Fantastic Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas this year! We had a visit from Gigi and Grandpa the weekend before Christmas with a "Shertzer Christmas" on Monday complete with prime rib and opening gifts. They left Wednesday before the weather got bad and made it home safe.

We had a great Christmas Eve and day with the boys at home this year. Jack woke up at 5:00am Christmas morning, but Ben slept until 7:00am (surprisingly he didn't get into the wrapped gifts at all). All the toy picks were big hits and the boys have been very well behaved the past week.

Ben delighted us with his spontaneous version of "Oh Christmas Tree" on Christmas Eve (while he was admiring the tree). Lyrics: Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, Oh I love you, Christmas Tree. =-) The boys also enjoyed playing with Dad's train (pics below).

Aaaand... we had snow!

The Huber clan and families came over Christmas Day in the afternoon and we had cookies and Secret Santa gift exchange which was fun. Then we all dropped into bed exhausted but happy, ready to get up the next morning and drive to Little Rock to see the Maloney/Peresta families (with a short visit in there to see the Shertzers).

Ben and Jack had a great time playing with their new toys, and then we got to enjoy a baby shower for Emma and Rob's cousin Grant and wife Jessica's baby-to-be Owen. Emma is now taking over a small part of Jack's room with her new blankets, clothes and toys!

Not sure when the big move to put both boys in Ben's room will be. Jack has been waking up in the middle of the night and "playing" for about an hour or so. It will be interesting to see how it works having them both in one room. I am thinking I'll wait until February and see how they are doing then.

Ben has been singing up a storm and is really impressing us. He will sometimes even sing along to things on TV. I'm sure he knows more than he shows. The other day I asked him to pick a magnetic letter up off the floor and as he handed it to me and said "Here's the letter H. Here's the orange H." I can't get him to write letters yet though. He's more mechanically inclined and wants to be busy with his hands and activities.

Jack is getting smarter every day. The past two weeks he has started shaking his head no if he doesn't want something or in response to questions. He is also now playing "boo" spontaneously with us and Ben, and can say "ball", "hi", and "hot" (and "boo").

He can also sort of show us what he wants. If he's hungry, he'll go to the kitchen gate and shake it. If we let him in, he'll either go to the pantry where his Cheerios are (for a snack), or he'll go to the fridge which means he wants a meal. He has also been using a fork and spoon over the past few days (correctly)!

If we say "let's go change your diaper" he will head into his room, and if we say "wanna go outside?" he will go and get his coat and shoes.

He's just learned to climb up on things too, so we have to watch him. The other day I peeked into the living room and saw him standing on top of the coffee table. Yikes!

More updates and pics to follow! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and will have a safe New Year's Eve!


Christmas snow!


Ben loved the snow...


Jack did NOT love the snow...


Playing with the robot Ben got from Gigi and Grandpa Shertzer


Playing with Daddy's train on Christmas Eve after their bath


Jack woke up early Christmas morning and beat Ben to the new play kitchen




Baby Shower for Emma and Owen (Ben was taking a nap):


Rob, Manda, Jack, Jessica and Grant (and Emma and Owen)

It's a GIRL!

Okay, so the ultrasound was a long time ago. I'm a little slow at posting.
Yep, we are having a baby girl this time. Not sure how I'm going to change the name of the blog or if I can. Gotta look into that.

Anyway, her name will be Emma Katherine Shertzer and I imagine we'll see her some time shortly after St. Patty's Day.

Jack will be moving into Ben's room with him after Grandpa Huber finishes the bunk-beds (with stairs instead of a ladder). Not sure how I'm gonna work naps and bed time yet (Jack takes a morning nap and Ben takes a long afternoon one), but we'll just have to do whatever we have to do. Still need to paint above the chair rail in the boy's room - some neutral color like taupe or a gray-blue. It's like peachy-terra cotta right now. Doesn't exactly scream "boys". Also looks like that $5.00 can of pink paint I bought when pregnant with Jack will come in handy now for Emma's new room!

Jack has 12 teeth now including all 4 first molars. No canines yet, but Ben was like that too. Jack is sleeping from 5 or 6 pm through until 6am which is heaven! Ben goes to bed between 7:30 and 8pm and sleeps until 6 or 6:30am. Both boys are eating pretty well. Jack has always done well. Ben stopped eating much at a certain age and became picky but is now starting to ask for bites of things we're eating and trying new stuff again. Hooray! No more food issues thank goodness. I have been giving them some amount of either probiotic chocolate or the Omega chocolate every day. I know that is helping.

Jack is finally starting to say a few words. He just started playing peek-a-boo yesterday - hiding his eyes and then uncovering them and saying "boooooo". =-) Rob swears he said "heater" the other day, and he will point to the dogs and say "duh". Occasionally I'll think he's said a new word, but can't get him to repeat it. His non-verbal communication is getting better too. If he's hungry, he'll go over to the high-chair and shake it. When Ben says "Good Morning Jack" or gives him a kiss and says "Good Night Jack", Jack will wave at him and smile. Also, yesterday I tried to give him a bite of something and he shook his head no and turned it away. Sometimes if you ask him a question he'll shake his head no. He hasn't done that for yes yet though.

Ben is getting better about the sibling rivalry thing and Jack is starting to play with Ben more now that he's a bit more steady on his feet. This week Rob is taking Ben to a martial arts meetup of my Mommy's group. Hopefully that will be fun for both of them. Ben has been asking to go to the playground and see "the kids". I'll probably take him to one on Monday as well. He really enjoys it. I have to remind him that he can talk to the older kids 'cause they can tell him their name and say "hi". He tends to just laugh really loud in their faces to get their attention like he does Jack (which I do NOT encourage - ha!).

Ben is still talking up a storm and doing great when we correct his grammar. Complete, detailed sentences. Very cool! He's very good at creative play too. I gave him 3 cardboard wrapping paper rolls the other night and he has "made" all sorts of things out of them. Currently he's calling them lights (I guess like florescent ones??). Yesterday I pulled the strip of carpet out of the kitchen so I could mop and he rolled it up and made a tunnel out of it. At the moment he's using it as a dance pad. =-)

No joy on the continuation of potty training. Ben was pretty much trained and was starting to even do poop in the potty and then all of a sudden decided he was NOT a "big boy" and wanted to wear diapers (I'm sure because of Jack). When I tried to start up training again I set the timer for every 15 minutes and he would sit on the potty, but if he had to go 5 minutes later he'd just pee in his pants wherever he was. I need to look into this and do some research. I would imagine it's fairly common. He's not quite 3 1/2 yet. It sure is a pain cleaning pee of of the floor several times a day though. Plus lots of laundry.

Both boys are getting tall. Ben's 2t pants are definitely too short now and getting too tight. Most 3ts are starting to fit him, but he needs 4t shirts for the length and the sleeves. Jack is in 18 month everything. The pants are still a smidge long, but mostly fit perfect.

We're gearing up for Christmas here. I tried not to go too overboard. They have more toys than they can play with now and we don't have tons of room. "Santa" (aka Gigi and Grandpa Shertzer) got the boys a play kitchen complete with microwave, oven, fridge and lights and sounds. Ben LOVES pretending to make cookies with the cookie sheets in the kitchen and loves playing in the water in the sink, so I thought this would be perfect. I bought him a cookie set so he can pretend to cut the dough, put the cookies on the sheet and bake them, then put the icing and sprinkles on top. It even came with a spatula and oven mit - all kid sized! Also got him another playdough set and "Hi-ho Cherry-o" game and a couple of Disney DVDs I think the kids will like. Got Jack the Crayola toy where they color on it and it plays music. The faster they color, the faster the music goes. I hope he likes it. Also got him a twin sized Mickey Mouse comforter for the bunk beds. Ben has his Sponge Bob one. Oh! Also got Jack a pewter baby cup with his name and birthday. Just like Ben's I got him his first Christmas. Kind of a family tradition. Rob and I both have silver ones from when we were babies.

I guess that's all for now. When the weather was so great last month we spent lots of time outdoors. I'll have to check out the pictures to see if there are any especially good ones.

We had family pictures made and there were lots of good ones. Hopefully they look better when you click on them.
(thanks to my sis-in-law Aimee @ elementalphotography.com)




with cousin Havyn