Eden Gabrielle Thomas came into this world at 9:05 pm on Wednesday, January 16th! Mom and baby are both doing well after about an 18 hour labor and delivery! I called again this morning and they were both sleeping so I think that's a good sign! Congratulations Jeanne and JT! What a little blessing you have!
Eden's stats -
8 lbs 0 oz.
20 1/2 inches long
She had very good Apgar scores and has a full head of fuzzy brown hair (just like her mommy had when she was born!). And according to Grandma and Grandpa she's very alert, looks around a lot and is absolutely beautiful! :) I guess she really likes to suck (on anything according to her mommy!) and is already enjoying this eating thing quite a bit!
I can't wait to meet you baby Eden! I'm counting down the days until next Friday! Now it's my turn to be the baby hog in the family :)
Pictures coming soon!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Makenna - 3 1/2 Years Old
All About Makenna at 3 1/2 years old....
This year her 1/2 birthday is extra special because she actually gets to celebrate it at school (since she's a summer birthday). She is so excited! And to top it off, her 1/2 birthday fell on pajama day at school so she got to wear her favorite duckie pajamas to school this morning for her 1/2 birthday! :)
Nicknames: Kenna, Nenna, Nenna Benna (anything that rhymes with "enna"), Buddy, Peanut
Weight & Height: Believe it or not she hasn't grown much since her 3rd birthday (3 ft 5 in) but has continued to gain weight. She has finally filled out a little bit!
Hair: Still long blond wispy hair. She gave herself yet another haircut just after Christmas so we now have two different layers of bangs. So much for growing them out for the last year and a half!!! I've debated about growing out all of her bangs but the lady that cuts her hair told me that she has a smaller forehead and that her hair will constantly be in her eyes if I grow them out. Since she despises ponytails and barrettes, I'm thinking it's not a good idea until she's old enough to keep her hair out of her face herself.
Favorite foods: brats, hamburger pizza, jelly beans, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
Favorite Drink: Mostly she just drinks skim milk, water and watered down apple juice. For a treat every once in awhile she'll have chocolate milk and hot chocolate with marshmallows after playing in the snow :) Oh and Daddy let her try his blue Powerade once and she thought that was pretty cool!
Favorite toys: Care Bears continue to be a big hit around our house and the amount of Care Bear equipment has multiplied exponentially in the last few months thanks to Poppy and Peepie (see picture below!). And our latest imagination game is role playing the story of Cinderella over and over and over. And of course we have to get all dressed up to fit the part! She also likes to play games (memory, Candyland) and do puzzles.
Favorite stuffed animal: Duckie
Favorite Books: The Five Little Monkeys books
Bedtime: We try to start heading to bed around 7:30 pm and most of the time she will fall asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow. Right now bedtime has been a little later though... we got off due to the holidays.
Wake-up time: If she could continue on the schedule she has going right now, she would prefer to wake up at 8:30 am everyday. But that doesn't work too well for preschool and other activities so if she's not up already I try to wake her up by 7:45/8:00 am. The other day she shocked us all by sleeping in until 10:00 am! I couldn't believe it! I tried to wake her up a few times but she wouldn't budge... Josh told me to let her sleep in case she was coming down with something. Come to find out she was just catching up on some sleep :)
Naps: Almost nonexistent. Took a few naps over the holidays due to having a cold.
Favorite person: Her best friends from preschool, Hanna and Emilee. And her best friend at church, Zariya.
Latest Accomplishment: Writing her name and Maryn's name, sounding out letters and being able to identify what letter a word starts with by sounding it out, she's very interested in trying to spell words and read, figuring out how to rhyme words
Likes: PRESCHOOL, playing in the snow, anything to do with the Princesses (especially Cinderella)
Dislikes: wearing socks, being too warm, if her shirt sleeve gets caught up in her coat when she puts it on
What gets said about Makenna most often: I think it's the same answer that I give for this one every time - that she is tall for her age or that she is actually older than she is
Best known for: being very outgoing, her yellow duck
Fears: the window in her room and the noises that come from it at night (mostly the wind)
Favorite shows: Cinderella movie that she got from Santa Claus Health: Very healthy. Her eczema seems to have all but disappeared this winter - YEAH! The doctor said there was a good chance that would happen as she got older! We've also been testing out her pea allergy and I think that may have gone away with age as well. She's actually really excited about this... she wants to eat peas because Maryn does :)
How she's like Daddy: She has a huge heart! Loves wrestling and has a killer single leg!
How she's like Mommy: She's very nurturing and a little mommy to Maryn
Interesting Tidbits: Makenna snores. Yes, our 3 year old snores! She will also call me mama (as opposed to the typical mommy) when she thinks she's in trouble :) She must think it's more endearing and she's trying to sweeten me up!
This year her 1/2 birthday is extra special because she actually gets to celebrate it at school (since she's a summer birthday). She is so excited! And to top it off, her 1/2 birthday fell on pajama day at school so she got to wear her favorite duckie pajamas to school this morning for her 1/2 birthday! :)
Nicknames: Kenna, Nenna, Nenna Benna (anything that rhymes with "enna"), Buddy, Peanut
Weight & Height: Believe it or not she hasn't grown much since her 3rd birthday (3 ft 5 in) but has continued to gain weight. She has finally filled out a little bit!
Hair: Still long blond wispy hair. She gave herself yet another haircut just after Christmas so we now have two different layers of bangs. So much for growing them out for the last year and a half!!! I've debated about growing out all of her bangs but the lady that cuts her hair told me that she has a smaller forehead and that her hair will constantly be in her eyes if I grow them out. Since she despises ponytails and barrettes, I'm thinking it's not a good idea until she's old enough to keep her hair out of her face herself.
Favorite foods: brats, hamburger pizza, jelly beans, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
Favorite Drink: Mostly she just drinks skim milk, water and watered down apple juice. For a treat every once in awhile she'll have chocolate milk and hot chocolate with marshmallows after playing in the snow :) Oh and Daddy let her try his blue Powerade once and she thought that was pretty cool!
Favorite toys: Care Bears continue to be a big hit around our house and the amount of Care Bear equipment has multiplied exponentially in the last few months thanks to Poppy and Peepie (see picture below!). And our latest imagination game is role playing the story of Cinderella over and over and over. And of course we have to get all dressed up to fit the part! She also likes to play games (memory, Candyland) and do puzzles.
Favorite stuffed animal: Duckie
Favorite Books: The Five Little Monkeys books
Bedtime: We try to start heading to bed around 7:30 pm and most of the time she will fall asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow. Right now bedtime has been a little later though... we got off due to the holidays.
Wake-up time: If she could continue on the schedule she has going right now, she would prefer to wake up at 8:30 am everyday. But that doesn't work too well for preschool and other activities so if she's not up already I try to wake her up by 7:45/8:00 am. The other day she shocked us all by sleeping in until 10:00 am! I couldn't believe it! I tried to wake her up a few times but she wouldn't budge... Josh told me to let her sleep in case she was coming down with something. Come to find out she was just catching up on some sleep :)
Naps: Almost nonexistent. Took a few naps over the holidays due to having a cold.
Favorite person: Her best friends from preschool, Hanna and Emilee. And her best friend at church, Zariya.
Latest Accomplishment: Writing her name and Maryn's name, sounding out letters and being able to identify what letter a word starts with by sounding it out, she's very interested in trying to spell words and read, figuring out how to rhyme words
Likes: PRESCHOOL, playing in the snow, anything to do with the Princesses (especially Cinderella)
Dislikes: wearing socks, being too warm, if her shirt sleeve gets caught up in her coat when she puts it on
What gets said about Makenna most often: I think it's the same answer that I give for this one every time - that she is tall for her age or that she is actually older than she is
Best known for: being very outgoing, her yellow duck
Fears: the window in her room and the noises that come from it at night (mostly the wind)
Favorite shows: Cinderella movie that she got from Santa Claus Health: Very healthy. Her eczema seems to have all but disappeared this winter - YEAH! The doctor said there was a good chance that would happen as she got older! We've also been testing out her pea allergy and I think that may have gone away with age as well. She's actually really excited about this... she wants to eat peas because Maryn does :)
How she's like Daddy: She has a huge heart! Loves wrestling and has a killer single leg!
How she's like Mommy: She's very nurturing and a little mommy to Maryn
Interesting Tidbits: Makenna snores. Yes, our 3 year old snores! She will also call me mama (as opposed to the typical mommy) when she thinks she's in trouble :) She must think it's more endearing and she's trying to sweeten me up!
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
A Day Of Ouchies
Maryn had a really rough day yesterday. She just seemed to keep getting hurt. We were at Bible study in the morning and she roamed into the next room and ended up hurt somehow (even though there was nothing in the room). The only thing I could see was an outlet and I pray she didn't get shocked. Then she touched a warm space heater at Bible study as well... luckily I don't think it burned her but it sure did scare her for awhile. Then yesterday afternoon she was grabbing for some crackers in the pantry and she toppled over the graham cracker box. She immediately started screaming but I was standing right there and didn't think it had hit her so I couldn't figure it out. I immediately started looking at her foot because I thought that was the only place it might have hit her. Well after examining her foot for awhile I looked up at her face and she had this big bloody scratch down her cheek. Apparently the edge of the box grazed her on its way down. It looks much worse than it actually is, but she sure screamed at the time. Poor thing. She's been doing so well at not getting many ouchies lately (especially considering how active and daring she can be) so hopefully we filled her quota for awhile yesterday.
Some pics of the most recent ouchie...
Some pics of the most recent ouchie...
Monday, January 14, 2008
My Favorite Things
Even though I haven't seen it in years, I always used to love watching the episode where Oprah shared her favorite things (and then of course gave them to everyone in the audience!). Anyway, as I was making a typical peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Makenna for lunch I got to thinking about how much I love the bread and jelly that I was using. So I decided to make a Favorite Things list regarding the things that this particular mom can't live without :) Some of these ideas were passed on to me from other moms so I thought I'd pass them along to anyone else out there who might be interested. And no, my list is not as extravagant as Oprah's :)
When it comes to food...
Sara Lee Whole Grain White Bread - Perfect combination for our family... we LOVE the taste of white bread but I can't stand that it has absolutely no nutritional value. This product has all the nutrients and dietary fiber of whole grain wheat bread.
Birds Eye Steamfresh Vegetables - Easy, delicious vegetables in just a matter of minutes. You take the bag directly out the freezer (don't need to dirty any pots or pans!) and put it in the microwave for 5 minutes or so and you have delicious vegetables for dinner! Our favorites are the broccoli and peas!
Squeezable Jelly - Doesn't matter the brand, I just hate trying to get jelly out of a regular jar with a knife. This is a much cleaner option.
Kraft Macaroni N Cheese Whole Grain - This is a new product that I love! Now that I can actually make a kiddo favorite with some dietary fiber in it I don't feel quite so guilty when they ask for this for lunch!
Eggo Frozen Whole Grain Waffles - Quick, easy and very healthy breakfast or snack! Also comes in Whole Grain blueberry waffles now too!
Morningstar Chicken Nuggets (and other frozen products) - Another product I just recently discovered. Again, chicken nuggets were a kiddo favorite that I hated serving to my kids because they are so unhealthy but now I have Morningstar. Keep in mind they are actually made with soy protein and they're vegetarian but they actually taste better than the real thing and they're loaded with nutrients and all that stuff that makes kids grow!
Petite Carrots - Makenna loves carrots but I am always so leery because I'm afraid she's going to choke. So just recently I found a bag of Petite Carrots in the store. Basically they are the same thing as Baby Carrots only much smaller and skinnier and thus less of a risk of choking.
Cleaning Products...
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
Hand Sanitizer/Wipes - Josh would probably tell you that I'm obsessed about hand sanitizing...
Foam Hand Soap - Helps kids really learn to lather the soap for good handwashing skills.
Shout Spray
Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface Daily Sanitizing Spray- Safe around kids... you can use it on high chairs, toys, etc and don't have to worry about your kids ingesting the chemicals like in other harsh cleaning products.
Microsteam Bags - Couldn't have lived with out these bags when I was breastfeeding and had to constantly boil and sterilize all the equipment and bottle parts. Three easy minutes in the microwave with these bags and you're set to go!
Toys...
Leap Frog ABC Frig Magnets - I am convinced that this toy (along with parent interaction of course) helped Makenna to learn to identify over half of the alphabet before she was 3 and the rest of it within a few weeks of her 3rd birthday. The toy is now helping her to sound out words and getting her excited about spelling words.
Color Wonder products - Genius!
Washable Crayons, Markers, Paints - Once again, Genius!
Anything by the brand Melissa & Doug - This brand of toy typically is all hard wood and is kind of a throw back to some of the toys you would have seen in the past. I love the durability and simplicity of these toys.
Books...
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child - This book is the basis for all my decisions regarding sleep with my children. My kids have sleep schedules that most people only dream of and I give all the credit to this book.
Clothes...
Adjustable Waist Band Pants - Don't know what I would have done without these for my extremely tall and skinny toddler
Old Navy Socks - I don't know about anyone else but I have just piles of kid socks that don't have matches or know what sizes they are. All Old Navy socks (and I believe Target might make the same thing now too) have the skids on the bottom of the socks (which totally helps prevent my girls from slipping on the wood floors) and the skids spell out what size they are so you aren't constantly guessing!
Carter's Fleece Sleepers - I love footie sleepers for babies and young toddlers and I think Carter's makes some of the best (softest) sleepers out there. Since Makenna's been potty-trained I don't like her to wear one-piece sleepers (she always looked too cold taking off all her clothes in the winter to go to the bathroom!) so Carter's also makes nice fleece 2 piece pajamas for the older kids as well.
Gerber short-sleeved onesies - I'm kind of a nut about keeping my kids warm when they're babies so I have piles and piles of Gerber white short-sleeved onesies. My kids wear them under everything (during the winter at least) until they're about 2. I'm still using the same onesies I bought with Makenna and for the amount of wear and washing they have gone through they have held up considerably well.
Other Random Products...
Sippy Cups - My carpet and couch say thank you!
Aveeno Sunscreen - Only sunscreen that allows Makenna to go out in the sun without breaking out into a horrible rash.
A & D Ointment - Clears up a diaper rash in less than a day.
There are probably lots more but that's what I could come up with off the top of my head. If anyone has anything else to add, please feel free to leave it in the comments section.
When it comes to food...
Sara Lee Whole Grain White Bread - Perfect combination for our family... we LOVE the taste of white bread but I can't stand that it has absolutely no nutritional value. This product has all the nutrients and dietary fiber of whole grain wheat bread.
Birds Eye Steamfresh Vegetables - Easy, delicious vegetables in just a matter of minutes. You take the bag directly out the freezer (don't need to dirty any pots or pans!) and put it in the microwave for 5 minutes or so and you have delicious vegetables for dinner! Our favorites are the broccoli and peas!
Squeezable Jelly - Doesn't matter the brand, I just hate trying to get jelly out of a regular jar with a knife. This is a much cleaner option.
Kraft Macaroni N Cheese Whole Grain - This is a new product that I love! Now that I can actually make a kiddo favorite with some dietary fiber in it I don't feel quite so guilty when they ask for this for lunch!
Eggo Frozen Whole Grain Waffles - Quick, easy and very healthy breakfast or snack! Also comes in Whole Grain blueberry waffles now too!
Morningstar Chicken Nuggets (and other frozen products) - Another product I just recently discovered. Again, chicken nuggets were a kiddo favorite that I hated serving to my kids because they are so unhealthy but now I have Morningstar. Keep in mind they are actually made with soy protein and they're vegetarian but they actually taste better than the real thing and they're loaded with nutrients and all that stuff that makes kids grow!
Petite Carrots - Makenna loves carrots but I am always so leery because I'm afraid she's going to choke. So just recently I found a bag of Petite Carrots in the store. Basically they are the same thing as Baby Carrots only much smaller and skinnier and thus less of a risk of choking.
Cleaning Products...
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
Hand Sanitizer/Wipes - Josh would probably tell you that I'm obsessed about hand sanitizing...
Foam Hand Soap - Helps kids really learn to lather the soap for good handwashing skills.
Shout Spray
Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface Daily Sanitizing Spray- Safe around kids... you can use it on high chairs, toys, etc and don't have to worry about your kids ingesting the chemicals like in other harsh cleaning products.
Microsteam Bags - Couldn't have lived with out these bags when I was breastfeeding and had to constantly boil and sterilize all the equipment and bottle parts. Three easy minutes in the microwave with these bags and you're set to go!
Toys...
Leap Frog ABC Frig Magnets - I am convinced that this toy (along with parent interaction of course) helped Makenna to learn to identify over half of the alphabet before she was 3 and the rest of it within a few weeks of her 3rd birthday. The toy is now helping her to sound out words and getting her excited about spelling words.
Color Wonder products - Genius!
Washable Crayons, Markers, Paints - Once again, Genius!
Anything by the brand Melissa & Doug - This brand of toy typically is all hard wood and is kind of a throw back to some of the toys you would have seen in the past. I love the durability and simplicity of these toys.
Books...
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child - This book is the basis for all my decisions regarding sleep with my children. My kids have sleep schedules that most people only dream of and I give all the credit to this book.
Clothes...
Adjustable Waist Band Pants - Don't know what I would have done without these for my extremely tall and skinny toddler
Old Navy Socks - I don't know about anyone else but I have just piles of kid socks that don't have matches or know what sizes they are. All Old Navy socks (and I believe Target might make the same thing now too) have the skids on the bottom of the socks (which totally helps prevent my girls from slipping on the wood floors) and the skids spell out what size they are so you aren't constantly guessing!
Carter's Fleece Sleepers - I love footie sleepers for babies and young toddlers and I think Carter's makes some of the best (softest) sleepers out there. Since Makenna's been potty-trained I don't like her to wear one-piece sleepers (she always looked too cold taking off all her clothes in the winter to go to the bathroom!) so Carter's also makes nice fleece 2 piece pajamas for the older kids as well.
Gerber short-sleeved onesies - I'm kind of a nut about keeping my kids warm when they're babies so I have piles and piles of Gerber white short-sleeved onesies. My kids wear them under everything (during the winter at least) until they're about 2. I'm still using the same onesies I bought with Makenna and for the amount of wear and washing they have gone through they have held up considerably well.
Other Random Products...
Sippy Cups - My carpet and couch say thank you!
Aveeno Sunscreen - Only sunscreen that allows Makenna to go out in the sun without breaking out into a horrible rash.
A & D Ointment - Clears up a diaper rash in less than a day.
There are probably lots more but that's what I could come up with off the top of my head. If anyone has anything else to add, please feel free to leave it in the comments section.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Climbing Monster
Some cute little tidbits about the girls...
A while back Makenna was trying to understand the difference between eyelashes, eyelids and eyebrows (all very confusing to a 3 year old since they are start with "eye"). We were working on this and then I pointed to her nostrils and asked her if she knew what that was called. She thought for a moment and then answered "that's what I pick!" Great! Not the answer I was looking for! The weird part about it is she doesn't even pick her nose that much (yes she's a typical toddler so it does happen every once in awhile!) so I was shocked she connected that.
Maryn has been eating quite a bit lately. I think she's hit a growth spurt because I've also noticed some of her clothes are shorter/tighter on her. Anyway I usually start her off with one thing on her tray, add a second after she gets going and then a third if she's still hungry or wanting something else. The newest thing she has started doing is if she is chewing a piece of food in her mouth and I put something new on her plate and that looks better to her she will pull the piece of food she is chewing on out of her mouth so she can eat the new food! No use wasting time when there's better food to be eaten! She does it almost every time! It cracks me up! I've started waiting on giving her alternative options with her food until she's done with her "first" course.
The other day we were driving in the car and I had the radio on some random station and a Prince song came on. Almost in unison the girls start jamming in their car seats, really putting their seatbelts to good use :) I really do not care for Prince so after 30 seconds of jamming I tried to turn the station and they both screeched so I obviously had to turn it back. After the song was over, a Lenny Kravitz song came on the radio and Makenna asked "Mommy can we listen to that girl sing again." Yes you can laugh out loud just like I did :)
We affectionately call Maryn our climbing monster. She climbs everything... and if she isn't big enough to propel herself onto something she will at least give it a good try. Needless to say, the gate we have at the bottom of the stairs has proved itself useless lately. She has discovered how to get it down. The funny part is that she just wants to sit one step up on the other side of the gate, she won't even try to go all the way up the stairs. Anyway, the other day we had just gotten home from the grocery store and I was trying to quick get all my frozen/cold foods in the refrigerator. The girls were running around and I was worried that Maryn would try to take down the gate and scale the stairs while I was busy so I asked Makenna to watch her and keep her off the stairs. Everything seemed to be going well, I got my groceries put away and went out in the living room to check on them and I am so touched by what I found... Makenna laying her entire body along the bottom of the stairs (hands hanging on to one side, toes touching the other) and she told me "Mommy I no want Maryn to get hurt." What a protective, sweet big sister! I was so filled with pride of what a nice person she is! She has done this exact same thing a few more times since then to protect Maryn from the stairs.
I don't know if it's the New Year or what, but Josh and I have been bitten by the organization/cleaning bug lately. It all started when we cleaned our entire basement over the New Years holiday. It desperately needed to be done and we felt so good when it was finished. So I just decided to keep on going and I've cleaned all but one of the closets in our house and I cleaned and rearranged all of our kitchen cupboards! I even decided to clean all the blinds in our house. Keep in mind that we have many, many large windows in our house and our blinds are wood so you can't take them down and spray them off. I cleaned each little wood slat individually. Painstaking process, but nice to have it done. Don't know about all of you, but definitely not something I do every month in my cleaning rotation ;)
A while back Makenna was trying to understand the difference between eyelashes, eyelids and eyebrows (all very confusing to a 3 year old since they are start with "eye"). We were working on this and then I pointed to her nostrils and asked her if she knew what that was called. She thought for a moment and then answered "that's what I pick!" Great! Not the answer I was looking for! The weird part about it is she doesn't even pick her nose that much (yes she's a typical toddler so it does happen every once in awhile!) so I was shocked she connected that.
Maryn has been eating quite a bit lately. I think she's hit a growth spurt because I've also noticed some of her clothes are shorter/tighter on her. Anyway I usually start her off with one thing on her tray, add a second after she gets going and then a third if she's still hungry or wanting something else. The newest thing she has started doing is if she is chewing a piece of food in her mouth and I put something new on her plate and that looks better to her she will pull the piece of food she is chewing on out of her mouth so she can eat the new food! No use wasting time when there's better food to be eaten! She does it almost every time! It cracks me up! I've started waiting on giving her alternative options with her food until she's done with her "first" course.
The other day we were driving in the car and I had the radio on some random station and a Prince song came on. Almost in unison the girls start jamming in their car seats, really putting their seatbelts to good use :) I really do not care for Prince so after 30 seconds of jamming I tried to turn the station and they both screeched so I obviously had to turn it back. After the song was over, a Lenny Kravitz song came on the radio and Makenna asked "Mommy can we listen to that girl sing again." Yes you can laugh out loud just like I did :)
We affectionately call Maryn our climbing monster. She climbs everything... and if she isn't big enough to propel herself onto something she will at least give it a good try. Needless to say, the gate we have at the bottom of the stairs has proved itself useless lately. She has discovered how to get it down. The funny part is that she just wants to sit one step up on the other side of the gate, she won't even try to go all the way up the stairs. Anyway, the other day we had just gotten home from the grocery store and I was trying to quick get all my frozen/cold foods in the refrigerator. The girls were running around and I was worried that Maryn would try to take down the gate and scale the stairs while I was busy so I asked Makenna to watch her and keep her off the stairs. Everything seemed to be going well, I got my groceries put away and went out in the living room to check on them and I am so touched by what I found... Makenna laying her entire body along the bottom of the stairs (hands hanging on to one side, toes touching the other) and she told me "Mommy I no want Maryn to get hurt." What a protective, sweet big sister! I was so filled with pride of what a nice person she is! She has done this exact same thing a few more times since then to protect Maryn from the stairs.
I don't know if it's the New Year or what, but Josh and I have been bitten by the organization/cleaning bug lately. It all started when we cleaned our entire basement over the New Years holiday. It desperately needed to be done and we felt so good when it was finished. So I just decided to keep on going and I've cleaned all but one of the closets in our house and I cleaned and rearranged all of our kitchen cupboards! I even decided to clean all the blinds in our house. Keep in mind that we have many, many large windows in our house and our blinds are wood so you can't take them down and spray them off. I cleaned each little wood slat individually. Painstaking process, but nice to have it done. Don't know about all of you, but definitely not something I do every month in my cleaning rotation ;)
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Miscellaneous
Just some miscellaneous things to catch up on...
Thanks to everyone for being so concerned about Josh after his accident. He is still feeling fine (no aches or pains) and things are going as well as can be expected with the insurance companies and getting the truck fixed. It seemed like things went back and forth for awhile regarding if they would total out the truck or not, but they decided against it in the end. They claim it is all fixable and they agreed to do so with Ford factory parts and not generics (I guess they typically won't do this but agreed to since the truck is only 6 months old). Apparently we lucked out and the people at the auto body shop say that the lady that hit Josh has a very good insurance company (Grinnell Mutual) to work with. That's a relief. They agreed that if they get to working on the car and find more damage that they would reassess if it needs to be totaled out at that point and would obviously pay for any more damage that wasn't caught the first time around. Other than that, the guy that will be working on the truck claims that he can make it look just like new. Oh and it won't have a salvage title on it, which was important for us regarding resale. I didn't understand why, but they assured us it won't. Now I'm just praying that it will drive normal and not have some annoying ticking noise or something like that.
Maryn is getting so big and has taken off in regards to her speech and communication. There are few words that other people can understand, but Josh and I (and Makenna for that matter) understand quite a bit of what she is trying to communicate. One of the things I remember very clearly about this age with Makenna was being overly frustrated by not being able to understand what she was trying to communicate. This time around I'm not sure if Maryn is a better communicator or if I'm better at reading young kids (or a combination), but I feel like I understand at least 85% of what she is trying to say to me. I think that is amazing considering that she is not even 16 months old yet. She seems to listen intently to everything we are saying and answers with a yes or a no or makes a motion of some sort. Lately she has been working on animal sounds or repeating sounds from a book, with the cutest definitely being when she says "ooh ooh ahh ahh" like a monkey :) Maryn continues to be our happy baby. Most of the time you can find her toddling around our house with a big goofy grin on her face :)
Makenna started back to preschool today and I think we are all glad to be back in a routine after the holidays. She also starts back up with ballet classes again today. I'm not quite sure how that is going to turn out though because she keeps telling me that she wants to do gymnastics instead of ballet. How do you explain to a 3 year old that I already signed her up and paid for her class and we can't change our mind now? She doesn't quite get it. Oh well. Hopefully she'll get there and remember how fun ballet was and enjoy that for the time being.
In other exciting news in our family, my sister is extremely pregnant and ready to have her baby any day! According to the due date they were going by she is 38 weeks, but going by the info she got at her OB appointment yesterday I'm going to guess that some of her other ultrasound due dates are a little more accurate (they would put her closer to 39 weeks right now). We can't wait to meet our newest cousin and niece!! Here's a picture of my sister's big belly :)
As Makenna put it when she saw this picture "That's Nene with her baby in her tummy! Oh I love Nene and her baby tummy!"
Thanks to everyone for being so concerned about Josh after his accident. He is still feeling fine (no aches or pains) and things are going as well as can be expected with the insurance companies and getting the truck fixed. It seemed like things went back and forth for awhile regarding if they would total out the truck or not, but they decided against it in the end. They claim it is all fixable and they agreed to do so with Ford factory parts and not generics (I guess they typically won't do this but agreed to since the truck is only 6 months old). Apparently we lucked out and the people at the auto body shop say that the lady that hit Josh has a very good insurance company (Grinnell Mutual) to work with. That's a relief. They agreed that if they get to working on the car and find more damage that they would reassess if it needs to be totaled out at that point and would obviously pay for any more damage that wasn't caught the first time around. Other than that, the guy that will be working on the truck claims that he can make it look just like new. Oh and it won't have a salvage title on it, which was important for us regarding resale. I didn't understand why, but they assured us it won't. Now I'm just praying that it will drive normal and not have some annoying ticking noise or something like that.
Maryn is getting so big and has taken off in regards to her speech and communication. There are few words that other people can understand, but Josh and I (and Makenna for that matter) understand quite a bit of what she is trying to communicate. One of the things I remember very clearly about this age with Makenna was being overly frustrated by not being able to understand what she was trying to communicate. This time around I'm not sure if Maryn is a better communicator or if I'm better at reading young kids (or a combination), but I feel like I understand at least 85% of what she is trying to say to me. I think that is amazing considering that she is not even 16 months old yet. She seems to listen intently to everything we are saying and answers with a yes or a no or makes a motion of some sort. Lately she has been working on animal sounds or repeating sounds from a book, with the cutest definitely being when she says "ooh ooh ahh ahh" like a monkey :) Maryn continues to be our happy baby. Most of the time you can find her toddling around our house with a big goofy grin on her face :)
Makenna started back to preschool today and I think we are all glad to be back in a routine after the holidays. She also starts back up with ballet classes again today. I'm not quite sure how that is going to turn out though because she keeps telling me that she wants to do gymnastics instead of ballet. How do you explain to a 3 year old that I already signed her up and paid for her class and we can't change our mind now? She doesn't quite get it. Oh well. Hopefully she'll get there and remember how fun ballet was and enjoy that for the time being.
In other exciting news in our family, my sister is extremely pregnant and ready to have her baby any day! According to the due date they were going by she is 38 weeks, but going by the info she got at her OB appointment yesterday I'm going to guess that some of her other ultrasound due dates are a little more accurate (they would put her closer to 39 weeks right now). We can't wait to meet our newest cousin and niece!! Here's a picture of my sister's big belly :)
As Makenna put it when she saw this picture "That's Nene with her baby in her tummy! Oh I love Nene and her baby tummy!"
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
2008 - So Far, Not So Great
Well our 2008 got off to a very rough start - Josh was in a car accident on the way to work this morning (and even more frustrating is that he wasn't even suppose to be going into work this morning - someone accidentally scheduled an early morning conference call for him on his day off). First and foremost, he is fine and wasn't hurt. Thank God. I can't tell you how many times I've said that today. He was only about a mile and a half away from our house on Alburnett Rd. A lady was driving towards him (55 mph zone) and hit a bad snow drift in her lane, lost control of her car and was headed head-on with Josh. Luckily Josh had a split-second to react and he swerved onto the shoulder and she hit his driver's side rear door and the bed of his truck head on. The impact of her hitting him sent his truck spinning in circles but luckily it remained upright and didn't go too far. The other woman's car was well into the corn field across the street. Luckily it was very early this morning so there wasn't much traffic yet otherwise I'm sure it would have been a much worse scene as both Josh and the other vehicle spun into the opposite lanes. The woman who hit Josh is also okay. I think both Josh and the woman are lucky that they were driving larger vehicles (she had an SUV) as I think both of them would have been injured if littler cars would have been involved.
Besides being overly relieved that Josh is okay, everything logistically speaking is going as well as can be expected. The woman accepted full responsibility for the accident and got a ticket for the accident. So that was nice not to have a battle about who was at fault. She also is insured so that is another relief... we've had friends that have been dealing with an accident with an uninsured driver and it was a nightmare. The woman was overly apologetic to Josh and nice to deal with. The sheriff's on duty were very nice and understanding. Driving up to the scene and seeing all the lights on the cop cars going, cops all over, the road shut down and seeing the beat up car in the corn field... my heart just sank knowing that Josh was involved in this and was walking away just fine. It's hard to think that the person that you love most in this world was that close to being severely injured or worse. Once again, our guardian angels were working overtime this morning.
It's a moot point with all things considered, but Josh's truck is pretty beat up. It was definitely not driveable this morning and I guess we're waiting to see if it is fixable. She nailed the driver's side door, bed of the truck, a wheel and an axel for sure, who knows what else. I feel bad for Josh that he worked so hard to get his new truck and then when it's only 6 months old someone ruins it. And this for the guy who purposely parks at the back of the parking so no one will knick the doors. :( Frustrating and quite the bummer. But as Josh said over and over again this morning, it's only a truck, it's replaceable. We'll take minor mishaps anyday over the major ones and we'll continue to thank God that Josh didn't get hurt. As long as the four of us are together and healthy and safe, we'll be thankful for the abundant blessings that God has given us!
Besides being overly relieved that Josh is okay, everything logistically speaking is going as well as can be expected. The woman accepted full responsibility for the accident and got a ticket for the accident. So that was nice not to have a battle about who was at fault. She also is insured so that is another relief... we've had friends that have been dealing with an accident with an uninsured driver and it was a nightmare. The woman was overly apologetic to Josh and nice to deal with. The sheriff's on duty were very nice and understanding. Driving up to the scene and seeing all the lights on the cop cars going, cops all over, the road shut down and seeing the beat up car in the corn field... my heart just sank knowing that Josh was involved in this and was walking away just fine. It's hard to think that the person that you love most in this world was that close to being severely injured or worse. Once again, our guardian angels were working overtime this morning.
It's a moot point with all things considered, but Josh's truck is pretty beat up. It was definitely not driveable this morning and I guess we're waiting to see if it is fixable. She nailed the driver's side door, bed of the truck, a wheel and an axel for sure, who knows what else. I feel bad for Josh that he worked so hard to get his new truck and then when it's only 6 months old someone ruins it. And this for the guy who purposely parks at the back of the parking so no one will knick the doors. :( Frustrating and quite the bummer. But as Josh said over and over again this morning, it's only a truck, it's replaceable. We'll take minor mishaps anyday over the major ones and we'll continue to thank God that Josh didn't get hurt. As long as the four of us are together and healthy and safe, we'll be thankful for the abundant blessings that God has given us!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy 2008!
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great first day of 2008! We relaxed for most of New Years Eve and New Years Day and then had some friends come over to watch the Rose Bowl tonight. The girls had fun playing with their little friends and mommy and daddy enjoyed some adult conversation! I finally got some pictures of the girls in their Christmas dresses today! Better late than never!
Beautiful Budke girls!
We had a hard time getting her to put this bottle down so we could take some pictures.
She looks so grown-up!
A good case of the giggles...
Why is it so hard to pose toddlers for pictures?
Absolutely gorgeous smile!
Wanting to play tea party in our pretty dresses :)
Girls having a tea party!
Beautiful Budke girls!
We had a hard time getting her to put this bottle down so we could take some pictures.
She looks so grown-up!
A good case of the giggles...
Why is it so hard to pose toddlers for pictures?
Absolutely gorgeous smile!
Wanting to play tea party in our pretty dresses :)
Girls having a tea party!
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