Catching up

Since my last post, we have been to Idaho (great time with family!), we now have a crawler, and a 4 year old.  My, how time flies.  Here's the best I can do in catching you up with pictures.

Grandma enjoyed all 4 of her Great-Grandkids

We all loved spending more time with Uncle Terry (and Aunt Ruth).
They graciously hosted us for a few nights.

Being up in Cascade with Grandma and Grandpa (and the snow) was a blessing.

Daddy (sporting his Movember Moustache) read plenty of books.  The Boise "Steak" shirts were from Grandma Dot.  It was a treat to match and support the local team.

Grandma got to love on her girls (and her Connor, too)

Both Connor and Katie LOVED riding on the 4 wheeler.  Next year when Kara is bigger, I suppose we'll have to learn to take turns (instead of just switching which kid is behind vs. in front)

We LOVE the blankets from the Scotts.   So cozy and so much fun.  This is the "party".  Apparently a party is when you spread out a blanket and sit on it with your siblings.

The sign says "Stop.  Mistletoe - kiss me quick!"

This is Kara's leash - er, I mean feeding tube.  This picture is from a few weeks ago, when she was scooching on her bottom (not crawling).  Working on figuring out a new feeding solution.

Birthday Boy with his Birthday Breakfast!  

"Yucky Charms". 

Sadly enough, both Connor & katie can now say their "L"s

Birthday cards and presents!

The favorite - Daddy's old tractor with wagon, "Dicky Disk", "Chucky Cultivator", and "Perry Plow"

Kara just barely fits into this Christmas dress.  And she sure does love to move. She does not fit into the matching hat, hence the hairclip.  (I believe the clip lasted 10 minutes before it was pulled out).

Katie loves her snow coat.

Kara LOVES her "baby".  She cozies her, and loves her, and chews on her 2 little ribbon hairs.  

(Kara says baby, Mama, her version of Grandma)

This is what Kara did this morning.  Crawled from 10 feet away and got into a toilet paper roll (which I thought was on the end table... can she pull up too??  Yikes!)

Papa & Mimi took Connor and Katie on the "Santa Train".  It's been around since the 70s (or earlier), and was a treat.  They rode the train, had hot chocolate, ate cookies, and sat on Santa's lap.  They've been asked at least 2 times "what they want for Christmas" and they look perplexed.  Trying to process "Does that have anything to do with anything?"

Katie Quotes

We have been living this week in anticipation of friends and family visiting. We are SO excited to have my sister's entire family stateside for the first time in 3 years. Hooray for cousins getting to be together! A dear friend (Mary) from college, and her husband, and sweet little 5 week old baby will be here. And Jeremy's cousin Jess will be here for a few days just after that. We love spending time with Jess (visits are too few and far between).

But for this morning, while I wait, I will pass on some things Katie has said this week. We have lots of ups and downs, but God is helping me notice the ups!

* We were praying for a child who was having a bit of a tantrum (felt like that was better than just staring open-mouthed), I suggested we pray for an obeying heart, and Katie prayed "Der God, please help -- have an obeying heart, and not an arguing heart." Guess she knows an arguing heart when she sees one!

* Yesterday the kids were running toward where I was, and I heard Katie's fussy "uuhhhh!" I asked what was wrong, and she said, "I wanted to be in front of Connor!" I briefly said that "being first" was not Jesus' attitude. She said "O.k., I will try to change my attitude!"

* Then this morning at the breakfast table, she asked me to sing "the righteous" which means Proverbs 18:10 - 'the name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous man runs into it and is safe.' and we said when we need safety, we can pray to the name of the Lord. She commented, "If a car runs into us, we will not be safe." My little philosopher!

The Positives

We have SO many things we are thankful for right now. As of last weekend (10/30), Kara has been eating better! She still despises baby food, but she is now able to chomp on some solids after picking them up (without throwing up!) New things we've added, in tiny bits, are:
* Chicken
* Beans
* Carrots, peas (well cooked)
* Cheese
* Life cereal (her favorite, broken into 1/4 size pieces)

The timing of this was great (actually, clearly providential) as I had been cutting back pumping to allow more time for caring for the kids. Today will be the first time since Kara was born that I will be able to go somewhere (the airport in this case) without bringing all my pumping things and figuring out where/when. What bliss!! A few more days and we'll be totally done. God has been very gracious in giving us a freezer supply that will enable Kara to have 10 to 12 oz per day of breastmilk until she turns one. Wow!

The kids and I walked to the library Wed. Clear, sunny, brisk day. It does me so much good to be outside. - Oh yeah, I also got to be outside on Monday sweeping up cedar needles that weren't sopping wet, hooray! I'm continuing to smile when our children echo me and say "Sunshine!!! Thank you, God!" Meanwhile, I'm also thanking God that He also created people (as well as climates) differently. And I'm thankful for several of my dear friends who love the clouds and rain, and that I know they are finding enjoyment in those days.

We have carpet in our home, for the first time in 7 years. Pretty surreal. And it looks quite nice - our master bed flooring is done. Now for baseboards. I would upload a picture, but Jeremy has our camera packed for his hunting trip with his Dad. We are both VERY thankful for the opportunity to get away, hunt, and most especially, time with his Dad.

In moving things out of our room and closet for the carpet, Connor and Katie helped. Last night, Connor & Daddy started to put back what they could, while Katie and I went to the grocery store. Here's a mini-conversation Jeremy relayed to me later:
Connor: "This is hard work!"
Jeremy: "It is. Do you like hard work?"
Connor: "Yeah! It builds muscles!"

Thank you, Jeremy, for being such a good example of thanking God for giving us work, and for "1 Cor 10:31"ing in WHATEVER you do.

Pictures

Every Autumn, the goal is the same. Find a semi-dry day when there are also leaves on the ground and when the kids look "o.k." for pictures. The only casualty? Naps. Not too bad, though. We need to work on our attention-getting strategies, apparently. Here are 2 from our attempt last Sunday.

Feeding Therapy

Oh my!  This is Kara and her feeding therapist.  Kara has been refusing baby food for over a month now and she would throw up anything besides puffs (split in half) and MUM MUMs.  She is, shall we say, high maintenance!  So her feeding therapist gave us some new strategies.   Now, we are able to get her to eat some baby food, but she feeds herself.  We have been encouraged to use anything and everything, dipped in food.  Both ends of the spoon, a straw, toothbrush, whatever... to get her to put food in her mouth.  She does eat it, but takes a lot of coaching.  I have never seen a baby who knew her mind quite like Kara.  In many ways it has been a huge blessing.  She knows her limitations, and that has kept her (and her airways) safe.  I have to tell myself that over and over when she's not eating and I'm tempted to be frustrated and/or angry.

Fun fact - it takes 4 oz. of squash to equal the calories in 2 oz. of breastmilk.  Kara is probably eating, um, 8 spoonfuls of squash (and I mean baby spoons) at a "good" feed.  We have a ways to go...  

Kara has a 6th sense about cameras.  She always turns and SMILES.  Which is wonderful... except when we want an action shot.

This morning's prayers

Katie - "Thank you God.. for my... for all of our food.  In Jesus' Name, Amen"  And then... to us: "I prayed for all of our food, so you don't need to pray."

Connor - "Thank you God, for a good s-Leep.  Thank you for our food, help it to... *thinking*... glory our bodies.  Help us to Yuv (love) each other.  In Jesus' name, amen"

Meg - (among other things) "Thank you, God that Kara is still asleep."

Since our trip...

We came back and jumped straight into tutoring for Meg, work for Jeremy.  The next day, our dear friend & mentor, Cammy, came from Southern California to help and encourage.  Meg had vein surgery Friday and Monday.  It was minor as far as surgeries go, and we're SO thankful for the provision that enabled us to have this done!  What a blessing to be able to just talk with Cammy, and to have an opportunity for our children to get to know her. 

Now things are... shall we say... normal.  Kara's feeding continues to be a challenge and and opportunity to learn to, (while seeing our deficiencies), trust the Lord.  We often choose to share (and try to focus on) the positives - she is growing and developing.