High Five for Friday

1. Turning 31 Ain't So Bad, check out my post from earlier this week.  Sunday was my birthday and we had a perfect day at home as a family.  I slept in, did some fall baking (pumpkin bars and pumpkin mini muffins), listened to some old favorites from high school/college (Destiny's Child and some original Rascal Flatts), and simply enjoyed my family.  It was a perfect way to end my 30th year and kick off my 31st year:)
2. We had Luke's first quarter conferences for first grade. He's doing great and has a lovely teacher.  Read more at my post from earlier this week. 
3. It's MEA week, which means Luke's been off school Thursday and Friday for a long weekend.  I love having the extra time with him home.  And, to make it even better, we've had nothing planned for the extra weekdays off! 
4. I had been telling Luke for a while that I needed to bring our comforter and a rug to the laundromat so I could wash them in the bigger machines.  We finally made it a reality yesterday while Luke had the day off.  He was SO excited to go.  I love sharing the "firsts" of life with my kids.  Truly one of the biggest joys!
5. I had a great weigh in at Weight Watchers this week.  I'm over 1/3 of the way to my goal and I've only been back at it for six weeks!  The fact that I'm nursing has certainly been helping the cause this time around.  It may be difficult with the holidays coming up, but I'm hoping to be back at my goal weight by January.  Here's hoping!

One Proud Momma

We had Luke's first quarter conferences for first grade tonight.  He is doing great in math and reading, both on his teacher's assessments and the district assessments.  His writing and drawing are already improving from the beginning of the school year too.  This is always a feat because he's simply not interested drawing or writing.  Thankfully he gets LOTS of practice in first grade and at home with homework:)  We were also very happy to hear a bit of a reprimand for chatting with classmates.  Sounds strange, I know...Luke tends to be shy, especially in large groups, but Mrs. Parker said he's now joining in with the chattiness of the class.  Brent and I were very happy to hear he's chatting with classmates and will work on guiding Luke in chatting when it's appropriate in class:)  Luke's only ever at a loss of words with us when we ask about school (read: usually talking our ears off:)), so it was very reassuring to hear from his teacher that he's participating, making friends, and having a good school year so far!  Luke and a few other classmates also got to have lunch with Mrs. Parker today for being respectful and responsible in class.  Very proud momma indeed:)

31 Ain't So Bad

I woke up this morning to Brent saying,

 

"Happy birthday...

Married 9 years...

Two kids...

At your job for over 7 years...

College degree...

I'd say things are pretty good for 31."

 

I completely agree dear:)



Me and my sweethearts on my birthday:)

Three Months

At three months, Nora is:

• Getting pretty good at sucking her thumb.  She prefers her right thumb and usually rolls onto her right side a bit while sucking it.  So far she sucks it mostly when she is falling to sleep/sleeping.

• Very interested in her hands.  She holds them together in front of her face and watches them move.  She also flails her hands around and hits herself in the face often:) 
• Spending all day Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday mornings with Papa Beckmann while Mommy is back at work.  They've been doing great together and enjoying lots of walks around the neighborhood.
• Starting to wear more 3-6 month clothes and I've "retired" more of her 0-3 month clothes (some just because it's too summery for the fall weather we've been having).  We're also just moving her into size 2 diapers. 
• Very chatty!  It's so fun listening to and chatting with her:)  She makes lots of "g" sounds in from her throat and it sometimes even sounds like growling.  We are not the only lucky ones to get to hear her voice; she also likes talking to the animal friends in her floor gym.
• SO smiley now.  Her smiles are so very sweet and light up her entire face.  Her eyes just glisten when she smiles:)  I think I see her Daddy in her grins.
• Sleeping through the night.  She had been sleeping about 7 hours a night since the end of August, but couldn't seem to press beyond that hump.  As of last week, she has been eating between 9:30-10:30pm and getting up to eat between 6:30-7:30am.  This schedule is much better for Mommy and Daddy now that we're both back to work. 
• Weighs 13lbs 10oz.  Mommy had a doctor appointment the other day so we snuck a weight at the clinic:)  According to the web, her weight is about 60-70th percentile.
• The queen of the "45 minute intruder", meaning you wake up fussing after napping for 45 minutes.  If we let you fuss a bit, you fall back to sleep and sleep another 30-45 minutes.  One of the many things we've gotten to know about Miss Nora:)
• Full of personality and we love to learn more of who Nora is as she grows.

Filling up this laundry basket

See what I mean with her hands...
she gets in some awkward positions:)

Love those eyes...and lashes...
and cheeks...and lips...I'm just in love:)

A family picture!  We rarely get these,
so I'm always excited when we do.

Growing fast!

High Five for Friday

1. Chatting with my daughter.  Brent came home to Nora and I chatting on the bed one day this week.  She was full of sounds, smiles, and very interactive.  It was so very sweet listening to her voice, watching her eyes light up, and, of course, kicking her busy feet:) 
2. MOPS is usually a highlight of my week and this week was no different.  We had a speaker who has children in high school and college share the 10 things she's glad she did as a mother and 10 things she wishes she had done.  I'm so very grateful for the wonderful women at my table this year and for the speakers we've had already and this week was only our third meeting of the year.  Our leadership team has done an amazing job of planning a year of MOPS focusing on the Proverbs 31 woman. 
3. Last weekend I attended a Community Ed class to learn about making baby food (love Community Ed!).  The dietitian who lead the class was great, and a mother of two herself, and I learned some great stuff for when Nora is ready for baby food this winter.  I didn't tackle making baby food with Luke due to lack of freezer space and time, but with Nora I'm working less and we have an additional freezer to store the food I make. I'm looking forward to trying it out!
4. We were blessed by some generous people this week who shared baby girl clothes with us that their daughters had outgrown.  One of Brent's co-workers gave us 4 diaper boxes full of clothes and one of my new friends at MOPS shared some adorable outfits with Nora as well!  Such wonderful stuff from generous families:)  Nora's closet is bursting at the seams!
5. Our annual orchard visit!  Mine and Luke's favorite part of fall:)  We went to Northwoods Orchard, just five minutes from our house, with Papa and Gma Beckmann.  It was a beautiful fall day with sunshine and nice temps for sweatshirts.  Luke had a blast with the corn maze, we went on the tractor/wagon ride, had some fun photo ops, had some homemade treats (donuts and caramel apples), and picked out our pumpkins for carving in a few weeks.  Always wonderful memories made at the orchard:)  Check out our photo site for more pictures.

We were teasing Luke that
Nora was taller than him:)

Luke with Papa and Gma

Wagon ride!

My adorable pumpkins among the pumkins:)

High Five for Friday!

It's Friday!  Let me just say, it's hard to start a new tradition/ritual, especially when it's only once a week.  I nearly forgot about High Five for Friday already:) 

1. I finished up my last week of working three mornings a week (and will start back to my normal half time schedule on Monday).   It was very helpful to start back to work gradually so we could all adjust to the new routine.  I've said it before, but I am SO grateful for an accommodating workplace that allows me to have more time at home with our family!
2. This week was also the beginning of Papa Daycare at our house:)  My dad retired last Friday and started up his new post at our house Monday morning.  What a trooper!  (I have to add, he wants to be Papa Daycare.  No arm twisting here.)   He spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings with Nora and with Luke before school started.  It was so sweet to hear Luke tell me about reading with Papa before school each day and Dad and Nora made the most of the beautiful weather with walks each morning. 
3. My lovely cousin, Steph, makes it down to Rochester from St. Paul every couple months for work and we got to have an evening to catch up.  It's always great to see her, share a meal, and this time we even hit up Target:)  We also like to schedule shopping dates together a couple times a year, which I think we'll be doing again sooner than later now that I'm no longer prego:)
4. I got to spend the "school day" with my friend, Liz, on a quick jaunt to IKEA today.  (I say school day because I left with Nora right when Luke went to school and was back in time to pick him up from school.)  Liz is one of my very favorite people:)  We met in high school and have been friends since.  She's a wonderful, kind, loving friend, wife, and mommy:)  We try to get together every couple months and take turns meeting in Rochester or the Cities/Hudson, WI where she lives.  Today we met, babies in tow, at IKEA because I had something on my radar.  It's funny to think back on all the years that we've known each other and how our time together has changed to us both being moms of two, married, and in our thirties.  Yikes, that last one hurts;)  Anyway, I could write an entire post about Liz and I.  In short, Liz and Jack (her 6 month old) and Nora and I had a nice time strolling IKEA and enjoyed lunch at TJIFridays:)
5. This week was overall quite relaxing.  It was the first week that I was back to work that Brent and I both felt like, "Yeah, we can handle this new life/routine of ours."  That sounds dramatic.  It really wasn't that bad the last couple weeks.  It was just an adjustment phase:)   But this week, we had less happening in the evenings and were able to enjoy down time as a family (we're all home bodies...well, I guess the verdict is still out on Nora, but the rest of us are).  Nora slept better this week and we can now say with confidence that she sleeps through the night.  She eats between 9:30-10:30pm and sleeps until 6:30-7:30am.  All in all, it was a very nice family week:)     

Our Handsome First Grader

 

I'm in love:)

 

 

Oh, and he prefers not to be called handsome;)

So Long September

September 2012 was full of adjustments for this little family, both individual and family changes. Luke started first grade, which he's enjoying, but it's been an adjustment for all of us having him in school all day.  He has been more tired than usual and is disappointed each night when we tell him it's time for bed.  I think he's just used to having more down time with Brent and I and the reality is that we have less of that during the week now that we only have evenings together.  It's been a big adjustment for me too.  I miss having that extra time with Luke and feel like the evenings are more about getting things done (dinner, bath, homework, reading, etc) than just enjoying each other.  And, of course, we now have two children to split our time between:)

September also marked the beginning of another football season.  In our house it's an adjustment:)  Brent plays city league football two nights a week and plays FCA league on Saturday mornings.  Brent is also a big football fan, so I try to keep the schedule clear during Michigan and Vikings games:)  Luke's also heading down the path of football fan-dom quickly.  Yesterday he asked me if my request for him to come downstairs could wait because there were only a few minutes left of the game...oy...it's starting already! 

September held lots of changes for me too, which of course impact the entire family (especially when there is an infant involved).  I've started my crawl back to my pre-pregnancy body by rejoining Weight Watchers and training for a 5K in October.  Nora accompanies me to WW meetings once a week, but she's too young for me to jog with her in the stroller.  That means that I have to find time three times a week to get out for a jog while Brent's around to hang with the kids.  The good news is that I have a very supportive husband and I've been able to hit my goal of jogging 3 times a week all but one week in September! 

The other major change for our entire family has been my returning to work.  Thankfully I was able to return only three mornings a week beginning September 17.  It's been helpful to ease back to work.  I will return to working the first half of each week on October 8.  In September, Brent and my mom were able to adjust their schedules to watch the kids while I was at work.  Starting in October, my dad will be our in-home nanny:)  He will come to our house on the days I work to take care of Nora and get Luke off to school.  Nora has been taking a bottle well and her happiest time of the day is the morning so all has gone well so far!

There were ups and downs throughout our month of adjustments, but I'm happy to report that I've survived and are even thriving most days:)  September was a month of adjustments and I'm hoping October will be a month of settling into our new routines.