I just have to sit down for a little while and take a break. Ivy is watching Arthur on Netflix, and Gen is sleeping. I have not been so good about writing... and lots of things are going in our lives, so I thought I'd better update! At night I'm too tired to try to write anything cohesive.
My heart is heavy today. So many people are dealing with immense pain right now, sometimes I just wonder how they can continue to move forward step after step. Please pray for our youth pastor, Doug Rumbold (www.thedimewithdoug.blogspot.com) and wife Jessica. Last week, their 5 year old daughter, Jada, was diagnosed with kidney cancer. They preformed surgery on her and removed a tumor the size of a football from her kidney. Results just came back yesterday, with heartbreaking news that the tumor was not a Wilms Tumor (very common in children) like they had thought, but rather Clear Cell Sarcoma, which is very rare- only about 20 cases a year. Little Jada is undergoing tests right now to see if the cancer has spread to her brain. This has greatly affected our church family, and we are all on our knees begging the Lord for a miracle. Jessica, Jada's mother, also just gave birth to a healthy baby boy early this morning. Can you imagine the emotion?
We were also dealt a new hand of cards this past week as we were given an ultimatum by our landlady. We have the choice to buy the house we are currently renting, or to move out by Mar. 1st. Her grandson wants to buy the house, but she gave a us first "dibs" on the house. Unfortunately, although we do love the house, we just cannot afford it right now as we still own our house in Branson. So, Jake and I spent a good bit of the weekend looking around Tremont and Morton for homes for rent. We got a couple of leads, but nothing that really felt right. After talking to Jake's parents a bit, and looking at a home that they had just bought about a month ago (for the purpose of renting out) on the other side of Tremont, we have pretty much come to the conclusion that we will probably rent that from them. It is under construction right now as they are re-finishing floors, painting and doing some other stuff to the house, but it will be ready for us by Mar.1st. When we first received the news from our landlady, I was completely heartbroken. I love this house that we are in... it's big, it's close to my in-laws, we have great neighbors... it seemed perfect for us. I shed some tears, definitely, but I know that this is God's plan for our lives... and after a couple of days, I am actually VERY excited to be moving. I am sorting and packing much more slowly this time and am going to prepare for a very large garage sale. There is no way I am going to move all of this stuff that we just moved last March all over again. It feels good to be "cleansing" our stuff :)
Took the girls to the Dr. this morning to get their second round of flu shots, and also to get their ears re-checked to make sure they didn't have any infections going on. Ivy LAUGHED when she got her flu shots. I had coached her earlier on in the day about it, and she told me that she was going to laugh, and she did! Gen did fine too, and only whimpered a little. Ivy's ears are fine, but Gen still has fluid in her ears... meaning, that we go back in another month for another check and if there is still fluid there, we will be referred to an Ear Nose and Throat specialist to start the process of getting tubes in her ears. Ugh. Like the Dr. said, there is not much likelihood of there not being fluid... but we know miracles do happen!
We finally got some snow this morning. Everyone I know has been talking about snow for days and days on facebook, but we hadn't seen any... but it finally hit. Ivy was so excited when she woke up and talked all morning about making snow ice cream. We made some vanilla snow ice cream finally after lunch today, and she gobbled all of it up. Genesis wasn't so keen on it, but Ivy finished hers up for her too. She keeps asking me if we can make more, but I just have to put my foot down... that stuff requires a LOT of sugar. Yikes.
Okay, gotta get back to work.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Thursday, December 30, 2010
2011
It's hard to believe that 2011 is the day after tomorrow. 2010 has been a blink of an eye to me, and it's over. I'm not saying that I am sad to see it go, or happy, just that it was a fast year. A good year. It's been a year of restoration, change, happiness, family, growth, energy, love.
At the beginning of 2010, I believe I was at one of my lowest points of my life. I felt trapped in my house. I was so lonely. Winter isn't exactly the brightest time of the year anyway, but even my soul was clouded over. I was drowning and could not seem to surface from my own self-pity and loneliness. I was (and still am) so blessed and lucky to be able to be a stay at home mom, but I was having a very difficult time trying to figure out what to do with Ivy on a day to day basis. Genesis was only 4 months old, I was breastfeeding (which was easy in the beginning but became much more difficult as Gen began to become more aware of her surroundings and would not focus on feeding = stressed out mama). Jake left the house at 7:20am and didn't get home until 6:45pm. I'd be ready to get out of the house for some adult interaction (or anything!) and he'd be ready to settle in for the evening. Every morning I woke up and would think to myself, "what in the world are we going to do today?? what am I going to do with Ivy? who is she going to play with? are we going to get out of the house?" I was pushing myself towards an anxiety attack. I had one wonderfully good friend (I'll love you forever, KC, for everything you were and are to me) who I did everything with... but I needed more. I needed family, fellowship, activity, involvement in life.
In February, I returned home from a MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers) meeting, where I filled the role of a small group leader and had several other friends. Albeit, distant friends. I unloaded Ivy and Gen out of the car and opened the door to the house. I dropped all of my stuff on the floor and looked around at the kitchen/living room/dining room area. Unwashed dishes lined the counter-tops, unfolded laundry scattered the floor, childrens toys were scattered aimlessly about. I turned to Ivy and said, "hey, Ives, do you want to go to Tremont right now to see grandma and grandpa Stuber?" to which she replied "YEAH!!!" I called Jake at work right away and asked him, and of course, he said yes, as always (Ivy and I had done several long spur-of the moment trips to Ohio before). He even said I didn't have to clean the house before I left! :) I called my in-laws and they were ecstatic to hear of our trip and said we could come for a whole week! Ivy and I hurriedly packed a couple of bags, packed the car, and we headed to IL. It ended up being the worst drive of my life, as Genesis screamed for a straight 3 hours in the dark, and there was nothing that would console her. However, this trip ended up changing our lives forever. Jake came up at the end of our week in IL and, together, we decided that we wanted to move back to family. I remember Jake gripping my shoulders and staring straight at me saying, "Dana, once we make this decision to move to Tremont, there is no going back. Do not change your mind." I haven't looked back since :)
The next 3-4 weeks were crazy. Jake applied for several jobs online right away after we returned to Branson. I started packing little things up here and there, not really believing we'd be moving in less than a year, but "hoping" that a miracle would happen. Well, our miracle happened. Two weeks after our return to Branson from IL, Jake received a job offer. Two weeks after that, we were moving. We found a very affordable, very large, perfect rental just about 2 blocks from Jake's parents house, and put our house on the market FBO. God was fully in control and orchestrated our move with such perfect timing we could never have imagined His total omnipresence in our lives. The rest of the year is history. He has looked after us as a wonderful Father.
Not to say there haven't been ups and downs (like our house... which still needs to be sold) still to this day, but our Faith has been changed this year. Jake and I are different people. We have grown. Our children are happy and have thrived being around such a large family such as my husbands. Ivy adores all of her cousins. She has a best buddy right across the street that she can play with almost every afternoon if she wants, she has a best girl friend just a block and a half away that loves to play princess and ride their bikes together. Grandpa stops in all the time "just to say hi" to the girls. They love that! Great grandma often stops by to bring a snack, or also just to see how we're doing. We eat probably at least half of our meals at my inlaws. We love being together and have soaked up all the love that family has to offer... just being together... just liking each other's company and having someone to spend time with. Wow! You don't know how special all of that is until you've been starved to death for a long time. We are never alone unless we want to be. And sometimes, we do want to be, but that is rare. :)
All of this to say, we are very excited about 2011. Jake and I are determined to get involved much more at church. We each have our niches where we have become comfortable and can't wait to get started there. We do feel like we can be used to here to God's glory and it the prospect is so exciting! I can't wait to grow my friendships that I have begun this fall. Ivy will start pre-school in the fall. That will bring a huge change to our household. We are adding another precious new addition to our family at the beginning of July; sometimes I still have to pinch myself to see if it's really real or not. We hope to sell our house in Branson- we have it listed with an aggressive Realtor, so hopefully it won't take too long. I am looking forward to a 3 month membership at Village Courts... they have a pool and racquetball courts so the girls and I can go swimming every single day if we want to starting in January! I am sure there are more things about 2011 that we are looking forward to... I just can't think of them right now. All I know is that my heart and life are full and life is good. Thank you, Lord for bringing change into our lives.
Happy New Year!
At the beginning of 2010, I believe I was at one of my lowest points of my life. I felt trapped in my house. I was so lonely. Winter isn't exactly the brightest time of the year anyway, but even my soul was clouded over. I was drowning and could not seem to surface from my own self-pity and loneliness. I was (and still am) so blessed and lucky to be able to be a stay at home mom, but I was having a very difficult time trying to figure out what to do with Ivy on a day to day basis. Genesis was only 4 months old, I was breastfeeding (which was easy in the beginning but became much more difficult as Gen began to become more aware of her surroundings and would not focus on feeding = stressed out mama). Jake left the house at 7:20am and didn't get home until 6:45pm. I'd be ready to get out of the house for some adult interaction (or anything!) and he'd be ready to settle in for the evening. Every morning I woke up and would think to myself, "what in the world are we going to do today?? what am I going to do with Ivy? who is she going to play with? are we going to get out of the house?" I was pushing myself towards an anxiety attack. I had one wonderfully good friend (I'll love you forever, KC, for everything you were and are to me) who I did everything with... but I needed more. I needed family, fellowship, activity, involvement in life.
In February, I returned home from a MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers) meeting, where I filled the role of a small group leader and had several other friends. Albeit, distant friends. I unloaded Ivy and Gen out of the car and opened the door to the house. I dropped all of my stuff on the floor and looked around at the kitchen/living room/dining room area. Unwashed dishes lined the counter-tops, unfolded laundry scattered the floor, childrens toys were scattered aimlessly about. I turned to Ivy and said, "hey, Ives, do you want to go to Tremont right now to see grandma and grandpa Stuber?" to which she replied "YEAH!!!" I called Jake at work right away and asked him, and of course, he said yes, as always (Ivy and I had done several long spur-of the moment trips to Ohio before). He even said I didn't have to clean the house before I left! :) I called my in-laws and they were ecstatic to hear of our trip and said we could come for a whole week! Ivy and I hurriedly packed a couple of bags, packed the car, and we headed to IL. It ended up being the worst drive of my life, as Genesis screamed for a straight 3 hours in the dark, and there was nothing that would console her. However, this trip ended up changing our lives forever. Jake came up at the end of our week in IL and, together, we decided that we wanted to move back to family. I remember Jake gripping my shoulders and staring straight at me saying, "Dana, once we make this decision to move to Tremont, there is no going back. Do not change your mind." I haven't looked back since :)
The next 3-4 weeks were crazy. Jake applied for several jobs online right away after we returned to Branson. I started packing little things up here and there, not really believing we'd be moving in less than a year, but "hoping" that a miracle would happen. Well, our miracle happened. Two weeks after our return to Branson from IL, Jake received a job offer. Two weeks after that, we were moving. We found a very affordable, very large, perfect rental just about 2 blocks from Jake's parents house, and put our house on the market FBO. God was fully in control and orchestrated our move with such perfect timing we could never have imagined His total omnipresence in our lives. The rest of the year is history. He has looked after us as a wonderful Father.
Not to say there haven't been ups and downs (like our house... which still needs to be sold) still to this day, but our Faith has been changed this year. Jake and I are different people. We have grown. Our children are happy and have thrived being around such a large family such as my husbands. Ivy adores all of her cousins. She has a best buddy right across the street that she can play with almost every afternoon if she wants, she has a best girl friend just a block and a half away that loves to play princess and ride their bikes together. Grandpa stops in all the time "just to say hi" to the girls. They love that! Great grandma often stops by to bring a snack, or also just to see how we're doing. We eat probably at least half of our meals at my inlaws. We love being together and have soaked up all the love that family has to offer... just being together... just liking each other's company and having someone to spend time with. Wow! You don't know how special all of that is until you've been starved to death for a long time. We are never alone unless we want to be. And sometimes, we do want to be, but that is rare. :)
All of this to say, we are very excited about 2011. Jake and I are determined to get involved much more at church. We each have our niches where we have become comfortable and can't wait to get started there. We do feel like we can be used to here to God's glory and it the prospect is so exciting! I can't wait to grow my friendships that I have begun this fall. Ivy will start pre-school in the fall. That will bring a huge change to our household. We are adding another precious new addition to our family at the beginning of July; sometimes I still have to pinch myself to see if it's really real or not. We hope to sell our house in Branson- we have it listed with an aggressive Realtor, so hopefully it won't take too long. I am looking forward to a 3 month membership at Village Courts... they have a pool and racquetball courts so the girls and I can go swimming every single day if we want to starting in January! I am sure there are more things about 2011 that we are looking forward to... I just can't think of them right now. All I know is that my heart and life are full and life is good. Thank you, Lord for bringing change into our lives.
Happy New Year!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Good Day
Today has just been one of those really good days. (Except for about the past hour where I have been feeling SO extremely nauseous, I'm not sure what to do with myself.)
Jake and I were able to sleep in this morning, until about 9am because the girls were at grandma and grandpas. That was wonderful. It's amazing what an extra hour can do for ones body and mind. I had cinnamon and brown sugar toast for breakfast, with a big mug of vanilla mocha latte, and watched a show online for a bit before getting ready for church.
As I said yesterday, the kids had their Christmas program at church today. Ivy wore her garage sale Christmas outfit and looked so adorable. Grandma had given her a shower this morning and washed her hair with conditioner as well. I am telling you this because if you know Ivy, you know what her hair is like. It is the most wispy, thin hair in the world, and it is so hard to keep anything in it. But, if it is washed in the morning (and then conditioned as well), it dries nice and is easier to "style" it a bit. So this morning, she was able to wear her hair down with a couple of pretty clips in it. Her hair is getting pretty long (relatively long, from our perspective) and it looked so nice. Thanks grandma! The kids just did a great job singing and then our pastor finished up with an excellent message from Matthew 2:2.
After lunch, we all came home, I put Genesis down for her nap and then decided to clean out Ivy's toy closet under the stairs. Jake lounged next to me while I cleaned, and Ivy sat at the dining room table and played with stencils and play dough almost the entire time I worked on cleaning her closet. We chatted, laughed and just had so much fun enjoying being together. Then I made ALL of us turkey sandwiches (I know, I know!) and we sat at the breakfast bar and ate our sandwiches and mountain dew. Then I cuddled up on the couch with Ivy for a while and read some Arch books to her... until I got incredibly sleepy and had to leave her to go take a nap. It was just a wonderfully cozy afternoon.
We ended the day by going out to eat at Avanti's in Pekin. My in-laws came with us, and were also joined by Victor and Lacey who had just returned from a nice little vacation down to North Carolina with her family, and also Naomi and Phoenix. The food was great (I got lasagna) and fellowship so fun. And now it's Christmas week! I'm so excited.
I have been meaning to post this recipe for No Bake cookies for a couple of days. I made them for our cookie exchange we had this last week and they were so good. It is my friend, Trina's recipe... she used to make them a lot when we lived in Branson.
No Bake Cookies
2 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. butter
Cook these four ingredients together, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat.
Add:
1 tsp. vanilla
dash of salt
1/2 c. peanut butter
3 c. oatmeal
handful of coconut
Spoon mixture by spoon-fulls onto wax paper. Let dry.
Jake and I were able to sleep in this morning, until about 9am because the girls were at grandma and grandpas. That was wonderful. It's amazing what an extra hour can do for ones body and mind. I had cinnamon and brown sugar toast for breakfast, with a big mug of vanilla mocha latte, and watched a show online for a bit before getting ready for church.
As I said yesterday, the kids had their Christmas program at church today. Ivy wore her garage sale Christmas outfit and looked so adorable. Grandma had given her a shower this morning and washed her hair with conditioner as well. I am telling you this because if you know Ivy, you know what her hair is like. It is the most wispy, thin hair in the world, and it is so hard to keep anything in it. But, if it is washed in the morning (and then conditioned as well), it dries nice and is easier to "style" it a bit. So this morning, she was able to wear her hair down with a couple of pretty clips in it. Her hair is getting pretty long (relatively long, from our perspective) and it looked so nice. Thanks grandma! The kids just did a great job singing and then our pastor finished up with an excellent message from Matthew 2:2.
After lunch, we all came home, I put Genesis down for her nap and then decided to clean out Ivy's toy closet under the stairs. Jake lounged next to me while I cleaned, and Ivy sat at the dining room table and played with stencils and play dough almost the entire time I worked on cleaning her closet. We chatted, laughed and just had so much fun enjoying being together. Then I made ALL of us turkey sandwiches (I know, I know!) and we sat at the breakfast bar and ate our sandwiches and mountain dew. Then I cuddled up on the couch with Ivy for a while and read some Arch books to her... until I got incredibly sleepy and had to leave her to go take a nap. It was just a wonderfully cozy afternoon.
We ended the day by going out to eat at Avanti's in Pekin. My in-laws came with us, and were also joined by Victor and Lacey who had just returned from a nice little vacation down to North Carolina with her family, and also Naomi and Phoenix. The food was great (I got lasagna) and fellowship so fun. And now it's Christmas week! I'm so excited.
I have been meaning to post this recipe for No Bake cookies for a couple of days. I made them for our cookie exchange we had this last week and they were so good. It is my friend, Trina's recipe... she used to make them a lot when we lived in Branson.
No Bake Cookies
2 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. butter
Cook these four ingredients together, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat.
Add:
1 tsp. vanilla
dash of salt
1/2 c. peanut butter
3 c. oatmeal
handful of coconut
Spoon mixture by spoon-fulls onto wax paper. Let dry.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Holiday Parties...
We had our small group (from church) Christmas party last night. Jake and I thought it was so much fun. It was at our friend's house... they have a full basement that is amazingly comfortable and cozy with a nice big fireplace, huge sectional sofa and a full kitchen. All of the food/drinks were set up down there, and they also had a big, beautiful live Christmas tree. We put all of the white elephant gifts under the tree. We ate for a bit, then had the gift exchange (in which I got a the BEST gift out of the bunch- a fajita maker/grill/warmer), and then played Beyond Balderdash and one round of Taboo. The best part about the evening? No children to distract any of us (Ivy was in Iowa and aunt Naomi was at our house babysitting Genesis) from conversation and laughs. Wow, so relaxing in such a great way. I missed the girls, but it was awesome not to have to worry about where they were, what they were getting into, if they were hungry/thirsty...
Tonight we had another party. Another gift exchange. But this time, we had to dress up as part of the Nativity scene. As of 3:30 this afternoon, Jake and I still had no idea what we were going to dress as or what we were giving as gifts. But thanks to Grandma Pinky, who came to our rescue, I do believe that Jake's costume was one of the best at the party. He dressed as a wise man... decked out in a turban, jewels, jewel box, scarves... he looked great. I was an angel. Grandma had a floor length white dress-up dress that she had in her attic, so I just wore that with some pearl jewelry, curled my hair a bit and tried to put on some shiny/sparkly make up. It wasn't amazing, but it worked. People could tell what I was, and that's all that counted. Again, we had great food and then the gift exchange, then more food. I think people were going back downstairs to play games, but Jake and I are tired and we decided to come home. We're really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. Oh, that's right, I forgot to mention- Ivy and Genesis are having a sleepover at Grandma's house tonight. Wooohoo!
I think I finished my Christmas shopping for the girls today. I knew I needed to stop by Hobby Lobby for a couple of more things for Ivy and then I would be done... so I did that this afternoon when I made my Walmart run for our gift exchange gifts. I am so glad I went into Hobby Lobby. I love their stuff, but I am always surprised at the stuff they have in the craft section that Ivy would go bananas over. It was hard to stop buying stuff for her! I got some things for Genesis there too that were half off, and I am super happy with my buys. I only have a couple more gifts to buy for people and then I'll be done completely with shopping. It always takes me a while to be done.
We are looking forward to church tomorrow. The children have their Christmas performance, so Ivy will be standing up front and singing with everyone. She's wearing her Christmas outfit, and I can't wait to see it on her. Naomi found it this summer for me at a garage sale, and it's so darling and it was so cheap- I think I paid $1.00 for the whole thing? Can't beat that :) I can't wait for summer garage sales again! I think I am going to try to keep Genesis in the auditorium with me instead of putting her in the nursery, so she can watch the kids as well. We'll see how she does. I'm sure she'll want to get down and go join them.
A friend of mine is going to cut my hair this coming week. I need to look at some magazines to figure out what style I want.
Goodnight all.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Cinderella
As I type, Ivy is on her way to Iowa with two of her cousins and great aunt and uncle to see Jake's cousin, Janelle, star in the play "Cinderella". She was so excited to go, she couldn't talk about anything else all morning. Janelle has arranged it that Ivy will be picked out of the crowd (I think they are going to be sitting in the front row) to actually go up on stage and have the glass slipper tried on her foot :) I wish I were going to be there to see the look on her face when that happens. This will be a most exciting part of her year, I am sure, because she loves loves loves anything princess. While Jake and I were on vacation in October, grandpa Roger took Ivy to see Disney On Ice and she still talks about it all the time as if it were the best experience of her life. This will be another one of those things that I think she will talk about for a very long time coming.
I am babysitting my nephew, Phoenix, all afternoon. He gave his mommy quite a bad night last night and she needed a little break, so she called this morning to see if I could watch him for a while. He has been here for about 30 minutes and has been asleep the whole time. He's such a cute little peanut, I can't wait till he wakes up so I can hold him.
Jake and I have our small group Christmas party to go tonight. I am supposed to bring a cookie platter and an appetizer and then we're also having a white elephant gift exchange. Not sure what we are taking for the appetizer or the gifts yet. Hopefully that will come to me sometime this afternoon.
Can I just talk for minute about my unbelievable craving for turkey sandwiches (bread, mayo, dill pickles, lettuce, tomatoes) lately? I had one for lunch yesterday, one for a midnight snack last night, one for breakfast, and two for lunch! And I am now thinking about having one for my mid-afternoon snack. I don't know if it's because I am actually craving the turkey sandwich in particular, or if it's because I don't really have anything else in the refrigerator to eat... and I don't feel like cooking. I think that's it.
Going to go try to find something else to eat... I'm hungry.
I am babysitting my nephew, Phoenix, all afternoon. He gave his mommy quite a bad night last night and she needed a little break, so she called this morning to see if I could watch him for a while. He has been here for about 30 minutes and has been asleep the whole time. He's such a cute little peanut, I can't wait till he wakes up so I can hold him.
Jake and I have our small group Christmas party to go tonight. I am supposed to bring a cookie platter and an appetizer and then we're also having a white elephant gift exchange. Not sure what we are taking for the appetizer or the gifts yet. Hopefully that will come to me sometime this afternoon.
Can I just talk for minute about my unbelievable craving for turkey sandwiches (bread, mayo, dill pickles, lettuce, tomatoes) lately? I had one for lunch yesterday, one for a midnight snack last night, one for breakfast, and two for lunch! And I am now thinking about having one for my mid-afternoon snack. I don't know if it's because I am actually craving the turkey sandwich in particular, or if it's because I don't really have anything else in the refrigerator to eat... and I don't feel like cooking. I think that's it.
Going to go try to find something else to eat... I'm hungry.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Bedtime Stories and Santa
Life has not been super interesting lately, and so I have found it difficult to post much. I was reminded by a friend at church today (thanks Lori!) that some people still would like to keep up with our life even if it is uninteresting, so I will do my best tonight to catch up.
I guess one of our newest things is that Jake has started reading Little House in the Big Woods to Ivy every night before bedtime. She is eating it up! We have the Little House series and I would occasionally see it sitting on the book shelf and wonder to myself if she would enjoy it yet, but then quickly dismiss the thought because they are pretty detailed and long and the pages don't have any pictures. I also didn't think that she would be able to follow it night after night. How wrong I was! Every night after bath time, she eagerly gets dressed and runs downstairs to ask daddy to read her another chapter. I kind of get a warm fuzzy feeling whenever I see them reading it together because many of my greatest memories with my dad are of him reading books to me all throughout my childhood.
It is also a season of crafts in our home. It is so cold out right now (I think maybe like 14 degrees and tomorrow we're supposed to have a high of 11) and it has been blizzarding all day... and this week in general was just yuck. Talk about cabin fever! My mother in law used to be an art teacher in Indonesia and she is a really creative person, so I called her the other day to see if she had any craft books laying around for Christmas/Winter themed crafts. Sure enough, she has tons of ideas- two book-fulls of ideas for Ivy and to devour. When we were out the other day, I picked up some basic crafty stuff like construction paper, glitter, paper plates and pens and we are going to make it a week of crafts. There's not much else to do when the weather is so gross like it is.
Sickness has also continued to plague our household (one of the reasons I have been a bit discouraged to post on here). On Sunday night (last week) Ivy was up all night long crying about every ten minutes with an ear ache. Took her in on Monday to the Nurse Practitioner and yep, another ear infection. So back on antibiotics she went and the nurse also gave us ear drops to put in every 12 hours because the ear had some drainage going on. Genesis started developing a cold that same day... took her into the Dr. on Wednesday for her 15 month check up and yep, she has an ear infection as well as a viral infection with a fever of 103 and a rash on the left side of her body. Oh brother... can we get a break? I guess not. So she is also back on antibiotics. They both seem to be doing much better... but I am nervous because everything seems to go downhill about a week or two after we stop the antibiotics. Anyone have advice on pro-biotics? I've heard they help.
We had a surprise visitor on Friday. Our friend Tom, from Chicago was in town and stopped by to say hi to the girls and me. He brought us some taco bell and then helped me figure out the instructions on how to put together a ginger bread house village. Ivy loves Tom and was so excited to see him. Too bad he couldn't stay and visit very long.
I bought some actual brand name Dove bath soap the other day too. Usually Jake uses Dial bar soap and I use whatever happens to be available. But our skin has been so dry lately, Jake's hands were cracking and bleeding a couple of days ago so I figured we had to make a drastic change... new ultra-moisturizing bath soap and serious lotioning-up after showers. It's miserable to be dry, itchy and cracking in the winter months. I know you all agree.
We went to see some real reindeer yesterday. That was fun. They came out of their little house to see us and show off their huge racks. Ivy thought they were pretty cool, but it was raining and freezing out so we didn't spend much time looking at them. After that, we went to see Santa at the mall. I had taken Ivy several weeks ago, but this time the whole family went. My sister in law and husband took their new baby Phoenix, and we included Genesis too. It was a nice evening, finished up with dinner at a cool little place called Khaki Jack's in Peoria- an Australian themed sandwich/burger joint that also serves ostrich. Jake got the ostrich burger, but says he wouldn't get it again... it left a bad aftertaste.
A lot of people have been asking how I am feeling. I am feeling great, in comparison to my last two pregnancies. I have been experiencing tiny amounts of nausea, mostly when I let myself go too long without food, and I have also been really tired but that is about it. When I was pregnant with Ivy, I threw up at least 5 times a day and could not hold one single thing down. It was a little less with Genesis, maybe like throwing up 3 times a day :) and with this one a lot of days I don't even throw up at all. So, definitely an improvement. I have been super tired though and it is so hard to get any kind of a nap in when Ivy doesn't take naps anymore. I usually end up sleeping for a while on the couch sometime during the day when Gen is napping and I put in a movie for Ivy. Otherwise, I don't think I could make it through the day :)
Alright, well there it is. I've caught everyone up to speed on life. I'll try to do better. Thanks guys! No recipes tonight. I don't have the "ummpf" to get up off the couch and go find a good one.
I guess one of our newest things is that Jake has started reading Little House in the Big Woods to Ivy every night before bedtime. She is eating it up! We have the Little House series and I would occasionally see it sitting on the book shelf and wonder to myself if she would enjoy it yet, but then quickly dismiss the thought because they are pretty detailed and long and the pages don't have any pictures. I also didn't think that she would be able to follow it night after night. How wrong I was! Every night after bath time, she eagerly gets dressed and runs downstairs to ask daddy to read her another chapter. I kind of get a warm fuzzy feeling whenever I see them reading it together because many of my greatest memories with my dad are of him reading books to me all throughout my childhood.
It is also a season of crafts in our home. It is so cold out right now (I think maybe like 14 degrees and tomorrow we're supposed to have a high of 11) and it has been blizzarding all day... and this week in general was just yuck. Talk about cabin fever! My mother in law used to be an art teacher in Indonesia and she is a really creative person, so I called her the other day to see if she had any craft books laying around for Christmas/Winter themed crafts. Sure enough, she has tons of ideas- two book-fulls of ideas for Ivy and to devour. When we were out the other day, I picked up some basic crafty stuff like construction paper, glitter, paper plates and pens and we are going to make it a week of crafts. There's not much else to do when the weather is so gross like it is.
Sickness has also continued to plague our household (one of the reasons I have been a bit discouraged to post on here). On Sunday night (last week) Ivy was up all night long crying about every ten minutes with an ear ache. Took her in on Monday to the Nurse Practitioner and yep, another ear infection. So back on antibiotics she went and the nurse also gave us ear drops to put in every 12 hours because the ear had some drainage going on. Genesis started developing a cold that same day... took her into the Dr. on Wednesday for her 15 month check up and yep, she has an ear infection as well as a viral infection with a fever of 103 and a rash on the left side of her body. Oh brother... can we get a break? I guess not. So she is also back on antibiotics. They both seem to be doing much better... but I am nervous because everything seems to go downhill about a week or two after we stop the antibiotics. Anyone have advice on pro-biotics? I've heard they help.
We had a surprise visitor on Friday. Our friend Tom, from Chicago was in town and stopped by to say hi to the girls and me. He brought us some taco bell and then helped me figure out the instructions on how to put together a ginger bread house village. Ivy loves Tom and was so excited to see him. Too bad he couldn't stay and visit very long.
I bought some actual brand name Dove bath soap the other day too. Usually Jake uses Dial bar soap and I use whatever happens to be available. But our skin has been so dry lately, Jake's hands were cracking and bleeding a couple of days ago so I figured we had to make a drastic change... new ultra-moisturizing bath soap and serious lotioning-up after showers. It's miserable to be dry, itchy and cracking in the winter months. I know you all agree.
We went to see some real reindeer yesterday. That was fun. They came out of their little house to see us and show off their huge racks. Ivy thought they were pretty cool, but it was raining and freezing out so we didn't spend much time looking at them. After that, we went to see Santa at the mall. I had taken Ivy several weeks ago, but this time the whole family went. My sister in law and husband took their new baby Phoenix, and we included Genesis too. It was a nice evening, finished up with dinner at a cool little place called Khaki Jack's in Peoria- an Australian themed sandwich/burger joint that also serves ostrich. Jake got the ostrich burger, but says he wouldn't get it again... it left a bad aftertaste.
A lot of people have been asking how I am feeling. I am feeling great, in comparison to my last two pregnancies. I have been experiencing tiny amounts of nausea, mostly when I let myself go too long without food, and I have also been really tired but that is about it. When I was pregnant with Ivy, I threw up at least 5 times a day and could not hold one single thing down. It was a little less with Genesis, maybe like throwing up 3 times a day :) and with this one a lot of days I don't even throw up at all. So, definitely an improvement. I have been super tired though and it is so hard to get any kind of a nap in when Ivy doesn't take naps anymore. I usually end up sleeping for a while on the couch sometime during the day when Gen is napping and I put in a movie for Ivy. Otherwise, I don't think I could make it through the day :)
Alright, well there it is. I've caught everyone up to speed on life. I'll try to do better. Thanks guys! No recipes tonight. I don't have the "ummpf" to get up off the couch and go find a good one.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
A House of Sickies, and some fun News
I am in the first trimester of pregnancy. This means, for me, that I am very nauseous. Every smell is amplified about 100% and everything smells disgusting... none of this mixes well with a 24 hour stomach bug.
For the past three days, our house has been in a definite sick zone. I mean, seriously, how can four people be so sick at the same time? Gross.
It all started on Monday morning. I was sleeping soundly in bed, when all of a sudden, I heard a gagging sound coming through the baby monitor. Then... a cough, and a gush of something liquid. I ran as fast as I could up to Genesis's room, and sure enough, poor baby was sitting in a pile of vomit. I cleaned her up, took her and all of her blankets downstairs... started reading her a book and she started vomiting again. Oh gross. This time, she had been sitting in my lap, so it got alllll over me. I started gagging in turn, Gen started screaming, and the morning went on like this until about noon. She woke up from her nap and was fine. She hasn't vomited since.
In the meantime, I see on facebook that everyone in our church is also getting this same stomach bug. Just fabulous.
Ivy was great all the rest of the day, until we walked out of her room after tucking her into bed that same Monday night. Headed down the stairs, and heard Ivy scream "Mommy!!! I just puked!!!!". And lucky for me, she had just drunk a big glass of grape juice. Oh my goodness... everything was red/purple all over her bed and jammies. Poor girl spent the rest of the night throwing up about every 1/2 hour. Jake and I each spent a good amount of time "snuggling" with her in bed as per her request. She woke up at 7:30am on Tuesday totally fine and ready to eat a big bowl of oatmeal.
Jake woke up Tuesday with a sick stomach, so he called in to work. I woke up with an upset stomach, but that was most likely just my regular morning sickness kicking in the second I open my eyes. Jake spent the day running to the john and well just kind of layed on the couch, watching Dora the Explorer all day. Jake's mom brought us a big bag of movies from the library, along with some yummy popsicles and 7UP. My real sickie stomach started mid-afternoon, so my runs to the bathroom to throw up became more frequent. That lasted all night till about 4am. I have not felt that bad since.... I don't remember when.
So, today the girls are great. And Jake and I are definitely feeling better. Just in time for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I love Thanksgiving- I would have to say that it is my favorite holiday of the entire year. It's usually a little bit less stressful than Christmas (not having to be worried about having enough gifts and all the wrapping done- I'm not one for good planning or wrapping), and involves family sitting around a table full of amazing food, sharing stories of thankfulness. I love it. I am excited about tomorrow, as we are going to my husband's grandparents house. It will be our family, my in-laws, my bro in law (hopefully, because he has also been sick today with the same thing we have had), my sis in law (and new baby Phoenix who is 1 week old!), and my husbands aunt and uncle and their two boys. It will be a nice gathering, and for sure there will be some yummy food. I am in charge of a jello salad and a regular salad. Speaking of which, I have to go fix the jello salad in a minute... I will leave you with that recipe.
But, before I do that, I want to go back to where I said that I am pregnant. Our due date right now is July 4th. Wouldn't that be awesome? I also really love Independence Day, so I would be thrilled if baby #3 was born on that day. However, the likelihood of that is very very small, because with planned c-sections (which I will be having), they normally take the baby a week early (but, as of right now, I don't know what my current OB's stance on this is, so we'll see?)... so we're looking more at June 28 or something. After we had Genesis, Jake and I decided we definitely wanted another one sometime. So we are so thankful that God has granted our wish again. We were on vacation in Michigan when we actually found out I was pregnant, and it was a really fun way to end the week we had spent up there together. Babies are just unbelievably amazing gifts from God and we have both loved have Ivy and Genesis. I personally adore the baby stage, where as Jake likes it when they get to the age where they can play and understand him better :) I think most guys are like that. It's wonderful to dream about the future, someday when we are old and alone, that we have children "out there" who can come home for the Holidays or drop us calls/notes if they need us. We want our home to always be full of family and the love that goes with that. We are so excited!
Cream Cheese Jello Fruit Dish
1 box flavored jello of your choice (I love to try the weird ones)
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 can mandarin oranges
1/2 can crushed or chunk pineapple
1/2 tin whipped topping
Follow instructions on jello box. Let jello firm about half way. Add softened cream cheese, fruit and whipped topping. Beat together (with electric beater), just till mixed. Put back in refrigerator, let firm up all the way. Yummy!
For the past three days, our house has been in a definite sick zone. I mean, seriously, how can four people be so sick at the same time? Gross.
It all started on Monday morning. I was sleeping soundly in bed, when all of a sudden, I heard a gagging sound coming through the baby monitor. Then... a cough, and a gush of something liquid. I ran as fast as I could up to Genesis's room, and sure enough, poor baby was sitting in a pile of vomit. I cleaned her up, took her and all of her blankets downstairs... started reading her a book and she started vomiting again. Oh gross. This time, she had been sitting in my lap, so it got alllll over me. I started gagging in turn, Gen started screaming, and the morning went on like this until about noon. She woke up from her nap and was fine. She hasn't vomited since.
In the meantime, I see on facebook that everyone in our church is also getting this same stomach bug. Just fabulous.
Ivy was great all the rest of the day, until we walked out of her room after tucking her into bed that same Monday night. Headed down the stairs, and heard Ivy scream "Mommy!!! I just puked!!!!". And lucky for me, she had just drunk a big glass of grape juice. Oh my goodness... everything was red/purple all over her bed and jammies. Poor girl spent the rest of the night throwing up about every 1/2 hour. Jake and I each spent a good amount of time "snuggling" with her in bed as per her request. She woke up at 7:30am on Tuesday totally fine and ready to eat a big bowl of oatmeal.
Jake woke up Tuesday with a sick stomach, so he called in to work. I woke up with an upset stomach, but that was most likely just my regular morning sickness kicking in the second I open my eyes. Jake spent the day running to the john and well just kind of layed on the couch, watching Dora the Explorer all day. Jake's mom brought us a big bag of movies from the library, along with some yummy popsicles and 7UP. My real sickie stomach started mid-afternoon, so my runs to the bathroom to throw up became more frequent. That lasted all night till about 4am. I have not felt that bad since.... I don't remember when.
So, today the girls are great. And Jake and I are definitely feeling better. Just in time for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I love Thanksgiving- I would have to say that it is my favorite holiday of the entire year. It's usually a little bit less stressful than Christmas (not having to be worried about having enough gifts and all the wrapping done- I'm not one for good planning or wrapping), and involves family sitting around a table full of amazing food, sharing stories of thankfulness. I love it. I am excited about tomorrow, as we are going to my husband's grandparents house. It will be our family, my in-laws, my bro in law (hopefully, because he has also been sick today with the same thing we have had), my sis in law (and new baby Phoenix who is 1 week old!), and my husbands aunt and uncle and their two boys. It will be a nice gathering, and for sure there will be some yummy food. I am in charge of a jello salad and a regular salad. Speaking of which, I have to go fix the jello salad in a minute... I will leave you with that recipe.
But, before I do that, I want to go back to where I said that I am pregnant. Our due date right now is July 4th. Wouldn't that be awesome? I also really love Independence Day, so I would be thrilled if baby #3 was born on that day. However, the likelihood of that is very very small, because with planned c-sections (which I will be having), they normally take the baby a week early (but, as of right now, I don't know what my current OB's stance on this is, so we'll see?)... so we're looking more at June 28 or something. After we had Genesis, Jake and I decided we definitely wanted another one sometime. So we are so thankful that God has granted our wish again. We were on vacation in Michigan when we actually found out I was pregnant, and it was a really fun way to end the week we had spent up there together. Babies are just unbelievably amazing gifts from God and we have both loved have Ivy and Genesis. I personally adore the baby stage, where as Jake likes it when they get to the age where they can play and understand him better :) I think most guys are like that. It's wonderful to dream about the future, someday when we are old and alone, that we have children "out there" who can come home for the Holidays or drop us calls/notes if they need us. We want our home to always be full of family and the love that goes with that. We are so excited!
Cream Cheese Jello Fruit Dish
1 box flavored jello of your choice (I love to try the weird ones)
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 can mandarin oranges
1/2 can crushed or chunk pineapple
1/2 tin whipped topping
Follow instructions on jello box. Let jello firm about half way. Add softened cream cheese, fruit and whipped topping. Beat together (with electric beater), just till mixed. Put back in refrigerator, let firm up all the way. Yummy!
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