Summer 2017

Oooooh I suppose we should update 😂  What a fun summer!  We've enjoyed great family time in the sunshine!  Far too many pictures to post so I made a slideshow ;)

Katelyn:  ALL about the monkey bars!  She finds such great accomplishment when she succeeds! Katelyn is very into her nickname of "Kate" right now and writes that on all her papers.  She heads to kinder-ready this year (5 day preschool 2.5 hours each day) where she'll start to learn to read sight words!  Although she's got a bit of a head's up from all our books and a little SuperWhy along the way ;)
Lucas:  Map puzzle.  We have a puzzle of the United States with all the pieces in the shapes of the states and this kid is a puzzle king!  He knows the states shapes and where they go in the US and is learning some of their names!  Lucas knows his letters and the sounds most of them make.  He's excited for preschool this fall!
Abby-girl:  Her vocabulary is about to pop!  She's starting to say words instead of sounds.  Her "bye" is no longer "da" but "Buheeee" Here are some of her words: Bye. mama. dada. Ma? (with eyebrows raised and head forward) (Milk), "Ameoma mama.  Mama?" (I'm going to go tell mama.  Mama?), Dipdoo (swimsuit), nomnom (food), "et ih go" (let it go), "nigh nigh", "and" (hand), "bypuh" (diaper which usually means to needs a new one)

Tyler:  Has been able to preach on a Sunday morning several times.  This man is definitely called because everytime he speaks, I and several others are moved and hear God's voice speaking to us through him.  Tyler had several great ideas including heading to Omaha for a family trip to the zoo (and a hotel of course!), Prairie Village to ride the train and see the "olden days", and lots of family outtings around town that have been a blast! Tyler also has been accepted into the Cadre program, which is Jeannie Mayo's program for selected youth pastors so he'll be busy this winter (when are we never busy) participating in that, continuing to go strong with our youth ministry, heading up Life Groups in our church, along with all the other amazing Pastor and Daddy things he does on a day to day basis.

Natalie: Back to school soon and back to part-time (I love my life!).  I'm excited to meet our new students and start the school year with rejuvenated vigor for being the hands and feet of Jesus and help improve kiddos' confidence and skills in math along the way!  I've been selling interactive children's books through Usborne for a year now and will continue as it is a HUGE help to our family financially (and all the new books and learning activities around our house is certainly a huge bonus!).    And on top of it all, I enjoy meeting people from around the nation.  Hearing their stories.  Getting to know their kiddos' needs and helping fill them by getting the right books in their hands!  Just a plug... if you or anyone you know want to score some free interactive children's books for your family, shoot me a message and I'll get you covered!  (Sorry- had to!)

This summer has been the best summer of all!  With mommy not being pregnant and not having a newborn glued to me and all the children are mobile, I've been able to play with them and truly enjoy our time together more than ever before.  Here's a slideshow of just some of the fun!

February 2017

I think we'll just post when we can.  Life is crazy.  Wonderful crazy.  Stressful crazy.  Exhausting crazy. But so good crazy :)

Abby-girl
-I should just give up calling her Abigail because even as I try to say her name, Abby-girl is what comes out since that's what we call her most often.
-Toddler-hood- She has found her voice and personality!  She is snuggly (tired or not), goofy, loves to giggle with her siblings by running in circles, and has found a way to voice what she wants.
-Words: The only words she uses consistantly are "hi", "dada", "mama" and ba-"nana".  When you ask her to say something and repeat it, she often just shakes her head.  Not in the mood I guess!  Which is funny because Luke used to repeat everything and anything we asked him to.  But Abby is really good at communicating what she wants anyway through pointing or reaching for what she wants or can answer yes or no questions by nodding or shaking her head.
-Still in a crib.  No other baby coming to rush her out of the crib.  Plus, she shares a room with Katelyn so the door needs to be open.  Right now when she wakes in the morning, she slowly wakes up Katelyn talking and then they talk and sometimes Kate brings her toys to her crib and they play until 7:20 when Kate's clock turns 7 (hehe) and Kate comes and gets mommy.  I don't sleep that whole time as I can still hear them in the monitor but it gives me some "me" time to wake up slowly and not jump out of bed to screaming and crying which is quite nice ;)
-Bedtime:  When the girls go to bed, they talk and giggle from their beds usually for about 20 minutes until they settle in and sleep.  Hearing them talk and imitate each others' noises and erupt in giggles, my heart swells with joy.  I had always wanted that in a sister and I love that they have this special bond already!  Abby sleeps better with Kate in the room.
-Chicken dance- did I post about this yet?  This girl hears the first cord of the chicken dance and she assumes position.  Since I play music from my phone I can't actually record it but see the video below. She had no coaching behind the camera at all.

Katelyn
-Sleep: Boy oh boy does this girl need good sleep.  As much as Abby loves having Kate in her room, sometimes Abby starts waking up very early (5:30 or 6) and when she starts talking and it's going to be a long day, I'll go grab Abby out of bed hopefully before she wakes Katelyn so Katelyn isn't overtired (read: cranky) all day.  Those are my coffee mornings.  But hey, at least mama gets to stay in bed ALL NIGHT most nights these days!
-Preschool- this girl can write her name, can sing the alphabet, count to 30 or higher, recognizes most letters and the sounds of A-D, and recognizes 1-10.  Honestly, she probably can do more than this without me realizing it.  She constantly amazes me by the things she says.  The other day, she made a comment about how if Jesus hadn't died on the cross for us that we'd have to die on a cross instead.  After a discussion about it, I asked her who told her that and she said I had.  She started talking about a conversation we had had probably 2 months ago about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.  I never actually said that if he hadn't died for us that we would have to bear the punishment for our sins.  Her brain continually amazes me at what she understands and pieces together.  Her understanding is already so deep just because she LOVES to learn more about God.

Lucas
-Still our joyful light of sunshine boy.  He's becoming sensitive if someone hurts his feelings.   He loves to move and dance and if you start playing "I like to move it move it" and the drums start going, his little bum starts to wiggle and it's awesome!
-Puzzles: He is REALLY good at puzzles now!  Goodness knows we have SO many puzzles to practice on (I just sold 2/3 of the puzzles and I still have a huge drawer chock-full of other puzzles!)
-Forcused- I'm realizing that this kiddo is almost hyper-focused.  It's hard for him to hear you if he's already doing something else.  The other day, we baked cookie-cutter cookies and he stuck with me through every step, beginning to end!  Kate came and went as she was interested which is what I expected from both, but Luke was 100% in!  And he's good!  His spreading of icing was amazing!  He caught on quickly and really does a great job!

14 months December 2016

I think I accidentally always skip November... it's a busy month! Here's where the family is at these days:

Abigail
-Walking!  Just this past week she finally started gaining enough confidence to not sit down after 2 steps.  It started with 2 steps, pause, 2 steps, pause... and is now full blast walking with a little crawling to get there faster here and there.  She LOVES being up standing/walking while her brother and sister run near her.
-Sleeping!! We finally "sleep trained" which I think was more like just changing our expectations more than any crying it out at all.  She now has a sippy of water in her crib.  She likes to drink something right before she sleeps.  I think she's like Lucas and is always thirsty and loves her water!  I don't think I even gave Kate water at this age because all she drank was milk.
-Communication- She has gotten a lot better in pointing and "talking" to show us what she wants.  You can almost always bet it's food or water or milk so if you try your way through those, your bound to find it.  Or if you've taken her spoon away, she'll give you the biggest fit I've ever seen any of the kids throw.  Lesson learned... let her have the spoon even if she's finished eating until she wants down to play.  That is one battle that is simply not worth it ;)
-Signs- she learned the sign for "please" this week and is getting better at using it.  I'm working on "hungry" just to widdle down the "is this what you want?" list.
-snuggle bunny- she is still my snuggler.  Loves to just lay down on you and snuggle in.  That is something I'll miss as she gets older.
-Lap Time- I've noticed that there are times when she just absolutely needs some lap time.  She'll be extremely fussy and act tired until you give that lap time to her.  Reading books or just being close to me is all she needs for probably 15-20 minutes and she's off to play again.  Perhaps her love language is touch, like Lucas?

Katelyn
-In preschool and busy making friends!  She has a few that she talks about all the time and has her first friend invitation event happening on Sunday (or rather that it's not a playdate where it's really for the mamas to hang out and the kids happen to get alone.  This one, Kate is invited over and we'll be dropping her off :o  Ah!  This is new!)
-Working on letter sounds and always is asking "what letter does _____ start with?"
-Starting to write names and learning to write letters.  Just this week she came home with a "trace the line" ws and I immediately recognized that she had written names above each line.  But they were all written backwards.  Like, letters all facing the left and written from right to left with the letters, too.  I was floored that she had written not only her own name, but Lucas (missing the a), and even mommy.  There was one word that I couldn't figure out and when I asked her what that one was (letter weren't even real letters) she said it was Abigail.  She is loving preschool and has Miss Georgia now since her teacher went on bedrest.

Lucas
-Sleep- This kiddo is the energizer bunny.

Parenting-
The biggest theme of this month has been learning that if you try to rush toddlers, you will ALWAYS accomplish the same thing- get kids very cranky and not accomplish anything.  In talking with a mentor who recently told me to let go of all the expectations on timing that I have for myself and just get things done as it works out and life has totally taken a change!  I am no longer stressed about being late.  It is what it is and we just keep chugging and I have much happier children because of it!  I always try to get moving earlier but some days even 30 minutes is not enough time to get all 3 pottied/diapered, coats, shoes, hats, gloves, strapped into the car, and on our way.  I've also found little humorous ways to deal with the typical whining.  We still have oh so much to learn but I'm learning patience.  I used to think patience was something you have or you don't and I'm realizing lately that it CAN be learned!

1 Year Birthday Month!

What a crazy month.  I went full-time to start the school year to cover for my jobshare partner and it... well it was a whirlwind of constant running from one place to the next, daycare almost everyday, and sickness up the wazoo.  I am SO glad it's over and we are returning back to normal again slowly but surely! I went picture happy this month since all our time together had to be intentional.  Lots of great stuff!  Loads of pictures and videos at the end.

Abigail turns 1!
We are pulling ourself up but not really cruising yet BUT she will grab your hands and make it very clear she wants to practice walking with you.  Just this past week she has gained a new sense of stability while doing it and she can do it one-handed but doesn't have the confidence yet.  We'll see if she chooses to walk at 12 months and 2 weeks like her siblings (ah that's 2 weeks from now!).  I have a feeling she may take an extra month or two to take off but I could be oh so wrong.
Words: "All done" "tsa!" (I think it's "that").   She also very clearly said "outside" the other day while pointing outside but we're going to hold off on calling that a word she knows for now ;) "Dat" for that. 
Dolls: Still LOVES her dolls!  She loves to hold them, squeeze hug them, pat them, and hand them to a friend. 
Shhh: Has learned to put a finger to her mouth to say "shhhhh" but she does it by putting her pointer in her mouth and blowing.  So sweet!
Personality: Her personality has developed and I LOVE it!  She is just so joyful and so much fun!
bananas: She sure loves her bananas and green beans.  This girl could live on this purely
Milk issues?: I've only tried whole milk in her bottle (2 oz with 5 ounces of formula) and both times she seems to have had a lot of gas and was very uncomfortable and even spit up a bit.  But if she's going to have issues with milk, wouldn't she have had an issue while I was nursing?  And even her formula is milk based?  Anyone know anything about this or could it just be a fluke?
Grew up!?!?: This little girl grew up overnight!  Even just this past week since she's turned one, she's now crawling up on things and getting down semi-safely, has a HUGE personality, riles up the kids, initiates play and silliness with them by leaning her body on them to wrestle.  She is also making her wants/dislikes very well known.  She is

Kate turns 4!
Bike: She got a bike with training wheels for her 4th birthday.  Evidently we're behind the train on this but oh well.  She's trying to learn pedaling and a little balance and brakes!
Human: Katelyn turned 100% human on me this month.  Let me explain- she was starting to throw a HUGE fit like she normally does.  I sent her to her room fully expecting the stomping and hitting the door like she normally does before she calms down but it's fully quiet.  So I go to check on her to see if we can talk about what happened and she had turned off the light and was laying in her bed sniffling.  (Oh my heart!).  That made my heart melt and I cried with her while we talked about her behavior and a better way to deal with it (like we always do) but I think we're turning a corner on being able to control emotions.  We're not all the way there yet (heck- I'm not all the way there yet either) but I can see a huge difference.  She's growing up on us so quickly!
Preschool: Kate is in preschool 3 days a week in the mornings at CCE.  She loves her friends and her teacher.
Big girl bed: Kate is now not only in a big girl bed but a "bunk bed" (loft bed) and she LOVES it!


Luke turns 3!

Articulate: Luke is getting to be a bit more articulate with his ability to describe things so we better understand.  He still is our ltitle tiggery-lou loving to hop everywhere, but he sure is starting to seem like a little boy.
Early Riser: No matter what his nap looks like the day prior nor what time he goes to bed (early or late), he is always up by 6:30 singing at the top of his lungs.  I've given up on trying to find a way to get him to sleep longer and am just trying to find ways to deaden the sound so he doesn't wake the girls every morning but haven't found great luck in this yet.  And this is so funny because by 10am, if you go in the car anywhere, this kid is out cold.
Big boy bed!: Luke has moved up in the world as well!  Except it's a mattress on the floor for now since he would still fall off the bed if it were any further up off the ground so it is what it is for now

9 & 10 months

Abigail

-Clapping now and quite proud of it!
-Can crawl finally at 9.5 months! She loves to crawl using her left knee and right foot.  It's pretty funny!  Sometimes she'll use both knees but every now and then it comes back to the foot/knee/foot combo.
-"Dada" I think we're claiming as her first word.  She will look straight at Tyler and say "Dada!" or when he comes into the room.  I'm pretty sure she's also now knowing the word "hi".  It started like a southern drawl but has turned into a short "hi" with a "wave" along with it (open and close her fingers held out to someone) and as of last night switched to "mama" when she saw me.  I think she's starting to understand how to make that sound purposefully now.
-Still loves balls and loves to palm them!  She's got some strong little hands!
-Loves to play with her siblings.  Her sister/brother will be playing with figurines and she'll grab one and make it fly and make a "pbbbbbbb" sound while she does it.  She also loves to make high pitch "wa wa wa" sounds while holding a little character mimicing her siblings playing with their dollhouse.  This girl is going to fit right in with the other two and they welcome her sweetly! (just as long as she doesn't take the figurines they're playing with at the moment ;)
-Sleep: She usually naps around 10 and 2 and stays up until 8:30ish, wakes to eat at 6, then back down until 7:20 when Kate gets up.  We finally got her back sleeping through the night again last night when I discovered that the cold she has is actually a little white tooth trying to break through her top gum.  Motrin to the rescue!
-Dance: she loves to do a body roll and a head bang when she is excited or hears music and we think it's her dancing

Luke

-Becoming a little boy on us! Growing some long legs!
-Sing sing sing- Lucas is always singing.  In fact, the other day at supper, Tyler and I are talking and suddenly stop because we hear down the hall in song form we hear "I caahn't pull mah pahnts up, I can't pull my pants up"  This kid lives his own little musical

Katelyn

-BIG news!  Katelyn accepted Jesus into her heart on July 2nd!  We were sitting having a picnic outside on a blanket and Luke started talking about Jesus being in his heart and I asked Katelyn if she had ever invited Jesus into her heart and she said no.  We started talking about what that actually means and that it's a forever relationship with Jesus that this is just the start of and she told me she wanted to ask Him into her heart!  So she did!

Family
-Visited the Pattons in Michigan in July!  Lots of swimming and special time with cousins.  Tyler and I even got to take the convertible (!) to cedar point for the day!  I'm officially old and get horribly sick from rollercoasters now so it was a rough day :/ But it was fun to get away with my hubby!
-Fair!  We enjoyed lots of family time at the fair including rides and all the sites to see.  In fact, between two days, we didn't get it all in!  Tyler and I went to the beach boys one night at the fair.  So good to get away!
-Tyler had the opportunity to preach at a friend's dads church on a Sunday morning.  Fun little trip down to Iowa.
-Tyler took a trip to Kentucky with youth for National Fine Arts
-Natalie started a new venture- joined Usborne Books and More and is learning the business while raking in the free/cheap books!  I'm pretty certain our kids are quite happy with mama's new venture as they are loving the books and ask for them often!
-Tyler's birthday! We didn't do anything huge this year but the normal celebrations of swedish tea ring, a pizza supper, and some small gifts.  Hopefully he feels how much we love him through what we did.

June 2016

Abigail

-Imitates us: We sneeze or joke saying "A-choo" and she does the same "Ah-pbthhhh"
-Lots of new sounds- purses her lips as she tries out new sounds "mama, dada, aaaaaaah"
-When sitting up, she kicks her feet forward as she gets excited
-Starting to accidentally scooch a little when sitting on kitchen floor.  Not happy about it as it takes her further away from toys
-Easily bored.  Hates to be in a room without all the excitement.
-Toys: Miss Abigail is enthralled with dolls!  She'll talk with them and touch their faces with her pointer finger.  She also loves balls!  She gets so excited that her eyes get big and her arms get stretched out straight and she shakes!
-3rd tooth.... on the bottom!?  She still has no top teeth and they aren't erupting yet either but she has 3 bottom teeth!
-Finishing nursing- She certainly prioritizes seeing/being involved in excitement over eating and if you know anything about our household, there is always some excitement happening. I've tried to wean her down to just once a day right before bed but even if I get the older two in bed first, garaunteed one of them will get up for one of the many reasons toddlers come up with thinking they'll get away with it tonight (even though it's never worked before) and the nursing thing gets very very frustrating and painful for me with all the interruptions so we're calling it quits.  In the next week or two we'll be done for good.
-Bottles: Finally taking cooler bottles (even cold on hot days- probably feels good for her incoming teeth!).  She still takes warm bottles better but at least she'll eat if she's hungry.

Luke

Potty trained!  (yep, past tense!  it is SOO worth it to wait until the kid is READY!)  One accident the first day and that was it!  Of course he's had a couple of accidents since as he just got distracted but he's potty training.
-repeats everything Katelyn says.  Everything...
-Now learning to dress himself!  Sometimes needs a bit of help but he is very proud of this and mama is enjoying the bit of freedom that it brings as well and makes bedtime so much smoother when it's just me.

Kate

"Look at my tummy!" (to see how full it is after she eats a big meal.  She thinks it's visually huge because she feels full)
-Cleaner:  She loves to clean!  She walks into the family room and says "let's clean!"  Or rather, she likes it to be clean.  The actual process of cleaning is a little slow.  Except when it comes to messes.  She loves to take wipes or napkins and clean up messes that she or anyone else makes.
-Nurterer: as always but to the point where sometimes I wonder if she thinks Abigail is her personal baby :)  She is always looking out for her, sits next to her, wants me to stop feeding her sometimes just so she can plan with her, and even fed Abigail one day when I was putting Luke to bed.  She just picked up the bottle and fed it to Abigail since she was fussing. 

Family

-Tyler and I took an anniversary trip to Minneapolis.  It included a twins game, mall of America including the ropes course and all kinds of rides, lots of rest, and a day of biking on a tandem bike around some lakes.  It was SO great to get away where our focus could be directed in the same direction for more than 2 minutes at a time.  I love my man so much!
-Family trip: to Brookings.  Included swimming at the hotel, children's museum, a park in Brookings, watching airplanes, and up to Watertown for the zoo for a day.  Kiddos slept on a pull-out couch together as a sleepover and watched lots of cartoons.  Fun memories made!

-Car wash- we washed the car as a family activity.

-I've felt like this month has been very intentional in connections all around.  Great memories made before camp season begins!

7 Months Abigail and kid updates

Abigail

-Sitting up!  unsupported.  She likes to rock back in forth when she's excited
-Babsigail is the nickname Tyler has given her and boy has she lived up to that this month!  (See video below).  She opens her mouth and sees what sounds come out.  Lots of "baba" and "mama" and when she gets excited, loud Squeels! (Like ear-piercing!) But my favorite sound? "Kyeah"
-Rolls both ways.
-Sleep: oh glorious sleep!  It has found its way back into the family again!  Abigail was sleep trained (to learn how to sleep without a swaddle) this month and it really didn't take much.  She figured out how to soothe by arching her back, throwing her head way back (so her head is facing the top of the crib and her body is still facing the side, rolling on to her side with an elbow up in the air and conks out.  Sometimes she falls back onto her back during sleep and other times she makes it all the way to her tummy but she typically is not a fan of getting stuck on her tummy so I go in and help her get back until she's a bit more mobile.
-Favorite game: Tug of war!  She loves to hold on to something and have someone pull on it.  She giggles and giggles with this
-Food: not consistantly but eating purees maybe once a day.  I need to get better at this
-Nursing: but I'm ready to call it quits.  With her teeth coming in and her interest in the noises and sights going on around her, she likes a bottle better to be able to look out.  The problem is that she won't take straight formula yet but we're working on transitioning bottles to more and more formula.  We're almost at half and half

Katelyn

-When asked what her baby's name is or anything that she's supposed to make up in the spot, she doesn't use names she's heard before, she makes them up from whatever sounds come out of her mouth.  "Arella" was a recent one.  (This is ironic because Tyler very much does not like "weird" baby names that people make up)
-Special connection with Abigail.  I can't explain it but Kate has a very special connection with her.  Abigail looks at Katelyn differently than she looks at Lucas or any other baby.  Maybe it's just the sister connection that I've never known but boy is it sweet to see!

Lucas

-Potty training is in our near future.  He tells us when he goes "pee pee" in his diaper.  If I catch him with a dry diaper he'll go on the potty.  In two weeks I think we're heading into official potty training territory... Wish me luck! (Have I mentioned how much I hate potty training?)
-Pooopiedoop is what we've tried to transition all his "poopie" talk into.  Now we're trying to find other ways to be silly because the poopie ship has sailed in this household. 
-Full conversations with Katelyn these days. 
-Rides in the car with daddy: this kiddo LOVES rides in the car with daddy.  Everytime Tyler leaves the house, Luke asks "I come with you?"which is funny because the times that Tyler does take him with, it only takes a couple of minutes for Lucas to say "BEin LOng Tiiiime"

Family

-Circus with the toddlers (Kate loved the clowns, Luke loved the cannon)
-Very sick this month.  Kids and I caught a flu that had miserable fevers and fatigue and a little throwing up followed by a cough that lasted a while.  Mine turned into bronchitis so it's been a rough month- very overwhelming.  It reminds me of what pregnancy felt like all last year being unable to take care of my family's needs, the house needs, and barely able to take care of my own needs.  I'm feeling better.  Still getting rid of the cough but it no longer hurts to breathe! And now that I'm back on my feet I feel a little less underwater.
-Instruments: Everything is an instrument!  Went to the mall for supper one night and within seconds, the umbrella was a trumpet and the milk/straws became drums.  Tyler hoped for musical children.  I think his prayers has been heard! They alternate between guitars, drums, violins, flutes, trumpets, and microphones.  As of yesterday a trombone got thrown into the mix