Happy Thanksgiving!

A few days before Thanksgiving, Avery and I had a cute conversation:
Avery: Is it Valentine's Day?
Me: No, but Thanksgiving is this week. Do you know what that is?
Avery: No.
Me: It is a time that we get together with our family, eat turkey, and think about all of the things that we are thankful for.
Avery chimed in, "AMEN!"

I guess that must have sounded like a prayer!

Big Helper

I think the first day of school was more tiring for Avery than it was for Garrett! She seemed a little lost without him, almost not knowing how to act when it was just her and I (and Emmett!). The first day of school she fell asleep on the living room floor, holding my phone and listening to kids music on Pandora radio.

Avery is very proud of her big brother and loves to help take him to school. She often rides her bike. When we walk home from school, I can tell that she wishes she could go to. She says things like, "I can't go to kindergarten yet." She can't wait to pick him up every day. She asks, "Is it time to go get Garrett?" Going back to work after maternity leave was tough because I miss all of those little moments.

After school each day, Avery often checks Garrett's backpack before we do! She wants to see if he has homework! She also checks in on his behavior. One day after school, she asked, "Garrett did you tease the girls today? Did you call anyone names?" I had to remind her that I am the parent, not her!

First Haircut

Awhile back Garrett and Avery woke up before us (as usual) but didn't hang around our room trying to get us out of bed. Instead they helped themselves to breakfast! They got out poptarts and Garrett got them both a cup of water. Luckily they actually chose to eat breakfast food (versus Cheez-its other goodies in the pantry). However, after they ate breakfast, they proceeded to cut their poptart wrappers into a million tiny pieces with scissors. I can't complain...at least I got little extra sleep!

About a month ago Greg was home with the kiddos while I was working later. He was changing Emmett's diaper when he overheard Garrett say, "Okay that's probably enough..." He found Garrett with a pair of scissors and a handful of Avery's hair. He called me right away, starting the conversation with, "You're not gonna like this..." Somehow I knew right away. I knew the day would come. Luckily when I arrived home the damage was not as I had imagined. It was a chunk cut out of the front left side but I think we can blend it in by creating some layers. And we often pull that part of her hair away from her face anyway. Whew. I was picturing a giant chunk out of the back. Avery has had her haircut several times by my hairdresser. This was her first "sibling" haircut!

What We've Been Up To...

I should be able to think of a more creative name for this blog post but for right now, that's all I've got. Here are some updates...

Garrett's stitches are out! We've been using steri-strips to hold his gash closed a little longer while it finishes healing. Today should be the last day. Swimming lessons can resume this week since he is fully healed! These are all wonderful things!

Avery has discovered my perfume. She came into the kitchen last weekend saying, "mell me, Mommy, mell me." She wanted me to smell her - she leaves off her 's' sounds. It's too cute to start correcting it yet! Turns out she had sprayed my perfume right onto her forehead. Thank goodness she didn't get it in her eyes! Guess I'll be keeping that out of reach from now on. She is very proud of 'being like Mommy!'

Avery is really into nail polish. Unfortunately we don't always have the same taste in colors. I prefer pinks and reds and she prefers green, orange, and purple! She insists that our nails must match so now I am wearing green, orange, and purple! It's hard to resist my little fashionista's style recommendations.

We have a sick bird for the first time in 13 years. Yes, much to Greg's dismay, the birds are going on 13 years now. Harry came down with a sinus infection and is taking a daily antibiotic (by tiny oral syringe!). We discovered that avian exams cost about twice the price of a dog/cat. But like I told Greg, we can't let her die of something easily treatable, and turns out, that was the case. Let's just say that Greg and I are becoming very experienced at medicating a tiny bird, again, much to his dismay. The birds have also been very unsettled lately, squawking at anything and everything. I think their general tolerance for a noisy environment is decreasing with age. It just so happens that my tolerance is decreasing with pregnancy. Anyway, this weekend, for the first time ever, I had suggested that maybe they need a quieter home. When I asked Garrett what he thought about this, he said, "No Mom! They can live in my room. If they keep me awake at night, that's okay." That boy has such a big heart. We definitely can't give his birds away.

My doctor's office is working on getting my c-section date scheduled. The date will be either July 14th or 15th, both good dates for birthdays, I think! I really seems like a reality when we start to talk about a birth date! This last trimester is going to fly by. I'm not quite sure that I'm ready for the sleepless nights and restricted diet again, but I sure am ready to start sleeping on my back again!

This might be the best news yet...there are only 33 days of school left!! Woo hoo!

The Things They Say...& Random Things

We just returned from a wonderful spring break visiting Grandpa Reimer and family. We also celebrated Sissy's birthday with the Stohs family and the Reimer family over spring break. Pictures will come when I finally get them downloaded. We came back from spring break with 2 tired kids and one very black eye. Poor Garrett missed Grandpa's front porch steps completely on the way down. His forehead caught the brunt of his weight. Luckily he had no signs of concussion but got a nice scrape on his forehead and a very black eye. It's starting to turn yellow around the edges so I know it's healing. He's a tough guy.

I wanted to blog about the cute things my little kids say....

Avery associates everything purple with K-State (her daddy is very proud of this). When she sees purple, she says, "Go K-Steak!"

I'm amazed at how much Avery and Garrett are alike. When Garrett was 2-3 years old, he was obsessed with dogs and would pretend to be a dog everywhere we went. I remember him barking and licking packages in stores! Avery often pretends to be a dog and refers to herself as "Arfie." "Arfie will open the door." "Arfie wants another sucker." The funny thing about this is that Garrett also referred to himself as "Arfie" for a short time, but Avery would have been too little to recall this.

When Avery hears something new, she will often respond, "I didn't know that..." with a really high inflection on the word 'know.' Garrett did exactly the same thing when he was 3, and again Avery couldn't possibly remember that. How is it possible that she says some of the exact same things that he did at her age???

Garrett asked me tonight, "Mom do you remember when my favorite color was blue? And now it's orange and green."

Happy 3rd Birthday Avery!

Avery,

Happy 3rd Birthday! We can't believe that our baby is turning 3! You've grown up so fast. Sometimes you seem so mature for your age that it feels like you are 2 going on 8. We are so proud of the big girl you've become. You are such a kind sweet like girl with a big caring heart. When you saw your birthday presents the other day, you said, "These are for me and Garrett?!" You would share anything if you were asked to. You LOVE your big brother and mom and dad. Tonight, as I tucked you into bed, you said, "I'm your best friend, Mommy. And I'm Casey's best friend, and Garrett's best friend, and Daddy's best friend. You have a soft spot for animals, much like your mommy and Grandma Reimer. When Daddy didn't let Casey come inside one day, you burst into tears. Three of your favorite stuffed animals/blankets are puppy dogs. As you turn 3, your favorite things are playing with Garrett, snuggling with Casey, your 2 blankies and stuffed puppies, anything that is green, riding your bike, listening to books and "reading" them yourself!, matchbox cars, trains, stuffed animals, Scooby Doo, and watching movies like big brother! Happy Birthday sweetheart! We thank God for you everyday and are so lucky that God has chosen us to be your family.

Love, Mommy, Daddy, & Garrett (& Casey too!)

Rough Day

Friday ended up being a rough day for us. When I arrived at daycare to pick up the kids, Lynette surprised me with the news that she has now decided she will NOT take care of our new baby this fall. Like I said, this was a bit of a shocker to me. When we initially told her I was pregnant in the fall, she said she had room for the baby. Then later this turned into only 3 days at the most. And now, not at all??? What?? I'm very puzzled and irritated by this. She explained that she prefers to focus on the kids preschool activities and playing outside (both things we love about her) and that she can't keep up with a little baby in tow. I do understand that, but couldn't she just do us a favor? She currently has a baby that comes once a week and she said she dreads that day. She doesn't want to dread taking care of our baby each week. I don't want that either. Our baby is welcome at Lynette's when he/she is 9-12 months old.
On our drive home, Greg called me. "You won't believe what the dog ate today," he said. Apparently Casey decided to chow down on an entire large tube of Aquaphor that I left on the kitchen table. I proceeded to tell Greg that we had bigger problems than that, and told him about Lynette. When I arrived home, I checked the ingredients label of Aquaphor - petroleum and mineral oil. That can only equal one thing...diarrhea. So the dog spent all of his time outside or penned in the kitchen this weekend when we were not supervising.
Greg headed off to poker night with his coworkers after the dog incident on Friday, so I had the evening to myself with the kiddos. It was easy-going and relaxing, which was nice. However, when I climbed onto Garrett's top bunk bed to read him some books, I managed to catch my big toenail on his ladder. This particular toenail was black and blue last fall and had released from my toe about 2/3 of the way. One side was still growing and attached so following my doctor's advice, I had been taping it on until it falls off on it's own. Well that won't be necessary now because I ripped it completely off. So now I only have about 1/4 of a toenail and a very irritated spot where it was ripped off. Pretty painful for several days, but thankfully much better starting yesterday. To make matters worse, I wasn't wearing socks on Sunday, trying to let it breathe and heal a bit when I dragged a big cardboard box across my foot and got a big paper cut where I should have a toenail. Ouch.
Luckily, Grandpa called on Friday night with the news that he wanted to come visit us for the weekend so that helped to cheer me up. We celebrated Avery's 3rd birthday a little early with him and she loved opening her dollhouse from Grandpa and us! Garrett also insisted that she open the Tangled doll that he picked out for her! Don't worry, we still have a smaller gift for her to open on her actual birthday.
There's more to tell about the weekend, including a dog pee incident, which involved both myself and Grandpa sitting in dog pee, but I'll spare you the details. Thanks to the advice of my friend Ashley, it turns out that vinegar and water is really the best carpet cleaning solution.

Our Ultrasound

We had our 20-week ultrasound today! Several hours later, I still can't believe that we did NOT find out if we are having a boy or girl! The suspense might kill me, but it is exciting! The baby is perfectly healthy which is the most important thing. Garrett and Avery joined Greg and I for the ultrasound, which was a pretty special experience to see them smiling and watching their little baby brother or sister on the monitor. During the ultrasound, the technician asked the kids what names they liked for the baby. Garrett came up with the following ideas: Peaches, Diego, or Possom (wait a minute...aren't those characters from Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs?) or Dora. The baby's heart rate varied from 138 to 133 beats per minute and later 154 with the nurse. We'll see if my theory (and gut feeling) that it's a girl holds true. I have always heard that lower heart rates are girls and that held true for Garrett and Avery. We got to see a lot of movement including the baby opening and closing her mouth and swallowing. It took a long time for the technician to see an air bubble travel to her stomach to pinpoint that the stomach was located in the right place, so the ultrasound took a really long time. We even took a break and tried a second time before she located the stomach. But eventually she saw it and everything looked great, so all is well.

But the baby wants it...

We made a family trip to Target this weekend because we were out of all of the necessities at our house. Avery got to do a little birthday idea shopping to see what she might want for her big day. To our pleasant surprise, she was really into the big dollhouse that I've had my eyes on for awhile now (sigh of relief...my little girl actually wants a dollhouse and not a monster truck...). After that she got to pick out some plates/napkins for her party. She spotted the Tangled plates right away and added them to our cart. Then she spotted the Spongebob Squarepants cups. She said, "Mommy, the baby likes Spongebob. Can the baby get Spongebob cups?" Nice try!

No Petting the Baby

I showed Avery how much bigger my belly is getting these days. Her response was, "I don't want to pet her, Mommy." I smiled and told her she didn't have to touch my belly! She still says that she has 2 babies in her tummy. The last 2 times that she talked about them, she called them her "Garrett babies." How do they come up with these things? Garrett overheard this and was NOT happy!

Leave the snow ON

We've had a lot of snow lately. It snows, it starts to melt, and it snows again. I'm beginning to feel like I just really want to see the ground and the grass again. I remember feeling that way last January too. Avery loves the snow. She loves to look outside at it. She likes to play in it too, but she gets cold quickly and she's usually ready to come inside right away. Garrett, on the other hand, could take up permanent residence outside. The last two big snows, Greg has kept busy helping the city plow the streets after his regular work day. When Avery learned about this last week, she became genuinely upset. She said, "I don't want Daddy take the snow off. I want Daddy leave the snow ON!" She seems to think that her Daddy is working against her love of the snow. She was almost in tears. The next day she witnessed Greg snow blowing the driveway. She stood in the garage yelling over and over, "I want you leave the snow ON, Daddy!" Of course, with the loud snow blower, he couldn't hear her and kept on going. She eventually came inside and then watched him from her bedroom window, yelling the same thing!

My Avery

I had a cute conversation with Avery today. I referred to her as "my daughter," a term I guess I don't use often enough, because she looked at me, puzzled. She said, "I'm not a daughter." I replied, "You're MY daughter." She said, "No, you're MY daughter! I'm not your daughter. I'm your Avery."

Names

Lately I've been in the habit of calling Garrett by his full name when he is not listening. Something along the lines of, "Garrett Scott Stohs, get in here right now!" Avery seems to think she has the same middle name. She was walking around a few days ago singing, "Avery Scott Stohs, Avery Scott Stohs!" Luckily, her brother didn't hear her.

We've been working on our list of favorite baby names. Since we're not finding out the sex of the baby this time, we'll need a boy and a girl name. I've been asking the kids lately what names they like, just for fun. Garrett always says we should name the baby, "Avery" and Avery says we should name the baby, "Garrett." Either the teasing just never really stops at our house or they don't quite get it.

Doggy Heaven

I told the kids last night that we would be visiting Grandma and Grandpa this weekend. They both shrieked with excitement. Avery said that she wanted to see Abby, Grandma and Grandpa's old yellow lab that recently passed away. Garrett said, "Avery, remember that Abby died. She's in doggy heaven now so she can eat as many dog bones as she wants. Isn't that right, Mom?" How sweet is that?

Tomboy

Our little girl is always dressed in pink and has pretty long hair. But that's about where the girly qualities end! Tonight Avery went to bed with a big rubber dinosaur and her brother's monster truck. For her upcoming 3rd birthday I have dreams of buying her a big Barbie-sized dollhouse but in reality she would probably much rather have a shake-and-go race car track. What should I do? I guess we better take her shopping before the big day...

The Prank

Sometimes we underestimate our 2-year old. Avery was busy playing in her bed after bedtime on Saturday evening. We could hear her through the baby monitor but figured she would fall asleep quickly since she was a tired girl. A little bit later we heard some loud noise and Greg went to check it out. Turns out she had come out of her room, walked into Garrett's, and said, "Time to wake up Garrett. I'm locking you in." Then she headed out and locked the door. (His doorknob is turned around so he can't lock us out when he's in trouble, so Avery locked him in from the outside). Garrett immediately started screaming. That little girl was in big trouble! So my big question is, how can a little kiddo that knows how to play pranks on her brother not know how to use the potty?? (Actually on a positive note, we went back to underwear today and she stayed dry all day!!)

Birthdays

Avery has really been waiting for her birthday to come along. After celebrating Garrett's, then mine, and then Daddy's, she's a little puzzled why she has to wait for hers to come. She knows her birthday is in March, but that is a long ways away when you are only 2! I asked her yesterday what she wants for her birthday. She said, "Ummm, candles and frosting." I said, "Oh yes, I will make you a cake! But what kind of present do you want?" She thought about this for awhile and replied, "A green one." We're thinking of getting her a Barbie-sized dollhouse for her birthday this year. But everytime we go shopping, it's the matchbox cars and Thomas the train sets that she goes crazy for! Maybe we'll have to add a set of the Cars characters to her gift!

Just a few other cute things that she does at age 2 1/2:
She loves to wear her K-State outfit. She proudly cheers, "Go K-Steak!"

She comes sneaking into our bedroom every Saturday and Sunday morning. She used to crawl up in the middle right away and tell us to, "Make me a pot!" (spot). She leaves off her s's. It's really cute. Lately she will make many trips to bring all of her favorite stuffed animals to our bed before she crawls into bed. Today that required 5 trips. If Garrett is already in our bed, he kindly asks her to get the rest of his animals off his bed. Of course, she's happy to oblige her brother and proceeds to make several trips up/down his bunk bed ladder to retrieve his 5 favorite animals/blankies. She says, "I will get them Gawett." So today that sweet little girl made 8 trips with armloads of animals and blankets to our room before she climbed into bed. I was buried under stuffed animals!

Dear Santa

We are SO excited for Christmas this year. We've been cutting links off of our Christmas countdown chains every night. One of the best parts of Christmas this year - we are hosting it at our house! The Reimer family is road-trippin' it up to our house. It will be nice to spend Christmas in our home with our family. I'm excited for all of the cousins to be together for several days straight.

This year we watched Santa ride in on a horse-drawn carriage to flip a big switch and turn on the Christmas lights on the HUGE tree at the mall during the lighting ceremony. His sleigh with 2 reindeer was parked nearby. We also visited Santa at the mall and the kids both sat on his lap. Garrett asked for a "toy train" and Avery asked for a "toy train." That's no surprise!

Greg helped the kids write letters to Santa. Garrett asked for a "toy train and a remote control car." Avery asked for, "What Garrett wants and a bone for Casey." That didn't go over so well with Garrett. Boy does that little girl love her brother! We delivered our letters to the big red SANTA mailbox at the bank and were so excited when Santa wrote us back about a week later!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Baby News

I'm a little late in sharing on the blog, since most already know that Baby #3 is on the way! We are so excited to announce that our family is growing! I'm 10 weeks now and my due date is July 19th. It will be interesting to see how I survive a hot humid July at the end of my pregnancy! We will probably be hanging at the pool EVERY day! We had our first ultrasound at 8 weeks. Everything looked great and we could see the little flicker of the heartbeat. We'll get to hear the heartbeat on January 5th, our 9 year anniversary and my first dr's appointment! Can't wait for both of those things! I feel like I'm showing really early this time - guess those poor abs just don't hold things in so well the 3rd time around. Oh well. Greg and I have decided we will NOT find out the gender this time. We found out with both Garrett and Avery but since we already have boy and girl stuff, we'll just let this be a surprise. That might be tough for me. I have a hard time waiting for surprises and the suspense can almost kill me! When we ask Garrett and Avery what they want to have, Garrett says a sister and Avery says a brother. Then they proceed to argue about it!

Garrett and Avery were thrilled about the news. Garrett announced to Grandpa Reimer over the phone, "We're having a BABY!" Avery shared with Grandma and Grandpa Stohs, "I gonna be big sister!" Garrett has SO many good questions this time. It's really different having a 5-year old around to ask about everything instead of just a 2-year old like my last pregnancy. He wants to know, "How big is the baby?" "What does it eat?" "How does it breathe?" I have a nice pregnancy book with real color photos of babies at each week of development. For about 2 weeks, Garrett poured over the pictures, studying them closely.

Avery told me the other night, "I have a baby too." I thought she was referring to her baby doll, so I said, "Yes, you do." She patted her tummy. "Right here Mommy. Two babies." I guess she is having twins!

Sunken Gardens

Every year I love to vist the Sunken Gardens when it is in full bloom to snap some pics of the kids. We barely made it this year (notice we are wearing winter clothes!) before the first frost hit. Here are my favorites: