Milestones

This month we celebrated a significant milestone-Kalena's 1st birthday. The first birthday always seems more like a celebration for the parents than the kid for surviving the first year. I never want to wish my time away but some days lack of sleep makes me. Kalena has a wonderful personality and loves to be around the boys-bro and Dad-and participate in whatever they are doing.  She loves being outside. This winter has been hard on us and we're ready to get out and play. Decker continues to love preschool. Lately he is questioning all things real-super hero's, leprechauns, Easter Bunny, dinosaurs, God, Jesus. Pretend characters, real but extinct, real but can't see, real but is depicted with a beard (he doesn't like beards)...God give me the wisdom to explain these things. Brady claims he is going to be a lot smarter than us because he is asking so many questions.

The Best Christmas Ever

Decker has declared this will be the best Christmas ever! From decorating trees to singing carols this boy is loving Christmas. He loves sitting around the tree and pointing out his favorite ornaments. He likes to "compact" the ornaments as he calls it which otherwise means moving them around from place to place and placing a large number of ornaments on the same branch. Luckily there have only been a few casualties. The Grinch song came on the radio and he said who is Mr. French? I said the Grinch was a pretend character that doesn't like Christmas. He could not wrap his 4 year old mind around why someone would not like Christmas. And later in the day he wanted to know again why  Mr. French did not like Christmas. How do you explain the Grinch to a child? Kalena has no ideas of Christmas yet which is good on our budget! She is however pretty stinkin cute even if she does still get me up every 2-3 hours of the night. She's on the verge of crawling which will probably tick Decker off when it happens. As it is now she is only allowed to play with certain fire trucks-but come to think of it so are Brady and I.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas

Summer Lovin

We have had a great summer. Raising kids ain't for wimps but it's fun-very tiring at times but fun! Kalena had her first experience in the pool at Brown County and Decker had his second try at fishing with guidance from our family expert fisherman Uncle Todd. Decker loves all things boy and is getting ready to start 2 day a week morning preschool at a local church. Brady and I enjoyed a dinner out for our 11th anniversary last Saturday and did not get called home to a crying babe so that was excellent! Deck and Uncle Todd will soon have two big bdays-4 for Deck and the big 30 for Todd.

The Arrival of Kalena

After lots of prayers and extra walking Kalena Evelyn made her way into the world on Sunday March 10th at 2:58 am weighing in at a whopping 9lbs 10oz and 21 inches. 10 days late of her due date.  I was to be induced on the 11th so we barely made it. This labor and delivery went much better and quicker than with Decker thanks to the help of our doula and midwife.  We couldn't wait to get out of the hospital to get back to our first baby although he did great while we were gone. I had a couple minor glitches while in the hospital. My blood counts were low so had to get blood. Then, my midwife thought I had a umbilical hernia so I had to get an ultrasound and then a CAT scan. The nurses weren't letting me eat which led me to believe and worry that I may have to get surgery to repair the hernia. Thankfully the scan came back showing a weakened abdominal wall that should heal on it's own. We finally got to go home Tuesday night and then on our checkup 2 days later my blood pressure was elevated so I've been on bp medication 3x a day since then. I am currently weaning myself off the medication and hope to be off completely in the next couple weeks. Kalena and I go back to the midwife on Monday for our 6 wk checks.  She is eating and growing well as far as we can tell. And of course she is as cute as ever and loved by all her family. Decker has been a bit of a wild card acting out, being rough and vying for our attention, but he does love her too as he cried when his Aunt Julie was teasing him about trading his cousin Brooklyn for his new baby sister. 

Big Belly Laughs

At the end of September we lost our faithful companion Rodi to cancer. She was a good dog of 11 years. 7 of them spent with us. It was too sad not having a dog in the house so we quickly adopted another dog from the Clay County Shelter. She's a small black lab named Cora and is nothing like Rodi. If you ever came to our house and were scared out of your wits by Rodi's intimidating bark you will no longer have to fear visiting our house as Cora hardly barks at all. She is very calm and tolerant of Decker which is good because he loves to "pet" her ears! Cora came to us after having 10 pups so she is still getting her figure back as I'm losing mine. I think I took pity on her when I saw her at the shelter knowing what she had been through-ha! I'm at 28 weeks and counting. Feeling pretty good except my sugar tested a little high so now I'm watching what I eat. A little down about not being able to partake in holiday treats but I'll survive. Ultrasound showed we're having a girl so that's what we're planning on but would be equally as happy if it happened to be a boy. Thanksgiving we had a great visit with Aunt Margret and Uncle Bill from Tennessee who were meeting Decker for the first time. Decker anticipated Thanksgiving eagerly like he is Christmas and asks often if it's Christmas yet. He has been sifting through Christmas toy catalogs for some time now and showing us what he wants which mostly consists of firetrucks and farm equipment/sets. May the true meaning of Christmas bless you this Christmas, and hopefully a firetruck or chocolate bar will find it's way into your stocking.

Been So Long

Well, lots has happened since last blogging in May. In June the farmers market got off to a great start. July Decker moved into his big bed and we haven't slept since. Just kidding. We're sleeping a little. Well, Brady is always sleeping and I'm always trying to sleep! Decker was not a fan of the fireworks going off around our neighborhood and still mentions them at night. Our biggest news is that I'm expecting again. About 14 weeks along. We have chosen to use a midwife again. She is out of Sullivan Indiana. Have been feeling pretty rough but starting to feel better. I had to make the hard decision to resign from my position as market master with the farmers market.  I am going to help with admin duties through the end of the outdoor season.  The stress and responsibilities of the position were taking their toll on me and our family.  You're probably thinking how stressful can running a farmers market be-well, let me tell you there are a lot of people to make happy.  This year people have been especially hard to deal with and negative due to the drought. We just got back from vacation in South Haven, MI. The weather was great and Decker loved the beach. My parents and Uncle Todd were able to go with us so Decker was in heaven with lots of playmates.  Decker just celebrated number 3 with firetrucks galore (his most favorite thing).  Deck sings a lot now-some of his favorites are Bingo, Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Ole McDonald. It's so sweet to hear him sing a tune.

May Days Gone

My goal was to blog before the end of May and I failed...ugg. Anyway-I must show you all how handsome Deck was in his Aunt Megan's wedding. He did a great job with one run past the stage toward the end of the ceremony. We continue to have fun at play group on Thursdays and meeting up with cousins Brooklyn and Coy whenever we can. Decker just loves his cousins and many times becomes quite upset when he thinks about wanting to play with them. I'm envious of my mother in law who now has a chicken coup added to her farm. Decker has named his chicken Roda (a name as close to Rodi as possible!). Speaking of Rodi she has been diagnosed with cancer and is hanging in there. She'll be 11 in September. Brady and I survived turning 36 and we even got away to the track for qualifications one Sunday. We got to spend time in the Clabber Girl suite which was great! Farmers market starts tomorrow and new this year will be a mid week market on Tuesday evenings.