Time for School!

Proud Parents: Karie & Ben



Tavis has started his second year in co-op preschool. He goes to school 3 days a week/2hrs each day. Karie works in the classroom on Wed's while Grandma comes over to take care of Maclain. On the other days, Mac goes along to drop Tavis up and pick him up. Here they are both dressed and ready for school.


Maclain is 5 months old as of Sept 29th. He has been showing off this "crawling" position for about a month. He rocks back and forth and looks like he's about to take off! I tried the bib to catch the drool but decided that it looks kind of silly when he doesn't even eat yet. Guess I'll just go back to changing his shirt every few hours...


This is a bit of a somber moment. They are both lying on the floor and waiting for me to take the picture.


Tav is wearing all my fave clothes on our way up to Bellingham. He's listening to the iPod read to him: Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc, and A Bug's Life. Great alternative from the actual movies since we don't have a dvd player in the car.

Brotherly Love

Tavis and Maclain get along great! Tavis is still proving to be a protective and loving big brother and Mac cracks up at everything Tav does. Here are some pics of them playing around...

Summer birthday for Tav

Tavis had his 3rd Birthday party with a few friends. His dad made the cake, it's "Mike Wazowski" from Monsters, Inc. We all had a great time.

Tavis got a betta fish for his birthday. He named him Andy, short for Anemone, a term he picked up from Finding Nemo. (Are you seeing a trend here? He's really into movies!)


Here Tavis is helping Dad do some push ups. He coaches him along by counting. I think the most is 26...pretty good Dad!

The Koltz boys

Tavis has started "reading" to his baby brother. Maclain can't keep his eyes off of his older brother.
Mac is already protesting Tavis' many kisses.
Maclain is 13 lbs and 23 inches now, getting bigger every day!
Tavis, Alexis, and Justin up waayy past their bedtime for their first fireworks show down on Alki beach.

A Day at the Aquarium

My friend Troi and I decided to take the kids to the aquarium. We met in the morning on Alki and took the Water Taxi over to the waterfront. It's about a 15-20 minute ride across the water. We are members at the Aquarium and Tavis was a gracious tour guide. We got there early enough to see the diver in the great tank of the lobby. While that freaked Alexis out, Tavis did his routine of pushing his way up front to put his hand on the glass and wave at the diver. Then we were off to see the octopus and wolf eel, both of which were sleeping. Maclain and I missed most of the tour due to feeding time so Troi was on triple duty of chasing Alexis and Tavis while carrying 9-month old Justin in the Baby Bjorn. Needless to say, we all needed a nap by the time we got back to West Seattle! Thanks Helmers for a great day!

Holding Maclain

Mom and Maclain checking each other out.
Auntie Liz and Joe holding Mac for the first time.
Daddy and Maclain relax after a long day.
He's such a sweet baby.
Tavis is exploring the backyard while Dad gets it ready for the remodel. Here Tavis is showing me a centipede. It bites so he's wearing gloves. Look closely at his right hand...you might have to click on the photo to see it better!

The Favorite Onesie is Back!

Check out Tavis sporting this tee back in 2005.


Pretty cute.

Cute Pics

"Tavis and Alexis sittin' in a tree..."
Picnic in the park with G & G Koltz
Maclain is already looking up to Tavis.

Look a-likes

When I saw this picture of Maclain, I got deja vu. Wow.

Spring fling

Maclain is doing great, steadily growing and getting more used to his surroundings every day. Tavis is a protective big brother, often "loving" Baby Mac a little too much.
We made our first full family outing at the end of May. We went up to Bellingham for the Ski to Sea parade and to visit Karie's side of the family. We stayed two nights with Great Grandma Carpenter and had a great time. Tavis really enjoyed the parade and was able to spend some time with his cousin Max. We are planning on all going up again in August for Karie's 20th high school reunion...should be a blast!

2 Weeks Old

Coming Home

We've been home for a couple of days and things are going great. Ben took some time off to be Mr. Mom, even working at Tavis' preschool. Tavis is proving to be a most helpful big brother. He is very good with Maclain. He often tells me how cute Baby Mac is and is very concerned when he is crying. (Which, thankfully, is not very often).
Yeah, I'm pretty proud of my boys. I think I'll keep 'em.

Introducing Maclain Benjamin Koltz

Maclain was born on Tuesday, April 29th at 2:02pm. He weighs 7lbs 4.6oz and is 21 inches long. Here are some pics from the hospital:

Happy Monday!

Today I have an appt with my Dr. who is fresh off of a birthday vacation where she was fishing in Montana. More good news is that I'm finally in the 'latent phase' of the first stage of labor. I pulled out my trusty book and read about this stage this morning. Basically, I'm having contractions that are trackable although not yet painful. This could last for hours or days until I go into active labor. I don't need a book to remind me of active labor, I remember that part! So, the book says I should go for a walk, listen to music, visit with friends, dance or play cards to get my mind off the mild contractions. What I plan to do is finish the laundry, clean the dishes in the sink, scrub the bathroom floor and take care of my sick toddler before I drop him off at his GG's house this afternoon. Not quite the "me time" I had the first time around but it'll definately do the trick of distracting me. I will update more after the appt unless she sends me straight to the hospital...then I'll have Ben update.

Nada...

Due Date: April 22

Umm...nope.

Any baby news? Nah, not yet...

Hope Tavis doesn't mind sharing the limelight for a bit, we will update news on baby brother on this same blog so keep checking!
I'm due next week and I'll keep you posted of the impending event. In the meantime, here are a few photos from Easter and a baby shower at Aunt Randi's...




The Mason side: Pauline, Randi, Karie and Dianne

The Carpenter/Heath side: Kristi, Ethel, Karlee, Karie, Jamie, Robin and Haylee

Tavis playing with new "cousin" Kosmo