Happy New Year!

We had several pictures taken by Jaydub Photography this fall.  Above are a couple that I liked.  My favorite one went out as our Christmas card this year and pictures of the boys made our Christmas gift giving easy.  We had a wonderful Christmas at home this year.  My dad took most of the pictures so as soon as I get those from him I'll post some.  Andrew was extremely excited about Santa this year.  We counted down the Advent season with 3 Advent calendars this year.  He could hardly wait!  Santa brought exactly what he wanted and he didn't show him pictures of what he wanted, wow, how did Santa know?  Henry was a little overwhelmed with all the present opening commotion.  Henry chose to ignore it mostly and just wanted to sit on a lap and read books as usual.  Now, a week later, Henry can't get enough of his new toys! 

My dad visited briefly for Christmas Eve.  We were all able to watch Andrew's performance in the Church pageant on the 24th.  He did an excellent job.  We had several people tell us he stole the show.  Mostly with his hilarious antics.  He tickled the baby Jesus, was heard laughing behind the partition, and began crawling around the alter (he was a cow after all).  Andrew also knew all the words to the songs and all the motions that went along with them, so, he really was entertaining.

We had good friends over for Christmas Day dinner and enjoyed good food and company.  I hope everyone's year went as well as our family's has gone.  Here's to 2012!

Autumn

 

Camera Trouble

We lost the adapter to charge our camera, so, I can't take pictures or download pictures right now, actually haven't for a while.  I am so busy that buying a new charger has not been high on my list, but, one should be arriving in the mail this week. 

In other news the boys are doing great, big and little!  Ryan continues to work long hours, but, he loves his job.  I too have been working a lot.  I won my first jury trial a couple weeks ago.  Yes, that means I got an acquittal!  It helps when your client actually is innocent.  I also took a trip to Lander for our office's annual conference.  I learned a lot at the CLE, but, I also suffered with a bad cold the whole three days.  I always seem to get sick when I travel anymore. 

Andrew is thriving in preschool.  He is really becoming a leader in a lot of ways and that makes Mom and Dad proud!  He is such a smarty pants too.  He loves to hear and tell jokes.  I am trying to teach him the classics, so, the other day I told him, "why did the chicken cross the road?"  - "to get to the other side!"  Lol.  He then made up a joke, "why is there ketchup on the table?" - "because someone picked up the bottle and squirted it on the table!" Lol.  I was pretty impressed because his joke certainly followed the exact logic of the chicken joke and was basically just as funny/or not funny as the case may be.

Henry is beginning to talk more and uses a fair amount of sign language.  He was doing so much, "UHHH!"  asking for things that his daycare started teaching him signs for - more, please, thank you, eat, milk etc.  Truthfully, since the signing has taken off his word use has too.  He says, shoes, door, please, duice, hello, bye bye, mama, dada, patti (daycare), and he really tries to say Andrew, but that's a hard one.  He did unfortunately pull down the metal baby gate on his face the other day though and he a has a big gash under his left eye.  I'm just relieve it didn't hit his eye! 

The basement is well on its way to being finished.  All the walls are up and mudding a taping are done.  It should be finished by Thanksgiving!

Weekend Away

Ryan and I in front of Split Rock, the destination for our first day's ride.

Ryan riding on Bullet and me on Chief.

Ryan during a hike the second day.

My camera cannot do justice to all the beautiful scenery.

Our tent, stove included!

The kitchen tent.  Complete with propane and a shower!

Ryan and I spent a long weekend outside of Alpine, WY, up in the Wyoming Range near the Grey's River in the Bridger/Teton National Forest.  We were there with Outfitters Jenny and Gary Amerine of Grey's River Trophies.  We highly recommend them for anyone who loves to camp, horseback ride or hunt.  We were obviously not hunting in early August, but, we spent two full days horseback riding and camping and we absolutely loved it!  No cell service whatsoever.  I missed our boys, but, it was a really great break!

Summa, Summa, Summa Time

Andrew turned 4 and got his first real bike!

Andrew learning to ride with Lauren

Blowing out the candles on his Cars 2 cake

Andrew is Spiderman

Henry and Daddy and sparklers on the 4th of July

More 4th fun!

Henry loves corn - what a good Cornhusker he is!

T-ball

Andrew Ready to run the bases.

Andrew going after the ball.

Throwing to First!

Henry playing on the blanket watching the game.

We are officially into t-ball season.  Andrew plays YMCA t-ball two nights a week until the end of July.  He loves it!  He got a bat and a nice tee for his birthday so we are practicing his swing.  He has had a lot of great hits at home, but not at the game yet.  He usually justs knocks the ball off the tee and runs!  He is doing so much better than last year though.  It is entertaining to watch.

Note:  Jenny W. of Jaydub Photography took these photos.  Her son is on Andrew's team!

4

I absolutely can't get my head around the fact that my first baby is now 4! What a fabulous four years they have been too!

Andrew was born June 25, 2007, after a difficult pregnancy which included a month of bed rest and a cesarean birth. But, oh my goodness was he worth all the puking, pain and boredom. He was the most adorable baby! He has been amazing us every day since.

In his short 4 years he has been quite the traveller. He has gone with us to Ohio for football, to San Diego for fun, to Sweden to visit friends and family, and numerous trips across Nebraska and Wyoming to visit grandparents and friends. We also take him to Denver frequently for baseball games, museums, plays, the zoo and shopping. He is a wonderful companion on a trip. He rarely fusses in the car and always looks forward to seeing new things and people.

Besides travelling Andrew enjoys being outside, especially if it involves our friend's ranch and being a real cowboy! He truly loves all things ranching, horses, cows, tractors, snakes (knows rattlers from bull and which one's will hurt and which one's won't), turkeys, deer, elk, hiking and fly fishing. He has a full "cowboy" wardrobe and utilizes any excuse to gear up.

Andrew's other loves are dinosaurs, Toy Story and Cars. He can name almost all dinosaurs and he also knows what they like to eat and little facts about them. The genius of Disney Pixar and their marketers has rubbed off on my son as much as everyone else's, and yes we own most of what they sell pertaining to Toy Story and Cars.

Andrew has also made a lot of adjustment this past year when he became a big brother. He is a great brother to Henry though (most of the time:). Sometimes, he thinks Henry is bigger than he is and is ready for rough housing, but, most of the time he teaches Henry and makes him laugh. He makes sure Henry doesn't get into anything he shouldn't and he helps us by watching him and taking his baths with him. Henry could not adore anyone more than he does Andrew.

Things he's said lately:

Me: "Who do you want to invite to your birthday party?"
Andrew: "Let's invite someone we don't know and make a new friend."

(After getting into trouble and me talking with him about his behavior)
Andrew: "Mom, I'm glad we had this little talk."

I don't even remember what we were talking about, but, Andrew had flat out proven me wrong on something so he immediately said, "You were wrong Mom!"

What I think of most though, when I think of Andrew is how darn smart he is! His vocabulary is amazing. He likes to play games where we form rhymes or little sayings using alliteration. He is also quite the arguer. Yeah, I know what do you get when two lawyers have a child...well we got him! It is hard to stay mad though, when his arguments are so reasonable and articulated so well. His "but, Mom" is more than just that in a whiny voice, he says, "but, Mom, you and Dad always say it is important for me to do what you ask and when you said I was supposed to...." Well, you get the drift. And boy does he love to argue! His daycare is always talking about it too. He will argue the color of the sky when it's pure blue. "It isn't really day blue, it is more denim blue..." Okay, Andrew!

Andrew, you are truly our bestest big boy. These have been the best 4 years of our lives because you were there to share them with! We love you to the moon and back!

Happy 4th Birthday!

Nebraska Visit

We travelled to Nebraska to visit my family for a long weekend two weeks ago. We had a really nice time. We went to Lincoln to see my grandparents and mom, but those pictures are all on my phone and I'm still not savvy enough to get them downloaded etc. But, below are some pictures from my dad's house in Omaha. Dad hosted 22 family members to celebrate my aunt and uncle being in town from Berlin, Germany and to celebrate some anniversaries. Ryan and I just celebrated 8 years and my paternal grandparents were celebrating 64 years and aunt Angela and Uncle Matthias, from Berlin, were celebrating 22 years. I was at their wedding in Berlin 22 years ago and it was so memorable!

The weather was hot! 97 degrees and humid each day. But, I was in heaven. We have had so little warm weather at home until just this week that I was ecstatic to have the heat wave.




Relaxing on the front porch enjoying some Cubans. (Ryan in red, my dad, aunt Angela and Uncle Matthias in purple)

Karl (Matthias and Angela's friend, also from Berlin) holding Henry

Matthias and Angela opening their anniversary gifts.

Oma Sybille and Andrew, Andrew is in a stage of refusing to look at the camera...

Nook

I had a wonderful Mother's Day with all my boys. They gave me a new Nook Color and I just adore it! I wasn't previously sure about an e-reader, would I like not holding a real book? But, I actually like it a lot. The only bad part for me is that I often read the end or read ahead a little when I am stressed about what will happen in a book, that isn't easy to do with an e-reader, but, I am forced to let the mystery ride, and that's okay too. I can read magazines, newspapers and kids books on it with ease. Downloading a new book takes only seconds. I love to read and this has been the perfect gift.

I also received a necklace with both of my boys names and birthstones on it. Ryan found it at the Vintage Pearl. Good job to Ryan and my boys for picking such thoughtful gifts.

I was also treated to my favorite homemade pasta dinner and strawberry shortcake. I'm one lucky Mommy!

One

It has been one whole year since little Henry Thomas entered our lives. It was an early Wednesday morning and I had been up all night with contractions. I never really had contractions with Andrew, so I wasn't even sure if they were real or Braxton hicks, but I knew I was terribly uncomfortable. I was out of bed walking around and staring out the window at a full moon most of the night. Finally, at around 6:00 am I gave up on any chance of sleep and hopped in the shower. I had to go to work that day, my scheduled c-section wasn't until two days later and my office was giving me a going on maternity leave, having a baby, lunch that day. So, I stepped out of the shower and chose a nice maternity dress to wear that day, all the while stopping and groaning in pain doubled over every few minutes.

Ryan proceeded to get up and get in the shower, from the shower he saw me moaning again and asked how often this was happening. I replied, "I don't know." So, after he rolled his eyes and generally expressed that he thought I was crazy, he suggested I might start timing the contractions. I figured this was good advice, so I sat down on the bed next to the alarm clock and took note of the time after another hard contraction had begun, one, two, three, four, ugh another contraction four minutes later. Wow, four minutes apart, I thought, that is actually pretty close. I told Ryan and he urged me to call the Doctor. I was able to get her on the phone relatively quickly and she informed me that I needed to immediately go to the hospital.

What? I'm having this baby in two days, not now. Ryan and I took Andrew to daycare, since it was a weekday and we both called in to work and were at the hospital by 8:00 am. General baby delivery drama ensued, my doctor disagreed with other doctors, nurses etc. about whether to send me home. But, my doctor won and she went to work on scheduling my surgery to deliver that day.

We were absolutely positive that Henry was a girl. So positive in fact that we didn't have a boys name selected when we went to the hospital that day. On several occasions my doctor had slipped and told us we were having a girl, even asking just prior to delivery what we were naming this little girl. Well, we had asked not to find out the sex of the baby, but we knew our doctor had seen ultra sounds that we didn't and we were sure she had made slips ups due to her personal knowledge that we were having a girl. I told Ryan though, just in case, I wanted to know what the boys name would be and we finally agreed on Henry Thomas, though Nathan had always been a top choice.

At 12:34 pm on April 28, 2010, I heard the familiar voice that had announced Andrew's birth, say excitedly, "It's a boy!" The shock on Ryan's face was indescribable I have never seen, nor will I likely ever see again, such a look of surprise and wonder all at the same time. I immediately began to cry when I heard the huge wails coming from my new baby boy. Ryan planted a kiss on my lips and headed over to see our new baby boy. Henry continued to scream with huge lung power, the nurses commented that most babies are not this loud. Apparently, besides screaming the first thing Henry did was pee all over the place. That's my boy! My doctor commented, "see I didn't know whether it was a girl or boy," in defense of her perceived slip ups. Ryan was handed Henry in a swaddling blanket and he brought him over so that I could finally see this little boy I had been hearing. He was perfect. He had beautiful pink skin and brown fuzz on his little round head. I kissed him and of course continued to cry. They took him away again for his Apgar and other tests, while I lay there being sewn up filled with pride and love and joy.

They wheeled me out of the OR and back to recovery where I was able to hold him in my arms for the first time. Ryan brought him to me and said, "I think he's a Nathan." I said, "no, he's Henry. I've been laying on that table being sewn up for 30 minutes thinking about my new baby Henry. He's Henry." And Ryan never brought up that other name again.

Henry was a great nurser right from the start. He also made lots of little grunting noises all the time. We were somewhat concerned, but were told it was no big deal and then decided they were really cute. He also would make a chortle-chuckle sound that he still makes frequently today.

Henry is such a happy baby. People comment all the time about how adorable and happy he is. He loves to laugh and do whatever he can to make other people laugh. I'm convinced he will be the class clown. He loves to blow raspberries, or hum-while-the-fingers-flick-his-lips or say, "hi," in this hilarious whisper that brings smiles to everyone. He also loves it when others make him laugh. He laughs when someone farts or makes faces or anytime his brother does anything.

Andrew and Henry are quite the pair. Andrew has totally stepped up as big brother. He watches out for Henry and loves to entertain him and make him laugh. They are already starting to wrestle and play together and it makes my heart sing to observe these brothers together.

I always think that the first year is the hardest in a lot of ways; the nursing, the lack of sleep, the why is he crying? But, I wouldn't trade all the wonderful parts of Henry's first year for anything. A big part of me is sad to see him growing up and becoming less of a baby all the time. However, he is becoming "Henry" and I can't wait to see his personality continue to form and to see him grow and progress each month that goes by.

Right now Henry can: crawl very quickly, walk a few steps between two people with ample encouragement, open our locking trash can, push open doors and slam them shut.

Henry can say: hi, mama, dada, nono, tickle-tickle, he can also wave hello and goodbye

Henry likes to: play in the toilet, eat dog food and dog water, play in the tub and drink tub water, steal dog bones, take everything out of the kitchen cabinets and leave it on the floor, play with the phone and dial numbers, push buttons on the remote, remove every singe dvd from its storage place

Henry's favorite book: Pat the Bunny, by Dorothy Kunhardt

Henry's favorite toy: the diaper pail or maybe his toy tv remote

Happy 1st Birthday Henry! We love you more each day and we look forward to watching you grow and learn. phbbts

Easter Sunday

Andrew and Henry in their Easter best, in our church nursery which was the site of the egg hunt due to snow.
The family almost all looking.

We had a very nice Easter weekend. Friday night while boiling eggs on the stove to be colored the next day, I backed up to the stove inadvertantly and caught on fire. Yes, fire. I was yelling, "I'm on fire, I'm on fire" and finally Ryan came over an put it out. Luckily, I was not burned. But, my favorite Wyoming Law sweatshirt could not be saved from the flames. Andrew couldn't get over what had happened. Asking again and again, "what happened Mommy?" "How did your shirt catch on fire?" I kept explaining that was why we don't get near the stove. Now maybe I'll practice what I preach.

Saturday we dyed eggs and enjoyed being home and together. Sunday morning, Andrew awoke and without even waking us, found a little bag and began to search for all his Easter eggs. He was half way done when I got up and helped him search. He was elated to find all of his eggs and he really enjoyed telling everyone all the clever/silly places the bunny had hid eggs. He enjoyed some chocolate bunny and playing with his Easter basket. Both boys were dressed for church, where they were able to enjoy yet another hunt in the church basement, due to the newly fallen snow. Why must Easter and Halloween always bring snow???

Ryan delighted us with his culinary pursuits and we enjoyed a nice Easter dinner just our family. It was nice not to travel, and as much as we love to visit with family, it was also kind of nice to enjoy a day just the four of us. We all took a two hour nap in the afternoon and generally had a wonderful day!

Some Pictures

Andrew in the tub...love the beard!

Henry trying beef stroganoff - he loves real food, no more baby food for him! Henry in the tub - brother gave him a beard too!

So tired, Henry passes out in his chair.

We've been busy as usual. Last weekend Henry and I went to Nebraska to visit family. My Grandpa Bartels turned 85 and we had a nice party for him. Ryan and Andrew spent the weekend at our friend's ranch. Andrew came home with all kinds of stories, including how calves are made, and all about a dead deer they saw on a hike. Andrew truly thinks he is a cowboy and he will ranch someday! Maybe he will...

We are home this weekend, which is good we need to do laundry and catch up with life. Ryan is enjoying his new position as a director and although it is stressful and there is always a lot to do he likes the work. I too am really enjoying my job as well. This kind of work is definitely my niche and I am so glad I made the move.

Mommy's Job

Andrew and I were talking about my job the other day. He is really beginning to have long conversations with us about all kinds of things. I told him that I was a lawyer, and he said, "like Peter Pan!" He loves the movie Hook, in it Peter grows up and becomes a lawyer, the profession is not presented in a good light in the movie, but I responded, "yes like Peter Pan." Then he wanted to know more about what lawyers do, so I explained that I go in front of judges and argue for my clients. We had recently had a conversation about the police and putting people in jail, so I explained that when those people go to jail they go in front of a judge and the judge decides whether they did a bad thing or not and whether they get to stay in jail or go home. Andrew responds, "if they didn't do a bad thing they go home, but if they did they stay in their cage, or they can tell the police that they are sorry and won't do it again and then get out of the cage!" Thank goodness it isn't that easy to get out of jail or Mommy would be out of job.

Book Suggestion

So, my very first post on this blog referred to a book I had recently read called, "I Don't Know How She Does It" by Allison Pearson. I just read that this book is being made into a movie starring Sara Jessica Parker. To all my fellow working moms out there you might want to pick up this book, it is a fun, fast read. I guess other people liked it too if they are going to make a movie.

I have to admit sometimes I use some of the lead character's tricks in my life. Kate Reddy is the main character and she is a business executive, married with two children. She does things like buy store baked goods and then adds a few little touches and removes the store packaging to make it look homemade. I totally do this! Not all the time, but when I just don't have time to bake treats for school, I use some of these tricks myself, then you still look good in front of all those perfect stay-at-home mommies!

If you are a working mom you will totally relate to this book!

More Andrewisms

(Ryan was explaining his work that day regarding retirement benefits for UW employees. He told Andrew that "retirement" is for old people who no longer work, but still get paid from money invested like a piggy bank.)

Ryan: Do you know what an old person is?
Andrew: Yes, it's when someone turns silver and their face cracks.
Ryan: (laughing) You mean their hair turns grey and they get wrinkles?

Daycare Worker: What kind of picture are you going to color?
Andrew: I'm going to color a picture as beautiful as my mommy!

Awww, gotta love little boys!

New Job - Again!

In case you haven't heard, Ryan has been appointed by Governor Matt Mead to be the Director of the Office of State Lands and Investments. I can't say how proud I am of Ryan for receiving this appointment. However, I also keep teasing him about how Henry is only 9 months old and Daddy has already had 3 different jobs! But, clearly this position is an honor and one he has earned with all his hard work these past years.

In other news, the boys were both really sick last week, Andrew had a bad cold and cough and Henry had RSV. We finally got them to both pull through and get well just as Ryan and I got their colds, lovely. My dad and his wife Lauren came for a visit over the weekend and we enjoyed seeing them again and spending time in Ft. Collins on a warm and sunny day in February.

On Monday, President's Day, I offered to take Andrew to the Library and then realized that it was closed for the holiday. Well, as 3 year olds will do, he wouldn't drop it. He was so upset that we couldn't go to the library, so I offered to take he and Henry to the bookstore instead. Little did I realize that Ryan had our stroller in his car in Laramie. So, I had to carry my 23 lb. baby, a diaper bag, my purse, and of course Andrew's winter coat all over the store while I chased Andrew from book aisle to book aisle. Needless to say I was exhausted after that jaunt. But, I did find a fun book series called "BOB books" which help teach children to read. Andrew is doing very well on his pre-reading skills, he knows all the letters and the sounds they make, so we'll see how this series helps him progress.

I have lots of great new pictures and videos of the boys. I was unsuccessful in loading the videos to this page, more tech stuff I need to learn. I'll try to get some of that up soon.

Dance with me Henry

You can find new pictures of Henry at 9 months here; www.juststaceyj.com under the post titled Deja Vu. Stacey lists a song to go with each blog post and the song for Henry's is "Dance with me Henry." We looked it up and listened to it. It is a great song from 1955, kind of big band sounding. Henry loves it and he loves to dance with us in our arms. He is a fun having kind of guy.

Crawling

Henry officially started crawling on Monday 1-10-11. He has been fairly mobile for a while, but he was only going backwards, pushing with his arms. He now can crawl in the forward motion. He is still a little funny about it, about every other step he does a little hop forward, pretty cute stuff! Good thing I got our gate up this weekend on our stairs, just in time.

Unfortunately, his crawling was a little upsetting because he first accomplished this at daycare. One of the hardest parts as a working mom is missing some of these "firsts." But, our daycare is awesome and they texted me right away to let me know about it, so at least I was in the loop:)

Andrewisms

Me: What state do we live in Andrew?
Andrew: Wyoming.
Me: What city do we live in Andrew?
Andrew: Cheyenne Frontier Days.

(Andrew at daycare)
Daycare worker to another boy: Your birthday is Sunday what do you want?
Little boy: John Deere trackers.
Andrew: Oh, well I got you dinosaurs.

(after getting into trouble..)
Me: Andrew what do you say to your Daddy?
Andrew: excuse me
Me: what do you say
Andrew: (laughing) may I be excused?
Me: what do you say
Andrew: (still laughing) please
Me: (yelling) what do you say
Andrew: (sheepishly) sorry
Me: What are you sorry for?
Andrew: Five, six, seven, eight
-Clever and maddening at the same time...this is three