Words

Jack has been saying some of the funniest things lately (to us, anyhow). Last night, he picked up a big book and told me that he had a story to read to me and Annalee. So, we sat down across from him and he began telling us about a giant washing his car and how the Orange Superhero, Jack Big Boy rushed up there and stopped the rain. This story is much like a story that Caillou tells on the show, but who knows how the orange superhero came to be. He was pretty excited to be telling us a story, so he went on telling the same one for five minutes or so.

Then, at bed time, as I was trying to leave the room, he asked me why my foot hurt. My foot did not hurt, but I played along. He told me that he was a doctor and that he would fix me. First, he listened to my heart beat by putting his hand on my chest. All good, he said. Then, he asked to see my eyes and pulled down my glasses. Good. Then he asked to look into both ears and then another eye inspection. Nothing wrong with you, he told me. Then, he asked to look at my foot. He patted it and then pretended to do something. He then told me I was all better. And allowed me to let him sleep after three hugs and kisses. Where does this kid come up with some of these things? He is a creative little fella, that's for sure!

Annalee is getting her seventh, eigth and ninth teeth, so is drooling and a bit miserable. She is such a calm, easy-going baby that this teething is pretty easy, though. She has begun walking and already knows how to push up from any position to standing. It won't be long until she is running around with her big brother and getting into all sorts of mischief. Now to get her hair to grow!

We are heading to Ohio next week to spend some quality time with Grandpa Paul, Bea, Nancy and John and are really looking forward to seeing everyone for the holiday. It will be interesting to see how traveling with two kids goes. I am a little anxious about the whole airplane ride, but I am sure it will turn out just fine and it will be a great trip. The dogs will have a great time at Lucky Dog and we have rented a car for getting around, so I think everything is set. All we have to do is just get there!

Well, that's all for now. Will try to update as the holidays roll through and I take more pictures!

Love to you all.

Annalee one year stats

Annalee had her 1 year checkup today. One year! Where does the time go? She is toddling and babbling and fighting with her brother at such a pace that it feels like she will be a teenager before we know it! I wonder if she will ever get any hair, though!

Her one year stats are as follows:

28.75” tall (34%)

23lbs 2.4oz heavy (88%)
48.5cm head circum. (100%!)

The following is from the blog post from Jack’s first year.

Jack weighed in at his one year appointment just under 27 lbs, at 26 lbs, 14 oz, to be exact. This places him in the 95th percentile for weights. It will come as no surprise, then, that his head seems to measure in the 98th percentile. Oh, giant headed baby, how we love you! He isn't quite as tall, though, measuring in at 30.5 inches, which is in the 75th percent. Needless to say, the doctor said that Jack is a very healthy baby, with a very healthy baby belly!

Yes, yes, I know comparing is not something we are supposed to do. And I don’t compare their rate of much, but I wanted to look at these stats because it just shows that they are pretty much on the same track of growth. And, they both have our large heads! Ha!

We did a couple small celebrations for Annalee’s birthday, including one with Grandma Joan and Grandpa John, another with Adam, Sarah, Henry and James and Emily and Nick and then one last one with Grandma Jodie, Casey and Abbie, Justin, Ellie, Maggie and Piper. For her actual birthday, we took the day off and spent it at the zoo. For our calm baby, a bunch of calm parties, rather than a large, overwhelming event.

This week is also Ryan’s 36^th birthday, so we have indulged in too much cake and not exercised enough. That will come in time, though. One more weekend of cake and then we really need to buckle down and start raking up all the leaves in the yard. Welcome to the Fall!

Grandma and Grandpa came for a
visit to celebrate Annalee!

Birthday lunch outside

Daddy's special birthday cupcake

opening a gift from Grandpa Paul and Bea!

We read all the words of the cards before opening presents!

Great-Grandma came to lunch with us!

Daddy's little girl

Not loving the brass gorilla at Como

MMMMM! Cupcake!

Jack. dancing. In his princess dress (a towel!)

Chatting with James.

James needs a hug....right?

Look who's one!

Hanging with Auntie Em

Henry and Sarah

Happy birthday to Daddy! We love you!

 

Long awaited update

Well, I am terrible! Every time I think about the blog, I am either away from a computer or doing something important and forget about posting by the time I complete the other task. So, here it is, 10 p.m. on a Wednesday night and I am wondering why I am still awake. The answer to that is, no one knows! Between the kids, work and Ryan being a full-time student, it feels like our sleep pattern is sorely lacking. If I could find two uninterrupted days to just sleep, I might feel a bit more caught up, but I regress!

The real reason I am on the computer this late at night is because Annalee actually smiled at the camera today and I actually caught it! She is such a contemplative child that a real happy smile is hard to come by, especially when I have a camera in hand.

So...... 
there you go!

In a little over two weeks, this little girl will turn one and we are just starting to see all the wonderful ways she is growing. From taking in everything around her to following every little movement of her brother to talking up a storm, Annalee is something special and we are so incredibly lucky she is ours! Jack, in his true two-year-old fashion, was sent inside before this photo was taken for a little cooling off period. He thought wrestling in the balls was a fun idea. Perhaps it would have been....two years from now! Jack is a little rough with his sister, and, though she can take it like a champ, I think sometimes it is best to just let her play calmly in the balls with no big brother interaction.

During my blogging absence, Annalee had her 8 month appointment and her stats are floating around our house somewhere. Poor second child. Suffice to say, she has a large Knollmaier/Weyandt head (100%) just like Jack; is somewhere in the middle with length and weight; and is a ham when she sees Dr. Berry.

We go in for one year shots in a couple weeks and I am sure she will be heavier, longer and just as calm about the dr. as ever.

As for Jack, he keeps us on our toes. He is constantly chatting and making up stories. The other day he put some plastic thing to his eye and told me he saw dragons, no wait, a lion, oh nope, a puppy. But mom, it's mine. You no touch it. It's my favorite. We are in the midst of figuring out this whole potty training thing and really need to make one weekend a true nothing but potty training weekend for him. He loves anything to do with being outside and anything to do with cars. He really loves running around the house (usually sans pants) wearing a cape and saving the world, or at least Tippi, from undesirable consequences. This usually includes chasing Hugo around the living room or trying to get Annalee to chase him. It is a loud house, usually a happy house, and far from boring!

With that, I leave you for the night. I promise to be a bit more consistent with this blog, but I can guarantee nothing. I really enjoy looking back on previous posts to see where we were and where we are going, though, so I hope I can keep it up a little better! 

Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful night. 

Love, Laura

Jackism's

I am going to have to start keeping a notebook with all the little things that Jack has started saying. That little boy sure can talk. For example:

Elecopter Fly! (this is in relation to the helicopter that he absolutely loves that his daddy accidently flew into the dog's water the other day. it no longer flies). Elecopter sleeping. Night night elecopter. Elecopter good sleeping.

Naughty, naughty, go Jack's corner, now. (points at the door) To this I respond, you aren't the boss of me (Just kidding).

He sat on the potty the other night and, though a little successful, asked for his "biaper on" shortly after sitting down and, once the diaper was on he said, biaper on, no potty, EVER, EVER, EVER (imagine a two year old shaking his fist, saying ever, ever, ever in a very determined way. it was pretty funny).

He says, with his chin on his hand, Hmmmmm. one two six. I have no idea what that means, but he says it often, so it must mean something to him!

Where Josh go?
My nummy on me.
I see sheeps at Grandma's house.
We go Henry house.
Mine numm numm.
Tippi down, Hugo no.
Da Baby's sleepin?

Every night, Ryan tells him a story about Jack the Bear and Henry the Raccoon (Sarah, I know Henry would like this rearranged, but I have no control) and Jack interjects his own thoughts about how he thinks the story should go. Apparently, storytime has become a bit of a production and might not be as calm an event as it used to be. Eventually the little boy sleeps, but it takes a lot longer then it used to!

So, that is that about Jack. Now, on to the little Annalee.

Annalee is nearly crawling. She balances on her knees and hands whenever she is on the floor. She seems to be taking her time with this whole crawling thing, though. My assumption is that she would much prefer to walk!

She has been doing great with her food consumption. She loves anything finger food related and would be a happy little camper if she was always allowed to just eat steamed peas off her tray.Fruit is always a sure pleaser, too!

This happy go lucky 9 month old is about as easy going a kid as we could ask for. This past weekend, Ryan brought both kids to his mom's house so I could have a weekend to go to the Basilica Block Party and relax. While home, he brought both kids to Stella Hartman's benefit (a little girl who's mom is one of Abbie's close friends. Stella has Leukemia). For nearly three hours, Annalee sat calmly in a stroller, people watching and chewing on toys, while Ryan chased his two year old, rambunctious son around the benefit.

Annalee's happy nature means we get tons of slobbery baby kisses, excited hand gestures whenever we walk into a room and hugs upon picking her up. She is absolutely wonderful and we are so lucky!

With that, here are some photos from the past couple days!

baby kisses

Jack can spell his name, just ask him!

Giggles

A little of this and that

Jack and Annalee are just great kids, thanks for asking! In the past couple weeks, making Anna laugh has become a sort of sport for Jack and we often find him dancing in front of her or passing some sort of toy that he thinks she would be interested in to her. It is pretty cute. Jack has also taken on the chore of feeding the dogs right when he wakes up and then again when we get home from daycare. This morning, as I was walking down the stairs, a little voice from his room was actually saying, "Tippi, Hugo, hungry?" and he bounced out of bed as soon as I opened the door and headed to the kitchen! Such a good worker! Although he did think about putting a piece of dog food in his mouth this morning too...

Annalee is sitting up and can make it from one end of the living room to the other either rolling or scooting on her behind. In a moment of unsupervised time, she ended up under a chair, unable to get out. That did not make the little lady very happy! But it was only for a moment and she was all smiles again as soon as her freedom was restored. Ryan remarked yesterday that, where some people have babies who like to coo, Anna just likes to shriek. She and Jack have made a game of who can make the loudest noises at the dinner table. To the dismay of daycare, Ryan and I have not really stopped it from happening, rather join in from time to time. The uproarious laughing that comes out of Jack when we all join in is pretty well worth it, though! And anytime Jack laughs, you can be sure Anna is looking at him with a big smile on her face.

Just a few photos

Annalee turned seven months old on Saturday. To commemorate the day, we played with Henry. Around the house, we have been busy getting ready for summer. I spent most of Monday night pulling dandelions up from the front lawn, but I think I am fighting a losing battle. On Saturday, we are heading up to Duluth for our traditional Memorial Day with the Radiach's. I am looking forward to being up there for the long weekend and just hanging out with my family. It seems that weekends like these are hard to plan now, with how busy everyone is. It has been a rainy, ugly week here. The rain has really jump started the trees and grass, though, which is great! It is finally starting to feel like we might actually get a summer. Look at me, talking about the weather. Terrible. Must mean I don't have much to say today. With that, I will sign off and just let you look at pictures! That's the main point here, anyways! Have a great day!

  

6 month stats and some therapeutic writing for mom

Annalee had her 6 month checkup today! She is:
Height: 2'1" (13.82%)
Weight: 17lbs. 1.6oz (63.63%)
Head Circ.: 44.2cm (90.62%)

She still has an ear infection, so we are going to start her on some stronger antibiotics this evening. Poor kid won't sleep unless she is propped in her swing. And I am very hesitant to leave her there for super long periods of time (overnight). This has made for some long nights lately. That, combined with the nightmares Jack has been having every few nights means very patchy sleep for Ryan and me (yes mom, me, not I).

Now, if you are here to read about the kids, that is all I have to say about them in this post so you can stop reading. This next part is something I have been thinking about for a few days and really need to get out in writing. Therapeutic writing, really.

Amanda died last Friday. Ryan's best friend Zach is Amanda's husband and Amanda and I were good friends. We saw them nearly every Friday night until Ryan and my kids were born and then we hung out as often as possible depending on Jack and then Anna's schedule. At the end, we didn't see nearly enough of Amanda.

When she went to the hospital last Easter, I was one of the first people to get to the hospital to hear the news. In the back of my head I knew it was a possibility that she might die, but that thought never really entered the front of my brain until last week. She had made it through the leukemia treatment and was home for different intervals of time. Just a month ago, we all got together as a group and, well she was bloated from the drugs she was on for an infection, it never crossed my mind that it would be the last time I would see her awake.

It was an infection in her lungs and then an infection in her gut that eventually took over her body. It wasn't the leukemia. For me, the fact that she beat her cancer, just to succumb to complications from infection is a low blow. And there are so many "what ifs" that run through my head. Yes, I realize that there is no point to dwelling on the "what ifs" after the fact, but I am not in a mood to stomp them out today.

Not everyone I know understood or appreciated Amanda's quirks, and that is okay. She was a unique individual who had different view points then many of my friends. But we loved her and in the end, that is what really matters. She brought a special light in to a room when she entered and her beauty inside and out inspired people to come out of their boxes and love life as much as she did.

Amanda had just gone back to school to get her generals done and was planning to become a teacher for younger children (think preschool/kindergarten). She was taking piano classes to fulfill one of the generals and was loving that she and Grace, her 11 year old, were able to practice and learn together. She would send me a writing assignment to edit every once in a while. Whereas I was tired of school, Amanda was eating it up and really figuring out what she was going to do with her life when her youngest, Sophie (5) got in to kindergarten. She was excited to start earning money to help her family thrive. Her outlook in life and throughout her sickness was very positive and I think that is a pretty rare quality to have as you get older.

Today, as I write this, I find myself thinking of past experiences I had with Amanda and wishing I had thought of them when she was sick and reminisced with her while she was still here. I wish I would have done a lot of things while she was sick. During my pregnancy with Annalee, I spent a lot of time thinking about myself. Again, I realize that the past is the past, but if I could go back and do this past year over, I would have taken more time off to go to the hospital. I would have gone out to the house more frequently to just spend time with her while I was on maternity leave. I would have made it to the hospital during this last infection while she was still awake and spent time with her. Part of the grieving process has to do with regret and I can't help but feel it. Amanda's passing is not about me. It is about her three beautiful daughters, her husband and her family. We are here to comfort them and help in any way possible. To do anything else feels selfish.

And the thing is, for most of us, during the weeks and months after Amanda's funeral, life will go on. We will return to our daily lives and celebrate Amanda when we see little things in the world that remind us of her. For Zach and the girls, though, they lost a piece of their puzzle and they are going to have to figure out how life fits together while missing a part of themselves. The heartache they feel right now is so much larger. Now, I am not downgrading the feelings that anyone else has, I am merely going at it as a person who lost a parent at a young age. That dull yearning for that parent never goes away. And, though I am sad about the loss of Amanda nearly every minute of each day since she left us, I believe with all my heart that when you lose someone that important to you at such a young age a piece of your heart actually dies with them and the feelings those girls and, I imagine, Zach have right now are so much deeper than ours that my heart breaks a little bit every time I think about it. I wonder if that very long runon sentence makes sense...acht na ja.

So, this is a very large bit of writing to say that I am sad. I am sad that I lost a friend. I am sad that my kids will never know the wonderful person that Amanda was. I am sad for Zach and the girls. And I am sad for all the family and friends who lost someone so special at such a young age.

This whole ordeal has really made me start to contemplate what is really important in my life. As soon as I come out of my cocoon that is me processing this, I think we will probably join a church and get the kids baptized. Then, we will write a will and settle what will happen if something tragic happens to one of us. Ryan will still play baseball and softball, to spite me, I think, but I will be more willing to pack the kids up to see his games and I will probably be more pushy about his skipping some to spend some quality time with us going to parks and on walks. There is much more, but at this time, I am contemplating.

To those of you who know me, you know that I do not vocalize feelings. It just doesn't feel good. But, please know that when I don't say it, I love you. And when I don't speak to you for a while, yes, I might be mad, but you will probably never know. And by the time we do speak, any anger will have gone away and, well, let's admit it, probably be replaced by some good old fashioned Catholic guilt.

So, in conclusion (because I hate conclusions), peace be with you, all of you. And Amanda, we love you and will never forget you. Rest now, my friend, and know that we will watch out for your girls and they will be loved.

Love,
The Knollmaiers

Words and bowling

Jack has become such a chatterbox lately. He talks to himself when he wakes up. He talks to us all day long. He has conversations in the living room with Tippi when we are making dinner. He just talks! The typical conversation goes like this. TipTip, Robbies Pipper, Beep Beep, Daddy's beep beep, No way dude, Ssssit TipTip, Disss? Disss? Juice, Daddy's juice, Diss? Diss? Tank tou momma. Peeeeeaaassse.
And it gets even crazier when someone comes over and he and Hugo bark in unison! Never a dull moment.
The other night, Ryan was sitting on the couch and I was on the other side of the room. Ryan asked for a kiss and, upon giving said kiss, Jack ran across the room to make sure I got one. He ran back and forth seven times giving kisses before he tripped over a doll and decided that she needed a kiss to. End of game.

 

Annalee loves to just sit and stare at her big brother. She focuses in on him and smiles. If she is crying for some reason, and he gets in her face, she stops right away to check out what kind of silly thing he is going to do to make her smile. I am so excited to see how they interact as she gets a little older. Siblings are great!


Thanks for the postcard, Grandma Joan!



Being a bear at Henry's 2nd birthday party at the bowling alley

Bowling! and more bowling!

Boys and pizza

chilling with Auntie Em and Uncle Nick

Hanging out, literally, because, well, I'm just not strong enough to pick up a bowling ball!