Children's Museum

It's only 1:20 and we've had a full day of fun already. This morning we met some friends at the Kohl's Children's Museum. Having never been I wasn't sure what to expect. I found it to be a bit overwhelming and caotic (mostly due to the crowd), but the kids had a great time. Before we'd even finished paying they were in the car room sending cars down racetracks. There was so much to do and so many things to explore. Jack loved the car room, the water room and the music room. Despite wearing an apron the size of himself, he was soaked after playing in the water. There were many parts we didn't even get to because we all got hungry, so that will be fun for next time. And next time, I'll remember not to go during spring break or any other time kids might be out of school.

Big Boy Room

Today as I rocked Jack before his nap and laid him down in his crib I was a little sad. This was the last time I would do those things. Tonight he moved out of the nursery and into his big boy bed and room. Our baby boy is growing up and I'm excited but sad. I'm also a little nervous. Who can predict how easy or how difficult this transition will be. So far it's going well. I got up a few vinyl pictures in his room this afternoon. We wrapped a few birthday gifts and hung up the big sign we made him over his new door. After dinner we all went upstairs and he saw the very hard to miss sign.

He loved the pictures Paul had drawn and took several minutes to name everything and admire the pictures. Then we tried to explain how to bust through the paper and into his new room. He sort of understood, and gave it a tentative try, but he like the sign so much he didn't want it to rip or fall. So instead he found an opening on the side and snuck through. 

And he loved what he saw! The choo choo was the first thing he noticed and he was quite pleased with it. Then he saw the plane and enjoyed that too. 

We showed him his presents and he opened the first one....a CD player/radio. As we expected he loved that too. 

He started playing songs and finding different radio stations and trying out all the knobs. Every time he found a station he would stop, dance a little and then change it immediately. It was so funny, he was off the walls excited.

We played the rest of the evening in his new room going between cars, dancing and opening and closing the door. While he played we finished moving some of his things to his new room. Then came bedtime....he would not lay down. We read a story and sang our songs, but he refused to lay down. He just kept bouncing and touching the train on his wall. I got really concerned that we were in for a long night, but after Paul laid with him for a few minutes we said goodnight and closed the door, and haven't heard a peep since. So that was a lovely surprise. We'll see how he does if he wakes up during the night and what he does when he wakes up in the morning.

Birthday Weekend

Well our birthday month is drawing to a close soon. We had a wonderful weekend in Morton celebrating Amanda's 30th birthday and Jack's 2nd birthday. Janet's birthday was also on Saturday but she and Gregg are on a cruise right now so we'll have to celebrate next weekend.
I knew it would be a busy weekend and indeed it was. We got Jack's picture taken which was challenging but fun. I'm not sure why I always think he'll cooperate for such things and smile every time we ask him to. I think Lindsay got some really cute shots though and I can't wait to see them. In the afternoon while Nicole and I went to a bridal shower Paul, Jack, Kevin and Kyle went to an Easter egg hunt at a local church. Apparently the boys had a good time "searching" for eggs but Jack became quite distraught when the time came back to return the eggs so they could be reused next year. So note to self, next weekend when we let the boys hunt Easter eggs don't make Jack give his eggs back! They let him keep one egg to help calm the tears which he carried around for much of the afternoon. Saturday evening was family dinner to celebrate Amanda's birthday. It's really quite nice to be with my whole family. After eating entirely too much food and dessert and getting all the kids to bed we had some free time to hang out and play games. Such fun! And then after most of the adults went to bed it was time for me to decorate Jack's birthday cookie cake. It was time consuming, but it turned out so cute and I think it's fun to do. I went to bed at midnight after starting my day at 7 and getting no nap.....not good for me these days!
Jack's birthday was a lot of fun. We had many of his favorite foods for lunch. Had an interesting time trying to get him to open presents. He did a really good job on the first few then he suddenly got bored or something and ran off to the other room to play the piano. Getting him to come back was not an easy task! But eventually he opened everything and of course wanted to play with everything right away before opening the next gift. Our family is so generous to him. By the end of gifts the kids were showing signs of needing their naps so we took a break from partying and had a little siesta. After that we did some more playing, a few tractor rides and cake and ice cream. A very full and very fun day for Jack. It's hard to believe the kid is 2 already. He's growing up so fast.

Having Fun

Spring is a lovely time. It's so nice to get outside and not have to bundle up. We've been trying to get out any time it's nice whether to the park or for a wagon ride around the neighborhood. Yesterday we played with bubbles. He needs a little work on his technique. He currently puts the sticky wand directly on his lips and blows hard. The most bubbles he creates are on his lips from all the solution. Then we took a wagon ride and toward the end he said he wanted to walk. I was fine with that so I let him out. What he really wanted was to pull the wagon. After a few mishaps and many refusals of help he succeeded in pulling it all the way home. It was a good thing I wasn't in a hurry. Last week Jack got to go to the park several times. I find the park to be a very interesting social experience. There is a whole variety of adult supervision, some good and some quite lacking. There is very little English being spoken. And there are all sorts of ages and sizes of kids running around with a whole range of manners. It's very interesting to see Jack in this situation. How he interacts with the other kids and how he responds to being treated poorly or if he treats other kids poorly. In our first week of park going I realized something very important about Jack. It's the other kids that bother him not the size of the slide. It there are no other kids around the slide he'll go down pretty much anything, as soon as other kids are around (especially if they are being annoying) he refuses to go down.

This morning, we had fun at Monkey Joe's with some friends. Jack had a blast. He jumped his little heart out and had so much fun "falling". I think he could be a stunt toddler. He practiced falling backward from standing, falling from running into something, falling of the edge of something and doing a flip/somersault, and falling by jumping from higher ground to lower ground. And all of these were on purpose. There were lots of kids there due to spring break but even when they would run into him he was hardly phased. Besides how much fun he had and how much energy he used up...the best part was I hardly had to do anything except sit at watch. Usually I have to get in and help him climb slides. But today he wasn't interested in slides and that was great with me.

RIP Highlander/Dreams Do Come True

RIP Highlander. May another family enjoy as much as we did. You were a good car and we will miss your sporty good looks and stylish spoiler. You were our first car as Mr. and Mrs. Friend and will not be forgotten. You stood by me when I slammed you into a parked car during my first pregnancy and were quite forgiving with that rock the other weekend. You carried our first child home from the hospital and you've kept us safe on countless drive to Morton and back. You've been home to backseat picnics and hours of Jack's pretend driving. You were god to us and we will miss you.

Welcome to the family Sienna. We hope you like it here. Right now you seem quite cavernous but soon you will be filled with many bundles of joy. In the day we've known you, you've given a good first impression. And Jack seems to enjoy your power doors, as do I. We will do our best to keep you clean, but as you will soon learn I am not the most tidy person. My apologies in advance. Please know that while you were a surprise, you are wanted and your many car seat latches are greatly appreciated. Also know that you are fulfilling Paul's 12 year dream of owning a minivan. Yes, he wanted one when he was 16.

In a somewhat unrelated side note. It's hard to believe these pictures  were taken only a day apart. Gotta love this weather.

Baby B is....

This past Wednesday we had another doctors appointment and ultrasound. This will be a very common theme in our lives for the next few months. We see the doctor roughly every 2 weeks and an ultrasound once a month. You would think with all those ultrasounds we'd get a good picture of these babies, but they aren't super cooperative. So this time we only got Baby A.

Baby B isn't so good with the pictures. However, we did learn an important fact about Baby B on Wednesday. Baby B is in deed a boy. With that determination it is safe to say we will be a family of boys. I'm much more excited about this than I was initially. I think it will be hectic and crazy and we might spend a lot of time in the ER over the years, but I think we will have so much fun. Right now one of the most adorable things is hearing Jack say "2 brothers". In fact we should try and get that on video because it is so precious. 

I guess that's all we the new information I have from these appointments, except of course that both boys look healthy, which is wonderful.

Wisconsin Dells

Ok. I'm trying to catch up a little here. Last weekend we took a trip to the Wisconsin Dells. We went with three other family and though it was crowded and a little hectic we had a lot of fun. We did some basic chilling and hanging out and got to play games one night. On Saturday we went to a cheese factory and watched cheese being made and got to try a lot of delicious samples. We also went downtown Dells and walked around. Our "hotel", we were actually in cottages, had a great indoor kids pool so we spent a lot of time there too. Four people went skiing Saturday night at Cascade. They had a good time, minus the fall taken on the last run resulting in a back injury for Matt. The only pictures I got were of the kids swimming. Hannah got a few in one of the rooms.

Everything Is Not Yours

I think if i hear the word "mine" one more time I might pull my hair out. Jack is definitely into the mine stage. Anything he's playing with he thinks is his and only his regardless of where we are or who the toy actually belongs to. He yells at other kids when they try to play with him and pulls the toy close so no one can take it from him. I know this is not uncommon but how do you handle this behavior? Comments welcome!
P.S. Apparently this is my reverse advice column. Instead of you writing me about your problems and asking for advice I write to all of you about mine and hope you can help.

Magic Bullet

I got a Magic Bullet today with some of my birthday money. Does anyone have one of these? My thinking is that it would be a good, quick thing to use for my breakfasts. Just throw in a few things, blend and have a smoothie. I tried it out tonight and it seems as though my smoothie "recipe" needs a little work to get it just right. But the end result was good. Perhaps I can find an ingredient combo I really like and after the babies come I can have smoothies for breakfast instead of nothing. After Jack was born I quit eating breakfast for a while because I would just run out of time or not know how to sit down to eat with a newborn needing me. So perhaps this will help me avoid missing breakfast. Or perhaps it's just wishful thinking. But if you have  Magic Bullet and a good smoothie recipe let me know.

Baby Kicks

Paul felt who I'm guessing is Baby A last night! I felt him a couple of times and then Paul did. I could also see my stomach moving with his little kicks. I'm so excited. I've been waiting for this because I love it. I think Baby B's legs are in a less noticeable spot cause I feel Baby B but not the same way. We'll find out for sure on Wednesday.

Watch Natalie Grow-Week 20

It's that time again. A visual for those of you who don't see me often or those of you who see me daily and can't see how big I'm getting. And for your enjoyment I'm including comparison photos of when I was pregnant with Jack. One at approximately the same time and one that I think I'm approximately the same size. You can go to my picasa to see my previous pictures from this pregnancy.

Week 20 w/twins

Week 22 w/Jack          Week 32 w/Jack

Basketball

It's amazing how a dead camera battery can really hold up blogging. I kept saying, "I can't post until I get those pictures off, but the battery is dead" and then nothing would be done. But today I had a revelation, I can stick the card into the computer, duh. So here I am back to my blog.
What I've been meaning to write about it Jack's newfound love of basketball. He's had his hoop for almost a year and played with it off and on but only if he could slam dunk the ball. The concept of actually shooting the ball into the basket was totally missed by him. Until the last month. Something clicked and he finally realized what we've been trying to tell him all along. It's very possible that our Saturday mornings watching Dadda play basketball have made a difference. And now he LOVES to shoot hoops and he's getting better all the time. It's one of the few things he thinks to do and asks us to come play with him. Paul and Jack spend a lot of time shooting hoops (and running laps around the house and going on car rides in his fire truck). So here are a few pictures of his mad skills. Notice he thinks he's hot stuff because he can actually shoot two balls at once and make it.

Are you watching Dadda?

19 Weeks and Counting

We had another doctors appointment today. Surprisingly my blood pressure was normal. I can't remember the last time it was normal while pregnant, so that was pretty exciting. Per a typical appointment, we got to hear both heartbeats. I always enjoy that. Though with two squirming around in there sometimes it's difficult to pin them down. It's hard to believe we're almost to the half way point. Now we'll be having appointments every 2-3 weeks. Our next appointment is in two weeks and will be accompanied by an ultrasound. Hopefully, we'll get a little clarification on the genders. Then we'll have to start thinking of names. Hmm....Any ideas?

Deep Thoughts by Jack's Mommy

1-Nothing says I love you quite like catching vomit in your hands and not showing how disgusted you really are, but rather assuring your child it's ok and telling them they can vomit more if they need to.
2-There is something very comical about a toddler vomiting all over the place then, because they feel better, sitting down and saying "oh no" in the cutest way possible while you clean up the mess.
3-I am dreading the day when all three children are vomiting at once or when we go days in a row as they all just pass their germs along.
4-And my final thought on last nights events...I can see the benefit of plastic covered furniture on nights like this.