Visit up north

Jeff and Emily arm wrestling

singing to Stephanie

Singing to Emily

Family picture by the 4wheeler in Wausau

Stephanie with Sandy

Matthew visiting with Aunt Rose

Emily loves the leaf pile

Matthew not sure of the leaves

A couple weeks ago we took a day trip to visit people in central Wisconsin. Our first stop was the farm near Steven's Point where Jeff's Aunt Rose and Uncle Ray live. They haven't been able to see the girls since last summer and never met Matthew. So we spent a couple hours there visiting and everyone behaved wonderfully. Then went to Wausau to visit my friend Sandy whom I babysat her daughter in Eau Claire some 13 years ago. We haven't seen each other in years and I don't think she had ever met any of the kids. After we visited there for a little bit we went to visit my friend Alle. We haven't seen her since we helped out right after Matthew came home from the hospital. He sure changed. The girls love spending time with Auntie Alle and got to see her cats again that Emily always talks about. She had a little birthday party for the girls since she couldn't make it this summer for their party. They had a blast. It was too bad our visits were all short but glad we made it up to visit. Hopefully before the weather gets bad we can spend up whole day together. All the kids were great in the car and at one point they were all sleeping. It was so nice. The weather was beautiful, one of our nice 70 degree weekends we had this month, and the colors on the trees were beautiful. Good weekend all around.

Things Matthew has learned

Matthew has been learning so much lately. Last week he figured out how to get from his tummy back to a sitting position and today I found him in his crib that way. I really need Jeff to move the mattress down now. He loves sitting in his crib and playing peek a boo with Emily and Stephanie. He also learned how to do "so big" and the girls love encouraging him to do it all the time. Then today when my mom was over he Emily was saying goodbye and he started waving. A open and close hand wave. He was so proud of himself he kept doing it. He has been a little sick this week with a little fever and a small cold that just won't go away. But it isn't slowing him down. He also slept from 8:30-4:15 one night this week. Too bad Emily had to be up from midnight til 2:00. No win situation for me.

Emily ice skating

I know I have mentioned that Emily has a wonderful imagination. She has been ice skating in the house by using some rubbermade containers on her feet to slide around the house. She will fall and try to get back up on purpose. Since it is cold when you ice skate she needed a hat and winter coat. We had a hat laying around but I had not gotten the winter coats out yet so she had to wear one of her heavy fall coats. She has gotten this idea from watching TV and seeing someone ice skate. She doesn't want to really ice skate but has a blast doing it around the house. Maybe we can get her on some real skates this winter.

Emily's new bed

Last month Emily finally agreed that she wanted to try out a big girl bed. All it meant was taking one side of the crib off and putting up a side with a little rail. She loved it as soon as she saw it and slept in it great. She kept telling everyone that she can get out of her bed by herself. She would love to close the door all the way after I leave it open a little bit when she is put to bed. She usually stays in it in the morning and calls for me. She will go to the bathroom if needed but sometimes waits to go so she can even go by herself. She even once put her diaper back on, backwards, after she used the bathroom without my knowledge. It was a great effort. We might be able to get rid of the night time diapers soon as she is dry most nights. She did ask for her crib back a couple times a couple weeks ago but I told her I couldn't put it back up and she was fine with that answer. She has started to fall out of her bed more lately but overall did very well at staying in. She's growing up!