Here comes Santa Claus

This year has been a lot of fun getting ready for Christmas. I think this is the first year Jack has really gotten into it and has really understook. He wrote a letter to Santa the other week and recieved one back just the other day in the mail and he was SOOOOOOOO excited. Jack thought it was so awesome that Santa knew that him and his daddy liked Michigan football and that he was obsessed with Toy Story 3 AND that he was a big brother to Brooke.

This year Jack and Brooke want to leave Santa some chicken nuggets, cookies and carrots. And maybe some lemonade. I will see if he will go for a glass of wine too in case Mrs. Claus comes along for the ride!! ;-)

Updates on the kiddos:

Well about 3 weeks ago we all had the stomach bug. Brooke and I never puked but the boys did. It was NOT fun. It was Jack's first experience EVER with the stomach flu and he was certainly traumatized by it. He wanted his "puke bucket" around for about a week after. Then that all turned into the upper respiratory stuff. I think Brooke and I had it the worst. Guess that's what we get for not puking huh?!!? Brooke ended up at the dr 3 times in one week. First time for ear and pink eye. Then 2 days later back because she was not getting better and wheezing. Diagnosed with bronchiolitis (RSV basically) and then back the next day because she is allergic to the meds they put her on. Then finally on Friday we tried out the chiropractor with her. Then last week I got it. Needless to say it sounds like a TB ward at our house with all the left over coughing going on!!!!!!!!

Brooke is now about 22lbs and Jack is 44 lbs. It's so crazy how they grow so fast.

New things that Brooke is doing: CRAWLING fast everywhere. Pulling to stand. Cruising the couches. Eating everything in sight. Pulling Christmas ornaments off the tree and dancing.

New things that Jack is doing: Writing ALL his letters...upper and lowercase, all numbers, spelling 3 letter words and some 4 letter words. He is WAY into art stuff right now and toy story. LOVES LOVES LOVES to dance and is learning lots of new Christmas songs everyday. He sat with my mom's pastor at their church the other day and together they were singing "jingle bells, batman smells......." Gotta love em'!!!!

That's about it for now!!!!!

love

from the BOWLING'S

What have our kiddos been up to????

Do these faces say it all??!?!?!

WOW!!!! Brooke was one busy chica this weekend.

First she started crawling on all fours on Friday and by Sunday she figured out that there were different rooms in the house she could get too all on her own

Saturday she figured out how to stand up in her bed (we had to lower the mattress)

Sunday she learned how to stand up at the fireplace (good things is a little padded on the corners)

Sunday....she FINALLY cut a tooth....just a teeny tiny part of it!!!

She will be 9 months old this coming weekend. HOW DID THE HAPPEN?!?!!?

(She was 21 lbs at her dr appt last week for an ear infection.)

JACK WAS 21 lbs at 20 months old. CRAZY!!!!!!!!

And speaking of Jack...he is one smart cookie.

He is SOOOO into spelling and writing and reading right now it's nutso. He can spell so many things:

Lindsay, Matt, Mimi, Dad, Mom, Brooke, Bowling, water, dog, cat, hat, van, toy story, klein, Jaime, Eva, Ava, Raj, Zoey, Kira (all the kids in his class at school).

He can read words in books like dog, cat, hat, car.

He is just so awesome. He loves to play school and we do it often. I am afraid kindergarden will be borning to him. Too bad he couldn't have gone this past fall. And speaking of fall..........he is going to be 5 in 3 weeks. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!?!?!?

HOLY COW!!! TIME FLIES WHEN YOU ARE HAVING FUN!!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM SPIDEY AND LIL' SKUNKER!!!

More Jack

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Jack Matthew

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Brooke Elizabeth

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HAIR CRISIS

DO YOU SEE ANY SIMILARITIES????!!!!!

6 months old and 4 months til 5

I am not sure where the summer has gone....but we are certainly ready for it to be. The weather this summer has been miserable and has NOT been conducive to playing outside much for Jack!!!! But we have had fun nonetheless.

The kiddos and I had a chance to head to Lake Erie in July to visit with my very best friend from elementary and we had such a great time. It was nice to get away from the Fort and of course awesome to see her and her hubby as well. The kids were AWESOME in the car, except for the 1 time that Jack undid his seat belt while I was on the toll road and I freaked and missed my exit and had to go about 20 miles before I could exit again. Brooke slept the whole way, both ways!!!!!!

We also attended the annual NICU birthday party. It was at our local zoo and lots of fun. Jack loved the bounce house and giraffes. They have a baby giraffe at the zoo now and she is a big hit!!!!

Brooke has just done a lot of growing this summer. She is about 17.5lbs and I have no idea how that happened!!!!! She is rolling over....and over and over and is very close to sitting up. She is also getting ready to work on the army crawl too I think. We also think she is in the process of getting a tooth or 2 but we have thought that for a while now so we shall see!! She started Physical Therapy last week to help with her neck muscles and so far she seems to be doing a great job. She will meet with her PT every week or every other week (whichever our schedules allow) and just get her back on track for a 6 month old.

I cannot believe that our little peanut Jack will be 5 in a few months. He is now 42 lbs and 42 inches. All the way from 15 ounces and 11.5 inches. Does that seem possible??? He will be starting pre-K at the end of August and is more excited about it than I ever thought he'd be. He loves the structure and learning!!! He is my little Einstein!! We have been working on getting his tonsils out since February and so this week is our next try. The first try got cancelled due to Brooke being born. The 2nd try got cancelled because he was wheezing and coughing and now our next try is schedule for Aug 19....3rd times a charm right?!?!?!

Daddy update??? He started a new job this past week and so far he really loves it. He is an account manager for Power Distributing (Red Bull distribution) and he gets to travel around all day. It's long hours and we need to get used to that but he really likes it and that is all the matters!!

I am still at the hospital and will be teaching again at Ivy Tech. This will be my 4 semester. Its a good little break from the hospital and a pretty good deal for 1 night a week.

Well, I think that's all for now. I can't believe my kids are growing up so fast. Does that mean we are old?!?!?!?!

Where have I been??? Once again

Once again I have no idea where we have been but we are busy!!!!

I can't believe Brooke will be 5 months old in in 2 days and Jack is 4 1/2. Where in the world has time gone. I just had to switch out all of Brooke's 3-6 month sleepers and get the 6-9 month ones out. That makes me so sad!!!!

We traveled to South Haven Michigan about a month ago with my mom's side of the family and like always, had a GREAT time. Love spending time with the whole family and spending time in the sand. Brooke wasn't a big fan of all the wind on the lake but Jack couldn't get enough. We stayed at a hotel with an indoor water park and Jack thought that was awesome. MUST HAVE SWIM LESSONS SOON!!!! He thought he could do it all, all by himself!!!

Brooke has remained healthy thus far. Just a few days here in there with some boogers that REALLY make her mad.

Jack has had some issues with the weather. Wheezing, coughing, goopy nose and ears. We tried to get his tonsils out on Thursday and we were shot down. Went in at 9am (surgery scheduled for 11am) and once the nurse listened, respiratory therapist came down to give him a breathing treatment and then the surgeon and anesthesiologist nixed the idea. They didn't want to risk any more problems (ie; not coming off the vent afterwards, etc) So we will have to reschedule. We have such a small window of "healthy" during the summer time so I am not sure when it will happen. Hopefully by the end of the year. That's my goal! HAHAH!!!

And speaking of Jack. He has gotten SO big!!! 42 lbs and 42 inches!!!!!!! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN??? July 2006= 12 lbs. July 2007= 21 lbs July 2008=24 lbs July 2009= 28lbs July 2010= 42 lbs. WHAT A GAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am guessing Brooke to be about 16 lbs. She doesn't go to the dr. until 6 months so we will have to wait. Jack wasn't 16 lbs until he was 11 months old. Isn't that crazy!!!???

Enjoy the pictures!!!!!!

4 months old

Can you believe it has been 4 months already?!?!! Our baby girl is 4 months old!!! She is doing awesome!!!! She had her well baby check on Monday and Dr. C is very impressed with her growth. She weighed 13 lbs 7 oz and was almost 25 inches long. That is 50% for her weight and 70% for her height.........for a 4 month old....not a 2 month old (adjusted!!) Jack didn't get on the charts for his real age until he was like 2 years old!!!!

I just looked up Jack weight and such and when he was actually 4 months old, he weighed 6 lbs 1 oz. When he was 4 months old adjusted....he weighed the EXACT same as Brooke does no!!! CRAZY HUH?!?!

I have attached 2 pictures below of Jack. One at "adjusted" 4 months, one at "actual" 4 months and then 2 of Brooke at 4 months!!!!

Look alike?!?!?

I need to get some baby pictures of myself and Matt scanned in so we can take a better look at who looks like who.....DON'T CHA THINK?!?!?!

a cousin, a friend and some beautiful blues

Brooke and Bree (friends) Brooke is one month older than Bree
Arianna and Brooke (cousins) 1 week apart

BEAUTIFUL BLUES

5 mother's days

My FIRST mother's day
my SECOND mother's day

my THIRD mother's day

my FOURTH mother's day

AND MY 5TH MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!