The Brown Team

Did you ever wonder??

2011-11-02T16:34:00.001-05:00

Did you ever wonder what a monster trap looks like? Well you are in luck because Connor made one in our tree yesterday. He is very sure that he is going to trap a monster(just like he was sure he was going to trap worms with old bullet shells taped together). Monster trapping is apparently a very serious job too. The traps need to be adjusted multiple times a day and adjusted as well.

In my opinion...it just adds to the appeal of the redneck.white.trash.of.a.yard look we have going on:)

An app for that

2011-10-31T07:43:00.001-05:00

Blogger got a new app for the iPod so now I can post pictures right from my iPod. Yay! Here's a few as I figure out how this works.

Another..

2011-09-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

Another collage of mobile pictures from the last few weeks.

Top Row(LtoR): My 2 favorite kiddos, Connor lost his first tooth!(Sept.16th), Connor and his glow sticks creation.

2nd Row (LtoR):Bella at clinic for her well child check, Connor and Bella with their scary glow in the dark "vampire teeth"

3rd Row (LtoR):Break to ride the horses while shopping for school clothes

Bottom Row (LtoR):Connor's first day of Kindergarten, Kiddos ready for the first packer game of season (GO Pack GO)

Coming Back??

2011-09-23T10:28:00.002-05:00

Well it's been awhile...a LONG while since I've been here to update. I could give a million excuses but I'll save you the time. I'm without computer for awhile so you'll be getting a collage a ipod photos for awhile. But it's better than nothing right?

I'll ease back into the blogging starting with a picture here and there and maybe we'll get some stories soon too?!? One can hope right? Anyways....here's a little collage of a hike we went on during labor day weekend. (and yes the picture on the top right is of my boys peeing:) Hope to be back soon! (If anyone is still out there reading?)

Web Cam Fun

2011-03-19T14:50:00.002-05:00

Grateful

2011-02-15T23:06:00.004-06:00

Tonight we got a call from Dane (Ben's Brother) that his barn was on fire. His exact words were, "it's gone!" and then he hung up. We quickly got in the car to see what he was talking about. We thought he had to be mistaken. There is no way the barn burned down. As we got closer we saw the black smoke, and the flames...above the tree line. We knew it wasn't good. He was right, it was gone. The barn, the 6+ boats, 4 wheelers, dirt bikes, tools, a couple years worth of firewood, and all the countless hours of hard work and time spent on making that barn everything a guy could want/need. Every last bit of it was gone. I've never seen that many fire trucks and ambulances fighting one fire, one HUGE fire.

But tonight, I sit here not able to sleep, sick to my stomach. Not because all of the things that were lost, but thinking of what it could have been. Boats, 4 wheelers, dirt bikes, tools, firewood, and a barn are all replaceable items. Yes it stinks that it is gone, but Dane, Sarah, Leyla, Jackson, & Cooper are all just fine, that is what is important. A life is not replaceable, so tonight, I am so grateful that it was JUST the barn that burned down and everyone is alright.

When I finally lay down to try to go to sleep tonight, I will push the images of the flames, smoke, fire trucks, ambulances, and chaos out of my head and just thank God that I will see these faces tomorrow, and everything WILL be OK because Dane, Sarah, Leyla & Jackson are OK. (and my hubby and babies got lots of extra hugs and kisses before bed as well!)

Finished video

2011-01-28T23:35:00.002-06:00

I added some more video clips to the movie we made for Jackson. I believe this is the final edition but Ben isn't here to proof it for me and give me his input, so we'll see when he comes home if he thinks something should be changed. Until then, enjoy.again. (The beginning is the same, there's just more added to the end)

Introducing....

2011-01-24T20:08:00.004-06:00

Jackson Hunter Brown (our new nephew!)
January 24th, 2010
1:05 pm
8 pounds 2 ounces
22 inches long
Proud parents Dane & Sarah Brown & Big Sister Leyla

My amazing husband already made a video of baby Jackson's first few minutes of life. It melts my heart everytime I watch it. (and I've already watched it a dozen times!) We are so in love already. What a sweetheart! Below is the video, hopefully it will work for you again. Please leave a comment if it isn't working. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-19T23:05:00.003-06:00

I wanna be like daddy

2011-01-15T08:45:00.005-06:00

This fall Connor got to go on his first real hunting trip with Ben. They got all "camoed" up, complete with the face paint and went and sat in the tree stand for many hours. He was never with when Ben was able to shoot anything, but they still had a fun time together. Maybe next year he'll be able to see Ben get one.

Connor got a fake but very real looking gun for Christmas and hasn't put it down since. They had to go buy a gun case for it so he could be like daddy. Now whenever they go trapping or in the woods or anything with just the boys, he makes sure to bring it with.

You really have to check out Connor's face in the next 2 photos (which are the same). It really is priceless. Everytime I look at it I just crack up. I wonder what he is thinking?

Bella loves to wear Connors hat. Actually she just loves to wear any kind of hat.

Wrestling

2011-01-14T14:17:00.004-06:00

Last week Connor started wrestling...against my better judgement! Last year when the flier for PREK wrestling came home in his folder, I quickly through it out before Ben had a chance to see it. This year, the one time that Ben looked in Connor's folder, just happened to be the day the wrestling flier was sent home. And Ben was so excited he signed him right up. I decided this was going to be a Ben and Connor thing so I sent the 2 of them to the first informational meeting together....apparently that was not a smart move. He came home from the meeting SO excited (Ben that is!), but when I asked him when they started, what time it started, what days it was on, what he needed....you know, all those questions you usually get answers to, he had no idea. He even said that they had a piece of paper with all the information on it and he didn't grab one. Really, you just admitted to me that not only did you not retain any of the information from the meeting, but you also didn't grab the cheat sheet that they made for guys just like you who don't retain the information? Smart, real smart. So he calls his friend who has a son in wrestling, to ask when it starts...you know all those questions that are necessary. So he gets the dates and times and all that stuff and they show up for the first practice. When they come home I ask how it went and he says, Connor's practice doesn't start til next month, just the older kids started now. Nice job! So fast forward and he makes it to his first actual practice (last week). At which point Ben now believes they have practice 2 nights a week. So they go the next night for practice again, and guess what, it's just the big kids that have practice 2 nights a week. Now really, how many times can we show up at the wrong time/day. I think he's finally got it figured out, but everynight now I have to ask him, "Are you sure there is not wrestling practice tonight?"

Anyway, Connor actually really likes wrestling and is doing really well! Ben put together a little video of his practice the other night. It's pretty cute. Video is below, if it doesn't load, try refreshing the page....

Mickey Mouse Snowman

2011-01-13T14:28:00.003-06:00

Since it's been forever that I've updated with any real pictures, I hope to add a few pictures every day of the things we've been up to. And when I was going through my pictures I realized I am WAY behind. I never posted pictures of our trip to the apple orchard, or our camping trip, and many things inbetween. Hopefully I'll stay on top of it now!

Here is a picture from the first big snowfall we had...a few months ago. Connor and Ben went out to make a snowman, and it was snowing like crazy out. They called me out to take a picture of it. I went out and never really looked at it except through the lens. I got in to look at the pictures I had taken and thought it was so crazy that in every picture there just happened to be 2 big snowflakes that got in the picture and made the snowman look like mickey mouse. I went back out to get a different picture and that's when I realized the boys had put 2 rackets in the snowmans head to make it look like Mickey Mouse, I was glad it wasn't just me.

Under Construction

2011-01-12T14:53:00.001-06:00

I know the blog is a mess right now, just redesigning it, hopefully it'll be done before the kids get up from nap...if not, then tonight...thanks, Cole

Did you get yours?

2011-01-12T14:20:00.010-06:00

Yeah so I failed once again this year at getting the cards out before the holidays...Oh well, at least they got out, right?!? At least I have a goal for next year. In case yours got lost in the mail (aka I didn't order very many so you may not have gotten one, or I didn't have your address, or it really did get lost in the mail) here is our Holiday card.

Christmas Cards

2010-11-29T14:16:00.010-06:00

Every year I attempt to send out Holiday Cards, and by attempt I mean I try to send them out before Christmas day. However I've been known to send them out after New Years, and sometimes, they even get spaced out to February. But at least they get sent out...right? So what if the picture on my card last year was taken of Bella when she was 4 months old, and by the time you actually got your card she was 9 months old and looked nothing like her picture...ha!

Anyway, I'm going to "attempt" this year to get them out before Christmas once again, but I'm holding no promises to that "attempt". I always have the hardest time picking out which pictures to use and then which photo card to put them on. I am terrible at making decisions which is part of the reason my cards are never out on time. The only thing I do know is that I'll be using Shutterfly to make my cards this year.

My favorites from Shutterfly are the cards that you can add multiple pictures to, even if it makes me have to pick out even more pictures to use. And every year Ben and I have a debate at whether our card should say "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas". I like it to say "Happy Holidays" because I like to include the holidays that everyone celebrates. But Ben thinks it should say "Merry Christmas" because that is the holiday that WE celebrate. Either way, here are 2 top contenders for our card this year.....(click on the picture to shop other photo cards)

(or maybe we'll make it easier and just pick one picture and no "happy holidays" or "merry christmas" at all.....)

You'll just have to wait until you get your card this year....or maybe next year....to see who "wins" the debate this year:)

*If you have a blog and would like to find out how you could get some free holiday cards check out Shutterfly's blog promotion.

The Karate Kid and His Princess

2010-11-02T21:16:00.008-05:00

The Karate Kid and the Army Guy....

The Princess and her Grandma....

The Mooing Cow, The Pumpkin, The Gangster, The Princess, and The Karate Kid....

The Princess...

....and her piggies! (Yes her hair, in the back, is just long enough to get into 2 pigtails, but she'll only keep them in for about 30 seconds....or long enough to take this photo)

Wordless Wednesday...Love

2010-10-13T21:00:00.000-05:00

Whether it truly be "love" or best friends or more like brother and sister, we've already arranged their marriage :)....They're just too cute together!

BIG Boy Toy Too

2010-10-07T20:40:00.003-05:00

Boy Toy

2010-10-07T15:20:00.004-05:00

Connor has a new love in his life, and it comes in the form of a blue 4 wheeler. The first 2 weeks we had the 4 wheeler, we had to pry him off of it to come in and eat or to go to bed. Ben and I had visions of a very chubby 5 year old because of the lack of physical exercise. But after 2 weeks the excitement wore off and how he just rides it for about an hour a day....that is if he has been good during the day. We have a chart now where he earns 10 minutes of riding time for doing good things, listening to mom/dad, helping his sister out, and just being a nice boy. But then he loses those minutes everytime he doesn't listen, talks naughty, or is mean. The first day he lost all his minutes, but learned very quickly that he needed to be good, and it has worked pretty well ever since. I just have to remind him about his minutes and he usually changes his attitude. We now have something very important.....LEVERAGE! And it is an amazing tool in behavior modification!
And he loves to give EVERYBODY a ride on it too!

Wordless Wednesday....Melts My Heart!

2010-10-06T21:05:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday Grandpa Bob! Love Always, Connor & Bella

Five

2010-10-04T15:00:00.000-05:00

This handsome young man turned 5 years old... last month!

We celebrated by seeing the movie Despicable Me and eating popcorn and drinking juice boxes.

He opened a few presents and exclaimed, "This is the best present EVER!" as he opened each present. And continued to thank me throughout the day for his new toys, and for taking him to the movies. (So sweet)

He's becoming such a young man who appreciates the little things in life.

He loves more than anything to turn on some music and show off his newest dance moves....which oddly enough have been resembling my tap dancing abilities.

He would also love to spend his entire day playing outside....especially now that he has a new toy outside....but you'll have to wait to find out what that one is.

He started PreK again this year and looks forward to it everyday. Ask him what he learned in school or what his favorite part of the day was and he will reply, without hesitation, recess. Last year he had a girlfriend the first week of school and it lasted the entire year, however in class he only ever played with the boys. This year he tells me he doesn't want a girlfriend, but everyday he is telling me about how he played with the girls...go figure.

Just this week he decided he was too big for cartoons and only wants to watch "adult shows" and he only wants to watch discovery channel. It's pretty hard to find a show on tv that is not a cartoon and is an "adult show" that he can actually watch, so we watch a lot of animal planet now.

He is becoming such a sweet, caring, responsible young man. He is my blond hair, blue eyed, foot taller than all his classmates, karate kicking, bike riding, break dancing, country singing, sister loving, baby....err....big 5 year old boy. And I love every single ounce of him!

Happy (just a little bit late) Birthday Connor!

Busy, Lazy...Excuses

2010-09-30T23:23:00.003-05:00

Yes I realize it has been far too long since I've been here. I can give all the excuses in the world like I've been really busy (painting Connor's room camo), or lazy (laying in bed with a sick baby girl...who is finally getting better), or not having Ben here (he's working in ND), or being completely overwhelmed with the amount of pictures I've taken (with my new camera!), or whatever it may be. But I decided that I was going to get 1 post in before the month of September was over (which is in 30 mins)...talk about procrastination!

Anyways, October's line up....catch up on the things we've done in that last month, like....

Connor's 5th Birthday
Annual Brown/Mattmiller Camping Adventure
Outings with friends to the park
A trip to the Apple Orchard
And whatever else I find pictures of on my camera's memory card

Until then a picture of my favorite kiddos, who have been playing together so well lately. Big brother wants to teach little sister everything....including how to play tennis. Who knows maybe she'll be the next tennis pro in the family like my little sister who just won #4 singles CHAMPIONSHIP! Congrats Hailey....So proud of you! :)

Fun at the park

2010-08-14T13:00:00.000-05:00

Kids say the darndest things...2

2010-08-12T11:00:00.001-05:00

So today we were sitting out on the deck and I saw this one huge cloud in the sky. I showed it to Connor and this is what he told me about that cloud. He said that when it is time for someone to "go up to God," the big clouds come over there house to pick them up and that's how they get up with God. He has an explanation for everything, and it's always like "duh mom" you should know that! It's amazing the things he thinks of.

Redneck WHAT? Wednesday

2010-08-11T21:57:00.005-05:00

So last week I asked you why there was a screw in this pencil.....

Well it was to keep the pencil from falling through the cracks while spacing these boards...

To make my new favorite hang out.....

Our deck, we finally have a deck! And I believe we have sat on that deck every single day since it has been up.

So this week I ask you why there is a big piece of poly laying in our yard....but you don't have to wait long for the answer:)....

Of course it is our redneck slip and slide....That the boys slid down for 3 straight hours the other day.

And Connor has been practicing his own bengineering skills...by putting the baby slide at the top of the redneck slip and slide....

And sliding down it for a little jump start.....He has his father's creativity:)

Oh and that piece of poly serves another purpose...It is also the cover to our swimming pool.

Kids say the darndest things

2010-07-29T09:54:00.002-05:00

So the other day I had the discovery health channel on tv (yes that is my favorite channel:). Anyways, there was a show about conjoined twins on and Connor caught a glimpse of it and said...

"Mom I know how they got stuck together like that."

and I said, "How do you think?"

and he said, "Because when they were in their mommy's tummy, they just couldn't stop hugging each other and so they got stuck together!"

HOW CUTE IS THAT!

And today we are playing the drums...and they are both just loving it!

Redneck WHAT? Wednesday

2010-07-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

There is a real reason why this screw is through this pencil....can you guess why?

And our shadow family picture :)

ONE

2010-07-27T13:00:00.000-05:00

On Friday, this pretty princess turned ONE YEAR OLD! Can you even believe it, I surely can't. There is no way it was already a year ago that she was born.

She still seems like a little baby to me. Probably because she is about half the size Connor was at 1 year. She is almost 19 pounds now but she's just a little peanut to me. She's become a master walker now and has recently discovered how to climb. She will climb everything. She tips over the baskets I have under the coffee table so she can climb on them and then climb onto the coffee table. She climbed onto the couch yesterday (not sure how she managed that yet), and she even tries to climb the walls. You should see how far she can reach her little leg trying to climb.

I'm happy to say that after all our initial issues with breastfeeding, she made it a whole year without needing any formula. We tried some whole milk this weekend, but she was really crabby all weekend, so I have taken her off it to see if it was upsetting her tummy, or if it was something unrelated

I believe she now has 7.5 teeth. I know she has for sure 4 on top and I think there is still 3.5 on the bottom. I say .5 because her very first tooth that came in is a fused tooth. It's the front bottom left tooth that came in attached to another tooth. We're not sure if it is an extra tooth or the tooth next to it that it is fused too. Either way, the dentist says there is really nothing they do about it as long as it isn't bothering her, and it probably won't have any affect on her adult teeth.

Just this week she has learned how to shake her head "no" when she doesn't want something. It is too cute when I offer her a cracker after she already had a couple and she shakes her head no because she is all done.

She still is the sweetest thing possible (despite the picture above:). She is such a snuggly baby. We could cuddle all day long and she'd be happy. I just eat up every minute of it.

She is starting to really be able to play with Connor now too. They sit on the floor with the box of cars and I hear them both making car noises while driving the cars around. It's so fun to see them playing together.

She has been such a blessing to our lives and we just love our two babies so much! (Please don't tell Connor I called him my baby....he wouldn't be very happy:)

Happy First Birthday to my pretty princess!

Sand Babies

2010-07-26T21:23:00.003-05:00

These kiddos LOVE to play in the sand!

Animals

2010-07-14T13:11:00.004-05:00

We headed to como zoo yesterday. It was a perfect day, cloudy, not humid or too hot. The kids loved to see the animals, especially the new polar bear exhibit. They got to watch the polar bears be hand fed their food and they loved watching the penguins swimming around. We only had one "minor" incident that most likely shaved 10 years off my life, but it turned out good...thankfully. Ethan, the boy I watch that is a little older than Connor is quite the wanderer. He's in his own world and just walks wherever he pleases with no concern as to where I am or anybody else. We stopped so the other mommies could use the bathroom and one minute Ethan was sitting down next to Connor and the next minute he was gone. There was already about 5,694 times during the hour we were at the zoo that I thought he was gone but this time, he really was no where in site. We all split up to find him and I finally found him up the path just walking by himself, no worries on his mind, even though I had just had a small heart attack. The rest of the day he was strapped onto the stoller like I was walking a dog (why I didn't do this the first time he wandered off is beyond me, but I've learned now. Either keep him strapped to the stroller when we go somewhere, or don't bring him with:)

After that we went out for a picnic, and then tried to snap a picture of all the kiddos, which is definitely not an easy task. See for yourself, this is the only picture that all the kids were actually in and not running away.

(Bella, Connor, Laura, Lilli, Ava, Alexis, Ethan, & Dillon)

Leyla came with too but she left before the camera came out.

It was a fun day, the kids were so tired they both were sleeping by 7 (they usually don't go to bed til after 9!)

Swimming & Stars

2010-07-09T07:11:00.003-05:00

SWIMMING....

& watching STARS...

Sadly this is the extent of my pictures from the weekend. There was lots of swimming, sleeping under the stars and fireworks.

Fawn Doe Rosa

2010-07-02T13:00:00.001-05:00

Just some pictures from our trip to Fawn Doe Rosa.....

Connor tried so hard to catch the bunnies....finally he was able to hold one.

Gotta get your picture as the farmer
I had never seen a goat with spots like this, there were a couple of them with spots and they were so pretty and really soft.

I put some food on Bella's stroller so she would be able to see the deer up close, at first she was excited to see them....

...then she freaked out....

...and then she saw big brother doing it so it was ok again.

But Connor still wasn't too sure of the big buck. He did feed him some food, but didn't want to get any closer for a picture.

My friend Danielle and her son Dillon (7 months) came with us. Dillon loved when the cow sucked on his hand. It was too funny:)

Stroller babes....or boyfriend and girlfriend. These 2 just love each other. They both get so excited to see each other and just smile and lauch together. It's pretty sweet.

And obviously the busy day wore out my little man....and as for the big man, this is how I find him everynight.

Little Man, Big Girl

2010-07-01T20:48:00.005-05:00

What a little man Connor is. He loves to do whatever daddy is doing. He thinks it is the best thing in the world when daddy has a "very important job" for him to do, or needs his help working on something (aka bengineering). The other day I looked outside to see him doing this...

splitting wood....I mean seriously what could be better to a 4 year old than running a machine, wearing ear plugs, and helping daddy work. Look at the concentration on that face. He was so serious about it, and loved every second of it!

Now my big girl decided it was time to try to walk. Friday night she took one step a few different times, but it was more forced by me than actually on her desires. Saturday & Sunday was the same. Then Monday night we were at Connor's tball game sitting by first base and Ben was coaching on first base. She saw her daddy and decided she just wanted to walk to him, on top of a blanket, in the grass, and she took 8 steps. She did it a few more times at the game as well. The last 2 days she has done it a few times each day and then tonight she did it multiple times. She's finally figuring out that she can do it, and is getting a lot braver about trying it. And she gets so excited too, it's too cute!

And a few more candids....

It's a....

2010-06-26T08:54:00.004-05:00

Yes you are seeing that right, we are using a piece of rebar for the clematis plant to climb up. The trellis we had up last year was not strong enough or big enough for how much the plant has grown, and so came the rebar. I wasn't sure if it was going to work, but it definitely did it's job.

The first picture was taken before the flowers really bloomed, the whole thing is covered in purple flowers right now, it's my favorite! Here are a few pictures of the first few flowers it produced.

(and yes I know that I didn't put in Bella's weight and height in the last post yet....still working on getting the numbers:)

11 months...Part 1

2010-06-24T21:21:00.000-05:00

So I'm admitting it now, bad mommy, I never did a 10 month post and I never even took the pictures for it, oops. But moving on, Bella is already 11 months! What does that mean? It means that in 1 month she will be 1 year old. In ONE month! That really can't be. She still seems so little to me, and it for sure does NOT feel like it's been a whole year....almost. Wow time flies.

What has Bella been up to?....

She now weighs pounds and is inches long. Her hair is growing longer and longer but only in the back (and when I say longer, it's all relative to the no hair she was born with:). She is on the move, crawling everywhere with her goofy little crawl. The one where she uses one knee and one foot instead of both knees. She spends most of her day standing up, in the middle of the floor, with a toy in her hand. However, she has no desire to take a step on her own, I know she could do it if she just tried, but she doesn't even want to try. She loves to talk, in the morning and at night, when Connor is asleep. At least that is the only time we get to hear her talk. We're trying to figure out if she just doesn't talk when Connor is around because she is too busy listening to him talk, or if she really does talk when Connor is around and we just can't hear her over him. She says dada to everything, but has no idea what it means...I think. And I think she started saying "hi" this week to. The first time she said it I thought it was just coincidence and just sounded like a "hi", but now she has done it multiple times and she uses it at the right time. So just maybe she is really saying "hi".

Bella loves food. Real food. Food she can eat with her fingers. At about 9 months she decided she was done with the baby food, done with mommy feeding her and she wanted to do it all herself. If I put something in her mouth for her to eat, she will spit it out into her hand just so she can put it into her mouth by herself, which makes for some very messy lunch times.

Her favorite things to do are swing, play outside, eat everything she can find (which includes legos, rocks, dirt, lint, crumbs, ants, spiders, and whatever else she can get into her hands), bounce on the bouncing zebra, and try to sneak into Connor's room. (You should see how fast she can move when she realizes he left his door open...again!)

She is starting to show her temper, unfortunately. When she wants to be held and I put her down on the floor, she'll put her head between her legs and just yell. It's actually pretty cute...right now, but I'm sure in a few months it won't be too cute. I'm definitely not looking forward to that stage.

Besides that, she really is the perfect baby. She's so good, so sweet, and loves to cuddle. I feel so blessed to have such amazing kiddos! Pictures in part 2.

11 months...Part 2

2010-06-24T21:20:00.002-05:00

Bella was not happy to be taking pictures...so this is about all I could get.

Any guesses as to what the redneck wednesday picture is?

Please Pray

2010-06-23T10:23:00.002-05:00

If you are able to, please pray for this little girl and her family. It's just tearing my heart reading what they are going through. But be prepared if you read her story, especially the caring bridge entry from June 22nd about her lung scan, I haven't cried so hard in a long time. It just makes me sick that this little girl is so sick and so scared to die. It really makes you appreciate everything you have and it makes me not want to ever let go of my babes.

If you don't read her story and are able to pray for them, her mom is asking to pray for her to fly........

http://twitter.com/amypotvin
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/elliepotvin/journal/2

Redneck WHAT? Wednesday

2010-06-23T09:22:00.002-05:00

Why the heck is this piece of rebar coming out of the log in front of our house....surely it is used for something important.....

And here is a picture of our newest friend I found in our yardd about ahalf hour ago. I made a little home for it so it can stay until the boys get home from school. But the thing is like houdini, it has escaped from it's "home" 3 times now, and I thought I had it built pretty good. So I resorted to a storage bin, now if he escapes from that he must really be scared to death of the torture that lies ahead for him when the boys get home:) Actually I'm guessing there will be more screaming and running away from the boys and a lot less torturing. We'll see!

Now what is that rebar for again???

TBall

2010-06-22T09:00:00.002-05:00

Connor started TBall at the beginning of June. They started with a few practice nights which consisted of playing catch, hitting the ball, throwing the ball to first base, and learning how to run the bases...in order! Then they started playing actual games, against other teams, and it is quite entertaining. During a typical game you will see sandcastles being built in the infield, gloves being chewed on as a ball goes past, the entire team going after one ball, or the entire team standing there as nobody goes after the ball. There are kids who don't want to play and just take a seat in the grass, there are kids who will run to 3rd base first, and there is also a whole lot of throwing the bat after the ball has been hit. Needless to say, there is still a whole lot of learning to do for these kiddos. But they do have fun, and I think we have even more fun watching!

(I've got to believe he is picking his nose in this picture:)

It's a....

2010-06-21T21:30:00.002-05:00

in regards to the redneck wednesday post....it is used for holding the garden hose....well I should say it is supposed to hold the garden hose, but I can't say I've ever actually seen the hose hanging on it. The hose is usually snaking it's way around the yard and never actually gets put away, so maybe we could think of another use for it....so that it could actually get used:) Nice guesses and congrats to whoever got it right!

Redneck WHAT? Wednesday

2010-06-16T15:57:00.005-05:00

It has returned....I have a surplus of pictures of bengineering projects that Ben has sent to me, and now I have time to get back into it. So tell me what the heck we use this for?

Wordless Wednesday(but we know I can't do wordless)...

I've been so crabby lately since we haven't seen the sun in what feels like weeks, but it has returned today! We finally got to get outside and swing on the swings and now I'm happy!

Back with pictures

2010-06-10T09:30:00.008-05:00

Working on coming back...I have lots to post so I figured I'll just start with lots of pictures of the last month. But I'll be back with Bellas 10 month post, Connors TBall post, and more.

Here are some oldies that I believe I forgot to post. It is from my sister Hailey's prom.

Bella and Granpa Bob

Hailey and Bella:)

My best friend from St. Cloud, Katie, got married memorial weekend. She was beautiful, the weather was amazing, and we all had a blast!

Connor and Bella both enjoyed the mini cheesecakes.....way too much!

Dancing on the floor:)

The happy couple

The next morning we went down for breakfast at the hotel and Connor saw the swimming pool. We didn't bring his swim trunks with because I didn't think we would have time to swim. Well he really wanted to go so he went swimming in his pajamas and had a blast....by himself. Then Ben decided to throw him in the pool a few times, and the last time he threw him in where he couldn't touch so guess who got to jump in, fully clothed, wallet in pocket, and all, to save him....of course the same person that foolishly threw him in the deep water! I'm not sure what Ben was thinking when he did that, but that soon ended the fun of throwing Connor in the water.

Bella also got some splash time in the water in her pjs as well.

And then some random outside fun pictures.

Eating smores....his favorite!

Busy...

2010-05-13T14:17:00.005-05:00

I've known since the beginning of the year that May was going to be a busy month which will explain why posts during this month will be very few and far between. We've got weddings, birthday parties, family reunions, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, fishing, tball, and not to mention I just spend the last 2 weeks planning a surprise birthday party for Ben.

There are many things to write about, and many pictures to share, but the time just hasn't come to me yet.

But I will take the time today to say Happy 30th Birthday to a very special, amazing father, wonderful husband, and handsome man! We love you honey:)

It's a....

2010-04-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

T-Ball....Nice job Sarah!

I've bought the little man a t-ball set before, and I think my mom has too...but they always fall apart...have many pieces and get lost. This thing is sturdy, and stuck in the ground, so nothing is happening to it!

Gotta love the benjineering!

9 months

2010-04-28T14:15:00.003-05:00

Bella was 9 months old on Friday, and as you can see from the picture it has become next to impossible to get her to sit in the chair, with a piece of paper, look at me and smile. This is what she'd rather do...fall over the edge of the chair(don't worry I always catch her....well so far), eat the paper, look anywhere but at me and the camera, and do anything but smile for me. But I still try to get the picture just because I want to have the picture from each month to compare and see how much she has grown from month to month.

And boy has she grown in the last month....she's not so much a baby anymore.

*She's got at least 3 teeth (possibly 4....it's questionable and I'll be asking the dr about it at her check up on Thursday and then fill you in more about her teeth)

*she is a full time crawler

*she pulls up to stand on everything and will even let go to stand by herself

*she wants so bad to walk

*she actually crawls on one knee and one foot because she trys so hard to stand up

*she loves to clap

*And play peek a boo

*she's starting to give kisses (mostly to daddy & babies)

*she just started dancing to music!

*her hair is growing (mostly in the back)

*wears 9-12 month clothing

*loves to eat puffs and fingerfood

*not completly crazy about baby food, unless she's starving

*is a great sleeper

*she hasn't taken her zantac in 4 days and so far isn't congested!!!

*still completely adores her big brother

*loves loves loves to be outside in the grass

And a few random pics from the last few days...
This is what I woke up to find this morning.....too cute!

Could it really get any cuter than that?

Redneck WHAT? Wednesday

2010-04-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

This one is pretty easy!

It's a....

2010-04-22T13:30:00.004-05:00

Beverage holder for when we are playing bean bags :)

And it really is pretty convenient!

And thanks for the guesses/comments! Good to know someone is out there:)

Redneck WHAT? Wednesday

2010-04-21T17:52:00.005-05:00

With warm weather, "benjineering" is at full swing. Everyday Ben has some new idea of something he can make, and then he goes to work making it with whatever materials we have in the garage. So I'm starting "Redneck WHAT? Wednesday" (to replace wordless wednesday). I'll post a picture on Wednesday of the new benjineering that has taken place in the week and it'll be up to you (all 3 of you that read this blog:), to figure out just what the picture is of, or what it is used for. So please leave a comment and make a guess, even if you have no idea, it'd be fun to hear what else you think it could be used for:) Then sometime tomorrow(hopefully) I'll let you know what it really is supposed to be.

So here is the first official "Redneck WHAT? Wednesday" picture. What do you suppose it is?

Soaking up the sun

2010-04-19T15:06:00.005-05:00

Our weekend was spent outside. Connor, as always, had a blast just helping out daddy, playing in the sandbox, riding his bike, and playing some baseball. Bella loved just sitting in the grass, pulling it out and watching everyone else. I think she could have sat outside all day, she loved it.

Connor had fun pulling Bella around in the sled. And Bella had fun...

until...

Connor took her down the bumpy hill and she flopped all over the place. Then she had enough!

It was so nice to be able to be outside, have a bonfire and enjoy the day together. I'm so ready for summer!

Playing at the Park

2010-04-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday....Easter Bunny

2010-04-13T22:00:00.000-05:00

It's a....

2010-04-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

...can you figure out what it is yet?....

How about now....

Here is our redneck/hillbilly TEETER TOTTER :) Complete with complimentary splinters....in the butt.

But these boys don't care about the splinters. They've been having a blast on the teeter totter. It all started when Connor took Ben's ladder and put it on top of his sandbox (aka tractor tire), and sat on one end and had me go on the other end. Ben saw this and immediately the bengineering went to work. After 15 mins we had a real teeter totter:) To match our redneck swingset (can't find a picture of it right now)

And a few pictures of the kids enjoying the rest of the day.

Wordless Wednesday and a ?

2010-04-07T15:37:00.001-05:00

Connor has been having a blast on our redneck version of......can you guess what it is?

A hike in the woods

2010-04-01T09:53:00.005-05:00

On Saturday we took a family hike in the woods. The fresh air was great, but boy were we pooped after the 4 hours we spent in the woods. (I was not warned of the mountains we would be climbing...with a baby on my back!)

Before I knew what we were getting into:)

We each had a walking stick. This is what Connor used as his walking stick. Also known as a tree! I drug this "tree" around for the first hour. Obviously it didn't do it's job as a walking stick becuase I started counting the number of times he fell/tripped and it was 20 times(the first 30 mins.)

This little man was such a trooper. He walked the whole time, carrying his backpack and all!

And Bella enjoyed the whole thing...

...Until she fell asleep:)

We stopped for a snack of oranges and granola bars.

After climbing the mountain with the princess on my back, I could barely pick my feet up to keep going so I handed her off to Ben...little did I know we were only a half mile from the van....(I could have made it the whole way)

And on a different note....Ben's been learning about trapping animals and had his first attempt and success on Sunday when they trapped a gopher in the backyard!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-03-31T07:36:00.001-05:00

The first step....

2010-03-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

....is admitting you have a problem. Right?!?

Nobody ever told me how addicting buying shoes for a little girl can be. Bella already has WAY more shoes than I do. I'm not a shoe person at all. In fact I hate shoes, but I love flip flops. But I just can't stop buying shoes for Bella. Most of the ones we have are handmedowns, but I have also purchased my fair share as well. I just can't pass up a good deal. Most of the shoes I buy for her I've gotten for only a couple dollars a pair, but still, when does it end? When will I say no? Probably when Ben finds out how many pairs of shoes this little one has.

I took them all out of her closet because they needed some organization. Well they just kept coming and coming, so I had to snap a picture of it. But they are all safely stored back in her closet so daddy doesn't see. (This reminds me of a certain 2 people I know....mom & hailey....who go shopping every weekend and have to hide the pairs of shoes they buy from dad)

(There were 5 shoes that I found that I still haven't found their counterparts yet as well.)

8 months

2010-03-26T10:00:00.004-05:00

She is 8 months old now and making it harder and harder to get a picture with her monthly sign. She'd much rather just eat it.

We've got big news in Bella's world, her first tooth came through last night. She was a little fussy the last couple of days so yesterday morning the idea came to me that maybe she was getting some teeth, so I pried open her mouth and there was nothing. I checked again later in the afternoon and her gums looked like they were a little puffy, but I still thought to myself, "it'll probably be a few more weeks before any come in." Then when I was feeding her supper, she opened her mouth for a bite and I thought her gums looked really swollen. So I stuck my finger in to feel for anything, and sure enough, the tooth was through. I was so surprised. I had just checked a few hours before and there was nothing at all, and then all the sudden it had popped through. But it has obviously been bothering her. She woke up at midnight last night, so I fed her and tried to put her back in bed and she screamed. I rocked her back to sleep and tried to lay her down again and she screamed again. So we ended up sleeping on the couch together all night (which makes for a sore mommy in the morning).

As far as sleep goes, she's usually an amazing sleeper. She is on the same sleep schedule as Connor. They both go to bed at 9 and wake up at 7. Bella takes an hour nap while Connor is at school and then they both take an afternoon nap from 2-4. I can't believe I've been blessed with 2 awesome sleepers!

Bella is getting a little closer to crawling. She will now get up on her knees from her tummy, but it only lasts for a few seconds. She still pushes herself backwards and scoots a little bit on her butt. She would just much rather sit up.

As for Connor, he's been loving the warmer weather we've had. He spends all afternoon outside gathering corn from the fields to "plant", trying to climb the trees, and riding his bike. The other day I sent him and his friend outside to collect the garbage that had blown away this winter and was collected in the "tall grass." They each took a plastic bag out to collect the garbage. When they came back in they showed me what they found, and I was completly amazed with what they had done. They came in with all the garbage in one bag and all the plastic recyclables in the other. I couldn't believe they had taken it upon themselves to recycle the things they found. I was so impressed that they got more excited and went out and spent the next few hours looking for garbage and recyclables, while singing their own made up songs "I'm the garbage man" and "I'm the recycling man." It was just too cute. They ended up finding 6 gallon milk cartons and other plastics, a bag of garbage, and a rug that I was looking for. It's kinda sad that we let that much garbage fly around.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-03-24T15:08:00.003-05:00

Green Day

2010-03-23T21:00:00.000-05:00

Just a few pictures from our St. Patty's Day.

Bella's clapping in this picture. It's so cute when she does it.

A little retro with the headband and leg warmers:)

Our green lunch. Green eggs, green toast and green milk. I wasn't sure if Connor would eat it or not, but he devoured it all, I think it's because he got to mix in the color by himself. (and he still asks for green milk now!)

Ben wanted nothing to do with our green food. Connor kept telling him it was good, but he just couldn't get past the color.

Wordless Wednesday....For Real!

2010-03-17T14:43:00.003-05:00

4.5

2010-03-12T15:00:00.001-06:00

The little man is now 4 1/2. Now seriously...someone tell me where the last 4 1/2 years have gone. It's one thing that Bella is already 7 months, but 4 1/2 years YEARS, that is just too much. He completly amazes me everyday. The things he says, the things he does, the creativity thats in his head, it's all completly amazing.

54 pounds

44 inches

wears size 5/6 or 6/7

Connor absolutely loves going to school. He goes 4 days a week for 3 hours. On his day off and on the weekends, he is asking to go to school. So either it's a good sign that he loves going to school, or it's a bad sign that he is totally bored or sick of us on the other days. His long time girlfriend Layla (who's been around since the first week of school) has apparantly moved on to another boy. But I'm starting to think the whole girlfriend situation is all in the boys heads. I believe the girls have no idea who their boyfriend is, or even that they have one. I think the boys just make it up for a good story, and then switch girlfriends when they get bored.

He still loves to play with trucks and tractors and anything with a motor. The sounds he can come up with for the different motors is amazing. He keeps trying to teach me how to do some of them, but I just can't figure it out. (But Bella has mastered a few of them already!) His other favorites are playing anything and everything outside. He loves to go ice fishing with daddy, go snowmobiling, ride the 4wheeler, and just wonder around the yard looking for something creative that he can do or play with.

My favorites:

His hugs and kisses

His storytelling abilities

How he sucks his thumb when he's tired

How big and little he looks with his backpack on going to school

How he takes such great care of me when I am not feeling well

His hair :)

His crooked smile like mine

How he wants to be just like his daddy

When he gets so excited to tell me a story and he just can't get it out

The look on his face when he is so excited to tell me a story

His snuggles

How he always has to kiss his sister...(goodnight, goodmorning, see you after school, and a million times in between)

The way he has to pray for EVERYONE and EVERYTHING every night at bed

He's just too cute! Have a great weekend all!

7 months

2010-03-12T08:00:00.002-06:00

Baby girl is now 7 months old!

almost 18 pounds

about 27" long (I really have no idea, just a guess)

wears size 6-9 months clothes

She loves to sit and play with her toys, actually connor's toys. She'll scoot around a little bit on her butt, but cannot figure out how to get up on her hands and knees to crawl. (I think she is listening to my last request for her not to crawl and move around yet.) She loves to stand up and has pulled up on the coffee table to stand a few times.

Last week she was really sick with a cold (which has now been passed onto me), and she was barely eating anything. She would only nurse, and would not take any baby food. However, this week she is surely making up for it. She will eat anything I make for her and a whole lot of it. She definitely likes the veggies more than fruit right now.

She is learning how to clap, and will do it randomly during the day, except for when I try to get her to do it. Same thing with waving...she will wave to herself all day long, but rarely when you want her to. But it is just to cute to see her clapping and waving to herself!

My favorites:

Her chubby sausages (aka..her fingers)

Her chin

Her giggles and smiles

Her serious face (the exact same one Connor had at this age) shown in the first picture

How she tries to kiss with her mouth wide open

The way she holds onto me when I'm carrying her

Rubbing her hair....that is starting to come in

Her little tummy

Her wave

Her snuggles

The way she sucks her thumb

How she's not afraid of anything (loud noises, random dogs, her brother's aggressiveness:)

How much she loves her brother!

(Later today.....Connor's 4.5 year old post)

Wordless Wednesday...almost again

2010-03-10T09:39:00.004-06:00

Well I'm thinking I'll never be able to do a completly wordless wednesday, but I'll try:)

Two years ago today, we said hello and goodbye to this precious little one...

Happy Birthday Colin, we miss you!

(And for real, I still have 3 posts that are almost ready to publish, but I've been struck with a nasty bug and have barely been able to get off the couch!....so they will come, just no promises as to when this time)

Cuteness

2010-03-03T10:53:00.004-06:00

Aren't they just the cutest...

So in love...

And they are ALL crazy for legos!

Connor has had a few exciting days at school. A few weeks ago they were learning the letter M, so they had a muffin day. Everybody had to bring in 2 muffins of their choice and the kids all did a taste test of all the different kinds of muffins. Connor helped me make the muffins, actually he did pretty much all the work, even though it was very messy. I used a new recipe that I found, applesauce muffins, and I'll never make them again. They were not good at all. I felt pretty guilty about bringing them in for the kids to eat. But Connor didn't seem to mind them, so maybe nobody else did either :)

Connor also had a little program at school. Ben, Bella and I got to go watch him and his friends sing a few songs for us. It was pretty cute. Connor sang the first song really well, but then he got bored or something and decided he just really wasn't into it anymore. And when I say little program, I mean short...if we would have been a couple minutes late we would have missed it all. But obviously it was the perfect length for the kiddos.

He loves to show his sister off to his friends and teachers!

Wordless Wednesday...almost

2010-03-03T10:48:00.003-06:00

Well almost wordless....I have 3+ posts almost ready to go for the week. My hope is to get them all ready to go tonight so that there will be a new one for the next three days. And the reason I write to tell you this, is because then I will have more motivation to actually get them done!

American Idol

2010-02-26T14:12:00.003-06:00

Well Ben has been gone in North Dakota for the last week again (he should be driving home right now). This should be the last trip for quite awhile. At least that's what he keeps telling me. But I've learned to never count on it. Just like when he goes hunting or fishing and says he'll be home in 2 hours. I've learned to always multiply that number by 2, meaning he'll actually be home in 4 hours. So he says this will be the last trip to ND for a long time, I'm actually anticipating another trip there in the next month. That way when he does come home and says he has to go back, I'm already ready for it.

Usually when Ben is home, he and Connor spend the night playing legos, building things, racing cars, all that fun stuff. So without Daddy here, Connor has been pretty creative in his play. The other night I had american idol on and he came up with an idea. He went into his room, came back out in his cowboy hat and some other misc. clothing and said he was going to sing for me and I had to be like the guy with the white shirt on(Simon). So he stood in front of the tv, made up a song and sang it to me and I had to tell him how he did. And let me tell you, it was pretty serious. I couldn't just tell him I liked it, that he sang good, or was cute. That just didn't cut it. He wanted lots of feedback. (But not the kind that Simon usually gives). After his song he would go into his room, change his clothes, come back out and sing another made up song. This went on for probably an hour. It was pretty fun to listen to him sing his songs (and he really got into some of them) and to hear what he was singing about. I got a few of the songs on video, but haven't figured out how to upload the video yet (I guess I should say I haven't tried to yet). So here are a few pictures that I snapped of him in action. He was too cute and we had too much fun.

Movin on Up...

2010-02-04T10:39:00.002-06:00

literally...Bella has moved UPstairs to her own bedroom, finally! And it only happened by chance, (I had not made the decision to move her to her crib yet.) The other night she had fell asleep earlier than usual so I decided to just put her in her crib knowing she would wake up before I was ready to go to bed (so I didn't bring her downstairs to her bassinet). Well she didn't wake up, so I contemplated picking her sleeping self up out of the perfectly good crib to bring her down to the bassinet in our room. But the better part of me won and I decided she would be just fine sleeping in her crib (she is 6 months old, it's about time most people would say.)

I know she's been ready to sleep in her own room in her crib for awhile now, I just haven't been ready to let go so easily. Part of it is the ease of having her right next to me when she wakes up and needs to nurse, and then I can just put her back in her bassinet all from the coziness of my bed.

So when she woke up at 5 am in her own bed in her own room, I had to go all the way upstairs to get her. At that point I had decided I wasn't ready for this business yet, so back down to my room she came. I fed her, changed her diaper and put her back to sleep in her bassinet. Only for her to wake up 10 mins later. Apparently in her big crib she had learned a new trick, she learned she had room to move, and here in this little bassinet she didn't. When she woke up, she was on her back, stretched out and her head was hitting the top of the bassinet as her feet were pushing on the bottom. Well I finally took that as a sign that she is too big for the bassinet now :(

So last night was her second night of sleeping in her bed in her room. It's a whole new routine for me to get accustomed to. But I'm learning, and she's learning, and I'm sure in no time, it will become second nature to both of us. Until then, I'm still sad that she's movin' on up. (She's even taking a nap in her bed right now....this will be one of the great things to come from this move. I'll get a little independce during the day when she actually takes a nap.....without me)

Just another Friday

2010-01-27T08:00:00.003-06:00

Sandy, Jed, Dane and Leyla came over to visit for the day.

We just hung out,

ate food,

played with babies,

and did this,

and this,

oh yeah, and this!

It was pretty funny to watch them attempt this many times before it actually worked. And it was hard to get a picture of it, where I could tell what was going on, and get everyone in the picture. Unfortunately, Ben was cut out of the picture. He is actually crouched down right behind connor, but got blocked out by Jed. And that is Dane at the bottom of the whole mess.

5 and 6 months

2010-01-26T08:00:00.000-06:00

Right before Christmas Bella turned 5 months, and the pictures are just making their appearance today...oops. Better late than never I guess.

This weekend celebrated her half birthday. Wow I can't believe it was 6 months ago already. But the last few weeks she's grown up so much more I find myself wondering where my little baby went. She's getting quite the personality. It's so fun to watch her grow.

She's definitly got a preference for her momma and won't let anyone else put her to sleep. Which makes it hard for me to leave her. But thats ok, I don't mind taking her with me. She's also been pretty spoiled bt taking her naps with me (because I enjoy it just as much), but last week I finally started laying her down for naptime. Sometimes she does ok, other times she wakes up as I'm walking to her bed. We've got a long way to go before naptime is figured out, but until then, I'll savor up the snuggle time we get.

She has also learned a few new tricks too. When she's laying on her tummy bshe scoots backwards all over the floor. (I'm not ready for her to be mobile yet so I think I'll just confine her to my lap, hip, or her saucer ;)

She's also learned how to sit up by herself. The other day I thought I'd see how she would do andsure enough she was sitting up by herself.

We haven't started any foods yet, but I'm thinking sometime this week we might. She can't wait to get food, she trys to eat everything I have. She loves to drink water out of my cup, and loves to try to drink from a straw.

She really is such a good baby. She rarely crys. When she is hungry she just sucks her thunb and snuggles up to me, it's so sweet.

I think Bella is now up to 17 pounds, and I have no idea how long she is, but will find out the true measurements at her check up (which I still need to schedule).

Bella still loves to watch Connor's every move. She just giggles at him all day. And he loves to do whatever he can to get her to laugh at him. But he still needs to learn that the face is not a ticklish spot. He always tries to tickle her on her head or her cheeks and then doesn't get why she doesn't giggle at that.

Now if you have a weak stomach you may not want to look at the next picture. I didn't even realize I had caught it in a picture. But since I did, I thought I'd give you a little glimpse of what dealing with a baby with reflux is like.

I feed her she does this. You lay her on her tummy she does this. You lay her on her back she chokes on this. She bounces in her saucer and she does this. But here's the weird part. She started taking zantac when she was a week old after she was vomiting all day long, and having a hard time breathing at night when she was sleeping.

So after a month of being on zantac, I stopped using it and she was fine. She just had what I considered normal baby spit up. But about a week after being off it, she got really congested, had a hard time breathing out her nose, and she was getting wheezy. So I asked the doctor and and she said it was probably once again from the reflux. Apparantly if the refluxed tummy contents reach the throat it creates a slight degree of swelling and irritation that results in a noisy, congested breathing. So back on the zantac she went. Every month I continue to take her off it thinking she doesn't need it anymore, and everytime I do, she gets congested again so I start giving it to her again. But the last few times she started spitting up while on the zantac. So here's our choice right now, keep her on the zantac and she spits up like crazy all day long, or take her off it and she doesn't spit up but she has a hard time breathing. Obviously not a hard decision to make, but it's one that really doesn't make sense. She shouldn't be spitting up like that when on zantac. So we'll have to see what the dr thinks at her check up this week.

Babywearing

2010-01-22T10:00:00.000-06:00

The best purchase I made as far as baby gear goes is most definitely The Moby Wrap. I cannot say enough good things about it. When Bella was a newborn, I could wrap her up in it and it honestly felt like she was just holding on to me. Unlike all the other baby carriers I've tried, this one doesn't hurt the back at all, or the shoulders, and there are so many different ways to use it. Now that she is getting bigger we tried out a different hold, and Ben even got to try it out. She loves just hanging out close to mommy or daddy.

So this isn't exactly what it's suppose to look like, (shes supposed to be in the front), but Ben thought he could use his arms better when he pushed her to the back (and away from the stove)

But if anybody out there is having a baby or has one, I would highly recommend this type of carrier (there's also a hold that you can do for carrying a toddler on your back!) The only downfall is the wrap is very long, so it does take some practice to figure out how to wrap it on, but once you got a feel for it, it is pretty simple!

And another pic of my cuties taking a bath last night.

A couple of cuties

2010-01-21T10:00:00.001-06:00

Connor can't wait for the day that Bella is big enough to sleep in his room with him. He's got all kinds of plans already for the days when they can "camp out" in his room.

He says, "Mom, I'll sleep on the top bunk and Bella can sleep on the bottom. I'm bigger so I'll be on top so that she doesn't fall out. But sometimes we can both just sleep on the bottom together." And this goes on and on....

So every night when I put him to bed I let her lay in bed with him for a few minutes and he just eats it up. Lovin every second she is in bed with him. It's too cute!

And this is a pretty usual sight at about 9:00 at our house.

quick christmas recap

2010-01-19T13:00:00.000-06:00

The holidays have come and gone....so fast! The week of christmas I took the kids to ben's moms place to hand out and to get there before the snow came. (Let's just say, at the time, Bella hated being in the car, and screamed from turtle lake to ladysmith, which is the better portion on a 3 hr drive!) Everybody else made the journey the day before christmas eve. We spent the time playing games, hanging out, and actively checking the computer for updates on the weather/snow storm. Our plan was, as always, to head home christmas eve night, after church. (I have a rule that no matter what, I always want to wake up in my house christmas morning.) So after checking the weather, seeing how bad it sounded, we decided to make our way home in the early afternoon. Mainly to avoid driving in the dark. Well, it's a good thing we left when we did, the drive home was nasty. I sat in the back to entertain Bella and try to avoid the screaming. I was so nervous the whole drive, I tried knitting a hat, and well, after starting over numerous times, decided that was not going to happen. But finally we get a mile from our house.... on our way up a hill...and we stop....can't make it up the hill. I'm telling Ben to turn around and go the other way, and he keeps pushing it saying we can make it. I eventually won, we turned around and finally made it home. Here are some pics from our time at Jed and Sandys.

Then Christmas morning, the kids must have been good enough during the year because Santa came and left them each a present and filled their stockings. Bella got a new pink glow worm, that really calms her down when she is tired and doesn't want to give in. And Connor got a transformer.

After they opened all their presents we once again, set out to battle the roads to get to my mom and dads place. We decided to take the truck (thankfully!) and Ben built a snowman in the bed of the truck (he said it was for weight in the back). I'm really bummed that I didn't get a picture of it. But believe me everyone in the town of New Richmond took a picture of it. (It was very reminiscent of the day we took a picture of tiny car and gigantic tree on top!) On the way to NR, we almost went in the ditch multiple times. I had 3 heart attacks on the drive there. As we pulled into NR, I realized we had no diapers, called my mom and we had used all the ones I kept there also. So the roads are pure ice, it's christmas day, stores are all closed and we have no diapers for our baby. We decided to try a gas station, see if luck was on our side, sure enough, it was. We finally made it there and guess what else I forgot...my camera. So no pics from christmas at my moms this year....bummer! (more to come on the diaper situation later)

Anyways, it was a great holiday spent with family. I hope all of you had great holidays as well! (I really thought this post was going to be quick, guess not:)

Stay Tuned

2010-01-18T23:06:00.006-06:00

Stay tuned for multiple posts in the upcoming week (already scheduled). I've been busy/lazy :) (Wish I could say more busy.) But once I get caught up on the last month, we should be good to go again. Until then........I leave you with this oldie of Connor. I believe it is right after eating his cake for his first birthday. Where does the time go???? And yes he's peeing in the tub. Too Cute!

From the Browns to all of you!

2009-12-14T13:21:00.000-06:00

If you didn't, for some reason or another, recieve my email, here is the contents of it.

I ordered our christmas cards the other day and the estimated delivery date was the week of christmas. So I'm assuming that you will not be recieving the Brown family christmas card until after the new year. So to hold you out until then (I know you are all opening your mailboxes everyday in hopes to see a card from The Browns, right!?!) I have "elfed ourselves" I couldn't decide on my favorite dance so I posted them all below. The first is our hip hop routine, next is a little singing from the family, and lastly is our country dance. Hope you all enjoy. Connor's gotten a pretty big kick out of watching himself dance. It's pretty cute, and funny. Happy Holidays everyone!

2009-12-14T13:07:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Tis' the season

2009-12-11T15:59:00.006-06:00

We spent last weekend in Eau Claire with Ben's family. To do some swimming, relaxing, talking, and eating. On the way to Eau Claire we stopped at the Harley shop in NR to get the kids picture taken with Santa. We actually got smiles from both of them. But when Santa asked Connor what he wanted for Christmas, Connor went mute. He didn't move, and wouldn't say anything. Even when we asked him if he wanted that truck with the doors that open, he couldn't even shake his head yes.....So hopefully santa knows what he wants:)

Leyla wasn't too fond of Santa however. No smiles from her, just screams.

As we left the Harley shop we came opon this mini of a car with this ginormous of a tree on top. The picture just doesn't do it justice. It was seriously the funniest thing we have seen. On top of that, both Dane and I had rolled down the windows in order to take a picture of it and the lady in the passenger seat started to laugh along with us, but then I think she realized that she was more embarrassed of the situation. It still gave us many laughs.

We finally made it to the hotel, checked in, unloaded the van, and got our suits on to go swimming. We got to the pool and stuck our feet in and we were lucky there wasn't a layer of ice on top of the pool. It was ridiculously COLD. Since the whole meaning behind our staying at a hotel was to go swimming, this sucked. So Dane went and complained about the pool and they said they would crank up the heat on it. Well we sat for a few minutes thinking about what to do, thinking about how it would take all night to heat a pool that size, and decided we would see if we could get a reservation at a different hotel, with a warm pool. Ben found a hotel just down the road, and asked them to take the temperature of the pool for us, and he said it was high 70's and should be very warm because the hot tub and pool are connected and the water from the hot tub spills into the pool. So we then go see if we can get out of the reservations that we already have, that's when they decide to tell us that the heater in the pool is broken....Seriously, you are just figuring this out now, and were you going to come tell us. Anyways, we got out of that place and went to the new place, where the water was like bath water it was so warm! And we ended up getting a suite for the same price that we payed at the other hotel. So all in all, it ended up working out for the best, except for the fact that we waisted a few hours packing and unpacking and packing and unpacking again.

Here is Connor and Leyla getting ready to go swimming.

And Bella all ready, playing with her toes as she waits.

On our way home we stopped and finally got our christmas tree.

Look familiar.....I had to take a picture of what ours looked like as compared to the other car.

Connor was taking our pictures in the car on our way home. He actually managed to capture a pretty cute one of Bella. Usually he doesn't look where he is aiming the picture and just pushes the button and usually there will be just someones forehead or just their chin in the picture, so I was pretty impressed with this one.

And this one....

So we got home and unpacked from the weekend and then put the tree up. Here is Bella helping to decorate the tree.

And here is what Connor was doing while we were decorating the tree. Don't ask, I have no idea why, or what he was doing.

Finally he decided to help and even got to put the star on top of the tree. Which was not easy! But he is very proud of the fact that he got to put the star on top.

And the family in front of the tree.

A seasoned pro....

2009-12-04T09:59:00.002-06:00

Well it's official now...Bella is rolling over, and over, and over. You lay her down on her back and in minutes she is on her tummy, all smiles. She is pretty proud of herself when she rolls over too, probably because I pretty much throw a party every time she does it. But then the excitment wears off and she's had enough. At the beginning of the week she was rolling over a few times a day, but I never actually saw her do it. Then yesterday she did it a million times and I still never saw it. So when Ben was home last night we layed her down and the 3 of us watched as she made her way to her tummy, and again, another party for Bella. It was great that we all got to see her do it together, even if she's been rolling over for some time now.

Bella also has a new best friend....her feet. She loves loves loves to hold her feet and play with them. And now she's become a full time thumb sucker. Before she would only suck her thumb during the night, but now it's all the time. She won't take a nuk anymore except to calm down in her car seat (she has a hard time getting her thumb to her mouth all strapped in her seat.)

Connor also has become a pro at carrying around his sister (which still scares the crap out of me, but he really is so careful with her). Whenever I put her down, he's right there picking her up. He'll ask to just carry her around the room, just for the fun of it. He thinks he's pretty cool sh** when he's carrying her.

I am still working on my Thanksgiving post but still need to get pictures to explain all that happened that day. So if anyone out there has pictures from the family fun event please email them to me. (I forgot my SD memory card for my camera in my computer so I wasn't able to take any pictures....sucky!)

This weekend we are headed to a hotel in Eau Claire to spend some time with Ben's family. Should be a relaxing weekend by the pool. Hope you all enjoy your weekend as well.

4 months old

2009-11-23T12:14:00.007-06:00

Bella you are 4 months old today, I can't even believe it (I'm sure I'll say that evey month though). It's crazy how fast time goes, and how much growth happens in 4 short months.

You are such a happy girl. Every where we go, everybody always says, "does she ever cry?" "She is so calm" "What a happy baby". You've always got a smile for everyone, especially your brother. Whenever you are getting mad, all you need is one look from Connor and you are all smiles again. I think you could just sit and talk to him all day, or even just watch him play.

You have rolled over from your tummy to your back twice now, and I suspect any day you will make it the other way...you're so close. You love to play pat-a-cake, have your toes and tummy tickled, and just be talked to. You are full of smiles that break out into the cutest giggles.

The last few weeks you've been sleeping through the night 5 out of 7 days. And last night you even slept from 8:30 until 7:30 this morning!!!! You weigh 16 lbs (and have the cheeks to prove it) and are 25 inches long. You are already in size 3 diapers and have been for awhile now.

We are so blessed and thankful to have you and your brother in our lives. Daddy and I couldn't be any more proud of the two of you. You both make us smile and laugh so much. Our lives are so great because of the two of you. Thank you both for all that you have already given us.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Enjoy it!

Here are a few photos of Bella I took this morning.

Weekend Getaway

2009-11-19T21:45:00.005-06:00

This past weekend we went to Wisconsin Dells with our friends the Mattmiller's. When Ben was out in ND, I decided I wanted to surprise him with a trip to the dells for some much needed family time. Well so much for the surprise part as he figured out where we were going and who we were going with, and every little detail he could a long time ago. I'm not sure if I'm, just bad at keeping secrets or he is good at figuring them out, or a combo of both. Either way, there was no surprise, but we still had a lot of fun. (But there was a lot of convincing to do on my part as it is bow hunting season and I planned a weekend away with NO hunting....I've been told to NEVER do that again.) Anyways, we met our friends Brian and Terri in the dells with their 2 girls, Alexis and Laura. We stayed at the Chula Vista Resort (one I've never been to before) and we stayed in a condo...and it was gorgeous, pics don't do justice.

Here's the view from the front door.

The Bedrooms

The Kitchen

They have an underground walkway to the indoor waterpark. We were expecting it to be, well, pretty much a tunnel. Were we surprised to see how beautiful the walkway was. Here's a few family pictures we took on our walks to the waterpark.

Laura and Bella "playing" together

And a few at the waterpark....

Connor had an absolute blast. He was just tall enough that he was able to go on all the slides. He even went on the rollercoaster waterslide and just loved it. Saturday night I had to leave Ben and Connor at the waterpark because Connor didn't want to leave.....and neither did Ben, he had just as much fun. The two of them ran around the waterpark, running up the steps, sliding down the slides, spraying water at each other, and taking quick little breaks in the lazy river, ALL day long. When they finally came back to the room Saturday night, Connor said, "Mom...I'm just so excited to go back to swim tomorrow!" It was too cute. Bella also loved the water too. We floated around on the lazy river and swam around in the pools all day long and she just smiled and watch everything that was going on. It was such a great weekend and I can't wait to go back.

And here is the funniest part of the weekend. After many beers, the boys decided to get in the hot tub.....together....with little toy boats. Terri and I laughed so hard, it was so hilarious. I got some of it on video also, someday I'll figure out how to put video on here. Until then, here's a photo of the 2 of them......thoroughly enjoying themselves!

Rolling Over

2009-11-17T21:52:00.002-06:00

Yeah that's right, my little baby has already rolled over...twice. Last week(at 3 1/2 months old) she rolled over from her tummy to her back two times. Unfortunately I didn't get to see either times. I'd lay her on her tummy, then when I came back to check on her, she was flipped over. And the question I've been asked..."Did Connor flip her over?" No, he's been at school both times she's done it. She's getting so big so fast, it's hard to believe it's almost been 4 months since she was born.

Here's a couple pictures from 2 weekends ago at grandma and grandpas house.

Connor built a fort and wanted Bella to join him in it.

BBD

2009-11-17T21:45:00.002-06:00

Big Buck Down!

The boys have been waiting for this for a long time. And here it is. Last week Ben got the call that Dane had a Big Buck Down. Wish I could tell the story, but I'm not good with the hunting story telling. All I remember is that they went out to find it, walked right to where Dane thought it went down, and Ben spotted it and jumped on Dane and was screaming with excitement at how big it was.

Bella's Baptism

2009-11-17T21:24:00.000-06:00

So I thought I had posted this a while ago, but I see I never did. So here are pictures from Bella's baptism (and Leyla's). We had her baptism on Monday night, November 2nd. Grandma Sandy had the honors of performing the baptism for the family. Thank you to everybody that came and celebrated with us. It was great to be together!

Connor got to help Grandma Sandy by pouring the water.

Here's Bella's turn. She loves water and didn't make a peep. Even though she was SO tired.

And Leyla's turn. She didn't mind it either.

My sister caught this nice face Connor was making

With the godparents, Ryan (Ben's BF) and Hailey (My sister)

My parents and sisters with us

The great grandparents. (except Grandma Toots who ended up in the hospital that day:(....Sad she missed the day, but glad she is better now)

With Ben's family

With Dane, Sarah and Leyla

My grandpa Jim and cousin Alisha with Bella
Dane and Leyla

Sugar, Candy, For Free!!

2009-11-01T07:07:00.005-06:00

We started off Halloween by going to the pumpkin patch.....finally.

Connor either wanted to pick them all up, or kick his foot right through them.

Check out those muscles!

This was his pose with the pumpkins

Then we got ready to head to NR to go trick or treating, but first we stopped at Uncle Dane & Sarahs house and this is what we found.....Todd and Ryan trying on their costumes for the night. This is what they wear to pick up the chicks.....or try :)

Here is Connor, my cousin Andrew and Bella all ready to go trick or treating.

Andrew was an injured dirtbike racer

Connor was a ninja.....because he wanted to have a sword....however,he didn't even carry the sword to the first house. I even had it clipped onto his belt and he still didn't even want it. Go figure!

Bella and Laura in their matching Ladybug costumes.

Connor and Andrew had a blast trick or treating this year. They pretty much ran to each house with a light on. At one house they got pretty smart and rang the doorbell and then hid around the side of the door and yelled BOO when the little old grandma answered the door. I was so scared they were going to give her a heart attack, but it really was too funny.

After evey house they went to Connor came back YELLING, Sugar....Candy....For Me, or so I thought that was what he was saying. When we were done I asked him bout it and he told me he was saying, Sugar...Candy....For Free. It was too funny.

Then when they were at one house, we could hear them laughing and giggling, when they came back to us we found out what they were laughing at. The house left their candy outside in a bucket and Connor decided to help himself....to a whole lot of m&m's.....18 bags of them to be exact...check out his picture with all the m&m's. I always thought it was the big kids trick or treating that were the ones to take all the candy when it was left on the steps...turns out it is the 4 year olds that do it!

Bella had enough, bedtime on the chair.

Sleep.....Oh how I've missed you

2009-10-28T22:24:00.004-05:00

Well I'm sure it is just a fluke, but I'll take it. The last 2 nights Bella has slept through the night. 10:00pm until 7:00am. And it was every bit of wonderful that I thought it would be. I haven't had a full night sleep in a year. Pregnancy doesn't allow you to sleep through the night because of the need to pee every 5 seconds and obviously a newborn needs to eat every few hours so no sleep then too. But I've been looking forward to the day when I wake up in the morning and realize that I didn't get up at all during the night, and when that happened the other morning, it was heaven. (after checking to make sure Bella was still breathing:) I have no doubt that because of the mere fact that I am writing about this, tonight she will be up every 2 hours, but that's ok because I have now gotten 2 full nights of sleep!

I think Bella's sleeping through the night may be because of this...

She has followed in her brother's footsteps and has now become a thumb sucker. Which I am very happy about. Right after I had Bella and they laid her on my tummy, the first thing she did was suck her thumb, I thought from then on out she was going to be a thumb sucker. But the first 6 weeks she didn't suck her thumb again. Then she started trying to find it and would just suck on the knuckle on her thumb because everytime she put her thumb in her mouth she would gag. Then this weekend, she found it, and liked it, and now everytime she is tired, there goes the thumb. So I think when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she is now able to put her thumb in her mouth and put herself back to sleep! Yeah! Let's just hope that she will be able to break the habbit before she goes to school, unlike Connor who is still sucking his thumb.

A baby sucking their thumb is just the cutest thing to me. Eveytime I see her do it, it just makes me smile :)

Just some pics for you

2009-10-25T12:58:00.004-05:00

Here's a few shots I've taken of the kiddos this past week. I apologize for the unorganization of the pictures. I uploaded them under the wrong setting.

Leyla loves Bella, and will do anything to get to her, on her, and ahold of her. She will crawl across the room to get to her, and I even caught her pulling herself to stand up for the first time, just to get closer to Bella.

Up close with Bella.

Daddy with the kiddos right after he came home from ND.

Bella and I

My Camo Kids

Whats for dinner tonight?

2009-10-25T12:50:00.000-05:00

Well Ben has been home a whole week and already he's left us again. It's hunting season so I should expect it. He's up at the cabin, hopefully bringing home some "buck" to fill up the freezer for the year. (Connor calls any kind of red meat buck. If we want him to eat something, we just tell him it is buck and he'll chow it down)

Anyways, when Ben's gone on the weekends, Connor and I head to town and rent some movies and then go to the DQ for some ice cream. Connor had his ice cream finished by the time we got home and he then decided he was still hungry and he asked if he could have a "nola bar" aka granola bar. Why not i said. So he grabs a nola bar and then 2 pieces of bread, puts it together and says, "Mom, I'm having a nola bar sandwich!" He thought it was the greatest thing. He chowed it down. The next morning he woke up and had the same thing for breakfast.

So now when I ask him what he wants to eat, it's always a Nola Bar Sandwich. MMM yum!

Enjoying his Nola Bar Sandwich

And yes, that's a chocolate chip granola bar, sandwiched between 2 pieces of everything italian bread.

SURPRISE!

2009-10-14T14:37:00.003-05:00

So about an hour ago my doorbell rang. I was thinking it's probably someone selling something but.....little did I know I was about to get the best surprise ever! I went to the door opened it up, and guess who it was......My husband! Ben came home a day early and surprised us! I was so excited, and Connor was even more excited. The only thing that sucks is that I got nothing done that I had planned to do before he got home. The house is a mess, the laundry needs to be folded, and I had planned on having apple crisp ready for him when he got home. Oh well, he's here, that's what matters. And I just took the apple crisp out of the oven. Life is good. There may be a delay in posts for awhile as we take some much needed quality family time together!
It's a happy day, thanks for all your prayers :)

Look Alike

2009-10-11T10:09:00.003-05:00

The other day when I was done giving Bella a bath, I looked at her wrapped up in her towel and thought, "this looks just like a picture I took of Connor." So I found the picture I had taken of Connor wrapped up in his bathrobe and here it is. If you ask me, they look like twins.

Too Cute!

No more rain!

2009-10-11T09:58:00.002-05:00

Please pray that Pick City, ND gets no more rain this week! As long as there is no more rain or bad weather there, Ben should be done with job and able to come back Wednesday. But if the rain continues he'll have to stay longer to get the job done. And let me tell you, we are SO ready for him to be home. In the last 8 weeks that he's been gone, he's been home 2 times. As hard as it has been for me to be alone with 2 kids for that length of time, I can't complain because I've been able to be with them. I've been able to see how Bella has grown in the last 2 months, her first smiles, the way she lights up when she sees Connor, how she now loves to sit up and tries to do so on her own. I've also been able to be there for Connor's first day of school, I've seen him now learn to write his name...nicely, I'm here for his first girlfriend (that's right, my 4 year old has a girlfriend, who he says is pretty cute, and gives him hugs, and gets all excited when they see eachother first thing in the morning). But I've been here with them, living through all there accomplishments, while Ben has been in ND working for us, not being able to see these things, and only being able to hear about them over the phone. So I can't say that it sucks for me as much as I know it sucks for him to be away and not be able to see these things. So if you get a chance, please pray that he'll be home for good this week. We miss him and it's time he comes home to us and experience these things himself! Thanks a bunch.

Hopeful daddy count down.....aprox. 4 days

Addiction

2009-10-08T14:48:00.003-05:00

Last weekend my cousin Teri came over to teach me how to knit. It as now become my obsession. Every free second I get, I'm knitting. Just can't get enough of it. I started out making dishclothes and now I've moved on to hats. Here's a couple of hats that I've made for Bella already. Warning: If you'll be getting any gifts from me, there's a pretty good chance that it will be something that I've knitted. Sorry in advance! But it is just too much fun.

Thank you so much Teri for teaching me how to knit!

Girls

2009-10-04T10:53:00.003-05:00

My cousin Shauna had a baby girl (Maya) exactly one week before Bella was born. Here's a couple pics of the girls together. Bella is pretty bald compared to Maya's full head of hair :)

And my Grandma Toots with Bella.

Go Pack Go

2009-10-04T10:48:00.002-05:00

Connor and Bella are ready to cheer on the Packers tomorrow for the Packer/Viking game. In Connor's words "GO PACK GO!"

2 months old.....already?!

2009-09-22T14:58:00.004-05:00

Baby Bella is already 2 months old. Can you believe it? I simply can't. Where have those last 2 months gone? She is just the sweetest thing ever. When I went in for my 6 week check up, the dr asked me if I was having any post partum depression, or crying, or feeling sad, and I had to say that I have never felt happier. Even at 2:00 a.m. when I get up to feed her, I'm still so happy and oddly enough, happy to be up because I get to hug her and kiss her and snuggle her a little more. There's just something about the innocence of a baby that makes me smile and become a little happier!

Here are some pics I took of her at about 1 month old.

I think Connor has the same feelings about her as I do. I told him the other day, "Connor, how come I don't get any kisses from you anymore. You give all your kisses to Bella." And this is so true. The second he gets up he has to find her and kiss and hug her, and this continues all day long. He told me the other day after school that he was sad becuase he misses Bella when he is at school. Doesn't that just break your heart, well it did mine.

And here are so me more recent pictures.
I think she is about 7 weeks in these pictures.

She's figured out how to smile and it is just precious. She loves when you sit and talk to her. She'll talk back and get all smiley.

Daddy count down. 3.5 days (81 hours)

Happy Birthday

2009-09-21T13:25:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to say a quick Happy Birthday to Grandma Sandy today.

And also a Happy Sweet 16th Birthday to my sister Hailey (last Thursday, the 17th). She also got her driver's license. Congrats!

Adventures in Breastfeeding

2009-09-21T01:24:00.001-05:00

So this time around I have been determined to breastfeed, but let me tell you, it has been to easy ride. With Connor, we really had no chance. My nipples are pretty flat and Connor had a severe tongue tied tongue(the tip of his tongue was attached to the underside so he wasn't able to stick out his tongue). I nursed him for about 4 days, but my nipples hurt so bad, and he had a hard time latching on. So I started pumping and never went back. I did pump for about 7/8 months so he still got the breastmilk. But this time, I wanted to be able to do it.

In order for me to get my nipples to come out more I started wearing breastshells a few months before Bella was born. I'd wear them for a few hours everyday to help pull my nipples out. This seemed to be working. So when she was born I continued to wear them. The only problem with this is that they make you leak milk like a steady flow! I had built up so much milk because of this that I also had to pump all the time so I didn't get engorged. I remember going to Wal Mart one day to buy some nursing pads, and since the breastshells collect milk in them if you don't have pads in them, the milk can come out when you bend over. I didn't realize that there was already so much milk collected in them that when I bent over to get the nursing pads(the exact thing that would prevent this problem) milk leaked everywhere. Thank goodness I had a black shirt on that day, but it still didn't matter, I had 2 round wet circles in front of my boobs! Needless to say, I was done shopping then.

Now when Bella was born, she also did a great job nursing for the first few days. Then when she was a week old she had to have an ultrasound of her stomach because she was projectile vomiting all the time. But during this ultrasound she had to drink from a bottle. Well here was another obstacle in breastfeeding that we had to overcome. Since the nipple on a bottle and my nipples are so different, she started not wanting to nurse again.nnBut I tried sticking to it, I am so determined. So she would then go a couple days nursing great and a couple just terrible. In the meantime, I also stopped using a nuk.

Another problem was clogged milk ducts. Sucky sucky. This hurts really bad, you get a huge lump on you boob and it gets really hot and engorged and the last thing you want to do is nurse on that side, but the cure for the problem is just that, so it is very painful. On top of that there was also the cracked bleeding painful nipples.

So after the last 8 weeks of all these problems I could have gave up and just pumped many times. And the thought crossed my mind numerous times a day. But I was too stubborn and determined to let this happen. I knew that it had to get better, I knew that she could get used to it and master it, and I knew that the pain would eventually go away.

Now I can say today that is has been a whole week without a single problem. She has been nursing like a champ. I'm hesitant to say, but will chance it anyway, I think we have finally got it figured out! And I am so happy that I don't have to worry and get frustrated about it anymore. Hopefully that will be the end of the problems, but wouldn't be surprised if another comes about.

On another good note, Ben will be home in 4.5 days (106 hours)!

Dane & Sarahs Wedding Weekend

2009-09-10T22:00:00.000-05:00

Dane (Ben's brother) and Sarah celebrated their marriage on September 5th. Here are some picture from the weekend.

Pictures from the rehersal dinner at the Pizzeria.

Dane & Sarah (Groom & Bride)

Grandma Sandy and Connor

The Boys (Don't they look happy:)

The Girls

The Wedding Day! (September 5th, 2009)

Sarah putting on her dress

Sarah and Caleigh in the limo on the way to the church.

Holly and I on the way to the church

Sarah's garter
Connor in the limo. He was so excited he got to ride to the church with boys in it. But was so very mad when he couldn't ride with us all after the ceremony.

After the ceremony on the way to the reception.

Jen & Carly

At Auggies for a shot and a picture

Missy & I :)

Awww

Jammin in the limo

Randi & Grace, Bella & Me, Grandma Nae & Connor @ Reception

(Bedtime for the kids) I thought Connor was going to want to stay all night long, but after a few hours of running around outside with all the other kids, he was pooped and came and told me he was ready for bed.

Ben and I danced to just about every song that night. We had such a blast. We took tons of video of everybody dancing and the fun times we had in the limo. When Ben gets home from ND, i'll try to download some video (he has the video camera with him)....But after a long day and tons of dancing we got home and Ben was pooped. This is him passed out on the couch. Sandy and Jed were staying over that night and the 3 of us were laughing so loud at him, and he didnt even flinch once. Please look very carefully at his eyes, they are open. It's so creepy, he sleeps like this all the time and so does Connor.

Sunday after the wedding we headed up to Sarahs parents cabin for lunch and to say goodbye to all her family from Canada. Then we headed to Rooney Lake for some swimming, tubing and more family time. Connor had an absolute blast in the water. Ben took him for a few rides on the tube behind the boat and he loved it again.....until the fell off. But he soon forgot about it and wanted to go again.

Ben and Connor made a pretty neat sand castle. There was even a slide where the water could run down. The picture below is the Brown version of Where's Waldo....It's called Where's Bella? She is in the picture. Can you find her?

We had an absolute great weekend. It was even better because Ben was home from ND for the weekend. But Monday came and he had to leave once again. He'll be back home the last weekend in the month and is hoping his boss will let him stay home for a week before he has to go back again. So if anybody out there is looking for something to do, you are welcome to come visit me. The days/week gets pretty long with nobody but a 4 year old and an infant to talk to. It sucks that he's gone all the time, but are thankful that he has some work to do. Hopefully his company will find some work around here soon!

What happened to my baby?.....he's so BIG!

2009-09-01T10:39:00.001-05:00

September 1st, 2009. I just got back from dropping my baby, now big boy, off at his first day of school.

When he woke up this morning I told him that he got to go to school today and was so excited for him. But he had a different plan for the day. He told me, "Mom, I don't want to go to school" well actually he yelled it at me. And followed it by running into his room, slamming the door, and layed in bed with his blankets over his head. I broke into his room with a bobby pin, and talked to him about going to school, and how much fun he was going to have, and all the new toys he was going to be able to play with. But he was still determined that he wasn't going to go to school. I had a feeling this was going to happen, because all summer long he was saying he didn't want to go to school. But then I had a glimmer of hope yesterday when we went to his open house, met his teachers, and played in his classroom for awhile, and he had fun, did so good, and was excited to come back. So I don't know what happened over night to make him change his mind, but I didn't know what to do to get him excited about going to school. I tried bribing him with ice cream, picnics, toys, and candy, and he said he didn't want it.

Luckily, Ben's dad Greg had planned on coming over in the morning before Connor left for school. When Greg got here he asked Connor if he was excited for school and amazing he said YES. What??? Two minutes ago he was locked in his room, yelling at me that he was NOT going to school. Now when grandpa asks him he says he is excited. Then he goes on to ask when we are leaving, and he says "Come on mom I gotta go to school." So we got up and went to school. Brought him to his classroom and found him some trucks to play with. I was still bracing myself for him to tell me not to leave. So I finally asked him for a hug and kiss and he gave me one and said goodbye. Just like that he was fine and I had to leave. Tear:( My baby didn't need me anymore and I had left him at school. But I am so happy that he finally was excited and felt comfortable enough for me to leave. So I had to say a huge thank you to Greg for helping Connor get to school. If he wouldn't have come over, I bet Connor would still be in his bed right now, not wanting to go to school. Below are some pics of the first day.

Connor in his school clothes with his backpack on his way to the first day of school.

In the car and EXCITED to go to school!

Ben is in North Dakota for work for a month so he called Connor when we were on his way to school. The pic is of Connor talking to Ben about going to school

Walking to the school with his new packers backpack.

Outside the front door of his school.

4 years old!

2009-09-01T09:26:00.005-05:00

August 25th, Connor turned 4 years old. Wow where has the time gone. I can't believe he is already 4 years old. He's grown up so much in the last year.

Pictures from his birthday party.

On his actual birthday I took Connor and Bella to Fawn Doe Rosa. Connor absolutly loved it. We went through the park twice because he had so much fun and didn't want to leave. He especially loved trying to feed the bunnies and the geese.

He had no problem letting the does eat from his hand, but this was all the closer he wanted to get to the buck, and then he just threw the food in front of him.

So Sweet!

What a handsome little man!

Later that day we went to New Richmond to visit my parents and we saw the ice cream truck in the neighborhood. (The cutest thing, they have an ice cream truck that drives through the neighborhoods, plays music, and stops when the kids come running for some ice cream.) Connor got a watermelon bomb pop and it was the biggest popsicle I've ever seen. In the picture he had already eaten some of it.

Connor's Moves

2009-08-27T18:35:00.002-05:00

So Connor loves to dance and move to any music you play. Ever since he was a baby he's always been able to move to the beat, and usually be in sinc with it. He also loves to show off his new dance moves and is always coming up with new moves. When Bella was born my friends came over and he was showing off his moves and they caught them on video. They are posted on their youtube site. So if you go to the following link, you will find 4 different videos of Connors moves. They are pretty funny.

www.youtube.com/leschijw

Thank you to all of Bella's visitors

2009-08-18T14:54:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone that came to visit Bella and the family in the last few weeks.

Grandma Nay

Grandpa BOB

Auntie Hailey

Auntie Ashley

Grandpa Greg

Grandma Sandy

Grandpa Jed

Auntie Sarah

Uncle Dane

Aunt Shell

Grandma Alice

The Meyers (Bob, Carey, Jaylee, and Jovie)

Kelly, Ella, and Lindsay

Terri, Alexis and Laura

My apologies to Theresa, Holly, Lindsey, and the McKibbens (Alisha, Paige and Tammy) I never got a picture of you with Bella, but I still want to thank you for visiting!