November and December 2017

11/1/2017 – Still trying to potty train getting better but still not in the clear, can count 1-15, Loves to since BINGO and IF YOUR HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT.

New Phrases: “Daddy, you a bad boy?” , when he toots or burps he will say, “excuse me, my tummy hurts.” , says, “so close” and “I want to get up” when he is ready to get out of bed in the morning.  Loves to be home and will often says he wants to go home when we have been away from home too long.

November was pretty laid back.  Daddy wrapped up field work so we took a couple of weeks to just wind down and get relaxed again.  The GCMS Falcons were involve in the finals for football so we spent many weekends following the team and going to a few games.  We made time in the middle of the month to make it to the Gibson City Holiday Parade.  This year was extra special because we had the gender reveal party for our new little one.  We found out Crew is going to be the big brother of a little brother which was so much fun for the kids.  We rounded out of the month with Thanksgiving at the Stroh’s house.  Grandpa Vetter joined us along with Auntie Sydney.  Crew had a good day and had fun playing with all his cousins.  Especially “E….T…” (Easton)

December began with us celebrating Brayden’s birthday and we all took a trip to Peoria to take the kids to the jumping park since the one in Bloomington does not open until next weekend.  The kids had a great time and Crew was a jumping machine.  We went to Steak n’ Shake for dinner afterwards and then headed home for birthday cake with the grandparents.

In mid-December we made a trip to Bloomington to visit Santa and the boys all did a great job.  Everyone talked to Santa (without crying) and took a picture with the best smiles.  Mommy was super happy.  After Santa we headed to KOBE restaurant to have some hibachi dinner with the Vetter group.  Crew did great there too and didn’t enjoy the fire but enjoyed the rest of the cooking show.  After dinner we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa Vetter’s house to open some gifts.  Crew got some monster slippers, a Blaze backpack and some other Blaze toys.  He had so much fun and was really into opening gifts this year.

We also celebrated at Grandma Stroh’s on Christmas Eve and then the boys got to open up their gifts from Santa Christmas morning.  Crew had a great time.  Christmas morning was a little early for him but once things got rolling, he got into it as much as the boys.


MILESTONES:  Starting to drink out of regular cups at dinner time and sitting at the table with the rest of the boys.

September and October 2017

09/01/2017 - Started potty training.

09/01/2017- Started attending a one day a week school in Cooksville.  Trish (his babysitter) takes him and he really loves it.  Especially the singing parts.  They sing ABC’s and Apples and Bananas.



Milestones:  Really into possession words such as “me, you”, started saying “I had it first”, often says, “why’d you do that mom?”, “watch me”, “I don’t have too

September was a pretty boring month for Crew.  He spent most of his time going between soccer games and practice, football games and Cross Country meets.  Because of all our business it didn’t give us a chance to get away.  At the end of September we did get to go to homecoming parade.  This year Tate was part of the parade so Crew and I got to hang out and collect candy.  Crew was super excited about the amount of candy that was thrown to him and did a great job staying out of the middle of the road.  He had such a great time.


October of course, started with a big 3^rd old birthday.  We were lucky this year and it rained for the weekend which means that we all were together since no one was in the field.  So we celebrated the Sunday before his birthday and we all headed over to Radar Farms for the day.  This year Daddy was able to join us and Grandpa and Grandma Vetter, Uncle Spencer and Aunt Sydney.  It was a hot day (about 80) and sunny.  The boys all had a great time running around.  Crew loved the train and the big slide!  After we came home we had cake and ice cream and sang happy birthday to our boy.  He loved it.  Was so excited that the singing was actually for him. (just like Tate used to be)








Crew also had his 3 year old doctor’s appointment in October.  Daddy took him and he did great…as compared to in the past.  He said he didn’t cry too much but a little when the nurse went to check his blood pressure.  He is a happy and healthy kid and hopefully we won’t have to see a doctor until his 4 year old checkup.   He is in the 75% for height and 90% for weight.  Basically I think he is built exactly like David.

 

Finally we wrapped up October with our annual trick-or-treating.  We had a full load this year.  Brayden and Owen were able to join us and we met up with Easton and Avery to make it even more fun.  Crew enjoyed the first house we went to and then had a meltdown for the next two hours.  I really think he wanted to trick-or treat but was really intimidated by all the other kids around.  He cried and walked and cried the whole time.  I really thought he was going to love trick-or-treating this year but no so much.  Maybe next year.

July and August 2017

May and June 2017

May and June was busy in our house running after our older brothers and all their baseball games.  Crew did well.  Played and kept himself occupied most of the time.  Always helped if there was a playground close enough for Crew to play while mommy and daddy could watch him.


We also were able to get out on the boat during a spring a little and Crew is still a little fish.  This year we are letting him wear his floater instead of his life vest and it seems to be better for him.  The only issue is that it really exposes his entire back to the sun so we have to remember to reapply sunscreen as often as possible to prevent him burning back there. 

Crew continued to grow during the spring.  He is a wrestling machine with his brothers and really was starting to show an interest with baseball.  Can actually hit the ball when it is pitched to him which impresses us.  He also called out of his crib for the first time in May so we will need to move the crib soon to a big boy bed.  Tried potty training for a bit in May but still doesn’t seem to be ready.  Loves to eat popsicles out of the freezer in the garage and at the baseball games and pick the color that he wants.  Could eat chex mix all day long and loves to eat string cheese.  Super amount of love for the Grandpas still.




His speech is still  not very clear but he is starting to use 3 or 4 word sentences.  Instead of “uh-huh” I get a lot of “Yes”. 

March and April of 2017 (29 and 30 months)

My baby is growing so fast.  I miss the baby stage so much but love the little personality Crew is forming.  He is growing tall and thinner and the baby fat is fading away. 

In March we made our annual trip to St. Louis to visit auntie Sydney.  We make our stops at Fitz’s for lunch, the City Museum, hotel swimming and a new BBQ place.  We all had a great time although with four boys who are growing, we are quickly outgrowing one hotel room and it seems inevitable that we will see reserving two hotel rooms in the near future.  Crew loved running and climbing with the older boys and swimming in the hotel pool was so much fun for him.  He did great jumping off the side of the pool and loved being in the water with Daddy and the boys.  He was such a happy camper.

 The weather wasn’t quite warm enough to be outside for long periods of time and Crew was so sad to still be in the house.  He is an outside boy and loves playing on his swing set and climbing the rock pile.  He will have such a great summer being outside.

Loves to watch Star Wars on the Ipad.  I am constantly telling him not to watch it because it is a little violent for a 2 year old but I constantly find him sneaking a peak.  He is into string cheese, yogurt and any kinds of fruit.  With the summer coming I have been big with blueberries and strawberries and Crew loves them both.  The other night we were sitting and watching TV and h e was pretending to fall off the coffee table and was acting the part really well.  Loves the dog so much and loves to wrestle with his Dad.  Tries to dribble the basketball and hit a baseball like the boys and basically will mimick anything they do.  Trying to grow up tooo fast.

April brought another holiday for us to celebrate with Easter.  This year we went to the Hollybrook Easter egg hunt and Crew did a great job.  He shared and ran around picking up eggs.  We also did some egg coloring for the holiday and Crew seems to enjoy that as he is learning his colors and loved telling us what color his egg.  We were all together for Easter this year and the boys woke up nice and early and found what the Easter Bunny had brought them.  They all got posters for their rooms and Crew got a movie and license plate for his bike.  They all then ran outside, after a night of rain, and fought the mud and wetness to get the eggs the Easter Bunny left.  They all did a great job and Crew enjoyed himself.  We were all then off to the Strohs and got the annual Easter egg hunt done there and took our yearly family pictures with ears.  It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time as always./

January and February 2017 (27 and 28 months)

A new year but same old stubborn child.  Crew is now 27 months old and is just the biggest ball of joy.  He runs and jumps and screams and is so rough and tough.  He is always trying to tackle someone and then in the next breath he is giving them a hug and excited to love on his brothers.  Its so interesting to watch and makes you wonder who he will be when he grows up.  He gets put in time out now or we raise our voices when we are disappointed and he doesn’t want to look at us so he looks out of the corner of his eyes and sometimes will be so upset with himself that he will cry just from  us looking at him with disappointment.

January he enjoyed following the boys around from basketball to basketball game.  He was such a trooper.  He did very well sitting still as long as we had lots of popcorn and snacks.  He also got to enjoy mommy's birthday in January.  He loved signing along and blowing out the candles.

His new challenges include eating at dinner time.  He is a huge snacker and eating dinner is not something he does well.  He will eat any fruit or vegetable you put in front of him (or chip or snack) but most meat is not acceptable…except a hot dog out of the fridge….gross!  He loves ketchup or anything for dipping.  Also…gross.  We have really tried to focus on cutting back of the amount of milk he is getting.  Usually only when he wakes up and before he goes to bed.

He is doing more and more on his own like opening up the refrigerator to find something to eat or getting a treat for the dog to go in her crate ringing the door bell at Grandma E's house.  Still loves to take a bath and wakes up every morning asking if he can go see “e” and “papaw”.  Loves the dog to pieces but terrorizes her often with shooting her with a gun and chasing her with a sword.  Addicted to everything YouTube and Ipad related. Starting to FINALLY learn his colors and seems to be able to count to 10, can count backwards from 10 (thanks to BLAZE) which he has totally learned from YouTube as he still not repeat anything we say to him in terms of the alphabet or counting.  New statement he is saying is , "I don't want to watch" if we are watching something on TV that he doesn't like.  Sometimes will close his eyes and walk around and say, "mommy I can't see".

February brought a little more action for Crew.  He totally enjoyed himself at the bouncy party we had.  He was go, go, go from 2 in the afternoon to 10 pm at night.  He had a blast.   

Can count 1 - 10, knows he is two years old but says, "i no two, I Four!!", likes going potty in the toilet before we put him in the tub, very good at going to time outs and understanding directions.