My First Kid's Birthday Party

Kyra has been talking about her birthday non stop for months. I seriously had to tell her, "babe, just stop thinking about it because it's 130 days away." Of course, as the time approached I began getting a little nervous that her party would not meet her expectations. She had plenty of grand ideas, but this momma is still adjusting to life of 3 children and knew that I had limitations. Fortunately, she has only gone to a few friend's birthday parties, and we have never put on one for more than family (therefore she didn't have much to compare it with).

When all was said and done, I think I threw a fairly tasteful party. There weren't a lot of kids, 6 in fact, but that seemed to work out just fine (we were supposed to have two more, but unfortunately one of them was under the weather...we missed you Sarah).

The itinerary went in my head like this...

11:30 pm: feed Andrew

12:00 pm: Lunch (corn dogs, cherry koolaid, cherry jello jigglers-cut out into hearts and teddy bears, veggie straws- a Cos*tco product, and grapes)

1:00 pm: leave for bowling

2:00 pm: come back from bowling

2:30 pm feed Andrew

3:00 pm: feed the kids cupcakes and ice cream, sing Happy Birthday, open gifts, and let the kids play

Of course, when do things ever go as planned when you have an infant right? First of all I don't know what I was thinking planning a birthday during the day when my hubby couldn't help. Second of all, I probably shouldn't have thought we could keep to such a timely schedule. So, we didn't exactly finish lunch in time, or even leave the bowling alley to come home in time (we didn't even get home till 3:15 pm). I kind of forgot we were bowling with 3-7 year olds. Fortunately, I came to my senses and thought I should invite the mom's just in case I needed help, because I sure did. And thankfully, my sister in-law offered several times to take Andrew while we went bowling (although I kept refusing until after lunch time, and then I decided I better drop him off). And you know what? We had lots of fun. It may have felt a little crazy at moments (especially with two nursing mommas), but the kids had fun, and it was fun to watch them bowl.

So, it wasn't exactly a Martha Stewart birthday, complete with coordinating theme and all. But thankfully my little 5 year old could care less and just enjoys time with friends. Yes, it was a fun birthday.

All the kiddos eating their cupcakes

The girls seemed to think stomping their feet would help their ball move faster down the lane

Butterfly cupcakes. This year Kyra didn't want a cake, just cupcakes with blue frosting for the boys and pink frosting for the girls. The girls also had a lot of fun and took great pride in being able to decorate the cupcakes themselves.

Happy 5th Birthday Kyra

KYRA.

Age: 5

Personality: Caring, considerate, stickler for rules, helper, social butterfly, striver of perfection. You are always seeking out new friends and love to play with others.

Favorites:
Foods: Hamburgers, corn, cherries, pb&j, mac & cheese, carrots, chocolate milk, and vanilla ice cream w/a cherry on top
Songs: I've got the Joy, This Little Light of Mine, Bubbly & Kidz Bop World (from Kidz Bop McD's CD)
Books: any Dora the Explorer books, Rapunzel, Peter Pan, Enchanted Tales
TV Shows: Martha, Word Girl, Super Why
Movies: Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, Tinkerbell
Games: Littlest Pet Shop, Uno, Memory, Guess Who?
Toys: stuffed white doggy...Rose, Magna Doodle, My Little Ponies, any coloring books, bike, scooter
Activities w/Mommy: games, coloring, reading, baking
Activities w/Daddy: baking, games, exploring outside, bike riding

Dear Kyra,
You have grown up so much this past year. We have enjoyed watching you learn to ride your bike, pump your legs on the swing, pour your own milk, and hold your little brother. You are very helpful in calming Andrew down, insisting you know exactly what to do (and often you do). You have started sounding out words, and love to write people letters. Your relationship with your sister has flourished, and although you can sometimes be bossy, you love her dearly and have become best friends. You are a sweet girl that is growing up way too fast. But we enjoy watching you strive to learn new things. You can't wait to start school in a week (even asking if you were going to sleep there over night, and being disappointed when I said no). We know you will do well and look forward to hearing all the stories (because we all know you love to talk and ask questions)!

Love,
Mom and Dad

First Corn of the Season

It's that time of the year again!! Corn pickin time! Yes, this past week we had the first fruits of our labor (my hubby's labor anyway). We've had beans, cukes, lettuce, tomatoes, zucchinis, potatoes, and eggplant. But, it doesn't feel like summer until we've had corn from our own garden. After all, planting corn runs deep in the blood of the hub's family. I think my hubby would give up hunting before he would give up planting. He just gets a deep satisfaction out of watching our acres fill with corn. He will often take daily walks to see how much the stalks have filled out (I can't say that I could see much progress daily, but maybe he can). I bet he could even hear it grow. Okay, enough already, you get the picture. He LOVES corn.

My husband's love for corn has been inherently passed on to the girls. They have been eating it off the cob since they were 16 months old. They ask for it at every birthday meal, and are known to eat 3 cobs at a meal. This past week, Kyra even learned how to pick the ears off the stalk. She knows how to feel for fullness and everything. I was quite impressed. And I'm sure my hubby was beaming at his budding farmer.

So with out further adieu, here are this years pics of our kiddos eating their corn (we've taken a picture every year).

(Might as well start him out early!!)

Andrew Update

It is so hard to believe Andrew is already 2 months old today. It seems like I just wrote about his one month old update a short while ago (although I guess that will happen when you don't post things that often).

Andrew is growing like a weed. There are some days I think he grew overnight! He's growing little chunker thighs and sporting a double chin. In general he is having more content moments, which is a huge blessing considering he hasn't been the most content baby (I was under the impression that many 3rd children were easy going, but I don't think that's the case in our family...at least not yet). He wants to be held much of the time or put in a baby carrier. In his defense though, he might have acid reflux, which I'm sure is causing much of his irritability. He clenches his stomach, spits up, and gags a lot. This problem has gotten better over the last month, so we are hoping to be on the up and up. On a positive note, we got our EEG results back and Andrew is not having seizures. We were very thankful to hear that news.

I still haven't exactly heard any cooing (although my mom said she did), but he does like to squeal when he's happy and moans when he's sucking on his binki. The smiles are also poppin up more frequently, which I absolutely love. He's also a kicker. This child DOES NOT sit still. He's definitely a mover and a shaker (hmmm...is this a sign for things to come?) He is constantly waving his arms and kicking his legs, which is another reason why I still have to swaddle him when we put him to bed (otherwise he wakes himself up with his movements).

For the past week, he has been getting up only one time a night. Although after he eats at 3 a.m. he doesn't seem to want to go back to bed like he did before. Yes, now he thinks it's play time. So, he's up for close to 2 hours before he goes back to bed. I'm hoping this trend will go away quickly. I must be getting used to the night feedings though because I'm not too tired in the morning anymore (which I suppose is good considering Kyra starts school pretty soon).

The girls continue to enjoy their little brother as if he had just come home from the hospital. Katie is constantly kissing him. We have to ward her off, just so he isn't over stimulated. And Kyra is always helping me by finding a binki I've misplaced, or retrieving a burp cloth I forgot to get before I sat down to nurse.

Yes, life has certainly changed, but we are beginning to adapt, and are enjoying life as a family of five. I am looking forward to fall, getting back into a schedule (as much as I can), and hopefully gaining more time to get more daily chores accomplished. Thanks to all our friends and family who have prayed for us over the past couple of months. We truly appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and support.

(Andrew at 3 days old)

(Andrew at 2 months old. Same exact expression!)

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

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Over this past week, the girls have said some extremely cute things. However, like usual I didn't write them down, therefore missing so many of the documentary worthy quotes after Andrew was born. Here are a few I did remember:

While sitting at the dinner table:
Grandma: I think Andrew is just so cute!
Kyra: Grandma, you want to know what I think? I think he looks expensive.
(I think she is just trying out her larger vocabulary, but she wasn't far off the mark!)

While holding Andrew:
Kyra: I think he loves me very much.
(Kyra has been quite smitten with this new little guy, and if we let her, would hold him for hours at a time.)

While holding the baby:
Katie: Mommy, I want you to feed him with that thingy again.
(Oh yeah, the joys of having two girls invading your space while nursing. Not much chance for privacy this time around. These girls are quite curious.)

While sitting on the couch:
Kyra: Mom?
Mom: Yes?
Kyra: If you drink lots of milk, then does it go down your throat, and into your tummy and then out of your bo*ob?
(yeah, something like that. Wow, she is creative.)

It is fun to see Kyra ask so many questions. She asked things from how the IV gave me hydration to questions about the umbilical cord. She is such an inquisitive little girl.

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