We're Back!!

For some reason this blog has been refusing to work for me lately, so its been almost two months since I wrote last I think. And I've had so much to write about! Any recommendations on new blog sites to use if I keep having problems?  I decided to try again today and it magically worked again. But now I don't even know where to start!

I guess I'll start with the big news. The very exciting big news...

This baby is 22 weeks old right now and we had our ultrasound appointment. First, I'm always so nervous for those appointments because I know we could find out something isn't right. But we are so thankful to have seen a healthy, sweet baby!

Tyler was 100% convinced we were having a girl. Carl also thought girl. I was almost 100% sure we'd be seeing a boy. When we got to the appointment the nurse said, "You have two boys already? Then you know this one is a boy too, right?" I said, "Yep. Pretty sure." :-)

Guess who was right!

 It's a GIRL!!!

Tyler was right all along. I, on the other hand, am still in shock. Seriously. I needed her to double check for me. I couldn't believe it at all! We're having a girl! I am beyond excited. Bring on the pink! Bring on the ribbons and bows and cute little headbands! And shoes! This is going to be fun. :-)

March still seems like forever away. I can't wait to meet this sweet little girl. Who, by the way, should be able to keep up with her brothers just fine. Tyler was like a little karate kid when I was pregnant with him. And I'm pretty sure she has him beat. She is always moving. And she didn't sit still for a single second during that ultrasound. She wasn't making the nurse's job very easy. :-)

We're so excited to meet you Baby Girl!

26 Hour Fish

I've tried four nights in a row now to upload pictures from over a week ago. But it will not work for some reason. So I'll skip ahead a little and just write this. About a week and a half  ago we went to a sand bottom pool in the area on their last day of the season. Apparently every year on the last day they release goldfish into the pool for kids to catch. Kind of a cute idea! And we just happened to be there for it.

Now if you know me at all, you probably know I never ever wanted a pet. Of any kind. Ever. But watching Tyler with his little bucket and net try to catch a fish was so sweet. And I truly wanted him to catch one. In fact, I even prayed that he would. Because I didn't want his little heart to be sad. But at the same time, I really didn't want a fish to take care of.

At one point Tyler got so excited and said, "I caught two little tiny fish!!" It was adorable, especially since they were two tiny little leaves. I didn't quite know how to tell him that they weren't actually fish. So thankfully in his quest to catch a bigger one the other two "swam" away and he didn't care.

After awhile he gave up and decided he wanted to go on the water slide, but as he started walking over there another little boy went up to him with a fish and asked if he wanted it! It was so sweet and Tyler was sooo excited. I was impressed with that boy - how nice of him was that?!

So anyway, we brought home a goldfish. But we really weren't prepared to own a fish. After the boys went to bed Carl ran out and bought some fish food, but we still didn't have a fantastic place for it to live. Just a short, wide, glass vase.

Let's be honest here. We didn't really expect the fish to live very long. Carl even warned Tyler that it might not. It was swimming in chlorine water. And we didn't have any fresh water to bring it home in so it swam in chlorine for quite awhile.

But Tyler and Carsten loved that little fish. Tyler loved feeding it and Carsten loved watching it. And trying to sneak his little hand in to catch it.

But sadly, after they went to bed the next night, it died. It was the oddest thing. It was swimming around and looked just fine when Tyler fed it before bed. Although it never really ate anything.

I was not looking forward to telling him the next morning, but he handled it pretty well. At first he just said, "Oh." But then he burst into tears. He cried loudly and intensely for about 1-2 minutes. But we snuggled up on the couch and then he was ok.

Since then every once in awhile he still brings it up. He will say he misses his fish. Or that he wants a new fish. Today Carsten was crying at lunch because he was tired. But Tyler said, "Are you sad because our fish is gone? It's ok Buddy. I'm sad about that too." He's just the sweetest.

Carl really wants to get them a new fish... We'll see what happens I guess. I told him that if we get another fish I will feed it. But I absolutely will not ever clean the tank or take care of it in any other way. And I'll stand by that. :-)

Big Brother(s)

I'm so excited to announce that... Carl gave in and is finally ready to start shopping for mini vans.

Because of this! :-)

Tyler is so excited. He has been talking about "our new baby" and praying for it often. Carsten is oblivious. But I'm sure he will love it someday!

This is my favorite picture. Tyler is looking happy and excited, which is accurate. Carsten looks like he's thinking, "Wait. What's happening?" Also probably pretty accurate.

 My due date is March 4 - on our anniversary! We are very excited and I'm already counting down the days until we get to meet and hold this sweet baby. 

15 Months!

Carsten was 15 months old last week. How is he growing so fast? It's a little out of control. We have another adventurous boy on our hands. He loves to climb. And to climb and climb some more. He also enjoys sliding off of furniture head first and if he was allowed to, he would happily play and roll on the stairs all day. He tries often.

Carsten loves to play basketball, go for bike rides and play at parks. He wants to do everything like Tyler does, so he is constantly "cooking" in their kitchen and bringing me food to eat. If Tyler decides to put on a winter hat and gloves on an 85 degree day, he does too. If Tyler is sliding down elaborate imaginary water slides so is Carsten. I often wonder if he has any idea what exactly he is pretending to do, or if he is just enjoying being like his brother.

He is not really talking yet, although there are a few words he says occasionally. But he is very good at communicating anyway. He points to tell us things, show us things and asks us things, and while we don't know what he's saying most of the time, he is constantly talking about everything he does.

He had his 15 month appointment today and it was the worst doctor appointment in the history of ever. He had to have blood drawn from his arm for his peanut allergy test. I wasn't really expecting that - I don't know much about allergy tests, but I thought it would be a little skin prick. I was very wrong. A blood draw is so, so, so much worse than shots! I had to hold down his legs and both of his shoulders while one nurse held down his arm and the other one took the blood. I felt so mean holding him down for so long while he laid there screaming. It was the worst thing ever. And then he still needed two shots.  He cried a lot, and it took awhile to calm him down, but he was a little trooper. And I am thankful it's over. I'm still hoping the results come back showing no allergy and that we won't have to go through this again. But the doctor made it sound like that probably won't be the case. We will see!

At fifteen months our boy is growing like crazy! He is 23 pounds (52 percentile) and 33 inches (97th percentile!).

I always think of Carsten as this perfect little mix of sweet and feisty. He is so loving and snuggly and sweet. But he also is very focused and determined when he wants to be. I love his passion and his enthusiasm. And I love all of the great big cheesy smiles that are constantly on his face. All we have to do is pick up a camera for him to come running over with that big grin. It's the best.

Little Soccer Dude

This summer Tyler was old enough to try out his first Parks and Rec sport! He got to choose between T-Ball and Soccer. He didn't even have to think about it - he chose soccer immediately and was so excited about it. His shoes were getting too small so he even got to get new soccer shoes. He could not wait to start.

Do you know how cute it is to watch 3-5 year olds play soccer? It's ridiculous. Tyler loved when they got to practice scoring goals and he was great at dribbling. He was a little timid when they started playing games and he was suddenly allowed to try to steal the ball from people. And he didn't love that they were allowed to steal the ball from him too! Kind of a foreign concept for some one who normally knows it is not okay to take things away from people!

But he really loved it. And he's even been asking when he can play again.

In other Tyler related news, here are a few of his latest greatest quotes.

The scene: The boys are napping and I'm about to start kneading bread dough for dinner. They wake up and can't seem to stop climbing on the counter and trying to eat raw dough. So I have them sit in their chairs so I can quickly finish.

Tyler: Mommy, are you being like Martha?

Me: Who's Martha?

Tyler: Martha from the story in my Bible.

If you don't know that story, look it up. :-) Apparently he felt like I was too worried about getting things done. How old are you again Tyler?

At the moment I can't think of any more exact quotes I guess. But I will say this. He is becoming such a  sweet and compassionate little boy. He is so full of love for his brother. It melts my heart to watch them together. Tyler is definitely the protective big brother. He certainly has some less than perfect moments too, but for the most part he is always looking out for Carsten. I had Bible study today and we meet in the nursery area so the kids can be in the room next door. When we got there today the first thing he did was go in and set up toys for Carsten to play with. And while we were meeting next door I heard him telling the babysitters when Carsten needed things. It was so sweet. Last time we were there he saw Carsten try to eat another boy's sandwhich that had peanut butter on it and he immediately told the babysitters that Carsten is allergic to it! We don't actually know that he is yet. We will find out tomorrow. But it was so good to know that Tyler is watching out for him!

Did I mention that I love them together?

Tyler is only three but he is so excited to go to school. He gets to start Awana this year, which he is also very excited about. And he was asking me today if he will get to bring his back pack and hang it in a locker when he goes. I don't even know how he knows about such things. But he can't wait to ride a school bus and have a locker.

And his newest thing is that he wants to do everything like a big boy. Specifically at meal time. He wants to sit in a big boy chair, use a glass plate and "glass" silverware and he doesn't want anything cut. He's been sitting without a booster seat for a couple months, but he was having a lot of trouble actually staying in his chair. And by a lot of trouble I mean he was getting out of his chair for something about every 30 seconds. At one point he went back to the booster seat for awhile but it didn't really help because he knows how to unbuckle it. So when he started asking for a glass plate we took it as an opportunity. He had to work for getting a big boy plate by learning to stay in his chair. As soon as he got a sticker for every meal for a week, he got his big boy plate. With that (and ice cream dessert) promised for motivation it did not take him long to figure it out. And he is now proudly using a big boy plate, fork and spoon like a pro. And he is so careful and responsible when he clears his place - he sets his plate down so gently next to the sink and he even asked if he could put his silverware in the sink or if he needed to set them on the counter too. :-)

And just for fun, what's the best way to spend a rainy Sunday night? A movie and dinner in a fort with Daddy!

Our Week in Kansas

Since my parents couldn't come here, I took the boys, my sister and her dog to visit them after my dad's surgery. We were so glad that we could go see them and spend so much time with them.

The boys did great on the drive there! We left a little before 5am and since I remembered my wallet this time we were actually there by 4:15.

Just in time for dinner, a little bit of ice cream...

And Tyler's first Root Beer Float!

For some reason this boy thinks it's so funny to sleep in small places. He tried to take his naps here multiple times.

And since we were welcomed to Kansas with 107 degree weather, we spent time almost everyday outside in the pool. This is Tyler being "So, so, so brave," sitting in the deep water all by himself. :-)

Hanging out with Papa Joe!

These two are out of control. Who needs a playground when you can just climb on a step stool in the living room?

Carsten slept well for the most part, but he was still exhausted. My children do not fall asleep in their food. But he did. And he slept through me cleaning him up and changing his diaper, and his brother telling him a very sweet, loud, and animated story and praying with him once he was in his bed.

Of course we made our regularly scheduled Orange Leaf stop.

And this... well it's just awesome. That's all I have to say.

On our last night we had a campfire.

And s'mores!

Or plain graham crackers.

Right before we left my dad gave Tyler a mustache because well, he really wants whiskers!

Tyler made sure to put it on right before we pulled into the driveway to surprise Carl. And then he played a little tennis before we ate the delicious dinner Carl had ready for us.

Since my parents had planned on being out of town that week, they had nothing going on and we were just able to spend lots of great time with them. We played lots of cards and just enjoyed the time we had together all around.

Let the Travels Begin

We have done a lot of driving lately. First we drove to Eau Claire just for the day for Samson's baptism. We were glad we were able to be there for it. And Tyler (who is continually "baptizing" his brother) got to watch a real one. :-)

My parents had planned on being here for the baptism and were going to camp for about three weeks. We were planning on camping with them for about two(ish) of those weeks. But my dad was diagnosed with kidney cancer right before their trip, and (thankfully!) was able to have surgery almost right away. He had his kidney removed and they seem to have caught it and removed it before it had a chance to spread. Praise God!

But they had to cancel their whole trip. Instead of camping with them we went to the Milwaukee area like we had planned, but didn't camp. We bounced around from a hotel, to great friends' house, to Carl's brother's house. We spent the first evening at the hotel hanging out and taking the boys swimming with our friend Kristina and her little boy, Ben.

Then we went to the Haas' house where the boys had a great time playing with Ellie and Josie while we spent time with Noah and Katie. And we were spoiled with delicious food. :-) 

And finally, we headed to Kenosha to see Matt. We've wanted to visit him and Janelle for a long time and we were so glad it worked, but we were sad to miss Janelle while she was out of town.

The motorcycle and the beach were definitely the highlights for the boys. And fyi, Carsten loved having his legs buried in the sand. He didn't so much love being unburied. :-)

Our few days went way too quickly, but we had so much fun and were so glad we got to spend time with people we love and almost never get to see.