Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas Joy!



We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We had Christmas Eve at Aunt Amy's house and then Aunt Kathryn spent that night with us. Christmas Day we went to my parents house for dinner. The kids had fun playing together. Luke was a little overwhelmed when people were unwrapping gifts at my parents house. He wanted to stay in the other room and watch and he would call for me "Mommy!!!" (which I hear quite often now!) and then point to the couch next to him and tell me "sit". I have my own little boss now these last few weeks. When we tried to have him go out where all the people, boxes, and paper were he cried like he was really injured! As soon as we left the room though he was calm. So I think he was just a little overwhelmed and I guess the piles of boxes and paper were taller than him so maybe he seemed like he was going to get lost in the shuffle! Luckily, he calmed down after things were unwrapped and he ran around like normal playing with all the new toys. He especially loved a little tikes electric guitar (which was not his- it was cousin Colin's!). Luke never let the guitar go allllllll night and he would run around then stand in place and jam with it, rocking back and forth and bending over and bouncing up and down. The weather was terrible the day after Christmas with a layer of ice on everything so we were stuck inside all day. Now it is Saturday and it feels like Spring! We just took a long walk and there were actually "warm" breezes! I told JW it feels like we are in Florida except we are surrounded by ice on the lake and a muddy mess everywhere! Hey, a girl can dream right? I compared it to what it felt like in Hawaii but JW said that was a little bit of a stretch! We have had some relaxing days at home so we are very thankful for that. It's nice to be home all together with not much to do! :)

Luke has been busy here making Christmas cookies...



Riding in his new dump truck....



Playing rescue "ehscoo!" with his new firetruck and fireman "guy"

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Winter Fun!!!




Monday, December 22, 2008

Not such a fun week

This week has brought some stress and difficult decisions! JW was told Friday that he could either go on the road to Kansas for 4-5 weeks (without coming home to visit) to work on a Biodiesel plant or he would have to be layed off work. There are lots of factors that go into deciding what to do. Initially he felt one way, I felt the other way. He doesn't want to be away from Luke for that long and Luke would miss him as well. Plus he is worried that with me being pregnant, something would happen and he wouldn't be here. On the bright side, we do have a lot of my family close by that could help with things like walking Cooper, dragging the trash cans up the hill (that darn hill!), and also just in case something were to happen there are people that could help me. For now we decided that he should work as long as he can and hopefully that will keep him employed and with his insurance for as long as possible. If he lost insurance we would have to go on mine and it's a lot more expensive and then if I didn't go back to work after my 24 accumulated sick days then I would have to pay my portion of the premium and we wouldn't be able to afford that. I was really looking forward to taking the rest of the year off and being home the first 5 months with our baby girl. It would be strange to think about going back at 5 or 6 weeks and JW being home with the kids!!! I know he would have a great time with Luke but I think a little newborn would be hard to manage as well for him (heck, I know it will be hard for me!). So I want him to try to keep with his job and insurance for as long as possible and we will be hoping that things pick up and get busier the next couple months. So he is scheduled to leave Jan. 5th for that and we will see for how long it ends up being. Right now, it's pretty depressing to think about!
So then Sunday early morning we lost power and so did everyone else from the ice storm. By 9am it was 53 degrees in the living room so we were packed up and headed to Aunt Amy's where there is at least a gas fireplace. Power did kick on and off during the day Sunday and we stayed warm and hoped power came on soon. A friend said they heard it wouldn't be on until Christmas! My grandparents in Ft.wayne had lost power Friday and were told it won't be on until Wednesday Christmas Eve... so that was scary to think about pipes freezing and what to do! Luckily for us the power was on fairly consistently by that evening and has stayed on since. My poor grandparents are still waiting and so we probably won't have Christmas eve at their house as is tradition. Another bummer!
Today when Luke and I finally came home from Amy's I had called the doctor and learned that I did not pass my 1 hour glucose test! How can this be??? Could all the candy/chocolate I received as gifts from students and ate at school that day have made the reading higher?? I'm hoping! Now I have to go for a 3 hour test which includes 12 hours of fasting before the first blood draw. Then they will draw my blood 3 more times after I drink more nasty glucose fruit punch.... blahhhh I don't know if I will physically be able to drive myself to Goshen in the morning and stay awake for 3 hours without my ritual Diet Pepsi to wake myself up! Now I have to be "careful" and try not to overdo it on the sweets and carbs over Christmas. ANOTHER BUMMER!
My Grandma always says bad things come in 3's so I am hoping those are it and things will start being better the rest of this week.
There is another possibility of freezing rain and ice Tuesday into Wednesday so I am hoping that doesn't cause too many problems around here. JW will work tomorrow and have the rest of the week off. Next week he also just works Monday and Tuesday so we can have a long weekend together before he will leave for Kansas. Yikes! I am ready for some Christmas cheer! Too bad I can't have the alcoholic egg nog this year... haha ;)

Thursday, December 18, 2008

28 Weeks

Well here we are at 28 weeks already. I had a doctor's appointment today and I was also scheduled to do the glucose tolerance test. This is where you have to drink some nasty glucose/fruit punch and then wait an hour to have your blood drawn to see if your body processes the sugar correctly. Blah! I am glad that is over with. I also had my finger pricked to check iron levels. They said my belly is measuring right where it should be for 28 weeks (I'm glad they don't measure any other body parts since I am sure those are getting wayyyy bigger than necessary!). I don't usually weigh myself so it's kind of depressing to have to get on a scale every month and see the numbers climb! Now I have to go back every 2 weeks so that will really shock me to see how many pounds I can pack on in 2 week time frames! My blood pressure was a little higher than previous appointments but still in a good range (I'm blaming it on a stressful day!). The baby was moving around a lot so it was hard to get a heart beat count but eventually she held still for 6 seconds and it was a good 140 bpm.
I have one more day of school before Christmas Break... an ice/snow storm is forecasted for tonight so maybe our vacation will start a day earlier than expected. My sister Kathryn is home now from IU so we are excited to spend some time with her. We just found out that one of JW's cousins will be staying with us between Christmas and New Years. Unfortunately, we don't have an extra room right now since the baby room is under construction still.Maybe I can convince JW to get the door put on this weekend and some drywall around it so she could at least have a place to sleep without having to move Luke into our room. It wouldn't be pretty but at least it would be a room!
I hope you all enjoy this weekend before Christmas! We may be snowed/iced in here in Indiana. :)

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Dancey Dance moves

"Dancey Dance moves" comes from a kids show called Yo Gabba Gabba, that my nephew Colin really likes. It has strange dancing puppet/alien characters, a DJ that plays music, and real kids showing off "cool tricks" and their "Dancey Dance moves". Luke's cousin Colin has always been musically inclined and he loves his show. Luke has seen Colin's DVD of the show and has seen it at Aunt Amy's house (we don't have the channel it plays on). Luke's not quite as musical as Colin but now he starts saying "Gabba Gabba Gabba" and he dances and he imitates one of the characters named Brobee who has big long arms that shake around. It's very weird but I guess kids always like the weird stuff! Colin and Luke also found out that they like to yell for fun. If they are both in the car one will yell, then the other imitates, and then they laugh, then they yell at the same time.... over and over! You need ear plugs with these two in the car! They do have fun though. It's nice to see them get excited to see each other and be friends. Here's some fun video of the two cousins and their Dancey, Dance Moves....


Monday, December 8, 2008

Sinterklaas pics


Who is knocking at our door???


Luke was a lucky boy Dec. 5th and received some gifts from Sinterklaas... I'm glad he didn't get put in the bag and taken to Spain! Sinterklaas was nice and overlooked all over our pre-terrible two's tantrums we have been having lately! :) Luke found a big bag of presents on the doorstep including a nice new car, wooden blocks on a cart, a bird that "flies", a big book about Sinterklaas, tractors, Mr. Potato Head, and a few more books. He had a lot of fun eating gingerbread cookies that night and playing with all his new toys! Bedankt Oma, en Opa! I know it's not quite the same and as exciting as it is for kids in Holland but maybe we will get better at it in the next few years.



Keeping with the holiday spirit, we managed to get a tree this year and I decorated it Sunday so that we can take a picture for a christmas card again. I like the idea of that, BUT it feels like we have to rush and make sure it is done in time to send out! Last year we had a cute little 4 foot tree. I forgot how nice the small tree was last year (and I was cold and just wanted to get one quickly!) so we ended up with a tall skinny 6 foot tree. Tonight, Nana brought over a new ornament for Luke with a tiger on it. He thought that was pretty cool. He has been really good about not touching the tree or trying to take things off. So far, he just looks and points and likes to find the ornaments that look like Cooper.



JW has been working hard on the drywall in the bathroom and then getting the laundry room drywalled and ready for the new washer and dryer which will come on Saturday. After getting up at 4:30am for a Black Friday doorbuster at Sears... they better work good!




We are still debating baby girl names. Right now I like Charlotte Knox or Nina Knox the most. JW likes Ilse and Tessa and I think Isla (Ila). Decisions...decisions... not one of my strengths. :)























Wednesday, December 3, 2008

26 weeks

Here we are at 26 weeks! Our baby girl is moving around a lot now and feels like she is bumping up against my ribs all the time! We had a really nice and relaxing Thanksgiving. I was very thankful to have JW home every day of the long weekend and spend some nice quality time together. At 19 months Luke is really starting to imitate EVERYTHING and also putting words together to communicate. It is really neat to see him learning so much right now. Luke gave the baby (my belly) a kiss the other day and then went "Uh-oh Booger!!!" and pointed to the snot that was now on my shirt. :)
Here are a couple short videos from Thanksgiving where he learned that he likes pumpkin pie and whipped cream!!! I also found a picture from Luke's First Thanksgiving where he is trying to take a bite out of a turkey leg.... What a difference a year (and some hair) makes! In looking back at some of his old photos on the computer it is just really amazing how much he has changed and grown in such a short time! I hardly remember him having a little round face and no hair! I also realized that I REALLY need to do something with his baby book since I don't have pictures yet organized in an album for him. It would be nice to be able to look back on all the different memories from his first year. Someday... soon... I think... I will make myself attempt his scrapbook.

Tomorrow is a special Dutch holiday where Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet arrive to bring presents and treats to all the little children. However, if you have not been a good boy or girl Zwarte Piet will put you in a bag and take you away to Spain (from what I understand)! How terrifying! All Santa threatened was coal in your stocking... not a kidnapping. Although I am sure there are some nice vacation spots in Spain that I wouldn't mind visiting!







 

Keeping up with the Kompagnes Copyright © 2009 • Designed by GrudgeMom