Last Diaper for Gavin?

I just put our last size 6 diaper on Gavin. Next up is underwear. How will this go? Stay tuned...

I do have nighttimes yet, I'm not completely insane.

Jacob's Report Card

Jacob got his first "report card" from Kindergarten at the beginning of December. He had mostly X's, which meant he was meeting expectations. He needs work on reading numbers 10-20, for some reason the teens confuse him as he can read 20's, 30's and so on, and writing those numbers. Otherwise his math and language arts skills where good. He does need to work on self-control, not surprising, and the comment was "Jacob needs to be reminded daily to calm his body and keep his hands to himself." Hmm, I remind him of that at home too, so we are working on that.

Jacob was the "Special K" student of his class the week before Christmas. He got to bring in a poster of his life and share that with his class. I surprised him on Friday of his special week and was the mystery reader for his class. He thinks its great,even cool, when I come to school. I'll enjoy it while I can.

I volunteered for his Winter Party too and got the job of face painting, my face painting skills from youth group fundraising days were very rusty, but luckily the kindergartners were very forgiving. Jacob walked by my station without seeing me and I told him that later. He said "mom, why didn't you yell my name". My reply, "I didn't want to embarass you." Jacob says "you couldn't embarass me." Uh-huh, watch and see.

Jacob's Christmas Program - Dec 12th

Jacob did have a Christmas program at church. It was a perfect program for the K-2nd graders. Very cute costumes and a great version of the Christmas story. Jacob was a donkey and his line was "Let's listen to the story and learn about the birth of Jesus." He said that, or was suppose to way it, with three other donkeys. He also sang "Away in a Manger" and "Hark the Herald Angles Sing". Here are a couple pictures.

Jacob "backstage" in his donkey costume.

Jacob onstage.

Growing Fast

Wyatt had his 2 month check-up today. He weighed in at 15 pounds and 9 ounces and was 24.75 inches long. (That's up from 8 lbs 9 oz, 21" at birth.) Of course, the Dr said he "could" sleep through the night now. Uh-huh, we'll work on that, but I am not so good at letting babies cry. He got his shots, Jacob was with us and he said "I can't bear to watch."

Left photo taken 10/20, right photo taken 12/1.

Wyatt has taken his first and second trip to Melrose where he got to meet more of his cousins and enjoy Thanksgiving with both sides of the family. He has shown us a few smiles, but they aren't too easy to get out of him. His head is pretty steady and his legs can support his weight. I think in the next couple months he'll really start to get fun, and hopefully sleep through the night.

Weekend will leave scars

So, Fred was off in Vegas this weekend with his brother, Corey, and some friends. He left Friday morning and we survived just fine until about 7 PM Friday. We had been to Eden Prairie Mall to see Santa and his reindeer arrive. After we returned home they boys wanted to play tag, I told them not to run in the house, they were playing "hide and seek" instead, but still running. Gavin got tripped by Jacob and wacked his head on the one wood step we have in the house and split his eyebrow open. I've always wondered how you know if a cut needs stitches and now I know, you just know. When it is gaping open and you can barely stand to look at your kiddo straight on, it needs medical attention.

I was home alone with the boys, actually feeding Wyatt on the couch at the time of the crash, who then got flopped on the couch to scream while Gavin screamed in pain and Jacob cried in regret and sent himself to his room. I knew I needed to get to the emergency room and I knew taking all three of them would be a nightmare, so I called on my sister Adrea, whom we had just left after the Santa adventure. I just said "I need you, I need to take Gavin to the emergency room" and she put down the bottles she wanted to purchase at the liquor store and was on her way. While I waited for her to arrive I got some ice on Gavin's head while he drank some milk and I feed Wyatt a bit. By the time Adrea arrived, Gavin's head wasn't gushing anymore and I think only Jacob was still crying. I took Gavin to the emergency room and left Jacob and Wyatt with Adrea.

The emergency room receptionist was sure Gavin would need to be sedated for stitches and so she made us wait 3 hours before getting called back, since Gavin had had milk and if they sedate it needs to be at least 3 hours after eating or drinking. When we got back into the treatment room, sedating was never mentioned (so our waiting was for not). They "numbed" the cut with a topical numbing liquid applied by a cotton swab. That in itself was horrifying to me and Gavin, who had fallen asleep finally and was awoken by a nurse firmly dabbing this stinking liquid onto his wound, was apparently horrified as well. After he recovered from the "numbing" they came in, strapped him to a stabalization board (papoose board), and then put in the 5 stitches. I'm not sure if the numbing helped at all, he still thrashed and screamed through that too. This was a minor injury and I don't know how I will be able to handle anything of a larger nature, that was enough for me.

Gavin and Jacob waiting for Santa's arrival.

Santa and his reindeer. For some reason I thought he would

need a bigger sleigh and more reindeer.

Sorry if you have a weak stomach, this is how I knew it needed stitches.


This is what he looked on Sunday after the crash.

On Sunday morning Jacob sang at church with his Joyful Sounds choir. Here is a short clip from his performance. I wasn't aware that he was suppose to be warming up with the choir prior to the performance, so I just shoved him in the line as the were walking up the aisle to perform. So he was a little unsure and unrehearsed.

Baptism Complete

Wyatt was baptised this past Sunday. He wore the same outfit my mom made for Jacob and Gavin wore it too. It was a good thing we didn't wait any longer, I may not have gotten it on him, as it was I had a hard time getting him out of it. Wyatt did great at baptism, he slept through most of the service, kind of woke up to be baptised, cried a little when he actually was getting baptised, but calmed down right away. Wyatt's Godparents/Sponsors are my sisters - Alyssa and Adrea and Fred's brother Joel. After baptism, we came back to our house for lunch and cake. Some of the kids headed outside to play in the new snow. We had about 26 people here to celebrate, including our family, Alyssa's family, Joel's family, Corey's family, Adrea, and grandparents.

Wyatt in his baptsimal outfit.

Wyatt was baptised at the same service as Jed Keenan, here both babies are being presented to the congregation.

Wyatt with his Godparents - Joel, Adrea (holding him), and Alyssa.

Our family with Pastor Reggie who performed the baptism.

Gavin is our little photographer and he took many a picture during pictures.

Wyatt with Granpma and Grandpa Middendorf.

Wyatt with Grandma and Grandpa Jeske.

Four generations - Wyatt, mom Amber, Grandpa Ron, Great Grandma Lyd

Adrea and Wyatt

Joel's family with Wyatt (Jesse, Joel, Juile, Jorda and Gentry)

Alyssa's family with Wyatt (Isaac, Maddie, Alyssa and Joe)

Wyatt with his cake

Wyatt snuggling with Great Grandma at the end of the day

Halloween Wraps Up, but War Wounds Remain

We finally carved our pumpkins last Thursday night. Last year after Halloween I found some electric carving knives for pumpkins on clearance, so our work was a little more refined this year. Fred and I do a pumpkin and then Jacob draws the faces on the rest and we carve them out - you may not be able to tell which is which, none of us are too artistic. Gavin had very little interest in the drawing or the carving of the pumpkins. I was crowned the best pumpkin cleaner when it came to cleaning out the guts.

Jacob watching as Fred carves a pumpkin, that's Fred's pumpkin to the right.

The boys with the finished work. Fred's is to the far left, mine to the far right. Jacob drew the faces for the two biggest pumpkins and Fred carved RIP on the pumpkin that Gavin doodled on.

On Friday the Jacob didn't have school and our MOMS Club had their Halloween Party at the community center. There were games, crafts, and lots of food.

Gavin and Jacob with friend Kyle (Tony Stewart) and Avery (cupcake)

Here is Gavin's complete Batman costume. He decided about 20 minutes before the party that he didn't want to be Spiderman again and we had to make a quick costume change.

Fred took Jacob and Gavin trick or treating on Sunday night while I stayed home with Wyatt and handed out candy. They had a good time getting treats. Our street is just the right size for trick-or-treating, but we do have too much candy. Yikes! Good thing I got rid of all but a few pieces of the candy we had to hand out.

The weekend contained many wrestling matches between Jacob and Gavin despite our threats not to take them trick-or-treating. One said wrestling match ended when Gavin clamped onto Jacob's cheek, leaving a nice mark. You would think Jacob would quit sparring with Gavin, since he always seems to "lose", meaning he is always bruised or scratched, but it does not deter him.

Bitten.

Wyatt was a monkey for our church and MOMS Club parties, the feet of his costume said "cheeky monkey" which you can see is fitting. Look at those cheeks! Wyatt turned 1 month old last Friday. He doesn't have a Dr appointment until December though and it'll be really interesting to see how big he is then.

Wyatt

Outings

I've been out and about with the three boys. We first ventured to Sever's Corn Maze in Shakopee last Friday. It was enough keeping track of Jacob and Gavin as they ran thru the hay maze, jumped in the corn pit, fed assorted animals and watched pig races, it was a real blessing that Wyatt slept the entire time we were there. We went to the corn maze with our Mom's Club and also saw Nate and Diana Blommel and family there too.

Jacob getting buried by his friend Kyle.

Gavin after a jump in the corn pit.

Fred went with a co-worker, and free tickets, to the Vikings game in Green Bay last Sunday night. While he was gone, we had Holyween at our church. Apparently the "Holyween" title and the fact that we all dressed as Bible characters last year, led Adrea to believe that everyone would be dressed as Bible characters, but that is not the case. This year it was just Jacob, dressed as Joseph, and Adrea, dressed as Mary (mother of God). My mom and Adrea went with me and the boys to Holyween. It was great to have a 1-on-1 ratio at the event. The kids got to do a bunch of crafts, have treats, listen to a story, and then go out "Trunk or Treating" from car to car. Our car decor was weaker even than other years, but I don't think the kids care that much.

Gavin (Spiderman in front) and Jacob (Joseph in back) with other little ones at Holyween.

Our little monkey, he slept thru this event too.

Adrea with the boys by our car.

We've done an annual pumpkin picking outing the past 3 years with the Silvestains. Due to crappy weather and bad scheduling, we didn't get to a "patch" this year and the kids just had to pick from pre-picked pumpkins. It was raining and muddy, so it was good not to be in a field, but my boys still found ways to get dirty. Now we have pumpkins from the Rosenbergers, from church and from our outing to carve. Fred and the boys will be busy.

Jacob and Gavin running amongst the pumpkins.

Gavin with friend Avery.

Today Jacob had Fall Festival at school, so he dressed up as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, namely Raphael, even though he doesn't know who they are. Gavin just hangs out as Spiderman a lot lately.

Raphael and Spiderman.

The Announcement

Another Chunky Monkey

Wyatt is a good eater if he is anything. So, he's chunking up. His cheeks are getting fuller and his thighs are filling out, so cute! He had a couple of really good sleeping nights after we got home from the hospital, but since then its been up every 2-3 hours, though he does usually do a longer stretch of sleep in the evening, but not while I'm sleeping. He's having longer awake periods, which makes it easier for his brothers to have time to love on him and he tolerates that pretty well.

Those cheeks are squishy soft.

Out of the newborn outfits and into the 0-3 months.

Cheesy brothers.

Kisses from Jacob.

Kisses from Gavin.

Fred had off the first week Wyatt was home. It was great to be able to sleep when Wyatt slept and have help getting kids ready to go to all their activities. Then my mom was here with us the next week. She pretty much served as referee for my ever wrestling boys and also got lots of cuddle time with Wyatt. It wasn't until I was home by myself for the first day that Jacob missed the bus to kindergarten and I got to pack all the boys into the van and get him to school.

Gavin has been out of sorts since Wyatt's arrival. The first night I was in the hospital he called (with mom's help) to tell me "I need you mama!" I cried. There's been lots of crying since too, but mostly from Gavin. He went thru a stage of only wanting to wear certain clothes and not wanting to be away from home. He didn't want to stay at school, at MOPS or even go out to eat with us. He's been better this week, so hopefully he'll be fully adjusted soon.

One night Gavin refused to take his Spiderman costume off for bed.

Alway check on your children who are being too quiet, they may end up looking like this. Good thing it was washable marker.

I had conferences for Jacob on Tuesday evening. Besides his name writing, which often contains a backwards J and b and sometimes a backwards c, she didn't have any concerns about his learning. She did mention a few behavioral issues, not listening, being silly, wrestling - same things we're working on at home. He knows all his letters and can place most of their sounds. He can write his numbers to 20, except that the 12-20 are backwards. All the backwards stuff is probably due to him being left handed and they'll get that worked out. He's also been sounding words out and doing lots of "mail" again, filling up all the junk mail envelopes I collect for his use.

Jacob also has been doing swim lessons at the community center. I wasn't on top of the scheduling of lessons, which he wanted to do at Foss, so I missed those and then wasn't in time for the community centers regular classes either, so he is doing one on one lessons. He isn't keen on the idea of being the only kid in class and he still isn't staying afloat in his backstroke, but he has gotten to jump off the diving board and has passed his swim test and can go down the big slide now. Fred has been taking both Jacob and Gavin to the community center for Jacob's lesson and then they go to open swim after. The boys have really enjoyed that and maybe next week I can go and give Fred an evening off, well, he'll have Wyatt, but one little baby is easy:)

Jacob came home yesterday with a "spider hat", so we had to make one for Gavin too.

Handsome and Sweet

That's how I would describe Jacob in his kindergarten school picture. It was a little nerve racking sending him off to get his picture taken without any coaching or grooming from his mom, but he did well - you can see he combed his hair before getting his picture taken.

What Gavin Says...

Gavin is a pretty good talker, but there are a few things that make us laugh.

Most recently he has been calling his new brother Wyatt, "Quiet". We ask what his brother's name is and he says "Quiet" or he refers to "Quiet's puppy". He's funny when he comes to visit and asks me "where's your baby?"

Before I forget, I'll also note that he calls elevators "alligators", gymnastics "mynastics" and orange push-ups "kush-ups", which has improved from when he asked for an "orange ketchup" and I had no idea what he wanted.

Welcome Wyatt Ronald!

Wyatt Ronald Middendorf was born at 7:29 am on September 29th, 2010. He weighed in at 8 pounds and 9 ounces, was 21 inches long and his head measured 15 inches. He has been a good nurser and good sleeper all day today. He had visits from his brothers, grandparents, aunts Alyssa, Adrea, Jill and Lisa, Uncle Steve, and cousins Maddie, Isaac, and Lori.

Jacob loves baby and is over the moon about his new brother. He was not about to let Grandma hold Wyatt before he did.

Fred holding Wyatt shortly after delivery.

Mom and Wyatt's cuddle time.

Kind of a picture of our new family.

Next Vikes Fan

Fred and I got to go to the Vikings game today with our friends Kim and Kyle to see the Vikes finally win. Yeah! I didn't have a jersey to wear, so I made my own Vikes shirt...

I had to put the lettering on while I was wearing the shirt and riding in the car, so its not the neatest work, but I got lots of looks and compliments. Still I couldn't get the camera guys at the dome to put me on the big screen.