Party Pictures

Here are some photos from Justin's party last weekend. Thanks to Hallie for taking them for us!!

Apryl and Adam brought this awesome pinata!

We did have chairs..I swear..somehow everyone ended up out here on the floor!

Justin's friends from school - Molly and Evan

Dear Justin - Happy 3rd Birthday!

I can't believe Justin is 3. He is so much fun- it's hard to remember that he wasn't always able to run in circles and talk my ear off. He has learned SO much in the last year- he's able to have little conversations with us now- even if they are usually about tractors and trucks - or food. It's hard to believe I'm going to have to wait another 2 years to be doing that with Kyle.

Justin has taken on the role of big brother quite well. He's such a loving boy that I had no doubt he would love on his brother - but it makes me smile EVERY time I see them together.  He usually asks to hold him at least once a day - and enjoys getting down on the floor with him to play. He has me "make a spot" for him if I happen to lay Kyle in the the middle of the play-mat - so he can get in on the action too. Having two boys almost makes me want a third - if I didn't have to be pregnant again.

The arrival of Kyle has made Justin a little less dependent on Mommy! He adjusted so well to my "I'm sorry I'm busy feeding Kyle" response. I wasn't sure how he was going to react but he seems to just move along to whomever else is around to help him or figure it out himself. I was wondering how he would react to Kyle being up with me after Justin goes to bed and he doesn't even question it. I guess maybe at 3 you aren't quite in to the "not fair" stage yet.

In the last year he has really learned a lot - including his numbers and letters. It's awesome to see him recognize things on signs when you are driving down the road. And he's sure to tell us what number is on the clock when he gets up in the morning (Dave has tried to teach him to stay in bed until the first number is a 6). School is pleased with his development and his teacher said he is usually the first kid to yell out what is on her flash cards - and often corrects his friends when they are wrong (smarty pants). 

He has some wonderful little friends at school and it's fun to try and keep up with who is his favorite - it seems to change monthly. He gets stuck on one little friend for awhile and then all of a sudden he'll be talking about a different friend all of the time. And he says their first and last names when he talks about them - I asked his teacher if all of the kids do that but she said no! His favorite a couple of weeks ago was Harper Lee - but now it seems to be Emily and Molly. Before the girls it was Evan. It cracks me up to listen to him say their full names. He has not talked about any of his "guy" friends in a few weeks. He is ALL ABOUT the girls right now. If I ask him who he played with it starts with Emily and Molly then goes to Harper and Katie and Charlotte.

He has recently learned his middle name and often calls himself "Justin Prinz David" which is funny to hear. And if you call him something other than his name (like hey- you are messy) he will say "no - I'm Justin Prinz!"

Last weekend he told me I was his best friend.  And he keeps saying it - and I LOVE IT. I hope he always loves me as much as he does right now! He is also saying "I Love You" a lot which is cute. When I am holding Kyle he climbs up on my lap and says "Your two little boys" and then looks at me and says "you say it" until I say "My two little boys" back to him.

He is also loving the term "Sounds good" and says it to me about a million times a day. Sometimes it is response to something I say - but quite often it starts with him asking me a question like:
Is it dinner time?
Yes, Justin
Sounds Good

Or even better is when he comes up with something he wants and says something like
"We'll eat breakfast, get dressed, brush our teeth, watch Cars....Sounds good"

He says "Nevermind" a lot as well - he sort of knows what it means but he uses it a lot when he's done with talking about something. 

Some of Justin's favorite things at 3 are:

• Tractors, tractors and more tractors
• Construction Equipment
• Airplanes and airports
• Dinosaur Train (the cartoon) - Though Cars has recently taken the lead as his favorite
• Chicken Nuggets
• Pizza
• Cake - banilla (vanilla)
• His family- he loves his aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. I love that he seems to have such great relationships with them all even though we don't live close to anybody. 

Some things that he doesn't seem to care so much for:

• Bath-time (why is this such an ordeal? - it's getting better if Kyle is in the baby tub at the same time)
• Going in the Potty (he knows how but he sure doesn't seem to want to do this full time!)
• Staying in bed ALL NIGHT - he usually gets out at least once

Justin- you are a sweet, sweet boy. You are always hugging and kissing your friends and family. You STILL play with my hair like you did when you were a baby. You are shy and take some time to adjust to new situations but I love watching you sit back and take things in. You make us so very happy. I'm excited to see what the next year brings for you!

1st Birthday Post
2nd Birthday Post

We're having a John Deere Birthday Party this afternoon - so pics to come!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks to all for the sweet Valentines! Kyle even managed to wear his little outfit ALL DAY! Here is some fun with photos...I was going to take the time to try and make them the same color scheme but I can't do that sort of things with kids in the house- I played a little bit with them and this is what you get! :)

Reading the new Cars book - thanks Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop!

First Dentist Appointment

Since Justin had a semi-successful haircut I decided it was time to start thinking about a dentist visit. Our pediatrician told us a long time ago that the new recommendation was to take kids within 6 months of their first tooth. My reply to him was "Have you see this kid in your office? Can you imagine how he would be at the dentist?"

Justin recently started wanting to read the Elmo dentist book that I bought him ages ago- so I needed to take advantage of this interest and called the dentist and made an appointment. We have been talking about it a lot- hoping that it would make for a smooth visit.

The dentist is just downstairs from the doctors office- so we were in familiar territory- but when we got to the door of the office he didn't want to go in- it took some convincing. We got there early so he could play in the waiting room and I could continue to talk to him about how he was going to sit on the big chair and how the dentist would count his teeth and tickle them with a toothbrush.

When they called him back he did NOT want to go. I finally bribed him by telling him he could watch a John Deere video (search John Deere on you tube sometime- the kid would watch any of it) if he went back. He will do almost anything for a tractor.

We got to the back and he would not get in the chair- not by himself, not on my lap, not even for that promised John Deere video. The dentist was great though - and convinced him to show her his teeth while standing by the chair and eventually let her brush them. She called them dinosaur teeth- she knows what little boys like to hear!

Since things had the potential to go pretty terrible- I think that was a great visit! Especially when I think about some of our other doctor visits and haircuts! This kiddo just needs a lot of prep before new experiences. He really likes to take it all in before he decides it is something he wants to try. It will be interesting to see how Kyle is in these situations! Justin is my sweet, shy and timid boy! 

Our weekend without Daddy

Well we are surviving our first weekend without Dave around. Friday night Kyle was up at 11, 2, 3 and Justin was up at 4, 4:30, 5, and then I just slept in there with him until 6 - while Kyle slept from 3am - 9am.. these boys did NOT coordinate their sleep schedules for me.  Thankfully last night both of them slept much better- with Kyle giving me from 8:30-3am!  And Justin was only up once at 4am. Phew!!

I had a baby shower to attend yesterday so Kelly came over and watched the boys- it was a nice little break!  Below are some photos from our weekend!

On the potty-training front - Justin tells me has to go potty often...and then changes his mind once I walk back there with him..SO I decided to tell him that if has to go he needs to pull down his pants and diaper and then I'll come back there. Well- that has just lead to a lot of pulling down of the pants and diaper and then trying to run around the house with is pants around his ankles..He has managed to go in the potty twice but this process is not a smooth one.  I do love our new potty seat though- I recommend it to anyone potty training! Mom saw it somewhere and sent me the idea. It is a little seat that is a part of the big seat. Check it out here.

 

Our walk on Friday - I made him pull the wagon the last block :)

He is a good big brother

Justin's "attack" face as I like to call it.

Kyle is getting much easier now that he is entertaining himself some!

More Kyle and Maxwell

We tried another photo shoot with Kyle and Maxwell - with mixed results ;)  Our co-workers in New York gave us these outfits (thanks Katie and Lauren!) so we thought we'd try to get them together in them.  Lauren has the same outfit for her sweet boy (born in October). 

I'm really glad I made it down to Austin before maternity leave is over! I know I'll be ready for Sarah to return to work once I'm back too! She has a few more weeks left!

Really mom?

Future Hawkeyes!

I drove to Austin with Kyle today to see Sarah's sweet baby Maxwell. It took longer than I would have liked and a rescue by AAA on the way down- but Kyle was a good sport. These babies are stinkin cute together! Maxwell is a week younger than Kyle- born on Kyle's due date!

We determined they would probably be the class of 2035!

What we do all day

He looks cute, eats and sleeps (and poops and spits up all over). And I try to enjoy my last few weeks at home with him. It really is sad that they start to get fun just when you have to go back to work!

Fun with Grandma!

Dave had to go out of town for work - so I had asked Mom if she would be interested in coming for a visit. Much to my delight she rearranged her plans to be here :)  I know I'll have to be by myself for days at a time soon (really soon actually) but I wanted to delay it as long as humanly possible.

We had a good time - mostly hanging out at home - though we did take Justin to the new Science Museum one day. Here are some pics!

Sweet brothers...

Cute John Deere outfit that Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop bought him for Christmas

Teaching Kyle about the farm animals

Mommy and her boys

THANKS FOR COMING GRANDMA!

In other news  - Kyle slept in the crib last night!!! WHOOHOOO!