23 Months

This is one of my more difficult monthly updates to write on Micah. You see, it's bittersweet in two ways, as it's his last monthly update as a "1" year old and his last update as a single child. As I anticipate the arrival of his new brother/sister in 2 short days, I have been reflecting back a lot on Micah's birth. I am so thankful that I was inspired by a few of my fellow blogger friends to start this blog in the first place approximately 1 year ago, as it has allowed me to watch Micah change on a monthly basis. Over the past month, here is what Whippy has been doing:

1) Singing! I certainly did not inherit that gene from his Momma's side of the family, but this kid loves to sing. Recent favorite have been his ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle and Jingle Bells.

2) "I did it" with an occasional "by self" are recent phrases out of Micah's mouth. It's been fun watching Micah develop a greater independence with a lot of daily activities.

3) Can count until "10"

4) Knows all of his primary colors

5) When asked if he will have a baby sister or baby brother, he always says the latter of what you ask. We will let the suspense and the frequent questioning by Grandma Carol only last another 48 hours!

6) Still loves daycare, although drop offs continue to be difficult on some of the days. His teachers report that he is well integrated into an activity within 2 minutes of our departure, but it sure feels miserable as a parent walking down the hall and hearing your child screaming...

7) Loves Sesame Street - especially Elmo. Kyle and I have to sometimes be sneaky about our computer time, as if Micah recognizes that we are on the computer, he asks for us to put Sesame Street on. I think that we've watched every episode of Sesame Street on YouTube at least 10 times.

8) Likes to pick out his own clothes and namely has "PJ's' or "JP's" as referred to by Kyle. His favorite include a pair of Sesame Street PJ's - surprised?

9) Sleeping most of the nights. If he does wake up, I've made the recent mistake of putting him in bed with us a few times. Hopefully habits aren't established...

10) Favorite toy still is Matchbox cars. Playdoh might be a close second.

11) Move over oatmeal...Cinnamon Chex may have taken over for Micah's favorite breakfast food.

12) Preferred beverages are still milk and water, but loves to drink out of a cup or a straw.

13) Little puppy dog - while Brutus may be on a vacation at my parents during all the chaos of Raadt life, Micah makes up for his begging. If you're eating something that Micah does not have, he will take notice and say "Micah try"

14) Motivated by M&M's - namely, peanut butter ones.

15) Sitting on the potty at daycare, but still does not love to sit on it at home. Last week he did pee while on the potty, but has not since. We are slowly getting there, and we don't want to force the issue at this point.

16) Likes to help with some chores - especially unloading the dishwasher.

17) Tantrums are still a daily occurrence. Micah simply does not like to be told "no", but what nearly two-year old does?! We're learning to deal with them. We have been cracking down hard on the hitting and kicking that usually occurs during tantrums with time outs, time in his room, or if necessary the occasional spanking.

18) Learning a lot of nursery rhymes, as he has suddenly taken an interest in a set of books that Grandma Carol gave him last Christmas. Rock-a-bye baby, Twinkle Twinkle, Miss Muffet, Humpty Dumpty are a few of his favorites.

19) Does not love to put his outside clothes on. It is a fight to put his snow pants and boots on, which is too bad, as he always has a great time playing outside.

20) Little climber - can climb up onto his changing table, the tall bar stools at the island in our kitchen, and any ladder or step-stool that he can get his hands on.

21) Has a full vocabulary and talks in sentences most of the time.

22) Loves looking at pictures of himself. My goal this upcoming maternity leave is to put together some Shutterfly books for Micah.

23) Is such an awesome, wonderful kiddo. I am so thankful that God has placed Micah in our lives. He going to make an amazing big brother!!!

Christmas Eve Relaxation

It's Christmas Eve and it feels good to sit down! Kyle, Micah and I are in Stewartville for a few days. He just left to meet up with his dad and twin brother, Micah is finally sleeping after an event-filled day, and I am curled up on the couch with my computer, a baby's hand pushing into my left hip and legs into my ribcage, and a sleeping Brutus next to me. I could not be more content. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and the marathon is not over yet. We are so excited to be welcoming another Raadt baby into the family later this week. I am long overdue on posts, so here is what we've been up to over the past few weeks.

- We've moved!! We've been in our new house for approximately 2 weeks and we love it. A lot of hard work was put into getting it move-in ready over the past month and I am so thankful for all of the support that we received from our families. My parents and brother have been down to Winona almost every weekend to help with painting, moving, unpacking, watching Micah, etc. Once the place gets a little more organized, I will post some before/after pictures. So far, we all love the extra space, attached garage, and main floor laundry.

- We're going to be landlords. A few weeks ago, our realtor showed our house to a young, married couple who had moved back to Winona from the cities. A few days later, they approached us about renting our house. Initially, we were hesitant about renting it, but after meeting the couple we realized that this probably was an answer to prayer. We've been praying for several months that the good Lord would place someone in the house to love it as much as we have loved it over the past 4 years. After being on the market for almost 6 months with only 1 offer, despite probably 20-30 showings in addition to open houses, it's time to take it off for awhile. Conveniently the rental offer came the weekend before a moving company was scheduled to come to assist with moving "5 large pieces" of furniture. In the end they moved all of our furniture over to the new house. The couple who will be renting our house grew up in Winona and have a 3 year old son. They are currently living with her parents. They both are well out of college, in their careers, and we have complete trust that they will take good care of the house. So, Kyle and I are now in the process of getting our house rental certified and developing a lease. The new couple will start renting in February.

- Christmas preparations. Due to the chaos of moving, we only put a small tree up the bay window of our old house. Fortunately, I had picked up most of Micah's Christmas gifts earlier this fall when they were on sale and our families were easy to shop for. Micah hasn't seemed to take notice of Christmas at only 2 years old - at least the gift giving, decoration part. Next year will probably be different and I look forward to decorating and starting some Christmas traditions with him.

- Baby. We are still scheduled for a C-section this upcoming Friday. I'm as prepared as I'm going to be at this point. I have a few gender-neutral outfits that I bought earlier this year, all of Micah's old clothes are washed in the event that we have a boy, bottles are washed, the pump is rented, and the baby equipment is slowly becoming unpacked. The nursery is not painted, but the paint colors are picked out for each option - baby boy or baby girl. My parents plan to paint while we're in the hospital next weekend. Despite all of the chaos of moving and Christmas, I feel like we'll be adequately prepared to welcome another little life into our family later this week.

I hope that you are enjoying your Christmas Eve too. Tonight at church, our pastor talked about home. Christmas has much more of a significants that just being home with family. It also means opening your heart as a home for Jesus too. Have a Blessed Christmas.

22 Months

Micah turned 22 months on Monday, and I am unfortunately a few days late at preparing this blog post.    The chaos of renovating, moving, working, getting ready for the Holidays, and yes preparing for the arrival of our newest family member in less than 4 weeks has consumed much of my spare time when Micah goes to bed at night. Micah continues to change on what seems like a daily basis. A few days ago, he and I were looking at pictures on the computer, and it's amazing how much this little man has grown since this summer.

1) At a recent check up on 11/5, Micah topped the scale at just over 31# (90%), is 36 inches tall (97%) and has a head circumference of just over 20 cm (97%).

2) Talking in sentences - a few days ago, I asked Micah what he wanted for supper on the way home from daycare. He responded "I want bagel, Momma". I love his voice and all of the crazy little things that come out of his mouth.

3) Best friends seem to be Kyle and Logan. Every day I ask him what he's done at school. His response, "I play with Kyle. I play with Logan too. We play trucks"

4) Has a special bond with my Dad who he calls "Poppa Whoppa". Micah lights up whenever we talk about my dad or he sees him. I am so thankful that my parents live close and for their involvement in Micah's life.

5) Baby sister or Baby brother? According to Micah it's 50/50. We're excited to find out in a few weeks.

6) Continues to love his oatmeal. We now buy the large boxes, as 2 packet/day were causing us to make multiple oatmeal runs to the store each week. He also recently has added a bagel or peanut butter toast to his man-sized breakfast.

7) Still drinks either milk or water. A few days ago he came up to me and said "I want juice". I have yet to fulfill that request, because when I've bought it in the past he's turned it down.

8) Starting to figure out how to drink from a straw.

9) Sweet-tooth - yes! He's learned that if he goes grocery shopping with Mom, that he usually gets a cookie to keep him occupied.

10) When asked his age - his answer is "4"

11) Counting to six.

12) Learning more songs. It's fun to hear him sing. Recent favorite have been "Jingle Bells", "Baa, Baa Black Sheep" and "Twinkle, Twinkle little Star"

13) Knows the difference between football, basketball, and baseball on the TV. Now if we could only consistently get him to say "Go Vikings".

14) Knows the President - "Rocco Momma". When asked the Vice President, he will say "Doe Biden" about 50% of the time or "The Packers".

15) We still have our sleeping battles. Some nights he sleeps 11 hours straight, and other nights he's up 2 hours during the night only to wake up by 6:30 in the morning. As parents, you learn to function on minimal sleep some nights.

16) Loves to wear either his soccer ball or monkey pajamas at night. Other favorites include a gray zip-up coat that I had bought at Once Upon a Child for the fall. Thankfully the warm weather has allowed Micah to wear that coat well into the winter. He has a nice LL Bean winter coat, which he will reluctantly wear if told that "Poppa" has the same coat.

17) Matchbox cars are his favorite toy

18) Loves to play hide and seek. Okay, loves to do the seek part. He still hasn't mastered the hiding part.

19) Daycare pick ups have been difficult lately. Micah is often well ingrained in an activity, and has no interest in leaving. Trust me, it's great to see him so happy at daycare, but I often am carrying a screaming, kicking kid out of daycare these days. We have a few strategies that we're going to try over the next few weeks, as I am already dreading the pick ups when I'm on maternity leave and Kyle is working an evening shift.

20) Tantrums are still a daily occurrence and I don't anticipate that they will be going away any time soon.  Micah simply does not like to be told "No" and he's at the age where you can't reason with him. He is going through a stage where he hits or kicks when he's mad, and Kyle and I are coming down pretty hard on him to break both of these habits.

21) Knows Jesus which makes me smile! We've been reading him a Bible story every night before bed, and he knows that the Bible is about Jesus. He also will tell us that Jesus' birthday is coming up.

22) We are so thankful for all of the laughter, smile and yes even the challenges that this little boy has brought into our lives. We love you Micah James!!

First Haircut

As you've probably read over the past few monthly updates, Micah has been well overdue for a haircut.     A few times in the past month, Micah's hair has been in a ponytail when we've picked him up from daycare. We've been putting it off for several reasons - most notably we love his curls. Secondly, we knew that it wasn't going to be pleasant experience for Micah nor the person who would be cutting his hair. As a side-note, Micah hates having his fingernails/toenails clipped and I usually do it when he's asleep. Only within the past few months has he allowed us to brush his teeth without having to hold him down.You can image what he would be like with someone trying to cut his hair...

For his first haircut, we wanted to take him to someone that we knew. We were in luck, as a good friend of the Raadt family cuts hair. Even better, is that she has a son who is only a few months older than Micah, so she was well aware of cutting kids hair AND she volunteered to cut it in her home. Thank you Mary! Armed with snacks and toys, Micah survived his first haircut last Saturday morning.

Before (Thanksgiving day). His bangs were so long and kept getting into his eyes.

During - he only allowed a few snips of the scissors. Mary worked quickly and did a great job.

Post haircut lunch with "Poppa", Grandma and Uncle Augie at McDonalds.

The Chamberlain's Visit

Last weekend, my good friend Jackie and her family made the trek to Winona for a short visit. It's hard to believe that the last time that we saw them was in April, right around the time that I found out I was pregnant. Jackie and Ryan have two boys - Sam, 3 and Oliver who will also be 2 in January. Our boys had a great time playing together for the afternoon, and we enjoyed catching up with both of them. If only we lived closer....

Another failed attempt at a group picture!

Such cuties, and good pals too.

Jackie and I (and a few of the paint samples that were on the living room wall of our new house)

A Baby Shower, House, and Pregnancy Updates

Last weekend, I enjoyed a quick trip up the the cities to throw a baby shower, along with 2 other college friends, for our good friend Kristen, who is due in early January. Kristen and I met our junior year in college and she has been one of my closest friends since then. It is nothing short of pure coincidence that our due dates are roughly 4 days apart. She and her husband, Mike, are also waiting to find out the gender of their baby.

New favorite cake is from Blooming Grounds in Winona

After the shower, it was great to sit around and hang out with our college friends. While everyone else was drinking yummy wine and/or cherry rum and cokes Kristen and I enjoyed an Odouls. Thank you to Anna's husband, Chris, for running to the liquor store and buying some for us.

I stayed over in the cities on Saturday night, but was back home in Winona by 9:30 the next morning to finish cleaning the house for an open house. Yes, our house still remains on the market. Up until last week, we consistently seemed to have 1 or more showings/week on the house, but have only had 1 offer up until this point. It can be frustrating at times, but we keep reminding ourselves that "God's timing is perfect". We trust that someone will eventually love our house as much as we've loved it. Having 2 houses is less than ideal, but we're making it work by cutting back in other areas of our life.

In the meantime, we've been doing some work on the new house - eventual blog pictures will be posted. So far, we've had the popcorn ceilings taken down on the main level and orange peel put up. It looks much better! The drywall company has to come back this week to make a few touch-ups in the living room, laundry room and our bedroom. New light fixtures have been purchased, and Kyle and his parents were able to put up several of them. Unfortunately, the ceiling fans that we are replacing have been a bigger challenge to put up, and an electrician will need to put them up. Additionally, an electrician needs to come out and hook up our new dryer. The current dryer hook up is gas. My goal is to finish the above listed projects, paint the main floor (with exception of the new baby's room) and clean the carpets all within the next 4 weeks.

Pregnancy-wise, things are going well. I am 32 weeks along, but am measuring about a week ahead of schedule. The baby is sounding great, my blood sugar/weight gain/glucose, etc, etc are all looking good. At my doctor's appointment last week, my OB and I further discussed a C-section versus a VBAC. Given the current size of the baby, and my previous labor experience, and numerous other risks associated with a VBAC, he strongly recommended a C-section. I can officially say that I have peace about my decision. On December 28th (or before) we will meet the newest member of the Raadt family. December 28th is a Friday, and if things go as planned, I would be discharged on Monday. Kyle is off the entire first week of January. When I had Micah, I went into the hospital on a Monday and wasn't discharged until Saturday. I only 1 day at home with Kyle before he had to return to work. I again need to keep reminding myself that God's timing is perfect and anything is possible between now and December 28th.

Halloween Festivies

Micah had a great 2nd Halloween! Although he's still pretty young to fully appreciate trick or treating, the activities associated with Halloween are still super fun for him.

A few weekends ago, we hit up a local pumpkin patch to get pumpkins. We were slightly pressed for time, as we had a wedding to attend later that afternoon in Rochester, so we weren't able to go out into the field with a cart to pick our own pumpkin. The pumpkin patch itself has a bunch of pre-picked pumpkins, and Micah quickly found one that he liked.

Micah's $9.00 pumpkin choice - it's huge and could only be lifted by Daddy.

The pumpkin patch also had tractors to drive and goats to feed. Micah enjoyed each....

Of course Brutus had to come, and a pumpkin was purchased in his honor.

A few days later, our tradition of painting the pumpkin was carried out. Last year we did the same thing, except Micah wasn't mobile at that time. This year, we got paint on the dishwasher, cupboards, and of course on Mom and baby sister/brother.

Halloween itself was a perfect day! I was off of work that day, but had a bunch of errands to run in La Crosse. Micah attended daycare in the morning where they had a Halloween party. I picked him up shortly after lunch, and we stopped by my work where an employee Halloween party was going on. One of the best parts of Halloween was that Kyle got off of work early - something that has only happened a handful of times. We all (Brutus included) went trick or treating in our new neighborhood with our friends the Kelleys. Micah is probably a year away from getting into trick or treating. We went to approximately 10 houses where he let a neighbor's dog out, picked another's tomatoes and eventually dumped his candy out in the middle of the street. After that, we told our friends to go on, while we decided to go back to our new house and pass out candy.

Our little puppy dog

21 months

Happy 21 month birthday Micah Man

Above it a recent picture from a night out at Prairie Island deer park. It unfortunately rained that night, but Micah had a great time looking at the tame deer and sharing snacks with them. He's growing up so quickly!

1) Primarily wearing 2T clothing. Kyle put a pair of 18-24 month old jeans on him this morning, and he  was rocking high waters all day long.

2) Still in size 5 diapers and size 8 shoes

3) Vocabulary keeps expanding...it's amazing how many words this kiddo picks up each day. Recent favorite word is Buckaroo. He also has recently learned his first bad word "Go Packers" from one of the daycare workers. We are trying to reinforce "Vikings" into his vocabulary.

4) Tells us that his friends are Kyle (different from Dada), Heidi, Logan, and Harrison. All are friends from daycare.

5) With prompting will say "I love"...usually Papa (grandpa). It melts my heart when he says "I love Mama".

6) Loves to hop, and consistently gets both feet off the ground. Still loves to climb, run, turn circles and recently has been marching a lot.

7) Can count to "2"

8) Knows most of his colors.

9) When asked, he says that he is having a "Baby Brother" versus a sister.

10) When asked what he wants to be for Halloween, he will state "Kyle" or "Anna". Anna is his word for oatmeal. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful at creating either of those costumes, so he's stuck being a puppy dog. He will be adorable and pictures will surely be posted on here.

11) Sleeping has be challenging lately - both getting Micah to sleep and getting him to sleep through the night. We have what seems to be a good, consistent night time routine, and Micah knows that it's time for him to go to bed. In the past, we could sit by his bed and rub his back for 5 minutes AT MOST before he was out. Over the past few weeks, he wakes up as we're trying to leave the room and follows us out. Some nights it's taking us over 45 minutes to get him to sleep, and at that point in the night my frustration level is high, as I am looking forward to having some "me" time. In all the internet articles that I've read on toddler sleeping, as well as talking to our ECFE teacher, it sounds like kiddos Micah's age spend a lot more time in light versus REM sleep, making them more apt to wake up. Right now, we're using the "Supernanny" approach - leading him back to bed every time he gets up and being firm and consistent and less affectionate. It's unfortunately caused some tears, but it seems to be working. As far as during the night - Micah is waking up 1-2x/night, where he will come into our room and wake one of us (usually mom) up. We've been leading him back to his bed, where we often end up falling asleep with him. I'm optimistic that we can get some of these sleep issues resolved before the new baby comes...

12) Still uses a pacifier at night. Calls it a "pacies"

13) Still loves to cook. His favorite thing to cook is "Mac-eze". It is truthfully difficult to prepare dinner when Kyle is at work, and it's just Micah and I at home - both due to the size of our kitchen and his desire to watch or assist with the cooking process. On nights when Kyle works we will generally have something easy, or I'll prepare supper earlier in the day and cook it later, or we use our crock pot.

14) Matchbox cars have turned into a favorite toy. Books don't have the same desire that they used to have.

15) Likes to be given choices about his clothing. It's becoming easier to get him dressed in the morning.
Has started to assist with undressing himself. Unless really tired, he is less resistant to having his clothes taken off, and diaper changed.

16) At times, he still does not want to have his coat taken off. We just let him wear it, and eventually he will agree to have it taken off either before sitting down for supper or playing with a certain toy.

17) Recently has been doing a great job at eating. He loves pears, and thankfully they are super reasonable right now. He also likes steamed vegetables - carrots and broccoli are best. He still loves pasta and pizza, eggs and oatmeal, but will really try anything that we put in front of him. Milk and water are still his beverages of choice.

18) He's using his high chair tray less and less and is sitting at the table with us. It's fun having him at the table with us!

19) Potty training continues to be on my mind, but to be brutally honest we haven't put a lot of effort into it. It is challenging to be consistent about it when Micah's potty chair gets put away for house showings or when we leave for the weekend. In a little over a month, we will be in our new house where Micah will have his own bathroom and we'll be able to put more effort into the potty training process.

20) Tantrums are still a part of Micah's day. We deal with them as they occur by either placing him up in his bedroom with the door closed or a time out.

21) No matter the challenges, we are so thankful that we get to be Micah's parents. Each month and each stage of life continues to get better and better. We love seeing him physically, mentally, and intellectually grow each month. We love him so much. He is truly a little blessing.

Friday Night Clean Up

What Kyle and I envisioned to be a relaxing Friday night after both getting approximately 5 hours of sleep last night (thank you Vikings for a Thursday night home game!) turned into an hour long clean up session of this mess...

It's probably difficult to fully see the mess from this picture, but the hutch has been pulled away from the wall and there is shattered glass all over the floor going into the living room. The guilty party???

Kyle and I still have no idea what happened, as we were in the living room. Brutus was in the dining room whining about something when all of a sudden we heard the hutch pull away from the wall and a candle shatter on the floor. We can only assume that a piece of dog kibble got stuck underneath the hutch. In his uncoordinated attempt to retrieve it, he became stuck underneath the hutch, panicked, and pulled the hutch away from the wall. In the process, the poor dog also began to empty his colon. 

We both have to chuckle about it now, and our floors certainly have scars so that we'll remember the event for awhile.

Happy Birthday Kyle

Kyle recently turned 32 - okay, recently meaning 2 weeks ago. His birthday fell on one of his busy weeks of working, and on a day that he worked an evening shift. Micah and I were able to celebrate with him in the morning prior to him having to go to work. Brutus attends daycare on Thursdays, and was absent during the festivities. We let Kyle sleep in while we made him a breakfast pizza and picked up cake and balloons.

Breakfast pizza with Dada

Kyle's birthday cake complete with Brutus on it

Loving the cake

On Saturday night, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings in La Crosse. It was the perfect location for Kyle to get his wing fix and loud/bright enough for an active 20 month old.

20 Months

Last week was a busy week of celebrations around the Raadt house. Micah turned 20 months and Kyle had a birthday as well - more on that in an upcoming post. As I blog about Micah on a monthly basis, I am not only seeing how much he is changing, but I'm also realizing that we only have a few short months of being a family of 4 (yes, a dog in a human in our house).

Nonetheless, here's what our little toddler has been up to over the past month...

1) Wearing size 24 months-2T clothing, and size 5 diapers. Big foot just moved up to a pair of size 7 Nikes!

2) Still has yet to receive that first haircut. I still can't part with those adorable curls...

3) Has become more consistent about sleeping through the night. Currently, sleeping from 8:30 to 5:30 (maybe 6:00 or 6:30 if we are really lucky). We've been limiting his naps to roughly 2 hours during the day.

4) Uses a pacifier at night.

5) Also double-fists 2 Gosig dogs while going to sleep.

6) Language continues to evolve. Micah gains what seems like a few words every day. He is also starting to put two words together to make fragmented sentences. For example, last night my parents came for the night. I was upstairs folding laundry when they arrived. They asked Micah "where's Mama" and he responded "Mama clothes". He's also verbalizing our different possessions - Dada boat, Mama car, Mama shoes and describing objects - big truck, school bus, black car, etc. I love his high pitched little voice.

7) Climbing all over everything. At the park, he climbs ladders with our assistance. Thankfully we don't have a chain link fence at our house, as Micah already climbs up on our fence. He can also hop with both feet off the ground.

8) It's a jungle in here! Micah has several animal sounds...Monkeys, Bears, Sheep, Cat, Dog, Bird, Owl, Rooster, Snake, Cow, Elephant.

9) When seeing a TV, Micah will ask for Elmo. Yet, he's doesn't sit and watch Sesame Street for more than 5 minutes in the morning.

10) Has a much improved attention span at our Friday morning ECFE "Bearly Toddler" class. Will actually sit for circle time which he was not able to do when we took our last class in January/February.

11) He really seems to love his daycare, which makes me happy. I'm thankful for the consistency in his classroom, as there seems to be a lot of drama that has occurred amongst the staff in the past few weeks.

12) Favorite foods include oatmeal aka "An-meal". Micah will eat 2 packets of it in the morning. Pasta is always a hit, and like his Dada, this boy loves pizza. He continues to develop a sweet tooth. After seeing his pregnant momma eat candy corn, he's hooked too. Thankfully stores only carry that junk 1 time/year.

13) Change is hard for Micah at this age. He hates having his clothes changed, especially having to change out of his PJ's in the morning. We give him choices, let him pick out his clothes, and still on some mornings it takes 2 of us to get him ready. I'm hopeful that this will be a short-lived stage.

14) Also dislikes having his coat or shoes taken off. He often will wear his coat for a good half an hour upon coming inside before letting us take it off. Last Sunday, he refused to take it off in the church nursery. And, it's all coats - not 1 specific one.

15) Sat on the potty for 15 minutes earlier this weekend. He is still yet to go on it, but we're gradually making progress.

16) Loves Brutus - the poor pup has been ridden and received numerous eye exams and dental exams over the past month. He's also received a fair share of hugs and snacks, so all are happy.

17) Interest in books has decreased

18) Would rather "cook" in the kitchen or play with trucks/cars/his train set. I'm looking forward to upgrading to some more age-appropriate toys, but space is limited right now in our current living arrangement.

19) Still would give up playing with anything to help me unload the dishwasher. He's getting great at knowing where things go, and it's nice for me to not bend over.

20) Is such a handsome little man! This age has been one of my favorites!!

A weekend with "Gram" and "Papa"

This past weekend, Kyle went up North to get a final weekend in of fishing. Because it is challenging to keep our house "show ready" with an active toddler and a golden retriever, Micah, Brutus and I headed to Stewartville for the night. Micah always has a fun time with his grandparents, and Sunday was no exception. The weather was gorgeous, so we all headed over to Oxbow Park in Byron to check out the free zoo. Unfortunately, the zoo had closed by the time we arrived, but we still had a great time walking around the park and playing on some of the park's playground equipment.

CherryBerry Smile - yes, Micah helped me devour a huge frozen yogurt sundae on the way to Oxbow

New House

It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and I am enjoying a few minutes of relaxation on the couch. The house is spotless, Kyle's working, and Micah and Brutus are both fast asleep for their afternoon naps. It has been a busy few weeks!

Last Friday, Kyle and I closed on our new house. We LOVE our new house, and are getting anxious to officially move into it and make it ours. The house itself needs paint and remodeling in areas. All will be done in time, as we fully intend that this house will be our "long term" house. Below are a few pictures of the inside. More outside pictures will be coming in another post.

Kitchen - I'm so excited about all the counter and cupboard space

Main floor laundry room - new front loader washer/dryer to be delivered next week

Pantry off the kitchen

More kitchen - Brutus decided to place himself in every picture

Dining Room - and some of Micah's old toys/baby equipment that we started to move over

Upstairs Living Room

Micah's bathroom

Likely Micah's Room

Baby's Room

Master Bedroom (and new end tables that don't fit in our current bedroom)

Master Bathroom

Walk-Out Basement

More basement...

Guest bedroom

Guest Bathroom

And a few shots of our backyard from our deck

We are still living in 328, as we are patiently waiting for the right buyer to come along. Ironically, we did receive an offer on it last Friday, the day that we closed on our new house. It was first time home buyers, and they would have been able to close in early October without a contingency. Unfortunately, we could not come to an agreement on the price - after wanting us to pay closing costs, their offer was lower than what we paid for the house in 2008. We keep having consistent showings, so hopefully someone will love it as much as we have.

Currently, our new place is considered our "weekend home". We've been going up regularly, and already love the neighborhood. Everyone seems really friendly, and there are a few young kids around Micah's age. There's a great playground within walking distance of our house. Lucky Brutus as there are several dogs to socialize with in the neighborhood. Ironically, another pharmacist lives right across the street from us. Tomorrow, the neighborhood gets together for an annual picnic, so we are excited to meet more people.

Finally, a HUGE thank you to my Dad and Mom. They have been so generous and supportive with our house situation. Prior to 328 going on the market, they watched Micah for a few weekends in May/June to allow Kyle and I to get our house market ready. Once on the market, they have come down numerous times (and sometimes even at last minute) to assist with getting it ready for showings and/or open houses. They allowed Brutus to stay at their house from June until the end of August to avoid the stress of having to kennel him during the day should a showing arise. They would've kept Brutus longer too, but we began missing him a lot. My mom watched Micah during the closing, as our daycare was closed for staff training. They've assisted with moving and landscaping at our new house. They've offered financial support should we need it. They truly have been amazing throughout this entire process, and we are both so thankful for everything that they have done for us.