22+ & 1+ months old

Well like the title of this post says.... the boys are now 22+ months, and Evie is 1+ months old now. Man how time flies (when you're having fun?) :) I don't really have a ton of time lately to sit and document and report all the changes going on in our family like I used to so this post may be a bit shorter than some of my past ones (some of you at this point are probably saying "Thank God")...but I still am a picture taking machine so there are photos galore to share.

First off... BIG news for the entire family.... we have FINALLY decided to put the addition on the house (vs sell and look for something bigger). It was something we were toying with while our house was on the market, but became more of a serious consideration after we pulled it from the market and since Evie has arrived. Be both can't stand the idea of parting with our lake shore property across 371 from us.... the house, sure... but not the lake. In the years to come we just think it will be such a fun way to get our kiddos out on the lake, tubing, motoring around the gull chain etc. So after reviewing all our options we have decided to put an addition on the house which will gain us a new master bedroom/suite (the boys will take our current master suite), mud room and ATTACHED (yes ATTACHED) 2 car garage. You always under-estimate attached garages until you don't have one :) For those of you familiar with our house/layout.... we will be building off the left side (as you look at it) where the dining room is..... which means losing our wood burning fireplace/chimney and our shed. Yep... sorry fellas and ladies who have all partied in "The Shed" with us in the past.... that legendary place will be no more in a matter of days. (Sorry Chelte, Monica and Commers.... no more playing with Chris's power tools after having one too many at Ye Old Pickle Factory ... and for Chris's fellas, we'll have to find another place to listen to Old School Country while playing endless rounds of cribbage and 500). We're very excited though and can't wait to get started on all of it.

Little Evie is growing quickly as well. At her 1 month check up she weighed in at 8 lbs 6 oz and is in the 25th percentile for all measurements. Still a little peanut.... BUT she is filling out. Her cheeks are getting oh so plump and her little legs no longer look like the saggy baggy elephant's. She's moved into her 3 month clothing now - the newborn stuff was getting a little short on her, but she is still wearing NB sized diapers. She's still only getting us (me for the most part) up once during the night. We'll give her her last bottle around 9-10pm and she doesn't wake up again until around 4-5am for her next feeding. She's drinking up to about 4 oz at each feeding (tho some are less) and eating every 3-4 hours during the day. She gets 5-6 bottles of breast milk (pumped) and 2 bottles of formula a day. I personally am excited as I've been able to freeze/store about 3+ weeks worth of breast milk already (tho I am already tiring of the whole "pumping" thing). The main challenge really is meshing Evie's feedings around the boys' schedules... and trying like heck to find a way to get ME a shower or nap somewhere in there... though I can't remember the last time I was able to fit the nap in (if Chris wasn't here as well). Last week was a challenge as ALL my children seemed to want to wake up at the EXACT same time every morning. Even when I tried to be proactive and wake Evie earlier, the boys woke up too (and vice versa). So I ended up trying to juggle bottle feeding an newborn and spoon feeding (cereal) toddlers (since they haven't grasped doing this on their own yet) --- which I didn't end up doing very well at. So this week I've started working with the boys to teach them how to spoon feed cereal to themselves. They do well with things that stick to spoons/forks (rice, noodles, pudding, applesauce, waffles etc)... so it is just a matter of getting them some more practice. So far... so good. We're hoping by week's end to have a pretty good handle on it so we can surprise Daddy on Saturday morning with how well they are doing at it. Back to Evie though..... I am quite impressed with the control she has of her neck/head. She already at this point can hold her head up while we have her propped up (sitting) during burping etc. She doesn't really love "tummy time" tho she does quite well at it and doesn't seem to tire as quickly as the boys did this early on. She is quite the smiler lately too (and not always gas related) .... so we're getting a lot back from her now.

The boys.... gee, where to start. They both have sprouted some of their 2nd/2 year molars. MacKay has one, and Oscar has two popping through. Lately we're on an every other day rotation as far as if they are having a good or bad day. One day they will be SO well behaved and giggly and fun... and the next day NOTHING appeases them and they are whiny and cranky ALL DAY LONG. I know it is their age (terrible 2s) and this major life change for them... but WOW. What a change from what I last remember before I left for the hospital :) But they still are such a blast no matter what their mood is cuz they are like little sponges lately with all their new words they say... and all the things they WANT to learn. They are constantly pointing at things and saying "Wha dis?" They love watching their new Thomas the Train and Bob the Builder DVDs... and still love Sesame Street (Elmo mainly) and Barney (unnnnghhh - I always swore I would never allow that show to be watched in my house). They love puzzles lately too and do so well at fitting the pieces in. They are learning new colors, animals, sounds, words etc. Every day there is something new and it is so hard to keep up with them and everything new that they learn.

Those little boys sure do love their little sister though. They love to help us feed her (hold the bottle) and burp her (pat her back). They bring us her bottle and put it away when she is done... and they love playing with her toys and play mat etc. Generally they are pretty gentle with her as well... they love to kiss and hug her. Which is pretty amazing as lately they are becoming MUCH more aggressive with each other lately.... and for no reason most of the time. They like to bonk each other over the head with things, head butt each other out of the way, and will just walk over and hit one another. Many times if I scold them and tell them "No" about something they will walk up to the other and slap them. But as soon as I tell them "No hitting" or "That wasn't nice, say you are sorry" they go back over and give them a big hug and say "Sah-ee". Not sure if this is a boy thing or just a toddler thing.... but I would have really liked to have skipped this stage (hitting etc). :)

Anyway... surprisingly that was a pretty lengthy update... just think how long it would have been if I had gotten as detailed as I normally do :) Well here are some of the fun picture's we've taken recently.... hope you enjoy.

Evie loves sitting in the bouncy/vibrating chair that the boys HATED being in. Just some cute pictures of her in it.... one we almost caught a little smile/smirk from her.

Evie on her play mat with the boys.... and some tummy time (poor girl would barely get to lift her head up and the boys would scoot over and smother her with hugs and kisses)

Just a really nice picture of the kiddos with Gma Bonnie and Gpa Dean..... we also snapped a couple pictures of us with the kiddos, but what could have been a nice family photo ended up looking more like children fighting off being restrained :)

MacKay and Oscar caught zoning in on the TV with Barney and Thomas the Train. It's so cute how they will stop in their tracks when those shows come on and either go sit on the couch or right in front of the TV to watch it.

MacKay and Oscar being silly during Gpa Gary (Go-wee) and Terri's visit last week. They are going through a phase where they don't like wearing shirts..... MacKay is spinning wildly out of control on the bouncing Zebra that Noreen and Dave Doerr got for them a while back. And Oscar is showing Gpa Gary his favorite trick to do to someone who is lying on the ground - he stands up on them and then flops down after you count 1-2-3... lots of grunts and groans from Gpa Gary with that game. (Sorry Dad - but Chris thanks you for letting him take the night off from being pounced on all the same) :)

Lastly, had to post these pictures .... old and new, of MacKay, Oscar and Evie and how SIMILAR they all look. For the most part Evie really seems to look like MacKay as you will note in the pictures below.... but surprisingly I have come across some pictures of Oscar from when he was Evie's age that look A LOT like Evie. I think she is just a really nice mix of the two of them.

The first sets of pictures (sleeping and in swing) are of MacKay and Evie - MacKay is on the left, Evie on the right.

This last set are pictures of MacKay (left - blue background) and Oscar (right - green background) at around 1 month old on their changing table.... same with Evie (larger picture below). Uncanny how she looks like both of them at the same time.

Until next time....