Andrew, age 7

My first baby is seven years old! Wow! He is in First Grade, he wears size 8 clothes (for length, we have to buy him slim because he is so skinny), he eats anything and everything when he is growing, but other than that, he just wants junk food (like his momma). He is an awesome swimmer, reader, and runner. He is a well-rounded, funny, handsome little man. He will be able to teach J.J. so much!

He is really into football right now and his favorite team is the University of Wisconsin Badgers. So, naturally, his party was football themed. He wore his Halloween costume.

Randi made him a Badger cake that was super yummy!

And Jeremy organized a game of flag football. There was also a football piñata that I failed to get pictures of.

It was a great time and so many of Andrew's family and friends came out to celebrate with him.

On his actual birthday, December 3rd, his request was to go to Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo.

We had a lot of fun walking around and looking at the lights. J.J. couldn't take his eyes off of all the twinkling lights! We all had a great time celebrating Andrew's birthday and, at the same time, receiving a little Christmas spirit to prepare us for the next few weeks.

Thanksgiving

And finally, her are some pictures of us from Thanksgiving:

3 Months Old

Look what's up next: J.J. turned 3 months old on November 27th!
I weighed him at home and he is coming in at 14.8 pounds! He's really chunking out, just like Andrew had done! He is in size 2 diapers and in 6-9 month clothing. Yikes! He's growing so fast!

He is a very smiley baby! If anyone looks him right in his face and talks to him; he'll smile at them. Especially if it's momma, dadda or brother.
He eats 5 ounces every 3 hours and sleeps at night from 9:00 pm-5:00 am, has a bottle then goes back to sleep until 8:00 am for another bottle. And he LOVES to sleep in his crib; at night and for his naps. I put him in there when he is wide awake and he falls asleep pretty much right away and with no fussing. Sometimes he'll talk to his toys for a little bit before sleeping.

We are so blessed by this little boy! He is so sweet, happy, and easy (so far). We love him!

Halloween

I'm a little behind... Let's play catch up. First up: Halloween!
This year we went to Schnepf Farms with Josh, Mindy, Derek, Kamryn, and Gail. We had a really fun time! The kids are at a good age to really enjoy the rides and walk around a lot without getting tired. J.J. just hung out in his stroller the whole time.

On Halloween night we went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood with Josh, Mindy, Derek and Kami.

Andrew has really taken a liking to the Wisconsin Badger football team (I'm sure because of watching the games with my parents) and I was lucky enough to find a Wisconsin football costume for him! He was so excited.

I call J.J. my little monkey butt (because his diapers have monkeys on them and he has a pair of pants with a monkey on his butt) so when I found this monkey costume at Target, I thought it was perfect. He was my little chunky monkey for Halloween!

Derek was Batman and Kami was Batgirl. I think it is so cute when siblings costumes match each other!

J.J. trick-or-treated in his stroller. Not really, he just went along for the ride. No candy for him this year. Jeremy said we had a mom come trick-or-treating with her baby that wasn't much older than J.J. I think he said the mom had no costume on, but she was saying trick-or-treat and taking the candy like her baby was going to be able to eat it. Weird.

The kids hit every house in our neighborhood and got a pretty good amount of candy! We all had fun!

2 Months

On October 27th, JJ turned 2 months old! He had his 2 month doctor visit that same day. He weighed 12.9 pounds and was 23 3/4 inches long. He's really filled out and is very alert and smiley! He takes a 5 oz. bottle every 3 hours during the day and at night he sleeps from 9:30-4:00, takes a bottle then goes back to sleep until 7:00. He wears size 3-6 months. He is very squirmy and strong (like Andrew was) and loves his pacifier. It calms him down. He's a very easy baby so far! He's a cutie!

At his 2 month check up, he had to have 5 vaccinations in 2 shots. I spent the afternoon holding a grumpy baby. He didn't want to be put down. Poor baby! But, I didn't mind one bit!

Andrew Update

As well as being the best big brother ever, Andrew has some other great adventures he is partaking in now-a-days:
SOCCER - he is a part of the Gilbert Soccer League. His team is made up of 9 other six year old boys called the Crushers! He loves soccer and is very good at it. He is a super fast runner, can dribble the ball well without looking, and has been working on his passing skills. He passed the ball to a teammate that scored a goal during the second game. He has scored two goals in the last 3 games. We love going out and watching him play!

FIRST GRADE - Andrew is doing really well in school. Last Friday they had the 1st Quarter Awards Day where Andrew received the Principal's Award for having all As and Bs. He had a B in Art class (due to absences when we were on vacation). He works really hard in class, still loves to read, his teacher has nothing but praise to report on him when we meet with her, and he comes home every day with a green light (meaning he is following directions and behaving). We are really proud of him!

6 Weeks

Look who's happy to be 6 weeks old!!

1 month

Baby Jeremy, aka JJ, aka Thing 2 turns one month old today!
I snapped some shots of him while he was hanging out in his Pack N Play. This baby makes the funniest faces. Here are some of them:He doesn't smile often yet, but every now and then I catch a quick glimpse of a smile. I can't wait until he starts really smiling because he has the cutest dimples!

He likes to tuck his lower lip/chin in.

And he likes to bulge his eyes out.

A look back on JJs first month:

His belly button cord fell off on day 14 (finally). He hated the sponge baths we had to give him until his belly button and circumcision healed. Now he can be more emerged into his baby bath and he really enjoys that!

He weighs 10 pounds exactly.

*He wears size 1 diapers and 0-3 months clothes, however it is getting rather difficult to snap the onesies because he is so long.

He eats 4 ounces every 3 hours; including night time. Twice he has gone 5 hours without a bottle. Once that was during the night and it was awesome!

He has been in his crib at night since 3 weeks old. He seems to enjoy the quietness of his own room.

He loves his pacifier when he is awake and bored. I love that he doesn't need it to fall asleep. I use it to tide him over when he is still 20 minutes or so away from his next feeding. I'm glad it works!

This week he has really began focusing on people and objects. He is also realizing that he has hands that work. He is constantly holding his pacifier in his mouth, taking it out, touching his bottle, feeling his cheeks, etc.

I have one week left at home with him before I go back to work 3 days a week. I am much more worried this time around about his well being when I am not around. But, I only work 3 days a week from 9-3, and he will be at Jeremy's cousin's house that is just 1 mile away from where I work. All the more incentive to work hard to pay off debts so I can stay home.

*revised 9/28

Ranger Kid of the Year

Andrew is a part of a program at our church called Royal Rangers. It's like the Boy Scout program; he earns badges and merits, they go on camp outs, and he learns Bible stories and memorizes scripture from the Bible. Andrew really enjoys his class. He is in the Ranger Kids class (Kindergarten-2nd grade). I find him at home reading through his Ranger Kids handbook, reading through his Kid's Bible (which he read front to back over the summer!), and he's always making sure that I've sewn his latest badges on his vest.
Apparently his dedication and enthusiasm for the program caught the attention of the other Commanders (teachers) and they voted Andrew for Ranger Kid of the Year. Jeremy and I were extremely surprised (especially since the Senior Commander asked Jeremy who he thought should receive the award and Jeremy told him another kid from the class). Jeremy was worried that it looked really bad that Andrew won the award since Jeremy is the Commander of that class. Eh, what can ya do?
The Pastor recognized each Ranger of the Year during church service and asked each of them what the funnest thing about Rangers is.
Andrew's response?......
"Nothing."

Jeremy Jonah

It's a BOY!! I have to admit I was quite surprised this time around. This pregnancy was so different than when I had Andrew, that I was really starting to think I was having a girl. But we are thrilled with this little handsome man, that I think we'll keep him around!
Jeremy Jonah was born on Friday, August 27, 2010 at 1:29 pm. He weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce and was 20 1/2 inches long. He was over a pound larger than Andrew was, but he is the spitting image of his big brother!
I began feeling contractions every 8 minutes around 2:00 am with them escalating to 5 minutes apart by 5:30 am. I was checked in the hospital triage room around 7:00 am at 6 cm dilated. I got my epidural at 8:30 am and was still at 6 cm dilated. At noon I was 8 cm dilated and my doctor broke my water and then left to grab some lunch. The doctor came back at 1:00 and I was ready to go. It took half hour for baby J to arrive.

Jeremy, my mom, and Jeremy's mom was in delivery with me, but as soon as the baby was born, Jeremy ran out to the waiting room and whispered to Andrew that he had a little brother so Andrew was able to announce to everyone else that the baby was a boy. His reaction when Jeremy whispered to him?... "YES!!!" I guess he is happy his prayers for a little brother were answered!

This little man is a charmer; complete with cute dimples! Right now he only flashes them when he's upset, but soon I'm sure he'll learn to flash them to flirt with the ladies.

We aren't sure exactly what we will call him, but we know that Jeremy just isn't going to work. It's too hard... A lot of people call him JJ. I call him baby J or just J. Andrew calls him baby brother or baby boy. Jeremy sometimes calls him Junior or Thing 2 (Andrew, of course, being Thing 1 - Dr. Seuss).
We've waited such a long time for this little blessing! We are so happy he is finally here and we are really enjoying having a baby in the house!

Wisconsin Vacation 2010

Another year, another relaxing vacation at Rock Lake in Lake Mills, WI!! We did our usual eating out every night for dinner with the family, relaxed by the lake, and ate a lot of ice cream and fried cheese curds! Yum!
This is our favorite Friday Fish Fry spot - Pine Knoll in Lake Mills.

We ate at a restaurant located on the North Shore of Lake Koshkonong in Fort Atkinson. The lake was flooding the neighborhood because of all the rain the Midwest had received.

We ate at a German restaurant, Karl Ratzsch's, in Milwaukee for my parent's and my aunt and uncle's 35th wedding anniversaries. We've always wanted to eat there and it did not disappoint!

Here's the happy couples (my parents on the left and my aunt and uncle on the right).

My sweet aunts and cousins blessed me with a baby shower in Watertown at a yummy restaurant called Upper Krust (amazing food and pie)! I had a GREAT time with all the ladies in my family!

This year we had a new cottage. It sleeps 6 and is right across the grass from my parent's trailer, the playground is in between our cottage and my parent's trailer, and we can see the beach access to the Lake from our cottage. It's a great location! We really enjoyed the extra space for sure!

Andrew spent a lot of time at the playground. It was so convenient to see him from our cottage windows.

Jeremy and Andrew played a lot of whiffle ball baseball.

We spent the majority of each day down at the Lake and in the water. The temperature stayed in the 80's all week so it was great!

Andrew made a friend that stays in the cottage next door to us! He is 4 months older than Andrew and they got along really well! It was awesome that he had someone his age to play with!