Eden vs. Judah

I know, I know. You aren't supposed to compare your kids. It's just so interesting how different they are even with only 2 1/2 months to compare.

Eden likes routines. I wish we had been better about a nap routine with her early on, but she has an awesome internal clock. By 8 weeks she was getting up at 4:30 every night, on the dot. Never more, never less. She still does best when her naptime and bedtime are the same every day, and before we had to wake her up to take her to day care, she would sleep until 7:30 every morning. She remembers her bedtime routine and just can't sleep if you mess it up! I made the accident of reading some extra books before bed one night. And I love that she loves books, but we now have to read 5 every night. Ok, we hid one that we both don't like so now its only 4.

Judah doesn't seem to be big on routines or schedules. I know he's only 2 1/2 months old so this can change. He gets up anywhere between 1 and 4 to eat at night and then he sleeps for 2-5 more hours before eating again. He does seem to be an early riser. Any time after 5:30 he is ready to play!

Judah is so very social. Today he was cooing and smiling at a stuffed octopus. Cutie. Its so easy to make him laugh and he loves to smile and coo and even seems to be imitating sounds. We had to work to get Eden to smile at this age. She didn't laugh out loud until she was much older, and she still doesn't really perform for people, especially when she is in her own world. I think Judah is already giggling and will smile and engage with us whenever we talk to him. Its so fun!

I can't wait to see how they both change and develop as they get older. We are so thankful for their sweet personalities and how much they add to our family.

Life these days...

So my last post was the week after I went back to work, which is telling. It has taken a while to get used to working and taking care of these two. We are figuring it out, although the house isn't as clean and our trips out of the house are changing from story hour, playing at the toy store, and stopping at the coffee shop, to the less exciting walking around the mall for a few hours. The less I have to transfer 2 between car seat and stroller, the better. And its just so cold! We are figuring out some "mama during the winter in minnesota" tricks like the malls that have play areas, free day at the childrens museum, the indoor parts of como zoo, the library that has underground parking and a play area, and even the mall of America. I know, who wants to go to the mall of America. But when its 2 degrees outside and your child is still entertained by watching other children go on rides, the mall is AWESOME. Not to mention lego land has a free play area and the rainforest cafe has a crocodile! Hours of free entertainment!

Luke has been a huge help with getting up during the night with Judah. Both babies were sick for a week or so with stuffy noses and coughs which of course effected sleep, but things are getting back to normal now. Its amazing how big of a deal sleep is. Im so thankful that Eden was (and still is) such a good sleeper. She sleeps long and hard. Judah is, um, working on it. A random lady at the mall yesterday mentioned how she missed the tiny baby age. I told her I missed sleeping. She answered that all of her babies slept through the night as soon as they were born. A. that didn't make me feel any better B. Im choosing to believe that she exaggerates. Since she was a complete stranger, that totally works.

We are having so much fun and between Eden, Judah, Sprocket, Gatsby and Gretch (the new kitten), the house is FULL of life and activity! Eden is loving her new kitten and is (slowly) learning how to play with him. We are excited for Christmas and then we head down to Nebraska with Luke when he goes down for grad school. We will get to see some family down there and we will get to experience our new reality of taking a trip with two babies. Theres a reason that a portable dvd player is on Edens Christmas list....

Nana and Papa Visit

Dale and Vicki came back for two weeks and we were so happy to see them! They have been living in Germany since July and won't be back until next summer. We got a lot of family time in and some great babysitting for my first week back at work. Knowing Eden and Judah were with them made going back so much easier!

We got to see a lot of Harper, which was fun for all of us, but especially for Eden.

We weren't sure if Eden would remember Nana and Papa (even though she loves talking to them on skype) but after a few days she was running to the door when they came over! I'm sure Judah will be doing the same thing in a few years...

Nana and Judah

Its always fun to watch Eden play with Harper. Harper is such a good sport and Eden just soaks up everything Harper does. Here she is watching her spin (she started spinning about 2 seconds later). Harper did a great job of wearing Eden out...she was ready for bed by about 6 every night (too bad we didn't put her down until 7 or 8 when she was super crabby!)

We can't wait to visit Nana and Papa in a few months!

Snow Day

We got our first snow last week. Last year Eden didn't really get out in the snow much, but I think this winter will be a lot more fun! We woke up to a few inches of snow and it fell in big flakes all day! Eden and Luke built a snow man and had a snow ball fight (ok, Luke threw snow balls at Eden). Eden mostly liked to eat the snow...good thing it was fresh! Judah and I took the time to snuggle and watch some t.v.

The snow is mostly melted now but we are supposed to get another storm this weekend...it might be time to get some snow pants!

Surprise!

About a week after bringing Judah home, Gatsby our tiny cat, went crazy. It was the middle of the night and she got under the covers on our bed and was meowing constantly. Luke put her outside because we were both sleep deprived and listening to a cat all night was not an option. The next morning she knocked a pile of blankets out of our hall linen closet. As I was cleaning it up she kept meowing at me and pawing the drawer. I pulled it open and Suprise! there was a kitten!

The kitten (we think it's a boy) is super cute and Eden LOVES it! She stops and waves and says hi about 1,000 times a day. I think they will be bff soon....

2 more weeks....

I have 2 weeks left of maternity leave, and I don't think I will be able to go back. There are three big issues that are getting in the way:

1. I've gotten used to sleeping in. Eden, Judah and I all sleep in until 8:30 or 9 every day. Which means that I don't go to bed until 10:30 or 11 (after Judah eats) at night. I don't know if I will be able to make it through a work day if I have to get up at 7 after being up to feed Judah at night...I think its time for all of us to have an earlier bed time. Sad day...

2. I don't want to drop my babies off with someone else. We are super lucky and we have a great lady from church who will watch them AND Luke and I have worked out our schedules so we only have to drop them off on Thursdays! Yeah! But I still would love to stay with them all day.

3. I can't wear sweatpants at work. This is really worrying me, I mean staying up at night worrying me. Before this maternity leave I would get dressed in jeans as soon as I woke up, otherwise I would spend the day laying around. I guess I associated sweatpants with being sick and lazy or something. Now I change back into sweatpants as soon as I get home! This might have something to do with my regular jeans not quite fitting comfortably yet, but I have really gotten used to it. I don't know if I can go back to wearing jeans for more than 1 hour at a time. I might have to wean myself off of all day sweats!

Its been so great to be at home with Eden and Judah and I am so blessed to have a job that I love and that is SUPER flexible...and maybe not wearing sweats 24-7 will be good...

Our Big Helper

Eden is taking her new role as big sister very seriously and has been such a help with Judah. She brings him diapers and wipes when its time for a diaper change, she brings him his pacifier, she sometimes throws away diapers and she even got his hat off of the back porch the other day. She also gets her own diapers for diaper changes, brings her cup to the fridge when she wants more milk, and helps feed sprocket in the mornings. She loves to clean things with wipes including her mouth!

Sometimes, though, she gets a little confused. She might steal Judah's pacifier after giving it to him so that she can have a turn. She tries to help me load the dishwasher but so far has only loaded it with clean dishes from the utensil drawer or clothes.

She also tried to feed sprocket but I guess she forgot where his food was, so her animal crackers were the next best choice. I think sprocket was fine with changing things up...he got the whole bag!

The Apple Orchard

This weekend we had so much fun going to an apple orchard with Rachel and Harper. The weather was perfect...sunny and about 65.

We got to see some goats. Eden loved them and kept trying to say goats (go, go).

There was also a hay maze. Harper went right in and Eden had fun trying to find her.

We wore Judah out with all of the excitement! We had a great time and got some yummy kettle corn, apple cider donuts, and some really juicy apples. We all had a nice time getting out of the house too!

Judah Rune is Here!

A month before Judah's due date, the doctor told us that he would most likely come early. Because I was induced with Eden, I had no idea what real contractions felt like (I didn't even have braxton hicks contractions with her) so we spent a month waiting and wondering. Earlier this summer we had talked about wanting him to come on the 25th or the 1st so that it would be easier to remember his birthday (I am horrible with numbers). I guess he was listening, and so October 1st he finally came! I started having contractions the night before (during the office). They started to get pretty intense around 1:30 am and by the time we got the the hospital around 2:30 they were minutes apart and painful. We had an amazing nurse who rushed to get me the epidural, which I got just in time. We then waited around and Judah decided he was ready to come around 6:45. It took a little longer than Eden because he was facing the wrong direction, which meant no cone head baby for us! He was born around 7:15 and was 8 pounds 4 ounces and 21 inches.
Eden came to meet him later that morning and she has been the sweetest big sister since the minute she saw him! She tries to share everything with him (food, toys, her milk) and even hands us wipes when we change his diaper. When we brought him home she showed him all of her favorite toys! So sweet...

I think us being gone for 2 days was harder for her than us bringing home a new baby. We are loving watching her interact with him and we can't wait for him to get older!
I just know that the minute I post this, my luck will change, but so far Judah has been the best baby! He sleeps 3 1/2 hours at night and falls right back to sleep. During the day he hangs out from around 8-10 and again in the evening from 7-9, and he naps during Eden's nap. He mostly grunts unless he is really upset, which isn't often. He is so sweet and it feels like he has been around forever. I, of course, am excited for him to start to sleep even longer at night, but since Eden got up every 2 hours for her first few weeks, I can't complain!

The Waiting Game

We are in that weird in between time of waiting for baby #2 to arrive. We are trying to spend time doing fun things with Eden before we get stuck in the house with a new baby and a Minnesota winter, but I'm feeling so pregnant that I'm pretty worthless! We did make it to the state fair for a few hours, which was great. Eden LOVED the cookies and had as much fun people watching as we did!

She also really liked the goats, but she was a little bothered by all of the chickens stuck in the cages. There is a bookstore that has little chickens that run around and I think she felt bad for all of the chickens stuck in tiny cages. Plus they were pretty loud and stinky, so that didn't help!

She had her first bus ride, which was pretty exciting. We took a shuttle to the fair grounds and she spent the whole ride back flirting with the boy in front of us. He was probably 15, but she wasn't intimidated by the difference in age. She even played hard to get....I think Luke started to get worried about her future. Good thing she will have a brother to protect her soon!

Ric's Wedding

(This was the best picture we got...)

Last weekend we got to be a part of something we thought we may never see. Ric McBath get married. It was a short and sweet wedding and we were lucky that there was a crib in the church. Eden sat through about 3 minutes of the ceremony and then took a nap in the nursery.

We got to see a lot of friends from college and Luke had fun with all of the groomsmen. Eden made friends with Aidan during the reception...he is the son of friends from college. Its weird to see our kids playing together! We also got to visit a park that was just Eden's size. She could get to the slides without our help and she loved being so independent.

We took a trip to York 4 weeks before Eden was due, so this our last road trip as a family of 3. Baby boy seems to be doing just fine...he is measuring right where he should be and the doctor thinks he may come a few days early. He is still really active and my rib cage is starting to hurt, so I'm fine with him coming whenever he is ready!

The Busiest Weekend Ever...

Ok, not really. We didn't do much this weekend. After a nice cool week, it warmed back up on Friday which makes Luke and I both exhausted. (My excuse is pregnancy...) Friday we got lunch and walked around Ikea. We used to love to go to ikea and walk around and talk about what we would do with a house someday. Well, now we have a house, but no money and a baby that doesn't love walking around a store for hours, so the experience has changed. Its still fun to get out, and they have toys set out in the kids section which is half way through the store. Those smart Ikea people! We got a few small plants that were on sale. I feel better about buying plants that cost 2 dollars because I know at some point I will forget to water them and they will die. Its just so nice to have some green plants around the house when the long Minnesota winter hits....

Saturday we drove to Como zoo. It's a great free zoo thats about 15 minutes from our house. Unfortunately, every other person in the twin city area had the same idea as us. After looking for a parking spot for 15 minutes, we decided to go to the mall. Eden loves to ride in the stroller and people watch, and we thought the air conditioning sounded nice.

Luke was gone both Friday and Saturday night for band practice and a concert, so Eden and I got to go to bed early both nights. Today we went to church but left early. Eden has been teething all weekend which means she has not been napping. On top of no naps for 2 days, she got up an hour early. So, but 10 am she was in no mood to sit around. She did fall asleep on the way home and took a 2 hour nap! We had dinner with the Dohertys (the youth minister at our church) and Eden had a great time playing with their girls...they had about 20 dolls so Eden was in baby heaven! Now its back to a busy week of work and then we go to Kansas City on Friday for Ric's wedding! It will probably be our last weekend away for a while, so we are both looking forward to the road trip!

Sprocket in a Magazine...

I have been trying to put this up for a week now, and it looks a little small, but I don't know enough about computers to fix it! Oh well...

I was looking at a magazine which had a collie in one of the ads. I showed Eden and she has become obsessed with it. I took this video about two days after we found it, so some of the newness has worn off, but she still gets pretty excited! She has started to look through other magazines, but so far no more sprocket sightings!

15 months old

Eden just had her 15 month check up and is doing great! She is 21 pounds, some inches (I can't remember!), and her head is huge! She is in the 25% for weight and height, and 95% for head size! Her head has always measured big, so the doctor isn't worried about it...just more room for her brain to grow! I think she got her giant head from her dad.

At 15 months, Eden is:

-saying mama, dada, meow, fly, ball, wow, uh-oh, up, down, bubbles, wo-oh for cars, and signs all done. She also makes herself known when she is worried with lots and lots of "uh-uh"s

-sleeping in her new crib which will soon be converted into a toddler bed!

-sleeping from 8-7:20 every night without waking up.

-still taking 2 naps, unless we are out-then she just goes to bed a little early!

-going to bed without any milk while we rock her! She was getting crabby about giving us back her sippy to go into her crib, even when she wasn't drinking it. We stopped bringing it upstairs and she has been totally fine! I love this baby....

-running!

-loving stuffed animals. She has her daddy wrapped around her finger and he bought her a cat at target after she rode around the store saying "meow" and giving the cat kisses! She has been carrying her cat and any other animals she can find all over the house. They get to sit at her table with her, get kisses and cuddle time, and she even gives them rides on her car.

-finally getting some teeth! She has 8 in front and at least 2 molars that have started to come in!

(watching cookies bake in the oven...yum!)

I was so worried about having another baby so soon, but she is learning so much every day and she seems to understand everything we say to her...I think in 2 more months she will be an amazing older sister!

We went to the Minnesota zoo today and Eden LOVED the petting area with the goats. She even got to brush some of them, which she thought was hilarious!

Baby Belly

So far, this baby has felt HUGE compared to Eden. I think I'm as big now as I ever got with Eden. Unfortunately, photo booth doesn't put dates on pictures (or I'm just too computer illiterate to figure it out), so I don't really know how far along I was in these pictures, but I'm pretty sure this is right...

I now present, a belly comparison:

5 months pregnant with Eden

5 months with baby # 2

32 weeks with Eden

30 weeks with baby boy!

Well, that was fun...

Faulty box of "pop"corn...

These are the two bags of popcorn I made for dinner last night. Both cooked for 4 minutes, with very different results. We thought for a while that our microwave just wasn't compatible with popcorn making, but I'm thinking its the popcorn. I think I should demand a refund.

In other news, Luke is gone to Nebraska for his residency. He goes down for 10 days in the summer and winter. So far we have been able to join him for a few days every time he goes down (having family down there is a good excuse to visit him!) but I don't think we will make it down this time. We have been talking to him on iChat a few times a day, and Eden now taps on the computer and says "dadum?". She also calls for him every time we come home...I think she misses him! We have been trying to have fun girl time and stay busy so that we don't miss him too much. Its day 3 and we're still around so I hope we make it.

Later this week we will have 5 pets in the house. I think Eden will love it, so we will take a lot of pictures. If anybody wants to come visit our free petting zoo, you're invited!

Walk this way...

I never really walked, or should I say waddled when I was pregnant with Eden. She hung out pretty close to my rib cage (probably because my abs were so tight...). This baby is really cramping my style. He likes to take up a lot of room, kick and roll all day and night, and make me look and feel WAY more pregnant than I am! I feel like he should be huge, but everyone assures me that he is just as big as he should be! So far, everything has been going well and besides a few rough kicks, this pregnancy has been awesome.

In Eden news, she is doing great! She is more fun every day and it worries me that the next one will make us pay! She is 14 months old now and is turning into such a little girl! She says mama, dadum, up, down, please, and imitates monkey noises, all done, and a few other random words. She also LOVES to dance, as long as the song has a good beat! She likes to sneak up on people, "wake up" Luke, play peek-a-boo, sing songs, and be outside. Her all time favorite thing to do is carry around clothes. She carries them with purpose too, like she is helping with laundry or something. She just started to go to her room when we tell her its bedtime or nap time. She hands over her sippy cup when we ask and is so sweet about laying down!

She had her first sleep over with Nana and Papa this last weekend while Luke and I went to Duluth to celebrate our anniversary over the fourth. I know it was harder for me than it was for her! She will miss her Nana and Papa so much while they are gone, and I may have to get better at adding pictures to the blog for them! We are going to Milwaukee this weekend to visit Eden's great grandparents and catch a Brewers game...Ill try to put up some pictures when we get back!

We have hit an all time low...

I did something yesterday that I never thought I would do (ok, not in the first 14 months of life at least).

I fed my child ravioli from a can. You know, the kind with surprise meat inside? I got some that was on super sale and told Luke "This is only in case of emergency. If we have to feed her and only have 30 seconds to cook because we are in a HUGE hurry."

Well, yesterday we were not in a huge hurry and I had more than 30 seconds to cook, I just was feeling lazy and I was in the middle of a work project. As I wiped the umpa-loompa orange off of Eden's face and hands, I knew we had reached a new low. Luckily I have an amazing husband who laughed when I confessed what a bad mom I had been. He is the best!

My mom never fed us ravioli from a can, which is probably why we liked it so much when we went to my grandma's house! Luke and I have an ongoing discussion about feeding kids. I never got junk food-no canned ravioli or spaghetti-o's, no kool-aid, no chips, no candy. I can count the times we had Kraft mac and cheese. I didn't even know what ramen was when I got to college. So now, I have NO control when it comes to candy and pop. I love junk food. I even liked the ravioli from the can that I shared with Eden. So, is it good to NEVER have any junk food? The jury is out....

Anyways, Eden seemed to have survived the whole ordeal just fine, and ate cheese and bread without any issues last night, so I guess I haven't ruined her yet!

Eden Walking

Eden is now a BIG girl (not quite big enough to skip all of her naps, but big). She walks everywhere. She seems so busy, too, which I'm sure she is. She likes to carry clothes around the house with her and chat as she walks from room to room. I think she's pretending to clean. It's pretty amazing how old she seems now that she walks everywhere...maybe its a good thing that there's another baby on the way!

Weekend in Duluth

We went to Duluth this weekend for Luke's cousin's graduation party. Luke had a show on Friday night, which went well but was a little late for my pregnant self. On Saturday, we tried to help set up, but I'm not sure how much help a one year old running around was. We spent some time in Duluth during the afternoon having lunch and walking around by the lake.

Luke did an open mic during the graduation and then we came home afterwards. Eden had a lot of fun with all of the other kids that came to the party and she did not want to go to sleep and miss out on all of the fun! Its fun to watch her be so social...she would walk around smiling at people and showing them her toys...so cute!

We're having a....

BOY!

It's definitely, for sure, a boy. Ok, I realize that there is a chance that it will still be a girl. This happens. But we got to see the baby from a few angles, and its looking promising. Everything else on the baby looked good, which is the best news! He was measuring right at 21.8 weeks, so our due date hasn't changed yet. We got too see him moving his mouth (Luke thought it was a yawn, but the ultrasound technician was pretty sure he was saying "Hi mama") and he was already practicing how to use his lungs! Ill put some ultrasound pictures up after we get them scanned...we have a good one of his foot and his profile.

So now the fun begins...picking a name! We have a list of 10 names right now. We took off two last night, but I added another name today. Eden took a few names off this afternoon. We said them out loud and there were a few that she shook her head "no" to. Of course, she was running a slight fever at the time (which is probably why she said no to one of my favorites) so we might have to try again later...

Baby #2

We get to find out next Tuesday at 5 how baby 2 is doing and hopefully if baby 2 is a boy or girl! We can't wait to find out. So far, this baby is VERY active. Luke could feel it moving at 17 or 18 weeks, and it already kicks like a black belt in karate. When I was pregnant with Eden, it felt more like she was dancing or spinning-it never hurt when she kicked. This baby is also growing really fast, but I think that has more to do with it being my second pregnancy in a few years.

We are getting more excited about this baby as Eden gets older and feels less like a baby and more like a little girl! I was nervous that she would have to grow up so fast, but now that she is walking all over, I miss her being a tiny baby. Eden also LOVES to watch and play with other kids, so I think she will have fun with another baby in the house. At least I hope...

We are down to 2 girl names, but still have about 10 boy names that we like, and none of them are really standing out...any ideas?

She's Walking!

Our little baby is turning into such a big girl! Eden is taking multiple steps to walk from one thing to another. It seems like she takes more and more steps every day!

Its amazing to me that a year ago she was a tiny 7 pound thing that couldn't hold her head up and now she is walking and talking and communicating. She seems to be growing up every day, with new faces and words. I totally get now why parents say every age is their favorite age...she just keeps getting to be more fun!

(Eden enjoying a lemon!)

This weekend my dad and Gayleen came for a visit. The last time they saw Eden was at Thanksgiving, so she had a lot of showing off to do! We stayed busy by going to the zoo on Friday, the farmers market and Stillwater on Saturday, and church on Sunday. Eden had a lot of fun showing them all around her city and taking them to her favorite places, but I think they wore her out! She has been super sleepy all day today.

This week it is supposed to get up to 80 and be sunny, so we plan on spending lots of time in the backyard and outside.

(This is a short video of Eden walking...I'm not sure if it will work.)

Eden is ONE!

Sunday was Eden's first birthday. What started out as a small bbq on Saturday turned into a big birthday party with cake and presents! We were surprised with how many people showed up, but we had a great time and Eden loved having so many friends in her house to play with! I barely saw her during the party because she was scooting all over the house playing with people. (I think she got that from Luke!) She had on a cute little dress with boots, but the boots only lasted for a minute!

Eden loved her piece of chocolate cake (thank you target) and all of her fun new presents.

We found a sand box and slide on craigslist last week so she had some fun playing with Lachlan before he went home.

She is still learning to not eat the sand....

The 25th is also Dale's birthday, so we went out to dinner with Luke's family to celebrate both birthdays and then came back to the house for some more yummy cake.

Eden at one is:

-into Everything! She loves to move around and explore. No high chairs for this baby.

-understanding "no". This doesn't mean that she always listens, but she will shake her head "no" as she is reaching for things she knows not to do. She even shakes her head "no" if she hears someone say it, even for "know".

-imitating everything she hears. Sometimes we aren't sure what she is saying, but she is talking a LOT. Other times, you can really tell she is imitating what you just said.

-saying Cat, dada, sprocket and signing "all done" as well as shaking her head "no" when she doesn't want something.

-loving cheese! She would live on mac and cheese and cheese cubes if we let her!

-thinking about walking. She stands without holding onto anything, and will take a few steps, but then falls to a crawl or we catch her. She usually finds a way to cruise around the room instead of crawling!

-so fun! Eden is usually in a great mood and loves to laugh along with us! We are so lucky to be her parents...she has been good to us!