family picture

I look a little out of place at Tyler's Hawkeye birthday party.

Now that Chase is crawling, I decided it was time to put up the peek and play discovery dome that Noah got for Christmas. As you can see, it was a hit for everyone! Noah got mad that he couldn't get in there. He lays on his tummy and turns in circles. I don't know if he'll ever get that tummy off the ground! He was 19lbs, 26 inches at his 6 month appointment last week. As my doctor says, "he's short and fat". I don't know how we're going to get any more toys in our living room! We might have to get rid of the couch and chair next!

Eli's new room

Here's Eli helping Daddy put together a new book shelf for his room. We moved Eli from his toddler bed into a full-sized bed this weekend. It's winter, and I need to find things to move around and organize!!!!! I'll post more pictures when I decided what else I need to do in there!Next, I'm going to tackle the front room and the basement!

clapping

Noah learned how to clap this weekend. I've been trying to get him to do it for a month, but of course he'll only do it when daddy tells him to!

Peek a boo

This is how we get greeted when we go to get Noah up from a nap. Sometimes he even plays this little game BEFORE he takes his nap. I've had to retrieve the pacifier from the floor several times already! Now...if he could just figure out how to put it in his mouth in the middle of the night, we'd be set!

brothers

Do they look alike or what??

6 months old

Noah was all about getting his picture taken today! The picture on the top is him being silly. Whenever we say silly, he leans to the side. The picture on the bottom is "so big" Lets hope he's this cooperative when I take him to get his 6 months pictures done!

Big Boy Food

Noah is loving all of the new foods he gets to try, but he really wants to feed himself. I have to wrestle with him to get the spoon back.

Christmas toys

Noah checking himself out in the mirror

Eli and Daddy playing bugs

I realize it's been a long time since I've posted anything. We've been busy trying to get everyone well. Eli was sick for a week, Joel and I were sick for a week, and now Noah has been sick for the past week. FUN TIMES!!!!

I just wanted to share a some pictures of the boys playing with their new toys. The only thing Eli asked for from Santa was bugs and spiders.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Looks like everyone had fun at Grandma Cathy's New Years party! Eli even spent the night, and here's a photo of his first poop in the toilet! Joel and I enjoyed a nice dinner out. Thanks Cathy and Don!

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.