2011 wrap up

There is still a few Christmas post to come, but with New Year around the corner,  I wanted to do a wrap up.

2011 was a busy year for us. We started out the year still celebrating Christmas with extended family. Then after the holiday die down, Bella’s beloved Nuk finally left our house. It was kind of sad to see it go, and it did make the whole house loose some sleep for a few days, but now she doesn’t even notice it. We also started back up with potty training, little did i know it would just take starting preschool to really get it down pat in Bella’s head.

As the winter snow came and went, we spent a lot of time at home in February, but my favorite point was the day Bella let me put pigtails in her hair. I also found a new photographer who I love!  Then came wonderful March. Little did I know how much our lives would change in March. Spring came early and we spend a lot of time visiting family. Then i got two wonderful gifts on my birthday, first Pepper the dog and then i found out I was expecting.

Once Spring was here, the farm was busy with activity. Josh found a new tractor so he was able to get some of the field work done a bit quicker.  But even with the new tractor the weather was not our friend so things took a bit longer to get planted. We saw a lot of family with both Easter celebrations and then first communions for our godson and nephew.  

As the weather warmed up and Summer arrived we were busy with a road trip to Green Bay with Tori and Dylan and up to door county. We also were able to see a lot of our family and frtrust iends since the weather was so nice. We made many trips to Madison to see family and friends. Bella turned 3 at the end of July and found out that we were expecting a bouncing baby boy. We finally made it to the Milwaukee County Zoo and Olbrich Gardens in Madison.  August also brought with it family camping and grant county fair.

When fall arrived it brought another first for us.. Bella started preschool. We went through some rough first weeks, but now she loves to go to school, her teacher and friends. Preschool also allowed for Bella to be in her first parade. Her reaction was mixed, but it was fun for Mommy.  Fall also brought with it fall harvest time and many new additions to our farm. We doubled our milking herd. This meant Daddy would be pretty busy and mommy was pretty pregnant, so for trick or treat we went to StoneField with Grandma.

Before we knew it Maxon Charlie arrived and our little family was turned into a tailspin.Bella spent a lot of time with her Nana and Aunt Tracey as I spent time with Max in the hospital. Then Josh had a small surgery and hired two people to help out on the farm. Its been a relief to have some one to help out on a regular basis.  With this help we have been able to do a little travel this holiday season and spend some extra time with our family and friends.

2011 has been a roller coaster year with both ups and downs and moving uber quickly!

Warning Cute baby and Christmas pictures

FOr some reason I ended up with a lot of holiday clothes for both kids, so I’ve been taking a lot of pictures of them in their holiday clothes.

 

Chilling under the Christmas tree. Check out the hair!

  

Bella wore this same outfit!

 

Two cute kids. You can’t see it but Bella’s jumper has snowman on it.

 

An attempt to get a shot of me with my kiddies. As you can see they really like to work with us. lOL

 

Snow babies first Christmas!

 

She does light up Daddy’s life!

  

“Are these people really my relatives” on the butt it says “yes”

Friends Christmas party 2011

This collage created with Smilebox

 

Check out the slideshow for some of the pictures from the party. I think you can click on a picture to see it larger.

The week before Christmas, my group of friends mostly from high school got together at Tori’s to celebrate Christmas. We seem to only get together now twice a year, Christmas and the beach party.  This time Josh was able to attend with us. Last he wasn’t able to due to the blizzard. We had a pretty large group this year. There was also a bunch of kids, so that made it even more entertaining. The packer game was part of the day as most of us were follow the packers.. (slightly depressing that they lost) We had snack food/appetizers that were so yummy and perfect for snacking and catching up.   The kids did so well playing together. It was great to finally get to meet one of my friends baby. 

We had a great gift exchange and I’m very thankful for all the wonderful gifts for my children.

The Kids as of Dec 2011.. there is one due any day now and one due in May

 

The group minus one as of 2011

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you

 

Love

Josh, Katie, Bella and Max

A good day

So the day wasn’t the greatest for everyone..it was for Max..so i wanted to write it down the best i can remember

830-930: nursed, fussy time, awake time, nursed again

10:30-11:30-napped

11:30-12:00pm-nursed

12:00-3pm napped

3-3:30: 2oz of breast milk and mini nap in the car

4:00-3oz of breastmilk

4:30-7pm –napped

7:00pm-8:30 nursed, awake time, semi fussy time, nursed again and 2oz of formula

8:45pm-ready for bed

9:00pm-1:30am asleep

1:30-2:00am nursed, diaper changed and back to sleep

2:00am-4:30am slept in bassinet

4:30am-5:00am nursed, diaper change and back to sleep

Cookie making and daddy’s recovery

So Last week Josh has surgery to repair a hernia that he discovered over the summer. There was really no good time for him to have this surgery, but by the grace of god, it seemed to work out for him when he did it. THe first couple days were rough..a newborn and a laid up husband along with a 3 year old who is sick of change, made for one crazy mommy, but we made it through. Now he’s doing much better and since he is limited outside, he’s been able to help a bit more in the house.

Anyhow, My mom was able to come down and stay with us overnight. So her and Bella got to do a lot of baking. I missed most of it as they did it Thursday while I was in the hospital with Josh.  Bella had a blast. I”ve not done a lot baking since Max has been born.  We also braved going to P-ville to get some stuff like food. Somehow we ran low before Josh was laid up and i wasn’t going to venture out by myself with the two kids. Naturally while we were shopping, Bella got to get some stuff to keep her entertained..and that it has. She got a large coloring book and foam stickers that she loves! It has been a big hit!

Bella wasn’t sure what to do at first

“cheese”

Hard at work

Max slept.. best job for him

 

Bella and her cookie!

 

Coloring book and stickers!

Caroling

Leading up to the holidays, Bella's preschool went caroling at a local nursing home.  She didn't sing, but did the motions of the songs.

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A welcomed visit and barnyard fun

Last week we got a visit from Aunt Diane, someone we hadn’t seen in while. It was so great to catch up with her. Bella had a blast showing her all of animals and playing with her games. It was also nice for me to have someone hold Max while i got some cleaning down. She also brought yummy hash brown hot dish.. oh it was so yummy and we got to eat it for a few meals!

Aunt Diane with Max

Playing with Bella’s animals

 

Bella bug!

playing with Bella’s new puzzle. she loves that it’s in blocks and animals

Hugs before naptime.

 

Cute Max. He seems to enjoy the first few minutes of tummy time, so i had to get out and take a few pictures.

The next day, I got braved and we all ventured outside to the barn. The sun was out, it was in the 40’s and a nice day. Max took a nice hour nap while i wore him outside. Bella had a blast running around and having mommy around. I think even the dogs were happy to have everyone outside.

running out to find daddy. Notice how big Pepper has gotten!

 

Running in the barn.. yes she was tired out when she came back in the house

 

COWS!

Mommy and Max

Bella was “fixin" Nosey’s stall

playing in the straw

At the time, the two new calves

 

helping daddy with the straw by throwing it in the stalls and sweeping it up

 

Just because he’s cute… Max!

Max: one month old

Oh where has the time gone….Max is one month old. Max is about 9lbs and 21inches long.

he wears size 1 diapers, but they are kind of big on him. Also he’s in newborn and 0-3 month clothing

He still has most of his hair, but it’s thinning out.

He only sleeps about 2 hours at a time, unless being held. He needs to be bounced or walked to fall asleep. He also needs to be swaddled and sleeps best in his crib. At night Max sleeps for around 3 hours at a time.

He eats about every three hours, but sometimes it can be every hour. He is drinking breast milk and doesn’t mind where it comes from. THe amount can range from an oz to 4oz.

He’s alert for an hour before he wants to sleep again. This is often in the middle of the night. He enjoys his bouncy seat to be awake and his swing to be asleep.  In the last few days he has tried to bat at his toys on the toy bar of his bouncy seat.

Max took his first long car ride on his month birthday. He did great in the car, slept the whole way both ways. This included some stops too. He loves the car.

He’s very much a daddy’s boy. He loves to be with Daddy and i swear he knows when Josh comes in the house b/c he will wake up just for him.

Max really doesn’t notice Bella yet, but she loves him. She wants him to always be awake. She will ask to touch him, kiss him and hold him all the time. If she can’t see him, she will ask where he is.

Just for memory’s sake: typical day

6:30am-7am is our wake up time.

8am-8:30am Dressed and Max gets ready to go back down for a nap

11:30am-12:00pm: Max is up again and eats

1ish: Max goes back down for a nap

4ish: Max is up and eats again.

4:30-7:00 : Naps and eats off and on.. or cries b/c he can’t figure out which he really wants

7:00; eat and then drift off to sleep.

9:00/10:00 eats again then back to sleep right away

12:30am/1:30am wakes to eat and often likes to stay awake until around 3am

4am: up again for a brief snack.

then we start all over again!

 

It’s been a crazy wild month for Max. After being released from the hospital, he was readmitted at 4 days old and there for 3 more days. Then when he was three weeks old, I got mastist, which didn’t affect him other than he got to eat every two hours, which he seemed to enjoy. Then Josh had surgery, so Max got shuffled around, and was baby sat by Nana for the first time, while I was at the hospital with Josh. Then at a day short of a month we both got thrush. So it has meant more medicine for both of us.

First bath, puzzles, tummy time and cute baby

So it only took us almost 3 weeks to give Max his first real bath. His umbilical cord came off at 5 days old, but it still would bleed off and on until around 2 1/2 weeks. Also we had been pretty busy that it was hard to get a bath in for him, on top of our already busy night of milking, chores, supper, Bella's bath, Bella to bed, ect.  So we finally got it done. He seemed to not mind it. Which made me happy.

First time in the tub :)

After he was washed up..still happy

All Clean!

Now he was saying it was food time

Bella has really been into Puzzles lately. Here she is putting together the turtle foam one.

 

 

She figured out these types of puzzles, they come out all as one. lol

I got this adorable outfit from my friend Laura. Max looks so cute in it, and it’s totally true!

 

During Tummy time, I pulled out  a book for Max to look at. 

He likes to push up his feet while on tummy time

     

Cute Max!