Saturday, July 16, 2011

Another update

Jude:
7 months old. 16.4 lbs. 25% for height and weight and 85% for head circumference.
Jude is doing much better lately. He's pretty much done taking his prevacid and only has an occasional barf (usually on other people's couches and more than you can imagine...) His impetigo is pretty much under control with the occasional use of an antibiotic cream and his rash is under control with the use of zyrtec. He is still the happiest baby on the block and is so funny. He is starting to learn to sit up and scooting around getting ready to crawl. He is in the process of transitioning out of the swaddler for sleeping. He is starting to get more RED hair and his favorite food is sweet potatoes.
Carter:
3 years 3 months old. 28 lbs. 37.5 inches tall. On the chart for weight and that's all that matters.
Carter is so stinking funny lately. After our trip to California last week he seems to have really come out of his shell. Now he will play on a playground if he knows we can see him and actually wander a little. He tells jokes and makes up lyrics to songs (my favorite is "Hey Carter" which he thinks is a Beatles song.) He loves He-man, his cousins, waffles, taking baths, writing words and reading. The biggest and best Carter news is that he is POTTY TRAINING!!! We've had 2 days without any accidents!! Yahoo! He enjoyed seeing all his family in California but the highlight of the trip for his was Charlie Brown. Any time we had an hour to spend we pulled out our Peanuts map and found as many as we could. He loved it and we enjoyed looking like tourists.
Dave:
31 years old on Tuesday. 215 lbs (that's 35 less than the beginning of the year!)
Dave has made some big changes to his future plans. He is now pursuing a bachelors degree in City Planning and then will enter the accelerated masters program in Architecture. It should take him about 4 years to finish school but this will make him more marketable and actually speed up the process considerably. We recently took a financial greatness class offered through my work and are now feeling much better about our future. The picture of Dave up above was the first step we took towards getting out of debt. We are both very excited to make this happen and control our money rather than the other way around. Dave has also been called to teach Elder's Quorum at church and he loves it. He also enjoys the challenge of being a stay at home Dad and has been great with the first days of potty training. He has recently been doing most of the cooking and is realizing how good he is at it and how much he enjoys it.

Brook:
27 years old next Saturday. 129.5 lbs (UNDER 130 BABY!!! 35.5 lbs down!)
I've obviously been doing stuff since our blog has pretty much been abandoned. I spend a lot of my time doing our food blog and planning our meals. I know I do more than that these days but I just can't remember. Ok, let's see... I work. I exercise. I blog about food. I spend time with my boys. I watch the Bachelorette. Oh, here's something. I have recently decided to change my educational goals as well. I usually come up with one crazy future career after another and most of the time I end up returning to my goal to be a special ed teacher but I think I may have actually found one that will stick. I want to go to school to become a Nutritionist. It's something I am really interested in, have some basic knowledge in and could still be helping people. Sadly I have to wait until Dave is done and both boys are in school to even start but I am determined to complete more than just "some college" for those times when my children are asked about their mother's level of education.
That's us right now. It seems like in the previous months we had a bit of a dark cloud looming over our house but now things seem to be looking up. Everyone is mostly in a good place and we are all hoping to stay healthy for at least a little while. All in all things are good and happy over here in the Mann house.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Before and After


Friday, May 27, 2011

Putting the weight back on challenge

30 pounds lost 27.8 pounds "gained"

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Might as well eat healthy

Dave and I started a food blog to share some of the best recipes we've tried on our journey to a healthy life. Please check it out and let us know what you think!


Sunday, May 22, 2011

Wrestle Mania!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

This is why I became a Mom.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Love the cousins!



The Dynamic Duo

While looking at Ethan and Jude the other day I noticed something...







All that's missing are the capes...


Sunday, May 1, 2011

Falling, yes I am falling

I've just seen a face


I can't forget the time or place


Where we just met


She's just the girl for me


and I want all the world to see


we've met, Mmm mmm mmmm mmm mmm




Had it been another day


I might have looked the other way


and I'd have never been aware


but as it is I'll dream of her


tonight, di-di-di-di'n'di




Falling, yes I am falling


and she keeps calling


me back again
















Jude and Scarlett


April 30th, 2011


Both 4 1/2 months old


(and in love)

Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter!

This Easter was tons of fun! We made bunny pancakes with the Philpotts, went to church and saw Daddy "sing songs about Jesus", had a bi-level Easter egg hunt and then went to my Uncle Jim's for dinner. Of course... PICTURES!!!


The boys' baskets




Big boys



Isaiah and Jude



Cousins!



Easter bunny



A choco-holic!!!






Finding those eggs!



My handsomes

























Friday, April 15, 2011

Keeping up with the Manns

Since I'm no longer the greatest blogger in the world I think I should give everyone an update on what our family is up to lately.



Jude:


Stats: 4 months old, 13 lbs, estimated at 24 inches long.


Jude has had his struggles lately with weekly trips to Dr Omura. He is on 3 different medications. Prevacid for his reflux, Zyrtec for his rash and his 3rd round of antibiotics for his impetigo. Even though we cut his nails almost daily he manages to scratch his head bloody so we try to keep socks on his hands constantly. He is mostly a happy little baby and talks all the time. He has started eating rice cereal in some of his bottles and is sleeping in his crib. He loves holding hands and watching brother. He is working on rolling over and will most likely accomplish this soon. His favorite activities include standing while holding Daddy's hands, being held so he can watch everything that's going on and playing on his activity mat or laying on a blanket on the floor.




Carter:


Stats: 3 years old, 27 lbs, 37 inches tall.


Carter has become quite the little helper. He loves to cook, sort laundry and put it in the "sheen", start the dishwasher, put away clothes and help take care of brother. He talks a lot and has quite the vocabulary. He seems to always say things that make us laugh and surprises us daily with his understanding. He still loves letters and numbers and can spell roughly 15 words with ease. He got a Leap Frog "Tag" for his birthday and loves to read his "cool books" with it. His favorite books right now are Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (the tag version) and Anamalia. He no longer naps but is getting used to having an hour of quiet time a day in his room. He no longer uses the binky (see previous post) and is becoming such a big boy. We've started swimming lessons and he seems to pick it up quickly. His favorite activities include cooking, playing with his cousins, eating goldfish, taking a bath, watching Super Why, Peter Pan and Power Puff Girls, wrestling and reading books.




Brook:


Stats: 26 years old, 24 lbs lost.


Brook has been working hard to get healthy and has finally hit a huge weight loss milestone by becoming a NORMAL (no longer overweight) BMI after losing 24 lbs. She has been dealing with some stress at work as she is covering 2 desks at the moment but deals with it by working out and reading at lunch. She has discovered a love of healthy cooking and enjoys finding new healthy recipes that actually taste good. She decided to try making baby food for Jude and has enjoyed it so far. Her favorite activities include cooking with Dave and Carter, playing dominos with Noelle, chatting with her girlfriends, taking pictures, watching movies/TV with Dave and just spending time with her boys.



Dave:


Stats: 30 years old, 25 lbs lost


Dave has been doing a fantastic job of being a student and a stay at home Dad. He is working on his portfolio for the Architecture program at the U and hopes to start the program this coming fall. He has been doing whatever he can to pad his portfolio from doodling to building with legos and I know it will be amazing. His favorite activities include playing with the boys, attending various classical concerts for his opera class, discovering new music, doodling and sleeping when he gets a chance.



Hopefully this will get everyone caught up on our lives. We love that we are "boring" but know that it doesn't always make for the greatest blog posts!

Carter's birthday

Carter not only had a fun Birthday party but we tried to make the actual day all about him as well. Here is his special day in pictures:
Someone (Dave) couldn't wait until Saturday to give Carter his leapfrog so he had a few days of opening presents which he enjoyed.


The night before Carter's Birthday he and I made coconut dark chocolate chunk cookies. We had cake for his party and I found these in my cooking light magazine so we thought we tried them out and they were great. Not to mention fun to make!



Carter knows how to use the Kitchenaid...



His first time "licking the beater"



Presents!!!




He made the best faces while opening them this year!




Since Carter is a big boy now we decided we would go and put his binky inside of a Build a Bear on his birthday. Here we are feeling the binky in his dog's leg.



Saying his goodbyes to the blue binky as his doggy gets stitched up



Typing his own name on the birth certificate



Carrying his creation through the mall



Birthday lunch



Having lunch with his new friend



Next we went to the library and read some books



For his birthday dinner Carter chose edamame and asked if we could invite his friend Kaden. I thought that was so sweet and we were so glad they could come!



Carter and his chopsticks and edamame



Eating and ENJOYING his first ever piece of sushi!



Fast forward a few days. We've had some struggles and overall regrets about putting Carter's binky in an animal. TANTRUMS like you've never seen them!! But after a few days it's gotten MUCH better. He doesn't nap anymore all the sudden but he only asks for it once in a while and not as "enthusiastically" as at first. Now he enjoys his binky doggy but it doesn't take the place of the binky.



My little boy is growing up so much! I can't believe it. He's a great kid and so fun to have around!!!