Little Tidbits

Well, I have little odds and ends to share. First, I'll start with some congrats. Congrats to my friend who we'll call 'C'. She is expecting her first child in Sept. And, congrats to my cousin Steph who just found out she is expecting a boy!

Now, for the kiddos. Mack is the first of our children who has a pretend friend, Singa. Not sure where the name came from. When she first started talking about Singa, I assumed it was a new student at the Montessori since they often have students of different cultures. However, I learned quickly this is a make believe friend. Pretty cute. Mack is also our child who will learn things the hard way. 2 weeks or so ago we had the incident with the waffle iron. This week, she sprayed herself in the eye. Once with an Oxy cleaner and the second with 409. And yes, for those of you who are wondering, we typically do keep these items out of reach. However, in both incidents, I was 5 feet away, if that, and she is very quick. Hopefully, she has learned to ask before attempting to spray cleaners.

Schuyler came down with a fever on Sunday. She appears to be on the mends today and is at school.

Eli rolled over for the first time on Sunday. He was on his stomach and rolled over to his back on his right side. A day or so earlier, the kids said he rolled over but I didn't witness and sometime they lend a helping hand!

As promised, a few pics from our outings.

Riese Grandkids, Then and now...

This weekend we had the immediate the Riese family clan come visit. Uncle Mike, all the cousins, and Gma and Gpa. As you can imagine, it was a chaotic, busy, but fun-filled time. The girls love playing with their older cousins and their were little squables about who would sit next to who = ) We shipped them off one night to sleep at the hotel and kept cousin Ian with us. What a difference it makes when you don't have kids getting you up at 6:00 a.m! Sunday, they got to swim at the hotel and afterwards, most all of us watched the movie Flicka back at our house. Great movie for any horse lovers out there! From the pictures, you can see Eli was loved and in good hands. Also, here is the picture of the Riese kids about a year ago. See how they change compare to the one above.

A big congrats to my Bro and SIL on the purchase of their first home!! You will love having and decorating a place all your own. We can't wait to see it! They don't actually close until Apr 30th and moving day will be shortly after.

Yesterday, I had my 6 week post-partum (sp?) appt. I have the clear to go back to work. It's a good thing I still have 3 1/2 weeks left b/c I'm not ready.

Oh, look for more pics to come. The kids and I went outside on a long walk on Monday as the weather is finally warm enough! Eli had his first outdoor stroller ride and the girls splashed in puddles. Their jeans were soaking when we got home!

Happy Valentine's Day

Okay. Bare with me, I might have a lot to write. First, a big thank you for all of you who have left me such nice comments. I'm glad to know I have readers out there = )

This past weekend was great. Schuyler very much enjoyed the Lion King. We have listened to the cd multiple times and she managed to find her old lion costume from a previous halloween and has paraded/danced around it. Mackie enjoyed her time with daddy at the Children's musuem and her and daddy took Eli and myself out to McDonald's for lunch. I had fun getting out of the house for my photo shoot. I got the opportunity to shoot a family with their first newborn (a baby boy). Thank S & D! You have a precious son! Sunday, started out a little rough. Mackie had a cold and was out of sorts to begin with. Then, she burnt herself on the waffle iron. Daddy took Schuyler to church and I tried to mend things at home. Luckily, the afternoon was much better.

You may be wondering what the pictures are about. The girls needed to make 70, yes 70, valentine's for school. They prefer homemade so we spent time working on this at home on Monday. I thought I had supplies but apparently not and I didn't want to venture out in the cold. So, we got creative and did potato stamping. At one point, McKenzie the potato loving child she is, tried to take a bite. Silly child!

I wish all of you a wonderful Valentine's day. We are celebrating at home with some take out by candlelight with our kids = )

One Month Old

Can it be. Our little sweet pea is now one month old. Where does the time go?

A few pics as always. One of Mack being a little ham. One of Schuyler from parents night at dance class. And, can't forget one of Eli. They all have to learn to share the spot light.

We are working on getting some special time in for Mackie. Schuyler is going to the Lion King in Omaha this weekend with my papa. Daddy is going to take Mackie to the children's museum. And, I have my first photo shoot since Eli was born. Wish me luck! It is a newborn so I should be well practiced!

Welcome Home!

I forgot to mention one very important thing in my last post. Welcome home to my BIL who is returning home after serving over in Iraq since September!! We're glad to have you home safely!

This weekend Mark attempted the bottle with Eli and I'm happy to report that he gulped it down twice! Once when Mack and I went to Target on Saturday and the other time when the girls and I went to church on Sunday. For those of you that don't know, Mack had a hard time with the bottle. We tried every bottle/nipple type, syringe feeding, and the sippy cup but she preferred breastfeeding. I think Eli will be one who just wants to be fed and fed now and it will not matter where it comes from. Hope you all had a good weekend.

Outings

I think the title best sums up the last week and a half since my last post. On that Friday, the 25th, all 3 kids and I went to the library. It takes us so long to load! The stroller, the diaper bag, the library bag, my purse, the kids, and don't forget all the winter gear since we're lucky to make it in the teens here in NE! I thought it would be good to get us some more books, movies, and dvd's for the days the girls are at home with me.

Sunday I ventured out for the first time alone since having Eli. I went to exchange an outfit for him and buy some more nursing bras. Not real exciting but it felt good! We also went over to Papa's. That was Eli's first visit to someone's house.

Wednesday, we stopped in to my work. It was so nice to see adult faces and have adult conversations = )

We are all doing well. I am starting to get a little more sleep. Most nights he will sleep for 3-4 hours. However, we still have a few nights where he wants to nurse every 2 hours. For the most part, he is a content baby and we are thankful for that.

I have failed to mention that Mack started the primary classroom at the beginning of the year. She is adjusting very well. She moved up with 2 of her other buddies, one of them being her "best friend", Shainie, if you have such a thing at the age of 2 1/2.

I am attaching some pics for all of you. I am SOOOO behind! Hope all of you are doing well. We would love to hear from you!