Last days of Summer

August was a fun month in the Budde household. In early August we had the Budde family campout. On the way there we needed to stop and get passports for both the children. Louis was super excited to get it and take his picture. It has since arrived and he is very proud of his “pass-i-port”.

The Budde family campout was a good time. Nearly all the Budde aunts, uncles and cousins were there. We were lucky this year in that the “campout” was held at Brad’s dad’s place. That meant that we got to sleep in the house, in beds and had running water. My idea of camping.

In mid-August we had a bunch of my college girlfriends down for an afternoon while the guys went golfing. There were a lot of little kids there and while it was quick different than our get togethers of years past, it was fun for all the girl’s and the kids to hang out and catch up.

Lastly we made a family outing to a Twins game…one last one in the metrodome. Louis was super excited to go to the game. He marched into the dome chanting “base…ball…game, base…ball…game”. Once we got there he did get bored pretty quickly. Both kids got pretty tired after about six innings and we needed to leave.

The summer ended with a great labor day weekend at the cabin. We only went up for one night but it was a busy two days. Louis fell in love with raspberry pie and Mabel further proved her love for sweets as well. We left the cabin at 6:00pm Sunday night…and both kids were sleeping by 6:10 and slept until 7:30 the next morning. They were truly wiped out.

Summer Fun

Summer continues to be a blast. Both kids love being outside. Whether we are splashing in the water, playing in the sandbox , finger painting or going for walks - we are having a great time. Louis loves hanging out with his papa. They have great conversations with each other and love to have lego or block building contests. Brad truly has just as much fun as Louis does. At night now he loves to hear "stories". He is quite creative in what he wants to hear about, but many times it includes stories about papa, mama, basketball, or airplanes.
Mabel is moving everywhere. Although she is not officially crawling, she scoots, rolls over and inches to everything. She pulls down books, toys - it seems that suddenly everything is within her reach. I forgot about this part of early toddlerhood. She continues to babble and talk. Like her brother she loves books. There are a lot of smiles around our house right now and that is great.

Independence day, overly Dependent kids

Overall we had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. We went to the Budde Cabin and enjoyed a nice long weekend there. Unfortunately, both kids had a fever for at least a day, so there was lots of neediness and whining occurring throughout the weekend. Both Thursday night and Friday night included lots of getting up and comforting both kids. By Saturday night the kids either felt better or were so tired from getting up the previous nights and hardly napping that both slept amazingly well. Both kids got to play in the kiddie pool, Mabel especially thought it was very enjoyable! She loves splashing in the water. Mabel also got her first oreo cookie. As you can tell from the pictures – she loved every minute of it!

On Friday morning, Louis and Mabel got into their first verbal argument. All four of us were hanging out in bed (as it was only 6:20am). Mabel tried to grab a book from Louis. He responded with a “No”. Mabel in turn responded with a “ya”. Louis then repeated his “No” and Mabel her “ya”. It went on like this back and forth about 5 times, much to the amusement of Brad and myself. Finally, Louis ended it with a “No, Mabel” and turned away. Poor Louis, he doesn’t know what he is in for. Suddenly his “baby sista” from 10 months ago that just laid there sleeping, is now a talking, grabbing, pulling 10-month-old who is starting to invade his space. He has found ways to get back at her however. He knows that if he roars loud like a lion, dinosaur, tiger, shark (they all make the same noise), that Mabel will cry – he is enjoying his power. Overall though they get along great and we can always count on Louis to sing songs to Mabel to make her stop crying or play peek-a-boo to make her laugh.

Early Summer Catch-Up

Wow, it has been a long time since my last update. A lot has happened in the last six weeks, both good and bad, and I am finally feeling like I can get the chance to sit down and write.

So looking back over the last six weeks: I had a great mother's day weekend, we have spent some great time with friends and family, and had a wonderful memorial weekend at the cabin. The children love to be outside. Louis had a great time in the sand and is super excited to be going back soon. Nearly all the Budde aunts and uncles and cousins were there, so there was lots of food, drink and fun. Here is Louis wearing uncle Jordan's sweatshirt.

Unfortunately that was followed by a couple of funerals. It gave us all of us time to be together and take care of each other. It really reminded all of us about the importance of family, friends and loving what you have. There was a great weekend trip to Chicago for Brad and me. We missed the children, but it was nice to catch up with friends and get some time for just the two of us. The next thing I really remember was Father’s Day weekend. We had a great time hanging out as a family, going on picnics, having fun with our neighbors and also celebrating the day with extended family.

Last weekend we made the trip to Melrose for some a family celebration and took in the parade. Louis had a ton of fun collecting candy and seeing the police cars. He has a hard time differentiating between the words parade and prayed. So every time we prepped him for the parade he would fold his hands like he was praying or try to make the sign of the cross. I guess Mommy and Papa need to learn to enunciate better!

About the children:
Louis is as charming and as challenging as ever. He is an independent player and is very good at making up his own games to play. He has been going into “time out” a little bit more lately and it is very amusing to seem his discipline his toys (LegoMan and his friends) and put them into time out as well. He seems to really enjoy playing with Barbies right now, dressing them and coming their hair. Somewhere along the way he has learned the word "boobies". We are doing are best to ignore it and hope it ends before he says it in front of the wrong person.

Mabel continues to grow and learn every day. She is rolling around and can move so quickly across the floor. We are waiting for her her to officially start crawling and to start pulling herself up. She has started clapping, waving and talking, "Papa", "Mama", "Hi", "Uh oh" and "cracker" (I know it is hard to believe, but even her pediatrician heard it!). Mabel is also preparing us for adolesence with her mood swings. She goes from being a mommy's girl one second to wanting to be on the floor by herself, doing her own thing. But she has the sweetest smile and loves to give kisses, so it is hard to resist her.

The children take their baths together now. It is a lot of fun to see them take turns splashing. Getting water in your eyes is okay if it is from splashing vs. getting your hair washed. It has gone very well and they both seem to be enjoying it. Every now and then Louis likes to cause trouble and pour water on Mabel or squirt her with a water toy. It is only a matter of time before Mabel fights back!Again, sorry for the lengthy absence. I hope to get back on track with a new post every two to three weeks.

You're hurting my elbow

I am prepared to child services to come to my house. Two weeks ago, Mabel suffered a dislocated elbow. Sound familiar? Well the same thing happened to Louis back in February. Seems my children inherited their mother’s weak elbows (who knew there was such a thing?). Anyway, while putting on Mabel’s pajamas, her elbow dislocated. Given our experience with Louis, I was pretty sure it was Nurse Maid’s elbow. We ended up at urgent care and needed an x-ray before the doc would try to put it back. Mabel was in great spirits as long as you didn’t move her arm. Well, when it came time for x-rays, it was brutal. Mabel cried, and even worse stared at me while she cried, like she was waiting for me to help her. When the x-rays were finished immediately picked her up and held her to soothe her. After she calmed down we went back into the room waiting for the doc, and I noticed that she was moving her arm…a lot! The doc walked in right then and said she must have popped it back in herself while fighting the x-ray. I was so relieved and it was done. And there was my little Mabel, waving her arms around like a maniac and smiling.

Special People

We found out about a week ago that one of Louis’ teachers was promoted and will be moving to a new location. We are very excited for Miss Nicole, but of course, sad that she won’t be there every day for Louis.
Louis adapted very well to his new sister back in September, and I do believe that is because Louis had Miss Nicole at school. He has talked about her daily since her second week there. There were many nights that Louis was angry about going to bed and instead of calling out for Papa or Mommy he would call out for Miss Nicole. Louis loves both his teachers, but he formed a great bond with Miss Nicole on the “babyside” during those months when his house with crazy with his new sister.
There are many days that I have felt guilty that I choose to continue with my career rather staying home with the children, but when I see how much Louis loves his teachers and his friends at school and how much he (and Mabel) learn each day, it makes me feel at peace with the decision. I know that Louis and mommy will both miss having Miss Nicole at school each day but I know Louis will adapt. In fact it is great that he will miss her; it means that we are very lucky to have such great teachers who are taking care of our children each day, teachers who love my children, and that whom my children love in return. If I am not the one with them every day, this is how I want it to be.

But we like it busy...right?

It has been awhile since my last post. Things have been very busy in the Budde household and I haven’t had much time to stop and collect my thoughts. This post will be more about getting caught up! The last four weekends have been filled with family activities from professional basketball games (3 of them), trips to the zoo, trips to library, get togethers with friends, Easter, confirmations, etc. These activities usually leave both kids like this…

Louis seems to be adding 10 words to his vocabulary a day. He is still learning sentence structure, so it can cause confusion when he says, “No want milk” or “no it’s yellow” actually means “I don’t want milk” and “It’s not yellow”. He also likes to make choices, but then isn’t always happy with the choice he made, needless to say both Louis, mommy and papa are learning each day. Brad does a great job keeping Louis engaged in various activities and making them fun, such as the library and the grocery store, and now with it finally getting nice out, I am sure they will be outdoors all the time. Lately, it seems like Play-do is the favorite activity for both of them.

Mabel is just a wonderfully sweet baby right now. She is babbling all the time and starting to use her consonants. The “ba, ba, ba” comes out a lot and she still loves to sing. She started sitting around the middle of March (of course, a week after her 6 month pictures) and is spending more and more time on her tummy, but mostly because she forgot how to roll over. It amazes how they get so excited about learning something new, that they can forget the old things. She has been eating baby food for awhile and made the official move from the bouncy seat to the high chair. She is very fond of arrowroot cookies and fruit! I love every stage of baby-hood, but it like something really comes alive around the 6-7 month mark. She has really started interacting with Louis a lot and vice versa. Hopefully this is only a sign of good things to come!