Friends

This weekend, mom and her friends Kyra and Theresa decided to dress up in 80's fashion to attend our good friend, Carrie's musical, Footloose. Carrie directed the musical at the high school where she is the choir director, and we thought she would get a kick out of us coming dressed to participate in the musical ourselves! Although I was very embarrassed to go out in public with tight-rolled jeans, crimped hair, a banana clip, blue eye shadow, and hot pink lip stick I took one for the team and joined in the fun. I was glad I did, because Carrie seemed excited by our appearance when we showed up at the musical.
Yesterday my friend Katherine came to visit. We've been friends since meeting at Luther College, and were roommates after college as well. She is a dear friend and I so appreciated her making the drive from the cities to meet little Macie! She is also expecting her 2nd little bundle of joy in June!
Kyra and Evan stopped by yesterday as well for a visit. I can't believe how big and cute Evan has gotten!

Some Recent Pictures

Ethan and daddy get to spend quality time together in the mornings when mommy sleeps in with Macie. It's the trade off for me getting up with her in the middle of the night - daddy gets up early with big brother. Apparently, they squeeze in some guitar lessons as well! They also play football "Daddy, HUT!"

Macie has been sleeping well! Last night she slept 6 straight hours, from 11-5, and then another 5 hours - until 10:30! We bring her car seat upstairs into her room and she sleeps in there. It works so much better than sleeping in her crib - I think that feels too big and scary to her. She also seems to love the lullaby CD I've been playing which is all Beetles songs remixed into lullabies!


We've been spending lots of time with Grandma! Ethan finally started saying, "Grandma," mostly when he hears it during the song, "She'll be coming around the Mountain" ("oh she'll have to sleep with grandma when she comes . . .")

Some highlights of life with a 2 year old and 1 month old -

1.) We LOVE Tuesdays around here! Why? It's Garbage day! It's the best day to look for trucks, which is Ethan's new favorite hobby. On Tuesdays we can look out the window to see lots of trucks where as most days we have to go for a walk to go "truck hunting" so all I hear all morning is "Go, Truck!" - Translation: "mommy, take me for a walk so we can go truck hunting!"

2.) When considering where to go out to eat, we no longer choose a location based on what the food tastes like or what type of cuisine we may be in the mood for- we base our decision solely on whether it is an atmosphere tolerant of sqawking kids - We have found that Pizza Del Re and mall cafe courts are usually our best options.

3.) 4-5 hours of sleep in a row is considered a "great night's sleep!"

4.) I actually ENJOY watching Raffi. Trav has become very interested in him as well and has spent lots of time perusing his website. Who would have guessed?

5.) We have to say phrases such as, "Ethan if you don't take those fruit snacks out of your ears, I'm going to have to take them away!"

6.) When I'm driving and see 3 school buses in a row I think, "I wish Ethan was riding with me so he could see those!" Because I know his delight would be overwhelming!!

7.) My heart melts when Ethan hugs and kisses his sister or goes and sits by her just to spend time with her.

Dr. and Children's Museum

Yesterday was Macie's one month check-up. Due to a scheduling error, we didn't get to see our normal pediatrician which was kind of a bummer, but the Dr. we saw was great and said that Macie's doing well! She has a bad case of cradle cap, which looks like acne, all over her head and face, but we were assured that is normal for 1 month olds. She weighs 11 pounds, 11 ounces and is 22 inches long. She's growing well!!

This morning Grandma Mary and I took the kids to the Children's Museum here in town. Macie slept the whole time, so I was in charge of her :) Grandma was in charge of Ethan which proved to be more of a challenge. He loves to run around when we're there, and likes to explore everything! It's hard to keep up with him! His favorite thing to do today was put all the stuffed animals in the row boat and then jump on them.

Happy Birthday, Isaac and Lily!

Today we went to Isaac and Lily's Birthday party! It was an Elmo party, and their mom, Theresa, made these adorable Elmo hats for the kids to wear. Of course Ethan wouldn't wear it at the party, but once we got home he was crazy about wearing it!! We had a blast at the party! They had awesome Elmo cupcakes which Ethan loved, and lots of fun toys for him to play with. Ethan even tried out Isaac's crib for his afternoon nap. Macie slept most of the time in her car seat, but also got to hang out with mommy's friends and their babies!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the Birthday Boy and Girl, but I did get some pics of my friends and their babies . . . In the pic below is Jane holding her baby, Cole (almost 2 months), Theresa holding Kyra's baby, Evan (5 months), and Kyra holding Baby Macie!
Here's mommy holding Baby Cole. it was the first time I met him and he is such a doll!
Thanks for the wonderful day, Isaac and Lily!

One Month Old!

Macie is happy to be one month old today! We have been LOVING the smiles we get to see! She continues to be such a happy, content baby. Her fussy time is usually in the evening, and then she gets up a couple times at night to eat, but during the day she just sleeps and is happy when awake. Ethan continues to be crazy about his baby sister. He loves to give her kisses and hugs - can you blame him? She has such a kissable face - although she has broken out with her baby acne - poor thing - it's on the side of her head and all through her hair . . .
Yesterday I decided to get brave and take both kids to the Indoor Sports Center by myself. Since we got the double stroller, the outing seemed more possible for me to do alone. 3 mornings a week they have a "family fun zone" which is mostly toddlers and their moms. They have lots of fun things for the kiddos to do, and the best part is that it's a wide open space where they can just run around.
We spent 2 hours there, and by the end, Ethan was very tired and ready to go - but he had a blast! In the picture above, he is rolling around this big black inflatable thing which he loved!

Below, he figured out how to climb up the inflatable slide - unfortunately, he didn't realize he was supposed to slide down the other side, and kept sliding down the climbing side - apparently he didn't notice the arrows pointing up!
They had just one planned activity which was the parachute. Ethan LOVED it, but had a hard time following directions when he needed to get OFF the parachute, so mom had to run out there and retrieve him a few times . . .
Overall, it was a successful trip and I will definitely do it again. Macie just slept the whole time and I had her out there in the stroller so I could follow Ethan around with her. It's a good way to make the morning fly by - by the time we got home it was lunch and nap time - for the kids and MOM!

Yesterday, mom took Ethan to get his hair cut! Although he did NOT enjoy the process of getting it cut, I love the results. I think he looks like such a big boy, and looks just like his daddy when he was little :)

In the evening, we went over to grandma and grandpa's house for corned beef and cabbage. Since Grandpa Mike is Irish he cooks up a big feast each St. Patrick's day. Although Ethan didn't eat any of the dinner, he had a blast playing with Cousin Victor!
Today daddy stayed home from work, so he and Ethan played at home while mom and Macie were out on the town! First, we visited mom's friend Jennifer and her 3 kids, Sofia, Miriam, and Baby Eli who is just under 2 weeks old! We had a great visit with them.

Next, we did some shopping and had lunch with Grandma Mary. Macie was wonderful running errands - she slept most of the time. One of the things we picked up was are new tandem stroller from Wal-Mart! Daddy has already put it together and I am so excited to try it out - it will be nice to load up both kids and go for a walk.

Children's Museum

It was a beautiful, sunny day yesterday, so the whole family decided to take a road trip to LaCrosse to play at their children's museum! We all had a blast!

Ethan's two favorite activities were driving the fire engine and playing in the river with the boats. The water runs down so you can send boats floating down to the end of the river. Notice him holding the cob of corn on all the pictures - it is so funny - at the Eau Claire Children's museum, he also finds a cob of corn to hold on to the entire time we're there!


Ethan's other favorite activity was throwing a ping-pong ball around in an open area - an activity that is strictly prohibited at home :)

The day ended with a trip to Valley View Mall's cafe court (we LOVE cafe courts these days!). Ethan traveled the hour and a half each way very well! He is happy as long as there is a children's CD playing that he approves of. Macie had a bit of a tough ride home and mom was stretched out, leaning in the back seat either feeding her a bottle or putting a nuk in her mouth most of the ride home, as she was a little fussy. Overall, though, it was a great family outing!

Play Date!

Ethan and Macie had a super fun play date with their buddies Isaac and lily on Friday! Mom and Grandma Mary met Theresa, Isaac and Lily at the mall so the kiddos could play and the grown ups could chat. The toddlers all had a great time playing, and even Macie was wide-eyed most of the time, taking in all the excitement!

Here's Macie all dressed in one of Lily's sweaters, ready to go!

Lily is greeting the baby! Unfortunately, Isaac was too quick climbing and playing for me to get a good picture of him!

After playing in the play area, we headed for the cafe court for lunch. What a fun morning!

This was Ethan's first time holding Macie. He is so crazy about her!

Survivor . . .

Well, I officially survived 14 hours alone with both kids today! The day actually went pretty smoothly, and we all took nice, long afternoon naps. The mornings around here are always the most challenging time, since both kids are usually awake for a good chunk of the morning. Ethan usually gets up at 6:30 and then goes down for his nap at 12 or 12:30 and Macie was up for most of that time this morning too.

We did have one challenging little incident this morning - Ethan dumped his applesauce on his head at breakfast (he overturned the entire cup on top of his head and then was wearing the container like a hat . . . and he thought this was hilarious of course) . . . So he needed to take a bath. During his bath he had a very big . . . mess . . . in the bath tub. These incidences made for an interesting morning around here, but I just tried to keep things in perspective - life with a toddler and a 2 1/2 week old is rarely predictable!

A beautiful day!

It is a beautiful, sunny day here today, so Grandma Mary and I bundled up the kiddos and took Macie on her first walk around the neighborhood! Grandma pulled the wagon and I pushed the stroller - Ethan had fun eating the dirt off the wheels of the wagon, and little miss Macie slept the whole time . . .

Visiting

Macie has been busy visiting with friends and relatives! Last night we took a trip out to see grandma and grandpa for the first time. As you can see, they loved her!
We also took a trip to visit Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Haukeness. Grandma Lue was so excited to meet her Great Granddaughter!
Last weekend, mom's good friend Lynn and her mom, Barb stopped in for a visit. It was so special for me to have my very close childhood friend (and current friend!) meet my baby!
Auntie Jenny, Oliver, and Ben have been visiting from CO, so we've been able to spend some time with them as well!
Oliver is absolutely crazy about Baby Macie! It is so cute!

Not to be left out, Ethan has been such a nice brother! He loves to kiss and hug his sister and point out all her body parts. "Gentle!" has been a word that's been used a lot around here lately - especially as he shows us her eyes! (yikes!). He even likes to share his toys and sippy cup with her! The other day he gave her his truck puzzle to put together while in the swing. What nice sharing!
Grandma Mary has been over helping us out a lot! I don't know what I'd do without her!

Ethan Loves his Baby Sister

Ethan has been very loving toward baby Macie - at least when he's in the right mood. He loves to give her kisses.
This morning she was in the swing and Ethan was all about being close to her - hugging her, kissing her, etc. It was so sweet!



Last night, Macie had her first sponge bath since getting home from the hospital. She liked having her hair washed, but other than that she was not too happy.
After washing her hair we discovered she has this cute little tuft that sticks up in the back. So sweet :)