Ready to be done

I am so tired of packing!!!  We still have about 20-25 more boxes to pack up between today and tomorrow, and I am so over it!!  Everyone keeps writing about their fun NYE and NYD plans, and we are stuck packing all day long :(  There is no way we can take a break even for a few hours.  I know I shouldn't complain because we are getting to move into our dream house, but right now I am just too overwhelmed to be excited!!  I seriously wish I could run to just blow off some steam!!

Funny how things work out

By the way, I am so grateful our closing got pushed to the 2nd!  Today was supposed to be our moving day, and there is NO WAY we would have been ready!! Sometimes things fall apart so better things can fall together!

Merry Christmas

Among all of the packing, we made sure to have as normal and fun of a Christmas as we could!  We went to a Santa Pajama Party at the park district, and got to see Santa.

Then we had Christmas with the Agerter side of our family!

On Christmas Eve we went to church with my parents, and then came home and had our traditional Ukrainian Christmas Eve meal!

Santa came!  One last Christmas on Penny Lane.

On Christmas Day we had a delicious dinner at Erik's Dad and Nan's house!  The little cousins all had fun playing together!  All in all we really had a fun Christmas!  I think we did a pretty good job keeping things fun for Caleb and Mila, even though we've been busy with our move!

There is no fooling this kid!

Erik saw the idea to make Santa's "snowy foot prints."  He had it all set up.  When Caleb came downstairs, he touched it, and said that's flour!  Then he said, "Santa must have put down his foot and put flour around it!"  I kid you not!  There is no fooling this kid!!

We may be able to pull off this Santa thing at least another year or two, right??

One Week and Counting

Caleb has not used a pacifier for one week!  It has not been easy, but he's done it!  The first few nights were rough.  He cried a little bit or whimpered, but soon after fell asleep.  He has given up his nap, which makes the evenings, especially dinner time difficult, but then he's ready for bed by 7:30 or 8:00. Whenever he says he misses his paci we just remind him that he's a big boy and that he doesn't really need it.  The worst part for me, is that he doesn't hold our ears as much any more when he's falling asleep.  I ask him if he wants to hold my ear, and he tells me he can't hold my ear without his paci. However sometimes during story time he will hold my ear, which I will take as long as I can!

Learning to Let Things Go

This whole moving process has really taught me how I can only plan up to a point, and that things will happen that I have no control over!  We were supposed to close on our new house tomorrow, but for reasons that Erik can explain to me, but I don't understand enough to reexplain them, our closing has been moved to January 2nd!!  He tells me that we will have a great loan and mortgage as a result of the delay, but that we now have to rearrange days off of work and when the movers will come help us! As stressed out as I was when I first learned about all of this, I must say that I'm pretty proud of myself for just trying to roll with it!

In other news of letting things go, Caleb fell asleep without his paci tonight.  It all started when I gave him a soft Christmas cookie for a snack today.  He told me it was a good thing the cookie was soft because of his sore tooth.  Concerned, I asked him what he was talking about, and he reminded me of when he banged his teeth on the bathroom sink a few weeks ago.  At that time, my Mom told me he had slipped off of his step stool, and banged his teeth on the bathroom sink.  I remembered checking them at that time, but they didn't seem loose!  Well tonight when I went to check them, they both wiggled quite a bit!!

I took him to the dentist to check them out, and he said that while they are loose, they don't look infected, and that he may lose them a little early.  I brought up that he does use a paci at night, and the dentist agreed that it may be putting some stress on those two front teeth.  Now Caleb remembers me trying to coax him to leave his pacis for the Easter Bunny, and when I said we could leave them for his Elf to take to Santa to redistribute them to other babies, he insisted on giving them to the Easter Bunny tonight.  He said that the Easter Bunny will give them to the baby bunnies.

He asked me for a basket that he filled with his 3 pacis, some strawberries, and carrots, and left them on the back steps.  Now I know my little boy, and I knew tonight would be rough no matter how excited he was at the time.  Sure enough, he talked for 30 minutes non stop when I tried to read his books to him, and then started asking me for his paci.  Surprisingly he did fall asleep without it, but it took about an hour!  I swear it was harder on me than him!  He didn't hold my ear like he has since he was an infant!  Erik and I have always agreed that we'd be sad when this day came.

I had told him that I thought our Elf would tell Santa what he had done, and that he would probably get some kind of a surprise for giving his pacis to the baby bunnies.  I called Erik, and he picked up a little something that Caleb has been asking for for Christmas.  I was really impressed that Erik also bought the movie Rise of the Guardians, where the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus work together.  Caleb loves the movie, and Erik thought it was appropriate :)

As I'm typing this, Caleb has been tossing and turning all night on his monitor!  I'm such a pushover, and so many times have wanted to be like, "here's your paci baby boy," but I know's it's what's best for his teeth!  I sure hope he doesn't lose them too soon!!

Mila ~ 16 months old

Mila is 30" tall (25%) and weighs 21 lbs 14 oz (35%).  She's a little peanut!

She wears 12-18 month clothes, size 5 shoes, and size 4 diapers.

She says uh-oh and more!!  And it's the cutest thing ever!

She can get on and off the couch like a pro!  She likes to take her toy or book up on the couch with her and sit up there to play!

When we say bye bye, she blows us a kiss with a loud smack!

Three out of four molars are in!  The last one is making her itch her ear, which Mommy had them checked just to be sure, and they said it's only her tooth!

She is a little hot box in the car!  She can't wear her winter coat or else she over heats!  We've had one bad episode where she was in the car for 10 minutes, got too hot, and threw up!  Now Caleb tells me he'll let me know if she throws up!  Such a good big brother!

She likes to flip the kitchen light on and off, which then makes Caleb come over and do the same thing!  I get to relive my dance club days!  LOL!

She walks in the bathroom, points to her toothbrush, and says brush!

Mila is fast and steady on her feet!  At her MD appointment, they commented on how she doesn't have many bruises, like they typically see at this clumsy age.  I told them it's because she's been walking since 11 months!  It also probably helps that I keep my eyes on her like a hawk!

She and Caleb still play fairly well together.  She's getting more interested in his toys, so I do get a lot more complaints from him that she's ruining things, but for the most part they are sharing well!

She is still VERY SHY!!  If a stranger looks at her and smiles, she will hide her face or sometimes even cry!

Mila nods at everything!  I can ask her a question and she answers me!  I love how much she understands!!

She is noticing our Elf on the Shelf and gets really excited when she spots her!

Mila loves watching Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Team Umi Zoomi, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Her favorite thing to do is dance anytime there is music!!

She loves drawing on the magnetic doodle board and playing with Caleb's leapfrog spellers.

She still doesn't really like to wear headbands or barrettes.

We're MOVING!!

We're moving...SOONER than we thought!!  Back in April, Erik and I had started talking about wanting to live closer to where all of our families live.  While we love Bolingbrook, we have about an hour drive to all of the parents' houses.  We kicked around the idea of building a house, but quickly realized how costs add up. We tried one more search, and found a house we fell in love with!!  It's actually the same exact layout we were planning on building!

It's in South Elgin, about 1 mile west of Randall Rd.  We will be 3 miles away from Erik's brother Jay and his family, about 4 miles away from his Mom's house and his Dad's house, and 11 miles away from my Mom and Dad's house!!  The house is tucked away in a small, quiet neighborhood, but just a mile away on Randall Rd. is anything and everything we could ever need, including grocery stores, restaurants, and shopping stores!

The house was built in 2007, and has never been lived in!  The original builder who built it was very into wood details and trims, so we love all the additional touches!  After our house was built, the original builder stopped building, and another builder bought the rest of the lots on our street.  That second builder was using our house as a model and office to show others what similar styles they could build.  We made an offer in April or May, but had to agree to a closing date of January 31st.  The builder needed time to build another model.  We were totally fine with that!

Well fast forward to November, when we realized that the builder never started on their model home!!  We knew that they wouldn't be building through the winter months, so we asked the bank if we could move up our closing date?  It took about a month to get an answer, but they agreed to moving up our closing date!! We're closing on Dec 20th, and moving on the 28th!  It's going to be a very crazy but exciting Christmas!!

Lastly, here is a picture of our new Home Sweet Home! Once we're settled in, everyone can come on over!

From the Mouth of my Babes

While talking about decorating for Christmas, Caleb told me he wanted to take out his Christmas toy. I asked him which toy that was, and he responded, "my Jesus one."  I said, "oh your nativity!"

While driving around in the car, he asked Erik if next summer we could go on the wheel.  I wasn't sure what he was talking about, and he said, "like when we went and got ice cream and watched fireworks, and there was that wheel."  We realized he was talking about a ferris wheel, and was talking about a night from summer 2012, before Mila was born!  The things he remembers amaze us!

Mila can now say Nana (banana)!

From the Mouth of my Babe

While listening to Christmas music in the car (yes, I'm guilty) Caleb asked me how the instrumental "Sleigh Ride" was a Christmas song. I told him because it sounds really joyful and cheerful. A minute went by, and he said, "I think it sounds like when the elves are making the toys." I couldn't stop smiling!! I said I think you are absolutely right!

I was trying to use the Santa card to get Caleb to do something that he did not want to do. I said, "you know who sees everything you do, right?" He looked at me and said, "God." I'm glad our talks are sticking!! I said, "well yes, you are right, and you don't want to make God sad!"

Mila ~ 15 months old

Mila weighs about 22 lbs, wears size 12-18 months clothes, and is in size 4 diapers.

She is starting to say more words: cheese, please, bath, brother, and Bella.  She can also do animal sounds for dog, cow, tiger, pig, and sheep!

She LOVES to dance, and starts moving anytime she hears a beat.  She's even picking up Caleb's dance moves, and tries to break dance!  It's hilarious!

Mila tries to jump!  She bounces up and down, while looking up at the ceiling!

She has had her first over night stay at the hospital for croup.

She says and waves bye bye!

Mila can climb on and off the couch!!  She is so cute when she walks over to the couch and hoists herself up there!

When we tell her no or not to do something, she lowers her face and sticks out her bottom lip in the most over exaggerated pout!

She follows directions well.

She loves to help us with dog food duty!  She likes to put the lid back on the food container, and picks up their bowls when they're finished eating!

Mila hates being buckled up in her high chair!

Her separation anxiety is getting better :)  Thank God!!

She is starting to be a hot shot, and climbs onto Caleb's step stool or the fireplace hearth, but then she either calls out to us for help, or tumbles down!

She said yah and nodded when I asked her if she missed me!

Mila gives tight hugs with the biggest smile on her face!

She loves books, takes them all off the shelf, looks through them, and brings them to me to read to her!  Her favorite are the ones that play music or make noise.  She will walk around with her "Jesus Loves Me Book," and plays it over and over again!

When she falls down and slaps her hand on the ground, she comes running to me with her hand up and a sad face.  She wants me to see her boo boo and asks for a kiss!

I just love her little body!  She is so petite, and I absolutely love picking her up and cuddling her in my arms!

Mila still gives big open mouth kisses!

From the Mouth of my Babe

When Caleb got out of bed this morning, he crawled out to me in the hallway.  He told me that he had kittens on his back and needed to bring them downstairs!  Then while helping him go potty, he went on to tell me that kitten 5, 4, 3, and 2 fell down while he was walking down the stairs, but that kitten 1 stayed on his head!  LOL!  I love his imagination!!

Welcome Baby Scarlett

While I was in the hospital overnight with Mila, I got a call from Erik's sister, Lisa.  I thought she had heard we were in the hospital, and was calling to see how Mila was doing.  Well she also called to tell me her water broke and that she was in labor!!!  I couldn't believe it!  She was supposed to go to the hospital the next day to be induced!!  Well Lisa was a rock star!!  After 27 long hours of labor, Miss Scarlett Lou was born!  8 lbs and 20 inches long!

when they first got to the hospital

well hello there little love!

Erik had this grand plan that we were going to wear these "Scarlet and Gray" shirts to the hospital when Scarlett was born!  He ordered them online weeks in advance!

Poor Mila

Two days after Halloween, Mila's runny nose and cough seemed to get a lot worse.  I can't believe I didn't recognize it right away, but it has been about a year and a half since Caleb last had it!  That Saturday night, her breathing seemed a lot worse and I thought she might be wheezing.  It suddenly hit me that her breathing sounds were stridor and that she had croup.  I knew this meant a trip to the ER, and a possible night in the hospital.  I packed my bag, and we headed over to the ER.

We are so lucky to have such a nice ER!  They saw us right away, and she was getting her first breathing treatment within a half hour.  We had to wait two hours, and realized she still wasn't better. They did another treatment and set us up in a room for the night.

She was such a trooper!  We were so lucky that the nurses and doctors took great care of us!  By the morning, her stridor was gone, but she went on to be sick for another week and a half!  She is finally just now sounding better!

Happy Halloween

So I'm a little behind on my posts, but we've had a lot of things going on lately!!  First up was Halloween!  It was so rainy this year, but we lucked out that it stopped for about 15 minutes for us to be able to take the kids trick or treating outside.

After trick or treating, Erik helped Caleb carve his pumpkin!

Some other things I want to remember about this Halloween:

~ Caleb was obsessed with the movie Hotel Transylvania!  I can't even tell you how many times he asked to watch it!  He would sing songs and quote lines from the movie!
~ Caleb would shout "Thank You" after getting his Halloween candy, because I told him to make sure he said it loudly!
~ Caleb would pick out a piece of candy for himself, Mila, Mommy, and Daddy, and would be sure to tell our neighbors that's what he was doing!