The Houser's Blog

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Dancing Machine

We have created quite the dancing machine out of Patrick. Here are a couple videos of his unprovoked dancing episodes one evening. P.S. His favorite song is, "My Humps" by the Black-Eyed Peas. I don't know how this became his favorite song, but when it comes on he instantly starts dancing! PRICELESS!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

January 2011

This month we spent a lot of time snuggled up inside. It has been a very cold month, so we have stayed nice an cozy snuggling with our kiddos. It has been good for all us since we've all battled colds and sinus infections this month. It was no fun, but we all seem to be healthy now.

Matt had to go to Omaha for work this month. This left me and the kiddos here alone for 3 days and 2 nights. I was very nervous about this, especially since I was sick during that time. But it all went great and the kids were great for me! We were very happy to see Matt come back home though!

Finley has grown by leaps and bounds this month. I still call her my little "sweet pea" or "peanut" but she's growing fast. At her 4 week check up she was 9lbs. 4 oz. This is over 2 lbs. heavier from her birth weight of 7lbs. 3.5 oz.. She's a good eater, and a fairly good sleeper. I can't really complain, of course I can keep wishing for a full night of sleep, but that will happen soon enough. She is full of smiles, which could be one of the best sights a parent will ever see!

Patrick is still staying very busy. He is so smart, maybe too smart for his own good. He talks in complete sentences these days, and says some of the funniest things! His latest thing is making a statement then following it with, "...okay mommy?" If you aren't paying attention to him, he will come over and grab your cheeks and turn them to look at him. FUN TIMES! He is definitely stubborn (just like his dad (and mom) ;)). If he doesn't want something, he lets us know it! We have begun using time-outs, but they aren't going very smooth...something we'll have to keep working on. He has taken on a love for the cartoons: Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go (but he still LOVES YO GABBA GABBA). As annoying as most cartoons are, at least these ones are slightly educational (kinda ;) ).

Patrick had his 2 year check up this month also. He was in the 92nd percentile for height (36 in.) and 60th percentile for his weight (30 lbs.). So over-all he was a tall 2 year old, but very healthy. Except for the double ear infection that we didn't know he had, oops. He had acted fine until that day, but he is healed and healthy now!

Life really is great! We are truly blessed with happy and healthy kids!

Mommy & Finley (3 weeks)

Finley 3 weeks

Patrick celebrating his friend Ian's birthday. He loved wearing this birthday hat!

Ian and Patrick both 2 years old

Patrick in his warm winter hat...I love this photo!

Finley 4 weeks old

All my kiddos...Finley regularly sleeps in her "nap nanny", and Patrick loves to hang out near her! Notice Hobbs has his leash on, Patrick loves to "take him for walks inside the house", I'm not sure Hobbs enjoys this as much as Patrick does.

Matt and Patrick made an igloo during one of the snow storms this month. Patrick loved to play outside, too bad the wind chills have kept us inside a lot this month.

Who knew cornstarch could be so fun? The day before our realtor open house, I was cleaning in the bathroom, and Patrick managed to climb onto his changing table (that was temporarily in our bedroom) and shook an entire full-size bottle of cornstarch on everything. He had so much fun, it was hard not to laugh. But this was mess to clean up! Oh yeah, I had kept him home from daycare on this day because he didn't feel well when he woke up...yeah right!

Patrick loves holding Finley (for about 10 seconds at a time) :) I'm not so sure Finley enjoys this :)

Pretty in Pink (6 weeks)


6 weeks

Patrick was refusing to wear his new Hawkeye hat. So dramatic!

Purple Princess (7 weeks 6 days)

7 weeks 6 days

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Patrick's 2nd Birthday

January 15th, 2011 was Patrick's 2nd birthday. We didn't know how he would react to his birthday but he really enjoyed "his day". Matt and I sang Happy Birthday to him before getting him out of his crib, and he smiled from ear to ear...and then reminded us that he was ready to go to his party!! :) He woke up with a cold that morning, but didn't let that stop him.

The night before his birthday he told us that he only wanted "green" presents. (the color, not environmentally friendly :) ). Good thing I had green wrapping paper on hand :)! We gave him a few presents from us at home prior to leaving to go to his party. He is so funny when he gets an idea of what a present may be...today he thought this wrapped puzzle could be a guitar. At Christmas time he was sure that every present (no matter the size or shape) was going to be a basketball.

We had a small family party at a pizza place in Altoona, IA (a common location for traveling family). It had a great party room for the kids to run and enjoy the day. Patrick was adamant about playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey at his party (though he didn't tell me this until we were driving to the party). We had recently attended his friend's birthday party where he played it and had fun so I think he assumes that is what you do at birthday parties. He also wanted to wear a party hat, though he didn't mention this in time either...luckily he was so busy at the party he didn't notice the things that we didn't do :)!

It really was a great day! He was very spoiled with so many fabulous presents and he have found room for them all! He is so lucky to be surrounded by such a loving and generous family! Thanks for making his day so special.

Patrick opening his "green" presents

Patrick and Jaden

Cousins: Avery, Emma, Patrick, Finley and Kaleb

Patrick 14 months


Patrick loves to play in our pantry, and this photo demonstrates just how much he's grown over the last year. This is Patrick at 24 months, he is standing on the floor and can see over the shelf, but a year ago he could easily stand inside the pantry and under the shelf! :)

Thursday, January 6, 2011

December 2010

December 2010 was an exciting month for our family...obviously! Not only did we welcome our daughter, but celebrated Christmas and Finley's baptism. That's a lot of things squeezed into 3 weeks :)!

Finley continues to fit right into our family. She's laid back (so far) and just goes with the flow. Although, she woke up with a cold Christmas Eve night and that made for a rough week 2 for her and mommy. We lost a lot of sleep! She seems to be recovering well though I feel so helpless for her when she is so congested and you can't give her anything to help :(. Since she's been feeling better she's been sleeping about 3-4 hours at a time through the night which is helping me get rest.

At her 2 week doctor appointment she appeared to be underweight (she should have been at or above her birth weight) but she was about 5 oz below. So we went back at 3 weeks for a re-check and she was well above her birth weight (she weighed approx. 8lbs. 3oz, a full pound over her birth weight.) which led the doctor to believe the scale may have been off at the 2 week appointment...or she was getting some good milk. Either way, she's healthy!!

Christmas was great. Patrick didn't really understand Santa Claus, but be enjoyed telling us that he says, "HO HO HO". We celebrated our Christmas at home on the 23rd prior to leaving for Centerville. Santa came to our house and surprised Patrick with his presents when he woke up. His big gift was a Little Tykes Basketball Hoop (a big hit). This caused him to believe that every present he received at Christmas time was a basketball. He's all boy since he loves his sports. He made out very well with all of his Christmas'...he must have been a very good boy this year. We have so many toys, books, clothes, etc....to last him all year and beyond. It was a good thing that we bought a van this year, just to bring all the presents home in! It's awesome to know that we are all so loved, and have great families to celebrate the holidays with.

Finley was baptized the day after Christmas in Centerville. This was very convenient for her godparents (our good friends, Seth and Melissa VanSickel) and our families. Finley slept through the entire mass and baptism. She was too cute and her big brother even serenaded us when the baptismal candle was lit. It was priceless, he instantly (without help) began singing, "happy birthday". Then Fr. asked him to blow out the candle, so he really did think he was celebrating a birthday! Priceless!

We didn't do too much to celebrate the New Year's Eve this year. The weather was icy, but my sister and her family came up to visit and Matt accompanied them to Seven Oaks that night to snowboard. They had a good time, but he made it home sore...but in 1 piece before midnight. I had kids in bed early and cheated by celebrating NYE on New York time and made it to bed by 1100 :). Such is life with 2 little kids!

Enough said, life is good!

Finley 1 week

Finley 5 days old (our first outing, to our "home visit" at the hospital)

Patrick got all bundled up for his first adventure in the snow. He looked like the kid from the movie "A Christmas Story". He could hardly move, but had a great time!