Preschool

Max and Mya had their last day of preschool yesterday! They had a wonderful year and both have grown so much. They had fabulous teachers and classmates. I am really going to miss all of the parents from Max's class. We all became friends after 2 years of dropping off and picking up! There was always someone willing to run my kids into school or bring them out so I didn't have to take Ivy out of the car. What a blessing.

Yesterday after school we all went to Jumpin' Janes to celebrate the end of the year and the kids had a great time. Then last night we went back to school for a little end of the year celebration. The kids sang some songs and we officially said goodbye to everyone! Out of Max's class of 20 kids, only 2 others will be joining him at his elementary school. How sad!!

Here is Max with his best buddies Bode and Evan. Evan will be going to school with Max, but Bode is moving to Okoboji:( We are really going to miss him!!

 

Here is Max with his teachers Mrs. Connie and Mrs. Jenny. They were so good to Max and luckily Mya will have them next year!

 

Speaking of Mya...she wanted no part of a picture with her teachers. She didn't have a nap yesterday and was beyond exhausted. I did snap this one just in case you think I'm kidding..:)

 

As for Ivy...she's super glad preschool is over for awhile. No more waking her up from her naps to go get her brother and sister!! Maybe we can get on a little bit better of a schedule now!

Happenings...

I've got a lot of pictures of recent things on my camera so I decided to post them! Here's what we've been up to:

Max started t-ball. He has been really interested in baseball lately. Chris pitches to him and Mya quite a bit and they're actually pretty darn good if you ask me! So, we decided to put him in t-ball. I was a little nervous because he didn't know what a "tee" was so the first time he was up to bat, he completely took the "tee" out! There were a lot of kids and it moved pretty slow, but I think he enjoyed it and it's a good way for him to learn the basics of the game and being on a team.

Max also had kindergarten orientation last week. He got to meet his teacher and he was pretty excited. His good neighborhood buddies all had the same teacher he is going to have so he thought that was pretty cool. Chris and I got a tour of his elementary school and we were very impressed. It will be a really great fit for us. Funny story....when we went to pick him up in his classroom after the tour, one of the other parents that I knew told me that Max told his teacher that I worked for Facebook:) Out of the mouths of babes at its best! I was of course mortified, but later when I asked him about it, he told me he got book club confused with Facebook and just meant that I'm in a book club. Still pretty hilarious though! I wonder what his teacher thinks of me...:)

We got the swing out for Ivy and she really liked it! I think Mya enjoyed pushing her more though:) On Mother's Day Ivy decided to roll over on a regular basis and now we can't stop her! She is pretty proud of her accomplishment!

We have been doing a ton of yard work this past week. 2 weekends ago we expanded our flower beds with the help of a sod cutter so this past weekend while I was out of town, Chris re-edged it and put mulch on all of the flower beds. I planted a few pots for the first time in my life (I usually let my mom do that job..:) and they actually look pretty decent! Max really enjoyed helping me plant flowers this year. Mya wasn't too interested. The garden is all set and ready to go. This year we planted tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and green beans. I also did a few herbs in pots on my deck.

Max and Mya have been doing some painting of our bird feeder and our bird house as well. They thought it was a pretty cool job and I thought it was great because it took up so much of their time and I got other things done!

Sisters:)

Guest Post (CJH) - Mother's Day

The best thing about moms is that their love is felt every day, even when they are not around. My mom is the greatest example to me of how I should love my own children. It comes from the years of being shown that I was valued, that I was special and that I was loved. We should all be so lucky to have these people in our lives. It also gives me even more comfort to know that those influences are never, ever, gone.

Two of the greatest mom's ever

It is inspiring to watch Beth be a mom to our kids. She has a fantastic mom and dad as well, so it really shouldn’t surprise me. I am continually amazed at how she makes everything in our lives “work”. A long time ago I wrote something that I had planned on posting and just never got around to it, so some of the references are outdated and there’s even a child missing from the picture! I thought it would still be worthwhile to put out there because it is all still so true and maybe the best thank you I could give her to being an awesome mom to our three kids.

Smile if you love your mom! (Don't worry - Ivy only smiled when she tooted at this point in her life)

“Mommy has a meeting” nights
Tonight - “Mommy had a meeting”. That’s what we usually say when Beth gets out of the house for an evening. I try to encourage her to take advantage of these opportunities to stay plugged in with other adults as much as possible, but it’s usually just once or twice a week. Whether it’s her Tuesday night tennis club, VNA (Visiting Nurses Association) meeting or visiting a friend with a spouse who is away from home for the week – I’m glad that Beth has made such good connections in Dubuque. As much as she needs them and deserves them, I think she still feels guilty leaving me at home to put the kids to sleep. How’s that for dedication/love? She spends every other waking moment taking care of these little rug rats yet feels bad to take a few hours away. I know that all moms probably feel some insecurities about how they are doing with child rearing; I think that is natural for all parents (at least it is for me). Is this the right way to do this? Am I supposed to be doing something else? Why aren’t they responding to this? I wish I would have handled that differently. Etc. Etc. Point is - being a parent, and especially a mom, is tough! They need “meetings” in order to keep it together!

I definitely have some nights alone with the kids that are better than others; no different than any day spent at home with the kids for Beth. Sometimes we butt heads and I’m convinced that they like their mom more than their dad and that’s that. Most times though, it’s something I look forward to. The times I really crave are the ones where I’ll be putting Mya to sleep and her arms will be wrapped around my shoulders and she’ll just nestle in and cuddle for a while before letting me know she’s ready for me to put her in her crib. It’s the times where Max will be in our bed and when I come to get him and say we need to go to his room, his first response is “Daddy, I want to stay in YOUR bed!” – followed by me saying “No Max – we can’t do that” – and him sounding beyond his years replying “OK daddy, carry me - I’ll go sleep in my bed.” It’s having Max and Mya sitting next to me in the same chair as I read books, only to have Mya scoot across my lap and end up on Max and we all end up laughing hysterically because Mya keeps grabbing Max’s nose. Sounds simple, but man it is funny when you see her do it. And Max holds her tight in his lap through the whole ordeal like a proud big brother. They could fight like crazy all day, but that is easily forgotten in times like that. When I get home at 5:30 and know that I have just a few hours with my family, I might be tired, but I need those moments more than anything.

Those are the easy times; it’s when they struggle to get to sleep that I become acutely aware of how important it is that Beth is around them all day long and not me! I’d go crazy! There are a number of reasons that might trigger their behavior – age, time, how much they didn’t eat for dinner… They can be persistent, stubborn (not sure where they got that from), cranky, irritable and they search for every button of their dad’s to push. I have quite a few so it isn’t difficult but they still seem to find new ones - they are talented. No matter what though, even after nights where we struggle, I feel like it’s the least I can do for Beth. I know that she works hard every day to make sure they are safe, that they eat right, that they learn manners, learn new things, they grow and develop, and that they know they are loved. Kids don’t always make those lessons the easiest to give. A couple “meetings” a week?!? – she deserves so much more than that. There is no reason at all for her to feel bad about it, but that fact that she does is testament to the kind of person/wife/friend that she is - always thinking of other people before herself. I’ve never met someone as selfless as her. I am regularly amazed at how much thought she gives to the lives of those she cares about. If anyone ever wondered if Beth was thinking about them, I can assure you that if you were questioning it, she’s already thought about how she can be there for you.

Now here’s for praying the kids take it easy on me tonight and provide more of those memorable moments instead of the ones that make me want to duck my head under a pillow…

Half Birthday!

Ivy Anne is 6 months old today! Here's a run down of what has been going on with her the last month!

Unfortunately she had her first ear infection a few weeks ago. The only reason I took her in was because she was barfing after each feeding and it was more than just spit up. When Max was going through all of his ear trouble, that's exactly when I knew he had an ear infection too. She wasn't really fussy, but was getting up multiple times at night. She wasn't a fan of the bubble gum flavored antibiotic, but she took it nonetheless. We're not entirely positive that it has cleared up, but her 6 month appt. is May 21st, so we'll check her ears then!

I think Ivy is the most active 6 month old who doesn't move in the history of 6 month old babies. She is constantly moving and reaching for something. Her favorite things are whatever you're eating along with the plate, cup, napkin, fork, spoon, etc. She also loves paper and plastic bags. When I'm shopping with her in the baby bjorn and I have my list, she is obsessed with trying to get the list and suck on it! When she can't reach something she wants or when someone takes it away, her little arms just shake! Sometimes she squeals just to see if she can get it back and sometimes she is distracted by something else. She can roll over, but just doesn't choose to do it. She might roll over once a week and we usually don't even see it. I just find her on the back when I put her on the tummy and vice versa. I think a lot of the reason she doesn't move is because she doesn't have motivation to move! She has a couple of siblings who pretty much cater to her every need:) She is close to sitting up, but then again I said that a few weeks ago and I haven't seen much improvement so I'm not sure when she will be sitting up!

Some stats and tidbits...she weighs a little over 15 pounds, wears size 3 diapers, wears size 6-9 month clothes, loves to take a bath, puts her feet in her mouth on a very regular basis, still prefers to be completely swaddled to sleep although we are trying to ween her from that, wakes up every night between 1:47AM and 1:50AM, is kind of a bear to put down to sleep at night, but really easy during the day, laughs when someone jumps out to try to scare her, sweats easily, likes to swing outside, is typically really good in the car on the way to school and back, smiles at strangers, has a death grip that has brought Max and Mya to tears (hair, skin, etc.)She loves to eat food and gags when she's all done, is very distrated when nursing so we have to be in another room now, and does really well with a bottle.

Can't believe she's halfway to 1! Time is really flying, but I do feel like we are all enjoying her so much and not wishing the time away. Chris keeps telling me that there will be a day when we all sleep again:)

Operation solid food!

We started feeding Ivy solids about a week ago and she's LOVING it! We started with avocado and it went okay. Not great, not horrible. Then, I went to the good old standard Gerber stage 1 food and she downed it! Apparently the avocado was a bit too thick. Since then, we've done squash, green beans and carrots. She finishes an entire container each evening and although a decent percentage of it ends up on her body and her bumbo seat, a lot of it also ends up in her tummy!

She has to be completely undressed before this operation begins. This is due to the fact that she loves to eat her feet, her hands, her shirt, the bumbo seat, her bib, and pretty much anything else she can get her mouth on! So, it is a lot less work to have her be undressed. Enjoy a picture of this messy almost 6 month old little girl:)

Oh, one more thing. When I said "We" started feeding Ivy solids...what I really meant was "I" started feeding Ivy solids. The whole "mess babies make in the first few weeks of eating" is not Chris's cup of tea:) That's okay by me...the whole "getting up in the night with a 3 year old who has to go potty, but is not really awake so is super duper grumpy and difficult to deal with" is not my cup of tea, so he deals with that! Marriage is all about compromise people:)

Future Rockstar?