Extra Spring Time



This family is on the move again.  Dave has been transferred from Louisiana to Barberton, Ohio.  He is very excited about his new position and the new challenges he's facing.  We are currently house hunting in the suburbs west of Akron, living in a small apartment until we find the perfect house.  Since we have wi-fi in our new little apartment, I might even get posts up more often :)

 





Luke at 5 Months (2/17)

His brothers like to photo bomb so we took a few of all 3 of them.

Luke's first big boy bath with his brothers.  He loved it!

Cousins on the Isenburg side.
Tallest to shortest: Caitlin, Madison (holding Luke), Olivia, Annie, Cole, Ayla, Bennett (I think he might be taller than Ayla), Amelia, James, Andrew, & Jillian.

Brothers photo-bombing Luke's 7 month photos :)

They will do about anything to get their picture taken, even hug each other!

2012

January - The boys are growing and starting to get playful with Daddy.

February - Mardi Gras...a must do while living in Louisiana!

March - Moving time (switched apartments)

April - The boys start to play and interact more together.

May - Happy Easter!

June - A trip to Galveston, TX

July - A trip to the Midwest to visit family

August - James turns 3!

September - Our family is growing...

Luke David born 9/17/2012




October - Andrew Turns 2

Happy Halloween! Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh my!

November - Andrew crashing a 2 month photo session for Luke

 

Merry Christmas!

 

December - A trip to Fort Worth/Dallas...this is at the
Cattlepen Maze at the FW Stockyards.

And April and May and Half of June...

I still haven't figured out how to post pics to the blog from the iPad, that's my excuse. I think blog posts are lacking without pics and so I haven't posted, but I'm posting now. I hope the last few months have been good to everyone! We've been busy here... Andrew is officially 1 1/2 and has been for over a month. He is a handful, always full of mischief. But he's also full of love: quick to smile and laugh and loves giving hugs. He's very curious about everything and loves to get into and onto things he's not supposed to. He's not talking yet, but he has had his first word: nana, for banana. He has all his teeth and loves cheese. He is becoming a picky eater, but we're working around that. He's also very excited to become a big brother. You read correctly. We are expecting our third little boy at the end of September. I officially started my third trimester today and the nausea is finally gone. I'm tired, but who wouldn't be chasing after two little boys while carrying a third?! The little guy is very active and doing well. I'll have another ultrasound in about 4 weeks to ensure everything continues to be a-ok. We've been to several festivals lately and taken a few weekend trips, including trips to New Orleans and Galveston, Texas. We've discovered that the boys love the beach, so we're planning a trip to Destin once we're a family of five. My parents and Dave's parents were both able to make it for a visit in May...it's always nice to see family. We're going to make a trip up North in July. We have a wedding in Chicago on the 21st so we're surrounding that with a Midwest trip. James is doing well also. He is getting good at the walking thing and has less falls every week. He likes to try to run, without much success yet, and has recently learned how to spin. He loves letters and words and has begun reading words and even spelling...he's a very smart little boy. He will be turning three in August and since he's still not talking we're working on getting him some extra speech therapy; the therapist will also help him work on his chewing. So that catches you up with us. I hope everyone is enjoying their summers so far!

What happened to March?

I can hardly believe it's already April! March was a crazy month. It started with a couple days in the hospital, as James was sick again. Thankfully this cold did not turn into pneumonia and we were able to avoid a long hospital stay. With lots of steroids, antibiotics and breathing treatments he was able to get better on his own in a few weeks.

About the time James got better it was time to move. Our lease at the apartment was up at the end of March and for various reasons, we decided it was time to move on. So we spent St Patty's day moving a few miles down the road into a duplex. The boys and I actually spent the day at a friends house having one big long playmate while Dave and some friends from church moved all of our stuff. The boys and I really enjoyed our day, but I think the guys were a bit tired from carrying all the furniture down 40 steps. :-)

We also bought a new car recently. We ended up getting a brand new Chevy Traverse. We love it. It's diamond white and we had a DVD player put in so it's great for long trips! Dave got a good deal and a great interest rate so he was happy too.

We don't have Internet for the new place yet so I'm doing this post from the iPad. The only problem with that is that I can't figure out how to post pictures from this thing...I don't even know if it's possible. If anyone out there knows how, feel free to share your knowledge. I took pics of the new place and the new car just for you!

Dave gets tomorrow off (Good Friday) so I think we might take a one night trip to Galveston, Texas. It's about a 2.5 hour drive and there's a few things we want to see there while we're living so close. Moody Gardens is supposed to be fantastic and I'm looking forward to riding the ferry! I'll take lots of pictures and hopefully figure out how to share them.

I think that's all for now. The boys are really enjoying the new place and have been doing well without any cable tv. James is progressing by leaps and bounds and has even started standing up without assistance!! It's a fun and exciting time to be a Louisiana Iverson!

Mardi Gras 2012

Mardi Gras is a huge deal in Louisiana. Lake Charles has the second largest parade in the state (next to New Orleans) and the festivities start a month before Fat Tuesday. This year we went to the Gumbo Cook-off, all you can eat for $5. Dave and I definitely ate too much, but it was fantastic! Unfortunately the Dog Parade got canceled because it was raining on Saturday.

On Sunday we went to the Children's Day festivities. They have free food and games for kids at the Civic Center before the Children's parade. Andrew played a few games; he loved putting the beanbags through the holes in the Mardi Gras masks (he's not quite ready to throw them) and he especially loved the frisbee he won. The boys had a lot of fun at the Children's parade. James loves the big floats and walking around. Andrew loved running around picking up everything that was thrown.

We took Monday off from festivities to rest (and Dave had to work) and then hit the ground running on Tuesday. We took the boys to the Fun Zone downtown, which is a fun area for kids that is tobacco and alcohol free. They had free hotdogs and popcorn and several blow-up games for the kids. James loved the slide! We also went to the Mardi Gras carnival and saw the motorcycle parade while we were downtown. We went home for naps in the afternoon and then went and camped out in the KMart parking lot to watch the big parade. We were at the end of the parade route so it didn't get to us until 7. We only stayed for about a half hour of the parade and then the boys got too tired so we headed home. It ended up lasting until nearly 10 so it was a good thing we went home early!

All and all it was a super fun Mardi Gras. We highly recommend it for a fun vacation sometime. It's very family friendly (unlike what we are led to believe in the good ol' Midwest). I hope you all have a happy Lent...only 38 days until Easter!!!

James trying to wait patiently for the parade to start. It was a beautiful day for a parade.

Andrew needed a snack to wait patiently, but that's not new.


The family enjoying the parade.

Andrew loved wearing the beads. Our friends Alan, Jessica, and Austin are in the background.

Watching the Motorcycle parade on Tuesday.

Andrew had a great time!

James thought the Children's Day parade was better :-)

James loves carnival rides. He was not happy when the ride was over.

James also loves slides: the bigger, the better!

James signing "All Done" at the parade Tuesday night. He was ready to go home.

James is 2 and a half!

James is officially 2 1/2. I'm not sure where the time went, but he sure is growing up. James is officially taking steps. He'll take up to about 8 steps at a time, sometimes more. He doesn't go anywhere without both arms out for balance, but we'll take it! He is starting to make more consonant sounds, but still no words. James is using sign language a little bit. He loves to sign "ball." He also knows milk, bye, and all done. We're working on others with a video that his therapist is letting us borrow and with an app on the iPad. James is also interacting with Andrew. He thinks it's hilarious to tackle his brother when he is least expecting it.

James has been mostly healthy since he came home from the hospital in December. All his doctors are happy with the progress he has made. We're going to continue being extra careful though until cold/flu season is over, especially since it seems that RSV is everywhere this winter. We got a standing script for prednisone (steroids) to add to James lists of medicines. This one is to be taken at the first sign of congestion in hopes of preventing colds from turning into pneumonia. Hopefully we won't ever need it, but I'm glad to have it just in case.

James has his first transitional meeting with his therapists today. When children turn 3, they switch from getting therapy through the state to getting it through the school system. Everyone is very impressed with the progress he has made over the last year, but he still needs speech and physical therapy so we'll have to go through the process of getting him evaulated by the schools and setting up an IEP (developmental goals) with them. We'll probably look into getting him some extra private therapy soon too because they can better advise us on any equipment James might need if his walking doesn't develop as it should.

Overall, James is doing great! Enjoy his pictures!

P.S. Sorry for the lack of posts over the last month. I promise to do better, Grandma!

Andrew is 15 Months Old!

Andrew hit the 15 month mark earlier this month. He amazes me everyday with how quickly he's learning. He also tests my patience everyday with his super sneakiness...I have a feeling he's going to be a toddler who becomes good friends with the time out chair :) At 15 months Andrew is:

• 
  
  24 pounds; 30 inches tall


• 
  
  Walking since about 13 months


• 
  
  Yesterday he discovered he could spin in circles...hilarious!


• 
  
  Loves to climb, but is still quite clumsy so he always has a scrape or bruise on his head


• 
  
  Has 12 teeth and counting


• 
  
  Loves to read, play with his kitty and big brother, do puzzles, and get into anything he knows he's not supposed to (maybe I should try reverse psychology with this one!)


• 
  
  Laughs and smiles as he runs into your open arms for a hug (Dave and I agree that his is our favorite thing about his personality!)


• 
  
  Is a picky eater, but will eat non-stop of the things he likes


• 
  
  Babbles constantly and says something that resembles "kitty"


• 
  
  Hates getting his diaper changed and sleeping in his crib (he sleeps in the guest bed)


• 
  
  Loves hamming it up for the camera!

Andrew Loves his kitty!

He is very mischievous.


He gets offended when his kitty swats at him.

Andrew loves to read. His favorite right now is probably "The Eye Book" by Dr. Suess.

Andrew is not a big TV person, but he loves pushing buttons and messing up the TV settings (which drives his brother crazy!).

He has started dancing recently.

And he loves playing in his laundry basket.

However, he gets stuck when he bends over like this and hollers until someone comes to help him out :)