January 31, 2017

January 30, 2017

Wish I had a picture to share of the moment today when Linden said, "Daddy, can you go see Mommy? I want to have some brother sister time," then went to Wallace, who was laying on a blanket, and held his hand while talking to him.

Instead, just this cute pic of W and Laine.

January 29, 2017

We had a nice, relaxing day at home as a family. Wallace entertained Linden's request and played with his doll while in his jumping chair and also played a bit under his play gym. He even rolled onto his side for the very first time!

Laine and I then assembled a play gym for Linden in the basement. We've been looking for ways to keep her active during the cold winter months and it seems like this might do the trick. She took to it right away and, despite a few bonks to the chin, loved learning new moves. 

January 28, 2017

January 27, 2017

Ahh....the weekend has finally arrived and we're looking forward to some quiet time together as a family. Wallace is finding his rhythm at daycare and so are we, despite some hand-wringing. :-)

Also this week our neighbor, who refinished the bathroom in our previous house, has been making some awesome progress on refinishing our basement. Just this week he leveled the floor so that it's ready for new tile and installed cabinets and a butcher block counter top. We're really looking forward to having a finished basement space since we seem to spend a lot of time down here. 

LB testing out the new counter tops.

January 26, 2017

January 25, 2017

Chocolate milk: Linden's favorite drink. And mine too.

January 24, 2017

Seem familiar?

January 23, 2017

Ignore the plastic in the background. Still working on the basement, but still getting good Daddy/daughter time.

January 22, 2017

Quick stop for some Grandma cereal on the way home.

January 21, 2017

The self-proclaimed "hand-holding-sticky-twins"

January 20, 2017

We enjoyed a weekend at Grand Bear Lodge with our good friends, Mike and Katie Bragg, and their kids. Jane Bragg is four and Thomas is two. It's fun to see three kids, who are each one year apart, play together. (Wallace it too young to play but he adds another layer to the 4, 3, 2, 0 dynamic.)

January 19, 2017

January 18, 2017

January 18, 2017

We're establishing a weekday morning routine and it's working pretty well so far. One perk is that I usually get a few minutes to hang with this guy while Laine gets ready for work and we wait for Linden to wake up.

January 17, 2017

For Christmas this year, Linden's Aunt Nina and Uncle Graeme got her this leotard for her gymnastics class. She gets pretty excited to wear it. 

January 16, 2017

January 15, 2017

After cheering on the Titans and Redbirds last night, we were all ready for a relaxing Sunday. 

LB fell asleep for her nap while watching Daniel Tiger with Mom.

This dude was less predictable, but still very cute.

January 14, 2017

Saturday evening was all about basketball. Linden and Laine watched our neighbor Molly play at Illinois Wesleyan before picking up me and Wallace to experience our first Illinois State men's basketball game as a family.

They only caught the first part of the each game, but our teams won both.

Going to Illinois State's game was a new experience for us with over 9,000 fans in attendance. ISU was playing Wichita State for the top spot in conference (both teams entered 5-0), so it was pretty exciting.

The kids were ready to go with nine minutes left in the game, so it was a good thing that we were recording the game on ESPN 2 because it was a pretty exciting second half.

January 13, 2017

Grabbed this photo this morning when W was being just the cutest boy.

Linden was an amazing big sister this week, looking out for her brother during his first week at Dee's. She summarized with, "He's had a big week," proving that she's quite the big girl.

January 12, 2017

Building her dream house, which means there's an indoor bounce house.

January 11, 2017

First cute sibling pic from daycare. Good to know Linden is looking out.

January 10, 2017

Laine is back to work this week. One of the many new challenges will be pumping throughout the day, so she made this sign to hang on her door.

January 9, 2017

Wallace had his first day at daycare with Linden today. Despite both of us sleeping through our alarms this morning, Laine and I both made it to work generally on time.

By all reports, Wallace had a great day and Linden was very protective of her brother.

January 8, 2017

Activity mat orientation for Wallace from Big Sister.

January 7, 2017

Linden and I took an adventurous walk around the IWU quad, but stopped to greet our favorite stone family.

January 6, 2017

Today was Laine's last day of maternity leave. It's been so nice for her to be able to spend the last 12 weeks at home with our little man.

January 5, 2017

This little guy got the bug later than the rest of us, but he's handling it great.

Also today, Linden was excited to see snow on the ground this morning. She loves crunching the snow and cracking small puddles of ice that Elsa (from Frozen) made.

Linden's also very excited that the ceiling in our sun room is finished and the light's been reinstalled, so she has her playroom back.

BONUS PHOTO
Credit to Jesse Heath for capturing this one over the holidays.

January 4, 2017

Still recuperating from the holidays,but feeling better.

Tonight, when I was putting Linden down, I told her that I'd read one more book, sing her a song, and turn on her nightlight, when she interrupted me to say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Dad. Too many words," while raising her hands and leaning away from me. She can be hilarious sometimes.

January 3, 2017

One of the first of many sweet interactions between Linden and Wallace.
Both were home sick today and Laine nabbed this pic after Linden gave Wallace a check up with her doctor's kit.

January 2, 2017

We saw a variety of winter colds over the holidays and they finally got the best of us. At least Linden found that her new castle tent also makes an excellent napping spot.

January 1, 2017

It's the start of a new year and I thought it would be fun to post a picture each day of 2017.

I'm not promising quality photos, as you can see, but I'll try to post a pic most days.