Night out

Adam and I feel very fortunate that we were able to leave all 3 kids (especially Elsa) with friends of ours to enjoy an anniversary dinner/movie night. Elsa is having a tough go of it right now, lots of crying and uncomfortableness. We decided to switch formula for her, so we’re starting the mixing process of sensitive and gentle formula. At this point we’re pretty desperate to stop the crying so we’ll try anything!
The boys did so well playing that Lori invited them over for a sleepover. She was crazy enough to invite Elsa, too. Adam and I decided to stop at home and pick up a few things and spend the night, too. It was great to get 5 hours of sleep straight - all thanks to Lori who volunteered to keep Elsa in their room for the night.

Christmas celebrations #2 and #3

We started a new tradition this year, celebrating Christmas Eve with just our family. The boys are old enough now to appreciate and remember traditions. Santa emailed both of them a video this year. They boys were so surprised and even cheered when Santa told them they made the nice list! I think Nolan actually cheered louder when he found out Kale made the nice list like he did! We went to church after nap and then enjoyed making homemade pizzas with the kids. We also followed Santa’s journey to track how long it would be until he stopped at our house. Before bed the boys picked out the cookies they wanted to leave for him, along with a few carrots and stalk of celery for Rudolph. They went to bed really well and were so excited to wake up the next morning to see what he left for them – a scooter with light up wheels for Nolan and a new bike for Kale. They were both more excited about the new underwear and electric toothbrushes:) We spent most of Christmas Day with my mom’s extended family. We played the Garceau family tradition of dirty bingo.  It was all fine and good until we started playing the second round, where you steal gifts from other people. Poor Kale was sobbing and kept repeating "but you're not supposed to steal"!  I felt so bad for him, especially since he's only 3 and has always been taught not to steal!  The good news is that only one person "stole" a present from him.  I think he ended up with more presents that anyone else! After the game ended we headed to my parent’s house for a few days of fun. Other than 2 pretty massive tantrums by Kale at bedtime it was fun. Elsa also had her crabby moments. My family couldn't believe how loud is. She is just so uncomfortable with gas. Hopefully as she gains more weight it will get better! Oh, how could I forget to mention that we had fun putting doll slippers on Elsa, having her sleep in a baby doll cradle and putting her in a baby doll stroller? She is still so tiny!

Love letter to Santa

The boys wanted to write a note to Santa. I asked Kale what he wanted to write and he said “Dear Santa, I love you.” How sweet!

Christmas celebration #1

We had fun celebrating Christmas with the Bleck side of the family. The boys were spoiled with lots of fun presents and had fun playing with their cousins. They even got to make reindeer food with Grandma again. After the kids opened gifts we put them in the porch to watch a movie while we opened our gifts. We forgot that all the Christmas baked goods were out there, until Kale came to talk to me and had his hands behind his back. When I asked him what was in his hands he held them out and showed me a bon bon in each of them. We quickly put the treats away! We ended up staying overnight, which was fun for the kids. Elsa didn’t sleep much – she’s been pretty crabby lately. We think it’s mostly due to gassiness, so we’re going to start using gas drops in her bottles. Hopefully that will take the edge off! The boys were thrilled the next morning when Grandpa made them special snowman pancakes with chocolate chips.

Sleeping baby

Elsa totally shocked us last night by falling asleep at 10:30 and not waking up until 3:40!  She has done such a good job over the last week of sleeping in her crib, but she usually gets up every 3-4 hours to eat. For some reason last night she didn't need to - and it was amazing.  A little sleep for mom goes a long way!

We had her one month wellness visit today. She is doing well, even though she still has thrush. She weighs 7 bls 5 oz (3.5%) and is 21 inches long (37%).  She is "teeny tiny" as Kale says, but growing.  

Creativity

7:52 a.m. at daycare - Kale already assembled his first creation of the day - a helicopter.

Time to slow down

I came to a pretty big realization today, after I locked Elsa in the minivan at daycare.  We had been running around all day, visiting my work and doing errands.  At the end of the day was the daycare Christmas party. When we got there I wanted to be sure to park on the street so I could leave easily.  Thank goodness I did, because after I locked her in the car I had to take Jane's car back to our house to get our spare key. Had I parked in the driveway I would have blocked the car!  It's also a good thing that Adam doesn't carry the spare van key with him, as he was working in Baldwin, WI - a mere 1 1/2 hour car ride away!  The good news is that it wasn't as cold outside and she slept for most of the 10 minutes I was gone.  You would think I would have been more worked up, but I wasn't.  She was warm and cozy in her car seat and Devin stayed outside with her.

The boys had a great time at the party.  Both of them received a Dusty Crophopper remote control plane from Jane, and they LOVE it.  Kale also got a camera and Nolan a Crayola art kit from their friend who drew their name.  Kale has really enjoyed taking pictures of Elsa, and both of the boys have become quite the artists.  Nolan drew a dinosaur and it actually looks like a dinosaur!

The cold

This has been the coldest winter I can remember in a looooong time. It feels like we’ve been in house arrest for the last 2 months. It's so bad that I have a hard time getting myself in the mood to even walk out to get the mail.  The boys are handling it as well as they can, but they certainly have some energy that would be better worn off playing in the snow! The responsibility chart we instituted in October helps a little – until Kale decides he doesn’t want his point for a specific thing (like eating dinner).

Cookie time

I was excited to show the boys how to paint Christmas cookies. It was something my mom always did with me and my sister’s growing up, and I remember it being fun. They each got to paint 6 cookies, and they were so excited to do it. The paint is an egg yolk with food coloring mixed in it. You paint the cookie cut out before baking it. I had to help them a little bit because the dough gets soft pretty quickly, which for Kale was tough because he isn’t quite familiar with not pressing hard on things when he paints! The cookies turned out great, and they are excited to leave them out for Santa. And as Kale reminded me, we also need to leave celery and carrots for the reindeer!

The Christmas concert

Adam took Nolan to church this morning and I stayed home with Elsa and Kale.  The kids were going to be practicing for the concert later tonight, so we decided since Kale wasn't participating he wouldn't go.  The 3 of us actually had a nice time at home together.  Nolan came home from church and made it a point to tell me that he sang really loud and did all the actions at practice.  I knew he would turn it around!

My mom got to our house this afternoon for her extended stay.  She stayed at home with Kale and Elsa while Adam and I took Nolan to the concert.  Fifteen minutes before the start of the concert I took him to get dressed.  Disaster struck, as I foolishly thought he would fit in to his "too big for him last year" Christmas outfit.  I literally had nothing else to dress him in - poor planning on my part!  He had to wear the too tight black dress pants, and I did find a black/grey sweater for him to wear.  I felt so bad for him during the concert, because he kept itching his waist line where the pants were too tight!  Lesson learned - try on clothes well in advance of when you need them!

Nolan made us very proud at the concert. It's actually more of a play that involves more of the older kids, but Nolan did great being patient in between the scenes. I was hoping to get all of it on video, but our camcorder is on the fritz.  I hope what we took worked!

Not quite ready

The boys have been preparing for their Sunday School Christmas Concert for the last month at Sunday School.  Both of them have been excited and ready to go - until practice this morning.  It made me realize that sometimes we think Kale is actually older than the ripe old age of 3, and that our expectations of him might be a little high.  He did good for the first 5 minutes, and then it was downhill from there.  The worst part was that Nolan, who is usually such a good listener, fell in to it, too.  Kale is definitely the leader and Nolan more of a follower.  They both were up and walking around and not paying attention to the leader.  The practice was supposed to go for an hour, but I left with them after a 1/2 hour.  When we got home they had to sit in their room and think about what happened and how they would do it differently next time.  We decided that Kale isn't ready for his on stage debut, even though he loves singing and dancing.  Nolan will still go and will most likely do a great job!

The next weigh in

I took Elsa for a weight check today and low and behold, she is 6 lbs 8 oz. - a full 5 oz. bigger than when she was born!  Hopefully the more she grows the better she'll adjust to sleeping in her crib.  Both Adam and I forgot (a little) about what lack of sleep is like - and it's a lot harder the older we get!  Right now he is taking the first part of the night, until 12 or 1 a.m., and then I get up with her after that.  Hopefully this will continue to work, as he went back to work on Monday.  Next week he's going to be in North Carolina for 3 days. I'm very thankful my mom is going to come and stay with me to help out.  I know at some point I'll need to do it on my own when Adam travels, but I'm not ready quite yet!

Long, cold winter

It finally warmed up enough so the kids could play outside at daycare today!

The tree

The boys were so excited to get the tree put up. They are always the first to hang their ornaments. They are both so proud to do it, and they like to talk about each one and where they got it from. My favorite was when Kale pulled out this little mini picture frame ornament that I have yet to put his picture in. There is a picture of 3 kids in it right now, and he came up to me and said, “look, mom, it’s my friends!” I asked him who they were and he kept telling me his friends. After that I made sure to order a picture of him to put in it!

Celebrating Grandma

Adam and the boys had fun celebrating his mom and twin sister, Elaine's, 60th birthday on Saturday with his extended family.  We decided to only take Elsa for a little bit because she's so new and little - and there were 13 other kids under the age of 8 in attendance!  We have the mindset that it's better to be safe than sorry and keep Elsa in the house as much as possible for the first month, or at least until she puts some meat on her bones!

The second cousins

Thanksgiving

We had planned to spend Thanksgiving Day with Adam’s family at Anna’s house. However, a few of the kids either had hand foot and mouth or a fever, so we decided that the best course of action was to stay home. It’s Adam’s favorite holiday, so after he left to run our contribution to the meal over to Anna’s I called my mom. I told her about how sad Adam was to not have a real Thanksgiving dinner, and that it didn't even help when I told him at least we had each other! I think she felt so bad for us that she invited us to come up to St. Cloud to spend the day with her and dad –as she said, they were both healthy and had extra food to share! I talked to Adam and within a ½ hour we were packed and on our way. I was impressed that we could throw together the things the kids needed that quickly, especially with a new baby in the house. There’s something about food that you don’t have to cook that makes it taste better, and this traditional Thanksgiving meal was delicious. We stayed until after dinner and then headed home. Elsa did pretty good for her first car ride – quiet all the way there and only intermittent crying on the way home. We are finding out that the boys have a high tolerance for her crying, which is great. We hope that continues!

Weighting

We thought for sure Elsa was gaining some weight, but that's not the case.  We brought her in a follow up weight check and in 2 days she gained an ounce, up to 5 lbs 14 oz.  Our NP was pleased with the progress and suggested we stop back toward the end of next week to check it again. I had her look at Elsa's belly button again, as it still didn't seem right.  Sure enough it had to be cauterized again!  Her thrush was also not improving, so they said to keep using the medicine until it's gone.  

I had to bring Kale with to this appointment, too, as he hasn't completely recovered from when he got sick in the middle of October.  We left with an antibiotic for a sinus infection.  It's going around!  I should probably make an appointment, too, as I'm not recovered from my cough/cold - but there's just no time!

Elsa is sleeping a little bit more than she was last week, just not in her crib.  She's happiest rocking away in the swing.  She's pretty congested, which I read is normal. It's amazing how much you forget in between the kids!  She eats like a champ and doesn't spit up very much. Hopefully it stays that way!

Manners

Jane texted me that Kale was correcting the table manners of one of the other kid's at daycare today.  She told him to take care of his own manners and he looked at her and said, "but Jane, I know all about manners." She said she could hardly contain a laugh.  That's all we need is a kid how is correcting the others!

Another photo shoot

We had a photographer come to the house on Saturday to take professional pictures of Elsa.  It's unfortunate that Elsa wasn't very cooperative!  She definitely has more spunk than her brothers at this point, and certainly more than her new cousin Thomas, who is a very content baby at 6 weeks old.

Christina with O Creative Concepts did a great job getting the pics she could with Elsa - and luckily she did capture some good ones! We also got our new family picture taken for our Christmas card.

Right after Christina left Gina, Eric and their 3 kids, including Thomas, came over to visit for the day.  It was nice to be able to sit and visit with them while Allie and Emma entertained the boys.  They get along so well, and Emma is a great "babysitter".  They even brought dinner for us which was fantastic - less cooking for me to do!

Nolan was lucky to be chosen to bring the Adventure Club pet, Jewel the dog, home for the weekend.  Jewel got to join in the family fun from Thursday - Tuesday, and we even got to journal about what we did and include some pictures.  Nolan was excited to take the journal entry back to AC so he could show his friends a picture of his new sister!

Nolan, Elsa, Kale, Allie, Emma and Thomas

Thomas and Elsa (6 weeks apart)

Daddy's photo shoot

One of our favorite things to do with the kids when they are a few days old is take some fun pics of them. Adam is the photographer and I'm the assistant, which works out great.  Adam did a fantastic job - and actually had a lot of fun with all the hats and bows we have for her already!

Right before the pics the home health nurse came to check on me and Elsa.  We were surprised when she weighed Elsa and she hadn't gained back any weight yet - still stuck at 5 lbs 13 oz.  She said by the time we take her in for the 1 week check up she should be back to her birth weight.  We also mentioned that she sounds really congested, which is apparently normal.  I did share with her that Elsa wasn't sleeping as much as the boys did at this age - we thought we would have more of a honeymoon period with her.  I'm very thankful Adam is home for the next few weeks so I can take naps:)

Coming home

Today marked our first day home with Elsa.  Before leaving the hospital Adam and I had an opportunity to get our picture taken with Elsa for a newborn photo shoot for the new labor and delivery rooms at Methodist.  I signed us up not thinking we would be picked, and it worked out that Elsa was born on her due date, as the photo shoot was pre-scheduled for today! I am so glad we did it, because now we get a few copies of the pics, with Elsa being only 2 days old.

After the photo shoot we bundled her up in her car seat and headed home.  My dad was at the house watching Kale because we didn't have daycare.  Kale wore him out when he was here, playing his favorite game of hide and seek which goes like this: "Grandpa, come and find me - I'm under the bed."

I should have known Kale would be the official welcome wagon for us!  He wanted to help me carry her in the house in her car seat, and then proceeded to say "hi baby Elsa, she's so cute!".  Nolan was excited to get home from preschool, too. Adam said when he dropped Nolan off he told all his friends and teachers about his new baby sister named Elsa.  Nolan ran in the house to say hi to her right away.  He also asked to hold her, which was a first.  Usually it's Kale who wants to do that!

Oh, and one other thing - of course today was the day that we get a phone call from the school  letting us know that Nolan fell off a piece of playground equipment and knocked the wind out of himself. Thankfully he's fine-just a bruise on his left cheek.

On time arrival for Elsa Jean

I really didn't think this would ever happen, but it did - we had a baby that was born on her due date!  I had been having contractions off and on during the week, but didn't think much of it - especially since I was only dilated to a 1 at my appointment on Tuesday.  Kale came in to our room at 5:30 am on Sunday, November 17th - our due date.  Adam got up and put him back to bed - even though he had only been sleeping for a few hours after a fun boys night.  I laid there for a 1/2 hour trying to figure out if the contractions were real or not.  I still wasn't sure, but at 6 I told Adam I was going to take a shower because I was having contractions. He asked if he should call the hospital and I told him no - it would probably pass.  By 6:30 the contractions were 3 minutes apart. I called him down at 6:45 and told him that I was pretty sure this was the real thing. He called the hospital and they told us to come in.  Adam showered and then called his parents to come over to watch the boys.  When they got to our house at 7:30 I could hardly stand - it was definitely time to go! By the time we got to the hospital and I got admitted to a triage room it was 8:15 - and I was SHOCKED to learn that I was dilated to a 7!  Our nurse Tina was wonderful - she did what she had to do to get drugs for me.  It was a close call with the epidural - a few more minutes and I wouldn't have been able to get it.  It kicked in just in time (but not all the way) for a new little girl to be born at 9:38 a.m.  We were excited to welcome little Elsa Jean in to our lives - all 6 lbs, 3 oz. and 20.5 inches of length! She came out crying like a champ, which was the opposite of the boys - what a relief.  Because of that I got to hold her right away and for quite a long time.  Her temp was a little low, which is why I got to hold her for so long right away.  We think she's pretty special and are thrilled she is finally here!

Grandma Ellen and Grandpa Greg brought the boys to the hospital to meet Elsa. Kale came running in to the room asking "Where's baby Elsa?"  I got a couple of quick hugs from both boys and then they made a beeline for the bassinet.  I knew the first words out of Kale's mouth would be "oh, she's so cute!" He also said that about the deer that Grandpa Greg got the first weekend of deer hunting! Nolan wasn't quite as impressed with her, but he'll warm up.

I really enjoyed my 2 day stay at the hospital. We had lots of visitors, which was fun.  Adam ended up at the clinic on Monday, only to be diagnosed with a sinus infection and bronchitis. He gets sick every time we have a baby - I guess that's how his body reacts to stress!  We're excited to get home with Elsa and start our new routine, whatever that is.

Our new party of 5!

Productivity

I had the most productive day today – even with Adam gone for most of it and it was just me and the boys! Nolan and Kale have been sleeping in a little bit more each weekend, which is awesome. Today they entertained themselves until I got out of bed at 8:30! In addition to that they played so well with each other that I had time to clean the entire house and organize the storage and laundry rooms without interruption! After they went to bed I even had time to work on our photo albums on Snapfish. This baby will be here before we know it, so I’m trying to get as much done as possible. I think I have at least another week, although I’ve had some contractions this week. I’m pretty much caught up at work in the event I go out with short notice. Highly doubtful, but you never know!

Every kid's dream

Nolan was excited to finally experience something he has heard about and talked about – Chuck E Cheese. His friend Nick celebrated his 6th birthday there, and Nolan was invited. He was so excited! Justin and Lori said I could drop Nolan off for the party, which is something I haven’t done before. It felt a little weird, but they assured me it was fine. I had Kale with me, too, so Adam could go bow hunting. Kale was very sad to leave, but I surprised him by taking him to Edinborough Park. He had fun until he couldn’t figure out how to get up to the top of the slides. If I wasn’t 39 weeks pregnant I would have gone up there with him! I actually felt bad for Kale when he came up to me about a ½ hour in and said “I miss Nolan”. I decided to take him to McDonald’s for lunch, and then we ran a quick errand before going to pick up Nolan. He was beaming when we got back – he was still playing games with his coins and was so proud to show me all his tickets! Kale wanted to play some games pretty bad, and Nolan was nice enough to give him some of his coins. By the time we left they each had enough tickets for one small prize. Kale hasn’t stopped talking about Chuck E Cheese, and that for Nick’s birthday next year he wants to go back!

The first conference

We had Nolan's first preschool conference today.  We weren't really sure what to expect - and I think it exceeded our expectations!  His preschool teacher said that Nolan was a little sad the first 2 weeks of school, crying at times and saying he missed his mom and dad.  Since then she said he has done fantastic, and he's a joy to have in class.  They reviewed his letter and number progress with us, as well as pictures he's drawn and the progress he's made writing his name.  Both teachers said that Nolan is a very nice boy, that he takes time to play with kids who aren't playing with others, and is the kid that everyone wants to be friends with - whew!  I speak for both Adam and I when I say we are proud of him.  The only areas he needs to work on are cutting and holding his pencil more firmly.  Those are easy things to help him with!

When we left the conference both Adam and I said that when we have Kale's first conference in two years it will probably sound something like this: "Kale is a very spirited child with a lot of energy." We both think it will be a good thing that Kale turns 5 when preschool starts - he needs the extra year:)

Halloween

The boys had fun getting dressed up for Halloween this year. Kale was way more in to it than Nolan, primarily because Nolan got a ring pop as a treat at school and I told him he couldn’t eat until after we were done trick or treating. He made it 6 houses and then wanted to go home to eat his ring pop. This was the coldest night we’ve had for trick or treating, so I didn’t mind taking him home. Kale, on the other hand, stayed with Adam and our neighbors and visited every house he could. At one point we had to tell him that he couldn’t walk in to houses, he needed to stand outside with the rest of the kids. He just wants to be friends with everyone! Adam said it was pretty funny watching him lead the neighbor kids to each house. He was the first one at the door, ready and waiting to say trick or treat. He had 4 times as much candy as Nolan by the end of the night!