The Sturms' Site

Welcome Baby Joel

2012-01-31T09:48:00.014-06:00

After quite an uneventful January, we finished the month with one crazy week! It was so nice to have a few weeks of calm after a busy holiday season. The most exciting part of each week was going to the doctor only to hear that I'd have to be coming back the following week. Our little boy was snug, content, and not ready be here! The due date came and went, and we just kept waiting. My goal this time was to have a natural birth, so I really wanted to avoid being induced. Our doctor was great about honoring that request and was willing to let nature take it's course.

And this is how it went....

Saturday, January 21: Everyone in the Sturm home had been hit with a nasty cold. The kids were miserable, the parents could barely work up the energy to care for the kids, and we spent the entire day resting.

Sunday, January 22: Everyone was still feeling pretty miserable. The fact that the baby was almost a week late at this point was a blessing, because there was no way we'd be able to take on another needy kid! We spent the day resting and hoping to wake up feeling much better in the morning.

Monday, January 23: After a long night of restless sleep due to an incredibly stuffy nose, I woke up around 4:45 feeling like today might be the day. I started having contractions, but decided to try to go back to bed. After about 15 minutes of sitting there, I decided I'd get up and take a shower. I figured the contractions might slow down and I'd have a bit more time to do some loads of laundry, straighten up the house, and finish those other last minute nesting tasks. I gently tapped Tyler on the shoulder and told him he might want to get up and make sure he took care of work emails and scheduling issues, because it was looking like we'd end the day at the hospital. He, who typically takes forever to get out of bed, quickly jumped up and followed me around asking everything he could about how the contractions felt, how often they were coming, how far apart they were, and so on. I, being much more relaxed about the situation, told him to just worry about his work stuff and I'd be fine. Thankfully, he was persistent, and after timing contractions for a bit, we realized we better get Grandma here to watch the kids. By 6:15, my water had broken, Grandma was on her way, and we were throwing together last minute items to head to the hospital. The drive was quick and easy and we were at the hospital by 6:45. When we walked in, the nurse that greeted us asked a few questions...and after realizing that my contractions were less than 5 minutes apart, my water had broken, and this was our 3rd child, she immediately got me into a room and started the check-in process. The nurse checked me about a half hour into getting there and I was already 5cm. By 8:00, the contractions were coming closer together and much stronger. By 9:00 I was 8cm and by 9:30 I was demanding that the doctor get to the room! At 9:35, our little boy entered the world and we were greeted by the loudest, healthiest cries we've heard from any of our babies. Joel Patrick weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces and he was 21 inches long. He was incredibly alert, began nursing like a champ, and spent the rest of the day being snuggled and loved on. I felt better than I'd felt after either of the previous labors and was so thankful that I could deliver him without any meds.

Tuesday, January 24: We spent the entire day resting at the hospital with a few visitors here and there. It was so nice to bond with Joel and know that our other two babies were being spoiled rotten at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Wednesday, January 25: We headed home around noon and spent the rest of the day getting used to being a family of five. Since that day, we have truly enjoyed our time at home and are REALLY thankful that Tyler has 2 weeks of paternity leave with his new job. The transition has gone smoothly and we're getting somewhat of a routine down. We're just hoping that Joel continues to be such an easy, content baby and his siblings continue to be the wonderful kids they are!

Christmas Recap

2012-01-02T09:12:00.004-06:00

It's been quite an eventful holiday season for our family. Looking back on the December calendar makes me realize why I felt SO exhausted at the end of every single day. I knew that I would blink my eyes and the month would be over, but WOW did it go fast! It's hard to believe that the new year is upon us and BIG, BIG changes are coming soon. It was great to spend so much quality time as a family of four this past month. Our kiddos loved all the fun, attention, and spoiling....hopefully it was enough to last them through the next few months of neglect!

At the beginning of the month, we got to take a trip on the Polar Express. Grandma, Grandpa, TiTi, Nana Pam, and Madelyn all joined us for the hour trip to and from the "North Pole". Caleb was incredibly excited to ride, as he knows the story very well. Leah was just in awe due to the fact that this was her first train ride. We all had fun on the ride, until the very end when Santa came to say hi on the train. Leah wanted NOTHING to do with him and clung tightly to TiTi. We spent the rest of the Christmas season hearing, "I don't wike Santa Cause".

The Lamont family got together for our annual cookie decorating day. It was so fun to hang out and share this tradition with the kids. They both had fun and consumed more than enough sugar within just the first 10 minutes of decorating!

We managed to sneak away for a weekend with Grandma, Grandpa, and TiTi to Lake Delavan in Wisconsin. There is a lodge up there that we used to go to annually and haven't been back to in quite some time. It was a very peaceful, relaxing weekend and we all had fun just hanging out. The kids spent time running the halls, swimming, playing in the game room, watching Christmas movies, and decorating a gingerbread house. We also ate plenty of yummy meals and had brunch with Santa.

Christmas was such a memorable time for us. We had Christmas Eve service at church and followed it up with a big meal at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The kids woke up with tons of excitement the following morning and we opened up our presents. Grandma, Grandpa, and TiTi came over for breakfast and more present opening. We hung out, relaxed, and then spent the day playing with all the fun, new toys. That evening, we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas with the Lamont family. Again, it was a great evening and so fun to be with most of the family.

The next week passed quickly and we spent time getting the house reorganized to accommodate all the new stuff (and all the baby stuff that needs to be brought out). Finally, Grandma, Grandpa, and Auntie Kalyn joined us for the last weekend of the month. We opened up more presents and spent the weekend hanging out and enjoying having a house full of people! The kids got some great new toys and had fun making Grandma, Grandpa, and Auntie Kalyn play with them all weekend.

After all the fun and craziness, I feel like I need at least another month to sit, rest up, and get ready for what's coming. Somehow there is just never enough time, but at least the time we have is filled with so much joy and so many blessings! We hope everyone reading this has had a chance to sit back and reflect on what a precious time of year this is. Happy New Year to you all :)

Leah's Birthday

2011-12-31T09:54:00.000-06:00

The day after Christmas in our house means the beginning of Birthday Week. If our kids don't remember the words to the song Happy Birthday, they'll have it down by the end of that week. Leah seemed to catch on quickly and we got to hear her sweet, 2-year-old version several times a day. We also asked her over and over again who was going to have a birthday and she managed to get quite confused between saying Jesus, Mommy, or Leah. The poor girl will spend the rest of her life having a "Christmas Birthday" and thankfully she has a mom that can relate. Nonetheless, we tried to make her day special and she seemed to grasp that it was all about her on the 30th. We went to McDonald's for lunch where she managed to get herself all the way through the play tubes (leaving us to think for about 3 frightening minutes that she was never coming back). There's no fear in this 2-year-old. She also spent plenty of time that day soaking up attention from Grandma, Grandpa, and Auntie Kalyn. We ended the day with a pizza party, presents, and cake. All of which were just enough to make her day. She is now, officially, a 2-year-old. More tantrums. More attitude. And of course, (what every 2-year-old girl longs for) a thousand more baby dolls!

Dear Leah,

2011-12-30T10:01:00.007-06:00

It's been exactly two years since you joined our family. Two years seems like such a short amount of time, yet it is hard to remember life before you were part of it. Year number one was filled with plenty of ups and downs and your second year has thankfully been full of many more ups than downs. You spent the first half of this year still very much a baby. You reached new milestones on what seemed like a daily basis and you still had plenty of your chubby, cute, babyness left.

With each day and every new milestone, though, you showed us that you were moving on beyond babyhood and turning into a true toddler. By the eighteen month mark, you (finally) began talking (after many months of screaming, tantrums, and frustration on everyone's part). Though we prayed for that day to come, it also meant a whole new world of independence on your part and having to accept that our baby was growing up. Now, your language is filled with so many words and phrases....many of which help you assert that strong will we always knew you had. Leah do it self.....no, don't want to.....don't wike it.

Along with a drastic change in your language, you have also grown so much in your ability to play and socialize. You've always been in awe of your big brother, and now he's truly become your best buddy. You are his shadow and you follow him all over the place. Sometimes this leads to nothing but trouble, but there are also many moments when it leads us to wish that time could stand still and you two would never have to grow up. Certainly, your newest little sibling has so much to look forward to. You will be a friend for life to both of your brothers and they will be so lucky to have you as their sister. You will teach them to love, care, and nurture. You already do that with Caleb when you hear him crying and run to get him his blankie for comfort. You do something to upset him and immediately say "sorry, Cawub". You hug him when he's sad and pat him on the back when he's hurt. You have empathy like no other and a nature that truly cares. You adore babies. Your favorite part of church is going to the nursery to watch the babies that are younger than you. You point out every baby that ever crosses your path and treasure your baby dolls at home.

It's a hard truth to accept, but you are soon passing on the role of being the baby of the house. You'll no doubt be excited to have a real, live baby to occupy your time at home. And your strong, independent side makes us sure that you won't have trouble letting go of your place in line. You've been sleeping in your big girl bed for awhile now, potty trained for almost a month, and insisting upon doing anything and everything by yourself. It takes twice as long to get out of the house because you have to attempt the shoes, coat, hat, and mittens by yourself before letting anyone else help out!

So, as you turn two, we know that this marks the end of a big year full of changes. It also marks the beginning of a new year. One filled with so many more changes. What won't change, though, is the beautiful girl God has created you to be. You're a gift...our precious daughter that we can't imagine life without. We can't imagine life without the snuggles, hugs, and love that you bring. From your contagious smile to your bouncy curls, from your sweet voice to your joy-filled laugh, God has proved his goodness in you. We pray that you, and all those lucky enough to cross your path, will see God's work in you this year, next year, and every year of your life.

Favorite Pics

2011-12-20T13:42:00.005-06:00

A couple years ago, my sister bought a wonderful collage frame for us that we now hang in the hallway going up to our bedrooms. Every year, I've made it a point to update the collage with my favorite pictures. It's really hard to sort through twelve months of digital pictures on a computer and only choose 9! Anyhow, I think I finally narrowed it down and these are the ones we're going with for 2011:

2 down, 1 to go

2011-12-08T13:01:00.004-06:00

On the list of my favorite things about motherhood, potty training would DEFINITELY not be one of them! I must admit, I've been fortunate to have two pretty quick learners, but I still don't like tasks that require me to let go, have no control, and just hope for the best! With both kids, I've gone for the approach where you spend about 2 or 3 days focusing on nothing but using the potty. We say so long to diapers (aside from naps and bedtime) and put on the big kid underwear. With Caleb, it didn't take too long and he was rather young, so I figured trying with Leah at a young age might be worth it. She seemed pretty ready and was more interested at her age than Caleb was. Plus, we have a little ticking clock reminding us that it's now or a good 7 or 8 months from now before any amount of solid focusing can be done around here!

This leads us to last week, while Tyler was gone at training for his new job and I was suffering from extreme exhaustion from single mom-hood. Somehow, in my delirious state of mind, I decided we would give it a go. Wednesday was a looooong day, in which we stayed gated in the kitchen for what seemed like an eternity. Much to my surprise, Leah had only one accident all day and took a pretty good interest in using the potty. Over the next couple of days, I gave her a bit more freedom to run around and not have me constantly asking about using the potty. We had a couple more accidents and that was mostly due to her strange fear of going #2 on the potty....in classic Leah lingo she'd say "I don't wike it". This became even more motivation on my part to stick to the task at hand, because I could just picture waiting another half a year when she's even more stubborn and strong-willed than she is right now! Fortunately, it seems as though I won the battle because she is now happily going pee and poop on the potty....and she's even letting me know when she has to go (something her brother took a very.long.time to figure out).

So with all that said, I think we can officially consider Miss Leah potty trained. Is it sad that I'm already dreading doing this one more time with baby #3?!?

Deck the Halls

2011-11-30T14:39:00.002-06:00

It's hard to believe it's already time for Christmas trees, lights, cookies, carols, and all the fun memories that go along with Christmas. One of my favorite parts of this season is decorating the house for the holiday. As a kid, I always wanted to have a Christmas tree, and now I think I make up for it by filling every square inch of our house with lights, snowmen, Santas, garland, etc., etc.! This year, it was an especially fun task because both kids got involved. They loved helping to decorate the tree and the sparkle in their eyes when they first saw everything lit up was priceless. I look forward to all the memories we'll make this year as we celebrate the Christmas season!

Carmi Trip

2011-11-22T15:03:00.001-06:00

Our annual trip to Carmi for hunting has become something our whole family looks forward to. Daddy gets to spend time doing something he really enjoys, the kids get tons of love and attention, and I get a chance to sit down and put my feet up! This year we did a lot of relaxing, cooking, washing dishes, movie watching, and just plain old having fun. Everytime we leave, we talk about how much we wish Grandpa and Grandma could live closer. It used to just be Tyler and I that would say that, but now Caleb even seems to grasp that his loved ones live just a little too far away!

Thankful

2011-11-17T14:58:00.001-06:00

Of the many things I am incredibly thankful for, one is Caleb's preschool. He absolutely loves going and I'm glad that they work so hard to make it such a wonderful place for him to learn and grow. They put together an amazing Thanksgiving feast for the kids and their families and I truly enjoyed being able to be a part of their celebration.

One Last Zoo Trip

2011-11-09T15:09:00.001-06:00

It's been so nice to have zoo passes this year. It's given us the chance to plan some last minute trips there, including our most recent one. At this time of the year, we don't consistently have nice days, so when we do get one, we try to make the most of it. This time, we were lucky enough to have Grandpa Rob come with. It started out pretty chilly, but by the time we left, the sun was shining and the weather was perfect for walking around the zoo. It would be great if this wasn't our last trip to the zoo this year, but I'm not sure the weather will cooperate. If we can find the time and there's a nice evening, I'd love to go see the zoo lights....it's supposed to be awesome!

Halloween Fun

2011-11-01T14:49:00.002-05:00

We had a very enjoyable Halloween this year. The kids on the block got together in the afternoon for a party with lots of yummy treats and fun activities. It's so wonderful to have such awesome neighbors that our kids can grow up with. After a quick nap, our little pumpkins we're up and ready to do some trick-or-treating. They both loved getting dressed up and had fun being pulled around the neighborhood in the wagon. Caleb had kind of a tough time with all the scary decorations that were out (some really weren't that bad, but I do agree that some houses go overboard on the creepy stuff). He even refused to go to certain houses if their decorations were too scary. I cherish his innocence, though, and am thankful that all the spooky sights didn't give him nightmares!

Little Monets

2011-10-30T13:41:00.008-05:00

Lately we have been spending quite a bit more time inside. We sure miss the freedom of running in and out all day. Now, even when we have a random nice day, I find it hard to gather up enough energy to round everyone up for shoes, coats, and anything else that needs to be brought outside. Anyhow, we've been using our indoor time to expand our creativity with all kinds of art. The kids love to spend time coloring, creating, and using their imaginations.

A lot of our mornings have been spent with a nice, long coloring session after breakfast. Once we got over the hurdle of who gets to use the big crayons (nothing a little run to Walmart can't fix), it became quite an enjoyable (peaceful) way to start the day.

I've spent time searching for fun and easy projects that both kids can do. This one turned out to be more fun for Daddy than anyone else. Leah lost interest in about 5 minutes. I know, shocking, isn't it?!? But Daddy and Caleb worked for quite awhile on their candy corn mosaic.

And of course, there's the annual pumpkin carving night. The kids had a blast getting their hands dirty, picking out their pumpkin faces, and watching Daddy and Grandpa do the carving.

We've also come across (thanks to a little boy that likes to search through the bathroom closet) a few fun bathtime art supplies. The bath paints and crayons were presents the kids got awhile ago....possibly even as far back as last Christmas! Anyhow, they were discovered and then talked about in great detail enough times that we finally made it a point to take them out and use them! Both the paint and crayons were really fun to use and even washed off really easily from the walls. We still get asked just about everyday if they can be used again, but we're going to try to make it more of a weekly event than an every-single-night-ritual.

I couldn't leave out this shot....yes, they'll resent me one day for it, but it's just too cute not to share!

Since when....

2011-10-20T15:48:00.003-05:00

....did my babies grow up to be big kids?

I really don't know if it's pregnancy hormones or just the true reality of motherhood, but I could seriously cry at the thought of how quickly these little loves are growing. I cannot thank God enough for the blessing of being home day in and day out with them. Despite the incredibly trying moments that test every last bit of my patience, I have cherished everything about being a stay-at-home mom for over a year now. I can't wait to meet our baby boy in just a few short months. Yet, at the same time, I'm just not ready to blink my eyes and see yet another tiny miracle turn into a big kid!

Our Little Ring Bearer

2011-10-10T10:28:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, my cousin Rob married his beautiful wife Katie. Caleb was lucky enough to be a part of their special day and he enjoyed every minute of his special job. We spent a lot of time talking about how important the ring bearer is and made sure he understood that he needed to do the best job he could. He did a great job and had so much fun getting loads of attention and hamming it up for the camera. His favorite part of the night was chasing around the flower girl, who wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with him! He's still talking about her today and I'm sure we'll hear a lot more about Lilly in the days to come.

Farm Fun

2011-10-07T10:15:00.000-05:00

The weather this past week has been absolutely beautiful. We have been making sure to enjoy every bit of it because we know that winter will be here all too soon. One morning, we decided to head with Grandma Leslie to a local farm that has tons of activities for kids. Caleb and Leah had a blast jumping, riding tractors, playing in the corn pit, running through the straw playground, and conquering the corn maze (which we did a much better job of completing this year as compared to last year). I sure love these days at home with my kids and am so thankful to spend time making these precious memories with them!

Busy Weekends

2011-10-04T12:50:00.009-05:00

We have had a few very busy weekends this past month, and the fun just keeps going with two more busy weekends ahead of us. In some ways, I'm looking forward to the slower pace of winter when there isn't much going on besides being lazy all day on Saturday and hanging out as a family. I'm sure my thoughts will quickly change when those lazy weekends are followed by seemingly endless weeks at home, stuck inside, all day, every single day!

In the middle of September, we decided to get the kids' room ready for the big move (Leah will soon be joining Caleb in his room in order to make room for the baby). We wanted to get Caleb used to having the beds debunked and rearranged before adding the excitement of a permanent roommate! So far, the kids love having their own beds and spend a lot of time playing in there. We're hoping the playfullness only happens during the daytime once we make the actual switcheroo. Somehow, I think that's not going to happen and we'll be spending a lot of time telling our two monkeys to "cut it out and go to sleep"!

At the end of September we geared up for our annual breast cancer walk downtown. Unfortunately, we didn't get to complete the full walk due to the fact that it began to pour only a short while into the walk. We forgot to bring umbrellas and the kids were soaked and cold. It was definitely not the kind of morning we had hoped for, but memories were still made!

This past weekend, we made a trip to Champaign for a couple days. We spent time tailgating, going to the game (which was AWESOME), walking around campus, hanging out/swimming at the hotel, and picking pumpkins and apples at Curtis Orchard. Everytime we're back in Champaign, we realize just how awesome our years down there were and even get this itch to pick up and move back. There's something about that town and being an Illini that will always be such a special part of our family!

It's a.....

2011-09-12T07:22:00.006-05:00

BABY!!!

But seriously, after a 30 minute ultrasound (in which the super-boring tech didn't say a single word....thank goodness this is our 3rd child and we weren't too worried about what he was or wasn't seeing) we found out which gender will set off the balance of this pefectly balanced, 2 male/2 female, family. As I've said from the beginning, I've been right with two out of two previous children and my record holds true. I knew from early on....we're having a BOY!!! I'm now holding onto the fact that the men don't actually outweigh the women, because our dog is a girl! As far as we know, he is healthy and right on track. In fact, he's a little ahead of the original schedule. Now, instead of arriving on January 28, he's set to be here around the 16th. Really, that date has a huge window of 10 days before or after, so it seems to me that any of the days in January he could be here!

This is his profile shot. His head is on the left and you can see his cute little nose sticking up!

He's looking straight at us in this picture. The black circle at the top is his eye, his forehead is on the left, and chin on the right. According to his TiTi, he looks like an alien. I'd like to think we've produced some pretty cute, unalienlike kids thus far though and there's definitely hope for this guy!

20 Things to Know About My 20-Month-Old

2011-09-06T16:16:00.022-05:00

Last week I was over at my neighbor's having coffee with a few moms when someone asked, how old is your daughter? My initial reaction was to say 18 months (the last big milestone age that she hit). Suddenly, as the words almost left my mouth, I stopped and recounted in my head. Sorry to my dear, sweet second child for not instantly knowing the answer to such a simple question. This is payback for all the years I gave my own mom a hard time about "neglecting" her second child!

Nonetheless, after a brief moment of hesitation and quick counting, I realized my baby is 20 months old! Where the past 20 months have gone remains a mystery. How did my little girl go from....

This:

to...

This:

in the blink of an eye?

Over the past 20 months we've seen a lot of ups and downs. Leah has definitely been a more challenging baby/toddler than our first one, but so many of those tougher moments are what make us love her as much as we do. For as much as she drives us insane, she puts an equal amount of effort into making us love her like crazy! For those who don't know our little monkey as well as we do, I'll list 20 things you'd probably like to know about her:

1. Leah has the cutest smile you'd ever see from the face of a toddler. There's a tiny gap between her top two teeth, which are surrounded by a couple more teeth, which are followed by a slight gap, and finally there are some molars. Her teeth have never come in like the books say they will, but that's just her style. And when she smiles, her entire face gets into it. The nose crinkles, the eyes squint, and multiple dimples appear. It's adorable. Absolutely adorable.

2. Leah has been getting speech therapy since she was a little over 17 months old. She wasn't saying any words at the time, but right at 18 months, she started building quite a vocabulary. We'll never know if it's because of the therapy or just the fact that Leah does everything when Leah decides it's time. Either way, our world is so much different now that her screams are being replaced by words.

3. Leah loves fruit. If you gave her fruit and only fruit at every meal, she'd be a happy camper. On her plate the other morning, she had fruit, yogurt, and a donut. Unlike most kids, this oddball wolfed down the fruit, gobbled up the yogurt, and ate one bite of the donut before she declared (by ripping off her bib) that she was done.

4. Leah loves her older brother. She has just started saying his name clearly and at least a hundred times a day I hear her saying "Cayub". Thankfully he has an incredible amount of patience and doesn't seem to mind that she wants his attention almost every other minute.

5. Leah will only sit and listen to an entire book if her daddy is reading it to her. Otherwise, she is a girl on the move and doesn't have the attention span to sit through an entire picture book.

6. Leah loves music. She loves to dance and sing. Her two favorite songs to sing at the moment are "Rain, Rain, Go Away" and "The ABC Song" (both of which she gets only about 1/3 of the way through).

7. Leah continues to be the most inconsistent sleeper in our family. She switches between waking up early and thus taking long naps to sleeping in late and taking short naps. There's no telling what causes her changing patterns, but we're at least happy that she remains a fairly pleasant kid no matter how much sleep she gets (unlike the rest of our family)!

8. Leah is a climber. If you turn your back for too long, she'll probably be found on top of a chair, table, couch, or something that allows her to be in a position that leaves her mom on the verge of a heart attack.

9. Leah loves buckles. Her obsession started many months ago and she now makes sure that if there is a buckle in sight, she takes a moment to clasp it together.

10. Leah could spend all day, everyday outside.

11. From the moment Leah learned to walk, she began learning to run. She mastered that skill quite quickly and now spends 95% of her time running, rather than walking, to wherever she is going. It's difficult to describe just how adorable her little body looks when she runs, but you can just picture it by imagining a tiny girl, with arms bent at the elbows pointed upward, curls bouncing, and tiny feet just hopping along.

12. Leah has a bunny and blanket that she not only sleeps with, but insists upon carrying around the house a majority of the day. In order to sneak these two very-loved items into the washing machine, I have to be very careful about my timing. I usually have to wait until she's sitting at the breakfast table with her back turned to the stairway. Otherwise, she has a radar that manages to pick up on whatever laundry basket is holding her precious possessions. When that radar goes off, you are promised at least 5 straight minutes of crying and tantrum throwing.

13. Leah is incredibly tough and manages to acquire a lot of bumps and bruises without ever making the cause known to us. If we do witness her in one of her many states of clumsiness, she usually just gets right back up and into the action. This child is far too busy to spend time crying about blood and injuries!

14. Leah has special names for all the important people in her life....Mama (me), Dada (Tyler), Cayub (Caleb), Cheney (Chesney), TiTi (Auntie Tracy), Gaga (both grandmas), Papa (both grandpas), and just recently she decided to call her other aunt, nah-nah (not sure how that's close to Auntie Kalyn, but we'll take it). It's quite comical when you get a few of these loved ones in a room, because she will quickly get confused as to whose attention she is trying to get at a particular moment. She's been known to string together a few of these names before reaching the person she truly wants to talk to...."Gaga, Papa, TiTi, Cayub" really just means she wants to say something to her brother.

15. Leah is definitely ready for potty training. She LOVES to sit on the potty and usually (when we find the time to actually put her on there) she'll poop or pee. She has even initiated needing to go by say "potty". Now, it's just a matter of figuring out when we'll squeeze in a few days of official training before baby #3 gets here!

16. Leah seems to have quite a creative side to her. She finds a lot of enjoyment in being able to build with legos, play with playdough, and even does well with coloring. Her attention span with these activities is longer than with anything else she engages in.

17. Leah has learned to say no and is beginning to use it in many, many situations. She has definitely got a stubborn side to her (always has, always will) and being able to say no has opened up a whole new world for her stubborness.

18. Leah loves to clean up. She sings her own version of the clean-up song and happily puts toys away when asked. She makes her mommy proud with her love for organization and neatness!

19. Leah is a lover. If you hold her in a rocking chair, she'll put her head down on your shoulder and say "suggle". If you're attempting to leave, she'll request a hug. If you sit down on the floor, she'll ask to sit on your lap. And if you're standing, she'll come up to you with arms raised and say "up" or "hode".

20. Leah is going to be a wonderful big sister. She is so interested in babies and likes to carry her own babies around the house. If we're out and about, she points out every baby in sight. Before the baby comes though, we'll definitely have to perfect Leah's concept of the word gentle. For someone as rough and tough as she is, that could be quite the challenge!

First Day

2011-08-30T14:23:00.005-05:00

This is what Monday morning at 7:15 looked like at our house:

The first thing Caleb did after getting dressed was grab his backpack. He was ready for preschool and just couldn't believe we had to eat breakfast and wait awhile before leaving. In the meantime, he ran through a whole list of things he wanted to tuck away in his backpack to show his teachers. Had it been up to him, he would've brought a couple of his favorite shirts, a sticker book, his toothbrush, a cupcake, a few new books, and some other random items I can't recall right now. It was quite difficult to explain the concept of show-and-tell to him, but we managed to get out the door with an empty backpack in the hopes that show-and-tell will be sometime in the (very) near future. God help those classmates and teachers when that day comes, because this little boy has a lot he wants to talk about and share with others!

Dropping him off wasn't nearly as hard as I had imagined. I never worried about tears from his end, but I figured in my hormonal state of pregnancy I might lose it. I kept it together, mostly because I was holding Leah and clinging tightly to the fact that she can keep my mind off of Caleb being gone. And she did. We got home, played with the neighbors for a bit, did speech therapy for an hour with Miss Holly (her early intervention therapist), got some stuff ready for dinner, read books together, and just enjoyed the one-on-one time. At least for a few months of her life Leah can have my undivided attention for a few hours per week. That poor middle child will never forgive me for having baby #3 so soon!

By the time we picked him up, he was quite exhausted and didn't have much to say besides "it was fun". I managed to pry a bit more out of him on the drive home and from our conversation, it sounds like he's going to have a great year!

County Fair

2011-08-29T14:14:00.001-05:00

Saturday was a beautiful day (aside from whatever it is that is floating through the air making my allergies horrible). We decided to head to the Will County Fair in the evening to enjoy the great weather. The kids had fun "driving" the tractors, checking out the animals, going on a few rides, playing games, and eating all of the horrible-for-you fair food. With all the activity, they both fell asleep with NO problem that night!

Hours of Entertainment

2011-08-28T14:05:00.001-05:00

On Friday afternoon, my sister stopped by on her way home from school. She had mentioned earlier in the week that a coworker was planning to get rid of a "bounce house" that she had. Apparently she just wanted to give it away and knew that Tracy had a niece and nephew that might like it. When Tracy dropped it off on Friday afternoon, I couldn't wait to blow it up and see how the kids reacted. So on Saturday morning Tyler took it out and spent all of about 3 minutes setting it up. The kids loved it, especially Caleb. It didn't take too long for our adorable neighbors to catch sight of it and they came over to join us. The kids had a blast and I'm sure we'll make good use of this freebie....I just can't believe someone was willing to give this away for free!

The World According to a Preschooler

2011-08-23T12:37:00.011-05:00

I've spent the entire summer in denial. Denial over the fact that my baby boy is really no longer a baby. I still call him my baby boy and he (with much confidence) reminds me that he is not a baby. Still, as the mom of Caleb, my firstborn, I can't quite get my mind wrapped around the fact that 3+ years have flown by and I'm already sending him off to preschool in less than a week. It could just be pregnancy hormones, but I have cried quite a lot over this huge milestone. He's ready. SO ready. Socializing, learning, and every other aspect of preschool is 100% what he needs. Yet, for me, I'm just not quite ready.

There's the mom in me that just isn't ready to let go and realize that my kids are only this little for so long. I wonder if I've prepared him enough. Will he hold onto the values we've tried to instill? Will he still remain as sweet and innocent as he is now? There's also the teacher in me that thinks, what are the teachers going to think of him (and us, the ones who've raised him for 3+ years). Will he be a difficult kid to teach or will he go with the flow? Will he be a leader in the classroom or a follower? No matter what, I've convinced myself (and prayed a ton) to let go of all the questions, fears, sadness, and so on. At some point, we have to let go and trust that everything will be just fine. We'll take each day one day at a time and try to cherish the good with the bad.

So, I finally came to terms with the fact that this is really happening. We've filled out all the registration forms, bought the supplies, and even finished coloring the bug he was sent that will hang up in his classroom. I must admit, there was quite a bit of debate going on in my head over this bug. Should I tell him what colors to use? Should I make sure he doesn't scribble all over? If I leave it up to him, will all the other moms do the opposite and make my kid's picture stick out like a sore thumb? Needless to say, I let him take charge (the teacher in me can't stand when a project was 98% done by the parents and 2% by the kid). To my surprise, it looks awesome....and he even wrote his own name (although he still gets quite frustrated that his "B" never looks right)!

And just for fun, I decided to interview my little preschooler. It'll be fun to look back at this and see how much he changes with time:

What is your name? Caleb

How old are you? 3

What do you want to be when you grow up? a big boy

What is your favorite food? peanut butter and jelly

What is your favorite drink? milk and water

What makes you happy? my dump drunk and my firetruck

What makes you sad? when I can't play

What is your favorite thing to do at home? play

Who is your best friend? Iain and Ruby (neighbors)

Where is your favorite place to go? Grandma's

What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? snuggle

What is your favorite the to do with Daddy? wrestle

What is the best part about Leah (sister)? playing with her, hugging her, and loving her

What is your favorite book? Frosty the Snowman, when I'm at Grandma's

What is your favorite movie? Mater

Where is your favorite place to eat? at Grandma's

What is your favorite thing to wear? my Mario shirt and my snake shirt

Missouri Trip

2011-08-12T15:39:00.001-05:00

At the beginning of August, we took our last family vacation of the summer. We started our trip in St. Louis for a couple days, where we got to hang out with Grandpa Ron, Grandma Sue, and Auntie Kalyn. St. Louis is such a fun city with so many things to do. In all the years I've grown up going right past the city as we've headed to the lake, we've never stopped to visit. Hopefully we can do this more often on our way to the lake, because we had a great time!

We had a fun morning at the Science Center. There were so many cool activities for kids (and adults) of all ages. We'll definitely have to visit again when the kids are older.

We spent a few (very hot) hours at Grant's Farm. Despite the heat, it was an awesome place to tour. The grounds are beautiful and there were so many cool things to do. We were there later in the day as the park was getting ready to close, so we missed a few things....but we still had a great time!

The second half of our trip was to the lake (Lake of the Ozarks). The kids had a blast hanging out and enjoying the water. We spent quite a bit of time down on the dock and Caleb got very comfortable in the water. He loved to run and jump into the water. Leah enjoyed the water too, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before she is just as crazy as her brother is on the dock!

4 Adults, 4 Kids, 4 Days of Fun

2011-07-11T14:34:00.003-05:00

At 6am on June 29, we loaded our kids into the car and headed out to Channahon, Illinois. This was not our destination, just the first of a few stops on the way to one of my most favorite places on Earth...Lake of the Ozarks. In Channahon, we doulbed the capacity within our comfy mini-van and picked up the Watson family. For seven hours, we squeezed four adults and four kids ages four and under into the car and headed for (my version of) paradise. I thought we should've taken a picture of us all in the car and sent it to the EPA, with a caption stating, "how's this for carpooling and saving the planet?"! The trip went quite well and we only had a few meltdowns, two bathroom breaks, and one stop along the interstate for a carsick child.

Once we got there, the kids ran like crazy and burned off more than seven hours worth of energy. The pace slowed down a bit as the days went on, but there was rarely a dull moment on our four day trip. The kids kept busy playing in the water and it was wonderful for us adults to have time to catch up. We hardly get to see the Watsons because of the craziness that comes with two young kids to chase after. Overall, it was an awesome trip and we are all quite thankful for Aunt Nancy and Uncle Dave's great willingness to put up with such a crazy bunch for a few days!

Pah-Tay

2011-06-10T15:23:00.002-05:00

It's been a well-known fact around our house that Leah has always been determined to grow up much faster than her little body would let her. If she could have walked, talked, and fed herself on day one, she would have. She's always been a child that thrives off of independence. I'm already dreading the toddler/preschool years when there are sure to be many battles and tantrums thrown over her desire to do it herself!

Her latest obsession is with the "pah-tay". I guess being a younger child is grounds for wanting to do all the "big kid" things, but to see a 17-month-old so intrigued by the toiled is quite entertaining. One day, while getting ready for baths, we busted out the old potty seat just to see what Leah would do. She obviously pays much more attention to bathroom behaviors than we thought, because she instantly started to climb up and get herself comfortable. The entire time she sat there, she repeated "pah-tay, pah-tay, pah-tay". This in itself was a miracle considering she hasn't said any clear words until just the past few weeks. Add "pah-tay" to the expanding list of Leah's vocab. Why wouldn't that be one of a child's first recognizable words?!?

Sure enough, she has made this one of her routines just about every night before bath time. She loves to take the seat, put it on the potty, and has even managed to go pee a few times while sitting there. Who knows, she might be ready for potty training. But this mama isn't!

For now, we'll just enjoy the fact that this is such a fun pastime for our little girl. Every once in awhile when it's really quiet and you can't find Leah, you just might find her taking it upon herself to go have some quality time in the bathroom. If she's not actually in the bathroom she might just be walking around upstairs carrying the potty seat, putting it down in random places, and sitting her cute little rear end on it. This girl is sure keeps us on our toes!

Surgery

2011-06-09T08:22:00.009-05:00

It all started over a year ago when I had that "mommy instinct" that everyone talks about. I knew, after what seemed like nonstop colds, sinus infections, and antibiotics, that something wasn't right. For over a year, Caleb struggled time and time again with a variety of conditions that made me think there might be something more than just the typical 10-12 colds a preschooler catches per year. Thankfully, we found an awesome pediatrician who really evaluated Caleb's ongoing battle with this. After a few months of trying different medications (he's had so many antibiotics that some don't even work anymore) and even attempting to treat him as though he were suffering from allergies, she finally decided we should take him to see an ENT (ear, nose, and throat doctor). I scheduled the appointment pronto and we went in at the beginning of May to have him checked out.

I didn't know what to expect at the appointment, but I was so glad to find out that they would take a detailed look at him right then and there. Unfortunately, that meant having to stick a snake-like tube through his nose to get a view of his adenoids. As you can imagine, this was not a piece of cake with a 3-year-old. I have never.never.never heard my baby scream out of such fear and discomfort. In the midst of the screaming, the doctor handed me the camera to take a look at the view of Caleb's adenoids that he described as "extremely large". I appreciated his attempt to make me well aware of what we were dealing with, but quite frankly I was more concerned that they'd get the tube out of my child's nose sooner than later. After calming the little guy down, we sat a talked for awhile about how these enlarged adenoids could be causing many of the issues Caleb had been having. The doctor went into plenty of detail about the benefits of removing them and I knew I would be fine with him going through this very common surgery. The doctor also decided to take a look at Caleb's tonsils to see if they were worth removing as well. Although they weren't quite as much of a problem as his adenoids, the doc still said they would be worth removing given our family history or snoring, sleep apnea, etc.

Fast forward a month, and it was June 1.....surgery day. After weeks of talking through what would happen and trying to prepare Caleb for what he'd go through, we were ready for whatever was to come. We showed up at 7:30, Caleb was in the pre-op room by 8, and then off to surgery by 8:30. By 9:00 we were sitting down with the doctor, who told us everything went well and we should be glad that his "huge" adenoids were out. After a few minutes we got to reunite with our sleepy, little guy. We spent about an hour in the recovery room and were headed home by 10:30. They weren't kidding when they said this was a very common procedure and it would go smoothly!

The first part of day 1 at home went well. Caleb was still in quite a daze and definitely felt fine with all the meds they pumped into him. At one point, I even said to Tyler that I'd be fine the next day if he'd rather just go back to work. It only took a couple hours for the meds to wear off and for me to change my tune in a hurry. By the afternoon, Caleb was miserable and it was impossible to get him to take the pain meds prescribed by the doctor. We ended up having to hold him down just to get them in and provide some sort of relief. Even with the meds, Caleb still had no interest in drinking and we had to watch closely for dehydration (a common problem with kids this young having the surgery). Day 2 was also filled with a lot of struggles, and we kept hoping that this would all get easier with each passing day. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Each day has been quite rough and we've only started to see the light at the end of the tunnel (a week later). Fortunately, Grandma Sue and Auntie Kalyn spent the entire weekend here and helped a ton!

For now, we're still in survival mode...trying to take care of our very brave, tough, preschooler (and don't forget about his wild toddler of a sister). We keep reminding ourselves that it will all be a distant memory soon enough and hopefully the payoff will be worth the pain. In a couple weeks we can get back to normal, which will probably be a battle in itself....as of right now, Caleb pretty much watches tv all day and can eat/drink whatever he wants, whenever he wants. You'd think that a 3-year-old would love that freedom, but this sweet boy doesn't want ice cream, popsicles, or juice boxes...his most common request throughout the day is: "Mommy, will you just snuggle with me in the chair". And that right there, makes every bit of the whining, frustration, and lack of sleep worth it!

Caleb in his adorable gown

getting checked out in the pre-op room

snuggling after surgery with Mommy and Daddy

Caleb on his "throne"

it's all good...until your sister figures out how to climb up there

so, he just settles for snuggling on the couch with Daddy instead

and here you have what happens when Mommy is tending to the patient and the toddler is left alone with her yogurt

Sibling Struggles

2011-05-27T15:01:00.002-05:00

You'd never think these two buddies would ever have problems with each other....

....but believe me, they can be the meanest, most unloving, selfish children on the planet and two seconds later go back to playing nicely with each other. I've decided that my newest and most appropriate job title is definitely referee. These two spend a majority of the day fighting over toys, spots on the couch, and so many other things that a grown person would never consider worthy of an argument. And when I say fight, I don't mean verbally...it usually consists of Leah screaming, biting, or hitting and Caleb yelling, pushing, or shoving. I'm looking forward to the day when they both learn to communicate their needs/wants a little better, but I'm sure that won't make things that much different. They'll most likely use their communication skills to tattle instead of actually working out their issues alone. A mom can dream though, right?!?

Lovin' Lake Road

2011-05-23T14:43:00.001-05:00

There are so many things to love about living on our street. I could make a list of about a thousand things, and at the top of that list would be the fact that we have wonderful neighbors. It's so cool to see a street filled with kids, bikes, balls, scooters, wagons....laughter, screaming, whining....you name it, we've got it. It's the kind of neighborhood I think every kid should grow up in. These are modest homes, where the kids will have a sense of reality and what it means to have enough without having too much. These are adults who love their kids, spend time with their kids, are home with their kids. These are kids, who go against what seems to be the norm these days, and are allowed to just be kids. No worrying about strangers, mud on your shoes, or playing too rough. We all have so much fun together and the friendships on this block will last for years. The younger kids look up to the older ones, and the older kids take care of and look after the little ones. We are blessed to be here. Truly blessed.

I need to be better about having my camera handy when we're outside playing. These pictures are just a snapshot of the fun we have. On this particular day, the sun was hot, the kids were crazy, and it was a great reason to bust out the slip-n-slides. There were about 15 kids ranging from age 1 to about 13 having an absolute blast together!

Already a Multitasker

2011-05-17T14:31:00.001-05:00

There is a running joke in our house about the difference between men and women and their abilities to multitask. Tyler, who works incredibly hard when given one solitary task, absolutely cannot multitask. I, on the other hand, can rarely focus on one thing at a time. There is a constant running list in my head of all that needs to get done.

With many of the traits we find within our children, we love to discover who they are most similar to. When it comes to the trait of being a multitasker, Leah is a true girl and takes after her mommy! This girl has got her act together....cooking, golfing, and reading all at the same time. On top of it all, she manages to do it while looking completely stress-free and so dang cute. She did not inherit that from me!

A New Obsession

2011-05-10T13:50:00.001-05:00

We have a new obsession in our house. Well, Caleb has a new obsession. And when a 3-year-old has an obsession, everyone within his/her immediate surroundings must be prepared to take part in that obsession. Believe me, I know. I've played the imaginary role of just about every pirate character and have sprinkled tons of pixie dust while solving the many problems of the pirate world with my little pirate friend.

This all started when a new show on Disney aired called Jake and the Neverland Pirates. The excitement compounded itself when Caleb got an entire pirate costume from our family friend for his birthday. Put the two together and you have an ordinary morning in the Sturm home.

Florida 2011

2011-05-02T13:52:00.010-05:00

Last week, we made our 2nd trip to Ft. Walton Beach, Florida as a family. I used to spend Spring Break there as a kid/teenager and it is so great to go back with my own kids! The weather was perfect and we had plenty of sunshine all week long. Because Spring Break (my sister's break determined when we could all go) was so late, the place we stayed had very few people around, so we had plenty of peace and relaxation too. It was so nice to get away and spend time together!

We finally got some quality time in with our kiddos after a few months of Tyler working like crazy....his hard work paid off though, because he was able to relax and put work aside for 10 whole days!!!The kids had a blast hanging out at the pool....we now have 2 swimmers on our hands!

They also really enjoyed spending time with Grandpa Rob, Grandma Leslie, and TiTi.

We enjoyed celebrating Easter in the sunshine and warmth of Florida. Tyler and I even got to go to a sunrise service on the beach....it was AWESOME!

After many months of being stuck inside through our cold, long winter it was great to get outside so much! The kids were really in need of some fresh air and the freedom to run!

Although the place was pretty quiet, we managed to meet a wonderful family from Ohio with 3 little boys. Caleb had a blast playing with his new friends!

On the way home, we broke up the looooooooooong drive by stopping in Carmi for a couple days. The kids loved hanging out with Grandpa Ron, Grandma Sue, and Auntie Kalyn. They have so much fun when we visit and we can't wait to get back there soon!

A Kitchen and A Cake

2011-04-03T13:50:00.004-05:00

The two most noteworthy events in our house lately involve a play kitchen and a birthday cake.

Yesterday, our wonderful neighbor blessed us with an adorable play kitchen that her kids no longer use. After much internal debate (because I can't stand that we have toys covering every square inch of our house....sometimes the concept of one, solitary playroom sounds so lovely) I decided it would be okay to put the play kitchen in our actual kitchen. It fit just perfectly in the space we put it and the kids have already spent tons of time playing there. I love watching Caleb's imagination run wild as he plays with the food and dishes. Leah takes much pride in the fact that she can take the play silverware in and out of the drawer a million times all by herself.

Another fun activity that took time in our kitchen this weekend involved a birthday cake for Grandpa Rob. This week, on numerous occasions, Caleb reminded me of Grandpa's love for Mario and Luigi. When Caleb is over at their house, he loves to "play" mariokart with Grandpa Rob. This, in turn, means that Grandpa must love Mario and Luigi. And when you love something, it should definitely be a part of your birthday celebration. So, as my adamant 3-year-old reminded me, over and over and over, Grandpa had to have a chocolate Mario cake for his birthday. We, by no means, allow our child to have everything he requests...but in this case, it was so sweet that he kept speaking up on Grandpa's behalf. After a bit of searching, I found a picture I figured I might be able to recreate....and so, after a couple hours of baking, cutting, assembling, and frosting, we ended up with this:

Not bad for a rookie.....it's amazing what we'll do for our kids!

If baseball season is upon us....

2011-04-01T14:07:00.001-05:00

then Summer is right around the corner....YAHOOOOOOOOOO!GO WHITE SOX!!!

A Conversation at Breakfast

2011-03-29T07:12:00.008-05:00

The other morning, I had one of those Mom moments when I realized why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my job and wouldn't trade being home with my kids for anything. I had reassurance that leaving my profession behind and staying home is absolutely the right decision for our family. This reassurance came after a simple, yet very important conversation I had with my 3-year-old. It went something like this:

Caleb: Mommy, what's Easter for?

Me: Do you mean why do we celebrate Easter?

Caleb: Yes. Why do we celebrate it?

Me: Well, on Easter we celebrate when Jesus died.

Caleb: Why did Jesus die?

Me: Well, God loves us very much....but unfortunately we do a lot of bad things and that makes God sad. Do you do bad things Caleb?

Caleb: Yes. I sometimes don't share and I push my sister (love the honesty).

Me: That's right. Everyone does bad things. Some things seem worse than others, but to God they are all bad. It makes him very sad and he doesn't want anyone who does bad things to come to Heaven.

Caleb: But Mommy, I don't want to make God sad. And I want to go to Heaven to give him some of my Spiderman candy. That will make God happy.

Me: Well, we can't do anything to make God happy. The only thing we can do is love Jesus with all of our heart. That makes him happy.

Caleb: I love Jesus.

Me: I know you do. When you pray and tell Jesus you love him and are sorry for being a bad person at times, he will come into your heart and make you perfect and good in God's eyes. If you believe in him, you will get to go to Heaven forever.

Caleb: I want to pray and tell Jesus I'm sorry.

And so we prayed together. I'm NOT claiming in any possible way that Caleb truly grasped the concept of salvation, but I sure am glad that his heart is open to understanding the true meaning of Easter. After our conversation, I instantly thought of these verses from Mark 10:

He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

I am so thankful for the innocence of my son and grateful that God works in the hearts of even the youngest people. I know God is forming Caleb into a wonderful creation and I just can't wait to see how much more work He does in our child's life.

A Birthday to Remember

2011-03-25T07:57:00.007-05:00

For Caleb's third birthday we decided it would be fun to go to an indoor waterpark for a couple days with my family. We found an awesome place in Lake Geneva, which is only about 2 hours from where we live. The entire hotel is geared towards kids...game room, activity room, and of course an awesome waterpark. For weeks, Caleb would wake up in the morning and after naps with one question: "Are we going to the waterpark now?". Needless to say, he was quite excited by the time we got there.

Both kids had a BLAST playing in the water. We already knew Caleb was a little fish, but now we're pretty sure Leah might love water even more (I guess we should have known that considering the amount of times she gets caught playing in the dog's bowl and even the toilet. I know, yuck. I never said I was in the running for mother of the year.)

My mom decided it would be fun to order a "birthday package". They decorated our room, gave us tokens to the game room, had pizza, and gave us a delicious cake. Caleb got to celebrate with his cousins James, Jacob, and Olivia. The Shaffer family was crazy enough to join us for the mini-getaway...but as tiring as it was for all of us parents, the kids had a blast playing together and it was great to hang out with Darrell and Brandi.

Caleb got to open a few of his presents while we were there. Some of the presents are being saved for his next birthday celebration with Nana Pam and my parents this weekend.

All in all, we had a great time celebrating the birthday of our sweet, little boy. Both kids are so lucky to have such a wonderful family to love. I'm sure they will grow up with just as many awesome memories as I have with my own grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Dear Caleb,

2011-03-21T22:05:00.000-05:00

With a big lump in my throat, I can tell people today that my little boy is 3. Three sounds so old, so un-baby, so grown up. You are definitely not two anymore. Not just because March 21 is here, but because you have long surpassed your toddler days as a two-year-old.

I remember the trying moments of your infancy and toddlerhood. There were so many days in which we dreamt of future days when you didn't need every bit of our time, energy, attention, and patience. Yes, you still need us in many ways, but you are also so very independent. You have grown into a boy. A true boy. You love to dig, play, imagine, run, laugh, tackle. You love to watch tv, and I spend many moments of many days explaining why you can't watch another show or DVD. I also spend many moments answering so many of the other questions that your curious mind comes up with. I love your questions though, and I long for the innocence you portray to stay with you forever.

Yet despite your 110% boyness, you are a true sweetheart. Not many three-year-olds say thank you to their mommies for making breakfast, getting them dressed, driving them to the store, and doing all of those other seemingly thankless tasks. Yet you, in all your kindheartedness, slip in random thank yous throughout our ordinary days. Your sweet nature leads you to demand hugs and kisses before bed and before anyone you love leaves your presence for more than a few minutes. Your sweet nature makes you tell everyone that you have a little sister named Wee-uh, and she's your favorite sister, and you love her...and because of your fondness of her, we can't go anywhere without you reminding me that Leah has to come too. Your sweet nature leads you to still have moments when you want to snuggle, be held, be rocked, be read to.

When I think back on how quickly this past year has gone, I'm scared by how soon you'll be four, five, six, and so on. With each new year, we are learning that there are so many changes, milestones, and new memories. For you, this past year has meant potty training. Against the advice of many people, we went full speed ahead and got you trained just a few months after turning two. This past year meant giving up your pacifier. Saying goodbye to this last tie to babyhood was much harder for me than you. This past year meant a LOT of learning: recognizing letters (and even some of their sounds) and numbers and shapes and colors, how to pedal a bike, how to put on your coat, getting yourself undressed, and so many other accomplishments that we can't believe our little baby boy is already doing. This past year has meant the last year before you're in school. You can't wait to go to preschool, even though Mommy is dreading the first day she has to drop you off and send you out into this big world.

Fortunately, in this big world, there is still a God who is watching over you day in and day out. He has blessed you beyond belief over the past three years and continues to do so everyday. We pray to God for your heart, your friendships, your passions, your dreams. It's amazing to already see how God is forming you into a wonderful little boy. We hope that as the years go by, you will become as in love with Him as He is with you. There is no other explanation, besides the work of an awesome God, for how a tiny miracle that was brought to us three years ago could be growing into this beautiful creation we see today. And there is no other explanation, besides the work of an awesome God, for how one life can bring so much joy to so many others. You are loved, sweet birthday boy....so very, very, very much.

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-18T07:53:00.001-05:00

Despite this picture...

...we had a blast celebrating St. Patrick's Day this year.

A few of our neighbors decided to get together and hang out to celebrate the holiday and the B-E-A-utiful weather (unfortunately, this nice weather hasn't stuck around). The three moms got together early in the evening so that the kids could play outside and eat some yummy snacks. One of our neighbors made fun hot dogs that she put on a green stick. I made a cute fruit rainbow (thanks to the awesome suggestion of one of the other moms). The host made super yummy corned beef for the adults. The kids had a blast running around and playing, while the adults enjoyed some delicious food and good conversation (the husbands joined us later in the evening). It was so nice to get to enjoy the company of great neighbors and the taste of spring weather made us all that much more excited for winter to be over!

Must See TV

2011-03-07T14:36:00.006-06:00

Last night, Tyler and I sat down to relax and watch a bit of tv. We don't watch it often, so when we do, we spend most of the time just flipping channels. A new show happened to catch our eye last night. It's called Coming Home and it's on Lifetime. The show focuses on military families and the joy they experience when soldiers come home after months away. By the end of the show, we both shed quite a few tears. We were reminded of how lucky we are to have each other, our kids, and our time together. I can't imagine how hard it is to spend such a long time away from a loved one. They miss all the big moments and even those ordinary moments that we take for granted in a given day.

So, today, I'm remembering that there is so much to be thankful for. I'm thankful that even when my husband comes home late from work, he's at least coming home on a daily basis. I'm thankful that even when I'm sick and tired of cooking another meal, at least we'll all be sitting down to eat it together. I'm thankful that even though life seems hectic, it's not nearly as stressful as it would be if I was parenting solo.

I'm thankful that even when I can't stand the sound of another cry or scream from my challenging one-year-old or listen to the thousands of questions asked by my soon-to-be-three-year-old, at least I get to see them every single day! No matter how trying they can be, it is such a blessing to be able to watch them grow and change each day.

Before you leave our blog site, I challenge you to think about something you're taking for granted today. Is there something you ordinarily think is a burden that might actually be seen as a blessing when you look at it from a different perspective?

How to keep a preschooler busy...

2011-02-18T22:14:00.003-06:00

Shortly after Leah went to sleep for her morning nap today, I sat down and realized that I had a few phone calls to make. There are times when Caleb is great at entertaining himself, but for whatever reason he seems to know that when I'm on the phone, it's a great chance to get into trouble. Needless to say, I had to come up with a plan.

Several months ago I bought a box of fruit loops with the hope of making fruit loop necklaces with Caleb. As with many of my great plans, they were put on the back burner. Partially because I kept forgetting, but also because Tyler managed to eat 2 of the 3 boxes of fruit loops that I have now purchased. I knew today would be a great chance to bust out that box (before Tyler got his hands on it). It turned out to be a great activity for Caleb and kept him very busy. First was the stringing, which required plenty of concentration. His favorite part was eating all of the pieces that were broken and couldn't be used. When he was all done, he was SO proud of his work. He told me that he couldn't wait to show his daddy his necklace. I'm sure daddy would've been happy to know that his son was wearing a necklace all morning long! Unfortunately, the evidence of all his hard work was gone within about an hour. He devoured every bit of the necklace. I let him wear the string for awhile, but eventually told him he had to part ways with it.

Our Love Story

2011-02-14T08:49:00.009-06:00

Today is Valentine's Day. What better day could there be to share the story of how we went from....

THIS (our first date)

TO THIS

Before we get from point A to point B, there is a little bit of explaining to give regarding how we even arrived at point A. The story varies a bit depending upon who is telling it. For the sake of this being our "family" blog, I'll try to give it from the most neutral point of view!

It all started back in August of 2002. A few of my sorority sisters were planning on going to hang out at a fraternity house down the street. I decided it would be fun to get out and enjoy the college life before all the craziness of classes, project, exams, and so forth got into full swing. While at the fraternity house, we decided that a drinking game was the only appropriate way to pass the time. As the hours passed on, we had our share of fun! Soon enough it was time to head back to the Alpha Phi house. As fate would have it, I was walking downstairs to go home and a very attractive guy caught my attention. As ironic as it was, I was holding tightly to the stair railing so as not to lose my balance and he was holding tightly to his Bible. Upon first noticing the large Bible in his hand, I knew I didn't stand a chance so I figured I'd just keep walking. To my surprise, he started talking to me. After a brief conversation (and finding out that I was an Alpha Phi), he suggested that I consider going to the bible study that our two houses would be hosting together on a weekly basis.

Fast forward a few weeks. My roommate and I were chatting about our upcoming plans. She mentioned something about leading a bible study with the SigEps. She invited me to come. Hmmmm, that would be the same bible study that the cute guy was going to. Sure, why not? I'm not really into the Bible, but I'll go. And I went. And I went the next week. And the next week. And just about every week that semester. But guess who didn't come? Yep, the cute guy! I saw him every once in awhile when we were there. He wasn't carrying his Bible, he was carrying a basketball. Instead of the bible study, he decided playing basketball would be much more worth his time.

On one of those occasions as he was heading out the door to play basketball and I sat admiring from the couch, he was stopped by a fraternity brother who was attempting to corral some guys for an upcoming philanthropy event. They needed to enter a fraternity brother into a "best eyes" contest for another sorority's philanthropy. Who better to judge than the bible study girls sitting on the couches? With butterflies in my stomach, I headed over to stand face-to-face with this guy that I'd noticed for months (the same guy that I'm pretty sure didn't know I existed after our August encounter). Needless to say, I placed my vote and stated that he clearly had the best eyes.

About a week or two later, the Alpha Phis and SigEps had an exchange together. At this point, several of my sorority sisters were well aware of the crush that I had on the cute SigEp. As the night progressed, they of course thought it was necessary to make sure I didn't leave without first talking to the cute guy. We ended up spending time chatting and of course I realized that this guy was not only cute, but full of personality! At the end of the night, we parted ways and I knew I would have to see Tyler again.

A few days later, I worked up the courage to ask him out on our first date. My sorority semi-formal was coming up and I knew that I wanted him to come. Since instant messenger was the equivalent of "texting" during our college days, I sat myself down at the computer and sent him an IM. I just about jumped out of my chair when he said he'd be my date.

That brings us to point A (the first picture) on our first date. We ended up having an awesome time at the dance. I'd never met such an all around awesome guy....so much personality, a true gentleman, and incredibly handsome. I figured my chances of actually dating him were slim. But, after a little over a month of getting to know each other better we decided to officially be boyfriend and girlfriend.

During our two years of dating, we definitely had a lot of ups and a few downs. We spent so much time together just hanging out and enjoying our college days. We had sorority/fraternity events, walks around campus at night, meeting each other's families, church on Sundays, dates off campus, spring break trips, graduation, and so much more! There were also the days of making a long distance relationship work. We both did our share of traveling to see each other. And to this day I still remember the feeling I'd get when Sunday rolled around and that meant at least one whole week would pass until we'd hang out again. The saying is so very true, "when you've found the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible".

That leads us to October 23, 2004. I drove down to spend the weekend in Champaign (Tyler still had one year left after I graduated). Everything about the weekend seemed just like any other weekend together. We decided to go out and enjoy the beautiful day by taking a walk at a local park that we spent many days jogging and walking at. On our walk, we got into a pretty serious conversation about what our plans were for the future. Since Tyler planned on graduating with an agriculture degree, it didn't seem as though he'd be able to move anywhere near suburban Chicago where I was living and working. In the back of my mind, I thought that we'd end up drifting apart. Little did I know, he had a much different idea. Towards the end of our walk, we headed off the path to a bench. When we sat down, he didn't waste a minute and was down on his knee asking me to marry him. Although I was COMPLETELY shocked, I instantly said yes!

After 8 months of planning, we got to point B and were married on July 1, 2005. Just as with our dating days, we definitely have our ups and downs. Thankfully, we have many more moments of joy than sorrow. After 2 years of dating, 8 months of being engaged, and 5 years of marriage I know that I have found the most amazing guy in the world. As a boyfriend, fiance, husband, and daddy he has proven himself to by loyal and loving. I don't know what I did to deserve such a wonderful partner for life. God has been so good to me!

Toy Story on Ice

2011-02-13T09:48:00.002-06:00

On Friday night, my mom called and randomly asked if Caleb would like to see Toy Story on Ice. Considering the fact that our almost 3-year-old has a slight obsession with the movie, I figured he'd love to see the characters in real life! Of course I said yes and she started searching for tickets right away (I think the show is only in town for a few more days). It turns out that she found tickets and we were set to go on Saturday at 11:30. It's probably a good thing we didn't have much time to wait between deciding to go and actually going....in just the 12+ hours that he had to wait, Caleb asked about a million times when we'd be going!

Caleb got to go with just Mommy, Daddy, and TiTi (the little sis stayed home with Grandma).

Can you tell he stayed up too late the night before and was going to miss naptime for the show?

Somehow he pushed through the tiredness and was GLUED to the show from the minute it started!
That's Slinky (or as Caleb calls him "Swinky")...his favorite character.

Our seats were AWESOME...we were only a few rows back from all the characters!

Thanks so much to Grandma and Grandpa for once again making it possible for Caleb to have the experience of a lifetime. We are so blessed by your generosity!

What do you get....

2011-02-07T17:05:00.002-06:00

......when you have a child who has been desperate for independence from the day she was born?

ANSWER: Many moments of frustration on the part of her loving parents. The most recent of these frustrations is her absolute REFUSAL to let anyone feed her with a fork or spoon. She would much rather try using utensils on her own.

She is DANG lucky to be such a cutie!

Blizzard 2011

2011-02-07T16:50:00.005-06:00

When you spend your whole life growing up in Chicago, snow isn't all that interesting. You get used to it. You love it much more when you're younger, and by the time you're older you start to realize why so many retired folks head south for the winter. I'm still at the point where I like it. Not love, just like....there are definitely times when I'd rather not be driving with extreme caution, shoveling, bundling up, and doing so many of those extra things that come with a decent snowfall.

Apparently, there have been a few big blizzards in Chicago over the years. My dad always had stories of one when he was in high school. It's said that there was a blizzard when I was a junior in high school, but I can't remember it to save my life! This past week, we had another one...one that I'm sure I won't soon forget! There's no need to go into detail considering every bit of this storm was broadcasted for the nation to see. I should've taken more pictures, but the following sum up the storm from our perspective.

Tyler spent nearly two hours tackling the snow on the driveway...only to have another 3 inches fall on it within a few hours after he had it cleared. Thank.God.for.Snowblowers!

We all enjoyed looking at the snow from inside of our warm house. With the wind as bad as it was, there was no hope of going out to play in it :(

My parents (who skipped out on the storm with a trip to Florida) left their two dogs with us. They had a blast running through the yard and jumping through snow drifts. Chesney, our dog, had NO interest in being part of this.

Being Intentional

2011-02-04T14:46:00.011-06:00

This morning I managed to sneak in a few minutes of reading. Yes, I said reading. An actual book. For those of you who know me well, this is quite uncommon. I have many factors that work against me when it comes to reading books (of the chapter kind...I spend plenty of time reading picture books and my Bible). First, I have kids that keep me extremely busy. Add to that a house and husband to care for. Top that with my attention span which equals that of a gnat. And the cherry on top is that I have never been much of a reader and have a hard time finding a book I like. This has lead to me opening, but never finishing, countless books. The book that has been beside my bed for several months now is about mothering.....shocker, I know. It is one of those books that I could read over and over again without getting bored. Every short chapter has something that I can connect with. Many times, I find myself in tears as I read through the stories and advice that the mother/author of this book gives.

This morning was yet another morning of tear-filled reading. As I read, I was reminded of how quickly these early years of mothering will pass. My kids, as trying/needy/dependent/etc./etc. as they can be, will only be this way for so long. I want to stop time. I want to cherish every.single.moment of these precious years. I know I can't do that though, so my hope is to be more intentional with the time I have. Not only do I want to be intentional about how we spend these days, but I also want to make certain that I document as much as I can so that years down the road we'll have plenty of ways to remember these days that can often be a blur. Having said that, I am making a list of the ways I plan to be more intentional with capturing our memories.

1. Blog more: This blog is not only a great way to keep family/friends updated, but it also serves as a means of documenting the days and years that are quickly flying by. I love to look back on former posts just to remember what was going on during a certain season of our lives.

2. Take more videos: In this age of technology, we are so lucky to have a way to record everything from the ordinary to the extraordinary moments of child rearing. Some of my favorite videos are ones that I've filmed of the kids just being themselves on a typical day.

3. Journal more: For Mother's Day, I received a journal for each kid. It's not a baby book, just a journal filled with blank pages. I want to fill those pages with all of the milestones, phrases, and moments that make this journey so memorable.

4. Scrapbook: I've never been one to get hooked on traditional scrapbooking, but I really enjoy using the computer. I hope to become more familiar with my digital scrapbooking software and start using it much more frequently. I certainly take enough pictures, so I shouldn't have a problem finding scrapbooking ideas!

Well, there you have it. My list of 4 (huge and seemingly impossible-to-keep-up-with) goals. I will try, and in the back of my mind I'll remember the quote I read from my book this morning:

"Consciously or not, we are always making memories for our children. We can aim for making a quilt of memories that, little by little, creates in our children a sense of belonging, or what it means to be a family, of security and continuity of life."

Love at First Sight

2011-01-31T15:24:00.007-06:00

We have these wonderful friends that we met a few months after getting married...Justin and Suzanne. They lived right around the corner from us in our townhouse and we clicked with them as soon as we met. As it turns out, we were married on the same exact day (before we even knew each other). When we met, we were both newlyweds and it was great to go through all the ups and downs of newlywedness with another couple in the same boat. We have so many great memories together in the "pre-kid" era! Since those days, they've had two darling boys and we've had our two kids.

With life as busy as it is, we don't get to hang out nearly as much as we'd like. The times we do hang out though are so much fun and it's awesome to see our kids becoming great friends as well.

Friendship might be an understatement though for two of our youngsters. We might have a case of love at first sight with their oldest boy, Nolan, and our sweet pea, Leah. They've seen each other a few times since Leah was born, but the past time we hung out was the first time we noticed the little sparks flying. Nolan was SO attentive to Leah and she just loved all the attention she was getting from him.

But of course, Nolan will have to learn that Leah has a certain someone who will ALWAYS be watching out for her. It's highly unlikely that Leah will be able to bring too many boyfriends home without an interrogation by her big brother!

Happy New Year

2011-01-13T15:05:00.007-06:00

It's 2011. Already. I started high school in 1996. That's 15 years ago. 15!!! If time keeps flying like this, we'll be sitting in our rocking chairs at the nursing home all too soon!

In the meantime, let me fill you in on what's been keeping us busy since this new year began. Some of the days have felt eternally long. Have you been stuck inside with two kids under the age of 3 for an entire day? Let's not forget that this is also Tyler's busiest month of the year, so we're not seeing much of him during the awake hours of the day. But some of our days have been so packed with activity that it's been hard to find time to sit down and blog!

This past weekend, we packed in plenty of fun. On Friday night, Grandpa Ron, Grandma Sue, and Auntie Kalyn drove up to spend the weekend here. We woke up on Saturday and celebrated Christmas. The kids got plenty of awesome toys that have quickly become some of their new favorites. After "Christmas" we hung out most of the day and relaxed.

When naptime came around we rushed to get ready for Leah's 1st birthday party. Thankfully, I have the best mother-in-law in the world....because with her help we managed to get the entire house ready for everyone to show up at 4. It was a wonderful party and we really enjoyed having our closest friends and family with us to celebrate our sweet, little girl!
Along with the busy weekend, we've been keeping busy during the week. MOPS started again this week (which has been such an awesome group for me to get involved in). Caleb also started a "Just Tots" class at the park district. I drop him off for an hour and he gets to have a mini-dose of preschool. Speaking of preschool, I've been keeping busy researching and contacting several preschools in the hopes that we can find one that is just right for our (tears, tears, and more tears) soon-to-be preschooler (okay, I have at least half a year to get ready for that heartbreak). The few times we've visited schools, Caleb just makes himself at home. He will CLEARY be that kid that has a much easier time than his Mommy does on the first day of preschool! Other than that, we've been managing to spend plenty of quality time at home and have even made mandatory pj days a regular event. Why would anyone bundle up two youngsters to head anywhere when it's freezing and snowing, if they don't have to?!? I'm taking advantage of the stay-at-home mom role and we are learning to make the best of these cold, winter days...inside the walls of our cozy home!
We hope everyone reading this has had a great start to 2011 and is looking forward to another awesome year :)

Let them eat cake...

2010-12-31T14:27:00.003-06:00

It's a tradition for every one year old to have a smash cake on their birthday, right?

Well, our one year old was given a cupcake and you sure wouldn't have guessed that it was only her first time eating such a delicious treat. She seemed to know just what to do:

I'll start out slow and make them think I'm new at this...

Little bites. Contain the excitement so they don't think I'm going overboard...

Oh boy, I'm starting to make quite a mess here...

Oh, maybe I should just stop...

Or heck, I'll just go ahead and make the most of this...

Yep, glad I didn't hold back...

This is everything I could've dreamed of and more...

Uh oh, I think I've surpassed my limit. This isn't going to look good in the diapers tomorrow...

Somebody better wash me off before I turn into a purple monster...

And just for your viewing pleasure, here is what a two and a half year old looks like after eating a piece of cake and a scoop of ice cream at record speed....and then being denied a second piece after asking (but I even said please...)!!!

Dear Leah,

2010-12-29T15:15:00.014-06:00

Today you are one. Where did this past year go and when did our sweet, little baby turn into a girl on the verge of toddlerhood? We'll admit that this year has flown, but when we look back at all that has happened we find thousands of memories to fill our hearts. From the moment Mommy felt the first symptoms of pregnancy sickness, we knew that you would be a girl who planned to rock our world. Congrats, little darling...you have lived up to this expectation! The memories made within this past year stem from one end of the spectrum to the other. There have been times of great (GREAT) trial and times of complete joy.

You have taught us a lot about parenting. More than we ever really learned from your older brother. You've made it clear to us that you will not follow in Caleb's footsteps. On the day you were born, we discovered your first tooth. We waited almost an entire year for his first tooth. We knew at that moment you were telling us to back off and let go of the natural tendency to compare. You are happy with doing things at your pace, in your time, when you want to. You will create your own path and there might be a few (hundred) days (per year) that you will command everyone to walk behind and follow you on that path.

From the many challenging moments you have taught us to love with more patience and faith than we ever thought we had. Whether is was your jaundice, the battle with digestion, the sleepless nights, your lack of naps, your refusal to fall into any sort of routine, the early days of crying (followed by your innate ability to throw tantrums before the age of 9 months), and so many more trials...you have given us many moments where we thought there was no way we'd have enough sanity to see the dawn of a new day!

For every bit of frustration, you have managed to pour out an equal amount of joy into our lives. We love your smile that stretches across those adorable cheeks and makes every muscle in your face move to the point where your dimples couldn't possibly go any deeper. We love when you babble and we can tell that you have so much on your mind and that you want to be heard. We love your personality and the fact that you already have a sense of humor and enjoy making people laugh. We love that you love your family. From the beginning you have adored your brother, you've been a Mommy's girl all along, and you don't smile for anyone quite as big as you smile for your Daddy. And most importantly, we love that everyday since you were born you have been a reminder of how wonderful God is and how much of a blessing it is to watch a baby develop day in and day out.

The past year has certainly come with its ups and downs. We know that the years to come will follow along those same lines. No matter what happens, we are so thankful for all the joy you bring to our lives and we look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you. So, here's to you our baby girl....HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY Miss Leah, Leah Peah, Leah Loo Hoo...our wild child, our monster, our beast!

Love ALWAYS,

Daddy and Mommy

Where has the time gone?

2010-12-29T06:02:00.005-06:00

A year ago today, we went to the hospital to have our little baby. Where has this year gone and will life ever slow down?

We like to joke that December 29, 2009 was the last time we'd ever have the upper hand in making decisions for Leah (we chose to be induced instead of waiting for her arrival)! Regardless of how much she keeps us on our toes, we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our little girl. We'll be sure to post tomorrow on her actual birthday.....remember, Leah waited 12+ hours to make her appearance. Would Leah have chosen any other way to make her grand entrance?!?

Who's kid is this?!?

2010-12-12T15:01:00.004-06:00

Most of you who follow our blog would know that I have an older sister. She is the sister that girls would dream of having....she's the friend that I can tell anything to, the friend that I can argue and laugh with all in the matter of hours, the friend that has always been around to share most of my greatest memories, and the friend that I know I'll always have. Tracy is an awesome sister and a great aunt to my babies. She adores Caleb and Leah like they are her own and it makes me so happy to have her around....and slightly jealous of the fact that by the time she has her own kids she'll be a pro at the whole mommy gig :)

Anyhow, ever since Leah was born....almost a year ago (not quite ready to be saying that, but I guess I'll come to terms with it).....we've always debated where her looks came from. I still think that when sitting next to Tyler, she is his spitting image. However, when looking through my mom's photo albums today, I came across this picture:

The darling baby in this picture is not me....it's Tracy. When I came across this picture I instantly gasped and said, "This is Leah. It's totally Leah"! Although I don't have any pictures of Leah with this exact facial expression, I can assure you that she makes this face on quite a regular basis. Everything from the wild hair to the toothless-looking grin that stretches from ear to ear is 100% Leah.
So, to my little Miss Leah I have a few words to share. You are (and I might be a little biased) the most darling little girl on the planet. Your face and your smile melt my heart day in and day out. As I've watched you grow I've continued to imagine just what you'll look like when you grow into a beautiful woman....and now I just might have my answer. If you end up looking like your Ti-Ti, you will be one lucky girl. I've always envied my big sister for her beautiful looks and I'm sure you'll be happy to follow in her footsteps!

Holiday Happenings

2010-12-04T15:52:00.006-06:00

It's that time of year already....time for all the fun of the holiday season! We've had a great start to our festivities and figured we ought to share a bit about what we've been up.

The holiday season began for us down in Carmi. We had a great long weekend celebrating Thanksgiving (a weekend early, but who's keeping track) and we even snuck in some Christmas cheer. Throughout the weekend we enjoyed hanging out, relaxing, and checking out some of the town Christmas celebrations.

On the day before Thanksgiving, we took a trip to visit Ms. Lamont (aka Ti-Ti) in her classroom. The kids were watching the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie...and Caleb just couldn't pass up the chance to watch it with a bunch of cool 5th graders!

Thanksgiving morning was quite enjoyable at home. We had a yummy breakfast and the kids actually sat and watched the Thanksgiving Day parade on tv.
We spent Thanksgiving evening at Grandpa and Grandma Lamont's house with the entire Lamont family. It was so fun to hang out, catch up, eat yummy food, and play a mean game of catchphrase!

In preparation for Christmas, our small group had a really fun "family friendly" gathering. We spent time hanging out with all the kids (they're usually running wild in the basement while the adults spend time together reading, discussing, and praying). We also packed boxes for Operation Christmas Child....which is an awesome outreach that is done every year. Boxes are packed with all kinds of random stuff ranging from toys to personal hygiene items. They are then shipped off to less fortunate children around the world. It was awesome for Caleb to experience the concept of giving (he reeeeeeeeeally wanted the Lightning McQueen car that went into our box, but was willing to part with it when we explained how special it would be for another boy to have).
It wouldn't be Christmas without visiting Santa! We had a great brunch with Santa and the kids really enjoyed themselves. We were shocked that Leah warmed up to the giant man in the red suit. Given her temperament, we expected a much more dramatic response when we put her in his lap!

To top off all the fun we've been having, we finally got our first big snowfall. Caleb has been waiting and waiting to play in the snow and he's just loving this weather! Apparently our neighbor has also been waiting with just as much excitement as Caleb, because I'm pretty sure they tied for the award given to the first child outside playing in the first snowfall of the year...if it was up to Caleb, he would've just skipped breakfast altogether and put his snow pants on right over his jammies!

Kitchen Remodel: DONE

2010-11-15T22:02:00.004-06:00

Aside from one last tile on the backsplash that needs to be replaced and a few paint touchups....were are DONE!!! Can you believe how much it has changed?!?!

Fall Fun

2010-11-12T14:05:00.004-06:00

We have had a week filled with perfect weather! It has been so nice to be outside with the kids...because we know that all too soon it'll be time to hibernate and avoid the chilly Chicago winters. I'm not quite sure how we'll survive days on end of being stuck inside, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there!

The nicer weather made me decide to take the kids to a nearby park/forest preserve. We don't have a lot of big trees near our house, so the kids don't really get to experience the leaves in the same way I can remember doing as a kid (we had tons of huge trees, which I LOVED and miss so much). They both seemed to enjoy it, and surprisingly I think Leah had a better time than Caleb. I hope that as these kiddos grow, they will have the same love for nature and the outdoors that I have. I can definitely thank my dad for that trait....he always had us outside on walks, bike rides, etc.! I have so many awesome memories of spending time outside with my dad and I hope my kids build plenty of their own memories of being in the great outdoors!

Kitchen Remodel Part 3

2010-11-09T21:35:00.003-06:00

We're almost there! Yesterday, the new countertops and sink came in. I love, love, love the dark countertops and the huge sink. All that's left is the floor....which we have to wait until Friday to see!

Kitchen Remodel Part 2

2010-11-06T22:14:00.004-05:00

Friday morning started out looking like this:

And we ended with all that! Wow, those two guys are some of the most talented people I know!

Kitchen Remodel

2010-11-05T07:54:00.006-05:00

If you know anything about me, you know that I LOVE to cook and bake! The kitchen is definitely the heart of this home and we spend plenty of time in it. When we bought this home three years ago, I loved the layout and size of our kitchen. We have all the cabinet space we need and plenty of countertop space. The only downside of the kitchen has been the aesthetic appeal (or lack thereof). We have talked for awhile about redoing the kitchen and explored a lot of different options. After much contemplation, the projects have begun and we are super excited!

Our wonderful contractor started on Monday by tearing out the old floor. We had ceramic tile, and although it was durable and nice there were a few downsides. Aside from how light it was (and thus hard to keep clean), the grout was cracking. We also couldn't find any extra pieces of it to add into our hallway area (which I have wanted to do since day one of moving in). We used to have carpet running from the front door into the kitchen and that stretch of carpet has gotten SO beat up from wear and tear. The flooring took a day to rip up because there were several layers of flooring to pull up and it was quite the mess!

And then there's the light....oh, the light! When we moved in, this beast was the same oak color of the cabinets and it was quite unsightly. My mom painted it white and it's served its purpose for a few years, but boy am I happy to see this go. It doesn't give off nearly enough light, which makes it tough to cook now that it gets darker earlier in the evening. We had contemplated taking it down when we moved in, but found that it wasn't screwed into the ceiling, but instead the person who installed it used some sort of super strong glue!

Enter the handy, dandy, most wonderful contractor in the world....he ripped that thing down with no problem and we were left with a bit of patching to do (but not nearly as much as we probably would have had if we'd done this on our own). We're just hoping that the paint matching machine at Home Depot won't fail us when we try to paint the spot to match the rest of the ceiling. Otherwise, we'll have to repaint the entire kitchen and living room ceiling since they're connected.

We decided to go with track lighting to help give more light throughout that part of the kitchen. I just about shed a tear when it was all done because it makes SUCH a difference and I love the way it looks!

Right now, as I sit and type, there are two incredibly talented men upstairs getting ready to transform those lovely cabinets of ours. We debated a lot with the cabinets: replacing, refacing, refinishing....so many options. When all was said and done, we went with refinishing. Refacing was just as costly and replacing and refinishing was about half of what we'd pay with the first two options...and since we really don't need to change the layout or add more space, we figured keeping the cabinets we have just makes sense. We found this great guy (let's hope I'm still saying that at the end of the day) who will refinish all the cabinet boxes and replace all the doors/drawers. Since we didn't really like the darkness of the entire room, we decided to go with white. It was a tough choice because we're worried about too much white with all of our appliances being white. Our cabinet guy decided to offset it by doing white with an antique glazing on it...and based upon the sample he gave us, it's going to look great!

So there you have it, week one of kitchen remodeling. Although I wish this could all have been done in a shorter time period (picture two kids under age three...one of whom only gets places by crawling or being carried...thank goodness Grandma's house is so close), I'm enjoying watching each step and waiting with excitement to see what's next. After today, we still have several parts left of our project:

*new countertops and a new sink will be here Monday

*major cleaning of the house will be done after that. good thing dusting is my favorite cleaning chore because there has been SO much dust from these projects...oh wait, that's right, dusting is my least favorite...ugh

*we need some electrical work done to fix some problems we've had with our microwave pulling too much power

*later in the week, we will be having our new flooring put in. this was another highly debated choice. we went with a vinyl plank floor. it looks like hardwood, but will hold up to all the wear and tear that this area gets.

WE CAN'T WAIT TO SHARE MORE PICTURES SOON :)

Happy (belated) Halloween :)

2010-11-02T21:52:00.007-05:00

We hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! It sure was a fun time in the Sturm home. Seeing every holiday through the eyes of a child is ten times better than just experiencing it for yourself. We can't wait to see how much fun the kids have with the upcoming holidays!

We had fun carving pumpkins.

We went "trunk-or-treating" with our good friends, the Watsons.

Daddy took Caleb to work to hand out candy to CPAs....

....while Leah and Mommy had some fun, quality time together.

We had a blast trick-or-treating around the neighborhood!

I'm Lovin' It

2010-10-19T09:55:00.022-05:00

Well, it's about two months into my first school year as a non-teacher and you might be wondering how I'm feeling about it all....the answer is simple: I'm lovin' it!!! I'll admit that two months ago when everyone was setting up classrooms and meeting new students I truly missed it. I thought about what the other teachers and kids would be doing throughout the day and wondered if I was missing anything "important". It's only taken several days of substituting to realize that I'm certainly not missing much and life at school is still as stressful as ever. There is so much changing in education right now and it's definitely not an easy job to manage a class of 20+ kids while balancing all of the additional work that comes with teaching. I just hope that when I finally decide to go back to teaching I will still have some clue of what is going on in an average classroom and my training up until this point will still have me prepared for the profession.

So, there you have it....the short explanation of why I'm so glad to be away from the classroom for the time being. I suppose I should now give all the reasons as to to why I'm lovin' my new career. Wow, where do I even start?!? I think I'd be typing all day if I were to give you every reason for why I love staying home with my kiddos, so I'll try to narrow it down.

*getting to see all the baby phases at a much closer view this 2nd time around (with Caleb I feel like I blinked and he went from infant to toddler)

*being able to stay in our jammies all day long and hearing Caleb ask "are we going to be lazy bums today Mommy"

*reading books with my kids whenever I want to and not just at bedtime

*having time for all the household chores that used to get crammed into one or two days on the weekend

*sitting at breakfast listening to Christian radio while Leah "dances" and Caleb sings about Jesus

*hanging out with the other moms and kids in the neighborhood

*getting the kids ready in the morning without having to rush

*legos, coloring, playdoh, puzzles, painting...we've got a lot of fun stuff to do around here

*sneaking into their rooms at naptime just to peek at how peaceful and beautiful they are

*having time to "teach" Caleb new songs, bible stories, letters, numbers, shapes, and the list goes on and on

*taking walks, going for bike rides, playing at parks, having picnics, and doing just about everything else we can to enjoy being outdoors

*hearing Caleb's prayers before mealtimes and naptime

*watching Leah prove day in and day out that she will make it a goal in life to be nothing like her brother and teaching me that someday I'll have to stop comparing the two

*seeing the giant smiles on both of their faces when they wake up from naptime....

.....which appears to be what they're doing right now!

There truly are a million more things I could say, but I just don't have time and neither do you!

I'll finish this post by saying that I feel incredibly blessed to have had the experience of being a working mom at one point because I think it's made me appreciate even more about this new phase. When I spend time reflecting on the chaos that ensued while I was a working mom, I realize day in and day out how precious this new way of life is for our family...and I realize that I wouldn't trade the long days at home, dirty diapers, crying, tantrums, runny noses, and so on for ANYTHING. Sure, if I were working we could go on more vacations, have a bigger house, buy nicer things, go out to eat more often, buy better gifts for people....but in the end, none of that will matter! What will matter is that I was here for our kids during one of the most critical phases of their lives. Will they remember these years? Probably not. But what they are learning and experiencing during these years will last for an eternity....and I think that's a pretty important reason to be doing what I'm doing!

Gosh, they're cute!

Fall Fun

2010-10-18T09:16:00.007-05:00

When you're spending day in and day out with these two little darlings, how could life not be fun?!?

Well, it's fun indeed that we've been having around here lately. Fall is such a great time to enjoy the changing weather and beautiful scenery. We've been trying to appreciate the season as much as possible before it gets too cold to do anything besides stay in our jammies all day and cuddle under blankets...can you tell how much I love winter too :)

We took a trip to a local corn maze/pumpkin patch. The kids had a ton of fun!

We hosted our 3rd annual Backyard Bash. There was a ton of chili to sample and the weather was perfect for hanging out on the deck and having a bonfire.

Caleb LOVES to watch the kids get on the school bus. He can't wait until he gets to ride in a few years.

Leah is keeping us busy by being everywhere and getting into everything. We've forgotten how much exploring kids do at this age....and there is no limit to what this girl likes to explore (the tv, dvd player, lamps, cords, stairs, and just about everything a kid should stay away from)!

I've had fun helping out friends by watching their kiddos. It's keeping us busy and is great entertainment for Caleb!

We hope that everyone reading this is doing well and enjoying the season as much as we are. Can you believe the holiday season is quickly approaching? Soon we'll be blogging about costumes, turkey, and Santa...wow!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy...but loving every minute!!!

2010-10-04T09:50:00.007-05:00

It seems like the days and months just keep flying by. It's hard to believe we're already in the month of October! Leah just turned 9 months old and is amazing us everyday with how much she is growing and changing. At her appointment last week, the doctor let us know that she's in the 90th percentile for height and 75th for weight...our children sure don't have growing issues!!! Caleb is a whopping two and a half. I think he's a full blown toddler with his desire to just explore the world and his "I'll do it myself, Mommy" moments.

We've been keeping busy with our days at home. Being home more has given us the chance to hang out and have fun playing with the kids in the neighborhood. It has been so fun to see Caleb playing with the other kiddos...and I've really enjoyed getting to know the other moms. Hopefully as Winter comes, we'll still manage to hang out a bunch!

We've also had two very busy weekends. The first was spent doing our annual Susan G. Komen walk downtown. Every year I am amazed by how many people come out for the cause....and this year our group expanded by a few extra people. It's always so fun to do this walk and I'm glad our kids are learning from early on that it is important to put your time into things that truly make a difference for others. We also just got back from a great weekend traveling down to Champaign. On Friday, we walked around and saw all of the amazing changes that are being made to the campus. On Saturday, we nearly froze to death while tailgating and had a blast going back to a football game (even though they lost). We stayed in a hotel both nights with Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie Kalyn and had fun with our quality time together. On Sunday, we headed to Curtis Orchard, which was one of our favorite places to visit every Fall while we were students. It was great to go back and have our kiddos to share the memories with this time!

September Smiles

2010-09-13T13:30:00.009-05:00

For the first time in a looooooooong time, I have turned the calendar to September and actually smiled a big, huge smile. Although I loved teaching and it will always be a passion of mine, the feeling of knowing that September meant 9 more months of non-stop craziness was never something I enjoyed. It was especially tough to face the beginning of the school year once I became a mom. Knowing that 9 months would pass by before I got good, quality time with my own kid(s) was such a hard feeling.

This year was different. I am officially a mom and subbing just a day or two a week if I get the chance. The amount of stress I would normally feel at this time of the year is equal to the amount of joy I'm feeling being home with my babies just about every single day! I'm trying to figure out some sort of routine (yes, I said it...routine...shocker, right?!?). I thrive on routines and schedules, so this whole freedom of being home has been a bit of a challenge. I like the feeling that on some days there is absolutely nothing to do, but that can also start to get old in a hurry! For now, we're keeping busy by making trips to the library, going grocery shopping, hanging out with neighbors, starting MOPS, cleaning, doing laundry, and just hanging out together...it's more wonderful than I ever thought it would be!!!

Here's a few pictures to help you see just how much fun we've been having and all the smiles that go along with that fun!

Is it ever possible to get two kids to take a decent picture?!?
(Leah, Leah...look at the camera!)

(Okay Caleb, Leah is looking, but what are you doing?)

(Alrighty, you've both given up...maybe another day!)

another wonderful visit with Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie Kalyn

celebrating the big 21 with Auntie Kalyn...hard to believe she was just 13 when we met

cutest boy in the world

cutest girl in the world

And we'll end with 3 facts about each kid:

CALEB:

1. finally gave up using the pacifier while sleeping (this momma can't believe her baby boy is now the farthest thing from a baby)

2. is super awesome with going potty...can't remember the last time he's had an accident

3. hates to share with his sister....his tricky way of getting toys away from her is to say that he's going to take the toy and "teach her how to use it"

LEAH:

1. wants to be on the move at all times (does so by utilizing the funniest "wounded soldier" crawl I've ever seen)

2. is so over the idea of eating baby food...can I just start eating the yummy stuff you guys are eating?!?

3. has the world's best belly laugh when you really get her going (Caleb tends to get her to laugh more than anyone else)

The 3 "F's" of the last FIVE weeks...

2010-08-24T10:27:00.013-05:00

Okay...this time, we really do have a good excuse for why the blog has been left behind for five whole weeks. We have been SOOOOOOOOOOOO busy with :

a visit to a FUN park:

We went with the entire Lamont family to Cedar Point in Ohio. It was a blast to hang out with everyone and enjoy the awesome roller coasters. Caleb is pretty much Snoopy and Charlie Brown's biggest fan, so the fact that they are the mascots for this theme park worked out great. He loved meeting them at a character breakfast and riding all of their rides. Leah enjoyed watching and waiting for the day when she can ride too!

a FLOOD

Two days after getting home from our weekend in Ohio, we had a ton of rain. The sump pump in our basement stopped working and we ended up with a major flood. In order to take care of the water issue, we had to rip up the carpet and take down the (hideous) paneling. Taking down the paneling meant that the (hideous) drop ceiling had to come down as well as the drywall that it was glued and nailed to. We are SO blessed to have such an awesome church family that came to our rescue with this immense project. Several of the youth group boys managed to demo our entire basement in about 2 hours! Another friend from church helped by putting in two new sump pumps....and another couple came to help us paint when the new walls were put up. Meanwhile, everything that was in our basement ended up in either the garage or randomly placed throughout the house (not good for a person who likes everything organized and in its place). When all was said and done we were incredibly thankful that this happened for two reasons: we got rid of our hideous basement and have a new one paid for mostly by insurance....and we discovered a lot of mold behind the paneling that had probably been here for quite awhile and wouldn't have been taken care of had this not happened. God sure knew what he was doing!!!

FAMILY time

We have managed to spend a lot of quality time with family throughout these busy weeks. The kids are learning to enjoy each other's company a lot more now that Leah is getting older. She loves to watch Caleb and he loves to entertain her (and take away all of her toys). They had a ton of fun playing and enjoying our vacation to Lake of the Ozarks. This time, Daddy and Grandpa came too. It was SO nice to get away from the craziness at home for a week. We relaxed a lot and spent plenty of time in the hot, hot, hot Missouri sun. When we got back to reality we had a few more projects to finish up with our basement. Luckily, Grandpa Ron and Grandma Sue came up for the weekend so we could get just about everything done. The kids sure enjoyed seeing them!

This is the world's best....

2010-07-16T16:01:00.003-05:00

DAD

He truly is an AMAZING father and these two kids are incredibly lucky to call him their daddy.

My New Boss(es)

2010-07-15T09:47:00.003-05:00

It's official....as of last Thursday, I am no longer employed by Frankfort School District 157c. My new bosses are two of the coolest kids in the world and I'm so excited for this new chapter in my life. It was a VERY hard decision to leave behind a career that I spent forever dreaming about, 6 years studying for (undergrad and masters), and 6 years doing. Teaching was definitely the best place for me as far as a job is concerned. I loved what I did and despite the challenging days or kids that pushed every last button, I am happy I spent the last 6 years in a profession that helped me make a difference in the lives of little kids. After becoming a mom, however, I've realized that there are no other kids who need me more than my own...and for now, that's who I'll be focusing on.

I give plenty of credit to those who balance a career and family, but I just never found a way to give 100% to every area of my life when I was working. I want to be a wonderful teacher and a wonderful mom, but somehow I find it incredibly difficult to do both at the same time. I know that someday I'll be back in the classroom and I'll appreciate it much more when my mind isn't preoccupied with the demands of baby/toddlerhood. It would be great if something part-time came along, but for now I'll just try to sub here and there (I want to stay in the loop since teaching changes so much year after year).

So, for now, it's day in and day out of changing diapers, dealing with temper tantrums, cleaning up messes, cooking, dusting, vacuuming, washing, and somehow keeping my sanity through it all. Along with the not-so-pleasant demands of being at home come some of the best rewards in the world. Day in and day out I'll also see my kids smiling, laughing, playing, singing, dancing, growing, changing, and hearing the most heartwarming words a mom can hear: "I love you Mommy". I know this is where I'm meant to be and there is definitely a wonderful sense of peace I have with the decision that has been made.

How could I not feel at peace when I see how precious these two little darlings are:

A Face You Can't Help But Love

2010-07-13T14:05:00.003-05:00

We have definitely not been as good about blogging since our family added its newest member in December. Life sure gets busy with two kids to chase after!

Miss Leah is now a whopping SIX MONTHS OLD (as of a few weeks ago on June 30). We can't help but wonder where the time went these past several months. Although there were days when it felt like time stood still, it really did fly by when looking back. It's hard to believe that in another six months she'll be leaving behind the baby stage and beginning the toddler phase.

As of right now Leah is hitting all of the major milestones that a six month old should. She can roll both ways, sit up for a little while on her own, eats all sorts of fruits and veggies, loves to "stand" and put pressure on her little feet, sleeps through the night, and babbles away like she's got really important things to say! She still has definite fussy moments (probably due to the fact that she doesn't nap very well) and her digestive issues have come back with the introduction of solids (but that's much easier to deal with now that she's a little older).

Despite a lot of trying moments, we sure have enjoyed these first six months with our little girl. We can't wait to see what the future holds for our little "chunky monkey"!

June Has Come and Gone

2010-07-01T10:07:00.012-05:00

Wow, a whole month has passed already?!? I feel like June just started and now we're already at the start of July. It sure is nice to know that this year (assuming I'm not going back to teaching...we still haven't finalized that decision) there really isn't an "end" to my summer break at home with my little darlings. It has been such a busy, but fun month and we've loved every minute of it. I'll give a small recap of all we did and plenty of pictures to sum it up:

Miss Leah's first Spring/Summer has been filled with lots of showers and storms.

Potty training was definitely a challenge, but in the end we had much success!

Chesney (aka our babysitter) has a new favorite place to sleep.

We miss Daddy while he's at work.

We had SO much fun on our week long trip to Carmi!

(snuggling with Grandpa)

(someday she's really going to be mad at me for this one)

(Auntie Kalyn's attempt to stay clean while feeding Leah)

(breakfast with Grandpa)

(meeting my wonderful Great Aunt Denise)

(first horse ride...on an adorable miniature horse)

(we're starting to get the gist of this whole brother and sister thing)

Grandma and Grandpa (and Auntie Kalyn and Aunt Denise) all came to our house!

Father's Day trip to Bass Pro Shop.

Playdate with the Sabaka girls...Leah and Noel are just a week apart.

This new jumper is becoming my favorite spot!

We had an AWESOME time at Great Aunt Nancy (aka Ancy) and Great Uncle Dave's house.

(he's a fish)

(swimming in the wonderful Lake of the Ozarks with Grandma)

(hanging out on the dock)

(getting used to the pool...fish #2)

(playing under the "mushroom waterfall")

(relaxing in the pool)

(lunch break at the pool)

(taking my first ride on the "sea-doer")

(brushing up on my fishing skills)

7 Weeks Behind

2010-05-31T10:19:00.010-05:00

Wow...has it really been 7 weeks since anything was updated on the blog?!? Life has been getting super busy and time just flies by. I guess we owe everyone some updates and plenty of pictures to catch up on the last month and a half. In honor of the 7 weeks off, we'll give the top 7 updates and top 7 pictures from the last 7 weeks.

1. The kids are still growing and changing with each day. Caleb is a full blown toddler with the "terrible twos" becoming more apparent with each day. Ordinarily he is a very easy kid (as long as he's had enough sleep). Unfortunately, he hasn't been sleeping well and is getting his last set of molars in. He's been quite the crab as a result! He's also finishing up his last couple of days at the babysitter he's been with for 2 years. We have absolutely loved Miss Linda and will miss her SO much! Next up on Caleb's list....potty training.

2. Leah is changing a ton and is already 5 months old. She's started solids, but is not quite as interested in food as her big brother was. She still has days when she doesn't want to eat whatever she's being fed. We've made it through veggies and now we'll start fruits, so maybe she'll change her tune! Other than that, she's hitting her milestones like she should and is soon to be hitting one of my favorite firsts...sitting up. It'll be great to plop her on a blanket and just let her play out in the fresh air (without having to chase her around).

3. Chesney deserves a spot in this list of updates. She's been the topic of much conversation around here lately. After several months of her having tummy issues and many, many carpet cleanings later, we finally took her to the vet. We kept blaming her throwing up on different variables (eating stuff in the yard, changing food, etc.), but finally decided she just needed to be checked. After a $300 visit to the vet for 2 x-rays and blood work, it turns out there is nothing wrong! Yep, nothing! The doctor thinks her esophagus became worn down from the initial stomach issues and has just caused her to continue to have issues with throwing up. We have decided to switch her food to a very basic, grain-free food because we think it might all stem from food allergies. We've been to the vet a lot for what we thought were seasonal allergies, but maybe this food switch will cure it all!

4. Tyler is finishing up his 4th year at Paychex. It's been such a blessing to have a stable job in this iffy economy. His former manager left to go back into sales, so he has been working under the "higher up" boss for a few months. He enjoyed that because he really gets along with that boss. The newly hired manager just started and hopefully she'll be good to work for as well. Tyler now has the longest tenure of anyone in his office....that's pretty amazing considering he's only been there for 4 years!

5. Sara went back for two short (but seemingly looooong) weeks to finish out the school year. The sub was fantastic and did a great job of making the transition back a smooth one. Most of the two weeks were spent wrapping up things with the kids and packing up the classroom. Although a final decision about next year hasn't been made, it's looking more and more like our kiddos will be hanging out with their mommy on a much more regular basis! If anything, we'll hope for subbing positions to be available here and there. It'll be a good way to stay in the loop of teaching, get out of the house for a bit, and make a few extra bucks!

6. We've had several visits from Tyler's family over the last few weeks. It has been so great to have the extra hands around to help with the kids. We also love getting to see how much our kids are bonding with their grandparents and aunt who they don't get to see nearly as often as we wish they could. The time they spend together is very precious and has definitely been memorable for everyone. Caleb loves when we tell him that they are coming for a visit and he's always sad to see them leave. In a couple weeks, we'll be heading down to Carmi for a wedding and then spending some quality time down there. We can't wait!

7. Summer is in full bloom at our house. The days of being stuck inside all week long are long gone. Our weekends have been spent getting all kinds of chores done in the yard and we're hopefully making that "to-do" list a "done" list so that we can start to enjoy the days outside. Caleb loves being outside and keeps asking when he can go in the pool. Thankfully, it's up and running and we're just waiting for this hot weather to warm up the water a bit.

And now time for our 7 best pictures to share:

1. Leah's first taste of food

2. Caleb wanted Leah to wear the fireman hat

3. Playing together

4. Cool dude ready to go outside

5. Quite a serious little girl

6. Daddy and Caleb washing the car

7. Is it ever possible to get two kids to take a decent picture together?!?

Siblings

2010-04-13T09:32:00.001-05:00

These are both pictures of our darling kiddos at roughly the same age. Can you tell they're brother and sister?

Vacation

2010-04-12T14:39:00.010-05:00

Yesterday, we got back from a much-needed, much-enjoyed, 10 day vacation. Our trip started with a looooooooong drive down to Florida. The car riders included, Grandpa Rob, Tyler, Sara, and Leah. We spent 16 hours together driving through 5 different states. Leah did pretty well considering she was suffering from her first major cold. Dad and Tyler did all the driving, while I took care of Miss Leah. Caleb was lucky enough to avoid the long trip and flew (on his first airplane ride) with Grandma Leslie and Ti-Ti. He did a great job and is still talking about the experience.

Once we all got to Florida (and caught up on our sleep) we enjoyed an entire week of beautiful weather. There was only one day with rain, but it worked out well because it was on the last day...we made a trip to a local air force museum and spent the rest of the day packing up. Leah had a rough first half of the week, but once her cold cleared up she did a great job on her first vacation. Caleb had a blast in the sand, jumped in the waves, swam like a fish in the pool, and played his heart out everyday. He was incredibly tired by naptime and bedtime each day! We enjoyed getting to spend time together as a family and managed to sneak in plenty of relaxation thanks to all the extra hands around to help take care of the kiddos!

The second half of our trip included a stop in Carmi. Tyler and I drove back with the kids and decided a stop in Carmi was a perfect way to break up the drive. We drove overnight on Thursday/Friday for about 11 hours. The kids did pretty well and only began to get crabby about 30 minutes before we got into town. We sure were glad we didn't have to drive the other 5 hours that day! In Carmi, we did plenty of relaxation and got to spend quality time with family. Caleb loved following his Auntie Kalyn around, rode the "tractor" with Grandpa Ron, and kept everyone entertained with his wonderful personality. Leah also enjoyed the time that she had with her family and they enjoyed seeing all the new things she's doing. We did plenty of relaxing and hanging out...and Tyler enjoyed getting to go hunting on Saturday morning with his dad. He even killed his very first turkey!

Dear Caleb,

2010-03-21T09:29:00.005-05:00

Today you are two! We can't believe how quickly the past two years have flown by. The day you were born was when our lives changed in more ways than we could've ever imagined. Daddy and Mommy are blessed to experience a love beyond all measures and find so much joy by having you in our lives. Your vibrant nature and excitement for life make us smile day after day. You have taught us how to appreciate the simplest of things. Everyday we look forward to the ways that you will make us laugh. We look forward to seeing all of the new things you will say and do. You are talking more everyday and learning new words all the time. You love to sing. You're obsessed with sports. You love to read and even have some of your favorite books memorized. You could spend hours outdoors and never get bored. You are trying so hard to become independent, sometimes at the cost of throwing fits until you do it yourself! You love to watch Mickey, Dora, Clifford, and Charlie Brown. Your imagination is growing each day. You could eat mac-n-cheese for every meal, yet you still manage to enjoy whatever food is placed in front of you and never complain. You love your dog and she has become your buddy. You're a great sleeper and have done so well with your big boy bed. You are a wonderful big brother and are beginning to show Leah just how lucky she is to have you to look up to. You still love to snuggle, kiss, and hug. You pray and it makes our hearts melt. You truly have the light of the Lord shining through you and we love how we can understand just how great He is by watching you.

We look forward to the memories that we continue to make together. God has given you the ability to touch not only our lives, but the lives of so many other people. Anywhere you go, you capture the attention of those around you. God has blessed you with abundant love from so many. Throughout life, we are certain that you will return that blessing by continuing to bring so much love to those around you. So today, Daddy and Mommy (and so many other people) are rejoicing because of the memories we've made and praying for SO many more years of memories to come!!!

We love you more than you'll ever, ever know...

Could it be?!?

2010-03-09T14:48:00.006-06:00

Just as soon as I posted the long explanation of Leah's pooping problems we had a miracle! Yesterday afternoon, she had her first big poop....ALL BY HERSELF! And to make us even more sure that she is finally getting the hang of it, she had another poop today. Praise God for everything being okay :)

On Sunday night, I ate a small Activia yogurt...and again on Monday morning...and again this morning. I'm going to have to say that this might just have something to do with it. They say that everything you eat passes through your milk to the baby, so I can only assume that whatever magical stuff is in this yogurt is what did the trick!

And along these lines, I must say that changing poopy diapers on a girl is a thousand times harder than on a boy. I've always heard people say that, but never realized until now just how true that is!

The Scoop on Poop

2010-03-08T09:50:00.004-06:00

Yep...that's right...this post is going to be all about that lovely 4 letter word. If you're not into talking about such crude matters, I highly suggest you skip this post and wait for the next one (whenever that will be)!

The Sturm family has utilized that 4 letter word more in the last two months than we ever thought we would. Everything in life has revolved around our newborn and poop!

When Leah was born, she passed most of that icky meconium that newborns have to get out within the early days. Unfortnuately, she didn't get all of it out early enough and that was what caused her bilirubin levels to jump (and gave us an extended stay in the hospital for jaundice). After she was about a week old, and still wasn't going, we called our pediatrician. She suggested using "rectal stimulation" to get her to clear out the last of the meconium. In other words, we had to use a thermometer for more than just checking her temperature!

Things went well after that. Leah was gaining weight and nursing well. I had to keep a chart of her eating, peeing, and pooping habits for the pediatrician because she wanted to monitor her weight gain (which started off slow, but picked up after a week or two). She seemed to be doing what every newborn should. I felt like her poops were much smaller than Caleb's ever were and just figured that was because she was just attempting to be "lady-like"!

Fast-forward a few weeks to when Leah was about a month old and we quickly realized that her eliminating patterns had changed quite a bit. She went for about five days without pooping and started to get very fussy. We called the doctor in a panic and thought she must have been constipated (which is almost unheard of for breastfed babies). She had us use rectal stimulation again to help her feel more comfortable. That began the long road that we've been on for almost two months.

Since that point, we've had to help Leah poop every couple days in order for her to feel more comfortable. We've also tried giving her Karo Syrup and baby suppositories. To make things even more stressful, we have had to visit a pediatric gastroenterologist, watch our little girl get a barium enima, visit a pediatric surgeon, and have a rectal biopsy done on our two month old. The stress has been incredible as this entire process has been a part of the doctor's attempt to rule out any major complications...which we praise God for the fact that everything has shown that she is completely healthy. At the same time, we have no explanation for why Leah is struggling to poop and it's become very difficult to see her suffering.

We are now at the point where we are trying to wait as long as possible to see if she will just go on her own. It is rare, but there are breastfed babies who only go every 10 days or so. The last time she had help pooping was Tuesday of last week. She has grown pretty uncomfortable, but we are starting to wonder if she might just be gassy and fussy by nature. Overall, the guessing game that we've been playing for awhile now is wearing on us all. With no real answers and just a whole lot of trial and error, we keep waiting for the day when we will just look back on all of this and laugh. In the meantime, we're still getting very little sleep and having a hard time deciding where to go from here. More than likely, we will be switching to formula sooner than we had hoped....in the hopes that a diet change will help her become more regular.

All the while, we have tried to keep life as "normal" as possible for all of us, especially Caleb. It's been hard to give him the attention he has needed and he's definitely starting to get jealous of his sister. We are so thankful for both sets of grandparents, who continue to help out in more ways than we could ever ask for! Grandma Sue has been here just about every other weekend since Leah was very young and it has been such a blessing to have her help! During the week, Grandma Leslie makes frequent visits to lend a helping hand.

For now, we need a whole lot of prayer and are trusting that God has a plan and purpose for all of this. We love our little girl and just want to see her happy. Despite all of the digestion issues, she manages to smile in a way that melts our hearts. We know she'd probably be a thousand times happier if she wasn't dealing with all of this and can't wait for the day to come when she is past it all.

World's Best Grandmas

2010-02-03T09:40:00.003-06:00

Caleb and Leah are so lucky to have two of the best Grandmas in the world! We are so thankful for all that our moms do to make the lives of their grandchildren so wonderful. Our kiddos are blessed to have these two amazing women in their lives.

Grandma Leslie goes above and beyond to fill the role of a grandma. For almost two years, she cared for Caleb 3 days a week while Mommy worked. There was some awesome bonding that went on during those days together and Caleb really loves his grandma. Now, with two grandchildren in the picture, she is even more helpful and giving of her time. We can count on her day in and day out to help in whatever way we need it. It is so awesome to have her just a few minutes away and we don't know what we'd do without her!

Grandma Sue is every bit of love and fun that a kid could wish for. She plays, sings, reads, and even makes diaper changing seem enjoyable! Even though she lives 5 hours away, her grandkids know that they mean the world to her...and when she does spend time with them, she makes up for every minute of their time apart. We are so lucky that she now has the freedom on the weekends to come up more often for visits. Caleb has a ton of fun playing with her and Leah grew pretty attached with her grandma snuggle time. We are all looking forward to her coming back up again soon!

The Latest News on Life at the Sturm Home

2010-01-26T11:32:00.007-06:00

It's been quite a busy month. Leah will be four weeks old tomorrow and exactly a month old on Saturday. We can't believe how quickly time is flying by. Some days are longer than others (and some nights feel like an eternity). We're making the best of it all though and enjoying every bit of our expanded family. There are plenty of pictures to document the fairly uneventful events of the past few weeks.

RECREATION NEWS:

We pretty much spend our days indoors avoiding the cold and snow. Caleb still loves reading and has also developed a huge interest in tv. Clifford, Handy Manny, and Diego have become Mommy's new pals as they are a great way to keep the little man occupied while tending to the little girl. Leah likes to spend a lot of her time sleeping during the day. That gives Mommy and Caleb time to hang out, play, make dinner, bake treats, and have fun. It also gives Mommy time to deal with addressing the growing issue of whining, tantrums, and crabbiness that our soon-to-be "terrible twos" child has developed.

GRANDPARENT NEWS:

We really enjoyed a visit in the middle of January from Grandpa and Grandma Sturm. They (along with Auntie Kalyn) spent a long weekend with us. Caleb had so much fun and really missed them when they left. We're so excited that Grandma Sue is planning to come visit us more often since she has more time on the weekends to travel up here. We've also enjoyed spending a lot of quality time with Grandpa and Grandma Lamont. With Daddy being so busy at work, we've managed to spend a lot of time at their house and have enjoyed all their help. Caleb loves to play Wii with Grandpa and Leah loves to snuggle with Grandma. Mommy just enjoys the freedom to rest and relax for a bit!

BATHROOM NEWS:

Yep, there's even news to be shared about the bathroom. Caleb surprised us a few weeks ago and asked to go on the potty. We honestly have not made much of an effort to potty train, so we didn't expect much when he sat down. Sure enough, he shocked us both and went #1 and #2 on the potty. He hasn't done anything since then, but it's nice to know he gets the concept! On another note, Leah is starting to enjoy baths more and more. She screamed the first few times, but is managing to find the warm water more relaxing each time she gets bathed. We can't wait until the two can be plopped in the tub together...giving two separate baths is getting pretty old!

What a Week!!!

2010-01-06T11:41:00.012-06:00

It's amazing how some weeks just fly by and other weeks seem like they last forever. This has been one of those verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry long weeks. We've had some ups and downs, but we're happy to say that we've ended this past week on the upside of things. We'll explain the week through pictures....here we go:

The week started with the last prenatal visit. The doctor asked if we wanted to be induced before the new year (apparently that's a pretty common request). We figured it sounded like a good idea, so we were set to check into the hospital on Tuesday at 1:30. We showed up and were actually sent back home because they didn't have enough room. They called back later in the day and we left for the hospital around 8:00 on Tuesday evening. After settling into our awesome birthing suite, we waited patiently for the nurses to come in and get everything started.

After hearing all throughout the pregnancy that labor the second time around goes much faster, we were expecting to have our little girl here in no time. Of course, when you factor in the process of induction and that it could take quite awhile to jump start labor, you quickly realize that what you've been expecting can be much different from reality. Indeed, this was totally different than we thought it would be. The labor started off very slow and nothing really progressed until about 4:00 in the morning. The nurse suggested that I get an epidural to help my body relax and get through labor faster. I was a little unsure since I had such a bad experience last time around (the epidural didn't really work, but I was confined to the bed and very uncomfortable the whole time). This time, the epidural was amazing, but the process of getting it was a nightmare. It took a couple tries to get it in, which was terribly painful. By 6:30, the doctor decided to come in and break my water. This helped everything move much faster and by 10:15 we were ready to push. By 10:31, our little girl was here! Leah Ann weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces and was 20 inches long.

We were so happy to have delivered another happy, healthy baby. Dr. Umpai has now delivered both of our children and we are so thankful for her care throughout both pregnancies. She is an amazing doctor and we hope that when she says "I'm too old for this", she knows that she can't retire just yet...there might be more Sturm babies to deliver! Although our doctor was amazing, we couldn't quite say the same about the nurses we encountered at the hospital. When we had Caleb, we had the most wonderful care the entire time. This time around, the maternity ward was incredibly busy and we definitely could tell that the quality of care was affected.

Wednesday evening was the first chance that big brother Caleb had to meet his little sister. Right away he knew who he was coming to see and he couldn't stop talking about "We-uh". It was so neat to see him finally meet this baby we'd been talking about since last spring!

On Thursday, we only had one set of visitors. It was great to have the entire day to rest and relax. Nana Pam, Madelyn, and Grandma all came up for a little while to meet Leah.

We had a great time bonding with our little girl in the hospital for two days. It was definitely hard to be away from Caleb though.

On Friday, we waited the entire morning for the pediatrician to come in to discharge us from the hospital. We were not working with our regular pediatricians because they are not affiliated with that particular hospital. When the doctor finally did come to check out Leah, we were so happy to finally be heading home. Unfortunately, she told us that we'd have to come back the next day for a quick blood test to make sure Leah's bilirubin levels (jaundice) did not jump too high.

We were so happy to get home and settle in. Grandma made a yummy dinner and we all got the chance to hang out and experience life with two little ones to take care of!

On Saturday, Grandma came over to watch Caleb so that we could go to the hospital for Leah's blood test. What we thought would be a quick trip turned into much more. The test results came back and Leah's levels had jumped way too high in just two days. The doctor was concerned because we were only breastfeeding and not supplementing with formula. Since much of the bilirubin is flushed from the body through a baby eating, peeing, and pooping, we knew that she needed something extra to help get her levels back down. We ended up having to check back into the hospital on Saturday evening and spent two long nights there. Leah slept great in her little incubator with bili-lights shining on her the whole time and an IV in her arm. She had to be fed every two hours, which was tough because at this point, our sleepy baby takes about an hour just to feed! That meant an hour of feeding, an hour of rest, and back to feeding. Thus, I wasn't able to leave so Tyler thankfully made a couple trips home to get clothes and such. He also spent the day on Sunday back home with Caleb. It was good to know that Caleb could have some quality time with at least one of his parents!

We finally got to leave the hospital on Monday afternoon! Leah's levels had gone down enough to the point where the doctor was not too concerned. It was so great to be home and we are sure that our little daughter is going to be one tough cookie after all that she's been through. We tried to total up how many heel pricks she had done in just her first five days of life...the total is somewhere around 10...poor girl!

We hope that this past week is not a foreshadowing of how crazy life is going to be with two kids. We expected things to be different, but this has just been insane! We're hoping that life slows down a little bit and we can just take time to enjoy our new addition.

Christmas Recap

2009-12-28T14:06:00.002-06:00

We had a very fun Christmas this year and really enjoyed seeing the magic of the holiday through our little boy's eyes. He was so excited about everything that has to do with Christmas...Santa, presents, cookies, snow, and most importantly Jesus :)

Caleb loved opening presents on Christmas morning.

He got to use his new shovel to help Daddy with the snow on the day after Christmas. He could've stayed out there all day. He was NOT a fan of sledding though. Maybe next time!
Caleb got plenty of fun Illini gear: a bat and ball, football outfit (note the helmet that he loves to wear), and a cute warm-up suit.

He is truly a little Illini. He is working very hard on clearly saying "Go Illini"...for now it just sounds like "Go Wini".

Caleb and Chesney are loving being home together all day. These two little monsters don't know what they're in for when their sister joins them. We're going in tomorrow to be induced and can't wait to meet our little girl. Let's hope our first two babies are as willing to accept her as we are!

'Tis the Season

2009-12-23T09:46:00.007-06:00

'Tis the season....to be busy, busy, busy!!! Although we've been busy this past month, we've also managed to take time to stop and truly enjoy the special moments that are shared this time of year. We are loving seeing Christmas through the eyes of an almost two-year-old. It is such a blessing to have a child to share the magic of Christmas with!

Here's Caleb all dressed and ready for breakfast with Santa. He did just fine with sitting on Santa's lap, but that didn't surprise us given his incredibly outgoing personality!

Caleb loves putting on all his winter gear (and even enjoys dressing up in gear that doesn't belong to him). He has ventured out into the snow a few times and is still a little unsure of it all.

Caleb is still a huge snuggle bug. He loves to cuddle and watch Snoopy or Frosty. Although we aren't huge fans of plopping our kid in front of the tv, it is neat to see his attention span getting longer. His love for these movies will come in handy in another few weeks when we'll need something to distract him while we take care of a newborn!

Caleb has grown to love his frequent visits to the tennis club with Grandma. It's a great place for him to run around during these cold, winter months. At the club Christmas party a few weeks ago, we got to see him in action as a future tennis star. He loved "playing" tennis with Daddy. Mommy can't wait to really start teaching him the basics! We had fun with our yearly Lamont tradition of decorating cookies. This year was Caleb's first time joining the festivities. He quickly learned that it's much more fun to just eat the decorations than it is to actually put them on the cookies!

We celebrated Christmas a bit early with Nana Pam and the Bloom family. They came over for dessert the other night and we all had fun watching Caleb play with his new globe (thank you to the Blooms for sparking our child's interest in geography already)!

We hope everyone reading this has had an enjoyable Christmas season so far. It's hard to believe we're only two days away from Christmas. Time just keeps flying by. Next time we post, there could very well be another little Sturm in the world! We can't wait to meet our baby girl and we'll try to post pictures as soon as she's here!

Nearing the end of November?!?

2009-11-28T08:24:00.007-06:00

Is it really only a couple days away from the end of November? Time just keeps flying by. This has been a very busy month, which we'll sum up with pictures more so than words. Hopefully now that we've gotten through a big part of our "nesting" to-do list, we'll have more time to relax and enjoy the last month as a threesome before our little girl gets here. We'll do our best to stay more updated in the blog world for those of you who enjoy staying in touch this way!

Below are a few pictures of Caleb just being himself around the house. We love that each day we seem to see more and more wonderful qualities in our little guy. He is such a fun kid and is very easy-going and lovable. He enjoys discovering and learning new things. Caleb continues to impress us each day with how much he is learning...he's counting from 1 to 10, beginning to recite the ABCs, saying tons of new words, singing a lot of songs, and the list goes on and on.

Christmas is in full swing in the Sturm home. Since the end of Halloween, Caleb hasn't stopped talking about Christmas. He's already gotten some awesome gifts from his Great Aunt Denise. He's also big fan of the reindeer that Auntie Tracy bought for him on one of their shopping trips. We're excited to experience this season through the eyes of a toddler. It's been so fun to decorate the house and watch his reaction to everything. Caleb and Daddy took a quick trip to Carmi. Daddy went hunting and Caleb spent some quality time with his Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie Kalyn. It was the first time Mommy spent more than a night away from her sweet baby, but she managed to stay so busy that she didn't have time to think about how much she missed him. Thanks to the distraction-free weekend, we now have a freezer full of meals prepared for January/February, a nursery closet stocked with all kinds of pink and purple, and a to-do list that has only a few things left before the baby arrives!

Caleb's now a true "big boy" and is sleeping in his new bed. Grandpa Rob showed his artistic skills by painting an awesome tree mural on the wall. He managed to do the entire project in a day and it looks amazing. Caleb loves the tree and everything else about his new room. The transition went much smoother than we thought it would. It's such a relief to know that we can welcome our little girl home into her own room and crib.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Lamont side of the family along with a special visit from my aunt and uncle from Missouri. It's always so wonderful to hang out as a big family. We are so blessed to have such great people in our lives and our kids will be lucky to grow up with a family filled with so much love.

HAPPY (belated) HALLOWEEN

2009-11-01T13:56:00.006-06:00

We hope everyone enjoyed Halloween 2009! After several days of what seemed like non-stop rain, we were lucky to at least have a dry day for Halloween. It was a bit chilly, but Caleb still had a ton of fun! It was a great end to a month of constantly talking about Halloween, pumpkins, ghosts, trick-or-treating, and candy. We've also watched the Charlie Brown Halloween movie about a thousand times and are eager to now move on to the next "Noopy" movie that focuses on Thanksgiving. The funny thing is that Caleb would be perfectly content to skip right past Thanksgiving and jump into the Christmas season (he is truly his mommy's kid)! Caleb is already talking about Christmas, Santa, Jesus, and is singing a 19-month-old's version of Happy Birthday (to Jesus). We've read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas each day for about a week now and I'm sure that'll just keep going well into the Christmas season!

carving pumpkins

watching Daddy and Grandpa

our little dinosaur (or dragon...we're still not sure)

ready for trick-or-treating

braving the cold with Daddy

just for laughs

(Caleb throwing a fit because he still wants to trick-or-treat)

Thanks Great Aunt D!!!

2009-10-19T17:11:00.005-05:00

Caleb sure is lucky to have so many people in his life who love him from near and far. Perhaps the furthest of those people is his Great Aunt Denise, who lives all the way in North Carolina. She spoils him with love and gifts like he is her own child! Although they've only been able to be together in person a few times, Caleb knows a lot about his wonderful Great Aunt D and loves her very much.

Today, we came home to a huge box on the front doorstep. Once Daddy got home, we opened up the box to find a giant alphabet caterpillar! I'm pretty sure I was just as excited about it as Caleb (that's the teacher in me). He's already climbed all over it and practiced singing his ABCs several times. I'm not sure if he actually knows any of his letters, but he did point to a couple and say their names...it might just be a fluke, but maybe all that time with Grandma and Miss Linda is working wonders for our 19-month-old!

THANK YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH!!!

Where is the time going?!?

2009-09-28T19:32:00.004-05:00

It seems like just yesterday it was the end of August...and now we're just a few days away from October. This past month has been very busy, very tiring, but full of fun! School has been going well and Caleb is loving his time with Grandma and Miss Linda. He leaves every morning with a big smile on his face and a very confident "buh-bye" and "love you". This child is certainly not attached to anyone and manages to be happy no matter where he is and who he's with.

We've been attempting to soak up the last warm days before another long winter hits. Caleb loves to be outside and we're not sure how he'll handle the winter months in Chicago. He'll probably be like every other kid who grows up in the cold and he'll learn to really love snowpants and sledding. It's a good thing Grandpa Ron bought him a great snowsuit at the end of winter last year!

We also had a chance to take part in what is becoming an annual event with my side of the family. This was the 3rd year of walking in the Susan G. Komen breast cancer walk downtown. It's so neat to see so many people coming together for a great cause. Caleb had a lot of fun people watching and hanging out in the big city.

We hope everyone reading this is doing well and enjoying the start of Fall. It sure hit us today with the wind and cold weather. We're excited that with the change of seasons we're closer and closer to all of the fun holidays and the arrival of our little girl!

What We've Been Up To

2009-08-27T18:58:00.010-05:00

These past few weeks have been pretty busy and hectic around the Sturm home. Summer break is now a thing of the past and we're back in full swing as two busy working parents with one very busy and energetic 17-month-old (wow...when did he get so old?!?). The end of summer was really great and we enjoyed the last moments of together time.

Helping with laundry...a favorite past time this summer.

Playing outside in the beautiful weather.

Hanging out with Nolan.

The first week of school was incredibly busy and tiring. Tyler had to work late several nights in a row, so the stress of it all definitely got the best of me. I ended up sick by the end of the week and spent the entire weekend feeling awful (without being able to take much besides Tylenol). Thankfully, I was well enough to be back at school so that I can save all those precious sick days for a maternity leave of 18 weeks that was just approved (yaaaaay...much better than the 8 I took with Caleb)! Anyhow, my class has been wonderful so far and it's helped make this week much easier considering I'm still not feeling 100% better. Unfortunately, Tyler now has just what I had. We're just crossing our fingers and praying that Caleb doesn't come down with this nasty cold too. He doesn't seem to be showing too many signs of illness considering the amount of energy he has each and every day.

He must play his little heart out with all the kids at Miss Linda's, because he was tired enough to fall asleep while eating tonight!

The final, and probably most exciting news of the recent weeks, is that we finally had our ultrasound for this increasingly active and ever-growing little baby #2! The ultrasound was great and everything looks just as healthy as can be (praise God). We're also excited to know that we are going to be blessed with a baby GIRL. We're both a little unsure of how we'll handle the ups and downs of "girlhood" and know that our little boy will probably be much easier to raise, but how can you not be excited about bows, dresses, tights, dolls, and the list goes on for miles!!!

A profile shot.

Looking at us and waving hello.

A view from above her head (she's pointing and letting us know she's #1).Another profile view with her arms and legs scrunched up.

Final Vacation of Summer

2009-08-10T10:02:00.007-05:00

This past week, we took our last vacation before it's time to head back to school. This was a wonderful vacation because all three (and a half) of us were able to be there the whole time. We left for the Lake of the Ozarks on Sunday. On the way, we took a slight detour through St. Louis and stopped at the Budweiser factory for a tour. Tyler and I went last year, but we thought it would be fun to have my parents go this year. We were also lucky enough to have Tyler's family drive into St. Louis to join us for the afternoon. It was a great way to break up the long drive!

After our quick trip in St. Louis, we continued the long drive down to the lake. The weather was great for just about the entire week...hot, hot, hot, and perfect for swimming! We had fun relaxing and enjoying our time together as a family. Although I couldn't enjoy any of the motorized water sports, Tyler loved getting to go out on the wave runner and fishing boat. Caleb also enjoyed a few trips on the fishing boat as well. The biggest highlight was watching Caleb learn how to swim all on his own. This whole summer, we've kept him in floaties and worked a lot on kicking and blowing bubbles. We finally got brave enough to just let him loose and he is now a complete fish in the water!

Here is a video of Caleb's first moments swimming alone:

South Haven

2009-07-28T17:03:00.005-05:00

We were lucky enough to spend the last week in South Haven, Michigan. My parents rented a house for the week and the family got to enjoy some quality time together. It was so nice to get away and visit a new place. There was a lot to do and we all had a great time. We took plenty of pictures...below are just a few to sum up our trip!

We went to the Van Buren County Fair where Caleb LOVED seeing all of the animals. We think his favorites were the horses. Back in town, he went crazy over a horse named Harvey who did carriage rides in downtown South Haven. He talked about Harvey for several days!

Caleb loved swimming in the pool on the deck. Sometimes he loved it so much that he wouldn't even wait for us to put on a swim diaper! It ended up being a great way to wash off the sand after being at the beach!

Caleb was a lot of fun this year with blueberry picking. Although he went last year, he wasn't much help. This year he picked them, ate them, and smashed them in his hands. With his help, we picked a ton of blueberries. We'll being making plenty of pies, muffins, etc. all year!

Caleb was a little unsure of the beach at first, but by the end of the week he loved it. He enjoyed the water (even though I thought it was way too cold). He also really liked playing in the sand and helping Grandpa build a giant sand mountain.

We had a lot of fun on our trip and highly recommend it as a place to visit. It's great that the drive is only a couple of hours. It'll make our upcoming trip to Lake of the Ozarks seem incredibly long. Fortunately, the drive is totally worth it. We'll be sure to post plenty of pictures when we get back!

Fifteen (random) Facts on the Fifteenth

2009-07-15T12:59:00.008-05:00

It's hard to believe how quickly summer is flying by. The fact that it is already July 15 is incredibly sad to me considering I'm much closer to the end of summer break than I am to the beginning. It's been an awesome break so far and I've LOVED being home with Caleb. We've been so busy having fun and developing a bond that I felt was so hard to acquire during the school year. I'm totally in love with this little guy and am going to have a very hard time going back to work.

Anyhow, I've got a variety of pictures and a few random facts about Mr. Caleb...15 facts to be exact :)

1. Caleb loves to play. He definitely knows what the word toy is and is all boy when it comes to playing. Here he is at the local children's museum climbing and playing his little heart out...

2. Caleb is starting to get pretty good about feeding himself with a fork. If he can stab whatever edible item is in front of him, he's able to eat it. We're one step closer to being all grown up!

3. Caleb knows a lot of animal sounds and has fun repeating them. He's definitely an animal lover and has tons of fun reading books and looking at pictures of animals. At the petting zoo, he had a blast chasing around the goats.

4. Caleb is getting closer everyday to the beginning of potty training (even though I'm sure it'll be a long road ahead). He knows all the lingo (potty, poo-poo, pee-pee) and has become pretty fascinated by the toilet. I'm not ready to tackle the training yet and think he's still too young, but it's nice to know we're heading in the right direction.

5. Caleb loves ice cream...I can't imagine where he'd get that from!?!

6. Caleb loves water. He loves to splash, kick, stick his head in, and just be wet! He also loves fish and makes an adorable fish face. He was in awe of the giant fish tank at the zoo.

7. Caleb is an awesome sleeper. He sleeps from about 8 until 8 every night and takes one nap a day. His nap is anywhere from 2 to 4 hours long. We count this as one of our biggest blessings each day as we know many toddlers and babies who are nowhere near as fond of sleeping!

8. Caleb loves shoes (I guess he takes after his aunts just a little bit). He is now trying to put on any of the adult sized shoes lying around and thinks it's fun to walk in them.

9. Caleb loves going to the park. His favorite park activity is swinging and he's still a little paranoid of slides (after a minor accident he had back in May). It's pretty much a guarantee that he'll cry when it's time to leave the park.

10. Caleb is going to be an awesome big brother. He is very aware of babies and points them out wherever he sees one. When asked where the baby is, he points to my belly and says baby.

11. Caleb is a huge lover and cuddler. He gives random hugs and kisses even when nobody asks for them.

12. Caleb loves books! Just about every morning when he wakes up, the first thing he points to and asks for are his books. He'll stay occupied for a good 10 to 15 minutes in his crib "reading" his books.

13. Caleb is very outgoing (just like his daddy). He has little fear of strangers, which we know will be a problem in the near future and will take a lot of explaining. For now, he is willing to go to just about anyone who wants his attention and he warms up quickly to new people.

14. Caleb loves to play with Chesney and is starting to get a little too rough with her at times. We are incredibly thankful that our somewhat high-strung dog is extremely patient with him as he learns how to be gentle with her.

15. Caleb loves to talk. Most of what he says is quite unclear, but to those who spend enough time with him he's able to be understood. His newest phrase is "I love you" and it's absolutely adorable to hear (it sounds more like "I you"...but we get what he means)! You can hear it in the video below (just remember to turn off the song at the bottom of the blog page).

Happy Anniversary!!!

2009-07-01T02:00:00.003-05:00

Today we're celebrating 4 years of a wonderful marriage! Time has flown by and we feel so blessed to have had 4 years together. God has given us more than we could ever ask for and we can't wait to see what the future holds!

July 1, 2005

July 1, 2006

July 1, 2007

July 1, 2008

July 1, 2009

Trip to Carmi

2009-06-30T09:31:00.004-05:00

We had a busy, fun, and relaxing weekend down in Carmi. We spent Thursday night through Monday afternoon down in Southern Illinois where it was very HOT and summer-like. It was nice to have such warm weather, but made it pretty tough to want to go outside and enjoy the small town sites. Anyhow, we spent a lot of time inside and enjoying the company of family that we don't get to spend nearly enough time with!

I've got plenty of pictures from the weekend thanks to Tyler being so good about grabbing the camera every so often. Unfortunately, we failed to get a lot of pictures showing all that we did throughout the weekend. We also missed getting pictures of some of the VIPs that Caleb spent the weekend with (including his Great Aunt Denise, Auntie Kalyn, and Grandma). Anyhow, we had fun together and are so glad to have spent time with everyone for a few days. We enjoyed swimming in the pool, taking a trip to Evansville to play at a toy store and meet extended family for dinner (whom Caleb warmed up to very quickly), watching Caleb run all over the house like a madman, eating plenty of good food, and just plain old r & r!

Toys, traveling, and together time!

2009-06-22T13:05:00.004-05:00

These past few weeks of summer break have flown by! It's hard to believe we're nearing the end of June already. It has been awesome being at home with Caleb and I've loved every minute of my time with him. I'm already REALLY dreading August when it's time to start school again. At least I know I just have to make it until Christmas break when I'll start my maternity leave.

A few highlights of the last few weeks begin with the letter T. First off....toys. Caleb is really getting more joy out of playing with his toys. He's actually starting to use toys for what they're designed for and not just throwing them, chewing on them, or carrying them all around. His Nana Pam was kind enough to get a really fun toy at a garage sale. It's a big pop-up tent that he can crawl in and out of. It came with a bunch of little balls that are now hiding all over our house.
The next highlight was traveling. This past week, Caleb and I went to Lake of the Ozarks with my mom and sister. It was about a 6.5 hour trip and Caleb managed to do pretty well. He's been battling a cold all week, which made him pretty uncomfortable on the long car trip and he didn't sleep as much as I had hoped he would in the car. We stayed at my aunt's house for a few days and enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather. It was Caleb's first time playing in the pool (aside from last summer, when he was still too young to do much of anything). He loved the pool and is definitely a little fish! He's working hard on learning how to blow bubbles and kick. Hopefully by the end of the summer he'll have these two basics down and be close to being an independent swimmer (with the help of floaties of course). Caleb also enjoyed spending time out on the deck watching the boats and playing with my aunt's two dogs. We all made a trip to the outlet mall one evening as well. Caleb got a few new shirts and my mom even got some pj's for baby #2. It makes the whole pregnancy much more of a reality when stuff starts being purchased for the baby!
The final highlight was together time. We got home just in time for Father's Day and spent the day out in Indiana with my dad's family. Caleb napped for awhile, so we were able to relax and enjoy time with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma. When he woke up he was ready to swim and show off his new skills to his daddy. He had a fun time and was worn out by the time we got home.

We hope this blog finds all the readers doing well and enjoying the beginning of summer. We're excited that the first trimester is over with this pregnancy...no more sickness and extreme exhaustion! It's all gone just in time to start enjoying the days of summer. We are heading to Carmi this weekend and can't wait to see everyone there. When we get back, we'll hopefully spend plenty of time making the most of our time together before heading back to work!

Summer Vacation (so far)

2009-06-09T09:01:00.006-05:00

It's now been a whole week of summer vacation and I'm LOVING it! It has been so nice to switch from super fast paced mode to super relaxed mode. It's been great having time to get things done like laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc.....and not have to cram it all in during the evenings or weekends! I love being home with Caleb and spending quality time hanging out. The more time I spend with him, the more I realize what an adorable and fun little guy he is. Caleb is so full of personality and is such a huge blessing to have. There are so many of Tyler's qualities built into him and it's neat to see how much of his daddy's great personality is developing in him. Anyhow, here are few pictures from our first week in summer mode.

I get to wake up and see this cute face all day...could it get any better than that?!?

Caleb loves, loves, loves Barney! He doesn't focus on too many things for as long as he can focus on a Barney episode!

Caleb is Daddy's little helper already. He was helping put up some safety gates on the deck so that we can spend plenty of time out there this summer.

Small Group

2009-05-22T20:20:00.004-05:00

At our old church in Minooka, we were lucky enough to have a great small group with some other couples around our age. It was great to have other Christian people to grow close with at the beginning of our marriage. After leaving Minooka and looking for a church closer to home, we spent about six months at a church about five minutes from our house. We really enjoyed it, but had a very hard time getting connected to a small group. The ironic part of the situation is that particular church had several pastors (one of which was a "pastor of connections"). His primary job was to get people connected. Although he linked us with a few people, we actually got a response at one point that their group was simply "too big for anyone else to join". After half a year of trying to get connected and ultimately feeling totally distant from the church, we decided to start hunting again for the right fit.

We are so blessed to have found Hickory Creek Community Church, which is also only about ten minutes from our house. It's a much smaller church than what we were used to, but is filled with some amazing people! Right away we got connected into a small group (which was also "too big", but they gladly welcomed us with open arms). Since January, we have met just about every Tuesday night with this awesome group. It's such a unique blend of young, old, married, single, and so forth. Together, we have studied the Old Testament book of Joshua and have learned so much through our time with everyone. It has been a huge answered prayer to find fellowship and we are so thankful that God allowed us to meet this great group of people. This past Tuesday, we wrapped up our study for the summer and are taking a break. We will definitely miss hanging out each week, but look forward to getting together a few times to hang out this summer.

The Latest News

2009-05-11T19:39:00.003-05:00

Caleb's shirt says it all! Baby #2 is on its way. We're super excited to be adding to our little family. The next bundle of joy is due on New Year's Eve (or sometime around then). We have our first doctor's appointment on June 2 and can't wait to visit Dr. Umpai again on a monthly basis. Please keep this little boy or girl in your prayers as it's still pretty early. We're hoping it'll be smooth sailing though just like it was with Caleb!