Cheese!

I finally caught Tate's cheese face on camera. He usually says cheese as soon as he hears the camera turn on and then refuses to do it again. They were both "washing" their hands. Cole did manage to pump half a bottle of soap into the sink, so I guess they were clean!

My Funny Valentines

Duplo Tate

Cole had his friendship party at school today. Valentines must be offensive or maybe it's love, I don't know, but at any rate it's a friendship party. I decided to be creative and make heart crayons instead of giving out candy. It would have been fine if I hadn't waited until last night to do it. At any rate, they turned out nice. I spent the morning at school with him, and affirmed my decision to teach high school over preschool. He did fine, but everything is more tragic when mom is there and it's sooooo annoying.

At any rate, the boys are doing fine. They love pushing each other's buttons and in turn push mine. I used to get a break in the middle of the day 3 times a week. I still get a break 3 times a week, but now it's during chores time which is normally my daily break anyway. It's starting to show. My nerves are fried by about 9 AM. I need a get away. Pat and I were supposed to get that Sunday-Tuesday, but the lovely snow ruined that. We are going to try again this Sunday, but this time we're taking the kids. I'm not sure if that will be nice or not!

Cole is finally getting the potty training down. Tate loves to be in or on anything he can. They are fun. I just have to remind myself to enjoy them once in a while!

Since I don't have class on Mondays and Cole didn't have school today, I'm still calling it the weekend. So as promised, here is an update on my boys.

The weather, until today, had been relatively warm, for January anyway. We had fog every day, all day last week and rain the last couple of days. We did get a little break long enough to make this snowman. That's the first peek of sun we'd seen for a week.

Cole had a blast being outside. He likes to go help Grandpa during chores and usually tells me "I don't want to help you." How nice?
Tate is quickly becoming a little stinker. He knows exactly how to set his brother off. His new favorite thing to do is squeal every time he sees the cat, or just for fun. He's not quiet about it either. He's been busy playing in the toy wonderland downstairs now that he's figured out how to go down them without falling, for the most part.

This is what happens when you fall asleep with Daddy and then Daddy leaves. Kinda reminds me of this picture:

Tate also had his 18 month check up last week. He weighs 24 lbs 11 oz and is 31 3/4 inches tall, which is about 5 inches shorter than his brother. He is in about the 35% for both height and weight. Can you believe he was ever that small?

Merry Christmas Eve

I lied. It's snowing. A LOT and it's still coming down. Granted so far it's only been about 6 inches, but that's plenty. Normally we do Christmas Eve with my in-laws after church. This year, there will be no church and we were going to do gifts at lunch time instead so my sister-in-law could make it here and home again before the wind picked up. Instead Pat and his dad are hauling snow before we get another foot and it makes things a whole lot harder to clean up. So Christmas this year certainly won't be what I had planned.

On a positive note, it really is pretty and the boys, Cole in particular, have had a blast playing in it. Cole likes to go shoveling. It's not good snowman snow but we should have a really nice pile for sledding when it's all over with!

Cole going shoveling, as he says.

Tate enjoying the snowflakes.

He's standing, not sitting.

Tate showing me how he feels about having to put on all his snow gear.

Moving snow.

Cole going down the slide.

Have a merry Christmas! Sing some carols for me because I doubt there will be church around here tomorrow either. At least the world will look clean and new for Jesus' birthday!

A Day Without Rain

We've finally had some beautiful fall weather. I took the boys outside to play the other day to enjoy it while it lasts. I raked some leaves while the boys played. Tate wasn't too interested in the leaves, but finally got a shot at the cozy coupe without his brother interfering.
Tate is walking pretty good now. He loves to climb. He was in and out of that car for a good hour without a peep. Cole would have sat and cried every time he wanted in and out because he wanted someone to help. I just can't get over how completely different they are.

Cole had a blast in the leaves. He made a little course. He would count to five, run from the swing set and jump in the leaves. I have some video that maybe I will post later.

The Last Two Weeks in Review

So I know I've been incredibly lazy about updating. So in the spirit of always wanting to be like my big sister, I am using her post idea and bulleting our last couple of weeks.

• I started subbing at our local school. I've only done it twice and I actually enjoyed it. It wasn't nearly as hard to be away from my kiddos and home as I thought it would be. I am only available 2 days a week and usually one of those is full of appointments, so it's not much, but the little bit of income will be nice. It might even pay for groceries!
• I also picked up 3 extra credits. I am doing an internship at said school. I'm helping out in a high school math classroom. There are 29 kids in the class. This is the smarter group so they are not as challenging, but 29 kids is a lot for one classroom, math or not!
• Speaking of school, I got an 85% on my latest differential equations test! Whoo hoo! I was pumped.
• Cole is loving school. I still get the same "I played, had snack and water" when I asked what he did at school, but he seems to really like going. He's even mentioned a couple of kids from his class.
• Cole is also in underwear. Potty training since June, we finally made the switch just over a week ago. We still have occasional accidents, but he's been doing really well.
• Tate is walking! He finally gave it a go a couple of weeks ago and now is a full blown walker.
• Being a walker means he was also released from all PT and special ed services!
• He also had his 15 month check and is 22 lbs and 30.5 inches (only about 4.5" shorter than his big brother).
• We did manage to get our soybeans out, but still have about 160 acres of corn. It's finally sunny and windy today, good drying conditions, but they are predicting rain and snow for the end of the week. Should be great trick or treating!

That about sums it up. I do have some post ideas, including a toy review of Tate's Christmas present. Today, however, I have to get my lesson plan for class done!

Stepping Out

Tate has decided to attempt walking. He took his first uncoerced step on Tuesday, but I thought it was a fluke. Today he proved otherwise. While he hasn't managed more than 2 steps in a row, he doesn't go straight down to a crawl anymore. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Granted it will be nice when he can walk outside on his own since that's what he wants to do, but he is already into everything and now there will be more things within reach. Although he really doesn't crawl now if he doesn't have to. He cruises and then pushes anything he can, chairs, trash cans, boxes, large toys, to get across the room.

Earlier this week, the weather was gorgeous, so we took an opportunity to play outside. Tate had a blast going in and out of the playhouse. This was also when he decided to attempt his first solo step.
Other than that, this week has mostly been recovering. I ended up with a migraine on Monday and Cole has been sick since Tuesday. It was kind of nice having a 3 year old with laryngitis. He could still squeak and he didn't understand the concept of resting his voice, so it wasn't total peace. He did miss his preschool screening on Wednesday because of it though. He's been waking up every morning this week telling me he needs medicine because he's old. This morning he proceeded to tell me he was 3 and that when he was 4 he could go to church camp. Maybe I should tell him he has to wear underwear first...

A Little Too Quiet

Yesterday I was attempting to do some homework. Cole had gone outside to play so it was a chance for me to do something question-free. Tate had slept in, so there was no morning nap to be had, but he usually plays pretty well when big brother isn't around to boss him around. So I was thoroughly enjoying the silence. Suddenly it hit me. It was a little too quiet. So I headed straight to the bathroom where I discovered this:
At least he left all the sticker backs on!

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In other Tate news, he is getting oh so close to walking. He's starting to pull himself up and let go and the other day he actually went from the coffee table to the couch . It was more of a lunge than a step, but we're getting closer. Last night he was trying to stand up without pulling up. It was actually pretty funny watching himself try to lunge himself upwards.

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One more story for today and then I'm done! Last night I was on FB and the boys were playing. Tate was in his usual spot by the toy box pulling out all the toys one by one. Cole walked over, pointed, and said "Can I have that tractor please?" Tate kept right one pulling out toys and now was handing them to Cole who would take them, say "nope," and throw them on the floor. He was being pretty patient waiting for Tate to get the tractor for him. Finally he says "I said that tractor I want." Tate pulls out a few more toys, then gets to the tractor, hands it to Cole who says "Thank you Tater Tate" and walks away.

The Sound of Silence

I'm down to just one child so I thought I'd hammer out a post for you all. Unfortunately the child I am down to is Tate, so this may be short lived. The gates are all up and the bathroom door is closed, so hopefully I'll have more than 2 minutes for an update.

Potty training is. We had 2 dry days, followed by a one accident day, followed by yesterday. Yesterday involved wet pants in the morning. We did fine through the afternoon, mostly because he was sleeping in a pull-up. In the evening, he pooped and of course he had boxers on which meant the poop went down his pants. A little while later he peed on the dining room floor, not just a little pee, a big pee. That was followed up with some more pee on my coffee table (his new game is jumping from the coffee table to the couch). It wasn't a good day. Today he's out in the tractor with Daddy, in a pull-up, so I don't have to worry about it. Maybe he's not ready, but he knows when he has to go. Our hardest part of the day is during chores. We run a pretty tight time schedule so I don't have a lot of time to stop and take him potty. He usually pees outside, but yesterday I knew he had to poop so I took him inside. He didn't poop and he threw of my chores so I sent him to play in the yard so I wouldn't have to drag around 2 kids. I guess I should have known better.

Tate is doing fine. He's cruising furniture now. His favorite game is the trust fall. I stand him up and he falls into me. He thinks it's hilarious. He's discovered the fun of going up stairs so I now have 3 gates up in my house on the main level. He loves unrolling toilet paper and playing in the potty. Right now he's busy with his brother's tractors since his brother isn't there to yell at him and take them away.

School is going ok for me. I have 2 classes. One is Differential Equations. Nuff said there. The other is an ed class. It's going to be a lot of busy work, but should be an ok class.

The farm is much the same. We have another nutritionist coming tomorrow to see if he has any advice for us. We've had three heifer calves, alive, which is an improvement although they aren't terribly smart. Typically heifers are smarter than bulls when it comes to pail breaking, but I've got a couple of dumb ones that don't like drinking from a pail. It's really annoying. Anyway, we are hoping to get some answers from this guy and hopefully we can get things turned around. It only takes a couple of months for things to go really bad and usually takes years to get it back where it was. Here's hoping!

I Can't Leave My Children

alone with their father for a second. My sister called the other night and while I was talking to her, Cole came in and said "Daddy's cutting Tate's hair." Wha???
Tate didn't seem to mind. The top was getting a little long, but I was going to let it go. His hair isn't terribly thick. It apparently bothered Pat enough that he decided to cut it. After he cut Tate's hair, and Cole's hair, the boys turned on him.

Yes, we are trying to potty train. Again.

Are You Happy Now, Jenn?

Ok, so I'm finally updating. It's been insanely busy. I called to get the results of Tate's echo yesterday. Turns out they got sent to our former doctor, who of course wasn't courteous enough to pass them along to the correct doctor. Anywho, everything is normal. They were looking for a PDA, which is what Cole had, but didn't find anything wrong. I could have told you his PDA was closed, so I'm hoping they checked around for other things. At any rate, he has to go back at 15 months for another well baby check, so we'll see what happens then. We are also waiting until then before we decide to do anything about his head. I'm not concerned about it. He used to really lag with his left leg, but he's crawling now, so I'm not so worried about it. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures to tide you over until I can actually write a real post.

Tate was not so sure about the feel of grass on his knees.

He uses the potty better than his big brother! This is what happens when you have a child that screams when he poops, before he's finished.

Echo Update

Tate had his echo today. It went better than expected, as in he didn't fight the guy for the camera wand the whole time. Actually, he did better than Cole did at that age, but that's because they didn't make Tate lay down. The tech let him sit on my lap and just kind of moved with him. Even better, they got us in early so we were able to be home by lunch time. We won't hear anything until at least the end of the week.

Tomorrow is his last PT session for the summer. He is finally crawling around more than scooting now. He is into everything! He's quickly learning the word no, although listening to it is another story. Today he discovered Cole's toy corner which kept him busy most of the evening. Walking is still a ways off, but apparently his learning curve is steep seeing as how a month ago he wasn't even moving!

Never Ending Worry

Tate had his one year check up today. It could have gone better. He is 18lb 12 oz (4%) and 29 1/4" (34%). That part is all fine. It's the other stuff that could have gone better. First she noticed a murmur which no one has ever heard before. I'm not terribly worried about that. However, since we have met our deductible for the year, I figured we'd go get it checked out. Of course, once I heard that my mind starts to go and I over think everything. Is he napping too much? Is he over tired? Yada yada yada... Unfortunately, that wasn't the only thing she noticed. She also noticed that his right eye and ear are slightly lower than the left. What does that mean? Maybe nothing, maybe something. So now we have to decide if we want to follow through and have that checked out by a pediatric cranial specialist. Pat and I have noticed it before, not so much the eye as the ear. It's more predominant from the back. I just don't know what to do. More than likely it's nothing, but there is a slim chance there could be a genetic problem, or could cause problems in hearing and vision later on. I'm just torn. If we get it checked out are we over reacting? If we don't are we putting him at risk for problems later on that could have been fixed now? Since I know you are all going to be searching for a picture to see if you can see it, I posted one for you. I think it's easier to see in this picture. Of course, as I was cropping the pic for this post I accidentally saved it over the original. Hopefully I have it on FB since it was really cute. Anywho, here you go. If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears, crooked or not!

Happy First Birthday, Tate!

My baby turns one today! Can you believe that it's been a year already since we welcomed this little guy?
He sure has changed from a dark haired, blue-eyed baby to a blond haired, green-eyed little boy!

I always joke that he is a different breed of baby than his brother was. His personality is much more extreme, but he's still a fun little guy. He loves to smile and laugh, especially at his big brother. He also loves to eat and lets me know when the food isn't fast enough! He's come such a long way just in the past week. He's now decided to start scooting, is starting to get up on all fours, is sitting himself up, and also pulling himself up on anything he can find. He has no time for baby toys (too bad that's what he's getting for his birthday). He loves his brother's cars and tractors the best.

Happy Birthday, Tate! You definitely are "so big" and we love you very much!

Camels Bite

Really, they bite. We have proof.
Luckily, no harm was done, except that Tate will probably always have a fear of camels.

Our mini vacation/doctor's visit went well. I will blog about that later when I have time to go through pictures to post.

Snaggle Tooth

Tate cut his first tooth about a month ago, and it is finally big enough to see!
I know, I have the cutest kids. Anywho, he finally cut his second tooth yesterday. The other bottom one, you may ask? Nope, his left, front, top tooth. Yes, we were always hoping for a child with snaggle teeth. Ok, I'm not really sure what snaggle teeth are, but how else do you describe that? The other 2 front teeth are working on an appearance, so I don't think the look will last long, hopefully. It is making him rather miserable, so I hope they pop through soon!

Week in Review

I thought this summer would be pretty laid back. Since my FIL is having both his knees done this summer, I figured we wouldn't be going anywhere and we'd just have a nice relaxing summer at home. Riiiight. So far June has been crazy!

Last weekend, I packed up the boys and headed to Wisconsin for my sister's bridal shower. It was very nice. No stupid games, just nice gifts and great food. Tate wasn't so impressed though.

My other sister was determined to fight him to sleep. She lost. It only took about 3 seconds in the van for him to give in, but he was determined no one was going to cuddle him to sleep!

Tuesday we threw a surprise 60th birthday party for my parents. Someone almost blew it by wishing my dad a happy birthday a little too early on in the party, but he didn't get it since his birthday was actually in April. We had a great time and Coley loved following around his older cousins.

Wednesday brought in Cole's 3rd birthday! After a quick breakfast and some time opening gifts with Grammy and cousins, we loaded back up in the van and headed home. The cake and gifts were a hit, as was the bike helmet I bought him a couple of days earlier.

Next up, Tate turned 11 months on Sunday. He's starting to nap better and sleep better at nights. He's had one tooth pop through and the other is getting closer. He's not big on showing them off though. He can wave bye bye and is getting closer and closer to moving. We'll see what PT brings tomorrow!
After PT tomorrow I am packing up the boys again, and this time heading to NE to visit a college friend and her new baby. I think it will be a fun trip. It's been a long time since I've been back to NE. We are making at stop in SD to pick up another friend and her little boy. It should be interesting traveling with so many little boys!

Milestones

Tate has finally passed a few milestones this past week. Last week Thursday, he found his motivation and rolled over, twice! He still isn't crazy about it, but he's learning being on his tummy isn't so bad. He's had PT (physical therapy) twice so far and will start with a new therapist next week. I'm excited about the change, mostly because the new therapist is the same one Cole had as an infant. I think it will be fun for her to see how much Cole has grown and changed. Tate also cut his first tooth! It could explain why he actually slept through the night last night. I love the little bottom teeth. They are so cute. So all in all, Tate is doing well.
Cole is also enjoying his summer. We've finished up our ECFE classes and he has done remarkably well with separation. Potty training is, well, it is what it is I guess. It's not going terribly well. He was going in the potty a few times a day and now we are back to zero. I guess we'll try the running outside naked thing next.

On Monday Cole starts his SPED class. There will be 5 little boys in his class, 3 of whom he is familiar with. I'm excited for him. I think he'll really enjoy it once he gets over the separation thing. Oh, and just so we are clear, this isn't what you would normally think of as a SPED class. I know when I was in school, SPED was for the kids with mental of physical disabilities, as well as the troubled kids. Now it's more of a preventative thing. I honestly don't expect him to be in SPED through his school years. All the little boys in his class are just a little behind in certain things, like speech, or in Cole's case, social and fine motor skills. I know that we are about 10 years behind the curve out here, but my biggest peeves are hearing things like "Your kid is going to naughty school?". The worst is coming from family though. Those are the comments like, "You don't need special school. You aren't stupid." Honestly, the kid is going to feel stupid from hearing comments like that, not from going to school. Enough of my soap box...

Fun Photos

Can you believe my baby is 10 months old already? I think I say that every month, but man, it goes fast. No major developments with Tate. He is eating table foods like it's going out of style and doesn't require any teeth to do it!
Next up, we got some goslings this past week. Cole has no fear of them yet, neither does Tate.

Cole came in the house the other night claiming he had sand in his boot. He sure did, and I'm pretty sure I know how it got there. Where was the other boot? But across the yard by the fence. Where else?

That's one tough skid loader. I just thought this was a neat picture.

Bits and Pieces

It's been a very busy and random week. Saturday night we had a house warming party. I had been wanting to do this for a while, but at the same time not wanting to do it at all. See, I love having people over, but if you throw a house warming party, people think they need to bring gifts. I didn't want any gifts. It was a good time with neighbors and friends, and yes we got a few gifts. We got some very nice picture frames, a couple of plants, and some money, which was used to buy a new apple tree and some strawberries. We also got a very nice bird feeder that Coley and I hung out today. He stood underneath it saying "Birdies, here birdies." Funny they didn't come flying in. Anywho, the party went well. Just as Pat and I were heading to bed, we heard an awful lot of bellaring, from the cows. Sure enough, one comes running past our window. So out we went to chase cows back in the barn. It's an experience to stand in the dark and hear a heard of cattle running towards you and not being able to see a thing. It didn't take long, but it was still almost 1 AM by the time we got to bed. Sunday was a day for napping.

Today Tate had his 9 month check. He weighed in at 16 lb 15 oz, 5%. He is 28 inches, 43%, which is as close to 50% as either or the boys have ever been. His head circumference was 44 cm, which is up to 16%, much better than barely on the chart. He's doing pretty well. He has had a little bit of a runny nose and was running a little fever this morning. It's not an ear infection though, so that's good. Either it's a virus or it's teeth. I'm hoping it's teeth. I made him cry himself back to sleep last night and surprisingly, he stayed asleep until 7 this morning. He was an absolute bear last night. I know, hard to imagine. He's such a happy guy when others are around that no one seems to believe me. Other than that, nothing terribly new with him. We are still awaiting the results from his physical therapy eval. I'd love to get him moving, but if Coley taught me anything, it's that he'll move when he's good and ready to move.

Cole is doing well too. He helped me plant strawberries. He is loving his new yard. He can go in and out the door by himself, so he spends a lot of time outside playing. His new favorite thing is feeding his brother. Unfortunately, it isn't usually baby approved food. The other night I went out to grill steaks and when I came back in Tate was screaming and he had half a recipe card in his hand. The other half wound up in his stomach. Apparently Cole thought he wanted to bake. Coley also tried to share his banana the other day by shoving a chunk in Tate's mouth. Needless to say, we now have to watch him like a hawk. Pat took Cole to school last night. He thought maybe the separation anxiety was because of me. It wasn't. Cole did fine though. He still cries as soon as snack time is announced.

As for me, school is winding down. A week and a half left of class and then my finals. I'm looking forward to being done, but not ready for the end of the semester yet. I am also trying to find a part time job for the summer. The milk checks just aren't enough to make ends meet, so we'll see what happens. I'm hoping to find something part time at a garden center, but I may be over qualified. I guess all I can do is try. If that doesn't pan out, I guess we'll just have to keep pinching even further and hope milk prices go up.

Today is also my dad's 60th birthday! Happy Birthday Dad!