Spring has sprUNG!

We have had many days of sunshine and new hope.  I love springtime for this very reason!  The grass is turning green, the trees are budding, our neighbor's tulips are blooming and our peonies are shooting up. 

At Debbie's Daycare (we appreciate her greatly), Kyler is learning about growing gardens.  He has planted grass, watched it shoot up, and can name all of the elements needed to grow things.  He has read his What do They Find? I can read! book (a book about what can be found in a garden) to me and has pretended to be a blooming flower. 

"I'm a sunflower...water me!"

Kyler astounds me each and everyday with his ability to remember things, vocabulary, compassion, and confidence.  We have Debbie to thank for much of that!  We LOVE Kyler Allan!

Daddy Date Day

Since Josh has switched school districts to teaching in Windsor, he and I have different Spring Breaks. This year his was a whole two weeks before mine. He had one day with each of his sons and then got the majority of his "honey-do list" completed. On Kyler's day he had planned to go down to the Denver Children's Museum. They had a BLAST, and Kyler told me all about it!

He got to play with trains, bubbles, work in a workshop, shop at a grocery store, pretend to be a veterinarian, design and fly rockets and dress up as a firefighter.

Then they topped a fabulous day of learning off with lunch at Casa Bonita.  Where they saw a crazy gorilla, and cliff divers.  What a fun day!

Happy Birthday Mr. Blake

Blake is ONE!  I just can't understand just how quickly this past year has gone by.  It truly seemed like just yesterday that we were going the the hospital to deliver the little man.  He is ONE - WOW!  We had a Hungry Caterpillar themed party and a ball was had by all!

I was looking on "Pinterest" and found this cute idea for the balloons, and then I added a little bit of my own flair.  I purchased 12 balloons and attached a picture of Blake at each month.  It was really neat to see just how he had changed over the course of one year.

We have Auntie Courtney to thank for the beautiful and delicious cake!

Opening gifts with a little help!

Yummy!  Blake definitely has a sweet tooth!

At age one, Blake LOVES lots of things.  Here is his top ten (in no particular order):

1. His Big Brother, Kyler

2. Oreo cookies

3. Mommy

4. Daddy

5. Mema

6. Dancing

7. Being tickled

8. His Blankie

9. Wresting with his brother

10. Bathtime

At Blake's one-year well-baby check-up he was in tip-top shape.  He is following along is growth curve quite nicely.  He measured 30.5 inches tall putting him into the 71st percentile for height.  He is a whopping 21.5 lbs. which puts him into the 30th percentile amongst his peers.  Not quite as big as Kyler, but like I have mentioned before, they are vastly different in many ways!  We are thankful for Blake James Urich!

Brothers

Although they are brothers, I don't think that Blake and Kyler could be much more different.  I knew they were going to differ vastly when I started to feel Blake move around in utero.  He was definitely the more active of the two and still is.  Blake is going to be the "dare devil" and Kyler will be the one who tries to talk him out of things with his smarts and rational.  I'm beginning to think that is just the difference between first and second born children.  Josh is first born and I am second born...that explains A LOT! 

Thinking back to when Kyler was Blake's age...Kyler was much more contented sitting in one spot with lots of playthings around him, whereas, Blake wants to be on the move and into EVERYTHING!  Blake wants to be in everybody's business and proves that to be true by following all of us around the house.  Kyler LOVES to eat; Blake is a lot more picky.  Kyler catches on quickly to new things; Blake likes to do things on his own time.  Kyler has dark hair and green eyes; Blake has blonde hair and blue eyes.  I am thankful that they are so different, for it keeps life a lot more interesting.

Even though Kyler and Blake are so different in so many ways, they do share some commonalities.  They ADORE each other!  They both LOVE Mommy, Daddy, and Lucy.  They both have a smile that can melt your heart.  They both make me feel extremely proud and lucky to be their mother!

Life

"That's life.  That's what all the people say, riding high in April and shot down in May..."

The creation of life is such a miraculous phenomena.  Having experienced it first-hand on two momentous occasions, I can say that it is simply amazing!  But then there is the opposite of life...death.  Death and grieving is such an interesting process.  Especially losing a loved one.  Dorothy "Nanna" Nestler (April 4, 1925), my maternal grandmother (the last grandparent I had) passed the evening of January 15.  She was the grandparent that I was closest to.  It is hard.  There we many, many very fond memories I had of her and with her. Visiting her New Jersey home, playing monkey in the cage, going on a road trip (just the two of us), and sharing all of my "milestones" even when she doubted she'd make them. But I can't say that the memories we shared she truly remembered.  Nanna was a victim to Alzheimer's Disease.  More recently I had called her and she had no idea who I was.  The converation ended quite abrutly when she said very firmly, "I don't know why you are calling me!"  I responded,  "I am calling to tell you that I LOVE YOU!"  She finished the converation with, "I love you too, whoever you are."  Stupid Alzheimer's!  Rest In Peace, Nanna.  You will be missed dearly!

Time flies!

After having children, I am a firm believer in the the quote, "Time flies when you're having fun!"  Time has truly been flying.  So quickly that I haven't found any extra time to blog.  A LOT has happened since the last time, so I will just give a summary in pictures. 

The boys LOVE their dog, Lucy!  Lucy was recently diagnosed with arthritis we've been controlling it with glucosamine treats - YUM!

Both of the boys absolutely LOVE bath time...they always have.  Since Blake has been able to proficiently sit up unassisted, we have been able to ditch the baby bathtub and he now has bath time with brother!  It makes things A LOT easier on us!

"Gingermans" for Santa.  Last year, Kyler and I started the tradition of reading a few of the versions of The Gingerbread Man and baking some of our own.  This year it wasn't until Christmas Eve, so Santa reaped the benefits!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Blake LOVES his pal, Scout!

Big boy bike for the BIG boy!  However, it was not the most memorable Christmas gift this year...the Star Wars Legos were.

Wrestle-mania!  Now that Blake is mobile, he and Kyler love to horse around...I should just get used to it!

Family photo on Christmas morning at the Bickford's!

Kyler's Date Day...Sledding on the Grand Mesa with Mommy and Daddy!

Josh and I had a date day too (Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Urich)!  We tried cross-country skiing on Grand Mesa.  We had so much fun, got in great laughs, saw breathtaking views and worked off a few holiday calories!

My boys simply amaze me with the things they can do and the way that they change on a DAILY basis.  Blake is crawling all over everywhere, pulling himself to the standing position and taking few, short steps around furniture, starting to sign (he has been doing the sign for more quite regularly), has 6 teeth, sleep 12+ hours a night, playing patty-cake, trying to imitate sounds and words, wearing 12-18 month clothes, transitioned out of the carrier car seat, and is an all-around happy baby!  Kyler is smarter than a whip.  He uses new words on a daily basis, recites the Pledge of Allegiance (Thanks Debbie), sings LOTS of Christmas carols, uses his manners most of the time, loves his little brother and tries to teach him everything, is a Lego Maniac, likes to play Superheroes, wakes up hyper, is reading books (telling what the pictures are about or if he has it memorized), writing Ks, and loving life!  I am so very lucky to have them in my life!

BIG week for BLAKE!

This week was a BIG week, developmentally, for our BIG boy, BLAKE!  I just can't believe just how quickly he is growing up.  He started off early in week with getting up onto all fours in the crawling position, and clapping his hands, then by the end of the week he decided he wanted to sit up all by himself! 

Since he is sitting on his own, we decided to get him into our toddler chair...he LOVED it!

He is still not crawling, but he is inching towards things, so it won't be very long before he is mobile!  Another one of his favorite things to do is flop around like a fish out of water while he is getting his diaper changed (one of his new tricks that I don't really appreciate, but I think he likes it)!



Happy Halloween

I kind of like it when Halloween falls early in the week.  Then we are able to make a whole weekend of it!  On Saturday morning we got up early to head down to Longmont for their annual Halloween parade.  The kids get to dress up in costume and parade down main street.  Afterwards, many of the shops are open for trick-or-treating.  Kyler got to hang out with his cousins.  Between the four kiddos we had a puppy dog (Blake), Superman (Kyler), a fairy (Jillan) and Snow White (Madi).  Unfortunately I left the camera at home and my phone was about to die, so this is the only picture I got.

 Then that evening, we had some friends over for our annual pumpkin carving party.  This was Kyler's innagural year...he carved his very own pumpkin (with lots of help from mommy of course)!

It was so nice to have relax at our own house with good friends, good food, and a fun, festive activity! 

On Monday, Kyler had his Halloween party at Debbie,s.  We made cake pops for Kyler to bring and share with his buddies.  In the afternoon, Debbie took them all over to St. Michael's square to go trick-or-treating. They had a blast!



We ended our Halloween celebrating with our very own trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.  Thanks to Mema on candy duty (for the 200+ trick-or-treaters we get), Josh and I were both able to take Kyler out!

What a fun, extended weekend!