermilk Baby Bee fragrance oil as I did this final mixing for scent.

First load running now.


Editing 1/1/09
Added oxyclean to the above recipe, awesome results. (About 1/3 of a 24 oz container) This soap cleans so much better than anything else I have used.
I am now just making my next 1/2 batch of this soap, it lasts a long time.

Christopher and my only daycare kiddo today!

Henry was my only daycare kiddo today, it was super cold so all the others stayed home. So the two of them got to watch Bob the Builder in my room. Special treat just for them. Henry had to be just like Christopher and have his arms up and behind his head. So funny!

Not quite a picture a day......

So I have heard that lots of blogs are doing a picture a day, I think I will try for a picture a week, but may get more (or less)

So here is yesterdays:(His big brother comes to me and says: Joseph got into some chocolate mommy! "How did he get it?" I gave it to him mommy!)


And today's: (PJ day for daycare today!)

Preschool

So our first choice for preschool for Christopher has fallen through. He is the first on the waiting list for St. Pius preschool for next year. But with the small class size I am not holding my breath. We were lucky in that a good friend and daycare mom (and dad) were going to do the transportation for us as their daughter will be going there and so they could do the driving. Now I am back at square one. Kids on the go is a transportation service here in town, but they are really expensive ($17 one way!) and would cost more than twice the cost of preschool just for transportation. Not something that is anywhere possible in the budget. I may call the cab companies they may be cheaper, but I don't know if they transport children. So I am on the search for a preschool program that has transportation or another family willing to pick up and drop my child off. I have not had any luck. Sigh.

Pictures

Cloth Diapers- RAVE!!

I have been on and off the cloth diaper wagon for years now. First with Christopher and now with Joseph. I have tried more types and brands than I can recall. And I have finally found the perfect cloth diaper! Blue Penguin makes a couple of All in Ones (AIO) that I adore. They are as easy as disposables. No pins. No covers. No folding. No stuffing. No stripping (that happens with the ones that are not all cotton- they get stinky and you have to go thru this big process to strip the stink away- ugh!)
These things are like heaven. They are so soft and wonderfully absorbent. Joseph has yet to leak through one. I have all three kinds they make, a couple are used and I bought them from diaperswappers, but the majority are new from the company. They customer service is fabulous! They write a handwritten note on each order and have enclosed little thank you gifts, like a doubler (for more absorbancy at night) and some cloth wipes (which work really great if I need to use some diaper cream, lay them in and no worries about it staining/wrecking the diaper).

Joseph's First Birthday Party

Cake with help!




















Eatin' good stuff!














Can we help you with the cake?















All 6 of the little ones!
Joseph, Christopher, Mark, Timmy, Thor, Lorelei.








Eating Cake Video!

We bought furniture!!!

We bought furniture! Now this is a big deal for us. We have been living with hand me down couches for almost our entire relationship. At one point we did buy an incredibly cheap set of living room furniture that didn't last- at all! So we have a couch from his brother another from his parents, two recliners that we bought for our Christmas presents to one another the year before we had Christoper. We have two gliders that were each well under $100 one of which is falling apart already. None of this furniture matches, it is a major hodgepodge of clutter/old/icky stuff. So after many discussions about it, we decided to go and "just look" again. Well we fell in love with a couch at the new Hom Furniture store here, and after going multiple places and sitting on umteen million couches, we decided to buy it. Can I just say I LOVE IT! It is the most buttery feeling deep dark brown leather with contrast stitching that adds interest. The arms are perfect for laying on without another pillow, a big concern of mine. I go for comfort first and looks second when it comes to couches. We found two recliners (buy one get one FREE!) that go beautifully with it and so the entire living room will be changed tonight! Jamie and the neighbor guys will go pick it up and I will get to enjoy it!!

Bye bye threadbare couch, hello matching set for my living room! I don't think it is normal to be this excited about furniture, but I can't help myself.

Paperwork sucks!

Why is it that paperwork seems to take over so much of my life? Between the two businesses I really cannot get on top of it. I spent several hours at the accountants this week learning the accounting program. I got all the Snap On stuff organized through June. Now I just have to enter it. Oh yeah and all the daycare reciepts/mileage/time-space calculations/ payments..... Ok now I am really feeling lost. I do most of this while Jamie is at work, during nap time mostly or after the daycare kids leave (you know when I am supposed to be cleaning up, starting supper, running errands and taking care of two very active little boys. )
No wonder I run screaming to the computer and surf or play packrat. All that is overwelming. I will be shipping off a bunch of the daycare reciepts to my sister, and if I am lucky will be able to get Jamie's sister ot niece to enter some of the quick books stuff. At least they know what they are doing with Quick Books, me, not so much.

I consider it a sucess when I can see the top of my desk (or just open its roll top and NOT have something fall out at me) and we have only one basket of papers waiting to be filed. I swear I get caught up and the papers start breeding like rabbits. I walk back in the room and it is everywhere, AGAIN. *bangs head on wall and walks away*

Mid August now what?

So what's been going on around this place lately? Well, first of all I had to find another cleaning lady. To me this is devastating as we have had the same lady for the past 3 years. Well life has gotten busier for her, she is going back to school and working full time so having time for her part time job cleaning here has gotten to be too much for her. So while we will miss our Michelle we had to interview several new cleaners and have chosen one to start next week. Having a cleaning lady is one of my absolute essentials for running my daycare. I spend way to much time cleaning already. Knowing it has been deep cleaned once a week makes the clutter and toys so much more bearable.

Alexis and boys were here yesterday and today. They brought sweet corn and we put up several dozen ears for the freezer for the winter. Timmy got to play with Christopher and Mark got to beat up/crawl on Joseph. Poor boy needs to grow up quickly to keep up with his cousins attempt at playing. :)

Last night Lexi and I took the boys and went out for Chipoltle. Yum! We all left the house in clean (enough) clothes. By the time we were done, I was mortified by how dirty I was, all thanks to Joseph. And of course, we had to go to Target after as we were out of milk. Joseph looked like I hadn't changed his clothes in days. And that was his 3rd outfit for the day! Why do I have such messy eaters? No wonder my laundry is NEVER done!

Summer

I cannot believe how fast this summer has gone. It is sad to think that in less than 3 months (yes that is terribly optimistic) we will have snow on the ground again. Ughhhh I love MN in the summer, spring and fall but I could live without going thru another MN winter. Especially with a house full of daycare kiddos and nowhere to go.
Well now that I am completely depressed..... :)

Last week I spent at Mom and Dad's with the boys. Jamie worked but I needed to get away from the house for awhile, so to Amma and Bap Bap's we went. We started out at the family reunion in South Dakota, Jamie was able to come with us. Our family reunions are an annual event and they can be huge! (100 people?) But this year was a smaller group as many families had other obligations, babies on the way, plans ect.... So we had around 35 people I believe. It was nice to visit and let the kids run crazy. Christopher was in 7th heaven being outside all day and night! Sleeping in the tent was a big adventure for him. One night his cousin Lorelei had to come over and have a sleep over in our tent. Bap Bap and Daddy did the annual fireworks show on Saturday night, lots of cards and Scrabble were played by many. Large amounts of food was prepared and immediately devoured. The night before we arrived there was a huge storm that blew thru Millbank, taking out several trees, large and small. Several were incredibly close calls as they barely missed landing on tents. Thank goodness no one was hurt. What could have been is scary to contemplate.

So after the reunion Jamie dropped us off at Amma's and went home all by himself. So what did we do with ourselves? Went to Como Park with all three 3 year olds. Went rug shopping for Amma's living room and found a very nice one. Tried to sleep in (but was woken at an unholy hour every single morning). Went out for lunch like the big people do, unfortunately the boys didn't get the memo on good "out to lunch" behavior. Played in the little pool, watered everything in sight, learned to pedal a bike, started pulling up to a stand, played and played and played. Dragged out every toy and brought a good portion of them out to the pool. Took a bath in the big tub (boys not me :( )

And then on our way back home we went to Auntie Julie's for a grill out/picnic/family get together. The boys got to see some of their cousins and Auntie Debbie. Christopher loved the pool, especially the raft in the pool. I got to play 500 for the first time in along time and now I really would love to play again soon. Although it would be nice to play with the same partner instead of the rotating partners that I ended up with. But I will take it anyway I can get it. Especially with someone else watching the boys. It was a nice change of pace and we still had a day at home to get some things done before I was back to work.

With school starting soon there are some big changes in my daycare group, several going to K, new ones joining, schedules changing, teachers kids coming back. So the days of small daycare groups are coming to an end, yesterday I had 10.

I had visitors!

Mom and Lorelei came for a visit this week. What a great time that was. Lorelei is my only niece on my side and is the oldest of all the cousins. She is 3. Everytime I talk to her on the phone she asks when she can come to my house. So Amma made it happen, she brought her all the way here. (2 hour drive) They came on Tuesday morning and left after lunch today, Thursday. Lorelei got to play in the sprinkler, go to the park, play in the backyard playset, sleep in Christopher's room(!), and spend lots of time with Auntie.

So fun, but when it was time to leave, she wouldn't give hugs good bye because that would mean she was accepting that she had to go home. Christopher insisted on keeping her bed in his room "just in case", he had tears in his eyes when they left as well. I love the bond they have with each other.

It was great having company in Mom for a few days as well. Most of my daycare kiddos are on vacation so the groups were very small and I had another adult to talk with during the day. I think that is one of the biggest things I miss about teaching. Other adults. Thank goodness I have my online friends to chat with in my journal and on the message boards. I think they keep me sane many a day when I haven't heard a voice belonging to someone over the age of 4 all day.

Mom brought a very thought provoking book along and now I am trying a whole new approach to losing this baby weight I am carrying around. Here is a video with the author




Basically it is high fats, no refined carbs, lower whole carbs, high protein. So far so good, I have lost 3.5 pounds in just a couple of days. Fingers crossed that this is the plan for me to actually have success with.

Summer Vacation

We are back!!! We just spent the week at a cabin, up north, on a lake, with my parents and our boys. It was wonderful. We fished, relaxed, ate, relaxed, slept, ate, boated, fished, ate....

It was, of course, not long enough, but when is a vacation ever long enough? I really think another 2 or 3 days would have been perfect. It just takes us that long to settle into vacation mode and start to really enjoy it.

We were on Long Lake, just outside of Park Rapids. Far enough removed to feel nice and isolated yet close enough to run to town to get groceries, go out to eat, do a little shopping- you know just the essentials.

Joseph let for vacation weighing in at 16lbs 2 oz, came back at 16lbs 9 oz and is 16lbs 13 oz today. Little boy has really started gaining the weight. It is about time too. He weighed 14lbs 4 oz at his 6 mo check up and is coming up quickly on 3 pounds in 2 months! He left for vacation eating solids once a day, and came back eating 3 or 4 times a day. You cannot feed it to him fast enough. Growth spurt!!! He is sleeping in his crib for naps now as well. Amma taught him how to do that on vacation as well. I had been working on it with him but it just wasn't going well, and I just won't do crying to sleep, so slow going it was. But this week he has napped in the crib every day. In fact he is sleeping in it right now! Yeah Amma!!!

Christopher caught his first fish on vacation. Reeled it in and everything. Mommy held the pole he did everything else. It was a sunfish and it was actually big enough to keep. Way to go big boy! He is also making progress on the potty training, again thanks to Amma. We just need her to come move in here and teach the boys stuff.

Oh yeah she taught Joseph how to sit as well on vacation, and he is loving his new perspective on the world these days. That Amma! Teach my boys how to be big.

I caught a couple bigger large mouth bass myself on vacation. Yep I like to fish. And yes I can bait my own hook, take the fish off and tie my own line thankyouverymuch. (Granted I take the fish off with my fishing shirt- long sleeve shirt that I pull the sleeves over my hands when needed, don't actually need to touch a leech to bait it- have my own unique way involving a small bait net/cooler top that works for me. But still........)

Jamie got all the "stuff" installed on his boat. We have a Larson, which is more designed for fun/skiing/tubing, but he is making it a makeshift fishing boat as well. Which is fine by me as it is wayyyyy more comfortable than any fishing boat I have ever been on. So he got his high tech fish finder/GPS and a rear mount trolling motor. (No ugly front mount one that you can see for my pretty boat- nope, no way, not gonna happen) Oh, and the seat lifts so they don't sit so low. Maybe he is done now. Nahhhhhh I am sure there must be something else absolutely essential that I will start hearing about shortly. Isn't there always? ;)

What a nice surprise!

So last night I was sitting in the couch waiting for my cleaning lady to come, dreading trying to keep the boys out of her way and get supper made, when my friend Molly calls. We taught toghether for years and both had kids at the same time, but just don't get much time to get together anymore. She invited us over to go to the park and I jumped at the chance. So off we went, BK for supper it was. (yeah nutrition choices could have been better there, but whatever;) It was so nice to visit with her. And see little Will who is 3 1/2 months. Soooooo cute. She is super mom, 3 kids all under 3, the oldest will turn 3 in August. Yikes! Just thinking about getting all 3 out the door in the morning makes me cringe. Christopher had a blast and is still talking about the dog (poor Jane and Maggie get forgotten about for the dog).

Then I come home to a clean house and life is good.

Buses and Trucks and Diggers Oh My!

Saturday morning was every little boys dream. All the trucks, fire engines, race cars, city and school buses and ambulances you can imagine, all in one place and all for them to climb in, sit in the drivers seat, honk the horn and explore all around them. It was the annual Transportation fair put on by our local PAIR group. Christopher was none to fond of all the loud horns, but otherwise loved it.

Now that spring has finally arrived, Christopher is impossible to keep inside. He has escaped out the front door twice this weekend. Little boy, little boy, you have to wait for us. Luckily the backyard is fenced and keeps him contained somewhat.

Knock knock jokes are all the rage around the house these days. Actually telling them as a joke however, is still a challenge. The jokes go like this: Knock, knock. Who's there? *insert random object from the house* Sigh. They will get it eventually. Daddy has been trying to teach him a couple real jokes.

Joseph is loving his solids. He gets mad if you are not shoveling it in fast enough. We started with avocado, which he promptly hated, and still doesn't like. Too bad to as that is the one I really wanted to stick with for a while with him as it is high calorie and full of good fats. He loves sweet potatoes and pears however. Cereal, he can take it or leave it.

Campfire

Sitting by a campfire last night was so peaceful. I had all my boys, nice weather, and a calming fire to watch. Christopher was so excited to make "mushmellows", and the way he was grabbing the bag they were on there way to becoming mush. Joseph nursed outside and then fell asleep in Daddy's arms. Christopher ran around finding anything and everything to throw into the fire. I think we have a pyro on our hands. Daddy said he played with fire when he was little too. (Note to self, lock cupboard with matches, even though it is on top of the fridge.) Jamie dug the pit in the garden to make our temporary firepit. Now the ashes will be tilled into the garden and add nutrients to the soil.

For Mother's day the boys bought me flowers and plants. Tomatoes and peppers for the garden, tons of fun flowers for the front pots. Wave petunia's and geraniums are my main flowers for this year, with lots of fun fillers. I can't wait to get them all planted.

Christopher went to his first dentist appt this morning with daddy. No cavities, thank goodness. He brought home a toothbrush for his baby brother as well as himself. Daddy asked the dentist about the nuky's, hoping for a little push for Christopher to be willing to give them up, no such luck. Which is irritating as he had asked the dentist to say something about needing to get rid of them now.

Socks

Yep socks. I am going to blog about socks? Really? I guess it is more of a rant than a blog, but whatever.
I have been trying to buy socks for Christopher. No problem right? Wrong. I want white socks, some ankle some crew. Except he is 2, and all the socks labled 2T-4T are too snug. So I venture into the little boys section,pick up some packs of Fruit of the Loom, package says they fit shoe size 9-1, he's in a 9 now, they should be fine. Nope, they are HUGE, I can easily wear them and I am an 8 in adults! Plus they feel horrible- thin and itchy. Ick. So I start checking my favorite online stores, either very, very expensive or nothing I want. Socks should be easy to buy and for Pete's sake they should be sized accurately.

OK rant over, I feel better now.

Coupons and deals!

Added a new section to the blog. All my new favorite sites for finding the best deals on groceries and online coupons. I discovered the Grocery Game and Hot Coupons this last week. I think I am addicted :) The Grocery Game is a list of sales for a local grocery store, then any coupons that have been in the weekly newspapers matched up. It uses a computer program to determine how good of a sale the sale is. And tells you when to buy/stock up. It is the thrill of the find. Gotta love it!!

Cribs, snuggles and boys.

New crib for the new baby. Ahhhhhhh Christopher's crib was cheap and ended up recalled. We chose to go the route of a good one this time. So off we all trek to the Amish store, can I just say how much I love this crib! It was the one I spotted right away and fell in love with its simple lines and solid contruction. No drop sides, no moving parts and a real spring under the matress, not just the 4 rods on the old one. The wood even smells good. I love this crib. It should be the kind of crib that is safe for all of my children to use and then eventually my grandchildren when they come to visit. Classic Mission style, no gaps, no unsafe parts. Just quality, sturdy construction out of real wood.


Too bad he doesn't sleep in it much yet. But that will come, naps are starting, some nights he starts in there before coming to snuggle with mommy and have nums.

Yes we co-sleep, and love it. Pre-kids we never dreamed we would, but it is amazing how things change once you have one or more of your own. We are following our parenting instincts to guide our parenting. (Well and a little mommy push when needed :) ) Christopher still likes to snuggle with daddy to go to sleep at night. It is his special time. After thinking we needed to break him of this habit, we have come to realize that there really is no reason he cannot have daddy cuddle with him to go to sleep. It may not be the "norm", but it works for us. Christopher and daddy have such a close relationship and this just nurtures that. Christopher has his own bed and sleeps in it 80% of the time. But some nights he just needs his mommy and daddy and then he is welcome to join us. We are more and more grateful that we made the decision for a king bed! We need every inch.

Taking Turns

"Winter is not taking turns." says Christopher, gazing out the window at snowflakes in April.

"I know honey, I want spring to come too."

"Take turns!" and runs off to play.

If only it were that simple. Winter is really trying to hold on this year. We drove through a snowstorm this weekend on our quest to pick up our boat. The trees still are leafless and May is coming this week. Very weird weather.

I want to get peas in this weekend. I may need winter gloves to dig the soil, but I am going to get something in the garden and soon! The garden nursery is sending the weekly newsletters which always gets me so excited to get outside and work in dirt after a long winter of being cooped up inside. My raspberries have been trimmed, the rhubarb is up. The days of gazing at the Gurney's seed catalog is here (well, past time to order, plan from it, buy from the nursery down the road)



The boys got to see Great Grandma, Amma and Bap Bap all this weekend. They also spent 8 hours total in the car in 3 days. Poor things. But they really did wonderfully. This was the first trip with the new carseats. We broke down and splurged on Britax carseats for the boys. Joseph is in the Boulevard, which I love with the side wings. Both for the side impact protection and for the comfort while he is sleeping in the car. Christopher has such a tall torso that he outgrew by height his Alpha Omega Elite so we got him the Regent. It will keep him in a 5 point harness for many years yet. I am not ready to switch him to a booster for so many reasons.

Rainy days and My Boys

Rainy days. Grey and dreary, yet so full of hope and life. Spring has finally arrived, winter this year was brutal and so terribly long. Flowers are blooming, tree buds are breaking out, perennials are peaking out from below the brown leftovers of last year.

Joseph is still not sitting on hs own, should I be worried, I have decided not yet. He rolls, eats his precious little toes, talks to everything and everyone, he loves to stand on my lap and just talk and laugh. He has a really ticklish area along his spine, he will giggle and squirm and smile when you get him there. He is such a snuggler, he really only naps while being held, Amma has him here. He just loves to cuddle and be the center of attention, just like his brother. My little cuddlebugs. Last night daddy had them both cuddled with him, in bed, asleep. Both were snuggled up to daddy as close as they could. So sweet.

Plans are being made for the summer, cabin up north with Amma and Bap Bap, trip to Las Vegas for us all for a Snap-On Franchisee big meeting, a camping trip with the boys, some weekends on the boat. Ahhhhhh summer is my favorite season.

Rescued Blog from the bottom of the barrel!

I am rescuing the blog!

Joseph is already 5 mo's and hasn't had a mention. Poor second baby, less pictures, less info.
He is peacefully sleeping next to me.

Life has gotten busier than ever. 2 boys will do that to you I guess.

So to bring Joseph up to date:
Born November 9th, 2007 at 4:57 pm. 17 hours of labor in an attempt at a VBAC. Ended up with a c/s after all. But the recovery was so much better than the first time.
He was exactly 2 weeks early. But still weighed in a 8 lb 4 oz. 20 inches long. He developed jaundice in the early weeks, had many, many difficulties with breastfeeding but we persevered!
He is a very slow grower. He is long and skinny. Didn't get that from me, that is for sure!
He has had to have some high calorie formula supplumentation, adding extra calories to a bottle of expressed mama milk or a 4 oz bottle of high calorie formula. Not the ideal situation, but that's what it takes to get him gaining.

As ordered by Michelle!! :)

I have been instructed to get this blog up to date so here goes.

This weekend we took Christopher to see Elmo Makes Music - Sesame Street Live at the Target Center. It was really up in the air if we were going to make it or not, Christopher has been sick off and on for over a week now. But he made it and enjoyed it. He would ask "Where Mo? whenever Elmo would go off stage- he loves Elmo right now. We bought him one of the overpriced Elmo balloons at intermission and got it all the way to our second stop on the way home and then it floated right out of the car- AUGHHHH!

Christopher attended his very first non relative birthday party this month. Bella- one of our daycare kiddos, turned one and had a party- well mostly it was a play date with lunch and cake :) It was very cute to watch him play with Bella at her house for a change. I don't know if she knew what to do with us coming to her house-She has never seen Christopher outside of here before!

Christopher has entered the independent stage! He wants to do everything his way or no way. Like milk or water for example- now he wants it in a regular cup- which is fine while we are right there watching him every second- don't look away though- milk everywhere, food in the cup, ect... He will throw a temper tantrum if he doesn't get his way. Luckily they are short lived and then he will move on to something else.

He also is big on dumping everything out. That is his favorite part of playing, dumping out the toys. He would dump every toy out in the house if we would let him- he just thinks that is big fun!

Ok that's all the time I have for now!

Christopher's first visit with Santa

Well last night Christopher had his first visit with Santa. I really wondered how he would be, would be be scared of this bearded stranger? Would he cry? Would he refuse to sit on his lap? Nope none of the above. When we got in line and pointed Santa out to him he pointed to him and said Santa- and then was more interested in the floweres and trees that were decorating the area. As we waited he would look over in Santa's direction and say Santa. He was very anxious to get in the door when it was our turn. When it was time to actually get into Santa's lap he was just a little timid, but with just a little coaxing by daddy he went right into his lap. He posed for two pictures and then sat and "talked" to santa for a minute when he was done. As I was paying for the picture, Christopher took off with daddy in pursuit, where did he head? Right back to the end of the line again- he wanted to do it again, and he knew where he had to go. :)

Where does the time go?

Wow it is already the week of Thanksgiving. Wasn't Halloween just last week? (It should have been- Christopher's costume is still out in our room :) )
We will be going to Amma and Bap Bap's for Thanksgiving. Dumplings here we come!!
Last weekend Christopher and Mommy, Daddy and Grandma Ione went over to Austin and saw two of his great grandma's. We took them out for lunch and Christopher played and showed off.
Last week Christopher got a hold of an almost full box of cereal from the counter and dumped the whole thing on the little table. He then sat down and ate some of it, the rest went on the floor. I guess what he had for breakfast wasn't good enough that day. He is getting so tall- I can't believe he can reach things from the counters now. He already is a pro at opening drawers and pulling things out. Yikes!
Christopher loves the vacuum cleaner- he always wants to plug it in and make it go - so we found a little vacuum for him. It makes noise and has a hose and everything, he absolutely loves the thing! It is amazing the things kids like.

Halloween and beyond.

Christopher had so much fun on Halloween! He wasn't so sure about putting on his costume at first. But then I took him across the street to the neighbors and he got to pick a piece of candy out of her bowl (and then another and another- he would have kept going if I hadn't stopped him :) ) Then he was really into it. He already liked carrying around the halloween buckets, but now that he was getting candy in his bucket- he was in heaven. Daddy took him out to Grandma and Grandpa's , Auntie Debbie, cousin Sammy's and cousin Jeanie's then over to cousin Robbie's work and then finally out to Uncle Bob and Aunt Kelly's. He was a tired peanut that night.

This weekend Jamie had to work on Saturday so Christopher and Mommy had a lazy morning and then went out for lunch at the Chinese place we like so much. Christopher was putting the rice in his mouth faster than he could swallow it.

Yesterday we had a good time playing together in the backyard and going out for breakfast. Today it is back to the regular schedule- Christopher took a long nap this morning and went down after nap with no problem. He is a tired little guy this morning. All the activity of the weekend wore him out I guess.

Halloween is coming!

This weekend Amma and Bap Bap came to visit and they brought Lorelei with them! Christopher loved playing with all of them. It was actually nice this weekend so we took the babies out to Oxbow to see the animals. Christopher wasn't feeling the best, so he spent most of his time on daddy's sholders, but Lorelei was in animal heaven- she was so excited about all of them. The deer that came right over to her, the bear that was "shh, nigh, nigh", the water that no otters were swimming in, yet it was exciting all the same, the fox in a box. She just couldn't get enough.

We carved tons of pumpkins this weekend and Jamie got even more decorations set up on the yard. Christopher liked climbing into mommy or daddy's laps periodically just to see what we were doing. We tried to get him to help carve a pumpkin last night, but he just wasn't interested. All this and it will all be taken down on Wednesday. He really loves Halloween and gets into the decorating! Some of the pumpkins are really elaborate, wow! I have to go get lots and lots of candles tonight so that we can light them all.

The time change makes for easier mornings, not so hard to drag ourselves out of bed before the first kid arrives at the door.

Birthday countdowns- per Amma's request

I guess knowing how old the babies were wasn't enough for Amma!

Babies countdown!

Music

Christopher has become very musical lately. He will ask for the music to be turned on by pointing at the radio and "dancing". His latest dance involves lifting each foot up, and very deliberatly stomping it down while sort of swaying to the music. If you don't turn on the music when he wants it- watch out!
Daddy has made up his own Christopher song from Hippy, Hippy, Hipopantomos (sp?)
He got a set of instruments for his birthday and now we have gotten him some additional ones from Do-Re-Me and You. Of course I couldn't bear all the "music" that would be played all day by the daycare kids (most likely by beating another child over the head with the drum sticks- yikes!!), so Christopher has to wait until they all go home to play with them. He asks for them on a regular basis by pointing and uh, uh, uh until we get them down for him. (We do occasionally use them during daycare- under very, very close supervision) He is sitting on the floor right now making music for mommy.
He also loves to dance to the Lauri Berkner Music Videos. (AKA "Dance Bee's" by the daycare kids) He gets so excited when it comes on and has started to imitate the moves they use, I think the dinosaurs stomping song is where he got his moves. Although "turning around" to another song is a big fun thing for him.

Oh My!

Oh My! Timmy and Lorelei just left a little while ago and Auntie is tired! Wow- they have a lot of energy and manage to get into everything. I loved every minute of it, but I can't imagine having all three of them all the time- Yikes!
Last night we fed the babies spagetti and the mess it made- oh my, oh my. Christopher had some baby food to go with dinner and the other two had to get in on the act. First Timmy had to compete with Christopher for just about every bite he got, then Lorelei wanted some, only she really didn't want to be fed it, so Auntie / Mommy Lexi gave her the cap to lick. And did that start something, Lorelei would lick it and then bring it to me, "more" and then I would spoon a little on it, she would lick it and back for more she would be. Timmy decided he needed a cap to lick as well- so I was trying to feed Christopher from the spoon and filling up two caps that were being shoved in front of me, along with demands for "more". We went through 4 jars before I said enough!
Into the bath they all went- they were beyond filthy! Three babies in a tub! (And one wet Auntie/ Mommy H by the time they were done)
Lorelei was so funny this morning, they were eating pancakes and some of the other kids were done with theirs and getting more. Well she decided she needed more too, so she took all of her pancakes out of her dish, set them on the table, and then held it up and asked for more. She knew she had to have them all gone to get more- so she figured out a way to get rid of them.
I was amazed over and over again by what they are able to do. Timmy put a spoon in the sink when asked to, and so did Christopher. Lorelei was able to climb up the little climbing mountain on the playset, by herself and then get onto the platform and go down the slide. (Of course she did have to be extra careful because Timmy would come by moving twice as fast on his way up and down and almost knock her off!)

The babies are coming!!! The babies are coming!!!

Well both of Christopher's little cousins are coming today!!! Auntie Lexi is bringing both Timmy and Lorelei to see us! I am so excited!
Christopher went visiting this weekend when we took the boat over for the winter. First we went to Great Grandma's house where he got to explore the farm. He loved the machine shed, in particular the little broom in it. He carried that broom halfway up to the house with him. He got to play with some of the toys that I had played with there as a little girl.
After we left Great Grandma's we headed into Springfield to visit Great Grandpa and Karen. There Christopher wanted to go over to the park across the street before he even got into the house! He got to play with their dog- he got lots of kisses from that little one! And he loved every bit of it, he even took the leash and tried to "walk" the dog. He got to have a rice krispy bar and play at the school playground across the street as well, so he loved every bit of it. By the time he got back into his car seat, he was so tired! He slept most of the way home.
On Sunday we put up some of the Halloween decorations, when Christopher saw them through the window, he had to tell us all about it. Then he made daddy take him out for a closer look, although he didn't want anything to do with shaking the ghosts hand.

Well this week Christopher has been non stop exploring. He absolutely will not leave the new set of drawers I got for daycare supplies alone. Every time he is quiet, I find him tearing them apart. Today he got a hold of an ink pad and proceeded to put his hands and mouth! into it before I could get it away from him. Luckily it was washable! What a mess.
Yesterday he got a hold of my Diet Coke can when I wasn't looking and managed to get a few drinks of it before mommy caught him. He didn't even spill any- but he sure had a mustache.
I went out with a daycare mom last night and daddy and Christopher had a boys night out. Where did they go? To have spagetti and then over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to play. Christopher got a kick out of playing chase with Grandma Ione- around and around the furniture they went.
Tonight we are going to take the boat over to Great grandma Milly's house to store it for the winter in the machine shed. Tomorrow afternoon we will be going and seeing great grandpa and Karen as we will already be over in the area. Good time for Chirstopher to see them. Hopefully tonight he will sleep on the way over. Otherwise the 3 hours in the car could be a long trip!

To the Zoo

On Sunday all of us met at the zoo. We had a picnic before going thru the zoo. I don't think Amma got much to eat, as she had two of the three eating on her lap. Not that she seemed to mind.
The ducks were a big hit- as were the monkeys. But I think the polar bear swimming was the favorite of all three. Timmy kept making the fish sign as he watched the bear swim. I guess anything in the water is a fish. Lorelei was tickled pink watching the bear swim back and forth. Christopher had to go outside to get a better look at it, especially as it came out of the water each time. It was really nice that all the babies were able to get together. It is nice that they get to spend as much time together as they do.

Christopher has discovered how to hug today. He keeps going to Bella and giving her a hug. She has been pretty tolerant of him. It is so cute to see, especially as last week they were too busy pushing each other down to hug.
He has been having a pretty tough time last night and today, I don't think he feels the best, very clingy. Yesterday he wouldn't let daddy put him down for a nap- arching his back, hanging on for deal life. And then he did the same thing when it was bed time. In the middle of the night he ended up in bed with us, he was screaming, and daddy rescued him. Today he wants to be held, and wants everything, then when he gets it he forgets about it and on to something else, when I tell him no he screams. Just not like him.

Babies on the way!

Two babies are now on the way! Lorelei is going to be a big sister!!! This joins Timmy's baby sister (or brother) who is coming in April. Congratulations!!!
Amma will not know what to do with herself. Babies and toddlers everywhere, and only two arms to hold them all, whatever will she do? (Let them do whatever they want!)
If babies keep coming in groups like this Amma will soon have so many grandbabies she won't know what to do.

Visiting the Park

Christopher got to go to a new park today with mommy. We went to the big park over by Silver Lake. Christopher was in heaven! His little pointer finger was leading him everywhere, mommy could hardly keep up. Slides and ladders and stairs and steering wheels, oh my!
He was one tired little guy by the time we left to bring lunch to daddy.
When ever he goes to see daddy at work he really, really wants to go in the back shop area, the loud noises just make him hang on tighter, but he doesn't want to leave! Such a boy. He got mad when we wouldn't take him out there today.

When daddy came home this afternoon, Christopher got to go back to the park, again! Twice in one day- what a lucky little boy! It was just such a nice day, and who knows how many more we will have this year, that nasty little word- s#*w- has made it back into the forecast around Amma's house, before long we will all have it. BRRR.

Christopher is going to be a chicken for halloween this year. Originally he was going to be a skunk as mommy and daddy lovingly refer to him as their little stinkpot. But he started making chicken noises and it was just so cute that when mommy and cousin Sammy saw the chicken costume they couldn't resist. Now whenever we go to the closet to pick clothes, he tries to grab it to wear. He started making the chicken noises at the cat. Mommy would call the cat a chicken for running away and make the noise and aparently Christopher picked up on it. Now the poor child thinks that is what a cat says. Oops.

This summer

To catch up to date I thought I would write about this summer.
We got a boat this summer, and Christopher loved it! He would ask to "drive the boat" by bouncing up and down while preteding to steer and making motor noises.
We took a vacation up north with Amma and Bap Bap. We all rented a cabin on a lake and spent a week together. Lorelei and Timmy (with mommys and daddys) came up for the last weekend. Lorelei got her first ride on the boat, and the next day she was putting on the "boat jacket" and asking to go again! Timmy got to ride in it earlier in the year and as mom and dad have a boat, is old hat at the whole boat thing.
Christopher started walking at the begining of August, I was begining to wonder when he would ever walk, now he can get around so fast I can't keep up.
Christopher loves to be outside. He will go and get his shoes and try to put them on just so he can go outside. He thinks if he gets them on he must be able to go out. He loves the swing and sandbox in the backyard. It is almost imposible to get him to come in. At Amma's house he figured out how to open the door and try to let himself out! (Good thing mommy is fast!)

Weekend

This weekend was spent at Amma's and Bap Bap's. Christopher loves seeing them and his cousins. We got to see the ultrasound pictures of Timmy's little brother or sister (I predict a sister) who is coming in April. Congratulations Nathan and Lexi!!!

Christopher continues to work on potty training. He has been going consistently a few times a day. What a big boy he is getting to be. (Where did my baby go?)

Christopher made a BIG mess in the bathroom during bath tonight, daddy taught him how to splash and he has really gotten that down, yikes. Mommy ends up soaked along with the floor, walls and everything else!