Will is ONE (a month ago, whoops)

     I was doing alright up until getting Will's One Year post done. Thanksgiving? Check. Girls Birthday? Check. Christmas? Check. Now that Will is officially 13 months old, I will write his 12 month update. Actually, the main reason I was holding off was to wait until after his one year appointment, then life got in the way. Better late than never.
      His birthday party was low-key at the Long Lake cabin at the end of our Christmas-Duluth trip. He got lots of fun presents and he got to try his first cake! He was very skeptical at first but ended up eating a couple mouthfuls. On his actual birthday, we were back in Oakdale and we pretty much just had a catch-up on life day with combined with a mini-birthday celebration.

Presents are for climbing on

A Thomas train from Uncle Pete!

Awww, love the Elmo!

Happy Birthday, dear Will....

Hmmmm....

Actually, it's pretty good!

Haha, I wonder what he's thinking!

 
        At his one year check-up, Will weighed 22 lbs 5 oz (a hearty 70th percentile) and was 28 1/4 inches tall (only 5th percentile!) It is concerning to Dan and I that Will keeps dropping height percentiles at every single check-up, but the pediatrician assured us she isn't worried at this point. We will be watching him though. We can't compare to how the girls charts were because they started so low on the charts that they could really only go up (or stay the same). At the clinic, I also brought up the fact that Will had hives (even had a picture to verify) after tasting a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich and possibly after eggs. She ordered a blood test, and sure enough we found out days later that he is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, and to a lesser extent dairy. Luckily, dairy is only causing eczema, not hives (and therefore not anaphylactic shock either) and she said we could keep him on dairy if his eczema was under control. She referred us to an allergist and prescribed epipens. (GULP!)
    The allergist didn't end up doing any further testing (such as the skin prick test) but he educated us and made sure we had an action plan in case he was entering anaphylactic shock. It is a lot of pressure to recognize the signs and I still haven't gotten in the habit to bring the epipen with us wherever we go. (Must work on that!)
     Will is doing MUCH better with solids but I will still call him a finicky eater. He is still nursing now at 13 months; once when he is half-asleep when I go to bed, in the morning, and sometimes in the middle of the day. I honestly think he won't care when we're done but I figure we should make it through sick season. He won't purposely eat veggies when they are plain. He eats them if I were to puree them and mix them with yogurt or applesauce but I'm steering away from purees now. Tonight I did sneak pureed squash in the pizza sauce. Score! His favorites are rice cakes, dark meat chicken and other soft or shredded meat, ANY fruit (he's even eating bananas now!), and he is interested in anything we are eating, whether he'll end up swallowing it or not. He is so funny- it's an automatic evacuation when he doesn't like a food. I wonder when this habit goes away...I can't remember from the girls.
       Will is not walking, but Dan and I think he could if he wanted to. He is almost reminding me of Josie when it comes to walking; very tentative. He technically had his first steps around 12 months, he just hasn't practice walking alone since then. He could push walkers/boxes/chairs/anything that works around all day but doesn't want to take the plunge to walk alone. I catch him balancing alone a lot, though. He still loves throwing balls and his latest pursuit is climbing. He will try his darnedest to climb on a couch or shelf. No fear there! Will is way too cute with the girls, too, he just loves to tackle them and snuggle up!

Will giving Sofia a hug goodnight...

Love sister Josie!

Saying goodnight to Madeline

       Will's comprehension is gaining strides and he mimics a lot of words like "sisters", "bye-bye" (which is somewhat clear), and "dog". He loves to clap even though he has known how for awhile. It's so funny, sometimes he just starts clapping when I go in his room to get him from his nap or when he sees Dan come through the door after work. Funny guy! He is so engaged right now and I can definitely tell he is on the verge of toddler-hood. (Whoa, scary!) On that topic, he is getting very vocal (as in, squawks) on his wishes and he is becoming kind of a "spazz", as we like to say.
      All in all, he is charming, funny, and still a big sweetheart. My baby... (sniff, sniff)

Trying on Dad's tie and shoes...

Have a great weekend!

Christmas!

It may be hard to write, and for your sake, read about Christmas when we're already two weeks out, but this blog also serves as something to look back on down the road. Holidays and birthdays sure can be a blur! This year, we were at home for Christmas Eve and then we drove up to Duluth Christmas morning after we saw what Santa brought. We made it to a 3 pm Christmas service and the kids got to open presents from us after. We had yummy pheasant that hadn't even been frozen yet. The girls seemed to enjoy toys from the movie "Frozen" and Minnie, Mickey, and the gang rubber figurines the most. Will liked the wrapping paper more than his new toys ;) . The next morning we found out Santa brought them new big girls bikes and a basketball hoop/basketballs for Will. They seemed happy! Their stocking was pretty full, too- lucky kids.

I'm pretty happy I got two years out of these dresses! (M, S, J)

The gang

He looks downright Scandinavian :)

These remote controlled cars are even fun for grown-ups!

Will with his new Tonka

Dan picked out this scary T-rex for Will. It was such a hit I already need to replace the batteries!

Will and Josie on Christmas morning

Up north, the girls and Will enjoyed opening even more presents from grandmas, grandpas, aunts, and uncles, plus Santa made a personal appearance at their great-Grandma Peterson's house! Can you believe it!? It was only slightly terrifying for the Klopp kids, but Dane and Peter were comfortable with him. The kids were very happy with all their new toys and SOMEhow we managed to get the stuff all back to the cities (with help from Pete AND a new top carrier for our Yukon). On Christmas day we celebrated with Dan's side- both at his parents and his grandma's new house with the extended family.

Cousins!

So many presents!

Cuties! (Peter and Dane)

Will looking at a sweet new toy

A new meow-meow!

Madeline and her new moose! If you ask what the girls want for a birthday or holiday, they will always say cat, dog, and moose without fail!

I had to get a picture with Miss Madeline since we matched

Aunt Lara with Will (her two sons wore this sweater!)

The girls fled once they saw who was at the door!

Dane with Santa

I couldn't believe how nonchalant Peter was with Santa!

Sofia was not quite sure

Will was VERY not sure (which is funny because he sat with Santa a week earlier!)

We celebrated Christmas with my family the day after Christmas. My whole family was able to be there this year- pretty rare. The last time my family was all together was over Mother's Day in Oakdale in the year 2011 and the last time everyone was at my parent's house was 2007.

Dan looking at Sofia's new animal mask

Most of our little family

Grandpa and Will, who is holding one of his new balls!

Will wants to help Madeline open her present...

Dan with Sofia and Madeline

Aunt Aimee reading one of their new books

Part of the long weekend was spent at Dan's side of the family's cabin at Long Lake. It was crazy weather- on Saturday it was in the 30's, but over the next 24 hours it decided to be -20 or colder. That's a 50 degree change! If it went from 30 to 80, it would have been really shocking, but somehow going 30 to -20 wasn't that odd for Minnesota in the winter. Eh.  Anyways, the girls and their cousins Dane and Peter had fun playing in the snow and going for little snowmobile rides. The girls were a lot braver than last year. They are going to have lots of good daddy/daughter time on those things in the future. The good pictures I got at the cabin were for Will's early birthday party so I will put them on Will's One Year post.


We are finally getting mild winter temperatures. After a two week break from school, we were supposed to be back in our routine this past week, but the temperatures and wind were too extreme and school was canceled both days. (On Monday the governor canceled school for the whole state while the districts decided on Tuesday.) It was NOT a coincidence that I booked our trip to Scottsdale this March a couple days ago. My parents are already at their Scottsdale condo, so we are meeting them there.

Have a great weekend, everyone!!

4 Years- Josephine

Josie is the current queen bee among my girls. She still needs her mama time and she is sometimes excluded. The difference is, it is usually under her own accord. In six months from now, it may be totally flipped!

Josie, and other two to a slightly lesser extent, can have quite an attitude and may tell me to go away when I check on them playing. She is getting more and more independent- being able to dress herself (including outside clothes), put on shoes, put on those tricky one piece PJs, and use the bathroom alone. I'm not going to pretend this is all the time or even the majority, but she is definitely making strides and taking pride in doing it herself. I should have been pushing for this greater independence a year ago, but hey, I'm not perfect!

Josie the most of the three still has the most severe mood swings. Her giddy, happy moods are fun and cute, but she also has the strongest temper tantrums. (And please, do NOT wake her up! The last time we travelled back from Duluth past bedtime, getting her back to sleep was horrendous. She was like a trapped wild animal who can also speak quite irrationally!)

Some of Josie's favorite things....

Food- PIZZA!

Color- Yellow (purple is her color too)

Animal- the house cat, but she extends to mountain lions, lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars too

Stuffed animal- Blackie, her black cat  (but she has a lot of cats and makes sure they're all in their cage at bedtime)

Toy- Her rubber cats, princess toys

Phrase- When she's in a good mood and I ask something of her, she will say "OK, mom!" in a slightly more annoyed mood, the same phrase in a different tone :)   Also, if she doesn't want to do something she says she will do it "Really, really, really later!"

Things associated with Josie- cats of all kinds, yellow and purple things, princess stuff in general but Cinderella and Rapunzel  in particular, Mickey Mouse

Josephine's "official" portrait

Another favorite of Josie

Josie!

Love

Sweet pea

YES! THIS is my favorite outtake of the three girls... this really was a planned "smile"! Don't hate me when you're older, Josie!

 Next up will be Christmas, then Will's one year post. Stay warm everyone!

4 Years- Madeline

Our new tallest girl! These girls continue to surprise me! We checked their heights at 3 1/2 years and Madeline was the middle in height (Josie the tallest and Sofia the shortest) and since then Madeline and Sofia had a growth spurt. Now Josie is the shortest! We go to their annual check-up next week, so I will find out their percentiles, but all three are a little above 38 inches according to our crude measurements.

Madeline Sue.... she likes to pair up with Josie and they can be quite the sneaky pair. Just recently, together they completely wiped out Will's clothes in his closet (the clothes are still in a heap because I just can't get to that task yet and it will be a good chance to put outgrown clothes away, etc). A couple weeks ago they did the same thing to Dan's shirts in our closet. It took me a long time to put them all back and they had broken many hangers. UGH! Also, Madeline and Josie went in my shower and put soap all over their clothes. Seriously, they are doing things I would expect of toddlers, not preschoolers! Madeline has finally learned to lie as well which was a sad milestone to hit. I loved their inability to lie before, but now I have caught a handful of lies. Luckily, she's not good at it yet. One other sad milestone is hearing Madeline tell me she doesn't like me or that I'm not her friend. It didn't sting as much as I thought since it's only when I am disciplining her and I know she is just mad at me! Oh well! Moms can't always be friends.

I will think of positives about her now! :)  Dan and I are both in love with her huge belly laughs. She has the most unique laugh of the three and it's impossible not to smile when hearing it. She has a sensitive side. Both Madeline and Sofia get left out and they take it quite personally and really need cheering up.

Madeline's favorite things...

Food- Chicken, yogurt

Color- Blue

Animal- Moose (duh!) but she also likes many others, such as cows, squirrels, chipmunks, hippos, buffalo, turtles, penguins

Stuffed Animal- any of her moose

Toy- rubber moose, but also new Minnie Mouse toys

Phrase- Also "I can't know" and "You be my friend?"

What she wants to be when she's bigger- zookeeper

Things associated with Madeline- Moose, Minnie Mouse, Snow White, Frosty the Snowman

The "official" 4 year portait

Outtake- she is trying really hard to smile

Love her serious ones

Another serious Madeline

Better stick with just trying to catch a real smile, not asking for one! Ha!

This was out of the blue!

Here is her interview...