Winter Winter Go Away!!

Well the warm weather stuck around for a little bit longer, but today seems quite a bit chillier. I'm ready for spring, like now. We got a walk in yesterday even though it was pretty windy.

I thought I'd share a funny story from story time. I'm not so sure we'll be going too much longer because Belle isn't the best at sitting still. She ends up being kinda disruptive, even though she's not the only one. Well there is this girl that we saw on our preschool tour, remember "milka" from the other post. Well Belle gets so excited when she sees this girl for some reason. I guess it's her new BFF. This girl walked in and when Belle saw her she just had to give her a hug and an enthusiastic "HI!". Belle kept positioning herself next to this girl, even though there was another girl trying to sit next to her. At one point Belle got in "milka's" face and said "kissy?" and went in for a kiss. I about died, Im sure I was 10 shades of red at that point.

There were some really cute things that she said and I wished I could remember them all. Milka was pointing to Belle's outfit and said something and then commented that Belle had exercise shoes (they were tennis shoes). Belle turned to me, pointed and said, "my mommy put it on"

Its never a dull day with Belle.

God has a wicked sense of humor

Nic was saying yesterday that God has a wicked sense of humor by giving us a daughter like Belle when we're both so shy.

Belle and I went to tour a preschool last week. I will say I'm sure my face turned red more than once. First all the kids went and played with the toys and Belle did too. Belle found an alphabet puzzle and brought it back and sat beside me and loudly exclaimed "look mommy". Then another girl came over to play with the puzzle too. I could tell this girl was the overly aggressive mothering type of little girl, as she told Belle where everything went. And maybe Im used to toning her out, but the director had to come up to Belle and ask her to use her quiet voice. Red face number 1.

Belle went back to playing with a few outbursts. She kept running around with the girl and never initiated play with the boys. She kept calling this girl "milka" which is her word for milk. Strange. Then at one point I hear Belle yell "Excusa me" "I burp", to which all the parents chuckle. Red face number 2.

We toured a room that was painted to look like the mountains, complete with log cabin, waterfall and pond. Its where the kids go for story time and they have to find a lilly pad to sit on and bring it to the "pond". Adorable. Then we went to the gym and the kids got to run around like crazies. Belle ran around for a little bit and then decided that her belly hurt. She kept going up to the director, interrupting her and saying that her belly hurt. Red face number 3. I'm pretty sure she just wanted some attention from a new person. Cause we all know that Belle knows no stranger. It went on and on and was getting pretty ridiculous so I tried to sit Belle over by me while I filled out registration forms. I felt kinda rushed and hope that I filled out everthing. For some reason I just felt the need to hurry up and get out of there.

Oh the joy this fall when Belle starts preschool and I'm forced out into the open again. Belle will surely make it interesting. Why do I get the feeling that there will be many parent/teacher conferences in my future?

Adventures in baby food and some other stuff

Ethan has been getting cereal every now and then. He hasn't been too keen on the idea yet.





The "ew this is gross" shudder


Where did my baby go, this looks like a big kid?


His amazing blue eyes.




I made these and they turned out GREAT!!! There are marshmellows in the center.

Ethan - 4 mos

It had occurred to me that I never really blog about Ethan. Our little man is 4 mos old now. He just had his 4 mos checkup last friday. He weighs 14lbs now. He's in the 25% percentile for weight, 90% for height and 10% for his dinky little head. He certainly got a Freshour head. He's still suffering with reflux. We just took him off his meds to see if he had grown out of the reflux. He has NOT. Poor little guy is in pain while we try to get him back on his meds, which are crazy expensive.

In milestone developments, he's rolling over both ways. Belle rolled over back to front at 4 mos and the other way at 5 mos. Ethan got them both done at 4.5mos within days of each other. He's jabbering up a storm and it's super cute. He's also discovered his feet and it's near impossible to change his diaper for his feet always being up in the air. And like his sister, he's drooling constantly. And like his sister he'll probably take forever to cut a tooth.



Of course Poppy had to get him a camo hat.

Photoshoot Fail

Well I thought I'd try to get a pic of Belle since I might try to make her valentines this year. Yeah, didn't go so well. Belle was back at doing the squinty eye thing.

So I sat Ethan with her and still couldnt get a decent shot. Those darn kids!





Then Ethan fell over and he was loving that he was cuddled up next to Belle. Belle was not a fan.

Sissy I looooove you!


Mom, he's eating me!

Mimi and Poppy

Mimi and Poppy came over this weekend. Of course Belle threw a major fit when they had to leave. I remember doing that when I had to leave Grandma's and Grandpa's too.

Looking at this picture, I'm starting to see the resemblance between the two kids.







I made an attempt at these cookies, but they didn't turn out as good as I had hoped.

Winter Wonderland

Nic and Belle went sledding a couple nights ago when we only had about 3 inches. Little did we know that we'd have a foot in only a days time.

Belle looooved sledding. Was there any doubt?






Like a good mom, I bundled Belle up and threw her outside so she could play in the snow while I stayed warm inside. Ha Ha. Someone had to stay with the baby. =)

All about the boogie

I was downloading all my videos and ran across this one. Its a couple months old, but it's hilarious. Watch for Belle crossing her eyes trying to get the boogie.




Here is Ethan trying to roll over. Well he wasn't putting forth much effort while the camera was on.

Potty update

Well Belle has had some amazing success with the potty training, although I wouldn't call her fully trained. She's fully trained at home when she's wearing panties. When we're out I put her in pull ups and she sometimes has accidents since I suspect she knows she's in a diaper.

I haven't changed a poopy diaper on Belle in a long time. She's probably fully trained in that regard. I have even started sending her to bed for naps without a pull up. So far so good.

She's is however not trained when she goes to MOPS, sunday school or Parents Day Out. She just doesn't know to ask for someone to take her to the potty other than mom and dad. I picked her up from PDO today and the teacher informed me that Belle had stripped naked because she had wet her pull up. Leave it to my kid to strip for the class. =)

And because whats a post without pictures.

They are getting so Big

Kelli and Michaela came over this weekend to play and it's amazing to see how much the girls have grown.

Mommy Freshour

I was writing some things down to take to the dr today for Ethan. Well Belle wanted me to write Belle Freshour (sounds like Belle Weshour). Then she was pointing to herself and said "Belle Freshour" then pointed at me and said "Mommy Freshour". She's so dang cute sometimes.

Just some stuff

How cute is this bib? Thanks Anita.
Bibs have become a must these days with the drool and puke.



Ethan has been tolerating tummy time recently. Especially when he figured out that he can chew on his wrist.




While I took those pics, Belle was in my face trying to get me to take her pic. Notice no squinty eyes. Yeah!

Our Christmas Miracles!!

Merry Christmas!!!


We started the week off at home in Ohio. We had a great time at my friend Kelly's house. Belle had a BLAST playing with Jayda and Jacey. We had Christmas at Mimi's and Poppy's and then went over to my cousin Chris' for a family get together. Belle had fun playing with her cousin "Shiny" (Cheyanne) and we had to hear Belle whine all the way home that she wanted to go back and play with "shiny".

We came home Christmas Eve night so that we could be home on Christmas morning. Belle had fun opening all the presents. She asked "Belle's?" after each one, making sure it was hers. Her favorite gifts so far have been her dollhouse hands down (from Mimi and Poppy) and then her Hide and Seek Safari game, with her Sit and Spin close behind.

Now for our Christmas miracles. Belle is going diaper free after Christmas. We put some plastic panties on her a couple times and she peed in them. Then while she was running around diaper free one time she stopped playing and ran to the potty and POOPED. Thats a big deal and it was the first time she's done that. We've been setting the timer for 20 min and she's been going pretty well. One time she peed on the floor, stopped it and ran over to the potty and finished. We may just get this done by New Years. I'm so proud of her!

Second, Ethan has been having some reflux troubles and the doctor put him on Reglan and Zantac. I just have to say that Reglan is the devil and after googling it, it scared me to death. It turned Ethan to a little monster, but after I took him off he was his sweet happy self. Now he's been drinking 5-6oz at a time compared to 2-4oz before. I don't know if it's the Zantac or his new bottle. He's been such a happier kid and I'm happy cause he's eating more.

Christmas at Mimi's



Whats a picture of the boys without Brody trying to suck on Ethan's head.


Belle and "Shiny" (Cheyanne)



This is the kids after Belle tried to choke Ethan (see picture at the top)


Our potty training outfit

Eat Boy Eat!!!

Ok so Mister Ethan has been a bear to feed. He's only been eating around 17-20 oz when he should be eating 2.5oz per pound, so atleast 28oz. Come to find out he's got reflux. We tried soy formula with no help and are now on meds, zantac and reglan. Hopefully that makes a difference cause I'm also afraid he's got MSPI (milk soy protein intolerance) and that means we'd have to get the REALLY expensive formula, and I don't want that.

A Freshour Christmas

We celebrated Christmas this past weekend with the Freshour family. Belle is finally getting the hang of the whole present thing. She's getting a lot more excited about all the toys.

And Belle did so well with going to the potty while we were there. Come to think of it, she kept the same pull up dry all day on Sunday. Nap included. I think what helped was that there were more people to hold Ethan and keep an eye on Belle's potty dance. We'll see how well I do when it's just the three of us at home.

The girls got dress up clothes.



Ethan even got in on the fun


Then we made an attempt at a group shot. Turned out ok.

Mmm chocolate cake!!

I made Blueberry muffins yesterday and well Belle loves them. Its probably the only way she gets fruit, except for juice. Ha Ha. Although I'm afraid she likes it for all the wrong reasons.

The first time she had one she said there were chocolate chips in them, and well I wasn't going to correct her. So now she keeps asking for chocolate cake. I supposed there could be worse things she could be eating.

Ethan the teething toy!

I was gonna let Sara post these on her blog, but you snooze you lose. Aren't these just hilarious. Brody thought Ethan was just one big teething toy.