The Kiefer Family

Our Hungry Caterpillar Turns One!

2011-08-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's already here... and no, I simply can't believe it's been a year already! Caleb Nicholas has grown so quickly, and he has added such a fun new dimension to our family. He keeps us on our toes and always laughing. We gathered this weekend to celebrate his first year of life. With much help from my friend Melissa and thieving ideas from the internet, his Very Hungry Caterpillar party was a huge success!

I'll take you on a brief tour of some of the decor:

Caleb's birthday shirt, ordered from etsy.

Birthday banner, in the same style as his invitations.

Very Hungry Caterpillar onesies our guy has outgrown...

Brother & sister handprint caterpillars:

We gave out vintage Eric Carle books & "caterpillar food" as party favors.

The kids (and some adults!) wore the caterpillar antennae.

The cake:

The fruit display consisted of the first five fruits the caterpillar ate through in the book.

We used these cute food cards to tell the story through the food display.

Aunt Melissa had the great idea to make pinwheel sandwich lollipops as a healthier alternative to actual lollipops. They were great!

I also made a video montage of Caleb's first year in photos, including the video of when he & Shiloh met for the first time, set to music. I'll admit I shed a tear or two in the process of reliving his first year.

And now a brief tour of the festivities, including the handsome birthday boy himself.

He had such a great time at the party!! He loved having so many family & friends come to the house.

He looked pretty cute in the antennae as well.

His favorite toy of the day, a Thomas the Train ride-on.

Caleb with Aunt Melissa, who is super awesome...

She made this incredible caterpillar cutout which we had fun making everyone stick their faces through...

And, of course, what's a kid's birthday party without the cupcake action??

SMASH!

I love this messy, cupcake-covered boy! (Thanks, Leslie, for the great shot!)

For a more full experience of the party in photos, visit here.

Happy birthday to my sweet & crazy boy! You are such a blessing to us. We love you!!

Hair Gel (aka Cute Mohawk Fail)

2011-08-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

Gosh, he's so stinkin' cute.

Hangin' with Uncle TJ

2011-08-20T07:22:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago, my brother TJ came to Louisville to stay with us for a couple of days. He recently left his job with NOAA in Seattle so he could begin a professional pilot program at SIU-Carbondale, which he'll begin next week. This summer he came back to the east coast and spent some time with family before starting school. We were very excited to have him come visit, even briefly. Most of our festivities centered around eating (hey, that's what we Kiefers do best!). We took him to Mark's Feed Store (had tried Lynn's Paradise Cafe but at 2pm on a Saturday there was a crazy long wait, especially the week of the Man vs. Food episode airing)...

You'll notice this "thumbs up" pose in almost every picture of TJ. Shiloh adopted it as well.

Caleb was NOT thrilled about having to wait for our food. I mean, how sad is this face??

Shiloh, on the other hand, WAS thrilled to wait, because she had Uncle TJ's undivided attention and a game of tic-tac-toe.

We drove through Cave Hill Cemetery to see Col. Sanders memorial (my idea--I'm weird and think cemeteries are beautiful, especially this one)...grilled rib eyes and veggie kabobs... and then on Sunday we went to the Louisville Slugger Museum.

Shi NEEDED to sit on top of the huge ball/glove.

Baby dolls and baseball bats...

The Kiefers, July 2011:

We posed with Uncle TJ in front of the giant bat as well.

Then we introduced Uncle TJ to Indian food at the best Indian restaurant in Louisville, Kashmir.

Here's Shi chowing down on some naan.

Chutneys, chicken tikka, lamb korma, chicken makhni and tikka masala, naan, OH MY! We tore up this meal.

TJ's verdict: thumbs up!

We enjoyed our brief visit and wish him the best of luck as he begins his flight training program! Love you, Uncle TJ! :)

First Day of School 2011-2012

2011-08-19T13:32:00.001-07:00

Hello, fellow bloggers & readers! I have been MIA for quite a while and really have no good excuse. Well, I guess technically I could use the whole our-computer-got-fried-by-lightning excuse, but really, I wasn't blogging much before that either. But, as you saw from my last [sad excuse for a] post, my awesome husband bought me a macbook which I've been trying to learn to use, and am bringing you this first post from it. I'm REALLY going to try to be better about posting, and I may bombard you with several here in the next week which will likely be in reverse chronological order -- call it a backward glance at our summer, if you will. :) [I've also been neglecting reading all of your blogs, friends! LAME, I know...]

Miss Shiloh Ainslie missed her first true day of school this year because she was sick, but she started yesterday instead and of course Mom insisted on the obligatory first day of school pics in the morning. The weather was dreary (it began raining an hour or so later) but the subject was still pretty cute.

Shiloh's teacher this year at Whitefield is Mrs. Malone. We really like her! So far, Mrs. Malone has reported that Shiloh is "very sweet," "very talkative," and "mature." On the first day of school, Shiloh apparently worked very diligently trying to befriend a little girl in her class who missed her Mommy very much and was sad/clingy to the teacher. She said Shi did everything she could think of to make this little girl feel better, and Mrs. Malone even emailed the girl's mom to let her know about Shiloh trying to comfort her. I was very proud of my little girl with a big heart.

We're looking forward to seeing what the remainder of this school year will bring! YEAH!

Have I told you lately...

2011-07-25T19:27:00.000-07:00

...how absolutely wonderful my husband is? There are many reasons... the latest of which is that he bought me one of these.

He surprised me with it as an early anniversary present and made me one extremely happy girl.

Now.... I just have to learn how to use it. :)

Caleb = 9 months

2011-06-24T19:23:00.000-07:00

Nevermind the fact that he's actually closer to 10 months now... this busy, tired momma thinks she's doing well just to get it posted in the same month at all! Let me share a little bit with you about our sweet and WILD boy:

He's precious.

And really stinkin' cute.

And he's a BIG boy. 22 lbs 5 oz (75th percentile) and 29.5 inches (90th percentile). He's also as strong as an ox, and we call him DestructiCon.

His sister is still his favorite person in the world, and she always keeps him laughing. Here he is playing at his favorite indoor play place, her kitchen.

He's going to a be a guitar player one day... see?

He can stand on his own for several seconds, cruises around all of the furniture, and has taken 2 steps on his own to date. He pushes a shopping cart all around the living room. Walking probably isn't terribly far away!

He is 110% boy. Exhibit A: His innate boyness teaches him that grabbing his crotch is really, really funny.

He crawls with one hand in a "fistbump," as Shiloh calls it. Always.

See? There he is at it again.
Oh, and yes -- his hair is still auburn.

This boy loves being outdoors -- going for a walk, swinging, and swimming are some of his favorite things to do.

His laugh is one of the most wonderful sounds in the world. We also enjoy hearing him say "Dada", "Mama", and something resembling "Hi" while waving. He's VERY good at shaking his head no appropriately and swatting things out of his face that he doesn't want. He can sign "more" (used most often outside when his swing begins to slow down and he wants more pushing) and kind of signs "finished/all done."

His hair is always wild and crazy. I refuse to cut it. It matches his personality.

He has 4 teeth so far, 2 on bottom and 2 on top. He also has big, beautiful dark eyes -- right now a sort of hazel color.

He is such a joy! We couldn't be more thankful for this little dude.

Mother's Day Rings

2011-06-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

This year, I pretty much dictated to Nick what I wanted for Mother's Day because I'd had my eye on them for a while... however, it took me probably a month or two of researching and shopping around on etsy to decide which ones I wanted. I fell in love with this style from Anna Ourth Jewelry. So without further ado, meet my newest right ring finger companions!

While the pictures really don't do justice to the details, each ring is inscribed with my kiddos' names on one side...

...and their birthdates on the other (i.e. palm side). I couldn't be happier with them! What's funny is that I hadn't realized the kids' birthdates were nearly palindromes until I saw them stacked side by side. [01.03.08 and 08.30.10]

Thanks to my wonderful husband for letting me be so picky this year. It sure made for one happy Momma! :)

Shiloh Says... [Part 3]

2011-06-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

* "Bena-drool? Like, does that help me stop drooling?"

S: "Would you like some privacy?
C: "Yes, please."
S: "OK. I'll come in too and shut the door and we can both have some privacy."

C: "Shiloh, we're not going to have that kind of attitude in this house."
S: "But only in Julianne's house."
C: "No, not there either."
S: "I'm supposed to keep it inside my body...?"
C: "Well, no... you should have a GOOD attitude inside your body... you're missing the point!!"

(Before bed)
S: "Hey Mom?"
C: "Yes Shiloh?"
(trying to procrastinate going to sleep)
S: "Ummm.... I just wanted to tell you I love your haircut."

C: "Shi, what do you think Daddy wants for Christmas?"
S: "A new, clean underwear."

C: "Well, babe, you may have given me your cold."
S: "No I didn't! I'm still sick so you don't have it."

(going out for dinner)
S: "Oh wait! I need to get a sucker to take. I wanna give it to the baker man."
C: "The baker man?"
S: "Yep. And he will suppreciate it. And I will say, 'You're welcome, my baker.'"

* "Mom! Mom!! My poo is like METEORS!!!"

(after reading about David and Goliath)
C: "So David fought for God's army, and Goliath was from the... ?"
S: "I don't know."
C: "The Phil-..."
S: "The PHIL-GRIMS!!!"

(pointing at computer screen but nothing in particular)
S: "Oh!"
C: "What?"
S: "Oh! Oh!"
C: "Oh what?"
S: "OH! OH!"
C: "What are you saying "Oh!" about?"
(pointing becomes more excited)
S: "OH! OHHH! OHHHHHHHHHH!"
C: "OH WHAT???????"
S: "Just oh."

* (singing) "Jingle bells... and cockle shells... and pretty maids all in a row!"

* (specifying Daddy instead of Mommy)"I want someone... who is a BOY... to hold me."

* "Look at my poop! It's the biggest poop in the biiiiiiig, wide world. It's a surprise for God, too. I'm gonna pray that to Him. (bows head) 'Dear God, I've got a surprise for you. It's my biggest poo in the whole, wide world. Amen."

* "You know what I'm gonna be when I grow up? A pirate."

* (laughs loudly and suddenly) "I think I have the burps!"

* "My fingers are all wrinkly. But we don't iron skin, do we?"

(sitting in front of window, looking out, for a long time)
C: "Whatcha doin, babe?"
S: "I'm just watching the beautiful day go by."

* (stirring up her "pie batter") "Now it's time for the spices... first we need pepper. It will be a little spicy. Next we need cinnamon. And now we need super power. That's my favorite spice I've never tried before."

(Shiloh rips up a napkin)
S: "Hey Mother, come see my good surprise! Do you like it?"
C: "What is it?"
S: "A mess."

* "Mommy, Caleb won't hold my hand. It's breaking my heart. Will you tell him he's breaking my heart?"

* "Did you know I have an awesome tongue that cleans my fingers all the way?" (licks fingers, then re-examines) "Well... maybe not all the way."

* "It seems I've spilled some of my soup. I'd better clean that up."

* (Eating marshmallows) "I know this is a little bit hard for you to understand, but... you just need to try." (Proceeds to stab a marshmallow on the end of her spoon and eat it)

(Bathtime)
C: "OK, it's time to start getting washed."
S: "But you see I'm having a little bit of fun here, don't you?"

* "Mom! MOM! I want to be a rockstar when I grow up!!"

* (Baking cake, not enough eggs) "Don't worry, Mom, don't worry. It's okay. We can just use that many. Big boys and girls ALWAYS keep their promises."

S: "My baby's name is Weariest. He's really weary.
C: "Do you know what weary means?"
S: "Yeah! It's when you do something really cool!"

* "Look! I drew a unicorn! See? He has a corn on his head."

* "I wonder why I'm always so trippin'."

* "Want to see if I wanna watch another show? Wanna see if that's why I'm so cranky? I might need to watch Shaun the Sheep."

* "I'm going to sing you a song. It's really churchy. Maybe I should sing it in church instead."

* (annoyed) "Moooooommmm, don't take a picture of me... I'm not doing anything funny!"

* "Mom, I love you... you just need to calm down."

S: "Mom, would you like some of my 'samwich'?"
C: "No thank you, sweetie. I'm going to make my own sandwich in just a minute."
S: "What about just some bread? That part is just the 'sam'."

S: "Did you know my horsey can make milk?"
C: "No, I didn't."
S: "Yep, she can. You just pull these things."
C: "What things?"
S: "These things right here, on her bottom." (simulates milking a cow)
C: "Oh. What are those things called?"
S: "They're called... they're just called, 'cow things'."

* (random and sing song-y) "The BEST way is the ESPRESS way!"

* "I'm like THIS big now. Pretty soon I may need to start working too. I'll have to come to work with you, Mom. You'll have to share one of your swimsuits with me."

* "I'm just a little kid! I can't keep up with my mind."

S: "Did you know Michael could be a Mike?"
C: "Yep."
S: "Did you know Daddy could be a Grandpa?"
C: "Well.. not for a looooooooong time, though."
S: (casually) "Yeah. Not for like a week or so."

(mumbling/talking/I don't know what she was saying)
S: something something "...jamboree."
C: "Jamboree?? Where did you hear about a jamboree?"
S: "I dunno."
C: "What is a jamboree?"
S: "Umm, well, it has a J on top, and some toilet paper, and you can eat it all together."

C: "Shi, how do you like your new shoes?"
S: "Ummm, well I like them, but they're kind of ridiculous."
C: (laughs out loud) "Really? Why?"
S: "I don't know."
C: "Well, what's ridiculous about them?:
S: "Well... look inside, see? It's so dark in there it's ridiculous!"

* "I can't do that right now because my hands don't want to."

C: "Shi, want to go for a walk?"
S: "Well, maybe not... I don't want to get too much exercise in me."

* (after she hurt her toe) "I can just walk only on my high heel."

* "Does Caleb crawl with this hand in a fistbump, or this one?"

* (Nick changing electrical outlet covers) "Daddy, did you get electrocuted yet? When are you gonna get electrocuted?"

Spring 2011

2011-04-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

The Long Lost Caleb Files

2011-04-17T19:06:00.000-07:00

Simply precious pictures of my little dude taken by BellaBaby in the hospital...please forgive me for the 7 1/2 month delay!

Among the Daffodils...

2011-04-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

Pictures from a MONTH ago (whoa, sorry about that one) at the zoo. Warning: Very picture heavy! The oldest child was too busy to sit still for pictures, and the youngest one was too entranced by the daffodils to look at the camera, (and they most certainly wouln't give me a great shot of them together!) but they turned out decently cute anyway. So here you go!

I love these two. I mean, look how adorable they are!

And this girl... well, she is simply crazy about her daddy.

As you'll see, there are more pictures of Caleb in the daffodils than Shi... but that's simply because he's the only one we could get to sit still! Here, he was sampling a leaf (don't worry, I just let him have a small taste!).

Don't you just want to get ahold of those chunky cheeks??

I wrangled the kiddos and had Nick snap a few shots of us.

Here's me and my little dude.

Have I mentioned how much I love my Nikon? And I haven't even learned any of the manual settings yet...

Love love love it.

Right there. That's what brings joy to my heart.

I tried to get a cutesy sibling shot here which I thought would be precious. They weren't having it.

This one is growing up into a young lady.

Sweet, sweet, sweet.

"Mom, why does Sissy get to ride the carousel with Dad but I don't?"

"Oh well. It's all good!"

Check out last year's "Field of Flowers" post here. What a difference a year makes!

Sibling Love: Part 2

2011-04-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

Little Lookalike

2011-03-23T07:34:00.000-07:00

Nick:

Caleb:

Nick:

Caleb:

Nick:

Caleb:

Nick:

Caleb:

What do you think? Yes, no?

Jello Jigglers

2011-03-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

This girl loves jello.

Specifically, orange jello. So when I proposed the idea one cold and dreary Saturday of making jello cutouts or "jello jigglers" as they are more commonly known, she squealed with delight... and requested we use her favorite orange jello to do so.

She worked carefully and diligently for a good 10 minutes on cutting out the shapes.

Our jello looked like this after the shapes were cut:

I had these tiny 1 1/2" cookie cutters that we used. The small heart one was the same one we used to make the Valentine's cake pops.

And here's how our jigglers turned out.

If you examine them very carefully you can probably discern some of the shapes. I later learned that you're supposed to dip your pan of jello in warm water before cutting the shapes. Oh well. This girl didn't care. See the look of pure delight on her face?

You can bet I had to stop her from gobbling up the entire plate at once!

Caleb = 6 months

2011-03-16T07:25:00.000-07:00

My oh my, how time does fly! My not-so-little guy is 6 (ahem, and a half) months old and time refuses to slow down for us. So instead we're drinking in every moment with our sweet, spunky, and WILD little guy! So here's a current play-by-play for our "Bubby":

He is:
*BIG! 19 lbs 7 oz (75th percentile) and 28 3/4" long (above 95th percentile)
*Happy
*Vocal - he loves to babble and his favorite sound right now is the "Da da da" sound, although he has also done "Ma ma ma" and "Ba ba ba", along with some others which are quite possibly in a different language
*STRONG
*A mover - he is always wiggling, bouncing, spinning, scooting, rolling, you name it. He's not crawling yet, but he does arch his toosh up in the air, and he scoots himself backward by pushing through his arms. Once he does the two simultaneously we are in serious trouble.

He likes:
*His Sister - okay, LOVES/ADORES her. She is most definitely his favorite person in the world. His eyes light up when she comes into view, and he gets beyond excited when she talks to and plays with him. He also thinks most everything she does is hilarious. As in, REALLY hilarious. Simple things. It's so great to watch.
*Being outside
*Chewing on anything
*Pulling hair
*Sitting up on his own
*Shaun the Sheep
*Being bounced on the bed, bouncing in the jumper or exersaucer... really anything that allows bouncing
*Daddy playing with his hair to help him fall asleep
*Making silly faces in the mirror with Mommy
*Swinging
*Swimming

He dislikes:
*the 4:00 afternoon hour
*peas
*Nebulizer treatments
*Anyone messing with his nose

Caleb and his friend Tristan at a recent playdate:

Aaaaaaaand just because he looks so stinkin' cute in his little dude hat:

Gymnastics Videos

2011-02-26T12:06:00.000-08:00

I've had several requests for photos/video of Shiloh at gymnastics, so here they are! I'm only posting the videos because the photos didn't turn out very well through the glass -- they were taken with my old point and shoot camera -- (and some of the videos aren't great either...but you get the point!). She was VERY excited to go to her first class last week, as you can see:

These videos are actually from this week, which was her 2nd class. She's in a 3-5 year old class, and most of the kids are 4 or 5 and have been taking gymnastics for a couple of years. She had to do a kind of "audition" to be accepted into the class as they don't allow all 3-year-olds into it based on ability level (which we hadn't realized before hand). Shiloh's very bouncy, skip-hoppy, dance-prone, and distracted right now in the classes, but she has a GREAT time. It's really funny to watch her but we also couldn't be more proud of the girl she's growing up to be. So without further ado, here they are!

A couple videos of her working on a circuit:

Circuit 1 from Carrie Kiefer on Vimeo.

Circuit 2 from Carrie Kiefer on Vimeo.

Working on the uneven bars (she's in the back corner on this one):

Uneven bars from Carrie Kiefer on Vimeo.

A couple videos of her first times on the balance beam this week. As you can see in the first video, she does pretty well until she loses her focus and begins worrying about the other kids around her:

Balance Beam 2 from Carrie Kiefer on Vimeo.

Balance Beam 1 from Carrie Kiefer on Vimeo.

Three-fourths of the way through her class today, she marched across the gym and started yelling through the glass, "Mom! MOOOOMMMMM!!! I'M HUUUUUUNGRYYYYYY!" Priceless.

Nevertheless, we're looking forward to watching our gymnast learn and grow each week. :-)

Something beautiful to warm your heart

2011-02-23T12:54:00.000-08:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Valentine's Day cake pops

2011-02-15T18:58:00.000-08:00

Hello! Yes! I'm still here! Why yes, I've missed you too while I was away :)

A few weeks ago my rockin' husband surprised me with this book I'd been wanting:

It's written by the popular blogger Bakerella. She takes basic cake balls--crumbled cake mixed with frosting--and turns them into creative cake lollipops (hence, cake pops!). Did I say creative? I meant WAYYY creative and adorable. I mean COME ON... do you see those robots on there? How are those even possible??

I had spotted the Valentine's cake pops in her book and was excited about trying them. They look like cute little conversation hearts on lollipop sticks. So Shiloh and I gave them the ol' college try. They turned out fairly well, other than a few cracking. And they did take quite a while to make with a margin for trial and error. In the end, though, I was pretty pleased and we took some to friends and even to our doctor's office to share.

So without further ado, I present to you my first cake pops:

[A couple things I should point out... that is EDIBLE ink pen... and those fun, festive Valentine's Day tags came from here.]

I enjoyed sharing the finished product with my cake pop cutie.

This one was waiting for my big Valentine when he got home from work.

Hope your Valentine's Day was fabulous!!

A Rodeo Roundup to Celebrate Shiloh's 3rd Birthday

2011-01-29T17:52:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday we were FINALLY able to celebrate Shiloh's 3rd birthday with her cowgirl-themed party. (We'd had to push the shindig back a couple of weeks due to rampant sickness in our household.) It ended up working out better then because more friends and family were able to attend and Mommy had more time to get things together (although I still waited until the last minute!).

(I must confess, I weenied out and did not make her shirt this year... I ordered it from my favorite handmade website. And I couldn't have been happier with how it turned out! I did make a cute bow to accompany it.)

I found some festive decor at Hobby Lobby to play on the western theme, and put together a cupcake corral for the occasion.

I also made this birthday banner for the special little girl, and some cute cowgirl cookie mixes (a la bakerella) to give out to party guests. Let me break something down for you here... these. cookies. are. fantastic. FO SHO. Do yourself a favor and go make some. Right now!! (Also a perk -- you get to blend the ingredients by hand! It's fun and doubles as a great exfoliant!)

The stick horses and bandanas were a favorite with the kids...

Although I believe this fun group of kiddos would have had a blast no matter what! We're so thankful for such sweet friends, family, and neighbors.

At one point during the party, the birthday girl ran up to me and asked, "Is it okay if everyone sings happy birthday to me now?" I figured this was my signal to free some of those cupcakes from the corral. So we serenaded the birthday girl...

And cheered as she blew out her candles...

Then smiled as she devoured her chocolate cupcake.

Chocolate does a girl good. (And aren't you impressed how white that shirt still is??)

Then the birthday girl had a blast opening gifts and just galloping around the party.

She had SO much fun, in fact, that after the party was over she whimpered, "But Mom! I want it to still be my birthday!!" I know, sweet girl. But next year will be here before we're ready. So thanks to everyone who helped make this day so special for our little cowgirl cutie!

Carousel Art Supply Organizer

2011-01-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

If you know Shiloh Kiefer at all, even the tiniest bit, then you also know how much she loves doing arts and crafts. LOVES. She is content to sit at a table with arts and craft supplies for close to TWO HOURS at times, just art-ing and craft-ing to her little heart's content. So needless to say, we have a slew of art supplies but didn't have a clever way of storing some of the most basic ones... until now! I began pittering around the internet for ideas and came across things like this and this that I thought were semi-neat... until I saw this post. THERE. That's it-- festive, fun, and functional! What a perfect way to organize preschool art supplies!!

So I gathered up the supplies...

1 wooden lazy susan (from Target): $7.99
6 metal tins (from Target's $1 section): $1 each
6 adhesive magnets: $1.99

... and gave it a go. And here's the finished product:

I love that it spins so there's easy access to all of the supplies. And by using the magnets to attach the tins, they are removable in case your little artist wants to carry her pail of crayons into a different room to color, or in case Mom wants to switch out the tins for a different theme.

And let me tell you, our little girl loves it! We made the mistake of letting her see this present first on her birthday morning, and she insisted on doing arts and crafts immediately upon seeing it. She was ecstatic. She didn't even want to open her other presents... we had to convince her!

Remember these pictures from my last post?

Her latest convictions are that she wants to be either an artist or a ballerina when she grows up. But we're not getting nearly as much ballet practice in as we are gluing, painting, coloring, and cutting!

Shiloh Ainslie Turns Three

2011-01-10T19:09:00.001-08:00

The little missus turned three last Monday, and Nick and I had a fun day planned with her to celebrate. However, she wasn't feeling great (you'll see her bloodshot eye in several pictures) so we were only able to do a couple of those things until she was completely wiped out. Her birthday also included a trip to the doctor's office because her fever returned in the afternoon. We probably overdid it, as you'll see in the below photos. But for the most part I think she had a great day and felt duly celebrated. :)

First on the day's agenda for our little sleepyhead was opening a few presents from Mom and Dad.

Then we took her out for breakfast.

She really didn't eat much, but we had fun anyway. Then we headed over to KaZoing to play, bounce, and paint.

It's east to see how she wore herself out here, and why she looked like this on the way home:

After a trip to the doctor, we finished out the day with some ice cream from here. The birthday girl chose banana.

Nick and I have been so blessed during the past 3 years with this sweet and spunky girl.

She is so full of personality...

...and has the biggest, most loving heart in the world.

Mommy and Daddy love you so much, sweet Shiloh. Happy birthday, baby girl!

Caleb = 4 months

2011-01-08T18:24:00.000-08:00

Our big boy keeps growing, growing, growing. He weighed in at 17 lbs 3 oz (~80th percentile) and is 27 inches long (95th percentile). He's about the size his sister was at 6 1/2 or 7 months. Crazy!

He keeps getting sweeter and stealing more of our hearts. He's still pretty vocal at times, and will sometimes "sing" along with Mommy, which is beyond precious! He's begun trying to roll from his back to his tummy, but will get stuck with one arm beneath him and sometimes get frustrated.

**UPDATE 1/10/11: Two days after this post, our little dude began rolling all the way from back to tummy. Mommy told him he wasn't supposed to be doing this until about 6 months old, and he thought that was funny. :) **

We've given him rice cereal a couple of times so far. The first time he seemed to like it at first but then got frustrated, we think because he didn't really know how to eat it. The second time he acted pretty disgusted with it. I remember his sister not liking rice cereal very much and was much more appreciative of us giving her oatmeal.

He had been sleeping great, up to 10 1/2 hours at night uninterrupted, UNTIL Mom and Dad tried to move him into the room with his sister. The first two nights were disastrous and we ended up aborting the mission. Every little noise from one of them would wake the other up. A cd with an ocean track played on repeat helped a little, and the third night Caleb slept in the room with Shiloh until 5:30 am (success!). However, the next day Shi came down with a fever (January 1... and has been sick ever since! It was finally determined to be strep throat), so we moved him back into our room until she gets well. He has been sick with a cold (congested, cough, runny nose and eyes) this week and that's causing him to not sleep very well at all, and he also keeps breaking out of his swaddling blanket so that he'll wake up when he's able to move his arms during sleep. We're praying everyone gets well and sleeping patterns soon return to normal! (After all, he looks so sweet when he's sleeping!)

Here's a further peek at our sweet and fun 4 month old.

Christmastime

2011-01-08T18:03:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty behind on my posts here lately. I could blame it on the fact that both kids have been sick (and still are) OR I could simply accept the fact that I'll probably not be as on top of my posting now that #2 is here to enrich our lives and keep us a little busier. :)

Anyway, I'm going to cheat on this one by directing you here to see photos from our Christmas celebrations this year. We had a wonderful holiday season and are so blessed by our family and friends.

I hope yours was just as lovely!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! (And, On Santa Claus....)

2010-12-24T11:44:00.000-08:00

Here's the photo that made it onto our Christmas card this year:

Here's the one that didn't.

Priceless.

A facebook friend shared this interesting article which illustrates a fresh perspective on how to handle the whole Santa Claus thing at Christmas. Nick and I decided that we would not tell our children that Santa Claus is real. We aren't trying to stifle their imaginations (as some have argued with us) or downplay the role of cultural heritage. Instead, we felt that the issues of parent-child trust and Santa replacing Jesus as the centrality of Christmas were at stake. We do, however, tell her that while Santa Claus is typically a costumed person, he is based on a historical figure named Saint Nicholas. We talk in brief detail about Saint Nick's life and the good he did, illustrating why so many people enjoy dressing up as a more imaginative form of him during the Christmas season. This video has been a great and fun way to do this. We still let Shiloh (and later will allow Caleb to) choose to watch movies about Santa, and she even wanted to sit on Santa's lap at the store this year. However, we are teaching her that Christmas is truly about the birth of God's son, Jesus, and that we give gifts, as Nick will say, "...to celebrate Jesus being the best gift of all."

Here's to hoping you and your family have had, and continue to have, a wonderful and joyous Christmas season this year!

Snowman pops

2010-12-20T07:18:00.000-08:00

I found this cute idea here and decided Shiloh and I needed to try our hand at it.

They were fun to make and quite easy. You insert a popsicle (or sucker-type) stick into a Double Stuf Oreo, dip it in white bark coating, allow it to harden a bit, and then decorate it as you please (Be sure not to let it harden all the way, though). When your nearly 3 year old daughter helps decorate, some of her creations may look like this:

Beautiful :) It was just as much fun to watch her sample her snowman. You know it's good when you end up with icing in your hair.

(See in that last photo how the popsicle stick ended up BEHIND the Oreo? I have no idea how that happened... AND how it didn't fall apart when we dipped it. This was the unsolved mystery of the day!)

These little guys look pretty adorable wrapped up and tied with Christmas-y ribbon, too!

I think these are the making of another Christmas tradition!

Rollin' and Gigglin'

2010-12-18T17:58:00.000-08:00

Finally! Finally!! My little guy began rolling at about 10 weeks, but it wasn't until about 2 weeks ago that I was able to catch it on video. Here ya go!

And here's another short clip of our little guy giggling... just because he's so darn cute :)

If you want to remember what his sister's giggles sounded like around this age (just a bit older), go here.

Prayers for Cooper

2010-12-13T07:24:00.000-08:00

Hi, friends and family.

I wish this post was under better circumstances, but it's truly an urgent plea for your prayers for little Cooper. Cooper is my aunt's 4 1/2 year old grandson who was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma last October. You can read about his journeyat his family's website: http://coopertroopers.wordpress.com/. Cooper is a fighter but I am pleading with you to please immerse him in prayer at this most critical time in his fight.

Thank you in advance!!

Ready for a Rompin' Rodeo??

2010-12-05T19:06:00.001-08:00

Giddy Up Pink Birthday Invitation

Shutterfly birthday cards and birthday party invitations.

View the entire collection of cards.

Save the date!!

"For Unto Us a Child is Born..."

2010-12-04T17:41:00.000-08:00

During this Advent season, I wanted to share one of my favorite Christmas songs with you. It's called "You're Here" by Francesca Battistelli and is sung from the viewpoint of Mary the mother of Jesus as she first holds her baby boy and marvels that he is also the Son of God and Savior of the world. The lyrics are beautiful, powerful, and bring tears to my eyes every time.

Hold on now, I gotta take a deep breath
I don’t know what to say when I look in your eyes
You made the world before I was born
Here I am holding You in my arms tonight

Noel, Noel
Jesus our Emmanuel

You’re here
I’m holding You so near
I’m staring into the face of my Savior
King and Creator
You could’ve left us on our own
But You’re here

Don’t know how long I’m gonna have You for
But I’ll be watching when You change the world
Look at Your hands, they’re still so small
Someday You’re gonna stretch them out and save us all

Noel, Noel, God with us Emmanuel

You’re here, I’m holding You so near
I’m staring into the face of my Savior
King and Creator
You could’ve left us on our own
Bbut you’re here, you’re here

Someday I’m gonna look back on this
The night that God became a baby boy
Someday You’re gonna go home again,
But You leave your spirit and flood the world with joy

You’ll be here, I’m holding You so near
I’m staring into the face of my Savior, King and Creator
You could’ve left me on my own, but you’re here… You’re here
Hallelujah, You’re here
Hallelujah, You’re here

"For unto us a Child is born, and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." - Isaiah 9:6

Caleb = 3 months

2010-12-01T18:44:00.000-08:00

Again, all I can think is, "Where has the time gone?? My little boy is growing up!!" He won't have another checkup until 4 months, but I'm guessing he's somewhere between 15 1/2 and 16 lbs now. He's still sleeping great... his bedtime is now around 7:30 pm and he'll sleep until between 4:30 and 5:00 am when he'll wake up for a feeding, and then sleep again until between 7 and 7:30 am. His big motor development this month was beginning to roll from his tummy to his back (around 2 1/2 months). The first time he did this I had just put him down for some tummy time and turned around to move something out of my way so I could lay down in front of him when I caught some movement in the corner of my eye. I looked over to find him laying on his back! He rolled 5 times that first day, and has done it several times since, but it is not a completely regular occurence just yet. He also rolls about halfway from his back to his belly, but then gets stuck and calls for help. :)

Caleb's sweet personality is continuing to bloom. He loves talking and "singing" with Mommy and cannot take his eyes off of his sister when she is within eyesight. Whenever she cries really loud for any reason, Caleb's bottom lip will protrude... quiver... and then he'll begin bawling as well. It's almost sweet! He continues to love bathtime and being naked, and Mommy has discovered that he's ticklish on the front of his hips. It's such a precious laugh! He's begun to enjoy watching tv, and so far his favorites are his sister's cartoons and sports games.

Anyway, on to the REALLY important stuff... the photos :) They pretty much say it all!

Our Jesse Tree 2010

2010-11-30T17:05:00.000-08:00

Remember this post from last year about our Jesse Tree? I had high hopes at that time of making a set of Jesse tree ornaments for our little tree this year... until we found out we would have an infant during the fall, and then I scratched this from my agenda. So I did a quick search online for a set just mainly out of curiosity, and I found this handmade set on etsy for just $10 (plus shipping)! I love their handmade charm! And it saved me a LOT of time and trouble attempting my own set. Win - win!

I think they make for a pretty adorable Jesse tree, if I do say so myself (and since I didn't make them... I guess I can!). The daily Scripture reading is also sewn to the back of each ornament.

You can read about the origins and purpose of the Jesse Tree here. And be sure to check out this shop if you'd like a cute set of your own! [I did notice she has recently doubled the price... she must have realized that this really was too great of a bargain!].

Thanksgiving Bellies

2010-11-28T17:59:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when you eat too much on Thanksgiving day.

Be careful what you teach your children...

2010-11-28T17:33:00.000-08:00

Remember this post about Shiloh asking me to put makeup on her?

Yes, well... be very careful what you help your child do once... because it may end up with a result something like this:

We might need to discuss the notion that lip liner is called that for a reason!

Kids' Photo Shoot

2010-11-28T17:11:00.001-08:00

I posted these pictures on facebook a couple of weeks ago, but there are several people who follow this blog that aren't on facebook, so... here they are for your viewing pleasure!

I hope he feels this way about girl kisses for a long time!

Typical: one kid crying, one kid (semi) smiling.

The saddest face in the world.

Oh, you know... just laying here being handsome.

Throwin' some 'bows at Sissy.

Pouting.

"But Mom, I'm really an angel!"

Caleb was not digging the photo shoot for a while.

But he lightened up a bit :)

Look at those bright eyes!

My favorite of the little man solo.

"Sister! Don't squeeze so hard!"

Sweet kiddos.

It was an emotional photo shoot, to say the least!

Super awesome camera strap

2010-11-18T13:29:00.000-08:00

... courtesy of my super awesome husband!

My favorite things about it:

1. Its cute factor (love those trees!)
2. The lens cap pocket!
3. It's longer and more comfortable to use during picture taking
4. It's reversible!

Found in this etsy shop.

Brother and Sister Wall Hangings

2010-11-13T13:19:00.001-08:00

When Shiloh was a baby, Nick's sister Heather made us a cute scrapbook wall hanging of our little sweetie sleeping.

I loved it, and still do! I decided to make a copycat one for our most recent addition to the family. Here's how it turned out:

And here's how they look side by side, hanging in what will be their shared room:

What do you think?

Rock on!

2010-11-13T13:05:00.000-08:00

'Nuf said.

Giving Thanks

2010-11-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

This November, I'm following a friend's lead and doing this great idea!!

I'm ~~forcing my family to~~ involving the whole family in the affair. It's a fun way to count down to Thanksgiving and a great daily reminder of our many blessings. Each statement also has an activity included relating to the topic of thanks, i.e. "I am thankful for my family! -- Play a game together, inside or outside." So grab a jar, some stickers and/or ribbon, and print off that list from the 2nd website listed above, and VOILA! You have your own Thanksgiving jar. I'm planning to make this a yearly tradition.

Thanks for sharing this great idea, Stephanie!

Caleb = 2 months

2010-11-01T11:35:00.000-07:00

It is so hard to believe our little guy is 2 months old!! Shiloh and I took him for his checkup yesterday, and despite those awful first shots, everything looked great. He's up to a whopping 14 lbs 7 oz and 25 inches long (both 95th percentile). He weights almost as much as Shiloh did at 4 months old and is longer than she was at that age. It's crazy!

He enjoys his play gym and will keep himself entertained at times for up to 45 minutes. Over the last month he's really taken off with smiling and cooing/beginning to verbalize sounds (although most of those smiles disappear once I stick a camera in front of my face). I'd almost forgotten how precious and sweet those first baby coos are. They make my heart happy!

Another big development is that our sweet boy has begun sleeping for consistent 8 to 8 1/2 hour stretches each night. Then he'll sleep another 2 or so after an early morning feeding. His bedtime has become more consistent, and he usually falls alseep around 8:30 or so. Naps are not so consistent yet, but he has general naptimes (mid-morning around 9:30 or 10), lunchtime (around noon or so), and then mid-afternoon, with a few catnaps thrown in there as well. He's not a fan of napping in his crib yet, but we're working on this one.

Enough chit chat... here are some pics from Caleb's second month.

I love those bright eyes :)

Play time on his mat

Cute little smirk:

Caleb meets his friend Tristan for the first time. "Say WHHAAAAAAAATT??"

Talking to Mommy

Snuggling Daddy... although he looks pretty concerned for some reason!

Dressed up and ready for church.

Contemplating theology before heading to church.

Hanging out with Mom.

A silly, silly grin. Makes me laugh every time.

Deep in thought, again.

Part of a smile

I just love these tummy pics... you can't tell, can you?

Hangin' out with the best sister in the world!

I LOVE that sweet face!!

He looks so handsome and grown up here!

We're thankful every day for this perfect addition to our family!

Two kids on a trampoline

2010-10-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

When we visited family in Owensboro a couple of weekends ago, Shiloh and her cousin Hunter played on the trampoline -- one of their favorite activities together. I decided to snap some photos of their cute silliness.

Irresistable Cookie Dough

2010-10-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

For all of you who requested the recipe for the cookie dough truffles I brought to the chili cook-off on Saturday... here it is! It is egg-free, so it's safe to eat (but possibly harmful to your waistline). My advice: Don't make this while you are home alone. (I learned the hard way!). I found the recipe here. [Sorry I don't have a photo... these delicious morsels didn't last long enough!]

Raw Cookie Dough:

1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 box instant vanilla pudding (3.4 oz box)
1/4 cup milk
1/2 Tbsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
2 cups mini chocolate chips

In large bowl, cream softened butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add pudding mix and blend well. Add milk, vanilla, and baking soda. Then slowly mix in flour until smooth (I did 1/2 cups at a time). Dough will be on the sticky side. Stir in chocolate chips and chill. DO NOT BAKE.

To make the truffles, you simply form the dough into balls and dip into melted chocolate. I mean, what's not to love about cookie dough engulfed in chocolate?!?

ENJOY!!

Shiloh Says... [Part 2]

2010-10-21T18:48:00.000-07:00

... because this girl still makes me laugh. A LOT.

(Brace yourself... there are a lot of these!)

N: "Before we cross the road, we need to do what...?"
S: [in exasperated tone] "Look both ways for kids..."

* "I got choked... there was a bone in my juice."

* "I do a lot of dropping, don't I? But yetis do too." [see Yeti Stomp video]

* "Did you see that little tree I was talking about? It's a baby tree. It wanted to grow into a mommy tree but it couldn't."

(Doing a devotion about waiting for good things)
C: "Shi, have you ever had to wait for something good?"
(She nods)
"What were you waiting for?"
S: "For God to come."

* "Daddy did a great job getting me dressed. He didn't turn this around" (points to shirt).

* "Swimming sure made me a lot of thirsty."

(Getting into the hot car)
"Mommy, it's hot... will you turn on the conditioner?"

S: "Daddy, will you carry me?"
N: "Why don't you walk, sweetheart."
S: "But I don't want any more exercise!"

* "How does God tinkle and poop?"

* "Mommy, I need some water... that candy went down the wrong pipe."

(Using restroom)
"I'm going to need some privacy."

(Talking about how attitude shows what's in her heart)
C: "What do you want to have in your heart?"
S: "Good things."
C: "What types of good things?"
S: "Fish, and treadmills, and... raccoons."

* "Let's high five!"

S: "Daddy went to get my surprise."
C: "Yes he did. I wonder what it will be?"
S: "Maybe a hot gun."
C: "A what??"
S: "A hot gun. Maybe he's bringing me a hot gun."
C: "Ummm... what? What does a hot gun do?"
S: "It makes glue... it's what glue comes out of."
C: "OH! A hot glue gun... right?"
S: "Yep."

(After picking up Nick's cousin Scott)
S: "Daddy, where are we going?"
N: "Home."
(sad face)
"Why, what's wrong?"
S: "I want to go pick up some more guys."

* "I'm not scared of the dark. I have beautiful eyes that help me see in the dark."

C: "Shi, please be sure to put the flashlight back in the drawer when you're finished."
S: "Well, it's in the bathroom so I can use it in the dark. It says, 'Yes, I want to be in here right now.' "

MawMaw: "What are you going to do with your hammer?"
S; "Ham."

(Discussing disobedience)
S: "But God shows me gracey."
C: "You mean God shows you grace and mercy?"
S: "Yes."

(Potty time)
S: "I'm finished!"
C: "Did you [go #2]?"
S: "No... I think I'm going to wait until baby brother gets here... until he's born."

(Yelling loudly in Target to get my attention)
"MOMMY!!!!!!!! Mommy I need to go POTTY REALLY BAD!!!!! If I don't my BOTTOM WILL GET INFECTED!!!!!!!!!"

*(while I was pregnant)
"Hurry, Mommy!! Hurry and eat all your food before baby brother growls again!"

C: "Your bottom isn't quite big enough to fill out the big potty seat yet, is it?"
S: "No, but yours is."
C: "Yes, yes mine is."
S: "But daddy's isn't. He has to stand up."

C: "Shiloh, who is your best friend?"
S: "You are, Mommy."

* "I need to file my nails too... they're getting a little trimmy."

(out of the blue, breaking silence in the car; Shiloh begins chuckling)
S: "Daddy can't be a captain! He's a boy!!"
C: "Umm... boys can be captains...?"
N: "Shiloh, what is a captain?"
S: "Captains are not anything. They're pirates."

(all 3 of us out in her baby pool; pre-Caleb)
* "Daddy, you got BIG MAN BOOBIES!!!!!! Mommy has big mommy boobies. I got little girl boobies."

(to Caleb, the first time they meet)
* "You're part of our family."

S: "I wish I didn't have 2 eyes."
C: "How many would you like to have?"
S: "Just 1..." (smashing the other one closed)
C: "Why just one?".
S: "Cause, like I have just one nose."

(singing to the tune of "Oh my darling, Clementine")
* "Oh my child, oh my child, oh my child, Clementine! You were lost and I couldn't find you... but the sun and a flashlight will help me find you."

N: "Shiloh, were you trying to take your brother's pacifier?"
S: "Umm, nope! Well... probably a little."

S: "Who were you talking to [on the phone]?"
N: "Mr. X." [name removed for privacy ;)]
S: "Is he prickly?"
N: "Umm... I don't know... why?"
S: "Cause... I need to feel his back to see if he is prickly."

(after weighing herself on scale)
N: "Go tell Mommy how much you weigh."
S: "Mommy, Mommy!! I weigh 9-1-1."
C: "9-1-1? Really?"
S: "Yes. I need to STOP [thrusts hands our in front of her], drop, and roll."

[in reference to a lady who had stopped to comment on how cute Caleb was as she walked past]
* "She sounds like a daddy."

* "Mommy, you're my majesty, and Daddy, you're my king."

[asking questions at bedtime to stall]
S: "Mommy, I have a question."
C: "OK, 1 more question."
S: "My last question has a lot of questions."

N: "How are you doing, baby girl?"
S: "Umm, a little bit good."
C: "Why just a little bit good?"
S: "Cause, that's just how I feel sometimes."

* "That would be a LOVELY help!"

N: "I really love you, Shiloh."
S: "I love turkeys."

* "Hey! Yoda and Mia live in a skyscraper."
(which, of course, they do not.)

(talking about my haircut)
* "It looks good, Mom. So did they use a knife or what?"

"Boo!" (at the Zoo)

2010-10-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

Our evening in photos.

What a Difference 2 Years Makes...

2010-10-11T16:45:00.000-07:00

2008:

2009:

2010:

Unbelievable!

Annual Huber's Pilgrimage

2010-10-11T16:20:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's that time of year again! Last Sunday, we made the annual fall trip to Huber's farm to pick pumpkins and apples. We had a yummy lunch at the Huber family restaurant to stock up on energy for our undertakings. Here is our afternoon in photos:

It was a beautiful and cool, crisp, fall day.

Caleb hitched a ride with Mom, while the rest of us rode the wagon out to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard.

With the breeze it was somewhat chilly, which warranted the monkey hat for Little Man.

Now, on to the task of choosing a pumpkin.

Shiloh marched straight through the pumpkin patch for about 10 minutes without even stopping to investigate any of the pumpkins. She then stopped suddenly, knelt down, and declared, "This one!"

I liked this one.

Yes, Shiloh's pumpkin could eat my pumpkin.

Nick's mom went with us again this year. Shiloh simply adores her MawMaw.

We attempted a family photo here, but Shiloh was sullen over having gotten some of the tiny, sharp needles from the pumpkin plants in her hand.

So we moved on to the apple orchard.

The red apples had some sore of blight on all of them. Look at Nick's disgusted face!

We picked apples up high...

...and down low...

... and Shiloh found the "most perfect" apple of all!

This is what happens when your little apple picker isn't ready to stop picking and decides to pout. Can you spot her?

We attempted one more family photo:

... and then headed back for photos on the pumpkin wagon.

We had one more pumpkin to add to the wagon this year!

Happy Autumn, everyone!!

Caleb = 1 month

2010-10-05T17:36:00.000-07:00

(I skipped week 3... sorry!)

As unreal as it seems, Caleb turned 1 month old on September 30th! I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one. Our sweet boy continues to be such a blessing. He has begun smiling in the last week, although these are few and far between. His first REAL smile (not the sleeping ones) was at a toy on his play gym. He has since smiled twice at Mommy. One time was when I asked him if I could have a smile and he burped 3 times in a row and then grinned. It was adorable :)

Our BIG boy weighed 12 lbs 5 oz (95th percentile) and was 23 inches long (90th percentile) at his one month appointment. This was actually when he was about 5 weeks old because our doctor was out of town... at 4 weeks he was 11 lbs 13 oz. Either way, WOW!!

He has become much more alert over the last couple of weeks and his vision and tracking have improved. He enjoys tummy time for about 10-15 minutes and often will fall asleep after working so hard trying to roll over (he gets about 1/4 of the way). I do let him nap on his tummy about once a day but watch him like a hawk... it seems he takes after Mommy and would prefer to sleep this way all the time! He also does a cute "inchworm" while on his belly.

Our handsome little man's face became plagued by baby acne at around 2 weeks old. How awful! Isn't it bad enough that he'll have to battle this during adolescence? Anyway, you'll notice this in some of the pictures. It's started clearing up a bit now.

Caleb has started sleeping between 4 1/2 - 6 hours at a time per night, although I'll admit the 6 hour stretch only happened once. Then he'll eat, sleep 2-3 more hours, eat again early morning, and sleep 1-2 more hours. The nights he sleeps a 5 or 6 hour stretch he may only wake once to eat. Not too bad, and we're hoping things only get better! We love our sleep. :)

Other general info:
LOVES: warm baths! He will get so relaxed and calm and his limbs just float in the water. It's so cute!

LIKES: eating, being snuggled, his sister's voice, music/singing, watching fans, being outside, Mommy and Daddy's bed.

DISLIKES: being cold, getting strapped into his carseat, being swaddled into his miracle blanket (basically anything restrictive!... he's strong though and can wiggle partially out).

Some photos of our 1 month old chunkalicious boy:

Awake tummy time.

Asleep tummy time.

The contentedness of bath time.

Mommy and her little man.

His hair looks auburn in the sunlight!

Lounging on the Boppy.

He also loves snuggling in Sissy's bed.

Sleepy sweetness. :)

Watching the fan.

Mr. Handsome :)

All Made Up in Makeup

2010-10-04T18:36:00.000-07:00

Shiloh was playing dress up earlier today and decided she'd like to wear some makeup just like Mommy does to complete her look. I thought, "OK, sure, why not??" And the reason I'll tell you now to not put makeup on your not-quite-3 year old is this: you will have flashes of her as a 16 year old going out on her first date with a BOY you're not sure you trust and pacing the floor awaiting her arrival back by curfew... wait, where was I going with that?

Anyway, I thought she looked especially beautiful:

Ahh, that smile. She's still my little girl for now.

Sibling Love

2010-10-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure Caleb has the best big sister in the world.

Because so many people have asked...

2010-09-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

... "Wow! Did Shiloh have that much hair when she was born??" and also because I didn't have this blog up and running at that time, I'm doing a flashback post to itty bitty baby Shiloh for some comparison pics.

In the hospital, 1 day old:

The "faux hawk" is hereditary.

She had a head full of hair, but not as much as her younger brother.

She actually wore premie clothes for a couple of weeks!

Sweet snuggles with Daddy.

I love this picture, pouty lip and all!

Lookin' sweet in her swing.

The shirt says it all.

PRECIOUS.

What do you think?

Caleb, Week 2

2010-09-28T17:27:00.001-07:00

First I'll apologize that my posts are becoming more infrequent, but as you can imagine I have quite a bit less free time these days! That's my excuse anyway :)

During the second week at home with our little boy, we grew to love him even more. We also discovered his tummy was bothering him at times and he would grunt, groan, and squirm as though he was uncomfortable. Again, though, he rarely cried with the discomfort. He, as his dad would say, "took it like a man." At this point he was sleeping okay, and waking probably 3 times per night for feedings. It has been more pleasant this time around to be awakened to grunts and squirming rather than top-of-the-lungs crying. He is such a laidback baby! Here are some photos from week 2:

I love LOVE these hands and feet!

He's our (sweet) little monster :)

He couldn't help but declare how much he loves his mommy :)

As I mentioned before, we gave him his first bath using a sling over the infant tub which kept him too cold, and he was not a fan.

"You're going to put me where?!?"

"Go to my happy place, my happy place..."

Don't. ever. do. that. again!

Hi! I'm handsome.

Pop Rocks

2010-09-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

Shiloh eats Pop Rocks for the first time with Uncle TJ:

The Rest of Week 1

2010-09-16T18:25:00.000-07:00

As we brought our son home from the hospital (and even before), we were already being blessed by his sweet personality. He is such a laidback baby, and for that we're so thankful! He rarely cries... so far it has mainly been if he gets REALLY hungry, cold and wet (as you'll see in one pic below), or occasionally if he has a sharp gas pain. When he wakes up at night, he doesn't cry -- he just grunts and squirms until he wakes us up as well. A few other things we have learned about him so far:

- He LOVES baths (we actually learned this during week 2. The first bath we used a sling which kept him out of the water, which he did not like. After that, we put him down into the warm water and he is just so calm and relaxed, looking around and kicking his little legs leisurely. It's pretty adorable!)

- He likes to have his feet rubbed.

- He was born with hairy legs like a teenage boy!

- He doesn't puke all the time like his sister did.

- He likes the sound of his sister's voice. He gets so calm and looks all around him when she talks or sings to him.

Here are some photos from the rest of our first week with this sweet boy.

Isn't he handsome?

Snug as a bug in a... warm blanket :)

Scrunchy nose! (this has pretty much gone away! He's changed so much already.)

"But Mom, I'm looking too cute to be going to bed!"

The only picture we have of him crying... he wasn't a fan of being cold and wet.

I thought it was adorable when he fell asleep like this.

The "turtle neck"

He'll take a pacifier with much convincing.

The kiddos ready for our first stroll around the neighborhood.

Here he was dressed up for his first official outing. We took Sissy to Toys'R'us to pick out a big sister present (she chose a doctor kit). Doesn't he look cute? Yeah, he spit up on this outfit about 2 minutes down the road.

I love these smiles :)

Pics of Caleb at the Hospital

2010-09-16T18:03:00.000-07:00

As promised, here you go... a few of my favorites from while we were at the hospital.

Cleaned up after his first bath.

Snuggle time with Daddy.

Just loungin' around.

Sweet kisses from Sissy.

Snuggle time with Mommy.

Faux-hawk! We have a picture of his sister with this same hairdo when she was still in the hospital.

Sucking his thumb. (He one-upped Sissy here... she didn't do this pose until she got home.)

Being flirty.

Our little sweet pea. :)

All bundled up and ready to head home!

Overall cutie

2010-09-14T06:12:00.000-07:00

Just had to share.

Shiloh Meets Caleb

2010-09-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

A sweet video of Shiloh meeting her baby brother for the very first time. (You may need to turn up your volume to hear/understand this one.) It's a bit long, but well worth it! My favorite part comes in around 3:55 ...

Little Man's Arrival

2010-09-12T18:07:00.001-07:00

So here it is, almost 2 weeks later, that I am finally getting around to posting about Caleb's birth! Oh well, I guess I should get used to it now that I'm wrangling a rambunctious toddler and tending to a newborn as well. Anyway, many of you may know the story of his arrival by now, but I promised I'd post about it so I'm holding true to my word. [Warning: This will undoubtedly be long and rambling!]

For several weeks, the doctors had been telling me "it could be any day now!" because I was dilating so early, but by 39 weeks I was still not having any consistent contraction patterns so Nick and I began to consider induction for a few reasons. First, we were having family in from out of town and I didn't want them to spend the week here waiting for Caleb and then not get to enjoy our sweet boy before they had to leave. Secondly, I was miserable by this point and work was getting quite difficult, but I wanted to spend every single day of my FMLA leave with my little boy in my arms! And third was a fear that one of the doctors had instilled in me, that it may be a "fire drill" if I went into labor on my own (getting someone to watch Shiloh, getting to the hospital with Nick, getting epidural, etc etc). So we scheduled an induction for Monday, Aug. 30 (2 days before his due date) if he did not come sooner.

Since Caleb apparently was pretty happy with his current housing situation, we went in Monday morning at 6 am for the induction. At that time I was already between 5 and 6 cm dilated and I think 70-80% effaced. The nurse said we would likely get to meet our little boy by lunch time that day, and that she wanted to talk to Dr. Price to get a plan of when everything should happen in the event that things went pretty quickly. So around 7:50 am the Pitocin was started, and then at 8:25 am the doctor broke my water. My nurse told me I could go ahead and get the epidural before they did this, but I declined (which I would later regret!) as I thought I should at least be in some discomfort before I did so.

Well, about 5 minutes after my water was broken I began having some pretty strong contractions. I kept thinking, "Wow, this is quick! Surely they can't be this strong already..." so I waited a little while before pressing my call light. [I lost all sense of time sometime during this period] When the nurse didn't come in, I asked Nick to press it again. A while later, she still hadn't come in and I was really hurting, climbing up out of the bed with each contraction, and wishing I'd taken time to learn some breathing techniques and/or coping strategies. I sent Nick out to the nurses' station. He came back in with another nurse who inspected and said, "Oh! Your call light's not plugged in!" {Yeesh!!} She started my fluid bolus and went to find my nurse, who then summoned the anesthesiologist shortly after. He put the epidural in [9:20 am, around 8 cm dilated I believe] and said it should take about 10-15 minutes to take effect. I remembered from my labor with Shiloh that it happened pretty quickly.

This time, however, I was not feeling any relief. NONE. What I WAS feeling, were miserably painful contractions... I was well into transition and not prepared for it! It felt like only 10-15 seconds between contractions, and I couldn't find comfort or relief from anything, any position or comfort from Nick, and I didn't know if I was going to pass out or throw up or cry... and I remembered reading in my trusty copy of this book that it was impossible to focus on ANYTHING during this time, which I found very true... when my nurse summoned the anesthesiologist back in, he said I was dilating too quickly for the epidural to take effect... and he tried to get me to tell him whether different areas of my body held the same sensations or different, and I was writhing in too much agony to be able to answer him lucidly. I kept hearing these horrid screams, yells, and moaning and finally realized they were coming from me! I couldn't control it. About this time I was feeling the need to push which was miserable because they told me I couldn't yet, I was only 9.5 cm dilated. The anesthesiologist gave me some more "juice" in my epidural and finally, FINALLY, by the time they told me I could begin pushing, I felt some pain relief and about 4 pushes later [10:17 am]...

We were so very, very blessed to meet our sweet son.

The poor guy looked a little worse for the wear having endured such a quick labor and delivery, to which the doctor and nurses attributed his facial bruising. But other than that, he was a healthy, happy, BIG boy! :)

(More pics to come soon, if you haven't already seen them on facebook!)

He's here!!

2010-09-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

Caleb Nicholas Kiefer
August 30, 2010
10:17 am
9 lbs 0.9 oz
21 1/2 in.
Baptist Hospital East
Louisville, KY

We're now a family of four!

Will post more on Caleb's arrival and add more photos soon!

39 Weeks

2010-08-25T17:31:00.000-07:00

Here I stand, 4 cm dilated and 60% effaced... and still pregnant.

Date of Eviction: Monday August 30, assuming our little man does not choose to vacate residency before then.

First Day of Preschool

2010-08-17T17:38:00.001-07:00

Yes, today was the day... August 17, 2010... that my baby started preschool!! She is in a 3 year old preschool class at Whitefield Academy. We have been talking about her starting school all summer and what she'll be doing there, what to expect, etc etc trying to prepare her. She seemed very excited every time she would talk about it and would tell everyone, "I'm going to school this fall!" (I later found out that she thought the name of her school was This Fall. Haha!)

So this morning when I went to wake her up, I asked her if she remembered where she was going today and she said, "To SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!" I had let her pick out her clothes the day before, so we got her dressed and ready, ate breakfast, took first day of school pictures, and Nick and I drove together to take her for the first day.

When we got to her classroom, we signed her in and she got to walk through the toddler-sized door into her class. She walked right in after watching a classmate go through and I had to call her back to get her to give us hugs. That's when I started losing it... I suddenly wanted to hold her so tightly, pick her up and run back to the car with her, something... ANYTHING... except what I had to do, which was watch her walk straight into her classroom so independently, with half a smile on her face, and stroll over to a table with 2 of her classmates and immediately start coloring. ("I LOVE orange!" she declared). I watched her through the window at the top of the door and tears streamed down my face. The other mothers commisserated with me and Shiloh's teacher, Mrs. Fisher, said, "She's going to do great!" to which I replied, "I know! But I'm not..." [I had warned her at the open house that I was 99.9% sure I would cry]

Anyway, I somehow found the strength to walk away from her classroom and I cried, cried, cried for a good hour on and off. All day long I thought about her and what she would probably be doing at different times and whether or not she was having fun or feeling sad and missing Mommy and Daddy (ha!). I prayed for her that she would feel comfortable and secure and have a great day making friends. Thankfully, I was busier at work today than I have been in a long time (praise God for that one) and the end of the day finally rolled around. Nick left work a little early to pick her up, and he assured me that she'd had a great day. I couldn't convince myself, however, until I talked to her myself.

And of course, she assured me she'd had a great day as well. I asked her about all of the things she did, and the friends she made, and I was overwhelmed with relief and pride as I listened to her responses. She told me that she'd shared toys with "all of the guys" (haha) and that she sang happy birthday to Claudia. She took a nap on her cot and was "soooo happy" to have her blanket at naptime. She played on the playground but didn't get to swing today (maybe next time). She went to the library and read books. She colored pages and did stamps (she was VERY excited about this one). I asked her if she ate her broccoli at lunch and she corrected me, because in fact they'd changed the menu and she'd had green beans with her turkey sandwich instead. (I confirmed this via the daily sheet that her teacher sends home with all of the activities they did for the day, what lunch and snacks they had, and who all of her classmates for the day were.)

So Shiloh had a great first day of preschool... and I somehow made it through the day as well. Here are some pictures of our grown-up 2 1/2 year old on her first day:

(This morning before school)

(This afternoon, as I was too emotional in the morning to remember to take pictures of her with her backpack)

There was one moment that really sticks out in my mind from the morning... as we were walking into her school, Nick was carrying her, and I reached out to rub her leg. As I did so, she turned around and smiled at me, and it was a smile I will never forget because it felt like she was (nonverbally) trying to comfort me. Her smile said, "It's going to be GREAT, Mom!"

I am SOO proud of you, my sweet angel!!

My New Camera

2010-08-10T17:41:00.001-07:00

That's right, friends... I finally did it!! After over a year of wanting a DSLR camera and about 6 months of research and debate, I finally went for it. I decided on the Nikon D3000 (for reasons I won't get into here). But what I did want to share with you were some of the photos I've taken so far. A few of these are actually Nick's as well... I think he loves it almost as much as I do! Anyway, so far these are photos taken with the automatic settings... I'll share more later as I learn to use more of the manual features.

Filled with Joy

2010-08-09T11:17:00.001-07:00

This girl brings us so much joy! Can you see why?

About a week ago at bedtime, we had the sweetest and most heartwarming conversation. We were doing the daily reading from Shiloh's devotional book which happened to be about how Jesus can fill your heart with joy. The following conversation ensued:

S: "I want Jesus to come into my heart and fill me with joy."
(I'm a bit flabbergasted, and after I declare, "That's wonderful!" I call Nick into the room).
C: "Shi, tell Daddy what you just told me."
S: "I want Jesus to come into my heart and fill me with joy."
N: "That's wonderful, sweetheart! You need to pray to Jesus and ask Him to do that."
S: (Squints eyes really tight) "Jesus, will you come fill me with joy? Pleeeeeeeeeease?"
N: "Do you think He will?"
S: "Yeah. He says He's coming."

I cannot remember feeling such love and joy in one moment as a parent to my toddler. While I realize that she is too young to truly grasp and understand the meaning of asking Jesus to come into her heart, I am encouraged and believe that one day she will. And that moment will bring even more joy into all of our hearts!

36 Weeks

2010-08-06T17:06:00.000-07:00

Click on the "tummy profiles" link on the left under "LABELS" to fully appreciate the expansion over time.

Here's to hoping...

2010-08-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

... that our son will look like his daddy.

(On a side note... a friend of Nick's mom had made this blanket for Nick, and now it has been passed down to us! What a sweet heirloom!)

I mean, how adorable is this yummy chunk of chubbaliciousness??

*Many thanks to Nick's dad for letting me "borrow" these photos he'd scanned onto his website!

Zoo & Splash Park (from a month ago!)

2010-08-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

A month ago, we braved the summer heat and made a family trip to the zoo. Nick's mom ("MawMaw") went with us as well. We had a great time, but boyhowdy was it HOT!!!!! Here are a few pics from the day:

THE classic Shiloh cheese.

Every good zoo trip starts with a carousel ride with Daddy.

In fact, he was quite "the man" on this zoo trip... he carried little girls who rew tired of walking...

... and served as a great headrest when those same little girls became worn out by the heat! (I tried to catch a ride too, but he thought I might be too heavy.)

I'm with these guys... it was a scorcher!

See? I took a couple of pictures of the animals too. :)

Shiloh's favorite part of the zoo trip was her zoo key!

After we'd strolled around the zoo for a couple of hours, we were all so hot that a trip to the Splash Park was in order.

Our brave girl attempted the waterslides this year! At first she was a bit tentative...

... but after the first trip, she was BEGGING for second, third, and fourth trips!

Pretty sure we'll wait for some cooler weather before our next trip... especially with the addition that is due to arrive in the near future!

"Swagger Wagon"

2010-07-31T17:10:00.001-07:00

We don't have a Swagger Wagon just yet, but Nick and I can't help but appreciate this video:

and also our daughter's response to it:

"The Toddler's Busy Book"

2010-07-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

This book is so great! I had to share it with my other mommy friends out there. Some of you may already know about it. It has quick, simple, and fun activities and games to do with your toddler, most of which can be done spur-of-the-moment as the supplies needed are usually things you'll already have around the house. It has chapters ranging from "Rainy Day Play," to "Kids in the Kitchen," "Music and Movement," "Arts and Crafts," "Nursery Rhymes and Finger Plays," and "Birthdays and Holidays," It even includes an Appendix of recipes for things such as playdough, paints, clay, and other homemade craft recipes.

It has come in very handy this past month when the weather has been so unbearably hot and humid, and I have been dealing with the typical 3rd trimester fatigue which doesn't allow me to keep up with my energetic toddler as well as I used to be able to. We have done several fun craft and activity ideas from this book and I have many, many more bookmarked for the future. It's a great resource to have on hand, especially since I'm not the "teacher type" who has all these creative ideas in her brain already!

I highly recommend it for the busy, practical, overworked and/or tired moms out there-- I think that includes just about all of us! :)

Family Photos July 2010

2010-07-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

*Thanks to Michael M. for the photos!! :)

The Painted Bedroom

2010-07-19T18:39:00.001-07:00

My super awesome husband painted our bedroom a couple of weekends ago so we could cross that task off of our pre-baby to-do list. It was the last room in the house (besides the laundry room) that needed painting. We chose Behr's "Toasted Cashew" as the shade. These aren't the best photos, but hopefully they'll give you an idea of the before and after.

Color of the walls before painting:

The painting commences!

and... ta-da! The finished look:

By the way, do you see our pack-n-play set up in this picture? Isn't it so cute?? We found this on clearance at Target. It has a blue and brown owl pattern that I think is so adorable! I love it.

Another big thank you to my husband for being so awesome and doing all the work on this project! :)

Tricycling

2010-07-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

A video from back in May that I forgot to post (yikes!):

Our 4th of July (Very Late, I Know!)

2010-07-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the 4th of July by having a couple of friends over-- Nick's cousin Scott (whom Shiloh calls "Uncle Scott") and also his college roommate Michael. We grilled burgers and corn and enjoyed them with plenty of watermelon (how American can you get?!?) and then went to play a little miniature golf. Shiloh has grown to LOVE putt-putt over the last month or so. Here's a video of her "golfing" from earlier this summer:

Nick and the guys decided to check out the firework stand in front of the mini golf place afterward, and ended up with quite a few fireworks to show for it. So we went back to the house and set them off once it got dark.

Here's Shiloh ready for the show.

See her excited face?

Shiloh and Michael

Shiloh and "Uncle Scott" (notice Nick's creative photography here)

She loved the snap-n-pops (or whatever they're called)... only she couldn't usually throw them hard enough to get them to pop on contact, so she had to stomp on them afterward.

She thought the sparklers were pretty neat...

... until the smoke descended.

I REALLY wish this photo had turned out! This was her shocked reaction when we set off the first "loud" firework. (I was playing with the night-time setting on my camera, which apparently I don't know how to use.)

Good thing Daddy was there to keep her safe.

She would still cover her eyes for the loud, popping fireworks. (None of us had the heart to tell her this wouldn't do anything to muffle the sound!)

And what better way to finish out the 4th of July than with some homemade ice cream?

YUM!

The Cutest Wall Decals

2010-07-11T18:51:00.000-07:00

I found these super cute wall decals that coordinate with Shiloh's bedding set to decorate the wall around her bed. Of course, she thinks it is fantastic and so much fun that she has "forest friends" surrounding her bed now, protecting her. :) I think it turned out really cute! (Disclaimer: I pretty much copied the design on the package!)

Ta-da!!

What do you think?

32 weeks

2010-07-11T18:41:00.001-07:00

First Trip to the Dentist

2010-07-10T10:54:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Dr. Pamela Asseff

Monkey needed to come along for moral support.

Here's the big girl in the dentist's chair.

Dr. Pam gave her some sunglasses to wear since the light they use at the dentist can seem bright to little eyes.

Look at those CLEAN teeth!!

Cutie.

Dr. Pam was so impressed with how well Shiloh did, and so was I. She was able to get her teeth flossed, polished, and inspected without a murmur of complaint or having to tell her to do something more than once.

I'm so proud of my big girl!

Meeting Bob and Larry

2010-07-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

I think her expression pretty much sums up her feelings about this experience:

Mommy, they're big and creepy... don't let them touch me!

Deck Stain

2010-07-07T16:04:00.001-07:00

I want to show off a little more of my husband's handiwork and hard work. He spent 15 HOURS ... yes, 15 hours!!... staining the deck my dad and stepmom helped us put on last summer. I didn't get a good pre-stain picture because Nick started staining while Shiloh and I were out of town, but you can go here to see what it looked like when we first put the new deck on... and then imagine one year's worth of weathering added to it! (By the way... Shiloh calls my dad "Yoda" now instead of "Doda".)

And here is what the deck looks like now:

I love it! Thanks for all your hard work, sweetheart! :)

Lullaby, My Darlin'

2010-07-04T20:02:00.000-07:00

Lately, Shiloh has gotten into the habit of calling things "my darlin." Usually it is one of her baby dolls (whom she collectively calls "Loohoo"), but as you will see here, it can sometimes even be a fish bath toy wrapped in a towel. Here is how she sings her "darlin's" to sleep.

(Translation: She starts singing and then declares, "Wait, I can't sing the rest until I turn her over this way.")

Soy Ginger Salmon

2010-07-01T16:47:00.001-07:00

WAIT!!!!

Don't disregard this post because you don't like salmon, or even fish in general!

And WAIT!!!!!

Don't be turned off by my lack of ability to take a decent picture of it:

... because it is FANTASTIC! Even my daughter, who is not a big fish fan most of the time, gobbled some down (not knowing what it was) and declared, "Tasty. Very tasty." Another perk: it's quick and easy!

Soy Ginger Salmon

1 pound salmon fillets
1/3 cup brown sugar, divided
2 teaspoons lemon pepper, divided
1 teaspoon garlic powder, divided
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (1 inch) piece fresh ginger root, minced
1/3 cup orange juice

*I didn't have fresh ginger root on hand, so I used the ginger from my spice rack and it still turned out great.

1. Rub salmon with about 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Lightly sprinkle with lemon pepper and garlic powder; rub seasoning into fish.
2. In a small saucepan set over medium heat, pour soy sauce and olive oil. Stir in ginger and remaining brown sugar, lemon pepper, and garlic powder. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring constantly until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat, stir in orange juice.
3. Place fish and marinade into a resealable plastic bag, seal, and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 3 hours.
4. Preheat broiler. Place fish in a foil-lined baking pan. Reserve marinade.
5. Broil fish skin-side up, 2 minutes. Remove from oven, pull skin off with tongs. Baste with marinade, return to oven, and broil 2 minutes more. Turn fish, and broil until fish flakes easily, about 4 minutes. Remove from oven, and let sit 5 minutes before serving.

*Another note: I used frozen salmon fillets, and these did not have skin on them, so I just skipped the step of pulling the skin off. Even better!

When my husband loves a recipe as much as he did this one, it's definitely blog-worthy. So be brave and give it a try! :)

Celebrating Father's Day

2010-06-28T06:14:00.000-07:00

I just adore these two.

I mean, how could you not??

When I asked Nick how he'd like to spend Father's Day, he said he wanted to spend it doing something special with his dad, Shiloh's Pop Pop. So we came up with the idea to visit Huber's to eat lunch, possibly pick some fruit, and just enjoy the beautiful, out-of-the-city scenery.

After church, we headed to Huber's where we enjoyed a yummy (and plentiful!) lunch of fried chicken, baked ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, summer salad, green beans, corn, dumplins, and of course their delectable fried biscuits with apple butter. We all ate way too much! Then we walked around a bit, browsed the shops, and went to feed the ducks and fish some of our leftovers.

We then asked Shiloh whether she wanted to go pick blueberries, raspberries, or peaches OR go feed the animals in the barnyard, and she opted for the latter. So we hopped on the wagon to the barnyard with our field corn in hand.

Julianna was the lady who drove us out to feed the animals. Since it was such a HOT day (92 degrees and who knows what the heat index was), there weren't many other people crazy enough to want to go do this. So she let us have as many containers of field corn as we wanted (compared to the typical one-per-person rule), and we ended up spending at least an hour out there feeding the animals and visiting with her. She is the wife of Joe Huber the 4th, who also joined us later and brought us all bottled waters. We sat under a shade tree, talked, hung out. Nick said it felt like we were getting the "VIP" treatment. :) We did have a great time!

Eeyore:

Me, trying to feed "Mooey" the cow. I ended up getting it all up her nose.

Sally the Alpaca:

Thirsty girl downing her water!

By this time, we were so hot and exhausted that we decided to cool off in the Soda Pop Shoppe (hello, air conditioning!!) with some ice cream and milkshakes.

Shiloh chose the Superman ice cream.

Then she entertained us all with some lovely piano music.

This was a new technique she was trying out:

Hot, sweaty, and ready for the ride home.

Overall, we had a great afternoon. Most importantly, Nick and Pop Pop felt loved and celebrated on their special day.

The Yeti Stomp

2010-06-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

Shiloh's cousin Hunter introduced her to this wonderful video clip:
http://www.nickjr.com/kids-videos/backyardigans-kids-videos.html
(Scroll over until you find "The Yeti Stomp" video)

Now it's one of Shi's favorite clips to watch... and dance to! And I must admit, it's pretty catchy. :) I'll point out that when it looks like she keeps falling down, she's actually trying to do the 80's style breakdancing move that Pablo does a couple of times in the video.

*Make sure to turn the volume on.

Button Art

2010-06-21T17:57:00.000-07:00

After stumbling across this tutorial back in January, I've been wanting to give it a try. (Yes, here it is June, and I am just now getting around to it... sad!! We'll blame it on those wretched months of ~~morning~~ ~~afternoon~~ ALL DAY AND NIGHT pregnancy sickness!) Anyway, I copied her on the fleur-de-lis design as well because, in the spirit of all things Louisville, I am a HUGE fan of them.

Without further adieu, here's my finished product:

What do you think? It was very easy and quite addictive... the only annoying part was pulling off a million hot glue strings.

Now the decision of where to put it... :)

"Big girl" bedroom set

2010-06-21T17:42:00.000-07:00

Shiloh has been sleeping in the crib converted to a toddler bed since November. Now that we're quickly approaching the introduction of her baby brother who will require converting the bed back into crib form, we decided to start looking for a "big girl" bed for Shi. We opted to do a twin-sized bed rather than toddler bed because she was already getting pretty long in the toddler-sized bed! She's quite a tall gal.

Here's the bedroom set "we" chose: (she went to help pick it out but was only really interested in climbing onto the top of all the bunk beds)

She was VERY excited about it. She thought she was really something climbing in and out of it by herself.

She also loves to keep about 50 stuffed animals/baby dolls/books in it at all times... so naptime and bedtime require approximately 5-10 minutes of object retrieval before she can lay down.

See? "I'm BIG STUFF now."

The matching dresser:

This is a picture from her first nap in her new bed...

Mommy's little girl is growing up so quickly.

Almost Anniversary Getaway: Part 2

2010-06-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

The second morning of our getaway, we had a yummy breakfast downstairs at the inn and then strolled around the village of Nashville to browse shops, art galleries, cafes, etc. It was wonderful to be able to not feel rushed and just enjoy each other's company. Also, it is RARE that my husband is willing to shop with me! There were lots of home decor items that were cute and homey but I managed to resist. (Yeah, will power! and high prices... haha).

We asked the lady at the front desk of our bed and breakfast for a recommendation for lunch-- something non-touristy and a little different. She sent us about 15 minutes outside of town to one of her favorite places: The Farmhouse Cafe and Tea Room at the Flower and Herb Barn Nursery (quite a mouthful, yes!). This was an absolutely majestic place with tons of beautiful flowers and landscaping and both mine and Nick's favorite part of the weekend. Needless to say, I took TONS of photos here...

There were walkways like this one lined with beautiful flowers, shrubbery, and other garden decorations...

... and these chairs were everywhere. I loved them!

This was a moss-covered pond with a small island in the middle...

...which had a small patio set at which to relax...

... or a lovely garden bench to do the same.

And now on to the flowers... (I LOVE periwinkle hydrangeas!!)

This was one of the greenhouses.

The cafe was a very eclectic, earthy-type place and it was a gorgeously sunny (but not hot!) day, so the atmosphere in the outdoor patio where we sat was relaxing and good for the soul.

Plus, I was able to share the meal with this handsome guy!

We did "halfsies" with yummy chicken salad and cucumber cream cheese sandwiches.

And I adored these glasses. But no, I did not drink 3 glasses full!

Moving on...
We went back to the inn and took showers and naps. (WE WERE ABLE TO TAKE NAPS!!! Uninterrupted... WAHOOOOOOO!!!!!!) Then we strolled around through the shops and galleries some more before dinner that evening at Harvest Moon Pizzeria.

Again, a picture of my handsome, goofy man:

... and the Missus.

We had the lady at the desk take our photo in front of the inn.

We loved this place!!

Happy (almost) 5 years of marriage, sweetheart!! I love you more today than ever. :)

[NOTE: my husband must REALLY love me... because he allowed us to stop at these outlets both on the way there and on the way home... did I mention he abhors shopping??... and he didn't complain or rush me while shopping... talk about sacrifice! He's the best!!]

28 weeks

2010-06-14T12:25:00.001-07:00

Hello, third trimester!! Again, I'm about a week late posting this since I'm almost 29 weeks now.

Oh yeah... I got a haircut too.

Almost Anniversary Getaway: Part 1

2010-06-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

Nick and I decided to take a small trip to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary a couple months early, since I will be more than 8 months pregnant and pretty miserable in the summer heat on our actual anniversary. Like a good husband, Nick let me choose where to go and I decided on Brown County, Indiana because I'd heard a lot of good things about it and how it was sort of like a mini, less commercialized Gatlinburg. Nick's mom was up for watching Shiloh for a couple of days so we could take this trip.

We stayed at a cute little bed and breakfast called the Cornerstone Inn.

Did I mention that it was the coziest, cutest little place?

We stayed in this room.

(On a side note, the inn also had separate cottages that looked like this:

... one of which was called:

How fun!!)

We loved the Cornerstone Inn, and in addition to breakfast each morning they served declicious homemade baked goods and coffee, tea, or apple cider throughout the day. We made many "extra" trips down to the kitchen area. :)

The town we stayed in was called Nashville. Like Gatlinburg, Nashville has a main "strip" of shops, restaurants, etc. that are conducive to strolling and browsing. We did a little bit of this the first day we were there and then had dinner at The Artist Colony Inn. I had almost forgotten how nice it is to share a quiet, relaxed dinner with my husband! It was wonderful to just be able to enjoy his company and conversation.

For our evening entertainment, we decided to check out an event we'd seen advertised in several of the Brown County circulars: a Johnny Cash (impersonator) show called "Man in Black." Yes, my friends, that endeavor took us to this wonderful facility:

That's right. It has both the words "Barn" and "Jamboree" in the name. HOWEVER... we were very pleasantly surprised by the show. It was great!! The impersonator was really good, and he'd just finished up a show on Broadway so he wasn't just a Joe Schmoe they'd found on the side of the street. We had a great evening and were very glad we'd been brave enough to go.

Here are a few other photos to hold you over until I post about the second day of our trip. I fell in love with this beautiful town!!

The coziest little coffee house!

I loved this idea.

Stay tuned for day #2!!

Shiloh Says...

2010-06-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

This girl

makes me laugh. A lot. She has the funniest perspectives on things and we have some pretty hilarious conversations. About a month ago, I decided to start writing some of these down so I could share them in a post. Here's a sampling of my little girl's musings.

*(matter of factly) "I'm probably a boy. My name is John."

*(doing a devotion about angels)
C: "Angels live with God in... Shiloh, where does God live?"
S: (with confidence) "Innnnnn Texas!"

*"Silly woman! You forgot our chips!!" (at Schlotzky's)

*S: "Daddy, you're beauuuuuutiful."
N: "Aww, thank you baby girl... but boys aren't beautiful, boys are...?"
S: "Mean."

*"Mommy, WHAT is your hair doing??"

*"Can I have eleventeen drinks, Mommy?"

*C: "How was your day, baby?"
S: "Pretty bad."
C: "Why was it pretty bad?"
S: "Cause I didn't like the wind blowing my hair."

*"I need to do homework. That's what the Home Depot man says."

*(sigh) "I'm tired. You're wearing me out!"

*"You can hold me if you want, while I'm nakey."

*"Those ma'ams on the cd are arguing."
(They were singing the chorus in rounds.)

*S: "Mommy, what is my work called?"
C: "Well sweetheart, you don't go to work yet."
S: "Uh huh. My work is called fwim lessons." [swim lessons]

*C: "Shi, are you ready to go get pancakes?"
S: "No. Maybe in a few years."

*S: "What did Daddy hit his head on?"
C: "Nothing baby. He just has a headache."
S: "Oh. I have a headache too. It's in my mouth. You can't see it."

*S: "Mommy, I saw a crazy man on the side of the road."
C: "Oh really? What was he doing that was so crazy?"
S: "He was ballooning around."
[Nick later told me she was referring to a man who actually was wearing a balloon costume on the side of the road]

*(waiting for me to come to table to have tea party with her)
S: (sighs heavily, leaning head onto hand) "I guess I just don't understand tea parties."
C: "What do you mean?"
S: "I guess I just don't know how they work. I'm just too shy."

*One day, I tried to take a lesson from this book and use the story of "The Boy who Cried Wolf" to teach Shiloh why she should not pretend to cry when she rubs her toe on the carpet the wrong way. So I told her the story, and then I asked her what lesson she learned from the story. She replied, "If there's a wolf, I need some help!!" Touche, my child, touche.

Just Keep Swimming!

2010-05-25T17:52:00.000-07:00

Our little munchkin has graduated to the advanced toddlers' swim class at my work. She's been through the Polliwog and Jellyfish classes and is now a Goldfish. As a proud parent, I have to take a moment and brag on how well she's doing!!

She's now able to:
*Doggie paddle one width of the pool with her cube on (a strap-on float) by herself
*Swim 4-5 seconds underwater by herself without a float
*Jump in from poolside and kick herself (mostly) back to the surface
*Do sitting dives from poolside
*Swim to the bottom of the shallow end (3' 6"), grab a colored ring, and swim back to the surface by herself
*Doggie paddle 3-4 feet to the rail and pull her head and shoulders out of the water

Things she does NOT like to do:
*Float on her back... this is similar to what I would imagine pulling teeth feels like. She will yell, "Mommy! I don't like the water in my ears!! MOMMMMYYYY!!"

And of course, no post would be complete without some photos of our little Goldfish.

(Note: This photo does not do justice to her true feelings toward floating on her back.)

A Day at MawMaw's

2010-05-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, Nick and I took Shiloh to visit MawMaw (Nick's mom) in Frankfort. We spent part of the afternoon there too and then came back to Louisville for a date night (woohoo!). Shiloh spent the night at MawMaw's house. She's done this before and absolutely loved it, but we wanted to do another "trial run" before Nick and I go on our pre-anniversary getaway in a couple of weeks.

Here are some photos from the fun we had the few hours we were there with them.

2 Generations

3 Generations

24 weeks

2010-05-11T17:04:00.000-07:00

Our baby boy has done a LOT of growing this month.
(Consequently, so has his mommy.)

Tea Time with Daddy

2010-04-26T15:55:00.001-07:00

I found this cute little table and chairs set on craigslist and decided it would be perfect for Shiloh. I've had my eye on a toddler-sized picnic table for our back deck, but I was really holding out for a nice wooden one rather than the plastic kind. When I saw this, though, I thought it would work perfectly for tea times out on the deck this summer, once we repaint and weatherproof it.

Until we get it ready, though, tea times are temporarily moved indoors.

And who better to have tea with than your favorite person in the whole world.... DADDY!

*NOTE: I'll explain the band-aid on Nick's forehead... Shiloh was "helping" him put the table together when she bonked him in the forehead with one of the legs. She was so remorseful and decided the only way to make Daddy's head feel better was to put a "Little Miss Sunshine" band-aid on it.

"Hi Mommy!! We're having so much fun drinking tea!"

This guy REALLY loves his daughter... and really loves me for (kind of) letting me post this!

Silly girl got a little messy with her tea.

Our pretty little tea princess:

Sir Fix-a-Lot

2010-04-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

As of late, this is my nickname for my husband. In the almost 2 1/2 years we've had our house, I've watched him learn (and teach himself) how to do so many tasks around the house. He is turning himself into quite the handyman, and I think he really enjoys it! I do know our house is looking all the better for his efforts. Here are a few photos from his latest endeavor: repairing roof shingles.

*NOTE: This was the day of Thunder over Louisville, and near the very top of the roof you can catch a last glimpse as a plane flies overhead.

Our roof is pretty steep... so he gets big props for bravery on this one!

"Hi, Sweetie! Aren't you proud??"

Yes, Sir Fix-a-Lot... I'm very proud of you! Great job!

Play Date at the Park

2010-04-18T18:16:00.000-07:00

This past Wednesday, some ladies from our adult Bible fellowship group met at the park for our biweekly play date. Our friend Keli who had moved to Urbana, IL last fall was in town and able to join us. We all had a great time -- moms included! -- and then went out for lunch afterward. It's always a great time of fellowship with these sweet ladies. Anyway, here are some pictures of the cute kiddos!

Nella and Shiloh:

Nella's handsome little brother, Silas:

Silly Madelyn:

Julianne:

Meghan:

Can you tell I like photo ops at the top of the slide?

20 weeks

2010-04-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

Meet Baby Boy Kiefer!

2010-04-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

Isn't he handsome?

Here he is sucking his thumb.

He was a little camera shy at times...

... but eventually became curious about who was investigating him so thoroughly. See him peering out at us, like he's looking out to sea?

Look at those long legs!

And here's his... ahem... boyness. He didn't leave us with any doubts.

Here's a sweet little foot that Mommy can't wait to kiss!

... and some sweet fingers...

He did become a bit exasperated with all of the picture taking...

We already feel so incredibly blessed by our precious baby boy, and were excited to get our first glimpses of him today. Stay tuned for updates!

"Hey Shiloh, what's Easter all about?"

2010-04-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

Here's what our little girl had to say about the true meaning of Easter...

After church on Easter Sunday, when I asked her this same question again she also added, "Jesus Christ is RISEN!" Then she began waving the palm leaf that she made in her class and shouted, "Hosanna! Hosanna!" It was absolutely music to my ears (and heart!).

Calendar Corner

2010-04-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

I set up this calendar center on the wall in Shi's room behind her door... call it "Calendar Corner" if you will. Now, I am not so naive that I believe we will actually do this EVERY day... but I'm hoping it will help her with some of her calendar-type concepts to start preparing her for school this fall. Within the last couple of weeks she learned her days of the week and the months January through August, so I thought we'd take this leap. We'll see how it goes!

Although I must admit, it is sometimes a bit difficult to keep this girl serious!!

Field of Flowers

2010-03-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

Every spring, the zoo has a small garden full of daffodils in bloom... and parents flock by the hordes to take their child's picture in them. We have jumped on this bandwagon as well. I took a couple last year because we just so happened to be there while they were in bloom, but I don't think I blogged them. Anyway, here are some of our shots from this year:

17 weeks

2010-03-28T11:29:00.001-07:00

Doesn't it look like there are two of them in there or something? Wowzers.

The Sweetest Gift

2010-03-24T19:01:00.000-07:00

In the short 2 years I have been working as a physical therapist, my patients have blessed me about as much as I have helped them. Mostly it is through their wisdom and insight about life in general and in particular dealing with pain and physical limitations... but sometimes they enjoy showering me with physical gifts also.

About a month ago, a patient of mine (who, for the sake of maintaining HIPAA regulations, shall remain nameless!) asked me whether or not Shiloh plays with dolls. I was momentarily taken aback but replied, "Yes, she is quite the little mommy!" This sweet lady then said, "Well, I had some leftover yarn and I started crocheting to take my mind off things, and I think it's turned into a perfect sized baby doll blanket. I'll bring it to you next week." I was really impressed with her thoughtfulness and this act of kindness, and I told her she was too sweet and that I knew Shiloh would love it. Let me mention to you that this is a lady who was in a LOT of pain, day in and day out, and was able to find some relief in the water... so when she said she was trying to take her mind off of things, I knew exactly what she was referring to. (On a side note, she had also told me some of the coolest stories about things she has done in her life, and although I cannot share them with you, just know that they are really inspiring! She is a very neat and incredibly talented lady.)

The next week rolls around and at the end of her treatment session, she mentions, "Oh, I left a bag for you on the table over there. I hope Shiloh likes it. It turned out a little bit bigger than I had thought. And I also included something for you... and every time you use it, I want you to remember that I'm praying for you." I thanked her again and silently marveled at her generosity and kindness.

Well, that "little bit bigger" turned out to be a full-sized child's blanket... with multiple colors of "leftover" yarn! It's beautiful and my daughter, who has always been a blanket kinda girl (she still calls them "bees" most of the time) adores this blanket! She sleeps with it every night.

The extra little "something" for me was a crocheted dishcloth, much too beautiful to use as one! I will always remember this lady, our conversations, and her sweet thoughtfulness during a time in her life when she suffered through significant physical ailments. I'm so thankful God places people in my life to show me things in the most unexpected and perfect ways!