Daredevil

I've said many times since he was tiny that Matthew is going to be our little daredevil. He LOVES to be thrown in the air, the higher the better. He has rolled off the couch twice accidentally and laughed both times. The child is crazy, just check him out in the video below.

Bye bye "baby trailer"!

We've been camping ever since I met Cory. Pre-kids we purchased a huge new tent for camping and loved it. Joshua was born and the idea of tent camping didn't appeal to us with an infant so for the first couple summers we visited others camping. The summer Joshua was 2 years old a week-long family camping trip was planned and we were going to rent a friend's pop-up. However, my sister-in-law Erin spotted this cute little "baby trailer" for sale in some one's front yard in June of 2007. We ended up buying this little gem and re-doing the interior decor as it was a bit lacking in our opinion - this post has pictures of the before and after http://hagerhappenings.blogspot.com/2007/09/before-and-after-pictures-of-our.html. We loved our "new to us" trailer and it worked well for our family of three. Along comes Matthew in 2009 and this past summer we only camped once finding that an infant is a pain to camp with, especially in a "baby hybrid trailer". Space was cramped.

Well, we went to the trailer and RV show a couple of weeks ago with the boys and Cory's parents. We just wanted to look at what we might want to invest in in the future. There was a nice trailer there in a perfect lay-out for our family of four. The contemplation began and we started looking online at other brands of trailers with similar floor plans. (Oh, I should mention that Cory has been looking on Craigslist and ebay for used trailers for quite a while just for fun and actually went to an auction to bid on one.) Anyway, we went looking at trailers at dealerships the Saturday the RV show was still going on and found a brand we really liked with a price that was too good to be true. Long story short we ended up placing an order for a 27 foot bunkhouse (just 2 bunks) last week which is now in the process of being made and will be delivered in 6-8 weeks!

Then it was on to selling the "baby trailer" and looking for a bigger SUV and selling our small one. Being excited about our purchase last week I posted a status on face book about now needing to sell the "baby trailer". Oddly enough less than 12 hours after I made that status update a friend of mine made a comment inquiring the details of what we were selling. I sent pictures and info via email and Saturday afternoon she and her family came to check it out. They really liked, so much in fact that they bought it! Amazing how God puts the right people in the right circumstances! We were thrilled that we got full asking price too, as we had put a lot of work into updating the trailer and keeping it in good condition! I'm also happy we didn't have to deal with putting it on Craigslist. Joshua said, "I will miss the baby trailer, but those kids will have fun in it now." I'm personally excited that someone I know bought our trailer and we will be able to see pictures of the fun adventures they go on with the "baby trailer". Now it's on to finding a different tow vehicle and selling our current SUV. Thankfully given the last 15 years of camping we've done, we know that camping is something we will be doing for a long time which makes this investment worth it! Oh and it will be a huge thrill for me not to have to sleep in a wing, or as I like to call it a glorified tent.

A Couple of Fun Activities

I watched a neighbor's daughter all day yesterday since she didn't have school (I usually only watch her after school). So, what to do with a couple of kids who have spent a bit too much time together this week and decided that yesterday was a good day to bicker (oh and did I mention I didn't have the car with car seats since Cory had taken it for the day to get an oil change)?!? Thankfully I had thought ahead and had a couple of activities in mind to fill some of the time. We had made wave bottles earlier in the week with just vegetable oil and water, but this time the kids wanted to make more layers and make a rainbow in a bottle. I found a list of ingredients online that we could use and we set to work mixing and pouring. First we put in Dawn dish washing liquid, then we put colored water in, next was vegetable oil (no color was added to this), and the final layer was colored rubbing alcohol. The kids were amazed at the outcome, as was I! We also made "snow paint" to paint with. The recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of Ivory Snow Powder Detergent, 1/2 cup of liquid starch and 1/2 cup of water - beat it for several minutes with a whisk. The paint was quite runny after we were done mixing it so I just added some more detergent. The final result was a fresh smelling, white, runny paint that worked well for painting snow scenes. on dark paper The coolest part was that it dried with a slight puff to it!

Rainbow layer bottles

Snow paint

9 Months and Growing!

Matthew's stats at 9 months . . . weight: 21 lbs 4 oz. (63%) height: 28.75 in. (68%) head circumference: 45.2 cm (48%)

Joshua's stats at 9 months. . . weight: 20 lbs (45%) height: 28 in. (40%) head circumference 45.8 cm. (55%)

Still funny to me that Matthew continues to outgrow Joshua in weight and height!

At 9 months Matthew is . . .

~crawling! His crawl is quicker and not as clumsy as it was a few weeks ago. The biggest motivator for Matthew to crawl is Joshua's Legos or other toys that Matthew can't have.

~waving. He just started doing this in the last week and it's just too darn cute!

~FINALLY sleeping a straight 12 hours at night! This little boy has given us a run for our money when it comes to sleeping at night. He did so well from birth to 4 months and then made an abrupt turn for the worse. For the last 4 months he has been waking up during the night (once or twice) screaming and crying to the point of not being able to be consoled. The pediatrician didn't even have the answers as to why this might be happening. This made for some very trying and sleepless nights at our house. We would let him cry it out, but one night it was almost 2 hours before he finally gave up. For the last few months Matthew has been consistently getting up about 9-10 hours after bedtime to eat and then going back to sleep; this was all well and good for a 6 month old, but an 8 month old it's ridiculous. Right around Christmas (8 months old) Matthew finally started sleeping a solid 12 hours at night and I'm very thankful for a full night of sleep once again! Of course now the napping is suffering! Will it ever end with this kid?!

~eating solid foods, in addition to his baby food, and loving them! He really enjoys puffs, crackers, crunchies, yogurt melts, Yo Baby Yogurt, little pieces of cut of fruit.

~totally formula feed as by the first of the year I finally used up all the breast milk I had stored up.

~pulling himself up to a standing position on everything he possibly can. He is starting to move his feet, but isn't cruising the furniture quite yet.

~a happy little boy! If I had a dollar for every time someone commented on how happy this kid was I'd be rich! Matthew definitely has a laid back and easy going personality (at this point).

~babbling, but not yet saying specific words (sounds) for specific things.

~a mover and a shaker. He enjoys emptying out baskets and bins of toys and is entertained for quite some time with this activity.

~drooling and drooling and drooling and has been since 8 weeks old, but he has NO teeth yet!

~ taking a huge liking to walking with the help of anyone that will hold his chubby little hands. I'll be curious to see if he is walking sooner than Joshua did - my guess is he will.

~still loving his big brother and all of his antics.

~not one to sit still to hear books (very opposite of what I was used to with Joshua who since birth has laid/sat still for long periods of time soaking up stories). Instead Matthew is usually crawling all over me or around the room while being read to. Thankfully just hearing stories read at this age help is beneficial.

~still spitting up a bit here and there, but his reflux is thankfully not nearly as bad as it once was. He has been off of his Zantac for a month now, but as we monitor his reflux he may go back on it.

~attached to mom and is having some separation anxiety in situations like church nursery.

Matthew is our chubby little bundle of love!

This kid has the funniest little facial expressions that just crack us up!

Little stinker started doing this about a week ago . . .

and I'm sure cruising the furniture will be coming all too soon!

Exploring

Now that Matthew has figured out crawling he is enjoying exploring all the things and places he couldn't get to before. One of his favorite spots is the end table in the living room where he can pull the magazines off the shelf. It's quite the game with Matthew pulling the magazines off and me putting them back on the table, but hey he is very entertained! He's so proud of his accomplishments, just check out that smile!

Poor second child . . . .

you will never believe what you had to put up with being the younger one so I had to record it for you. Apparently Joshua isn't too keen on the idea of Matthew crawling and now being able to get where he wants to explore. I was cleaning up the kitchen after lunch today and turned around to see Matthew pants-less, sock-less and being pulled around by his feet - not sure why there was a need to partially undress his brother, but Joshua claims that he was getting Matthew away from the magazines before he tore them up. Strange thing is Matthew loved being pulled around by his feet and thought it was hilarious!

Looks who's crawling!

Matthew finally figured out how to crawl, although I use that term loosely. He has been getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth for over 3 weeks - apparently our kids don't do anything fast besides rolling over and sitting up. I had tried all day Monday to get him to crawl and finally by the evening he was actually moving his body forward. He is very slow and uncoordinated at crawling and still prefers rolling as his mode of getting to where he wants to go. Although I think he may start realizing that crawling actually gets him to his destination point a bit better than rolling does.

Monkey Boy!

Grandpa and Grandma Hager got Matthew a new towel for Christmas which is very fitting for our little monkey!

Special Delivery

My cousin Matt and his wife Katie weren't able to come home for Christmas as they moved to California in August and had both started jobs and couldn't get the time off. We missed them at our annual family get together! On Saturday my uncle Steve and aunt Cher called to see if they could stop by with a special delivery. Matt and Katie were so sweet they sent the boys Christmas presents! Joshua was not only excited to be getting another present, but one from Matt and Katie! He tore into the paper and much to his delight found a Playmobil firefighter set! Of course all the Playmobil rescue vehicles had to come out after that so he could set up a whole scene to play out! Matthew was again oblivious to the whole gift thing, although once opened he enjoyed playing with his new crocodile!
Joshua wrote his thank you note to Matt and Katie and as usual I wrote down exactly what he told me, but this time I just chuckled as he had me write, "I'm sick of not seeing you". Oh how honest kids are!

Snow Tubing!

We had a low-key New Year's Eve celebration at Shawn and Erin's house, complete with all of us sleeping over. On New Year's Day Erin had came up with this great idea to take Owen and Joshua tubing at Pando. We were on the fence about taking them on the kiddie hill or the big hill, but when Shawn called Pando for info they suggested we do the kiddie hill (they said that they were so busy there had been multiple injuries, especially involving little kids). Erin's mom and step dad graciously offered to watch Matthew and Aiden so we could take just the big boys. It was crazy busy there, especially on the big tubing hill, but the kiddie hill didn't have a lot of traffic! We tubed for over an hour, which was about perfect. Joshua and Owen had so much fun I think they had permanent smiles plastered on their faces! Even the adults had a blast on the kiddie hill! It's something we will definitely be doing again!

Bidding farewell to Christmas

Matthew, aka sticky fingers, had been "helping" with Christmas clean-up by pulling the lights and the ribbon off our tree for a few days before we were ready to take it down. Here he is enjoying the ALL the lights once they were finally off the tree!

Bouncin' Around

We've seen a place called Bounce Party advertised and have wanted to take Joshua there, but the only open play time they have that would even remotely work for us is Tuesday night. Since it was Christmas break last week and Cory was home on vacation we thought we would try out Bounce Party. Shawn, Erin, Owen and Aiden met us there. It's basically a warehouse with tons of inflatables for kids (and adults if they choose) to play on. Talk about a place with no overhead to run, things are maintained really well and they had one employee sitting at the front desk to check you in! Let me just warn you that this place is not for a germ-a phob. Once you get past the trashy feel of the place you are good to go. Of course Joshua and Owen didn't have a care in the world and just enjoyed running around and bouncing and sliding! Cory, who is just a big kid, got in on most of the action with Joshua and Owen. Even Erin and I tried out the boxing ring at the end of the night - I guess you do anything for your kids. The night ended with some major hand-sanitizing, but the boys had a blast so it was worth it!

Fun at the Children's Museum

Our friends/neighbors invited us to go the Children's Museum with them last week to which we happily accepted. I let our Children's Museum membership lapse because both Joshua and I were quite bored with the same exhibits every time we went and the I was sick of the parking situation. So, we were excited to go back to the museum after the long reprieve. Joshua had an absolute blast playing all morning long. His favorite activities were building with the nuts and bolts on the magnetic strip, all of the penguin exhibits and the bubbles. This was Matthew's first time at the museum and I was glad to see there was a perfect little play area for him filled with balls and all kinds of mirrors to explore. Both boys had a lot of fun and Joshua could have stayed longer, but Matthew was tuckered out, especially with no morning nap. Just as I gave Joshua a couple minute warning that we were going to go Matthew fell asleep in my arms (first time in I don't even know how long). Joshua got an extra 20 minutes of play time in during Matthew's little snooze. It was a fun-filled morning!

Using all his hot air to blow bubbles!

POP!

Matthew playing in the balls.

Lovin' on a penguin.

Feeding the penguins fish.

One of Joshua's passions - BUILDING!

Who's that in the mirror?

What a cute baby!

Ahhhhh, more babies?!?!

Koorndyk Christmas Party

Cory's extended family always tries to get together around Christmas which gives us the opportunity to catch up with the relatives that we don't get to see very often. His extended family is quite large so we met in a church gym to give us enough space. Since we were doing lots of mingling and talking during this party unfortunately I didn't take very many pictures that evening. All I know is that the kids all had a great time running around the gym playing while the adults had fun chatting away the evening. Making a train!

Who knew scooters could be so much fun?!

Matthew had to try out the scooters too!

Trying his first cracker and loving it.

What are you looking at?

Celebrating the rest of Christmas Day

As usual we had a very busy, but very fun Christmas day. After our relaxing morning at home we spent the afternoon at my uncle Steve and aunt Cher's house with my extended family. We had a wonderful time and the boys were very spoiled with more fun gifts from my grandparents and my uncles and aunts! Since we didn't get to exchange gifts with my younger brother, Phil, on Christmas Eve we did it on Christmas day. Joshua got the Playmobil ambulance he had been hoping for from Uncle Phil and Uncle Dave!

Our evening was spent at Cory's parent's house with his family. The cousins had picked names for Christmas and were excited the exchange the gifts they had gotten for one another! With 8 kids it took a bit to exchange gifts, but they had a great time watching and opening as well as just spending time together as cousins. Joshua gave Nicholas a game for his new Didj game system and a Find It game he had picked out. Matthew had Gabrielle's name, but Joshua did the gift picking out for him and decided since Gabrielle liked to do art stuff we should get her lots of art supplies. Matthew got two race tracks (handed down from Sam since he was done with them and was willing to give them to Matthew), some new Tonka books with a stuffed race car and a new race car. Not only was Matthew entertained by his race tracks, but the other kids were too! Joshua got a Lego tow truck and a Diego game for the Wii from Sam!

Joshua made salt dough ornaments and painted them for all the special people in his life. He put lots of thought into who would receive which ornament and when it came time to give them out he was very excited and proud. So glad he is starting to understand the importance of giving to others! However, this year for the first time (but I'm sure not the last time, as I remember doing this as a teenager) we had an issue with Joshua not acting very thankful if he received a gift he didn't think he "wanted/needed". We have worked really hard at trying to instill the idea that we should be thankful so it's really frustrating to see your child open a gift and either say he doesn't want it or just put it aside with a disappointed look on his face. He got a few good talks and his gifts were taken away for a bit. Might just be time to volunteer with Joshua at a place that serves those in need so he sees first hand just how thankful he should be for everyone and everything in his life.

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Our family Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with our little family on Christmas morning. After a quick breakfast Joshua was more than ready to open his presents while Matthew of course had no clue what was going on. Joshua was excited for each and every one of his gifts and played with each one before opening the next. Joshua was also more than happy to help Matthew open up his gifts as Matthew didn't quite grasp the concept of tearing the paper off to see what was inside - he would have much rather torn the paper off and eaten it. Joshua was also very excited to give Cory and I the gift he had made for us in preschool - two ornaments, one of which was very cute while the other was a bit ugly and probably will never see our Christmas tree in the future! We had a relaxing morning of opening gifts and playing together as a family! The video below captures our Christmas morning.

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Christmas Eve

This Christmas Eve was one like no other, a break from tradition I guess you would say. For as long as I can remember my parents, brothers and I have made Christmas Eve our special night to celebrate together complete with a fancy dinner and presents. However, this year things just didn't work out this way. My younger brother's new job called for him to work his regular hours of 2:15 pm-11:15pm on Christmas Eve while my older brother just couldn't see spending $800 on a ticket to fly back home for a few days which we totally were in agreement with -Joshua on the other hand couldn't quite understand why Uncle Dave wasn't coming home for Christmas and he kept saying, "it makes my heart sad". Good news is that Uncle Dave will be visiting this summer so we can all spend some quality time with him. So, this was a simple Christmas Eve with just our family and my dad celebrating together. The boys opened their gifts from Papa and we gave my dad his gifts. We had a great evening despite missing some loved ones!

Opening up his Lite Brite Flat Screen from Papa!

Matthew got a little CD player from Papa.

Yum, new toys are so tasty!

A thank you hug for Papa!

Joshua's first Lite Brite creation!

Papa and Joshua making picture on the Lite Brite together.