Attitude

I had to capture this moment forever.  Sawyer brought home his school pictures from Parent's Day Out this week.  When Clint and I saw them we about died.  This face is the face we get when Sawyer is about to break out the attitude.  He sticks out his tongue and looks at us.  It is not our favorite face because our angel is about to do something he shouldn't.  Now we will remember this mischievous look always.

My Boys

 I wanted to share newborn pictures of my three boys. 

This is Clint. 

This is Sawyer.

This is Beau.

 It might be hard to tell from the pictures, but Beau looks just like Clint in his newborn picture.  Sawyer's as a newborn did not favor Clint or Beau at all.

But this is Clint at age 3.

This is Sawyer.  See the resemblance now?

 Clint says he is making a clone army.  As of right now, none of these boys look anything like me.

Our 6th Wedding Anniversary

Clint and I really stepped up the romance for our 6th wedding anniversary.  Our anniversary was Saturday, November 20th  This was Beau's actual due date.  The day started with our toaster (which of course was a wedding gift) breaking.  As the toaster is the symbol of all wedding gifts I wander what this meant . . . Clint took me took the doctor for our celebration (the dr. said everything looked great) and then we went to lunch.  We also grabbed a quick dinner and had friends watch Sawyer.  Other than that we did absolutely nothing.  No gifts, nothing.  Clint did buy me a card while I was in the doctor's office.  The only picture I got of our anniversary was me kissing my man.

 Well wrong man, but because I didn't get any pictures of Clint and I on our 6th wedding anniversary I thought I would share a picture of our honeymoon because we look absolutely the same.

Ok so maybe I have a few more wrinkles, Clint some gray hair.  Oh and we both have gained about 30 lbs (I did just have a baby, I don't know what Clint's excuse is).  But spending 6 wonderful, romantic years with my best friend and the two little guys below make it all worth it.

Beau's First Week Home

We are adjusting to life with 2 kids at the Aichele house.  In a little over a week I have gotten prep time to go out down from 3 hours to 1.5 hours.  Sweet Beau has been a total love to be around.  He has an opinion and he has lungs, but he is pretty easy to keep happy.  He wants to be cuddled all the time and wants to eat every 1 to 2 hours during the day.  I would be losing my mind over that except he is already going 4-5 hour stretches at night.  He reached his birth weight in just one week from his birthday.  Like I said the boy likes to eat a lot.  He is very alert and is already strategizing to conquer the world.  He has even tried to smile at us a few times. 

Now big brother is having a harder time adjusting.  He is a great big brother and very sweet to Beau, but he is having a hard time sharing his mommy.  He clings to me constantly and has been testing me to make sure I still love him.  I am  ready to be through this stage.  Sawyer has been finding ways to entertain himself and he constantly keeps us smiling.

I am doing great!  I attribute my great recovery to all the help from friends and family.  My mom helped me get settled back in, Clint's mom came to help out on Clint's first full day back to work, our amazing church small group has been bringing us food and my MOPS group is going to bring meals as well.  Thanks everyone!

Beau Rockland Aichele

Beau Rockland Aichele is here!  Our newest family member was born November 10th, 2010 at 9:56 a.m. weighing 8 lbs 11 oz.  We had a smooth, wonderful delivery and both Beau and I are doing great.  The boy was born with lungs.  He has been nothing but a joy.  He is very alert and responsive.  He also appears to have an opinion already.  Sawyer is adjusting very well to being a big brother.  I have always thought Sawyer looked a lot like his daddy, but that was until I saw Beau.  So far he appears to be a mini Clint. 

Family watching Beau in the nursery.

Beau has been so alert and loves to interact with his family already.  We actually did not decide on an official name until right before we left the hospital.

Pregnancy Summary

I made it!  It is only three days before my scheduled C-section, and I thought I would summarize my pregnancy.  Still no official baby name yet.  I work best under pressure (or drugs, we will find out).  This pregnancy has been pretty much the same as Sawyer.  No morning sickness.  A little fatigue.  Varicose veins, and the mask of pregnancy (not as bad this time because I have a make-up bag of lotions for it now.)  And no stretch marks.  I started showing around 19 weeks which was the same with Sawyer.  The big difference is I am huge with this one!  I didn't gain any weight at all until 21 weeks, but then I made up for it.  I couldn't wear my wedding band as of 33 weeks (I wore it the entire time with Sawyer), and the clothes I wore to the hospital at 35 weeks with Sawyer were not only tight, but showed 3 inches of belly at 34 weeks.  Now at 38.5 weeks I can barely tie my shoelaces.  But I feel great, have plenty of energy, and have been getting pretty good sleep.  I didn't have any contractions with Sawyer and I started having contractions at 27 weeks with this one.  At this point they are pretty constant as long as I am moving.

This little guy though rarely moves in my belly.  We will find out soon if it is because a) I am too busy with my other boys to notice. b) The extra insulation I have acquired has softened the movement. c) This guys is a laid back little fellow.  We are very excited for him to come!

Pooped at the zoo at 38 weeks pregnant.  It was 50 degrees outside, I was in a t-shirt and still sweating.  I am ready to be done with the sweating, snoring, and grunting.

Sawyer Update

Sawyer has been doing great.  At his two year old appointment he was off the charts for height (37.5 inches) and in the 90th percentile for weight.  He can count to 10 and count objects as high as five.  He loves his ABC's right now, but it is still pretty hard to understand exactly what he is saying.  His speech always has been a little delayed, but he understands everything.  He talks constantly, but I think I am the only person who knows what he is saying.  He has already started memorizing his books so Clint and I are convinced he can read.  Ha!

We went through a phase where he was challenging authority, but it was over as quickly as it began (I am sure it will be back).  He is having a lot of anxiety right now as he anticipates change.  He is excited for Bebo to get here, but he is having a lot of stress about mommy leaving him for a few days.  Not what I need right now.  He won't let me leave his sight for even a second and clings constantly.  I  am looking forward to all four of us getting home together and establishing a new norm.

Sawyer still loves his paci and blankie.  He is very particular about what paci and blankie though.  He won't have anything to do with a blanket unless it was one his Meme made him.  Then he has a pecking order to those.  His favorite right now is the cloud blankie.  I have to pry it from his hands to wash it.

He still loves to read books, play with his tools, and help mommy.  He is a pro at riding his bike.  He is an absolute delight to hang out with all day and overall an easy, loving baby. 

Halloween 2010

This Halloween with Sawyer had to be our favorite holiday yet.  He loved it and kept Clint and I laughing the entire time.  The highlight was definitely Halloween night (we celebrated on Saturday, Oct 30th).  This is our first year to celebrate Halloween in Bartlesville.  We had no idea what we were getting into.  We bought 12 bags of candy and went though it within an hour because of all the trick or treaters.  Some of our neighbors counted and had anywhere from 500 to 2000 kids come by!

Sawyer was the perfect trick or treater.  He said his line, got his candy, and said thank you.  He was so happy and tickled over it.  Then he got to hand out candy.  OMG!  It was hilarious.  He sat in the chair guarding the bowl and as soon as the doorbell rang he was off running as fast as he could to the door.  Every single time.  He gave the kids their candy and a few of the costumes made him laugh so hard he couldn't control himself.  He ran after a real pretty little girl his age, and some of the girls started calling him the "Halloween Baby".  He thought that was the funniest thing he ever heard. 

At the pumpkin patch, Sawyer was more into the toys than the pumpkins.

We told Sawyer he could have whatever pumpkin he wanted.  At first we were impressed with his taste.

Then he found "his pumpkin".  It was small, rotten and green.  He would not put it down.  Yes, Clint and I paid money for that pumpkin.

Clint's parents came in for Saturday.  We celebrated Doug's birthday.  Sawyer doesn't understand yet that all parties aren't for him.

Sawyer helped dad carve a pumpkin, but quickly lost interest.

I had no idea Clint had so much talent.

Sawyer was a monkey for Halloween because he is really into Curious George.  He is going through a phase where it is almost impossible to get a good picture.  He started the night with his monkey hat on, but would not keep it on.  He was still pretty adorable.

Fall Mantels

Here is some quick pictures of our fall fireplaces.  We have a two sided fireplace.  My mom and dad came for a weekend to help up finish getting our living areas remodeled.  Clint and my dad did a great job and finished laying the wood floor (Clint so far has laid about 1200 sq ft of wood floor in our house).  My mom helped me decorate and she put my mantels together.  It is so nice to have a decorated house after living here for over a year.

Living Room

Sunroom

To update our fireplaces, we painted the brick white to match, painted the bronze covers black, added accent molding to the fireplace in the sunroom, and replaced the tile in front of the fireplace in the sunroom with something more updated.

Boys Room

We got the boys room done just in time! Both boys will eventually be in the same room mainly because mom doesn't want to have to keep two bedrooms clean.  Bebo (translation from Sawyer language - baby brother) will be sleeping in Clint and my room at first.  But back to the incredible nursery, no thanks to me.  My older sister, Dana, who is a fantastic decorator and artist came to visit and told me we weren't going to sleep until the nursery was done.  And she was right.  We pretty much stayed up all night long, but she got it done.  She did it all.  

But first a little background.  I made the mistake of taking Clint fabric shopping with me.  He insisted on this super campy fabric and that his boys were having and outdoors nature theme.  My sister saw the fabric and freaked out, but she not only made it work, she made it fantastic (and she totally "shopped the house" for everything).  Just remember it is hard for pictures to do it justice.  I still need a few more accessories, but that is why there is Christmas.

What we did in the nursery:  scraped popcorn, textured and painted ceiling, painted walls, put up crown molding, painted furniture, made curtains, made crib skirt, painted and recovered rocker, made mobiles, and added shelving to organize closet.

Heidi's Adoption Birthday

We have celebrated another year with Heidi on her adoption birthday.  We have had Heidi for four years now (which makes her about 5 years old) and once again gave her a can of Alpo for her adoption birthday.  She is a very very sweet, lazy and annoying dog.  We all love her dearly.  She and Sawyer have become really close.  She lays outside his bedroom in the morning (if she is awake) and waits for him to wake up.  She also seems to love him wrestling, hugging, kissing, pulling, and pushing her.  I guess for her any attention is good attention.

Fall Family Outings

As our home remodeling started to slow down we tried to have a weekly family date outside.  We have always tried to enjoy the fall weather, and this year we having been visiting the local parks, hiking, fishing, bike rides, and more.

This is Clint's special place.  His deer stand.  He has been deer hunting this fall in Stillwater.

Sawyer got to meet his favorite kids at the zoo, his cousins Ellie and Jack.  He loves being with his cousins and I love being with my sisters. 

The boys were racing down the slide.  I think Sawyer won.