Norman's News

The Big Boy Bed!

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 02:02:00 +0000

Jude spent his first night in his "big boy bed" on Saturday night! He made it through the entire night, though he was pretty crabby on Sunday, so I don't think he slept great. He slept much better Sunday and Monday nights (based on his mood the next day), so I think he's now comfortable in his new bed!

Naps are another story. He has slept in his bed for one nap and the other two he ended up taking in his crib after trying for an hour to sleep in his bed. I'm hoping this will get better since I would LOVE to get rid of the crib for good. We'll see.

His brain must be working overtime, because Jude also told us he had to go potty tonight and then made it to his potty and peed in it! It's the first time that that entire series of events happened at once :) Our baby boy is growing up!!!

Hide and Seek

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:14:00 +0000

I have another fun Jude story :) I have to share how Jude plays hide and seek - it's so stinkin' cute!

When it is Jude's turn to hide:

1. Mom or Dad starts counting.
2. Jude runs and hides behind the fig tree (EVERY TIME).
3. Mom or Dad says "ready or not, here I come!"
4. Mom or Dad asks theatrically, "Where's Jude?"
5. Jude, while still crouched down hiding behind the fig tree, yells "I'm over here!"
6. Game is over, Jude has been found.

When it's Mom and/or Dad's turn to hide:

1. Mom/Dad reminds Jude to count all.the.way. to ten (he's perfectly capable).
2. Jude agrees to count all the way to ten.
3. Mom/Dad makes a mad dash for a hiding spot.
4. Jude says, "Two, Three, here I come!"
5. Jude looks for Mom/Dad in the location where they hid during the last round of hide and seek.
6. Jude can't find Mom/Dad and panics.
7. Mom/Dad yells, "I''m over here!"
8. Jude finds Mom/Dad and much laughter and excitement commences.

The Esther Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:55:00 +0000

I am so overdue for an Esther post. It seems I have more fun stories about Jude and more cute pictures of Esther, so I will definitely be adding pictures to this post!

Overall, I would say that Esther has been a great baby. She slept through the night early, she napped really well as a newborn, and she wasn't colicky!!! Her naps disappeared when she was 4 months old, but I think they are finally back (praise the Lord!). She just started crawling last week, so the interactions between her and Jude are starting to get very interesting. She also just got over her first cold, which ended in an ear infection and antibiotics.

I'm still trying to figure out how Esther's personality is going to differ from Jude's. At 8 months, she's still mostly just a baby, but I know her individuality will be shining through really soon - and I can't wait :)

Ok, onto the pictures!

Her first time getting into a sitting position on her own in her crib (crib mattress got moved down a notch that night!):

Eight months old (and finally getting over being sick):

She just started crawling and she's already trying to pull up on things:

New Interests

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 22:30:00 +0000

We've owned wooden blocks since Jude was a few months old, but they've never held his interest for more than 5 minutes - until about 2 weeks ago. It's like something clicked, and Jude now "gets" blocks and legos.

He spent about an hour one morning building this:

Ok, so not the most impressive thing ever built, but Jude does love to line things up, and blocks are no different! The funny thing is that he will just keep on lining (and occasionally stacking) blocks until they are all gone - every.last.block.

I love watching his interests develop and seeing him begin to enjoy the imaginative toys more and the baby/electronic toys less.

Yoda

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 02:13:00 +0000

Tonight, while out for a walk, I wanted to show Gimpy that I had taught Jude his middle name. Here is how the conversation went:

Me: Jude, what's your middle name?
Jude: William
Me: That's right! What's Esther's middle name?
Jude: Yoda

The things that boy comes up with! My newly two year old has been a great joy (and a great challenge!). He cracks me up daily - and frustrates me like crazy with his willfulness. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next :)

Jude as a Big Brother

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 20:23:00 +0000

Today, we went for a quick drive to Walmart. Esther was crying in her car seat. Jude pointed his finger at her and ordered, "Baby, stop!"

Esther, of course, did no such thing.

Jude then looked at me and said, "Mama, give the baby nuk."

That boy cracks me up! He has this whole baby sister thing all figured out :)

Esther's Birth Story

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 20:33:00 +0000

Esther's birth story actually begins about 2 weeks before she was born. I had an uncomplicated pregnancy and was very much looking forward to my second home birth. At my 36 week appointment, my midwife said she thought that Esther was breech. She recommended that I have an ultrasound done to make sure because if Esther was breech, my home birth would not be a possibility.

We scheduled the ultrasound and, sure enough, my baby girl was butt down instead of head down like she should have been. After consulting with the midwives, we decided to try a version with Dr. Steele in Green Bay (the breech baby expert).

Ray and I went up to Green Bay on Thursday, May 17th and Dr. Steele tried three times to turn Esther into a head down position, but she was having none of it. Our only two options at this point were to attempt a breech delivery with Dr. Steele or schedule a c-section. I easily decided that I wanted to do the breech delivery. Dr. Steele said she was going to be out of town the upcoming weekend, but that she would make sure that the only other doctor who does breech deliveries would be available in case I went into labor over the weekend.

At 1am on Monday, May 21st, my water broke. Contractions started soon after so Ray and I called Berd to come watch Jude and drove up to Bellin Hospital in Green Bay. By 5am, we were settled in at the hospital and waiting for contractions to pick up and Dr. Steele to come in.

At 9:30am, the nurse came in and said she had bad news. Dr. Steele was in Seattle, WA and wasn't going to be back in town until evening. The other doctor that did breech deliveries had been on call all weekend and wasn't able to stay for us. We had a 12-hour window where no breech doctor was available, and that was the time that Esther decided to come! The nurse said that we couldn't stay at Bellin unless we were willing to schedule a c-section with the doctor that was currently in. We needed to make a decision fast.

I frantically called my midwife and asked the nurse to call ThedaClark and St. Elizabeth's to see if any other doctor around might be willing to deliver our breech baby. The nurse found that a Dr. Kaldas at ThedaClark would do a breech delivery, so we made a quick decision to drive back to Neenah.

We got settled into ThedaClark late in the morning and soon after both my mom and my midwife, Jill, showed up to help. We met Dr. Kaldas. He didn't have a good bedside manner and didn't leave us with a very good feeling after talking about our circumstance with him, but we felt like he was our only shot at a breech delivery at this point.

By late afternoon, contractions were really picking up and I was feeling really good about the whole thing. I didn't have the back labor that I had with Jude, and labor was progressing a lot faster than it did with Jude. I was actually enjoying my labor experience!

Dr. Kaldas came back in to see how I was progressing. He thought I was 8 centimeters dilated. Yay! He left and I continued to labor. Shortly after that, some nurses came in and said it was time to move to the operating room. I knew I would have to deliver in the operating room because of Esther being breech, but I was no where near ready to deliver yet. We firmly told them that we were not ready to move to the operating room.

Dr. Kaldas came back a little later (having been told by the nurses that we were not cooperating!) and said that we could continue to labor in the room, but as soon as I was ready to push, I had to go to the operating room. We agreed. Then, he checked me again and asked me to do a "practice push". He said Esther was still way up in my uterus and not dropping down like she should. He said we would have to do a c-section. We were completely shocked and said we needed time to discuss things.

By this time, Dr. Steele was back in Wisconsin. Jill spoke with her on the phone and told her what Dr. Kaldas said to us. Dr. Steele agreed with us that there was no reason for us to not labor longer and see what happened. We fought with Dr. Kaldas until he issued the ultimatum that we could either check out of the hospital and drive back to Green Bay, or we could get into the operating room for a c-section. I was having really strong contractions at this point and there was no way I could make it back up to Green Bay. We felt we had no options left.

Into the operating room we went. Esther Jo Froehlich was born at 8:15pm on Monday, May 21st. She was a troublesome little thing to get into the world, but all was forgiven the moment we laid eyes on her. Who could resist such an adorable little girl?

Jude's Last Day as an Only Child

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:28:00 +0000

Jude had a blast helping Daddy wash the car. Little did we know that this would be his last day as an only child. (insert Mom guilt here)

Well, This is Embarassing

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Thu, 31 May 2012 20:50:00 +0000

I haven't posted on this blog for almost a year now - how embarassing! I stopped posting about the time that Jude's naps became erratic and shorter. Then, I got pregnant and began putting all of my energy into getting caught up on scrapbooking - I was about 2 years behind!

Long story short, the baby has arrived and I want to get her birth story down in writing while it's fresh on my mind (it's a doozy!). I'm not planning on starting to post here regularly as I find that I enjoy scrapbooking more and I definitely don't have time for both!

I'm hoping that in a couple of years, as the kids get a bit older, I'll take the time to blog about our life and adventures. We'll see. Anyway, expect my next post to be Esther's birth story!!!

We Have a Walker!

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 19:15:00 +0000

Jude is officially walking!

Sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 20:21:00 +0000

I finally got around to trimming some overgrown bushes today during Jude's nap. My very first swipe across the side of the bush uncovered this:

Inside were three of these:

I knew right away that it belonged to the cardinals I see frequently from our sunroom. I immediately chided myself for not remembering them and checking for the nest before I removed all of it's cover.

The cardinals are there right now scoping out the damage. I really hope they don't abandon the nest, but I really did a number on the branches that were protecting it from view. In fact, another two inches and I would have taken off some of the nest itself.

On another note, can you believe all the plastic they used in building that nest?!? They even found some bubble wrap! It's very interesting, but also kind of sad how easy it was for them to find so much plastic garbage lying around.

Anyway, does anyone know if there's anything I can do to help ensure that the cardinals don't abandon the nest?

I'll update in the comments in another day or two on whether the cardinals are going to brave the openness to raise those little eggs.

He Thinks He's People

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 20:25:00 +0000

Mr. Darcy's new favorite spot:

In case you can't tell, it's Jude's high chair. Jude sits in an easier-to-clean plastic booster seat at lunch and supper, so Mr. Darcy even gets to sit in the chair during meals, which he does with great relish. He's sure that one of these days, we'll let him eat human food with us.

Meanwhile, Jude's favorite spot is the cats' food and water dishes.

Go figure :)

Staying Cool

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:34:00 +0000

We went from a cool spring this year, to 93 degrees in early June. Does this mean it's going to be another steamy summer?

This morning Jude and I bought a little inflatable pool for him (and me!) this summer, but we have to wait for Daddy to inflate it for us. So, for today, we settled for a little tub of water:

Jude is 10 months old now, and I can't believe we are so close to 1 year! Jude can crawl at mach3 now, and he can walk from one end of the couch to the other faster than you can blink. He hasn't stood by himself yet, but I'm sure that's coming very soon. And the walking, of course. I would be really surprised if he's not walking by 1 year.

There's so much fun stuff to do in the summer, but I feel like Jude is still too young to enjoy much. Next year will be much better for him to enjoy things like zoos, parks, and pools.

He's already just about ready to drop his morning nap. In fact, he did skip it once last week and then again today. He's taking a pretty solid 2.5 - 3 hour afternoon nap, which is great for me to get things done (like blogging!). :)

This weekend is Neenah Streetball. Jude will get to watch his daddy play some basketball. It should be fun!

Larry White

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Wed, 11 May 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Ray and I own half of a calf! My parents got the opportunity to "save" an injured calf from death (ironically since he's going to be butchered in another year or so anyway). They asked us if we wanted to pay for half of his costs in exchange for getting half of the meat. Since the last cow they raised ended up costing them about $1/pound for steaks and hamburgers, we felt it was a really good deal.

Ray got naming rights for his first name, and he chose the name Larry. My mom decided that his last name is White because, well, see for yourself:

Cute, huh?

Sitting Up In Bed

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Mon, 02 May 2011 11:00:00 +0000

I walked into Jude's room after his nap the other day and was met with this sight:

He was very proud of himself.

It seems likes he's learning something new every day!

ps- We lowered the crib mattress down a notch that night :)

Easter Is For Babies

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:00:00 +0000

I really do think holidays are more fun with children around. We had a great Easter weekend. We even ended up hosting both families at our house! It's actually not a bad thing, I only had to dust once ;)

Saturday, we had the Froehlich's over. I finally got a decent picture of the cousins:

We ate a ton, of course, and then walked it off on a hike down to Riverside Park. It was windy by the water, so we didn't stay long, but it was a really nice walk.

Sunday morning we went to church with my entire family, which is really quite impressive! Everyone then met up at our house for a rousing game of Easter Egg Lightning With A Baby Basketball Hoop. Only the Jochman's could come up with such a thing :) If you got someone "out", you received an Easter egg with $1, $2, or $3 in it. After the big kids were done, Jude even got to play!

We ended our Easter happenings with a really nice buffet lunch at Liberty Hall. It was a whirlwind of a morning, but we got Jude home on time for his afternoon nap. All in all, a very successful holiday!

Baiting The Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 20:28:00 +0000

Cats make for really good incentive to get a baby to crawl:

Puffs work, too:

My 8-Month Crawler

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 20:13:00 +0000

I feel like I'm long overdue for a Jude update.

February and March were full of illnesses for Jude. Poor little guy. He seemed to just get over one cold and then another one would come along. I'm really hoping we're at the tail end of our last winter cold.

The illnesses gave us some setbacks in the sleep department. Some nights he had a hard time going to sleep and other nights he was up in the middle of the night. The worst nights were when BOTH of those things happened, though that was rare (thankfully). He's still having some trouble going to sleep, but he hasn't been up in the middle of the night for a week now - yay!

Jude loves to play with the cats. He can't decide if he wants the cats to play with the toy or if he wants to play with it himself. The cats have been great motivation for Jude to start moving. I think they deserve all the credit for the fact that Jude crawled for the first time on Sunday! He's pretty wobbly and only gets a stride or two in, but he'll be picking up speed in no time. Yikes!

Jude also got his first haircut. I guess it was more of a trim. His hair was getting really long around his ears and it was driving me crazy. I put him outside in his Bumbo seat on Sunday and carefully snipped away. I'm no hair stylist, but it looks better than before :)

Before (notice the hair over the ears):

After:

We're ready for summer now!

Showing Off My Freebies

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 18:07:00 +0000

I am a member at the website BzzAgent, from which I occasionally get the opportunity to sign up to try out products and share coupons and "buzz" with people I know. This week I really struck it rich and received two packages from BzzAgent!

The first was for S.C. Johnson:

Anyone want coupons for any of these products? I think I have 5 coupons for each. :)

The other package was from L'Oreal:

No coupons included, though, with the L'Oreal products. I was a bit bummed about that. I really like the mascara, but I'm not a fan of the eye shadow. You're supposed to be able to apply all three colors with one swipe, but it didn't work at all. I had to wash it all back off and start over. Good idea in theory, I guess :)

Oh, how I love getting free products!

Dancing Boy

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 20:09:00 +0000

Jude discovered dancing a day or two ago. He's getting really good at it! :)

Daddy took a video of Jude's mad dancing skills this morning:

6 Months of Mommyhood

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:38:00 +0000

I can't believe I've been a mom for over 6 months already. Jude has changed so much in that short time. He can now sit really well (though I still have to keep a Boppy around him). He finally rolled both ways and he's getting interested in things that are out of his reach, so he'll probably be mobile soon!

Jude is also starting to get the hang of solids, though I think he's going to be a picky eater like his mom (his dad is not going to be happy about that!). He hasn't liked any vegetable baby food or baby cereal. So far, he likes Puffs and potatoes. I know, shocking right? (I am a potato fanatic) I did try baby food peaches this morning and he took a couple of bites, so hopefully that one will become a "like". He also still has no interest in the sippy cup, though he knows how to use it. I think he somehow knows that once he drinks from a sippy cup, he will not be nursing as much and he LOVES to nurse.

I've been feeling really trapped in the house lately. First, Jude is not a big fan of the car. Second, he no longer nurses in public easily. The distractions are too much. Third, he still requires a nap about every 2 hours and one of them is his 3-hour afternoon nap. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the 3-hour nap! It is my sanity. But, the combination of the short morning nap and the not eating in public makes it hard to be out of the house for very long in the mornings. I can usually get in one or two errands max per day. Of course, the winter weather isn't helping. Hopefully Jude will be a good stroller baby this summer and we can go on walks pretty regularly.

Come on, Summer!!!

Charlie, Ray, and Jude (in his basketball diaper)

No More Braces!

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 18:41:00 +0000

Mommy and Jude before (can you see his two bottom teeth, can you???):

Mommy and Jude after:

A Post About Teeth

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 12:00:00 +0000

I had an orthodontist appointment last week where it was confirmed that I get my braces off on January 5th! Yay!!! I'm really, really excited. I have been in orthodontic care for 3 years now and have had the braces for 2.5 years. It is time to be done with it!

In completely related news, Jude already has his first two teeth! He got his first one a week before Christmas and I felt the second one on Christmas morning. Here is a picture from a couple of days before Christmas where you can definitely see one tooth and I can even see a little of the second tooth about to pop through:

Ok, I'm not sure if you can see it on the blog, but it's really obvious on the picture on my hard drive :) I guess you'll have to take my word for it for now. I'm sure there will be more tooth pictures in the future. Maybe I'll try to get one of us together after the braces come off!

Baby + Christmas = Toys Galore!

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 12:00:00 +0000

Jude's first Christmas went very well. He was spoiled by our families, of course. Knowing that, Ray and I kept our gift buying very light. All Jude got from us was sippy cups and "Where the Sidewalk Ends".

On Christmas Eve, we went to my parents' house and met up with all of my siblings. My family does a name exchange that I insisted Jude be a part of (and requested that his only gift be the name exchange gift). Aunt Liz got Jude's name and still managed to spoil him! He received a musical seahorse, two books, a teether, two cute onesies, and an ornament from Aunt Liz. Of course, that also meant that Jude had to give a gift - he bought Uncle Neil a shop vac. He also got an outfit, ornament, and Toy R Us gift card from Grandma and Grandpa.

On Christmas Day, we had Ray's family over. I really think we need to start a name exchange with Ray's family because I can't even list everything that Jude received from that side of the family. A picture will have to do:

What a lucky little boy! I think Jude would have to say that it was a great first Christmas.

Blizzard Aiden

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:00:00 +0000

Thanks to Aunt Leah, Jude was completely prepared for his first blizzard (it is seriously an awesome snowsuit!):

I think we need to work on the snow angel skills! Jude has the laying down part all figured out. Waving the arms and legs? Not so much.