happy birthday dad.

Happy Birthday to my dad on December 4!  Did you ever think you'd spend your birthday ...

- blowing out your candles while holding onto your 8 month old granddaughter?

- watching your 3 year old (and 5 year old) grandchildren master games on an Ipad (or any type of computer for that matter)?

-  wrestling with your 5 year old and 8 month old grandchildren?

We had a nice relaxing afternoon at my parents house the first Saturday in December celebrating my dad...what a great way to spend the day! :) 

kindergarten basketball

Isaiah was in the rec center's kindergarten basketball this fall.  Even though he technically isn't in kindergarten he met the age requirement so it worked for him!  (I'm not sure he was supposed to be in, so don't tell the rec center!!).   He LOVED each and every practice and was sad when it was over - it was every Saturday morning from October 29 -  December 10.  He did a really good job listening to his coaches and doing (or at least trying) what they asked of him. I could tell improvement in many of the skills he worked on each practice - especially dribbling.   The kids were each assigned a team and a team color, but they only played short games (like 20 minutes) at the end of the last couple practices.  Isaiah's team named themselves Blue Storm. Levi made it to each of his practices with Mark and I and was a good boy having to sit and watch all the kids having fun playing basketball while he sat and watched.  My sister and her daughters made it to one of his practices and both my parents made it to a couple too - it was nice for Isaiah to have family support!  I'm sure this is the first of many, many seasons of different sports for Isaiah since he seems to love just about every sport he's ever tried... he's already excited about soccer coming up again this spring!  

By the way - he was definitely one of the smaller kids there so it confirmed to me that it was a good choice to have him start kindergarten next year.  

2 weeks.

How can it be that 2 weeks have come and gone since Titus was born?  

At 2 weeks Titus:

* sleeps all the time!  but often only for a few moments if someone isn't holding him :)  I promised myself that the third time's a charm and baby wouldn't be in our bed with us -- but by day 3 - he was in bed with me - haha, who I was I kidding - I like my sleep too much!  He goes down in his own bed (which is set up right next to my side of the bed) after a good feeding around 11pm.  Around 2 every night he wakes up and then is up every 1 1/2 - 2 hours to eat and sometimes makes it back to his bed and other times stays right next to me :)

* eats all the time! He's latched right on from the first try and has been a great eater ever since!  He typically eats every 1 1/2-3 hours.

* is very, very mellow.  Our house is often very noisy with little boys playing, but the noise doesn't phase him a bit.  Levi got a drum set and Isaiah a keyboard for Christmas and he doesn't seem to mind being right next to the loud bangs and sounds that the boys make on them!  He doesn't seem to care who is holding him or what position (most of the time)  -- and he's been in some crazy spots with his big brothers holding him (especially Levi!).

* has had only sponge baths and has hated them, but his belly button cord fell off today so we are ready to give him a real bath!

* hates having his diaper changed and SCREAMS the entire way through, but really does want it changed as he gets a bit fussy when he's (really) wet/dirty.  He is much happier once it's clean!

* seems to like to swing.  We borrowed a swing from a friend (thanks Molly!) and he's swung in it several times and has even taken a few little snoozes in it.  He seems to enjoy it for short periods of time.

* is back up to his birth weight plus some!  He weighed 8lbs 4.7oz when he was born at 1 day old he was 7lbs 10oz and for some reason they didn't weigh him when we left the hospital.  At 11 days old he was 8lbs 3 oz so by 14 days I'm sure he is a bit over his birth weight!

We love, love, love the newest addition to our family and are so thankful that he's here and healthy!!

the announcement!

Another sweet big BIG brother

I just got through nursing Titus and am holding him on my lap while he snoozes with a full belly.  Levi is down for a nap (but probably not sleeping, I'm sure by now he has on a superhero costume and is playing with something).  And Isaiah was to be looking at books in my bed, but after about 45 minutes he knows he can come out -- so he came out and asked to hold the baby.  I gave him the baby and opened up the lap top, but before I got too far, I had to open up a word document and type out the sweet, sweet little song my Isaiah was singing to his 10 day old little brother...

Oh precious Titus
Oh precious Titus

Oh precious Titus I will love you every day

And your toots are so little

And you are oh so little

Oh I love you precious Titus

I love you precious Titus

I’ll love you every day

I’ll love you precious Titus

I’ll love you every day.

[long pause]

Little precious Titus, I’ll love you every day

I love you right now while I’m singing this song.

[ohhh look at this little yawns!]

I love you precious Titus

[oh look, he’s messing with me – oh he has a diaper mess….and he punched me in the face]

I love you precious tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitus

I love you very much

But some people are really bigger like mommy, mommy, or daddy, daddy, dad-dee dad-ee

They are always bigger than us, us us, usssssss

They are always going to be older than us, us, us

[oh look it, he has his eyes open, he’s blinkin’, he’s trying to look at this eyes]

Your eyes are right here, right where your lookin’

That’s what your looking for is your eyes

You’re looking for your eyes and with your eyes to find your eyes

Your’re looking with your eyes to find your eyes

And I can see my eyes right now

Ba dump a dump a dump a dum

(the above part he started singing in the tune of if you’re happy and you know it)

[a long pause and he was talking to me]

Aww  little Titus

I love you like this

I love you like this

I love you Titus

I love you Titus

I love you Titus

[he is the sweetest little thing, oh he is the sweetest little thing.  look at him.  come on you can do it (telling Titus he can sit up).  I bet you'll like it, there you go - you are facing at me.  awww mama look it, he is yawning.  you are so sweet....you are the most precious one in our whole family.]

sweet big brother

I was holding new baby Titus while sitting next to Levi on the couch.  Levi looks up at me with the most innocent eyes and says, "mommy, can we keep him?"

I say, "of course we get to keep him, he's ours!"

"the doctor said we could bring him home and have him?"  he asks.

"yea!"

Levi got the biggest grin on his little face.

What a sweet big brother!

here.

Titus Cohen

December 12, 2011

2:39pm

8lbs 4.7ozs 

20.5 inches

beautiful.

healthy.

perfect.

Up goes the tree

The Monday after Thanksgiving our family put up the Christmas tree.  The boys had been waiting and waiting to do this and were sooooooo excited when it was finally time!  I think this was the only time ever that Isaiah couldn't wait for Caiden to head home for the day (we told him he had to wait until after supper and Caiden had gone home).  We have an artificial tree that we bought a few years back.  As much fun as a real tree is, I'm glad we have what we have! 

 After we got the tree together and the lights put on, it was time for the ornaments!  Growing up my mom always took my sister and I to pick out a Hallmark ornament of our choice.  I remember loving this and even more loving opening the box of ornaments each year to see all of mine from the years.  I decided to continue this tradition with my boys and I can already tell that they love it too!  (Actually Mark and I continued this tradition when we got married so we each have ornaments too) We had gone a week or so before to pick out this years ornaments - Isaiah picked the Hot Wheels Corvette which was a really hard choice for him because he really, really, really wanted one that made noise and/or lit up, but we finally convinced him that the Corvette was PERFECT for him this year.  Levi picked out Batman in no time, in fact he said that was the one he wanted before we even got there which was great for him too especially since he had a Batman birthday party.  I had a tough time picking this year but ended up getting the Minnie Mouse one in honor of our Disney trip from February.  Mark picked the countdown to Christmas guy mainly because the kids had seen it advertised on TV and thought it was really neat.  

 The boys had such a good time putting up almost all of the ornaments for us which lead to a huge pile of ornaments on the very bottom of the tree :)  We did move some of my pretty purple Christmas bulbs up higher to even it out just a little bit.  Levi got to put the star on top of the tree this year!  What a fun thing to do!  After the tree was up, there was no better way to finish the night off but to watch a Christmas cartoon before bed.

What a fun time of year especially with little boys who get so excited about every little part of the wondrous season!  

Holiday Hoopla

Downtown Cedar Falls has lots of Christmas activities going on that started with Santa's big arrival the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I knew that these events were always so crowded that I hesitated to take the kids by myself (since Mark was working) but at the very list minute we went - the boys in their jammies and all!  We did miss Santa's arrival which was a big bummer - but I knew we would and the boys had no idea as we showed up just before the fireworks were about to start.  They both were excited to be there to see all the lights and the people. Then the fireworks started and so did the big booms and they weren't sure what to think - we didn't get to fireworks this year for the 4th of July (I'm the mom that made her kids go to bed at normal time :) ), but we saw several light shows, including fireworks, at Disney World last February.  Levi put his hands over his little ears and was so concerned and Isaiah just watched in wonder.  After a huge boom from a fire ball or whatever they call those, we started back towards Santa's workshop because Levi was not happy.  It actually worked great because the boys got to go down the slide of the workshop over and over while all the other kids (except just a couple others playing) watched the fireworks.  We played around the workshop for a bit longer and then headed toward the car.  Of course Levi then got upset that the fireworks were over and he wanted them to start back up :) Silly boy.  

The following Thursday night we went back downtown for a horse drawn trolley ride.  They do these rides each Thursday in December and I knew that we'd better go to the first one as there is no way a newborn would be joining us on a freezing cold ride!  Apparently everyone else in town thought the first night would be the best choice too because the line was l.o.n.g.  We ended up waiting almost an hour in the freezing air for our turn - I kept asking the boys if they wanted to go, but they both wanted to wait!  Thankfully the people behind us in line were so nice and let us sneak inside the library to warm up a couple times while we waited.  Once it was finally our turn the boys were sooooooo excited and loved every minute of the ride.  It was such a fun holiday experience to be riding downtown in a lighted up trolley playing Christmas music while snuggled close with a blanket on our laps and candy canes.  It was definitely worth the long, cold wait!  As soon as we were done Levi wanted to get back in line to wait again (which I might have done but by the time we got done the ride times were about over) and he still mentions just about every day that we need to go back and do it again. :)  I have a feeling it's these little memories that will last a lifetime.

Thanksgiving 2011

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. 

We have so much to be thankful for this year, especially with the launch of Mark's new business and our new little one almost here.  We give so much thanks to God for all that He has given us.   

We had a simple Thanksgiving this year at my parents house on Thanksgiving day.  My sister and her family  and my grandma, my dad's mom, came too.  It was a nice day with a simple meal with nothing planned which turned into 4 little cousins just enjoying each other.  We spent the day browsing through Black Friday ads and hanging out.  I think the cousins had a great day together.  It's so cute that Elise is old enough to join in the fun and it seems like the other kids like to play with her too. Somehow my wild and crazy boys find their most gentle actions when around her (for the most part anyway!).  They even experienced their first bath with Liahna which was a bit crazy, but a big part of what it means to be a little kid. 

36 and 37

36 Weeks

36 weeks fell the week of Thanksgiving.  It was a busy week for us - Mark's second week of being open at the  store, several doctor's appointments for our family (I have great eye insurance through work that both Mark and I needed to have contacts ordered by the 31st of December, Mark had a VA appointment in Iowa City, and of course a routine prenatal appointment), getting things finalized for Christmas, and trying to prepare for this little babe.  At my doctor's appointment I measured right on 36.5 weeks and the little one's heart was beating strong and in the 140s as usual.  He's head down and ready to go!  I did gain a few pounds this week - I was a little surprised!! We had a very low-key Thanksgiving this year by spending the day at my parent's house with my sister and her family (thanks Nichole for taking the picture above!).  Baby continues to move a lot and I can tell he is getting so big because his movements can be felt clearly on the outside of my belly!  I've started to have cramping in my lower belly so I know this baby is getting the hint that his time inside is limited, but nothing major yet!  

 37 Weeks

This was another busy week for us getting used to Mark's new routine (which is great - home 4 nights a week by 8!!) and more appointments - my regular doctor's visits are now weekly, and Mark had a couple more VA appointments and meetings for his business.  But the good news is we are getting them all packed in now before baby gets here!  My doctor's appointment once again went fine - measuring right on and baby's heartbeat is strong - 140s again.  And this week I actually lost 4.5 pounds so I'm thinking maybe my weight that surprised me last week was off.  My doctor scheduled for me to be induced on Monday December 12 unless he decides to come earlier on his own.  He scheduled the induction mainly because I'm ready and don't want a huge baby (Isaiah was 8lbs 5oz and Levi was 8lbs 4oz - so we have good sized babies!); he has no big concerns that he scheduled it. I definitely felt the mode to get things done this week - like move Levi into Isaiah's room - we made the final call that Levi was moving into Isaiah's room and that was that so one day (with the help of my dear friend LeAnna) he was moved.  I couldn't bear to move him into a new room and switch beds so the crib moved --but more on that later!  Baby is still moving lots, but not as much as in the past - I think he just doesn't have the room to move like he wants to and the movements are starting to be lower in my belly. As you can see from the picture, I'm getting to be HUGE and I've had a few people tell me they think my belly has gotten lower - so maybe I've dropped (isn't that what it's called?)?   But I'm trying to enjoy every minute of this belly as the days with it are numbered!  

Stratego

About a month ago Isaiah found our board game Stratego in the game closet and asked me to teach him how to play it.  The game is for ages 8+ but I figured we'd give it a shot anyway and to my surprise he actually gets how to play and he LOVES it.  Just about every day since his discovery we have played Stratego at least once, but many days we play several times.  He often begs someone to play with him.  He does completely understand all of the rules and does a great job, however, he sometimes doesn't think of the best strategies to actually win the game -- so I may go a little easy on him :)  It's fun to see that Isaiah has a love of board games just like his parents!  Stratego is by far his favorite, but before he discovered that one we played Sorry on a very regular basis (which he completely understands too).  He also enjoys Guess Who, Uno, Discovery Toys A to Z Jr, and Chutes & Ladders quite a bit.  It's fun to play with him, if only there was nothing else to do then we'd play games all day every day!  So if you are feeling up for a board game, come on over, Isaiah would LOVE to play with you!! 

3 little monkeys

Just had to post this cute picture of these little boys.  Mark took them to HyVee on Veteran's Day for breakfast and snapped this one.  It's so sweet that Caiden fits right in with our boys :)

Adrenaline X Laser Tag - Open for business!

On November 16, 2011 Adrenaline X Laser Tag officially opened for business in front of the College Square Mall in Cedar Falls!  This has been such an exciting project for Mark (and me!).  I am so very proud of Mark for going for his dream of owning his own business (which he started last March as Adrenaline X Mobile Laser Tag) and continuing to pursue the dream by moving into a physical location too.  It's incredible the amount of things that he's had to think about before the doors could open - the obvious stuff like what equipment to have, how to decorate, pricing, etc but the not so obvious stuff too like getting the okay from the fire marshal & having things set to code for all of the inspectors, knowing how to balance the books, determining what hours to be open, the signage and marketing that we should do, becoming an LLC, designing t-shirts, and the list goes on and on and on.  But he did it!!  

I'm excited to say that he's stayed very busy the past 2 1/2 weeks that he's been open with both continuing to get things the way he wants them, but more importantly with customers!  He's had lots of kids (both young and old) come in and play (one set of kids has already been in 3 times!) and he has 6 birthday parties booked from this Saturday to next Saturday!  It's definitely a place people are interested in coming and we can't wait to see what the future holds.  

For all of you who have supported us in this process, we thank you THANK YOU thank you!  We've had so many friends and family stretch out their arms to help Mark make this dream become a reality - from watching our boys-sometimes at a moments notice, to giving their advice, to physically tearing heavy, old wood off walls and moving heavy bunkers, to suggesting different contact people for all kinds of services we need, to delivering things to us, to helping us join the Chamber (which included free food -- yep, that's you Molly!), to calling or stopping by to simply see how we are doing and being a listening ear when things seemed so overwhelming, to helping hang decorations & thread speaker wire through the ceiling, to sending balloons on opening day, to cooking for us, to coming in and being customers themselves, and most importantly praying for us in this exciting, stressful and life-changing time.  So once again, THANK YOU friends.  

In case you are wondering, Mark is continuing the mobile business as well and plans to work it in along with the store being open and good thing too because he has 2 lock-ins booked in the next month, 4 post proms booked for April, and several other events in the works (fairs and such for this summer).  

If you want more info about the business check out his website: www.adrenalineXparty.com or stop by the store to check it out - he's located in the front of the mall next to KT's Inflatable's and MasterCuts just down from HuHot. 

It's hard to tell but the picture on the right in the middle is him turning the sign to "open" for the first time :)

Congratulations Honey -- you did it!  I am so proud of you!

Nutcracker Ballet

The boys, my mom and I went to see the Minnesota Ballet perform the Nutcracker ballet at the Gallagher Bluedorn on November 20.  When the Gallagher first announced the schedule of shows back in July (I think) I was excited to see this one coming and thought it would be neat to take Isaiah, but when kid tickets were only $1 I figured I'd buy one for Levi too and decide closer to the time if we were going to take him and I decided to.  I was a bit worried that they would get restless or loud, but I was happily surprised that they were very interested for most of the ballet.  After about an hour and fifteen minutes there was an intermission and both boys were upset because they thought that it was over!  Then about 30 minutes after the intermission Levi was done - very restless - luckily there was only about 10 minutes left of the show.  He really, really wanted the mice to come back on stage - in one scene several mice danced around the stage and he loved them.  I got him through the last bit of the show telling him to watch for the mice, but unfortunately when they came back on stage to bow they had their masks off so that you could see who the dancers were.  Levi was so bummed.  He still talks about it :)  Both boys were so excited when it was over and glad to have gone.  It was definitely worth the money and I hope we can make it an annual tradition.  Thanks mom for coming with us!  

Photography wasn't allowed while the play was going on - I wish it was so I could have taken a picture of those mice!  But I did get a few cute ones before the show and found a few online of scenes from the production we saw (at least I think).  

Although it can be a lot of work, money and stress to take the kids out and about to do things like this, it is soooo worth it!  I'm hoping we can still make things like this happen when Baby #3 arrives!! :)

another trip to the dentist

Now I don't really think I need to take pictures every time my children go to the dentist, however, we just got a new camera and it was only Levi's second time ever at the dentist so I just couldn't resist this time.  :)  Isaiah did a great job and sat nice and still for the hygienist to clean his teeth and then let the dentist look at them and brush the fluoride on them so well!  What a big boy!  Levi on the other hand was just not happy about it.  The hygienist let him sit on my lap and she brushed his teeth with a new toothbrush and he finally warmed up to her, but wasn't happy.  He was a little more cooperative with the dentist and she was able to get a good look at all of his teeth and apply the fluoride.   The good news is that both kids have beautiful teeth! :)  

the first snow

Oh how the boys were so excited to wake up and find snow on the ground the morning of the first snow!  They could hardly contain their excitement.  Unfortunately we had a lot going on that morning (a doctor's appointment and meetings and more to get the laser tag store open!!) so we really didn't get a chance to play in it, but Levi's main concern was that he got to make snowballs and he sure did!  By the time we actually had a chance to get outside to play in it, most of it was already melted.  But here's some cute pictures of the boys playing in the snow first thing in the morning.  

It's now been awhile since the snow so I'm sure we will have this same excitement again whenever it decides to snow again!  

Halloween - Trick-or-Treating

Halloween was on a Monday this year which meant we had our ordinary stuff going on before the excitement began - I had to work in the morning, Isaiah had school in the afternoon and Mark got the keys to his laser tag spot at the mall!  But we tuned out all the craziness of our every day life for just a few hours on Halloween night.  The boys were so excited to dress up in their costumes and go trick-or-treating!  We've gone door to door trick-or-treating the past couple years, but Isaiah hasn't been extremely interested and Levi's been pretty little so we didn't make it too long, but this year I had a feeling we'd go longer -- and we did!  But first we made a stop to see Grandma. 

Then we stopped by Kammy's house and then off we went.  The boys lasted about an hour and then they were done - but we still had about a 10 minute walk back so we stopped at a few more on the way.  I think it was a lot of fun for all 4 of us!  After we got home, the boys dumped all of their candy out to see what they got!  This is something I remember doing as a kid - maybe the best part of Halloween!?!  They definitely got more than enough candy and enjoyed more than they probably should have that night - but we figured you are only 3 & 5 once so why not?  Since then the candy has sat up in the cupboard and they've only eaten a few pieces here and there.  Out of sight out of mind!  

What a fun Halloween!  The boys are already talking about what they are going to be next year!

Go Panthers!

Mark loves to go to sporting events, Isaiah loves to go to sporting events, and Levi loves to go to sporting events and I enjoy them too so we've made it to several UNI games this fall.  We've been to a few volleyball, the first basketball and even a football game.  In the excitement of it all I don't get the greatest pictures, but that's okay I'd rather enjoy it while I'm there!  Here's a collage of the fun we've had at a few different events.  We ran into our buddy Carson which the boys loved!  We always have to look for TC too - Levi loves to spot him, but then gets timid when he gets close - Isaiah gave him a HUGE hug one day.  They also got to go out on the court to dance with the cheerleaders at one event and at another we got to sit in the front row!  

GOOOOOOOOOOOO PANTHERS! :)

35 weeks!

Week 35

How'd we make it to week 35 already?  Looking back it really has gone faster than it feels day-to-day.  This was a good week for us and a stressful week for us and an exciting week for us!  Adrenaline X Laser Tag opened it's doors at the College Square Mall!  Needless to say we were busy busy busy getting things ready!  I'm thankful that I still have lots of energy to do this, but definitely not as much energy as I had a month ago (or 9 months ago!).  Other than the excitement of laser tag, it was a fun week of baby movement and baby hiccups!  I'd felt him have the hiccups (or at least I think I did) a few times before, but this week (and actually week 34 and 6 days) I really felt them and am positive they were hiccups.  They lasted for a long time - at least a half hour - and Mark got to feel them too!  He had them the next day too!  Even more of my maternity clothes are getting too short for me so my wardrobe choices are getting even smaller, oh well, and the tops of the maternity pants are starting to be really low too - so I'm guessing a few people have gotten a peak at my belly by accident :)  This was also my last week before baby that I won't see the doctor - looking forward to what he has to say next week!

Spooky Pancakes

The Friday before Halloween Ihop was offering free spooky pancakes for kids.  I happened to notice this advertised somewhere and I knew the boys would love it.  If I haven't mentioned it before, all three boys around here would eat pancakes for just about every meal and could probably eat an entire package of sausage on their own.  So after naptime the boys and I went for pancakes - luckily Caiden was able to go along with us so he joined in the fun too.  (You'll notice from the pictures that the party was the same day as the fall party at preschool.)   The waitress brought the kids each a big pancake with whipped cream eyes and mouth, a strawberry nose and a side of candy corn and mini oreos to finish the face.  The kids had fun making their faces and then asked me to wipe off ALL of the toppings (except Isaiah gladly ate his strawberries and the other strawberries) so they enjoyed their plain pancakes. :)  I figured this was better for them anyway - they didn't need the sugar of the whipped cream or the oreos! 

I love how it's the simple things that make the boys so excited! 

Preschool Fall Party

Isaiah's preschool class had a fall party the end of October to celebrate the fall season with their classmates and a few family members.  Isaiah's class has 4 parties this year and each parent could sign up for one.  We decided to each pick a different party this year so that one of us could be home with Levi (and the new baby soon!) and we wouldn't have to worry about them.  Mark picked the fall party.  Mark had a lot of fun spending an hour in Isaiah's classroom and helping with some fun games.  Isaiah's teacher Mrs. Blough has mentioned many times how the kids LOVED Mark and his bingo calling skills :)  But who's surprised about that, we all know he's great with kids and making things fun! 

I did send the camera along with him hoping he'd take some fun pictures and he did!  Take a look at the fun of the fall preschool party! (click on the collage to make it bigger!)

YMCA Halloween party

This was the third year in a row that the boys and I have met my friend Abby and her daughter Erika at the YMCA Halloween party.  Erika was born September 13 so she is just a couple days younger than Isaiah.  My mom came last year to enjoy the fun and help me take on a wild activity with two little boys and she came again this year.  Before the party we got all dressed up and took a few pictures outside.

 And then we went to the party.  This year they had a huge bouncy slide that the boys LOVED.  Good thing we got there early so they got several trips down the slide before the line got VERY long.  They also enjoyed several other Halloween activities before sneaking off to the racquetball court to burn some additional energy.  We've gone to the courts all 3 years that we've been there and the boys and Erika remembered because they all 3 asked to go after they were done with the party.  

And here's a picturing looking back to last year.

carving pumpkins

The Monday after we went to the pumpkin patch we carved our pumpkins as a family.  In previous years Isaiah has been excited to carve his pumpkin but quickly lost interest, but this year he scooped out all of his own pumpkin guts and enjoyed it!  He did a really good job! 

Levi, on the other hand, quickly got tired of scooping and decided to switch gears and color his pumpkin with markers.  He made his pumpkin look beautiful and he did a great job coloring.  Mark carved both pumpkins - it was a fun time! 

After the pumpkins were carved we ate the caramel apples we made before we started carving.  Note to self - don't try to speed up the process of letting the caramel harden by putting them in the freezer - our apples were very hard to eat as the caramel was very, very hard....but still yummy! 

What a fun fall family party! 

grandpa & the tree

One late October day my dad stopped by to visit and the boys convinced him to climb up in the tree with them.  You may remember that the rule at our house is if you can climb the tree then you can play in it, but mommy won't help you up!  Well, Levi sweet talked Grandpa into getting him up in the tree too.  He was pretty excited and I got a sweet picture of grandpa and the boys. 

Levi still thinks he should be able to get up in the tree whenever he wants, but I'm holding my ground on the rule that he has to do it himself.  I'm hoping this spring he will be tall enough to do it!  (or maybe not, knowing Levi haha).

Zoe's Costume Birthday Party

Isaiah's classmate Zoe turned 5 on October 24 and to celebrate she had a costume birthday party.  She invited all of her preschool classmates to come!  Of course the party happened to be on one of the few Saturdays that I do have to work so Caiden's mom LeAnna took Isaiah with her while Mark stayed home with napping Levi.  Luckily it was a slow day at my work so I was able to get away for an hour to join in on some of the fun!  All of the kids looked really cute!  It was fun to see what the other kids dressed up as - the birthday girl was Supergirl and both Isaiah and Caiden were Superman.  

 They had plenty of activities planned for the kids, but also gave them lots of down time to run around and enjoy each other.  I think the kids thought it was fun to see their classmates outside of school - at least 10 of their 16 kids were there - a great turn out!  The kids each got to color/sticker a pumpkin, have a few whacks at the pinata and a mummy game (? I wasn't there for that one).  The other neat thing about the party was the birthday request was each kid bring a donation for the Northeast Iowa Foodbank rather than a birthday gift.  It was fun to show the kids they can make a difference in someone else's life!

What a fun birthday idea - I'm sure glad that Isaiah and I were able to go!  

Pumpkin Patch

We decided to take the boys to a little pumpkin patch outside of Cedar Falls on the way to Janesville & Waverly to pick out pumpkins this year.  We had a great time at the bigger pumpkin patch last year, but the kids mainly were interested in jumping in the bouncy house, so we thought the little pumpkin patch might make it more about pumpkins -- and we were right.  The boys were so excited all the way there and LOVED to look at all the options of pumpkins.  We have a couple books about pumpkins, one that talks about all the different shapes and sizes of pumpkins - Isaiah was happy to find some that looked "ghoulish" with all the little bumps on them, just like the book.  Isaiah went into the search saying he was going to pick the biggest one he could find -- and he did -- it was so big and awkward shaped that it doesn't even stand up!  Levi, on the other hand, wanted a little one which is what he got.  Mark and I each picked a pumpkin too.   

 As we were checking out we had fun looking at the little "baby" pumpkins and Levi thought they were "so cute" (he is so cute and funny when he says "so cute" haha) and so they each picked out a baby pumpkin and also picked a baby pumpkin for our new baby.  We got home and put them right out on the front step.  I thought it would be fun to get a nice picture of the boys together with our pumpkins - Isaiah was actually completely cooperating (a very rare thing when it comes to Isaiah and pictures) and Levi just was not interested, but I did get some cute ones trying.  

What a fun fall family activity!  

31, 32, 33, 34

Week 31
Nothing special to report this week.  Feeling good and baby is staying active.  I am starting to really be able to feel specific moves he makes.  I'm starting to feel really big this week, but know that I've still got a lot of growing to do!  I can still eat normally (except a few specific things that I've mentioned before that make me feel sooooo full - like cereal).  Blood sugars remain in the normal range so I've started checking my blood fewer and fewer times.  Glad things are going as they should be this week!



Week 32

Another good week - definitely slowing down even more and feeling oh so ready for this baby to join our family, but as the doctor confirmed at my appointment this week - he's just not done cooking yet!  Both baby and I checked out well at the appointment and I'm happy to report I only gained 2 pounds in 3 weeks.  Baby's heart was beating fast for him - between 148 and 152.  I was measuring 2 weeks big again this week, but the doctor wasn't worried - especially since it was consistent with my last measurement.  The weather has been beautiful and spending this time with the boys outside has been wonderful - it's weeks like this that I wish we could just freeze time for a little bit!  We carved our pumpkins this week and realized that my pumpkin and my belly were just about the same size! :)  LOVE the pose the boys are in in the background of this picture, don't you?

Week 33
Halloween was a fun way to start this week - I ran across a cute Halloween maternity shirt online and was so tempted to buy it - this was my first time ever being pregnant on Halloween and thought it would be fun, but after searching and searching the cheapest I could find it was $28 and I just couldn't justify a maternity shirt that I'd wear once for that price so I created my own - not quite as cute, but still equally fun for me and the family.  We had no time for rest this week as Mark officially signed a lease with the College Square Mall to open Adrenaline X at the mall - lots and lots to do and prepare for the opening in just 3 short weeks!  Thankfully I'm still feeling very good and have been able to help in any way that I can with this.  Baby  continues to move all the time!  I can really feel him on the outside of my tummy - it's easy to feel where he is - almost always on my very right side - I can usually tell it's his bottom or foot.  It is fun and usually not too uncomfortable yet!  I'm trying to enjoy every minute of this pregnancy that I can because I know before long it will be over!

Week 34

I can tell I am in the last stretch of my pregnancy as my feet are getting harder to reach, especially to tie my shoes and getting up (especially off the floor or the couch) is a big task in itself! haha.  If Mark is around I will have him push me up!  I still feel good and have had the energy to make it through the days of preparing and planning for Mark's store to open.  I had a doctor's appointment the middle of this week and things were good.  I was measuring right at 34 weeks - I'm glad to be measuring right on!  Baby's heartbeat was 140 which was good - right on with what my other 2 were at this point in the pregnancy.  I gained half a pound these past 2 weeks which continues to make this pregnancy the lowest weight gain for me yet - I think I'm at 17 pounds now.  I still don't have any swelling in my hands or ankles!  And I enjoyed my first ever prenatal massage this week - that was amazing - I'd highly recommend one for any pregnant (or not pregnant) person!  I'd say the best part was getting to lay on my tummy for a full hour - I think that may be one of the things I miss most.  My belly is starting to feel (and look, I think) humongous which is all in the fun, right?

a walk in hartman

On a nice day in October my mom and I took the kids on a walk in Hartman Reserve.  It was a beautiful day, the kids had fun exploring and of course I couldn't resist taking a few pictures.