Baby birds!

Every year, somewhere around our house, we seem to find a nest full of eggs. This is so much fun for the kids (I love it too!) to be able to watch the eggs turn into little babies! We have tried to keep our distance so the mommy will feed them but it has been hard since they chose to put their nest on the ledge under our slide. I was relieved when I went and checked on them the other day and just happened to catch the last two (out of four) getting ready to leave the nest. It was pretty cute...Kezzie missed it since she was napping so I just had to grab my camera. Now they are gone and we can have our play gym and slide back!

Rylan Comes to Visit!

Jamie and Keith went away to Hawaii for a while so between my mom and I, we are watching Rylan! We are so lucky! He is such a cutie and so easy going! I had him Tuesday night until tonight. Jamie and Keith put him to bed on Tuesday night before heading to Rochester. This evening (thursday) my mom came to my house as soon as she got off work and took over. She is going to stay until tomorrow and then her and Rylan are heading to the river for the remainder of their time together. I will be right behind her tomorrow...as soon as Austin is out of school! Rylan did a great job for me. He hardly seemed like he was missing his parents! He and Kez loved 'playing' together, and Adah loved watching them! I think she was kind of wondering what he was doing here and why he was taking her mommy away from her! Kezzie also enjoyed feeding Rylan a bottle, watching The Wiggles in the recliner with him, and helping me feed him his veggies! I love how Adah is sitting so nicely next to me just watching Rylan get fed.
As hectic as it was, it was a lot of fun and very rewarding. Now to see how the rest of the week goes at the river! Wish us luck!

Big Girl in the Bumbo!!

Adorable...eh? She loves this thing and uses it frequently. It is really nice to get out when we are all eating supper or if I am trying to work in the kitchen. Of course, the second she gets out Keziah has to take a turn too (and yes, her little hiney still fits in it)!

Soooo Big!!

Look at this girl...isn't she adorable? She is getting so big! Just today she pushed herself up on her arms...I wonder how long it will be before she adds in the knees and starts crawling. I'm not going to rush things though, I like my baby just the way she is-not too mobile yet!

30 months!

She is looking more grown up every time I do this. A full two and a half years now! She is my big helper around the house and talking so much! She is full of attitude but is such a sweetie. Still doing great without her paci and is doing excellent on the potty. She is even napping in underwear these days! Last month I mentioned taking the safety door handle off her door so she could come out of her room when she woke in the morning, well this month we put it back on. She soon started taking advantage of that and we found her 'needing a drink or needing a kleenex' waaaayyy too often. She would open her door and help herself to the bathroom where she would hang out for a while and then run back to her room. She was also getting up much earlier than usual. Like over an hour earlier just so she could come out of her room or something! Anyway, it is back on now and things are back to normal. It is sometimes a pain to have to leave what I am doing (ie: nursing) to go upstairs to let her out of her room but she handles it really well and I would rather it be this way then fight with her to stay in her room!

Funny Adah/Kezzie story: The other day Kezzie asked if she could hold Adah, (this doesn't happen very often, in fact, it has been a really long time since Kezzie has held Adah) so I had Kezzie sit up in the recliner and I plopped Adah on Kezzie's lap. Kezzie was done in a heart beat and I thought to myself, maybe she would enjoy it more if she could actually see Adah's face and interact with her. So, I turned Adah around and put her legs so they were straddling Kezzie's tummy. Kezzie was enjoying this so much more and they were laughing and smiling at each other all the while I am supporting Adah's back and joining in the fun! All of the sudden Adah spits up A TON of spit up (she had just finished nursing) all over Keziah. The look on Kezzie's face was priceless. It went from a full blown smile to complete mortification! And she was even more offended that I couldn't stop laughing. She looked up at me and disgustingly, boldly stated 'Adah spit up' as she tried to push her off her lap. It was priceless!

I wanted to say a word on the rash on Kezzie's face too. It's been a while since I have commented on it but until this month I have still had to daily put Elidel cream on it. This is the first month that I haven't put it on in at least a couple weeks. Hopefully she is finally outgrowing this eczema that she has had to deal with for the past year now.

One of Kezzie's favorite things to do is match things. She is always trying to find things around the house that match. She will open up DVD cases and get the inserts out and match them to the correct case, she loves to match a picture that we once took of her receiving a gift to the actual object (ie: she just recently saw a picture of herself next to her Easter basket and in her basket was her stuffed animal chick, she immediately went and found her chick and put them next to each other and said ,'look it's a match'), she also has a couple matching games that she frequently requests to play!

One of Kezzie's most favorite things to say when asked a question is...'cuz I want ted to' with some very clear annunciation! This is becoming a very annoying response and just might have to be nibbed in the butt (is that the correct expression?) really soon!

Kezzie is still napping from about 1:30-4 and goes to bed by 8pm. She wakes around 7/7:30. She is never interested in something to eat for breakfast but loves her liquids! I usually mix 1/5 juice with 4/5 water. And after about an hour of being awake I offer her some cereal with milk, oatmeal, a bagel, or some toast (she hates eggs right now). She is doing pretty good with her other two meals but definitely isn't going through a growth spurt. She can't have a morning snack or you can forget her eating lunch at all, but she will always have an afternoon one when she wakes from her nap because that ties her over til supper when we eat around 6.

Until next month...we'll keep on smiling and thanking God for our precious little girl!

River Rats!

(click the image to enlarge it)

It's official...my kids are some regular river rats! It's great! I will never forget all the memories I had growing up here on the Mississippi River in Prairie Du Chien. My parents' first camper was a pop-up and I can remember waking up on my end of the camper and being able to look out at the river. We camped in ours for the first time this last weekend and I got to experience that memory again as an adult. I couldn't stop smiling as I watched Keziah get to experience things just as I did when I was her age. My parents are gracious enough to share their lot with us so we can have many more weekends just like it!

The top left picture is of Kezzie up past her bed time, sitting around the campfire. You can tell she is looking pretty out of it and mesmerized by the flames! She was just trying to stay awake in hopes of getting another peanut m&m (we tried giving her a marshmallow and she still really hates them-something with the texture, I think)!! The next one is of us out on a boat ride ...Keziah enjoyed hanging her arm over the edge to touch the water and Adah just relaxed in my arms and fell asleep. I don't know if Adah was ever fully asleep but she was lulled by the rocking and humming of the boat! The next one is of Leora and Keziah playing in/near the water. The water was ice cold but it was pretty warm outside. Leora asked her mom if she could get in the water and she was told she could get wet up to her chest. Leora had a blast jumping off the dock and into the water while Kezzie sat watching. Kezzie wasn't quite brave enough to do it too nor would I let her (I didn't have anymore shorts to change her into and I didn't feel it was warm enough to put on a suit). She had her water shoes on though and just stood with the water up to her ankles. While getting packed up to come home on Sunday, Kezzie kept herself occupied by playing in the little pool filled with river water! It was exceptionally hot that day so I had no problems letting her get her suit on and 'go for a dip'. It was really sweet of Josh to take Kezzie in under his wing like he does his three younger siblings. Austin wasn't around to help keep Josh company so he moved to the next best thing and that was playing with the younger ones. He rigged Kezzie up a pole without a hook and she sat by the water's edge practicing her casting! Rylan and Adah mostly played in the pack-n-play or on a blanket laid out on the ground. We took a couple of relaxing walks and Kezzie and I stuck our feet in at the boat landing. With all the outdoor exposure I was left with two VERY tired little girls on Sunday! Kezzie fell asleep before she could even turn her book to the next page! And I threw a picture in of Adah in her bed in the camper. I got this really old bassinet at good will for $4. The legs fold under so it sat really nice on the couch next to my bed. It is a really nice size too so it should last her all summer. She slept through the night in it both nights that we were there!

I look forward to many more fun times like this!

Where Memories Will Be Made!

Here it is...our new (occasional) humble abode! It's going to be so much fun for our family! I LOVE it! Some of the photos are of it set up in our driveway getting ready for camping and the other ones are of it all set up at the Mississippi river all ready for camping! Once I got it set up at the river I realized there is an awesome canopy with a screened in area too! There are a few more things we need to get before we can fully do things on our own (cook, do dishes, etc) but we are getting there! Thanks for all the wonderful help mom & dad and Gary & Alena!!

A day at the Uglums!

Mat and Steph were in town this weekend with their two kids. It was great to see them and get to hang out in some good weather. All the kids played really well together. No fighting and little tears! Even Austin had a good time. Him and I even got to go outside and toss the football around and shoot some hoops. And soon everyone was out there. Austin also got to drive the golf cart around the yard for a bit with Uncle Mat's assistance! He was grinning from ear to ear! Kezzie loved playing with Remi (the dog) and trying to catch her! And Adah really enjoyed this bouncy seat thing...I think that will be our next investment!

First Time for Everything!!

Tonight was the first time Adah tried rice cereal. She did a really good job. I made just 1T of cereal mixed with breast milk and she took 3 good 'bites'. It was practically liquid but fed with a spoon! She made many facial expressions-both good and bad! I just decided it was time to give it a try since she has been waking up around 5/5:30am to nurse (she normally makes it to 7am). Only time will tell if this is a solution to that problem or maybe she just needs her mommy a little earlier these days!

Birthday Bash!

Here we are...the two April birthday people! We waited to celebrate until the last weekend in April since that is when Adam's birthday is. Dad grilled some amazing steaks and mom filled in the rest! She always makes awesome sides too! We finished off our meal with a little DQ ice cream cake. I got some great gifts from my family. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful loving family I can celebrate with! On my actual birthday (4-15) my sister Jamie came in the morning to spend it with me and eat lunch. She brought me a dozen pink (my favorite) roses. Just as we were headed out the door to go to the park (it was a nice but very windy day), somebody was pulling up to my house ready to deliver a bouquet of flowers from my mom. They were so incredible. And for the rest of April I enjoyed both bouquets as they smelled up the entire main floor of my house. After only 20 minutes at the park, we were ready to come home. It was time for lunch. I made my favorite crock-pot chicken recipe. It was a great day!