William is 8 Months Old…

Once again I am writing and wondering how the time has gone so quickly and we have moved on to the next month with William.  With the addition of time, William’s personality continues to develop and we enjoy learning more about who he is every day.   William is a charmer and loves to flash big grins at anyone and everyone.  Every once in awhile he will meet someone who he is unsure of and then he will let you know it with the cutest sad face we have ever seen.  The most recent time this happened was at Elin’s ENT visit, the doctor was obviously too close, and William wanted nothing to do with it.  He screamed something fierce and then would tuck his head away hoping that the doctor, who was extremely enduring and pleasant, would quickly disappear.  When he hadn’t the screaming and crying would continue and the cycle continued until the said doctor was across the room.   Otherwise he is really a pretty chill little dude.   He really just loves being around and with us.  He is very good about vocalizing his needs and his fuse is a bit longer than we remember with Thomas and Elin.  He also looks at the for their cues, so as long as they are ok, he knows he should be too. 

William loves his big brother and sister so much!  He lights up when they are in the room and always wants to be doing what they are doing.  They get so excited any time William is doing something “for the first time.”  Helping him out is something they both love doing.  Honestly trying to keep them from smothering him with too much love and attention and “giving him space” is a big thing right now. 

William is a mover just like Thomas and Elin were.  After several weeks of being able to rock on his hands and knees and take a single arm forward he is crawling away.  We are all so proud of him and this has allowed him to get where he wants to go much quicker!  He is so close to pulling himself up and tries to do so on the couch or ottoman.  The kid has a twinkle in his eye saying I need to keep up with Thomas and Elin!  

William has 4 teeth now!  His top left middle and 2nd incisors came in and his right side doesn’t seem far behind.  He has still been trying different foods although he is not quite sure they are suppose to be in his mouth.  He still likes nursing and is happily doing so. Sleep is still something he is good at, unless his teeth are bothering him.  Most nights he takes a quick cat nap while the big kids go to sleep and then when the house is quiet he gets his own time with Mommy and Daddy.  He then goes back to sleep between 9-10.  His schedule is pretty flexible and really depends on what is happening that day.  If we are out and about he will try to take a quick morning nap, so he doesn’t miss the action.  If we are home he will usually get a 2 hour morning nap in.  In the afternoon he typically has a long 2-3.5 hour nap, which if we are home is nice for me to get stuff done and the big kids to get some mama only time. 

Things he really likes are: baths, crawling, swinging, his brother and sister, the cats, snuggling and getting kisses. 

A week in our life…

Bridget snuck some pictures of me snuggling Elin while we were in Denver.  I have to be honest, when I am behind the camera a lot some of these “every day things” seem to sneak by us.  I am more often than not in my “mom clothes” so looking presentable is also a plus!  So I am always glad when I have pictures with me and the kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I am on an airplane, this is AWESOME!

Thomas rocking his head bands.  He at the present moment likes them more than Elin does.  He likes to wear between 1-3 at a time.

Stella and her buddies Luna and Rupert.  Stella had a great staycation at Auntie Kristie’s house with her buds.

Thomas was glad to be home and so was Stella

Rocking her pretty pink shirt that says “Grandma’s Girl” from Nana Kathy while I cook dinner.

Carrots that I just pulled out of our garden for Chicken Noodle Soup, in JANUARY!

Elin has been taking longer and longer naps which leaves Thomas and I some alone quiet time.  He loves to work on his giant dinosaur puzzle or his smaller car/truck/train/fire engine puzzles.

Who wouldn’t rock undies and cowboy boots while working on their tool bench?

Sleepy Stells

Sick baby girl…We had a not so fun week of a stomach bug.  The picture on the left shows just how cute she looked snuggled up.  Holding onto her favorite chew toy.  The picture on the left was while I was waiting for more puke.  Poor peanut.

New book shelves in Elin’s room. Saw this on Pinterest, I am so addicted to that site.  15 minutes a day and my mind is filled with ideas!

Thomas showing you his best “sad face.”

Sibling love…or well hmmm….

Bath bubble princess

Elin is 8 months

Time is quickly going by and Elin seems to be growing up quick, too quick for her own good sometimes. She continues to be a really happy, smiley, bright eyed little girl. Her great grandmother, Nana Banana, calls her her little bright eyes and we all think it is a perfect fit.  Elin is down right happy to be around and is content to do whatever, which typically means hanging out with Thomas and doing whatever he lets her.

Speaking of her brother, Elin is down right crazy about him, I say this every month but it is so true! She continues to want to be just like him and loves playing with him on his train table or with his toys/trucks. Sharing is a work in progress and just the last few days she has started to "yell/scream" at him or us if she is upset or a toy is taken and she wants it back. She is going to need to be able to stick up for herself with him around.
In general she is pretty happy to talk or sing your ear off. I have a feeling she inherited the talking gene from her mommy! She loves to bounce around the kitchen, or anywhere else, that has music playing.   She will wave “hi” and is starting to do the same for “bye,” will say “mama” and “dada” and has a lot of babble sounds in her growing vocabulary.  She also has a very loud and high pitch scream that she uses to get your attention and tell you to fix it now or else.

She has been crawling everywhere and cruising along furniture now for most of the month and loves her ability to get around. She also loves to play in a kneeling or semi kneeling/bum siting position or with her legs off to the side.  She's still getting the hang of walking behind toys, but the grin on her face can't fool how awesome she thinks she is while trying to do so.
She has also figured out how to get herself down from standing without just needing to let go and plop.  Such a relief and makes her standing and cruising along furniture much less dangerous.  She has also found a new love for crawling up and down small things such as her chair, boxes, up and onto the trampoline and the stairs.  She just maybe able to keep up with Thomas before we know it.

She continues to enjoy trying new foods and has found a new love for "drinks" of water and tastes of our food. This is how Mike describes her eating one of our foods, she goes in for a huge bite, gets a crumb, then chews like she has a giant mouth full. I have started to give her soft finger foods and she thinks they are ok. She still likes mostly puréed or chunky purées of food. (Side note-she and Thomas couldn't be more opposite eaters at this age he wanted nothing to do with “baby food”-here I am so thankful for my background in feeding therapy!). Neither of the kiddos had/have anything wrong I just find that my background helps me see what they might like, understand more of what is going on, and be able to see what we should try to feed next. 
The last time I had Elin into the doctor I mentioned her bruises. With the kiddos being fair skinned it seems that any type of scratch/bump/bruise looks really terrible. Anyway, she suggested I increase my intake of Iron and start feeding Elin some iron rich foods. I haven't noticed much of a change but Elin sure likes having meat (turkey, chicken, beef) in her diet. She has now had many different foods but her favorites are: banana, pears, oatmeal, small pieces of bread, carrots, spinach n pears, butternut squash and sweet potatoes. 
E is still taking between 2 and 3 naps a day. Which are pretty flexible depending on how the day is working out. She continues to sleep the longest if she is being held or is sleeping in "her spot" next to me for naps.  At night she goes to bed between 7-8:30 and then sleeps waking a few times to eat and waking up for the day between 7:30-8. We still have fluke nights here and there where she will be up for 45 minutes between 2-4 a.m., but we have found that is usually due to a wet diaper, toots, or other tummy/teeth troubles. Thank goodness because those nights make me soo tired, Mike too!

No new teeth this month and she has 7 total (4 top and 3 bottom) and we are holding off on our trip to the doctor until after we get home from Denver next week.

Christmas

Christmas was a total adventure of travel this year.

It started off flying back to MN late on Tuesday the 21st.  We got back to Mike’s parents house about midnight.  Thomas was a stellar little flyer and zonked out before the plane even took off.    After some late night visiting we were off to bed.

Wednesday we woke up and visited before getting some news on the job front.  Both Mike and his sister Katie had been offered jobs with Coca Cola.   On Wednesday evening we went to dinner at the St. Paul Grill to celebrate.   Thomas was a trooper at our 3.5 hour meal, with the exception to not wanting to miss out and go to sleep.

Thursday I was able to sneak over to Tiffany’s house for a play date with Ben and Hallie.  She also has pictures from our visit on her blog here.  Thursday night we were all surprised to learn that Don, Katie’s boyfriend, was going to propose to her!    After taking her dad to lunch to ask for her hand in marriage, he let him in on the details.  Don wanted to surprise Katie and have her family there following his proposal.  After having dinner with his family he told Katie they were going to meet a friend for a drink.  It just so happened that the place they were meeting was where they had met on a street corner by chance 2 years earlier.  After the proposal the newly engaged couple returned to The Capital Grill to celebrate with their families.   Grandma and Grandpa McConachie were on their way to pick up my brother and his fiance Molly (Troy proposed to her the Sunday before Christmas while they were at their apartment opening presents) at the airport, so they stopped in and offered to snuggle the Ganoosh while we snuck a way.   Mike and I are both very excited about the engagements and can’t wait to celebrate at their weddings in 2011!

Welcome to Christmas Eve morning!   We started to get ready for dinner, finished wrapping presents, and then got ready for afternoon mass.    Dinner was a celebration of Christmas, new jobs, and the new engagement.  After dinner we opened a few presents and then played Laschen Family Trivia.  This year Mo, Don, and Pat’s team won. 

Christmas morning we were up early, 6 a.m. early, so that Mike and I could take off for Fargo.  We opened presents  and then we were on the road.   Thomas  slept until we had to stop for gas, then played for a bit, cried for about 20 minutes and then went back to sleep until we got to my Grandma’s house.   Mike and I were pleasantly surprised about how well this trip went.  When we got to my grandma’s it was time for lunch.   After eating and unwinding, we needed to make a quick trip to urgent care to get an infection Thomas had checked out.  All was well and after a in and out visit it was back to open presents.  Thomas had a blast playing with his second cousin’s Averi and Noah.  

That night we had a little get together in our hotel room and were able to catch up with Troy and Molly and my parents.  Thomas was also able to show off all his toys and crawling skills.

Sunday we got up went over to my grandma’s house and then the drive to Cloquet started.  To our amazement, Thomas slept almost the entire way, and we just kept driving!  He woke up with 20 minutes left.  Ahh success, only 1 more road trip to go and Mike and I were both thrilled with how he had done thus far.  In Cloquet, we opened more presents and then relaxed. 

Monday it was more relaxing and playing with our new toys.  Then we took Thomas out in his snowsuit for the first time.  To our surprise he liked the snow, he even crawled around in it.  After a short trip in Cloquet we were off to Woodbury again.  We packed up and took off.  Thomas slept the whole way again!

After dinner and packing up we went to bed, 4 a.m. was coming much too early.  Then it was back to Denver with a quick flight back home. 

WHEW!  Christmas was exhausting.  Seeing our families is always amazing, but too short.  We were blessed this year to celebrate our first Christmas as a family with our families.  We hope that you all had a good Christmas as well! 

Hanging out with Ben and Hallie

Over Christmas Tiffany and I have a tradition of getting together to see one another.  Over the years, I have been able to always see her babies open Christmas presents and this year was OUR kids opening presents.  Thomas loved playing with Ben and Hallie, and her kiddos were had fun “teaching” him new things.

Here are some pictures from our visit.   

Monkey See Monkey Do...

Today Thomas and Lilli had a play date so Allison and I could have an excuse to get together and do a little work too!

These two are such fun to watch together-Lilli is a few months older and she moves so much quicker than Thomas. He is learning to fend for himself and trying to keep up with her!

Hanging out with the boys...

Thomas got to play with Zander and Leo on Tuesday night. Somehow I forgot to get a picture of the 3 of them together. I did get Zander talking up a storm and Thomas giving him the "what the heck look!"

Zoo Lights

Tuesday after our play date, Mike, Thomas, and I headed to dinner and then over to see the Zoo Lights.

It's fun to go see all the fun animals made out of lights. We also got to see the giraffes, very close! A lot of the animals were sleeping, and were probably wondering what we were doing disrupting their peace. Thomas liked looking at the lights and all the other children. He was exhausted and as soon as we hit the car wanted to eat and go to bed!

A great family night with my two favorite boys!