Daddy's Clothes, Cookies and a Magna-Doodle

All in all, it was a fun week!

After a day at the doctor on Tuesday, Ryan had class so I was home for the long night alone.  Until, my friend Katie from high school came over and helped out with the boys!  It is always so fun to catch up with her- she lives a very fun, spontaneous life- I love to hear all about it! (Have fun in Florida this week!!) :)  It is so nice to have help with the boys.  We ate dinner, played, then she helped me bathe them, and get everyone ready for bed.  Wahoo!  The boys love her- and I love to have 4 hands to help and an adult to talk to. :D

What a cutie!!!

That night, when it was time to go to sleep, John was hysterical wanting his daddy.  He was truly sad that Ryan wasn't here.  Ryan and John have a very special bedtime routine.  I nurse SJ, and Ryan and John go get ready for bed.  First, they get their jammies on, brush teeth together, read 2 22 books and then Ryan sings him songs and lays with him until he is sleeping.  Most importantly, he has to tip-toe out of his room completely silent!! :)   It is so sweet, John has a very hard time when Ryan isn't here to put him to bed  and Ryan has a hard time when he isn't here to put John to bed.  Father-Son bonding time <3 

Stephen did spend time at the doctor this week, but he seems to hopefully be on the mend!  While I was playing with John on Wednesday morning, I snapped this shot of Stephen making his first Magna-Doodle picture.  He actually got what was happening!  As his mom, I love when you get to see his gears turning.

On Thursday, I had a meeting to go to (alone!) :)  so, my mom watched SJ and Jana watched JR.  Stephen and my mom played and he ate a lot! haha-  chicken, brown rice, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower blueberries and banana.  He must be a growing boy!  John and Jana played outside and made cookies! These are two of John's favorite things- being outside and sitting on the counter at Nana's mixing up cookie dough. 
Ryan made the rounds from 3M in Woodbury to Nana's in Mendota to my parents and finally home with the boys in tote!

These are pictures of a clown cookie my mom bought John at the bakery.  I gave it to him as a "bedtime snack" ....  haha   He did  actually fall asleep pretty quick even after his treat.  Notice the red M&M nose was the first to go! :)

**OH MAN!!   Stephen JUST pulled himself from a crawling position to the standing!!!!  Yikes! StAnDiNg!! EEk.  :D  He was playing on the floor with an animal puzzle, and he crawled over to me, grabbed onto my legs and slowing stood up! :O

Next Step, Infectious Disease & UPDATE

I took Stephen to the Doctor again today.  He is still running a fever and just can't seem to get 100% healthy. 

Today his labs results were still off, so tomorrow we are going to the infectious disease doctor at the hospital. 

I will update this when we know more information!   Prayers for little Stephen.  I am sure everything will be ok, I am just a mom, his mom and I am really good at worrying about my baby!  :'(


**************************************************************************************
Infectious Disease Appointment recap:

We saw a great doctor!  She was very thorough, we went through all of our medical history, all of it! haha
She is doing loads of blood work and cultures.  She wants to check his immune system to see if it is making his T cells and B cells and if so, how many and so forth.  Then she did a re-check on his CBCs, WBC, ...everything that has been off in the past.  I also had to collect a urine and bring it down to Children's last night, to make sure he doesn't have a UIT. 

Her first thought was that he needs his adenoids out and tubes put in.  He has had 8 ear infections since August!   I actually already had an appointment set up with Dr. Malone (ENT) for March 15 (soonest available)   But, the doctor we saw last night is going to call her office today and see if she can get that appointment moved up.  She thinks the tubes will help the ear infections, and having the adenoids removed will help with all the other symptoms (constant fevers, runny nose, snoring, wheezing, eczema etc.)  Then, with all of those things fixed she hopes that his blood work will go back to normal too. 
His hemoglobin has been low for about 2 months now, platelets have been over double of the high end of what they should be, and he has a high white count.  Those are the biggies but there was other things off too... I just can't remember them all! haha

Hopefully we are on the road to recovery!! I will post as we know more information about the results. :)

Stepehn's Weight: 18lbs 10oz
Stepehen's Height: 28 inches

What do the Patrick's eat?

I thought it would be fun to document our grocery list...  I think it is a ton of food, but I bet in 5 years, 10 years and so on it will be nothing... haha

What do we buy on a weekly basis?

Fruit:
10-12 bananas
2 cartons of strawberries
1 carton of blueberries
1 carton of raspberries
10 Honeycrisp apples
2 avocados
1 tomato
2 lemons (for my iced tea!)
1 jug of Simply Orange juice
and one other fruit that looks good (today was 2 mangoes)

Vegetables:
1 bag of carrots (this is every other week)
1 bag of celery hearts
1 bag of spinach
1 bag of romaine lettuce or a head of lettuce
1 green pepper
2 onions
4 potatoes
1 head of broccoli
1 head of cauliflower
1 bag of snow peas
1 garlic bulb (we buy this every 2-3 weeks)

Meat:
2 packages of chicken breasts
1 pound ground beef
1 pound of Italian sausage (to be browned and added to pasta sauce)
1 pound sliced roast beef
1 pound sliced turkey

Grains:
2 loaves of whole wheat bread
1 package of tortilla shells
1 box of pasta
2 boxes of granola
1 box of whole wheat Eggo waffles

Dairy:
2 gallons of skim milk
1 gallon of whole milk
18 eggs
4 tubs of vanilla yogurt
1/2 pound sliced colby jack cheese
1 pound mozzarella cheese in a brick

Extras:
1 jar of Vodka sauce
Yellow mustard
1 frozen pizza
Coke
salsa
1 bag of baked lays chips
(Ryan wanted) doughnuts!
1 carton of tomato basil soup

I think that is all.... until next Sunday!

What are we eating this week?

*Veggie/chicken stir-fry with brown rice
*Steak (in our freezer already) garlic mashed potatoes, carrots and a green salad
*Pasta, meat sauce and salads
*Chicken Tacos
* Leftovers.... 
** on the weekend we eat whatever we feel like.  Which can really vary!

For breakfast we have eggs, yogurt/granola, oatmeal, eggos, fruit
For lunch we have sandwiches, soups, leftovers, or odds and ends
The pizza is for a lunch on the weekend OR if something comes up during the week and dinner doesn't get finished, I have a plan B  haha   :D

OK, bedtime! SJ is sleeping!! Yahoo!

Lazy Weekend

This weekend we did a lot of relaxing!  We had ambitious plans, but they went right out the window...
On Saturday I was extremely tired from the past week, so at about 10am I needed a nap already, haha.  I took a nap and then we headed to my parents.  I hung out with Sara while Ryan and my mom helped pack up my dad's display from his trade show.  Sara  was on John duty and I was on Stephen duty at my parents.  We played and chatted while Ryan and my parents were away. 
Saturday evening, Ryan and I had a bright idea to invite his parents over for dinner because they are going to be out of town a lot in the coming weeks.  But, they already had plans.  Then we called my parents, but they were going to see a movie.  Ryan and I stood here laughing-  Wow, times have changed! We used be the ones going out all the time, now we are the ones home all the time!! haha
So, we ate our spinach salads, pork chops, potatoes, carrots and rolls alone.  :)  Then, Ryan went to Kohl's to by new work shoes because last week he officially wore his old ones out- the sole came right off it!! While Ryan shopped, I nursed SJ and put the boys to bed.  As I sat here watching TV on our thrilling Saturday evening, Sara called and said she was bringing over Cold Stone ice cream!  Sara and I chatted about life and enjoyed our ice cream. 
It turned out to be a great night! :D

On Sunday, Ryan and I wanted so bad to go to church alone, in the past weeks we have had to leave early because we were rapidly melting.  We dropped the boys off at my parents this morning and loved our time at mass alone!! We felt like kids again! ;D  Then we went to Target to get our groceries and we enjoyed our coffee as we shopped.  It was so nice to have some us time and be productive too!!
The rest of the day, we played, Ryan did homework and shoveled 4 times!  We had stuffed peppers for dinner, chocolate chip cookies for dessert and then it was bed time!

It was nice to relax and watch the 12+ inches of snow fall outside.  <3


And now for some pictures from our weekend:

SJ caught playing with the vacuum!  Saturday morning.

John with his dirty shirt on, enjoying our lazy Saturday morning!

<3  BrOtHeRs <3

(This picture was SO sweet! ... I was talking to Ryan about how cold SJ was during the night, and saying that we need to be sure SJ has his hat on while he sleeps.  When we came around the corner to check on the boys, John had put Stephen's hat on him!!)

   

Ryan waving to John while he was out shoveling.

Stevie Joe in the Jumper-  He was LOVING it!!

YAY!!

Male bonding time!  The boys were having some time together.  So sweet!

Big wet kisses!!! 

PS, did you notice we also got John's hair cut on Saturday afternoon... oh man, he needed it!!  He sat extremely well while his stylist, Monica cut his hair.  We go to Kid's hair in Highland every 5-7 weeks for a haircut with Monica.  She is amazing at cutting hair!

Visiting Great Grandma Kreuser

On Friday, Kelli and I took the boys to see my grandma Kreuser.  Kelli came over and we ate a quick lunch, packed and re-packed the boys, changed their clothes and finally loaded up in Kelli's car.  We got on the road and then realized we needed to get something at my parents, oops! 
Ok, now we were ready!  JR, SJ and I slept the whole way there as Kelli drove.  (Wow, I needed that nap!! I was SO tired!)  We were greeted at the door by Grandma Kreuser.  She sure loves visitors, especially if they are under 3 feet tall.  We visited with her for a few hours, John tore her whole living room apart and she tried out my mom's ipad.  I was impressed, she got the hang of the touch screen pretty fast.  We got to catch up on all gossip she knew! haha  Then Uncle Dave and Aunt Karen stopped by with fish and chili  and Uncle Dan came too! 
It is always fun to go to the farm, some of my favorite childhood memories are on the farm.

Kelli and I knew we were melting fast, so as Dave and John added wood to grandma's fireplace we quickly cleaned up all the toys and packed up.  We headed home after making a dinner stop at Subway. 

It was so fun to go see grandma- we don't make it there often enough!!  And I couldn't have done it with out Kelli's help!  John and now mobile Stephen are quite the pair.

Stephen, an Ole??

On Thursday, I took John to his appointments and Nana Jana took Stephen to see his Godmother Alana at college.  Jana picked little Stevie Joe up in Woodbury and off they drove in the fog to St. Olaf for lunch. 
Stephen is so lucky to get to have lunch with Nana Jana and his Godmother, Alana. 

I called Jana at about 1pm to check in and see how he was doing.  She said they were at a McDonald's parking lot, SJ was hungry.  And, no he wasn't eating McDonald's! ;D  Just baby food!

(After John's appointments we went to the gym.  John played in the child care center-- he loves it there!  But, today when I went to pick him up he was getting in trouble.  I asked why and I was told, John has been repeatedly taking the other children's toys and when we ask him to give them back he has been putting the toy behind his back looking us in the eyes and saying "HI!!" and then walking away. OY VEY.)  I tried to look past this mischief (after of course scolding him) and we went to the cafe at LT for a snack.  Everyday John tries to grab a bag of chips and make a run for it.  We have never stopped in there to eat, ever. But, I thought it would be fun since it was just John and I.  John snacked on his sun chips and water while I brushed crumbs into a pile -- damage control.) 
When I picked up SJ that afternoon I asked how everything went, and I was told, he had a major blowout!
Oh Stephen! That just simply isn't polite, you will not get asked on lunch dates if you poop on them!! haha  Thanks Auntie Alana and Nana Jana for taking Stephen on his first college visit!!

Minnesota Zoo

On Wednesday, after John's speech session we went to Nana Jana's and picked her up for an afternoon at the zoo!
It was beautiful outside (high of 50 degrees!)  and lots of sun!!  We packed lunches of peanut butter sandwiches, avocados, raspberries, bananas and goldfish.  We had a little hiccup with our parking.  I had a *bright* idea to go to the back lot to park so we could get a closer spot.  We had the double stroller out and set up and John out of the car when a man who works for the MN Zoo told us that the back entrance was closed!  UGH.  Ok, back to the front lot- on to see the animals! :D
John riding in the stroller was short lived.  He wants to be independent! Sigh
We enjoyed the bears, fish, boars, camels, and ground hogs. 
I would have to say, his favorite animal was the sea otter.  He laughed and laughed as him and Nana stood at the glass watching Mr. Sea Otter swim back an forth entertaining everyone.  It was nice to be able to stop at the otters- usually I pass them because it is a hot spot.  In the past, there are always tons of people watching them, but today there was only a few high school students.
We go the camels and decided John was getting hungry and tired so we turned around.  We stopped at a bench and had our brown bag lunches.  De-lish!  John was in fact hungry!  He chowed down.
With the heat wave that we were having, there were puddles everywhere.  John jumped in the puddles and had to feel the water (with his mittens on!)
A great afternoon was had by all!  It was great to have Nana there because then John could run around and burn off some steam.  Stephen slept the entire time all snuggled up in the stroller with a blanket Great Grandma Jackie gave the boys. 
(That day, John didn't get a nap. At night, he slept from 7:30pm - 9AM!!!!  This is amazing!)

Valentine's Day with the Patrick's

On Saturday night, my parents offered to watch the boys so Ryan and I could go out for a romantic date! haha
None the less, we were excited to go out alone!  It doesn't happen often, so when we get to go out, it is very exciting!! 
We went to the Big Bowl in Roseville, one of our favorites.  The wait was an hour, so we enjoyed a beverage and appetizer at the bar while we waited.  It was so fun for us to get to chat and connect.  We did a lot of talking about our hopes and dreams of where we see our family in 1 year, 3 years and 5 years and 35 years.  The joys of being young and having big dreams for our family.  Best Valentine's date-  At the end of our conversation, we decided, we may not (OK, we don't) do things the same way as other families, but we do things our way and could be happier with our lives! :D 
On that note, I called my mom and got the report that Stephen was pretty fussy....  We got our left-overs boxed up and headed home.  Ryan put John down to bed and I rocked Stephen.  JOY <3
My mom brought V-Day goodies for the boys.  John got a little Elmo doll, a few new shirts and shorts for this summer.  Stephen got Sophie the Giraffe! Sophie is a teether, a fancy one at that!  Lucky boys!

On Sunday morning I got to sleep in while Ryan tended to John.  :) (Love this!)  Then we headed to Jana and Steve's.  It was a beautiful, beautiful day!! We hung out and talked about Alana's hockey game the night before, Steve played with John and little Stephen was quite fussy.  It was fun for Ryan and I to chat with Jana about our plans to head south to Florida next winter.  Yay! We are super excited (!!!)
Jana knows her Valentine's: ;)
She got John got a book about animals, Ryan got protein bars and I got chocolate hearts!  haha, Absolutely perfect!  :D  Thank you Nana Jana for thinking of us!
I had to cut our visit short because I was not able to console Stephen, I knew in my gut he must have an ear infection.  When he is fussy, I know he loves to snuggle in our bed with blankets and nurse.  So, that is just what I did with him when we got home. 

XXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXO
I took Stephen to the Dr this afternoon, and he has a double ear infection... his eighth!!!  We have been referred to an ENT.  SJ's primary Dr thinks tubes may be in our future....

We came home to pot roast and veggies in the crock pot.  Yummy.  For dessert, we had more heart shaped cookies.  Dad frosted his and I did mine and the boy's.  Many laughs at dinner-  Oh, I love my family!! XO

Hey Ry, can you tip the cookies up so I can get a better picture of them?

Sure!!   Hahahaha

John showing off our cookies.  Stephen eyeing them up.

Nummy!!!! 



Where in the world is my cookie?!?!!



Heart Shaped Cookies, Frosting, and Sprinkles

Today I hosted a play date for my mom's group.  I have been a member of Meetup: Moms and Munchkins  since May 2010.  It has been so much fun to get to know a bunch (92 members in total!!) of moms that are currently walking in the same shoes I am! haha  We are all taking life one day at a time, enjoying our new title (MOM) and our new babies.  The best part is having an adult to talk to while the tykes play.

Back to the play date...
This morning, I got the troops ready, myself ready and then we headed out to Cub to pick up my order, (heart shaped sugar cookies and frosting).  As we walked through the store, making our way to the bakery John was loving all the balloons.  Loving them!  He was crazy about them!  I thought, he wants a balloon... Why NOT?!  Most kids want candy, cookies and treats.... John wants a balloon... sure! How about 2?! haha  John picked out one for himself, a red heart.  Then, right away he looked at me and exclaimed, "baby?!"  So, I asked him which one he wanted to pick out for Stephen.   John knew right away- I big balloon shaped like a bear.  Oh boy was he proud and excited.  Anyways, we picked up or goodies and headed home.

Promptly at 9:30 the moms and kids started arriving!  Let the games begin!
I had almost everything set up and layed out. 

Now, on a side note-  I have done cookie decorating when I taught preschool and it always went pretty smooth.  However, today went prefect!!  Wow, it sure makes a difference when there is a 1:1 ratio of kids to moms.  Love this!

And the rest is history.....

John, "frosting" his Heart shaped marshmallow, and licking it off.  And repeat!

Elbow deep in frosting and sprinkles!

Stephen somehow got a hold of a to-go bag... all he wanted was a cookie.  :/

Maybe next year....

Yummy!! Frosting!!! :D



Frosting with her fingers! ;)



I didn't get a group shot... or, many pictures for that matter!  (Thanks Cyndi for letting me steal some of your pictures!)

Fun was had by all!  Thanks everyone for coming over and celebrating Valentine's with the Patrick's.  :D

Ice Dams

This winter has been brutal for our roof!!  On Sunday, it was super nice out and the snow on our roof was melting! :)  (ahh, spring may be in the air!?)

We got a couple quotes for someone to come remove the snow/ice from our roof.... wow, they aren't messing around!!  $300 an hour!  So, Ryan decided to do it himself.  He geared up, and climbed out our bedroom window and started shoveling.  I was seeing dollar signs dancing off our roof and back into our pockets.  :D

Thanks Ryan- very brave.  And, for everyone wondering if this was dangerous... yes, it was.  But Ryan was very careful and took his time.  I stood below ready to help if he slid off the roof into the 4 feet of snow on the ground. 

I didn't document the end result... but he got most of it off and then the sun finished the job!  :D

Suprise- Uncle Ryan is Here!

My brother Ryan called me when he was driving up here from South Dakota.  Ryan P and I have so many of our siblings that are out of town right now; going to school, working etc. So, when we get a call that one of them will be home for a bit- YAHOO! 
Ryan came over barring 3 pizzas, pop, ice, stickers, tattoos, and lots of love.  Uncle Ryan just radiates love for our kids when he is here.  We are very lucky to have him as an uncle for John and Stephen.  He read books, not just few- tons. 
Grandma and Papa came over too.  My mom brought John a personal chocolate pudding pie, topped with Cool Whip.  Yummy!  We all ate dinner and then Uncle Ryan and Grandma decked out John's arm with little puppy dog tattoos.  Grandma and I chatted and played with the little boys while Uncle Ryan, Daddy Ryan and Papa talked business.  It was a great night, so fun to spend time with family and all catch up! XO

John and Books

They are a package deal!!

John and a wild child-- very busy and always high energy! :D 
Except when there is a book available to read.  John has a love for books that is indescribable.  He will sit for hours and listen to anyone read to him.  Some of his current favorites are:
Go Dog Go
In A Peoples House
How Groundhog's Garden Grew
Green Eggs and Ham
Noah's Ark (Lift the flap book)
Elmo's: I Can Do It!
I'm a Big Brother
and, any potty book!
Lately, I feel like he "graduated" from board books...  I got out some "big kid" books, it was neat to see how accomplished he felt to get "real books".  The only problem is that if we offer him a board book to look at, he runs the book over to Stephen and ditches it.

Last Friday, Kelli came over to play.  She brought lunch and we hung out all afternoon.  Along with lunch, she brought BOOKS from grandma Mitty!!  A huge 3M reusable bag of them!!! ;D  (Thanks mom, we loved the bag too!!)  My mom got out a bunch of books that were mine from when I was little for John to use.  It is fun to see John enjoy the books I used to like reading with my parents when I was a kid.  One of them even has my signature across the front of it. haha

As I type this, John is snuggled up in bed with his Bedtime prayers for Little Boys book.  Love it. XO

Silk, Almond Milk!

Nana Jana introduced us to this wondrous beverage!  :D

A few weeks back, when I went to get John at her house she told me to try this new almond milk that John was drinking like water.  I tried it, and YUM!!  It is de-lish! 
We go to great lengths to get (healthy) calories and fat into Mr. John.  And he was practically gulping glasses of it down.  The next time I was at the grocery store, I thought I better buy some to quench his thirst/build up his knobby knees. ;)  I cringed at the price because it is about twice as expensive as regular cow milk. 
I buy the vanilla and dark chocolate.  They do have a high sugar content then regular cow milk... but I can cope! ;D 

You should all try some... I use it as creamer for my coffee now too!
Below is a link to a $1 off coupon!

https://silkparegistration.icmodus.com/default.aspx?bhcp=1

MILK

*****  FOR MOMS ONLY *****  *** ABOUT NURSING ***

I just want to have this on record....
After battling mastitis on and off for 7 months, I am finally feeling better.  I saw specialists at the U of M Breast Center, had loads of labs drawn, got an ultrasound, and oodles of antibiotics I was still not getting relief!  I turned to two other people- Julie Matthews and Dr. Nicole Hamel.  Julie is a lactation consultant-  and she went above and beyond!  She helped me figure out what was going wrong while she was on vacation in CO.  Thank you Julie for taking time out of your vacation to help me!!!  And Nicole did acupuncture work on me.  These two women helped me so much, thank you.  Since then, I have not had any trace of the nasty M word!
I have been having a really hard time nursing Stephen in the last week.  He is constantly biting me and man, those teeth are little razors.  Needless to say, I am not too keen about ...  well, let's just say, nursing (right now).  I am super bummed because it is so important to me to nurse Stephen until he is at least one year.  I am seeing that dream possibly slip out of reach if I can't get this biting habit to be a thing of the past.
Yesterday, when I was so desperate for a nursing break, so I could heal a bit.  I thought I would try for a bottle of my frozen milk.  That's when the devastating news struck--
ALL 1000+ OUNCES OF MY MILK HAD ACCIDENTALLY THAWED!!!!
Somehow, our freezer was left open and all my milk thawed and was bad.  I am devastated.  I do have an abundance of milk (obviously) but, I worked many works to pump all that milk and save it for times like these.  Today, I filled a whole garbage bag with bags of rotten frozen milk- sigh.
An angel from my Mom's group sent me the kindest offer.  There was an email asking if I wanted her only 45 ounces of frozen milk to get me thought the next couple days.  That is a huge gesture, when you only have 45 ounces, and to offer up your liquid gold- wow. Cyndi, I owe you!  The offer ended up not working out, but still, major brownie points were earned!

Super Bowl

One of my favorite days to do my Target runs.... during the Super Bowl!  :)  The store is empty!! haha  Well, in more ways then one-  no shoppers, no food either : /
We had a very relaxing weekend.  On Friday night we went to dinner with our friends, Nate, Becky and Alexander.  Becky, who is new to the cities, wanted to try a  juicy lucy.  We went to the 5-8 Club in Minneapolis.  YUM!  And, totally affordable!!  :D  We are excited for the Kreniks- they both have new jobs! Congrats guys!  John and Alexander were troopers... the place was packed and they are two years old.... need I say more??
Today Ryan and I hosted an Open House.  It was packed.  We had probably 30 people come through today, all in two hours.  The boys spent the morning at Nana and Grandpa's house.  John played outside, did finger painting, and worked on building his new tool bench. Stephen stayed inside and played with his Auntie Alana.  Both boys had a great time (AS ALWAYS!)
Grandpa Steve came over to watch the game tonight.  We love having company-  John especially.  He was wild and wholly all night!  We even had to take a break out on the porch, hoping the cold air would calm him down.  We had a spinach salad and pizza.  It was simple but just right for a Sunday night.  Steve brought over some wine that was left over from their hockey party.  I now have a new favorite (adult) beverage.  Kim Crawford, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc-  Wow, I love it.  I enjoyed my one glass. :)  Thanks Steve!
There is six minutes left on the clock and I have yet to watch any of it-  another successful Super Bowl! haha

John's Birthday Continues

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Jinette bought John a sensory/water table!  It is HUGE!  They dropped it off on the porch one night late after we were all in bed.  When John woke up to a huge box on the porch, I was a bit nervous to open it and set it up--- I was thinking, Should I just wait until summer when I can have it in the back yard?  Well, that didn't last!  Ryan and John set it up the table on Saturday while I went to the gym.  They filled it with noodles, rice and dried beans.  SOOO FUN! There are beans, rice and noodle pieces everywhere in our house, everywhere!  Thanks Ryan and Jinette!  Rumor has it Ryan will be in town for a couple days coming up... we would love to have you over for some sensory play!! ;D

Aunt Kelli came over on Friday barring gifts, too.  Kelli came over and brought John the big cardboard building blocks!  WooHoo!  John helped tear the package apart and was sure Kelli and I were very efficient while putting the blocks together.  Both Kelli and I had "cardboard cuts" by the time all 65 were folded.

Ryan loves the blocks as much as John, their favorite is building a wall with a window to peak through! :)

It was really fun to have Kelli over, she helped feed Stephen his lunch, played with John and helped get everyone ready to go to the Dr.  Oh how I love an extra set of hands!   And the company- adult interaction!!!  It sounds like we have a standing lunch play date every other Friday....  I'm so excited!  It will be really fun for all of us, John and Stephen just love their Auntie! <3

 





 If you are looking for a birthday gift for a 2 year old... these are both excellent ideas!! :)

And, Moon Sand it a great one too!! ;D  Auntie Sara bought John this really weird dough/clay/sand stuff.  It is hard to explain, but a HUGE, HUGE hit with John!  He knows it makes a disaster, which is probably his favorite part of it. haha  We (I) am excited for this summer-  we will be playing with it in the sensory table, outside!! :D Yay for messy, super fun toys!  John loves to make messes!

Here is Stephen up on all fours...

Waldorf, In Review

I will just speak for myself here...
I couldn't agree more with the philosophy of Waldorf!
It is an extremely nurturing, safe school. They really look at the child as a whole, every part counts. I love this.  At the end of the day, I would rather have our kids have all B's and be involved in sports, volunteer, do family things, have a social life, etc.
Ryan and I went to a reading class that was geared towards 2nd graders.  The teacher was so engaging, he could rattle off rhyming stories and songs that were very intricate.  I was so impressed and truly excited for the next part of the lesson- I could have listened to him all day.  He talked about the method they use to teach the children how to write a story. First, they come up with the picture of their story then write the words.  DUH!  It was really an "ah ha" moment for me. 
When I was the student, as soon as the teacher said, "today we are going to write a story about an elephant" (or whatever for that matter) I was immediately drowning in anxiety.  My mind would be racing a million miles an hour... What would the elephant do? What should the first line be? How should it end? Should he be nice? Mean? Funny? Ahh, BARF!  I felt so relaxed at Waldorf, they teach by having the child see the whole picture, and then put it on paper.  Completely the opposite of a traditional school.

My BIG hesitation was that they are years behind a traditional school.  They actually don't teach the children to read until they are in second grade!  EEK.  I get a pit in my stomach thinking about that.  Having worked in a traditional preschool, I was teaching preschoolers what the 1st graders at Waldorf were learning.

Ryan and I are going to go visit a couple other schools. I do think Waldorf may be the perfect fit for our family for Preschool and Kindergarten.  We are not sold on the grade school part....yet.  
The search continues.

Update

This week was a bit of everything....

John has been very interested in potty training.  He wants to sit on his little green Ikea potty all day... all day...alllll daaaayy.  We don't have a bathroom on the first floor, so by the time we get upstairs to use it we usually have an accident.  To solve this, we have a little green Ikea potty in the living room.  To be honest, this was not my preferred potty training method.  I wish he would learn to just go to the bathroom in the bathroom!  It really saves a step from the green potty to the regular toilet.  Ryan and I are entertaining the idea of turning Stephen's room into our (temporary) play room.  Then, during the day John can be right next to the bathroom. John doesn't care which potty he is on, he just wants to be on a potty.  :)
We will see how all of this continues to pan out...
John has been regressing with his sleeping lately.  He was sleeping about 12 hours during the night with a 2-3 hour nap.  This week I was lucky if he took a 1 hour nap and he was waking up during the night 3-4 times.  Hmm, I would love for this to just simply go back to how it used to be! ;) haha

Stephen had a bit of a rough week.  : / 
My worst nightmare came true, he rolled off our bed.  Luckily, (and I can't stress that enough) we sold our very tall headboard and just had our mattress on the box spring, laying on the floor.  He cried for a couple minutes, and then just wanted to nurse.  I cried for ... a loong time, called Children's Hospital, iced it and then stayed up watching him for 6 hours.  Oh man, I felt terrible, to say the least.  By the next morning you could barely see where he "bonked" Oy, vey!
He has the little red rough knees!!  The true sign of a baby learning to crawl! SJ has been getting up on all fours and doing major rock sessions.  It is bitter sweet to see him becoming mobile-- exciting to watch him hit his next milestone, but so sad to not have a bitty baby in the house. :)
Stephen did break through his 5th tooth!  He is obsessed with grinding his teeth.  Ryan and I think that is one of the worst sounds... but Stephen thinks it is one of the best sounds. lol He is so proud of getting a reaction out of Ryan and I.

During dinner, Stephen has been wanting to be a part of all the action! We moved John to a real chair, which is proving quite difficult.  His little body is just pretty little for the big chairs.  However, Stephen is loving sitting in John's old chair.  He is reaching for all the plates, cups, silverware, and anything John tries to sneak into his reach/mouth.

Today I took the boys back to the Dr ...again. We had them re-run their blood work and listen to their coughs that are still in full swing.
John weighed 27lbs! :)
The Dr was worried because John is wheezing and she thinks his airways seemed tight and constricted.  Now he is on Albuterol 3x daily and Pulmicort 2x daily.  She also put him on an antibiotic for 10 days for his sinus infection.
Stephen weighed 18lbs! :)
The Dr said Stephen is in the same boat with his breathing.  He is also doing a neb of Albuterol 3x daily and Pulmicort 1x daily.  And an antibiotic for 10 days... sinus infection. 
Stephen's hemoglobin has been low the last couple of draws, so we are watching that as well as his high platelet count. 
( I realize this is boring for you all to read... I just want to have it "on record") :)
Oh, I am dieing to whip these windows open and let these germs fly!!! I guess tonight is not the night to do this because today's high was 1 degree! Brrr...

Pre-School

Our school search begins!

As John is sitting here playing with his flashcards of "Minnesotan Animals" and Stephen is playing with plastic farm animals, I am in the beginning stages of our search for the boys (future) school.  Ryan and I are really looking forward to this process of choosing where best suits our boys!  We realize there are many options out there and want to be sure we do our homework.  I am pretty well versed in what a pre-school classroom should look and feel like, so I am confident we will find a great place for JR and SJ to start their school careers at! :) 
We are looking for a pre-school that will love, nurture, and celebrate being 3, 4, and (finally) 5 years old.  It is important to us that they are treated as (young) children, but not babies.  We want them to get plenty of fresh air, taught how to be a part of a group and connect with Jesus.
Some things we want them to know coming out of pre-school:
*Numbers
*Colors
*Shapes
*Letters
*Songs
Etc...
Life is about balance and too much of a good thing.... just isn't right either! :) 
Play, Laugh Grow ... I can't think of who 'coined' this phrase, but every time I hear it I think, this should sum up your pre-school years!

Places we are planning to visit:
Country Day, Mendota Heights, (January 27th @ 9:15a)
St. Kate's, St. Paul
Waldorf, Maplewood (January 21nd @ 9:30a)
House of Hope, St. Paul
Dodge Nature Center, West St. Paul
St. Mark's, St. Paul

These are in no order, just ones we would like to look at.  We know there will be pluses and minuses to each of them.  There will be places we would feel most comfortable at... but at the end of the day, it is about where John will do best, and where Stephen will do best.  It's all about you boys!! :D

Tomorrow begins our search.... Waldorf 9:30a-12  ... We will let you know what we think!

I would LOVE feedback on where you sent your kids. What you liked about the program or any advice you have! :)

John's Baby, ELMO

I have some picture's that are actually from Christmas, but I still want to share them. 
Since I do a lot of caring for baby Stephen, John has a lot of time to care for his baby, Elmo.  John likes to feed Elmo a bottle while I nurse Stephen, he gives Elmo a tootsie, he rocks Elmo, reads to Elmo, and the list goes on. 
Some of my favorite stories that my parents tell me about my childhood are the ones of me caring for all my dollies.  I love hearing about how I "nursed" them, dressed them, bathed them and so forth.  I really cared for those dolls as if they were real.  I believe this teaches children the gift of compassion, how to care for another, and be nurturing (just to name a few).  These are very practical things, I know.  But important! :)  John, you are a very sweet boy, I love when my daily routines rub off on you! : *

Elmo, having "tootise time" 

John was holding Elmo, so Elmo wouldn't cry.

Again...

Here is John's picture from tonight!  He is starting to learn to to SMILE for the camera! :D

Love you John!

Stephen Joseph is on all fours!!!

Yikes! It is time once again to double check my "baby-proofing"

Today, I caught Stephen up on all fours a couple times.  He happily will do a little rock back and fourth and then go back to the tummy time.  Stephen is a very strong baby, he knows what he wants and will do what he needs to make it happen.  If he sees a toy across the room, he will get it....by any means necessary... rolling, scooting, batting at it, he means business.
 I just can't believe he is in the beginning stages of crawling!! *tear*
By the time I got the camera out, he was not so happy!  I was a tad late on feeding him his "bedtime snack" because Grandma and Papa came to visit!! :D 


Stephen, playing with our doctor kit, and beginning to get a bit ticked off at me flashing my camera at him!

Ok, this looks worse then it really was!  I was trying to get a picture of him on all fours, rocking... but we were not jiving! Sooo, Grandma was going to prop him up and then get back so I could snap a picture....  well, it looks like he was not very fond of our plan!! D:

Stephen eating his FIRST snack before bed! It went pretty well, he seems to really like it.  After the "apple wheel" was gone, all he did for about an hour was grind his front 4 (almost 5) teeth. Ahh!! Nails on a chalkboard!
Thanks Aunt Terri for all of the Gerber treats! :D

Painting the Snow

Last night, Ryan was feeling sick so I wanted to get John out of the house so he could sleep.  I needed to do some overdue shoveling and John and I both needed fresh air!  So, I went to work shoveling and John went to work pushing all the shoveled snow back onto the sidewalk. :)  We had a lot of fun and it was a really nice night to be outside! The snow was so deep that John had a hard time moving around in it.... I needed a way to keep him busy on a little bit of sidewalk. That's when the food coloring, spray bottles and water came into play!
I made a green spray bottle and a blue one.  (I decided yellow wasn't a good color...yellow snow... or red...) Anyways, John had a blast walking up and down the sidewalk spraying the snow green and blue.  John made "art" with his spray bottle, and I wrote names and letters in the snow.  It was fun for us to get outside!! :)  Oh, what a little food coloring and water can do!

Becoming Mobile

Both boys are becoming more mobile!

Since we have been on house arrest, I have noticed that John is going up and down the steps standing up the whole way.  We have very steep steps, so he usually would go down them backwards (which I thought was a good idea!) and then almost "crawl" up them.  He wants to be a grown up when it comes to the steps- he won't let anyone hold his hand, help him or go down backwards anymore. 

Stephen is working on his 5th tooth!!!  He has his bottom 2 and top 2 front teeth.  The top tooth, on the left side of his front teeth, is just about to poke through.  He is actually a pretty good "teether" ...  no diaper rash, no rosy cheeks, and not too much fussing.  He just likes to chomp on everything that goes in his mouth! :)  We are feeding him baby food once a day since the end of December.  He really likes to have the solid food, but still loves nursing.  It has been nice for us both.  If I need to be away from him for a little bit, he can have solids because he doesn't like bottles, at all!!
Stephen has been pushing up on all fours!!!  His army crawling is getting better every day, he is able to scoot off the rug in the living room and maneuver himself to a toy he wants.  I was really shocked the other day when I went to the basement to change the laundry and stir our dinner, when I came back to the living room SJ was off the rug and halfway to the dining room. He is pretty quick on his tummy.  If he has plenty of toys in front of him he will push up on all fours and rock back and forth a little.  Oh boy, I am going to be in trouble soon when he is mobile!! Yikes!

This weekend Ryan and I are finally sick too.  Ryan came home from work early yesterday and went right to bed with a head cold and now today I am feeling it too.  Both, John and Stephen still have their coughs and stuffy noses.  I can't wait to open the windows and let these germs fly!

Not Much to Report

I really have nothing exciting to blog about!
We seem to just be sick, all the time!!  Ryan and I have all these "dreams" of things we want to do with the kids during these cold, snowy winter months... but instead we are busy meeting our insurance deductible. 
We would love to be out sledding, doing winter crafts, making 'creations' in the kitchen, and sipping hot chocolate laughing about all the fun we have been having!  
We haven't done that, but I do know their daily white counts! ;)
Stephen is now running a high fever (103+) and John has been running a lower one (99-102)  And we can't figure out what either of them have... again. So, here we sit, watching Elmo, reading books, doing puzzles and waiting. 
I am so exciting to put the Tylenol away, thermometers away, and be able to be a part of the world happening around us.  I have been to my Thursday nanny job ONE time since Thanksgiving!!  It has been (almost) every Wednesday that the boys come down with a fever, vomiting, etc.   I am sure you can feel my frustration-  I just feel so couped up here. 

Let's just say, our new (awesome) insurance plan from 3M started at just the right time!! :D

Dreaming of a weekend at the cabin, 80 degrees out and the boys playing in the sand.....

Uncle Ryan Comes to Visit

With John being so sick over the holidays, we have been spending a lot of time at home.  We don't want to spread our germs or catch anyone else's! :D

But!  Ryan came into town from Sioux Falls for a job interview! We were so excited to see him- it had been way, way to long!!  We went to have pizza at Davanni's on Grand.  John loved all the attention, Grandma's stickers, and all the pizza he could eat. 

Sara, Ryan and John-  SO excited to have dinner with the FAM! ;D

Stephen and his God-Daddy! (Markie)

I will explain...

When John was sick with his high fever we (made) him constantly have a cool rag on his neck.  At first he fought it the whole time. We tried to bribe him with books, Elmo shows and his tootsie to leave it on his neck.  Then, he completely had a change of heart-  He wouldn't let us take it off to even re-wet it!  Now he wants a rag (or anything) on his head/neck.  Oh John- you are a silly boy!

The boys!

Mike, Ryan, Papa Joe, Ryan, Stephen, Mark, and John

These boys are out numbering the girls.... eeek!  We girls need to stick together! ;D