Anora's many Birthday's! She's THREE!

Anora turned three last month!  She acts so mature these days, it's not hard to believe.  She can communicate with us so well and has even started expressing her feelings.  She tells us about her day at school, but usually just the most random funny details.  One thing is for sure, we know her favorite colors are BLUE and green.  Eleanor's favorite color is pink.  She is still totally ELSA obsessed and loves to dress up and act out scenes from many Disney movies, but mostly Frozen.  Anora is starting to repeat phrases she hears, and it is so disarming to hear your own words come out of a 3 year olds mouth.  "Oh, Hi Dexey BooBoo!" "Oh, Dexter is doing a really good job sleeping tonight!"

She loves to play with Papa building forts (with a bunk bed), sliding down the stairs on a mattress, and having dance parties.  Our go-tos are coloring, cooking, tea parties, and walks to MetMart (for a butterfly cookie).  She is really enjoying swim lessons with her friends Eleanor and Madeline and is getting used to being in the water with out Momma and Papa.

Over Anora's birthday we traveled back to the Midwest. Anora was spoiled by her grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles.  The flight east was a dream!  We got to bring the carseat on the plane since there were extra seats and Dex slept most of the way.  Anora stayed busy on her iPad, and I got a nap!  It was crazy awesome.  We spent time in St.Paul, Madison, Platteville, Wisconsin Dells, and then back to St.Paul.  It was a busy trip, but we got to see lots of friends and family.

The first day we got to see the Meier cousins!  Anora loved that!  We celebrated Anora & Laken's birthdays with cupcakes and cotton candy.  This was bday/cake celebration #1.  It was a slumber party that night at Grandpa and Gammy's house.

After the Meier's left, I got to see my girlfriends - Angela, Jill, and Tina.  We celebrated with Carbone's pizza and the Oscar's. So fun.  Anora liked playing with Ella and Alex.

The next day was Anora's official birthday!  We set of that morning for Madison.  Once we arrived we celebrated with G-ma, G-pa, Great Aunt Karla, and Great Grandma Esther.  This was bday/cake celebration #2.  Anora got all things Frozen for her b-day: umbrella, sleeping bag, clothes, watch, plus much much more. 

The next day we went down to State Street to check out the strip.  It's changed a bit since college. We even walked around the Capitol a little bit.

 The following day we went down to Platteville to see Great Grandma's new place.  Then we took her to Karla's farm for the afternoon.

 The next day we hung out at G-ma & G-pas house.  They built a snowman, watched movies, and played with stretch armstrong.  That evening we went to Rocky Rococo's to see Ben's friends.  We also hit up the arcade, hard!

 
Then Friday it was off to the Wisconsin Dells for the Great Wolf Lodge!!!  Gammy, Grandpa, Uncle Mike, Uncle Jesse & Jacob all met us there.  We ate at the restaurant that brings your food on a train.  It was right next to an arcade, so we scoped that out too!

 Anora got to open her bday dress early - a homemade Belle dress and Belle Slippers.  Of course she had to wear it to dinner.

The next day was reserved for the waterpark.  But of course we had to start with Starbucks!


It was also Dexter's 6 month birthday!

 We all had a blast at the waterpark.  This was Dexter's first time in a pool.  He thought it was pretty great.  Anora liked the water slides!

 Of course Anora got a Frozen bathing suit!
Anora got her THIRD birthday cake.  We all sang to her and she blew out the Elsa candles.

After our time in the Dells, we headed back to St. Paul to enjoy a few more days before our flight home.  We got to see Mike's brand new house!  He was already at work fixing it up and painting.  Can't wait to see it when we come home the next time!

 Grandpa got busy teaching Dex to roll over!  He was the first to witness him roll from belly to back.  Way to go, Grandpa!

 We went to the Mall of America on Monday night and had dinner with Ben's cousins family - Kevin, Jessi, and their kids Marley, Izak & Sawyer.  I also got to see my old friends Brian & Jamie!

 On our last full day in town, we spent some time with my dear friend Courtney!  We chatted, played with the kiddos, and had a little adventure to the new Whole Foods :) 

 After a week and a half, it was time to go.  We departed, leaving these warm, smiling faces behind. 

It was a wonderful to see everyone, and get back to the Midwest!  Hope to see you all soon!

Dexter is 6 months old, a half a year already!?

Six months has been the longest, shortest time with our sweet Dex.  He is growing to be such a big boy.  He gives some of the best hugs and smiles.  He is getting stronger and can hold his head up well.  He can almost sit up on his own.  He recently discovered how to roll from belly to back and thinks it's pretty awesome when he does it.  He has survived many, many illnesses, and came out the other side smiling.  He even giggled at the nurse when I took him into to see if he had an ear infection, which totally made his day!  And luckily, no ear infection!  By the time he is 2, I don't think it will be possible to get any new strains of sickness! 

He has started trying table food and likes avocado, banana, and Mums.  We continue to try new foods with him.  He likes chewing on the spoon best. 

We got photos taken for his 6 month mark which I will post soon.  For now here are his stats and one pic!

Height: 25.5" / 36%
Weight: 18lb 7 oz / 64%
HC: 44cm / 65%

Early Christmas with the Meier side!

Ben made a cool video of when we had my sister and her family, my brother, and parents here for Dexter's baptism, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!  Lots of fun to be had with all the cousins and aunts and uncles.  Good times!  We were so grateful to have family in our home to celebrate with this year.  Our house felt full and warm.

Christmas-2016!

We had an awesome Christmas this year as a family of four!  Ben made this sweet video of Christmas morning and it really captures the essence of the day.  Enjoy!

Here is a look at our Christmas card - they went out late this year and were more of a New Years card, oooh well!

Dexter is 4 months old!

 Dexter is growing up!  He plumped out, now he's lengthening.  He's growing into his big head as Ben and I like to say.  Lots of brains in there.  At four months he smiles and giggles a lot.  He likes to watch his big sister move around the house.  He empathizes with her.  When she cries, he usually does too. 

We started the nanny share last week on Jan 3rd.  He spends all day with his friend, Elizabeth and his nanny Julie.  He's been a champ with the transition and overall is a pretty mellow dude.  He takes a bottle with no problem, so mommy gets a couple days in a quiet house, hurray! 

He has come down with a cold this week so he's pretty stuffed up and wakes up often at night.  Hopefully by next month we will have done some sleep training with our dude. 

 Here are his stats!  He's a healthy, growing boy!  He wears 6 months cloths and is ready to move into a size 2 diaper.  Go Dex, Go!


Height : 64.8 cm / 61%
Weight: 15lbs 8 oz / 47%
HC: 42.7 cm / 78%

Dexter is 3 months old!

We have had an eventful month.  We had visitors for Thanksgiving and Dexter was baptized.  I will have to do a separate post for that.  For now, I just want to post a couple pics of Dex on his 3 month birthday :) 

He smiles, giggles, reaches for toys, and makes such sweet coos.  He's growing like a weed, the complete opposite of Anora.  At 3 months, he is already wearing 6 month clothing!  To think we were worried about how tiny he was when he was in utero, ha! 

Check out how handsome he is...We sure adore this guy!