Happy Thanksgiving!

I know this post is a little late, but I just now found time to sit down and blog.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We went to our friends house for dinner on Thursday evening where we enjoyed great company and food.  Friday, we stayed at home and put up all our Christmas decorations and then I cooked a small turkey and sides for a 2nd Thanksgiving with just us and my sister/brother-in-law. It was one of my best turkeys! Saturday, I took Evan to the Greenbergs for the Maize and Blue Crab boil - delicious!  Too bad Michigan couldn't secure a win but IU and ND both won Saturday so at least there was something to cheer about.  Sunday we put up the rest of the decorations and relaxed.  Overall, a great long weekend of fun family time (minus the major cold going around our house).

Here's a few pictures and videos also.  The first video is from Evan's Thanksgiving program at school.  The two years old were supposed to sing a song but as you can see, it didn't go over so well. I spent most of the time trying to get Evan to sit down with the rest of the class but he just wanted to run around!  It was fun to go and still be a part of it. We got to have lunch with him afterwards at school and see all the neat things he made for Thanksgiving.  The second video is of him actually singing the song they were supposed to sing. I was surprised after the program one day when I heard him singing it as I just assumed he didn't know it.  So, I got him to sing it for me on video.  Too cute!


Video from school - Evan is in the oragne shirt and khaki pants


Evan singing I'm Thankful

And last but not least, a few pictures of my cuties. I made Caitlin this little onesie at a playdate... it's far from perfect but I enjoyed making something for her to wear.  She is wearing a matching hair clip too!

Caitlin and AJ - can you believe she's 3 months older than him?

The Three  Musketeers and their reindeer ears

All the kids

My cutie

Mommy and Caitlin

Aunt Baba and Caitlin

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I know we did and are so thankful for our family and friends.

Caitlin turns 10 months!

Can you believe I'm actually posting her monthly blog within just 3 days of her actual 10 month birthday?  Boy, am I on top of things!  Actually, I have some extra free time this week since I am off of work for the whole week.  And by free time I mean maybe 2 hours in the afternoon when I can do laundry, cooking, and all the other little things that have been piling up.  But, getting that done in the afternoon means time after the kids go to bed to do something else!

So, back to Caitlin.  Our little princess turned 10 months old.  I can't believe I was 7 months pregnant this time last year with a 15 month old... now I have a beautiful 10 month old girl and a running wild 2 year old boy!  Over the past month, Caitlin has just taken off.  She army crawls so fast that you really can't leave her alone for more than a second before she's across the room.  She has started to do all 4s but because it's kind of slow, she ends up just going down and army crawling to get what she wants.  However, she has realized that she can pull up much better from the all 4 position.  And she loves to pull up!  On everything from the couch, the trunk, the sides of the tub, and people!  She still hasn't managed it in her crib yet, but I think we'll be putting down the mattress soon just to be safe. The girl does not like to sit still (which means much less cuddling... so sad). And she is good at standing all on her own.

Caitlin loves to eat.  We have a fruit and cereal for breakfast, a vegetable for lunch, and a meat dish for dinner (all baby food still).  She LOVES to eat cereal and puffs which she picks up wonderfully with her pincer grab.  It's a great way to keep her content and still when we need to eat our dinner or I need to prepare dinner.  Here are a rough guess at her stats (since no Drs appointment and we just did them like 2 weeks ago so they aren't much different):
Weight: 18 lbs
Height: 27.5 inches

This month, we made a trip to Indy for my mom's surprise party.  I travelled on the airplane alone with both kids for the first time and it went fine.  Definitely tough to do, but not too bad and Caitlin was pretty easy for both trips.  She had her 2nd real illness (the first being the RSV when she was just a week old)... an ear infection. She had a high fever for almost 3 days but was a big trooper (just wanted lots of holding).  She's been sleeping like a champ for the most part. 

She usually does a 1-1.5 hour nap in the morning if we are home. Otherwise, it's whatever she can catch in the car while we are going from place to place in the morning.  She will usually nap 2-3 hours in the afternoon at the same time as Evan.  We always do bath time with both kids together at 8pm which is going great.  And then Caitlin will usually sleep from 8:15pm until almost 8am most days.  Most of the time she hardly makes any noise in the morning... just some talking to herself and quietly laying there.  She loves to make sounds and talk - lots of ma-ma, da-da, ba-ba and blowing raspberries.  She often repeats what I am saying.  She loves to clap and wave her hands.  Still a huge thumb sucker.  Still puts everything in her mouth.  We also had her 9 month photo shoot this month... I need to pick the pictures and then I'll post some.  We had lots of Halloween activities this month. She went as the most adorable Dorothy ever. 

Here is Evan's 10 month picture for comparison!!

Well, I guess that's all that comes to mind at the moment.  Hard to believe she'll be one year old in just 2 months.  I know the time will pass quickly since the Holidays are here.  I guess that means I should start thinking about a party!!  Happy 10 months to my absolutely, positively most precious daughter.

 Click on the photo below to see her 10 month picasa album!

Caitlin - Ten Months

Long time, no blog!

Sorry for the lapse in blogging, but we have been busy!!  Well, it just seems that way.  Nothing super excited has been happening so I guess I thought there wasn't much to blog about, But, I will take the chance to catch you up on things and post some cute pics of the kids (which we know is why you are reading the blog anyway).

First thing is that our Accord is in need of a new transmission soon.  It's an old car and we've debated what to do. We are leaning towards trading it in before the transmission gets bad and buying a new car.  Yeah!  New cars are fun!  However choosing a new car... not so fun.  We spent last weekend looking at cars and test driving them.  We have narrowed it down to the GMC Acadia and the Honda Pilot and that's as far as we have gotten.  I like both for different reasons and just can't seem to pick one.  Maybe I should do another post about it with all my thoughts and y'all can tell me which to get!! I'm a Libra so I am blaming that for my indecision.  But seriously, if anyone has an opinion or knows much about either model, please let me know!  All I do is stress about what to do.  And I suppose we could always forgo the new car and fix the old one, but I'm afraid we'll just keep putting money into a sinking ship at this point and might as well get a good trade-in before the transmission really gets worse.

In other news, Evan had his first dentist appointment this week.  Just a real quick look at his teeth.  He did really well and the dentist was super nice.  The teeth look good she said. No decay.  Bad news is that he has REALLY tight spacing so she said we should try to floss if possible which she normally doesn't recommend until age 4.  And she said she will probably send him to an orthodontist earlier than other kids to make sure we start down the right path earlier rather than later.  Otherwise, good job Evan with the appointment and our brushing!

Caitlin is doing great as well.  I'll post more about her when I do her 10 month update this weekend. But, I will tell you that she is starting to do a lot more on all 4s and she loves to stand at things like her little table or holding onto the couch.  And she does a great job imitating sounds we make. 

Okay, and here are the pictures!  Enjoy and send me car comments! I'd love to hear what you think about either model.

Caitlin and Baba at the Gypsy picnic - great food!

Evan and Caitlin on their first wagon ride together

Fun times at the Blankenship Wienie Roast!

Evan and one of his best friends Avery enjoying smores

Caitlin crawling on all 4s!

Yo, Mom, look at me!

Caitlin turns 9 months!

I know, I'm late again but so much has been happening that it's hard to keep up!  We had to push Caitlin's 9 month appointment until this past week because we were out of town when I'd originally scheduled her appointment and then we couldn't fit it in until this last week.  So, that's my excuse :)

But, she turned 9 months a few weeks ago.  Crazy!  She's doing great. Here are the stats from the Dr. 

Weight: 17 lbs. 7 oz (25%)

Height: 27.5 in (50%)

Head: 17.5 cm (70%)

Note, that her weight is actually kind of low, but just 2 days earlier she was at the Dr. and weighed about 17 lbs. 13 oz... between then and her appointment she was sick with an ear infection and just not eating much so I think she might have lost a little weight.  Still, she seems very healthy.  Overall, the Dr. said she is doing great and right on with her milestones.  She now will start eating solids 3 times a day and we will add meat at her dinner feeding.  She seems to really love all the foods.  She has liked everything we have tried so far.  She is picking up puffs/cheerios with her thumb/finger really well and putting them in her mouth. She is exclusively eating formula now but is doing great with it.

 She passes food and toys between hands.  She loves to bang on things either with her hands or toys on the ground.  She is crawling EVERYWHERE and loves to be moving... although she still is doing a sort of modified army crawl (not really doing the traditional on all 4s thing yet).  She enjoys standing and tries to pull up on things.  Her newest thing is to stick out her tongue all the time.  She wants to grab everything and put it in her mouth. 

This past month was busy with her baptism (which I blogged about).  We had a very full weekend then and seems like every weekend since with playgroups, birthday parties, halloween parties, etc.  We went to the pumpkin patch one day also which was lots of fun.  With Evan in preschool, she gets two days a week where it's just her and the nanny so I think she is really enjoying that. She says ma-ma, ba-ba, da, ga, and loves to just babble to herself.  She still has just the two teeth although I think she's getting more soon. 

She has been sleeping great.  Usually about 11 hours at night.  If we are home, she'll take a morning nap for about an 1.5.  However, most of the time we are running around with activities so she just kind of naps a little here and there.  She will take a long afternoon nap of at least 2 hours (longer if there wasn't much of a morning nap).  I really can't complain!  The best part is that she and Evan nap at the same time for the most part in the afternoon so I can really get some time to myself - by that I mean clean house, do laundry, cook dinner, do work. 

One of my favorite pictures from the month

I'm trying to think what else she was doing by 9 months but I can't think of much at the moment.  She's doing wonderful though and is just a joy in ours lives.  We love her so much and are thankful everyday that she's part of our family.  Time is just flying by... hard to believe it's almost Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and then her first birthday!  And actually since I'm so late writing this, she'll be 10 months in just under 2 weeks. I uploaded her 9 month pics to the blog (see the right hand side of the blog for her album or just click on the very last picture which will take you to the picasa web album).  Enjoy!

Caitlin with our nanny Elizabeth and her daughter Lucy (who just loves Caitlin and whom Evan loves to play with).  They helped me try to get Caitlin to sit still for these pictures... we weren't very successful at getting a great shot, but what can you do!

Click this picture to be taken to her 9 month album!

There's No Place Like Home

We had a very busy and fabulous Halloween.  We had quite a few parties/activities to attend but everything was a lot of fun.  Evan went as the scarecrow and Caitlin as Dorothy.

The first party we went to was on Wednesday. It was our weekly neighborhood playgroup.  I really enjoyed dressing up the kids for the first time in their costumes.  I actually hadn't even tried them on the kids yet.  I realized Evan's was just a tad small (it said 2T!) but it would work.  They looked so cute in them.  Here's a pic from the playgroup:

On Thursday, Evan had a little festival at school. I volunteered to help and did have fun seeing Evan and his class interacting. What a hard job though taking care of 13 two year olds every day! Here's a few pictures from school:

Evan before school - he was excited!

Evan decorating his cookie

All the boys in his class - aren't they adorable?

On Saturday, we went to a little Halloween party at the Peters' house. They had great decorations, an awesome playscape, wonderful food, and fun games. Evan had a blast (minus the accidental bat to the face he took). Caitlin also enjoyed playing with Claire.

Caitlin playing

Evan playing with another little boy - what else but cars!

Claire and Caitlin - toys in the mouth, yum!

Saturday evening, we went to Evan's preschool for a Trunk N Treat.  It's where members of the church decorate their trunks and hand out candy.  It was a lot of fun!  We enjoyed some trunk n treating, then had some food.  The Blankenships came so Evan was of course thrilled to see Avery.  They played in the bounce house and then we went on a hayride which Evan loved.  Lots of fun!  Just by total coincidence, Ange and I chose the same theme for our kids costumes but it's actually kind of perfect for Evan and Avery.

Evan at the trunk n treat

Evan and Caitlin stopping for a quick pose - probably one the few pictures I got of them together

Dorothy, the lion, and the scarecrow - we just need a tin man!

Best of friends

Dorothy and the scarecrow

All four of the kids - so darn cute!

Family photo

For actual Halloween, we actually had a bit of a rough day.  Caitlin spiked a fever and was kind of miserable most of the day.  So, we decided that Bryce would stay home with her and hand out candy while I took Evan out for trick-or-treating.  He really enjoyed it.  He was also so polite, always saying thank you and just taking one piece (even when they prompted him to take more).  I had a lot of fun going around with him and am looking forward to it next year when we can all go as a family.  People loved his costume too!

Evan and I before we headed out

The rest of Indy

While we were visiting, we had the opportunity to head to another pumpkin patch.  I've actually never been to this one, but it sounded fun and was near somewhere else we had to be.  Plus, my friend Marie's daughter Moira (you may remember them from the baptism) and her mom Joan met us there.  It was great to get Moira and Evan together again although we were sad we didn't have time to see Marie.  

Here the Grandmas pushed the kids in the cars - Evan was very upset when we had to move on to something else.

Moira and Evan

Kids and Grandmas on the Spin the Pumpkin ride

Hayride!!  Evan LOVES hayrides and anything involving tractors.

The pumpkin patch - it was almost Halloween so most of the pumpkins were gone, but we still had fun.

Caitlin with some pumpkins - she kept wanting to eat the grass/sticks.

Oma and Caitlin

Moira, Caitlin, and Evan - it is hard to get a good picture with 3 kids!

On the hayride back from the pumpkin patch - Caitlin enjoyed the hayride too!

Another day, the weather was really bad outside so we decided to check out the Eiteljorg Museum which is the American Indian Museum.  I haven't been there in a long time but was glad they had an area just for little kids.  Probably the most exciting thing was that we saw them setting up an exhibit for Christmas - a train exhibit!  Evan SO wanted to go see that but it was in the process of being built.  They did let him in though to see the trains which was really nice.  He loved it.

Evan playing with some horses

Evan in the general store

Caitlin playing

And last is a video of Oma and Evan riding some horses!!  They had lots of fun together.  Oh, and if you get the blog by email and don't see the video, just click on the blog name (Happenings in the Stacer Household) and it will take you to the actual blog where you can see the video.


Caitlin goes to the Dr. on Wednesday for her 9 month checkup so I'll do her update after that.  We had to push it back because of our trip to Indy and that was the earliest we could get in that worked.  She is suffering from a bad ear infection at the moment (poor girl has had a bad fever since Sunday morning). I took her to the Dr. today for that and she is now on antibiotics but she's been super fussy all day.  Poor baby girl!  Hope she is feeling better tomorrow.