All I want for Christmas

"Is my two front teeth!" said Erin. The bottom two, to be exact. She got her wish! Monday morning this past week she had the first tooth on the bottom peeking through, and Friday morning the second tooth on the bottom was peeking through. Way to go, Erin!And, since we're talking about Erin, I may as well include this cute picture. Erin decided since I am so behind on magazines that she better get right in there and help me out. She got herself over to the magazine basket, sat up, and tried to dig right in. (While I would not quite say Erin is crawling yet, she has got some creeping going on.)

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas yesterday! We are so blessed to have our families close by. We were able to celebrate at home just the four of us, then head to Mike's mom's house. There we enjoyed a wonderful brunch with the whole Bos side of the family. Mid afternoon the kids were able to get short naps in, then we headed to my sister's to celebrate with the Sinclair side of the family and have a great dinner. It was a wonderful day from start to finish! I hope yours was just as blessed!And why we were glad to be inside toasty and warm yesterday!

Random thoughts from Kyle

I love watching Kyle’s mind grow. Sometimes it amazes me, sometimes it confuses me, and sometimes it just makes me giggle.

Two nights this week I have awoken to Kyle’s footsteps on the stairs, coming back up and trying to coax Mulligan along with him. “You come up Mulligan? You sleep in Mommy and Daddy’s room? Come on Mulligan!”

Kyle’s favorite game right now is to mix up words. When we drive past the river he tells us it’s the lake over and over again. We correct him and he laughs and says, “That’s not the river, that’s the lake!!” The laughter increases and eventually he’ll say, “We’re playing games!” He also does that with the water tower, calling it a water fountain until he dissolves in laughter.

Bedtime still drags on with Kyle, and one night recently I went up to ask him yet again to get in bed. When I opened his door he said, “You’re not the pizza man!” We have never had pizza delivered, so where he got that is beyond me.

Too. Kyle likes to repeat things back, with too. He’ll sneeze and I’ll bless him, only to hear, “Bless you, too, Mommy!” The other day he wanted a cereal bar and I said, “I’m sorry Kyle, we’re out. I’ll buy some when I go to the store.” Kyle said, “I’m sorry, too, Mommy.” Which is funny, because I’m sure it was true, LOL. My all time favorite, and I hope I hear it forever and ever, is, “I love you, too, Mommy.”

Santa has been a big topic lately. While Kyle emphatically wanted Cranky the Crane for weeks on end, at the beginning of this week it firmly changed to Terence the Tractor (also a Thomas the Tank Engine character.) Kyle asked me if we could see Santa again, saying, “I ask for Terence the Tractor? I ask if another boy or girl wants Cranky the Crane?” How cute is that? He felt the need to re-gift Cranky, LOL!

This morning Kyle wore his Santa hat to our favorite breakfast spot. On the way to the door I said to him, "Do you think the girls [the waitresses who all love him] will think you're Santa?" Kyle looked at me seriously and said, "Will they want to sit on my lap?"

At bedtime I always talk to Kyle about his favorite thing that day, and what we’re doing the next day. Last night he asked if Santa was coming, and I told him in a week Santa would be here. He said, “Santa Claus. That’s a great idea.” I stifled my giggles and said it sure was.

Happy Seven Month Birthday, Erin!

Happy seven months, Erin!! What a joy you have been for 214 days now…. 5,136 hours of bliss! Erin continues to be a happy baby almost all the time, although she is figuring out her likes and dislikes and will let you know if she doesn’t like something. She’s pretty easy to figure out, though, so happiness is usually only moments away.

Erin is an exceptional sitter now. It’s so fun to see her sitting on the floor playing with her toys. She also gets to sit in the bathtub now and LOVES it. She is a splasher through and through! She got to take a bath with Kyle this week, which was a lot of fun for both of them. Erin rolls and spins her way around the room with ease. She does a little bit of creeping if there is something she is trying to reach, but it’s more of a big reach of her arm that pulls her a tiny bit forward. Crawling is a ways off.

Erin is a babbler and loves to chatter with people. We have to face her forward in church because otherwise she will babble away to the people behind her. She loves everyone she meets and passes out smiles readily, but she has also figured out that she does not want Mommy to leave the room. She’ll yell out a protest when I leave. Fortunately this is short lived and I can still leave her places like the gym daycare without her being upset.

Erin is still sporting an adorable toothless grin, but I have a feeling we are about to have a tooth explosion any time now. I think maybe she has been saving up to sprout a few of them at once.

We’re really looking forward to celebrating the holidays with Erin. She’s already met Santa and sat happily on his lap. Now she’ll get to visit with relatives and enjoy all the sights and sounds of the season. She loves looking at the lights on the tree. Life is so fun with this little one!

And because sometimes a picture just isn't enough, here's my sweet girl. ;-)

Bzzzzzz....

A couple of years ago I joined a website called BzzAgent. It allows me to try a variety of products for free. The concept behind it is that I will try the product, then talk about it. Word of mouth advertising can be very powerful, so the companies that make the products are hoping this grassroots word-of-mouth campaigning will push their sales.

My very first campaign was Take Five candy bars by Hershey's. I had never picked one up before, and man, let me tell you, their pretzely-peanut buttery-chocolately goodness is YUMMY.

Campaigns along the way have been for cleaning products, like Pledge dusting products and Scrubbing Blubbles shower cleaners, beauty products, like the Alveeno Positively Ageless line, foods, like Hillshire Farms salads and Grey Poupon, and summer products like Off and Coppertone. I've even gotten a couple top dollar products for free, like the Sonicare FlexCare (retails for about $150) and the Harmony One universal remote (retails for about $250).

Not only do I get to try the products for free, but I get points for turning in reports about the conversations I have had with people about the products. Those points accumulate on another site called MyPoints.com. I can then redeem these points for gift cards to a variety of really popular sites. My points are up to about $175 now.

My current campaign is for Smucker's Uncrustables. These frozen sandwiches are filled with the down-home goodness of Smucker's jelly. There are sandwiches with grape or strawberry jelly and peanut butter, just PB, PB and honey, and grilled cheese. The sandwiches are in the frozen food section, and you just take one out about a half hour before you want to eat it -- which makes them prefect for lunch boxes. And it's amazing how fresh they taste, you'd never guess they'd been frozen.

So now I'm off to write a Bzz report on my post! :-) Watch for another post for my next campaign!

I want Cranky the Crane

I hear this every day. Maybe every hour. Over and over and over. It is what Kyle wants for Christmas. Cranky the Crane is part of the whole Island of Sodor offerings, he works down at Brendam Docks. (If you didn't know, Thomas the Tank Engine and all his friends live on the Island of Sodor.) Lucky for Kyle, Cranky the Crane is in a box in our house as I type. Lucky boy. ;-)

Kyle got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him how much he wanted Cranky the Crane. Santa was visiting the We Care Festival of Trees, which was a really neat event going on in the basement of the South Haven City Hall right now. I was proud of how great both kiddos did with Santa!

HOLY COW! Erin has red hair!

I had to say holy cow for Kyle. Mike said it this weekend and Kyle thought it highly amusing. He has continued to say it in a very boisterous way. So, HOLY COW! Erin has red hair!

I will preface this blog post by saying that I love Erin’s beautiful red hair and I hope it stays red. Although she’s a beautiful girl no matter what color hair she has. :-) I will also preface it by saying I don’t mind talking about her hair, so please don’t be offended or worried if you think I’m talking about you, LOL!

Mike and I were surprised to have a child with red hair. We each have a cousin with red hair, but that’s it. And they are cousins who live far away, so we don’t even see them often to be “reminded” of the red hair. So Erin’s hair was a surprise.

What is more surprising to me, however, is what a huge topic of conversation her hair is. There is not a day that goes by, and I am in no way exaggerating here, that I don’t hear multiple times, “Wow! She has red hair!” or “Where did that red hair come from?” and often, “What beautiful red hair!” This is from people we know, but also from strangers who stop me in the grocery store. People who stand in line by me at the post office. People at the next table in a restaurant. You name it… wherever I go, I get comments about her hair. It seems that anyone who sees a baby with red hair has to make sure I have noticed that yes, my baby’s hair is red. And it’s ongoing conversations with the same people… yes, her hair is still red six months later.

Two people have mentioned to me that they read articles that red hair is headed (ha, a pun) toward extinction. I found this very interesting, so I did a little bit or research on red hair, extinction, genes, etc.

Extinction – nope. This story has gone around several times, and resurfaces occasionally. The bottom line is that while red hair may continue to become increasingly rare, unless every single person on the planet with the red hair gene dies without reproducing it cannot go extinct. Makes sense.

Why red hair? Red hair is a mutation of the MC1R gene. Because it’s a recessive gene, both Mike and I had to have the mutated gene in order to create beautiful red-headed Erin. And because it’s recessive it can easily skip around in the family tree. That said, because Mike and I both have the mutated MC1R gene, our kids had a 1 in 4 chance of having red hair. Those odds are not too bad, but the odds that Mike and I both had it were higher since only about 4% of the population has a mutated MC1R gene. And while I always thought of a "mutated" gene in a negative way, resulting in disease or defects, I now see that "mutated" can lead to something wonderful and beautiful!

Forgot about the theories of genetics? (Junior high science was a long time ago for many of us!) There are dominant and recessive genes. You get your genes from each of your parents, and if you are given a dominant gene and a recessive gene for a particular trait, the dominant one will override it. Hair color is less understood than other genes, and you actually get eight genes for it, four from each parent. Most determine where you fall on a scale of black hair to blond, and others throw in the red hair gene. (Thus you could have red hair, but be on the blond end, and be a strawberry blond.)

So the bottom line is Erin has red hair, Mike and I both have recessive mutated MC1R genes, and we will continue to smile and talk about her hair every day because we love to talk about Erin!

Lucky 100

This would have just been a picture post, or had some kind of catch-up title, but as I went to click "new post," I noticed that this will be post #100. You would think that for a milestone post I might have a milestone topic, or something milestone-worthy to say. Nope. It's been quiet here as of late, so here are just a few pictures to take a gander at.

We did have pediatrician well check appointments on Tuesday. Erin is 15 lb, 15 oz and 25-1/2 inches long. She is just under the 50th percentile for height, and smack on the 50th for weight. Kyle was 33 lb and 38 inches tall. Kyle is right about the 75th percentile for both height and weight. Both were healthy!

We also had a very nice Thanksgiving at my parents' house. :-)

This picture itself is cute enough, but the thing that really makes it mean a lot to me is what Kyle said. He leaned in, hugged Erin, and told her, "You're my best friend in the whole world." It warmed my heart so much. I hope and pray that they will always feel such love for each other.

These pictures are when we went to visit my friend Sarah and her two children. Kyle and Ella are close in age, with Ella being five months younger. Erin and Olivia are also close in age, with Olivia being four months younger. They are all going to be buddies!

Kyle has really enjoyed his Thomas balloon. He insisted on taking it to bed, and when I went to check on him hours later he was still grasping it!

We had two parties to go to last weekend, and I decided to make cupcakes. Kyle insisted many, many times that I needed to make the dog ones on the cover of the cookbook. So I have to post a picture since they were so much work, LOL!

Now that Erin can sit she has much more freedom, and fun, in the bathtub. She LOVES sitting in the tub and splashing!!

And finally, Kyle is really, really enjoying his Thomas stuff from his birthday. Usually we help him set up the track, but a couple days ago he kept running in the bathroom while I was in the shower to tell me he was setting up the track. I was so proud of him when I got out and looked. He used every track piece and had them all connected. Good job, Kyle!

... I am editing this to add that as I posted, I saw that my actual blog says 99 posts. I found a draft in my blogger account posts list. Sooo, now to come up with something "milestoneish" for that real number 100. Oh the pressure.

Ahhhh, SNOW!

I can say "Ahhhhh," because it's the first week of snow. I shoveled on Monday, and I shoveled today. The middle three days didn't have any new snow. I'll last through another snow fall or two, then I'll start wondering when spring is coming, LOL. Alright, snow is acceptable from December 24 through January 2, also. Then really, enough is enough. :-)

Last night we got about six inches, so here was Kyle already at about 6am. Daddy was shoveling. Note that those are PJs Kyle is still wearing!And here are some pictures while Kyle and I were out this morning. He played while I did the sidewalk and front walk. He has found that his dump trucks are just as fun in the winter as they are in the summer! And since it's not fair to have another post entirely about Kyle, here are a few pictures of my sweet girl. In the first she is sitting all by herself! Then one of her enthralled with Kyle's Thomas balloon. Then her six month comparison pillow shot --along with her two month one just for fun.

Heen no more

We've had a major accomplishment in our house this week, Kyle has completely and entirely given up his heen -- his pacifier. A long time ago the process began, limiting pacifier use to the house and the car, and then it was not allowed to leave the house. Sometime in the spring or early summer we limited pacifier use to naps and bedtime. Giving it up entirely, I worried, was going to be a struggle.

Beginning on Saturday I began talking to Kyle about Santa and his elves, and we read The Polar Express a number of times. I shared with him that three-year-olds with pacifiers got baby toys for Christmas, but if Kyle let the elves take his heens and give them to the babies around the world, he would be able to get big boy toys for Christmas. I drove home the point by letting him know that Cranky the Crane is a big boy toy... which is what he talks about wanting for Christmas every day.

Saturday night the elves brought the movie The Polar Express, and left Kyle a letter that they would be back for the heens Sunday night, and would leave another present. We talked about it several times on Sunday. Kyle went to bed, and I rounded up pacifiers. As I went to bed I took the last one out of his mouth, and hung a present on the headboard.

In the middle of the night I woke to, "Where's my heen?" in my ear. I led Kyle back to bed, and reminded him about the elves taking them. His lower lip came out and his eyes filled with tears; my heart broke. I pointed to the present, though, and the tears immediately left and my boy was smiles again.

Now here is a tip if you ever try this: A singing and dancing Christmas penguin is not a gift you want to introduce at 3am.

Now, three days later, Kyle is 100% pacifier-free. Other than asking a couple times if we could simply buy more, Kyle seems to have forgotten about them. I am so proud of him... and relived that it was so easy for all of us.

And heen, you ask? Before Kyle was talking he used to sign pacifier and please. Then at some point he decided to walk over to the corner of the kitchen where the pacifier basket was and perform a long, drawn out whine, "HEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNN." When this became the norm with Kyle I told him that I was not going to respond to the whine anymore and he needed to ask nicely, so he started saying, "Heen, please." :-)

Happy birthday, Erin! Six months!

Wow, Erin is a half a year old already. Time is going so quickly! She is still a happy baby almost all the time and is very enjoyable. In addition to all the smiles, she has become very vocal. She growls a lot, which is highly amusing. She also uses several different kinds of voices, from raspy to loud, as if she is trying out what sounds she can make. We are starting to recognize more distinct sounds, as well. Yesterday Kyle thought she said Mama and spent the next five minutes up close to her saying, “Mama? Mama?” trying to teach her to say it.

Erin has been eating baby cereal regularly this month, and yesterday she got her first taste of actual baby food. She was a fan of sweet potatoes, and will be getting some more this evening. We are crossing our fingers that adding solids into her diet will help in the sleep department. She still gets up twice a night. Although the second time, around 4:30, she has been deciding to stay up – so getting up “twice” during the night might not be an accurate description.

Physically Erin is rolling around with ease and very sturdy. Yesterday she began sitting. She’s been so close for awhile, but she finally got the balance down enough that she can sit for an extended time. She still loves to play with toys, and is thrilled when her brother brings them to her. She loves sitting in the exersaucer and playing with the toys that surround her in that.

Erin gets to venture out a lot since she tags along with her family a lot, but special events this month included a trip to the pumpkin patch and trick-or-treating as a banana with her monkey brother.

Happy birthday, sweet girl!

P.S. We'll have a size update after her pediatrician appointment in a couple weeks. ;-)

New professional pictures!

Kyle and Erin went for a photography session today, Kyle for his three year pictures and Erin for her six month pictures. I am very, very thankful I had my mom with me to help out -- thank you, Mom!

My normally VERY smiley girl was very serious this morning. Murphy's Law, the girl smiles all the time, except for pictures this morning. We still got some good pictures, and overall I am happy with them.

Here are some of my favorites.

Oprah!!

My sister Beth and I had the opportunity to go see the Oprah Winfrey Show filmed today in downtown Chicago. A friend of mine from high school (THANK YOU RYAN!) works for her on website design and he was able to score us some tickets. Anyone who has ever tried to get Oprah tickets (like me!) knows that this is an impossible feat, so we were really lucky.

The show we was was one of her Dr. Oz shows. Dr. Mehmet Oz is a cardiac surgeon from New York-Presbyterian Hospital and has written a number of books. Today's show will air on January 6 as part of the Live Your Best Life week, which is a New Year's resolutions sort of week.

The show offers the Ultimate Health Checkup, a list of things you must do in order to be the healthiest you can be. It was really interesting and has me motivated to be healthier in 2009. (Does that mean I have a free pass for the next six weeks, though? Ha, ha.)

It was a great experience to have, and fun to have a girls day away together. Here's a picture of us standing outside The Oprah Store, with the studio behind us.

Please stay tuned

Oh life is busy right now! Saturday I had my first scrapbooking day since before Erin was born. It was so good to sit and laugh with girlfriends all day again!! And of course the scrapping was fun! Sunday we headed to Grand Rapids for dinner at the Bonefish Grill, it was delicious, and the kids stayed with Susan and Steve -- imagine that, Mike and I had a quiet dinner!

This week is a major week for my editing job, so until I get those reports done I'm just going to have to leave you with a picture from today to tide you over until I get some more blogs in.

Ice cream

On Sunday we took Kyle to Sherman's Dairy for ice cream for his birthday. As I held him up looking at all the flavors we had the following conversation.

"Look at all the flavors, Kyle! You can pick whatever you want. Do you want that rainbow one, or this blue one?"

"I have rainbow Mommy. You have blue one?"

"No Kyle, I think I'll have a different one."

"Blue too fancy for you, Mommy?"

Ahhh, I love what he comes up with!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE!

Three years ago today at 4:28 pm Kyle entered our world. We felt so incredibly blessed by his arrival, and he continues to make us feel more and more blessed as the days and years go by. We love his sweet nature, sense of humor, and – although it's tiring – we love his high energy non-stop spunk.

Kyle's biggest change during the past year has been his language. While slow to bloom in the talking department, he now talks up a storm. He is always commenting on things, asking questions, and telling us things. If you don't respond immediately he will say it again and again and again until you do. And you can't just say yes or no, you have to let Kyle know that you understood him by repeating back what he said.

Kyle's ability to have conversations with us has brought our relationship to a whole new level because we know what he thinks about and how he feels. Also, we have discovered that Kyle is very observant. Some of the things he remembers or points out to us are so amazing. His eyes take in everything and he remembers it all. His talking has also let us know how imaginative his play is.

Kyle can identify all the capital letters and we are working on the lower case letters. He knows all his colors and shapes. He is really good with relational words such as under, over, through, up, down, etc. and has no problem using and understanding them.

Other than growing, Kyle hasn't changed much this year physically other than getting faster. He keeps us running because he is such a rambunctious little boy.

Another big change for Kyle this year was the arrival of his little sister. We have been so proud of the big brother that he is to Erin. He is constantly kissing her, hugging her, and telling her that he loves her. We can tell already that he is going to be the best big brother she could possibly have.

Happy, happy birthday dear, wonderful Kyle. We wish you all the best as you head for four!

And, you know me, a blog post would not be complete without pictures, so here's a look back at Kyle's little life so far.