Poppy's Layette

Noah

John

Hunter

It's a amazing to me how much they actually look alike... Except the hair.

Coloring...

Notice how quickly he turns the pages... He wants someone to color with him, but how can you??

Just Some Pictures

About to sneeze on Hunter

Playing in beans with MiMi

Having a snack of "teeth" (apple slices with PB and marshmallows)

Celebrating his birthday at school

I went to the restroom and locked the door. This is why I must lock the door... (And, in my defense, I happened to have my phone in my pocket at the time.)

More Hunter

Milk Coma

All Clean

Love the Baby Legs (Thanks, Shelly!)

Last night, Greg changed Hunter's diaper... I then decided it was bath time. I undressed him and this is what I found... Glad I found it when I did!!! (In Greg's defense, his bottom is almost nonexistent and his little legs don't stop moving when you're trying to change his diaper. Or was he doing it on purpose to get out of diaper doody, I mean duty.)

Happy Birthday, John!

Birthday #3... John turned 2. Can you believe it!!!!???!?!? We had a fairly low key day once again... We had a lovely lunch of peanut butter (John's favorite...He always asks for it...at every meal...even breakfast). 

Birthday Peanut Butter Sandwich

After naps, we had a couple friends over to watch the Mizzou game and have cupcakes. When it was time to blow out the candle, John just looked at it. That was better than what he did at lunch... He leaning his hair in toward the candle. Thankfully, he was too far away to catch fire. I thought for sure he'd blow it out. After all, when I tell him to blow his nose, he blows out of his mouth.

Patiently waiting for his pink cupcake (Greg got strawberry icing not thinking about the fact that it was pink...John doesn't know the difference.)

Enjoying a cupcake with Whitney

Putting together a birthday toy with Daddy and Noah

Opening a very cool "digger" (Thanks, Gilberts!!)

Red Chair Pictures

Happy Birthday, Noah!

It's hard to believe that Noah is 4! This year, Greg took Noah, John, Canon, and Phillip to Cracker Barrel for a birthday breakfast. Greg took a candle and lighter with him to put in Noah's breakfast. Unfortunately, he forgot to take a picture. But, they had fun!! MiMi and Poppy and Grandma and Grandpa were all here for lunch on his birthday. Noah requested pizza for lunch. He had also requested strawberry cupcakes, which he ended up not liking. Oh well!! We'll know for next time.

Noah with his pink cupcakes

Blowing out the candle

Ready for a nap...

Present overload!

The boys have been on present overload... I got Noah and John each a little gift to open at the hospital to help keep them occupied while they were visiting. I got them each a little something for when we got home with Hunter (Noah got a bathtub for his baby and John got a baby). Then there was Valentine's Day and then came the birthdays... In fact, John heard someone rustling paper in the kitchen and came running yelling "present!!"

The day after Noah's birthday, the boys were talking about presents. I told them there wouldn't be any presents today. Noah piped in and said "Actually, the Gilberts are bringing me a present today." He doesn't miss a thing.

Our 4 Year Old

The Month of Birthdays

When we first announced we were having another baby, my friend Shelly mentioned that if this baby was 6 days late, the boys birthdays would all be 7 days apart. I thought there is no way I'll go 6 days past the due date. Then I thought there's no way my doctor will let me go that long either... Turns out, I was wrong!

Hunter's birthday is the 11th, Noah's is the 18th, John's is the 25th. AND, during leap year Greg's birthday is 7 days later...

Hello World...Meet Hunter!

At long last, Hunter has finally arrived. He was born on February 11, only 6 days late. We headed to the hospital at 3:00 am. When we left the house, my contractions were 3-5 minutes apart. After we got to the hospital, they slowed to 10 minutes... They were talking about sending me home. We decided the doctor would try breaking my water to see if that would speed things along. He broke my water at 9:15 am. I started pushing at 11:00 am and at 11:15 am, Hunter was born.

Sweet boy! (Looks like Noah)

Helping the doctor

Precious!

Just Some Pictures

Noah with his school buddies

Playing hide and go seek (or stink, whichever you prefer)

Good boy fun

Legs around Hunter

You Never Know What He'll Say (or Do)

Noah is at the age now where he tattles on John often. It's really nice and really annoying at the same time. He's like a second set of eyes, but he doesn't quite yet understand what he should tell me and what he shouldn't. I'll take the bad with the good for now!!

The boys love to play hid and go seek. A few days ago, John said he wanted to play hide and go stink. Sort of appropriate for him.

Along the same lines... We were reading books. John was sitting behind me and I could hear him working on something, if you know what I mean. I turned around and looked at him. He said, "Nooooooo!" and turned my head back around. He needed a little privacy.

Noah told me last week he wanted "corn on the cobweb" for his birthday.

John recently choked on an orange during dinner. I was about to take some action when he said, "I okay." and shoved another orange into his mouth.

Noah was "flying" his toy boat around in the air. Greg told him he didn't think he was going to catch any fish like that. Noah said, "Dad, it's an optimal illusion."

Noah burped great big and said excuse me. Then he said, "I was so polite, wasn't I?" I had to explain to him being really polite would be keeping our burp quiet in the first place.

This morning we were talking about MiMi coming when Hunter is born. Greg asked John if he loved MiMi. He said "I love Poppy!"

A Watched Pot Never Boils...

Well, the official due date has come and gone... Still no signs of anything... But that's par for the course for me. Nothing until labor actually starts. I had another ultrasound today just to check things out. He's very cute!

I've tried to encourage labor by doing some rather crazy things. Last week, I put both boys in the double stroller and walked up this really huge hill in our neighborhood. As we were nearing our friend's house, Noah said, "Mommy, we're almost there. You're doing good." I moved all the furniture in Hunter's room by myself after Greg painted it.... Nothing...

First Haircut

We finally had to break down and do it... John got his first haircut today. Yesterday, I was talking about going. I told him we were going to get a haircut. He said "And I get a sucker!" Luckily he's been so many times with Noah to watch that he knew just what to do...

Noah went first. Noah always sits still (well, as still as a 3 year old can sit anyway). As he was sitting there, he said, "Look, John. This is how you sit still for your haircut."

One final shot of the mullet..

Sitting still like a big boy!

About to go to sleep in the chair.

Keeping a close eye on the movie.

All done...

The funny part is his hair is even more curly now than it was before...



Miscellaneous Photos

Not quite so upset about the boots this time...a little chocolate goes a long way.

Writing some thank you notes.

22 month picture

Cute boys!

Big Helpers

Last weekend, MiMi came to help make the bedding for Hunter's room. We had lots of help!

At Long Last...

Benny has a name!

Hunter James Schsuter



And, for the record... The little widget that shows how many days are left is VERY misleading. There is no floating around going on!! There is no more room in the inn!

The Giggles...

Snow Day

A week ago, we had some snow one morning. It was the first snow that actually covered the ground. Noah was so excited to go out and play. It really was probably too cold to be out. I think the windchill might have been in the single digits. But, I thought we could go out for a few minutes and he'd be happy. John was all excited about it...until I put his boots on him. He did not like them!! He wouldn't walk in them. He just stood there. At one point, he fell and hit his head on the ground. I wasn't watching, so I don't know if he just fell over or if he tried to walk and fell over. Needless to say, it was not his idea of a good time...

Check out the frown...

Can we stay out all day??

Our friend Natalia came down to play too.

Waiting for some hot chocolate.

You Never Know What He'll Say (or Do)

Noah has a terrible habit of taking forever and a day to make a decision, particularly around nap and bedtime. I've started telling him I'm going to count to 10 and if he doesn't have his book picked out, we'll have to go to bed with no book. Here is the usual dialog:
Me: One, Two...
John: Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten

I had just corrected Noah for saying "give it" instead of "please may I have it." John asked for something and I said what do you say. He looked at me and said, "give it!" (Normally, he answers with a very polite please.)

My nephew, Aiden, was with my mom and dad somewhere and said, "Look at that guy. His hair is all wound up just like John's."

Just after Christmas, Noah was getting a cough. In the middle of the night he woke up crying. I went into his room and he said "Something is stuck in my heart." I felt so bad for him. I finally convinced him it was in his throat. Later he told me he thought it was his tailbone in his throat.

John got choked on an orange and required a little hymlick to clear it out... When the orange came up, Noah was upset because John "threw up." He wasn't concerned John was choking, he was just worried about the "throw up" on the floor.

Noah was telling Greg something the other day. Greg was doing something else and didn't respond right away. So, Noah said "Oh for Pete's sake!"

John is a little funny about his food being mixed. For example, he likes ground beef and he likes beans, but if you mix them together in something, he doesn't want to eat it. I fixed ants on a log for them. John picked the raisins off and ate them, then he licked the peanut butter off, then he ate the celery. He just likes his food separate.

A lot of times when I put the boys to bed, this is what I hear:
Noah: Good night, John.
John: Good night, Noah.
Noah: I love you.
John: I love you.
So sweet!!! And if one of them doesn't answer, they just keep yelling it.

When John hurts himself, but it's not too bad, he'll look at me and say, "I okay."

Poppy loves to spoil his boys (and everyone really!). The last time we were there, he brought me home a Starbucks and he brought the boys each a hot chocolate. They were thirlled!

Friday, I took the boys to my doctor appointment with me. In an effort to keep them entertained, I had gotten them each a boxed milk. I was getting the straw in Noah's. Noah said he'd shake John's. So when I got Noah's ready, he wouldn't give me the other one. So, I just gave the first one to John. Afterall, they were the same. Noah threw a fit and tried to grab it from John... Both boys were screaming...in the waiting room...and squeezing the BOXED milk. Milk was squirting up John's nose, in his eyes, everywhere. It just kept squirting. I finally got control of the milk. They were both crying at this point. Then John was upset because his shirt was messy. We finally regained our composure and the rest of our visit was fine. I was however, a little worried that was a sign of things to come...

Yesterday, Greg had seen some deer in the field behind our house. He and Noah had been up and down the stairs several times trying to find the binoculars so they could go upstairs and look out the window at them. Pretty soon, I heard John at the bottom of the steps yelling "Open the door!! Open the door!!" He had yelled for a while. I couldn't figure out why Greg wasn't letting him in... I yelled to Greg and then realized he was upstairs, not downstairs. Poor little John couldn't keep up.

This morning, Noah was trying to get John to play something with him, but John was busy playing happily by himself. Noah finally said, "Okay, I guess you don't want to play with me anymore."