My Wonderful Husband

It was one of those days...I didn't realize how bad until Chris came in the door from work with a bag full of treats for me. He picked up chicken and mashed potatoes from Byerly's, a pint of black raspberry ice cream and some beautiful flowers. He gave Xander a good talking to about listening to his mommy and not being naughty, put dinner on the table, baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and put our son to bed. I kept my butt firmly planted on the couch and got caught up on these posts. After a long, hard day at the office, he still has patience and thoughtfulness to take care of me. He is definitely a keeper! I just want everyone to know what a wonderful, loving man that I married. He must be if he can put of with me!

Menacing!

Zoo time!

We had such a fun day today! We met Ann, Ava and Lily at the zoo this morning and had a great time. The girls were angels and Xander behaved pretty well. We hung out until lunchtime, then went to the cafeteria for a semi-healthy lunch. After that, it was time for the girls to head home for naps. Since Xander doesn't take naps most days, I decided to stay for another hour and look around some more. We headed to Discovery Bay and stopped by to say hello to Grandpa Jimmy. It was a lot of fun and I wonder why we don't do it more often. It probably has to do with the 45 minute ride each way!

getting ready for the shark to swim by
waiting for the bubbles, bubbles, bubbles!
biggest attractions? the faucet that turns on by itself...

...and the automatic hand dryer!

Baby Belly!

We took a picture of my big belly to compare to when I was pregnant with Xander. I definitely feel like this baby is carrying differently and I feel huge, but my guess is that they are probably going to end up being close to the same size. What can I say, I grow big boys! I even asked the perinatologist if there was anything that I could do to make this baby be smaller. He laughed and said that there wasn't anything I can do, that the baby is going to be the size it is meant to be. Damn!

Me at 26 weeks with Xander - March 2004

Me at 27 weeks pregnant - January 2006

What happens when Mommy gets sick?

I, like so many people, got hit with a nasty cold/URI this week. So we spent many days at home. Xander was such an angel and let me rest on the couch. But while he entertained himself nicely, nothing got done around the house. It only takes one afternoon for the house to get trashed!

his bedroom after he spent some time playing quietly
thankfully I made a big pot of chili earlier so that I had something easy to feed him

Everything is tossed about and piled up, but I don't have the energy to care!

Lily and Zach's birthday party!

Today we went to Pump It Up in Eden Prairie for Lily and Zach's 3rd birthday party. It is pretty neat to have two friends born on the same day! At first Xander was completely overwhelmed and wouldn't go near any of the jumpers or slides. He thought it was too loud with all the generators running and music playing. But he finally warmed up to it and went down the slide by himself. After that, he ran around and bounced like crazy. It was hard because I am too pregnant to go on anything, but thankfully everyone else stepped in to help out where I couldn't. After the kids (and moms and dads) got done playing, we went into the party room for the neatest birthday treat - ice cream cones with cupcakes inside. Needless to say, my little boy has the biggest sweet tooth of any kid there. The rest of them licked off some of the frosting, a couple even got down to the cake, but that was it. Xander gobbled up ever bit of his cupcake, cone, licked the sprinkles off his plate and then asked for another. I was afraid he was going to try to eat the crumbs off of the floor! I have no idea where he gets his love of sweets from. :)

taking a turn down the slide
climbing up and over the wall
he got stuck and got a hand from our friend Tami. I believe she ended up handing him over the wall to me. :)
How do you get 15 kids to sit still for a photo? Very carefully...and let them know that cupcakes are waiting for them if they do!
Getting a sugar high off of the frosting. I am sure I have made the same face many times!
Always have to get a shot of Xander and his true love (Ann)
Presenting the birthday boy...Zach!
and birthday girl...Lily!

"me loves me some chocolate!"

Any excuse to take a picture of my favorite little butt...
He decided to wear his hat while brushing his teeth. He is wearing his cute, skinny minny pjs!

Playing in the snow

We spent the day hanging out around the house in our PJs, which hasn't happened in a long time. It was so nice to just be home! I finally got Xander dressed just in time for daddy to get home and take Xander outside to help him shovel snow. He has been looking forward to this all day!

ready to go!
a face full of snow!
digging around in the yard
when they came in, there was hot chocolate waiting for them

Xander's favorite part is the whipped cream!

Happy New Year!!

We really don't have any pictures from New Year's Eve or day. That is mainly because we dropped Xander off at his grandma Linda's house for their first sleep-over!! We dropped him off just before dinner and didn't go get him until almost noon the next day, after we had a chance to sleep in. It was strange not having him home with us, but we weren't home very much that night anyway. After we dropped him off, we went to party with our friends Ann & Viet. There girls, Ava and Lily were awake when we got there and we got to spend some time with them before they headed off to bed. Then the food came out and the good conversation started. The boys even got to play video games for a while. Chris and I stayed out later than we have since we got married. It was after 2:00 a.m. before we got home!

Xander did okay for his first time sleeping away from home. He was only mad and screaming off and on for about a half and hour before he crawled into his bed and went to sleep. There was a lot of testing grandma to see how much he could get away with - which we expected. Luckily, he slept in for her!

Playing with Sophie

We met Chris, Jordana and Sophia at Rosedale mall to play and have lunch. We weren't even all the way through the mall doors when Xander and Sophia saw each other and ran to each other to give hugs. Now, Sophia is only 5 weeks younger than Xander, but she is quite a bit smaller in size. That didn't seem to matter as their big bear hug turned in to a tackle. And there were several hugs that day...each that ended with Sophia taking Xander down. It was hilarious! We went to the toddler play area and let them loose to run around. Xander kept running around calling for Sophia if she was out of sight for too long. After they were sufficiently wound up, we took them to Macaroni Grill for lunch and let them open their Christmas presents to each other. We had a fun time!

Lots of climbing and playing
I almost got them in the same place and both looking at the camera, but then one (or both) of them would turn away. These were the closest I got.

Sophia feeding Xander fruit snacks

Chris (Sophia's daddy) was the Tickle Monster today.

Christmas (okay, one more time!)

We went to Grandpa Jimmy and Patti's house to celebrate Christmas with them. It was was our 5 present opening in 4 days and all the excitement was really catching up to Xander. It ended up being a very late night for him, but it was worth it. He had lots of good things to eat, some wonderful presents and got to spend time with his grandpa, great-grandpa and Patti. He is even starting to warm up to their black lab, Winston!

Opening a Pooh game
hanging out with daddy
Pichner x 3

Snuggling with his new daddy and baby penguins

Santa came!

Let the paper fly!

After many tries to get us out of bed, Chris' jingling bells and rustling around finally got Xander and I to wake up. I told Xander to go into the living room to see if Santa came. The presents were piled, the stockings were stuffed, but it took the cookie crumbs on the plate to convince him. It only took a minute or two for him to start grabbing and tearing into the paper. Good thing most of them were for him.

Opening the first of many books
helping daddy open his present
daddy reading his card from Xander and baby, which included two tickets for Cirque Du Soleil. A chance for a night out on the town before our little boy is born.
Xander thought that daddy's new pancake spatula was the neatest tool to help him open his presents
Xander only asked Santa for one thing - a new kitchen. After opening all of his presents under the tree, we headed downstairs to see if Santa had delivered. Here is Xander doing a happy dance in celebration!

cutting up some of his new wooden food
baking some bread

Here is daddy with his new toy! Every year it is something else, some new, hard to find gadget. Sigh... Will it ever end??

Christmas Day in Mankato

After opening presents and taking some time to play with them, we packed up and headed to my sister's house in Mankato. Xander loves spending time with his cousins and Em and Annie are so good with him. It was nice to spend the holiday with my brother and two sisters, which hasn't happened in a long time. I don't get to see them or their families nearly enough. Xander had a great time, but was a little wound up from not having a nap and all the excitement was cathcing up with him.

Dressed and ready to go
Looking cute for the camera
Annie is finding out what a hyper two year old is like to do crafts with...
Everyone hanging out, enjoying some good conversation (from the left: BIL Tim, Brother Steve, Sister Brenda and Niece Gretchen)
Dishing up the delicious pies (there were THREE of them!)

BIL Brad and Chris. I am sure they were talking about something nerdy