siblings

Emma has embraced her role as a big sister. People warned me, but I still can't believe how much older she seemed the minute Isaac was born. She is incredibly nurturing and protective of her brother. She'll often remind me that Isaac's crying if she feels I haven't addressed him soon enough. On one recent car ride, Isaac was quite upset and as we turned the last corner to our house, Emma said, "It's okay, Isaac. We're almost home." The first words out of her mouth in the morning are usually "I wanna touch Isaac." So sweet. I'm sure those were rarely, if ever, the first words out of my mouth regarding Ben.




For his part, Isaac tolerates Emma frequently invading his personal bubble without complaint. I'm not sure why she feels the need to do so, but she often will get literally as close as she can to him. He also seems to enjoy her voice as he will normally listen contentedly to her lengthy imaginative ramblings when she "reads" him stories.


Overall, I am pleasantly surprised and proud at how well Emma is adjusting to her new role. Hopefully her positive attitude remains for awhile.

Emma playing Isaac a song on her piano

cute

Isaac getting his first bottle from Daddy. Awhhhhh!

close

Summer is quickly coming to a close here in Montana. Although the temperatures the past few days have still been in the high 80s, the mornings and evenings have a new chilly crispness that can only indicate fall, and, alas, winter will soon be here. Because we haven't done hardly anything outside this summer, we decided to take advantage of the fact Nathan had this last weekend off and headed up to Red Lodge. Our intention was to find a short trail we could take the kids on as well as see what was going on at the Beartooth Nature Center. The nature center is a refuge for animals in the region who, for whatever reason, can't safely return to the wild. Red Lodge is at the base of the Beartooth Mountains, so I thought we'd be able to find a trail fairly easily, but after having lunch and exploring the nature center, we decided to go to the park instead of trying to find a trail. But, I have talked to a few people since then and have some ideas now of where to go for next summer. I am anticipating we will be out "exploring nature" almost every weekend next summer since I hopefully will have much more energy than this last summer.

Isaac slept through the whole exhibit

Admiring the black bear

Big buffalo

The weekend was also busy because I had two baby showers in honor of Mr. Isaac who is now a month old and weighs 13 pounds. The first one was hosted by my colleagues at work and was quite nice. It's always refreshing to see the people you work with in a social situation without the stress of patient care, although conversation always reverts back to that! The other shower was hosted by my extended family here in Billings and was also quite nice. They decided to host it at our house so everyone could see the nursery (I'll post pictures when it's completed - I still have a few pictures and things to hang up) which gave me a good excuse to clean. My grandma Sharon has a tradition of making new members to the family quilts (mine was the first one!) and Isaac now has his! Everyone was very generous and thanks again for everything!

Isaac's quilt

Emma's quilt

My quilt

Great, great Aunt Nettie and a Halloween-ready Isaac

Great, great grandma Sharon

help

Emma, Isaac and I spent the past couple of weeks recuperating in Great Falls with my family. It was wonderful! I got to frequent my favorite GF haunts including Bob's Big Stack Bagel Bakery (owned by long time family friend Bob McNamee. He catered our wedding and made our wedding cake!), Taco Treat, and Gibson Park. Emma loved the park, too, but we weren't able to stay too long because it was quite warm that day and I forgot the sun screen. Isaac slept the whole time. We also went to the Children's Museum of Montana and were the only ones there! Emma had a great time. Isaac again slept the whole time. My grandmother on my Mom's side - Grandma Jeanne (the reason my middle name is Jeanne) celebrated her 85th birthday. Happy birthday again, Grandma! Glad I could share it with you.

This 30 ft boat was built by a family friend, Dick Martin, and actually does float. He donated it to the Children's Museum.

Crawling through the tunnel

Racing the cars. Her favorite attraction at the Children's Museum

Driving the boat/ice cream shop

Grandma Jeanne on her big day

Admiring the ducks at Gibson Park

She would have spent all day swinging if I would have let her

More swinging

We also got to watch Sam play football a couple of times. Sam is carrying on the strong tradition of Wingerter football men. Ben and Jake were both quaterbacks and Nick was a defensive end. I think my Dad even played in high school. Sam is a sophmore this year and plays for both the sophomore team and JV team. However, the varsity quaterback is not doing too hot so there's talk Sam might have to move up and play varsity, which he's not too excited about. Unfortunately, the Bison football coaching program is not the greatest and the teams seem to reflect that this year. In both JV games I watched, the team didn't even score. Makes for long games.

Sam playing football - he's the guy trying not to be sacked. Interestingly, his cousin is the guy on the other team trying to tackle him. My favorite thing about this picture is #93 who is no doubt thinking "huh, maybe I should have blocked that guy"

We also got to watch Maddie play a basketball scrimmage. She's in 6th grade this year, which is unbelievable to me. Also unbelievable to me is how different from me she is. She has such a better relationship with my parents than I did at her age, mostly because she actually talks to them! She's also a lot taller and thinner than I was. She's pretty darn cute. She is such a big help with the kids, too. What an awesome aunt!

Maddie playing basketball - she's #14

Thanks again Mom and Dad for letting us stay! You're the best.

clean

Last week, the crusty remaining umbilical cord fell off of Isaac's belly button. It took quite a bit longer than I remember with Emma. We celebrated the occasion with his first sink bath. He loved it!

bath time fun

Ahhhh, it's like a day at the spa!

He also has begun smiling although I have yet to capture it on camera. He is also quite strong. He is able to hold is head up nearly all the time and can stand (with help of course!) because his legs are so strong. He sleeps pretty well through the night - a good 5-6 hours for the first stretch. He's our wonder boy!

A half smile