Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve 2010.   Church, cookies, candy, dinner and presents from the family.  It was a good day and tomorrow will be even better!  Santa comes tonight so we are all off to bed to get a good night sleep.

Parker and Noah (Elf on the Shelf) on Noah's last night in our house
before returning to the North Pole with Santa

Parker picked out this tree from Grandpa's front yard...
you're looking at the top 7ft of a 18ft tree.

Pen and Crosby 

Gift wrapped.

Parker loved his new dinosaur book.

Parker also enjoyed this but it's kinda creepy.

Crosby watching Parker open a gift for his little brother.

Grandma Jeanne helping Crosby enjoy the gift from Parker.

Parker and dad made a T-Rex to watch out for Crosby.

December 2010

We have had a busy December, but it has been fun.   Parker had his first School Christmas Program and he was great.  The 4 and 5 year olds sang 4 songs for the parents and you could tell how proud they all were.  Parker was looking for us at the beginning and once he found us sang his heart out.  2 weeks ago we went Grandpa Dennis' house in Pulaski during our first big snow storm and picked out a Christmas tree.  Parker had a blast running around the front yard hiding in the trees and helping cut our tree down.  And the best news is that we sold our home (we need to move out by Jan 14th), which makes life a little stressful with Christmas,  2 kids and our lovely winter weather but its worth it.  Pictures will be posted soon.  Have a great christmas everyone.

3 Months Old

Tuesday Crosby was 13 weeks old, Wednesday he officially turned 3 months old.  When do you switch from weeks to months?  For now you get both updates.  I returned to work this week so Crosby went to his new babysitters house for the first time.  He seems to be adjusting pretty well, although he was pretty tired after the first 2 days.  He spends part of his week with 3yr old twin girls, sounds like they enjoyed having him around (plus he came home with colored pictures from them on day one).   Parker loves him so much and that is very helpful at home.  We are going through a tough patch with Parker hanging out with the wrong kid(s) at school so hopefully we can end that quickly.  Pen took some bathtub pics and of course her 3 month old "tie" pictures so I am sharing.  Enjoy and we'll post more soon.

Crosby using his exersaucer

Crosby laughing with Pen

Smiling at Pen

Bath time for the little one

and for the big kid

the Mellenthin boys

3 month old pictures

Parker sneaking into a picture

Parker grabbed the sticker and smiled for mom

Halloween Week

It has been a busy week for Parker and Crosby.  On Thursday Parker was able to spend the afternoon with his favorite teacher from his previous daycare, Ms. Ashley.  It was great for him to get to spend some time with Ashley at the park in the "New / Future Neighborhood" and then she took him for Mc D's to warm up with some hot chocolate.  She has a cute pic of him with his hot chocolate, he looks so grown up!  Thank you Ms. Ashley, Parker had a blast.


Friday afternoon he spent time with Grandma Jeanne and Crosby at the house getting pictures ready for Halloween.  Late Friday night Patty, Grandma Teresa and Grandpa Steve arrived to spend the weekend with the boys.  Saturday was filled with a day at home playing play-doh, eating and watching movies with Madisyn Berggren.  They are the best and we can't wait to sell our house so we can be neighbors again.  Love them!  


Sunday we went to Pulaski to have chili with everyone including Grandma Dawn, Grandpa Dennis and Uncle Dan.  Aunt Andrea, Uncle Nick and Brody showed up and we played outside in the woods for a long time and then the little boys went for a ride on the lawn mowers.  I think the grandpas had more fun than the grandkids, it was supposed to be a walk around the yard.  Next we headed home for trick or treating.  What a week.  The boys were dinosaurs, Brody was Woody from Toy Story and Madisyn was a Pumpkin, we all had a blast.  Can't wait to see what this week brings us.  Thanks for the great memories everyone!

Parker and Ashley warming up at home.

Grandpa Steve taking care of Crosby

Grandma Teresa, Grandpa Steve and Crosby relaxing

Aunt Patty, Baby Roquette/Jewitt and Crosby

Lawn mower ride

My dinosaur boys!

The Mellenthins

Parker and Brody

Routine Visit

The fam went to the DR so we could get the flu shots and see how the boys are doing.  We are so lucky to have 2 healthy boys.  I love how the little kids get % tied to their every measurement and when they are a few years old that stops.  Its not like the doctor is going to pump HGH into my 10 week old baby if he is low on the scale, right...at least we don't have to worry about that since the boys eat all the time.  In Crosby's first 2 weeks we were worried about him not eating enough and now he is "solid" as they might say later in life.

Parker Ethan Mellenthin 4 1/2 years old (4/7/2006)

Height 43 inches

Weight 43 pounds

No shots today, just the flu mist.  

Crosby Graham Mellenthin 10 weeks old (8/17/2010)

Height 24 inches (75%)

Weight 14lbs, 10 ozs (95%)

Head 40 mm?  (50%)

No shots today but he took an oral medicine.

Crosby has a little bit of thrush on the inside of his cheeks so we will be giving him medicine for 10 days to help get rid of that.  We are in the process of transitioning him to formula and the little bugger hasn't had a BM since Saturday night.  He is working it out as we speak, hopefully it is more than just gas today.  The last 2 nights he has slept for 4 straight hours, a new record for us!  Every little bit helps (the parents mostly).  

Parker is healthy and strong.  Nothing new at this visit but we can give an update on the dentist visit last week.  Parker went back with the dentist all by himself and was a great listener. He had x-rays taken to make sure his permanent teeth are coming in properly and was a champ.  All the future teeth are growing and in the right place so that is good.  Parker has an enamel deficiency on his back teeth, top and bottom.  Next week I will be taking him back in to get 2 small cavities filled so that will be very interesting.  Since our visit we have adding flossing each night to our routine and he is very good at laying his head back so we can do it correctly.

That's it for now.  Still no BM from CGM.   I'll keep you posted : )  It's amazing what matters when you are a parent, life is so different, so good, in a way that non-parents will never understand.

Did you call me "solid", is that the polite way of saying I have baby fat?

Crosby at 10 weeks

The boys

More and more time is being spent inside but thats ok, we have Crosby to keep us busy at the house.  He is 10 weeks old today, can you believe it?  Parker is a great big brother and we are excited to watch them grow up together.

Parker and Crosby

Big Smiles from the 10 week old

Strike a pose

Crosby sleeping at the house formerly known as the Berggrens

You know Penny took this picture

Parker and his dinosaur pumpkin

Taking aim.  He shot at targets with uncle dan all day.

Staying home

 We haven't taken a ton of pictures lately but we did get to spend an afternoon with the Berggren's and the kids loved the Cold Stone Cupcakes that we had for Amie and Brian's birthdays.  Crosby is 8 weeks old, Penny is back to work and I am home with Crosby for 4 weeks.  We have a parent/teacher conference tonight for Parker which is exciting because he seems to be doing very well at 4k.  I attempted to run the Chicago Marathon on 10.10.10 and was able to run the first 18 miles and then the lack of training kicked my butt.  I pretty much stopped running after Crosby was born 8/17/10 so completing the race was a success.  We tried to capture a few family pics below, we'll work on better ones soon.  

Just getting started with the ice cream cupcakes

What cute kids

Taking turns with the iTouch,
thanks now we have to buy one.

The Mellenthin Boys

Add Mom and you have the whole family.

I'm talking to you.... yes, my eyes are closed, 

I'm that good...

get me some milk now or I'll start crying again.

Mom, stop taking my picture...can you take a hint.

Who's Who

Here are a few comparison pictures of the boys, amazing how similar they are so far.

Parker

Crosby

Parker

Crosby

Parker

Crosby

3 weeks old

Crosby is 3 weeks old and we are so happy.  The first week we were worried about him not gaining enough weight, last night he took down 7 ounces in one feeding...nothing to worry about now!  We see the pediatrician tomorrow to make sure he is doing well but we aren't too worried.

Parker started 4k this week and said his first day was "awesome".  He gets swimming lessons 2 times per week and seems to be adjusting very well so far.  The new school is perfect timing because he is getting challenged to learn more plus he gets to meet new kids.  As parents, we couldn't ask for a better "big brother" either, Parker is always giving Crosby kisses and trying to learn more about him.  He tends to tell us every time Crosby opens his eyes, grunts or farts.  Such a boy thing.  Here are the latest pics.


Chillin' in cousin Brody's swing

Parker "watching" Crosby for us

First visit to the NEW Zoo

Big Brother helping with the first bath.  I think Parker enjoyed
splashing Crosby a little too much.

This looks like Parker, I'll find the photo and post it later.

Ready for 4k

First day and happy to be at school.

Waiting to check in, yup, we were those parents with the camera

Crosby loves the car seat, and so do we.  Car seat = sleep for everyone.