Making circles

Poor little Matthew slept on his pacifier the other night. He woke up with it suctioned to his face. When Brad went to pull it off, it literally made a huge suction noise. This picture was taken about 30 minutes after he woke up...and the circle stayed in tact for the remainder of the day!

Enjoying the snow!

Sam, LOVED the snow.
Matthew, just hung around for the picture.
Daddy showed Sam all the big "mountains" of snow piled up way so high. It was hard to bring Sam inside. I also think we've exhausted these snow pants. They are size 6 months, and he couldn't even walk in them. I wondered why he kept falling over. Poor guy. He'll have to pass them along to his brother for when we visit in the winter. The 4 seasons is truley what we are going to miss the most about WI.

What shall we eat...

is always the question that is asked at Great Grandma Trudy's house. I just love this picture. This picture reminds me of when I was little staying the night. She would always pull up a chair so I could help her cook or just get something! Grandmas always have the best stash of candy!!! I actually don't even think there is anything healthy in there!

Great memories!

6 Month photos-MJT

And the bruises on his right cheek he can thank his brother for~

AAHH HAA!

We have officially SOLD our Port Washington Condo, and have proof! Last night we received an offer and we close February 22nd. Needless to say, we are excatic! This means we will only have one house payment come March. The best part about the offer, we got our asking price.

Matthew checking in at 6 months

We've finally got the 6 month check up done this morning!

Weight: 17 lbs 2.5 ounces (40%)
Height: 26 1/2" (40%)
Head: 43. 5 (40%)

...and the Doctor passed him a clean bill of heath and admitted us to warmer temperatures down south! Dr. Paley was impressed with his capability to sit up with no assistance and his awareness of the world around him. She also said that his handsome blue eyes will probably stay blue because of the shade!!!

The shots this time were awful. The nurse even commented that he had a good set of lungs on him. I can honestly say I've never heard this type of terror in his scream. He had 3 shots, one of which was his flu shot. Poor little guy is now snoring peacefully on the couch on his back...you KNOW he had a hard morning when he sleeps on his back. Thankfully Brad met me at the Doctors office to take Sam so he didn't have to be locked up in the exam room. The two of them went to Kohls and came back with a little gift for Matthew to cure the tears.

As I left the office with Matthew I realized that our next well check with be in Orange Park Fl. Next week the house is being packed and next Sunday we're off. Where has all the time gone?

Potty report #1

I can honestly say we had NOTHING to do with this one.

The other day I was at a friends house and we were talking about potty training and how we were dreading the idea as the video Elmo Goes Potty was playing as background noise. I said because of who Sam is, I was going to let him drive this milestone. Well, out of the clear blue this morning he came to me and said, "mommy, go poppy on the potty". So, we walked to the bathroom and there he sat. NOW...we did get him a little Bob the Builder child toilet seat that sits on top of our toilet. When we purchased it, about 6 months ago (with wishful thinking) he loved Bob the Builder, but was deathly afraid to sit on it.

Today, totally different story. So, as I was sitting there on the ground with Matthew, I heard it!!!! Sam went pee pee and poo poo on the toilet with GREAT enthusiasm. I had to just laugh as this 1st time session lasted for about 25 minutes and in between doing his 'business' he would whistle and sing just like Elmo did in the video. I think I scared Matthew with my excitement!!!

So, just before I put the boys down for nap I asked Sam if he needed to go and he said "yes mommy". Sure enough, he went again and again, I scared Matthew!!! When I was changing Matthews diaper Sam stated, "mommy, diapers are for Matthew!"

(Is this really happening?)

stay tuned....

Still snowing!

See you all VERY SOON!

Eden and Matthew!

The kiddies!


These pictures bring tears to my eyes. LOOK how much our children have grown! Do you remember the first few days we all met, singing songs at Gymboree when our children could barely crawl? Now we sit back and laugh at Gymboree and our group has grown with our wonderful 2 newest additions, Eden and Matthew! Thank you all for all the great times we've all had. When you think about it, we've done a TON of things together and experienced the best and worst of our children. Yesterday when Sam abrubtly decided that he needed a nap as I pulled out of the driveway Sam said through his tears of tiredness, "mommy, I love playing Nico's house"! I know he will miss you all but we already know you have a date to visit!!! AND..best of all, we have another Girls night out next week!

Little too big

The donations of clothes to the Sam and Matthew fund have been greatly appreciated! Thank you Aunt Heather and Uncle David for your kindness. As you can see, Sam had a ball trying on all the shoes and some of the clothes. Everytime he looks at the bins he says, "try on Joshies clothes". Thanks again!!!

Matthew's first get away & Sam in WI

Matthew, he did EXCELLENT! Much to our surprise, he was on his best behavior. He had a great time on the plane, enjoyed being schluped all around Jacksonville and slept and ate very well.

He did throw us for a loop when he jumped from eating 4 ounces every 3 hours to all of a sudden eating 6 ounces every 2 hours! We were unprepared and went through 2 bottles on the plane. AND...much to our surprise he had a poopie every day!!!! A HUGE success for the tushie! AND...slept through the night!!!! It could of been the humming of the hotel sounds or the exhaustion of boredom as we drove through almost all of Jacksonville, but whatever it was it was GREAT! One morning we had to wake him up because Brad and I were hungry.

Sam...well he had a blast with his Mimi. They hit almost every McDonald's in a 25 mile radius, played at the park, baked cookies, ventured to our local marina to watch the birdies and hung out at home playing 'Doctor' 'Shopping' 'Tunnel' 'Dinosaurs' and 'Playdough' over and over and over and over again and also hung out with Great Grandma Trudy. We did get a report that Sam had a few breakdowns and wanted us, which was hard to hear, but it's good for him to miss us, something that a little distraction took care of the tears.

He is struggling a bit today because now his mommy and daddy are home and now it's back to our rules and routine and I believe he is ultimately bored with us. I said to Brad today that it almost feels like we just brought Matthew home from the hospital all over again. Sam acting 'strange' so we say and just not wanting anything to do with us, or Matthew. But, we know he loves us, but he loves his mimi more!

Thank you Mimi for staying with Sam. As you can see, he had a blast and woke up this morning and said, "where's Mimi?".

1161.59 miles we go

The 4 of us are off on our new Teplin Family adventure. Tentatively, we will be departing Milwaukee February 4th to our new destination, Jacksonville FL. This past week, Brad, myself and Matthew ventured down to pick out our new home. We found it, with great luck on the last day. We love our new Florida home. It is nestled in a great new lifestyle community of Orange Park called Oakleaf Plantation(click here for the website) . We fell in love with all the great amenities it has to offer. Community pools, spray grounds, parks, fitness centers and lots of people to name a few. We had a week full of fun, along with a lot of decision making. But, on Thursday evening, we were very happy with the week we had and are very anxious to make the move, but sad to leave behind all the people we love. But, we will have a 4th spare bedroom and a 3rd bathroom for ALL visitors!!!

Our new home on Acorn Chase Drive

One of Sam's new get aways!

And another get away! They even supply the lifeguards!!!

We're off!

Our journey to find a new home in Jacksonville starts tomorrow! We're leaving Sam behind with his Mimi Sue and we're taking Matthew along for the ride. The boys are going to miss each other terribly, but absence makes the heart grow fonder...right? Matthew will probably be able to sleep w/o a headache as Sam LOVES to push him over and throw things at him.
Wish us luck as we will hopefully come back with a new residence....in a new state.

Since everyone always asks what my feelings are, here they go. Very excited and nervous. However, ever since July when Brad received this news, we kind of feel as though our lives have been on hold. We really haven't had Sam involved in many activities because the memberships run for a few months, and it would of been a waste. We've been so consumed with doing research, we're drained. SO...with that said, we are excited to get on with our lives, find out what is inside the boxes that have been packed now for over a year, open christmas presents and call Jacksonville home for how ever long we decide to stay.

I'm already having Sam withdrawls, but we know he's in good hands! So the picture is for what we call, brotherly love! Do you sense it?

Sleep Wondering, benedryl and hinder tap

It's been a busy past few weeks around here but sleep wondering has been the story of Sam's night the past few months. However, over the past week, it's gotten even more funny. He used to just wonder at all hours of the night into our room, bring his stool and climb into our bed. It was scary when he would appear in our bed all comfortable and cozy and neither Brad nor myself had gave him a lift. It wasn't until Matthew would wake up and I would trip over the stool that was strategically placed at the foot of our bed to give himself a little boost.

The sleep wondering has gone to the next level. The other night I was up around 3 a.m. feeding Matthew. My eyes were very heavy as they started to close and then I heard a little someone opening his door. Sam had no idea I was with Matthew, but basically had no idea what he was doing. Sam came out of his room, bumped the wall in front of him, tripped over a cord, fell on his hands and knees, picked himself up, collected his blanket, dog and pacifiers that he dropped and continued onto our room by the light of the nightlight. Moments later I heard loud footsteps as Brad swooped him up and put him back to bed. NO WHERE in his journey to our room did his eyes open.

This happened again last night. BUT, it didn't happen the night we gave him benedryl. So, in an effort to help out Mimi next week while we're away, we may make the Benedryl available for her to make him stay in his room, peacefully!

Little Matthew has turned on us. We want to believe it's teething, but how long does teething last? If Matthew is anything like Sam (which we believe he is) we should STILL be blaming poor sleep patterns on teething. So, we're being patient with Matthew as he needs us many many times throughout the night, mostly to do the famous hinder tap. All he needs is a few soft taps on his tush and he drifts back off to sleep. Sam it was the darn pacifier he needed all night, Matthew it's the little tap.

Matthew's 1st Christmas!

Only 5 months old!

Merry Christmas 2006

Merry Christmas!

As mommy and daddy sang the words to Jingle Bells, Sam was determined to show his little brother the Christmas morning moves!

"Dance Matthew Dance!"

Merry Christmas to all our friends in family!

This year was filled with fun family and friends! Despite the fact that us Teplins were in hope of a white Christmas, we indeed had a blast with green grass. Sam and Matthew woke up Monday Morning with smiles and Sam ran downstairs to steal a cookie that was left out on the counter. We headed to Mimi and Papa's for a fun filled day with food (lots of it) fun and laughter!

The fun began!

Presents, presents and more presents. Sam did a great job opening up all his presents. He wanted to open every present and play with it....you can imagine his face when we said no. Brad and I were successful at making sure that some of the toys stayed in their packaging, which will only make for a more successful move to Jacksonville in 6 short weeks.

Thank you Mimi and Papa for all our amazing toys! We love them and it looks like the Oconomowoc Santa was well aware that Sam and Matthew were both good boys this past year!

Matthew, well, he found great joy just rolling around under the christmas tree in awe of the lights and the sounds of fun that filled the room!

Great Grandma Trudy was in her glory!

Next year, Matthew will have just that much more fun opening up his gifts!
Happy, Healthy New year to all!

"I'm a doctor"

"And your problem is? Let's see"

"Thank you Gaga Judi and Papa Stan for my fun filled doctors kit from Hanukkah!"

After a few minutes of showing Sam what all the doctors tools were, he was off to his first appointment. He takes our temperature, (sometimes he wants to take it rectally like we do his....again, we're in the learning stages) takes our blood pressure, uses the band-aid after he gives us a shot, listens to our heart and then looks in our ears saying, "I see potatoes". So fun! I'm nervous to think about the minute that he wants to examine Matthew...

I'm living my childhood ALL OVER again and it is SOOOO fun!

Good Bye Cabin Fever! Hello December!

Matthew loves his new compartment in the stroller!

No more stinkin' car seat!!!

"Mommy, I'm soooo happy to be outside!"

Now Matthew can SEE Sam which makes

for a WHOLE world of difference!
And then...we stumbled across the melting snow piles....So I let him be a boy...

Thank heavens Daddy was at work...he would of not been happy with a soaked product of fun! Check out the shoes and pants!
Who would have guessed that December would bring stroller rides through the neighborhood and a jump through some mud puddles? For Wisconsin, it is very tolerable outside and we are in full effect taking advantage. Sam is getting accustomed to requesting his daily walk around the block and seeing that he is dressed appropriately with his fleece and hat. Matthew, he has fallen in love with his stroller and just hangs out for the ride. Tomorrow, we're heading to the zoo, if that sun continues to shine!

It's time to Celebrate!

Happy 5 months old Matthew!

Where are we now...
You know, just the other night, Brad turned to me and said, "I'm so glad those first few months are behind us!". And he was soooo RIGHT on. What fell out of his mouth is something that I've been thinking about for some time now. If I think back and compare my two children, Sam was the more challenging of the two. Sam was a very very needy baby and needed our constant attention and always fussed and hardly ever smiled, which always made us wonder if he was happy. Matthew is always happy and always laughing and is much much more mellow. However the one thing that still stands true to us is those first few months of life are challenging and nearly drain the energy out of us. We were very very sleep deprived, concerned, confused, worried and happy. In reality, our life was changing before our eyes, never to ever be the same again.

So, reflecting on our life 5 months ago, it was insane. Adjusting to having a new baby and a growing and ever so active toddler in the house was a huge challenge. I am so happy to say that I think we've finally got our groove on. We have our routine, we have our schedule and we can finally take a step back and think, "wow, we did it. Some how some way, we've accomplished having 2 wonderful children very close in age and life is only getting better. "

Matthew is starting to eat solids on a regular basis. He's turned his nose up to Green Beans, but we're still plugging along as he's only going to be getting these for the next few days. Just the other day we pulled out the Jump-r-Roo and he is having a blast bobbling around in it. Not to mention his brother Sam thinks all these new toys are for him. Matthew is going to be celebrating his very first Hanukkah tonight at Gaga and Papa's house (one day early).

Matthews first wagon ride

Hold on Matthew, we're going for a ride!

Stuck, stuck, mommy, help you! (we still get our you's and me's confused)

Check out the look on little Matthews face. We got many emotions on this wagon ride. We got laughs, looks of fear, sighs, big eyes and smiles!

...in the house that is. I can see what my life is going to be like in a few months. Sam has entered a whole new developmental stage. It's now all of a sudden all about him and his brother. When Matthew leaves his site the first question always is, "Wheres Matthew?" "mommy go get him?" or, "let's go wake Matthew up". The developement is going from what used to be, "Mine
"my turn" ~~~~to~~~ "Matthew's turn", "share Matthew", "wait Matthew for me". They play games all day and Sam is finally discovering that the world that he once knew to be all about him, has turned into all about him AND his brother. What a beautiful thing.

We're moving along...

Last night we received a call from our realtor that in her hands she was holding an offer!!!! We've received our first offer for our condo in Port and as of last night, we've accepted the offer. The catch is...the buyer has to sell her home first. This is good, a step in the right direction. We're not officially sold yet, as we will still be showing our condo until her home sells, however, we've moving right along. This gives us some new hope that there is interest on the market right now, even though it's a little rough out there. Now instead of worrying about someone being interested in our condo, we have to worry about someone else's home being of interest....

We'll post new updates as they arrive. Until then, I will continue to keep a clean home with 2 little boys jumping from one thing to another all day long. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Walking in the Winter Wonderland!

For all our loved ones who live in warm climates, these pictures are for you:

Uncle Darren & Aunt Ann, The Florida Teplins and The Tosons!

We have been enjoying the snow these past few days, however, it has been so cold, it makes our outside experiences kind of...short! I think sometimes it takes longer to bundle everyone up and actually get outside, but it is all about the experience! We ventured downtown to view all the Christmas trees and lights. Sam enjoyed everything, especially jumping over the snow and getting his little hands all full of snow, then complaining that he was "cold". Even little Matthew enjoyed the stroller ride and provided lots of smiles and was struck by the nasty winds that surrounded him!

Good vs. Evil

Evil = Sam
Good = Matthew


Evil Situation: Screaming, constantly screaming NO, I don't want TO. Sam do it. Attempting to jump on the kitchen table, followed by flying milk across the family room (or on daddies head), dumping all the couch cushions on the floor, followed by a hug and a kiss followed by, "don't worry mommy & daddy, it's okay, I love you." We get so frustrated and our hearts melt all at the same time??? How is that possible.

Our little Sam is just up to no good these days, for that we call him, evil! What drives us bonkers is, the love that he endures during his worst moments. Now, please don't misunderstand me. He is probably like this 60% of the time, the other 40% he is great! I'm entering this blog post to make me understand that this is all normal behavior and when our "good" son enters the 'terrible twos' we will be all ready for him.

Good Situation: Waking up with coo's and smiles. Full blown belly laughs followed by constant wiggles for love for all of us, even his 'evil' brother. Matthew is doing great! His demeanor has totally changed as his world is blossoming around him. He is starting to enjoy his car seat a lot more now, partially because we have moved Sam to the last row in the mini van so he can entertain Matthew. The screams that once echoed inside this four wheeled vehicles are turning into laughs! (THANK GOD).

Brad and I are holding on as Sam is taking us for a ride. The ride is a little scary, but please...can he be 3 soon????

"Mommy, ook all the snow!"

The story of today is: STAY HOME!
What a great way to bring in December! A SNOW DAY! Everything around here is closed and the snow is just pouring out of the sky. The wind has picked up and the snow is blowing around that you can't see a darn thing. It is pretty, but the roads are not. Brad decided against driving into work today due to the elements. However, he is still working remotely and diving deep into his conference calls. The beauty of having a work laptop! Sam thinks this is fun having mommy AND daddy home today, but for some reason has had a lot of time outs.

The time outs consist of:
1.Climbing on the kitchen table
2. Throwing grapes across the kitchen
3. Stepping on Matthews head
4. Dumping out all the trucks and kicking them everywhere
5. refusing a nap and emptying out his drawers
6. Emptying out his snack bowl of goldfish, stepping on them, and telling mommy to vaccuum
etc...

I think (hope) he is finally sleeping....

Tomorrow we are going to enjoy the snow and go downtown to all the parks and enjoy the holiday lights with some hot chocolate and coffee! Today, it's about making chilli, reorganizing the kids clothes and enjoying looking outside!

Strategy

So...against what we had decided on starting solids, we decided to try tonight. Matthew hasn't been sleeping as well, so we came up with a strategy:

Less sleep + drinking more = Needs more food = lets start solids!

He did good. We are starting on Rice Cereal and we'll move up from there. He wasn't excally thrilled with the mush in his mouth, but because he is so darn happy all the time, after every spoonful he would laugh and smile and all the cereal would fall right out of his mouth. Tomorrow we're going to thicken it up a little more as tonight it was like soup.

But of course I had to capture the moments on photos!

Oh and by the way...Sam was having a FIT that we were not giving him any attention at dinner and all attention was focused on Matthew. SO, the picture below demonstrates the frustration of brothers and to document that we love Sam as well, we will post his picture for no hurt feelings!