Sweet Birthday Boy

My favorite baby boy is 3! I am just in awe that it was 3 years ago that we brought this 6 pound baby home from the hospital. We spent many nights vacuuming his room or swinging him almost 180* in his carseat to keep him asleep...and now he's a lovable, chatty, smart, funny, yogurt-crazy, farm-equipment-loving toddler boy. He just melts my heart, and I love, love, LOVE having a toddler boy.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Grant.

The cake:



Getting SO excited as we sang!





Bring that cake closer!




Blowing hard!




Serious about this cake business!



I'm 3!!!!!!!!!!!




Figuring out the presents!



And, wow! a present!!!!!



So in love with the big, new, *working* clauss combine!



and, my sweet Grant Owen, a miracle baby boy, whom I never thought would be possible and has forever made me slightly nostalgic about Target restrooms! :)

New Year's Resolutions

I read an interesting article talking about the science behind resolutions...

It said according to a 2002 study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, people who made New Year's Resolutions had higher rates of success at making the desired behavior change (losing weight, exercising more and quitting smoking being the most prevalent) than people who did not make resolutions. After six months, 46 percent of the resolution makers were successful compared to just 4 percent of the people who did not make resolutions.

So, I think I better get my resolutions written down, huh?

Missing Matt...and more random Tuesday happenings

He's gone tonight on business. the house is so lonely in the evenings with out him here! I miss him.

Anyway, the kiddos and I had a fun day, though. Grant and I did lots of running around the house (he LOVES it when I chase him!) and hopping like frogs, jumping like gorillas, etc. He, minus one potty trip 10 minutes after he went to bed, went straight to sleep, so I think I wore him out! It's just so hard to keep him active (as active as he needs to be!) when it's sooo cold out!

So, Gracie is just starting to like a few more solid foods. I found out that I had been making them too thick , and that's why she was gagging . (Well, I guess it has been 2 years since I've made baby food!)

Anyway, she LOVES mangos. LOVES them. but, that was what she had the night she threw up, so we're waiting a little to try those again.

So, today I tried sweet potatoes again - she just doesn't like them. Takes a couple bites, then just will NOT open her mouth after that!

The new food for the day was baby organic yogurt, which is the 2nd thing that she's loved. Opened her mouth for more bites and all! Fun to see her start eating some. But I looked in Grant's baby book and I had written when talking about the 8th month that "solids still aren't a daily necessity". So, made me feel better about Grace. She'll eat, when she's ready.

I do worry about her gross motor skills - am calling about an evaluation tomorrow. But, even if she does have a gross motor delay, we've BTDT, and Grant caught up SO FAST. He was climbing stuff at Monkey Joes that my nephew, who'd been walkign since 10 months old, would never have climbed. anyway - I think I worry because I equate gross motor delay = cognitive delay.

off to bed, although it's SO hard to force myself to go to sleep with out DH here!

Muffins gone wrong

So, I offered to one of my neighbors to bring muffins to our weekly playgroup tomorrow morning. She said that'd be great, so I went through my Weight Watcher recipes to find one that sounded good. (I thought our playgroup could use a healthy snack to kick of the new year!) The Orange-Oatmeal recipe sounded the best, and I had everything on hand.

Well, I ended up being about 1/2 cup short of bisquick, so I googled and found that you can sub Bisquick with flour, baking powder, salt, and some Crisco. (I don't quite get the Crisco, but that's what it said!) So, I measured out the equivalent of the Bisquick I was short - and I decided to use whole wheat flour.

Well, I think I just changed too many things, because the muffins are NOT GOOD. I think the whole wheat flour was just too strong of a flavor - you can't taste the "orange" of the "orange-oatmeal muffins". I'll have to re-do the recipe in the morning, using plain white flour. They're only 3 Weight Watcher points per muffin, so not too bad. (although I could so easily eat like, 3 muffins!)

anyway - I'll let you know how the next batch turns out. ;-)

Matt left for Arkansas around noon today so I'm killing time online instead of going to bed!

I ran to Target this morning to get some groceries. it was GOOD to get out by myself! Stocked up on healthy food! Bye-bye Christmas weight gain :roll:, hello pre-pregnancy weight!

ran 3 miles on the treadmill today, even!

Grant and I had fun playing. we jumped on the bed, and then ran in the living room (made a "track" out of the bumper ran on the "track" and then landed on the couch pillows). I love him. I need him to watch less tv...gotta work on that!

made muffins tonight - NOT GOOD. tried subbing whole wheat flour for part of the bisquick - the WW taste was too strong and overpowered the orange flavor of the muffins. I have a feeling that with out the WW flour, they'd be good!

New Year Resolutions

I'll post my New Year Resolutions soon...but, to inspire all of us in the New Year, here's a good inspirational quote I just came across:

"There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results."

Happy New Year, all!

Merry Christmas!

Figuring out how the wrapping paper works:






Realizing that it's a tractor:





A Green, JOHN DEERE tractor, at that!



His Daddy helping him get it out of the box:





Playing with the tractor on the cool new road his mommy made him:





The glorious John Deere, even with a wagon:

Merry Christmas!

Figuring out how the wrapping paper works:






Realizing that it's a tractor:





A Green, JOHN DEERE tractor, at that!



His Daddy helping him get it out of the box:





Playing with the tractor on the cool new road his mommy made him:







The glorious John Deere, even with a wagon:

She's Beautiful

I think so, at least. I just love this picture!

(Her shirt is an early Christmas present that I couldn't wait to try on her!)

My Sweet GracieGirl:

Gracie's Christmas Gift

Grace modeling her Christmas gift that's almost done. (shhh! don't tell her it's still a little early!)

I think I need to change her diaper...

Grant just came up to me in the kitchen and said, "mommy, Gracie smells bad!"



I think I better change her diaper!

And, I'm just amazed at his language development!! It seems like every day he learns more words and is putting together bigger sentences.

Dry Feet

Poor Grace and her dry skin! :( Her legs have always been rough, not that smooth baby skin. :( Well, her feet got so dry they got brown scaly spots on them!





So, a couple of nights ago I slathered her in Auqaphor (baby Eucerin cream) and then put her sleeper on her. Wow! In the morning, her feet and legs were the smoothest I've ever felt them! So, obviously, I need to keep doing that for her poor dry skin!

Since the Eucerin helped her so much, I slathered it onto my heels and feet a couple of nights ago. I don't know what's wrong with my feet, but they get nasty, especially in the winter time! The heels have layers and layers of dry skin, and they crack and get nasty. Seriously, weird, huh? So, I used the Eucerin on my feet for a couple of nights in a row, and it was amazing! Matt saw them and said it was the smoothest he's ever seen my feet look!

So, I guess the girls in the house need pedicures more often.

Not so into it...

Solid foods, that is. We wanted to wait until Gracie was 6 months old (adjusted) to start solids (as we did for Grant), so over the past couple of weeks we've gradually tried bananas, sweet potatoes, and applesauce (all homemade! )

Well, she's just not that into it...here's the general face she makes:

It's like she's saysing "really, mom? come'on, I don't want this stuff!"

Ebay...

So, here's the dress I won for Grace - someone said the link in the previous post wasn't working for some reason:






And, I think something happened to the seller! The seller had *fantastic* feedback (like, 99% positive, everyone had terrific things to say about the item, shipping time, etc)- up until last Friday (when, ironically, I bought the dress! ) And over the past week, there's been about 6 or 7 feedbacks given that they haven't received the item, haven't heard from the seller, etc.

So, i'm wondering if the seller was in a car accident or something?

but, still a bummer all around - I'm searching for another Christmas dress that might get here in time - maybe for the Christmas Eve service, and the Sunday after Christmas is still "christmasy" enough for a special dress!

Ebay Bummer

I won this dress for Gracie for Christmas last Friday night (a week ago!) and still have not received it in the mail! It's been a week! If he mailed it Monday (which he should have! ), I sooo should have got it by today! What a bummer! I really wanted her to wear it to church tomorrow morning. I even have a new red hair bow to match the dress, which I was excited about since her hair is finally long enough to have a hair bow!

anyway, not big in the scheme of it all, but still a bummer!

Saturday Evening sickies

Grant has a fever of 99.9 and I could only get the thermometer between his elbow and tummy (he wouldn't let me put it up further), so I'm sure it's higher. he just feels like he's burning up. He woke up crying 30 minutes ago saying"don't feel well, mommy".

grace is kind of wheezing and has a temp of 101.1! she's acting fairly okay, though slightly fussy. (which, for her, is a lot).

matt's in bed, sick. he's been sick all week, and is actually feeling worse tonight. I'm getting a little stressed and worried about everyone sick in this household!

So bummed at Ebay!

I won this dress for Gracie for Christmas last Friday night (a week ago!) and still have not received it in the mail! It's been a week! If he mailed it Monday (which he should have! ), I sooo should have got it by today! What a bummer! I really wanted her to wear it to church tomorrow morning. I even have a new red hair bow to match the dress, which I was excited about since her hair is finally long enough to have a hair bow! (which, her hair bow that I bought from Etsy still isn't here, either, so I guess it's okay!)

anyway, not big in the scheme of it all, but still a bummer!

Saturday Morning

And everyone SLEPT! Grant slept in until 8:45 this morning! Seriously, this is the kid who if he sleeps until 7:15 we're thinking he slept in! And Grace did,too! Matt and I actually woke up BEFORE they did, and I even asked Matt if he thought Grant were okay! 8:45 is probably the latest he's slept since he was a baby!

And it's snowing! I LOVE it! Seriously, I love snow. That's probably one of the few things I enjoyed when we lived in Iowa - all the snow we got there! it just feels so Christmasy.

Matt and I are enjoying our coffee - he's still feeling slightly under-the-weather, so hopefully today he'll feel better.

I think while the kiddos are napping this afternoon I'm running out to get the last of Grant's shopping done. It's just impossible to do it with him with me this year!

Tuesday evening

Whew!

long couple of days...

My grandmother passed away this past weekend, and her funeral was yesterday. The family asked Matt to do the service (she didn't attend church, ever, so as the minister in the family he's the default for funerals et al)...

Well, matt woke up SO SICK Tuesday morning. he barely made it through the funeral and burial service.

We got home about 7:30 last night, grant was in bed by about 7:45, and he slept straight until 8 this morning! he didn't have a nap yesterday. The funeral was in my parent's home town, so my brother and SIL and us traded off kid duty so we could go to the viewing/service (they went to the viewing, I went to the service, they didn't - I was closer to my gma, and I wanted to be there for Matt as he was doing the service).

anyway, Grant and my nephew, who's just 6 weeks older than him (so essentially the exact same age!), played ALL DAY LONG. they got a little restless towards the end of the day, but played well the majority of the day. But they wore each other out!!!

Matt went in for a meeting that he had to be at and then came home early afternoon. I've been doing kid duty for the past couple of days and am TIRED. but, his day off is tomorrow, so we'll get to relax around the house. And, hopefully one more good night's sleep will help him. i don't know how single moms do it!

I've been working on Gracie's tutu and Grant's road on and off all day, in between playing with Grant and feeding Grace. (she's e-a-s-y to entertain and honestly doesn't require that much effort! ) I've been really trying to limit grant's TV time and up our "preschool" type activities - I bought this cool preschool activity book that has given me some great ideas. (putting reindeer tracks out as we hunt for Santa, etc). Anyway, Grant's down to about 45 minutes of tv - (from about an hour and a half! ) 1/2 an hour of George in the mornings and 15 minutes of another George episode in the evenings while I make supper.

Okay, anyway, did y'all see the road I'm making for Grant?

Almost done...

Grace modeling her Christmas gift that's almost done. (shhh! don't tell her it's still a little early!)

oil

Grant just told me that his mower was broken and it "needed oil". this kid is hilarious!

Tuesday Morning

So, Matt had a 6:30 breakfast meeting this morning, and I think somehow, although he's super quiet, his getting in the shower woke Grant up at 6:06. I went into his room and he was saying, "goodmorning, mommy! out please! out!" I was like, "uh-uh, we are NOT getting up this early!" So, I told him I had to go get my socks on and would be right back...he laid back down, and I was hoping to get another 30 minutes out of him. Well, he then slept until 7:45!!!! :woohoo:

I SO needed that!!! Grace's sleeping has gotten better...just waking up 2x/night instead of 5 or 6! Tonight I'm going to try to let her make noise (she's never crying) for awhile at her 3:30 waking. (I don't really think she needs to eat at 12:30 AND 3:30!)

I'm still in jammies this morning...Matt has a lunch meeting about 1/2 way between church and our house, so he's just going to come home and work from home after his lunch meeting! YAY! he's had several LONG days (Sunday he was gone from 7 in the morning to 9:30 that night!), and even though he'll have to work from home, it will be nice to have him home!!

AND, I'm going to go running while he's here during the kiddos' nap!!! :cheer: I'm *dying* to get back into running regularly. After being sick adn then with Gracie's crazy night wakings, I have just been too tired to run. I know it's an oxymoron because I KNOW I'll have more energy after running, but I've honestly just been too tired to go. :? So, today I'm am committed to just GOING.

Okay, I better get cleaning while Sesame Street is on! (I try to limit Grant to just Sesame Street in the morning! I'm trying SO hard to cut down his TV to just about 45 minutes/day).

Beautiful morning!

(december 6)

I'm feeling so great this morning! The G's (as I affectionately refer to them! ) and I are playing hooky from church. It's just been such a long couple of weeks, with me getting over pneumonia, then Grant was sick, then Gracie had some weird high fever thing, then with her not sleeping well and Grant's complete meltdown yesterday morning - it's just a good day for us to stay at home.

And, I feel SO great about it! Is that bad that a minister's wife is this excited to not be at church? Seriously, I love going to church -the people are so great, and the church has really been helping out some felt needs of the congregation, and I love being a part of that. (Several businessman in our church have been able to provide jobs for other men who had recently lost theirs! so awesome!) But, even though I love going, it's nice to have a morning off!

So, I'm making a grocery list and we're going to go to Target when grace wakes up from her morning nap! I'm planning healthy menus for the week (DETERMINED to lose the last 5 pregnancy pounds!), and am going to get my needed strand of white lights to finish the decorating.

So, I'm drinking my coffee, Grant's playing with his flour (seriously - dumping flour with his frontloader and dumptruck! on the kitchen tile, of course, keeping the majority of the mess on a large towel), Gracie's asleep...just a nice morning. I'm going to work on a velcro chart for Grant to try to make our day routines smoother - I think he'll LOVE it.

How good just a little bit of sleep can make you feel!

5 times...

in 6 hours. That's how much Gracie was up last night. 12:30, 1:30, 3, 4:30, 6. I've been up since 6, have cleaned the kicthen, done laundry, and am working on getting the laundry put away and the master bedroom cleaned. I also cleaned the house while Matt was at breakfast with his dad this morning...I'm so mad at him, and I'm trying hard to remain calm and have a good attitude. He just doesn't get how tiring it is to be up all freaking night.

Well, I just got Grant down so I'm going to wipe the table off then try to nap myself. Yesterday I laid down for 4 minutes before Gracie woke up...let's see how long I get today. *sigh*

-anna

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-anna

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I think I need to change her diaper...

Grant just came up to me in the kitchen and said, "mommy, Gracie smells bad!"



I think I better change her diaper!

And, I'm just amazed at his language development!! It seems like every day he learns more words and is putting together bigger sentences.

Tuesday Morning

Whew. I'm tired, Grant's tired and Grant has been melting down ALL MORNING. so unlike him! I can't figure out what's wrong, besides being tired. maybe that's all there is! He's currently naked because he had an accident so I stripped his pants off of him (only his 2nd accident since being potty trained - so something's definitely wrong this morning!) - but he won't let me get him dressed - runs literally screaming if I mention clothes.

Gracie's in her crib, napping I hope! she's quite at least.

and Matt's in fishers doing a fire investigation - hopefully one that doesn't take all day.

and, somehow, we have GOT to get Grace sleeping longer at night! Last night it was 1:30, 3:30, and 5:30. Not enough sleep for any of us! And at 5:30 she was still clearly tired, but didn't go back to sleep. She fell asleep nursing, but wouldn't transfer.

Went to Dr. Wu for a follow-up yesterday, and she wasn't thrilled with how I was feeling (still pretty crummy) so she added in another antibiotic - to cover all ranges of pneumonia, I guess. She said after 4 days of the previous antibiotic I should've been feeling *much* better, not just *half-way* better, so hopefully the new antibiotic will help. honestly, I think SLEEP would just help at this point!

I'm still recovering, but we just may have to go to Target when Gracie wakes up. We ALL *need* to get out of the house!!!

Tuesday Morning

Whew. I'm tired, Grant's tired and Grant has been melting down ALL MORNING. so unlike him! I can't figure out what's wrong, besides being tired. maybe that's all there is! He's currently naked because he had an accident so I stripped his pants off of him (only his 2nd accident since being potty trained - so something's definitely wrong this morning!) - but he won't let me get him dressed. :roll:

Gracie's in her crib, napping I hope! she's quite at least.

and Matt's in fishers doing a fire investigation - hopefully one that doesn't take all day.

and, somehow, we have GOT to get Grace sleeping longer at night! Last night it was 1:30, 3:30, and 5:30. Not enough sleep for any of us! And at 5:30 she was still clearly tired, but didn't go back to sleep. :? She fell asleep nursing, but wouldn't transfer.

Went to Dr. Wu for a follow-up yesterday, and she wasn't thrilled with how I was feeling (still pretty crummy) so she added in another antibiotic - to cover all ranges of pneumonia, I guess. She said after 4 days of the previous antibiotic I should've been feeling *much* better, not just *half-way* better, so hopefully the new antibiotic will help. honestly, I think SLEEP would just help at this point!

I'm still recovering, but we just may have to go to Target when Gracie wakes up. We ALL *need* to get out of the house!!!

To My Husband

the note I wrote to Matt on Valentine's Day, when I was in the hospital with P.e. #2...

My wonderful Love,

18 weeks ago, I had no idea how much 2 pink lines would change our lives. Over the past 5 months you have shown your relentless commitment to me and our marriage. (You have proven that you were serious about that “in sickness and health” part of our vows! ;-)) You have been endlessly compassionate and understanding. For months you have taken care of me, of Grant, and our house, showing that quiet strength that I love so much about you. This is not the path I would have chosen for this pregnancy to take, but I trust that the Lord will use it for His purposes and to display His Glory.

So, Happy Valentine’s Day, My Sweet! I wasn’t planning on shopping for you in the hospital gift shop, but I saw this figurine and thought it was just perfect for us right now. I feel like if our marriage can survive these past months, we can do anything together! I thought this looking at this figurine could always remind us of God’s grace on our marriage during this pregnancy – as He’s protected me and Baby Girl, and has given you the grace, love,and kindness to care for me so tiredless for so long.

I love you so much, Matt! I love the way your eyes crinkle up when you laugh. I love the way you rub my back before I go to sleep. I love the way your quiet strength shines through even the most difficult situations. I love the way you handle whatever God gives us with a quiet, steadfast faith. I love you, I love you, I love you – I don’t think I could say it enough.

I’m hoping that the next 14 weeks of pregnancy are much, much smoother, but even if they’re not, I know that we can get through it, together.

You hold my heart, always.

Love,

Anna

Nice Morning

(late July 2009)

What a nice morning! I’m sitting here, drinking my coffee (breakfast blend from Target! :D) as Matt’s headed to Chicago to investigate a Walmart fire.

Grace went to sleep so easily and so early last night – it was weird! and nice, though, to go to bed at like, 9:30.

My legs were really hurting me last night after running. I was thinking about running again today, but we’ll see how my legs feel. I’d be on the treadmill, which would be a slower, easier run than outside, so maybe. I just love the calories burnt from running! I should run, like, 5 miles/day to burn an extra 500 calories daily!

Thursday

Up waaaayy to early this morning!
Grant just said ‘excuse me’ after he burped! I usually prompt him to do it, but he said it on his own. Maybe some things do stick!

one of my favorite things!

The pottery barn Thanksgiving and Christmas catalog's are out! I loooove how Pottery Barn sets a table for Thanksgiving, and love their Christmas decor, so 2 very fun catalogs for me!

on the mend!

whew! After almost a week of being sick, I'm on the mend!

Gracie!

when grace went with me to a doctor's appt. at the hospital, they made her wear a mask.

-anna

getting close to going all the way over!
-anna

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Playing Together

What sweet laughter! Grant's playing with Gracie - he put her paci stap on his pacifier, and would dangle it over her until she pulled it out of his mouth, and then he'd just crack up laughing! If she missed the strap and hit his arm or something he'd laugh and say "Gracie tickle me!"