The days are long, the years are short

I read that this week and I could immedietley relate.  My sweet baby boy turned one a couple weeks ago.  My gosh, i can remember bringing him home from the hospital just like it was yesterday. We celebrated with our family here and Van wanted nothing to do with his cake:(  Poor guys was having a hard couple of weeks not eating anything in sight..not even the homemade smash cake i made him:(  He was off his reflux medicine for a while and when he pretty much quit eating i decided he needed to be back on it.  He is back to his ol self eating non stop again:)  Maybe i'll make him another smash cake.  He is weighing in at 21 and a half pounds and 29 inches long.  All about 25-50 percentile.  He has eight teeth and 2 big molars cutting through right now.  Can't believe how much he is growing!

The stomach bug made an appearance in our house last week which was no fun.  Thankfully, Sadie was the only one who got(no not thankful she got it, just thankful the rest of us didn't catch it from her:)).  We had a little scare with her as after she woke up in the middle of the night throwing up, she would stand up and immedietly lay down curled up saying how bad her stomach hurt her.  She had been complaining for a couple of days that her stomach hurt too.  She started running a fever and since she couldn't really walk without complaining i decided to take her to the dr. They suspected what i did, which was appendicitis and they told us to head down to Scottish Rite.  We spent the entire day there..long story somewhat short, it wasn't her appendix.  :)

Sadie aslo started swim lessons last week!  We are hoping to be spending a lot of time at the pool this summer and i want her to be a little more comfortable in the pool.  I would LOVE it if she would swim swim like with her head in the water but right now she refuses to put her head in.  We will see if Ms. Jayme can get her to get her face in by the time swim lessons are over:)

My women's ALTA team finally won the city championship!  So very excited and proud of my whole team.  I have made some wonderful friends and i look forward to my tuesdays and sundays with them:)


And how could i forget my sweet princesses first ballet recital.  She did amazing, remembered her whole routine.  We couldn't be any more proud of her:)

Here's to a fantastic summer!

I swear, i blink my eyes and the weekends are over.  They just go by so fast!  I got to play tennis in the record high heat today but our team won all our lines and clinched the division!  So excited:)  I love my tennis Sundays and my team is so much fun.  We had a pretty busy weekend.  Last night we went out to dinner and yogurt with some friends and lots of kids.  Brent had his tennis match yesterday morning, and Friday night Brent grilled out some really yummy burgers and hot dogs for us.  It was a perfect weekend.  We wrapped it up with some Brusters tonight after finishing up the screen door for our back porch.  Life sure is good these days:)

3 is hard

the age that is.....although i can speak from experience that 3 kids is hard as well. You would think after being a nanny for 6 years i would realize the different ages and the challenges that they bring. But, i forget a lot of stuff..maybe try to block certain things out:) Let's just say that there have been a lot of tantrums lately..mostly just from manipulating. She tries very hard to get what she wants. If she asks me for something and i tell her no, she will walk right up to Brent and ask him. We have a book called "Do princesses wear hiking boots", and it asks if princesses follow the rules. Sadie will admit that she always follows the rules in school. she has never been to time out at school and always listens to the teachers(their words, not mine). She does exactly what they tell her to do. Then she will say "but i don't follow the rules at home, because i don't like to". huh??Now don't get me wrong, the good FAR out weigh the challenges that we have been facing lately with our sweet little Sadie. I'm just hoping this phase passes very soon. Each child should come with a custom manual when they are born, based on their personalities. That sure would be nice:)

Van is getting so big! I really can't believe he will be 1 next month. where in the world did the last year go? He is still doing his army crawl(if you even want to call it that since it is more of a sideways army crawl), but hey at least he can get around:) He now has 6 teeth, three top and three bottom. I looked in his mouth today and saw one of the bottom teeth almost as tall as the ones that have been there for months and i felt like a horrible mother because i didn't even know that tooth was coming in!

We are looking forward to summertime, sleeping in, and lots of fun activities:) and the Beach!

Jump the Frog

That's the name Sadie gave to the frog that has been living on our deck the past couple of weeks. We get a LOT of frogs around here..there always seems to be one hanging out on a window or door when it gets warm out. We cam across this guy a couple weeks ago when we were filling our built in deck planters with lots of soil. Brent got him out and took him to the other side of the house. Then when i went to plant my honeysuckle vine in the planter i saw him there again. We let him be. Sadie was fascinated with him. Then today and yesterday he has been right on top of the deck, and then when it gets real sunny there he goes to a shady spot and sleeps. I know it has to be the same frog because it literally comes back to the exact same spot every day. He literally slept all day today. We kept checking to see if he was even alive! Sure enough when it got dark out he took off. Don't worry, he will be back tomorrow:) We even make him a little mud pond out of a pie plate:) Here are some recent pics of the Easter egg hunt at school today, Sadie planting her flowers, and of course one of Jump the frog:)

I apologize that the flower pics are completely backwards out of order!

whirlwind!

Wow! the past month and a half has been quite a whirlwind. Van is finishing up some antibiotics...again, and hopefully no more sickness in this house for a while. He had brochiolitis along with double ear infections about a month ago. Sadie had this also when she was 3 months old and i remember it being the worst 48 hrs ever. Van slept in about 30 minute increments..for.2.days. We were all exhausted. the bronchiolitis stuck around for quite a while and then he got another nasty ear infection when he caught a second cold. Poor guy. Not quite thinking about tubes with him just yet but after a couple more ear infections we may be visiting a ENT. Sadie also had her first ear infection since she had tubes. She had a horrible cough that just wouldn't go away and after about a week of that she started waking up hysterical in the middle of the night. When i asked her if anything hurt she said her ear and then she said stuff was coming out of it. wonderful...her infection had gotten so bad that her ear drum had a small rupture.

On a much lighter note, now that the weather is absolutely wonderful we are enjoying a lot of time outside. Sadie is getting really good on her scooter and she loves having boundaries outside. She has a long stretch that she can go all alone(with someone outside of course) and not crossing the street. That is one thing that i do love about where we live..we live on a nice quiet street that doesn't get a lot of traffic. She can play freely and i can work in the yard...or have coffee on the swing:) I know i mentioned before that she is my helper and she is still my little helper, now more so than ever. I love giving her responsibility. I let her plant her own pot of flowers , she put all the soil and flowers in and is responsible for watering it too. And she is super excited about it too:) Hopefully she can keep them alive!

I still can't believe Van is 10 months old. That just seems so unreal. He is 20 lbs 2oz (as of his last sick visit). He has 4 teeth, 2 top 2 bottom, and his upper gums are super swollen so it looks like the side teeth may be coming in soon. He ins't crawling, just rolls to where ever he needs to go. Today he started to an "inchworm" crawl. He lays on his tummy acts like he is about to roll to his back then puts his butt in the air and pushes forward(all on his side). Maybe one day he will get it:) I brought his not crawling up to the dr. at his 9 month check up and she wasn't concerned because his muscle tone seemed fine and he was meeting all his other milestones. So, i try not to worry but just want the little booger to get moving!

Thats about all for now..i'll try to get some pictures up soon!

9 month stats

Just a quick post about Van's 9 month stats. Still not quite sure how he is 9 months already!:(

19lbs 9 oz (25-50% %)

28 3/4 inches long (50%)

head circ(not sure of the number but 50-75%

big boy is growing! he has one more tooth coming through up top right now, and the other top one looks right behind it. He still isn't crawling, but the Dr. isn't worried since he is hitting all his other milestones. He is just pretty laid back and content just watching. He is doing MUCH better on his tummy though..he used to immediately roll over to his back but now he will stay a while on his tummy and then eventually roll over but he will also roll back onto his tummy down. he also has mild torticollis where his right side of his neck is a little tight and tilts that way a little. we have to do some massaging and exercises with him but i also think i may take him to a pediatric chiropractor to check him out. He got a new medicine for his infant acne (he has two spots on his face from where he had 2 blemishes like 2 months ago and the spots are still there). This is much different than "baby acne". most babies experience some sort of baby acne within the first few months of life and it eventually clears up. infantile acne starts after 6 months and is very stubborn acne. sometimes lasting longer than 6 months. It's not very common at all. Poor lil Van:( She thinks this cream will work better than the one we were using that the dermatologist told us to use. we shall see. Other than that, he is just as perfect as can be. We are very thankful that those things are all we have to worry about:) He continues to be just the best lil guy i have ever met. he is so sweet, laid back and just so happy.

I'll try to post again about our last month of fun and sickies:)

back to life, back to reality

Now that our break is over, reality has officially set in. Daddy has to go to work everyday, and we have to be up and at em by 7:30 to get Sadie ready for school. Good thing tomorrow she gets to wear her jammies:) We had an amazing Christmas. This year was definitely the most fun so far. Sadie really got it. She asked for specific things for Christmas (well, she only asked for one thing..a baby doll that looked like her), but Santa thought she deserved more than just a doll:). She was really excited about Santa Clause..and very hesitant to sit with him this year. This was a little surprising because last year she let him pick her up and all. We have the sweetest Santa that comes to our clubhouse every year.

Both of the kids are doing awesome. Sadie is growing up everyday it seems. Age 3 has by far been the most difficult yet. I'm really not sure who coined the term "terrible twos" but two was nothing. 3 is all about manipulation, defying behavior etc. She still has her moments but she is so much better. Van is doing well too. He has 2 teeth now. yay! He is still the most happiest baby ever. He is rolling all around and sitting very good. No crawling just yet. I am one of those crazy moms who actually wants their baby to start crawling. I remember thinking the same thing with Sadie and everyone said i would regret it..i didn't. Right now, Van is just frustrated. He wants something and he can't get it. I love playing with him and all, but i'll be happy when he can get around a bit on his own. The only thing i am nervous about is all of Sadie's small toys. She knows that he can't have small things, but man she has a LOT of pieces to her toys. I really can't believe he will be 8 months next week. Where in the world has the time gone?

Today was the first full successful day without sleeping at all in his swing. He took 2 1.5 hour naps and one 45 min one. I think i'm going to have a party when we put that swing in the attic.

I don't remember his 6 mo stats, but i do know that he is 18lbs, 5oz right now. Growing boy!

happy halloween!

we had a wonderful Halloween! For the past few weeks Sadie has changed her mind every day(literally) trying to decide what she wanted to dress up as for Halloween. She wanted to be a ladybug, superman(not woman...don't ask), a ghost, witch, her lalaloopsy doll, a dog, caterpillar, pirate, a mermaid...and the list goes on. She finally decided on a witch. we went with a simple costume, black and green theme of course:) She had green fish net tights with a black tutu that my mom made. i bought a black leotard and some sparkly green tulle to use as a belt. I also found a cute black and green hat at walmart that matched perfectly. She insisted on getting the long black wig that went all the way down to her butt but that came off before we even left the house to go trick or treating:) she wanted to take the hat off too but i told her no one would know what she was if she didn't have it so she said "ok, i'll just wear the hat, no wig though":). She had SO much fun:) This was really the first year that she was really into it, and knew exactly what was going on. She came home for a potty break and then went back out for round two. she came home with lots of loot and now i have to deal with figuring out how the heck to make it disappear without her eating it all. I didn't get a costume for Van this year(i know, horribly mother), but i knew he would be down for the night before we even went so i didn't bother. oh well. he spent the night at home with mimi and nana and helped pass out candy. then i came home at the break and got him back to sleep while everyone went back out. All in all, it was a wonderful Halloween!

Van is doing pretty good. He still has this yucky cold and i'm hoping he kicks it soon. He is such an awesome boy. He is just over 5 months now. I am making my own baby food for him and so far he has tried:sweet potatoes, prunes, bananas, and peas. He has loved everything so far and does fantastic eating it. I am amazed how much less expensive it is to make your own baby food. I got a new food processor for Christmas last year for this exact reason and it has come in really handy. Now i just need a giant freezer to store everything:)

first ear infection:(

Sadie got her first ear infection at 3 months old. It was Thanksgiving. Then she got one at Christmas. 9 months and 8 more ear infections later we decided to put tubes in her ears and she hasn't had one since. I hated that she was on antibiotics so much during her first year of life and i hope that Van doesn't have to go through that. I found out today that Van had double ear infections:( The first thing that popped into my mind was i don't want to have to do tubes again. I guess my kids are just more prone to ear infections. I think i had a lot as a baby maybe thats why? After about 3 nights of waking up every 2-3 hours i decided to take him in to get checked out. He has been a trooper but today was just pitiful. Hopefully the antibiotics kick in soon so we (meaning him and me) can start sleeping again!

Say what??

Some of the things that come out of Sadie's mouth are just priceless. I still see that itty bitty baby that she used to be and can't believe she can just have a a regular ol conversation with us these days. It's really hard for me to look at Van and imagine him talking to us just like Sadie is:) I watched a video the other day from about a year ago of Sadie talking. It is amazing how much she has changed in just one year. She was talking to the dogs and was saying "mas"(miles) and "pooper" cooper. It was the cutest thing ever. If i can ever figure out how to upload videos I'll put some on here..we have some cute ones:) The other day she was at my tennis match and i was letting her play a game on my phone (a matching memory game). We get home and she says "Daddy, can i play a game on your phone"? "I don't have games on my phone, only mommy does". then she says "Maybe you can download one". Brent and i looked at each other and have no clue where in the world she got that one. I guess my point is, is that i was just watching a home video and she couldn't even say Miles and now she is asking to download a game?! I'm not sure I am ready for all of this! She is just SO much fun these days:) Love you my sweet Sadie pie:)

sleep training...again:)

We decided to revisit sleep training now that Van will be 5 months in just a little over a week...i can't even believe that. Poor lil guy...and mama...was waking up all the time at night, even just 20 minutes after he was down for the night. He just wanted to be held and to nurse...a lot. It wasn't so much about eating, just being close etc. As much as i would love to be up all night with him, i was turning into quite a zombie during the day and it wasn't really fair to Sadie. I went to the library and checked out The Sleepeasy Solution and just tried to stick with it. The first two nights were just plain awful..awful. he cried...a lot:( it broke my heart. But, eventually he fell asleep. It took about an hour both nights. He slept pretty good both nights, putting himself back to sleep pretty good but still woke up to eat. The third night there was no crying at all. A little cooing and then nothing. I honestly couldn't believe it. I went and checked on him and he was on his side, sucking his fingers. The fourth night, he cried a little bit off and on for a few minutes and then went to sleep. Both kids have been in bed by 7 for the past two nights in a row and suddenly i feel like i can breath! Fingers crossed that he doesn't get sick, etc. and throws everything off..which it will. But for now, i can have a few hours of peace at night:) Once he is 5 months and 15 lbs(i think he is pretty close to that) we can begin the process of night weaning:/

little thum sucker:)

This past weekend Van has really figured out how to suck his thumb. He has been doing it for a while now but had to work really hard to find the thumb. Now it goes straight in when he is tired....along with the other hand twirling the hair. I could just eat him up:) I'm sure it won't be so cute when he is 4 and sucking his thumb(please don't let him suck his thumb at 4), but it sure is cute now. I'm hoping that since he is getting so good at this we will have better nights. Last night he woke up just once to eat(which in our house is GREAT). i deal with waking up once. Let's hope for 2 good nights in a row though..something i don't think we have had yet!:/

4 month stats

Here are Van's 4 month stats. Growing boy!

14 lbs (up 3 lbs 2 oz, up to 50th percentile from 25-50 from last time)
25 inches long (up almost 3 inches from last time, up to 50th percentile from 25th)
Head circ 41.5 cm (25th percentile)

My sweet Van continues to be such a happy boy:) He may not be the best sleeper but he sure makes up for it with his sweetness all day long:) Love him!

teething already??

It appears that Van is getting in his two bottom teeth already! Sadie got her first tooth(well 4 at a time) at nine months old, then got 4 more by her 1st birthday. I have gotten bitten quite a few times while feeding Van(not good:)) and he has been extra fussy lately and not sleeping very well so i decided to peek in his mouth. To my surprise i found two white spots on his teeth where his bottom teeth will be coming in. He is getting pretty annoyed with me always looking in his mouth:) They are moving so slow! I'm hoping they cut very soon bc the poor guy just bites on his hands and screams half the time. Even with his teething troubles he is just the happiest baby! I remember when Sadie was this age she was very serious...you had to really work to get her to smile..this little boy just needs you to talk to him and he will give you all kinds of smiles and giggles. They are already so different!

Sadie started school this week at her new school and she hasn't skipped a beat. Thankfully, she loves school and learning. She immedietley came home and played "school" with all her people..telling them to go get their lunches and to raise their hands if they needed something. I can't brag enough about how smart she is(i'm her mother i'm allowed to)! Ever since she was just over 2 she has known every single letter of the alphabet and what sound it makes. she can tell you what ANY word starts with and she can do basic reading(cat, dog, etc.)

I'll post some pics soon..if i don't post this now it will never get posted!

sleep training

We are on night number 2 of sleep training. i decided to give it a try since we have been rocking Van to sleep for sometimes an hour plus and then he wakes up after 10 minutes and we have to start all over again. Last night was the first night(if you want to call it that). I let him cry for 5 minutes and couldn't take it any longer and went in and got him. Then Brent rocked with him until he was OUT. Tonight, after rocking him for over an hour i was exhausted and had stuff to do so i decided to give it another try. i put him down and he cried for 5 minutes, then stopped and cried for about 3 more minutes and then went to sleep. That was the first time he went to sleep on his own since he was a newborn. Now, i know more than anyone that once you start bragging on your baby's sleep they throw a change up the next night and all hell breaks lose. SO...we will see what the rest of the week brings:) I can deal with less than 10 minutes of crying if he goes to sleep on his own. After i hit post on this, he will probably wake up:)

11 weeks old!

Well, clearly i am not the best blogger:) Some people ask me "what do you do all day long, i could never stay home?" Let me tell you, i am always doing something! There is always someone to play with, a load of laundry to do(literally almost every day), cleaning, dishes, dinner etc. And if i'm lucky i can get in a quick shower and maybe get to dry my hair and put on some makeup. Now i know things will calm down, especially once Sadie gets back to school, but for now there is not much sitting down. I usually get to catch up on some shows while i'm nursing Van(until Sadie comes in and requests to watch Peppa Pig over and over and over again). So, from here on out my goal is to update the blog once a week(hopefully:))

Here are Van's 2 month stats. 10 lbs 14 oz, 22 1/4 inches long. i forgot head circ but everything was 25th percentile. He is just growing like crazy. I love him so very much:) He is such a happy baby too. He usually eats, has some awake time and play time and during this time he just smiles and coos and giggles...it is so sweet. then he takes a nap and wakes up and does it all over again. He sleeps through tantrums, dogs barking, etc. He doesn't love the car. Somehow we have never had that baby who you can just bring in a restaurant and they just go to sleep. Van will not fall asleep in his car seat. If you put him in there asleep he will sleep but will never fall asleep in there. Guess no restaurants for us for a while:)

Sadie went through a pretty rough patch for a while there but i'm VERY happy to say that we have our sweet girl back. What i thought was a very severe case of the terrible threes(yes threes, two is not so bad afterall) was a bad case of sleep deprivation. We thought for a while there that she was ready to drop her nap and go to bed early so we did that for a while. bad idea. after about a week she was a nightmare. everything was a meltdown. So, i got all my old sleep books out and read up. turns out she was just way tired..needed an afternoon nap AND an early bedtime. So now she takes an afternoon nap around 1 for about and hour and a half and goes to bed around 8. I like early bedtimes:)
She is also on her way to being fully potty trained. I don't think it's a coincidence that after she started catching up on sleep that she started having less accidents. She also is mommys favorite helper:) she wants to help me with everything. From changing Van's diaper to cooking dinner, to washing my face..i mean everything. Sometimes things take much longer to do, but i don't think i'll ever get tired of hearing "can i help mommy?"

I guess i'll leave on that note..save some stuff for next weeks blog:)

short post

Just a quick post to say that i am back from my break of taking pictures! I have started scheduling some sessions so if you know of anyone in the market for some pictures send them my way!!

quiet time

It has been quiet in the Winzeler household this afternoon. Both kids have been asleep for a while now and instead of taking a nap myself i decided to catch up (WAY up) on getting the house in order. I have to admit i feel much better getting everything done than when i do when i wake up from a nap and nothing is done. I'm still trying to get the hang of keeping the house in one piece and making sure both kids are eating/sleeping etc. I think yesterday i forgot to make Sadie lunch! Van is starting on reflux medicine today..poor little guy has been refluxing for some time now and he is so uncomfortable. Hopefully the first meds we try will help and we won't have to put him on the medicine Sadie was on bc it's super expensive. Other than that we are all doing great!!

2 weeks old

Hard to believe Van is already 2 weeks old..well just about anyways. Today we went in for his 2 week check up..we went in a couple days earlier than our original appt bc i had a couple questions i needed answered and didn't want to wait until the end of the week and definitely didn't want to go twice. So 1 day shy of 2 weeks he is 6 lbs 11.5 oz(yes he gained almost 12 oz in 8 days!), he is 20 inches long(grew 1 inch in 8 days also) so he is growing like a little weed! They say right now he is long and lean, 25 percentile for weight and head and 50 for height. He is still a great baby(knock on wood) and so far no signs of the extremely fussy baby we had with adorable almost 3 year old. He is pretty content when he is awake, just likes to look around. He really only fusses when he is getting changed or is ready to eat. Night times are still hard...he wakes up a lot to eat and grunts and makes a LOT of noises in his sleep. I can honestly say i forgot how hard the first few weeks(probably months) are. Sadie is still doing great with him and is really happy now that she isn't sick anymore and can give him lots of love:) She is going to be the best big sister:)

Welcome to the world, Van Thomas Winzeler!

Our little guy is finally here! After a very easy labor, Van Winzeler was born on May 19, 2011 at 1:14 pm. He weighed 6 lbs 5 oz and was 21 inches long(although he did have a conehead so he was actually only 19 inches long:)). He is so perfect and such a great baby. He was alert from the get go. And apparentley he takes after his daddy:) Sadie has not skipped a beat. It's like she was born to be a big sister. She wants to help with everything..from putting him down for a nap to helping to change his diaper. She adores him. I can't tell you how many times a day she says "look at him...he's so cute" in her sweet little voice. I have to say i miss her a lot. Exclusively breastfeeding (and Van has been eating a LOT) takes lots of time away from her. I can't wait for things to get just a little easier and i can spend more time with her again. My mom went back to work today so it was me all alone with Sadie and Van. Sadie is also sick:( My mom is going to come back tomorrow and friday to help out a little with her bc she just doesn't feel well and needs a little more attention that i can give her right now. We are adjusting great and are really looking forward to watching Van grow!

And props to Brent for capturing this sweet picture at the hospital(with a little guidance:))