A New Name

I'm sure that it'll take me a few weeks (or maybe even months) to update the appearance of our blog but we are officially in need of a new blog name. Our house has sold, and we closed on it this past Friday!  A few weeks ago, I started a post about our house selling, but then erased it for fear I could actually jinx the process. Since putting our house on the market precisely one year + week ago,  the following "weird" scenarios have occurred.

• It's been shown well over 50 times between private showings and open houses. We'd receive the same feedback after nearly every open house/showing. "They love the house, but hate the main floor bathroom and lack of closet space. 
• One person, alone, looked at our house 5 times. She brought a contractor in to see if she could expand the half bathroom on the second floor. And, she even apparently talked to the bank. Last summer, she was supposed to list her house on the market, before buying ours. No offer was ever made.
• We've had at least 2 other "interested" parties who were supposedly making offers, only to not follow through. One couple had an RV that was worth well over $100,000 and was going to ask us if we'd be willing to trade the house for the RV, per our realtor....
• When we briefly took our house off the market this past winter around Macey's birth, we had a crazy realtor tell us that an offer was being placed on the house, only to find out that no offer existed.  As it turns out, her primary intentions were to get us to sign her on as our realtor. 
• We've been close to renting it twice. 

So, when an offer came in on the house in mid-May, Kyle and I decided that we had to make it work. Since August we've been paying two mortgages, combined with 2 large student loan payments, now two daycare payments...you get the point. Plus, the offer came from a couple with 3 young children who have a "small space" philosophy, so the house couldn't be more perfect for them. Thankfully, the inspection came back without any problems - the roof was not even mentioned in the inspection. Aside from our lawyer being over 45 minutes late for the closing, everything went smoothly.

Kyle and I did a quick walk-through of the house on Friday morning prior to the closing, and reflected on some of the best times we've had over the past 5 years in that house. We will certainly miss it! Our plans now - to stay put for a long time. I'm looking forward to making this house our home. We have so many projects that we want to start, but we're going to wait a little while. We want to get back into the habit of saving and investing and just enjoy the house in its current state. But, I know that I will be frequently driving back in our "old" neighborhood to check on 328.

5 months

Happy 5 month Macey Joy! I acknowledge that I'm a few days overdue with posting this update, but these days it seems typical. It seems like most times when I sit down it's to do a feeding or read a book with Micah. Today I'm having an oil change, which is allowing me to sit for an hour and catch up on blogging.

• Continues to grow! I don't have specific stats, as we don't go back to the doctor for another month, but I would have to assume she's 14-15#. She's wearing size 1 diapers, although she could easily transition up to size 2 or even 3. Her cute little bottom is busting out of her current diapers, but we still have about 50 left in the super economy pack that we bought last month and I fully intend to use every one of them : )

• Wearing size 3-6 months clothing. I love her clothes, and I will admit that I love shopping for girls clothes. Sorry Micah, the selection of girls clothes is much more abundant than the boys! I told Kyle not to allow me to buy anymore kids clothes the rest of the summer, because both kids are set.

• Eating 5-6 ounces every 3 hours. Food continues to be formula and breast milk. She's starting to show an interest in what we're eating, and we will plan to start solids with her at the end of the month.

• She loves her bottles and gets so excited at the first sight of them.

• Our house is filled with laughter and smiles, as Macey now belly laughs. Micah thinks it's great to get her to laugh, so he frequently can be seen laughing at her. I love it!

• We reached a new level of mobility on May 9th. Macey has begun to roll, and she goes between her stomach and back quite easily. She can roll across the room quickly! Once this girl gets crawling and walking, we are in for trouble. I think she's going to be just as active, if not more, than her big brother. She will sit for a few seconds before collapsing. Pivots on her stomach now too.

• Everything within her reach goes into her mouth. She's getting better at holding toys and assisting with holding her bottles.

• She's been showing a definite interest in toys. She likes rattles, the toys had hang from her playmat, rings, balls, and Micah's stuffed animals - when he shares.

• Sleeping has been okay. Our pediatrician warned us that her sleep pattern would change and it has. She generally goes to sleep around 9:30, sleeps until 6:00 and then comes into our bed and eats and falls back asleep until 7:30ish.

• She's sleeping in her crib - it was a necessary transition as she was outgrowing the bassinet in our bedroom. Still, the first few nights were admittedly a little difficult, even though her room is right across the hall from ours.

• She seems to know her name and turns her head in response to it.

• No teeth yet ( Micah got his bottom teeth at 4 months) so I'm expecting her to get them soon. She's definitely more drooley and everything seems to go in her mouth.

• She still has a clogged tear duct. According to her MD, no treatment is done until she's 12 months. She's otherwise been healthy this month and we are thankful for that!

• Thrives on attention - loves to be held, talk to, looked at, etc. Doesn't always love it when she's left alone in a room.

We love her and big brother Micah so much!! It's so much fun watching her grow, yet it's happening too quickly as well. It's hard to believe that 5 months have gone by.

Micah is 28 Months Old

Happy 28 months, or 2 years and 4 months birthday Micah. Earlier today, he and I were looking at a photo album of his first year. It's amazing how much this little guy has turned from a baby into a little kid in such a short period of time. Here's what we've been up to the past few months.

1) Big kiddo! I don't have specific weight or height measurements, but I would continue to assume that Micah is within the 90 percentile. It seems like he's the biggest kid in his class at school, even though some of his classmates are older than him.

2) Wearing 3T pants and shirts. Shoes are a size 9. Diapers are size 6.

3) Speaking of diapers, we're still rocking them. I'm thinking that Micah will be closer to 3 years old before he's potty trained, which is fine. He goes in spurts where he has interest and then he loses it. So, we move on...

4) Uses a lot of adjectives in his vocabulary. For example - "whose's that cute girl", as he was looking at the cover of my Pediatric's PT book a few nights ago. "Those are pretty flowers".

5) Asks a lot of questions - I love it. Dinner and bath time conversation is "where's ....(insert friend's name) at?"

6) Has an amazing memory -seriously. And, he remembers small details. A few days ago, he pointed to a Lexus while we were driving and said "that's Paige's mom's car". Paige is a friend from school, and yes, her mom drives a Lexus.

7) He's our neighborhood watch. He loves to keep us informed when the older couple across the street comes or leaves their house. He points out when the neighbor's dog is outside.

8) Favorite food is my homemade Mac and Cheese. He also loves pizza and hotdogs (Nathan's or Hebrew National), blueberries, bagels, oatmeal, cheese, goldfish.

9) Not picky - he continues to eat what we eat every night.

10) Loves to grocery shop with me because he knows that it usually involves getting a cookie.

11) Loves to go in general. He gets excited about small car rides, such as trips to the gas station, church, or even to go shopping.

12) New favorite toy is his grill.

13) Loves his Gosig (Ikea golden retriever) and stuffed duck.

14) PBS is our favorite TV station. Sesame Street keeps him occupied for a good hour in the morning to allow me to get a shower and get Macey ready. Thomas and Friends and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood are other loves.

15) Loves his daddy. He and Kyle have really bonded and it's fun to see how much Micah looks up to Kyle.

16) Loves running down hills. We're trying to teach him that he can't go up in people's driveways on our evening walks, but he loves running down the driveway hills so much!

17) Slowly learning to be patient, which is hard for him. He doesn't like waiting in line. He doesn't like waiting for all of us to sit down to eat supper. I know that this is going to be a hard skill to learn. I too am trying to work on being more patient myself!

18) Enjoys going on trips to the park. I love the park that's close to our house - the equipment in new, and it's not heavily utilized. We try to get there as often as possible, or as often as the weather allows.

19) Is hitting us less - I'm happy that we've made progress with that behavior!

20) Is learning to slow down and listen. Lately he's been doing some running when he gets out of the car. This usually occurs in the parking lot at daycare and has happened at a restaurant, but we're quickly trying to stop this behavior.

21) Loves to sing. It's great hearing him sing his school songs when he's independently playing. Some mornings, he comes in to our bedroom and serenades Kyle and I while we're still sleeping.

22) Easily embarrassed - he won't sing, repeat something, or do something physical when asked.

23) Still loves the word "no". I'm more than ready for us to get through that phase...

24) Responds well to timeouts, which are 2 minutes. He generally stays in time out until told he can come out. He's able to recall the reasoning for the timeout too.

25) Asks to read his Bible every night before bed. Some of his favorite stories are Noah's Ark, Jonah and the Whale, Daniel and the Tigers.

26) Seeking as much independence as possible. Wants to undress himself before bath, turn on sink to wash his hands, climb up into his car seat by himself.

27) Loves going out in the boat - last night we took the boat out on Lake Winona, and Micah had a great time watching Kyle catch weeds (and fish too). I don't think it'll be too long before he gets his own fishing pole.

28) Is a wonderful addition to our family! We love him so much and are thankful for all of the laughter and smiles that he brings to our lives. A challenge at times - yes, but we've grown as parents and a family through those difficult moments of parenting.

New set of Wheels

Pals

4 Months

Happy 4 month birthday to our sweet, sweet baby girl. It is such a joy to have Macey in our lives. She fills our days with lots of smiles, snuggles, and sweet Macey sounds. Macey celebrated her 4 month birthday with Papa and Grandma Carol who decided to come over for a visit, since 2 weeks is too long to go without seeing the grandkids. Micah was able to enjoy some park time with Papa, while Macey, my mom and I did some yard work at our 328 house. We grilled out and also went a walk in the beautiful weather before winter reared its head one last time this past week. Macey unfortunately had to get a few shots the day after her birthday.

Here's what our sweet girl has been up to over the past month -

• Stats - I thought our little girl was packing on some pounds, until starting daycare and being surrounded by a lot of cute, chunky friends. She now seems long and lean and her stats certainly support it. Macey topped the scales at 12# 13 ounces (25%), height 25 1/2 inches (90%), and head circumference 16" (50%) at her 4 month appointment.

• Wearing 3-6 month clothing, although daddy still tries to sneak some newborn clothing on her when given the opportunity. Kyle seems to gravitate towards this purple sweatsuit, which she has well outgrown. It's turned more into a summer capri outfit! She's wearing size 1 diapers, but is soon to outgrow them.

• Eating - Macey loves her bottles. She eats about 4-5 ounces every 3 hours. She hates when the bottle is finished or when she needs to take a burp break, and will scream like we're trying to starve her. I'm still pumping or breast feeding 4-5 times/day. At daycare, she generally gets formula though. I'm thankful to have made it 4 months of pumping, as that's when I stopped with Micah. I've actually even managed to freeze some milk which is a big accomplishment for me. A few people, including Kyle have asked me how much longer I plan to pump, and my next goal is 6 months. We have no plans to start solids anytime soon.

• Sleeping - Macey continues to sleep in a bassinet in our bedroom. My goal this month is to transition her into her crib, as she's starting to outgrow her bassinet. She continues to use a sleep sack. She generally goes to sleep around 10:00 and wakes up between 7-8:00.

• She's been playing with her feet a lot and rolling side to side. When on her stomach, she's clsose to rolling over to her back. Head control is awesome and she bears weight through her legs in standing. She loves her bouncer. She's clasping her hands together and bringing them to her mouth. She also is starting to assist with holding her bottles.

• She is super smiley. Kyle and I joke that she easily becomes embarrassed, as she will turn her head and burry it into your shirt or put her fist in her mouth if you smile at her too long.

• Health - over the past week Macey has been projectile vomiting approximately 45 minutes after  eating. Her pediatrician does not feel that it's related to acid reflux, as she's generally a happy baby, even while vomiting. I'm hoping that it's just a bug, as my washing machine and dryer have been getting a lot of use this week. Macey has also been out of daycare, and Kyle and I are juggling our work schedules to avoid having to take PTO.

• Likes - snuggling, being talked to, stroller rides, faces, eating, and watching Micah or her friends at daycare.

• Dislikes - being tired, hungry, or having a dirty diaper. Being placed in her car seat or put down when she wants to snuggle.

Maternity Leave Reflections

As my maternity leave is quickly drawing to an end, I have been reflecting back on the past 14 weeks of being home. How did time go by so quickly? What happened to my plans of unpacking our new house, finishing Micah's baby book, starting Macey's baby book, and blogging more often?  Although I didn't accomplish all of my to-do list projects, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Macey and spending more time with Micah too. In addition to a lot of snuggles and playtime here is a picture heavy post with what we've been up to over the past few months.

MD visits : ( The first week of my maternity leave was a little (or a lot) stressful, as Macey was jaundiced. This picture shows and reminds me just how yellow she was. We had to make daily trips to the hospital to have her bilirubin levels checked. She had to have multiple blood draws out of her poor little foot. Fortunately, her bilirubin levels dropped on their own and she didn't need to be put under lights.

A MUCH appreciated visit from one of my best friends, Jackie! After dealing with a jaundiced Macey, a sick Micah, Kyle's busy work week schedule and a very cold week, she will never know how much I appreciated the good conversation and yummy lunch that she brought that day.

Lots of cuddles - I love how much Micah loves his little sister!

It was certainly a cold winter/spring maternity leave - no two-a-day walks like I did on Micah's maternity leave. BUT, this little guy loves wearing his puppy hat so much that he frequently asks to wear it in the house and at daycare.

Micah's 2nd Birthday which included a trip to Bounce World and a Pizza party at Mr Pizza

Micah and I took a Kindermusik class with Miss Linda in Rochester every Monday for 4 weeks. Micah seemed to enjoy it. We'd usually hit up the mall playground and food court after class with Grandma Carol.

Loving the extra space in our finished basement

A day trip to the cities to meet baby Gus and see my best college girlfriends

Celebrating Papa Jim's birthday at the end of February

Another trip to Bounce World - this time with good pal, Harrison

New double BOB stroller. Over the past few weeks, we've been able to enjoy several walks and I even got a run in yesterday in the beautiful 50 degree weather.

A fun Sunday afternoon visit from cousins Andie and John while they were back in Minnesota on spring break.

Another wonderful visit with Jackie and her family. The kids had a blast playing together and we enjoyed Ryan and Jackie's company.

Another attempt at a group picture. Haha, Oliver and Micah refuse to smile for pictures together. I think that we're 1:20 in pictures where we've gotten both boys to smile at the same time...

These pictures truly reiterate how great the past 14 weeks have been. Tomorrow a new normal begins. I  like my job and my co-workers, but I love being a mom to these 2 terrific kiddos. Fortunately, Kyle is off tomorrow, so the transition back won't be as difficult. Macey starts daycare on Thursday. We have an upcoming trip to the Dells with our good friends the Kelleys to look forward to this weekend. For the rest of the day, I'm going to enjoy a lot of snuggles with my little girl, a walk in what's reported to be last day of spring weather before winter returns, and one last day in my yoga pants!

3 Months

The past 3 months have literally flown by. I say that with some sadness, because in 1 week from now, I will be back at work and Macey will be getting ready to start daycare. I am so fortunate to have enjoyed 14 precious weeks home with my baby girl, as I've watched her physically transform and her little personality evolve.

The Superficial - Over the past few weeks, Macey has filled out. I love it! She now has a few chins and her long lanky legs now have little rolls on her thighs. We don't go back to the MD for another month, but I anticipate that she's put on a few pounds over the last month. She's mostly wearing 3-6 month clothing, but still is able to squeeze into some 0-3 month clothing. She wears size 1 diapers. She continues to be tall, and have long feet. She will only keep on about two of the pairs of socks in her wardrobe, and kicks the rest off. Her eyes remain blue and she's starting to get a little more hair. It's hard to tell, but I think it's going to be straight, unlike big brother's adorable curls.

Eating - Macey loves to eat, and it is apparent given her healthy appearance. It seems that she's recently been going through a growth spurt as she has been taking a 5 ounce bottle every 3 hours like clockwork throughout the day. She loves her formula, and I think that I finally have found a good match - Earth's Best Organic. Unfortunately, I can only get it at Babies R Us, which means going to Rochester almost on a weekly basis solely for her formula. I'm still pumping 5x/day and nursing too. Most bottles consist of a combination of breast milk and formula and are tolerated well.

Sleeping - Macey continues to be on a good sleeping stretch. She's been sleeping through the night since she was about 5 weeks old. We love it! She sleeps in her Halo Sleep sack. Over the past month she's transitioned out of her "Rock and Play" into a bassinet. She still sleeps in our bedroom, right next to our bed. Her bedtime has been getting earlier and earlier. Currently, she falls asleep around 10:00 and will sleep until Micah wakes her up in the morning. While she sleeps great at night, she's not much of a napper during the day. I may get her to sleep 30 minutes at a time. Sometimes I will get her to sleep longer, and that's usually when she's fallen asleep in her car seat.

Personality - Macey loves to interact with us. She loves it when we talk to her or sing to her and will smile or do a high pitched squeal back. Kyle and I joke around that she's our little opera singer. She often wants to be held and will cry when put in her bouncy chair or rock and play. When tired, she wants to be held. She does not like to be hungry, nor burped midway through her bottle. She will scream like we're starving her when this occurs.

Development - Macey has been working on her abdominal strength lately. She's been doing a lot of kicking and lifting her legs and head at the same time. I'm jealous at her abdominal muscle strength. She brings her hands up to her mouth, and frequently chews on them when she's hungry or tired. I honestly have been terrible with tummy time, but she has great neck strength as she shows great head control when sitting up. She been doing a lot of cooing and working on her vowel sounds. She also bears weight through her legs. Kyle and I have been meaning to get her bouncer and her johnny jump-up out.

Health - Macey continues to be healthy - thank you Lord! She had another touch of a cold, but it hasn't affected her much. I will admit that one of my biggest fears about sending her to daycare is knowing that she will probably get sick, as she's exposed to a whole new selection of germs.

26 months

Happy toddler golden birthday Micah. Whippy turned 26 months today, March 26th and continues to fill us with a lot of laughter and happiness on a daily basis.

1) Big kiddo - Micah is now down to going to the MD on a yearly basis for regular check ups, which is good for both him and the MD. His 2 year appointment was a struggle. Nonetheless, his weight and height checks are now done at home. A few days ago he topped off the scale at 36#.

2) Growth spurt - Micah is starting to transition into 3T and even some 4T clothing. He's currently wearing a toddler size 8 shoe, but those are getting a little snug on him. We have an upcoming trip to the Dells in the next few weekends, and I'm looking forward to hitting up Nike outlet for some bigger shoes.

3) Good eater - Kyle and I frequently comment how we are thankful for Micah's willingness to eat a variety of foods. He essentially eats what we eat for supper. It's rare that we have to warm up left overs or make a PB&J for him

4) Has a sweet tooth. Recently it's been splitting an ice cream sandwich with me after supper.

5) Loves fruit which is great to see. Last summer, he avoided strawberries whereas recently he can't get enough of them. Sam's Club has great and reasonable fruit which is nice since we've been going through a lot of it lately.

6) Daycare drop off were going great until this past week. For whatever reason, he's been crying at drop off time.

7) At pick up time, he is often resistant to coming home.

8) Very young love! Micah has a little girlfriend, Heidi. Those two can often be found together playing in the play kitchen at daycare or in a set of tunnels. A few weeks ago, at daycare pick up, we received a report that Micah and Heidi were caught kissing. Kyle and I are in for trouble!!

9) Learning anatomy - knows his "clavicles, scapula, patella and femur" Papa Jim is so proud!

10) Potty!!! Over the past week Micah has used to big boy twice. I'm not sure if it's a fluke or not, but both times happened right before he got a bath, and the bath water was running. Nonetheless, I was incredibly excited. He received a matchbox truck each time for producing about a 5 second stream of pee. There are 13 more individually wrapped matchbox cars on the top of our refrigerator for our continued potty training endeavors.

11) Speaking of bath - he now loves his bath thanks to his Elmo bubbles

12) "I do it myself" is said multiple times around our house each day.

13) Gets mad if Kyle and I try to assist him into or out of his car seat. If we even touch him during the process, he has to start over and make sure that he completes the task without our help.

14) Loves his "Micah music". It's a kids CD made up of songs like the "Muffin Man", "If you're Happy and you Know it", "The Grand Old Duke of York", etc. Micah requests it every time that we get in the car. We have heard the CD 100's of times, but Micah does not get sick of it. Kyle and I both agree that we need to expand our selection of "Micah music".

15) Loves to sing, especially songs from the above CD

16) Favorite toys continue to be his Matchbox trucks, monster trucks, or anything that really moves.

17) Since Kyle and I just spent a descent amount of money on a double stroller, Micah has now decided that he likes to walk when we go out for walks. We let him walk a few blocks, but he's still learning to stay by the side of the road.

18) Likes to play outside with Kyle, which usually ends with Micah sitting in Kyle's boat in our garage.

19) For the most part, he's a great sleeper. He goes down quickly at night, after his night time routine of bath, teeth brushing, a pacifier, stories, and lastly his fan and music turned on. He may wake up a few times during the night, but falls back to sleep relatively well. Recently, he's been sleeping in until 7:00-8:00. We'll take it!

20) Does not like to be told "no". What kid does?!!

21) Tantrums, hitting, kicking, throwing are still present, but they seem to be reducing in frequency. Time outs seem to work best for punishing Micah. Recently, Micah has become more aware of why he is being placed in timeout, and is able to repeat back to me what he did wrong once finished with his time out.

22) Compassionate - I love this quality about Micah. He hates to see us upset or sad and will give hugs if he feels that those emotions are present.

23) A good big brother - Micah loves his little sister, and has shown no jealousy towards her. He frequently asks to hold her. He will put her pacifier in when it falls out and will try to rock her bouncy chair or "Rock and Play". Sometimes he needs reminders to be gentle, as he'll try to put all of his body weight on her when hugging her.

24) Talking in full sentences all the time. I love his voice and to hear what thought processes are occurring in his little mind.

25) Asks questions such as "who" or "what's that" all the time. A few days ago, he was looking at one of my People magazines, when he turned to me pointed to a Calvin Klein advertisement and said "who's that cute guy?". Shortly after he said "that's Mommy and Daddy". Not so much, but it certainly made me smile.

26) Going brown - Micah still has his adorable curls, but his hair is starting to darken a bit. I think it will bleach out during the summers when he's out in the sun, but I eventually think that his hair will turn brown.

Enjoying an ice cream sandwich to celebrate his "golden" toddler birthday