Helena had her eight week check up yesterday. Has she really been with us that long? It seems to be going so fast. Maybe the more kids you have the faster time flies.
She weighed in at 11 pounds and measured 23.25 inches long. This puts her in the 75th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height.
Sorry no pictures. This a food preparation, termite extermination, and wheel line changing day so photography has been put on the back burner. Ha, ha. No pun intended.
Have a lovely day! We are stuck in the house because I have no idea what kind of trouble Hannah could get into with the exterminator pickup in the driveway.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Helena's Dedication & the Events There After
Today was Mother's Day, my Mother-in-Law's (Bev) Birthday and we decided to do Helena's dedication at church too. Nothing like killing three birds with one stone. We were fortunate that Ben's aunt was able to bring his grandparents up from Sacramento for the occasion. We were glad they were able to make the trip.
Hannah singing with Daddy.
Claude talking about the meaning of Helena's name.
Helena - bright light
Lee - pasture or meadow
Hannah hanging out with Papa Randy while we were up front.
Praying over Helena.
The congregation singing with us "I am Jesus' Little Lamb".
After church we headed to our house for a Mother's Day/Birthday/Dedication lunch celebration. Ben did most of the cooking which was a blessing.
Helena and I. She loves to cuddle up and go to sleep.
Hannah went from this...
and this.
To needing a nap in no time flat. I got her to sleep and she slept for awhile. She woke up crying and I tried to comfort her and then Mema Mary laid with her for awhile. She really needed to go back to sleep. Mema Mary came out to the table to eat and while we were saying grace Hannah was crying in her bedroom. Mema Mary went back to check on her and she had thrown up. We ripped the sheets off, gave her a bath and got her dressed again. Mema Mary held her in the rocking chair while I ate. Hannah then chilled on the couch for awhile where she threw up again. We cleaned the couch off, gave her a bath and got her dressed again. Mema Mary held her again where she seemed to begin to feel better. I guess everybody just needs to throw up now and then to feel better?? She's still not feeling her best but she hasn't thrown up again.
Four generations on my side of the family.
Four generations on Ben's side of the family.
So do you think I should rethink having family dinners at my house? If you haven't read about Hannah's birthday party just a few weeks ago, you should. I think maybe I should try harder to convince Hannah not to lick the shopping carts when we go to town or suck on rocks she find around the yard. She might feel a little better. I hope I can manage to forget some of this in the next month, otherwise the Dad's may not get a dinner for Father's Day. I'm sure we can pull something together. The third times the charm...right!?
Happy Mother's Day!
I hope you are having a Happy Mother's Day! I feel so blessed to be able to celebrate Mother's Day today with my Mom, Mother-in-Law, and Grandmas, as well as spend it as a mom. Just the other day Ben was telling a guy that before we had kids people used to tell him he didn't know what he was missing. He would just say, "yeah, yeah, some day maybe." Then we had kids and he thinks that they were right. Our kids truly are a blessing and we love being parents.
Ben got me two things for Mother's Day that I had been hoping for. I really wanted a book that I was too cheap to buy for myself. We decided to make it my Mother's Day present and I went ahead and ordered it from Amazon. To make a long story short I must have been asleep when I placed the order because it was supposed to arrive on my birthday in August. I went ahead and fixed the order, so now I'll be getting a late Mother's Day present.
Let me tell you about the other present I got. Just yesterday I was think that I wanted to start jogging with the girls in the jogging stroller. It really has been too windy this last week to take Helena out. I was thinking that I would take them out on the next nice day.
We got home late last night and I got the girls into bed and then worked around the house. I was headed to bed at about 11:00 when Ben said, "I can't sleep with these cows bawling all night." We were trying to move the cows to some new pasture so we left the gates open thinking they would all come home to the greener pasture. We didn't check to see that the cows and calves had gotten paired up before dark. Ooops...big mistake. The neighbor's drive splits the two pastures that we were moving them from and to. As it turns out the calves were in one pasture on one side of the driveway, and the cows were on the other side of the driveway. Each group was bawling at the other across the driveway. We weren't planning to wean last night but I guess they had other plans. The cows and calves were standing with in 50 feet of our neighbor's bedroom window, so we figured to maintain a good relationship we had better do something about the ruckus. It wasn't just as simple as opening a gate and sending them through. They had to go around a house and several buildings, as well as through a couple of gates. Persuading them to leave their post was going to be a challenge.
Ben was already in bed and the girls were asleep, so I offered to go out and chase the cows back around. Plus two legs are better than one when it comes to running after cows. So I slipped on my muck boots (kind of like rubber boots) and neglected to put on any socks. I grabbed a big flash light and headed out. The cows started to follow me and I thought, "great, I can just lead them through the gate toward the calves." I got them all to the gate when I "heard" one "yell" in some sort of cow language, "Retreat, retreat! Return to your calf!" They ran back across the pasture. I went back and tried to push them this time. No amount of yelling, running, stomping, and waving my arms in the air was going to make them move. They were not going to budge. They wanted their calves and they wanted them now!
I jogged back to the house to check on everyone since I had forgotten my cell phone. They were all good and Ben suggested I try to push the calves around. Note: calves are dumber than cows in most situations.
So back across the pasture, through one fence, across the drive way. Oops there's a calf in the driveway too. Lovely! And through another fence. Much to my surprise there was a cow and her calf over there with all of the calves. I thought, "A mama cow with a brain might be able to lead this group of calves back around to the rest of the herd." Now the race was on. I tried to move them as a group. No luck. I tried to move the cow and calf. No luck. I tried to move them as a group. No luck. Finally I got the cow and calf to head in the direction that I needed her to. Back to the calves I went. I guess they decided that I was smarter and they were tired of fighting me and let me gradually push them in the direction that the cow went. I pushed them through the gate and mama cow was taking the little group of calves back to the herd.
Ok, now to deal with the calf in the driveway. If a group of calves is dumb, a calf by itself is dumber. I find that it's tough to persuade them to do what I want them to. He was only one fence away from his mama rather than two like the other calves. I was chasing him around in the driveway wishing we didn't take such good care of our fences. Wishing the barbed wire was saggy and there was a big hole in the fence where he could jump through. He must have read my mind because he jumped through the fence, freeing himself from the barbs as he went.
Whew! The job was done. But here's the kicker. Muck boots, plus no socks, plus lots of running, equals BIG blisters. By this time I could barely walk. I got back into our pasture and thought it would be better to walk bare foot back to the house than wear the boots any longer. That was all fine and dandy until I realized that the dew on the grass was really cold. So cold that by the time I got half way back to the house I had that, I've been standing in a cold creek for too long and I ache clear up to my hips feeling. I guess it was better than rubbing any more skin off my heels because I made it back to the house.
I got into the house scrubbed and bandaged my feet, fed Helena and fell asleep. I got what I wanted. I got some time to exercise and even without the kids in tow. I guess I wasn't really planning on getting that gift in the middle of the night. Ben was a little bit early delivering that one minutes before the stroke of midnight and Mother's Day but I guess I'll let it slide. I think I'm going to shoot for another Mother's Day gift tonight...a back rub!
Ben got me two things for Mother's Day that I had been hoping for. I really wanted a book that I was too cheap to buy for myself. We decided to make it my Mother's Day present and I went ahead and ordered it from Amazon. To make a long story short I must have been asleep when I placed the order because it was supposed to arrive on my birthday in August. I went ahead and fixed the order, so now I'll be getting a late Mother's Day present.
Let me tell you about the other present I got. Just yesterday I was think that I wanted to start jogging with the girls in the jogging stroller. It really has been too windy this last week to take Helena out. I was thinking that I would take them out on the next nice day.
We got home late last night and I got the girls into bed and then worked around the house. I was headed to bed at about 11:00 when Ben said, "I can't sleep with these cows bawling all night." We were trying to move the cows to some new pasture so we left the gates open thinking they would all come home to the greener pasture. We didn't check to see that the cows and calves had gotten paired up before dark. Ooops...big mistake. The neighbor's drive splits the two pastures that we were moving them from and to. As it turns out the calves were in one pasture on one side of the driveway, and the cows were on the other side of the driveway. Each group was bawling at the other across the driveway. We weren't planning to wean last night but I guess they had other plans. The cows and calves were standing with in 50 feet of our neighbor's bedroom window, so we figured to maintain a good relationship we had better do something about the ruckus. It wasn't just as simple as opening a gate and sending them through. They had to go around a house and several buildings, as well as through a couple of gates. Persuading them to leave their post was going to be a challenge.
Ben was already in bed and the girls were asleep, so I offered to go out and chase the cows back around. Plus two legs are better than one when it comes to running after cows. So I slipped on my muck boots (kind of like rubber boots) and neglected to put on any socks. I grabbed a big flash light and headed out. The cows started to follow me and I thought, "great, I can just lead them through the gate toward the calves." I got them all to the gate when I "heard" one "yell" in some sort of cow language, "Retreat, retreat! Return to your calf!" They ran back across the pasture. I went back and tried to push them this time. No amount of yelling, running, stomping, and waving my arms in the air was going to make them move. They were not going to budge. They wanted their calves and they wanted them now!
I jogged back to the house to check on everyone since I had forgotten my cell phone. They were all good and Ben suggested I try to push the calves around. Note: calves are dumber than cows in most situations.
So back across the pasture, through one fence, across the drive way. Oops there's a calf in the driveway too. Lovely! And through another fence. Much to my surprise there was a cow and her calf over there with all of the calves. I thought, "A mama cow with a brain might be able to lead this group of calves back around to the rest of the herd." Now the race was on. I tried to move them as a group. No luck. I tried to move the cow and calf. No luck. I tried to move them as a group. No luck. Finally I got the cow and calf to head in the direction that I needed her to. Back to the calves I went. I guess they decided that I was smarter and they were tired of fighting me and let me gradually push them in the direction that the cow went. I pushed them through the gate and mama cow was taking the little group of calves back to the herd.
Ok, now to deal with the calf in the driveway. If a group of calves is dumb, a calf by itself is dumber. I find that it's tough to persuade them to do what I want them to. He was only one fence away from his mama rather than two like the other calves. I was chasing him around in the driveway wishing we didn't take such good care of our fences. Wishing the barbed wire was saggy and there was a big hole in the fence where he could jump through. He must have read my mind because he jumped through the fence, freeing himself from the barbs as he went.
Whew! The job was done. But here's the kicker. Muck boots, plus no socks, plus lots of running, equals BIG blisters. By this time I could barely walk. I got back into our pasture and thought it would be better to walk bare foot back to the house than wear the boots any longer. That was all fine and dandy until I realized that the dew on the grass was really cold. So cold that by the time I got half way back to the house I had that, I've been standing in a cold creek for too long and I ache clear up to my hips feeling. I guess it was better than rubbing any more skin off my heels because I made it back to the house.
I got into the house scrubbed and bandaged my feet, fed Helena and fell asleep. I got what I wanted. I got some time to exercise and even without the kids in tow. I guess I wasn't really planning on getting that gift in the middle of the night. Ben was a little bit early delivering that one minutes before the stroke of midnight and Mother's Day but I guess I'll let it slide. I think I'm going to shoot for another Mother's Day gift tonight...a back rub!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Have a Happy Feverish Birthday Party
When I was about 7 or 8 months pregnant I thought to myself, "I think we will just do a small birthday party for Hannah with her grandparents and not invited to whole countryside." Boy was I ever glad that I did. Hannah's birthday was officially on Friday. She also managed to develop a fever that day too. I debated about canceling the party but thought everyone would filter in through out the day anyway so why don't we just have dinner and cake. So that's what we did on Saturday.
I spent most of Saturday going from holding one kiddo to the next. Finally some grandparents showed up and the kiddo holding was distributed across more people. I preheated the ovens to cook the pizza. As the rest of the grandparents started showing up the house started to fill with smoke coming out of both ovens. We had to open a bunch of the doors and windows. Apparently you should clean your ovens more often than never. If they get bad enough can I just get new ones? Wouldn't it be nice to have one with a door that shuts all the way?! Someday Erika, some day.
So when the house filled with smoke I wasn't burning a pizza but I later succeed at doing that. While everyone ate I fed Helena. Oh, the life of a mother. Is this why some moms get so skinny while raising kids? No time to eat a whole meal at once and by the time you get back to it, it's either cold, you're no longer hungry, or it's time for the next meal. I wouldn't have it any other way.
After dinner Hannah opened some presents. I think her fever had reached about 102 degrees by now. She refused to open any present that were in a gift bag. If it was wrapped no problem. Destroying paper is great fun for a two year old, even a sick one at that. So Daddy and Mommy finished opening the presents in the gift bags. I even had a cute little outfit to put on Hannah but it ended up being a lazy clothes birthday party. Shoot, with all of the kiddo holding that went on through out the day I didn't even have time to paint my face.
At this point I should taken Hannah straight to bed. But what about the cake I worked so hard on? Papa Randy held Hannah, I lit the candle, and we sang "Happy Birthday" through all of the screaming. I'm going to blame it on her not feeling well and not the fact that her favorite character Strawberry Shortcake was on fire.
Disclaimer: Mom I know I said I wouldn't put any more pictures of Hannah on here where she wasn't happy but these are the only pictures I have of her not blowing out her candle on her cake. If there were some happy ones I would have posted them.
Here's what Helena did for most of the birthday party while her sister was so upset.
Did she blow out her own candle? No. Did she eat her cake? No. Did she enjoy her birthday party? I don't think so. Sometimes while we are driving around in the pickup she says, "Birthday soon?". To which I respond, "Birthday all done." She starts to sing "Happy Birthday." I finish singing it to her and then she's happy!
Hannah's 2 Year Check-up
Hannah had her two year check-up on Monday. She weighs 26 pound and is 32 inches tall. The doctor is always traumatic for Hannah even if it's not her appointment. She cried at EVERY prenatal appointment that I took her to when I was pregnant with Helena. A couple of days ago I finally figured out why. The girl has got an incredible memory!
Hannah was with me and I opened up the closet that has all of our games in it. She really never gets to see in there. She pointed to Scrabble and said, "Mema Mary play with it." "Yes" I said thinking nothing of it. Then she pointed to Boggle and said, "Uncle Mike play with it." Keep in mind she has only seen her Uncle Mike 3 or 4 times in her lifetime. At this point I called my Mom (aka Mema Mary) and asked her when the last time that we played Scrabble was. She reminded me that it was at Christmas. Hannah was 20 months old and hadn't looked in the closet since! I think we may have played Scrabble for 10 minutes before we determined that our brains were shot and it was far too intellectual for the evening. She remembers something what we did for 10 minutes 4 months ago??
Occasionally I go to Staples to pickup office supplies. Hannah usually goes with me and maybe we talk about that we are at Staples. I think she sat in the pickup with Mema Mary once and pointed out the letters on the sign. The other day she was into our CDs and DVDs when she brought me a Staples brand CD and said "Staples movie." She hoped that we could watch what was on it and I was shocked that she made the connection.
So, Hannah, I probably owe you an apology. Your doctor and I end up chuckling in the exam room because you act like being there is such a big deal. You tend to cry the ENTIRE time we are there. Apparently it is a big deal to you. I'm sorry that you have "remembered" your doctor visits (and the shots) since you were about 4 months old. Your doctor never gets to listen to your heart beat or your breathing. However, we are confident you are doing well based upon the protests that are coming out of your mouth. Your doctor has never been able to do an abdominal exam but we just have to trust that your insides are just fine. He can't look in your ears or touch your feet. I hope and pray that some day you can be the tough little girl that you are at home and we can get through a doctor appointment (even mine) with flying colors.
Hannah was with me and I opened up the closet that has all of our games in it. She really never gets to see in there. She pointed to Scrabble and said, "Mema Mary play with it." "Yes" I said thinking nothing of it. Then she pointed to Boggle and said, "Uncle Mike play with it." Keep in mind she has only seen her Uncle Mike 3 or 4 times in her lifetime. At this point I called my Mom (aka Mema Mary) and asked her when the last time that we played Scrabble was. She reminded me that it was at Christmas. Hannah was 20 months old and hadn't looked in the closet since! I think we may have played Scrabble for 10 minutes before we determined that our brains were shot and it was far too intellectual for the evening. She remembers something what we did for 10 minutes 4 months ago??
Occasionally I go to Staples to pickup office supplies. Hannah usually goes with me and maybe we talk about that we are at Staples. I think she sat in the pickup with Mema Mary once and pointed out the letters on the sign. The other day she was into our CDs and DVDs when she brought me a Staples brand CD and said "Staples movie." She hoped that we could watch what was on it and I was shocked that she made the connection.
So, Hannah, I probably owe you an apology. Your doctor and I end up chuckling in the exam room because you act like being there is such a big deal. You tend to cry the ENTIRE time we are there. Apparently it is a big deal to you. I'm sorry that you have "remembered" your doctor visits (and the shots) since you were about 4 months old. Your doctor never gets to listen to your heart beat or your breathing. However, we are confident you are doing well based upon the protests that are coming out of your mouth. Your doctor has never been able to do an abdominal exam but we just have to trust that your insides are just fine. He can't look in your ears or touch your feet. I hope and pray that some day you can be the tough little girl that you are at home and we can get through a doctor appointment (even mine) with flying colors.
Meeting the Requests
I have had a request to post more pictures of Helena and to take a picture of her in a cow outfit that Hannah wore when she was about the same age. Here's to killing two birds with one stone. If you would like to see the picture of Hannah click here. By the way Helena is six weeks old today and doing very well. So well, I'm not sure how much longer she will fit into this outfit because she is getting so long.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Daddy is the Hero Today
Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day here. As they said on the news today, April can be kind of funny. It is supposed to be 80 degrees today and there's chance of snow by the weekend.
I saw this tutorial for making a kite the other day and wanted to try it with Hannah. Her contribution was to decorate the paper before I turned it into a kite. It was very simple and I already had all of the stuff around the house. I was able to keep it up in the air better than Hannah is in this picture but I'm sure the several feet height difference that I have on her makes a difference.
She doesn't know to give anyone a "thumbs up" but I think she's giving her Daddy her approval for a job well done.
I saw this tutorial for making a kite the other day and wanted to try it with Hannah. Her contribution was to decorate the paper before I turned it into a kite. It was very simple and I already had all of the stuff around the house. I was able to keep it up in the air better than Hannah is in this picture but I'm sure the several feet height difference that I have on her makes a difference.
When we moved here there was a swing set in the yard. We spent a year or so mowing around it and then decided to move it out since we didn't have kids. We were given a little kid swing so I took Hannah "out back" to the swing set several times this winter and spring. She noticed her swing the other day when we were feeding and has been asking for it ever since.
She managed to talk Daddy into bringing it back into the yard for her. I would have to say that she has one of the tallest swing sets in the area. I think that her Grandpa used to swing on this set so it's been around for awhile and I don't think it's going anywhere soon. Maybe she'll be able to talk her Daddy into attaching a slide to the side of it some day.
Once the swing set was in the yard my kite was long forgotten. I did eventually figure out to put her swing at a height where she can get herself in and out so I don't have to run over there every minute while I'm feeding Helena.
She doesn't know to give anyone a "thumbs up" but I think she's giving her Daddy her approval for a job well done.
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