We're back

Our girl turned 4 months old!

Everything goes in her mouth these days.
We headed up to the cabin last weekend and dressed to face the cold.

Bundled up with grandma.


Nothing like playing on the beach in your winter coat and hat.

So cute in his new shoes and sporty vest.

Loves the new swing at the cabin.

Best buddies.

New jammies!

Today was so beautiful we headed to the apple orchard.
Hads was thrilled. Miles picked the tiniest apples off of this tree...

...and had a great time driving a tractor.

My 2 cuddlebugs.

Hugs on his own time

Mr. M is a very independent guy these days. He still loves to snuggle and give hugs but only on his own time. He does NOT want mom to just pick him up and hug him any old time. He's too busy!

As he gets older his vocabulary is ever expanding. It's amazing to watch someone learn a language right before your eyes. He is in a phase now where he narrates everything - he has this constant external dialogue going on which is often hilarious because everything he is thinking he says.

He's also going through a period of needing either mommy or daddy. This weekend in particular he was my constant companion (aka if we weren't together he was calling for me and wanted me to carry him around). He imitates everything I do. This morning, before Miles and I left for church, I squeezed Hadley's cheeks between my hands and gave her a kiss. Then Miles did the same. Jokingly, I gave Hadley pounds, Miles did the same. I then marched down the hall saying something goofy - and there my little buddy was - doing exactly what I did.

Other new things he does include: counting to 13 on a regular basis, "reading" his books (he has many memorized), saying prayers and wanting to know "where Jesus go?," and he tried walleye for the first time this weekend and LOVED it.

Laughter

The other day I was reading in one of my parenting books about everything a 4 month old should do at this age. Hadley was right on track with everything EXCEPT she hadn't laughed yet and at this age most babies "chuckle softly." This perturbed me a bit because she's such a happy baby and smiles easily and often. Are we just not that funny? Well, it finally happened. You can see the big moment on the video but Miles finally made her laugh this week. The video speaks for itself. She has now since laughed more and my face physically hurt today from laughing with her so much.

She is also rolling - both from back to front and front to back. Her main objective is usually to see what Brother is doing so she'll wiggle around until she has a prime view of him. She is very talkative and can be loud. We say everyday how lucky we are to have the cutest, sweetest daughter.

Hadley turned 4 months old! Overall, she's a very healthy girl but has had a cough for the past 3 weeks. After a couple of doctor's visits she's now on amoxicillin and is doing better. Here are her stats:

• 
  
  
  Height: 24 1/4 inches (50%)
  



• 
  
  
  Weight: 14 lbs 5 oz (70%)
  



• 
  
  
  Head: 16.14 inches (55%)

Hanging on to summer

We recently got Had's 3 month pictures professionally taken. Trying to wrangle a 3 month old and 2 year old to sit nicely and smile cutely for pictures was exhausting but we got some good photos. The next 5 pictures are just a few of my favorites and they are all courtesy of Sally Gruman Photography. MB is sleeping soundly in bed right now after a busy weekend. He keeps us thoroughly entertained these days by doing things like singing like a choir boy (holding one of his board books up as if he's reading it and singing loud and proud), singing his ABC's and counting objects up to 11. Most nights he compliments me on dinner saying "nice dinner mommy" or good cooking mommy." He also enjoys asking us to "clap your hands everybody" and play follow the leader. This week when I asked him where he lived he replied "Minnesota" and when asked how old he is he replies "2 more minutes." Ok, I guess we need to work on that one a little more but at least the number is right!

Here he is at Centential Lakes Park on Saturday walking through the maze. We've noticed that when he's nervous (not sure why he was nervous at the park) he sticks his hand in his mouth. (A nervous habit that is slightly better then mine - biting fingernails.)

Until I had to teach a 2 year old how to hit a ball off a T I didn't think about how coordinated you actually have to be to do it. MB did well but enjoyed fielding the ball (running after it as it rolled down the driveway) better then hitting.
This boy got new shoes this weekend and now wears an 8 wide! He also has been loving the first fall apples of the season. Yum - Zestar!HR, otherwise known by me these days as Rosie Lu, Rose Marie or Haddy Rose, is snoozing next to me on the couch right now, dressed in the sweetest pink rosebud pajamas courtesy of Great-Aunt Nancy. These days she is drooling buckets and chewing on anything she can get her little hands on - toys, pacifier and her fists. It's so amazing how she holds and handles her toys now. Mike felt 2 little nubs on her lower gums, hence the excessive drooling. Soon our little bunny will have her first 2 teeth.
She continues to primarily nurse but gets 3 bottles during the week at daycare. She's up to 7 ounce bottles now. She also sleeps through the night most nights. Here she is - bored with mom taking MORE pictures.
I'm thinking that I don't take quite as many pictures of Hadley as I did of Miles so I'm trying harder lately. I realized that part of the problem is she's not out and about on her own like Miles. So here she is at the park with mom and dad.
This girl is almost sitting up these days and she likes nothing more then to look around at all of the action. She also is rolling and will often sleep on her side in the crib. I love peaking at her in the morning. She will have rolled around in her crib so she's laying horizontally, snoozing on her side with her little feet up on the crib slats.
So, not to end on a downer but I watched some of the 9/11 coverage this week and it seemed to affect me more now then when the events actually happened. Ten years ago i was in my early 20s and wasn't a wife and mother. Having children I now realize more profoundly what a miracle life is yet how fragile at the same time. Watching the stories of families
saying goodbye to their loved ones lost on that day makes me so sad. I never want my children to feel this kind of pain, sadness, or loss but know that this is a part of life. Today we took some time to remember the events of this date 10 years ago. Like most things, life goes on and we also have celebrated happy times on this date - like Matt and Janelle's wedding. Happy 1 year anniversary!

Summer Days

The summer days are coming to an end but we're determined to enjoy every last moment of sunshine before the long winter sets in. As true Minnesotans, we headed to the State Fair on Friday. I love the animal barns, the people watching and there is just something wholesome about strolling along, looking at tractors and eating ice cream. This is Miles' 2nd fair and Hadley's first. One of the highlights was our first trip to the Little Farm Hands exhibit where Miles and Corey fed the animals, drove tractors, planted seeds and took their goods to sell at market.
Miss Hadley was not left out of any of the fun and sported a John Deere hat just like the boys.

I don't know if Rachel and I are brave or crazy for taking 3 kids ages 2 and under to the fair but we had a blast. With stroller, double stroller and baby bjorn we were ready for many fair adventures and maneuvered through the crowds like professional moms (because we are!).

Miles favorite parts of the fair were seeing and petting a lamb, calf, piglet and Zip the horse. He also enjoyed his burger and ice cream cone. In other fair news, we live with a blue ribbon winner. Mike won first prize in the craft beer competition for his brown ale home brew. Congratulations daddy!

Fair fun is exhausting. I guess that's the reason my son decided to take a break in the dirt amongst the garbage. Oh, my two-year old!

In other exciting news we had a visit from some of our relatives from Luxembourg! A couple of years ago, as my dad was working on his family's genealogy, he discovered that his ancestors weren't German (as we always thought) but actually came from Luxembourg. He's a very enthusiastic genealogist and in attempt to get to the bottom of his roots he sent out 50+ letters to Nickolays he found in the phone book in Luxembourg. He actually received responses and since then my parents have actually visited Luxembourg and met many of our relatives. So we were so excited when Gust and Annette, two of these relatives, came to MN this week to visit. Saturday evening my parents hosted a party so they could meet everyone. Here Hadley's great-aunts Carol and Sue enjoy baby snuggles.

How many people can actually say that they have met their relatives from their home country? It's pretty cool! Gust and Annette were extremely nice and fit right in with the American-side of the family. Annette was even teaching Hadley some Letzebuergesch. I am actually Gust's third cousin, twice removed (I think that this means we share great-great-great-great grandparents). Miles and Hadley are his third cousins, three times removed. Here we are with Gust and Annette (back row, 2nd and 3rd from the left).

Gust and Annette were not only very nice people but also so generous. They brought gifts for the kids - t-shirts and cute picture frames. C'etait tellement agreable de vous rencontrer. Merci beaucoup pour les cadeaux. Nous esperons que vous avez des vacances merveilleuses.

To end our long holiday weekend we headed up to the cabin on Sunday. Although the weather was brisk Miles and Corey had fun eating lots of snacks together, having a dance party and pushing each other in circles in the chairs.

Here we are enjoying the sunshine with the babies. Earlier this weekend Hadley developed a cough which we thought was croup but now think is just her first cold. This girl is so good natured that she would smile up at me immediately after a coughing spell. She's feeling much better now.

We also celebrated Mike's birthday with a grilled steak and salmon dinner and homemade chocolate pecan pie. Happy birthday daddy!

It's never too cold to play with a squirt bottle outside!

We ended the Labor Day holiday at home, laboring. We cleaned, did 5 loads of laundry, made refrigerator pickles, grated and froze 9 cups of zucchini, went for a walk and took the kids to the park. What a fun family weekend!