The Klestinski Fam

April...in a Nutshell

2010-05-06T11:56:00.002-05:00

Updating once a month...how do I keep up? Anyways....It's been a busy month. Charley is now almost 11 months old. She has had quite the month. It started with an ear infection. She went to the doctor got medication and 2 weeks later she still had the ear infection. We then moved on to antibiotic #2 and were back at the doctor's office 10 days later and given antibiotic #3. We tried that medication for 3 days, which didn't help so we ended up having to get an antibiotic shot. Thankfully it worked and she is now ear infection free. Today, however, she has a slight fever. I have given her motrin and am hoping her temp comes down. I guess we'll see. I think the doctor is sick of seeing me. The doctor said the ear infection could be related to the fact that she has cut so many teeth in such a short amount of time. She now has 6 teeth and I'm pretty sure she is cutting two more....yikes!

Justus is doing great. He started speech therapy last month and has been going every Monday for 30 minutes. It's going pretty well...although he is still having a hard time sitting at the desk to work. The teacher says he will usually work, but wants to stand. He also gets distracted pretty easily. We have two more weeks of speech and then he will start pre-school in the fall. I asked the teacher regarding his attention span and she said that we would wait until he has been in school for about a month and see where he is at. I'm really hoping that once he gets into a routine and is around other kids that the attention thing won't be a problem. I guess we will find out. He is talking quite a bit more and pretty clearly most of the time. He still jumbles some stuff together, but it's getting better.

Matthias has also started talking much more. He sometimes is easier to understand than Justus, but not always. He has a little bit of a lisp, but I asked the speech therapist about it and she said we shouldn't be concerned. One thing that has changed is that Matthias has finally hit the "terrible twos". He has been rather defiant lately and says no to everything. He also will throw little fits. They aren't too terrible, and usually nothing compared to Justus' "terrible twos", but definitely a huge change from his usual laidback attitude.

Jon and I also got to enjoy a little time away last month. We took a trip to Silver Spring, MD. We were there for Jon's uncle's memorial service. It was a good trip and we had a good time visiting with family and also seeing the sights in Washington, D.C. As of now, we are planning on taking our house off the market when our contract expires in the next few days. We have had very little interest and with Justus starting school in the fall, we figure it will be easier to wait. We have decided we are going to make some updates...like new windows and siding...before putting it back on the market in a year or so. We are also planning on staying here in O'Fallon. That could change I suppose, but as of right now that is the plan.

2010-03-31T10:25:00.002-05:00

Oh my goodness! I really need to be better at balancing both blogs. It's been over a month since I updated. The past month has been a pretty crazy one. Frist of all, I stopped potty training. Justus is still being very stubborn about the whole thing, and it is just a lot to handle at this point. I'm hoping to attempt again over the summer. We had a week full of stomach bugs also.

Speaking of Justus, he had his speech evaluation and we go in for a meeting about the results next week. I'm looking forward to what the speech therapist has to say and finding out if he will be starting pre-school next year. He is doing pretty good other than that. He has been talking in more and more sentences, and is hard to understand sometimes, but it is getting better.

Matthias is doing great. He is starting to talk a lot more also. He is getting so big. The gap between the boys sizes is starting to close. Over the past month he was sick a couple days, which wasn't very fun. He even passed the little stomach bug to Jon and I....thankfully Charley and Justus didn't catch it.

Charley now has 3 teeth and is working on 3 more. She is going to have a mouth full of teeth for her first birthday....something neither of the boys had. She is pulling up and can even cruise a little, but I'm not sure she is fully award of it yet. No words yet, but she makes lots of noises. This past week we had to take a trip to the doctor. She was running a low fever, and pretty unhappy. At first I thought it was because she was teething, but after two days of no naps and waking up in the middle of the night I knew it must be something else. We headed to the doctor Friday morning and sure enough it was an ear infection....the first in our house. She is now on medicine and is doing much better.

The weather here has been beautiful and we have even gotten to spend some time outside. Friday we are planning our first trip to the zoo for the season....and thanks to Aunt Sarah, we have a wagon for the boys! I think they will love it!

Let the Potty Training Begin!

2010-02-21T17:36:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow begins our adventure into potty training. I have actually been giving it a test run this afternoon with Justus. He has gone pee on the potty twice. No accidents...yet. I just am having him sit on the potty every 30 minutes or so. He complains sometimes, but he will usually sit there at least for a minute. I am actually going to attempt potty training both boys at the same time. I think I am crazy! I think Matthias is ready, but we will see how it goes. If he isn't responding well after a few days I may wait a few more months. Who knows what will happen. I guess we are about to find out. I am loaded up with pennies for the candy machine filled with M&M's, a few suckers, and some mini candy bars for when they decide to go poo on the potty.

Justus is continuing to do really well. He will be starting speech soon. I have a meeting with the school tomorrow to start the process. Hopefully he will have his first session within a few weeks. The teacher did tell me it's a long process, so I guess I will find out more about that tomorrow. I'm just hoping that he gets enough sessions in to make a difference for his re-screen in April....even if it isn't enough so that he doesn't have to attend preschool...as long as there is progress.

Matthias is doing really well. He was battling some stomach issues up until today. He had been sick on Monday and he has had yucky diapers ever since. Today he seems to be back to normal, so I'm very thankful for that.

Charley has finally gotten the hang of crawling. At first I don't think she understood that she could crawl to get to stuff that she couldn't before. It only took her a couple of days to figure that out and now she is into everything. And now she is realizing that she can crawl throughout the house. I guess I will have to start chasing her soon. She is also pretty interested in pulling up. She hasn't done it yet though, but has crawled up to the couch on may occasions and reached up to grab the couch, but then doesn't know what to do. She is growing up way too fast!

Go Baby Go!

2010-02-11T10:48:00.002-06:00

Charley is officially mobile!!

2010-02-04T20:43:00.002-06:00

We have a tooth!!! Charley got her first tooth. I checked her gums today and I can feel a little corner of her first tooth poking through. She definitely is getting her teeth way before the boys got their first tooth. I think they were both 10 months old when their first ones popped through. She's still not crawling, but she can get from point A to point B when need be. She can scoot and roll.

Justus' preschool screening went well. He scored low in his speech...19th percentile. We weren't really shocked though. They said he was speaking at a 2 year old level...which is totally understandable since the person he talks to the most is a 2 year old. They said since he did just turn 3 he really isn't that far behind although they did suggest that we start bringing him to the speech therapist. The preschool teacher is supposed to call us back next week so that we can get that all set up. After that, he will go back in for preschool screening in April to see how much progress he has made. They said hopefully him being a couple months older will make a big difference. They are also a little concerned about his short attention span. I'm hoping it's something that won't be an issue once he gets into a structured classroom. We will have to wait and see on that one though.

Matthias is doing really well. Nothing really to report with him. He seems to have hit a little growth spurt within the past couple weeks. He is getting so tall. Today he finally figured out how to open doors. He has been depending on his brother to open doors, but he figured it out today all on his own. His life just got a whole lot better!

2010-01-25T14:10:00.002-06:00

I've been so preoccupied with my other blog that I have kind of forgotten about updating this one. Now that I am kind of in the habit of updating the other one daily I should be able to keep up with this one. Anyways...things here have been really good. January has been a busy month. We made a trip up to Springfield to do our Thanksgiving get together with Jon's side of the family since no one could make it back in November. We also spent some time with Jon's mom since she was in the hospital. She is back at the nursing home now and is doing much better. Other than Jon's mom being sick it was a great visit with Jon's family.

Justus is doing really well. We are actually taking him to a preschool screening on Friday. We are wanting to make sure he doesn't need help with his speech. We will see how it goes. We will also find out if he's on track for preschool and if he's not we will make arrangements so that he will be ready when the time comes. In other news, Justus now has his own room. After fighting with the boys every night to go to sleep...and many nights ending with Justus sleeping on the floor in our room...we decided it would be best for everyone if we put Matthias and Charley together and put Justus by himself. It has made a world of difference and Jon and I finally have our sanity back! The bad thing with Justus having the smaller room is that we had to get rid of his race car bed. It fit in the room but didn't allow for any space to put his dresser in there. He doesn't seem to notice that it's gone though.

Matthias is doing really well also. He is doing much better after splitting the boys up also. He goes right to sleep now and very rarely causes any problems. He is getting so big. He is still a momma's boy though. He loves sitting in my lap....all the time. He wants to cling to me also. The good thing is he doesn't throw fits when I leave him places and things like that.

Charley seems to have gotten big over night. She is now sitting up on her own and she is so close to crawling. I don't think it will be but a couple weeks before she is mobile. She also seems to be teething. No teeth yet, but we'll see what the next few weeks bring. She is beginning to go through a little bit of separation anxiety when I leave her now, but it's not too bad.

Other than that things are great. Check out the other blog if you want to see some pictures.

2010-01-06T11:59:00.002-06:00

Christmas and a New Year...gone. Things were definitely crazy the last two weeks of the year. We were running around seeing family, old friends, and trying to enjoy our time at home also. Christmas was great. Christmas Eve was spent in Mt. Vernon. The boys got a lot of great gifts and of course had fun tying out their new toys. Christmas morning was spent at home. We got up first thing and opened presents with the kids. The boys loved opening all of their presents and loved their new work bench. It kept them occupied while Jon and I opened our gifts to each other. Jon's dad and sister joined us that afternoon and the boys got even more presents. They got a new wagon from Aunt Sarah, which they loved and Jon and I are going to love it once it gets warmer and we start back up our trips to the zoo. The boys also got new race car beds from Grandpa. They love them!! I'm not such a big fan only because they take up the entire room since Jon and I didn't think to measure them before getting them into the room...oops. Oh well though. Charley got some new clothes and a few new toys as well....she really didn't know the difference though.

The boys are doing great. They have enjoyed their race car beds. Justus has sustained two injuries...a bloody, fat lip and a bruised eye. Matthias amazingly hasn't been injured yet....the key word being yet. The boys have been keeping busy with all their new toys. It is kind of nice having some new things for them to play with. They keep themselves pretty entertained for the most part. I'm so glad they are getting to the age where they will play with each other and keep each other entertained.

Charley is doing great as well. She is now eating baby food. So far she has tried carrots and squash. She loves both. She gets so excited when it is time to eat. She has also transitioned out of her baby bath and is now in her bathseat. It's so much more convenient. The only problem is that when she gets a bath the boys think it's time for their bath also. I usually just put them in the bath at the end of Charley's. They splash too much for poor little Charley.

Here is a link to all our pictures from December.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=348229&id=566475544&l=961cd84ad2

Also, I started another little blog. It's more of a project/New Year's resolution. Here's the link...

http://365daysofklestinskis.blogspot.com/

2009-12-22T07:53:00.002-06:00

Things have been kind of crazy with everything that has been going on. I had a wonderful birthday. Jon surprised me by taking me out to eat with some of my friends. It was a lot of fun and Jon did a good job of making my birthday special. On Saturday we celebrated Justus' 3rd birthday. I still can't believe he is 3 years old already! We had the family over for lunch and presents and then headed to Monkey Joe's. It's a place for little kids that has a bunch of jumpy houses. The boys had so much fun! They both impressed Jon and I with how much they climbed and were able to do.

Yesterday we had Justus' 3 year appointment. He is getting so big! He now weighs 41 lbs. which is in the 95th percentile. We were also told to take him off of whole milk. We have kept him on whole milk because we thought it would be beneficial since he is such a picky eater, but the doctor said it wasn't really. So once I run out of whole milk we are going to switch the boys to 2% for a while and then continue to drop them down until we get to skim milk. Anyways, Justus is now 39 3/4 inches tall, which was in the 75th percentile. The main thing I talked about with Justus' doctor yesterday was his speech. He doesn't really enunciate and can be hard to understand at times. The doctor said by age 3 a stranger should be able to understand 3/4 of what he is saying. I'm not sure if they could, so we are going to get his hearing checked and then take him to see to see a speech therapist. We'll see how it goes. I haven't set up the appointment yet, but plan on doing that sometime today.

Charley also had her 6 month check up last Thursday. She is in the 75th percentile on both height and weight. She is now 27 1/2 inches tall and weighs 16 lbs. 13 oz. She can now roll over both ways, and can sit on her own for a few seconds. She loves playing with toys and being in the exersaucer. She is getting so close to being able to push up onto all fours, but only does it when she is really frustrated about being on her tummy, so I don't think she is actually trying to do it.

Matthias is doing really great as well. He is the only one that hasn't had a doctor's appointment in the past 2 weeks. He seems to have hit a little growth spurt. He is getting so tall. He is still going through his terrible two's, although they are very mild. He tells us no all the time, but usually changes his mind pretty quickly. It's so funny how different the boys are. Matthias is still quite the cuddle bug. He loves for me to hold him. He doesn't really like hugs and kisses, but loves to sit on my lap....Justus doesn't really like that and rarely asks to sit on my lap. I think maybe he is going to be a momma's boy...or at least he is for the moment.

We are really looking forward to Christmas this year since the boys are starting to understand the whole presents thing. We think they are going to love all of their new toys, and race car beds! I will be sure to post pictures this weekend!

2009-12-03T15:11:00.003-06:00

I guess it's been a few weeks since I have updated. I didn't realize that. I'm so behind. We are doing really well. We enjoyed Thanksgiving in Springfield. It was just Jon, me, the kids, Jon's dad, and sister. It was a little toned down compared to previous years. We had a good time. I even got a little Christmas shopping in. Other than that we haven't been too busy. I've been spending most of my free time making bows, but not that Holiday Mart is over I will be taking a break from bow making for a while. Jon and I made $100, so I think it was worth it. We also got to enjoy an evening out on Saturday night. We celebrated our anniversary and went to Charlie Gitto's downtown. It was super delicious...horrible service though.

The kids are all doing really well. We have gotten Justus to go pee on the potty 3 times now. He is finally warming up to the idea of going on the potty. After the holidays Jon is going to take a Friday off so that he can start potty training him over a weekend. I will be so excited when I only have to change two children's diapers! Justus is continuing to talk more and more and is becoming a little easier to understand as well. We have also been working with him on his colors and he is starting to recognize them. It seems his favorite color right now is green. He wants to say everything is green....even though he knows everything isn't green.

Matthias is doing well. The biggest change...he is now sleeping in a toddler bed. He is doing great with it. We generally have to separate the boys to get them to go to sleep, but for now it works. I think Matthias really likes that he is in a toddler bed and can get up and down as he pleases. He is still telling us "no" all the time, but he is much easier to handle than Justus was when he was going through his terrible two phase. Matthias is a good listener and even when he tells us no he usually does whatever it is that we ask of him.

Charley is almost 6 months old! I can't believe it!! I really need to get the camera out and take some pictures of her...and the boys for that matter. I haven't been so good at taking pictures lately. Anyways....Charley is getting big. She still isn't rolling over from her back to her belly, but she is SO close. She loves sitting in the exersaucer! She likes making it rock around and spinning in the seat to get to all the toys. I finally started giving her cereal. She absolutely loves it. She is going to be so excited when we start fruits and veggies.

The next couple weeks are going to be a little busy for us....Jon is working most of this weekend and then there's my birthday, Charley's 6 month check-up, Justus' birthday, Justus' 2 year check up, I have a doctor's appointment, Christmas eve in Mt. Vernon, and then Christmas here with Jon's family. I can't believe Christmas is so close. We are done shopping for the kids. The boys are getting a tool/work bench. It's really neat! It has a ton of tools, and some of them are battery powered and spin and make noise. We think the boys are going to love it! That is a joint gift for both of them and then they are getting a few smaller things and stocking stuffers. Charley is getting a small basket with some pink girly rattles/toys and then some baby food. I am almost done with Jon's Christmas also. I have a few more things to look for.

Hopefully I will get the camera out soon. When I do I'll post some pictures.

Finally some pictures!

2009-11-25T15:53:00.005-06:00

2009-11-14T21:33:00.003-06:00

I feel like it's been a really busy week or so...but it really hasn't been. Almost all my free time right now is devoted to making bows. I mostly have been selling them to some of Jon's co-workers...and I'm trying to get some made for Holiday Mart...that thing at Jon's work. Hopefully I will make enough to cover costs and pay for some of Christmas. I'm also thinking of setting up a site on etsy. I'll post a link so you can see my handy work once I get that up and going. There are so many people on there that sell bows though...so I'm not really expecting to do much business through there, but I figured if I could give people at Holiday Mart a website it might help me to keep a little extra income coming in...even if it's only a few dollars.

Other than bows...things here are going pretty good. Jon has been pretty busy with Blues games lately. He's had 3 this week...yuck! I think he only has one game next week and then is off for the rest of November, so that's kind of nice. We aren't too sure what our plans for Thanksgiving are this year. Usually we go up to Springfield and Jon's uncle from Nevada and his aunt and uncle from Chicago all come in, but this year we don't think any of them are going to be able to make it. It's kind of weird since going to Springfield for the weekend has been our tradition since we got married. We'll hopefully figure something out though. Jon and I have gotten most of the kids Christmas shopping done. The boys are both getting The Jesus Storybook Bible. We are pretty excited about that. We are really looking forward to reading it to them before bedtime. They are also getting a tool workbench. We have picked out a couple online that we like, and we are planning on going to Toys R Us to actually buy it so that we can see it before it gets here. Other than that...they will just get a few little stocking stuffer type gifts. As for Charley, we haven't really decided what to get her for Christmas yet. She is getting a copy of The Jesus Storybook Bible at her baby dedication, which is November 22nd...feel free to join us if you like. I think I'm going to get her a little basket of baby food as one of her gifts...she won't know that it's not exciting.

The kids are all doing great! Charley is starting to squeal and make lots of coo's. She "talks" all the time. She has also discovered her feet and likes to grab at them and look at them. She is getting so close to rolling over from her back to her belly. I don't think it will be long before she finally gets it. Hopefully this week I will actually start her on some cereal. I've been meaning to start trying to feed it to her, but I honestly just forget that she's ready...she shouldn't be almost 5 months old already!!

Justus is doing really well. He is speaking in more and more sentences...although I'm pretty sure Jon, Matthias and I are the only ones that can understand him most of the time. He has such a good memory also. He remembers places and things that I'm shocked he remembers. He is going to be 3 in just a few short weeks! I can't believe that! He is getting so big! His 3T pants are almost too small...the bad thing is that most 4T pants are way too big. I've tried a few different brands and it seems the same no matter what. 3T pants still work...but I don't know for how much longer....if he grows any taller they will begin to look a little silly on him. Hopefully if we reach that point 4T's will be a little closer to fitting him.

Matthias is starting to talk more and more. His favorite words right now are "zes" (yes), "sure" and "okay". He's also starting to speak in some 2-3 word phrases. It's so cute to watch him right now because he is learning so much. He is starting to catch onto things. It's just awesome to see him learning new things.

I really do need to post some pictures. I will really try to do that within the next few days.

2009-11-05T22:02:00.002-06:00

Our little man is 2!! I can't believe he is 2 already. He had a great birthday! We had the family over on Sunday to celebrate. He got some puzzles, a little car garage, a music mat, some bathtub paint, and some other fun stuff. He was so excited about his cake and his party. He also had his 2 year check-up on Monday. He weighed 30.6 lbs and was 34 inches tall...although he wouldn't stand still so that is probably off a little. He is doing really great and the doctor said he looked good. She did give me a prescription for miralax though because he has some issues going number 2. I haven't started him on the miralax yet though. Matthias' new favorite word is "yes". It's so cute when he says it...it sounds more like "zes". It's kind of nice since he can actually answer a yes/no question.

Justus is doing pretty good. Nothing new to report with him. He loves that his brother got some new toys. He was actually very good at Matthias' party about not taking over things. He let Matthias open his presents all by himself and was very good about sharing with him.

Charley is officially rolling over all the time from her belly to her back. She is okay with it most of the time except for when she is trying to go to sleep. She likes sleeping on her tummy and cries when she rolls to her back. She typically will go right back to sleep if we flip her over. She has also begun playing with small toys...like rattles and likes laying on her play mat and touching the toys. I can't believe she is almost 5 months old....is that even possible!?!

Things are continuing to go well. We haven't been showing the house very much...in fact we have only shown the house 4 times since putting it back on the market. The 1st time home buyers credit did get extended, so hopefully that will work in our favor. I have been super busy making bows. I seem to have gotten into the bow making business on accident. Jon took a few of my bows in to show one of the woman there that had asked to see some of them and that has turned into me making a ton of bows for Jon's co-workers. It's kind of nice to make a little extra money off of something that I enjoy doing anyways. I am also going to have a little booth at a little craft fair/small business thing at Jon's work on December 5th. It's for people who have their own businesses like Mary Kay or people who make stuff and sell it...like me. It will probably be a little stressful since I have no idea how many bows to make in preparation and would like to avoid spending a ton of money on ribbon for bows that don't get sold. Oh well...we knew that might be a risk. But it's open to the public...so if you're in the West County area and want to buy some cute bows come on by Ed. Jones (that ends my shameless plug).

I'll post some pictures from Matthias' party a little later.

Animoto.com

2009-10-30T12:13:00.001-05:00

2009-10-30T11:40:00.002-05:00

Matthias is almost 2!! I can't believe it. We are having family over on Sunday (his actual birthday) for lunch, cake, and presents. Matthias doesn't really know the difference...Justus does. He keeps referring to it as "Justus' party"...yes he refers to himself in the third person. Matthias I'm sure will enjoy opening presents and getting some new toys to play with. Matthias also goes to the doctor on Monday for his 2 year check-up. I'm looking forward to seeing how big he has gotten since his last check up 6 months ago. Since he is turning 2, we have decided it's time to switch him into a toddler bed. We have been putting this off as long as possible, but Justus has been climbing into Matthias' crib while Matthias is sleeping and jumping on him. Poor little guy. Jon's dad is going to buy the boys racecar beds for Christmas, so we are going to make the switch then. I'm sure it will be pretty rough the first few nights. We actually let them play sometimes before bedtime in their room and they play really well together, so we are hoping that they play together instead of fighting. I guess we'll see.

We are heading to Mt. Vernon tomorrow night for a little trick or treating. We are hoping for no rain!! Justus is a tiger and Matthias is a lion. I was hoping to get Charley a bear outfit, but couldn't find one that I could justify buying. The only ones I found that would fit her were $30, and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a costume. Last weekend Jon's work had "Trunk or Treat" in the parking garage. The boys didn't really understand the whole trick or treat thing at first, so we were kind of bummed about that, but they finally started to realize what was happening about half way through the garage. They actually really enjoyed it towards the end, so I am hoping Saturday night goes well and that they have fun.

Speaking of Charley...she is SO close to rolling over from her tummy to her back. He gets her legs up under her and can push her bottom over...but then she can't get her top half over. She has gotten to her side a couple of times, but wears out before making the final push and ends up back on her belly. It won't be long though. I am pretty careful about putting her up on the bed or couch, but I will have to start being extra careful. When she falls asleep on our bed I have a tendancy to just leave her in there...but I won't be able to do that anymore.

I will post some pictures of our adventures this weekend!! Until then...here is a little slide show of Matthias' first year....a walk down memory lane!!

2009-10-23T22:03:00.002-05:00

So I'm being a little lazy...here is a link to our pictures from September and October. Since our computer crashed the only place I have some of these is backed up on the web. Here's the links...

September
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=309320&id=566475544&l=5689576702

October
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=321590&id=566475544&l=803b8a957b

2009-10-20T09:15:00.002-05:00

I've been a little behind in posting. We were with out a computer for a little over a week, and it's been hard to get back into the internet swing of things. Our weekends have been pretty crazy as well. We had a halloween party on Saturday this past weekend and then a fall party with our old Sunday school class on Sunday. Both were a lot of fun, and the kids had a great time at each. Jon is going to be extremely busy with his second job at Scottrade for the next two weeks, so we were trying to squeeze in as much as we could since we will be unable to do much for the next two weekends.

Charley had her 4 month check-up yesterday. She did really well and the doctor said she looked great. She now weighs 15 lbs even and is 25 3/4 inches tall. She is in the 90th percentile on both. She also had to get 2 shots. She wasn't a big fan, but she only cried for a few minutes afterwards. Other than that...she is laughing all the time, which we just love. She is also able to sit in the bumbo, which is kind of nice. She loves sitting in it also. She watches me cook and wash dishes and likes sitting up to watch rather than laying on the floor or in her bouncy seat.

The boys are doing great as well. They both actually got a flu shot yesterday. They didn't mind it too much. It was quite the adventure at the doctor's office yesterday. I don't typically take all three of them with me when I go, but sometimes it's necessary. We pull into the parking lot and I park in the corner at the edge of the lot. I set Justus and Matthias out in the grass while I grab Charley. Well I turn around and Matthias has fallen into a mud hole...not a puddle...a hole! Thankfully he didn't fall all the way in...he just stepped into it with one leg...saving his whole body from being covered in muddy water. So I get him out of the hole and take all three inside. I had to take Matthias' socks, shoes and pants off. His shirt was a little wet, but I figured it was okay. So he got to run around the doctors office in just his shirt and diaper. Thankfully I didn't have any other stops to make before going home.

Justus is doing really well. He isn't climbing into Matthias' crib nearly as much anymore. We figured the fun of that would eventually wear off...and it has. He is speaking in more and more sentences. He is learning so much right now too and has a great memory. Every time we go to the doctor's office he remembers that the doctor's stethoscope has a bear on it....the funny thing is that her stethoscope broke quite a while back and she hasn't had it the past few times we've been there...but he still remembers. He is getting a little better at listening as well and hasn't been getting in trouble at the Y nearly as much...maybe like once every two weeks or so they tell me he did something he wasn't supposed to.

Matthias is doing well. His new favorite word is "no". That's his answer to almost everything. He gives in really easily though. He is definitely a softy. He is getting very big and it is hard to believe that his birthday is in less than two weeks. We are planning on getting him a bike. November really isn't the ideal time for bike riding, but we figure this way both boys will have a bike for next spring.

I will try to post some pictures soon...or maybe just a link to some pictures since we don't have any of our pictures on our computer anymore since it crashed. Thankfully I had them all backed up online.

2009-10-02T13:24:00.002-05:00

We've had a great week so far. Last Saturday we got to enjoy Grant's Farm for the first time thanks to Edward Jones. It was a lot of fun and the boys had a great time. They loved seeing all the animals and getting to feed the goats.

Justus is doing great. It seems he has started speaking in more and more sentences lately, which is a nice change. He can still be pretty hard to understand sometimes, but hopefully that will continue to improve. He is also in the process of finally getting his 2 year molars...one is already through the gums and 2 other ones are just about there. So about two weeks ago Justus discovered that he could climb in and out of Matthias' crib...we were surprised it took him this long. He isn't doing it quite as much in the past few days, but it is a problem at bedtime. We think we are going to try one of those crib tents. We just have to find one that is a reasonable price. We are going to try Once Upon a Child first. Hopefully that will work, but we will see.

Matthias is doing good. I can't believe we are a month away from his birthday. We haven't really decided when we are going to have his little party, but I am super excited for it! I can't believe he is going to be 2! He is beginning to talk a little more and is more willing to repeat things when asked. I just can't believe how big he is getting. It's so weird to see him in clothes that Justus wore last fall, and to think of how much he has grown.

Charley is still as cute as can be. She is getting big. She is now in 3-6 month clothes and most (if not all) of her 0-3 clothes are way too small now. She smiles all the time and is beginning to laugh and squeal and coo. She will soon be 4 months old, which means we will be able to start rice cereal and she gets to go to the doctor for shots and a check up.

I will try to post some pictures of Grant's Farm soon.

2009-09-24T11:31:00.003-05:00

Before

After

After...I think the work paid off.

Having fun letting Daddy spray them with the hose.

This is how he fell asleep.

He loves his sister's pink bunny. He likes carrying it around.

He absolutely loves swinging like this.

Our pretty girl.

2009-09-15T21:10:00.002-05:00

Things here are still a little crazy. Our house is officially back on the market. We have also been doing a few things to the house...which has made for a lot of work. We took out a wall in our kitchen and had to have a light switch and outlet moved, and tomorrow we are replacing the countertop and sink. We also had to patch the walls and paint. I'm not in love with the color, but I'm not painting again. We are also buying a used fridge that is a bit smaller than ours and will be able to fit next to the stove...which will make the kitchen feel a lot bigger. When we had our house on the market last time the biggest complaint we got was that our kitchen was too small. We are hoping by making some improvements to the kitchen it will help to sell our house quicker.

Anyways...Charley is continuing to get big. I just want her to stay my little peanut...but I know that's not going to happen. She will be 3 months old on Thursday! I've started putting her in 3-6 month clothes. I realized last night that some of her 0-3 month sleepers are way too small. The one she wore last night I'm not sure she could even stretch all the way out in. So I put her in a 3-6 month sleeper tonight, which was very hard. I also went through her 0-3 month clothes and took a lot of them out of her closet. It made me very sad to think that she is my last baby...waa, waa, waa. She is smiling, giggling and making little coos. She is just the most beautiful little girl with wild woman hair!

Justus is doing well. He is speaking in more sentences and remembers so much. It's to the point that I have to be careful what I listen to on the radio, what I watch on TV, and what I say. He also can relate things together...like birthday cake, party and candles...the zoo and animals...the store and carts...if I say one of them he usually says what relates to it...if that makes sense. We have decided to hold off on potty training since we have our house on the market. Since showings can happen any time, we figure it just isn't ideal. He asks us to change his diaper when he is stinky and sometimes even tells us that he has to go...but refuses to sit on the potty. Hopefully we will figure out how to combat that before we actually start potty training.

Matthias is doing great as well. He is getting so big! I can't believe he is going to be 2 soon. He is so laidback all the time. He doesn't like being scolded and will cry sometimes when we tell him "no". He always gets a very sad look when we tell him not to do things. He loves giving hugs and kisses, and loves helping me around the house. He is my little helper. When I make our bed in the morning he always hands me the pillows to put back on the bed. He also loves helping me put clothes in the dryer and pushing the button to start the dryer.

I will try to get some pictures posted later this week. The kitchen should be totally done, so I will have to post before/after photos.

2009-09-04T10:33:00.002-05:00

I can't wait for bows to stay in her hair. This one falls out.

Matthias loves playing in the dirt.

She has the biggest, prettiest smile.

2009-09-03T18:14:00.004-05:00

Things have been a little crazy around here. We have decided to put our house back on the market, so we are going to be spending this weekend getting the house ready and then putting it officially on the market next weekend. We are also traveling to Springfield to visit Jon's family. His Aunt and Uncle are coming into town and it will be there first time meeting Charley. Other than that Jon has been working his second job a little more often. We did get to enjoy a date night a couple weekends ago, which was so nice. We went out to eat at the Olive Garden, played some video games, and caught a movie...The Time Traveler's Wife...it was my turn to pick : ).

Charley is doing great! She is now smiling all the time, and beginning to giggle. It's such a fun time since she is now becoming more responsive to us. She is also starting to make little noises. She is getting so big as well. She is filling out her 0-3 month clothes and we know it won't be long before she moves up to 3-6 month clothes. It's hard to believe that she will be 3 months old on the 16th of this month.

Matthias has now gone on the potty twice! We are really excited that he may be ready to start actually potty training. The two times he has gone is only because I have sat him on there proactively. He also tells me sometimes when he is going potty and knows when he is wet or stinky. We are hoping to start potty training him within the next couple of weeks. We were going to start this weekend, but now with trying to get the house ready to put on the market we are going to push it back a couple of weekends. Other than that Matthias is doing great.

Justus, unlike Matthias, is no where near ready to potty train. We thought he might get jealous when Matthias got candy for going on the potty and want to do the same...but that wasn't the case. Of course he was really mad that he didn't get candy, but still wanted nothing to do with the potty. We don't know when we are going to start potty training him. Hopefully not long after we start Matthias. Justus is continuing to do great though. He is starting to remember more things...songs on the radio, people, places, etc. He loves the zoo and mentions it all the time and then lists the "manimals" that he sees when we are there.

Hopefully I will get some pictures posted in the next couple of days.

2009-08-21T13:07:00.002-05:00

Charley had her 2 month well child visit this week. She now weighs 11 lbs. 12 oz. and is 22 5/8" long...both in the 75th percentile. The doctor said she looked great! She also received two shots, which made for a cranky baby the rest of the day. She is continuing to sleep through the night...usually close to 12 hours. She is also doing very well at holding her head up.

This week has gone pretty smoothly...although Justus has been quite the bully at the Y this week. He is not so good with sharing...as I'm sure a lot of 2 year olds aren't, but Justus resorts to pushing and throwing things, which is never a good thing. We are hoping it is just a phase...and that we can figure out an effective way of disciplining him when he acts like that...especially when we aren't around to correct it immediately. Matthias has been doing well this week. He did have a little case of the sniffles earlier in the week, but it seems to have passed. He was a little extra cranky and had a runny nose, but both have seemed to clear up.

We are heading to the zoo tomorrow morning and then the kids are off to Mt. Vernon for the evening so that Jon and I can enjoy a date night. We aren't sure what we are going to do yet, but we are looking forward to going out to eat by ourselves...no sippy cups, crayons, or diaper bags.

2009-08-17T16:50:00.003-05:00

He loves his little sister.

She is getting so good at holding her head up.

Heading to a wedding.

They love watching cartoons in our bed.

She has the biggest smile.

Brushing his teeth...well, getting ready to.

She has wild hair...and I love it!

2009-08-14T13:08:00.002-05:00

Charley will be 2 months old on Sunday! I can't believe it. Time is going way too fast. She is now smiling, which I just love. She has the biggest smile...it's so cute. I will have to post a picture of it soon. She is doing much better lately as far as colic goes. She definitely isn't crying as much now, and I think most of her crying now is typical crying. She still has her cranky moments, but they aren't very common. She is still sleeping through the night...usually 10-12 hours. I'm very thankful for that!!

We have started introducing Justus to the potty...with his clothes on. We have to bribe him with candy to sit on it, but it's the only way we can get him to sit on it willingly. We had bought a candy machine for the boys for Christmas, and there are M&M's in there...Justus loves getting his penny after sitting on the potty and getting his candy out of the machine. We will probably continue this for a couple of weeks, and then start trying to get him to sit on the potty without a diaper. We'll see how it goes. In other Justus news, his new favorite phrase is "I cryin". He fake cries and then he tells us, "I cryin". It's kind of cute because it is totally fake and we know he is just wanting attention.

Matthias is doing great as well. We have been letting him sit on the potty for candy as well...mostly to make his brother want to sit on the potty. Hopefully it will turn into two boys being potty trained at the same time...that would be wonderful. He's getting so big and is talking more and more. He is still our happy-go-lucky little red head.

Other than that...life is going great. Life is about to get a lot more crazy with the Blues season getting ready to start. Jon works at Scottrade Center for those of you who didn't know. It will be an adjustment since he really hasn't been working his second job much this summer...maybe once a month. It was nice having him home especially while Charley had colic and required a little extra attention. Hopefully I can get some pictures posted in the next few days.

2009-08-05T12:34:00.002-05:00

Our precious little girl. She makes this face all the time.

He's just too cute!

Waiting for the choo-choo.

Here we go!! They loved it!

Having fun on the train

Her first night in her crib

We were trying so hard to get a family picture. Justus wouldn't cooperate, and Matthias refused to put the ball down...so this is what we got.

Having fun at the park

Jumping on the suspension bridge

2009-08-02T20:30:00.003-05:00

It's been a great week! Charley is now 7 weeks old. Charley turning 6 weeks old meant that we were able to go back to the YMCA. I was super excited since that meant I could get out of the house...and get back to working out on a regular basis. Anyways, Charley is doing great...we are still waiting for that first smile, which should be coming any day now. She is still pretty fussy, but the colic seems to be getting a little better. She has her moments, but she is definitely crying a lot less and for shorter amounts of time. One great trade-off is that she is now sleeping 8-10 hours a night. She goes to bed between 8 and 9 and then gets up sometime around 6:30 a.m. It's been great!! She has had this schedule for almost 2 weeks, which also means she has been moved into her room.

Justus is doing really well. He is getting so good at remembering things...songs, names, places. We are still working on the alphabet and we have started to work on shapes and colors. We'll see how it goes. We haven't started potty training just yet, but we are pretty sure he is ready. He is starting to be annoyed by his diaper, but not quite to the point where he asks to have it changed. He gets embarrassed about going to the bathroom also. We aren't quite sure how we are going to tackle potty training just yet, but however we do it we know we need to do it soon.

Matthias has turned into quite the chatter box lately. He is learning more and more words, and will even repeat some words when we say them. He is our happy-go-lucky little boy. He seems to always have a smile on his face...not to say he doesn't have his moments.

Other than that things are going pretty great. Life with three kids can get pretty crazy at times, but nothing that is too overwhelming. Hopefully I will get some more pictures posted later today.

2009-07-24T12:08:00.002-05:00

Charley had her 1 month doctor's appointment today. She is getting quite big!! She weighs 10 lbs. 3 oz. and is 21 3/4" long...both in the 75th percentile. The doctor said she looked great! She also got 1 shot today. She was a trooper...she only cried for a few seconds and then was fine. She is still crying quite a bit...mostly in the evenings, but sometimes in the afternoon as well...and it's been a little more intense this week. I did read that colic usually peaks around 6 weeks, which is about where we are. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks it will start to taper off a little bit. She has been sleeping great for us though. Just this week she has been sleeping 6-8 hours at night! I'm not sure if it's related to her intense crying or not...I guess we'll have to wait and see. For now, I'm enjoying the sleep though!

The boys have been enjoying a little time outside this week. With the cooler temperatures we've been having we have all been able to go outside and play in the afternoons. Charley really enjoys being outside, so that's been a plus as well. The boys of course love being outside. We took a little trip home to Mt. Vernon yesterday and the boys even got to swim for about an hour at the park pool. They loved it, which was a huge shock. Neither of them has ever shown much interest in the pool, but they both got it and splashed around and had fun.

Last weekend I finally got Charley's room painted. I think it turned out really cute. I still have a few final touches to add, but for the most part the room is done. If Charley continues to sleep over night we are planning on moving her into her room within the next week. I'm looking forward to having the space back in our room. In the next couple of weeks I am planning on fixing and painting the walls in the boys room. Justus chipped the paint with one of his toys and then started peeling the paint off the walls, which damaged some of the drywall. Of course I don't have any of the paint left from when I painted their room a couple of months ago, so I will have to paint the whole room. Oh well...not a huge deal. Tomorrow we are heading to Springfield to visit Jon's family and also see some of our friends. It should be a fun time!

Finally Some Pictures!

2009-07-20T21:48:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I got a new camera...a Nikon D60. I'm in love with it!! I love, love, love taking pictures with it. I hope you enjoy the pictures!!

2009-07-16T12:00:00.003-05:00

Charley is one month old today!! I can't believe it. She doesn't go to the doctor until next week though. She is continuing to do well, and is now actually fitting in her 0-3 month clothes. I'm anxious to see how long she has gotten and how much weight she has gained. When I made her appointment on Monday I asked about her crying. I think I mentioned that she cries every night (early evening around 7ish) for at least an hour. She doesn't usually cry for longer than 2 hours, and can sometimes be consoled. We thought it might be her formula or air in her belly so we switched bottles. Well, the doctor said she most likely has colic, which is what I was assuming but kind of hoping it was something else since there's nothing you can do for colic. The good news is it's temporary and goes away by 3 months of age.

The boys are doing well. They are doing much better with sleeping in the same room. We usually just shut the door and let them play or do whatever it is they do to keep themselves up. Jon and I were getting so stressed out about them keeping each other up, so we finally decided to not worry about it. They are usually asleep by 9. We finally switched Justus into a twin size bed, and he seems to like it. He was constantly taking the mattress off the frame and moving it around the room. He was moving the whole bed around until we bought brackets to secure it to the wall. We decided that him being able to move the mattress around was one of the things he was using to keep himself awake and since he can't move the twin mattress we switched him into that. It seems to have helped. Matthias is doing well. Last weekend..during the garage sale...he decided to ride his brother's bike off the front porch and landed face down in the lava rock. He wasn't phased and got up and then not even 1 minute later got on his bike and did the same thing. He didn't care either time...but got a bloody nose the second time. It bled for a good minute. I think I was more freaked out than he was. He's such a little dare devil. He is going to be a rough boy.

Other than that things are going well. I think we are all starting to go a little stir-crazy. I'm looking forward to being able to go to the gym during the day just so that we can all get out of the house. Charley can't go into the children's center for 2 more weeks, so we will have to wait until then. I really need to post some pictures, so maybe I will try to do that later this afternoon.

2009-07-11T19:19:00.002-05:00

We had a great 4th of July! We didn't make it to any fireworks this year since Jon was out of town, and I didn't feel like braving it by myself...but we will for sure be going to some next year. I so miss going to fireworks. Anyways...the kids and I had a good time hanging out with our friends from Sunday school.

The boys are continuing to do well. We are going to attempt potty training with Justus. He got to pick out his new big boy underwear at the store the other day. He picked Cars underwear. We will see how it goes. I'm sure the first few days will be rough, but we think he is ready. We are hoping Matthias will follow closely behind Justus in potty training, but we aren't going to rush him. Matthias is continuing to throw his little fits, but we know it's just a phase.

Charley is doing great. We switched her to a gentle formula and also bought some new bottles in order to hopefully help her be a little less cranky in the evening. It seems to have helped so far. She was getting pretty fussy towards the end of the evening...the time when she is awake the most...and we thought it may be due to air in her belly or her formula. The only problem now is that because we switched two things at once, we have no idea which one was the source of the problem...the formula or air in her belly. Oh well, the gentle formula won't hurt her, so we aren't too concerned. This week Charley will be 1 month old!! I can't believe it. She will have to go to the doctor this week. I'm curious to see how big she has gotten.

Other than that things are going great. We had a garage sale this morning and actually made a little bit of money. We were pleased and got rid of a lot of stuff that was cluttering up our shed. I got a new camera so be expecting some pictures soon!!

Happy 4th of July!!

2009-07-04T14:06:00.003-05:00

It's pretty impossible to get a picture where they are all happy. I'm pretty sure Charley is scared for her life in this picture...I don't blame her : ).

2009-07-03T11:23:00.002-05:00

I'm super excited about celebrating Charley's first 4th of July...not only that, but her first holiday! Too bad Jonathan is in D.C. and won't be able to enjoy it with us. He's an usher in his cousin's wedding, so he left early this morning. Charley is continuing to do well. She is a good sleeper and a happy baby most of the time. The only time she gets fussy is when she is hungry. We have decided to stop breastfeeding. I was nursing for 30+ minutes and then pumping for about 15 minutes to get my milk supply up. That wasn't working, so our next option was taking Reglan (a prescription medication), but it has some major side effects so Jon and I decided it wasn't worth the risk. Charley doesn't seem to mind bottle feeding...I think she actually prefers it since she doesn't have to work very hard to eat. Other than that she is doing great!!

Justus is doing well. I am constantly reminded that he is getting bigger, smarter, and older. He is now able to sing along with the opening song from Imagination Movers. He is also starting to remember words to songs on the radio. He's starting to speak more in short sentences as well...too bad Jon and I are the only ones that can understand him most of the time. Right now we are working on him sharing with Matthias, and not pushing him or taking stuff away from him. He seems to only understand how to share when he wants to...not when we want him to.

Matthias is continuing to go through the "terrible 2's". He throws little fits when he doesn't get his way, and he cries pretty easily. I'm not sure if he is more sensitive than Justus was at his age or if it's just part of the terrible 2 phase. He is doing well other than that though. He is getting so big! He talks all the time as well. Matthias is doing really well with Charley. He is very sweet with her. He is surprisingly gentle and loving with her. He loves to pat her on the back very softly and give her kisses. I am so shocked at how well he has adjusted to having a little sister. I thought he would be very jealous that he wasn't the baby anymore, but he doesn't seem phased by it at all.

Things are going really well around here. We have all adjusted pretty well to being a family of 5. I have even been able to go on a few outings with all 3 kids. They usually have to be quick trips, but it gets me out of the house for a little while. I've been able to get back to the gym also...only in the evening for the time being. We can all start going to the gym once Charley is 6 weeks old. Anyways...hopefully I will get some more pictures posted soon. Have a happy 4th of July!!

Home Alone!

2009-06-24T20:16:00.003-05:00

Today was Jon's first day back at work. Surprisingly it went really well. I was a little nervous about being here with all three kids, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The boys were really good, and didn't mess with Charley. The boys got me up a little before 7, which is when Charley needed to eat. They watched cartoons while I nursed and then they had a little breakfast. The boys went down for a nap at 11:15 and then I fed Charley and she took a nap as well. I was able to get a few things done while they all took a nap. The boys woke up around 2 and we spent the afternoon playing, reading, and watching a little TV. It's refreshing to know that handling 3 children is easier than I expected.

Things are still going really well with Charley. She has been spending a little more time awake during the day. She is doing great over night as well. She sleeps in 3-4 hour blocks, which I'm very thankful for. I'm still attempting to nurse, and trying to get my milk supply up. I am borrowing a pump from a friend and hoping that will help me get there. It's kind of a pain right now because I am having to nurse or pump almost every hour, but I know getting my milk supply up will be worth it. Hopefully within the next few days I will notice a difference in my supply.

Not much is new...I posted a couple of pictures. The boys love talking to Charley...they think she can understand : ). They are pretty sweet with her.

2009-06-21T21:49:00.002-05:00

Life with 3 children...I'll admit it's a little crazy right now. I guess it's just an adjustment. I had such a routine before Charley arrived, and now I am having to figure out a new schedule. I'm sure I will get into the swing of things though. I'm depending a lot on Jonathan right now because he is home. He's been awesome with the boys and helping around the house. It should be interesting when he goes back to work.

Anyways...Charley is a great baby! She is pretty content most of the time. Breastfeeding is going okay. I have a really low milk supply though. I'm going to call the lactation consultant at Anderson in the morning and see what she suggests. I have a feeling it will be to pump after I get done nursing. I had the same issue when I tried to breastfeed Justus. Charley and I had to go back to the hospital for a follow-up appointment yesterday morning. She had lost a full pound (down from 7 lbs. 12 oz. to 6 lbs. 12 oz.) so the nurse and our doctor's office said I needed to start supplementing. I think this has made Charley a lazy eater, which isn't helping the low milk supply. Charley goes back to the doctor tomorrow, so hopefully she is gaining weight. I'm hoping that I will be able to nurse, but it's hard to say if I will be able to or not.

The boys are doing good. They both really love Charley and are pretty good with her. Matthias wants to touch her all the time and give her kisses. Matthias isn't so good at being gentle all the time, so we have to be careful of that.

Justus is doing really well. He is continuing to develop his speech. He uses short sentences and asks little questions all the time. He is really into letting us read to him lately also. Before recently he hated when we would read to him. He would get mad and take the book away from us, but now he will climb up and let us read to him. It's kind of nice. He also likes it when we sing the alphabet to him now. He knows when "w" is coming up and "y z".

Matthias is still throwing lots of fits, but I guess that's to be expected at his age. He is doing really well other than that though. He has actually done really well to adjusting to not being the baby. I thought he would be really jealous of Charley, but he hasn't been at all. Hopefully that will continue once Jonathan goes back to work.

Hopefully I will get some pictures posted of our first few days at home.

Happy Birthday Charley!!

2009-06-18T19:41:00.003-05:00

Well...today isn't Charley's birthday...Tuesday was. I ended up being induced Tuesday morning. We had actually known for a couple weeks that we would be induced, but decided to tell as few people as possible so that we could surprise everyone.

Anyways, Jon and I headed out to the hospital at about 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Our induction was scheduled for 6 a.m. When we got there to check in I joked with the nurse as she was taking us to our room that I was scared they were going to call us early and tell us we couldn't come in because they were too busy...she then told us that they were really close to doing so. I was thankful they didn't to say the least. Anyways we got settled into the room and the nurse came back and told us to relax for a little while because they were going to wait until the morning shift arrived at 7 a.m. to start my induction. Our doctor had also had a couple deliveries in the middle of the night, so he hadn't arrived back at the hospital yet. So, we ended up hanging out for about an hour watching TV and enjoying our final moments before labor and delivery.

At 7:15 my doctor and our nurse arrived and the doctor broke my water. At that point I was between 3 1/2-4 cm dilated and 75% effaced. My nurse then gave me my I.V. of fluids, but we had to wait to get petocin from the pharmacy because the OB dept. was out...how is that even possible? Contractions at that point were very slight and about 7-8 minutes apart. I finally got the petocin around 8...it started to kick in and about 20 minutes later the contractions were stronger and about 3-4 minutes apart. At about 9 o'clock I called our nurse into the room because I was starting to get uncomfortable and was ready to start the process of the epidural...you have to have a full bag of fluid in you before they will call the anesthesiologist. She checked me and I was 6-7 cm dilated at that point. I finally had a full bag of fluid drained about 20 minutes later and the epidural guy was there within a few minutes of that. So it's now about 9:30, I'm sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for the anesthesiologist to get everything together so he can give me the epidural. He is seeming to take forever and I am starting to get really uncomfortable. I looked at Jon at that point and told him I didn't think I was going to make it 45 minutes before delivering. The anesthesiologist finally was ready after about 15 minutes and it took him just a few minutes to get the epidural in. The nurse then laid me back down and I was given my test dose of the epidural medicine. After a few minutes the nurse asked if I was noticing a difference in my contractions and I said, "No, they are still REALLY uncomfortable." She asked if I was feeling pressure and I answered yes and then she asked if I was feeling rectal pressure, again I answered yes. She then said she had better check to see how far progressed I was...sure enough I was complete and +2. The next few minutes were pretty crazy with all the nurses and my doctor scrambling in...not to mention my pretty painful contractions. They weren't prepared for me to deliver so quickly so they hadn't brought in any of the equipment or anything. I hadn't even been hooked up to my epidural drip...I had just been given that initial syringe full. So I pushed through 1 1/2 contractions and Charley was born at 10:17 a.m. Delivery was pretty uncomfortable, but the doctor said the epidural probably took the edge off a little...I'm not convinced of that though! I had minimal blood loss and no stitches. Charley was a healthy baby girl with a head full of brown curly hair. She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 19 inches long. After the delivery the doctor joked with us that we were going to be disappointed when we got the bill because we definitely didn't get our money's worth.

Originally we didn't know if we were going to give Charley a middle name. I don't have a middle name, so we were leaning towards not giving her one. I was kind of having second thoughts about that though and had mentioned it to Jon a few weeks ago. We discussed it and decided on a middle name if we chose to give her one when the time came. We decided officially at the hospital to name her Charley Grace.

Anyways, we are all home now adjusting to life as a family of 5. Jon won't go back to work until the middle of next week, which is nice. I'm feeling really good and breastfeeding is going great. Charley is a pretty content baby and doesn't fuss too much. Her brother both love her. Surprisingly Matthias is more interested in Charley than Justus is. Matthias loves giving her kisses and touching her head. It is pretty cute. I'm not going to post pictures on here because there are a lot of them...but here is a link to our facebook album.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=265297&id=566475544&l=a7289e7162

2009-06-09T08:00:00.006-05:00

I had my 38 week appointment yesterday. No changes really. I'm dilated 1.5 cm now. I'm okay with that though. I'm hoping that means I will make it until next week when my doctor will be back in the office. The pregnancy is continuing to go well, but I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all the little things we still need to do. I'm sure it's just the whole nesting thing, but still. I wanted to have Charley's room painted before her arrival, but right now her room is a mess holding things that can't fit into the shed...such as our twin sized bed and other smaller items. We still have to put the clear coat on the crib as well. We also have a few things to buy: diapers, changing pad cover, pacifiers, and some new nipples for our bottles. I'm going to attempt breast feeding, so we may also have to purchase a pump at some point. I know it will all get done though.

The boys are doing well. We have discovered that Matthias has learned bad habits from his older brother. He is a pusher and he tells kids that are younger than him "no" if they touch toys that are within a foot of him....all things his brother did to him. He is starting to hit that "terrible 2" phase as well. He is throwing more fits when he doesn't get his way and tells us no all the time. Justus on the other hand seems to be growing out of that phase, which I guess is kind of nice that we won't have to deal with both boys going through it at the same time. Other than that not too much is going on. I finally uploaded a few pictures...so enjoy!

Enjoying an apple.

I just thought this was cute. They sat like this for a really long time.

Justus and Matthias sharing some cake at Grandpa's 60th birthday party.

Aunt Sarah sprinkling Matthias. He loved it!

They are both pretty timid around the water, so I bought this little pool hoping it will get them used to swimming. They really like playing in it, but they won't sit down.

2009-06-03T15:54:00.002-05:00

Last night was the boys' first night sleeping in the same room. It didn't go so well. So today I took out all toys and books, and am hoping that it goes a little better this evening. On the plus side, the boys took an amazing nap today...probably because they got very little sleep last night. I guess we'll see how this evening goes.

2009-06-02T13:11:00.002-05:00

I'm 37 weeks today!! I'm officially full term...bring on labor!! I actually don't think I'm ready for labor yet, but at the same time I'm looking forward to holding our little girl. Things are continuing to go well with the pregnancy. I have started my weekly visits. Nothing really to report. I'm only dilated 1cm, so nothing too exciting there. My doctor will be out of town next week, so I am seeing the other doctor in the practice. I won't see our doctor until I'm 39 weeks. I'm hoping Charley can wait until he gets back to be born : ). We still have a few things to take care of before Charley's arrival. We need to paint her room and put a clear coat on the crib. Those are the two big things that need to be done. Of course she probably won't move into her room for at least a couple weeks after she is born, so we will have time even if we don't get it done before we have her. Other than that we are pretty set. We only need a few small things, but nothing that we can't survive without. I have started packing our hospital bag...most of the things that still need to be packed are things that we use on a daily basis. I made a list so that we are sure to grab everything though. I have also posted the boys' schedule on the fridge, so that whoever is watching them will have an idea of when they get up and what they can eat and things like that. I'm a little nervous about going into labor naturally since I've been induced in the past, but I'm sure I will be okay.

Justus is continuing to do well. He is starting to talk more and more in short sentences. His favorite is "I get it" or "Here it is". He is beginning to be a good listener as well, which is a huge improvement over a month ago. He is getting so big too. He was upset the other day and wanted me to carry him, and I could hardly walk and carry him at the same time...I'm hoping it's just because I am pregnant, but Jon has even admitted that he is getting pretty heavy. He is getting tall also. We are planning on hitting up some garage sales this weekend to look for some 3T clothes for him for the winter...and maybe even a few t-shirts for the summer. Some of his 2T shirts are pretty short on him.

Matthias is doing great as well also. He's had a bit of a runny nose the past couple of days, but seems to be getting better. I'm wondering if he maybe has allergies or something because it seems as though his nose is either stuffy or runny all the time. I guess I might bring it up at his next doctor's appointment. Other than that he's been doing really well. He is getting bigger, but still seems like my little baby. I guess that might change when the baby arrives. I'm always comparing his size to Justus', which makes him seem small, but comparing him to a newborn will make him seem huge!

Other than that not a whole lot is going on. We have decided that if our house doesn't sell by the time our contract with the realtor's is up (which is July 30th) we are going to take it off the market for a while....possibly for up to a couple years until we can afford to buy and we are close to finishing our Total Money Makeover. When we thought we were going to be able to rent for a while it made more sense to move over to Missouri since we could save quite a bit of money and be within 15 minutes of Jon's work, but now with the addition of another baby renting is really not an option since we would have to rent a 3 bedroom apartment and those are a lot more expensive. It suddenly just makes more sense to stay put for a while, which Jon and I are both okay with.

Anyways, hopefully I will get some pictures posted soon.

2009-05-24T10:34:00.002-05:00

35 weeks and counting. I like to think that once Sunday comes I am practically a week ahead...so today I start telling people I'm 36 weeks. If that makes any sense. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday...and then I will have one again on next Monday. Since tomorrow is Memorial Day I had to change the day of the week for my appointment. It will seem needless to go to the doctor twice within 5 days, but my doctor leaves the middle of next week, so I don't really have much of a choice. I think the reality of Charley's impending arrival is finally starting to sink in. I was induced with Matthias at 37 1/2 weeks because I was already almost 5 cm dilated and the doctor was concerned about me going into labor during the day while Jon was at work since he works close to an hour from home. More importantly, my doctor was concerned because labor with Justus was only 8 hours and he didn't want me to be extremely uncomfortable at home by myself. All that to say....we could have our baby girl in 2 weeks!! Of course, it isn't as likely that I will be induced as early this time, but it is a possibility. Anyways, I'm still feeling really great, although it is starting to get pretty warm. I'm in the process of sanding Justus' old crib...a project I thought would be super easy, but has actually been very time consuming. We are going to put a clear coat on it once it is done being sanded, which will hopefully be in the next few days. Once we get that done we are going to transition Matthias back into the same room as Justus...being praying for us on that one! Next will be decorating the nursery. I need to get some sheets for her crib and then we will paint the walls. I'm thinking I'm going to paint the room a light brown with a pink horizontal stripe towards the top. The quilt I will hopefully get finished before Charley arrives is pink and brown polkadots. I just love pink and brown together...it reminds me of Neapolitan ice cream...yum!

Other than that...we are actually spending time in Springfield this weekend, which has been a lot of fun. Everyone is taking a nap right now though, and I'm not much of a nap taker. Jon's sister threw their dad a surprise 60th birthday party yesterday, and all of Jon's family is here, so we decided we would stay up here since we don't get to see everyone all that often. The boys have loved playing with everyone and getting lots of attention, and we have enjoyed visiting with everyone. We are heading back home this afternoon sometime.

Justus and Matthias are doing well. They got to play outside yesterday all afternoon, which they absolutely loved! Sarah's yard is fenced in, so they pretty much could run and play where ever they wanted. No new developments with either of them. Matthias is sleeping much better. Justus has been eating really well also. He even ate an apple yesterday, which was so surprising to me. He loved it!! He must be going through a growth spurt because he's been eating a ton and taking really long naps.

Nothing else is really going on. I really need to post some recent pictures. Maybe I will do that when we get back home.

2009-05-14T20:48:00.002-05:00

So I'm thinking that Justus is about ready to start potty training. He will often tell me when he has to go "stinky"...but refuses to sit on the potty. I think it might be scary to him, but I'm not sure. He also is aware of when he is going and gets embarrassed if I ask him if he is going potty. He also has started doing a little dance if he is trying to hold it. I just really don't know where to go from this point...I'm not sure I'm ready to potty train considering I'm a few weeks away from giving birth. Maybe once the baby is born and I'm confined to the house for a couple of weeks we will start the process then. I think I may have to do a little research. Any tips or tricks would be much appreciated!

2009-05-13T12:40:00.002-05:00

It's been a pretty good week so far. Nothing too eventful, but I kind of like it that way. The boys and I have gotten to spend a little time outside almost every day. I don't know if we will make it out today since the ground is a little wet, and our lawnmower is broken, which means our grass is getting a little taller than I would like. Hopefully the boys will be content with staying in this afternoon. Anyways...I decided yesterday to add a few pictures back into the living room, which I was very excited about. Sounds like a silly thing to be excited about, but I have hated not having any personal pictures up. I spent some of the boys nap time picking out a few of my favorites. I think it looks good without being too overwhelming. It makes me feel more at home to have a few pictures back up. We have a pretty eventful weekend planned, which should be fun. Saturday we are dropping the boys off with my parents for the night and going to a BBQ with some of our college friends and then Sunday we are treating Uncle Tom to lunch since he will be leaving in just a few short weeks.

The boys are doing good. Justus is talking more and more in short sentences...even though some of them are still pretty hard to understand. He is also getting so much better at listening and helping me when I need it. If I drop something and ask him to pick it up for me he usually will and if my phone rings and I'm in a different room he will bring it to me...he will even shut the TV or lights off when we are getting ready to go "bye bye". It's kind of nice because I know in the next couple of months those things (which seem so small right now) will really help me out.

Matthias has been a little on the cranky side the past couple of weeks, and rather sleepy too. He is waking up earlier than normal...usually between 6 and 6:30. He usually wakes up at least once in the middle of the night as well. He is taking good naps though, which I'm assuming is because he is pretty wiped out. I'm not sure if his teeth are bothering him or if he is going through a growth spurt, but hopefully it will pass soon. Matthias has also been getting nose bleeds about once a week for the past few weeks. It started out as just dried blood in his nose, but now he has actually gotten a bloody nose a couple of times, and usually while he is sleeping. I'm thinking I may need to dig the humidifier out and see if that helps.

I had my 34 week appointment on Monday, and it went well. I have an appointment in two weeks and every week after that. My doctor will be out of town the 4th-11th, which makes me pretty nervous, but I don't think it will be an issue. Right now I'm really torn between asking to be induced and just allowing things to happen naturally. I've been induced with both boys, which was really nice to be able to plan for the delivery. I'm also concerned that since Jon works close to an hour from home and my labor going pretty quickly with the boys that it will be an issue making it to the hospital before I get extremely uncomfortable. Not to mention having to deal with labor for an hour while also trying to take care of two boys. It just all makes me nervous. I'll probably just talk to my doctor about my concerns at my next appointment. In the next couple of weeks I will probably pack a couple bags for if/when I go into labor...one for the boys and one for Jon and I. It's so weird that we are getting to that point!

2009-05-06T21:17:00.003-05:00

We've had a fairly productive week, and we had a great weekend as well. Saturday Jon and I dropped our boys off with my parents for the evening. We enjoyed going out to dinner and catching the new X Men movie...which I highly recommend. Sunday morning we decided to head over into Missouri to go to church with some of our friends and then got to enjoy lunch with them afterwards as well. Monday we had Charter come out and move our computer out into the living room so that we could fully devote our third (and smallest) bedroom to a nursery, which for the moment is being occupied by Matthias. We plan on transitioning Matthias back into the other bedroom with Justus once Charley arrives. I'm looking forward to turning the third bedroom into a little girl's room. Anyways...moving the computer into the living room meant we had to rearrange a few things, which took some time deciding where everything was going to go without it looking cluttered. Yesterday was a pretty normal day. The boys and I got to spend some time outside, which I think they loved! Jon is working a concert tonight, which has made for a pretty long day.

The boys are doing great...not too much to report with either of them. Matthias has officially cut all of his teeth. The only bad part is that he is now dealing with 4 canines and 4 molars working their way in...poor little guy. They don't seem to be bothering him quite as much though now that they have all broken through his gums though.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. I go to the doctor again on Monday. It's hard to believe that I only have about 7 weeks left. I really have nothing to complain about. I'm still feeling really good...the occasional heartburn, but it's nothing too horrible. Jon and I have to go in for a pre-admin/epidural consultation on June 1st. I'm not 100% sure that I am going to get an epidural, but just in case I'm going to the consultation. I haven't had the greatest experience with having an epidural, so I'm not sure if I want to go through the trouble...last time I only had the epidural for 20-30 minutes before Matthias arrived, and it hadn't even fully taken effect. I guess we'll see what happens.

2009-05-02T09:19:00.006-05:00

I'm not sure what he is saying, but it looks like it's a good story to me.

My big boy being silly.

I just love this picture for some reason. I love Matthias' smirk, the yellow wall with his green shirt and white crib, and how he's reaching to get out.

He was actually sitting still and smiled for me. He doesn't do that very often.

2009-04-29T14:30:00.002-05:00

Rain, rain go away! It's turning into such a blah week. It's actually not raining today...at least not yet, but our yard is a jungle. Oh well...hopefully next week will be a little nicer out so that the boys and I can venture outside a little more. The boys I think are in need of some fresh air. Normally when it is nice outside the boys get to go outside in the morning when we go to the Y and then again in the afternoon for a little while...until Matthias decides he wants to run into the street...that's usually our cue to head inside.

Things are going great with the boys though. I think Justus has just gone through a growth spurt because he seems a lot taller. We are going to try to buy him some pants for next winter at some garage sales, but I'm not even sure what size we should get him. I'm scared that 3T may be too small by winter. I think we actually have some 4T pants...somewhere, so I guess we will have to try them on him soon to see how they fit. Other than that Justus is doing great. Things have been going pretty smoothly since he has started being a better listener. He's not pushing as much...or really that often, and he will share when we ask him to. Not to say he doesn't still have his moments.

Matthias' two canine teeth finally popped through his gums this week. Now they just have to work the rest of the way out. I'm just glad that he only has two more teeth to cut before getting a little break...one canine and one molar. In other Matthias news...we have been noticing lately how many things Matthias picks up from Justus. He calls our cat "bees", he makes this funny noise when he wants a drink...kind of like he is sucking a straw, when he wants a bite he gets in your face and pants...the list goes on. It's just so funny how he has started copying Justus though. One thing Matthias has also started doing is throwing fits when he gets frustrated or doesn't get his way. I guess it's a sign that the terrible two's are coming. He will throw things and smack the ground or wall when he gets mad. The good thing is we know it will pass eventually.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. Only 8 weeks left!! That seems pretty crazy. I start going to the doctor every 2 weeks now until 36 weeks, which is when I switch to weekly visits. I think we are possibly going to talk to the doctor about me being induced again since it will make childcare arrangements a little easier, but we are going to wait to see how things progress. With Matthias I was induced because I was already between 4-5 cm dilated at 37 weeks, and since labor with Justus was rather quick the doctor wanted to make sure I didn't deliver Matthias at home. I guess the same sort of thing could happen...we'll just have to wait and see. I'm still feeling really great...nothing to complain about except for the occasional heartburn, but it hasn't been that bad. I'm thankful that it hasn't been too hot out...and I'm hoping it stays that way for the next few weeks.

I will try to post some pictures within the next few days, so check back!

2009-04-22T16:27:00.004-05:00

It's finally feeling like spring! We are super excited that the weather has finally started to feel more like spring. The boys love being outside, and Jon and I both enjoy being able to take them into the backyard to burn up some of their energy. Hopefully we will plan a trip to the zoo sometime soon, or some other fun outdoor activity.

Justus is continuing to learn more and more. We are still working on his colors and alphabet. He is a little stubborn and doesn't like to repeat things, so it's hard to know if he is catching on to the alphabet or colors. I guess no matter what he will get there eventually. His vocabulary continues to grow and he is able to put quite a few little sentences together. He is listening to me much better during the day...even though he still has his moments. We are still working on teaching him about the potty. It seems like he is starting to understand, but doesn't like to sit on the potty when he thinks he might have to actually go. He will come up to me and say "stinky", which I'm thinking means he has to go because a lot of times he isn't really stinky, but he usually is within 30 minutes or so. I try to get him to sit on the potty when he tells me that, but he won't let me take his pants or his diaper off. I guess at least it seems like a step in the right direction since he seems to be starting to understand when he has to go potty.

Matthias is getting so big. I'm just amazed at how tall he is getting. He is learning more and more words, which is kind of nice. He is becoming more independent and is getting better at holding hands and walking on his own. Up until a couple of weeks ago he would fight me if I wanted him to hold my hand, but now he will usually let me and will walk beside me instead of trying to get away. This is so comforting since in a couple of months I won't be able to carry him. I'm thinking though I may have to start using the double stroller a little more...even for short trips into the Y or the doctor's office or places like that. One of Matthias' canine teeth finally broke through this week. I'm hoping this means the end of teething is in sight. Two of the other ones should be popping through anytime. Matthias has been pretty sleepy lately, so I'm wondering if he is going through a growth spurt. He sleeps well at night and takes good naps, but seems to be tired way before bedtime. We have been trying to keep him up, but sometimes he is just too cranky to fight with.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. I'm feeling really good, although I can tell that I am pregnant. I'm not sleeping as well and I get worn out pretty easily. I think it's chasing after two toddlers! My next doctor's appointment is next week and then I will go every two weeks after that. I never heard from the doctor's office about my glucose screening, which means it came back normal. I'm very thankful for that because the long test is no fun. In the next few weeks we will have to go in for our pre-admittance appointment, which just doesn't seem right. June feels so far away, but it's not at all. We are done clothes shopping for Charley now, which is kind of a relief. We still need to get bibs, socks and pacifiers, but those things are pretty cheap and easy to come by. Hopefully I will be able to finish Charley's quilt in the next few weeks. Jon and I have to go pick out the fabric to finish it.

We are still trying to sell our house, and have had a few people who have said they were interested, but still no offers on the table. We were hoping to have the house sold before Charley arrived, but it's looking like we probably won't be moving before she is born unless we get an offer within the next couple of weeks since closing usually takes close to a month. Hopefully the warmer weather will bring more people out to look at the house. It's such a weird market right now that it is so hard to say what will happen. We are in no rush to sell and are being patient.

Lots of Pictures!

2009-04-14T20:11:00.010-05:00

I think Matthias looks a lot like Justus in this picture. What do you think?

Me at 27 weeks. I feel like my belly has gotten even bigger since then. I'm 30 weeks now. Only 10 weeks to go!!

Justus being cute.

The boys with Grandma K.

This is Justus' favorite movie. He refers to it as "donkey".

My preppy little boy.

Matthias somehow got Justus' sucker and was chasing Neifi around trying to hit him with the suckers. Matthias thought it was hilarious!

Charley's closet. We have bought very few things in here...most of it has been given to us, and the things we have bought we have spent less than $20.

Matthias is getting pretty good at using the spoon.

This was my little project. The dresser was pretty rough...it had been Jon's when he was a boy, so it had seen better days. I think it looks pretty good now though.

2009-04-07T20:10:00.002-05:00

Sorry I've been absent for the past two weeks. All my free time has been spent backing our pictures up online. Jon and I both fear losing all of them if our computer were to crash, and so I finally got to putting them online. I don't know why I hadn't done it before, but that's okay...it's done now. We haven't really been that busy other than that though. We do have a busy weekend planned, but that's life I suppose.

So Justus has somewhat gotten over his clingy phase, which is very nice. He still will be clingy with me when I drop him off at the Y, but it's not everyday anymore...more like once a week, which I can handle. He has been very good lately, which gives me hope for actually being able to go out during the day with three small children. He has been listening much better and has been doing well with not pushing Matthias and with sharing. I'm hoping that we are turning a corner. He is talking much more...although he doesn't enunciate very well sometimes. I will probably ask the doctor about that if it doesn't get any better. He is able to put little phrases together, which will hopefully lead to short sentences soon.

Matthias is teething once again, so the past couple of days have been pretty rough. His canine teeth are all coming in and the top two are so close to breaking the gumline. He is also dealing with three of his molars pushing the rest of the way through. He's been taking ibuprofen the past couple of days, but he still is pretty cranky and will wake up several times in the middle of the night. I'm looking forward to him being done with cutting teeth! On Friday of last week Matthias went in for his 15/18 month check up. I totally forgot that he needed to go at 15 months, so we just combined the two. I didn't write down the exact numbers because his little book got wet in the diaper bag from a babywipe, so I will have to write them down next time we go, but I do know that he was in the 75th percentile on height, weight, and head circumference.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. I'll be 29 weeks tomorrow...only 11 weeks to go...but hopefully more like 9 : ). I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, which went well. I had my glucose test done, so hopefully that will come back okay. I go back in 3 weeks...and then every two weeks after that. Charley is a mover and is getting bigger, so I can definitely see her moving around. She even wakes me up sometimes in the morning with her daily aerobic routine. We are still working on the winter wardrobe. We haven't really made it to many garage sales yet, but we will hopefully get that taken care of within the next few weeks. Even if we don't she is set for the summer months.

I will have to post pictures soon...I have to upload some from our camera, which I haven't done because I've been so busy upload pictures to shutterfly. I'll try to work on that in the next couple of days.

2009-03-26T20:34:00.006-05:00

It was a busy week last week. Jon worked Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Scottrade. He was gone until well after the boys bedtime each night. It made for a long weekend since the boys and I didn't get to see him very much at all. We were glad when the event was over. The rest of the week went pretty well though.

So we think that Justus is going through some sort of separation anxiety. At first he was only throwing a fit when I would drop him off in the children's center at the Y, but Sunday at church he did the same thing with Jon. We have no idea what is causing this, but we are definitely looking forward to it being over. Other than that though he has been doing really well. Time outs seem to be helping. He seems to be able to grasp the concept of time out...along with being sent to his room and spankings, which are usually only given after he has been put in time out for the same thing a couple times. It seems he gets smarter every day, and remembers things that we don't even remember. His vocabulary is getting bigger every day as well. One of his new developments is acting like a cat. I don't know where it came from, but he will get down and crawl around and "meow". It's pretty funny and I should probably get a video of him doing before the phase passes.

Matthias is doing well also. I totally missed his 15 month check-up, so we are headed to the doctor next week to combine his 15 and 18 month check-ups. Can you believe he is almost 18 months old!?! I sure can't. He is getting so big, and sometimes I forget how big he really is. I always think of him as little since he is smaller than Justus. He is able to reach things that I don't think he should be able to, fit into clothes that I think shouldn't fit him, and talk more than I think he should be able.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. Charley is getting big and I can feel her kicks/punches/wiggles ALL the time. She is a mover...that's for sure. I will be 28 weeks on Wednesday next week. 28 weeks is such a huge sigh of relief since most babies born after that point survive with little to no lifelong effects on their health. I have a doctor's appoint April 6th and after that I start going every two weeks. I know that will make the time fly even faster. We have most of her wardrobe taken care of...except for winter clothes, which we are going to work on over the next few weeks. We also need to get receiving blankets, burp rags, sheets, and that sort of thing. Almost everything we have like that is very blue. We aren't too worried about it and we can use the blue if we need to, but of course I would rather not! I have also been a bow making machine. One of my friends taught me how to make bows last week, and so I have been hard at work making bows ever since. I was lucky enough to learn how to make bows the same week that Hobby Lobby was having a sale on all of their ribbon. Charley has a pretty good collection going.

Anyways...I finally added some pictures. Hope you enjoy!!

Charley's quilt...at least the front of it.

Matthias was so proud that he got the bowl of mac n cheese off the table.

Justus was rockin' out with his dad's iPod.

The boys having fun playing together...this is rare.

The new paint color in the boys room.

2009-03-16T15:11:00.003-05:00

What a roller coaster of a week! As many of you know Jon and I attend First Baptist Church Maryville and were present during the service in which our pastor was shot and killed. We are doing well, but the week has had it's fill of emotions. Please continue to pray for the Winters' family, our church family, and the shooter. We know that God is in control of all things and trust His plan.

Sorry to start this entry on not so happy news, so moving on to something that is happier. The boys are doing great! Justus is getting so big and is learning more and more everyday. He is starting to recognize more things and remember them also...including people that he doesn't see on a regular basis. It's amazing to see how much he remembers. It seems that lately Justus has been a little more clingy with me. I'm not sure what the cause is, but he definitely hates when I leave him at the YMCA or at the nursery. He has been clinging to me when I go to leave and starts to cry. I don't know if he sees his brother getting picked up all the time and wants the same or if it is something else. At home he has been pretty good. Time out seems to be working a little, but I still don't think he fully gets it even though we try to explain it to him.

Matthias seems to be getting bigger...maybe going through a growth spurt. He is getting so tall. I can't believe he is almost 17 months old. Where has the time gone!?! He is becoming a little more independent, which is kind of nice in a way. He is starting to like to walk when we get out of the car. He isn't very good at holding hands yet though, so we are working on that. He just likes running around like a wild man : ).

The pregnancy is going well. I feel as though my belly has really "popped" in the past few weeks. I actually am starting to look pregnant rather than like I just gained weight. Charley is getting stronger and I can see her moving around now pretty easily at times. Jon and I didn't make it to any garage sales this weekend, but we know there will be plenty of them for us to choose from in the coming weeks.

This weekend was a pretty busy one. The boys went to my parents house Saturday and stayed the night. Jon and I got to paint the boys room and organize/clean out our storage shed. The boys room turned out really well. It's a light blue, but it is pretty vibrant. We thought it would be much lighter than it is, but we really like it. We ended up getting rid of quite a bit out of the shed and it felt great to get it all organized. We are planning on having a garage sale in the next few weeks so that we can clean it out even more.

I really need to post some pictures. Hopefully I will have time to do that sometime this week.

2009-03-07T20:46:00.002-06:00

Life has been pretty busy lately. I think maybe the pregnancy is starting to catch up with. I just feel busy all the time and as if I am doing way more than i actually am...if that makes sense. Things are good though...no complaints!!

We have a pretty calm week ahead, and next Saturday the boys are staying with Mimi and PaPa so that Jon and I can re-paint the boys room. Justus has been picking at the wallpaper border and it was looking very rough. Jon and I decided that we had better just take it down...not only because we didn't like the looks of it, but we figured potential buyers would just see it as a task that needed to be done...and the fewer of those we have the better!! So I took the border down this week, which went very quickly and was very easy. We are planning on picking out a paint color and painting it on Saturday while the boys are gone and letting it air out over night. We are planning on cleaning out our shed on Saturday while the boys are gone as well. We are going to have a garage sale in the next few weeks and want to prepare for that, but the shed is also in need of some major organization. It will be a busy Saturday, but we will get lots of things done that we have been putting off.

Anyways...the boys are doing great. Justus is doing pretty good. He is really starting to hit that independent/terrible two stage. He has been pushing his brother a lot, and will throw fits when he doesn't get his way...screams and tears included. He has even gotten put in time out at the YMCA a few times. We know he is probably just testing his boundaries, but it is so frustrating because nothing we do seems to help him not to do those things. Time out has been helping a little bit, but even though we explain to him what he did and that he's not to do it again...he does it again. Oh, well...it will hopefully pass.........eventually. Another new development of Justus'...sleeping with the light on. I don't know if he is scared of the dark or what it is, but we will put him to bed and he will get up and turn the light on and fall asleep. We were going back in and shutting the light off, but he would just get up at some point (in the middle of the night) and turn it back on. I would also shut it off if I got up in the middle of the night and noticed it back on, but Jon said it was usually back on when he got up in the morning. We decided that if he turns it back on to just leave it on. Since we stopped shutting it off he seems to be sleeping better. We want to put some sort of night light in his room, but we fear that he will mess with it since the two outlets in the room are exposed. Other than that...Justus has been doing really well. He is well behaved most of the time and loves being silly.

Matthias is doing well also. He is a little chatter box most of the time, which I just think is adorable. He has a pretty good vocabulary now, and can get his point across with words and pointing. We have discovered that Matthias loves to be outside...and is a little explorer. Justus would usually stick pretty close to us in the yard and not wander away...but Matthias is just the opposite. We have to keep our eyes on him at all times otherwise he will wander off...and usually head straight for the front yard and then out into the road. He really loves the road for some odd reason, which makes me very nervous. Yesterday I was picking up some sticks in the yard when I realized Matthias was in the ditch and heading toward the road. He is completely trusting and fearless all at the same time.

The pregnancy is going well. Charley is getting bigger and stronger every day it seems. She is a mover...that's for sure. She is pretty active all the time. We had our doctor's appointment Thursday...with an ultrasound. She is close to 2 lbs. now and is doing really well. My next appointment is the beginning of April. I have to get my glucose screening done at that appointment, so hopefully that will come back fine. Today Jon and I went to a big garage sale at the high school in Edwardsville. We got a ton of clothes for $8!! We came in about 30 minutes before it ended and cleaned up at one table. They let us fill up two tote bags for $5. I think we are pretty set as far as summer clothes go...now we just have to work on fall/winter clothes. I also need to figure out how to make some bows to go with her new clothes!!

Nothing else is really going on. We are super excited that the weather is getting nicer and that we can get out of the house a little bit!! I'm glad the boys love running around outside...they have no idea how much energy they are burning!!

2009-02-23T14:06:00.005-06:00

We had a crazy weekend filled with lots of travel to and from both Mt. Vernon and Springfield. It was busy, and I am glad to be home with no plans of going anywhere this coming weekend!!

The boys are doing well. Justus is going through a little growth spurt...at least I think he is. He is eating really well and seems to really be needing his sleep these days. Something new he has started doing is telling us "no" when we ask him to repeat us...not usually in a defiant way (at least not yet). We will ask him to repeat the alphabet and also ask what sounds animals make and he will say..."no". I guess he's getting to that terrible two age.

Matthias is still cutting teeth, but isn't nearly as cranky as he had been a couple of weeks ago. I'm looking forward to him cutting the teeth, so that he will go back to his normal eating patterns. He has been a little picky lately and not wanting to eat a whole lot. I guess it could just be a stage and not his gums, but he usually isn't so picky. I guess we'll see what happens once his teeth come in. He is doing really well with repeating sounds and words. I'm constantly impressed by his ability to repeat words to us. I know it is probably because he hears his older brother doing it so much, but I'm still impressed.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. I have a doctor's appointment next week with another ultrasound, so we are pretty excited about that. Charley is pretty active, which I just love! I'm beginning to get heartburn on occasion, but usually only after I eat a big meal or anything tomato based. I'm hoping this is as bad as it gets, but we will have to wait and see. I had heartburn throughout most of my pregnancy with Justus..pretty much everyday non-stop, but if that is the worse thing I have to go through than I think I'm doing pretty good. Another pregnancy related problem....leg cramps. I get them almost every night! They are pretty uncomfortable...but not too bad.

Here are those pictures from spending the afternoon outside. I hope you enjoy!!

2009-02-13T20:37:00.002-06:00

So we had a little bout of running noses and coughs last week...at least the boys did. Everything has returned to normal now, which is good. The boys were pretty cranky last week, which wasn't very fun for me. They both wanted me at the same time last week, which got very overwhelming at times. They both had a loss of appetite and would hardly eat anything. I'm just glad that they have returned to their normal selves now!!

Justus is doing well, and his vocabulary is continuing to grow. I think he learns at least one new word a day and is getting good at saying little phrases....like "there you go", "it's alright", and "there it is". It's definitely an exciting time for us to teach him new phrases and words. He's also been eating a little bit later which makes me think that he is going through a growth spurt. He seems to always be hungry and is able to eat quite a bit. He ate a whole corndog today, which I am still shocked by. That's a lot of food for him considering he usually just picks at his food. Justus is also getting to that "terrible two's" stage. He will throw himself on the ground and kick his feet when he doesn't get his way. Thankfully it hasn't happened in public...but I know that will probably soon change.

We've officially moved Matthias into our third bedroom. Only his crib though...not his clothes. We were getting sick of moving the pack n play around, and figured that if we were going to keep him in the third bedroom that we might as well move his crib as well. So we did that this week and moved the twin sized bed into the boys' room. Matthias I think likes sleeping in his crib a lot better than the pack n play. Anyways...Matthias is teething right now. He has been a little cranky lately and his gums are pretty puffy. I think he is cutting all four of his canine teeth and a couple molars as well. Poor little guy!! I'm hoping they all come in and we can be done with it. We've been giving him tylenol about once a day...usually before bed time because he hasn't been sleeping that well...I assume because his gums are hurting. The doctor actually suggested ibuprofen though since it is anti-inflammatory, so we are going to pick some of that up tomorrow.

I'm currently 21 weeks pregnant. Still hard to believe I'm halfway done...and that we are expecting a little girl. I'm feeling her move around now and have felt many kicks and even a little case of the hiccups. I usually feel her at night when I am laying in bed or am sitting really still. So far things are continuing to go great. We have another ultrasound March 5th, when I will be 24 weeks. I can't believe we will be welcoming baby #3 in about 4 months!! We are planning on buying some clothes at garage sales once they start up in the spring. We have already gotten a few things thanks to some of our friends who were getting rid of their baby girl's old clothes. We really haven't bought anything yet besides the one little dress and I got a little onesie that says "Daddy is my hero". I'm sure we'll get a few things though. We just don't want to go overboard, which I'm finding may be hard with a little girl since they have so many more clothes to choose from than little boys do. Today I made a baby sling. It's very cute! I need to take a picture of it. I'm pretty excited about using it already. I wish I would have made one a long time ago for the boys. Too late for that now I guess.

Anyways...I have lots of pictures to upload from our time outside in the 70 degree weather we had. I'll have to do that some time next week!

2009-02-05T20:39:00.009-06:00

Justus helping make cookies. He soon got bored and left the table.

He came back when the cookies were done though.

Justus and his clown nose.

Jonathan and Justus having a little fun playing the guitar. I'm not sure which one enjoyed it more.

Charley's first dress. I'm super excited to buy little girl clothes...and for garage sale season to start!

My first sewing project. I think it turned out pretty cute.

2009-02-02T20:47:00.002-06:00

Things have been a little crazy the past couple of weeks...or at least it has felt that way....maybe it was just all the anticipation leading up to our ultrasound. I'm not really sure. But, things are going great! Jon has just started a very busy week of working at the Scottrade Center. He is working Monday Night Raw tonight, Celine Concert Wednesday, and Blues games both Thursday and Friday. He is going to be exhausted, but then he only has to work one more Blues game towards the end of the month. He knows it will be pretty miserable but at the same time he will probably make double this week what he would have made valeting for a whole month. It will probably be a rough week for all of us, but we know it is all worth it.

Anyways...the boys are doing well. Justus is getting so good at repeating words and has now mastered most of his animal sounds. His newest phrase he says is "I yah you"...which of course is "I love you". It melts my heart almost every time he says it. The other day after having a pretty rough day with the boys (they were both super cranky all day), Justus was playing and I was eating a bowl of cereal and he climbed up next to me, gave me a kiss, and said "I yah you". I almost started crying! It was unprompted and much needed. Other than that he is really good at repeating the alphabet and sometimes even knows the letter that comes next before I even say it. We are trying to work on numbers, but that isn't going as well because he has had his own little way of counting to 3 for quite a while, and isn't wanting to change it. So when I say "1" he says "do dee" but will never say one..it's all like one word to him. Oh well...maybe we'll move onto colors for the time being.

Matthias is talking a little more as well. He knows no, thank you, duck, nose, ball, and banana. He may know more, but these are just the ones I have picked up on. He is doing pretty good with switching to a sippy cup, but it is still going to be a while before he uses one exclusively. We bought a new sippy cup..the Dr. Brown's one. He really likes it, which is good because he wouldn't really take the ones we already had. Hopefully we can switch him to the ones we have once he is used to not taking the bottle.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. I am almost 20 weeks. It's crazy to think that I am halfway done!! Jon and I are pretty excited about a baby girl. We are looking forward to the change. I think that Jon is a little more stressed than I am about raising a girl, but he's more excited than stressed. One of the fun things I have got to do is make Charley a blanket. Side note: Now would probably be a good time to say that we've decided on a name...Charley. Thanks to my parents I now am the owner of a sewing machine. My first project was a baby blanket for our baby girl. It turned out pretty good...not perfect, but I'm okay with it. Next up I am going to make a baby sling. I'm pretty excited about that as well. Eventually I will tackle a bigger project...like a quilt, but I'm starting small.

I have a bunch of pictures to post, but need to get some stuff done before heading to bed. I'll try and post them later this week!!

It's a...

2009-01-27T16:14:00.004-06:00

We had our ultrasound yesterday and are pleased to announce that we are expecting a baby GIRL! We were super shocked when we found out, but we're looking forward to a change of pace. Everything looked great and the doctor said she is the right size for my due date, so that isn't changing. We are still discussing names, but we'll have one picked out soon. Everything else is going great! Nothing new to report.

2009-01-15T10:52:00.012-06:00

Things here are continuing to go well. The boys are doing great. We have split them up at night, which has just been great. Not only are they sleeping better, but it is a lot less stressful for Jon and I since we no longer have to worry about them keeping or waking each other up. It's wonderful!! We have no idea what we are going to do when baby #3 comes, but we'll figure that out when the time comes.

Justus is still doing really well with learning new words. It's a lot of fun to teach him new words. He is even putting little phrases together, which is also good. I think he is also in the middle of a growth spurt...that or his pants are shrinking : ). I'm just hoping he stays in his 2t pants through the winter so that we don't have to go buy anymore pants. I'm looking forward to garage sales this summer to get some 3t and 4t clothes for him.

Matthias is doing well also. He is starting to put more sounds together and I'm pretty sure he can say "thank you" now...although not in context. He's getting really good at imitating sounds as well, so I'm sure it won't be long before he is saying a few new words. I'm thinking that he is teething right now, which isn't very fun. He hasn't been very cranky, but he hasn't wanted to eat much of anything. He is usually a very good eater, but I can't get him to eat hardly anything right now...except for bananas. He is definitely due to get some new teeth. He only has 5. Justus' teeth came in pretty late as well, but his started coming in all at once. I'm hoping that might be the case with Matthias as well. I would rather him be cranky for a few days and get it all over with than spread it out. I guess we'll see what happens.

In pregnancy news...I am currently 17 weeks. We are getting super close to our ultrasound...it's scheduled the last week of the month. We are very excited to find out the gender and to also pick out a name. We thought we had names picked out, but I keep changing my mind. We decided we would wait until after we find out the gender to look for a name...that way we are looking for one instead of two. I'm not sure if I have felt the baby move or not. In the next couple of weeks I'm sure it will become more obvious.

I hope you enjoy all the pictures from Christmas and from the past couple weeks!

The boys enjoying a little Christmas morning candy.

Justus' new guitar. He loves it and dances when he plays it.

The boys got a gumball machine for Christmas. We are going to use it as a reward when we start potty training.

Stacking pegs...he did that all by himself.

The boys love climbing on the high chair.

2009-01-05T11:20:00.004-06:00

Things have been pretty busy, but have finally settled down. Christmas was wonderful. The boys really had a great time and loved getting new toys! Christmas Eve was spent in Mt. Vernon and Christmas day was spent at home with Jon's dad and sister. We really had a wonderful time relaxing and hanging out with family.

The boys are doing great. Justus is starting to repeat words after us, which is kind of exciting since he hasn't really done that in the past. We can get him to say a variety of new words and we're even trying to teach him the alphabet! We've also been working on new animal sounds, which is going pretty good. He can do cat, dog, pig, cow, sheep...but for some reason has a problem with remembering what the horse says. He'll get it eventually though.

We have officially taken the pacifier away from Matthias. We weren't sure how it was going to go, so we had been putting it off, but we decided with the new year we would get rid of it. It has actually been a pretty easy transition. The first night he didn't like it too much and cried for at least 30 minutes before finally falling asleep. He woke up a couple times in the beginning of the night and cried, but by the time we went to bed he was out for the night and didn't wake up until the next morning. Since that first night he hasn't cried a bit, so we are excited that he has adjusted well. Next up is the bottle. That one is going to be a little harder, but we're hoping it will only take a few weeks. We are going to try to eliminate them one at a time. As of right now he doesn't care for the sippy cup too much, but we know he will get used to it.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. I am almost 16 weeks now! It seems to be going so fast! I had an appointment last week and the doctor said everything looks great and the baby's heart rate is 150. Our next appointment will be midpoint, which means we will get our ultrasound!! We are super excited to find out if the baby is a boy or girl. Our appointment is the last week of the month...I can't wait!!! I still haven't felt the baby move, but the doctor said it is still early, but should start to feel the baby within the next couple weeks. That by far is my favorite part of being pregnant!

I need to update with pictures from Christmas. I'll try to get to that sometime this week!!

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-22T07:23:00.017-06:00

It's almost Christmas!! We have most of our shopping done, but we still have to grab a few things. I'm not looking forward to the crowds, but it's our own fault for not getting done sooner. We are definitely looking forward to Christmas though!!!

We had fun celebrating Justus' birthday with cake and ice cream and he even got some presents from his aunt and uncle to open. He had a good time and even blew the candles out all on his own!!

The boys went to the doctor yesterday and they are doing great!! They both had to get shots, which they didn't like...but they were over it pretty quickly. Justus is close to the 90th percentile on height and weight and Matthias is around the 75th on both. They are getting big!!

I hope everyone has a great Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus!! Enjoy the pictures!!

Justus decorating Christmas cookies.

The boys love climbing in the clothes basket

Our tiny little tree. The horse was Justus' ornament pick.

He's too cool

Justus enjoying his birthday cake and ice cream

I missed him blowing out the candles because my batteries were dead..so this is right afterwards.

His new choo-choo belt

Opening presents on his birthday

Stacking pegs

Opening gifts at his birthday party

Riding his new bike!!

Playing with his Thomas train and track

He loves his choo-choo (he's giving Thomas kisses)

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Two Years Old Already!?!

2008-12-18T11:52:00.002-06:00

So tomorrow marks Justus' 2nd birthday! Where has the time gone?? I can't believe he is going to be 2. We celebrated his birthday a little early since it seemed to make the most sense to us, so that we weren't celebrating a couple days before Christmas. Justus had a good party and got some fun gifts. His favorite...a BIKE! He loves it, but unfortunately doesn't get to ride it very much since it's cold out. Maybe we should have planned that a little better : ). Oh well...come spring it will be like he is getting it all over again. Justus also got a little wooden Thomas the tank set from his Aunt Sarah. He loves playing with his "choo-choo". Had we known how much it was going to entertain him we would have gotten him one a long time ago. Justus' party was cut short due to his lack of a nap, but he still had a really good time. We even got to save the cake since he never made it to that portion of the party. We are looking forward to singing and blowing out candles tomorrow..his actual birthday!

The past couple of days the boys have been feeling icky...mostly Matthias though. Justus got sick last Friday, but only got sick 2 times and was over it within a matter of hours. He still didn't feel very well most of the day, but was pretty much himself. Matthias on the other hand seems to be stretching it out a little longer. He got sick on Monday morning and then seemed fine, so I decided yesterday to head back to the Y since I hadn't gone since last week due to Justus being sick. I wanted to make sure both boys were over being sick before taking them to be around the other children. While I was working out one of the workers came in and got me and told me that Matthias had just gotten sick, but seemed okay with it and was still smiley and laughing. I decided we better just head home...even if it was unrelated I wanted to be cautious. So he was fine yesterday, but then this morning when Jon went in to give him his bottle he had gotten sick again. He has been pretty clingy and sleepy this morning. He won't eat much, but will drink milk and juice. He hasn't gotten sick again, so we'll see what happens the rest of the day. The good thing is that neither Jon and I have gotten sick although Tuesday I was feeling rather icky for a good portion of the day, but nothing ever came from it. Hopefully once Matthias is done with today this little bug will move right along.

Next week will be a busy one...Monday the boys have doctor's appointments and then Wednesday we are headed to Mt. Vernon to celebrate Christmas with my parents and Thursday is Christmas, which we are celebrating here at home, but Jon's dad and sister will be joining us. We are looking forward to spending time with our family and opening gifts with the boys! I will have to post some pictures from Justus' birthday party later so check back!!

An Actual Update and Some Pictures!

2008-12-08T12:57:00.010-06:00

Things here are going great!! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent in Springfield with Jon's family. It was great to see everyone and for them to see the boys! We also got to see some friends while there, which is always fun.

Things have been somewhat busy, but busy is good sometimes I suppose. It seems like there is a lot going on with Christmas parties, birthdays and holidays. This weekend will be the busiest for us by far. We have a Christmas party on Saturday night and Sunday we are celebrating Justus' birthday with the family. The boys are staying the night with their grandparents on Saturday night so that Jon and I can finish Christmas shopping for the boys and attend our Sunday School Christmas party. We are excited to celebrate Justus' birthday on Sunday and to give Justus his birthday present...a bike! We know he is going to love it!! After this weekend I think things will calm down a little. I think things seem more busy than they are due to Jon working a second job since we have fewer nights to get things done. The good news is that Jon is taking a little time off from his second job, so for the next few weeks we won't have to worry about him being gone on the weekends. I am especially thankful for this!!

Justus is continuing to do well. He is talking more and more and is even getting better at repeating words for us. He is getting so big and it is hard to believe he will soon be 2!! Justus has recently discovered his love for cartoons! Every morning he gets to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He just loves it!! It's pretty cute to see him just sitting on the couch with his blanket watching Mickey....although he calls him "Hot Dog" because they do the Hot Dog Dance at the end of every show. When they play music he even bobs his head!

Matthias is now quite the walker. He is getting around really well! He also can get into a lot more! He also loves to climb and really loves getting on the furniture. He has started eating more lately and will eat whatever we put in front of him. He loves to eat! Justus was the exact opposite and still is for the most part. Justus hates most vegetables and is really picky and just kind of picks at his food most of the time. Matthias loves most vegetables and will eat and eat. I guess every child is different.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. I am starting to feel back to normal. I'm not nearly as tired as I had been and no more feeling sick! My pants are beginning to get tight and I know it won't be long before I have to go shopping for some maternity pants. I don't go back to the doctor until the 29th of this month. I am continuing to go to the gym, but my workout is very light. The doctor told me to continue going because it would help with labor and keeping weight gain to the minimal.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!!

Matthias' first time facing forward in his car seat.

Justus loves candy!

Daddy being silly with his boys!

Matthias loves being able to get on the furniture.

Our littlest walker!

Justus loves giving Matthias hugs and kisses. Matthias usually doesn't know what his brother is trying to do when he comes close though.

It's time to color!!

Justus loves wearing his dad's stocking cap around the house.

Announcing....

2008-11-30T16:00:00.002-06:00

The Klestinski's are expecting baby #3!! We are very excited about adding another addition to our family. I am almost 11 weeks now. I had my first doctor's appointment this past Monday and even got to hear the baby's heartbeat. My due date is June 24th!! My next appointment is December 29th. So far things are going great. I have been super tired, but that is starting to go away now. I was also pretty nauseous for a couple of weeks, but I am very thankful that has passed. I will keep everyone updated on all things regarding the pregnancy!!

2008-11-21T19:37:00.003-06:00

We have a walker!! Matthias is now walking...all the time. He just started last week walking without being prompted by Jon or I. He loves it now! I just love watching him toddle around. It's so cute. I forgot how wobbly babies are when they first start walking. He falls over all the time, but just pulls himself back up and starts all over. Just another little milestone in our baby boy's life.

Justus is doing great. He is sleeping in a little more now, which is kind of nice. He is also taking much better naps. I think this helps him be in better spirits throughout the day, which is a nice gift to me.

We are all gearing up for Thanksgiving festivities. This weekend we are going to my parents house to celebrate with them and then Thursday we are traveling to spend a couple of days with Jon's family. I am especially looking forward to Thanksgiving this year because it also happens to be Jon and I's 4th anniversary. We don't know that we are going to do anything too exciting, but we are hoping to be able to go out and at least get dessert or something depending on what is open Thanksgiving night.

I will plan on uploading some pictures some time next week. I've been kind of bad about that lately.

2008-11-11T11:57:00.003-06:00

I guess it's been a while since I have done an actual update. Things here are going well. We are trying to adjust to the colder weather. Matthias has turned 1, which is pretty exciting. He really loved his party...especially the cake. He liked all of his presents, but I think that Justus enjoys them even more! Matthias is getting very close to walking. He can take quite a few steps on his own, but would much rather walk on his knees. He just has no interest in walking at this point. He is getting so big. I just can't get over it!!

Justus is doing well also. He is still trying to adjust to the time change. I don't know if he will or not. He is getting up between 6-6:30. Jon usually takes care of him until he leaves for work, so I'm thankful that I don't have to get up until 7ish. It's made the day feel a lot longer since he wants to take a nap now at about 10:30. Sometimes he takes really good naps, and other days he barely takes a nap at all. Oh well. Other than that he is doing great. His appetite has now come back. He was hardly eating anything for a few weeks, but now it seems as if he is always hungry. He has been a really good eater lately.

Our house is still on the market, but we have had few showings in the past couple of months. Our realtor had told us from the beginning though that if the house wasn't under contract by the end of October it most likely wouldn't sell until spring. We are okay with that, and just waiting patiently for the right person to come along. We know that God's timing is perfect, so it will happen when it happens.

Matthias' 1st Year

2008-11-03T12:56:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday Matthias!!

2008-11-01T08:05:00.008-05:00

Today's the day this guy was born....

And here's a little walk down memory lane...

Birth Announcement

3 Months Old

6 Months Old

9 Months Old

1 Year Old

Happy Birthday Matthias!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

2008-10-31T11:37:00.004-05:00

Trip to the zoo and Pumpkinland

2008-10-26T07:50:00.010-05:00

On Friday we decided to head over to Pumpkinland. We didn't realize just how cold it really was until we got there. It was FREEZING!! And it was also starting to sprinkle. I think that Justus still had a good time, but we only stayed for about 30 minutes because it was so cold. Justus really loved these little tractors, but doesn't quite understand how to peddle yet. I don't think the cold bothered him nearly as much as it bothered Jon and I, but we didn't want to risk him getting sick or anything.

The boys and I headed to the zoo this past week to meet up with some of our friends. The great thing about the zoo is that it is FREE! Another great thing...the first hour the zoo is open the carousel and children's zoo are both free also. We took advantage of the children's zoo being free and got there early. Justus had so much fun just being able to run around. He didn't care too much for most of the animals or at least didn't pay much attention to them. Matthias just rode in the stroller and checked things out.

2008-10-22T10:50:00.007-05:00

Sorry it's been a while since I've updated. Things have been kind of busy. The boys are doing great!! We have been able to enjoy the beautiful weather by going outside and playing and also enjoying the zoo and this Friday we are heading to the pumpkin patch. Look for pictures of both of those sometime this weekend.

Matthias is almost 1!! Can you believe it!?! His birthday is next weekend. I can't believe a whole year has almost gone by since we welcomed Matthias into our family. He is getting so close to being able to walk! He can now take a step, but one is about it. He really prefers to crawl or walk on his knees. He'll get there though. He is switched over to milk and is starting to eat more soft solids. He is a really good eater unlike his brother at his age. We are celebrating his birthday next weekend with all the Grandparents. Matthias will get his first taste of cake, which I'm sure he will love!!

Justus is sure getting big and can now officially open doors. We have to keep the doors to the outside locked at all times so that he can just wander out the door. He is also talking a lot more, and even tries to repeat things now. I can't believe he is going to be 2 soon! Time sure flies! Justus is going through a phase right now where he doesn't really want to eat much...unless it is what we are having. It's been kind of nice sitting at the table and enjoying dinner as a family. I guess he loves that he is being like us.

Here are some pictures to enjoy! I will try to get some more posted this weekend of the zoo and pumpkin patch!

Picture Time

2008-10-09T20:52:00.009-05:00

Matthias got his first haircut this week. He sat still the entire time (only because I distracted him with a treat) and didn't mind the hair clippers either. Here are the before and after shots:

Before

After

Jon surprised me and took Tuesday off this week. We decided to head over to the Science Center to take advantage of his day off, and get in a little extra family time. Justus had a blast running around the science center and looking and touching all the exhibits. It's not very often that he gets to run free!

Our neighbor has a slide and a swing set. We have been spending a lot of time out there lately. We are lucky that her "baby" is 18 and doesn't use either anymore. The boys both love being outside and Justus loves swinging and climbing up the ladder and going down the slide.

2008-10-06T15:06:00.003-05:00

It was a busy week last week. We were gearing up for our garage sale. I spent a lot of time out in our shed while the boys were napping going through all of our stuff last week. It was a beautiful week, so I actually didn't mind being outside. The garage sale went okay. We only made $80, which I'm not sure was worth the effort. We did have to compete with a big subdivision sale, so I think that kind of hurt us. Oh well though. It was a beautiful Saturday for Jon and I to be outside with the boys, so we didn't mind.

We think Justus is getting close to ready for potty training. He will sometimes take his diaper off when it is wet, and when he is stinky he will usually tell us. It would be wonderful to start potty training soon, but we are going to wait for Justus to give us more signs that he is ready. We want it to be as easy and enjoyable for everyone as possible. Other than that Justus is doing well. He is starting to use more words, which is nice although he still whines quite a bit. We know we will get there eventually though.

Matthias is officially off of formula. We finished up the last little bit that we had and now he is drinking straight milk. He is adjusting pretty well, but we think his tummy isn't liking the change. He seems to be having a rougher time going poo lately, so if the problem continues we will talk to the boys doctor about it.

Matthias really loves being outside. He loves just crawling around in the backyard and attempting to play with brother. Our neighbor has a swing set and a slide that she lets us use (since her son is 18 and just left for college). The boys love it! Justus loves to climb the ladder and go down the slide, and he also loves swinging in a big boy swing. Matthias just likes watching and crawling around the base of the slide.

There isn't much else going on. I will have to post some pictures when I get the chance!

2008-09-25T21:02:00.002-05:00

It's hard to believe that Matthias will be 11 months old in less than a week!! We have started him on milk...kind of. I've been doing half formula/half milk in his bottle. He doesn't really like to drink anything that is really cold, so I'm breaking him in gently. He is getting on more of a schedule with his meals now too, and even eating some table food. He's doing really well with it. Matthias is also a cruisin' machine! He will even walk with the assistance of the walker that we have. It's pretty exciting, but also a reminder that he's getting to be a big boy.

Justus is really starting to talk a lot more. He will even repeat some words...but only when he feels like it. He can be a little stubborn some times ; ). The switch to the toddler bed is still going well. He still gets up quite a bit, but he is getting better. He is getting up really early though, and in doing so waking Matthias up as well. The nice part is that both boys have been taking really good naps because of it.

Things here are going great! Still no luck with selling the house, but we aren't too concerned. It will sell eventually. Here are a couple of pictures.

Matthias' first taste of milk.

Swinging like a big boy.

2008-09-16T09:05:00.006-05:00

Jon was quite the master at putting the boys to sleep.

Fun times at the park. Matthias loved the swing!

Both boys really wanted to look out the window. Matthias isn't quite tall enough yet.

Every store should have carts like this one. It kept the boys entertained and made shopping much more enjoyable for me.

2008-09-14T16:25:00.002-05:00

Things here are going great!! We still haven't sold our house, but are hopeful it will sell by winter. We aren't in any rush, but we are ready to make the move. We know God's timing is perfect, so when it happens we know it will be the right time.

We had an eventful week with Jon celebrating his 27th birthday. We celebrated with pizza and baseball. We also got to go to the Cubs/Cards game on Thursday night, which was a lot of fun. It rained a little bit, but our seats were covered. It never got bad enough for a delay, which we were thankful for since Jon had to work the next morning. The best part was the Cubs won!

The boys are doing great. Matthias now has two teeth. He is also starting to cruise, which is pretty exciting. I am so excited for him to start walking and for the boys to be a little more interactive. I'm not trying to rush him though. I need to learn to enjoy every stage of his development. Matthias will be switching to milk in just a couple of weeks. We are looking forward to not having to buy formula.

Justus is doing well also. He is adjusting to his toddler bed pretty well. We still have to go in and put him back in bed a couple of times, but it is getting better. He sleeps really well, and has been sleeping in a little later. At first he was getting up super early and waking up Matthias, which was making for two cranky boys later in the day. He is now sleeping until 7ish most mornings, which is an improvement from 6. Nap time is a little more tricky because Justus isn't super tired and doesn't want to lay down. I've decided that even if he doesn't fall asleep he needs quiet time.

I will update with pictures later this week!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2008-09-10T20:00:00.012-05:00

Today is Jon's birthday!! We celebrated with balloons, pizza, ice cream cake, Cubs baseball, and hop on pop. I made the boys shirts to wear, although Justus' was a little small. He didn't mind though. Jon had a good birthday and now we are just relaxing.

Big Boy Bed

2008-09-02T20:08:00.000-05:00

We have transitioned Justus into a "big" boy bed. Justus crib converts into a toddler bed, so we decided it was time to make the switch. We wanted to do it before we moved so that he wasn't overwhelmed with change. We had thought about going straight to a twin sized bed, but figured this would save a little room for the time being. Justus did pretty good last night at bedtime. Of course he played in his room for a little while...keeping both he and Matthias awake for at least an hour after bedtime. Jon went in 2-3 times and put him back in his bed. After getting stern with him the final time, he fell asleep in his bed. We don't have a guard rail up, so Justus actually fell out once. He cried for a second until Jon picked him up and put him back in his bed...he then fell right asleep. Nap time went pretty well today as well...same kind of thing happened as last night...minus Justus falling out of the bed. So far so good tonight.

A small other note...Matthias' first tooth broke through his gums today! His bottom right middle tooth.

Has It Really Been 10 Months!?!

2008-09-01T13:50:00.000-05:00

Matthias is 10 months old today!! Jon and I are so amazed at how big he is getting. He is now pulling himself up and even cruising! We know it won't be long before he is walking. He is also starting to figure the sippy cup out and the fact that you have to tilt it back in order to get a drink. I will be so glad when we transition him to sippy cups only. As of today, Matthias is 1 month away from being switched to milk! We are super excited about cutting the expense of formula out of our grocery fund. Milk is just so much easier to...no measuring and no mixing.

Justus is doing great! He has really started talking a lot more lately. He has a much larger vocabulary than a month ago. He still won't repeat after us, but he is using words rather than whines a lot more. Justus loves being outside, so I have been trying to spend a little more time outside with him since it has cooled off. We usually venture out into the yard when Matthias goes down for his afternoon nap. He loves playing catch with me and he loves just running and jumping around the yard. Justus has also started eating a larger variety of things. I can get him to try just about anything now, which is a huge change from even a few months ago.

We are certainly enjoying our Labor Day weekend. Our Sunday school teacher had us over yesterday for a pool party/bbq. We attempted to take the boys swimming. It went okay. Matthias was okay with the pool as long as one of us was holding him. He didn't like sitting in his little floating crab, but we were okay with just holding him. Justus however hated everything about the pool. He did not want to come into the pool. When he finally got in he cried and screamed the entire time. We tried to show him it wasn't scary, but our efforts did nothing to persuade him. If anyone has any tips on how to get Justus to enjoy swimming I'm open to hearing them! Even though Justus would get in we still had a fun time swimming and Justus had a fun time running around the pool area. Hope you are enjoying your Labor Day!!

Justus hating being in the pool.

Matthias was pretty okay with the pool.

Matthias is crossing his fingers that breakfast is good.

Justus loves pushing the stroller.

Matthias loves drinking out of his brother's sippy cup.

2008-08-24T21:33:00.000-05:00

Matthias' first cracker

Yay!! Matthias can clap!

He likes to get into the closet and play in the hamper.

After eating a cupcake

My two baby boys.

NO!

2008-08-23T13:13:00.000-05:00

Well...Justus has learned the word "no". He hasn't used it with Jon and I....yet. We know it won't be long though. Justus will tell Matthias no if Matthias is doing something that Justus doesn't want him to do. We're just waiting for him to tell us no.

In other Justus news, he is finally cutting a couple of his canine teeth. One on top and one on the bottom. I can't wait until he isn't teething anymore. He can be a real bear sometimes. We are also in the market for a toddler bed. We think we are either going to switch him soon or when we move. We haven't decided yet. We are kind of excited about switching, but know it will probably be a big adjustment for him and for us. The good thing is he hasn't figured out how to open doors yet, so if we put him in his room at least he can't get up and out to wander around.

Matthias is pulling up all the time, and he is attempting to cruise but hasn't been successful yet. He can move a little bit, but usually just loses his balance and falls down. He is definitely at a fun stage. He will clap if we clap and laughs and smiles all the time. He is more interactive with us, which is always fun. It is crazy to think that he is almost 1 year old. It's even crazier to think that when Justus was Matthias' age we were preparing for Matthias' arrival.

I will post pictures later today!!

2008-08-13T16:32:00.001-05:00

As of yesterday, Matthias can pull himself to standing! I actually missed it the when he pulled himself up. I was emptying the dryer and took the clothes to our bedroom, and when I walked back out to the living room....there he was...standing and holding on to the Wii tote. Since then he has pulled himself up multiple times, and when I went to get him out of his crib this morning he was standing up waiting for me. He has even attempted to cruise a little bit, but hasn't been to successful at that yet.

2008-08-11T12:49:00.000-05:00

We have had a busy weekend. We traveled home to Mt. Vernon for my 10 year high school reunion. It was pretty fun, but made me feel old. We also spent quite a bit of time working on those last couple of projects around the house...most having to do with our old windows. We had talked about getting new ones, but we are going to wait to see what happens over the next few weeks before making the final decision.

Last week Matthias had his 9 month check-up. No shots this time, so that was a relief for both of us. He is now 28 1/2 inches long and 20 lbs. 11 oz. I forgot to ask the percentiles, so I don't know if he is big, small, or average. He is really close to pulling himself up, and has done it a couple of times, but I don't think he realizes that's what he is doing. He is also clapping now, which is super cute! He is getting so big!! His next appointment is his 1 year! I can't believe he is almost a year old already....just a 2 1/2 months away!

Justus is doing good. He now says "thank you"...usually in the right context. He says it when we give him things and sometimes when he hands us something to hold for him. It seems like at least once or twice a week we pick up on a new word he is saying. His big thing right now is saying "uh oh" all the time. He even creates situations where he can use it....like tipping something over or dropping something on purpose. Justus turns 20 months next week. Time sure is flying.

All-in-all things are going great! Hope you enjoy the pictures!!

Justus wanted to be put in Matthias' crib to play.

Justus loves covering up with his blanket

Jon and I at my 10 year reunion

He loves sticking his tongue out and biting his bottom lip.

My little monkey

Pictures!

2008-07-31T21:14:00.000-05:00

Justus showing Matthias how it is done.

Justus is trying to pick Matthias up.

2008-07-31T20:52:00.001-05:00

It's been a crazy week! Things are going great! Our house is now officially on the market. We still have a couple of things to do to the house, but nothing too major. We were excited to finally get it on the market though.

Justus and Matthias are doing well. Justus has cut two more teeth. He has been extra cranky and very sleepy the past week, so I'm hoping that his new teeth were the source of that problem. He has a few new words including "hi" and "bye". He only uses "hi" when he is pretending to talk on the phone. He will say "bye" when he thinks we are leaving. I just love that he is starting to talk although he still resorts to crying and pointing when he wants something.

Matthias is getting so big! I'm reminded of this when I see him playing with Justus' toys. He can now pull himself up onto his knees to play with Justus' music table. I think he could pull himself up to standing if he wanted to, but hasn't figured it out yet. I have stood him up a couple of times and had him hold on to the music table or whatever and he will stand for a while. It's crazy to think that he will be 9 months old tomorrow and be walking and talking very soon!!

I will try to post some pictures later tonight or tomorrow sometime so check back!

Picture Time!

2008-07-21T15:11:00.001-05:00

Up, Up, Up...

Our little "driver"

Justus hasn't figured out the bubbles yet.

What a happy baby!

Justus feeding Matthias a little applesauce.

Nothing like a little ice cream on a hot day!

All gone!

Yum!

Oral hygiene is very important.

The Rumors Are True...

2008-07-18T15:51:00.000-05:00

No...we're not pregnant. We're moving (at least after we sell our house)!! Jon and I have decided it's time to make the move across the river. We have been looking at houses in Missouri for the past few weeks. We haven't found one just yet, but we are getting ready to put our house on the market...most likely sometime this weekend. Who knows how long our house will be on the market, but we are in no rush. We're hoping it sells somewhat quickly just so we can be done with it, but if it doesn't we're okay with it. I'll keep everyone updated on when our house goes under contract.

Anyways, the boys are doing great!! Matthias is doing wonderful. We had a doctor's appointment last week with the urologist. It was the most pointless appointment ever! Our pediatrician thought he may have meatal stenosis...I think I talked about this a while back. Well...it's still possible that he may have it, but we have decided to wait until he is a little older to find out. We were at Cardinal Glennon for over 2 hours and left knowing nothing more than when we walked in. The nurse practitioner that saw Matthias said he was really young to be diagnosed. She asked us a series of questions and also said that stenosis cannot be diagnosed on site of the meatus alone. She then asked if we could feed him so that we could watch him go to the bathroom. After 45 minutes and still no pee she said we could leave but gave us a prescription for a steroid to treat him. Jon and I decided not to treat him and since he seems to have no problems wetting his diapers and has plenty of them we are going to wait to go back. Other than that...Matthias is on the move and continues to get quicker. He is a pro at crawling now! He is also babbling a lot more and has even started saying "mamama" now. He sure is getting big!

Justus is doing great also! His blister is all healed now. I don't think he will be touching the lawnmower again anytime soon. His new thing right now is "driving". He loves to be in the driver's seat of the van or Jon's car. He loves sitting there and playing with the wheel and pushing buttons and turning knobs. We don't let him play there much, but every once-in-a-while we will let him play "drive". His speech is continuing to improve. He has also started making gestures for certain things. When he wants something he will point and then clap or make the "more" sign in sign language. Also, when he wants picked up he puts his two hand face up...kind of like he's saying "I don't know". It's definitely nice to have an idea of what he is wanting now instead of him crying or throwing a fit.

2008-07-08T20:58:00.000-05:00

We have a mobile baby!! Matthias can now crawl! He is still getting the hang of it, but he can move pretty good. Today I set him down in the boys room and went to the kitchen. When I came out of the kitchen he had made his way out of his room into the hallway. I'm sure he will be a pro soon! In other Matthias news...he has started babbling quite a bit. He says "dadada" a lot. It's pretty cute!

Justus is doing pretty good. The poor little guy burned his little hand on the lawnmower on Saturday. He has a pretty good sized blister. He doesn't seem to notice it, and I'm hoping he doesn't. I really don't want him picking at it. He is getting so big and even more curious lately. He wants to do everything that Jon and I do. He is doing pretty good with talking...no new words, but he will repeat sounds to us now. He also got a haircut today. I bought some clippers so that I could do it myself. I need to take some more pictures of it because the ones I took came out really dark. He didn't mind the haircut...although I did distract him with M&M's.

We had a pretty good 4th of July. We went to see fireworks in Chesterfield with some of our friends. I was shocked that both of the boys did really well watching them. We had to hold Matthias because he didn't like the noise, but that was expected. Justus would watch them, but he just wanted to be up walking around our blanket. He only strayed two times, but he never threw a fit or anything like that. We were very happy that we could enjoy the fireworks as a family.

Here are a few pictures!!!

Our family at the fireworks.

Justus after eating M&M's and getting a haircut.

Justus' blister : (

Matthias' journey down the hallway.

2008-07-01T12:37:00.000-05:00

Matthias is 8 months old today!! I sure can't believe that he's already 8 months old! He is getting big! He can kind of crawl now. He can move his arms and his legs, but doesn't seem to understand exactly how it all works. He can move around a little bit though. He's getting there! Now that he's starting to move he seems to be more curious than ever. He wants to see what everything is and grab everything.

Justus is doing great too! He can now say "choo choo". He says "Mommy" pretty clearly now too. He could always say "mommy", but it wasn't very clear that he was referring to me or if that was even what he was saying. He definitely uses it a lot now to get my attention though. We're just excited that he is finally starting to talk! He's also been eating a bigger variety of foods lately, which is a huge improvement. He is willing to try whatever we are eating, which I think will make my life a little easier. Now if only he could master using the fork and spoon!!

Since the 4th of July is Friday we are going to attempt taking the boys to some fireworks. We will see how it goes. I think Justus will be okay as long as he isn't cranky because it will be kind of late by the time the fireworks start. I don't think Matthias will really mind. I'll post some pictures this weekend hopefully!

More pictures!

2008-06-24T11:22:00.001-05:00

Things here are going really great!! Justus had his 18 month check-up last Friday (the 20th). Can you believe he's 18 months old!?! I sure can't! He is growing and growing. He is now 29 lbs. 4 oz. and is 33 1/4 inches tall. He is between the 75th and 80th percentile on both. He is still saying "what's that?" all the time. He also seems to understand that he can say things and sometimes tries to imitate what we are saying. Most of it is jibberish for now, but it's definitely progress.

Matthias is really starting to move! He can get up on all four very easily now. He can rock and can move his legs, but can't seem to figure out how to move his arms at the same time. In the mean time he just spins around and pushes with his legs if he really wants to get something. I know it's not going to be long until he is a mobile baby.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Just Pictures!

2008-06-21T07:57:00.001-05:00

He's SO close to crawling. He can move his legs, but can't move his hands at the same time yet.

Justus discovered that he can reach the lowest bar in our closet. He's a little monkey!

2008-06-16T14:24:00.000-05:00

The weekend was a pretty crazy one for all of us. Jon and I have both had sore throats...mine came with a cough. The worst was only about a day or so for both of us, so now we are on the down slope. Anyways...Saturday was the circus, which was a lot of fun. Sunday was Father's Day. Neither one of us felt very good on Sunday morning. We both didn't get very much sleep the night before, but we managed to still have a pretty good Father's Day. I got up early with the boys, and made Jon breakfast. I made him chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, and bacon. It was very yummy! Jon's family also came into town, so we met up with them for lunch at 11. After lunch Jon, his uncle and dad headed to the Cardinals game. The boys and I along with Jon's sister and aunt headed to the zoo. It was a long hot day, but we all had fun. Besides not feeling well Jon had a great Father's Day!

The boys are doing well. They were both pretty worn out after this weekend. We think that Justus is saying a phrase now. I have heard him say it quite a few times, but didn't think anything of it until Jon's aunt said she thought he was saying it. He will point at things and say..."what's that?" I ask him that all the time when he is playing in his room or if he brings me something, so I guess he's picked up on it. It's pretty exciting to know that he is starting to talk a little bit. It's a whole new stage!

Matthias can now get up on all four and rock! He is so close to being mobile. He had never gotten up on all four until Friday night while we were at our friends' house. I so wish I would have gotten a picture. He does it quite a bit now, but I still haven't gotten a picture. It seems he only does it for Jon. I don't think it will be much longer until he is crawling.

A Day at the Circus

2008-06-15T09:21:00.000-05:00

Jon works for a great company. They bought the circus for the day, and all employees and their guests got to go for free along with free food and drink. It was a great time, and the boys actually enjoyed the show. Justus loved all the animals. He just kept pointing at them. He also really loved the 11th picture down. Those two people are on top of poles that are about 70 feet tall. Justus was so fascinated by it. It was pretty neat. The boys loved the show, and were both wiped out at the end. All-in-all it was a good day!!

2008-06-12T14:44:00.000-05:00

It's been a crazy week! Justus had an eye infection and Matthias had a cold. Yuck!! Both boys are all better now, but last week was a mess!! In spite of the boys being sick they were still very upbeat. So at least they weren't fussy and sick! They also had a busy weekend spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Burgess on Saturday, and then going out for lunch with the Klestinski side of the family on Sunday.

Justus is still saying "doggy"...although not all the time, and we think that he may be calling the cat "day-di" instead of Neifi. We aren't too sure yet, but we're really trying to pick up on things that he repeats often...even if they don't sound like real words to us. Justus has also cut another molar...still no canine/cuspids on the top. He has been sleeping a lot better as well, so maybe now that he has cut those molars he is back on a normal schedule. He has been sleeping until about 8 a.m., which is pretty late for him.

Matthias is doing great! He is sitting up on his own, and seems to be getting close to getting on all fours. He gets his legs underneath himself, but can't push up on his arms at the same time yet. I think it will be only a matter of time before he is officially creeping. I'm thinking that he may be cutting his two bottom teeth as well. His gums look a little puffy, and I think I can kind of see where the teeth are. Justus' took forever to actually break through, so who knows how long Matthias' will take.

We have a busy weekend planned with a visit to see our friends the Krauss' on Friday evening and then a trip to the Circus on Saturday. We are interested to see how Justus reacts to the circus. We are hoping he doesn't get restless, and actually enjoys the show. He loves animals, so we think he will have a good time.

Here are a few pictures!

Justus "driving" his car. Doesn't he look intense!?! I think he was trying to run me over! : )

Justus LOVES feeding Matthias. Matthias doesn't care who's feeding him as long as he's getting fed!

Justus loves his doggies! This is how he fell asleep last night.

My little sleepy bear!

2008-06-03T11:35:00.000-05:00

Justus said his first word!! And the word was....doggy! This is definitely exciting for us! There was a picture of a dog on the computer screen and I wasn't paying attention because I was feeding Matthias. Justus kept pointing at the screen and saying, "Doggy. Doggy. Doggy." I was shocked and not quite sure I heard him correctly until he just kept saying it. He's won't say it on command yet, but he has said it a couple more times when he's seen a dog. We're hoping this will open the flood gate!

I'm glad that summer weather is now here! Justus loves playing outside. I take him in the backyard to play almost every day, and he never wants to go back inside. He will usually throw a fit when we have to go back inside. Matthias likes being outside...but I don't think he really knows the difference yet. I am hoping to get a small pool in the next couple of weeks so that we can play more outside. The boys both love bath time, so I'm hoping they will enjoy playing in a pool as well.

Matthias is getting so big! He is sitting up on his own now, and loves sitting and playing with toys. He also loves the jumperoo at the Y. I really wish that we had one, but it seems silly to get one at this point. He also loves to talk! He babbles all the time. He just loves making noise. I don't think it will be too much longer before he is crawling. He is already trying to push up onto his hands and knees when he is on his belly. He hasn't been successful so far, but I don't think it will be long.

Next weekend (the 14th) we are taking the boys to the circus. I'm pretty excited to see what Justus thinks about it. Edward Jones is sponsoring it, so we get to go for free. It should be pretty fun! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

More sunglasses.

Hanging out in the backyard

2008-05-26T07:43:00.000-05:00

It's been a crazy week! Jon made it home safe and sound last Saturday (the 17th). He had a good trip, but was glad to be home and we were glad to have him here!!

The boys have been doing good. Matthias is getting so big and can sit up on his own now. He can't sit by himself for an extended period of time, but we are getting there. I also noticed last night when I laid him down that when he is on his belly he is now trying to creep. I guess it won't be long before I have two mobile babies in the house! Matthias has also started wearing his 6-9 months clothes. I forgot how many clothes we had!! I kept a few of his 3-6 months clothes out, but only the ones that ran big.

Justus is doing well, although he has been sick for the past few days. It all started Friday. We were on our way to the Y and I turn around and Justus is getting sick. Friday and Saturday he was pretty sick. Yesterday he got sick first thing in the morning, but hasn't gotten sick since then. We are hoping that the bug has run it's cycle and that today will be a pretty normal day.

Here's a few pictures! Hope you enjoy your Memorial Day!

My happy little baby!

Justus loves wearing my sunglasses!

His head is way too heavy to hold up!

Matthias' first taste of squash!

He loves the camera!

Tooth Alert!

2008-05-13T14:09:00.001-05:00

Just a quick update. Two of Justus' teeth popped through his gums today! So that will make 8 total teeth. He is getting his third tooth on the bottom, and one of his first molars on the top. I'm pretty sure I know why he has been getting up so early lately. I had no idea about the molar coming in. He has 3 more that are getting ready to pop through as well. I hope they all make their debut within the next week so we can get back on a regular schedule!

2008-05-12T11:50:00.000-05:00

Jon and I had a wonderful trip to Chicago. We had so much fun exploring the city and going to museums. We enjoyed our time alone, but were excited to get home and see our baby boys!!

Last week Matthias had his 6 month check-up. He now weighs 18 lbs. 8 oz (75th percentile) and is 26 1/4 in. long (50th percentile). The doctor said he is doing great! He does however have to go see a urologist in July because the doctor said he has meatal stenosis, which can cause problems when he is urinating. Anyways, it's nothing serious, but we still have to go get it checked out. He also got a few shots at his check-up, which he didn't enjoy too much. He was kind of cranky that night, but he was fine the next day.

Justus is doing great as well. He still isn't talking, but for now we aren't too worried about it. We have had a lot of encouragement from our friends, and we think he is going to be just fine. He is getting big though, and more and more independent. He insists on doing things by himself. He doesn't want help with stairs or picking things up or anything. He still loves being outside and throws a fit whenever it is time to go inside. I'm just glad it's starting to get nice outside so that we can spend more time in the yard!!

Mother's Day was wonderful, although Jon did have to leave for Malibu yesterday morning. He is gone all week, which is kind of sad. He still made sure to make Mother's Day special though. I ended up spending the day with my parents, which was fun.

Here is a picture of Jon and I at Wrigley. I need to get the camera out and take some pictures of the boys!!

Yummy!!

2008-04-28T20:25:00.000-05:00

We decided to give Matthias his first taste of cereal this evening. The doctor had told us at his last visit that there was no rush since he was gaining weight and sleeping well. We want to start vegetables soon, but first comes cereal. He seemed to really like it! Here are a couple pictures!

2008-04-21T13:04:00.000-05:00

Justus is now 16 months old!! He is getting so big! Justus is doing really well. He is becoming more and more independent though and is developing a little temper. When he gets mad he will hit whatever it is that he is mad at...including Jon and I. We have pretty much put a stop to him hitting us and we are working on him hitting his toys and things like that. We're hoping that when he starts talking that he will resort to asking for help.

Justus loves being outside. He doesn't really do anything when we go outside. He just walks around picks up sticks and rocks and then puts them back down. He has so much fun and is usually pretty upset when we go back inside. I'm just glad that the weather is getting nice so that we can venture outside more often.

Matthias is doing well also. He will be 6 months old in just a little over a week!! Time sure flies! He is getting so big. He is able to roll over both ways now, which is exciting, but always makes me nervous at bed time. He is also very close to being able to sit unsupported. This will be huge because when he can sit up on his own I won't feel the need to carry him in the carseat anymore. He is becoming more and more interactive which is also fun. He goes back to the doctor May 6th, which is always fun to see how much bigger he has gotten.

Next week Jon and I are heading to Chicago for a few days...without the boys. The grandparents will be taking over for us. It will be weird being away from the boys for 4 days, but it will be fun. Jon and I are going to a Cubs game and then going to Shedd Aquarium, The Museum of Science and Industry, Navy Pier....all that fun stuff.

Here's some pictures!!

Matthias playing in the ball pit.

Justus wanted to join in on the fun.

I don't think Matthias even realized he was going down the slide.

Justus is picking dandelions.

Justus going down our neighbors slide.

A Day in the Park!

2008-04-05T18:07:00.000-05:00

Jon and I took the boys to the park today! It was so nice out this afternoon!! Justus loved running around and climbing all the stairs. He really loved going down the slides as well. Matthias slept the whole time we were there. The park is really close to our house. I'm looking forward to taking the boys there this summer....as long as it's not too hot! Here are some pictures of our time at the park!!

2008-04-02T14:51:00.000-05:00

So Matthias has been sick for the past couple of days. He seems to have caught a little cold, and also passed it along to Mom...I mean it's only fair that he share..right? He doesn't seem too bothered by the cold...he just sleeps a lot right now. He is still doing really well with the lactose-free formuala!! We are really glad that we have found a formula that isn't upsetting his stomach, giving him gas, or causing him to spit up. We haven't started any cereal or anything yet. We figured we would wait until we solved his tummy issues. The doctor also said there was no rush since he is a big boy. We will probably start cereal soon though and then move into veggies!

Matthias is getting so big!! It seems as though he is going through a little growth spurt right now. He is also very close to being able to roll over from his back to his tummy. He can get onto his side, but can't quite swing his leg over. I'm sure it won't be long!!

Justus is doing well. He seems to be getting a little less fussy, but not much. I'm pretty sure he is teething though. He seems to be drooling a lot more than normal, and he's been chewing on random things the past few days. Hopefully it will pass in the next few days. I'm definitely looking forward to warmer weather so that I can take Justus outside to play. He seems to be getting bored easily in the house these days. I think one thing we are going to have to look for at some garage sales is outdoor toys. He doesn't really have many, so we are in need of some!

Here's a picture of one of our little Cubs fans...

Picture Time!

2008-03-31T15:26:00.001-05:00

We actually got to get all dressed up and went to a wedding baby free!

Justus couldn't decide which he wanted to play with more...so he chose to play with both.

He's pretty excited that I'm taking pictures!