wysereeser + 2

8 months...

2008-11-05T09:26:00.002-06:00

So I was waiting to blog until I got my new laptop figured out with photos and all, but that is just taking too long. I will hopefully add Halloween and other photos as soon as I can or I will get Scott to do it. So here's the update.

Mitchell is over 8 months. Since the last blog he is crawling fiercely, he even growls with something in his mouth at times while he is crawling. He loves trying to climb the stairs. We are now using the baby gate regularly. Mitchell has his first cold. He has 2 teeth on the bottom with more coming. He pulls himself up on everything. The other day he was walking with the help of a wheeled push toy. Crazy. He still is not the most interested in solid food, though chunks are better than anything pureed. He seems to like to feed himself. His favorites seem to be bread and other bread like things. He does seem to like egg yolks too and carrots, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, etc. It does appear as if some hair is coming in on Mitchell's head but as a whole he is still pretty much a baldy. His smile is just beautiful. Just by simply laughing, you can get Mitchell to laugh. He is a pretty happy, easy going baby unless of course he is hungry, sleepy or feeling pain from teething. The typical reasons that most of us aren't happy.

Mitchell still seems to hold favor in his eyes for his mother, however, I do have to say that dad is running a close 2nd. I took Mitchell to our annual women's retreat this past weekend. He did an outstanding job. He even gave me 4 hours of sleep one night. He is usually still waking every 2 hours or so to nurse. Every time I get frustrated with this, I remember that this too will end and the cuddling doesn't last forever.

Nate has grown up so much even since Mitchell has been born. One of his recent favorite things to do is to cuddle. He comes to me in the evenings and with a cute voice says "cuddle, mommy, cuddle" He absolutely loves preschool and he loves Coldplay. The new Coldplay CD is almost constantly played in the car per request. It even soothes Mitchell when he is upset.

Nate makes up songs regularly and is very curious about facts. He has really been into coloring lately and doing other crafts. He was a great helper with Halloween decorating. He helped Scott as much as he could.

Nate was a dinosaur for Halloween and enjoyed wearing his costume at the zoo for trick or treating, to preschool and then around the neighborhood. Mitchell was a duck. Halloween was a nice warm evening and we had the neighbors and a few friends over for a fire in our backyard.

While Mitchell and I were at women's retreat, Nate and Scott hung out. On Saturday they went to a friend's house to butcher some old laying hens. I think they enjoyed bonding on Saturday. They went for a bike ride, a friends house in the evening and hung out.

Until next time......

7 months old

2008-10-01T21:23:00.003-05:00

Mitchell, as of this past Monday was officially 7 months old. He has become quite the little boy. He is very active and into a lot of things. He is crawling, and his speed is increasing each and every day. He also has been caught climbing a few steps. He pulls himself up and darts towards things that catch his eye. He has been caught saying mama, but I don't think he yet knows to use it for me. He still gets up every few hours during the night to eat. We have attempted to feed Mitchell food for quite some time now, but with a few exceptions he doesn't seem to want to eat more than a few bites. He does however seem very interested in what we are eating. I have wondered for awhile if he just doesn't like the texture of baby food. He loves cheerios and doesn't seem to have a problem popping them into his mouth. Ok he isn't quite getting them popped in himself yet. So tonight I gave him a small piece of the bread I was eating. He couldn't open his mouth wide enough and he kept opening it for pieces of bread, Scott tried to throw in some pureed carrots and Mitchell wanted nothing to do with them. He loves sucking on whole carrots though so it couldn't be the flavor. I then gave him whole grains of rice and he chewed and swollowed them. Tomorrow we are going to try to give him small chunks of carrot to see what he will do. Maybe he will eat more if we feed him chunks and maybe, just maybe he will sleep for longer stretches of time.
On to Nate. He had his first field trip yesterday. Scott accompanied Nate and his preschool class to Appleberry Farm. Nate seemed to really enjoy this trip. He seems to be really enjoying his preschool. On Monday I had a chance to talk to Nate's teacher some more. She said she is really impressed with his thoughtfulness. One example she gave: Nate was playing with a basket and some food at the "market". A kid came up and wanted to take his basket. He said, "there are more baskets over there" the kid didn't look like he was going to go over to get a basket, so Nate went over and got a basket for him to play with. By the time he got back and tried to give the basket to the kid, the kid had moved on to play something else. We are so proud of him.

The above photo is one for Nate to be very proud of. A week ago we went on a camping trip to Devil's Lake with people from church. Nate went on a hike and climbed to the top of the trail all by himself. You can see how far up he is.

Look closely and you will see the Walking Stick. It was found on someone's tent.

This past weekend we hosted our annual Beer Bust. Mitchell enjoyed spending time with his friends Kalea (pictured below) and Cate. and Nate playing with Rory and enjoyed a weekend visit and sleepover with his friend Leah (pictured below) from Minnesota. Nate and Leah really enjoyed playing in the water. It was the last warm day. Now it is chilly.

Today when I got home from work, there were 2 fawn across the road in the neighbors yard. I ran in to get Nate. When we got back outside they were crossing the road into our yard. They proceeded to the backyard and ate some plants from our garden as they sauntered through. It was a wonderful site.

spiders

2008-09-26T04:35:00.002-05:00

The preschool teacher asked me this week if we read a lot of fact books to Nate because he seems to want to throw out facts quite often in class. I hadn't thought that we did anymore than any other book. Since she has made this comment I have had more of an ear for how many times Nate does throw out facts. I am not sure where he gets his facts, but I do know that sometimes they are just things that make sense. Here is an example. The other morning Nate was talking about spiders. He mentioned that spiders like basements. I said, yeah I think they do like dark places like basements. He then said: "mom you know there are more spiders in the world then there are houses." I asked him where he learned that and he said he knows because there are spiders is everyone's basement. While we were out on the swings with the neighbors Nate said, "do you not that some daddy long legs bite?" I said, I didn't know that and asked him where he learned it. "After some thought he said from dad. Later I asked dad if he knew this and he said he did not. The neighbor at the time confirmed that she had actually heard this fact before.

Growth Spurts

2008-09-16T00:26:00.005-05:00

Both boys are amazing us every day. I will start with Nate. Just this morning he said "Connor" starts with C "C-ONNOR" He has been doing this more lately. He will also say things like "bathroom starts with bath" etc. He is loving preschool. Not sure if this new line of thinking is coming from preschool since he just started, but ya never know. This is what his teacher had to say about him "Nate is doing great! He is easy going and goes with the flow. He loves sensory activitites and "science---exploratory" activities. He is very bright and has a lot to say. We talked about color mixing primary colors today into secondary colors. We read a book about color mixing. Ask him about the rabbit...he was white at the beginning and brown in the end. " We are so proud of him.
On to Mitchell. He is now crawling a lot. He also is into sitting up on his own. Now that he can do it he gets excited about doing it. He also gets excited about walking, with help of course. He also is very tickled with himself when he pulls himself up.
This past weekend we drove to Ohio to attend my parents annual party. My aunts boyfriend provides the music. It was an enjoyable time. Some high schoolers babysat for the boys. I think Mitchell didn't do to bad. It feels like his mood, since he can get around more, has brightened a bit more. He seems happier with others, unless of course he is tired and hungry. We also spent a lot of time on Saturday picking grapes, sorting them and making juice. I, Angie, had the joy of picking grapes in a downpour. We made over 40 quart. Now, I should be going to bed, but stayed up late to puree tomatoes to get them ready to cook tomorrow so I can can some more pizza sauce. We have really gotten into canning this year. So far we have made 21 pints of salsa, 11 quarts of green beans, 40 quart grape juice, 10 pints of pizza sauce and probably at least another 20 tomorrow. It feels so satisfying to put up ones own food.

MMmmmm Sweet Potatoes

2008-09-08T21:59:00.005-05:00

So Mitchell is 6 months and 18.9lbs. He decided (after almost a month of trying) to eat food. He hasn't yet taken a liking to baby cereal, but sweet potatoes seemed to have hit the spot. He also ate about 140z of breastmilk under someone else's watch today. Usually in the 8 hour period that he is with someone else, he maybe eats 6oz. while I usually produce closer to the 14oz. He still needs to work on sleeping more during the day, but we will take what we can get. To update you, Mitchell is almost crawling and he's managed to pull himself up on lower things that he can reach. He has learned to move one knee forward and one hand before he goes to his tummy, then he will get up again and repeat the process. He propels himself forward in this manner. I don't believe it will be long before he moves forward without the tummy breaks between each "step" forward. Mitchell also likes to make noises with this tongue and mouth. He is talking a lot, by saying dadada, babababa, etc. Mitchell knows what he wants and will let you know if he wants something he can't get. He also is realizing when things are taken away and gets upset when that happens as well. He is still sleeping with us, but as of the past few nights, he is at least starting out in the crib. Usually though he wakes up to eat by the time I go to bed, so I don't really get to enjoy the benefits yet.
On another note, Nate started preschool this past week. This week is his first official full week. He is only going 2 mornings per week (Monday and Tuesday). It is quite different getting the kids around. I would always drop them off at an approximate time, but now I have to get Nate to preschool at exactly 8:50. Let's just say that, Mitchell is going to have to learn to be a bit flexible on Monday and Tuesdays. Nate seems excited about preschool. Today he told his grandma Reeser that his favorite part of preschool is the snack. When I asked him if he met any new friends he said "I am too busy playing, mom". Scott has mentioned a few times lately that it seems like Nate has made another leap in thought. He seems "more intelligent" as Scott puts it. He is suddenly using bigger words and seems to put deeper thought into his questions.
It is September and summer definitely feels like a long time ago. Today it was cold and rainy. We enjoyed one of the last warm days at our friends lake in Minnesota just over a week ago. We went to Minneapolis over Labor Day weekend to visit them. Nate was sad to leave his bestie, Leah, in Minnesota. They seemed to have a wonderful time playing their made up game of baby cheetah. Here is a nice political sign to end this blog...

Prayer

2008-08-13T11:39:00.002-05:00

I thought I would blog a prayer that Nate says most nights. It varies a little but these are some of the things he says. He always starts out by saying.
"Dear God. Thank you for Mitchell. That's my baby brother" he goes on with some composition of the following.
Thank you for Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma and Grandpa
Thanks for Connor and Quinn
Thanks for playing superman with my dad we have so much fun
Thanks for playing superman with my mom, which we haven't done yet
Thanks for the rain and thunder
Thanks for my soft bed
Thanks for my mom and day
(then he usually adds something about his day and has to end with "thanks for everything")

similarities

2008-08-13T09:47:00.002-05:00

So on a whim I decided to read through some old blogs of Nate when he was about Mitchell's age. It is amazing the similarities. When I was reading some of Nate's blogs, I felt I could have been reading about Mitchell. Within a few weeks they seem pretty comparable. When Nate was Mitchell's current age he was almost able to sit up on his own (Mitchell is able) Nate was doing push ups on his hands and toes. Mitchell has been caught doing the same. Nate had two bottom teeth at 5.5 months. Mitchell's seem to be coming but I have said that for a long time now. We will see. Binky play is the same etc. I think up to this point some of the developments are right on and some are within a week or so of each other. Nate was crawling at about 7 months maybe a bit before. We will see how Mitchell compares. Yes, yes I shouldn't be comparing, but at this point it is just interesting. I know in the end they all develop in their own time which is what makes them individuals. Lately we have been giving Mitchell cereal about every evening for supper. He hasn't taken to it too well. It was nice to read in the blog that Nate did the same and then one day I decided to try the cereal in the morning. Nate gobbled it up. Maybe I will try that with Mitchell and see if it makes a difference. Maybe he just isn't as hungry in the evening or maybe he just likes the comfort of breastfeeding in the evening. We have jumped the gun a bit on food. Mitchell has had the opportunity to suck on a cucumber slice and on a carrot. He was not able to break off any peices from either and seemed to really enjoy them. He seems frustrated when we are eating. He seems to want to eat our food which is why I tried to feed him cereal at the same time we were eating last night. (no go) On Sunday at church potluck someone suggested giving Mitchell a slice of cucumber to suck on. It worked. Mitchell enjoyed it for many minutes. Long enough for me to finish my food at least.
Yesterday I was feeling sad. Forover a year, I have been able to enjoy Tuesdays with just my two boys. We have made the best of each Tuesday,. ( playdates with Miriam, Leah or Rory, going to the pool, going shopping, enjoying the new splash park, and story time at the library. We even went to the Milwaukee Children's Museum one Tuesday. I only have 2 more weeks of this. Starting in September I will be watching not just my two boys but Micah and Reuben as well. This will prevent me from taking them anywhere that is further than walking distance. I have to say it has been truelly enjoyable to have this special time with Nate and then with Nate and Mitchell. Friday afternoons will now by my time with just my two boys. An afternoon is just not the same as an entire day. I will take what I can get though. At least I can work full time and be home with my boys a day and a half a week. Not many people can do that.

Olympics

2008-08-11T10:57:00.002-05:00

So yesterday as I was watching the Olympics, I remembered the last time I watched the summer Olympics. I remembered thinking. Man, when I watch this the next time Nate will be 4! He was just a few months old at the time. At the time, 4 years seemed like so far off. Now we are needing to complete paperwork for preschool and think about scheduling things around preschool etc. I just can't believe Nate is already such a big boy.

Busy Summer

2008-07-30T22:55:00.002-05:00

I blogged earlier about the boys but thought it might be nice to blog about our goings on. This summer has been a whirlwind. I can't believe it is almost August. I turn 33 in just a few days. Uuggh. The weekend after we returned from Ohio, one of my besties came with her family for a visit from Arkansas. As always we had a nice time. We had a weekend filled with a girls fancy night out, a cookout, and an outing to a new African restaurant. We also tried to go to the zoo, (not so successful) and we walked around Olbrich Gardens. The following weekend we had a nice 3 day weekend in Minnesota. Some friends invited us up to their family's cabin at Sugar Lake. We all had an awesome time including Bailey. She just sat around on Monday and only moved for bathroom breaks and eating. I am sure if she could have told us, she would have said that 3 days of swimming constantly was totally worth it. Nate had fun with his bestie Leah and we had fun with all our friends just sitting around and relaxing. One of the things we really enjoyed other than the obvious fellowshipping was the sauna. Scott and I took turns enjoying the sauna then cooling off in the lake. What a treat. This past weekend Larry and Louise (Scott's parents) came up for a visit. We had an enjoyable time. They chose last weekend to come up because there is an annual Amish Auction close to Brodhead Wisconsin where quilts can be purchased for an amazingly cheap price. It is actually a tragedy at times. This weekend we are looking forward to Louise coming back on Saturday for the day and bringing her sisters Betty and Norma. They do an annual sisters week at the Reeser's and go the extra mile to drive up here to spend some time with us in Madison. We always enjoy seeing them. I have to say, I really like being busy and being with people, but I think I am looking forward to a weekend where we have no commitments and can just enjoy the pool. Our neighbors gave us visitor passes to the pool just down the street to use this month. This is the pool that we are too cheap to go to. The city pool is 1/3 of the price. I have to say though, after one visit, we really enjoyed going there and Nate swam around in the big pool by himself with the help of some noodles. The city pool won't let you use anything like that. So that pretty much sums up our summer thus far. We also fit a camping weekend in June into our summer. I am not sure we will fit camping in again until our annual church campout in September. I hope the mosquitoes are less ferocious by then.

Mitchell T.V.

2008-07-30T08:01:00.001-05:00

Here is a good video of Mitchell's sitting abilities. The pillows are
mainly there in case Mitchell falls.

5 months and counting

2008-07-30T07:44:00.001-05:00

Yesterday Mitchell was officially 5 months old. Since my last entry, Mitchell is rolling over all the time. He can sit up with very little help. He will sit for awhile but falls over when he leans for something, he is saying da da and ga ga and many other things. When he is frustrated he talks about it in a frustrated way instead of crying. We have attempted to feed him cereal on a few occasions. He seems so interested in eating our food, so we thought we would give it a try. He is really interested in the cereal for about 4 or 5 bites, then he is done. He continues to be a momma's baby in the evenings so if we are ever going to hope to go on a date, it will have to be during the day for the time being. He is also starting to show more favoritism towards his father, if his mother isn't available that is, but dad is better than anyone else.

Mitchell loves going for walks, but the mosquitoes tend to get the best of him. He is not able to wear repellent yet so he gets to ride in the stroller with a mosquito net. It doesn't seem to be good enough. Every day there is a new bite or two on Mitchell's head. Aarrghh. Nate is doing great. He starts preschool in a month. He is very excited about it. He had fun with grandma and grandpa last weekend. He took them to the zoo. Nate spent yesterday with his friend Leah. We went swimming and to a new splash park. They both seemed to really enjoy the time in the water.

We are all sad today because some of our good friends, Matt, Marnie, Leah and Natalie are moving to Minneapolis. We hope to still see them from time to time, but it won't be the same. 5 hours is a lot farther than 10 minutes. Leah is Nate's besty. Leah is the one Nate is hugging in the photo.

My ode to Grandma Ruby

2008-07-09T08:53:00.002-05:00

I wanted to share my Ode To My Grandma with all of you. I continue to feel an ache for her, but I know she is in a better place now. This isn't much and does not nearly touch on who she was in her entirety, but these are things I remember just taking a couple minutes thinking about her.

Traditions of Buckeye making every Christmas
Kisses I will always miss
The homemade noodles I would sneak while they were drying
The pie- what more do I need to say?
Love she had for everyone (particularly babies)
Hours of Rummicube and Skipbo with us kids and Scrabble with Grandpa
Hugs that she was always willing to give
Quilts
Self Sacrifice
Teacher of all she knew
Thoughtfulness towards all
Endless gardening and canning
Inability to say no to anyone
Camping with us grandchildren
Always willing to help everyone
Countless homemade dresses that she made for me
Hugs, Kisses, and love for everyone

This is a photo of Grandma, Scott and Mitchell taken this past May. I was so glad that grandma was able to meet Mitchell. She loved babies so. Mitchell really took a liking to her too. I wish I had a video of them interacting. Mitchell already saw in her what we all saw. Love, kindness, generosity.......

Aaahhh sleep

2008-07-07T21:45:00.001-05:00

I thought I would share a few more photos of my boys sleeping. Nate's is a photo of him on the steps. While we were finishing our packing for Ohio, Nate was waiting on the steps, anxious to leave. We found him like this.... The other photo is what I found after I came home from a evening church meeting.

The Mitchell and Nate update

2008-07-07T21:40:00.001-05:00

The past week and a half were packed with many things including, my grandmother's funeral, raspberry and cherry picking, a birthday party for my 6 year old neice, work from a different state, time with family, evenings on the porch, new kittens, campfires etc. Nate had a blast spending the past week and a half with his cousins. Scott and I are not sure exactly what all Nate did because he spent most of the time running around with his cousins. They spent a few nights in a pop up camper in the back yard. During this time, Mitchell learned how to roll over, reach for toys he wants, look toward you when you say his name, sleep on his own and move without crawling (that strange phenomenon where a baby can move from one place to another somewhat like and inchworm) Attached are a few photos to represent the week.

4 months old and moving along....

2008-06-30T14:24:00.003-05:00

Mitchell was 4 months old yesterday. He is at least 16 lbs. We came to Ohio this past Wed evening to celebrate my grandmother's life. She passed away early Wednesday morning. Over the past few days Mitchell has made quite the strides. He is now rolling over, he is able to take out and insert his binky on his own, he is able to inch himself around and he responds to his name being called. I will attach a photo at a later date.

what a cutie

2008-06-17T23:17:00.001-05:00

I was waiting to blog until after Mitchell's 4 month appt tomorrow. He
isn't officially 4 months until the 29th. I just thought this photo
taken a week or so ago was so cute. The 2nd photo is of Nate having a
blast at a Mallards game a few weeks ago. For those who don't know, the
Mallards are Madison's Minor League Baseball Team.

3 months today

2008-05-29T12:18:00.001-05:00

Mitchell is officially 3 months old today. Yes, Scott just blogged yesterday and I don't have much more to add. Yesterday was Mitchell's first day without his mom, however since I do work at home, I was home for half the day and was able to still nurse him during that time. Today he is home with his father, Nate and 2 other boys. Since I am again home for part of this day it sounds like it is going well. It is challenging for me to be hands off, but I am only allowing myself to take time to nurse. This is probably good for both of us, but it doesn't make it any easier. I think this time spent with Scott will be helpful for their relationship, since Mitchell is a happier camper during the day, and Scott hasn't been around him much during that time. Mitchell is much more flexible and has less mommyitis during that time. Mitchell is drooling a lot, wanting to put a lot in his mouth and grabbing on to a lot of toys. I believe he is in the beginnings of teething. It seems early, but if I remember correctly, Nate's first tooth came in at about 4-5 months. Mitchell loves to stand up, he is starting to like the peek-a-boo game, and laughs [Scott: He gives big smiles. I wouldn't say he laughs. ;-)] when tickled. Ceiling fans and his brother are favorite viewing activities.

Four years old and baby giggles

2008-05-28T21:47:00.005-05:00

So the last few weeks have been an assortment for us. Last week Angie, Nate, and Mitchell spent the week in Ohio without Dad (Scott). Nate had an awesome time (points of conflict sprinkled throughout) getting along with his cousins. A chunk of the Wyse clan (Grandma, Grandpa, cousins Connor & Quinn) came out this past weekend for Nate's 4th birthday, as well as a Reeser contingent (Grandma, Grandpa, cousin Katie). It was a little sad when the last of them left Monday morning. Nate carried out his car seat to the sidewalk (in his PJs), sat it on the sidewalk, sat himself in the chair, and waived goodbye. He overcame it quickly, I think, as he was soon off playing by himself again (happily). Later on that day as I started preparing dinner the conversation went something like this.

Dad: "Nate, sit at the table if you're going to eat that apple."

Nate sits down at table, continuing to eat an apple.

Dad: "Do you want a cheeseburger for dinner?"

Nate: "Sure!"

Dad starts getting burgers out -- a minute (literally) passes and he turns around to find the following.

I guess the events of the last week finally caught up with out hapless hero. [Iron Man rocks by the way...] Bonus points if you can be the first one to note in the comments what he's sleeping on. He slept that way for an hour, I think. I couldn't bring myself to wake him up.

Since Angie/Nate/Mitchell were in Ohio they also came back with the Wyse clan. After being by myself for most of the week, it was great to see Mitchell again. While I was holding him I could swear he'd gotten bigger. And he laughed! While I was holding him Grandma Reeeser and I were able to get him to cackle like crazy. Since then I've been trying to figure out the mix of actions to repeat the event, all in vain (so far).

Mitchell regularly during fits of unhappiness is very entranced by his older brother. He regularly just likes watching Nate play. Today was the first day in a while that Nate, Micah & Reuben (the other boys we help watch) were over in a while. Mitchell was often taken by just watching the kids play often turning his head to follow the action.

If you give him a toy he pretty regularly is able to absent mindedly grab it and bring it to his mouth. He has times too where he just likes to be on the floor by himself.

He still has times where things can be rather frustrating. He definitely prefers Mommy over Daddy. ... I wonder why ... MilkMachine, er, Mommy will hand Mitchell off to Daddy...a few semi-tense moments pass as Mitchell realizes that his comfort zone has been altered. Which eventually erupts into some unhappiness, that are quickly silenced if given back to Mommy. Thankfully these times are pretty predictable. During the day, Mitchell's fine and happy. Eat/poop/sleep/repeat ... is the easy pattern. But usually there's a short time period of unhappiness around dinner time (he resists a nap often), afterwhich shortly before going down for the night he usually has a bigger fit if Mom's not around. Here's my little screwball.

All around I think the kid is a moose. People often confuse him for a 6 month old (he's only 3 months old at this point), which is understandible -- we've already moved onto the 6 month old clothing for the most part. I mentioned to Angie that its possible that he might be as tall as my youngest brother (who I think is 6'1") and as stocky a guy as his Grandpa Wyse.

Future football player maybe? ....or hockey player?!? We shall see. ;-)

back in the saddle

2008-05-05T11:35:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I jumped head first into trying to get fit again. I went on a bike ride that was 15 plus miles. Yes, it was challenging since it has been almost 2 years since I did any regular riding. It was windy and on a few occasions, I wanted to quit, but afterwards I felt great and hope to keep it up. While biking, Scott took Mitchell and Nate to the park to play. I think they had a nice time.

Mitchell and Nate are doing great. Mitchell is starting to bat at things and can lay by himself and play for longer periods of time. He seems to have noticed his feet and really enjoys sucking on his hands. He hasn't found his thumb, but it does seem that he almost prefers the flavor of his hand over his binky at times. Nate is doing a great job of entertaining Mitchell. Mitchell seems to enjoy watching his brother be silly. Last night Mitchell made it through potluck after church. This is big since it was from around 7-8:30pm. This is his usual fussy time. He was a bit fussier but seemed to be much calmer when held by his mother. This seemed like a feat.

I am sad that I have only 3 weeks left of my leave. Only two of them are here at home. The last week we will be spending in Ohio with my family. Time flies so quickly. It seems like just yesterday that Mitchell was born. I shouldn't be surprised since it seemed like Nate was just born the day before that.

2 months old on Ben and Jerry's National Holiday

2008-04-29T14:53:00.002-05:00

I thought it only appropriate to blog in celebration of Mitchell's two month birthday. He was 4 weeks old last Friday and 2 months today. He had his 2 month appointment and seems to be developing just fine. I was thinking he seemed a bit congested for the past few weeks but every time I called the clinic they made me second guess my concerns. Come to find out that indeed his nasal passages are swollen, so the doctor gave us some nose spray to help with the swelling. Mitchell is over 23 inches long about 70 percentile and about 14lbs., also about 70 percentile. He did great at the appointment despite getting 3 shots. He almost rolled over from his tummy to his back. The doctor was convinced that if we let him try long enough he would have completed the roll. He is sleeping the afternoon away. Nate on the other hand has had a difficult time falling asleep for his afternoon nap. We are waiting for his friend Leah to call so that we can all go to Ben and Jerry's and enjoy their free ice cream day today. That is right. Ben and Jerry's has there annual free ice cream day today!! I think it is worldwide, but am not sure.

Spring is finally here!!! (I hope)

2008-04-19T21:15:00.001-05:00

Today was such a beautiful day. We spent most of the day running around. Sure there is much yard work to do and spring cleaning, but who wants to do that? Ok, yard work can be fun if it is gardening, but not today. We started by having a nice breakfast out at Monty's Blue Plate, followed by Nate's weekly swim class, then to the 1st farmer's market of the season and off to Governor Nelson State Park that is on Lake Mendota. They have a nice pet swim area that Bailey really enjoys. We had ourselves a nice picnic there while Bailey swam. I had to share some photos of our adventures. I sure hope that this weather stays this time.

my BFF

2008-04-16T09:11:00.002-05:00

Scott and I decided it would be fun to go to the zoo over a week ago. We invited Leah along and we had a blast. Nate and Leah get along so well. I thought I would share a photo of the two of them having a lovely time.

6 weeks plus...

2008-04-16T09:08:00.003-05:00

So I have been attempting for the past 5 days to type up a blog celebrating Mitchell's 6 weeks of existence out of the womb. This has been challenging because other things like cooking, dishes, vacuuming seem to take precedence when I have had a free moment. Mitchell is taking one of his first long naps by himself. He is going on 45 minutes. If this becomes a habit, I will have alot more time to blog. Cross your fingers.

Mitchell continues to have his evening fussiness, but he is so awesome during the day and at night. Last night he only woke up at 1 something and 6 something. I know this probably won't be regular but it gives me some reprieve none the less. Mitchell is now smiling on command. He isn't always in the mood, but when he is, I can get quite the smile out of him from tickling him or just simply talking silly talk and smiling at him. Nate is starting to be able to interact with him as well and I think this makes Nate feels good.

Last week Mitchell and I took a road trip to Iowa to attend my grandfather's funeral. I was a bit nervous about how it would go, but the 3 hours there and back were not too bad. Mitchell slept most of the time and I only needed to pull over once. Scott and Nate stayed home to enjoy Scott's last week of paternity leave. Yes, Scott is back to work and so far things are going fairly smoothly. I can't tell you what all Mitchell and I and Nate accomplish in a day, but it seems busy and filled up with stuff.

Last week, I had my first outing with the girls and went to an Anonymous 4 concert. It was great! They sang "Never Grow Old" which is a song that Sistersong (my quartet) enjoys singing.
Yesterday in quite a rushed state, I made a coconut cake. I should have looked at the recipe a bit closer before starting it. I looked at it long enough to see that I had all the ingredients. The frosting was a difficult one. It has egg whites and needs to be peaked in a double boiler. Let's just say that because of this rushed state, it was a bit runny and didn't look so good. I think it tasted good in the end, but I will probably look for another coconut cake recipe next time. The next layer cake I want to try is a carrot cake. That will be my 3rd layer cake attempt. It is sort of fun.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

2008-04-15T08:33:00.002-05:00

So its been longer than it should have to post an update. It helps to have others who make a regular practice of it. Anyhow. Things are going along well with Mitchell. Or so we thought. We had a few days where the bewitching hour (evening for 1-1.5 hrs) for Mitchell was semi-non-existent. The last couple days have been different however. That boy can get POed.

Yesterday was my first day back at work after being fortunate enough to have the last 6 weeks off. It was okay. But in my heart it sucked. ;-) After coming home we took advantage of the sunshine and went out for a walk. Dinner was somewhat of a mishmash. Nate wanted to play outside with Angie, which she totally deserved. Mitchell decided to get upset earlier than usual and I (tried) to eat dinner while he was being fussy. Nate ate some time after that, and Angie some time after that....I think. I feel bad when we can't all sit down at the same time. But with Knucklehead#2 that's not always possible (for the moment).

I decided to 'take it on the chin' and deal with Mitchell most of the evening. He was not happy for longer than usual. I dealt with it all evening. He finally cried himself out slept for a while, then woke up mad again. I finally handed him off to Angie. . . . At which point he started cooing and smiling. I came over to tell him how unfair that was. He cried AGAIN. I left, he was happy. :-p Stinker! I'm convinced its because I don't have a portable milk machine built in.

All in all a good day though. . . . For my first day 'back'.

First Words!!!!!!

2008-04-01T04:58:00.006-05:00

I forgot to post this from yesterday...All of us can scarcely believe it. We were all sitting around at dinner enjoying a quiet meal, Nathan was demonstrating how a dinosaur eats potatoes chewing with its mouth open and spinning around in its chair at the same time. It was truly quite striking. I was talking to Mitchell when he suddenly started speaking. We were all so dumbfounded that I had to get it recorded. Even more amazing is his sentence structure and overall gratitude to be a part of our family.

You can see the sheer shock and pride on Angie's face. My finger was there to try and scratch off some dried milk that I couldn't get off his chin.

For some reason, I'm the only one in the house that finds this amazingly funny. I can't quite figure out why.