Monkey and The Bean Take a Dip!

August 29th was the first time Dallas attempted swimming, well it was more of sitting, in the pool.

Katie, Alyssa, Ella, and Dallas got all SPF'd up and headed out on a very hot August afternoon to the neighborhood pool...we walked.  Little did we know that ALL of the pools in Northern Wisconsin have their last public swim day on August 22.  August 22nd??  I know sometimes it snows in September, but what happened to the last week in August?

We were so disappointed, but decided...why not air up Ella's pool and swim in the comfort of

The Hoetschl's backyard?  Great idea.  Well, by the time we got back to the house, both babies were out cold, snoozing in their car seats.  The mom's decided to make the most of the quiet time and air up the pools, get towels ready and be prepared for when they wake up.  So, after wrestling with the air compressor for a while, because we were not about to blow the pool up ourselves, we got everything set up.  

*Note to self, learn how to use one of those before your husband leaves for work if you have ANY intention of possibly having to blow up a pool, bike tires, or anything else that takes "air" to work! 

And just in the nick of time..the babies were up and ready to cool off with us.

We had a great time just sitting and relaxing for quite a while, in fact I'm pretty sure we all had wrinkly toes when it was time for some lunch. 

PS: Diapers can hold A LOT of moisture...I'm pretty sure those things weighed as much as a small puppy when we got out of the water.

Raise your hand (or fist) if you want to go swimming!

Scream if you're ready to go swimming!

Lift your leg if you want to go too!

And now he's sleeping...

As is she!

Who's pretty silly over there, Dallas?

Hey, hey you, are you ready to go swimming yet?

Hey, how do you sit up like that all by yourself?

Ok, stop with the pictures and put me in that pool!! 

Yummy, pool toy.

Chilaxin'

Mommy and her little Monkey:)

A visitor from out West!

*To get caught up on the blog, we will be highlighting some events from the past few months.  Once we get to "present time" we will try to stay updated and post at least every other week!* 

On August 25th Alyssa's Aunt Chris came to visit the family.

She was mainly here to see her 2 Great  Nieces and Great Nephew (the first boy after 9 girls!!) 

Here's how we got to NINE: Alyssa's Cousins Melissa, Erica, and Kayla make 3.  Then there is Katie and Alyssa (4 & 5).  Next, Melissa had two girls (Lauren and Caitlin; #'s 6 & 7).  Erica had Kylee and Katie had Ella.  Yep, that's right, 9 girls!!

FINALLY, a BOY!!  Dallas makes #10 and I think it's safe to say everyone was looking forward to buying tucks, tractors, and trains!!  (Not that girls can't play with that stuff, but you know what I mean!!)

Aunt Chris makes wonderful knit gifts for the babies like hats and blankets and I think she was pretty excited to be able to make some blue items.

We OF COURSE took lots of pictures, so enjoy!

The last few are of Dallas wearing his hat from Aunt Chris and sleeping with the blanket she made him:)

 We can't wait to see you again, Aunt Chris!!

August 14th: Monkey and The Bean have a sleepover

Little Man, Handsome, Monkey, Big Man on Campus, Sweet Love, Mama's Love, etc.

these are all nicknames we have stumbled upon for Dallas.  Michael came up with little man, we both always call him handsome, Katie always used to say, in a sing-song tone, to Ella "Big Girl on Campus" which in turn made Alyssa start saying "Big Man on Campus" to Dallas.  And the rest just came out of thin air.  This must be something all parents do, and with so many nicknames, how does a child learn their own?  

They sure must be smart because in time they just do:) 

As for Ella, she somehow got the nickname Ella Bean when she was still in the hospital.  Katie thinks it's because she looked like a burrito...a bean burrito that is, when swaddled:

then the Ella part got left out and Alyssa just started calling her "the bean" when she would ask Katie for updates.

These pictures are from the morning after the sleepover:

First, they had breakfast...

Then Ella showed us how she likes to eat her feet...

Then, she kissed Dallas and tried to hide it from us!

(foot-eating breath and all, ew!)

They fought over some toys, 

Played with the puppies

And finally, posed for some pictures.

Then Ella decided to call for her ride and go home to her mom and dad, who hopefully got some rest after their night out on the town.

~Thanks for playing Ella Bean, I had fun turning 3 months while you were visiting, come again soon.

Love, Dallas

What happened to our anniversary??

You may be wondering why we didn't post anything about our 1st anniversary!

Well, since we had an amazing little baby, we hadn't really planned anything grand, but we did have a little time to ourselves.

We did celebrate by going to dinner the night before our actual anniversary, on August 7th, at a very nice restaurant in Appleton called Seasons.  We really liked it and we would recommend it to anyone looking for a "fancy" dinner.  Alyssa's mom and her husband Jaimie came up to Appleton and watched Dallas for us so we could go out, which we REALLY appreciated.

The dinner was great, we started with a shared Sushi roll, then Michael had:

BONE IN RIB-EYE

with herbed gouda au gratin potatoes and chef vegetables

finished with a stone-ground mustard compound butter

and Alyssa had:

BAKED TALI PIA

wrapped and baked in parchment paper

with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables

(sounds much simpler than Michael's but it was AMAZING!!)

(Thank you to the website for the above information, you can tell Alyssa is writing this blog since

she wanted to make sure she had all the information correct!)

Cheers to many, many more great years together!

 

OK comes to WI

One August 8th, Michael's family (Carla- his mom, Aunt Kelly, and Cousin Candace) arrived at our house after the long 13 hour drive up here:)  We were so happy to see them, although Alyssa wasn't able to stay awake any longer so she had to hit the sack at about 10pm...they got here shortly after. 

Most of the time they spent here was just hanging out at our house, doing A LOT of cooking...well Carla did most of that since Michael demanded she make some of his favorite meals. 

We did go on a short shopping trip to the Outlet Mall in Oshkosh, where I think everyone found a little something for themselves:)

Enjoy these pictures from their stay.

Michael and Candace

Candace and Gabbana...both dogs LOVED her! 

Gam, as Dallas will call her (Carla, Michael's mom) giving Dallas kisses:)

Candace, Carla, Michael and Dallas, and Kelly 

Carla and Dallas hanging out!

July 14th to August 14th (month #3)

Since July 14th when we finished with our last update Dallas has been growing "like a weed" (as they say babies do!).  Who are "they" by the way?? 

We took some great pictures of our "little man", as we have come to call him, after his bath on the day after he turned 2 months, here they are:

 Still working on making his neck muscles strong

Where's Mama with that camera?

There she is!  (One of our favorites!)

Look at the cute booty!  I have a feeling some girlfriend will be seeing these in the far, far, far, future!

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Also on July 15th Dallas tried out his crib for the first time, but he didn't sleep in there just yet.

Looking around at the sports theme bedding his Daddy picked out for him

See, the same night, now in the bassinet:)

So peaceful!

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July 15th Dallas slept through the night for the first time (9:40pm to 3:40am)

Since he was sleeping so well, we decided to put him in his crib on the night of July 18th (yes, just 4 short days after we set him in there to look around for the first time).  Alyssa must have checked on him about 50 times that night to make sure he was okay, and he was.  He slept from 9pm to 3:30am, had a bottle and went back to sleep at 4am until 8:00!  He's been sleeping through the night, in his crib ever since...naps in there came later on since he wasn't really on a schedule and he still loved to sleep in his swing SO much.

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July 17th was a BIG day for Dallas...

Can you guess what he was doing from these pictures?  Which were taken after his first trip to the Farmer's Market (sorry, we didn't take any pictures there).

Still don't know??

Maybe this video will be more helpful...

That's right, just a little over two months old and our little man figured out how to roll from his belly to back in both directions.  This is when we realized how fast he really was growing...

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July 20th, Dallas had his 2 month checkup.  Weight 12lb. 12 oz, 23 inches long, and his head circumference was 40cm.

We were still on the bath every night routine (which we started very early on)...it helping him sleep better at night.  Why change something that was making everyone happy:)

Yes, she JUMPED in the tub...we didn't put her in there...she's crazy, we know!

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July 21st, Dallas enjoyed a nice walk to Kohl's to do a little shopping with the girls; Mom, Auntie Katie, and Ella.  Little did he know this was just one of the many, many shopping trips he'd be going on.

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July 22nd, Dallas learned how to grasp onto his toy.  The soccer ball he's holding has become one of his favorite toys. 

Future soccer player??  Maybe so!!

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July 23rd...looking at the Internet with Daddy (I bet they are checking the football scores!) and some more bath time photos...we can't help ourselves, he's just SO cute!

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July 25th, we took Dallas to the park for the first time.  These pictures were taken at Plamann Park in Appleton.

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July 27th, Dallas learned how to hold onto his toys that hang from his bouncy seat!  That's hard to do when they are always moving.

With his left hand....

and his right! 

He seems to do a lot with his left hand first, maybe he'll be a lefty just like his mama and daddy!  (And Grandma too!)

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July 28th while Mama was getting a little workout in Dallas slept on the couch for the first time, yes on his belly, that was the first and only time it happened (until he could roll over on his own).  He was only like this for a couple minutes with Mom in the room.

Someone thought he looked lonely:(

And then another thought they looked lonely!

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August 1st...Dallas trying out his Jumperoo for the first time.  (He was still a little too small for it.)

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August 4th: Tummy time with Daddy!

That's about it for that month...yes we've only gone until August 1st and not all the way to August 14th, when he turned 3 months...but there's more to come, don't worry!