How cool! We were able to see the turtle being fed watermelon!
Sunday, August 26, 2012
A Trip to the Zoo!
We recently spent a day at the Como Zoo with the boys. It was a lot of fun!
How cool! We were able to see the turtle being fed watermelon!
The new bear exhibits were awesome!
Nate was most excited about seeing the "ROAR" (a.k.a. lion). :)
ET is definitely getting big! He loved riding on the bumper cars and roller coaster with Jay.
Nate was so psyched they had cars for him to ride on!
Love the driving school they have for ages 4 and up. Nate was so jealous!
How cool! We were able to see the turtle being fed watermelon!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Brotherly Love...
I wrote in my earlier post that ET and Nate have been playing a lot more now that Nate is talking. ET absolutely loves having sleepovers at Grandma and Papa's house, and he has been asking a lot recently for a sleepover. I remembered that I used to have sleepovers with my sisters when I was younger and so I let the boys know that they could camp out in each others room on a weekend if they wanted to. We decided it would be best to have ET sleep in Nate's room.
So at 8:00 pm the official chaos started.... First, they were somewhat quiet and giggly. Shortly after my loud, wild and crazy boys came out. They played like boys do for a good half hour. It reminded me of the book, Where the Wild Things Are. They roared with imagination and I just loved listening in.
When ET wanted to finally shut the lights off and go to sleep, Nate shouted "NO, PLAY!" ET eventually chose to pack up his things and leave camp for the night so he could find peace and quiet in his own bed. I really didn't step in to parent any of this. I actually enjoyed watching them make decisions for themselves. They are getting so big and I am amazed with each new stage we enter. I love our boys!
This was actually Nate's first night without his bed rail!
For this night we chose the book, No More Monkeys Jumping On the Bed. We felt it would be a good influence for them to not jump - I was kidding myself. :)
So at 8:00 pm the official chaos started.... First, they were somewhat quiet and giggly. Shortly after my loud, wild and crazy boys came out. They played like boys do for a good half hour. It reminded me of the book, Where the Wild Things Are. They roared with imagination and I just loved listening in.
When ET wanted to finally shut the lights off and go to sleep, Nate shouted "NO, PLAY!" ET eventually chose to pack up his things and leave camp for the night so he could find peace and quiet in his own bed. I really didn't step in to parent any of this. I actually enjoyed watching them make decisions for themselves. They are getting so big and I am amazed with each new stage we enter. I love our boys!
This was actually Nate's first night without his bed rail!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Nate is 2 1/2!
I have been wanting to give an update on Nate for quite some time now. He turned 2 1/2 in July and has really changed a lot over the last 6 (well now 7) months.
I would say Nate's speech started to become understandable through conversation back at the beginning of June. At that time he started talking so much that 80% of his communication was attempts at words and only 20% was gibberish. Currently almost everything is words now. At this point he knows so many words I have lost count. His articulation is still very poor and so I would bet that not many people would be able to pick up on what I can hear, but there has still been great improvement! He can communicate his wants and needs and that is truly the biggest thing. Whenever he is telling a story or tattling on his brother, that is when it is really hard to understand him. This is because he has so many words to say at one time and he can really only make two (occasionally three) word sentences. I absolutely ADORE listening to him tell me or someone else a story though. It just makes my heart melt seeing him work so hard at trying to talk! He is currently at the stage where he is repeating everything I say. He will come up and ask me what something is and then repeat it back to me. I know this is a huge point for him because he is taking in so much and is really retaining everything.
Nate is still getting private therapy once a week at Children's and received therapy from the school district during the month of July (the speech pathologists have June and August off for summer vacation). He will start speech again through the district in September and will be back to a consistent two days per week intervention. His speech pathologist through the district has reserved a spot for him to attend an articulation class starting in January (when he will be three years old). He would need to take a bus two days a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and would be in a class of no more than 6 children. I have very mixed feelings about this. First, we are not sure if he will even qualify yet, but I just hate the idea of him leaving me at such a young age. I think it could potentially be beneficial for him, but I am definitely not set on sending him as of right now.
Nate's health has been great! Ever since the ear tube surgery he has not had one fever or infection! THANK GOD! He has had a few colds, but has fought them off strong within a few days. We are confident that we have detected a food allergy to regular cow's milk. Well, actually I am not sure if it is an allergy or a sensitivity. Currently, if we give him regular milk he will develop so much mucous that he will have a severe cough and cold-like symptoms within a half hour of drinking it. I am not sure if he will have this sensitivity his whole life or if he could grow out of it. For right now though we have switched our whole family to a non-homogenized organic grass-fed cow's milk. Regardless of the allergy, we have made many changes to our diet over the last five months and we are happy to be eating and drinking healthier!
Nate still continues to amaze us intellectually! He knows every single capital letter in the alphabet and even a few lowercase letters. Nate can even spell his name on his own! He is starting to trace letters on paper. He can also count, but will still often skip a few numbers. Right now I am working a lot on getting him to learn his colors. He is pretty good at remembering blue, red and green. Strangely though his default response for, "What color is this?" is orange.
Nate is still downright obsessed with cars! He still carries them around, lines them up and even sleeps with them! What amazes us though is how much he actually plays with them. Nate will sit quietly by himself for an hour playing with his cars and trucks! He has such an awesome imagination!
Here is a short recap of some of the things he is up to lately...
Here are pics of Nate after bedtime. He has fallen asleep on the floor while playing with his toys.
I just pick him up and move him back to bed, and he rarely wakes. What a sweetheart! Here you can see he is sleeping next to his "Ba-Ba." He also loves his stuffed kitty he named, "Eddie." He thinks it is funny to put underwear on his animals lately. Ha! :)
I would say Nate's speech started to become understandable through conversation back at the beginning of June. At that time he started talking so much that 80% of his communication was attempts at words and only 20% was gibberish. Currently almost everything is words now. At this point he knows so many words I have lost count. His articulation is still very poor and so I would bet that not many people would be able to pick up on what I can hear, but there has still been great improvement! He can communicate his wants and needs and that is truly the biggest thing. Whenever he is telling a story or tattling on his brother, that is when it is really hard to understand him. This is because he has so many words to say at one time and he can really only make two (occasionally three) word sentences. I absolutely ADORE listening to him tell me or someone else a story though. It just makes my heart melt seeing him work so hard at trying to talk! He is currently at the stage where he is repeating everything I say. He will come up and ask me what something is and then repeat it back to me. I know this is a huge point for him because he is taking in so much and is really retaining everything.
Nate is still getting private therapy once a week at Children's and received therapy from the school district during the month of July (the speech pathologists have June and August off for summer vacation). He will start speech again through the district in September and will be back to a consistent two days per week intervention. His speech pathologist through the district has reserved a spot for him to attend an articulation class starting in January (when he will be three years old). He would need to take a bus two days a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and would be in a class of no more than 6 children. I have very mixed feelings about this. First, we are not sure if he will even qualify yet, but I just hate the idea of him leaving me at such a young age. I think it could potentially be beneficial for him, but I am definitely not set on sending him as of right now.
Nate's health has been great! Ever since the ear tube surgery he has not had one fever or infection! THANK GOD! He has had a few colds, but has fought them off strong within a few days. We are confident that we have detected a food allergy to regular cow's milk. Well, actually I am not sure if it is an allergy or a sensitivity. Currently, if we give him regular milk he will develop so much mucous that he will have a severe cough and cold-like symptoms within a half hour of drinking it. I am not sure if he will have this sensitivity his whole life or if he could grow out of it. For right now though we have switched our whole family to a non-homogenized organic grass-fed cow's milk. Regardless of the allergy, we have made many changes to our diet over the last five months and we are happy to be eating and drinking healthier!
Nate still continues to amaze us intellectually! He knows every single capital letter in the alphabet and even a few lowercase letters. Nate can even spell his name on his own! He is starting to trace letters on paper. He can also count, but will still often skip a few numbers. Right now I am working a lot on getting him to learn his colors. He is pretty good at remembering blue, red and green. Strangely though his default response for, "What color is this?" is orange.
Nate is still downright obsessed with cars! He still carries them around, lines them up and even sleeps with them! What amazes us though is how much he actually plays with them. Nate will sit quietly by himself for an hour playing with his cars and trucks! He has such an awesome imagination!
Here is a short recap of some of the things he is up to lately...
- Nate plays with ET a lot now. We love to see the two of them interact as brothers. Sometimes that involves a lot of love, and sometimes a lot of screaming. :)
- Favorite movies: Loves Dora, and Cars the best.
- Loves playing with the older kids at the daycare. He absolutely adores his friends Autumn and Lilly. He discovered he can say "Lilly" surprisingly well, and so he asks for her repeately throughout the day. He will definitely miss the older kids when they all leave for school in a couple weeks.
- Pedals a tricycle outside.
- Loves doing circle time routine in the morning with the daycare. He always wants me to say it is his birthday on the calendar.
- When frustrated or angry, he will show a real temper and will run to his bedroom and slam the door.
- Nate is a great eater! He loves bread and doesn't dislike much. He is also still a perfectionist when eating and will sometimes make less of a mess than ET.
- Bedtime can sometimes be a bit of challenge. He will be put to bed with a book, hugs and kisses and then will get out of his bed and play. He turns his lights on and plays with his toys. I don't mind that at all; however, he will often come out of his room asking silly questions (ex: Where Eddie?), or requesting silly things (ex: band-aid, chap-stick, water, etc.) many times before actually going to sleep. These are typical stall tactics that are just hard to say "no" to because he is so darn cute in my eyes. Many times he will actually just fall asleep on the floor while playing with his toys and I will have to carry him back to this bed. A few times he has even fallen asleep right in front of his door, and it was nearly impossible getting in the room to get to him.
- Nate's naps have finally become longer!!!! YAY! Up until recently Nate only napped for 45 minutes to an hour. Now, he is consistently napping for 2-3 hours each day! On the weekends he doesn't always get a solid nap because of our schedule, so maybe this is his way of making up for it.
- I recently took Nate's bed rail down while washing his sheets one day. I really did not want to put the bed rail back up, so I thought I would give it a try without it. It was shocking to learn that he was not in need of that thing anymore! He has slept just fine for nearly two weeks now without it!
- I have been working on potty training with Nate for a while now. He has a love/hate relationship with the potty. He absolutely LOVES trying the potty, but if I ask him to actually sit there until he makes pee or poop, then he fights to get off. He sits on the potty multiple times a day, but just doesn't make anything. I really don't know what to think of it. I imagine he will not be potty trained until three years old or a few months after. Grrr! Diapers are so expensive!
- Nate will definitely have some adapting to do with the changes coming this Fall. He will have new friends in the daycare, and will no longer be the youngest kid around. He will not have some of his best friends, and will also not have ET. I honestly think the changes will be good for him and he will change a lot more by the age of 3.
Here are pics of Nate after bedtime. He has fallen asleep on the floor while playing with his toys.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Time flies when you're having fun!
WOW! I cannot believe how fast this summer is going by! I also cannot believe that I have not written a blog post since July 8th!
Although I have not written in a while it is with good reason. We have been so unbelievably busy! The two weeks following our return from Colorado were filled with friends, family, and a whole lot of fun!
When we returned from Colorado, the very next day my friend (Kathryn) and her two boys stayed in our home for two weeks. Kathryn's boys are 10 months, and 2 years (just weeks away from Nate's age). It was so much fun to get to know her boys more and to see them play happily together with our boys. I still had the daycare kids during those two weeks and so it was very tight quarters, but I was very happy it all worked out. Kathryn learned we live a very mellow lifestyle and I think she actually liked that. Each night we would sit on the couch and talk until very late. We just loved it! We felt like we were kids again! I am so lucky to have such a great friend who knows me inside and out and who I can share everything with! Kathryn celebrated her birthday on the 18th, and so we managed to escape once for a fun time out after the boys went down for the night. We planned to meet up with old friends to go bowling and celebrate. I made her chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes to wish her a very happy birthday. We had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures while she was in town.
Also during those two weeks Jay's sister (Mary) and her two girls were in town from Texas. The week of the 16-20 was our busiest week...
Unfortunately, this was the only picture I took while Mary was in town. You would think someone stole my camera! I am ashamed to look back at these two weeks and only see this one picture! UGH!
Between the dates of July 17-23, we also had a large construction crew of over a dozen men at our home for a full week installing a new driveway and patio in the backyard. During this time the kids in the daycare were not able to go outside to play. It made things really tough, but they enjoyed watching the work being done through the windows. I think the guys found it pretty humorous to see 12 kids plastered to the windows as they worked. The construction was complete on Monday, July 23 but then it rained for two days! By this time, we were all itching like crazy for some outdoor playtime!
Here are pics of the new concrete. We feel like we have gained additional square footage on the house! We love being in the backyard now and we eat dinner on our patio table every night that the weather permits. :)
We eventually want to do some landscaping around the patio, but for now Jay worked hard at laying some sod around the edges to make it look nice. We will look into doing landscaping and getting more furniture next year.
We LOVE having a sidewalk go all the way to the backyard!
Our front walk was in pretty bad condition. It was so sunken down that it would pool up water in the winter time and then freeze and make ice. We straightened the walk out so that now it runs parallel to the house. We like this look a lot more and it works a lot better for landscaping.
It is still strange for us to have so much more space to park on now. We widened the driveway quite a bit on each side.
WOW! Needless to say, we did not have too many free moments during July; however, Jay, the kids and I enjoyed ourselves immensely!
Being that Nate turned 2 1/2 years old on July 19 I will have to give an update on him in a separate post!
After those two busy weeks, we had about one week of down time. One thing we did during this week was visit our new neighborhood splash pad. It is so great to know we can ride our bikes to a free waterpark with the kids!
On Saturday, August 4th we hosted a party for my Dad's 60th birthday and my Aunt Diane and Uncle Rick's 40th wedding anniversary! We had 22 people for the party and it was such a wonderful day! We lucked out BIG time with the weather. The windows in the house were open, the weather was sunny but not too hot, and the bugs magically stayed away from us as we picnicked outside eating our traditional Lundberg chicken! Of course, the family put on a program to honor my Dad, Rick and Diane. We shared so many joyful memories until we cried with laughter. What a blessing to have such a great family!
Here is my wonderful Dad making the traditional Lundberg chicken...
This chicken tasted just as awesome as it looked!
I served the food inside to prevent any bugs from getting at it. I knew that my cousins (Dave and Mark) would be bringing a Kransekake (a traditional Norwegian wedding cake) to the party. My Aunt Diane and Uncle Rick had a cake like this at their wedding reception. My kitchen table became the dessert table - it was beautiful!
Dave and Mark printed off signs and pictures...
I had my Aunt Diane type up "40 Memories" before coming to the party. She emailed me the memories and I displayed them at the dessert table. Diane shared a few of her favorites with the group during the program.
I made cupcake favors for everyone to bring home. These were chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. I knew her wedding colors were red, and so I topped each cupcake with a chocolate covered strawberry drizzled with red candy coating. I tied them off with red ribbon, a homemade tag, and a spoon.
This cake was gorgeous!
Dave and Mark even brought a jar filled with chocolate covered Oreos wrapped in colorful tinfoil. This was such a cute idea! Everyone passed by and had a cookie with their meal. :)
Including my own family, we were a group of 22! We definitely missed having a lot of the family members, but we enjoyed the company who could make it.
We needed to move the tables into the shade because we don't have patio umbrellas yet.
Here are my two adorable boys sitting at the "kid table." I love that!
The family can never have a get together without having a "program," and so Dave and Mark started out with a fun poem about their parents that they wrote themselves. After a trivia game, and a few shared memories, Diane and Rick spoke out loud to each other about their marriage. They shared what 40 years has meant to them and how much they love each other. I absolutely adored seeing them share such sweet sentiment towards one another!
Here they are about to cut the cake...
Sharing a taste! :)
Shortly after we started a program in honor of my Dad. Here Rick is giving him the gold medal for still having a full head of brown hair! We all laughed because everyone teases him about this. They all think that my Dad dyes his hair, but truthfully he doesn't! :)
Wink - wink...
Cheers to 60 years old!
Diane and Rick brought him a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting - YUM! I guess I know where I get my taste in sweets from. :)
Before heading out, I had Dave and Mark decorate their parents car with a white car paint marker. They did a great job, and Diane and Rick got a huge kick out of this. I hope they received a ton of honks on the way home!
What a great looking family!
Although I have not written in a while it is with good reason. We have been so unbelievably busy! The two weeks following our return from Colorado were filled with friends, family, and a whole lot of fun!
When we returned from Colorado, the very next day my friend (Kathryn) and her two boys stayed in our home for two weeks. Kathryn's boys are 10 months, and 2 years (just weeks away from Nate's age). It was so much fun to get to know her boys more and to see them play happily together with our boys. I still had the daycare kids during those two weeks and so it was very tight quarters, but I was very happy it all worked out. Kathryn learned we live a very mellow lifestyle and I think she actually liked that. Each night we would sit on the couch and talk until very late. We just loved it! We felt like we were kids again! I am so lucky to have such a great friend who knows me inside and out and who I can share everything with! Kathryn celebrated her birthday on the 18th, and so we managed to escape once for a fun time out after the boys went down for the night. We planned to meet up with old friends to go bowling and celebrate. I made her chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes to wish her a very happy birthday. We had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures while she was in town.
Also during those two weeks Jay's sister (Mary) and her two girls were in town from Texas. The week of the 16-20 was our busiest week...
- First, I took Monday off from work and all of us went to the Cascade Bay water-park. Tammy and her family met us there as well and we had a lot of fun soaking up the hot sun and playing with the kids. Afterwards, we headed over to Jay's parents for a short BBQ before heading home.
- On Tuesday, ET was invited to go the MN Zoo with a very good friend from school. He was so thrilled to be able to do this!
- On Wednesday, Nate turned 2 and 1/2!
- On Thursday, Mary, her girls, Jay, and ET all went bowling together.
- On Friday, they all went out again to see the movie Brave. Kathryn and her boys also left our house on Friday, and that evening we headed over to a friends house to hang out for a while.
- The next morning, we attended Jay's extended family reunion in Wisconsin, and then Mary and the girls followed us back and stayed with us for the night. We stayed up late and played games and talked.
- Sunday morning, we headed out to Stillwater for the day. We shopped, and then ate at the Freight House out on the patio. It was a great time! We headed home and prepared the grill for dinner. Jay's parents joined us and we sat outside and talked while we ate. Mary planned on leaving one day later, so it was a nice way to end our time together.
Unfortunately, this was the only picture I took while Mary was in town. You would think someone stole my camera! I am ashamed to look back at these two weeks and only see this one picture! UGH!
Between the dates of July 17-23, we also had a large construction crew of over a dozen men at our home for a full week installing a new driveway and patio in the backyard. During this time the kids in the daycare were not able to go outside to play. It made things really tough, but they enjoyed watching the work being done through the windows. I think the guys found it pretty humorous to see 12 kids plastered to the windows as they worked. The construction was complete on Monday, July 23 but then it rained for two days! By this time, we were all itching like crazy for some outdoor playtime!
Here are pics of the new concrete. We feel like we have gained additional square footage on the house! We love being in the backyard now and we eat dinner on our patio table every night that the weather permits. :)
WOW! Needless to say, we did not have too many free moments during July; however, Jay, the kids and I enjoyed ourselves immensely!
Being that Nate turned 2 1/2 years old on July 19 I will have to give an update on him in a separate post!
After those two busy weeks, we had about one week of down time. One thing we did during this week was visit our new neighborhood splash pad. It is so great to know we can ride our bikes to a free waterpark with the kids!
On Saturday, August 4th we hosted a party for my Dad's 60th birthday and my Aunt Diane and Uncle Rick's 40th wedding anniversary! We had 22 people for the party and it was such a wonderful day! We lucked out BIG time with the weather. The windows in the house were open, the weather was sunny but not too hot, and the bugs magically stayed away from us as we picnicked outside eating our traditional Lundberg chicken! Of course, the family put on a program to honor my Dad, Rick and Diane. We shared so many joyful memories until we cried with laughter. What a blessing to have such a great family!
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