Christmas 2012

We began our Christmas celebrations a few weeks ago by celebrating with my Grandpa & Grandma Jost.  We had to celebrate early due to Grandpa's surgery, and luckily, my aunt and uncle were able to celebrate with us too!  We had curry and rice for supper and the kids opened their gifts.

Lane's fireman costume and Katy's puzzles were a hit!  They couldn't wait to start playing with them the next morning.

Scarlett grew out of her 0-3 month clothes all of a sudden, so I actually had a Christmas outfit for her!  Katy wore this when she was 6 months old.  In this picture, Katy was reading a story to Scarlett before church.

We invited Curtis' parents and Brent and Christi over on Christmas Eve.  We enjoyed lots of snacky food, Christmas movies for the kids, and Duck Dynasty for the adults :)

Christmas morning, Curtis woke up sick.  He managed to make it through opening presents, but spent the rest of the day like this:

I felt bad for him, but I also felt bad for me since that meant entertaining all three kids by myself!  They've had colds for the past 10 days, which made for pretty crabby kids.  (At this point, I'm pretty much over winter and all the sickness that comes with it!).

The kids loved their presents!  I didn't get any pictures, but Santa brought them both new bikes.  They've really enjoyed riding them around the family room and the shop.

All Lane asked for in recent weeks was a "six-wheel firetruck."  He was so excited!  He also got a firetruck Lego set and a coat (that is still sitting at the post office since it didn't arrive until yesterday!).

Katy was actually pretty patient opening her gifts and liked every one of them!  She got the Copycats of the King CD, a Lightning McQueen Hawk car, a pink monster truck, a shopping cart, a cash register, and a basket of toy food.

Scarlett got a kangaroo from Santa (luckily Katy isn't quite old enough to figure it out, but she saw the kangaroo on Christmas Eve!) and a matching book from us.  She didn't need anything else.

The kids spent the rest of morning playing with their new stuff and watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Frosty the Snowman.

We had plans to go over to my parent's house in the afternoon - Grandpa and Grandma Reimer were here, so we wanted to celebrate with them!  We decided that it would be best if Curtis didn't go, so it was just me and the kids.  Let me just say that I'm glad I'm not a single parent - it was exhausting!  Scarlett was crabby (I'm still not sure if she's getting a cold or if we need to give her more Zantac) and the kids were just very active and needy!

They really enjoyed their presents though - they received roller skates and pool toys from Great Grandma and Grandpa, and a mining Lego set for Lane and a cupcake Duplo set for Katy from my parents.  They both figured out the skates right away and had a lot of fun skating around the house!

It was a pretty low-key Christmas and I'm really glad it was!  I found that the holidays are pretty exhausting with a little baby.  We still have a few more holiday activities - Christmas with the Farrall's in Omaha tomorrow, bowling with my family on Sunday, and Christmas with my family on Tuesday.  Whew.

Scarlett - 2 months old

At 2 months old, Scarlett:

- weighs 12 lbs, 12 oz and is 22 3/4 inches long.
- eats every 2-3 hours and gets one formula bottle in the evening (which she has started throwing up every evening)
- is almost too big for 0-3 month clothing.

- smiles a lot and coos and "talks" at us.
- doesn't nap much during the day - about three 10-20 minute naps and one or two 1-hour naps
- is a content baby, as long as she is sitting in her bouncer.  She loves to watch everything that goes on!

- sleeps pretty good at night in her Rock N Play - the past three nights she has slept 7.5 to 8.5 hour stretches!

Here she is all bundled up after we lost power for 11 hours last night - we were cold, but everyone slept well!  Too bad she's too little to go out sledding in the snow!

Jingle Bells, a grandchild, and baby Jesus

Stockham's Christmas program was last Sunday night.  Lane's class practiced quite a bit on Sunday mornings and then they had a group practice on Saturday morning.  Lane was pretty worried that he didn't know the songs very well!  They were longer songs and not ones that he hears very often.  He does know Away in a Manger, so I told him to sing that one and do the best he could.

I had no idea that Katy's class was participating in the program!  I took her downstairs with me to drop off Lane and I noticed that her class was gathering in their room.  I had to bribe her with fruit snacks, but she joined her class in singing a few songs.  (I was just thankful that she looked somewhat decent and wasn't wearing her Angry Birds shirt!)

Singing "Jingle, Jingle, Happy Bells" while shaking bells - doesn't everyone sing that song when they are 2 years old?

I was busy in the back room feeding Scarlett, so I'm glad that my mom got a few pictures for me!

Lane was a "grandchild" in the program, which basically meant that he had to sit and listen to "Grandpa" tell the Christmas story and sing along to a few songs.  He did well - I noticed him singing a few times, and the rest of the time he stood quietly and did what he was supposed to!

As one of the youngest babies in church, Scarlett got to be baby Jesus.  She did wonderful - not a peep!  Unfortunately, I couldn't see her face, so I didn't get any good pictures!

Lane kept a pretty close eye on Scarlett during the whole song that she was up there - he's a great big brother! (Ignore the two crazy boys in the front row!)

The program was cute (and thankfully, short) and we all enjoyed the cookies afterward!

Today

Today...Scarlett is 6 weeks old.  She eats every 2-3 hours, naps for 10-30 minutes at a time during the day, and sleeps 4-5 hour stretches at night.  She started smiling a couple of days ago and loves to study everything around her!

Today...I am thankful that, even though she has reflux and doesn't nap, Scarlett is my easiest baby.

Today...Katy started asking to watch Veggie Tales...only she calls it "Veggie Straws".

Today...my kitchen is a disaster, but the Pumpkin Raisin cookies we made are delicious!

Today...I wished that, for just a moment, I could be a little kid again.  Christmas has always been my favorite time of year, and I suddenly realized that I am in charge of creating that magic for my kids.  Right now that sounds like a lot of work ;)

Today...I am really glad that at least something will keep my kids entertained for any length of time: Legos and Duplos.

Today...Scarlett started her 6-week growth spurt.  Here we go again....

A week...

I'm sitting here enjoying my VERY quiet house...Lane is at preschool and both Katy and Scarlett are napping. Of course, Scarlett is sitting right next to me and making baby noises, but they are so much cuter than preschool boy noises!

We've survived the first week of having 3 kids.  Scarlett is the easy one.  Lane has been acting up (due to pneumonia and not getting as much attention as he's used to).  Katy has finally resigned herself to the fact that Mommy can't do everything for her anymore - Daddy has had to take over some things.

Scarlett is a great sleeper so far (knock on wood).  She typically sleeps in 4-5 hour stretches at night.  I am sleeping great (meaning, whenever I'm in bed, I'm actually sleeping) and I feel like I am playing catch-up from the last 9 months of no sleep.  Now, if only I didn't have to get up at night with a baby!  

After a trip to a lactation consultant, we're getting better with the eating thing.  Scarlett weighed 8 lbs, 8 oz at her appointment today, so I am very glad that she is gaining weight!  So far she's the only one of my kids that hasn't had a weight-gain issue by this time.  Very thankful!

Katy is finally only getting up once or twice to go potty, and she just tells Curtis and will let him help her without a fuss.  We had a few nights of pretty bad tantrums.  Now, if she would only stop waking Lane up in the morning!

Lane is beyond excited about Halloween (he's going to be a dragon) and had a great time carving pumpkins. I do think he's sad that harvest is over...but he's been very happy to have Daddy around to play Legos with.

Pumpkin masks (Lane's idea!)

Two little sisters can wear a boy out!

Future thumb-sucker?  She hates to be swaddled and loves to have
her hands by her face.

We've watched a lot of Bob the Builder, Super Why, and Curious George this week!

Katy "helped" scoop the seeds out...

Lane did a pretty good job carving his ghost!

The kids loved helping me give Scarlett her first bath.  Lane was actually
helpful (it was nice to have someone put soap on the washrag while I
held Scarlett in place).  Katy, well, she at least she didn't make too big of a mess!

Welcome home, Scarlett!

At my last couple OB appointments, I had somewhat high blood pressure.  It wasn't as high as it was when I was pregnant with Katy (and luckily, I didn't feel as yucky as I did then!), but it was high enough.  We weren't quite sure on the due date - it ranged from October 18 to October 26 depending on which ultrasound we looked at.  Anyway, when my blood pressure was 156/110 on Wednesday and they offered to induce on Thursday, I gladly said yes.

We went in at 7 am on Thursday.  I was already dialted a couple centimeters, so I hoped it wasn't going to take too long!  I knew that not much would happen until my water was broken, so they did that around noon (I was at a 3).  Around 1:45 they checked again, and I was only a 5.  Around 2:15 I actually started to feel some contractions (and even with an epidural, they were pretty painful!)....and around 2:30 they got even worse and I started to get worried!  Another nurse came in about 2:45, looked at the monitor, decided to check me and said, "Ok, let's have this baby!"

Dr. Ohrt and Marcia quickly came in and got everything ready.  Dr. Ohrt said to push on the next contraction...but then they got to joking around about Curtis' hair and I actually forgot that I was supposed to push!  Next contraction, I pushed once and she was out :)  She was born at 2:58 pm - 8 lbs 4 oz and 20.5 inches long.  That morning, I guessed that she would be 8 lbs. 6 oz.  I was pretty close!

We had a really tough time deciding on a name, so she was nameless for about a half hour.  We finally decided on Scarlett, but then we had to argue over the middle name for awhile.  Curtis insisted that initials don't matter, but I won that argument.  (No initials of SPF for my little girl!).  We finally settled on Scarlett Joy.

Scarlett nursed great right away and was awake and alert for a couple of hours.  One of the worst parts for me was having to stay in bed for 3 hours until the epidural wore off - I just wanted to get up, take a shower, and then have Lane and Katy come meet their little sister!

My mom and dad stopped by with the kids (and later, Curtis' parents came by also) after supper.  Neither kid was very interested in Scarlett - they were more excited to see mommy and daddy after being gone all day!  Katy was very concerned about my IV - she kept saying, "shot, shot?"  When Curtis tried to get them home for bed, Katy didn't want to leave with him.  She wanted Curtis to stay in the hospital with Scarlett and me to go home :)  Finally, he bribed her with fruit snacks, and she was fine!

We had a good first night and decided to go home Friday afternoon.  I was pretty bored in the hospital and honestly, just wanted to sleep in my own bed!  It helped knowing that Mom was going to watch the kids that night so I wouldn't have to worry about anything but Scarlett.  It was pretty peaceful around here without the older two...

Scarlett had a good first night at home - mostly sleeping in 4-5 hour stretches.  There were a few hours when she just wanted to be held, so I actually didn't go to bed until around 3 am, but really, it wasn't that bad!  It probably helps that I've only been getting about 5 hours of sleep a night the last 4 weeks, so I'm kinda used to being sleep-deprived!

So far, she's been pretty good.  She rarely cries, except when she is getting her diaper changed.  As for the other two kids, well, they're pretty tired from all the activity...Katy is teething and getting over croup...and Lane just came down with croup last night.  That meant that Curtis had a rougher night last night than I did!  Hopefully things will settle down and we'll get back to "normal" (or maybe I should just hope for healthy!).

Scarlett definitely resembles both Lane and Katy, but I think she looks more like Lane with those chubby cheeks!

Pumpkin Patch

Helgoth's Pumpkin Patch is becoming a fall tradition at our house.  Even though the weather wasn't so nice (cold and windy) on Sunday, we decided we'd better go before this baby makes an appearance!

Lane was super excited from the moment we told him where we were going.  Luckily, Katy took a short nap, so we were on the road by 2:45.  Once there, Lane ran straight for the jumping pillow.

 Katy tried it once, fell down, and decided it wasn't for her.  But then, Curtis told her that it was just like jumping on the couch at home and that she would really like it if she tried it again.  She did - and had a blast.

There were a few new things this year - cute little cars, a castle for little kids to play in, tanks filled with corn, and another jumping pillow.  The kids were really good about trying everything out and not just staying in one spot the whole time.

Of course the slide was a lot of fun!  Katy was big enough to go by herself this year.  She was very sober the whole way down, but as soon as she hit the bottom, she was all smiles!

The zip line was another new thing.  It was really hard for me to pull Lane while running, but we managed :)  I kinda hoped maybe all the activity would put me in labor, but no such luck!

We also tried out the corn maze this year.  Lane knew what was going on since Curious George went through a maze in one episode, so Lane was our guide.

He ran ahead and decided which way to go.  He found the way out, with only one "help" from us (he tried to go back the way we came).

Finally, it was almost time to leave for supper, but Lane had to pump water for the duckies just one time.  Katy thought it was pretty cool too.

On our way out, we passed the tractors for the hayrack ride to the pumpkin patch.  Luckily, Lane wasn't upset that we didn't go pick a pumpkin...he just stated, "Next year when we come back we'll have to remember to go get a pumpkin."  Glad he wasn't too disappointed!

On our way back through Grand Island, we stopped at Gordman's to pick out new shoes for Katy.  The shoes she has been wearing were hand-me-downs from the Quiring boys and getting too small.  However, she refused to wear either of the other two pairs she has (both more "dressy"), so we bought her some new tennis shoes.  She picked them out (black, purple and pink ones) and has worn them all day every day since then.  Most days she can be seen wearing the new shoes, pink and purple athletic pants, and a red Angry Birds shirt.  I do laundry almost every night!

Potty-training Katy

A few weeks ago, Katy refused to put another diaper on in the morning.  "Underwear, potty, " she insisted.  "No diapers."  Okay.  I wasn't quite ready for that, but whatever.

We got her little pink potty out, set it up in the family, and watched Curious George like normal.  She was sitting on the potty, so of course when she peed in it, we made a huge deal out of it and gave her marshmallows.  That first day, we tried to stay on hard floors or outside most of the time.  Katy had several accidents, but also several successes.

Days 2 and 3, I was exhausted.  Katy couldn't pull her pants down and didn't quite know when she would have to go, so it was constant watching her and helping her to the potty.  By day 4...I was ready to give up.  At noon I complained to Curtis about how I was tired of it and maybe I would just go back to diapers (it didn't help that at that time we only had 3 pairs of underwear, so I was constantly doing laundry!).  But....less than an hour later, she pooped in the potty all by herself with no prompting...and we made a successful trip to York.  That gave me the motivation to keep trying.

By the next week, she was telling me when she had to go and had maybe 3 accidents the whole week.  Katy loved her new Cars, Nemo, and Toy Story underwear (I searched all over the internet to find girl underwear with Lightning McQueen!).

I always said that Katy would potty train when she decided she wanted to, and she did.  Sooo much quicker than Lane - I remember washing underwear out for months with him!  She already stays dry during naps and, if she wakes up once at night to pee, she'll stay dry all night too.  (At 4, Lane still doesn't stay dry. Someday he'll be embarrassed about that!).

However, Katy being Katy, she has had to make it difficult for me at times...she decided that she can pee in the grass like Lane.  Even if I haul her into the house quickly, she screams and cries and ends up peeing on her bedroom floor.  So after a huge tantrum out in the field, I let her try it, and of course she peed all over everything.  I thought that might be the end of it.

Today at Playdate at the Park, she decided once again that she can pee in the grass.  I told her she can figure it out.  She took off her shorts and underwear...and spread her legs far enough apart that her shoes wouldn't get wet....and peed.  Nothing I could say would stop her!  After she was done, I told her, "Girls don't pee in the grass.  Only boys can."  She looked at me and stated, "No, I peed on the tree."  Well....ok....it's tough to argue with Katy!

Hopefully this is only a phrase!

But I am very thankful that at only 2 years and (less than!) 3 months, Katy potty-trained herself.  Sometimes stubbornness isn't all that bad!

Review of "Inescapable"

Lizzie Engel grew up in the secluded town of Kingdom, Kansas.  She has spent the past 5 years running from her past - and everyone in it.  Lizzie decides to leave Kansas City when she realizes that she is being followed; however, she has no place to go but Kingdom!  Once there, she remembers the good things about growing up in the small Mennonite town.  But as she comes face to face with her past - will she have to leave  home once again?

I chose to read Inescapable because of the Mennonite connection - and even though the Mennonite faith they portrayed in the book is very different from the Mennonite faith I grew up with - it was still interesting to read of Lizzie's struggles.  It took me a little while to get into this book.  I'm not a huge fan of mystery novels, perhaps because I don't like not knowing what's going on!  Once I got about halfway through, I had to finish it that night because I was so invested in the characters!

I do recommend this book to anyone who typically enjoys contempory fiction (especially if you are usually into romance) because although it is technically a mystery novel, it is still a pretty light read.

I received a copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Review of "Almost Amish"

If you were given the chance to live Plain for a summer, would you do it?  Julie Charlton was approached by her sister-in-law, Susan, to do just that.  The women (along with their teenage kids) were invited to film a reality TV series on the challenges of living as the Amish do.  Julie jumped at the chance to slow down (after all, isn't Amish life "simple"?), while Susan thought it was the prefect chance to further her career (and show the world how "perfect" she can be).  Will their teenagers adapt to life without modern conveniences?  Will the women find their break from everyday life?

I was pleasantly surprised by "Almost Amish" by Kathryn Cushman.  When I signed up to review this book, I was expecting just another Amish fiction book.  The way that this book approached Amish life was refreshing.  So often, us "Englishers" see Plain living as simpler and slower-paced.  However, "Almost Amish" showed that isn't always the case.

Most of us as wives and mothers can relate to Julie's feelings about the "modern" world.  Too many commitments, too many expectations, and too little time together as a family.  The things we have to do (such as cleaning, committees, baking, etc.) don't always lie within our strengths and can leave us feeling drained.  Others of us are like Susan - we have to show everyone that we are perfect and that everything is always under control.

I liked the reminder that we don't have to be like every other wife and mother out there; our house, our food, our crafts, our meetings, our committees, even our kids' activities don't have to look like everyone else's.  It's okay to say no sometimes :)

I was provided a copy of this book to review by Bethany House Publishers; however, all opinions are my own.

July Meal Plan and Grocery List

I've told a few people about my idea to make a menu plan for a whole year.  I hate planning out my menus, but I've found that it is a necessity.  Otherwise, I head to the grocery store with no idea what to buy and end up getting a bunch of random things that I can't make into (edible) meals.  So, basically, I've been menu planning for the past 8 years and got really sick of it. I hated forgetting where I saw a new recipe, hated making the same old things all the time, and hated frantically sitting down the night before a shopping trip to decide what to eat.

So, when I saw the idea on Pinterest to menu plan for the whole year (with grocery lists and everything) I was sold.  I started working on it late last year and it didn't take long to get pretty much every meal figured out.  I did pretty well with following it and saving grocery lists and all...and then the food adversions and cravings hit when I was about 8 weeks pregnant.  So...I did away with the planned meal plan and just kinda winged it for awhile.  I ended up grocery shopping pretty much every week.  It was easy while Lane was in preschool - I only had to take Katy with me and she was really good.

Then summer hit and I quickly tired of bringing both kids with me all the time.  I tried to go at night when Curtis was home, but I was way too tired.  Then, a few weeks ago was the last straw - both kids cried/screamed the entire way through the grocery store and I vowed that I am never taking them again.  I will only take them to our small-town grocery store where they can push the kids' carts.

So, my plan now is to go to Walmart once a month and stock up on all the non-perishables and pantry staples I need for the whole month.  They are by far the cheapest place to get the basics, even though I don't always like their produce (both prices and quality).  So, my grocery list has two parts - non-perishables for the "big" trip and then a list for each week with produce/dairy/meat.  (This month I ended up buying all my chicken and ground beef at once and prepped everything that first week.  It has worked great and I will probably try to do that all the time!)

I think this idea will work out pretty good once the baby is born...there is no way I'm hauling three kids to grocery shop every week.  So...just because I'm pretty sure I like all of you who read this blog...I'm going to share July's menu and grocery list with you :).  Quite a bit of the recipes are from Taste of Home, others are from blogs (found on Pinterest) and some are from various church cookbooks.  And some are super simple meals that don't need a recipe (pizza!  spaghetti!).  Oh, and double check the recipes against the list to make sure that you have everything you need.  I left out stuff like spices and other staples that I know I always have on hand.

Wow that got really long, but I've had people ask what I do when I say that I meal plan...and so far this is working pretty good.  Now if I can only get disciplined enough to keep up with the grocery lists and put it all in a binder...and not have to do this next year :)

Menu Plan for July
Grocery List for July

Community Days

This past weekend was the annual Community Days...it's a lot more fun now that we live in town!  I don't feel like we have to plan out our weekend so much - if we want to go to something, we can decide at the last minute and we don't feel like we have to stay long!

The weekend started with a BBQ in the downtown park on Friday night.  It was fun to catch up with friends, even though the kids were hot and crabby!  We debated whether we should keep them up late to watch the fireworks that evening.  Lane was super excited about them, so we decided he could stay up.  I found us a good place to watch them down by the lake, but sadly, it was about 10 feet too far for Katy's monitor to reach!  So she got to stay up just because everyone else was.

I was really excited to see my friend Emily and her husband Kevin!  They drove back from KC that night and stopped by our house so they could watch the fireworks too.  They got here a little early (just in time to distract the kids from their crabbiness) so we had some time to catch up.  It was my first time to meet Ayden and he was so cute - and so well-behaved.  Makes me a little more anxious for my own :)

The fireworks were really good!  I was impressed by the show - big and pretty!  Super loud, probably because we were pretty close, but luckily the kids weren't scared.  We heard from some friends in Harvard that they were able to see them from their house!

The next day began with the parade.  I think Lane was hoping for more candy, but it's hard to get a bunch when you're not very aggressive :)

We ended up going home for lunch and to cool off.  It was really hard for me to be out in the heat so much - I'm just not used to it!  I walked around the car show for about 10 minutes before I had to go back inside and take a long nap!

After naps, we headed back to the park so that Lane and Katy could play on the inflatables.  Lane loved the slide and wasn't scared at all, even though he tumbled head over heels a couple of times.  Katy thought the little "maze" was fun, but she was more content to sit in the shade, eat graham crackers, and laugh at Lane.

The kids and Curtis played a round of miniature golf before it was time to head home for supper.  Lane was pretty sure that he beat Daddy because he got his ball in the hole first every time.  We let him think that :)

After supper, we walked across the street for the home run derby.  We thought it would be a lot more popular than it was.  Curtis signed up - and won in his age group!  (Do I need to mention that the only other guy was Brad?  And Brad said he hadn't hit a ball for years?)  Lane even took part and actually hit the ball once!

By that time I was really hot so it was time to go home.  We planned to go to the community church service in the park this morning, but I decided against it when I realized that it would already be 83 degrees by 10:00!  We enjoyed our church's air conditioning instead (and Curtis thought it was cold in church - I wanted to hit him!).

A good weekend - Lane said he had sooo much fun and can't wait until next year.  As long as the kids have fun - that's what it's all about, right?