Randomness

Happy May to everyone! This month is off to a great start for us, we've added a new vehicle to the family and Lena is extremely close to crawling.

With all of the rain we've had the last few weeks, once there's a nice day, Milo is asking to go outside, and I'm happy to oblige (most of the time). Lena loves to be outside, too, she sits on a blanket, pulls it up onto her lap, and rips grass out of the yard! She makes this little pile and only randomly decides to put some in her mouth.

Here are some new pictures:

A close up from her 6 month pictures. :)

We went to a new festival, Kite Komotion, in Shipshewana this last weekend. Milo LOVED it, he got to make his own kite and fly it while we were there. They had the biggest kites we've ever seen and there was even a group there that choreographed kites to music, it was amazing! They even did a candy drop where they flew up a big bag of candy on a kite line and then they dropped it. The kids loved running out to get it and luckily they broke up them up into age groups.

Milo helping to make his kite.

Lena in the IU onesie with her first pigtail! Milo doesn't like it and keeps telling me to take it out, but she didn't even care when I put it in and played while it was in. I did take it out for her nap, I'm not quite ready for her sleep with it in her hair...

Lena is SSSOOOO close to crawling! She's been up on her hands and knees for over 2 weeks now and last night she went from laying down, to being on her hands and knees, to sitting all in about 10 seconds. She also shuffles her knees and can swing her right arm forward, but not crawling yet. There was only a week between Milo getting himself into sitting and starting to crawl, so we'll see if this moves it along for Lena.

Milo makes me smile! We went to the zoo last week and that afternoon he told me he was going to lay down. This is between the couch and ottoman. I told him to go to his room to take a nap and he told me that his room was having "alone time" and that he needed to lay down here. We did not expect him to fall asleep!! So peaceful.

Hanging out at the park!

Our new ride!!! An 06 Toyota Sienna. We traded in Jesse's Intrepid.

While we were on a walk Milo climbed up on this rock and told me he needed his "airplane wings" for balance. His new thing when he jumps off something (especially at swimming and Fun-n-Fitness) is to say he's opening his parachute and then to jump. At swimming he pulls the belt on his bubble, his teacher loves it!

Beautiful weather!

Yesterday we spent a lot of time outside! Lena was sitting up, playing, at one moment, laying down grabbing grass the next. I'm pretty sure she tasted some, since I found a brown piece on her face!!!

Milo made me laugh so much while we were playing! First he was helping me weed the area where the hostas are. They are just starting to come up and he asks if he can touch them (since they're still curled up he thought they were sharp). I tell him yes, just to be gentle. Well, he touches them and then starts wiggling them. He tells me that they're just like a worm and starts singing "You put your head in, you put your head out, you do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself about, that's all we could do!" I died with laughter, it's a line from "Diary of a Worm" which is a FABULOUS book! Smart kid!!

Next, while we were playing in the sandbox we made a big mound that he called a castle. The next thing I know, he's poking holes in it to make windows. He tells me that the windows are so that Princess Charlene can see out! I've never heard him talk about or watch a show with a "Princess Charlene", and he starts telling me that she's very little (she does live in the sand castle, after all!), has green hair, and has lived there for a very long time, three years! It was so hard to keep a straight face while he was describing all of this.

Then, while we're digging in the sandbox, I find a worm. He asks to hold it and while he does, he starts talking to it, very sweetly. He even asked the worm it's name. He never answered so I asked him what the worm said, and he said, "Worm". How creative...Then he puts the worm in the dirt but after about 10 seconds he tells me that the worm doesn't like the dirt, he wants to be back in the sandbox. I won't go into everything he did with the worm, but it'll be lucky if it's still alive! He was very gentle with it, but I'm not sure that worms like baths... :)

I wonder what today will bring, I'm sure a lot more smiles!

Fun times!

Happy Thursday! Boy, do I hope these "warm" temperatures continue to stick around, I am ready for spring!!

In the last two weeks we've gained a nephew, Lena has started eating cereal, and Milo is FINALLY showing an interest in writing and drawing (okay, it's been one day, but a girl/former teacher can dream, right?).

My sister, Stacy, had a baby boy, Joseph (Joey) Elliot on March 21 at a healthy 9 lbs 3 oz and 20.5 inches long. He's a sweet little thing that loves to be held, and anyone who knows my husband knows that he was a baby hog for the short time he was in Fort Wayne last weekend. :)

Here are some new pictures:

Lena wearing the bunny ears.

Milo in the bunny ears and doing his "check" face. He clicks his tongue, winks, says "check", and makes a check sign with his hand. It cracks us up and I thought our friend was going to die of laughter when he did it for her at lunch one day. Once he realized Colleen thought it was funny he kept doing it, HILARIOUS!!!

This is Milo's first full-body drawing!!! It's a picture of me, can't you tell??? Hey, it has a head, hair, arms and feet, I'll take it! You can also see the "A" that he drew right under it, that was all on his own!

After he wrote his name (not pictured), I asked him if he wanted to write "Lena" and he said yes. I suggested to him that he trace my letters but he just looked at them and wrote his own. We did go one letter at a time.

Lena and Joey! What a size difference 5.5 months makes!

Milo drew this race car first. He's NEVER drawn a car before, so Jesse and I were both very excited. The only thing he's really drawn in the past that anyone can recognize is a smiley face, although in almost all cards he draws a bunch of crazy lines that he says is a roller coaster.

Lena started on cereal a week ago and she's slowly getting the hang of it. I waited until Milo's 6 month birthday to start him on it, but with Lena I felt like she desired it more. She stares at you like a dog waiting for you to drop food and doesn't take a bottle well like Milo did when I try and go out, so hopefully this will help. This was Milo's first time helping to feed her.

We are hopefully going out Saturday morning to watch 4H launch some rockets-Milo doesn't know yet, his head might explode if we tell him too far ahead! I will try and remember the camera...

Spring is Almost Here!

I am SO excited about this weather! I went outside for a second this morning and even though it was a bit cool, the sun was shining and there were birds chirping, horray!!!

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day so the kids and I had some green on and spent a lot of the day either gone or playing outside! Milo and I even split a Shamrock Shake, delicious!

Lena is now 5 months old, where has the time gone??? She sits up by herself (with the boppy behind her just in case she decides to flop, which does happen), loves the Johnny Jump-Up, playing in the saucer, and is FINALLY back to sleeping at least 10 hours straight at night. After she got sick back in January it took over a month for her to sleep really well again. She absolutely LOVES her big brother and grins every time she sees him. Don't worry, the feeling's mutual, Milo always tells her "sweet dreams" at nap time and asks her how her "sweet dreams" were when she wakes up.

Lena does only nap for 30-45 minutes at a time and then is only up for 1.5-2 hours before she goes back down. I can't complain since she's happy when she wakes up and is sleeping through the night! She is still eating every 2 hours, though. Ugh. We will start her on cereal on her 6 month birthday. Jesse's excited because that means he gets to help even more! What a great dad, he wants to be involved in every aspect of our children's lives!

Here are some pictures from the last month and a half:

My big, pretty girl sitting up by herself, enjoying the nice weather!

Milo's first ride on his bike this year-he actually pedaled it himself!!! He's practicing so we can ride down to the park, etc.

Riding his scooter-he was so proud of himself when he got both feet off the ground and was still moving, he even this little move/gesture when he would stop, it was so cute!!!

Lena loving the sunshine in her St. Patty's outfit.

Whose child is this? Corndog stick in one hand, cupcake in another...

Lena loving the Johnny Jump-up, she will get this awesome look of concentration and grab the straps, then jump.

For Jesse's birthday he decided that he wanted to go to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. We went on a Tuesday and Milo was in HEAVEN! This is Milo in front of the "bullet train". Our child will randomly say, "I miss my bullet train, I need to go see it." We've assured him that we will go back, we just don't know when.

We don't know where or what started this, but Milo loves to make a "big belly" and "big back". He takes stuffed animals (or in this case balls) and shoves them up his shirt. Here's he's playing with Kassidy. Every day he makes a big belly, and even calls his bedroom his "Big Belly Store". It's adorable, maybe he's trying to look like Mommy and Daddy...

The first nice day outside a few weeks ago. Milo decided to dig a hole, but couldn't tell me what was going to go in the hole.

Lena's 5 month picture, very happy little girl!

Have a great weekend!!!

Baby it's COLD outside!

Geez, is it cold outside! Obviously we were with the majority of the country that got hit with the Blizzard of 2011. We didn't get as much snow as other people in our community, but Jesse said that when he shoveled it was a layer of light snow, heavy snow, then light snow, so it wasn't the easiest to move. It is quite "fun" to see all of the huge snow piles at corners!

Lena learned to roll from her back to her front last week and once she realizes she can barrel roll, we're in trouble! She no longer goes belly to back while she's awake, but she'll do it in her sleep, which I think is hilarious. Milo didn't roll from back to front until he was 7 months old, so Jesse and I were very surprised when Lena did it at 3.5 months.

I thought Lena would still want to sleep in the wedges at night to keep her on her side, but that lasted 1.5 nights until she was making some noise and I checked on her. She had managed to still get on her belly in the wedges, so out them came!

Lena's first nap on her belly in her crib. She napped for 2.5 hours this day, when she usually naps for 30 minutes! When she was "learning" to fall asleep on her belly I had to let her cry it out, which we've never needed to do with her! She was so mad/excited that she was on her belly that she refused to put her head down and relax. Now, the ONE time that she cried it out, it only took 2-3 minutes and she was out. I found it quite amusing, since she usually either just falls asleep or only fusses for a few minutes, rarely does she scream!

Just a cute picture of Lena in the hat that Great Aunt Linda got her! It was huge on her when she got it and now it's almost too small! It's so cute, though!

Milo wanted to hold Lena the other morning so I whipped out the camera and took some cute shots. Then yesterday he cuddled up next to me and Lena while I was feeding her and said, "Lena loves me and I love her." LOVE IT!!! He's such a good big brother!

The last thing is that little Lena is allergic to amoxicillan...yeah...She was on it for her ear infection two weeks ago and got a rash one day after finishing her medicine. It went away, didn't bother her at all and then showed up again Wednesday. Thursday morning after she woke up I was changing her and the rash was in the same place, just bright red. I took her in and they said it's the allergic reaction and dry skin. We now get the joy of buying new baby body wash and putting mineral oil on her instead of lotion (for the dry skin). Oh yeah, and my little chunk-a-wunka is now 14 lbs 11 oz! She's gained a pound in less than a month!

Have a great weekend!

Quick Cold Update

Wow, have we had some snow! I think our house got the least amount of snow out of everyone we know! Saturday morning when Jesse and Milo went out to shovel we had about 18 inches, almost everyone else had over 24 inches! Craziness! It is currently snowing again, and we are under a Lake Effect Snow Watch until 7:00 am Thursday morning.

Lena had her three month check up on Monday morning and she's 13 pounds 6 oz. The nurse measured her length wrong, he said she's 23 inches. Not sure how that's possible since she was 23.5 inches last month...Jesse and I haven't measured her ourselves yet, maybe tonight.

I'm pretty sure Lena's going through a growth spurt, last week I had two days that she ate every two hours. Milo never did this, but he ate closer together than she does, so I was not mentally prepared. I.do.not.care.for.it. I felt like a milk factory and nothing else. Oh well, we made it through and she's still a happy baby, so that's all that matters!

Lena has lengthened her first stretch at night to at least eight hours before she eats and goes back to sleep!

Milo is doing well, I took him to the doctor this morning for a nice cough he has, which he might be on the verge of bronchitis. This doctor doesn't like to just give out drugs, which we greatly appreciate, so she said to give it a day or two go see if it gets better and if it doesn't, then she'll put him on antibiotics. Let's hope it clears up!

Milo is so funny and creative! About a week and a half ago we went down to Jesse's parent's house for dinner and Beatle's Rock Band. Milo wanted to play one of the instruments but we didn't let him because if you do too poorly it quits the song and you have to start over. Milo got a play guitar out of the toy room and played just like he was playing the game! He watched the tv, hit buttons, and jammed right along. He even bowed at the end of the songs. We were all dying! At one point he even brought out my mother-in-law's sewing machine case, told us it was his speaker, and pretended to plug his guitar into it.

There are other stories, but I'm coming up blank at the moment!

Stay warm and safe with all this snow!

Testing

This is a test to see if I can upload this video of Milo with his new bowling game he got for Christmas. He LOVES it!