Beautiful Spring sunset. We love living here.
Aspen's 8th Birthday
We LOVE our Teagy-beegy :)
I love this picture! The girls were super excited about getting new swim suits :)
It couldn't be avoided....big sisters are the best :)
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
April 2012
We LOVE our Teagy-beegy :)
Thursday, March 8, 2012
February 2012 Highlights
February felt like a marathon of packing. A few boxes every day.
Other highlights:
- Journey's 5th birthday party. Her birthday fell in the middle of the week, so we held her birthday party the first weekend of the month. It was so much fun to plan, and turned out just as cute as I was hoping. I can't believe my baby girl, the one I hoped and prayed so much for is already five. She is such a sweet, loving girl.
- potty training Willow. I had been putting this off for the last 4 months. She showed signs of wanting to before I had teague, but I didnt want to. And I was worried I would put all the effort into it, and then she would regress. Let it be said that I hate potty training. But I sucked it up, and got started.
- getting Teague allergy tested. Not a highlight, but it was a big part of my month. He tested positive to wheat, dairy, almonds, peanuts and coconuts. That lead to me being put on a horrible elimination diet of rice and chicken. Ugh. This was really hard on me. I hadn't realized how much enjoyment in life is tied to food and drink! I was also feeling SO guilty for possibly causing him to have the eczema.
- boys weekend at Nana and Papa's house. Aspen got to spend Presidents Day weekend with his cousins at Nana and Papa's house. He had a blast playing outside in the snow, playing the wii, staying up late, and trying out skiing + a lesson on Mt. Hood for the first time.
- dinner out with Grammi and Papa at Hopworks Pizza. It's very rare that we take the whole family out to dinner, and equally rare that we go out with my mom and dad. Such a fun night!
Other highlights:
- Journey's 5th birthday party. Her birthday fell in the middle of the week, so we held her birthday party the first weekend of the month. It was so much fun to plan, and turned out just as cute as I was hoping. I can't believe my baby girl, the one I hoped and prayed so much for is already five. She is such a sweet, loving girl.
- potty training Willow. I had been putting this off for the last 4 months. She showed signs of wanting to before I had teague, but I didnt want to. And I was worried I would put all the effort into it, and then she would regress. Let it be said that I hate potty training. But I sucked it up, and got started.
- getting Teague allergy tested. Not a highlight, but it was a big part of my month. He tested positive to wheat, dairy, almonds, peanuts and coconuts. That lead to me being put on a horrible elimination diet of rice and chicken. Ugh. This was really hard on me. I hadn't realized how much enjoyment in life is tied to food and drink! I was also feeling SO guilty for possibly causing him to have the eczema.
- dinner out with Grammi and Papa at Hopworks Pizza. It's very rare that we take the whole family out to dinner, and equally rare that we go out with my mom and dad. Such a fun night!
January 2012 Highlights
So life has a way of getting away from me now that I am the mother of four, (4!) kids. Sometimes it still blows my mind that I have four sweet, adorable, maddening, fun, stressful, crazy busy kids. This month held a lot of adjustment and stretching for me. In non-sugar coated terms, one word: overwhelmed!
Here are the hightlights from the month of January:
- teague sleeping through the night! Starting around 7 weeks he was sleeping 8 hours straight. This slowly increased each week till he would often sleep from 7pm to 6, even 7am. Amazing! None of my kids have ever slept through the night on their own. God is so good to me.
- started a Bible study with my friend Michelle from high school. Honestly, this was not my idea (been feeling overwhelmed adjusting to 4 kids and all the driving with aspen's school), but I wanted to do it with her.
- dropped Journey's ballet class. I just couldn't make it work schedule wise with Aspen's school schedule.
- just days after I committed to the Thursday morning Bible study, I found out that Aspen's carpooling schedule needed to change, having me doing much more driving than I had been. Feeling just a little overwhelmed! Then Mark called me about a property on mt. Tabor that he ran across on craigslist. The next day we went to look at it and the house adjacent....and made an offer. All this happened the first week of January....
- the next couple weeks were a waiting game with offers and counter offers being exchanged, and me stressing about whether I should start packing the house, how the heck we would move our family of 6, and how I was going to find the time to pack on top of normal life.
- girls stay at Nana and Papa's house. Diana took Journey, Willow, Ava and Zoe up to her house for 3 days. The girls had so much fun playing outside in the snow, sharing beds (or bedrooms) at night, and making special memories together. We are so blessed to have grandparents on both sides so involved in our lives!
- the end of the month, offer accepted, we are moving for sure! Eeeks! Let the packing begin.
Here are the hightlights from the month of January:
- teague sleeping through the night! Starting around 7 weeks he was sleeping 8 hours straight. This slowly increased each week till he would often sleep from 7pm to 6, even 7am. Amazing! None of my kids have ever slept through the night on their own. God is so good to me.
- started a Bible study with my friend Michelle from high school. Honestly, this was not my idea (been feeling overwhelmed adjusting to 4 kids and all the driving with aspen's school), but I wanted to do it with her.
- dropped Journey's ballet class. I just couldn't make it work schedule wise with Aspen's school schedule.
- just days after I committed to the Thursday morning Bible study, I found out that Aspen's carpooling schedule needed to change, having me doing much more driving than I had been. Feeling just a little overwhelmed! Then Mark called me about a property on mt. Tabor that he ran across on craigslist. The next day we went to look at it and the house adjacent....and made an offer. All this happened the first week of January....
- the next couple weeks were a waiting game with offers and counter offers being exchanged, and me stressing about whether I should start packing the house, how the heck we would move our family of 6, and how I was going to find the time to pack on top of normal life.
- girls stay at Nana and Papa's house. Diana took Journey, Willow, Ava and Zoe up to her house for 3 days. The girls had so much fun playing outside in the snow, sharing beds (or bedrooms) at night, and making special memories together. We are so blessed to have grandparents on both sides so involved in our lives!
- the end of the month, offer accepted, we are moving for sure! Eeeks! Let the packing begin.
Monday, January 9, 2012
December 2011 Highlights
I haven't had time for blogging, and feel like December was a blur of sleeplessness, but I don't want to forget some of the highlights of December 2011.
- Decorating the house for Christmas. I felt overwhelmed with the thought, but the kids were so excited. I let them decorate the tree all by themselves, as well as the rest of the house. I did get out only about half the Christmas decorations as we normally do though!
- Decorating the Gingerbread House. Uncle Dan brought the kids a gingerbread house this year. They put the whole house together, but when it came time to put all the candy on, the house collapsed. The frosting just wasn't strong enough....much to the delight of the kids! First year they didn't have to wait till Christmas Eve to eat it :)
- Family Christmas movie night. We made pizzas, ate lots and lots of Christmas cookies and watch Home Alone 3. A perfect family night.
- Hot chocolate and candy canes.
- Aspen's school Christmas program.
- Journey's ballet recital.
- Slumber party at Grammi and Papa's house. Grammy and Papa surprised us by putting on a slumber party for all the grandkids the first weekend of Christmas break. They went all out by planning games for the kids to play - "tasty test" and bean bag toss. Taking them hot tubbing. Watching Christmas movies, and setting up a tent in the living room for Aspen, Journey and Peyton to sleep in together.
- Baking Christmas cookies for Homeless Christmas party put on by My Father's Heart. I felt challenged this year to give in such a way that it would be a sacrifice or that it would cost me. As I thought about it, I realized that this year, giving of my time is the biggest sacrifice for me. I am still adjusting to having 4 small kids, including a nursing newborn, and time is something I feel like I don't have enough of! The kids, Mark and I all worked together to make and frost 3 batches of sugar cookies and 2 batches of gingerbread for the party.
- Christmas dinner out with all my brothers, sister and the husband/wives. While the kids were having their sleep-over, Charity suggested that we all go out to dinner together. We went out to a Thai restaurant in Gresham and then came to our house for drinks and dessert. It was a lot of fun. The guys played Wii games and the girls hung out and talked. Teague was the only kid, and he was a perfect baby!
- Christmas Eve at Lisa's
- A relaxed Christmas morning at home as a family, then to Grammy and Papa's for the rest of the day.
- Going up to Nana & Papa's after Christmas for 2 days.
- Going to the beach for the rest of Christmas break and New Years. Dan, Troy and Kirstyn came down to the beach with us for a couple days. We had so much fun hanging out, and it was a great way to relax and spend time as a family.
- Decorating the house for Christmas. I felt overwhelmed with the thought, but the kids were so excited. I let them decorate the tree all by themselves, as well as the rest of the house. I did get out only about half the Christmas decorations as we normally do though!
- Decorating the Gingerbread House. Uncle Dan brought the kids a gingerbread house this year. They put the whole house together, but when it came time to put all the candy on, the house collapsed. The frosting just wasn't strong enough....much to the delight of the kids! First year they didn't have to wait till Christmas Eve to eat it :)
- Family Christmas movie night. We made pizzas, ate lots and lots of Christmas cookies and watch Home Alone 3. A perfect family night.
- Hot chocolate and candy canes.
- Aspen's school Christmas program.
- Journey's ballet recital.
- Slumber party at Grammi and Papa's house. Grammy and Papa surprised us by putting on a slumber party for all the grandkids the first weekend of Christmas break. They went all out by planning games for the kids to play - "tasty test" and bean bag toss. Taking them hot tubbing. Watching Christmas movies, and setting up a tent in the living room for Aspen, Journey and Peyton to sleep in together.
- Baking Christmas cookies for Homeless Christmas party put on by My Father's Heart. I felt challenged this year to give in such a way that it would be a sacrifice or that it would cost me. As I thought about it, I realized that this year, giving of my time is the biggest sacrifice for me. I am still adjusting to having 4 small kids, including a nursing newborn, and time is something I feel like I don't have enough of! The kids, Mark and I all worked together to make and frost 3 batches of sugar cookies and 2 batches of gingerbread for the party.
- Christmas dinner out with all my brothers, sister and the husband/wives. While the kids were having their sleep-over, Charity suggested that we all go out to dinner together. We went out to a Thai restaurant in Gresham and then came to our house for drinks and dessert. It was a lot of fun. The guys played Wii games and the girls hung out and talked. Teague was the only kid, and he was a perfect baby!
- Christmas Eve at Lisa's
- A relaxed Christmas morning at home as a family, then to Grammy and Papa's for the rest of the day.
- Going up to Nana & Papa's after Christmas for 2 days.
- Going to the beach for the rest of Christmas break and New Years. Dan, Troy and Kirstyn came down to the beach with us for a couple days. We had so much fun hanging out, and it was a great way to relax and spend time as a family.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Life right now..
Teague is 8 weeks old, and such a little sweety. From the day he was born, he has been very quiet and laid back. He very rarely cries, unless he wants to eat or be held, or if he's tired and wants to be put down. He does well in the baby swing and likes the Bjorn. I haven't worked on putting him on a schedule other than to try to bring his bedtime down to 7:30 (like the rest of the kids), but he seems to be naturally falling into somewhat of one. Right now, I feed him for the last time before bed around 7:15 or 7:30 (after putting the other kids to bed), and he will sleep until midnight or 1:30. He is generally up every 3 hours after that. Some mornings he is ready to be up around 6:45 or 7, but there are others where he will sleep in till around 8am. He will stay awake for a while, then go back to sleep. So far, he will sleep anywhere. In the swing, his carseat or his crib. I haven't had to do any sleep training (like I did the other kids) to get him to nap putting him down while he is still awake.
Teague slept for almost the first 4 weeks straight. I would have to work so hard every evening to keep him awake or tire him out. Almost every evening I would give him a bath. Evenings were the hardest because as soon as I would put him down to sleep, he would wake up. Both Mark and I would go up to his room multiple times every night to put the binky back in his mouth before he would stay asleep for his "long stretch" of around 4 hours. This was the time of day where I was most tired and so ready for a little break before going to bed myself.
At 4 weeks, Teague started to wake up a little more, and I noticed that he started having some of the same reflux symptoms as Willow did. I could hear the milk come up his throat and he would gasp and choke on it, often waking him up or keeping him from going to sleep. I started him on the same meds as Willow, and that helped a lot. As of now, I've had him weaned off the medication for the past 2 weeks. He doesn't have the severe symptoms that Willow did, and as long as I stay away from most dairy, he does ok. He is very congested, and I'm wondering if the dairy I do still eat has anything to do with that.
Journey is absolutely in love with Teague. She loves to "hold him like a mommy" and is very protective of him around other people. Right now, Aspen and Journey fight over who gets to have him lay with them in bed while Mark and I get everyone down for the night. He will talk and smile at them. It's such a sweet time of the day. I love seeing them talk to him and love on him.
Teague slept for almost the first 4 weeks straight. I would have to work so hard every evening to keep him awake or tire him out. Almost every evening I would give him a bath. Evenings were the hardest because as soon as I would put him down to sleep, he would wake up. Both Mark and I would go up to his room multiple times every night to put the binky back in his mouth before he would stay asleep for his "long stretch" of around 4 hours. This was the time of day where I was most tired and so ready for a little break before going to bed myself.
At 4 weeks, Teague started to wake up a little more, and I noticed that he started having some of the same reflux symptoms as Willow did. I could hear the milk come up his throat and he would gasp and choke on it, often waking him up or keeping him from going to sleep. I started him on the same meds as Willow, and that helped a lot. As of now, I've had him weaned off the medication for the past 2 weeks. He doesn't have the severe symptoms that Willow did, and as long as I stay away from most dairy, he does ok. He is very congested, and I'm wondering if the dairy I do still eat has anything to do with that.
Journey is absolutely in love with Teague. She loves to "hold him like a mommy" and is very protective of him around other people. Right now, Aspen and Journey fight over who gets to have him lay with them in bed while Mark and I get everyone down for the night. He will talk and smile at them. It's such a sweet time of the day. I love seeing them talk to him and love on him.
Monday, September 12, 2011
She's getting so big...(sniff)
Seeing these two pictures made me realize how much Willow is growing up. She is getting so tall and thin and loosing her baby look...
Therefore, since she is now 2 years old, and we have just around 8 weeks until the baby is born, it was time to say goodbye to the beloved binky..... :( (yes, mommy loves it as much as she does).
Rounding up all the binkys in the house for the big goodbye...
I was dreading the day when we would have to throw the binkys away, but decided that now that we were home from the beach, it was time. I had big plans to do what I did with Aspen - ask her if she would want to throw it away in a really happy voice, she would say, yes, and the drama would be spared until nap or bedtime.... Yep, didn't go as planned...
With Aspen, he was like, yeah! Then proceeded to throw the binky away, and went on with life until naptime (and he realized that the binky wasn't coming back). Willow, on the other hand, looked at me like I was crazy and said NO!! Then stuck it in her mouth and chomped down. I ended up having to pry it from her teeth, throw it in the garbage, then walk the garbage bag out to the can all while she was screaming and throwing a fit in protest. Five days later, she is still sometimes (very) angry about the loss at bed/nap times.
Now to decide if I want to pursue potty training.... Seems like she wants to, but honestly, I don't want to. Confession time: I hate potty training!
Back to school - 2nd grade
We are just a week into the 2nd grade school year. Here was Aspen's first day of school picture....he was trying to look happy....
.....but this was how he really felt about going back to school, lol
I can't blame him. We had such a fun summer, and it went so fast. It's hard to get back to reality and buckle down to the school schedule for all of us! I wasn't ready for him to start school either. I love having all my kids home, and watching them have so much fun playing together. Now, that doesn't mean I could do the home school thing..... I just love summer, free time and my family all together :)
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