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.

December 16

Brendan keeps asking for Nicklas to come out now. He knows that Nicklas won't be coming out until after Christmas, but he also knows that when Nicklas comes out, Oma is coming. The other day he held a baptism for the baby Jesus from the Nativity scene. He had all the figures around Jesus and he was saying "baptism, baptism, baptism..."
Luke has been telling us lately that he's the baby. He points at himself and says very insistently, "BABY". We may be in for a bit of trouble...
Tomorrow, Brendan turns three! He's very excited about this and likes to tell people that he's going to be three years old. He's looking forward to the candles on the cake.

November Recap

Everything's going well here. Brendan's learning to read. Luke has developed a habit of of running in circles around the living room, grinning and screeching. We call him "crazy baby". About a week ago, Michael was having a beer with dinner and Brendan asked me if I wanted some. I said no, I couldn't have beer because I have a baby in my tummy. Well, the other night, Michael was having a root beer in a brown glass bottle (Brendan thought it was beer). Michael offered me some and Brendan scolded him, "Daddy! Mama not have beer! She have baby Nicklas in tummy!"

One More Post...

Since Luke was an absolute bear to put to bed tonight, I thought I would mention a few good and cute things he did today.
He folded his hands very nicely for prayer before dinner. Often, requesting that he fold his hands results in one of his infamous meltdowns.
He put his crayons away without any complaint when Michael asked this evening.
He woke up in a wonderful mood. Of course, he was a puppy, but he was at least a happy puppy.
After bedtime prayers, we sang "All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night" and he folded his hands and sang along. Well, he sang until we got past the part about the dump trucks. He was done then. Bet you didn't know there was a stanza about dump trucks in that hymn, did you? Well, there is, Luke composed it tonight. It goes something like, "Ah do bah doo dee dee ah, dump truck dump truck dump truck, ah dee bah doo..."

Tummy ache!

After dinner tonight, we let the boys have cookies. This is a very rare treat in our house, so the boys were quite excited. When Brendan finished his cookies, he asked for more. I said no, that too many cookies would give him a tummy ache. He looked at me and said, "Brendan WANT tummy ache!"