Chet 9 months old

I am really falling into that "the second child is less documented" thing!  I missed the  8th months photo, so I better get my rear end in gear before he turns one!

Weight:  22lbs 8 oz (88th percentile)
Height:  31" (>100th percentile)
Head:  48 cm (>100th percentile)

Wearing Size 4 Diapers

Clothing:  Can still wear some 12-18 months things but I have started to just buy 18-24 months so he can wear them longer.

Favorite Songs:  Itsy Bitsy Spider, You are my sunshine, Jesus Loves Me

Taking a bath in the "big kid" tub and makes a HUGE mess.  He LOVES to splash and I feel like I need to be in rain gear.   He recently discovered, how do I say this...his privates in the bath tub.  He loves to give it a squeeze and he will just giggle.

He is crawling all over the place and is starting to stand up with the support of furniture.  He is quite proud of himself.

FINALLY started sleeping through the night!  He usually has some oatmeal or rice cereal followed by a bottle at 7:30-8 pm and will often sleep until 6am.

Starting to eat more solid food.  Some of his favorites include banana, macaroni, peas, strawberries, and toast.  Although after a few minutes of eating, it turns into a game and he loves watching food drop onto the floor.

Loves to go for walks.

Our good friends we met in England came to visit us and Chet and Nolan are going to be best buds.  Elsa and Linnea picked up right where they left off.  Both of their children are about 2 months on either side of ours in age, so it is really fun to get the kids together! We took the kids to the Children's museum and they had so much fun.  They had this great area for kids under three and Chet loved crawling on and through the blocks and found mirrors quite entertaining.

 Elsa and Linnea had fun playing with water, dressing up as firefighters, and painting.  The girls were so cute together and they hadn't forgot about each other!

I continue to enjoy the relationship that is developing between Chet and Elsa.   It makes my heart swell.  Elsa is just a sweet heart and will tell each of us how much she loves us on a daily basis.  She absolutely loves her new school and I am so amazed at how much she is learning.   They utilize zoo phonics to teach the alphabet and teach them to identify letters based on phonetics rather than the name of the letter.  In addition, she is really enjoying Mandarin and will entertain us with songs she is learning.  I don't know what she is saying, but I know it is not English :)  Aside from the specific things she is learning, the biggest benefit I have seen is how she is developing a love for learning.  She wants to come home and practice her numbers and letters and is so excited to tell us about things she is learning!

Chet 7 months old

 Here is our monthly shot of Chet at 7 months old!  He LOVES to smile and giggle!  And, you can see from the photo below, he is drooling like crazy.  But he got his lower central incisors within days of each other July 26th.

 He is able to sit up for longer periods with no assistance and, by the way he is rolling around, we are starting to baby proof with babygates and outlet covers.  One of his favorite spots is underneath the coffee table!  The other one is by the end tables because he loves to crinkle the pages of our magazines.

 I think this is the cleanest he has ever been after a meal!

In July, we went to Madelia (my parents' hometown) for the annual Kelly reunion.  Most of the family had never seen Chet so he got lots of attention!  I hadn't been to the Kelly reunion for YEARS, so it was fun to catch up with the relatives.  Aaron and I played 18 holes of golf with my cousing Rachel and her husband, Phillip.  It was LONG as I had never played that many before!  Then, we went to Schell's brewery in New Ulm for a tour.  Here is a photo of me and my grandpa in the gardens!  Three generations!   

 Chet was fascinated with the plastic cups!

 The Baumlers!!!

 The various beers we were allowed to sample.  No, Aaron did not drink all of that.  I only had 1-2 samples and stuck with root beer the rest of the time.  It was hands down the best root beer!

4th of July

It was so hot on the 4th of July!  It was about 100 degrees and VERY humid.  We knew if we did anything, it would mostly involve staying indoors with air conditioning.   Fortunately, our friends, the Schuhs felt the same way and invited us out to their house in the country.  The heat didn't seem to bother the girls and by dusk, it had cooled down to the point where we could sit outside without looking like we showered.

 Poor Chet, the only boy....

 Elsa loved playing with their new litter of kittens!

Aaron bought these sparklers and they were a big hit.  Definitely larger than the sparklers I remember from when I was little!

We didn't really get to see city fireworks because of being in the country, but the kids had fun nonetheless.

Chet 6 months

CJ is 6 months old!  The above picture is a little blurry because the kid can't sit still and the chair kept rocking!

His 6 months stats from the pediatrician:
           Weight:  19lb 12 oz  (85th percentile)
            Height:  29"  (97th percentile)
            Head:  47cm (97th percentile)

He is wearing anything from 6-12 months or 12-18 months right now.

Size 3 diapers

Sleeping:  not so much.  Will wake 1-2 times in the middle of the night for a bottle.  We are trying to ween him from the middle of the night feeding by reducing the amt of formula we put in.  Keeping our fingers crossed that it works :)

Loves his exersaucer!  Loves bouncing in it or if we help him stand on our laps

Love brother and sister time!

One of my favorite things he does now is he loves to explore our faces when we feed him his bottle!  He will touch our lips, cheeks, and nose as he is feeding.

Feeding is quite messy as he recently discovered the excitement of blowing rasberries and blowing food all over us!  Likes:  yo-baby, lentils, vegetables, most fruit   Dislikes:  cottage cheese

He can sit up with assistance but loves rolling around on the floor

Summer Lovin', having a blast

I love that Grease song!

We are having a fun summer so far and I love that Elsa is at the age to enjoy it.  But, I can not, for the life of me, imagine living in a climate where it is nice all year long.  I am going to need the calmness of winter.  I am exhausted cleaning floors from dirty feet, giving baths EVERY night due to sunscreen and sweat, keeping a toddler busy while at the same time not neglecting the baby, etc.

Elsa has Montessori three full days each week and it is the best thing in the world.  She is outside most of the morning.  She eats lunch and takes a nap and then they bus the kids to the Y for swimming in the afternoon!  It frees up Aaron a bit so he can focus on Chet.

Aaron is busy training for two triathalons, a half (or maybe even a full) marathon in Sept, and the Fall50 ( a 50 mile relay we are doing with our friends from Nebraska).  I signed up for a half marathon in Sept in anticipation/preparation of the fall 50.  We alternate doing our runs in the morning at 4:30-5 am with Aaron doing his long runs on Sat and me doing mine on Sunday.  I really want to do the Green Bay Marathon next May, but I think I should see how the half goes first!

Aaron did the Bellin run which is a 10k with our friends Ben and Lisa.  I took the kids down to cheer them on!

 Elsa not cooperating (demonstrating daily life in our household!!)

I helped Elsa make a sign that said "I love my fast daddy".  I had to laugh because one runner ran by and said to her running partner "Oh, gosh, I thought that said I love my first daddy".  No, ma'am only one daddy for this girl!

Then, the following week, I participated in a bowling charity event with the packers.  We each had a packer player or coach in our lane and got to have our bowling pins autographed by the team.  I was next in line to get Donald Driver's autograph, but his security posse had to wisk him away.

But, I did get a picture with one of my favorite packers, Jordy Nelson :)

Our trip to the zoo

I love Green Bay.  It is a great size town (150K-ish), with NO rush hour traffic, great options for eduction, and lots of activities for kids.  The NEW (NE wisconsin) zoo is a great example.  I took the kids there this weekend while Aaron was preparing for an upcoming triathalon.  It was not too large and there were not many people there when we went (right when it opened).  Elsa LOVED it!

She got to feed lambs and the giraffes

She was trying to get the goats interested in coming to her (they lost interest when they discovered we did not bring food).

The peacocks freaked her out a bit.  This one fluffed up its feathers right in front of us and she got so scared and started crying "NO NO NO, it is going to eat Chet"

 I don't know what was so fascinating with this crow, but she instisted on a picture

 Bison

I loved that it was not overwhelming like some large city zoos.  And, it was super cheap.  Only $10 for us to visit!

10 years of marital bless

A blog I read is appropriately titled "Marital Bless-it may not always be bliss but it is always a blessing"  I could not agree more!  In a time when many are getting divorce, I am so excited to say Happy 10 years!  I really think that marriages are more prone to failure when the focus is on bliss, rather than the blessing God created it to be.  And, when the focus is on ourselves rather than being a help meet to our spouse.  Aaron and I are on one team and our marriage is so much more blissful when I try to emulate Proverbs 31 (but fail miserably at in a lot of areas!).  I am so grateful for the man that God chose for me and for the fact that we keep Christ at the center (most of the time).   Its amazing he has put up with me for 10 years!  Through multiple moves, the stress of residency, the sorrow of losing three babies, the stress of having two kids, etc, we have stood by each others side and I hope to have another 10 years (four times over) of marriage to Aaron.

For our 10 year anniversary, we went to the place where it began:  Door County.  We went there for our honeymoon and thought it would be appropriate to go there for our 10 year.  The time of the year was perfect as it was not too busy because most schools were still in session;  the only down side was chilly and dreary weather for most days.  We stayed in the town of Egg Harbor at the Ashbrooke.  It was adults only so no screaming kids to wake up to.  Our room was great!  It had a double sided fireplace, a two person jacuzzi hot-tub, and was so quiet!  We slept until 8am the first morning!  We spent the four days hiking in state and county parks, biking, playing golf, dining on great food, shopping, meeting up with friends, wine and cheese tasting, and relaxing!  And, I better not forget to thank my MIL Peggy for watching our two tykes and making this trip possible!

We even drove around to find this spot where we took the exact same picture 10 years ago!  This was on Ellison Bluff!  I don't remember being as scared to walk out there 10 years ago.

Check out the roof!

 Aaron loves nature and enjoys finding unique wildflowers

 But, it drove him up the wall that I was the first to spot this one!

 Me biking at Penninsula State Park--it was a great ride with minimal traffic

 The Ephraim Fish Boil

 Golfing