Oliver Turns 4!!

Our boy turned four on Wednesday!!  We extended the celebration and bit and had some friends over on Saturday before his birthday for pizza, cake, and playing.  Oliver was pretty excited about his Superman cake :)  The kids all had a lot of fun playing.  Oliver enjoyed us singing Happy Birthday!

On his actual birthday, we went to a Moms and Tots group we go to and we brought "4" cookies.  He enjoyed sharing those and having everyone sing Happy Birthday.  We ate chicken nuggets, tater tots, and applesauce for lunch and supper at his request.  He wanted an ice cream cake for his actual birthday so that is what he got.  He opened up presents from us the night of his birthday.  He was very excited for his super hero book and super hero legos, the clothes, well not so much.  He seemed to have a very good day.  He received some phone calls saying happy birthday and a few cards and packages in the mail that he was very excited about.  Singing Happy Birthday was a big hit this year, I think he asked us to sing to him about 3 times that night. 

A super boy with his super cake

Friends ready to eat some cake

A special cookie for dessert after lunch

Birthday boy with his ice cream cake

Blowing out the candles

Opening presents

Super hero legos

Opening the box :)

It is hard to believe he is four already.  It seems like just yesterday, we were bringing him home from the hospital.  He has grown into quite the boy.  He loves superheros, building things, and electronics.  He is a smart little boy and follows logic a little too well at times.  He loves his little brother and sister and he still likes to snuggle with his mom and dad.  His favorite color is blue.  He likes to stay at home, but is always ready to go to Iowa, New York or Toys R Us.  He is starting to sound out words and is trying to write some.  He writes his name quite a bit.  He likes to do work with his dad- both in the garage and in the office.  He loves fluffy pajamas and blankets.  When he grows up, he wants to be a daddy.  :)  He is a pretty amazing big boy now- we are pretty lucky to have him.  We love you Oliver- Happy 4th Birthday!!

Julia is 2 months old!!

Julia hit two months old on November 16th.  We drove to Tennessee that day to visit Eric's brother Kaleb before he deploys.  Unfortunately, I forgot to pack her blanket, paper, and doll, so we improvised.

Another pink blanket and an iPad.  :)

She had her 2 month appointment on Monday.  She weighs 12 pounds, 11 ounces and is 23.5 inches long.  Her head circumference is 39.4 centimeters.  She got 3 shots and one oral vaccine.  The doctor said she is looking good.  

At 2 months, here is what Julia is up to:

-smiles back at us and is starting to coo

-likes tummy time

-often times only wakes up 1 time between 10pm and 7am

-is very easy going

-traveled to 9 states in her first 2 months

-has no scheduled doctor appointments until January!!

-outgrew most of her 0-3 month clothes and is rocking her 3-6 month clothes

-likes to hang out with her brothers

-is still pretty cuddly

-sleeps the majority of the time when we go places

-is looking forward to celebrating her first Thanksgiving tomorrow

Here are a few pictures I took today with the "official" blanket, doll, and sign.

And last, but certainly not least, she started smiling for me while taking her pictures so I got some closeups of that.  :)

Julia is 1 month old

Julia was one month old on October 16.  She is a pretty amazing little girl.  In her first month, she went through a surgery and spent 22 nights in the NICU.  She also went to New York for a weekend- pretty quick turnaround :)  Here are some of the things Julia does at 1 month old:
-sleeps a lot
-is a pretty good eater
-likes to cuddle with mom and dad
-likes to watch her big brothers
-is starting to have a little longer awake periods
-follows with her eyes when we talk to her
-lost her stump from her umbilical cord/surgery on her 1 month birthday

Look-a-likes

We have thought Julia looked a lot like Parker since she was born, but as I was flipping through some pictures, I saw one of Julia and felt like I had seen that picture before.  It just happened that the picture I had seen was actually Parker.  Here are pictures of our two look-a-likes.

Julia after her first bath at home

Parker after his first bath at home

Oliver's First Day of Preschool

 Oliver with his backpack in our living room

Oliver all ready for preschool

Oliver in front of the school

A close up of Oliver in front of the school

Oliver with his nametag waiting to go to his classroom

Oliver started preschool today.  It is at the Urbana High School and done through the child development class.  The program is 8 weeks long and he goes Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00-10:30.  He did really well today.  He was a little nervous, but walked in with me and Eric.  He had his Thomas backpack packed with his snack for the day.  I was pretty impressed that when the teacher asked him his name, he actually answered her.  He has been going through a shy phase.  

Eric and I walked along with him to his classroom.  He definitely seemed anxious while waiting to go and walking down the hallway, but the second he saw the classroom, he was good to go.  He had to hang his backpack up in his cubby and then he was ready to play.  There were lots of fun things to do- he went straight to the water table where there was green and red water.  He told us good-bye without any problem and we headed out the door.  

I was back to pick him up and he was happy to see me, but definitely didn't seem like he had a hard time.  I asked him what he did and he told me lots of fun stuff.  He said he painted an apple, played a game where you had to find pretend apples, and read a story about apples.  He also told me he only ate the marshmallows from his snack.  :)  It sounded like he had a fun day and when I said he would go back on Thursday, he said "is that tomorrow?"  

Swimming Fun

Indianapolis Children's Museum

This past weekend Eric's parents came to visit and we went to visit the children's museum in Indianapolis.  It is a huge museum and the kids can touch pretty much everything.  Oliver and I had gone when Oliver was 9 months old with my parents, Randy and Kara and kids, and some of Kara's family.  So basically I was the only one who remembered anything about the museum.  I think everyone was impressed with it and had a great time.
Oliver had fun everywhere, but he told us his favorite part was the dinosaurs.  They have dinosaur skeletons that you can look at, some bones you can touch, and an area where you can dig for dinosaur bones.
Parker's favorite part would have to be the trains.  He loved watching the trains and got so excited to see the trains zoom by.  He would wave to them.