The (dreaded) carseat

Liam has a hatred for his carseat.  Hate is a strong word - we don't let Karsten use that word - but I think it's the best word to describe Liam's relationship with the carseat.

At first we thought he was getting too hot in it (which he was), so perhaps that began his dislike. But now we've perfected the addition of an icepack to the carseat to help keep him cool.  Sometimes it helps, other times it doesn't make a bit of difference.

We've tried making sure he has a full tummy before he gets in the carseat, we've tried putting him in the carseat at home to get him used to sitting in it, we've tried hanging toys on his carseat, we've tried talking and singing to him, we've tried music and moving his mirror in case it made him motionsick...the list goes on and on.  Sometimes these things work, other times they don't.  I've tried to isolate details that cause him to cry and I can't come up with anything.

So, for now, we'll keep trying new things and will be happy when he gets a little bigger and can see out of the carseat.  I kind of wonder if he just feels alone in his carseat since he can't see much.

Brothers part deux

Remember the brother pics I posted of the boys in their matching shirts?  Liam is going to outgrow his shirt in no time so I wanted to get another pic for comparison.  It's amazing how much Liam has changed and grown in six weeks!


When Karsten got up from his nap I thought the light was good for a few pics.  Looking at them now I think it was too bright.  Sigh...need more practice.  Good thing I have two cute subjects!

He loves these shoes of mine, any time I wear them he steals them from me to wear.  He also likes to pretend he ties the little bow on the top.


My two cuties!

How's Madison?

A few people have asked us how Madison is adjusting to having Liam around.  I think she's made the adjustment a bit easier this time than she did with Karsten. When Karsten arrived, she suddenly had to share all our attention with him.  Unfortunately, once Karsten arrived, poor Madison got less attention.  She probably hasn't seen much of a shift in attention since Liam arrived.

She loves going to my parents house because she gets all sorts of attention - plus treats when she comes in from outside!  When we load everyone up to come home from my parents, Madison intentionally stays far away from the door to see if we will forget her.  She's secretly hoping she can stay just a little bit longer without the kids so she can have undivided attention.

Madison loves to sit on my lap while I'm nursing Liam and she thinks that tummy time is the perfect time for us to play fetch with her.  When Scott was playing with Liam on the floor, Madison kept putting her toy on top of Liam's hand.  It was like she was saying 'comon' kid, play with me'.

Cute doggie

Thanks Aunt Kelli for the adorable hat!

Paying attention

Liam enjoys watching everything going on around him.  We sit him in the highchair with us at dinner because he didn't like sitting in the bouncy seat where he couldn't see what was going on.

For a while now he's enjoyed watching himself in the mirror on the top of the swing.  I wonder what he's thinking when he stares at the baby in the mirror.   They have long staring contests with each other.

I think he's going to enjoy watching all of the other kids when he goes to Gail's.

Just some pics

I was looking through pics to blog and had several cute ones to share with you that are not necessarily worthy of their own post. So here's a combo post with a bunch of cute pics.

My valentine penguins.
 

Look - no hands!


Love a sleeping baby!


uh oh - falling over!


happy baby!
 

serious face!


fun with papa!


Mr. Handsome

The Plunge!

Nothing says winter like jumping into an icy-cold lake! Each year the Special Olympics holds a fundraiser called The Polar Bear Plunge. Scott, along with some of his student council students and a few teachers decided to raise money and participate.

This is Scott's second year taking the plunge - last year it was so cold they had to break through several inches of ice to clear the water for the plungers. This year was a completely different story. The high for the day was to be around 45 or 50 - no ice this year!

Karsten and I wanted to cheer on Scott and his team, but it was too chilly for Liam to come along, so Liam got to spend a few hours with Grandma and Grandpa.  We're ready to go - it was chilly when we got to the park, probably in the low 40's and windy!


We walked past this cool police car withe the fancy paint job.


Karsten's co-sponsor for student council, Kate, and her family came along for the festivities.  Kate's husband Chris is a firefighter, so he was showing the firetruck to his son and Karsten.


One of the firefighters saying hi to the boys - Karsten gave him five but was shy and wouldn't talk to him.


Scott and his principal chatting before they had to get ready to plunge!


The firefighter rescue workers waiting for the event to begin.


Scott's costume - they had a super hero theme.  You can't really see the superman shirt under the towel/cape.


Karsten was getting antsy for the event to begin.  He ran around for a bit but also had fun standing on Kate's  shoes.  Would you believe Kate is 8 months pregnant - doesn't she look awesome!


The team from Scott's school on the way to take the plunge.


Scott running into the water.


Yay, he made it!  He's looking around for us - there were tons of spectators and it was tough to squeeze in front to get pictures.



The 'after' shot - can you believe they jumped in 38 degree water?  Some of them without shirts or pants.


Scott survived his second polar bear plunge!  We're headed to the car to go home and I couldn't resist this picture.  It was so cute.

Just like Daddy

Karsten and Scott were watching Mickey Mouse on the baby 'puter (aka iPad) and when I looked at them I thought it was so cute how they were sitting exactly alike.

Wordless Wednesday - crazy hair

Branding

Thankfully Karsten is not a picky eater.  He has very few things that he dislikes or will not eat.  After he turned two and learned the phrase 'me no like it', he's decided there are a few things he's always eaten that he suddenly doesn't like.

We've discovered that getting him to eat certain foods is all in how we describe the food.  If we say we're having pineapple for dinner, he'll say 'me no like it'.  BUT, if we tell him that we're having triangles for dinner, he'll gobble them right up.  It's all in how you brand it.  

There are a handful of things like this, I'm sure we'll figure out a few new brands for items that he decides he no longer likes.  

He'll always eat cupcakes no matter what we call them.

Girl time

Each year Jenn's church hosts a scrapbooking extravaganza.  The event runs Friday night from 4pm to midnight and Saturday from 8am-4pm.  The event fee provides us with dinner, dessert and coffee bar, breakfast and lunch.  A family in the church does the catering and the food is FANtastic.

Several of us have attended since the event started 6 or 7 years ago.  Each year someone in our group invites a new friend and our little group keeps growing.  This time we had eight in our group.  Ironically, we're all scrapbooking pictures of our families, yet we NEVER take pictures of ourselves when we're scrapbooking.  Never.  Ever.  And I guarantee at least half of us had cameras in our purses.  :)

As I was packing up on Friday night, I snapped a few pictures.  Nothing great and as soon as the camera flashed everyone was like - what the heck are you doing, was I in that picture?!

If you look behind Amy and Kelly, you can see how many people were at the crop.  I think there were 7 rows of double tables like this and they were full of people the whole time.  It's a great event and we always have so much fun!


Jenn and Karla.  We're trying to get Karla to come back and scrapbook with us more regularly, so it was great to see her at this crop.

Wordless Wednesday

Several blogs I follow do a wordless Wednesday post where they just share a pic.  I'm jumping on the bandwagon - so watch for wordless Wednesday posts in the future.

Newborn Pics

I realized the other day that I had never shared Liam's newborn pictures with you.  Nevermind that it's almost time for his three month pictures.  We won't talk about that. :)

Kenna outdid herself again - the pictures are awesome!  This one is my favorite.


Since he was born so close to the holidays, I wanted to do something with a holiday feel.  

Cute little toes.




This is on the wall in his nursery.  We got the same picture with Karsten - it is one of my favorites.


Love it!





He was so comfy on that blanket - adorable.




This is the quilt my mom made for his room.  I love how all of the triangles are pointing to him.


I'm so happy we got a good brother picture.  Everyone warned me that older siblings are hard to photograph with the baby, so I was trying to have low expectations.


Thank goodness Karsten cooperated.  He was a trooper - these were taken RIGHT before his nap time.  We 'encouraged' him with a few sweet tarts and he would pose for us very briefly, thankfully Kenna is fast.