Birthday Boy!

Happy First Birthday my precious, but rambunctious boy!

 We had a low key first birthday with just our family since we had just gotten back from MN.  I have to say, Chet was not so sure about his cupcake!  He did try to take a bite and then just poked at it.  I think he was a little tired.

I took Chet to his One year well baby check two weeks after he turned one, but his stats are:

Weight:  23 lb 13 0z (81st percentile)

Height:  31.5" (92nd percentile)

The bad news from his check up is that he is on his third double ear infection!  It seems that everytime he starts to teethe or come down with a cold, the ear infection makes its appearance.  So, back onto antibiotics he goes.  I think we are looking square in the face with tubes in the near future.  

The big change from last month's update is that he is a walking machine!!!  He is so proud of himself!  And, he is now into EVERYTHING!!!  I mentioned before his persistence when he focuses on something.  Now multiply that by 100!  If he starts to explore something he shouldn't and we take him away, he gets really mad and then repeatedly tries to do it again.  I think I had to close this one cupboard at least 10 times in a row yesterday!  

I can't believe how different boys and girls are--Anatomic differences aside.  The amount of energy this little dude has is mind blowing!  And, he is so much rougher and less of a snuggler than Elsa was and is! 

Here is a cute picture of Elsa holding Chet's hand while watching Dora

I guess I should give some updates on Elsa!  

She continues to thrive in preschool.  Miss Thornton says she is such a good leader and loves to help in class.  I am amazed at everything she is learning to do and is getting better at.  She is starting to write her name and loves to recognize letters.   She LOVES coloring and is getting good at coloring in the lines.  We have her enrolled in pre-ballet/tap with two of her friends, Annie and Kate, and they are so adorable in class!  I can't wait until her first recital in May!

She is very affectionate and loves to give kisses and hugs to us.  But, she is definitely starting to exert her independence!  We are trying to deal with some lying.  The funny thing is I googled tips on how to deal with this and everything focused on children that lie at this stage actually have higher IQs!  I think I would rather have a child that didn't lie than a child with a slightly higher IQ!  

We are still having some difficulty with sleep during the night.  If she wakes up she comes into our room and we have to go into her room.  usually it involves laying down with her until she falls back to sleep--bad habit, I know.  It will be interesting in our new house since the Master bedroom is on the main floor and the kids will be upstairs.  

I am glad that her current school and a parochial school that we are looking at near our new house have school uniforms!  She is very insistent on what she wants to wear.  The other day she had a melt down because I wouldn't let her wear a tank top and shorts to school....it was 15 degrees out!  She is sneaky in the morning, because she will wake up and shut her door and start to get dressed.    I would say 95% of the outfits don't match and are a mix of PJs and clothes.

I think that brings us up to date with the kiddos.  This is going to be a crazy month of packing and finalizing things with the new house!

December cruised by

I felt like I just blinked and December was over!  Lots happened this month.  This little man turned 11 months.

He has turned into such a character!  And, he is very persistent!!  He constantly likes to crawl up the stairs and gets quite ticked if you interupt this activity.

There are four new teeth coming in making for eight total.

Has been sick ALOT!  We even went to the emergency room last month because he was coughing so hard and vomitting.  They took a swap for whopping cough, but suspect croup.  He has had two double ear infections.  We never had to deal with ear infections with Elsa!  Poor lil guy can't seem to catch a break!

He loves "so big", waving, and it starting to walk along furniture.

Favorite foods:  Yogurt bites, hot dog, mac and cheese, ground turkey, black beans, peas, bananas

Thinks dropping food on the floor is a fun thing to do!

Christmas was fun this year as Elsa is starting to understand more about it!  She even sat on Santa's lap with NO tears!!!  Although I did learn my lesson!  We went on Christmas eve and it was then I learned that she wanted a guitar!!  Where in the heck was I to find a guitar this late and why did she want a guitar??  Fortunately Target had a $10 dollar Leap Frog guitar that is only mildly annoying.  We don't really plan on buying the kids everything they ask for.  But, I specifically told her the only way Santa is to know what you want is to sit on his lap and tell him.  And, it was the only thing she asked for.

The only thing I disliked this Christmas was decorating.  I know I am a scrooge.  But, with a soon to be one year old constantly pulling everything down, it was not fun.  Instead of our stockings hung by the chimmeny with care, they were flipped up on the mantle so as not to cause head trauma to the previously mentioned destructor :)

And, I kept the ornaments to a minimum.  I think we hung only 10 ornaments and they were all up high.

Elsa did have fun helping me put up the lights though.  She is such a big helper!

She loved playing with "her computer" under the tree.

We went to the Children's mass at Church on Christmas eve and then came home to open gifts from the Grandparents and cousins.

 And the fun tradition of leaving a letter for Santa with a treat.  Elsa wanted to leave fruit snacks :)

On Christmas day, they opened up their gifts from Santa and we baked cupcakes to celebrate Jesus' birthday.

 I had off from the 27th-New Years Day, so we traveled back to MN to see family.  Elsa had a lot of fun playing with her cousins!  Here are the Anderson cousins on Sunday of the Viking Packer game.

Also, some news from December: We put an offer on a house and are under contract!!  We decided that after moving 9 times since being married in only 10 years (which involved two countries, four time zones) we wanted to settle down!!  Here is a picture of the outside of the house.  We move in around Feb 14th.  We are so excited!!

And, you heard it here:  NO MORE MOVING UNTIL THE KIDS ARE DONE WITH HIGH SCHOOL!!!!