Happy Birthday Reese!!!

Yesterday was Reese's 3rd birthday... He got taken to breakfast by Jim and JoAnn and then we all went to lunch together at his favorite pizza place. We then had cake and ice cream later with some friends.

We find it hard to believe he is so big! Reese's most recent accomplishments are riding a trike (around and around the block), wearing big boy underwear, fascinated more and more with books (although he will tell you that he cannot read, he just has to look at the pictures), dresses himself, and still loves his brother (for the most part). We love you Reese--you are a great 3 year old...

We told Reese that after singing last night and having cake that he'd be 3 years old (he was born at 7:45pm). So after we'd sang and eaten cake he came up to me and sadly said, "Mommy, I'm not any bigger, look I still can't touch the ceiling."

We put Carsten's name on the cake too as he is nearing 1!
A little Carsten update--he seems to be doing fine after his little adventure. He is coughing more (they told us that he'd probably have a croupy cough). It seems that Reese, Carsten and I all have colds, so we are laying low here for a couple of days...

BTW--I hope everyone knew that the financial donation request was a joke? Jim was worried someone would take us serious... We don't really want to know how much that battery is going to cost us, but he is worth it!

Reese with his adopted grandparents--Jim and JoAnn

Carsten Ola Ola...and last night...

Picture: In recovery...

Well, let's see... the overflowing potty seems like such a small thing now...
Long story--Last night Jim and Reese went to a highschool concert and Carsten and I stayed home. We were waiting for them to get home and Carsten was just playing. He found a finger flashlight and was content with that. I followed him while I was doing something and noticed a little battery on the floor, and then another... then I found the flashlight and no batteries in it. I pretty well knew that it took three batteries and when I put the two back in I knew for sure it took three... where was the third??? I searched and searched and then googled--swallowing a battery. It said to immediately call poison control, which I did. They said to immediately take him to emergency for an x-ray...

Picture: The Battery

So, I met Jim at our local hospital where they quickly did an x-ray and there was the battery, big as life in his stomach. This was somewhat good news as it can do damage to the esophogas if stuck there... the doctor came in, took one look and said, "That has to come out!". This is when I started crying...

Picture: The Removed Battery

He then told us we'd have to take him to the children's hospital an hour north of here... They speedily finished the paper work and off we went (we drove, no ambulance)... Our VERY good friends, Jim and JoAnn came and took Reese home to put him to bed and stay with him--THANK YOU!!!
Carsten was pretty fussy in the car, but he hadn't nursed since five and was very tired... They wouldn't let me nurse him or feed him in the event of surgery.

Picture: The Battery in Carsten's Stomach and on the Way Out

We got to the children's hospital and did lots of waiting... They did another x-ray and the battery was still in his stomach so the pediatric gastro doctor wanted to take it out. At 3:30am this morning they took him from me--second time I cried... and ten minutes later they came and handed us the battery in a bottle... five minutes later we went in and he was holding the anesthesiologist's finger and playing with the cords to the blood pressure cuff. They took it out by endoscopy.


Picture: Waiting in the ER

They let us take him right home after he nursed and seemed fine. We got home at 6am this morning...
You can make financial contributions directly to our bank account.

The staff at both hospitals were super and they even let me use the employee breast pump as I was a mess in that department.

I hope you all have a good day and please keep all small objects from your little ones... very scary!

Coincidence???

Carsten has the pleasure of one more tooth! This is his seventh terrible tooth... I am finding it hard to believe that kids don't get *sick* when they are *teething*. Our doctor said that there are no medical findings that prove that kids can be sick when they are getting teeth. She did say that if you talk to any parent, they will disagree and say that kids do in fact get sick... Reese was never really affected by the getting teeth process--he maybe got a little warmer, but that was it. Carsten on the other hand has been getting a cold basically with every tooth. He has had a fever, completely stuffed nose (of which he can not nurse with--even when I use saline solution on him...), and pretty crabby for him. I am becoming one of the camp that believes kids get sick when they teeth!

Potty Stuff...

Ok, funny story...
We had a little toilet overflow issue (sorry, but gdiapers sometimes don't all go down here at our house...another story). So, last night Reese went in and went to the bathroom and came out to ask me, "Mommy, why is the toilet so full?" I went in and very wisely flushed it again--big mistake as water started to flow over the edge of the toilet. I frantically shut off the water supply and ran to find Jim (after shoving a rug under the door to at least try to keep the water contained). Jim was on the phone, but after the look on my face he hung up and came to see the disaster. As Jim was entering the bathroom Reese came running out and was yelling, "Run for your life!" We broke down in stitches and it made the cleanup a little more tolerable. I must add a little awesome husband award here as he offered to clean it all up and mopped it afterwards as well! I was offering to do the cleanup to save my gdiapers, but he refused.
(The run for your life comment comes from an Arthur book we check out frequently at the library--Arthur's First Sleepover.)

Other recent Reese talk...
Reese told Jim, "I'm a good ride biker." Jim said, "Oh, you are a good ride biker!" Reese responded, "Yes, I are." Later Reese said, "I am a good bike rider." He then told Jim he was supposed to laugh. Jim said, "The reason I laughed before is that you said you were a good ride biker, not a good bike rider." Reese then said, "Oh well, it's similar."

BIG DAY...

Carsten started walking yesterday!!! He loves the clapping and cheering... Grandma Paula and Papa got to witness the first steps.

Some Old Pictures...

Some old pictures that were on Reese's camera... Carsten getting his hair cut at the place Reese loves near my mom and dad's house...

He didn't mind at all... She is quick and did a great job.

Reese asked later the same week if we could go get another haircut... there is something about getting your hair cut in a Hummer.

Reese's first experience in one of those restaurant play structure deals. He mostly sat on the one bench inside the tube--until another child helped him climb to the top. It then became a convincing game of getting him down... He finally agreed to let an older girl come down the slide with him. A weird feeling of not being able to get to him when he wanted me to... Once on the top he enjoyed playing the "plano" as he calls a piano. It was a xylophone type thing. Anyway, he finally came down the slide as I said earlier and we were able to go home!


I keep forgetting to take pictures of Lamby and Lu Lu--Reese's favorite animals. They sleep with him and he likes to drag them with us when he remembers. Recently he has wanted Lu Lu strapped in the carseat with him. I had to take a picture to document the unsafe practice of strapping a stuffed animal in with your child... the things we do to keep them happy...

Blog Break...

So, I feel like I've been on a blog break or something... Sorry to all our loyal viewers! Here we are again. The weather has turned really nice so we went on a family bike ride this evening. Packed a picnic and rode to the park. Reese fed the ducks and Carsten enjoyed watching them quack away... This was Carsten's first bike trailer ride and he seemed to enjoy it. He leaned on Reese most of the trip. At one point he was sucking/chewing on Reese's arm and I was riding next to them telling Carsten to stop chewing on Reese. Reese said, "It's okay mommy". We ended up at our little park until it got to cold.

g diapers...

Okay, so you can go to g diapers.com to learn even more, but here is my little speech...
g diapers are a cloth/disposable diaper system (Con that is for you). They consist of three layers, the cloth outer (very cute), a vinyl liner, and a disposable/flushable/compostable liner. So, you don't need to have a diaper genie, diaper pail, etc., you just flush them. I've been using them for two days and they work really well for me. The only drawback as I see it is the price. They end up being double the price of a regular disposable diaper... I am going to a play date at their headquarters tomorrow, so I'm going to see if there is any more economical way to buy/use them (coupons, buying in bulk???). I am not using them because of some earthy reason, but because of the convenience of flushing them. If you choose to not flush, they compost hundreds of years before regular disposables which is nice. Another feature is that they velcro to the back so that your child cannot take them off as easily. Hope that explains them for you!

It's been awhile...

So, to all our wonderful viewers--we are back! Sorry that we've been missing, but it seems this time of year is busy for all. With the weather getting nice there is so much to do. First, I am giving these g diapers a whirl. Carsten is currently wearing his first pair, so I'll have to let you know how it goes. Pretty cute. On this same note, Reese is officially potty trained in my book. We are working on nighttime and he definitely wants to not wear a diaper at night, but he is not waking up dry, so...

The kids and I went to my parents for week and Reese did not want to leave. When we were about an hour from home on Saturday, he said, "I want to go to Opa and Oma's"...
He spent a good deal of his time outdoors helping with watering, walking down the driveway to get the mail, put out the trash, etc. Fun times.

Reese and Unc riding in the trailer to the riding lawn mower.

Reese loved getting to ride in the trailer with Unc. Unc's friend, Sam, and his son, Paul, came over to play. Reese now has a new friend, Paulie.

Opa and Carsten playing house...

Opa and Oma's...

Reese on the *farm*... He got to help Oma and Unc with the burn pile--cutting up wood and separating the brush.

At one point Reese was sitting on the riding lawn mower by himself and we asked him if he wanted Oma or Unc to drive with him and he said, "It's okay if I drive by myself." We had to inform him that his foot would not reach the brake. He said he could do it and that he would just... and he pretended to drive and made the appropriate noises and motions...

Later, he asked Unc if Unc was the farmer... It is beautiful here and he would stay outside all day if we allowed him!


Everyone always asks for Mommy pictures, so here you go... Carsten catching a ride while we watched Reese working *in the country*.

Starting...

For those of you interested, here is our property before any work has begun... It is taken from the driveway towards the main road.

Here is the same angle, but from farther back and after removing blackberry bushes, etc...

And from across the main street. Notice the mobile--we are planning some major hedges to hide that one!

Potty Training...

Well, here is the scoop on potty training...

Reese goes a couple times a day without help, prompting, or company.
He hasn't had a p-o-o-p-y diaper since last Tuesday when we started this project.
I can't take any credit for this undertaking as Oma is the chief potty emptier, potty company, and potty prompter.
Reese has only had a couple of accidents (only p-e-e ones)--with several days of no accidents.
We've gone in public with only training pants on...
We now carry a little potty chair in our car *just in case*.
Fun times at our house!

(That is a plastic egg he is holding, one of the rewards for a big success.)

Saturday...

Cousins

We tried to take pictures of the cousins together and this is one of the great pictures we ended up with...

Abigail on Saturday...

Friday Night...

Justin wasn't very exciting on Friday night... Content to sleep through it all...


Stella... We had a very nice evening Friday night with cousins, Tom, RaeAnn, and kids. We had dinner and talked, talked, talked... We've decided it is silly that we don't get together more often given how close we live to each other and how close our kids are in age. We don't seem to lack things to talk about and have so much in common.

Papa reading to Stella

Papa with Justin...


Jim and Tom doing important boy things... trying to fix a helicopter that was not working.


My mom and RaeAnn telling stories... We sure had a good time with them on Friday night.

The week goes on...

Cousins...

We had a wonderful lunch (if I do say so myself) today with Paula, Alicia and her baby, Justin. It was my first time to meet Justin--he is 10 weeks old. He is very cute and won the best behaved award while we took pictures... my two are getting to be rascals for pictures. Reese is just sick of the camera and Carsten would rather be out of the frame than in it!

We were lucky enough to have a visit from Auntie Marilyn last night...

A New Week...

In our news...
Carsten has tooth number five and six is on the way. Carsten has been crawling on hands and knees now for a week or two. He is also walking behind the Pooh car all over the house... He can stand without support for longer and longer... Carsten is also saying, "da, da, ma, ma", and lots of "wa, wa, wa, oh, oh, oooo". I think that sums up Carsten lately.


Reese is funny as ever... I think all our two year olds are doing the same things these days (from reading other blogs). Reese imitates the librarian, the drive-thru, he is always asking me, "you take American Express?", he makes caramel lattes in the bath and asks how many shots you want...
He is definitely ready for potty training as he use the potty 50% of the time. It is on my end that we are failing probably because I don't ask him throughout the day and I put a diaper on him. Oma is here for the week and she is determined to get him trained this week (he is wearing Thomas underwear as I write)!
Some Reese-isms... He keeps calling shoulders *hips*. In reference to taking Carsten upstairs, "take he upstairs".
The hammer hasn't lost it's appeal...

This weekend we had Ben and Mindy here for the night--I was terrible and didn't get any pictures. On Sunday Kelly and Christian (and parents) had us all over for lunch--yummm. Sunday evening we had 10 adults and 5 babies/kids over for dinner. Reese was the oldest and Lane, 3 weeks old, was the youngest. Chaos everywhere, but so fun.

Carsten walking behind the Pooh car...

Clean Up...

I couldn't resist posting a picture of the bookcase after Reese cleaned up his books. He had gotten them all out and was being the librarian--scanning them and checking them out. I didn't have the heart to straighten them out or tell him that that was not the way we put them away as he had such a willing spirit... he made his mama proud (and he was pretty proud too).

Carsten 10 Months!

Carsten had his 9 month doctor's visit today at 10 months... He weighed in at 20 pounds and he is 28 1/4 inches long. Just as a comparison Reese was 19 pounds and 28 inches long at his 9 month checkup (one month younger...). Carsten seems to be right on target with all his development and he was a happy boy for the doctor. He is still only on breast milk with the occasional Joe's O's (similar to Cheerios). He does not show too much interest in food. We try foods with him, but he just makes faces and lets them run out of his mouth. Reese didn't eat solids until 11 months, so we'll see how long Carsten holds out.

The Bulldozer and Steamroller...

Our new nicknames for the boys are steamroller for Reese and Carsten is the bulldozer... This should be somewhat self-explanatory, but Carsten pretty much acts like a little bulldozer and goes over anything and is determined. Reese is getting quite rough with his brother and constantly has to be reminded to be gentle and careful with his brother. They play really nicely together except for these recent bouts of tousling... I'm sure this is the way it is going to be now with two boys...