We went to my grandmas house, to my mother's workplace, and around downtown for business trick or treating.
I made awesome costumes for my boys:( Spongebob & Patrick )

Things I have fished out of the baby's mouth this week:
One Peanut
Three Raisins
One Star Wars Sticker
Part of One White Crayon
Wrapper from a Blue Crayon
Empty John Deere Fruit Snacks Packet
One Spongebob Squarepants Bandaid

I think most of those were "given" to him by his older brother.
At least we know he doesn't have peanut allergies.  *sigh*

So I got out my pump so I could nurse and pump, because Thursday night is MY night to go out and have fun and I wanted to have a bottle on hand just in case.
My almost three year old son saw me and said, "I pump TOO!"
And then he held his raggedy Andy up and breastfed him.( Pix or it didn't happen.... :) )

xposted to breastfeeding

My son just asked me to tell him a story.
I said, "About what?"
He said.....
"About Skywalker!"

Ah, another geek in the world!  Very satisfying!

So I'm awesomely ambitious today.  AND a super friend. 
I'm watching my two children (almost three years and almost 6 months) and I'm babysitting my friend's daughter, who is three.  For the whole day!  Let's hope no one dies (namely me, since there seem to be a lot of mean pirates around here, looking for treasure).
I have no idea how parents of twins do it. 

Well it's official -- Charlie and Jenn got married.  I'm so happy for the both of them. 

It was supposed to be rainy and hot.  I was pretty worried about the kids if the weather got TOO crappy.  It rained in the morning but it had cleared up and gotten pretty muggy by early afternoon.  The wedding itself was inside a really nice old church down in Coon Valley, but the reception was outside at Goose Island. 
It was REALLY humid when we left the church and drove to the reception.  Shortly after we got to the reception there was a quick cloudburst, and then the storm front came through, the temperature cooled off, and it got just BEAUTIFUL. 
Here's the happy bride and groom:


Lots of little kids for Emerson to play with, including his cousin Cameron (only six weeks older than him) and there's even a water pump right next to the shelter.  The boys got soaking wet, Emerson licked mud off his arm (ew ew ew ew), and Cameron's shorts got so water logged that they fell off. 


I mostly wore Elliott, he even fell asleep in the sling.  He was totally happy and I breastfed him during the ceremony, in church, which made me giggle.  He was such a good baby and everyone thought he looked fat and cheerful.  You can see the awesome storm clouds in the background of this photo:


The reception was at Goose Island, on the Mississippi River.  Ariel took the boys down to the water to go fishing, and I got some great photos of Emerson.  This is my favorite:


Shorly after that he managed to fall in, my cousin Lexie grabbed him first and then Jai was right there to pick him up.  It was in a spot where it gets deep quickly, so his feet were still touching but when he fell, his arms were too short to get his head above water.  I yelled.  I almost had a heart attack watching him try to get his head out.  When I related it to my mom, she said, "This is only the beginning, Amanda." 

My poor parents did WAAAY too much work for being the parents of the groom.  Looks like my brother has married into a totally unhelpful family.  :(  His bride is awesome but I was definitely NOT impressed by lack of help.  My poor mama was hauling picnic tables in her nice dress, while the bride's family played kickball and drank the beer that MY parents paid for, picked up, and hauled to the reception.  And at one point one of the bride's aunts said, "Oh, I almost feel guilty that you're doing all this work...."  and then laughed.  Ugh.  Luckily my mom told her off.  :)  If Mama hadn't, I would have. 

All in all though it was an awesome day, weather was beautiful, and I'm so happy for my brother. 

Hey all, just wanted to share how cute both my kids are.  ;)
( Click for Photo )

I think you all will have heard by now, but....

Elliott Thomas
born Feb. 18 at 7:39pm
7 lbs. 13 oz. - 19 3/4 inches

he's awesome, he's got tons of hair, labor went fantastic and we are doing really well.
Hurray!

So I officially gave notice at my job yesterday.  I'll be leaving at the end of the month, in preparation for babe #2 to get here and to be a stay-at-home mom.... who works part-time of course, lol. 
After going through day-care costs and everything else, it just really didn't make sense for me to keep working at my current job.  I like it fine, but it's been really stressful lately. 
If all goes well, I'll have at least a few days before the babe is here to be at home and get some things ready.  And, you know, sleep.  ;)
Luckily my boss loves me.  She said she might have some part-time work for me, and I offered to come back part-time during the summer when there are TWO other women on maternity leave (there are only 8 people in the department) and a couple big vacations planned.  So that would be really nice.  
I feel like that's one more big thing that needed to happen.  Ahhh.... such a relief! 

Apparently there was snow near my parents' land today.  SNOW! My dad stopped by this afternoon and told me.
What the heck happened to fall?
It can't possibly be winter yet.... I have to have this baby during winter.  And I am SOOO not ready for that. 

So what's everyone dressing up as for Halloween?  Or are we all too grown-up and mature for that?  I'm not... I'm working on a costume for work.  Unfortunately it has to be "appropriate" because customers can see me.  What a bummer. Most of the things I can come up with that involve a pregnant belly are, well... not appropriate. 

Had our big ultrasound today! 

( It's a..... )

Pregnancy is treating me just fine.  More tired this time it seems, and I'm a crazy insomniac lately.  I keep waking up around 4am -- and no, I have no idea why that's the time.  It's pretty irritating though.  Oh well. 
Emerson is great.  Today was his second birthday.  We had an easy little celebration here at home, he got cake and presents, and he ran around like a maniac.  He's a great kid.
That's all the news for now.  OH! And I learned how to do an lj-cut, so I'm pretty darn proud of myself.  heh.

Well hello everyone.
Yeah, I've been a slacker, and I haven't been posting ANYTHING LATELY. So here goes:
I'm pregnant.
Yes, again. Yes, for real. Some of you probably knew this already, but I figured I should make a huge announcement so I can get all those well-wishes.
The kid is doing great. I'm due Feb. 7th. This puts me at just over 15 weeks. I'm less nauseaus than I was, I'm outgrowing my jeans, and I'm pretty darn happy.
Jai says it better be a boy again. We'll see.
But yeah, that's my big news!

Can we have a festival called "Wienerfest" -- seriously.
Seriously??
Yep, really.

It's this weekend folks.  And most importantly, Pat McCurdy is playing from 3:30-5pm.  So all you bored Minnesota folks, drive your asses down to La Crosse and enjoy some wieners.  Or, you know, some music.  And if you do, you better damn well let me know.

http://www.wienerfestlacrosse.com/

So yesterday, we learned that our son has a MUCH longer reach than he did just a few weeks ago.  He somehow managed to get into a jar of vaseline while Jai was on the computer.  (I was at work, btw).  When Jai discovered him, he had a "face mask" of vaseline from his belly (oh yeah, all over the shirt!) up his neck, his face, HIS HAIR, and down part of his back.  Oh, and on his legs too... but they were also clothed. 
Three baths later, he's still pretty oily. 
Ah, the joys of toddler-hood.
And a photo for you all to enjoy:
http://s111.photobucket.com/albums/n160/jaimather/?action=view&current=100_0234.jpg

(btw, how the heck do I imbed this photo? apparently I'm livejournal retarded, since I can do it on other message boards....)

Hey Fellow Worms --
Just wanted to say Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year...  and whatever other holidays may be going on right now that I should mention to be politically correct. 
We are STILL getting snow from yesterday's storm.  Thankfully the farthest we have to drive is my parents place -- about 20 miles down the road.  (This year my in-laws lack of holiday festivities is really a blessing, lol).  I was hoping to take Emerson outside in his snowpants and get those cute "kid-in-the-snow" pix, but it's blowing all over the place and it's really freakin' cold, so we'll see what happens.  Maybe later this week.
All of you who are traveling, have a safe trip!  And hey, for anyone who cares, Bobbo will actually be home for Christmas this year.... and not in Iraq!  Woo-hoo! 
And a Merry Christmas from Jai, Amanda, and Emerson! 

So yesterday, get ready for it.... Jai took Emerson to Milwaukee.  Which means, oh yeah, that I spent last night ALONE in my house.  No other people.  No baby, no husband.  It has been about 16 months since I've been alone in my home overnight.  (Yeah, I'll let that sink in for the worms without kids... the rest of you will understand.)
I went out last night and didn't need to worry about when I was getting home.  When I got home, I could be as loud as I wanted and stay up as late as I wanted.  I woke up when I wanted to, and not from an alarm or a baby or a husband. ;) 
Got my hair cut this morning, did a little shopping, and now I'm thinking about taking a nap.  Ahhhhh. 
The most responsible thing I plan on doing this weekend is feed the cats.  And that's only because they'll annoy the heck outta me if I don't. 

Facebook is just as addicting as myspace, dammit. Just signed on to facebook (though I've been on myspace for years, I'm proud to say) because Jai just got on facebook.  And he's already addicted.  So now I'm addicted.  It hasn't even been 24 hours, but I already have more friends than him. HA!  Guess that means my friends are geekier.... or easier to find... or something.  The only thing facebook is missing is the annoying/addictive surveys that myspace has.  Or maybe it does have them, I just haven't found them yet.  I especially like it when I get a really personal one from a co-worker who probably wasn't thinking about who would read it when she filled it out.  Funny.  So if you haven't already, join both, sign me on as a friend, and let's prove to my husband that I'm WAY more popular than him.  Online.  

Okay so I'm really not a huge football fan.  But it was a lazy sunday afternoon, and Emerson was kinda fussy, so I turned on the Packers-Vikings game.  Wow, am I glad I did!  Emerson sat quiet in my lap and watched it.... while holding his green and yellow football (free from the bank via his great-grandma Verda).  AND wow it was almost painful to watch.  HA.  Guess those co-workers from Minnesota will be really quiet on Monday.   Ahhhh.... it's good to live in Wisconsin.  

So it's Halloween today.  I work at a newspaper, and things are pretty flexible around here.  Lots of people dress up.  I especially like the girls who are normally NOT slutty, who decide to dress slutty at work.  It's not even 8am and there are two of us in corsets already (yes, of course I am one of them, sheesh).  Don't worry, I will keep everyone posted on the naughty status of the costumes.  Gotta love an excuse for risque clothing and a potluck at lunch.  

Well I figured this was one of the easiest ways to get a hold of a bunch of you Twin Cities folk.  Looks like Emerson and I will be in Minneapolis this weekend, staying with the lovely Martin family (so that Emerson can start corrupting Axel as early as possible).  I'll have the kid all weekend, so a hard-core bar drinking night won't happen, lol.... but it would be great fun to see people.  Anyone?? Anyone??