A day in the life of our Rose!

We're in the holiday spirit. We had a rare and luxurious 3 days off as a family with no real plans. What this meant was great quality and quantity family time. We were so busy having fun that our house didn't get cleaned and I'm sad to have to go back to work tomorrow morning.

Wednesday night we went to a Halloween party at the kids' school.
Tigger and Little Tiger were in the party mood.

They played games and Miles ate a cookie but most importantly looked darn cute!

Hads is at that age where she is perfectly plump - I just want to squeeze her all of the time. During bath I couldn't resist snapping lots of pictures.

The spotlight can never be on Hadley too long (sorry 2nd child). While snapping away Miles crawled on the floor between my legs and also wanted his picture taken. He's a good big brother though.

Saturday morning we went to the Arboretum and thoroughly enjoyed the scarecrow and pumpkin displays.

Brother and sister choke hold amidst the cornucopia.

Here's our little pumpkin next to her first pumpkins. We remember fondly Miles cute baby pictures next to his first pumpkins too (October 2009 post).

There was a Halloween soundtrack playing inside and Miles' keen ears could hear the wolves howling in the background. He was determined to find the wolves and howled to them in response.

It was a nice fall day to run around and enjoy October in Minnesota.

Hads loves the exersaucer and is starting to jump and bounce in it more and more.

Today we went to the Klingelhutz pumpkin patch to pick out 3 perfect pumpkins. Miles loved the wagon and we got "a big one" just like he wanted.

Once home, we all dug in and scooped the guts out of the pumpkins and carved away.

For the first time Hadley joined us at the table like a big girl in her high chair. We had to have a quick conversation with Miles to reassure him that he's a big boy and has his very own big boy booster seat and that Hadley will now be joining us at the table in the baby high chair. Once we all got settled in our age appropriate chairs Hadley LOVED the view from her new seat...and we loved having her right next to us for the festivities.

We were proud of our masterpieces. Can Halloween be anymore fun then celebrating with an enthusiastic toddler and a baby on her first Halloween?

A day in the life of Hadley...

She's so easy going I have to say she's not on a strict schedule yet. We just started thinking about getting her on a more consistent bedtime routine this weekend.

6:30 am - wake up with mommy, nurse and mommy gets her dressed.

7:00 am - exercise in the exersaucer while Mike gets Miles ready and the car loaded for school.

7:30 am - arrive at daycare. Hadley's teachers, Sally, Darcy and Morgan take very good care of her. She's always happy and well taken care of there. She spends the day taking 3 one hour cat naps, drinks 3 seven ounce bottles, does tummy time, plays in the swing and on the mat with her friends, sings, paints and watches all of the action.

4:15 pm - Mike picks her up.

5:30 pm - nurse with mommy and hang out while the rest of us eat dinner

6:00 pm - play as a family. Hadley likes to do tummy time and rolls all over the place to reach her toys.

7:00 pm - watches Miles do his bedtime routine and listens to stories.

7:30 pm - nurses and snoozes on the couch.

10:00 pm - nurses again and goes to bed in her crib in our room to sleep through the night. Starting this weekend though we're doing a feeding between 8-9:00 pm and are starting a bedtime routine of reading books, nursing, and singing "You are My Sunshine."

Ahhhh, the like of a babe...

A day in the life of Miles!

Boy, is our little Rose growing! She has always liked her baths and we're thinking that the days in the baby tub are numbered. She's getting so big. Now in the tub she holds her head up while lying on her back - so she's in the crunch position. She likes to work her abs! She also loves to splash and kick her feet. This strong girl now rolls both ways, front to back and back to front, like a pro. She actually prefers tummy time and now will flip in her crib to snooze on her belly. Brand new this week Hadley found her tongue. She's been sticking it out and talking, making sounds like "blah, blah, blah." She also has been saying "da da" and talking up a storm. She lets us know when she wants to be heard!

This weekend was Corey's 2nd birthday. Happy birthday sweet nephew! Here Hadley hangs with auntie at the party.
This cool dude loves to party (and vacuum).

Two year old birthday parties can be a bit overwhelming. Hads and Miles were great kids - well behaved and polite. I'm one proud mama! Miles watched the commotion of gift opening with grandma.

Of course the best part of any party is the cake!

Here we are with the birthday boy.

Hadley loves the monkey mat but when Miles is around she only has eyes for brother.

When he's not around she bats at the monkeys hanging from her toy like a wild woman.

Pretty girl paused for a second so I could snap a picture.

A day in the life of Miles - a very busy 2-year old....

6:15-7:00 am - wake-up time! Miles usually wakes up on his own, talking in his bed. He still doesn't get out of bed without us (thank you!). This morning he was signing "2 little monkeys jumping on the bed..." He often calls for daddy when he's ready to get up.

7:00 am - eating a pre-breakfast snack of Cheerios or Kix is always first on the agenda every morning. He sits on the kitchen floor with his cereal and milk while Mike gets him dressed for school.

7:30 - arrive at school for breakfast. Breakfast is always cereal and a banana which he proudly carries in himself.

8:00 - Miles is now in the older toddler room at school. After breakfast his class plays outside until 9:00. From 9-3 they follow a curriculum where Miles studies all the subjects - science (this month they were focusing on liquids, solids and gasses), math (counting), reading (every week they focus on a different letter - last week was "F"), writing (he's been tracing shapes lately), music, art, exercise, and yoga. Every day they also talk about the weather and the calendar. Miles' class eats a morning and afternoon snack and eats lunch at 11:30. Nap time is usually 12:30-2:30 pm.

4:15 pm - daddy picks him up from school.

4:30 - play at home in relative peace and quiet (compared to school) before dinner.

5:15 - eat dinner. Miles' favorites these days include pizza, any fruit, hamburgers and pancakes. I was so proud tonight - he actually ate a vegetable - carrots. I told him if he ate carrots he could have strong muscles. So Miles and I showed each other our muscles and ate our carrots. He even said "more carrots mommy." Ahh - music to my ears.

6:00 - play time. He loves playing downstairs in the playroom. This is great family time where we wrestle, cook in the kitchen or just chat.

6:30 - the bedtime routine begins with eating a vitamin, brushing teeth, putting on pajamas and reading books.

7:15 - we sing "You Are My Sunshine" and Miles now walks to bed "like a big boy." We lift him into bed and he snuggles in with his puppies and blanket. He's a great sleeper and is usually out for the night - gathering energy to start his busy day all over again tomorrow.

Here he cheered on the Vikings to no avail...

A day in the life of...mommy!

Mike and I crack up everyday at the things Miles says. Mile-isms this week:

• When we pick him up at school we will often get him first and then pick up Hadley. He always asks us "Where my baby go?"


• Every morning we wake up now and it's dark. "Where sun go, mommy?" In the morning we explain that the sun is just starting to wake up. At night - "where sun go, mommy?" We tell him, the sun is sleeping and you should be too!


• On the way to school this week Mike reported that he piped up from the backseat "I miss Sarah."


• Today we went to the Chanhassen Fire Station open house. Here's our conversation once we got home. Me: Miles, what was your favorite part of visiting the fire station - meeting Sparky the Dog, petting a horse, eating a cookie, or riding in a firetruck? Miles: eating a cookie. He did enjoy riding in the firetruck though - I don't know if he or I was more excited about this. It was cool!


• This morning was Miles' first day at Sunday school. Miles likes church but not Sunday school - he was crying when I left him and crying when I picked him up. I was feeling very bad about this (as I replayed the images of me leaving him at school and him crying and reaching for me my mind turned right to the worst case scenario and little Elian Gonzalez popped into my head. Anyway...). I was concerned that he was traumatized about it so I asked him a couple of times if he liked going to church and did he feel happy or sad about it. A few hours later we were home and he was happily playing by the fireplace and he said "I go to church. I happy mommy. Smile face." Then he made his goofy, fake smile face.


• Getting dressed is sometimes a struggle because he likes running around in just his diaper. He says "I nudie daddy!"

If you have hair like this you have to rock the mohawk once in awhile.

This is what happens when mommy is feeding sister and daddy is making dinner. An unsupervised 2 year old will color his mouth and hands with blue marker.
Our little redhead turned 5 months old this week! Where has the time gone?! Hads is sitting up unassisted at moments. Here she is all on her own. Like every good 5 month old she is curious, curious, curious. Most of her 5 month photos are her grabbing at the paper - what is this crinkly thing? Everything goes right into her mouth lately. Foot - in the mouth, thumb - in the mouth, someone else's thumb - in the mouth, toys - in the mouth, pacifier - in the mouth. Her new thing this week is to rub her gums on anything that goes into her mouth. Instead of rubbing the object back and forth she shakes her head back and forth so that the object slides along her gums. Sometimes it's like an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos. We'll ask her question after questions such as - "Hadley, are you looking forward to Christmas?" She shakes her head vigorously no each time.

Her cheeks are so kissable and soft that Mike and I have been fighting over who gives her more kisses all weekend. She loves it when we smooch her cheeks and her belly.

Some of my favorite mama moments are snuggling and holding my babies tight. The kids are getting big so quickly - my moments of snuggling these two so closely are limited! I love these moments though and will forgo all household chores and other responsibilities to be in these moments.

Just like brother and daddy - she loves computing! (If only mommy could muster this enthusiasm when doing her work.)

Again, here's brother with the choke hold on sister. This is becoming their go-to picture pose.

So sweet - Miles was showing Hadley how to properly use a teething ring.

To continue the day in the life series I'll try to not make my life seem too glamorous this week!

6:00 am - Wake up, get ready for work.

6:40 am - Feed Hadley and get her ready for school.

7:00 am - On the road to work. If traffic is good I can get there in 30 minutes.

7:30 am - Work. Pump. Work. Pump. Work. Pump. Work.

4:00 pm - Make the 27 mile journey home - usually catching on with my sister, mom and/or Mike on the phone.

4:45 pm - Most nights I make dinner. So hopefully I've pre-planned carefully otherwise we just might be eating scrambled eggs, grilled cheese or frozen pizza. I do pull out some good dishes though - whole wheat pasta with homemade pesto, grilled chicken and garden tomatoes or grilled chicken breasts with romanesco and baked squash. (I love our CSA!)

5:15 pm - Eat dinner as a family.

5:45 pm - Feed Hadley.

6:00 pm - Play with the kids.

6:30 pm - Give Miles a bath and start bedtime routine.

7:00 pm - Read Miles books and put him to bed.

7:15 pm - Play with Hadley.

8:00 pm - Feed Hadley.

8:15 pm - If I'm not helping Mike clean the kitchen, pack lunches, etc. or working late on a project for work I like to read for my book club, watch reality tv (yes, sometimes the trashier the better), and plan fun, family activities for the upcoming weekend.

10:00 pm - Feed Hadley.

10:15 pm - Crash into bed - most nights too tired to even read!

A day in the life of...

Potty training - I was a little nervous to embark on this toileting journey with my little son. Friday we took up the challenge. Bright and early he was in his Thomas the Train underwear and we were in the bathroom every 30 minutes to try. We had some ups and downs. Our first success came early in the morning with pee-pee in the potty. Miles got his first, special M & M as a reward.

Throughout the day we had 3 successes and 4 little accidents. Miles put in a valiant effort - even dutifully sitting on the potty while playing outside. By the end of the day though, he told me in his sweet, little voice "I'm all done trying mommy." While he did very well after a long day we decided to back off a bit on the potty training. He notices right after he goes to the bathroom in his diaper but he can't yet feel ahead of time when he needs to go. I've been a bit torn whether or not to be hardcore and do potty training boot camp - just take away the diapers and don't look back. Mike and I have a more laid back parenting style so we've decided to take the pressure off. Our plan now is to continue to encourage going potty in the toilet and to be diligent about putting him on the potty first thing in the morning, before and after nap and before bed.

Sweet, little Hads. I bought her a few new hair bows and have loved dressing her up all week.

Our girl is getting louder and wigglier lately. Today during mom and baby yoga she was "coughing." She has this little, fake cough that she pulls out when she's trying to get attention in our noisy household. She also loves to shake, rattle and roll. Last night, Mike and I were watching a movie and she was kicking and wiggling constantly. She loves to move!

These days everything she can get her hands on goes into her mouth.

Including her new, little dolly.

Being a sweet, little cherub is exhausting!

One of my favorite fall activities is raking and Miles is getting into it too. We took advantage of this wonderful, summer-like weather to play outside all weekend.

We had fun crunching in the leaves.

Ahhhh, fall!

We tried out the potty chair this week and retired the highchair. Miles is enjoying his new booster seat. He likes to do things like "a big boy."

So, this blog is to keep our families and friends in the know about the kids but I also think of it as a little time capsule that Miles and Hadley will open one day and hopefully know how much I love them and loved every moment of their lives.

This week, let's take a look at a day in the life of daddy!

• 6:20 am - Every night Mike is on Miles duty - if Miles gets up in the night Mike will be the one to respond. He gets up each morning with Miles and gets him ready for school.


• 7:00 - He has both kids once I head to work. He packs the car and loads the kids and takes them to school each day. We joke that he's the "pack mule."


• 7:30 - Drops the kids off and heads to work.


• Some days at Kroll he's very busy, some are a little slower. Life as a DBA...


• 4:15 pm - Picks up kids


• 5:30 - Mike usually occupies the kids while I make dinner.


• 5:45 - Family dinner and then Mike is on clean up duty - unpack all of the lunch bags, wash bottles, do dishes and unload and load the dishwasher.


• 6:30 - Get Miles in his pjs and start the bedtime routine.


• 7:00 - Prepare bottles, lunches and school bags for another day.


• 8:00 - When we're not doing laundry and late night projects around the house Mike's interests these days include: beer brewing, football, baseball and reading.


• 10:00 - Fall into bed exhausted and start again.

When asked off the top of his head, what's his favorite thing about being a dad he says "I like spending time with the kids. They make me laugh."

Snapshots of our week

We had a good week. Although the busyness of summer is fun and something we look forward to all winter long it's nice to have low-key weekends this fall - down-time is a much valued commodity around our house these days.

Our little doll made a beautiful hat at school this week. Her teachers report that she is as easy going there as she is here. She puts smiles on the faces of everyone that meets her. Today at Target Mike and I thought we'd never get on with our shopping when a couple of workers stopped to admire "what a beautiful baby" she is.
Hads is still sleeping in a crib in our room. She's probably about 12 feet from the foot of our bed. She's so much more aware of her surroundings now that two mornings this week I woke up and looked over at her crib to find that she was cranking her head to peer at me through her crib slats. Her big eyes were just waiting to meet mine.

Here's my little 4 1/2 month old with the "ahh mom - not another picture" expression. How can I resist snapping away when this is my subject? She now handles her pacifier pretty well - juggling it in her hands, guiding it to her mouth and if she can't find it she's happy with her thumb or fingers. Today we had the most perfect fall day. It got to almost 80 degrees this evening. In the morning we went to Excelsior beach - walked along the water, watched the sailboats and played on the playground. The motion of the stroller and the crisp fall air put this girl in a very relaxed state.

Our 2 year old is going on 13 these days. He now will grab my phone and flip it sideways to "text mommy." This morning he was pacing up and down the hallway, talking. I peaked at him and he was on the cell phone. His head was cocked to the side and he was intent in this one-way conversation. The call sounded like this: "Oh...sloppy joes...hi auntie...oh...(smile at mommy)...where my daddy go...ok grandpa." Then the other day I had my work laptop out and he got up on the chair in front of it and said "skype Uncle Matt." It's so cute and funny but also a reflection of how plugged in we are as he is following what he sees.

Here he is at the Linden Hills playground - working hard on the ladder bridge with grandma.

Corey and Miles marched through the leaves for 15 minutes before we had to drag them away for lunch. What's better in the fall then crunching through a big pile of leaves? Between marching back and forth Miles and Corey would stop and stare at the empty pool on the other side of the chain link fence. They remember swimming in it this summer. Here's their conversation:

Miles - "where water go?"

Corey - "water go bye-bye."

Miles - "Corey, where water go?"

Corey - "I don't know."

We're really into boogers, stinky poo-poo and pee-pee talk these days. At about 6:00 am Saturday morning I heard "Daddy, I've got booger. On my thumb!" Miles has also been consistently going pee-pee in the potty before his baths. Today our big boy picked out Thomas the Train underwear and we're going to attempt potty training next weekend. I have a bit of anxiety just thinking about it. It's probably a combination of thinking my baby is getting so big and oh my gosh potty training is going to be an around the clock exercise in parent patience and endurance. Wish us luck!

Our two kiddies like to play together in fits and spurts. Miles mostly goes about his business while Hadley stares at him adoringly but every now and then Miles will stop to play with her. Here he really enjoyed giving her a piggyback ride.

It's hard enough sometimes to separately get a 2 year old and 4 1/2 month old to do what you want in photographs. My attempts at getting good pictures of them together have been more humorous then good quality lately. Here I envisioned these two cuddling on the beach, posing and smiling cutely while I captured the lake and the beautiful fall colors in the background. The reality is this picture. Miles has Hadley in a choke hold during the 1 second that he actually wanted to sit next to her, Mike's shadow is hovering to rescue Hadley at any moment and my shadow is trying to capture the moment and you can't even see the colors in the background. These are parenting moments that we love to laugh at.