Kid updates!

I am so behind on what is going on with my kids!  I have 7 more days of school and let me tell you, I am ready to be done and READY for summer!  I loves summers because I get to spend tons of time with my kiddos!  Here is some of the things that they are doing now!

Addison:

• Addison finished two day a week preschool today!   Next year, she will be in preschool four days a week!  She loves school and has made some good friends that we will probably have to have playdates with this summer!
• She did dance class and swimming lessons (she did not pass swimming lessons =[ )Oh well, we will work at it this summer!
• Addison still loves to sing and tell stories! 
• She loves babies and is always around Isla, singing to her or talking to her.  She even helps feed her (even though Isla would prefer to eat herself) They are so cute together.  We are so blessed to have cousins so close!
• She is finally getting a chance to ride her bike that Santa brought her.  She is not too sure of it yet and still likes to ride her trike. 
• She is running in the color run in June

Gus

• Talk about a big boy!  He is 20 months old.
• New words are flying out of his mouth all the time.  Here are a few: dog, daisy, truck, car, uh oh, wee-eww, book, shoes, socks, mickey, guk (milk), juice, mom, dad, cheese (when taking a picture, not the food), coat (probably because we had to wear one for so long this spring!), poop, bath, lights, broke, help,etc.  There are many more and he is repeating a lot of words after you say them but not spontaneous yet!
• Growing like a weed.  Lately, because of the weather, he has looked like he needs to be wading in flood water because his pants are so short!
• He LOVES to be outside.  We have major fits when it is time to come in!
• He follows Addison everywhere and does whatever he can to make her laugh.  I have a future class clown, I think.

March of Dimes 2013

It is that time of year again that we walk in the March of Dimes Walk for our beautiful Addison and preemie babies everywhere.  Ryan and I were blessed with our beautiful baby girl September of 2008.  She decided to join us 9 weeks earlier than planned.  I was sent to Iowa City by ambulance for what I thought was going to be at least a 4-week bed rest.  My blood pressure did not cooperate and I spent a week on bed rest before we decided to induce labor for my health and Addison's.  I was induced Tuesday night and my water broke on Wednesday morning.  She came into the world at 8:32 in the morning and was rushed into the NICU.  She weighed 2 lbs. 15 oz.  I wasn't allowed to see her for 24 hours due to the drugs I was given to induce labor.  Addison spent 6 weeks in Iowa City in the NICU up there and then came back here for 2 more weeks.  We would not be where we are today if it weren't for those doctors and nurses in the U of I Children's hospital and Genesis.  We also would not be as advanced in research about Premature births if it weren't for March of Dimes!

Goodbye Little House!

Well we have taken a giant step these past couple of weeks!  We sold our first home and bought a bigger house for some more space.  We officially put our house on the market at the beginning of February and it sold in two weeks.  After selling the house, we got started packing and deciding what to keep or donate.  During all the packing, I really began to think about all the wonderful memories we had in that house.  The first winter and spring, we had the hardest time keeping water out of the basement.  We discovered the people who owned the house before us were "do it yourself" kind of people but they didn't do a very good job so we had some things to fix!  It had the biggest bathroom in the world when we moved in (a toilet and sink in an unfinished space) =]  We brought three babies home to that house (1-four legged baby and 2- two legged babies).  We re-finished the basement for a rec room/toy room for the kids.  We had great neighbors who were always willing to lend a helping hand.  My very first blog post was all about our first home including pictures.  It changed a lot from those first days and we loved it.  It was harder to leave than I thought it would be.  Not that we were not excited about our new house but closing a chapter is hard and beginning a new one can be hard too. 
Out new "tall" house (as Addison calls it) is in Bettendorf and closer to Ryan's work and my mom's house.  Addison and Gus will be PV Spartans (=[ ) but thats okay.  PV is a great school, it isn't Bettendorf but oh well!  Addison loves her new room.  We were able to get into the house on Thursday before we moved in and painted Addison's room bright yellow.  She and her cousin Callie and Carter helped her put princesses on the wall.  We have not done anything to Gus Man's room yet because I want to wait until he has a big boy bed with big boy bedding!  It is really nice to have more space for the kiddos to run and play.  Pictures to come!!

I missed 15 and 16 months!

Gus is 16 months old now and I have not posted about what he is doing!  He is not my baby anymore!  He is an active, bouncing, and energetic toddler!  

• He loves to play outside.  I let him out of the car at my moms in the morning and he immediately runs to the blue push toy.  He gets so angry when I pick him up to take him inside.
• He says uh oh and guk (which we thought was milk but turns out to just be "I want")
• He jabbers ALL THE TIME!  It is so adorable to listen to him talk.
• He eats fruits, vegetables, cheese, and yogurt.  He still does not like to eat meat.
• He is getting into all of Addison's things and she is not happy about it.
• He loves to throw food to the dog.
• He loves Mickey Mouse and Santa brought him one that is taller than he is.
• His favorite book is called I Love Trucks.  Every night when we ask him to go get a book that is the book he comes back with.

Famous Addison

Addison was quoted in the newspaper this weekend when she attended Winterfest at the Family Museum.

http://qctimes.com/news/local/families-marvel-at-winterfest-christmas-displays/article_22b5da98-3cf3-11e2-8f43-001a4bcf887a.html

Kid update and family photos

 

Gus:

• Gus is thirteen months old (almost fourteen),.
• He started walking since his 1st birthday
• He is starting to not need anything to help him stand back up.
• He follows the cat around the house saying, "Ow"
• He loves to play with Addison, even though most of the time she wants to be left alone
• Gus loves to dance and have songs sung to him
• He was a giraffe for Halloween. 

Addison:

• Addison is four years old
• She goes to preschool 2 days a week for 2 and half hours a day.
• Her teachers say that she is a very easy going kid who will play with other kids at play time but if she is the only one playing with a toy, she is okay with that too.
• Her teachers also called her a "noticer". She notices things that the teachers don't see.  Example:  They had different colored balloons on the wall and the one all the way across the room had lost its air and Addison saw that and said something to the teacher.
• Addison was many different things for Halloween.  It is a good thing that she has so many dress up clothes.  She wore her Tangled dress to her preschool party, Sleeping Beauty dress for Davenport trick or treat,. a Care Bear for McGladery trick or treat (Aunt Laura's work), and Belle for Bettendorf trick or treat.  She also told me that she wanted to be Doc McStuffins but we didn't have a costume for that!

Today I am 1!!!!!!

Gus turned one today!  I cannot believe that it has been a year since he came into our lives.  He is a happy go lucky little guy who always has a smile for Addison and Carter.  He loves to play with the big kids!  Here are some things that Gus is doing now!



When he realized that he was center of attention

• Still crawling around with a peg leg.  Not walking yet but doing a lot of standing up.
• He is mastering the stairs at my mom's house.  He likes to walk up and down the two steps on the landing!
• He is a mama's boy!
• he is really starting you do a lot of different sounds while jabbering
• Loves to open and close doors
• he can get into trouble really quick!
• He loves remotes, cell phones, and his baby monitor.  He knows when they are not the ones that we use because then he doesn't want those!
• he is starting to dance when there is music on
• He goes to bed on his own every night.  He doesn't like to cuddle.  =[
• He is always on the go!!!!