Busy Busy Busy

We have had a very busy, fun fall!  We traveled to Minneapolis the first weekend of October, then Memo and PaPa came to visit, Aunt Katie got engaged, pumpkin patch time, Boo at the Zoo.  The kids have done amazing and have enjoyed all of the fun activities and mom and dad are TIRED :)  I will let the pictures tell the rest....

So many pumpkins to pick from!!!

Aunt Jamie, Uncle Chris and sleeping Samantha

The newly engaged couple

Brother-in-laws

Cousin Dolan and Benjamin doing the Elmo Slide

Finger painting project

I think he ended up with more paint on himself

Nana, Benjamin and Samantha at the pumpkin patch

Memo and Papa came to visit...time for the zoo!

Benjamin had his hats mixed up :)

Reading together

Happy Halloween!

We have found Benjamin in here several time...I think he is trying to get a LITTLE bit of attention :)

New jayhawk stocking cap

Loving Fall

Hard to believe that it is already October!  This year has gone by so quickly and it amazes me each day how big our kiddos are getting.  Benjamin has started using the potty each day at school and at night.  We have several times throughout the day where he stays dry, but we are not quite to the big boy pants just yet.  I must say he has done a pretty good job, but he just gets a little too busy and forgets to tell us. 

Samantha continues to be the laid back one for the most part.  She just comes along wherever we are going and if she is tired she will nap and if not then she will just hang out.  She is rolling both ways and is getting close to sitting up.  The little lady is pretty determined to sit up so that she does not miss any of the actions.  She loves the outdoors, which is great considering we are outside A LOT with Benjamin!

Yesterday Luke and a few buddies went to the Chiefs game, so the kids and myself went to the zoo with one of Benjamin's friend and his mommy!  Benjamin talks about the animals all the time, so it is great to go!  He loved the train ride and the merry-go-round.  Samantha even sneaked in a little ride on the merry-go-round as well!

Here are a few pictures from the past couple weeks!

School pictures!!!

Driving...just have a few more years to go :)

Riding on the choo choo train with Miss Amy and Hayes

1st time on the merry-go-round

Loving the merry-go-round

Getting so big

4 Months Old!

Samantha is already 4 months old.  It is hard to believe how quickly it is all going, but we are loving watching her grow and a little personality starting to develop!  At 4 months she is holding her head very well, loves rolling around on her play mats, and does not mind where she is at as long as she can see one of our familiar faces and can hear our voices.

She did really well at her 4 month check up including the shots.  She cried for a split second and then was fine.  It impressed mommy big time considering the last round of shots were a little more traumatic. 

She is sleeping pretty good.  She likes to go to bed around 6:45 pm and sleeps until abut 6:45 am.  She wakes up just for her paci a couple of times a night, but nothing too big!

Here are her stats at 4 months:

Weight: 15 lbs and 8 ounces (80-90th percentile)
Heights: 25.5 inches (80-90th percentile)

Not much else to report, but here are a couple of pictures from our morning walk!

Last Couple of Weeks

We spent Labor Day weekend in Atlanta celebrating our niece's baptism.  Luke and I are the godparents of our newest niece, Julia Mae.  She was born just a few weeks after Samantha, so it was pretty fun to see the 2 little girls together.  We survived our first trip as a family of four through the airport.  It was a workout with 2, but both kids did great through the airport and on the airplane.  Benjamin was so interested in the airplane and he loved looking out the window.  I was terrible about taking pictures since Luke and I were so preoccupied with the kids and making sure that neither one of them started screaming at us.  We had a great time spending the weekend with Luke's brothers and all of Benjamin's cousins. 

Then last Thursday Luke and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary!  Nana came over and babysat and Luke and I were able to get out for dinner, which was great to spend some time together.  It is amazing how much you value going out to dinner together these days.

Then this past weekend we had a great time enjoying the amazing fall weather!  We spent pretty much the entire weekend outside.  Saturday we had Gymboree and then spent the afternoon at the park with friends and had a little picnic.  Then on Sunday we spent the morning with Nana and Grandpa at the zoo to celebrate Grandparents' Day.  Sunday afternoon we busted out the new double stroller and spent the rest of the afternoon at the park. 

Not much new to report aroun the Knoblauch household!  Samantha continues to smiles and is really starting to giggle.  Benjamin thinks it is hilarious when she laughs.  He continues to get more interested in her since she is starting to really interact.  Short little story, but tonight I got home with them and was in the kitchen and Samantha was still in her car seat and the next thing I heard was Samantha giggling and Benjamin saying "peek-a-boo"!  It was absolutely priceless and the cutest thing to see him "playing" with her.

Well here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks!

1st time in the exersaucer...I think I like the panda bears :)

Samantha loves watching her brother!

This is our evenings...Samantha rolling around and Benjamin just watching and drinking mommy's water :)

All ready to cheer on the Jayhawks!

Our 2 little Jayhawks

1st time in the double stroller...both kiddos loved it!

All smiles!!!!

How our lives have changed!!!

Well this past weekend was an interesting one to say the least!  I woke up on Sunday morning and walked in and found that Benjamin had gone #2 and it was all over the place.  The sheets had to be stripped, clothes were all washed, and he had to be scrubbed down.  He continued to have disgusting diapers throughout most of the day.  He did not want to eat dinner on Sunday night so we did not force the issue.  He went down to bed just fine and then at about midnight he started crying.  In the meantime, Samantha had gone down to bed and was waking up about every 45 minutes and I had just gotten her back down when he started crying.  I went into his room and he had thrown up all over his stuffed animals, himself and the bed.  Again the sheets were stripped, clothes were changed and I laid in bed with him until he fell back asleep.  Then Samantha continued to wake up throughout the night, so needless to say we were a tired household on Monday morning.  Luke ended up staying home with Benjamin on Monday morning and I took Samantha to daycare to avoid her catching what he had and I went to work.  At about 10:30 Luke texts and says that Samantha threw up and he was going to get her.  I drove home and hung out with the sick kids with Luke.  Samantha ended up being just fine once she got home and never threw up again.  Benjamin got sick one other time and continued to have gross diapers most of Monday.  Then Monday night he finally ate dry cheerios and a peach and kept it down.  Monday night we had a pretty successful sleep night, so that was very welcomed!  Then Tuesday woke up and we were a magically all better family :)  It is amazing how gross diapers and puke become the topic of conversation with Luke these days!!!  I knew that kids could change a lot in your life, but I had no idea that the topic of conversations would change so drastically!!!

Other than these last couple of eventful days, everything else has been going great!  We have adjusted to me being back at work and have learned how important it is to be organized!  Benjamin continues to love his little sister and she continues to be mesmerized by everything that he does.  Here are some random pictures from the past week!

Hope that everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend!  We are heading to Atlanta for our niece's baptism, so it will be our first flight as a family of 4, which I am sure will be interesting :)  I am sure we will have some good stories on the next post!

Benjamin teaching his little sister!

Samantha was playing with Elmo's tamberine

Getting super strong!  She is soooo close to rolling from tummy to back and back to tummy!

This is how we have meals at our house!  The dog is waiting for Benjamin to drop something and Samantha watches Benjamin eat :)

Back to the grind

Well maternity leave is officially over and we are back to the grind.  I came back to work on August 8th and Samantha is adjusting wonderfully, which makes the drop off much easier.  She is taking naps while at school, which is completely opposite of when Benjamin was an infant.  She has started pretty much sleeping 7 to 7.  She will cry out a few times in the middle of the night, but sticking her pacifier back in is all it takes. 

Benjamin has finally adjusted to the 2 year old room, which has been great for him.  His final molars are coming in, so he has been in some terrible pain.  We have to be so proactive with the medicine or he is in pain.  The bottom 2 popped through the gum on Saturday and the top 2 are sooooo close.  Hopefully they pop through in the next few days and then we will be good to go!  NO MORE TEETH left for him after this!!!!

Other than that we are just enjoying the kids.  Benjamin continues to just love his little sister more than anything.  It is so fun to watch him with her and then to see her just follow everything he is doing. 

Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks!

Getting so strong!  Starting to hold onto toys and sitting so big and tall!

Benjamin riding at Deanna Rose for his buddy Hayes' birthday party

Chubby Samantha smiling for the camera! She is such a happy little girl!

Benjamin's new Saturday breakfast...an apple and a donut!  He loves to go to Hen House and pick out the donut and always goes for a peach or an apple! He basically only eats the top of the donut with the frosting and then leaves the rest for Aspen :)