Milwaukee Zoo Visit

We went to the Milwaukee Zoo yesterday. We all had a fun time.

Brendan really liked the hippos (Daddy's favorite animal) which proves he has good taste. Although I was able to get one picture with him looking at the camera, the rest of the pictures were of him looking around Daddy to look at the hippos. I thought it was cute.



Brendan was fussy for a little bit, but then we gave him a na-na (banana in Brendan talk). He enjoyed it and it calmed him down for a while.



I guess Luke got hungry after seeing Brendan eat his banana. After we went through the Cat house (Brendan's favorite part of the zoo), Luke decided that he needed a quick snack. He ate very well, and then took a nap. He was in baby heaven.



We tried getting a quick family picture in. It sorta worked, but the sun was kinda bright. I guess it's the thought that counts.



Although Luke slept most of the time at the zoo, both he and Mommy enjoyed the snuggle time in the sling.

We enjoyed the zoo and had a great time. We'll be sure to visit it again someday. Hopefully, we'll make it to the Detroit Zoo when we visit there in mid-July and the Fort Wayne Zoo in July before we move. The closest zoo to Chester looks like it is about 45 minutes away, so we should enjoy them while we are close.

Unfortunately, Julie and Lydia couldn't make it. We'll see them later today at Lydia's birthday party.

Milwaukee Visit

We're in Wisconsin this week for Lydia's Birthday party on Saturday.

We all survived the travel. I'm not sure how, but we do have a few pictures of Luke sleeping, but I think these are the only three times he has slept. He's been having a rough time.




Maybe he needs to fall asleep on Uncle Stephan when he is asleep?! At this point, I think we will try anything.


Snow is still here, just as cute as ever. It's nice to see her again.


Brendan has enjoyed sometime with Aunt Penny. Sitting on her lap is fun, but she makes sure that he gets enough zurbits (raspberries) on his tummy.


Brendan has worked very closely with Grandma to learn how to pet Snow gently. He adores her and makes sure to say "Hi" to her when he sees her. Snow is still uncertain of Brendan, but she enjoyed getting petted by Brendan.


Brendan has been spoiled with extra outside time. He has enjoyed playing outside with everyone. Here is Brendan trying to pull Daddy in the wagon. It didn't work out that well, but was fun while it lasted.


Despite Brendan's busy social life, he has found time to "ride" on Grandpa's Harley and untie Grandpa's shoes.


Super Brendan made a brief appearance the other day. There must be something wrong with the picture, since it looks like he needs someone's help to fly. I think it's just a bad angle or something.


Last night, we had dinner with the Thorsons (a family that Kira used to babysit for). They gave the boys a nice piggy bank to play with. Brendan enjoyed it today. Luke is letting Brendan play with it for a little while longer. Once he's big enough, I'm sure they will fight over it.



We took the kids to the Domes today. It was enjoyable, but both kids had a rough time.


Apparently, it wore Brendan out, since he wound up sleeping on the ride to Grandma's house and actually stayed asleep once we got in the house. As a result, he took his nap on the couch today.




Once Brendan was asleep, Luke woke up and got to play with Uncle Stephan and Aunt Penny.

Later today, we are going to the Milwaukee Zoo and Lydia will join us. It will be nice to see how much she has grown.

A Really Big [and overdue] Update!

It's been quite a while since I last posted. I have been quite busy with our family, school and work.

As Kira mentioned, we received our vicarage placement to St John Evangelical Lutheran Church, Chester, Illinois. About 410 miles away from my dart in Platteville, Wisconsin.


Brendan and Luke have been adoreable. They seem to get cuter and cuter by the day.


Here is further proof that Luke is a cutie pie ...


... and proof that Brendan is a cutie pie as well.

Grandpa and Grandma Standfest visited a couple of weeks ago ...


Brendan got some time reading with Grandpa ...


... and in turn, Brendan had some time reading his book upside down to Grandpa.


Grandma and Brendan got to read and play in Brendan's new(-ish) big boy room (Daddy's old office).


Everyone got spoiled with some snuggle time before bed.


Luke also enjoyed snuggling with Grandpa and Grandma.


A week or two later, Brendan rediscovered how much he likes swinging and playing with pebbles.

Grandma Tupper visited so Daddy could help a friend move to the Holy City to attend Notre Dame.


When Grandpa dropped off Grandma, Brendan was sure to get some laptop time in.


Later Luke and Brendan teamed up to squish Grandma.


Luke had some trouble sleeping that night and then curled up with Grandma.


When Grandpa picked up Grandma, he apparently taught Luke how to eat his overalls.

That sums up most of the last two months or so, and I'll try to post a little more often now.

When Did That Happen?!

And HOW did I not notice? The other day Brendan started yelling and I realized that he had his bottom two-year molars. And it looked like they had been there for at least a week or so from the size of them. Somehow, I never noticed that he was cutting them... Weird. The top two haven't cut yet.
Saturday I made a felt board for Brendan. I cut out shapes (circles, squares and triangles) to start teaching him his shapes. I'm not sure how much he's learned yet, but he definitely LOVES the board and shapes! He gets so excited over putting the felt shapes up and then swiping them back off again. We were playing with it this afternoon and he tried to put his Hot Wheels car on the board. Oddly enough, it didn't stick as well as the shapes did. Hmmm...
Luke is growing fast. He's already up to about 13 1/2 pounds. We bought him a Bumbo Baby Sitter. It's a special seat that allows little babies to sit upright. He loves it, but can only sit in it for a little while at a time yet.

Not allergic!

So I just got a phone call from the doctor's office. Brendan's not allergic to anything.
Well, I guess it's good that it's not an actual allergy. That probably means he's got a better chance of outgrowing whatever his issues may be. I KNOW he's sensitive to dairy and soy.
In other news: I went out today with both boys and we all survived! I needed to run some errands at the mall so we rode to work with Michael and then I headed to the mall with the boys. It went fairly well. Brendan was NOT happy about riding the elevator four times. I knew that would be a problem, he's always hated them. Takes after me. But there really wasn't any other option. Can't exactly take a stroller down the stairs or escalator. I bought him a new Sandra Boyton book at Waldenbooks to make up for it. He was thrilled - he LOVES books. I also got some new clothes for the boys for summer (thanks again for the gift card, Aunt Michele!). I bought them both two pairs of bib shorts and several tops each. Then, we got home, I got the boys out of their carseats and realized that I didn't have the housekey! Agh! So, I loaded the boys back into their seats (Brendan was really ticked off about that) and drove back over to the Seminary to get Michael's key. By the time we got home, it was already noon, Brendan's naptime, and we hadn't even had lunch yet! Oh well, at least he fell asleep right away instead of fighting it like usual.

[Another] Quick Update...

I'm sorry that I haven't updated lately either. This is the last week of the term and it is coming to a painful end. I'm looking forward to next week. It will be nice to spend time with my family and not have it effect my classes.



Here is one picture that I had to share. We finally managed to get a picture of Brendan kissing Luke. Althought he has a hard time with understanding why Luke gets a lot of attention, Brendan sure does like his brother and shows it between the kisses and talking to him.

Back to my term paper...

Another Update

Sorry it's been so long, I've been meaning to post and just haven't gotten around to it. Imagine that! Anyway, not too much especially exciting going on here. We had Brendan tested for food allergies, so hopefully we'll hear back on that pretty soon. We know he has milk problems and we're pretty sure he's got a soy problem as well but it will be nice to know if there's any other ones we've missed as well as knowing how severe the milk and soy problems are. We're also pretty sure Luke has a problem with milk. He's definitely fussier when I've eaten dairy. I'm glad to give it up for him, but I sure do miss it some days!
Here's some recent pictures:


Brendan has learned to "meep" our noses. He'll grab my nose our Michael's (he even grabbed Luke's once) and we have to say "meeeeeeeeeep" until he lets go. He thinks it's absolutely hysterical!


Here's Brendan hanging out in a laundry basket.


And lastly, here's a picture of Luke smiling. He's been smiling for some time, but we just now managed to catch a picture of it!

Updates

We had a doctor's appointment today. Brendan is now 31 pounds and almost 36 inches. I knew he'd had a growth spurt recently, but I hadn't realized he'd grown 3 inches! Luke is 11 pounds 9 ounces - almost 5 pounds more than his birth weight! He's also grown 2 inches. He's now 23 inches long. Brendan did really well. At the past several appointments, both his and mine, he's started screaming as soon as Dr. Tallon walked into the room. This time he actually smiled at her. And while he was pretty upset that she wanted to look in his ears, he was quite happy to show her that he knew where his belly button was. Luke spent much of the time sleeping.

This is a picture from the other day. Brendan just loves Luke! Ok, so he gets a little impatient sometimes when he wants my attention and I need to take care of Luke, but really he's doing great as a big brother.


Here's a picture of Brendan's new haircut. I finally cut it on Saturday afternoon. That was quite the adventure! It still needs to be neatened up a bit, but I'll probably wait until this coming Saturday before I try anything more. There's only so much trauma that child can endure...

My brother is engaged! He and his fiancee, Penny, are getting married on December 30! Michael will be doing the readings, I will be matron-of-honor, Brendan is going to be a miniature groom (I can't wait to see him in a little tux!), and Luke will just be his adorable little self.
I think that's enough updating for tonight, it's getting pretty late.