Aren't these kids cute?

That's all-just love these kids!

Starting our day early

Our day started SUPER early today-about 4:15 to be exact.  Colson woke up and he was soaking wet, so I changed his diaper and Alan got him back to sleep.  Just as we were going back to sleep, Alyvia woke up with a TERRIBLE stomach ache.  Her and I actually started heading to the ER, but she ended up feeling better when we stopped to get gas and we went back home.  Livi and I went back to bed for a couple of hours before we had to get back up.  Alan and I let Livi skip school b/c of her bad tummy, but Colson had his 6 month check up that we had to go to.  So Liv, Cole and I headed to the pediatrician's office.  Colson weighs 16 lbs. 4 oz. and is 26 1/4 inches long, the 27th and 39th percentile.   He had to get his immunizations, but he did great.   We ran some errands after the appointment and then picked up Nana for lunch at Avanti's.  We came home for some quick naps (which I had to wake BOTH kids up from) and then headed to gymnastics.  Alyvia did so good in her "Little Lions" class.   She's really excited to be back in gymnastics class!  Colson was a little bear during class, but hopefully that was just his shots making him feel crummy and he'll be a lot happier next time :)  It was a busy day, but I actually got some stuff done at home after dinner too.  No workout though, I really wish I could figure out how to get that in every day that I'm off.  One of the errands we ran was to pick up Colson's 6 month pictures and they turned out so cute-so I leave with these

He was sooo happy!

Excited little man!

Sister tagged along and had a picture taken too!

Frolicking with Fairies

Today Alyvia went to a Fairy Party, accompanied by Colson and I.  Before we left we got all ready and curled her hair all fancy "like Belle's" (from Beauty and the Beast). 

We went to Kristin's friend Carrie's house.  Our friends Lizzie, Sienna and Emmerson were there along with Carrie's daughter Ella and 3 other little girls and their mommies. 

Lizzie and Alyvia

Alyvia and Sienna

We started with lunch and then we made fairy bracelets with bells and did sparkly make up.






Livi loved it all!  Next the girls played a version of musical chairs with pictures on the floor.

 The girls played outside, listened to a fairy story and did a treasure hunt.  Last was a "dance party".  Alyvia had lots of fun and was SO GOOD the entire time.  She loves all things girly :) 

St. Patrick's Day

We're not very Irish, but the kids and I celebrated St. Patty's day nonetheless!  We started off by heading downtown for the parade.  Alyvia even skipped (pre) school so we could make it on time-uh oh!  We met Cheryl, Reagan and Rylie and LOTS of work friends downtown.  The parade was good, it's a long one, but they didn't throw much candy this year.  A little disappointing, Alyvia had fun and Colson was really good though and that's all that mattered to me!

So serious and so cute!

Alyvia (3 1/2), Rylie (2) and Reagan (3)

Alyvia and her friend Lizzie



After the parade we went to lunch at Avanti's-9 mommies and 11 kids-all under the age of 5!!!  It was crazy, but fun!  Home after that for a quick "nap" and then we went and re-did Colson's 6 month pictures.  We tried to do them yesterday and they ended up TERRIBLE.  Colson was so tired yesterday (no nap) and just not his happy self.  So we tried again and this time he did GREAT!!!  Alan went with us and I think that helped a lot, he loves his daddy :)  We went to Old Chicago for dinner and Chris and Anne ended up  showing up there too!   It was so great to have  a nice outing day with the kids-can't wait for our next adventure!

6 months!

Colson is 6 months old-he's been here 1/2 of a whole year already.  It's so exciting everyday with him, but so sad that he's growing up.  He is doing all sorts of fun things each day.

Like eating his toes all of the time :)

 -He is a very social baby and loves everybody, very much like his daddy :) 
-He is almost sitting, definitely a "supported sitter". 
-He still doesn't roll from is back to tummy, but he doesn't like being on his tummy, so why would he?!
-He eats a TON.  For breakfast he has 1-2 TBSP of oatmeal and a stage 2 fruit.  A 3 oz. bottle before nap.  For lunch we started having a veggie and some fruit too.  Then a 5 oz. bottle in the afternoon.  For dinner it's another veggie and fruit-the WHOLE containers.  He also has an entire 8 oz. bottle before bedtime.  We are trying a sippie cup, but it's still a work in progress



Colson also got his very first haircut this month, and went from this little baby

to this big boy

-Cole is wearing size 3-6 months/6 month clothes, size 2 diapers and size 2 shoes.  He weighs about 16 1/2 lbs.  We haven't had his official 6 month check up yet. 

-And the biggest milestone we've reached...sleeping through the night!  Last night Colson slept from 9 p.m. to 7:20 a.m.  Hoping that we're going to start something here :)  

He still loves Alyvia and laughs at her all the time.  She is beginning to be more interested in him too since he's more interactive now.  Can't wait to see what our big boy is doing next month!

Sick Kids

About a month ago, I was talking to somebody at work and I said "we (our family) have all been pretty healthy this winter, knock on wood".  Well I should have really knocked on wood or just kept my mouth shut in general.  The last 3 weeks Colson and Alyvia have both been sick.  First Colson had a snotty nose and fever, but he seemed to bounce back pretty quickly.  Then last week, Alyvia had a terrible cough and stuffy nose.  She seemed to be getting better by last weekend and I had hoped that Cole had avoided it again-wrong.  By Tuesday both Alan and Colson were feeling crummy.  Colson developed a junky cough that wouldn't stop at times.  He had a low grade temp and stopped taking a milk bottle, but he was taking pedialyte and eating solid food.  Then Thursday night Alyvia woke up with a terrible headache, she was in so much pain and finally agreed to take some medicine.  About 15 minutes later she seemed better, but she ended up sleeping with Alan and I.   On Friday Alyvia and I were on our way into town and she started complaining about her left ear hurting "reawy bad".  So we made a side trip to prompt care and found out she has a terrible bilateral ear infection.  She's on antibiotics now and seems so much better.  Then I was afraid that Colson had developed an ear infection too, so we made an appt. for him at the peds after hours clinic.  Luckily, he checked out fine, just a cough/cold.  He seems to be feeling much better today, much less drainage from his nose and less coughing-what a relief.  Now if we can just get a good nights sleep from Colson, life would be great :)   Even though they are sick, they are still so cute!

And even though my kids are sick and I feel terrible for them, I know these colds will pass.  Tonight we went to benefit at the highschool for a 19 year old girl that has stage 4 colon cancer.   The turnout for the dinner/auction was incredible.  It's neat to see people come together for a cause like that and be SO giving as well.  We'll say a special prayer for Leah and her family tonight.

Weekend Trip

Saturday we packed up and headed up to the Shedd Aqarium with the kids, Nana, Papa, Uncle Shane and Lindsey.  The drive up was fairly uneventful-Colson slept almost the whole way and Alyvia watched movies and was really good.  Once we got to the city, we found the parking garage, got organized (which takes us awhile) and headed over to the aquarium.  The walk to the aquarium was COLD and WINDY!!  It was not a nice day outside and it ended up snowing in the afternoon.  Once we made it, there was a very long line of people outside to get in. Luckily we had the strollers and went in the wheelchair/stroller accessible entrance, so much better!!!  We finally got our tickets and headed in to the aquarium.  We went to the Aquatic Show first and saw the Beluga whales, a few penguins and dolphins.  Alyvia liked it o.k. but she wasn't as impressed as I thought she would be.  She just wanted to go swimming in the "pool". 


The Beluga Whales



Dolphin jumping!

Colson liked the show!



After the show, we got lunch and then walked around the aquarium.  We saw the "pink ones" (penguins) in the underwater show area...

 The Ocean Reef exhibit was pretty cool too, Alyvia got to see her sharks that she'd been asking for all day

After we were done at the aquarium, the men went to get the cars while we waited with the kids (much too cold to walk that far with so much wind-and snow by this time).  Then we stopped at Uncle Mark's place to visit.  After our visit, we headed out of the city to Aurora.  We were going to eat in the city, but with 3 cars and 2 small kids, we decided it would be best to head out.  It was a looooong drive out of the city, and took much longer than we thought.  By the time we got to the hotel it was almost 7 p.m.  But Alyvia had waited all day to go swimming, so Alan was a good daddy and took her to the pool before we went to dinner.

She was so excited!



 We ate dinner at Chili's with the fam and then headed to bed.  Shockingly the kids BOTH slept really well at the hotel, it was great!  On Sunday we went to my grandparents house for a couple of hours.  We had a nice visit with them and then headed home.  It was a fun weekend, but it flew by really fast!!  Hope we can go back in a couple of years when Colson is older and the weather is warmer!  

Look who's got a new 'do!

Colson, Alyvia and I had a little outing this afternoon.  We all visited Aunt Kelly and got our "hair did".  Alyvia is always such a good girl getting her hair cut.  She sits really still, doesn't talk much and does exactly what she supposed to do :)



Before



After-just a trim





And the boy got a big hair cut-he was a good boy too!  He sat in a bumbo chair, with his binky in mouth the entire time, didn't make a peep.  Occasionally he would look at Kelly and furrow his brow, but that's it.  He looks like a such a big boy now and his hair is so much lighter!  Here he is!



Before



The back before...wow!




Baby boy and his binky



After..what a cutie!





















I got a hair cut too, but no pics of that!  Alyvia and I went to her preschool meeting tonight and then both kids were in bed by 8:00, that's a first for us :)  Both Alyvia and Cole are still fighting a little cold, Alyvia worse than Cole this week.  Hopefully we can kick this virus soon.  We have big plans this weekend to go to The Shedd Aquarium and visit Grandma and Grandpa Schindel!