School has started for Ivan!

Today is the first day of school of Ivan. He is really excited. Mommy has been doing fine until last night. Ivan really wanted to ride the bus and I finally found out when they were coming to pick him up and drop him off.
For my kindergartner he is going to be gone from 8:13am, until 5:13pm. His school is from 9:20-3:50. It was already a long day for him now the bus ride will make it even longer. I just cried and cried when I realized he was going to be gone for so long.
I told Ivan we would try riding the bus and me dropping him off. But I know I have to give the bus a chance.

I can't wait to hear how he likes school and this new phase of his development.

Elin's spots

Elin developed 2 sores or pimple looking things on her lower leg last week. Grandpa Paris had a nasty case of MRSA on his knee the weekend prior. We knew it was a risk to take the kids there but we really wanted the cousins to play and we wanted to see Chrysti and Rahsaan again before the big move.  Since Ivan had MRSA before I knew what the first signs looked liked. I took Elin to the doc right away so we could get a culture and start her on antibiotics.
The doctor got a lot of pus out of her leg and we started the drugs.
It happened to be my 30th birthday when all of this occurred.
I didn't know it but Anders planned an awesome birthday weekend for me. So the grandparents got to clean, bandage, and administer drugs to Elin which is no easy feat.
We got the test results back today and it came back as just a Staph infection. We did have to go back to get her spots drained on Monday. But finally on Tuesday they looked better. I hate this process.

When did I get such a big girl

I just wanted to write down what happened today.
Elin, Caylin and I were playing in the kitchen with the "new" alphabet toy. She put one of the letters in the main part and looked at me and clapped and said " Yea!" This is the first time I've seen or heard her do this.

I wanted my mom to hear this new word. I asked Elin if she wanted to call grandma. She said, "aaa-ma."
She has said what sounds like grandma before but never this clear.

If my phone beeps or rings, she immediately puts her hand on her ear, tilts her head and says "eye." Every time. It's so cute.
Today she also started a new thing. If I bring out a camera to take a picture she is now saying "...eese." And smiles, it's so cute. It just make me giggle. Now I know I take a lot of pictures but I don't ask them to ever say cheese. So I was taken back when I saw her doing this today.

Also now that she is saying more words, she is finally signing! I have been working with girl since she was 6 months old to sign. Every meal, anytime she wanted something "more" to eat, or more to play. Anytime she needed to have a drink. I have been telling people this girl will not sign no matter what. I couldn't believe that she is doing it now. She did it a little bit yesterday, but today she was signing please for everything. I love it.

It was a big day for Elin. She is just doing so much and I feel like she is really growing up and expressing what she wants and needs.

The other thing I have been noticing with Elin is now that Cay is home with her while Ivan is at school, she is closer to Caylin. They play really well together now, and what I love best, Caylin "reads" to Elin. Elin loves books and there is now a couple in each room. She just carries them around and wants you to read them to her. Cay takes advantage of this anytime she can. They will get on a chair, couch or bed without my help Cay will open the book and make up the story she thinks is on the page.  I find them "reading" all the time and it just melts my heart.

Just a big week for Elin.

I really hope I get on here more often and just write what is happening in our house. The kids are getting so big and I know I'm going tho forget some wonderful things that are happening.

They are no longer Hoosiers

Today is a hard day. Chrysti, Rahsaan, Aidan, Paris, Leilah and Zahra flew out to Hawaii this morning. I am really excited for them but sad at the same time. I will really miss being with the kids and chatting it up with Chrysti at mom's house. Luckily we had one more day with them yesterday and got to say goodbyes throughout the day.
We are really going to miss them. 

Getting some teeth

We have been wondering if this little girl was going to get some teeth. Its fine by me since I'm still nursing that she doesn't have any.  She hasn't been acting any different I just happened to be playing with her and noticed 2 little white dots on her gums. Odd thing is it's not the normal 2 bottom teeth but her 2 top teeth.
2 days later I saw another white dot. This time it was the corner of a molar - another top one.
Next day saw another white dot, a corner of a molar again, a bottom one.
She is like Ivan in the sense that he would get his teeth 3 or 4 at a time. Ivan did get his bottom teeth first but then got an incisor. He looked like Billy Bob for his 1 year pictures :) 

So this girl is not going to get her teeth the "normal" way. And why would she?

Elin Kisses

Elin has been giving momma kisses for awhile, but today was special. After she woke this morning, her and I were playing in bed. Daddy walked over and she put her arms out for him. Anders picked her up and I said, "Elin, give daddy a kiss." She looked at me, I said it again and then she gave him a kiss.
It was so cute and to know that she knows who daddy is and what a kiss is, is so awesome. She's learning more and more everyday, and I just love this little booger.

Inspections

Both inspections are done. They are a few things we will be asking the seller to fix, give money at closing for them, or lower the selling price.
There were a few minor things that showed up on our house, but we expected them. Now we have to wait to see what they want us to fix. This is such a fast process.

We BOUGHT a house!

We went looking at 5 houses today. One of which we had seen twice before. It was the house Anders found riding his bike. This house had been on the market since May of last year. We couldn't believe it was still for sale. We fell in love with the property first. Even most of Anders' family has seen the house. The house needs some cosmetic changes, ie paint, new carpet, new kitchen countertops. but it's a great house.
Every house we went into we compared it to this house.
We decided this was our forever house! We put an offer in the next morning, because it was Friday the 13th. The seller accepted our offer the same day, within hours.
In 48 hours we accepted a contract on our house and got an accepted contract on the house we wanted. The best part, we will be able to move in before we give possession up of this house. Only God could have made this timing work. He is so good!
Now I need to get packing!

We sold our HOUSE!

We woke up early today because we needed to get the house ready for 2 showings today. I hate this process of cleaning the house for hours when someone might spend 30 minutes in here. Anders looked realy frustrated and I asked him why. He said, "I'm just sick of this, we should just take the house off the market - it'll never sell."
Well I kinda agreed with him, but we still needed to finish up for the showings today. I prayed out loud to God while cleaning. "Please let this be the last time I have to clean my house for a showing."
Well I got downstairs and about the time I was praying, Tony our realtor had called me. We had an offer coming from a showing while we are on vacation. Yes vacation, when the house wasn't clean. The offer wasn't bad but still a little low. They really needed a house, were on a tight schedule and lived out of state. We decided to counter. By the next day we accepted their counter. Now we only had 30 days to move out. We had no idea where we were going to go, but rather sell the house now, than to be stuck with it for another year.

Elin's sensitivity

I posted earlier that I had to take Elin in to get a blood allergy test. I still haven't. I have noticed when I give her the food I make for her - no reactions. If she gets jarred babyfood with asorbic acid in it (even the organic) she breaks out in these "excema" looking patches.

I started by taking all jarred babyfood away. Her spots went away.
I wanted her to have a variety of fruits so I went and picked up a few commerical fruit babyfood jars. She loved them - but had another reaction. (I hadn't put the two together yet)

Then it hit me - every time she had ascorbic acid she had a reaction. Did you know carrots have ascorbic acid in them? Yea, I do now.

I knew her first reaction was to pears and oatmeal. I really wanted to test my hypothesis out. I got some pears and pureed them. No reaction!!!!!
Next up is oatmeal. I wanted to wait until I knew the doctor was in the office and she was "spot" free in case she does have another reaction - but I'm trying oatmeal on Monday. I'm praying it's just the acid and nothing else.
I don't mind making her food - especially if it means she can have all the foods, if I make them.
And it really is easy to do. Just takes a little time. And I can easily make all of it organic!

You also know you are a mom when you get excited to find little 4oz canning jars so you can freeze the baby food you are making :)

Since the baby food jars you buy are not tempered for freezer temperatures and you could get shards of glass in her food when they break.  Yea I'm not going to attempt that and waste the food I made her.

Teen MOPS

It has started.
For a couple years now I have had it in my heart to help Teen MOPS. I have learned through my MOPS groups, moms need a community. I have learned this personally. I would not be the mom or the Christian women I am if it weren't for MOPS.
God has a sense of humor. While at a MOPS meeting I told a friend that I wanted to start a Teen MOPS group. I hadn't told anyone at MOPS this. Anders and I talked about it, my neighbor Leslie and I talked about it, but I didn't talk to anyone involved with MOPS. That afternoon that friend recieved an email from another mom that she needed help to start up a Teen MOPS group. This other friend is in the same MOPS group I'm in, lives just down the street (I could run there). Well the friend I told, said "Yes she would love to help. Have you talked to Steph Weaver? She really wanted to start one?" She or I had no idea we wanted to do this. She emailed me right away and that's how it all started.

Now she has been doing more work than I on this. She had already met with the church, talked to another Teen MOPS group and the MOPS organization. I didn't know if our church would allow this group to meet at their church. (I shouldn't have thought that, I mean their vision is "transforming lives - one at a time." Which is exactly what MOPS does.
Well in 4 short days of that chance statement. Jamie and I have met to lay out a plan, met and visited with a Teen MOPS group, got a steering team put together(Jamie did this mostly), finalized the paperwork for the Church and set up the meeting with the Church to go over the plan and hopefully get it approved. God is good, and I am faithful that He will provide for us and this group. Hopefully in a few days you will see a post of "It's approved!!! We have a lot of stuff to get done :) "

Playdates

I love Playdates!!! We had a playdate this morning and I love interacting with other people's kids. I love interacting with their Moms. I love watching the kids interact with each other.

When I was younger I don't remember having playdates. My parents started up a business and I was the youngest of 3. My oldest sibling is 9 years older than me. My mom had plenty to keep her busy with his and my sister's schedules. I'm not upset or angry that I didn't have playdates, but I am glad and Blessed that my kids have playdates! It is such a Blessing to be able to stay at home and to be making these meaningful relationships with other moms and their kids.

I was sure to tell Anders how much I appreciated him for working so hard to make it possible for me to stay at home. It is such a Blessing!!!!!

Ivan is sick

My little man is sick. You wouldn't really know it though. He is acting fine until the fever gets high again. The poor little guy had to miss school today. Which made him upset since they were going to be paleontologists today. Luckily I knew this in advance. I took one of his play dinosaurs and froze it in some water and he will get to free it today. This activity is all he has talked about since Thursday. This kid has a memory. He has been remembering everything lately. Just proves to me how big he is getting and really will be going to kindergarten next year.

So it's been a lot of rest time for him. Which means TV and Wii which is usually pretty limited. But he is having a great time. We just need to make sure to get his next dose of ibuprofen in him on time.

Getting Closer

I am getting closer to opening my store. It'll be an online store, but I have been figuring out costs and want I really want to sell. I've been busy making typography art, hair bows, headbands, vinyl designs, tshirt designs and sewing some stuff up.
I am doing this for the fun of it and hoping to make just a little money on the side.Basically to feed my craft obsession.  So be on the look out. :)

Making baby food

My food processor broke about 3 months ago. I was using it to make purees to hide in our food to get more veggies in our diet. I contemplated on what I wanted to replace my broken one with. See I had a combo unit, it was one base but you could add the blender to the top or a 3 cup food processor. It worked just fine, but it was really loud. I wouldn't turn it on if anyone was asleep because it would wake them up. And the rule in my house is if a kid is asleep do all you can to keep them asleep. :)
Well I didn't want to spend too much money but I did need a new one. I watched a Anna and Kristina Grocery Grab show. If you haven't see it, you need to. They review cookbooks by making recipes in the book and testing products you might need to make those recipes during the show. Well they did the Deceptively Delicious cookbook and they used a blender to make their purees, which seemed to work. A couple days later I went online to look at some ads because I "needed" to get something. I had just bought a ton of veggies from the grocery store so I could make Elin some baby food. Well Kohl's had their "big" sale.you know the one they have every week. But they did have the "original" 7 cup food processor from Cuisinart on sale from $190 to $150 and with my extra coupon I could get it for $128. I bought the thing. I'm so glad I did. I LOVE it. That night I did a butternut squash, 5 pounds of carrots, 5 pounds of sweet potatoes and applesauce. It was so quiet I could still hear the TV while doing it. Elin has loves the food. I've also used the purees to make a deceptive dinner. Anders or the kids had no idea the veggies were hid in it. Score!

I still need to take Elin in to get an allergy blood test to see if she is allergic to common foods, and more specifically oats and pears. But in the meantime my baby will have some fresh organic veggie purees to eat.

My old jeans

Elin is wearing jeans today that I used to wear. She is 5 months and 3 weeks old. I am not ready to have a 6 month old baby yet.

The waistband might be a little tight :)

Here is a video of how close Elin is to crawling.

Valentine's Day

I like doing little things for the kids on Valentine's Day. Well this year the kids got little heart shaped box filled with Hershey Hugs and Kisses and a caramel Cadbury egg. They also got a new Dr. Suess book.
For lunch I made a ham sandwich and mini heart pies. Ivan asked today if tomorrow will be Valentine's day, when I told him no he said, "Ohh, that makes me sad, I like Valentine's day."

 Lunch. Caylin doesn't like bread so they were 1/2 sandwiches today.

 Mini Heart Pies. So good and SOOOOOO easy

 Caylin seeing that I got her some chocolate pudding.

 Ivan opening his gift with his eyes closed so he can be surprised :)

Both excited to see candy in their boxes.

Making Valentine Cookies

My good friend Robin brought her 2 youngest kids over to play while her and her husband enjoyed a day date!!!
So of course I'm going to bake something with the kids. They decided to make sugar cookies with icing. They helped measure, pour, stir and taste the whole time.
We also made some valentines for Robin and Brad.
I love having kids over here and playing with my kids. Makes the day go by so much faster and I love watching the kids interacting with their friends.

Brown County Mini-vacation

I booked us a mini-vacation. I received a coupon for "buy 1 night, stay for 2." I thought the kids would have a blast getting out of the house and it would be good for Anders to play with the kids. At home we always do projects so we need to get away :) when we got to the lodge the kids were super excited. We brought some food with us so we ate dinner in the room and headed immeadiately to the indoor water park in the lodge.
We had so much fun. Elin was just fasinated by all the sounds. Ivan and Caylin were everywhere. Anders and I had a blast just playing with them.
Since it was the Superbowl I had Anders take elin back to the room and feed her dinner then he came and got me to nurse her and put her to sleep. She struggled with that. After about an hour after her bedtime she was asleep.
Ivan, Caylin and Daddy came back to the room just in time for halftime. Ivan and Caylin both went down the slide by themselves. Which surprised me. Caylin would only go down with me but Anders got her to do it by herself.
Our plans today. Eat, drive around the park and swim. Sounds like a great day to me.

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Dentist

The kids had their regular cleaning this morning. Still no cavities. Whoo Hoo!
Ivan does have 2 loose (just a little bit) teeth. Which I cant believe. He really is getting older.
Caylin did a ton better. She actually let them clean them, without too much fighting. Even with her Dora on I still had to hold on to her hand. More for the attention I think.
But happy for a good visit and no cavities.

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Made my first bag

The sewing bug has hit me. I have a quilt to quilt. Its all pieced, marked and ready to go, I just need to do it. I have only tied quilts this will be first with quilting it. I have designs in my head and the fabric for 2 more quilts. One a twin size and one king size.
Well I saw some really cute fabric and a bag pattern yesterday at Joanns. I picked it up and made it last night. I really think I'm too scared to quilt so I did this instead.
I like it, it needs some improvement but overall I like it.

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Nursing

Ah the joys of nursing. I have been blessed and have been able to nurse all 3 of my babies with ease. The only problem is that i can't workout much or diet at all. If I do workout I have to make sure I eat a lot of food to make sure I have enough milk. Which doesnt help with losing the baby weight.

I tried to watch what I was eating yesterday and today. That backfired today. I didnt make enough milk so Elin didn't sleep today. Ugh. Only 8 months left and I workout as much as I can/want to.
You know formula feeding would be easier sometimes :-)

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Having 3 kids

I realized something today. My kids are great. I mean really great. When you are living with and parenting 3 preschoolers in your house. It can get very stressful.
I have been asking God for patience for a year now, in handling issues with my kids. I was still short tempered with them and got angry very easily. I felt like every week I was going back to God asking for more patience. When in reality I didn't need more patience I needed more Jesus.

I was in my prayer time a couple weeks ago and I decided I wanted this year to be better. I mean really better. I didn't like yelling at my kids, they are kids not mini adults. I need to parent them, not bully them. (in bullying I mean bribing them to do something, or warning I'll take this away if you do...)

I saw on a blog to pick a word for the year, and live by it. I prayed about it and the word "light" came to me.

Lighten up - have more fun
Show Christ's light to them, to everyone really
Eat lighter
Be lighter (lose my baby weight)

So in my prayers - I asked for help in showing Christ light to others, especially my kids. And it's working :)

Now I get stressed out when Anders leaves for work. He has to do it, I don't get angry like I used to, but I still get stressed. So Anders has been gone for 3 full days and I haven't yelled once at them. They still have been testing the waters but they are listening.
 It also helps that some of mommy friends are going through the same thing with their kids and we decided to actively engage one another in figuring out how to not yell at them. One book that we have all read and following is the "Have a New Kid by Friday" by Dr. Leman. All of us have read it and we talk about it at small group along with our study.  But the kicker is that when we are around each other we point out if/when we aren't following the principles in the book. That really helps. An example of this is my friend Robin and I took the kids to the lunch buffet at Chicago's Pizza. It was time to go and Caylin hadn't finished her pizza because she was playing around at the table with Sidney. I told Caylin it was time to go and she needed to get her jacket on and she responded back, "no mommy, I'm not done yet," and continues to eat. Now Elin was crying, loudly. I repeated myself to Caylin 2 more times. (A big NO, NO in the book). Then Robin looks at my and says - "Quit." I didn't even hear myself say it more than once. So I get Elin in her seat, Ivan and I get our jackets on and start to walk towards the door. Guess who raced to us so we wouldn't leave. No yelling at her. 6 months ago - I would have yelled because Caylin would still be sitting there eating. Now Caylin was really hungry at dinner but we then got to have a teachable moment with her. All without yelling. Love it.
I do have to put a disclaimer out there. My wonderful mother-in-law gave me this book. I was a little ticked off when she did. I wondered,"what do I have awful kids?, do you think I can't parent them?" But after I was at my wits end in handling my strong willed child who is just like her mother, yelling at her everyday. I picked up the book and read it. Wish I wouldn't have left it on the bookshelf for so long. Granted I was pregnant and a little bit hormonal at the time. But I truly appreciate her giving me that book. It has now been passed around my group of friends and impacting 4 different families.

All and all I just wanted to put out there I have great kids, family and friends!!!!
God has blessed me immensely.

Ahhh sleep

Elin slept through the night last night!!! She went down at 7 and a didnt hear from her until 7:15 this morning. She then was ready for her morning nap at 8:20. She slept until 10:55. I "think" I can finally say we are on a schedule!! She is up for about an hour to 2 hours and goes down for a nap. She is usually in bed by 7 and I pump before bed.
The other 2 werent on a schedule until 6 months.

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Project Life blog

I made another blog tonight. It will have the daily pictures on there. At the end of this year I will be able to make a blog book. Which is basically a easy way to make a 2nd copy of the scrapbook.
Exciting times.....

http://www.weaverfive.blogspot.com/

Ugh Target

I was reminded today why I shouldn't / don't take all the kids shopping at the same time. Give me Ivan and Elin or Caylin and Elin
but not all three. When the older 2 get together in a store they really dont like to listen, which drives this mom crazy.

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Eating Cereal

I was not going to feed Elin cereal until 6 months but at her 4 month check up her doctor thought it would be good for her. She is already turning over, sitting up a little and is interested in our food and cups. Plus she started waking up 2 times a night to eat, which was a change from her sleeping through the night.
I was on a babywise blog, trying to figure out what i could do for the 4 month sleep intruder. When lo and behold everyone suggested that feeding cereal helped and that they need the extra calories to sleep, due to their growth spurt.

Well she loves it. The kids helped me feed her the first night since daddy was late getting home. I think they were more excited than me. Elin made some nasty faces but ate a good amount. She slept through the night that night. So now everyday she gets a bowl of cereal around 6:30 and is ready for bed at 7.
I have been feeding her every night and thought daddy should get a chance tonight. Elin ate about 10 bites and decided she was done. I get her and she finished the bowl, little stinker. I guess she wants all of her food from me :)

Have I mentioned how great a baby she is, I am so glad God blessed us with her.

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Elin is babbling

Last night Elin decided she wanted to be more vocal. As Caylin and I were playing with her she started saying "bah." She's been blowing raspberries and screeching but tonight she was clearly using that letter "b." Of course Anders was making a point of how quickly that will turn into "da." I know Dad's get all the glory of their kids saying their name first.

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ahhh naptime

my goodness Elin is not napping/sleeping well. Since she has learned to roll over to her belly she is not falling or staying asleep very well. I really hope this phase goes by quickly.

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Happy New Year

I can't believe another year has ended and another has started.
We stayed in celebrating - what you could call celebrating. Anders had knee surgery on Thursday morning and has been pretty drugged up since. And if you have ever seen Anders on pain meds - he's not the nicest or most awake person. And I had the stomach flu. I started getting sick Thursday morning around 3am and didn't stop. I am so sorry the people at the surgery center who got to deal with the puking wife of the patient in room 5. My mom was here watching the kids and I would have found others to watch the kids and have mom take Anders, but the kids were puking just the day before. Ugh - such a bad scenerio.
And the older 2 went to bed at 7pm. Next year we'll celebrate :)

I NEVER do New Year resolutions. But I think I should have some written down goals.
1. I need/want a night, after the kids go to bed, to have a night to myself. Either doing something creative here at the house, or going to workout. This will not include grocery shopping. I just need to have some time to myself.

2. I will do the Project Life. 1 for the family and 1 for Elin. I will be setting it up to do it with a picture a day.
Project Life

3. I will do a load of laundry a day. Start to Finish

4. We will pay off more debt. And not use any credit this year.

5. Start working out towards a triathlon. I can't go to hard since I'm nursing but I have set my goal in doing the Ironman in Hawaii by 2015. That is swimming 2.4miles in the ocean, 112 mile bike ride and running a full marathon within 17 hours. Crazy but I want to do it!!!!

6. Will make and stick to a weekly cleaning schedule.

7. Set up a chore chart for the kids and have them get involved with more household things.

8. Set up an Etsy shop or a website to start selling things I am making.

9. I will learn how to shoot more in manual mode with my camera. I've only had it for 4 years, but I want to know more. 

Rolling Over

Elin decided she needed to celebrate the New Year. She is now rolling over from her back to her belly. It is really making naptime and bedtime interesting.
She is growing up way too fast!

She is 4 months and 1 week old.