Monthly Update - September 2013 Silver Dollar City

Addie's September Photo

Cooper's September Photo

Silver Dollar City - We met up with Shane's family in Branson and hung out at Silver Dollar City.  Addie wanted to ride just about every ride she saw.  Even the big roller coasters, she would point to and ask if she could ride them!  We let her ride a few of the kids rides and play a few games.  One of the games Addie played was where you throw a large whiffle ball onto a flat surface covered with circles.  Each circle has a color around it, indicating the type of prize you will win.  Only TWO circles out of over 100 of them were for the BIG prize.  On the first throw, Addie made it in the BIG circle!!  We were shocked!  Even the game operator was a bit shocked!  LOL  She won a big Hot Pink Teddy bear.  While we were there, we rode the Train and I think that was probably the highlight of our day.  Both kids really seemed to enjoy being on it.

All about Addie

School -  Addie is learning a lot at school and is so excited about going now.  She no longer gets sad about being dropped off.  Even more, when she gets home, she seems eager to talk about her day and all of the neat things she has done.  Every day when she gets home, we take a quick picture of herself and whatever art/school work she has done for the day.  I don't know how long this will last, but it's fun to see the progression of what she has worked on so far.

"reading" - Addison loves story time.  We typically save it for right before bed but occasionally she likes to get her books out and read to us at other times.  At one point, she was in the bathroom reciting one of the books she's used to us reading at bedtime.  I looked in and she's sitting on the toilet without the book and "reading" it verbatim!  Addie is a very quick learner and it doesn't take much for her to catch on and start reading from memory.


All about Cooper

Walking Update - We've hit a few milestones this month.  On 9/2 he walked with mommy from one hallway to the next while only holding one hand.  On 9/14 he took his first steps without holding onto anything when daddy stood him on the kitchen floor.  On 9/22 he continuously walked between Mama and Nana without holding onto anything.  He's making huge progress on walking but still seems really reluctant to let go of walls, furniture, or our hands.

"Yeee-Haw" - We've been watching Toy Story in the car a lot so his newest phrase is Yee-Haw.  It sounds more like "AAHHHH-HAAA" when Cooper says it but just as cute! :)

Using Head - I think we've posted about this before, but Coop loves to use his head to knock into things while he's crawling.  If Addie is on the floor playing or even if she's just walking, he will crawl really fast over to her and barrel into her using his head.  Sometimes Addie will laugh and go with it and other times I think she gets really irritated.  If Cooper finds a ball, he will use his head to move it about the room.

All about baby #3

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!  We found out on 9/16 that we're having a girl!  Of course Addie was really excited when she came home from school and we told her.  Mommy bought two big balloons saying "it's a girl" and took pictures of the kids holding them.  Cooper had no idea what was going on but seemed to really enjoy having the balloons :)

Symptoms - I haven't had much in terms of symptoms.  Started feeling flutters around the middle of the month which grew stronger towards the end of the month.  Haven't had any overly noticeable nausea and most other symptoms have tapered off.... except for the weight gain though :) lol

More photos from September:

Letter A week.  They talked about

Johnny Appleseed.  

Cooper seems very interested in the TV... 

 

Letter A week.  More about Apples

Our BIG announcement.  It's a GIRL 

Cooper says "what???" 

He seems thrilled... 

My cross-dressing son. LOL 

At SDC with the grandparents 

Patiently waiting for the train 

One of many rides that Addie went on 

"C" is for Candle that Addie made at school

"Cowboy" day at school

She was one excited Cowgirl!

Do we have another bookworm in our midst?

He loves to hide under the giant teddy bears!

Also loves his sister's big recliner! 

Gymnast Addie on the balance beam 

Clinton Pork & Apple Fest. 

Addie riding a Pony 

Enjoying the sights at the Pork & Apple Fest 

Cutest face paintings ever! 

Visiting Grandpa R at the nursing home in Illinios 

Visiting Gma & Gpa K

Visiting Gma R

Monthly Update - August 2013 Family Reunion

Addie's August Photo

Cooper's August Photo

August was a pretty eventful month for us.  In the beginning of the month (8/3), we made a trip to Illinois for the Kuntz family reunion.  The following weekend (8/9), mommy and daddy went on a short trip to Las Vegas with some friends while Addie and Cooper stayed with Nana.  Towards the middle of the month, Robin and the kids came for the visit and we went to the state fair.


All about Addie

"We've never been there" - This is Addie's new saying.  She says it whether we are passing an interesting place on the road or if she sees an advertisement for a neat place (Chuck E. Cheese, etc.).

Kittens - As an attempt to give Addie a little bit of extra responsibility around the house, we decided to get her a few outdoor kittens.  We found two at the local shelter and adopted them.  They were around 5 weeks old.  Addie tossed up several names but ended up settling on Wall-E and Eva (from the movie Wall-E).  It was really sweet to see her interact with them.  The kittens have adapted pretty well to their surroundings, partly because Shane has built them a palace at the edge of the yard.  Addie goes out every day and checks on them.

All about Cooper

"O" face - I think it's quite possibly the cutest face I've ever seen a baby boy make.  Cooper will make an "O" face and then wait for anyone watching to do the same.  When he sees another person make the face, he laughs hysterically.  One day, mommy and Coop made several videos of us looking into our reflection and repeating the "O" face over and over.  A very very Kodak moment :)

Shoes on hands - I guess he thinks since he's not going to walk anytime soon, he will just use shoes on his hands instead.  It doesn't matter if they are his shoes or not, he will put them on his hands and crawl around the house.  The funniest is when he gets a hold of Addie's pink sparkly shoes.  Love seeing the girly side ;)

All about Baby #3:

Nausea -  From the middle of June until the end of July, I had been sick.... sick... SICK!  I really never would get a chance to throw up, but the nausea is overwhelming.  I tried the wrist band, ginger ale, I've tried vitamin B6, and several other remedies but really nothing worked.  Luckily, the beginning of August gave me a little bit of relief.  I can't say I was in the clear from nausea, but it seemed to taper off quite a bit.

"Showing" - I guess you could say I finally started really showing this month.  I would have to say I noticed it most while we were in vegas.  To "fit in" with the group, I wore tighter and more revealing clothes.  Needless to say, those clothes really showed off my "bump".

Other symptoms - I guess I see now why they say every pregnancy is different.  I had a little bit of nausea with Cooper but nothing like this.  I had bad skin with Addie and REALLY bad skin with this one.  My hair was never healthier than it was with the first two pregnancies and now it is BAD shape.

More photos from August:

Running around outside

Cooper in his walker 

He thinks he's going to run away 

Addie and our horse ACE 

At Grady's in Bloomington, IL 

Showing mommy some work from Preschool 

Riding the rides at Grady's Pizza 

Showing off her awesome bag for school 

Taking an active interest in books? 

Trying to help mommy put clothes away...

and then take them back out! 

Chocolate or poop? 

In deep thought 

Watching movies and eating puffcorn 

At the MO state fair 

"walking" with shoes on his hands 

Reading her ABC's 

Right after we brought the new kittens home 

Giggling at our "O" faces 

Monthly Update - July 2013 Happy 4th!!

Addie's July Photo

Cooper's July Photo

Happy 4th of July!  For the 4th this year we had mommy's cousin Angela and her family visit us.  Angela has 4 kids of her own so the Addie and Cooper were thrilled to have them all over for the week.  We did the usual, sparklers, glow sticks, etc.  But then Uncle Dillon set of a fireworks display to remember!  We all hung out on our blankets and watched in amazement as one shot off after another.  Awesome 4th! :)

All about Addie

Tubes - Addie had tubes put in her ears quite a while ago.  We had a follow up appointment this month to make sure the tubes are in tact.  According to her ENT, one tube is still in place and the other one is working it's way out.  Luckily, they tested her ear and made sure that the loose tube did it's job and now it doesn't look like she needs one in that ear anymore.

Preschool - On the 22nd Addie started her first day of preschool.  Since it's summertime, technically the curriculum doesn't start for a few more weeks.  The first day wasn't too bad but she seemed very quiet and unsure of her surroundings.  The second day was quite similar to the first but this time she seemed sad for us to leave.  She didn't cry but I could tell she wanted mommy to stay.  The next week she was out all week sick, so we started back the following Monday.  This time, we saw tears and she was visibly upset about being left.  She didn't throw any tantrums or try to go with to the car, but she cried.  After about a week of breaking mommy and daddy's heart, we got the bright idea to let her bring a friend (fredbird).  I think it helped quite a bit but she was still very reserved and unsure about being dropped off.  It took at least another full week for her to warm up, but finally we stopped seeing tears.

Movie Theme Songs - Addison loves to sing theme songs to her favorite movies now.  Her favorite right now is Wall-E's opening song from Hello Dolly "Out There".  It's super cute to hear her sing this song when the movie starts up!

All about Cooper

Fireworks - Although Coop doesn't seem to love fireworks, he did sit through them at Uncle Dillon's.  I'm thinking we were far enough from the action that he could turn away and not feel like the display was on top of him.  Luckily, the 4th of July only comes once a year! :)

Stacking - Cooper loves to stack just about anything.  He will get into the two drawers with the sippy cups, bowls and coozie's and stack them as high as he can.  He will also find blocks in the toy bins and try to stack them.  Once he has them to where he wants them, he will "oohhhh" and "ahhhh" at his creation.

Crawling & Walking -  We're still not seeing a huge sign that Cooper will be walking freely anytime soon.  In the meantime, he must be the fastest crawler in the world.  I can't believe how quickly he can get from one room to the next.  Even visitors at the house will comment on how quick he is on all fours.  Occasionally he will pull up to furniture and cruise on his feet but mostly he likes crawling around.

More photos from July: