Here come the Holidays!

Everyone is having a pretty good december so far. Kyle is starting his second month of eating solid foods. He had his first yams today and seemed to like it. He eats pretty good, but sticks his tongue out to swallow which pushes most of the food back out. He is getting more active and can sit up on his own for about 10 seconds. He can move around a little on his belly, but can't get up on hands and knees. He rolls over easily now and prefers to be on his belly. He's putting everything in his mouth now (his lab is up and running). He seems frustrated that he can't move around more. Bryson is playing well with him and brings him his doggie toy. He always seems to remember where it was left and brings it over when we move to other rooms of the house, it's very sweet. We converted the back room into a playroom for the boys and they both love it, Bryson plays in there most of the day and Kyle enjoys being in there too. Kyle is cooing more and the other day while I was singing him to sleep he was cooing with me like he was singing too, it was so cute.

Bryson is talking more and is getting better at singing songs. He can sing parts of the ABC song pretty well (see his videos). He helped me make cookies a few weeks ago and did a great job. He really enjoyed it and pretends to make cookies in his playroom with his rolling pin and cookie cutters. St. Nick came a few weeks ago, I don't think Bryson quite got the idea, but was happy to have a new Thomas movie and some fruit snacks(see videos). He knows who Santa is and we went to get a picture with Santa but he wanted to look out the window at the cars and didn't want anything to do with Santa. He cried the whole time, the elf just grabbed him for a quick shot and then put him down(see picture above). Kyle didn't seem to care much at all. Bryson had a great time decorating the tree (even though he put all the decorations on the same branch). I thought he would get bored, but he kept up until they were all on the tree. He likes looking at all the santa trinkets on the stockings and tries to guess whose is whose. I finally found a video other than Thomas that he enjoys, Frog and Toad. I'm not sure why, but he just loves it. He smiles and claps along with the stories, he may even like it better than Thomas! We tried to get some nice Christmas pictures of the boys together, but Bryson was not cooperating despite cookie bribes(note the cookie in his mouth for most of the pics). Kyle was easy to photograph, but it was nearly impossible to get one of Bryson or the two of them together, but all you can do is try.(see animoto above)

Mara and John will be coming for christmas this year and friends of ours will be coming for a christmas eve dinner. I'm looking forward to christmas at home, but will miss everyone back in WI.

Wisconsin Trip

Well, we had a great visit in Green Bay and Madison. Bryson had a Thomas the Train birthday party at Gramma Bonnie's and got lots of Thomas stuff. He had a good time playing with his cousins Skye and Vincent. He loved playing with all Vincent's Thomas toys. Skye helped change the boys diapers (not the poopie ones). And even fed a bottle to Kyle. My mom watched the boys overnight so Ken and I could get away to door county for a night. We had a wonderful time, I haven't had such freedom for 2 years! (It was the first time we were away from Bryson overnight since he was born-not counting when Kyle was born). I thought we might be too late, but the colors were beautiful! I miss the fall in the Midwest, it is so much prettier than in the northwest. We stayed at Steve's cottage in Sturgeon bay and drove up to Penninsula State Park. I had fried cheese curds for the first time in YEARS- they were great! The boys did wonderful with gramma and grampa, we'll have to do it again sometime.

On thurs. we went to the children's museum in Appleton with Scott and the kids. They had alot of fun! Bryson got a little overzealous in the water area and needed a change of clothes though. On Fri. we went to the Zoo Boo. Bryson went as James and Kyle was a monkey(thanks Skye). Bryson was mostly interested in running through the puddles(water again). Ken missed him by inches running into a giant one and he was wet to his thighs, but he didn't seem to care. He got to feed the giraffe, but was a little scared of it. We went out for a fish fry that night, it was great I hadn't had perch in years, it tasted great! (I also loved the apples, they reminded me of apple picking when I was a kid- the apples out here taste so different)

On sat. morning we headed back to Madison for Halloween. Mara made a cute cat costume for Bryson to wear. Bryson did a little trick or treating but was more interested in playing on the playground. Ken and I were looking forward to going out to state street, but apparently they had to discontinue the usual event due to rioting and such. Now you have to pay to get in and it's roped off and they have bands and stuff for 35,000 people. So, we went out with Ken's friends to a bar (Mickey's). Ken was Jerry Garcia and I was the cat in the hat. We stayed out till bar time and boy was I tired the next day!(I usually go to bed by 9:00). Bryson had fun feeding the chickens with Mara, going the zoo and he got three more Thomas trains! I put a few more videos on his website, so check it out!

Two years old!!!

Bryson turned two on Sunday. We had the Blickenstaffs over for dinner and cake. Bryson got a bunch of Thomas stuff and a mega blocks garage set up with a bunch of trucks(thanks vincent!)It was hard to get him to open all his gifts because he just wanted to play with everything. I made him a Henry (from Thomas the train) cake and he seemed to like it. I put his Thomas sheets on his big boy bed, but I still can't seem to get him to sleep in it. We went to the pumpkin patch a couple weeks ago and Bryson picked out his own pumpkin. He helped me carve and decorate the pumpkins and runs outside to see them everyday. Kyle is doing great he is almost rolling over now and can hold his head up when he's on his tummy. He likes to watch Bryson play and he laughs at him often. Our insurance issue is being appealed and it sounds like there's a good chance they will pay our hospital bill, so that is a great relief. We are getting excited for our trip home, now I need to get packing!

October already!

Mara and John were here for a visit recently. We went to the zoo for a day and Bryson got to ride the train again. Mara and John bought him some more Thomas trains and some track. He won't stop talking about Henry (one of the trains). It's the first thing he plays with in the morning when he gets up. His new favorite book is Green Eggs and Ham he calls it 'ham'. He really seems to like the Dr. Seuss books. He's been a little crabby lately cuz he's getting his upper canine teeth in. (He's getting up pretty much every night crying)He got sick yesterday morning and vomitted a bunch of times, I was worried he might have the flu and we all were gonna get it, but it must have been something he ate cuz he was fine by the afternoon. He loves to go for walks and doesn't want to ride in the BOB anymore. It's making it a little more difficult for me to get exercise cuz he goes so slow. We're down to his last nuk! I'm hoping we won't have to buy anymore, but I'm thinking we made need a couple just in case for our trip to WI.

Kyle is doing great, he's getting bigger all the time! He's a real happy baby and smiles and coos alot. He is so happy in the mornings! It makes it easier to get up because he is so cute. He has had a few big out loud laughs now, but it's mostly just giggles and stuff. He has his first cold (his nose is a little stuffy)but seems to be handling it very well. He is able to roll onto his side now but can't quite make it all the way over. He is grabbing at toys and tries to sit up when he's in his bouncer chair.

I got some bad news yesterday, our insurance company is refusing to pay for Kyle's hospital stay (we didn't precertify it??). what good is it to have insurance if they can find ways to get out of paying for your bills! I sure hope something can be done in this country about health care, because it is a ridiculous mess! We're going through an appeals process now so keep your fingers crossed. If this doesn't work we're gonna be bankrupt (three weeks in the NICU is expensive!)

Happy Birthday Mara!

Beach and zoo

We went to the zoo last friday and Bryson had a great time. He rode the train for the first time. He enjoyed watching the baby elephant play in the water with his mother and started crying when we were leaving the exhibit. He also liked the aquarium with the big fish and the sea lion exhibit. He made friends with a couple little girls. He would walk up to them and start laughing to get their attention. He sure enjoys being around other kids.

We went to the beach for the weekend and he loved playing in the sand. He didn't want to play with me or ken though, I brought all his sand toys, but he only wanted to play with other kids stuff.(see video) He just kept moving down the beach, he never even looked back to see if we were watching him and he cried when we brought him back and refused to play with us.

Bryson is talking more and is more articulate with his words. He is still obsessed with Thomas and we've been getting new videos from the library every couple weeks. His favorite toys are his trains, cars and trucks. He requested to sleep in his big boy bed last night (he usually wants to be in the crib) and I think he didn't know where he was when he got up (too early 5:30!)because he was crying.

Kyle is growing fast, he's already to big for some of his 0-3 month clothes and I just got them out a couple weeks ago! He weighs about 12 lbs now and is in the 2% on the normal growth curve. He had his 4 month check up last week and he is developing on schedule and is even ahead (for his corrected age-2 months) with some things. He is smiling alot and has laughed a few times. He loves to look at himself in the mirror and is getting much better at lifting his head during tummy time. He likes to sit in his bouncer chair now, so I don't have to always rely on the swing. He likes to look at his toys and he swings at them with his arms. He's really getting cute now that he is so smiley, it is so sweet!

Before




After






Well, Ken has nearly completed the house painting. He just has a few touch ups to do and to put the gutters back on. I am very happy with how it turned out. We got Bryson a big boy bed. It also turns into bunk beds so we'll be able to use it later too. So far he's only napped in it once. I don't think he's ready for it just yet, but we have a month or two before Kyle will grow out of the cradle. Kyle is doing great, he smiles alot and you can tell he is looking at you. He has also started cooing. He weighs about 10 lbs now. Bryson likes to ride his bikes, read books (the same ones over and over and over....) and watch his Thomas the Train movie. He loves the swings at the park. We bought plane tickets to go home the end of October, it'll be great to see everyone again. Check out the new video on drop shots......