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