He'll Get it Soon

Mace is working on walking.  I really think it won't be long until he's buzzing around at lightning speed.  Every night after dinner, Mitch and I sit and make Mace walk between the two of us until he no longer has any interest.  He's getting pretty good at it too.  He'll take about 5 steps and he'll have the biggest smile on his face the whole time.  It's great to watch.  Last night, I was standing in the kitchen when Mitch sent Mace towards me.  I stepped backwards as Mace came towards me and he paused, keeping his balance, and then kept walking.  It was the furthest he had gotten.  I can't believe that soon he'll be out running around with the older two.

Words I Never Thought I Would Hear

Friday at dinner Mitch was talking to Drew about school that day.  Then I heard Drew utter a phrase I really never expected him to say, "I love school!"  I could not believe my ears.  Mr. School Is Not Going to Be Fun now loves school.  We'll see how long that attitude lasts.  Do boys still think that when they're 16?

My New Helper

With Drew being at school in the mornings, Cade has stepped up to become my new helper around the house.  On Wednesday, he helped me unload the dishwasher and organize the diaper laundry.  Today, he was a very good helper at the grocery store.  It's nice to see him wanting to help and do the things Drew normally did when he was here.  I also noticed this morning that he talked a lot more while we were shopping.  Drew is usually the mastermind behind their play so it's a change for Cade to be the one in charge.

Most Likely an Alien Abduction

After Mace's birthday he was abducted by aliens.  I really don't know how else to explain what has happened to my baby.  He was a nice calm, easy going baby.  Now he's a cranky, screaming, angry one year old.  He now spends most of his time screaming.  I'm not talking about a little baby yell or cry.  I'm talking ear piercing, brain rattling screams.  I don't even know how he can be that loud for how small he is.  But luckily it's only when we're in the car, at a restaurant, while I'm getting lunch or dinner ready, or while he's playing.  The aliens also altered his sleeping as he is no longer waking up at night.  It's so nice that he's finally back to sleeping well but I don't know if I would have exchanged that for all the screaming.  Hmm, I'm not really sure which is worse.  Hopefully whatever they did to his little brain doesn't last long.

Drew's Day

When I picked up my little guy today he had the biggest smile on his face.  When the teacher called his name, he came running out the door to us.  The first thing he said to me when he got to us was that he thought it wasn't going to be fun but it was.  That was honestly the greatest thing he could have said.  Especially when coupled with the excitement in his voice.  I'm so glad that he had a good day and is looking forward to going back.  When I asked his favorite part of today he first answered with snack time but then quickly changed to everything.  Could there be a better answer than that he loved everything they did?

Drew's 1st Day of Preschool

This morning we dropped Drew off for his first day of preschool.  He was apprehensive as we left him there but he was brave and went with the teacher and didn't cry or cling to us.  We weren't sure how he was going to handle it.  He's been telling us for months that he didn't want to go and that it wasn't going to be fun.  Now we'll have to see if he actually participated.  Generally at MOPS and Sunday School he doesn't participate much.  He prefers to just sit quietly while the other kids play and sing.  Hopefully he's growing out of that.

I just can't believe he's old enough to be going to school.  I almost teared up a little when we were going in to the school but I held it together.  It's been a rough week for me trying to mentally prepare myself for my little boy growing up.  It's definitely much quieter here at home without him.  Really it's kind of boring.  He's really most of the entertainment in this house so we're going to miss him for the few hours he's gone during the day.  On the way home Cade started crying as we drove out of town because he wanted to go back and get Drew.  Then after being home 22 minutes he asked if it was time to go get Drew.  It's nice that he loves his brother so much and misses him.

We're meeting Mitch for lunch today to make it a special day for Drew so we'll see if we can get any stories out of him.  Stay tuned.

Oh Cader I am Sorry

I feel really bad because when Drew & I were just looking through costume ideas on the web I instantly thought of Cade when I saw this....

http://spoonful.com/halloween/best-boys-halloween-costumes-gallery/10062#carousel-id=photo-carousel&carousel-item=26

2012 Vacation

This year instead of a fun beach vacation we got a minivan.  When our van died and we had to put a bunch of money into it and then ended up needing to get a different one when our engine blew we had to kiss a fun summer vacation good bye.  To say that Drew was sad that he didn't get to go back to Florida would be an understatement.  About daily since we got home from Florida last summer he has been asking when we were going back.  We had to explain to him a few times before he got it that we got a minivan instead of a vacation.  It was a good lesson for him about how we have to save money to get fun things.

We still wanted to do some fun things with the boys and have a little staycation.  On day one we went to Independence.  We had lunch at a deli in town we'd never been to and then went to Heartland Acres.  They have animals, classic cars, lots of tractors and farming and history items.  The boys really liked the tractors and animals and got bored quickly with the museum type items.  Once we left there we recharged our batteries with some ice cream and a pit stop at home and then went to the aquatic center in Cedar Falls.  It was our first time being there and the boys loved it.  We were even able to have Aunt Amanda come and join us for a swim.  We wrapped up our day eating at a new place on the hill that had just opened.  Lets say that we were praying that none of us got sick.  It was the worst food we have ever had anywhere.  

Drew by one of his favorite tractors

Boys by Big Bud

When Drew saw this TV he asked what it was.  I almost died laughing that he had no clue that it was a TV.

Day two had us stopping in Dyersville for a yummy breakfast and then heading to Dubuque.  We went and watched a barge at the lock and dam but we only could only stay for about 30 minutes.  The days we did our staycation had 110 heat index so we didn't want to be outside for very long because we were just melting.  Then we headed to the National Mississippi River Museum.  We had a lot of fun walking around seeing the different animals and exhibits.  I thought we were going to die walking around on the boat outside though.  It was 2:30 in the blazing hot sun and my clothes could have been wrung out after about 2 minutes.  It really started to feel like Mitch was trying to torture us making us look at all of the outside exhibits.  Lets just say that I hate being that hot.  A quick walk through of the next building and we were ready to be on our way.  We had some snacks to re-energize headed to Crystal Lake Cave.  It was a nice change to be down where it was like 55 degrees.  Drew really liked it and did so awesome leading the way and making sure I knew what was ahead of me.  He followed all the rules and was very careful not to touch the sides of the cave.  Mace was a little challenging to carry around in the parts that I had to bend to get through.  Cade was a real challenge there.  He wanted to walk but when Mitch put him down he would splash in the puddles and touch the walls.  It was a pretty confined place for a two year old but he did pretty well.  After the tour we headed to have some dinner and then stopped by Aunt Shantel's house.  The boys always enjoy getting to visit her puppy.  After that we headed home and all slept like babies after a hot day walking around

Looking at some turtles

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Mace in the cave

Cade enjoying his freedom in the cave

Mace - A Year Old

I can't believe my baby is one.  Although it feels like forever ago that we welcomed Mace into our family, it doesn't seem possible that he's one already.  He's no longer a baby!!  He is definitely starting to show his personality and is loving being involved and playing with his older brothers.  Right now he has a handful of words.  It's the cutest thing to hear him talk.  He says hi, night night, uh-oh, ma-ma, da-da and he waves bye-bye.

We are currently working on switching him from formula to milk. With the other two it was no problem.  We handed them a sippy cup with milk in it and they chugged it.  Mace hates milk.  If we can even get him to take a drink of the cup he starts gagging and spits it out.  Then he becomes suspicious of all cups we give him and won't even try the water for fear that we are trying to trick him and give him more milk.  He likes cheese and yogurt though so the doctor says it not a big deal to get his calcium that way.

Mace hasn't yet started walking but cruises around all of our furniture and goes like a crazy person with his walker.  It's so fun to watch.  He's going to be keeping up with the big boys soon.  It's the funniest thing to see the older ones running up and down the hallway upstairs with Mace chasing right behind crawling as fast as he can.  I think he starts to get frustrated that once he catches them they head to a different area.

I took him for his one year check last week and couldn't believe how much he had grown.  He's now off the charts for his height (32.25") and is 75% for weight (24 lb 6 oz).  With him being really tall and only 16 months younger that Cade, I think he's going to catch him soon.  A lady at church on Sunday asked Mitch if Mace & Cade were twins.  I can see a lot of those questions in our future.  That is, once the people get over how much Cade looks like Mitch.  We get that comment ALL THE TIME.

Here are some pics from Mace's party.  It was so great that we were able to have all of our family (less one uncle) over to celebrate his big day.  We had a lot of fun.

He shoved his piece of cake into his mouth.  He wasn't messing around.

Mace & Cade playing with some new presents

Happy boy!!