William is 6 Months Old…

If it is even possible the last 6 months since William was born have flown by sooo fast!  It has been crazy busy, slightly chaotic, always busy and more wonderful than anyone could have ever told us.  Seeing our 3 kiddos grow and change and learn together has been amazing.  William is in awe of his brother and sister and is so incredibly loved and smothered by them!  They both always want to be with him, touch him, kiss him, and hold him while he is awake.  The other day I found Elin had snuck into our room while he was napping and when I scooped her up she said “awe Mom it is just so hard to wait for William to wake up!”  Without a doubt this little squish has completed our family and filled our hearts where I didn’t know there was a void to fill. 

William is getting wigglier by the day.  He is now sitting by himself, rolling from tummy to back (still needs help back to tummy) and moves himself around in a circle.  He can also move himself backwards and squeals when he can’t get himself to go forward.  He has found a new love for his toes and loves to check them out.  His hands are always in his mouth, if not his hands it usually is something else.  He is reaching and grabbing for everything and seems pretty pleased with his new “big boy” status and being able to go into the exercaucer. 

William is a pretty content little guy and we are seeing more and more of his personality emerge.  He has a pretty long fuse, so if he starts to get upset he will squeal and tell you about it long before he gets to the crying stage.  Some large noises (toilet flushing in public restroom, kids or parents being too loud) have started to scare him, and if scared he still has the cutest saddest cry every.  He is starting to vocalize/scream to talk and get your attention.  He has a particular shriek he uses to call for me.  I love that I have figured out that this sound is him wanting my attention, and he is also really excited about it.  We have been playing a back and forth game with hid and seek with this shriek too.  He is also playing some back and forth games with his tongue and will stick it out at you.   Smiles are never hard to come by when William is around, he has the most contagious smile and loves flashing his gummy grin.

William still doesn’t have any teeth, but I swear he is working on cutting the bottom 2.  I could be crazy, but it looks and feels like they are right there under the gum line.   He has just started to show an interest in food.  I will be honest his 6 month mark snuck up on us and we have yet to really think much about giving him food.  At this point with Thomas when we introduced food his reflux spiraled out of control  again, so I have been really hesitant to try on that front as well.  We have given him a few small bites of banana here and there and he seems to wonder what we are doing.  We will probably try pears or sweet potato next and go from there.  He is a great eater and will nurse thought the day (I think every 2-3 hours) and then sometimes is up every 2-3 hours at night or sometimes it’s a 6-7 hour stretch, as long as he eats and goes right back to bed, I’m not going to complain!

William was 15 lbs and 4 oz and 26 and 1/4 inches long.  It was also nice to have him in as he and the other two kiddos have been sick with colds.  The doctor noticed he had a slight ear infection and wanted us to start ear oil and wait and see if it resolved before antibiotics…two sad baby wake ups (after nap and after he went to sleep) and we started antibiotics.  His doctor was otherwise impressed with where he was developmentally. 

A Week of Park Adventures…

It has been a week without rain, for the most part, so we have been getting outside as much as possible. 

Getting cooped up in the house, especially when it gets dark at 4:45 p.m. is hard.  Typically the kiddos are just getting up, so the early darkness makes the nights feel so long.

Anywhoo, thought I would share some of our pitures and a few videos.

Here is Thomas starting his lawn mower that he insisted come over to the park with us.

Soccer superstar!  Especially when there is no one playing defense or goal keeping.

Who is walking who???

Digging in the sand

Little Punky’s teeth have been “kickin her buns in the sleep department.”  She has been the queen of cat naps this week.  On this walk/park outing she was able to sleep bundled up in her front carrier for an hour and a half straight…ahhmazing!

Elin’s on the move

Elin is on the move.  She is crawling everywhere and now is pulling herself up to stand whenever she has the opportunity.  She is pretty pleased with herself and she is very vocal about it.  I can’t help but giggle when she is talking to and laughing at how awesome she thinks she is.       

She also thinks it is great because she can keep up with her brother now and see what he is up to. This also means that she has now had the opportunity to hurt herself. Boo, she has had a few bonks and no matter how hard we are trying to keep ourselves next to her the little stink goes down too fast for us sometimes.

He big brother what are you doing up here?

Hi, Mama, is it time to eat now?

 

Ouch, a bonk after getting stuck on top a toy when we were suppose to be sleeping.  You can also see her bottom teeth and top “vampire” teeth that just cut through her gums. 

6 months

Elin is 6 months.
In record speed 6 months has passed since Elin entered our lives.
This little bundle of spunk and snuggles continues to melt our hearts (and everyone else's) with her contagious smile. She really is a very happy girl.
So what's new in her world? Well she is on the go, she can army crawl fast and has started to "crawl" crawl on her hands and knees. The little stinker is trying to keep up with her brother. She loves to play with toys on her belly and puts every single thing in her mouth. 
Speaking of which she has 2 bottom teeth and is working on her top 4 middle teeth right now. She continues to be a very vocal little girl and has figured out that a loud grunt/growl will get your attention. So this is a new fun back and forth game we play all play together.  She loves to babble and scream.  She is quite the flirt when she is out and about, always flashing a big smile for anyone willing to give her the time of day.  She loves to snuggle and get kisses on the cheek or neck.  She is taking 1 or 2 morning naps and then a long afternoon nap.  The long nap she gets to snuggle up with me while I catch up on the blog or sneak in a nap in between she and Thomas.  Nights are pretty good with her getting up a few times to eat.  Sometimes she decides that she wants to get up and play for an hour in the wee hours of the morning.  Thankfully, that seems to be consistent with her needing to go poop or her teeth bothering her. 

She has been eating small amounts of food and is really pleased she is sitting in her big girl high chair. She has tried and likes bananas, roasted pears, sweet potatoes and avocado.
At her 6 Month Well Baby visit her Doctor was very pleased with all her developmental statistics.  She was 26.5 inches long and 17 lbs 7 ounces.

Stella and Elin

These two girls are trying to figure the other out.  One afternoon when Thomas was sleeping the Littlest and Biggest girls had some alone play time.  Elin thinks it is pretty cool that she can get around and check out this big puppy!  She is particularly fond of Stella’s paws and ears.

Halloween

Halloween 2010 was a fun and equally exhausting day!  We started the day off by heading down the street to the park.  Thomas loved swinging, playing in the bubble mirror, and going down the slide.

 

 After the park, Thomas and Stella took  a nap, and Mike and I seized the opportunity to start our fall yard work.  Just as I had finished digging up my bulbs, the naps were over and we needed to get back into Halloween mode.  We got ready and headed over to the Highlands Neighborhood for Trick Or Treat Street.  As parents of a kiddos not old enough to eat candy, we made a group decision to get our treats in a local establishment watching the Vikings game.  

After the game, we were off to our house to find our ”lion.”  After stopping by a couple houses in the neighborhood, we handed out candy for about 20 minutes before Thomas crashed.  Then we were the house that had a bowl of candy and sign that read “ help yourself, sleeping baby!”  It just as easily could have read “baby sleeping, parents exhausted, go away :-)”

Hope everyone had a great Halloween and is recovered from their sugar hangovers.

 

 

 

Minnesota

Thomas and I went for a long weekend in Minnesota.  Mike and Stella also got a “vacation”  and went  fishing/camping and hung out with “the guys.” 

Thomas was a trooper on the plane-AGAIN!  I am wondering when our luck is going to run out…

We got in on Wednesday morning and had time with Grandma Laschen, Great Grandma Robertson, and Auntie Katie and Auntie  Mo.   First, we went over to the Laschen’s to get settled and have breakfast.  After that we were off to visit Great Grandma Robertson, before stopping in at Oh Baby.  Thomas got a cute outfit, shirt,  giraffe lovey, and some books.  Goodnight Minnesota, is now a new favorite! 

After a fun day with the Laschen’s, Thomas was NOT READY to get into the car and head up to Cloquet.  It was a trying trip, that reminded me why I am terrified of road trips and Thomas!  We finally arrived and after a little playing with Grandma and Grandpa Thomas was exhausted.  So off to bed he was, Grandpa even fell asleep :-)

Thursday we had a great morning playing and catching up, then we were off to my mom’s chemotherapy session.   It has been difficult for me to be so far away during all her treatments, so I am very glad that I got to go with her to one.  It is easy for me to say that the “chemo” seemed so easy!  My mom does a great job of putting on a strong face and is kicking cancers ass.  We all knew that cancer picked the wrong lady!  I

 

 

 

 

 

know that beating this disease has not been “easy.”   However, my mom makes it look easy as she fights this nasty disease with courage, determination, and huge heart.   On November 11th, my mom will finish her chemo, thus beginning the next phase in her treatment,  radiation.

Thomas had a great time hanging out and being a flirt and playing with grandpa  in the lobby.   I snuck a few pictures of him sitting on the window ledge with the lift bridge in the background.  The hospital has a great view of the lake.

On Thursday night Thomas and I stopped over for a quick play date with Jack, Olivia, and Ryanne.   Jack and I played catch, and then the kids looked at each other and “played” a bit.   

 

     

Friday we made a quick stop at grandpa’s office.  It is so funny-Thomas really has his grandpa wrapped around his finger!   Grandpa even let him crawl all over his blueprints without blinking an eye!   After taking some pictures behind the desk we were off to meet more friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is when the semi organized chaos started.  At one point there were 6 kids and 6 adults in our living room. 

Friday night Tiffany came up for the weekend.  Her kiddos, Ben and Hallie, and her husband, were nice enough to let her “off duty” for the weekend.  Friday night we relaxed at my parents and caught up. 

Saturday we headed into Duluth, so we could do a little shopping.  Grandma McConachie took her turn in spoiling Thomas and got him some new clothes.  Little did we know Grandpa was also doing a little shopping of his own.  Apparently, at least he tells us this, he has been looking for a new shotgun and just happened to find it and buy it for Thomas.  Grandpa told Thomas he will test it out for him until he is older and then it will be his.  He is a lucky little guy with four grandparents that love him to pieces!

Saturday night we also stayed in and relaxed.  A good friend from college, Brooke,  also came to meet Thomas and catch up.  Tiffany also got in some snuggle time with the little guy!  It just so happened that our vacation to Minnesota coincided with him cutting his top 4 teeth.  Mike even joked and said “don’t come home until his teeth are through.”   Needless to say,  Thomas love all the extra attention and snuggles!

Sunday we headed back to Woodbury to get more time in with the Laschen’s before flying back home.  Grandpa and Grandma Laschen babysat so that Katie, Mo, and I could sneak off for a mani/pedi.  Thomas was also able to meet Avery.  Avery is one of Katie and Mo’s friends daughter, who is just like family.   Avery had a great time playing with “baby Thomas.” 

Then it was time to head home.  Mike/Daddy and the animals were very excited to see us return.  Again, Thomas flew great :-)  He slept most of the flight and didn’t wake up until he heard me tell some friends I bumped into that we were waiting for Daddy to come get us.  Then he was all eyes searching the airport!   It was so good to see everyone, even though the trip was too short (they always are)! 

Pumpkin Patch

This year we decided to start a tradition to go get our pumpkins at the pumpkin patch.  The  first annual pumpkin patch adventure was a huge success.  We headed up to the “patch” and saw that it was lines of cars and fields of both people and pumpkins.  We both asked ourselves what were we getting into.  However, we were nicely surprised at how well the Rock Creek Farm was run.  There were pumpkin patches, farm mazes, and farm animals galore!

After hunting out and sawing off our pumpkins we were off on our animal adventure. I have to admit, I have been waiting my whole life to have and “excuse” to meet all the animals.  This way I am not the creepy adult in the petting zoo area!  It was fun to watch Thomas’ reactions to the animals, which was just starting in awe.  He was not afraid of the GIANT horses, which I thought he might be, and gladly reached out to try to pet them.  He was also able to see a baby cow, pigs, sheep, goats, ducks, and rabbits.  At home we made our special picture pumpkin…Thomas was not sure what he thought of our idea!  We had about 5 minutes to get our pictures before we had to have the great pumpkin escape!  The cute pictures were totally worth our effort!  Even if Thomas might be embarrassed someday!