7 Months....ALREADY????

WOW! Where has the time gone?!?? My baby is 7 months old today! I feel as if I keep saying this over and over, but...Ethan is changing by the day! Every day he does something new, or gets even better at things! He is babbling like crazy now, which sounds like a high pitch scream/talk combination. He also blows raspberries like crazy! He loves laughing at his brother, and smiling at his puppy girl, Dakota. He grabs anything and everything in sight- from your bottom lip to your cereal bowl...so, look out! He has even been sitting up on his own for a few minutes at a time! After a few minutes, or if something gets him really excited, he weebles over, but he is getting stronger every day with sitting on his own. Literally, last Sunday at church, he could barely sit for a few seconds, and now it's a few minutes! He has also been lighting up with the biggest smile everytime I walk in the room, or when I walk in to get him in the morning, and when I pick him up from Kristen (our friend and babysitter)'s house each day. Boy, does he make me happy!

Landon has also been maturing before our eyes! His speech is getting...let's just say, NON STOP. :) He even tattles on his friends now! It's kinda cute right now, but I'm sure it's something that his friends won't appreciate in a few years. ;) When I pick him up from Kristen's house each day, he has to give me a run down of who got in time out, or who "made yucky sounds" (??), or who didn't listen...and it's never him! :) (yeah right!)  Landon has been a big back seat driver lately too..."Mom, go this way!" "Two hands mom (meaning he wants two hands on the wheel..."like daddy show you")" This backseat driving led me to referring to our street by name, and our house by house number. I even started saying when we were in our town, Blackwood. So, after putting it together for a few weeks in the car, Landon knows his address! He has also been saying "I missed you, mommy" and "I love you, mommy," and "You're pretty, mommy" pretty frequently. Of course , any of those phrases just melt my heart and I have to give him a "big squeeze" (his words for big hug) right there on the spot! Now...to be honest, I have to also admit, Landon's not always sweet and loving(I know, I'm not either...but who is??)  Particularly, he has been having a really rough time with time out lately. He pitches a fit, screaming, crying, and whining the whole way there, and pretty much, throughout the duration of his time outs. The hardest thing for us to break is him getting out of time out, and coming right back to us, crying. We must put him back in and start over at least 10 times some days. UGH! But, we have to take the good with the bad, eh? ...and just keep praying our way through this parenting stuff! 3 can be tough! We are trying to just be consistent, and reinforcing that we love him, and just want him to "be a good boy." Sigh... :)

The rest of my post is a compilation of my latest phone "shots." ...My good camera is always too far out of reach, and my phone is pretty much always by my side...or at least closer than the camera is...to capture some of these precious moments. The quality isn't the greatest, but the memories sure are!

Ethan wants my donut and coffee too!

One especially happy morning! :)

My Lil' Valentines!

Eating a banana through a mesh bag is yummy!

Handsome monkey!

Love my uncle Chris!!

That's right...3 teeth now! (and one more coming through!)

Two bottom teeth, and one right front tooth!

Checking out my puppy girl who has to sit right on my blanket!

Sitting up, and reaching really far to get this piano!

Random...but, we put together the photo puzzle last weekend!

I can't bring myself to take it apart just yet...

Now, this is what I call Brotherly Love!! ...makes my heart so happy!

...and my cheeks hurt from smiling so big!!!

So, Landon has a hard time saying his "TH"(he says "S or F" instead) and the letter "V" (he says "D"), so I decided to practice with him one morning.

 Little did I know how hilarious our "speech therapy" session would be!!

Much Needed Family Outing!

After being cooped up in the house for a few days, the thought of going out as a family to do something fun had me excited, and much more willing to get out of bed this morning! That sounds bad, but just know this cold has me wanting endless sleep...but, "sleep" and "mom" are oxymorons as I've learned.  :)

 We decided last night to try the Please Touch Museum. We had heard lots of great things about it, and found out they had a great law enforcement discount (which they did! A $15 day!)

If one were to rank the things you say most to your children, I'd have to say "Don't Touch" would be in the top 10. So, a trip to the "Please Touch Musuem" had my interest from first mention. Finally, a place where we didn't have to say, "Please, don't touch!"

We started out in City Capers, where there were all kinds of modes of transportation!

Landon got to put air in tires,

fill up the tank,

and change spark plugs!

The Flight Fantasy section had some really neat things too!

a human hamster wheel,

The Space Station had a rocket launcher too! (one of Landon's favorites of the day!)

The bottom floor of the museum had a ShopRite, CHOP, Farm, and construction zone! You can see where we spent most of our time!...

These two adorable girls were playing so nicely...then, someone came in, and tried to take over...

They only put up with Landon for so long. :)

So, off we went to the farm!

This picture makes me excited for Spring! I can't wait to plant a vegetable garden this year! It looks like I will have a helper ...or two? :)

Could you imagine a mini size store where every child had their own cart, and is allowed to pick out whatever they want? I'm glad they don't have those little carts at our stores!

After shopping, you could go into the kitchen to put away all of your items...or just "cook" them like Landon did!

Next up...River Adventures!

And, Rainforest Rhythem!

This next photo makes me so proud! :) 

Can you see this finger form? :) I'd say it's pretty good for a 3 year old!

We do play together at home. Greg made me  promise I would teach Landon how to play the piano. We don't play as often as I'd like, but we do play together, and lately, Landon has been really seeming to enjoy it!

And, we went out with a bang- the Merry Go Round!

In case you're wondering where Ethan was this whole time... why, he was right there with us! He was so engaged by all the kids and all the sights around him, that he didn't take his nap!

Landon and Ethan in thier Lime N' Navy's...

....No wonder Landon fell asleep on the ride home, and slept for a little over 2 hours today! ...and no wonder he almost fell asleep while reading books tonight! :) He had a busy, fun day- and so did we!! 

February Fun!

February has been jam packed with a balance of true FUN and true FUN!!!


This year we went down to my sister Laura and her husband Dave's house for the Super Bowl. It was a ton of fun! Landon even got to enjoy a pre-game Quad ride!! It's amazing how well the "If you take a nice nap, you can ride the Quad at Uncle Dave and Aunt Laura's house" line worked! Landon was asleep within 5 minutes!! :)

During the half time show of the Super Bowl, there was a video made available by Tony Dungy to support adoption and to increase awareness. Below is the short video in case you missed it! Awareness = a burden that I cannot dismiss, no matter how full my heart is with the two boys we have been blessed with!

I guess the not-so-fun started last Tuesday. I will spare you all the gross detail, but in short, Greg and I both got the stomach bug. Since caring for the boys was literally impossible (imagine Landon running crazily around the house, and Ethan in a germ filled bed between Greg and I who were never in bed for too long at a time..yeah, wasn't so pretty). So, we called in the troups, AKA my mom, Aunt Wawa, and sister Sue. We had never been away from the boys other than going to work, and going out on an occasional date. So, staying in our quiet home, and getting uninterrupted sleep was actually very strange to both of us. After a middle of the night trip to the ER (Greg was having chest pain and wanted to make sure it wasn't his heart) where we got fluids and medicine, we both felt a lot better by Wednesday afternoon. And, thankfully, that's the last we've seen of the stomach bug (shhh! I feel like typing that might bring it back!)

Thankfully, by Sunday night, we were all feeling well enough to go to our church to welcome home Ezekiel from Ethiopia! Believe it or not, we started our adoption process for Landon just 3 weeks before George and Shannon started theirs. So, I guess my thought, "He is FINALLY home!" is pretty justified. And, I thought our wait felt like forever! 

Here is a picture of our Baby E's, (as we have come to refer to them), on the same continent!!

I know someone caught Landon and Ezekiel meeting for the first time on camera, so I will have to post that picture when I get it. But, it was so cute to see Landon and Ezekiel looking at each other, and Landon trying to "high 5" Ezekiel. :) 

Then, as if a stomach bug wasn't enough sickness for our family, the boys both came down with a really bad cold that included fevers. :(  That "fun" began literally while we were visiting Grammie (I know, lovely...we could have infected Grammie too! ugh!) on Valentines night.

While we were sitting chatting with Grammie, I could feel Ethan just burning up in my arms. It came out of nowhere. They had some congestion, but to add a fever to that, just brings on a whole new level of "fun." We ended our visit a little prematurely, so I could get home to take Ethan's temperature- sure enough- 101.6! I fed him, gave him a bath and some Tylenol, and tried to put him and Landon to bed. Around midnight, Ethan woke up, crying, and not going back to sleep. I could tell he was just not feeling well, and needing to be held. In an effort to keep him upright so he could breathe more easily, I tried sleeping in the rocker, then upright in my bed with him on me. It worked for him..me, not so much. After finally getting him back to his crib at 3:30 AM, I was able to catch some intermittant ZZZ's (he kept whining and crying out off and on) until 7 when I was getting ready to leave for work. Thank God, Greg was able to adjust his schedule, and stay home with the boys, so I could go to work. Landon's fever started up Wednesday, and spiked in the middle of the night Wed into Thurs at 102.5. Sick boys + sleepless mama = recipe for catching the cold... Yep, that's right- now, I have a bad cold. No fever, though! (phew!)

During all of our sickness, on the night of Valentine's Day, OUR 1ST NEWPHEW WAS BORN!! (Greg and I are the oldest...'nuff said) ;)

Jackson Robert Allmoslecher

Born: 2/14/12 @ 9:33 PM

8lbs., 21 in.!!

We are ecstatic, and can't wait to meet him in person! As soon as our sickness ends, we will need to schedule a road trip to Kentucky to meet this handsome nephew of ours!!

Originally we were supposed to be enjoying some fun "non-expensive" family outings on this President's Day weekend. Greg had scheduled today and Monday off, since I have off. However, the recent schedule adjustment to stay home with the boys has him working today, and me and the boys trying to get rid of our colds!  Hopefully we will be well by Monday so we can at least get one fun family adventure in!! hmmm....ice skating? (Landon's been asking almost everyday to go back!) or the Acquarium? We will see!!

Until the next Fun post....TOOTLES from my boys!! (I admit, I watch too much Mickey Mouse Club) :0)

The (Post) Twelve Days of Christmas- Day 12

Day 12 = New Year's Eve!

What better way to celebrate bringing in the New Year than to be in the company of great friends, and of course, my 3 boys. :)

Our evening started with dinner at S&P's Hibachi Steakhouse. 3 couples + 6 kids + unexpected hour wait for a table = CRAZY!  But, we made it! And, the food and fun were well worth the wait!

Then, off we went to our friends, Lisa and Jeremy's house for ice cream sundaes!  ...and Rock Band!

I don't know who had more fun...

the little kids? ....

or the big kids? :)

The kiddos enjoyed ice cream sundaes!

For some reason, this picture really makes me think of life 10 years from now... Yikes! :)

Before we knew it, the countdown had begun! We gathered around the TV to watch the NYC ball drop!

Landon's 1st kiss of 2012 = Ethan! (and Mommy too!)

2nd/3rd kiss? Daddy!

Then, off to the front steps to bang pots and pans!!!

But, who wants to play with pots and pans when there is a a vacuum nearby!

The gang of kids - the two sleeping babies!

Happy 2012!!! 

 

The (Post) Twelve Days of Christmas- Day 11

Day 10 - Ice Skating and Quad Riding!!

Landon loves hockey! ...I guess as the ol' saying goes: "It's in his blood!" ;)

Most of the time, he plays mini hockey in our kitchen, or basement.

He even loves to play with the big boys! ...his "brothers" as they all refer to each other!

But, he has been really into watching ice hockey lately- the Flyers and the movie, The Miracle, in particular. So, a trip to the Flyers Skate Zone was long overdue! 



At first, he was a little unsure of himself, and wanted to leave. I think it scared him to not be able to stand up on his feet! But, by the end, he was asking to go back out, and skate more.

Ethan enjoyed himself too!

Shortly after our trip to the skate zone, we were given a pair of hockey skates from a lady who works with my mom. As you can see, Landon loves them, and can't wait to go back!!

And, much to our surprise (can you sense the sarcasm here?) our "all boy", also likes riding on a Quad!

The day after Christmas, we went over to my sister Laura and her husband Dave's house to open up gifts, and hang out!

Happy with Daddy driving...

And, asking to drive in the next breath!