Go Hawkeyes

Well Hawkeye fans, this is our first attempt at getting a good photo with our new hawkeye hats that Grandpa Dan sent us....we will keep working on it. But we will be sure to cheer for them when we can. We will be busy this football season, so far we have cheered for the NWMS Bobcats for Uncle Jeffy, and will need to be cheering for TU, Tulsa, and Uncle Jonny wants us to cheer for the Bears as well....we will busy!!!

Great big sister

Brooklyn continues to be a great big sister. She loves giving hugs and kisses. And is also glad that Jamison has started "talking" to her. She has moved up in classes at school and at church and has liked it so far. We have visited dad at work a couple of times, got to go to a soccer game, and even got to run through the fountains!! But, she is still two and has her moments!! But overall we are having lots of fun!

Eight weeks and counting....

Well, Jamison is eight weeks old. Time is already flying by. Mom made it back to work and we are starting to get into an early morning routine again. Jamison is doing a pretty good job of sleeping at night, sometimes 7 to 8 hours at a time. But he does like to eat, and is growing too. He seems to be enjoying daycare also! It is nice to have him and Brooklyn at the same place and we know they are getting well taken care of! I think now that eight weeks have gone by, we are finally getting the hang of having two kids!!

Bath time

Jamison has started using his big-boy bath tub. Since I am giving both kids their baths with Chris working longer hours I had to find a way to get it done in a timely manner and try to get Brooklyn to bed. So Brooklyn gets her bath in the tub while Jamison is next to her outside the tub in his big boy tub. We make it work, Brooklyn thinks it is quite fun actually that Jamison takes a bath too. Jamison seems to really like bath time as well. What I love best about it... it means that bed time is coming soon!!!

Where's Daddy?

Football season is here. I love football as does the majority of my family. I like going to games, watching it on t.v., I even liked standing at practice when I was working. One thing that I don't like about football, is the amount of hours put in during two-a-days that takes Chris away from us. TU started preseason camp on August 6th I think. I think we have seen Chris maybe 5 hours since then. He works from approx. 6 or 7 am and gets home around 11:30 pm. He has also had a couple of later nights going to the ER with different athletes. I did take Brooklyn and Jamison up the other night to have dinner with him so that they could see their Daddy. And he did get to stay home this morning, and even made it to church with us. But all in all, it has been two weeks since we had quality time with him. And it will be atleast one more until things slow down a little. And even then he will still work later, til atleast 7 or 8 most days, plus will start traveling as well. So yes, I love football season, but we love our Daddy too and wish he didn't have to work so much. Let's just hope the Golden Hurricane make it well worth it!!!

Any resemblance???

Many people ask me who I think Jamison looks like (and we got this question many times with Brooklyn as well). My answer... I have no clue. I don't think my kids have any distinct traits of either Chris or I, I think they must just be a good mix of us! I did pull up some old pics of Brooklyn though...what do you think, any resemblance?? The top two are Jamison, the bottom two are Brooklyn. Either way, they are darn cute kids if you ask me!!!

WOW!!

Well, I have been at the updating again. I have more that I want to put on, but will work at spreading them out over the next week or so!!! So stay tuned! I think I am finally slowly getting my brain back. It has been spinning in twenty different directions between school starting, getting my stuff ready for a substitute filling in for me for a week, getting two kids here and there (and they are under two), and not having Chris around as he is busy with two-a-day practices. We can't wait to have our Daddy back!! But I am also glad Football season is here!! So as I continue to get my thoughts straight I will try and put some more stuff on here and/or add my thoughts on some of the things I have already mentioned!

ICE CREAM

We love to eat ice cream. Particularly going to Freckles, which is actually a frozen custard place. We have gone probably once a week all summer! And Brooklyn LOVES it as well! She knows the "ice cream place" when we drive by, and jumps and jumps at the mention of it. Grandma Iowa has even sent Brooklyn money a few times so we can go. Brooklyn has also started eating so much herself that we now get her her own!

Yes, this may not be the most healthy habit to start your two year old on. But I do like doing something special for her when she has been a good girl, or just to make her feel special! And we do it as a family! And if we are lucky our good friend Mere goes with us. Mere, this post is for you, and Brooklyn will be sure to have some Freckles for you!

Random Jamison pics

A few pics of Jamison from the past couple weeks. He has started COO-ing. Is getting his arms and legs moving more, and is getting that neck of his stronger. He has also started smiling some...but mom isn't quite quick enough with the camera. So I will keep working on that!!

He is getting BIG though. Was up to 11 pounds at his one month check up. He has a double chin and a big belly!! We will keep working on getting stronger. But boy is he handsome!!!!

Uncle Jonny and Uncle Jeffy

Uncle Jonny and Uncle Jeffy came to visit! We had a lot of fun!

Brooklyn is a true Iowa girl. Here she is in a Hawkeye shirt helping Uncle Jeff shuck the sweet corn.
We also went swimming! Blurry picture, but you can get the idea that Brooklyn was MORE than ready to go!!!

Brooklyn LOVED having them here. Jon and Jeff played their share of Candyland, did A LOT of puzzles (which Brooklyn LOVES doing right now!) And they also got VERY familiar with the Little People Video which Brooklyn is addicted to right now (will post about this).

I didn't get any pics of them with Jamison, which I am really regretting...but they both loved their nephew as far as I could tell. They are both naturals holding him! Won't be long before they have him out throwing the football and playing catch though!!!

Brooklyn was very sad to see them leave!!! She asks about them a couple of times daily and wants to know why they had to go back to Iowa. She doesn't understand why the left at all. She also gets very upset anytime we are coming home and gets mad at me and tells me she "doesn't want to go home, I want to go back to Iowa". Grandma Iowa, are you up for a visitor? Maybe next summer she could go to Camp Iowa! And she loves wearing her two Hawkeye shirts!!

Thanks for visiting Uncles, we miss you!!!

Look at those Toes. Fingers? No those are toes!

Here are a couple pics of Jamison's toes. Yes those are his toes. Although they are almost as long as his fingers (ok, not quite...but they are VERY LONG!). We joke that they could curl around and hold your finger. Hopefully this means he will be tall! But also looks like we will be buying BIG shoes!! (Aunt Julie is freaking out by this post!...and yes, Jamison may get this from both his Dad and Mom!)

Dancing Queen

Brooklyn loves to dance. If there is music on the TV, she is dancing. She is also in a ballet class at daycare which she brings home some moves to show us! Here she is in her Tu-Tu that I got for a dollar at Target. Dollar well spent, as she looks super cute twirling around! Anytime we are watching dancing on TV she does whatever moves they are doing. And if it is a partner dance, you better bet she makes her daddy help her out and lift her, twirl her, etc., and you better not mess up the moves!!!

Brooklyn

The last time Grandma Iowa was here she bought Brooklyn a little laptop computer. There are many games on it which are still a little too advanced, but there are a couple on there which she really enjoys! One is finding letters. She can quickly find the button of the letter it is asking for quite quick...all on her own. She has even started recognizing these letters in her books! I am very impressed by this little two year old! Please also notice the elbow and knee pads she had on this day. Guess it gets kind of rough laying on the floor to play! Hee hee-too cute!

Hat Day at The Nerio's

Just goofing around!!

The Zoo---what were we thinking!!!!???

So as summer was winding down and Chris having his last free weekend we decided to go to the zoo as a family of four. We loaded up the car with two strollers, snacks, and off we went. As the morning started off kind of rainy we were hoping that maybe it would be that busy....to pull into the parking lot to see that it was PACKED! It took us a half hour to find a parking spot, but we were determined. Get to the front gate to find out...IT IS FREE DAY AT THE ZOO. EVERYONE AND THEIR ENTIRE EXTENDED FAMILY WAS AT THE ZOO FOR FREE DAY!! What were we thinking, why didn't anyone tell us, how did we not know this??? We definately would have thought twice before going!!!

However we still had a great time, saw a lot of animals. The elephant was Brooklyn's favorite. And she would not touch the animals in the petting zoo. We also saw a baby lion, penguins, bears, giraffe and cheetah. It ended up being a very humid day, and got very tired in the two hours we were there.

The picture above was taken of Brooklyn POST-ZOO. Can you tell we were ready to go home!!!

But very glad we got to spend the day with dad before he got busy at work!!

One Month

When I asked Jamison how he thought his first month went these were the reactions I got....

So it looks like it was a confusing month for him and he can't make up his mind!!!