The craziness of Christmas

(insert sigh here...) Yes, Christmas is over. It was wonderful, really wonderful actually, but now it is over and I am okay with that also. It was a whirlwind of 4 days. Days filled with family, presents, and fattening food which I should not have eaten but I did. But, first I need to mention that I am going to give you a recount of the past days, sitting in the couch in the living room, watching the movie Miracle on TV, typing away on my laptop!! ahh!! But, more on that later :-)

Work this week was crazy. After our "Power Outage" on Monday, I paid for that fun time off on Tuesday. Work was really, really, busy. Thankfully the plants were not out of ingredients, but we just had a lot of busy work and purchase orders to get done. I was the only one at work that day, so that made it a very busy day.

Christmas Eve was our yearly party at the neighbors. It started out with what Kristen called Christmas Tree pancakes and sausage, however, Kyra and I both decided they looked more like a large nose that anything else. After breakfast, we made Christmas ornaments with the kids, watched a Christmas movie, played, ate, Kristen and I were able to watch a cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie while the littles napped, and then opened up the little presents to the kids. After that was Christmas cookies with hot chocolate and then home. It was a fun, busy, day, but a tradition we hope to keep alive. That night Eric, his friend Kevin, and Gaeb came over to celebrate the holidays also. We ate well (Steak, asparagus, wine) and then got cookies out for santa and vege's out for the reindeer and sent the littles to bed. Emma was excited the whole night, talking about santa and him coming into our house and saying "Ho Ho Ho", eating the cookies, etc. It was so fun to watch the holiday through a two year old's eyes. I could tell she was still trying to wrap her head around the whole Christmas thing, but loved the excitement around it.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect the next morning, if she would know when she woke up that it was Christmas or not. She slept in until around 7am and then came to our room as she normally does and didn't really say anything about Christmas. She did remember that her and Evan were both wearing matching Santa jammies but that was it. I made sure I made it downstairs before everyone else so I could capture the moment on video camera and I am glad that I did. Emma walks down the stairs and exclaims "Mama! There is a trampoline down here!" She immediately starts jumping and laughing and is having a great time. That was probably my favorite moment - watching her eyes as she came down the stairs and saw the presents and the trampoline. Priceless. Emma did say that she saw Santa out her window that night, but somehow I don't believe her! We opened up presents, ate breakfast and then got ready for Tim's family to come over and celebrate the holidays also. Favorite items: For Emma, definitely the trampoline, but also a mermaid barbie doll for the tub. Evan enjoys his Bumbo chair and how he feels like a big boy sitting in it. I love my shiny, red, new LAPTOP!!!! and Tim really liked a rifle that he picked out himself. gee.. fun :-)

The past two days were at my family. My sisters and I celebrated down there with the fam and had a great time also. My father and I are lucky recipients of a hot air balloon ride gift certificate. So, sometime this summer he and I will by flying high above the St. Croix Valley in a multi-color balloon. Hey, isn't that a song?? Anyway... We had the small family Christmas yesterday and the big Brunner Christmas today. We had yummy food, saw a lot of family that hasn't been in town for awhile and opened up more presents!

Some fun things this past weekend: watching Emma enjoy her trampoline. Seriously, that kid LOVES the trampoline. She had to open her presents on the trampoline, watch TV on the trampoline, wanted to nap on her trampoline, basically do everything on the trampoline.
We got home tonight from my family and she instantly starting jumping on it and said, "mama - don't worry, my tummy feels better now. My tummy missed the trampoline but now feels better." She did want to bring it to Durand, but obviously told her no. Another fun gift for Emma which she received today? Her glow-worm. She decided to name the glow worm Baby Jesus and sat it by her while she ate and wanted it to jump on the trampoline with her. The worm also plays lullabies, so all night she was playing the music and rocking with it and singing away. It was very cute. Emma also received dance clothes from the Kellogg's and instantly had to put on the outfit and tutu. She was dancing around and loving every minute of that too. She is now doing very well on the potty again, so to follow up with our promise, we will have to send her to dance class soon.

All-on-all, it was wonderful. It was fabulous seeing our family. Both Tim and I have a wonderful family and it is always fun spending time with them. It was busy and I know I speak for Tim and I both when I say that we are very happy to have tomorrow to clean and relax. My house is an absolute disaster, but at least I have one more day to de-clutter, de-box presents and get rid of the tree. It is dropping needles like crazy and driving me crazy. I hope to do a bit of shopping tomorrow and take advantage of all the deals that I am hearing about. With that, I am done. I am attaching all the pictures below. I think they are pretty self-explanatory of the holidays.

Merry Christmas

Have a wonderful holiday everyone! I hope everyone travels safely and that you enjoy the time with your friends and family! Here are Christmas wishes from Emma and Evan.

An early Christmas gift

I went to work today, as I do every Monday now, and was working away, calling the feed plants, placing orders when all of a sudden - NOTHING. The office building goes dark, computer shuts off, and I think... this is not good. So, coworkers gather, we chat about what happened and an hour later the power is still off. Then, we get the announcement: "This building is being evacuated. Please exit the building as soon as you can." YEAH! I joyfully exclaim "Yea! I have a full afternoon without the kids!" (which my coworkers thought was pretty funny) It seriously couldn't have came at a better time. I had a few odds and ends to finish before Christmas, a few presents to wrap, and I have been so damn tired lately as the kids get me up every two hours that I was in a fog today. So, yes, happy early Christmas gift to me! I enjoyed a nice leisurly lunch at Panera, stopped home to check work email and put out a few fires, then headed shopping!
Silly me, but I couldn't believe how busy the stores were today! Seriously, don't people work -or- was it a blackout everywhere? But, I had the whole afternoon, so I didn't let it bring me down. I got everything done, picked up kids at 4:30 and headed home. It was fabulous!
All the presents are wrapped, now just to clean house, start some cooking and I am done. The holidays should be fun. I am glad they are here and I will be glad when they are done :-) I really love spending time with all the family, but sometimes it feels as though the holidays are more about the hustle and bustle and less about what it is really about. yeah, I know, I sound like a cheesy Hallmark card. Anyway...
One of my stops tonight was the Gap. I got Evan some of the cutest clothes and they had the best sales. I bought a pair of overalls, 4 shirts, and a warm fleece full body suit. Now, if I would have paid full price for each of these items, the total would have been $116.50. BUT, because of my savvy smart shopping, I got them all for $27.00. I know - awesome! I love it when I can find deals like that! I think Kate from "Jon & Kate Plus 8" said it best with: "I don't work full time, so I take it as my job to save money for the family." I clip coupons, I hit up garage sales and try to find sales such as these at fun stores.
We had a great weekend. Tim and I had a date night which was so needed.! I miss him! I miss our time together. We are so busy with the kids that we rarely have time to ourselves, so it was nice. Our daycare provider gives each of her family's free baby-sitting for a night for our Christmas present. She even came to our house. Emma loved having her here, she was bouncing off the walls and showing her everything. Theresa brought along some games, nail polish, etc for the occasion. It was very sweet of her.
Saturday and Sunday were filled with shopping. Emma and I had a lot of "Emma and Mommy" time as we went looking for gifts for the family. It was fun and needed as her and I don't get time alone that often either. Evan did good here with Daddy and enjoyed the male bonding time also. He is normally with Emma and Me, plus the three neighbor ladies, so I am sure he likes some testosterone. (did I spell that right?)
Kristen and I made a whole bunch of candy with the kids and enjoyed a movie afternoon on Friday also. Plus, Kyra made a "fun club" which pretty much meant the little girls would play run around in Kristen's house and I would push Kyra around and chase them. I think everyone had a great time AND we made 4 different kinds of candy.
One more work day, which will be really busy given our unexpected time off today and then I am done for the week. Tomorrow night will be busy cleaning and then it all begins. Once again, I am really looking forward to it, but it will be busy!
That's it. Even though I could actually watch the Packer game tonight, I have to get to bed. Emma and Evan have been fussy sleepers and I desperately need some good sleep. I hope to update a bit over the holidays also and Emma wants to send out some holiday greetings. Anyway, Merry Christmas!! Be safe on the roads and enjoy the time with family!

Damn cold

Yup - it's damn cold here. I just came home from seeing 4 Christmas's (which was okay, some parts were funny. Some parts were over-the-top) and the bank was showing -9 degrees. Lovely.

We had a good week. I have to admit, I was feeling very overwhelmed last Wednesday after work. My house was a mess, tons of laundry, Christmas cookies, cards, decorating, etc. But I had a very productive Thursday which really helped my situation. I let a lot of it go - honestly. I decided that if I don't get all my decorations and my Christmas village up this year, I am okay with that. If I don't bake a lot of cookies, I can buy them. That made me feel a lot better! Most of the pressure I was feeling was self-imposed, so I let it all go. I did get some Christmas cookies made with the neighbors and I stayed up late one night doing my Christmas cards and now I just need to mail them :-) Yeah - they will be in your mailbox soon. Hopefully before Christmas.

Emma has been a goof lately - she is so excited for Christmas! She has really enjoyed the cookie baking, the present buying, and everything that surrounds Christmas. I took her and Evan to see Santa at a local gas station. Santa, Ms. Claus, and a reindeer visit there every year. She really didn't want a lot to do with Santa this time. Plus, since I was there alone trying to push a sleeping Evan in the stroller in the snow, I didn't try to hard. Which is fine, I can see why she would be a bit nervous about a big guy in a red suit.

Last night the whole fam was downstairs while Tim was watching the Vikings. Evan was sleeping and I was running on the treadmill. Emma thought that was fun, so she decided that she would run too. She was running the whole length of our basement while saying "Mama, this IS fun. I like exercising. I exercising with my Mama. I LIKE running!" She did probably 3-4 laps and then sat down and said, "Wow - I tired! Aren't you tired Mama?" I also gave her my MP3 player which, for her, was the best thing in the world. She was listening to some music, but then decided it was best as a phone. So, she was calling Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse and talking away. She told Mickey Mouse (who was apparently stuck in a bear cave at one point) that it was very icy out and he had to be very, very, very careful in the snow. I don't know where she comes up with this stuff. Tonight she was sitting at the table and said "When I get bigger, and bigger, and bigger, I go hunting my with my Daddy. I go find some ducks. Then I hunt pheasants." This, of course, made Tim and I smile.

Well, it is way past my bedtime. more later. and yes, I will get cracking on those Christmas cards...

Definitely not a clever title

I have problems thinking of clever titles for my blog posts. Many times I just want it to be "Sunday Night" or "Tired" or "Kids are driving me crazy" or something like that, but that is not very original. I guess I am either too tired or feeling too overwhelmed right now to think of anything... hence the title tonight.

A quick pick of the family...


and a lovely thing that Emma is doing for some pictures now (great)


I actually told Tim to take one of me and the kids today, but for some reason he coudln't figure out the camera and they all were blurry... go figure.

This long weekend was good. I enjoyed my time at home away from work - but I am happy to be at work - especially now that Evan is eating. (hopefully he does good tomorrow!) Emma asked me why I worked tonight and I told her for money. I figured that was the easy answer versus "I need some productive thinking time... I need to use my private Catholic college education which I will be paying for a few more years... I need to get away sometimes... I like to speak with adults other than your Daddy... I like to be able to go out and buy fun things for myself such as a cute pair of shoes without feeling guilty..." anyway - so I felt the easy answer was money. Which made her think. "Mama, we don't have enough money!?" "No Emma, we just want more." "Hmm.. why?" blah.. blah...blah... this kid is NEVER quiet. We were decorating the tree tonight and she was singing the whole time. Not Jingle Bells or anything Christmas-y, just anything that came into her head. Her song went like this :" I love my Mommy, I love my Daddy, I love my Evan, I love penguins, no, I really don't...." Some other fun verses: " I love coloring, I like my Ariel book, but I don't love it because I need more stickers..." Seriously ON and ON and ON. So many times Tim and I just look at each other and laugh. I was teaching her how to play some piano today. The simple Do, Re, Mi and the like and she had a lot of fun with that. She can't sing a lick, but she had fun playing the piano. I definitely give her an A for effort.

This was an action packed weekend. Thankfully as many of you know, Kyra's surgery went very well and we are all hoping she will be home tomorrow. Emma had a lot of fun playing with Kaylee while we were watching her, but wonders about Kyra also. I have been trying to prepare her for what it will be like when Kyra is at home - but she doesn't really understand. The good thing is there are so many projects to do for a little one in a cast right now - Christmas cookies, making Christmas ornaments, Christmas cards (which I am really late on right now!) so I know Kristen can keep her busy- I know Emma and I look forward to keeping her occupied on the days we are at home too!

I saw Wicked on Saturday and LOVED IT! Saturday was a very nice afternoon actually. Eric and I went to the Rock Bottom Brewery first (YUM!) for a beer and food then off to the play. Wicked was a lot different that I thought it would be - but it was excellent. That is definitely one I want to see again.

My parents were up this weekend also to help out at the hospital and with Kaylee. They stayed here which Emma likes so it was nice to see them too.

Today was the Christmas tree! Evan slept thought the whole thing, which was okay. Emma thought it was okay too - nothing too exciting for her. She did enjoy the hot apple cider in the warming house though and was pretty sure we needed to buy her ice skates. I have some pictures of Emma decorating. My theory is that she enjoyed decorating so much because the nice ornaments were wrapped up in tissue paper and she thought it was a present :-) She did very well hanging ornaments although didn't understand the concept of spreading them out. She has four ornaments on one branch and I think about 10-12 withing 6 inches of each other. But, they are very nice.

Here is the finished product - if you look at the bottom right you can see the heaviness of the ornaments!


Em and I played outside in the snow today - made snow angels and went sliding down the hill. Maybe (and I will just throw this one out there) if we have some snow for Christmas the family can have a big sledding party again? We had a great time last year - how many people did we fit on the toboggan?? I bet we could beat it this year! (I have absolutely no clue how to spell that word.)

I have to get everything ready for tomorrow. That is the one bad thing about being at work again - packing. I need to get together the kid's bags for daycare, my work bag, my umm... other bag, my lunch, take a shower, pick up the house, update the blog, and be in bed by 9:00. Crap - already 9:30 and I haven't started them yet... go figure.


OH YEA - Evan turned 3 months old today! My little man :-) He is continually getting happier and more smiley and is already a ladies man :-) I am so thankful for him and Emma and could not be happier!


Have a great week everyone!

Finally

My little man drank! I received a phone call from Theresa that he took a bottle this morning around 9:30 and then again around 1:30. Finally! What a relief that was for me! He still had his own conditions around it, such as he needed to drink the bottle in his carseat and not with Theresa holding him. But, I figure in a few days, he won't care about that either.

Anyway - I am pleased to say that all is well here. I am done with work for the week and have 4 days off. Life is good.

The protest continues

Evan didn't improve much today at daycare again. He still did not drink from a bottle. I was kind of prepared for that though - I packed a different bottle, formula and a medicine dropper - just in case. Turns out the medicine dropper was the only thing that proved to be useful. Theresa was able to use the dropper to get about 4 oz of milk in Evan today. No good. However, Theresa said he was in a pretty good mood all day today. So - that is good; the hunger must not be affecting him too much. It still bothers me a lot though. Tim called the triage nurse at the hospital and she didn't seem to concerned either. She said that some babies never drink from a bottle - maybe Evan will be one of those kids. She said that on the days he is at daycare he will want to cluster feed at night (which he does) to regain his nurishment that he missed during the day. We are supposed to monitor diapers, etc to watch for dehydration, but other than that, not to worry too much about it. Sure -easy for her to say. Apparently her son was the same way.

I need to get to bed, but I wanted to update. Theresa did say that he was playing and chewing on the bottle today, so maybe tomorrow is the day.

The Hunger Strike

Well, Evan decided he didn't want to eat today - at all. Yup - that's right. He was protesting his stay at daycare with a hunger strike. I last fed him at 4am and he refused to eat all day. So, I fed him again around 4:30pm. I was able to leave work about a half an hour early so I could get to him sooner. I was in touch with Theresa all day and she said that he was pretty crabby in the morning but then took a long nap until about 2pm. After that, he was okay - smiling and cooing a bit. This made me feel a bit better, but I knew my little man must have been hungry. She was able to get about 1 oz of formula in him, but that involved her squeezing some of the bottle in his mouth. Not good. Plus, on the way home Emma was telling me about her and Evan's day and she said: "Yeah, Evan not happy. He kept crying and saying Mama, Mama come get me. Evan no like Tesa." Nice. That did not make me feel any better. Tim is going to be feeding him a bottle as much as he can - although Evan did all right with the bottle before so I am not sure why he did that. I am hoping tomorrow goes better.

Work was okay, it was hard to leave home this morning, but it was somewhat okay to be back. It was hard to remember how I used to do things - the screens I look at, keystrokes, etc. But, by mid-day I was back in the swing of things.

Hopefully tomorrow is better. Send good thoughts Evan's way.

Sad

Yes - we all knew it was coming... the day before I go back to work. It has been a rough day. I take a look at my happy little boy and hope that he will do okay tomorrow. I know he will, but I am still sad. This is definitely the hard part with wanting a balance - leaving your children to go back to work. I keep asking myself... what if Evan is scared? What if Theresa can't calm him down and he gets really mad? What if Evan thinks I abandoned him? Now, I have done this once before and I know it will be okay. I know this is what I want. I have the perfect situation worked out with the job share for 3 days a week. Emma is fine - Emma still loves me, but still... it is really hard. At one point tonight I was crying a little bit and Emma came up to me with her big blue eyes wide open and says, "Mama - are you sad?" and I nod my head and say yes. Then she says, "Don't worry Mama, I will get them." and then she wipes the tears off my cheeks with her little fingers. Sweet girl. Give me a few weeks and I will be happy to be back and will know that I have done the right thing. But, not right now.

We had a wonderful holiday. It was small and quiet. The food was good and the kids had a great time. Tim's son Eric came to visit for the day also, so that was nice too. The day after Thanksgiving we did some shopping. My sisters, Mom, and I were up at 6:00am to go shopping and I got a lot done. I think I have all the little kids, except Evan, taken care of. Evan is a hard one this year, but I will make sure he enjoys it a little bit! The stores were pretty crazy, but I think it is fun. As long as I don't encounter someone really cranky or mean, I do pretty good! Tim had the day alone with the kids and had a good time with that also.

The weekend was spent at my parents house for the rest of deer hunting and visiting some family that was up for the holiday - which was fun. We had discussed getting the Christmas tree, but decided against that as we were all tired and thought it was a bit too early.

With this, I leave you to get ready for work tomorrow. This means I need to print out a bunch of Evan pictures to bring and load my digital frame up with pictures. sigh... this IS what I want... really... it is.

Here is Evan last Tuesday.

Enjoying the time

Well, my maternity leave countdown is now at one week. One more week at home with my baby boy. This is a short week also as our daycare provider is taking Wednesday off to travel for the holidays so I have today and tomorrow alone with my baby. Then - a week from now I will be back at work. We did a small trial run at daycare last week. I dropped Evan off mid-afternoon and did some holiday grocery shopping. Evan did pretty good. He got a little fussy before I got there and was asleep when I picked him and Emma up. All-in-all he was there for about an hour and a half and did okay. Emma is really enjoying her role as big sister at daycare and I was told she did really well and tried to comfort him when he was sad. I told Emma that she will need to help out because Evan might be scared and she can make him feel better. She loves that!

This past week was nice. Evan continues to sleep better and last night only woke up once to eat! He is still happy and smiley and usually only has one real fussy time during the day, which is around 7pm at night. He is still talking and working on his neck strength. He has not rolled over since that day about two weeks ago - but is still working on it!

Emma was a big girl and got her hair cut again! The woman that cut her hair did a great job, even curled it for her. I really only wanted to get her bangs cut, but we did end up trimming a bit on the ends too. She sat really well and even got her hair shampooed, blown dry, and curled with hair spray. The woman told me she left her bangs a little longer so I could still style them. To which I laughed to myself and thought, yeah right. I have never even blown her hair dry so needless to say, styling Emma's hair doesn't really even occur to me. A pony tail would be nice if she would let me do that, but no, she doesn't.

This past weekend we were at Durand for deer hunting. We played outside a bit on Sunday and visited with family. Tim is not doing so well this year hunting. He normally can boast that he shot 3 or 4 deer by now and this year his tally is at 2. Fine by me as we don't really need any venison at the moment. The good news is that my cousin Jerad (who was out for his first year) got a nice buck.

We are going to attempt to take a family picture tonight for our Christmas card. Hopefully everyone looks okay and smiles. Maybe I can try to style Emma's hair for the picture... hmmm.. but even that is doubtful. She had a funny moment with Tim last week. She wanted to change into another dress one night when she came back from daycare. Tim was in with her trying to change her mind. The argument pretty much went like this.. Emma: Yes, I want to change my dress. Tim: No- you are not going too. Emma: Yes! Tim: No! Tim said this went back and forth a minute or so when finally Emma looks at him and exclaims in a frustrated voice: "I am going to go and talk to someone else." She then proceeds to come downstairs by me and asks me if she can change her dress. To which I replied... NO.. don't think so.

Here are some pictures from this past week. Emma in a wheel-barrow yesterday. She really likes going for rides in there. We rake up some leaves for a cushion and then I run around the yard with her. Fun for her and quite a work-out for me, so that was good. Evan and my mother while Emma was in the wheel-barrow and Emma with her new haircut.




This upcoming week is Thanksgiving - YEAH!- and lots of yummy food. Then - shopping on Friday, which I am really looking forward too. Hopefully we find some good deals.

The mystery of the gum in the shoe.

So, I pick up Emma from daycare as usual today around 4pm. She usually likes a snack in the car, so I packed some Animal Crackers - nothing unusual. We get home from daycare, Evan is crying, Emma is talking very loudly, and I am trying to make supper so it is the typical chaos in the Heuer House. I look over at Emma and she is chewing on something. I ask her casually - "Emma - what is in your mouth?" She looks down and doesn't answer. So, more forcefully: "Emma - WHAT is in your mouth?" Emma: "Gum Mama - but you didn't give it to me, Theresa did!" Now, I thought that was suspicious as she was eating her animal crackers on the way home and I don't remember her chewing gum at Theresa's. So, I ask her if she is lying to me and she says like she is annoyed with me "No Mama - Theresa gave it to me!" and kind of rolls her eyes. Anyway, I let it go.

BUT - later that night I am picking up toys and I am putting away her princess shoes and I see something on them. I look a bit closer and I see it is a small bit of dried gum. Now maybe I am thinking way too much about this, but I DID give Emma gum yesterday and she WAS wearing her princess shoes yesterday.... is it possible that she put her gum in her shoes yesterday and then picked it up to chew it today? Goodness, I hope not... First of all, that is just gross! Second - would she think like that for being 2? I mean, I know she is advanced and everything (haha!) but do 2 year olds have that kind of throught process? "Hey - if I put my gum here, I can chew on it tomorrow?" Not sure...

We had a great weekend at the cabin. Tim was hunting on Saturday and we visited with Tim's family. We had yummy steak that night for supper and just relaxed. Sunday we went out for brunch and just lounged around again - not too shabby! I am enjoying my last 2 weeks at home with my little guy (sniffle.. sniffle..) But it will be okay. I cannot believe it is almost Thanksgiving!

Oh yes! Big news for my little guy - Evan rolled over TWICE on Friday! Once I would just call a fluke - but nope, he did it twice! He rolled from tummy to back. Kristen and the girls were here too and witnessed it also. I also gave him his own bath today in the little baby tub and he had a very nice time. It allowed him much more freedom than with me holding him in the big tub while Emma is in there also. Ahh - such changes for my little man.

That's all - peace out.

You're going to miss this

So, I am watching the CMA's right now - I really like that award show. Well, I really like to watch the singers perform. Trace Atkins just sang "You're going to miss this" and that song always makes me tear up, because it is true. All the little stuff with Emma and Evan - good and bad - I know I am going to miss. That is part of the reason I am taking an online class to document stories and moments. I want to try to remember everything... like how excited Emma was this morning when she woke up and saw the snow and wanted to make snow angels ... how Evan likes to hang onto my finger when he is eating and gently strokes my side with his little fingers.... how Emma looks up at me with her big blue eyes and tells me "Mama - you are the best." I am very, very blessed.

This has been a busy week. Emma's days at daycare were a bit off this week -she is going Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesday she had a lot of fun helping me and Tim's son Eric make apple pies. We really tried to include her as much as we could. At first she started helping peel apples, but that didn't really work out that well. So, after that she became the "official dishwasher." She was pretty excited about that and lasted about a half an hour until I looked over and saw her dipping her hair in the sink. After an "EMMA! What are you doing?!" (as I see her eyebrows are even wet!) She looks at me and says "Mama - I just have to get my hair wet. Just a little bit." Ergh.... Eric helped her bake her own little pie and she ate the whole thing for supper. She had a great time and I think Eric had a lot of fun too in the chaos of our house.

Today Evan had his 2 month appointment. The little guy was a trooper. He is 23.5 inches long (75%) and 11 lb 10oz (25%). No real concerns, may have a bit of acid reflux, but no medication or anything. All in all - a healthy little boy. WHICH- you will not believe! Last night he slept from 10pm to 5am!! yes, that prompted me to get up at 3:30am to make sure he was still breathing, but I couldn't believe it! The night before he was only up twice - please, let this be how is sleep will be going forward! It felt so good last night to get about 5 hours of sleep in a row! I haven't had that for weeks. Here are a few pics before the shots:



This weekend we are heading up to the cabin. This may be the last time there until about Christmas, so it should be nice. Hopefully relaxing!

Damn Packers.

That's right! I said it. Poor Aaron Rodgers had no pass protection today, our penalties were through the roof and we lost to the VIKINGS. Oh well, it was fairly close and at least I got the watch the game today! Both kids were sleeping and it was actually being shown on TV - many times the cities stations do not show the Packers.

We had a good weekend. Tim was hunting - left Friday and came back today - and we had my lovely aunt up for company! It is always nice seeing family and Emma loves playing with her - and it was nice to have the help when Evan was fussy. Although, he seems to be a bit better. We have his 2 month doctor appointment on Wednesday, so I will still ask about sleeping issues, but slowly I think he is getting better. Two month's old already - can you believe that? Here are some pics of my little guy on his 2 month birthday.


Emma is good too. A goof lately. She has been noticing me decorating the house for the upcoming holidays, so she decided that she should help decorate. Her addition?? Hair ties on the door knobs... About 4 or 5 of the doors in the house are decorated with hair ties. Funny - she puts them on the door knobs for decoration but not her hair. She also told me today when I was putting on her tights "Mama - sometimes you drive me crazy" Then she shook her head.

So - back to the Packer game. Tim was gone and I saw no harm in dressing the kids up for the game. He just can't get it that they are Packer fans. AND NO - I did not buy either of these outfits for them... they were gifts.

Don't they look happy to be wearing the good ole' Green and Gold?

We don't have much coming up for this week. I have a dentist appointment, Evan has a doctors appointment and I have to do a big grocery shopping run. Fun. I am hoping to get out and do a bit of shopping for myself. Buy some NON-maternity clothes for work.. sigh...work.

Have a happy week everyone!

Finally - it is over

The elections that is. No more ad's - no more mailings - no more phone calls. FINALLY! Now, you won't hear me talk a lot about politics as everyone has their own idea's and that is fine. But now we have a democratic president and majority in both sides, so let's get something done. Hopefully the change that Obama has promised will happen. Unfortunately I feel this means our taxes will rise with this change AND I am a little nervous with his lack of experience - but let's get something done. Now I pray for his family that they are kept safe.

Not much is going on here. I am relishing my last few weeks at home with my baby boy and working on his sleeping patterns. He only got up twice last nice - but that follows a night that he was up 4 times - every 2 hours about. That was rough. He has his 2 month check up on Friday, so I am going to talk to his pediatrician to see if he has any idea's. My little man is still sleeping now, so I am about to get my morning coffee and do some digi scraping. I have signed up for a digi-scrapping class so I have to go out today and get some supplies - but I am pretty excited about that. Something for me!

Big Candy Day and me time

Ah yes - the Halloween Festivities are over. But, what a fun day! The fun really started on Thursday when Emma and I made all the goodies for the next day. The cupcakes turned out great and the chocolate cut-out cookies were maybe the best cookies I have ever made - seriously... think a brownie in a cookie. Yup - they were THAT good! Emma had a lot of fun making the cut-out's - although it was truly an exercise in patience for me as we could only get a few cookies out of each roll since she would place the cutter smack-dab in the middle of the dough. Still though- fun.

Friday was a crazy day. Emma went to daycare in the morning for her Halloween party. Theresa said all the girls had a great time dancing to Halloween music and running around in their costumes. I bet they were pretty cute. After the party she came home to nap and then our party began. Evan pretty much just hung out for most of the day with me. To him, it was a normal day. Well, I guess there was a lot more craziness than normal. Here he is in the morning, enjoying the peace and quiet.
The neighbors came over mid-afternoon, then Emma woke up and the excited/anxious chatter started. Tim had the train all set and ready to go, so Kristen and I thought we should take it for a test drive. The girls had SO much fun - it just made them more excited for the rest of the family to come and for us to go out trick-or-treating. They decorated the "Boo Train" as it came to be called and then after a quick supper - they were ready to go. Unfortunately with all the madness, I never got a good picture of Emma in her costume -OR- her and Evan together. But, I am hoping in the next few days, I can get them in their outfits again and can snap a few. Anyway, Tim and Evan stayed home to hand out candy and the rest of us were off. I think in total there were 5 trick-or-treaters and 6 adults in the train with the kids and the train handled us all very well. We were out for about 1.5 - 2 hours and then came back. Here is Emma at home surveying all of her candy.
All in all it was a great day.

I guess I should mention a quick bit about pumpkin carving. Yup- we did it. Emma did not like taking all the "goo" out as we called it. She enjoyed coloring on them with markers - so that is what she did while I carved them. Nope, no pictures of the finished products, but they looked okay.


The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful. Yesterday Tim went hunting so the kids and I went to Durand. Kim and Andrew were still there, so Emma got to play with them some more (which she loves) and I got a bit of help. While I understand that Tim loves hunting, I am a bit frustrated that he has to be gone for weekends while I am at home. If Evan was a bit older and sleeping better, it would be different, but having a sleep deprived Mama sometimes isn't fair to the little ones. The next four weekends he will be preoccupied with hunting. Luckily today I got a bit of a breather and went out for brunch with my friend Katie and got an opportunity to have a nice workout. So, I am feeling a bit better and ready to take on another week.

I only have 4 more weeks left at home, then back to work. It will be good to have the extra cash for the holidays, but I know it will be hard. Thankfully it is only 3 days a week, so I am easing into it.

That's it. I need sleep.

The baking frenzy.

Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. For some reason, I am needing some sweetness in my life, so I have decided to do some baking. Plus - Emma and I are providing Halloween cupcakes to her daycare party tomorrow, so that is attributing to the madness. Today I have made Halloween cupcakes, a double batch of chocolate pudding and when I am done posting this I will be making roll-out chocolate cookies. YUM! Like I said before, apparently I am needing some chocolate - but hey, it is not like they give away chocolate on the streets. Oh wait - tomorrow they are :-)

This week has been good. Evan slept in his crib for the whole night yesterday - that is progress. He seems to like swaddling now. Yes, I have tried it before, but he seemed to not like it. As of yesterday, he likes it. It calms him right down now. Before he would get pretty pissed off. SO - he is starting to sleep better. -big sigh of relief! For the most part he is still napping in his carseat, but I have learned to deal with it. Plus, for the past few days we have been out running errands around 10ish or so, so he is already in his car seat. Then, he takes about a 2-4 hour nap. LOVES IT!

Emma is super excited for Halloween and I don't blame her - we have quite the day tomorrow. She has her daycare party tomorrow then tomorrow afternoon & evening, we are having a party here with her cousins. Both my sisters and children will be here, along with an aunt and cousin from Milwaukee. Oh - and Nana! So, we are having a Halloween train. Last year, we took the girls out in Tim's trailer behind the lawnmower. This year however, there is not enough room, so we borrowed a trailer from another neighbor to hook up also. So - we have one lawnmower and two trailers! It should be a lot of fun! Even Kristen and I are getting into it and are dressing up. I will be a witch - and no, I don't need the jokes :-) Thankfully it is supposed to be nice out so the girls don't have to be so bundled.

This past weekend we were up at the cabin for 3 days. A small vacation! Friday we hung out as it was pretty rainy up there and I watched the Sex and the City movie again (LOVE IT!) and finally did some some scrapbooking. I have been in the mood for that lately and have completed two pages and have many more swirling around in my head. Saturday I took the kids to visit a friend in Duluth. That was great! They have a little girl that is almost 2 - Lilly- and her and Emma had a great time running around.

Not much else is going on. I have a bunch of cute pictures, but for some reason, Photoshop is not working at the moment. Or yesterday either for that matter. HMMM.. weird.

Have a great Halloween everyone! Be safe and eat LOTS of candy!

A question to my readers

I have a question for my readers - I am needing to download songs to my MP3 player. What are the youngsters using to do that now days? I know about Napster - but is there any other site which I can legally purchase MP3's? I need good playlists for working out :-) yup, still motivated! Feel free to email or comment. THANKS!

Out of the mouth of Babes

As said by my little girl while we were outside playing at the farm:

Emma in an excited voice pointing at the cow yard: "Mama - there'a a polar bear down there!!"
My Mother trying to hide the laugh: "No Emma, that's a cow. It just doesn't have many black spots."
Emma: "Oh."

Live from the farm

Hello everyone - this post is coming to you live at the farm. We just got back from my Uncle Warren's auction and I have two sleeping children, which is very nice. Many will say that I should sleep also, but I actually got sleep last night, so I am not too tired. Evan has his good nights and his bad nights. Fortunately last night was a good one - he only got up twice to eat. He slept with me for most of it and even though he is so tiny, he tends to be a bed hog. He is a cuddle bug, which I like, but when I end up sleeping on the edge of the bed because he keeps inching closer and closer, it makes for some interesting sleep.

Tim is in South Dakota on his yearly pheasant hunting trip, so for my sanity, we came down to my parents so they can help out. Poor little Evan is still a tad on the fussy side, so it is nice to have some help with the older sister while I try to keep the little one happy.

Emma is still adjusting to the whole situation. Hopefully the adjustment period is done soon - some days are very hard. Last Tuesday night she had a TOTAL BREAKDOWN in Borders. Not sure what brought it on as we were there to buy her a book for going potty and when I tried to pick out my next selection for book club, she had the meltdown. Yup, my kid was the one screaming and kicking in the aisles. Lovely. Then I tried to pick her up, which led to more arms and legs flailing about. Needless to say I was totally MORTIFIED. So, I left all the books there (which really pissed her off) and carried her and pushed Evan out to the car. Thankfully the little guy was sleeping for most of it. Once to the car, she absolutely refused to sit in her car seat. After about 5-10 minutes of her screaming and crying, I call my husband as I was unsure of what to do. (with Emma screaming in the background "DON'T CALL MY DADDY!!!) In the end, I had to physically force her down so I could buckle her in. Needless to say while this was going on, I was pretty sure one of the other customers of Borders was going to accuse me of child abuse and call the cops. Seriously - I was worried about that! In this day, you never know. Thankfully child services has not been to our house.

Later that night, Tim got her to apologize to me and when I told her that I loved her, she looked at me with her big blue eyes and said, "you do, Mama?" Which almost made me cry. I hope she never doubted that, but to be honest, I was pretty frustrated with her throughout the whole ordeal. Terrible Two's....

After that, the rest of the week went well. I brought Evan to work on Wednesday to meet my group, which went really well. He cried a bit and I got the news that I have a new boss, new responsibilities, and my best friend at work was let go as she works in Duluth and all responsibilities will be in Minnetonka. What a shock! I told my boss he could have given me some warning first as I thought this was just a feel-good visit and not a "Kelly, sit down, we need to chat" visit.

We got to the farm on Friday after my 6 week post-partum. That went well. I got the okay to start working out... So - Jess, Eric, and John L. - time to start training for that triathlon, because I am ready! Hopefully the 4 of us will be doing the Lifetime Triathlon next year. The 3 people previously mentioned all said they would sign up if I did and I am ready :-) Now, If I can only find the time to work out...

The Farm trip is good. We went for 4 wheeler riders in the forest as Emma called it and visited the neighbor's gold fish. Tomorrow Emma is hoping for a combine ride and I think we are going to visit some other family members tonight. Tim is coming home tomorrow night, so it will be good to see him too. I told him he is going to be on baby duty after that, so he can try to get the little guy to sleep after having 3 nights away.

I should run, I am just babbling. I want to try and upload some pictures on Mom's computer.

My little man sleeps!

Finally - Praise the Lord - my little Evan sleeps! He only woke up twice last night! Plus, I fell asleep at 8:30 so I got some sleep. He is now sleeping in his crib (which he is doing better also!) so I am drinking my coffee, catching up on Lipstick Jungle, and hoping to do some digital scrapbooking! What a great morning so far - and it is only 8:00am!

I know I say this almost every post - but I love Fall! We had a great weekend enjoying the beautiful weather. Saturday we went to an Apple Orchard around here so Emma could pick some apples. She loves climbing around the little train that was there and seeing the animals, but most of all, she loved helping her Daddy pick some apples. She was so proud of herself and ate an entire apple on her own while we were out there. Normally I am not sure how fond she is of apples, she loved it there. Evan skipped out on the experience and slep for a total of 5 hours in his carseat. (yeah, why can't he do that in his crib? We are working on it...) We got back home and went for a nice walk, picked a whole bunch of raspberries, and then relaxed.

Sunday was Tim's graduation day, which was really nice! I am so proud of him - hopefully I will be the next one to get my MBA. Although, I know that is a few years away. Tim's family came in for the ceremony and then we went out to eat - all the while my Mom and neighbors watched the kids - it was really nice.

Damn - perfect morning interrupted with baby crying. Oh well, I got about a half an hour! I won't complain about that :-)

Pictures later when I have time.

Carrot-top? Seriously??

Can you believe that my baby boy is a MONTH OLD? (as of Tuesday that is) I cannot - the time has gone by so fast :-) Here is a look at what my little guy is all about at a month old:
1) Sleeping - not so good at this yet! I got a new book at the library about infant sleep patterns to see if I can figure anything out. I need something - this sleep deprivation isn't good for either of us.
2) Eating - pretty good eater, at least during the day. At night he falls asleep too fast to get a full belly (which I think is contributing to the sleep issues)
3) Playing - not so active yet and hasn't managed to dodge any of the toys that his big sister so thoughtfully throws at him :-)

4) Strength - he can hold his head up for awhile on his own and does pretty good for tummy time. He has started to rock back and forth like he wants to roll over, but hasn't quite managed that yet.
5) Smiling - has started smiling and it is ADORABLE!
6) Cooing - does this also and does a cute humming thing after he sneezes. It is hard to explain. You just have to see it!



That is about it - that sums up my Evan. We were at the grocery store yesterday and someone called him carrot-top. Okay, so his hair has some red in it, I would no where near describe it as carrot-top. But she was an elderly lady and I didn't have the heart to argue!

Today was a pretty good day. We managed to make it to story time in Woodbury for Emma. She did very well for that! The sister and I made it out for a beer and some chips w/ queso after the kids were down in bed. That was REALLY needed. I miss my "me" time.

Have a great weekend everyone! We are staying around here again and celebrating Tim's graduation from St. Mary's with his MBA on Sunday. A great accomplishment!

Honesty is the best policy

Said by my darling daughter tonight as I was trying to draw Boots (from Dora the Explorer) in sidewalk chalk on the driveway.

Me: "Hey Emma - how does Boots look?"
Emma: "No Mama - that's not Boots. Doesn't even look like Boots. Not at all!"

Gee - thanks kid.

The Party in Emma's room

Yesterday evening I was in Evan's room changing a diaper or something like that when all of a sudden Emma rushes in and with her excited voice says, "Mama - you coming to my party?" My reply: "Well, Emma - where is the party?" "It's in my room- you comin'?" Me: "What are we going to do?" Emma: "Well, just sit and relax." I am thinking that this sounds exactly like the party I am in the mood for at the moment, so of course, I reply "Sure Emma - be right over!" Her face lights up and she says, "okay Mama, see you later!" She slams the door and is out.

I go downstairs to see if Tim is also attending, which he is, so we come up with Evan and knock on her door. She proudly opens the door and then sits down in her princess chair. "So, Emma, what should we do?" Emma: "Ummm - dance?!" So Tim, Evan, and I start dancing. She tells us that she cannot dance because it is her party, but laughs when we dance. And, that was pretty much the extent of her party, but I thought it was pretty cute. All in all - it lasted about 5 minutes, but it was a pretty fun party.

Everything is going okay here. Evan seems to be sleeping a little better at night now and I don't feel as tired during the day. He is having a hard day today, but is now asleep and has been for about an hour, so I am pretty happy! I put some clothes away and am about to vacuum before he wakes up. Emma is good - her normal crazy self. She was very happy the other day at Target as we bought her "ballet slippers." She got 10 stickers for going potty, so she got to pick out a little treat. She has been talking about dance class and getting ballet slippers for a long time now, so we decided to treat her to ballet slippers. They are shiny red and look like Dorothy's ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz. That kid refuses to take them off and is constantly dancing and jumping, and spinning so her pretty dresses spin. She would love to be enrolled in dance class, but both Tim and I agree not yet. Her dancing at home is enough for now.

That's all for now. I hope to get a good picture of Emma and her ballet slippers soon.

What's a Mom to do?

Happy Saturday everyone! We had a lovely day which included errands, putting up Fall/Halloween Decorations outside and a yummy supper of Hamburgers (or Handabears as Emma calls them), French Fries and a chocolate-ore0 malt. Which is, yes, my favorite meal.

I am in the house by myself at the moment with a crying Evan in his crib and a sleepy Emma in her bed. (I take that back, Emma just got out of her bed and I just heard her open up Evan's door. She is a very concerned big sister!) Okay, Trip #1 upstairs to comfort Evan and put his NUK back in his mouth. Emma came downstairs where I am typing this and tried to tell me that Evan woke her up - nice try kid, but I am not buying it!

Nothing too much is going on here, just thought I would post some new pictures of Evan that I took yesterday.

Evan just started crying AGAIN! I am really not sure what to do with that one. He just cannot sleep at night in his crib or bassinet and it is starting to drive me crazy - with lack of sleep that is! Now he is down with me and I am one-handed typing - so this post is now going to be short! Any advice, let me know.

Happy Birthday Tim!

Happy Birthday Tim! I just got done making a cake for him. A pretty hands on cake if I do say so myself. Now, maybe I was just hoping that when I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he would say something simple like white with chocolate frosting. Or, even better than that - a cake from Cub. No such luck. He wanted a Pecan Praline cake- which involved making a carmel pecan sauce, a Devils Food cake and homemade whip cream. Yummy?? Definitely! Time consuming - you betcha! So, I got up while Evan was still asleep this morning (which I wished I would be also :-) to start the process. He was pretty good while I made the main part, only fussed for a little while. I was hoping I could find my sling so he could hang out while I made it, but I am not sure where that went too. Now, just the frosting has to be made and I will wait for Emma to come home from daycare to decorate it.

No big plans for the big day. Presents and cake - plus a nice steak dinner tonight after work. I am thinking Emma, Evan, and I will stop on the way home from daycare to pick up some decorations. Emma will love that!

Evan is currently sleeping in his crib - and has been for about 15 minutes. That means he should be waking up anytime now - ha! Emma is starting to get a cold- hopefully it will not be a bad one AND I or Evan will not get it.

After that, not much is new. I just wanted to send a shout out to my husband on his b-day!

Click Clack Moo...

A conversation between Emma and Tim today on the way to Theresa's: (as told by Tim tonight at supper)

Tim: "Em - are you excited to go to Theresa's today?"
Emma: "Yup - one more Tesa Day. Then, Nana & Papa Day. Know what? Nana and Papa have Click Clack Moo. Click Clack Moo. Clickety Clack Moo. I had that book, but now it at the library. Next time I at the library, I get it back. I like Click Clack Moo."

I thought that was so cute! She LOVES the book. She loves the library too. The Woodbury and Lake Elmo libraries have story time on Thursdays and Fridays so I am going to start bringing her to that. She seems very excited about that too. The first one is this Thursday, but she decided we could go to Nana & Papa's that day instead of Story Time. But, she did have to think about it first. So - for the family back home - we will be in Durand this Thursday. Hopefully we can see everyone so Evan can meet the family down there!

We had Evan's hearing test yesterday and it went just fine and he passed with flying colors - Whew! He is doing great. Getting slightly crabbier in the evening and is having some difficulty sleeping in his crib. Not at night as much, but during the day. I lay him down and then 10 minutes later he is up again - sooner if he loses his NUK. Yup he loves the Nuk still. So, I have been working with him during the day to fall asleep in his crib. So far, not working. He had his first bottle tonight and took it without even flinching. Tim said he didn't even hesitate, just starting drinking. Yup, that's my big boy for you! We wanted to start him early with the bottle so we wouldn't have a situation like we had with Emma when she was starting daycare. She refused the bottle and it really stressed me out. Finally, she did take it, but it took a lot of coaxing on Tim's part. (picture from earlier today)


The weekend was good. We went to the cabin on Friday and Saturday. Saturday night was a girl's night at Axel's and that was fun! I came home to this:
Emma found some tulle from a package we got for Evan and was using it as her veil. She would play Cinderella and would whip that around on her head and dance and dance. Then she kept saying, "When I get older, I get married. I wear pretty shoes and pretty dress and eat Yummy cake! I marry Prince Charming." (yup, you can tell what Mommy thinks are the important parts to the wedding -shoes, dress, and cake!) Then, I ask who her Prince Charming is and she always says with a big smile, "My Daddy!"

Here are the two together. I was cooking supper tonight and Emma was playing with her ball. Then I hear her say, "I play hot potato with my baby brother." Which prompts me to leave the kitchen quickly to investigate. She cannot for him to be big enough to play. If her and I are coloring or playing play dough, she will run over to where he is sitting and tell him what we are doing so he is in the loop. She is a very good big sister - well, she has good intentions anyway. It's a good thing I caught her in time before she threw the ball to him tonight though...

Just call him Bruiser

Well, we had Evan's 2 week appointment today and let's just say I had nothing to worry about with the little guy's weight. He has gained almost a pound and a half! Yeah Evan! That makes me feel a lot better. Not that I was seriously concerned about the little guy, but it is always nice to know that he is doing okay. Better than okay actually! He is up to 9 lbs 7 oz (up from 8# 1oz at birth) and has grown a quarter of an inch. Both of those are at the 75% percentile. Not that I really care about that, but thought I would report. The appointment I am most concerned about is scheduled for next Monday. He failed the newborn hearing test at the hospital on his left ear, so we need to do a recheck. His pediatrician told me it is nothing to worry about as sometimes newborns have fluid in their ears from birth that can affect the test. Thanks for that, but I am still worried. Anyway, say a small prayer for me and Evan that everything is fine!

I am slowly getting into Jon & Kate Plus 8. Especially being home during the day now and that daytime TV is total crap- I have been watching their show and find it quite amusing. However, Tim did the unthinkable last night and cancelled my TIVO request to tape their new episode! Seriously?! I know!!! - isn't there a rule about that? He was up late canning spaghetti sauce last night ( I even thought to tape the 11pm airing so that it wouldn't disrupt our normal TV time) so was up later than usual and wanted to watch something else - UGH! It was an episode showing their history together and before the sextuplets and stuff, so I thought it would be pretty interesting. BUT, I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Still kind of ticked about it, because God forbid I delete one of his weird Alien shows or something like that. Anyway, I guess I am over it now.

What else? I have some fun girl time coming up! Friday my friend Jess and her daughter Keira are coming over for a playdate and to meet Evan. Then on Saturday night we are getting together with another friend Heidi for Mom's night out! YEAH! I need girl time AND time away from the kids and my husband. I wouldn't trade my maternity time off from work for anything, but that doesn't mean I don't need a time-out from the kids for awhile. On Saturday we are going out to eat in Woodbury, so it should be nice. Tim and I are talking about going to the cabin Friday night to Saturday, but we will see when he is done with work that day.

And, I will leave you all with the typical conversation between Emma and Evan.
--The Scene: Evan laying on a blanket in the living room and Emma is wedged as close as possible to the poor little defenseless baby.

Emma: (in an excited and louder than necessary voice) "Hey Little Guy! Hey Sweetie! I LOVE you! Hey Little Man!" (now kissing his cheeks and his little head repeatedly)
Evan: (clearly uncomfortable and wanting to get away, but does not have the ability to move yet) starts whimpering
Emma: (in a slightly louder and more excitable voice) "Hey Champ! hey Pal! LOVE YOU!" (she follows this up with yet more kisses and hugs)
Evan: (Still uncomfortable and how the whimpering has evolved into small cries)
ME: "Emma - use an indoor voice and give him some space! You are too close."
Emma: "But Mama - I LOVE my baby brother!" and now to Evan: "Hey Little Man! Love you!"
Evan: (now in a full blown cry)
Emma: (Very loud and now jumping up away from Evan) "MAMA! Evan wants you! Evan needs you! Evan needs his Mama!"

Now - this happens about 4-5 times every day at least. It is nice that Emma loves her brother and affectionately calls him all the nicknames we call him at one time. However, she just doesn't understand (after numerous attempts on Tim and my part) that her sometimes loud voice and constant touching isn't good for Evan and can make him uncomfortable.

With that, Good night!

Finding the balance

Between Emma and Evan - sleep and no sleep - good vs. evil. Well, not really good vs. evil, but definitely with the first items. Life is good here. Emma still loves her baby brother and her attitude is starting to come around quite a bit. She is just a little nut lately, which has been a lot of fun - but still very stubborn. Yesterday she was insistent on going to pick raspberries right before supper. Tim and I didn't want too, they had just been picked and Evan was fussy - so she trotted down the stairs with her stuffed dog Tazzy and made her way all the way to the garden. She kept looking back to see if we were following, but no, just shaking our heads and laughing. She did turn back around, but she made her point :-) The little monkey unfortunately had a bad dream on Saturday evening, which caused trauma in the little ones life. The only thing Tim and I could get out of her was that it was raining really hard. Why that scared her, I don't know - but something freaked her out. She snuggled into our bed to try and make herself feel better. When I tried to tickle her because she was sucking her thumb, she just looked at me with her big blue eyes with tears coming down and said, "Mama, I just need to suck my thumb now." Enough said. I am trying to think of other Emma-isms as I know there are a lot. She has been saying some really funny stuff lately, but right now, I seem to be drawing a blank.

Last week with just her, Evan, and I went a lot better than I expected. She really has been acting a lot better about Evan being around. We went to Teddy Bear Park in Stillwater on Thursday, which she loves. I had Evan in the sling (yup, I forgot how much I LOVE the sling) and he slept the entire time we were there. Emma had a great time running around and playing on the trains. It was a lot of fun. I have really been trying to make things as they have always been in our lives. Trips to the park, playing outside, etc, even with me being exhausted and Evan demanding my time. I try to do that for Emma so she doesn't resent Evan and so her routine is the same. However, I always sneak in naps when Emma and Evan nap, which is how I keep going! Friday we just hung around the house and played Little People, played outside, but still had a great day. Emma still has to shower Evan with hugs and kisses which is nice. She was leaning over him one day and when I asked what she was doing I got a " I am going to pick him up Mama!" Which prompted me to immediately drop what I was doing and head on over there. I have been having talks with her about what is appropriate and what is not with Evan. However, that is a work in progress.

Here are Evan pictures which my sister took in her studio. I think they turned out great, even with Nuk's in some of the pictures. So tiny and very cute :-) He has been sleeping good -some nights for about 4 to 5 hours at time! However, last night was pretty rough. He was up about every 2 hours, went through 2 pairs of pajama's and refused to sleep in his cradle. Tim was wearing ear plugs as Evan is a very loud sleeper, so he slept through most of it. He did finally settle down around 8am, which allowed us both to get some nice sleep. However, I am getting pretty drowsy now. Anyway, here are the pic's. I will try to do better with updating more frequently, but honestly, I haven't even read other peoples blogs the past week - which for me is really odd!