June 7

This morning Luke was sitting on my bed and playing with some plastic hangers while I was packing clothes. He was holding them up and telling me what colors they were. "Pink!" "Green!" And then he held up a white one and said "Cow's Milk!" I laughed and told him it was white, but apparently he knew better than I did as later, when we were at Menard's, I was picking up some paint chips and found one that was indeed, named "Cow's Milk." I almost fell over laughing right there in the middle of the aisle.
And in Nicklas news - he sat himself up for the first time today. He's been trying to figure that one out for a few days now, but I figured it would be a bit longer than this before he actually pulled it off. He was playing on the floor in front of Papa, laying on his side, and then he was sitting up!

June 1

The other day, I walked into the kitchen to find Luke carefully pouring a glass of water into my drawer of dish towels. No idea why.
Nicklas is moving pretty fast now. It's quite impressive just how fast he can crawl across the living room.
Brendan is still proudly telling everyone the First Commandment.

From the Mouths of Babes...

Last night, Michael was reading the Scripture lessons for next Sunday during our evening devotion. The last verse of the Old Testament lesson was:

and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.

Brendan looked up and said, "Daddy, 'The First Commandment: You shall have no other gods before me!'" He was quite proud of himself and we were very proud of him for connecting those two things.

May 26

Watch out world...

...Nicklas is scooting!

May 21

Brendan's new favorite hymn is "Lord, Keep Us 'Standfest' in Thy Word". The rest of us refer to it as "Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Thy Word".

May 17

Awww!
Brendan and I were just working on his Uppercase Letters workbook and were practicing the letter "I". The page had a picture of an ink bottle and I pointed out that "I" is for ink. He looked up at me and said, "Mama, 'I' is for I love you."

May 12

Nicklas has figured out rolling as transportation! He likes being able to get to his brothers' Quatros (huge Legos), Luke's Crocs (very tasty), and books (also very exciting). He does NOT like the leg of the couch (ouch!, plus it stopped him from rolling further) or rolling over so that his back lands on a toy (ouch, again!).
He is also pushing himself up on his hands and knees, but that doesn't last long. He has no balance yet, so when he pushes up, he quickly falls over onto his side.

May 8

Nicklas is now rolling over in both directions and is quite proud of himself for that achievement. He also now weighs 16 pounds! He holds his head up very well while on his belly and is even starting to get his belly off the floor for short periods of time! Maybe we'll have another early crawler/walker just like Luke was... He's also a wiggle-worm. When I go to get him up from a nap, every time I find him in a completely different spot than where I laid him down.
Luke is still working on potty-training. We have occasional successes, but progress is slow. The entire day of Call Service he stayed dry! But most days he only goes once or maybe twice. I asked him yesterday why he wouldn't go in the potty. His response was, "Oma". "Oh, will you go for Oma?" "Yeah!" "Will you go for Papa?" "Yeah!" "Will you go for Mama?" "No." Oh boy, this is going to be a challenge!
Brendan is, as always, a huge help to me. He is learning to do more and more chores. He can make his bed reasonable well (for a 3 year old), can get himself dressed, puts the towels from the bathroom into the washer, puts away the silverware from the dishwasher, gets out bibs and napkins for supper, and two days ago, he got Luke dressed completely on his own and without being prompted by me! He is very sweet to Nicklas, getting him toys, wiping up drool and spit-up, and reading books to him.
Yesterday, Brendan informed me that he was a pumpkin and Nicklas was a bugaboo. "And Luke? What's he?" "Spoiled!" Sung a la Aunt Becky. At which, Luke jumped up and began running in a circle, singing "spoiled!" over and over.

April 17

He's catching on...
When I put Nicklas down for naps or to bed at night, he has begun to cling desperately to my arm as I lower him down. "If I hold on tight enough, she'll give up and not make me take a nap!"

April 5

At noon today, I asked Luke if he would like a sandwich for lunch. "No." "Well, what would you like?" "Bread!" "Would you like anything on your bread?" "Ummm... Jelly!"
But he didn't want a sandwich for lunch...

March 6

I meant to update here a few days ago, but I've been rather busy.
Brendan told us a few nights ago at dinner that when he gets very, very bigger he is going to be a pastor.
Nicklas had his two-month check-up yesterday. He weighs 12 pounds, 4 ounces and is 23 1/2 inches long!
We traveled to Wisconsin last weekend to attend a friend's wedding. Brendan is still talking about "the party."

February 24

Since we've all been pretty sick this week, nothing too exciting has happened. Luke fell and bumped his head once while I was nursing Nicklas, so Brendan ran and got the "green stuff" (Burt's Bee's Rescue Ointment) and put some on Luke's hurt. That was pretty cute. Also, Brendan has a new word. Boogity, boogity, boogity! That's what Daryll Waltrip yells at the beginning of every NASCAR race and now Brendan says it too. It's really kinda funny to listen to him try to say that.

February 17

Monday-
My Birthday! Michael gave me a baby playmat that I've wanted since Luke was born. I love it; it's so cute and nice. Michael's parents gave me a gift card to JoAnn's - thank you so much.
Brendan was looking through the Oompa Toy Catalog and saw a picture of a set of blocks he has. He immediately ran to get his blocks and arranged them just the way they were in the picture.
Wednesday-
Papa's Birthday! I went into the kitchen this evening, shortly before the boys' bedtime to find Luke stretching as tall as he could trying to reach a package of cookies on the counter. When he saw me, he brightened up and said, "Mama, up pease! Key-key! (cookie)" He apparently thought that I would pick him up to get a cookie 15 minutes before bed.
Thursday-
This morning, Michael got up with the boys and let me sleep just a bit longer. He helped them make Valentines for me. Once they were made though, they weren't going to let me get any more sleep. They ran in to give them to me; they were so proud of themselves! It was quite sweet.
Friday-
I came down with the nasty cold that the boys have been fighting. Yuck! Brendan kept unbuttoning the bottom two buttons on his shirt today. About the fourth or fifth time, I asked him why he was doing that. "Ummm..." "Are you unbuttoning your shirt because you're silly?" "No, ummm... I unbutton my shirt 'cause... I HANDSOME!" Oh dear, I think I'm in trouble here.

February 10

Nicklas is growing so fast! He had his one-month checkup this past week and weighed in at 10 1/2 pounds! That's almost four pounds gained since birth, almost a pound per week! He's a sweet and happy baby, believes he should always be held, and sleeps well most of the time. He just started giving real smiles yesterday. He also enjoys being gently bounced.
Luke is very sweet with Nicklas. This past week, during lunch one day he ran off to the living room where Nicklas was beginning to fuss a little on his blanket. When he came back a moment later I peeked into the living room to check on Nicklas myself; Luke had just propped a book open next to Nicklas for him to look at! I also saw him "reading" to Nicklas one evening this week. He had his own colors book and he was showing it to Nicklas and telling him the colors and what the pictures were. So adorable!
I've been busy working on their godfather's ordination stole recently. The other day, while I was working, I heard Brendan behind me, telling Luke that he was making him a stole. I looked, and there was Brendan, sitting on the ottoman, with my tape measure stretched out in front of him, pretending to weave a stole for Luke.
Also this week, Brendan told Elizabeth Richert that he loves her.

January 30

Nicklas is doing great. He sleeps well, eats well and is growing so fast! He's already over 9 1/2 pounds - he was only 6 pounds, 11 ounces when he was born! I've had to put away all the newborn clothes already (sniff, sniff). He's very cuddly, he would be quite content to be held all day. As a matter-of-fact, he's napping in my lap as I type this. I'm getting pretty good at doing quite a lot of stuff while holding him.
Luke got a haircut the other night. I had only wanted to trim the back, that was the only part that was too long. But he wasn't going to sit still for that, so I had to get out the clipper. He didn't sit still for that either, but at least there wasn't so much risk of me snipping him that way. I cut it with the longest comb, but it's still so much shorter than I'm used to! He looks very handsome and his eyes look huge now. He also looks older, more like the almost-two-year-old he is. Last night, he told me that he was an animal. Not any specific type of animal, just an animal. I was informed that the animal wanted a kiss.
Brendan is learning to dress himself. He can do everything except buttons, snaps, and socks. But it still saves me a lot of time. He does everything he can while I get Luke dressed and then I just help him finish up. He's got quite an imagination. He's starting to create conversations between his toys.

January 23

I was informed by Brendan this morning that Luke is a soccer monster (it's from Backyardigans) and he, Brendan, is a Packer. He then proceeded to run around the house with his little toy football and make touchdowns. This involved him spiking the ball and yelling "touchdown!" He had to be told not to make any touchdowns by Nicklas' head, though. I think he made about twenty touchdowns or so; the Packers probably could have used him the other night!

January 22

A few minutes ago, I was holding Nicklas and burping him when Brendan climbed up next to me and, very quietly, sang "Jesus Loves Me" to Nicklas. He sang through the entire first verse! I was quite impressed as he usually only sings the refrain.