September Pics

There were too many to choose from...

"Time to Snuggle with Caleb on mama's bed."

This is what Ethan said to me today and he climbed into our bed with Caleb and covered them both in his blanket. It was the cutest thing ever!!

Ethan takes good care of his brother!

Mom and her boys!

I usually am the one taking the pictures so I do not get in them too often, but I love this one of the boys and I - I sure do LOVE being a mom!! Oh yeah....what do you think of my new glasses?

To my wonderful husband....

Thank you, thank you, thank you for watching the boys TWO nights in a row for me while I did my girl thing! I know that it was stressful with one screaming and the other wanting your attention and I thank you from the bottom of my heart! A mom just needs to get out every once in awhile- you are an awesome husband and father!!! Love you!

Renovations

Jim and I (okay mostly Jim) have done a lot of renovations to this house since we have moved in. This summer we did the landscaping in the backyard, tiled the kitchen, and finished the basement. It is now all complete and Jim did a great job! We had a lot of help from Jim's cousin with the kitchen and most of the basement, and Jim just finished up the painting and trim. I finally have all the toys downstairs and Ethan loves his new playroom and so does mom! No more toys in the living room (well there are some, just not as many now)!

Thanks Jim, you made a wife very happy!

Here are some before and after pictures:

The basement before (not our stuff-previous owners)....

.... and the basement after!

Here is the kitchen before......and after! Bye-bye 1960's red brick!

Reunion

Yesterday we had our great friends from high school out for a BBQ - it was a blast! We all have kids (including our friend Beth who now lives in TX who we missed dearly) born in the last 3 three year or so. Three of them were born in the last 7 months and the other three range from 1-almost 3 years old. We just talked and caught up, it was the perfect birthday present for me:) Thanks for coming out guys!

The boys: Cole (4 months- 2 days older than Caleb), Caleb (4 months), Henry (7 months)

Caleb 4 month check up

Yesterday I took Caleb for his four month check up. He did a great job and seems to be right on track. He was a great sport when he had to get five shots (poor guy!), it did not take long to calm him down. Here are his stats...

Height - 26.25 inches (90%)

Weight - 16 pounds 6 ounces (75%)

Head - 44cm (75-90%)

Jumper - for Caleb or Ethan??

Last week I got out the jumper for Caleb to play with since he has good enough head control now. He had a lot of fun playing with it and just hanging out. After I got him out of it, I realized that it was a new toy for Ethan too. Not sure who had more fun with it Caleb or Ethan!:)

Work n' Play

The boys chilling on the chair at the cottage.

Uncle Mark caught some fish in the lake one morning.

Uncle Mark and Caleb

Looks like a good spot to rest...
Little Cutie sitting up like a big boy!

Ethan found some funny glasses in the cabinet:)

The boys and their great-grandparents!

Lots of time playing with grandma!

Caleb and Poppa Dick

While my poor husband worked ALL weekend, the boys and I headed to Indiana to my grandparents cottage with my mom and brother for the weekend. We had a fun time hanging out and relaxing. The bugs were pretty bad so we did not get to play outside as much as we had hoped, but we still had fun and of course missed daddy.

The Boys

Jim is working a ton since we got back from vacation and it is showing no signs of slowing down. He spends as much time with the boys as he can when he is not at the hospital. I feel truly blessed that my boys have such a great daddy in their lives!

While Jim has been working, the boys and I have been hanging out. Ethan loves being a big brother and can't seem to get enough of Caleb (which is a good thing). Ethan is transforming into a little boy right in front of my eyes. Today I was watching him "read" himself a book while I was feeding Caleb and I was listening to him-it was the cutest thing. The book that he was reading was a counting book that goes up to 20. We have been reading this book pretty much every night because it has become his favorite book. He says, "Lets count the flowers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10" and I thought that is cute, he counts to ten all the time but he kept going "11,12,13,14,15".....I never in my life have heard him count past 10! That is just one example of how fast he is growing up on me.

Caleb is also growing - getting bigger by the day, he is now in 6 months clothes! He started some cereal just recently and he LOVES it! He is a great eater just like Ethan was. He is playing in his excersaucer now and has great head control. I see him trying to sit up in his car seat a lot these days. He is sleeping well, getting up just about one time a night to eat and is starting to take longer and less frequent naps. He is grabbing at toys, loves putting his fist in his mouth and as I mentioned in the last post, he is getting teeth! Not long from now, he will be the one counting to 15 on me!

First Tooth!

Our little guy popped his first tooth while we were on vacation, at a little over three months old! He now is working on two more, none of which are his front bottom, which I always thought were the first ones. His first tooth was on his bottom left side, his second one is on his bottom right side, and his third tooth that he is working on is one of his front top teeth. Poor guy, that is a lot to handle all at once! He still seems to always have a smile for us though:)

Vacation to the UP

Playing in the water
Caleb all snuggled in his wrap
Four-wheeling with the grandparentsFalling asleep while four-wheeling with grandma (he did this often)Making cookies!The view of our lake one cold morningGrandpa taking Ethan for a boat rideGrandma and grandpa on the shipwreck tour
Asleep again! (Apparently he is not ready to give up naps:)Our little man bundled up!More fun with grandpaGrandma and the boysEthan dipping his feet in Lake SuperiorThis is how Caleb liked to be carriedCaleb smiling at grandma

We just got back from a wonderful, relaxing vacation to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Jim's parents rented a cottage on a lake in Munising and it was the perfect place to sit back and relieve ourselves of the business in Kalamazoo. We were able to go on lots of hikes to see waterfalls, play in the lake, go four wheeling, charter fishing (see posts below), a shipwreck tour, ate lots of good food, and even visit our old stomping grounds of Marquette! The boys did great and Ethan loved going on "cation"(vacation) as he called it. He played with grandma and grandpa going on boat rides, making cookies, going four wheeling, and whatever else Ethan asked them to do! Most of the time he just ran around finding rocks and throwing them in the lake, he thought that that was the coolest thing ever, along with peeing in the lake! Caleb did well too, the first couple days he was fussy and come to find out, he had sprouted three teeth! He did a lot better towards the middle and end of the week. Grandma watched the boys one day so that I could go fishing in Lake Superior, which I was very thankful for, it was a ton of fun! It was great to get back up there, I had not been up there since we moved to Kalamazoo. Thanks grandma and grandpa for a great vacation!

Ethan hiking