House of Ruts

Character

2011-11-02T15:23:00.002-05:00

We recently had Drake's parent-teacher conference. I was eager to have a chance to talk to the teacher one on one and hear how Drake was doing at school. I knew, from the papers he brings home, that he was doing fairly well academically and Drake will honestly give us his behavior report every day and so we knew that there had not been any major issues (only some chattiness!). However, we struggle at home a lot with Drake. He is a perfectionist when it comes to a lot of things and also very competitive and that leads to frequent issues. So, the time came to get to hear from another adult about how he handles himself at school. His teacher started off the conference by telling us that Drake's character and honesty are very admirable and unusual for this age. Whew, I guess some things we are teaching are sinking in. She was so impressed with his honesty one day because she called several children up to get a treat for not getting any warnings that week (for talking). She called Drake's name. When she was going to give him his treat, he reminded her that he had gotten a warning for talking the day before so he shouldn't get the treat. She was so impressed with his honesty that she pulled him aside later and gave him the treat anyway. She also made the comment that when asked to use the word "believe" in a sentence in front of the class that his sentence was "I believe in God." We have struggled so much over the last few years with private vs. public education and which option is the best for our family. We want to protect him from bad influences but yet want him to be a light to the other kids as well. That was enough assurance, at least for now, that we have made the right decision.

14 months

2011-10-31T19:02:00.005-05:00

Things you love:
broccoli and cauliflower
pizza
grapes
your puppy
being outside
seeing dogs from a distance (you aren't too sure of them when they get close)
being put down to go to bed (you are not a cuddler!)

Things you don't love:
riding in the car
green beans
anything made with sour cream or mayonnaise
riding in the car
not getting your way (you are getting the hang of fit-throwing!)
riding in the car
sleeping all night
riding in the car (this makes everything from running errands to visiting family a difficult task)

Things you are starting to say:
mama
dada
ball
uh-oh
tickle
keys
bye bye
woof woof (all animals either say "woof" or "grrrr" with an occasional "baaaa")

You are still taking two naps a day, usually about 1 1/2-2 hours each and generally go down and wake up happy each time. You have 11 teeth through now, with the other bottom molar looking like it could pop through any day. You are not a great night time sleeper. You really would like to have a snack (milk) most nights. Your night time sleep is completely unpredictable, you might sleep all night for several nights and then wake up several nights in row with no seeming pattern. However, if you wake up you have NO desire to be held or cuddled, you simply want a drink and to go back to bed! Hours and hours and weeks and weeks of attempting to make you cry it out seem to have no impact on your desire to sleep all night, every night. I have a feeling you are going to be one strong-willed child. You are wearing 18-24 month pants and 24months-2T shirts. I think you weigh close to 30lbs now. You are signing "please", "all done", "more" and "thank you" now. We are trying really hard to get you to sign all done before you start throwing your food or cup down. You are understanding more and more everyday and are starting to get better about following simple commands like picking things up and throwing things away. You are having surgery in a couple of weeks to fix your hernia, on the same day as your big sister. You love playing with your siblings and try to keep up with them. You also love to try to do the actions to songs that your siblings sing. You have added a lot to our family over the last 14 months!

Fast Update on Drake

2011-09-20T21:14:00.003-05:00

The long story short is that Drake went on anti-seizure meds on August 22, after meeting with a neurologist at St. Louis Children's Hospital. We really felt good about the doctor and the information she provided. To date, since being on meds he hasn't had any more seizures, yay!

Can I go to Drake's school now?

2011-09-07T21:31:00.000-05:00

Hadley had her first day of preschool today, which she has been super excited about. Upon completing her first day she asked, "Can I go to Drake's school now?" Oh dear, preschool does last longer than one day, but once we talked about all the months she would go to preschool before she could start Kindergarten, she was good.

When we got to school, she just walked right in, hung up her bag, washed her hands, found a book and sat down like she had always been doing it. I had to get her attention to even tell me bye. I think preschool looks good on her.

Onederful

2011-08-31T21:15:00.003-05:00

My big man turned one! He is walking all over the place! He is so busy and loves to be outside and watching animals. He is weighing in at around 28lbs now and almost 31 inches. He's starting to lose a little hair (which seems odd for 12 months!) and it's starting to look a lot thinner. He's not bald by any means but doesn't have nearly the mop of hair he used to. He's starting to talk more every day. He's babbling with such inflection it sounds like he is talking. He says mama, dada, ball, bye-bye (sometimes) and will answer the question "what does a dog say?" with "woof, woof". He's getting quite a little funny personality too. He giggles and giggles nearly every time I lay him in his bed. He's signing "please" all the time, mostly when he wants food or something anyone has that he wants. He's also starting to learn the art of fit-throwing already. He has been seen throwing himself to the ground a time or two (or three...) when he doesn't get what he wants. He's still taking two great naps a day, about 1 1/2-2 hours each. We've gone to all sippy cups during the day with only a nighttime bottle. (For some reason taking it away from him seems to be the hardest of any of the kids!) Happy Birthday little man!

Waiting

2011-07-08T10:25:00.008-05:00

Drake had another seizure on June 23. This one was very similar to the last one, however it took him longer to come out of it. It was about 25-30 minutes before he could talk after this last one. I called the neurologist and he said he would like to start medication but we needed an appointment first. The next available appointment was not until July 25th. I was not ready to start medication because I wanted to make sure we had ruled out all possible causes before starting an anti-seizure medication with all of it's side effects. So, I called back to the neurologist and asked if he would order an MRI and a sleep study (since they have all happened in his sleep). He said these were not necessary at this point. He did order another EEG with total sleep deprivation, meaning keep him up all night and do the EEG and 8:30am. That is scheduled for Monday, July 11th.

In the meantime, we were just waiting...

Then, last week Drake was running a fever for a few days and had a sore throat, just some little virus. Well, while he was running the fever of about 102* he complained that everything out of his left eye looked like a DVD that was skipping. So, we went back to our pediatrician. I asked her to order the MRI and she agreed that it was not "unreasonable". So yesterday we went for the MRI. They tried to do it without sedating him first. We took the ipod for him to listen to but they must not have actually hit the play button because he said he couldn't hear it. Anyway, after a couple of tries they said there was too much movement. Even the slightest movement of his head causes distortion in the pictures, so they decided rather than keep trying it would be easier just to sedate him. He did great with them starting the IV and was "out" within minutes, maybe even seconds. He was to be in recovery for about 30 minutes but his heart rate was pretty low after wards so they kept him in recovery for about 2 hours. By the time he was home, he was his normal, full-of-energy self!

We got the call at 5pm from our doctor's office that they already had the results. They did find two small (3mm) lesions on the front of his brain. They are not sure if these are causing the seizures or not. Our doc just said to follow up with the neurologist at our appointment on the 25th. I was hoping the neurologist would want to cancel the EEG scheduled for Monday so that we can just explore these lesions but after a call to them this morning, he wants to still do it. So, my mom is going to help me split the night up on Sunday night and keep him up all night. Then, we go for the EEG at 8:30am. Gabe will be heading to camp for his week of Jr. Highers on Sunday so he gets to miss out on this experience.

So, for now, we wait...and I take sleeping pills. :)

Happy HOT 4th of July!

2011-07-04T23:44:00.001-05:00

We spread out the festivities this year. We headed to a parade in Rochester on Saturday at 5:00. Saying it was hot was an understatement, I think the temp was about 95* with about 90% humidity. Poor Grady was soaked before we even got to the parade. He is one sweaty little dude. The kids loved hanging out with some friends during the parade and then we all had sandwiches together after the parade, thankfully where it was cool!

On the fourth, we headed out to meet some friends to catch the fireworks. Thankfully, my mom came to the house and stayed with sleeping Grady so we could just get the big kids out. It's always nice to be able to spend a little more one-on-one time with them once in awhile.

10 months

2011-07-01T11:26:00.002-05:00

Grady is B U S Y! He loves playing peek-a-boo and loves his puppy that he sleeps with. He is still very fond of his paci as well. He's starting to eat a little more table food, but still mostly baby food. I'm still nursing 1-2 times a day and he's taking formula the other times. He's been loving going to the pool this summer and can be quite the daredevil in the water (and on land for that matter: he has the goose-eggs and bruises to prove it!). He's started taking 3-4 steps at a time but prefers his super speed crawling to get where he wants to go. He is just starting signing "all done" when prompted but won't do it on his own yet. He also says "more" which sounds like "ma" and says "ball" frequently. He is generally a fairly easy going kid and puts up with a lot of toting around thanks to his big brother.

8 dancing ballerinas

2011-06-11T22:15:00.005-05:00

Hadley greeted her 4th year in style in some of her favorite ballerina friends. Hadley loved being a part of a ballet class this past school year. So, deciding on a ballerina party was a logical theme. This was a really fun party to put together. I had gotten in touch with a dance teacher that goes to our church several weeks before Hadley's birthday asking if she would be willing to come over for about an hour during Hadley's party to teach the girls a dance. She excitedly agreed.

**I was too cheap to actually have her party AT a dance studio because their charges for a party are a lot higher than I wanted to spend on a birthday party, so this turned out to be a MUCH cheaper way to do it!**

Unfortunately, the dance teacher I had recruited had a death in her family the week of the party and ended up being out of town. So, three days before the party I was scrambling to find a dance teacher. Within a few hours of sending out multiple pleas to people I had found one! Whew, disaster averted and party saved!

I enlisted the help of several beauticians (ie, my mom, MIL, sister and SIL) to come help do nails and make-up before the girls devoured some pink-frosted donuts and learned and performed their dance. The party was a hit and I think the girls had a good time.

9 months

2011-05-31T23:18:00.002-05:00

Grady weighed in at 24lbs 14 oz and 30.25 inches long, both 96%! He is now starting to make a little more noise with the sounds ba ba and ma ma! His personality it starting to blossom and it's so fun to watch him enjoy his brother and sister so much. He is ON THE MOVE! He crawls super fast, pulls up on everything and cruises all around. He can even stand for a few seconds on his own and has taken a few steps here and there. He is so much fun to have in our family! Here are some pictures from his haircut he got tonight. Haircut #5, but his first time in the professional's chair! He did awesome. Sat up there like a big boy and let her cut off his curly locks!

Clap, clap, clap your hands...

2011-05-29T12:56:00.002-05:00

Grady has learned his own version of clapping....

Update

2011-05-28T22:00:00.000-05:00

EEG results on Drake came back normal so the doc suggested we just wait and see if he has any more seizures before we would do any further testing...

Medical Drama

2011-05-19T15:45:00.003-05:00

I was always a big fan of the show ER and have watched countless episodes of medical shows, however, I really prefer to leave the drama to TV. Unfortunately, though, we have been having some medical drama of our own around here.

A little background...on March 11, Drake woke up very disoriented, couldn't answer our questions like where we lived, etc. and we were concerned for about 40 minutes or so, then as he started becoming more aware we had him take a shower and then he threw up a few times. I took him to the doctor that day but by the time we got in to her office, he was acting completely fine and she thought it was probably just that he wasn't awake yet and had some kind of virus that caused the throwing up. I was fairly annoyed because I knew how he acted that morning was more than just "not being awake" but I didn't have any other proof.

Last Tuesday evening (May 10), Gabe was gone to Chicago for a staff retreat for a few days. I had put the kids to bed and was enjoying some kid-free time to myself on the couch. Drake came out of Hadley's room (where he has been sleeping since he and Grady share a room, but Grady wakes Drake up sometimes so he often sleeps in H's room) and asked to go to sleep in my bed because he was having a hard time falling asleep. I let him go crawl in my bed. I was having a hard time falling asleep that night for some reason and finally went to bed myself at 2am. Around 6:30am I felt the bed shaking and quickly jumped up to see Drake having a seizure in the bed next to me. It probably lasted about a minute but felt like forever at the moment. Once it was over I kept talking to him until he started making some noises like he was trying to talk. Then, I jumped up to grab my phone (and discovered it was OFF! so I had to wait for it to turn on, again seemed like forever in that moment!). I first called my mom... I know, I know..but at the moment I needed another person's opinion of what to do. She told me to hang up and call 911. So, I did. Then, I called a friend (who thankfully was IN her car just leaving a park where she had been doing her devotions) to come over to stay with Hadley and Grady until my mom could get to town. First, a firetruck arrived and they came in and checked Drake's blood sugar, did a quick check over him until the ambulance arrived. After asking several questions to me and Drake, they loaded him up and off we went to the hospital. At this point, Drake was awake and responding but slow to process what was going on. About 1/2 way to the hospital he started crying a little bit when he asked where we were going and the paramedic told him we were going to the hospital. Once in the ER, things happened pretty quickly. The nurse and the doctor we saw were both great. Drake was very brave and didn't even cry when they took blood. He also did a great job holding completely still for a chest xray and CT scan. After several hours in the ER and all the test results coming back normal we were sent home with instructions to follow up with our doctor the next day. Papa and Nana came over and kept us company in the ER and Gabe made it back from Chicago about 20 minutes before we got sent home!

We went to our doc the next day and she ordered an EEG to be done at St. John's. In the meantime, I've been paranoid to let Drake sleep by himself. So, he has either been in our bed or I've been sleeping with him in the basement.
I'm not sure when I'll feel ready to let him sleep alone again...

Today, we went for the EEG. His appointment was at 8:30am but he needed to be able to fall asleep during the test so they said to only let him sleep from 12-4am. Yikes. For a kid that normally sleeps 11 hours every night, I wasn't sure how that would go. He was very excited to stay up until midnight. Gabe took that shift (which he informed me this morning that he fell asleep from 11:20-11:45 while Drake was playing the Wii!). I took the 4am shift. When my alarm went off I felt like I had just gone to sleep, ugh. But I dragged us both out of bed and we first headed over to Walmart to pick out a lego set to work on. After about 30-45 minutes at Walmart we stopped off at Denny's for breakfast. We got back home about 6am and Drake started in on his legos. He worked on those right up until it was time to head to the hospital. He did great for the test. Let her hook him all up with the wires, cooperated for the awake portion of the test, which included heavy breathing (like you just ran a race) for 3 minutes, following commands with his eyes, and having a stobe light on him. Then, she said he could go to sleep, which took him less than 10 minutes to fall asleep. He only had to sleep for about 15-20 minutes and that was it. We were leaving by 10am. Now, we just wait for the results, which could take 3-7 days.

Here is Drake working on his legos this morning:

Hives again...

2011-05-02T22:25:00.003-05:00

Hadley has been battling hives off and on for months now. We haven't figured out the culprit but it looks like an allergic reaction to something, we just haven't pinpointed what yet. This time around, they started on Saturday evening with just a few on her trunk and cheeks. Then, Sunday morning they were on her entire body. I had one steroid pill left from the last time, so I gave her that. This morning, they were even worse than yesterday, with a lot of yesterday's hives faded but lots of new ones and she was really itchy! So, I called the doctor again today, thinking they might just call me in another steroid prescription. But, since she had just had them a month ago and they did seem worse this time, they had us come in. The doctor wanted to rule out any autoimmune diseases that can cause your body to react in hives and also do some allergy testing. So, we headed down to the lab. Poor Hadley, she was so cooperative (even though she was crying her head off) while they had a terrible time getting a vein to fill the two tubes of blood they needed. She got rewarded with a milk shake on the way home and promptly crashed on the couch after she drank her milkshake and ate her lunch. We did get a call from the doctor's office this afternoon saying that the initial bloodwork looked fine with no elevated counts, which means we can just look at allergies. So, we wait for the allergy panel to come back and if nothing shows up there, we will get referred to see an allergist who can do more extensive testing. Here are some shots of the hives on Sunday. I should have taken new photos this morning when they had multiplied but I didn't think of it!

8 months!

2011-05-01T22:07:00.000-05:00

Grady is already 8 months old and he is changing like crazy. He is pulling up all the time now and is all over the place! He is starting to let go when he is standing but falls down within a couple of seconds when he realizes he's not holding on. He is still very much a mama's boy (to the point of obsession!). He was one tooth in and another peeking up about to come in. He got another haircut recently and looks so cute with his little boy haircut. He still gets lots of comments about his hair everywhere we go and most people think he is older than he is because he's such a chunk. Here's a shot of the little man showing off his standing skills:

Conversations with a 3 year old...

2011-04-12T19:38:00.005-05:00

Hadley has been completely cracking me up lately. Here are some of her most recent conversations...

*After getting out of a rather long bath... "Mom, look, I'm wrinkly like a sharpei!"

*While we were outside passing the basketball back and forth..."Mom, you're a terrible thrower, but you're cute!"

*"Ants have montanas." (instead of antennas)

* "Mom, can we have hot chocolate?" Me: "OK", H: "YES!"...second guessing her enthusiasm...."Um, is OK a fancy word for yes?"

* "Mom, I like to rock out. When I'm 5, can you take me to a show to rock out? And, when I'm 5, I don't want to move out yet, I still want to live with you and your husband."

*Singing overheard from the bathtub: "You gotta wash your back and wash your crack..."

*After getting scolded, "Mom, you kinda broke my heart."

7 months

2011-03-31T19:53:00.002-05:00

Whew...another month. Some things that are happening for Grady now...

*got to visit with all of his cousins last week and gets to meet his new cousin Jude tomorrow!
*army crawling everything with one arm
*rocking on all fours and lunging but not true crawling yet
*raspy little man again, seems to be very susceptible to colds/wheezing so we now own our own nebulizer!
*weighing in at over 23 lbs now!
*occasionally with give a "ma ma" but never with prompting, only when he feels like it
*starting to wave occasionally
*a huge mama's boy. doesn't like anyone else to hold him if I'm in the room.

Nooooo.....

2011-03-16T18:27:00.002-05:00

I can't believe this is happening!!

Cuttin it up

2011-03-12T21:52:00.000-06:00

Grady got hair cut #3 this week! This time, I took it a little more seriously and didn't just do one of those little baby trims. I still left a lot of his black, curly locks but cut off the bozo look.

And I apparently also left some carrots on his nose.

Six months

2011-03-01T22:44:00.005-06:00

I can not BELIEVE my baby is six months old. It seems to go faster with each one!

Let's look at Gradster's happenings this month:
*ROLLING everywhere, all over the floor and starting to scoot backwards!
*sitting up unsupported for short periods of time before he topples over and starts rolling.
*getting to visit his cousins Lincoln, Fletcher, Zane and Annabeth
*got his second hair cut
(yes, the above picture is AFTER another haircut!)
*no teeth yet, but lots of hand chewing
*eating solids twice a day now

*will drink from a bottle like a champ but has a STRONG dislike of formula

*RSV. Grady had been fighting a cold for a couple of weeks and started wheezing last Friday. Unfortunately, I had been up for several hours during the night fighting a bit of a stomach bug so I was still not feeling great. Thankfully, Gabe was home so he took Grady to the doc on Friday afternoon. They gave him a breathing treatment in the office and also sent us home with the machine to do treatments every 4-6 hours. So, we continued that through the weekend. Sunday night he was really wheezing, even after the breathing treatment so I took him to Prompt Care. They did a chest xray and tested for RSV and Influenza. The RSV came back positive as well as some ear redness. His xray also showed a few spots of early infection so we got sent home with some meds and followed up with our pediatrician on Monday. We had to put off his 6 month check up until he gets well.

**Stats Update** Grady weighed in at 22lbs and is 28inches long. 99% and 96%.

Headin South

2011-02-14T21:58:00.003-06:00

We took a fun, whirlwind trip down to Nashville this weekend to visit my sister and family. We celebrated Zane and Annabeth's 5th and 3rd birthdays while we were there and enjoyed some warmer than usual temperatures. It was fun to get all seven kiddos together again. The girls play babies and dress up and tea party amazingly well and the big boys had fun digging up bugs and running around outside. The little boys were quite the charmers. Here are a few shots of the weekend:

SNOW

2011-02-02T16:42:00.003-06:00

The snow hit us and we have been snowbound for 2 days. I love it. Staying in jammies all day, hot chocolate, snuggling, movies, games, legos...ahhh. I haven't heard any exact totals of snowfall but I'm sure it's over a foot. Even the church closed today because the parking lot had too much snow to be able to get in! Gabe and I took turns shoveling out the driveway, he lasted longer than I did. (We REALLY want a snowblower now!) Drake came out to "help" too but that mostly resulted in playing and throwing snow at each other.

So, he came in and warmed up with some hot chocolate and started in on his lego project. Here is the finished product:

5 months

2011-01-31T16:24:00.001-06:00

Grady is now at the 5 month mark!

Five month facts:

*rolling from back to tummy every single time I lay him on his back but gets frustrated that he can't get back over to his back once on his tummy

*eating cereal twice a day and just tried his first veggie this week: squash! eating it pretty well

*starting to sit up: really well with the boppy around him, for a few seconds without support
*sleeping from 8p-8a with a feeding usually around 5a, but still experimenting with his schedule to try to get rid of those occasional wake-ups for the paci throughout the night.
*taking three naps a day now: after each day time feeding and then we keep him up until bedtime after his dinner time feeding.
*laughs the most for mommy and second-most for Drake
*eyes are still very blue so I'm hoping they will stay that way!
*still has a ridiculous amount of hair, but has a small bald-ish spot on the side but has enough hair for a combover to cover it.
*weighing in at 20lbs 4 oz...holy smokes, this kid is a beast.
*can't get him to drink any formula, not that I need him to but it would be nice to know he would at least take it if necessary, but gags if you try to give him any. even tried mixing it with the real stuff, can't fool him.
*he really is a pretty easy going baby, takes life of keeping up with two big siblings in stride and is very portable and goes with the flow. (example: last week Gabe and I went to a visitation that had a 2 hour line of waiting and we just had Grady with us. He hardly made a peep the whole time! Was content to just chew on his hands and be passed back and forth between us. Several people in the line commented on how amazing he was to last that long, especially since it went past his bedtime!)

Rolling and Reading

2011-01-28T09:32:00.005-06:00

It's been a big week around here! Grady is officially rolling and rolls from back to tummy nearly every time he is on the floor. Neither of the older two were big rollers. They didn't really become very mobile until they were crawling at about 8 months. Not sure if I'll be able to say the same about Grady. He hasn't rolled from tummy to back yet though so we're still safe for a while at least. Here he is in action:

***And the sleep update is...Grady is sleeping all night most nights!! It took a few weeks (yeah, those who say it only take a few nights of CIO to get your baby to sleep, they're wrong!) of making the babe s t r e t c h out that night time feeding and trying a few different things but most nights he is sleeping from 8pm-5am (eats at 5) then back to sleep until about 8 or 8:30am. I will take it after the last few months of interrupted sleep! ***

And in other big news...Hadley is catching on to reading. Not that she is ready for books yet, but she is doing great at sounding out small words. This girl amazes me. I can't believe how quickly she catches on to things. Grammy had started working with her last week with some letter cards we have and since then we've been practicing several times a week. She loves doing it and gets so proud of herself! Here are a couple of shots of her in action:

Solids!

2011-01-05T09:57:00.001-06:00

I can't believe this little man is old enough already to try solids! Here he is trying some cereal. He eats it up pretty well. Yet another attempt to try to get this turkey to sleep all night...

4 months

2011-01-01T21:49:00.006-06:00

chunky monkey. gradester. drooler. hand chewer. thumb sucker. little sleeper. cutie pie. love.

4 month stats: 18 lbs 12 oz (99%)
26 inches long (80%)

We are still struggling with night time sleeping. He does great going to sleep on his own, in his crib but still wants to eat at least once during the night. We are going to do some experimenting this week to try to get him sleeping ALL night...

Out with the Old...

2010-12-31T21:54:00.003-06:00

We ended 2010 with a very small bang. We stayed in for a cozy evening of chinese take-out, a riveting game of giant spoons and some italian sodas in fancy glasses. The kids went to bed by 9:00 pm and I almost made it until midnight!

Some things we are so thankful for in 2010:

participating in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and paying off some debt!
a fun vacation to Wisconsin Dells during the summer
our church family that blessed us in many ways
a challenging season of growth during the campaign "Elevate"at church
and last but certainly not least, the birth of our third munchkin, Grady

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

2010-12-27T21:34:00.005-06:00

Our Christmas started out a little rocky with Drake starting to run a fever of 100-104* for a few days. Finally, on Christmas Eve he seemed to have kicked the worst of it with a lingering cough and cold. Then, Hadley started in that evening. Luckily, we had celebrated Christmas with Nana and Papa that morning at our house, so they stayed so I could enjoy the Christmas Eve service at church and they could stay home with the sickies.

Christmas Day we headed over to the Lodge to celebrate with the Rutledge clan. ( I keep forgetting to download those pictures so I'll have to post those soon!) Hadley was a little pitiful and pretty much just laid on the couch or floor all day. Drake's legs started aching that morning and he was limping around all day. This happened after the last time he was sick too so we're not sure if it's related to the virus he had or being dehydrated while he was sick. Sunday morning the kids and I had to miss church because Hadley was still running a fever and we had to postpone the Farwell Christmas that was supposed to happen that night so she wouldn't get any of the other kids sick. Finally Monday afternoon, we made it to Lincoln and we celebrated Christmas with our big meal that everyone pitched in to make and then let the kids tear into the presents. Seven children 6 and under made for an entertaining evening!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-28T21:33:00.003-06:00

We got to spend Thanksgiving being thankful with both of our families this year. We spent a couple of nights out at the camp with Gabe's family. We had a fun time relaxing with the family and eating lots of yummy food.

After we left there, we headed up to Indiana to visit with my mom's side of the family. It was amazingly not as chaotic as I was expecting. There were 12 kids there from 2 months-6 years, not to mention all of their parents! It's always fun to reconnect with that side of the family, eat way too much, stay up too late talking and laughing and let the kids play.

Under God's Sea in 3D

2010-11-19T22:11:00.001-06:00

Drake's big debut:

Drake got to perform in the children's musical at church: Under God's Sea in 3D. It was a great program and he's a natural on the stage, if I do say so myself.

Drake is one of the swimming fish during this song.

Shut up!

2010-11-08T22:36:00.001-06:00

This is not a phrase we use at our house...ever. BUT, we took the kids to Toys-R-Us tonight to browse through the toys (and so I could secretly buy something for Christmas for them that was on sale) and Gabe was distracting the kids while I made the purchase. Drake was showing Hadley a toy couch that folded out into a small bed. Drake was being very dramatic about how cool it was and when he folded it out, Hadley said "Shut..up!" Not the kind of shut up that means be quiet, but the kind of shut up that means "No way!" Hilarious. We have no idea where she has heard this phrase but there was no containing the laughter on that one. Out of the mouths of three year olds...

Two months

2010-11-01T13:00:00.001-05:00

I can't believe it has already been another month! Grady is growing like a weed. He weighed in at 14lbs 4 oz at his appointment and was 23 1/2 inches long. Some of Grady's favorite things to do now include smiling at mommy, chewing on his hands and he's been making some cooing happy noises lately too! He still has a herniated belly button and it has gotten quite a bit bigger lately so our pediatrician has referred us to see a pediatric surgeon next week to see if he will need surgery soon to correct it. Usually, they wait until at least one year, but with how big it has gotten lately there could be a risk of it strangulating some bowel so we will see what the surgeon's opinion on it is. He's not sleeping all night yet, unfortunately, but he is starting to stretch to 6-7 hours at a time most nights. I think I've figured out that when I eat dairy products (especially ice cream) it does not settle well with him and those nights are rough with a super gassy little guy.

One Month Young

2010-10-01T21:28:00.000-05:00

I can't believe our little man has already been in our home for one month! He has been such an easy transition to our family. He's not quite getting the hang of sleeping very long stretches consistently yet, but other than that, he is usually a fairly content baby. He has given me a few small smiles and can't wait to see how his personality continues to develop. The comments we hear about him the most from others are "LOOK at that HAIR!" and "Wow, he's so dark, were your other kids that dark as babies?" And maybe a few unspoken thoughts about what ethnicity is this kid!?

At his one month appointment Grady weighed in at 10lbs 13oz and 22 inches. He's definitely a good eater! The other kids continue to love on him constantly. They have done such a great job welcoming him to our family.

Really, it's fall?!

2010-09-18T21:07:00.003-05:00

Well, we headed over to our old stomping grounds this weekend to visit our favorite pumpkin patch. However, it was SO warm out, it didn't really feel like pumpkin patch weather. I think we were all sweating up a storm by the time we left. But, we did have fun enjoying the gorgeous displays this place puts up and checking out all the fun things like the straw maze, animals and taking a trek out to the real patch to pick out our very own pumpkins. We met up with some friends from the area to catch up and let them meet the newest addition to our family.

L O V E

2010-09-13T22:29:00.002-05:00

Dance

2010-09-08T22:21:00.000-05:00

Hadley is super excited to be starting dance class this week! She is taking a combination ballet, tap and gymnastics class that lasts 45 minutes and then is followed by a 30 minute music class. She absolutely loves it. Two other little 3 year old girls (whose parents are in our small group) are also in the same class with her. I just love seeing this smile...

Our Glow Worm

2010-09-05T22:01:00.001-05:00

Grady is struggling with some jaundice so he has been put on the phototherapy light. His number had doubled to 15 when we went back for a check on Thursday so they ordered the light that evening. Then, it had still gone up a little more on Friday. We go back on Monday for another check. He is to be hooked up 24 hours a day, with the exception of a bath. So, it has made for a quiet weekend at home for us. (Well, the kids and I at least, Gabe has had a wedding at church this weekend that he was running sound for!) Nana has been here helping out with meals and the big kids this weekend and Grammy is down at Aunt Kara's to help out with Grady's new twin cousins, born just two days after him! We're excited to meet you Lincoln and Fletcher!!

We did make our first trip to church today. Nana took the big kids to their classes and Grady and I slipped in the side door and up to the sound booth where we plugged Grady's light back in and sat up there for the service. We came back home and had a quiet day at home with naps, some castle building, and a family movie night. Ahhh, life as a family of five!

The real deal

2010-08-31T21:34:00.002-05:00

Well, just shortly after the "False Alarm" we headed to the hospital for the real deal! I sent my mom home on Monday morning thinking that it wasn't really going to happen any time soon. Well, Monday night, just when I was getting ready for bed about 10:30pm the contractions started in again and this time they were getting much stronger. Finally, about 11:15, I made a call to my mom and hesitantly asked her to come down again because I thought we were probably going to be heading to the hospital again. So, she gladly hopped in her van and drove down. By the time she got here about 12:30, I couldn't talk through contractions and was sure this was the real thing. So, we got up to the labor and delivery floor about 1:00am and they kept us in a triage room (with another laboring woman) hooked up to the monitors to "be sure they were going to keep me" until about 3:30am. Then, they decided they would go ahead and start my IV since I was progressing to about 4-5 cm dilated. Finally, at 4:00am they moved us to a room of our own and Gabe went to the car to get our stuff since we knew we weren't leaving without a baby. From there, things progressed very quickly. By about 5:00am, I was in very hard labor and was progressing quickly and the nurse decided it was time for me to head to the bed because she did not want to be catching a baby. The doctor on call had five women about to deliver so they would not break my water until the doctor was ready, so when the doc got to my room a little after 5:00 am and I was 9 3/4 cm, she called in the troops to get things ready and as soon as she broke my water I was ready to push. I pushed for 12 minutes before Grady made his grand entrance at 5:37am.

He weighed in at 7lbs 7oz and 20 inches long. He came out sporting a FULL head of hair!
It was love at first sight...

for all of us!

Welcome to our family Grady Wilken, we are so glad you are here!
**Grady was picked because we like unique names. Wilken is a combination of both of his Papa's names- William and Ken**

False Alarm

2010-08-29T22:01:00.000-05:00

Well, we thought for sure we were having a baby today. Yesterday, we had some, ahem, signs (that I won't go into detail about) that labor was on it's way. Then, a few hours later the contractions started about every 5-6 minutes apart. Not intense, but definitely there and regular. So, we had Uncle Eric and Aunt Sarah come over to hang out for the evening and spend the night so if we needed to make a night run to the hospital we would be ready. Well, Gabe went to bed early so he would have a few hours of sleep in case we needed to head to the hospital. I went to bed around 10:30 and slept off and on for a few hours until about 2:30 when I couldn't sleep through the contractions any more and was timing them at about every 3-5 minutes. About 5:00am I woke up Gabe and said maybe we should head to the hospital and get things checked out (since Hadley's labor was only 5 hours long from start to finish, I didn't want to take a chance of delivering a baby at home!). So he got up and got ready and we headed to the hospital around 5:30, got sent up to Labor and Delivery, got in the hospital garb and hooked up to the monitors. I was disappointed to only be 1 cm dilated but I was relieved to see a steady heartbeat as the contractions measured every 4 minutes consistently for about 30 minutes. Then, the nurse said I could get up and walk if I wanted to. YES, let me move! So, Gabe and I walked the halls of the 7th floor for a solid hour and then went back to the room to get hooked up to the monitors again, this time sitting on the birth ball while they monitored contractions and baby. The contractions were then every 2-3 1/2 minutes apart and quite a bit stronger on the curve of the monitor but when she checked me again at 8am, no dilating progress- ugh! So, home we went. We took the walk of shame back through the emergency room (where we had to enter when we got there at 5:30am) and out to the van. We headed back home, helped get the kids ready for church with Uncle Eric and Aunt Sarah and after they took off for Lincoln, Gabe headed off to church as well and made it there in time for the end of 2nd, and all of 3rd and 4th services. The contractions continued throughout the day, but did taper off in terms of intensity and length. Gabe and I walked at the church for an hour this evening before my mom came back to our house with the kids. She is spending the night tonight...just in case....

30 weeks

2010-06-25T20:34:00.002-05:00

The weeks are flying by and I'm already to my two-week appointments! Today, I went in a few days before I was actually 30 weeks because we were going to be on vacation during my scheduled 30 week time slot. It was a quick and painless appointment. I'm still measuring slightly ahead of schedule so they will do an ultrasound next appointment to check on the baby's growth. I've gained a total of 15 lbs now, which continues to be less than with either of my other two by this point. I guess chasing after two others helps in some ways! :) We are really enjoying the summertime weather and have spent MANY days at Knight's Action Park soaking up the sun and water. This summer has been a little taxing on us with Gabe working so much this month, so we are very excited to be going on vacation next week to the Dells and relax ALL together. Then, we come back to a flurry of business again with one week at home and then a week of Jr. High camp.

Seussical the Musical

2010-06-12T19:43:00.002-05:00

Since our month has been consumed with Gabe being gone to the Muni, where he is running sound for the show Seussical the Musical, the kids and I decided to head out and watch the show. We packed up our cooler with snacks and drinks, loaded up the lawnchairs and enjoyed an evening at the Muni. The kids LOVED the show and were totally engaged the whole time. I think the only thing Drake said to me during the whole show was to lean over and say, "I love this SO much!" a few times. I think the Muni will definitely be something we will be visiting on a regular basis.

Another Year in the Books

2010-06-11T22:22:00.005-05:00

I can't believe our little girl turned 3 today. Hadley has been loving the book, Pinkalicious, that we checked out from the local library. She even had a lot of it memorized. So, we went all Pinkalicious this birthday! With our busy month of Gabe running sound for a show at the Muni this month, we couldn't come up with a date that all the family could get together to celebrate. So, we have been celebrating in stages. Yesterday the kids got to go to the zoo with Nana and Papa and Hadley enjoyed her "all pink" presents from them, including her very own copy of the book, Pinkalicious!

This morning we started out with some pink rice crispies for breakfast along with some present opening. Early this afternoon, Hadley got to have a few friends over for a Pinkalicious party. Aunt Sarah made some super-cute pinkalicious cupcakes for the girls to enjoy. I also had found some cute cupcake frames for the girls to make along with some pink beads to make bracelets. Aunt Sarah also stayed to help with the party and painted the girls' finger nails. It was a super-girly party, so Drake and Uncle Eric headed to the park to play some tennis while we partied it up. Everyone left in time for all the girls to get some nap time in this afternoon. Hadley kept saying, "Mom, this is the best party ever." and "This party is beautiful!".

Tonight, we (Uncle Eric, Aunt Sarah, Drake, Hadley and I) headed out to meet Grammy for pizza and then over to Drake's baseball game. It was a hot and muggy night for baseball, but Hadley's busy day had her totally tuckered out and she slept through the whole game, even amongst all the cheering fans!

Summertime Bliss

2010-06-01T22:12:00.005-05:00

Hopefully, I will still be thinking that in August... Today was Drake's last day of Kindergarten. I can't believe that in a few short months we will have a FIRST grader! His year of Kindergarten far exceeded my expectations of what the year would hold. He is reading amazingly well, loves to figure out addition and subtraction facts, is writing multiple pages in complete sentences in his journal and is very proud to tell time on his watch that Grammy got him.

Today, while Drake went for report card day, Hadley and I ran to the dollar store so we could surprise him with some balloons and some new first grade workbooks to work on over the summer. Then, Hadley and I headed into the dentist office for our cleanings before we went to meet Drake at home as he got off the bus. (Hadley did amazingly well at the dentist once again, she even got her teeth cleaned in the next room by herself while I got my cleaned and I could hear her being oh so cooperative. I just love it when my kids make me proud!)

Drake was all toothless smiles when he got home and saw the balloons and new workbooks. Then, we decided since the weather looked to be warranting a trip to the pool, we ate our peanut butter sandwiches and fruit and headed to the pool by noon. The kids were a dream at the water park. They patiently took turns and waited on each other to try out the amenities for their different age groups. Then, when it was time to go there was complete cooperation by both kids, unbelievable! I can only hope the rest of our summer days at the pool go so well!

When we got home they each went to their rooms, Hadley fell asleep right away and took a glorious 2 hour nap before I woke her. Drake worked quietly on his workbooks for awhile in his bed before he also fell asleep for about an hour before I woke him. Then, this evening was capped off with some dinner at home before heading out to Drake's baseball game where I made no less than 5 trips to the potty with Hadley. (Thankfully, I had put the potty chair in the back of the car because otherwise we would have been trekking to the port-a-potty way TOO many times.) Other than going potty, she played quietly with a pet kitty almost the entire game, pretending to be the mommy to the kitty, oh and she threw in some artistic coloring time in there as well in her Veggie Tales coloring book. So, we topped off the end of a near-perfect day with some Coldstone ice cream (with a gift card, no-less) on the way home from the game. Then the kids got on their jammies, brushed their teeth, read some stories, prayed and crawled quietly into their respective beds with not another peep to be heard.

I wanted to document this day so I can re-read it frequently throughout the summer and remember how dreamy my kids can be!

Bellies

2010-05-31T16:38:00.002-05:00

My sister was in town for several days while we spent the weekend cleaning out my mom's basement. Cleaning out the basement involved mulitple dumpsters, truckloadS to the burn pile and vans full to thrift stores. Amongst all the working we were able to snap a shot of the bellies to document the babies pre-birth. Kara is due Sept.16th with twins and our baby is due on Sept. 8th.

Kindergarten Awards Day

2010-05-26T21:30:00.001-05:00

This morning, Hadley and I headed over to school to watch the Awards Program. Drake managed to get all 4 awards that were possible for the Kindergartners to receive. He received the Good Citizenship Award for the 4th quarter and also the Good Citizenship Award for receiving it all 4 quarters throughout the year! He got an award (and free ticket to Six Flags) for getting the recommended number of minutes of reading in for the spring and he received his "diploma" from Kindergarten. This year has been such a blessing for him and us. He has matured more than I could have imagined and has learned an amazing amount of information, not to mention he has also lost a total of FOUR teeth now too!

24 weeks

2010-05-20T14:22:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it has already been 4 weeks since my last appointment! We got to start this appointment with another quick peek at the baby since they hadn't been able to get all of the measurements they needed last time. So, we got to see the baby squirming all around. The baby is usually most active for me to be able to feel it in the late evenings. My blood pressure was still looking nice and low and my weight gain jumped up to a total of 11 lbs. I thought this seemed like a lot but when I looked back at my pregnancy with Hadley, I had gained more at this point with her. We didn't get any peeks at the gender still so no hints as to what we are having. We have been working on choosing names, but it still proves to be a difficult task and we haven't settled on any names for either gender yet.

Mom's Day

2010-05-09T21:51:00.001-05:00

Once again, a Sunday holiday in a ministry household requires the holiday to look a little different. So, after all four services this morning, we headed to Godfather's Pizza buffet (where they have super great deals on Sunday and we all 4 ate the buffet for $12!). Then, we all took naps, ahh, glorious naps. Then after dinner, we headed to Lincoln to meet up for dessert with the moms. We were able to enjoy the cool spring evening and snap a few pictures as well.

Baby #3, 20 weeks

2010-04-21T13:12:00.006-05:00

Well, today marks the 1/2 way point through this pregnancy. Feeling the little bug moving around a lot more now. Gabe got to feel him/her move for the first time last week. Such a cool feeling. This morning we headed to the doc for our 20 week appointment. Both kids went with us, since my appointment started at 8:30 and Drake really wanted to watch the ultrasound. We got in pretty quickly and watched the little babe squirming his/her little hands and feet around. Thankfully, the placenta has adjusted it's position correctly away from the cervix so that was terrific news! The placenta is anterior, meaning laying across the front of my belly instead of at the top, so that's why it took a little longer to feel movement this time around. There is a really cute picture of the baby's hand, looking like it is shooting a gun (as Drake pointed out).

We decided not to find out the gender this time. I must admit it was tempting today as we were sitting in the little room, knowing it would only take a quick peak and we could know, but I was able to resist. I will say that it would make name selection a lot easier if we knew we only had to decide on one gender's name. We are no where close to deciding on a name, for either gender. We will get to have another ultrasound next month as well because the baby was not laying in a cooperating position to get a couple of the measurements that they needed, so we will try again next time. And hopefully get to see his/her profile next time since the babe was laying head down with it's face pointing towards my back so we couldn't get a good look at the profile. Here are a couple of other shots of the little peanut, who is weighing in at 13 ounces at the current time. In other stat news, I have gained 5 lbs now and blood pressure is nice and low. So far, I have been very blessed with great pregnancies!

The picture on the left shows part of the baby's face, an arm up beside the face, and the round part to the left of the face is the baby's torso. The picture on the right is upside down, but a picture of a foot.

Easter

2010-04-05T13:40:00.000-05:00

The night before Easter, we decorate some eggs. The kids had fun dunking and coloring. We also baked a cake, complete with Easter sprinkles.

Easter morning in a ministry household looks a little different than most other families. Since Gabe is always up and out the door before any of us are even stirring, we have to wait to start our festivities after church. And now we have four services on Sunday morning, so Gabe usually gets to church around 6 am and doesn't get home until 1ish. Thankfully, Nana and Papa stayed at our house on Saturday night so I was able to get to church to volunteer during two services and then we all went to the fourth service together. We got home to eat lunch, open baskets and do a quick egg hunt in the backyard before it started raining.

Trip Avoided

2010-03-30T21:22:00.004-05:00

From the sounds of the phone call I got from Gabe tonight, I thought for sure we were about to make ER trip #3 with Drake, but we were able to avoid it tonight! Gabe walked the kids down to the park tonight to play in this gorgeous spring weather while I tried to catch up on some laundry at the house. About 45 minutes into them being gone, my phone rings and it's Gabe asking for me to come and pick them up because Drake had fallen and was bleeding from the back of his head (all the while I hear top-of-the-lungs screaming from Drake in the background). The problem with driving to the park is that it takes about 7 minutes to drive there when you can walk there a lot faster because it is located in the subdivision right behind us and you have to get through about 5 stoplights to get to it by a car. So, when I get there, Drake was curled up (and calm) on Gabe's lap with a bag of ice that a neighbor had brought over for them. His shirt was soaked down the back with blood and because of the blood in his hair, I couldn't tell how bad the cut was. So, we threw everybody in the car and headed home for the bath. After we got Drake cleaned up we realized the cut was not as bad as it looked at first. There is a pretty good goose egg and it is scraped up, but nothing deep. Thankfully, Drake handled the cleaning up process very well and wasn't even in too much pain but the time he got in bed! Whew, hope we don't have another one of these nights any time soon!

E is for Easter and Eggs

2010-03-29T22:09:00.000-05:00

At preschool last week we talked about the letter E at the perfect time to talk about Easter (and make some yummy blueberry muffins in the handy pan I bought on clearance last year after Easter).

Bring it on!

2010-03-29T22:02:00.001-05:00

The amazing weather continues and we are LOVING it!!

Drake is on spring break this week, so it has been a perfect time for the nice weather to hit. He greatly enjoyed riding his bike, scooter and skateboard today. Then, hittin' the hoop with his dad when he got home from work tonight!

Hidden Fun

2010-03-27T14:57:00.003-05:00

We were searching for something fun to do this weekend as a family. It's not quite a nice enough day to spend doing many outdoor things yet, so we found this little hidden gem in Taylorville, just about 30 miles from where we live. It was great! The kids had a blast swimming in the warm indoor pool and all the amenities that went along with it. They have a family price of $15, which seemed like a pretty good deal to us! What a wonderful way to spend a cool, spring Saturday afternoon! We will definitely being going back to visit this place again!

16 weeks

2010-03-24T13:37:00.006-05:00

Well, I went in for my 16 week appointment today. It was fairly uneventful. Just a quick heartrate and tummy check, a bloodraw, and we were out of there. The heartrate was a little slower than the last few times, it was 140 bpm. To date, I have only gained 2 lbs! I've been feeling a few sporadic "flutters" for a few weeks, but nothing as definite as a kick, until last night. I'm 95% sure, I felt a big ol' kick, of course, after it happened once, do you think I could make him/her do it again, of course not. Hoping for more regular kicks soon, I think that is probably my favorite part of pregnancy, feeling that little person moving around and Gabe getting to feel it too. At my next appointment, on April 26th, we get the "big" sonogram where they will check all the anatomy measurements and where they could tell gender, but we're going to wait it out for the big surprise in September (or late August would be great, are you listening baby?).

The 16 week baby bump.
Photo courtesy of his/her big brother.

Loser

2010-03-21T22:31:00.003-05:00

Teeth are quickly being lost around here! Last night Drake was getting ready to get in the bath and was having a hard time getting his tight-necked shirt over his head, so I gave it a good yank and with the shirt, came his front tooth! It had been wiggly for weeks but had really become flexible this last week. It bled a little bit but Drake handled it well! Can't believe my little guy has lost 3 teeth already!

After the kids got out of the bath, we (the kids and I, Gabe was at a church event) watched home videos starting from when Drake was a baby. It was such a fun trip down memory lane and doesn't seem possible that we will have a 6 year old this summer! Wow, has time flown. So thankful for my family, the journey we have traveled, even the hard times, because it has helped us grow together and appreciate each other that much more.

Soon...

2010-03-18T22:45:00.001-05:00

our days will be filled with this....

and this...

everyday.

Come on Spring. Come to stay. We can't wait!

Humbling

2010-03-10T21:57:00.002-06:00

While driving in the car the other day, I was having a can of Pepsi in the car. Drake says from the backseat, "So, mom, does that mean the baby is drinking a Pepsi right now?". I kind of chuckle and say, "Well, I guess so." Then he replies back, "So, do you want the baby to be healthy or fat?" OUCH! Way to have a 5 year old put you in your place. (And for those critical readers out there thinking, "you should not be drinking caffeine", i know, i know and i have cut WAY back AND i drink decaf coffee and tea so that I can have the occasional Pepsi).

2 years, 9 months

2010-03-09T15:09:00.000-06:00

The many faces of Hadley! Here she is showing off her silly face and happy face. Then the last picture is of her favorite thing to draw- people. She is always drawing people complete with arms and legs (coming out of the head), eyes, mouth, nose, ears and hair. In this case, the hair is made with stickers. She likes to bust out a little creativity once in awhile. We've been working on writing her name and she loves to make the letter H out of anything she can find. The other night we were at a restaurant and she made the letter H with 3 crayons that were laying on the table. She also loves writing the letter H, so I've been trying to get her to expand and write the rest of the letters. Today she did the H, a, d, and l all by herself. Then she tried the e a couple of times but couldn't do it and asked me to help her with the y. She's getting pretty close! My little girl is really growing up!!

Adding another one to the mix

2010-02-24T23:21:00.000-06:00

We're excited, thrilled, a little nervous and feeling very blessed to be having another baby! We can't wait to welcome another baby into our family and experience all the blessings that are to come. Here is a little time line of what the last few months have looked like as we anxiously awaited to tell the news!!

The week after Christmas I started having suspicions that I might be pregnant due to the feeling in my lower back. That is one thing that I have felt with each pregnancy, even before I would get a positive pregnancy test!

January 4th- scheduled first Dr. appt

January 8th and on- started gagging when brushing my teeth-didn't have that with either of the first two kids!

week of January 17th- Gabe turned 30 and I started to feel the effects of early pregnancy. Usually just in the evenings, mostly just unsettled tummy feeling and a little heart-burn feeling. Also had a nosebleed one morning. Cooking raw meat started to make me feel a little nauseous.
Started taking some cat naps in the afternoons when I could sneak them in!

January 26th- First dr. appt and ultrasound! Due date scheduled as September 8th. I was measuring 8 weeks 1 day, which is a couple of days ahead but she sticks with the original due date if it is within 3 days. Heart-rate was 161 bpm. There was one small spot (2mm) where the baby had not totally implanted, but the doc said she was not concerned about due to the early stage of pregnancy. We will go back in 4 weeks for the next appointment and ultrasound. We did tell immediate family (not the kids yet!) of our exciting news but will wait for the 12 week appointment and ultrasound to announce the news to everyone.

By Valentine's Day, pretty much all nauseous-ness is gone! Feeling great and the occasional nap makes me really feel not all that tired!

February 23- Second dr. appt and ultrasound! Got to see the little cutie again, that actually looked like a baby this time. It was wiggling all around, putting hands together, waving, and poking at the technician while she was trying to get it to flip over to get some measurements. It really is amazing to see this tiny little less than 2 inch baby completely formed and moving around. What an amazing God we have. Hadley was with us so she also wanted to see her baby is her tummy and the tech did oblige and scanned her tummy when I was done. She was thrilled to see her "baby kitty". (What an imagination!) After the ultrasound I had some bloodwork then waited for awhile to see the doc. When she came in, she said all my results of earlier bloodwork looked good but that the ultrasound today showed complete previa. ugh! There is a good chance that it will grow out of the way as the uterus continues to grow and we are really praying that is what happens! But for now, she said total pelvic rest for sure until the 20 week ultrasound. Heartrate was once again 160bpm. I also bought a doppler (off craigslist) and have had a lot of fun using it. The baby's heartrate has been measuring a very constant 160 bpm. So, we will have to wait another 6 months to see if the old wives tale is right about heartrates. (That's right, I don't want to find out the gender this time and I'm pretty determined so I think I can hold out!)

For those of you non-ultrasound techies, the first picture is the baby curled up, facing down, you can see the spine and legs are tucked up under it. The second one (tilt head to the far right), little hand is right up by baby's (alien-ish) face.

Yee-haw!

2010-02-21T15:00:00.000-06:00

This weekend we made a whirlwind trip to Tennessee for a Western Birthday party for Zane and Annabeth. We arrived on Friday night about 11:30 p.m. The birthday celebration was Saturday lunch and then we got to let the kids play outside in the super warm temps- it was awesome! The boys got all muddy down by the lake and the girls were quite content to play on the swingset and bikes up where it was dry. What a refreshing break from all the snow and cold temperatures. Then, after church and brunch on Sunday morning, we jumped back in the van and drove the long drive again. It was a quick, but fun weekend.

Sharing the Love

2010-02-14T14:54:00.000-06:00

Valentine's Morning was a typical Sunday morning around here, except that we got the special treat of heart shaped cinnamon rolls with pink icing for breakfast. Gabe was already at church, of course, so we arrived at church early (quite a big accomplishment for me!) and delivered him some cinnamon rolls before everyone went to their respective classes. What better way to share a day of love than with some yummy pastries?! The kids each got a special little Valentine's basket, Drake got some new flip flops (in hopes of warmer weather soon!) and Hadley got some cute new socks.

Winter Fun

2010-02-13T14:47:00.001-06:00

We wanted to take advantage of all of the snow we had gotten this winter, so we headed over to Nana and Papa's to test out the hills. The kids loved it! They could have sledded even longer but poor Gabe had to keep trudging back up the hill carrying Hadley and the sled. He was a good sport, but I think it really wore him out! Drake can really fly on his sled!

FPU

2010-02-06T15:04:00.003-06:00

Gabe and I started FPU in January on Sunday evenings. FPU is Financial Peace University, a Dave Ramsey financial course on dealing with finances, budgeting, getting out of debt, etc... It has been an overall positive experience, but has also caused some stress as well. I was afraid going into the class that I would feel the need to go back to work once we started it. I really didn't want to go back to work (at least not more than I am working now) and for that reason I had a lot of dread and anxiety about starting the class. Well, I'm happy (thrilled, really) to say that while I have picked up a few more hours a the dentist office, we have been able to arrange our budget in a way that (barring any major emergencies) we should be well on our way to knocking out a large portion of debt by the end of the year. (Dave advocates being DEBT FREE, except for your house.) We won't quite be at that point for a couple of years, but we are looking forward to the rewards of being good stewards with our money, even if it hurts a lot right now! God has already shown us the blessings that come with being disciplined in this area and we look forward to the day when we, in turn, can bless others.

S is for Snow

2010-01-21T15:35:00.000-06:00

At preschool this week we talked about the letter S, read some books about Snow and then, rather than bundling up to go outside, we pretended that our shaving cream was snow. The kids had a lot of fun writing in it, spreading it around and just getting messy. Little kids really know how to have fun.

After they played in the "snow" they got to trace their names with glue and sprinkle "snow" aka white glitter on their names.

Christmas, take 4

2010-01-01T14:47:00.002-06:00

Yesterday we welcomed all the Ruts to our house. We ate a yummy, but spicy, dinner of Italian Beef sandwiches, cheesy potatoes, and green beans. After dinner we let the kids rip into their presents. Hadley was enamored with all of her new "princess" dress up clothes and dolls. Joel got his own wardrobe of dress up clothes and Drake got a space themed present, including an astronaut helmet, a rocket, freeze dried ice cream and books that HE can read. (Side note: reading is going very well for Drake in Kindergarten!) Once we finally got the kids settled down and tucked into bed and most of the grown-ups (minus Papa) made it past midnight to ring in the new year with some sparkling cider and talking.

The next morning we ate some coffee cake and cherry cheese ring for breakfast and stayed in our jammies most of the morning. The boys made it out for a quick jaunt to the park to try out Drake's new rocket in the afternoon, but didn't last long with the FRIGID temperatures outside. They all came home with bright pink noses.

After chicken nachos for dinner we let the kids attempt decorating a gingerbread house. It wouldn't win any decorating awards, but they had fun doing it and by the looks of it, it must have tasted pretty good too.

(pictures to come...)

Hills of Fun

2009-12-27T15:42:00.000-06:00

Gabe took Drake out this afternoon for some sledding on the fresh new powder we have been getting. They headed out after church and lunch (while Hadley was napping) to a local golf course that opens up the hills for sledding. They had a blast and spent several hours there!

Christmas, take 3

2009-12-26T14:36:00.001-06:00

(pictures to come..)

After a short night of sleep, we got up early and headed down to visit the Sugars. We got there just after they had lost power and had to move the traditional Christmas brunch to a cousin's house that did have power. It was nice to arrive to a warm house, a hot breakfast, and lots of welcoming hugs. After eating, we headed over to Sugar's house to let the kids play. That evening we headed over to another cousin's house for Christmas dinner complete with appetizers, turkey, ham, green bean casserole, corn, etc..etc... makes my mouth water just thinking about it again. After dinner, Drake pulled a classic Drake. Kiersten (6), Drake(5), Blake (7) and Hadley (2) were all playing in Kiersten's room and getting along very well. Kiersten was showing my kids all of the things in her room that she uses to take care of her pet kitten, including the litter box. Drake proceeded to throw up all over her bed when she pulled out the scoop with some "product" from the litter box. Nice. So, Kiersten came in and told us that Drake had just puked. When I went in there, Drake started gagging again just while Kiersten was telling me what happened. Oh, my poor, weak-stomached boy. I feel sorry for his wife someday as I foresee diaper-changing being a hard task for him.

After dinner and puke clean-up, we headed to a hotel for the night. We got there in time for 15 minutes of swimming before the pool closed but also made it down for more swimming in the morning before heading back over to Sugar's to visit.

We interrupt this Christmas holiday for...

2009-12-25T00:32:00.001-06:00

A WET BASEMENT! UGH!

After we got home from Christmas Eve service in the evening, we discovered that the days and days of rain had caught up to us and we had wet carpet in the basement again! This happened once back October, but we thought we had fixed the problem by adding some new fill dirt around the house. Well, after spending several hours shop-vac-ing the wet carpet and starting the fans and dehumidifiers we finally got to bed to sleep for a few hours before getting up early to head down to visit the Sugars. When we get back, we will try to figure out this mess- again!

Christmas, take 2

2009-12-24T21:26:00.002-06:00

We decided to have our immediate family Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve morning since we are heading out early in the morning to go down south. The kids had a lot of fun taking turns opening their presents and then spending the next several hours engrossed with their new belongings. Drake was super excited about his new (used) DS that we found a good deal on and the games that some others bought him to go with it. Watching the kids open presents and seeing their sheer delight does my heart good. It IS better to give than receive.

(pictures to come...)

Gabe had to head to church about noon to get ready for services. The kids and I headed to the 4:00 service with the Holzers and Grammy. Grammy took the kids home after that service so I could stay and volunteer at the 6:00 service.

Christmas, take 1

2009-12-23T14:20:00.001-06:00

We really spread out the Christmas celebration this year. We started off with an early celebration with the Farwell side. We spent the evening at Grammy's house on Monday, complete with pizza and lots of conversations by the fire place. We had brunch on Tuesday, Christmas dinner that evening followed by the chaos of opening presents. Drake loved his new skateboard from Grammy and Hadley's most common statement as soon as she would open a present was "I love this present!". She got decked out with a Snow White costume, movie, and doll and she was also super excited about the movie "Wizard of Oz" from Grammy. This is one of her favorite movies since she and Drake and the cousins got to dress up as the characters for Halloween. Now, everytime she sees a lion on anything, she says "There's Annabeth!"
(pictures to come..)

SNOW!

2009-12-20T14:10:00.001-06:00

We welcomed several inches of snow this weekend. The Holzer crew decided to stop off at our house for a few hours to play in the snow and take a break from the treacherous roads on their way to Grammy's house. The kids loved getting bundled up and having fun in the snow. Then, they all warmed up in the bathtub afterward!

Hadley made a really funny comment after coming in from the freezing cold temperatures. I got her un-bundled and put her on the potty before getting in the bath. As she started going potty she said, "Woah, my privates are really, really hot!"

Joy

2009-12-13T14:04:00.000-06:00

Drake participated in his second performance at WS this weekend. He has been practicing for several months on Sunday evenings. He really enjoys choir and gives it his all. Drake showed such an improvement from last year's performance to this one. He was extremely focused and intentional throughout the whole program. Someone made the comment to Gabe after the performance, "I could tell which one was your son, he looked like a human metronome." Thankfully, Drake has inherited Gabe's sense of rhythm. Nana and Papa made the trip over to watch him perform and then we all went out for Monical's Pizza afterwards.

Merry Christmas, consider yourself “Card-ed”

2009-12-12T15:42:00.004-06:00

Well, I don't think many Christmas cards are actually going to happen this year, so consider this your Christmas Card...

Our year, for a change, did not include too many transitions, as the last several years have for our family. We continue to serve at West Side, where Gabe loves using his creative abilities in the worship and technical arts department. His main responsibilities include stage design, creating video elements for the services, worship planning, lighting elements and he even has gotten to speak a couple of times, including one Sunday morning sermon. (Which he did great at, as well!)
I guess I did have a little transition this year as far as work goes. In August I was at the dentist office getting some fillings and my dentist offered me job. Seriously. He was looking for someone to work one day every other week, assisting an endodontist that would be commuting to his office. After some serious consideration, we decided it would be a nice financial perk (seeing as I don't seem to have the best teeth in the world and they were starting to cost us a lot of money) since we would get a discount on dental services plus a little money each month to help with our expenses. It works out nicely with two of my friends each watching Hadley one day a month. I am really enjoying it and the days really go by quickly as they are packed with patients.
Drake's transition this year was starting full time school. As some of you may know, this was a grueling decision for Gabe and I. Drake has such a late birthday (July) that we really debated whether or not to send him to Kindergarten this year. Then, we also had the big decision of public or private school. There is a Christian school attached to the church where Gabe works. Finally, when it came down to the wire, we decided to try it. So, in August, we packed our little boy's bag and took him to his first day of Kindergarten in the public school. It was by far, harder on me than on him. He was so excited to go and had no reservations about us leaving him there. He has done amazingly well. He has far exceeded my thoughts and fears about the school year. He is doing great learning how to read, loves going to school every day and seems to be maturing by the minute. I just can't get over how far he has come this year.
Hadley is our little beauty with an attitude. She is quite the talker and she definitely knows what she wants and is not afraid to get it, or at least try to get it. She continues to amaze me every day with how much she is learning and growing up. She loves to play with dolls and is really getting into pretending. She just went through some transitions in the last couple of months. She now has a big girl bed and also gave up her beloved paci. Both have gone much better than anticipated. She has adjusted really well.
One great memory for our family this year was going on a family vacation with the whole Rutledge family. In May, Gabe's parents took us all to Florida where we stayed in their condo for a few days and then we all got on the glorious Disney Wonder cruise ship. It was a great trip with family and I would definitely recommend a Disney cruise for any family with kids. The kids had a blast, the shows were great and the atmosphere is so family friendly. What precious memories.
We are looking forward to another great year in 2010 and the blessings God has in store for our family. May God bless you and yours as well!

Great Friends

2009-12-10T15:39:00.000-06:00

I have been continuing to do our little playgroup/preschool on Thursday mornings. It has been a lot of fun and Hadley LOVES having her friends come over each week to play and practice letters. Well, this Thursday the moms asked if they could bring lunch over to eat together afterwards. Of course, I wouldn't turn down food! Little did I know they had planned this to thank me and brought over pizza, fruit and dessert along with a special little goodie box for me including a Starbuck's card and Gordman's gift card. Man, do I have great friends, or what?! It also happened to be little A's birthday the next day, so we got to sing Happy Birthday and watch her blow out TWO big candles.

A big milestone

2009-12-06T20:32:00.000-06:00

Drake had a big milestone this week- he lost his first tooth! It had been wiggly for weeks and was so close to falling out for days but today on the way home from Christmas at Sugar's- it fell out. No drama, no crying, just simply fell out in the van on our way home. He was really excited about it and put it under his pillow in anticipation of the tooth fairy!

Big Girl

2009-12-02T13:35:00.003-06:00

So many things have happened this week to our ever-changing big girl! One big milestone we have passed is giving up the paci. Monday, I took it away at nap time, which resulted in about an hour of crying and/or pleading. I reminded her that she is a big girl now and doesn't need the paci anymore and we needed to give them to babies. She said, during one of the many times she called me back into her room, "NO give them to babies, give them to ME!" Finally, after almost an hour, she called me back in AGAIN and this time said, "You can go get my big girl present ready now." It was like she was telling me that she was giving in and ready to go to sleep now. Then, I didn't hear from her again for 2 1/2 hours. Bed time went amazingly well that night, only asked for the paci once and then conked right out.

Another big milestone Hadley has accomplished this week is drawing. She loves drawing faces and is getting really good at it ( I mean, for a 2 year old). She also attempted to write her name today. Here is a picture of her progress.

Many Thanks

2009-11-28T15:33:00.000-06:00

We have SO many reasons to be thankful this year, not the least of these is our great family. We, once again, had a great time spending time in Indiana with lots of cousins, aunts, uncles and more cousins. It is so much fun to watch all the little ones develop their personalities and watch them growing up together. This year there were 31 people at Thanksgiving on the Indiana side, 7 of those were 5 and under. Amazingly though, there was very little arguing and all seemed to have a great time together.

After we got home from Indiana, we welcomed the Rutledge family at our house and did some more eating and lots of relaxing and talking. Did I mention we are so thankful for a wonderful family?

Making pumpkin pie with Nana.

Painting with Joel

All Decked Out

2009-11-24T15:32:00.000-06:00

We decided we like to decorate before we leave for the Thanksgiving festivities so all we have to do is come home and plug in the lights and voila, we're ready for Christmas. So, we unpacked the totes this evening and decorated away. Thanksfully, we have even had some warm temperatures so Gabe was able to get the lights up outside too without freezing his hands off. The kids loved helping organize the branches in piles before putting them all on the tree. And the nativity has been a big hit with both kids as they love rearranging the people and telling their own versions of the Christmas story.

No chapped lips here

2009-11-23T15:26:00.000-06:00

Hadley has been on a chapstick kick. She has had a bit of a cold so she keeps asking me to put chapstick on her lips and under her nose where it has gotten a little sore. So, I made the mistake of buying her a tub of carmex at Walgreens. On the way home, I thought she was awfully quiet. When I got her out of the car I realized why. About ½ the tub was empty and this is what her face looked like.

The GREAT cookie factory

2009-11-19T15:22:00.000-06:00

Hadley got to have a playdate at the mall this morning with several of her friends. The early childhood director from our church hosted a play date at The Great Cookie Factory. The kids got to decorate their own cookie with lots of different colors of icing and got a drink as well. Hadley loved squeezing lots of icing onto her cookie. She has really been into drawing faces lately so that was the first thing she put on her cookie- eyes, nose, mouth. Then she had to add some hair, then a little more and another touch just for good measure. (I think she really just wanted to put LOTS of icing on her cookie.) After everyone was all sugared up, we headed to the mall play area where the kids got to run out some energy and the moms got to actually finish a few conversations.

Dentist

2009-11-17T20:19:00.000-06:00

Today, Drake had his regular six month cleaning. He did great, as usual. He hopped right up in the chair and chose his favorite chocolate chip cookie dough toothpaste for the cleaning. The hygienist asked him if he had any loose teeth, to which he responded, "no". Then, as soon as she started cleaning his teeth, she told him he did have loose teeth- FOUR in fact. His top two front teeth are loose as well as his bottom two front teeth. He will look SO different when he loses those! He just might need to be asking for his two front teeth for Christmas this year- wow. Don't know if I'm ready for this.
While at the dentist and watching Drake get his teeth cleaned, Hadley kept asking when it was her turn. So, when Drake was done, she hopped right up in the chair and the hygienist asked her if she wanted her teeth cleaned. She said, "YES!". So, she sat perfectly still with her mouth open the whole time she got her teeth cleaned with, of course, cookie dough tooth paste too. Afterwards, the kids got their usual new toothbrushes, paste and a prize from the prize box. Then, the dentist came in to check out their teeth. They both got a good report on well taken care of teeth. However, the dentist did tell me it is time to give up the paci as it is starting to show it's wear on her little teeth...sigh. (And just for the record, for months now she has only had it at bedtime.) I knew the day was coming but now I'm really feeling the pressure. Just another sign that my little girl is not a baby anymore.

Underwater Adventure

2009-11-17T15:20:00.000-06:00

Drake had his first school performance. The K, 1st and 2nd grades put on a musical performance this evening and wow was it packed. There was standing room only and many parents and family members who could not even get into the gym to see the performance. Drake was very animated and knew the songs very well. He had spent lots of time practicing some of his favorites at home as well. Here is a little clip of the evening:

Fall, flu, and fun

2009-10-28T10:56:00.006-05:00

Well, in the midst of sickness, we managed to get outside and rake up a few leaves. The kids had fun trying to help rake, but mostly jumping in and throwing the leaves.
Drake started running a fever Thursday morning and it continued Friday and climbed to 103* so we made a quick trip to the doctor's office. They swabbed him for flu, but it was negative so it's just a virus and has to run its course. Well, Saturday morning he was still running about 100* but by the afternoon he was feeling much better and hasn't run a fever since. All day Saturday, Hadley kept telling me she was cold. Just before bed I checked her temp and she had 100*. So, it starts again. It's now Wednesday and Hadley (I think) is finally getting over it. She continued to run 100*-102* up until last night. This morning when she first woke up it was still 100* but now is only about 99.4*, so we're moving in the right direction. After her nap will be the test, since it seems to spike everyday in the afternoon. So, needless to say, our plans for the week have been contained to mostly sitting on the couch. Hadley really only complained the whole time about being cold and wanted me either holding her or holding her hand while she was wrapped up in blankets. I haven't seen her sit so quietly for a long time. This morning she was back to pretending in the bathtub, so that's a good sign. She had Drake's dinosaurs and we had a long role play with the daddy, mommy and baby dinosaur. It went something like this:

H (baby dinosaur): Hi mommy dinosaur.
me (mommy dinosaur): Hi baby dinosaur
H: do you want some chicken, it's here on my tail.
me: yes, thank you (gobbling up the chicken on her tail)
H: Mommy dinosaur, do you want to go to a restaurant?
me: that would be great
H: okay, let's go (pretend walking on the side of the tub)
H: here's some apples, broccoli, chicken, they're on my tail.
me: (pretending to eat the food)
H: NO, not there, here!

Apparently, I was not pretending to eat the pretend food on the correct place on her tail. I like playing pretend and all, but man, she's bossy. I'm hoping that at least means she's getting back to her old self, with some additional snot explosion sneezes. We're supposed to be heading south tomorrow to visit my sister and family, so hopefully we really are on the mend. Can't wait to post pics of the kids all dressed up for Halloween!

Great Date

2009-10-18T21:44:00.003-05:00

Have I mentioned lately how proud I am of Drake with school? He is doing so much better than I had anticipated. I think a lot of that has to do with having a great teacher who is very structured, which is just what he thrives on. She is also great at transitioning, another VERY important thing for him. It has made life at home so great as well. He has handled almost everything better since starting school. My little boy is growing up so much.
Tonight, he and I went on a date to Starbucks (thanks to a gift card!). He decided he wanted his own decaf caramel latte, a boy after my own heart. He and I had a very civilized evening sipping our lattes, reading his library book, going over his poetry from the week and talking about some of his favorite things at school. I also shared with him how proud I am of him for doing such a great job at school. I saw his dimples shine through many times throughout the date. Dates with her son, does a mother's heart good.

We've come a l o n g way, baby.

our little animals

2009-10-17T17:32:00.002-05:00

This is what we came home to last night...

Gabe and I went over to some friends' house for dinner last night. (Which was amazingly delicious, by the way.) We each took part in bringing part of the meal which consisted of strawberry spinach salad with a raspberry poppyseed dressing, homemade rolls, green beans with sliced almonds, garlic mashed potatoes and steak topped with a yummy shiitake mushroom garlic sauce followed by dessert of chocolate pie and cheesecake. All of this accompanied with laughter, fun and friendship made for one great night.

Okay, back to the kids, Uncle Eric and Aunt Sarah came to watch the kids for us and took them to the YMCA family FREE night. They got to swim and get their faces painted. Hadley was our little kitty and Drake was a saber-toothed tiger. I know the kids loved being able to spend some time in the water since the frigid temperatures here no longer allow for any sort of outside swimming time.

So, I think everyone had a great night. We're so blessed with great family.

the Great pumpkin patch

2009-10-12T21:42:00.004-05:00

Finally, a day where we were all together. That has been a rarity around here for several weeks now. So, we decided to head to The Great Pumpkin Patch and take in the beautiful fall colors. It was so nice to get away, just the four of us. We decided to break up the trip by heading over on Sunday evening and stayed with some friends so we only had about a 20 minute drive this morning. The kids had fun picking out a few small pumpkins and gourds to bring home and we all enjoyed the beautiful things to see. We snapped lots of pictures on this chilly morning and out of the hundred that we took we actually got a few with the kids looking and smiling. They're pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

Happy Birthday Grammy

2009-10-05T18:06:00.003-05:00

We hope you're having a great day in Tennessee Grammy!

Toy Story Marathon

2009-10-02T18:24:00.000-05:00

We decided to do something fun and maybe a little adventurous (with a 2 year old that is!). We picked up Drake from school and headed to the 3D, double feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2. The movie started at 3:45 and we didn't get out of there until about 7:15! The kids did awesome though! We had packed a few treats to take in with us, including Toy Story fruit snacks, and then splurged on some popcorn and drinks which we were able to get free refills on at the intermission. Drake loved watching it with the 3D glasses on and sat incredibly well for 3+ hours! Hadley did so great for being only 2, although she wasn't so fond of the glasses. She switched seats a couple of times between my lap, her own seat and Gabe's lap, but only talked a few times when she was asking questions about the movie. ( I took my camera to the theatre, only to realize that the memory card was not in it, so you'll have to settle with a pic from when we got home with the Toy Story fruit snacks.)

Life

2009-09-24T13:09:00.004-05:00

It just seems to be zooming right along these days. I am happy to report that Kindergarten is going very well! Drake is loving it and even talked me into letting him ride the bus home from school. I'm sure there will be occasional days of picking him up but he loves riding it, it's only a 15 minute ride and it saves me from waking up Hadley from her nap everyday to get him. Drake is absolutely loving learning at school and tries to sound out words all the time. I think our days of spelling things without him figuring it out are soon coming to an end. Drake is also still really enjoying being outside. He loves riding his bike and scooter and jumping on the trampoline. He still has a very vivid imagination and can entertain himself for hours with a few simple props.

Hadley is doing well, has a bit of a cold this week or teeth coming in or something because she's had a runny nose and has been on the crabby side but she's talking ALL the time, usually in sentences and always refers to herself in third person. She also DOES NOT like to be called any nicknames such as sweetie, honey, babe, etc... She is quick to correct you if you call her one of these names, "NO Hadley honey, name's Hadley!" We had to have a talk the other evening about not talking so rudely when correcting people of her name. So, at bedtime that night, I accidently said, "Good night honey" and she responded with, "Oops, Mommy, not honey, Hadley." A much more polite correction than I have heard before so I guess she does listen to me. She is also very good at asserting her independence and stubbornness. Last weekend, she and I had about a 30 minute battle of the wills over turning off the TV, so after lots of time in her room and a couple of swats, she finally gave in and obeyed. I'm afraid she might have gotten this from me. But, watch out girl because your mom will not give in- she's met her match. Hadley is doing GREAT with her big girl bed too. She usually goes to bed around 8 or 8:30, and gets up around the same time the next morning. The first night she got up once, received her punishment, and has not done it again since. ( I think we learned with Drake to nip it in the bud early or it can become a chronic problem.) Now, she goes down without ever getting up and calls us to come get her in the morning and at naps. Potty training is going so-so. We'll have a great week of very few accidents and then have a day where every time I turn around she's peeing her pants. I'm getting quite tired of this stage. So far, the theory of "girls are easier" has not played out in our house. Drake potty trained much faster and earlier than she has. Here is a picture of Hadley doing one of her favorite things: watercolors!

Lazy Family Day

2009-09-07T13:47:00.004-05:00

We headed up to Josh, Jacki and Joel's house on Sunday after church to spend the evening and Labor Day with them. Hadley did not sleep a wink on the way up and Drake had a great nap. Go figure. This resulted in Hadley having an early bed time and Drake got to stay up to play a few games on the Wii before bed. Then, the adults stayed up late sipping decaf coffee and solving the world's problems. Okay, Jacki and I did that and the guys watched a bunch music videos and talked computer stuff. Monday we stuck around the house all morning while the kiddos played. Around noon, we headed out to the park at the church and let the kids burn off some energy before we packed them back in the car for the trek home. They both promptly fell asleep for a couple of hours. Then, we made a detour at Bloomington Miller Park to stretch our legs, make a potty stop and get a little wet at the park.

Family Bowling Night

2009-09-04T13:37:00.001-05:00

We decided to celebrate how well Drake is doing in Kindergarten and have a family night out to go bowling. So, after dinner at home, we made the quick trip to a bowling alley in town. Drake hadn't been bowling in over a year and had been asking to go again. Hadley hadn't been bowling before. She was interested for about two frames and then preferred to just watch but did a great job staying close and entertained. Drake beat me and Gabe clobbered us all. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that the bumpers were up! :) It was a fun, family night out and it's so much fun to be able to do these things with our kids as they get older. I love my family.

A new venture

2009-09-03T15:44:00.001-05:00

We started a new venture today. I'm hosting/teaching a little preschool at my house. It's mostly just for fun- for me. It's just one day and week and it's great for Hadley to have a morning to interact with other kids and learn to share her toys. The kids did great today, especially for their first time. I love the no-pressure teaching since it's free, it makes it just feel like fun and not work. Today we worked on a couple of colors and the shapes circles and squares. The kids were a lot of fun!

First Day of Kindergarten

2009-08-24T21:12:00.004-05:00

Unbelievably, my little boy started school today! It was a tough day, for me at least. Drake loved it! We started our morning at home with pancakes and a new devotion book that we got Drake. Grammy was here too, because she was watching Hadley today while I started a new job (I'll get to explaining that later..). So, we all caravanned over to the school to get Drake settled in his new school. The classroom was quite congested with 27 students and LOTS of parents, so after 15 minutes of helping Drake get his supplies put away and he was busy playing at a table, I quickly told him goodbye so I wouldn't have the chance to lose my composure. Gabe stayed at the school to attend the parent meeting in the library and I headed off to my first day of work. At the parent meeting, the local news station showed up wanting to do a story on the importance of a father figure in kids' lives at school. So, Gabe and Drake got to have some footage shot of them at the school together and we're hoping to catch it on the local news this evening! Gabe also picked up Drake today. When Gabe asked him how his day was Drake replied, "It was great...but, I didn't learn how to read today." He is so excited to learn how to read this year! I am a little (okay, a lot) nervous about how well Drake will be able to handle Kindergarten being such a young 5 year old and with the sensory issues he deals with. We're praying really hard for a great year!
Okay, so the scoop on this new job for me: A few weeks ago I was at the dentist getting some work done and my dentist offered me a job. Crazy, huh?! That's what I thought! But, it's only one day a week and I had been looking for something to help me pull a little more weight with our financial responsibilities. So, Grammy is going to be coming to watch Hadley and I'm trying to learn the ropes of assisting an endodontist (a dentist that does things like root canals, extractions, implants, etc...). On my first day, I assisted with 5 extractions and a root canal. I have lots to learn but medical stuff has always been fascinating to me and I kind of enjoy that gross kind of stuff. It does kind of make me sad to be working again. I love staying home with the kids, but only one day a week isn't too bad so I'm hoping I can get into the swing of it, without feeling too bad about missing out on things like picking up Drake from his first day of school.

F is for FUN!

2009-08-23T21:03:00.000-05:00

Every August, JSCC holds their annual Fish & Fowl Fry. So, after church we headed to Lincoln, Gabe and Hadley grabbed a few z's at Grammy's house. Once the sleepyheads got up we headed to the church where there was plenty of fun to be had. The "kids" had a blast sliding,

and sticking to the velcro wall,

and riding ponies!

It was a great end to the LAST day of summer vacation. School starts tomorrow!

Springfield Has Its Perks

2009-08-20T20:34:00.000-05:00

One of those is being the home of the State Fair. We met several other couples from our small group to take it in. We took part in some scrumptious and ever-so-healthy fair food and introduced the kids to the carni world through the ridiculously expensive fair rides. Drake had a big decision to make. He had to choose between a really cool jumpy ride which would take all his money or tickets for two of the other rides. He decided on the big jumping ride. Here is some footage from the experience.

So, after Drake got done jumping away, Hadley got to have her turn on the rides. She rode with another little boy from our small group. They had a blast riding the boats and the helicopeters and each time it stopped Hadley would say, "MORE AGAIN!!"

She was not too happy about being done but we left the rides with the intentions of heading to the barns to check out some animals and then on to some dessert- a funnel cake and lemonade shake-up. Yum.

What happens in Vegas...

2009-08-18T14:54:00.000-05:00

Gabe surprised me with a trip to Vegas this last weekend. (And he got tickets, buy one, get one free, so it was a very inexpensive get-away since he was going for work!!) We left on Thursday afternoon and got home Monday afternoon. For me, it was a great trip of relaxation, sun, reading and the pool. When Gabe wasn't working, we did get to drive out to Red Rock Canyon and drive through the beautiful 13 mile path through it. We also got out and walked around a little to enjoy the scenery up close. For Gabe, the trip involved a lot more work that looked like this:

He visited two church to learn all about IMAG (live video during the church service) and to watch it in action. Our church is getting ready to launch this HUGE project and so Gabe really enjoyed getting to get behind the scenes at other churches that are doing it well and learn a few more tricks of the trade.

We had a great time, but were very ready to get home too. We even tried to switch our flight and come home the night before, but couldn't get it switched, but we were up bright and early the next morning to catch our flight and even got to see the sun rise over the mountains- beautiful!

Knight's Action Park

2009-08-09T20:05:00.007-05:00

This weekend has definitely felt like August- whew, hot and humid! So, we have kept cool by swimming! Yesterday we went to camp to swim all afternoon and today (after church and lunch) we went to Knight's Action Park. (We knew this might be a dangerous move because the kids would miss naptime altogether, but we decided to chance it.) We went one day last summer, just after we had moved to Springfield and it was a lot of fun. This year was even better! Aunt Kara and family got us tickets to go for the kids' birthdays. Hadley absolutely loves the water and enjoyed it all. Drake is a terrific fish and is so brave, he even tried the BIG slides this year and loved them! Hadley started small, but after several times down the kids' slides she was going by herself. She even told me to stop getting up to catch her at the bottom of the slide- "sit down mommy, hadley do it self." Drake is SUCH a good big brother, he so patiently took Hadley to the top of the slide, would wait for her to go, then would go himself and wait to take her back up to the top with him. When Hadley was looking at the pictures tonight of her standing in line she kept saying "wait my turn", I think she heard that about a million times today and for 2, she did an awesome job standing in line and waiting! Drake is so independent now in the water and he is so much fun. Gabe and I had a great time taking turns going with him to the big slides and got to enjoy them for ourselves too. I think a season pass might have to be in our future. The kids did an amazing job, although Hadley did say "long day, mommy" a few times. I don't think we saw any tears all day, even when it was time to go home. I think they were so exhausted they were ready, I'm hoping for a good 14 hours out of them tonight!

Opposites

2009-08-06T20:59:00.004-05:00

Hadley's latest reading ability (okay, not really reading but memorizing)

Yum, summer

2009-08-06T20:51:00.003-05:00

We've been enjoying our last few weeks of summer. Today we headed to a splash park about 1/2 an hour away. Can't beat free fun with good friends! We've also been loving all the fresh summer food (including a few squash from our one squash plant that grew!).

The Big Day

2009-07-25T19:55:00.002-05:00

The day started early with hair appointments for all the ladies, followed by make-up, pictures, eating and then the big ceremony! I won't mention that someone forgot to take her brother's ring to the stage, uhem, and then her sister bailed her out and handed her the ring during the ceremony. (thanks for covering my rear, Kara!) Other than that little glitch, the day was beautiful! The weather was perfect, the couple was lovely, the kids were well-behaved, and the laughter was plenty. What more could you ask for?! It made me get a little sentimental and feel a little sappy that Gabe and I are coming up on 8 years of marriage. Wow, I can't believe it and yet, since we started dating nearly 13 years ago, it is hard to remember our lives not together. I sure do love him more each year and am so thankful for our life together. ( A big thanks to Nana and Papa for helping out with the kids Friday night and Saturday morning too so that we could take part in all of the pre-wedding festivities while the kids got to have a fun time too!)