The lil' monkey is well again!

"I make this look good!"

"yep, I'm a stud"

Mommy's lil' monkey!

all ready to brave the cold outdoors!

helping mama with laundry

hi! Everyone!

Eoin seems to be feeling so much better these days; he is making up for those days of not eating very well by pounding bottles and loving his solids. He is smiling and laughing and back to his generally content little self. He is "talking" a lot more these days too, and vocalizes his frustration with certain things by "yelling!" We can't help but giggle about it everytime we witness it; he crunches up his eyes to let you know he definitely means business. Eoin is much more aware of the puppies and loves sit and pet/pull/claw on Aspen. Aspen is such a good sport to put up with him and if Aspen isn't near him when he wishes, he yells for her to come!

Amidst Eoin not feeling well, two things came up that compounded the situation for our lil' monkey . . . his first two teeth!!! Right in the middle on bottom row! He can bite with fury now, so use caution. He was such a trooper through this first round of teething. I have tried getting pictures, but he guards his teeth very well with his fiesty little tongue. Maybe sometime soon! Grandma Kohn and Nana were very excited to hear of these little ivory arrivals and hurried to see them. Grandma Kohn hurried over the night we found them and Nana came down this past weekend to spend some time with Eoin and his teeth. They both braved the extremely inclement weather we have been facing in the midwest.

Through deep discussion, we have decided to put our house on market and have it listed with a good family friend through Coldwell Banker. It was a tough decision as we both LOVE the house, but more space is going to be an inevitable need. If you know anyone searching, please keep us in mind :)

Exciting News (shameless plug)!

Children’s author will appear at Home Show for book signing and readings, proceeds from book to go to Ronald McDonald House Charities

A new attraction at the Home Show this year is for the young and young at heart. Children’s author, Deb Lund, author of several children’s books, will have a booth at the Home Show on Saturday, March 14th from 9:00am to 7:00pm. She will appear courtesy of Stark Excavating, Inc and will be signing and reading from her newest book, Monsters on Machines.

In Monsters on Machines readers get to meet Stinky Stubb, Dirty Dugg, Gorbert, and Melvina, the craftiest crew of monsters ever to build a house. The monsters adorn hard hats and with heavy machinery afoot, these feisty fellas dig, dump, hammer, nail, and - after a surprise lunch of Mama's special monsteroni and cheese - they even squeeze in time for an afternoon snooze. The book has just about everything a child could hope for, from fantastical characters to vehicles, from muck and mud to screams and shouts! For more information on the book or author, please visit www.deblund.com

Further exciting news, the proceeds from pre-sales of the book, Monsters on Machines, will be donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Illinois! The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Illinois provides a home away from home to families of seriously ill children who are receiving medical care in Springfield and soon in Peoria. They also help children in the central Illinois area to lead happier, healthier more productive lives by providing grant funding the central Illinois non-profit organizations.

To pre-order a book, please call Lisa Kohn at the Bloomington Normal Area Homebuilders’ Association at (309)663-6612. The book is absolutely adorable and is suitable for children of many ages; it is available in hardback for only $16.00 and may be signed and personalized by the author.

If you have any questions regarding any of this, please let me know! Also, please pass this information on to anyone you think may be interested; it isn't very often we get great children's authors visiting the Bloomington/Normal area and to be able to use this as a fundraiser for RMHCCI is just incredible!

I love my Daddy!

excuse the garden vegetable mess all over his face; it is not nose secretion!

If there is to be a silver lining to Eoin feeling under the weather, it is definitely that he enjoys being cuddled much more. After dinner, Jordan and Eoin sat on the couch before his bath (hench he isn't very clean!) Jordan took advantage of our baby being lethargic and in somewhat of a food coma to steal some hugs . . . aren't they so cute together!

ISU GO!

ISU Redbirds played Creighton in front of a sold out crowd on Saturday. Jordan and I were a little reluctant to bring Eoin as he is still fighting his cold, but decided to anyway. We were so glad that we did! He was a perfect angel throughout the game, sitting on his grandpa's lap for the duration. He watched the game as if he knew what was going on and didn't even make a peep when his earplugs went missing towards the end of the game. The highlight may have been when ISU scored early in the game and everyone jumped up, Grandpa Kohn included, and Eoin was elevated above many heads in celebration; he actually liked it! Although Jordan was quick to point out that due to gravity and the tight sitting quarters, the people in front of us would probably not appreciate Eoin spitting up on them, so this didn't happen again!

Watch Me Play

Eoin loves playing with all of his toys; as soon as you show him something he makes this hilarious little face and throws his arms up to let you know he wants it! Auntie Kelly got him a great v-tech table for Christmas and although the top comes off so Eoin can play with it on the floor we decided to see if he would stand at it; he did not pull himself up to it, we placed him there, but he stood banging on the table top for a long time!

Rub a Dub Dub . . .

. . . Eoin in the tub!

Not the greatest quality of pictures, but I had to post them! Eoin got some great bath toys for Christmast and he just loves playing and splashing in the tub with them. On this particular night, Eoin still was not feeling great, but he brightens up as soon as his little tushy hits the water.

(Un) Happy New Year

Our 5th year as each other's midnight kiss :)
ek and i
Beth giving the thumbs up to some car bombs
my love (ps Clint is a great photog)
great times with Clint and Beth and new friends Andrew and Kristin
A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Baby New Year, Clint!
He turned the big "30" at midnight!

Happy New Year! Jordan and I were lucky to ring in the New Year amongst some great friends at Killarney's. Unfortunately, the next day we rang in a few hours of our new year in the emergency room at St. Joe's. Eoin has been fighting a cold for the last couple of days and although it wasn't awful, it wasn't getting any better despite Tylenol, increased fluids (he LOVES apple juice) and the vaporizer in his room. Of course, he seemed slightly better on Wednesday evening or mommy and daddy would not have gone anywhere! Thursday, he seemed very congested and seemed to me to be more labored in his breathing. I called the doctor for some advice and she suggested that I take him to the emergency room (unfortunately the only place open!) for a breathing treatment. Eoin was not a happy camper throughout the triage portion of our experience and during the breathing treatment was extremely unhappy. I would be lying if I said I held strong throughout the entire process; his tears broke me! The breathing treatment, as traumatizing as it was for Eoin, Jordan and I, didn't work; the doctor thought it unnecessary to test for RSV as he would treat Eoin the same regardless of such a diagnosis and started him on an oral steriod. The poor, little, worn out boy fell asleep in my arms before the steriod could be administered and so we got as much of a dose as possible into him while he slept. He appeared to be much better this morning; his breathing and voice were much more clear and he has got his appetite back. The lil' man really has been such a trooper through his first illness and E.R. visit. We are certainly hoping that the beginning of '09 is no indication of the rest of the year and instead hope for a very happy and healthy year for everyone.