Cookies and Cuties

If you know my children, you know who made which cookies.

The cookies on the top plate were decorated by Abby and the bottom were decorated by Jenna:) Both spent a lot of time getting their cookies just the way they wanted them!

Cookie decorating fun!

Jacob's first visit with Santa.

Abby snuck the Snow White sunglasses on him. So cute!

Twinkies:)

An Escape to the Tim Horton's Parking Lot

I'm trying to think back to before I had kids or even to when I just had one kid (which I thought was so hard then, but now realize it was a breeze). What did I do with my free time? Really . . . I remember watching Lifetime movies all afternoon or spending as much time as I wanted to in a store. I think I even used to talk on the phone for more than five minutes at a time without someone screaming or needing me for something.

So today, I had some free time. I had the privilege of taking Abby to her dance class by myself. That's right people. No lugging the baby carrier into dance class. No arguing with Jenna that she has to sit through the WHOLE 45 minutes of Abby's class. Nate stayed home with Jenna and Jacob and I had a whole 40 minutes or so to myself.

What did I do? I went through the Tim Horton's (Western New York's cheaper version of Starbucks, which I love because it's cheap, but still really love Starbucks), ordered a doughnut, okay, two doughnuts and a hot chocolate. I parked my car and sat in the parking lot and talked on the phone to Tamara for a whole half hour. This was nothing short of a blissful experience.

There was this teenager parked next to me and after a few minutes on the phone, he knocked on my window and asked if I could pop my car hood because he needed to jump his car. I obliged, all while carrying on a conversation with Tamara. Then I noticed him scraping his icy windshield with his cell phone. Really? A cell phone? I rolled my window down again and asked if he wanted my ice scraper, but he insisted that his cell phone was working fine. I'll be sure to remember that next time I have an icy windshield and no ice scraper!

Forty minutes of doughnuts, hot chocolate, an uninterupted phone converstion, and the amusement of watching the teenage boy scrape his windshield with this phone was just the break I needed today.

This Is How We Roll

This is how Jacob rolls in the winter . . . isn't he so cute? When the girls were babies, they lived in warm weather climates, so we never had to worry about keeping them warm outside. Thank goodness for the Bundle Me fleece sack! I just pop him in his car seat with a hat and off we go. When we go outside, I just zip him up. No snowsuit, no wrestling with carseat straps . . . super easy!

Snowy Days

If you've been watching the national news or read any Internet news page lately, you probably saw the story about the storm that hit Buffalo and the horrendous freeway backup that left people stuck in their cars for over 12 hours. Yeah, that highway was pretty close to our house. People here in Buffalo are upset with the way the highway problem was handled and never want to see something like that again. I hate that it made national headlines . . . just adds to the bad press that Buffalo gets about weather and makes it seem like no one can live here.

That highway stoppage was awful and we get a lot of snow in the winter, but I still have an unexplained love for our new town. I love the four seasons. I love that we get to look forward to a new season every few months (although by February I am ready for the snow to be gone). I think I like the weather here because I grew up in a similar climate. It kind of feels like home to me.

And snow? The more the better as far as I'm concerned. If it's going to be cold, there better be snow. Buffalo does an excellent job keeping the roads clear when it snows, so we rarely feel stuck inside. So I'm one of those crazies that actually likes the snow. It certainly has kept my kids busy.

We had two snow days last week. One snow day is awesome, but two is pushing it. Kids in school are good:) Here are some pictures from the last week.

Making a sled train--being pulled by one of the neighbor girls.

Woods covered with snow. So beautiful.

Our back steps with a lot of snow. It ended up being about a foot and a half.

Family movie night. He's already being subjected to Barbie. Good thing he's too young to protest!

Happy boy!

Jacob, 4 1/2 months

Such a happy boy:)

Taking a bottle, yay for Mommy!

Not waking up 3 times a night anymore. Yay for Mommy!

Looking forward to our first Thanksgiving and Christmas together:)

I'm Four Months Old Today!

Four months old! Jacob is a sweet little boy who . . .

loves to eat, but definitely not from a bottle. And the jury's still out on rice cereal:)

loves to sleep, especially when being held by Mommy or Daddy. Too bad Mommy has turned into the sleep nazi lately and has made him fall asleep in his own crib. Mommy is much happier!

loves loves loves his Daddy. He plays running and football with him. His face lights up when Daddy's around.

loves his blue blankie. We did not pick this for him, he has gravitated to it. We love the blue blankie because it works like magic. A kiki (pacifier to most people), blue blankie, and he's a sleeping baby!

needs a haircut. Who knew a four month old would need a haircut!

laughs and laughs when I call him Captain Poopypants:)

must learn to take a bottle. Seriously, how am I going to go to my high school reunion if he won't take a bottle? After being the sleep nazi, I'll be turning into the bottle nazi. We'll see how that goes.

such a joy. We are incredibly blessed to have him.

To Glee or not to Glee . . .

I love Glee. I love the music and the quirky characters. I love the fact that when a music number is on, a huge band just appears in the Glee Club practice room. I love the car that Mr. Schuster drives and Sue Sylvester cracks me up every week.



But lately, I have started to miss the Glee that I fell in love with. For me, it started with the Madonna episode. I felt like it was overdone and too much of the focus was on Madonna and not the storyline. I had similar issues with the Lady Gaga episode, but it was just recently that I've questioned whether or not to even continue to watch. The Britney Spears episode was horrible. Nate doesn't usually watch Glee with me, but he happened to be watching this particular episode and I was uncomfortable with him even being in the room. The dances and costumes were so raunchy that I didn't want my husband seeing that. And the message being sent by highlighting the career of Britney Spears wasn't one that I would ever want my girls to get. Really . . . as great as it is that she has come back (somewhat) from her dark days, she is no one to hold up on a pedestal.



And then there was the religion episode. On one level, the whole "grilled cheesus" thing was funny. But when I really sat back and thought about it, the portrayal of my Jesus was simply disgusting. There was no honor or respect for Him and the message sent was one of silliness and disregard. If those writers really knew the Jesus I know, they would have never portrayed Him that way.



Vicki Courtney is a woman who has become a voice for Christian girls and women in society. She is an expert on the culture and calls it like she sees it. She stands up for truth and has been a great resource for me as I think about raising our girls in this culture that all too often degrades women and disrespects our God. She wrote a blog post about this very subject on Glee, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading and found myself agreeing with (sorry to end my sentence with a preposition). Her insight is worth reading. www.vickicourtney.com/2010/10/why-im-quitting-the-glee-club/

Excuses

Over the past week, several people have told me that they are sick of seeing that helicopter on my blog . . . I know, I know . . .I haven't updated in a while.

I actually have so much to update like Matt and Megan Baye's visit, Jacob's baptism, Abby's fall field trip, PLI, our trip to Texas, and some new pictures of Jacob. So why haven't I updated? For starters, I have been pretty sleep deprived for a while. About a month and a half ago, Jacob started sleeping for long stretches of time, like 5-7 hours at a time. We're talking only waking up once a night, and I got used to that. Then after about two or three weeks of that, he went back to waking up every two hours, and I about went over the edge. I was so exhausted, so I called our pediatrician and talked to the nicest nurse ever. She was sure that a growth spurt was the culprit and that if I fed him more during the day (he only nurses--won't go near a bottle), then he would sleep more at night. She was right and he's been sleeping better. But one reason I haven't updated the blog was becuase of my sleep deprivation.

The next excuse is that we took a trip to Texas. Our PLI (Pastoral Leadership Insitute (which rocks)) went to a marriage/health/wellness retreat in Fort Worth, TX. It was awesome! It's so good to recharge and spend time with Nate (and Jacob--no getting around that). After the conference we took a quick trip to Houston to see some old friends. Our time there was so great. Being with our friends, the Lexows, is so refreshing to me. I was so happy to have some time with Chuck and Tamara which included lots of laughing and some really good drinks:) No really, it's just nice to be with good friends who love you no matter what. Speaking of good friends, we got to see the Woltemaths too. We didn't have nearly enough time with them, but we love them just the same.

Of course, our home computer died right before we left, so after we get a new one, I'll post pictures and catch up. Jacob gets cuter every day:) He has the most beautiful smile and has recently discovered his feet, which is adorable. He's such a sweet little boy. I'm so glad God gave him to us. I can't imagine it any other way!

We Live In The Craziest Neighborhood

We are very much enjoying getting to know our new neighbors, but we've come to learn that this neighborhood has a life of its own. Yep, that's a helicopter in the picture, and it's parked on one of our neighbor's front lawns.

We were enjoying a Sunday afternoon last week when Jenna started yelling about a helicopter landing down the street. Of course, we didn't believe her until we saw for ourselves. I guess one of our neighbor's relatives owns this thing and brings it around every once in a while for the kids to look at. It was pretty cool . . . all the kids (which is a zillion of them) got to sit in the helicopter and see it take off and circle the neighborhood in the air. I just don't get it . . . can one just fly their helicopter anywhere they want and park it wherever? Aren't there rules against that? Apparently not!

How Cute Is He?

Beautiful on the Inside

In the past few months, Nate and I have started using new terminology with the girls--beautiful on the inside and beautiful on the outside. We really believe that it's important for the girls to know that we think they are beautiful both on the outside and on the inside.

Believe me, we see behavior that's beautiful on the inside AND behavior that's not so beautiful on the inside. But yesterday, we had one of those parent moments that just made us so appreciate the little girl God made Jenna to be.

We were at her open house at school last night and her teacher came right up to us and complimented us on how wonderful Jenna was and how much of a help she is in the classroom. Being a teacher, I know that it's easy to say these things to parents, especially at open house. But then she went on to tell us how Jenna has become such an important friend to a little girl in her class who has Down Syndrome. She described how Jenna helps tie her shoes, reads to her, and helps her with her artwork. She talked about how wonderful it has been to see Jenna develop a real friendship with this little girl and said, "at this age, you can't teach that."

Jenna's teacher was so right. I've always known that Jenna has a soft heart and an unusual compassion for people with physical disabilities, but at that moment, I just thought about how special God has made her. God has made her beautiful on the inside and this is just one manifestation of that beauty.

Am I proud of her? Yes. But I have to give God all the glory on this one. Her loving, compassionate heart could have only come from Him. Beautiful on the inside:)

I 've Got the 30!

There are a ton of kids on our street, and there is a regular gathering of families outside every night. The kids ride their bikes and the parents stand around and talk. We are relatively new to this neighborhood, and the more time we are here, the more I love where God has placed us.

Tonight, I was standing with one of my neighbors when one of the others came up (who happens to be the grandpa type of the street). He said, "I got 20, what did you get?" The other neighbor said, "I got the 30!"

I knew exactly what they were talking about . . . Kohl's coupons! Kohl's sends out 15%, 20% or 30% coupons out to their credit card holders every few months. I usually get the 15% or the 20%, but man, when I get that 30% I stock up! It's so exciting to get that 30% off Kohl's coupon.

So here in our neighborhood, they bank on one of them getting the 30% coupon and take turns using it in the allotted time. They were so impressed that I knew what they were talking about right off the bat, that they let me get in on the 30% off goodness:) I think my day is Thursday to use it:)

I think I'm going to like it here!

Sleep Wars

One of the hardest times when the girls were infants was teaching them how to sleep. I remember coming to the realization that it wasn't working so well anymore to nurse them to sleep or rock them to sleep, and their time in our bed needed to come to an end. I've never been one to love the co-sleeping thing. I realize that it works for other people, but I just don't sleep when a child is in my bed.

I've been at wits end with Jacob over the past week. He's been fussy during the day and incredibly restless in the early part of the morning--4am-7am. So for the past few nights, I've been up at 3:30am and 4:30am working on getting this kid to sleep. Nothing seemed to be working . . . not nursing, not sleeping in our bed, not even the carseat, which he's come to love to sleep in. So last night I decided that it was time to do sleep battle with Jacob.

I've come to realize that his fussiness and irritability in the early morning is because he's not getting enough good sleep on a regular schedule, which is due to his inability to calm himself down or be calmed by me anymore. I'm a huge believer in eating a sleeping on a schedule and that just hasn't happened yet with Jacob.

Just so you know . . . after last night's sleep war the score is Mommy 1, Jacob 0. Yes, I was up at 3:30, but I got him to sleep in his crib, even if it took an hour and a half. I finally figured out what works---swaddling him. How could I not have thought of this before? We quit swaddling him after the first few weeks because he didn't seem to need it, but we're back to it and it worked like a charm. A tight swaddle and a kiki (pacifier to the rest of you) is all he needed and he was asleep in 15 seconds.

Now to work on a good schedule . . . this sleep thing is a hard thing to deal with as a parent, but I am looking forward to when he can put himself to sleep---in the crib!

1 Month

Jacob is four weeks old and it's been fun getting to know our new little guy over the past month and watch him become part of our family. He just kind of fits right in to our lives . . . of course, there are times when three kids is really hard, but there are other times where it is so natural and right. Here are a few things that we've learned about our little Jacob:

He hates, I mean hates, the car seat. There is usually crazy screaming when he realizes that he is being strapped in. Sometimes the screaming continues in the car, sometimes he falls right asleep.

Ironically, he isn't a fan of sleeping in the bassinet yet. Where does he sleep? In the car seat:)

He loves to eat. A lot. Way more than the girls.

He LOVES the Baby Bjorn. All I have to do is strap him in there and he pulls his little hands in and is as happy as can be all snuggled up close to me. I think he loves it because he's close to the food source:)

In general, he is a pretty content baby. He cries when he is hungry, cold, or is being strapped into the car seat.

He has the most beautiful smile . . . we got our first real ones this week!

The hairdryer calms him down instantaneously. I wish I had an IPhone so I could record it and play it for him in the car seat.

He's not so interested in the pacifier (called a kiki in our house, thanks to Abby). But we are working on it. He will take it occasionally, and that's awesome!

He loves to be held, and I don't mind holding him:)

Enjoy a few pictures from the past week!

Welcome Baby Jacob!

The newest redhead to the Hartke family arrived on Monday, July 12th at 11:01pm. 8lbs, 6oz, 21 in. Here's the story . . .

My due date was July 8th, and even though I had this feeling all along that he wasn't coming early, I hoped and hoped that he'd come anytime after 38 weeks. But 38 weeks came and went and then we were at 40 weeks. My doctors absolutely will not schedule inductions for convenience purposes and only consider them at 41 weeks, so at my 40 week appointment, which was a Friday, my doctor asked that I come back in that following Monday to do a non-stress test and schedule an induction, which would have been for that next Thursday. I was really, really excited about that . . . even though it was a week later, at least I had a date!

So I went into my appt. on Monday and I thought everything was fine until a nurse came in to check my blood pressure a second time. Apparently, my first reading was high and so was my second one. My doctor asked me to go right to the hospital and not to even go home. I ended up running home to get the kids situated and by the time I was in the car on the way home, I was feeling pretty dizzy and knew I shouldn't be driving by myself.

At the hospital, my blood pressure almost immediately went back to normal and my wonderful doctor decided not to send me home, but keep me so we could have a baby that day. You have no idea how happy I was to hear that!

After 6 hours of pitocin, I still couldn't feel any contractions, so the dr. broke my water, got the epidural going, and by 10:20pm it was go time.

I knew Jacob was big. I just knew it, and I was right. He almost didn't make it out:) Right at the end, he had one shoulder in and one shoulder out. All of the sudden, the doctor was yelling something about supra bone pressure and our nurse jumped on top of my and had her hand pushing on my stomach. They were calling for extra doctors and nurses and every time I tried to breath, they kept yelling at me to keep pushing. It was kind of scary for a few minutes there. I knew he was stuck and knew it could have been a bad situation. But a few minutes later, out he came and it was no surprise to me that he was a healthy 8lbs, 6oz.

So far, Jacob is a sweet, good tempered baby. He eats like a champ and really only wakes up at night to eat and goes right back to sleep. As of today, I am not feeling to terribly sleep deprived, but I do take advantage of any nap I can get.

The girls absolutely adore him . . . they even have their own burp cloths so that they can help take care of him. They love to hold him and sing to him and Jenna, especially, just can't get enough of him! Sometimes I have to ask everyone to "step away from the baby." They just love him so much:)

Welcome Baby Jacob . . . we're so happy you are ours!

Life On Hold

School's been out for just about two weeks now, and in that time, Jenna's had a two day virus with fever and an ear infection (two separate events). Abby had the same two day virus (at a different time, of course) and now has a severe case of hives--which we can't figure out what is causing them. So I feel like our life is on hold--even more than usual.

I know I am nine months pregnant, but being at home all day every day with children who want to be on the go is not my cup of tea. We've planned playdates, trips to the pool, as well as to the park. Many of those have been canceled in the past few weeks due to some illness or another--so I feel like my summer is still waiting to really begin.

"On hold" has been my life for quite a while, actually. I've been waiting to start a new online teaching position that seems like it's taking forever to get started, I've been waiting for our new baby to arrive, and we've been waiting to settle into a home rather than in a temporary apartment that we will soon outgrow when the baby arrives.

Being on hold has been good for me in some cases because it's forced me to make healthier decisions amidst transition (move, new position for Nate, new baby, new everything), but I'm ready for it to be done. I'm ready for healthy kids, a new baby, and a house to experience life in.

We have had a few fun things going on in between the illness in our house--one of which was a trip to Camp Pioneer last week with the youth group at church. It turned out to be too windy for the kids to swim, but they had a blast playing on the beach building sandcastles. And just being at camp makes my day, so it was a good trip all around:)

My due date is in three days, so I'm sure that when I feel like my summer has started, the baby will arrive--which is so exciting! But then life won't be on hold, it will just be new and chaotic and all things baby. And just in case you were wondering . . . according to my doctor, this baby boy is not showing any signs of coming out anytime soon. Not much progress has been made in that area, and my doctors don't consider inducing until 41 weeks. They could actually let me go up until 42 weeks. So I am trying to stop expecting him to arrive any time now and get my mind wrapped around being pregnant for two more weeks:)

Enjoy a few pictures from our day at Pioneer!

Dance Recital 2010

After 48 dance routines and three hours, we survived the girls' dance recital this year! Jenna and Abby had been looking forward to this day for weeks, if not months. Everyday, Abby would ask me how long until the dance recital. Our conversations went something like this:

Abby: How long till I get to dance on the big stage?
Me: 2 months?
Abby: What's 2 months?
Me: 60 days.
Abby: How long is 60 days?
Me: Ummmmm . . . you get to dance on the big stage right after preschool is over.

Really, trying to explain time to a 4 year old, or at least to Abby, was difficult, so I had to come up with creative explanations just about every day.

But the big day did arrive! Grandma and Grandpa got to come and they got to wear makeup (I followed the directions for their makeup, but tried to tone it down) and get their hair done. I stressed about the hair deal for a long time. Abby had to have a bun--I have never done one, so I printed directions out from the Internet and practiced a few times. Jenna just had to have a high ponytail, but her hair is so thick that it took me forever.

One they were ready, they did a great job! Jenna did a tap number and Abby a ballet number. I think they both like the stage . . . as Abby's class was walking off in a line, she stopped the whole group to wave to the audience for a good 30 seconds. When I asked her who she was waving to, she said, "Everyone who clapped for me!" Cute:)

35 weeks

Curious

I can't ever remember a time as a kid when I didn't have to go to both church and Sunday School on a Sunday morning. I guess I don't really know if my parents took us to church as young babies, but I do remember eating raisins in the pew and going to preschool Sunday school.

I am just really curious, so if you have an opinion or experience about this, please feel free to comment. I really just don't know what to think about the topic of kids and church, because what I thought was normal isn't normal to everyone else and I'm starting to explore all possibilities.

The question is . . . Is it important to have children in church or is it appropriate to only have them in Sunday School? Is there a grey area? Is there a point where kids are just too young to be in church? Or is it important to have them in both church and Sunday School?

I've always made an effort to have our girls in both Sunday School and church. However, I do realize that there are times when sending kids to the nursery during church is the only sane option for me. I am always on my own in the church pew and had both our girls in the nursery when they could go. But, I did make an effort to have them in church for as long as we could both stand it on a Sunday morning--it was kind of like taking baby steps to teach them how to sit in church. I would have them in church for about the first 20 minutes--long enough to get through the children's message and then they'd go to the nursery. Gradually, we worked up to both girls being able to sit through the whole church service, although it requires a lot of effort on my part to keep things under control:)

Here in New York, the band led service (which is the one that the kids enjoy and behave in) is during Sunday School. I usually send them to Sunday School and then we stay for church, but it's a whole lot of work for me and I am fast forwarding to when the baby arrives. I totally see how easy it would be to send the kids to Sunday School, go to church during that time, and then all go home.

But . . . I do want them to learn what worship is and how to sit in church. I guess I just don't know if I am expecting them to start learning too early. I think I might be in the minority, but I really don't know. If you have any thoughts or experience here, I'd love to hear it!

I Spy With My Little Eye Something Yellow & Black

Today, I chaperoned Jenna's field trip to a local kid's production of Henry and Mudge, which I've never heard of until today. Apparently, Henry and Mudge is a book series for young kids about a boy and his dog.

Anyway, I rode the bus with Jenna and had three other little girls to watch over. We passed the time by playing I Spy--you know the game where you spy something and give the color clue and then the rest of the players have to guess what you spied? After a while, we spied almost everything in the bus and apprently had nothing else to find. Then one of the little girls got creative:)

She said, "I spy with my little eye, something yellow and black." We were all baffled. What was yellow and black? Usually you just say one color, but she said two colors! After no one could guess it, she said, it's Jenna's mom's hair! See? Black at the top and yellow the rest of the way down.

For a minute, I couldn't figure out if I was offended or about to bust out laughing. I decided it was totally hilarious because this little girl is only pointing out the obvious---I need to get my roots done!

When I got to the last month of so of my pregnancy with Abby, my hair started growing fast and furious, as well as coming in really dark. I have never seen my hair so dark--it was almost black. The same thing is happening with this pregnancy. The difference is that this time I have pretty light highlights that are a stark contrast to the black coming in on the top of my head.

Looks like I'll be calling my hairdresser soon!

Peas For Breakfast

Vegetables are a battle in our house . . . and sometimes getting my kids to eat them is so taxing. Tonight was one of those nights.

I'm a little out of sorts today due to a stressful string of events (finding out a friend has cancer, nasty insurance salesman, and no time to sit down and relax today) and why I even thought about serving vegetables when Nate wasn't going to be home is beyond me. I mean, really . . . I could have just busted out the mandarin oranges or apples, knowing that dinner would be calm and peaceful because a green vegetable wasn't involved. But no, I stuck to what I had planned for dinner--chicken, noodles, and vegetables (carrots, peas, and broccoli).

Before the girls even started eating, I informed them that they had to eat two out of the three kinds of vegetables in order to A) get dessert and B) not have to eat them for breakfast. For example, Abby could choose to eat peas and carrots and not the broccoli. As we were eating, Jenna took a tiny, tiny, tiny piece of broccoli and put it in her mouth--she told me that she was done with her veggies. I have her one more chance to eat her 2 out of the 3 veggies, and finally had to send her to her room without dessert and the promise of peas and carrots for breakfast. She told me that she was going to throw her dinner away . . . . little does she know that there are leftovers in the fridge ready to be heated up in the morning.

Then there was Abby. She lasted longer than Jenna, but in the end handed me her plate and told me she was fine with no dessert and that she was going to have her veggies for breakfast. Stubborn little thing . . .

So, there you have it . . . I stuck to my guns and my children will be eating peas and carrots and broccoli for breakfast in the morning. Feel free to sign me up for mother of the year--this is either a brilliant idea or one that will crash and burn. We shall see, but I am anticipating another battle in the morning. Thankfully, Nate will be home to back me up. Who knows? Jenna may even be eating her veggies for an afternoon snack.

Any tips on how to get kids to eat vegetables would greatly be appreciated:)

A Pregnancy Update

I have completely neglected my blog lately. I think about things to write about on the blog all the time, but I haven't been taking the time to actually sit down and do it . . . pretty much because baby Jacob is kicking my butt (and my bladder and my ribs).

I have done the morning sickness thing and the kidney stone thing, but this last month of my pregnancy has been incredibly tiring and painful, and I have eight more weeks to go! I am only complaining a little bit here, because aside from feeling yucky, I am incredibly blessed and privileged to be carrying our baby. He just hurts me right now:) I can take it . . . I just wasn't ready for it.

The top of my stomach just hurts. I mean hurts in terms of it feels numb, it feels like the muscles are stretching apart and are so tight they're about to break. Sleeping doesn't go so well because I can't lay on my back, and laying on either side just hurts because the muscles are so sore. I have a few theories on why this is. First, this is my third baby and my muscles just aren't as strong as they were with the girls. Second, he is sitting low and out, which is not how I carried the girls. Lastly, my doctor says that the muscles just get torn apart at the top--which was oh so encouraging to me.

So, I went out and bought one of those maternity belts. I didn't want to and thought I could tough it out, but ended up in Babies R Us almost in tears because I hurt so much and thought they didn't have my size. I'm sure the lady at the checkout just loved me, but she's got to be used to crazy pregnant ladies, right? So the belt is helping, and I am thankful for that.

So life is a little slower around here--well, life isn't slower, but I am. I still have two kids and a husband to take care of, laundry to do, meals to make, stuff to shop for, and a house to clean. I have kids who have activities and playdates and birthday parties. Thankfully, Nate is a super cleaner and helps out immensely around the house, but there's still lots to do. So I am slow, and by the end of the day I am exhausted and cannot even think about doing much else extra.

Overall, I am fine--just really, really uncomfortable. But the baby is doing great. I am gaining the appropriate amount of weight and he is measuring right on. He is moving around a lot and everything looks good. So there's lots to be thankful for . . . and I am. I just need to take lots of breaks during the day, which isn't so bad after all!

The Lone Pink Batting Helmet

Last year, Jenna played t-ball in California and it was an extremely positive experience for our whole family. Jenna loved it, Nate got to coach her team, I hung out with the other moms, and Abby got riduculously dirty playing in the dirt.

When we moved to New York, we knew t-ball would be in our future. We signed Jenna up, Nate gets to be the coach again, and Abby gets to be the "assistant coach." In CA, four year olds can play and she was looking forward to being on the team, but here in NY, she can't play until she's 5, so Nate made her the unofficial assistant coach. They even had a meeting last night to go through all the equipment and make sure everything was ready. She's taking her role very seriously:)

T-ball isn't going to be what we expected it to be. Jenna is the only girl on her team. Yes, the ONLY girl. Apparently, little girls don't play t-ball so much here and there are only 1-2 girls on each team, which is co-ed. When we signed her up, I asked about girls being on teams and only got the response of them only being co-ed. I was sure that there'd be at least a few girls on the team. But no, she's the only one.

At first, I was furious about this . . . more at myself for not getting all the information before we committed to this, but also for the fact that no one bothered to tell me that girls usually don't play t-ball in our community. I mean, we can't pull her out. Nate can't not coach. But I am just not sure how she's going to handle being the only girl on the team. She seems okay with it and only cares that her daddy is the coach.

But this is what I see in my head: All the players lined up ready to go--all the boys in their navy blue helmets and brown leather gloves. Jenna will be in her pink helmet holding her pink glove that also happens to light up:) Will they make fun of her or accept her? Will she be able to keep up with the boys? Will she be known as that girl who played on the boys t-ball team?

I am pretty much over my fears and anger now and think it will be good for her. She'll get to know some new people and play on the team that Nate coaches (which is a fun thing to watch), and she'll have to do something that might be uncomfortable at first, but will be beneficial in the end. Hopefully she'll show some of those boys up with her mad t-ball skills!

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was beautiful here . . . I mean really beautiful. It was 85 degrees on Saturday and gorgeous all the other days. My kids even got a little sunburn the first day and I had to break out the sunblock for Saturday. From what I understand that weather is not normal for Buffalo in April, but we enjoyed every second of it and were thankful that it showed up for Easter weekend!

We live close to the community park--close as in walking distance. So we went to the egg hunt Saturday morning where the kids got to do a craft, see the Easter Bunny (although Jenna insists it wasn't the real Easter Bunny because she saw his tennis shoes poking out under his feet--smarty pants!), and hunt for the plastic eggs. We really enjoyed being there that morning. We saw people from church, dance class, Bible study, and people we've come to know from our frequent park trips. It was really nice.

The parents were instructed not to hunt eggs with the kids, so Nate let Abby go on her own and she ended up with zero eggs. She just isn't that aggressive and didn't push her way through the crowd to get the eggs. Thankfully, a nice lady noticed Abby crying after it was all over and threw some of her son's 20 eggs on the ground in front of her so that Abby could pick some up. Then she was a happy camper.

Happy Abby after she found her five eggs!

27 weeks pregnant

Proud of their loot!

Sweet Easter girls

Annual Easter picture

The best part of Easter is celebrating what Jesus did for us on the cross and this year, our weekend was full of conversations with the girls about how that all happened. They get confused about celebrating or remembering something (like Good Friday) and it actually happening. But the most precious statement came from Abby who, on our way home from Good Friday service, said something like, "You know . . . the Easter bunny isn't the most important part of Easter--Jesus is. Those guys were mean to him and he died, but don't worry, he will be alive on Easter." That was the absolute best part of Easter.

On a side note, we had a mild breakthrough in church this past weekend. We made it through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Services without me wanting to tear my hair out after trying to keep kids quiet and entertained in church. No one talked so loudly that they distrubed the others around them and no one pulled up their dress at the children's sermon. Evening services (Thursday and Friday) are not our strong points. I don't take the kids to Lenten or Advent services anymore because I ended up feeling like a crazy woman by the time it was done. But we made it this year. They both sat through the services and were pretty well behaved. And this is a breakthrough because I've been working on teaching the kids to sit in church for a long time. Three services in four days, two of which were evenings---small miracle!

I hope your Easter was as wonderful as ours was:)

A March Madness Evening

Every year, Nate jokes that it is in our marriage contract for him to have sole rights to the tv when March Madness is on. He LOVES college basketball and follows it relentlessly each year--too bad his Indiana Hoosiers aren't doing so well:)

Nate now has a new recruit--Jenna. She loves it just as much as he does. She asks to watch the games, wants to know the scores, and gets excited when "their" team wins. Nate quizzes her on team names and scores (working on her math skills all at the same time), and they have a great time together. I'm just glad he has someone to watch the games with!

Abby . . . well, she's not too interested, but couldn't pass up an opportunity to snuggle with Daddy:)

A Very Happy 4th Birthday

This past weekend was Abby's fourth birthday and we celebrated in style at Chuck E Cheese. Actually, I'm not sure "style" is the right word for Chuck E Cheese, but the kids loved it! Since we are living in an apartment right now, we had small birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese, and even though the craziness of it all is enough to drive any adult insane, it was nice not to have all the craziness of a birthday party in my house. Here are a few pictures of Abby's birthday weekend, which we were able to celebrate with my parents! Living 3 1/2 hours away is so nice!

This is Abby at 4 months, and when I think back to that time, I remember how her little personality was developing. Four years later, I would have never guessed that she would be the adventure that she is! Busy, creative, loves to learn, polite, and a riot most days are words to describe Abby. She is now in preschool and loving it. She wants to go everyday, but she's stuck home with me most days:) Happy birthday Abby!

Celebrating at Chuck E Cheese!

Getting ready to blow out the candles!

I am not a master at cakes, but I made this for Abby. She saw it in a picture and wanted it for her birthday. So I did my best! After all the cake was served, Abby snuck over to the cake and started scraping the icing off, one finger lick at a time. Why am I not surprised? At least the cake had already been served!

Nate was very proud of Jenna. She played the little kids

version of basketball and did pretty well:)

Abby got to celebrate her birthday at preschool on Tuesday and came home with a sticker and a happy birthday hat. When I asked her to let me take her picture, this is what she did.

And then I finally got a smile, and a silly pose to go with it!

Happy 4th Birthday Abby!

A New York Winter

So today was almost 60 degrees here and so much of the snow that you see in the next few pictures is melted and we are left with a muddy mess. But . . . it has been so good to have the sun out all week and to see the snow going away. I actually really like the snow, especially the kind you see below, but even more, I love the first sightings of Spring. Spring is so much sweeter here because we haven't had warm temperatures in so long.

Today, my kids played in the mud, rode their bikes, and splashed in the big puddles around our apartment. But a few weeks ago, our surroundings looked like this . . . .

As much as I am loving the warm weather, I am not ready to declare Spring as being officially here yet. I know enough about this part of the country to know that we are probably in for at least one more snow in the next month. But if we're lucky, our front yard won't look like this for a long time!

Consistency vs. Fashion

It is Sunday morning and I am in the midst of a battle with Jenna. A battle that I really want to give into because it's so ridiculous, but the golden rule of parenting tells me that I must be consistent. And I know that when I am not consistent, I become a doormat to my children and it takes a while to correct that behavior.

In general, I like our family to be a little bit dressed up on Sunday--which translates to no jeans. I don't think it's wrong to wear jeans to church--in fact, we have all worn jeans before on a Sunday morning and all wore them last night at the Saturday service, but in general, I like to have one day that we all look a little bit nicer than usual. I guess in my mind, it makes Sunday a little bit different than the rest of the days and I like that.

I asked the girls to get dressed for church this morning on their own. Yes, it would be way easier to pick out their clothes and help them get dressed, but I am also a big fan of teaching independence. Abby came out in her purple sparkly dress (surprise, surprise) and Jenna came out in jeans and a cute shirt. I nicely asked her to put her khaki pants instead of her jeans and she flipped out. She said she looked so cute and didn't want to ruin the outfit.

I so wanted to give in. After all, wearing jeans to church isn't wrong and in the end, it's not a huge deal to me if she did, but at that particular moment it became an issue of her listening and following my directions. I couldn't give in, even though I really, really wanted to.

I showed her the pants that would work with her shirt, and she still refused. I felt like I was getting a preview of the teenaged years. She finally put the pants on, stomped downstairs, and is currently pouting on the couch telling me how I don't understand "fashion" and that it is my fault that she doesn't look cute today. :)

Consistency reigns for the moment and hopefully Jenna will listen to me next time I ask her to get her church clothes on. Until then, I guess I better start studying up on my six year old "fashion."

It Was Worth It

Monday's trip to the allergist was good. Nate came with me and helped with the "pricks." Abby took them like a champ, didn't cry, and even sat still while we waited for the results to turn up on her back. Two good things came out of this appointment: 1. Abby is not allergic to anything. I was suspicious of certain foods, but they call came up negative. Even though finding out that Abby had an allergy would have explained her asthma, I'm really happy that Abby doesn't have to deal with an allergy on top of asthma. 2. The doctor changed her course of treatment for her asthma. One of my biggest frustrations was that I was giving her this medicine that wasn't working. She took her off the inhalers and put her on Singulair. We will see if it works. I hope so:)

And just because I feel like sharing some of my opinions on happenings in the world, here's a few thoughts . . .

I am really disappointed in American Idol this year. We watched first "top 24" episodes this week and couldn't find any performance worth being excited for. The good thing is that I love Ellen DeGeneres and I love that she's a judge on the show. She's so funny.

I am really angry at Toyota. We bought a Toyota Sienna a few years ago mostly for the safety ratings and good reputation it has. And now we find out that they intentionally cut corners on safety, didn't issue recalls at the appropriate times, and even bragged about how much money they saved . . . all while people were dying. Our car has not been recalled, but it seems like many of the Toyota models are having trouble and just because our car hasn't been recalled doesn't mean that I trust that Toyota got it right with the Sienna. Next time we buy a car, Honda is looking really good right now.

I hate what Tiger Woods did to his family, but I am all for forgiveness and think he deserves it as much as anyone else does. I hope that he can turn his life around, save his marriage, and put his family back together. It might seem like a long shot, but I know that God can heal anything, and how awesome would that be if such a horrible situation could be turned around for good? Not condoning his behavior, but rooting for forgiveness here.

8-12 inches of snow are coming our way in the next 24 hours, and I'm off to go buy food and wood for our fireplace just in case we lose power. This storm is being called a snowicane, so I better be ready!

It Better Be Worth It

Tomorrow, I have to take Abby to the allergist and it better be worth it. For those of you who have kids who have had to go to the allergist, you know the anxiety I am feeling. Abby is being tested for allergies (again) and this involves a blood draw and a whole bunch of pricks on her back to try to determine what is causing her asthma. We went through this last year and it was one of the hardest things to watch, because it's pretty painful for her. Why are we doing it again?

From the beginning. . . . when Abby was three months old, she coughed all night for three straight nights. I'm talking all night, every 30 to 60 seconds. But during the day she was fine and didn't cough at all. I took her to the doctor who accused me of being and overreactive mother. After firing him on the spot from being our pediatrician, he went on to tell me that this could be the beginning of an asthma issue for her.

A few years went by and she never had any signs of wheezing or trouble breathing, just this crazy cough. I knew that she was getting a cold because she would be up the night before the runny nose hit coughing every 30 to 90 seconds. I just thought she didn't handle colds well.

Then she had trouble breathing when we had wildfires in California. And she couldn't run or play without coughing uncontrollably. She would cough during the day and I couldn't take her out anywhere because all the other moms looked at me like I was inflicting this sick kid all over theirs. She just coughed and coughed and coughed.

My new pediatrician diagnosed her with asthma and got her started on inhalers. They worked a little bit . . . they helped decrease the coughing, but never got rid of it. So I am supposed to fill her with these medicines every day and not fully prevent these asthma symptoms. Last Spring, she saw an allergist in CA, but she tested negative for everything, although the doctor told me that #1 she refused to diagnose Abby with asthma because she was so young and #2 many kids that young might have allergies, but don't test positive for them.

So now we are a year out and the inhalers aren't helping at all. She's had 5 episodes of uncontrollable coughing since October and I am hoping that tomorrow's appointment will give us some answers. Her new pediatrician here in NY took one look at her and said that she definitely looks like "an allergy kid." She thinks that we are treating the asthma, but it's not helping because she has underlying allergies that aren't being treated.

I hate the idea of taking her to the doctor to have them prick her back many times and have to hold her down in order to do so. I don't really want to subject her to this, but I want to get her asthma under control because it's not getting better, in fact, it's getting worse.

It better be worth it.

From Her Heart

On Valentine's Day, Nate set out a card and a balloon on the kitchen table for the girls so that they would see it when they woke up. Jenna was up first and Abby was still sleeping, so Jenna and I went downstairs together after Nate left. She walked into the kitchen first and saw the gifts. She was a little confused . . . she said, "Mommy, there are some weird things on the table that weren't there last night." I knew exactly what they were and encouraged her to find her name on the card.

We read the card together, and she was beaming! She was so incredibly happy that Nate left this surprise for her on Valentine's Day! She spent the whole morning trying to find ways to show him that she loved him. She found her "My heart belongs to Daddy" and put it on. She cleaned her room:) And then she made this . . . .

I particularly like the Barbie sticker on the first page and the eyes and nose made out of hearts! Jenna is such a sweet girl and this card totally came from her heart:)

18 Week Baby Bump

Don't get used to this! I am not disciplined enough to take weekly pictures of myself pregnant. I think I only have a handful of pregnant pictures from both my pregnancies with the girls that actually came from our camera. Pregnancy doesn't make me feel so good--you know . . morning sickness, yucky maternity clothes that never fit, and for me, those lovely kidney stones.

So this is 18 weeks, right before we found out that he's a boy! I was surprised and a little worried to find out that I haven't gained a whole lot of weight yet. I'm sure that's due to the morning sickness hanging on longer than usual this time. I am so waiting for that feeling of overwhelming hunger, and I think it's only happened a few times so far with this baby. Food kind of repulses me, and it's really most food. Nothing looks good to me, except the occasional Pizza Hut pizza or Golden Oreos. And this really disappoints me, because this is our last baby and I was looking forward to the excuse of being able to eat anything. Hopefully, that'll come in the next few months!

It's a boy!

You will not see any boy parts in these pictures, but Nate and I CLEARLY saw them this morning at our sonogram! We are very happy to know that the baby is healthy and doing well so far. That is the most important thing!

Nate was sure we were having a girl, because he only thinks that he can have girls given our track record, but I had a feeling that this might be a boy. My mother-in-law told me three years ago that she dreamt that we were going to have a baby boy. At this point, Abby was one and quite the handful. I couldn't even imagine another baby and told her she was crazy. But here we are three years later, and pregnant with a boy:) She was right!

We are excited for this new adventure . . . buying Thomas the Train instead of Barbies, shopping in the boy section instead of the girl section. Nate will get to experience a child of the same sex and I will get to have momma's boy. A totally new experience, but a welcome one to our already wonderful family!