Today

After a long and challenging weekend, two good things happened today.

First, the Packers (finally-- sorry honey) made it to the Superbowl.

And secondly and most importantly, Zachary, finally, lost his first tooth!

I was starting to worry that it was not going to happen, as I think he was officially the last one in his 1st grade class that had not lost a tooth. He too was starting to get anxious about it, as several of his much younger friends have lost several.

A good way to end a weekend with 3 sick kids, as we spent a good part of Saturday morning at the doctor's office getting an official diagnosis of each kid. One with a double ear infection, one with a croup cough, and one with an upper respiratory infection. I get the 'mother of the year award' for not taking my kids to the doctor sooner, as I thought they all just had bad coughs. How is one to know the difference between a 'beloved virus' and an infection? I sure don't! Winter can't end soon enough for this family.

11 months

One of her favorites at the moment is "Lindsey is so big!"


Lindsey is 11 months today, which is crazy that we are one month away from her being one years old!
I took her to her follow up appointment on Friday with the pediatric neurologist and she has only gained over a pound something since her 9 month appointment. She is still just a little peanut!

Her head, however, continues to be on the bigger side, so we will head back again in 6 months to check in with her neurologist. He think she looks good & still doesn't see any concerns that would warrant further action such as a CAT scan, but wants to monitor her progress. He thinks she is still about 2 months developmentally delayed with her gross motor skills and recommended continued physical therapy, which we still do on a weekly basis.






She is slowy getting around with the army crawl, but we are working hard on getting her to crawl. She seems to have weak & skinny little arms that have a hard time supporting her weight and her lovable, kissable big ol' noggin!







Exploring her way around the house, playing here in the kitchen

January Thus Far

Mark took Zach to his first Chicago Bulls basketball game. Mark was hosting the sky box for work and had an extra ticket, so Zach got to tag along. He thought it was the coolest thing & really enjoyed watching the game.






I'm back to babysitting 3 extra kiddo's 4 days a week. The kids really have a good time together, as here they are, playing outside on one of the semi-warmer January days. 20 minutes of fresh air a day I say, to work some of their energy out!








A special treat of donuts before school, as we celebrated Allie's birthday, who turned 7.





Lindsey's first bite of a donut

New Years Day

On Wisconsin!

New Years Day....
Getting ready to watch the Rose Bowl. Everyone has got their Wisconsin gear on & they are ready to go.

New Years Eve

Last night was our first attempt at letting our boys participate in bringing in the New Year. And I am shocked to say, it actually went really well.

Here is a picture of the late night possy.

We headed over to a friends, Mike & Lex Alles's house, who have kids similar ages and let them stay up with watching movies & playing together. Then they came up at 12am Eastern time to watch the ball drop & celebrate with some kiddie champagne. They had a great time and Zachary especially thought it was "super cool" to be up so late and participate in some adult traditions.

And much to my surprised they both slept in till almost 10am this morning.










Zach and fellow 1st grader, Sam getting ready to blow their horns








Zachary & Chloe getting ready to toast as the ball drops!















Cameron enjoying his first glass of 'kiddie champagne.'

Christmas break

A day trip to Chicago to visit the Science & Industry Museum with my friend, Sara and her kids, Max & Elisabeth. The boys loved it and were fascinated with all it had to offer. We will definitely be heading back as we only covered a small portion of the whole museum.







Celebrating Christmas with my sister & her kids as they stopped by for a couple of days on their way to Colorado.












Bowling with Nana & Grandpa Woolley & the Zylstra cousins










Lindsey's 1st Christmas. She had fun playing with the wrapping paper and watching all her cousins running around.







Spending time with cousins Charlie & Emily













Meeting our newest member of the Leys family, Allison Rose born to Chuck & Jackie in October.















Sledding after some fresh snow




We have had a wonderful Christmas break with enjoying visits from both my family and Marks family. We are fortunate that we are able to squeeze both families in during this special time of year.

Double Digits

10 months today.

We have finally reached a few developmental milestones, as she is independently sitting up and slowly making her way across the floor with her own version of some kind an army crawl.

She continues to receive weekly physical therapy, however she screams at the poor woman for an hour straight so I am not exactly sure how much it is helping. But we will keep going with it for a while and see.

Overall though, she is an absolute delight and just melts my heart with her smiles!