The Domes!

Yesterday afternoon Grandma & Grandpa Stollenwerk invited us to go to The Domes with them for the early afternoon. Jack had a great time walking around with Chase and Jillian and seeing all the plants, flowers, water, fish & trains! Both boys were very well behaved :)

(yes, that's me in the cactus dome......)

Jack the Helper!

Jack loves to help around the house.

Whenever I start cleaning or putting stuff away he says "I help you, I help you!"

Which is really nice, except when I want to get something done fast.... oh well.

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The other day he was helping me fold diapers.

He did a very nice job and told me he was folding them into "triangles" !

Jayden's getting SOOOO big!

Last night Jayden tried out his new cup!

He checked it out...

Thought he might want to give it a try in his mouth....

He sucked a little bit, he may have got some milk out....

But then it was more fun to play with! (And throw on the floor). We'll try again though :)

Jayden is very good at scooting himself backwards - he can cross a room and turn himself around. And now he is just starting to pull/army crawl himself forwards a little bit. He can get up on all four easily, he looks like he's doing yoga all the time :)

Boys Playing!

Jayden absolutely loves to play with Jack and play with whatever Jack is playing with.... this often causes problems - but here they were playing pretty nice together.

Mr. Potato head was very popular earlier this week.

And Jack is really into his trains again. He can now set up the tracks and trains all by himself. He made this track a few mornings ago while Jayden watched :)

Mommy & the Boys Up North!

This past weekend while Daddy was on his ski trip with school, the boys and I went up north to the B'Haven lodge with Grandma & Grandpa B :)

Traveling with two little kids is a lot of work.... but it was very nice to not be home alone with them for three straight days.

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We were gone Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. While Daddy was gone Saturday morning until Monday night. So I still had time home alone with the boys... just happily not all weekend!

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Here are some highlights from our trip!

At the last minute I decided to throw Jayden's bottle into my bag, just in case he got upset in the car I thought maybe he'd decide a bottle was better than nothing! And he drank it!!! He had one small bottle on the drive up, one on Saturday while we were out driving around, Sunday on the drive home I tried one, but he only drank a very small amount.... but it's progress!

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Both boys were very good on the drive up and back home :)

This is Jayden waking up on Saturday morning in his B'Haven lodge bed!

And this is Jack STILL sleeping at 7am in his B'Haven lodge bunk bed!!!
Jack actually slept on the bed this time, rather then on the floor just in his sleeping bag.

Jayden playing with Grandma, and his new favorite puppy toy on Saturday morning.

Jack all bundled up to head out into the very cold winter day on Saturday with Grandma & Grandpa for a little while to check out the ice and snow.

Jack & Jayden playing clipos by the nice warm fire before dinner on Saturday night....

maybe someday they will play clipos together.....

Jack and Hershey all cozy Saturday night reading and watching a movie. I had to push Hershey off so I could sit with Jack. Hershey seems to think that chair belongs to her, but I say it's mine! I love that chair, it is the perfect chair to read in :)

This was the temperature around 7am Sunday morning..... -20*. I went outside to see what it was like. Not too bad for a second but I wouldn't want to stay out long.... and my hand hurt for a good 5 minutes after I touched the metal door knob to get back inside. I probably should have put gloves on!

All set in our Packer gear Sunday morning (Jayden's Packer shirt no longer fits - the season has gone on too long!!! So he's just wearing a football sleeper.

We had a very nice weekend and look forward to our next one.... where hopefully it isn't bitterly cold or raining.......

Jayden sleeping!

This morning when I went to get Jayden up I found him like this.....

He is completely wrapped up in his blankets. At least he was all warm and snuggly!

Although there are a number of things "wrong" with this sleeping arrangement.... oh well.

Jayden's New Chair!

This weekend I added Jayden's high chair to the kitchen table!

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He has sat in it a few times, but he hasn't eaten in it yet. He's not holding his back and head up consistently enough to be able to eat, so he's still in the "bouncy seat" for meals....

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Hopefully he'll be in the high chair soon!

Boys Playing Food!

What's more fun than playing "food"? The answer.... Nothing!

Here are the boys last week Friday afternoon playing nicely together :)

Jack is so happy it snowed again!

Cold, yucky, green & brown is no fun in January!!!

Jack was so excited to get back out in the snow this week.

to the Doctor!

Jayden's 6 month check-up went good yesterday afternoon! ...especially because Jack stayed home with Uncle Hayden and had a great time playing, rather than running around crazy at the doctors office :)

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Height - 27 inches 73%ile (up 1.5 inches from 4 months)

Weight - 14lbs 11.5oz 8%ile (at 4 months - 13lbs 3.5oz 13%ile)

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Since his weight percentile was lower, when we go back in a month for Jayden's second flu shot he'll get weighed again. Dr. D isn't worried right now - because they usually thin out when they start moving around more, but just to be safe he'll be checked again next month before we go back again at 9 months.

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Otherwise Jayden looked great. He does have a cold, and had a slight fever (99.2*) but he was still able to get his vaccines and the first flu shot.

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Dr. D said to continue adding new foods to his diet and in a month or so he can start on finger foods - cheerios, crackers, etc. And since he won't really take a bottle (although he did yesterday morning just a little bit!) I'll be starting him on a cup pretty soon. Maybe he'll never need a bottle...... that would be nice!

6 months!

What cuties!

6 months old!

Jayden will be 6 months old tomorrow! Where did half a year go???

New things this month…

Jayden has two teeth! The first (bottom left) came through on 12/23/10 is now very prominent in his mouth. The second one (bottom right) came through soon after the new year and is still pretty small.

Jayden can army crawl/scoot himself backwards and is starting to go forwards. He can push himself up on all four (hands and feet). He cannot sit on his own yet, he just flops over.

Jayden loves to give me hugs and kisses and has recently discovered that pulling on my hair is fun. Jayden talks and coos a lot and laughs.

Right after New Years I introduced food… he didn’t take to it right away. Sweet Peas were a no-go for now. But he has eaten a few jars of bananas and peaches. He eats three meals of cereal/food (1/4-1/2 jar each) a day.

Jayden is doing good at Cathie’s. He almost always takes a good nap of at least an hour and if he fusses for food, he eats solids really good - no bottle.

Jayden loves to watch Jack, especially when Jack is being silly. He just laughs and smiles! He loves to play in his exersaucer and roll around on the floor with toys.

Jayden’s sleeping not as great lately as he was before. He goes to bed about 8pm and wakes up between 3-4am to eat, then sleeps until 6:30am. Sometimes he’ll wake up earlier or more often in the middle of the night, or stay away longer in the middle of the night. His morning nap is usually from 9:15 – 11:00ish at Cathie’s. His afternoon nap from 1:30 – 3:00ish. He gets a bath every other day, and really likes it! He likes to hear stories, put things in his mouth and watch Jack.

Jayden is wearing size 3 diapers and 9mo clothes. He is very smiley and happy.

Jack is talking up a storm and loves his brother Jay-day! But again we are having problems with hitting, kicking, and throwing toys at Jayden! And Jack needs to work on sharing the toys....

We go to the doctor tomorrow to see how much Jayden grew!

A week of little sleep....

This past week was a long one....

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Monday night after Jayden was introduced to sweet peas he decided he didn't want to eat (food or cereal, he still nursed) - connection to the sweet peas???? I'm not sure..... But this caused some frustrated mornings and evenings.

Mornings because I didn't like him going to daycare hungry, since he won't take a bottle, and evenings because then he didn't sleep through the night. So sleeping (night and napping) and eating were a little off for Jayden most of the week.

Later in the week he did however take a liking to bananas, and has since eaten 2 1/2 jars, so eating seems to be back on track!!!

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Then on Thursday Jack started getting a cold. He wasn't too bad during the day, but Thursday night was up coughing a lot - so I was also up most of the night :(

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Friday night Jack was up the first part of the night and then Jayden was up...

so again, very little sleep for me.

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And now on Saturday Jack still has a cold, but he cough seems a bit better. But now Jayden also developed the same cold this morning with cough, runny nose, watery eyes, etc.

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Jayden had his 6 month pictures at Penney's today. I was almost going to reschedule since he wasn't feeling well, but decided I just wanted to get it over with. And he actually did really well. They were running right on time so we didn't have to wait at all.

And we got some good smiles :)

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Hopefully everyone starts to feel better soon, and that I don't get sick next

(although that is pretty much inevitable at this point.....)

Tooth shot !

Check out that chomper!

(It's his bottom left tooth, if you can't find it in that drooly mouth!)

Sweet Peas for my Sweet Pea!

Jayden tried some sweet peas with his dinner on Monday night. He only ate a few spoonfuls. After that he clamped his mouth shut and was having no more! I think he was getting full after already having milk and cereal... we'll try some more today!

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Second try - Tuesday AM. Did not go over well :( Maybe we'll try bananas tonight.....

New Years at the B'Haven Lodge!

We spent the last weekend of Christmas Break up at the B'Haven lodge with G&G B and Uncle Hayden!

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It was "warm" and a little rainy & icy.

But we managed to get outside a little bit.

Jack and Daddy all set to check out the icy water shortly after arriving on Thursday afternoon.

Out on the ice with Hayden.

Jayden and I stayed inside the warm lodge. Jayden was suppose to be napping - but he didn't seem to into that idea, so we sat and read for a while by the fire in my cozy chair.

Grandma & Jayden

Getting ready for dinner Thursday night. A nice glass of wine and good company!

Jack had lots of fun playing in the basement with the new toys Grandma & Grandpa had for him down there. Unfortunately it was very cold in the basement so no one else really wanted to stay down there for very long.

Snuggling before bed on our first night. Jayden was out already (because he only took a very short afternoon nap!) Both boys slept well both nights. Jack had his very own room in which he slept in his new sleeping bag on the floor and Jayden was in with Jeff & I.

Outside exploring in the snow on Friday morning.

Taking a walk down the street.

It was too warm, wet and icy to walk out on the water Friday afternoon.

Jack did good for the first half of the walk.....

But he didn't make it back home - it was getting icy and I think it's hard for him to walk a lot in his boots and snowpants.... so Grandma & I carried him back part of the way!

Jack with Grandma & Grandpa

On Friday afternoon we drove a short ways to Cathedral Woods to check out the really tall trees.

Due to adverse road conditions we had to walk a bit more than expected.....

which wasn't working for Jack. So I had to carry him!

It sure was a good workout for me that day :)

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It was nice to be outside a bit since it wasn't too freezing cold or wet on Friday.

Jack and Uncle Hayden in their Christmas shirts.

(I guess red plaid is big this year!)

On Friday night (New Years Eve) we went out for a Fish Fry at a place not too far away.

We waited for our food and had a few drinks at the bar - Jayden's first!

The food was really good and both boys were pretty well behaved.

New Years' Eve - watching The Great Outdoors and playing Clipo's - does it get any better???

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We all had a great time spending New Years at the lodge!

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Maybe next time we go up it won't rain at all..... maybe.....