Thank you

Thank you, Lord, for my happy, healthy, sweet babies.  I am going to bed tonight and every night knowing how blessed we are.

(Here's Izzy when I first checked on her, about an hour after I was called down to her room with this line, "Mom, I'm woastin' (roasting) down here!!"  Since her brother sleeps without a shirt on, now she needs to as well...  To her defense, she was actually sweating in this picture, as well as sprawled out sideways in her bed!)

Mr. And Mrs. Larson

Congrats to my little sister and her brand new husband, Jeremy.  Their wedding was a backyard fairytale!!  All the planning, prepping, and dreaming all came together for an awesome day.  Dana looked absolutely amazing, Jeremy is so lucky :)

We wish them a lifetime of happiness!!

Our family had a great time, and the kids cooperated so well!  Izzy was the flower girl and Cooper got to hand out programs.  Both of them took their jobs very seriously :). Carson was his flexible self and just hung on for the ride.

5 Months Old

Little Chubbers is 5 months old... and he continues to grow so darn fast!!!  Here's a peek at the past month.

He is in all 9 months clothes, size 3 diapers, and size 2 shoes.  His big round noggin is covered in fuzz that is getting a little longer and super cute.  His cheeks aren't getting any smaller, either :).  He is so squishy, and I love it!  I seriously could smooch him and squish him all day long.

This month was a blast with him showing more and more of his personality.  He is a lot easier to make giggle.  He likes to change his scenery up often, never really liking to stay in one place for too long.  It's like he thinks we forget about him or something... The high chair has replaced the swing in the kitchen, and he seems to really like sitting in the high chair to see the action.  He's been starting to really arch his back in the Bumbo seat, so I don't like to have that up on the table anymore.  He also likes the Jumperoo, but not for too long.  Tummy time goes well, and he has been spinning on his belly, but no rolling from back to belly yet.  He's close, but just doesn't get his arm out of the way.

He has been challenging my patience at night.  He was once a great sleeper, and now he's got me wondering what I'm doing wrong.  I just keep reminding myself that everything is in stages, and he'll figure it out eventually.  He has been taking more work to get down for the night, because he gets all worked up when he hits the crib.  And during the night, I can't get him settled down without feeding him.  In his defense, I guess, it does take a lot of milk to keep up his impressive physique :)  So later this month when we start offering solids, I'm anxious to see if his night time habits change at all.

Napping is just fine, some days better than others.  He typically sleeps 45 minutes in the morning and 2+ hours in the afternoon.  No evening nap for this little dude.  He doesn't want to miss out on anything I guess!!  His nighttime habit of freaking when he hits the crib is creeping into napping, too.  We really work to put him down when he's not completely out, so he can be learning to put himself to sleep and so her knows he's in his crib, but he doesn't really like our plan:)

This month, he has spent a lot of time outside and doesn't mind the grass on his legs and feet.  He seems to like the water, but not when it's cold.  We took him to the pool, but he only liked the calm kiddie pool.  I don't blame him.

He jabbers and squeals a lot, and his happiest times are right after he eats.  He is very smiley and slobbery :)  He looooves being talked to, and he has a new found love for peek-a-boo.  He really loves when we duck behind a couch or countertop and surprise him.  He looooves to look at his reflection, and he talks to himself and smiles from ear to ear.  He is really into grabbing things, and he can almost put his own nuk back in.  It's fun to see him 'play' with stuff more.  Cooper and Izzy also really love seeing him play with toys.

We love you, little dude!!  You make every day brighter :)

Kiss the Miss Goodbye!!

Dana's bachelorette party was a great time.  We celebrated her last days as a single lady in Walker at Chase on the Lake resort on Leech Lake.  It was fun laying on the beach, laughing, dressing up, and having a good old time :)

Our condo for the weekend

Our view

I can't believe Dana and Jeremy's big day is only days away!!

While I was gone, Jeremy hung out with the kids, and they found plenty of fun to get into :). I got pictures sent to me all weekend!!  The highlight was the 'Pop-Up Splash Pad' in Shakopee.  They were crazy excited for the fire truck to spray them!!

Thursday Mornings with the BIG Kids

Thursday mornings, while Carson 'practices' going to daycare, Cooper, Izzy and I have been finding some fun things to do :). Although I find myself doing a double-take, thinking I left the baby behind, the three of us have been having a lot of big-kid fun!  (And we hope Jeremy can join us one of these mornings!!)

We've hit the bakery for donuts and smoothies, we found a new BP park we'd never been to, we've played board games at home, gone to McDonald's for smoothies and the play place, even gone fishing... but our usual routine is finding a different park each week.  Last week, we met up with friends at the 'blue and green' park in Jordan.  

Carson is doing well at daycare for his few hours each week... We only had one day of lots of tears (and that was after a 2-week break).  He likes to watch the kids play, and he's been sleeping well and taking the bottle like a champ!

The Como Zoo & a Backyard Vacation

The kids had been really anxious to get to the zoo, so we picked the Como Zoo, which neither Jeremy or I had been to in years.  The kids went with G and G Kalal last summer, and lo and behold, Cooper remembered every detail once we got there!

The anticipation!!

Howling at the wolves.  One actually came out of the woods as we stood there... Now Cooper thinks they like his wolf call.

Izzy on her favorite animal, the giraffe.

Fun at Como Town.  They got to pick two rides, and this firefighting ride and the train won their votes :)

Izzy loves to ride on Jeremy's shoulders... And go through the mister!

Posing in front of the Anaconda.

The next day, we planned a backyard vacation for the kids, complete with swimming, a Barbecue, a campfire with s'mores, and sleeping in the camper.

She's watching the drips...

Carson loves the fresh air!

Setting up camp

Sparklers!!

Shadow puppets in the camper.  Jeremy slept with them while I stayed inside with Carson.  Jeremy said they were very giddy and their bedtime conversations revolved around the noises they heard.  Lots of talk about wolves, coyotes, and foxes :)

 The summer of fun continues!!