TWO WEEKS, and counting.....

YAY... we finally got our Csection scheduled (or induced VBAC if I change my mind - probably not though).... and we will be welcoming our little Evelyn Christine sometime in the early morning of Monday August 3rd. We have it all worked out and Gma Chris is coming up to watch the boys during my stint in the hospital... and she's even staying for two full weeks to help out after we get home for a bit too which will be so nice as I am starting to think I have NO IDEA what I am getting myself into here. Reality has sunk in, and though I am so excited to have the chance to enjoy that newborn stage again (cuz last time was a bit of a fog for me), I am TERRIFIED of how I am going to do it all and still keep even the slightest trace of my sanity.

Well, the boys are now 20+ months, and will be 21 months by the time Evie arrives and are still amazing me with new things daily. They are both real troopers and getting so good at using plates and utensils while eating - just stabbing at things with their forks and doing pretty darn good at it. Spooning is a little more difficult but I don't know if that is cuz of lack of practice (not having a lot of good things they can spoon without making the house a complete mess), or cuz the infant spoons that they make these days are horrible. They really have no arc so you can't really get a good spoonful of anything. They do pretty good with yogurt, applesauce, and pudding etc.... but not so much with more solid things like corn or peas. Those remain finger foods for them. They also love to pass food and their sippys back and forth between each other while they are eating. Very often if one likes something that the other doesn't, they will try steal it from the other's tray.... or even on occasion they will pass off what they don't want to the other. We've taken them out to eat quite a few times lately and they've done pretty good - but lately they LOVE being loud wherever we are. Not in a bad or naughty way - just plain loud. We get a lot of comments from people out about how well behaved they are.... and I have to agree, they do pretty well in public. The boys both got MUCH NEEDED haircuts again too.... and they actually turned out to be VERY nice cuts for both of them - so we'll have to be sure to go back to that place again. And we have had SO many visitors lately too - has been great. A couple weekends ago my friend Heidi and her family (Chuck, James(3+), and Avery (1+)) stopped by on their way up to their cabin at Woman Lake. A week or so ago Gpa Dean and Gma Bonnie came up for the afternoon/night to visit and go out to dinner. And this weekend we had TONS of people. Friday afternoon Gpa Gary and Terri came up and we grilled brats for dinner - they were on their way back home to Duluth from a roadtrip they had taken to Ohio. They left after dinner and Steve Wadman came up as they were leaving for the night. Had a fun time with him (as always) .... for those of you that don't know, Steve is a mutual friend that set Chris and I up 5-6 years ago. We laughed so hard when MacKay and Oscar copied us and called Steve "Pinky", one of his many nicknames.... tho it was more like "Pin-TEE". Amazing they still don't know who I am (MacKay constantly points at himself and calls himself Mommy), but they totally got who Steve/Pinky was for the short visit he was here. :) Then Saturday morning as Steve was heading back home Gma Chris and Uncle Dennis came up to visit for the day. The boys both even said "Dennis" ... or a form of it and had fun playing with applications on Uncle Dennis' iPhone. After they left, the Hehir family (Jolene, John , Kelly and Brandon) stopped over to hang for a few hours and talk more about our ideas we have of possibly staying in this house and putting on an addition. Lastly, Gma Diane stopped by on her way back home on Sunday morning. Whew..... busy weekend, yet not chaotic like it might sound - was so great seeing everyone.

Just some details about each of the boys - as they are polar opposites and SO different as far as their personalities go and what they are into lately. MacKay has been a bit of a challenge as far as temper tantrums go. Lately he gets so frustrated when we discipline him or tell him "No" and can't seem to calm himself back down... will either hit, bite, throw things, mess things up... all with this angry little face on him. So we're trying to figure out how to deal with that. We try to ignore it if it isn't hurting anyone else... but I also don't like the fact that he cannot calm down from a tantrum even when we try to love him up. This one is going to take some time and attention I think. But other than that he is our little giggle bug who loves to entertain Oscar (and vice versa too) and is learning so much. He's like a little sponge. He has so many new words, and is communicating more with us... actually signs "eat" when he is hungry (usually right before a meal) and is following direction quite well too. His new thing is holding up one finger (pointer/index) when we ask him "MacKay, How old are you?"

Oscar still enjoys stealing things from MacKay as it seems he likes to copy MacKay a lot. Gma Chris calls them Pete and RePete. But he LOVES to instigate giggle fests while they are eating by making MacKay laugh at his antics, so he's not always the one doing the following. :) Oscar doesn't talk quite as much as MacKay does for the most part.... when we try to teach him new things (How old are you) he doesn't show as much interest as MacKay does. BUT, on a few occasions he has mimicked words of ours more quickly than MacKay has. We had a bit of "fun" (not sure if that is the right word) with Oscar lately too.... he decided to reach down the back of his diaper (something he does a lot lately), but this time found something in there and made quite a mess of himself. Luckily it was RIGHT before bath time, in fact MacKay was already in the sink soaking. So we stripped Oscar down and let him run around buck naked for about 4 minutes... and in that time he fully enjoyed finding out that he could make puddles on the floor with this amazing thing usually kept hidden in his diaper. He had the most inquisitive look on his face as he looked at his "creations" that he left in 2-3 different places in the kitchen.

Lastly I just wanted to share that I am SO proud of my boys. Here I worry about how things are going to go for different events/outings... and they just do so well and show me how stupid it is of me to worry like I do. We went to the Brainerd July 4th parade - which ended up being bout 1.5 hours long - and sat there the entire time like good little boys. MacKay sat with Daddy most of the time, but Oscar sat in his little lawn chair all by himself the entire time.... both just waving their little flags in the horrible heat and taking in all the different things going by. They just did so well - shame on me for thinking they would be a handful.

Well here are some of the new pictures. Enjoy. And hopefully next post will have information and some pictures of a new member of our clan..... so stay tuned.

The boys at the 4th of July parade..... (note: the sunglasses didn't stay on long, doesn't help that Oscar doesn't have enough of a nose/bridge to keep them up though) :)

Oscar and MacKay using their plates and utensils like champs (and MacKay sporting his version of a "smile")

Just some more fun swimming pictures. This last time MacKay was determined to use that little cup/cap to drink the entire pool dry... and Oscar just loved pouring water over his head.

Just some random pictures. The boys love sitting next to each other in the recliner we got from Great Gpa Skitch MacKay. And a couple pictures of Oscar - he discovered what "pockets" are and walked around with his hands tucked in there for the longest time.... AND, Daddy put these cute little work boots on Oscar for a couple hours. They were actually Daddy's and given to him by HIS Gpa Henry Doerr when he was about the same age as the boys. They fit Oscar perfectly (size 7s). He LOVED wearing them and stomping around.

Yummy Treats: The boys enjoying raspberries - which they love to stick their fingers into to get them to their mouths..... and MacKay enjoying a brownie.

MacKay and Oscar wearing their cousins' hooded sweatshirts (Kelly and Brandon). Oscar loved flailing the extra long arms around, while MacKay looked like E.T. walking (waddling) around, like he was afraid to try lift his arms.

Lastly, a picture of the boys with their Uncle Dennis, playing with his iPhone.

Like I said - hopefully next post will have some pictures of our newest member of the family... so stop by in a few weeks. Until then, take care.

Boys are 20 months, I am almost 35 weeks..... and it has been almost TWO MONTHS since last post (sorry)

I am so sorry it has taken me THIS long to get out here. For those of you on Facebook, at least you've gotten to see a few new photos, but it has been almost 2 months since my last post - how pathetic. Do you know how long this post could get with all the updates? :) No... I won't do that to you. I will try keep it basic and leave the details to their journals that I keep for them (that I was slacking on as well - behind by 6 weeks).

I'll start with the easy stuff and give a "Baby Evie"/pregnancy update. I am almost 35 weeks which is a major milestone, as babies born after 35 weeks usually have full lung capacity and need no NICU time - so HOORAY. But still have another 5+ weeks to go - which I am sure won't go very quickly for me :) Things are going SO much better for me this time around (knock on wood).... no sign of PUPPPS rash like last time, no carpal tunnel, and minimal heartburn and restless leg at night. All doable. But MAN is this baby sticking STRAIGHT out. All of you who have seen me recently can attest to that - it's like a bowling ball sticking straight out and LOW. And she is STILL insanely active in there. Gives me peace of mind that she is doing well, but geez girl, give me a break now and then :) At my last OB appt we talked more about the VBAC (which would be induced) and Csection options I have before me - which made me even MORE confused about what I should do. But we made a tentative date that we will solidify this week (I hope) for whichever one I opt for..... Thursday August 6th, which is only 2 days before my due date, so hopefully I can carry that long. I'm still measuring 2+ weeks ahead (me, not Evie) which is a nice way of saying that I look huge :) But all is going well and we're growing more and more impatient to meet this little princess.

The boys.... wow. Where do you start? They are at such a fun (and intense) stage now. Into everything and love making messes... BUT on the plus side, they also love to organize and clean up too. I think they call it "Dump and Sort". They've enjoyed going to a few local parks that we've taken them to recently. MacKay prefers the swings and playing with the big steering wheels that most of the gyms have on them.... while Oscar is infatuated with slides and those bouncy/sway things that you ride on with the big springs. And they are getting near impossible to keep up with lately, so it is a must to have both Chris and I available for anytime they play outside. Too often they are jetting off in opposite directions. They are learning new things, actions and words... little sponges I tell ya. Our new favorite words are: Hi, Bub Bye, Door (Doh), Car (Cow), Owie, Go, Nah Nee (Good Night), Puppy, and of course...... NO. We also get a lot of "All Done"s and "More More"s - especially at dinner time. They know a lot of things as well, we can ask them to go somewhere (to the car, to the door) and they know exactly where to go and usually are happy to please us by doing that. We can ask them to clean up and bring certain items, whether it by by name (vacuum, mower, dump truck, car, teddy bear) or directing them to something by pointing, they can bring us what we are asking for. All you have to say is nap time, bedtime, change into PJs, change your pants and they go running for their room. I'm so amazed at how quickly they pick up all this stuff. And we've tried a lot of new foods as well - pizza burgers (Gma gets the BEST ones from her daycare), pizza, peanut butter, a variety of new cereals, etc. We also have removed the spill proof valves from their milk sippys and they are doing a pretty good job of not throwing those or spilling - tho on many occasions they like to turn them upside down and "paint" with their milk on their high chair trays. I must say, that MacKay is STILL eating 2x or more what Oscar eats but is still the scrawnier of the two - that kid either has AMAZING metabolism (like his Uncle Dennis) or maybe it explains why he has so much darn energy on a daily basis and runs me ragged daily - tho on that note, so does Oscar. :) They also love doing Itsy Bitsy Spider and do almost all the actions to it - they also love Head Shoulders Knees and Toes - and are learning more body parts that they can usually successfully point out: knees, forehead, chin, neck, chest, fingers etc. We've also taught them how to "smile" (on cue) which should come in handy when we want to take nice family pictures, or snap some cute ones of the boys with Evie when she arrives. The smiles they come up with are quite amusing as well (see pictures below).

One of the cutest things they have done lately is saying their names, as well as each others. MacKay just BEAMS when he sees a picture of himself or looks in a mirror and says (in the sweetest voice) "Pi-TAY". Now he knows how to make the "M" sound, so I don't know why it isn't "Mi-KAY" but either way he knows himself and his name. MacKay also calls Oscar "Ahh-TEES". Again, I cannot explain this one as only the first syllable is even remotely close. But Oscar is Ahh-Tees for now. Now Oscar..... Oscar will mimic you saying his name and gets close with "Ahh-Ga" ... but this also happens to be the name they both call Angus too :). And Oscar's version of MacKay is "Mah-Tay". I also need to note that BOTH Chris and I are "Daddy". UNNNGHHH, breaks my heart. :) I spend all day with them and I am constantly called "Daddy". Working on that one, in fact today at lunch when they were trying to hand me food they didn't want they were calling me "Daddy" and I had to correct them like FIVE times :) Oh well.

We're having to do a lot more disciplining with them now too - a lot of it is working, some not. Oscar habitually steals whatever toy MacKay is playing with - he just isn't interested in playing with something if MacKay doesn't have it. Which results in MacKay getting upset and biting Oscar. So we're trying to be proactive and get Oscar to stop stealing, or at least give it back and promote sharing (which they do a lot too). And DEFINITELY trying to break MacKay of the biting habit as he sometimes will do it to us too when he gets really angry. Needless to say, we have our good days and bad days.... and Oscar's arms are riddled with many teeth imprints and bruises. All in all though I think they are learning their place and are pretty well behaved boys...... BUSY.... but well behaved and play well with each other and others. So I'm still pretty proud :) And I heard they were pretty well behaved for their Gpa Dean and Auntie Connie when they came to take care of the boys for a couple days when I went down to the cities to stay with my mom after her surgery. Was so nice to hear they were in good hands and in good spirits. Apparently they got pretty spoiled with Connie's good cooking (tons of treats, roasts etc) and Dean taking them outside practically for every waking moment of the day. Thanks guys

And like I said in the title..... they are 20 months today. Can't believe that much time has flown by. And in another month we'll be starting this all over again with Evie.

Well.... I have a TON of pictures to share. Started out with like 50 of them and had to pare them down which was a doozie of a job. Hope you enjoy, and I hope to not wait this long before posting again as it is too hard to recall all that is going on with us when this much time has passed.... and I HATE having to pare down the pictures that I want to share. So many cute ones of them doing funny things. Onto the pictures......

Some pictures of the boys at Whipple Beach Park.

They were obsessed with running down to the lake and roaming around on the beach. Just some cute pictures of them walking with Daddy too.

MacKay loving the swings as usual, and a rare smile before heading down the slide (they usually freak him out)

Oscar loving his slides and just crawling around on all the levels of the gym

The boys talking on the phone with Gma Chris. Every time I am on the phone with my mom they just HAVE to get their chance to talk as well. Most of the time it is like pulling teeth to get them to talk, but every once in a while they get pretty chatty.

Just a few cute pictures of the boys together and being silly. Here MacKay is doing this "shaking" thing where he pulls his fists up to his chest and gets all tensed up and shakes - funny enough, this is something I did to amuse people when I was his age. And Oscar just showing us all HOW BIG his mouth really his - he has a HUGE mouth (Daddy says he takes after his Mommy on this one).

Fun Outside with the Bubble Machine and the Hose. The boys love their new bubble machine and chase around the bubbles... but they also loved playing with the hose Daddy was using the water some of our plants. Funny that MacKay screams bloody murder when we put him in the bath and pour water on him to rinse him, yet has NO problem dousing himself with cold water from a hose. Oscar didn't stay none too dry himself either.

The boys in their new outdoor yard chairs, and sitting with their cousins Kelly and Brandon listening to Brandon's iPod. They look so hip holding the ear pieces up to their ears. They sat like this for over 45 minutes listening to music with those two.

First "swim" for Summer of 2009: Man what a difference a year makes in what they do in the pool. Last summer we sat there nervously waiting for them to topple over while sitting in only an inch or two of water, now they are running around splashing. Just a mishmash of photos here, they are pretty self explanatory so not much to say..... other than our little Oscar is the typical fair skinned red head who we had to try keep a hat on as much as possible. When the sun hits that head of hair, MAN is it red though :)

MacKay and Oscar donning their "smiles" for us after a bath.

Some more fun outside when Gpa Gary and Terri came to visit, riding around in their cars, playing with bubbles, and swinging in the tree swing.

Shortly after Gpa's visit, Gma Chris came up for a few days while Daddy went on a fishing trip to keep us all company. During her stay our new kiddie table/chair set arrived. The boys love it and sit there to eat snack every day. And some pictures of the boys in hats. The boys in their safari hats (surprisingly Oscar's matched his outfit perfectly), ..... the one on MacKay's head in the picture didn't last long as he was in a crabby mood and ripped it off quickly after the picture was taken. MacKay is not so much a hat guy. And just a super funny picture of Gma Chris with our little Oscar who just LOVES to wear hats lately. He wears them all the time and giggles when he sees himself in the mirror wearing them.

Lastly, my goofy boys and their Little People figurines stuck to their faces. Their equally goofy father was playing with one a while back, squeezing it and suctioning it onto his face when the boys caught him doing that and wanted in on the action. Since then they come to us all the time with these wanting us to stick them on their faces, their heads, their bellies.... etc.

Check back again soon - I'm sure I'll have some more updates and pictures after the July 4th weekend.