Attempt #1: Lasted 1o minutes before Stuart came running to Sara “Mommy poop in my underwear.” It wasn’t that traumatic though as he stood and pee’d down his leg.

Attempt #2: Last approximately 10 more minutes before it was bath time. A success as I think he crossed the 11 minute mark.

Even thought we have been through this before we have a new tool in our toolbox. We have a big brother who with the right motivation can lead Stuart down the path to potty training success (or teach him how to pee in the backyard by the bushes “just like camping”).

1st Haircut Certificate

Stuart's First Haircut

Well, Stuart got his first haircut tonight. Though not very thick yet, it was getting a bit long in the back and right down the middle.  He has a certificate to show for it too!  More & more we are reminded that he is not longer a baby…but a little boy.  Stuart often walks around the house ‘talking’ to us as if we understand all he is saying.  Lately he has taken to carrying things around the house…cups, stuffed animals, his winter coat.  It doesn’t seem to matter what it is, as long as he has something to carry.   A real steward.

We have had an exciting couple of weeks.  George is doing better in his classroom and is learning to write his name.  He is also working on identifying all his letters and numbers up to 12.  He pretty much has that down but seems to confuse p, d, q, and 8.  He is excited to have nicer weather and loves playing outside…..walking in mud & playing in puddles.  Though we cringe, I think we just need to remember he is a little boy who should be playing like that.  However, we have quickly realized that whatever George does….Stuart is not far behind.

Box Head Brothers

Matt interviewed and secured his position as Asst. Director for Business & Retail Services at Reeve Union.  We are both pleased to be continuing in our positions and feel fortunate to be part of such a good organization.  Matt also went to Florida to become a certified dragonboat steersmen.  He will help with practice sessions for teams competing in the Oshkosh festival.  While he was away I had some good time with the boys…but we were all happy to have papa back home!

Last week Saturday we went to celebrate my grandparents’ 60th anniversary.  How cool is that?  Geez…..60 years is a long time….and it was wonderful to see them still together & enjoying all that life has to offer.  My grandparents have shown lots of love to our family….and we love them very much.

Celebrating Gr & Gr Kratzke's 60th Anniversary

We had a small celebration with family & a few friends. It is nice to have a home to celebrate in….and George had a blast. It was a pirate themed party with eye patches, treasure hunts, pirate pinata, treasure cake & a cardboard ship.

He was fortunate to get so many great gifts including indoor & outdoor toys, some new trains and great clothes. It is fun to watch his personality emerge as he is playing more intently with his things.

Happy 4th George

Treaure Chest Pirate Cake

We also went to Mexico!  The long awaited trip arrived and was wonderful.  We spent 7 days at the Barcelo Maya Palace and enjoyed every day.  The flights were direct but with Stuart growing & becoming more active it was a bit of a challenge to keep him still as a ‘lap baby’.  George did great, he plugged into his iPod & watched movies, read books & played with stickers.  While in Mexico Stuart was introduced to sand (he loved it) and George to the ocean (he liked the sand more).  We saw fish in the ocean, played at the wonderful waterpark with Brycen & Aidan and swam in the big pool (and to the swim up bar) with all of the family who was there.  The food was great, the staff was understanding to the expected mess made by our 1 year old….and we stayed free of sun burn.

The reason we made this trip was to watch my brother Eric & Patty get married.  It was beautiful.  They were married on the beach with a sunset not far away and then celebrated with dinner on the beach as well.  It was like in the movies, complete with their son Brycen not wanting to carry the ring pillow down the isle.  It was a beautiful wedding & celebration…..and being in sandals all week felt great!

We are now getting ready for a year of celebrations….starting with George’s 4th Birthday this month and our Pirate themed celebration.  Then on to celebrate weddings for Eric/Patty, John/Lena, and Heidi/James.  In there we will also celebrate my Mom & Dad’s 40th Wedding anniversary AND my grandparents 60th Anniversary.  Let the good times roll!

Christmas Morning

We had a great Christmas with the typical travels and characters but lots of love, hugs, great food & generous gifts.  We got to the Kratzke, Kleinhans & Suwalski extended family celebrations where we saw many family members, opened fun gifts and ate amazing amounts of food.  In addition we celebrated with our parents, siblings (in person & via chat), and nephews.  We are so grateful for the time we spend together.  We often reflect that our gatherings and get togethers are pretty much the same each year and we know what to expect….but if we weren’t there we would miss them.  I guess that is why traditions become special…not because they are intentionally planned but they just develop and become part of us.

The boys had a nice Christmas.  It took George a few minutes to notice gifts under the tree and then he was astonished.  We wrote to ask Santa to come early as we would be on the road over December 25th…..George inspected the cookie crumbs, partly consumed milk and gnawed carrot and wondered why they weren’t all gone.  Some days I think he will take DNA samples or something…he is so curious.  Who would have known we were so right in naming him our curious George.

Family Christmas - Boys Club

Stuart was pretty excited and understood the gift opening…but didn’t really want to open more than one gift.  Bagel was excited for the paper and kept taking & hiding under the couch.  Overall, it was wonderful to be in our home for our first Christmas.

We decided to invite some friends over for New Years Eve and had a nice time…I think there were 7 kids under the age of 5 in the house.  Sure is nice to have a place to host comfortably!  I think it is one of the first years in a long time I made it to midnight…along with George.  We watched the movie Despicable Me…Matt took a snooze but George stayed strong til midnight.

Stuart is just a chatty machine on feet.  He walks all over, chats like we should understand him & loves to carry things around the house.  He says grandma, papa, bagel & george.  When he wants something he says help or just screams really loud.  The later is quite irritating but unfortunately I respond and thus it continues.  I’ll work on that.  Stuart will often pick up Bagel toys & take them to him.  Stuart has taken a liking to our recycling bin taking out the empty yogurt cups and carrying them around.  He has been eating a ton lately – more than George.  For breakfast he will have a full yogurt cup, cut fruit & sometimes a pb & jelly toast.  I keep thinking he will grow….but it hasn’t come yet.  However, we have made strides in the sleeping department.  We can lay him down & he pouts and then just goes to sleep.  I know other parents have mastered this much earlier, but we are happy to be in this place of easy night time without severe struggles for sleep.

Stu's Strategic Gift!

Matt & I are well.  We had some time off together over the holidays and enjoyed coffee, breakfasts & getting the house put back together from traveling.  Matt is awesome at taking care of the driveway….he loves his snow thrower.  I caught up with printing my pictures from the past year….now to get them in the album!  Both Matt & I are in interim positions that end on June 30th.  So, we will apply & hopefully secure them!   I’ll submit my application and then get ready for Mexico!  Our next family adventure takes us to the Barcelo Maya in Mexico for Eric & Patty’s wedding.  We are excited and getting out shorts, sandals & sun hats to pack.

It will be an exciting year for sure…my lil sister Heidi got engaged over Christmas to long time boyfriend James.  Sounds like their wedding will be on July 3 and the Matt’s brother John is getting married to Lena on July 8th.  It will be a big week!  Beyond that we each have cousins getting married, my parent’s 40th anniversary, Mom’s 60th bd, Grandparents 60th anniversary, …LOTS to celebrate.

Secrets with Santa

Cookie Decorating

Stu enjoys sweets!

George - man with technology!

Grandma & Grandpa Kleinhans w/boys

Bagel w/his Christmas Ball

George at his Christmas Concert - 3 years old

Matt & George in the Snow

Each morning George wakes up and asks “Is today Christmas?”….when we got snow a few weeks back he thought it was Christmas.  Matt has become quite familiar and skilled with our new snow blower.  Right now we have a good 8 – 10″ on the ground.  The first couple of days with snow were tough for Bagel, especially seeing the snow is deeper than he is tall.  After a few ‘accidents’ in the house we figured he was having a tough time doing business in the snow.  Matt took care of that by plowing a path in a circle within our backyard.  This allows Bagel to run around, do his business & even venture into deeper territory if he is feeling it.  Matt & George have played outside and made a small fort (which has since been destroyed) and a snowman.  Ah, the signs of winter snow.

Grandma reading to Stuart

A couple of weeks back when we got a big snow my parents braved the weather to watch the boys while we ventured to our work holiday party.  We enjoyed the time away and they had a blast with the boys.  The bonus is that when we got home they had decorated cookies so we could enjoy them!

We have already started to celebrate the season with my extended family gatherings.  We were in Appleton for the Kratzke Christmas & then to Chilton for the Kleinhans Christmas.  The days always go quickly, I never seem to have enough time to connect with as many people as I’d wish, and the rooms are always warm.  What does that mean?  It means family is near.  It means that there are enough of us to fill a room.  It means that there is most likely more than enough food for everyone.  It means that love is around….even if it is a bit too loud or warm.  I enjoy seeing everyone but it is always my grandparents that I am most excited to see.  This year I got to watch my grandpa play with George & his little Zhu Zhu (mechanical hamster).  That was cool.

George had his Christmas program at church on Sunday.  Similar to his Christmas program at Daycare he stood in front and sang approximately 3-5 words of the song & then just looked at the audience.  We are just pleased that he can stand there without screaming, bothering other kids or becoming some other distraction.  He is proud to be there and I think he truly believes that he sings the whole song.  We just hug him & say what a good job he did.

Kids Galore @ Kratzke Christmas

Great Grandma & Grandpa Kratzke w/George

Stuart’s personality continues to unfold.  Yes, he is indeed stubborn.  However, he is starting to talk as well.  He’s happy to say hi & bye to a number of people.  He spits out sounds that are similar to “bagel” and “georgie”.  In addition to loving to watch everything his big brother does, he has taken great amusement in his dad.  Matt will pretend to hit his head and Stuart erupts with laughter.  There are few things as wonderful as a good belly laugh from a baby.  The past weekend also brought him to his feet.  He could have walked for months, but this past weekend he decided to walk more than crawl.  He is wearing hard sole shoes now; that seemed to help him.  Either way, he is walking & enjoying his new ‘freedom’.

Matt & I have a furlough day tomorrow and then will be off for the holidays.  We head to Chicago tomorrow and then to celebrate with my family on Saturday & Sunday.  We’ve written to Santa to ask him to come early.  We are hopeful he can come tonight so we can have our family Christmas tomorrow morning.

Saturday we celebrated with a small gathering but it was WONDERFUL to have it in our home where we had enough room for everyone.  It was great to have so many loved ones around to celebrate Stuart’s 1st birthday.  I know moms say it all the time, but I can’t believe he is one already!  He loved his cake and figured out the gift opening as well….without any problems.

The past week we put up our tree, hung our stockings & took our traditional drive through the Celebration of Lights in Oshkosh.  We also had flu shots, fevers, congestion and other illness as well.  Like I mentioned, the holidays are here.   Our family survived some meltdowns and screaming fits….in some ways it was just another week in the life.  What I did learn was that George really looks forward to the chocolate in his advent calendar & is very upset if he has that taken away.  These are the types of things a parent needs to take note of.

Matt headed to Chicago today to take a trip to Detroit with some family to see a Bears game.  George, Stuart & I took a trip to Green Bay attend what I thought was the annual Tis the Season.  However, seems that I had the date wrong & the event is actually next week.  I’m not often early much less early by a week.  I felt silly, but we ended up going to Heritage Hill for their Holiday Celebration.  Patty, Eric, Brycen, Heidi, James & my family went to tour the glimpse of life as it once was.  We had a  nice day…it was cold but the snow held out.

Stuart's 1st Birthday Party

George helps Stu with his cake.

Elliot & George play...

Gift Opening

Bagel's cozy spot. Awww....

George & Brycen at Heritage Hill

Lucky Mama w/Stuart & George.

Cake is good, chocolate makes it better!

Our ‘baby’ Stu turned 1 year old yesterday.  I had this yearning to do something special…..I’m typically the one who says “He’s one, he won’t know the difference” but I guess it was more for me to realize my baby is growing bigger than for him.  We ended up having a spaghetti dinner that ended in Stuart screaming, George not wanting to finish his dinner and Matt with a headache.  I do sometimes wonder if someone is secretly taping our home for some type of reality TV show or movie.  I often feel like the dad in Mr. Mom.  However, the silver lining was getting Stuart his birthday cake.  We sang, Stu tried to touch the flame and I blew out the candle.  Stuart got a piece of cake and was quiet….so quiet as he consumed and licked his fingers.  After he was done he just looked around & laughed at his dad.  He tried ice cream but mostly enjoyed the chocolate frosting on the cake.

We got him a little Chuck Truck activity toy and he was interested but not as much as his older brother who has played with it already this morning for about an hour.  The biggest trick is to keep all the trucks off the floor and away from Bagel.  We look forward to celebrating with family & friends next weekend.

1st Birthday

In the past weeks we have done lots of things – we got to celebrate Grandma Kleinhans’ birthday with her.  George had fun picking pumpkin for prizes!  We have had swim class & George is progressing well while Stuart is just enjoying time in the water.  After one week of the entire family going to puppy class (didn’t work so well) Matt has resumed his role as trainer & is making progress with Bagel.  It is amazing how much bigger he has gotten in just one month!  Stuart is still reluctant to walk on his own but is continuing to learn new things like pointing to his nose & ear, putting his finger to his mouth (well, more like his nose) and say SHHHH, he is attempting the words Bagel & George.  We are glad that both boys have interests in books.  Matt & I even took a day off for ourselves this past week.  We went for a nice breakfast & then to see the newest Harry Potter movie.

Bagel - 4 months

We have had an exciting week.  We celebrated Matt’s 31st birthday and Tuesday we welcomed our newest member of the family  – Bagel the 10 week old beagle.  Wow, I remember someone saying puppies are like babies…and they weren’t kidding.  First we thought Bagel was 10 months, but instead he is much younger.  The first night was rough…lots of noise from our little ‘baby’, many trips outside (almost every 15 – 30 minutes), and a few accidents inside the house.  They boys are very excited to have him…George wants someone to boss around & Stuart thinks he is funny.  George doesn’t understand why Bagel doesn’t listen and Stuart doesn’t enjoy Bagel’s believe that Stu’s ears are chew toys.  However, we are all learning as a family.  Bagel only wakes up about once a night (5 am) to be let out and we are figuring it all out.  I guess it may only be another couple months til our family sleeps through the night….maybe.

Friday Matt & I celebrated our 5th Anniversary.  We had many nice cards, messages & notes of congratulations.  Looking back we have had a busy 5 years…and we are very blessed.  I’m sure the next 5 will go equally as fast…..and be full of even more memories.  For now we are thankful for all we have and wish each day for more patience, a reminder to use laughter when frustrated, and love to see the important parts knowing the rest may not last (like George’s loud mouth that spits out the word poop whenever possible). Ah, the joys of our life.