Nathan's 12 mo checkup

Nathan goes to see our favorite family doctor for our routine 12 mo check up.

She is the best Dr we have had for the boys, but she sooooo granola. You know what I mean by granola? No shave legs, no shave pits, no makeup, all natural, nurse till your kid is in kindergarten type. Let me say again she really is the best Dr we have had though.

So I have to tell her Nathan is no longer nursing and is now on regular whole milk. She is less than thrilled by this news. So she looks at his growth chart (He is 22 lbs and roly poly for those of you who haven't seen him lately) and informs me his growth curve is beginning to fall off the chart.

I think I may have actually rolled my eyes in front of her. For goodness sake you La Leche Natzies want kids on the boob forever. He is a chunker pants! I really don't think he is any worse for the wear for being on cows milk. I think maybe his curve might be going down because he is starting to move - you think? Falling off the charts - BAHHH.

Everything I say gets repeated

So we are driving home from the grocery store and Nathan is his usual cranker pants in the car seat. In a moment (and I mean moment) of frustration I say:"Jeepers dude, what do you need! You are driving me NUTS!"

Fast forward 1 day.

We are in the living room and Nathan starts crying over being stuck in his walker. Caleb walks over and says: "Nathan STOP CRYING! You are driving me PUTS."

At once I begin to bust out laughing and out comes Calebs adorable grin, dimple and all. Believe it or not the laughing makes Nathan stop crying.

A Dirty Meatball

So I am taking off my mascara with my eye makeup remover and cotton ball, in walks Caleb.
He exclaims: " WHOA look at all that dirt on your meatball!"

It was just so funny I had to post it. Confirmation that I don't get out much.

Drive Thru Daycare?

So I am listening to the local Christian radio station and hear the DJ say:" A recent survey was taken to answer this question: Life would be more convenient if only there was a drive thru _______. "

I am thinking a drive thru laundry might be nice.
1st window you dump off your dirty laundry, 2nd window you pick up clean folded laundry. Oh wait I would still have to put it all away. Bummer.

Some time goes by and the DJ says the most popular response was a drive thru daycare.

Literally my mouth drops open. This country is full of spoiled brats!~ If it isn't bad enough we don't have to actually raise our kids during the day now we can't even give them 3 minutes to say good by or hello? And we wonder why our kids are so over medicated and messed up. UHMMM HELLO?!?!?

Lets see drive thru food - hmm cheap, nutritionless and you regret it a few hours later.
Now drive thru daycare - hmmm convenient, cheap, you regret if for your lifetime with the added bonus of an angry resentful generation of kids (boys especially). Good idea.

Good idea folks drive thru daycare. You people need a spanking. But hey we can't do that anymore.

If I was in charge of this country it would be a lot different. There would be lots of lazy, spoiled people with handguns lined up to shoot me.

Some day I actaully hope to be part of those in charge but 1st I am going to actaully raise my kids and dream of a drive thru laundry.

Catching up

It has been awhile since I posted. For that I apologize. It is not for a lack of material. Just a lack of many other things. (sleep being one)

For those of you who have asked: "No my toilet is no longer in my yard." My bathroom is as done as it is going to get for a while. Not finished but it is functioning.

John has returned from his trip to Texas and things are returning to normal again.

With that said I have a number of things to post and a limited amount of time.

So here are some highlights.

Caleb and Nathan have some sort of mystery poop thing going on. No one has any virus or cold symptoms but both of them are on a "CLEANSE" of some kind. It makes me wonder if some sicko nursery worker didn't serve them cookies made with exlax?

If it was you - may you turn to stone this instant! The have (no exaggeration) gone 5 - 7 times (not diarrhea either) daily for the last few days.

Because I really did not believe Caleb that he had to go AGAIN - I told him to go to the bathroom and take off his pants and underwear and get on the toilet himself. Now before you think I am a total meaner you should know that he can actually do this, just not in a hurry. I did after all see all his previous trips and was positive there was nothing left to come out for goodness sake.

Well I was wrong. He of course was obeying but not getting things done fast enough for natures call. He gets undressed and gets on the toilet in such haste he falls in butt first. I tell you I need to put a video camera in our bathroom I could make a fortune on Americas funniest videos if I just caught one of these things on tape! Problem is I don't get to be in the bathroom alone and I sure don't need it filmed when I am in there.

Caleb thinks this is funny. Because he is a boy and everything horribly gross is so darn funny when you are a boy. He proceeds to convince me he does not need a bath. "I fell in before the poop was there the water is clean!" Hmm nice try mister.

Nathan is not walking yet but boy he sure can run in that walker.
When you stand him up and hold his hands he will walk well too. Probably he will be running free in 3 - 4 weeks. His favorite thing is to walk with your hands holding him up and kick a ball. He will be my soccer player. David the wrestler, Caleb the football player and Nathan the soccer player. He laughs so loud when he kicks the ball it is great. Have yet to get that on tape too.

David is adjusting to school well. I have a million stories on that. More of that later. Right now he is showing me his Mexican jumping bean. So far his school experience has been positive for him and the rest of us. Now we actually get a word in edgewise when he is gone. (Maybe he will be on the debate team instead of the wrestling team)

I have officially given up caffeine. My poor kids.
I am on day 3 so I am on the upswing.

I n my infinite wisdom I thought it would be good to give up caffeine the same time that the pooping thing started and the same time we disconnected our cable. I may need therapy after this.

Nathan's 1st Birthday

Happy Birthday to you.

We live in a zoo.

You finished year one.

We're sure glad it's done.

Here is the cake made with no eggs. (Nathan is allergic to eggs)

I made it in the logo for Baby Einstein because it is Nathan's favorite video. The music note is for the fact that he loves only the Mozart and Beethovan videos. Hmmmm classical music lover coming from 2 parents of 80's big hair rock? weird.

David goes to school

So here it is - the very 1st day David goes off to school.

When I woke him up this morning he shot up out of a deep sleep and exclaimed " 1st day of school don't want to be late - where is my clothes?!"

Last night as we were praying he asked God to help him remember all the things he needed to remember. Then as I turned and asked if he wanted to talk about anything else before going to bed he said no, then briefly got teary eyed and said he would miss me tomorrow. That was one of those moments a mom can live a whole year off of. I will miss him too.

There he goes - my first born - off into the world. Surprisingly I felt no anxiety. (because I spent most of the wee hours this am pleading the Lord's protection over him)

A gradual letting go of my baby bird - fly little one fly.

Let them eat CAKE!

Good friends is one of lives best blessings.

Us Baierls are truly blessed. We have just the best time with the Hionis'. Over the years we have created quite the brood of offspring. I marveled over this fact yesterday on Labor Day when we had a cookout with them. Chris and Amy have 4 kids and we have 3. Even if all the adults are present, we are still outnumbered.

Thru the years I have the Hionis' kids present in most of the pictures of the milestones in my kids lives. Fortunately, they have had a baby about the same time we have had each of ours, so each of my children has a Hionis contemporary. This is so great.

So it was only natural for us to spend the last day of summer break together in yet one more photo opportunity. (the 2 babies are playing together in the living room and not pictured)

This is so cute! I hope you enjoy watching this clip of us decorating our American flag cake.