Spring break so far....

Hello! We have some of the maternity pictures back from Kristin and we posted them in the slideshow below. There are more photos but here is a sneak peek!

Before spring break (this week), Jenny took Mason and I to the sports center for a morning of fun. The picture below is the closest smile she could get on demand. Jenny told Mommy that I like to ride on the various cars and that I mostly just walk around (Mommy is wondering if she should be concerned that I am not a maniac while playing!?!?!?)

The castle is still one of the toys I like to run around in. I am sticking my tongue out at Jenny here. She must have been sticking her tongue out at me :)

Going up the blow-up slide is no easy feat for me. All of the other kids have no problem scaling up this gigantic thing. Mommy says in "good time" I will be able to climb up there like the little monkey that I am.
Mommy has never seen this bright beautiful ball, but it sure grabbed my attention. We need one of these for our backyard!

One of my favorite activities is jumping in the "jump thing." I like to say, "NO JUMP" which is short for "No More Monkeys Jumping On the Bed" or aka one of my favorite stories. I also think we need one of these for our backyard. I highly doubt any of these wishes will come true since Daddy has already told me "NO" on the trapoline idea.

Finally, the parachute. This is something new because the few times that Mom and I have gone to the sports center, I don't show a lot of interest in this activity. This picture kind of explains it all.
According to this picture, I did participate, but to what extent, no one will really know (besides Jenny of course). Mommy is glad to see that I am sometimes a follower and will join in on the fun.

We went to Govin's Farm on Sunday to check out the baby animals. My favorite animal there was the chicks (Daddy loved this, of course!) I even reached out a few times, but never did actually touch them, nor did my parents force me to.

The sheep were really loud and I kept saying, "Lou" which is short for "Loud!" I didn't get too scared and run away, but these creatures sure can "baaa" right in my ears!

Mommy and Daddy were hoping I would hold a baby lamb for a picture photo-op but there was no way I was going to touch the little guys. This is the closest I wanted to get to the sheep.

Speaking of chicks, we saw Lily at Govin's! We also saw Maddie, Clara, and Owen there. It must have been the warm day that attracted many of our friends and music peers to come to the farm.

My parents saved the best for last... the tractor! They knew the minute I saw the tractor our trip to the farm would be "over." I had to check out the wheels...

Check out the driver seat....

And make sure the steering wheel actually turned... We enjoyed a cookie before heading home. I liked the farm, but I sure didn't like the horse wagon ride to the farm ("ALL DONE!") and I didn't want to touch the animals... just looked!

For spring break this week, we are not vacationing anywhere tropical, although we are enjoying the beautiful weather so far. We are getting ready for our Florida trip so Mommy took me to the mall to buy some clothes. Her way of bribing me there is to let me play in the center gym area. I love the boat and tree slide the most. It was a productive day as I am now almost all packed and ready to go. I have 4 pairs of swimtrunks, swimshirts, cool clothes, water-shoes, sandals, two beach towels, sunglasses and several hats. The only downfall is that Mommy doesn't get any shopping done for her, but that is what she gets for taking a 22 month old to the mall :)

Our other stop so far this week was to the Public Library for the Toddler Tales story hour. I sat like a little statue in Mommy's lap. She is surprised how shy I can be in public. We read two books and I was a very good listener. We then sang some songs and at the end, the kids were able to play with toys. One of the best advantages to going to the library were all the girls there! I was the only boy and Mommy was proud of my big boy behavior.

Here I am playing with the turtle pull-along toy in the story room. Look at my rosy cheeks! Another plus to the library was the amazing collection of Baby Einstein DVD's, which are the only shows that I like to watch. Mommy allows me to watch one a day or every few days and they actually teach me a lot so it is a win-win situation.

Sorry about the squished photo... it was copied from facebook and Mommy is not sure why it won't copy normally??? Although it is spring break, Mommy and Heather planned a morning of collaboration at school. Finley and I hung out on the couch, destroyed the room, played with toys, watched Baby Einstein and had snacks. I became obsessed with the miniature zamboni, aka, floor cleaning machine and quickly after that, it was time to go. Mommy couldn't bear hearing me say, "HERE COMES" anymore as I anxiously waited for that machine to turn the corner.

The rest of our spring break will be fun as we head to the local park, Zoo, and with several Easter planned activities. The weather is definitely spoiling us and we are taking advantage of our time outdoors. I will have one more post before our Florida trip!

Luck O' The Irish

Well, as Luck o' The Irish would have it, I had a fun week thanks to the great weather we had! I put on my "Lucky Dog" t-shirt and Mommy even borrowed me her special shamrock sunglasses that her girlfriends wore to Cabo San Lucas three years ago. She commented on how things sure have changed since then! In case you are wondering, I am German, Swedish and Swiss, but no Irish blood is in this body. I guess it doesn't matter since many people still celebrate the day by wearing green and drinking green stuff.

I am quite the ham these days when Mommy takes her camera out. I love to say, "CHEESE" and squint my eyes real small. If you look close enough to the picture above, you will notice that my left eye looks strange. More to come on that below...

It is no wonder I am a walking accident. At any given time, I have a bruise somewhere on my body, especially my face. Mommy decorated the house for Easter and she found my carrot/car Easter basket from last year. I thought it would be fun to put this on my head, to serve as a hat, and then run as fast as I could in a big circle. Luckily, no injuries occurred, just silly pictures.

Uncle Jimmy turned 28 on Saint Patrick's Day. He has always been blessed with extra luck, most likely because he was born on this day. We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to have a little birthday BBQ and ice cream cake to celebrate. It was fun to see my cousins, aunt, uncle, Jim and Karri, and grandparents. I had a great time, until the big accident.

I was running, FULL steam ahead in the living room, tripped on my Tupperware Shape Sorter, and flew head first into the end table. It made a huge crash, then a long pause followed, and finally I screamed for a good 5 minutes. As Luck O' The Irish would have it, I nailed my eye, not my mouth, so I still have teeth. Another lucky plus to this story is that my eyebrow did not split open, so I didn't go to the hospital and need stitches. The end result was a big, fat, puffy eyelid. I refused an ice pack on my face, so Mommy and Daddy were quick to get the Motrin and give me some medication and loves. Shortly after my huge spill, my cousin Sam took a spill on the driveway. We had a little nurse's station in the kitchen for a few minutes, so we posed for a few snapshots.

We decided to pose a bit happier for this one since Mommy was acting silly and pleaded with me to show my silly "Cheese" smile. This is all she got from me.

At first look, you would never know how bad my eye appeared. If I look right at you, I have a droopy eyelid (kind of like a tough guy boxer), but when I look down, I am a diva with purple and pink eyeshadow.

Here is my fabulous, fake smile and a real good look at my eye. The swelling went down after a few days and now my bruise is changing colors. It is quite beautiful to see all the colors it can turn. Mommy decided to skip the Easter pictures at Sharp this year with their live bunny due to my injury.

The wonderful weather I mentioned at the start of the blog prompted us to take a trip to Irvine Park. We love the nice walking trails, playground and animals. It was a nice afternoon to check out the scenery.

The whitetail deer were very friendly the day we visited and came right up to the fence to look at us, or maybe my eye. We had to be very quiet, which is a challenge for me, since I am only 21 months and don't know what quiet means (or at least my parents don't think I know what quiet means.)

I thought the deer were pretty neat. Most importantly, an insider from a local department of resources informed Mommy that a wolf was spotted at Irvine, tranquilized and relocated. Apparently, it liked to eat animals in the park as much as I like to eat Goldfish crackers and fruit snacks. This was not leaked to the media for fear of the reaction by the community. Mommy sure is happy that we didn't see the big bad Wolf in the woods and Daddy probably wishes he had his rifle in case he did. On a positive note, I look forward to seeing the farm animals, at least the ones who did not become the wolf's snack, on our next visit. We think the farm animals are busy have babies or might be resting for a few more weeks.

On Wednesday, Jenny took us outside to take advantage of early spring weather. Justice, a past daycare child, came with her Mommy to play with us too. I really like Justice and talk about her at home a lot ("Justice bye-bye" mostly). Jenny has a little plastic jungle gym that is my favorite climbing apparatus. She has a big one too, but I am a little afraid of the big slide and swings on there. This confirms Mommy's hopes at this time, which is they only need to buy a smaller play gym, bigger than the one pictured above, but my parents will wait another year before installing a big swing set.

One of my favorite outdoor toys at Jenny's is the roller-coaster. This surprises my parents because I can be a scaredy cat when it comes to certain things. I can also be a dare-devil, so you never know what you are going to get from me. I like the unpredictability of my actions... it keeps everyone guessing.

This picture is proof that I did go down the roller-coaster, about a trillion times and would ask for "more" once I got to the bottom.

Of course I had to take turns with Mason. He is Jenny's little boy and we are just 4 months apart. Mason is two years old and he really loves the camera. I must be learning all my stunts from him. Mason zooms really fast down the ramp. I am definitely not at his caliber or comfort level yet, but in a few short weeks, I wouldn't be surprised to see some other injury on my body thanks to the roller-coaster.

Jenny also has a big trampoline and don't worry... it has a net around it. I love to jump like a monkey. I can jump until I can't jump anymore and it is safe, unlike the beds in our house. The only thing I need to do is be careful not to jump on Justice's or Mason's head! I asked my Daddy for a trampoline and he said, "No Way!" I guess I will resort to jumping in my crib and on my parents bed, with their permission of course.

I think Spring teased us a bit, because it was sooo nice outside and now is MUCH cooler. I have to wear my coat, hat and mittens again when going out. We hope the warm weather returns soon! We are headed to Florida in just a few weeks for a vacation on the beach and warm weather will sure welcome us there.

Mommy's cousin, Emily, is also expecting a little boy in Spring. Emily is due a month before Mommy and this will be her first baby. The girls (Mommy, auntie, Grandma, and extended family) had a baby shower for Emily and this made Mommy excited about all those cute clothes and baby toys that are stored away at our house. Mommy wants to point out how L-O-W her tummy is compared to Emily's belly. They are both having boys, are one month apart, and still, it looks like Mommy's tummy is nearly down to her knees. She is feeling good but is just shy of entering her third trimester... the dreaded, swollen, uncomfortable, out of breath, ... time of pregnancy. The baby is pretty easy going and likes to kick her in the belly at night. He sounds like a raccoon to me. Let's hope he switches his days and nights around soon! Mommy has her glucose test in a week and a half and she is keeping her fingers crossed that she passes. She didn't have any complications with this while pregnant with me, but her sweet cravings of chocolate and ice cream might catch up to her this time. Next weekend, we are having family maternity pictures taken, so I will post a few pictures once we receive our proofs! Finally, the baby's nursery bedding is on order and should be here soon. We chose a PBK farm theme and the painting will soon follow once our bedding and colors arrive. We can't wait to get the room ready for my little brother! Thanks for tuning in this week!

Bye, Bye...

It is with sadness that I share the news of my Great-Grandpa's passing last week. Great-Grandpa lived only 15 minutes from us and I had a lot of wonderful visits and special memories with him. Great-Grandpa was a healthy, 86-year young guy. He went to the hospital a month ago with pneumonia and a fever. They were able to treat him, but his body slowly began resisting the medications and he found it was his time to go. Great-Grandpa and I loved to give each other high-fives and I always greeted him with a big, "Gran-pa!" He always lit up when I was around and one of my favorite memories was just recently where I went to dinner at their house and sat on an upside down pot to eat fish dinner with them. Great-Grandpa will be greatly missed by everyone.

This was one of the last days Great-Grandpa was alert and talking. We went to see him often in the afternoons or early evenings (hence, the PJ's). I loved eating cookies while there and figured out how to press all of the handicap door buttons which made my parents nervous wrecks. On this visit, Grandpa and I gave each other 20 or so high-fives, as you can see with our hands together. I also planted big kisses on Grandpa's lips and told him, "Nigh, nigh" as we left for our beds at night. This is also what I told him, along with "Bye, bye" when we were at the funeral home and when he was finally laid to rest.

I took it upon myself to be the door greeter at the visitation. You might think it is strange that Mommy took a few pictures while there, but she decided it was important to capture special memories. I enjoyed saying, "Hi" and "Bye, bye" to people as they came and went. Mommy says I can be such a sweetheart!

My other Great-Grandpa Bud, came to say "Bye, bye" to Great-Grandpa and as usual, I had to take a spin on his wheelchair. He is a fun guy to have around and he always has a big smile for me. He didn't bring me coffee this time... Mommy was relieved about that.

These are special moments...even more special knowing that life is such a precious gift.

Great-Grandpa tolerates me pushing him all around. I like everything with wheels on it, so I thought it would be fun to wheel him around and shake the chair a bit. He didn't seem to mind, or maybe he didn't even notice.

As I am sure you have all experienced, funerals bring everyone together. It is a happy/sad event. My uncles Ben and Matt came home, along with Matt's fiancee Jill. Uncle Matt thought it would be fun to see how I drank from a water bottle. As you maybe recall, I had fun with a Coke bottle a few months back where I just didn't want to let go. It was similar this time around. I just love to drink from "big people bottles" and pretty soon, Uncle Matt decided he didn't want his water anymore and gave it to me (most likely because there were floating cookie chunks in there).

I had lots of attention from family members and friends. I must have eaten 10 cookies at the visitation. Mommy and Daddy said whatever it took to get me through was fine. I was a perfect, little Great-Grandson to honor my Great-Grandpa. I was at the funeral home from 2:50 p.m. until 8:15p.m. Thank goodness for attention and lots of cookies. Great-auntie Donna gave me one more cookie for the road.

It was also time to say goodbye to our spare bedroom closet. This was definitely not a sad goodbye, but a happy one. Daddy basically destroyed the spare bedroom and started to assemble the closet system. This is our first step towards preparing the baby's room. I loved Daddy's drill and had to grab my "First Craftsman" drill to work alongside with him. I also found this funny little chair and when Mommy came in, she quickly grabbed her camera to capture the silliness of it all.

I don't remember this seat, but Mommy sure does! She said they would put me in this seat and crack up laughing because there are very few things that are more strange looking than seeing a baby sit up in a chair. I used it as my little desk.

The only problem was I got stuck in it when trying to exit. I continued to sit in the chair, get up and get stuck. It was a vicious, yet hilarious cycle.

A full day later (Daddy is a perfectionist), the closet organizer was up! We will be adding a few drawers above the shoe cubbies and in the tower, there will be baskets with labels (Mommy is a bit OCD with organization). Once we have my stylish clothes washed, along with a few new outfits for baby, his closet will quickly fill up.

A few weeks ago, Daddy went snowmobiling with some guys for a long weekend. Mommy and I decided to go to Grandma's and Grandpa's house in the cities for a little fun too. Little did I know, that Mommy had a haircut scheduled for me. Earlier in the week, Daddy attempted to take me to Sports Clips, and it was a NO GO! I screamed, cried, and threw my sucker on the floor. Mommy told Daddy it was a good thing that no one was there to witness the meltdown. Daddy then told her that the principal at the school she works at walked in, but luckily not until the very end of my episode. She was very happy to not have been there. Mommy decided to try Kid's Hair in the cities, because her friends have taken their children there and it is a cute kid's salon. I wasn't overly impressed with the TV's, toys, and "kid-friendly" atmosphere, but it worked. Mommy and Grandma were so proud of me. I sat very still and even had my hair scissors cut on the top, instead of the usual 2 second buzz. We will definitely go back in a few weeks for my next cut.

Mommy has never seen someone cut hair so quickly. She really liked our hair stylist and plans to schedule with her next time. Grandma had all sorts of treats for me when I got done. She bought me a sucker and "Bug Juice" from the convenience store. This kept me a very happy boy while we shopped for some Florida clothes, for our upcoming vacation. Mommy tried not to have a heart attack while watching this sugary stuff go down. I think it was the most delicious stuff I have ever had. Thanks Grandma!

This was one of the few times that weekend where I had a big smile. I started with a nagging cough that turned into a cold and before you know it, I was up at night. I am a very good sleeper, so Mommy thought something just wasn't right. I clung to her the entire weekend and cried if she walked out of the room (even with my wonderful Grandma next to me!?!?) On Monday, Mommy took me to the clinic for a visit, since she wanted to be sure I was OK. I was officially diagnosed with my FIRST ear infection. At 21 months, the doctor was amazed that I had never dealt with this common problem. I was put on an antibiotic for 10 days (loved the pink stuff) and have a follow-up in one week to make sure it is clear. Within a day of the medicine, I was back to sleeping and my regular self. I am still a bit clingy these days and cry when Mommy leaves me at Jenny's or with a friend for her doctor's appointments. She is hoping I get out of this separation stage soon. I just love my Momma!

On Friday night, we went to our neighbor's for dinner. I had a lot of fun pulling on their cat's tail, playing with the buttons on their DVD player and getting into EVERYTHING! I slipped on the wood floor and hit the side of my face. I now have a shiner under my eye. Everyone asks what happened, but there is no good explaination. Must have been a hard floor... I only cried for a minute.

My latest craze are shakes/malts. The local DQ opened for the spring/summer season and Mommy was "all over that!" She has had a lot of sweet cravings from my baby brother, so Daddy just goes with it and we all gain the lovely weight. My parents were amazed that in the 10 minutes that I kept my mouth on this straw and sucked the chocolate shake (I had about 1/2 of the thing), I never once got a "freeze headache." I guess I am amazing like that.

We are looking forward to warmer days. We have taken daily walks in this nicer weather and the fresh air sure gets me all tired out! Some of my latest developments include... running FAST, swinging in my swing outside (I now love it, compared to last year where I hated it), I sing songs now (ABC, Hello song, EIEIO, Ooh and Aah song from Disney channel, and Hot Dog from Mickey Mouse). I can count to 13 and always count going up our full flight of steps upstairs and downstairs (what do you know, there are 13 steps), and I basically repeat everything people say to me. I like to use voice and use my scary voice to be silly. I had a play date with Lily this morning and I really had fun saying "Lily" in a deep and scary voice. Mommy reminded me that girls don't like scary boys. I also repeated a word that Mommy said, and she shouldn't have said. She said, "Oh, sh-t" and the next thing you know, I said, "Oh no, sh-t." She laughed but then quickly turned my attention to something else. Mommy is now reconsidering every word she says.

Baby update: Mommy had her 24 week appointment and her measurements are right on. The baby's heartrate is in the 150's, and he happily moves around her belly. He does not like it when she lies or reclines on her back and will kick her until she moves. What a picky little guy, if you ask me! We are still in the process of picking out nursery bedding and paint colors for the room, but hope to have that figured out in the next few weeks. I am excited to see how the little room will look and I am practicing a few names that we like for our baby boy (Cooper=poop and Christian=Kiss). It's a toss up, don't you think? Happy March!