Another Milestone

Since before Matthew was even born Joshua was waking up most mornings dry. However with a new sibling on the horizon and setbacks inevitable as Joshua adjusted to a baby in the house I decided not to tackle night-time potty training. Besides, the pediatrician told me not to worry about it until he was 5 or 6. I also wasn't looking forward to the possibility of having to change wet sheets in a loft bed in the middle of the night (on top of still getting up once a night with an infant). However, the last 6 weeks Joshua has been dry all night and he has even called us in the middle of the night because he had to go to the bathroom. The last couple weeks though he has been occasionally getting out of bed in the middle of the night and actually using the bathroom and we haven't even heard him! Apparently his body is now waking him up at night so he can use the bathroom. Even though I still have some fear and trepidation about night time accidents I'm setting those aside; so, Joshua is now happily and officially wearing underwear at night! I'm still amazed and thankful that this little boy has basically potty trained himself from start to finish with very little help from us -all done on his own time when his body was truly ready. I'm already praying Matthew is this easy to potty train and follows in Joshua's footsteps! Since this is a pretty big accomplishment for Joshua we let him pick out a toy tonight at Target to celebrate - he chose a cool new Playmobil firetruck complete with working lights and siren and water hose! He is one proud boy and we are proud of him too!

A New Way To Do Tummy Time!

Thank goodness our cat can tolerate just about anything! Hope he didn't mind the drool deposit he received from Matthew!

Cousins

Had to get pictures of Aiden and Matthew in their similar polo outfits! Still amazed at what a difference there is between the two when just 11 weeks separates them!

Fun at the Parade

Saturday morning we headed down to the main drag in Byron Center as the Byron Days parade was happening and boy was it the thing to do that morning as the people were lining the streets! Thankfully some friends had saved us seats along the parade route. Despite the temperatures being unseasonably cool (as seems to be typical this summer) we had a great time at the parade! The kids got tons of candy and some other goodies like cheese curls, popcorn, freeze pops, t-shirts and coupons for things. The parade was over an hour long, but things moved by quickly by so it kept the kid's attention. Afterwards Emma's dad, a volunteer fireman, invited us to check out the firetrucks at the fire station. Joshua was in all his glory as he ran from truck to truck exploring! It was a fun-filled morning!

Coolin' off in the pool

Thankfully we had a really nice summer day last Friday so we got out our new (found at Meijer on clearance) pool. Joshua loved splashing around, but kept asking for Matthew to come in with him. Finally I gave in and suited Matthew up and plopped him in the floaty. At first he cried, but then was all smiles as he realized it was comfy cooling off and floating in the pool.

Random

Friday night we had to run to Menards to pick something up and as we drove in the parking lot we noticed a race car hauler and then we saw a race car sitting up by the entrance to the store. Joshua was excited even though he didn't recognize the car or know who the driver was - it was a race car nonetheless. The driver, Frank Kimmel put Joshua in the driver's seat of the car so he could pretend to drive it, then the driver had Joshua stand on the car and give the #1 sign as if he had just won the race. Joshua loved checking out the race car. We also got to see inside the car hauling semi which was pretty cool too. Gotta love those random, unexpected things that happen that just make a kid's night!

Frogs Everywhere!

Okay, so they aren't frogs, they are really toads and they are EVERYWHERE around our house. Yesterday when Cory and Joshua mowed the backyard on the tractor they kept seeing toads so finally they shut the tractor off and just went toad hunting for a while. I think they had at least 30 toads of various sizes hopping around in Joshua's bucket. Before we left for the evening Joshua let the frogs go and it was like a tiny glimpse of what the plague of frogs in the Bible might have been like - these things were hopping all over around him! Toad hunting/catching has become a favorite summer activity for Joshua!

Meet Matthew's Nemesis. . .

Mind you this child took a bottle starting at 3 weeks old and did so off and on since that. He refused it at my cousins wedding, but I figured that he was just overly tired and overly stimulated not to mention that the milk had been kept cold due to the heat that day and cold milk isn't what he is used to. So we tried a bottle a few days after the wedding and he took it without much of a problem. Then last week while I was gone, of course, he refused to take a bottle when Cory tried for more than a 1/2 hour. Joshua ended up getting Matthew to eat while he was sitting in his rocker. So, I decided we need to do a little bottle bootcamp so this little issue is resolved sooner rather than later. Wednesday he did pretty crappy as we tried for an hour to get him to eat out of two different bottles (Dr. Brown's and the Born Free he'd drank out of before), but he eventually ate 3 1/2 oz. We noticed he is chewing on the nipple and when he tries to drink he is gagging so we bought a bottle with a different shaped, shorter nipple - the NUK. Last night we tried the NUK and he kept gagging with that one and playing with it. Off to Babies R Us I went in search of some other options - I had researched what worked for other people whose breastfed infants refused bottles. I came home with 4 more bottles and we tried the First Years BreastFlow out. He didn't chew on the nipple, he just played with it and refused to eat. He was screaming and ticked off by bedtime and Cory and I were both very frustrated. So, we will continue to try a bottle a day for however long it takes him to figure this out, as at some point I would like to wean him so we need to find something that works. The question I struggle with now is do we try another kind of bottle or save our money and keep trying the ones we already have open??? Mind you we have now tried 5 different kinds of bottles and I have 3 more on hand to try if necessary. Seems that Matthew has a bit of a stubborn streak, hmmm wonder where he got that from?!?!

Playing Together

Loving how they play together already! Just praying this continues as they grow up, although I'm sure we are in for a lot of fighting between them too!

3 Months

Where the last 3 months have gone is beyond me, but Matthew is now 3 months old! I think that we have finally settled into life as a family of four! At 3 months old Matthew . . .
~is a happy little guy most of the time!
~cries when he is hungry, tired or over-stimulated.
~is on no set schedule yet.
~is a good sleeper (apparently the nurses at the hospital really were right when they said he was a good sleeper at 1& 2 days old)- he has one good 2-3 hour nap each day with a few other 1 -1/2 hour naps among the day. At night he is sleeping 7 hours, eating and going back to sleep for another 3 hours! The little guy is able to put himself to sleep and actually prefers this. He loves to be swaddled too!
~is a chubby little guy with rolly poly thighs & wrinkles for wrists
~is a good eater who is also quick about it (very different from Joshua).
~isn't a huge fan of bottles. Tough luck for this little guy, but he better get used to them as he will be on them full time in the future!
~has a voice and uses it often to "talk" to us.
~has reflux and is on Prevacid which seems to be helping a majority of the time with the spitting up as well as the snorting/congestion issues he was having before.
~discovered his hands, but doesn't quite know what to do with them.
~isn't a pacifier kid or a thumb sucker. Lately he has been chewing/sucking on his hands and fingers non-stop though.
~recognizes mom, dad and Joshua.
~has many names including Matthew, M.J., chubs, chuba-licious, chuba-lub.

We love this little guy so much and are taking the time to really enjoy him because as we know the time goes fast! What a joy and a blessing Matthew is!

A Fun & Educational Family Night

A couple of friend's who visited Swisslane Dairy Farms raved about it and suggested other families check it out. I happened to look at their website last Friday and found that they had a Friday Family Night that evening. The weather was not ideal -a bit of rain and chilly, but we decided to brave it anyway and boy am I glad we did! They do a "Dairy Discovery" tour for about an hour and it is amazing what both kids and adults learn on the tour! Before the tour began we visited the goats and the calf in the barn and petted them. Joshua also played in the huge corn bin. Then it was time for the tour! At the beginning of our tour the guide asked us if we wanted to see a calf being born to which everyone on the tour responded with a huge "YES". Unfortunately we were about 2 minutes too late to watch the actual birth, but we did get to see the little bull calf and watch his mother clean him off. We saw the hundreds of other cows in the barn and then walked over to the milking parlor to watch the milking process. A visit with the calves was next and Joshua got to feed a couple calves bottles of water - the calves he chose were kind of feisty when drinking so he didn't last but a minute into feeding them and then Cory had to finish. As part of this family night we got to go on a hayride and enjoy some tasty dairy treats including milk, cheese and ice cream! Joshua also received a little goodie bag at the end of our visit. We all had a great time and Joshua is still talking about it! A video of our fun night is below.

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My Monkeys!

New place to play . . .

. . . well at least that's what Joshua's thinks it is. It is really called a Pea Pod Plus (they make a little smaller version called the Pea Pod). This is to replace our pack-n-play which Cory and I both hate with a passion because the thing has been a pain to take down since day one! The pack-n-play isn't the easiest or lightest thing to lug around either. With a camping trip set for August and knowing the pack-n-play wouldn't fit in our trailer (okay it would fit, but have to be put up and taken down every nap and night time) I thought I'd better find an alternative sleeping option for Matthew. Thus the Pea Pod Plus! It folds down flat so it can easily be packed and carried anywhere, comes with an inflatable mattress (and a little sleeping bag for when kids are older) and weighs not even 10 pounds! It's even big enough that Joshua could sleep in it! The Pea Pod Plus can now be easily put in one of the wings or on the floor in our trailer. Hopefully Matthew sleeps well in it, but in the meantime Joshua is enjoying playing in it!

Joshua and Matthew playing in the "tent" (as Joshua calls it).


Joshua reads Matthew a book!

Happy Birthday Allison!

Saturday we went to Allison's birthday party. She turned 4 on July 14, just 2 1/2 months after Joshua. So nice to have cousins who are around the same age! The kids all enjoyed a dip in the pool before we ate dinner and Cory even got in on the fun - unfortunately I have no pictures (as seems to be the case lately) because I had Matthew in my arms and by the time I got my camera most of the kids were out of the pool. Then it was on to dinner, gifts and cake. This year we combined our money with Shawn and Erin and got Allison a new bike which she loved. Of course, the new bike needed to be tried out immediately so the kids all went outside to ride bikes. We had taken Joshua's along knowing they would all want to ride bikes once Allison received her new one. Unfortunately Owen didn't have his bike, but was willing to ride a pink princess one so he could get in on the fun! It was nice to gather with family and the cousins had a great time together as usual!

Uncle Shawn helps Allison get her new bike out!


Cousins riding bikes.

Owen sporting the pink princes bike and lovin' it!

Joshua tried out Nicholas' old bike too.

A great summer day!

Since the weather looked just about perfect and we hadn't seen Missy, Eli and Matea in a couple weeks we made a play date to go to Meijer Gardens. We met them late in the morning so we could play, eat lunch and spend the whole afternoon playing some more! Eli and Joshua had a great time as usual exploring all the different areas of the Children's Garden. They spent a great deal of time trying to find each other in the maze and they also loved the sand and water. After we ate lunch we heard an announcement and found out that story time was right where we were so Eli and Joshua even got to enjoy a few stories (it was almost their own private story time until a couple other kids showed up right before the reading began). Matea and Matthew were stroller buddies who both enjoyed a snooze in their strollers when they weren't observing their brother's antics - oh and Matea got to use those little walking legs of hers a bit too! Missy and I were able to get some quality talk time in while the kiddos played which was my favorite thing. Children happily playing, moms chatting and the sun shining and enjoying the beauty of God's creation makes for a pretty perfect day!

The Brood of Hager Boys

Not the best picture, but I'm sure this is just the first of many! Like how Joshua and Owen wanted to switch brothers for the picture?!?! Sharing their brothers and names - Owen Jon holding Matthew Jon and Joshua Michael holding Aiden Michael! And yes the sharing of middle names was intentional as these boys share middle names with not only eachother but their father/uncle as well (Cory Jon and Shawn Michael).

4th of July Weekend

Our weekend started on Friday as Cory had the day off. Late in the afternoon we went out to my uncle Steve and aunt Cher's cottage for dinner and fireworks over the lake. Steve and Rachel also did a few fireworks of their own for Joshua before we all hopped aboard the pontoon boat and dropped anchor in the middle of the lake for prime firework viewing. It's been years since I've seen the fireworks at the lake and I must say I think they were better than when I last saw them. It was so pretty being on the lake as the sun set and the fireworks went off and reflected. When we got back my aunt wanted to light a floating lantern she had gotten at the home and garden show - apparently when they were college students they used to create their own lanterns from dry cleaning bags and candles. My uncle and Rachel lit the lantern and let it float off into the sky. It went for quite a ways before we could no longer see it.

Our usual tradition is to go to a parade with Shawn, Erin and Owen, but since Erin called already Friday night saying she was having contractions we knew there would be no parade for them. Since we had gotten home so late the night before we also knew we couldn't make it to an early parade so Saturday late morning we headed over to East Grand Rapids for their parade and met my dad. It was a pretty short and simple parade, but man did the candy come a flyin'! Joshua had a brown paper lunch bag full! After the parade was a water ski show on Reeds Lake so we stuck around for that as well. There were some inflatables for kids to play on, but the lines were terribly long so Joshua only did one. We ended up skipping the fireworks Saturday night as we had already seen some and we were all tired. It was a fun holiday weekend celebrating with family -check it out in the video below!

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Welcome Aiden!

Shawn, Erin and Owen welcomed Aiden Michael into the world on Saturday afternoon (yes, a 4th of July baby - Erin got her wish)! Aiden was 8 lbs. 14 oz. and was 22 in. long! We were able to visit them Saturday night and meet Aiden who was a sweet little guy. Mom and baby were both doing great! Aiden and Matthew are 11 weeks apart and it's amazing to see how much change occurs in 11 weeks! We of course had to capture their first photo together! We just laugh at what a chunk Matthew looks like next to Aiden! Hopefully these two boys will have a great relationship as they grow just like Joshua and Owen have (they are 11 months apart). Welcome Aiden, we love you!

The little things I love. . .

Tiny toes. . .

Little hands. . .

A circular cowlick on the back of a little head. . .

Tiny fingers that can grasp. . .

My sweet baby!

More from this weekend. . .

We were thrilled that my older brother was able to fly in from New York for the wedding this past weekend (see wedding pictures in previous post)! Joshua specifically requested that Uncle Dave come and stay with us this weekend - if you can't tell Joshua adores his Uncle Dave and doesn't get to see him but once or sometimes twice a year so this was very special. So, Dave bunked out in Joshua's room and we got to spend some time with him. Dave even brought him some things from New York City like a FDNY shirt and a book about New York! Matthew got a little New York apparel too!

Joshua, Uncle Dave and Matthew

A book about New York City where Uncle Dave lives!

Goofy guys!

Matthew chillin' with Uncle Dave.

Sneak Peek of Matt's Wedding. . .

Saturday was Matt and Katie's wedding day and we were all excited, but especially Joshua as he had a very important role to play in the wedding as ring bearer! We arrived early afternoon to get ready for pictures. He was thrilled to be able to hang out with all the guys -Matt and his friends were very sweet with Joshua, helping him feel like one of the big guys. Then the ceremony took place. We were seated by Matt just minutes before the ceremony and Joshua was left in Katie's hands as he was the last one of the bridal party down before her. We held our breaths as the bridal party had all come in and it was Joshua's turn to take his walk down the aisle. It was a huge sigh of relief to watch Joshua walk down the aisle calmly holding his pillow carefully for all to see. He did a fabulous job! After the beautiful, but very toasty ceremony as the church had no AC, it was time for a few more pictures and then off to the reception. Joshua did fairly well at the reception although he barely ate a thing (not too unusual). The highlight of his evening by far was dancing with "the ladies" as he called them as well as with Matt and Katie. "The Ladies" included my cousin Rachel (Matt's sister) and a couple of the girlfriends of the groomsmen who had befriended Joshua at the rehearsal dinner the night before. Joshua definitely got his groove on and had a blast (here's hoping this continues so he's not sitting on the sidelines during middle school and high school dances)! The only unfortunate part about the day is that since I was mostly caring for Matthew through it all Cory was in charge of the camera, which isn't the norm and apparently he needs to be told what to take pictures of because he barely took any! Thankfully my aunt and uncle have emailed me theirs and I hope to get a few from the bride's mom, my brother and of course the professional photographer. While I wait for all of the pictures to compile into a video enjoy the sneak peek below. I also included the video of Joshua walking down the aisle and one of him dancing too.

Getting ready for the wedding.

Handsome little ring bearer!

It was hot which made someone a tad grumpy!









Dancing with Matt and Katie (the groom and bride)

Dancing with Rachel.