It's Our Life

Kid Memories

2011-09-12T13:57:00.000-05:00

So I haven't written in forever. Brief update: I finished the nursing part of my program and I take the NCLEX (board exam) on Friday. And I'm looking for a job. And taking graduate classes.

But enough about me. One of the reasons I have this blog is for myself to remember the various antics the boys do. I want to remember them and even though I plan to put all these types of things into my scrapbooks, I'm currently more than four years behind in my books and am sure I'll forget things by the time I get caught up. So I am recommitting to writing the various stuff the boys do on this blog. Mostly for myself, but obviously anyone else can enjoy them as well.

Matthias: Matthias started preschool last week. He is super smart. He can say and recognize the alphabet (though he misses a couple of letters once in a while). He counts to 20. He is starting to do simple addition. He loves trains! He is definitely quieter and more sensitive. He loves to sit and play by himself, but also enjoys playing with Ezra.

Ezra: Ezra is my outgoing, talker. He talks up a storm and even if no one is paying attention to him, he doesn't stop talking and makes up stories. He loves "strawbears" (strawberries). Yesterday, Ezra and I were going to Jimmy Johns to pick up supper and he told me a story about how we were on the Island of Sodor (Thomas the Tank Engine reference) and going to find a Jimmy Johns. He's a people person who hates being alone.

Being a good mom vs. being a good student

2011-03-09T21:33:00.000-06:00

It seems to be a battle that I have to face every day. Some days I feel like I am balancing things pretty well, but there are other days where I feel like I can't win no matter what I do. I feel guilty if I can't spend time with the boys because I have homework. I feel guilty if I don't have time to study as hard as I want to or have to put off some reading. I am a bit of a perfectionist, so I have a hard time if I feel like I can't do my work to the best of my ability.

This week was really hard. Today I had a big test. I wanted to do well and had planned on studying all day yesterday. Monday, our daycare provider called me and told me that the other kids she watches had strep throat, influenza, and pneumonia and were definitely sick last Thursday and Friday. Monday night my boys started coughing. Daycare provider was concerned about strep throat, so she wanted the boys seen by a doctor. So I had to take three hours off from studying to take the boys to the doctor.

Strep test was negative. Boys sent back to daycare. We were told that they would probably get worse before they got better, but should call if they got a lot worse. Well by the time I put the boys to bed, their coughs were a lot worse and they started running fevers. Ezra's got over 103. So I had to call the doctor back and she wanted to see the boys again this morning for a influenza test. And of course they were coughing so bad, I brought both of them in bed with me, so I could listen to them breathe. And then I hard to rush this morning to get the boys in to the doctor and then back to daycare before I had to leave for school.

Influenza test negative. So back to waiting to see how they do. The doctor is concerned that they might develop pneumonia, so we need to watch them and monitor their fevers. I have to call the doctor again in the morning.

So after I dropped off the boys, I had to rush to school, take a test and then sit through two others classes. So needless to say, I am exhausted and ready for spring break!

Warning: Mom gush!

2011-03-01T22:36:00.000-06:00

So Matthias pooped on the potty today! Three times! So for all of those who think, so what's the big deal? Matthias has never purposely pooped on the toliet. (he did it accidently once) This has been the major hang up for potty training. He pees great, but he refused to poop in the potty. And let me tell you we were getting sick of cleaning up poopy underwear.

Hopefully this trend will continue and we have successfully potty trained one of our children! Now to get Ezra over his fear of the potty.

This semester is kicking my butt

2011-02-28T20:33:00.000-06:00

which is why I haven't posted in a while. This semester is busy. Two graduate classes, two undergraduate class, two clinicals, and the rest of my life means I have very little free time.

The boys are getting a lot bigger. I love watching them grow older and older every day. They are both talking up a storm and learning so much every day. They are both counting and can say both a meal prayer and a bedtime prayer. Matthias is pee potty trained, but not poop potty trained yet. Ezra is still scared of the potty.

Calvin is doing well. Still at the same job. We're praying a lot about what is next for us. This summer I'll be looking for a nursing job and we'll be deciding whether to stay where we are or move.

Well, I'll try to update more often!

2010 in Review

2011-01-02T00:50:00.000-06:00

I was so busy this year, I did not get Christmas cards and letters out. So I thought I would do a bit of a years in review.

January: I once again helped plan and attended the Wisconsin Youth Unlimited Winter Retreat.

February: I found out I was accepted to Marquette University for their Direct Entry program for Nurse Practitioners.

March: The boys and I took a trip with Calvin's parents to see Calvin's sister and do some wedding planing. The boys got to see their first hockey game.

April: We were able to spend Easter with my parents. We also finally bought a second car after four and a half years of marriage and having only one vehicle. We got a 2010 Toyota Corolla and I love it.

May: We started off the month celebrating Matthias' third birthday. I still can't believe how big he is. I was the matron of honor in my sister-in-law's wedding and Matthias was the Flower Boy. The boys (along with my mother- and father-in-law) were involved in a car accident, but thankfully injuries were very minor.

June: I started the DE program at Marquette and our lives got very busy. We all adjusted well. At the end of June, a bad storm brought a neighbor's tree down on to our property. We were without power for a couple of days and had a minor gas leaked and a big mess to clean up, but we were blessed that the damage was not severe.

July: Another busy month. Our PT Cruiser got to the point that it needed to be replaced (much to our budget's dismay), so we bought a 2008 Chrysler Town and Country. Calvin loves his mini-van! We also had another visit from Calvin's parents, sister and her new husband.

August: I successfully finished up the summer semester and we took a great vacation to Branson, MO. Unfortunately, while Calvin and I were out for dinner for our Anniversary, someone hit our van in the parking lot and left without a note or anything. That meant yet another insurance claim! I also had my wisdom teeth out. (Ouch)

September: I started Fall semester. We also went to my uncle's cabin for Labor Day, which was a nice break.

October: We were blessed to again have a visit from Calvin's parents visit (they live far away, so visits are always a treat). We also had a visit from some dear friends who moved away.

November: We celebrated Ezra's second birthday. My baby is such a big little boy and I can't believe it.

December: I finished another semester of school and am now halfway done with Phase 1 of my program. We flew out to Alberta for Christmas with his whole family. It was a great time! Now we are having a weekend with my family.

So over all, it was a pretty good year and we were blessed, especially with safety. I am excited for the New Year and wish you all a blessed New Year!

Sleeping in the Nude

2010-12-14T23:19:00.000-06:00

So tonight, I went to tuck the boys in. It was a little chilly in their room, so I was tucking them in and noticed Ezra's bare arm sticking out above the blanket. That was odd, since he was supposed to have long-sleeve pjs on. So I pulled down the blanket expecting that he had taken his shirt off.

Instead I found that he was completely naked under his blanket. He had even taken his diaper off. I was laughing so hard while I was dressing him again. I guess he was more comfortable that way!

Day 30

2010-12-01T10:28:00.000-06:00

I am thankful for the Christmas season. I love spending time with family and exchanging gifts and how happy people seem to be (for the most part) at this time of year. It makes the cold weather easier to handle.

This month of saying what I am thankful has been difficult, but really good for me to think it all out. Maybe I'll do this again next year!

Day 29

2010-11-29T23:05:00.000-06:00

Today I am so thankful for Ezra's birthday today! He is two and I can't believe he's come so far and is so big and smart! I love talking with him and seeing him play. He has the most amazing eye lashes and makes the cutest faces. I love him and am so blessed to be his mommy!

Day 28

2010-11-29T23:03:00.000-06:00

I am thankful for old friends that still care about me. We went to my parent's church Sunday morning and it was great to catch up with people I knew from way back when.

Day 27

2010-11-29T22:57:00.002-06:00

I'm thankful for a great dad who helps me when I take on projects that are probably a bit over my head.

Day 26

2010-11-27T00:42:00.002-06:00

Today I'm thankful for shopping and time with my mom and sister. We spent a great day talking and getting some great deals!

Day 25

2010-11-27T00:41:00.000-06:00

I am thankful for Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is a big holiday in our family. My mom's brothers and sister and their families all get together to have a big dinner and hang out. Lots of good food and it is always a lot of fun hanging out with everyone!

Day 24

2010-11-27T00:39:00.000-06:00

I am thankful for a break from school! Oh how glorious it is to sleep in!

Day 23

2010-11-23T23:02:00.000-06:00

I am thankful for blankets and heat. I love being warm (so why do I live in wisconsin?) and cuddling under a blanket on a cold night is amazing!

Day 22

2010-11-23T23:01:00.001-06:00

I am thankful for KLOVE, the christian radio station I listen too. It really helps me keep focused on God during the day and makes my commute much more bearable.

Day 21

2010-11-21T23:53:00.002-06:00

I am thankful for modern medicine. Although I sometimes get annoyed at paying the bills, I am thankful that we have medicines and test and can keep ourselves healthy.

Day 20

2010-11-21T23:52:00.003-06:00

I am thankful for chocolate. It is truly my guilty pleasure!

Day 19

2010-11-21T23:52:00.000-06:00

I'm thankful for school. Although right now it is kicking my butt, I am so grateful for the opportunity I have been given to go back to school and to become a nurse midwife.

Day 18

2010-11-21T23:51:00.000-06:00

I'm thankful for our small group. The fellowship is great and it is nice to have a set night for games, friends, and food.

Day 17

2010-11-21T23:49:00.002-06:00

I'm thankful for Calvin's job. Even though it isn't exactly what we want for him, it's been stable in a very unstable economy and it is exactly what we need right now.

Day 16

2010-11-21T23:48:00.002-06:00

I'm thankful for my brother. Though we've had our ups and down, it's been great growing up with him.

Day 15 - oops, I got behind!

2010-11-21T23:47:00.000-06:00

I'm thankful for my sister, Katie. What more is there to say? She's amazing!

Day 14

2010-11-14T21:27:00.000-06:00

I am thankful for a nice warm house. Even though it gets messy and seems overwhelming at times, I am so thankful that we have a great home to live in.

Day 13

2010-11-13T23:24:00.000-06:00

I am thankful for everyone who came to celebrate my birthday with me. I had a great time!

Day 12

2010-11-12T22:26:00.000-06:00

I am thankful for a wonderful day care provider for my boys. Kat really loves the boys and loves to do fun stuff with them. She has been teaching them so many things and I really appreciate the fact that I can study and do what I need to do and not have to worry about who my boys are with or what they are doing.

Day 11

2010-11-11T22:45:00.000-06:00

Today I am thankful for all the veterans and their families. The sacrifices you have made for me and my family are amazing and a simple thank you is not enough.

Day 10

2010-11-10T22:28:00.000-06:00

Today I am thankful for a good friend to carpool to school with. Although right now we can only carpool one day, it makes those two hours in the car go much quicker and are much more enjoyable. And April and I have a good time when we get lost, wait, I mean detoured. ;)

Day 9

2010-11-09T22:14:00.000-06:00

Today I am thankful that I am not a single mom. I know I've already mentioned how thankful I am for Calvin, but he was away on a business trip yesterday and today and I was on my own with the boys. That meant yesterday morning I had to get the boys up and going earlier than normal and by myself.

Of course that meant I left later than I was hoping and had to rush to drop the boys off at the baby sitter's house. And of course since the boys were up earlier than normal, they were cranky. Thankfully I made it to class on time. On Mondays I'm done with classes at 12:15, so I usually drive back home and study until my fitness class. Yesterday, I went to a Starbucks near the babysitter's house to study and then picked up the boys early. Then I took them to the YMCA and dropped them off at the daycare so I could go to my fitness class. After class I picked up the boys and grabbed some McDonald's on the way to a dermatology appointment for the rash on Matthias' face. Finally we got home at about 7:30pm, half an hour past the boys' bedtime. Thankfully they went right to sleep.

Then this morning it started all over. Thankfully Calvin was able to get home in time to pick up the boys from the baby sitter's because I had a late clinical. I don't know how single moms juggle it all and I admire them for all they do for their families. I'm just thankful that I have Calvin to help me get through the craziness that is our life.

Day 8

2010-11-08T20:29:00.000-06:00

Today I'm thankful for a great pediatrician. The boys' doctor is amazing! She never minimizes my concerns, but isn't an alarmist either when the boys have a problem. She listens to and remembers what is going on with me and the boys and not just the medical stuff. When she has to refer us to a specialist, she always keeps track of their appointments and calls after them to see how they went. If they are sick and she's worried about them, she'll call at night or on the weekend to see how they are doing. I love her and am so glad we found her! If you live in our area and need a pediatrician recommendation, let me know!

Day 7

2010-11-07T21:46:00.000-06:00

I am so thankful for the amazing friends I have. They love and support me and care about me and miss me when I miss church or some other event. It's awesome!

Day 6

2010-11-06T22:26:00.000-05:00

Today I am thankful for my parents. They have always been there for me and supported me in whatever I chose to do, even if it wasn't what they wanted for me. I love them and are so glad they are my parents!

Day 5

2010-11-05T20:19:00.000-05:00

Today I am thankful for healthy children. Lately, I have had a number of friends go through losing their children too soon, having them too soon and watching them spend time in the NICU, and having children born with problems. I have been blessed that my children are pretty much healthy and any problems they have had, we have been able to handle and deal with.

Day 4

2010-11-04T22:24:00.000-05:00

I'm thankful for a supportive husband. Life is so busy with me going back to school and I could not have done it without Calvin's support. He's picked up a lot of slack in the last few months and I cannot thank him enough.

Day 3

2010-11-03T21:23:00.000-05:00

I'm thankful for unexpected time to myself. Today the friend I carpool with got sick at school, so we skipped our last class so she could go home and go to bed. That meant I got home about three hours early, so I got a few hours to myself. And since I was planning on being in class, I didn't have anything that needed to be done, so was able to relax a bit. Bliss!

Thankful, Day 2

2010-11-02T21:50:00.001-05:00

I am thankful for the freedom to vote. No matter who wins, we have the opportunity to cast our vote without the fear of violence over the outcome.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 1

2010-11-01T22:49:00.000-05:00

I'm stealing this from others, but for November, I'll be participating in 30 days of Thanksgiving. These are not in any particular order, just what I happen to be thankful each day.

Today:

I am thankful for in-laws that love to visit us and put up with our weaknesses. They understand that we are busy and overlook the messy house and even help get us caught up. And they didn't even make any comments when our house was a disaster only a week and a half after my mother-in-law cleaned it the first time. I am so blessed that I have such amazing in-laws; they are not just my husband's family, but my family too.

So I've become one of those bloggers that I hate

2010-10-25T20:31:00.000-05:00

I've been a bad blogger and it has been way too long. What can I say? Nursing school is busy and my two little boys don't stop either.

Yes, I said little boys. I can no longer claim them as babies or even really toddlers. They are talking so much and are so smart! It is pretty neat to be able to talk to them and actually understand what they are saying.

So what else is new? We joined the YMCA. We have a gorgeous facility near us and decided to take the plunge into fitness. I was a little skeptical about how often we'd actually go, but I am really enjoying it. I joined a intro class and I have been enjoying working out when I have time. Although I'd like to lose a few pounds, the biggest reason I am doing this is to get into shape. I want to be healthy.

Ok, that's all for today, but I promise I'll be back soon.

Busy Bee

2010-09-04T22:40:00.000-05:00

And life just won't slow down. School started this past Monday and it is going to be crazy. I was hoping that maybe fall semester would not be quite as crazy as summer semester, but it looks like it will be just as crazy if not worse. There is one class that I feel like I'm spending more time on than I spend on my other three lecture classes combined! And then of course there are clinicals! Those would be nerve-wracking even if that was the only thing we were doing this summer!

And of course to add to the craziness this week, Ezra got stung by a bee right below his eye. This caused the entire side of his face to swell up. Of course he was at the sitter's when it happened. So she called me and I called the nurse line, because she was concerned this might be an allergy. The nurse line wanted to speak to her, so she called the nurse line. The nurse line suggested we call Ezra's doctor. So I called his doctor's office and they wanted to see him. So I drove to the sitter's, got Ezra, drove back to the doctor, saw the doctor, went to the pharmacy for benedryl, stopped for lunch, dropped Ezra off back at the sitter's, and finally got to Starbucks to start studying. Of course by now it was after one o'clock. Ezra thankfully is doing a lot better. The swelling is down and he no longer looks like he got punched in the face!

Sore mouth, broken car

2010-08-27T00:13:00.001-05:00

So last week, while we were on vacation, someone hit our van (that we've had for like six weeks). Calvin and I had gone out for dinner to celebrate our 5 year anniversary and when we walked out of the restaurant we discovered that someone had hit our van and left. No note or anything. It looks like it was a big black truck and it smashed the two passenger doors. Great fun. We had to wait for the cop to come so we could file a report (though the cop was really nice about it). And of course since we have no idea who it was that hit us and the likelihood of ever finding out who it was is slim to none, we are out our $500 deductible.

That also meant that this week I had to bring it in to get fixed. No big deal, especially since I am on break, right? Well, Tuesday I got my wisdom teeth out and the earliest we could bring it in was Wednesday. So I brought it in, no problem. The rental car guy met me at the collision place with my rental car for while the van is being fixed. A nice, brand new black Lincoln Town Car. Apparently we have a $40 a day rental allowance and the rental company wanted to give us a car that used pretty much all of that amount. Anyways, I think I freaked out the rental guy when I had to sit down while he was showing me the car because I got woozy. I was fine to drive, since I was fine sitting down, just standing for any length of time kind of did me in.

So the estimate on the van is $2128 and we won't get it back until at least Thursday. My teeth are starting to feel better, though I'm still eating only soft foods and loving my pain meds. And Matthias looks for Grandpa Doornbos every he sees the rental car, since three of the last four cars Grandpa has rented while down here have been Lincoln's.

Vacation

2010-08-21T21:22:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a while. School was crazy and now I'm on vacation. I finished the summer semester strong with all As and am finishing up week one of a two week break.

No long post tonight, just a quick Matthias story. We're driving down main street in Branson, MO (where we're currently on vacation). One of the buildings has a fake King Kong on the side of it. We told Matthias to look out his window at the monkey. He sees it and goes 'Oh monkey'. And then he goes 'Oh No, Oh No, Oh No. Boom." Apparently in his head the monkey fell off the building.

Good boy, not so good parenting

2010-07-21T22:40:00.000-05:00

So tonight after he went to bed, Matthias got up, left his room, found the potty, brought the potty to his room, stripped down and peed on the potty. YAY! Here's the unfortunate part. Calvin walked in and saw Matthias naked and proceeded to punish him (if you remember, we had some pooping paintings that have made us gun shy of naked little boys). He then realized that Matthias had peed on the potty, so he felt bad and told Matthias he was sorry for punishing him and praised him a lot. So hopefully that punishment won't deter the potty training, because that was a GIANT step forward for Matthias.

Have I mentioned that summer classes are crazy?

2010-07-15T20:57:00.000-05:00

So I know there has been a lack of posts coming from me lately. Why? Because summer classes are crazy! Although I am only taking two classes at a time, they are extremely accelerated. Normal semesters have about 13 or 14 weeks. Summer sessions have 5 or 6 weeks. This means that classes are longer and require more work. Instead of three hours of lecture a week, we have 6 to 9 hours a week. Labs are eight hours long, instead of the normal 2-3 hours in a normal semester. In a normal class, you spend the first week or two trying to get a feel for the class and the professor and reviewing old material and don't do a lot of "real" learning until week three or four. In summer classes, you start into the meat of the material on the first day. You often have tests after only a day or two of class. We read 300-400 pages a week, as well as listen to lectures, watch videos, and do homework.

So balance all of that with taking care of a house and being a mom to two small children, I'm exhausted. My boys are at the sitter's house five days a week so I can study. This means I pretty much spend all day either in class or studying. I do that so that I can have most of my evenings and weekends free to spend with Calvin and the boys. But it is definitely tiring. There is only so much information that you can absorb in one day without blowing your head up and each day during summer classes I get close to that head blowing feeling. This also means that I don't have a lot of time or energy for things like blogging or cleaning my house for that matter. But this is just a season and God will help me through it. Thankfully, Calvin has been extremely supportive and has really picked up the slack around the house.

Rock a bye baby...

2010-06-21T09:45:00.000-05:00

We had a rather eventful weekend. On Friday afternoon a severe storm rolled through our area with winds over 70 mph. Calvin arrived home with the boys about 4:15 and discovered that we had no power. After investigating, he found that a rather large tree from our neighbors' yard had come down into our backyard and had taken a power pole down with it, breaking the pole in at least three places and pulling down all the lines. There were trees down all over our town, so we knew it would take a while to get power again. The boys and I went to a friend's house while Calvin had to go to a wedding rehearsal that he was doing sound for.

After the rain ended, we checked out the damage and realized that besides the power lines being down, we were smelling gas. After reporting all the damage to the energy company, we decided that the boys and I would head up to my parents' house for the weekend and Calvin would stay down here to take care of coordinating the repairs and because he had to do the sound for that wedding on Saturday.

Thankfully the energy company really worked hard and were able to replace the pole and restore our power by Saturday night after having no power for almost 30 hours. The gas had been turned off Friday evening, so Sunday afternoon the gas company came back to fix the gas leak and the cable came back to rewire the internet lines. So everything is working again.

So now the clean-up begins. We still have a number of wires in our backyard and most of the three is one our property. And a good chunk of our fence is down. Thankfully we had no damage to our house.

The tree down before the power company came.

The pile of tree trunks.

Our back fence. You can also see the top of the power pole.

A big chunk of our fence down.

The large part of the tree trunk.

The root system. It was 8-10 feet off the ground and left a decent sized hole.

I'm still here

2010-06-16T22:42:00.000-05:00

I'm here! I promise! I am just very busy. School started June 1 and it has been a whirlwind of classes and homework and trying to find time to spend with my boys. Classes are going well, but very busy. This first session is especially hard, because we have to fit six weeks worth of class (which is already a lot) into five weeks. I am taking Nursing Assessment and Health & Nutrition. Health & Nutrition is a breeze (the exam class average is a high A), but Nursing Assessment makes worries me a bit. It is very interesting and I love the prof, but doing an assessment is really involved! Taking blood pressure makes me nervous. I had to do my check-off today and my partner took my blood pressure first. My blood pressure is normally about 105/65 or so. During check-offs it was 122/82! But I passed my check-off. So now I just have to get ready for the mastery assessment. That is a head to toe assessment that involves all the body systems. It is a lot to remember!

Well, it's been a long day (It's now quarter to 11 and I've been up since six this morning and was in class from 8:30 to 5:30, took a test, and had a meeting at church.) so I'm going to bed.

"We are ok. Really, we're ok..."

2010-05-26T23:26:00.000-05:00

Is never the first thing you want to hear out of someone's mouth when they call you unexpectedly. Especially if that someone is driving with your children. But that was the beginning of the phone call I got this evening. Matthias and Ezra were riding in a car with Grandma and Grandpa D, when a woman ran a red light. Both cars are totalled, but everyone will be alright. After getting the phone call (I was shopping with my brother in law), I met them at the scene of the accident. The car looked awful and was in no way driveable (they front end was destroyed and although the paramedics thought they were both alright, I decided to have them brought to the ER to get checked out again. Since they are so young, I didn't want to take chances. They can't really tell us if something hurts very well. So the boys and I took a nice ambulance ride to the children's hospital. They are fine though. Matthias has some bruising on his shoulders and chest from his carseat straps, but no broken bones. Ezra seems completely fine. My father in law has a small burn on his arm from the air bag and my mother in law is a little sore, but they are both going to be just fine. Mom and dad already got a new rental car and tomorrow we will be going to get the boys new carseats.

I am so thankful to God that they are alright.

My little Strongman

2010-05-14T13:39:00.002-05:00

Today we went to the park. The double stroller was in my car trunk which Calvin drove to work today, so I brought the boys in the wagon. We had a nice time playing with our friends there. When it came time to go home, I strapped Ezra in the wagon and went to get Matthias. He didn't really want to go, but he wanted to pull the wagon. I thought he was just going to help me, but insisted on pulling it by himself. Mind you, Ezra is in the wagon, so the wagon weighs almost as much as Matthias himself. He was so stubborn he would not let me touch the wagon and insisted on pulling the wagon the entire three blocks home from the park over the rough terrain that is our city sidewalks. He did very well. He just needed a little help going up the ramps at the corners and I had to take Ezra out so he could pull it through the backyard to put it away in the garage. It just blew me away at how strong he is.

I'm done... for now

2010-05-10T23:13:00.002-05:00

So I finished my Advanced Human Anatomy and Physiology class tonight. We had the final tonight and I got an A, which means I'll get an A in the class!

If anyone of you out there have aspirations of being a professor (or any other type of teacher), one word of advice. Your words should match your actions! (I guess that advice could go for anyone). The reason I say this, is that as a student, it is very frustrating when you are told one thing and then something completely different happents.

What do I mean? Well about a month ago, we had a test. We were told that it would be on four chapters and that there would be 60-70 multiple choice questions and that we would be able to use our book for about 20 minutes during the testing time. When it came to the day of the test, he gave us a two part test. Part one was on the first two chapters and was 80 some multiple choice questions. We were allowed to use our book for about 20 minutes. Part two was 40 some matching questions on the second two chapters and we were not allowed to use our book. Some may ask what the big deal is. Well the last chapter was very difficult to understand and so many people had chosen to instead study hard for the first three chapters (that they did understand) and then plan on using their book for the questions from the last chapter. So a number of people did not do so well.

Then comes today's final. One day he told us that it would be multiple choice and maybe an essay. The next time it was going to be true/false, multiple choice, and maybe some matching. But every time, what he consistently said was that all the questions would be taken exactly off the tests. Well the test consisted of 100 questions and at least a dozen of them were not from our previous tests. But we were allowed to use our book for the test, which for those people like myself enjoy hurting our backs by lugging that 7 and a half pound book with us, was not a big deal. But since he had made no mention of it a head of time, there were a number of people that did not have books with them.

Eh, I could go on, but the bottom line is I'm done with it, I got an A, and I don't have to worry about studying for three weeks! (Shortest summer break of my life!)

Time Flies

2010-05-02T21:37:00.004-05:00

Three years ago at this time, I was holding a precious little newborn. Now Matthias is a little boy who is sweet and mischievous all at the same time. Oh how time flies. I look at his baby pictures and can't imagine how that tiny (ok, maybe not so tiny) baby has become such a tall little man that walks and talks. I just thank God for every day I have been blessed to be his mother.

Many of you don't know, but when I was thirteen weeks pregnant, we had a scare where the midwife couldn't find his heartbeat and thought that I had had a missed miscarriage. We had to wait almost twenty four hours before we could get an ultrasound (small town, small hospital), which was the most agonizing twenty four hours of my life. The most beautiful sound in the world was his perfect little heartbeat on the ultrasound machine the next morning. That was the day I knew I wanted to be a mother more than anything in the world. Up until that point I was scared not so sure (the pregnancy was unexpected and we were young), but those twenty four hours of not knowing confirmed that this was what I wanted. And now I count every day I have with Matthias (and now Ezra) blessed, because I know I have been blessed with amazing kids.

This just reaffirms the plan.

2010-04-26T21:45:00.004-05:00

So as you all know, I am the mother of two small and adorable (yet adventuresome) boys. And I am going back to school full time in order to become a Nurse Midwife. I have felt that this was God's plan for me and our family and I am excited to get started.

Some people wonder why I am choosing to give up being a stay at home mom and enter school full time. Well, the truth is that I am not cut out to be a stay at home mom. I love my children, but I need more. I am not happy being home all day. I thought that part of the reason was that I did not have a vehicle available and that being stuck was the root of my unhappiness. But in the last two weeks I have had a vehicle that I could use as much as I liked. And although I enjoy getting out and having the freedom to run errands when I want, I realize that being stuck at home was not the root of my unhappiness.

What makes me happy? Lots of things, including spending time with boys and my husband. But I also love going to school. I love learning things and doing well at school. I like interacting with other people. I am such a social person that I need to be with other people and unfortunately toddler communication doesn't always cut it.

God has given me so many talents and I am excited to use them in so many diverse ways. Being a mother, a wife, a friend, for now a student, and hopefully one day a midwife! I just can't wait to see how God's plan unfolds in my life.

Thank God for high windows

2010-04-23T11:40:00.002-05:00

Matthias is starting to outgrow his naps. Some days he takes them, some days he just rests and some days I can't even get him in his bedroom. The days naps are most successful are when we had something going on in the morning.

So yesterday we had coffee break in the morning and then went to play in the park. He almost fell asleep on the way home, so I figured we would try a nap. He laid down and was quiet, so I thought that he was sleeping.

Umm, not so much.

I walked in to check on him and his room is practically empty. Like all that was left is the bed and the crib. No blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, etc. For a moment I was confused. I had no idea where it could have gone. Then I realized he was standing by the window. Now our windows are high, about four feet off the floor or so, but his bed was pushed against the wall. Apparently he figured out how to unlock the window, open it, and open the screen. He then started throwing anything he could lift out the window and into the back yard. At first I thought he couldn't reach the window locks and had just slide the window open. We often don't lock our second floor windows, because there is no way you could get in one without a ladder.

But after bringing all his stuff back in, locking the window, laying him down for his nap again, I came back to check on him. And he was standing on an empty bed with just his diaper on. Not only could he unlock the window, he decided that this time he needed to throw his clothes out the window too.

So now we've moved his bed away from the wall and will be investing in some window locks for the tops of the windows. Because if he ever finds away to get himself out the window, I'm sure he won't hesitate.

I should be studying

2010-04-21T14:21:00.002-05:00

but this is more fun. And I haven't written in forever! And I have lots of news. (Do you think I have enough reasons to avoid studying for my test?)

So let's see. We spent Easter with my family. It was nice to be able to relax and celebrate our Savior's resurrection.

Then we bought a new car! Calvin and I have been sharing a car since we got married. Up until then, neither of us had owned a car and we bought the PT Crusier from his parents when we got married, so we have not had to do the whole searching and buying a car thing. This was a new and stressful situation. We needed a second car so I could get to school, and after almost five years of having only one car, I was ready to have a car (Calvin had the car most days and so the boys and I were stuck at home or if we needed a car, we had to bring Calvin to work).

So we went out shopping. We decided we wanted a low milage vehicle because my commute is over 4o miles each way, which means I will be putting on approximately 100,000 miles before I graduate. So buying a vehicle with 50k miles would mean that we would probably end up with either large repair bills or even having to replace my car before I graduated, which if we were going to have to be making car payments, would not fit in the budget. So we were looking for a newer car with low miles. We were talking with my dad and he said that we should consider a new car, since we were going to be putting so many miles on it.

We talked about it and decided to check out our options. We looked into financing for an used car and financing for a new car. We checked out our top two car choices (Toyota Corolla and Ford Focus) and both were offering 0% financing for new cars. When we priced out new Corollas and Focus, we found that it was difficult to find a good low mileage car that would give us a smaller monthly payment. When we compared the Corolla and the Focus, we found that Toyota was giving much better deals, which allowed us to get more car for less money with the Corolla. So we bought a Capri Sea Metallic 2010 Toyota Corolla LE! I love the car. It drives so much nicer than the PT and the freedom of having a second car is awesome!

That was April 10, and this past weekend I threw a baby shower for my friend Anne and her husband Josh. I thought it went very well and I really enjoyed having Josh and Anne stay with us for the weekend. Unfortunately, my house is still a mess, but it is slowing getting more and more cleaned up. I had a test on Monday and have another test tonight for my Human Anatomy and Physiology class, so there has not been a lot of time left for cleaning (and I avoid cleaning as much as possible anyways).

Let's see. What else is new. I got my financial aid package for the summer term. It was just two federal loans. I was a little disappointed, but I know that the summer term counts for the 09-10 school year and that means that most grants and stuff have already been given away a long time ago. I am hoping that I receive more scholarships and grants for the 10-11 school year. Thankfully the loans will cover what we need them to cover, tuition, books, daycare, car loan, gas, etc.

So this update blog is getting to be very long. And I really should be studying. I have lots more to talk about (like curtains!), but I'll wait and blog again soon!

Mama Mocha

2010-03-31T23:32:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, my in-laws like going for coffee, which meant I drank a lot of coffee this weekend. I especially like Mochas, so that's my usually drink. Matthias picked up the word coffee, as we had to keep telling him that he could not drink out of our cups, because coffee is hot (and of course little boys don't need to be drinking it either). My father-in-law was trying to teach him to say Carmel Machiatto (that's his drink at Starbucks). Then we moved on to teaching him to say Mocha. So he started saying 'Mama Mocha?'

Well, today I overheard him talking on his play phone. He was saying 'Get coffee, for Mama'.

Maybe it's time to cut back.

So blessed

2010-03-31T21:23:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was my Sister in law's bridal showers, so myself and the boys went with my in-laws to Michigan for the weekend. The weekend went great. The showers (the one I threw and one from her fiance's family) were lovely and the boys and I had a ton of fun with my in-laws. We drank tons of coffee and laughed a lot.

This weekend just reminded me how blessed I am to have married into such a great family. Many of my friends were not so lucky and do not get along with either their parents or their in-laws. My mother- and father-in law treat me as if I am their own child. My brothers- and sister-in-laws treat me as a sibling. God has blessed me with two great families who love and support me. I am so blessed!

Sick Kiddos

2010-03-16T00:52:00.002-05:00

So we've had a rough weekend. Friday afternoon, I noticed that Ezra's eyes were all gunky. Saturday, they weren't any better and he woke up from his nap with a fever. I called the nurse line and the nurse recommended we take him in to get seen. Unfortunately the walk-in clinic had just closed, so we ended up having to take him into the ER. I'm not looking forward to that bill.

We arrived at the clinic and Ezra's fever had jumped to 102.8 deg. The triage nurse started by giving him tylenol and motrin to bring the fever down quickly. Then the doctor examined him and found that he had a double eye infection and a double ear infection. Poor baby has had a hard time sleeping last night.

When I came from with Ezra from the ER, Calvin informed me that Matthias had asked to go to bed at 6:30. Calvin was suspicious (the kid usually fights bed time) and took his temp. He was also running a fever. Sunday afternoon, his eyes started to gunk up. This morning he was feeling horrible. I had to bring Ezra in to his peditrician for a follow-up, so I made an appointment for both of them. Matthias also has a double eye infection and double ear infection as well. Poor baby. So now we have two sick little boys on antibiotics. At least they are sleeping better.

Nap time Nudists

2010-03-01T23:22:00.002-06:00

So Matthias insisted today that he needed to take his nap on his bed in the sleeping room. I was planning to keep Matthias in our bed during nap time, so Ezra could get a good nap, but against my better judgment, I let him go to bed in his own bed. Ezra had been asleep and Matthias promised he would go to sleep without talking.

Well, I should know better than to trust a two year old. As soon as I closed the door, I heard him climbing into the crib and saying "Hi Efra, Hi!". I guess naptime was over. Well, I had to study and I heard Matthias say, "Ok, go to sleep, Efra!", so I was hoping the boys would fall asleep. Naive mommy.

I go back after a little while and both of the boys are standing completely naked in the crib. Now we know that Ezra cannot get his pjs off, but Matthias can, so it looks like Matthias helped Ezra out of his pjs and diaper. I had to laugh, because Ezra was so proud of himself for being naked! It really was kind of cute. And thankfully, neither had pooped and only one blanket was peed on.

Thankfully, then went to sleep better tonight.

Rough night

2010-02-28T23:07:00.002-06:00

so yesterday, we moved Matthias into Ezra's room. This was because we want the boys to share a room when/if we have future kids. But since we are not planning on having these potential children for another five or six years, we don't want them to get used to having their own rooms and then suddenly have to share. So we thought now would be a good time since they both sleep through the night and are young enough that they adjust well.

So yesterday was the big move. And they went to sleep right away. No problems. But this morning Ezra woke up at six and then woke up Matthias. And no one was going back to sleep.

So tonight was night two of going to bed together. I knew that it would not be as easy as it was last night. And it wasn't. We tried to get Ezra to go to sleep first (he was super tired), but he wouldn't go to sleep. Finally we had to lay Matthias down too. And then they started playing and talking. And Matthias started climbing into the crib. Which of course made Ezra upset. It's been going on for four hours and they are just finally starting to be quiet. Maybe this means they'll sleep in? I can only hope.

I know the first few days will be rough, but I wanted to get this all done before I start school and they start daycare in June. so hopefully we all survive the next three months!

Just a box?

2010-02-24T15:03:00.005-06:00

Since I am going back to school, we will need to buy a second car (finally) and so we need a second set of carseats (Calvin and I will be sharing daycare drop-offs and pick-ups). Babies R US had their great trade-in event going on and if you traded in a piece of baby gear, you would get a 25% coupon for one item. This was great for us, because we have this old toddler bed that we bought for $15 used with mattress, but is now falling apart. Grandma and Grandpa H are giving Matthias a twin bed soon and we were just going to throw away the toddler bed, since Ezra's crib can be changed into a toddler bed. We also had an umbrella stroller that has a broken wheel, so we traded in that too.

So two trade-ins = 2 coupons = 2 great deals on carseats. Yeah, if only it was that easy. Trade-ins were accepted and so we were given two coupons. Great! We went to get the carseats. First stop, a new Graco My Ride 65 Convertible carseat for Ezra! They have two or three in stock, so we grab one. Next stop. Graco Nautilus 3 in 1 for Matthias. Out of stock for the boy/neutral one. They ask if we want the pink one. Um, not so much. So what are our options (we have to use the coupon on the day of the trade-in)? Can they order one for us? No, warehouse is empty. They have 12 in Brookfield, almost an hour away. Well, we decide that saving $45 is worth the drive, so Calvin drives up to get the carseat. Ok, so a bit of a hassle, but we are successful, right?

Not quite. we get home and go to take out the carseats and get them ready to put in the car. Pull out the My Ride 65 and notice that it has a defective latch connection clip. Now, if you don't know anything about carseats, this is what keeps the carseat in the car if you choose not to use the seatbelts. Now we could have just kept the seat and just used seatbelts with it, but when you are paying $125 for something, you want it to work 100%. So we packed it up and I went back to BRU. (which is like 20 mintues from our house) Haul it in the store and they say no problem, we can exchange it. Clerk goes back to get another one. They are now out of stock in this seat too! Crap! Can they order one? No, the warehouse does not have this seat in stock either (I guess we picked two of the most popular carseats). They start calling around. The BRU in Gurnee, IL (about forty minutes from this BRU and twenty from our house) has six. So I drive down there. And finally am able to get a good carseat.

So anyways, the boys didn't really care one way or another about getting new carseats. What they loved was getting new boxes! These carseats came in these great big boxes and they are having a ton of fun climbing in and out of them, jumping on them, and putting them on top of each other. Who knew how much fun a box could be? With the amount of joy they are getting from these boxes, the boxes themselves are almost worth the $300 we paid for the carseats.

I got in!

2010-02-10T14:02:00.003-06:00

I got an e-mail from Marquette University today letting me know that I was accepted into the direct entry msn program! I'm so excited! I have been praying for this for a long time and I felt that it was my calling to become a midwife, so this is just more confirmation. I can't wait to get back into school on a more full-time basis.

Also, I am so glad that I found out this early. Originally I had been told that they usually notify two weeks after the deadline, and then I found out that they weren't planning on sending out notifications until the end of February. Thankfully, they sent them out early, so I can stop stressing and start planning! I need to find a daycare for the boys. We need to buy a second car. And oh yeah, figure out how to pay for all of this.

But I'm not going to start that stuff until tomorrow. Today, I am basking in the excitment!

So it's been awhile...

2010-02-01T16:53:00.003-06:00

but January was a busy month. I am one of the organizers for a high school youth retreat here in Wisconsin, which took place Jan 21-24. So I had to spend a lot of evenings preparing for that on top of my normal schedule. I also started class again on Jan 20. This semester, I'm taking my class at night, which has made for some interesting scheduling. Taking it at night has allowed us to be able to not put the boys in daycare, as Calvin gets home before I leave. This is great because it saves us more than $200 a month, but makes our lives more hectic. For example, this week: Mon-class, Tues-Calvin has a Deacon's meeting, Wed-class, Thurs-I have a Worship Committee meeting, Fri-Calvin has GTsquared (men's gaming ministry). So basically we won't have any evening to spend together has a family. And it is hard for me to find time to study. Last semester, I would study at night, but this semester that doesn't always work. I've been trying to study during nap time, but the boys aren't consistently taking naps at the same time. Today Matthias played quietly long enough for me to prepare for tonight's quiz, but that doesn't happen every day. And of course that means that I don't have time to do house work. So life is busy.

Anyways, what else is new with us? I found out that Marquette will not be sending out acceptance letters until March, which means I will probably go crazy waiting. But that also makes me glad that we decided not to move to Milwaukee, because that would have been very stressful with such a short time frame.

Boys are doing well. Matthias has been putting poop on the walls again, so we've been dealing with a few messes and discipline issues. Ezra is walking finally, but also seems to be getting another cold. He had a sinus infection in January and was on antibiotics and got better, but is now coughing again.

Calvin's job is going well. He got an excellent year-end review and a nice bonus, so that will help us financially, especially since if I do get into school, we'll need any extra money we can get.

I found a dress for my sister in law's wedding. I'm the matron of honor and Matthias is the ring bearer. I was excited, because not only did I find something I like, it was on clearance and was only $23.50!

Wow, this is post is random and ramblely. I need to go get ready for class and make supper. I will hopefully post more often!

The tale of two pregnancies

2010-01-02T17:33:00.006-06:00

So in true New Years fashion, I was thinking back about 2009. Now the biggest thing for us in 2009 was Ezra's health issues. I was thinking about that as well as my pregnancies with both Ezra and Matthias and I was reflecting on how different my pregnancies, labors, and their babyhoods were.

My pregnancy with Matthias was more difficult. I had horrible morning (all day) sickness. Until I was put on medication, I threw up 4 or 5 times a day and was barely able to function. Even after the medication I threw up at least every other day, if not every day until I delivered. I was hospitalized at about 22 weeks with kidney stones and a severe kidney infection. I had severe sciatic pain, which at times made it difficult to walk or even get out of bed. Towards the end of my pregnancy, I was put on modified bedrest due to high blood pressure.

I ended up being induced because my blood pressure was up, I was spilling protein in my urine, and I was at 41 wks 4 days. My labor was not difficult. I was on pitocin, but the contractions were not painful at all until my water broke. Even after my water broke, I was in pain, but the pain was managable. I did end up getting one shot of narcotics. I pushed for an hour and half and then my 9 lb baby boy was born.

Matthias was a little gassy, but otherwise a pretty healthy baby. He was active and walked at nine months. He is still a curious and very clever little boy.

My pregnancy with Ezra was much easier. I threw up about once a day during my first trimester, but that was it and I didn't even have to go on medication. No kidney issues, no high blood pressure, no sciatic pain. My pregnancy was easy and wonderful.

My water broke bringing on the beginning of my labor at 40 wks 2 days. The pain was a lot worse and unbearable. I received an epidural (but it didn't kick in in time). I was only in labor three and a half hours and only pushed for three minutes (two pushes) before I delivered my second beautiful son at 9 lbs 6 oz.

Ezra was/is such a happy baby. He smiled at three weeks and hasn't stopped since. But he had a much rougher babyhood. At five days old, he was admitted to the hospital to spend some time under billi lights to treat his jaundice. Even though we were told his jaundice would go away after a couple a weeks, three weeks after his birth, he was still yellow and showing symptoms that are affliated with severed bad jaundice. we ended up taking him into the ER in Canada the day after Christmas to get his levels monitored. His levels were high, but not dangerous. He ended up having blood tests one to two times a week until his levels returned to the normal range at two months. The doctor thought his other symptoms might be due to colic. Well, he did not have colic.

After a few weeks, we discovered that he was no longer gaining weight. And after a brief bout of RSV, he lost weight. After trying some different medications, we were referred to a specialist and he was diagnosed Failure to Thrive. Ezra had multiple tests and was eventually diagnosed as having Unexplained Severe Reflux. We found a feeding system (formula mixed with rice cereal) that helped him gain weight. Since then he has thrived! Like I said earlier, he is such a happy little boy! He is working on walking (he's a chicken, so won't take more than a couple of steps) and loves eating (especially cheese).

This revelation reminded me how different each pregnancy and each baby can be and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Through the eyes of children

2009-12-26T00:16:00.003-06:00

One of the best things about being a parent is getting to reexperience everything through the eyes of your children. Matthias is starting to get to the age where he is so curious and is learning so much. Today my mom was showing him the Nativity scene. He kept looking at the baby Jesus and saying 'baby, baby'. My mom said "That's baby Jesus". Matthias starting saying, "Baby Jesus, baby Jesus go night, night" over and over. It was so cute.

It was also so cute to watch the boys open presents. They really got spoiled this year. Each time they opened a gift, they were completely drawn to that particular present (especially Matthias). They insisted that mommy and grandma open each gift immediately and they needed to really check out each gift before they would even think about the next gift. They got a ton of Little People toys (lots of animals), Legos, and blocks. So spoiled. ;)

Christmas was great this year because all of us kids were home this year. Last year, Calvin, the boys, and I spent Christmas with Calvin's family in Canada. Andy (my brother) also brought his girlfriend along, so it was nice to get to know her a little bit. Unfortunately Katie's (my sister) boyfriend was unable to come. We also got spoiled because Andy cooked an amazing meal for us. He is in Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School and is becoming quite a chef.

We have such a wonderful time enjoying family and fellowship and remembering the true reason for Christmas, Jesus' birth.

Houdini has nothing on this kid!

2009-12-14T23:40:00.002-06:00

Matthias can get through childproofing quicker than most adults. We have some pretty cool gates that we have had to teach adults how to open, but Matthias just opens them with ease. And boy is he quiet! Today, while he was supposed to be napping (and I was napping) he sneaked out the gate and into the basement and started playing. He even made it back to his room before I woke up! The only reason I know he was down there is that I heard him trying to sneak out again and then when I went downs stairs I found that he had lined up all the soda cans in rows across the basement floor.

He also learned how to take off the door knob covers, so all of the doors of the rooms we don't want him in now have latches. Some may ask why we don't just put a latch on his door. Well, that is probably the next step, but right now we are potty training and would like him to be able to leave his room and come tell us if he has to go potty in the middle of the night. But since having him wandering the house while the rest of us are sleeping is not the best idea, his room will probably be latched soon.

This kid is too smart for his own good.

I fought the knife,

2009-12-07T23:25:00.002-06:00

and the knife won... So Saturday evening, I cutting up some veggies and I ended up cutting my hand. A slip of the knife and I have a nice slash across the webbing of my hand between the thumb and index finger. Which meant a couple hours in the ER and two pretty blue stiches. And of course this happened shortly after Leanne (my sister-in-law) and her boyfriend arrived and shortly before my mother-, father-, and brother-in-law showed up. It made for an interesting evening.

One year old!

2009-12-01T16:05:00.004-06:00

Ezra is one year old now! We celebrated his birthday on Sunday with my parents and sister. It was just a simple cupcake and present party. Ezra seemed to like his cupcake, but ended up throwing it up afterwards. Apparently the sugar didn't sit so well on his stomach.

Today he had his one year appointment. He weighed 22 lbs, 6 oz. (50 percentile) and 30.5 inches (90 percentile). He weighs a whole four pounds less than Matthias did at one year, but the doctor is not concerned, because of his earlier issues and he is maintaining the curve he's been on since about 6 months.

He still isn't walking, but the doctor said not to worry. She says he looks good otherwise. Poor baby got three shots though, so he's been sleeping really well this afternoon.

He wanted to put out the flame with his fingers.

Yummy cupcake!

The boys were playing nicely together, because they each had a hammer.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T01:07:00.003-06:00

Today was a great day. We got together with my mom's side of the family as usual. It was a great day of good food and conversation. And then after everyone left and we got the boys in bed, we got to play games together. It was a great time.

I love reading everyone's facebook messages about what they are thankful for. It reminds me what I am thankful for. There are so many things to thank God for that I could type forever, but I'll just give some highlights.

I am thankful that Calvin has a stable job. Although he has not received a raise in the last two years, he has not had a paycut or unpaid leave or anything.

I am thankful that my children are healthy and growing well. For a while, we didn't know how Ezra would do, but he is such a happy, healthy, even plumb little boy now! And for all of Matthias' climbing and just being a boy, he has had no serious injuries so far.

I am thankful that I have a supportive family.

I am thankful we have a warm home.

I could go on, but it's late. I am just so thankful that God has given me all these blessings and more in my life.

Calvin didn't escape.

2009-11-19T23:27:00.003-06:00

Last week tuesday, Calvin came home from work with a fever, cough, and body aches. And it didn't break until early Friday morning. So he had to stay home Wednesday and Thursday. He should have should have stayed home Friday as well, but he woke up without a fever and was itching to go. I'm knocking on wood, but so far I have remained healthy! I have been dealing with some weird ear pain though. My left ear is plugged and hurts. But it's not an ear infection. It's kind of a mystery.

Calvin's dad also came to visit last weekend, which was fun.

This week, the boys and I are at my parent's house. I have a Pampered chef Open House/vendor fair, so we thought we'd come visit.

Matthias learned how to take the duct tape off his diaper. Which has made for some awful messes (poop fingerpainting on the walls). Our new solution is putthing him in pjs that have a zipper up the front and safetypinning the zipper shut. Hopefully that will work. Unfortunately it means buying new pjs, since most of his pjs are pants and a top. But it is a small price to pay for not having to scrub poop off the walls (did you know poop takes off paint?) and the carpet.

But the biggest news is that Matthias actually went pee on the potty! I know this is such a mom-thing to say, but this is great news. Hopefully, fully potty training will come soon!

Fever, Fever, Go Away!

2009-11-04T19:43:00.002-06:00

So last Monday, Ezra came home from daycare with a fever. And along with it came stuffiness and congestion. Finally, Wednesday morning he woke up fever-free. So we took the boys to their appointments to get the H1N1 vaccine. Unfortunately when we got there we found out that the rules had changed and the boys couldn't get the vaccine. But Ezra was able to get checked by the doc and get his second dose of the seasonal vaccine. Fortunately, he checked out fine, but unfortunately the fever came back that afternoon. Thankfully it just lasted the evening. Now the congestion and stuffiness is gone and he's feeling great!

But, now Matthias is sick. It was kind of like deja vu this week. Matthias came home from daycare with a fever on Monday. His is much worse than Ezra's was though. He has also be having horrible chills (he shakes uncontrollably). So today we went back to the doctor. His fever had spiked to 104 degrees F! Thankfully, he tested negative for both H1N1 and seasonal flu. So now we are just on a regiment of tylenol and motrim to keep his fever under control.

So you probably don't want to come visit us for a while and we are under house arrest for now. Hopefully everyone will be well soon and Calvin and I can avoid getting sick!

What to write about?

2009-10-25T21:58:00.002-05:00

I feel like I haven't had anything to write about lately. It's not that there isn't anything going on. It feels like we are so busy! Maybe it's just writer's block. I've never been much of a writer.

Life here is going well, but is rather busy, as I mentioned above. My class is going well. Right now I'm getting an A and I really enjoy the class. The prof is a bit kooky, but honestly, I think that's one of the prerequistes for being a prof.

The boys are doing well. Ezra took his first step the other day. And it is step, not steps, because he only took one and has not taken another since. He just seems to have no desire to walk. Which isn't all bad. He does seem to have a desire to talk and has been babbling his little head off. He smiles and babbles to anyone who will listen and if no one will listen, he'll talk to his hand.

Matthias continues to be a monkey. His newest trick is turning his bed on its end. He still loves being naked, so we have to continue to duct tape his diaper one for naps and bed time. He is also talking more and more.

Calvin is doing well. He just went to a 'Man to Man' conference which was about men's ministries. He really enjoyed it. His job is stable, so that is helpful. He'd love a different job, but right now we're just thanking God that it is stable and pays our bills.

Well, I guess that's about it for now. Hopefully, I'll come up with a more exciting post soon.

New Words

2009-10-16T00:13:00.002-05:00

Matthias' speech has just taken off in the last month or so. He is learning new words every day and it is so cool to watch. He loves to talk about stuff he sees and is also able to communicate his needs more and more. But, like most children his age, he doesn't always have the pronunciation down. One of his favorite words is 'truck', but instead of the 'tr' sound, he makes a 'f' sound. So that is an interesting predicament when he is yelling at all the trucks he sees driving by. I'm sure people sometimes wonder what he must hear at home, but I guarantee that it is not that word!

Ezra is doing great. He seems like he is almost ready to walk, but just doesn't want to let go and take that first step.

My Human Anatomy class is going well. I love the material and am doing quite well on the quizzes and tests.

More Matthias Antics

2009-10-10T23:18:00.002-05:00

He is such a hoot. (Note: Calvin helped him get up to this position, but he held it for a few secondson his own).

crossing my fingers

2009-10-07T22:13:00.001-05:00

No mice in the traps for over 24 hours. Could we really have caught them all?

Mouse Count

2009-10-01T21:51:00.002-05:00

3. Calvin finally set up a second trap. Hopefully this is it, but after my friend having at least 18 in her apartment, I'm not getting my hopes up.

An Uninvited Guest

2009-09-29T22:28:00.002-05:00

Normally, my husband and I are very welcoming. We love having people over and will open our doors to just about anyone. But right now we have an uninvited visitor. And no, it's not my in-laws.

We have a mouse.

I love animals and I don't even mind little rodent like ones. AS LONG AS THEY ARE NOT IN MY HOUSE! So this little mouse needs to leave. I put Calvin on mouse eviction. I suggested a live trap, but he wants vengence. So he set a trap. And caught one. So hopefully that mouse has no friends, because want no more deaths.

My little Monkey

2009-09-25T22:55:00.002-05:00

So today, during Ezra's nap, I left Matthias playing in the living room. He was being quiet, so I went to check on him. I didn't see him playing on the floor, so I looked up. And there he was. standing on the ledge outside the window. Just smiling at me from his perch above the bushes. Much to my husband's dismay, I didn't get a picture. Apparently he had punched through the screen and climbed out. I tell you, that child is fearless! I guess the time for window locks has come.

Oh and the nudity continues! Matthias insists on taking off his clothes whenever I put him down for a nap. I've been told duct tape works well. Any other suggestions?

Ezra is doing well. He started taking steps behind one of the walking toys! It won't be long until until he's walking on his own (oh help me now!)

'Helpful' little boy

2009-09-18T12:53:00.002-05:00

I know I've talked a lot about poop recently, but it seems to have consumed me as of late. And since I know you guys like to have a good laugh at my expense, I'll share another story.

So I like sleep. Always have, always will. So when Matthias wakes up and is playing quietly in his room (which he for the most part can't get out of), I let him be. Usually this lasts only five mintues, but those five minutes of extra sleep are just blissful!

This morning, I heard Matthias wake up, but he seemed content to play quietly. So I went back to sleep. After a few minutes, Ezra woke up, so I went, picked him up and went to get Matthias. I was greeted at the door by a naked little boys sitting on the floor with a poopy diaper next to him. Apparently he had pooped and decided to change his diaper himself. He had taken off his clothes, his diaper, found some wipes, wiped his butt (he actually did a fairly good job although he used about ten wipes), and went back to playing. Great. That added another chore to my already long list for the day. Potty training cannot come soon enough!

Good Bye Grandma

2009-09-08T13:49:00.002-05:00

Yesterday my Grandma went to be with Jesus in Heaven. It was sudden but not unexpected. She was 88 or 89 (I can't remember which) and has had some health problems for a long time. I'm not sure all the details, just that she fell and they lost her either on the way to the hospital or shortly after arriving. The funeral is probably going to be this weekend.

Although she will be missed, I rejoice that she is in heaven with Jesus and feels no pain. She is joining my Grandpa who passed away 25 years ago and my uncle Robert who passed away 3 years ago. She has been ready to go home to Jesus for a long time. She is happy now, it is just us that are left behind that mourn.

There are so many great memories that I have of my Grandma. I remember how much she liked to bake and crochet. I remember being a little girl and making "Grandma" buns and how she made really little ones just for me. I remember how she always had cookies in her freezer for when we came to visit. I still have some of the little doellies (sp?) that she crocheted. She was a great woman and she will be missed.

A busy, busy day

2009-09-02T13:01:00.002-05:00

As many of you know, Calvin and I only have one car. So most days I do not have a vehicle available and just stay home with the boys (or maybe go for a walk). Well, since Calvin works about 20 miles away, when I need a car I have to get up really early and wake up the boys and drive Calvin to work and then pick him up again at the end of the day (during nap time usually). So I try to avoid needing the car as much as possible. That means I have days like yesterday where I pile a ton of stuff into one day so that I can make good use of having the car. So here was my day.

First brought Calvin to work. Came home and got the boys fed and ready for the day (including a short nap for Ezra.)

Then brought the boys to the doctor's office for Ezra's 9 month appt. He's now 20lbs 11 oz and 29.5 inches long which means that he has officially outgrown his carseat and I need to clean Matthias' old seat for him. All the staff is excited to see Ezra and amazed at how big he has gotten. When you go in so often, you make an impression and it has been 3 months since Ezra last went there (new record for him!). Ezra got the flu shot and Matthias got the flu mist.

Next stop was Taco Bell's for lunch. Or should I say we went through the drive-thru and then ate in the parking lot because Ezra had fallen asleep and there was no way I was moving him.

After Ezra woke up and had a bottle, we went to the library so that we could get some books and a couple of dvds. Matthias did not want to leave, but alas we had too. Right after leaving the library I had to pull into a parking lot to move Matthias' carseat. Ezra's seat is right behind the driver and we had had Matthias' seat in the middle so that we could take an additional passenger if needed, but Matthias kept bugging Ezra (pulling out his pacifier and throwing it on the other side of the car) so I moved his seat to behind the passenger seat. No one gets to ride with us anymore.

Then we had to go to Matthias' first dentist appointment. As I had mentioned earlier, Matthias had fallen and broken his front two teeth. The one on the right is a very small chip and nothing to be concerned about. The one on the left is much more broken and discolored. The dentist said at this point it is nothing to worry about. We just need to watch it and if it becomes infected it will need to be pulled. Otherwise she would rather not put Matthias through the trauma of pulling a tooth. The appointment went fairly well. Matthias did not enjoy her looking at his teeth, but was happy again when they brought him a balloon and a Wall-E battery operated tooth brush and a Cars sticker. They also took a picture of his first dentist visit!

After the dentist visit, we went to get Calvin. He actually took off early yesterday because I had orientation at Gateway (where I am taking Human Anatomy and Physiology as a prerequiste for my Midwifery program).

We got Calvin and then I dropped him and the boys off at home. I then ran to RadioShack to drop off our laptop (this is a loner computer from my parents that I am using) because it needs to be fixed. Then I went to the bookstore at Gateway ($225 just for the required books for the class. That is not including the recomended book. I am waiting on those until I start the class so I can see really how recommended those are). And then I had New Student Orientation, which unfortunately was rather boring. Oh well.

So finally after that I got home. But Calvin had a Deacon's meeting at church, so when I got home I had to load up the kids in the car to take home the babysitter, who had come to watch the boys for the hour of overlap Calvin and I had in our schedule. So dropped her off and then came home and put the boys to bed and finally had a chance to relax.

These crazy days make it possible for Calvin and I to share a car. If I had an appointment or something every day, it would make it very difficult on the boys and I. It will be hard enough when I start my class and I will need the car twice a week. I am hoping to put appointments on those days as well in order to cut down on car days. Oh the joys of only one car.

Poop storm!

2009-08-27T16:13:00.002-05:00

There are some days I wonder why I became a mother. Those days are few and usually far between, but yesterday and today have been those days. I mean I love my kids and wouldn't give them up for anything, but oh, some days make me want to rethink this whole motherhood thing.

WARNING: the following stories are pretty gross!

So yesterday, when Ezra was done for his nap, he had pooped in his diaper and then taken it off. Then he proceeded to step in it, pick it up with his hands, eat it, and smear it all over his crib and everything in it. It was everywhere. And of course it was right as a friend of mine was walking in to plan the Youth group year. So I had to pick Ezra up and put him in the bath tub. and wash the poop off of every part of his body (except surprisingly his bum was rather clean), including his mouth and nose. Then I had to go and put all sheet, mattress cover, blankie, crib bumber and his clothes in the washing machine. And then the fun part. I had to go and scrub the crib. I swear that kid grabbed each and every bar of his crib and smeared poop on every rail. It was gross. I am just so glad I am not pregnant because then I would have been puking over everything as well.

So if that wasn't bad enough, this morning Matthias woke up and Calvin had not put his diaper on right last night, so it had fall down his leg. Well, then of course, Matthias pooped and so the inside of his pjs were coated in poop and of course it had leaked out and on to the carpet where he was lying this morning (the kid almost never stays in bed, but seems to prefer sleeping on the floor). So another kid in the shower and more scrubbing. This is worse than the day I kept getting puked on (by Ezra and a friend's baby).

So I love my kids, really I do, but if I have to see any more poop that is not in a diaper anytime soon, I am going to be sending some kids to Grandma's house.

Busy Weeks

2009-08-20T03:34:00.002-05:00

So, it's been a while. But in my defense. Life has been super crazy.

From July 29-Aug 2, I was working at the Racine County Fair in the Pampered Chef booth. The boys stayed with my parents. It was a very successful five days and I think the boys had a lot of fun at my parents' house. I know my parents had a good time. The only downside was that Matthias fell off the kitchen counter (he is such a climber these days) and broke his front two teeth. The right one just has a small chip out of it, but the left one is abot half gone. Obviously, they are just baby teeth, and thankfully, they don't seem to bother him, but that was a bit tramatic. Unfortunately, the left one is startig to turn black, so we are trying to get him in to see a pediatric dentist, as they will probably have to pull it.

Anyways, back to our busy schedule. So I worked at the fair from the 29th to the 2nd. Calvin's sister Leanne came on the 1st (Saturday) and Calvin and Leanne picked up the boys Saturday night. I finished the fair early Sunday evening and then packed like mad. 4 AM Monday morning, we all left for the airport. Leanne, Matthias, Ezra, and I left for Alberta to see Calvin's parents for a week an a half. Calvin could not go to Alberta, because he had to work.

Alberta was a lot of fun. We got to hang out with Calvin's family, meet Curtis' girlfriend, Leah, and see some good friends.

On August 12, my mother in law, the boys, and I made the long drive to Abbotsford, British Columbia (it took us 14 hours, but that included three 45-60 minute stops. The boys did surprisingly very well). We were going to Abbotsford, because Calvin's grandparents were celebrating their 50th anniversary and we were having a big family reunion. After we arrived, the family slowly began to trickle in, with everyone (including Calvin who had flown up for the weekend) arriving by Friday evening. While I was there I also got to see two really great friends, that I haven't seen since college and meet Kristi, Harv's girlfriend. Saturday was a busy day with family pictures in the morning, family fun in the afternoon, and a reception for Grandma and Grandpa's friends and family.

Sunday was also busy, as after church, we went to the otherside of the family (Calvin's dad's side) for coffee and lunch and then back to Calvin's mom's side of the family for supper. And then the mad packing started over again and 6:30 AM, Monday morning, we (Calvin, Leanne, Matthias, Ezra, and I, along with Calvin's parents, whom were dropping us off) left for the airport. After a long day of flying and a not so happy 2 year old (I apoligize to every poor person who had to fly from St. Louis to Milwaukee with us), we finally made it home. Which has filled the last couple of days with cleaning the house (Calvin would live in utter filth if he was a bachelor), unpacking (still not done), and trying to get my follow-up calls from the fair done.

So if that isn't enough of an excuse to not blog for a couple of weeks, I don't know what is! And of course, both boys came home with a cold and have been bears while trying to readjust to their routine and not having a hundred people around all the time. So it might take me a couple of weeks to feel settled in again.

Teeth!

2009-07-27T16:29:00.002-05:00

Teething is such a curious thing. Babies act crabby, chew on everything, and drool like crazy for months. The whole time, you are thinking that it must be teething, but everytime you check, there are no teeth. You don't want to keep giving them tylenol or orajel, or whatever remedy you use, since you don't know it is for sure teething. It isn't until you fnally see one of those little teeth pop up that you can use hindsight and realize that that awful fever he was running or the fact that he has been sleeping like crap for the last four days was probably related to these little teeth. And once the teeth have popped out, most of the pain is gone and they are much more comfortable.
Saturday morning, Ezra's first tooth popped and then on Sunday morning the second showed up. We've been waiting for these teeth for a while, since he is almost 8 months old and Matthias sprouted his first two teeth at only five months. But they are here now!

Don't touch my cracker!

2009-07-17T16:51:00.002-05:00

Ezra is learning that Matthias likes to eat and likes his food and does not share well. Today, we were getting ready to learn how to climb done the stairs (Ezra can get up really well, but cannot get done very well). Matthias was climbing all over and had a graham cracker in his hand. Well, Ezra thought that the cracker looked pretty tasty, so he reached over to grab it from Matthias. Matthias was not about to give up his cracker, so he pushed Ezra down the stairs. It happened so fast I couldn't catch him, even though I was right there. Thankfully we only have six stairs and they are carpeted and padded, even at the bottom, so Ezra was not hurt, but I think he will learn pretty quickly not to mess with Matthias' food.

Matthias is also learning to talk a lot more. Yesterday after we dropped off my sister Katie at a friend's house in Chicago, he said "Katie go bye bye". This was the first time he had said her name and one of his first sentences. It is so much fun to see him learning more and more every day.

Biopsies

2009-07-16T23:52:00.003-05:00

So on July 1, I went to my regular doctor to get some moles looked at. She decided that I needed to get two of them biopsied and sent me to a dermatologist. On July 8, I went in and had the two spots biopsied. Ok, if you get queasy, skip to the next paragraph. How they do the biopsies is that they give you a shot of lidocain behind each spot. That numbs the area completely. Then they take a razor blade and scrap off the spot. This leaves a hole, which is can be very sore and is very, very itchy while it heals. Not so much fun.

I got the results back yesterday.

The first spot was not really a mole, but was a lump on my back. It looked like a bug bite, but it has been around since about January. The dermatologist thought it was (insert big long medical term here), which is basically scar tissue. The biopsy confirmed this, so that was no big deal.

The other spot was a mole that looked abnormal. There are basically three different results that you can get. The best is that the cells are benign and there is nothing to worry about. If this is the case, then you get a call in the mail. If it is one of the other options, you get a call from the nurse. The second possibility is that the cells are atypical and the worst possibility is that the cells are cancerous. Well, yester day I got a phone call. As soon as I answered the phone and heard that it was the nurse from the dermatologists I got nervous. The biopsies came back that the cells are atypical. This means that it is not cancerous, but pre-cancerous. It may turn into cancer, it may not. So what we are doing now is just keeping an eye on it. I will be going back in six months for a check. If nothing changes, I'll probably just have to keep going in for checks. If something does change, then we will have to treat it somehow. So the news was ok, not good or bad.

So that is what is new with me. Thank you to all who prayed for me while I was waiting for results.

I can't keep up with him!

2009-07-05T22:22:00.003-05:00

Matthias learned how to crawl over his gate in his room this week. This meant that he didn't take any naps. He was too excited to sleep and liked the freedom of getting out of his room. This was rough on me as I couldn't get anything done as I as trying to keep track of where he was and trying to get him to take a nap. But right now we've got him beat. He bought a new gate that is ten inches taller than the old one and has straight bars so that he has nothing to climb on. So far he hasn't been able to get out and actually took a nap today.

Yesterday we celebrated July 4th with a bunch of my mom's family. It was a lot of fun. The boys enjoyed themselves. Here's a picture of them playing together for once.

He's on the move!

2009-07-01T01:13:00.002-05:00

Ezra is on the move! He is a crawling pro and is not pulling himself up on the furniture to a standing position! He can also crawl up steps. It's a good thing that our house is pretty baby proof already. We really need to keep our eyes on him!

Matthias is doing great as well. He doesn't like to share much, so we are working on that. The boys sure do love each other. They spend time each day just looking at each other and making each other laugh.

Calvin and I are doing well. This past weekend we left the boys with my parents and went out to Iowa to attend the wedding of two of our friends from college. It was a great weekend. We got to spend a lot of time with a bunch of our friends from college. It was like a mini-reunion! We had a great time. I think the best part of the weekend was the drive there and back. Now usually I'm not a big fan of an 8 hour drive, but it was great for Calvin and I to reconnect and talk the whole time without kids interuppting. It was like getting to know each other all over again.

I did miss the boys a ton this weekend, so it was great picking them up Monday morning. I loved the looks on their faces when I came in to get them.

This is going to be a great week. Calvin has Friday off, so it will be nice to spend some time as a family.

Pictures!

2009-06-13T02:53:00.016-05:00

So I know that this took a while, but here are the pictures from our weeknd with Grandma and Grandpa Canada (Calvin's parents from Alberta). Calvin' sister Leanne also came for the weekend. We had a great time. On Friday, Calvin's dad and Calvin had to work, so Calvin's mom and I took the boys to the Betty Brinn's Children's Museum in Milwaukee. On Saturday, all of us went to downtown Chicago and Navy Pier. On Monday, Calvin and his dad had to work again, so Calvin's mom, Leanne, and I took the boys on a tour at the Jelly Belly factory. It was an awesome weekend.

Friday:

Matthias enjoyed playing at the sand table.

Grandma Canada entertaining Ezra.

Ezra playing with Grandma.

Matthias mowing the 'lawn' at the Children's Museum.

Matthias crawling through the tree trunk.

Saturday:

Calvin and Matthias playing in the fountain at Navy Pier.

Ezra! (post haircut, obviously)

Three genrations!

Monday:Matthias with the Jelly Belly car.

Ezra wearing his mandatory hat during the tour.

All of us on the train.

Me and my boys at the Jelly Belly Factory!

Chunky Monkey

2009-06-01T21:55:00.002-05:00

Don't worry, pictures from this weekend with the in-laws (Children's Museum, Navy Pier, and Jelly Belly Factory) will be coming soon. Just not tonight.

Ezra had his 6 month appointment today. He is doing fantastic! He weighed 19 lbs and was 28 inches long! He's so tall! And he put on two pounds in the last two weeks! We don't have to worry about weight anymore. The doctor is surprised that he is crawling already and even more surprised that he can crawl, but not sit up. But he's getting there. Ezra's doctor thinks that he'll be walking before nine months. I'm hoping not! Once he starts walking, he'll start running and I'm not ready to run after two kids!

1st Haircut!

2009-05-30T11:28:00.003-05:00

It's been a busy weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Doornbos. Later I'll make a post with pictures from the Children's museum yesterday, but since we're leaving for the Navy Pier, I need to be quick. But I wanted to post Ezra's first haircut pictures!

Before:

After:

He's so grown up now!

Gorgeous Days!

2009-05-20T22:54:00.002-05:00

Today was absolutely gorgeous! It was in the 80s and sunny. Beautiful! Matthias and I played outside while Ezra took a nap. Matthias loved it!

The boys have been sleeping great lately (knock on wood, I really hope I don't jinx this!). Last night both boys slept through the night. And not just slept through the night, but slept in! Ezra slept in until 9:00 and Matthias slept in until 9:30! So you'd think I'd have gotten a great night of sleep as well, huh? Not so much. I woke up at 3:30 am and could not get back to sleep. It sucks. I tried all of my tricks to get myself to go back to sleep and nothing worked. So finally at 5:00, I got up and went for a run. It was already in the 60s and the run was beautiful. After getting home and taking a shower I went to get a couple of groceries. All before Calvin even got up. Oh well. I did manage a nap this afternoon while the boys slept.

The boys are growing up so much! I can't believe it. And they are so funny. I heard Matthias get up, so I went to go let him out of his room. Before I got to his door, I saw him picking up all of his clothes off the floor and put them in the hamper. It was so cute! He dragged the hamper with him as he walked around the room picking up each piece of clothing. Usually he is the one putting the clothes all over the room and I am the one putting them in the hamper. He is also starting to speak a few more words. He says Ehra (Ezra), baby, carrot, door, dog, go, yes, no, yep, and probably some others I can't remember. It's funny. He says baby and Ezra, but won't say Baby Ezra. And his new favorite food is carrots. He ate about half a pound of them today.

Ezra is starting to get better too. He is coughing less and seems less congested. He tried carrots today for the first time and loved them, just his big brother. He also continues to move. He hates staying in one place too long.

Well that's all for now. Hopefully tomorrow we'll get to play outside again!

Crawling. I'm not ready for this.

2009-05-15T00:01:00.003-05:00

Ezra started crawling over the weekend. It's not the full hands and knees crawl, but more of an army/inch worm type crawl. And let me tell you that he is FAST! Everytime I turn around he's half way across the room and getting into something new. The days of just laying him on the floor while I try to get work done are over. He needs to be strapped in something to keep him put. The problem is that he doesn't want to stay put, so I have very limited time where I can leave in him the jumper, rocker, or swing. Oi vey.

In other news, I've been trying to organize the playroom and my office space. In order to do this, we purchased some new cabinets to increase our storage space. The playroom was really easy to do, but my office is taking a little longer. I just have so much paperwork to sort and I really have to look at each piece and decide whether to keep it, file it, or do something else with it. Most of it is medical bills and those are annoying. Since I can't always pay a medical bill right when I receive it, I sometimes get a second bill. So then I have to sort out whether or not I paid it. And since we have had quite a few medical expenses in the last 6 months, there are a lot of bills to sort through. Slowly, but surely I'll get through them all.

Matthias is doing well. He is communicating a lot more, although he needs to work on his English.

Oh, and you know how I was so excited that Ezra was not going to have to see a doctor at all in May? Well, Ezra likes his doctor too much to let that happen. He ended up going in today to get checked out. He has a sinus infection that he can't seem to shake. It's been going on for like four weeks. Last week, his doctor had called in a prescription for an antibiotic for him. It hasn't made a difference. So today, she put him on a stronger antibiotic, but she isn't sure if he'll be able to make it through the whole ten days. Apparently this antibiotic can cause severe vomiting and diarrhea in a normal baby and with his history, it will probably be worse. So we'll see what happens. Apparently, Ezra is not ready to give up his status as medical problem child. But he sure is cute.Here's Matthias on his birthday.

Running

2009-05-07T08:25:00.002-05:00

So I went running this morning. So it's not like I ran a marathon or anything, just jogging for a few blocks. But if you know me, you know that this is a big deal. I HATE running. Usually I do whatever I can to avoid running. In high school, I talked my way out of running whenever possible. I got out of running the mile in freshman gym, because of knee problems. Mr. Van Der Poel said he'd make me run it before I graduated (oops). I also talked my way out of upper classmen gym. I don't like running. Even now I've been trying to get out of running. I told Calvin almost two weeks ago that I wanted to start running and this morning is the first time I've gone. I keep coming up with excuses (the boys kept me awake, it's raining, I have a blister, etc).

So if I hate running so much, why am I doing it? These last ten pounds. I have lost all the weight from my pregnancy with Ezra, but still have ten pounds that I never lost from my pregnancy with Matthias. Ideally, I'd love to lose twenty pounds, but I'm sure I'm committed enough to diet and exercise to make that work. I do want to lose this baby weight though, so I am going to start running.

2 Years Old Already!

2009-05-02T23:11:00.002-05:00

I can't believe that Matthias is 2 years old already! It seems like just yesterday when I was holding him in my arms for the first time. I couldn't believe how tiny he was (even though he was 9 lbs). Now he is such a big boy. He is no longer a baby. He runs and climbs. He is learning to express himself and has his own opinions. He is learning more everyday. He is curious and daring. He loves his baby brother as well as Calvin and I. He's just such an amazing little boy and I am really enjoying seeing him grow up. I can't wait to see what this next year brings. I'm hoping for talking and potty training. But I'm sure that whatever is in store for us this year will be amazing.

5 month and 2 year appointments

2009-04-28T21:16:00.002-05:00

Today we had Ezra's weight check and Matthias' two year appointment. Ezra weighed 16 lbs 6 oz! That was another great weight gain. We don't have to go back until his six month appointment! We are also starting him on two meals of solids and start vegetables.

Matthias is also doing well. He weighs almost 30 lbs and 35 inches tall! He's getting so big. Developmentally, he's doing great. He isn't talking much, but his doctor isn't concerned. She said that sometimes boys just take longer to learn to talk. He communicates, just not using english words. His doctor also said that we can start potty training this summer. We aren't going to put a lot of pressure on it, but we are going to see if he has any interest in it.

Here's a picture of the boys from Easter.

What a difference a week makes!

2009-04-14T23:13:00.002-05:00

So I've been a bad blogger. I blame it on the weekend. We went up to my parents' house for the long weekend. It was fun, because my sister was home from college, so the whole family was together for the weekend. And if my brother gets into college in Texas, this might be one of the last times we're all together for a while. So it was a good weekend.

Today was Ezra's weight check. He was 15 lbs 5.5 oz! That is a 1 lb 4 oz weight gain! We were expecting a good turn gain because he was eating like crazy this past weekend. He was definitely going through a growth spurt.

We are tweaking his feedings just a little bit. Obviously having cereal added to his bottles helps him gain weight. Plain breast milk and formula are not enough. But pumping is not going well. So now I am going to nurse him and then follow it up with a bottle that will have either breast milk or formula with rice in it. Since my supply has gone down, I'll probably be giving him a bottle at every other feeding or so. Although I am hoping to keep breastfeeding, I am not opposed to formula. So we'll just see how it goes.

We also started feeding him cereal by spoon once a day. It is going ok. He likes to keep his hands by his mouth, so it is definitely messy. This week we are going to start feeding other foods, probably some yummy veggies.

In other development news. Ezra is rolling like crazy. It's fun to see him move. This weekend he also started pushing himself up on his hands and knees. He just wants to be on the move. Tomorrow we are going to go buy him a jumper activity station, because he loves to be upright and I am getting tired of bouncing him up and down on my lap.

Matthias is doing well also. He had a rough nap time this afternoon. He was climbing out of his bed and got his pacifier stuck in the bed rails. And while trying to pull it free he ripped the tip of the pacifier off. Let me tell you he was not happy. Now I know a lot of people would have taken the opportunity to be done with the pacifier, but I'm not ready for that battle, so we headed off to the store to buy more this afternoon. He only (usually) gets it during sleeping times, so I'm not too bothered that he still has it.

I had a bad feeling about this appointment

2009-04-07T21:34:00.002-05:00

I had a bad feeling about Ezra's appointment today. Now usually when I have bad feelings, I am completely wrong and usually things go better than expected. Not today.

Ezra lost 5 oz. this week. That's the most he's ever lost. We think that the weight loss is the result of not adding cereal to his feeds this week. So now we are going back to adding rice to his bottle feeds and we are also going to start spoon feeding him one meal of cereal a day. We will then go back to his doctor next week Tuesday for another weight check. This means I have to go back to pumping, which I hate. Oh well.

Also Ezra had his four month shots today, so he's a bit cranky. That on top of his cold, I think we're going to be in for a rough night.

Matthias still has a cold and is very irritable right now. He threw a horrible tantrum at the doctor's office today (He screamed for at least twenty minutes).

With everything going on today, I am rather tired now. Thankfully, we are going to my parent's house this weekend and they promised to help with the kids so I can have a break. That is the only think keeping me sane right now.

All part of being a mom

2009-04-06T15:43:00.002-05:00

It has been a few days since I blogged. I apoligize; I have been rather tired lately.

Today has been one of those mornings.

First Matthias woke up a little congested. Well he started coughing so hard that he threw up. Thankfully, it was on a blanket, so all I had to do was toss the blanket and his pjs into the wash.
Well, a little while later I stepped on a piece of glass in the kitchen. Calvin broke a glass a few days ago and we thought we had gotten it all cleaned up, but obviously we missed a shard. So I cut my toe pretty good and had to clean blood off the floor.

I also realized that I need to start planning Matthias' birthday party. His birthday is on May 2 and that is going to be here before I know it. And with Easter coming up, I need to give out the invitations at mom's group tomorrow because otherwise I won't see those families for almost two weeks.

Ezra was doing a lot better at not spitting up until Saturday night. Saturday night and Sunday all day were awful. Everything seemed to be coming up. Not fun. Ezra went through about four outfits himself and I think I had to change two or three times. This morning seemed a little better, so hopefully it was a fluke. Tomorrow he goes in for another weight check and his 4-month shots. He is growing though. At least height wise if not weight wise. He is stretching out of his 3-6 month clothes and so I need to start buying some 6-9 month clothes for him. Matthias' 6-9 month clothes are all fall/winter clothes, so they will be fine until the weather warms up, but then Ezra will need some summer clothes. I was at Kohl's this past weekend and they were out of all the 6-9 month size in the outfits I liked. So I'll have to go look at the Racine Kohl's or Carter's I guess.

This past Thursday night, I attended an open house for the Graduate School at Marquette University. That is where I would like to attend to get my MSN in Nurse Midwifery. It was very informative. I'm a little nervous about getting in though. They only accept 48 students out of approximatley 130 into the direct entry program. Right now though I need to focus on picking a school to finish my prerequesites at. I need to take Human Anatomy and Physiology. I know of a few schools, so now I just need to decide on which one works the best for my schedule, is the most affordable, and has room for fall enrollment.

Well, I guess that's what's new in our lives. I'll try to update tomorrow on how Ezra's appointment goes.

Done with the GI Specialist

2009-03-31T22:31:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, Ezra had his four month appointment. He lost 1 oz from last Wednesday. Other than that, he looked great, but we had to push his 4 mo. shots to next week, since he got his 2 month shots less than 60 days ago.

Today was Ezra's GI Specialist appointment. First thing was an ultrasound of his belly, which looked great. Then we saw the specialist. Today they weighed him at 14 lb 6.5 oz. This is 1.5 oz up from yesterday and .5 oz up from last week. I was worried that the specialist was not going to be happy about this, but he was ok with it, since he gained 3 lbs in the prior 3 weeks. The specialists have decided that he has nothing more than reflux and since we have been able to get him to gain weight, they are no longer concerned. They expect him to start growing out of the reflux over the next few months. So this was great news! We will need to continue to go in to our regular peditrician every 1-2 weeks for weight checks, but as long as he keeps gaining sufficient weight we do not need to go back to the GI specialist!

So this was a great day. Ezra was a very happy baby. He smiled at everyone and everyone said he was the cutest baby. He has also been wiggling and moving all over the place. He scoots on his back across the floor and he is *this* close to rolling over from his back to his tummy. He keeps trying it, but can't quite get over.

Well, time for bed. Calvin leaves for a business trip in the morning, so pray for safe travels for him and that I survive three days alone with the boys.

4 months old

2009-03-29T23:59:00.003-05:00

Ezra turned four months old today. I can't believe is is so old already! He also has started to sit and stand with help. He's going to be all grown up before I know it!

So a couple days ago, I asked for prayers for Calvin and I and some decisions we were trying to make. We have been doing a lot of praying and we have decided that I am going to go back to school! I am planning on taking the Nurse Midwife program at Marquette University. This coming fall and spring I need to complete a prerequesite class (Human Anatomy and Physiology) and then in May 2010, I start at Marquette. I will first be taking a 15 month pre-MSN program, which is basically an acclerated nursing program. Then I will be taking two years of master's courses in nurse midwifery. I am very excited, but I still covet your prayers. There are a lot of details to iron out. We think we might have childcare lined up (a wonderful friend of ours). We still need to figure out funding and getting another car. Then there is the adjustment for our family as I will not be with the boys full time any more.

He's Getting Chunky!

2009-03-25T22:49:00.002-05:00

We had Ezra weighed today. 14 lbs 6 oz! That's almost a whole pound since last tuesday! So, while the GI doc was pleased with the weight gain, he is not pleased that Ezra is still spitting up. So they will be doing an ultrasound of his belly on Tuesday. So we'll see what that shows. Good news is that he can go back to breast milk. They would still like us to add rice cereal in it. So we are very happy.

It's raining, it's pouring

2009-03-24T20:43:00.002-05:00

I like the rain. So cleansing!

Anyhow, I talked to the GI nurse today. They are very concerned that Ezra is still spitting up even though he is on the super hypoallergenic formula. So they have requested that Ezra be weighed and seen by one of our peditricians tomorrow morning. If he has lost weight or shows signs of distress or dehydration, he will be admitted tomorrow afternoon. I don't think that is going to happen. Although I don't think he has gained another two pounds (although I didn't think he had gained that much last time either), I don't think he has lost any weight either.

Good news is that if he has gained some weight, we can go back to breastfeeding! I'm super excited. And more good news, I don't have to keep up the dairy-free/ soy-free diet anymore! That is awesome news. Although, technically, I caved and quit the diet last night, I'm glad I don't have to feel guilty.

In non-medical news, we had a great day today! My mom and I took the boys to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum in Milwaukee today. That place is awesome! It is more of a playground than a museum. There are a ton of things for kids to do and even a section that is only for toddlers 3 and under. That section is great for Matthias. I think he could play their all day! At the end of the day, we decided to buy a year membership. I can't weight to take the boys back!

Matthias' first ER visit

2009-03-23T02:33:00.002-05:00

So tonight we made our first official US ER visit (we made on to the Canadian ER in December with Ezra). Tonight after Matthias went to bed (but obviously not to sleep) he screamed. He had been playing with his closet doors and got one caught on his foot, specifically his big toe. It was red and puffy, but the tip was white. So after calling the nurse line, we brought him to the ER, as was the nurse's suggestion. So we went in. After waiting a couple of hours, we finally got in and got an x-ray of his toe. Thankfully it was not broken. But it meant for an eventful night.