The love of a family is life's greatest blessing.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Musings

Pillow talk with my little blessings... We have our best conversations before nap or bed, or on weekend mornings when they crawl in bed with us for a little bit :)


Izzy said to me while snuggling up yesterday morning in my bed, "Do you remember when you were a bride?"

To which I replied, "Yea, I do, Izzy.  That's when me and daddy got married."

She thought for a minute and said, "And dad was your prince!"

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Cooper's been starting to prefer no snuggling before bed and nap time.  I get it, he's getting bigger... Which makes the times he does want to snuggle that much better :)

Both big kids like to sleep just in their underwear (they call it sleeping naked), and today when I was enjoying a rare snuggle with Cooper before his nap, he curled up next to me, in his skinny little skin and Ninja Turtle underwear, and said, "Mom, snuggling with you is the best!"

I hugged him a little tighter and tried to soak in his 5-year-old innocence.  It made me wonder just when will he decide he's too big to ever snuggle with mom again?!?  Hopefully not for a loooong time!!

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Our Baby is ONE!

I've been wanting and not wanting to post this update for weeks... I feel like if I keep putting it off, then maybe my baby isn't really growing up as fast as it seems.

But it doesn't work that way, does it...?



Carson is one, and I honestly, sincerely, truly cannot grasp how quickly this year has gone.  I look at him some days and start to see a little boy and not a baby.  It's exciting and sad at the same time.  I feel like he's been ours forever, and then the next second I can remember and almost feel his tiny, brand new newborn body resting on my chest.  

We are so thankful for the past year of fun and excitement and happiness... We have a happy and healthy little one year old!

Big boy stats:
He weighs somewhere around 23 pounds, wears 18 mo clothes, size 3 shoes, size 4 diapers, and a wide-mouthed smile!

He is eating us out of house and home... Loves his carbs and his meat even though he still has yet to pop a tooth!  He eats pretty much whatever we do, is learning to use a fork and spoon (albeit very messily!!), and is learning to like his sippy cup more and more.  He likes to dribble milk more than drink it, but we'll get there :)
His favorites include green beans, all meat, applesauce, spaghetti, cheese, and Oreo cookies.

Carson is learning things so fast!!  He likes to crawl with turbo speed when he sees something or someone he wants.  Walking with a push-walker or holding onto our fingers is easy for him, and he is starting to get braver with cruising and letting go of what he's holding onto.  He'll be walking soon I think :). He waves buh-bye, gives high-fives, gives open-mouthed kisses, likes to turn off light switches, and says mama and dada and ya in the right context.  He's starting to like playing with his toothbrush, and he loves to climb under and over things.  He also has taken a cue from his brother and sister about emptying an entire bookshelf of books or bin of toys in seconds.  



He loves to read books and is quickly deciding which ones are his favorites! I love when he babbles and smacks the pages.  Right now, he loves the pages with textures he can feel and those with 'surprises' on the pages.  Peek-a-Who  and Where's My Puppy are our go-to's right now.



He is finally a great sleeper!  He goes down around 7:30 and sleeps about 11 hours.  He loves his Nuk and some snuggles to sleep, and takes milk from mommy or a bottle before bed.  For the moment, I'm in no hurry to let the morning and night bottles go :)

Lately,  the biggest giggles come after bath time when the little munchkin crawls out of the bathroom naked, and keeps looking back to see if I'm coming for him.   He giggles like crazy and would be content to be in his birthday suit for hours if we'd let him!  Getting his diaper and pjs on is another story... The kid is the master of wiggles!!  





Carson,
You complete our family in the most perfect way.  Cooper and Izzy adore you, and none of us can get enough of you.  I love picking you up after work... You crawl to me with your huge smile and give me one of your famous open-mouthed kisses.  I love to squish you and squeeze you.  It is so much fun watching you learn something new almost every day.  Your hair is long but so sweet and innocent, and I love to ruffle it or sweep it away from your face while you sleep in my arms.  You are a Mommy's boy through and through, and I love it.  After work/daycare, you are often attached to my hip :).  I love you to pieces!!  

Love,
Mom

January Fun


Winter is a fun time around our house :). Here's a peek at some of the fun inside and outside...
Izzy and her jewelry... It's all or nothing for this girl!!


Cooper got this huge marble maze for Christmas and they both love it!!


Happy baby... He LOVES his baths!


This kid could live in a snow bank and be happy.


Cheeser!!


Let me out to play too!!


A rare nap on daddy's shoulder...

Someone loved his first Oreo!!









Sunday, January 17, 2016

Cooper is Five


A birthday visit to the zoo!!!



What???  We have a five-year-old!?!?!?  

Cooper's year has flown by, and he is such an amazing little boy.  We can't believe how much he's grown over the past year. 

Aside from eating us out of house and home, he has matured before our eyes.

Cooper loves preschool.  He lives for preschool. Every morning of school, he literally jumps out of bed.  No arguments, just sleepy excitement.  

This past year, he has learned so much.  He has been practicing his math skills and he's excited that he can almost count to 100.  He loves to add and subtract.  He even likes to do a little skip counting :)

We are thrilled Cooper likes to write his name now, and he's starting to try writing other words too.  He's starting to sound out short words and he loves reading and loves books.  I think he would listen to stories all day long!  He loves to read about animals--especially snakes, dinosaurs, gators, and lions.  

This boy has a sweet heart.  He loves to help with and play with Carson, and he usually plays well with Izzy, too.  Although, of course, they have their moments!  He likes to do 'chores' for me, like putting away Carson's milk, getting diapers and wipes (but I have to count how long it takes him!!!).  He gets the BEST giggles out of Carson.  If I need help getting Carson distracted, I can always count on Cooper :). I love how he wakes up his little brother... "Hi sunshine!" And "How was your nap?"  All in a sweet high sing-song voice.

Cooper loves to steal hugs and kisses from us, and I love when he just randomly says, "Mom, I really love you."

Coop's an active little guy.  He loves to play ball, roughhouse, wrestle, run around, throw things and do all things active.  He likes to get dirty, play hard, and be active.  

We love you, Cooper!!  This year is going be another great one!!








Thursday, January 7, 2016

Interview with my 3-year-old

I have been wanting to do this since her birthday, and finally got her in the right mood to sit and be recorded for a while... although a little long, this is Izzy at age 3 :)


(I think she really got a kick out of watching herself while I was recording.  You can tell by the way she looks at herself!!)

Christmas 2015

We had the most wonderful Christmas!!  Here it is... In pictures:

1st stop, G & G Kalal's.


Carson was loving his first try at paper, ribbons, boxes, and bows!

Izzy loved all her 'girl' presents.

Cooper was thrilled about his garbage truck!

Lots of laughs, plenty of special presents, and a great way to start the celebrations!

Christmas Eve... We spent the day together, just the five of us.  And after naps it was off to Cooper's first Christmas Eve children's program.
 Although we don't have photos from the program itself, Cooper did a great job with his lines and songs (especially Go Tell It on the Mountain!)!  And for a four-year-old, he sat really well in front of the entire congregation for a whole hour!

Once we got home, Cooper insisted we could not watch a movie (our tradition) because we all needed to go to bed so Santa could come :)
But the kids had enough time to go out and sprinkle the reindeer food.  Look at those excited faces!

Christmas morning... The big kids got just what they asked for!  Cooper got a Hulk car and Izzy got a Barbie horse.  As well as stockings full of fun goodies!


Carson received his one love... Music and noise and crazy spinning all in one!

One last quick pic before we head to church!

That evening, we went to G & G Jabs's house for another fun celebration.

Izzy and Grandpa shared some giggles.

Cooper gave lots of love.

Izzy played beauty shop...

And Carson shared lots of snuggles!

Baby's First Christmas

Grandma Dawn and Kevin's house was a crazy and smiley night of fun!  

Our little munchkins... Christmas 2015

Izzy decided Santa wasn't so bad after all!

Carson loved the big guy!

And even Cooper let his guard down long enough to hang out with Mr. Claus!

A room full of presents!


Happy guy!

Christmas is just so awesome with little ones.  We had so much fun watching their smiles and hearing their giggles over the entire week.  I hope the kids always have fun memories of our Christmases!!


And because it wouldn't fit up with the rest of the pics, Izzy got to her delerius stage and had us all laughing after present time at Grandma Dawn's house!

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

First time for Everything...

Stitches.

Like all parents, we were hoping to avoid any of our kids ever needing stitches...  But you just can't prevent every accident :/  

We had a really fun big-kid night planned--the Holiday Lights at Sibley Park and Pizza Ranch--while Carson stayed at home with a sitter.  

The lights were cool, and Pizza Ranch was great.  Until Cooper fell with his chair to the ground and cracked his head on the back of the chair.  It bled like crazy, he freaked out, and the restaurant went silent.  We got him to the ER right away, where they eventually put in 7 stitches.  


This is him waiting for the numbing gel to take full effect.  A rare calm moment of the night.

Jeremy said the worst part was holding him down as he freaked out for the Novocain and then the stitches themselves.  I was in the waiting room with Izzy.

And we couldn't believe the surprise visitor to the ER... The manager of Pizza Ranch came and brought us a pizza and some coupons to come back to the buffet in the future.  That was an act of kindness that was unexpected!!  Too bad Cooper didn't feel like eating after the spazzing he did in his room, and Jeremy was too worked up to think about food.  I was too queasy, but Izzy sure enjoyed it :). We passed the rest along to the great staff at the Mankato ER!



  I'm so thankful Jeremy was along--I honestly don't know what I'd have done if I was alone with the kids and this happened.  I got queasy just thinking about it!

By the time we got home, our little patient was feeling better :)

Now he tells anyone who will listen about his seven stitches.  And I found this selfie on my phone as I was looking through pics the other day... Apparently he wanted a closer look...  This pic looks to be about a week post-injury.  Healing nicely :)

Here's the story, from Cooper :)