Family Blog

Christmas 2011

2012-01-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

It has been a busy month with the holidays and celebrating with family. We wanted to get some pictures up from the family Christmas. We went to the Erickson's over the Christmas holiday and then to the Beerends' over the New Year holiday. Lots of fun was had by all. There are some pictures below for all to enjoy.

Isaac wanted to try on his gift a new shirt. Caleb saw Isaac without a shirt and wanted his off.

Next thing we knew neither boy had a shirt on.

Isaac playing with his new train set.

The boys at home playing outside when we got home from Christmas. Caleb is on their new pedal tractor. We had to hook up the wagon to the tractor so they could pull something around. It has been crazy warm this winter and the boys are enjoying some outside time.

Playing with Caleb's new puzzle.

Family photo - Christmas 2011.

This was within the last couple of weeks. Caleb enjoys sitting on mommy and daddy when we are laying on the floor. Well, Caleb went right over and sat on Isaac. Isaac thought it was funny and both boys ended up laughing.

Christmas Tree

2011-12-06T17:26:00.001-08:00

On last Friday I took some time off in the afternoon so that we could set up our Christmas tree. A fun time with the kids. Below are some pictures:

Isaac and Caleb helping Mommy with the tree.

Isaac and Caleb took a break and decided they needed to brush their teeth.

Daddy helping Isaac put the star on top of the tree.

My parents have always said that when I was a kid I used to put a bucket over my head and run around into the walls. Well, my kids must have gotten something from me because on Monday Caleb took a bucket that holds play tools and put it on his head. He was running around with it. He was kinda smart because he could see through it and didn't run into any walls. Of course Isaac had to try after Caleb was done.

Caleb with bucket on his head.

Isaac with bucket on his head. Caleb wanted it back.

Today Regina was playing some old CDs and Isaac and Caleb were dancing. Caleb is so funny when he dances. He has his mouth wide open. Isaac was dancing and playing the drums (maybe he will be a rock star someday). Enjoy some videos below:

Thanksgiving

2011-12-04T15:11:00.001-08:00

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Regina's parent's house and spent some time with family. Uncle Jim and Aunt Amber along with Cousins Garret and Alyssa were also there. Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah came to dinner but didn't stay at the house, which was good because it was full enough. Below are a few pictures from the weekend that we wanted to share with everyone.

Caleb wouldn't eat cake at his birthday last May, but he really liked Uncle Mark's birthday cake.

Daddy, Mommy, and Isaac playing a card game.

Picture with the cousins. From left: Caleb, Alyssa, Isaac, and Garret.

After Thanksgiving we spent a week at home and then this weekend Regina and I spent at Riverside Resort and Casino over by Iowa City. I won the hotel stay for long drive at a golf tournament and it was a very enjoyable time. We were ready to come back home and see the boys again though. Below are some pictures from the last week at home.

Our artists creating with Play-Doh.

Our artist Caleb got ahold of a green highlighter while Mommy wasn't watching and he drew on his face! Later he lifted his shirt and he had drawn all over his tummy with a pen.

A weekend alone

2011-11-15T08:05:00.001-08:00

November is in full swing! Last weekend Zach's parents took the boys for the weekend so we had a weekend alone for the 1st time since Isaac was born. It was awesome! We had a great time doing some shopping & talking without interruption. Saturday night we went to a John Waller concert at our church. We really enjoyed that. We are very excited to see the Newsboys at our church in March 2012! Isaac & Caleb had a great time with Grandpa & Grandma and we were excited to see them on Sunday.

There isn't a lot of interesting things to update you on. This week is busy with meetings, shopping, & work! Zach & I are leaving on a high school retreat Friday evening so Isaac & Caleb will be staying with my parents for the weekend. I can't believe the next week is Thanksgiving! Time is flying so fast!

Below are a couple of videos we have taken in the last month. Caleb is quite the dancer & I finally got a little bit of it on video so I wanted to show you his moves. The second one is Isaac & Zach doing "exercises" together. Zach is exercising...I am not sure you would say Isaac is! The funniest part is when Isaac starts shaking his arms just like daddy...daddy couldn't hold it any longer!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T08:20:00.001-07:00

Last weekend was busy with Halloween activities! Grandpa & Grandma Erickson came down on Saturday morning to hang out with the boys & see their Halloween costumes. Isaac was determined to be a tiger again this year but lucky for us there was no tiger costume at the store we went to. I showed Isaac a fireman hat & he was sold on being a fireman. We then found a policeman costume for Caleb. Both boys were extremely cute & a major hit with everyone we ran into! Especially our little ham, Caleb. He milked his cuteness for all the candy he could get!

Isaac, our fireman

Caleb, our policeman

Late Saturday afternoon we went to an event at the Blank Park Zoo called Night Eyes. Kids dress up & the zoo is transformed into a not so scary Halloween. The kids trick or treat through the zoo & get candy from the different sponsors. Some of the animals are available to see but most are not. Isaac loves the lion & tigers and they were one of the few on display so that was cool to see. Caleb, cute in his policeman costume, decided that a pacifier would make the perfect accessory & got many "Oh, look how cute that policeman is." He even stopped a few times to show everyone his killer dance moves. We really enjoy Night Eyes and plan to make it a yearly event.

Isaac giving Curious George a hug

My boys in front of the Pirate ship

Isaac's favorite part of Night Eyes: the pedal tractors!

After Night Eyes it was off to Cici's pizza, which was extremely busy! Grandpa Erickson was ready to celebrate as we learned that Minnesota had beat Iowa in their football game that afternoon. After supper we came back home & watched ISU dominate in their game against Texas Tech. So we were all very happy that evening!

Headed out around the neighborhood

Done with the 1st house

Sunday night was Beggars Night in Indianola so we dressed the kids up again & went out around the neighborhood. Believe it or not but this is actually the first year we've done this. Every other year it's been too cold or we've had small babies that wouldn't get to eat the candy anyway. We went for an hour & only got down one street & our cul-de-sac. Mostly because both kids were walking and as the night went on they got slower! Caleb once again milked all his cuteness for all the candy he could get. At many houses he walked away with 2-3 handfuls of candy & only stopped because I told him no more! Once again the pacifier was in his mouth! I think Isaac really enjoyed going to our neighbors & trick-or-treating.

Omaha- A trip down memory lane

2011-08-31T13:50:00.000-07:00

On Saturday before we headed back home we headed west to see where Zach lived from 4th-6th grade. First we saw the Country Club where his dad was superintendent. How interesting that the golf course is still there but it is completely run down. It's not open for business & the fairways & holes have been allowed to grow freely. It was a little sad.

The club house

The pool where Zach spent a lot of time

After seeing the golf course we drove by the house that Zach's family lived in. Not much had changed except the colors. Zach was impressed to see the basketball hoop still up in the driveway. He told me he spent many hours on that court!

Finally we drove by the elementary school & the middle school that Zach attended. A lot of the area is commercialized now and looked completely different. It was still fun to go back & see.

Omaha- Henry Doorly Zoo

2011-08-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

On Friday we took in the Henry Doorly Zoo. We got there shortly after it opened & we ended up staying until a half hour before it closed. We really enjoy the monkeys & apes. In the ape exhibit there was a informational sign saying that the male apes often charge the glass windows not because they are angry but because they want to scare the zoo goers. We witnessed this & had we not read the sign already, we would have been pretty frightened. Isaac & Caleb loved the monkeys & the apes. Caleb fell asleep in the desert dome

Isaac & daddy in front of the monkeys Isaac & Caleb (after waking up) looking at the big ape

Another favorite was the aquarium. Inside the aquarium is a tunnel where you walk underneath all the fish, sharks, turtles, etc. Zach got some very cool pictures.

Isaac loved the lions, tigers, & bears (the Roar's, as he calls them). We were going to check them out in the morning but lunch crept up on us too quickly so after the aquarium we took the train across the zoo, walked up some MAJOR hills to get to the exhibit, then walked back to the train and finished our tour of the rest of the zoo. By the time we finished the train, both boys were tuckered out & ready to leave.

Daddy & Caleb on the train

Mommy & Isaac on the train

Mommy & her boys waiting for the train to come back.

Omaha-Children's Museum

2011-08-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

We went to Omaha August 18-20th to take in the Children's Museum & the zoo. We also took a drive down memory lane as Zach spent a couple years living there as a child.

We drove into town on Thursday afternoon & took in the museum first. The first thing we did was play in the toddler play ground. There was a playhouse, firehouse, a big fire engine, a place to play in some water, & a mini grocery store where kids could pick out their food & then scan it at a checkout. Isaac immediately sat in the big John Deere tractor. Then they moved over to the fire engine. Caleb, immediately found the water & would not be moved.

Isaac & Caleb in the John Deere tractor

Caleb's 1st choice to play: the water

Isaac in the fire engine all dressed up!

Daddy & his boys

Eventually both boys found the mini grocery store & had fun shopping & scanning their items. Caleb loved throwing food in his own cart & in other strangers carts too.

Both boys loading their carts

Caleb loved the Manwich cans. He emptied the shelf into his cart.

Isaac in the dairy aisle
Caleb needed some more food

Off to the check out

Yummy carrot!

After we were done in the playground we headed over to a room with balls. There were all sorts of tubes running throughout the room & when you stuck your ball into a tube it would shoot up through the tubes to the container in the middle of the ceiling. Every so often the container would drop all the balls out onto the floor again & the kids got to do it all over again. Isaac loved putting his ball in all the holes but Caleb just loved throwing the balls everywhere. He was extremely disappointed when all the balls were in the middle & hadn't been released yet!

Isaac watching his ball go through the tube & into the middle
Isaac waiting for the balls to be released again

Caleb decided not to wait on the balls to drop again & found something else to play with

The final thing we did at the Children's Museum was to see the dinosaur exhibit. When we walked in Isaac got scared & wouldn't move. Zach told him the dinosaurs weren't real but Isaac said "yes they are". We finally convinced him to go in & he had a blast! We got to dig for dinosaur bones in the sand which was pretty cool! Outside the exhibit was a play area with slides and such for kids to play on as well.

The dinosaur that Isaac thought was real!
Digging for fossils

Isaac sliding down the elephant

Caleb in the eye of an alligator, ready to crawl out!

2011-08-31T12:16:00.000-07:00

We put Isaac & Caleb in Mighty Minnows this year. This is Isaac's 3rd year & Caleb's 1st. Both boys did really well. Isaac is warming up to the water pretty well although he still won't let you put him under. He did start jumping in this year as long as we were there to catch him. Isaac loves the water but doesn't always like the "swimming" part of it.

Caleb LOVES the water & is night and day different from Isaac. The first thing they had us do with Caleb was to throw some rings under the water & have Caleb go after them. Isaac hates this & still won't go after the rings unless we are in shallow water where he doesn't have to get his face in. Caleb, stuck his head in and grabbed the ring like it was no big deal. He loves to put his face in the water & blow bubbles or try to drink the water. He didn't even cry when I dunked him a couple of times. He didn't like it but he didn't cry. The one thing with Caleb is that we have to use earplugs due to his ear tubes & that is a pain in the butt. I think I lost 2-3 of them in the water this summer!

Here are some more pictures of Caleb's 1st Mighty Minnows.

Waiting on instructions

Relaxing in the pool while mommy does all the work

Caleb was mad because the sun was in his eyes while floating.

4th of July & Fishing at Grandpa's

2011-08-31T11:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since we've updated anything so I am going to use naptime to catch everyone up!

We went to Austin, MN for 4th of July this year. We spent an afternoon out on Grandpa Erickson's pontoon fishing. Isaac loved helping daddy & Grandpa reel in their fish & Caleb did really well for being 1. Good thing Grandpa had fish food on the boat to keep Caleb entertained!

Isaac helping Daddy & Grandpa get the fish.

Caleb needed something to do so pushing the lure box around seemed like fun. The only problem we had was when Caleb tried to toss it in the lake.

Daddy catching a fish with Isaac

Grandpa entertaining Caleb with his glasses

Caleb feeding the fish & mommy keeping him from falling in.

Isaac liked feeding the fish too

The Erickson men fishing together

We bought an infant life jacket for Caleb but it didn't fit & he was angry with it on so we took a risk & left it off.

On Sunday we decided to go to the parade in a small town near Austin. Isaac really loved the big tractors! Here are a few photos of the parade activities.

Daddy & Isaac taking in the parade

Isaac & Grandpa in the bounce house.

Caleb's One Year Photos

2011-07-09T13:43:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we went and got our pictures taken for Caleb's one year photos. We also got Isaac's three year photos and family photos. Below is a sample of some of the better ones. First is Caleb, then Isaac, then the boys together, and lastly our family photo.

Caleb's and Isaac's New Thing

2011-06-16T17:50:00.000-07:00

Isaac LOVES to dance & recently Caleb has been showing off some of his moves. Here is a video of the two of them together, notice Isaac's somersaults!

Although Caleb is not walking on his own yet, he is cruising behind his car. He loves to chase Isaac as Isaac pushes his dump truck all over the house. We are waiting for Caleb to take off on his own but it hasn't happened yet!

I find this video really funny as Caleb loves to push around two trucks or cars or tractors & walk behind them. I think he is trying to be like big brother as he watches Isaac push around his dump truck.

We found out this week that Caleb is probably going to have to get tubes in the near future. I actually have it scheduled for July 13. He hasn't been sleeping well for about 3 weeks & always has fluid in his ears at doctor appointments. We definitely know he is Zach's boy!

Here are pictures of the boys playing outside. Caleb loves to be outside with his car but has trouble understanding his boundaries. We can already see that he will be a good tantrum thrower!

Last Week

2011-06-07T19:40:00.001-07:00

I have been riding to work in a vanpool through DART for the last couple of months. I am a backup driver and last week the main driver was on vacation so I drove all last week. The 15 passenger van was in the driveway all week and Isaac loved the "big" van. He wanted to sit in it, so I let him and took a picture. Below is the photo. I also gave him a ride up and down the driveway. He really enjoyed it.

It was a long week last week with Regina's mom being released from the hospital after open heart surgery. There were lots of trips and Caleb and Isaac were at friends houses a lot and didn't get the best sleep. Below is a picture of a tired Caleb in the van.

Last weekend I ran in the dam to dam race in Des Moines, IA. It is a 12.4 mile run from the Saylorville dam to the Center Street dam in downtown Des Moines. My goal was to finish and I did. I only was able to train for 5 weeks and found out that isn't enough training but I made it. I even received a medal for finishing the race.

The last three days here have been very hot and humid, so on Sunday we got our little pool out and filled it up for some play time in the evening. The pool was pretty cold the first night, so Caleb was on the outside of the pool playing and Isaac and I were in the pool playing. Isaac and I enjoyed soaking each other with water and Caleb had fun grabbing toys and throwing them out of the pool. Isaac and I were in the pool again on Monday evening and the water was a lot warmer. On Tuesday Regina, Isaac, and Caleb played in it during the day. Below are some pictures.

Caleb grabbing a ball out of the pool.

Caleb grabbing the ball again, but this time he had his leg up on the side of the pool and was trying to get in. He had the side of the pool pushed down far enough that he was emptying the water out of the pool.

Isaac in the pool.

The boys in the pool for a picture.

Get Well Soon!

2011-05-28T19:18:00.000-07:00

Thursday my mom had triple bypass surgery & she did great! She spent less than 24 hours in ICU and all her tubes were removed today, just 48 hours after the operation. According to the nurses & doctors that is as good as it gets. They are hoping to have her home on Monday! Praise God for His faithfulness and His healing hand.

I decided this afternoon that Isaac & Caleb should make my mom something for her recovery. Of course, they are not actually going to help but I thought if I painted their hands & feet that at least I could say they touched the picture. So after supper Zach & I were ready to tackle this project. We determined the best way to do this was to strip the kids down, paint their hand & foot and then throw them immediately into the bathtub. It was getting late & I was concerned about getting Caleb to bed as quickly as possible so I thought it would be best to do his first. I didn't really think about it being a two person job and that I couldn't actually leave Caleb in the bathtub by himself to help Zach with Isaac so I had Caleb stripped before Zach could tell me how bad an idea it was. Then my cheap side kicked in & I decided not to put Caleb back in a diaper for 30 seconds...so I let him crawl on the floor naked until we got Isaac done. About 2 minutes later, Caleb had peed on the carpet. I didn't really mind considering it was just pee but Zach was a little more agitated. We were almost done with Isaac so I said "keep going." About 3 minutes later Zach starts yelling "he's pooping, he pooping!" AHHHHHH!!!! That's a problem!

What a mess!!! I quickly picked Caleb up & took him into the bathroom where I proceeded to put his feet in the toilet because they were all poopy! However, his butt was still poopy so now there was poop on the rim of toilet & Caleb was not impressed that he was partially in the toilet. Zach is yelling at me...I'm trying to do what I think is best but my attempts are failing miserably. Finally I just put Caleb in the clean bath water that I had just run. Caleb LOVES the bath so he started splashing & playing. He was not happy when I quickly washed him off & took him back out. So needless to say, Zach put a diaper on that child for less than 5 minutes of use. :)

I finished painting Isaac's hand & got him all cleaned up. Then we tried to get Caleb's prints but it is much harder to make a baby do what you want! His foot print was pretty good but his hand print is terrible. He wouldn't open his hand up to be painted! Oh well.

I'd like to say the excitement ended there but it didn't. We put Caleb & Isaac in the bath when we were finished. Zach cleaned up Caleb & then Caleb determined that standing was better than sitting and ended up falling. He had to get out of the bathtub then. I was busy getting him ready for bed and Zach was letting Isaac play in the tub while he finished cleaning up some of the previous mess. When Zach went back to get Isaac out...Isaac had pooped in the tub! I have gone 3 years without a child pooping in the tub and now my streak is officially over. So I cleaned poop out of the tub...again. What a night!

I hope my mom enjoys the picture and I know she will think the story is hilarious. I will have to wait to tell it until it no longer hurts to laugh though! :)

The past four days...

2011-05-22T06:40:00.001-07:00

Just a little disclaimer before you start reading...this post is going to be really long. A LOT has happened the past four days & it has been emotionally draining for me. This is the first that I've tried to put it into words so if you weren't looking at reading a novel...you should probably just take the shortened version. Here are the main events: Isaac fell & hit his head causing us to be on concussion watch, my mom had an angio & has severe blockages in her heart & will be having triple bypass surgery, Caleb's turning 1!

Now the whole story...

I spent the week taking Isaac to different doctor appointments because I guess that is what happens when you have a 3 year old. Wednesday we went to the dentist. I was surprised because they were actually going to clean his teeth with all the different tools. Isaac wouldn't let them of course but if he would have been willing... Instead they just counted his teeth, 30 in all. I learned that you don't take an almost 1 year old to these appointments. Isaac wouldn't get in the chair so I had to put Caleb down so I could sit with Isaac for a minute. A minute was all Caleb needed to escape down the hall!

On Thursday morning we went to the eye doctor because Isaac didn't do so well on his vision screening at his 3 year checkup. I think he was just disinterested in telling the nurse the shapes he had told her 1000 times before. Anyway, we went to the same eye dr that I go to and he is actually our old neighbor. He said Isaac's vision is just fine and wanted to dialate Isaac's eyes to get a baseline to compare in future years. Isaac allowed him to put the drops in and therefore had his eyes dialated. I've had my eyes dialated many times before & it didn't really register with me that he wouldn't be able to see the greatest. When we were ready to leave I picked Caleb up & Isaac ran in front of me to the door. I opened it for him & and he proceeded to run out...missing the step down. He fell & smacked his head hard on the concrete. He immediately had a mark & was crying hysterically. I froze for a moment because I had Caleb in my arms & I knew I needed to get to Isaac but if I put Caleb down he would crawl into the street. I managed to wedge Caleb in between my feet so I could pick up Isaac. My van was parked down the street & I knew Isaac wasn't walking there by himself so my next thought was "How am I going to carry both of these children to the van". I did it and thank God my van has automatic doors so all I had to do was push a button. I managed to get them both in but couldn't get Isaac calmed down. Our house is only 7-8 blocks from the eye doctor so I quickly drove home & got some ice for the goose egg that was on Isaac's head. I called my mom who is a nurse & asked her what I needed to be looking for and she reassured me that if he didn't lose consciousness (which he didn't) that he was probably ok and to watch him for signs of sleepiness or vomiting. Ok...I can do that.

I took a deep breath & determined that we would need to go grab something to eat from Burger King because it was getting late. I called Zach & told him what had happened and in the middle of my conversation I heard Isaac snoring. I looked back & he was out. I tried to wake him up but he wasn't responding. At this point I am in the Burger King drive thru & I can feel the panic starting to well up. I quickly got our food & called my mother back. She informed me that I needed to call our dr. It was lunch hour so our doctor wasn't in the office but they asked me all the questions & determined I needed to get to the ER immediately. More panic welling up...tears...everything. I hadn't fed Caleb a bottle & I didn't have any of his solids with me so I had to run home first. I called Zach again and told him what was happening. He agreed to meet me at the hospital. I quickly ran in the house & grabbed what I needed for Caleb to eat & then ran back inside when Zach told me that I would need stuff for naptime. Finally we were on the road. Isaac partially woke up when we got to the south side of Des Moines but he was extremely disoriented and made no sense when he talked.

We got into the ER & the doctors checked him, gave him some motrin & had him drink some apple juice. He hadn't eaten anything but he only wanted to lay on Zach's shoulder so we just did the apple juice. They observed him for a little over an hour to see if he would vomit. He started to "perk" up after about 90 minutes so they decided to send him home. They told us to watch for any vomiting & if he napped more than normal. I took a breath of relief & we got in the van to come home. About 10 minutes after we left...Isaac puked in the car. Immediately that sense of panic returned but after a phone call back to the ER they assured me that I only needed to bring him back if he vomited again. Great. We stopped & got Isaac some water & crackers and he ate them. When we got home he wanted to play outside while Zach grilled. He seemed like our normal little guy again.

We have all been sick with cough & snotty nose so we had scheduled a dr. appt for the boys prior to all this craziness. Thursday evening we saw Isaac's regular dr & he seemed to think Isaac would be fine. All my boys...Zach included, are now on antibiotics though. Praise God Isaac's fall was just a fall & not more serious.

While we were in the midst of all that craziness my mom had a stress test done Wednesday & they thought she might have some blockage in her heart. They sent her to a cardiologist on Thursday & the cardiologist sent her for an angio on Friday. They told her she would probably be getting a stint to correct the blockage but there was a small chance they would need to do bypass surgery. I'm good with the small chance and I was already overwhelmed with Isaac's day so I didn't put too much into my mom's procedure. Friday morning, Isaac was his usual energetic self so my focus shifted. My dad called mid morning and said they couldn't do the stint because the artery on the front of my mom's heart was 95% blocked with 60% blockage further down, the artery across her heart was 60% blocked, & the artery on the back side of her heart was 99% blocked with 70% blockage further down. Triple bypass surgery is necessary but they didn't know when. I knew I couldn't stick around my house so I made plans to go up to the hospital. By the time I got there they had decided to do the surgery next Thursday & send my mom home in the mean time. Praise God there is zero damage to her heart right now & this surgery will keep her heart healthy, hopefully for a long time. Its still scary though.

I'm still in the middle of processing this. Part of me says "don't make a big deal of it and it won't be a big deal." But another part says "you can't get through this without your friends & family so tell them and allow them to walk beside you through this." I guess that is the part that is winning the arguement! I ask for your prayers 1) for my mom as she doesn't want this (none of us do) but has to wait 5 more days until the surgery. She's sleeping but also having trouble with her mind racing. She knows she is in God's hands & that He has brought her to this point but she's human. 2) Pray the surgery will go well and there would be no complications. Pray that my mom will spend minimal time in the intensive care unit so she can be home as quickly as possible. 3) Pray for my dad. He is rock solid & strong but this has to be scary for him as well. He will never tell anyone though so pray that he will be able to outlet his emotions as well. 4) Pray for my family. I have 2 older brothers and my mom has 3 sisters & 1 brother who will be sitting in the waiting room on Thursday. 5) Pray for me as I process this. I am scared. Emotions that I have buried since my grandmas death are staring me in the face. My first reaction is to deny & run away but I know that God has more for me in this.

If those two things weren't enough we also had Caleb's 1st birthday party on Saturday! It was good to have a bright spot in an otherwise gray time. My mom was able to come down and we all had a really fun time.

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this...I told you it would be extremely long!

Caleb's birthday

2011-05-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

My baby is turning 1 tomorrow and we had our family party yesterday afternoon to celebrate. Zach's parents & grandparents were here along with my mom & dad and my sister in-law Sarah. My brothers couldn't make it due to busy schedules.

I opened most of Caleb's presents because he was too busy trying to eat the cards or trying to open the presents brought for Isaac. We got lots of clothes for the summer, some books, & a ball for Caleb to play with.

After some lunch we decided to try the birthday cake. Once again, I baked this cake & frosted it and Zach did the decorating. Before going any further I need to tell you that Caleb is still not eating table food because he doesn't like the texture. When I try to feed him something new his response is usually 1) won't open his mouth or push away the food with his hands OR 2) if I get the food into his mouth he typically spits it out or GAGS & THROWS UP!!! So I wasn't expecting him to eat the cake either & my prediction was correct. He definitely played in the cake and wiped it all over his face. It looks like he ate cake but...he didn't. I tried to put some in his mouth with my finger & with a fork but no luck. He wouldn't open up.

We put the cake in front of him & he had no idea what to do

Trying to put a piece in his mouth

He looks like he ate cake but really he just played in it!

We bought Isaac some squirt guns and so tons of fun was had by all, including the grandpas. I'm not sure who liked them more...Isaac or mommy & daddy! The squirt guns came in this backpack that Isaac also loves & wears everywhere!

Isaac's Birthday

2011-05-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

We have been meaning to post this for a while as Isaac's birthday was on April 18th. We had my parents and sister over one weekend, some friends over on Monday the 18th, and Regina's parents and brothers came the next weekend. Isaac ended up having 3 birthday parties, which he enjoyed a lot. Below are pictures from some of the parties.

Isaac and Grandpa Leif putting together a barn that Grandpa made for Isaac.
Isaac with his Thomas cake that we made.

Isaac opening a present, a Thomas book.

We had a Easter egg hunt with Isaac and his cousins. Isaac found one!

Isaac found another one! He walked right by this one the first time.

Isaac blowing out a candle.

Caleb looking at Isaac, who is in Caleb's crib.

We have another party to get ready for next weekend. It is Caleb's birthday on May 23rd and we are having the party on the 21st. Should be another fun time. I wonder what Isaac will think when the presents are not for him.

Weekend at Grandpa and Grandma's

2011-03-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went up to Grandpa and Grandma Erickson's house to spend some time with the Grandparents. We arrived Friday, went to Mall of America on Saturday, and then came back on Sunday. Isaac enjoyed riding the rides at Mall of America and going out to the farm on Sunday morning. We all had a good weekend and had lots of fun. Grandpa and Grandma got to see Caleb crawling around all over the place as well (they hadn't seen that yet). Below are some pictures from the weekend. Grandma Mary with her grandsons Isaac with daddy riding a car ride that turns the corner really fast. He really enjoyed this along with the rollercoaster and the train rides. Grandpa Leif with Caleb while Isaac and daddy were riding the rides. Caleb loves his new ball. The boys looking cool in their new sunglasses. Check out the next post as well. I did them both on the same night. They are pictures of Caleb from his 9-month photos.

Caleb's 9 Month Photos

2011-03-28T19:46:00.001-07:00

This past Thursday we went to get Caleb's 9-month pictures taken. He is technically 10-months now, but we have had sickness in our house for the past 3-4 weeks and are just now getting healthy. Below are a few of the pictures that were taken.

Check out those teeth

Am I wearing anything?

Nice hat and tie!

We did get a few pictures of Isaac as well. Below is one of Isaac.

Some more videos

2011-03-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

The other night Zach & the boys were playing in the living room while I made supper and this was too funny not to video. Who knew...Caleb loves to headbang!

This is a video I shot a couple of months ago. Zach was playing basketball and I was trying to get the boys to bed. After changing Isaac and Caleb, I left them both in Isaac's room while I made Caleb's bottle. This is what I heard from the kitchen!

For those reading this post on facebook you will have to go to our blog to see these videos. zachandregina.blogspot.com.

A new milestone...crawling

2011-03-02T18:50:00.000-08:00

Caleb started crawling on my birthday, February 24. He turned 9 months on the 23rd and decided to take off the next day. We knew this was coming as he has been moving backward for a couple of weeks now. It is absolutely amazing to see your child crawl for the first time and even better when it's on your birthday! I remember the day Isaac started crawling and how proud I was at that moment. Tears well up and I realize that my baby is one step closer to not being a baby.

Here are a couple of pictures of the places Caleb has found himself since he started moving backward and now every direction. Each of these places required mommy to rescue him and thus mommy chose to make him suffer through a photo. :)

Before knowing how to go forward, Caleb literally "backed himself into a corner".

And under Isaac's rocking chair.

Here he was going forward...he saw a ball behind the rocking chair and instead of taking the easier, longer road...he chose the shorter, much narrower and harder path...he ended up needing rescued!

He LOVES Isaac's puzzle pieces and when one is under the chair Caleb feels the necessity to go in after it. He knew how to go foward here but chose to back himself in.

Here is a video of Caleb crawling. It looks like he is going after the ball but indeed it is a dirty diaper. It was the only way I could get him to crawl after something so I could get it on video. I did stop the video before he tried to eat the diaper...I am not that bad of a mom!

Some funny stories

2011-02-22T06:52:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have spent any time around Isaac you know that he is completely obsessed with tractors. The other night we had supper at Burger King before youth group and while Zach was waiting for our food, Isaac and I were listening to the music playing. For those who know country, Jason Aldean's song Big Green Tractor was playing and I was singing to Isaac..."take me for a ride on your big green tractor." Isaac proceeds to yell "NO! BIG GREEN JOHNNY POPPER TRACTOR!" Zach looks over at us from across the restaurant with a look of "what was that about?" I was laughing hysterically. Isaac got a DVD for Christmas all about John Deere Tractors and the Johnny Popper is the earliest model they have. Every tractor is a Johnny Popper in his eyes. :)

Isaac will be 3 in a couple of months and he understands everything. We went to Chili's the other night to celebrate my birthday a week early and when we were leaving Isaac wanted to put Zach's money clip in his coat pocket. Not the outside coat pocket but the inside coat pocket. He then told us that he was keeping the money and he would pay in the future. He rode home with our money in his pocket! We'd better enroll him in a Dave Ramsey class quick!

Well I suppose I should write a little about Caleb. He is busy backing around the living room, stealing Isaac's toys. He is a funny little boy with an amazing reach! He lays out for a toy and then backs up until he reaches sitting position again. He usually ends up sitting on a toy or two and has tried to sit on the wall or couch a few times. Caleb still will not roll over, although I know he can. He has found himself in a few predicaments, like underneath Isaac's rocking chair or stuck in the corner by the TV and toybox. My favorite thing to watch is Caleb on the kitchen floor. His master plan of backing up to sitting position doesn't work because he can't get any traction so he just ends up sliding and sliding, crying because he can't do what he wants. :) In the past 2 days we have seen signs that he will be crawling soon. He gets about two "steps" in and then falls on his belly.

Okay, quick update on the surgery I had last month. Recovery has been extremely slow and until this past weekend I couldn't bend my leg more than 90 degrees. The doctor decided to send me to physical therapy and the exercises he gave me seem to be helping. It is still slow but there is definitely progress and I think I will be back to normal again some day. I will remember this if I happen to need this done again. Not while I have small children!

Sorry no pictures with this post, I just wanted to give an update and share our funny stories! Hopefully we can do this more often and post pictures when we can.

Caleb's Mobile

2011-02-08T15:22:00.000-08:00

There have been a couple of new things happening with Caleb lately. He has started to move around when we set him down. He can go from sitting up to his tummy, then he can move backward and in circles. He has just started to push himself up into sitting position from the backwards moving. He hasn't started crawling yet, but he is getting close, should be soon. Not sure what Isaac thinks of this. Just tonight Caleb moved over to Isaac's box of tractors and took one out. Isaac said, "Caleb stop taking my stuff" and proceeded to move the box away from Caleb. Should be fun once Caleb starts crawling. Below is a picture of Caleb trying to move around.

Caleb has also been teething a lot lately, which means he isn't sleeping quite as well. We think the front top ones are trying to come in. He has the bottom two in already. Below is a good picture of Caleb's two toothed smile.
The last couple of weeks have been crazy around the house. Regina had surgery to remove a bone spur from just above her right knee on January 28th. It was causing her problems in bending her knee. So, I got to stay home and take care of her and the boys for a few days. Regina is starting to walk around but the knee is a little stiff still. I am thankful that she is able to help out again with the boys. We have a follow up appointment in Iowa City on February 10th (we make sure we wear all our Iowa State Cyclone gear). Below is a good picture of the boys in our living room.

Happy New Year

2011-01-15T14:13:00.001-08:00

Its a new year. It has been a busy couple of months with visiting family and the holidays. Below are a few pictures from the holidays:

Caleb with his great grandpa.

Isaac and Caleb with their Aunt Lacy.

Isaac and Caleb with their Grandma Erickson.

Isaac after helping mom and dad make Christmas treats. He liked the chocolate.

Isaac helping dad put the star on the Christmas tree.

Isaac with his Grandpa Beerends.

Caleb opening his presents with mommy.

6 Months Old

2010-11-23T15:20:00.000-08:00

Today Caleb is 6 months old! Time has sure gone fast! We went to Des Moines last Friday and took his 6 month photos in time for the holiday season. Caleb is so different than Isaac when it comes to pictures, he doesn't cry and he smiles from ear to ear. Isaac is still professional camera shy as I had to drag him into the room in order to have his picture taken with Caleb! Caleb is a flirt, such a ladies man! The photographer told him he was a cutie and he just smiled bigger! We had a hard time choosing the pictures we wanted because they were just so good! Here a just a few of the best:

We didn't take a lot of individuals of Isaac but here is one of his best photos. Isaac doesn't cry anymore but pictures are difficult because he refuses to stand still! A lot of the pictures ended up being of Isaac jumping in the air.

Here are my two boys in front of the Christmas scene. They are so cute!

6 months means Caleb is now closer to being 1 year old than he is to being a newborn. I was just looking through pictures for scrapbooking this morning and remembering the day of his birth. I remember it so vividly yet it seems like such a long time ago. Caleb has had double ear infection the past 10 days. We started with just one ear infected, got antibiotics and a week later we went in for a recheck and he had it in the other ear. How do you get ear infection when you've been on antibiotics??? Anyway, at that appointment he weighed 18 pounds. I'm interested to see what his stats are at his 6 month appointment. Caleb is now rolling to his stomach but hasn't quite figured out how to get back over. That usually makes him angry! He hasn't cut any teeth yet but he is chewing on everything so it probably won't be long.

We are headed north this Thanksgiving. Zach's parents bought a hotel stay in Rochester for Friday and Saturday night so we are excited to take Isaac swimming and do a little Christmas shopping. Zach's sister will be home from Portland so we are going to do our Christmas exchange early. Then Zach and I took Monday off so we will be putting up Christmas decorations and recuperating from traveling! We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Caleb's Dedication

2010-11-21T19:37:00.001-08:00

This Sunday we had Caleb's dedication at church. We chose Caleb's name from the story in the Bible where the 12 spies were sent into the Promise Land to scout the land. When the 12 spies returned only Caleb and Joshua believed and had faith that God would give them the land. The rest of the spies were afraid the people living in the land would defeat them. The verse that we read was Numbers 14:24 where God is talking to Moses and says - "But my servant Caleb is different from the others. He has remained loyal to me, and I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will receive their full share of the land." Our prayer for Caleb is that he would remain loyal to God and he would have faith that God can do the impossible.

We had a lot family here this weekend for the dedication. Below are some pictures of our family, the Erickson family, and the Beerends family.

Halloween

2010-11-12T03:47:00.001-08:00

I've been meaning to get these Halloween photos up on the blog for a little while. So hear they are. Caleb was a puppy and Isaac was a tiger.

In the morning we took the kids to the square. They had some activities and trick-or-treating around the square. It was alright and I think Isaac enjoyed it. Below is a picture of Caleb in the car on the way there.

After naps in the afternoon, we went to the Blank Park Zoo. They have something called Night Eyes for Halloween. It was fun. You walked through the zoo and collected some candy and they had games and things for the kids to do as well. The tiger was out walking around so we got some pictures of Isaac with the tiger.

The tiger came right up to the window at one point. Isaac and mommy were checking him out.

Later, mommy found Caleb trying to steal daddy's candy. Caleb had his hand in the candy bag.

Caleb finding out he was caught. Candy stealer.

Isaac doing what he likes best.

Pumpkin Carving

2010-10-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend Grandpa and Grandma Erickson came down for Friday and Saturday. The boys enjoyed some time playing with them. They brought tractor books for Isaac which he loves. They were John Deere advertising pamphlets but Isaac likes to look at the pictures. Below are some pictures of the boys in matching outfits that we bought them.

Isaac poked Caleb in the eye and Regina got the picture. He will pay for that later. On Saturday we went and bought some pumpkins to carve and we carved it up on Saturday evening. Below are the pictures of Isaac helping clean the pumpkin out and the final result.

On Sunday Grandpa and Grandma Beerends came to babysit the boys while Regina and I went to our church's membership meeting. The boys enjoyed play time with them as well. This weekend the boys got their share of grandparent's time.

Family Vacation

2010-10-20T19:32:00.001-07:00

Last week we traveled to the Amana Colonies for a "mini" family vacation. This was our first since Isaac was born! We traveled Thursday to Williamsburg and spent the afternoon shopping at the Tanger Outlet Mall. We found a lot of great deals and Isaac enjoyed riding "his" tractor (Bob the builder) and "his" golf cart (a Mickey Mouse ride). He still talks about them when he sees the pictures! :) Caleb enjoyed some stroller time while we shopped.

After the outlet mall we checked into our hotel, which had a waterpark. We spent all day Friday at the hotel. Isaac really enjoyed swimming except for the big bucket that spilled water over the entire play area every so often. He is a little traumatized as daddy didn't realize it was there until it had sent water on his and Isaac's head the first night. He didn't really care to get too close after that! This was Caleb's first time in the water and he seemed to enjoy it.

After naps on Friday afternoon we played on the playground at the hotel. Isaac really enjoyed running around the castle, sliding down the big slide, and swinging on the tire swing.

I took this picture as we were walking through the parking lot on the way to the park. I thought it would be funny but it turned out to be a really cool picture of our little family! Caleb is strapped to me in the baby bjorn, you can kind of see him by my head.

I was a little worried about us all sleeping in the same room, especially since Caleb wakes up in the middle of the night to eat. However things went better than I expected. Zach ended up sleeping with Isaac and that helped Isaac to get some good sleep. Isaac did manage to fall out of bed one night but he didn't even wake up! Zach had a hard time getting him back into bed. Below is a picture of the boys Friday morning watching their cartoons on the bed.

Saturday we went to Coralville to see where my brother and his wife now live. We spent some time at the Coralville Mall and then took off for home. Sunday was spent catching up on some much needed sleep! We had a really great time and the boys did too.

Last Month

2010-10-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

Lots has happened since our last post. I had sinus surgery a couple of weeks ago. Grandma Erickson came down to help Regina out while I was recovering. We also had a visit from my Aunt Cheryl and my Grandpa and Grandma. Aunt Cheryl bought a four wheeler for Isaac to ride on. He really likes it. We have 2 four wheelers now and I race Isaac in the driveway. Below are a few pictures to enjoy.

Tummy time

Caleb during tummy time

Racing four wheelers

Caleb playing with his links

Isaac kissing Caleb in his exersaucer

Weekend Away

2010-09-07T16:57:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday Iowa State opened up the college football season. So Regina put the boys in their ISU gear. Below is a picture of them together.

This past weekend we went to Austin, MN to visit my parents. We stopped at my dad's golf course in Charles City on the way up to play a little golf and let Isaac on a golf course for the first time. He loved it. He really liked to drive the golf cart. Below is a picture of him in the golf cart.

On Sunday morning, we went to my dad's farm and went out on the boat to go fishing. I caught one right away and then Isaac helped me reel it in. Below is a picture of the fish with Isaac and grandpa.

Isaac got tired and disinterested in fishing pretty quickly. He just wanted to drive the green tractor. So later, he got to drive the tractor with grandpa. Below are some pictures.

Iowa State Fair

2010-08-25T16:06:00.001-07:00

On Saturday we went to the Iowa State Fair. The City of Des Moines gave us some free tickets to get in and $6 for food. So we went to the fair. The first thing we saw when entering the fair was Elmo. Isaac likes Elmo and he and Regina got a picture with Elmo.

Next we went to the Little Farmers site so Isaac could be a farmer. His hat was a little big.

Isaac got to ride on a green tractor, which he loved.

Picture of Caleb at the fair.

Regina and Isaac went down the big slide. Isaac enjoyed it.

It was a little hot at the fair, but we enjoyed it. After the slide we found something to eat and then went home to take naps.

Pictures

2010-08-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we picked Zach up at work and went to West Des Moines to take professional pictures. We haven't taken any since Isaac was 18 months and didn't know if Isaac would take any good photos or not. All of our other experiences have been terrible but this one proved us wrong! Isaac was hesitant at first but warmed up to the photographer when she showed him a stuffed monkey. Here are a few of the pictures:

Brothers:

Isaac:

Caleb:

Things are going well at our house. Caleb is sleeping from about 9 PM to 6 AM each night and we are so thankful. He is growing like crazy! At his 2 month check up he was 13 1/2 pounds and 24 inches long! Isaac continues to amaze us, we are learning to watch what we say as he repeats everything! He loves to play outside and mow with daddy. He also gets very excited about Papa's tractor. He loves tractor rides and tells us about them daily! Isaac has learned how to operate the phone and is known to call daddy at work or Papa without mommy knowing!

I am back to work and enjoying a day without children. I am only working one day a week now so it's a full days work in order to get all the finances done! Monday evenings are early to bed evenings!

This weekend we are headed to my parents for my 10 year class reunion. Isaac is so excited because that means he'll get a tractor ride! Zach and I are happy to have a golf outing with our friends. Hopefully the rain will stay away!

Balloons

2010-08-02T14:52:00.001-07:00

Last week Isaac wanted to get into the crib with Caleb. So we let him. Below is a picture of the brothers laying in the crib

My sister was back home this weekend. My mom, grandma, and her came down on Saturday to visit Caleb and Isaac. They went to the balloon parade with us and then we went out to Pickard Park to watch the balloons launch in the evening. Everyone enjoyed the balloons. It was a good time. Isaac and Caleb enjoyed having their grandmas and aunt around for the day.

Picture of my sister holding Caleb.

Grandma and Isaac at Pickard Park watching the balloons

Isaac with great grandma and grandma watching balloons

Balloons fill the sky

Trip to the Zoo

2010-07-27T03:53:00.000-07:00

We went to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines this past weekend with Regina's parents and our niece and nephew. It was a good day for a visit to the zoo. It was sunny out but not too hot. Isaac enjoyed the trip and Caleb slept the whole time in his stroller.

Above is a picture of Isaac and me inside the Prairie Dog lookout. You can crawl through a pipe and get to the inside of the display and see the prairie dogs better.

This is Isaac with his cousins, Garret and Alyssa. They are in front of an aquarium.

Regina took this picture this week. Caleb has started to smile. This is Caleb showing off his smile to everyone.

Weekend

2010-07-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my parents and grandparents came to visit and see Isaac and Caleb. Both boys had fun and it was good to see everyone. The boys are now getting caught up from missing their naps and getting back into a schedule. Caleb is doing better at sleeping through the night, but some improvement in going to sleep at night is still needed. He is a little fussy on some nights. Below are some photos from the last couple of weeks.

Regina with Caleb

Regina with her boys

Caleb was laying on his blanket on the floor and Isaac wanted to lay down as well

Caleb Update and Swimming

2010-07-05T09:42:00.000-07:00

We haven't posted since we returned from the hospital with Caleb. It has been 6 weeks at home now. We have been getting a little sleep. Caleb went through a time period where he was awake and fussy from about 8 pm until 2 am. Recently we decided to stop giving him gas drops and now he is a lot less fussy. He is growing and doing well. Below is a picture of the family when we left the hospital. Picture of Caleb at home.

Above is a picture of Isaac swimming with me. He had swimming lessons the last 4 weeks. He is doing pretty well in the pool and likes to play in the water. Here he is kicking while I pull him in the water. When you do something he doesn't want he will tell you "no".

Above is a picture of Regina's 3 boys. Isaac now almost says Caleb's name. It comes out more like Cayba. It is pretty funny. Isaac continues to repeat our words and say more and more.

Baby Caleb

2010-05-24T18:47:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday we went to Buxton Park to get some family photos done while Regina was still pregnant. Regina wanted to get some done and it was a beautiful day to get outside and enjoy the weather. Below are a couple of the better pictures.

It was a good thing that we decided to do those photos on Saturday because on Sunday Regina went into labor. Early Sunday morning Regina was leaking fluid so we headed to the hospital. We arrived at 4 am on Sunday and by 8:31 pm we had a baby boy. Caleb Bryce Erickson arrived at 8:31 pm on May 23rd. He was 8 lbs and 21 inches long. Regina was able to have a successful vbac delivery. All went well and we are currently recovering in the hospital. Below are a few of the pictures taken at the hospital.

Zach, Regina, Isaac, and Caleb

Isaac checking out his new baby brother, Caleb.

Below are 3 professional photos that were taken at the hospital.

Week 38

2010-05-15T13:51:00.001-07:00

I have had some requests to see what Regina is looking like lately. Below are the comparison photos between this pregnancy and Isaac's.

Current pregnancy @ 38 weeks

Isaac's pregnancy @ 38 weeks

Regina and I are working to get everything ready for the new baby. We still have a few things to accomplish. We were just talking about how once Regina gets to this Tuesday she will have carried this baby longer than Isaac. That means things are hopefully close to happening. We have another appointment on Tuesday to see how things are progressing. Right now everything is going well but not a lot of progression.

Week 37

2010-05-05T18:17:00.000-07:00

We are now on week 37 of the pregnancy. We had an appointment on Tuesday and will have one every Tuesday from now on. The doctor wasn't sure if baby was head down so we had another ultrasound. The ultrasound confirmed that baby's head was down. Great news!!! Now we just have to get Regina through the last couple of weeks. Below are some pictures of Isaac from the last week.

This picture is from last week after Isaac's nap. His hair was everywhere. He definately needed a hair cut so on Saturday I gave him his 2nd hair cut. He did a lot better this time. He didn't cry or try to get to mommy. The only issue was that he still moves a lot, but that will get better with time.

Isaac with his bubble mower and me mowing the lawn.

The 2 videos below are of Isaac and his plastic golf clubs that Grandpa and Grandma Erickson gave him for his birthday. I was helping him hit the ball and after he got the hang of it he got excited. He was hitting it to me and I was throwing the ball back to him until I almost took one off the face (he hit it a little harder than I was expecting). The first one is a short one and the second one is in his room and I think it is funny (it is a little longer).

Isaac's New Room

2010-04-29T18:31:00.001-07:00

We finished Isaac's room this past weekend and wanted to share some photos of the room. We did a cars theme to the room. It was fun to put it all together and we enjoyed the decorating. The photo frames don't have our pictures in them yet, but we put them up anyway to get an idea where to put everything else. We are still going to look for a book shelf for all of his books, but here it is.

Isaac's Bed

Isaac's New Toy Organizer

Isaac's Dresser and Closet

Isaac's Rug

Picture of Isaac in his room

Isaac loves his new room. We have pretty well transfered over to the new room. He slept in his bed yesterday for his nap and last night and did really well. He is currently in bed getting ready to go to sleep again.

We are at week 36 in the pregnancy. Everything is still going well. Regina is ready to have this baby as it is getting harder for her to move around. At our appointment yesterday the doctor said the baby is head down, which is great news, as long as the baby doesn't turn between now and week 40.

2nd Birthday

2010-04-20T15:31:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was Isaac's 2nd Birthday. We had a party on Saturday with the family. Our parents and my grandparents were able to attend along with Regina's brother and sister-in-law. Our friends Brenda and Kyle happened to be in town and stopped by as well. The party was a lot of fun. For the party Regina and I decorated a cake. She baked and frosted it and then helped me decorate it. We did a cars theme and a picture of the cake and decorations are below.

Isaac and me after I helped him blow out the candle.

We got Isaac a swingset for his birthday, which the family helped me put together during his nap. He loves his swingset and now says "outside" all the time because he wants to go out and play. The other morning Regina went in to get him up and his first word was "outside". Below are some pictures of him playing on the swingset.

Some other gifts that Isaac received included play-doh, a plastic golf set, clothes (which were needed), sidewalk chalk, and some cars. We got him some matchbox cars and a container for them. The video is him opening the matchbox cars.

Last Months Update

2010-04-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since our last update. Regina is 34 weeks pregnant and doesn't have much energy anymore, so I am attempting to relearn the process. I will try to keep it up-to-date, especially when the new baby comes.

Isaac's Grandma Erickson bought him some overalls from the Bass Pro Shop for Christmas. Regina thought it would be a while before he would fit into them so they were in the drawer. However, when we pulled them out they didn't fit. The buttons would pop open in the crotch. But Isaac loves them and wanted to wear them anyway. Below is a really funny pic of Isaac in them. He now gives this face to the camera.

In March we took a trip to Austin to visit Grandpa and Grandma Erickson. It was around Grandma's 60th and my 30th birthday. Below are some pictures from the trip. Grandpa got the fishing pole out in the living room and acted like there was a fish on the line and Isaac tried really hard to hold on (check out the face). The other photo is Isaac walking around on Grandpa's farm land.

Recently, Regina took some video of Isaac on the couch. We have been trying to get him on video playing his guitar, but have not been successful yet. This one is a taste, hopefully we will get a better one sometime in the future. The second video is Isaac saying his A, B, Cs.

We are currently preparing Isaac's new bedroom so that the baby will have a place to sleep. We are also getting ready for Isaac's 2nd birthday party, which is this weekend. I will post some pictures next week of the new bedroom and birthday party.

A weekend to remember...

2010-03-07T18:53:00.000-08:00

We had a very memorable weekend. We were invited to our friend Mark & Julie's in Dubuque for their son, Asher's birthday party. We haven't seen where they live yet and there was nothing on our calendar for the weekend so we decided to make the trip. We left Saturday at noon and planned to be back early this morning for Zach's basketball game at 12:30. So it was a short, quick trip.

We actually got on the road at the time we were planning which never happens for me! Zach drove and Isaac fell asleep right away, which was the plan. However, that is pretty much where the plan ended. I should back up and say that we took our trailblazer in on Friday to replace a vaccuum pump that was causing our check engine light to be on. The guy told me that they had to put the vehicle on the hoist and leave it in neutral for a couple hours, so it ran our battery down. But he didn't seem concerned and I didn't think anything more of it.

We reached interstate 80 and after passing every car on the road, with ease, we realized that our spedometer might be a little off. Zach slowed down and tried to gage off the semi's where 70 miles an hour was. He finally set the cruise at 45 and we stayed with traffic. We estimate that before we realized it was broken, we were probably doing 100 mph! Shortly after we got on I-380 north our vehicle started vibrating and not 2 minutes after Zach asked me if I felt it, our tire blew out. Zach got us off to the side of the road safely and we started getting the necessary supplies to change the tire. Luckily we have a full size spare. Unfortunately we had to take Isaac out of his carseat to reach the jack underneath the back seat. Isaac sat in the front with me and had so much fun being a "big" person.

You might be thinking, "wow that's some bad luck". It gets worse. Zach changed the tire, we got Isaac back in his seat, we went to start the car and everything was locked up. I noticed our hazard lights were no longer on and so we determined that our battery was dead. We aren't stranded on the road very often and I have to say I've never called Triple A. Don't know how...so I called 911. This method probably took longer but eventually someone came to jump start us. The guy couldn't bypass the battery so we sat there hooked up for 10 minutes while our battery charged. We were thinking we would have to be towed and our trip was over. However, charging the battery worked and we started right up! The guy was nice enough to tell us a place to have our spare blown up for free. We finally got back on the road after 2 hours of sitting on the side of the road. But we must not have been paying attention because we missed our next turn off and ended up a few miles out of our way. Luckily Zach had researched our route and realized this before it was too late.

We made it to Dubuque, got lost trying to find our friends house, but we finally reached our destination an hour after the party had started and 5 hours after we left our house. Isaac and Asher had such fun together and it was great to see our friends again.

You'd think that would be the end of our terrible luck but at the hotel Saturday night Isaac tripped in the bathroom and split his upper lip open. Not something one wants to deal with at 9:00 after Isaac only slept 45 minutes all day. There was lots of blood but we got ice on it and it finally stopped bleeding. He doesn't look too bad today. I am happy to say that our ride home was boring and uneventful!

Isaac giving Asher a hug.

They played with Asher's new toys and pushed each other around on the tractor for a while. It was so fun to watch!

Asher was tired of opening presents so he began giving them to Isaac to open. Isaac was quick to agree and excited to see what was in the boxes!

Both boys opening presents!

Belly watch...and more

2010-03-02T07:37:00.000-08:00

Week 28 has started and today I have to take my gestational diabetes test. whoo hoo!?! Can you feel the excitement in my typing? I passed with flying colors with Isaac and didn't have any issues after drinking the high dose of sugar but I have a feeling this baby will be bouncing off the walls tonight! I'm not expecting much sleep.

Current pregnancy at 27 weeks

Isaac's pregnancy at 27 weeks

I had a really great birthday last week. Wednesday was my actual birthday and we celebrated by eating lunch at my favorite chinese restuarant with Zach. It was delicious! Isaac didn't really eat the chinese except the soup and the crab ragoon, both of which I hate so it worked out. I brought him other things from home and he ate well. Later that evening, Zach suprised me with flowers and Dairy Queen ice cream. Their brownie batter blizzard is addictive and YUMMY!! Zach took me away for an overnight hotel stay on Saturday and my parents stayed with Isaac. It's so nice to be able to get away and not worry about how my child will react to us being gone. He loves all his grandpas & grandmas and sometimes I think he prefers to be with them instead of us!

Isaac has reached a new milestone: pouting. Anytime he doesn't get what he wants he buries his head into his hands or into the floor, or into the couch. Then he looks up to see if we've changed our mind. Most of the time I have a very hard time not laughing out loud! I try to get pictures of this but everytime the camera comes out he thinks he needs to smile.

Isaac has also learned that he can say no to our requests. It's cute...but it gets old after a while! Our little guy is so good but there are instances when he has to take a time out for not listening.

Cyclone game...

2010-02-20T06:46:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we took Isaac to his first Cyclone sporting event. We watched the ISU women's basketball team dominate Baylor. It was a really fun game to watch! Isaac seemed to enjoy himself and made sure we knew where Cy (team mascot) was at all times. Isaac has an ISU book that has Cy on each page so it was fun to see him recognize Cy and be extremely interested in him. Cy didn't visit us...we thought that might be a bit too much for our buddy!

Isaac's "cheese" smile now turns out with eyes closed! He and daddy had a fun time watching the game together!

Isaac clapping to the ISU fight song after we won. He is definitely going to be an ISU fan!

First Haircut...

2010-02-09T13:15:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday we decided to hit another milestone and gave our big boy a haircut. His curls were a little out of control for me! Zach had the desire to do it himself so we gave it a shot. Isaac did fairly well for being 21 months. He held still for about 3-4 minutes and then cried and wanted to be held. After the haircut I put him in his bath & he wanted out right away. We must have traumatized him but he looks so handsome! Definitely looks like a big boy now! I kept a few of his curls for his baby book.

Our before shot of Isaac's curls & waves

The first few minutes Isaac held still

After that he turned his head a lot and cried for mommy to hold him!

The finished product! He looks like such a big boy!

No more curls!

The belly watch...

2010-02-09T13:06:00.000-08:00

25 weeks has arrived and we've taken another picture. This pregnancy seems to be flying by faster and faster. We have one more appointment and than we start going every other week! I'm still doing really well except I have tasted the uncomfortable stage lately! I think it's too soon for that! Baby is still healthy and kicking like crazy! I had almost forgotten how much fun it is to feel life thriving inside you. So I will take the uncomfortable stage for now... :) Here are pictures from this pregnancy and Isaac's pregnancy. Can you see a difference?

Current pregnancy at 24 weeks

Isaac's pregnancy at 24 weeks.

talking...

2010-01-26T17:44:00.000-08:00

Isaac is starting to say more and more words. Tonight I said "night, night" and he said it back to me for the first time. He is really good at saying "bye" and loves to tell people bye on the phone. He also knows more and please (which comes out more like bees). Our little guy is growing up so fast!

We had our ultrasound last week and everything is looking good with baby. Baby has started to really move around and kick. Zach got to feel baby for the first time last week as well. Week 23 has begun with sickness...mine and Isaac's. We just went to the doctor this afternoon and Isaac has ear infection. You wouldn't know it though because he is the happiest little boy. He's had a runny nose and cough for about a week and hasn't slept the best. I simply have a sore throat and some congestion issues which have affected my voice and sleep. Since I'm pregnant there isn't a lot I can do except get sleep and drink lots of fluid.

Zach has made a goal this year to get through his guitar DVD for beginners. So he and Isaac come down to the basement after Zach gets home from work and they each play their guitar. Isaac actually plays Zach's more than his but he loves spending time with his daddy! Here's a picture I took the other night:

Pregnancy Pictures

2010-01-09T18:39:00.000-08:00

We are 20 weeks and have started taking pictures of "the belly." I looked back and found pictures from my pregnancy with Isaac to compare. Do you see any differences??

Current pregnancy at a little more than 19 weeks.

Isaac's pregnancy around 19 weeks

Favorite present...

2010-01-09T18:24:00.000-08:00

Isaac got a lot of presents for Christmas but one he loves a lot is the step stool my parents got for him. He loves to climb up and watch out the window. He also loves to climb up and turn the lights on and off! We are thankful for our new strobe lights...not really! Here are some pictures of Isaac with his step stool:

Isaac also got some really nice clothes for Christmas, which we desperately needed since Isaac's 18 month shirts are too tight & too short. My favorite is his new church outfit. He looks like such a big boy! We took some pictures last week after church:

Isaac does really well giving us "cheeses" as you can tell from all his pictures. This never happens when we take him to get his photos done professionally! Talk about frustrating!

Isaac's day in the snow...

2009-12-30T09:01:00.001-08:00

We bought Isaac a sled and snowpants for Christmas. Aunt Lacy got him some boots so we decided to try them out in Austin. Zach pulled Isaac around in the sled for a while and then they sat in the snow and threw snowballs at mommy. Isaac found that hilarious! In the end, Isaac wanted to help daddy shovel Grandma's walkway. I guess we'll have to buy him a small shovel so he can officially help!

Isaac is so happy to be walking around in his new boots.

All dressed and ready to go outside. "Mommy, do I have to wear these gloves?"

Getting a ride from daddy

Making snowballs to throw at mommy!

Laughing after daddy threw the snowball.

Back from traveling...

2009-12-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

We are back from our travels and trying to recuperate while also getting back to real life. Zach and I both went back to work yesterday and are glad to have a 3 day weekend so quickly!

Here are some pictures from our holiday. Isaac did really well opening presents although if he opened a toy...well the rest of his presents had to wait until he played with that toy! He had a ton of presents to open too! You might say he is spoiled! We got a good mix of toys, books, and clothes though!

Santa brought Isaac a basketball hoop and ball Christmas morning.

Santa brought Isaac a tricycle Christmas eve. His feet aren't long enough to reach the pedals but he really enjoyed daddy pushing him around.

Isaac got a couple of really cool hats from Aunt Lacy.

Isaac helped mommy open a few presents at Grandpa & Grandma Beerends'

When we got home Isaac wanted to use his new crayons to color in the bay window.

Merry Christmas...

2009-12-22T12:28:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! We hope that everyone is staying safe on the roads this holiday as my "friend" winter is trying to arrive again. We are headed to Austin this afternoon, a day earlier than planned due to the pending snow storm. We'll be there until Sunday when we travel back to my parents for a short Christmas celebration.

Some exciting news to share with everyone...we are expecting baby #2! We are due May 25th and are currently 18 weeks along. Everything is going well so far, I feel good although I'm usually pretty tired. But that could be from chasing around a 20 month old! We go back to the doctor after the first of the year to have an ultrasound...this will be our 3rd of the pregnancy! It will be nice to have one that is scheduled before we get to the doctor!

Enjoy the holiday!

teeth brushing!

2009-12-22T12:19:00.000-08:00

Isaac is learning how to brush his teeth with toddler toothpaste! He loves it and wants to brush all the time but I have put the limit at twice a day. Once with mommy in the morning and just before bedtime. He tries to brush but mostly just sucks on the toothbrush with toothpaste. Good thing you can swallow this toothpaste! I let him go a while and then step in for proper cleaning! He loves to stand on the toilet and "spit". Nothing ever comes out but he's at least trying!

My little climber...

2009-12-18T07:02:00.001-08:00

Isaac has been climbing on everything lately. He started with the kitchen chairs and from there he climbed into the middle of the table! Then he climbed up on our bed, which he loves because he has learned to turn my radio alarm clock on. He loves to listen to the music and dance. Last week he climbed into his toy box, which requires emptying the toy box first. What a mess! He uses the bay window to get in but is very close to climbing in from the front. Lastly, he is obsessed with climbing on his crib from the outside. I'm sure it won't be long and he will be climbing out of his crib in the morning. So much for my laying around until I feel like getting him!

Christmas Preparations

2009-12-14T19:14:00.000-08:00

We are in full swing of getting ready for Christmas. We've had our tree up for a little over a week. Isaac helped to decorate...it was fun/a pain! He is doing pretty well at "don't touch" but things got a little trickier last night when Zach wrapped a few presents and put them under the tree. He left all the wrapping material out and now Isaac thinks he can play with it.

We finished our Christmas shopping this past weekend. I vow to shop online from now on! Toys R Us was crazy and we didn't find a line anywhere that was less than 3 people deep. Luckily we left Isaac with Grandpa & Grandma. Zach and I enjoyed spending the day together despite the crowds. I was tired when we got back home!

I just finished my Christmas cards and now I need to finish wrapping presents. That will probably have to wait until tomorrow though as I am exhausted! Here is our family picture in front of our tree:

Snow! :(

2009-12-09T15:31:00.000-08:00

The first snow of the season and it was a whomper! I vote we've had our quota and no more snow until next December. The news says we had 15 inches but the drifts say 4 feet! Zach decided to take a vacation day so at least we were all home safe and warm. Isaac wants so bad to go outside and play but with a blizzard warning and wind chills below zero, I think he'll have to wait a day. For all you who are from southern states and miss the snow, here are some pictures. I wish you'd take your turn of snow next time!

The most annoying toy ever....

2009-12-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

...and we bought it for him. Yes, Zach and I found this guitar in Toys R Us and thought Isaac would love it. Which he did...but we didn't realize just how annoying it would be. This little guitar plays five songs: Love Shack, Crazy little thing called Love, Allstar, Wild Thing, and another song that I don't actually know. But that song is my favorite because it's softer and not as hard on the ears! We have a little video of our little man rockin' out. Next time we will leave the annoying toys to relatives to buy. At least we would have someone to blame for our agony!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-02T07:25:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Thanksgiving with my family. We spent the four day weekend at my parents. My brother and his kids came over Friday and Isaac loved playing with his cousins! The best part of Friday was Isaac getting a tractor ride from Grandpa!

Isaac was obsessed with seeing the tractor each day and also the cows. He spent a lot of time at the window, especially when Grandpa went outside! We went shopping on Saturday to get some ideas for Christmas lists. That definitely tired everyone out! Isaac fell asleep on the way home so we drove around Des Moines looking at all the projects Zach has been working on for the city. Very interesting to see what my husband does everyday at work!

Now we are trying to catch up on our sleep and recuperate from being away. I guess we'll have to put up our Christmas tree next and get to Christmas shopping!

catching up...

2009-12-02T06:44:00.000-08:00

It's been a while! I can't believe it's already December and Christmas is only a few weeks away! Here is an update of what we've been doing the past month.

We didn't dress Isaac up for Halloween, it was too cold and I wouldn't have let him eat the candy anyway. Instead we stayed in our warm house. If we would have been thinking, I would have put Isaac in his costume and let him hand out candy at the door but we didn't even do that. We did take Isaac to a pumpkin patch Halloween morning. We went to the one over in Cumming and it had a lot of neat stuff including a playground where Isaac could ride a pedal tractor and dig in the corn. He seemed to have fun on the wagon ride too. There weren't a lot of pumkins left but it didn't matter. We walked around in the corn maze and then left. Here are some pictures of our adventure:

Isaac scooping corn with daddy

Isaac loved the horse swing

He couldn't reach the pedals so daddy pushed him!

Only a few pumpkins to choose from

Isaac & daddy on the big tractor

Our family

We've also been playing in the leaves this fall. Isaac loves them much more than he did last year. He really loves to walk through them and throw them in the air. We got some video and a few pictures:

18 month pictures

2009-11-04T14:07:00.000-08:00

We got Isaac's 18 month pictures take last Friday. Isaac's never been a good professional photography child but I thought since he likes the camera at home so much that he had grown out of his crying and throwing a fit stage. I was wrong...however, we managed to get a few good pictures of our little guy:

After pictures we went to a bookstore and then lunch. Isaac ate almost all of his meal from Chik-fil-a! We were surprised but he seems to be eating more these days. Perhaps a growth spurt is coming! We have finally gotten rid of the sinus infection and everyone is sleeping peacefully again. Hopefully we'll stay healthy for a while now!

Too young to drive????

2009-10-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day so we spent the evening outside while Zach tried to fix our blinker in the car. Isaac decided to help and had a lot of fun driving while daddy was testing the blinkers. Isaac was working the blinkers, turning on the wipers, and changing the radio station and rocking out! It was good for some laughs!

Last night was a terrible sleeping night for the little man. He's had a sinus infection for the last 3-4 weeks and we've been on antibiotics, which seem to help the nose but Isaac can't fight off this cough that usually comes at 1 a.m. I get up and give him a drink and that has been working but last night we were up for almost 2 hours. Isaac slept until 9 this morning but it still doesn't seem like we got enough sleep. Poor daddy had to get up and go to work this morning.

I leave you with Isaac's cheesy smile. He's really good at giving these to the camera. We plan on getting his 18 month pictures taken in the next few weeks, we'll see if he'll give it to that camera!

Hours of entertainment

2009-10-16T07:35:00.000-07:00

Isaac discovered the pool table has all sorts of balls in it this morning and I just had to show him that there are holes for him to put them in. He's been trying to get them all in ever since!

We are heading to Austin, MN tonight to see Zach's family. Zach and his dad are going to go hunting tomorrow with 2 pretty young puppies, Molly being one of them. Zach's really looking forward to it. Isaac and I will hang out with Grandma while they are gone...lucky grandma! I have lots to do before we leave, including all of our laundry! Isaac's been awake since 6:30 so I've gotten a lot done already and it's not even 10!

pictures...finally!

2009-10-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

One of our friends dropped off a little car today for Isaac to play with outside. I couldn't resist and even though it's cold outside, we had to test it out! Isaac loves it! It took him a while but he finally realized he could go backward. He sort of knows how to go forward but he's better at backward.

Typical kid...finds the radio first!

We've been taking pictures lately but we finally got the software on our new computer so we could put pictures on the blog. Here's a few of the things you've missed in the past month:

We bought Isaac his first Iowa State jersey! We know, the Cyclones are 3-3 but they are competitive and there is hope! Isaac wears his jersey proud!

We got out the bath crayons a few weeks ago and Isaac loves to color in the bathtub. We can't get him out of the tub anymore! He is a true artist!

We bought Isaac an aquadoodle after the success of the bathtub crayons. He loves to carry the pen around with him and he does quiet well with drawing!

An update...without pictures!

2009-09-29T08:27:00.001-07:00

Sorry it has been such a long time! We bought a new computer, two actually, and haven't had time to put the software on it to download our pictures! So I thought I'd get on and just give a short update...but there will be no pictures.

We have had a busy September! Nothing special, just busy. Isaac continues to keep us on our toes and makes us laugh everyday! He now knows how to climb into the bay window and he is so proud of himself. He is working hard on climbing onto the couch but it's still a little tall for him. He seems to like to sit on it and lay under my blanket! He's not a very good sharer!

Isaac's going to be 18 months in October! Can't believe how fast time is flying by! The last few days have been colder so we've been trying to find warmer clothes. I think we may need a small shopping trip. I went to put Isaac's tennis shoes on the other day and they didn't fit! I just bought them last winter! Not only that but when I did find a pair of tennis shoes that fit, they were a size six! He skipped size five!

I have really cute pictures of Isaac playing in the bath tub with his new crayons. He could now spend hours in his bath playing and coloring on the walls. The colors are supposed to wipe off easy but we haven't had that much luck. I guess we will just have to scrub!

I will get on and post pictures as soon as the software is loaded on the new computer!

the finished product...

2009-09-02T10:58:00.001-07:00

The remodel is finished! We have a few small, very minor things to finish but we are enjoying our new house! Here are some of the pictures:

We've been very busy the last few weeks. I wanted to get these pictures up a long time ago but it seems we've been running here and there and I never had time! What have we been doing? I hosted my college roommates bridal shower two weekends ago and then last weekend we traveled to Orange City, IA for her wedding. That was definitely an experience. We stayed in a hotel Friday and Saturday night. I was in the wedding so I had to be at rehearsal Friday and at the church early on Saturday. So Zach and Isaac spent Saturday in the hotel together. Isaac took one nap but that was pretty much it the entire weekend. He is so TIRED this week. I'm afraid his grumpy face is going to be permanent! We've been working on getting him the naps he needs but getting to bed early has been a challenge!

Corn on the Cob

2009-08-15T07:10:00.001-07:00

Isaac had his first taste of corn on the cob the other day. I originally cut it off the cob but he really wanted to eat mine so I let him try. I helped him at first but then just gave the cob to him. He was completely covered in butter! I don't think he got much off but he sure has the idea!

Today we are painting the walls that were patched. It looks like our flooring will be installed on Tuesday and maybe Wednesday. Then we just need to clean up and put things back on the walls! Our project is almost over!

More Mighty Minnows!

2009-08-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

August has been warm and therefore it is finally weather we can swim in!!! Mighty Minnows is winding down, we only have one week left. I took Isaac to the pool Saturday afternoon while Zach was golfing though and he really seemed to enjoy himself. He tripped and went under a couple of times by himself but didn't seem too upset. I think he just hates it when we do it to him! :) Isaac's friend, Hadley, is in Mighty Minnows with us and also came to the pool on Saturday afternoon. Here are a few pics:

Just an update on the remodel progress. Our drywall is being patched, hopefully that will be done by tomorrow. Then we need to primer and paint the walls and a little portion of the ceiling. It's a popcorn ceiling so I'm sure it won't be fun! We are hoping to have our flooring installed Monday and Tuesday next week. Then we will be ready to clean up and hang things on the walls again! Just in time for a bridal shower I'm hosting on the 22nd! If anyone would like to test cleaning products without ruining your carpet...we have a carpet available for a limited time!

Isaac's been giving me cheesy smiles at lunch lately. He just loves having his picture taken while he's eating. I think it's great because he's happy and I get tons of great smiles! Unfortunately I also get a lot of "see" food. I won't post those pictures here. :)

Remodel...

2009-08-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

We have been busy at our house! Thursday night Zach began demolishing our half wall between the living and dining room and Friday he finished removing the wall in our kitchen! Saturday we spent the entire day painting the upstairs and on Sunday we rested! Much needed rest too as Isaac didn't sleep well on Saturday night. Here are some pictures of the house before any demolition:

Halfwall view from the hallway

View from the back door

View from the kitchen

Here are the work in progress pictures:

Hallway view
Backdoor view

And the "almost finished" pictures:

Backdoor view

Backdoor view

Hallway view

Now all we need to do is having our flooring installed! We are putting laminate in the kitchen and dining area and new carpet in the living room and hallway. Hopefully that will be done sometime this week or next.

Zach thinks the kitchen color is a little wild but we are getting used to it. It is definitely different! Once we get wall hangings up and curtains back on the windows I think it will quiet down a lot!

Of course, what is a post without a picture of our buddy:
Isaac LOVES to stick his head in the chair like this...it is so funny! He's been doing well...we've been keeping him up a little late the past week and we are paying for it in crabbiness! I'm trying to make sure he gets all his naps this week and to bed early!

Come visit and see everything we've done! Maybe wait a week or two...let the flooring get installed! :)

Mighty Minnows...

2009-07-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

Isaac started Mighty Minnows (swim lessons) on Saturday. It was COLD!!! The outside temp might have been 65...but the water wasn't too bad. We did a lot of fun games with Isaac and even dunked him a few times. He wasn't all that sure about the dunking but we really tried to encourage him after he went under and he seemed to be okay. We go another 3 times so we are excited to get him used to the water! Here are some pics:

Isaac getting in for the first time

Isaac and daddy go down the "little" waterslide

Isaac and daddy...end of lessons and very cold!

On Sunday it was warmer so we had a mini pool party with Isaac's friends, Asher and Hadley. We were at Hadley's house. Isaac just loves the water!

Asher, Isaac, and Hadley are pool buddies

Today I took Isaac to the doctor for his 15 month check up and shots. When we got called by the nurse, I took Isaac's hand and we walked over to the door but he took one look at her, pulled his hand away from mine, and took off for the door to go outside! I think he knew what was coming. He always gets his shots at the end of the visit, after the doctor is done. When the doctor told Isaac bye-bye, Isaac waved and headed for the door! He is a smart boy!

Isaac weighs 26.4 lbs and is 32 and 1/2 inches tall. Everything is going great and he is healthy! He was so good at the doctor's office! I was so glad because this was the first visit I did by myself. When we got home Isaac ripped his bandaids off! He's a big boy and doesn't need those!

New toys...

2009-07-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

Isaac has always loved playing in the kitchen but now he especially loves cleaning out my cupboards of all my pots and pans. You'll often find a pizza pan or a cookie sheet in the living room because he uses those as drums. He often carries around my small skillet and it is so funny! No matter how big or how heavy, he has pulled everything out of my cupboards at one point or another. Here are some pictures:

We found tooth #7 & #8 yesterday. Number 8 has been in for quite a while but Isaac won't let us look in his mouth! Number 9 is just about ready to poke thru. We knew there had to be some coming because Isaac can't keep any saliva in his mouth! He's been soaking at least 2 shirts every day.

We learned some sad news last week that Isaac's friend, Asher and his family are moving to Dubuque. We will miss them a lot but Isaac will definitely miss playing with his friend. Now I need to find a new baby sitter!

We are making plans to do a small/major remodel in our house. I've been dying to remove our half wall since we moved in but Zach would never let me. However, now he's on board. Originally we were just going to take the half wall out and replace the flooring in the kitchen and dining room but our friend Kyle has pretty much talked us into that plus removing part of our kitchen wall and replacing all the carpet in the living room and hallway! We are still considering all of this but we are going to look for flooring tomorrow. I would like this project done in time to host my friend Sara's bridal shower on Aug. 22. That's not that far away!

The face...

2009-07-12T13:36:00.001-07:00

We are working with Isaac to not throw his food on the floor when he's done with his meal. So far "no" only creates this face:

Sometimes he will cry for about 10 seconds like this:

Mostly his feelings are just hurt. Today I had to resort to time out in his room. He definitely did not like that...maybe we are getting somewhere! If anyone has any other suggestions we are open and willing to hear them!

We had Isaac's friend, Asher, over yesterday. The boys had so much fun and I got a little taste of what's it's like for my baby sitter each Monday and Thursday. They are really good but the boys are so different! Isaac is so agressive and constantly takes away Asher's toys. Asher is very laid back and independent. He was content to play by himself...I would be too if my friend was constantly taking my toys!

The boys look a lot alike so in case you don't see pictures of the two of them often, Isaac is on the left and Asher is on the right.

Great News...

2009-07-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

We found out today that Zach passed his engineering test! PRAISE GOD!!! What a weight lifted off our shoulders. It makes the difficult time we went though worth it!

It's been awhile, sorry about that! Zach had a great time on his trip to Chicago but also missed us a lot. He was glad to be back. We have been spending more and more time outside now that it's been so warm. Isaac loves to go outside. All I have to say is "Isaac, you want to go outside?" and he comes running and plops his little bottom in my lap to get his shoes on. He does get super sensitive when you promise to take him outside and then have to go back in for something you forgot! Isaac loves to play in the grass. Here are some photos we captured:

Isaac also loves to read in his room. We've been doing storytime before bed and he loves to sit in our lap and turn the pages. Here are some pictures of him reading...yes the book is upside down. He doesn't seem to care!

Another favorite thing to do is to empty my cabinets and bang on the cookie sheets. Hours of entertainment I tell you!

We've been keeping busy! I have a lot more pictures to post but it's late so I'll try to get them on tomorrow!

Playtime...for Molly

2009-06-26T17:50:00.000-07:00

I'm sure Molly wishes Zach were around because she gets a lot more playtime when he's here. But I let her play tonight after I put Isaac to bed and she had tons of fun with our neighbor's dog, Roxie:

Zach will be back tomorrow. I am ready to have him back, being a single parent is rough. I'm glad I went out to my parents midweek because I would be losing it without that break! I think Isaac is starting to miss Zach. He's been a little more sensitive than usual and pretty clingy. I can't wait to see the look on his face when Zach returns home tomorrow!

Single parenthood is hard. Now that Isaac is fully walking/running, I can't take my eyes off him for a second. Yesterday I found him playing in the toilet twice! I now have every door in our hallway shut during the day. It looks so dark down that hall now! How fun to see the new things Isaac is learning though!

Just for laughs...

2009-06-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

I caught this video of Isaac laughing tonight and I thought I'd share. I think it might brighten somebody's day!

Pool time...

2009-06-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

We put Isaac in his baby pool for the 1st time yesterday. He was hesitant at first but then really loved it after that:

Initial thoughts....

After about 2 minutes

Isaac cried when we took him out. He really enjoyed splashing with his daddy! We are planning to get the pool out more now that summer has finally arrived! Maybe it's a lot too hot for me now! :) Here's a video of Isaac's first experience:

Zach left this morning for Chicago. I don't know if I'll get on and post anything again until the end of the week. I work Monday & Tuesday this week so my babysitter can go to her parents. Her husband is also on the trip with Zach. I think Isaac and I will probably go to my parents Tuesday night since my mom has Wednesday off. We'll be back Thursday and Zach will be back Saturday. The week will be over before I know it!

The stairs...

2009-06-19T07:43:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I had some computer work to do so I brought Isaac downstairs to play. Like every mother, I had one eye on the computer and one eye on him (if that's possible). I saw Isaac go to the stairs but I didn't think he knew how to climb up them so I didn't register to watch him closer. A few seconds later I turned to find him up on the third stair! How did my baby learn to climb stairs? Anyway, I watch him a lot closer now! I took this video of him climbing this morning:

What wild weather we've been having! Hot & humid during the day and stormy at night. Wednesday night we were thankful to hear that the tornado in Austin, MN did not hit Zach's parents. Sounds like there's a lot of damage though. We were woken up every 15 minutes Wednesday night to the sound of our weather radio. We finally turned it off at 2 a.m. Zach and I were in bed last night at 8:00!

Walking...

2009-06-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

Isaac took off last week walking. He still wobbles but gets better each day. I tried to capture video of him yesterday, which turned out to be very frustrating! Every time I hit record...Isaac fell down and decided to crawl. But here is my best attempt:

We are getting ready for a week without Zach. He's leaving Sunday for a youth service trip in Chicago. I admit, I am jealous but I know he will have a great time...and I also know he will miss us! He returns on Saturday afternoon so it's not quite a week away but it's long enough. I tried to talk him into taking Molly but it didn't work! :)

Molly is doing great! Her tail is healing really well and we are planning to take the E-collar off her this week. She goes in for some more shots on Saturday so that will be fun. She's been spending the days outside in our kennel. Unfortunately she uses her dog house as a port-a-potty so Zach had to block it off last night. We couldn't figure out where she was going to the bathroom!

Zach and I had a really nice anniversary! We took Isaac out to my parents on Saturday morning and spent the day doing some needed shopping. There's no way Isaac would have survived that shopping trip...we almost didn't! We had a picnic at the Capitol building and had a nice dinner out Saturday evening. It seems like just yesterday we were married but it's been 5 years!

Introducing...Molly

2009-06-09T13:00:00.001-07:00

Meet Molly...our new yellow lab! We picked her up Friday night and finally named her late Saturday night. Molly whined and yelped all night on Friday and Zach didn't get much sleep. It was a lot like having a new born baby! She's been doing a lot better since and we only wake up once a night to let her outside. I should say...Zach wakes up once a night to let her outside. (I took care of the baby, which, was a lot harder than the puppy!) Here are some more pictures of Molly:

Molly and her ball to chew on inside

What a smart puppy! She can already fetch!

Isaac loves Molly's kennel...especially opening and closing the door!

Between the time we picked out Molly last Sunday and the time we picked her up on Friday, she got a nasty cut from a scooter falling on her tail. The breeders didn't take her to the vet but cleaned the wound and put some ointment on it. We took Molly to the vet Saturday morning and the vet said the cut should have been stitched! We are now giving Molly an antibiotic and cleaning the wound each day. Last night she chewed off her scab so we had to get an E-collar. Now Molly looks like this:

It is really quite cute and very funny. Molly tries to sniff the ground and ends up toppling over because she catches the collar on the ground! She tries really hard to scratch the collar off but it's on to stay for the next week to 10 days!

One last note: I decided to stop flying under the radar of Zach's Facebook page and I got my own. My sister in-law told me I was "spying" on other people but not allowing them to "spy" on me. So if you have a Facebook page, look me up! (I don't know how to look you up) I will try to not let this new venture deter me from updating everyone on this blog! :)

Puppy Time

2009-06-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went puppy shopping. We called a number of places and found two places to visit. At the end of the day we bought a new puppy. Our new puppy is going to be a female yellow lab. We get to pick her up on Friday, so we will post some pictures then. We are trying to determine a name for the puppy, if you have any suggestions post them on the blog and we will consider them.

While we were shopping Isaac broke out in a rash. We took him to the doctor today and he had a viral infection of some kind. That was the reasons for all the fevers and the reason for the rash. Not much that we can do except let it run its course. Hopefully in a few days the infection is gone.

Mama's little helper...

2009-05-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

I now have a helper to unload the dishwasher. Isaac used to just play at the dishwasher while I unloaded but now he loves to hand me the silverware. Too bad he doesn't understand that the silverware holder is supposed to stay in the dishwasher!

We've had a busy day. Isaac woke up at 3:30 a.m. with a fever of 102 degrees. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep after that! He's had a fever off and on for four days now so we decided to take him to the doctor. Unfortunately, urgent care wasn't so urgent...we were told the wait would be an hour and a half to two hours! We decided to make a trip to Walmart and when we got back we ended up being in within 10 minutes! Needless to say...Isaac is just teething and there's nothing wrong with him.

We then met my mom for lunch and my mom & I went shopping for a bridal shower gift for my cousin. I'm not a huge fan of bridal shower shopping! We did find a present and now we are ready for the shower next weekend.

Zach left tonight to go to a Barnstormers game with the guys from 180 (high school ministry). I didn't want to be by myself so I invited Isaac's friend Asher and his mommy for supper. We had a lot of fun! Isaac crashed around 8 p.m. and I'm hoping that he sleeps through the night but I have a feeling we will have another fever on our hands!!!!

McDonald's BBQ sauce

2009-05-29T10:59:00.000-07:00

Isaac and I went to McDonald's last week for some chicken McNuggets. I decided to let Isaac try dipping his nugget in the BBQ sauce...he loved it! He even loves dipping his fries! So we got McDonald's again this week and took this video of Isaac dipping his nuggets:

Isaac's been taking more and more steps! He's getting the hang of it but hasn't "taken off" just yet. He has also been eating a lot more! It's not unusual for Isaac to eat 2 hotdogs and a can of fruit for any given meal. The hotdogs disappear in minutes! We had lasagna for the first time on Sunday and he probably ate 1 1/2 pieces by himself!

snack time

2009-05-25T14:35:00.000-07:00

We've been doing an afternoon snack time in place of Isaac's afternoon bottle. Isaac loves to sit on my lap and eat his usual...animal crackers and puffs. Yesterday I ran out of animal crackers and he had Teddy Grahams for the first time. He enjoyed sitting on Zach's lap and feeding them to his daddy! The video is below:

I think we might talk on the phone too much...this is a picture I snapped Saturday morning:

We've had a wonderful, relaxing three day weekend. Zach and I watched a movie for the first time in over a year! Lucky for us, movies that came out two years ago are like new releases to us and they only cost $1! Isaac's been up quite late this weekend and his naps have been a little off but he slept 4 hours total today so maybe we will get back on track tonight!

Toy box

2009-05-20T07:57:00.000-07:00

Grandpa & Grandma Erickson bought Isaac this toy box for his birthday. Isaac LOVES it! He stands in front of it for hours pulling out the toy he wants to play with. I love it because it is big enough to keep all of his toys and our house doesn't look so messy! Here are a few pictures of Isaac playing:

Here's an update on Isaac's latest accomplishments: he is getting closer to walking. He took three steps today. I think he will take off running soon! He loves to wave bye bye and gets very excited to see his pictures over the kitchen table at meal times. He loves to point at each of them.

We have also switched him to whole milk and he's not allergic! We are so relieved and glad that the allergic reaction before was to something in the formula. It is so nice not to buy formula anymore! He's eating more and more table food and LOVES hotdogs! He also loves carbs! Potatoes, bread, and cheerios are his favorite. I have a tough time getting him to eat fruits and vegetables some times.

Isaac popped his 5th tooth through a little over a week ago. We'll see if any others come anytime soon. He might be the slowest teether in history!

Playing in the dirt

2009-05-20T07:48:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Isaac got to play in the dirt for the first time. We finished up planting our landscaping. Isaac was so fascinated by the dirt and so excited to pick it up in his hands. We did manage to keep him from eating it!

I also planted my garden this weekend. We didn't do one last year because things were a little hectic with a new baby but I missed it so we made sure to get one going this year. We put it in a new spot however and this spot is not always sunny so we'll see how it grows. I have a couple cherry tomotoes, some romaine lettuce (a first for me...), a couple cucumbers, and a couple red and green pepper plants. Hopefully by midsummer we will have lots of salad!

It's been very warm the last two days which means Isaac can play outside a little more. I will have to run to Walmart and get the baby sunscreen before he's outside too much!

Mother's Day Weekend

2009-05-12T08:01:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share what Zach, Isaac, and I did for Mother's Day. Friday night we decided to get Isaac's pictures taken so Isaac and I picked up Zach from work and headed to Portrait Innovations. Isaac didn't nap in the afternoon so we were a little worried that pictures wouldn't go well. However, we were wrong!

After pictures we went to Barnes and Noble bookstore and Zach bought me a book I've been wanting to read. Actually, I bought it with a gift card but it was his idea to get it! After shopping we went and ate at Red Robin. If you've never been to Red Robin...you are missing out! They have the best burgers ever! Zach had a burger with a fried egg on top and you would think that sounds terrible but it was really good. I had a BBQ burger and the BBQ sauce was some of the best I've had. After supper we came home and put Isaac to bed. He was pretty tired but didn't fall asleep until 10!

Saturday we planted flowers in our flower bed. We can say that we are almost completely finished with our landscaping! We just need to plant the bed in front of our sidewalk and plant our garden in the back! Here are a few pictures of the planted landscaping:

On Sunday we mainly stuck around the house. We attended Isaac's friend, Hadley's, 1st birthday party. Isaac loved hanging out with all his little friends and really enjoyed the cake!

1 year pictures!

2009-05-12T07:41:00.000-07:00

We got Isaac's 1 year photos done last Friday. This experience was definitely better than the previous one! Isaac did really well during the family photo and then got a little scared when we put him by himself but we found a basketball for him to hold and that was great fun for him. Here are some of our favorites:

Day of FREEDOM!!!!

2009-04-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

The day has finally arrived! Zach is taking his test and in a few short hours, this chapter of our lives will be over! He called this morning and said the morning part was fairly easy and he was looking forward to getting the afternoon part done. I am so excited...I could cry!

I wanted to put a picture of our beautiful magnolia tree on our blog since it only blooms for a few days. The blooms are already falling to the ground so it won't be around much longer.

Isaac had his 1 year appointment on Monday. He's officially 23 pounds, 12 ounces...with his clothes off. We got some antibiotics for his cold and he is doing much better the last 2 days. It was really rough over the weekend and for the first few days of the week. On Wednesday I sucked more snot out of his nose than I thought was even possible. Since that he has been able to breathe and has been sleeping better. Last night he slept 12 hours! He has never done that! I was happy because Zach stayed in Ames last night and I was on my own with Isaac.

Well, the garbage truck just went by and woke up Isaac so I'd better go get him! I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful day!

Birthday Fun!!

2009-04-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

Isaac is 1 today! We had a really great time with my family and our friends and missed having Zach's family down here to celebrate. Zach's mom had unexpected surgery on Thursday and is recovering in the hospital. We will celebrate next weekend though!

Here are a few pictures of the day for Grandpa & Grandma Erickson:

Zach and I teamed up to decorate Isaac's cake! We are pretty proud of the end result!

Isaac got some blocks and some trucks and really had a good time opening his presents. He didn't understand why he couldn't immediately play with the toy he just opened though. It was hard to keep him unwrapping presents!

Isaac loved his cake...especially the frosting. If you look closely you will see his fingerprints by Mickey's shoes!

Isaac loved mushing his cake between his fingers!

Whoops, a little behind his ear! Good thing it's bath night!

My baby is one! Zach and I are both exhausted after a long day of preparing and celebrating. It seems we were just as exhausted last year! Probably more last year!

walking...with help!

2009-04-15T13:39:00.000-07:00

Isaac has started to take more steps and walk behind his little car. It won't be long and he will take off and run...although he knows he is much faster at crawling and prefers it at this time! I got a little video of him walking behind his car today!

Softball season will start at the end of the month. We had a practice last night and Zach let me go and he stayed home with Isaac. I am SORE today!! Zach laughed at me but I will return the favor in a few weeks when he plays for the first time!

Study time...

2009-04-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

Ten more days...hopefully life will feel a little less stressful and a lot more free! Isaac wanted to help his daddy study the other day...he loves the calculator!

We are looking forward to taking a break and celebrating Isaac's 1st birthday on Saturday. I've been planning and working up the courage to make Isaac's cake and decorate it myself. This may be the only year I attempt it! My plan is good (I think) so we'll see about the execution.

Isaac and I went to my parent's Saturday night for Easter and to allow Zach some distraction free study time. Isaac enjoyed seeing Grandpa Beerends' cows and actually took his first step! He didn't mean to but it was very exciting. When we got home he even walked a couple steps for daddy! Isaac loved helping me unpack but then wanted to be in the bag too.

We are still working on being a healthy, germ free family. Isaac has had a runny/stuffy nose for a week and on Thursday spiked a temp of 101 degrees. We took him to the doctor but there is nothing wrong with him. We are glad it's not ear infection again but wish the nose would just clear up! Isaac does have two more teeth on the way...who knows when they'll actually appear! Zach has sinus infection again and I'm pretty sure I have bronchitis or at least a mild version of it.

Doors are so much fun!

2009-04-08T07:39:00.000-07:00

Isaac has a major fascination with doors now. He loves to go in his room and shut the door so I can't get in. Usually he then makes a mess of his room by knocking over his laundry basket and taking all the books off his shelf. But, he is very content to have the door closed!

This morning Isaac learned how to open the cupboard doors as well. Until now he didn't know how handy the handles could be and we were able to keep him out. We have baby proofed the cabinets he can't be in so that's good!

Isaac managed to give himself a black eye the other day. He was reading his book while I was changing him and he dropped the corner of the book on his face. It was really black on Monday but seems to be better each day. He also has a runny nose again...is it teeth or is he sick? Hopefully this won't turn into an ear infection!

My baby is going to be one next week! How fast time flies! Also, we a little over 2 weeks from Zach's test! We can see the light at the end of the tunnel and we will celebrate when we get there! Zach still has some studying to do though!

Dancing Video

2009-03-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

Well, here is the best I have come up with. It's not the hot dog dance but Isaac is dancing to the music of his little drum.

We had a pretty good weekend. It was fun to hang out on Friday and Saturday night with friends and Zach got about 8 hours of studying in. I can't believe it will be April 1st tomorrow! Isaac will be one before I know it and Zach's test will be over. Just a few more weeks!

I think Isaac is working another tooth through. He woke up every hour last night from 7-11. After I gave him some Tylenol he managed to sleep until 6:30. I can see the tooth but it is not through yet. Let's hope it comes in faster than the last one!

New t-shirt

2009-03-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

We feel this t-shirt best describes Isaac. He is getting better at listening to us when we say "no" but there are times when he just can't resist touching the TV or playing with Zach's glass chess set. We can get him to play with something else for a little while but it doesn't usually last!

I've had a request to get video of Isaac dancing the "Hot Dog" dance and I want to let you know that I'm working on it! He's not good at doing it on command and the video camera is not around when he randomly decides to do it. I will keep trying though!

We have a fairly busy weekend ahead: dinner with the church staff tonight, chili supper tomorrow night, and studying in between!

Today is Daddy's birthday!

2009-03-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

Happy 29th birthday to Zach!

Last weekend we went to Kansas City for our nephew, Garret's 5th birthday. Isaac had so much fun playing with all the kids. He especially liked Garret's Spiderman motorcycle. The video below is of Isaac chasing it...with a golf club.

Isaac has had ear infection this past week, his first one thankfully! I believe that is week #4 of sickness for our family. We are currently in week #5 as I have a chest cold again and Zach is recovering from sinus infection. I am more than ready for spring to be here and the germs to be gone!

Zach is busy studying for his test...he takes it one month from today! We are ready to be done but we know there's a lot of work left to do before we are. We will celebrate when it's over!

I can't believe that my baby will be a year old very soon! It's probably time for me to start making birthday party plans. That means I have to bake a cake and most one year old cakes are cute and in the shape of something so I guess I'll have to get creative...or just buy one!

Here's another short video of Isaac chasing the motorcycle...without the golf club.

New toys

2009-03-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

I found a few new toys in Isaac's closet today that we haven't gotten out because he hasn't been big enough. One is a musical table and the other is a little tool set. The tool set is a little wobbly and Isaac falls over trying to stand up by it so it may go back in the closet but he loves the hammer! The video below is of Isaac playing with the music table.

We may have a future doctor on our hands in this next video. Isaac was checking my reflexes with his hammer.

Definitely a boy...

2009-03-11T08:15:00.000-07:00

Isaac is definitely a boy as he desires to read a book while I change his diaper! It was pretty funny and very cute!

It's been a while since I've updated this blog because we've all been sick! I got sick 2 weeks ago with a head cold and then Isaac got some sort of stomach bug and wasn't eating right. He also vomited for the 1st time last Tuesday night. Vomiting is nothing like spitting up! Zach also got a bug but is finally feeling better. All of our friends have been getting sick too. Isaac didn't go to the baby sitter for 2 weeks! I tried taking him to work with me one day but those days are over! Isaac does not stay in my office anymore and I am constantly looking for him and not working!

Isaac finally popped his 4th tooth through last Friday! That tooth has been trying to come through for over a month now! It is amazing how fast the top teeth work their way down once they break the gums.

Isaac has found a couple of new toys to play with. First, he loves the door stopper thing and the sound that it makes when he pulls on it. He also loves the beads that Zach and I got in New Orleans a few years ago.

Goodbye...

2009-02-28T18:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we said goodbye to our dog Jake. Words can not express the sadness we feel and the void that is left in our house today. We know in our hearts the time was right but that didn't make it any easier to say goodbye.

We can smile and laugh at all the memories we have of Jake. We will always remember having to lift him into the Trailblazer because he was too much of a wimp to jump in. We will remember the stormy days of summer where we had to drag Jake down the stairs into the basement so he would be safe in tornado warnings. (Jake did not like the basement stairs!) He was such a good dog and we were truly blessed to have him!

Jake Erickson

Beloved companion

March 4, 2005 - February 27, 2009

We will miss you!

Some videos...

2009-02-24T11:13:00.000-08:00

Zach and I finally sat down and downloaded our videos to the computer. There were over 80! I won't put all of them on but I thought I would put the video of Isaac crawling for the 1st time.

I spent my first night away from Isaac on Saturday. My parents came down and watched Isaac while Zach and I spent a night in Des Moines. We enjoyed some time shopping in Des Moines. It was very relaxing and it was nice not to worry about how many hours Isaac would sleep before waking me up. I was ready to come home on Sunday morning though! It's funny how I can't imagine my life without this little boy and how I don't want to be away from him!

Isaac loves the dishwasher! He really loves just being in the kitchen. Which is great but then I have to make sure the floor is super clean and that he stays out of the garbage! I am positive that Isaac ate an onion off the floor the other day. He wouldn't let me in his mouth to take it out but his breath sure smelled like onions!

Today Isaac and I have been hanging out, taking naps and playing. We have a birthday party to go to tonight. Not mine, but Isaac's friend Asher is one today! We bought Asher a gift but I've had a hard time keeping Isaac from playing with it! I think he knows he gets to play with Asher's toys when he goes to the baby sitter, so he doesn't see why he can't play with this toy!

Isaac got stuck between the couch and the end table last week. It didn't seem to bother him. He's been crawling in and out of the bottom more regularly and is actually breaking the table. We are trying to teach him not to crawl in but what can you do when you've been letting him do it for this long? :)

The video below is hilarious! Isaac has been standing in front of our bathroom mirror in the morning while I get ready and this morning he decided to give himself kisses. I couldn't help but laugh hysterically!