Busy Month

If you haven't noticed, I've only posted one update this month and it was on the 1st~ it is now the last day of November and I am still not ready to update! :) I have been horrible at taking pictures this month...lazy really, so for those of you waiting for cute pictures of the little man...you'll have to wait a bit longer.

Here are some things that have been going on during the past 30 days...

I started Jillan Michaels 30 day shred (today will be day 7) and I ACTUALLY look forward to getting fit and doing the 30 min. video sometime during the day! I made sure to weigh myself and take measurements at the beginning so I can compare after the 30 days. I'm sure I will continue to do it after 30 days are up, but I just want to see what I can accomplish!

I experienced my first Black Friday shopping this year! It was exhilerating and CRAZY! I got up at 4 am (but really didn't sleep well after 2 because I was excited and nervous!) and Breanna picked me up at 4:15 to head to Wal Mart. I got in line for the TV we got for Christmas from The Rohrs' and I got the LAST ticket for that item! I couldn't believe it! After waiting about 40 min until 5am we were able to check out. Breanna was our runner for other things while we had to stay in line for our items (Our friends Michelle and Jason and a sister-in-law of theirs were also there with Breanna, her brother and I.) Then we waited for about 45 min in line to purchase the items! Next on to Menards, Target and Kohl's. A few Christmas presents for Reef and ourselves and I was done!

We went to a couple's shower for Jarod Brabec and Lindsey Olmsted and it was quite fun. Mom babysat while we went. She also has been helping us declutter our house in case we put our house on the market soon....

We are currently debating on whether or not to move right now. We go to the bank tonight to get Pre-approved for a loan and we have looked at about 12 houses so far and liked 1. Our fate will come down to tonights meeting...we will keep you posted!

Thanksgiving was a time for food, family and friends. We went to Jared's aunt and uncles house in Omaha to spend with Rick's side of the family and then that evening went to another aunt and uncles house in Lincoln to spend with Cyndi's side. Friday was Husker football, turkey frying day at the Landon's household and we got to spend time with friends and again, stuff ourselves! Saturday was relaxing and then we hung out at the Prochnow's with yet some more friends! A good 4 day weekend (I had a 6 day weekend!) for most!

I have been subbing a ton and hopefully will get the longterm that has been offered me for Early March-End of the Year. It is 1st grade at McPhee Elem. As most of you know, I enjoy working with 3-5 grades the most, but I'm always up for a challenge! Hopefully this will bring a full time post!

That's all for now!

Pumpkin Carving

I know you should carve your pumpkins BEFORE Halloween, but I just really wanted the seeds and then decided to make a memory.

Reef was "helping" me get the pumpkin seeds out so we could make some baked pumpkin seeds. I tried a "new" recipe this year and threw in some honey and sugar to make sweet/salty seeds and they turned out FABULOUS! Reef even enjoyed his first pumpkin seed snack.

The large pumpkin says REEF '09 and the smaller just has a face!

Happy Halloween!!!

So this is the only picture I took of Reef tonight...my camera was malfunctioning...ok, it wasn't, the batteries were just dying!

We spent the afternoon with a 2 hour nap and then we went to Joe and Ivy's to watch the gator game. Ivy, Nahla (their golden lab), Reef and I went on a walk around Wesleyan while the game was on and then we went to trick-or-treat at HyVee which is where we found this Penguin Hockey Player! Since Reef was wearing his penguin costume from last year, I thought I'd better take a picture! We got lots of healthy treats along with some candy and that was enough for me.

We grabbed some roast beef sandwiches from Arby's (5 reg for $5) and went back to Joe and Ivy's before making our final stop at Breanna & Pat's. It was a beautiful day and a fun evening!

Fall Break

This past week has been LPS fall break, so since I'm a substitute, I get a break as well. This week was filled with fun, friends, appointments, and just hanging out.

MONDAY:
Reef and I just hung out together at home and visited Karli's montessori. I also had a doctor appointment for myself with our new family doctor, Dr. Bellamy (a friend of Karli's from high school.) After 3 weeks, I finally gave in and went in. Turned out, I have a sinus infection and he prescribed some antibiotics. I am feeling OH, so much better, but the coughing is still hanging on, luckily my nurse friend Jenn, told me her sister had the same thing going and the cough hangs on for awhile, since it's trying to clear all that drainage (4 weeks worth now!) :) Sinuses are also stubborn, so it pretty much takes the full 10 days of meds to have all the yucky symptoms to disappear!

TUESDAY:
More relaxing and hanging out. Reef slept in until 8 o'clock...which meant mommy got to relax and catch up on some DVR shows! Reef also took a 2 1/2 hour nap this afternoon while I was meeting with some financial planners from NORTHWESTERN. They really opened my mind to some options of getting control of our finances and socking some money back into savings after I really didn't work all summer...and the savings helped us to do that! Finally, Rick and Cyndi watched Reef while I went to my lovely annual appointment and got my car's oil changed. We decided to go to BOO at the ZOO tomorrow so Jared could join us.

WEDNESDAY:
I was supposed to hang out with some good friends from high school today, Sara Weibye Roberts and Lindsey Olmsted, but they were both under the weather, so instead I met Breanna and the boys at the mall and we walked about 8 laps and had lunch. I was pretty excited about how frugal we've become...we spent only $7 on lunch for the 5 of us! I had brought 2 hotdogs, 1 string cheese and a pear from home for Reef and the boys to munch on and Breanna had a buy one value meal, get one free for Runza, so we each got a cheese runza meal and ordered an extra fruit cup for the boys (they all 3 love their fruit!) Needless to say, we were all stuffed and happy that lunch was CHEAP! We then went to BOO at the ZOO and went out to Lazlo's after (check out the other blog post!)

THURSDAY:
We headed down to Crete this morning to hang out with My side of the family (mom, dad, g'ma/pa Mundt, g'ma Becwar) and we had a good time. We were just down this past weekend, but really didn't get the chance to really catch up. After lunch and a short nap (45 min) we headed home. I was hoping if I just threw Reef in the car when he woke up, he might sleep the 30 min back home, but nope...he is too interested in looking out the window at the cars, trees, rain, etc. When we got home we had a snack and then it was back out with Grammy Cyndi because we were going to get our hair cut! Reef had his, I believe, 4th haircut today at SuperCuts and I got mine trimmed as well. Then it was off to pick up grampy, have another snack at Culver's...YUMMY! and then finally to Moiser/Timperley Chiropractic for their grand opening at their new office. We hung out for about an hour before heading home and retiring early!

FRIDAY:
We headed up to Omaha at 8:15 to play with Joe, Jackson and Jenn Timperley. We had a good time catching up and the boys had a great time playing together. We then ate lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise (we knew with 2 adults and 3 children it needed to be kid appropriate!) 4 mini cheeseburgers, broccoli and fried pickles seemed to be the perfect lunch until the drive home...I didn't feel so good. I thought I had just eaten too much, but it lasted through the night. Luckily it was only I that didn't feel so well, so who knows what it was, it only lasted until Saturday morning that the aches, stomachache, all around crappy feeling lasted. Saturday was ok, but I still didn't feel like eating too much! That was OK with me, as we had some trick-or-treating to do (check out that blog as well!)

ALL-IN-ALL a good week. I AM ready to go back to work after having 2 weeks off!

BOO at the ZOO

Tonight was Reef's and my first time EVER at BOO at the ZOO. It was a pretty cool experience. Way different than what I expected, but cool all the same. It was neat seeing the zoo at night after a summer full of day trips. Although most of the animals were off in their "winter" homes, we did see the reindeer, a few monkeys, the muntjack, horses, and some birds. Reef was pretty cute in the monster outfit we borrowed from Oscar Prochnow (Breanna & Pat's 11-month-old.)

We walked around and collected our "loot," chatted with a few people we knew, rode the train, and finally picked out a pumpkin from the 2 men and a truck guys!

Here are a few pics from that evening:

Sick BOY

Reef was sick all this week with a viral fever. It wasn't too bad as illnesses go, but I had to take all 5 days off, and next week is fall break! That means 2 full weeks off. It's bittersweet as "vacations" come, since we really couldn't go anywhere this week. His temperature came Sunday morning at about 10 am...YES, he slept until 10 am...this is when I knew something was wrong. I woke up around 9:30 and was SHOCKED! Usually we are up and about around 7:30, and if it's not Reef that wakes me up, it's ENZO!

I came to the computer and tooled around on facebook and email for a bit and at 10 I went into his room because there was still NOTHING...I could just hear him breathing through the door. He was sitting up in his crib and just looking at me when I walked in. When I picked him up, he was BURNING up. I could tell it was a high temp just by holding him. Yup, 103.8...not good. I gave him some tylenol and changed his sweaty jammies and just snuggled with him. In less than an hour he was his normal self, playing and having a good time.

This continued until Tuesday night when 2 hours after I put him to bed, he woke up and was completely drenched in sweat! I was excited...I ASSuMEd this meant his fever had "broke" and this was the last that we saw of it. I was WRONG! We went to the mall and hung out with Breanna and Steph and all 3 boys, and everything was fine until 5 o'clock that night and BAM...104 fever again. Strange. Again this continued until Thursday night when his temp was around 101 for the last time. This of course meant he couldn't go to daycare on Friday, so I embraced it and realized that I would be home again.

I did also realize that I should probably go to the doctor myself and make myself well again...

Happy BDAY Dad & Unca Joe

Yesterday my dear ol' dad turned 54 and today Unca Joe celebrated # 29!

We didn't get to celebrate with Dad as he had planned on being out at the cabin bringing the boat back from getting winterized and such, but he didn't end up going...they had delivered it for him! We could've gotten together Friday night and celebrated! We just ended up hanging out at home and having a quiet night.

Saturday was busy as Jared went to the game with Rick and Cyndi and Reef and I stayed home and baked! Ivy came over and we watched the game and played with Reef, Enzo and Nahla, their puppy! The dogs had a good time and Reef enjoyed watching them play, although since Nahla is a Lab, she's a little bigger...and she's in the lovely puppy-I wanna chew on everything-stage so that frightened Reef a few times! Erica and Claire came over for a bit and we walked around the neighborhood a couple times because it was better than watching the game! Kim came over after the game (she was babysitting for a couple who went to the game) and Joe came over after work. A good time!

I had baked chocolate chip cookies and chex mix yesterday and I tried out a new sugar cookie recipe today (it didn't set up so well...so instead of halloween cookies, I made a fruit pizza.)

SLACKER

I know I've been a blogging slacker lately...I've also been a photo slacker. It's just amazing when you are working 4-5 days a week and you have to take care of a child, dog and husband...you really don't have too much time!

I'm going to try to be better...but enjoy the few updates!

HAPPY STALKING! (re: my friend Erica)

THE FALL...

Yes, I know it is fall and I love this time of year, but that's not the kind of fall I'm talking about. This is the scary kind of fall...down a whole flight of stairs! I knew since Reef is an adventurous boy, we would have all kinds of bumps and bruises, but I didn't think we would have the tumble down the stairs end over end...YET!

We were over at Joe and Ivy's house for a jewelry party and then get together and Jared and Ivy were at the top of the stairs and I was talking to Kim downstairs when all of a sudden, the rubber sole of Reef's shoe must have clung to the stairs while he was taking a step down and thump...thump....thump...he was at the bottom. I'm sure all of the adults said something like..."OH S*** or F***" But I ran to him and looked him over before moving him (myself having fallen down the stairs and an ambulance ride.) He was crying, but not hysterically...and he calmed down within a few minutes. A little momma's milk goes a long way for treating injuries! While he was nursing I ran my hands over his head and there wasn't even a goose egg forming! How crazy are kids and their malleable bodies!! We watched him the next couple of days and he was same ol' Reef...sleeping through the nights and playing through the days.

Let this be a lesson to us all...Even if you have 2 adults within arms reach of a child, they move quickly and the smallest thing (darn shoe!) can turn your world upside down (literally) in an instant! :) Thank the Lord he was FINE!

Busy day!

First the snowfall, then a wedding, finally a football game...

You've read about the snowfall...so here is the rest!

My good friend Susan Buchanan got married to her long time (about 9 years) beau Dustin Wollenburg today! My date (Lindsay Wittstruck Eisenmenger) and I witnessed their wedding (just barely...we were the last people in the church!) and their fall themed reception! Rick and Cyndi wanted to take Reef off our hands during the wedding so I said YES, YES, A THOUSAND TIMES YES!!! You see, I wasn't too sure how he would act in a church near his dinner time! Jared and Lindsay's hubby, Pat, were at our house watching football until the main event of Florida V. LSU!

Lindsay and I got back to our house for the 2nd Q and we enjoyed visiting while Reef went night night. It was tense for Jared toward the end because LSU was in scoring range, but the Gators persisted and won the game!

I almost forgot to mention...today is also Lindsay and Pat's 1st anniversary!!! Way to go! You might find it funny that they were apart a lot of the day on their big anniversary, but they had planned it out and celebrated last night as well as today!

A BUSY DAY FOR ALL!

SNOW!

Reef enjoyed playing in his first snowfall of the year. It was his first time actually getting to walk in the snow and feel it with his hands. Last year he was just a bitty guy, so we really didn't stay out in the snow or cold for long. Plus, he was just barely walking when the snow went away in March/April.

I think it took longer to bundle him up than we let him play in the snow. We also realized we need to get him some kind of snow boots and a hat/glove set that fits! I had bought the green camo set he's wearing for $.99 at the end of last season, but I think it's more like a 3/4T~he could get away with a 2T...

Oh the adventures we will have this winter!

Last day at Belmont

Today marks my last day teaching my 3rd grade class at Belmont. Boy did things change while I was there! I took a class that had NO discipline/class management to a well oiled machine! Well, there could have been some more improvements, but my time was up and it was Jill Haas' turn to take control of her class.

I will miss them...even the naughty boys! I am going to take Reef in tomorrow to see them and have all the other teachers see him as well! That should be fun!

300th SELLOUT!

We were lucky enough to have 4 tickets for this memorable event and even more lucky to have my mom able to watch Reef!

We had a good time at the tailgates and game and Reef had tons of fun with Grandma Dawn!

The Landon's New Baby...

Our good friends Dan & Courtney Landon had their baby via C-section today at 12:21 pm. Bailey Rose Landon weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz and was 20 in. long. She is super cute and Reef was enamored by her! He even tried to share his sippy cup with her! Big Sister Renae was a little disappointed because she wanted a brother, but she soon became the overprotective Big Sister and was loving her little sis.

We visited them in the hospital on Wednesday after work and had a good talk with them about the delivery and even got to watch the video Dan took of her birth! Pretty neat to see a close friend's C-section!

We are so happy for them and can't wait to see her grow up!

15 month well baby

Reef had his check up today and passed with flying colors...well, as most of you know, there really isn't a test, per se, but he would've if there had been!

Stats are as follows:

height: 31 1/2 in. (50-75%)
weight: 23 lb. 11 oz (25-50%)
head: 19.2 in. (75-90%) BIG BRAIN!!! :)


Dr. Brabec was impressed with his speech and activity levels!!! Reef even gave Dr. B a hug during the exam...it was pretty cute.

It was quite the ordeal getting to the Dr. though since I am still doing my maternity leave sub position at Belmont. I left Belmont at 9:45 (another 3rd grade teacher took my class for the last 15 min. before specials, then specials until 10:50 and then the instructional coach took my class until I got back at 11:20.) I got to the Dr. at about 10:05 (our appt. was at 10:15) checked in and then called Cyndi to make sure she was almost there with Reef. She had picked him up at daycare and took him back afterward! It was perfect timing because as soon as Reef and Grammy walked in the door, they called our name!

GO HUSKERS (and GATORS!)

So, Reef is 15 months old TODAY! YIKES! Where does the time go? We had a good time over at Dan & Courtney's today with lots of friends. We had BBQ pork, pasta salad, chips & salsa & guac, deviled eggs, lemon bars and some defrosted girl scout cookies! The kids ALMOST out numbered the adults and that number will be rising by one on Tuesday as Dan & Courtney go in for their C-section and we will finally know if it's a boy or girl!

Crew, Reef and Renae had a good time playing as well as Fayth and Jocelyn (aka Josie) Dwerlkotte. It was fun to watch the kids all interact with each other and with baby Josie who is 2 months old. We also got to go over to Jason & Emily's house and see new baby Noah who was born on Sept. 15th.

Reef imitating Tebow and getting ready to pass it to Crew!


And YES, Jared made me put Reef in his Gator gear since it was an away game for the 'Skers and a home game for the Gators...we compromised as Reef had a Husker onsie on under the jersey....although he did poop that out in the first half...maybe that was what went wrong!

Busy, Busy, Busy

It has been a busy 3 weeks or so since I last posted. Here is what has happened in a nutshell...Hopefully we will slow down soon so I can put pictures and elaborate on some of the events!

End of August: Reef, Rick, Cyndi and I went to Orlando, FL so Rick could get his Florida Chiropractic License Hours...It was a fun trip had by all!!! Reef is becoming quite the swimmer in his little lifejacket suit and arm floaties...he was swimming all across the pool BY HIMSELF!!!

Labor Day: Jared, Reef and I went to the cabin for some relaxation. We had the place to ourselves all Saturday and watched the game at the Marina Bar. We met some locals and had a good time. Sunday AM we just played and relaxed until my dad got out there to chill in the afternoon. Finally my mom surprised us Monday AM and we all had a good time boating and hanging out until we had to come home in the afternoon.

September: I got a long term maternity leave job at Belmont Elem. teaching 3rd grade until Oct. 2nd. I am actually the 2ND person to fill this job b/c the first woman couldn't quite hack it keeping up with discipline, classroom management, the tedious pace and schedule of events. I was stoked to get this job because I have worked with this team before and we mesh well.

I was also sad, however, because that meant I wouldn't get to see my Reef all day, every day. He seems to REALLY have fun at daycare, though, so it makes it easier to leave him there (it also makes it easier that Jared has to take him in the morning and I get to pick him up!) Kim (Melichar) Makovica started an in-home daycare recently and we were pleased that she had room for our little man. We know her from tailgating at her father's gas station downtown and she has a 6 month old son, Jackson, whom Reef has a fun time playing with!

This will be your "crib sheet" of our lives until I can post some pictures and have some anecdotes for you! :)

The boys

I watched the boys this morning while Breanna subbed her last day (until she gets her "new" teaching certificate.) The boys were having fun playing with all the toys and I even managed to get the twins down for naps at the same time (well, close!) and they napped for about half the time they were here. That gave me some Reef time while I was preparing to go back to work full time for a month. This will also be my last "scheduled" time to watch the boys as both of us are trying to work more often and have babysitters for the kids this year.

Max & Oscar are still growing like weeds and catching up to Reef (as most kids do around the year mark.) It will be fun to see how they all end up height wise, because Breanna and Pat are around the same heights as Jared and I (Although I think Pat is a little taller than Jared and I have a couple inches on Bre.) Oh the life with kids!

More Florida

I wasn't very good at taking pictures most of the trip, but here is one of Grampy pulling Reef on the carryon bag. It was quite funny. We had quite the layover coming home and Reef dragged that bag around the whole airport. Then, I finally realized he'd get a kick out of riding on it! This was in St. Louis, but the stupid pilot must have flown right over the arch because no one around us got to see it... It's been YEARS since I've see that thing!

We have quite the swimmer on our hands as he was swimming all by himself with his floaty suit and waterwings. I cannot imagine next year, he'll probably be doing it by himself! :) We are definitely going to get him into a formal class sometime this fall or winter so he stays water friendly!

Cyndi and I managed to get some shopping in (after getting lost...no thanks to the map we had, and YES, we did finally stop to ask for directions...we just didn't want to pay anymore stupid tolls!)

All in all, a good trip and fun times with family!

More Orlando pics

These pictures compliments of Grammy and Grampy's camera!

Julie's Waterfront

We ate at Julie's waterfront restaurant tonight and it was TASTY! I enjoyed a Julie's Red Lager with dinner and Cyndi and I shared 2 dozen peel and eat shrimp!!! Rick stayed with his staple of fried shrimp and french fries and Reef ate some fish and chips (sweet potato fries.) It was a beautiful view of a lake and we watched a wake boarder practice while we finished dinner. Night 2 of Florida was good.

Crabby Joe's

First night in Florida and we ate at Crabby Joe's. It was YUMMY! We also made friends with the Brit's at the table next to us because their daughter and Reef were flirting! We found out they were only 2 days apart! Crazy! It was amazing how many Brit's were in Orlando for vacation to Disney...and for 2 weeks, but I guess when the dollar isn't strong...they get more bang for their buck!!

Reef immensely liked his mac and cheese as you can tell by his face in the picture!

Big Bugs, Big Shoes to Fill

Reef has gotten into that love of shoes stage every once in awhile and will take all the shoes out of the basket. I'm pretty sure Jared helped Reef into these, but I'm not positive. He looks so proud to have them on his feet!

We also had a large preying mantis friend who made his home on our garage frame. Reef loved checking him out and soooo wanted to touch it. Mama didn't let him!

Poopy in the POTTY!

So tonight marks the 2nd time Reef pooped in the potty...Saturday eve was the first. We have been practicing on and off for the past month and apparently I have been setting him on the potty at the right times! The past week he got a terrible diaper rash ( I think teething is the culprit) and we have been giving him "air baths" or letting him run around without a diaper on! It is really convenient to just plop him on the potty while he's naked and give it the old college try! Who knows? He may just be potty trained by the time he's 18 months! We can only hope!

Corn on the cob!

Reef's new favorite treat is eating corn right off the cob. He looks so funny doing it, but I figure its a good teether along with veggies!

Reef is also 14 months old today! He's slowly morphing from a baby into a little boy more and more each day.

Trapped!

I caught myself a boy and a dog this morning in my "trap," Enzo's dog kennel. We were getting ready to head out to visit with our new daycare provider, Kim Macovika, and Reef crawled in the kennel so I popped Enzo in there too and grabbed the camera!

We had a busy day: After going to Kim's house we walked around Southpointe for a bit (I had a free undies coupon at VS) and then headed to Ivy's school to help her get her classroom ready for tomorrow. While we were there, Reef decided to have a blowout (he's teething something fierce) and walked around without shorts the rest of the day! He also got his first upper molars (or so I think) today...they finally poked through!

After we left Sacred Heart we went to play with Steph and Crew for an hour before finally heading home for a nap! BUSY DAY!

Our "Girl" child

I know this will come back to haunt me, but our friend Steph Johnson put a bow in Reef's hair when we were over there tonight for a "Low Country Boil" supper and I couldn't resist snapping a picture. Boy is Reef going to love this one!

We had a great time with friends, family and tons and tons of FOOD...Reef had 3 rounds of eating...fruit, appetizers, and main dish! :)

Stephy's HOME!!!

bottom: Shy & Me, top: Ashley, Breanna, Becky, Jody, Steph


My good friend Steph (Sirek) DeHaven was in town all week and we got to hang out a couple times before finally having a big get together at Breanna's and then going downtown for some drinks. We had an excellent time catching up.

Steph's little bro, Micah & Max (Breanna's baby)

Brody Jack Roberts

My friend Megan had her baby boy today around 8 am via emergency C-section. He was face down and just would not move down the birth canal, so they rushed her to surgery and he came out just as beautiful as can be!

He weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and was 20 1/2 in. long! He has short brown curly hair and big bluish eyes (we all know they will change ALOT the next couple months!) He is just a doll and both mom and baby are doing well.

It seems like FOREVER ago that I was just in that same situation. It's hard to think back after a successful year of nursing Reef, how frustrating it is to start out! And to think how tiny and fragile they are (especially when they are rough and tough, now!)

I can't wait to see this little one grow up and play with Reef.

Karli and I went to visit Megan together since we are all pseudo-sisters!