Cullen and Erik

Erik and Cullen spend a lot of time together. Not all moments are pleasant -- pushing and pulling do occur but they really do like each other. Cullen is spending the evening with us. Erik greeted him with a big hug and kiss. Here are some cute moments from tonight when they were playing together nicely.

Big Boy

Erik is really growing fast. He is learning so much --- it is fun to watch.

Recently, he has started just babbling to himself when he gets up in the am and from naps. For the first 16 months of his life he started screaming the instant he woke up. I am enjoying this change -- it does make him seem older to me. Sometimes it seems like he doesn't want me to come get him out of bed. When I ask if he wants to get out sometimes he says NO loudly. If you try to take him out he throws a fit. I am trying to teach him to yell, "Mommy" when he wants me to come get him but he doesn't have the hang of this yet.

He also seems to want to go to bed when he is tired. Tonight, after reading a story I asked if he wanted to go to bed. He nodded his head yes -- so I have him a hug and kiss, tucked him in bed with a cow under each arm and left the room. Not a peep out of him. 6 months ago I would have thought that was a miracle.

Another change in Erik is that he loves to climb, everything! Yesterday I left him in his room while I went to the bathroom. While in there I heard a loud thud followed by screaming. I ran back into his room and found him hanging by his ankles from his crib. Apparently, he was trying to climb into his crib. He must of slipped when he reached the top and fell straight back. His back was on the floor but his butt was suspended in the air because his legs were stuck in between the crib rails. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt. Pretty funny. I thought about taking a picture before rescuing him but decided that wasn't the best mom move so you will just have to picture what he looked like in your head.

I have had a crummy cold all week -- thanks Victor and Erik for passing it to me -- so it's an early night for me. Good night!

Daddy and Me

We are very slowly starting to get ready for our baby girl. The first step on this list.... buying a king size bed for ourselves! It came today and Erik was very excited to help rearrange the beds.

Our plan for when the baby comes is to keep the nursery as is -- except for new bedding and paint. We are moving Erik into the guest room and he will sleep (we hope) on a queen size mattress on the floor.

We will move the guest bed into the office. This left us without a bed -- so of course we figured a king size bed was in order. I can't wait to be able to stretch out (important when pregnant) and still have space between Victor and myself. Victor also started sleeping with his C-PAP machine (he has apnea) which cuts down on his snoring significantly. Better sleep should be coming my way -- until late June that is!

Mommy and Me

For Valentines Day, Victor scheduled an appointment at Picture People for Erik and I to have Mommy and Me pictures taken. I was a little unsure about this as I am about 5 months pregnant but went ahead and tried it today. Erik was not very cooperative! He kept staring angrily at the cameraman, squirming, arching his back, and shouting no! Despite that, we managed to get two photos that worked despite his resistance.


Erik (almost) 18 months.....





















Erik, Mommy, baby

My friend Cow

Erik loves his stuffed cows! Unfortunately, the original Wisconsin cow was taken by a housekeeper in Mexico (accidentally). We have two back ups that work but hopefully Grandpa B will get us a new Wisconsin Cow at the Dairy Expo next fall!


















Cow isn't usually allowed at the dinner table -- but he didn't want to let it go. So I took a picture and then took it away.

Baby girl (bump) has arrived!

21 weeks 1 day:

I switched over to maternity clothes a week ago. Strangers probably just assume I have eaten to many cookies but friends and family can tell I am pregnant. I feel huge -- at least compared to what I looked like 21 weeks ago!

i just stuffed myself haiku

yummy lasagna
i can't eat another bite
well, maybe a grape

dad's making me do chores

like pushing this wagon around

erik's banana haiku

yellow banana
all i want is two small bites
ten minutes apart

9am status

still in my pjs...hee hee

still alive

mommy's been on her trip now for two hours and daddy hasn't let me starve yet!

Erik Prays?

We often pray before we eat our meals. When we ask Erik if he wants to pray he usually says, "NO!" He does sometimes like to hold our hands though but if he is really hungry anything that gets in the way of eating is not something he wants to participate in.

Twice today after praying I looked up at Erik and saw him trying to shut his eyes. I asked if he was praying and he fluttered his eyes closed and nodded yes. Pretty cute!

Maybe he will eventually stop shouting no every time we ask him if he wants to pray. We'll see. :)

Baby Girl Chen

Here are some pictures from last weeks ultrasound. We think she is a keeper! :) I can't wait to meet her!

Friends

We all know that friends are an important part of our lives.  It has been fun watching Erik begin to form early friendships.  He has started really enjoying other kids.  Friday night we were at our friends -- there were two 1 year olds and a 2 year in addition to a 5 year old.  The little kids loved the big kid.  They spent close to an hour chasing each other around the house -- Erik just smiled and smiled.  He was having so much fun.  

His "best" friend is Cullen!  He spends a lot of time with Cullen.  Since they see a lot of each other they are not afraid to fight or cause trouble but generally they like each other a lot.  In fact, Erik likes to kiss Cullen goodbye whenever we leave.  Cullen often asks for "Ick, Ick" throughout the day. :)

Leslie (Cullen's mom) watched Erik for Victor and I while we had our ultrasound.  Here are a couple of photos.  Apparently, the play date was quite taxing as at one point Erik cuddled up next to Leslie on the couch and went to sleep.  

I sure am glad that all of Erik's friends have wonderful mom's.  I wonder how that happened?!  I wonder how long I get to pick Erik's friends?

Enjoy!  

19 weeks 1 day

Here are some belly photos of me. They are a little shady as I took them myself! I will try to get the ultrasound photos of our baby girl uploaded later tonight.

Mexico

We are back from a wonderful trip to Mexico. This year we stayed at the Riu Palace Riviera Maya. It was beautiful - just built in 2005. This first night they were overbooked though and sent us to one of their other resorts a 1/2 mile away. This was inconvenient but worked to our advantage as they gave us one night free and upgraded our room. For 6 nights we stayed in a HUGE room with an indoor jacuzzi, wrap around porch, sitting room, and walk in closet. It was very luxurious.



The weather was perfect -- mid 80's and sunny. Erik loved the beach and pool. It took him two to three days before he would get in the ocean but he ended up liking that too.





The food was good. They had a lot of nice restaurants to pick from for dinner. Our favorite was a Brazilian steakhouse. Dinner time was also difficult because the restaurants didn't serve dinner until 6:30 and by then Erik was too antsy and tired to really sit through a meal. So -- pacing was required sometimes.


















Erik LOVED the fruity drinks! He was spoiled a bit on this trip, as we let him have juice, fruity drinks, and chocolate covered marshmallows! He enjoyed them all!

















The beach was very beautiful! Victor played volleyball everyday (Erik even got to join him for a couple games). We also took walks every afternoon. I often carried Erik in the front pack with hopes that he would take a quick nap before dinner. It worked a couple of days but he still wasn't very interested in behaving at dinner!










Sleeping was okay -- Erik had a crib and slept through the night a few times but usually was up early (5:15 or so). He has also been having these screaming episodes in the middle of the night about twice a week. I had thought maybe it was because of his ear infection or teething but those seem better and they have continued. Now I am thinking maybe it is night terrors but am not sure. If they continue I will ask his doctor what she thinks.
















Erik and Victor watching the sunrise at 6 am -- they made it down to the beach in time most mornings!


Travel -- Erik is a good traveler. He did great on the airplane both times. We had a direct flight so it was 3 1/2 hours but he didn't cause trouble either way. Thankfully, he took naps during each of them and on the way back we he watched Elmo for about 20 minutes.














Health -- Overall, we were all healthy but Victor picked up a mild traveler's bug the last 24 hours. Erik also threw up twice yesterday (8 am and 8 pm -- avoided all modes of transportation we were on yesterday!). He is acting fine so not sure what was bothering him but we will take it easy today. He also had another allergic reaction to something he ate. He had not had anything with eggs or nuts so we are not sure what caused it. Thankfully, the hives went away quickly after we gave him benadryl. I guess we may be making a trip to the allergist sooner than we thought.






It was a very busy (chasing a 16 month old) but relaxing time. We are very thankful to have the opportunity to go somewhere so nice and to spend time as a family. Below is a photo from 2009 -- in the column of my blog is our family photo from our trip to Mexico 2008. Look how Erik has grown.