Kite Koop

Chestnuts Roasting by an Open Fire..

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 19:16:00 +0000

Merry Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas a little early this year. Since the day fell on a Sunday, we wanted to do the presents the morning before, and have Sunday be a day focused solely on Christ' arrival.

Earlier this week we allowed the kids (and us) to camp out under the tree and by the fireplace all night while watching Polar Express until they fell asleep. But the festivities really started with egg nog French toast for lunch and a ride on the Polar Express train on Thursday night (the coldest, windiest day ever). The kids had no idea what we were doing until they saw the train pull up, and it was a hit for sure! They came back with stories to tell, bells from Santa's sleigh and golden tickets (punched, of course). Jacob did tell me that they didn't visit the real North Pole - it was pretend because they apparently only went like 5 houses, maybe 4 away from where they started. That kid cracks me up.

Waiting in line for the train...

On board the train

The next night we had a small candlelight carol service at home and prepared for Santa's arrival with milk and cookies. Although, Jacob did manage to find the unwrapped presents in our guest room. Oops. Even though I was certain that the "magic" was over, he still believed that Santa came last night. At least he led us to believe it anyway.

Looking out for Santa...

Carols by candlelight

Today, we awoke to snow falling outside. The kids excitedly opened their gifts (this year's gifts were quite a hit - and aside from one gift for Andrew and a secondary Wii remote, none of the gifts require batteries), though they had fevers and were sick (presumably from the cold night at the train tracks) and I made my famous cider on the crock pot.

We settled on me making Jesus's birthday pie today and a lovely homemade ham and mozzarella loaf with eggs for dinner. After dinner we will tell the story of Jesus's birth from the Bible while the kids play with their new nativity set from Nana and Glenpa, sing some praise songs and drive to see some lights around town. Tomorrow we will go to church, hopefully help out at the orphanage in the afternoon (if the kids are better - otherwise, we may have to do it the next day) and feast on some roasted chicken.

Now, they are all napping, awaiting the arrival of Jojo and Granddad any minute. Even the dogs are fast asleep after a long romp and chew (on their new "knuckles") outside in the snow. And I will be watching Elf. And maybe Christmas Vacation and It's a Wonderful Life later this weekend.

Mr. Big Stuff is 1 Month Old!

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:39:00 +0000

Can you believe it's been a month already?!?!? I can't.

Andrew's body and rest of his head finally caught up with his cheeks and double chin. He doesn't look so disproportioned to me any longer. And he's starting to look cuter and less like a turtle. :) His chest is so big around now, too. What a bruiser he is. Derek and I tease each other saying that he will be the one that his older siblings call upon when they need bully help. We call him "Mr. Big Stuff" and even sing that song to him all the time - all 4 of us.

He's got cute fuzzy blond hair already (most babies don't have visible hair yet) on his skinny chicken legs, so we think he'll be like dad. And also like the Kite family, little Drew purses his lips and sneezes big like Jojo. He also burps big and makes lots of stretching noises when he sleeps. A lot.

When he cries, he eventually stops on his own and falls asleep - which is SOOOOO unlike Jacob was. He would keep crying until he'd make himself vomit. I can't remember if Shealyn every stopped on her own, as I don't like to let them cry for much longer than like a second, but in the car sometimes there is nothing we can do. I do remember Shealyn crying in the car and she would get so very hot from crying that I had to stop and take her out of her car seat for a while. I would even have to strip her of her clothing (in the winter time) until she'd fall asleep and I could resume driving. But we never let her cry for long. Maybe because she's got a set of lungs that could be heard halfway around the world. (Now, she will stop crying on her won and tells us that she's stopped crying.) Andrew isn't very loud and will only cry for a short period of time in the car and then fall asleep.

He's got a very tiny, pointy, bony bum that is so easy to clean, and his head smells so good. I love to kiss and snuggle my face into his head, neck and face, and he absolutely loves it and relaxes when I do. In fact, I can nuzzle my face in his neck all day and both of us would be perfectly content. He enjoys cuddling by the fire - the warmth puts him to sleep. (Did I say that I'm in love?) He is such a sweet little guy, even though most of the time he has a frump face. So serious. Bit who needs a third clown anyway?

His nostrils appear to be big, but if you look into his nose, his nasal passages are tiny. Like his big sister, he is not a spit-up baby. YAY! But like his big brother and sister, he agrees that my milk must be sour. He is gassy and cries at times, but usually only one feeing per day. I call it the "witching hour." Mostly, he's our good, mellow little baby.

This is my last month as a mom with 2 under 2 (Shealyn turns 2 at the end of the month).

Here are tons of pictures and one video. The video is of him smiling when he's going to sleep. I never have a camera nearby when he's smiling at me, so I had to do it when he was sleeping. This was about 2 weeks ago.

A pile of feet (Jacob is on the outside)

Feet line-up - can you tell whose feet are whose? (S, A, J)

Christmas came early

100% Certified Organic

NOT HAPPY

Our Little Sugarplum

A Little of This and That

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:16:00 +0000

Have your New Year's resolutions ready? I never really do and never follow through. However, this year I have an actual plan ready to go. Starting the 1st, I will be doing a 31 days of prayer for my husband. And then in February, I will do the 21 days of prayer for my two sons. And in March 31 days of prayer for my daughter. Last but not least, in April the 12 days of prayer for my children's future spouses. I'm excited to become a better wife and mother!

What I've learned with being a mom of 3 now (and it's not even that hard yet, and Andrew is such a good baby, too) is to not complain how hard it is to be a mom of 2, 3, whatever. I sued to complain at times how difficult it was to have 2 kids. If I had known then what I know now, I would have never complained. It's so much easier having 2 kids. But I still wouldn't trade it for anything. Derek and I really wanted to get over the 2 kids mark, and now we have. (On a side note, I have considered having a fourth, especially since A is so sweet.) Maybe it's been more difficult because he kids have been fussier than usual. At least Shealyn has an excuse. I found out that she's teething, which explains the extra fusses, impatience, shorter nap times and the slight cries while sleeping at night. One and a half of her molars have come in, leaving us with only 22.5 more teeth to go. Unless we do have that fourth child.

Last week we made more homemade peppermint patties to give out while the kids played with peppermint play-doh and colored with Christmas-shaped crayons. We also made snowmen (from food items), colored soap paints, mini gingerbread house (mini is much more manageable for tots), and watercolored in the bathtub. We've also been doing the Jesse Tree Advent activity for toddlers.

Funny saying of the week (from Jacob): "If you don't let me have a snack, I'm just going to eat boogers."

Doing more eating than "making"

Herding Cats

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 04:43:00 +0000

My husband put it best... having 3 kids is like herding cats. Or maybe it's like nailing jello to a tree, as a friend put it. To me, it's like juggling a three ring circus. And I don't juggle.

Notice a growth on my 2 kids?

But they do love each other. Or smother each other.

He's so proud that he can hold his little brother by himself.

Carpooling to "work"

An Artful Kind of Day

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 01:00:00 +0000

Since we've been sick and the weather's been cold, it was definitely an art day. The kids made 2 crafts (reindeer ornament and glitter trees), helped me make glittery peppermint-scented play-dough (then played with it), then helped dad make cookies. All while listening to Christmas music.

Holiday Concert

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Last weekend was a busy one for us with Jacob's Christmas Violin Concert (which went very well), the Science Museum's Christmas festivities right after (with no nap for Shealyn), and then the baby photo shoot for Andrew (which did not go so well). Andrew was not cooperating during his photos- he slept for about 2 minutes and cried for about half the time. All in one day. Then on Sunday, our church class headed up a community outreach church program (which Jacob loved), and went to evening church followed by our new small group (which we also loved, but our kids were completely and utterly fussy almost the entire time).

I also realized that our newborn does NOT look like a newborn. From all the newborns (even some older than mine) that I saw that weekend, ours looks HUGE.

Here are the highlights of J's concert:

And Shealyn "performing":

A few photos before the concert started:

Snow, Sick and Songs

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 04:41:00 +0000

Four out of five of us have been sick (Derek didn't get it). Mostly just a cold, but Shealyn got a stomach bug. But the good news is that we've had snow falling non-stop for the past 2 days (some of them huge and beautiful). Today it was sunny and it started to melt. I'm glad I got my camera out this afternoon before it all melted.

So we have songs for each of our kids and have had them since the day they were born. Andrew now his 2 songs. The traditional version of "Mr. Big Stuff" and one we made up:

Oh me oh my, Andrew he's our guy,

Oh baby Annnn-drew, how we love you

(repeat)

Shealyn's is:

Sweet baby Shea

Sweet baby Shea, you're our little girl, our tiny pearl

Sweet baby Shea

(repeat)

Jacob's is:

I love my little Jacob, I love him yes I do.

I love my little Jacob, his heart is so true.

My Jacob, my Jacob, his little eyes so blue.

My Jacob, my Jacob, my heart belongs to you.

And I love you, do I do.

Look at what the stork brought us!

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:37:00 +0000

A newly hatched early Christmas present...

Santa Baby

November at a Glance

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 03:36:00 +0000

Well, we already know that our turkey was born and Jacob had his first solo recital, but what about the rest of us this past last half of the month?

I've been so busy this past week and a half after Baby A was born! Cleaning, laundry, sorting through baby clothes and the kids' closets and drawers, shopping (Yes, I actually went out less than 4 days after the birth on Black Friday - which is something I have never done and never thought I'd do, baby or no baby), and more. I guess having a newborn doesn't stop me. Even after 3.

However, adjusting to life with 3 won't be easy because S won't leave the baby alone. She's obsessed! She loves him so much and can't understand why she can't hold him ALL. THE. TIME. She keeps kissing him, touching his cheeks, and saying how he's "so little," "so sweet" and "so tiny." And when I'm holding him, she keeps saying how he "needs mommy" (but sometimes she says that he "needs Shealyn." One thing's for sure, Andrew will end up being a tough little boy with all the poking and such. Both kids have made the transition better than I had hoped, especially Shealyn. They fight for who gets to help bring me the Boppy or a blanket for the baby.

We have been so blessed to have had first Nana and Glenpa here (which S calls "Mae-ya," her word for "banana," and "Papa) for 2 full weeks and then Jojo for nearly 2 weeks and Granddad for the last several days. They helped out immensely when I just didn't have the energy or drive to cook and play with the kids before the birth. Then they kept busy in the kitchen and/or with the kids after the birth as well. Too bad Nana and Glenpa had to leave before Andrew even arrived. I felt bad I couldn't "produce" for them.

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas around here. We put up the tree (before the baby was born), and D put up the lights outside on the 25th. And "Santa" left us a card on our front door telling us that he is delivering a new washer and dryer to us (and the new baby). They arrived on the 21st. Our dryer had stopped working a few days prior and it was going to cost us several hundred dollars to repair it. We suspect it was our neighbors, so I made them a harvest pie on Thanksgiving Day. I also received beautiful yellow roses for the birth from D and the kids.

Shealyn with Andrew

Granddad

Jojo

Going on his first boys outing without mom (basketball game)

Cheesy girl

As you can see, there is no shortage of pictures of S and J holding Andrew. Yes, it is ALL they seem to do these days.

Sleeping on dad

Shealyn's Nature block creation

Going to "Deck the Halls" at the college dorms in their Christmas pj's

A had his jammies on as well

Holding and shaking his first "toy" (this picture reminds me of one of Jacob's pictures)

Shealyn as "mommy"

Shealyn:

Her song of the month is "Somewhere over the rainbow." I need to get more videos of her because she is absolutely adorable when she sings it, when she talks (she talks so well), and when she makes all of her silly expressions. Oh, how I love them!
She counted with Jojo to 40ish. Jojo would purposely leave out a few numbers and S would fill them in (at least she's listening to J count when I think she's not paying attention).
She knows all of her colors and loves to recite the Mouse Paint book.
As of the 26th, she can jump.
"Watch this mommy" seems to be her favorite expression lately.
She is getting better at puzzles - much better than J at this age.
She likes to hang off our countertops.
She's enjoyed her recent walks with Granddad on his shoulders and even managed to get a face (cheek) injury on the slide.
She calls sneezes "achoo."
She pretends to snore when I tell her to go to sleep.
She sounds funny repeating big words.
She likes to brush her own teeth and does a fairly good job.
When we went out for a ride to look at Christmas lights last night, she marveled and got so excited when she spotted them at a distance. It was such a squeal of glee.
She likes to give "knuckles" to the baby.
For 2 days (27th-28th), she slept all night until 730 in her own bed. Before that, she would get in bed with us around 6 or 630 am, and and before Andrew came just a few hours total.
She now weighs 26.4 pounds.
She likes to take off her clothes and leave them off.
She now likes footed pajamas and blankets (around the same time that J started liking them).
She has enough spunk for 5 children.
Derek temporarily took some of Shealyn's attention from the baby by giving her a doll that they named Andrew. She rocks it, feeds it (with bottle and nurses), changes diapers, dances with it, etc. It gets her to leave the real Andrew alone for periods of time. She even is taking a nap with her doll today. I guess I know what she would like for Christmas and her birthday - doll accessories.
On the 29th Shealyn started repeatedly asking "Why, mommy, why?" with a pathetically sad expression. Doesn't that come at age 3?
I asked if she was stinky yesterday (she ended up not being), and she quickly backed away and said, "no, baby's stinky,"pointing to Andrew. Already a blaming someone else.
And she's still chanting "Push em out, shove em out, waaaaaay out!"

Andrew:

What can I say? He's such a good baby already. He sleeps well without being held, but likes to cuddle at night. He tolerates loud noises well and most often sleeps right through them. He's not much of a crier, but doesn't like to change his diaper or clothes.
His first boy's outing was on the 26th with dad and Granddad - to a college basketball game. He slept through all of it.
He did excellent shopping on Black Friday at less than 4 days of age.
He went to doctor on the 22nd and had lost 5% of his birth weight - down to 8-14. Then he had to go in that evening for his PKU test, and even though they squeezed the life from his heel for several minutes, he was such a brave trooper. He barely even cried for a few seconds, and mostly out of boredom towards the end. Even the nurse commented on how none of the other babies are that good. He's our tough little guy. On Thanksgiving morning, he weighed in at 8-13.
He has perfect ears, big hands and long, thin feet with extra long fingers and toes (I think they look like monkey feet), a very red skin coloring (Derek calls him "Little Red"), dry skin, and red curly-ish hair. He has smaller eyes than the other two did, and I think he looks a lot like Granny in the lips, nose, cheeks and Derek from the eyes on up. But he's so tiny to me. It's weird to change a newborn's diapers all over again!
He likes to stay curled up even more than S did, whereas J liked to stretch out.
Like our other 2 kids, he has good neck control and can hold his head up well already.
He's a good nurser from the start.
He loves the mamaRoo, and sleeps very soundly in it.
Jacob calls him "Lil' Guy."
He laughed out loud with a big grin in his sleep AND rolled over twice to get to me on his fourth day of life (11/25).
11/27 - First shower. He loved it and actually stretched out his little legs for the first time. Then he fell asleep the rest of the morning at church and for lunch until 1:30 pm to eat for a short time and then back to sleep until 6:30pm.
On the 28th, his belly button was very stinky, so we went in to have it checked out. They deemed it okay, but put silver nitrate on it just in case. Our brave little guy that never cries, cried. Shealyn thought the doctor was hurting him, so she cried harder. And he weighed 9-4 that day. Since that evening, he's been very gassy and eats only in small spurts. I am wondering if I ate something that disagreed with him or if he is not liking milk products.
11/29 - Andrew smiled AT me a few times today. When we catch sight of one another and I talk or sing directly to him, he smiles. It's big and beautiful. I need to get the camera ready one of these times. Other events of the day included him cooing twice and his belly button stump falling off.
12/1 - Traumatic day at the doctor. We went in on his 9.5th day of life for his 2 week appointment (a bit early) and to get him circumcised (since he didn't get the Vitamin K shot at birth, it was best to wait several days before attempting it. He cried, then cried some more during his hearing test because he just wanted to sleep. Then some more when they did his second PKU test. He weighed 9-12, his head was 14.5 inches, and his length was 21 inches. That night he reached for, grabbed and shook his first toy, a bell ornament.

Jacob:

His concert (group) is tomorrow, and practice has been, well, virtually nonexistent. "Jingle Bells" might not be played as well as we had intended or planned.
We've been taking a long break from "school" for last few weeks with company here. Oh well.
Now both older kids have officially passed out in our living room since we've moved into this new house. After S's incident this summer, J fell off the couch backwards on the 25th and hit the back of his head. He's okay, though.
Jacob wants to get married now while he's little, he says. And he wants us to move out of our home and leave all of our stuff here for him and his new wife. Apparently, his new wife will be Emma Tremaine.
He's over playing all the rhythms of Twinkle Twinkle on his violin. He'd rather play it the "normal" way. His next concert (group) is tomorrow!
He now weighs 36.6 pounds (slowly but surely he is growing).
I'm exasperated that he keeps waking up a 6ish in the morning every morning now for a couple of weeks. Even when he goes to sleep after 10 pm like he did last night. I have tried nap, no nap, sleeping early, going to sleep late, nothing works. And it threatens the sleep of the other 2 kids. I am either desperately trying to keep the other 2 asleep or they wake up early as well. And what's worse is that he then is fussy and whiney all day long because he's not getting enough sleep. I'm OVER it.
But on a cuter note (because you have to end on a good note, right?), on the 29th I put both (older) kids to take a nap on my bed, and they just wouldn't go to sleep for about 15-20 minutes. What were they doing? Cuddling with each other and making sure the blankets were on each other. It was hard to get mad at them. It melted my heart. And that morning, I put all 3 kids on my bed and those two were giggling and playing. It was really cute. Moments like these won't last much longer as they grow. Sigh.

Whew, what an eventful (almost) 2 weeks!

Thankful for Our "Turkey" and Much More

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 04:12:00 +0000

Yep, we're blessed beyond measure. We have our "turkey," "Bug," and "Bub," a family who loves and cares for us deeply (and helped immensely during this transition), and an abundantly gracious God.

It's a... TURKEY!

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 04:04:00 +0000

Okay, so he wasn't "on time" and it wasn't exactly as we had planned, but he's here!!!! Yep, I was right - a boy!

After praying and talking it through, we confidently decided to go through with the induction. At 3:55 pm on Monday, the 21st, on a chilly and rainy/misty day, my doctor ruptured my membranes. Derek, the Irish doula (Pauline) and I patiently awaited the contractions. When my water was broken with Jacob, the contractions started fairly quickly (20-30 minutes) later. This time, they didn't begin until just over an hour later. I don't know exactly when they started but I remember looking at the clock at 5pm and I was still very comfortable. But when they did start, boy, did they start. With a bang. I know it felt like hours upon hours, but the labor was only a very intense 35 or so minutes. (I would hate to see how short it would be if we had a 4th baby.) This labor was MUCH harder than Shealyn's labor, and I had back labor with her!

The nurse checked on me at 5:20 or so and I was still at 6cm, so my doctor, thinking that I still had some time before the birth, went to another delivery at the hospital across the street. However, 10-15 minutes later, a head popped out. With no doctor around. You can imagine how intense those contractions were now, huh? Going from 6 to 10cm in 10-15 minutes? Crazy, right?

All I remember hearing was the nurses yelling out for a doctor. Luckily, there was one right around the corner. Unluckily, it was said doctor, which we will call Dr. I for "icky." My doctor will be referred to as Dr. P for "perfect." When Dr. I walked in, he was already in a bad mood. The baby came out in less than a minute (Derek thinks it was less than 30 seconds) in one push. I immediately noticed it was boy. And I quickly stopped Dr. I from clamping the cord. He just rolled his eyes so professionally. I'm just glad I had my wits about me that quickly. But I was shaking for being so cold (apparently I did lose quite a bit of blood). I then had to argue with the doctor to not get the routine pitocin after the birth. He tried to convince me that it was required, but I knew better. I knew my rights. I even told him that Dr. P and I had an agreement and a plan for pitocin only if necessary. He came back with "but Dr. P isn't here, is she?" He finally "washed his hands" of it and yelled out, "make it known that she refused pitocin." Nice doctor. But I could care less what he thought.

Anyway, the baby was born at 5:38 pm. And after careful deliberation a the very last minute and NO help from our kids or family members (just our doula and a nurse who both suggested the alternate name we didn't choose), we finally chose his name to be Andrew McAuley Kite. It was either that or Liam. Ultimately, we decided on a Bible name, since we already had Jacob. McAuley is after D's dad's middle name (and his grandmother's maiden name). And Andrew means "manly" and boy does he look it. Actually, I think he looks more like a bullfrog with chubby cheeks, a double chin and fat rolls on the back of his neck/head! But I'm in love anyway! :)

Derek's mom kept the kids at home during this time, and Derek went home to pick them up for a visit, wince we had to wait until 10pm for the pediatrician to do a check-up. Did I mention we have the best pediatrician? She's a friend's sister, and she came to release the baby from the hospital just for us after a meeting she had. We actually didn't end up leaving the hospital as planned at that point, though. We had to await the lab to process both my blood type and the baby's, though we already knew both (I'm O- and baby is O+). But it was a necessary protocol in order to receive my Rhogam shot. So, we didn't leave until 130 am or so. Ugh!

It wasn't until a couple of hours later that Andrew got weighed and cleaned up. Derek thought he weighed 7.5 pounds and I thought he was around 8 pounds like our other 2. Well, that piece of chunk weighed 9 lbs 6 oz. His other (supposedly above average) measurements were:

20.5 inches in length
13.5 inches head circumference
14 inches stomach and chest

We tried bathing him in the spa tub we received, but the attending nurse was not so thrilled, so it was short-lived. The kids were there for the bath but Derek had already taken them back home for the measurements. The kids were definitely excited, and S had a hard time sleeping that night without me for the first time. She had to sleep with a little wet rag or paper towel on her face as a security blanket. And they both slept out in the living room watching a movie late at night.

Yes, I still waddle a bit and my hip is still out of place. But that was expected for the next few weeks. I have had a harder recovery time this time around, but still manageable. I mean, nothing will stop me from getting back to normal right away. I just finally felt the pain when the nurses "mash" my uterus and the cramping of my uterus. I've never felt either before. It's actually quite painful. I think my body is making up for the previous 2 births this time around. And perhaps it's more painful because I refuse to slow down my pace?

It looks like we will need a new stocking this year! :)

Proud Big Brother holding his lil' bro (the picture with S was too fuzzy to post. If you look carefully, you will notice a bruised chin. He said he fell off the toilet that day. And when S was born, he had a black eye, remember?

Getting cleaned up

The new family of 5 with my precious doctor

You're STILL here?

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:10:00 +0000

YES! That must be the most asked question these past 3 weeks. I am still pregnant, everyone.

This baby has sure kept me guessing at labor. I have gotten almost all the early labor signs over the last two weeks, but no baby. And there have been times I really thought "this is it" and then I guess I shied him/her away from the onset of labor. After some wisdom from my old doula, I even tried working on the following state of mind: subdued, trance-like, pampered, relaxed, non-excitable. In other words, no trace of adrenalin. Didn't work. Nothing works. I've resolved that this baby refuses to come out and meet his/her siblings because, frankly, who'd want to come out to screaming, loudness, tantruming, whiney, barking kids and dogs when they have such a cozy protective environment instead? (Stay in, baby. It will only get worse if you come out.)

Okay, baby. If you are waiting for me to be miserable, I'm FINALLY at that point. No position (standing, sitting, laying down) is truly comfortable. My stomach is way too tight, my breathing is hindered, and you (baby) can barely move any more. However, I can STILL reach my toes to paint them. Hope you're not waiting for that to be no more.

In either case, I have lots of decisions to make between now and tomorrow morning. My doctor is going out of town for the rest of the week after tomorrow for Thanksgiving. She wants to induce me before she leaves (tomorrow). She won't "force" it on me, but the on-call doctor for her is NOT my favorite (and a male, which I'd rather steer clear of). I like natural birth (no interventions, no pain meds, etc.) and induction almost always leads to a harder labor and epidurals. AND the on-call replacement is one of those that would not allow me to do what I wanted to do with my current doctor. She is allowing EVERYTHING we want, which is A LOT and awesome. I had to go to Labor & Delivery tonight for some precautionary measures (some pain on my lower right side and no baby movement all day), and that on-call doctor didn't want to discharge me (because I was at 5 cm) until my own doctor convinced him otherwise (I've been at 5cm for about a week now).

Violin Recital, Date Night and More

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 14:31:00 +0000

My sweet kids holding hands in the car...

First date night with daddy at Chick Fil-A (11/8). She put on "smelly lotion," got a pink rose and played to her heart's content (almost) on the slide with the help of an older girl. Dad said it wasn't a real date unless he takes her to the movies. Well, maybe when's she's 3.

"Cheese!"

Not so "cheesy"

Shealyn-isms:

As you know, Shealyn LOVES Bibles. For many months she opens up the Bible and "reads" how God loves her. It mlets my heart when she says, "Mommy watch this. God loves Shealyn," as she points to random words with her tiny fingers.
Even though she seems not to be paying attention, Shealyn is learning a lot about the violin. The fingers Jacob uses on the strings of his violin are called "monkeys" and we have to remind him to keep them down in their proper places. I was getting Shealyn ready for the recital, she said, "A monkeys down?"
Shealyn has really been into Gloworm lately. And building towers (and subsequently knocking them down). But she has such great fine motor skills and always has. She is so good at carefully putting those blocks together.
on the 29th of October, it was so cute to see both kids play dolls and doctor together. It started off with Shealyn telling me that her baby doll was sick. Jacob jumped at the chance of being the doctor and off they played. It was so precious to watch!

VIOLIN

Jacob was excited for his first recital, but I think I was even more so. There was NO WAY I was going to miss it. I think I even stopped early labor signs that day. You'd think that a kid would be slightly apprehensive for his first concert. Not ours. Jacob wanted a concert all to himself with no other kids playing the violin, to which dad replied, "You'll have to get a lot better at the violin for that." He then settled for being first at least. Unfortunately, he was next to last in the recital. BUT, his teacher said that when he finished Suzuki Book 1, he will have his own concert. Yikes!

Before the concert, he took a shower, put on aftershave, rinsed with mouth wash for the first time and put on (natural) deodorant. He was ready.

He's had about 10 lessons, and was the youngest one at the concert. And the only one under 8 years old playing the full Twinkle song. The others in his group class only played the beginning of the song or just rhythms. The piano accompanist was so impressed and astounded at his age and skill level during his first (and only) rehearsal last week on the 5th. He's so little and can barely get his fingers to go around far enough to play the strings, but he plays. In actuality, he played better during the rehearsal than the recital, but we're still very proud! After the rehearsal, he ate 5 slices of pizza. Five! If you know him, you'd know that was quite an accomplishment.

Some of the other older kids in the concert that are further along in the book (or in another book) played very well. We're excited for that day for Jacob. :)

If you listen closely, you can hear Shealyn fussing in the background. She, too, wants to be up there and play. In fact, when Jacob "performs" for us at home, she has to bow and play the piano for attention (and claps) as well.

Here he is playing with his teacher earlier in the day...

Next on the horizon is Jingle Bells (which he just started learning yesterday) for the concert in a couple of weeks. And some more (4) Twinkle variations before he moves on to another song.

Waaaaaaaay Out!

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:41:00 +0000

Push 'em out,

Shove 'em out,

Waaaaaaaay out!

That's the chant my kids and husband have been singing to me. Nope, no baby yet, though he/she has been determined to keep me guessing. Many a times I thought it would be the day.

More of Our New House

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 19:55:00 +0000

Okay, finally got some more pictures up of our new house to add to the other ones I posted earlier. Don't mind the house (it's not really messy, just not very clean and organized), as I did not clean it before taking these pictures. If I had waited to clean it, I would forget and the house would never get photographed. The only photos missing are the laundry room (but who really needs to see the laundry room?), the walk-in closets (again, really?), garage, most of our room (it's not ready and it was too messy for my liking), and the sides of the backyard (including our row of pine trees that Shealyn likes to hide behind).

GUEST ROOM

AND OFFICE CORNER

GUEST BATH

PLAY ROOM

FAMILY PHOTO WALL/HALLWAY

KITCHEN

DINING ROOM

ENTRY

FRONT DOOR WREATH THAT NANA MADE US

OUR VIEW LOOKING OUT THE FRONT DOOR

FRONT PORCH

BACKYARD NON-NATIVE PECAN TREE

OUR 3 APPLE TREES (GALA, RED DELICIOUS, GOLDEN DELICIOUS)

PART OF THE (MESSY) BACK PORCH

ENTRY TO MASTER BEDROOM WITH ZUMA'S PUPPY PICTURE

MASTER BEDROOM

COMPLETE WITH TREADMILL

Our Homeschool Preschool

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:24:00 +0000

With all the visitors, pregnancy and moving, I just didn't have the time to plan out our school year until a week before we started (8/22). (Or perhaps I was just avoiding the responsibility because I didn't want to add one more thing to my already filled plate.)

Though we haven't completely settled on homeschooling our children for good, we did decide to homeschool Jacob this year in preschool. (Gulp.) We do love Montessori methods and will certainly incorporate many of them into our daily activities, but I also felt like I wanted something else. Something Biblical, something service-conscious, something structured for days I just felt like having more involvement with him. Plus, Shealyn is too interested in all of the Montessori trays and the items often get "misplaced." This can be very frustrating to Jacob (and to me). Besides that, we don't have access to every piece of necessary Montessori "equipment" for a full Montessori program, so we needed to supplement a bit.

So what have we decided on doing?

Well, I'll tell you! It's really a compilation of things, but it's what will work best for us. First of all, I refuse to be tied down to just one thing. If things need to be altered a bit here and there to fit our daily schedule and needs for the day, it will.

Our preschool won't look like traditional preschools, Montessori preschools, nor any other one I know for that matter. Some weeks will go smoother than others, and I will even allow myself to forego school altogether on other weeks, especially when baby #3 makes his or her appearance this November. And since Shea will most likely be "joining" us for school, I have decided to stretch the 1-week lessons to 1.5 or 2 week lessons on many occasions (for letters with more than one sound) and even tweak it a bit to include things for her level. I will even allow for spontaneity (gasp), which is completely unlike someone as structured as me. In other words, I'm giving myself permission to "give myself a break." And I'm okay with that. Finally. I think.

I keep having to remind myself that preschool is not a forced learning time. It's a casual time with plenty of "free play" breaks inbetween and is meant to merely expose the child to a "school" setting My biggest problem in the past has been "dropping the ball" and giving up when the schedule starts to fall apart. I will certainly fight that with a vengeance this time around.

Here is our calendar time:

OUR (TENTATIVE) CURRICULUM:

Most of these items were passed down or given to me for free, and I've adapted them to make it work for us. I have been very blessed...

Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve by Laura Coppinger (available in printable form or hard copy)

Hands down this is my absolute favorite curriculum, and not just because the author is a dear friend. It's simple for any mom (but certainly not basic), and non-time consuming (which I love), and it focuses on what's really important. It's gets kids in the kitchen; it gets kids helping and serving; and it gets kids learning. This definitely takes care of the service-oriented portion of our curriculum and some of the biblical aspects I wanted to integrate. If you only have money for one preschool curriculum, this would be the one (plus, it's affordable)!

Teach Me About God: Hands-On Bible Lessons for Active Preschoolers by Michelle Caskey

There are 28 weeks worth of complete Bible lessons and memory verses for Monday through Friday. We won't do every lesson and definitely not every day (since we have other options on this list as well), but we will get a majority of our Biblical lessons from this book. There are lots of good ideas and activities to get children really applying these Biblical concepts and stories to their own level of understanding. Some require prep and others don't - overall a very good resource.

Learn and Grow: Hands-On Lessons for Active Preschoolers by Michelle Caskey

Like the Bible lessons book above, this book is designed for 5 days a week, though you can decrease it to only 3 days if flexibility is needed. There are 26 weeks of lessons of English, Pre-Math, Art, Science, Gross motor skills, Fine motor skills, Music and Geography/History, and it can be previewed here.

Gotta Have God 2: Fun Devotions for Boys by Lynn Marie-Ittner Klammer

I actually like the layout of this book. Each short (love that!) lesson focuses on one important life issue (examples: stress, avoidance, gossip, judgment, encouragement, control, example, consideration, teasing, etc.), and there are a bunch of them! It starts with a Bible verse, then a relevant story. Discussion questions follow, then a prayer and then some sort of activity. Perfect for my short attention-spanned son.

Thank you for This Day: Action Prayers, Songs, and Blessings for Every Day by Debbie Trafton O'Neal

This book is mostly for our little one to be able to participate with her brother. It's a short, illustrated book of songs and prayers, some of which have motions for them to learn.

I often refer back to these highly recommended (favorite) websites for relevant books and lessons (specifically Montessori ideas and younger "Tot School" lessons for my toddler):

We have also allowed times for planned outings and field trips, and Jacob's weekly violin lessons.

We started our first day with no hitches and everything on the schedule (school and non-school related) was accomplished! I wish everyday could be this productive and successful. Not that not checking off all your goals for the day means you're not successful or productive. Sometimes other things are more important and take precedence (like cuddling a sick baby).

A few of things that we will be doing that I haven't mentioned:
Learning about weather, the date, the day of the week, seasons, months, telling time, and holidays. We'll do these daily when we can, as applicable.

Once a week he will work with the corresponding alphabet drawer trinkets.

He'll also work with the membership section of the Starfall program for easy reading words (he can actually already read phonetically when he concentrates) once a week.

I will also make a few of my own worksheets for him. For instance, a worksheet with words containing both the long A and short A sounds (with pictures) that he will have to distinguish and circle correctly for the sound.

We will also play some "games" and work on matching simple words (with the corresponding letter of the week) using bottle caps with written letters on them. (You can find this activity here on Counting Coconuts.) And then eventually have him make them on his own from scratch when he's ready to do so.

And I forgot to let you know that the snack for the day will always be a food that starts with the letter for that week.

I'll needs lots of prayer and encouragement throughout the school year to fully see this through, especially when #3 comes along!

Some of the things we've done so far this year (though the last few weeks have been considerably slower than the first several weeks):

Each week we focus on a letter, sometimes the same letter, sometimes a different one. (We've done A, B, S, H, P.)

We have also spoken about several different consonant blends, so that he learns to sound them out together (examples: Bl, Br, Pl, Pr, Sh, St, Sl, and so forth) - he's doing quite well with them. We worked on worksheets (which he enjoys), some pushpin work, mazes, word finds, connect-the-dots, and word wheels. He learned about Johnny Appleseed, learned our address and emergency number (911), read books, answered discussion questions, prayed, read the Bible, read his devotion for Boys (weekly), learned about seasons, worked on his alphabet drawer, learned to make his bed, did bead sorting, learned first-hand about milk vs. water bubbles, painted, did number learning cards, played with instrument cards, read about Red Riding Hood and the importance of not talking to strangers, worked on a few programs on the computer (StarFall, Time4Learning, Reading Eggs), did online coloring, worked on his bottlecap words, worked on a few crafts, worked on patterns with beads and on cards, did some lacing (even Shealyn did well), finger-traced his sandpaper letters, practiced writing his name, letters and simple words, played with playdough, made goop, read his "Why" series book, made a telescope, talked about the planets and the solar system, played with stickers and stamps and so forth. I've been keeping everything he's done (worksheet-wise) in folders for future reference.

Everyday, we strive to do calendar time - with counting to 100, by tens and by fives, the Pledge, weather, word of the week, date, months of the year, days of the week, weekday (yesterday, today, tomorrow), written number of the week, face/emotion of the week, shape of the week, and color of the week (the latter 3 for Shealyn really) - and the weekly memory verse. It's amazing what verses he memorizes, both the versions and lengths. And he remembers them all thus far. We also try to practice a few minutes of his violin. For a while, we tried to keep all afternoon snacks to the corresponding letter of the week. It got to be too taxing, so we only do it every once in a while.

Every couple of weeks, we try to do a service project. For example, during our A lesson, we took apple bread to Ms. Anita, and during our P lesson, a pumpkin pie for Coach Price.

Verses he's learned:

As the deer pants for streams of water so my soul pants for you, O God. (Psalm 42:1)
...the hand of the Lord is powerful. (Joshua 4:24)
Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. (Psalm 84:4)
Blessed is he who trusts in the Lord. (Proverbs 16:20)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. (Proverbs 3:5)
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)
So in everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12)
How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. (Psalm 119:9)

Again, we're working on everything very slowly, especially because I know that's going to be the norm when the baby arrives. So, I didn't want to set the mark too high and then get disappointed at how far behind we are falling. Some days we get to do school. Some days all we do is calendar. Some days we do nothing and it feels good, too.

(We have several free resources for our worksheets and some of our crafts, and we are willing to share and elaborate on anything if you want to know.)

Halloween 2011 and More October Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:45:00 +0000

We had an early Halloween festivity at the girls' dorm - they really decorated it well and the kids had fun. Shealyn failed to say "Trick or Treat," as she was stuffing her face with lollipops and other candy. Jacob went as Plex the Robot from Yo Gabba Gabba. The costume was quit easy to make, but it did take a little time for it to dry. Shealyn went as a ladybug, complete with squeaky, sparkly shoes. If I had the talent, I would have sewn her a Foofa costume. Oh well.

I'm sure we'll have more Halloween shots in a future post (as we have several things this weekend) - these were just the first day they wore them.

Jacobisms and More:

When we drive our car, does it make the sky dirty?
Is this how it's made? (this has been his motto for a while. He wants to be assured that whatever it is he is talking about isn't broken, dirty, etc. If we say "yes," then he settles down. The joys of an OCD child. Sigh.
On the 24th upon seeing someone get baptized (and we didn't tell him anything about it), he says "I don't want to be bap-a-tized when I grow up." After further investigation, the reason is that he doesn't want to get wet in the hot water.
When cartoons go in water why doesn't their paint come off?
On the 18th he used one of his memory verses against me. He asked to play Mario Kart on the Wii today for a 2nd time, and when I told him "no," he said "So in everything you do, do unto others as you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the prophets." At least he's understanding the verses to some extent.
Speaking about Mario Kart, Jacob's been holding out on us. He's been horsing around the entire time, falling off the edge, purposely running over the obstacles and off-road for months. Loosing every time. Out of the blue, I told him that it was a race and he needed to beat the other guys. Since then he's been consistently getting #1 place on every game now. Stinker. I can't even do that.Jacob likes to eat a whole carrot, imitating Bugs Bunny, as he recites and watches the cartoon.
On the 21st was his very first time playing "Twinkle Twinkle" with piano accompaniment. He's so grown up. It never gets old, boring, tiring, or aggravating listening to him play. No matter how squeaky it can sound at times.

Shealyn Happenings:

Her milk drinking binge was short-lived. It lasted a day.
She likes to put shoes on by herself, especially her squeaky ones, her rain boots or Jacob's shoes. The first time she wore those squeaky shoes in public (the 19th), it was so adorable. She ran and other people would smile and laugh. One thing's for sure - we won't lose her as long as she's wearing them!
That same day she was found playing in an ant pile. She got about 10 or so fire ant bites all over her hands and fingers. It was the saddest thing ever, but she did so well. We had to take all of her clothes off and wrap her up in my sweater like a swaddled baby. And then she wanted to take a nap that way. And if you know her, she doesn't even like a blanket near her (not even when she was a newborn). It was the saddest little Shea-Bug yet.

Life in General:

It lightly snowed on the 27th, and was very cold and rainy. We introduced Shealyn to couch cushion jumping, made "bunny holes" with the cushions, played with window markers, and played with homemade bath paints in the bath. That was all before lunch, too.
We continue to take jacob to the free concerts at the local university. He loves it. But on the 12th we accidentally took Shealyn (the plan was to keep her in the car or walking around the halls since it was so late). She insisted on seeing where the music was coming from, and she sat through the entire tuba performance quietly, and then for the last 20 minutes of a clarinet studio class. She kept saying it was fun, and Jacob, of course, now wants a bass clarinet. We might be breeding musical monsters.
It's nice that both the 1 year old and the 4 year old take their own dishes to the sink and their trash to the trash.

Pregnancy Notes:

It's surprising to me that I haven't had any welling in my fingers. I have been able to wear my rings without any problems this time around.
I've already gotten most if not all of the things I need to get done to prepare for baby's arrival. Well, that is, until we find out the gender. Then there will be more clothes sorting and washing and lots of buying. Sigh.
On the 19th I woke up with my left hip out of whack. I hobbled around like I had severe arthritis. The days following got so severe that I was walking holding on to anything I could and leaning way right. But when I decided to take the kids to the Pumpkin Trail (which they loved) when Derek was out of town on the 23rd, a miracle happened. I got in the car decrepit and got out of the car walking almost 100% better. And if that miracle had not happened, I would not have made it through the trail. Since then, it's been off and on, but nothing as severe as it was the first few days.

Annual Fall Family Portraits (and a few Maternity Shots)

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:44:00 +0000

It's really hard to get all 4 people smiling and looking in the same direction at the same time. I can't wait (ahem) until there are 5 of us.

My sweet boy

Classic Shealyn face

Trying to hug his sister, but she won't have it.

Classic Jacob face

Something he does often, hands in the pocket - he's so GQ

Shealyn has to kiss the baby at every given opportunity or she might just die

Like father like daughter?

3 Peas in a pod

"Cheese" face

Action! That's all she is!

October Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:32:00 +0000

More of pigtails

Another new hairstyle

More food fun

Sailboat on the ocean with the sand nearby

PB&J sushi rolls

Dr. Kite

Take 2...

And call me in the morning!

More food fun: snails over grass

Sweet 4D chubby baby face (30 weeks)

Foot!

Updates:

On the 1st, Jacob lead "Blue Skies and Rainbows" (2 verses) at church. It melted my heart.
Shealyn bows her head and clasps her hands together when she hears "Let's pray." She is so good at closing her eyes during prayers now too. And every once in a while you here her mutter some words like she's praying.
It looks as if Shea's gonna be our little artist. Curly cues and circles are her favorites. She drew a pizza and a house fairly well.
She's singing and talking so much better and more. And loves to talk on the phone. Too much and for too long. Mostly asking for Granddad.
Jacob was watching Prince of Egypt for the 1st time on the 2nd, and I was explaining to him that the Pharaoh didn't want to let God's people go to which he replied, "You mean the Israelites?" Soon, he'll be teaching me!
Shealyn has great fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
"Roll up" means for mom/dad to cuddle her, which she is wanting more and more of these days.
On the 3rd, Shealyn made up for not going through an infant blow out stage.
For weeks now our OCD boy has been so concerned with our rug tassles being straight.
Shealyn for weeks and weeks has been doing things herself. When she buckles her seatbelt (which she HAS to do) or gets up on her car seat herself or throws away trash, etc., she needs her own positive reinforcement. She says, "Yay, I did it!"
She can say some of her numbers (even past 20) and letters.
Sometimes when J cries, S says "Jacob, wah wah wah" with one had on her eyes imitating crying.
Apparently, Shea can now open doors.
For the last few weeks she has been "taking off" her nose and giving it to us to eat for fun and games.
REJOICE! On the 14th, Shealyn finally started drinking milk!
For several months now, she has been doing the same shoulder shrug dance that J used to do.
Shealyn can spell Jacob's name and Shealyn can spell Shealyn's name.
At least I know she has a few of her manners down. She pretends to have her Brobee doll cough and uses his hand to cover his mouth. (10/15)
She's been singing words to more songs now, including "Blue Skies and Rainbows."
When we don't do something she wants, Shealyn shoots us with her fingers. Sigh.
Jacob played Twinkle Twinkle for the first time in his violin lesson on the 14th. He is ahead of the other kids his age and older in the group lessons, so the teacher said that in a couple of weeks he could move up.

Pregnancy Notes:

The week of the 10th is when major heartburn, major hip impairment, one major stomach ache for 20 minutes, one semi-painful contraction, more hot flashes, and several bouts of lightheadedness or something of the sort started. Not a good feeling.

September Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:21:00 +0000

The first day it was really autumny, we went for a walk

B is for Brobee

30 weeks!

S and J sleeping

At dad's meet

First ever pigtails

At the Children's Home Fall Festival

Feeding the ducks and geese

Or chasing them

Such style! (In a dress Aunt Sarah gave her)

32 weeks

Glo, our new nightlight (thanks Boon!)

Updates:

I love listening to Jacob count to 100. And then by tens. Only less than 2 weeks into school and he's almost got it right 100% of the time. 30 seems to be the hard one for him.
Shealyn forgets her verbs frequently. Sometimes she says them properly (like, "I'm all wet"), but other times where do they go? Such as, "Mommy on please shoes," meaning "Mommy, please put on my shoes." Or they go in a wrong order (and not properly conjugated). Example: "Lick you puppy," meaning "The puppy licked me."
Jacob said he wanted everyone to die so we could all be in Heaven together.
On the 9th, Jacob played his rhythms on his violin perfectly in sync with his violin teacher this morning! :) he's doing so well. Oh yea, he started violin lessons once a week with his fabulous teacher Kathleen at the end of August. He goes in for group lessons every other Saturday. It's part of a Suzuki Method program.
The 12th was the first time we put S's hair in pigtails. On an indifferent note, yesterday after replying "no" to her, she insisted with 3 pleases and a pathetic pouty face. Not sure where she learned it, as she's had NO example of it. And I'm not sure how I feel about this cuteness.
On the 14th, we turned over a new leaf. Both kids now like to eat raw spinach. S ate about as much as I did.
I love that since the 19th, S wakes up in the morning by saying, "Morning, mama. Love you." (Love is pronounced luck)
I find it cute that S tries so hard to do what her big brother does. She tries to play guns with him, goes around saying "shoot you," and even makes the gun noises when she "shoots." We have a rule not to shoot or point guns at people, but it's too hard to resist smiling when she does it.
Poor little Shea. Aside from having a stellar dentist appointment (for both kids) on the 21st, she had a horrible time at the Dr's office. She had to get an abscess lanced and drained on her bottom that causes her so much pain and grief to sit or lay down (not a pretty sight). We were fortunate not to have surgery to remove it. She was 25 pounds and 33 inches in height.
Jacob has been obsessed with wrinkles on his clothes lately. He asks me daily if I could iron out the folds in his shorts. I despise ironing. Why oh why did I have such a perfectionist son?
In the past few weeks, Shealyn has learned the art of sweetly pleading. She'll ask for something she wants and knows she can't have (like Daddy's chapstick, which she calls "uh-det-uh-det" for whatever reason - actually all makeup is called that) and then wait for the "no." She then proceeds to say a sweet "please" with big batting eyes to which we again say "no." Followed by the routine one more time until she says "pleeeeeeeeease?" Once the answer is firmly established as "no," she does the pout.
I love that we live within a few minutes of 2 universities that offer lots of free opportunities for my music-loving son to listen to/attend concerts of all types. Yesterday was a trombone concert, last week a piano concert. Up next, tubas. Even if he's the only little kid in attendance, he loves it!
It doesn't matter how many times I hear "mommy, mommy, mom" and "Love you mama" in the middle of the night, it still melts my heart.

Our New Home

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 00:17:00 +0000

I promise to get the rest of the house up (or room, the guest room/office, the play room, the kitchen, the dining room, the laundry room, backyard, front yard, guest bathroom, our hallway of family photos), but here is what I've taken thus far...

The butterfly mobile in the kids' room:

Living room (we're going for the minimalist approach to give the kids plenty of running around/tumbling space)

Our bathroom

More of the kids' room with the mural I painted

No curtains up yet

Jacob's bed (ignore the bedding, as we still haven't found the right ones yet for their room)

Shealyn's bed

August Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:14:00 +0000

Nana love with a spoon in the middle

How she likes to wear her skirt

New car seat for Shealyn (thanks, Britax!)

My sweet boy

Aww, man, he's sneaky!

Going down the water slide sideways

Brownie batter face

Her pouty lip face - who knows where she learned that

The splash pad

26.5 weeks

Updates:

Shealyn likes to fall asleep on my stomach while the baby kicks and moves. Last night I found out that she enjoys and prefers the movement and when it's not present, she'll nudge my stomach around until the baby wakes up.
She mostly says garbled words and paragraphs, but she can say many words and 2-3 word phrases. However, every once in a while, she impresses us with a sentence or an almost sentence. Like on Sunday night when she said, "I want that one." It's weird to hear her say longer phrases and full sentences when she can't quite talk very well yet.
Shealyn displays her sense of humor in two ways: 1. She'll raise her eyebrows and turn her head quickly from side to side. Not sure where she picked up that one but she thinks she's being funny. 2. She will say "Eat-a-one" (eat one) to things that she knows she can't/isn't supposed to eat (like the dog).
On the 11th, Granddad came for a visit and brought with him RAIN! THUNDER! AND LIGHTNING! FINALLY!
Since the 12th, Jacob has been really afraid of gorillas for some reason. I think he was watching some Bugs Bunny episode and now keeps thinking there will be a gorilla waiting for him in the bathroom, the other room, around the corner, etc.
On the 14th I made quinoa, which both kids loved, and Jacob kept calling them aliens and rocketships. The important thing is that both kids liked it, especially Jacob. And that he ate faster than I did today (which, if you know him, is NOT possible). The amount he's been eating, how fast he's been eating and how much he's been sleeping in the last couple of days makes me suspect that he is hitting a growth spurt.
On the 15th, Shealyn received girly gifts from Nana, one of which was lip gloss. She would not let go of it and when I finally took it away from her, she was crying so hard (without any sound or breathing) that she sort-of passed out for a second and couldn't breathe for a short while. When she finally came to her senses, she almost forgot what she was crying about for a minute, then resumed a "fuss." Scary parenting moment, but this girl takes her lip gloss seriously! And in the few days that followed, she finally learned and perfected the famous "girl squeal with delight."
We started preschool homeschool on the 22nd, and Jacob did an awesome job on his first day. He also painted a PERFECT lower and capital case A. Perfect when he wants to be, just like his reading. He says he can't about 75% of the time because he has no patience to read/write, but when he focuses, he can read AND write well.
Just like dad at her age, since the 23rd, Shealyn started saying "I do it." Even about fastening her car seat buckle. She was also seen practicing her pouty lips at Sam's, her batting eyelashes at dinner time when getting in trouble, and has been practicing (for the last 2 days) saying "sorry mama/daddy" AS she is doing something wrong (and continues to do it).
On the 24th, Jacob told me that he wants to be in this school (homeschool) everyday for the rest of his life.
The things kids say and come up with sometimes. Jacob said that when he gets to Heaven he wants to ask God to be in black and white (not color). And he asked if rubbing alcohol stings and burns as badly as a sweat bee. How in the world does he know about a sweat bee??!
On the 28th, Jacob just HAD to say his (homeschool) memory verse for his Bible Class teacher this week. He practiced in the car on the way there, just to make sure he wouldn't mess up at all. So cute! (BTW, it was Psalm 42:1). By the 30th, he already knew his second memory verse for the week. We also (all three of us) made an apple bread for us and one to share as part of his service project (for Anita).

Pregnancy notes:

Want to know just how bad my lower back/hip area is? Even the chiropractor on the 24th couldn't adjust that area (or my neck) due to how tight it was. He had to stretch me and revisit it on Friday.
At the request of Derek (who never wants to go to the doctor and ER for anything), I went to the ER late a t night on the 26th. It is suspected that I had some kind of weird bite on my stomach. Derek thinks it's a brown recluse.

Visit from the Baxters in August

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:49:00 +0000

Jacob and Oliver

The boys

Putting them to work

Playing the violin

Playground fun

We happened to be wearing the same thing on the same day unplanned (grey pants and turquoise shirt)

Squishing your head

Matching PJs from Aunt Sarah

Body painting fun

Camden!

Babes in a basket

Watch out Westin, Camden's moving in on Shealyn!

Laying on the tile. Weird kids.

Our Busy July

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 21:24:00 +0000

Family Happenings:

July was our busiest month thus far. We had visitors (my grandmother, Derek's dad) pretty much all month, which continued throughout August (Sarah and Camden, Nana and Glenpa). Plus, we had to plan for Jacob's 4th birthday, continue unpacking and decorating, and went to 2 rounds of VBS by the 21st. At the 2nd VBS, the kids enjoyed the animals, especially the monkey and the reptiles (J liked the crocodile and S liked the monkey).
The good news is that the kids' room is almost complete. I worked on a woodland-themed mural for the walls and finished the butterfly mobile for Shealyn (Labor of love, I tell ya). We just need matching curtains once I find the right bedding. That's proving to be the hardest part!
On the 4th of July, the kids had a fun day of face painting, bouncing (Shealyn is fearless on the bouncers with the big kids), dancing to the music on the street, eating sno cones, and more. But it was a hot one.
On one of our garage sale jaunts, we found a vintage (1965) cornet (like a trumpet) for Jacob's birthday. And that very day he was just asking for a trumpet. He'll be so happy!

Jacob's Happenings:

Jacob has really been into guns and wants to be a super hero.
I love listening to him tell the story of the 3 Little Pigs (although tonight it was the story of the 3 little wolves and the big bad pig) with Shealyn making the sound effects of the blowing and the house falling down.
Why oh why does my 4 year old worry (and I mean WORRY) and ask so many questions (in tears) about dying, going to Heaven, God taking his soul, his soul leaving his body, etc.? He's genuinely worried about it and doesn't want it to happen. How do I answer him and parent him? I tell him the truth but he doesn't like it. I don't think we should be having these discussions. Aren't 4 year olds supposed to be carefree? For two days he didn't utter a word about it again, but then on the 26th, as we were getting in the car, he said he really can't wait to die now and he wants God to take his soul out of his body and go to Heaven.
On the 19th, he asked me: "Will my soul say 'Wooooo' (imagine a ghost sound) when I die? Why do we have to die? And if we have to die, then why did God make things on earth?" I didn't know how to answer that, and truthfully, I've never wondered either of those questions (the ghost sound nor the last question), so it caught me off guard. I simply said, "Good question. We should ask God that when we get to heaven." And he agreed. For now anyway. Until he brings it up again in 2.3 days. Because he's like that.

Shealyn's Happenings:

She hates to say goodbye or night-night to things and to people. And when she does, she turns to me and tries to milk it with a frown and saying "awww." Such a faker.
She loves to take care of babies with blankets, saying night-night, giving repeated hugs and kisses, etc. She especially loves her Brobee doll. She sleeps with him, changes his diaper, gives him water, etc. What a good little mommy!
She says sorry even when J has to say it. I love the way she says "sorry mama" (saw-wa mama).
She still LOVES books and especially the Bible.
Her songs as of late: Twinkle twinkle and Patty Cake (I can almost hear the right words from her on this song.)
The amount of times S hurts her head in one week is more than J has done in his whole lifetime. She is so not careful. Plus she likes to kick and fall backwards on purpose. I'm surprised I don't have more bruises or a broken nose from all of her kicks. I'll be more surprised if baby #3 is not born all bruised up or deformed from all of her kicks to my stomach. At least she kisses my belly a whole lot to make up for it.
Shealyn is learning how to be a stinker a little too young. When she is doing something she is not supposed to be be doing and didn't get DIRECTLY caught, she looks at me to see if I saw it, then smiles nervously with her eyebrows raised and says, "Hi Mama" or "Morning, Mama" in her sweetest voice. Like when she drinks the bath water or plays with the forbidden CD player.
7/23 It's funny (and sad) that I don't have time to teach #2 the stuff I taught #1. None the less, on the 23rd she brought me a letter "B" and kept saying "B! B!" I guess she's learning anyway.
More proof that Shealyn is learning regardless of my not teaching her anything... On the 26th I learned that she knows at least a few numbers in order. I counted to 4 (when talking to Jacob) and she said 5. Then Derek was counting down from 5 and only got to 3. S finished it with "2, 1."
She stopped nursing at 18 months in the first half of this month and did rather well.

Pregnancy Happenings:

On the 10th, I felt the baby hiccup at least 3 times in 24 hours. I've never had a hiccup-y baby before, but maybe this one will be the one.

Granddad, one of S's favorite people

With Vovie

Shealyn, smile! (That's her fake smile)

The gecko we found in our home:

BOOTS!

Fell asleep on Granddad the first night

Painting fun

Peanut butter play-doh fun

Notice how S rides the trike (she walks it)

Fourth of July on a Harley (he says when he grows up he wants to be a policeman on a Harley)

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY To the Cutest Boy in the World!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kite Koop Keeper) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:02:00 +0000

He's the sweetest and most adorable boy in the world, don't you think? I can't believe he is now 4. Did I really have him that long ago?

For his birthday, Jacob chose to have it at home and have a pajama breakfast party (sort-of of reverse sleepover). Here were the invitations I attempted making....

His coronet:

Our good friends, the Rogers

Party favors and presents for the guests

Lots of confetti, even some that say "Jacob"

So my FOUR YEAR OLD got a Wii today from Jojo and Granddad. It was between that or a trampoline and he chose a Wii. So not happy. :|

When we went to his 4 year old Well Child appointment, the doctor asked if he could draw a person for her. After saying he couldn't a few times, he reluctantly drew a circle for a head. When asked what else goes on it (thinking eyes, nose, mouth, etc.), he said a brain and drew that (and very well, I might add). The doctor said, "That's enough; I give up!" That's my boy! :)