One whole year with this amazing little guy.  Just as I said about Cooper, it rings just as true with Crosby….it seems like Crosby has been a part of this family forever.  Every morning while I am getting stuff together, I start to hear a little stir, and then the sweetest little chatter coming from Crosby’s room.  He is such a happy kid when he first wakes up.  He will sit in his room for 30 minutes just playing quietly and chatting with his animals and himself.  Then when I go in to get him, he stands up gives a few little excited jumps and then gives me the BIGGEST smile!  When he is particularly happy, he will scrunch his shoulders up and in a super cute and giddy way grab at his belly and flip his arms in front of his tummy and then behind his back.  I seriously couldn’t think of a better way to start the day!

Once up, he is ready to go!  Set him down, and he will cruise…run in his ET-like waddle down the hall towards the living room, slowing down as he gets to the end of the hall, so that he can peak around to catch a glimpse of his buddy Cooper.  Another incredibly huge smile.  I say “Say good morning Cooper”, and Coop looks over and gives him a big smile and says “Good morning Crosby!”  I would eat that up with a spoon, if possible.

Then it is off to have some breakfast.  Fruit, vegetables, chicken, braunswager, cereal, milk….you name it, Crosby likes it.  He is a great eater, not picky at all.  And when he is hungry….watch out!  I would say that he probably eats 3 times as much as Cooper, and that is conservative.  Granted, Cooper is a slow and pickier eater, and Crosby is growing like a weed.  Now that he is walking I have no doubts that the baby chub will start burning off, and have already seen a bit of that.  He has lost almost 3 pounds in the last 3 months.

One thing that I have definitely noticed is how similar in some ways the boys are, but how very different they are in other ways.  It is amazing to me how different sometimes.  They both as babies enjoy independent play, and doing their own thing.  But Crosby definitely checks in more often.  Waddling up to be held, tickled or kissed.  When he is tired, you can tell in a heartbeat and will go to bed immediately like a champ.  He plays hard, much harder than Cooper did.  Maybe that is due to having a big brother that wrestles with him more (AKA knocks him down and lays on him), or striving for more attention.  He is louder, stronger at this age, a bit bigger, and definitely a bit more feisty.  He can get straight up pissed sometimes.  It is actually pretty funny.   90% of the time he will listen great if I say “No”.  Most of the time giving me a smirky little smile as he fakes doing whatever it was again.  Then walking away and moving on.  Then there is the other 10%.  Like when it is time to go inside after playing outside…not pretty.  He is a strong little dude, making diaper changes and clothing him more and more difficult.  Crosby also loves to get into things a lot more than Cooper ever did.  We rarely make the mistake of leaving the toilet paper actually on the holder anymore, we have learned a few lessons on that one.

He loves baths and showers, and thanks to Granny and Bumpa moving to a new house with a pool, he has grown to LOVE swimming!  Now we just need to work on that whole not drinking the water and holding your breathe thing.  He has become more and more vocal, saying “Uh Oh!”, “Duck” and “Dog”, with a random Mama and Dada.  You can just tell how badly he wants to be able to communicate with us.  Hopefully that will become less of a frustration for him in the coming months.  He absolutely loves walking around the house pointing and babbling about the pictures on the wall.  He is just so fun to be around!  Such a smiley kid.  I swear, every time I take a picture of him I see a different expression, or a different look all together.  He is amazing!  We love you so much Crozbow!

Watching how quickly things have progressed and evolved with Cooper, I can only assume that Crosby will go through a ton of the same things, and I have no doubts he will be smiling all along the way, at least 90% of the time.  We are so blessed, he undoubtedly makes our family complete.

Another busy year…filled with fun, family, and frenzy 🙂  We started the holiday with my company party on the 14th.  The next few days we helped Granny and Bumpa move into their new house in Eden Prairie.

The Friday before Christmas, Aaron, Berit and Boden came to stay with us for a few days.  It was so awesome just chilling and hanging out with them!  Usually when they come into town it is for a quick stay, or around an event, so there is not much time to chat.  We were really happy to be able to hang out with Boden more, and watch the kiddos play together.

That Saturday we had Boden’s 1st birthday party at our house.  Man did he love that ice cream cake from DQ!  Great Grandma and Grandpa were there, Randy, Jodi and Jeff, Granny and Bumpa, and us “kids” and our kids:-)  It was so fun!  Love that kid, and so happy that we were able to help him celebrate!

Sunday we met up at Granny and Bumpa’s new house to help them decorate their first tree in the new place.  We were all hoping to go to a tree farm and cut down a good one, but there just never seems to be enough time.  We decided we would rather spend time hanging out indoors decorating, instead of freezing our butts off trying to find a tree.  So, they went and got one, and dragged out all of the Christmas ornaments.  Once that was up, we had a few mean games of air hockey.  And no Aaron, I didn’t pull my hammy this time.  Cooper was super excited about the new room for the boys!  There is tons of space for Cooper to get in trouble in that house…he was checking it out.

For Christmas Eve we started at Gamma and Papa’s house at noon with Sheesha and Nana.  We were then joined by Kelly, Brandon, Tristan and Gabby at around 2:30, and then around 4:15 Nancy and Scott arrived.  We had appetizers, hung out, and then did a gift card exchange and then the white elephant game.  I was the big winner and got “Cowboy Bob” back (my wrought iron 4 ft tall cowboy candle holder that Alycia was the big winner with last year).  Cory was so happy!

At around 6 we headed over to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Allar’s house for dinner.  It was the traditional crew, with a few new additions.  Great Grandma Joanne was doing pretty well, and was up socializing the whole night – loving all over the little ones.  Man does she love babies!  Wendy and Jodi did an awesome job putting everything together as usual.  I brought meatballs, that finally cooked…ugh.  We sang songs, some better than others.  The cousin crew was there, Lynn, Al, Hannah and Max…Lori and Kirk….Bryan and Sonya and all of the super cute girls they have thankfully added to our family.  Then we had Gustavo, Jessica, Jodi, Jeff, Wendy, Mark, Rachel, Randy, Aaron, Berit, Boden, Granny and Bumpa, and Us.  After dinner, we did the dice game and then Joanne and Dale got a new laptop and router, so they could skype with the grand kids and great grand kids.  Joanne is not getting around very well anymore, so her going downstairs to the computer is not working.  The laptop was an awesome gift idea!  I can’t wait to skype with them and the boys!  Cooper was SO excited about his tool set from GG Dale and GG Joanne.  He HAD to open it when we got home and “fix” things.  Awesome present!

Christmas morning Cooper was up at 6:30 am.  He wanted to look for Trix (our Elf on the Shelf), he didn’t quite get the whole Christmas morning thing.  I stalled him for about an hour with a baba milk, vitamins and Sesame Street, until Crosby woke up.  Then we went to get daddy up.  We took a quick picture on the steps downstairs, and then went to go check out the tree.  Santa had eaten all of the cookies and drank the milk that we left out for him.  (George helped with the cookies)  He even wrote a note back to Cooper telling him that Trix had reported back that he was a good boy.  But that he did hear that Cooper doesn’t always eat his food very well, and sometimes doesn’t listen to his parents.   So Cooper better work on that for next year.  It was so cute….

Crosby crawled around and played with a few toys while Coop opened his.  He got a scooter, a higher step stool for the bathroom, tons of super hero stuff, books, and toys.  Crosby got some chew toys for his new up and coming teeth, and toys.  Cooper got an Owl ornament (instead of “Who, Who, Who” his favorite right now is “Why, Why, Why”) and Crosby got a turtle ornament since he just started crawling.  It was an awesome morning!  So cool to see Cooper get so excited, and to all be hanging out in our pj’s having fun.  A good day!

At 10 we were at Gamma and Papa’s to have Belgium waffles, an awesome Egg bake that Sheesha made, and a bunch of other goodies.  We then exchanged gifts with them….WAY TOO MUCH as usual!  Coop is the luckiest dude in the world!  He has enough super hero stuff to last all year long!  We all got some super cool ornaments for the tree, and a new set of stockings  from Sheesha.  I can finally get rid of all of the Goodwill stuff that I bought when I just graduated college…it’s about time!  Goodwill can have it back 🙂

After nap time for Cory, Cooper and Crosby, we headed to GG Phyllis and GG Willy’s house.  Cooper loved the train set that GG Willy has under the tree.   It is so old and fragile, I was afraid he would hurt it, but he did great.  Even though he wanted to touch, he listened really well.  We had hotdish, better than sex dessert, and some great laughs.  As we were leaving Cooper said “Bye Willy”, I thought it was adorable!!

When we got home we headed next door to the Johnson’s, our second family.  They are so awesome!  We exchanged a few gifts, and then Cooper played dress up with Addison’s new dress up kit.  He looked so pretty in a purple dress, heels and a pink pearl necklace…too cute!  I think it is great that he has girls to play with.  I really believe it will benefit him later, having a little bit of a softer side.  There is plenty of “Hulk Smash” in this kid, a softer side will help!

On Saturday the 29th we were able to do our Dunstone family Christmas celebration at my parents new house.  What an awesome place for parties!  There was Granny and Bumpa, GG Phyllis and GG Willy, Aaron, Berit and Boden, Kent, Abbey and Grant, Hayley (Cory couldn’t make it this year due to his new job at Toro), Barb and Craig, Deb and us.  Quite the crew!  We had so much fun watching the boys play together this year.  Man, the next few years are going to be crazy!  It is so weird to see how much things have changed over the last few years.  We went from Aaron, myself, Hayley and Kent at the kids table…not anymore!  It is so awesome watching the grandparents and GG’s with the kids, this has been a long time coming for them.  With Boden and Grant being so far away, it is sad how much they change between visits.  Awesome too, but tough to miss so much!  We had a ridiculous amount of toys and food and topped it off with ice cream:-)  It was awesome.  Can’t wait to spend many more years celebrating family fun at my parents new place . . . . It is beautiful!

A long few days for the boys, and us, but awesome!  It was the first year that Cooper really could participate.  I can’t wait until next year!

A Very Merry Christmas 2012!

We are so lucky to have such an awesome photographer that we love!  She is the sweetest!  www.imagesbybrooke.com, Brooke Jakubov makes taking pictures so comfortable and fun.  I knew we would love her when I went there for Cooper’s 2 week photos, he peed all over her couch.  She threw a blanket on it and made me not worry about it.  She laughs, dances, cheers and jumps around to get the shot.  Great workout!

Cory and I brought the kiddos over to Brooke and Ryan’s house the Saturday night my parents moved into their house.  We had some dinner, and then Brooke and I had a great girl chat in her basement studio while Cory, Ryan, Ava, Cooper and Ryder played upstairs.  Then at about 8 I realized we hadn’t taken any photos, so within about 20 minutes we had 5 outfit changes and I was sweating from jumping up and down to get him to smile.  That was the most I have worked out in quite awhile:-)   It was well worth it!  The pictures turned out amazing as usual….

Our little dude is so handsome, and has the greatest toothless grin!  You can see one little tooth poking through on a few though.

A week before Crosby turned 6 months, he started to sit.  He even does the cutest little side sit.  It almost looks like some sort of yoga pose.  I am hoping to get a picture some time, but so far he has been too wiggly.   We did however get some awesome shots at Images by Brooke, with our good friends Brooke and Ryan.  They turned out amazing!!

We had his 6 month doctors appointment and she said he looks great!  She even said he is “tall and skinny”…probably the last time we will ever hear that with the genes the poor kid has inherited.  He has consistently been in the 90th percentile for almost everything.  He is 90% for height, 75-90% for weight (not sure how they get the wide spread like that), and 90% for his head size…huge brain I am sure!

A few weeks after he turned 6 months our little dude had his first tooth poke through, and started to crawl.  He is a much happier kid now that the tooth is through and he can get where he wants to go.  He is still a little fumbly, and cracks me up that he will crawl only as far as he needs to to get what he wants.  He will stop a foot short, flop to the ground, and reach as far as he possibly can to grab something.  Cory says it reminds him of me.  Like putting 12 grocery bags on my arms and struggling the whole way in the house, instead of taking 4 trips.  Some might say that is lazy…I think it is harder:-)  Not really.

Our little dude has the most amazing disposition.  He smiles from ear-to-ear with a huge toothless grin.  Things started a little rocky, a tough stomach, spitting up, not much sleep…but man has he become such an awesome kid! I have to admit, he is a bit of a mama’s boy…and I love it.  He loves his thumb more than anything though.  Although I like the fact that he is able to self sooth with it, I am sure it will cause quite the problems when we try to get him to stop.  Oh well, we’ll deal with that when we need to.

He is just starting to get to that incredibly squirmy stage where changing him is like a full contact sport.  Long gone are the days of setting him on a bed or changing table and taking a few steps away.

I LOVE first thing in the morning around our house.  Cooper has his baba milk and vitamins, and watches a little Sesame Street or Sid the Science Kid.  I am tootling around doing who knows what, and then I hear it….the most amazing sound in the world.  The coos, giggles and babbles from a happy, healthy baby.  I walk into the room, he sees me and gives me the hugest smile.  Everyday.  There is no better way to start the day!  I can only hope that there are MANY more days like this.

Today Bumpa and Granny came to our house to watch the boys.  They have sold their home on St Albans Bay, and are in transition housing until they close on their new home in Eden Prairie on the 10th.  Until they get settled in their new place they come to watch the boys at our house every Thursday.

A few weeks ago Bumpa took Cooper to the drugstore to get something, and walked Coop through the process of bringing the items to the counter, giving the money to the person and saying “thank you”.  He couldn’t stop talking about it!  So this week, when Granny needed some cough drops, Bumpa planned to bring Coop again for another fieldtrip.  This time, there was a Salvation Army bell ringer outside of the store.  Bumpa gave Cooper $5 to put into the bucket….and then the wind came.  Coop dropped the bill and the wind took it.  When I came home tonight, he couldn’t stop telling me about how “The money almost went bye-bye, and Bumpa ran into the road and got it”.  “Bumpa’s a REAL Superhero” he said….I almost died, too cute!  Our life with Cooper is all about superheros….Captain America, Iron Man, Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Spiderman….it really is never ending.  He is constantly getting the bad guys, striking a pose, throwing a shield, or jumping off of something.  But it is all pretend.  To say that Bumpa is a real superhero is just awesome!  I told him that the money he put in the bucket goes to help people that need it, and that by putting money in there, he is a “Real Superhero” too.  He kept running around saying “I’m a Real Superhero”, and he definitely is!  I am hoping that next year we can ring the bell with the kids like I have done in years past with Granny and Bumpa.

When I walked in the door tonight, this is what I saw.

WE OFFICIALLY HAVE A SITTER!!!

All day he has been sitting for 15-20 minutes at a time….slow down kid!  He is so dang fun right now.  Just big toothless grins galore!  He seems to be having less tummy problems, and is getting on a little bit better schedule…other than those late night and early morning feedings still.  Hungry kid!  He has been eating solid foods (if you can call it solid – rice cereal, grains, green beans, peas, carrots, pears, and apple sauce) for a few months now.  He is still breastfeeding too, but not nearly as much.

I think a lot of his improved attitude is because he can scoot around a little bit better.  He doesn’t feel so helpless.  He is maneuvering himself all around the living room now, so he can finally get where he has wanted to go.  No crawling yet, but he is great at getting on all 4’s and rocking up a storm, and then thrusting himself forward and falling on his chest.  Lots of rolling, squirming, and making diaper changing difficult.  He definitely has a strong will, and determination!   Cory put up the gate on the top of the stairs earlier this week, so we won’t have to worry about him taking a tumble.

The other reason he put the gate up is because Shot has a large cut on his leg from messing around with the other dogs at Cory’s cabin.  It is on the inside of his leg, and spans almost a foot.  He has stitches, but because the skin is so thin and so taught in that area, he has ripped a hole in the crux of his leg.  Not good!  He can’t jump, run, walk too much, or go down stairs.  So that means that we have to carry him to go out, and keep him on a leash.  It has not been fun for any of us.  But at least we don’t have to wear a cone.  Poor guy!

The most amazing day of our lives…other than the two kiddos of course 🙂

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect.  The setting was what I had always dreamed about, at my cabin.  Us, the boys, our parents, Aaron, Berit, Boden, Alycia, Ary and Dylan.  Perfect!

We made our way up on Thursday night late to be able to drive at night with the kids.  After Cooper fell asleep, we were able to turn off The Incredibles and Cory plugged in his Zune so that he could play the wedding music for me.  I had asked him to select the music for the ceremony.  He did SUCH an amazing job!  There were 4 or 5 songs that absolutely hit the nail on the head.  Different, beautiful, meaningful and seriously perfect.  I cried for the first time for the weekend, and we weren’t even there yet.

My parents had already been up their the week before cleaning, raking, sweeping and getting everything ready for our big day.  I honestly can’t say thank you enough to them for all of the work and effort they put into making it such an amazing weekend for us!  We were able to spend most of the day Friday just chilling out.  Minister Karen came up mid day Friday, along with Aaron, Berit and Boden.  Karen and I went out to pick up the flowers at the florist in Longville, and of course they weren’t ready, but we did get a sneak peak at the flowers – I was SO pleased, they were gorgeous!  A bit later in the day Ginny, Dave, Alycia, Ary and Dylan checked into The Chase on the Lake in Walker and then came out to the cabin to hang out for a bit.  We had some amazing steaks, great time to just hang out, and some really great time to laugh together.  Then it was time to sleep and gear up for the big day.
Cory and I went to Chase on the Lake with the boys.  It was a great night.  At one point before I went to sleep I looked around, all of my  boys were so darn cute, just snoring away.  I reflected on how we all got here, what an incredible trip.  I sat out on the deck overlooking Leech lake and finished writing my wedding vows.  Yes I am a procrastinator.  But it was the perfect time for me to do it.  Quiet.  Looking through the window at the most important people in my life.  Perfect.

The morning brought the most gorgeous sunrise over the lake.  I was up way too early, but couldn’t sleep a minute more.  Maybe it was excitement, or maybe it was the the 3 month old kid crying and wanting to eat 🙂  Either way, it was a great start.  I made myself some hotel coffee, stepped back out on the deck to start the day out right, reflecting, looking at the amazing view, and envisioning the day that I was going to become Mrs. Wiest.

The guys and girls split from each other and headed opposite ways in Walker.  The girls went to The Beehive to get our hair done, and then back to Ginny and Dave’s room to get dressed.  The guys went fishing, and who knows what else.  I do know that at one point they were close to use as we were walking back to the room because someone spotted them and made me wait around the corner so Cory and I wouldn’t see each other (even though we woke up next to each other a few hours before, silly, but exciting).

When we were nearly ready, Karen and my mom went to pick up the flowers, which were finally done.  The rest of us finished getting ready, and then started heading to the cabin.  The girls got ready in the big cabin, and the guys down in the little cabin.  Cory got Cooper all dressed, and Gamma and the others watched Crosby down by the lake as they waited for things to begin.  Karen and my mom had gotten to the cabin before us and set up all of the vases with Cattails, reeds, candles and birch stumps to complete the scene.

It was time.  Everyone started to line up and take their places as dictated on the little map I gave Karen.  She was so amazing!  I am incredibly grateful that she made the trip to do this for us.  I really have been blessed with Karen.  She is one of those friends that even if we don’t talk for months, when we do finally chat we pick up right where we left off.  She is my touchstone.  I love her so much!  As I got ready to start making my way down to Cory who was patiently waiting down by the beach something was missing.  I went to put my hands together to hold my flowers and it came to me….the flowers!  We never handed out the flowers.  I had ordered boutineers, and bouquets for everyone, and we had left them on the kitchen table…duh.  So our original plan of having the ceremony around 2 was again delayed.  It was hillarious!  And so typical.

After pinning everyone up, and handing all the bouquets out, it was time.  I will never forget peaking out of the screened door at Cory looking up trying to catch a glimpse of me.  My heart was beating like crazy.  Not a nervous bone in my body, just pure excitement and happiness.  I heard the music start.  Such a beautiful song.  And I opened the screened door, made my way down the deck and started down the stairs to meet my new husband.

When I reached the bottom of the steps I was greeted by my mom and dad to my left, and Cory’s mom (holding Crosby) and dad to my right.  As a group we walked forward.  I continued on to stand next to Cory, and immediately grabbed his hand.  Everyone else stood in a circle, with Karen in the middle.  The boys started out in a wagon, but quickly were distributed around.  Coop made his way from Ary to my mom and dad, and Boden hung out with Berit.  Crosby was crashed out in Ginny’s arms.  And then it began.

Karen opened with such a thoughtful introduction, and then brought us through the ceremony in a very well organized, unique, and unforgettable way – only as Karen could do.  Side note:  I was the minister for Karen’s wedding and I didn’t prepare a darn thing.  I even stopped in the middle of everything and realized I was chewing gum, so I took it out of my mouth and chucked it over the bluff.   Sorry Karen:-)

Alycia wrote a speech she had spent an incredible amount of time preparing, and it was spot on.  She made both of us cry.  My brother read lyrics to a Beatles song that fit absolutely perfectly.  And then we exchanged our vows.  Cory had laminated his, no shock there.   Good thing he had though, because that morning they had gone fishing and he had his vows in his backpack that got completely soaked.  My vows, written the night before, were 2 pages front and back, single spaced…also not a shocker.

And then Karen asked us our intentions as we turned to each other and held each others hands.  We were crying.  I was squeezing his hands so tight I wouldn’t be surprised if he lost feeling.  IT WAS AWESOME!  And then she said we could kiss.  So, I kissed my husband for the first time.  The greatest feeling ever!  Everything was perfect, we were finally married!

After hundreds of photos were taken, we heading out on the pontoon for a little cruise around Big Deep.  The sun was out, but it was not too hot.  No bugs.  Barely any wind.  Perfect.  We went slowly down the lake and back.  Had some wine Karen brought from Michael’s winery, had a few snacks, and some great smiles and laughs.  My mom had made a “Just Married” sign for the front of the boat, it was such a cute touch!

After we got back, Cory and I swept off in our minivan 🙂 and heading back to the Chase for a bit before heading to dinner in Walker at The Boulders.  It was great food!  What a way to end the perfect day!  I honestly can’t thank Dave, Ginny enough for setting this up.  My mom had gotten a cake for us, and Cooper helped us cut it.  We all walked out of there stuffed to the gills…or at least I did.  My parents, Aaron and Berit and Karen took the boys back to the cabin for the night to give Cory and I a break.

Seriously…what an unbelievable, and unforgettable day!  Everyone had done so much to help make it so special for us!  Aaron, Berit and Boden traveled 10 hours in the car to be there, Karen flew thousands of miles, my parents did a ton of work to set up and get the place ready, my mom and Karen braved the leeches in the crick to get Cattails and reeds, Alycia picked out the jewelry, and sash components, Ginny made the sashes, and everyone chipped in to watch the boys the whole weekend.  We are truly blessed to be surrounded by people that love us, and want us to be happy.

We may have gone about all of this a little backwards.  But I can without a doubt say that we are just that, blissfully happy.  Lucky, blessed, humbled by all of their love, bound by our love and respect for each other and extremely happy!