November 2007

November
updated October 28th, 2007 at 8:39am

Before we know it, there will be snow on the ground. I'm not looking forward to the snow, but the cold weather is actually welcome around here. Time to slow down and recuperate here at home,
grow the kids and stay healthy.

Check out the recent updates, new pictures, and Christmas lists below.

Pictures of the kids

Click here for New Pictures

october share

Make sure you click "Download this photo" or right-click, save as
if you want to save any of them for yourself.

I didn't take a lot of pictures of Marlee's birthday, so if you have some please share them. Thanks.

Videos from Marlee's tumbling show:
Backwards balance beam
Balance Beam
Jump somersault roll
Jump and Wave
Kick Over
Somersaults


Kiddo news:

Nickis 7.5 months old and still suffering the affects of a URI (a glorified cold at this point). It's viral so there's nothing we can do but wait for him to feel better. Last night I used saline drops and a bulb syringe and you would have thought I was trying to kill him. He's every bit as dramatic as his sister. At night the pressure really starts to bother him and he has troubles sleeping. He also has 4 teeth ready to bust through on the top and those two on the bottom keep peeking through and then disappearing. He's been eating lots of new foods lately - chicken and crackers, lots of finger foods. Despite how much he eats, he's still the smallest baby! This past weekend we were at a birthday party with 4 other babies, all younger than Nick (4-5 months old) and they were ALL bigger, longer and fatter than him. Such a difference from Marlee the moose at that age ;)

Nick tasting chicken

Now not only is he crawling, sitting unsupported, pushing to a sit, he's also pulling up and CLIMBING. Yikes. He is SUCH a boy. The other night I found him surfing on top of a pack of diapers. He also climbed the first few stairs in our family room. Leaving him on the floor is no longer safe and he is QUICK... we are shopping for good wall-mounted gates for our stairways. This is what he was doing as I was typing this update:

Nick climbing my leg

The most exciting thing to report is Nick's first words! He says "dada", "mama" and "hi". All at appropriate times! The other day I was making dinner and Nicky crawled across the kitchen, climbed up my leg and begged "Mama, Mama, Mama." I almost died. He also knows his Daddy and says "Dada" whenever he sees him.

He is also a pretty typical "little brother" who is constantly crawling all over Marlee and interfering with whatever she's doing like coloring, playing with her leapster etc. He picks on her and she teases him. As a matter of fact he's chasing her around the family room right now. Now he's kicking her in the head. LOL!! I love it.

Nick is currently in 6-9 month outfits. He will be in 9 month outfits in a month or so. See Nick's Christmas list for things he needs.

Marlee finished tumbling last week with a "recital night". She learned a lot and made some new friends. I can't wait to get her back into another class. It was a great experience for her.

Marlee has learned her alphabet thanks to her Leapster and Leapfrog letter factory video. She can spell her name, car, dog, cat. She can read and spell "Baby" and "Super" and is pretty good learning simple math. Everyone keeps asking me if I will be putting her in preschool but I don't know how to make it work unless preschool offers a bus service!!

Marlee this morning

All the MRSA stuff in the news has been upsetting lately. I had really hoped Marlee's infection had been a total fluke and wasn't something we had to worry about happening again. This morning I was watching CNN and more kids have died in the past week and more schools are closed and a doctor on the show called it a national epidemic. They said it will get worse and die out eventually. I guess the best part of all the coverage is hopefully people will be more aware.

Marlee is a size 5 and needs clothes for Christmas, dresses, pants, sweaters, leggings etc. See Marlee's Christmas List for things she's been asking for and things she needs.

US news:

We're hanging in there. 7+ months of no sleep, back-to-back illnesses and the constant busy schedule are trying to beat us down.

We still haven't gotten our new carpet. We've had absolutely NO time. We went car shopping last week for a SUV, but they didn't offer us much on our trade so it looks like we're sticking with my car for another year. I still love my car but more room with even better safety features would have been nice!

We painted some pumpkins and carved some pumpkins this afternoon. Trick or Treating is Wednesday. I'm super excited for the kids! I love Halloween!

Well laundry is calling and the kids are running wild.

Here's what's going on with our family in the upcoming weeks:

October 31st -
Halloween!

November 4th -
Packer's playdate at the Vest's

November 10th -
Spa day with Mom!
Sauk Prairie Annual Light Parade 6PM

November 29th -
Thanksgiving

I'm cataloging these updates
at this blog site, in case you
want to reference past updates:

So Much Mohr

Christmas Lists:

Marlee

She needs dresses/pants/skirts and jeans in size 5.
She's asked for:

Barbie Rollerskates
Pilot Case - Overnight Bag
DVD: A Bug's Life
DVD: Leapfrog Learn to Read
Mattel Barbie 3-Story Dream House

Leapster: Clifford Reading

Marlee could use some leggings (not tights) and "comfy" pants for lounging around the house. PJ's!

Nicholas

12 month sleepers
12-18 month onsies
Matching shirts/pants outfits - long sleeve
toys: activity/teaching toys

Baby Piano

Dance Baby Dance! Classical Stacker

Learn and Groove Alphabet Drum

Nick could use some "cute" baby socks (wool, slippy, fuzzy) and cute PJ's!

---

October 2007

Nick had his 6 month appt this week. He's 17.5 lbs, 27inches long. He's still a peanut compared to Marlee who was 18lbs at 4months, but he's right on track for growth and height. Our ped. says his sleeping is "not typical" but that we should just continue to be patient until his 9 month appt. At this point he is still waking every 2 hours. We weren't able to get his vaccinations because he had the stomach flu but we decided to delay most of his vaccinations anyway. We're selectively vaccinating him and possibly delaying all vax until he is 2.

He is crawling and pushing himself to a sit. He's also self feeding! He's just getting so big, so fast. He laughs all the time, I uploaded some videos of him laughing and doing other fun things. Right now his top gums are swollen and he has to be teething, of course, he's been "teething" for months and nothing has come through.

Nick is going to be Nemo for Halloween. He doesn't know it yet, but he'll be the cutest lil clown fish ever, don't you think?
Nick is currently in 6-9 month outfits.

Marlee has been doing really well in tumbling. We give her a little pep-talk before each class and she loves her "teachers". I can't sit in class anymore so I sit out in the hallway with all the other moms waiting for them to get done. Look like she won't get into dance until next summer.

Marlee's behavior has gotten a lot better since the big kids went back to school. Sad to say that was part of the problem, but it was. We think she may have a little bit of a blood sugar problem too, so we're always mindful to keep her full of healthy snacks to keep the crabbies away. She got bit for the THIRD time at daycare last week. Apparently the other kid, Barrett, got in big trouble there and at home this time, so I hope it will stop soon. This time there was a huge blue bruise on her arm. It was not provoked.

Marlee had her 4 year checkup this week and like usual, she's very healthy and on track for weight and height. She's actually a little below for each. Typical is 40lbs, 40 inches. Marlee is 35 lbs and 39 inches.

She's very much enjoying her birthday gifts and talks about her recent party constantly :)

Marlee is wearing her ballerina costume for Halloween. She'd wear it every day if she could.

Marlee is a size 5.

US news:

We (the entire family) just got over the stomach flu. Marlee got sick on Friday. Threw up twice and was over it just as soon. I got sick Sunday and was not as lucky, Tim on Monday (sicker than all of us) and Nick on Monday night (he recovered relatively fast). Thankfully I think we're all on our way to healthy again. It just doesn't pay to be the mom of the family when everyone is sick. There's no one to feed the kids and give them baths and put them to bed, there's no one to do the dishes and laundry and take the garbage and recycling out when you're sick. And there's no one to bring you tea in bed and check on you or email your boss that you're dying and can't come to work. Why'd we have to grow up?


We still haven't gotten our new carpet. We've had no time to actually place the order. ARG. We are looking at new vehicles... we don't necessarily need or want one, but the basic warranty on our Kia is expiring soon as is the service contract and there are some pretty good deals coming out of our dealership so we are looking at larger vehicles like the Sportage and Sorento.

Tim got his car back in working order just in time for fall. We keep saying we're going to do some fall boating but haven't actually had time to get out on the water. And now it's time to winterize the boats. Maybe next year. We just made a trip out to Peck's farm in Spring Green. They have a farmer's market, petting zoo and tons of stuff for kids. If you hear Marlee talking about the scary house... it's because I tried to get her to go through a haunted house with me (age appropriate!!) and she flipped out. Now she's scared of all Halloween decorations (though she has been since she was a year old).

The saga of the ground squirrel has come to an end - if you haven't heard, Tim has been battling a ground squirrel since early spring. He's dug up our entire lawn (free aerating! free twisted ankles!) and all my flower beds. He dug under our driveway, causing it to sink and crack in two places. He dug out the "landscaping" and left huge piles of sand in our driveway. One day Tim chased him into the storm drain and then held him there while deciding what to do with him. He ended up wrapping the end of the drain with a garbage bag and waited for the squirrel to crawl into the bag. He then triple bagged it, paper bagged it, and threw it in our regular garbage containers in back. 3 days later I was home alone and thought we had an intruder. The next day, I told Tim his little squirrel was alive and well and inside the garbage container. He left him there for almost a week before finally taking him for a ride. When he let him go, the squirrel ran out in front of the truck and almost got hit... and Tim said he was heading for our house. :lol:
I'm on a huge environmental kick and just got ourselves some reusable grocery bags so we can stop bringing home all that useless plastic from the store. I have yet to make a trip to the store to use them, though! We also switched all our lights to compact fluorescents and we are reducing our impact as much as we can (and I think you all should too).

September 2007

It's September!! This is my favorite month of the year.

Nick is scooting backwards and forwards now. He's really mobile,
which is both exciting and sad. I'm sad because once he starts moving
I'll never see him again... he'll be off exploring the world and I'm
going to miss my little snuggly boy. He found his voice and has been
using different sounds. His favorite games right now are peek-a-boo,
patty-cake and this little piggy, and BANG BANG SMASH DESTROY. I've
heard this is a popular theme among boys. I know Marlee was never
into it. He likes to bang on things, smash his toys together, and
throw things around the room. It's too cute.
He is hopelessly in love with his big crazy sister. I wish I could
just stop time.

Marlee didn't end up getting into a dance class this year which is
disappointing. There just isn't anything in our area available or
affordable. I couldn't see putting a 4 year old into a rigidly
scheduled, year long school for serious dancers at $300 a semester.
So now she will be taking a preschool tumbling class at the Civic
Center in Baraboo. It starts Wednesday, September 5th at 5p-5:30p and
runs for 8 weeks. I think tumbling is a little below her level right
now, but it will be a fun learning experience for her. She'll be in
the class with 3 and 4 year olds.

Marlee's been having a rough time lately - getting in lots of trouble
at daycare. It's becoming an issue. Yesterday she kicked another kid.
I can understand hitting is somewhat instinctual for a kid when
frustrated - but kicking actually takes some thought and is very
deliberate. She's also been very "mouthy" and backtalking a lot and
just being generally unpleasant. It really bothers me because Marlee
is such a sweet kid. Part of it is her age, part of it is all the
upheaval in her life lately (new brother, less attention, being sick
and picked at for a month). Also, even though I hate to blame other
kids, I do put a lot of the blame on the fact that she goes to
daycare with a 7 year old terror. She's Sheila's granddaughter and
she gets away with MURDER and is issued idle threats. She's rude and
thoughtless and Marlee just idolizes her. Tim and I are being very
patient waiting for her to go back to school next week and hopefully
things will turn around. I'm not sure what else we can do. If you
have any words of wisdom I'm eager to hear it.


News for us: We are getting ready for Marlee's party. It's the one
time of year we rush around trying to fix up the house and make it
presentable. We're decorating the kids' rooms and the family room.
We'll be getting new carpet in the family room, not in time for the
party, but in about a month. I am SUPER excited about this. Our
insurance finally cut us a check for the flood damage so instead of
just pocketing in the cash, we're going to replace it with this:
I love it!

Tim's car is unfortunately out of commission and has been most of the
summer. It has not been a good summer for the car :(

August 2007

Nick is 5 months old! He is starting to sleep a little better, some 3
hours at a time. A major improvement over the every 30 minutes he was
waking at the end of last week. He's been back on the Zantac for over
a week now, I contribute his sleep fully to the medication. He's
still a little wobbly when he sits, but getting stronger and more
independent every day! He's up on his knees rocking every day.

We started him on solids two weeks ago...a little cereal to see if he
was ready. Was he ever. He grabbed a piece of toast out of my mouth
and jammed it in his own. Now he's eating bananas, avocados, sweet
potatoes and all kinds of squash. He went swimming for the first time
this past weekend and he likes it.

If you're ever wondering what Nick could use, he never has enough
pajamas or footed body suits. He is a 6-9 mo.

Marlee is so grown up! She made all sorts of new friends this
weekend. She marched right up to them and said "Hi, I'm Marlee, like
my sandals, wanna play?" It was fun seeing her interact with other
kids her age. She needs to do that more often. She is learning simple
math and how to count to thirty. This age is so awesome. She was also
jumping into the pool unassisted - see here for some videos of her
jumping in.

The invites are out for Marlee's birthday, she is excited about the
ballet theme. She IS wearing a tutu and ballet shoes. All kids and
any adults are welcome to join in on the ballet/dance/princess gear.

I am waiting patiently for the class schedule to come out for the
local dance studio, to see if Marlee can make it into the ballet/tap/
jazz class for 4-5 year olds. Chances are she can't, I've been trying
to get her into this school for 2 years. Arg.... keep your fingers
crossed because I think she'd be really great.

If you're wondering what to get Marlee for her birthday, she could
use clothes in size 5, specifically khaki pants/cords/jeans/dresses.
She also would like an umbrella, princess dress, a rolling backpack/
small suitcase, a kids' tape measure and "tools", and a Leapster.
Just please no Polly Pockets!! I know how much she wants them but she
can play with them at daycare because I'm "allergic".


US news:

This past weekend we went camping as a family at MerryMac's and it
was a blast. We stayed in a cabin directly across from the playground
so Marlee got to go play on her own while we watched from the
campsite. We all went swimming in the outdoor pool, even Nick. It was
a fabulous time. Saturday night was a little scary, as security came
around at midnight to wake everyone up and tell them about the
incoming storm with 70 mph gale force winds. We barely made it out of
the campground on time. Trees fell on some campers but no one was
hurt. We spent the night at home and made it back to the campground
the next morning for breakfast and another round in the pool.

We got a new driveway to the garage/shop. It's huge, but really nice
to have. Less lawn to mow too.

In other news, we've sold our jetskiies. It's very sad. BUT, we were
able to pay off the student loans and buy a family sized boat. We can
seat 7, so come on down and we'll go out! Nick and Marlee are both
really good on the boat so we'll have a lot more fun together in the
summers to come.


Here's what's going on with our family in the upcoming weeks:
August 18th - we have plans with Kerstin and Scott and the kids
Labor Day Weekend - our anniversary -
September 15th - Marlee's 4th Birthday Party!
September 23rd - Kaitlyn's party