Zoo Trip!

Yesterday Justin had off so we took our first trip of the year to the zoo. It was a little chilly, but not too bad. The boys were so excited t be back at the zoo and Nolan had a few firsts as well  - getting licked by a giraffe and feeding the birds with daddy. Enjoy the pictures!!!

Warms my Heart

We have a hard couple weeks with Tyler behavior. Just some sneaking around, some back talking and on Thursday he hit another classmate (a girl). So we have been dealing with those and feeling like drill sergeants the past few days. However I must say he and Carter are playing beautifully. They have the occasional disagreement, but for the most part they are getting along. They are either acting out Star Wars, digging in the back yard, building legos, or playing games and puzzles together. Many times a day I hear Tyler saying "Carter, come on let's go!" very excited to play with his brother. I love watching them play.

6 Month Appointment

On Wednesday Nolan had his 6 month appointment. He is weighing in at 16 lbs 10 oz, which is the 50th percentile, he is 26 1/4 inches, which is 45th percentile, and has a head circumference of 42.8 cm, which is the 35th percentile. The interesting part of this to me is the Nolan weighs more than Tyler or Carter did at 6 months, but is shorter than both of them. He is doing pretty well on all his assessments. He is ahead with fine and gross motor skills. He is behind on social skills however. He doesn't always look at us when we call his name (although he seems to always look when his brothers call him) and he only does low sounds (no grunts, groans, or low tones). So we will just need to monitor those and make sure he has improvement at his 9 month appointment. He also got his shots, which he did pretty well with - just cried for a few seconds. I decided to give him a flu shot (his is just barely old enough to get one) because they have been seeing a lot of positive flu cases in the last few weeks. He was pretty fussy all day Wednesday and Thursday because of them and got a 102 degree fever. By Friday however he was his happy self again. So thankful for healthy kids!

Cripple Creek Ice Festival

Last weekend we headed up to Cripple Creek to see all the ice sculptures. It was smaller than we thought ti would be, but still a good time. They had an ice slide that they boys got to go down many times and snow cones, where the flavoring went through on of the sculptures. The best part it was all free. The boys favorite one was the one that was Star Wars inspired. They also like the Dr Seuss inspired one. We went the first weekend so they were all still in the process of being made - pretty cool to watch. After getting some ice cream we headed home - all in a great family Sunday activity!

6 Months!

Nolan is your half birthday! I can't believe you are already 6 months. You "talk" all the time, love to sit up and rock back and forth, and are very ticklish. You love to sit on your blanket, play with some toys (which means chewing on them), and watch everything around you. You light up when you see your brothers and when we ask you where is mama or where is dada you look at the right one! You also give hugs now. When someone asks for a hug you will lean your head into them. This I am sure is because we are always telling your brothers to give you gentle hugs.  While you don't do it much on the ground, I know you can roll around like crazy because you are all over your crib at bedtime. You are also trying to start the process of crawling and you love to jump with mommy or daddy's help.

You have become a great sleeper.  We lay you down and walk out of the room and asleep you go by yourself. Occasionally you cry for a couple minutes, but then you will fall asleep. You still take shorter naps for the most part, however we will get one long one every few days. You go to bed around 7:30 every night and you wake up around 7 in the morning, sometime you will even got later! You are loving your solids. You get oatmeal or cereal in the morning (you really like it if I put some apples in it) and a jar of baby food at night. You have gone through all the veggies, with your favorites being sweet potatoes and carrots. However there really isn't a food you have turned down. You still drink 6-7 ounces every 4 hours.

You are always getting compliments with how happy you are. You have to be one of the happiest babies. You are always smiling or giggling and hardly ever get fussy. You are our easiest baby by far, not minding being shuffled around everywhere with your big brothers. We love you so much Nolan!

Telling The Boys

We told the boys last week about the newest baby. We were out to dinner and they were completely engrossed in their coloring and we were curious if they would even notice if we said anything. Justin just asked them "do you know mommy has another baby in her tummy?" The boys immediately looked up and said "really! another baby!". They are very excited and happy that Nolan will get to be a big brother now too. Tyler wants a sister and Carter wants another brother.  The next day, Carter did ask "why are we having another baby" however he gives me kisses on my tummy daily and tells the baby he "loves it so much!".  I am glad to know they are excited about another sibling. If you saw how great they are with Nolan though, you never would think they wouldn't be.

Well.....

We did it again! We are expecting another baby! I am know 14 weeks and feeling pretty good about this pregnancy.  I am due August 12, 2011 - which is Nolan's first birthday! I have some morning sickness, but not as bad as Nolan so no complaints here! We have had an ultrasound were I got to see the baby moving all over and heard the heartbeat last week at my 13 week appointment. Like last time I have been blogging about it privately so I will add those posts to this blog soon. We are very excited and I am trying to enjoy every minute of this pregnancy as most likely it will be my last one.

Phoebe Joy

Todd and Jessie had Phoebe Joy on February 1st. The boy and very excited for their newest cousin (as are we for our newest niece)! Last weekend we went over to their house to meet her, and she is just precious. We also got to celebrate Asher's 2nd birthday and the boys got to run around with Josiah - always fun! Congrats Todd and Jess!

12.5 week Appointment

Yesterday I braved the cold to go to my doctors appointment. Justin was going to go with me, but since school was closed he stayed home with all the boys. I gained a couple pounds so am now up to 3 pounds, of course that could have been all my extra layers I had on. My blood pressure was a little high for me but nothing to worry about. We found the baby's heartbeat right away, although he/she kept moving around so we never heard it for long. The doctor called it a little jelly bean. I was very relieved to hear it and now we will probably tell more people including the boys. I am sure they will be very excited - we are!

C-O-L-D

It is frigid around here. We are now on our second "snow day" in a row, not because of the snow but because of how cold it is. Yesterday we never even go out of the negative temps, and with the windchill it felt around -20 all day. Today our high is suppose to be 1 degree. So obviously its also too cold for the boys to play outside. We have been spending our days in pajamas, playing games, playing Star Wars, building Legos, baking cookies, and watching more t.v. than usual. We are all excited for the 30 degree temps expected for tomorrow!

Overheard Conversation

Its always fun to listen to the boys when they think you aren't listening. Bringing Nolan into the mix just makes it more fun as they are always try to teach him new things. Here was a conversation Carter was having with Nolan.

He is singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town (yes I know its February, but we still are singing Christmas music) He then then turns to Nolan and says "oh you want to know who Santa Claus is? He bring us presents on Christmas day, only on Christmas day. He lives at the North Pole. Whats the North Pole? Its where Santa lives and its freezing cold there.  Whats pouting? That's when you don't like something but you shouldn't do it if you want gifts." He then continues on singing his song.

Star Wars Obsession

Tyler got some Star Wars Lego for Christmas and ever since has wanted to know more about Star Wars. So we have know watched the first two original Star Wars movies. The boys are now officially obsessed with everything Star Wars. They both have been writing out Christmas lists for next year of what they want (Carter wants a light saber and Tyler wants the X-wing fighter planes). They make light sabres out of legos to defeat the bad guys with. The other day they even asked me to play Princess Leia so they could save me. Every once in a while they get confused with names, but I am surprised how much they picked up from the plot. When we were watching the first movie and they destroyed the death star Tyler immediately noticed that Darth Vader got away and told us "but there is still one bad guy left".  While its fun to watch them play the movie out, the other part of me ha to wonder what have we gotten ourselves into.

Fishes all Around

Last week Tyler was learning about sea life at school. Everyday he would ask if we could go to the Denver Aquarium, so on Friday we picked Justin up from work and went.  For dinner we went a seafood place. The boys got their usual mac and cheese and chicken but I loved my shrimp and Justin enjoyed his alligator.  From there it was off to the aquarium. When we got there we found out it was actually family night so we got free face painting and the boys learned a sea life dance. They seemed to enjoy it at least. Like always the aquarium always seems very quick to go through, but the boys love it none the less. Tyler was very excited to see the tiger sharks and the jelly fish. Carter liked finding the turtles and the sting rays. However neither of them were brave enough to feed one - they left that up to mommy to do. Nolan slept through most of it, but when he did wake up he seemed to enjoy looking at the bright tanks. All in all a great fun night.

First Tournament

(So I thought I had posted this about 3 weeks ago - oops!)

On Saturday Tyler had his first wrestling tournament. Justin and I were both unsure if he would really be ready for it, but all his coaches encouraged us to go and he wanted to go so we decided to go for it. We couldn't be more proud of how well he did! He was actually placed in the 4 and under age group because he doesn't quite weigh enough for the 6 and under age groups smallest weight class. His first match he did very well, and took the kid down right away. We were worried he would be nervous and just stand there, but he didn't at all. He won his first two matches and then lost his last one. The kid that beat him on the last match was more experienced than any of the other kids in the division. He had a lot more moves than Tyler did. However Tyler hung in there til the very end and never gave up. This kid pinned all his other opponents (just a side note - its very hard for them to call a pin at this age, they don't do it unless one kid is obviously in total control of the match), but not Tyler. He told Justin at the end of his match he was pretending to be a police officer and the other wrestler was a bad guy so he had to keep going to wrestle him down. Tyler ended up with a silver medal, which he hasn't taken off since. He had a ton of fun and we couldn't be more proud of how well he did- way to go bud!