Random Thoughts

Okay, time for another quick update, these are random thoughts rolling around in my brain...


Collin is still nursing strong at 11 months. With him finally eating solids well, I am looking toward weaning him. I nursed Kate until her first birthday and that is my plan for Collin as well. I do love nursing, but it has been a little more trying this time, Collin is so distracted by noises (namely his sister:) and he has six teeth....so, yeah. I am also getting quite anxious to wear normal clothing:) I don't think he will be super happy about weaning and I won't stop cold turkey obviously, but as soon as he turns one (oh my gosh, I'll jump into that denial later...) we will be introducing cows milk and trying to free Momma up a bit! So...I'm trying to soak up the last month or so of our nursing snuggles, as emotional as I have been since his birth, I'm sure I will have some trouble with this too. 

One area that has been wonderful lately is Collin's bedtime. Did I mention this already? We are getting better at having a consistent bedtime for the kids and we do his bath, then he gets to nurse, we read books  - he loves this part! He could just sit and look at/play with his board books for a long time. His favorites right now are Words, Curious George at the Zoo and Peek Bah Boo. He will just snuggle with you and be really focused on the books and sometimes I get this big sigh out of him:) Once I get the sigh or if he starts to try and chew on the books, then we turn off the lights and turn on the sound machine. I sing You Are My Sunshine on the way to the crib and he usually burrows into his blankie. Often now, he will actually try and get into the crib, no extra cuddles then, he is ready to go to sleep! I lay him down awake and it takes him up to about 15 minutes to fall asleep. It is such a warm and comforting, easy routine. I look forward to it each night. Because I am nursing, if Dave is home, he will do the bath and then I do the rest. I used to have anxiety leading up to bedtime because it was... well, just awful. He wouldn't fall asleep, I would nurse him asleep and then try to get him down without waking him,  or bounce around...not good. Needless to say, for many reasons, we are very pleased with this! By the way, it took us doing sleep training and me finally digging in my heels to get here. More on our sleep training later...

Dave and I have been moving furniture around again:) I'm not sure if Dave loves it or not, but things are basically getting determined by my ability to see Collin and get to him if he is about to pull something down on himself:) The kids' rooms are also drastically different and once Dave and I discussed what we were going to do, we just started doing it. Oops, Kate saw the changes and was sobbing about her room. That's right...she is old enough that she needs to be included in some decisions, or sat down and explained things prior to the changes..sometimes we forget how old she is! At bedtime, she of course was saying how much she loved her new big girl room:) Long term disaster avoided! 

Kate has been practicing how to whistle and must have had some instruction from Dave, she is kind of doing it! It is pretty cute and she is very focused while doing it. So, basically during the day I have a little chorus of "Uh ohs" and whistling throughout the house. 

There should be a special book of firsts for siblings...the other day I noticed Kate playing fetch with Collin in his walker. She would throw the ball, tell him to fetch it and then say "Good boy!" (he did not fetch it, but she would go get it for him:) He loved it of course. One of my greatest joys each day is watching Collin's face when he sees Katie, he just lights up. When I bring him down from a nap, he searches around for her and she usually, says (loudly, as she says most things), "Hi, Buddy!!" and comes running over. He gets so excited, he wiggles around and grins from ear to ear:) Precious. 

I will let you know when Kate stops singing Christmas songs, please realize it may be around the Fourth of July:) She will just randomly burst into, "Have a holly, jolly Christmas..." or "on the third day of Christmas, my Mommy gave to me, three huge fish, two roving ducks and a par-pigeon in a tree." This last one is a mix - we have a 12 Days of Christmas in Wisconsin book and it has the crazy verse changes, she mixes it all up:) But her favorite is probably Hark the Herald Angels Sing. She will stand tall, or climb something and sing loudly, "Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king. Peace on earth and mercy rhymes..." It is pretty cute.

"Hark the Herald Angels Sing!!"

Dave and I had a date night! We finally got a sitter but we didn't make serious plans until she was here:) We had tried to have her come a few other times, but she cancelled last minute. We have had the worst luck with sitters, but I think the tide must be turning now, we have two different sitters that we can use and intend to do so more often! Dave actually remembered while I was getting ready that we had a gift card to the nicest restaurant in the Dells! So, we headed down and had a wonderful evening. It was a great place and the food was incredible. We will definitely go back for anniversary dinners or something special. The report form the sitter when we got back was that the kids did great. Collin was super tired and went to bed easy. Kate did fine, but was not super thrilled we were gone at bedtime. Tara Jo ended up laying down with her for awhile. She also got up a couple times and at one point said she was just going to sit up and wait for us to get back. Then she got sad and said she was sad about her room being different...I'm sure Tara Jo was rather confused! 

Kate did this to me the other day. She was upset about Dave being gone at bedtime and was standing next to the rocker in Collin's room crying, she opened the door to the nightstand thing and found the candle from her 3rd birthday, she just added that in along with everything else...."I miss Daddy!..(sob, sob sob)..and....I...wish...I...was...still...three!" What?! She went on and on about how she wished she was still three years old. Oh my goodness, so I was nursing Collin, or trying to, and trying to calm Kate down and get her to realize that it was okay she was four.

Kate is still crushing Collin with her hugs:) She is so sweet but while Collin loves her back as I stated above...he dislikes being smothered:) Luckily for him, he is growing and we are starting to see some retaliation. If she is within reach, he is grabbing her hair. I would say it is pretty effective:) And is probably just our jumping off point for many years to come! 

And lastly...This is a Kate quote from the other day. I'm not exactly sure what I said that triggered it:
"I trust my Grandpa. Mom, Pastor came and talked to us about…trust. Like how I trust grandpa to jump in the pool. And then parents had to walk in the desert for five weeks! Parents! Five weeks!"

Peace!

 

A little Erin time...

One of my New Years resolutions (I don't really make a serious one, but have a number of things that I try to work on) was to make it a priority to have some "Erin time" when I need it. I really do not make much time to do the things that are required for just me (at press time, I am overdue for a hair cut, dental appointment and eye appointment...ugh) If I'm not making time to get a hair cut, I'm also probably not making time to put my feet up, read a book, take a bath, take a walk, etc. As most moms know, we just don't have much alone time, I guess there are the occasional trips to the grocery store without the kids (maybe half the time??) and the middle of the night after I have just put one of the kids back in bed (wow - that sure doesn't count!), I've made it to Zumba twice in the last four months, even the bathroom is seldom without the children:) 

I know! Who could need a break from these cuties?!

Dave has always told me to just speak up and make it happen. And so I am! A couple times, I have decided to put the dishes down and go for a walk (one day it was about -13 degrees, so it wasn't a very long one!) but I got some fresh air, time alone to think. I have been doing yoga at night after the kids are in bed and am loving it. Ideally, I would find a league somewhere and have a standing night that I get out. Dave has sand volleyball league and dart league, so roughly once a week, he gets out to have fun with friends. How can this town not have a competitive volleyball league?!! Well, I'm on the search for something that would make sense. 

When the weather is nicer, it is a little easier to get outside and find a little break each day, but I was craving more of an adventure. I told Dave last week that since he was not on call over the weekend and we didn't have plans, I wanted to go somewhere. Anywhere. Just outside, by myself. For a couple of hours. He was all for it and I decided to go to one of the state parks nearby (there are so many, love it). On Saturday, I decided to go cross country skiing at Mirror Lake State Park near the Dells. 

Of course, Dave made sure to get some "time off" in as well:) he went snowmobiling with a friend for a few hours on Saturday and then our families met up for supper. Dr. Eckerman and his wife have four kids, so we were quite the bunch to show up at Portofino Bay:) Dave had a blast out on the sleds and we had a wonderful supper too, good day!

Yesterday morning (Sunday) we - ahem - didn't make it to church...had breakfast and played, worked on reorganizing a few rooms (kids rooms, sunroom) and then I headed down to the Dells. It was a bit of an adventure as I had never been there before, and I was quite surprised when I pulled into the main parking lot, it was crazy busy! People everywhere and I got a little intimidated. It turns out it was a free day and there was a fishing contest and some sort of winter celebration going on. I grabbed a winter trail map, some free cookies and put my skis on. There were so many trails to choose from - how fun. I picked the easy classical/combination trails that were nearby. I have never skied on groomed trails before...it was so nice! A beautiful day, I just enjoyed it so much. I was vowing to come back...practically every day:) I really can't wait to take Dave and the kids back soon, as well as over the summer. 

Nice groomed trails..

I was out on the trails for about an hour and came back to head home. It was the perfect little break and should spark me to make these breaks a priority in the future. The kids slept while I was away (so that means Dave probably did too:) 

Can you see the sign? I'm headed to the beach!

Very beautiful, we'll be back. 

Happy New Year!

Ha! I'm getting caught up finally:) This makes me so happy. Also, I just ordered my Christmas New Years cards...so those will be getting out. Hooray! This is all extra wonderful as I am the current victim of what has been a quick but not fun flu-like illness. I should be in bed, but I am going to power through this quick post and then hit the sack. 

The week after Christmas Dave had committed to working in Clinton, Iowa as a "locum tenens" at a surgery center. It is basically free-lance work that he gets paid well for, he actually enjoys it and it helps us accomplish some things a little faster financially (this week paid for our new windows and door coming for the sun room - yeah!

Anyway, he had to head down Sunday night (Dec. 29) and wouldn't come back until that Friday night. Though, I know I can handle the kids by myself for five days....I mean, it's not my MOST fun way to tackle that:) In the past, I have escaped to Burr Oak to have some help and see some other people and I didn't want to go for the whole week, but it worked out that we could come down New Years Eve and stay through January 2. I was so happy because it gave me someone to be with on NYE, someone to watch the Hawks with on New Years Day, gave us an opportunity to see the Peterson's and check out the Jan Brett exhibit at the Vesterheim (I had wanted to do that since it came!) Score!

New Years Day!

Adorable. Vests from Andrew and Kylie:)

So, we drove through some snow and snow-covered roads to get to Burr Oak, set up camp at the house and waited for Mom and Dad to come home from work. The kids went to bed pretty easily and then the three of us tried to stay up until midnight:) We were joking how crazy and rowdy we were...Mom and I had had a glass of wine earlier, but by the time we watching Ryan Seacrest, I was drinking water, crocheting and eating lefse. A very happy Norwegian New Years Eve:) I loved it. 

This was the first time Dave and I were not together since we started dating and I wasn't loving that part. But luckily (well, for me) Dave was stuck in Clinton at a hotel room and celebrated by grabbing some Chinese food, a couple beers and Facetiming with me at midnight. Well - New York's midnight. A nice option for us Midwesterners to go to bed early..watch the ball drop and call it a night! So, I Facetime kissed Dave at 11 p.m.:) and went in to sleep with Kate (actually in bed with me) and Collin (in pack-and-play in same room). Well, wouldn't you know, Collin wanted to experience his first New Years Eve, so after him waking around midnight, we rang it in together:)

He was up early the next morning and we had a nice lazy start to the day, watched the Hawks (ugh) caught up with Andrew and Kylie, and then I loaded up the kiddos and we drove down to Clermont to visit our beloved Peterson's. The roads were a bit slow-going, but we got there in one piece. New toys, old friends, burgers and fries...it was a great time. We have the typical issues that arise when preschoolers are playing together, but Waylon and Kate are just so adorable together. They did so well. Collin and Lawson did great too, Collin as the slightly more mobile one was pulling other kids' hair....okay, need to watch out for that. It was awesome to catch up and never enough time, but so glad we were able to stop by for the evening! 

My only pic of all four kids

These two can get a little crazy together!

A great pic of Kate and Waylon!

The next morning, we had breakfast with Mom and Dad before they headed to work and then I attempted to get us packed up, showered and down to Decorah for a few outings. I wanted to get to the Luther Bookstore, Oneota Coop for coffee and lunch and then the Vesterheim. Well, Collin fought me on his nap, I showered, but did I dry my hair?...I don't remember. It wasn't my smoothest morning along, but we made it to Luther to shop (Kate pushed Collin in an umbrella stroller, first time doing that - went pretty well!) I had wanted to make a separate stop to eat, but Collin was so sleepy, I decided to just eat in the Union. Luckily, Oneota (the other one!) was open with limited food. Very limited, but enough to satisfy us. Then we headed to the Vesterheim where Mom was able to meet us for a couple hours. 

Collin at the Vesterheim

We discovered it was better to hold her:)

Checking out The Tradewind

 It was awesome to be there! I love the Vesterheim and it was fun to see it through Kate's eyes. I should have done a little more prep on how to act in a museum, but we were able to wrangle her:) Thank goodness mom was there. I thought I could do it alone, but it would have been much harder! It was also during her nap time, so that is always a little more challenging. 

We saw the Jan Brett exhibit upstairs, did some of the scavenger hunt, made a craft, ate a snack, bought a new book...pretty nice. I again wanted to look at things more closely and for the hundredth time told Mom that I want to do some of these things without the kiddos (Luther Bookstore, museum, etc.:) Mom was sweet enough to walk us down to Java John's so I could get my first coffee of the day! Then we headed back to Wisconsin as she headed back to work. A very full but fun and relaxing trip. 

Thursday night, I was able to get the kids to bed on time (yes!) and get ready for a trip down to Madison to see our beloved Swoboda's the next day! However, Friday's plans changed when Kate got sick in the car on our way. Luckily, we weren't even out to the highway yet, so we were back home in a minute and just rested at home until Dave returned! What a joyous homecoming. Kate took his week away hard and she was so glad to have Daddy back. As was I! 

Red cheeks! (coming to get Mommy...:)

His new favorite place

PS - Did I mention that his new, first and only word is "Uh oh!" My days are filled with his little "uh ohs" all day, I love it. 

Fun in the Sun and Snow

We've had Christmas at our place for two years and we have truly enjoyed being home...but Dave was pretty sure someone else should enjoy it here too:) So, he insisted that people come up to relax and hang out the week of Christmas and Mom and Dad took us up on it! Later on Christmas Day, they drove up and stayed through the weekend! A much longer visit than we normally have, so that was exciting. The other main excitement was the snow! We had the best snow to ski and snowshoe in and inexplicably we had some nice "warm" temps as well. Perfect to get out and enjoy it! 

I love how this looks, so cozy!

This was exactly what we were hoping for. Some laid back time to play and enjoy the winter in our "cabin." Christmas night we just enjoyed a beautiful fire, Thursday we were up and ready to ski, we would take turns cuddling and playing with the kids and the others would play outside:) On Friday, Mom and I escaped for awhile to the outlet in the Dells and did a little shopping, such a refreshing experience without little ones! and we had some good luck:) Saturday was another snow day and we attempted to get a family picture and a kiddo picture taken...I will call it semi-successful (not going to post yet as it might....be coming as a Happy New Year card. If I can ever get that accomplished)

Grandpa and Kate snowshoeing
Kate got snowshoes from Gma & Gpa Lenninger and she is a natural!

Our winter front porch

The temps were higher on Saturday and the snow melted enough to make the snow stickier --we could finally make a snowman! I can't believe how much fun we had and how perfect the weather was. 

First time really playing in the snow!

Beginning the snowman..

Kate and Gpa made a heart in the snow (on the pond actually:) 

Playing out front, I think they were pirates?

Mom and daughter skiing:)

There is no complete snowman picture, unfortunately he was never completed! We were waiting on the carrot and stuff to make a face and then it got really cold...so, the poor thing is faceless, oops.

Kate Update!
Okay, I have been pretty bad at writing down some of the crazy/brilliant/sweet/ridiculous things Kate has said lately, but here are a few from yesterday...

We were in her room getting her dressed and I noticed her pajamas were way too short, no fighting it anymore, they needed to get moved to her "too small" bin in her closet. I wondered what she would think seeing her clothes on a sibling in the future and asked...

Me: Do want Mommy to have another baby? (assuming she would jump at the idea, she loves taking care of all her babies. And oh yeah, smothering Collin with love:)
Kate: No.
Me: Really?
Kate: Yeah. We should just have a garage sale. 
Wow, alright....

When discussing supper (a coworker gave Dave some canned venison and we were making it last night)
Kate: I LOVE deer! Wait, are the antlers still on it? 
and later: I want a real deer, not one in a jar...

I'm going to have to get better at this again, I'm positive that I will want to remember these things when I am old! 

As I try and write this, I am sitting at the kitchen island and Kate is on a stool beside me, in the pantry pretending to be a chef and talking. Non. Stop. Those of you that have been around us lately understand what I am saying. She never. stops. talking. As I think Andrew said, it is kind of remarkable that she can come up with something to say, constantly. In every moment. I know I can't really complain....hmm, some of you might say she gets this endearing quality from me:) And I can tolerate it better than Dave can. Though I suppose that could be because he is listening to two chatty girls! 

Let's see, a little update on Collin...
Umm, Collin "Mischief" Lenninger is doing quite well:) He is eating with gusto (well, compared to his earlier months) and I love it! I love the mess, I love his face, I love having to make the food and grind up our supper. I know this may not last, but I guess I was pretty worried about him not eating before! 

As babies do, once he learns something he can do it with lightning speed in about three days. He crawls quickly! He pulls up and gets back down with ease and reaches way further than we give him credit for. We ended up blocking the Christmas tree with our ottoman and a tub that I put a bunch of toys in. The last few days, he will cruise over in his walker and reach for ornaments. 

He has a great laugh. I mean, I know you are all on the edge of your seats, waiting to hear if (terrified that) he gets Dave's laugh:) We get lots of giggles when changing his diaper, throwing him in the air, peekaboo, etc. Last night, I was chopping vegetables and he ran over in his walker, when I looked at him, he just started laughing. I would turn away and then turn back and he would just lose it! Apparently, Mommy's face is super funny! Awesome for me, I love hearing that sound:) 

Collin wears 12 month and 18 month clothes, he is pretty long but the 18 month pants are still a bit long, which is kind of a hazard when he is pulling up and cruising along the furniture! He is starting to fill out in the middle more, I guess makes sense as he is eating way more food now! He has a lot of hair, by Kate standards, and it seems to be coming in mostly on top of his head, kind of looks like a mohawk sometimes. He also just started getting bed head:) When he wakes up, it sticks up all crazy, super cute but hard to fix! I'm going to have to douse him with water to get it to stay down. I was having some flashbacks to my little bro - Tony's spiky hair in the mid 80's, we are not quite there, but I would love to spike it like he did:) Doing anything with hair before the age of 2 is foreign territory to us here!

We are sleep training Collin, which means that I officially hit a wall and had to do something. I am planning another post on this and it is very much ongoing. As I felt like I tried everything else, I did a modified Cry It Out, the same as we did with Kate. It worked so brilliantly at the beginning...I was just in shock. We have taken some steps backward and messed it up a bit with traveling, but I have hope. I hate it - I don't like him crying, but it seems to work, so I just focus on that. Bedtime is no longer super stressful for me, I put him down awake and he goes to sleep without a fuss. We are just still working on the waking in the night, it varies, but he is still getting up a bit. I'll write more later on that (hopefully!)

Merry Christmas!

Whoa!! I thought I was going to post this on Christmas Day...yeah. Why do I even think these things?

The weekend before Christmas we traveled to Mom and Dads to celebrate. Dave worked late (what is new?) and we had a late night drive in icy conditions to make it there. Dave and I have never shirked from making dangerous drives, especially when coming home for Christmas! But I have to say that we were both a little more wary having the two kiddos in the car. I am a little more hyper-sensitive to all those worst-case scenarios that could befall us. We saw three cars that were freshly in the ditch on the interstate to start our travels - not encouraging!  

It was a slow drive, but we finally made it to Burr Oak around 9 p.m. Mom, Dad, Andrew and Kylie were there waiting for us and after unloading and hugging, we moved the presents down from the new loft Christmas tree to the living room. We had Collin open first so that we could get him to bed (sleep training!! trying not to mess with it too much:) He did really great for a 10 month old and did a little opening and the playing with what he received. Lots of trucks and tractors for this little boy, something he really hasn't had much of at all until now. He loves anything with wheels and got lots of great gifts! Then off to bed for him and a little time out for everyone else...

Getting ready to open!

Figuring it out...

After going to sleep without any crying!! (Mommy's best gift of the season?), we settled in to go around and open from youngest to oldest. Kate did pretty good for a 4 year old, she was pretty anxious to keep opening hers, but did great. We had a fun time, I love giving gifts and watching people be surprised. We would stop to talk about a gift or test something out, but soon we noticed it was past midnight and we were getting tired! So, after a little bit of cleaning up, we headed to bed. 

Add caption

The next morning, brought guests - the Brown side of the family! Mom and I snuck in a walk outside and then Mom was busy making ham, mashed potatoes, meatballs, etc...it was a great meal and so fun to visit with family we see only about twice a year. Sam and Charlie let us know when it was time to open presents:) and that was fun as well. The boys like to get gifts for whomever they drew and you can tell how much thought went into it. 

Getting ready to open gifts with the Brown's...

It was so fun to watch Kate play with the boys:) Charlie and her have a special bond and he is so helpful and patient with her. I heard her say a couple times, "I'm a big kid!" she definitely wanted to be as big as her cousins and also had some cuddle time with them as well. She also went right up to Uncle Bob and talked and played as well as Aunt Marie, who got to read books and watch movies with Kate on her lap. It is pretty precious to watch your children get close to your relatives, especially when they have been shy in the past. 

Saturday evening brought some new games and "old" movies (Elf!) Collin cruised around in his walker, Great-Grandma and Kate sat near the sweets and chatted while sneaking chocolate:) 

Cruisin' around...

Kate and Great-Grandma had some good times catching up!

On Sunday morning, Sam scrambled everyone up some eggs - so yummy! We went to church and then back to relax at home. We started a puzzle, Kate played out in the snow, we ate more treats:) We stayed quite awhile and had a nice trip back to Wisconsin, it snowed but the roads were fine. We had such a great time with everyone, but it was wonderful coming home. 

Dave was on call Monday and I spent the day cleaning up, unpacking and doing laundry - I didn't want to be doing that stuff on Christmas! On Christmas Eve, Dave stopped in to work, picked up my groceries:) and did a little last minute shopping:) We tried to make a traditional holiday meal on Christmas Eve since Dave wouldn't be called in (on call Christmas Day). We made ham, cheesy potato casserole, green beans and cranberry salad. Kate and I baked cookies for Santa and then we had to get ready for church. We went to Bethany Lutheran in New Lisbon at 4:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve, it was very full and we were just a bit late:) The kids were so stinking cute and did so well. Kate was beside herself as the ushers gave her a candle for the Silent Night at the end (and she did fine with that with heavy supervision from Mommy:) I said something to Kate about opening presents when we got home, she said that we had to wait for Santa to come. I informed her that we were going to open gifts from each other tonight, before Santa came..oops, I guess we didn't explain that very well!

Helping Mom make the holiday meal

After church, we came home, ate our yummy meal, cleaned up dishes (someone was starting to get impatient....and it wasn't just Kate:) tried to get some nice pictures in front of the tree and then finally sat down to open! We were home last year on Christmas Eve/Day and we were initially totally bummed to be away from family, but it turned out that we had so much fun, it was so precious to be in our home and watching our daughter experience Christmas. So, we were excited to be home again this year with both kids and hopefully have the same special time. Kate was a little more impatient, but it was wonderful. 

Collin trying get to Kate's gifts

Late on Christmas Eve...Santa had already come:)

Christmas Day brought Collin up first, I sent Daddy up to get him and sure enough I heard Kate's steps right afterward:) After opening gifts from Santa, we played, made waffles, Kate watched one of her new movies (The Little Mermaid!), played with her toys, we tried to take naps, Dave went out and used his new (to him) skis. Kate had asked Santa for one thing - Sofia's castle (from Sophia the First, a pretty big deal in our household:). It was so cute to hear her exclaim all morning, "Santa thinks I was good! He got it for me! I told you, Mom and Dad!" 

Finding gifts from Santa

We all received wonderful gifts and I would like to state my love (read sarcasm!) for all the tiny pieces that seem to make up Kate's gifts these days...how did we time that for when we have a newly mobile 10 month old?! I am constantly on high alert these days, did you know I can leap over the back of our couches? Sure can. Kate has been trained pretty well and my only complaint with her would be that she is overly zealous in her tiny toy patrol - yanking things out of his hands that are perfectly acceptable...well, part of the lesson is sticking!

I'm sure I am forgetting a ton of amazing, fun and memorable things I meant to write about but I cannot remember anything now:) It's safe to say that Christmas 2013 was a very joyous one and a great way to close out a very busy and blessed year.

Kate took this picture!