November 2010

A time of thanksgiving and preparation for the blessings God is about to bring. This month we all got new bedrooms and Ryan and I joined our offices together. Having one big office has allowed Ryan and I to see a bit more of each other in the evenings as well as enough space for Noah to play in the same room too. Noah is enjoying his new bedroom and new view out the windows where he is now able to watch the garbage trucks. We plan to set up the nursery over the next week. It will be great to have everyone settled in and maybe my nesting can take a break for the holidays. Ha ha.

We set up our tree and put up lights a week before Thanksgiving. It’s the earliest we’ve ever done that, but we’re really excited to celebrate Christmas this year with Noah. It’s the first Christmas that he will be aware of what is going on around him and it will be his last Christmas without siblings. He loves looking at the ornaments on the tree and insists the lights are on any time we are downstairs. Last year he got a Polar Express train set as a gift. He was a bit young to really enjoy it then, but he has played with it every day since we put it around the tree. He loves gathering up my snowmen and watching Rudolph so he can see Santa. He doesn’t make it through more than ten minutes of the movie, but he knows that Santa says, “Ho, ho, ho.” The Sunday after Thanksgiving we bundled Noah up in his stroller and took him to see Santa in the Woodstock Christmas Parade on the square.

(1) Noah has spent countless hours and numerous batteries playing with his Polar Express train set since we put up the tree (2) Noah gets a thrill out of having the Christmas tree lights on, he was all about helping Mom put them on the tree

October 2010

We kicked off October with our second camping trip—the Annual Klos Columbus Day Weekend Camping Trip. We joined two of Ryan’s brothers and their families for a drive to southern Illinois. We camped in the Shawnee National Forest for four nights. The weather was absolutely beautiful—sunny, highs in the low 80’s and overnight lows in the 40’s. The leaves were starting to change and the campfire only added to the joy of being outdoors for so many days. We went hiking, geo-caching, bouldering, sight seeing and enjoyed several picnics and s’mores.

This month Noah started disciplining himself by sitting in time-out when he knew he was in trouble. It’s hard not to laugh watching him sit in the corner with his legs stretched out in front of him as he folds his body in half with his head almost touching his knees and his hands folded on his lap. How can one look so cute even when they’re in trouble? We’ve had to be especially careful to not even threaten time-out or ask him if he wants to go to sit in time-out because he will always answer, “yes.” I’m not sure how long this will last, but I can only suspect that this will be short lived. I am thankful that he responds well to discipline and that for the most part, he’s a pretty good listener.

We were finally able to have our ultrasound this month which would allow us as a family to see the baby and find out if we were expecting another boy or if we’d be having a girl. We asked the technician to write down the baby’s sex on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope. After our appointment we were going to meet up with both sets of grandparents for brunch and we’d open the envelope then. It was a really fun way of sharing the news together! Oh, and by the way, if you haven’t heard—it’s a boy!

My sister Jillian came out for a two week visit over Halloween. We had a great time visiting with her. She brought my nephew Hayden over so we could all carve pumpkins together on Saturday and then went trick-or-treating together on Sunday. Noah loved getting candy to put in his bag, but most of all, he loved being able to wear his puppy dog costume all day long. He’d tried it on several times before that I had to hide it until Halloween. Any time he had it on he wanted to look in a mirror to see himself in the costume.

(1) Noah & Daddy at the Annual Klos Fall Party (2) Ryan and Noah get ready for a hike at Shawnee National Forest during our Annual Klos Columbus Weekend Camping Trip (3) Noah and Monica enjoy a picnic lunch after hiking and naps (4) Noah and Gummy Bear in the tent (5) Noah gets a little reading in (6) Our nieces and nephews enjoyed an afternoon of bouldering in Dixon Springs (7) Noah fell asleep reading his favorite book on our 6 hour drive home from camping (8) Noah enjoyed playing in the leaves at Veteran's Acres (9) Noah enjoyed chasing the chickens at our friend's farm (10) Noah didn't know what to make of playing in the corn at first (11) Noah's first year trick-or-treating

September 2010

Noah began his second session of Musik Garten this month. We enrolled him as an infant at nine-months and again as a toddler. We had a blast together, though having children’s songs stuck in your head night and day can start to take it’s toll. We loved seeing Noah learning and growing as a result of this class. He’d sing words he knew how to say and would dance or do the motions to almost every song. It is IMPOSSIBLE to take a car trip without music playing as requested by the little guy in the backseat. Who can resist seeing him smile, stalk like a cat or drumming his shoes?

In September we also took part in the Out of the Darkness Community Walk at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. We walk annually as a family to raise awareness for depression and suicide prevention after the loss of my younger brother William. This past April we organized a local (campus) walk in McHenry, IL. We are working on another walk for April 2011 (become a fan of our Facebook page to receive updates as we get closer).

(1) Noah really enjoyed Grandma Pony's homemade strawberry jam (2) Labor Day family hike at Glacial Park (3) Noah and Ryan on top of the kames of Glacial Park (4 & 5) Noah's posed camera faces (6) Noah playing at Grandma and Grandpa Pony's Farm (7) Noah exploring by touching mums (8) Grandma and Noah petting the horses (9 & 10) Noah driving Grandpa Pony's tractor

August 2010

August was a blur, if it was thirty-one days I think we might have missed a few. The pregnancy and chasing a toddler hit the hardest in August which required a lot of extra sleeping. We also took our first family camping trip—a two-night adventure at Kettle Moraine State Park in Wisconsin. We couldn’t have picked a hotter set of days to go, but it was a very much needed time away from the everyday. During our trip we took Noah to the Milwaulkee County Zoo. He enjoyed people watching as well as the opportunity to see real elephants.

(1) Campsite (2) Where's Noah? (3) Enjoying spaghetti dinner while trying to stay cool from the baking sun (4) Noah meets his first elephant (5) Noah and Daddy at the zoo (6) Noah and Mommy at the zoo (7) Awe. My cutie (8) Ryan and Noah at the County Fair (9) Checking out the John Deere tractors (10) Noah giggled with delight when petting the goats

July 2010

Noah proudly sported his “big brother” onsie at the annual Hartmann 4th of July party this month. We made him a his own shirt the read, “Wanna know a secret? I’m going to be a big brother in February 2011” to help us announce our pregnancy to family and friends. We also celebrated Noah’s first birthday with our extended family.

This month we taught Noah how to play Ring Around the Rosies and he couldn’t wait to play it with anyone who would hold his hand. Noah made a new friend this month—Gummy—a little white stuffed bear that he received from our family in Germany. Ryan thought the name Gummy Bear was fitting since Germany makes the best gummy bears. Gummy has made it through the wash machine a few times and is greatly loved by this little boy.

Noah also had his first trip to the dentist this month after chipping his front tooth while running in his crib. Thankfully it wasn’t a traumatic experience. The dentist didn’t think that the chip was in need of repair and that it would be more of a traumatic experience than it was worth. Phew! I’m just hopeful that having boys won’t mean more trips to the doctor, dentist or emergency rooms.

I love the last picture for this month with Noah’s arms raised. This is how he thinks you take your picture: raise your arms, smile and say “cheese!”

June 2010

June was another busy month. Within one week we purchased our first van, found out we were expecting again and Ryan was laid off after the company he was working for was sold. This was not quite what Ryan had in mind for his 3- to 5-year business plan of pursuing photography full-time. God was moving him at a much faster speed—3 to 5 days!

Overnight Ryan moved from part-time photography and freelance writing to making Ryan Klos Photography and Klos Creative a full-time job. This also meant that I was going back to work too. It has been a lot of fun to be designing (print and web) again. Being self employed during today’s economy has taught us many things, but the two most important have been to rely on God daily to provide work and meet our needs. And second, how important it is for us to be together as a family and being able to work from home.

2010 in Review

It’s been a busy six months and a lot has changed since Noah’s first birthday. We’ve traveled, made big career changes and even big changes in our family. In hopes to catch up with all our readers here are the highlights from our summer and fall.

May 2010
Every year Ryan joins his brothers, nieces and nephews for the annual Dads & Kids Campout—a weekend of adventures, games and camping in the great outdoors. Noah is excited to join his cousins and uncles in a couple years (the one rule is that kids must be out of diapers). So, while Daddy went camping, Noah and Mommy went on a train ride halfway across the country.

Noah and I (along with Oma, Opa, Auntie Lauren and Hayden) took Amtrak from Chicago to Phoenix to visit Auntie Jill and her boyfriend. We spent three full days on the train and three days swimming in Arizona. Noah enjoyed his first train experiences riding in the sleeper cars and eating in the diner. The best part was probably playing in the observation car with lots of windows to view the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Noah also got to enjoy his first swimming experience on this trip. Once we got home it was finally warm enough to set up a pool in the backyard too. Noah and I made it back home just in time for Ryan and I to celebrate our five-year wedding anniversary.

1. Noah's first train ride on Metra 2. Noah enjoys breakfast in the diner car aboard Amtrak 3. Noah fell asleep before making it to the pool for his first swimming experience 4. Noah and Monica take a ride down the lazy river 5. Noah enjoys splashing in the kiddie pool 6. and 7. A couple shots the many pools and lazy river at the resort we stayed at