Mastering New Skills
Swimming Lessons
The boys have mastered some new things in the past week. George has started taking swim lessons and just this week put his head under the water. Remember that milestone? Remembering to close your mouth, eyes & nose all at the same time? He loves the water and the time with his papa in the water. As a family we are starting to pay attention to fitness – so last week while they were swimming I dropped Stu off at the drop in daycare while I worked out. We are planning at least one family night at the YMCA a week. The Y really offers a lot and we plan to take advantage of that!
Stu has mastered finding his hands. He can easily pick them up & move them conveniently to his mouth. He seems to be more content in the swing and other chairs as well…entertained by the jingly, ringing little colorful hanging critters. We are working on getting him to fall asleep on his back as he seems to prefer falling asleep in our chests/his tummy. Daycare (starts Feb 1) will only be able to put him to sleep on his back…so I thought we’d start working on that before he starts.
Photo by George
In addition to swimming, George has always liked technology. He has taken an interesting our phones and taking pictures. This is a picture of Matt he took last night…I was pretty impressed. Not necessarily at the quality of the photo, more that heturned the phone on, chose the correct application, then took the pic & reviewed it so he could show us.
Kids are smart. In fact they are so smart I am getting some new parenting books. I need a few more options to work with George. He has limited fear of authority and seems to not listen to directions very well…so….I am doing some reading.
We had George’s Parent/Teacher meeting this past week. As expected he has met all of the 2 year old milestones and loves art and music. The art teacher said she likes to listen to George’s stories and that often he will follow her around for 30 minutes talking, talking & talking! We have also noticed an increase of George’s talking…..and talking…and talking. We also learned that George will be ‘moving up’ to the 3 year old room on Monday. He will be moving with some friends & actually his new room will be right next to the infant room. It reminds us that his 3rd birthday is around the corner.
Happy Stuart
Off to play with Stu now that he is awake & alert….tomorrow we head to Green Bay where Aunt Heidi will watch Stuart while Matt & I take George to see “The Hungry Little Catapillar” at the Weidner Center. Should be lots of fun.
Family of 4
So it has already happened…the second child has gotten much less press than the first.
Our family of 3 expanded to 4 on Thursday, November 19 at 12:38 pm with the birth of our second son – Stuart Klein Suwalski. Stuart was born at 8 lbs and 21 inches. He let out a good loud cry as soon as he was born and has quieted down since then. Instantly our content family of 3 became a excited family of 4.
Stuart Sleeping Soundly
We had an exciting first month with Thanksgiving and Christmas. We had Thanksgiving at home – thankful for our 1 week old baby and 2.5 year old son. George was particularly challenging that day so being thankful was second to wanting to exchange him for the a new model. Overall, we knew we were blessed in many ways.
Christmas was wonderful and draining. We attended Matt’s MBA graduation then headed to the first Christmas party – Kratzke Christmas. Then we had a busy week ahead picking up the Grant family from the Airport, visiting Heidi’s new house, heading to Chicago where we got to the Suwalski Family celebration and played at Tim & Linda’s. From there we headed to New Holstein for my family’s Christmas celebration. Our final holiday soiree was the extended Kleinhans Celebration on Sunday after Christmas. It was great to see so many people and I love to see my grandparents. I know how lucky I am to see them and spend time with them. They are very special to my life and I’m so glad they are able to know my children.
Children – if feels weird to think that I have 2 children. In some ways I still feel like I shouldn’t really have kids…that I’m 32 (i think) years old. Odd. However, reality sets in regularly with the words “Mama, I have to pee” or the cry at 2 am from Stu who is hungry. Matt & I have found
Brothers
ourselves looking at each other and realizing how much we have together since we started dating December of 2001.
Kari came to visit for a week and helped me climb out of some clutter. By clutter I mean the amount of things that we have accumulated in our apartment and the clutter in my mind. It was great to see and have her here. George loved playing with her and she was helpful in providing a different parenting perspective on our challenging 2 year old. She was good and got me to nap a few days. One night I woke and asked Kari where Stuart was and she said “In your arms” and later pointed out that I needed more sleep than I thought. Guess she was right.
For now I’m enjoying maternity leave before I go back February 1st. We are working through some of George’s independent challenges he is dishing out to us….and constantly amazed by his wit and intellect. Sometimes I don’t know if I can keep a straight face when he says things. The story I’ve been telling lately is that when I say no to George & he starts to whine – my line is “sometimes the answer is no”. Well, of course it has come back to get me. I asked George to bring me my shoes one day & he said no. I asked again using ‘please’. He simply looked at me with his hands in the air and said “Mama, sometimes the answer is no.”
With that I close today to enjoy a few minutes when both of the boys are napping…..
I want to be just like mommy…
So as the story goes we were out shopping for some last minute baby items and make our regular trek to Sam’s Club before heading back to Oshkosh. While in the store we found a little seedless watermelon and seeing that George loves fruit we decided to pick one up.
Side Note: For the last few months George has been saying the phrase “…that’s my favorite” or “…I do it all by myself.” and this time he wanted to befriend the watermelon and make sure that it sat next to him in the cart.
So we pickup the watermelon and are walking through the store when George decides to accost the thing and stick’s it up under his shirt and he begins to laugh. He wanted to be just like mommy…
George with baby melon
George delivering baby melon
Big Boys & Baby
Time for an update. It was pointed out that we have done little to introduce you all to our expected arrival in November. I suppose we have been so busy just taking care of George that it hasn’t slipped out minds, but instead fallen from the top of the list.
I am currently 33 weeks with 7 weeks left of having the little one inside. We did not find out if our second child is a boy or girl and I don’t feel much different from when I was pregnant with George. So, I have not indication on anything other than I am carrying much lower than before, which is expected with a second pregnancy. Seeing my family is full of boys the thought of a girl is there, but most are thinking boy.
The baby is much more active now, lots of rolling around and stretching happening. However, this one is much more cooperative to be in the ‘correct’ position for a few weeks – hopefully he/she decides to stay in that position.
George looked at the baby (tummy) and said “mama, it’s sooo big”. He gives hugs & kisses to the bump and says the baby is going to “pop” out. I think he gets this concept from the Hungry Little Caterpillar who “pops” out his egg.
Last week George got his ‘big boy bed’ and he loves it. We are glad as the crib will needed for someone else in a few months. Matt & I are starting to realize that we will be parents of a newborn again soon and are starting to mentally prepare and bring up things from storage.
We have many things to be thankful and grateful for….including the upcoming excitement for our families….weddings, new homes, anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, etc.
George Update
Time flies by & it is time for an update on George! He turned 2 1/2 today and is full of energy and personality these days. Some of his recent accomplishments are in the area of potty training. He is so proud to tell everyone that he poops & goes potty in the toilet. We are very proud as well and enjoy that he has less than a couple accidents a week. Matt & I are so excited to pick him up in the same underpants & shorts that he wore to school!
He is also going through a growth spurt or something that is causing him to be what one hears as a typical 2 year old. He has specific thoughts on when & how things should be done. His independent nature is showing and he is becoming very autonomous in one breath and then asks to snuggle in the next. Lately he wants to help cook or bake anything (making smoothies is his current favorite). He can also loosen his car seat buckle and yell NO very loudly when we tighten it again.
Other new things are that George is both tall and strong enough to open the door of our apartment and refrigerator. It is always exciting when he can get his own juice, water, food or explore Taylor Hall on his own. George is very active and enjoys playing with a variety of activities and toys. He recently got into water paints and enjoys them. He is also cute with the baby, he likes to hug my stomach & give the baby kisses. We don’t think he really understands what is about to happen in his world, but it will be exciting.
The next coming months will be full and fun. In the coming weeks we will head to Iowa for a wedding, have the Dragonboat Race & Festival, be a part of Laura & Chris’s wedding day, have UW Oshkosh Homecoming, attend a state conference and host a Diversity & Leadership Conference. Life continues to keep us busy and I know I will look forward to a little ‘down’ time at home with the new baby when he/she arrives in mid-November.
George’s Boo Boo Reports
We have been wanting to post these for a while, but I wanted to made sure I had some time to tell the story that goes along with these. So…
…one day I was picking George up from school and his teacher informed me that George had received a “Boo Boo Report” and thinking nothing of it took it home and we went on our way. Ok the next day same thing… finally on the third day as I was going to pick George up the teach stopped me and said that George got hurt again and he had another report at this time I commented “wow, I think he’s winning this is like the 3rd day in a row” we chuckled and went on our way.
On the fourth day as I was going to pick George up I noticed not one but two reports taped to his mailbox… and the teacher stopped me. She said one happened in the morning and she felt bad because I had just commented that this was like the fourth day in a row that George got a note, but then she had to write another one in the afternoon and thought I we were going to be upset.
Long story short we now have unequivocal evidence George is a little boy.
May 09 Pics
Smile.
*hic* Hey Moe give me a another beer…
A house just my size.
When you gotta eat… you gotta eat.
Mary had a little lamb… little lamb…
Just like Grandma’s Jeep…
Great grandma Temple playing with George.
Great Grandma Temple & George
Now this looks like trouble
Aunt Janet, Uncle Steve & George (Memorial Day Weekend in MN)
April 09 Pictures
Mr. Clean Jr cleaning his “dishes” in the bathroom sink
George is wondering what color omelet this egg will make…
This is the smile I use to pick up the girls at school
This is the smile I use to get whatever I want from mommy…
Yup, 100% momma’s boy.
It was a rough day and I needed a drink. Bar was closed but kitchen was open!
Hey, I didn’t know you were there?
The beginning of the Oshkosh stroller gang. George and Elliot Bain at the UWO Service Day.
Work, work, work… work all day.
This work is tiring stuff… da da dats all folks.
Feb’09 Pictures
Pictures from February 2009.
In the jungle, the mighty jungle…
Is George walking Dakota or is Dakota walking George?
I told you not to mess with my ice cream!
Hello.
Mom & George.
Yup, this is my new picture smile w/ teeth. Grrr.
Can’t a guy just read the paper and eat a little breakfast?
This painting with my hands is fun.
Look you can get it everywhere…