Autumn Angels

My Autumn Angels.... (Aaron was napping). :)




Thanks to my friend Chad for the idea!

Posting a comment

In case anyone who follows Nicholas, Celia and Aaron's blog wants to post a comment.. this is how you do it.
Below the post there it says 'post a comment' or 'comments'. Click on that.
You type your comment in the box and you can write your name in the box. For example, "Tell Nicholas and Celia they rode the pony so nice Love, Grandma". You can click the box that says 'anonymous' if you don't have an account to access.
No pressure if you don't want to, but I know a lot of you read the blog and if you don't know how to post a comment, this is how. :)

Pumpkin Picking

A week ago we took a trip to Retzlaff's pumpkin farm near our house. Its just an old farm that sells pumpkins and some other things. Nothing super fancy. The thing I like about it is that it isn't decorated with scary faces and other haunting things for Halloween.
Grandma Maus, Aunt Angy, and cousins Sammy and Lauren came with us. The kids sat on some antique tractors.









They also rode a pony for the first time . Nicholas' pony was Teddy. Celia's pony was named Cody. Celia rode her pony like she has been taking lessons in her spare time. h aha










and then we went on a hayride to get pumpkins. There were slim pickings in the pumpkin field, but Jason found 2 for us. It was SO cold and windy. The weather has been pretty chilly, but this day was pretty cold.


Nicholas, Celia and Lauren running to Grandma Maus.



At the end we let Nicholas and Celia jump in one of the bounce houses. It makes both Jason and I nervous because there is always one child who can't control themselves and end up knocking over the little kids. One of the bounce houses was almost empty, so we let them go in there. Nicholas fell down when one of the kids jumped too close, but he was okay.

My big 'babies'

Helping me make lunch by sitting on the counter and picking up everything and asking "Whats this mommy?" (even though they know, ha ha). Soooooo far, I like them asking all the questions. I LOVE finding a way to answer them so they understand . Ask me in 6 months if I'm still enjoying all the 'what's this?' and 'why's'. ha ha (I probably still will).
Their specialties include macaroni and cheese and pb& J.


Snuggling with Aaron. They still pet him a lot. ha ha. They are excited to help me give him his first food in about a month. Aaron has stopped most of his sensitive gag reflex. I think he's getting closer to being ready to try some food.



Nicholas and Celia like to contort their bodies into funny positions or put their legs up on walls, couches, chairs and say "Yuk at dis mommy!" (Look at this mommy"). It's pretty cute. Obviously its easier to be a contortionist or gymnast in your underwear.



And this emphasizes why we shouldn't buy a nice new couch for many more years. This couch has lasted us over 8 years and it still has a lot of bounce in it. Maybe someday I'll get a slip cover. ha ha
Anyway, they take the cushions off and jump over each other. Getting some good clearance here! Look at those long skinny lil legs.


Some cute recent conversations:

When we were walking in the pumpkin field this weekend getting pumpkins. . .

Nicholas (running up behind Celia and I): "I'm going to catch you!!"
Celia starts to whine
Nicholas: "Don't worry Celia. I am just running"
Celia "Oh, Okay Nick"

And I hear this multiple times a day. It's an inside joke with these two that gets them cracking up each time:

"BURRRRP!!! My Tummy" says Celia
"BURRRP!!! My tummy" says Nicholas
and on and on and on as they giggle and fall on the floor.

Last friday I took all 3 to Cabela's to pick up an order (snowsuits) and we spent all morning there. I actually took all 3 to a big store by myself, walked around (N&C not in cart, but Aaron was) and we ate lunch together!! As I sat in the Cabela's restaurant with N&C eating lunch and me nursing aaron I was realizing "Hey! I'm doing this all by myself!" Anyway, Cabela's has a huge false mountain of taxidermied animals (bears, moose, deer, fox, ...) . So N&C were looking at the animals and asking why they weren't moving. So, I used it as an opportunity to tell them what 'dead' was. Dead = not moving, not sleeping, not awake, no eating, no playing, no heartbeat (they know hearts beat fast/slow and we've listened to our hearts with stethoscopes). We then looked at the big fish tanks with live fish in them and I talked about how these fish were not dead, they were alive because they are moving, eating, etc.
So at the pumpkin farm there was a statue of a zebra (not sure why a zebra was there?) and Celia says "Look! A zebra!"
Nicholas "Not moving. DEAD"

Looks like they are catching on a little bit. ha ha!

And jumping on the couch to a little Bob Marley. Aaron usually looks more entertained than this, he was getting tired and reggae music and a jumping brother and sister isn't real conducive to napping. ;)

Pretty much sitting!!

On October 15, 2009 (just 3 days shy of 5 months old) Aaron sat up by himself for a good 5 min with the boppy pillow around him. So, to me I think he's pretty much sitting. Of course new sitters topple over here/there, but overall, we have a new position for Aaron to play in. His favorite toy is the pop-up animal toy in the picture. I really think that his cheeks puff up when he is sitting - they look even bigger in this picture than normal. ha ha

5 months old

Aaron is 5 months old as of sunday/tomorrow!

Fire Safety Day

On October 10th we went to the Saukville Fire Department since they were having an open house. It was so neat. They cleared out their huge garage and had it indoors (it was really cold, rainy/snowy, and windy). They had an older fire engine inside so people could climb in it and touch it. Nicholas and Celia were being sort of shy when we got there, so we had to urge them to sit on the fire engine for a picture.
They had coloring contests, rescue dogs to pet, free play fire hats, coloring books/crayons, stickers, treats and door prizes. They had a play phone to practice dialing 9-1-1. The absolute best part was they were giving fire truck rides! Jason sort of noticed it before other people did and we quick got in line. That fire truck had to take a lot of runs cause it only had 5 guest seats total. Jason held N&C and I had Aaron in the ergo carrier. The firefighter asked us if we were buckled, but it wasn't possible with all the kids on our laps. And really. . . if we got in an accident the fire truck isn't the one thats moving. It was fun! Sirens and everything.


We need to choose a safe meeting place outside and practice a fire drill in our house with Nicholas and Celia. Sometimes our kitchen fire drill goes off due to cooking issues and we just wave a towel to turn it off. Thats not teaching them anything other than 'mommy burned dinner'. I did tell N&C that if they see a fire "Go outside, do not hide" (slogan picked up at fire safety day). Daylight savings is coming up soon too, so remember to change those smoke detector batteries!

Shark Attack!

Yesterday Nicholas and Celia were coloring with markers and cutting with scissors at the kitchen table while I worked in the kitchen. Nicholas said, "Mommy, Look! A shark!"
So, I walked over and sure enough he had drawn a shark! I was so excited. He drew the mouth, eye, pointy head, dorsal fin... Seriously looks like a shark to me.
We've been reading an Usborne Book about Sharks lately and also watching a live webcam of a tank at the Monterey Bay Aquarium with sharks in it, so it has been in discussion in the house.

A lesson NOT learned

Sunday our family got together to chat and have lasagna for dinner at our house. My sister, Angela, caught N&C sliding down the stairs on their belly's. I've never seen them do this before so I grabbed the camera to take some video. You'll hear my sister's prophetic words about rug burn. . .



The aftermath. I have officially been entered into the 'bad mom' contest. Poor Celia has the worst of it. She has been sporting a large bandage with neosporin on it. :(




However. . . it seems the lesson has not been learned.

Cute words

Nicholas and Celia are talking ALL the time now. To each other, to their toys, to me... Its so cute. And they are very understandable. However, I would imagine most kids have some words that come out just a bit off. Here are 3 Nicholas words for me to remember. :) I tried having him say 'motor cycle' today but he refuses and says he prefers 'micklecycle'. Wappybug (long a sound) is also a winner.
I can't think of any words Celia says real funny... hmmm.... I'll have to listen real careful to her, but I don't recall any right now.

Mickle-cycle = motorcycle

chichin = chicken

wappybug (long a) = ladybug

One night before bed I asked Nicholas to go potty. The new thing N&C say is "I did already" (even though "already" could mean 3-5 hours ago). So this was the conversation. . .

Me - "Nicholas please go potty before bed"
Nicholas - "I did already, mom."
Me - "Nicholas, sometimes pee pee is hiding in your body and you just have to sit on the potty and see if any comes out"
Nicholas - "Oh! It's hiding?" (he walks to potty and sits down, pee comes out)
Nicholas - "Oh mom! Pee was hiding in my butt!"


and I thought of a sweet thing Celia said this weekend too. She opened the gate by the stairs and it hit my leg as I was wiping off the kitchen table. I said 'ouch' and she said "Oh sorry mom! I didn't mean to bump you! Kisses?" and then she gave me a kiss. What a sweetheart!

Nicholas' obstacle course

A few blogs ago I showed a video of an obstacle course I made for Nicholas and Celia. That was in the morning that day. While they were sleeping, I had cleaned everything up from the obstacle course. Well, after nap that same day, Nicholas and Celia went downstairs to play. A while later Nicholas came upstairs and said "Mommy, come downstairs for a minute".
So I walk downstairs and he had moved and arranged his own obstacle course! Wow! I was impressed! He had dragged the black ottoman from over by the chair too. He was so proud of himself! Pretty neat planning for a 2.5 year old, I think!

Flashback laughs

When a baby doesn't like chili, she may make a face like this. . .

When a baby doesn't like popsicles, he may make a face like this. . .

"Come here often?"

Well baby.... check

Aaron had his well-baby check-up yesterday. I am really enjoying our new pediatrician. Not that the other Dr wasn't great, but I am so happy we switched to Dr. Hankins. Nicholas and Celia really like her too.
Aaron measured the following at 4.5 months:

weight 14 lbs 12.8 oz (about 40%)

length 26.5 inches (90%)

head circumference head 43 cm (16.93 inches) (60%)

Developmentally he's doing great and she was totally fine with me delaying more vaccines until his 6 month check-up when I'll do 1 more. Thank goodness. I'm always nervous going against what the pediatrician recommends. She's so nice. I really like her a lot. She said I could stop nursing him at night now, but I don't think I will because I know he is very hungry at night and nursing him in bed isn't bothering me at all. She said we should keep him in our room at night until he is at least 6 months old -so in 2 more months we could transition him if we wanted. She recommended no solid food until about 6 months+ or so - which I'm fine with cause I don't think he is ready either.

His morning nap is pretty in place now. He wakes up about 7/7:30 am and then is back down for nap at about 8:15/8:30 until about 10:30 lately. Then the rest of the day he naps here/there but it isn't real reliable yet. He is real tired and ready for bed for sure by 8pm. Generally he wakes to eat at about 2:00am and 5am or so. Between him nursing and N&C waking up to pee at night (sometimes 2x a night), it can be a scattered sleep night, but I think by the time you've already had twins you learn to survive on less sleep. ha ha

Obstacle course

I can tell we're going to love having the basement this winter! We'll have 6 months or so of a large space to play. Fall has arrived and instead of going outside this morning (because it takes until afternoon to get into the 60's lately) I made Nicholas and Celia an obstacle course in the basement to try to get some energy out. I remember elementary gym class having an obstacle course to go through and thinking it was so much fun. I think it helped burn some energy and its great large muscle movement.

The obstacle course was:
1. crawl across 3 chairs
2. jump on the trampoline 10 times
3. crawl across a bean bag, blanket and pillows
4. crawl through a tunnel
5. rock on your belly on the rocking ottoman chair

Right now they are painting paper pumpkins for some Fall decoration in the house here at the kitchen table. :) I'm sort of missing being a teacher lately (maybe with school starting)... but there is nothing better than being a teacher to your own kids.