Happy Friday!

This is a picture of Austin yesterday morning before preschool. 

We have had a wonderful weather week here!  The boys have gotten to spend part of every day outside and we have all gotten to spend our evenings outdoors.  The boys love eating outside so they have been dining on the deck at their folding table or spreading out a blanket and having a picnic.  Colton seems to be very happy these last couple of days so I'm thinking the medicine is definitely kicking in for him!  I also forgot to mention that Colton is 2 feet, 11 inches tall!  They measured him Monday at the Dr. and he also weighs 31 pounds.  Almost a 3-footer!  This is a picture of Austin yesterday morning before preschool.  We are looking forward to the good weather this weekend, as our good friends Cassie and Jeremy are getting married and we will be at the wedding on Saturday.  Have a great weekend!!

Quick update . . .

A few weeks back Colton said, "Mine ear hurts mama" so we took him to the Dr and sure enough he had a very bad ear infection in his left ear.  Then the Dr. had us schedule a three week follow up to make sure that the antibiotic cleared it up.  Well, his three week check up was just this past Monday and since he has been acting like his happy little self lately, we thought everything was going to be fine.  So, turns out he currently has ear infections in both ears.  She could see infectious water sitting in the 'middle ear' in both ears.  So, this made me feel bad because Colton apparently thinks that this pain is his norm.  When the Dr. shined the little light in his left ear, he hugged close to me and said, "oww, oww, oww, that hurts".  She told us that his infected ears are going to be very sensitive to wind and bright lights.  (Just that tiny little bit of light shining in his ear caused him pain)  So, Monday we started a stronger dose of anitibiotic.  Needless to say, this medicine also doesn't taste as good as the first one so as soon as he takes it, he starts trying to wipe off his tongue and wants to drink more milk.  We are thankful he is at least taking it and not spitting it out!  So, hopefully this clears it up and at our next follow up appointment both ears will be looking better. 

Austin told me Monday that Zoey is his girlfriend.  Then he tells me this morning that Tatum is his girlfriend and that he is married to Sophie.  So, this got a little conversation going about how he should probably only have one girlfriend at a time.  Plus, he thinks that everytime Brian kisses me that we are getting married again.  Which, means that he has kissed Sophie at daycare/preschool at some point.  (which he confirms and we then talked about how he should not be kissing people at daycare/preschool.)  Then he told me his boyfriends name was Eli.  Colton's girlfriends name is Charlee and so on.  So, obviously if you are his friend and you are a boy then you qualify as boyfriend and if you are a girl, you are a girlfriend.  So, the topic changed to something else, when

Austin asks, "Do you know who my favorite girlfriend is?" 
Me, "No, you have quite a list" 
Austin, "My mommy is my favorite girlfriend and the baby in your belly is my best girlfriend." 

Super adorable and I told him that he should keep it that way for a long time to come. 

Art Show!

On Wednesday evening Austin's school had an art show.  The kids worked hard on creating their masterpieces and then they were on display for all of us to come and see.  Austin was very excited that mommy, daddy, and Colton were all going to be able to make it to the art show.  He talked non-stop about his painting at home . . . how he got to mix the colors and make all new colors, how he got to use tiny little plungers to make circles and move the paint around on the paper.  So we were all anxious to see what he had created. 

 

 Here is the end result!

Once we arrived at the art show Austin was more interested in talking to all his friends, having snacks, and signing up for the door prizes!  It was nice to meet some of his friends and put some little faces to the names that Austin talks about all the time.  Austin was also really impressed that I knew some of the other mommies at the art show.  It was a fun little outing, which Colton also enjoyed.  They had a cheese,cracker and meat tray that Colton thought was pretty cool.  It was just at his level so he built himself a little plate of snacks to carry around with him while we looked at all the artwork.

Baby Day is approaching!

Today is April 22nd and that means the baby will be born exactly 1 month from today!!  We are getting super excited at home.  Austin and Colton have been good helpers . . . sorting baby toys from big boy toys, organizing baby books, folding baby laundry, etc!  They are also starting to ask a lot of questions about the baby.  Both of them love to touch my belly, kiss my belly, and talk to the baby!  They are going to be amazing big brothers.  At my Dr. appointment today the baby heart beat was a strong 160.  The Dr. said everything looked, felt and sounded great!  Now, just to work on getting everything in order at home!!! 

Bubble bath time!

Last night Austin got to go to Zoey's church with Zoey and Sarah to watch the movie Wreck it Ralph.  He got to wear his Superman jammies and bring his lion sleeping bag!!  He was very excited and watched out the window, waiting for Sarah to pick him up!  About half way through the movie Austin wanted to come home but he did get to enjoy the popcorn, snacks and water at the show!  Not sure what scared him but Sarah brought him home since that was where he wanted to be.  While the big kids went to the movie, the two little ones stayed to play at our house.  I gave Charlee and Colton a bubble bath and they had a great time!  They played very well together in the tub, no surprise there!  Each of them took turns with all of the toys and when the splashing started to get out of control I decided bath time was probably over!!

Here is a picture of one little frog and one little shark! 

 

 

After they were all cleaned up, we headed downstairs to watch a show.  This is where we got into some trouble because Charlee wanted to watch Dora and Colton wanted to watch Team UmiZoomi.  They compromised on Bubble Guppies but they didn't want to sit by eachother anymore!  Two little, adorable, stubborn two-year-olds!  It was a quick little visit, since Sarah came back with Austin an hour after she had picked him up, but these two little ones sure think a lot of eachother!



Swim Lessons and other stuff!

Austin started swim lessons again at the beginning April.  We head to the pool every Tuesday/Thursday evening for about 45 minutes of lessons each night.  He is loving the water and we are hopeful this will give him a refresher course before summer starts and we are at the pool all the time.  Colton has enjoyed going to watch Austin practice this time around.  He watches his brother, as well as spends his 45 minutes walking around making new friends with other kids and their moms.  The first picture is Austin and Colton waiting patiently for swim lessons to begin.

This is a picture of Austin working on his back float kick.  He is supposed to keep his hands up by his head and sort of flutter kick.  So, in the next couple of pictures, his teacher Emily, is working on helping him to keep tummy out of the water as well as keeping his legs straight.  He does a pretty good job, he just needs to work on keeping his head up too!

I took Colton to the Dr. on Monday because he said his ear was hurting on Saturday and Sunday.  Turns out he has a ear infection in his left ear!  So, he is on amoxicillan for the next 10 days and is taking his medicine like a champ!  While we were at the Dr. they weighed him and he is now tipping the scales at 30.8 pounds!  His heart rate was 134 (normal for a 2-year-old) and they also took his blood pressure (102/68).  They took out a tiny little blood pressure cuff and took his blood pressure!  This was new to me and the nurse said it is something that is now regulation; as of January 2013 anyone over the age of 2 has to get a blood pressure check.  He cooperated with the nurse and the Dr. very well.  The Dr. even commented that he was one of the most well behaved two-year-olds she had seen in a long time.  We are just busy as usual around our house.  We have no activities this evening and it is raining like crazy here so I'm looking forward to a nice quiet night at home!

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter weekend!  Austin and Colton were able to go to the March of Dimes Easter Fundraiser at the Crossroads Mall in Fort Dodge.  They spent a couple hours there, riding rides, finding Easter eggs and playing some games.  They both got back to Annie and Papa's with a bucket of little toys, candy, and Easter eggs.  Austin had some concerns that the Easter Bunny would not know that we were going to be in Fort Dodge on Sunday morning so at first he was hesitant to leave Cedar Falls, but boy was he excited on Sunday morning.  Austin ran downstairs to see if the Easter bunny came and Papa overheard him say, "No Way!" and then he ran back upstairs to wake up Brian, Colton, and I.  He was so excited to tell us that the Easter Bunny brought toys and candy! 

 

Austin was very interested in the Easter baskets and enjoyed pulling everything out and telling us what he had received.  Colton was content walking around and finding one egg at a time.  Colton would find an egg, open it up (which was a bit of work sometimes), then get so excited over whatever piece of candy was in it, and then would sit down and eat the candy before finding the next egg.  He definitely loved that there was so much candy involved with Easter!  The Easter bunny hid about 40 eggs!  It turns out this may have been too many so Brian ended up finding the ones that the boys gave up on.  Nick and Courtney joined us in Fort Dodge after church and we had a great Easter dinner.  The boys got outside to play for a little bit, but the wind forced us to spend most of the weekend indoors.  It was a fun weekend!

This picture is of the boys finding the eggs the Easter bunny left in their shoes.  And then my camera battery died!