Update and Santa

Thanksgiving - Santa

Just thought I would get in a quick update before Christmas. There has not been too much going on here. We got a foot of snow just after my birthday on the 5th. The schools here got two snow days (Tuesday and Wednesday). The streets in town are still pretty slick since it hasn't warmed up enough to thaw anything out. I have been wanting to take the kids out to play in the snow, but they have had runny/stuffy noses and been coughing some, so I didn't want to take the chance of making them worse. Landen did get to play out in the snow for a little while, but he took his mittens off and didn't like it when his hands got cold. Landen has had his cough for a little over a month now, but he seems to be getting better. I did call the doctor and talked to a nurse and she said they have had a lot of people/kids come into the office complaining of a cough with no other symptoms (his runny nose has only been recently) and they have just been telling them to take allergy medicine, so she told me to try that. He has coughed less since I started giving him allergy medicine. Elliot seems to have a persistent cough this time of year, so I think Landen just inherited whatever makes Elliot cough. Adellyn has had a snotty nose for about a week now and she had a couple rough nights where she coughed most of the night, but she also seems better now. I'm kinda glad I didn't rush them into the doctor because they are getting over whatever they had on their own.

We went to see Santa this last weekend. I really prepped Landen to see him and by the time we got there he was super excited to sit on Santa's lap! Adellyn was not as excited, but she calmed down enough for pictures. She did better than other kids her age that were there and better than I expected.

Adellyn is walking pretty good now. She is slow and steady, so she gets down to crawl when she wants to get somewhere fast. She is really good at picking objects up while she is standing and then will carry it. Today she carried a package of yogurt melts to me several different times and then whined for me to give her some. I'm trying to teacher her to sign "please" but she is being stubborn and just throws herself down in a fit instead. I'm not sure how many times she hit her head on the floor today when she threw herself down, but she got over it. I really want to get her to quit/reduce her whining to get things (I realized I was getting bad about giving into her whining because I knew what she wanted and it was easier to just give it to her).

Landen is talking more and more. He is putting sentences together that I didn't even know he could put together. He is also coming up with funny things he says. The Schwan's man stops every other week and always gives Landen a sheet of stickers. One night he started putting the stickers on his pants and told me that he had "sticker pox!" I thought that was pretty clever of him to come up with that! He has a couple of lines that we hear a lot right now. One is "Come on _______" (fill in the blank with Mommy, Gran-ma, Crap-pa, etc). He also changes the context in which he says it. Sometimes he is trying to lead you somewhere, sometimes he is trying to get you to give in to something, and sometimes it is his response to getting a spanking. He also changes how he says it. He draws out the vowels or lowers his voice. It's hard to say no to him sometimes because it is pretty cute! The other line I have been hearing a lot is not so cute. He has started saying, "I can't do it" to anything he doesn't want to do...most commonly, feed himself. I think he wants to be fed because it goes faster and he can get down sooner. Either that or he gets frustrated and it is easier for us to feed him. I want to find a way to discourage him from saying that he can't do something without punishing him. (any suggestions?) A funny story from today...I was changing Adellyn's diaper in the living room and Landen was in the kitchen. I noticed he was suddenly very quiet (which is never good!) I asked, "Landen, what are you doing?" After a pause I heard, "I'm pooping," followed by a quiet grunt! Gotta love his honesty!

I'm still going to local family's house to teach Algebra twice a week. We also go to MOPS twice a month. I think the kids and I are going more places now than we did when the weather was nice! That could explain their colds! I'm looking forward to the warmer days we are supposed to get later this week. Stay warm and have a Merry Christmas! If you have to travel for the holidays, drive safely!

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving!

I wrote this the same day as my last post (before Thanksgiving), but I had troubles getting my pictures to upload. I had to figure out how to re-size them so they weren't so big, so I finally got that figured out. We had a good Thanksgiving at my parents' house. We gorged ourselves on prime rib instead of turkey this year! Elliot and I went shopping on Black Friday and the kids spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Becker's house. That was Adellyn's first time away from us over night. My Mom said she woke up a couple of times, but went back to sleep pretty quickly and she took a good nap on Friday before we got back to pick them up. My Dad had shoulder surgery this morning. Everything went well and they said there was not as much damage as they were prepared for. He will still have 4 months of recovery...I hope he can make himself take it easy for that long! If you know my Dad, that won't be easy for him. Not much else to report. (keep in mind that what is written below the pictures was written a week ago!)

Our two little thumb suckers!!! They both suck their thumbs while cuddling their "blankies." Adellyn sucks her right thumb and Landen sucks his left.


I hope this is not a sign of what she will be like in about 15 years...talking on the cell phone, foot on the dash while driving!


Landen doesn't like to get dressed, but he did put his shoes on [the wrong feet] himself!!!


I found some plastic beads in my Halloween decorations and decided to get them out for the kids to play with...Landen was having fun dancing around the living room with them on!


Adellyn was pretty serious as she stacked the cow and horse on the tractor.


Not a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. I don't think I mentioned in my last post that I am tutoring/teaching Algebra to three girls whose family home schools. They were struggling with it and decided to contact me to help, so I go to their house twice a week. The youngest girl keeps an eye on Landen and Adellyn while I work with the older girls. I am enjoying it and it is a good opportunity to keep myself "in practice" for when I decide to go back to teaching. The kids have had colds this past week (I'm guessing because we have been going somewhere different more often than they are used to). Just runny/stuffy noses and coughing. I have been keeping a close eye on their temperatures because H1N1 has been going around in Arapahoe. I took Adellyn to the doctor this past Friday for her one year well child check-up (even though she was still a little sick). She weighs 20lbs (40th percentile) and is 29 1/4 in long (50th percentile). The doctor listened to her chest and Landen's chest and said their lungs sounded clear, so that was good news as far as them being sick was concerned. They are better this week, but not over it yet. Adellyn is making some progress in walking. She is getting more balanced and even tries to carry things now. (although, she isn't really walking well enough to try to carry anything)

In other news, Elliot shot a deer this year. We like deer jerky, so it only made sense to help thin out the deer population! He got a bonus permit, which means he can get two deer for the price of one. He is going to get a second deer in January when the rifle season reopens for two weeks.

That's all for now.