Merry Christmas 2009

Sorry for the delay, I actually ran out of room on my computer and had to delete a bunch of stuff before I could post. We had a wonderful Christmas. It was actually a white Christmas and we spent the time bundled inside together. Jake had a three and a half day weekend and with all of the overtime he was working, it was nice to spend time together. The kiddos made out great. I had been buying stuff throughout the year on sale and on clearance and then hiding it for Christmas. When it came time to dig it out I had not realized how much they were getting, and for such a good price. They got a ton of toys, TV's for their bedroom, movies, and clothes. Mema Carla from church got them sweatshirts that had their names on them and the babies long underwear with their names on the butt-flap. They are so cute. My grandparents got the family a zoo pass so we can enjoy that all year round. There are transformers, barbies, High School Musical dolls, remote control cars, baby laptops, and toys that make noise everywhere. They also got several new movies that we will watch as a family. We have already watched G-Force and it was better than I thought it would be.

We had already decorated the house, looked at Christmas lights, watched a ton of Christmas specials, had pictures with Santa and made Hot Chocolate and Christmas cookies. Christmas dinner we ate a yummy Christmas Lasagna with family and friends. It was just a wonderful holiday season. I have put a lot of pictures on here. I can't put them all, but if you log onto Jake or I's facebook page you can see all of them. I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas. Now onto 2010.

Comments Fixed

Well I am sure you figured it out, but the comments are fixed. If you leave a comment, once I approve it, it will post. Thank you so much Dianne, you are are brilliant. In other news I am having a problem posting video. I am almost out of room on my "C" drive. I am working on it and hope to be up and running soon. I also hope to post the Christmas blog soon. I am very busy right now, but I am working on it as fast as I can.

Immanuel-God With Us

Merry Christmas! I will post pics and stuff later, but today I want to focus on the real reason for the season. The birth of Jesus Christ. "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (NIV)
Thank you so much for your sacrifice. By coming to earth and becoming flesh you have given all of us a chance to be saved from the fires of hell. There is nothing we could ever do to deserve this gift. Thank you Lord for the best gift anyone will ever recieve. Happy Birthday Jesus Christ. My Savior, Wonderful Counselor, Immanuel, Sheperd of Men, and the Lamb of God.

Milking It

It is time for us to make the transition from formula to milk for the babies. It is not going smoothly. For one, they just don't seem to like it. They will reluctantly drink it, but not with the same zest ot volume as formula. Two, poor Mina who has suffered with chronic constipation from birth is having a hard time digesting it. We had switched to a lactose-free formula and had been doing soy milk and that had seemed to really clear it up. Now that we had added whole milk to her diet it is back. I have put in a call to the doctor to see where he wants us to go from here. The other problem is that they are just not ready to give up the bottle completely. They will drink out of a sippy cup, but they still need a bottle to go to bed with. Noah especially will cry for a bottle when he gets tired. Now I am not in too big of a hurry to get rid of the bottles because they were 5 weeks early and so I figure it doesn't have to be as soon as they turned a year old. Also, these are my last babies and I am so sad to let go the bottle phase.

These are the things I will miss the most.

-Noah always leans n my chest, holds his bottle in his left hand, and grasps my shirt in his right. The whole time he is doing that, he lifts his right foot and twirls it in a circle. It is so sweet and I will miss this snuggle time so much.

-Mina lays in my arm and holds her bottle in her left hand and reaches up and lightly touches my face with her right hand.

-When Noah is done with his bottle, he snuggles up close and holds my shirt and just has the most contented look on his face. He just acts like being in my arms is the best possible thing that could happen to him at that moment.

-When Mina is done with her bottle she lays back and starts cooing and babbling at me. She will coo and then laugh at whatever she babbles and just flash me the most heart-melting grin.

This time is so precious to me, even if it falls in the middle of the night. I will miss it so much when it is gone, so I am in no hurry to wean them off of the bottle. The doctor said in most cases, the baby will let you know when they are ready. I know my nephew Zach did that. So for now I am just not going to rush it. I am just going to sit back and milk it for all that it is worth.

Christmas Traditions

This has been a really good week. We went this week and had all of the kiddos pictures taken with Santa Clause. We went to the mall and it went as well as can be expected. Noah and Mina were not thrilled with the funny dressed stranger and James and Linda loved it. Then we went to Candyopolis and let james and Linda pick a treat. They were like kids in a candy store (hah!). Then we went to Village Inn for dinner and the kids had funny faces and hot chocolate and then we came home and watched Christmas specials. We have also had family Wii time, put up all the decorations, made stockings, and had homemade hot at home. We have also driven around looking at Christmas lights several times. Just good family times and making memories. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy. =)

Correction

I didn't find out until after I posted the blog about Linda being chosen aas one of the most caring students in her school that Jamie was also chosen as well. His teacher called to tell me the news and thanked me for raising such caring children. It is nice to have someone tell you that you are doing something right instead of butting in with their input on what they think you are doing wrong. I get so frustrated when that happens. Now my friends that spend a lot of time with the kids and I can talk about stuff like that, but if you are someone who hardly ever sees the kids, or never has them by themselves, then you don't know enough to judge. I try really hard to remember that myself. For example, if I see a parent jump all over their child for something that seems kind of small I try to think about all the times people might have thought that about me. Usually what they didn't see was the 10 times I had asked my kids to do something or stop doing something before you got there and by the time you go there I was completly frustrated and my kids had exhausted their warnings. I remember one time about a year ago Linda had lied to me. I knew she was lying (her teacher had called me), she knew I knew she was lying but kept proceeding to lie. I finally told her she had to stay in her room until she felt like telling the truth. Now company came over that night and of course Linda sits in her room and milks if for all it is worth, crying (no real tears though) and whining, and just acting pitifully. The company proceeds to jump all over me about how seven year olds don't know that they are lying and blah, blah, blah until I get mad and snap at my company. What the company didn't know was that it was the third time that week Linda had lied about the same thing, or that within five minutes after they left when Linda realized the crying wasn't getting her anywhere, she told the truth and got to come out. So again I think it comes down to the old adage, do not judge unless you have walked a mile or twenty in the parent's shoes. If the chold is not being physically abused, starved, beaten, neglected, or similiar things, then don't judge. Also don't harp on someone if you are not willing to be part of the solution. For example, don't harp on me about my kiddos having to go to daycare with strangers while I worked if you stayed at home and could have watched them but didn't want to have interference in your own life. This is a example of if you are not willing to be part of the solution, then don't put your two cents in about the problem. I also can personally gaurantee you that nobody is harder on us than Jake and I are on ourselves. You have no idea how many nights we lie awake trying to figure out what we should be doing differently. I will get off of my soapbox now, I just had a family member who told me something someone had said to them in judgement and it made me angry and since my blog tends to reflect my mood at the time of posting there you have it. I look forward to all of the e-mails and facebook comments I recieve. i am quite sure there are people put there who share my feelings on this subject.

So proud

Every two months the kid's school holds an assembly and picks the two students in the school to honor which best dispayed the character trait chosen for those two months. For November and December the character trait was caring, and guess what...Linda has been chosen as one of the two students in the school who best dispay this quality! She doesn't know, it is supposed to be a secret until the school announces it. She will be honored in front of the whole school on Monday. I am so proud. It really shows how much progress she has made, I feel like I could burst from pride. Go Linda!

12 Month Well Baby Check Up

Today I took Noah and Mina to their 12 month well baby check up. They are right on track developmentally. Noah is walking everywhere and the doctor said Mina has the muscles to walk, she will just do it in her own time. They are both in the mid to upper sixtieth percentile for height and weight. This is amazing since one year ago their percantiles were under 2%. They had to get their shots and I was so glad Kimmie came to help because all four kids had to have shots and that would have been so hard to manage on my own. The babies had their normal immunizations and the kids and I had H1N1 and seasonal flu shots. Ouch! Anyways, all is normal. I wanted to share these pics Becky did for the babies' birthday. They are awesome and I love them.

Birthdays and Baptisms

Wow, what a weekend. Noah and Mina had a fabulous birthday and a full house for the party. They have so many new toys and gifts to enjoy. Jamie and Linda were baptized on Sunday and Brittany's birthday party was Saturday. My family was in town and I got to enjoy my sisters company. The cakes came out wonderful and it was just so much fun. I made (with Becky and Kimmie's help) fleece Snoopy blankets for the babies. This had special meaning for me because when I was a baby my blankie was Snoopy and I slept with it every night until I was way too old for a blanket. A special thanks to Becky, Kimmie, Brittany, Jordan and Anna for helping decorate cakes, make blankets, and wrap presents. Enough with the talk, I will get to the part everyone wants to see...the pictures! There are a lot so enjoy.