Monday, September 28, 2009

Random Silliness

Anders seems to be growing up very quickly. Each day he does something that surprises us. Lately he has been experimenting with walking - doing about 3 or 4 steps at a time. We also just realized that blowing kisses also means something like "I want" or "eat" - we aren't totally sure yet. That or he loves everything so much he wants to kiss it. I don't know.


He has very few fears and constantly surprises us with the stuff he has figured out. He knows that keys go in the lock in the back door and what I mean when I ask him to turn the light off or on.


He likes to put things inside or on top of things as he is doing here, though, I'm not totally convinced he wasn't going for Will's toast 0r whatever that is. You can also see in this picture that the naughty elves that constantly put stuff all over our counter tops had visited the night before this picture was taken. They drive me insane! I can spend an entire evening cleaning the kitchen and less than 24 hours later have no counter space on which to make dinner.


You might think this is Anders trying to do his own silly face, like his cousin Drew, but actually, he has started anticipating the flash which can lead to some funny pictures.


This spider hat on loan from his cousin Cam might serve as his Halloween costume this year, it just fits him, but doesn't stay on very long.


Anders is so brilliant he can already print his name, unfortunately, he also likes to put the chalk in his mouth, so his time with the chalkboard wasn't very long lived.


I have no words for this one. It just cracks me up. Another hat on loan from cousin Cam, which buys me more time to decide what kind of hat I should knit for him. It also matches the winter coat we got for him at REI at the scratch and dent sale last year - bonus! Thanks Cam for loaning Anders your hats. He will take good care of them so that Myles can wear them too.

In other news, I've confirmed that spending time in laundromat and running out of fuel are not good uses of my time. Our washing machine conked out on Friday, after I had loaded it up with dirty diapers. Will tried to fix it that night, but to no avail. I really didn't want to spend any of my Saturday at a laundromat, but we really needed to wash those diapers. Hopefully the repair guy will show up as scheduled tomorrow.

And then today on the way to work, I ran out of fuel for the first (and I hope last) time ever. Stupid! The low fuel light went off on Friday on my way to work, but we can usually get 50 more miles out of the tank. Well, looking back at it, I probably got 60 miles. Apparently engines don't do so well with air in the fuel line, and diesels are even worse to get started after the fact. I nearly killed my battery and Will had to borrow a coworker's car to give me jump while we got my car running again. I also had help from one of my managers who was nearby on his way to work. Take it from me - don't let this happen to you!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Tradition Continues



On my dad's side of the family, there are 8 grandchildren: Tom and Pam, Mary, Ellen and Cathy, and me and my sisters (Sandy, Becky and Sarah). My sisters and I are the only people out of that group of cousins with kids and we now have: Zach, Cam, Drew, Anders and Myles. All boys. Myles was born last night in Denver. Congratulations Becky and Tom!

Monday, September 21, 2009

New Mamas

Around a year ago I made one of the best decisions ever. I signed up for the New Mama class at Amma Maternity. Through that class I met 6 really wonderful friends, who I'm quite certain helped me to get through this first year. The class lasted only 6 weeks, but we've continued to get together and see each other through the highs and lows of being new moms. Now, don't get me wrong, both of my sisters and my sisters-in-law have been a wonderful support system, but there is something about talking through stuff with other women who are going through the same thing at the same time. I love you all!


Look at these adorable babies a year ago. The babies were born from the end of July to the beginning of September, with Anders just missing being the youngest by 1 day. Ironically, Ellis, the baby of the group was the first to crawl and the first to walk! The babies in order from Anders counterclockwise are Mary, Stella, Arthur, Thomas, Owen and Ellis. So cute!


Here we are the New Mamas (we still refer to ourselves that way). I remember Anders was fussy that day and I had to walk around with him in the sling a lot.


So yesterday, Monica was nice enough to host a birthday party for all the babies. It was so fun to see them all together again! All but two are walking (Anders and Stella want to take it easy still). I hadn't seen many of the babies for a few months - I think it was snowing the last time I saw some of them. It was amazing how much they have changed. Here we have Mary, Owen, Stella and Ellis enjoying Thomas' toys. Also in the picture are New Mamas Tracey and Sarah and Caroline, whose mama Sara, got us all together through Amma Maternity.


Anders and Thomas enjoyed putting stuff in Thomas' stacking cups.


Arthur takes it all in here - the poor guy fell asleep right before getting to the party.


Anders took a break from the party to check out Stella's stroller.


This picture is so great - Monica opened up Thomas' Bee Bop Band toy and all of the kids came over to her from all parts of the room. It was both amazing and funny.


Here is Anders trying to make his Uncle Pete and Grandpa Dick proud. I wish I had a video of this - he was drumming like crazy!


New Mama Yesenia got all the kids balls and Sarah got them boats to play with in the bathtub.


And here is Ellis getting a new CD to rock out to. I actually think this might be a ploy to stop him from fighting with Owen over something. It was this point in the party (about 2.5 hours into it) that the kids all started to lose it. So we ran outside for some quick pictures.


Maybe next year we can get them to all lay still in a circle! Thanks for a great year ladies!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Lots of Random Pictures

So, I've had trouble getting posts up, but we have been taking pictures. These go back to before Anders' birthday.


The Sawbill sweatshirt from Will's childhood finally fits Anders and it was cool enough for a sweatshirt a couple of days in August. I'm actually not sure if this was ever Will's sweatshirt. It may have been Rob or Betsy's.


Anders likes to do a lot of climbing on things. He thinks it is especially fun to rock in this chair standing up.


A little light reading...this also helps diaper changes go a lot better.


He really likes going for rides around the yard in his Tonka dump truck. It is kind of hard on my back though!


And playing in water is still a favorite past time.

Ok, this next series of pictures may make me seem kind of vain since I'm posting several pictures of us, but the progression of goofiness cracks me up. This is on Anders' birthday.






More climbing on things. Apparently he is very much like his dad was.



A ball rolled under the entertainment center, so what does he do? He goes right up to the entertainment center and rolls another ball under it! Actually, I think they are still there.


Anders has also gotten way into sitting in his walker wagon.


He ate half of my post run breakfast smoothie. It is hard to not share with a face like that!


I love this picture. He loves to watch Will leave for work in the morning. He stands there and pounds on the door and blows kisses. It is really cute. I found out today that it is fun to be on the other side of the door as I left for work.


We've had these sunglasses since before he was born, but he wasn't into them until this week. Apparently last night he was so into them, he wouldn't go to bed without them on. This is first thing this morning.


And this is what happens when he just takes them off and randomly drops them as you are walking through the kitchen. They landed right in the flour, which Will had open as he was making waffles for the two of them this morning.


Will called me before they left for the Montessori today and said that he happened across Sesame Street and Anders basically froze in front of it. It was his first time seeing it. I hadn't really planned on exposing him to TV yet, or rather, TV geared specifically for kids (he gets way more exposure to the Daily Show, Steven Colbert and sports than I ever dreamed he would) but apparently he loved it tons. Will says he was very needy and didn't want to be put down and then this came on and he was spellbound. Hmmm...sounds kind of tempting.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

This Past Weekend

I feel like this past weekend was really busy. Anders and I started Saturday with a quick 3 mile run and then I went to get my haircut. I stopped in at my favorite Twin Cities yarn store (Crafty Planet) and almost bought some more yarn. Luckily they didn't have 3 skeins in one dye lot. I certainly have enough knitting projects, but I kind of wanted to do something for myself. Anyway, after that I rushed home and got my bike and Anders ready and about 10 minutes later we rode over to the park to meet up with Beth and Will, giving Will some peace and quiet in which to watch Iowa crush Iowa State.


I think the park is called Mississippi North Regional Park. We went there in June with Sarah, Mike, Zach and Drew. Beth and the boys and I ate a little lunch at this cute little picnic table. It was just the right size for Anders McClimbs-a-lot and Will, who was very good about hanging out and eating his lunch, that is until he decided to go exploring.


There was lots of sand to play in. The boys really seemed to like it. I was pretty surprised to find no sand in Anders' diaper when we got home though. Sadly the little wading pool was closed (I guess most pools get closed in MN after Labor Day), this was too bad because I know Anders would have loved to play in the water.


Will demonstrated his survival skills and showed us that he knows how to find edible snacks out in nature. This is good as he is sure to have many outdoor adventures in the next several years with his parents!


Despite being at the exciting park, Anders decided to spend a fair amount of time with one of his favorite things - the bike trailer. Bikes are special favorites for him, but really, anything with wheels like a bike really catch his attention. You may notice that I only have one bike shoe on the ground there. That is because he had already put the other one in the trailer for me. This was after he took Will's maraca out of their stroller and put it in the trailer.


Will decided to get in on the action.


And then decided it wasn't all that exciting after all.


They did some swinging. Will especially seems to be having fun here.


And Will got some sand on his face. This was after Beth had cooled him down with some water. We looked over at him and he was covered in sand. I'm not sure how it happened, but he didn't seem to mind.


This look cracks me up. We were packing up to go. This is a combination of "I'm not ready to go and I need a nap." Anders was almost asleep when we got home - it is about a 10 minute ride, so we did a quick diaper change and put him down for what I thought would be nice long nap after all the fresh air and playing in the sand. Hah! Not quite. I had just enough time to do a much needed mopping of the kitchen floor and he was back up. I bet he slept for maybe 45 minutes and then was visited by the Poop Fairy. Oh well. It was a really nice time at the park - thanks for meeting us Beth and Will!

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Messy Faces

Today was day two of Anders' birthday celebration. He started the day with blueberry pancakes and apple cinnamon pancakes made by Uncle Rob. He liked them.


The big breakfast he ate led to a big nap - 4 hours! Much of which occurred while Rob, Carrie, Will, Mike and Zach and I were at the Iowa-UNI game. It was an exciting game. On the way to the game a chipmunk tripped me and Carrie as we walked down the sidewalk. It came out of nowhere and tripped me first (I thought it was somebody trying to trip me from behind by kicking my foot). Then as I was trying to avoid stepping on it, it got under Carrie's feet. It was very crazy.

After the game it was party time.



Grammie made Anders 2 cakes. The chocolate train cake with the candy cargo was a huge hit. Eleanor and Baby D are scoping it out and laying claim to a piece with gummy bears on it.


Anders and Drew showed off their Iowa team spirit with Aunt Sarah.


And there was lots of game playing - Anders even joined in the fun.


Since the angel food cake was so close, Anders decided to start with that cake, first by dragging his finger through the frosting. He was very civilized and used a fork.


Then all hell broke loose. He enjoyed the chocolate cake as well. His favorite thing to do was play with the cake and throw it overboard. He was having lots of fun.


Next we all moved on to the rides. Everyone started with a train ride on the City Park Express.



Anders got a new engineer hat to wear for the ride.


Then there were rides on the carousel.


And the mini ferris wheel.


Next we opened presents. Anders really liked this one from Eleanor.


Unfortunately, the balloons escaped out of an unnamed uncle's sunroof on the way to the party. When we got home, the balloons were in the tree across from Uncle Rob and Aunt Carrie's house. The unnamed uncle felt very bad, but at least we got a picture with them! Thanks everyone for coming to the party!