Tiny Talk Tuesday

Our kids say the darndest things. Here are a couple of the cute things Katie said this week:

During prayer time:
Mom: Katie would you like to pray?
Katie: Can I say "Dear Lord Jesus?" (That's a recited prayer that she always resorts to. She's not one to pray impromptu.)
Mom: How about you just tell Jesus some of the things you are thankful for?
Katie: Okaaay. Dear Jesus, thank you for my family. Thank you toilet paper and the potty. And thank you my ducky. Amen.
(Seriously? The potty? She doesn't even like to use the potty. I just love young children's prayers.)

Trying to pick a game to play:
Mom: What game would you like to play?
Katie: Remembering.
(that would be Memory)

If you'd like to read more tiny talk, just visit Mary's.

Friday Foto

The girls wanted to play doctor yesterday, and we had a very willing participant!!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Grandpa and Grandma were here last weekend visiting our fam. Of course they were a great help as always. I was able to get some things done that I've been putting on the back burner. I also always enjoy their company too. During their stay, the girls also had some funny things to say (all of which I forgot to write down). Fortunately, this time I remembered a few of the things they said (maybe I'm starting to regain some of that pregnancy brain back!). Here it goes:

During dinner time:
Katie: (whispering to her sister) Kyra, let's pretend we're people!
(Around this house they're considered aliens:) What does she think she is?)

During prayer time at dinner:
Kyra: (Kyra said the prayer) Dear Lord, thank you for this weekend and the time we had having fun. Thank you we could be together as a family. Lord please help all the people throwing up. Amen. (Since she is always thanking or asking God for help having fun, we told her that we need to be thinking of people in need....ex: sick people. Apparently people throwing up were on the top of her list!!)

During playtime outside with Grandma:
(during their exploration time outside, our dog unfortunately brought grandma a dead baby bunny)
Kyra: Grandma I think I should bury it. That's what my daddy does. (you can tell she lives on a farm, she's so matter of fact, obviously not scarred by this incident)
Grandma: Are you sure you can do it?
Kyra: Yes, in fact I think he'd like to be buried in our sandbox.
(fortunately Grandma had the good sense to not let that happen. Now I'm just a little worried to find out if anything else is hiding in our sandbox!)

If you'd like to read more tiny talk, just visit Mary's

Andrew Update

Well, already a month has gone by since our little guy was born. It's been a bit crazy the past few weeks too. I had intentions of blogging all these cute pictures and updates on how things were going, but time seemed to slip quickly through our fingers.

Andrew is growing very well. He's probably the best nurser out of all my kids (which is a big blessing, considering how much pain I was in with the other two). I'm guessing he's about 9 lbs now (since at 3 weeks old he was 8lbs 9oz). And he's grown 2 inches since birth too. The smiles are becoming more frequent now too. He's starting to make more eye contact and grinning at mamma's smiles and Kyra's goofy faces (he really responds well to her and she has been most helpful and calm at times when he's fussy).

The sleep however has not been going the best. For awhile he was waking up every hour in the middle of the night, which left a very tired mom and dad. Fortunately I have an incredible sister in-law (you'll never know how grateful I am Kris), who came in the nick of time to help fix meals, wash dishes, rock Andrew while I took in a few snoozes, and keep the kids occupied with her kiddlings. She was truly a life saver. Andrew now seems to be sleeping a little bit better, but is still waking up every 3 hours (unlike my girls who seem to only wake up once a night from the get go). Fortunately, he goes to bed right after I feed him.

We also seemed to battle with a few medical conditions. It's nothing too serious, but enough to make me a little more exhausted on top of the lack of sleep. The poor guy has had numerous trips to the doctor's office and hospital. He had a hard time getting rid of the jaundice. We had him under a Bili blanket for close to 1 1/2 weeks, and he had to have blood draws over a dozen times. Hopefully his poor heels won't be scarred. For a while it seemed we were headed to the lab almost every day. And the girls couldn't take his crying, and asked to sit in the hallway to wait for him to be done. Fortunately his levels went down and we are done with the poking.

Then today we headed to the hospital for an EEG which I believe measures some kind of brain waves. We're trying to rule out possible seizure activity. Since he was born, he has had these mild twitches, but they aren't going away, and don't go away when you hold him close. Most likely this is just his nervous system still developing (and I'm hoping that's what it is). But in a week we will hopefully know the results of this test. We're praying it's nothing more than his little body developing. He sure didn't like being hooked up to all those electrodes though. He let the tech know for sure with his wailing and hand grabbing the wires off several times. He made her work for her money this morning.

We know that we are blessed by this little guy. Like I mentioned, we've hit a few bumps in the road (which were more or less inconveniences in our lives as we get used to this little guy), but know it could be way worse. We have encountered a few friends these past few weeks that have dealt with far more difficult circumstances, which puts in perspective how fortunate we are and also makes us realize that God is in control and we have to give our concerns to Him. We take joy in knowing God gave us a growing, beautiful little boy, and thank God that he has blessed us with this new addition.

More Firsts on Friday

I have to say, Andrew is not the only one who is learning things for the first time. My oldest, Kyra, has been learning so much lately. It's hard to believe that she will be starting kindergarten in just a couple months (but boy is she ready).

This big girl has learned how to swim (doggy paddle anyway), and asks about going in the pool all the time. Tonight she even had a water gun attack with her daddy and sister. Now that's a great improvement from even 6 months ago (she wouldn't even take a shower). She's also learned how to pump by herself on the swing (which is a big help for mom, since I'll be pushing the younger two now). She has been pouring her own milk in her cereal (and has little to no spills). But perhaps the biggest accomplishment was last week when she learned how to ride her bike!! For a couple weeks now, we have talked about "trying" to ride without training wheels, but our cautious daughter kept saying "maybe tomorrow." Finally, last week her dad kept showing her how to position her pedal so that she could push off her right foot by herself. She was getting discouraged and wanted to stop trying it "his" way. Then not even 10 minutes later, I looked out the window and saw that she had taken off herself. She was riding herself. And she couldn't have been prouder. It is so fun to see them accomplish things on their own. She could be out there all day long if we let her.

Yes, these kids grow faster than we want them to. But the ride is fun.

Fourth of July

This year we missed our yearly trip to Hessel (up north), and therefore missed their little town's parade. My hubby has never been in town over the fourth of July because for the first 30 years of his life, he has always been in the U.P. Although, he was a little sad to be missing his annual vacation, and I a little sad to miss a cousin's wedding in Washington D.C., we made due.

Andrew was 1 1/2 weeks old and made his first parade. The local parade was actually very nice. It was a bit more crowded then our little hobunk town up north, but we managed to find a spot without too much trouble. Andrew winced with the fighter jets flew by, but the rest of the time he slept. The rest of the day we just relaxed at home and took it easy. We contemplated fireworks, but decided the parade was enough excitement for one day. So, we headed into town for ice cream, and then called it a day. It was a quiet day, but a nice one. We missed family and friends this past week, but know we got a very good blessing out of the deal! Hope you all had a wonderful 4th!

Firsts on Friday

Well, almost a week and 1/2 has gone by already since Andrew has been born, and already there seems to have been a lot of firsts. This mama wasn't even prepared for the first time he would pee on himself this morning (of course not having boys before I haven't experienced that wild willy before, and wasn't quick to have it covered early this morning. Yes Mom, you can say I told you so. I was so sure that I wouldn't experience the fountain, since he hadn't done it yet, but I did so rudely awaken him this morning).

I thought I would post some of the other firsts in pictures (in no particular order).

Andrew's first family photo. 6 days old

Andrew's first outing (out for ice cream of course...too bad he couldn't taste any!) 5 days old

Andrew's first book being read to him (Kyra wanted him to be part of the reading program at the library, so he could put a sticker on his chart and win a prize!) 4 days old

Andrew's first bath (he didn't care for it too much, but didn't mind the hair washing. It must have felt like a head massage.) 5 days old

Andrew's first smile (he looked right at me in the hospital and smiled, and has done so many times since then. He's our earliest smiler.) 3 days old