Boy Talk

My conversations with Mitchell are more and more adult-like these days. He continues to amaze me with the things he knows and remembers...here are a few examples....

1 - He picked up a dollar bill from off of my floor and said "This is George Washington." They must've been talking about President's Day in pre-school.

2 - I don't recall what we were talking about, but I said "We'll have to ask Grampy about that".
Mitchell: "We'll ask Dad?"
Me: "Not Dad, we'll ask Grampy"
Mitchell: "I know, but isn't Grampy your Dad?"

3 - He loves his little Bible Pre-school that we go to on Wednesday mornings. He talks more and more about God and Jesus...and has lots of questions, like...."Does God love everyone?"
Me: "Yes, he does"
Mitchell "Does he love me?"
Me: "Yes"
Mitchell "Does he love Maverick?"
Me "Yes"
He thought for a minute....
Mitchell "Does he love Spiderman?"

4 - Some of his other favorite God questions are:
"Where is Heaven?"
"How do you get to Heaven?"
"What is it like in Heaven?"
"What does God feed Baby (our deceased cat) in heaven?"

5 - Mitchell doesn't quite understand the concept of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, but he often refers to 'today' as 'this day'. When I announce that we're going to do something fun, he immediately will ask "are we doing that "THIS" day?" If the answer is no....he gets disspointed because he knows it is far away. I made the mistake of mentioning an upcoming trip to Grandma's house and he often tells me he would really like to go to Grandma's house THIS day!

6 - And a personal favorite.....
Mitchell: "You are my favorite Mommy."
Me "Thanks, Buddy...but am I your only Mommy?"
Mitchell "Yes, that's why you're my favorite."
Ha!

7 Once in a while he'll throw a big word into a sentence and shock me...like "Sharks are predators." or "Am I an herbivore?"  The kid is a sponge.

8 He has also created his own contraction - Amn't - combination of Am and Not.
Me: "Mitchell, you're going to spill that milk."
Mitchell: "No, I amn't"


Maverick is talking more and more these days too. He is a little jabbermouth, but most of it is jibberish. I like to joke that we're teaching him Swahili.
Mav's current vocabulary:
1 - Momma
2 - Dada
3 - Dog
4 - Tex
5 - Fish
6 - Shoe
7 - Duck
8 - This...while he points at something, as in "I want (NEED) this."

Weekend trip to Omaha

Jacob's fraternity has a "brotherhood homecoming" celebration each February. This year, the whole family went along and stayed with his good college friend's family (The Bellers). They have two little kiddos (Adeline-2, Harper-7 months).

Mitchell and Adeline played so well together despite the age difference!

Maverick LOVED Adeline's little plastic car...in fact, so much that we might have to get him one!




We took the kids to the Omaha Zoo on Saturday morning. The kids had a blast!

They are going to come visit us in May...can't wait!

Happy Valentine's Day 2011

Here are the winter weather pics that accompanied this year's Valentines! This is my favorite picture of Mitchell in a really long time....doesn't he just look genuinely happy?!?!? Probably because he is...most of the time! :)



Mitchell has really grown up lately, right before our eyes. His 'two year-old tantrums' happen less and less. He has become a GREAT big brother. I know it's supposed to be the little brother that is always trying to play with the big brother...but in our household it is typically the opposite. Mitchell always asks for Maverick to play with him, and often requests for him to sleep with him too...but we haven't give in to that request yet! Nights are short enough as it is!

Speaking of nights, now that Maverick is done nursing he FINALLY sleeps the entire night through! Yes, it only took a year to get there! He goes down around 7:30pm and wakes about 6am. Typically at 6am, all he wants to do is snuggle with you for about an hour before he really wants to wake at 7am. So I lay him on my chest for about an hour, while we both snooze in the rocking chair in his room. Yes, I know I could break him of that habit too....but I kind of like it :)

Mitchell had a Valentine party at school last week, so I made him this little valentine to give to his friends along with some valentine candy. The parents were all invited and they performed "I'm a little Snowman" to the tune of "I'm a little Teapot". Mitchell sang the entire first verse by himself before the other kiddos chimed in... it was very cute :)

My Dad and Sherri were nice enough to watch the boys on Saturday night so that Jacob and I could go to a little Valentine's Dinner. It was nice to have a few hours to ourselves! I made him a card too with a picture from our wedding...cheesy, yes, I know....but true!

Jacob took the morning off and we had a lazy family morning at home making heart pancakes and opening Valentine's presents and cards from eachother and family.

Happy Valentine's Day!

1 & 3 Year Check-up Stats

We recently had our 1 and 3 year check-ups with the pediatrician.  Both boys are doing so well.  They are growing like weeds and right on target with all developmental targets.

Mitchell
Weight 41 pounds - 97%
Height 39 1/2 inches - 90%

Maverick
Weight 23 pounds, 8 oz - 75%  (At 1 year, Mitchell was 26 pounds, 4 oz-90%)
Height 30 1/2 - 75% (At 1 year, Mitchell was 31 inches-75%)

They each got a round of shots, which they tolerated very well.  This was the first time that I really had a discussion with Mitchell about what a shot was before they came in to give it to him.  He was really interested.  It took a while for the nurse to get to our room to administer the shot after our conversation and he asked "Where is the nurse?  Is she in poking someone else?" :)

KNOCK ON WOOD, but with spring right around the corner (it's almost 60 degrees today!) we're hoping with made it through the winter without any big illnesses!

Super Bowl Fun!

We got together with our neighbors on Sunday to watch the annual Superbowl.

Maverick was excited to see his girlfriend, Grace again.


They put together an elaborate list of bets, including 20 bets in all! Including some "personality" bets for each of the adults. My bet was "How many pictures will Mandi take?" The over/under was 7.5....I was over in the first 20 minutes.
Jacob's bet was "How many beers will he consume?" The over/under was 5.5....he was over too!

Look at this list of bets!

Guess who the grand prize winner was....yep, yours truly. Here I am receiving my superbowl ring!  I have to admit that I honestly didn't even know which two teams were playing until I had to place my bets...there was no skill involved!




Matt and Jacob each won some other "side" bets, so they are showing off their loot below.

Fun times had by all! :)

Maverick's Birth Day

In honor of Maverick's 1st Birthday this week, I thought I'd finally post details of his actual Birth Day -January 31, 2010. 

January 30th was a Saturday night, a quiet night in the Folks household.  Mitchell was 25 months old and had just transitioned into his big boy bed.  At 9pmish, I laid down with Mitchell to help him fall asleep...which worked on me as well.  I awoke at 11pmish and thought it felt as if my water had broken, but I wasn't quite sure.  I called the on-call doctor, and she said to wait for more certain symptoms before heading in.  Jacob called my dad, who was our "on-call Mitchell watcher" to let him know that he might need to head over.  It soon became obvious to me that Maverick was headed out (literally). 

My Dad came over, and Jacob and I packed the car.  Little Mitchell slept soundly in his bed, never even suspecting how drastically his life was about to change! 

Jacob snapped his picture of me in our front entry way immediately before heading to the hospital.

 Jan 30th - 1:56am

  

By the time we arrived at the hospital, my symptoms seemed to have subsided a bit (of course).  They checked me in and did a physical exam, but Maverick seemed to be holding steady and they didn't think my water had broken afterall.  They put me on "watch" for a while and Jacob and I both slept for a few hours....wasn't that nice of Maverick?  He knew I'd need my rest!

They came back in to check on us around 4am and it was very obvious to the nurses that my water had indeed broken and little Maverick was in fact going to arrive on his due date of January 31st.

They moved us to our delivery room and got me all set up, including an IV.  The night nurse had trouble inserting the needle for my IV, and even after painfully attempting it twice, still had no luck (geez, thanks).  Luckily, the in-charge nurse was put up to the task and succeeded on the third try.  Little did I know that would later become the motto of the day.

I rested comfortably most of the morning, enjoying some peace and quiet...something we didn't get much of at home anymore with a 2 year-old running around! 

Jan 31st - 5AM

8AM - I called my mom in Minneapolis to let her know that I was in labor.  She immediately headed to Kansas City to help take over long-term Mitchell watching from my Dad.

My contractions started to pick up around noon and I decided to get the epidural.  Unfortunately, it took THREE separate attempts to get it inserted correctly. I felt like a pin cushion and had a mini-breakdown, but I guess the numbness worked physically and mentally, because a half hour later, I was re-energized and good to go.

Jacob and I hung out the rest of the afternoon, as the nurses continued to monitor Maverick and I.

At 4:30pm, the nurses announced that Maverick was ready to come out! Our doctor was busy delivering another baby, so we held tight for a while.....luckily during our waiting time, my Mom arrived!

4:45PM

Our doctor finally came in at 5:15...a few pushes....and Maverick was born at 5:25pm.

Upon my first glimpse of my little Maverick David, I decided he was PERFECT in every sense of the word. 

5:25PM

5:53PM

 PROUD Daddy times 2!!!

6pm 

I barely let him out of my sight in the hospital.  Send him to the nursery?  No thanks, I'll just cuddle him.  No wonder he's still my little cuddle bug! 

6:05PM

He was so alert even from the very beginning.  The first word that occurred to me as a way to describe him was "intense", in reference to the way he would stare me down with those deep blue eyes.  I don't think intense correctly describes him these days, but that was my first impression.

6:22PM

My Dad and Mitchell were the first call that we made to announce Maverick's arrival.  They headed up to the hospital to meet him!

6:50PM

Here is the first picture of the new brothers.  It makes it so much sweeter to look back on this a year later and realize how inseparable they have become.  Maverick can't even make it through an entire nap without Mitchell asking where he is.

 7:07PM

He looks a little like he's been through a knife fight, scraped and scratched....but oh so beautiful to me :)

7:28PM

First picture with Grampy (as Mitchell would later nickname him)

7:42PM

I was so glad my mom made it in time to witness his birth!

9PM

Whew....what an exhausting and amazing day for all of us!

If there is one word to summarize my feelings about Maverick's birth, it would be "blessed".  A relatively easy birthing process -- a loving husband -- a hilarious, fun-loving, moderately-behaved :) big brother -- a super supportive extended family --  a healthy, adorable new baby...who wouldn't feel blessed?!?!?

I am constantly amazed by the depths of my love for this little guy, and thank God for each and every day that I've spent with him over the past year.  Not only just his birth, but also his continued presence has been a blessing to our whole family :) 

Happy Birthday, Maverick!

Maverick's First Haircut

After our disasterous first haircut for Mitchell, I decided that we'd wait a full year to cut Maverick's hair!  So we celebrated his first birthday with a new hair-do!

Here we go!

Front is done...on to the back!

Brushing the loose hair off of his face.

All done!

Handsome 1 year-old boy with a new haircut!

He even had a little piece of loose hair stuck to his diaper :)

Maverick's First Birthday Party

Our little boy turned 1 year-old today!  We had a little birthday party for him on Sunday.
 

We gathered in the 90% finished basement to play a little game.....

...and then we all yelled "Happy Birthday, Maverick!" and Jacob brought Maverick out in a little sled to ride around the party guests :)

We headed upstairs for some lunch, and CAKE!

Want a bite?

Maverick greeted his guests with his Joe Cool sunglasses.

He got lots of fun new toys!

Maverick and his girlfriend, Gracie, even helped Grandma Bays clean up afterwards!

Party Animals:

Daddy, Mommy and Big Brother

Grandma Bays and Aunt Kelli in from Wisconsin

Aunt Darci in from Dubuque, IA

Grampy and Sherri

Joe, Courtney, Will and Parker

Andy, Jill, Addison and Alex Griebenow

Richard, April, Lucas & Jillian Wasleski

Michael, Jill, Lily, Luke and Grace Chalfie

Brian, Bev and Lilli Weber

Matt, Christy, Alex and Sadie Babler