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.

Kyle's Birthday Party

They’re two they’re four they’re six they’re eight
Shunting trucks and hauling freight
red and green and brown and blue
they’re the really useful crew.

Kyle’s one then two then almost three
Growing up fast just like a tree
Come celebrate how big he’ll be
Birthday fun with lots of glee.

If you can tell by the text from Kyle's birthday invitation, Kyle had a Thomas the Train birthday party because he is all about Thomas right now. On the eve of Kyle's third birthday he is just winding down from a day of fun with his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Here are some pictures from the big event.

After opening gifts, each gift giver got a hug and a thank from our sweet boy.Daddy's truck, and Kyle can make it work!!Trains were the big hit of the day!Kyle's cake, YUM! He was so happy to be sung to!A Viewmaster. I had one of these when I was little, and man are these things different now! The picture is so clear and it's 3D. The design is also really easy to use and Kyle is having no problem changing reels and advancing the pictures.Nana Bos and all the Bos grandkids.

Halloween extravaganza!

We managed to stretch Halloween out over the whole week, which was fine with all of us! On Monday night we surprised my parents at their favorite hamburger joint with the kiddos in costume. Thursday Kyle had a Halloween party at play group, and we carved a pumpkin that night. And last night, of course, was trick or treating. Kyle made out like a pirate with all his treasure! Here are some pics from the week of our monkey and banana.

Kyle with my parents, and then bellying up to the bar.

Kyle at play group with a friend, and then with Erin and I.

Pumpkin carving... it was a powertool carving session! We asked Kyle if he wanted to touch the inside and he kept saying, "I can't." LOL

Halloween night.

Is this really a dog, or a big person dressed up like a dog???

Kyle with his cousin Jack.