Thank You

Thank you for praying for me. Admitting that I need help (even if only in form of prayer) isn't easy or fun, but it actually does make a difference. I know the prayers themselves help, but so does putting myself out there and not keeping it all bottled up. So thank you for reading and for praying.

Our ultrasound on Friday went well. They once again saw a perfectly normal, healthy baby and said they are as close to 100% sure of that as medical professionals can be. They said he is about 4 1/2 lb and is growing chubby cheeks. Lord help me if we need any more sonos at my regular practice because it is going to be hard to keep my mouth shut.

The boys' birthday party on Saturday was fun. I made 24 superhero capes and opted to buy cake instead of make it. You can only do so much. My brother and uncle were also here for the weekend, which kept the boys busy and happy and entertained.

More happy things:
-it feels like summer this week! (okay, maybe a little too much)
-Lucas is registered for t-ball, and both boys are registered for soccer
-the newborn clothes are in the dresser ready to go

Last thing. My brother and I took the boys to the zoo on Monday, and we got to see this about three feet in front of us. First it was just boy lion, and then girl lion joined him for some cuddles. They were so cute together!

Snow

We've been enjoying the snow. I would prefer temperatures between 20 and 30, but I'll take the snow any way we can get it!

I'm going to be really, really sad when it rains and is in the 40's next week. I know we're supposed to try to understand other people's points of view, but I really can't understand why so many people prefer mud to snow. If we were comparing 75 and sunny to 15 and windy, I can see your point. But all the people jumping for joy over 40's and rain? I don't get you.

It's a...

It's a...nother boy!

Even a third boy gets some new things!

I'm very happy about that!

Lucas is too, because on the way to the ultrasound he told me that if we have three boys that makes a whole baseball team. To him, baseball is having a batter, a pitcher, and one fielder in the backyard. We also play three-person football with one quarterback, one running back or receiver, and one defender. Having three boys is going to (someday) allow me sit down and watch. Yay!

Tyler said all along that he wanted a sister. When the ultrasound tech told us it was a boy, he said, "And a sister." Nope, there's not two in there, buddy. Sorry. I think he'll be happy once the baby is here. We told him he will get to teach him to throw a ball and build towers and play trains. That seemed to appease him.

Most people are genuinely happy for us, but a lot of our relatives were rooting for a girl. Sometimes comments like "Aww, that's too bad" are kind of hurtful. I probably said things like that before I had kids, but most of these people aren't in that category. Now I always try to say "Oh, that's so exciting!" no matter what - 1st kid, 10th kid, 3rd boy, 3rd girl, whatever. It IS exciting to have a(nother) baby no matter what! I am really genuinely happy for people when they announce their pregnancy, if/when they find out the gender, and of course when the baby is born. And I'm especially happy that we're going to be welcoming our third baby boy in a few months!

He wouldn't stop moving his hands around. He really wanted to wave hello but he wouldn't even hold them still enough to get a non blurry picture! He also decided to cover up his boy parts with them, but we finally got a view from the back to confirm it!

20 weeks

There's No Place Like Home

This weekend, I'm going home. Home-home. Not Minnesota. Not Rockford. My little, wonderful, for better or worse, hometown, Winnebago.

Photo by Mary Kate Skaggs

You can laugh if you think it's the name of an RV. It's actually an Indian tribe. Or I guess nowadays they probably teach the kids to call it a Native American tribe. But we're still called the Indians, so there's that.

When my parents moved away almost ten years ago, I didn't really look back. I thought if I broke all my ties with the first 18 years of my life, I would somehow erase any mistakes of my past or bad memories associated with my formative years. In some ways, it did. I have been able to slowly forget some of those less than fond memories, but at some point I also started to forget how many good, great, awesome memories I had there.

This weekend, I'm going home. I'm going to take in the familiar sights and sounds of my youth. I'm going to grieve some losses of friends there, and grieve my losses of innocence too. But I'm also going to celebrate.

I'm going to bask in the greatness that is a public school district in which all the kids go through one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school, where there are no boundary line battles or property tax wars. We're one town, one school. Many teachers live in the town and have for generations. They are just as invested in the education of the students as the parents are. There is a sense of being held to a higher standard among students, parents, teachers, and everyone in the community. The arts are supported, and so are sports. I'm not sure there's another town this size in America that can compare to our triple threat of academics, athletics, and arts, especially music. Want to know the best part? We can still pray. I'm not sure how much it happens during the school day (of course, they say as long as teachers give tests, there will be students praying!), but we always have and still do pray before all our games.

Photo by Bekki Neal, 10.25.13, taken before their final regular season game to go 9-0.

It's not all roses (or rainbows or peaches). There are always some thorns. At times, it seemed cliquey. Occasionally, politics got ugly. There were some competitive undertones between families that had been there forever and those who came in and built the new cookie cutter subdivisions. Small towns gossip, and the gossip's not always nice or true. I made some bad choices there, and a lot of other kids did too, that we might not have made somewhere else. Or, we might have. Or, we might have made even worse mistakes. It wasn't perfect, and since, you know, I'm a perfectionist, I wanted to forget all that imperfection. The truth is, it can't be forgotten, and I wouldn't want to. There's too much good that I want to remember.

I've never felt at home anywhere but Winnebago. 18 years of fall, winter, spring, and summer were spent there. Christmas, Easter, birthdays, and graduations, all in the same house. All with the same neighbors, who became like family. Some of the same friends from kindergarten through senior year. Years and years of watching high school football on the same field, riding bikes around town on all the same old streets, ordering the same pizza that I can still taste today.

As the seasons came and went, I didn't realize what I was experiencing. We never really do as it's happening. But what I know now is that I'll never wish those memories away again. There's no place like home, and sometimes home is what we need. This weekend, I'm so glad to be going home.

The photos were taken by people who still live in Winnebago and posted these in a group I'm in. They made me cry!

Family-Filled Month

The next few weeks will be pretty busy for us, but in a good, family-filled way.

This weekend we are making a quick trip to visit my grandparents. My cousin and her husband will be there with their 1 year old, and I think the kids will have a good time together. The boys are excited because we are camping in their backyard.

Sunday is Steve's birthday, so we'll be heading home to celebrate here in the afternoon. His gifts are all from the thrift store, but I think he will like them.

Lucas has a field trip to the apple orchard next week. Steve's aunt - who is so wonderful with kids - is going to watch Tyler so that I can go on the field trip. I am eager to see how Lucas interacts with his classmates and how Tyler does for a morning by himself. (I think he will love it!)

Lucas turns 4 1/2 this month - how did that happen?! It seems like his birthday was last month! Since his half birthday falls on the Feast of St. Luke, we'll have a little celebration that day in the midst of everything else going on.

Next weekend is my sister-in-law's wedding. I need to finish up the programs and find some jewelry for my dress. Weddings are stressful for everyone involved, but I think it is going to be a really nice day. My parents and Ashley are also coming to the wedding, so we are looking forward to spending some time with them.

My parents will leave on Monday morning, and my brother will arrive here on Wednesday afternoon. He will be here through the weekend, and then he will head to Chicago for a work trip. I am thinking we will visit the pumpkin patch with him, which is something we've never done before.

A few days after he leaves will be Halloween, and another month will be gone!

Along with all of this, we are getting very close to announcing the speaker lineup and opening registration for the 2014 Behold Conference! I am putting some finishing touches on the registration forms and website, and once we are sure we've dotted all our i's and crossed all our t's (ie contracts are signed!), we are ready to go! It is always fun getting back in the swing of things and seeing my Behold friends.

I may or may not be quiet on here for the rest of the month, but if I am, it is probably because we are having a lot of fun with family and friends. I hope you have a great month too!

August, so far

The fair

The zoo

Lots and lots of peaches, blueberries, and strawberries

Homemade water park

 

Visiting cousins in St. Louis

Camel rides

 

Clydesdales

And a Cubs game

To Ty-Ty, our sweet two year old

To my sweet two year old (a month after your birthday).

PEEK-A-BOO!

If I had to guess your favorite color, it would be blue. That's what you say every time we ask you what color something is. If everything in the world were blue, I think you'd be happy.

You love Mickey, but you'd happily watch almost any cartoon or animated movie. You like Franklin a lot too.

You are into "things that go" - cars, planes, trains, fire trucks, helicopters, diggers, motorcycles, buses. You hear sirens from a mile away and tell us "wee-oo-wee-oo." Just like big brother, you are a big sports fan and are getting pretty good at basketball and baseball. We're so impressed by both of you!

You also love all animals - farm animals, zoo animals, pets, even bugs. You want to pet every cat and dog you see, and you do a really great job at being nice to them. You know all your animal sounds too. One of your favorites is hee-haw for the donkey, which you were really excited to hear in person last week at Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Jansen's house.

Your favorite foods are cheese, blueberries, strawberries, meat, and rice. We're glad to have a meat-eater this time around! You are a big fan of salsa and guacamole - yum! You actually will eat just about anything. We're lucky, and we hope you keep it up.

It's so fun to hear you say new words every day. A few months ago you called Lucas "Yoos" and now it is "Yoo-cas." You enjoy yelling at him when he trails too far behind us or isn't doing what he is told. You call yourself Ty-Ty which is so cute, although I'm sure you'll never admit it when you're ten. Most recently you finally turned Grandma into a two syllable, somewhat recognizable word. We don't know why that one took so long when you are speaking so well!

You also really enjoy singing and have all the words memorized in Animal Serenade, a book from your last semester of Kindermusik. You also like to sing "You Are My Sunshine," which is usually the last song we sing before nap and bed.

Your ABCs and 123s are coming along too. They are kind of garbled sounding, but most of your letters are there. We recently learned you can count to 13 and we had never even asked you to count before!

You are very good at feeding yourself, and you can take your shoes and pants off by yourself. You like going on your little potty chair, but so far you are not telling us when you need to go. You have mastered the iPad though! You also know how to do the Sign of the Cross (sort of), and you love singing Alleluia in church. You even try to genuflect when we enter and leave the pew - so cute!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Your personality is developing every day, and I love every bit of it. You are a little bit adventurous, but you also look for our guidance when you need to. You really love playing with other kids. Even though you are "all boy" when you roughhouse with Lucas, get dirty in the yard, and play with all your trucks and balls, you are still my sweet baby boy at the end of the day. You give the best hugs and say "I love you" in your precious little voice. With a big brother around, sometimes it seems like you are growing up way too fast. You can only keep up with him for so long, though, and then you remind us that you are still a little boy who needs our help and love and attention. I love you so much and will happily let you be my baby boy for as long as you'll let me!

I love you, Ty-Ty!

Mommy