Mommy's New Minivan (2.75 years and 14 months)

At the end of September, Austin and Brian bought me a new car and it was a minivan!  Brian and I have known for a while that we needed a minivan.  The Escape is too small with two kids on long road trips.  We had no room to sit in the back with them and if I had the two umbrella strollers in the trunk we really didn't have any trunk space either.  We kept telling Austin that he had to go buy mommy a minivan.  Brian did all the work online finding the dealership with the best price and then on Saturday morning we all went and picked it up.  He ended up getting quotes from 15 dealerships and working the pricing to about $4k below the average selling price ($1200 below invoice).  Despite the pricing set ahead of time, we were still at the dealership for 2 hours because of paperwork in financing.  We finally got the 2014 Honda Odyssey though!  As we were leaving the dealership Austin ran out screaming "I just bought mommy a new van"!  It was so cute!

Many people do not like/want minivans. I think with kids (especially two) you need a minivan.  It is an awesome vehicle.  I think it is my favorite vehicle ever!  The Odyssey is a great van. Our van has a moon roof, leather interior, heated seats, back up and right side camera, lane departure warning signaling, and Bluetooth (that actually works with my phone).  I love it!!!

We have continued to have illnesses in our household. Sydney got over hand, foot, and mouth, but then Sydney and Brian developed a GI illness.  It was about 5 days of diarrhea.  Luckily Austin and I did not get that really.  But we ended up with a terrible cough.  It has now lasted  3 weeks.  We are starting to get better but the cough is still there.  We shared it with Brian about 2 weeks ago.  He still has it bad and he can't sleep at night because of it.  Austin developed an ear infections 5 days ago.  He is now on antibiotics.  Then yesterday Sydney was diagnosed with croup and wheezing.  She now has the same cough.  She got a shot of steroids since she is a terrible medicine taker.  It is only the start of sickness season. Yuck!

Nana came up to visit with the kids a few weekends ago.  The weekend she came up I had already had tickets for our fall festivals.  The first one was at Patterson Farm with the local mom's club.  This was our first time to Patterson and it was great.  We had a beautiful day for it.  We went and picked apples and then the kids played.  We also went on a hayride.  We had a lot of fun.

After lunch we came home and Austin took a nap.  Sydney should have napped too but she refused.  After nap we went to our second fall festival at Luther Farms.  We went there last year and had a great time. This year it was about the same.  It had a nice long hayride. Plus they fire pumpkin cannon that goes for miles.  It is something to see.  Nana and Brian took the kids into the petting zoo. I can't handle that. I don't like to watch them touch gross things around the animals. We learned last year it is best if I wait outside and don't see it.  It was a really fun day.

Nana was able to stay with us on Sunday too.  We went shopping and then hung out around the house. She is going to make Austin a Mickey Mouse blanket.  Austin is going to love it. He picked out the material himself. We all had a great time. It was sad when she had to go back home.

Last Saturday night we went to Boo at the Zoo with our friends Keith and Lisa.  Austin and Kaitlyn are best friends so we decided to go together.  We had a lot of fun. The weather was a little cold but at least it wasn't raining. It rained all day but stopped around 5pm. It was perfect.  Austin ran around the zoo a lot.  This year he is Mickey Mouse since that is what he loves right now.  He is a very cute Mickey Mouse. Kaitlyn was Minnie Mouse. They looked so cute together.

Lisa let me borrow a lobster costume so Sydney wore that.  Sydney made a very cute lobster.  I also have a cat costume that I got at a consignment sale in the spring.  We have a lot of Halloween activities planned so it's good she has two costumes.  I love this time of year. It is even better with kids.  We are having so much fun!

The next week is filled with Halloween activities and then we are off to Disney World!  I can't believe we are going so soon.  I can't wait to see Austin's face.

By the way, we finished the playground.  Brian took a day off work and we sent the kids to school so we could stain it.  It took both of us about 9 hours to finish, but we got it done.  Now the swingset is complete and ready for winter!  Next year it just needs a roof.

Happy Birthday Brian (2.69 years and 13 months)

A week before Brian's birthday, he had to go to Colorado for a business trip.  He left on Wednesday morning around 10 am.  Brian decided to pack that morning which it was a little crazy since Austin wanted to help.  Austin helping meant that he would take things out of the suitcase that were already packed.  Brian finally got packed and he was off to the airport.

I am home alone with the kids a lot so I wasn't too nervous about Brian being gone.  However I do like all of Brian's help in the evenings and knew that bedtime was going to be a lot more work for me.  It is nice to know around 5:30 pm every night Brian is home to help out.  This week I was on my own for 3 nights.  Wednesday night went fine.  I cooked dinner like usual then after dinner we went for a walk, stopped at Kaitlyn's house to play, then came home and got ready for bed.  I did what I do during nap time when I am alone.  Austin gets to watch his Kindle while I put Sydney to bed.  Then I am able to give Austin all the attention to put him to bed.  It worked well.

On Thursday, my mom came over and we went to a consignment sale.  I got some clothes for the kids and a few toys.  My mom was with me most of the day.  It was nice not to be alone.  Thursday night after we got home for a walk I gave both kids a bath.  They like taking a bath together so it works out.  After bath time was over, I took Sydney downstairs to get her dressed.  Austin ran into our bedroom and turned on the music.  Something didn't seem right so I went upstairs to check on him.  Austin had locked the door.  I asked him to unlock it and he couldn't for some reason.  Meanwhile he had turned on the music in our bedroom so loud it was hard to hear too.  Austin started to freak out.  I went downstairs to try and find the tool Brian told me to use if this happens. I found it but couldn't get it to unlock.  Then I tried a screwdriver to take the door handle off.  That did not work either.  Finally I called our nice neighbor Bill who came over and unlocked the door.  I was so grateful for him.  It was a complete mess!  I think Austin learned his lesson not to lock the doors anymore.

On Friday there were massive floods in Colorado.  During the conference they kept interrupting to update them on the weather and if they were going to make it to the airport.  Brian kept on texting me updates too.  Brian got on a bus headed to the airport with hope they would make it.  Then after driving for an hour, the bus was told by the police it had to turn around and go back because all the roads were closed.  Brian was stuck in Colorado for at least 1 more night.  I wasn't too happy but grateful that he was safe.  I felt bad for all the people out there that were loosing everything.

Brian's co-worker called him at 4 am and told him that they were leaving for the airport.  The rain had stopped briefly and the roads were passable, but more rain was coming.  They got to the airport early and Brian had already done research and knew which flights to try and fly stand by home.  He was the first one on the stand by list.  We were both hoping he would make the earlier flight so that he could get home in the afternoon before bedtime.  Luckily he did.

That day I went to a school picnic in the park.  It was crazy watching and eating with both kids but I did it.  We had fun but missed Brian.  Brian got home in time for us to go to The Little Gym open house.  We had heard about The Little Gym and wanted to check it out.  I want something to do in the winter with the kids and was hoping this would be it.  I found out they don't have a family friendly class.  Classes are all based on ages so Sydney and Austin would be in different classes.  All classes under 3 are parent and child class so that means I can't really do it alone.  It was fun to play there though.  The following week Kaitlyn invited Austin to her class.  She goes there every week.  We really got the full class experience by joining her.  We liked it, but it doesn't make sense for us since both kids can't be in the same class.  Maybe after Austin turns 3 I will sign him up.

Last year I did not celebrate Brian's birthday.  It was crazy with Sydney being born and Brian being so sick.  So this year I wanted to do something nice.  Austin made him a carrot cake and decorated it with yellow sprinkles.  Then I found some poems and the kids put their footprints on it and I framed it.  They turned out cute.  I think Brian had a good birthday.

This week Sydney came down with Hand Foot and Mouth Disease.  It is a virus common in children under 5.  They get blisters in their mouth, feet, hands, and Sydney has it on her thighs and buttock.  Sydney has been extremely fussy with a low fever.  I thought maybe she had an ear infection but it turns out she has Hand Foot and Mouth Disease.  She is getting better but I had to take off work today because she is still contiguous.   She seems to get getting back to normal so hopefully she can go to school tomorrow.

Sydney's new favorite thing to do is wave and say bye bye.  Bye bye is her favorite word.  It is so cute.  Austin is very good at riding his bike with training wheels  It has a handle for us to hold on to.  They are both loving this fall weather and enjoying a lot of time outside on the swing set.

Happy Birthday Sydney (2.65 years and 12.5 months)

Sydney's birthday was actually on Monday. It was not a good day for her.  She cried a lot.  I am not sure why but she was definitely not happy.  When she was born she cried for the first 2 hours then she was such a happy baby.  Then on her birthday she cried most of the day.  She must not like that day of the year.  We wanted to take the kids to the park and let them do a smash cake again but since Sydney was so cranky we decided to wait until Tuesday.

On Tuesday evening, we went to the local park and set up for a second smash cake just for pictures (she also had one at her party).  Interestingly, Sydney was not a big fan of the cake this time.  Austin loved it though.  He really enjoyed getting messy and eating the icing from the cake.  Nevertheless Brian got some good pictures.  Sydney opened up her presents from Nana, Grandpa, and Great Grandma that night too.  It was a great few days of celebrating her birthday.

We love Labor Day weekend.  Usually Cleveland has its airshow but this year it was cancelled (government funding cuts).  I think Brian was bummed about that since Austin would have liked to go.  Every year on Labor Day weekend we go to the Taste of Hudson.  We get to sample some very good food pretty cheap and the kids can play in the Little Tikes area.  This year it was great because they both played there.  We were there for at least an hour and they loved it!  They also had a duck tape art project that they both did too.  Austin enjoyed cutting the tape with scissors and Sydney liked to color.  It was a lot of fun.  We enjoy doing fun family things like this.

Recently the weather has been very hot, so we went swimming in Kaitlyn's pool.  The kids love to swim and they have a very nice pool.  It makes me want a pool too but we will see.  It is also a lot of work and is dangerous with the kids being so little.  We have not been taking swim classes since this summer was so busy with the swing set.  We will probably start again in the late fall.

Also this weekend we had to make "All about Me" posters for the kid's school project.  Since Brian is so good at taking pictures we had pictures for all the things.  It is a fun project.  We learned that last year at this time we did not know Austin's favorite color.  This year we clearly know that his favorite color is yellow.  It is cute to see how much he has grown too.

On Tuesday after Labor Day, Sydney went to the doctor for her 1 year check up.  Everything looked good although it was difficult to talk with the doctor since Austin was running around and climbing on everything.  Sydney had to get 4 vaccines and Austin got his flu shot too.  There was a lot of crying.  Then they got a sticker and we went home.  The doctor wanted Sydney to have her blood drawn to check her blood count and lead levels.  I knew I could not do that by myself.  So later that week, Brian picked Sydney up early from daycare and he took her.  Sydney did so well getting her blood drawn.  She did not even cry!  The technicians couldn't believe it.  She just looked down at the needle, looked back up, and smiled at them.  The blood tests all came back normal too.

I am only nursing Sydney at bedtime and when she wakes up in the morning.  Sydney is going to bed awake now and I rub her back and lay on her floor until she falls asleep.  At least I am no longer nursing her to sleep.  She has been waking up a lot during the night and I am making her cry it out.  Last night Brian rubbed her back for 30 minutes until she finally fell asleep.  I really want to stop nursing her during the night too.

Brian puts Austin to bed every night.  They brush their teeth.  Austin now uses big kid toothpaste and is able to spit it out.  Then Brian reads to him in his room and Brian lays on his floor until he falls asleep.  It usually takes about 30 minutes.  Brian and I don't get back downstairs until about 9:30  pm.  That leaves very little time to watch any TV.

Sydney is walking all the time now.  She will rarely crawls.  She still is not saying much other then baba, dada, mama, and uh oh.  But she will go get a book or shoes if you ask.  It's clear she understands so much.  She likes to get her shoes and sit on the steps for them to be put on.  She can climb up the step ladder in the kitchen too.  She really likes to be on it.  We have to be careful because they will fight on who gets to stay on the top of it.   The kids are keeping us extremely busy, but we are having fun.

Sydney's First Birthday Party (2.60 years and 1 year)

Sydney's party was on Saturday. It was a beautiful sunny day with temperature around 80 degrees. The weather was perfect. The party turned out fabulous!

The week before the party we had a lot the things we needed to do.  Brian finished the swingset two weeks ago so that was finally done, but he did need to sand one last time.  We washed down the house.  We also had to pick up the chairs we ordered from Walmart.  We decided it was better to buy tables and chairs instead of renting them so we will have them for future parties.  We also bought a tent that was great!  The tent was high so people did not hit their heads.  I took Friday off so I could really clean the house and start getting everything set up for the party.  With two little kids, it is hard to keep the house clean.

Saturday morning was extremely busy.  There was so much to do.  We went to the store early and got ice, water, and beer.  Then came home and set up the tent.  My parents came over which was nice to have some help.  Our first job was to set up the tent.  It was fairly easy to set up.  We just needed to make sure Austin did not run away with any of the parts.  It was large so we needed everyone to hold things at times too.  It looked really nice once it was up.

Then we set up the tables, chairs, and things inside the house.  I went to pick up the food at Giant Eagle.  I chose to order the food except my mom made macaroni salad and my dad cut up fruit.  We had chicken, macaroni and cheese, and sandwiches.  I thought it was a good and kid friendly menu.  Once I got home, it was time for the party to start.

Everyone had dinner and socialized for a while.  Then it was time for Sydney to have her cake. Brian's cousin Lauren made her cakes.  They were so beautiful! Sydney's cake was strawberry.  She played with it for a while.  Then we had Austin come in and help her.  They were so cute together.  They would feed each other cake.   Austin would then wipe the icing on Brian.  It was so funny.  Austin only did it to Brian.  Brian was covered in pink icing.  I wish I would have taken pictures of him, but it was great.  Then Sydney tipped her cake off her tray.  Sydney had a great time!

After cake, Sydney opened all of her gifts.  She got so much stuff.  She got a lot of clothes which was great because she really needed new clothes.  She also got a few new toys as well.  The toys were great ones.  Austin and Sydney are really enjoying playing with a tea pot, picnic basket, legos and little people castle.

It was a perfect day!  I am so happy that her party turned out so great.  I think everyone had a wonderful time.   I am so grateful that Brian took so many amazing pictures that day too so we will always have the memories.  It is hard to believe that Sydney is already one year old.  Our babies will never turn one again.  That is kind of sad but we are looking forward to the new milestones they will reach.

Sydney is now able to walk a lot.  She actually prefers to walk rather than crawl now.  She is getting so big.  She weighs 20 pounds and is 30 inches long.  She likes to do everything Austin does.  She can even climb up a ladder without any help.  She is so cute!  Austin is teaching her how to do so many things.  Sydney watches him and then tries it out herself.  We have
two daredevils on our hands!

Happy Birthday Sydney!

Baby Camden's Visit (2.55 years and 11.5 months)

It was so nice to have Melissa and Camden in town for an entire week.  We really enjoyed their visit.  Jonathan was able to come up for a weekend too which is nice because usually he doesn't come up.  We just hung out around the house.  It is amazing looking and holding Camden.  How crazy is it that I really don't remember Austin and Sydney ever being that small.  Time goes by so fast!

Camden is a great baby.  He is really spoiling his parents.  He hardly ever cries.  He drinks milk like Austin did though.  He can down 5-6 oz easily just like Austin did.  Sydney doesn't even drink 4 oz at a time and she only gets milk 5 times a day.

Melissa and Jonathan took Camden to see Grandpa Frack on the anniversary of his death.  We went down with them with the kids.  It was so sad.  It was weird too because Brian and I were not prepared with Austin.  Austin understands most things now but this was a little too much to start to explain to him.  Austin did knock on this grave and we told him maybe Grandpa Frack would come out but sadly he did not.  We still wish he was with us.  He would have loved being a grandpa to the kids.

Melissa and Jonathan had a wedding on Sunday so I watched Camden all day.  It was great spending time with him.  It makes me sad to know he will be so big the next time I see him.  Kids grow so fast - it is amazing.  Camden was so good for me.  I even got to carry him around the block in my baby carrier.  I love that carrier but now Sydney is too big for it.  When I took Camden back to his parents I was sad because I wish I could see him more.  Being an aunt is great because I have him for a little while then bring him back to his parents.  I realized while watching him, I don't think we will be having another baby.  Three kids is A LOT of work!

I'm not sure Sydney was a fan of not being the youngest baby in the house as this photo shows!

Brian has almost finished the swing set.  The only think left is building a ladder and putting on the accessories.  I am so happy he is almost done.  There will be enhancements for next year but he will be done for this year.   He spent so much time on building it.  Austin loved to help him but there were many things he could not help with.  Some things he did help with caused Brian more time to do it.  I give Brian a lot of credit for building this for them.  It is really amazing!  I am glad Brian will be able to help more with the kids now that he will not be building a swing set every day!

Sydney is walking more and more.  She takes about 8 steps before she falls down.  She loves just to stand up alone and try and walk.  I am glad she is starting to walk.  As she is getting bigger her and Austin are playing more and more together.  It is great!  Sydney can also say MaMa, Baba, Dada, and Uh-Oh.  She can also sign the word more.  In preparation for her upcoming 1st year birthday, we took Sydney to get her first haircut too!

Austin's favorite thing right now is Play Doh.  He is obsessed with play-doh.  When he wakes up in the moring he usually gets to watch his kindle for 30 minutes.  He use to watch Micky Mouse club or trash trucks but now he will only watch play doh videos (often advertisements).  Once he's done watching videos he wants to go play with play doh and build pretend sandwiches and other things he saw demonstrated in the videos.  He could play with play doh for hours if I would let him.  I got a play doh table online from my mommy website for $5.  It is worth it because now play doh stays downstairs and my living room carpet will not be ruined.  The downstairs carpet may be but we can replace it once the kids get older and no one really sees the downstairs carpet anyways.

Austin can say anything.  His vocabulary is amazing.  It's great that he can talk and tell us what he wants.  But there is never a quiet time at our house anymore.  Someone is always talking.  Since Sydney can't talk she will scream if she wants something.  It's very annoying so hopefully she will grow out of that soon.  Dinner time is especially loud with screaming.  Sometimes the kids will echo one another - Sydney screams so Austin screams the same, then Sydney, then Austin, etc. The two copy each other.

I have been working on Sydney's birthday party.  I can't believe she will be 1 in less than 2 weeks! This past year has went by so fast it is scary.  I am very excited for her party and hope the weather is nice for it!