shapes

Logan knows his shapes!  I'm so proud.  :)  Caught me off guard because we haven't talked a whole ton about them, but the other day we were playing with a shape sorter and I started asking him what something was and he knew triangle, square, circle, and star (he's known star for quite awhile).

I am really enjoying being able to ask the boys about something that happened and actually get correct answers back from them.  Last week my parents took the boys for awhile one day.  Later on I was asking the boys about what they did, they told me a couple things, and I verified it later with my mom.  :)  Today they were telling me a few things about what they did with the babysitter last night.

Friday night we went to my high school's Homecoming.  We watched some of the girls game because one of our babysitters is on the team.  If you ask Caleb and Logan about it you're likely to hear some of the following: "Yay, Michelle!" (because we told them to cheer for their babysitter); "Buzzer loud."; "Grammy, Papa." (because my parents were there); and "Way, way up high" (because we sat at the top of the bleachers).

Both of the boys, but especially Caleb, have been wanting to pray "on their own" lately.  When it started Caleb would say "I pray" after Mike would pray at bedtime, so we helped him say a few things.  Then the other night he wanted to do it all on his own.  It went something like this, "Dear Jesus, thank you food, thank you snow, thank you Grammy shovels."  :)

Cracks me up some of the things they talk about, whether with each other or on their own.  Wish I knew what was going on in their heads.  The other night, when Caleb was sick, Logan was calling out to Caleb ("Baca!  Baca!") and Caleb kept saying, "I go nigh-nigh".  Or yesterday at breakfast Logan saw some birds outside and said, "No eagles house." while pointing at the floor.  He kind of knows there are different types of birds, but pretty much only knows eagle or parrot.  :)  He will also talk often about how he's going to fly "hocka hocka" (helicopter), and Caleb will fly a plane.  By the way, his word for helicopter evolved from "pockalolo" to "hocka hocka" - not sure if we're headed in the right direction...  With most words he really tries to get it right and is very careful with enunciation.

So yeah, we've had just a little sickness in the house.  If you have a weak stomach, skip this portion...  Thursday morning when I went to get the boys up Logan had thrown up in bed.  I walked in the room, said "What happened?", Logan was pointing down at the mess and said, "That's gross."  :)  He seemed pretty much fine after that, just a little extra whiny and not as hungry.  Saturday his diapers were kinda off, but Sunday morning seemed fine so we decided he could go to church.  Sunday night at bedtime Caleb started acting a little funny.  He told me his neck hurt, and I though maybe it was something with his pj's, although I couldn't see what the problem would be.  Then all of the sudden I could see he was pale.  Oh great.  Put a sheet under his crib to protect the carpet just in case, and told him that if he needed anything to just call for Mommy and Daddy (wasn't sure if that would work or not, but figured it was worth a shot).  Sure enough, about 20 minutes or so later Mike heard kind of a cough over the monitor and then a "Mommy?  Daddy?"  It was really quite sweet.  :)  When I walked in the room he was standing in his crib and said, "I made mess."  Poor thing.  Mike took care of Caleb while I cleaned up the crib, and that's the routine we had for the rest of the night (he threw up one more time before we went to bed, and then another 3 times throughout the night).  So thankful for my hubby.  :)  The first couple times, when it was before the boys slept at all, Logan had a hard time with Caleb getting the attention (same thing happened when Caleb got that cut on his head a month ago - all the of sudden Logan had an owie that needed attention too...that scratch on his finger from the day before was just as important as the blood gushing out of Caleb's head...).  I think it was after the first time Mike taught Caleb the word "puke".  He was saying "I burp." and Mike said, "No, you puked." So then Caleb was pretty excitedly saying, "I puked!" thinking it was pretty cool.  Also, another time when Mike was sitting with Caleb, Caleb's stomach was making noises and he thought that was pretty funny.  He would say something like, "I make a noise", laugh, and try to replicate the noise.  We tried to take it easy yesterday, and Caleb's definitely back to his normal self.  :)

We had a little bit of snow to play in on Saturday.  Took a nice walk out back.  Works pretty nice to just pull the boys in the sled - at least it works nice for me since I'm not the one pulling the sled...  Then Sunday we really got dumped on!  It happened while we were on church, and just the way it worked out we were driving home in some of the worst of it before the plows had gotten through.  I have LOVED having a minivan, and so far the only negative is driving in the snow with it...  We couldn't get up the hill on 64th to get home.  Part of the problem is how things are changed now and you can't make a regular left turn from Chicago Drive.  Making a hard right up a steep hill when there is no traction is a little hard when you don't have 4-wheel-drive.  So, after a couple unsuccessful attempts to get up the hill we knew we had to find an alternate route home.  Of course, with how the road is changed we can't get easily back to 72nd, so we had to head further east.  A couple cars were stuck on the hill on 56th, so we didn't even bother trying there.  That meant 48th was our next option.  So we went way round the mountain and finally ended up home.  And then couldn't get up the driveway.  Sigh.  We're hoping to someday get Mike a bigger truck that will fit the fam so we won't be so limited in what we can do on a snowy day.  :)  There are certainly other times a second vehicle that can take kids would come in handy, too!

This post is getting obnoxiously long.  Sorry.  A few pregnancy notes.  I know I've put on a little more weight than I should, but I just had a few people that were surprised I still have 3 months to go.  Uh-oh.  Last week I  unexpectedly ended up being monitored/having a non stress test for an hour, but everything's fine.  Phew!  We've got plenty to do to get this house in decent shape before baby comes, and I don't want to leave it all for the last minute!  You'd think it wouldn't be a big deal to just add one more kid, but the baby's room is currently being used for storage, and taking care of all that stuff has a ripple effect on the rest of the house.  Plus there's things like getting beds for the boys so that we've got a crib to use, painting the room, etc.

Alright.  All for now.  I'll try to write more frequently so my posts don't get so long!

sentences

I am so enjoying the boys talking in sentences.  They've been doing short sentences for quite awhile, but as they add more words it's just so cute.  Sometimes they've got most all the words there, just all mixed up.  Other times they're just missing a couple words.  Some recent sentences:  Last week my mom was coming over so we could ride together to the store.  It was actually snowing at the time (rare moment so far this winter...) and the boys' shovels were out in the yard.  She picked them up and moved them to the porch, and I told the boys to say thank you to her for moving them.  So what have I heard about a million times now in the last week??  "Thank you shovels, Grammy."  Also, the same day that happened, my mom was talking about liking red flowers.  Of course Logan pipes up and says, "I like red flowers."

Today in the car Logan said, "Too sunny.  I need glasses!"  (Which it was not, it's rather cloudy today...)

A couple weeks ago, at another one of the rare snowing moments, we got out of the car, Logan held up his hands, looked up and said, "I like snow."  It was so cute, just the look on his face and the way he says the word "like" is really cute.

Right now Logan is sleeping and Caleb is awake, playing in his crib.  He just said, "Mommy, I right here."  Thanks for letting me know.  :)

get out

This morning at breakfast Logan was talking about the baby in my tummy (sometimes he talks like there's a baby in his tummy, and other times he says "two babies" because I've talked about when he and Caleb were in my tummy...).  Anyways, all of the sudden he pointed at my belly, got a stern look on his face, and said very seriously, "Baby, get out!"  After I stopped laughing I told him the baby needs to get bigger before he can come out.  :)

Today is the perfect winter day for playing outside!  And we took full advantage of it this morning.  Eric came over with Boden and Heidi and after a bit we trekked next door to do some sledding.  Everyone had fun sledding down the hill, and then the kids rode for a LONG time in the sled behind the tractor.  I was really surprised at how long Caleb and Logan lasted - Eric rode with the kids for awhile, but then he got out and they kept riding nice for quite some time.  All my boys are taking good solid naps right now.  :)

 The kids enjoyed the sled ride to get next door.

 Heidi and Logan 

 "slurfing"

 How did I get such a good looking guy??

 Papa headed down the hill with Caleb.  

 This set-up didn't last very long...

brains

I know I've said this before (maybe a couple times), but I just can't get over how fascinating it is to watch two little humans grow, develop, and learn.  Specifically, the things they can remember astound me!  A couple recent incidents:  last week we were dropping our van off at a friends house for him to work on the brakes.  We've been there with the boys probably three times before, and it's been a little while.  We pulled into the driveway and one of the boys (I don't remember who, or maybe it was both...) said, "Miss Dina!" - the wife's name is Edina.  And even more surprising to me was a couple days later when we were going to McDonald's for supper.  We pulled in the parking lot, Logan pointed at the car wash next door and said, "Car wash."  I think I've been through that car wash with them only once before, and it was several months ago.  So, either he can read or he has an incredible memory!  :)  There's lot of other little things, but those are the two biggest that have stuck out to me lately.

We finally got some snow!!  Friday morning Mike had go in early to plow, so he got home from work early and had time to play outside with the boys before their naps.  A little ways into things Logan fell off the sled and got a face full of snow and was pretty upset about it, so he came back in the house, but Mike and Caleb stayed outside for quite awhile yet.  They also had a chance to play outside on Saturday, and even got to go sledding with their cousins next door.  I missed out on that fun because I was helping my dad with his year-end book work.  :)  I took the boys out to play this morning - I wasn't sure if I'd be up for getting them all suited up by myself, but it didn't go too bad.  Thankfully, with them still being in diapers I don't have to worry about them having to go to the bathroom once I've got all their gear on!

This is our first winter with the minivan, and I'm finding out it's very different than having four-wheel-drive!  Oh well.  All the perks of having a minivan are totally worth putting up with how it handles in the snow.

It feels kinda weird as the boys are growing up to not just hear how cute they are or what good babies they are, but to now get reports on their behavior.  I feel all grown-up, and I'm not sure I'm ready for that!  :)  We got great reports from a couple different people on how well they're doing in Sunday School.  I just love to hear that!  One of the people that told us is the teacher's mom (and she has teenage twin boys) - she had heard from her daughter that the boys were well behaved in class and knew how much a parent appreciates hearing a report on their children (because of how much work goes into them!!!) so she made sure to tell us.  :)

change

Yikes, getting behind here pretty fast.  Mostly in part to the change in the boys' schedule.  I'm seriously having to reset my expectations about what I can get done around here!  There's very little computer time left in my schedule right now, so blog writing isn't happening as I'd like it to.

Last night was pretty much the first night in WEEKS that both boys stayed in their cribs after we put them to bed!!!  This is huge.  (I say "pretty much" because on Saturday night they were super tired and thankfully not wound up from the party we were at, so they stayed in and fell asleep almost right away - that doesn't really count in my book.)  At our low point, both Mike and I were frustrated and at a loss as to what to do - it's one thing for me to get stressed about something, but when he's feeling that way too you know it's pretty bad!  We're certainly not "through" this yet (I just had to deal with Caleb getting out before he fell asleep for nap...), but now there's at least a light at the end of the tunnel.

And, of course, there's plenty other issues to deal with, too!  Today when leaving a friends house, Caleb took off and ran into the street.  I almost had to tackle him to stop him (the word "stop" means nothing to him).

Anyways, backing up.  Our week of craziness between Christmas and New Years was really craziness.  There was alot of good stuff - we love seeing and spending time with family, but the combo of the boys getting way over-stimulated at all these events, plus dealing with them not staying in bed was not cool.  We were all exhausted by the end of the week, and had to deal with some not so nice behavior from the boys.  Thankfully, my dear hubby handles being exhausted better than I do.  I'm sure I was a little cranky, too.  :)

The day after Christmas Mike worked a partial day, then in the evening we had the party for my dad's side of the family.  Tuesday evening we had a steak dinner with my family.  Yum!  Wednesday morning we went with my family to Frederick Meijer Gardens and then out to lunch (with the way the boys were acting at the gardens we seriously considered skipping out on lunch, but they ended up being really good - maybe the chocolate milk I ordered for them helped keep them content??).  Wednesday evening was the party for Mike's dad's side of the family - always a highlight for him because he gets to play volleyball.  :)  Thursday morning we spent some time with Mike's brother and sister-in-law, and then the afternoon/evening was my family's Christmas party.  We have lots of traditions to fit in, so we had to start as early as possible.  :)  Friday evening was Mike's family's party, and then Saturday morning Mike and two of his brothers got together to play ping-pong.

Last week I started getting down to business with getting this house in order before Baby joins us on the outside.  Hope I can keep it up...  I reorganized the laundry room and it's great!  Mike put up an extra shelf for me, I got rid of some stuff and rearranged, and now I have a bunch more space!  There's a whole lot more rooms to go through, so I gotta keep moving.  The room that will be the nursery has things stored in there that need a new place to go (which means I need to rearrange the office, and get rid of some things in the other bedroom...), and it will have to be painted.

The other exciting thing that happened over the last couple weeks was that we got a new stove!!!  I have been waiting and waiting for this.  Our stove was 30 years old, I only had 3 burners I could use (1 of which was tippy), and the oven was difficult to work with.  We decided to switch to gas instead of electric, and so far I'm very happy with it.

So, the 'rules of society' say that we should have our Christmas tree down by now, but....we really like having it up!  We enjoy the extra light it gives, and it's just so warm and cozy.  We will take it down at some point soon, but I know how much I liked having it up when the boys were newborns and we were doing middle of the night feedings, so we may just have to put it back up in May!  :)

Caleb got hurt again the other night and this time there was alot of blood.  :(  Must have hit just the right spot. Somehow he fell into the tv stand and got a cut on his head.  Mike was in the room with the boys, I was in another room.  I heard the urgent "Honey!" and knew there was a problem.  Mike already had Caleb over by the kitchen sink, the side of his face (and sweater, and hands...) covered in blood.  Thankfully I could see pretty quickly that he wasn't going to need stitches, the bleeding slowed down quite quickly.  My tough guy stopped crying pretty quickly, but he was willing to sit with me for awhile while I held a washcloth to his head, so it must have hurt him or at least scared him a bit.  It's so cute to be able to have somewhat of a conversation with the boys now.  The next day I asked Caleb about his owie or something, he put his hand up to his head and said "hit t.v." and then he said "cry".  And let's not forget about Logan!  He was a little jealous of the attention Caleb was getting and was trying to act like he had an owie.  And, since then he's been repeatedly pointing out this tiny little scratch he has on his finger like it's a really big deal.  :)

2011

Wow.  What a year.  Not what we expected (is it ever?) or hoped for.  This was a very difficult year for us, and we are gladly, yet with some apprehension, looking forward to a new year and what the Lord has in store for us.  I may be only 1 year older, but in this past year I feel as if I've aged much more than that - I think I even have new wrinkles!  We can't completely say "good riddance" to 2011 - there were still some blessings throughout the year, and even in the midst of trials we enjoyed precious time with our boys.  Plus, maybe someday the Lord will give us some insight as to the reason for our trials.  But, for the most part....good riddance, 2011!  :)

One blessing that came in 2011 (yet was also a trial...), and also has us looking forward to 2012, is that we are expanding our family with another boy!  It's starting to sink in, and with the way the boys have been acting lately I'm really starting to wonder how this is going to go.  :)  Let's just hope things improve over the next few months, or I am going to be in very short supply of sanity, which is hard to come by anyways!