While mom is away...

this is where dad lets Cohen sleep. Maybe I should rethink ever leaving the house :) 

Troy said that he was getting him ready to go to sleep and he just seemed content. Before he knew it Cohen was asleep and he didn't dare move him. I see football on the tv though so I hesitate to believe his story fully, hehe

Growing up yet still so young

Sevea was so excited to have Lily lay in bed with her for the very first time. This made me realize that my baby girl is growing up. It also made me sad for the day that Lily chooses to lay with Sevea rather than with me :( Luckily that wasn't just yet as Lily jumped out of bed as soon as Troy and I left the room. And I am reminded that my little girl is still my baby when I find her sleeping with her butt in the air just like she did as a baby!

Time for Thanks

Thanks to all my readers! I appreciate each and everyone of you taking the time to read my ramblings. This blog has proven to be a GREAT way to stay connected with family and friends. There are so many everyday moments to be thankful for and I am very happy to have a place to share them. It truly is all the small things in life that are important. I love having a place to be able to look back on those moments and remember all I am thankful for any day of the year not just on Thanksgiving.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS!

First Snow

Snow definitely has a love-hate relationship going on in our household. Troy LOVES the snow when he can take the snowmobile out for some fun. He HATES the snow when we get dumped on and he is regretting his decision to forgo buying a snow blower leaving him to shovel. I HATE driving in the snow. One huge plus to working at home now is not having to drive in the crummy weather. I never really loved the snow until now. I LOVE the snow to be able to spend some time having fun in it with Sevea. Sevea only LOVES the snow. No hate from her yet!

LOVED the snow! Would have played outside all day if we let her :)

Getting ready to go down

Extra fun to slide in snow gear

Time to get rid of the 12 month size snow pants, haha!

One cool chickadee

Cohen Month 3 Update

Cohen is 3 months old today. I felt like the first 2 months flew by. Getting from 2 to 3 months though I felt like took forever. I think the newness finally wore off :) Or maybe it is because Cohen has become more predictable and life has slowed down in the sense that he is less work. Whatever it was we are happy to have a happy and healthy 3 month old little boy.

Cohen is doing great! As I updated earlier his neck problem has disappeared. He is doing great at moving his head both directions. I think the increased eye sight surely helped as he turns to look at more now. That has been fun to watch. He really notices people around him now and especially neat to see him notice his big sister and calm down at seeing her. He's fallen into somewhat of a schedule. I hesitate to say schedule though because it is all Cohen driven. But it works for us and does provide some predictability for his day. His eating has been a "irritation" for me. He once was the child who would nurse forever if you let him. Then he went to being more alert and being done in record time. Then to our current situation of nursing less than 5 minutes on each side. It wasn't a concern for me since he was still sleeping well. Until recently his afternoons have been less sleep and more eating. But we have gotten some great nights of sleep with him including one 8 hour stretch. This is tough for me since I debate everyday with myself about switching to exclusively pumping. I know this switch will bring supplementation though. Hmmm!

No milestones to report yet. He really enjoys sucking on his hands. As I said he is really noticing the world around him. He is grabbing at toys and his movements are now more smooth of a baby instead of jerky of a newborn. He is definitely a different child than Sevea but I have definitely learned it only makes me love him more. He is Cohen and that is what makes him special!

He enjoys bathtime just like Sevea did. Another water baby I hope!

So fun to watch him get stronger and stronger

One way to calm him down is to making kissing noises

Yep I love my hand

Working on tummy time is more enjoyable this way

He would sleep this way all the time

Holding onto the rings, he loves hitting the bird thing too

Quick bath in the sink, he obviously wasn't sure about this

Comfy all nestled in mom's arms

Best Big Sister

We always knew Sevea was a special little girl. But are still impressed with how great of a big sister she has been. She is gentle and loving. We have yet to see any jealously but quite the opposite. We often find her giving love to her brother without any prompting of ours.

Look at what I am doing

Cohen is looking to his right without us forcing him to!!! We ended up deciding to take him to the chiropractor to see if that would help him to not favor the left side of his neck so much. I am not certain the chiropractor was the cure-all but things certainly got better from that and just working on his tummy time and general neck strength. He still seems to favor his left side slightly but nothing I am concerned with anymore. He will move his neck back and forth freely. Just what we wanted.

Daddy-o

Oh sooooo many memories. Today is a day I choose to remember the good. Today is the day I choose to remember all the fun and funny moments. I leave all the sadness for other days when it randomly hits. But today I choose to be happy because of the good times I was fortunate to have.

 

I feel VERY grateful that my husband got to know my dad. I feel even more grateful that my dad was able to make fun of my husband for his big baggy pants back in high school! Troy got a lot of crap for his style choices but took it all in fun and was a great way for my dad to bond with him. (As you can see in the picture below, Troy must have wanted to impress my dad because he did a 180 when it came to clothing choices, haha)

This picture reminds me of all the fun we had with my dad. This picture does make me sad though since it reminds me a lot of what we miss now. As we became adults the relationship with my dad really blossomed. So I feel like we missed out on the best years. But some people never get times like these at all so I am reminded again to be thankful. This picture reminds me so much of my dad. You can see him standing behind Troy and I. His shirt was a classic look for him. But all the details of this picture are the biggest reminders. You see that sippy cup in front of me. Yes my dad determined I was the baby in the group so I got to drink out of it. You see the lamp shade-who-knows-what-that-is on my head? Yep another funny thing my dad introduced that night. Smiles on those faces...dad liked to make sure we were having a good time. And that hand of Brock's holding that empty drink cup out to my dad. Yep he really liked to make sure we had a good time!!

I miss you daddy-o! Love your Amy Bo

Who needs toys

So often kids choose to play with things that aren't toys. I think we all remember playing with our mom's tupperware or pots and pans. Kids sometimes find a box a toy came in more fun than the toy itself. There have been many times I wonder why I even bother but then I am reminded that kids may not use the toy as intended but most often their imagination is sparked.

She played with the tubs of paint for a good half hour to an hour. That doesn't even include the time we used the paint to actually paint!

Tongue tied

Story Time

One of those gifts received in the mail was a special book for Sevea. She loved it and enjoyed having Cohen listen along with her.

Love Gma & Gpa

I've recently talked about how Sevea has really become a fan of her grandparents. For some reason we just recently started calling them by more specific names than grandpa and grandma. It sure helped her connect more to each of them. She loves when Grandma & Grandpa Apple come. Almost immediately when they come inside she asks for coins and pulls grandma into her room to read books. Grandma is a GREAT sport about it and has probably read almost every one of her 1,000 books by now. Grandma Ne-Ne and Grandpa Gary had fun recently playing together. And of course Grandma Ne-Ne is perfect for cuddling (it was my favorite as a kid too....okay who am I kidding, I still love it!). Sevea and Cohen have a lot to be thankful for when it comes to family even though distance makes it hard to see them as often as we would like. But both sets of grandparents have been great in reminding our kiddos that they are loved all throughout the year even when they aren't around. We wanted to say thanks to them for the recent packages in the mail. Who doesn't love getting something in the mail! Thank you!!

Funny thing about this package from Grandma Ne-Ne and Grandpa Gary: Sevea was sleeping when the package arrived. She got to open it before all of her friends from daycare woke up and was really excited about everything in the package. When her friends woke up she told them that her Grandma Ne-Ne brought this to her. She thought that she dropped it off until I explained that the mailman brought it and that Grandma Ne-Ne mailed it to her. Then she was all excited to tell her friends about the mailman :)

Trick or Treat 2011

Happy Halloween from the Appeldorn's!!

Skeleton boy

Little red riding hood

Boy was this holiday different than past years. We had such a GREAT night watching Sevea enjoy the holiday. This was her first year really trick or treating. She went to only two houses last year and they were family/friends. She totally understood the holiday this year. She requested a Dora costume but since I had already got one I found at a garage sale we compromised, hence the pumpkin theme. She was really excited to put on her costume and even though she didn't quite get what we were going to do just yet she knew it involved candy and going somewhere.

We started the night walking about four blocks away to the house of one of my daycare children. We skipped all the houses on the way to their home and Sevea didn't say a thing. We got to the house and told her what she needed to do and she walked right up to the door.

Reaching for the door bell

First house of the year

Grayson and Cohen were along for the fun as well. Even though they didn't get any candy we couldn't resist showing the two off :)

Our way back home was much different. We told her that we only went to the houses with the lights on. Sevea excitedly pointed out each house with their lights on. One by one she walked up to the house and said trick or treat and politely said thank you before leaving. The first couple houses she sort of thought we were going to stay and play but she eventually got the hang of it.

We didn't hit up every house on our way back and only stuck to one side of the street. The weather was really nice when we headed out but unfortunately as the sun set it got cold quick. Fortunately though this helped Sevea skip a bunch of homes so we could head over to Carissa's before calling it a night.

We headed home and I think this is where Sevea had almost as much fun as the actual trick or treating. She absolutely loved getting to hand out the candy. The first couple kids loved her too since she gave them a hand full. Even with those tiny hands they managed to score a good 7 pieces. It was so great watching her willingly giving away candy. This holiday was way more than about the candy to her. She loved the actions of everything more than the candy. The proof is her choice of candy and the fact that she only ate a couple and was done.

Really, nerds! Whose daughter is this?

The great thing I am realizing about holidays now, we have another opportunity to go through all these exciting moments again!

Pumpkin Time

It is carving pumpkins time. Troy and I really enjoy this tradition. We have been doing it almost yearly since right before we got engaged. It has become more fun throughout the years especially when we choose a theme for the pumpkins. This year Sevea's requests guided our carving. Can you guess what we did?