To Oma, Love Jil

This is from my Jilly to her Oma.

Look what Daddy found in the tree. Blue eggs! Daddy chopped it down by accident but he put it back in the tree

I love you!

I want to show Oma my dress. I was dancing with my dress like this, I was dancing and dancing.

(the reference to laser beams is from a show we watch nearly everyday! the rest of the day includes reinacting the show, running from guards, jumping over laser beams etc!)

Poop

You know those days that just feel like nothing can go right and even when something DOES go well, you take it in the totally wrong way and your brain makes it horrible somehow.


Today is that day, someone must have pooped in my cereal...


So if your having a crap sort of day, check out the awesome cuteness of my children...it's gotta make it a little better...

Going Green.

So I've finally done it. I am officially a cloth diaperer. I have a friend out here near Irma, AB who cloth diapers her son and after many questions and a bit of number crunching I took the plunge and purchased a sample system for Flip cloth diapers. And to my surprise.... I actually like using cloth diapers!

I know, I know! Many of you are shocked and I have gotten a few "Why would you do that!?" (including from my dear husband). I thought I may be crazy at first too but there are many benefits to cloth.

First of all it will save us a load of money! (Most would say to Be Green, save the planet, etc... but hey I'm Dutch. It's in my blood!). I figured I can purchase a stash of diapers for around $300. Yes its a bit much to start with but I figured I was spending 50-60 a month on disposables. Therefore I will pay for the cloth diapers within a max of 6 months. Matthias is 6 months, it will be paid back by the time he is 1. If he is anything like Jil and refuses to be potty trained we will get at least 18 month worth of savings for him and since I bought one size diapers, future children will be diapered for free!

You may argue about water consumption, specific detergent and other costs (just wanting to buy that cute new cloth diaper) but I do so much laundry anyways I won't even notice the extra load every 2-3 days, I found a cloth diaper safe, high efficiency washer safe, DIY detergent that has been working GREAT and for $15 will probably get me through a year of diaper laundry.

Second, I think it is better for my baby. Who doesn't want their bum to be able to breathe?! That sounded weird! But you get my point. Also I've read (from possibly uncredible resources but it still makes you think) that your baby's skin absorbs an insane amount of chemicals from disposable diapers. Gross! and i don't think it can be good for them.

Third, it is greener. It takes 1 cup of crude oil to produce 1 disposable. It does take energy and materials to make cloth diapers but I can reuse them for years! Also disposables take centuries to decompose. Landfills are full enough and I want to do my part in helping out!

Fourth, they are stinkin' cute and my baby's bum is stinkin cute in them!

So call me crazy! I like cloth diapers and I'm sticking with them. Also Jeff is even coming around too!

Yum!

Matthias has been eyeing our food for sometime now and so we decided to let him dig in!

Some moral support from his sister. Really she just thought that she was going to get to feed him!



That first horrific bite! I think I have an identical picture of Jil.



 And it's not so bad! He is a great eater... much more so than Jil ever was. Yummy rice cereal!

And what we've been doing with the snow that we recently got! Snowman time. Jil did figure it was warm enough to wear her spring coat (and it was) and we (and i mean Jeff) also made a tunnel in one of the huge snow piles in the church parking lot. Unfortunately the pile melted before I got any pictures.

New Pictures.... mostly for Opa and Oma!

Here's our happy little boy who is finally sleep better at night. It makes me feel like saying..."See! I TOLD you things would be nicer once we all got a little more sleep!" I love his gummy grin. Nothing better for a mommy to look at but he has been teething with a vengence and i think a tooth or two are on their way!

Another favorite stage that Matthias has entered is the grabby stage, particularily his feet. I love watching him suck on his toes!

Our little Jilly Bean is getting funnier by the day! Her lastest things are never wanting to be in front of the camera but rather behind it! Here is one she took of Matthias and me. Not bad.

 This is what I find EVERYWHERE around my house! In my bed, in Jil's bed, in Matthias' crib, on the couch, in the spare room bed, on the hope chest, on her floor in her room... EVERYWHERE! She is a very nurturing and caring girl and loves to put her stuffed animals for nap time.It is very cute and she is very particular of how the blanket is arranged. Not over their faces and no wrinkles. I often will find one or two tucked away beside her when I peek in on her once she's fallen asleep too.

One of the few pictures of her smiling. Loves having bath time with Matthias!

Walking to the mailbox at the end of our "lover's lane" driveway. Yes, she needed to bring her purse with her. She usually needs to bring her purse with her when we go out which means in the end I end up with my diaper bag and her purse (sometimes 2). Like I don't carry around enough stuff!?!

A little random but I guess that is pretty much how life has been going lately!

A Few Thoughts

I had just a few things in my head that I wanted to share with you all. Some cute, some profound ( I think) and some just random. Enjoy!

• Jil had been calling me Mama the last few months but recently has morphed into Mom-Mee-A. I'm not sure why but it is cute. Jeff has not enjoyed Dad-Dee-A and has been reenforcing Dad.

• Do your children have imaginary friends. Jil does! Actually she talks regularily to her big sister, also named Jil. She is 5 years old. Sometimes this creeps us out a little but I'm sure it's just a phase. Oh and yesterday she was telling Jil to not say "Shut Up" repeatedly. She knows that they only appropriate time to say shut up is when you are telling someone not to say shut up. I guess she has found the loop hole into using words we don't approve up.

• She has gotten so mischevious lately, in the past few days she's carried Matthias at least 3 times without me knowing, tryied to paint his nails purple, tried to feed him her food, tried to nurse him (yes, she tried!) and has climbed into his crib with him once. Terrible twos, I don't think so, watch out for three!

• My sweet Matthias slept 81/2 hours last night! Can I hear a whoot whoot?! Now I just need to train my internal clock to not wake up at 3am and allow my milk makers to adjust to the (hopefully) new schedule (ouch!). Although I did enjoy our 5am feed. He loves touching and grabbing my hands and fingers. He has the best smile and I'm enjoy his still toothless grin. For as momentous as the first tooth is it changes their whole face and I do love a beautiful gummy grin!

• Why does parenting seem to come with a truckload of guilt? Often I feel torn and very guilty from my parenting decisions. Did I discipline to harshly? Did I let Jil get away with too much? Do we let Matthias cry it out at night? Am I spoiling him by getting him too quickly? Constant back and forth.  I pray each day for wisedom in how I parent and am continually trying to show grace and be non-judgemental in how others parent their children. Comparing my children with other children is a dangerous game, one that too many like to play.

• Jil is such an energetic and emotional girl (aren't we all!) She can be so excited and then be a devistated wreck in a matter of moments. Lately when she gets excited she claps her hands 4 times. Yes, always 4 times.... super cute! She is also becoming quite a little planner. "Mom-mee-a, after lunch, we'll go watch a show, OK? That sounds like a good plan!"  I love my kidlets!

The Lambs!

I was wrong. Jeff had his phone while we were out seeing the sheep and we did get a few pictures. We are so blessed to live by and be able to see so many animals. Jil and Matthias are going to turn out to be farm kids! I love it!

Love Zander's face in the background. He LOVED the lambs.

Look how happy he is!

Jil finally wanted to hold one. She melts my heart. Love you sweetie!



Sista Time!

Yup, that's right, my sisters came for a visit last weekend! And Zander came too! Love that little boy to pieces. Jil had fun with them all too although she is still learning that just because someone else has a toy does not mean that she needs to immediately snatch it away! Hopefully she'll learn soon but then again I still have trouble being content at times so why would see be any different!

We had some awesome wagon rides around the yard and to see the neighbours cows!

Check out this cool dude smartie! ( My sister didn't know what I meant when I said that, do you know? Think purple smarties with sunglasses!)

20 pictures and 17 readjustments of one child or another this is what I came up with. 2 out of 3 happy is pretty good and you can see all their faces... success!

We were hoping for a sister picture but the kids did not want to be put down!

The highlight of the visit was our animal tour for Zander especially the sheep and lambs... so adorable I thought Janessa was going to steal one and take it home with her! Of course we forgot the camera! sorry no photo evidence!

I sure loved having my family here with us, I wish we lived closer to them all! Muah! Love you!

Getting things straight.

Just had a few thought about today, valentine's day. I've been thinking and planning little things for my hubby and my children for today for weeks. I love them and I want to show them that I love them through my actions.

On the other hand, it has sort of been tormenting me. I don't think that much about God and I don't regularly think of ways of showing Him that I love Him. Why? I don't know yet, maybe since i can't see him or get a physical hug or words of affirmation from Him it is easier to put Him on the back burner. I want that to change though.I need that to change. I need to show love from the outpouring of my love from my relationship with God my Father. He needs to be number one and daily I fail.

Yet, each day is new and today I will strive to know Him more. Lamentation 3: 22-26. I want to seek Him and praise Him because if it were not for Him I would not have all the things that I am loving on today. So Thank You! I Love You! And I Thank You for all the things in my life that make this day, Valentine's Day so special!

Valentine's Day

Jeff and I have never really been ones to celebrate Valentine's Day. We believe that we should make the other feel special and loved each and everyday through the year. Plus we don't want to buy into (literally) the idea that we need to spend tons of money on one another to show that we really do love each other. But lately I've been thinking about wanting to do thoughtful, special things for not only each other but also for our children. We do love them a lot too!

Enter Pintrest. Thanks Kayla, you got me hooked but my resolution is to not just pin but to DO the things I am pinning. I did a few felt ornaments for Christmas, a recipe or two and now, chocolate sugar cookies with marbled royal icing.

The originals did NOT look this lovely. I didn't realize how quickly royal icing hardened (rookie mistake) and they got all lumpy and gloppy looking. But with a few tweaks of my methods I came up with these beauties. Not only do i think they look great but they tasted pretty good too. Although I still think my regular sugar cookies taste better so this week I made a batch of those too!

I also found some cute, handmade ideas especially for my honey from the addictive pintrest and I'm still working away on those. But although I'm still not a big Valentine's Day fan, I want to be more intentional in show others I'm thinking about them and care for them.

Here's to a thoughtful and fun day of love!!

Cheers!

A Few Moments from the last days.

 My sweet Jily fell asleep on the couch and after getting her up so that she will actually sleep tonight, she went to her room and fell asleep in her bed. Ok, everyone telling me she doesn't need an afternoon nap, just come on over and TRY waking her up. there is no use, she is comatose to the world and will be a bear if you try to change that.

My drummer girl. She learns so much from watching Jeff and I. I won't even realize it and then she mimicks me completely. This obviously came from watching her daddy!

My little sweethearts. We had a rough night and just ended up all snuggling in bed after Jeff went to the church to work. I love bed snuggles and this reminded me of a picture of my sister and I snuggling in bed when we were about the same age, so precious!

In relation to my last post, we have had a few better nights. Less crying, less time up with Jil and Matthias, despite his 4 month shots is getting a little better sleep. I feel more human and have started tackling a few Pintrest projects! Hopefully I'll post about those too.

Where have you gone sleep?

I love my children... a lot. We prayed for both of them before they were concieved, they were definately not accidents. Sometimes we never thought we would have children and then our little miracles arrived. Such a blessing that words could never describe. They are absolutely precious. And I wouldn't trade them for the world.

Although, lately I've been running on 4-5 hours of broken sleep a night. This makes for one not pleasant mommy. I feel like I"ve done about 125 night shifts in a row. any shift workers out there will know what I mean. Vague nasuea most of the time, headaches and your limbs sort of feel detached from your body. I don't know how much longer I can do this. Its sad when you have a full dream and look at the clock and you were asleep for 3 minutes.

Do I want one night of at least 6 consecutive hours of sleep? Yes please! But I still wouldn't trade my little beauties for it. That's how much I love you! I guess one day I'll look back at this and just laugh, it will seem so fleeting, but today, it just feels never ending.

Please sleep a little longer tonight my Matthias, and Jil please turn off that 4am alarm clock in your head. I would greatly appreciate it!

Where has the time gone?

Wow, I'm a brutal blogger, but hopefully that means I'm too busy living life to sit and write about it! I just want to quick show everyone the precious boy that entered our life on October 2, 2011 after being overdue for 8 days. Thanks again to every single doctor that told me i would definately be early with this one. As a nurse I knew that was a sure fire way to ensure i would be over due.

Look at that face though... he was definatly worth the wait! Here he is 3 months old and smiling like crazy. Some mornings it's that smile that keeps me going.

Jil is an amazing big sister. She is so kind and caring to this little guy it melts myheart on muliple occasions. Like now, I'm typing, Matthias is crying and she is talking to him through the crib slats to calm him down. And it's working. I pray that Jil and Matthias will always love each other the way that they do now. Hope this ties anyone over until next time.

Oh i was reading back and so far, I have only bought one loaf of bread since by resolution and that was because I was not going to bake 2 days before moving! And I must say, my bread is amazing, ask my husband!

We move ton Friday from our quite little town to an even quiter, littler country house next to the church jeff got a job at. I'm nervous and incredibly excited to bring my little girl to a country home to raise her in and to bring out little boy home from the hospital to this little piece of paradise.

It's been  hard to say goodbye to certain people, we've made some incredible friends here and I will miss them dearly. I don't think I really open up to people quickly and pray that new friends come easily in our new community.

I've decided to start potty training after the move but my little girl is a stubborn one and i'm so scared that she will never decide to use the toilet but I'm learning that this stubborness will be amazing once transformed into perserverance and determination... it's just difficult when  you're 2 1/2. Why does parenting need to be so competative? I'm tired of hearing of your 18 month old that is already potty trained...

Our house has still not sold but I'm learning more and more to trust God with our needs. The constant in my life is that he will provide.

Jeff has been amazing these last few months. I'm sure he can't wait to have his normal wife back. He has handled this round of pregnancy hormones and emotions like a champ. Lots of hugs and reassurance has gotten me through lots of moments. How I love this man.

5 weeks to go till I meet our new addition to our family. I can wait to kiss his little face, stroke his soft cheeks and drink in that smell that only a newborn can have. We have longed for another child and we are blessed that he will soon be here. Although I'm a little sad that Jil and I will not have as much time and special moments just the two of us. I know things will change and that she is going to be an amazing big sister but having another child makes me realize how big she actually is and how fast my time with her is going. She is so precious. Her lastest is telling Jeff and I all the exciting things that have happened to her, seeing a bear in Waterton, the dog that ate her slurpee, seeing the giraffes, zebras and fighting monkeys at the zoo. She knows how to have a good time and to get everyone else to have a good time with her.

Sometimes i wish i could just slow life down, to enjoy it more and remember every last detail.

Full Circle

So my food adversions have returned! Yuck... literally. I had 7 glorious weeks of feeling pretty good, minus the reflux and exhaustion but at least I could eat, and eat, and eat. Now, whenever I make something for supper I just want gag. It's not to the throw up point but I just have that grossness in the pit of my stomach. I guess I'm back to fresh fruit, fruit smoothies (yummmm) and basic carbs. At least I know that this little man growing inside of me will be worth every moment of all the hardships. I can't wait to meet him.

Discourgaed

I am feeling discouraged. I've been working too much, have little to no energy for housework, cooking, cleaning and fun with the family. We've had NO ONE even look at our house, let alone put on offer on it and we still don't know what we are doing with our lives. It's all just a little much for a pregnant girl to manage.

My whole family had family pictures yesterday. 7 adults + 2 little ones and I think it went really well. My little one did have many moments of attitude but we perservered. Can't wait to see the final results.

Please give me patience, energy and a little hope for today.

Picking the Good Stuff.

I'm watching my daughter pick every last strawberry out of my spinach salad and eat them. It's not supper yet, but I put my fruity salad on the table in preparation for supper and she spotted them. I"m so glad when I see her at her young age like good and nutritious food. Did she just ask me 10 minutes ago for some chocolate chips....yes. But after a no from mom she looked on for the next best thing.

I hope I can model and teach the importance of good life choices and that my children will follow suit.

Jeff loved my homemade bread. I think this recipe is a keeper but I will  definately try some others over the next months.

Family pictures tomorrow, I hope I look pregnant enough and not just chubby. I hope we all smile and the photographer is able to catch some wonderful moments on film. I love my family and want it to show for the world to see.

My daughter's just informed me that "the strawberries are all done", I'd better go get some more.

Epic Fail

Worked overtime AGAIN today and when I got home my husband had already gotten fast food for supper. I was going to be an amazing wife and whip up something nutritious for dinner.

At least yesterday I weeded the strawberry plants and  trimmed the apple tree. This evening will not consist of anything all that production. Work just wipes me out. It would be nice to actually get a break to put my feet up once in a while and to feel appreciated by certain coworkers...haha yeah right.

I need to rid myself of my critical attitude. Today probably won't be the day.

Adventures in my Kitchen

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the food my family eats, why and where it comes from. Why do I rely on my grocery store so much and what can I do about it.

Do I love junk food, convenience food, and everything processed... most of the time. But I do try to avoid it. I know I can do better but what. I need to change small things and eventually it will turn to big things.

As a working mom who is pregnant and has a toddler, good food can be hard to come by but with a little meal planning (thank you taste of home website), getting a few days of groceries (planning helps to avoid those convenience foods) and trying to enjoy to make good food all help out. I've been doing better lately.

Today I made my first loaves of homemade bread. Yum. Why haven't I done this sooner? Will it sit on my counter for 2 weeks and not spoil. No! But then again what IS in that store bought bread? My honey whole wheat bread with flax tastes too good and wouldn't last that long anyway especially with my strawberry freezer jam made with local strawberries. next on the list, weed my strawberry plants so that those strawberries for this years jam will be very local and trim my apple tree, it does make the best pie fillling in town.

Hopefully my Betty Homemaker spirit keeps up!

Resolution, do not buy bread for the next 6 months.

On the table tonight, sticky glazed chicken and cucumber salad....

Another year in review.

On the occasion of my upcoming 25th birthday...yikes! I think I need to commemorate the event with a year in review. What a year it has been and I dare say it has been the best year of my life yet.

One year ago I was quite pregnant working lots, and anticipating the arrival of our little girl. Today I've been home for over 9 months with Anjileta and loving every minute of it ( well, most of the minutes). I just can't believe that in only a few short months I have to go back to work and leave my baby with someone else to watch her. I hope and pray that I will be able to juggle work, family and parenting along with a little time for mysef in there.

I love being a mom and Jil's beautiful smile make me so joyful. I have so much to be thankful for. A wonderful husband, my lovely girl, a great family, lots of friends and I thank God for these things daily. I am one spoiled girl.

I can't wait to see with the next year has to bring.