The Softer Side

This is what I was in my bed the other night:

 

I couldn't resist getting a photo. I loved how he had his animals and doll sitting just so w/ the pillow and how his lego car was on his chest!

I had to get a close up of Gerrit's doll showing how he had put his blanket on him and tucked him in (ya, the doll's eyes are a bit scary, so look fast).

 I guess Gerrit does have a soft side to him - it may be towards his doll and animals and not his brother, but at least I know it is there!
It's a matter of channeling it in the right direction...

A Lesson in Statitstics

Gerrit's stats from his well visit were normal. He is now 3 feet, 5 in tall and weighs a whopping 37 pounds. Basically he is average in weight and a bit tall for his age. So far so good.

Emmit's stats proved that the last well visit's stats are 'outliers'. I laughed when Adam called them that, only because I remember teaching outliers, and now I have a real life example! Too bad I'm not teaching math these days. We are thankful that Emmit's 12 month stats are outliers and he seems more on track. He is now:

30.7" tall 

and 

23 lbs 5 oz.

He continues to show steady progress in his growth and even though he has 2 outliers for weight and head circumference he is back on track. In comparison, Gerrit at this age (granted Emmit's well visit was slightly later than normal because we waited to have both boys checked at the same time):

 

By looking at these photos, it is obvious Gerrit was a chunky baby and had darker/thicker hair. (I have not given Emmit a 'hair cut' yet and whereas Gerrit had plenty by this age.) However, their stats are similar (even though Emmit had a month extra to catch up) - Gerrit was:

31.8" tall

and

23 lbs, 3 oz

Even though Gerrit was a bigger baby than Emmit, Emmit has fire inside! He is starting to defend himself which will teach Gerrit that he can't push/shove/kick without there being paybacks. Emmit definitely knows what he wants and will do a good job of communicating this even if he doesn't have the vocab. His grunts, screams, and pointing takes him far!

Trip to the Big City

Here are a few pictures from our outing on Good Friday. Oma and Opa joined the boys and myself for a day in the cities. We went shopping (Gerrit got his golf bag), had a yummy lunch at Punch, and even found a few minutes to spend at the toy store.

Opa was in charge of Emmit at the toy store...He found a great spot of him - sit him at the train table:

While we waited at the doctor's, Emmit enjoyed the fish tank:

Gerrit had to put on a 'funny dress' for his well check up. He wasn't too excited to wear it (and I don't know why he had to wear it) but was too busy playing with mom's new Ipod touch to care.

We went to the Covered Bridge for dinner. Here is Gerrit looking so old!

[All pictures from this post were taken with my touch - which is why some look "grainy".]

Happy Easter, Happy Birthday!

Easter weekend began with Oma and Opa arriving Wednesday night. Thursday, Oma and Opa watched the boys and at night we colored eggs with Luke. 

Friday, we headed to the cities to shop and the boys had well visits. (I'll post stats from the dr. later)

Saturday was the annual egg hunt at a nearby church. This is the church where Gerrit will attend preschool in the fall. Just like last year, Gerrit was timid when it was time to look for eggs and Emmit didn't quite know what was going on. Oma and Opa helped them out. Adam was battling a cold, so he would have preferred staying home, but was a trooper and joined us. Once the boys found their eggs, Gerrit opened them to find the prizes inside. Opa told Gerrit to blow on the egg when he couldn't get it opened (left, top photo).

 

I guess when you wake up 4, you act like you are 15! This is what Gerrit did with the pillows when I tried to wake him up for church.

Easter started off early with breakfast at church followed by a beautiful service. At least I think it was, I was pretty busy trying to keep Emmit from screaming (his new way to communicating). 
Following the service, we took a few pictures up front by the Easter garden. Adam didn't feel like getting a family photo and turns out, we did not get one at all! He promised Mother's day we'd get one. Gerrit's little head is peeking over the pulpit in the top right photo.


{Gerrit looks like he played in dirt but it really is chocolate muffin he ground his knees in at breakfast!}

We had our own little egg hunt in the yard before lunch. Gerrit was not shy at all this time around! Emmit wasn't sure whether he could touch the grass and eventually gave in because he wanted the egg. Gerrit helped Emmit out by finding all the eggs in the yard and putting some in his bucket. Emmit enjoyed the eggs so much, he continued to play with them inside - even after he got his Easter basket full of toys! Guess all he needed was a few plastic eggs.

The table looked great before dinner. I forgot to take a picture of the guests when everyone was seated! Travis, Dahlen's, and Bill and Tricia (friends Adam stayed with in France) joined us for dinner. I must admit, dinner tasted pretty good! I even made Tiramisu which even Nick said tasted good!

We took a few pictures outside before Gerrit was allowed to change his clothes. He had his picture taken with Opa and his new golf bag. {Friday Opa and Gerrit went to Dick's Sporting Goods looking for golf tees and a chair for Emmit and Gerrit walked out sportin' the new bag! That's what we get for letting the 2 of them in the store by themselves!}

We ended the day with Gerrit's birthday celebration. He had recieved a few gifts all weekend which helped keep him happy until the 'big day'. He was a bit surprised by the size of the stack of gifts that were all for him! He wanted a football helmet shaped cake...so I attempted and it sort of looked like one. It coordinated with his football birthday shirt. He loved all of his gifts and I learned that in the future, assemble the Playmobil gifts before giving them to him - it was hard for him to wait until it was put together! 

Adam had to leave because he had a meeting 6 hours away on Monday so he missed out on the cake celebration with Langley's. Dave, Pam and Logan stopped by for leftovers and cake which was a great way to end the day. 

I was jealous of ZM because they did not have school on Monday and I could've used a day a to relax. Luckily Oma and Opa were around on Monday so I did not have to play single mother.

Gerrit loved having a day at home to play with his new gifts, and go golfing with Opa, Luke and Paul. Reality set in when I had to wake him Tuesday to return to our normal schedule.

Spring Has Sprung?

With the weather starting to get nice, we have been outside a lot.  Part of me is bummed that I can't get stuff done inside but then I remember, all that house stuff will get done - in due time. 

Surprised to see the golf stuff out? 

Nope! 

Surprised to see Gerrit having the proper grip - yep. 

Look fast, because he does not do that often.

Surprised to see the basketballs?

Nope!

Emmit gets upset when he does not get the ball he wants - its usually the men's size that he wants (which is the biggest basketball!).

With the hoop lowered, Gerrit is pretty consistant at making baskets. Adam is not a fan of the lower hoop so he made Gerrit a deal and brought out the 'indoor' hoop (Gerrit's Fisher Price hoop) outside so they each have their own!

It has been fun watching Emmit discover the outside world. For a while he would not leave the cement and would grunt and point when the ball went on the grass. I love watching him copy Gerrit - or try to copy him.

I was battling a nasty cold last week which I so kindly gave to the boys. So now we are back to wiping drippy noses and praying that croup doesn't come back in the middle of the night.
We need warm weather to stick around long enough to open the windows and air out the house! Too bad we are looking at getting more snow this week!

A Bug and a Stove

We've been battling a little bug in the house - not an insect, but some sort of illness. The boys had it over the weekend, I had it Monday and Adam Tues/Wed. We are now all back to normal (we hope).

Since Sunday, we've also been without a stove! Adam moved the stove and fridge to finish the floor but with the illnesses things have been on hold. So its been dinners that can be made in the micro around here. Last night I stopped at the grocery store and had to read the mac and cheese box to see if it could be made in the micro! Had to do the easy mac!! Hopefully tonight or this weekend things will be back in order in more ways than one! 

The floor looks awesome and Adam has done a great job! What was suppose to be a little weekend project over President's weekend has turned into something much more time consuming but we are happy with the results!!

Spring Break

For spring break I wanted to go somewhere warm but the thought of bringing the boys and staying in a hotel room didn't sound much like a vacation, so I stayed home. I did a lot of laundry and actually some sewing.

I took the boys to MOA for a day. We saw some characters from the upcoming movie Cars 2 as well as a stop at the Lego store and a few other fun places.

Here is one of my sewing projects - little reversible pants for Emmit. I loved how they turned out, I made a second pair. I made something special for Gerrit (he hasn't received it yet) so I won't talk about it yet. I made a bib too which was a prototype and I think I'll give that one another whirl when I have time. I will definitely make more pants for Emmit, I just need to wait for him to grow as well as find some more fun fabric!