Monkie Around with the Morgans

#3

2012-02-03T17:30:00.001-08:00

Those of you who are friends with Mark on Facebook have already heard the news... yep another little Morgan is in the oven! :)

The picture above was taken 12/27, so Mark and I have kept it to ourselves until recently. My due date is 9/1 but with my history of going at 38 weeks, I am expecting an August baby.

I am sorry I have not made more posts but I have been EXHAUSTED. I have the best husband in the world who has done so much in the last 6 weeks. He let's me sleep while he watches the boys, does laundry, cooks dinner, etc. It is crazy how tired I have been this time around.

Thank you, thank you honey-bunny for all you do! - giving me beautiful children and taking such good care of us.

I thought it would be fun to video tape the boys' reaction when telling them. Let's just say it is not what I thought it would be. Emmett doesn't understand and Cael just said he wants a baby sister. I tried to explain that we will have to wait and see what Heavenly Father has given us but he does not want to hear it. :) I won't lie by saying I don't want to buy dresses and some pink, but another healthy baby would be perfect!

We love you all!

Happy New Years!!!

2012-01-01T13:01:00.001-08:00

Last night we had a great time with friends! Thank you Audra and Doug for organizing such a fun night for us. We ate a yummy kid friendly dinner with friends and then off the the children's museum.

Emmett did great sitting at the big boy table with all his friends.

We got to wear fun party hats!

Cael got to dance on bubble wrap to make that fun popping sound.

Emmett hung out with Daddy most of the time, staying clear of crowd of people.

Our happy family....

The boys played in some water for a while.

Cael busted a move just before the balloon drop at 8pm.

Emmett was a ham! Saying cheese for everyone

Mark calls Emmett pork chop and Emmett loves it! It is fitting for some reason.

We are excited for 2012 and the new adventures it will bring.

Christmas at the Morgans

2012-01-01T12:44:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We had a great time. We were all on the nice list so Santa came.

Here is my handsome Emmett blue eyes! Isn't he handsome in thew new outfit??

And Cael is so grown up in his outfit. So handsome!

Granny and Grandpa Morgan got the boys a fancy kitchen with a grill.

Emmett is having a hard time understanding the concept of pretending to eat the food. :)

Daddy gave Cael a lesson on grilling.

Beesha and Dziedze gave the boys a fun race track.

Cooking... cooking...

Emmett loved opening presents.

The boys got a fun bowling set.

Wow! Mommy and Daddy must really love you to get you all those superheroes to play with.

Go blue! Emmett loves his new Michigan place setting.

'I am Optimus Prime...' Cael loves Transformers!

Mimi and Popi got the boys Cars 2 which we watched on Christmas Eve. The boys love Cars!

Thank you all! Though we were miles away we had a great Christmas. We missed you all!

Cael's Christmas Program

2011-12-25T14:45:00.000-08:00

Cael loves to sing Christmas caroles and he was more than ready for the program at the daycare last week. I know, I know, I do not have the cutest holiday shirt on him. I had planned to take him another shirt to change into and forgot. :( He is cute anyway!

So much to be thankful for..

2011-12-03T15:48:00.000-08:00

Mark's birthday was 11/10... he turned the big 33!

We went to Red Robin for dinner. Say cheese!

Emmett was being a little camera shy.
Cheese!

'Happy Birthday to Daddy...'

Chocolate fudge cake is yummy!

Ew! Gross! I love you, you sexy man you! :)

My mom and dad came out for Thanksgiving which was AWESOME!

Emmett was quite taken with Dziedze. He wasn't so sure about Beesha but loved him some Dziedze.

We went to the mall with Beesha and Dziedze. The boys played on the inside playground and we enjoyed some ice cream.

Yummy!

I scream, we scream, we all scream for ice cream!

Oh, and we found the cutest hats for the boys. These guys have big heads (95+percentile) so it took some shopping around.

Emmett is Captain America.

Cael is Spiderman.

Dziedze showed Mark how to prepare the turkey... it was our first time making a turkey. We typically make ham but not this time.

Ah, love the Beesha!

What a beautiful turkey!

'This is the moistest turkey I've ever eaten,' said Dziedze.

Beesha helped me make some DELICIOUS mashed potatoes.

Cael wanted a picture taken of him too.

We took the boys to an inside play center. They ran and played until they were pooped.

There were cars, and balls,

and a huge jungle-gym with swinging bags, slides, tunnels, etc.

Cael was a wild man running through there. Pictured above he is doing his workout of kicking and punching. :)

Thank you Beesha and Dziedze for coming to Lincoln for Thanksgiving. I know it was cold some days but it was a lot of fun! We hope you enjoyed it too! We miss you bunches. Thanks for everything!

Yesterday was picture day a daycare. I stayed home with them in the morning, feeding them breakfast before going to school to keep them as neat as possible. Of course I took some of my own pictures.

Handsome! And check out my new kicks!

Emmett would not smile for anything.

This was about as good as it gets. Cheesers!

I took the boys to school and hung around until picture time. That was a big mistake. Emmett was extremely clingy and would not take pictures. He kept crying and getting up when the photographer was trying to take the pictures. Cael on the other hand hammed it up! His pictures should turn out really cute. We still need to take the boys to see Santa at the mall and take pictures. I am sure Emmett will cry then too... it is that age I guess.

Well, it snowed most of the day today. It started at about 9am and continued until 5pm or later. It is pretty... but it sure can be a mess.

We moved the toys into the basement for the boys. We had new carpet installed and Mark and I moved back upstairs... so now the boys have a new play area.

Halloween Pictures

2011-11-09T20:21:00.001-08:00

I apologize for the delay in posting pictures of the boys.

They were super cute of course!

Cael was Green Latern and Emmett was a dragon!

Roar!
We went to Trunk or Treat at the church.

Emmett mostly hung out on the tailgate with daddy.

When we walked around the neighborhood Emmett rode in style.

Cael was not afraid of some of the scary decorations and costumes.

I love this picture from behind... the little dragon with his wings being pulled in the wagon.

I hope you all enjoyed Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

2011-10-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday we went to Roca Berry Farm's Pumpkin Patch with Cael's friend Logan and her parents. We had a blast!!!

Unfortunately it was a little overcast and drizzly, but we played and played.
Cael was super excited to play with Logan.
There was a 40 foot slide the kids loved to go down. I thought I'd take Emmett down it. Well at the top it was not the easiest to get me and him in at the same time... so the first time down Emmett went solo as he slipped down before I could get on behind him. :)

Cael and Logan were wild and crazy! :)

They loved going down and scaring each other, then race back to the top just to do it again.

Daddy took Emmett down the other slide which was a little bumpy.. and very slippery!

Emmett is fearless like his brother and loved it.

The boys had fun jumping into a pile of hay. Of course Emmett saw Cael and Logan doing it first and had to follow.

Cael was not afraid to jump as high as he could.

My little spider.. by the way Emmett loves his Michigan sweatshirt.. thanks Dziedze!

Now this was fun.. there is not picture of me but Logan's dad, Doug, and I got on here with the kids. It was so tempting to bouncing them all high but we restrained ourselves.:)

Of course they had to ride the ponies.

Cute!

Emmett had his first pony ride. He was MAD when he had to get off.

We watched the pig races. Cael is good at calling them, 'souwee!'

That's my boys.. Wanted for being so darn adorable!

Cael wore himself to death running around and climbing on anything and everything.

Emmett was dancing to some music playing.. that boy hears a beat the just starts moving.

The kids had a great time and so did we.

Sunday night we carved one of the pumpkins. Mark and the boys did the messy part.

Emmett tried to help.

My sweet pumpkins.

The jack-o-lantern actually came out pretty good.. see the top of the page.

I'll be sure to post Halloween pictures.. I am excited for Halloween this year. I am dressing up for activities we have planned at work. I'll post pictures of me too. :)

Love you guys!

Cowboy Up!

2011-09-24T20:24:00.000-07:00

We had a busy day today. We started by going to swim lessons. Emmett goes at 9:15am and then Cael at 10:45am. They both love it and are doing great. Mark and I have the pleasure of getting in the pool with them. :) By lunch we are all tired.

Cael's buddy Isaac had his 3rd birthday and so his family had a party today at their ranch. Isaac has always worn a cowboy hat and boots to daycare and the invitation had a cowboy theme so we figured Cael needed some cowboy attire. :)

Emmett is just my little redneck, hamming it up with daddy.

Isaac's mom had the cutest party favors, including fake mustaches. Needless to say Emmett was not a fan of the mustache. He was cute but hated it.
Cael on the other hand enjoyed dressing up. Maybe we have our Halloween costume. :)

There was a bouncy house at the party so Cael and Isaac bounced around and wrestled each other.

Cael also got to ride a horse. He thought he was hot stuff.

Cael kept saying 'faster, faster' so Isaac's dad go on with him so they could trot and lope.

It was hilarious because Cael kept saying 'yaw, yaw.' I guess we need a horse. :)

Here is cowboy Cael with his partners in crime Isaac and Logan. These three have been friends since Cael started at Kelly's Kids. I know Logan and Cael miss Isaac who stays at home with his mom now.

Thank you Isaac and Isaac's parents for a great party!

I still can't believe we bought Cael a hat and boots for a party. I guess every kid needs their first pair of cowboy boots. :) I told Mark he could wear them to church.

After the birthday party Mark and I dropped the boys off to stay with some friends while we went to the Husker women's volleyball game. They beat Ohio State! Awesome! Thank you Dave and Jenny for the tickets. We had so much fun! Thank you Patricia and Jeff for watching the boys.

We love you all! Talk to you soon!

Happy Belated Birthday Jennie!!!!

Family Fun

2011-09-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

We went to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha on Labor Day. It was a perfect day; the temperature was in the 70's so we were able to stay for 5 hours.

Cael's new favorite movie is Rio so I took some pictures of the birds.
Giraffes are always a favorite of mine. They were the last animals we saw so maybe that is why Cael says they are his favorite. At the gift shop we let the boys pick out one stuffed animal. Emmett picked a penguin which he calls his Baby and he carries it around in his mouth. Cael wanted a giraffe. When I asked him what he was going to name it he said 'Giraff-ia.' Too cute!
Emmett loved the zoo. He was excited to see all the animals. He called everything baby and wanted to touch.

The penguins and fish were a lot of fun for the boys.

Check out Pumba behind us! :)

Cael and Emmett rode in style. We love the wagon!

Cael thought the skeleton was cool and wanted to take a picture beside it. He loved watching the big silver back gorillas. They are so magnificent!

This guy was eating a HUGE salad while we took pictures.

The boys did get tired as it was a long day. Cael has a sour face in this picture...

Oh, here is Emmett and his Baby!

Yesterday we went to the Lincoln Airshow. We had so much fun! It was HOT but fun!

Cael and Emmett make a good flight team, don't you think?

Here they are ready to fly away. Don't you love their matching shirts with a jet on them?

The boys loved to check out all the planes and helicopters parked for our inspection. :)

A nice lady offered to take a picture of us. We took a few blankets and camped out for a while.

Cael got up on Daddy's shoulders for a better view.

We did not stay for too long because it was so hot and the sun was beating down on us. This particular airshow is one of the longest they said. It started at 11am and the Blue Angels did not perform until almost 4. We live close to the airport so we were able to see and hear the Blue Angels as they flew close by our home.

Daddy let the boys pick out souvenirs. Cael picked a Blue Angel and Emmett picked a Shark bomber.

We love you all! We wish you could have been here with us. Talk to you soon!

Updating the kitchen

2011-09-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

BEFORE

The mess...

AFTER

What's left to do in the kitchen - the floor, the ceiling, and finishing the pantry door and baseboards.

I've included pictures of the living room as we have bought a new couch, hung up so new pictures, replaced the carpet. etc.

Oh, and we bought a new kitchen table.

We are looking for a new TV stand and a side table maybe. I also thought about a storage ottoman for the toys OR maybe a coffee table that provides storage.

I love my new kitchen. And I think anyone look at our starter home will like it too!

Just dropping a couple of lines...

2011-08-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not updating my blog as often as I did before. I think of updating but then get busy with something else. Well now I am in Orange County, CA and my flight was delayed so I have some time to kill with no distractions - no housework calling my name, no kids needing my assistance, no pertinent work duties weighing heavily on my mind. I could sit and cry about having to wait to get home or I can be productive, right? Anyway....

You will see I created the list of Emmett's words. I had fun doing that when Cael learned to talk so I thought I would try to do it again. This time I will try to include the age he said them.

So what is new besides Emmett's words?

Emmett is walking now. He was a little stubborn to let go and go on his own but the last 3 weeks he has become more confident and practically runs around the house. He seems so much busier than I remember Cael being; Emmett is always into something. When we returned from vacation back in July he did move from the Infant room at daycare to the Peach room. Of course there was an adjustment period but he loves it now. He is such a big boy and so handsome! That cute toothy green and those bright blue eyes melt my heart. The back of his hair and around by his ears is curly - especially with the humidity. I am afraid if I cut it then the curls will be gone. We are going to wait a bit longer before giving him his first hair cut. Emmett is a great eater and now is able to eat pretty much anything, though we are waiting on the shellfish and peanut butter just in case.

Cael is not a little boy anymore. He can be sassy because he is so darn smart. He is potty trained with the exception of still wearing a diaper or pull-up at night. I was amazed how quickly he caught on and has done a great job. He even stands up to pee. I think when he saw his cousin Isaac stand up that encouraged him even more to do it. In Cael's class at daycare they work on tracing letters and numbers. He has done a great job. He has learned more fun songs, we talk about the weather, the days of the week, the months of the year, and of course his vocabulary, grammar, and knowledge grows each day. The other day I was talking to my mom and Skype. I was holding Emmett and Cael was playing with some toys in a clear plastic container. I asked him to come over ant talk to Beesha and Cael said, "mom, this is my future," pointing to the clear container of stuff. All my mom and I could do was laugh. He loves the Disney movie Meet the Robinsons so maybe that is what that was about. Cael has also been saying 'baby' all the time - 'okay baby' 'yes, baby' 'play with me baby.' I am not sure where he go it because Mark and I don't call each other baby. I call Cael and Emmett silly things like 'sweetness' and 'handsome prince.'

Mark is enjoying his job as a Parole Officer. He enjoys learning new things and strives to be the best there ever was no matter what he is doing. As a family we love having him with us throughout the week and weekend since his hours are M-F, 8-4:30. He will have to work late one day a week but that is not bad at all. Mark is the best husband I know. He is such a great support and help to me and the kids.

So life for us is good. We need to keep motivated to finish all the projects around our house but other than that...

Love you guys! Talk to you soon!

Summer Vacation 2011 - Part 2

2011-07-22T12:36:00.001-07:00

I am sorry for the delay. Here are some more photos from our trip.

We were so glad to spend time with Dan, Erin, Garrison, and Stella. Here is Mark in the pool with Cael, Emmett, and Garrison.

Garrison had so many Buzz Lightyear toys so Cael was in heaven!
These guys had a lot of fun!

Awh! The Binky babies Emmett and Stella.

Kim and Ron through another awesome birthday party for Cael:

Cael was beaming with everyone singing 'happy birthday' to him.

Ron was anything but a short order chef! We had oysters along with burgers and hot dogs.

It is great when family can get together! We need to do it more often!

We also went to Silver Springs with Kim and Ron. We saw lots of birds and gators.

Unfortunately our day was cut short by the weather. The time we spent there was fun though.

Cael had such a good time playing with his cousins, even the non-blood related variety. Here is a picture of Garrison, Cael, Maylee, and Isaac.

Good food at a family get together is a must!!! mmmm-mmmmm! I love me some country ribs!

Isn't this the cutest picture! Left to right: Maylee, Max, Isaac, Emmett, and Cael

And another one!

The boys love their Dziedze!

Even in the pool Emmett wanted to snuggle is mommy.

It took Cael a while to warm up to the water. Then all of a sudden he was brave and wanted to jump into the pool.

Thank you Kim and Ron for having us and throwing another great party. We appreciate all you do for us. The boys, Mark, and I miss you both immensely.

Thank you Mom and Dad! I miss you guys so much! I wish we lived closer. Thank you for everything!

Talk to you all soon!

Love you!

Summer vacation 2011 - Part 1

2011-07-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

My family and I just returned from a wonderful vacation to Florida. It was so nice to be together for 2 full weeks as an immediate family, with no work, and to see our extended family. We split up our time with Mark's parents in Macclenny and my parents in Jacksonville. My sister Jenilee is just 45 minutes away in Georgia and my brother and his family came down from Atlanta. We had so much fun!

I have TONS of pictures so I will post some today and then will post more in the next couple of days.

As you can see from the new family photo at the top of my blog we had pictures made. My mom asked a friend from church to take our pictures while we were all together. Some came out really cute!

Ah, siblings! Kevin, Jenilee, and I having a blast!

Kevin and Jennie have a beautiful family. Isaac is 5.5yrs old, Max will be 1 yr soon, and Maylee will be 4 soon. My how time flies!

The entire Zywot clan! Jenilee held a picture of her husband Joe as he is out on deployment - an active serviceman in the US Navy. We missed you Joe!

Emmett loved his first time at the beach. He acted very different than Cael did the first time.

Cael had fun playing with his cousins, looking for seashells, and riding the boogie board on some waves!

Mommy just enjoyed relaxing and watching the boys play.

Zoo fun

2011-05-23T20:20:00.001-07:00

We went to the zoo this last Saturday with Cael's class from daycare. We had lots of fun!

In the wagon left to right: Preston, Logan, Addison

(all in his class)

Cael was brave and fed the goats and the llamas.

My little hatchlings! :)

So sweet!!!

Oh, now he is in the wagon.

Cael loved the pygmy marmosets. When we told them what they were he said, 'Oh, like on Diego.'

Thank you Ms Lindsay for a great day at the zoo!!!

Emmett's 1st Birthday

2011-05-23T20:00:00.001-07:00

So last Monday started out rough. At 2am Emmett woke up with his seal-like bark. Yep! He had croup, AGAIN! He also had a fever of about 101. So I took him to the doctor Monday where he was treated with a steroid. I stayed home with him Monday and then Mark stayed home with him Tuesday.

Tuesday night into Wednesday was rough; Emmett woke up several times in the night. Wednesday morning when he woke up I dressed him as usual and then took him into the kitchen for his medicine. When I turned the light on to measure out his medicine and saw the yucky, crusty eyes! Yep! Pink eye! So we went to the doctor where his ears were clear, throat was clear, just the yucky eyes.

Thursday Emmett went to daycare. Thursday into Friday he woke up several times during the night, inconsolable. Friday was his 12 month wellness check anyway so he stayed home until his appointment. Low and behold, he had an ear infection! Yep!

So, needless to say it was a long, cranky birthday week! We did celebrate his birthday with cake and presents Friday night.

I made strawberry cake again which both boys loved!
I can bake pretty good but I cannot decorate so pay no attention to the cake! :)
(And pay no attention to our incomplete cabinets. We need to finish the doors.)
After cake I put them both in the bath because they were a mess. Then in their matching jammies, Cael helped Emmett open his presents.
Emmett did a great job tearing at the paper.

He loved all the toys!

And so did Cael. Poor little guy did not like the idea of presents for someone else. :) But we share around here. What is Cael's is Emmett's and what is Emmett's is Cael's.

Oh, so the stats for the birthday boy were:

Height: 29.5 inches, 45%

Weight: 22lbs 7oz, 68%

Head: 19.5 inches, 98%

**Both my boys have big heads! Geniuses I tell you!

Emmett's 12month photos

2011-05-16T14:15:00.001-07:00

We had an adventure taking pictures over the weekend. It took Emmett a few minutes to warm up to the photographer. I think all the pictures came out adorable!

(BTW the following are from the CD they gave us so they are not cropped and prepared for print)

Stud!!!

How you doing?

Mr Bright Eyes!

He loved the homemade strawberry cake I made him.

Can you believe it has been a year?

Spring fever

2011-04-23T11:05:00.001-07:00

When the weekends have been nice we've gone to the park to play. This is Emmett for his first swing ride outside. He loves it!
Poor Daddy was worn out from all the work we are doing in the kitchen. Mark has done a great job. We've never done a project like this so we've had a few challenges and I appreciate Mark's time and patience. :)

Cael got a marshmallow frog sucker at school Thursday. They had little Easter Baskets... fun! You can see his face looks 100 times better than it did almost 2 weeks ago. Neosporin is a lifesaver! The second day he looked worse with his eye practically swollen shut. But ever since then it has looked better and better each day. Cael is doing well.. growing up. His imagination is amazing to me, pretending so much of the time. At night instead of me reading him a story he wants to tell me a story. He is a good storyteller - it must be the Morgan in him. :) He did misbehave yesterday though; he drew on his bedroom walls. That's right.. wallS.

We still have the bunny ears from when Cael was little. Cael would wear them around the house for no reason. Emmett did not leave them on as long... just for a picture. :)

We hope everyone enjoys Easter!! We wish we could be with family but soon enough we will see you all! Love you!

Emmett is 11 months old!

2011-04-23T10:57:00.001-07:00

Emmett is getting so big so fast. He is still slithering across the floor to get where he is going and he is now pulling himself up! In this picture he is eating his first cracker. We are slowly introducing new table food. He had hot dogs yesterday and some pancake this morning. It won't be long before he is eating everything we are.

No words yet but lots of babble - ma-ma-ma-ma, da-da-da. He does clap and dance a bit when he hears music.

If it is not one thing... it is another.

2011-04-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

So last Wednesday - Friday Mark was in Omaha for a conference/training. It was my turn to be a single parent and of course one of the boys got sick. Wednesday morning Emmett's eye was puffy and goopy when he got up. I took him to the doctor and he had ear infections and pink eye. Lovely!!! So I was home with the poor little guy on Wednesday and half the day Thursday. The antibiotic seemed to kick in right away. I bought a probiotic for his belly so everything seemed better. Emmett did have a hard time laying down Friday and Saturday nights and even got up during the night. Well guess why! Yep, the 1 year molars are trying to come through. Last night I could his red swollen gums with a little white where the teeth are trying to come through the gum.. Yep, both the top teeth are trying to come in.

Today was 'crazy hair day' at daycare. Cael let me make his hair CRAZY!!! :)

Then at about 10:45ish I got a call from daycare because Cael fell and hit his head. At first they called just to let me know. Then they called back because they were concerned. They took the below picture and sent it to my work email: Of course I freaked out and immediately left work to pick him up. I did take him to the doctor just to have him checked over... just bumps and bruises. I am at home with him this afternoon to keep an eye on him. Poor guy! Cael does not sit still much any more without a movie on so he is watching The Great Mouse Detective. I will now knock on wood as I say I hope we can go longer than a week without any new injuries or illness.

I hope you are all well! Love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DZIEDZE!!!!

2011-04-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

We love you! We can't wait to see you.

xoxoxoxo

Have a very happy birthday!!!

The cutest boys ever!!!

2011-03-31T13:24:00.000-07:00

I know I am biased, but can you blame me??? They are so darn cute! Emmett is a ham! When I get the camera he starts cheesing without me saying anything. Cael is too worried about what the picture will look like - 'I wanna see' before the flash can even go off.

Emmett loves the bath. Splash, splash, splash!

Emmett likes to play with heavy toys. He gets on his back and will pull them on top of him, and then will use his feet and legs to help him hold them. My Strong Man baby! Cael loves our new leather couch. It took him a few days to understand we don't put shoes or toys on the new couch.

Emmett has started eating table food. He likes green beans, green peas, carrots, peaches, and bananas.

Those teeth hurt! - believe me. I've enjoyed being Emmett's source of nutrition but I am about ready to move on. :) For the last 3.5 yrs I've been pregnant or nursing, so I am ready for a break.. and so is Mark. :)

I was brave and decided to let Emmett get in the bath with Cael. Usually when it is Cael's turn to bathe he will splash, play, sing, and yell to Emmett, who watches and laughs. Well, Cael asked if he could play with Emmett in the tub so I let them. It worked out all right. It was nice for Mark to be home when they were done so he could dry off and dress one while I did the other.

Life in the Morgan house is good. We have started on some home improvement projects so we will see how they go. Talking to people about home repairs is like talking to people about taking care of babies... everyone has a different opinion. Mark and I are doing our best to weed through the different pieces of advice so we can do what we can with our budget. Thanks to all who have offered to help, who have helped, and will help. :)

Love you guys!

Two peas in a pod

2011-03-20T19:21:00.000-07:00

Cael and Emmett are the best of friends.

March Madness in the Morgan house... Cael is practicing his slam dunk.

Emmett wants to play ball too.

Argh!!!!

My Lucky Charms!

Aren't these shirts the cutest!!! We are not Irish but they make precious little leprechauns.

Emmett is 10 months old!

2011-03-20T19:16:00.001-07:00

Time flies by so fast! It is hard to believe he is already 10 months old.

Saturday, 03/19/11, he woke up with croup again so I took him to the doctor. Poor little guy. They gave him a steroid shot for the croup and then some antibiotics for his sinus infection.

Emmett has 8 teeth, still army crawls, wears 12-18 month clothes, and loves his brother.

I am so glad it is March....

2011-03-02T12:52:00.001-08:00

because that means spring is on the way. Thank goodness! Don't get me wrong, this winter has been mild for us Nebraskans, but the teasing of 60 degree temperatures is just too much! :)

I am at home today with little Emmett. He has croup, AGAIN. It was bad last night. His wheezing just got worse and worse no matter what I did; I tried going out in the cold and then the hot steam. So, I took him to the ER where they gave him two breathing treatments and some steroids. Once we got home and into bed, it was about 1.5 hours later when he woke me up wheezing. This time the hot steam helped it subside so I was comfortable putting him back to bed. I did not sleep much myself though, as I was constantly listening for him and going to check on him. Today I took him to his pediatrician's office because his seal-like bark was still there. We have more steroids to give him today and tomorrow. We are both tired but at least he will be okay. It was scary getting in the car to go to the ER... I've never had to do that before with either child. The below picture is of him when I went to wake him up for his appointment after a morning catnap.

Cael's class had show and tell yesterday for the first time. He chose to take his 'I-Screamer' monster truck.

Emmett's shirt says "Play date? Text me." Cutie!
Emmett is still army crawling but he gets where he wants to go- all over the house.

Mark and I took him to his 9 month wellness appointment on 02/21 and his stats were:

Weight: 20lbs 4 oz, 61 percentile

Length: 29 inches, 75 percentile

It is about time for bigger car seat. He has been waving for about a month now and still has only 8 teeth, which is plenty. Mommy and Emmett still avoid dairy products but Mommy now enjoys some soy and we are on track with introducing the solids.

I know, I know. One day Cael will kill me when he sees this picture. I think he is adorable. He is my Baby Jaguar! :)

A couple of weekends ago the boys and I waited in the car for Mark to run into the store. To keep the boys entertained we took turns trying on Mommy's glasses and taking pictures.

Self portrait... man, my smile is crooked!

Word up Easy - E?! :)

Cael the bumble bee! :)

This same say we went to the mall for a short while. Daddy rode with Cael on the carousel. Cael is wearing his 'braska' hat and Daddy's in his Gator gear.

Every time they came around where Cael could see me he would yell 'mommy.' Everyone around enjoyed his enthusiasm.

Emmett patiently waited for his brother. He was asleep when we first got there or he would have had his first carousel ride.

This same day we stopped at the park but it was too windy for Emmett to swing. We did not get to stay long... that's when we went to the mall.

Everything is going well for the Morgan Family. We have strong healthy boys (for the most part). Mark and I stay busy with work and our family. We are excited to go home to Florida in the summer to see family and friends.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

2011-02-14T14:08:00.001-08:00

Sorry it has been a while since my last post. I hope everyone is well!!

Here are some pictures of my cute Valentines.

Look at me!!!
I love spaghetti!!

Did I do that?

Ah!

Check me out! I am a big boy sitting up on my own.

Why is she always hugging me? :)

This is my Valentine's puppy from Granny and Grandpa.

Look what Granny and Grandpa sent me! A harmonica! I love it!

Making Valentine's for my class... Cars of course!

To my wonderful husband:

Roses are reds

Violets are blue

Mark is the best daddy

and the best hubby too!

My first concert

2011-01-23T20:06:00.000-08:00

So last night Mark and I went to Omaha to see Rascal Flatts. This was my first concert ever!!! When Mark and I first met I was not a big country fan at all. He ended up leaving a CD in my car and soon enough I knew the words to every song... and yes it was a Rascal Flats CD. Crazy! Now all I listen to is country music. Call me a prude but the hip-hop I previously enjoyed is just too inappropriate/vulgar for my young family. :) Mark had bought these tickets for me as a surprise in early December. He called me at work to tell me what he had done because he knew I would see the $$ transaction when I balanced the check book. He is the sweetest guy ever by the way; always doing thoughtful things for me. The show started at 7:30pm with Chris Young and Luke Bryan opening the show. We arrived at about 8pm and it was not because we were trying to be fashionably late. We drove through a snow storm to get to Omaha... not fun. We both were tense the entire way. Neither of us have ever been to the Qwest Center either so we were not sure where to go for parking, and by this time it was a madhouse in that area. We parked quite a ways away and then quickly walked through the blowing snow and 12 degree weather to the facility. Our seats were not on the main floor but not in the nose bleed area either; we got a good view of the stage and the big screens. We missed Chris Young completely but enjoyed Luke Bryan and then Rascal Flatts. It was so fun! Mark and I held hands, swayed, danced a bit, and sang out loud. :) The smell of the alcohol around us was enough to give you a buzz... :) We bought a couple of ball caps as souvenirs. The run from the building to the truck was even worse I think... The wind was picking up the snow already on the ground and smacking us in the face. It was also about 5 degrees cooler and I am sure with the windchill even worse. We thought we'd never get out of the immediate area but with patience we were on our way back to Lincoln. Mark's knuckles were white for the track back home. I think it was about am when we got back home. Lincoln got more snow then we saw in Omaha, the roads and our driveway with another 3 inches easy... I thought about my boys while we were out, and texted the sitters a couple of times just to check on things. Thank you Kristi and Jordan for coming over and watching them! I am glad they listened and behaved well. We owe you!

Thank you to my romantic husband who always thinks of me!

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-16T13:54:00.001-08:00

I am sorry it has been so long since my last post.

Emmett has been working on more teeth. His top fangs came in and now he is getting the top middle.

So patient as I pull at his mouth :)

Cael and Mark are silly! I am not sure why they put blankets on their heads like turbans.

My boys are so sweet!

Emmett kicked is socks off so Cael was trying to put them back on.

Cael is using Handy Manny tools to give Mark a pedicure. :) Tough skin and nails I guess.

Say cheese!

Emmett loves to play in the bath. He just kicks and kicks. Now he wants to roll from his back to his tummy over and over again.

My little water baby!

Cael is too cool! He is 30 months old and still measuring big. He had a wellness check with the following measurements:

Height: 38 1/4 inches (90-97%)

Weight: 34.6 lbs (90%)

We love this shirt! Nana, Papa, Mimi, and Poppi sent it for Christmas. Not only is it a good looking shirt, but it is Michigan colors! :)

Emmett looks so handsome in the overalls Granny and Grandpa sent him.

Yesterday morning Emmett was peaking over as I changed Cael's diaper.

He managed to roll into a corner during the night. My boys both loved to snuggle up against the crib bumpers.

At Emmett's last doctor's appointment he weighed 19lbs and 13oz. In February we will for his 9 month appointment, but I'd say he is growing just fine. :)

Emmett had croup and ear infections again but he is over them now. Poor thing had to take even stronger antibiotics this time to help his ears. So what's new with Emmett Lee? He sits up with assistance otherwise he will fall forward or to the sides. He is not getting up on all fours yet but loves to roll all over the place, always getting what he wants. Due to his sensitive belly we have to take the solids a bit slower, though he loves what he has been given so far - green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, peaches, and some chicken and turkey if they are mixed with something else. He squeals and makes all kinds of fun noises. Emmett loves his big brother, watching his every move and busting our laughing at his silliness.

Cael continues to amaze me. He is so smart, his vocabulary and grammar improving each week. We have discouraged the use of the word 'stupid' even though every Disney seems to use it. If we say it without thinking he quickly corrects us. We are trying to teach him to say 'yes ma'am' and 'no sir' to be polite and respectful. As of late he is actually doing a pretty good job. Cael is very helpful with Emmett, disposing of diapers, helping when he is crying, picking up his toys, etc.

Mark gets to work a day shift, M-F until about June of this year. So we are getting spoiled with having daddy around so much. It is nice to be together more as a family. My husband is the best; in the mornings he fixes me lunch, helps get all my stuff together, helps with the boys, etc.

I hope you all have a wonderful 2011... I am looking forward to whatever life may bring. :)

Merry Christmas! Ho, ho, ho!!

2010-12-27T12:15:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas to all! We've enjoyed this last weekend. I hope you enjoy all the pictures.

Thank you Terry Family for having us over Christmas Eve for dinner and fun. Our small children dressed up for the Nativity. Cael was a shepherd. :)

Emmett just hung out.

Before going to bed for Santa to come we took some pictures by the tree.
Here are my wonderful presents! - handsome, healthy boys!

Cheese!

Before the boys saw the toys....

A fun, simple Christmas.

Cael was impatient when it came to unwrapping the presents. "Help me, mommy" is what he said almost every time.

It was a Cars Christmas for Cael. Thank you grandparents for all the fun toys!

Emmett was more patient when it came to unwrapping presents.

Yay! Cars stuff!

Emmett rolled around with his toys.

Cael loves playing the drums. Bam, bam, bam!

Daddy played with Cael on the floor.

Rock and roll!

Cael got another 'baby jaguar' paw. ROAR!!!!

Thanks to all of you who sent us Christmas cards! I was horrible this year about getting cards out so please forgive me. I will send some pictures of the boys in the next couple of months.

Thank you Beesha, Dziedze, Granny, and Grandpa for making this Christmas so special.

Nana, Papa, Mimi, and Poppi, we will take some pictures of the boys in their new clothes and send them to you.

Aunt Judy and Aunt Sandy, thank you both for the gift cards. The boys will love more toys and movies we buy with them.

Can you believe it is almost Christmas?

2010-12-04T15:39:00.000-08:00

We went and saw Santa yesterday. Emmett was not scared.
Cael didn't want to give the other kids a turn. - the exact opposite from last year.

Mommy loves Cael!

Cutie by the Christmas tree

Emmett's first solids

Making rolls with mommy.

My birthday stack.

I am sorry it has been a while since I last wrote. It has been crazy around here... Good crazy!

Emmett was 6 months old on 11/19. He weighed in at 18lbs 6oz and 27 inches long. Apparently when they measured his length back in September they did not do so accurately; therefore it appears he did not grow in length when it is obvious he has. He is in the 75th percentile or less for his measurements which of course is great. Emmett is not the tank Cael was. :)

Mark's birthday was 11/10, turning 32 years old. Time flies when you are having fun! I got him a video game - the new Black Ops game and surprised him with a cookie cake. The last couple of years I have tried to surprise him and be as sweet as possible because I was not always the most thoughtful. :) I took Friday, 11/12 off and we went to lunch and to a movie. I love Mark so much!!!!

I turned 31 years old on Thanksgiving. Yep, that's right. I am a turkey! We had a nice holiday together just us as a family. Mark surprised me with several gifts which left me feeling like it was Christmas - 3 sets of comfy, warm clothes for around the house, the latest scent collection from Bath & Body works, a new Willow Tree statue, and a little something for Victoria Secrets. :) That was a late present for Mark! We did make some good food for Thanksgiving:

Ham, we always make ham instead of turkey. We buy the Sam's Club brand it is always yummy!
Rolls - I used my sister-in-law's recipe to make some yummy homemade rolls
Sweet Potato Souffle - Mark's mom's recipe. Make you smack your granny they are soooo good!
Old South Carrot Cake - compliments of Sis. Author. Yummy!
Broccoli - not the casserole this year since I cannot have the cheese
Banana pudding - made by Mark for him and Cael to enjoy
Stuffing - made by Mark and enjoyed by Mark

Emmett had his first solids on Thanksgiving - sweet potatoes! I did not give him the ones I made but the Gerber brand. :) We also put up the Christmas tree over the long weekend. I love this time of year. I love to be merry, cheery, and bright! Cold comes with it but that goodness this year has been very tolerable so far. :)

My brave story

2010-11-08T20:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween!

BOO!

Mommy loves her boys!!!!

So I traveled just the boys and I too Florida. I went for work but made a family trip out of it as well. Cael and Emmett were awesome on the airplane - sleeping, watching the portable DVD player, playing, etc. It was the running from one gate to the other in Chicago which caused me anxiety. All in and all they were great for a 2 year old and a 5 month old. I was able to change Emmett's dirty diapers in the empty seat beside us on the plane, change Cael's wet diapers in the airport restroom, go to the restroom myself with Cael holding Emmett in the stroller.. hey, we managed.

It was so nice to see our family. We split up our time between Macclenny and Jacksonville. We had a great visit with the Morgans - Kim and Ron. Thank you for the yummy dinner and your hospitality. Cael loved to chase the kitty and surprisingly liked the bigger dog Cally. Since returning home he will ask for Granny, Grandpa, and Cally. When I ask him to tell me where they are he says "Florida. At Cally's house." So darn cute! I am also glad we got to see Great-Granny, Ellene, Joe, Sierra, Shannon, and Donovan. And can I just say the Trunk or Treat in Macclenny ain't no joke. :) Granny was able to help us find the perfect Halloween costume. Cael loves cars so we found a costume that looked like a race car driver - it is a jumpsuit for an off road biker and it came with a mask which looked like a helmet. Cael loved it. He wore the mask for the Macclenny party but I could tell it irritated him a bit because it kept slipping and it was so HOT. So for my parents' Trunk or Treat we did a faux-hawk instead of the mask. That seemed to suit Cael just as well.

We then went to Jacksonville and spent time with my family. Luckily Dziedze was home from the train so we could spend time with him. We had fun at the beach (see previous post) and also went to the zoo. So Cael loves Diego and Diego has a friend Baby Jaguar who accompanies him on most of his rescue missions. When looking at the jaguars at the zoo I called them baby jaguars to engage Cael. Which did work. Then when we were leaving we went to the gift shop where I thought I would buy him a little stuffed Baby Jaguar. Well instead we found a a Baby Jaguar paw - a big jaguar paw you wear on your hand like a puppet. They only had one spotted but then a couple plain tan lion paws. So Cael had those paws on the floor attacking us like a jaguar. It was hilarious. I only bought him the one jaguar paw because it was $14.00. If they had two jaguar paws I probably would have bought them. So now he sleeps with his paw at night. :) We also got to see Jenilee, Joe, and they are lovely home. It was nice to hang out with them. Cael had a blast kicking the ball around with Joe outside. Oh, and Joe throwing him around.

I missed my husband so much on that trip. To be honest, Florida did not seem like home without him. I was comfortable and enjoyed my time, but life is just not the same with out my husband. And yes I am saying it, Lincoln is our home now.

We love you all!

Trip to Florida

2010-11-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

Cael liked playing in the surf... at first he did not want to go near the water. Beesha was standing in the water so I told him to go splash her. That peaked his interest so then he wanted to play.

Emmett is 5 months old!

2010-10-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

Well shucks! The upload feature of the site is currently disabled. I took pictures of E yesterday and his front tooth. The second bottom one is coming through the gum now as well. I'll post pictures hopefully in the next couple of days.
The little guys and I are going to Jacksonville Saturday for about 10 days. Unfortunately Mark cannot go with us. We are soooo excited to see Granny, Grandpa, Beesha, Dziedze, Aunt Jen, and Uncle Joe.
Talk to you soon!

NC Trip to see Grandparents

2010-10-11T12:00:00.001-07:00

We had a great trip but I must apologize to everyone for not taking enough pictures. We don't get to see members of the extended family as often so I bought a new card for the camera but then did not manage to take all the pictures I should have.

Cael and Emmett both did great on the airplane rides. Cael got buckled in then said '1, 2, 3, blast off.' He also kept saying 'rocket ship to space.' Too cute!

We love Aunt Jen!

and Beesha of course!

Emmett got to meet his great-grandma Hiatt.

I love my grandma, Norma Jean. She and my grandpa helped raise my brother and I when we were younger. I have so many fond memories of her and my grandpa. Unfortunately she's had a tough time with breast cancer, but seems to be on the upswing. I am thankful for my aunts, uncles, and cousins who are there to help take care of her.

What a snuggle bug!

Look! All 3 could be sisters! :) I was glad to see one of my favorite cousins, Krista. It is fun to think back to our cross country driving adventure and our time in Utah together.

Cael got to play with cousins, which is always fun. The thunder cat back there is my cousin Tarron, and then his two kids, Ava and Campbell.

Aunt Tama is so sweet. No wonder Emmett loved snuggling her.

So the above pictures are from my mom's side of the family, the Hiatt side.

I did not get a picture of Dave or Maria but I would like to thank them again for letting us stay the night at their home. We appreciate their hospitality!

We also were able to spend time with the Sawyers side of the family.

This is my Papper, Arville Emmett. He is one of the great-grandpa's we named Emmett after (the other is Mark's grandpa Morgan)

Cael would barely hold still long enough for a picture.

This is Nana. She is a ball of fire! I like to call her Flossy 'cause she is so silly. :)

Pappers has a since of humor. He had a stroke back before Mother's Day and eats through a feeding tube. While we were there I helped him with his feedings and insulin shots.

I don't know how we missed taking pictures with Mimi and Poppi, my dad (Bruce) and his wife Jaime. They were kind enough to let us crash at their place for a couple of days and cooked us two tasty dinners. Again, the camera was there but we were too busy playing with kids and visiting to take pictures I guess.

I am glad all 4 of us were able to go and spend so much time together. Cael was able to be Daddy's buddy again; Mark put him down for naps and for bed so that was a nice break for me. I am so grateful for my little family!

Oh! And we were able to visit my childhood friend Saura and her family. That was really nice. Saura made us dinner and we got to visit as the kids played. Emmett was fussier than normal that night as his first tooth pushed through the gum! - Thank you Saura and Kevin for having us! I took my camera to take a picture and then I forgot to take a picture until we were on the highway back to the apartment.

More family photos...

2010-10-11T11:37:00.000-07:00

Wild man Cael Morgan! He loves his cars and his spiky hair!

I was disappointed in Emmett's pictures. I have taken ones with him smiling that turned out better than this.

I thought the family pictures turned out great!

What a lovely couple! :)

The ones of the boys didn't turn out too good either. Cael was being wild and Emmett would not keep his hands out of his mouth. Aah! little boys!

Cael went potty twice today!

2010-09-22T20:49:00.001-07:00

So yesterday when Mark picked Cael up from school, Cael was trying to go potty. He did not end up going then and did not go at home last night. Well, today when he got up from his nap he asked to go and went!!! He then went again in the afternoon. When I picked him up today he was wearing pants provided by the daycare because he had missed the toilet on his shorts for the day, and the backup pair we keep there. :) So tonight when we got home I tried to get him to go again but he didn't. He did wear his Elmo underwear for a couple of hours and never peed on them. I am so proud of him and made sure he knew it. We will see if maybe we can get him to go pee on the potty in the morning when he wakes up.

Sunday I gave him an ice cream cone for a treat. He loved it!!! Who doesn't like ice cream?

Hey my cutie!!!

So Cael has an ear infection. He has been snotty and coughing for the last couple of weeks. We are flying to NC on Saturday so I wanted him checked out before getting on the plane. He never had a fever but the gunk was not going away.. sure enough he has an ear infection so we are treating it with antibiotics.
Cael is saying so many new words, phrases, sentences... it is amazing. I must relay the funniest story. So one day I was down here at the computer and had Cael and Emmett down here with me. Mark and I sleep down here so the baby monitor is down here on the dresser and it was on. We had the TV on upstairs so you could here the TV show. Cael was looking at the monitor so I explained it was how mommy can hear him and Emmett when she is down here. All of a sudden he said, "cheeseburger no pickles please." LOL! I guess I take my child to the drive-thru too much! That is what I order for him. Then last weekend we were in JCPenney and someone came over the intercom, paging another employee. Cael again yelled out "cheeseburger no pickles please." I talk to my mom on the phone and often have it on speakerphone so I can multi-task. He said the same thing to her one day. What a character!
We were having a difficult time with him going to bed but he has been better for me the last couple of days. It could be that his ear was bothering him and he just didn't express it... OR he is two and testing his boundaries. :) I will prevail!!!
I use the Wal-Mart website to upload pictures and print them out. It is great because I can have them ready at any Wal-Mart, so I order them for my mom, Mark's mom, and grandparents. Well I decided to create a scrapbook/photo album using their website for Cael's first year. I know, I know, it is horrible I had not done that yet. Well, I must say I liked doing it that way. You can pick the theme, the layout, make comments, and then use whatever pictures you want. That was so much easier then keeping pictures organized along with little cutesy things... at least for me. So I just wanted to recommend it. I think the book turned out really cute and it will last.

Emmett's 4 month stats

2010-09-22T20:39:00.000-07:00

ADORABLE!!!

Length: 27 inches, 97th percentile

Weight: 15lbs 13oz, 69th percentile

Head: 17 inches, 75th percentile

Can you believe he is already 4 months old?? I can't.

He is so darn cute... such the little cuddle bug. The girls at the daycare love holding him. They always comment on how happy he is. When he is not sleeping or eating, he is typically kicking and smiling. Lately he has become very vocal. He makes all kinds of dinosaur noises. In the evenings when it is just the boys and I, Emmett loves to just be around Cael. So if I am going to give Cael a bath or anything, I take Emmett in his bouncy chair with us. So far Emmett's eyes are bright blue and I think they may stay that way.

Mama's Angels

2010-09-06T09:04:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday my boys did not want to wake up from their naps. And they are so darn cute that I did not want to disturb them! :)

So sweet!
They both have big, squeezy cheeks!

There are my boys! Pretty soon Emmett will be as big as Cael.

Cheese!!!

Friday I went to the doctor with Emmett because he had thrush. Cael never had that so I was not aware of the treatment - purple mouth!

Kiss me!!!

So they weighed him as well and guess how big he is now... 15lbs and 2 oz. He is 3.5 months old and starting to squeeze out of his 6 month clothes.

Cael loves for me to spike his hair. "spiky hair, spiky hair" He is so cool!

He is showing off his Handy Manny shirt.

Sorry I have not been posting as often as I'd like. I tell you, adding the second has been hard work. Fun, but hard. Cael decided he did not want to go to bed this last week. At first I thought he was scared but soon realized he was playing a game. There were 3 nights of hardship but the last couple have been okay. Emmett can roll over to his tummy and back over to his back again. He is not a huge fan of tummy time but mama wants him to build those neck and back muscles. Both of the boys have had runny noses the last couple of days... I hope it does not develop into anything serious. I think it is just the changing of seasons already - in the 60's in the morning and in the 80's in the afternoon. Here comes fall, which is not so bad... It is the Nebraska winter I am not looking forward to.

At the end of the month we will be heading to NC for a week. It is time for us to go see my grandparents. I want them to see the boys and the boys to see them. Unfortunately my Grandma Hiatt and Grandpa Sawyers have not been well. It stinks living so far away at times.

Work has been going well. We just had a client in town for a couple of days. I feel I am completely back into the swing of things. I was given some additional responsibility so nothing like a challenge to keep you motivated.

I hope you are well! xoxoxoxoxox

A Visit from Granny & Grandpa Morgan

2010-08-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

We had lots of fun last weekend with Mark's parents in town.

Here are several pictures, capturing our activities....

Sweet Emmett!!
Cael being crazy... He loved his Grandpa.

Cael actually sitting still for a picture with Granny.

We went and played at a place called Lost and Fun. Cael had a blast.

He jumped into foam blocks.

Swung on a tire swing.

Burried himself in balls.

Slid down slides.

We went to the zoo in Omaha. It was HOT, but lots of fun!

Grandpa loving on Emmett as mommy figures out how to put on the front baby carrier.

Mommy trying to hide as she feeds Emmett.

Time for a hot dog and cold drink!

Ooooh! The desert dome.

I ain't afraid of a lion!

....because I am a lion :)

We went to the Lincoln Farmers Market

Cael loved listening to the different musicians.

Let's climb on the train!

'look at me!'

We sat and listened to the band play.

Cael got to play in the fire truck.

Daddy and I are sooo cool!

Granny loves the monkey boys!

Cael and Grandpa were buddies. He loved playing cars with him in the floor.

CHEESE!

My growing boys...

2010-08-06T19:14:00.000-07:00

So do they look as much alike right next to each other?

Cael's favorite movie right now is Cars. His favorite toys right now are his cars, Lightning McQueen and Ramone. We bought him one of those little rugs with roads on them to play with his cars. The roads just happen to be in Radiator Springs, the town from Cars.

Cael is saying more and more words... amazing. In the last 3 to 4 days 'because...' has become apart of his vocabulary. His sentences/phrases are now 3+ words. There are still times where I can't quite make out what he is saying because he starts speaking so fast.

Most of the time I forget that Cael is only 2... until he throws a tantrum or I have to change his big poopy diaper!

Cael loves his brother... It is so awesome to see him love on him. He even tries to share his favorite cars with him. He doesn't understand why Emmett can't play like him. Tonight he kept saying 'my brother..' so cute.

Emmett has adjusted well to daycare. My first two days back to work he slept 8 hours at night. Then the second week he was waking up after 4 hours, eating then going back to sleep. This last week we had some 4-7 hours, so we are still unpredictable. The teachers love him (not that I am surprised). He is such a little cuddle bug. On his first day there was another baby starting who was 12 weeks old (so almost 4 weeks older than Emmett) and it looked like Emmett could have eaten him for breakfast. My little tank is wearing 6 month clothes.

Emmett coos at us as he smiles and kicks. For the most part he is such a happy baby. Tonight as Cael was talking to him and playing with him he was so happy. He loves to watch his big brother.

Daddy & Cael in the Pool

2010-08-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

What do you do to cool off?

Cael and Mark play in a kiddy pool :)

I thought I would be the one to relax and play in the pool but the water was TOO COLD for mama...

You know you are a redneck if.... just kidding. Playing in the pool in our driveway with country music playing in the background sure was fun!

Emmett's 2 month stats

2010-08-06T19:01:00.000-07:00

13lbs 12oz

24.5 inches long

88th percentile

"I am not so little...."

Back to work I go...

2010-07-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it is already time for me to go back to work? I can't... I'll miss getting to snuggle and hold my little Emmett. I know everything will be all right.. but I have to say the second time around is not any easier.

Cael loves to love on his brother.

I made a chocolate cake today... My sister's recipe. It wasn't quick but it was worth it.. Homemade chocolate cake with chocolate frosting...

Ain't I cute?? I love the fun rompers..

Emmett loves his baths.

Talk to you guys soon!!!!

Emmett is 8 weeks old!!

2010-07-14T07:05:00.001-07:00

8 weeks has flown by... Emmett is such a happy baby. When he is not looking like an angel sound asleep he is typically bright eyed and grinning. Last night he slept almost 7.5 hours!!! It was heavenly. Mommy needed it because she had long day yesterday. My day started at about 6:30am and went until about 10:30pm without a nap. The day included a trip to the gym, which I am quite proud of. I just need to keep it up... we'll see with returning to work next week.

Emmett is such a big boy. Yesterday he wore 6 month T-shirts... I know each brand runs differently but he is still so BIG.. Cael did not wear this Gator shirt until he was 3 months old.:)

Emmett loves to watch his big brother. Whenever Cael is talking or playing with mommy and daddy, Emmett is already watching his every move. Cael has been so helpful with Emmett. He takes his dirty diapers to the 'diaper garbage', he helps burp him, he kisses him, gives him hugs, and wants to hold him. So cute. He has the occasional jealous moments but for the most part he has been great.

"Play with girls"

2010-07-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

We had more visitors stop and see us late last week. The David Bryan family is on a family vacation and fortunately was able to stop in Lincoln on their route to Salt Lake City. David is one of Mark's oldest and dearest friends, and the best man from our wedding. Mark calls David's parents 'mama' and 'papa' because they mean so much to him and because he spent so much time with their family. It was so nice to visit with him, his wife, his kids, and Mama and Papa Bryan. Here are some photos from their visit.

Wendy is the eldest, 7 yrs old. She is so smart. She wrote Mark and I a special note to tell us how much she loved us.
Mama Bryan made some over easy eggs for those who like it. :) The Bryan family likes to eat white rice with their runny eggs.. Something new I learned.

Little David (the third) is about 14 months old. What a cutie! Mr Inquisitive was checking it all out.

Here is Mama, Papa, and Lupita at the park... SWEATING as the children ran around.

Diana (5 years old) and Little David spinning around.

I raced Cael to the top.

Uncle David helped Cael go across the monkey bars... We are already trying to build up that upper body strength. :)

Cael loved playing with the 'girls' especially Diana. He chased her around the house and took her down to the ground.

This was a rare moment when he landed on top as usually he would pull her down on top of him because she is so much bigger. HILARIOUS!!! I am glad to see he appreciates the ladies! :)

Once he left he kept asking for the 'girls.' I wish they could have stayed longer but they had their trip mapped out.

Daddy bought Cael a pool to play in. It was fun to watch him splash around.

Oh and check out the 'family truck' in the background. Yep, we bought a truck. Mark has been wanting one for some time so we took the plunge. :) Not really... I love driving it as well.

Take Care!

My cute boys

2010-07-08T14:02:00.001-07:00

Emmett is smiling!!! His first true smile was to his daddy. Mark was holding him and talking to him when he smiled back. We tried to catch it on camera but failed at the time. The last 3 or 4 days he has been so happy in the mornings. Once he is up and has eaten he will kick and smile to himself in his swing or bouncy chair. His legs and arms are just going as he smiles. Precious!!! I took these two pictures this morning...

Tuesday Cael was home from daycare because he had a fever the day before. Both my boys did not want to wake up from their afternoon naps that day.

When I went into Cael's room to wake him up after 2 hours he said, "no" and closed his eyes. This is him as he continued to slumber...

Who disturbs my slumber?!

Not much new...

2010-07-07T14:38:00.001-07:00

Emmett is relaxing and it is almost time for me to get Cael so I'd thought I just blog a bit. :)
I bought some collage picture frames from Hobby Lobby a week or so ago and so I've been going through pictures to decide which ones to use. I bought a frame for each boy. There are so many cute pictures of Cael from over the years it is hard to pick the 6 I need for this project. Do I include ones from when he was an infant or just recent ones? And then Emmett has only been around 7 weeks (to the day as a matter of fact), and it is true what they say... you don't take as many pictures the second time around. I have some cute ones of Emmett, don't get me wrong, but not as many. I know what I need to do...TAKE MORE PICTURES!
There were about 3 weeks when Emmett was super fussy until about 1am. That is no longer an issue (yippee), though he still stays up until 11ish before going down for the night. It wouldn't be so bad if he would sleep until 6 but he is still waking up at about 4 or 4:30. Hopefully in the next week and a half his belly will continue to grow and he will be able to sleep longer. :) I go back to work on Monday, 07/19. I have mixed emotions about it of course. I am excited to have something else to think about, yet I don't want to leave my little guy. I admire the stay at home moms who can do it all. And I'm so appreciative of my mom who was a single mother for so many years. I love my boys but when they are crying at the same time, Cael won't go to bed, and Emmett needs to nurse, I am ready to pull my hair out. Of course the next minute they are angels and I am ready for a 3rd. :) Just kidding! Not quite. We are thinking of waiting 3 years before that next step... that way Cael will be in kindergarten and Emmett will hopefully be ready for a baby.
I hope you all enjoyed the holiday weekend! Mark was able to have a LOOOOONG weekend which was really nice. He took me to see Eclipse last Thursday during the day, Friday we had some routine doctor appoints, Saturday we went to the pool and had friends over to watch the UFC fights, Sunday we went over to friends for a party, and Monday we recuperated. Here are Cael's latest measurements:
Length: 36.5 inches, 93 percentile
Weight: 31 lbs 13 oz, 88 percentile
His head is still in the 100 percentile! I think it was 20.5 inches :)
Emmett's next appointment is the week of 07/19 and I am sure he'll weigh in around 13 lbs... we'll see.

I hope you all are well!

Happy Birthday Cael!

2010-06-30T13:06:00.001-07:00

Can you believe my big boy turned two yesterday???

We celebrated with just our family and spent the afternoon at the Lincoln Children's Zoo.
He was dying to ride the choo-choo training. He told the last couple of animals we saw 'bye.. go to choo-choo'

Emmett was chilling in the stroller... ah the life!

Cael loved watching these little turtles swim around in the water. He wanted Mark to lift him up so he could put his hands in it.. no sir!! so he sat down and watched them.

Gotta love the monkeys! Here are two of my monkeys!

Cael got to touch deer and buffalo hide, and then pet a rabbit and guinea pig.

Yeehaw cowboy!

Cael was a big boy and rode the pony without mom or dad with him. Mom was going to go but the pony did not like her walking beside her and almost kicked her. :) Good times!

Cheese!

Cael and Mark enjoyed some yummy Mickey Mouse cake.

He got a ball and glove....

The T-rex from Toy Story....

A swimming mask.. he has been asking for one because Donald Duck wears one in one of his books.

balls to throw around at the pool....

Happy Birthday to you!!!!!

Thanks to Granny, Grandpa, Beesha, and Dziedze for the presents! We watched the first Toy Story last night and will watch the other in the next couple of days.

We miss you all!

Happy Anniversary!!!!

2010-06-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

Mark and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary on Friday, 06/18. It is hard to believe we have been together for almost 7 years with 6 of them as man and wife, 5 of them here in Lincoln, and almost 2 of them with a child. CRAZY!!!!

I love Mark with all my heart! I am so grateful to be his wife and to be with him and our children forever and ever!

1 month and we are surviving :)

2010-06-20T11:42:00.001-07:00

Two little ones is a lot of work but I think we are adjusting well.

We did find out when Emmett was a week old that he has a sensitive tummy like Cael - MSPI. This means he has intolerances to milk and soy proteins. So mommy is back on the diet. I don't mind it so much but I was hoping Emmett would not have the same problems, and not just for my benefit. It seems all the milk and soy has made it out of my system and Emmett overall is doing better. Like babies he has his fussy moments and sometimes they are due to something I have eaten... I've discovered he does not do well when I eat eggs. I can eat them in a cake mix but not straight. No more scrambled eggs for breakfast for a while.

Cael seems to be adjusting well. For the last several days he has been laying down for his nap and bedtime without any fussing. We read a story, sing a song, and he is down. I am very thankful for this. There in the beginning I was fighting Cael to stay in his bed while trying to nurse Emmett or settle him down. Cael has stopped coming to us when he has pooped his diaper. Most of the time we smell it to know we need to change it. I know they say boys are harder to potty train and with Emmett still being new it will be even harder. The other challenge I would like to take on is Cael's binkies. He only uses them at night but I would like to go ahead and get rid of those all together. I am hoping we can do that soon.

My sister Jenilee came to town for 11 days which was AWESOME!!!

Jenilee makes delicious cakes and so she made me a strawberry cake I can eat (no milk or soy products in the ingredients). It was YUMMY! Cael helped Aunt Jen decorate the cake.
He kept 'accidentally' getting the frosting on his fingers when helping. :)

Aunt Jen was a big help by holding Emmett while mommy played, fed, bathed, and put Cael to bed at night.

It was great having some bonding time with my little sis.

Here is Cael loving the chocolate 'muffins' Aunt Jen made. Cael has a Mickey Mouse book he loves for us to read over and over about Mickey making muffins for his friends.

My handsome boys!

This guy is monkeying around with one eye open. :)

Mommy loves her boys!

He looks like Cael but there is something that looks very different - I am not sure what.

Emmett has more hair then Cael did. It does have a reddish tint just like Cael's did and his eyes right now are the slate blue color. Though I think Emmett's eyes are lighter... maybe they'll end up hazel like mommy and daddy instead of DARK eyes like Cael.

Emmett is already filling out that loose skin at 4 weeks old! He is getting bigger right before my eyes.

At 3 weeks old he was already 10lbs and 2 oz!

Snuggling with daddy!

Here we go for a ride!

This is Emmett Lee at 1 month old! Time flies when you are having fun!!!

Mark calls him Easy E sometimes. :)

Emmett is here!!!!

2010-06-03T12:15:00.001-07:00

I apologize for the two week delay. But now there are lots of pictures and much to tell to catch you up.

I felt two contractions on my way to work the morning of Wednesday, 05/19/10. I called Mark and told him to be showered and ready as I thought I would be calling him soon to take me to the hospital.

So my contractions started around 8:30am. I got to work just before 9:00am and was starting to freak out a bit as I did not have to time contractions with Cael because my water had broke and I wasn't sure how. I called my friend Beth who suggested I Google 'contraction timer' which I did. So I joined a conference call with a client, on mute, and began to time my contractions. Luckily Shannon came in and helped me. She shut the door to my office and I began the deep breathing as the contractions would come and go. After a while we saw they were 1-1.5 minutes apart. I called my doctor's office who advised I go ahead and go to the hospital. I called Mark and told him to come get me, and then called my mom so she would be on standby to buy an airline ticket to get here as soon as she could. Let me remind you I was still on this conference call. They asked me a question and instead of taking myself off mute I disconnected myself from the call. So I called back in. They kinda laughed and made a joke they thought I was in labor... I confirmed for them I was timing contractions.. so they were understanding as I rushed through some things and excused myself. :) As I waited for Mark I did a couple of more things to prepare for my leave from work - calling my boss, moving some emails around for space, etc.

Mark and I arrived at the hospital around 10am. I was so nervous that I would be dilated to receive an epidural - I had one with Cael and it was WONDERFUL so I wanted to do that again if possible. It seemed forever for us to check in and the nurse to come in and get me all hooked up to monitor me and check my 'progress.' I was 4 cm dilated so I had plenty of time for my epidural. I labored until about noon , dilating another cm before I received the epidural. This time the epidural seemed to make me loopy not just numb. I don't remember getting as numb with Cael. The nurse would roll me from one side to another every 30 minutes and check my 'progress.' It is something about that epidural that helps me relax and finish dilating. :) When she checked me and I was at 7cm my water broke so then we knew it was on! At about 9cm the nurse tried to set me up to finish dilating with my legs crossed, Emmett did not seem to like that and his heart rate dropped drastically. The nurse called for me hands, put an oxygen mask on me, lowered me quickly, and was getting me over on my side. Once on my side Emmett was fine again. The oxygen mask was left on for the remainder of my labor as a precaution. Talk about scary! - it happened so quickly and all you can do is trust them because you don't know what is going on. The rest of labor and delivery was smooth sailing. At 10cm I pushed once and you could see the head so they called in my doctor. While she was getting ready the nurse told me to push again but then told me to stop so the doctor could get her gloves on. 4 more pushes and he was out at 3:27pm. When his head came out one of his arms came with it and the cord was wrapped around. Thankfully he was a handsome, healthy boy. The doctor said she thought he was 8lbs 8oz and I was shocked, horrified! They then said he was 8lbs 10oz. I then asked my doctor if I had a mess (down there) and she said no. She told me I should have 12 more. :) Mark was there holding my leg the entire time and cut the cord - what a champ!

Proud parents.

Mark felt like the hospital staff kept giving him dirty looks because of his Gator gear.

He was 20.5 inches long and his head was 19.25 inches around.

Exhausted mommy!

The night the brothers met. Cael was so sweet!

Mama and her boys. Cael wanted to hold baby Emmett and give him kisses.

How sweet!

What an Angel!

I am ready to go home!

Daddy and his boys!

Just chillin' with dad.

Cael loves to hold Emmett and love on him. He likes to point out all of his body parts - eyes, hair, nose, feet, knees, etc.

Beesha (my mom) came to help us adjust for the first week! Thank you Beesha! We miss you!

Emmett looks like Cael when he cries - not like he doesn't look like him the rest of the time. :)

Precious!

Already 2 weeks old!

I have grown 1.5 inches and I now weigh 9lbs 2oz.

Having two little ones is definitely an adjustment but I think we are handling it fairly well. :) Cael was a little jealous last night but I am trying to balance my attention.

Cael is all moved into his big boy room and now sleeps there (mommy and daddy moved to the basement to give the boys their own rooms).

I hope you all are well!

Just over 3 weeks until Emmett arrives

2010-05-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

This is me taking a picture of my belly myself with the Quick Cam. As you can see I have not 'dropped' yet. But I am hoping soon. We went to the doctor this last Friday and had an ultrasound. Emmett is head down the way he needs to be so we are just waiting on him! :)

- And I am about ready I think. I have a bag packed for Cael and friends on-call so they can pick him up, drop him off, or whatever needs to be done. I have my stuff together for the hospital but not in a bag so I need to do that. I have NB - 3 month cloths out and waiting. We are needing a bassinet but the packn'play will work.

Yesterday I was surprised by my wonderful, support friends from church! I thought I was meeting one for some church business but was surprised to find a group of them waiting for me. It is times like those that I am humbled by the support and love by my sisters and my friends. Thank you, thank you for being there for me and my family. I only hope I can be there when one one of you needs me!

Cael is 22 months old and ready to be a big brother! We found this vacuum for him at Once Upon a Child. He loves pushing it around the house.

He loves his hats and juice!

Cael chills on the couch while mommy gets dinner together. He is such a good boy and so smart. He sings so many songs now and knows the words to the books I read to him at bedtime.

I apologize for such a delay in posting any updates. I've been TIRED and we've been BUSY with chores around the house, a promotion at work, and just being PREGO! :)

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms! Love you all!

2010-04-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

Cael is such a big boy. We converted his crib into a toddler bed late last week. So far so good. (Thud.. tonight was the first night he fell of....)

OOOOH! A Dora and Diego coloring book!

And a football

Look at me.. I'm a bunny with a bubble wand!!!

The Easter Bunny must love Cael! :)

Check out that face. I think I have seen pictures of Mark with that same face.

Mommy bunny....

Once it warmed up we did go out back to look for some eggs.

He loved finding the eggs for his basket.

Ta-da! Cael did not want Mommy's help. I tried to help him when he tipped the basket over and he fussed at me because he thought I was taking his eggs.

Bubble time!!!!

Mommy helped blow bubbles...

Too cool!!! I always look good for the ladies! :)

Emmett is growing in the womb!

2010-03-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

I've received requests to see my growing belly so here you go. This was almost 2 weeks ago.. sorry for the delay. So this was me 29 weeks pregnant.
I think Cael is freaked out that my belly button is actually sticking out.

Lovely!!!

Another view of the montrous belly. :)

Emmett will be another one of my boys hanging out and being cute!

Cael is eating to get muscles... he is going to help mommy with the new baby.

Macaroni and cheese is great for spiking hair! :)

Cheese! Ain't I cute?!

20 Months Old and Cute as a Button!

2010-03-10T18:37:00.000-08:00

Cael loves to say CHEESE!

Daddy got him a basketball hoop...

We need to teach him to jump up to slam it! :)

Cael also wanted a Dora ball. He loves Dora and Boots.

Cheese! I got a hair cut and I look awesome! If it is possible, I think he looks even more like Mark with his man-do!

A sucker makes it all better. He did not care anything about her cutting his hair once he had some candy to keep him occupied.

Cael was not a fan of getting his haircut. He would not let her put the cape around him so we both had snot and hair every where.

Earlier in the morning before the haircut. We were indulging ourselves in a breakfast buffet.

Cael is a dancing machine! He gets it from his Daddy. :) This was one of the days we tried pull-ups. He was busting a move...

'How low can you go?!'

'I am going to wash that woman right out of my hair'... no he is not using the Old Spice seen in the corner. :)

He is chilln' like a villain with Daddy. They like to build towers and then knock them over.

About 3 months left...

2010-03-03T12:36:00.000-08:00

I am sorry it has been a while since I last posted a message. It has been somewhat hectic but I have also been a bit lazy. :)

The pregnancy is going well. I go next week for my glucose test. I know a lot of people complain about the taste of the drink but I don't think it is too bad. I choose the orange flavored one so to me it tastes like Sunkist. I am getting huge. I was mixing my wardrobe so that I was not always wearing maternity clothes but I can't really do that anymore - at least not comfortably.

Cael is doing well. He seems to grow right before my eyes; I am amazed every day. He unfortunately has been battling with a cough which has gotten worse and worse. Mark took him to the doctor today; he has croup and bronchitis. So we will be giving him some breathing treatments to help break up the gunk. Good times. When my boy doesn't want to eat his dinner I know something is wrong! :)

Mark has been working hard to get the house ready to go on the market. Our two bedroom townhouse is just too small for a growing family. Last week he painted our red living room chocolate brown with the help of some friends. Thank you!!! We have also rented storage space to clear out the clutter. We are now looking to replace the linoleum in both bathrooms, patch up a couple of drywall eyesores, paint the front door, and clean the carpets. We are trying to get it all done in the next couple of weeks as the realtor has indicated March is the best month to sell.

So where will we move? Not sure yet. We are thinking we will rent for a while and take some time to look around Lincoln. If we buy again I want it to be the house we will be in for several years, so schools will be important. We are just excited to get out of this house and move on. It has been great for a first home but at times we feel claustrophobic.

I hope everyone is doing well. I'll try not to wait so long to post again.

Counting and singing the ABC's...

2010-02-07T19:35:00.001-08:00

Cael is now counting to 10 on his own. It is so darn cute. He does not quite get the concept of actually counting objects, but he starts with one and counts all the way to ten.

Cael's favorite thing to do all day while playing is singing the alphabet. He has been making little sounds while he plays for a while. Mark and I thought he was singing but could not tell what he was singing or saying. Well, now it is crystal clear. At least to us, his parents. He sings from A all the way to Z. The more clear letters he says are F, K, P, S, T, X, Z. I try to sing with him enunciating the more difficult letters for him. He, like most kids, says the "L,M,N,O" fast and cute like it is just one letter. :)

One of our favorite songs is Popcorn Popping. He now will do all the motions and gets all excited when I start singing it.

The cutie is a dancing fool. Turn on something with a beat and here he goes. I need to make a video and post it. Yesterday we were Skyping with my mom and she got to see the stud. He has started doing this thing where he straddles and walks.. He then will go down on his hands and for a minute there I thought he was going to start spinning on his head. I am going to have a brake dancing son. :)

The pregnancy is going well. I have another routine appointment tomorrow. So far I am measuring as normal and all is well. I was not feeling well a couple of weeks ago but feel great now.

Love you all!

We tried potty training....

2010-01-24T19:51:00.001-08:00

So last week was an adventure. It started with Cael being... difficult. Not wanting to go to bed at night, saying 'mine, mine' all the time, and throwing himself around when he did not get his way. I also attempted to potty train. He already tells us when he is going to poop or when he has so I thought.. why not. Besides the books I've been reading to him in preparation of a new baby talks about how the baby gets their diaper changed, so I thought it would be confusing to him if he still had a diaper.
So Wednesday evening I spoke to the daycare owner in regards to helping us potty train Cael. She was very supportive and said they would do so as long as he was 'interested.' Hmmmm. Interested, heh? So that night before putting him in the tub I asked if he wanted to sit on the big potty. He went straight to the toilet and tried to lift the lid. That night he sat on it 4 different times before bed. He never did anything but sat there and talked to me.. It was so cute. So I thought it would be easy to potty train him since he was interested and no scared to try.
The next morning when he woke up he had already pooped in his diaper but I asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty and he said yes. I wanted Daddy to see what a big boy he can be. Later that morning Mark went to the store and bought a little potty, some Sesame Street underwear, and some pull-ups. All day I was so excited to go home that night to work with him on going potty. When I showed him the little potty he did not know what to think. He just looked at it. When I tried to help him sit on it he acted as if it was uncomfortable. I left the bathroom door open so he knew where it was that way if he wanted to just be around it and sit on it he could. After dinner we were just playing and he said 'poopy' and farted. I asked if he wanted to sit on the potty and he said yes and took off toward the bathroom. He did not like sitting on the little potty so I helped him balance on the big potty.. but nothing. He then wanted to get in the bath so I ran the water. He was not in the bath long enough for me to wash him when I saw him make a face. I tried to pick him up and put him on the big potty but he had already pooped a little in the tub. I was holding on to him so he wouldn't fall into the toilet while getting his toys out of the tub. He did not poop in the big potty. I wiped his bottom and then cleaned the tub. Because I had yet bathed him I put some more water in the tub and put him back in. I quickly bathed him and then he made the face again. Poop got in the tub again but I was also able to catch him quick enough that he also pooped some in the big potty. We watched the poopy go down the toilet. I congratulated him on going poop in the potty and reminded him it goes in there and not the tub, as I cleaned the tub again. Cael then wanted to play with the little potty... opening and closing the lid, sitting on it.. I was concerned he might need to poop again so I wanted to at least have a pull-up on him while he played. You would have thought I was trying to saw off his legs. I barely got one leg through when he took off. He was running down the hall with the pull-up around one ankle squalling in pain. So I took the pull-up off and showed him the underwear. He wiggled all over fussing at me as I put some Elmo undies on. As soon as they were on he was pulling on them saying 'owie' and 'all done.' What was wrong with him?! I took the underwear off and he went running again. He was back at the little potty playing again. I tried to take a step back to assess the situation. Was I in the twilight zone? Did the poop in the tub traumatize him? Finally I just took him and practically held him down to get his diaper and jammies on him. He wiggled and wined in pain the entire time. This particular night was one of the few when he went to bed without crying at all. I think he wore himself out. Once he was in bed I called my mom to describe to her what was one of the oddest evenings. Oh to have been a fly on the wall, as I am sure it was quite entertaining. I laughed about it afterward and some during the series of events, but while in the situation I was completely confused and unsure of how to best handle the situation....

So yesterday we were going to try to potty train again. First thing in the morning I put some pull-ups on him and took him to the potty every 45 minutes to 1 hour. It got the point where he was irritated with me and did not want to sit on the potty. I tried to sing some different songs to entertain him... 'Tinkle, Tinkle little potty' - special thanks to Trio for that one. :) I think maybe he is not ready. Or maybe it is a combination of both he and us not being ready. Today I did not ask him once to go to the potty and he did not say anything either. He went into the bathroom several times to brush his teeth, watch me blow dry my hair in the morning, and to take a bath and not once did he mess with that potty. Oh well, maybe we will wait a month or two.

So that is all we have going on here. Just thought I shared the fun.

Another Boy!!!

2010-01-11T19:12:00.000-08:00

I think ultrasounds are hard to make out as it is so hopefully you can make out some body parts.

So we are going to have another little Mark running around. It should definitely be fun.

Cael likes to poke my belly button and laugh. We tell him there is a baby in there and he just looks at us like we are crazy... he then will say 'baby.' Cute!

According to the ultrasound everything looks great. We saw the 4 chambers of the heart, the kidneys, his bladder, his stomach, his head, etc. And he is in the 52nd percentile right now so he is perfect.

Cael goes to the doctor this week for his 18 month appointment so it will be interesting to see what percentile he is in these days. His head always seems to be in the 97th or so. :)

Oh, I almost forgot! Cael went to nursery for the first time yesterday at church and loved it! He did not cry at all when I dropped him off. I looked in the peep hole a few times and saw him playing. The teacher said they had vanilla wafers for snack and he just kept saying 'more, more.' That's my boy!

Love you guys!

18 months goes by fast...

2009-12-29T18:19:00.000-08:00

This is Cael's latest work of art :)

Cael is sitting on a mound of snow/ice in the front yard over the weekend. Mark had just spent about 2 hours shoveling the driveway and it started snowing again.

It seems like it was only yesterday that I gave birth to my handsome boy. Today he is 18 months old.. He'll be going to kindergarten before I know it. :(

So one of his favorite new toys is a Magnidoodle.. Last night he was letting me draw pictures for him. I would draw the different animals and would make noises. Well I wrote his first name, CAEL, and said it. He repeated it. Then I wrote his middle name, ZYWOT, and said them together. He then said "Morgan." So now our new game is for me to say "Cael Zywot.." and he says "Morgan." How cute is that? Such a smart boy..

He is already trying to count.. His favorite number is 9. As he starts to climb up the stairs he says "9, 2..." So I correct him and say "1" he then will say " 2, 3.." he will also say 6. Tonight in the tub he actually was saying "1, 2, 3" then splashing the water.

The other funny thing he did recently was repeat his Daddy's first name. The three of us were sitting on the couch watching a movie Saturday and I wanted Mark's attention without also getting Cael's attention. So I said, "Mark" and then Cael turned to him and also said "Mark." We quickly corrected him and I ensure I call him Daddy when Cael is around. Sunday night when Mark was at work Cael was walking around saying what sounded like either Mark or mulk (milk). :) It is so fun trying to figure out what he is saying.. So often he looks at me with the most serious expression while he goes on and on and I have no idea what he is saying.

I just wanted to provide another update... Next week we get to find out if Cael will have a little brother or sister so I am super excited.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T09:11:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas all! I hope you all enjoyed the day.

We had lots of fun with Cael and all of his new toys.

Thank you all for making this Christmas so great for our little guy!

Trucks...

Books...

PJs

Blocks...

Movies...

Puzzles...

Digital picture frame...

Mr Potato Head...

Gator gear...

A learning, riding turtle....

He loves to play with this singing toy... he makes the songs play over and over and dances around.

CHEESE!!!

Aren't I cute in my Christmas outfit from Nana and Papa?

This was Christmas Eve.. he was just hanging out and reading.

Check out my hard hat... for when I am doing real man's work! :)

I am a MONKIE and love bananas!!!!

We had a white Christmas.

Almost Christmas...

2009-12-20T18:23:00.000-08:00

Well I am ready for Christmas. All the presents are wrapped under the tree and Mark and I are excited for Cael to open them! :) The child is spoiled thanks to Granny, Grandpa, Beesha, and Dziedze. Mark was just saying today we need to make sure we are both presentable Christmas morning so we can take turns being in the pictures with Cael.

Last Sunday I made goodies to get into the holiday mood. I think I was missing family and so I made Magic Cookies, Peanut butter delights, fudge, and cheesecake squares. They were also so yummy. I took some to my team at work as they Christmas presents. They seemed to enjoy them so that is good. Cael loves fudge!... I guess who doesn't?

Oh, as you can see I posted a picture of Cael with Santa.. yeah he was scared of him.. maybe it is because Santa is wearing a crazy blue shirt instead of his suit. Even if he is not smiling, he is just so darn cute! Maybe next year he will be warmed up to him.

Every night I sing the 12 days of Christmas to Cael and we read Twas the Night Before Christmas about 5 times. :) It is a lot of fun.

Well I miss you all and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. I promise not to lag with posting pictures from Christmas morning!

Getting in the holiday spirit...

2009-12-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

My mother-in-law asked me to take pictures of Cael in front of the tree.. so I did. :) Last night I tried to get him to hold still for a few pictures. He is now at the age where he poses, which is quite funny.

We bought a new pre-lit tree this year which is great. I probably saved about 1-2 hours of time by not stringing lights. I did buy some shatterproof ornaments as I knew Cael would think he should throw the balls. And he did. He has been really good about not messing with the tree. If the lights are not plugged in he will stand in front of the tree saying 'more, more' until we plug it in. Then he says, 'pretty.' :) On the drive home from daycare he'll say 'pretty' all the way home as we drive by homes lit up with Christmas lights.

Well, we are expecting a blizzard of sorts tonight. Yuck! It started snowing yesterday just before we headed to church at about 12:45pm and continued into the night. I think we only got a couple of inches at most. It then snowed a bit this morning, quiet during the day, but it has started again tonight. We are suppose to receive another 8-12 inches by Wednesday. They already cancelled school for tomorrow.

And guess what the kicker is?! I am suppose to fly to California tomorrow for work. I was hoping my flight would get canceled but no such luck. I am still keeping my fingers crossed. It is not that I mind going, but I hate leaving my family and none of my clothes fit so I don't want to go see clients or people from work that only see me every couple of months or so. I am happy to have my body grow bigger as I have a growing baby but I hate this stage of not fitting into things - not normal clothes and not maternity clothes. Can I just wear jammies every day? :)

We took Cael to the doctor this last Friday because he had been sick with a cough and runny nose for almost two weeks and the cough got worse. So he is on another antibiotic for a sinus infection.. poor little guy. Hopefully the augmentin will do the trick.

Well I hope you are all well and ready for Christmas. I feel like there is so much yet to do, including getting our pictures taken.. Oh well, a day at a time right.

Love you all!

And here comes number two!!!

2009-11-18T18:52:00.000-08:00

I have an excuse for being lazy and not updating my blog every couple of days.... I am pregnant!
That is right, I am 12 weeks along and dead tired. I was telling my mom I don't remember being so tired the last time but I also did not have a 16 month old running around either. :)
So far things are going well. We just heard the heartbeat again on Friday, 11/13, and it was up to 170 beats per minute. I am not hanging out by the toilet but I am not feeling my best either. We are hoping for a girl so cross your fingers.

So have you figured out the due date then?? June 1st! Cael and his new sibling will be about 23 months apart. I think that is about right! :) I guess we will see. We can't wait for January so we can find out if we will have another son or a daughter! If we have a boy I really won't need to buy anything since they will have the similar birthdays. If we have a girl, shopping here we come!

Other than that everything is going well. Next week I turn the big 30, 11/25!!!! CRAZY! I am getting old. I am excited about Thanksgiving but dread the cooking! :) I am a lazy bum these days...Mark does get to work a normal schedule next week (8-4 M-W) and he will have Thanksgiving Day off. That will be nice. We will prepare Wednesday night so we will not have as much to do the day of... We are not turkey people so we already have the ham to cook. This year Cael and I get to partake in the goodies since we are no longer dairy free! I will not go overboard though as my doctor is already giving me a hard time about the weight I am gaining with this pregnancy....

I have gained 10 lbs in the first trimester. I also started 20 lbs lighter than I was when I found I was pregnant with Cael. I argued with the doctor and told her I eat to not feel sick. She has me taking pepcid ac and vitamin 6 to fight the hunger. I really am not pigging out, just eating more than I was 4 months ago when I was still not eating dairy and no longer breastfeeding!!!

Sorry for the tangent there. Mark and I already mulling over the different baby names. We really do want a girl so we have been discussing girl names. I won't provide our list so we will not have any thieves taking our good names!:)

I hope everyone is well!

Halloween and surprises!

2009-11-09T19:10:00.000-08:00

I am sorry I have not been the best at posting as of late. It seems like if it is not one thing it is another. Cael was sick for about a month, I got sick really bad for a weekend, then Mark tested positive for the swine flu last week. Yuck and yuck!

I just bought a book about how to raise a happy, more patient, non tantrum throwing toddler. So far I have learned I am to think of Cael as a caveman. :) I'll let you know how it goes!

Love you guys!!!

Mark's birthday is tomorrow, 11/10/09. Last year he turned the big 30 but I did not do anything BIG for him. This year I needed to redeem myself. So I organized a little surprise party for him this last Friday.

He never saw it coming!

Cael helped eat the cake!

Jake helped me plan it and then dished up the cake since Mark was still under the weather.

My camera battery died but I was able to take a couple of pictures of friends:

When I was in Irvine, CA a couple of weeks ago I picked up these Mickey Mouse ears for Cael. Instead of the bunny ears he can wear mouse ears

The Halloween DRAGON!!!

We started the night off at the trunk or treat. Cael had a late nap from 2-4 so when we woke him up to get dressed and go he was GODZILLA!

Daddy pacified the hungry monster with some candy until we went to dinner.

We then went to the mall where we walked around and got some more candy. Cael got to ride the carousel which he loved.

We got to see Mickey Mouse!!!!

2009-10-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

I made some lasagna this last weekend. It has been over a year since I made it, with the avoiding dairy. It was 'smack your granny' good! Cael loved it!

Cael loves Mickey Mouse and the other characters on Playhouse Disney. There was a show in Omaha so we took him.

Hot dog!!

As you can see, he loved it!!!

Daddy got us seats in the 5th row so we could see everything really well.

Cael loves meal time! Mark took some pictures of him stuffing his face with oatmeal! Yummy!

2009-10-12T16:27:00.000-07:00

I hope this turns out as cute as it sounds in person.

We love you guys!

So darn cute!!!

2009-10-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

That's right! it is already hat weather in Lincoln, until tomorrow when it is suppose to be 68! Crazy weather! Tonight it is suppose to be as low as 34... I miss Florida! You'd think I'd be over it after almost 5 years but it is so hard! :)

This last weekend we decided to get Cael his own chair. Now he thinks he is hot stuff! - which of course he is.

Everything else is going well. I was sick with a yucky stomach bug Friday. It all started at about 3:30am. I spent some time by the toilet and then curled up in the bed or on the couch. I was still a bit feverish when I went to bed at 8pm but woke up Saturday morning 6am and I was a new woman! Unfortunately Mark then got sick Saturday evening. Sorry babe!

Love you all!! I wish we were all so much closer. Take care!

Got a fever???

2009-09-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

My poor Cael has been sick off and on since Wednesday 09/16/09. Call me crazy but I blame the flu shot. This is the second time he has received a flu shot and both times he became sick right afterwards:

09/14 Flu shot
09/16 Fever of 101
09/17 Fever of 103. The doctor said ear infection
09/19 Fever finally broke in the afternoon
09/25 Fever of 102. The doctor said a viral infection (flu??)
09/26 fever of 102-103
09/27 fever of 102 in morning. This afternoon is right at 100

I have never had a flu shot and I've been fine. I want what is best for him, especially with the H1N1 but this has been ridiculous.

Cael loves his bunny ears and Batman sunglasses.

SNEAK PEEK to HALLOWEEN!!!!

Cael has been so sick he is GREEN???? Nah.. Just a dragon for Halloween.

Aaaahhh! The dragon is getting me...

He loved playing around.. destroying the basement like Godzilla.

Book Report
I did finish reading Dan Brown's latest book, The Lost Symbol. It was just as good as the others... I had heard rumors the content would be about 'the connection between the Mormons and the Masons.' But this was not the case. It is all about Masonry.. Very good book. I think this one will make for a better movie than the other two, Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code.

Cael's latest weigh in...

2009-09-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Cael had his 15 month appt.. It was a couple of weeks early but that is okay. I wanted to get him in for his flu shot so they went ahead and did routine visit. The latest stats:
Weight 26 pounds 7 ounces (82 percentile)
Height 32 inches (80 percentile)
Head 19 1/2 inches (>97 percentile)
He will grow into his head! :)

Labor Day weekend and new daycare

2009-09-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

I am sorry for the delay in creating a new post. 5 days of not working made me lazy I think. To help me relax and not think about work, I read most of the Twilight series again. I know, I know.. I am crazy. But I enjoyed reading New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn again... In 10 days. It is out of my system again so now I can concentrate on other things...

Mark and I are still trying for another bundle of joy. Maybe once Cael is completely weened it will happen. I guess we will just wait and see.

The last two weekends have been good for college football which is always nice.. got to keep our men happy! :) Go Gators, Go Blue, Go Huskers...

Cael started a new day care on 09/08/09. He and his class made fun policeman hats. He loves playing with his new friends and his teachers. As many of you know, daycares provide a sheet each day of what your child did for the day. On the first day they had commented how much Cael had enjoyed lunch. Apparently he ate his food and then helped himself to his neighbor's. :) That's my boy!

Cael is such a BIG boy. Everyone morning he watches me get ready in the bathroom. He combs his own hair....

And brushes his teeth.

On our 5 day weekend as a family we spent a lot of time just hanging out and enjoying each other. We went to the park, the mall, the fair, the children's museum, and Cael's favorite store, Wal-Mart. :)

Daddy won Cael this dinosaur at the fair. It is kind of a funny story. Those 'carny' folk are pretty slick.. Mark spent about $20.00 to throw darts at balloons to win this stuffed animal.

Mommy and Cael had some ice cream for the first time in over a year. Yummy, yummy! We had a fudge sundae.

At the fair we also found a ride we could all ride together, and that Cael could ride being less than 36inches tall. We rode one of those that spun around on a large axis but then you could make your own container go fast by spinning the wheel in the center. I was so proud of Cael, he didn't get sick! I can't wait until next year when he can ride more of the rides.

There was a fun petting zoo at the fair. Cael loved to watch us pet and feed the goats.

The big Clydesdales were beautiful!

I had to take a picture of this funny looking chicken. It is a white crested black polish pullet. Hee, hee, hee.. That made us think of Dziedze!

Cael checked out all the 4H animals.. We saw rabbits, roosters, chickens, sheep, cows, goats, ducks, geese, and hogs.

We had to sport our Gator gear for the college football opening weekend.

Cael loves to swing!

And he likes to climb all over the playground equipment, and slide down the slides.

Mark and his mini-me.

Too cute for words!!!!!

Dancing Cael

2009-09-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

So I have learned that patience is needed when trying to upload videos.. I think this will work. Cael loves to dance and he loves mommy's ring tone!! Beesha (my mom), Cael and I had a blast as she would call my cell phone and we would just watch Cael dance.

Enjoy!

Hello teeth, good bye soy... here comes winter??

2009-08-31T20:04:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I am sorry I did not post anything new over the weekend. I have been crazy busy with work and Cael is getting some more teeth! Yikes! So he has been Mr. Cranky Pants over the weekend. Saturday morning I had hoped to sleep in but he was up at 5:30am. He had two very short naps throughout the day and then was up until 10:30pm. Sunday it was a little bit better... he actually behaved very well during sacrament meeting but then did not want to go to bed last night. Today he seemed better and he went right to bed tonight.

Oh and over the weekend he had cow's milk for the first time! That is right, we are cruising along with the dairy. He doesn't seem to like the taste so much right now but I am sure he will warm up to it soon. If he can drink soy milk which tastes like chalk I am sure he will like the cow's milk. He was a little gassy but that is about it. We will try the milk until the weekend and then maybe we will get to try ice cream!!! Mommy is doing the dairy in moderation... for 1 my body is not adjusting as well and 2 I like being skinny!

Mark, Cael, and I have a 5 day weekend coming up! I am exciting to spend so much time together and have a break from work. The state fair is in town so I am sure we will check that out. We also have several things to do around the house with autumn approaching so quickly. This morning it was 44 degrees with a high of 72! I am not ready for the 'football' weather but it is coming anyway. We did buy Cael some new clothes over the weekend in preparation of the dropping temperatures. 3T tops and 2T bottoms; I had to roll up the sleeves and pant legs but I am okay with him growing into them.

Well, I hope to have a more exciting post the next time... I did record Cael dancing but I have not figured out how to get it uploaded; I keep getting an error.

Talk to you soon!

Another exciting weekend!

2009-08-22T14:22:00.001-07:00

The Huntington Beach Bad Boy came to Lincoln!!!

Tito Ortiz was in Lincoln today at Max Muscle giving autographs and taking pictures. He is one of Mark's favorite 'ultimate' fighters.

GROUND AND POUND BABY!!!!

Mark's friend Roger drives a sprint car sponsored by Max Muscle. Here is Cael sitting in the car.

This is Roger Sluka, the driver.

Take me out to the ballgame!

Last night we went to a baseball game. Go Saltdogs go! We had lots of fun! We took a blanket and sat on the grassy burns behind third base. As you can see it was a little 0n the chilly side by the end of the game.

Cael was a little restless but it was nothing cotton candy wouldn't cure. He and I also shared a soft pretzel! Yum, yum.

Cael and Mark tracked down Homer the Haymarket Hound for a picture.

What's new with the Morgans??

2009-08-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to the children's zoo here in Lincoln for a birthday party.

This monkey was yelling at us and so we yelled back!!

Just riding on a tortoise with dad.

Cael knows all about milking a cow (he's been doing it for 13 months now)

His first pony ride! Yeehaw!

CHOMP said the baby gator!!!

This little guy has no fear!

Pimpn' aint easy!

More fun stuff...

I am the smallest I've been in a while.. I don't think this photo captured it so well. I am wearing a medium size shirt... the first time since high school!

Cael pulled the bunny ears out of the toy box and wanted me to put them on his head... he just did this again today. The thinks it is hilarious.

What baby does not like to be naked?!

He loved his balloon from Red Robin and he loves pushing that toy all over the house.

More fun times in Florida..

2009-08-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

While in Jacksonville for Cael's birthday, we did more fun stuff:

We went to the beach.....

We went to the zoo...

We splashed in the pool...

We played with friends...

And relaxed with family.

Cael just turned 1!!!!

2009-08-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

June 29th

We had a Mickey Mouse birthday party! - of course. Cael loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Granny and Grandpa Morgan had a big party with lots of friends and family. Don't you just love the hats Granny made with the cute Mickey ears?!

Thanks to Kara for making Cael's special gluten free, dairy free cake! With Granny's special strawberry topping it sure was yummy!

Cael met his aunt Nanny and cousin Jayme for the first time. With the gang all there we took a Morgan family photo. There was Josh, Ronny, Jayme, Nanette, Granny, Daddy, Grandpa, Mommy, and Cael.

JD was playing down at the river so he gets a candid photo for all to see!

Just getting started....

2009-08-10T19:41:00.001-07:00

I have finally given in to peer pressure and have created a blog. Sitting at a desk in front of a computer most of the day I avoided doing it at home but look at me now. Thank you Jenilee for your patience as I think I am under way!!!
So Jennie what do you think? It will take me a while to get the hang of it but I'll swing right into it.