Our holiday in pictures

Jameson made a menorah at school and brought it home on the last day of Hanukkah   Russell had to work that night, but they sent candles home and all, so I really had no excuse not to light it!

Seeing Santa at Bass Pro Shop.  No one cried and two of the three are looking at the camera - not too shabby!  Oh and you can't see the giant hole that Delilah ripped in her tights in the van on the way there...unless I point it out!

Christmas with Gigi!

Notice the tiny fork in his beard.  He was using a dinglehopper.  My brother is weird, end of story.

Sledding with Papa Terry at his new house.  Everyone had a blast...that is, until Delilah got snow in her mittens.  "My hands is frozen!"

 

Let me reiterate...my brother is weird!

Milk and cookies for Santa, plus carrots for Rudolph.

Huh, the kids must have been good after all...Just couple things under the tree.  :-)

Love for the Bennetts from near and far!

...And to all a good night!

This time of year is often one of the most stressful for me.  In the past there has been added pressure put on me due to scheduling issues and other people's expectations.  Everything is further muddled by the fact that we work non-traditional hours.  So this year with Christmas on a Tuesday, I was worried about back-to-back-to-back celebrations.  But, much to my surprise, this holiday season went pretty smoothly!

Our holiday season actually started the weekend before, when we celebrated Hanukkah with Nannie, Papa, and the rest of the family.  It was fun because Jameson has been learning about Hanukkah at school, so he had an idea of what was going on this year.  We usually say that these get-togethers are a success if no one cries and I'd say this year was a success!  :-)

This weekend started with a trip to see Santa at Bass Pro shop.  It worked out pretty well.  We got there about 2:45 pm and were given a card to wait in the 3:00 pm line.  So we hopped in line.  We didn't have to wait too terribly long before the kids were able to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas - Jameson a "castle toy" and Delilah a "bicycle."  Afterwards, we dropped the two bigger kids off with some friends so that we could do a little Christmas shopping.

Saturday morning, we had family pictures with the Gordons.  I thought that Ephraim was going to be the difficult one, but it turns out it was Delilah who was going to be a bit of a diva.  Other than that, the pictures were fairly uneventful and I think we were able to get some nice shots.  Then we headed to Lincoln to celebrate with Russell's grandma and the rest of the crew.  It was a fun time, however as I saw Jameson cheat on "Pin the Nose on the Snowman", I suddenly realized that Jameson may have inherited my fear of failing.  He was far more worried about what would happen if he didn't get the nose in the right spot than having fun playing the game.  :-(  I'm going to have to work on that.

Sunday we had Christmas brunch at my Dad and Ione's new house.  After we ate and opened presents, the grand-kids (minus Ephraim), Papa Terry and Russell went sledding in the back yard.  The ladies - and Tyler )although he did eventually head out after a bit of teasing) watched, laughed and took pictures from the warmth inside.  The kids had a BLAST.  That is, until Jameson and Delilah flipped over in their sled.  Russell rushed a crying Delilah inside to me.  It was very hard to stifle the giggles as she exclaimed "My hands is frozen!" over and over again.  But, after a little hot cocoa from Mama O, she was good as new in no time!  On the way home, I dropped the bigger kids off with Aunt Ray-Ray so that I could finish up my last minute shopping.

Monday was Christmas Eve and as I have for pretty much every Christmas Eve since we bought the house, I hosted the celebration with my mom, brother and his family.  Kellie and her crew usually join us, but this year my kids developed a NASTY cough, so the L family decided it would be best to avoid that mess.  And this year, Russell had to work, so our celebration was quite a bit smaller than it has been in past years.  Nevertheless, we had a nice little evening.  Tyler, Nichole and the girls made the mistake of showing up early, so I put them to work!  We filled our bellies full of lasagna, opened some nice presents, and had some laughs.  Then it was time to get everyone to bed so the big guy could make his appearance!

Last year, Russell had to work over night, so this mama was Santa's helper until about 3 am.  Then -and I'm still not sure of the exact sequence of events- but as R got home from work, about 6:30 am, the kids were already downstairs or came downstairs, so they saw their presents from Santa before I joined them.  Talk about a major let down!  So, this year, I not only got to bed a *little* bit earlier due to having a second helper elf, but I instilled in Jameson that he needed to wait for me.  So, everything worked out great.  Everyone loved their gifts!  Jameson was even excited about his clothes!!  :-)  The kids got just what they asked for from Santa - Jameson the "castle toy," Delilah a Minnie Mouse bike, and Ephraim a jumperoo.  And what was my gift from the kids, you ask?  Why, their cold, of course!!  Wah!  So, I spent the rest of the day resting on the couch!  Haha!  But, overall it was a WONDERFUL holiday season.  And as usual, we were absolutely spoiled!  Thanks to everyone who spent their holiday with us.

Merry Christmas, from the elves!

Someone is on the move!

Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin'

What?

Uhhh…oops, sorry - my inner Limp Bizkit was showing.  I guess I reverted back to the year 2000 for a minute.  Haha!

On Tuesday, Ephraim FINALLY rolled over for the first time.  He’s been sooooooo close for quite a while.  (For the record – there has been a debate going on in the house for a few weeks.  Russell seems to think that it counts when he rolled over in the bouncer seat.  I said no way because he totally could get some leverage from the side – it only counts when he’s flat on the floor!!  What is this??  His first kid?  Haha!)  Anyway, back to Tuesday.  He rolled for the first time – from flat on the floor – from his back to his belly.  Well today, I left him on the floor in the family room for a minute and when I came back he was in a completely different spot than where he started.  I asked Jameson about it and he said “Ephraim just moved himself.”  So, I watched him for a while.

He would roll from his back to his belly, play for a bit, and then roll from his belly to his back, play for a bit – rinse and repeat.  Well, apparently that little booger knows how to roll both ways!  He will now roll pretty consistently from his back to his belly, but will roll less frequently from his belly to his back.  Sometimes he’ll sit there, get frustrated and cry – even though he has done it before!  Oh well, I know that it won’t be too long before he’s completely mobile!!

I’m going places, Mama!

Ephraim is 4 months!

Let’s see what’s new…Ephraim is getting stronger and stronger every day.  He can consistently hold his head up.  When he’s agreeable to doing tummy time, he’s able to keep his head up and push his chest up.  He’s much more likely to do tummy time if his brother and/or sister join him.

Ephraim has had a few instances where he cries inconsolably and becomes very clingy.  While I love me some baby snuggles, it makes it quite difficult to get anything done around here!  We’re not sure if it’s teeth or the cold that we’re all battling.  Whatever it is, I just hope that it passes soon!  Unfortunately, he seems to know when Russell and I get a date night out because that’s when he really puts on a show!  Dearest Ephraim, I love you, but your mommy needs a night out from time to time for her own sanity!!

At Ephraim’s 4 month appt, the only milestone that his pediatrician asked about that he hadn’t hit yet was rolling over.  He’s super close, but that’s an awful lot of body to move!  I’m sure it’s only a matter of days.  He weighed in at 17.11 lbs (91%), 25.5” long (69%), and head circumference of 17.25” (86%).  As you can see, my buddy is still a big guy – though his height percentile is dropping a bit (shocking, right?). 

Dr. Zimmerman did diagnose Ephraim with laryngomalacia or “floppy vocal chords.”  It’s generally a benign condition.  The soft, immature cartilage of the upper larynx collapses inward during inhalation – which just means that he’s noisy.  He always has a bit of a wheezy sound when he’s breathing and when he gets excited he makes this ADORABLE squeaky sound.  In fact, Dr. Zimmerman says that they call children with this “happy squeakers.”  His breathing seems fine, which is the only real concern, but we do need keep an eye on him for sleep apnea.  And, in most of the cases, the babies grow out of it by the time they are 1 or 2.

Weekend Recap - Thanksgiving Edition

Ah, my first long weekend since I became “self-employed.”  It was so nice.  But, as you probably guessed, we were busy, busy, busy!!  The festivities actually started MUCH earlier than usual.  On Tuesday, I was able to volunteer at Jameson’s school.  They had a Thanksgiving program and I, along with 2 other moms, helped the kids to roll out, cut, and bake cookies for refreshments after the show.  It was so fun to see him in his element.  I swear I could sit all day and just watch him at school!

Jameson was sooooooo excited for his program.  He asked everyone he encountered if they were going to his “show” and if they said no, he would say “that’s okay, we’ll record it for you.”  Well, Papa Terry, Mama O, Cousin Alaina, Nannie Sandy, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Ben, and Aunt Becca were able to attend.  Let me just tell you, it was THE CUTEST thing that I have ever seen!!  And here it is for your viewing pleasure!!  After the program, we ate lunch at Pizza Pie Guys with Papa Terry, Mama O, and Cousin Alaina.  Then Wednesday night, Jameson attended his very first overnighter at the JCC.  Only, we weren't sure how he'd handle staying overnight (or how *I* would, for that matter!), so we opted to have him stay until 10 instead.  Then Russell and I took the chance to sneak away for dinner and a movie before picking Jameson up.  And after that, I had the AMAZING opportunity to drop off some gifts that a wonderful group of ladies and I pooled together to give to a friend whose daughter is going through some things.

Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving.  We had a wonderful, family filled day.  Just like we have done for the past few years, we had lunch with my family (Dad’s side) and dinner with Russell’s family.  We were treated to two delicious Thanksgiving meals.  We were able to catch up with some family that we don’t get to see very often.  All with very minimal drama – pretty good for two family get-togethers!  I feel very lucky to have so many wonderful people to call my family!

Friday was a recover day.  We relaxed, watched some football and ate anything other than turkey!  Haha!

Saturday we took family pictures with my friend Amy.  This was a reschedule.  We were supposed to do them earlier, but something else came up…  :-)  Anyway, I am thrilled about them!  We had a lot of fun without any major meltdowns – pretty impressive considering we had 5 people to keep happy!  I’ll post a few pictures once our holiday letters go out!

Sunday was another lazy day – soaking up the very last day of our long weekend.  Then, on Monday stuff got real.  We submitted the last wave of paperwork to daycare licensing.  So, it’s just a matter of time before we get inspected and we’re off and running!!  Eeek!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

From the Turkeys!

Sunday.

Gah, I don’t even know where to start.  I guess at the beginning.  Haha!  On November 14^th, 2011, I had the opportunity to hear Warren Buffett speak at Girls Inc’s annual luncheon.  During which he made some comment along the lines of “Find something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” – I can’t remember exactly how he worded it though.  Then I got to hug him...

The next morning I woke up and started thinking about my passions.  I started thinking about how I am kind of the “go-to” person within my circle for all things fertility/pregnancy/baby related.  So, I started thinking about ways I could build on that.  So, I started researching various avenues that I could take – including becoming a certified doula.

What is a doula, you ask?  Well a doula “is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth” (DONA International).  It just felt right, so I decided to head down that path – which is actually quite terrifying for someone who has only actually been present in her own births, which were c-sections!

So, I officially took a leap of faith and became a doula in training!  I began my required reading and attended the workshop.  But, then I got wrapped up in my pregnancy, licensing the daycare, and other things going on in my personal life.  So, the doula thing kind of went to the back burner for a while.

Then, my wonderfully supportive friend (step-cousin), Jenny, started talking to me about her friend who was pregnant and wanting a doula.  So, we talked about Jenny passing my info on to her friend, but I never heard from her, so I didn’t think too much more about it. 

But about two months ago, I received an email from her.  So, I met with her and her husband.  I’m not going to lie – I was not 100% confident in my abilities and kind of tried to sabotage myself.  And at my second meeting, they kind of called me out on it.  Fortunately, I had Jenny in my corner pulling for me.  So, they decided to take a chance on me.

We met one other time and discussed her birth plan.  They also informed me at this time that her OB said that she was dilated to 3 and that she had felt some contractions.  I got weekly text messages after her OB appointments informing me that there was no change in her progress.

Well, Sunday morning Russell left –with the van!- to go to Kansas City to watch the Chiefs game.  And as luck would have it, I got a call around 7:20 am from the Mama saying her water broke and her contractions were 1.5 minutes apart.  So, I panicked for a minute trying to think about what I was going to do with my kids.  I made a couple of calls and finally BEGGED my super awesome friend Kellie to watch them – even though she has her own feisty two year old and a set of 3 month twins on her hands…what’s 3 more kids, right?  (Have I mentioned lately that Kellie is absolutely one of THE BEST friends a girl could ever have??). 

Anyway, after dropping the kids off at Kellie’s, I raced to the hospital and got there around 8:30 am.  This Mama was already in active labor!  I’ll spare you all of the details, but this absolutely amazing Mama delivered her baby girl completely medication free at 11:46 am.  Her birth really went exactly how she wanted.  I am so thrilled for her.  I also am so grateful that she allowed me the opportunity to be apart of this truly incredible day.  Plus, I was done in time to eat lunch with Kellie and the kids!