The Lieslands

Yesterday was Andrew’s first day going an entire day without a diaper and without an accident. To top it off, he woke up this morning and the first thing he did was go to the bathroom. He did not go once in his night-time diaper, which is the second time he has done that. Things are going so well that Susan and I worry that he is going to regress.

It has been a while, which sometimes means that there has been a lot going on, and sometimes, not so much. This time, it is the former.

The past few weeks have been very busy. A few weekends ago we went on our first family camping trip, which was both fun and successful. The kids slept well and had a good time. There were no major problems and I think it is fair to say that a good time was had by all. It was our first time using our tent which we got last Christmas. With the new baby due in Feb, it looks like it could be a while before we go camping again.

Susan’s parents came to visit the next week. They came in on a Thursday and left the following Wednesday. While they were here we had a great time. Our exploits included a trip to a pumpkin patch and catching a short view of the Tall Stacks parade. We couldn’t stay long because once one of the boats blew their whistles Andrew informed us that he had seen enough.

Susan parents were also in town for another big event: Andrew’s third birthday. It is hard to believe that it has been three years. Andrew was very excited about his birthday. He now takes great pride in telling people he is three. Just this morning he told me that he is still growing and that he isn’t going to stop until he is as big as I am. I told him to take his time.

Along with turning three, Andrew has also decided that he is ready to start potty training. He is doing very well with it. Right now we usually have about one accident a day. Sunday was his first day without wearing any diapers and he did very well. He even managed to pee at the zoo, which was his first time peeing in a public restroom.

Mari continues to amaze me with her speech and how well she understands us. She seems to be picking up new words every day. She is getting much more social and loves to play with Andrew.

Susan’s belly has finally started to protrude. The other day I got to feel the baby moving around. Susan is doing well. Yoga starts in a few weeks, which will hopefully help keep her back from hurting.

We are still trying to sell our house and actually just took down our ‘For Sale By Owner’ sign and signed up with a Realtor. Hopefully the extra exposure will help us. In the 2.5 months that we were doing it ourselves we only had three people look at the house.

That’s all for now. I hope to get some new pics up soon.

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We had our ultrasound this morning, which is always exciting. No, we did not find out the sex, but we did get to see the normal array of strange pics. The coolest part this morning was seeing how active the baby was and seeing limbs move across the screen. Andrew and Mari were both present. Andrew watched very intently and was interested in what was going on. Mari was not as interested, but every now and then she would point to the monitor and say “baby.”

After about a week, Craig’s List came through for us and we found a buyer for the car. We are down to two cars now, which is good.

We are going to be meeting with some realtors early next week to talk about the house and see what kind of services they can offer (& for how much).

After years of waiting, I finally have my minivan. I have been wanting a minivan for a while now, and Susan and I finally bought a 2001 Mazda MPV.

We had to get a minivan because when we have another kid in Feb we need to have room for all of the carseats.

Things have been very busy lately. We are still trying to sell our house, and now we are also trying to sell Susan’s Sonata. Neither of these processes are going very fast. We are thinking about getting a realtor soon, to help the house go faster.

Mari is walking. She finally kicked it into gear about ten days ago and loves to walk. She loves to go outside and walk down the sidewalk.

I put some new pics up.

Susan is starting to show a little bit.

I think that’s it for now. We’ll keep you updated.

It is taking her a while to catch on, but Mari is walking more and more every day. Here is a short little video of one of her latest attempts.

I put a video out there (you know, in cyberspace) of Andrew reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?.

There is also one out there that I call Potato.

As I am sure anyone who reads this knows by now, Susan is pregant again, and we are all geared up for a new baby in February. Susan and I are really excited, Andrew has no clue (we think), and Mari really has no clue. Susan has been feeling well most of the time. She is tired, which she is apparently OK with, since she has been tired since she was pregnant with Andrew. She went through a brief period where should would have waves of nausea, but that time appears to have passed.

We are coming off of a couple weeks of sick kids. Mari was sick last week, and Andrew is just recovering from being sick for a few days. Hopefully we will go a while without being sick again, because this wasn’t much fun.

Mari is getting cuter and cuter everyday. She will now take a few steps in a row and will be walking full-out soon. She is finally starting to warm up to strangers (aka, our friends) and loves to play with Andrew. As she gets older and more mobile it is great to see her and Andrew play together.

You may have heard the rumors, and they are true: we are selling our house. We are selling “For Sale By Owner” and we anticipate it will take a long time. If you like, you can check out our website, 2911Montclair.com. We just put the sign up a week ago and are slowly building a marketing campaign.

After the house sells, I hope to find a new job in Des Moines and we will move out West to check things out.

In other exciting news, we have had some radical shifts in our sleeping situation. Our bed used to be composed of two twin mattresses and a crib mattress on a platform, all put together. Andrew slept on the crib mattress and Susan, Mari and I shared whatever was left. Mari has been taking up more space, which makes everyone sleep poorly, so we decided to change things up. We moved Andrew’s old mattress on a platform to my side, for Mari to sleep on, Susan and I share the two twin mattresses, and Andrew has moved to a crib mattress on the floor next to our bed. It is a little sad, as he takes another step toward having his own bed, in his own room.

Mari has learned ot stand on her own. About two weeks ago I witnessed her going from sitting on the floor to a standing position, without holding on to anything. It is pretty cool. In the past few days we have witnessed her taking a couple small steps, but she still has a ways to go.

Mari has had a fever the past few days, and has been very fussy. We took her to the Dr yesterday, who said her ears look great and she probably has Roseola or a urinary tract infection, so we need to see what happens over the next couple days.

Since my last post, we also went on a fun trip to Des Moines. Being there in the summer is a blast because there is always something to do. Andrew is finally getting a little more into playing in the water, which I also enjoy. While we were there he also went down a huge slide, that he thought about going down again, but decided once was enough.

I think that is it for now. We’ll keep you updated.

Settling In
A few days later, we are still getting settled in to our new names. We have changed most of the important stuff. I still catch myself using the name “Hyland” too often, but I think that I am getting better.

Moving Out
After two and a half months of fun and fellowship, our friend Julie is moving out of our basement. When she moved in it was agreed that she would stay for just a couple months, and so now it is time for her to move on. It has been a lot of fun living with her and we are glad that she was able to subject herself to the joy of the early-morning pitter-patter of footsteps.

On the Go
Mari is moving around marvelously. She is a very good crawler and she has just recently learned to turn around and back down from steps and furniture (though she has yet to master the stairs). Her signing is also progressing. She is working on more, eat, and down.

Trying to Go
Andrew’s potty exploits continue. He has a long way to go, but he keeps trying. I would say that the success rate is increasing ever-so-slightly.

I just posted some new pics of the family on the photo section of our website. Check ’em out.

After months (technically years) of conversations, brain-storming sessions, and deliberations, we have officially changed our last name to LIESLAND ! ! !

Susan and I got married a couple years ago, she kept her name and I kept mine; we decided to hyphenate the kids’ names. We have never been too thrilled about the name situation, and we began kicking around the idea of changing all of our names to one common name. Over time the idea gained momentum, until finally, this summer, we decided to do something about it.

Rather than picking one of our last names, or using a hyphenated name, we decided that we wanted to go with a suitable and ear-pleasing combo. “Liesland” sounded the best to us, so we went with it. Along with the fact that we like the name, it is also a great way to represent the joining of the Liesses and the Hylands, which is manifested in our marriage.