The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The Freihaut household has been in full "holiday mode" since coming back from Indiana for Thanksgiving.  I put up our main tree the following week, although it didn't get decorated right away.  As soon as the tree went up, the fun began.  I thought Christmas with a one year old was a blast, but seeing Addy experience the Christmas season this year has been amazing.  She has been adding things to her Christmas lists daily and will willingly admit when asked that she wants everything (mainly because she's heard us say that about her).  Those darn toy commercials have been a royal pain.  I remember my parents complaining about the mass of toy commercials at Christmas and now I understand their frustrations!  We have also been trying to help Addy understand the true meaning of Christmas and have tried to involve her in shopping for and giving to others. We have read several children's books about the birth of Jesus and Addy has really been interested in understanding the story. 
 


Getting ready to go out in our first big snow. 

 

It was Addy's first "real" time playing in the snow.  She loved it!



Warming up from all that playing with some hot chocolate.  She loved that too!

Tonight Addy and I finished Christmas shopping.  We were zipping around Wal-Mart to grab a few final gifts and cookie necessities when Addy started belting out Christmas carols from the shopping cart.  Needless to say, she drew many smiles, chuckles and even some applause.  I wasn't sure what to do, but didn't want to be the Scrooge mom telling her kid to stop singing, especially when it seemed to be making people smile.  I was glad that our little girl could spread her version of Christmas cheer!

St. Nick paid a visit to our house...a day early so that he came on the weekend:)

Adalyn has really enjoyed seeing all of the outdoor Christmas light displays.  She loves to drive around and look at Christmas lights.  Derek found an editorial in the local newspaper in which the reporter periodically gives addresses of homes that are on the crazy side of decorating.  So, we write down the addresses and put them in our Garmin.  We have seen some pretty crazy houses.  Anything from light shows that blink on and off to music that's broadcast on their own radio station frequency to a lawn filled with hundreds of plastic statues and figures.  It has been a ton of fun and we have laughed a lot.  Despite all of our enthusiasm for seeing other's lights, we haven't put any up ourselves, which really bothers Addy. She tells us that next Christmas we need to have lights on our house too.  I guess we'll see about that...

One of the Christmas Crazy houses we found in our city.  (You'll have to enlarge the picture to get the full experience:)

A Special Visitor
Over the month of December we have had a very special visitor at our house.  His name is Barney and he is our very own ELF on a Shelf.  He was sent to our house by Santa on December 1st and was nameless.  Adalyn decided his name should be Barney, which was the best option out of the names she suggested :) Each night when we go to bed Barney flies (with magic, of course) to Santa to give him a daily report about Adalyn and carter's behavior and then places himself in a new place each morning.  Each morning Addy wakes up and is very excited to find Barney's new hiding spot.  He came with a story book that explains his assignment and we have read it several times.  I have been very surprised at Barney's effectiveness.  If an Addy tantrum seems to be brewing, all I need to do is glance in Barney's direction or mutter his name and she stops in her tracks!  Now if only Barney can be sent back in January by the Easter Bunny, I would have it made.  The other day carter was fussing in his high chair and Addy looked at Barney and said "Barney, are you seeing this?"  Nothing like a big sister ratting on her baby brother!  Needless to say, we had a discussion about the fact that babies are allowed to cry!

Our holiday house guest--Barney

Decorating the tree

 Christmas Card Photos



The picture that didn't make the card :)

Hopefully after this post I am somewhat caught up on our blog.  I plan to add more holiday posts as we hopefully get a visit from the big guy in a red suit and celebrate the holidays with our families.  Until then, we wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season!

6 Months....and Growing Like a Weed!

On November 27th Carter turned six months old!  We can't believe our little guy is already a 1/2 year old!  Carter's personality is really starting to show more and more each day.  He is a very happy baby and is always smiling.  His face lights up anytime Addy walks into the room.  He loves his big sister and she is so good at playing and interacting with him.  Carter began sitting up around October 25th and can sit by himself for extended periods of time.  His first two teeth came in during the first week of November.  We love his toothy grin:)

Our Happy Little Guy

Recently he has come quite the mover and shaker.  He's not crawling yet, but is pushing up to his hands and knees and finds a way to get what he wants.  His favorite things to go after are electrical cords, laptops, crayons and any of Addy's small toys.  I guess we're going to get back into "baby-proofing" mode. 


As far as sleeping goes, Carter has made improvements.  He now sleeps from about 9 o'clock until 4:30 a.m., which is a HUGE improvement from what he was doing just one month ago.  He has really started enjoying independent play time and will now sit on a blanket and play with toys for longer periods of time. 

One quirky thing we have learned about Carter is that he loves vegetable much more than fruit.  He gobbles up all of the veggies we give him, but has to be coaxed to down his fruit, even if we give it to him first! 

Carter loves his big sister and lights up anytime she walks into the room.  He loves watching her play and move about.  It is a lot of fun watching the two interact and Addy really makes an effort to play with and entertain him. 
He is also quite the chatter box and loves to babble.  Last Thursday (December 16th) he said dada for the first time and will now laugh after you say dada.  Go figure...another one of my kids says dada first! 

We took Carter to his six month doctor appointment on November 30.  It had been scheduled to two days later, but I called to get in early because he seemed fussier than usual and was pulling at his ears.  The doctor said he had an ear infection and prescribed him that lovely bubble gum antibiotic.  At the appointment Carter weighed 22 pounds 6 ounces and measured 28 & 1/2 inches.  He is a growing boy!  Actually he measured to be the exact same height as Adalyn at 6 months and weighs about a pound more than she did.


6 Month Pictures
(taken on  December 6th)

~Thanksgiving 2010~

We headed to Indiana the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to celebrate Turkey Day with our families.  The kids did very well on the trip home.  We only stopped once for food through a drive thru and made very good time going home.  Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family.  My parents made their usual yummy meal and we watched lots of football.  Later that evening Derek and I took Addy to see Tangled, while Carter stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa. 

Enjoying her turkey!

Hanging out with Grandma Schum

Friday morning I headed out for my usual Black Friday shopping excursion.  This year my dad agreed to go with me since my mom was working and Derek stayed back with the kids.  I was very surprised that my dad was willing to go, as his patience for crowds and crazy people is very limited.  He was surprisingly very well behaved and and an excellent shopping buddy.  Although we didn't find everything we were looking for, we did manage to snag a few good deals and were home in record time.

One of papaw's Black Friday purchases

Friday evening we headed to dinner with my family and then to Santa Claus to see the lights at Lake Rudolph and to visit Santa at the Christmas Store.  Addy loved the lights and "oohed" and "awed" through the entire thing.  I think Christmas with a two year old is going to be a ton of fun this year.  Both Addy and Carter did great with Santa.  Carter managed to grab a handful of Santa's beard and his wire-rimmed glasses, but Santa remained jolly through it all!  We had a lot of fun kicking off the Christmas season with the fun things in Santa Claus!

Who is this guy?

A couple of kids that are on the good list

Saturday morning we headed  Evansville to celebrate with Derek's mom, brother, and his family.We headed to the mall to brave the shopping crazies and go to Build-a-Bear. Earlier in the month I came across a good deal at Build-A-Bear (groupon.com is great!) and Derek's mom bought certificates for the three grandchildren to make their own animal.  Addy and Cameron made Rudolphs, while Carter made a puppy.  It was a lot of fun the kids really enjoyed making their animals.  Addy loves her Rudolph and is constantly singing his song and making him talk.

Giving Rudolph and Dasher a bath

Saturday afternoon we had a yummy dinner of crepes and put up the Christmas tree at Derek's Mom's house.  It was a ton of fun watching the cousins interact and decorate the tree together.  Addy was very interested in putting ornaments on the tree, and liked putting all of the ornaments next to each other along the bottom of the tree. Cameron enjoyed taking the ornaments off that Addy hung and Carter enjoyed watching the chaos and trying to get his hands on anything he could. 

Storytime with Grandma Freihaut

We had a wonderful visit with both of our families and enjoyed our time in Indiana.  We look forward to visiting with everyone again over Christmas.  Hopefully we will get to see more of our extended families as well! 

November in a Nutshell with a little bit of October thrown in...

To say that our November was a busy month for us is a bit of an understatement.  With the big move and all the stress, headaches, and unpacking that came with it and not having internet for a month, the blog took a major hit.  Although we still don't have internet (boy, has that been an ordeal!  Let's just say Frontier is on Derek's list and it's not a good list to be on) I am using Derek's wireless network card to finally do a few updates on here.  So buckle your seatbelts and get reading....Here's our last four weeks in a nutshell...

Halloween Weekend
  

My parents came to visit on Halloween Weekend. They were able to take a few extra days off of work and come for an extended visit. They have come to visit for the last several years on Halloween and we really enjoy having them come to visit. We were also excited to be able to show them the new house. On Saturday we took advantage of Dad visiting and rented a uhaul for stage one of the big move. Dad and Derek moved some of our bigger furniture and hard to manage items. We really put Dad to work and are so grateful for all of his help and for Mom's help in keeping the kids at bay as we packed and moved. Sunday we all went out to eaty at Logan's before an evening of trick-or-treating. After Addy's afternoon nap we planned to get the kids dressed in their costumes and take pictures. Adalyn woke up from her nap on the wrong side of the bed and was quite the bear through dressing and picture taking. Needless to say, we didn't get a whole lot of quality photos of the two together. Addy did warm up to the idea of trick-or-treating as she remembered that candy was involved and made quite the little Doctor. She chose her costume herself and had asked to be a doctor in early October. Thank goodness she madde up her mind early, as there weren't any toddler doctor costumes to be had at the stores and amazon.com had to come to the rescue! Although less original, Carter did make one cute monkey and did his part by providing those cute chubby monkey cheeks! Although it started out a bit rocky, trick-or-treating was a success and Addy was beside herself with her bucket full of goodies.

Trick-or-treating at our house.  My mom manned the door while we did the neighborhood circut. 



Addy and I decorated a pumpkin at the local nature center.  Addy called it our Grandma Pumpkin:)



Picking out the perfect pumpkin

 

Trick-or-treating at the Wietings'

Even Olive and Brutus were dressed for the occasion! 



The following day was November 1st and was the day we headed to the bank to close on our new house.  Forty-five minutes and many, many signatures later the house was ours and we were headed there to drop off yet another load of things.  The first week with the house in our possesion I really wanted to get the kids' rooms painted.  The entire house is painted a neutral brown and can be slowly changed, but I wanted to get color on the walls in the kids' rooms before we moved in their furniture.  Derek's mom came up to help us move.  She was mainly assigned to kiddie duty, which she and the kids were totally ok with.  The following weekend was our big move.  Unfortunately sometime during the week's worth of preparations I aggravated my knee and by the time Saturday rolled around my knee resembled more of a cantaloupe than an actual knee..convenient timing, I know!  Thankfully we had many wonderful friends and family here to help us get moved and all went as smoothly as we could have imagined.  Thank goodness for family and friends!

The rest of the month involved unpacking, unpacking, and a little more unpacking.  Derek also managed to squeeze in a short trip to Buffalo, NY the Monday after we moved and we headed home to Indiana for Thanksgiving, which will be featured in a future post!  We are slowly settling in to our new home.  It feels a little more like home everyday.  I love the fact that we are closer to town now and that the kids and I can run errands and not take the entire day to accomplish them.  We have become regulars at the library's toddler story hour which both Adalyn and Carter love.  Addy loves to visit the library to pick out books and go to her "class."  During the story hour the teacher reads several stories and leads the kids in several songs.  Addy's favorite song to date that she has learned is "Shake your bushy tail."   

Mirror, Mirror on the wall...

Such a cheeser!

Enjoyin their new house!

Despite the cold weather we ahve also met several of our neigbors.  Several of them have even brought us goodies to welcome us to the neighborhood!  We have also learned that we have several high school girls living around us, which means prime babysitting prospects!  We are excited about that!  So far we are enjoying the transition to our new surroundings.  Although that's not to say that the move hasn't brought frustrations.  Being unsettled during the holidays isn't my favorite thing in the world and we already have had issues with a leaking spa tub.  Add the issues we have had getting the internet and we have had our share of headaches!  However, it's great to see Addy and Carter settling in and loving their new house!  We will post pictures of our progress on the house very soon! 

Jam Packed Week in Indiana

A few weeks ago we took a trip back home to Indiana.  We had planned this trip well before we knew we would be buying a house and had purchased tickets to take Adalyn to Yo Gabba Gabba Live in Louisville, so we went ahead a made the trip home even though there was lots to be done in Illinois.  The plan was for the entire family to head home on Friday and then Derek would take his mom's car (she was on a trip with her church) and head back to Illinois on Monday after the Yo Gabba Gabba Show.  He had to go on a business trip to Florida for the remainder of the week, so it was a perfect time for us to spend some extra time at home visiting family and friends.  Then on Sunday the kids and I headed back to Illinois and picked up Derek's mom in Terre Haute to make the trip with us.  I know it sounds like a giant riddle, but it all worked out very well and we had a wonderful time in Indiana.  Like any trip that I plan, it was jam packed with lots of activities, visits with friends and family, and little down time. 

Fishin' for a prize

We stayed at Derek's mom's house on Friday and Saturday.  We wanted to spend some time with her before she went on her trip with her church to Michigan and Wisconsin.  On Saturday we went to the West Side Nut Club Festival.  It had been several years since we had been to the festival and we wanted to take Addy to sample some of the yummy food.  Addy enjoyed the corn on the cob, cobbler, and bread pudding.  I had also told Addy about the game where you choose a color by putting a quarter down on it and then a mouse is released in a larger wheel and chooses a color by going through a hole.  Addy was excited about playing the game and won a hot pink dolphin when the mouse finally chose her color.  Thank goodness Grandma had lots of quarters at her house!




Carter's first visit to Holiday World.  Too bad he couldn't see most of it:)

On Sunday we packed up and headed toward Spencer County to meet up with my parents and take the kids to Holiday World for the day.  It was an unusually hot day and Holiday World was pretty crowded. It was their last day of operation and usually crowds are low, but the weather brought everyone out. When packing for the family I didn't think about packing Addy's swimsuit for the fountains at Holiday World.  Being able to Run through fountains in October in Indiana just doesn't happen very often, so we let her go wild in the water in her clothes.  She had lots of fun going on rides and was so excited that grandma and grandpa each rode a ride with her.  Carter

had a lot of fun taking in the sights from his stroller and slept through most of the trip.

Monday was an exciting day for Adalyn.  We were going to Yo Gabba Gabba Live in Louisville.  I had made the mistake of telling her about the show a bit too early, so everyday when she got up she asked if we were going to Yo Gabba.  Finally on Monday when she got up I could give her the answer she was looking for.  My mom took off work to watch Carter, so it could just be a day for Addy. She loved that is was "Addy's Day" and mentioned it several times during the trip.   We went to the afternoon show so that Derek could head back to Illinois in the evening.  Yo Gabba Gabba is a kid's show on Nickelodeon. Yes, it is a little bizarre, but it includes music from alternative rock bands and is actually a show Derek and I can watch without losing our minds.  The songs are pretty catchy and after the concert I had them in my head for the rest of the week.  When I went online to buy the tickets it just so happened that the front row was available, so I jumped on them.  We were in the front row of theater seats, but had two rows of super crazy Gabba fans in front of us who paid $130 a seat to have "VIP" status.  Yo Gabba Gabba followers are very enthusiastic and I knew that there would be many super fans at the show. Clothing with the characters is very hard to come by, so I had planned on making Addy a shirt with her favorite character, Foofa. Well, since I was already making her a shirt, I decided to make myself and Derek shirts too, so that we would fit in with the crazy fans.  Derek was Muno and I was Brobee.  Addy loved the fact that we were also wearing shirts and we got many compliments from fans at the show.  Maybe I should start my own Gabba shirt business:) The show was great and it was great seeing Adalyn's face as the characters came on stage. She talked about the show for the rest of the week and has since asked if we could go back. 

Our homemade shirts

Dancing to the show

On Wednesday the kids and I headed back to the Louisville area to visit my good friend Jill and her family.  Jill and Zack welcomed their first baby, Ethan, to the world a month before we had Carter.  It was the first time I had seen Ethan.  He is adorable!  It was fun watching the boys look at each other. Addy loved meeting Jill, Zack, and Ethan and enjoyed playing with their dog Emmit.  It was great to see them and I am so glad the were able to make time in their busy schedules for us to visit!

Carter & Ethan hanging out.  Ethan is one month older than Carter.

On Thursday evening we dressed the kids in their Halloween costumes and my parents and I took them trick-or-treating to some of my relatives' houses. It was great to be able to take the kids to trick-or-treating to so many of our relatives.  We got to see a lot of people in a short amount of time.  I feel as though no matter how long we're home, we always wish we could have seen and visited with more of our friends and family.  So, it was great to see so many of our relatives all in one evening!

On Friday the kids and I went shopping with my mom ad Ashley.  We had a great time and found a lot of cute clothes for Carter and Adalyn.  Adalyn devoured her meal at Fazoli's and asked to go back to the "tomato place" to eat the next day.  Our last full day visiting in Indiana was Saturday.  Mom and Dad had planned to take us to the new Paula Deen Buffet in New Albany.  After much anticipation, it was quite the disappointment!  The food at the buffet wasn't near as good as the food she makes on t.v. looks.  After eating we headed to Huber Orchard, which was a madhouse.  There were people and lines everywhere!  It was such a beautiful day that everyone decided to head to the orchard.  Needless to say we weren't too enthusiastic about the super-long lines for everything so we didn't stay too long.  We did manage to leave with some yummy apple cider and apple cider donuts though!

Carter's first time in Grandma & Grandpa's swing



Enjoying a beautiful fall evening



Huber Orchard (Carter was sleeping:)

Ashley with her niece and nephew

Cheesin' with Grandpa's pumpkins

Sunday afternoon we headed back to Illinois.  We stopped in Terre Haute and Cory and Courtney's house to pick up Derek's mom.  We got see Courtney and Cameron very briefly and Addy and Cameron had a few minutes to play together.  The kids were very good on the way home.  It was another great trip back to Indiana filled with lots of great visits and fun.  We look forward to returning for the holidays!

Check Ups

I'm 4 months old!

Both kids had check ups at the doctor a few weeks ago.  I know this is old news and that some of you may be wonder why I even bother writing about this since it was so long ago, but since our family blog is a kind of substitute for a scrapbook I need to document the milestones (even if they happened weeks ago.)  We were ablet o take both kids at the same time which was a great timesaver, but also a bit chaotic in itself.  Adalyn had her 2 1/2 year check up and Carter had has 4 month check up. 

Addy knew that we were going to see the doctor and was surprisingly ok with it.  She knew was was probably going to get at least one shot and didn't show much apprehension about it.  As soon as the nurse walked into the room the chitter chatter began.  To say that she talked the nurse and doctor's ears off may be a bit of an understatement.  As soon as the Doctor stepped foot in the door she let him know that she was going to be a doctor for Halloween.  Dr. Boe seemed to be amused by that and gave her several rubber gloves for her costume.  Addy talked to him about everything from her baby Carter to moving to a new house.  When going down through his developmental checklist he stated "she certainly has quite the vocabulary."  Adalyn's height was 37.25 inches and weighed 34 lbs 8 ounces. The doctor was very happy with Adalyn's growth and development and made Addy's day by giving her those gloves for her costume!

Our little guy was checked out after Adalyn.  Throughout Carter's check up kept one eye on what the doctor was doing to her little brother and one eye on the I-Spy books she was flipping through.  She was very interested in and concerned about what was being done to him.  Carter weighed in at 19 lbs. 13 oz.  (greater than 97th percentile..of course) and measured to be 25.5 inches long (90th percentile).  Yes, he is a big guy and certainly doesn't miss many meals!  The doctor was happy with his numbers and while examining Carter by pulling him up to a sitting position mentioned how strong he is for his age.  Carter got a shot in each leg and took them like a champ.  He cried for only a few second and was his smiley self soon after. The doctor also gave us the ok to begin solids.  So we gave him cereal starting on October 1st.   He wasn't at all fond of it at first, but has taken more of a liking to it in the past week.  We plan to start him with veggies this week.  That should be interesting!

The smiley baby before the shots.

First bite of cereal goes in....



and comes out!



Cheesin for the camera!

One proud daddy!