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!

We took our first trip up north with both boys. Eli is always a great car rider and Noah did pretty well too. We stayed at Krista's both Friday and Saturday night. On Friday night Craig, Jen and Katelynn plus my parents were there. We played cards and did a lot of talking. We were better at talking than playing cards, so the boys got mad at us and quit. Saturday morning we took the three oldest kids to big vehicle day in Alexandria. They loved running in the big semi. Zach was mad because the vehicles weren't moving. Eli said his favorite part was the candy that they got in one of the cars.

spelling with Eli

Here's Eli practicing his writing. He can't make any letters, but he can spell: mom, dad, dog, cat, Eli, Luke, Jake, and stop. He loves to do letter sounds. He'll be just like his dad- reading before he's potty trained!!! Yes, he is still in his pajamas, and yes, he did sleep with that hat on.

Chuck E. Cheese's

Joel's aunt and uncle from Arizona are in town visiting and decided to treat everyone to a trip to Chuck E. Cheese's. Eli enjoyed his first experience with his cousins at Chuck E. Cheese, and I realized that I am too old to be crawling in the tubes!

Walking with a toddler

On Monday night, Eli and I walked (15 minutes) to the park to feed the ducks (another 15 minutes and another blog entry). Smart mommy gave Eli a sucker to have in the stroller. Not so smart mommy didn't have anything for the way back. This is when Eli decided he should walk with me. Let me tell you about walking with a toddler. Its the best experience in the world- if you have a couple of hours to spare, and you're not doing it as a form of exercise. We stopped to pick up sticks, pick leaves, throw leaves, find "my favorite leaf", look at rocks (at several different places), splash in mud puddles, read church signs, look at flowers, touch pine needles, and probably a few more things that I have failed to mention. Eli did eventually get back into the stroller, and we stopped at Jake's house to play for a few minutes, but our 45 minute round trip to the park turned into a 2 hour field trip.

6 weeks old

Making faces with daddy
-pictures taken 9/2

Its 1:45, and everyone is sleeping. Not too bad for my first day with a full house! I guess Eli found his hat somewhere. He wasn't wearing it when I checked on him 15 minutes ago.

Labor Day Weekend

For the first time since Joel and I have been together, we didn't go to the lake for Labor Day Weekend. We're making the trip in a couple of weeks for a family gathering, so we decided to stay home. It sure didn't feel like lake weather this weekend, so I didn't feel too bad. We kept ourselves busy by shopping, going out to eat, cleaning and going to the zoo. Tomorrow it's back to the real world for all of us.
The picture is from the zoo. Eli claimed that his favorite animal was the lion, but he seemed more excited about chipmunks running around than anything else!

Eli's sleep habits

Eli is a sleeping king! It took him a while to get the hang of it, but once he did, we were in for a treat. He takes all of these things to nap with and falls asleep within 15 minutes. His items change weekly, but he always picks some sort of toy and some books. This week, he has carried these plastic ice cream cones with him wherever he goes. He added the lion today. The three books have been the same for the past few days too. He looks at each of them, and then puts them in a pile before he rolls over. Night time is a different story. He will usually talk, sing, count, etc... for a good hour before he falls asleep. On Monday night I actually went to bed at 10:15. I stopped in his room to say goodnight (he had been in bed since 8:45), and he looked at me and said, "I want to do something." I said, "What do you want to do?" He said, "I want to do something else." I laughed and told him it was time to go to sleep. He has never tried getting out of his bed. One night he was playing with his blankie, and it fell on the floor. He wouldn't even get off the bed to get it. When he wakes up in the morning (which is rarely before 7:30), he just talks until we wake up and go in his room. One day last week I woke up to him saying, "Let me out!".