Where the Wild Things Are...

Happy Birthday Mabel!

Mabel turned 3 on September 11^th.  We celebrated with a “Purplicious” party on September 10^th and were joined by family and a few friends.  Given the events that had occurred the previous week, it was actually a wonderful time to bring people together to celebrate our little treasures.  There was a lot of purple and Mabel loved her birthday cake.  As is becoming our tradition, we ended the day with an outdoor movie night on the driveway.  This year we watched, Tangled.  In case you haven't noticed, Rapunzel, also wears a purple dress!

 Mabel, at three years old you run the world…or at least our household.  You are the funniest little person with more facial expressions than anyone I know.  I know for certain I have looked at you and have seen 5 different expressions come out before a blink goes by.  You love the color purple, love the Disney princesses, especially “sleeking” beauty.  You are a great story teller and love to make sure your brother is listening, “right Louis?” Speaking of your brother, you know how to push his buttons and seem to get a kick out of doing it.  You enjoy being around adults and will often leave the kids behind to hang out with us by the table.  You enjoy cooking with Papa and love taste testing everything from spinach to stinky cheese, from hummus to chocolate.  You really have quite the palate for a three year old – especially one who used to be the pickiest eater in the house.  You are a pack rat and a bag lady, always carry a full bag of something (I fear what your room will look like as a teenager).  You are a little peanut with a big head of hair that makes us laugh every morning.  You bring many smiles to our house with your twinkling eyes and zest for life.  We love you Mabel.  Happy Birthday.

Loss

It has taken me a while to write this post, in fact this is why I am delayed with all of my posts.  In early June, we found out that I was pregnant and got very excited to have baby #3 join our family in February, 2012.  It was going to be crazy because I would be 39 weeks pregnant on my sister’s wedding, but to be honest, I never really worried about it and knew it would all work out.  We informed our family and Louis and Mabel over the July 4^th weekend.  It had been a rough few weeks for me with tiredness and nausea but I tried to stay positive.  I knew that that all of these things were a part of the process that I was very lucky to be going through.  The children were thrilled and dinner time quickly became a place where we discussed how big baby was (the size of a pea, then a grape, a peach, etc.) and we would all come up with ideas for baby names (Louis wanted to name the baby “Bobby” no matter what and loved to tease me about it).  Mabel would kiss my belly nightly and would constantly be trying to lift up my shirt or dress to “see baby”.  The whole family was thrilled and even became more excited when around 14 weeks my belly started to get rounder and it became more real for everyone.  On Thursday Sept 1, I went in to see my obstetrician for my monthly check up.  I was 16 weeks and 5 days.  I had a few questions but nothing overly concerning.  Unfortunately, when we tried to listen to the heartbeat, there was only silence.  The dr quickly performed an ultrasound, just in case the baby was being stubborn.  On the little screen by my head I could see the baby, but it was obvious, even to me, that the baby’s heart was no longer beating.  I quickly called Brad and he came to be with me immediately. Needless to say it was an awful day. 

When we got home that evening we knew we had to tell Louis and Mabel – which was the part I dreaded the most.  I was having a hard time comprehending it all, how could I expect a 4 and nearly 3 year old to understand.  Mabel just stared at us and Louis broke down sobbing.  He was so sad and it was so hard to that we couldn’t make it all better for him.  After the tears dried for a little while and we ate and gave hugs, it was time for bed.  Louis told me he really wanted a new baby and I told him that we would have to pray.  He responded with, “maybe we didn’t pray enough for this one”.  It broke my heart that he should feel any responsibility for what happened.  I quickly explained that we couldn’t have prayed more or been more excited.  It has been tough few weeks but we have received amazing support from friends, family and coworkers and it has really helped us through.  It reminds how good people are and am grateful to be surrounded by such people. 

Now we are moving forward as best as we can. Louis and Mabel don’t ask as many questions about the baby we lost, but make sure to tell me every Sunday that they prayed for a baby in Church and most nights Louis also prays for a new baby.  For me, I am so lucky to have the children I have, I can’t imagine how much harder it would be to not have them already.  I am hopeful that someday there will be another baby in our family but in the meantime, we continue to be thankful for what we have been given.

Summer

We had an excellent summer.  While we were incredibly busy and we felt like we were never home (I was gone 6 weekends in a row, Brad and the children with for 5 of those), summer never felt rushed or that it was going too fast.  Now, I would love to have a few August days back, but we appreciated them when we had them.  I took a trip to Vegas for a bachelorette party, we celebrated Father’s day in Milwaukee, took a trip to the dells, spent time at the cabin and overall just enjoyed summer.  I think as the children get older, it is so fun to see how they recognize the return of various seasons and what those seasons mean. This summer meant running through the sprinkler, playing with water and just being outside whenever possible.  I feel bad that I didn’t do a better job keeping up with all our activities, but I will let the pictures do the talking.

backyard camping with papa

cooling off on one of the many super hot days

pack us up!

And she did it…

Last Monday morning, I arrived at work and noticed that I had two missed calls from home on my work phone.  There weren’t any messages and I didn’t miss any calls on my mobile phone so I was a bit confused.  I immediately called home and Brad answered.  Instead of talking to me, he handed the phone over to Mabel.  Mabel very proudly announced to me, “I went poopy in the potter chair!” I apologize to the non-parents who may be reading this, but I was thrilled.  Thank goodness it was very early in the morning so no one had to hear me congratulate my daughter on pooping.  This was a huge deal!  The day before Mabel was to afraid to go even in her diaper and I kept telling her it was bad to keep it in and to let it come out.  I was getting very nervous about what might come of this situation.  But on this Monday, I was thrilled.  She went by herself, while Brad was in the shower. She didn’t tell anyone until it was all done.  Since that time she has successfully gone #2 in the potty two more times (she only goes every 5 days or so).  Mabel had been wearing her underwear to school and we always kept pull-ups on hand in case “her tummy hurt”.  But now, we can happily stop buying pull-ups and enjoy have two potty trained children!  I am so excited to get out of buying diapers for a little while.

Food Glorious Food

This year for Lent, Brad and I decided to abstain from meat for the entire Lenten season. We allowed eggs and seafood but it was still a challenge. I was concerned about ensuring we got enough protein in our diet which was one reason the kids weren’t included. Prior to Lent we made a list of 40 different meals that would meet our requirements which helped significantly in meal planning. It is very helpful (wonderful) to have a husband who is an amazing and imaginative cook. About halfway we both hit a wall and had a couple days of crabbiness, but we persevered (even though many people thought we were crazy). When it was all said and done, we experienced some amazing outcomes. My children became excellent eaters. While they got to eat some meat, they also had to eat of lot of the stuff we did. I was surprised to see how much more and better they ate. Secondly, Brad and I decided to continue being meatless Monday – Thursdays. We have found that we almost prefer to not to eat meat and have realized being full from meat leaves us feeling heavy. We were fairly healthy eaters before, preferring fruits and vegetables to snacks and considered ourselves entry-level foodies, but now I feel like we have come to appreciate flavors so much more and look forward to the meals we can create.

As a further result, we have joined a CSA in Shakopee. Above is a picture of our first pick up. To my surprise, Mabel thoroughly enjoyed the pok choi and more recently last night was eating raw spinach and kale leaves.

What Happened to Spring?

Between the cold/rainy weather and the constant moving and shaking, I am amazed that we are in the beginning of June! I surprised myself when I realized I haven’t updated in over two months. So here is a quick recap.

March:
Mabel has been working on potty training since November. Around Christmas I thought she was getting close, so we started buying pull ups and giving her a M&M for each successful potty trip. Well, months went by and it would come and go. With Louis he just told us, “when I am 3 I will go potty” and the day he turned 3 a switch went one and it was done. So this one foot in/on foot out approach of Mabel’s was driving me crazy. I figured I just needed to find something appealing enough to make her jump.  My bribe? A big girl bed with purple blankets! The catch: she had to do #1 and #2 in the potty. Finally, one night in March she did it, but in typical Mabel fashion is was emotional and rather dramatic. When she was finished, with tears rolling down her face and whimpering she said, “I get my big girl bed, right mommy?” So what did this mommy do? Well the very next day I went to the store and bought her a new bed, strapped it to my car and drove home. The following day we went to Pottery Barn Kids to pick out her bedding (Brad thought that maybe we should make her do it twice or at least wait until the weekend, but no, that wouldn’t work, “I promised her” I kept telling him). So here she is in her big girl bed. She was thrilled, and amazingly, she has only fallen out once so far. Oh, the part of the story that proves I’m a sucker? – She hasn’t gone #2 in the potty since!


Getting into her new bed for the first time



I don't think she could be more excited!

UPDATE: Mabel is now wearing underwear on the weekends. She stays dry all night and most nights. We are still working on #2 so she needs to wear pull-ups to school, but we will stay patient.

Mabel using one of her "stay dry" presents: chapstick

 April:
In April the family got together for my mom’s 60th birthday party. It was a nice relaxing weekend in Melrose. My mom wanted something laid back and private. So the family all get together at my parents place. Everyone had a great time. We all wore beaded necklaces and party hats for “Grandma Gold”. From what I could tell she was very happy with the weekend, and so were we.

Time for baseball



To the park with cousin Owen



Later in April we all gathered again for Easter. My sister Mindy and her boyfriend Brent surprised us on Good Friday announcing their engagement. We were all very excited and happy for them, and very grateful that my parents had champagne in the house. All of us are eagerly anticipating the February wedding. Little Louis gets to be a ring bearer and I couldn’t be more excited to see him all dressed up.  The rest of Easter weekend we spent travelling, staying at Brad's mom's place and getting together with Brad's dad's side of the famliy on Easter Sunday.

Easter at Grandma's

Spring fun while cleaning out the winter drawers