Christmas Part 2

The kids just woke up so I will update this later... but for now here are some pictures of our family Christmas. I worked days on the 24th/25th so it was just the 4 of us. We tried to do some things that were unique and will hopefully become traditions for just our family.

kids at Christmas... can it get any better ?!

Presents under the tree

Our Rock star

Enjoying the new exersaucer.

We hope all our family and friends had a wonderful Christmas. We are so blessed and grateful for all we have this holiday time. We pray you will have a wonderful rest of the year and a great 2009.

Christmas, family, storms, and even the kitchen sink!

You may be wondering by the title what this blog post will contain. Keep reading! Last weekend we celebrated the Baird family Christmas at Kim and Kevin's in Fairbult. They have a lovely home down there and we headed down to stay with them Friday night. We enjoyed dinner with them, Bryan and Stacy on Friday and played some Guitar Hero (my first time!) Amelia enjoyed chasing around their 2 cats. She still has a tough time figuring out why they don't want to play with her, but she tries hard to get them to come out. Saturday Mom and Dad headed over to have "our Christmas" we had a wonderful dinner prepared mostly by Kim then we enjoyed some gifts!! This year we drew names among the siblings so it was a surprise who we had.

Samuel enjoys the puppy plush toy he got from Aunt Kim/Uncle Kevin

Here's where the kitchen sink comes in- Amelia is fasinated with sinks. She loves to pretend to wash her hands in anything resembling a sink. She also has had her eye on a doll that comes with a sink and potty. Aunt Stacy and Uncle Bryan gave her the cottage grove little sink. Amelia could hardly wait to set it up. For the rest of the day she would go up and turn the nobs and "wash her hands" she also enjoyed washing cups and other things she found around. She also enjoyed carrying the sink around with her. One of the cutest scenes came when she carried it into the kitchen and stood by Uncle Keven as he washed dishes. Everyone was giving us a hard time because we had to bring a lot of stuff down for 2 days-- pack n plays, high chair, toys, etc and now we were even going home with the kitchen sink! Thank goodness for the van.

Let it snow! While in Fairbult a snowstorm came through stranding us down there an extra night. Thankfully we had extra diapers/clothes and could just snuggle down for an extra day/night. Bryan and Stacy were able to make it back the 15miles to Owatonna, otherwise it would have been a real cozy party!!

Uncle Kevin gives Amelia a Piano lesson. Notice the headband on Amelia... her new favoite accessory of Aunt Kim's She wore it much of the day on Sunday.

Thanks Kim and Kevin for hosting a wonderful weekend, and everyone for a wonderful Christmas. It was fun to be together. We appreciate your flexibility with my work schedule.

4 months old (almost)

It's hard to believe Samuel is almost 4 months old!! Where has the time gone? Here are the latest statistics:
15lbs 3 oz (we have dropped to 50-75%)
26 1/4 inches (still 90-95%)
Sleeps for anywhere from 5-7 hours at night. We are still trying to develop a routine
He still is such a calm, easygoing boy and adored by everyone including big sister!

This very handsome outfit is courtesy of Ms Ame (yes it does fit!)

Starring in her 1st Christmas Program....

Amelia made her debut as an angel in the church Christmas program this last weekend. As the youngest in the class, I was not sure how she would do standing up front, singing, etc. Overall she did well for her 1st time. She loves "church" and of course wanted to stand by her best friend "Veig" Solveig is the pastor's daughter and has become Amelia's very special friend. I had to tell her repeatedly that Solveig had her own part and she had to stay with her class. Another comic moment came when one of the teachers started giving out goldfish to keep the young ones up there. It looked like feeding time (made even funnier because the boys in the class were sheep!)

My little Angel!

Also starring with Amelia is her bunny! She looked so cute up there and enjoyed holding the hand of her classmate. The sheep on the far right is cousin Isaac. In case you didn't know Amelia is the angel on the left.

It is such a joy to watch children share the story of Christmas.

Snow Time

Recently we have had some good snow fall. We finally got around to getting Amelia some new boots and to getting some of our outside decorations up. Amelia always enjoys walking around in her boots. Playing outside never last too long though.

Getting the feel of walking on snow again.

Shortly after this the temperatures dropped and we have had no more outside play time. Amelia has now added "col" (cold) to her vocabulary.

Silent Night

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRSSsNbF29I

Not sure if this will work but this has become one of my new favorite Christmas songs. Here's wishing you a silent night!

Tree Time

Sorry, but for some reason these got backwards again. Maybe it's better that way so you can see the happy finished product and not see the drama behind getting the tree. Last weekend we went and got our tree. I love the tradition of getting a live tree. Several years we have gone to a tree farm and looked for the "perfect" tree. Each year it is my best tree, I say! With the kids we have decided it is better to just go to a local lot until they get a bit bigger. It's not quite the same, though I think sometimes it takes me just as long... the poor staff have to hold many for me and spin them around as I analyze them. Yes, I am picky when it comes to my tree. This year it got later in the afternoon (after naps) and was cold so Amelia didn't tolerate it well, and samuel stayed in the car. I have thought maybe it might be time to get a pre-lit tree. It can be a hassle to get it in the stand just right, get the lights perfect, and then put the ornaments on, water the tree frequently, and then take it all down again, plus the mess of needles! However, when I'm all done and sit back and admire it, I'm always glad I have bought a live one.

1st pictures in front of the tree

The Finished product

At the local lot

Here Amelia stands in front of the wreaths with a candy cane they give out. I had to take at least one picture of someone at the lot (can you tell we were feeling rushed!) If you look closely you can tell she was getting a bit frustrated and cold. It doesn't quite have the same ambiance as a picture in a field with a sleigh or something. Maybe I will look for a pre-lit tree on after christmas sales after all!

This and That

The Perfect place for a nap!

All Smiles

Sister clowning around with me.

A Beautiful Gift

Today my dear friend Amy came up for the day to hang out with us and meet Samuel for the first time. Amy and I have known each other since college and always have a lot of fun together. Amy brought some wonderful gifts for the kids but my favorite is the beautiful quilt she made. It is gorgeous!! It has a dick and jane theme pattern with wonderful colors of reds, and blues. Ame- you have outdone yourself with this one.. I know you put so much time into them and this will be cherished forever. Thanks for your friendship! Anytime you want to come to the cities to shop and do LeeAnn Chin's I'm game! And I promise the quilt will get "used" and not hang on the wall in the playroom :)

Decorating For Christmas

Christmas is my favorite time of year for many reasons, but one of my favorite things to do is decorate the house. This year it seems a little tougher with two kids, but I'm still trying to find the time and places to put up all my special treasures. I can't believe it's already December. It feels like Christmas will be here in no time and the other day I was feeling overwhelmed that I just wasn't ready. Then I realized Christmas is not all about the decorating, gifts, parties, etc. It's about Jesus. I pray that in this busy season you will find time to reflect on what Christmas means to you.

My favorite Nativity scene. I love Nativity scenes... they are my thing. I have several of them and like to have at least one in each room of the house. They help remind me of why we celebrate Christmas.

Winter Time

One of the things I dread about this time of year is bundling the kids up to go outside, however I don't like being housebound either. One of our most recent purchases for Samuel is the bundle me. This allows us to put him in the carseat and have the blanket wrap around him. It is wonderful!!!! Why we didn't invest in this for Amelia, I don't know. I just love it. Now if I could just figure out a way to keep Amelia's mittens on we would be all set.

Showing off the new hat and mittens set... such a cute little man. We're all set for a Minnesota winter.

Thanksgiving 2008

Family Picture time... coming to a Christmas card near you soon.
I realize I'm a bit late in posting this... but better late than never. We had a nice thanksgiving at our house with Jim and Cari and boys and my parents. I made the turkey (with some help) and everyone brought things. The kids had a great time playing together as usual. Both Jim and I worked on Friday (my first day back!!) so it was nice to stay close to home.

We always have plenty of food!

Slippers and Surgery

Today was Amelia's surgery on her ears. We were due to be at the hospital at 12:30pm. No foods for 8 hours. No liquids for 3 hours. I had decided it would be fun to get her a pair of slippers to have at the hospital. She loved her princess slippers (even wearing them to bed last night!) Anyways she did remarkable well today with her jello breakfast and kept very busy. By the time we were leaving she was getting a bit restless but actually settled down when we got to Ridges hospital (mostly because we let her put her slippers back on). We waited for 1/2hour to get back to a room, but then they had a great peds room.... one of the best I have ever seen. Tons of toys and plenty of space. She loved this and I didn't even need to break into her purse of toys. We found out Dr. Griebe was running an hour behind but Amelia was not at all bothered and loved playing. She did very well at being put to sleep even. She liked the mask. Their child life specialist had come in and let her practice with a mask and a bear and Amelia was quite the little doctor, even wanting to play with the IV. Anyways after two hours of waiting in that room they put her to sleep about 3 and we were done by 3:25. She was worse coming out of Anesthesia this time, screaming and looking very disorientated. It was a bit scary for me who has seen this before. They opted to just let us take her home, without even had something to drink!. Anyways she cried the whole way home and finally fell asleep with David in the chair for an hour. She woke up at 5 crying and continued to cry for the next 1 1/2 hours. Finally the tylenol we gave kicked in and it was liked she turned the corner back to herself. She has now eaten a bit, drank and is to bed (with her slippers on!) The doctor said the tube placement went well and this should help. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes.

Cancelled again

Monday I was canceled from work again... the last time! Here is what my day consisted of
1. Sleep in till 8:30
2. Clean the bathtub
3. Change all the sheets in the house
4. Do all the laundry in the house
5. Clean out the fridge
6. Wash the floors
7. Talk to my good friend Amy while drinking coffee
8. Grocery shop
9. Pick up the kids
I'd say it was a pretty productive day!!!
Now I will work on Friday and the Weekend.

Weekend in Rochester

Aunt Stacy enjoys Samuel.. I think they will need to come to the cites and watch the kids some weekend! It was great to visit with you Stacy.

Great Grandma Peterson and David. It was the first time Great Grandma saw Samuel

Amelia enjoys the ca-ca (her name for kity Jasmine). She has come a long way from the time she would scream every time she saw the cat. She actually looks for Jasmine and tries to get her to play. Now I think Jasmine wishes she were still scarred of her.

Grandma looks on as Amelia tries to hold Jasmine.

3 Generation picture

We had an enjoyable weekend in Rochester with David's family. We had an early thanksgiving dinner! Lots of yummy food. David's sister, brother and their spouses along with his Grandma all came for the weekend. Everyone enjoyed seeing the kids and how they had grown.

Update

Samuel at 3months old

Cousin time!

I thought I would post some pictures before giving an update of recent events.
Thanks to all of you that were praying about my first day of work, and subsequent stress of being canceled. Here is the latest. My insurance was reinstated on the 19th so that was a huge answer to prayer... really the only thing I was worried about. I also found out that I can only be canceled twice a year by them. I can choose to stay home if I want and they need it. I'm next scheduled on Monday so we'll try this all again and see what happens. I would like to work. I have heard things are different at the hospital so I'm praying that I will remain positive about my job and fall back into the routine of things. Thanks again for all your prayers.

Another update.... Amelia was at the pediatrician for her pre-op physical today and the verdict was that there is still fluid in the one ear so we will go ahead with the surgery on Tuesday. The ENT had said if the ears were clear at her pre-op we would cancel surgery (he thought they would be!) We have had this procedure before so we kinda know what to expect. Amelia is older now, and a bit more dramatic and likes her mid-morning snack and lunch (which she wont' be able to have). Our biggest job will be keeping her away from food all morning and drinkafter 11am as surgery is not till 2pm. My parents will be in town anyway so will watch Samuel, so we are grateful for that (though he is usually the easier one of the two :) ) I'm hoping the tubes will help with the speech and reduce the colds this winter!

Priceless

Sorry, this will be another post without pictures. I promise I'll get some more up soon. Today was supposed to be my first day back at work, but I got a call at 4:45am saying I was getting a "mandatory to stay home." Most people would have been excited to have another day to stay home, however as many of you know I carry the benefits for the family. I'm still waiting to hear how this will impact that. Also for you moms that have had to go back to work after kids you know the emotions of returning to work. I spent last night getting daycare bags ready, work bag ready, lunch packed, etc. Now I have to do this all over again on Sunday night. I was not scheduled again till Monday. The kids still went to daycare. I'm on a list to be recalled if the census increases so essentially I'm "on call" I'm going to try to have a productive day and get some work email caught up on and do some mandatory education (all without pay, of course!) I guess things could be a lot worse, but I was all psyched up about returning. I enjoy being a nurse and I'm so thankful I have a career that allows me to work part time, and spend most of my time at home with the kids. Last night Amelia was playing with her piggy bank (David had suggested she count how much she had in there after a previous conversation.) I told her mommy was returning to work the next day and how much would she pay me to stay home with her.... she brought me 6 cents! After this morning's call I'm thinking that was a pretty good offer!!

Update

For those of you wondering how our church directory photo's went, here is an update.
1. Amelia had to bribed with fruit snacks to sit nicely (we did not capture any smiles)
2. Samuel was alert but we also captured no smiles.
3. We got combinations of the kids, kids alone and David and I (I felt like it was engagement pictures again!)
4. We bought way more than we planned on buying and deviated from the plan! I'm such a sucker for pictures and now have a 10x20 framed print of the kids on the way to my house along with all the proofs and an 8x10 of the family (this was free!) Oh well you can never have too many pictures right?
You'll just have to come by the house to see all these beautiful pictures we took.
By the way after we were done Amelia was running around and loved being in other people's pictures (smiling the whole time). Go figure! The whole process was a bit exhausting... reminds me I need to call Penny's for Samuel's 3 month pictures. Here we go again.

Practice for Pictures

We have our family pictures tomorrow at church for the directory. Here are some shots of the kids practicing (they are not in the official outfits they will be wearing), Hopefully tomorrow night will be as good!

Stay tuned to see how the 4 of us look in our formal wear... here's hoping for a good family picture.