hawkeye hats

My Grandma made these hats for the boys for Christmas. Maybe they should have been wearing them today!

Big Boy!!

Because he's sitting up, not because he's fat.

Christmas Day

Santa found us at our house too, so we opened presents when we woke up this morning. Noah is getting very good!!!! Then in the afternoon, we went over to Grandma Cathy's house. I wish I would've taken a picture of the pile of presents. We need a bigger house to hold all of the new toys! Thanks to everyone! We have had a lot of fun this past week!

Christmas Eve

We went to my Grandparents on my Dad's side for Christmas Eve. This is a picture of the grandkids, and great-grandkids. Add the parents, spouses, and significant others, and you have quite a house full. We were planning to stay at Krista and Brent's afterwards, but we decided to head home. We arrived at our house at 2:45am. Eli went back to sleep, but Noah had other plans. Needless to say, we did not get much sleep last night!

santa

Friday night we went to visit Santa, and Saturday night Santa came to Grandma and Grandpa's. Eli and Zach loved Santa. Katelynn and Drew were not fans. Noah kept pulling Santa's beard off.

sledding with Grandpa

There wasn't much snow, but the kids had fun sledding on the lake. Eli was a little scared of being on the ice. I think someone has watched Ice Age one too many times. His favorite thing to do outside was play in the woods!

baking cookies with Grandma

Grandma was thinking and bought colored dough, so they didn't even have to frost them.

Grandpa babysitting

We were supposed to go up North on Thursday, but the weather was not sounding good, so with some help from Jennifer, Rhonda and Erica, we were able to leave Tuesday night. Thanks again Jen! The boys slept the whole way there, but it was not fun trying to get them back to sleep at 2:30am. Here are some highlights of our week at Grandma and Grandpa's

Eli's new look

Eli does not like to wear pants when he has underwear on, so I bought him some boxer briefs to cover him a little. We're still accident free. He has learned to poop when he has a diaper on, so yesterday he sat in a poopy diaper all during nap.

BUBBA

Gotta love potty training!

I've been very lazy with my camera. I even bought a new one last week, and I haven't really taken any pictures. No- I'm not depressed, just busy!!!! I wanted to share the highlight of my day, and I didn't think pictures would be appropriate! Eli has been doing very well in his big boy underwear the past few days, but he has yet to poop on the toilet. This afternoon I was changing Chase's diaper and Eli was playing on the couch. I heard Eli say something about mud. I looked over to see what he was talking about, and there it was. Mud on his hand. Oh yeah- it wasn't mud. It was poop. Needless to say, the next 10 minutes in my house were not much fun for anyone.

I have to watch what I say!

Yesterday Eli was playing with a sticker, so it wasn't sticking very well anymore. I was standing in the kitchen, and he was playing in the living room. All of a sudden I heard him say, "I told you three times to stay on my elbow". He was talking to his sticker. They don't miss a beat do they? I haven't even used that phrase very much!

Sorry! No Pictures!!!!

It has not been a good week to take pictures around here. Noah has been crabby with another cold and had his first fever this week. I just wanted to send an update from his 4 month check up. He is 241/4 inches and weighs 16lbs 12oz. Joel calls him Bubba.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

It may look like Christmas in the neighborhood, but it sure doesn't feel like it! What beautiful weather we had this weekend! I know it's not going to last long, but it sure was nice to be able to be outside with all of the kids! Eli had so much fun with his cousins! Thanks for making the trip! As soon as everyone left this morning, Eli and I started putting up the Christmas tree. Then of course I had to wrap presents to put under it. One would think I would've been cleaning instead of making a bigger mess!

Busy Weekend

Noah's baptism

Here's the crew just before church

We had a big weekend with my whole family here for Thanksgiving and Noah's baptism on Saturday night. We'll just say that church was interesting. The people sitting several rows behind us thought it was quite funny that Eli and Zach were under the pews with their cars!

Game Night!!

I told Eli that we could play games after Noah went to bed tonight. When we were done with Old Maid and Go Fish, I made Eli choose between Yatzee and Sorry. He picked Sorry. It's a good thing Christmas is coming. I'm thinking we may need some childrens' games!

Never too early to start watching Baby Einstein

Of course right after I took this picture Eli said to Noah, "You're done watching Turtle. We're watching Lion King now!

Eli spent the morning using every kind of paint he could find. This is his fingerpaint project.

Noah and Daddy doing "so big"

We had a really fun weekend! Our friends Kelly and John and their three kids came down on Friday. The kids played together really well, and the adults even got to play games. Kelly and I enjoyed a couple of drinks together for the first time in 4 years since neither of us are pregnant.

We were sad when they left on Saturday!

Today, Eli and I enjoyed the great weather and spent a couple of hours playing outside. He even decided that we could take a walk. Of course he had to push his lawn mower and "fix" it every few minutes, so it took us a half hour to get around the block.

Trick or Treat

It was a beautiful day today, and then all of a sudden it turned windy and cold just in time for trick or treating. Eli had fun anyway!!! We ran around the neighborhood for a little bit, and then we drove over to see Luke and Jake. Eli even learned a knock-knock joke to tell. (For those of you who do not live in Iowa, we go trick or treating the night before Halloween, and you're suppose to tell a joke to get your candy.) Noah had to stay home and hand out candy with Daddy.

Grandma's Halloween Party

Happy Daylight Savings!

Did anyone else feel that they got up WAY TOO EARLY this morning? Remember the good old days when "fall back" was associated with more sleep??? It can't be right that Noah is taking a nap at 7:15 am. Although I can't complain. Without daylight savings, he would've slept until 6:30, and he went back to sleep for a little bit after having a bottle. Eli was up early too. He never asked for his nuk again after he threw it away on Thursday, but it takes him twice as long to fall asleep. Plus he's been waking up earlier. I'm hoping we'll get back on track as he gets used to falling asleep without it!!!! We have a halloween party at Grandma Cathy's today, so I should have some good pictures to post later!

Joel's home!!!!

Well... I survived my 4 days as a single parent. Joel and Eli made a deal that they would throw away Eli's nuk when Joel came home, so they did. It's almost 10:00, and Eli is still talking away in his bed. The good news is that he isn't screaming (yet). We'll let you know how the night goes!

3 months old!

Dr. Eli

Eli hurt his ear while he was playing outside, so he came in and said he needed a bandaid. I told him he wasn't bleeding, so he didn't need one. Well- he went and got one anyway and put it on all by himself.

My Little Helper

I was feeding Noah a bottle today when Jake announced that he had to go potty, so I set Noah on the floor. From across the room I hear, "I'm feeding Noah". I guess he wasn't kidding. He was even using the burp rag.

all good things must come to an end

After a week of going to bed at 8:00, and sleeping until 7:00, Noah's cold has come back. Starting on Thursday night, he woke up after an hour and was choking on his flem. Joel slept with him in the chair that night. The next night, the same thing happened, so I slept with him on the couch. Saturday night- same thing. Joel slept with him on the couch. Today I put him flat on his back, and within minutes, he was sneezing and very uncomfortable. We didn't even try the crib tonight. Joel is holding him, and we're going to try to elevate his head in our bed tonight. At this point, he is probably just getting comfortable being held which is going to be another battle.
On the positive side, Eli has been doing very well with the potty. Now, if we could only get that pooping thing down!

Noah's new trick

If you give Noah your fingers, he tries to pull himself up. He loves it, and it's so cute! He also went to bed at 8:00 last night and didn't wake up until after 7:00 this morning.

What happened to the Twins?

Noah wore this cute outfit, and Eli shook his homer hankie that Grandma Connie sent. However, it didn't seem to help the Twins! Craig and Jen- are you doing okay?

summer fun

Is it October or August?? We had to pull out the sprinkler one last time.

Go Hawkeyes!

Fall Saturdays can make a Minnesotan feel a little out of place in Iowa. Everyone is decked out in their black and gold or red and gold. Even my two year olds were yelling "Go Hawks" and "Go Cyclones" back and forth this week (Sorry Chad, Jake was yelling "Go Hawks!). Tonight Joel and I are going out for the first time since Noah was born. Guess where we're going on our first date. We are going to our friend Dan's house for a "house warming party". It just happens to start at the same time as the Hawkeyes. GO HAWKS!!!

making cupcakes

Aunt Jennifer brought us cupcakes today, so Eli was pretty excited when I said we were going to make our own. He was a little disappointed that they weren't green. He was also very excited to make the frosting. Again, he was disappointed that it wasn't green. We frosted one cupcake, and he decided it was time to eat. Of course all he did was lick off the frosting. His favorite part of the whole experience was cracking the eggs. He thought we needed to do more!

snack time

... but Jake wouldn't fingerpaint the other day!

BAD HAIR DAY

Oh- these pictures don't even come close to showing you how bad it really is. This was after aunt Jennifer tried to wet it down. I was planning to take him to get it cut on Sunday, but we didn't make it that far. It looks like we'll be taking a trip to Great Clips tonight!

2 month check-up

Here's Noah sleeping the day away after getting his shots. He's also dealing with his first cold. His appointment was at 8:00 this morning, so I gave Joel the option of staying with the boys or taking Noah. He chose to take Noah. I bet they don't have too many dads taking babies to check-ups. I guess the doctor even asked where I was. Anyway- he weighs 12 pounds 8 ounces.

sing along with daddy

Noah loves singing the itsy bitsy spider! Eli must've been a little jealous. He was singing his own song at the top of his lungs. It wasn't a real song. In fact, I don't think I even heard a real word!

2 months old

Noah is 2 months old today. He seems to have lost his neck somewhere! He has been a really good baby, and he even slept through the night (until 6:30 am) twice this week. Last night, Joel fed him a bottle at 3:00 am, and then he slept until 7:30 am. Of course Joel was "dying" this morning which is another reason why men could not have babies. They could never nurse because they wouldn't be able to go without the sleep. As Joel pointed out, he does stay up two hours later than me every night, and he has been putting Noah to bed after I go to sleep. However, he watches TV after he puts Noah down, and I get up at least an hour before him every day. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate everything he does to help. I just have a hard time feeling sorry for him in the sleep department. LOVE YOU HONEY! YOU"RE THE BEST!

BFF

Noah and Chase

Jake and Eli

Jake and Chase belong to Joel's best friend. Jake is about 3 months younger than Eli, and Chase is about 3 months older than Noah. Erica, someday this will pay off for us. Like when they have to take the boys fishing, and we get a long weekend of shopping!

Family Fun

We spent Saturday afternoon with my dad's whole family. We had so much fun- can't wait for next year! Noah had his first hay ride, and Eli took his 1 minute nap for the day. Krista, Dad, and I represented our family in the Polish skiing contest. We took 3rd. Krista and I also participated in the egg toss, and Eli had his first ride on a four wheeler. We took a break in the afternoon to take Eli, Noah, Zach, and Drew into town so Noah could meet his other great-grandparents. After a long day and no naps, the boys weren't very good company, but it was good to see Grandma and Grandpa! Thanks family, for a great weekend! Krista- sorry we left your house such a mess!