Bowling

Aunt Vicki came to town while Josh was away for the week at a conference.

One of the many fun things we did while she was here was try our hand out bowling for the first time.  I know this picture is dark but if you look closely you can see that I think Aunt Vicki is more excited than Abram. I was just excited that the lane must have been on a slight grade or the ball would never have made it to the pins! It was such a fun night and everyone had a good time - even Isabel who was lulled to sleep by the eardrum splitting sounds of pop 40 music.

Patiently waiting for our turn.

What is a trip to the bowling alley without fried food and adult beverages. Well, at least fried food on this occasion.

"Watch me" "Are you watching me?" "Make sure you watch me"

"I Am Awesome"

"Bowling is so fun"

"Is one pin good? - at least I'm rocking this outfit"

"Outta my way - I have mini corn dogs to finish."

Great-Grandpa Rex and Great-Grandma Jerry

I only hope I have half as much energy as Rex and Jerry do when I am a great-grandparent. We were lucky enough for them to come visit for a few days in February. This is the first time the kids got one-on-one time with Rex and Jerry and it was so much fun. Like any successful visit it started off with present opening :)

The best thing about Grandpa Rex's presents is that they are hand-made.

The thing that was the biggest hit was a set of natural blocks made from tree branches, twigs, etc. Abram and Stella love them!

Grandma Jerry hit it off right away with Isabel and was able to keep her happy using the patented 'Papa Hold.' Facing Isabel outward while simultaneously bouncing and walking.

Grandma Jerry and Stella reading amongst the chaos of the playroom.

Grandpa Rex and Abram 'ice fishing.'

We hope we'll be able to fit in another visit sometime soon. Thanks for visiting!

Uncle Andy

We had an visit from awesome Uncle Andy. The kids had a great time and Andy got to meet Isabel. We hope Uncle Andy can come back for a longer visit this summer.

We had trips to the Chocolate Factory, swimming pool and playing outside in the snow but I somehow managed to not get any of those pictures. 

Just the boys hanging out. 

One Month

We've had a busy first five weeks of Isabel's life.  She's had a playdate with a fellow baby, Soren, supervised by Stella.

We celebrated Josh's birthday.

 Papa trying to blow his keys across the table.  This is delusional behavior. 

(if you look closely you can see the tealight we were using instead of a birthday candle - sorry papa)

Isabel got all dressed up to go on a date-night with mama and papa.

In addition to date nights - she's been having play-dates with Abram.

Isabel celebrated her one-month birthday with Grandpa Terry.

We all got in on the celebration.

Stella not to sure about getting a kiss from gpa T.

Abram was one lucky boy when he got to spend the weekend with Grandpa Martin and Grandpa Terry.

Abram helping grandpa Terry fix the bathroom.

We decided to watch the Superbowl - we figured we should expose the children to one of America's favorite past times.  Since we weren't sure who was actually playing and this is Stella's only cheerleading outfit we decided to cheer for the Hawkeyes in addition to whoever was playing in the actual game.

Grandpa Terry was teaching Abram all about football and Stella was teaching Grandpa how to be cute.

 Stella is preparing to mount Abram's shoulders to complete the tower.

What a great play - let's raise the roof!

 We finally got some snow and Abram and grandpa made a snowman pile.

Stella and grandpa making blueberry muffins.

Abram destroyed the first snowman - so here is attempt number 2.

 

What a busy few weeks!!!!

Isabel Mary's Newborn Pictures

Here are a few pictures of our precious Isabel taken when she was about a week and a half old.

Stella's Story Part II: Oh the Horror

So when I last left off Stella had just kept us up half the night with her antics climbing out of her crib.

Thank you to everyone who sent suggestions on how to deal with her climbing out of the crib.  We received a wide variety of suggestions and I've listed them below in case anyone reading this finds themself in a similar situation.

-Put a tent over the crib (we looked for one and the cheapest one was $70 online, we decided we were too cheap to buy one)
-Take the bottom out of the crib so the mattress would be lower and she couldn't climb out (we were excited to try this one out but it wouldn't work with either of our cribs)
-Turn the crib around so the higher backside of the crib would keep her from getting out (she was too strong)
-Military School (they said they aren't equipped to deal with this type of situation!)
-Let it go, she will get out of her crib and there isn't much you can do about it except accept the fact that this is just the start of us losing control and worrying about our little girl as she grows up. (because we were out of other options and this one was free - we went with it).

So the next night I thought we totally under control, after a little back rubbing she went to sleep like a little angel, we were letting go and it was working. Unfortunately I think we missed her tag-teaming to her sister Isabel who kept us until 5 a.m. crying 'like a baby.'

The next night Stella was back on duty.  We thought that if we just waited it out she and Abram would get tired of running around his room and rough housing. Josh went up to check on them and Abram asked him to find his flashlight.  Josh came downstairs to look for it and when he returned to their room to tell him he couldn't find it, he instead found Stella who had Abram pinned down and was shining the flashlight in his face and giggling. Abram had enough of that and he asked to go sleep in Stella's room because he said she was too loud.  We thought that once Abram was out of the room Stella would calm down but she kept going strong.  Josh finally went up to check on her only to open the door to something he could never have imagined. If he had thought it was possible, he would never had opened that door. What he found was Stella running around the room, without her diaper on, the smelly, foul, contents of which were all over the room, and all over Stella.  Oh the horror.  When he returned downstairs after a lot of cleaning and bleaching he was so pale he looked like he'd seen a ghost. I think it was the ghost of himself before he entered that room.

In the days since this incident we moved Stella back to her room, removed all traces of fun (books, toys, etc) and outfitted her in a onsie that snaps (she hasn't figured out how to undo snaps...yet) and so far, she has stayed in her crib with her onsie keeping her diaper and it's contents, in place.

Nana Cam

Nana has been busy snapping the pictures below during her stay. I can't believe it's been a month already - we've been quite busy as you can see in the pictures.

 I plan on posting an update to Stella's bedtime antics but I'm going to head to bed now - stay tuned it will be worth the wait!