January Pt. 4

To start out with a random picture... mid-January I realized that I was washing this many burp cloths/bibs about every other day.  All for the crazy amount that Ezra spits up.  Not normal.  

Funny thing is, I thought he was STILL fighting the sickness that our family had passed around a few times, but I took him to the doctor again and when she looked in his nose and throat she said, "well, he's not sick-congested." She said all she saw up there was milk.  Apparently with all his spitting up, some was getting stuck in not-so-great places.  Yuck.  Poor guy.  The doctor said it's one display of reflux and gave us a prescription, but urged me to wait to give it to him to see if his body would balance things out on its own.  I talked to my friend Michele because she's like the queen of knowledge on reflux (her son even had to have surgery to fix his) and she helped me a lot (thanks Chele!).  Thankfully, since then Ezra has started spitting up less.  We'll keep praying that it will take care of itself.  He'll start solids in a couple of months anyway... and that should help. :)


Here's my sweet baby boy - I love how he smiles whenever I kiss his chunky cheeks.

So... Avery started "school" in January.  It's a one-day-per-week, 4-hour mom's day out type program at a church near us.  I thought it would be a good idea to initiate her into a classroom, learn from another authority figure, interact with other kids, etc.  I also thought it would be good for me to have some mommy-Ezra time once each week.


Avery was SOOO excited.  We went to meet her teacher and Avery didn't want to leave.  We started the next week and the night before I got everything ready.  It was weird to pack her backpack and her lunch. :)

I put a note in her lunch... just like my mom did for me every day growing up. :)

The morning of her first day of "school", I couldn't get her to stand still for a picture - she was too excited!

Sure, stand still when your back is facing me. Ha ha.

My daughter is addicted to pajamas.  Her favorite jammies are her Christmas jammies and she wants to wear them ALL the time.  When Ezra was newborn, often I would stay in my sweats most of the day, so I would let her stay in jammies until lunch... yeah, I know.  Well, she got used to it and every morning she asks to stay in her jammies.  We have compromised by letting her put her jammies back on for nap time if she gets dressed in the morning. :)


All that to say, you will see many pictures/videos of Avery in her jammies.  I promise she's not in them all the time.  I promise I wash them.  Sigh.


Avery likes to have us spin her around.  We think it's funny when she gets dizzy. :) Thing is, we get dizzy, too...

We moved into our house last March.  Our house is a two-story and has some high ledges that have been staring at me, needing to be dusted.  They're up so high no one sees them, but still... we didn't have a ladder.  We finally bought a ladder!  Avery thought it was the best toy ever.  Don't worry, Joe is on the steps right behind her. :)

My boy full of smiles... just because.  Notice the bib as well as the burp cloth under his head.  A must have.  Always.

One morning I was snuggling with my kiddos in bed and Avery asked me to move so she could lay by Ezra.  Of course I obliged... and she proceeded to share her (precious) blanket with him.  Oh my heart.

I wonder how many parts January will have... we're almost there!

January Pt. 3 - Puddle Jumping

I love my daughter.  For a gazillion reasons... but one of which is that she LOVES the weather like I do.  I used to always bug Joe to play in the rain with me... usually unsuccessful... thank goodness we had Avery. ;) She bugs ME to play in the rain and I completely adore it.  She loves thunderstorms, lightning, rain, snow... any weather activity gets her (and mommy) excited.


This day was January 16th.  It was pretty cold, but it had rained during the day.  Joe took Avery to Chipotle with him to meet with our small group for dinner (I stayed home with a sick baby boy).  She has these "sandal-sneaker" type shoes that are meant for summer (have openings on the sides), but she loves them and always asks to wear them... so we let her and she wore socks with them.


I got this pic from Joe while they were gone...

... and then he sent this video :)

I'm not sure why it's so small... perhaps because he texted it to me??

Anywho, when they got home, Avery wanted to jump in more puddles.  It was dark outside, and about 40 degrees... but I handed off Ezra to Joe, bundled up, and went outside with Avery.  We jumped in puddles for about 30 minutes... I knew she had to be SO cold, but I literally ended up having to drag her inside!  She would have gone all night.  When we came in, her poor hands were so red, her nose was runny, and her toes felt like ice cubes.  She didn't complain.  She just kept asking to go back out.  Check out how wet her jeans were!

As cold as I was, I feel like that night is one I will always remember.  It was an awesome memory made with my daughter.  I hope she always jumps in puddles - and that I never hesitate to jump with her.  I love how she keeps childlike joy alive in me. :)

January Pt. 2 - 3 month old boy

Ezra turned 3 months old on January 14th... here's my big baby boy at 3 months old!

Wanted to show his chunky thighs... but he kept making weird faces :)

Talking :)

January Pt. 1

I'm going to stick mostly with pictures... I'll add in a few stories just for my memory. :) I'm anxious to get caught up!!


The new year basically started with lots of pictures of my kiddos.  Naturally. :)

Avery sharing her (precious) blanket with her brother.  If you know Avery, you know this is a big deal.  Her blanket is hers.  Serious stuff.

Avery likes to "help" put Ezra's paci in... he doesn't always want it, but he's patient with her. ;)

Just hanging out in little brother's bed (I'll share a post on the cute bedding my friend Ginny made for Ezra... soon!!)

My Mom (Grandma Bubba) hit the jackpot with one of her Christmas gifts to Avery.  Jammies (Avery LOVES jammies... just like her mommy) that came with a doll wearing matching ones!  Avery wants to wear these jammies most days we're home (that or the Christmas jammies that won't go away...).

The doll (Nell - Avery named her with her own middle name :)) has to brush her teeth, too.

Happy boy!

So though he's a bit small for the johnny-jump-up, I thought I'd try it.  He likes it!  I think he just likes having a cloth teething ring right at the right height...

I love how little kids are constantly learning and soaking up everything.  In January, Avery was pretty excited to learn the names of her fingers and told me this quite often. :)

This wasn't a planned nap... he had been fighting sleep that day and was whiny.  I had to go to the bathroom so I laid him down for a second, expecting him to cry the whole time I was gone... but I heard the whining slow down and came back to a sleeping baby... in the middle of the floor.  Ha.

I love Avery's imagination.  She is constantly thinking of fun things to "do" and places to "go".  This particular morning she decided that our front room was an ocean.  She had a friend who was a sting ray that lived there and she named him "Sting-y".  I went to make breakfast and Avery came and got me - she wanted to show me the food she had gathered for Sting-y because he was hungry.  Leftover candy canes from Christmas.  In a line.  So cute.

Sometimes while I get ready, Avery sits up on the counter and plays in my jewelry box (full of jewelry that I pretty much never wear - ha).  This morning she tried to wear all my bracelets.  I took this picture and she said, "Mom I don't think I have enough bracelets yet!" :)

Joe's sisters both attend the University of Florida... so their mom sends us a decent amount of Gator gear.  Ezra liked his new bib. :)

Nothing melts my heart quite like watching the man I love love on our children.  My boys took a nap together and I could have watched them all afternoon... I just might have. :)

My Aunt and Uncle gave Avery an awesome duck towel for Christmas.  Ezra stole it... he loves to use it as his bath towel.  It's seriously the softest towel ever!  I lay him on it after I take him out of the bath and he rolls around, wrapping himself in it, giggling and laughing the whole time.  It's so cute.

At Grandma Bubba's house one day, she made cupcakes.  Avery got frosting all over herself... and didn't want to be cleaned up right away (not normal).  Made me laugh.

Some cousin time!  Avery was excited to see Jericho and wanted to see if he would laugh when she touched his head... like Ezra does. :)

The two boys - seven weeks apart.  Yes, I know I have a large baby - ha. :)

Love love love this picture of my hubby and his son...

So that wraps up the first half of January... weeeeeeeeee!! :)

Skillen Christmas & December Pt. 3

You know, it's only Valentine's Day as I'm wrapping up 2011 on my blog... oh my world with two kiddos. :)


By the way, Happy Valentine's Day!  Today Ezra is 4 months old and last year on Valentine's Day we found out we were expecting Skillen Baby #2!  My how the last year has flown by...


Anywho, back to Christmas.  Ha.


The Skillen Christmas is huge and loud and crazy and awesome.  It's so fun to see everyone and figure out how we're related to each person.  I didn't get many pictures, but we did hop over to a church in town and take a family pic.  We were missing some people, but had a decent majority in town.

It's amazing to see Joe's Grandma Jessie and Grandpa Bob up front and realize they are the reason everyone behind them exists.  What a legacy!!


I had my camera set up on the stage, and in-between every picture, Avery would run up to the stage and get behind a microphone. :) I would get everything set, then hit the self-timer, grab Avery and run to our seat.  I promised her when we were all done that she could sing on the microphone.  I followed through and she was so cute singing on stage!

Other randomness from the rest of December...

Aunt Lindsey and Ezra :)

A December day nice enough for the park :)

Jericho was worn out :)

Notice Avery touching Ezra's head - makes him talk or laugh every time. :) She loves him.

Joe likes to try to get Avery to say things that are a mouthful... it makes us all laugh.  This one is "my fast is faster than your fast". Ha.

Later that day, we went to lunch with some extended family on my dad's side.  Malachi was SOOO tired that he was falling asleep while eating.  Hilarious.

Not a great shot, but Avery was determind to hold Ezra "all by herself" and I was trying to capture it as I "assisted" her in doing it all by herself. :)

This video is for my mom.  Mom always has clementine (cutie) oranges at her house.  Avery LOVES them.  I think she was getting tired as she ate, because she was giving me silly answers...

A few to finish out the year...

My Dad (Gpa) already enjoying retirement :)

Daddy and Ezra napping together :)

So... happy new year!

Lenz Christmas

I'm sure many of you are the same way... we have a number of Christmas celebrations each year.  We love getting to see family members that we don't normally see, but it's a whirlwind of craziness - at least it is with two little kiddos. :)


Christmas Eve at my sister's in-laws' house.
We were all ready to head to Christmas Eve service, and Avery decided she needed to poop.  Unfortunately we've had some issues in this area again... she's afraid it will hurt and holds it in.  So we missed service because she tried for 45 minutes... :(
Then, on the way to Jim and Susie's, Avery threw up.  All over her car seat, her pretty new Christmas dress, and her sweater and leggings.  Good times.  We were a bit frantic when we arrived, but still enjoyed time with our "extended family".


The grandmas enjoyed the babies :)

Gpa was trying to calm Ezra down - it was bed time...

Joe and I have a tradition of staying at my parents' house on Christmas Eve so we wake up and have Christmas morning with them.  Since having kids, we've (surprisingly) kept up with our tradition.  We'll see how long it lasts... ha.


My sister and her family come over as soon as they're done with their own family Christmas on Christmas morning.


I love our tradition - my mom makes a coffee cake that we use as baby Jesus' birthday cake.  We find the manger by the tree and sing happy birthday to baby Jesus.  Malachi and Avery were old enough this year to really get into it.  It was cute.


After breakfast it didn't take long for the house to look like this...

We got my mom a Packers snuggie.  What could be better? :)

Aaron and Cassy gave Joe a beard... since his (ahem) isn't the fullest... :)

Malachi loves all things firefighter and was excited to get this costume.

"Santa" (my sister and I) gave mom a shake weight.  Just for fun.  Lol.  She turned red as she opened it - it was hilarious.

Of course, Avery's favorite thing was bubble wrap!

The day after Christmas, we celebrated with my Dad's family.  Here's our family pic - it was great to have everyone together!

Avery and Malachi entertained themselves by jumping on couch cushions - just like my sister and I used to do when we were little. :)

Avery got to have a chocolate-covered pretzel for dessert...

Aunt Vanessa, Uncle Dave, and Cousin Jessica gave Avery this duck towel.  She was pretty excited, though I must say that since we got it home, Ezra has stolen it for his bath towel. :)

We also went with my aunt, uncle and cousin Christopher to the zoo while they were here.  I didn't take very many pics... but here are a couple of phone ones :)

Ezra slept through his first trip to the zoo... and Avery would have watched the gorillas all day. :)

That's my dad's side of the family!  It was a Merry Christmas :)