Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to everyone! I'm very excited to get the boys all dressed up to go out trick or treating tonight. Hopefully the weather cooperates. If not, at least the boys have warm costumes - Henry will be a monkey and Teddy will be a banana. They already had a chance to break in their costumes last week at a party held at Henry's daycare.













I hope to keep up the coordinating costumes until they fight it... which knowing Henry's independent streak, will probably happen next year!

And to add to your holiday viewing enjoyment, here's a video of Henry saying "Trick or Treat" and talking about his new great love... candy!

Early to Bed, Early to Rise...

I just realized that Daylight Saving Time ends this weekend - at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday.
I used to love getting that extra hour of sleep... but with a 2-year-old that likes to rise with the chickens each morning, I'm kind of dreading it now. Saturday will be a busy day for Henry, and I'm sure he'll be up later than normal, so hopefully that will help counteract a super early wake-up time. Hopefully!

I just read this New York Times story about to how help kids adjust to DST. They say within 5 days, kids adjust to the time change... here's hoping!

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Henry and Teddy are sending you a special birthday message!

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Love, The Lechners

Look Who's Talking...

Teddy is doing a lot of cooing and goo-goo-gaa'ing these days...

Here's some video of him doing his thing! I tried to get him to smile, but he mostly made weird faces. Maybe next time!

Teddy is 2 Months Old!

Little Teddy turned 2 months old this week. And it's kind of startling to think how quickly time has flown by! It seems like just yesterday it was late summer and I was hugely pregnant. It now seems like T-Bone has been a part of our family forever.

Teddy had his 2-month doctor's appointment this week, as well. He weighs in at 12 pounds, 12 ounces and is 22 3/4 inches. He's in the 75-90th percentage for both height and weight, same as Henry was, so I think we've got another big boy on our hands. He checked out perfectly with the doctor - but he did have to get a few shots. Not very fun, but he handled them well.

Here's a pic of Teddy at 2 months...

And just to compare, here's Henry at 2 months...

You can't tell they're brothers, right? :)

Fall Fun

We took the boys to the Sever's Corn Maze this weekend - lots of fun! Henry loved the petting zoo... he called the Kangaroos "Woah-wa" aka Lola. Oddly enough, they do kind of look like her! Henry was really brave with all the animals - super excited to feed them. Like this friendly camel...

Henry also took his first pony ride with his daddy by his side...















Teddy missed out on most of the fun by sleeping in the Baby Bjorn most of the time. I barely used the Bjorn with Henry, but I've been finding it's really nice to have when we're out and about. I haven't been brave enough to take both boys on a big shopping trip to Target or the grocery store (or, basically any place you wouldn't really bring a stroller), but when I have to, I'm hoping that Teddy enjoys the Bjorn as much as he did this weekend. He snuggled right in there. But, it will be nice when he's big enough to face front and see the world!

Brotherly Love

In the last two months, Henry has gone from an only to a big brother - quite a change for an almost 2-year-old.

We've had a few bumps in the road while he's adapted to his little brother, but in general, he's really welcomed Teddy with open arms. Almost too open sometimes, when he wants to lavish his baby brother with aggressive hugs and kisses (read: nearly smother him with love, literally!).

At first we really didn't let Henry hold or kiss Teddy that much, but recently we've been ok with it as long as we're nearby and ready to pull the 36 lb. hulking toddler off the 12 lb. peanut.

I thought it would be cute to take a few pictures of this brotherly love, when Henry was recently talking and kissing baby bro as Teddy was lounging in the bouncer.

Pic #1:

Henry: Hey, little bro, how it's going? Can I get a hug?

Teddy: Gurgle.

Pic #2:

Henry: I love you little brother! Hey, mama, get this cute shot!

Teddy: Um.. you're crushing my face a bit.

Pic #3:

Henry: I love you so much, Teddy, I think I'm just going to lay on top of you!

Teddy: Um... help!

As you can see, that's my hand in the last one, just as I was taking the picture and realized that Henry literally wanted to smother his little bro with love. Yikes!

Teddy wasn't hurt... but it was a good reminder to keep a close eye on the kissing and hugging in the future!

Girl's Night Out

On Friday night, I had my first night out on the town since Teddy was born. Woo-hoo!

My mom, sister-in-law Laura and I went to see Little House on the Prairie at the Guthrie. It was wonderful. I grew up reading the books and watching the TV show, so it was fabulous to see it come to life on stage. Melissa Gilbert plays "Ma" in the musical - very cool!

At intermission, Laura and I had a few "LHOTP"-themed drinks... she had a Prairie Passionflower and I had a Naughty Nellie.

Although I missed the boys, it was nice to have a night out. Now on to planning the next one!

PS... Teddy is officially smiling now and even cooing a bit. I will post a pic of his smile - as soon as Matt uploads the pics (hint, hint). :) Yes, I know I need to learn how to do it!

Maybe Monty Brewster had it right

Before I let this blog take a complete left turn to liberal-ville, I must get something off my chest about this year's election.

Those who know me well know I love classic movies--Caddyshack, Major League, Animal House--the list goes on. But one classic movie that I've been thinking about recently is Brewster's Millions. A great movie about an aging minor league pitcher, played by Richard Pryor. In the movie Pryor's character, Monty Brewster has to spend $30 million in 30 days in order to receive his uncle's full inheritance of $300 million. But there are two stipulations, Brewster can't tell anyone what he's doing or he'll lose everything and at the end of 30 days he must not own anything. So as he spends and spends everyone thinks he's crazy. But there's an idea in this movie that isn't so crazy, especially today...two decades after the movie was written.

During his spending spree, Brewster decides he doesn't like the negative tone of the New York City's mayor race so he launches a campaign urging people to vote "None of the Above."

Unfortunately Richard Pryor has since passed, but if he were alive today--and aware of the bafoonery that was happening with the local and national elections--I hope he would stand-up and say "None of the Above."

My faith in government wasn't very strong before, but now I have - none, zero, zip - confidence in the people who want to "lead" this country. Change is coming... and I'm scared as hell!

It's up for debate

It's a late night in the Lechner household. Not because of Henry and Teddy, but because of Barack and John.

Needless to say, Matt and I are having some interesting conversations right now! I'm keeping this short so we can watch, but FYI to anyone interested in watching future debates... tune into CNNHD, where you can watch undecided voters react live to the candidate's discussions via a graph at the bottom of the screen. Pretty cool!

Baby, You're a Star

If you know Henry, you know the kid's an early riser. It's not unusual for him to be up and at'em at 5 a.m. In the last few months, Matt and I have finally caved and pulled out our tiny coffee maker to make our early mornings a bit easier.

Anyway, since he wakes up so early, I try to find activities that take place earlier in the morning, so we can get out of the house for a while and get back in time for his nap. It's not always easy, since things often start around 10/11 a.m.

I was looking at BabyGap.com and noticed that they were doing a casting call for Baby Gap models at the Mall of America last week. It started pretty early and I thought, why not, it could be fun to get Henry's picture taken. I'm no stage mother, for sure, but I figured it could kill some time and we could spend some time at the mall afterwards.

We got there pretty early and got H's picture taken. He wasn't especially cooperative, but H had fun playing a bit with some other kids in line and I got to look around the store at the cute clothes. I don't even think these pics really even look very "Henry"ish (if that makes sense), but they still make me smile so I thought I would share. I especially like the serious one. :)

Six weeks old today!

Teddy turns 6 weeks old today. It's kind of hard to believe, these first few weeks have been flying by, especially to what I remember with Henry. He's a great little guy.

To mark the date, I'm posting the 1-month pic I took with Henry and Teddy. It will be fun to see how they grow over the next year.

I'm also posting a pic of Henry and I at the State Fair the day before Teddy was born. This picture was actually taken only hours before Teddy was born, although we didn't know that at the time. Pretty cool - I will always treasure those pictures. I was huge!!!!

And yes, we put a leash on our kid at the fair. He didn't mind it - and, hey, it's cute!

Time for the big boy pants...

I had two thoughts for a title for this post... the one you see above, or: We might just be crazy. On the spur of the moment today, we decided to start potty training Henry. With a six-week old infant. Yikes.

I always thought that we'd potty train him closer to age 3. Basically, out of laziness on my part... I figured it made sense to do it when they're older and ready, rather than dragging out the process. If it meant that we had two in diapers for a while, so be it.

But Henry recently was moved up to the "Toddler 2" room at daycare, which means they have a tiny-sized bathroom in the room, complete with teeny-tiny toilet and sink. It's actually pretty cute! He's still in diapers, of course, at daycare but everyday they let him sit on the potty, and he's been pretty receptive to it. They can only flush the potty if they actually go... which is a pretty big incentive for an almost 2-year old!

So between the new potty at day care, and the fact that Henry has been showing interest in the potty at home a few times this week, I went out and got a little potty seat and Thomas under-roos today. As expected, he went ga-ga over the Thomas-roos... the pic above is him wearing them while watching Thomas. He could NOT wait to put them on. And I gotta say, it's super cute. Who knew that seeing him in big-boy undies could make me feel a bit sad... he's turning into such a big boy.

We put him on the potty multiple times this afternoon and tonight and he was really into it... almost too into it, since he would go just a bit and then two seconds again he wanted to get back on and go again. But, I suppose that's a good problem to have! We had a few accidents, but overall, we were really amazed by how interested he was in it.

We'll see how it goes in the coming days and if his enthusiasm keeps up. But it seems like we're on the road to potty training!

Welcome, Fall!

Well, I guess it's officially been fall for a few days now, but it finally really feels like it. I love this time of year. I know I'll be sick of the cold weather come January 1st, but fall in Minnesota is so beautiful that it's hard not to love it.

Fall always makes me want to cook comfort foods, and I pulled out the crock-pot yesterday to make some chili. Yum! I was on a cooking kick, so I also made some banana flax seed muffins. Well, the recipe was a flop. Either I did something wrong or I baked them too long, but they were kind of rubbery. Even Henry agreed. When you're worried about your toddler choking on a rubbery muffin, as I did this morning - that's when you know it's time to throw them out!

I do love cooking with flax seed and have a sure-fire winner recipe for flax muffins that I'll post below. I've made them many times - and while they're a bit labor intensive - they're so good and good for you. I buy the flax seeds whole and grind them in the food processor before I use them (you lose the health benefits if you eat them whole). Enjoy!

Apple-Carrot Flax Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup ground flax seed
3/4 cup oat bran
1 cup brown sugar (I usually add a little less than this, they're still nice and sweet)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup skim milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I usually add 1 tbsp. and they still turn out fine)
2 cups shredded carrots
2 apples, peeled, shredded
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup chopped mixed nuts (I don't usually add these)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, flax seed, oat bran, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the milk, eggs, vanilla and oil; mix until just blended. Stir in the carrots, apples, raisins and nuts. Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full with batter.
Bake at 350 F for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.