Sibling Spacing

I can't rave enough about the age gap between the older kids and Reed.  It's so nice to have Jack and Stella as my little helpers, and they genuinely enjoy playing with Reed and helping me take care of him.  It's adorable watching them care for their little brother.   I can honestly not remember one time when they were jealous or angry about Reed getting a lot of the attention, they just think he's cute along with everyone else.  Now with each other, that is an entirely different story!  I have been "having a moment"  lately knowing what will be my last baby is barely a baby anymore, it's so bittersweet.  Reed is such a happy little dude and everyone else seems to enjoy him more and more older he gets, but I love my babies.  Speaking of my sweet little baby,  I hear him up from nap, so time to go.

please excuse my poor quality pictures, but you know....it's Monday

Here's a little added bonus for your Monday, another one of Reed's stop-drop-and-headstands!

It's a whopping -1 degrees out here right now, so more inside playtime this afternoon is up for us, and tomorrow it's back to school after this nice long weekend.  Happy Monday friends, stay warm!

Reed Update

 Reed is 15 months old now and my last baby is quickly turning into more of a toddler every day.  Along with walking, he's also learned to be quite vocal about what he wants, letting out a big screech to make sure everyone can hear him.  Grocery shopping has become a challenge because he sees the Goldfish, or yogurt, or bananas or anything else he thinks he wants that day and screams because he can't have them.  He's also the first of the three to wrangle himself out of the shopping cart seat buckle.  He turns himself backward and shimmies on up and out of there.  I've decided that the Baby Bjorn is the only way to take him shopping, which is a total pain in the butt.  Reed just got his 7th tooth (discovered last night at 1am when he woke up inconsolable.)  He's saying quite a few words, a few favorites are: "aww dun" (all done), "dare it izz" (there it is), "ware a go?" (where did it go),"Dad" and "up."  He's obsessed with the Little Blue Truck books, balls, chairs his size, and playing in the kitchen (both the play one and the real one.)  He's defied the strength of child proof cabinet locks and can empty a drawer is mere seconds.  He's a climber and loves to stand on tables and chairs, he's very creative on what he'll use for a step stool.  Reed has mastered waving bye-bye and loves to clap for big brother Jack at his basketball games.  The highlight of his week is his baby music class and the highlight of his day is when Daddy comes home from work, he can't get over to the door fast enough when Dennis comes home.  Reed is our playful little smiley bug who loves to have pillow fights and tackle, is super ticklish, has an awesome belly laugh, and melts my heart every single day with those baby blues.  We love you Reed!

15 Months old as told by Reed Vogel:

"The happily reading a book.....for 20 seconds"

"The enough of this chair, I'm chiming on down"

"The walking with blankie in mouth"

"The stop drop and headstand" 

this one is my personal favorite

"The look I got your phone mom"

"The sure I'll smile for you, but only while I grab this camera"

And there you have it, being 15 month old by Reed Vogel.  There's never a dull moment!

These Shoes are Made for Walking

Happy New Year all!  The big excitement at the Vogel household today was Reed took what we're calling his first "real" steps.  He's been taking a few here and there for the last few weeks, but today he's been making a genuine effort to revert from crawling to walking.  It's such a fun milestone, and even more adorable when the kids are just as excited about it as we are.  They run to me and report EVERY time he takes a step.  Now that we have a walker, we need to actually make sure he leaves the house with shoes on.  I immediately went and dug out Jack's old Chuck Taylors and they fit perfectly, score!  Normally Reed hates shoes (hence why I don't always bother with them), but as I put these on him I kept telling him "big boy shoes for walking" and miracle of all miracles he actually likes wearing these......at least for today.  Meanwhile I've already been perusing Zappos for cute baby boots.

And we've finally needed our real boots here this week, hooray for the kids and thank god for me. What could have been a long week home for all of us turned into a lot of outside playtime in the snow to occupy these two!  Jack's declared wants to cancel our snow removal service and shovel himself he loves it so much!

I rang in the new year with the lovely case of the stomach flu.  We planned to stay in for once and I still woke up feeling like crap on the 1st, can't win sometimes, oh well, at least we were all healthy for Christmas.

Now that New Year's is over and I am feeling up to eating solids again, tomorrow we shall begin the sad dismantling of the Christmas decorations and I swear we will stop listening to Christmas music .....so depressing, but at least I held out on listening to Adele 25, so that will soften the blow a bit.  

By the way, if you had previously followed our blog, you MAY have noticed the 4 month hiatus, ha!  If you hadn't already guessed, my new year's resolution is to resurrect this space.  While I have had a hard time justifying the time it takes when there are always so many other "things", it's such a great keepsake for our family, I know our out of town family appreciates it, and it's a great outlet for me.  So if you are here and you like something you see or just want to say hi, please comment!  those help keep me motivated to pump out more posts!

We wish you all a healthy and happy 2016, CHEERS!!!  

Door Co.

The pictures from the beach in the last post were taken at Peninsula State Park in Door Co.  We spent a great week there in early summer thanks to my parents.  My whole family stayed in this great house with a spectacular view.  There was golfing, window shopping in the cute little towns, great dinners, grilling, campfires, hiking, sightseeing, crafts, wineries, beach time, State Parks, plenty of ice cream, and a overall a great relaxing week with the family.  We can't wait to go back!

These Two

These two are already in full on sibling rivalry mode at age 5 and 7.  They are there for each other when they need to be and neither of them would know what to do without each other......but, do. they. fight!  They know exactly how to push each other's buttons.  They look so sweet, like they're the best of buds in this picture, and they were getting along in this moment, but listening to them fight is hard, and being a mediator is not fun. So these moments when they are having fun playing together, or offering to help one another out, these are the redeeming moments that wash away the fighting and bickering like the tide.  Maybe they too, could sense the calm of a summer day at the lake.

summer 2015

just like everyone else, our summer is quickly slipping away from us.  back to school in just two weeks!  I think we are ready though, Jack can't wait, and although Stella is nervous about starting at the elementary school, I'm sure she'll be just fine with her best friend Simone by her side in class this year.  I must say that I will enjoy a little more quiet time at home to get caught up on some things, and some one on one time with Reed in swim lessons and baby music class.  And as much as I enjoy summer, I also love fall and all that comes with it.  Cheers everyone, to a great school year!

Summer Lovin'

this little guy has sprouted two new teeth since the 4th, which explains the excessive drooling

no 4th of July is complete without bomb pop popsicles!

Stella dancing at Riverfest

love these three little crazies so much!

happy summer all!

Baby Reed 9 Month Update

Reed is just a little ball of joy right now.  He started sleeping through the night around 7 months and has been a great little sleeper ever since.  That was a major game changer and I am happy to report I feel like a regular human being again.  Reed started army crawling a month ago and pretty soon after started to crawl.  He's all over the place now and even pulling himself up onto everything.  The past couple of days I have been walking him around while holding his hands and he already seems to have the hang of walking.....oh boy!  He has had very little interest in his beloved jumperoo since becoming mobile, which totally stinks, but the boys got exploring to do now and that jumper, well that just gets in the way.  Reed can say "Duh" or "Da" for Dad and "Aaeye" for hi.  He's making all sorts of other sounds that I haven't been able to decode yet, but I'm sure they mean something.  Reed's still rolling with two bottom teeth and he's eating finger foods like a champ.  It's been fun to start feeding him some of the same things we're eating at meal time.  Two of my favorite things about Reed are his big baby blue eyes and his hugs.  When I get him out of his crib in the morning or after nap time, he gives me the biggest hug, he just nuzzles in and stays there for about a minute. And that moment of my day, well that moment erases all the poopy diapers, laundry, fights, messes, running around, crazy schedules, getting woken up in the middle of the night...yes that moment grounds me and makes it all worth it.  We love you Reed, can you please stay little forever?!

you can see forever through those sweet baby blues

happy boy!