Family Updates

Evan had his 4 month well checkup on Wednesday. Everything is going well and he is growing like crazy. He is now 25.3 inches long in the 62% up from the 23% only 2 months ago. He is going to be tall. He is going to put Uncle Jason down with the rest of us!! He weighs 14 lbs. 10 oz. in the 45%. She was really pleased with his growth and is right on track. I guess all the eating is going towards all that energy at growing taller! Developmentally he is at age level. I have noticed a big change in the last week with his motor control. He isn't as jerky when trying to reach for things. And he is actually trying to reach and pick things up. He plays with everything on his exersaucer and was even getting mad today when he couldn't get to something he wanted. He recognizes his bottle and is even trying to grab it and pull it to his mouth. Very cute. This morning (Sunday 1-17) he found his toes while sitting in my lap. He was able to get to his left toes no problem but had a little trouble getting his hands to his right toes. He is such a doll and such a smiley little guy. I just can't get enough of him!





Madi is doing great at school. I think she just enjoys playing and being around all the other kids. I ask her what she did at school today and she will say, we didn't paint. What else did you do, I don't know. But she is doing a really good job at writing her name and she can tell you almost any letter in the alphabet and her numbers. Very pleased. She loves playing with all her new toys from Christmas and has even started going to her room and playing by herself for periods at a time.

On January 2, we went bowling with my parents and Jason and Tabatha and Jaxson. We had a great time. Madi has been asking to go bowling for a long time and was a great way to spend some time together. She has never been bowling but she knew exactly what to do. She was the first bowler, picked up her ball and threw it down the lane. First roll she got a strike!!! (With the aid of bumpers of course!) But we couldn't believe it. She did great on her own until about the 5th frame and she went out too far and hit that slick lane and went straight down on her back. We were so surprised the ball didn't fall on her. She was a little afraid to go back out and she sat out for a couple of frames and was nursed back to health with the help of nachos and a vending machine game!! But Daddy got her back out and she enjoyed the rest of the game and finished with a 125!! We will be going back and hopefully taking some little friends along next time.

Madi is still totally in love with Evan. She wants to do everything for him. Feed him, help give him his bath, she can't keep her hands off of him. And she gets the biggest smiles from her when she sings to him, so very cute!

Madi also loves to perform for us. We have to introduce her and then she comes and sings for us. It is quite funny to see. I will have to check into getting her signed up for acting and singing lessons this summer at the Community Theatre. I think she would love it.


Here she is from one of her latest performances with the beautiful and unseasonable ensemble she came out in!! I think she is ready for summer. She has been pulling out the swimsuits a lot lately!

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Chris has been busy with work the last couple of weeks. It seems that he gets a little break with not much to do and then everyone wants something done all at the same time and it takes a couple of really busy weeks to get caught back up. Which is a good thing right now. He is getting ready to hit his typically slow period from February to May. So we will see how it goes. With all the layoffs and closings around Salina in the last several months, we are afraid we might finally start feeling the effects. So far we have been lucky and have not experienced any of the down turns from the economy. Hopefully our luck will continue.

After our poor turnout with the Flywheel's Fall Show and some bad attitudes from some of the member's, we were going to walk away from our involvement with the Flywheel's. But after talking with some other members and a good friend of Chris' he decided to stick with it and ran for a board member spot to try and make things better. So, in November, he was elected as a board member. Our good friend Jerry May is now the president and we are all working together to try and get things turned around for the best. The best news of all is that the Flywheel's was finally able to buy the land that they have been leasing for many, many years and are able to move forward with bigger and better plans. They started construction of the Boys Scouts of America Museum which will be built on the same grounds. I'm not real sure how that is going to tie in together but will be a great addition.

Chris also found two International Harvester tractors for sale and bought one and got the other one to be donated to the Flywheel's. The donated tractor has some fixing up to be done and they have already lined up the diesel mechanics class at the Vo-Tech to donate their time at getting it running. Brian's Paint Shop is donating the labor to repaint it. So we are really excited about this. We are hoping to have it done and ready for the Farm Show coming up in March. The Flywheel's have a booth every year and we will have the tractor there on display and will be selling chances to win the tractor at our Fall Show. This should be a great money maker and if it works out like we want to, we will try and get a new tractor every year. The goal is to get the feature tractor for the year. This year's feature tractor is Minneapolis Moline but just not enough time to find one and get it done this year.

Chris has been busy with his hobbies this winter. He joined the Kansas Chapter of the International Harvesters Club this weekend. They had their annual meeting at the Flywheel's so he went over and spent Saturday there. He also joined a group of men through his accountant that get together and talk and learn about investments. He enjoys meeting with them once a month. He also got his stove going out in the shed so he spends a lot of time out there and Madi loves going out with him and playing and riding her bike. But he is ready for spring. It's already been a rough winter and having to juggle and push outside jobs around has not been fun.

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I have just been busy with the kids at home. I don't have a lot of free time to do anything. I do get away once a month on the first Monday for Truancy Review Board. I enjoy doing it. It does get a little depressing at times but we also have some families that make good turn arounds also. And I have a wonderful group of board members to work with.

I am still battling with my back pain since the middle of November. I have been seeing the Chiropractor twice a week for the last month and it is helping some. Usually it only takes two weeks to get it back to feeling good, but not this time. Hopefully soon, I am tired of the pain.

I have started planning for Chris' cousins baby shower that I will be hosting. I'm having fun finding some really cute ideas and look forward to getting my Cricut out and getting invitations done.

Well, we are headed to the library as soon as I get everyone up from naps and then Madi has a skating party tonight with her school. Chris doesn't really want to go, but I am ready to get out of the house and go do something fun. Plus, Madi has been asking to go skating every time we drive by there since a year ago September when we were there for Wyatt's birthday party. Hopefully she will do better this time. I'll have pics to share!!

Take care and for those of you with Monday off, hope you have a great three day weekend!
Love, Amy

4 Months

Where have the last 4 months gone? I can't believe how fast time goes and Evan is growing so much!! His next appointment is on Wednesday and I am anxious to see how big he has gotten.

Evan is eating great. Sometimes I think he is eating too much, it seems like I am always sitting down and feeding him. I have been trying to get him into a better routine of nap, eating and bed time. But it is so hard. With Madi, it was just us and I could do whatever I wanted or needed to without interruption. But poor Evan, it never fails, I sit down to feed him or get him settled in for a nap and Madi wants something or is out of bed when she is supposed to be sleeping. And then with school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, it throws off his morning nap because I have to get him up and loaded into the car to get her picked up. He is adapting well and it doesn't seem to bother him. I just need to take his approach and go with the flow :)

He is Mr. Smiles right now. It is so cute how his face just lights up. Especially after nap time, he is all grins. He is also very ticklish and lets out the cutest little chuckle when you hit just the right spot! Evan also loves it when Madi sings or dances for him.

Just this last weekend he has really started trying to grab things. He loves playing in his exersaucer and is finally getting some controlled arm movement to play with the toys on it. I was in the kitchen the other day and heard the wheels turning on the exersaucer and thought Madi was doing it when I realized she was in her room playing. He was really working at it!

Playing on his tummy is still not his favorite thing to do, but we do little short spells of it everyday. He does very well with pushing up and looking around. He hasn't done a lot of rolling over in the last couple weeks, but he will get there.

Evan started sleeping all night on December 18 and did well for about 2 weeks. But the last week or so, he has been getting up again. Sometimes it's 3:00 am sometimes he will sleep until 5:30, really depends on what time he goes to bed. I am hoping it is just because he has a cold and isn't sleeping as soundly. His little nose is just full of snot and we have to suck it out or otherwise he just has a terrible time breathing. So hopefully after that clears up, he can get back to sleeping all night.

We started using the Bumbo seat after Christmas. He sits in it pretty good. It is nice that we can put him up on the counter and he can sit with us while we eat supper. But it doesn't take long and he wiggles one leg in and he slumps over and chews on the side.

I keep looking for teeth to be showing up anytime now. He is a drooling machine. And he loves to chew and suck on his hand. He gets so many fingers and fist in his mouth he ends up choking himself. But, no sign of the teeth yet.

And unlike his big sister, he is still NOT loving bath time. He doesn't scream and fuss but when I get him out of the tub, his little hands are blue from clinching them so tight. I don't think he feels very comfortable or stable in the tub, so I am hoping that once he can sit on his own, he will like it better. For some reason I am just not loving our little baby tub either. I don't know what it is, but it seems so awkward and unnatural even for me. I've tried several different positions and places and something just isn't right. We'll get there!

Here are some pictures from this month so far.


January 1, Christmas at Nana and Papa's house. (I have more pics and another post I want to do from that weekend, but my pics won't upload, stay tuned!)




January 8. My little cowboy playing at home!


January 11. Sitting in the Bumbo!



I just couldn't be happier with our little family. I'm looking forward to this year and all of the changes for both kids.

Love,
Amy

Our Family Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. We had the Christmas Eve party at our house this year. The weather was very bad out and a lot of people already had plans, so it was small and nice. Madi was so excited Christmas Eve day that she was non stop and we could not keep her in bed for nap time. But she did very well that evening for not having a nap and it made it easier at bedtime because she was spent. We were so afraid she would get up and come out while we were putting presents under the tree.

Santa came undetected, ate his cookies and milk and the reindeer ate their carrots that Madi left. She even drew a picture and left it under the tree for Santa. He left her a nice note in return and way too many presents! Madi was up at 6:30 and was very excited. "Mommy, Santa left presents, Santa left presents! Let's go open them!" I sent her to the bathroom while Chris and I got up and before we made out to the living room, Chris heard wrapping paper being torn. And of course, the first present to be opened was her sewing machine!!! She was so excited and I wanted to get her reaction on camera, but we were too late. Oh well, it was fun to watch her and all her excitement. Even after telling her during the day who some of the presents were from, she still thinks everything came from Santa!! We opted to let Evan sleep and not get him up for presents. He really has no idea what is going on this year. And I am glad we let him sleep. I would have had to feed him and miss watching Madi open her gifts. It was nice to give her all the attention one last Christmas.

After we opened our gifts and played and picked up a bit. Dan, Jane and Jon came out with their gifts and we opened again. Again, all those gifts were also from Santa! We did more playing and cleaning up and started making lunch. My parents came out and joined us for Christmas. It was a wonderful day. And my wonderful husband did all the cooking this year. It was very amazing and he did a great job!


After opening her sewing machine.


My Happy Christmas Baby!!


Loving the exersaucer!


Madi's team shirt! She told Grandma she wanted a team shirt with her name and the number 3 on it. She opened that gift and immediately tore off her other shirt and put her team shirt on. She was so excited. That night she took it off and folded it and layed it on her table in her room. I asked her why she didn't put it in her hamper and she said she didn't want to get it dirty. First thing the next morning she woke up and put that shirt back on. I thought oh no, she is going to want to wear this shirt everyday!! Later in the afternoon of the second day, we ended up turning the shirt around and wearing it backwards because she wanted to see her name and 3!! She is just too much fun sometimes!


Sleepy baby.

New Year's Eve we are having a get together with the Gengler family and New Year's Day we are spending the day with my parents and Jason, Tabatha and Jaxson to have our family Christmas. Fun and busy weekend coming up!!

Happy New Year!!!
Love, Amy

Merry Christmas!

We are ready for Christmas. I have a couple of things to pick up from the grocery store tonight. We are having the Christmas Eve get together at our house this year. And then Christmas Day we are doing the lunch for Chris' family and my parents. It will be a nice day and I am looking forward to it. Chris is taking Thursday off and has a very long list of baking things he wants to do. So, it will be a very messy day at our house and hopefully he can get what he wants done and I can get the mess cleaned up before the party! And I have all the wrapping left to do. I am not very motivated to get wrapping done this year and I don't know why. I need to hire someone to do my wrapping!!



Here are some pictures from this last week. We had a fairly busy week last week. Madi had her Christmas Program and party at school on Thursday. We also got to go see Santa at Kennedy and Coe on Thursday.

Here's my smiley man!! I can't get enough of those smiles. He is a pretty happy and content little guy. We also had a huge milestone Friday night. He slept all night long!!!! And has slept every night since! Merry Christmas to me!! Very exciting!

Madi at her Christmas Program. I didn't realize that the settings on my camera for my flash were wrong until later that night after the program and seeing Santa were all over. Very disappointing, all my pictures were blurry from the day. :(




Meeting Santa.

She sat on his lap this year, no problems. She asked for her sewing machine again. And after opening her gift, she had a sad face. We asked her what was wrong and she said Santa didn't give me a sewing machine. We had to assure her that the gift that we ask Santa for will come Christmas morning under the tree. This was just an extra gift.

My special present!!

Playing!



Madi's snowman. First his name was Frosty. Then once we added the hat, he became Daddy!

Last Saturday night we went and looked at lights around town. Evan wasn't interested very much!!

But Madi loved the lights and was excited to see the Georgetown Santa's!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Love, The Helm's

3 Months Old

Evan turned 3 months old on Friday. Time is going fast, I can't believe it's already been 3 months! Not a lot of changes going on right now. He is holding his head up very well and has graduated to playing in the exersaucer. He loves it. He doesn't really play with anything on it but he likes to look at all the bright colors and loves being able to sit up. He isn't much of a floor player. But that could be because he gets a little crowded in on with big sister when he is on the floor. He probably feels a little more safe in the exersaucer.

The last two weeks he is sleeping for longer stretches at night. YEAH!! Last night I was so surprised because he ate at 9:00, went to bed at 10:30 and slept until 3:30, ate and slept until 8:45!!! What was even better was that Madi also slept until 8:45, Momma got some good rest!! He is still eating about every 3-4 hours during the day and I would love to get that stretched out a little too. One step at a time!

He is a very happy boy and loves to be talked to and also has big grins when Madi sings to him. It is very cute. Of course I have no pictures of it because as soon as I get the camera out he stares at it and clams up. I'm going to try to get more pictures taken. But like everything else around here, I just don't seem to have the time to get it done. But here are some pictures from this last month.


Visiting deer camp


Playing patty cake with Madi.


Sleepy time in the swing.

I also updated our family picture slide show on the right side of the page. Check out the awesome pictures that Andrea did. I got very large pictures of the two of them together and then the individual pictures to put on the wall in the living room. They are gorgeous and can't wait to get the old pics down and holes repaired in the wall and get them up. My Christmas present to me this year!!

Have a great week!
Love, Amy