tractor

miles is saying MANY words these days, but his favorite is "tractor". he practices it in the backseat of the car and I can't believe how clearly it comes out. he's also saying "airplane" and "all gone" quite clearly. not too shabby for a 15 month old!

thursdays on first

rochester has a little downtown gathering every thursday during the summer where businesses set out food vendor stands and local artisans sell their merchandise in tents along first avenue sw. miles and I have met kyle down there for lunch a couple of times this summer. yesterday we met up with our friends, the shroeders - kate, kylin, and grace. we set up our blanket in the peace plaza and ate lunch and then the mommies went shopping. all three kiddos were so good and we rewarded them with a trip to the park. miles was in awe of the giant wooden cow (big shock) and he had fun chasing the girls around. good practice huh?

sharing peas
miss kylin enjoying her cotton candy ice cream cone
three muskateers - notice miles scratching his brain - proud mama here
gracie
ky
holy cow!
grace and miles are 12 days apart - I think miles may have more hair!
loving the horsey
what a little helper

hello baby

we had our big anatomy ultrasound on wednesday and got an up close and personal look at the little munchkin growing in my (big) belly. he/she was breech and had its little legs curled up underneath it. the tech said it was a good thing we didn't want to find out the gender because it may have been challenging. speaking of tech - we were "lucky" enough to get another chance to experience the "teaching" part of the mayo clinic. that's right, we had a student come in to do the ultrasound first and then the pro. meaning I had my belly examined for an HOUR! yoinks. I was a bit sore after it was all said and done. however, we did get to look at the little tyke a long time! it's crazy to see how much this little one is moving. I'm feeling some movement but it's dulled because the placenta is located in the front and acts as a pillow between baby and my belly. speaking of belly - I included the most recent belly picture to show you all how enormous I've gotten. I guess they weren't lying when they said you grow a LOT faster than the first time...yikes. in any case, baby k.2 looks great and everything was "normal" and developing perfectly. I visit the doctor next week for the official breakdown, but the techs said we have a beautiful baby...thankyouverymuch!

"hi everyone!"
the arms were covering his/her face "do you mind?"
not as much of a "button nose" as miles
"check out my leg"
buddha

becker family vacation 2009

we're BA-ACK! ok, so I'm sure you have all figured that out by now. I've been overwhelmed by the sheer number of photos we took while on vacay with my family and couldn't bring myself to figure out which ones to post. hence the photo slideshow :) we had a wonderful time in tony, wi with the becker clan. everyone had ample time to relax and it has been a bit of a shock to come back to reality - darn alarm clocks. we managed to fit in a few pontoon rides, some swimming and sand castle building, campfires complete with s'mores, and (of course) MANY games and cases of beer (for the guys, that is). miles ate up all of the extra attention and I'm not going to lie - it was quite nice to have all of the extra hands around to give him that attention. it gave me time to hold josiah and remember how it was just last year on vacation that our walking/talking toddler was an immobile little loaf. as you will see by the pictures, he was a big fan of the "beach" that we visited. I use the word beach lightly as it was more of a hole at the side of the lake. either way, it was a big hit. toward the end of the week we ventured to a state park to view some pretty little waterfalls and get back in touch with nature. miles really liked hiking through the woods and picking up sticks along the way. we were also lucky to squeeze in a meal at El Rancho Motel & Restaurant (thanks to scott harms for his recommendation to visit his aunt & uncle's non-mexican eatery). they do not like you to leave feeling hungry and therefore offer a cracker basket, soup, salad, AND potato with every meal. one would have serious weight issues if this was a weekly stop for dinner. oye. miles was an angel the entire time and I have to admit that I miss waking up to see him standing at the foot of the bed in his pack 'n play giggling and saying "mama...dada"!! a special thank you to cindy and seth for watching our furbabies. enjoy the show!

we're outta here!

we are about to depart on this year's annual BECKER FAMILY VACATION! a week in which we sit around and relax for days on end. nothing on the agenda accept for some games, campfires, golf, boating, and (of course) yummy food. we may be able to post once or twice, but if not, we will talk to you all next weekend! until then...

face plant

in keeping up with becoming a toddler, miles decided it was time for his first face plant. we were watching daddy's end-of-the-season jimmy johns softball game and all was going famously until...out of nowhere miles tipped over and bounced forehead first off the concrete. I'd like to report some funny, glamorous tale of how he was running to see daddy bat, but alas there is no such story. he simply went head first into the concrete from a standing still position. poor thing. kyle and another guy were sitting in the dugout and we all heard his head bounce. he screamed - that gasping for air sort of scream - and then buried his face in my shoulder. I expected a giant goose egg on his forehead, but not the bloody scraped nose. let's hope that comes out of my brand new white shirt.
he was happy and smiling within a few minutes and was more than pleased to stop at mcdonalds on the way home for some ice cream and french fries (is this my kid, or what!?) daddy's strawberry shake hit the spot and the piping hot n' salty fries made it all worth while. he snuggled into bed and we didn't hear a peep out of him for a good 11 hours.

I'm on a boat

disclaimer: the title of this post is at the request of kyle. if you're an SNL fan, you'll appreciate it...or so I'm told.
we were excited to be able to go "fishing" on the mississippi with grandpa kroening this weekend. (I say "fishing" because a pole was never cast) the weather was questionable at best when we put the boat in at the marina around 11am, but it turned out to be a great time. miles absolutely LOVED it and nearly wore out the horn during his time at the wheel. we went from wabasha up to pepin, wi and had lunch at the pickle factory before heading back to dry land. miles was exhausted and fell asleep before we got out of the parking lot. after a few hours on the water, I was ready for a little snack. SO we drove across the boarder for my bag of cheese curds and maple nut ice cream cone from the nelson cheese factory in nelson, wi. YUMM-O! poor miles missed out and made me feel guilty when we got back home. I opened up the back door, he woke up and signed ice cream...he REMEMBERED that I said we were going to get ice cream cones. I guess he'll have to wait until friday when we drive back through nelson on our way to the annual becker family vacation. what flavor should I get this time?!?

our little skipper (& junior lifeguard)

daddy and miles

favorite activity of the day: peeking through the window at grandpa

hey petey penguin is here!!

notice that petey had to help drive the boat too

the buzzing you hear throughout the video is the horn...such a fascinating red button!

what a zoo - part deux

as a followup to the previous post, this is a video of miles really enjoying himself on his first carnival ride at como town. robin and i weren't really sure how he'd handle himself once she set him in the car and walked away. you can see that he didn't seem to mind being left alone.
once he got ahold of the steering wheel, it squeaked so loud that no one could hear anything the ride worker was saying.

what a zoo

this weekend we made our now annual trip to the cities to meet up with the harms' for a twins game and miles was pumped to see his friend "E-E" (a.k.a. ethan). now that we both have little boys, we had to plan something fun for them to do as well. so we headed to como zoo on saturday morning along with a million other people. it was crowded, but that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. the weather was gorgeous! we made it there just in time to catch the sparky the sea lion show. I do recall this being one of the highlights of the zoo for me when I was little. however, I also think it lasted longer than six minutes, but who knows?! miles thought it was spectacular and it was probably just long enough for his 14 month old attention span. ethan, scott, and anna joined us after the show for some lunch and then we took off to ogle at the animals. the fish were definitely the highlight for ethan and miles really enjoyed the monkeys.

check out the baby orangutan on the platform!
this was before miles saw the gorilla behind him
ethan LOVED the gorilla

we stopped for a quick ice cream break (for both the prego mamas and the babies) and then ventured into como town.
this area of the zoo is actually a really cute amusement park. it's relatively cheap and very clean - a nice change from the carnies working the county fair! miles embarked on his very first ride. the classic cars were a hit and he was just as amused by the train and the 2nd car ride with ethan. the daddies REALLY loved squeezing into the trains :)

check out that concentration - must take after his mommy

ethan was ready for a joyride!

both the boys were exhausted and glad that they were able to spend the night with their grandma and grandpas!
it was miles' FIRST overnight while mommy & daddy relaxed at the twins game with the harms'. this too became quite the adventure when we decided to park at the mall of america and take the light rail downtown. we were lucky enough to land ourselves a seat on the train - the poor souls standing up were getting to know each other a little more than they had planned. eew.

glad to have a seat!

kyle was in charge of getting us some tickets, but ran into some stubborn sales people on the street. lo and behold, we ended up sitting in the 17th row of the upper deck. nearly close enough to touch the dome at our last twins game in the dome. how ironic!

anna gets a medal for climbing this high while 7 mo pregnant!

say bye-bye to the narrow concourses packed with people

the game was terrible - but we had a great time in spite of the loss. the guys enjoyed a couple of beers while anna and I tagged along for some interesting people watching. we were glad to get back to the hotel and sleep in on sunday morning.

scott enjoying some snacks back at the hotel

I'm a little sad to report that miles refused to come to me when we got back to town to pick him up. a mini guilt trip for mommy I guess :(