Cute! Super Cute!

It is amazing how quickly time passes. It's been over a month since my last post here and it feels like a week. It's the same way with watching the kids grow up. In just a few months, Mary Grace will be 2. Then a few months later William will celebrate his very first birthday. With both of them, time has gone by so quickly.

Since my last post, Mary Grace has become a big helper. She loves to dust, using wipes for diaper changes, she gets a kick out of sweeping the floor, and she has a great time pretend-cooking. She also helps unload the dishwasher, puts dirty diapers in the diaper pail, and she's starting to learn to wash herself in the bath. And her vocabulary! She seems to say something new every day and is putting together her own sentences, like "I can't reach it", or "I want to watch Caillou". In response to Mary Grace demanding "I want some milk", we taught her to instead say "May I have some milk please?". She's totally on-board with it. Awesome.

William is a bit more relaxed. His favorite thing to do is eat. He's started on baby foods and LOVES it (except for the peas and summer vegetables). He gets most of his exercise by laughing and doing pelvic thrusts, lifting his bottom off the floor by pushing his feet down. To be fair, he has shown an aptitude for getting around by rolling. He's the jolliest little baby though, except when he's getting new teeth. So far, the bottom front two have proven painful to anyone dumb enough to give him a finger to chew on (Anne and I), and the top front two are just poking through.

We're all looking forward to Christmas and Santa's visit. Rest assured that there will be several posts leading up to and following that magical day. As always, here are some proud parent photos.

Mary Grace is SO BIG	Sitting pretty at Mamma's house
William and Mamma	Happy baby in the sunshine!

Happy Halloween!

Last week was Halloween and it was quite a difference from last year. Mary Grace dressed up as a fairy princess and William wore a recycled kitty cat costume (which may look familar to many of you). The night before Halloween -- known as begger's night in Buffalo -- we tried Mary Grace's costume on. She put up a big fuss and wouldn't wear it at all. "Uh oh", Anne and I thought. On Halloween, we tried to explain that if she wore her costume that she could go get treats from all the neighbors, but she just cried and cried as we put the costume on her. Our first stop was at Adele and Les's house, right across the street. We coaxed Mary Grace into saying "Happy Halloween" and "Trick or treat!", and when she got her first treat in her goodie bag, all the crying stopped and she got really excited for more treats. William was a very good kitty cat. He had the most fun trying to put some of his larger treats into his mouth. He wasn't quite into character though; instead of meowing, he was doing his normal growling while putting things into his mouth. Finally, a big thanks to Dave Burnet for taking awesome photos of the kids and to Uncle Denny and Aunt Marge for getting me to write this blog.

William turns 6 months old

It's hard for Anne and I to believe that William is already 6 months old. He's had a lot of milestones lately, from crying out "mama" (coincidence, we believe) to getting his first two teeth (the same two that Mary Grace got at 7 months), to starting on baby foods (he loves just about anything).

William just eats and eats. In that sense, he's the complete opposite of Mary Grace. They're also very different in weight, as William's weight is approaching his big sister's weight.

He's also become a good communicator, letting us know when he's hungry and when he's tired. When he's hungry, he talks baby talk for a while, then starts to whine. Once he sees the food, the whining turns into a full (and loud) cry. When he's tired, he rubs his eyes a lot and whines.

Mary Grace's swimming classes have just concluded and as William has just turned 6 months, he's eligible. So expect Anne and I to be swimming with the kids on Tuesday nights after 6. MG has learned to go underwater, jump off the side into daddy's arms, and use a barbell floater to swim around the pool (with Daddy holding her legs and pushing her). Finally here's a few photos.

	Mary Grace and William in our bed one morning. What you don't see is that a moment later, William rolled over towards MG and tried to suck her face. :)
	Happy Baby William fresh out of the bath. William gets a "kick" out of his bath, kicking his right foot constantly to make big splashes and get Anne and I all wet
	Where did those pink cheeks come from? It got cold out for a few days and William got all bundled up in his new winter hat!

Mommy kiss?

Today we all slept in until almost 9. Mary Grace had lost her lovey at around 6 and was screaming for one of us to pick her up off of the floor and give it to her. William had his first shots yesterday and didn't sleep well until after 6:00am.


We took the kids to Cobbs Hill park for a little fun in the filtered sun. Mary Grace ran around and collected sticks. Mommy assembled those sticks into a teepee. The fresh air must have been too much for William because he slept nearly the whole time.

After a late nap, we went out to dinner at Charbroil on Monroe. Mary Grace did very well and ate macaroni salad, bread, broccoli, meatloaf, french fries and jello. She fed herself the jello with an adult spoon and did really well! William didn't make a peep the whole time. Afterwards, we took the kids for a stroller ride at Schoen place and bought some duck food and fed the ducks. Mary Grace got such a kick out of throwing the food at the ducks. Unfortunately, we didn't bring a camera to capture it.

As I was putting Mary Grace to bed tonight, we had just finished our night time ritual and I was walking out of the darkened room and Mary Grace said "Da?". I replied "Yes Mary Grace?". She asked "Mommy kiss?". I answered "Yes, Mommy will give you a kiss as soon as she is done with William" and she finished "OK, goodnight". This is my 18 month old daughter.

Strawberry Ice Cream

A few weeks ago after an evening drive, we all had a craving for ice cream. We decided to try Brewsters, on Rt. 404 near Five Mile Line Rd. Long story short, it was amazing. I had the creamsicle, Mary Grace had strawberry and mommy had ?

We decided to take Mamma there tonight and that's where the funny things start.

First, Mary Grace runs up to the counter, stands right in front of the person ordering and repeatedly demanded "Strawberry! Strawberry! Strawberry!". She ended up getting her free strawberry cone and eating the entire thing! That little girl loves ice cream.

We were listening to Wiggles songs on in the car and Mary Grace would say the next line of the song before it came on. I guess we need a bigger music selection. I wonder if she would like New Order or Depeche Mode?

Next, we pointed out the crescent moon before we left. As we were leaving Brewsters, Mary Grace said "Goodnight.. Goodbye moon". Thinking that the moon would stay at the ice cream place. But the moon followed Mary Grace all the way home! She kept looking out the window and yelling out "Moon!" whenever she saw it.

Not to leave William out... He has decided he's too big to take naps during the day, and is still sleeping reasonably well at night. He gets a kick out of watching Mommy and Daddy perform for him, and is starting to watch his big sister more and more. We've started him out with some teething toys and the exer-saucer too.

Here's a few more recent photos:





The movie star smiling for her adoring fans

Her silly brother hamming it up.

Mid-summer post

Having two kids has kept us very busy this summer. Anne and I have finally taken to creating a much more rigid schedule. We hope that this will give us both time to do some of the extra things we've been missing out on.
As for the kids, Mary Grace continues to amaze us with her development. She's started putting words together to form short sentences and is able to say and remember so many words, it's amazing. She loves taking our hands and walking us to what she wants.
William has been sleeping through the night more often than not. He's ahead of Mary Grace on that front. He loves to talk while he puts his fists into his mouth. We've caught him sucking a finger or a thumb from time to time, but he still needs the pacifier. He had his baptism while Jack and Peg and Nate and Jon were visiting.
We keep saying that we need to get Mary Grace to the beach before the summer ends, but finding the time has been challenging. Here's a few recent photos of the angels to end this post. Thanks for reading!

Mary Grace imitating William, or vice-versa.

Mommy and William at the baptism.

Daddy and Mary Grace at the baptism.

Summertime and kids

We're nearing the official start of summer on June 21, but my thermometer says it started weeks ago with some record heat. This week has been just fabulous and Mary Grace and I took our first swim in the inflatable pool last night.

She was insane! She tried to touch the bottom, putting her face in the water. She came up all wet and coughing, then got all excited and tried to do it all over again! I think she's a natural Pisces, just like her Daddy.

William has been growing by leaps and bounds. He's already over 11 lbs and has been laughing and giggling. He's nearly 2 months old already! Where does the time go?

Here are a few recent photos of the kids. I promise my next post will include a link to a bunch of pictures we've taken this spring.

Mary Grace is fascinated by the camera!	William happy to be held by mommy

My girl and my boy

Anne and I were discussing our insta-family while the kids were sleeping on the way home from visiting Mama and Papa. Within a 14 month timespan, we went from being married with time for things like mountain biking, fixing up the house, gardening and stamping to married with two children and barely any time to do anything else.

This is why my blog entries have been few lately. Mary Grace continue to talk more and more (her latest phrase is "good girl"). William has been a very hungry baby and has had good and bad sleeping. The good nights he'll sleep 6 hours straight (10-4) and the bad nights only 2 hours at a time. He seems to know night time is sleepy time.

Here are a few photos I took tonight of the little people in my house

 

More blog content

I've apparently been lax in adding to the blog, so here's a quick update.

It's mother's day and we're visiting the relatives in Lyons. It's a pleasant day and we're happily enjoying showing off the kids. William is being true to form and sleeping for the entire visit. Mary Grace only got a 1/2 hour nap, so she's a little high-maintenance.

We're having a great time! Hope all the moms reading this are having a great mother's day!

Pooping on a toilet!

Mary Grace has been a little vixen. She's handled William's arrival and the loss of 100% of our attention in stride, but now there's something new.

She gets a bath every other night, unless she gets really dirty like she did today. Last bath I noticed that she would squatt and pee after she was undressed, but before she was in the bath. She left several small puddles on the bathroom floor. Then she peed again in the crib after her bath. So I formulated a plan...

After undressing her, I let her squatt once, then I put her on the toilet. She sat patiently for a while then I called in the big guns. I ran the water in the sink. She seemed to dribble a few drops in the toilet but still sat patiently. So I tried something else. I asked if she wanted to poop, then showed her a big cleansing exhale. She did it too and made a splash!

Yes, today is the first day that Mary Grace used the toilet and she both peed and pooped! Needless to say, Anne and I are both very proud and gave her lots of praise and a sticker for a reward and a reminder. Time will tell if this is reproducable, but we have high hopes for our little over-achiever.

William is still doing well. He's an eating and sleeping machine. Anne and I are still trying to figure out our schedule and how we will handle the night feedings this week and once I go to work. But we know that regardless, everything will work out because we continue to be blessed by St. Anthony and St. Anne.

William Schreiber is cute!

Maybe the girls in school will say that some day, but for now, it's all Anne and I say. From his grunting noises to the way he always coughs while he's eating, to the little smiles he's been showing us, to the splatter of poop 5 feet from the changing table.

Here's some recent photos of our little guy. As always, click to see larger.

Bird nest

In the very early spring, Anne and I noticed a few birds (the flying kind, not the neighborly kind) hanging around the back porch. We took a closer look and found the beginnings of a nest. The nest was in a spot that was incompatible with us living here, so I removed it. About a week later Anne told me "our friends are back". They had made a nest in a candle lantern on the opposite end of the porch. We decided to let them stay.

A few weeks later, I noticed mommy bird in the lantern constantly, and checked the nest and saw a single egg. I've been seeing both parents in the lantern and out, so on one of the "out" times, I peeked in with my camera. Here's what I saw!












(you can click the image for a bigger version)

There are at least three fuzzy little baby birds in the nest, being watched over by a very attentive mommy and daddy bird. It's been really cool having the birds going through exactly what Anne and I are going through. I had hoped to get Mary Grace interested in these little chirpers, but she's much more interested in the tree and flowers below.

I'm still on vacation and really enjoying my time with Mary Grace. We do something fun outside each day. William is doing really well with Anne watching over him mostly. He pee'd on me tonight, through his clothes this time. He's also back up over his birth weight, which is a small relief.

Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment if you have a second!

Newborns in the spring

I'm a little freaked out about having a baby in the middle of winter. I always expect the worst and fear that something will happen that will affect my ability to care for the baby. I know that in our society that I shouldn't have to fear for things like power failures, blizzards, etc, but it does happen.

Which explains why I lost about 10 lbs when I brough Mary Grace home from the hospital last winter. I worked and worked and worked to make sure I was ahead of things so that I didn't need to be stressed about those things if something were to happen.

Which takes me to my point. I'm so happy to have had William in the spring. Sure, it's still cold at night, but when the days are sunny and the temperatures approach the 70s, it takes that bad weather stress right off the table. Ahhhh. So now I just need to worry about William getting sick, or not eating enough, or not pooping, or Anne getting sick, or Mary Grace getting sick, or Mary Grace accidentally hurting William, or someone else getting hurt, etc. You get the picture.

So far I've lost 5 lbs this time around.

But enough about me! William was very good last night. He and Anne let me get about 6.5 hours of sleep (10-1:30, 4:30-7:30). Mary Grace and I attended a family First Communion celebration in the morning and took a nice long walk in the afternoon.

And if you've read this far, then please join me in a quick thought/prayer for my friend Heather who is in the last week of her pregnancy and can't wait to have her baby!

William comes home!

Today, our little boy came home for the first time. Mary Grace and Momma greeted him with smiles and joy. He slept right through leaving the hospital, his first car ride, and the videotaped walk into the house. As a matter of fact, he slept through the next two hours in the house too!

After a great late-afternoon meal, he had a traditional infant afternoon. Awake and alert for a little while, made a big poopy, cried while he got changed, then went back to sleep. We got some great pictures of the little guy during his awake time, and they're on kodak gallery.

Mary Grace paid much more attention to him and seems to welcome him into "her" house, so long as it doesn't interfere with Daddy paying attention to her. Unfurtunately, there were some tears cried this afternoon. She kissed William good-night tonight; it was one of those moments that makes your heart ache with the love you feel...

Today from Mary Grace's perspective

Today was great! I woke up and snuggled with my daddy for a little while. Then I had breakfast and played. I got to take a bath in the morning, then we went bye-bye in the car to see mommy. Oh yeah, I also got to see my new little brother William. Just to make everyone happy, I touched him a little. My parents really got a kick out of that!

I remember a little about a car ride, then I woke up in my bedroom and felt very well rested. Momma and Daddy gave me lunch; elbow macaroni with butter, then canteloupe. Yummy! Daddy took me for a ride in the stroller and we saw lots of flowers, then I played with Mamma for the rest of the afternoon. Mamma gave me a yummy dinner then we played some more. Daddy came home and read to me, then I went to bed.

I love Mommy, Daddy, Mamma and William!

Mommy and baby are doing great.

Anne is up and walking already and eating solid food. She commented on how much better she feels this time around versus after having Mary Grace.

Mary Grace got to see mommy and her new brother today. She was very happy to see mommy but had to contain her enthusiasm because of mommy's "boo-boo". I know that she's going to be a great big sister, since she's already such a great helper.

Momma is having a great time with our little angel and will be looking after her for a few hours solo this afternoon.

Welcome William Carl Schreiber!

William was born today at 12:51pm at Parkridge Hospital and greeted a very happy and thankful Mommy and Daddy with some healthy screaming!

He weighed in at 7lbs 6 oz and measured 19.5". And everyone (including our doctor) thought he would be over 8 lbs. He's just one ounce heavier and a half inch shorter than Mary Grace when she was born. The big difference though is that he has some blond hair!

Mommy is getting back to her old self and expects to be eating solid foods and walking by tomorrow.

Mary Grace had a great time today with her sitters and was exhausted by the time Daddy came home at 6:00 to play and eventually put her to bed.

The son will come out tomorrow!

Bet your bottom dollar!

We're very excited to meet William. We went to the hospital today for a non-stress test and I got to listen to Williams heartbeat on the loudspeaker while watching him move around in Mommy's belly. He apparently didn't like the sensor, because he moved a lot!

Mary Grace had a great time with her cousin Catie and her aunt and uncle this morning. She loves her cousin and gave her a big hug and kiss as we left.

Mamma is here now and everyone is calling to wish us their best. Keep us in your thoughts and hold your breath for the next exciting update!

Wow, just 2 more days

It's such a relief to be done with work for the next three weeks. I'm looking forward to giving William, Mary Grace and Anne all my attention for the next 23 days.

Mary Grace slept from 7:30pm until 9:00 am last night, except she woke up in the middle of the night for some reason. Mommy was already up, so she got Mary Grace back to sleep.

The picture is from our first trip to the playground. It's a very nice playground, with a cork base, three slides and a bunch of swings. It's usually very quiet at 5:30ish, when we usually arive. Mary Grace has taken to finding the youngest kid there (who is always older than her) and latching on, then following that kid around. It's very cute.

The last time we went, she wanted to go down the big slide alone, but I was already at the top, so I held her and we went down together. Next time, I'll just catch!

Three more days

With just three days to go, Mary Grace or William's new room will be ready to be occupied! It was tough, but with Anne's help in running the day-to-day stuff in the house, I was able to finish all the painting, and the room looks fabulous! Pictures to follow.

Mary Grace has been in a great mood and is as helpful as ever. On our walk last night, we played with the Turner family for a little while and she had a great time. I think we'll be tapping into this new baby-sitting resources after seeing how well Mary Grace took to Yanni.

Mamma is coming to stay with us on Sunday, which will be a great help, as Mary Grace loves when she visits. I fully expect Mary Grace to be perfectly fine with her temporary care-givers but I know she'll miss her mommy too.

4 days to go

Mary Grace is recovering from her first illness and got a look at her (potential) new room. She didn't seem phased at all.

Mommy is sleeping better lately, probably because she has no choice. William has been hungry for all sorts of naughty food, like doughnuts, poptarts, popscicles, potato chips and pickles.

We're on the verge of entering our final weekend as a family of three. I hope the weather holds out so we can spoil Mary Grace all weekend long!

T minus 5 days

Mary Grace, Anne and I are very anxious to welcome William. Anne has been busy getting all the baby stuff back in circulation, and I've been trying to finish up William's new bedroom. Mary Grace has been just enjoying the spring with long stroller rides to the playground.