An Impromptu Week in Nevis

3 Aug

Since the bad storm in the Brainerd area caused us to lose power for several days, we hightailed it up to Nevis to stay with Travis’ parents until our power came back on, which it did on Wednesday afternoon (after being out since Sunday night). Regardless, we decided to just stay put until Friday night. Travis’ parents’ were watching Emma for us that following weekend so instead of driving down to our house just to drive back up, we stayed put.

20150713_074537 20150713_074540

Travis, of course, had to work while we were up there. But Emma, Annabelle, and I – we just hang out all day, every day. 🙂 I do like those perks of being a stay-at-home mom. On Tuesday (the day after we got up to Nevis), we headed into Park Rapids to buy a few things at Walmart, but otherwise, we just hung out at the house.

Wednesday was my birthday, so to celebrate, I carted the girls and three armfuls of stuff to the beach. Seriously, going to the beach is an ordeal. But hey, I went to the beach last year on my birthday, I went this year – I think it’s going to be my new birthday tradition. I like going to the beach, even if it does take forever and a day to get packed up. There wasn’t anyone else there when we arrived and we had forgotten to bring our beach toys from Brainerd, so Emma was a little bored. Baby and I went in the water too but there’s only so much you can do at the beach… after what seemed like 3 hours but was only 45 minutes, Emma wanted to go swing on the swings at the beach playground. Ok. So I schlepped all our stuff up there. Bless her heart, Annabelle went to sleep in her carseat while I pushed Emma on the swing. It’s just so easy to love that baby.

20150715_121502 20150715_121530

Wednesday night, we went out to dinner at the Iron House in Nevis with Travis’ parents. The restaurant had changed owners since any of us had eaten there and the food was delicious – though the service was a little slow. Emma, poor girl, had a fever and when we got home, we discovered it was 104! We thought about taking her in, but we gave her some Tylenol and her fever went down. By the morning, it was gone. So strange. I’m thinking teething again?

Thursday, Emma was still off so the girls and I just hung out at the house. Emma and I actually watched the majority of Finding Nemo before she got bored and wandered off. (This has proven to no longer just be something she does when she’s sick! She enjoys watching shows now, though her attention span is still about 20 minutes). After dinner, Travis, the girls and I headed back to the Nevis beach so that I could do an open water swim (same beach of the triathlon I’m doing). I feel more confident knowing that the water gets deep enough, fast enough that the seaweed doesn’t touch me! Seriously, that’s the worst part about swimming in open water for me – I have an irrational phobia of seaweed.

That night, Emma took forever to go to sleep. She asked for anything and everything (milk, water, juice, yogurt, strawberries) to get out of going to bed. And silly me, I believed that she might actually want something to eat or drink. She did end up drinking a few juice boxes and eating some strawberries in bed – after over an hour of trips downstairs to the kitchen for food and drink. By the time we went to bed for good, I had had it. That’s when it’s nice to have reinforcements in the form of a spouse.

Friday, the girls and I headed up to Bemidji to go to the zoo (Paul Bunyan Animal Land) and have lunch with Travis’ sister, Carolyn. It was really fun – we fed deer and kangaroos from our hands, gave the monkeys bananas through holes in their cages, and saw a lion, pot-bellied pigs, camels, rabbits and tortoises.

20150717_105825 20150717_105937 20150717_110158 20150717_110442 20150717_112123 20150717_112202 20150717_114642

Afterward, we ate lunch with Carolyn at Green Mill. Emma took a nap on the drive up and drive back, so when we got back to the house, she was wide awake.

After work, Travis packed up his stuff and headed back down to Brainerd to make sure everything was good with the house. Meanwhile, I packed up Annabelle’s and my stuff. Once I got the all-clear from Travis, Annabelle and I sneaked out while Emma stayed with Grandma and Grandpa.

20150717_184240

While leads me to the weekend that Travis and I had without Emma… coming soon in another blog post.

Tags: , , , ,

Kriswold Family Reunion 2015

2 Aug

The weekend after the Fourth of July, we hosted my annual family reunion at our house in Brainerd. The reunions started out as my mom’s side of the family but my dad’s only brother Noel and his wife Pat have attended several years too. The more, the merrier!

My mom and dad, brother Jeremy, sister-in-law Jen, and nephews Jensen and Jackson all came up on Wednesday night. Besides getting food and tables ready for the day of the reunion (Saturday), we went to the beach both Thursday and Friday, played with the kids outside, watched Frozen at least a half dozen times, and of course, ate lots of food.

11754695_10102176482089652_8704636943997148234_o 11722438_10102176483017792_8647893803242054627_o 11700820_10102176482678472_1708864970602841707_o 11717508_10102176484619582_1259868130360249896_o

Jen and Jackson

11145036_10102176482249332_3376008099578079540_o

Jensen
11238267_10102176483102622_1461717142146569691_o

wpid-fb_img_1438253924863.jpg

Friday night, Noel and Pat, my uncle Roger and aunt Sharyn, and my uncle Kim came over for pizza. We ate outside on our deck and patio. It was a beautiful evening and the best part – no mosquitoes! We had our lawn sprayed by the Mosquito Squad and it was very effective. Definitely worth $150 in my opinion! My brother Chris and sis-in-law Meg showed up after dinner.

11057644_10102176484729362_9099520116818159271_o

Annabelle and Jackson “playing” together11016961_10102176484544732_5167785230461321536_o

11016819_10102176482184462_7112476780432306023_o

Saturday was the official day of the reunion. We were slightly worried about rain, or about it being too hot (previous forecasts had called for 85 and sunny) but it ended up being low 80s and mostly overcast – perfect weather for a reunion!

This year’s theme was Disney. I had really wanted to find a Belle (Beauty & the Beast) costume for Annabelle but just couldn’t find one in her size. So she ended up being Snow White.

11223984_852958014759071_5223546584184055322_o

Emma was Minnie Mouse – I found her dress for $0.25 at a garage sale, and princess shoes and Minnie ears at Walmart (that she wore for about 1 minute).

11731582_852957684759104_2860013623488812387_o

I had really wanted to dress up as a princess with a fun dress and tiara, but since I’m nursing, a dress wasn’t very practical. I already had a skirt and tank that would work well for Ariel (The Little Mermaid) so I decided to do that. I bought a purple bikini top from Walmart and a red wig from Walmart.com.

I tried my hardest to convince Travis to dress up as Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid – I even bought him a white polo shirt, blue shorts and a red sash from Walmart. But he refused. He said the costume made him feel like a Walmart hobo. So what did he do instead?

11722140_852955964759276_2511843126971487029_o

If you guessed the hunter from Bambi, you were correct.

905772_852957611425778_4435125192329795817_o

11411804_852957714759101_6797774246252665376_o 11228936_852957334759139_8453608010919131880_o

Tinkerbelle, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Mr. Smee11053615_852957471425792_358843996009049173_o

The Jedi (apparently Star Wars was bought by Disney?)11709926_852956574759215_5461904379036690660_o

A few of us kept our costumes on for most of the day but most people put theirs on long enough for pictures, and then took most or at least part of them off. I wore my wig and bikini top until after dinner and then ditched them. The wig wasn’t itchy at all, and surprisingly not too hot, but that darn long hair was always in the way with holding and nursing Annabelle!

Other people that showed up for the day of the reunion were my aunt Jayme, cousin Jody, second cousin Lacey and her son Parker, uncle Don and aunt Marilyn, and cousin Tim and his daughter Charlotte. All in all, we had about 25 people. It was a troop!

11727829_852970491424490_410986021_o

Snow White & the Five Dwarfs, plus Malificent11722617_852958474759025_3315473040157688123_o 11700623_852957248092481_4235108760304224122_o

We ate a giant brunch of food around noon, and then dinner was around 5:30 I think. Honestly, the day was one big blur – between keeping track of kiddos, nursing, people coming and going, helping in the kitchen a bit, and catching up with relatives I hadn’t seen in years, it was kind of chaotic. Fun, but crazy.

20150711_180725 20150711_180722 11741125_852958508092355_1889269533072790254_o 11717445_852958124759060_736496249945315213_o 11267884_852959201425619_7540627825193291741_o

1501109_852958708092335_8406422433065910082_o 11411884_852958731425666_935661028673413561_o 10866254_852959011425638_7996432045694406046_o

20150709_200108

Sunday, my immediate family (minus Chris and Meg who had left Saturday night because Meg had to work), Travis, our girls and I all made it to church. Amazingly, we weren’t even that late. It was a Christmas miracle!

After church, we had our relatives who were still in town over for lunch. My dad’s cousin Brian and his wife Dianne who live in Brainerd came over too with their daughter. We had been talking about seeing them ever since we moved to the area, so it was nice to see them. I didn’t get to chat much between taking care of kids though – such is the life of a nursing mom!

While the family was there for lunch, we celebrated my mom’s and my birthdays, which were on July 13 and July 15 respectively. She turned 62 and I turned 32. Everything that has happened this past year with my mom’s health makes us thankful for one more year of being alive, and being together.

20150709_193423

(This was earlier in the week — we celebrated more than once — but you get the idea.)

Sunday evening, Jeremy and Jen headed back out on the road with their boys. They made a short pit stop at my parents’ house in Rochester and then continued on their way to southern Indiana – all in all, a 13.5-hour jaunt! They’re brave souls for making the trek with two little ones and two wiener dogs.

After everyone, except my parents and Noel and Pat, had pulled up stakes and left town, we settled in for some White Collar episodes. We were pooped! But our viewing was interrupted by a crazy storm system that quickly blew in. Travis was watching on the porch and called us to come and look. There was a huge wall of greenish, purple clouds blowing in. The wind picked up so fast that after just a few minutes, we were spooked and decided to head to the basement. About 15 minutes later, we lost power. The trees looked like little rag dolls in the wind. A huge branch fell off a tree in the middle of our yard, and a tree on the side of our yard came crashing down too. I was too freaked out to even watch. Not only is it sad to lose trees, it’s scary to know that one could fall on your house!

The worst of the storm lasted for less than an hour, but we were without power until Wednesday afternoon. That night, we got out all the candles we owned, played music through little speakers connected to my iPod, and the guys went out to survey the damage. We were extremely lucky – a tree fell right next to our shed, but did minimal damage. Another tree next to our house was blown partially over, but not snapped. There are other branches in the middle of our woods that broke off too, but we suffered no structural damage.

Other people were not as lucky. This was one of the worst storms to hit the Brainerd Lakes area in decades. In the woods just 4-5 miles north of us, about half of the trees were either snapped off or completely uprooted. And we’re talking big, 60-year-old trees. One of the resorts right in our area had its entire roof ripped off. It’s just devastating.

When you live in the country, no power means no sewer and no water. So after cleaning up the yard on Monday, my parents headed home and we headed up to Travis’ parents’ house in Nevis until our power came back on.

This post is crazy long already, so I’m going to cover our time in Nevis in a separate post. Coming soon…

Tags: , , , , ,

Annabelle Lyn: 4 Months

29 Jul

Annabelle was 4 months old on Monday!
image
image
image
She doesn’t have her 4-month well-baby checkup until August 11 so I won’t know her measurements until then. But I can say that she has adorable, chunky thighs!
image
Annabelle is such a good sport. She is so easygoing and happy just to take it all in.

This past month, she has gone swimming at the beach 4 times and in the pool once. I had almost returned a little swimsuit we got for her as a gift, thinking we would never use it before she’d outgrow it, but I was wrong! Annabelle has gone swimming more in her first 4 months than Emma did her first 2 years. But we are living in the Land of 10,000 Lakes now — swimming is just what you do in the summer!
image
image
Each time Annabelle went swimming at the beach, I changed her from her swimsuit back into warm, dry clothes and set her down in her carseat — and she just drifted off to sleep on her own! That should tell you what an easy baby she is. The complete opposite of Emma.

I had no intention of putting Annabelle on a schedule, but she kind of did it herself! Here’s her general schedule/routine:

6:30 — Wake up and nurse

7:00 — Back to sleep

7:45 — Wake up, hang out in the Rock n Play while Big Sis and Mommy eat breakfast

8:00 — Nurse

8:30 — Play on playmat while Mommy gets herself and Big Sis ready for the day

9:30 — Naptime, either in the swing or carseat if we’re going somewhere

11:00 — Wake up and nurse

11:30 — Hang out, Mommy and Sis eat lunch around 12/12:30

1:30 — Nurse in Emma’s room while Mommy tries to get her down for a nap

2:00 — Down for afternoon nap

5:00 — Wake up and nurse

5:30 — Play in bouncy seat or on playmat while Mommy makes dinner; Hang out in Rock n Play while family eats dinner

7:00 — Down for a short nap, sometimes just in the Baby Bjorn while we play outside

7:30 — Wake up; Play a little before getting ready for bed (which usually just consists of changing her diaper, putting on pajamas and wrapping her in the same swaddle she uses for naps)

8:00 — Nurse

8:30 — Bedtime!

This is a very general schedule, and since Annabelle is so agreeable, we push her naptimes and feedings around a little depending on what we’re doing. I often nurse her until she’s sleepy, then quickly swaddle her and put her down. She still loves the Baby Bjorn, so if we’re out and about during her naptime, I can just put her in there and she looks around for a while before falling asleep. We’re planning to buy an Ergobaby or Boba carrier soon, since the Bjorn is killing my shoulders now that Annabelle is heavier! I know we’ll get a ton of use out of it — just hesitant to spend the $150.
image
image
Besides swimming, this past month Annabelle has:

* Gone on a hike with Mommy and Daddy in Crow Wing State Park (no Emma)
image
image

* Gone garage sale-ing for her second time

* Watched Mommy and Daddy eat dinner outside on the patio at Jake’s
image

* Started grabbing for toys with her hands a lot more
image

Tags: , ,

Confidence from God

23 Jul

11141306_958516877511968_6609342664275713999_n

We were sitting at a table eating lunch in the Rainforest Café of the Mall of America when my high-school boyfriend suggested we go try rock climbing. Even though it sounded sort of fun, I vehemently refused. What if I was horrible at it? What if I made a fool of myself?

Fast forward 5 years. My college boyfriend (and future husband) asked me what year the Declaration of Independence was signed. I timidly suggested “1774”. Then he asked what temperature water freezes at. I asked “30 degrees?” He scoffed in disbelief that I didn’t know these basic facts, and I felt dumber than dumb (and madder than heck). One fight and apology later, I vowed to never venture a conjecture on facts again.

Fast forward another 5 years. I was riding in the car with some girlfriends from small group at church and laughed LOUD at something that was said. All of a sudden, I was hyper-aware of myself and wondered if the other girls thought I was completely obnoxious. I didn’t talk (or laugh) for the rest of the night.

Then there was the time I was in Salt Lake City to time a triathlon with a co-worker. Unbeknownst to me, I got my directions completely mixed up so that I thought east was west. When I realized that I was discombobulated, my head spun and I felt a slice of my identity as “the girl good with directions” die.

Even though I believe that our relationships with people are what matter most in life, they are also the source of much angst, heartache and self-doubt. I’ve heard many a Christian lament their “fear of man” or struggle with people-pleasing. We know that we shouldn’t put so much stock in what other people think of us, but somehow, we just can’t get ourselves to stop caring.

I think part of our problem is the way that Christian leaders sometimes motivate us. They exhort us to live in such a way that “people can’t help but notice something different about you.” Even if they don’t say that outright, they often tell a story of an unbeliever walking up to a believer and saying, “I notice something different about you. What do you have that I don’t?” Those believers listening who have never had such an experience start wondering why they haven’t. What should they be doing differently?

I have listened numerous times to an excellent sermon called Blessed Self-Forgetfulness by Tim Keller on 1 Corinthians 4:3-4: “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.” Tim Keller’s sermon gave me the confidence and biblical footing to stop over-analyzing my life. I live my life on the basis of my relationship with God and by the Spirit’s leading. Whoever notices or doesn’t notice is inconsequential – believers and unbelievers alike. Like Paul, I live for the approval of one person: God Himself.

Obviously, I haven’t always had this confidence. And if I’m being honest, I don’t always have it now. But I have it most days. So what changed?

I realized that God loves who I am. In fact, God created me to be EXACTLY who I am. Something I like to remind myself of to kill Satan’s weapons of self-doubt is “The only wrong with me is sin.” No, I am not perfect. Yes, I have a long way to go to be the Christian, wife, mother and friend I want to be. But my love for endurance sports? My sarcastic sense of humor? My love of reading, writing and romantic comedies? My complete ineptitude at trivia and basic facts of life? Those are the me that God created.

When we embrace the fact that God created us to be who we are, and that who we are is a good thing (aside from sin), we can see our strengths and weaknesses in the light of truth. One of the most freeing realizations I’ve ever had was “I don’t have to be everything. I can just be me.” It’s ok that I have horrible hand-eye coordination. It’s ok that I can’t throw a Frisbee to save my life. I can’t remember dates or names, but I remember faces. I remember where I was when I was thinking about x, or what I was doing when I heard about y. I remember where on the page something I read in a book is located, and can memorize entire passages when they’re something that really resonates with me.

So no one is going to mistake me for a professional baseball player or ask me to join their team at trivia night. And that’s ok. It’s also ok if I play Big Buck Hunter and don’t kill a single deer. Or if I’m asked to retrieve a Frisbee only to launch it at a right angle into the bushes. Or if I laugh too loud at something that wasn’t necessarily funny. Or if it took me 25 years to learn the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 and water freezes at 32 degrees (and that I googled both before publishing this just to verify).

This confidence is from something much deeper than just saying, “This is the way I am.” Rather, my confidence comes from a deep soul-belief that this is who God created me to be and that in Christ, I already have God’s approval. Actually… not just His approval, but also His lavish and abundant love!

So whenever I am tempted to worry about what other people think about me, or wonder about the impression they got from something I did, I go back to these truths: The only thing wrong with me is sin. The God of the universe loves who I am. I am who God created me to be. Who I am is a good thing.

Don’t get me wrong, I am still called to be loving to others. Embracing who I am is not a license to mow down anyone who gets in my way. “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:13). Rather, just as Tim Keller says in his sermon that I linked to above (seriously, listen to it!), the more confident I am about who I am in Christ, the less time I spend thinking about myself. And the less I think about myself, the more time I have to spend thinking for and about others.

{This idea is what people often refer as “finding your identity in God” but as I almost always find pithy sayings like that quite unhelpful, I felt the need to expound on the idea.}

Tags: , , , , ,

Emma Grace: 27 Months

22 Jul

I don’t do monthly updates on Emma anymore but because I want to remember what she was like at this age, I think it’s time I do another update. Emma was 27 months on July 7.
image

image

image

Emma’s obsessions lately have been:

* Moons — She points them out whenever she sees them — in books, on towels, in the sky during the day. She also has a projector that projects stars, teddy bears and a moon while playing music and we ‘watch moons’ together before she falls asleep at naptime and bedtime.

* Bikes — She points them out all the time and loves trying to ride the bike we bought her at a garage sale for $10 (she’s still a little too small for it and we have to hold her upright on it). One of our friends biked with his 4.5-year-old son to the beach using one of those pull-behind bikes. Emma saw that and now will randomly say “Andrew. Bike. Daddy.” It’s hilarious… but annoying if she gets stuck on repeat.

* Airplanes — We have a teeny tiny airport near our house so we see small airplanes flying fairly often. If she hears any noise that even resembles a plane, Emma says “a-pa” and looks in the sky for an airplane.

* Choo-choos — There’s a railroad track about a mile from our house but over the river, the sound carries a ways, so we can hear the train really well. Whenever she hears one, her mouth gets wide, “Ooohhh… choo choo.”

* Yogurt — This girl still loves yogurt… A LOT. Just like her cousin Jensen. Those two must’ve eaten about 15 things of yogurt in the few days he was visiting.
image
* Pointing out colors — Emma is doing really well with recognizing colors! Now we’re getting her started on counting.

* Hearts and all things pink — She’s totally a girly girl! At the library one day, she ran around collecting pink books. She will also pick out or point out everything pink, like purses, the record from the Fisher Price record player, and the pink squid on Finding Nemo (which we just watched for the first time this past week!).
image
* “If You’re Happy & You Know It” — This is by far Emma’s favorite song. My parents bought her a little bunny that plays the song, wiggles it ears up and down, and claps. It’s really cute.

* Her Baby Sister — Emma loves helping with Annabelle. She unbuttons her onesie and pulls her diaper off, throws the dirty diaper away, brings burp cloths and blankets, entertains Annabelle when she’s unhappy, holds Annabelle on her lap (for about 30 seconds at a time with our help), and goes “Shhhh” if we mention Baby is sleeping. She also loves giving Baby hugs and kisses.
image
image
image
* Being outside — Emma’s favorite things to do outside are: Draw with sidewalk chalk, roll down the hill in her wagon or truck, jump in puddles, play at the beach, and play at the playground or on our swingset (specifically swinging). Emma also loves to watch older kids play. I joke that that’s the only thing that can get her to stand still.
image
image
image
image
image
* Towels — I have no idea why, but Emma loves playing with towels, specifically the pink ones she used as a newborn (she loves the hood and “wears” them around). One of her favorite things to say is “Pink towel.”
image
image
Even though Emma is a challenge and a very stubborn, determined little girl who will knowingly defy me while looking me straight in the eyes and saying “Naughty,” she is a sweetheart most of the time. She’s also at a very fun age. I love that she’s talking so much (except for when she repeats the same thing over and over hundreds of times in a row) — it’s just fun to learn her personality and hear the crazy things that toddlers think about and say.

On a more developmental side, Emma has officially transitioned to a toddler bed AND is done drinking bottles! Both things went much better than I had thought they would.

For the toddler bed, we had talked about bringing it up to Emma’s room several times and just never got around to it. Then we went to Rochester to visit my parents for a week and discovered that Emma could crawl out of her pack ‘n’ play. So she slept in the big bed with me and after seeing that she did really well with not rolling off and could get out of bed and come upstairs when she was done sleeping, we decided to just go with it. When we returned home, we brought her toddler bed up and the rest is history. Emma loves sleeping in a big girl bed. We still stay in her room until she falls asleep and there have been several nights when Emma comes into our bed, but I’d say 80% of the time, the toddler bed has been good.
image
For weaning Emma off her bottles, we first started giving her the bottle separated from naptime and bedtime. I’d give her a bottle after lunch and after dinner, but not as part of her bedtime routine. We did that for a few weeks. Then when we went to my parents’ cabin over the Fourth, we forgot to bring bottles along and decided it was time to pull off the Band-Aid. It was hard those first few nights — Emma really wanted a bottle. But she survived without it and it got easier the longer she went without one. We did end up telling her that “bottles went bye-bye” and she seemed content with that explanation… I have no idea why. Once we got home from the cabin, we moved the bottles to a higher cabinet so Emma couldn’t see them. Now Emma drinks milk from a sippy cup before bed (if she drinks any at all). Yay!

Next up… potty training. Oy. Momma’s not ready.

Tags: ,

Fourth of July 2015

16 Jul

I’m a little late with this post but right after we returned from the cabin over the 4th, it was a sprint to get stuff ready for our family reunion that we hosted at our house this past weekend. And now we’re up at Travis’ parents’ house because our power is out for 4 days. So. I think I have an excuse for the tardiness.

For the Fourth of July this year, we headed down to my parents’ cabin near Pine City. Travis’ parents Al and Beth, brother Matthew, Matthew’s girlfriend Diana and my brother Chris joined us as well. But first, we stopped at a friend’s parent’s lake house in Aitkin to see our friends who we hadn’t seen in about 5 years! It was great catching up with them — they live down in Minneapolis so we don’t get to see each other as much as we’d like. The kids played on the beach and in the water while the adults chatted and snacked. They had shelled peanuts that Emma was obsessed with — except that she would try to just eat the shell too. Silly girl.

Around 3:30 pm, we headed down to the cabin, arriving around 5 pm. Al, Beth and Matthew got there soon after and we ate dinner. We sat around and talked until it was time for bed. Since Emma is now able to climb out of her pack ‘n’ play, she slept in the bed with me and Travis slept on a twin air mattress on the floor. Annabelle slept in her swing. We were a little nervous about having all 4 of us in the same room, but it ended up working out ok. We put Annabelle down in my parents’ room until Emma got to sleep (with me) and then Travis moved Annabelle into our room when he went to bed. We had a loud fan going in our room so I was able to get up, change Annabelle’s diaper, nurse her and put her back down without waking up Emma. Always a dicey situation!

Saturday was the Fourth and for the morning and early afternoon, we took it easy. Chris had arrived the previous night after Emma and I went to bed, and Diana arrived mid-morning. Travis, Al and Matthew went fishing around 7 on Al’s fishing boat.

IMG_20150704_075103 (Large) IMG_20150704_075228 (Large)

The rest of drank coffee and tea, and ate French toast for breakfast (my fave!). When the fisherman got back, we filled up the kiddie pool and played Bocce ball.

20150704_102453 (Large) 20150704_102459 (Large)

Emma ended up falling asleep in Grandma Beth’s arms mid-morning — she was definitely acting a little off all that day. I blame teething.

20150704_110923 (Large) 20150704_110937 (Large) 20150704_110947 (Large)

After lunch, we got the pontoon out of the garage, charged and launched, and made it over to the sandbar beach area by 4 pm (my parents’ property has a rocky shoreline) after Travis and Matthew got a short tube ride behind Al’s boat. Better late than never! We enjoyed our time over there, though Emma is still NOT a fan of boat rides, at all.

Soon, it was time for dinner so we headed back to the cabin for dinner. I wasn’t feeling the greatest and we discovered that both Emma and I had a fever of 102! No wonder she wasn’t acting like herself. Since we have 2 young kiddos and a slew of adults who hate fighting traffic ;), we made a campfire and watched the amateur fireworks around the lake. The cabin just 3 properties down from us put on a great show — though they were so close and loud that the whole time, Emma kept saying “House! House!” because she wanted to go back inside. Annabelle slept through the whole thing.

On Sunday, we ate breakfast and hung out on the pontoon at the dock watching Emma throw rocks in the water off the dock.

20150705_102810 (Large) 20150705_102813 (Large) 20150705_103233 (Large) 20150705_103736-EFFECTS (Large) 20150705_103804 (Large) 20150705_102737 (Large) 20150705_102723 (Large)

It was at this time that Emma fell off the dock. She had been getting off the pontoon with Grandma Beth and accidentally backed up off the dock. She wasn’t wearing a lifejacket, but it was really shallow (she could’ve stood up) and Beth jumped in to get her really quickly. Emma was ok, and only slightly terrified. She still loves the water! About an hour or so later, we got motivated to get to the sandbar beach. We got there around 11 I think, and spent a couple of hours there, floating, snacking, and playing in the sand.

20150705_122827 (Large) 20150705_122830 (Large) 20150705_122902 (Large) 20150705_123031 (Large) 20150705_123044 (Large) 20150705_123729 (Large) 20150705_123818 (Large) 20150705_123944 (Large) 20150705_124940 (Large) 20150705_124949 (Large) 20150705_125008 (Large) 20150705_131737 (Large) 20150705_131741 (Large) 20150705_131823 (Large)

We headed back to the cabin for lunch and then the packing up began. Our time at the cabin is always too short! Al, Beth, Matthew and Diana all left during Emma’s naptime. My parents, Travis and I loaded up a trailer of stuff to take up to our house for the family reunion, got packed and headed out around 8 pm — later than we had planned on leaving but it’s amazing how long it takes to get going when you have 2 little kids, especially when one is nursing.

All afternoon on Sunday, it had been threatening rain but we didn’t get anything more than a shower here and there… until we got 5 minutes from home. Then the heavens opened up and we got caught in a such a downpour we could barely see the road. Needless to say, all the stuff we had in the trailer got drenched. It wasn’t anything that couldn’t get wet necessarily but still. Figures.

It was a great Fourth regardless! I’m glad I got to see some fireworks this year.

Tags: , , , ,

Intrigued by Plexus

11 Jul

One of my friends here in Brainerd lost 100 pounds using Plexus products in addition to exercising and eating right. But she also listed a bunch of other benefits as well, similar to the ones mentioned in this post from a blog I follow called Journey to the Finish Line:

Plexus Success.

Color me intrigued. I usually blow this kind of stuff off as hyped up and fad-ish. But this one… this one I think I might actually try.

Tags:

Annabelle Lyn: 3 Months

28 Jun

Annabelle was exactly 3 months yesterday (she was 13 weeks last Friday though).

image

She is still such a delightful baby! Annabelle has really redeemed the whole newborn experience for us. I am able to enjoy her so much more than I enjoyed Emma at this age. That sounds horrible but I was just so far at my wit’s end with Emma that I couldn’t help but be ready for her to get older — and easier.

Miss Annabelle on the other hand is so easygoing and happy. She doesn’t cry over much — mostly just when she’s hungry, though she does get a little fussy when she’s tired. She still loves the Baby Bjorn but she has slept for several longer naps in her swing this past week, which I really appreciate! It is so much harder doing dishes, laundry and tidying up when you have a baby strapped to your chest!

image

Me holding Annabelle and a friend’s baby while she made lunch

I can usually swaddle Annabelle in a blanket, put her in the swing, turn it on and she’s asleep in 5-10 minutes. She also likes to be held vertical on our chests, or lying in our arms if she’s swaddled, but she seems to sleep best either in the Bjorn or swing. The other night, we went out to eat and even though Annabelle was awake when we got there, she fell asleep in her carseat and slept until it was time to go. What a champ!

image

At night, Annabelle usually sleeps from around 9:30 pm to 6:30 am. My new morning routine is reading the Bible on my phone while nursing Annabelle. She goes back to sleep for an hour or 2 but I stay up and exercise (or take care of Emma if she woke up early). Having some time to myself each morning makes a surprising difference in my attitude. Plus, it’s a great feeling having my workout done by 8 am!

image

Annabelle is still nursing well — we’ve hit our nursing stride, I guess you could say. She nurses about every 3 hours during the day. In the evening, she often nurses more frequently for comfort. She’s doesn’t like a pacifier and so far, has only taken a bottle once. We’re going to keep working on it, but maybe she’ll go straight to a sippy cup?
image
Despite all the ways that Annabelle is the opposite of Emma (hence her nickname “Anti-bisk” — we call Emma “Bisky” short for “Biscuit”), she has Emma’s smile and sunny disposition. Annabelle smiles often and wide when she sees us. What a cutie!
image

Her hair elicits comments from anyone and everyone. It is a thing to behold.

image

Things that Annabelle has done the past month are going to the beach twice, spending a week down in Rochester (and meeting uncle Brian), hanging out in our living room fort, having her two first major poop blowouts, getting her first tick pulled off her, finding her hands (yay!), and taking a bath with Big Sister (mommy held her). So much fun!

image

image

image

Annabelle doesn’t have her next checkup until 4 months but as of right now, she is on the verge of moving on to size 3 diapers, wearing some 6-month clothes but mostly 3 month, and rocking the cloth diapers when we’re hanging at home. Yep, I’m doing cloth again. Mostly because I have them,  and why not? They’re really not that much work while she’s exclusively breastfed and it saves on disposable diapers. Not sure what I’m going to do when she starts eating solid foods but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

image

image

And that’s Annabelle at 3 months!

Tags: , ,

Tuning My Heart to God’s Grace

24 Jun

20150617_181941More often than not lately, I have felt completely overwhelmed. This whole taking care of a newborn and a toddler requires more than a little creativity and patience. I thank God that Annabelle is such an easy baby! Otherwise, I would surely be losing my mind. As it is, I feel more than a little frazzled and brain dead.

Why is it that when I feel overwhelmed and underequipped that I would rather stew in my unpleasantness and misery than run to God? Like Ann Voskamp says,

“For all my yearning for joy, longing for joy, begging for joy–is the bald truth that I prefer the empty dark? Prefer drama? Why do I lunge for control instead of joy? Is it somehow more perversely satisfying to flex control’s muscle? Ah–power–like Satan. Do I think Jesus-grace too impotent to give me the full life? … If I am rejecting the joy that is hidden somewhere deep in this moment–am I not ultimately rejecting God? Whenever I am blind to joy’s well, isn’t it because I don’t believe in God’s care?” (One Thousand Gifts, 130).

In these moments, I need something to pull me out of the depths of my depravity and remind me of truth. The Bible is one way, but I find that worship music makes my heart sing God’s glories far deeper and faster than reading. The two songs that I have been playing on repeat for the past couple of months are Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher and You Make Me Brave by Amanda Cook and Bethel Music. (Click on the links to listen to the songs.)

I wouldn’t say that I’m a lover of poetry necessarily, but there are certain songs that just word things in a way that GET ME. These songs are two of them.

Lord, I Need You

Lord, I come, I confess
Bowing here I find my rest
Without You I fall apart
You’re the One that guides my heart

Lord, I need You, oh, I need You
Every hour I need You
My one defense, my righteousness
Oh God, how I need You

Where sin runs deep Your grace is more
Where grace is found is where You are
And where You are, Lord, I am free
Holiness is Christ in me

Lord, I need You, oh, I need You
Every hour I need You
My one defense, my righteousness
Oh God, how I need You

So teach my song to rise to You
When temptation comes my way
And when I cannot stand I’ll fall on You
Jesus, You’re my hope and stay

You Make Me Brave

I stand before You now
The greatness of your renown
I have heard of the majesty and wonder of you
King of Heaven, in humility, I bow

As Your love, in wave after wave
Crashes over me, crashes over me
For You are for us
You are not against us
Champion of Heaven
You made a way for all to enter in

I have heard You calling my name
I have heard the song of love that You sing
So I will let You draw me out beyond the shore
Into Your grace
Your grace

You make me brave
You make me brave
You call me out beyond the shore into the waves
You make me brave
You make me brave
No fear can hinder now the love that made a way

…………………..

I praise God for songwriters, singers and musicians. I’m not any one of those things, but I’m so happy they exist!

Tags: , , , , ,

Father’s Day 2015

23 Jun

For Father’s Day this year, I let Travis sleep in while I got up with the girls. (He let me sleep in on Saturday.) Once Travis got up and made coffee, I made him eggs and bacon for breakfast — but I tried to do too much at one time so I burnt the first round of eggs.

We made it to church for the second service. Afterward, we made an impromptu decision to pack up a lunch and have a picnic at the beach in the Gull Lake Recreation Area. It was such a fun time! I forgot my phone so I have no pictures (fail), but Emma loved playing in the sand. She was also brave enough to wade out in the water up to her waist, and then let Travis carry her into deeper water. She loved pointing out all the boats on the water, and watching the other kids playing at the beach (that girl has no personal bubble).

By the time we left, it was a quarter to 3 so Emma was exhausted. She passed out on our way home. Annabelle was a champ too — she enjoys being outside.

While all 3 of us girls napped, Travis finished installing our in-ground dog fence by cutting a line through our driveway, inserting the cable and re-sealing the crack. (Hey, he chose to do that!)

He had been planning to go fishing that evening, but I wasn’t feeling the greatest so he agreed to take a rain check and stay back to help me with the girls. That’s why he’s such a great husband and father! We were both still pretty full from lunch, so he just made macaroni & cheese, mainly for Emma. I had entertained the thought of grilling steaks (one of Trav’s favorites) but sometimes things don’t go beyond thoughts. (Actually, that happens quite a bit lately.)

All in all, it was a really fun family day. And Travis will get his fishing in later this week!

Tags: , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →