Our First Morning Back at the Park!

Our First Niece!!

Penelope Rose is Here!!!

Just want to tell Matt & Amy congrats from the whole fam on the birth of their little Penny this morning, March 18th, at 6:30am. She is 8lbs 13oz and 20in long. I heard she was nice to her Mommy and only took about 5 hours of labor to make her appearance! We are all so excited to have her in the family and love her to pieces already!! Alex saw her picture and said, "She's So Cute!" Well that about sums it up!

Stuff....

Here's a clip of a typical family playtime around our house!
This is from about a month ago, so Sam has a lot more words he can say, and does say mommy more now, thankfully.

Hang Time with Daddy

Daddy is our favorite dude around here! We're all missing him today because he is on a trip with the school and left before the boys got up (I got up and saw him off at 4:45am but went back to bed directly!!) and won't be home until after they are in bed. Here's a few fun facts about daddy around here!
1. If Ryan comes home and does not acknowledge Sam's presence within the first few seconds the little guy gets really offended! He wants Daddy to come right to him and play!!
2. Both boys have started a little ritual when Ryan leaves for work of walking him to the back door and standing there waving, yelling bye, and blowing kisses until he is out of sight. It's really cute.
3. Alex rarely refers to Ryan as just "Daddy" anymore when he's not in his presence--it's "MY Daddy." Especially if he's mad at me or gets into trouble (I know shocking!) he will say, "I want my daddy!" Or he'll tell me, "I miss my daddy at work!"

The Children's Museum

This winter one of the best things that happened to us was being pointed in the direction of the small children's museum in town. And when I say small...I'm talking itty bitty. But, it is packed with stuff the kids love and has really helped us with this ginormous bout of Cabin Fever that has settled in!! The boys' fave things to do at the CM are: the Thomas Trains, of course, the little grocery store, the keyboard, the face paints (just recently Alex got brave enough to let me do his face like Bolt--or a version thereof...Sam is still opposed), the dinosaur landscape, and the puzzles/brain games they have. I purchased a membership for us last fall and we have probably gone 10+ times since then, so we definitely got our money's worth! The kids love it and you would be amazed at how fast the toys get cleaned up when I say we can go to the CM as soon as the house is tidy!! Here are some pics from one of our last outings to the CM.

Stories...

A few Alex quotes of late:
--When naming some of his dinosaurs he told me his scariest one was named "Mommy!"
--Yesterday out of the blue Alex said, "Mommy, today is I Love Mommy Day!"
--When sitting on my lap watching some Olympic figure skaters do some triple jumps on the internet Alex shrugged his shoulders and said, "I can do that at home!"
--A little while ago Alex walked into the kitchen and proclaimed, "Daddy, I'm Danger!"
--A lady at church was teasing Alex about playing in the snow with him and she asked him if she could throw him into a snow bank. He thought really hard and said, "No not today, come back tomorrow!"
--Almost every day now Alex has to put his head on my tummy to hear the baby "talking" to him. We tell him not to worry, he'll be hearing baby loud and clear soon enough--he doesn't seem to get that yet!!

Some Sam Stories:
--a while ago I could hear Sammy fussing in the livingroom, but I couldn't see him anywhere. I searched all over and was starting to get that panicky feeling in my stomach when I saw the curtains behind the couch wiggle a little. I went over there and the poor kid had wedged himself behind the couch and the wall and couldn't move. Just his little head was sticking out!
--Sam spends a lot of time playing around in his bedroom before he falls asleep at naptime. The other day I went in there and he had piled all the pillows from Alex's bed (Alex naps in our room), all the stuffed animals, and the bean bag chair in his bed. There was almost no room for him in there!
--I'm sitting in the livingroom with Alex when I hear struggling noises coming my way. I look up to see Sam carrying an entire jug of milk in to me and smiling. Guess that meant he wanted some milk??? ;-)

Kid Updates

Well, this post is an update on all the little "kidisms" around here that I should really post more often!! I think I will start with the oldest and go down the list! :-)

Alex

Well, Alex has officially hit big boy status! He is 3.5yrs old and finally completely potty trained!! Wohooooooo! And very proud of himself. He loves it that he can do it "all by myself" and it saves us time and money too! He is pretty interested in this whole "mommy has a baby in her belly" thing and likes to put his ear to my tummy and listen to baby "talking" to him! He and Sam are either the best of friends or the worst of enemies these days--but I guess that's just par for the course with brothers that are 18mo. apart! Alex has turned into a kid who is excessively polite. Seriously, people in stores, restaurants, at church always comment on how polite he is. I know this seems amazing compared to the "terrible two year old toddler" we had on our hands a year and a half ago, but it's true!! We are very thankful to God for the little man Alex is turning into! He's still a pretty picky eater, but is slowly starting to get brave enough to try more things--slowly! But he eats like a teenager these days. Honestly the kid can eat a whole meal and 10min. later tell us he's hungry. One time on the way home from Applebees for dinner he asked if we could stop at Pizza Hut "for a little snack"!!! Alex LOVES his classes at church and many times lately has cried when we went to pick him up because he didn't want to leave! He is so social. When we go to the basketball games at the school he spends the whole time chatting people up and barely even notices the fact that people are playing basketball! He has turned into a book lover like daddy and library story time and book day are one of the highlights of the week. Oh, and he never stops talking! We have actually had to tell him at dinner that he may not say another word until he eats 3 bites--that's how much he talks--cracks us up. He is also learning his letter sounds and we are starting to memorize Psalm 100. Gotta love this kid!

Sam

Well, we are thankful to have one kid out of the terrible two's because Sam has jumped in!! Don't get me wrong, he is not even half as bad as Alex was with it...but he has his own little stubborn streak. And yet he still has most of the church wrapped around his little finger because he is so stinkin' cute with those big dimples! We gave potty training a bit of a whirl 2 weeks ago--I would love it if he was trained before baby gets here and he's a smart little boy and I think he could figure it out--but it didn't go so well. He screamed like I was cutting off his right arm every time I set him on the potty. Even M&M's didn't persuade him! So, we are putting that off for a little longer. (I don't push the potty training issue. Might as well wait until they are ready--they won't be going to college in diapers!!) Sam is obsessed with trains. I mean obsessed. He will play with them ALL DAY. Except they frustrate him as much as he loves them because he can get the cars separated from the engines but can't get them hooked together again. So there is often much fussing and sometimes all the choo-choos have to go in time-out and he has to play with something else just so mommy can reclaim the small bits of sanity that are left! Sam is learning his letters. He can match all of them on his little computer, and we now know that he can say and point to at least 5 of them, maybe more! He is apparently going to be a slow talker, like big brother...he has a ton of words that he can say...he just doesn't often say them unless encouraged...and even then it's hit and miss. We are not worried about this though...we know now that one day we will be wondering if the torrent of words is every going to stop! Our favorite thing he says is fish but it comes out "bish" and it's sooooo cute.

Baby #3

Obviously I don't have a real pic of baby yet, save the ultrasound pics that you've already seen, so I will post a pic of the 'baby bump' so you can see the progress! No, baby does not have a name yet. The more kids we have the harder time Ryan and I have picking a name that we BOTH like. We have it narrowed down to a list of 3 or 4 boy names and 1 or 2 girl names. Yes, some girl names just in case! The other reason baby doesn't have a name is that we have heard a whole bunch of facts and stories lately about how ultrasounds before week 18 are really unreliable when it comes to gender prediction. So we are waiting until our next ultrasound (should be in about 6 weeks or so) to name the little one for sure!! This baby is taking it's time to get big! My baby bump is much smaller and basketball shaped than my first 2 were. The pic above is from 4 weeks ago, but the belly is only a bit bigger than that. Baby is quite the kicker, too! I started feeling him at 14wks and am now feeling REALLY hard kicks already at 20 weeks! He is sensitive to caffeine--if I have Pepsi he is bouncing off the walls--and he does not like coffee! Tragedy for me indeed. If I drink coffee in the morning (which I love) I get a terrible stomachache. I can have some decaf in the afternoon, but not in the evening or I'll get heartburn. Baby is giving me heartburn something fierce, so I wonder if he'll be dark and have lots of hair like Alex did! My biggest complaint this pregnancy is a lot of back pain. I spend almost every available evening sitting on my heating/vibrating back pad. It helps a lot! My due date is still July 13th, but we will probably have the c-section on or around the 6th so he will get fireworks for his bday every year! I have been checking out books about babies (little kid books I mean) for the boys to help them get used to what it will be like to have a baby in the house again! We think Alex is going to be much more interested & helpful this time around and that Sam is going to be mad!! ;-) We can't wait to meet this little one!!

Alex on the Bumper Cars

At Sam's bday party Alex was SURE he wanted to ride the bumper cars. He was tall enough, so I asked the man if he thought a 3 yr old could maneuver them and he said yes so I let him try. He really liked it for a while, but then he had enough of all the bumping and decided he was done! We all thought he was pretty brave just for trying! Daddy & Aunt Jen obviously had a good time, too!

Sam's 2nd Birthday Celebrations

Sammy had 2 bday celebrations this year--guess that's fitting since he turned 2!! The first was at home on his birthday when he opened presents from us and out of town family members (and actually a few days later again when he got another box!!), and we sang and had cupcakes decorated by big brother and mommy. It was fun and low-key and exactly perfect to be able to open up and play with all his new toys right away!!





His second bday celebration took place in Iowa at the Incredible Pizza with some of the Gibsons (and a few presents) and also at Gampa & Gi-Gi's house for cake and presents from them. Sam LOVES the Incredible Pizza because he can run around like a crazy man (we always go on weekdays when it isn't so busy) and also play the ski-ball for LONG periods of time!! He's not quite tall enough to ride on the go-karts, but I'm sure he'll love that soon too! Sammy was quite spoiled this year, as always, and I think he really got the hang of opening presents by the end of it all! His big gift from Mommy & Daddy (and Gampa & Gi-Gi pitched in on this too) was a redecorating of his bedroom to be Thomas the Train since he needed new bedding for his toddler bed--pics of that coming soon!

Baby #3, His First Live Performances!!

These videos were taken at 14 weeks pregnant. The ultrasound tech could not believe how active he was--and he was already measuring big for his age!! See, he fits right into our family already!!

In this first video you see the ultrasound tech getting shots of his arms, then he moves so she measures his head from several different angles, she gets a measurement around his skull and you can see both lobes of the brain, and then he moves again so you get a shot of his leg!


In this one you see a couple of profile shots, then she moves the cursor down along the baby's spine which looks great, and then right before it switches to 3D you see him sucking his thumb!!


This is the 3D portion and it's pretty self explanatory!


In this one you see the 3D image, then the ultrasound tech focuses in on a big blog that is the placenta (they measure that and check it's positioning), then she tries to get some more shots of the little guy, but he flips around: you see his legs and bottom, then his head, then his back!


In this one she measures his heart and you get to hear the heartbeat! Then you just watch him squirm around a bit!

Sammy's 2 yr Photos & Some Family Photos, too

Sammy was semi-cooperative as far as portraits went. He WOULD NOT SIT by himself. So, we did some standing up pics instead! (any wonder we skipped his 18mo. pics all together??? the kid does not do photo shoots so well!! pity, too, since he's so photogenic!)

Sam's football stance

love the tongue

Sam's adorable mischievous look...

It only took one shot to get a good one of the two boys together, and since they were ready to be done already at that point, we just let it be!!

here's the only family photo in which we are all smiling and looking at the same time! It's a bit goofy, but it works!!

And some bloopers to make you laugh!! (no, we didn't order any of these!)

Sammy Turned 2

Pillow Fights

We love pillow fights around here!



I'm not sure who usually wins...Daddy or the boys!
But this is what happens when the cameralady is accidentally involved in the rumpus!!

Fun Times Around the House

Roar Wars

This is what happens when you let you kids rent Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs from the Redbox! After this video we had an all out Roar War on our hands for several minutes--which boy could be loudest--I think they both won!!

Our Newest Baby Boy!!

I had my first ultrasound today. I am 13 wks, but the baby is measuring at 14 wks--well, we are known for good sized babies around here! We got to hear the heartbeat and even find out the gender. It was an amazing experience! We got a dvd of the whole thing, so I am going to see what I can do about getting it formatted to be able to view on the blog. Here are some pics:

3-D of our little guy. Isn't it amazing??? He's already 3.5-4 inches long and weighs 3 oz. He looks very healthy and MOVES A TON!!

Uh, Yep!! It's a Boy!!

Folding his little hands (probably in prayer that he will survive his first year of life in this household of craziness!!)

Look at that long leg--inherited from his daddy!

3-D of his little face. Cute button nose!

3-D pic. Almost a profile shot but the little guy simply would not stay still!!
He fits right into the family already!

Profile of the head and brain!

A Great Profile Shot! Check out the spine!

Front View of face and Belly. Check out those ribs!!

Sending a Smile Your Way!