January- February 2012

The rest of January was a fun month!  We've been doing a lot of running around with the boys on the weekends, which we all enjoy.  On January 15th, we went to our next door neighbors' house for a play date.  They have a little 4 year old girl named Abby, who Noah and Evan play very well with.  They also have a little boy on the way. 
We took the boys to Red Robin a while back, and they seemed to enjoy it.  They LOVED the orange balloons that they got when we left. They played with them for days, until Noah's eventually popped because it was so small.  He was sad to throw it in the trash.  We followed dinner that night with our (just about monthly) trip to Costco, which they always enjoy. 
Brian and I got to go out on a date night a few weeks ago.  We went to Rudy's for Mexican food (yum!) and then to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt.  We've taken Noah and Evan several times, and they love to share Brian's strawberry or raspberry frozen yogurt.  Luckily for me, they claim they don't like the chocolate one. 
We also went out to Figlio's Italian Restaurant for our annual family brunch with Grandma, Grandpa, John, Theresa, Michael, Mia, Mark, and Sarah on Jan. 29th.  It was delicious!
We have big news about Noah and Evan...they're POTTY TRAINED!  We started training Noah on Saturday, January 14th.  He did pretty well with only a few accidents for the first four days.  By the fifth day, he was going all day without having any accidents.  The next Saturday, January 21st, Evan got to start.  He was kind of upset about starting, but once he got the hang of it, he was great.  They are both doing fantastic with it!  They love being "big boys" now, just like their cousin Michael Jude.  They love to pick out their big boy underwear each day.  Other than the potty training, there isn't much new with Noah and Evan.  They still love playing with their toys and love reading books.  They love to watch their "Super Friends" DVD and "The Super Hero Squad Show" right now.  They're enjoying learning to identify the letters of the alphabet.  They're sleeping pretty well without their side rails on their bed.  They occasionally cry for us at night, and sometimes we give in and let them come into our bed. 

Evan in his "workin' clothes"

Noah having a blast outside

Noah using Daddy's new headphones

Evan using Daddy's new headphones

Noah posing for me on our stairs

Josh and Evan in the fort Daddy made

Joshua is doing great!  He got his third tooth about a week and a half ago.  He is still drinking a couple of bottles each day at Grandma's house, as well as something else for lunch.  It's usually some kind of pureed food or cut up veggies with rice or noodles (which he LOVES), along with crackers or puffs.  He nurses in the evenings, and also gets to sit in his high chair and eat dinner with the rest of us.  His favorite thing to eat is definitely black beans!  He loves them.  He was in the process of sleep training, but it was going terribly.  We were doing a combination of the cry-it-out and no-cry sleep solution methods (I know, that doesn't make any sense, right?).  We let him cry for short periods of time each night in his crib, each time letting him cry a little bit longer.  After a certain amount of time, we'll pick him up and I'll nurse him to sleep and let him sleep in our bed.  Our hope is that if we keep doing this, he'll learn that he needs to sleep in his crib. During the day, he's still a very happy baby - he's still always smiling! He started CRAWLING on January 31st!  He loves to crawl around and discover new things all of the time.  He had a play date with his friend Kylie at her house on Feb. 1st, and then she and her parents came to our house for a taco dinner on the 18th. Noah and Evan also loved playing with "baby Kylie"!

Joshua eating his favorite - rice and beans!

Playing in our backyard

Playing with Kylie

Joshua turned 9 months old on February 2

Joshua and Mia - great buddies already!

Our Parents as Teachers educator came over on February 6.  All three boys are doing exceptionally well.  She evaluated Josh as a 10 month old, and he scored in the 12 month old range.  He is only a little over 9.5 months old now.
We had a taco dinner at my parents' house for mine and Sarah's birthdays on Feb 12th. It was delicious and so fun!   We got a great photo of Grandma and Grandpa with all of their grandkids.

Last Thursday night, we went to Applebee's with their Grandma Cathy and Uncle Sean.   We also went to our new neighbors' house this past weekend for dinner.  The boys had a lot of fun running/crawling around!  This past Wednesday, we went to Rudy's Mexican restaurant to celebrate Grandma Cathy's birthday.
We are busy preparing for Noah and Evan's 3rd birthday next week!!!  I can't believe how fast they've grown.  They've requested a super hero themed party.  Brian has painted some pretty awesome decorations for the walls.  I'll be sure to post a blog soon after their party.

Christmas season 2011

Hello all!  Since our last post, we have had an awesome holiday season!  On December11 , we celebrated my mom, Theresa's and Brian's birthdays.  On December 16th, we threw a graduation party for Sean, Brian's brother, who graduated from UMKC with his bachelors degree (that same day) in Business Administration.  Congrats to Sean! 
Joshua is doing great.  He got his first tooth on December 20th, and his second tooth on January 6th.  He is eating more solids now.  He loves sweet potatoes and applesauce, and will eat carrots, green beans (sometimes), and peas (sometimes).  He loves to munch on Cheerios and Gerber puffs, and I've also given him little pieces of noodles that he seemed to enjoy.  He is not officially crawling yet, but he definitely gets to where he wants to be by either scooting on his bottom or on his tummy.  He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks like crazy - he just hasn't learned his hand and knee movements to start crawling.  I keep saying it will be any day now!  He does not sleep in his own room yet.  This is probably our only difficult thing with Josh.  He is so used to sleeping with me and nursing through the night.  We are currently trying to get him to eat more during the day so he gets used to eating less throughout the night.  Other than that, he is just the happiest little guy I know!  He is always smiling and has such an awesome personality!  Everyone who meets him just thinks he is super cute.

 Noah and Evan are also doing great.  They got to finger paint for the first time with our Parents as Teachers educator back in December.  Evan jumped right in, but it took Noah about 30 minutes before he was comfortable enough to do it.

They are just now getting over another "virus" that caused colds, coughs, and an ear infection in Noah.  I know that when I took Evan to the doctor this past Monday, he weighed 30.4lbs.  I think Noah weighs just about 30lbs as well.  They're skinny and tall, and still super blonde.  Evan loves to wear his plaid "rippin" shirt, Christmas tie, and black shoes and say he is going to "go to work."  Noah loves to play with any of their toys!  Their favorite book to read right now is called Bob's Bedtime. It's a Bob the Builder book.  They like to watch Brian's Batman cartoon DVDs, and also A Goofy Movie, which was one of my favorites when I was much younger.  Both Noah and Evan really seem to love their baby brother Josh.  They'll talk to him, play with him, and even snuggle with him.

Christmas was so much fun!  We went to Brian's Uncle Mark's house in Smithville to have Christmas with the Millers on Christmas Eve.  We went to midnight mass with my parents, John, Theresa, MJ, Mia, Aunt Max, and Aunt Ruthie.  On Christmas morning, Noah and Evan woke up at 7:30am (even though they didn't get to bed until after 1:30 because of mass), and saw that Santa Clause had brought them Lightning McQueen Power Wheels.  That is what they had asked for, so they were both very happy.  He also brought them some Monster Trucks.  For Joshua's first Christmas, he brought him a play table for him to stand and play at.  He loves to play with it!  That afternoon, our whole family came over at 3:00 to celebrate Christmas.  Noah, Evan, Joshua, MJ, and Mia definitely raked it in with tons and tons of awesome presents!  My personal favorite was the amazing kitchen that Uncle John made for Noah and Evan.  I was speechless when I saw it.  They LOVE to "cook" with it now.  Here are some Christmas pics:

Sweet Miss Mia snoozing during the tamale makin'

Noah in his super cute Christmas outfit

Evan loving his Christmas outfit!

Josh playing with some paper at "Big" Uncle Mark's house on Christmas Eve

Noah and Evan checking out their Lightning McQueen Power Wheels

Joshua opening his gifts on Christmas morning

Brian, Miss Mia, and Laura on Christmas Day

Grandma and Grandpa with all of their grandkids!  Mark and Sarah's little boy will be here in the Spring :)

Our attempt at a family photo on Christmas Day.  Evan was eating ham.

Noah and Evan's awesome kitchen that their Uncle John made them for Christmas (Aunt Theresa funded it :))

On New Year's Eve, the weather was so amazing!  We took all the boys to the park.  They all had a blast - even Joshua!

Joshua turned 8 months old on January 2nd!

Miss Mia was baptized on January 8th, and Brian and I have the awesome honor of being her godparents.  She looked so beautiful in her baptism gown, and was such a trooper during the whole mass.  She was asleep during her baptism.  It was a fun day - we got to spend so much time with so many family members, even ones from St. Louis and St. Charles!

Fall - Part 2 2011

Hi everyone!

Well, we're all moved in to our new house!  We closed on Friday, November 4th and officially moved in on November 5th.  We've been here for 4 weeks, and are adjusting well.  The boys all seem to be adjusting well too.  The first night, Noah was upset because he said he "needed to go to his little house," when it was time to go to bed, but he seemed to get over it quickly as we reassured him that we would be there with him.  Noah and Evan's room is almost completely finished/decorated.  They have Buzz Lightyear and Woody "fat heads" on their walls, which are 6 ft stickers of the characters.  Brian painted Noah and Evan's names in the Toy Story font on one wall, and we hung Buzz and Woody posters on another wall. 

Noah and Evan's mural in their room

Brian just finished Josh's mural today...it is AMAZING!

Joshua's mural - AMAZING!

  There are still several things we want to do with the house, and are getting them done little by little.  Everyone who comes to see it seems to like the house.  We certainly do!  It's great after living in an apartment with three kids.
We've all been pretty busy lately, as usual.  In late October, Noah and Evan had their first trick-or-treating experience at St. Regis' trunk-or-treat, and we also went to Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah's annual Halloween party.  Noah and Evan were both Captain Hook, and Joshua was a crocodile. 

Trunk-or-treating!

Evan messing with Josh

On Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah's couch

Noah also had an appointment with an ENT at Children's Mercy to check a "bulge" on his neck that we had been concerned about.  It turns out that it is just a part of his anatomy, and nothing serious and nothing to worry about.
In early November, Joshua and I both had doctor's appointments.  I had my bi-yearly breast cancer prevention appointment, and everything went very well.  Joshua had his 6month check up on November 8th.  He weighed 17lbs, 13oz (45th percentile), was 26 3/4 inches tall (75th percentile), and his head circumference was in the 90th percentile.  He is a very healthy little boy!  He received his 6 month immunizations, as well as his flu shot.  He is still nursing, but also eats rice cereal every day.  He also tried green beans on November 11, carrots on November 17th, peas on November 26th, and sweet potatoes last night.  He didn't like the green beans at first, but quickly learned to like them and he now eats them, carrots, and peas very well!  I am making all of his baby food, just like I made Noah and Evan's.  Joshua turned 7 months old yesterday, December 2nd.  He is growing up so fast!

Joshua playing with Noah and Evan's toys

Chilling with Daddy

First bath in the new house!

My big man!

Trying carrots

6 months old!

Loving on cousin Mia :)

6.5 month photo

First Turkey photo!

All smiles while shopping on Black Friday!

Superman!

Noah and Evan are doing great!  I think they are growth spurting, because it seems that they are ALWAYS hungry!  One of their favorite things to do is to open the refrigerator door, look at us, and say, "hungry, hungry, hungry," while laughing.  They love to eat plums, apples, bananas, tortillas ("real" ones, which means the ones my mom makes), fruit cups, cocoa puffs, cinnamon toast crunch ("crunchies" to them), and carrots for snacks.  Their favorite meals are chicken bowls from Chipotle, chicken and noodles, and pizza.  Their vocabulary is still getting better and better each day.  For the most part, they play very well with each other.  They occasionally fight over toys, but are usually willing to share and take turns.  Their favorite thing to do is to wear their "rippin' shirts" (plaid button down shirts that Grandma Mary and Grandpa Mike gave them) unbuttoned and run around the house.

Noah in Michael Jude's play house

Evan and Noah baking cookies

Evan in my boots

Noah in his cool dude sunglasses

Noah in the bathtub at the new house

Buzz and Woody ready for bed

Evan eating a hotdog at the Comets game

Playing in the leaves after our family photo shoot

 

Evan in a funny hat at Lowe's

Noah in his tunnel

Cool dudes!

In the past few weeks before Thanksgiving, we went to a Comets indoor soccer game to celebrate our Aunt Ruthie's retirement, had Brian's family (his mom, brother, and grandparents) over for dinner, and also went to Michael Jude's 3rd birthday party.  Noah, Evan, and Josh had a blast during each event!
Thanksgiving was fun.  We were able to spend the day with family and friends at my parents' house even though Noah had been feeling under the weather with the croup.  Evan and Brian both got sick the next Saturday (Brian got bronchitis), and Joshua got croup this past week and is just now getting over his cough.  I've luckily just had a runny/stuffy nose through all of this.  I am now praying that everyone is healthy within just a few days.  It's been a rough week and a half to say the least!

We got our family photos taken back on Saturday, November 19th.  I think they turned out pretty well!

This past week, we've decorated for Christmas and also adopted an "elf on a shelf," whom Noah and Evan have named Buddy.  He is here to watch and listen as Santa's helper.  Each night after Noah and Evan go to bed, Buddy magically flies to the North Pole to let Santa know how they have behaved that day.  Noah and Evan love to wake up each morning and see what kind of mischief he's gotten into since he got back to our house.  Here are his adventures so far!

Sitting on our mantle

Reading Noah and Evan's Christmas books

Attending one of Woody's staff meetings

Playing with Noah and Evan's Hot Wheels

Here are some pictures of the boys decorating for Christmas.