A Year Ago...

I can hardly believe it was a year ago we moved back to Iowa! At the same time, it feels like we have been away from Minnesota for a long time now. I sure wish we could get back there more often. Sometimes when I go to mom and dad’s house t reminds me of how much the boys have grown up in one short year. When we moved they were all about taking their little stools to the light switch and turning the lights on and off. They are so much taller, they can see into the drawers. When I see them in their little toddler beds, they look like giants barely fitting in them anymore. Sometimes when I hear “Hey there, it’s Mickey….” From the beginning of Mickey Mouse it reminds me of when we first moved because that is when we first started watching that show. Dylan is still obsessed! I sure don’t miss our commute or our daycare in Ankeny. I have no idea how we managed to get out of the house by 6:45 every day! I got to have a taste of being a stay home mom for two months. I can’t say it went really well – I always wonder if the circumstances were different if I would have enjoyed it more. I was still adjusting to be back in Iowa, we weren’t in our own home, it was the dead of winter and some days we didn’t even consider going outside, I was a bit stressed with trying to sell our house, finding a new home and a job. So of course I would love to have that extra time with the boys again – just maybe in a different scenario.

Last Saturday...

We stayed at my parent’s house on Friday night, then Saturday morning I meant my girlfriends at Kaylan’s house.  Kaylan lives in Indiana and Kristy lives in Omaha, so it’s rare they are both in the state at the same time.  (At least we don’t have to add my travel schedule to that mix anymore since we no longer live in MN) 

It was fun to catch up with the girls. I had the boys there for about 20 minutes and Dylan was just not having it so Keith brought back to my parent’s house. 

Later that afternoon we went to Norwalk to celebrate Oliver’s 2^nd birthday.  Sarah did a fun theme with flashlights.  The boys loved it!  She had a bunch of sheets draped downstairs with the lights all off so they could hide in the forts with their flashlights. Carter quickly became buddies with Sarah’s niece Madison (or Morgan as Carter said) and played lots of hide and go seek.  You should see Oliver’s sweet tepee that his grandma made him.  I think Keith wants to make one now, he thought he might be able to handle sewing it.  (We’ll see when it happens!)  Plus, I’m not sure where we would put it!  All the kids got their own flashlights.  The boys have been having a blast with theirs.  One day they were eating grapes out of a bowl and they would shine their light on one and tell the other to eat that one.  I forgot to bring my camera, but here are some pics on Sarah’s blog. 

Wordless Wednesday

my boys

Dylan is really into making a little snack bag.  He will get out two baggies (3 if Cade is around) and put crackers and marshmallows in them.  It's nice though that he always gets one for Carter too. 

Not sure about where you live, but we having an unusual January with many days in the 50's.  Now that the holidays have passed I could easily go without snow - or the cold!  The boys have been getting in lots of extra bike riding time.  They are starting the get pretty good and quite fast!  Keith took them on an actual bike ride this weekend, I think they had a pretty good time.  They get a bit tipsy going up and down driveways, especially when they go fast- but I guess they have to learn at some point (good thing we have helmets).

I don't know if it was the crazy moon or what, but the boys were exceptionally GREAT tonight.  So of course you feel bad when it is time to send them to bed, so they got a few extra books tonight.  They have been LOVING books lately, which is great.

I'm afraid we must go to Target too often.  On Sunday I asked them what we should do today and Dylan said go to Target, Carter completely agreed.  Dylan is really into going grocery shopping and is actually a pretty good help.  He can be picky at times about what goes into the cart, for some reason he didn't want TP in his cart.  He also thinks we need to put produce bags on half the things that go into the cart, the check out people must think we are crazy.  The funny thing is when we are Target sometimes we cruise by the toys and Dylan will just keep saying go to the food.  The best part is, he basically puts all the groceries away!  This week he even took the fruit snacks out of the box and put them into the box we keep snacks in.  We'll see how long that lasts, but I'll keep going with it until he is bored of it.

I've said before that Carter has not been a big mom fan lately - on Saturday and Sunday he was SOOO nice to me and snuggled with me lots, it was so nice.  I had really missed that.  Hopefully he keeps being nice to me.

I was laughing listening to a conversation between the two or maybe I should say debate.  Dylan was singing rain, rain go away, come back a different day. Carter would say NO DYLAN, it's not rain, rain go away come back a different day, it's rain rain, go away, come back another day.  This went on for a while.

Lately Carter has been saying, I'll like green beans when I get older.  I'll like cherries when I grow.  We have the pickiest eaters!!! Unfortunately, they come by it naturally.  I guess it's payback.

Today I asked the boys if they had fun at school, Carter said he had a little bit of a good time, Dylan said he had a lot of fun.

To avoid going to bed one night they told me they were stinky and needed baths.  (didn't work!)

I guess that is it for tonight!  

Christmas Part II - Bucklin Christmas

We spent the majority of Christmas day at my parents.  The boys got into their stockings right away.  

The post-its have been a hit!  Sad to report I did not hit jackpot with my lotto tickets this year, I think I was the big winner last year so I guess I will have to wait another 10+ years for my turn.  

Alec looking good in stripes

All the cousins
Cade, Logan, Morgan, Alec, Nick, Dylan and Carter
(that's a lot of BOYS)

The boys were good helpers this year moving the presents.

This year we tried to change up present opening and just grab a present from the pile one at a time.  This did not go well, so after about three presents we had to pass them all out and open going around the room.

The boys helped me quite a bit with wrapping this year (so many bows didn't match, and lots had a lot of presents had a bit of extra tape).  So every time my mom opened one that I wrapped, Dylan would go up to my mom and tell her that "my mommy wrapped that".  

The boys big presents were these ships.  They are really into them and have been cruising all around the house with them.  They are a bit much on the realistic slide, they came with a slave with a chain around it's neck.  So that was a bit random.  I got a new purse and boots along with lots of other great things, so I am set!!  We also got a bigger sized crockpot with a timer so I can make more of my Pinterest recipes.  Keith got Apple TV and I really don't remember what else.  He is pretty into this Apple TV, which I have been impressed with as well.

I love Christmas time, too bad it goes by so fast!  

Hello 2nd Trimester

13 wks

14 wks

So happy to be in the second trimester!!  I thought it would be great if I woke up with a burst of energy:)  However, it is getting better, I have been staying up past 10:00!  Nothing exciting to report.  Keith thought I might be having some cravings since I just finished an Eggo waffle at 10:00.  I have been eating a lot of cherries too!  They were OUT at Target, Dylan didn't think that it was very nice that they were all gone either:)  I was planning on buying two jars!

Another decision that has been top-of-mind lately is finding out if this will be a boy or girl.  Like I said before we waited with the boys and I was so happy we did, it was really exciting being surprised that day.  It made decorating  a bit of a challenge, but  I would definitely recommend everyone be surprised with one of your babies.  But Keith definitely wants to find out and I wouldn't mind knowing either.  So we will have to think about it.

Just curious to any of you who found out with one child and not with another - which experience did you prefer?  Did you regret finding out?  If you were to have a third or had a third, did you or would you find out?  

Smile Mission Complete!

While we were off work for a week, we made the toy delivery to Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines.  Even though I lost sight of this project for a month or two, we ended up with lots of great toys for the kids.  A big thanks to my brother - he decided to go about Christmas shopping different this year, so instead of getting presents, everyone selected a charity to donate to.  We opted to put our gifts towards toys for the kids.  Thanks to Angie and Kellie for donating too!!!  Keith and I both agreed it would have been really fun to actually give the gifts straight to the kids and see them play with them, but they keep them aside until they need them.  

THANK YOU AGAIN to all who contributed!!!

Carter Update

Magazines to educate your kids.

Carter looked pretty cute in his scrubs.  He was a big fan of the wheel chair.  

I’m a little late on this one! We have been doing some investigation on Carter for a while now because his voice got very hoarse about a year ago. The doctor thought it could be reflux. So we had been on a reflux medicine, which helped but the doctor didn’t want him on it long term. So we went down the road with the ENT, Allergist and GI specialist. ENT continued the reflux medicine, Allergist came out great and the GI specialist chose to do a couple additional procedures. One was quite harmless, he had to drink this juice (and thankfully he drank it!!) and they took xrays of his stomach. All of these tests came back great. The next was to put a scope down and see if the reflux was damaging him internally, they also wanted to do a biopsy at this time.

Of course for this procedure, they would have to put him under. Keith and I were a little bit frustrated with this. You never really want to put your child under – it is very safe, but you are always putting them at risk! When we did their tubes and tear ducts, it was easy to justify because we knew it was to solve a problem, ultimately keeping them healthier and in the end they would feel much better. This was more on the exploratory side – so we struggled a little bit with putting him through the procedure.

He was really nervous about it, but did great. They tricked him into going right into the operating room with some bubbles and we were back with him within 25 minutes. He came out of it much better than the previous two surgeries, so that helped. Just out of it for a while. Of course since he is a COMPLETE daddy’s boy right now, he really just wanted Keith. This was hard for me because I really just wanted to hold him!

Fortunately, all tests looked great! The downside is we still don’t have a solution. We have decided to take him off the medicine for a period of time to see what happens. After just a little over a week we can tell his voice is already weakening a bit, so we will continue to monitor. I have also been trying to connect if certain foods cause him to clear his throat more often, but not seeing a lot of consistency. We have been trying to scale back on juice and I think that does help some.

I’ll keep you posted if we do more or learn more or if any of you have had similar experiences and have recommendations, we would love to hear them.

What's Happening???

Some more big news from me this week...

Today I started a new job!  I'm now working as a Marketing Specialist with ACH Foods (Tone's Spices) in Ankeny.  My last day at Innova was the Friday before Christmas.  So some changes - some good, some bad.  I'll be missing wearing jeans every day and summer hours and I already miss all the Innova girls!  I'll probably save a lot of money not working downtown because I could just never get into the habit of bringing my lunch.  My commute is about 5-10 minutes shorter and most of our doctor's appointments are in Ankeny, so that will be convenient.  And I'm right by Target in case I need anything, I have missed that!  One of the biggest changes is after 5+ years I will no longer be on the agency side of the business.  This is a change I'm excited to experience.  And one cool thing with this is I no longer have to do time sheets!  For the last 5 years I have had to bill my time by the quarter of an hour to jobs- this will not be missed.  I'm excited to be working in the food industry again as well.  It's going to take me a while to get used to the spice smell - my hair and my coat and everything spelled like spices when I got home time tonight.  The good news is, I'll probably get used to it.  The bad news - I'll probably get used to it (sorry to those around me.)  The other big change besides not being on the agency side, I will be working in the food service division, so everything I will be doing will be B2B vs. B2C.  It will be a great experience to learn this side of the business!  

Other happenings...

I'm happy to report after three straight days, I did NOT have a headache today.  Not sure what was going on but I had a horrible non-stop headache.

I enjoyed an awesome 11 straight days off!! This was great, it's been a long time since I have had that many days off in a row, wish I could do that every Christmas.  Keith and the boys were home too, so it was nice to spend some family time together.  We took the boys to their first movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks.  They did great, except Carter got scared during a couple parts and screeched a bit in the theatre.  

Sure enough since I started a new job and don't have much flexibility right now, Dylan had to go home from daycare early with a 102 temp.  So he is out all day tomorrow too.  Keith will stay home with him and  will probably take him to the doctor in the morning.  Hoping Carter stays healthy!!!

Dylan is getting to be so observant and questions so much these days.  He is always asking, what does it smell like in here?  What do you smell like mommy?  He always notices if I just put on lotion or busts me eating a Starburst.  Or he is always asking what kind is it?  Tonight I told him I started my new job, he said what is your new job mommy, is it in Ankeny?  

The boys have been super interested in letters lately and are asking what everything starts with.  They seem to really cling to the letters of people's names - like S for Stella or K for Keith or J for Jessica, etc.  They are always asking, what letter does that start with?  

It's been super cold here and I guess that is one reason I don't really love January!  Oh and I am a total wimp in the cold, you don't want to be stuck outside with me.  

Carter is now saying he is going to have a baby sister!  

Carter has been a TOTAL DADDY's BOY!  It's been getting a bit better, but he wants Keith to do EVERYTHING for him and I can't quite do anything right.  He says, I broke your heart mommy.  (so true!) At least this week he has been letting me give him night kisses again and i don't think he has been wiping them off.  

That's all I have for now - I'm off to bed!

Christmas Part I

Christmas was really fun with the boys this year. They really got into all the festivities!!!

This is Christmas Eve. This year they got each other presents that they picked out so I let them give them to each other early. They also got to open some new Christmas PJ's.

Putting out the reindeer food they made at school!

On Christmas Eve we went to church in Baxter, then read The Night Before Christmas.

We got them their own vacuums!!!

And their big Santa present!!! Fifty pounds of popcorn seed and some trucks, this has been a hit!!! They have been playing in it every day.

Dylan was a hoot with my present. They picked out some pens and a flower that you grow inside in a pot. He knew it was a secret, but every time he would talk about it, he could help but accidentally tell me too much. He would say - yeah, that is your present mommy. It's a secret. We are going to have to put it in a pot and put dirt in it and water it:) It's a secret!

Where have I been?

If you were wondering where I have been, I have been taken over by blurb.  I had a nice stretch of 10 days off work and one of my biggest goals was to put all of our blog posts into a book just in case I were to lose my blog somehow.  I have been wanting to do this for a long time and have attempted several times.  I've posted so many pictures that I have had problems with programs like blog2print.  About a year ago I attempted a blurb book and had some issues and didn't finish again.  

I want to do a book for each year!  So the book is going well, but unfortunately it is taking MUCH LONGER than planned!  I am on page 83 of year one and am on posts at around 4 months and easily have 15 hours into it...AHHHHHH!!!! 

I'm glad I am finally making progress, but disappointed that I won't have this checked off my list.  I will be lucky to complete year 1.  

It is a cool book, I recommend it for bloggers, but it would be much better to keep on top of it early!!!

Calling all van lovers....or no much van lovers

One thing that comes with three young children are three car seats, which equals a new vehicle for me!  Currently I drive a Trail Blazer, but there is about 8" between my two car seats so a new vehicle is  a must! The big question is WHAT.  Personally I don't get too excited about cars these days and would just soon drive mine until it dies - however, we will have to make a change soon.  

So the "van" word has been brought up many times by my husband who I think really wants to drive a van.  I'm not a huge fan, but am trying to be open minded.  Today we test drove a Toyota Sienna, so I got to feel it out a bit.  

There are a few things about a mini van that are really attractive to me.  I like the sliding doors a lot - have you ever walked out of a store to somebody parked 12 inches from you and tried to get your kid into their car seat -kinda sucks!  Also, since we will have to use the third row, this access will be much easier.  The other big thing I like about the van is the storage.  I have concerns with getting strollers into a three row SUVS.  As for style.....I don't love them!

 We have been looking at a Toyota Sienna and the Honda Oddysey.  Today I decided that I like the style of the Toyota a bit more than the Honda, so if we go van I am a bigger fan of the Toyota.

 For SUVs we have been considering the Buick Enclave and the Chevrolet Traverse.  Both are pretty similar inside with a third bench, the Enclave is a bit more on the premium side.  I was initially leaning towards the Enclave, but after sitting in it today I think I like the Traverse more.  Which is good because it is quite a bit cheaper.  

I'm not a huge fan of the short front end of the van, it's a bit strange when driving.  I'm sure you would get used to it.  My biggest concern is driving in snow with the van - I'm not a big fan of driving in snow!  But Keith doesn't think my car drives that well in snow either.  We definitely have storage concerns with any SUV option.  If we buy a Traverse, I'm sure we could find a used one for a decent price.  If we go van, I think we will have to buy new.  There aren't a ton of used ones for sale and the ones that are, aren't that great of a price for the miles.  

MINI VAN LOVERS...

What do you love about your van?  How does it handle in the snow?  Any other brands you recommend?

SUV LOVERS....

Any other vehicles you recommend we look into?  Do you have three car seats, is it easy to get kids in and out?  How is the storage?