Fun times

Judah is 13 and a half months now and just gets more fun everyday.

We do lots of reading.  Lots.  This kid could read all day.  Which is super fun, but I can't help myself looking forward to the day when his books have plots.

We've been enjoying the nice weather and try to get outside as much as possible.  We've really only had a couple of days where we've needed to bundle up.   

Making fun of the fact that Judah looks like a gangster.  We've finally got him a hat that doesn't look funny, no more having to borrow grandpa's.

We're having lots of fun chasing this little guy around.

He's really getting into talking now too, it's pretty cute.  He says lots of words, but sometimes they sound very similar to one another.  When he's tired, the words "daddy" and "potato" sound crazy alike.  A cow still says "boo," no matter how capable he is of making the "m" sound.  Tractor and Cracker are pretty close too.  But he's trying more and more and getting better at communicating with us which is really helpful and cute.

He loves drawing.  We can't color yet, because SOMEONE eats the crayons no matter how many times we try to stop him.  I'm not going to name any names.  I let him draw with pen though, because he really does a great job at staying on the paper.  He also knows how to click the pen on and off, which is not my favorite trick because there are definitely times for keeping pens closed.  Like when you're in close proximity to my skin...

 We also demand to feed ourself at most meals.  He does okay at getting the food in his mouth, but he's extremely messy still.  Extremely.  But, I guess it's how he learns and he is getting better, so we roll with it.

 Look how happy it makes him!

Oh, and he's finally learned to crawl.  After he learned to walk he found it necessary in case he fell to be able to crawl to something to pick himself up.  Yup, he totally missed the whole "you crawl before you walk" memo.  Apparently he's decided to be non-conventional. 

He's getting to be such a big boy.  He wants to help us do whatever we're doing.  Dusting and vacuuming are basically the coolest things ever.

Helping mommy cook is also pretty exciting.

Good thing he's such a good helper because he's going to be a big brother in 4 weeks!  

We're so excited and a little nervous about what that will look like, but very thankful to be blessed with this addition!

Putting the ghetto back in Halloween!

We went to Trunk or Treat at my parent's church.  We kind of decided last minute to go, so we had to scramble for a costume.  So, lest anyone think we are classy people, I decided to make my son a costume out of a plastic table cloth.  That's right, not even a nice table cloth.  The worst part?  It's probably not the worst last minute costume he'll have to endure.

So, without further ado, our little construction worker:

He's serious about construction...

 I'm pretty sure this is right after accidentally whacking daddy in the face with the hammer, oops...

 He loved going around with grandma to get his loot.  He'd grab one piece and then put it in his box.

 They actually had ducks and hens that he could pet there.  He was in heaven since he's learning what all the animals say right now! (Except that cows say "booo" apparently, who knew?)

In a slightly less fun update.  I'm going back to my no-sugar eating thing for the pregnancy.  They say it really does help reduce the baby's size.  Which, let's face it, I could use.  I did really well for the first 3 months of pregnancy and then after our Italian cruise I ate sugar with the vivacity of the cookie monster slid a little.  So, no more of this baby:

Not that we'd ever make monkey bread more unhealthy by putting left over cream cheese icing on it...

Nope, wouldn't do that.

Kendall

Who Needs Health Insurance When They're Pregnant?

So, we've been overseas for the last 6 months right?  For this we got an international health insurance plan that was great except it didn't cover one thing: pregnancy.  Yes, laugh, sick people.  As you all know, we became pregnant by nothing short of a miracle (just like everyone else, right...).  "Not a big deal" we thought, we'll just get a plan when we get back to the states that does cover pregnancy.  Yes, laugh again, you insurance knowledgeable sick, sick people.  Apparently insurance companies and states can and do discriminate against pregnancy.  If you are already pregnant, you cannot get health insurance to cover your pregnancy.  We found this out over a very long and stressful Monday this week.  Poor Joshua called 14 insurance companies, 6 hospitals, 3 state governments, 2 doctors offices, and a partridge in a pear tree.  At the end of the day (almost), we were told that we would have to pay it out of pocket.  Eeeek!  Emotional breakdown, panic!  I was uninsurable in Washington, Oregon, and Iowa.  We thought of moving to Canada, but even they wouldn't take me on such short notice.

Even wearing black isn't slimming enough to fool the insurance companies...

We went through a lot of emotions during this time.  We haven't been very wise financially (with gallivanting all over the world and all), so it even passed my mind that God was punishing us.  I know that God doesn't roll like that, but I'm going to pull the emotional/fearful pregnancy card.

In Joshua's last call to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines the lady said, "she qualifies for Medicaid."  Joshua hung up the phone, looked at me and said, "yeah, she doesn't know what she's talking about."  My husband has such faith in others, haha.  In his favor, he had talked to a million people that really didn't know what they were talking about.  And the DHS website had a calculator for eligibility that was wrong.  Apparently they raise the income amount for qualification with pregnancy (finally, something that actually makes sense).  So long story short, instead of being punished by God, we were being hugely blessed financially.  It is our only option, but it would be a really good one for our family.  We're really wanting to get out of student debt, so this would be huge.  So, now we're just waiting and praying for it to go through.  It's hard that it takes 6 weeks to find out, but we don't really have much else to pursue anyway...

The only thing with medicaid is that it's Iowa medicaid.  Sooooo....we are staying in Iowa!  Not moving to Vancouver (Portland) like we were planning.  We think that we will go there eventually, but are waiting for God's timing. We were praying that God would let us know his timing, and we really feel that this was God closing the door for now.  We have no idea what the plan is, so we're just going to enjoy where we are.  That's the new and exciting news in our lives.

Oh, and somebody is turning 1 on Wednesday.  :)

He loves showing you how old he is if you ask him, he even uses the right finger... :)

Kendall

Ah Ha!

Yay!  I finally am able to get back on my blog.  We had to change some of my account details and it locked me out of my blog.  Luckily, I have a super amazing husband who figured it out for me, sigh with google-ly eyes.

Anyways, I can't believe how fast our time has gone in England.  We only have a month left.  Yikes.  We have been everywhere and loving it.  We've been to Spain, Scotland, Ireland, England (obviously), France, Germany, and Switzerland.

Judah is growing like a weed.  He's cruising the furniture like a maniac, and always wants to be walking. This is how we get everywhere: following this little guy.  A bit slower, but he's in heaven!

He finally got to take his daddy to a Manchester United game:

 Happy Daddy = Happy Mommy! :)

I got lots of cuddles, poor kid was so tired, but he was so good!

Speaking of Judah, he is set to become a big brother on January 17th.  We couldn't be more thrilled.  We, at first, had no idea how pregnant we were due to the fact that I was still nursing so hadn't gotten my monthly visitor yet.  We were able to get an ultra-sound over here, so now we know.  The technician offered to tell us the sex, but we were strong.  So far, we're wanting this one to be a surprise.  I was a lot sicker with this one than with Judah,  nothing too bad, but I've been able to notice a difference.  It is going so fast, I'm already almost half done, yowser!  The only problem is that I didn't bring any maternity clothes to England, so I really have got my frump on.  Oh well, if you got it, flaunt it.  Right?

Since Judah was so huge, Joshua and I have decided that I am giving up sugar with this pregnancy.  I'll take bites of what Joshua is having sometimes, but have given up about 99%.  We're hoping this will help in regards to sizing, they say it might.  We're crossing our fingers.  If not, oh well, great things come in big packages. :)

And here's the belly shot:

Just kidding, thankfully...

This is actually the best belly shot I have right now.  This is us in the swiss alps, so beautiful!

So, that's the basic essentials from us right now!

Kendall

An Interview

Okay, so I guess I could have given you a little more information regarding our move to England.  Sorry, I tend to skip over details when I get excited. To help explain things, I figured I'd get my crazy on and "interview" myself using questions I've been asked during the last couple days...

Kendall:   Okay, settle down, I know you're excited, but I have some questions for ya.
Kendall:  Okay, shoot.

Kendall: Are you out of your mind?

Kendall: I think so, but I'm too busy getting ready to be sure.  I'll get back to you.

Kendall: Why are you moving to England?
Kendall: Great question!  Well, we've been wanting to move somewhere over seas for a while and thought   England would be a really good place to start (we already speak the language, sort of...).  We're going to use England as kind of a home base and hope to visit much of Europe on the weekends and holidays.

Kendall: Didn't you tell your wonderful Sister-In-Law, Michelle, just a couple weeks ago that you had decided not to move to England, did you lie to her?
Kendall: Of course not!  At the time we had ruled out moving to England due to cost of living.  We're really wanting to pay off debt right now.

Kendall:  Then what changed, you honest person, you?
Kendall: Well, we found a website for people who need others to house sit for them.  We applied and were accepted to house sit over there.  That means we get to live in England rent free, which makes it cheaper, obviously.

Kendall:  Where in England are you house sitting?
Kendall: It's a teeinstee (aka tinier than tiny) little ex-mining village in northern England called Ludworth.  It's near Durham and Newcastle.

Kendall:  That should be exciting, can you speak with a British accent?
Kendall: No, I will stick out like a sore thumb.

Kendall: Did you spell "British" correctly on your first try?
Kendall: I plead the 5th...

Kendall:  Will you blog about all the funny ways you embarrass yourself over there your adventures?
Kendall: Of course, I can't wait!

So there you have it, folks, straight from the horse's mouth.  Who ever thought that phrase was a good idea? I made some progress today, so that's exciting.  If you have any other questions, just let me know! (And don't worry, talking to myself will hopefully be a one time occurrence here.)

Any places that we should for sure go and see?  We don't want to miss anything cool!


Kendall

On the move...

So, I have some big news....

We're MOVING to ENGLAND!!!

for 6 months.

Wow, how crazy is that?

Craaa-zy.

You wanna know something crazier?

We're moving in 2 weeks.

(yes, you read that right, yikes!)

I'm super excited, scared, excited, scared, excited.

In that order.

So, needless to say we're getting our little tushies in gear and trying to get things done like maniacs.  

Poor little buddy is super sick right now and was up most of the night, so it's making it a little harder to get stuff done.

 Here's the poor little guy with a fever.  

I put a cold wash cloth on his head because I'm a hip-happenin' mom like that.

We took him to the doctor since he's sick.  He weighs 24lbs, so he's kind of plateaued finally.  We asked what percentile he's at.  The doctor laughed and said the chart maxed out at 18lbs.  Oh, nevermind. We also told the doctor how much he's eating and (after picking his jaw off the ground) we found out he's getting about twice as much liquid as he's supposed too.  Oops.  So, needless to say we have some exciting news.

He's reached a couple new landmarks this month: 

1) sitting up all on his own!

He loves sitting up by himself and playing with his roller coaster bead toy.  He's so intent...

AND...

2)Eating rice cereal!

(Let me tell you, this boy can eat. The very first time I gave it to him he ate almost the whole thing, he just kept opening his mouth for more and more.  What a champ!)

He's getting to be so big and doing so many big boy things.  Sigh, I guess they can't stay young forever!

(This is actually from over a month ago, but I just thought he looked so big in this little sweater vest. :)

Well, I suppose I should get packing, ahhhh!

Kendall

Free 8x10 collage

Hey there!

Just a quick post:

Did you know you could get a free 8x10 collage from Walgreen's today?  It's part of their 7 days of deals.

I just ordered mine online, I'm pretty excited about it.  Just make sure to pick it up in the store so you don't have to pay shipping!

Hope your week is going well!

Kendall

Quiet

So, I did it.  I didn't think I would, but I did.

 "What did you do?"  

Wow, thanks for asking. 

 I put the little bean down for a nap.  Awake.  Yup, I always thought I'd be too much of a softy, but nope.

"What made you do it, you rock you?" 

I'd been feeling that Judah was waking up too early from his naps.  He kept waking up a little cranky, like he was still tired.  Yesterday he woke up from a nap and I held him for a bit to try to finish something before I fed him.  He passed back out for another hour.  That means by going and grabbing him right away I almost deprived him of an hour of sleep he really needed.

I decided to re-read the book, Baby Wise, to see if I could figure out what to do. It said that sometimes babies will wake up during a lighter sleeping cycle, but should be able to fall back asleep on their own to finish their nap.  Earlier I tested this theory.  It totally worked.  He woke up in the middle of a nap, but then fell back asleep in just a few minutes.  Phew.  

So, for this nap, I thought I would see if he could fall asleep on his on, so that he knows how to. 

He hollered for exactly 10 minutes, then...

Quiet. 

Wow, go little buddy!  I'm hoping this will help him get his full naps in during the day.  Not only does he desperately need his sleep, I desperately need the time to get things done.  Win, Win!

Any seasoned or unseasoned moms have more tips for scheduling?  I think this one might be a life-saver!

Kendall

Wow, was that February that just zoomed past? I think so. I feels like just yesterday that I was writing the post about my jitter bug turning 3 months, but that was 3 weeks ago.  That means I'm going to have to write a 4 month post coming soon.  Time is seriously flying.  What do I say to that?  Slow down Bessie!  I want to get in a few more cuddles before my little peanut turns 18.

Anyway, I'm really excited about getting to be a stay at home mom.  It's been going really well.  There was a couple days a week ago that I was drop dead exhausted a little burnt out, but God had an amazing friend there to encourage me.

Here are a couple of tips I've learned:
1. Do a load of laundry every day.  It's amazing how quickly that can pile up when you have a baby around.
2. Put your chores on rotation.  I do one chore a day in addition to basic maintenance.  So I dust Mondays, Wipe stuff down Tuesdays, Vacuum Wednesdays, so on and so forth... (I've always wanted to say that.)
3. Pick up as you go.
4. Whistle while you work.

Okay, that last one is optional, but it really does help to have a good attitude and enjoy your work.  Plus, my little dwarf cracks up when I whistle. :)

I've also realized that I'm not as organized as I thought I was.  Yes, we don't have a lot of stuff and we frequently purge what we do have, but some how that little bit of stuff seems to explode quite easily.  So, I'm trying to figure out how to organize my life/home.  Any tips?

And the obligatory baby update:
Weight: He's kind of leveling off at 23 pounds, whew.
Size: He's officially in 12 month clothing.
Sleep: He usually does from about 10:30 or 11:00 to about 6:00. We don't complain. :)
Sitting: He can sit up on his own, but is a little wobbly.
Standing: He can stand when propped on our ottoman.  He's thinks he's pretty tough stuff.
Rolling:  Not really, but he does this great beached whale impersonation. :)
Social: He's really starting to smile a ton, it's so sweet.
Talking: He's pretty verbal.  He'll "sing" himself to sleep, it's hilarious.  He loves trying to talk to us.  He's tried to say "hi" a couple of times and has a few sounds down.  As far as consonants go, he's up to: "Guh", "Buh", "Huh", "Wuh", and just today I heard "Duh."  Those tricky consonants are hard but it seems like he learns a new one at every turn.
Other randoms: He's started sucking on his bottom lip when he's hungry, it's pretty cute.

Annnnd, it's almost impossible to take a still shot of this kid unless he's sleeping. :)
I'll have to post more pictures next time I have a ton on my phone, but that's plugged in next to a sleeping baby.  And only things with the word "fire" in them are worthy of waking up a sleeping baby.

Until next time!

Kendall

3 months!!!

I can NOT believe my little buddy is 3 months as of yesterday.  It seems like it took forever for him to turn 2 months, and then it seems  like it was just yesterday that he turned 2 months.  Crazy!  He's growing like a weed. We love him so much! Look how little he used to be! Awww!

Now he's so big! We weighed him, guess how much this child weighs!  Okay, unless you are Joshua's brother, Paul, who guessed it perfectly (crazy cat), you won't get it!  Ready?  Brace yourself...

20 pounds!!!!
(Correction as dictated by my editor/husband so that you can FULLY grasp the amazing-ness of Paul's guess: it was 19.6 to be exact. I rounded, but that was over a week ago, so it's kosher)
(are you happy Mr. Blog Nazi love of my life? :) a girl can't get away with anything these days...)

Oh My-lanta, that's big!  We grow them big here folks... :)  

 Grabbing those toys, "I just want to have a little nibble..." 

 Pure joy!

 Mommy's new reading buddy! :)

Judah,

You are such a sweet boy.  You live up to your name so well, it means praise.  I know you will use the patience and joy that I see in you to praise the Lord.  We are so blessed to have you, you are such an easy going baby.  My heart just melts when I know you are super hungry and should be grumpy, but you're just playing away with that silly zipper on your car seat.  I love that you have a stubborn side to you too.  You know you will literally holler (not cry) until you get mommy or daddy's attention, it's totally adorable.  You are so strong, always trying to stand and push yourself up.  I can't believe how much you learn and how fast you're growing.  I'm SO thankful that you aren't growing too fast and that your favorite thing is to cuddle with your mama.  God knows mommy really well in giving her a cuddly baby, I LOVE to cuddle with you.  I love your eyes, your nose, your bull dog cheeks.  I know I'm biased, but you are such a beautiful baby.  We praise God for you everyday.  You are such a gift and we are delighted to be used by God to see you grow into the boy he has called you be.

Love,

Mommy

Ice Skating and One Hand

We went ice skating on a pond near our house yesterday.  It was SO much fun. 

It was Judah's first time, but he skated like a champ.  (Or slept like a champ...)

I survived. Thank you Lord!

The Von Skate family.

Hopefully Judah gets his daddy's mad skating skills and not his mama's wobbly skating skills. 

And now a picture book on life as the one-handed mom:

 This sweet little boy is going through a phase.  It's the if you don't hold me, I'll do this phase:

Which means it is the "his mama doesn't get much done unless he does this" phase:

 So aforementioned mama comes up with creative ways so he can eat:

 So there you go, we are learning all sorts of ways to do things one handed in this family... 

But he's also in the "I'm the cutest kid in the world" phase, so it's all worth it: 

:)  The end.

I think he is at the time where he really wants to grab his toys and eat them, but he's not quite there yet to do it all the time so he gets frustrated.  Poor guy.  I keep trying to put him in his seat to play with toys and do tummy time, it just doesn't last terribly long without him getting upset.  Oh well. He's totally happy to be held and talk with us, so we're just enjoying that. :)  

The end. (again) :)

Kendall

The New Stew

Hello Friends!

Long time no see.  The holidays were craaazy.  We were here, there and everywhere.  We really enjoyed getting to spend time with family and friends.  Christmas day we flew up to Seattle, took a train to Bellingham and got picked up by Joshua's family and driven to Abbotsford.  It was a pretty long day, but Judah traveled like a champ.  The guy in our row on the long flight to Seattle looked at us at the end of the flight and said, "Oh man, I forgot you guys had a baby."  Good thing it was you and not us then, hey?  :)

We were there for 18 days!  Judah got to meet the rest of the family up there, so he enjoyed that.  I have pictures of all the fun, but they're on Joshua's computer.  Apparently my blog is not important enough for him to stop working.  Something about needing to eat and all that... :) I might upload them later, but he's on the phone with a client and I'm taking advantage of the little guy's nap.

I do have pictures of the FABULOUS date Joshua took me on at the end of our trip, he took me to the Space Needle for lunch.  It was so fun, Judah was great the whole time and slept for us too! :)

The view was great!

The best sandwich ever: hazelnut chicken, yummy! :)

Joshua's dessert, the Lunar Orbiter, was super fun with dry ice!

We got back to a total mess. Someone ransacked our house, it was awful.  Okay, it was us in the quickly open Christmas presents, pack, and don't forget the baby rush.  I H-A-T-E coming back to a messy house.  And this was like the worse our house has been. ever.  So, I decided something (after I had tamed the beast of a house and had time to think).  Never again.  With a baby, you just do not have time to get behind.  It took me forever to get everything in order again.  So, in the spirit of the new baby and the new year, I've decided that there was to be a New Stew.  (That's me. And yes, I giggle every time I say that...)

A couple factors played into this decision.  First and foremost was the fact that I am (after a ton of talking and prayer) taking a break from my Master's program. Joshua would have had to not work or we would have had to put the little man in daycare.  Neither of those were options for us at this time.  Plus, in the end, we want me to be home with him.  So, now I am a full time home-maker.  Wow.  This is my job now, and I want to do it with excellence just like Joshua does his job with excellence.  The second factor is the fact that we a little tight on money right now.  Joshua's business is in transition right now were he is forming a job that doesn't make as much as we're accustomed to so he can eventually hire someone else and step in to more of a CEO/product developer role.  So right now we're making a lot less than we're used to, plus we are self employed so we owe a lot in taxes, plus we have college debt that we need to pay off.    So, we're okay and God is providing, but I'm wanting to help out by becoming (notice I'm not already) more thrifty and wise with money.  That way any extra penny can go to debt. Death to debt! Having school (or any) debt is such a burden, so we're wanting to get out from under that yolk.  I want to start off my "new job"  (totally, madly, completely love spending time with my little man and serving my husband) really well, relying on God.

This last week has gone pretty well, I found the site Money Saving Mom, and found it really helpful.  I'm going to try to follow some of the principles there and other places to help me really do this well.  I am not a naturally organized person.  Ask my parents.  Okay don't ask my parents, that's just not necessary.  Just trust me, this is not natural for me.  But everyone started somewhere.  I want to have time (and money) to really enjoy my family and I want to bless them with an orderly house and life.  So, I've already started doing some things to help me stay up on things, it's pretty hard to get things done with little mister around, so we're getting pretty creative.  God has and is giving me a ton of grace, and I'm really excited about this new phase.  So, I'll let you know how it goes.

Annnndd now for why you REALLY read this blog:  baby update. :) Little man is SO great.  He has really taken off talking this last month, it's hilarious.  I'm pretty sure he's said "hi" and "wow,"  but I know it's too early.  He can play the "guh" game where you go back and forth saying "guh."  It's pretty cute.  When I just put him down for his nap he just laid there singing/talking to himself, so funny!  He loves to read, it's amazing.  He touches the pages and even accidentally turned it once for me.  I can't believe how much we love him.  He is so sweet and smart.  It's crazy how much he learns everyday.  He's such a joy to be with.  He even giggles in his sleep.  He's not really interested in rolling over or anything like that yet.  He can push himself up off of me from a weird sitting position to standing.  I think I'm going to have the only child who walks before he rolls over.  I guess we should get in some more tummy time.  I just love talking with him so much...   Here's some pictures, he's growing SO fast.  He's growing out of 6-9months and into 9 month clothes.

 Reading time!

Sleepy Time!

 And our favorite: talky time! :)

Hope you have a great weekend, thanks for reading!

Kendall