I realize it wasn't too many posts ago that I vowed to write more.  And then I had a baby.  I have no idea how some people have time to be on their phones and email and blogs and whatnot all of the time when they have a few kids, but I also don't have the internet available during the day, which is probably a good thing.

Every time my kids say something funny, I think it should go in a blog post.  But then I don't get there.  If I could record everything my kids say, I would love to.  So updates on this family:

Nick is already 5 months old.  We love to hear his little giggle and he gets lots of attention from his siblings.  He is a very fun baby but seems to be a bit different from the rest.  He does not enjoy traveling, which is unfortunate when we have to drive 20 minutes just to get groceries.  He's still up once every night.  We're thinking he may be our biggest challenge.  

In August we spent a long weekend with my family in Wisconsin at a Jellystone Park resort.  It had mini golf, lots of activities, and various pools and slides.  It was good to just get away and let the cousins run amok with each other.  The boys had a bit of freedom and were old enough to go down the slides by themselves, so that helped a lot for watching Leah and Nick.  We hope to do something every couple of years like that so it's an established thing when our kids get older.

At the end of September we spent a week up in MN with all the grandparents.  We went to a butterfly house which also had a small aquarium.  We got to touch sharks and stingrays.  Finn loved it-he's a very tactile learner.  We also spent some time walking at a state park and then went to a fall festival fundraiser that had lots of stuff for kids.  It was 80 degrees, so kind of a warm day for fall, but the kids had fun riding a small train, jumping on some blow-up things, and petting random farm animals.  

A couple weeks ago Jon had to make a trip to Omaha, so we all went along and spent the good part of a day at the zoo there.  Jon and I were there when we were first married, so it was fun to take the kids.  I highly recommend that zoo if you ever get the chance.

Ben started preschool in August.  Here is the obligatory first day picture.  We are nothing if not anal about that kind of stuff.  We had our first parent-teacher conferences on Monday.  We got a very good report about Ben and we are very proud of him.

 

Finn and Leah are becoming even better friends while Ben is gone each morning.  Finn certainly loves his baby, though.  The kids' favorite new show on PBS is Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, which is based on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.  We often hear them singing the various songs from this show.  There could be worse things, I guess.  Ben has also learned a lot of new songs in school and is teaching them to all of us.  Overall, we have a lot of singing going on in the house, sometimes a couple different songs at a time.  It amazes me how much Leah picks up from her brothers, talking and singing more than I would expect at her age.  They are definitely a fun bunch of kids and we look forward to what God has in store for all of us.

That's our last few months in a nutshell.  We seem to keep pretty busy.  Ben is in Awana again and Finn will start when he turns 4.  There's always something going on between school and church stuff and we do not lack for somewhere to go.  As someone told me a couple weeks ago, our busyness is just beginning.

Where To Begin

Nick will be 2 months old tomorrow.  Time has just gone sailing by and we've been busy and doing nothing all at the same time.

The kids have thankfully seen a lot of their grandparents lately.  Jon's mom was here to take care of the kids while I was in the hospital.  His dad joined us for the weekend.  They left Sunday and my parents came Sunday and stayed until the next Monday, Memorial Day.  Fast forward a week and a half, Jon left for Synod on Wednesday.  My dad came Thursday and stayed with us until the next Thursday.  It was so great having everyone's help for all of these weeks.  The grandparents were back the next weekend for baptism, along with the rest of Jon's family. 

When my dad was here for the week, he took Finn home with him.  Finn came back down with them for baptism.  Ben then went home with them and Jon's parents brought him back.  We met them halfway for lunch on July 4.  The boys each spent about 9 days away and had a great time with Grandpa.  I think they were his little shadows the whole time.  It was very quiet when Finn was gone, aside from a bit of screaming from Leah.  Ben has a problem lately picking on Finn and Leah and likes to control who plays with what.  It wasn't near as quiet when Finn came home, but there was no screaming and fighting.  When the boys saw each other after all that time, there was a lot of wrestling.  They missed each other, that's for sure.

Next week the older 3 will all go to Jon's parents for the week.  I'm looking forward to that-hopefully I can get a couple of naps in and I plan on getting a massage.  (Nick sleeps pretty well during the night but tends to be up early and is not a great napper.)  I have some organizing to do in various parts of the house.  We'll see how much ambition I have once the kids are gone.  I seem to spend most of my time just sitting with Nick, whether inside or out, and not getting anything done.  But I might as well enjoy it-I'll have years to clean and organize my house.  I need to learn to just enjoy the baby time.

Yes, We Have A Baby

It has been 3 weeks, so I figured I should put a little blurb about our new son!  Nicholas James was born on May 15 at 8:23 a.m.  He weighed 8 lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long.  We are all enjoying our new baby.  The boys are so anxious to start teaching him things.  They all enjoy holding him and talking to him.  Finn loves to rub his hair.  He still does that with Leah sometimes-he's a very tactile person.  Here he is!

The Big Day

Tomorrow morning we head to the hospital to have baby #4!  We are excited and definitely ready.  The kids are more than ready to meet their new baby.  It's been such a long wait for them.  I can't say how long it might be before we get some pictures up, but they will come at some point.  Jon's mom is here for the week and my parents will come next week, which is nice to know ahead of time.  As impatient as I've been to have this baby, it's kind of nice it waited until the scheduled day to show up so I can plan on having people here:)

We have to get up at 4:30 so we can get ready and be at the hospital on time, so I think it's about time for bed. 

The Final Countdown

Yes, I stole that title from Survivor, but it's the first thing that came to my mind.  Plus the fact that my ticker countdown is quite wrong considering I have less than 20 days at this point.  But you're smart people, you can do the math.

So technically I have 2 weeks from today.  May 15 is the scheduled birthday of baby #4.  I'm certainly hoping it's earlier, but we shall see.

Despite our forecast of a complete week of rain, the last 2 days have been beautiful from afternoon to evening.  Last night we went on a walk and some tame kittens came out to play, so the boys enjoyed that.  Leah, not so much.  The kids were able to be out today and chalk, ride bikes, play sandbox, swing, and slide, besides playing in the dirt and finding random things to feed an ant colony.  They had a great time.  I spent my day doing a whole lot of nothing.  I hauled out The Great Gatsby to read outside.  I haven't read that book in a few years and I don't remember it well, so I thought I'd give it another go.

I've been spending my days doing so many things.  It was nice not to have a list today.  It was fun to start my day with no plans and just sit and read and play with the kids. 

I didn't really have a lot to write about, but I figured it was time to put a small update on here.  It's time for a snack and a little Psych.  I love that show!

It's been a busy household the last few weeks. Holy week is a very busy time for Jon, so my job is to make sure he gets fed and out of the house on time every night during that week and do what I can to make his life easier. There have been lots of fundraisers and meetings in the last few weeks between doctor appointments and grocery runs and church activities and a couple of dates. (When you have free babysitting, you can't pass up a date night.)

I've been working on freezer meals. I don't have a ton, but a good number to get me going anyway. The kids and I made some brownies and I froze some of those, too. I've been trying to declutter a bit and organize the house, though I'm not sure how much I've accomplished. I went through the freezer and inventoried everything. I'm also in the middle of the winter/summer clothing switch, which makes for extra bins and piles sitting around until it gets hot.

I moved Leah into the boys' room a couple weeks ago to get her adjusted in there. It's going just fine. Despite her constant jabbering for up to an hour after she goes to bed, the boys are tired enough to sleep through it. I hauled some baby stuff out also. My mom is coming to repaint the baby's room this weekend, so I have that taped up and our room has acquired extra stuff. It will be nice to have that done so I can start organizing the baby stuff a bit.

Jon has been able to spend a day here and there outside. He's got a few things planted in the garden. We're getting some much-needed rain right now, so this weekend is probably out for planting anything else.

May 15 is our scheduled date for baby to come, so we're just under 4 weeks. Since Leah was 3 weeks early, I'm trying to be ready at any time. I even have the kids and myself semi-packed. The boys are losing patience waiting for this baby. I think they'll be happy when they can actually see baby. Ben is quite adamant it should be a girl. Finn doesn't seem to care either way. Leah will just be happy to have her own baby all the time. And so we wait.

Just a little blip about something I find amusing:

When Ben was younger, he called Finn "Fifi." We're not sure how that came about, but it's what he did. He doesn't do it anymore and hasn't for a few months now, that I can remember. Now Leah calls Finn "Fifi." She can pretty much say Benny-at least I can understand what she's saying-but prefers Fifi to Finny. Again, not sure how that came about, but I thought that was pretty cute. There must just be something about that name.

Finn has always paid Leah lots of attention and loved on her, and she's giving it all back. Sometimes he's annoyed by it, but overall he really likes it. Those two are going to be dangerous when they get a bit older.

Weekend in Minneapolis

We spent our weekend up in Minneapolis. We started out Friday morning, beating our 10:00 a.m. goal by 45 minutes. We couldn't check in until 3:00, so we headed to the Mall of America, where we showed the boys Lego Land and all the kids enjoyed playing Legos. We walked around what used to be Camp Snoopy with all the rides. I have no idea what they call it now, though they sold out (in my opinion) and everything is Nickelodeon themed. We also enjoyed some Cold Stone ice cream before heading to the hotel. Good stuff, my friends. We had pizza and enjoyed some pool time in the evening. The boys were so excited to go swimming and ride on the glass elevators. They got to push the buttons. I think these were the highlights for them.

Saturday we headed to the Science Museum. They had a special exhibit on pirates, where they had a pirate ship to walk through. It got a bit long for them since there was a lot of reading for the adults. Finn got to touch a gun, which he thought was pretty cool. They talked to a pirate and got to see real treasure. That took a good portion of the day. We spent a couple hours recouping at the hotel before heading to Rudolph's for ribs. There was good food and tons of it.

Sunday morning we went for a quick swim before checkout since we didn't have time on Saturday. We briefly stopped at my sister to see her and her kids before we left town. It was a very exhausting weekend but quite enjoyable. It just wasn't long enough. Ben is ready to go back to Minneapolis.

We finally got a real snow tonight, possibly lasting into tomorrow morning. The boys wanted to go out as soon as it started snowing. It's been a nice, peaceful snow with big flakes and it's kind of nice to see everything white. It's been wet and muddy out. Though I also can't complain that the kids have spent a few days riding their little cars and trikes and playing in the sandbox this month. It's just been an odd winter.

In other news, Leah is starting to talk a lot more. She loves her Sesame Street characters and seems to be learning them quickly. Ben didn't watch a lick of TV at this age because he hung out with me while I worked. Maybe I'm just lazy. But hey, they could be watching worse things, and I think the boys are actually learning from Sesame Street. She's more and more girl and definitely has a little attitude. She keeps up pretty well with her brothers-gotta do whatever they do.

I have also started potty training with Leah. She loves to sit on the potty and is my most eager learner. I thought I'd give it a shot, even though she's only 19 months, and I'm just gonna stay with it (given her enthusiasm) and hope for some good progress before this baby comes. I feel like I've been in potty training mode for 2 years and I hope I have ambition for the 4th one. Don't they just train themselves after a while?

We're looking forward to a couple nights in a motel coming up. This is our "winter vacation." The boys are looking forward to swimming and riding in the glass elevator, not necessarily in that order. We're getting together with Jon's family to celebrate a milestone birthday of his dad and I think we're all ready to get out of the house for a couple of days.

Have a good weekend!

I really could have sworn that I blogged at least once in January, but apparently that is not so. I remember sitting down one night, and then someone called and I never got to it, I guess.

We've gotten one good snow in the last few weeks. The parking lot was cleaned out and made for a big hill for the kids to climb on and sled down. We enjoyed plodding all over the empty lot across the street one morning, which also made for a great nap day for Leah. The snow is mostly gone now after a couple of beautiful, warm days. Our snowmen slowly melted and the sticks are left laying on the ground. The kids got to play in the sandbox on February 2. Not too many times I could say that.

Jon was at a conference last week, which left the kids and I to contend with each other. They did very well and it was only from tiredness that Ben had a couple of breakdowns. It helped to go outside, and Tuesday we went with a friend to the play area at a mall and out to eat. That definitely broke up the time. It was great when Daddy came home on Thursday, though. The kids were all very happy to see him, as was I.

On Saturday I went to Dordt College for their annual Day of Encouragement with a few members of our congregation. We all enjoyed our sessions and each took home knowledge, ideas, and tools we will use, for church or in our personal lives.

Baby is doing well. I had another good doctor visit on Friday. We are at 25+ weeks and I am very thankful for a healthy pregnancy. The boys are anxious for spring when the baby will come. I've told the boys that baby can hear them, so Finn likes to lift up my shirt and talk to my belly. Apparently baby told Finn today that he will come in the spring, so it's official now. It really is going fast, and I suppose we need to start talking about names before time completely gets away from us. We also have to make decisions on room arrangements, probably sooner rather than later, just in case baby comes early like Leah did. There's always something to do.

It's bedtime now. Have a great week!

Ultrasound

Jon and I enjoyed a nice quiet hour during the ultrasound. We had a good report from the tech so far that things are functioning well. Baby was moving a bit while we watched. I find it so amazing that we can watch the blood flow through the heart and see the little bladder fill up on this tiny little person. What a wonderful gift God has given us!

We had a little bit of snow yesterday which pretty much turned into slush. The boys went out for about 20 minutes and then they were done. But they got to be in the snow as it came down, which was exciting for them. Otherwise it's been pretty brown and generally in the 40s-definitely an odd December. I'm just waiting to get dumped on since there's plenty of winter left.

We pray for a safe and happy new year to all!

Here's To Better Health

The kids and I have been fighting bad colds for a couple of weeks now. Thankfully Jon hasn't really gotten it. I think we're on the home stretch. Each day I use fewer tissues collectively. We had our Christmas program last Saturday, and thanks to a wonky CD player, I ended up playing piano instead of singing. I'm thinking it may have been for the best. I hope to be ringing in the new year with better health, which means I'll be getting a full night of sleep.

Jon and I are hoping to actually go on a date this week. Our 9th anniversary is next week and we'll be going in different directions. We thought about it last week, but I definitely wasn't in the mood to go out with a box of tissues. I'm looking forward to a few hours away.

We enjoyed a quick Christmas celebration with my family a couple weekends ago and hope to with Jon's family in a couple weeks. We opened presents at home on Sunday afternoon. The kids are still enjoying their new toys. Sometimes the novelty wears off quickly with them. Now I have to go through the older stuff and see what I can pack up for a while.

We have an ultrasound tomorrow. We won't find out the sex of the baby, but it's so fun to see it and affirm that everything is growing and functioning well. It's amazing to watch the little heart beat and watch the movements. I've been feeling the baby move in the last week and it's such a wonderful feeling. It also assures me that things seem to be going okay in there.

There's my random update. Have a good week!

I was trying to figure out what to write about to our adoring fans. We are again in the midst of Christmas stuff, for lack of a better word. We have upcoming family gatherings and Christmas program at church in a couple of weeks. The boys will both be in that this year. I'm curious to see how Finn does. He won't say his lines for me, but I have a feeling he'll be up there giving 100%. Finn turned 3 a couple weeks ago. At some point I will put pictures up, but I'm still working on Ben's birthday.

My parents were able to come celebrate Thanksgiving with us. We had a fun time with them, as always. The kids always enjoy seeing their grandparents.

We bought my parents' van and are absolutely loving it. It's so nice to have a little more room and to be able to get all the kids in the vehicle and then strap them in. My favorite part, though, is the remote starter, which I've used many times already as it just keeps getting colder. The kids seem to like it, too. The boys are way in back together and they have a bit more room for their stuff. I like it because they can't irritate each other or Leah like they used to. We could definitely see God in the midst of this as the van was offered only a few weeks before we found out we were pregnant. We would have spent our winter van shopping or we wouldn't be going anywhere as a family come May. So we were very thankful for that.

I had a checkup this week and baby is doing well. I think I'm starting to feel a bit of movement, which is always exciting. We're just over 17 weeks. The boys are still trying to grasp the timeline of when baby will come. I've told them when winter is over, so hopefully that will suffice for now. They keep going back and forth whether they want a boy or girl. Leah loves babies, and I think she will be a little mommy, maybe overly helpful and loving. I look forward to see how they all react. Ben has been acting out a lot lately, so I hope he's over that by May and doesn't get worse when the baby comes.

Those are my thoughts for today.

I've tried a few times now with no success to upload photos of Ben's birthday from August. Out of frustration, I haven't taken the time to actually write anything. Our big news is that we're expecting baby #4! I'm about 12 weeks now, and I'm busy enough that it's already going fast. I'll try to get a baby ticker in the margin, but I can't promise anything.

We took the kids trick or treating on Saturday night. We basically go to a few people we know, we don't make a big night out of it. This also limits how much candy they get. The boys really enjoyed it since they remembered it from last year. Leah is enjoying the results of it. Any amount of candy is great to them.

Our time outside is getting less and less. Jon spent a lot of time with the kids last week raking. I took them outside today for half an hour and I was ready to go in cause I was cold. Time to break out the hot chocolate, I think.

Not much else exciting here. We look forward to Finn's birthday in November. It's hard to believe he's going to be 3. Sometimes I just want them to be babies again.

Summer or Fall?

It's officially fall, but I'm not really sure what season it is. It's been a few weeks of fall weather. We had a very windy day this past week and lots of leaves came off the trees along with some big branches. This coming week brings the forecast of 70s and lows of 50s, which makes me think we might be outside a bit more this week. I am enjoying the turning of the leaves, going to the orchard and getting fresh apples, no more weeding in the garden.

Life seems to be pretty mundane, which is why I haven't posted much lately. Ben started going to a Wednesday night church organization. He loves it and I think it's a good social outlet for him. We have to look into preschool for him come spring.

Leah is almost 15 months. That's so hard to believe. She keeps up very well with her brothers and definitely stands her ground. I had to buy some hair stuff to keep her bangs out of her eyes. Her hair just keeps growing.

Jon tried a different rib rub this weekend than he's always used. They were the best ribs we've ever had! The kids loved them, too, and I had to actually save the last couple for Jon today or Ben would have had them gone.

Thus ends my rambling for today.