Happy Birthday Kyle!

Bryson has really turned into a good helper this month. He helps pick up his toys and throws things in the garbage for me. His behavior is much improved as well and he even shares with Kyle on his own without being asked. He is talking much more and is trying to talk in full sentences. I think he gets a little ahead of himself though and you can only understand a few words and the rest is babble. He seems to enjoy playing with Kyle and will ask me to bring Kyle into the playroom to play with him. Now that the weather has been nicer we are spending more time outside. He loves to ride his bike and can go FAST! I can hardly keep up with him. He is also helping with the gardening and loves to play in the dirt.







Kyle turned one this month! He is getting around crawling and can walk holding onto things. He has just started to stand holding my hands, but still won't try walking. He babbles alot and loves to laugh and play with Bryson. Unfortunately, he is not gaining weight. At his 1yr. appointment he only weighed a little over 15 pounds. His length is growing on track, but he is not putting on weight. It hasn't helped that he's been sick the last couple weeks. We have an appointment to see a nutritionist the end of the month to check if he's getting enough calories. If it turns out he's getting enough calories they will do blood work to check for any disease that may be causing him to loose weight. He doesn't act as though he is sick, so I'm pretty optimistic he's just small. He loves to play with cars and rolls them on the ground while he crawls, its so cute! He got a few of his very own cars for his birthday which he really likes.

We had a wonderful visit with my parents last weekend. We had a late Cinco de Mayo celebration on friday and went to the park with the boys. Kyle wasn't feeling well the first few days, but really perked up by the end of the visit. We had a birthday party for Kyle on Sat. And everyone decorated a car cake or two for his party. The most popular cakes were the police car, fire truck, race car (complete with spoiler) and the cement truck. I also made a pinata and put on a puppet show. The party was sponsered by the letter "C", so I made a cat pinata (filled with candy) and did a C for cookie puppet show and we ate car carrot cake, chicken, carrots, cellery, corn, cheese and crackers and chips for the meal. The older boys also tooks turns riding in Bryson's power wheels car. I made the pinata fairly indestructable and my mom had to step on it to get things going. Bryson cried all the way to school after we dropped my parents off at the airport. I'm not sure if he was crying because they left or because he wanted to go on the plane. But, we sure do miss them, I think both the boys really enjoyed playing with them and my dad was able to get Kyle to sleep better than anyone. Don't forget to check out the videos, I've got the puppet show and Kyle's birthday on there!

April

We took a trip to the Oregon coast last weekend and had a great time! Bryson loved playing in the sand and Kyle seemed to enjoy it as well. We got a hotel room right on the beach. It was beautiful weather even though it was a little cold and windy. Bryson tried salt water taffy for the first time and didn't like how chewey it was he spit it out and cried because he couldn't get it out of his teeth. Bryson enjoyed getting splashed by the seals at the seaside aquarium and looked at all the fish. He is talking more and can put three to four words together, but is still pretty hard to understand. He will be moving up a class at daycare and they work on potty training! I can't wait. Bryson is really starting to get jealous of Kyle and very possessive over his toys now that Kyle is mobile. We've been struggling with disciplining him, but things seem to be getting better. We hardly ever go out to eat because Bryson can't sit for more than 10 minutes. He is a very physically active kid and won't sit and color for more than a couple minutes. He loves to run, climb, and jump!

Kyle is crawling fast now and can pull himself up to stand and walk around the furniture. He likes to get into all Bryson's toys, especially the ones Bryson is playing with. He's not very interested in babyfood anymore and is eating table food really well. He's seems to be gaining weight, his face is looking more chubby. The teacher at daycare said they were going to keep him in the infant room an extra month because he is so small (and because she really likes him). He loves taking baths with Bryson and goes into the bathroom and stands at the tub whenever he gets a chance. He loves watching Bryson and they laugh and play peek-a-boo games together.

I'm keeping busy with my job, working two days a week and I've got my garden started with hopes to expand with more garden on the side of the house. Ken is liking his new job with SWMC doing home health and has been listening to books on tape while he's driving in the car. We're looking forward to my parents coming to visit next month for Kyle's birthday. I can't believe he's gonna be one already!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Jim!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Healthy again!

It's been a while since I updated the site, we had a pretty crazy Feb! Kyle and Bryson started daycare again (I'm working 2 days a week now and a few hours on Fridays) and ken started a new job (Southwest Medical Center Home Health). After their first week in daycare both boys got sick. It seemed like just a cold at first, but after a few days Bryson was getting better and Kyle was getting worse. Kyle started having vomitting and diarrhea and after a few days of that I brought him in to see the doctor. They gave me some meds to stop the vomitting, but it didn't work and I had to take him to the ER the next day for dehydration. He got IV fluids and all the tests they did came back negative. They decided to keep him for observation and it was a good thing. That night he started having problems breathing. They repeated his lab work and x-ray and found he had pneumonia. He was in the hospital for four days. It was sad to see him so sick, he just slept most of the time. You could tell when he was feeling better because he wanted to play and started smiling again. The nurses told me he was their favorite (but I'm sure they say that to everyone.) He lost over two pounds and has been pretty slow gaining it back. He has finally started eating really good over the last few days. We have a follow visit march 17th to check his weight again. I've been mixing his food with cream to try and fatten him up. He is so skinny his head looks huge when he has all his clothes off!

We painted the shelving in the library white and made it into an office area. We also made my craft room into a playroom for the boys and my stuff is upstairs in our room. The boys really enjoy thier playroom. Bryson is talking more all the time. He is starting to put three words together now. He loves going outside and "riding bikes". He wants to go out even when its rainy. Kyle is crawling all over the house now and can move pretty fast! He just started to try pulling up to stand and enjoys walking while you hold him up. Kyle loves the playroom too, but tends to destroy Bryson's train tracks and stuff (we call him baby-zilla). Both the boys, the dog and the cat love to play with the lazer light. It's pretty funny to watch them all go after it. (see drop shots video).

My sister Jess came to visit for a long weekend. We went to the zoo and met up with the Cale's (with new baby Carter) and the Blickenstaff's all the boys had a good time, but we had to leave early with Bryson due to nap time crabbiness. The Blickenstaff's had us all over for dinner and all the boys played great together. On Sunday we went to the beach with Jess and Bryson got to play in the sand. (He loves to play in dirt and stuff and puts it in his hair- I figured I'd give him the chance to get real dirty!) The weather wasn't great, but that didn't stop Bryson. Kyle seemed a little unsure at first about the sand, but crawled all over after a while. Bryson had a great time with Aunt Jess, he had someone to play "cars" with and playdough and read books!

Happy New Year!

We had a nice Christmas this year. Mara and John came to visit and made a nice meal on Christmas eve and we had the Blickenstaffs over. I put on a puppet show for the boys and they had a good time. Bryson was happy to have new toys on Christmas morning, but didn't seem to surprised or excited about opening presents (we actually opened them for him). I think he'll get into it more next year, he's still a little young. We made the back room into a playroom and it turned out great, the boys love it! It's nice not to have toys all over the house. We went to the Blickenstaff's for new years and played the Wii fit, it was fun and I actually stayed up past midnight. However, Bryson had a hard time getting back to sleep after we got home and was up until 2:00 am.

Kyle is doing great! He's grabbing for anything in reach and puts it all in his mouth. I'm thinking he may get his first tooth soon. He eats solid foods three times a day and seems to be enjoying it. He has just started to commando crawl. He will pull himself forward two or three times to get a toy. I suppose it won't be long before he's really mobile. He can get on hands and knees and rock, but he doesn't crawl. He's a very happy little guy and is always smiling. He loves to laugh at Bryson and the two of them can sit and laugh at each other for quite a while. (See dropshot video)

Bryson is talking more, his favorite phrase is "doing there?" (What are you doing there?-I must say this alot). He loves music and likes to sing along now. He loved playing in the snow (we actually got some just before new years). We made a "Frosty" snowman, but he was melted by the next day. {He enjoyed watching Frosty the Snowman over the holidays). He is quite a daredevil and went down the big slides at the park before I could get there to catch him and he wants to climb ladders and stand on all the coffee tables and furniture,(I think he's contemplating how to jump off.) Scott and Terri gave us a book of our trip to Mexico for christmas and Bryson calls it his Gramma and Grampa book. He 'reads' it all the time.

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!