New pics

We need a new post on the top of this blog, so here are some photos of the kids from the last couple weeks.

Here they are playing with the "binoculars" they made one morning. It was a great craft; it entertained them all morning.

We had one sunny, slightly warmer day, and Aubrey enjoyed some swing time.

They were very excited about wearing some new pjs last night. Funny kids. They're both sprouting up. Kari's getting so tall, and Joel's not far behind.

So not fair

Guess what I have? A sinus infection. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I had a good cry this morning, and I'm doing better now emotionally. It's only been 12 days since the surgery, and supposedly, because my head's not quite healed, the cold that Aubrey shared with me this weekend, became more than a cold. Such a bummer! And so very frustrating!
I guess I have to think long-term. It's going to get better eventually, so they say...

One-Year Photos

I whisked Aubrey in (between ear infections) for a quick photo session right after her birthday to document her one-year-oldness, and I'm just now getting around to posting them.
Here she is.

I'm back!

It took a full week, but I finally started feeling like I was going to be ok. I'm still not quite to the point of being glad I had the sinus surgery, but I'm doing MUCH better, and, hopefully, time will prove that it was a good and necessary misery to put myself (and my family) through. The doctor says it's going to work and that I should be able to breathe better and shouldn't get sinus infections nearly as often anymore, and I sure hope he's right. As I layed in bed and on the couch for that week, I thought a lot about how thankful I am for my husband, for our extended family, and for our friends. So many people helped in so many ways. God has blessed us with wonderful friends and family.

One thing became clear as I layed there doing absolutely nothing. My baby is no longer a baby, and she doesn't really need me, at least not the way she used to. Now that she's done nursing, I'm just as good as the next person. :) Actually, I'm not quite as good as "Bp-Pa"-- Grandpa A., that is. In the last week or so, Aubrey became quite attached to Grandpa. She says a few words now, and "Bp-Pa" is one of them. She's toddling around all over the place. We'll have to get a video up here sometime soon.

Kari and Joel just carried on as usual and did pretty well with things being different from their regular schedules and routines. They kept busy. A few nights ago I heard Kari praying at bedtime: "Please, make Mommy get better SOON!" I think they're glad to be getting back to normal life again, too.

Be back soon (hopefully)!

I had my sinus surgery last Friday, and I'm having a s-l-o-w recovery. Greg has been Mister Mom and Super Care Giver and has been amazing. Hopefully I'll be up to sitting at the computer to blog again soon. I've got a few posts swirling around in my foggy head.

Remember this?

Quite a while ago (can't remember exactly when) my dad put this first video of Kari reciting verses on Tangle.com (formerly Godtube), and he sent me an e-mail today saying it's received 11,880 hits! And no, I don't think he's watched it 11, 880 times. :)

It's fun to look back and hear little Kari with her little lisp and see little Kari with her self-cut bangs. She's growing up quickly. Now Joel's learning some of those same verses from the notebook. It's kind of hard to believe she was his age (just over three) when we shot this video.

Perseverance (and patience!)

I was pulling photos off the camera and came across these. I forgot about this delightful sibling moment. Joel made Aubrey laugh, and I mean really laugh, for quite a while. We've been having quite a time with the JB lately. First of all, he turned three. That alone may be enough to explain his behavior. However, he also, in the last few weeks, stopped taking his afternoon nap. We now have "rest" time for Joel, as we do for Kari, but he's still in nap transition, and every few days he falls asleep from pure exhaustion. Nap transition is rough! We've had more discipline issues, defiance, and tantrums in the last month than we ever had when he was two. So, this post is a reminder for me that Joel still has good moments, and that this, too, shall pass. We'll persevere! :) And then maybe someday sweet Joel-boy will come back.

Now he's old, too

Happy Birthday to my hubby!
Greg likes to make mention of the fact that he is married to an older woman--40 days older, that is. But after today, he's no longer in his twenties either. I married a wonderful man, even if he does like to tease me.
Thanks for being such a devoted husband and father, Greg. I appreciate all you do for us, and I love you very much.

Pigtails

I haven't had much to blog about recently, except for maybe the 12 doctor appointments we've had in the last month. That's pretty much what we've been doing. We're hoping for a better month, health-wise, next month.

Here are Aubrey's first pigtails. We have a hair bow battle going on. She takes them out, and I put them back in.
I had to throw this funny one in, too.

Afternoon activity one day this week

Joel warmed up to the idea of messy hands and for the first time enjoyed himself while fingerpainting.

Birthday Brunch

We decided to change the family birthday routine a little with Aubrey's party and had a brunch at my parents' house (they've got a bigger house). Aubrey was surrounded by aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, and cousins who love her. Thanks, everyone, for all the fun gifts, and for coming to Aubrey's party!

She was especially fond of the box her new outside swing came in. She's wearing the birthday dress, as it has come to be known, from my grandma that Kari (and cousin Ashlynn, too) wore on her first birthday.


Cake was nothing new for Aubrey. She already knew she loved it since she's been to many birthday parties. As the third born, she's been exposed to much more more earlier than her older siblings. She likes it!

She refuses to keep shoes on her feet, except for the Robeez she can't get off, but I hope she decides to wear these eventually.

Here's a link to more photos from the party: Aubrey's 1st birthday

It's been a whole year

Happy 1st birthday, Aubrey Ann!

This morning I watched the video my dad put together after Aubrey arrived--and cried. My baby is a year old today. This past year with her has gone by way too quickly! I have treasured her sweet babyhood. I really am looking forward to watching her grow up and looking forward to the coming months and years, but Aubrey has been such a fun, happy baby. She's got a great smile, and we have thoroughly documented that smile, as I found when I went to find my "favorite" photos of her for this post. Most third borns have significantly fewer photos compared to their older siblings, but in our family the third born has the most. I had way too many "favorites," so I made links to each month of her first year and then made a collage with a bunch of others. I don't expect everyone to look at them all, but it was fun for me to do.

5 weeks old , 2 months old , 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 7 months, 8 months, 9 months, 10 months, 11 months

Aubrey, you have brought so much joy to our whole family. You make us laugh and make us smile with your antics. We love you, baby girl!

Ragamuffin Superkids

Kari and Joel think it's summer time because the sun came out. I admit 54 degrees does feel pretty warm after the cold weather we've had. They asked to wear short-sleeves and shorts/a skirt, and I let them pick out their outfits but made them put on a coat before they went outside to be superheros.

Soon coats were abandoned, and they were able to run uninhibited, capes a'flyin'.

Can you tell they had fun?

Milestones for the girls

Aubrey's finally feeling better (on the second round of antibiotics for the ear infections) and acting more like herself.
Post-bath baby

And look who's standing alone! Aubrey took her first steps on Friday--so much fun.

And Kari is reading! Her teacher told me last week that Kari was able to read various three letter words, so I quizzed her, and sure enough, she could do it. Grandma M. recommended the Bob books, so I got some from the library, and Kari read her first book today, with some help, of course, but still, she's reading! I am so excited for her!

Valentines cookies, sort of

We've been missing an element of fun around here lately with kids being sick, and so I put some extra effort into making sure I did something fun with the kids this week. This is one of those activities. When I got out the big box of cookie cutters and started pulling out all the pink hearts and Valentine's Day cookie cutters Joel protested that "pink is for girls!" (Actually, "girls" still comes out sounding like "gwirls," and I love it.) So, he picked out the car and the fire engine, and then we turned some of my pink frosting into green. Red would have been the logical color choice, but I hate making red frosting. It takes way too much food coloring, so we have pink hearts and green fire engines and cars, with sprinkles, of course.

Brave Kari, Wimpy Mommy

Today Kari and I went to a specialist to find out what she's allergic to and why she gets sinus infections so often. She's allergic to grass (isn't that convenient, seeing as how we live in lush GREEN Oregon?), which is good to know, and she was also diagnosed with another sinus infection (that helps explain the major meltdowns we've been having this week). So, we've got a whole regimen of treatments and drugs for Kari and a concrete reason to administer them.

The appointment itself, however, ended up being much more exciting than I anticipated. This is how the drama unfolded:

The nurse sat Kari up on the table and had me stand next to her and hold the hazardous waste bin on her lap to catch the the pokey scratch test thingys. Well, Kari did very well and was very brave for the first half of pokes (there were 28 in all--no fun) but started falling apart during the second half. The problem was I did, too. She really started crying during the last 5, and I started feeling really nauseous. Then my world started spinning. I got very hot, and everything started going black. You can probably see what's coming. The nurse finished up quickly, told me to hold Kari's arm to keep her from scratching at it, and left the room. She didn't notice my unstable state of consciousness, and I was trying hard to pull it together, for Kari's sake. I'm falling to the floor, still trying to hold on to Kari's arm and still trying to comfort her, while wilting to my knees. The nurse came right back in, thankfully, and I managed to say something like, "I'm not feeling very well." She swooped into action, set crying, hysterical Kari on a chair, and helped me up on the table. It was awful and soooo embarrassing. My daughter is the one going through the allergy testing, and I'm the one fainting, just when she really needs me, too. Ridiculous. I laid on that table for 15 minutes before I was able to even sit up again. Fortunately, fifteen minutes is also the amount of time we had to wait to see which scratches Kari reacted to before we saw the doctor, so at least I wasn't infringing on anyone else's time too much. The nurse poked her head in every few minutes to check Kari's arm reactions (and to check on me). After about 10 minutes she said, "Oh, good, your lips are getting color back. You were white as a sheet!" I saw my face in the mirror later, and it wasn't pretty. Kari got to choose some fun things from the nurse's treasure box, and I had stashed a couple princess dolls (Barbie-type) in my purse, too. The nurse had to take them out of my purse, since I was still incapacitated. (I've been holding onto the dolls since just after Christmas, waiting for a good time to bring them out. This was a worthy cause! I have a few more stashed away for other occasions. Gotta love the after-Christmas sales.) Kari still wasn't happy (didn't appreciate the itchy pokes), but the new things helped her stop crying and recover. By the time the doctor came in, I was sitting upright, and Kari was cheerfully playing with the dolls and new treasures.

When I was in high school, I fainted watching my mom get a flu shot, and I passed out when I tried to give blood, too. So, I kind of have a history of this sort of thing, and I do have very low blood pressure, but my goodness, I thought I'd moved beyond this fainting with needles/medical stuff. All three of the kids have been immunized, and I've always been the one with them, but Leah, who very kindly watched Joel and Aubrey for me this morning, pointed out that usually you're holding the kids when they get their shots and don't see it. It's true that I never watch. I close my eyes or look away, and it's over quickly. The scratch test was 28 pokes, and I was watching (what was I thinking?!), both the actual tests and Kari's wincing face and flinching body, so I guess next time I'll stick to my look away method--AND make sure I'm sitting down! Or maybe Greg just needs to go.