Isaac's Favorite Things...

These are a few of Isaac's favorite things...

First...his blanket, aka "ankie". My sister, Cindy, made this blanket for Ethan when he was two. Ethan was never attached to any blanket, he loved them all equally. So when Isaac started being attached to this one he was very nice and gave it up. This poor thing hasn't been washed since before Disney Land in October. He still naps twice a day and I keep forgetting to do it really quick while he is up lol. Oops...

Next is his pacifier, also known as "boe-boe". Where did boe-boe come from you ask?? I have no idea. He just started calling them that about a month ago. But it's really cute, when he finds one he gets all excited and says "boe-boe". He usually only has his "boe-boe" during naps and bedtime. He is working on 4 molars right now so for the last two weeks he has been wanting it more frequently to chew on.

Next is his beloved Donald, aka "onald". He is obsessed with Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. He got a little Donald and  Mickey in his stocking at Christmas. Mickey has disappeared somewhere...but "onald" is his favorite still. He sleeps with "onald" every night and when he gets hurt or something Ethan always goes and get its for him, and his ankie. He is such a good big brother.

Last is Elmo. I don't even know how he learned about Elmo. We never watch it, and he doesn't even have an Elmo toy. But he picked it up somewhere and has run with it. I tried an Elmo movie the other day and he wasn't really interested. But Jon turned it on his computer this morning and he was dancing up a storm to the song lol. It was hilarious. We found an Elmo sippy cup at walmart that we just had to get him. Actually Ethan found it and wanted to get it for Isaac. He really is a sweetheart and the best big brother ever. Jon's mom got him this shirt the other day. He points to Elmo frequently and says "Elmo"..with a little giggle.

Well this was originally supposed to be all about Isaac, but I can't remembering all the sweet things Ethan does during the day for his brother. Isaac calls Ethan "boe-bur" and Ethan calls himself "boe-bur" when talking to Isaac.  Isaac is lucky to have such a wonderful "boe-bur". These two boys just melt my heart daily.

Check-up's

Ethan and Isaac had Dr. appointments last week. It was Ethan's 5 year and Isaac's 15 month check-up. Both boys are healthy and doing great. It was pretty funny because Isaac wanted to do everything Ethan was doing. Ethan was getting his ears tested and had to say "beep" every time he heard the beep. So he said "beep" and then Isaac would say "beep" just because Ethan was. The nurse thought it was very cute. Then when the Dr. came Ethan sat up on the table first and Isaac wanted up to sit next to him. The Dr. would do Ethan first with something and then IJ would copy. It was perfect because IJ even said "ahhhh" so she could look in his throat without having to use that horrible stick to pry it open.

Isaac
- 24 lbs 2 oz (45%)
- 34 inches long (95%)
- He is tall and skinny lol
- The Dr. was very impressed with is vocabulary. He was at 39 regular words at his appointment. I can't even count anymore. The most recent ones this week are Cheerios, no-thank you and help.
- Great at walking and running
- She wasn't concerned that he doesn't drink milk since he eats yogurt and cheese daily. He has never liked milk and once he was done nursing he stopped drinking it. Silly boy.
- Loved his eating and how he eats anything and everything.
- 100% healthy and perfect.




Ethan
- 47.6 lbs (90%)
- 46 inches tall (90%)
- He knew the answers to all her questions about letters, colors and shapes. I was proud.
- We talked a lot about Ethan's tip-toe walking. He has been going to OT for a few months now for it. Basically there are kids who physically can't walk flat feet due to their muscles. So we went to rule that out. Luckily his muscles are just tight and we have stretches we do for that at home. Tip-toe walking can also been a sign of autism, but that was also ruled out. They also looked at a possible sensory processing disorder. Ethan has a few things he is sensitive with, but we all have things we are sensitive too so they don't think it's anything to abnormal. His dr. and his OT agreed that he was good and didn't need to come back. He still walks on his tip-toes, but it's gone down from about 99% of the time to 50% of the time. He just has to be different lol. We are thankful things are good and we don't need to worry.

We are blessed with two healthy energetic boys!

Friday Phone Pics

Not to much excitement over here this week. I haven't had all four kids so it's been rather quiet. I started the week not feeling so good. I am still really tired but feeling better. Here are my favorite phone pics from the week.

We made puppets yesterday and IJ was very proud of his. He helped and everything.

Apparently IJ really needed to stand there because he moved the bottom rack off the dishwasher himself...

One night I went in to check on E before I went to bed and this is what was lined up along side his bed. He is so funny.

The weather was nice enough we even got to swing outside for a bit...Ethan spent his time driving his tractor around. He sure loves that thing.

Hope everyone has a great Friday!!

First Time...

Last week for the first time I left Isaac for 26 hours. I had to go to Portland for a quick trip. I left Monday at 630 pm and returned Tuesday at 1030 pm. Jon took off work on Tuesday to stay home with the kids. They both loved having Jon home all day to them self, I don't think I was missed all that much. But that is a good thing.

The trip was ok, I get nervous traveling by my self so my stomach hurt almost the whole trip. I flew on one of those small planes with propellers. On the way there is was a smooth flight but I was sitting right by the propeller so my chair vibrated the whole time. My rear end was numb when I got off lol. On the way back I sat on the last seat of the plane, that was special. At one point it was so bumpy I almost landed in the guys lap next to me. luckily he almost ended up in the isle, so it was okay.

This was my rental car haha. It was so small, my dad is longer than the car. Shoot...I am longer than this car probably. I had to bend down to look out the windows. I went through a large mud puddle on accident and I thought the car was going to drown. It made me laugh every time I thought of the car though. And I drove all over without getting lost (we wont mention I brought our GPS haha). But all in all it was a good trip. I survived.

The boys loved being home with Jon all by themselves. They built trains and Jon took them swimming at the Y. Such a good dad. It was nice to know they were being taken such good care of.

15 Months

It's really hard to believe Isaac is 15 months already. I sure do love this stage though, they are so cute, full of energy and love to learn new things.

• Talking, I thought Ethan was a good talker at this age...so I pulled out his scrapbook and his list is about 1/3 of Isaac's lol. I can't believe how much Isaac communicates. We did more sign language with him so maybe that is it. But we just talk to our kids and have conversations with them, I think that is a lot of it. This is words he says regularly..not words he will try to repeat if you tell him to (because he does that too)

         Words: Momma, Dadda, Bro-bur (Brother), Grandma, Bapa, Maddie, Bubby (Brady), Papa, hot,
         please, thank you, share, no, eat, cheese, milk, water, baby, nanna (banana), ball, help, uh-oh,
        oh-no, amen, Jesus, choo choo, shoes, here go (for here you go), stuck, yucky, football, bye bye,
        wave, bath, hi, all done, sorry and blanket.  That is 38 words!!
 
       Amen and Oh -no and two of the cutest ones.

• He knows where his head, tummy and feet are
• He can give high fives and knuckles
• Loves the water and loves swimming. Bath time is his favorite time of the day.
• Loves to play anything Ethan is, especially trains
• Eats about 5 times a day. (And I mean 5 meals, this doesn't include snacks he sometimes asks for)And if anyone is eating he will join you. He doesn't like to be served different food than anyone else either. He always looks at our plates to make sure we have the same thing. If we don't, they he doesn't eat his food and he wants yours. He tries everything and anything. Nothing like Ethan. He has a sweet tooth and loves desserts. He had his first sucker on valentines day and he is pretty sure he should have one every day.
• Follows directions very very good. He will throw something away if you tell him to, if you tell him to bring something to daddy or mommy he will.
• So very curious, he is into EVERYTHING! Toilets are his favorite, especially if he has time to put toilet paper in the toilet then pull the paper out and smash it on his head or the wall. He throws remotes in the trash, opens every last drawer and cupboard in the house daily and loves to play in the pantry while I am cooking.  Right now he is throwing his basketball in the trash can and saying uh-oh so Ethan will come get it out. :)
• He watches everything we do and amazes us with how he tries to copy. Jon always uses q-tips every morning...now Isaac has to do the same thing.
• Loves to play basketball with Ethan and daddy, especially when daddy lifts him up to put the ball in the hoop.
• He is finally a good sleeper. Only took 13.5 months lol. But now he sleeps about 11 hours. WAHOO!
• Is becomming more and more of a daddy's boy. Loves to have daddy get him up in the morning, I do it all wrong now.
• Loves his bro-bur a lot. I love watching these two play together. 
• Wants to go outside all day long. Even if it's windy and 20 degrees. 
• Must sleep with the same blanket, and asks for it. 
• Still sleeps with a pacifier, but he has to go to bed with one in his mouth and one in each hand.  
• Gives kisses and hugs if you ask for them.

I can't wait to see what kinds of trouble this kid has in store for us. He is smart, quick and sweet.

This and That with the Cousins

It's been a while since I talked about all the kids. Things here are going really good. I finally feel like we have a good routine and Isaac is done nursing which is so helpful. I am doing some preschool with Ethan and Maddie while Isaac naps in the am. I have a feeling his am naps are about over so I will have to get creative. I like being able to help them and sit down with them. Ethan will start school this fall so I am trying to help him be ready. So far he knows all of his letters and he knows the sounds of almost all of them as well. We are working on numbers now.

Isaac and Brady and quite the pair. Some days they play really good together, others they steal toys and give each other dirty looks ha ha. Isaac is making up for the fact that he is the littlest one in the bunch and is usually the one stealing toys or knocking people over. I think he is going to give me a run for my money.

I keep seeing other blogs with pictures on Fridays. Someday I will have the time to actually figure out what instagram is. I use my phone to take pictures of the kids all the time and they go no where but other peoples phones. I don't have a smart phone...I call mine the dumb phone lol. But since I quit work I can't quite justify the additional money each month. So I thought I'd share my low quality highlights of our week. It will be a good way to remember all the fun we have during the day. And if the low quality bothers you...feel free to contribute to my new phone fund. :)

Scene One: On Wednesday morning I was making breakfast and Brady started pointing saying "I-Zak..I-Zak..I-Zak"-

...

Scene two: I went to find Isaac and found him hiding in the bathroom eating a banana he stole from Brady's plate lol lol lol. It was hilarious. He had to go give it back.

Tuesday lunch together. Don't judge my paper plates, I had already run two loads through the dishwasher that morning...

Ethan wanted to address his own birthday invitations. So he wrote every ones names on the envelope and I added the address...

If you have been to Krispy Kreme lately there is a truck parked outside and part of the word doughnuts is missing. So it reads "Eat Krispy Kreme Doug". My dad finds this very funny and sends pictures of it all the time. So I made him his own hat lol. Oh his name is Doug if you didn't know that. :)

Ethan had to get a filling for a tooth that came in with a defect. I am so proud of how well he did. We have been taking him to the dentist since he was two and I am glad because he does really good. After we left he goes "well that wasn't so bad mom...it is still not a lot of fun, but it wasn't bad". I think that sums up every ones feeling of the dentist.

And this silly boy...just cause he is cute. :)



That was so much fun. I love looking back and the pictures from my phone.

The North Pole

For the last three years we have been able to take the boys (well it was just Ethan the first year) on a train ride to the North pole. It's become one of Ethan's favorite Christmas traditions. The first year we went with friends and the last two years Jon's family has taken us. It's become a nice tradition. Ethan actually talked to Santa this year. And he was very impressed with Ethan's list because Ethan had very specific details on what he wanted lol. I know it is a bit late...but it's still worth remembering.

Ethan wanted his picture right up by the train wheels lol. He had to inspect them first though. And we had to hurry because you're not supposed to get that close. Although the train was not on or anything so I don't see why it was such a big deal. But I suppose there are always irresponsible people out there.

I am one lucky girl...

Ethan is so good with Isaac. I love this picture...

Helping brother back...

It was such a nice time. I hope we can do it again next year.

Trouble

Trouble is this kids middle name lol...He is always getting into something. Wouldn't trade him for anything though. Here is some proof:

Daddy's Hat

Isaac loves to play with Jon's hat. If Jon is here and he finds one of his hats he runs it over to him, it's really funny. Here are some pics I took of Isaac having fun with Jon's hat.

Christmas Recap

I just downloaded all the pics from my camera yesterday. How sad that I had pics all the way from December 2 on there. It was nice to look back at all of the pictures though. Christmas was fabulous as always. How can you complain when you get to celebrate it twice, Christmas Eve with Jon's family...and Christmas day with mine.

Christmas Eve started off good with us four all saying home and eating breakfast together and just relaxing and having fun. We headed over to Jon's family around noon for Christmas Lunch. Then we all open presents and had a good time.

Christmas Day we got up early and went to my parents for Christmas morning. We bring all of our gifts (like Jon's and Mine and what we give the boys) over as well. We had our favorite Christmas dinner. Homemade Mac and Cheese (Grandma Kitty's recipe), Broccoli, Salad, and my homemade rolls. I can't call it an official Grandma Kitty meal because we forgot the chocolate milk lol. And it is not the same without.

This was our first official Lego Christmas. Ethan was so excited to get his first real Lego sets. We got him a leap pad this year which he calls his "I-Pad" just like Mema and Papa have. Isaac got a leap frog train that he likes to rid around in, a lawn mower, books, clothes and a handmade quiet book my mom made for him. It's so darling!  They were of course spoiled.

I am horrible at taking pics at Christmas because I am to busy having fun. But here are a few...

This one makes me laugh. All I wanted was a picture with him lol...

Isaac and his Papa

Making sure papa is behaving...

The boys love Disney characters so IJ got a little Donald and Mickey in the top of his stocking and Ethan got a big Donald holding his stocking. Ethan has a big Pluto already and those are his two favorite characters.

I love this picture lol. It's so crazy with all four kids. But the reason I took this picture is because Isaac was most excited about the puffs he got in his stocking. He carried that thing around all morning.

Sitting in the corner eating his puffs...

A ROCKET LEGO he yelled...

Mowing Grandmas carpet. It's been vacuumed but never mowed before :)

Daddy and Ethan worked on his Lego's most of the day.