We're back: An update on the kids!

Well, I'm finally back this time. It's been a crazy couple weeks, and I'm thankful that this one should be normal.

Last Sunday, Jack turned 8 months old. I feel like the months are flying by. So, quick update on Jack:

• He's crawling like it's his job.
• He's decided crawling up the stairs is fun. Yikes.
• He's eating everything. Last week, for example, he had smashed potatoes, tilapia and asparagus for dinner one night, then spaghetti the next. Sunday after church, he ate more of Kate's mac and cheese than she did. He's still nursing well, though, which is great.
• He had his first ear infection last week:(
• He weighed 19lbs 12 oz (50th percentile) yesterday at his very late 6 month check up. He was 28 1/2 inches long (75th) and his head circumference was 95th percentile. Still growing great--right on track for a breastfed baby.
• He's cruising around everything he can pull himself up on.
• He says Ma-ma and Da-da, but not on demand of course!
• He prefers to steal his sister's sippy cup than use his own.
• He loves playing with little trucks and cars.
• His hair is looking increasingly red as it continues to come in. I'm thrilled:)
• When he's feeling well, he'll sleep through the night. Yay!

He's a sweetie:)
Kate is doing well, too. She has the attitude of a teenager, which is turning my hair gray. We're learning to recognize our letters and numbers and she's doing great. Her favorite food is still Chipotle. This was the first Easter that she understood more of what is going on. She keeps saying, "Jesus died so we could go to heaven?" Anytime she hears a song about heaven, she gets all excited and yells, "We're going to heaven!" It's very sweet. She loves her baby brother and he loves her. They play so well together at this stage that I couldn't be happier. I hope they continue to love each other like they do now!
Later this week, I'm hoping to finally post part three of the current series. No promises, however, with the way the last couple weeks have been! Hope you're all doing well:)

Update on the kiddos

Jack turned five months old on Sunday. It's hard to believe that he's that old, but he is growing like a weed and learning so many new things. So what's Jack up to these days? Here's a run-down:

-Weighed in at 16lbs 11oz today (90th percentile). 26 1/2inches long(90th). Head circumference of 45 cm(95th).
-He got an exersaucer for Christmas and he loves it. He loves being able to stand up and he's figured out how to get each of the attached toys in his mouth.
-He's still breastfeeding exclusively (though not for long!)
-He has great hand-eye coordination and loves playing with toys.
-He cries when I leave the room and stops when I return (cute, but not fun).
-When laying on his belly, he can scoot himself forward and backwards.
-He can sit up. Obviously, I still put pillows around him for safety reasons, but he loves sitting up. He has a tendency to dive at toys when they get a little to far away, but he doesn't seem to mind.
-Anytime he's on his back and isn't wearing socks, his toes are in his mouth. Gross.
-He's still much fussier than Kate was and isn't sleeping so well, but the doctor has given me a few suggestions to try. Hopefully they work! Momma needs some sleep!

Kate is ornery. She has the vocabulary of a teenager and the attitude of a teenager. Can you tell Daddy's a youth minister? She's potty trained, but traveling seemed to bring out the accidents. All in all, though, she's doing very well. She's a pro at puzzles, even ones that I think should be too difficult. She's going to bed earlier now that she used to, which hasn't seemed to affect her waking time or her napping. She's currently staring at me, eating a pop tart that seems to have appeared out of thin air. She's very strong-willed and a challenge at times, but she's also a sweetie and a great big sister. She continues to amaze us with her ability to learn lyrics so quickly. She knows so many songs that it's scary. She's got a great little voice and occasionally she'll start singing the harmony parts that she hears us sing. It's pretty amazing. Can't wait to see how her talents develop!

That's what's up! Kraig and I are doing well. I'm in organization mode, finally. So many things have gone undone since we moved and I'm ready to get them done. Can't wait til everything is finally where it really should go!

I gotta get this out...

I've been ready to do an update for over a week, but there's been no time--or internet!

Is it really January 9th already? My word...

Back to December (no, it's not a song reference)...

Christmas was a crazy busy time for us this year. I mean, it's always busy, but we had some added responsibilities that were awesome but very time consuming. We hosted Kraig's family for Christmas this year. Thankfully, they were able to oblige us by traveling to us this year. With Christmas being on a Sunday, traveling at the right time to see the whole family was going to be difficult for us. So they came! We got to enjoy several days with all of them, which was great! It was also nice to have the extra hands:) Since we had the Christmas Eve service Saturday and church on Sunday, we decided to open presents Christmas Eve morning and pretend it was Christmas:) We stopped halfway through for lunch and finished up just in time to get ready for the evening service. Luckily, Kate's not a wake up at 5 a.m. to open presents kind of kid, yet. I'm sure it's coming, but we were safe this year.

Kraig was in charge of our Christmas Eve service this year and he, along with myself and a small group of musicians, put together a performance of Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God. We're no Andrew Peterson, by any means, but it was an awesome night of telling the story of Christ in a very unique way through music. We were privileged to be able to do it and the Lord blessed our efforts. If you've heard this music, however, you understand that it's challenging work. We spent hours and hours rehearsing, preparing and setting the stage for the big night. It was labor intensive, but worth every minute. The musicians who participated did a fabulous job. Kraig did a great job. After the service was over (huge sigh of relief!), we went out for Chinese food with the family.

Quick rundown of the next week:
Monday: Sisters and brother-in-law left.
Tuesday: Kraig and I got to go to dinner:)
Wednesday: Kraig's parents left.
Thursday & Friday: LAUNDRY!
Saturday: Pack for Ohio, mini-New Year's Eve celebration.
Sunday: I finished packing like a crazy lady, packed up the kids and headed to church. After church, we drove to Ohio.

Once we made it to Ohio, we unloaded the van and ate some yummy appetizers. Mom even made sushi! After the bellies were full (much too full), we opened presents. I made a couple homemade gifts for my mom and sister, which I'll share another time:) It was so good to be home. We spent the rest of the week enjoying family time and getting some rest. On Wednesday, my sister took the kids to her house and her and mom kept them so I could take a lonnnnnnnng bubble bath. My sister got my lots of bubble bath goodies for Christmas, including two magazines to read. So thoughtful! I enjoyed every minute of the peace. After my bath was over, we ran over to feed Jack and then Kraig and I walked through a few thrift stores. Since our hands were empty, we even got to hold hands with each other! It's the simple things!

Friday, Kraig and I took Jackson and headed to Indiana for a wedding. Kraig was a groomsman for one of his college roommates. It was a beautiful wedding. It was even more beautiful because our hotel was a block away from a Jimmy John's. That was thoroughly enjoyable. On Sunday, we headed back to Ohio to get Kate and re-pack for our trip home. We were there from Sunday to the following Monday, the longest time we've had away since we moved here. It was a nice break, but it's also nice to be home.

We had a wonderful Christmas and I hope that you did too!

The All-Too-Big Four Month Post

I can't believe Jack is four months old already! It just feels like yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital, but it also feels like he's been part of our family forever. I wondered if I could possibly love another baby as much as Kate, and I do. I love him so much. I just want to soak every little thing about him in and savor it. He's growing too fast. Poor little guy has a cold AND he's teething. He's been a bit of a bear for the past week, but it will pass. In honor of his four month birthday yesterday, here's a list of Jack's "accomplishments":

-Weighed 15lbs 7oz last week, more than double his birth weight
-Has successfully, exclusively breastfed for 4 whole months
-Can roll over both ways (as of this week)
-Smiles and laughs constantly
-Loves watching his big sister play
-Has traveled to Ohio three times and Pennsylvania twice (yes, we're crazy)
-Is getting very good at playing with toys (or...putting them in his mouth)
-Had been sleeping through the night, but between growth spurts, teething and being sick, he's been waking a little more often in recent days
-Seems to have outgrown his dislike for onions (thankfully!)

He's a sweet, little boy. I can't wait to see more of his personality as he continues to grow. Life's crazy with a toddler and an infant, but I wouldn't have it any other way! Here's a few pics for you to enjoy from our recent family pictures:

It's about time...

...for an update!

It's been a crazy few weeks with the Thanksgiving holiday. We were blessed to be able to travel to Ohio for a few days to visit with my side of the family. Overall, it was a very good trip. On the trip out, the kids were great--even when we got stuck in Marietta, Ohio with a dead car battery (or something like that) when we stopped to feed Jackson. Thankfully, we weren't sitting in a remote, empty parking lot. We were at Kroger which was packed on the day before Thanksgiving. The drive home took forever. Kraig wasn't feeling great and Jackson didn't want to eat according to his normal routine. It was a blast. It's always nice that the trip to wherever we're going is good so that we can enjoy the time there, but the trip back home is never pleasant. And, to top it all off, Kate cried and said, "I wanna go back to Ohio!" It was sad.

Kate is in the midst of potty training. She's doing great, but I'm still nervous about taking her out in public. She's more prone to have accidents if she's actually wearing pants. And it doesn't help that when we're out, it's usually at church where I'm either super busy with music stuff or she's with someone else. She also got her first hair cut! Pics to come when I'm not typing one-handed!

Jackson will be four months old next week. I can't believe how fast this is going. He seems to be getting a cold now, but other than that he's great. He's huge. He's very strong. He's close to sitting up on his own. He's been rolling from his belly to his back since he was born and he's very close to doing the opposite. He's very ticklish and has the best laugh. He went for a week where he was sleeping through the night, but we're back to getting up at least once. Growth spurt? I also think he's teething (so early!), which doesn't help. He's still difficult to get to sleep, but we're settling into a decent nap routine. He's still breastfeeding like a champ. He's very interested in what we're eating, but I'm hoping to hold out til closer to six months. He also loves watching Kate play. He could stare at her for hours! So sweet:)

Kraig and I are great. Gearing up for the busy Christmas season. We're 90% done with Christmas shopping, thankfully, which will help make things easier. Kraig's in charge of the Christmas Eve service this year, which we're very excited about. We're going to be doing Andrew Peterson's "Behold the Lamb of God." If you haven't heard it, you should find it. It's fabulous. I can't wait! We're starting some Christmas music this week with the praise team. Should be fun! We're using several Tomlin arrangements that seem to be a lot more instrumentalist-friendly. Anyway, that's what's up with us!

Hope you're doing well!

And, we're back.....

Last week was crazy. A good kind of crazy, but definitely crazy. The "Free Yard Sale" was awesome. We had more stuff donated than we could even give away. We helped at least 580 people this weekend. It was an awesome thing. We were so blessed to just be a part of it. There were people coming to the yard sale to get things they needed that also brought things to give that they didn't need anymore. There was a man who got a toddler size car seat for his child. He took it home and came back a little while later carrying an infant seat. His child didn't need it now that they had a toddler seat. It was amazing to see the people who we consider "needy" to be giving back. Paying it forward. During Sunday's service, people were given the opportunity to share stories from the day and we heard story after story like this. I love that we're a part of a church that is actually being the church.

After a long weekend, we took the kids to Hill High Farm on Monday. They have tons of pumpkins, farm animals to see and pet and lots of fun things for little kids. It was Kate's second year visiting there. It was a bit chilly, but we had a blast. I love making memories like that. We don't take the time to do things like that often enough. Pictures below....

And, the to-do list of the week. Last week's was basically to survive. This week's?

1) Potty training (so far, so good!)
2) Work on music for the Christmas Eve service (this is possible because a friend blessed us with a keyboard on Sunday!)
3) Post a few things on craigslist.
4) Keep the kitchen clean
5) Read to the kids everyday
6) Mop the floors (like, hands and knees mop. Not swiffer mop.)
7) Laundry. Do one complete load per day.
8) Finish putting away the too small/out of season clothing. (They're out and sorted, just need put away)
9) Deep clean the fridge

--I'm sure I'll find more to add, but that's good for now!

Hope your week's are going well!

Our trip to Ohio

Kate and I went to Ohio last Sunday afternoon to visit my family. It's probably the last time I'll attempt to travel by myself with children for a couple years. The trip out was good. Kate was awesome. The trip home was awful. Not a fun day!

We got there around dinner time Sunday and got to enjoy the evening and all of Memorial Day with my mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law and nieces. It was good fun. Dad went back to work on Tuesday and the girls went shopping. All six girls (mom, sis, me, Kate and twin nieces) loaded up in my van and headed to Hobby Lobby. For those of you who don't have a Hobby Lobby, you're seriously missing out. It's the best craft supply and home decor store out there. Unfortunately, there aren't any in Virginia. Going to Hobby Lobby is a must when we're in town. We're decorating Jack's room with a vintage Cleveland Browns theme. I found tons of great stuff there that was football related and brown and orange. It's like they knew I was coming. We ended up with three wall hangings, a light switch cover, an awesome lamp and a cute teddy bear piggy bank. I was ecstatic. I can't wait to get his room put together so I can show off the pictures! After Hobby Lobby, we took the girls to the mall to play in the kiddie area. Kate had a blast playing with her cousins.

Kate loved being able to spend so much time outside. She loved the porch swing, though she was adamant that being on the porch was not outside. She loved playing with the kitties. She loved having the girls to play with. She's talked about nothing else since we got home. We had a great visit, but it definitely didn't last long enough! It had been a while since we'd seen my family, but we'll get to see them again when the baby comes! It's nice to know when the next time will be.

Kate also had her first ice cream cone while we were there. My sister had stuff to do Wednesday evening, so I volunteered to keep the girls and take them for ice cream. It was a blast! Every time I see my nieces, they've grown in some big way. They'll be four in a couple weeks, which is so hard to believe. I promised pictures, so here they are:

So much to write about...

It has been a very eventful two weeks! On Thursday, April 14th, we closed on our first home. That afternoon we made a few trips to the new house with our car and a borrowed truck. Friday was the biggest move day. We did a few trips on our own during the morning and early afternoon. The help started to arrive around 5:00 and we loaded up our car, another car and three trucks for our first load. As we were driving between the houses, we realized it was looking like rain. We decided to make another quick trip and worry about dinner later. So we drove back and loaded up.

One of the first things loaded in the second trip was my piano. I had two couches in the back of my truck and another truck had the large entertainment center. We headed back in caravan style, with me bringing up the rear, following our friend Todd. About two miles down the road, I noticed the bungee cords holding the mattresses in next to the piano were starting to slip. The wind had picked up significantly, and it was making our memory foam mattress move like paper. So I called Todd and told him that we should pull over and adjust the straps. We slowed down and turned right, into a parking lot. As Todd's truck turns, the piano falls off of the side of the truck and lands with a roar in the parking lot, in the outgoing turn lane. I watched the whole thing happen and was totally speechless. I pulled my truck around to block the debris from traffic and called Kraig to come back. Tyler and Josh were in the third truck that was just ahead of Todd and they heard the noise and turned back. Luckily, there were some teens walking through the parking lot that helped Todd get it out of the roadway. We were all speechless. We took pictures and loaded it back in the truck in all it's many pieces. It's now in the landfill. It was sad. My great aunt bought the piano as her first major purchase from her first big job. She gave it to me when we got married and now it's gone. I held it together when we were dealing with the situation, but then I got in the truck and cried the whole way home. I called my aunt to apologize and to get some sympathy. It was dramatic.

Luckily, we got most of the big stuff moved on Friday because it literally rained all day on Saturday. We had a few more hands on Saturday, so we took one quick trip and tarped everything for protection. That took care of all the big stuff and we've been making little trips here and there to finish up the little stuff and clean. We're hoping to have a yard sale at the old house this weekend because there is lots of stuff to get rid of! We paid rent through the end of the month, and we're gonna use the house until the end of the month!

The next week was crazy, making trips and getting unpacked. Kraig took one of our teens to Johnson Bible College for a campus visit from Wednesday through Friday. Both of Kraig's sisters and our brother-in-law arrived Thursday to spend Easter weekend with us. His parents arrived on Friday. Fortunately, they didn't mind the moving mess! It's not as bad as I make it out to be, I don't think, but I hate feeling unsettled. Once I'm ready to decorate and can put away the tubs of extra decor, we'll be doing better. We had a good Easter weekend though and enjoyed spending time with the family.

Kraig's regular day off is Monday, so we did some more cleaning and unpacking on Monday morning. When Kate went down for her nap, we cleaned out the car and cleaned the car. We need a second vehicle, and we're ready to trade in our Focus. So we ran an errand after Kate woke up and stopped by the Ford dealership to see what kind of options we had. We got there around 5:15, planning to grab dinner out when we were finished. At 9:25, we left the dealership with no Focus and two new (to us) cars. We were surprised that we were able to get what we wanted. They gave us $11000 in trade for Focus and we got a 2006 Mazda 5 for me and a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am for Kraig. Kraig's car is orange. It's perfect. They both have sunroofs. Kraig's car has quite a few miles on it, so we got it pretty cheap. The van looks brand new. It's not a huge van, it's more like an SUV with a third row of seats and sliding side doors. It's gonna be so convenient when we have two car seats. What a crazy turn of events, right?! All in all, we're paying a little more per month but we now have two cars. The first Sunday that we lived in the new house, Kraig went to first service and then ran home to get me before second service. We were almost late. Not so great when the minister can't be on time! Now we don't have to worry about that:)

In other news, I'm 24 weeks pregnant. Moving while pregnant is the worst idea ever. There's so much you can't do and I know I overdid it. My body is still sore. Kate's adjusting to a new house. It took her a few nights to be comfortable falling asleep in her room by herself, but things are much better now. Kraig's parents brought her a new toddler bed when they came this weekend, so we'll transition to that when she's more settled here. Kraig's been run ragged with all the chaos, but things will settle down soon.

AND, I won a giveaway last night!! I won a $10 store credit to JackBeNatural from The Cloth Diaper Fairy. I've ordered all my diapers from JackBeNatural. Their customer service is second to none. They are fantastic! The Cloth Diaper Fairy is a fellow Christian mommy who cloth diapers and is also expecting her second baby, and we've made a nice connection because of that. You should check out her blogs! I can't wait to order something from JBN. I'm thinking I'm going to get some diaper specific laundry detergent, but ordering another diaper is always tempting:)

Pictures of all our lastest excitment are coming soon....as soon as I figure out where I packed my camera cable!