The Green Family

DIY Mason Jar Light Fixture

2012-02-16T16:21:00.001-08:00

Note:I am new to writing tutorials and taking pictures for them, so I didn’t get pictures of some the steps. I am sorry in advance. I am willing to answer questions if something is not clear or pictured.

Thanks to Pinterest I found pictures of mason jar light fixtures. I LOVED them! Apparently, Pottery Barn sold a light fixture with mason jars (here is the one they sold for $399!!) that people reproduced for much cheaper. Here is a picture of the Pottery Barn version.

There were 3 blogs with DIY tutorials that were very helpful. I thought this tutorial was the most helpful with supplies to purchase and electrical instructions. This blog was helpful for some electrical instruction as well and also a picture of one fixture using wood. They also show how to make a wooden box. I also used Kara Paslay’s tutorial for some help. After reading all three blogs, I came up with my own idea and list of supplies.

The first and most important item was the piece of wood. I envisioned a piece of barn wood from the same collapsed barn that we made this from:

I talked my Grandpa into going down to the collapsed barn, and we went to town collecting wood. With the help of his chain saw, we came home with quite the stash of amazing wood. We have collected some of the nicest wood from this place. In another post, I will show the amazing coffee table that he made from wood from this barn. Amazing! I will treasure the memories of this day and the times spent creating with my Grandpa. He loves to work, and is so creative with using scraps and odds and ends! Here are pictures from that day:

We picked our favorite piece of wood from the wood pile. We used his table saw to cut out a space for the wiring. We made numerous cuts with the saw, and then he chiseled out the wood. I didn’t get pictures of this step, but it worked out perfectly. He then used satin Minwax Polycrilic to seal the wood. The piece of wood ended up being about 54” long. We determined that we could hang about 7 jars. We took into account proper spacing so the jars wouldn’t touch each other and what we thought would look the best. Here is a picture of the wood with the sealant and space for wiring:

With a list in hand, I headed to Home Depot and Wal-Mart for the rest of the supplies. Here is a list of what we needed:

Home Depot:

21 feet of 18-2 Lamp Cord-Go to the electrical section, and they have bulk lamp cord. They will cut you the length that you need. I used about 26 inches of cord for the short lights and 32 inches for the longer lights you will also need some extra cord to connect the cords.

7 Keyless Lampholders/Sockets-this is what I ended up using. They are on the same aisle as the switches and such. They are box sold loosely. I think it was simpler that using the keyless socket as far as the wiring part and it also felt more secure as far as holding up the jar.

Electrical tape

Wire Nuts-I wasn’t sure about the size, so I bought the bag of miscellaneous sizes.

Wal-Mart:

7 Mason Jars-Quart Sized

Krylon Gray Spray Paint-I have found that Wal-Mart has the best price.

Other items you will need:

-Wire stripper and/or exacto knife

-Supplies to attach the fixture to the ceiling

-Drill

Step 1- Cut your lamp cord to your desired lengths:I wanted four jars that were longer and three that were shorter. You will need to leave some extra cord to tie and knot and connect some wires (approximately 6-8 inches).

Step 2-Spray paint the cord. The cord will take about 24 hours to dry

Step 3-Drill holes for lamp cord. I used a 5/16 drill bit for the holes. For my 54.5” board, I started the first hole at 7.5 inches and spaced the other holes about every 6 9/16”. Drill a total of 7 holes.

Step 4-Drill Holes in Jar Lids using the same drill bit used in Step 3. Use a smaller drill bit and drill 4 smaller holes to let heat out when the bulbs are turned on.

Step 5-Feed the cord through the Jar lid.

Step 6-Attach cord to the keyless lampholders. Separate the lamp cord about 4 inches with an exacto knife. Un-screw the lid of your lampholder. You will see two little “cone-shaped” pieces of metal (one is silver and one is brass). These will “pierce” the wire to make the connection. I know very little about electrical, but I learned that you connect the HOT wire to the BRASS and the NEUTRAL wire to the SILVER.

Neutral wire has a ridged casing:

Hot wire has a smooth casing:

Insert the wire into the lampholder and screw down the lid very tight. This will puncture the plastic casing and make your connection:

Step 7- Split and Strip the Ends of Each Cord. Use an exacto knife to split the lamp cord about 1.5 inches. Use a wire stripper or exacto knife to remove about 1 inch of the plastic casing on each cord. (I waited until after the cord was knotted to do this step and it would have been easier to do this before)

Step 8-Feed Cords up the Drilled Holes. You want to determine at this point how low you want each jar to hang. Tie a knot on the end of the cord, so the cord will stay in place.

Step 9-Connect wires to the extra lamp cord and split and strip each end about 1 inch. I cut about 6 inch pieces of lamp cord. Split and strip each end of the cords. Use a wire nut to connect the hot wire of the 6 inch piece of lamp cord to the hot wire of the knotted cord. Do the same with the neutral wire. Remember-Hot to Hot and Neutral to Neutral. Repeat until you reach the end. The only exception is that for the middle cord I didn’t use a wire nut. I just twisted the wires together. These wires will be connected to the wires in your ceiling. (I wish I would have taken a picture, but I forgot. Some of the other blogs I posted showed some pictures of this step.)

Step 10-Test the lampholders to make sure they work. I am no electrician and neither is my dad who helped me. However, he has been in construction for 35+ years and knows some basics about electrical. He helped me at this point. We took a cord with a plug on the end from an old lamp. We wired our fixture to the cord and plugged it in. We screwed in a light bulb to every lampholder to make sure they were wired correctly. We found that some of the lampholders didn’t have a proper connection. We needed to screw the lid on tighter to pierce the lamp cord. Eventually, they all lit up and we were ready to hang the fixture.

Step 11-Attach wiring and fixture to the electrical box. You probably want to call an electrician at this point. My Dad was able to do it, but I would NOT have been able to do this by myself. I will say that this fixture weighed about 22 pounds which is a proper weight to hang from the electrical box. We did not have to drill into our ceiling which was great! It worked out well, but it took 3 of us to finish. My husband and I held the fixture up while my dad did the wiring and installation.

Step 12-Attach light bulbs and mason jars. I did not buy the “wide-mouth” jars, so regular light bulbs would not fit inside my jar. I had to purchase these:

Step 13-Stand back and admire your finished light!!

I spent a little less than $40 on this project. It helped that I didn’t have to buy the wood, but I like that price much more than $400. This light fixture will definitely be coming with us when we move!! I LOVE it!

DIY Kitchen

2012-02-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

For Maggie’s birthday coming up in about 6 weeks, we wanted to get her a play kitchen. We know that she will have a blast playing with her brothers with the kitchen. I looked around the Internet for something to buy. I found that they were pricey and many were not well made.

I came across some ideas on Pinterest and found some blogs with great ideas. The kitchens that I liked the most were made from old end tables or entertainment centers. They used the furniture as a base and revamped it from there.

Here is my favorite example:

Here are the end tables I found on Craigslist for $40!!

My Grandpa is going to help me get them completed! I can’t wait to see the final product!!

10 months!

2012-02-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

We are into 2012 and Maggie is getting closer and closer to ONE! Last year at this time we were preparing her room, buying a new car to fit our family of 5, and preparing to add another little one to the family. We have adjusted to the 3rd baby, but her mobility is adding challenges. She is into EVERYTHING!! She gets into drawers and pulls things out. She loves to crawl in all the rooms to find things to put in her mouth. This child finds the smallest things and immediately puts them in her mouth! We are trying to be careful, but it is so tough to keep the floors perfectly clean.

She crawls around here like a mad woman! She is fast. She can stand up really well while holding on to things. She has now moved onto holding on with one hand. She can climb things pretty well, so she gets herself in some precarious positions. It is kind of funny!

Maggie celebrated her first Christmas. We had multiple celebrations with our family. She got a few things to play with, but we really didn’t worry about too many gifts. She really enjoyed the boxes and wrapping paper. We had a wonderful time celebrating the birth of our Savior and spending lots of time with family. It was a blessing to have Abe off for a week. The best Christmas present!!

She is now feeding herself. She loves to pick things up and she is really good at it!

Her first tooth is finally through right around January 18th. The second one is coming and will break through really soon as well. I can tell it won’t be long until the top 2 will pop through as well.

She was really sick again with a cold this month. Poor baby can’t seem to get well. We had to stay home from church quite a bit due to sickness. During that time she developed full on separation anxiety. She now HATES the nursery. She cries almost immediately, and I get called up to pick her up. Our other kids were the same way and Parker still struggles. One of these days we will hear a sermon. LOL!

Appearance: Her hair is starting to grow and fill in. Her eyelashes are also growing and they are dark and long just like Daddy! Swoon

Sleep: She takes a morning and afternoon nap. They are 1-2 hours in length. She goes to bed at 6:00 and is very cranky if she is awake past that time. She is waking up one time during the night around 3:00 to eat and goes right back to sleep.

Diaper Size: Still in size 3. Thinking we will order the next size up for next month.

Clothing: She is now pretty much in 18 month clothes and some 24 month thrown in. We can get away with 12 month shirts because she seems to have short-ish arms.

Height: I think she is about 29 inches

Weight: Approximately 18.5 pounds

Head Circumference: Not sure

Eating Habits: Like I mentioned above she is feeding herself sometimes. She can pick up chicken nuggets and meatballs which are 2 of her favorite foods. She eats some veggie purees still along with apple sauce. We are starting to give her what we eat for dinner sometimes. She also started eating butter and jelly sandwiches. She loves them! She nurses 4 times per day and now gets about 8 oz. of formula.

Development: She is crawling very fast, holding on with one hand to things, opens and closes drawers, says “mama” and “dada,” she recognizes her brothers by name (we ask her where Chase is and she looks at him and same for Parker), she is kind of loud, she likes to pinch HARD, and she begs for food all the time.

9 months!

2012-02-02T10:13:00.001-08:00

Maggie got to celebrate her first Thanksgiving this month! We actually had two celebrations-one on the actual day with the Barney side and one with the Greens on Sunday. We had a really low-key day. We hosted, but everyone brought most of the food. It was nice to be with my parents and Bridgie, my brother and his family, and my Grandpa and Grandma Berger. The second Thanksgiving at the Greens was wonderful as well. We had delicious food and everyone was able to make it so we were all together. It was very loud and crazy, but that is what happens when a big group of people gets together

We put up our Christmas tree and decorations Thanksgiving weekend. That was TOUGH with 3 kids. We were very tired at the end of the day, but it was so nice to enjoy the decorations. The boys LOVE seeing all the pretty and cute things. Maggie was very interested in the tree and kept pulling the ornaments off. We had to put chairs around the tree to keep the ornaments on.

Maggie had a couple colds in a row that came with a bad cough. We ended up at the Dr. twice because we were worried about ear infections and congestion in the lungs. Thankfully, it was nothing too serious, but it took her a while to heal.

She is crawling very well now, and she is sitting up and very steady. She is beginning to pull herself up onto things to stand. She is gaining strength in her legs.

She has really started to LOVE bath time. She loves to kick and splash. She loves the bath toys and plays for quite a while. We are able to pour water on her head to wash her hair and she doesn’t cry. Abe started pouring water on the boys heads when they were about 6 months old to get them used to it. It really worked out because as they got older they weren’t afraid. We just did the same with her.

We are looking forward to celebrating her first Christmas and the holidays.

Appearance: She is cute as ever! She seems to have very long legs and we think she is going to be very tall She kind of dwarfs a lot of kids her age. Very normal for our kids.

Sleep: She mostly takes just 2 naps now and every once in a while a 3rd nap. She wakes up once to eat at night. She goes to bed around 6:30 and wakes up around 7:30 or 8:00.

Diaper Size: Still in size 3.

Clothing: She wears a mix of12 month and 18 month clothes. My friend gave her some really nice clothes that her daughter outgrew. I love hand-me-downs! Such a blessing!!

Height: Not sure

Weight: 18 lbs. 3 oz. (she was weighed at the Dr.)

Head Circumference: Not sure

Eating Habits: She is now loving solids. She eats veggie purees like carrots, peas, and squash. She chicken nuggets and meatballs. We are letting her try our food which she loves. We tried yogurt, but it gave her the runs. She loves puffs. She is still nursing well about every 3 hours. She also get one bottle of formula at night now.

Development: Crawling, sits up, beginning to stand, loves to play in the play room, loves bath time.

Under the Sea Sensory Box

2012-01-26T16:00:00.001-08:00

We have been working on less screen time at our house. Here is one activity that I have seen floating around Pinterest. Sensory boxes. Our box has an ocean theme. I will change it up. I am thinking about doing space, dinosaurs, car/truck, etc. The boys are so excited. Almost everything is from the $ Store. Hopefully, this will fill up some of our day:)

2012 Goals

2012-01-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

*Grow Closer to the Lord I really want to focus on joy this year. I have so much to be joyful about, but often times I let my sin or circumstances rob me of joy. I look forward to growing in knowledge of God and His Will for my life. It really does amaze me that the Creator of the universe wants me to have a personal relationship with Him. Very basic, but AMAZING.

*Invest in my marriage I have been pregnant for about half of my marriage. Our kids have been the focus of our time and energy. In many ways, we have not put the time and the effort into our marriage that is necessary. Abe and I LOVE being together. He really is my best friend. I look forward to viewing him more in this light rather than my partner in parenting We hope to go on a few more dates and we are working on weight loss and fitness together.

*Run a Half Marathon Abe and I hope to run our 3rd half marathon this April. We are looking forward to training together. My goal is to run it under 2 hours. I will be happy with 1:59:59!

*Potty train Parker Our goal is to have Parker potty trained around the time he turns 3 in July.

*Plant our first garden Abe and I want to do a garden this year. We are eating a lot more veggies, and it would be nice to gather them out of our own garden.

*Stick to a budget and save money We started using a Envelope Method App to track our spending. We started in October. It has been super helpful and we have been successful. I hope to continue with this and be more financially responsible.

*Meet new people and be more hospitable Meeting new people is somewhat nerve-wracking to me. Kind of silly, but I get a little embarrassed for some reason. I want to get over myself and be more outgoing. We also want to work on having more people into our home especially those that we have never had over.

Look Back at 2011 Resolutions/Goals

2012-01-02T09:28:00.001-08:00

*Setting aside time to be in God’s Word and pray. I did better in this area this year. My day is always better when I begin the day praying and reading God’s Word.

*Keep our home clutter free and organized. This was somewhat accomplished. However, it doesn’t feel like it after the influx of new toys from Christmas.

*Adjust to life with THREE kiddos. I think I have adjusted to life with 3 kids. It went smoothly the first few months, but I hit a bump in the road at about 3 months. It was ROUGH! Dealing with 3 kids is my new normal, and I can hardly remember what it was like before Maggie came along. I am now cooking, cleaning, exercising, running errands, along with many other normal activities just like before. I didn’t go easier on myself with giving myself time to adjust. Oh well!

*Enjoy my kids and this time of life. I did try to enjoy my family more this year. It still a tough job being a mommy and I have bad days. However, I am trying to keep in mind that it will not be this intense forever. My mantra this year has been “the days on long, but the years are short.”

*Start Chase’s educational journey. Chase started pre-K at a local charter school. God very clearly led us in making the decision to enroll him in school. We both have peace about our decision, and Chase is thriving. Praise the Lord!

*Getting Parker potty trained and in a big boy bed. We moved Parker into the bunkbed in October. It was rough at the beginning, but it has worked out nicely. We tried potty training, but he really didn’t want to do it after about 2 weeks. I gave up and we will attempt it this next year.

*Get back into pre-pregnancy shape. I am pretty much back into shape. I have a goal of losing some more weight, but I fit into my clothes. I got rid of my maternity clothes already, and I have a big bag of “fat” clothes to donate. It feels good to be “normal” again.

8 Months!

2011-12-22T07:10:00.000-08:00

Maggie-girl is 8 months old. She is pretty much crawling now. She will sometimes revert back to her inch worm scoot, but most of the time she crawls. She is attempting to sit up, but is very unstable.

Maggie celebrated her first Halloween by staying home with Grandma Berger in the nice warm house while the rest of us went trick or treating. She was definitely in a good place.

She is learning to like baby food. We had our first success with yellow squash and rice cereal. We have had success with carrots and peas as well. She has also learned to like apple sauce. Thankfully, feeding her is less of a battle. I am not sure how long she will tolerate baby food. She loves to have little bites of our food. At Chase’s birthday party she was getting tastes of chocolate cake. She was getting angry when I would take a bite and skip her. She thought it was all for her. LOL!

We think this girl has a sense of humor. She loves to laugh and finds things to be hilarious. She is almost always happy even when she is very sick. She is loud and talkative. She seems to be taking after big brother Chase in her personality. We think we have another ham on our hands.

Appearance: She hasn’t changed much! We think she is cute as can be of course . Everyone thinks she looks like either Chase or Parker. We think she is a good mix and looks just like Maggie!

Sleep: She is still loving her crib. She wakes up about once a night around 1:00-3:00 AM to eat. She takes a morning, afternoon, and sometimes an evening nap. She seems to be dropping her evening nap and heading towards 2 naps a day.

Diaper Size: Still in size 3.

Clothing: She wears mostly 12 month clothes, but and some 18 months. She has small feet and wears 6-12 month shoes. We got her the most adorable, warm Robeez boots. CUTE!! She runs cold, so she wears a t-shirt and 2 pairs of jammies to bed.

Height: Not sure

Weight: We weighed her at home and she was about 18 pounds.

Head Circumference: Not sure

Eating Habits: She is still nursing well about every 3 hours. She also get one bottle of formula at night now. See the rest of the update above.

Development: Crawling, learning to sit up, laughing and talking LOUDLY, loves to chew on everything, loves toys and remotes, loves her brothers, and loves her mom and dad. She is beginning to have separation anxiety. We usually get called up to the nursery at church after about 30 minutes. She is fine for a little bit, but then gets very upset. We are going to keep working on it though. We need to hear a sermon every once in a while.

7 months

2011-12-21T07:09:00.001-08:00

Here is Maggie’s 7 month update. She is really starting to move. She is trying to scoot and it resembles an inch worm. She is more proficient at going backwards. It is kind of funny to watch. She can definitely get places, and is on the move. She is also starting to do “rocky-rock” as we call it. She gets up on her knees and rocks back and forth. Parker did the same thing, and that is when we named it . It looks like she will scoot and crawl before she will sit up. She is very unstable on her bottom.

She loves her brothers! They can always get her to laugh and giggle. She loves to watch them play. She is starting to talk (growl and grunt at us). She is very curious about everything. Chase told me “we should just call her curious because she wants everything.”

She has had a really bad cold and cough. She sounds awful. One of the problems with being a younger sibling. You get everything the older kids get. Guess she will have a strong immune system.

Appearance: She is still very long with most of her length in her legs. She has very long legs. She must take after her Grandma Green. Her hair is growing very slowly, but looks to be reddish brown. She has very blue eyes. She is such a mix of her brothers in appearance, but you can definitely tell they are all related.

Sleep: She moved out of our room to her crib. She loves her crib! We put her pink blanket down and tied it to the crib slats. We left one corner undone so she can grab the fringe. She sleeps in that corner, on her side, holding onto the fringe, and sucks her thumb. Pretty much the cutest thing ever!! She wakes up once or twice a night to eat and then goes right back to sleep.

Diaper Size: Still in size 3.

Clothing: She wears some 9 month clothes, but mostly 12 months.

Height: Not sure

Weight: Not sure

Head Circumference: Not sure

Eating Habits: We tried solids with her. We have tried baby oatmeal, rice cereal with water, rice cereal with breast milk, rice cereal with formula, rice cereal with apple sauce, and plain apple sauce. She isn’t having any of it! She acts as if it is totally revolting. We are questioning if she is our kid. Food-revolting!?!? Just kidding, but it is kind of strange. We are just going to give her some time. I am sure she will come around. She is still nursing well about every 3 hours. She also get one bottle of formula at night now.

Development: I mentioned some of this above. She LOVES her thumb. She sucks it all the time now. We love it. She is just a joy, and we are so grateful for our sweet, happy little girl!

Happy Veterans’ Day!

2011-11-11T09:06:00.001-08:00

New Wall Hanging

2011-11-04T10:44:00.001-07:00

I have seen these floating around the Internet and loved the idea. It is such a helpful, simple tool to remind our family of the things that we believe, value, and strive to live out day in and day out.

I was thinking that this would be great to teach and instruct the kids. It has actually helped me in times of temptation when I think poorly of someone or worry about something. I need things like this around me to renew my mind and help me to do right. Simple but powerful!

Schedules and Routines

2011-10-17T08:52:00.001-07:00

…oh how I love thee! I have a mental schedule for everything in my life-exercise, cleaning, laundry, eating/cooking etc. With the addition of our precious Maggie they have all been thrown out the window. For me, I think that schedules and routines have become almost presumptuous. Let me explain. I want to know that if I clean the bathroom from top to bottom on Friday that I will be able to clean the bathroom in the same exact way at the same exact time the next Friday. Instead of enjoying the fact that my bathroom is clean this Friday I worry about the next time I will get the bathroom clean. Will I be able to fit that in next Friday? Will I be able to clean the walls and scrub the tub? Will I just have to do a quick wipe down? Yes, these are the things that go through my mind. It is just ridiculous and petty, but it is very real to me. I do this in most areas of my life. With exercise, I go and run 3 miles. Instead of being satisfied I start planning and worrying about how I will fit the next 3 miles in. With cooking, I don’t enjoy the fact that I made dinner tonight. I worry about how I am going to get it done on Thursday.

God does not promise us a predictable schedule. He wants us to be focused on today:

Matthew 6:25-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing? 26 Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are? 27 And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life? 28 Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these! 30 And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, won’t he clothe you even more, you people of little faith? 31 So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.

Schedules and routines can be so helpful to remain organized. However, for me I need to learn to revel in the hourly and daily successes and not worry about all I have to get done tomorrow, the next day, or next week. For this time in my life I need to let it go! Lord, please help me to be able to focus on today and not worry about tomorrow!

First Swing-10/09/11

2011-10-10T17:32:00.001-07:00

Maggie went on her first swing yesterday. First of many I am sure:)

Barbie?

2011-10-03T08:58:00.001-07:00

"Let's play Barbie. We can beat each other up." That is how boys play Barbie. Lol!

Bro-mance

2011-09-28T10:12:00.001-07:00

Chase is doing really well with school. I love his teacher. She expects respectful behavior on all levels from the kids. They are to respect her, each other, and school property. They have a strict routine, and the kids thrive while adhering to it.

Chase has made some friends at school. He is very outgoing and friendly. He will play with anyone. I love that quality about him. However, he has made a good friend at school. His name is Roberto Carlos. He is such a sweet and kind boy. They can't wait to get to school to see each other. The teacher has to separate them because they talk to much. She told me that they come to her and ask I'd they can try to sit together, and she let's them try. She said she usually has to end up moving them, but she likes to give them an opportunity to try:) We were teasing that the boys have a bro-mance going on. It really is fun to see him make friends!

6 Months-Already!?!

2011-09-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

September 18th means that our baby girl is 6 months old! How did that happen? She is as amazing as ever besides her affinity to party during the middle of the night. She is rolling all over the place! She can move from one side of the room to the other by rolling.

We have a new nickname for her. We call her “Big Baby.” Think the doll from Toy Story 3. If you can imagine that doll before it was all tattered and torn, Maggie looks very similar. We also call her Mags, Maggie Doo, Sweet Darlin’, and the Ga-Doo (Daddy’s favorite).

Appearance: She is long and thinning out a tad. She has little feet and tiny fingers. She is definitely a mix of her brothers with a girly twist. We think she resembles Chase’s pictures the most though.

Sleep: She is waking up 3 to 4 times per night. What a stinker! She wants to eat and then goes back to sleep, but it is still really hard on me. I think she is hearing us and knows that I am right next to her. The time is coming for her to be moved out of our room. We got the boys bunkbeds, so she will soon be in her own room. She is still taking a long morning nap, a long afternoon nap, and a short evening nap.

Diaper Size: She moved to Size 3 diapers in the middle of August.

Clothing: She is still wearing 9 month clothes. We had to buy her 12 month jammies. She already outgrew the other ones. Crazy!

Height/Weight:

Height: 28 inches (98th percentile)

Weight: 17 lbs. 5 oz. (75th percentile)

Head Circumference: 17 inches (75th percentile)

Eating Habits: She still eats every 2 to 3 hours. I have tried giving her a bottle of formula at night before bed I hopes that she will sleep better. It really hasn’t helped. I think she needs the extra milk though. I tried rice cereal, and she hated it! We will be working on adding solids to her diet this next month.

Development: Like I mentioned earlier she is rolling everywhere. She pushes up on her hands. She is noticing if a stranger is holding her now and is not too sure about it. She is chewing on everything and drooling quite a bit. Maybe some teeth are on their way. She sucks her toes and almost curls into a ball while doing so. Love it! She is still a thumb sucker. She is grabbing at our cups and she pinches our faces now.

Five Months!

2011-09-23T03:36:00.000-07:00

This update is super late, but better late than never. She is still growing like crazy. The biggest change from 4 months is that she started to soothe herself by sucking her thumb and holding her blankie. It is the cutest thing to watch. When we lay her in her bed, she almost immediately rolls on her side, grabs her blankie, and puts her thumb in her mouth. ADORABLE! I have never had a thumbsucker, so this is new territory for us. I think it is so cute now, but someday I will probably not think so. I am going to enjoy it for now
She took her first trip to Trinity Center in the outside world. Janna and I were about 8 weeks pregnant last year and SUPER ill. It was a much better trip this year. Maggie and Jake spent most of the time with the Grandmas in their cabin while we entertained the older kids. It was non-stop fun! Swimming, hiking, fishing, eating, mini golf, and family time. It was a blast! We already have our cabins reserved for next year!

Appearance: Not much has changed. Her hair is growing so slowly. It looks like it will be strawberry blonde. She is nice and plump with lots of pinchable rolls. Love it!
Sleep: She is on a pretty regular schedule. She wakes up once or twice. She gets up for the day around between 7 and 8. She is back down for a nap within an hour. She takes long morning naps lasting about 2 or more hours. She only awake for 1.5 to 2 hours max. She is then ready for another nap. This pattern lasts all day. She finally is ready for bed around 9 or 9:30.
Diaper Size: She is still Size 2 diapers.
Clothing: She is in all 9 month clothes. She is a big girl!
Height/Weight: Nothing new to report.
Eating Habits: She still eats every 2 to 3 hours. I am breastfeeding her. She is a great eater.
Development: She is still very happy! She loves to smile and laugh. She is on her tummy more to play. She squeals and screams quite a bit. She will roll sometimes, but is still pretty safe on a bed. She is not showing much interest in crawling. We started putting her in the Johnny Jump Up. She loves it! See video below. She gets lots of good exercise

9/11/2011

2011-09-11T07:13:00.001-07:00

We will never forget!

Chase's First Day of School

2011-08-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

Chase had his first official day of school on August 15th. He was very excited to go. My Aunt Karen, Emily, and Valerie came over to be with us his first morning. They stayed home with Parker and Maggie while I took him to school.

When we got there, he was eager but also wanted me to stay with him until the last moment. He had a big smile on his face. He did a good job listening to his teacher and standing in line. Not an easy thing for an active 4.5 year old :) As the teacher told the kids to say goodbye to us, he ran over and gave me a big hug. So cute! I felt a twinge of sadness leaving my boy in someone else's care. However, I felt mostly ok with the whole idea.

I went back to pick him up with Bridget and Parker. He was SUPER excited to see us all. He said he had a good day, but didn't want to talk too much about it. He was too excited about our plan to go swimming after we left school. I asked if he behaved, and he said he only had a "few troubles." He said he talked a little bit and played in the bathroom. Not too suprising :)

Last week was a big week for us. Chase started school and Abe went on his first business trip. Abe left early Tuesday morning before the boys woke up. They woke up looking for him. My mom showed up later and watched the kids while I dropped Chase off. He looked a little overwhelmed walking in by himself, but he was ok. He was ok when we picked him up as well. That night my cousins came to stay with us which was super exciting.

Wednesday morning we woke up to Emily and Valerie here, and the boys were so happy to have them here. They played non-stop with them. Amazing amounts of help! The only problem was that Chase did not want to leave the fun. He cried and went and hid. So sad :( We got him ready and headed out to grab some lunch. He wasn't happy when we left, but we prayed for him. He had a good day, and was totally fine when we picked him up.

Thursday morning was another rough day. He was missing his Dad, and we were still having lots of fun at home. He said he didn't want to go, but we just kept on going. I walked him into school, and he was not happy. It breaks my heart to leave my sad little boy. After getting in the car, I totally fell apart. I just prayed and asked the Lord to calm his little heart. The Lord heard my prayers. His teacher reassures me he is totally fine within in minutes of me leaving. Abe came home that night which was a huge blessing!! The boys were so happy to see him not to mention me :)

Friday we woke up with just our family in the house. We had a calm morning. Chase got ready for school and was totally happy and ready for school. I dropped him off without one problem. Such an answer to prayer.

Chase's first week of school was filled with ups and downs. We made it, and the weekend was so refreshing and a nice break from the school schedule! Phew!!

The Bouncer

2011-08-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here is our girl getting some exercise!

Do I really look like that!?!?!

2011-08-20T10:57:00.000-07:00

With all three of my pregnancies I have gained about 35 pounds. I lose the first 20 pounds really fast. Usually within a week or 2. The last 15 come off soooo slowly. It is hard work. It also has gotten more difficult to lose with each pregnancy.

For me it is always a shock to see a picture of myself when I am carrying extra weight. On an everyday basis it is difficult to see, but a picture sure makes it all clear . This week I saw a picture of myself in a swimsuit. Let me just say I hardly recognized myself. It is time to get to work.

My eating is decent. I could definitely cut back on some junk food, but overall my eating is pretty good. I need to get to exercising. I started yesterday, and I hope to get back into running. I hope to get back to my normal self. I refuse to be a person who lets themselves go after having babies. I have too many examples in my life of people who have returned to normal after many pregnancies. I know it can be done, and I have done it twice already. I am ready for round 3!

My goal is to be “normal” by Christmas. Hopefully, I can reach my goal

California State Fair-2011

2011-07-25T20:49:00.001-07:00

My family has been going to the State Fair for almost 20 years. We haven’t missed too many years. We really like the exhibits and the livestock. When my brother and I were younger we loved the rides as well. Since having kids our State Fair experience has changed dramatically. We barely fit in the Livestock part and spend most of our times at the rides.

Abe and I skipped last year and my parents took Chase. We almost didn’t go this year, but Abe spoke up and mentioned that he wanted to go. My Grandma watched Maggie for us, and we went last week. It was so nice to know that Maggie was in a safe, cool place. It is not the best place for a newborn. Thank you, Grandma!

We bought the kids unlimited ride wristbands. We were debating whether or not we should get one for Parker because he is risk averse and not a daredevil. We ended up getting him one, and boy were we glad we did. He had a blast!! He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to ride the whole time. It was so fun to watch Bridget, Chase, and Parker have fun! We saw a little livestock and watched a showmanship contest for cattle. We had perfect weather! The only downside was that my mom and myself were quite sick. We are looking forward to going back next year totally healthy!

4th of July 2011

2011-07-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful 4th of July. The weekend started out roughly with Parker getting sick on Thursday. He had a high fever with a cough/cold. Saturday we had is birthday party with my family and Chase left that night with a high fever and feeling terribly. We stayed home from church the next day and the kids recovered. We were somewhat ready for the holiday on Monday. It was VERY hot, so we knew it might be kind of rough with kids who were not 100%. Thankfully, we had a good time. We went to the parade with family and enjoyed lunch with everyone. We headed out around 1:30 for naps. We were more than ready to get in some air conditioning.

We had planned to go watch fireworks at the levy in River Park, but the kids weren’t up for it. We went to the Costco parking lot near Cal Expo and got to see a few fireworks. It was late, our kids were tired, but we had a great time! We hope to make it to River Park next year!

Uncle Brandon, Aunt Janna and Maggie Doo

Grandpa, Grandma, and Jakey-Poo

Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Bridget, and all the grandchildren

Bridgey and Jake

Grandpa and Mags

Me, Jake, and The Boys giving kisses to Jake

Chase and Tyler

Kids on the Fire Engine

In the parade

Waiting for fireworks-it had been a long, hot day!

Parker’s Parties

2011-07-25T20:34:00.001-07:00

We had two parties for Parker. We do one party with each side of the family. It is really too big to do just one party, so he gets two . At the Green party we celebrated Parker, Summer, and Ben’s birthdays. We had a blast at both parties. We have great families! Here are some pictures:

Summer Time Fun

2011-07-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

We love Summer. We love the extra light in the evening, the ability to play outside. swimming, late bedtimes, family trips, lazy mornings, and so much more! It is such a blast. I am trying to enjoy this Summer because Chase starts school in August and our life is going to drastically change. Here are some pictures from our Summer fun so far.

Swimming and popsicles in Hood and Grandpa and Grandma Berger’s house.

Backyard and sprinkler fun!

Water Painting

Pillowcase Dresses

2011-07-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

I did my first attempt at pillowcase dresses. One for Maggie and my sister. After these dresses, I made two more for a friend’s daughters and two more for Mags and Bridget for the 4th of July. They are super simple and very cute on the girls. I used this tutorial to make them. It is very clear and easy to follow! Here are pictures of the first two dresses. The 4th of July dresses can be seen in an upcoming blog about our 4th.

Vacation Jars

2011-07-25T19:40:00.001-07:00

I saw the idea for vacation jars here. I was so excited because we had bags full of keepsakes from our travels. It was fun to go through them and put them in jars. I plan on giving some jars with labels to a new couple who are getting married this Summer. Thought it would be kind of a fun gift, so they have a place to store keepsakes from their travels starting with their honeymoon

4 Months!

2011-07-25T19:18:00.001-07:00

Maggie is turned 4 months on July 18th. This stage is officially my favorite baby stage. I enjoyed it so much with both boys and the same goes for Maggie. They wake up and are so interactive. You can see a little more of their personalities come out, and they actually start to play a little bit. At the same time, they still sleep quite a bit, can’t move, and are fairly content to be left alone if need be. Perfect!

She really is so loved by all of us, but our boys think she is the greatest thing. They love to talk to her and kiss her. She really enjoys them as well. They can get her to smile in an instant. It is such a joy to watch. She is also a daddy’s girl as well. They watch Giants games together after the boys go to bed. That is their “thing.”

Baby girl celebrated her first 4th of July. That holiday is one of my favorites. We celebrated with my family by attending the East Sacramento parade and enjoyed a BBQ lunch at my parents. It was a VERY hot day and over 100 degrees. That week we discovered that Maggie was NOT a fan of the heat. She just became a little more irritable and fussy. She is going to have to adjust because that is our life in Sacramento.

She went to the doctor this month. She got a great report. The doctor said we could start solids at any point, but I think we will wait until she is 6 months. Mommy is too lazy to start them now. She is growing like a weed! She got her second round of immunizations. She cried a little but seems to get over it quickly. She had just gotten her first cold right around her appointment. Thankfully, her lungs and ears were clear. She just had a runny nose and cough and was pretty short-lived. She did have a little fever after her shots. It went right down with tylenol.

Appearance: Not much has changed. We get lots of comments about her big, blue eyes. They are very striking and pretty. Her hair is still growing in. It is longer in the back and the hair on the top is growing in slowly.

Sleep: She now sleeps in her bed the whole night. She seems to know that it is nighttime. She wakes up to eat around 1 or 2 and between 4 and 6. The great thing is that she just eats and falls right back to sleep. Like a said above she is starting to nap in the morning in her bed or swing. She is still very sleepy and is only awake about 1 hour at the most.

Diaper Size: She moved to Size 2 diapers around July 4th.

Clothing: She is still wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes with a few 9 months clothes. She had to move to 6-9 month jammies because she was too long and they were tight on her toes. I try to put a few headbands on her, but they seem to slide down over her eyes. Daddy is NOT a fan and usually makes fun of the headbands. Pooh on him!

Height/Weight: She is still a growing girl. Her weight slowed down a little bit and now her weight and her height match. All around she is a healthy girl. Praise the Lord!!

Height:25 inches (83rd percentile)

Weight: 14 lbs 14.7 oz. (83rd percentile)

Head Circumference: 15.98 inches (45th percentile)

Eating Habits: This is still the same. She likes to eat every 2-4 hours. She eats a little more in the evening. I think she is storing up for the night. She is a very efficient eater. I can feed her in about 10 minutes. So great! Thankfully, she will take a bottle. We had a little bout where she was refusing it, but I think that had more to do with the frozen breast milk. It is so helpful to be able to leave her sometimes, so it is important that she still takes a bottle. She will get a little bit of formula when I leave her, but she is breastfed about 98% of the time.

Development: She is very interested in the toys hanging from her carseat. She is actually starting to chew on them and hold them. She really watches her brothers now and wants to know what is going on around her. She is really cooing and talking on regular basis. She is very ticklish and squirms like mad if you tickle her. She is really slobbering quite a bit. She has rolled over (tummy to back) a few times, but it seems that it was somewhat of a fluke. I am trying to get her sitting up more because her head is flattening out slightly. She has sat up in the Boppy for a little bit, but her head control still needs some work.

3 Months-happiest.baby.ever!

2011-07-25T18:45:00.001-07:00

[this is Jake (my brother’s baby) and Maggie on June 18th on her 3 month birthday]

Maggie is 3 months! She is seriously the happiest baby! She rarely ever cries. She has to have something really wrong like extreme hunger, a burp, a ride in the car, or a big brother injury to cause her to cry. It really is such a blessing. She wakes up smiling and goes to sleep smiling We love our baby girl!!

She took her first road trip this month. We went to visit her great-grandparents in the Bay Area at the beginning of June. She did great in the car and only cried for the last 10-15 minutes of the ride home. It was great to visit, and there was never a dull moment. So grateful for my family!

Appearance: She is very long. She has long legs, arms, toes, and fingers. Guess that is what we should expect with her genetics. Her hair is growing in VERY slowly, but it is coming in. It seems to be coming in a reddish brown color.

Sleep: her sleep is still pretty sporadic and she sleeps a lot. She takes a long morning nap and usually long afternoon nap with cat naps thrown in. She usually falls asleep for the night around 9 or 10. She will sometimes sleep through the night or she wakes up once to eat. She falls right back to sleep, so it is no big deal. She usually wakes up around 7:00 AM, eats, and plays for about an hour. She is then ready for her morning nap.

Diaper Size: She is still in Size 1-2.

Clothing: She is wearing all 3-6 month clothes.

Height/Weight: She didn’t go to the doctor this month, so we don’t have accurate measurements.

Height: ?

Weight: Maybe 13.5 pounds?

Head Circumference:

Eating Habits: This is still the same. She likes to eat every 2-4 hours. She eats a little more in the evening. I think she is storing up for the night.

Development: She is very smiley! She is not attempting to roll over very much at all. She is not a fan of tummy time. She fusses until we pick her up. Her crying in the car has drastically been reduced. She only cries about 25 percent of the time. I am grateful that is lessening. That was no fun at all. She is really starting to talk to us. I love it!

Mama and Daughter

2011-07-23T12:20:00.001-07:00

They may look a little alike :)

2011-07-23T11:58:00.001-07:00

Parker is 2!

2011-07-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

Our precious boy turned 2 yesterday! He is still kind of young to understand all that goes along with celebrating a birthday, but we did our best to make it fun and exciting. We did two parties this year. One with Abe's side of the family and one with my side. He loved the cake and presents at both parties :)

Parker has changed so much in a year. Last year he said a few words and was just starting to walk. He can talk in sentences and run now. Parker is an observer and a little cautious. He will acutally sit in our laps when we are at events while is brother is running around like a mad man. They are so different. However, he is becoming more aggressive with his brother and loves to rough house with Chase.

Parker is a big kid. He wears 3T to 5T clothes. He wears a size 8 shoe. He is now in a size 5 diaper. He is very proportionate. He is very tall, and the doctor predicted he will be about 6'2". We shall see :) Here is height/weight info:

Height:37 inches (97th percentile)

Weight: 31 lbs 12.8 oz. (87th percentile)

Head Circumference: 19.76 inches (86th percentile)

Parker is not a great napper and never really has been. He dropped his morning in the Fall around 15 or 16 months. He takes one nap in the afternoon around 2. He sleeps from 1-2 hours. Most of the time he will wake up crying and put himself back to sleep. He redeems himself with his night sleeping. He has always slept a long time at night. He normally sleeps at least 12 hours at night. It is rare for him to be up before 8 AM. He now has a bedtime routine with Abe. Abe reads him a book or two and sings to him. Parker's favorite song is "There is a Fountain." He asks for "Fountain" over and over again. For most of the winter Parker went to bed by 7 or 7:30. As it has stayed lighter later he has been going to bed around 8:30.

Parker used to be a great eater. He would eat almost anything. As he got older he became pickier and pickier. He likes chicken nuggets, pb&j, soft tacos, hamburgers, beef prepared almost anyway, tomatoes, some pasta, brocolli, celery, brocolli, and he loves milk.

Parker has blonde hair and blue eyes. He has my mom's nose still. He has golden skin. He has Abe's big, strong legs. He is just so cute!

He is extremely attached to his grandparents. He talks about them, begs to see them, and is happiest when in their laps.

Parker loves his brother and sister. He always wants to know where they are and wants us all together. He is very tender-hearted. When he gets in trouble he is usually very quick to apologize and very sad when he is disciplined. He needs lots of snuggling and hugging. Such a sweet disposition.

He has been an immense blessing to our family! We just love him!!

Key Embroidery

2011-06-09T17:02:00.001-07:00

My mom bought me some adorable shadow boxes that had antique keys in them (forgot to take a picture). I had them for a while, and I didn’t know where to hang them. Our entry way was totally bare, so I decided I would like to hang them there. I needed a few more decorations, so I decided to embroider some keys. I found some images online and traced them onto my cloth. The project only took me about 1 hour to complete from start to finish. The total cost of the project was only about $5.00. Not too shabby!

Happy Girl

2011-06-09T16:56:00.001-07:00

It is just amazing how happy Maggie is. She wakes up smiling, smiles while she eats, smiles when she taking a bath, and even smiles when she sleeps. She is just happy. This is such a blessing! She makes my heart happy!! It is a little blury, but this is what I get to wake up to :)

My Take On Monogram Art

2011-06-09T16:47:00.001-07:00

I am a minimalist when it comes to decorations in my house. I don’t go out and buy lots of knick-knack type things. If I put something up in my house, it usually has some sort of meaning. I love pictures and keepsakes (things from our childhoods, our kids’ keepsakes, etc.) I am very sentimental, so I love ways to display things from our past and our lives. I saw this idea on this blog.

I thought it was a great idea, but I didn’t like the idea of finding some random magazine article. I think somewhere in the comment section someone talked about making their own using Microsoft Word and text boxes. I knew I could figure it out, and I loved that I could choose my own wording. I tried to think of what wording I could use. It came to me. My husband and I love hymns. He sings them to our children every night when they go to bed (swoon-he is an AWESOME dad ). Why not use a hymn that starts with a G-word. Here is my result.

I created it using Microsoft Word and then turned it into a JPEG file. I have since found an easier way using Microsoft Publisher. I had it printed at Wal-Mart and popped it in a frame. I have plans of giving one as a wedding gift.

A decoration with special meaning to our family!

More Headbands

2011-06-09T16:28:00.001-07:00

Here are a few more headbands I made for a dear friend’s baby shower.

Coat Rack

2011-06-09T16:22:00.001-07:00

I had been wanting a coat rack for our entry way. I wanted something that was functional, but at the same time decorative. The rustic farmhouse style has always been a favorite of mine. It would be so fun to live in a farmhouse (redone with modern day conveniences of course)! A girl can dream I love distressed wood, and so I started Googling “distressing wood.” Well, around the same time I started talking to my grandpa about helping me distress some wood for a coat rack. He mentioned that there was a collapsed barn down the road. We hopped in the car, climbed a fence, retrieved a pile of very distressed wood, and went back to his house.

I had so much fun creating this project with him I will never forget the making these projects with him. The memories are so dear to me. He is so creative and uses so much ingenuity. He can take what other people would consider trash and make treasures. Here is the treasure we came up with.

The only thing I purchased were the hooks and the hangers to hang it on the wall. I love it!

Crafting

2011-06-09T16:11:00.001-07:00

I love making things! It is my outlet. Because I deal with kids all day (which I love) and the tasks are never ending it is so nice to start a project and complete it. There is a beginning and an end. Laundry, cooking, cleaning are never totally done. You get all the laundry done and as soon has bath time rolls around you have half a load in the basket. Not so with crafts and that is why it is therapeutic for me. I love the sense of accomplishment.

The Internet has brought crafting to a whole different level. You can pretty much find a tutorial to make anything. It is so fun. Pinterest is such and awesome site. It can be addicting and a time sucker, but have found some cute ideas. I also love reading craft blogs. I found some great ideas. Sometimes I just copy exactly what I find, and sometimes I put a little spin on the idea to make it my own.

I am going to post here about my crafting as well. I have done some in the past, but I think I will try to keep track of my projects and at least post pictures of them. It will be fun to look back and see what I have completed

2 Month Update

2011-06-06T19:38:00.001-07:00

Let me just start off by saying that I love my little girl more than I could have imagined. She is so precious! While I was pregnant I thought a lot about what it would be like to have a 3rd child, have a girl, and have our kids so close together. I did a lot of fretting and worrying about how I would handle it and how our kids would cope with the change. It really has been such a blessing. We are in our new normal. We have some very rough days, but we make it through. God is good!

She really started to smile this month (April 23rd was the first time that she responded to our smiles) and started cooing a little bit. She has really filled out and is quickly outgrowing her clothes. She is more willing to let me put her in the swing or lay her in her bed. This has been helpful especially in the morning when I am try to get some chores done and get the boys fed and ready for the day. She still likes to be worn quite a bit in Becco Carrier. I have used a carrier way more with her than I did with the boys. She likes to be near her momma

She had her doctor’s appointment on 5/18. Chase and Maggie had appointments at the same time. Chase needed to go for a check-up for Kindergarten. Maggie needed a check-up and shots. She did pretty well considering. She cried when she got the shots, and she needed some love and snuggles to get her calmed down. The day of her appointment and the next day she was extremely tired. She pretty much slept through both of the days and nights. She would only wake up briefly to eat. Poor baby! Both Chase and Maggie got excellent reports on their health. Praise the Lord for healthy kids!

Appearance: Her eyes are officially blue. She seems to have more of an olive skin tone (thank you Jacque Green and Chris Barney). Her hair is really filling in. It is still short, but it is coming in very evenly just like her brothers did. She is very round and chubby. We love the little rolls. She is so soft and squishy! Such a treat after her brothers. She has dimples that showed up this month. We couldn’t tell if she would have them, but she does.

Diaper Size: She moved from Size One to Size 1-2 on 5/14.

Clothing: She can still wear some 0-3 month clothing, but is quickly moving onto 3-6 month clothes. It is so fun to have a girl to put cute little clothes on. I never thought I would get to enjoy a daughter. It is pretty amazing!

Height/Weight: She grew very quickly. The medical assistant kept getting warning messages as she entered Maggie’s data because it was saying that the increases in percentiles were very large. The MA was entering the correct info. She is just a big girl

Height:23 inches (75th percentile)

Weight: 12 lbs 4 oz. (85th percentile)

Head Circumference: 15 inches (34th percentile)

Eating Habits: She likes to eat every 2-4 hours. She eats a little more in the evening. I think she is storing up for the night.

Development: She is still very sleepy and sleeps most of the day. She seems to have more of a wake/eat/sleep pattern. She coos at us. She likes to watch her brothers.

Multitasking!

2011-05-20T09:01:00.001-07:00

I always have about 25 things I am working on at one time, so multitasking is a necessity. Here is a prime example:

Brothers Pretending Together

2011-05-20T08:57:00.001-07:00

Our boys are just starting to play together. There is lots of fighting, but the moments when they are playing together are just precious. I hope these guys are best of friends in the years to come!

Wordless Wednesday (a few days late)

2011-05-20T08:53:00.001-07:00

Smiling

2011-04-27T16:28:00.001-07:00

Maggie started smiling last Saturday (4/23/11). She would occasionally smile in her sleep, but she actually started smiling at us. She is very alert in the mornings, and that is when she gives us her best smiles. However, she is being more generous, and I was able to capture some with our camera today.

Strawberries

2011-04-27T16:07:00.001-07:00

When Grandma and Grandpa GG came for a visit last weekend, they brought some really fun things for the kids. They brought a rocking horse (the kids love it!), two step stools, and a Topsy Turvy with strawberries to plant in it. The kids LOVE all of the gifts. We get to water the strawberries every other day right now and when it warms up we will water them everyday. The kids get so excited about this chore. Here is a picture of the boys with their Topsy Turvy.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa GG!

Look-a-likes

2011-04-27T16:00:00.001-07:00

Do these kids look alike or what!?! The first picture is of Chase. The pink gives away the girl :) I don’t have Parker’s pics on this computer, but he looks just like them. Love the resemblance :)

Hair Accessories and Bow Board

2011-04-21T19:52:00.001-07:00

Most of my friends are having girls lately. It has been fun to make some girly crafts. Here are some that I made. (sorry for the terrible photography)

Parker wanted 2 baths tonight :)

2011-04-21T19:48:00.001-07:00

Meeting Grandpa and Grandma GG and Aunt Lolly

2011-04-21T19:45:00.001-07:00

My grandparents and my Aunt Lolly came up to meet Maggie and Jake on Saturday (Maggie’s great-grandparents and great aunt). We had such a great time visiting. We are so blessed to have so much family close by. We are also blessed that my kids have so many living great-grandparents (a total of 5).

April 18th-1 month Old!

2011-04-18T19:39:00.001-07:00

Today Maggie is one month old. She is the perfect addition to our family. We are all in love with her. Her brothers think she is wonderful. In Chase’s words “she is the cutest baby in the whole world.” :) I love hearing from my husband “babe, she is just SO cute.”

I am trying to take in the newborn stage. This is my last baby, and the last time I will get to enjoy my very own newborn. The interrupted sleep/sleep deprivation, nursing every 2 to 3 hours, frequent diaper changes, and spit up on my clothes is not always fun. However, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Things I love about the newborn stage: the milk coma, the popeye/pirate one-eye (when they look around with one eye open), the tiny grunts and groans (Maggie sounds like a little goat), the smiles and frowns when they are sleeping, the tiny clothes, the baby smell, and I could go on and on.

Appearance: Maggie definitely is a mix of all our family. We have been told she looks just like her brothers. Others have said that she looks like my brother Brandon. My mom and aunts think she looks like me when I was a baby. She definitely has the almond eyes from my side. She has reddish brown hair that is coming in very slowly. She has a sweet little turned up nose just like my mom, Chase and Parker. Her eyes are getting bluer and bluer every day (yay!). Her hands are so petite and little. She is filling out, but she is different from her brothers in that she is very soft. They were very solid and muscular. She is very light and squishy :)

Sleep: For the first 4 weeks of her life she spent most of her night sleeping on my chest. She would just snuggle on my chest and slept very soundly. I on the other hand didn’t get the best sleep, but I don’t regret one minute of snuggling with my girl. She now likes to sleep in her Boppy or in the cradle hold. She still wakes up frequently, but last night she slept one 3 hour and 4 hour chunk. That was wonderful! I think she would be a tummy sleeper if we let her, but due to the risk of SIDs she will stay on her back. She is a loud sleeper. She makes little noises all night long.

Diaper Size: She moved from Newborn to Size One on 4/15. We were beginning to have blowouts. Fun times!

Clothing: She moved into 0-3 month clothing about 2 weeks ago. The newborn clothing was too short. She is a growing girl :)

Height/Weight:Her last Dr. appointment was on 4/4/11. She weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. Not sure how much she weighs now, but she is similar to her cousin Jake who probably weighs close to 9 lbs :)

Eating Habits: She likes to eat every 2-4 hours. However, I can tell when she is growing because she will eat about every hour in the evening. It is kind of rough, but I know she needs it.

Development: She is still very sleepy and sleeps most of the day. She does have times when she will be awake 30-60 minutes at a time. She loves to lift up her head and look around. She recognizes our voices, and we have even gotten a few smiles from her.

Not conflicted anymore :)

2011-03-21T18:36:00.001-07:00

So conflicted...

2011-03-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

It is probably just the pregnancy hormones, but I have been struggling lately with the idea of our family changing in just a few days. We are so excited to meet our little girl, but I LOVE my little family of four. My two boys are such a blessing. I worry that my relationship with them will change especially due to having to split my time 3 ways now. I worry that all their needs won't get met. As you can tell, I struggle with worry. :(

Abe keeps reassuring me that everything will be fine and that once I meet Maggie I will hardly remember what life was like before she came. Intellectually, I know he is right. However, I am not thinking totally rationally at the moment. :) Thankfully, we have a God who is concerned for us and will hear our prayers. I have been praying for a smooth transition for our whole family. It is so nice to know that He love my kids so much more than I ever could, and that He is sufficient to provide our every need!

BREECH!

2011-03-12T08:49:00.000-08:00

Found out yesterday that our little girl is breech! The little stinker turned around in the last 1.5 weeks. Last weekend I had lots of contractions. The following two days I had terrible back pain. I think that she decided to flip around during that time. What a stinker! We are going to attempt to turn her around (external version) Friday, March 18th. The will do the procedure in the operating room, so that they can give me an epidural and be ready for a c-section in case she shows signs of distress during the version. If they successfully turn her around, they will induce my labor. If they aren't able to turn her or she doesn't tolerate the version well, she will be born via c-section.

We are shocked! This is not what we planned, but God is bigger than our plans. He is good all the time, and it is wonderful that we can trust that He is in control. Looks like the baby will be born on March 18th :)

38 Weeks

2011-03-11T13:15:00.000-08:00

I getting ready to leave the house for my 38 week appointment. At my last appointment I wasn't quite ready for the baby to come, but this time around it would be nice to hear some news that the baby might be coming sooner than later. My body is ready to be done with pregnancy. My boys want their active mommmy back. My husband wants to meet his little girl, and has the perfect break at work. This would be a great time for her to come. Hopefully, she will cooperate :)

We changed our mind on the car…

2011-02-25T16:22:00.001-08:00

and we purchased this:

It came down to price, and we got the best deal on this car. Abe did a fantastic job negotiating the price. He had the deal totally done before we even showed up at dealership. The kids and I dropped him off at the dealership, and he was home with the new car about 2 hours later. Not too shabby :) We are very grateful for a car that will fit our soon-to-be family of five!

Our Little Girlie

2011-02-25T16:15:00.001-08:00

This is very late in the game to be posting this, but I finally scanned the U/S pictures of our little girl. Here she is:

For comparison here are Chase and Parker:

Chase

Parker

I think she looks more like Parker’s profile picture. We will have to wait and see who she resembles. Can’t wait to meet her!!

Husband Funny

2011-02-12T09:36:00.000-08:00

Abe and I were talking last night. He told me to be prepared that our baby may not be very cute when she is first born. He said most people get one newborn that just isn't that cute to start off. He said that our first two were cute, so we should be prepared for a not-so-cute newborn. LOL! He did add that WE will think that she is cute no matter what. Thanks, sweetheart!

The Nissan is Gone!

2011-02-07T17:28:00.000-08:00

We are half way done with the daunting task of obtaining a car that will fit our soon-to-be family of five. Due to needing 3 carseats neither of our cars will fit our family. We knew we would need a larger car, and we have been going back and forth on what to purchase. We started getting a little more serious last week when I started having lots of contractions (not painful, but just too many). We narrowed down our choices, and we decided that we should sell Abe’s car to get that step done.

Abe listed the car at 1:30 AM Saturday morning. By the time I woke up on Saturday we had a ton of e-mails with people showing interest. We responded to the e-mails, and as the morning progressed the phone started to ring non-stop. Abe showed the car twice, talked to lots of people, and had a decent offer (90% of asking price) by 8:00 PM that evening. We completed the transaction today. The car is sold! As of now we are a ONE car family. We are slightly worn out after that crazy weekend. Spending lots of time at a dealership and dealing with craigslist people really will take it out of you.

The good news is that we think we have chosen the car we want. We were going back and forth between a Honda Pilot and a Ford Explorer. While test driving an Explorer on Saturday, we jokingly said what about a Flex? Well, after test driving it we discovered that we REALLY liked it. It has some great features that are really nice for families. Abe is in the process of negotiating the best price, and we will hopefully be ready to purchase one soon!

Open Heart, Open Home

2011-01-12T07:29:00.001-08:00

We were blessed with many great books this Christmas. Most of our family loves to read, and they find some really amazing reading material. My grandma gave me a book called Open Heart Open Home:The Hospitable Way to Make Others Feel Welcome & Wanted by Karen Mains.

I started reading it this morning at the gym. I am a person that tends to put chores and tasks before people. I have improved in this area, but it is still a struggle in my life. She recounted a time when her children were young. They were having a slow morning where she let them play and she sat on the couch and read a book. Well, we who have children know what happens when you sit on the couch and the kids “play.” Her house was a mess. Someone from church knocked on the door. She was horrified at the thought of letting someone into her messy house. However, she remembered her parents’ philosophy-hospitality before pried. She opened the door to the lady, and let her in without making apologies for her messy home and enjoyed the lady’s company. After their visit, the guest commented “I used to think you were perfect, but now I think we can be friends.” Powerful! Here are some other quotes that really stood out to me:

“True hospitality comes before pride.”

“Visitors may be more than guests in our home. If they’d life they may be friends.”

“When we planned and evening of dinner and fellowship, my husband began to ask guests to contribute to the meal…It was no longer important for me to do everything in order for the occasion to be a success. I had four children to raise, a God to know, words to share, wounds to heal. Because I put away my pride, lovely things occurred. People discovered they could be hospitable to me.”

May I be a person who puts people and hospitality before my pride!

Some New Year Goals

2011-01-11T13:06:00.001-08:00

Many of my friends have posted on their blogs about some resolutions or goals that they have for the new year. I am a goal oriented person, so I usually always have a few goals that I am trying to achieve. Here are some that I have for this year:

*Setting aside time to be in God’s Word and pray. For me it is so easy to let this area slide. It is so easy to get caught up in the demands of the day or my agenda, and not get to reading and praying. Living in the here and the now rather than focusing on eternals things is a constant struggle in my life.

*Keep our home clutter free and organized. After spending some time organizing and donating a lot of unused items to Goodwill, I hope to maintain the organization.

*Adjust to life with THREE kiddos. It took me a while to adjust to life with two kids, so I am expecting the same. I am really hard on myself after I have a baby. I think that I should be able to carry on as normal (cleaning, cooking, errands, playdates, exercise, etc). I feel like I am failing if I don’t get right back at it. This leads to exhaustion and frustration. Hopefully, I will cut myself some slack this time :)

*Enjoy my kids and this time of life. It is not easy physically, emotionally, or spiritually to have little kids. You don’t get much time to yourself or alone time with your husband. There is rarely peace and quiet. There is constant training that needs to take place. Messes everywhere. Lots of questions and requests. However, it is a short season in life. Along with all of the hardship, it is such a precious time. It is so easy to please your kids. It is the little things like letting them help take out the trash, pushing the garage door opener, going to the park, tickling them, reading a book, making popcorn, etc. that bring them such delight. They are so simple! If I just stop and think about it, I don’t ever want it to end. I firmly believe that in God’s design He knew that parenting young children is hard work and demanding, but yet He keeps them simple and easy to entertain so it isn’t totally overwhelming.

*Start Chase’s educational journey. We are investigating our options at this point. We are applying at different schools, and waiting to see what happens. One way or another he will be starting Kindergarten this year. Starting this new chapter in life is somewhat daunting, but I am looking forward to helping Chase learn and develop intellectually and spiritually.

*Getting Parker potty trained and in a big boy bed. Parker will be moving in Chase’s room in the next 6 months. We will have the baby in our room for quite a while, so there isn’t a huge hurry to get him out of the crib. We hope to move him by his 2nd birthday. I also hope to start potty training him around 22-23 months. I have read that there is a little window of time in their development that is prime for potty training. We missed it with Chase, but I think Parker will be ready.

*Get back into pre-pregnancy shape. My goal is to lose the baby weight and get into normal clothes sooner than later. I want to be able to get rid of maternity and “fat” clothes. For the last 5 years I have stored big, bigger, and really big clothes for the next pregnancy. Since our baby girl will be our last, after I lose the weight I can get rid of it all. That will be very nice :)

Talk, Talk, Talk!

2011-01-11T09:03:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, my mom made the comment that she doesn’t think she has ever met a more talkative child than Chase. After thinking about it for a minute, I agreed with her. I told her we should have known something was up when he was holding full on conversations at 18 months. I am truly grateful that he has been blessed with the ability to communicate. After hearing about some children that struggle to talk and develop in that area, I know I should only be thankful. However, while Chase is awake he literally does not stop talking. He wants to have constant communication. It can get wearing on my nerves. It leaves very little room to think.

He loves to talk about everything from our daily plans, cars, movies (especially Star Wars and Toy Story), and other topics. We have some very interesting conversations. He asks hard questions that really get me thinking. He is very interested in spiritual things. He often talks about God and Biblical concepts. I am so grateful that he shows an interest in these things. He loves to pray! I love to hear him. He is so sincere. Hopefully, as he grows and matures his love of communicating will develop into a very active prayer life. He is on his way :)

Technorati Tags: Chase

Long Time, No Blog!

2011-01-10T06:47:00.001-08:00

It has been way too long since I have blogged! One of my goals for last year was to not focus so much on capturing memories, but being more in the moment (cliche I know, but very true for me). I focused more on just being with my family. However, I am ready to jump back in and devote a little time to this. Some big things have happened since I last blogged. We found out we are having another baby, Chase turned 4 and is now wearing glasses, we found out we are having a baby GIRL, and Parker is a talking, walking toddler.

Hopefully, I will have some interesting things to write about in the future. I hope to post about our family, God’s work in our lives, some crafts that I have working on, and some recipes that we have tried lately.

Month 12

2010-07-20T14:03:00.000-07:00

This was a huge developmental month for Parker! He is changing quickly from baby to toddler.

He started taking steps June 8th. He took about 4 steps to Grandpa Barney. That evening he kept trying to take steps. Each day he would try a little bit. Some days he would try more than others. By his birthday he was walking a little more than half the time.

We started to switch him over to whole milk this month. He loves it! He had a funny look on his face the first time he tried it, but other than that I don't think he knows the difference. It was strange to throw away the last formula can.

He is trying to talk so much! Here are some of the words he says:

baba (bottle)
bi (bite of food)
bapa (grandpa)
mama
dada
Cha (Chase)
bu (book)
Parker (he puts the emphasis on ker part)

He has an amazing ability to mimic. He can mimic phrases and noises. For example, one day Chase was saying Dat ta da ta(he was proud about something). All of the sudden, we hear the same thing from Parker. Abe and I were blown away. It sounded just like Chase. He also hums songs that Chase sings. It is so cute!

We celebrated his birthday this month. We celebrated a little early. He loved the cake.It was so cute. He just waited for us to feed the cake to him with a fork. He didn't even tough the piece. He ate every bite :) He was not into opening gifts, but he had a brother and an aunt to help him out.

He loves bath time! He likes to stand up the whole time. He really likes to play with his brother. They can make quite the mess in the bathroom.

We took him to the Dr. He got the last of his shots until Kidergarten. He was healthy and got a great report from the Dr. The Dr. said he has beautiful skin and hair. We agree :)

Here are his stats:

Weight=24 lbs. 10 oz. (75th percentile)
Height=31.4 inches (90th percentile)

To my sweet boy...

2010-07-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

Dear Parker,

Today is your first birthday! I honestly cannot believe how fast that year flew by. I can remember the days leading up to your birth and the moment you were born like it was yesterday. We were so excited to meet you.

The Lord has answered my prayers in so many ways regarding you. You are perfectly and wonderfully made. You are a strong, healthy boy! You are sweet and mellow (I prayed hard for that one) little guy. You and your brother love each other so much. He told us the other day that "Parker is my bestest friend." You came into our lives one year ago and fit perfectly into our family. We love you so much!

It has been such a blessing to see you interact with others. You love to laugh (Bridget and Chase get you to laugh a deep belly laugh)! You love to play. Some of your favorite activities are playing chase, sitting in a chair at the lego table, playing in cabinets you are not supposed to be in, and throwing balls.

It is so fun to come home or pick you up after I have been gone, and see the big smile on your face. You get so excited and it melts my heart!

When you were born, we thought you looked just like your brother. However, you have taken on your own distinct look. You look like a Parker :) There are quite a few resemblances to my side of the family. We love your big, blue eyes and blonde hair. Your little turned up nose is prime for pinching. Your big, toothy grin is too much. We think you are so stinkin' cute :)

We love you so much! Our hopes and prayers are that you will grow into a godly young man. We often feel so inadequate as parents, but the Lord can take the most feeble attempts at guiding and directing you and show Himself to be Great. We pray that you will Love God with all your heart at a young age.

I hear you crying now, and you want to get up. You are proof that is God is good!

Much love,

Mommy

P-Bob is...

2010-07-01T07:09:00.000-07:00

ELEVEN months old. Our baby is almost one. He really is turning into quite the toddler. He motors around the house so fast. He walks around the furniture really well also. We think he is getting ready to walk.

He loves to play! Sitting in the stroller is no longer sufficient at the park. He wants down so he can play. It will be SO nice when he starts to walk, so that he can get down and not get dirty or scrape his knees.

He loves his brother! Chase can make him laugh the deep belly laughs. So cute!

He is teething still. It seems like he has been teething for 6 months straight. He really doesn't complain much at all, so I need to be grateful.

Here are some facts about Parker:

*He is eating pureed food and tiny bites of all sorts of food. He likes to feed himself. He is very good at picking up food.

*He is wearing size 3 diapers.

*He wears a size 5 shoe.

*He wears mostly 18 month-2T clothing. He has a few 12 month shorts and a few 3T shirts.

*He loves to talk and babble.

10 Months!!

2010-05-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

It is May so our little Parker is TEN months!! Here is his update:

*He got his firt haircut. Just a trim performed by New Grandma and Grandma Barney (Great-Grandma Berger and my mom)
*He celebrated his first Easter.
*He got both of his top teeth.
*He crawls very fast
*He had a very bad cold this month :(
*He measures 30.5 inches and weighs about 23 pounds.
*He is wear 12-24 month clothes.
*He is wearing a shirt that Chase wore when he was 23 months :
*He is totally weaned and loves every bottle he receives!!
*He moves himself around furniture.
*He can open cabinets and pulls everything out.
*He had his first really high fever.
*He started eating chicken nuggets and picking up things off of his high chair to eat.
*He loves blankets. If we lay a blanket over he will crawl over to it and lay his head down on it over and over again. So cute!
*He is still not a huge fan of the carseat!
*He loves to swing at the park.
*He is saying "dada, mama, and da (dog)." He seems to be trying to say other things, but those are consistent.
*He will play patty cake
*He will play with toys and just crawl around for quite a while. He seems very content to play by himself.
*Still a great napper. Morning and afternoon naps.
*Starting to have some separation anxiety when we leave him in the nursery.
*He loves all the men in his life. Daddy, Chase, his grandpas, cousins, and uncles. He often reaches for them and loves to be held by them.
*When he sees Abe he starts crawling towards him and says "dada" repeatedly :)
*If I go out without the boys, when I get home he gets so excited and stays very close to me.
*He loves playing in the bath with Chase.
*If he hears the word bath he starts crawling into our room and to the bathtub.

3.5 Years Old!

2010-05-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

Chase turned 3.5 over the weekend! I really can't believe that we have a 3.5 year old. It is so hard for me to think that he is not a toddler anymore. He is definitely a little boy! In many ways, Chase has been a difficult child. However, he has started to change and has become so much easier to handle. I am so grateful that the Lord has heard our prayers and that Chase is changing. Consistency and firmness mingled with love has been the key! He is a special kid and I am so grateful for him!

He has matured so much in the past 6 months. Some of his big changes since his b-day:

*He is potty trained during the day.
*He is super helpful around the house. He is actually able to help clean up and complete small tasks.
*He can run his own bath water and get in by himself.
*He is really learning how to be kind and think of others. LOVE this!
*He got a new bike with training wheels. He hopped on and just took off!
*He loves to play at the park and can play independently.
*He loves his cousins and Bridget. He is really starting to enjoy playing with other kids.
*He loves animals and learning about them.
*He loves books and reading time.
*He can buckle and un-buckle his own carseat. Good and bad!!
*He is starting to talk and think a lot about God, his relationship with Him, and characters from the Bible.
*Learning about asking forgiveness of God and others.
*He has started to pray outloud. (Love these times! The prayers of little ones are so precious)
*He is so sweet with his brother. He loves to make Parker laugh.
*Chase is my optimist! He will often say to me "we are going to have a GREAT day!"
*He loves to laugh. His laugh is contagious.
*He loves kisses and hugs.
*He still is madly in love with his Daddy.
*Wrestling sessions are quite extreme these days.
*He can't wait to play "tee baseball" next year.
*His appetite has been HUGE lately. I prepare food ALL day long.
*He is about 41.5 inches and 35 pounds.
*He still takes a nap every day. He is an awesome sleeper and goes down SO easily.

I wish I was better about writing down the precious little things that he says. Here are some recent little funnies:

*While I was humming a song he said, "Mommy why are your singing that song in your nose?"
*If he gets hurt he will say, "time-out, time-out...that is the knee (or head or whatever body part was injured)"
*The other day after a bout of naughtiness he spontaneously asked forgivness for being naughty. So grateful for his tender heart.
*He calls the movie Tarzan-"Carzan"
*He loves to watch the show-Get Smart. He started saying, "sorry about that, Chief." He is definitely a Green in that he loves to quote movies and tv shows :)
*He talks about getting "may-weed" someday (getting married). We like to ask him who he is going to marry. He usually says, "Katie." Then we have to explain to him that he can't marry his cousin :)
*He has many of his stuffed animals in his bed and he has named them: Loki, Soda, Buster, The Chief, Max, Mr. Bunny, Sausage Sandwich, and Curious George.

9 Months!

2010-05-11T08:54:00.000-07:00

This was a month full of developmental milestones for Mr. P. More teeth, more movement, more talking. He is growing up before our eyes. Here are the changes for this month:

*Started wrestling with Daddy and Chase.
*Started crawling up on all fours.
*Got his bottom left tooth.
*Started pulling himself up on the couch.
*Started screeching and squealing quite a bit.
*He takes almost all formula except for a morning nursing session.
*He pretty much sleeps through the night every night (amazing!!!)
*He still wears size 3 diapers.
*He is eating 3 meals a day plus some snacking from our food.
*He is a pretty solid nap taker. Morning and afternoon. They are fairly long naps-about 1.5-2 hours. Very nice!!
*He is quite active, but is still willing to be held quite a bit. He still sits in a stroller and is pretty content.
*He LOVES his brother! He thinks Chase is great and gets very happy when Chase pays attention to him. Brotherly love!

One of my favorite times of the day is when we go to get him up in the mornings or after a nap. He is usually standing up and he gets the biggest grin on his face. Love it! He is a special guy!

8 Months

2010-03-12T08:27:00.000-08:00

Well, March 2nd has come and gone, and that means it is time for another monthly update. The past months brought about so many changes in our little man. He is so interactive with us. He LOVES Chase. If anyone can get Parker to laugh, it is Chase. They love to take baths together. I am beginning to see little glimpses of what it will be like when they can be playmates. Can't wait! Hopefully, there will more playing than fighting :)

Here are some of Parker's new tricks:
*He army crawls everywhere! He can crawl a little bit, but prefers the army crawl.
*He sits up very well.
*He can go from sitting to his tummy and from crawling to sitting up.
*He can wave bye-bye
*He will rock on all fours when we ask him to. We say "rocky rock" and he goes for it.
*He splashes in the bath tub when we ask him to.
*He is still learning boundaries and the word "no."
*He got his first tooth this month.
*He has started to flirt with strangers. He was flirting with TWO women in a restaurant. With his big blue eyes, this could be just the beginning :)
*He loves praise! He gets so excited when we cheer for him or praise him for obeying.
*We had to lower the crib because he started pulling himself up.
*I think he probably weighs about 20 pounds and he measured 28.5 inches.
*He is wearing size 3 diapers.
*He is still eating 3 times a day. He is now getting some formula bottle and nursing.
*He is taking 2 naps a day. Usually one longer one and a shorter one.
*He is waking up to eat one time per night, but wakes up crying at other points. He puts himself back to sleep though.
*He constantly begs for food from us. We pretty much always share. :)

If Parker is fed and well rested, he is so easy. He loves to observe and watch his brother and Bridget. I am hoping the Lord answered my prayers and gave us a mellower baby :) We really see his little mind developing and it is exciting to see how much he really understands. We are so grateful for our precious Parker!

7 Months!

2010-02-20T09:30:00.000-08:00

February is here, but January was a big month for Mr. P!

He had his 6 month appt. on 1/4. He was a trooper. He checked out to be very healthy. His Dr. thinks he is a pretty special guy :) He received 5 immunizations. He didn't care for that very much, but calmed down in about 5 minutes. He is still on the larger side, but he seems to be thinning out. His next appointment is not until he turns one. It is nice to be done with shots for a long time.

As far as his development, he is really starting to move. Gone are the days of sitting still in our laps or leaving him in the middle of the floor with a toy. He is rolling everywhere. He rolled back to tummy for the first time this month. He is starting to scoot and army crawl as well. He got faster and scooted more frequently as the month progressed. Parker scooted much sooner than Chase. He also started rocking on all fours at the end of the month. I think he is trying to keep up with his big brother :) He loves to hold things and bite them. Towards the end of the month he started to sit up really well. We put pillows around him because he still tips over, but he is getting pretty stable. This is nice because it keeps him off the back of his head. He is starting to be less clingy with me. He is getting better with other family members and friends holding him.

This month he started eating solids 3 meals a day. He LOVES food! We introduced peas, green beans, peaches, pears, bananas, avocado, and apple sauce. The only thing he turned down was the apples sauce. He just refused it! He majorly begs while we are eating. We do share with him. This is really the only thing he gets vocal about. He definitely lets us know he wants to share :) He is still nursing about 6 times per day. He also started drinking water from a sippy cup. He also sat in a high chair at a restaurant for the first time this month. He loved it and was pretty content.

On most days, he will take 2 naps. Sometimes he will take 3. His naps are usually only 30-60 minutes. Occasionally, he will take a 1.5-2 hours. He goes to bed usually at 6 PM. He wakes up twice a night to eat. He eats and falls right to sleep. He has started to wake up between 6 and 7. It is inching closer to 6. That is a little brutal.

Quick info:

*He is wearing size 3 diapers
*Mostly 12-18 month clothes
*Eating solids 3 time/day and nursing 6-8 times/day
*Weight=17lbs, 15.2 oz. (49th percentile)
*Height=27 3/4 inches (82nd percentile)
*Head=27 1/4 inches

Welcome 2010 and a Half Birthday for Parker!

2010-02-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

Parker is a half a year old already!! I say this so often, but time is just flying by! The holidays have come and gone. We had such a wonderful time celebrating and reflecting on the birth of our Saviour. He is the greatest Gift that we could ever be given.

It was so nice to be able to have Abe home for 10 days in a row. His vacation started off very busy with a trip to Chico to celebrate with the Greens and Bertaina family. It is always fun to see all the cousins together. This will be a very rare occasion with the cousins spread all over the country and even one living in Italy.

We had a lovely Christmas Eve that we spent at home and finished off the evening with a Christmas Eve service at our church. We let Chase open up a gift (new pajamas)that evening. The next morning we opened gifts as a family (Parker was asleep for most of it). We opened gifts and then proceeded to play with all the new toys. Later that day we headed over to Grandpa and Grandma Green's house to celebrate as a family. Everyone was able to be there and we had a great time watching the kids open gifts and eating good food.

On the 26th, we headed to the Bay Area to celebrate with the Barney family. Parker got to meet his great aunts and great uncle along with my cousins. We had a great time!

Later on the next week we headed over to Aunt Betty and Uncle John's house to visit with the Kosmans and the O'Connors. It is always fun to visit with Dee and Joy and their kids. The kids seem to be inches taller everytime we see them!

As far as Parker's development this month, the biggest change was that he started to show a HUGE interest in food. He watched us eat and begged with his big, blue eyes. It is very hard to resist his begging. I was wanting to put off starting solids as long as possible because it was always such a battle with Chase. Chase had little to no interest in solids, and it was such a bother to get him to eat. However, when Parker started to get vocal with his begging I took that as a sign that his was ready. On December 20th, we started rice cereal. He LOVED every bite. He didn't even flinch or struggle with eating from a spoon. I was shocked! It was so fun to watch. Abe and I were laughing because enjoyed the food so much. Needless to say, we kept on feeding him the cereal and started sweet potatoes (puree and puffs) about a week later. He is eating solids twice a day.

Parker is taking 3 naps per day. He goes to bed around 6 and is now waking up around 7 AM. He wakes up about 2 times per night to eat and falls back to sleep. He usually wakes up around midnight and between 3 and 5 AM.

While Abe was on vacation, Parker went to my grandparents' house for an overnight (aka the Baby Spa). Grandma and Grandpa Green watched Chase overnight as well, so we could have a movie/dinner date. It is such a blessing to have so much support and help from family!! After I picked Parker up, I noticed that he was rolling around on the floor everywhere (tummy to back). Up until this point it was very rare to see him roll, but it just clicked one day. I also noticed him starting to scoot toward toys. It is amazing how quickly they will learn new skill.

Quick facts:

*Wearing size 3 diapers
*Wearing mostly 12-18 month clothes
*Eating solids 2 times/day and nursing 6-8 times/day
*Takes 3 naps per day and wakes twice/night
*Rolling frequently

While

5 Month Update

2010-02-20T08:44:00.000-08:00

This month has been an interesting month in Parker's development. He was very sick the whole month of November. After some encouragment from my Grandma and parents, I called the Dr. again regarding Parker's congestion and cough. He was not getting better, and he sounded terrible. I was able to get him and appointment and brought him in. The Dr. first started talking to me about milk allergies and told me that I may need to cut dairy out of my diet. She then listened to his breathing and his lungs. She said forget what I said about allergies because he has Bronchialitis. She had us do a breathing treatment that lasted about 20 minutes. He did such an amazing job and sat in my lap without making a peep. The Dr. came back in to see if the treatment helped. It did help clear him up which confirmed her diagnosis. The next week he seemed to continue to improve. We are so grateful to have our little man feeling better. He didn't look or sound well for so long that almost forgot what normal was for him.

After his breathing treatment, we noticed considerable increases in his noise making. He started talking and babbling much more. He still doesn't talk as much as most babies, but that is ok. He is still serious and sober, but Chase is always able to make him laugh. They love each other very much.

He is VERY attached to me. He has started to cry when other people try to hold him. This is something new because Chase was not clingy as a baby. We have a special bond, and I am enjoying the baby snuggles while they last. All too soon, he will be more interested in playing than sitting in my lap.

He has started something new. We let him play with a protein bar while he was in his carseat one day. I needed to eat it, so I went to give him a different toy and take the protein bar away. He did not like that at all! He was very upset and started to cry. This was the first time that I saw him really have an opinion about something like that. It was almost comical :)

He is sleeping pretty well. We pretty much let him play for about 1.5-2 hours and then put him down for a nap. He still goes to bed between 6 and 7 PM. He is wakes up 2-3 times per night to eat. He sleeps until 8 or 9 in the morning. This is so nice. Chase and I are able to get up and get ready. We are then ready for Mr. P to wake up and play.

We celebrated his first Thanksgiving with lots of family. Everyone came to our house and brought the food. We had a nice day that included lots of snuggling with the newest addition to the family. We are looking forward to celebrating his first Christmas as well. The holidays are so fun!

Here are some quick bits of info about P for this month:

*He moved up to size 3 diapers
*He is still wearing 9 month clothes with a few 12 month and 12-18 months clothes
*He weighed 17 lbs. at his last appt on 11/22
*He wakes up at least 2 time per night and sometimes 3 to eat
*He is still eating 8-10 times per day

4 Months!

2009-11-18T19:01:00.000-08:00

Well Mr. Parker is 4 months old. He is such a joy. He is growing and changing quite a bit.

A few things we have noticed about this little guy. He is very serious. He likes to smile, but sometimes we have to really work for a smile. He is very quiet. He doesn't talk and babble much. However, he does have a good set of lungs which he uses when he is hungry. He seems like he might be the "observer" type. He just sits back and watches the craziness that goes on around our house. He loves to be held. He loves his mommy and daddy. He looks for us in the room and likes to keep an eye on us.

He absolutely loves his brother! Chase does all sorts of things like hugging, kissing, patting, etc. and Parker just smiles. Chase isn't exactly gentle all the time, but P doesn't seem to mind.

We started sleep training about 3 weeks ago. His sleeping has been a little tricky. His naps are not very predictable. Sometimes he will sleep 1-2 hours and other times he sleeps for 25 minutes. I am looking forward to him have set nap times. The biggest change we made was an earlier bedtime. He now goes to bed between 6 and 7 PM. He still wakes up, but we had a 7 hour stretch the other night. I am hopeful this will continue. He usually just wakes up to eat and goes right back to sleep. That is really helpful! He is like his daddy in that he likes to wake up very slowly. It takes a long time for him to come alive in the morning. Chase and I are springers! We wake up very quickly.

Everyone says that he looks "exactly" like his big brother. They do look very similar. However, Parker seems to have different eyes (his eyes are very similar to my Grandma's eyes). He has the most adorable dimples. He actually has 2 sets. When he smiles he has them in his cheeks and up near his eyes. They are too cute!! He actually looks very much like my baby pictures and there are some similarities to my brother's pictures as well. People think that Chase is all Green and looks very much like Abe, so maybe Parker will resemble my side of the family a little more.

He has rolled over one time. He doesn't seem that interested in moving which is fine by me. He has been reaching for toys for quite a while now. He likes pull himself forward and try to sit up. If he is in his bouncy seat, he often sits up to play with the toys. He is still not a fan of tummy time. He has to be really happy, and even then he only lasts a few minutes before the crying begins. He has really good head control. His Dr. told me that his head and neck control are more like a 6 month old.

He is putting everything in his mouth. He often has fingers, blankets, toys, and the sleeves of his shirts in his mouth. He is drooling a ton!

He is a total blankie guy! He loves his blankets. He likes to have them pulled up near his face and he holds them while he falls asleep. I love it!

Unfortunately, Parker has had 2 colds already. The congestion from his first cold hadn't even cleared up and he caught another cold this past weekend. He has lots of congestion in his chest and has a bad cough. It sounds terrible, but the Dr. thought it was ok.

Parker has been a wonderful addition to our family! We love him so much :)

Here are some details I want to remember:

*He is wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes, along with a few 12 months things.
*He is still wearing Size 2 diapers
*He weighed 15 lbs, 10 oz at his four month appointment (90th percentile)
*He was 26.75 inches (90th percentile)
*He eats about 8 times per day

Parker Robert is 3 Months Old!

2009-10-05T21:06:00.001-07:00

Our little guy is growing and changing so quickly! People usually make two comments when they see Parker: (1)"he is such a big boy" and (2) "he looks just like his brother." It is kind of strange how similar they look. People think they look like twins.

He has definitely put himself on a little schedule. He wakes up, eats, plays, and takes a nap. He will go from playing and smiling to crying in an instant. At that point he needs to be bundled and put to sleep.

He is smiling, cooing, and starting to blow raspberries. He is batting at toys and reaching for things. He loves the bouncy seat and the swing. He is not a huge fan of tummy time, but he will do it for a while. He loves to kick his feet really fast. He also loves to use his legs and stand up.

He is starting to recognize people. He definitely knows who his mommy is. He usually will calm down with me pretty easily. That is kind of special :)He LOVES Chase. Chase gets in his face and does all sorts of interesting things to him, but Parker always smiles at him. It is amazing how Parker recognizes children. He seems to know that they are young, and he loves them.

We are starting a new night-time routine. We are going to attempt this routine on a regular basis: bath, feeding, song, and put in the crib swaddled but awake. Hopefully, this new routine will help him learn how to fall asleep on his own and stay asleep :) He is waking up quite frequently, and I am tired.

Here are his stats:
*Weight (need to go have him weighed)
*Height (need to measure)
*Size 1-2 diapers (but buying size 2 this week)
*He is wearing mostly 3-6/6 month clothing. He can even wear some 9 month clothing.

We love our little man!

2 Months!!

2009-09-03T07:37:00.000-07:00

*This blog post was started a month ago. It got delayed because of our move. Better late than never.

Parker is 2 months old! So much has changed in a month. This is a very fun and cute stage. He started to wake up around 5 weeks. He still sleeps a lot, but he has a lot more wake periods. Around 4.5 weeks he started to have fussy periods especially at night. He had a few really bad days and nights. I was wondering where my easy-going baby had gone. We were pretty desperate to find out what was going on. We felt bad for him. The crying and screaming was terrible to listen to. After talking to some people and reading, the fussiness seems to be very normal. I just didn't know what was going on because we didn't have that experience with Chase. We bought a sound machine which he seems to really like and helped a little. We also took him to the Dr. to rule out Acid Reflux (or a very severe case of Acid Reflux). The Dr. said he does have it, but that is fairly common as well.

This little guy loves to eat! He is a great eater. He is very efficient. I am grateful that nursing is going well and P is growing like a weed.

He has started to smile which is very fun. It is nice to have a little interaction. We started to use the bouncy seat. He likes to look at the little animals hanging down. He seems to like music as well.

He loves to be held. He will sleep and sleep if he is being held. Very snuggly!

He takes a bottle like a champ which is so helpful for when I need to leave him home to run some errands.

He had his shots this month. He took them pretty well. He just cried a little bit. He got a great report from the Dr. The boys were seen at the same time. Chase had Poison Oak and Parker had his Well-Baby appointment. It is so great to have a Dr. that is willing to see the boys together.

Here are his 2 month stats:
*He wears size 1-2 diapers
*He wears mostly 3-6 months clothes.
*He weighs 13 lbs. 12 oz (90th percentile)
*He measured 24.75 inches (90th percentile)
*He eats every 2-3 hours.
*He sleeps about 4-5 hours in a row during the night and then wakes up to eat

Inquiring minds want to know...

2009-08-10T18:48:00.000-07:00

Chase: "Can God wrestle with me?"

Abe: "God wrestled with Jacob."

Chase: "Can God wrestle with ME?"

Abe: "No, not really. God doesn't have a body like men."

Chase: "Why?"

Abe: "Because He doesn't."

Chase: "Why?"

Abe: silence :)

This conversation could go on and on!

Parker is 1 Month Old!

2009-08-02T21:09:00.000-07:00

Our little man is 1 month old today! He has been such a blessing and perfect addition to our family. When I am pregnant, it is very hard for me to picture how the baby is going to fit into our life. With both boys, the love was so natural once they were born. It is amazing how your love just expands.

The transition from 1 kiddo to 2 was much smoother than I had imagined it would be.I attribute this to lots of help from our extended family. Our parents have been so helpful. We are so grateful for their involvement in our lives.

Chase LOVES his brother. He is thinks he is so cute and loves to give him kisses. He has showed a tiny bit of jealousy, but nothing like I expected. I think that these two boys will be really good friends someday. Chase can't wait for Parker to play baseball with him and kick soccer balls.

Parker is such a sweet little guy! God is so good in that he designed infants to sleep lots and lots during the first month. This helps make up for the night wakings :) Parker is a very sleepy little guy. As I type he is sleeping on my chest. He seems to have a relaxed and mellow disposition. I am hoping and praying this remains.

We are trying to figure out who he looks like. There are many things about him that resemble Chase. However, I think he has own distinct look. He is slightly bigger than Chase was at this age. He has very large hands and feet.

I will probably say this every month, but time is just flying by. I can't believe he is already a month old. I am treasuring every moment with him because I learned the hard way with Chase that the baby stage vanishes very quickly.

Here are some things I want to remember from this first month:
*he is wearing Size 1 diapers
*he is aproximately 9-9.5 lbs
*he eats every 2-3 hours and is a super efficient eater
*he wakes up about twice during the night
*he definitely needs to be burped. He gets so uncomfortable :(
*he loves blankets and to be wrapped up
*he has almost outgrown all of his newborn sized clothes and wears mostly 0-3 month clothes
*he LOVES to be held
*he makes the cutest noises and grunts that almost sounds like a little goat
*he has a deep little voice
*he mainly only cries if he is cold, hungry, or has a burp
*he usually has a long awake time in the morning
*he is not a huge fan of the car and carseat, but it isn't too bad
*he loves when we sing "Jesus Loves Me"
*his favorite activity when he is awake is looking at light :)

Pictures of P

2009-07-31T20:43:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Sarah Moulton came to our house to take some pictures of Parker last week. It was so sweet of her to take time out of her busy schedule (she has a 3 years old and a 12 month old) to capture some sweet moments with our little guy. I wanted to use some of the pictures for his birth announcment (which is done and just needs to be mailed out). She did a fabulous job, and we will treasure these pictures for years. Here is a little montage of the pictures she took.

Baby Feet!

2009-07-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

I have a slight obsession. I LOVE baby feet!! Here are some of my faves :)

26 Hours of Labor

2009-07-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

This pretty much sums up my labor experience :)

First Walk to the Park

2009-07-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

We took our first walk to the park today. It was nice to get the boys outside before it got too warm. They did pretty well. Parker slept the whole time. Chase had fun at the park. It felt good to get some exercise. I walked a total of 2 miles. Yay!

Here are my cuties!!

Parker Robert Green

2009-07-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

On July 2nd at 1:52 AM, we welcomed Parker Robert Green into our family. We are so grateful to the Lord for a perfectly healthy baby. The labor and delivery was a little rough, but he was SO worth it all.

Little P has been the perfect addition to our family. He has been such an easy baby so far. He eats well and sleeps lots. He even sleeps for long periods at night. I only wake up about once a night. He only cries if he is hungry or when we are changing his clothes or diapers. Abe keeps telling me not to get my heart set on the fact that he appears to be a mellow guy. That has been one of my constant prayer requests for the past 9 months. He keeps telling me that could change very quickly, but I am going to enjoy it while I can.

We are so very blessed! I am soaking in every minute because I learned the hard way with Chase that the baby days are so short and fly by so quickly. I am spending far less time on the computer which is why it has taken me so long to post this. I am just enjoying my boys.

Here are some things that I want to remember about Parker's first two weeks of life:
*He loves to sleep with his hands up by his face (especially his right hand)
*He does not like being cold. He loves being wrapped in a warm blanket.
*He has big hands and feet.
*He is long and lanky.
*His favorite activity is sleeping in his Boppy.
*He loves when Daddy rubs his legs. He sticks them straight out.
*He has a deep voice. He sounds like a growling little lion when he stretches or is hungry.
*He tries so hard to suck his thumb.
*He loves to be held.

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T07:16:00.000-07:00

Today we all take the time to acknowledge our fathers. God's Wisdom is so clearly shown in His design of the family unit. Dad's bring about such a balance to a family. I am so grateful that I had a very present and involved dad. He was/is not perfect, but he has been a dependable, faithful, loving, hardworking man.

Before getting married, I always knew that marrying a man who was good with children was very important to me. That is something that I always admired with Abe. His nieces were always climbing all over him or he was playing with him. He seemed to truly enjoy being with them. However, you don't actually know how a person will be with their own kids. You can only look for the makings of a good father and you just trust that will actually be the case. Well, with Abe he has far exceeded my expectations. He is really one of the best dads I know! He loves his son. He comes home from work and he is ready to play, wrestle, snuggle, and care for our kiddo. He is patient and faithful to correct Chase when there is a need. He is a fun dad. He plans fun outings and loves to surprise Chase with little treats like a Happy Meal from McDonalds. Not only does he play with Chase, but he is able to take care of him in every way. I can leave the house and trust that Chase will be taken care of perfectly. From day one, he was willing and did change diapers. He gives baths, brushes teeth, makes good meals, etc. He is faithful to put Chase to bed every night and prays with him before he falls asleep. Words really can't describe the relationship he has with Chase. Chase LOVES his daddy. He will randomly tell me throughout the day "I love daddy."

God has blessed our family with an awesome dad! We love you, Abe :)

Pleased!

2009-06-07T07:13:00.000-07:00

Today we get to hear the testimonies and witness the baptisms of my cousins Kevin and Valerie Stone. We are so excited that we get to be a part of this wonderful day. What a blessing the Lord has saved them at such a young age. We also rejoice with my Aunt Karen and Uncle Peter. All four of their children have been baptized and are members of the same church. What a testament of God's faitfulness and the realization of God's promise that if you raise your children in the "fear and admonition of the Lord they shall not depart from it." Praise the Lord!

More conversations with Chase

2009-05-08T06:34:00.000-07:00

We have some fun conversations in the car with Chase. He is very talkative, and doesn't like to be excluded from our conversations. He will often time say "what are you talking about, mama?" He definitely wants to contribute. Last night we were driving to dinner, and Abe and I were talking about something. From the back seat we hear a loud yawn, and Chase tells us that he is "awfully tiwed (tired)." We started laughing. Abe told that him that he was impressed with his use of an adverb :)

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The other night we were getting ready to go feed the ducks. Chase was ready before we were, so he decided to unlock the door and run outside (we definitely need to install child locks on the doors pronto). Abe, kind of in a kidding way, told him to get his buns back inside or he was going to spank them. Chase's reply, "my buns have already been spanked!"

Yes, that is our TWO year olds response. We had a good laugh out of that one!

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Chase refers to his cousins as "the girls." However, he doesn't pronounce it correctly. He pronounces it as "grills."

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Chase has a long list of people who he likes to pray for before he goes to bed. The list includes his Uncle Ben Ben and the "the grills," Halloweena (Allie Blaising), Daddy, Mommy and the baby, all of his grandparents, Joshua (from the story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho), and last night he asked to pray for the "bad guys" (whoever that may be). LOL!

Chase's Idea for a Name

2009-05-08T06:30:00.000-07:00

On the way home last night, I asked Chase what we should name the baby (the baby is still nameless). He told me we should name the baby "Jesus."

I couldn't help but laugh!

7 Months Down, 2 to Go!

2009-05-05T07:09:00.001-07:00

My due date is 2 months away! I am fully expecting to go past my due date, but I am hoping not too far past or I will have a scheduled c-section between 41 and 42 weeks. The baby is getting bigger and the kicks, punches, rolls, etc. are getting very strong and bordering on painful.

The baby is still nameless, but I think we may be getting closer. Abe and I are both getting excited about meeting our little guy. It will be nice to have a teeny tiny baby around the house again!

Some Recent Conversations with Chase

2009-05-05T06:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a conversation that Chase had with Grandpa Green. Grandpa Green has 3 snakes. Chase likes to feed the snakes with his Grandpa. We went to the pet store to pick up the feeder mice which was the highlight for Chase. He loves the pet store. We went back to the house, and went to the garage to begin the whole feeding process (this is definitely not my thing and I am so glad that Chase gets to share these experiences with his Grandpa). Here is the conversation that Chase had with his Grandpa after the mice were placed in the cages:

Chase: "Why are the snakes eating the mice?"

Grandpa: "Because God made snakes to eat mice."

Chase: "I don't like God."

Gotta love how the little mind thinks!
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Chase loves to eat peanut butter and brown sugar on bread. That is his favorite breakfast by far. He loves to help me in the kitchen as well, so when I am making his sandwich he asks to help. He loves to spread the peanut butter. This is how he asks:

"Mama can I peanut butter the bread?"

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If you ask him what his favorite color is this will be his response:

"I wike welwow" (he pronounces "L" as a "W")

There are some more things that I will include in the post once I can remember them. I want to record as many of the cute things he says as possible. They are so easy to forget, but they are SO precious.

First Set of X-rays :(

2009-04-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

After a terrible flu bug that lasted about 5 days, Chase had the unfortunate experience of injuring his ankle. He was so sick last week and just laid around the whole time, so by the time Sunday came around he was getting his normal super-human amounts of energy back. After church was over, he was playing with the big boys (5-10 year olds) in the back of the sanctuary. He does this often and thinks he is as big and strong as the big boys. The kids were running and jumping off the stairs. He had done this probably over 10 times. The last time he jumped he landed funny, rolled his ankle, and immediately started to cry. Abe looked at me and promptly said "we need to GO!" There have been many times since Chase's birth that we have told each other that. This is our way of telling each other that a meltdown is fast approaching. I digress.

After leaving church, he was whining and saying his foot hurt. He didn't actually walk on it until we got home. He was wobbly and limping. This is not normal. He is usually very steady and well-balanced. I was somewhat alarmed to see my 2 year old limping. Chase also has a very high pain tolerance. That is has been nice in most circumstances, but it also makes it difficult to determine if he has a more serious injury. We watched him throughout the day. At one point we thought about bringing him to the emergency room, but we decided to wait until the next day and make an appointment with his Dr.

Chase's Dr. is awesome! Can't say enough about this guy. He loves kids and is very good at what he does. He is main goal is to make your visit as efficient and effective as possible. Perfect for a toddler. He looked at Chase's foot and heard that he was limping. He sent us to get x-rays immediately. Chase did so well with the x-rays. At certain points I had to leave the room and he didn't even flinch! So proud of him. We went back to see the Dr. and review the x-rays. He had no breaks which was a huge relief. We are supposed to watch for improvement. If he seems to be better today, then we just leave it at that. If he is still limping and wobbly, we call the Dr. and will go see a podiatrist. We were in and out of Kaiser in 50 minutes. I was relieved that he didn't break a bone! God is good!

2009-04-17T17:34:00.000-07:00

After a fabulous recommendation from one of our friends, we decided to join the Caboose Club at the California Railroad Museum. For $20 your child gets a pass that allows one parent to accompany them to the Museum throughout the year. Chase and I ventured over there one morning and had a blast. The place was nearly empty, and we got to explore. Our favorite section of the Museum was the Children's play area. They have two large train tables, an electric train to watch, and numerous other model trains to view. We have been a total of 3 times since getting our membership. We will definitely get our money's worth out of this membership! Here are some picutres from our little excursion.

Chillin'

2009-04-17T17:19:00.000-07:00

This is how my little man loves to sleep and relax. He has always loved to have his feet crossed. We think this is a habit he started before he was even born. He was breech and more specifically sitting Indian style. He started sleeping with his hands behind his head about 5 months ago. I sleep like that, so maybe that is where he got that from. Funny things we pass on to our kids.

The 5th...

2009-04-10T07:58:00.000-07:00

ultrasound is scheduled for next Tuesday! If you can believe it, I will be getting another U/S. The Dr. measured me yesterday, and I was still measuring about 1.5 to 2 weeks behind. She thinks everything is ok, but she wants to check and make sure the baby is growing well. I am not too concerned because I measured behind the whole pregnancy with Chase. Thanks to the Green side it doesn't look like we will have large babies. Woohoo! A small baby combined with my super long waist leads to me carrying on the small side. Another reason may be due to the fact that my body gets confused when I am pregnant. It thinks you should look pregnant from behind and not in the front :( I would be measuring way ahead if that were taken into consideration!!

It will be fun to see our little man again. I hope to be able to see more of the ultrasound this time around.

I think our hope for a mellow baby may be in vain. I think 4 out of the last 5 appointments the baby has been referred to as a "stinker." He likes to hide when they look for his heartbeat. They know he is ok because they can feel him moving. When they finally find the heartbeat, he starts kicking the doppler! I have to laugh because it keeps happening over and over. He must have a sense of humor :)

That is it for the 28 week appointment. We are coming down the home stretch!

April Already!?!?

2009-04-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

This year is just flying by! It seems like we were just putting Christmas decorations away. We celebrated Easter with my mom's side of the family last Saturday. Chase, Bridget, and Tyler had a really fun Easter egg hunt in my grandparents yard. We got to enjoy 3 baby chicks as well. Family, fun, and food made for a wonderful evening. As we were driving home, I was almost in tears thinking about the huge blessing it is to live near our family. God is so good!

Sunday was not a typical Sunday. I had not been feeling well, and after a call to the advice nurse I was told to go get checked out at Labor and Delivery. After about an hour, everything looked great and I was told to increase my water intake. I have been terrible about drinking water during this pregnancy. That has changed!!

I have a regular appointment today with my Dr. It should be pretty routine. I do have to take the gestational diabetes test. Not my favorite, but it will be over in an hour. :)

Tomorrow we are heading out to visit my dad's parents in San Jose. It will be nice to visit and catch up with them. We haven't seen them since my grandpa had hip replacement surgery. It will be nice to see the improvement in his health since having the surgery. I hear that he is doing wonderfully! Praise the Lord!! Weather permitting we will head to Santa Cruz tomorrow afternoon. The kids (Bridget and Chase) will have fun playing in the sand. They are so excited about going to the beach.

I better run. I have to clean and get ready to leave tomorrow. Fridays are usually my cleaning day, but we won't be home. Cleaning and packing aren't my favorite tasks, but I am so grateful that I have the energy and ability to complete those tasks. This week I have been comtemplating what a blessed life I have been given. My heart is grateful to the Lord! How I wish that would always be my heart's disposition.

Have a blessed Easter celebrating Christ's death and resurrection! How glorious!

Baby No-Name Update (25 weeks)

2009-03-22T06:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a little update about our other baby that is on the way. At my last appointment (March 17th), the Dr. asked me if we had names the baby. I said not yet. She said well let's see how Baby No-Name is doing. This is what we found out.

He does not like to have his heartbeat checked. He has hidden from her a couple of times. When she finally found the heartbeat, he gave the doppler a really hard kick. We both started laughing.

He appears to be small like his brother was. I measured 2 weeks behind the average. I measured at 22 CM when most people should measure 24 CM. I guess you should measure 1 CM for every week that you are pregnant. I explained that I was the same way with Chase, and that he was just a small baby when he was born. She told me that if I fell behind any more (2.5 CM) that they would have to do another Ultrasound to check on fluid levels and the baby's growth. I had to have this done with Chase at 32 weeks, and it was nervewracking. However, I am not too worried this time around because I know that we are probably just going to have a small baby. All of the Greens were on the smaller side, and thanfully those genes are coming through for us. My side of the family has ginormous babies. Yikes! If the Dr. wants to do another Ultrasound that is fine with me. It is always fun to see my baby :)

This baby moves around a lot! I love it! He gets hiccups frequently. I just figured out what was going on. I never realized that the rhythmic movements I felt with Chase were hiccups. How dumb am I!?!? Well, now I know.

I am trying to take really good care of myself. I have started to walk 5-6 times per week. I have also started to watch my food intake. When I am careful about when and how much I am eating, the quality of my food choices always gets better. It has been good for our whole family. I have gained 12 pounds so far in this pregnancy. Hopefully, I will keep my weight gain to about 25 pounds or less.

One last story. On Thursday, I went out to dinner with some friends and while waiting on a table we sat down in the bar area. The bartender walked up and asked me what I was "having." My friend spoke up and said, "she is having a baby." LOL! The poor girl was embarrassed and offered me a water or a soda. She had no idea I was pregnant! I am sure that won't be happening much longer :)

Learning Shapes

2009-03-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

On the way to MOPS on Friday, I had to pack Chase's breakfast in the car because he slept in so late. As we are driving, he says "mama look I have a triangle." He had eaten his peanut butter sandwich into the shape of a triangle. I had no idea that he even knew what a triangle was. Apparently, he has been learning about shapes lately. We have a wooden shape puzzle that he has played with a few times, so maybe that is where he picked that up. Not really sure, but I was shocked.

He is also really into telling us what color things are. He told me that his "alligators" are brown. He likes to point out the different colors that he sees. It is amazing how much kids just pick up on their own without instruction. They pick up the good and the bad, so we are having to be a little more careful with our language and content of our conversation. He is NOT oblivious anymore.

Chase's New Shoes

2009-03-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

Here are Chase's new shoes-Crocs. I haven't always been a fan, but these things are great for the warm Spring and Summers in Sacramento. They let the kids feet breathe, they don't get stinky, they can get wet, and they are super comfortable for the little feet.

On Friday, we went to pick up a pair of these bad boys. Chase wanted to wear them out of the store. He then proceeded to ask me to wear them during his nap. When it came time for his nap, he was so tired that I was able to take them off. My favorite part of this experience is when he asked me if he could wear his "alligators" to Grandma's house. He saw the picture of the crocodile on the side, and thought it was an alligator.

So Chase owns "alligators" and not Crocs! :)

2009-03-04T14:42:00.000-08:00

Chase at 19 Weeks

Baby Boy #2 at 19 Weeks

Baby Update

2009-03-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

On February 10th, we had the in depth Ultrasound that measures the baby and looks for all the parts. The baby looks great. He is measuring right on track. The U/S had the due date set for July 4th. This is also the time that they can determine the gender. There is very little doubt that this baby is a BOY! We have the picture to prove it :) I will post those at the end.

This baby moves alot. I started feeling movement around 17 weeks, but he is really starting to kick and roll. This is my absolute favorite part of pregnancy. He has definitely found my bladder which I could do without. On Sunday, he was moving and kicking so much that you could see it from the outside and Abe could feel it. Very funny!

We are really struggling to name this baby. There aren't too many that we agree on, so we are just waiting until we find the right one. I really like to know the name of the baby, so we can start referring to the baby by his name. I am pretty sure we will have a name by the time he is born :)

We are so grateful for the blessing of this new baby. It seems that this little one is healthy and growing right on track. What more could we ask for!

Chase Update

2009-02-08T07:54:00.000-08:00

On February 8th, Chase was 2 1/4 years old. I had most of this post written on that day, but never finished it. Blogging has not been my thing lately. However, here is the update. There is very little about him that seems babyish anymore. The three things I can think of are his use of his pacifier and blanket and his need for 2 naps most of the time. Other than that he talks and moves like a big kid.

The past month or two has been rough. With me not feeling the best and a busy schedule, we saw a decline in Chase's behavior. This can also be attributed to his age. We definitely experienced what people call the terrible twos. He is a highly independent child. He thinks he knows what is best. If we cross his will, there is quite a scene. We are constantly reminding him of who is in charge. He experienced some of the worst temper tantrums. They had him and me in tears. We have been making a conscious effort of training him to obey us the first time we tell him to do something. He would wait until we would tell him the 5th time to obey and we would raise our voices. After reading a book on child training, we learned that we had "taught" him to wait to obey until we had told him 5 times and raised our voices. We are working on keeping a calm tone and making him obey after we tell him 1 time. It has been about a week and we have seen much improvement. Yay!

In general, Chase is a fun little boy. He says and does such funny things. He can talk up a storm. My days are filled with many conversations. One thing that is so helpful is that he can communicate his needs. There are very few times we are left guessing what is that he wants. He can communicate his needs almost too well :)

He has started to pretend. He talks to his stuffed animals. He tells them to open their mouths, so he can give them water out of his sippy. He is very aware of what is "pretend" and what is "real life." I am not really sure where he learned the difference, but somewhere along the line he picked that concept up.

He has also started to be interested in playing with other kids. He loves to play with Bridgie which is a huge milestone. He had almost no interest in playing with her for many months. This change has made such a huge improvement in our daily lives. Much less fighting between the two kiddos. Ahhh! As far as playing with kids closer to his age, he needs to develop in that area. He is a very possessive kid (as are 99% of 2 year olds), and has a hard time sharing. This makes playing with other 2 year olds a little sketchy. It will all come in time though.

We are slowly easing him into the idea of having a sibling. We tell him that he is going to be a big brother. Last week I was talking to him about buying the baby new pacifiers and blankets and that he needed to help me pick them out. He thought that was a good idea. If you ask Chase if he is going to have a brother or a sister, he will say "not a sister." He really wanted a sister, but the Lord had other plans. That is in the next post :)

We love our little boy so much. He is a challenge, but we can't imagine our lives without him.

My Wonderful Husband!

2009-01-24T06:02:00.000-08:00

Abe and I and have been married for 3 years (October 2005). During the first year we had a lot of adjustments to get used to. Living with each other and getting to know each other on a whole different level had its ups and downs. Throw pregnancy and a newborn into the mix and at some points it wasn't pretty. We have some of our best and worst memories from that first year.

As time has gone on, it has been so fun to see our marriage grow and develop. We still have our ups and downs, but honestly we are having more ups and than downs. For me, watching my husband with our son has created a whole new level of respect that I have towards Abe. He is a fabulous father. One of the best in my opinion. He comes home happy every night. He walks in the door, and greets us with an excited "hi guys!" He comes home ready to play and interact with Chase. This is probably Chase's favorite time of day. :) He never acts like playing with Chase is a bother. He does the bedtime routine most of the time. If I leave them at home, I can fully trust that Abe will take perfect care of Chase and never worry. It is just such a blessing to have such a, capable, loving and kind husband.

He has also been simply amazing the last three months with me being pregnant and feeling less than stellar. He comes home ready to help with Chase, dinner, errands, or whatever the need is at the moment. On the weekends he takes Chase to the park, so I can get a good nap. The list could go on.

Parenthood has brought about some challenges and it still is. However, I think it has helped us in our marriage to grow closer to one another and to God. You can't ask for more than that. I wanted to take the time to acknowledge the gift that God has given to me, Chase, the baby to come. God is good!

Sunday School Party

2009-01-19T15:46:00.000-08:00

About twice a year our church has a party that includes pizza, rootbeer floats, and fun games. This year Chase was old enough to go and participate a little. Here are some pictures from the evening.

Chase's favorite church hangout-the piano!

Chase's cousin Katie.