Ear Fetish

Alex has an ear fetish. Whenever he is tired he will suck his thumb and grab his ear.


If he is being held so that he can't grab his own, then he will go after yours. We think it is pretty funny and cute.

Our Little Slugger

Robbie took Jared to the clubhouse to play some baseball in the racquetball courts and he was actually able to hit some pitches. I guess the Wii is paying off!

(PS I couldn't get the video to rotate and still have sound after several hours of trying)

On the Go!

Alex is our little go getter. He is always on the move exploring everything around him. Here he is trying to help me with the dishes.

1.23.08 Alex is cruising around now, going from one
piece of furniture to another to get what he wants.

1.27.08 Alex likes walking around with help. He even stood by himself for a second.

1.27.08 Alex doesn't like the feel of the cold hard tile on his legs, so he crawls around like a monkey. We sure get a kick out of it. He looks so cute with his bum up in the air.

Tres Anos

Happy Birthday! I'm 3!

Jared wanted an Elmo cake again this year for his birthday. He loves Elmo and really enjoys playing games with him on SesameStreet.com.

Grandma Jean gave him a dinosaur that growls and walks. Jared loved it, but I think Alex might like it even more. He took after it and started growling. It was really cute.


Jared successfully blew out all of his candles this year all by himself. (Last year he was afraid of them.)

Mylah Elianna Twitchell was blessed on Jared's birthday, so we celebrated up at Aunt Jennie and Uncle Vance's place. Jared and Alex love their new beautiful cousin.

Jared had a great birthday and is really good at answering the question "How old are you?" and "Cuantos anos tienes?" He also has mastered holding up his three fingers. His grandparents spoiled him with a lot of great gifts, which he appreciates very much. I can't believe I have a three year old. He is growing so fast and getting "bigger and bigger" as he tells me almost daily. I love him so much!

Jared is Potty Trained!

1.21.2008 I'm potty trained! This process began last summer and we celebrated Jared's success at Chuck E. Cheese after he finished filling out his sticker chart.

7.15.2007 Jared earned a sucker for going #2 on the toilet for the first time.

8.25.07 I would like to thank all the big people for helping me get to this point in my life of overcoming my fear of going #2 on the toilet.

9.1.2007 Jared is wearing pull ups now. We had to add some more incentive to help Jared. He went to a birthday part at Chuck E. Cheese back in May and he said that he wanted to go there. We made a deal that if he could fill out his sticker chart that we would take him. Getting gum and candy after each visit to the potty resulted in sometimes just wanting to go for the gum and candy or not going because he didn't want any. Some mornings he would cry saying "all done potty". It was like he thought it was something he only had to do once. I told him "sorry Jared, but this is something you will do many times a day, every day for the rest of your life", and then he would cry. We tried for a couple of weeks, but he was never staying dry. When we put him in underwear he had to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes and Jared and mom were getting sick of spending their life in the bathroom. Mom went back to the books and realized that he met all the requirements for readiness except keeping a dry diaper for at least 2 hours. So we took a break, although he did continue to go #2 in the potty. Thank goodness our efforts weren't all in vain!

Skee-ball for toddlers

Uncle Josh, Jared, and Grandma
I love pepperoni pizza!


I'm a big boy now! Am I big enough to drive?

Aunt Aimee showed Alex around and helped him play all the fun games.

We started again the week before Christmas. Alex was sick with Bronchiolitis and we couldn't leave the house, so there couldn't have been a better time to train him. He did great having only a few accidents. It took about a month for him to fill out his chart for going #1 and staying dry (21 days to make a habit). We wanted to make sure that after the reward of going to Chuck E. Cheese he didn't revert back.

We are so very proud of Jared for meeting this milestone and frankly I am very proud of myself for making it through this milestone too, little yelling and frustration to my surprise.

Happy New Year!!

We have had so much snow this year so we decided to brave the cold and enjoy it! On New Year's Eve we went snowshoeing . It was my first time, and well can I tell you that walking around the mall 3 times a week does not give my lungs the workout they probably need and that I needed on this outing. I was dying! I thought snowshoes also made it so you walk on top of the snow. Not! You still sink. I'm sure it's a lot harder without them, but it's not like you see on the movies (i.e. White Fang). We had a ton of fun and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Robbie, Meri, Aimee, Josh, Jennie, Dad

Vance, Jennie, Aimee, Josh, Meri, Robbie

We had a lot of fun jumping off the trail into very deep snow. It was hard to jump very high, but you sure would sink pretty deep. Robbie had fun jumping off the trail and he, Vance, and Josh jumped off some pretty steep parts and had to be pulled out.

We stayed up until midnight playing the Wii. We all took turns playing tennis. Josh and I made a good team, and Jared was our honorary teammate. He thought he was playing and he would say things like "I miss it" or "nice". It was pretty cute. One time though he got too close to me and I accidentally swung the control and hit him in the head. He was a little shocked by it, but he recovered quickly.

On New Year's Day we took Jared sledding. He loves it! Robbie and Josh took him on Christmas Eve too, so he was ready and actually insisted on going down all by himself.

Jared after a successful run down the hill.

Christmas

Well, we hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We certainly did. We spent Christmas with Robbie's family this year since we went home (well, to my home) to St. Louis in September for my ten year reunion and couldn't afford to go out there again. We spent most of the holiday break at Robbie's parents' house. We went to the traditional family party on Saturday with all of Robbie's extended family where the kids exchange gifts and the adults do a white elephant gift exchange. I got a toilet set, toilet paper, and a johnny light. It was so appropriate since we were in the middle of potty training Jared. Surprisingly though no one tried to steal it from me. Weird. Church at Robbie's parents' ward was wonderful. They have an amazing choir, which Mom, Aimee, and Josh sing in, which brings in the Spirit so strong. I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ who can bring us peace and happiness in a world filled with war and sadness. All we have to do is "Let Him In" like one of my favorite songs from "Forgotten Carols" extols. I hope we will all do more this year to let Him lead us and guide us so that we can truly enjoy the peace and happiness that only He can give.

Enjoy some of the highlights from our Christmas Day!

The cutest boys ever! Alex (9 months) and Jared (almost 3 years).
They love each other so much!

The whole family after church.

Alex liked the wrapping paper as much or maybe even more than the toys.

Grandpa Haertel gave Jared a VTech laptop computer so that he can be like everyone else in the family and always be working on their computer. Alex was very excited about it to and didn't have any qualms about climbing over Jared to get to it.

Alex throwing the wrapping paper.

Jared got his train for Christmas. He had been talking about it for a couple of months and told Santa 5 times when we went to visit him that that was what he wanted. We told him if he was potty trained (because that's what I wanted for Christmas) that he would get his train. He was wearing underwear for 3 days and no accidents before we went up to Grandma and Grandpa's a few days before Christmas. All the people, excitement, and being a big house caused a setback for him, but after the holidays and going back to our normal routine he proved himself to be a big boy!

Alex was so excited about the train too, since it is really for both of them. He loves grabbing the different pieces and putting them in his mouth. He especially loves taking the track apart once Papi and Jared have put it together.