| my little man is standing |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|09:05 am] |
he has started this past week to pull himself to a standing position. very proud of himself and then he attempts to wave simultaneously and smile...sometimes that is just too much multi-tasking and we tumble...but he doesn't ever cry when he falls, inf act yesterday he pulled himself into and over the side of the activity garden 3x and laughs. such a very sweet disposition. he had chicken noodle soup & cheese potatoes for dinner last night...we moved him downstairs at about 10:30 or 11 and he woke up at 7 and had vomited in his pack n play everywhere...poor little thing!! i nursed him, aaron ran him a nice warm bubble bath and then we fed him lightly, oatmeal & toast. he seems to be feeling fine, maybe he just ate too much last night?? aaron ran to agri-trac and brought his little helper along, she LOVES to go w/her daddy. always wants to wear her work boots when shes doing "farm work".
she is making me laugh everyday!! |
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| flirting boy |
[Oct. 29th, 2009|10:31 am] |
his first wave happened last night when i was having dinner and conversation w/ad, debby & jess at noodles & co. he was flirting w/all the ladies...ly stayed home w/bamma berger and i took the little man to dine w/all the ladies..he started waving intentionally and had been doing it this morning. bridger came over to play and all 3 kids were having so much fun playing all morning...ate good breakfast, played hard and the boys are napping now and lyla is watching calilou (she has a crush on him i think) all is well. tonight is trick or treat at katrina & adams. lyla will be a butterfly and brant a caterpillar. i will take pictures and we won't be there long as i think we all have a bit of a cold and need our rest.
i have a lot of pumpkin seed roasting to get too!! oh and my black walnuts are curing! |
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| so in love with my kids |
[Oct. 20th, 2009|10:37 am] |
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i never knew i could love a little person so much and now i love 2 little people that much. aaron has been working like crazy i have seen him maybe 4-6 hours in the past month. we have been writing each other notes as he comes in late and i am in bed and he's gone in the morning when the kids & i get up....i leave him messages or call him throughout the day to tell him funny things the kids did or said and leave out the digital camera so he can check out pictures of us at the pumpkin patch et...honestly i don't think i am in love with life on the farm...well i am in love with the idea, until harvest or planting season comes around...but i am embracing our new life and our house...we have been here exactly one year. the house is still a mess, but much better than when we moved in, heather is calling...catch up later about pumpkin patch..and recreational outlet place on powell road... |
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| totalled car, vomiting child, teething baby |
[Oct. 4th, 2009|10:06 am] |
that sums up the last week pretty well. i drive with the children approximately 95% of my driving time but thankfully last tuesday after i met my friend tara for dinner, which i very rarely do, i was on my way home...at butcher & mink to be exact when i flipped and totaled the car, i landed on my roof and it was about 9 pm so it was dark already...as i hung upside down by my seatbelt i wondered what to do. i couldn't find my phone so i honked more horn a few times, still trying to grasp what had just happened, i decided i couldn't hang upside all night so i unclipped my seatbelt and fell to the roof...looked everywhere for my flip flops (with no luck) and decided to walk to my brother in laws house about 1/2 mile away, in the dark, in my bare feet, on his gravel road..dang...i am very thankful that i did not have the children with me...so so so thankful. i wasn't driving fast but my tire caught the side of chip n sealed road and pulled me into the ditch and i landed in tom evans bean field...sorry tom. i banged my head pretty hard on the window, that was the point i knew things were not looking good. i bruised my arm very badly and i think my ribs, b/c it hurts to laugh or sneeze (normally i don't mind sneezing at all, but lately it kind of hurts like hell) 3 days ago i had a miserable little man on my hands, i think i can see his 2 top teeth coming in. plus i think he's been a bit constipated..so in the event that i have another child and want to look back at my journal for reference. i did give him some diluted juice in a bottle, gasp.
it seemed to do the trick. also, another point of reference...i know that when you are nursing a baby in the first few months, you remember to drink lots of water and eat good sized meals so your body can produce lots of nutritious meals...well the other day, "the freaking bean freezing, furnace guys here, 50 people in & out of the house tracking mud day" it will forever be dubbed in my memory, i forgot to eat completely until 2:30 when i thought i had a twinge of hunger...i ate a salad and then kept on snapping, blanching, & bagging....never to eat or drink anything again until 8....when i wondered all day why my typically sweet baby was so fussy...as a last resort i told aaron to thaw out a bottle of milk i had in the freezer, poor little guy ate that whole bottle and then was totally fine...i think i had been starving him all day b/c i didn't have much milk to offer....so eat eat & drink lots of water, even in the later months of nursing. (note to self)
harvest season has begun and i have seen just a glimmer of aaron after work and on the weekends. i have been having a pity party for myself as i haven't had a moments rest or time to myself in a few weeks (aside from the night my friend was available and i wrecked the car). yesterday aaron planned to work on the combine all day and ly woke up at 5 (we attempted to get her to go back to bed but she was really worked up)...anyways after vomiting about 9 times b/w 7 am and noon....we realized she might have caught a virus...poor thing, laid on her couch all morning resting and sipping "bridgers juice"...her first real stomach flu (or whatever it was) i called the dr and she said only if her vomit is "grass green" to bring her in and make sure she stays hydrated.
i didn't go to church this morning, brant fell back to sleep so aaron took lyla...she was feeling fine by 5 pm last night and slept well all night and was back to herself this morning. |
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| funny |
[Sep. 21st, 2009|09:25 pm] |
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Mom came and stayed with the kids fri night and aaron and I went to Cleveland for the game. We went out for a nice dinner and just had a nice relaxing evening. We went to the game sat and met up with Chris Brad bryson. Came back sat and put kids to bed. Sunday was church and bevs family reunion. Today we went with Kat jack rick gigi to the amish produce auction. Got lots of goodies. Things and life are making me laugh everday. I had a 3 day project hiatus. Getting back into it. Potty training going fairly well. But it makes things very busy. Brant is loving solid foods and likes sweet potatoes. Peaches. Pears. Carrots and just tried avocados today... He's still considering the avocadoes. |
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| success! |
[Sep. 14th, 2009|08:28 am] |
potty success this morning! we have been doing really well the last 3 days to pee on the potty, but we had yet to catch her at the "right" time. well this morning i brought her downstairs and sat her on our potty, i told her that if she could poop in the potty we would celebrate her being such a big girl and take daddy out to lunch...poor little thing was constipated but she did it! so, i hadn't really planned on going down to lancaster today, but i want to follow thru on what i said, so we invited gigi to make a fun celebration day of it and will be leaving when b wakes up from his morning nap.
yesterday he was fussy again, not sure if its still this 1st tooth that is bothering him or something else...his nose has been running all week and he hasn't taken naps during the day like he normally does...he'd fall asleep for 25 min and wake up miserable...i gave him a small bit of diluted juice last night in a bottle thinking the hydration couldn't hurt and if he's constipated from mum-mums or cereal, the juice would help...not sure, hope he feels better today. |
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| semi successful day |
[Sep. 10th, 2009|10:10 pm] |
day 1 of potty training for real now.
lyla did really well. the true test will be going down to moms tomorrow.
made lyla her own crayon roll and a shirt w/a tree/owl applique...pretty cute.
we had a picnic dinner on our deck and then discovered our concord grapes were ready!
made 2 1/2 jars of grape jelly...used only recipe that did not require pectin (b/c i dont' have it and can't find it) so we will see how it turns out.
tired lady here. good night. |
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| brants first tooth |
[Sep. 9th, 2009|07:29 pm] |
had to note that his 1st little tooth just popped thru today!
little fussy, just had trouble napping...gave bath and put to bed at 7 and gave him some tylenol--put some frozen treats/chew toys in freezer so he can have some soothing tomorrow.
he's not quite 8 months...i think lyla got her 1st tooth at 10 months (i think) |
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| 30 projects in 30 days and so on |
[Sep. 9th, 2009|11:52 am] |
day 1: 3 little birds for lyla stuffed
day 2: 2 bean bags for bag toss game (yes i started small)
day 3: vintage sesame street blanket/quilt for lyla
day 4: bath mat for bathroom
day 5: hemmed curtains (does that count?)
day 6: pin-cushion--hey i needed one anyways.
i think pillow covers are on agenda for today...
life was crazy for awhile, we had 3 parties over labor day.
warners (no kids) adam & kat babysat and put kids to bed (sat)
rick & bevs sunday--lyla did her little disappearing act back to the sandbox in the pitch black and scared me to death
and inglings on monday....they are having a baby. yeah!
b looks like he is wanting to learn how to crawl...he puts his butt way up in the air and pushes up on his toes..he scoots and rolls around--he is officially 8 months old! sweet little man |
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| survived & loved manitoulin |
[Aug. 31st, 2009|09:23 am] |
we arrived home saturday night, late. started out around 7:15 in the morning so when we got home, all pretty tired, papa s greeted ly and b with some helium balloons (he just bought his own helium tank i guess :) that was a fun surprise but was tough settling lyla down for bed, she was up at 6:45 ready to go. we decided to skip church b/c we had a reunion at 1:00 and everyone was tired and cranky. while on the island this year we did a lot more exploration (thanks to aaron & in an effort to get kids out of the cabin super early so as not to disturb the others opportunities for sleeping in) we went to brideilville falls and had a picnic then hiked down there, had a close encounter with a snake--went to providence bay a few times as they had a park and walked on their boardwalk...ly didn't hesitate to run into lake huron--and she says "huron" so funny. we went to gore bay one day for a big sale my dad saw in the paper and also to the farmers market ( i bought a $3 craft from a lady that drove a hard bargain) we also treked to northernaire lodge & took some pictures. my grandpa & grandma built the lodge and original 10-15 cabins so that was cool to see and show aaron. i tried to track down the owners to see if i could see (or potentially buy for my mom) a hide my grandpa tanned after a lesson with some indians--it's probably long gone but i thought i would see (nobody was there, although the door and office was open)
manda and dad had a close encounter with a black bear 2 nights in a row, that was exciting and of course i missed out. i still have yet to see a bear up there, but my family sees them all the time basically.
we had breakfast at mums a few mornings in a row--lyla loved their pancakes and of course we had to bring home buttertarts and cheese/sausage scones yummy!
i arrived home to my b-day presents: handmade home, recycled home, & a few other goodies...loved that!
brooke and jeremy brought down a super great dinner last night (so thoughtful) my fridge was empty!!
i am attempting to conquer laundry and getting settled back today--although i am itching to start a new project!!
i lack the ability to choose just one project, there is like 5 i want to start...but i also need to go gather some materials and am not motivated about hauling 2 little ones out to gather.
lyla started talking a ton more over the past week. she has been cracking me up and although inappropriate she learned some words to some songs aaron and i thought she was sleeping in the back of the truck---zac brown does not write completely kid friendly songs and lyla memorized some key inappropriate parts---so i will be singing lots of other songs to her this week in attempt to help her forget "i got my toes in the water, (bum) in the sand, not a worry in the world a (her favorite part__ cold beer in my hand) life is good today)
she told me in the car "help me, help you mommy"
also out of the blue started saying "va va voom" don't know where she heard that.
brant my little man is 7 months and is scooting and rolling everywhere...sweet little man, everyone at the reunion says he looks exactly like aaron. he has such a sweet disposition.
sleeps good, eats good and is happy the majority of the time.
we had a thrush experience again on the trip and thankfully canada has the best healthcare ever...i got 2 prescriptions illegally for 8.95 what a bargain. thanks island pharmacy!
levi is precious, will see him and howie again this week so looking forward.
gotta go.
oh the stockberger children will not be getting any toys that are not homemade from aaron or i for the next year...yes, that includes brants birthday...i better start making stuff. |
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| the creative family |
[Aug. 17th, 2009|01:15 pm] |
i have been loving this book! its really inspired me to do what i have wanted to do for so long. get rid of toys, simplify, repurpose items, make stuff, let lyla experiment, create and live. i am diving into this book and attempting to do at least one project a day.
lyla loves her new art area and her art display area. we are leaving for mi/canada trip thursday and i hope to get to joannes b/f then to get some simple car crafts as well. i already ordered handmade home, figure it won't come b/f we leave but maybe will be here when we get back. now...i just need to find a home for all our silly little toys.
i made 3 birds for lyla today--she loves them. |
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| 29 now |
[Aug. 12th, 2009|02:14 pm] |
so much more mature too! very busy week. but fun, brant is rolling across the whole family room floor, he is so happy to be moving and grooving. yesterday we picked about 2 huge laundry baskets of sweet corn and froze all of it by 6 pm. then we went out and we had a huge mess of beans, they are all snapped and washed, i just need to blanch them and freeze them.
bev came over this morning and we washed all the windows. looks much better.
gotta lay down and read for 20 minutes until kids wake up. i am crazy tired and we are going to the fair tonight. |
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| lylas 1st real temp |
[Jul. 31st, 2009|05:42 pm] |
two nights ago we went to brooke and jeremys for dinner and had a good time.
bridgers birthday is today but their party isn't until the 8th...we just love hanging out with them. lyla hadn't eaten anything all day and was acting funny b/f we left...funny for her is just sitting on the couch...which she did for 20 min. that has never happened b/f.
we thought she was just tired, so we headed home...it was after 9 and we were leaving soon anyway but when we got home aaron thought she was warm and we took her temp and it was 103.5
we left her in her diaper, gave her some tylenol and she fell asleep while we were sitting there (also very unusual, shes never fallen asleep in our presence (well when she was a baby she did) anyways, aaron camped out on the sofa all night and at 3 she was burning up again and we gave her some more tylenol. in the morning it had gone down to 100. and throughout the day aaron monitored it. i had already planned to run around in cols all day and i had a massage at 4 (i felt guilty about keeping that appt, but aaron convinced me to) anyways, today (friday) she still has a little elevated temp at 100.5 just drinking juice and not eating much at all. shes been watching calilou and freaking loves that show.
everything else is going well...aaron got me reese for my birthday last year and this year we are waiting to see if we will have another surprise??
totally crazy.
brant is good, he's rolling everywhere and laughs all the time.
looking forward to our family vacation in a few weeks and meeting levi!! |
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| love straps |
[Jul. 28th, 2009|11:22 am] |
having a difficult time catching up...we've been packed and going since beg. of last week and we have stayed a myriad of different places overnight...came home late sunday and unfortunately came home to a messy house (which i hate doing) and brought home some wicked dirty laundry (thanks especially to our 3 hr hike in the rain) which was fun but produced lots of dirty wet clothes. the house is overwhelming me. i got lots of new books in the mail which i have already read 1/2 of the 1st and really love it. so far what i have gathered from it is to not feel guilty about stupid stuff. which i do. the last 2 days i have been pretty depressed and i need to just focus on all the super positive aspects of our life and remember carter especially. we are thankful to have our children and that they are healthy and i am thankful for my family, even tho drama tends to ensue regularly.
one funny memory about our trip i want to remember is the 2nd night when the kids had gone to bed, it was about 11 and i had the monitor outside and i went inside to check anyways, and lyla was sitting on the couch eating a box of cheese-its and holding my coke (not sure if she drank any) but i said, what are you doing awake? and she said having "nack"...i let her have one more chip and popped her back into bed... |
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| 6 month appt |
[Jul. 20th, 2009|09:33 pm] |
wow. he is 16 lbs and 5 oz, it really feels like yesterday they handed him to me and said he's 8 lbs and 4 oz...now he's doubled his birth weight...what a happy little boy. he smiles at me all day! he loves to eat and sleep and smile. he is rolling a lot, i told lyla yesterday i didn't want him to roll off the couch so i was going to put him down on the floor and to be careful. she said buddy is humpty dumpty?? that is her most favorite nursery rhyme currently...she has the whole thing memorized and thinks are fireplace is what humpty fell off of..it does look strickingly similar to the picture.
had lunch w/amanda today, what a help she was! she took lyla to graeters while i took b to the dr so i could actually talk to the dr and comfort him when he got his shots and i wasn't pulling her off of the swivel chair and asking her to please keep the drawers/cabinets closed...why do they even put cabinets and drawers at 2 year old height??
anyways! stopped in canal to drop some things off to shannon a. and then we had a fun impromptu dinner in granville at a cute little pub.
home to bed for the little ones. dr deibel aggreed that we need to stop swaddling brant....although we have known that for the last 2 months...but it's been so easy to put him to bed and he falls right to sleep...so he had to cry for awhile tonight (dr's orders) and i hated it. so i went in our room (a was out here) and took a shower and cleaned the room and came out about every 10 min. to check on him.
he did fall asleep about 50 min. later! i think we let lyla cry earlier...but we haven't with him partially b/c we didn't want to risk waking her up maybe? but she wouldn't hear him downstairs...we are going to start putting him to bed up in his room about 7 and then he should be asleep by 7:30 or 7:45 when ly goes to sleep...aw the legistics of bedtime and attempting to create good sleep habits...
we are also going to start cereal maybe tomorrow with brant...we'll see how that goes.
lyla asked me everyday "what are you doing?" and she is completely obsessesd with water & ice cubes (eating ice cubes) and pouring water from one cup to another to another, etc....she could play with water for an hour if i let her (& i do when i am cooking & cleaning in the kitchen) she loves sesame street, it's her chill down only tv time b/f lunch & nap. she loves all the diff. characters and knows all their names. she loves the song sunshine.
she loves ty. dave & ty came over last night for a second and she would play with ty any day/any time. |
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| renewed license today |
[Jul. 14th, 2009|04:10 pm] |
i am officially licensed for another 2 years...who knows what that will bring in my professional lsw life...maybe the same as the past 2 years or perhaps other opportunities will arise...i did thoroughly enjoy the trainings i attended over the past 6-12 months and it did make me miss work, people, getting showered/dressed & out the door, listening to the radio in the car by myself...we'll see. for now, we agree that the most important place for me is home w/the kids...we can manage w/one income for now and cut some corners to make it.
if i were working part time or full time, what i would earn would just about pay for daycare costs..there are various issues/emotions i experience in my relationship with aaron and others b/c i stay home with the kids...but all these experiences & emotions will hopefully make me better person and a stronger person.
i am working on my own issues when people ask me if i am a "working mom" it's like...can you clarify please? do i get paid monetarily for working or do i not get paid monetarily for working...is that what you are asking me?
i just deleted a whole paragraph...one advantage to on line journal.
i love my little lyla. she is talking so much more lately. i love how she says levi too (leee viiii) w/a pause b/w the 2 syllables. i love watching her dance and dancing and singing with her. her recent obsession WATER. she will pour water from one cup to another and to another and another for over an hour while i am cooking or cleaning in the kitchen. she does have a water table outside that she loves equally as much.
aaron is working on the deck (prob 1/2 done) and once he finishes the fence she can play outside more often...right now there are probably 20 2 1/2' holes dug for the posts..
brant is moving around on the floor more and in his crib--i will lay him down one way and come back and he is turned around almost completely.
he is not sleeping consistently thru the night...but the nights i put him to bed at 9 and he just ate he will sometimes sleep till 6 or 7...the other half of the nights he can't wait up till 9 he goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes up at 3 or 4 to eat and then back to sleep until 7 or so...everyone keeps telling me to give him rice cereal and he will sleep, but i agree with my dr that the longer we wait to give him food the better...we didn't start cereal with lyla until 7 months...i am not interested in giving him cereal for the sole purpose of having him sleep thru the night.
dad is still in mexico and thinks he will be working there till dec. we miss him a lot!!
he will be back in town next week and then again when we all go to our MI/Canada vacation.
looking forward to that!! |
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| runner? |
[Jul. 6th, 2009|10:13 pm] |
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will i ever be a runner? so many of my friends & family run, but i just don't think i am disciplined enough...i would love to, for time by myself, for weight loss, for emotional health....will it ever happen?? |
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| the 3rd of july |
[Jul. 3rd, 2009|01:23 pm] |
strange to not be in canada...looking forward to going but we are having a great time here...lately really been enjoying brooke and bridgers company.
trying to get stuff done around the house...aaron started pulling the old deck off yesterday so he will be working on the deck and fence over then next week to few weeks...
lyla saw her first fireworks last night in heath...she was amazed by them and kept telling us what color each firework was...occasionally she would say "kaboom".
she was fascinated withe the cornhole game and was cheering for mike stair and uncle cade the whole time.
b has almost rolled from his back to his belly...he's on his side and almost going over..
both babes asleep now..i might eat and then mop :) |
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| post surgery |
[Jun. 21st, 2009|12:12 pm] |
busy week. dad flew back down to mexico, i had a training all day tuesday, Levi was born Tuesday june 16th--exactly 5 months after brant, weighing the exact same as brant, 8 lbs 4 oz. and measuring 21 inches. wednesday was surgery...went very well, considering. lyla had 3 popsicles when we got home and went to bed for 3 hours, then awake for a couple and then back to bed. thursday i had another all day training and lyla fell out of her crib attempting to climb out so we turned her bed into a toddler bed...friday i went down to cols and shopped while aaron stayed with the kids...i then met up w/him in sunbury and went down to moms as she needed a ride to the airport saturday. aaron went up to put in bay for jason's bachelor party.
after church today lyla definately needed a nap as she went to bed late last night b/c brooke and jeremy and bridger came over. she resisted the nap at first...which is especially tough b/c she's in her toddler bed...well i think she just read herself a book and then laid down.
it was funny..kinda like "mom you forgot to read my book, so i guess i'll do it"
it's fathers day today. i love my father and my husband and my father in law. such good examples of dads. |
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| tough week ahead |
[Jun. 15th, 2009|11:02 am] |
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i am having a really hard time with the thought of taking lyla to childrens on wednesday for her surgery...on top of everything else, the poor girl can not have any food or drink until after her surgery and i just dont know what to tell her when she asks us to eat or drink in the morning...i don't like seeing her go under the anesthetic and i hate to see the fear in her eyes when we wheel her down the hallway and i hand her over to a nurse...it makes me tear up thinking about it. i need to be thankful it's not something more serious that is wrong with her. i need to be thankful the lord has protected her and us for this long and just have faith that everything will be okay. i know she looks and acts more like a "big girl" now but she is definately still my baby. |
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