Look who is a big girl!

Annalee is finally facing forward! For all those of you who think that kids should be facing the back until they are 2, I agree with you...to a point. This little girl was crunched in that car seat, with her knees about up to her chin. I felt she was uncomfortable and cranky each time we folded her into the car. Yesterday morning, when we were on our way home from daycare and she was forward-facing, I could tell how different she felt about the ride. Though this pic does not show it, she was smiley, watching the world go by, not getting dizzy from sitting backwards while being propelled forwards. My family can attest to my distaste for sitting backwards in a car (really, doing anything other than sitting in the front seat, looking out). I get carsick at the mere thought, so to be able to give my little girl the freedom to face the world head on was a great feeling. Also, Jack can no longer reach over and steal things from her poor little hands.

The kids are heading to visit their Grandma Jodie this weekend. I am going to stay back and do some much needed spring cleaning and sleep. I am so appreciative of weekends where I can just be. I would love to go out with them to Wisconsin, but to have a kid-free weekend is such a luxury that I am excited to cross things off our to-do list and be a better mom when they all come home.

Today, I am heading home a little early, picking the kids up from daycare and my friend Lindsay is bringing her little ones over for a play date while she and her husband have a meeting with their money person. Four kids in the house! M & K are right around the same age as Jack & Annalee, and they have a great time when we are together. I hope my kids shortened naps won't keep them from playing themselves out and giving Ryan and I a calm night!

Here's crossing our fingers that I get some cute photos of the bunch and remember to post them in the coming days.

Have a great day!

We have had a long, busy winter, tucked indoors. With the snow finally melting, we have been trying to get out more frequently. We took the kids for a walk at the park on Saturday. Jack insisted on pushing the stroller nearly the entire walk, whether Annalee was in it or not. Side note - we will no longer be bringing a stroller places, rather just the child back pack as pushing with a near 3-year-old walking in front of you, demanding he do it by himself is completely annoying! Annalee wanted to walk, for the most part, so we didn't get too far with her little legs, but at least they got some fresh air. I am so looking forward to opening all the windows in the house and getting things aired out. I am not looking forward to cleaning up the yard after having so many dogs out there all winter! I wonder if Ryan would let us hire out that job!?!

Jack has an amazing imagination that makes us all laugh pretty regularly. He will crash a car into another toy and then the two toys will have a conversation, along with an apology for causing the crash in the first place. He tells stories like it is his job. We get to hear them and he tells other tall tales to his daycare friends. They often involve me bonking my head and Super Jackie saving the day. When we are just sitting around he will come up to us with his hands on his hips and his arms jutted out and say, "Oh no! You are stuck in the mud! Never fear, Super Jack is here! I will save you and bring you to my house." And then he carts us off to his house. He is typically wearing a cape for all of these interactions. The boy is just a riot. We are so lucky!

Annalee is starting to make up her own language. She babbles at us constantly and is always prying our attention away from her brother to make us look and converse with her. The struggles of a little sister with an annoying older brother are many, poor kid! She knows how to say Please, Momma, Dada, Yes, No (this one is her favorite), Jack, and a whole lot of other little words that I don't know yet what they mean. She loves trucks, as they make up the majority of our toys. She has two baby dolls that she carts around with her wherever she goes, though. She, in following after her mother and brother, loves her nummy. Maybe not as much as we love ours, but she giggles whenever you give it to her and she pulls it along after her whenever it is in the living room.

So, there is my much awaited update. I will keep trying to get to this blog, but I make no guarantees! I do love coming back here, though, and looking through old posts. It is funny how much I forget that I have written down. I hope my kids can appreciate my words when they get older.

Love to all who have stuck with this blog.  Laura

No longer 100%

That's right, folks! Annalee's head circumference has moved from 100%+ to 99.86%. While still at the top, she is becoming a little bit more body and a little less head!

We had Anna's 15 month appointment today, and, in addition to finding out her head circumfrence, we also found that she is 2' 6.25" (37.82%) and 25lb 3.2 oz (91.42%).

In other words, she is perfect. Or as close to perfect as a 15 month old can get. She hollered the entire time we were in the doctor's office and I was told that her clinginess is a good thing for a kid her age.

Both kids are doing just great. The holidays came and went, with visits to Ohio to see Paul, Bea, John and Nancy for Thanksgiving. A weekend trip to Eau Claire to see the Olesons, Casey and Jodie, and then a quick trip to Duluth to spend the actual Christmas day with my family. It was fun, chaotic and a lot of driving, so we have been enjoying the calm after the storm the past couple weeks at home.

I have photos to post, but will have to get to them another day, as it is nearly time to head home to pick up the squirts. This is pretty near the best part of my day, knowing that I get to see them soon and spend the night getting to know how my two little ones did today. Here's hoping Annalee is not having any type of reaction from her shots and that Jack has a lot of stickers on his "potty" chart at daycare.

Hope everyone is surviving the cold.

Love, Laura

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!