Saying Goodbye

Today is a sad day in our family. We had to find another home for our dogs. Joey, a white toy poodle, and Max, a black miniature poodle. Joey has not adjusted well to the new baby. He pees on her stuff and is overall just very cranky. Maxwell has been unable to house train and we feel that if we are going to have a baby crawling around in a few months it will not be the safest environment for her to crawl around on floors that have dog pee and poo on them. We are deeply upset about this decision, but we feel like we have found a great home for them. A family that lives in the country is going to take both dogs. The mom wants a "purse dog" and will carry Joey everywhere she goes. He will ADORE this. Max will get to run as much as he wants to on their land and play with their 4 year old daughter, 8 year old son, and 12 year old son. We think both boys will be very happy with their new family...as hard as it is to see them go.

Char with Joey 2 years ago

Julia with Maxwell last summer

Video Time

Delaney had her tongue tie surgery today. She screamed more when the doctor put her fingers Peanut's mouth than she did when the doctor actually cut her frenulum. She stopped crying completely about half a minute after the doctor handed her back to me. She is such a trooper. This procedure was so much LESS traumatic than her shots. After that appointment we went to a different part of the hospital to get D's blood drawn for her follow up liver function tests. We should find out those results by Wednesday.

Snowy Sunday...hanging out

When Delaney was born we got each of the big girls some new pjs and we also gave them matching pjs for Delaney. Peanut finally fits into the pjs that match her biggest sissy so I took a picture of course!


Julia got all her chores done, ate lunch, and then went outside to play in the snow. I snapped a couple of shots of her out there too. Here is one of my favs.


Peanut got to hang out on her mommy's lap. She sure looked comfy! Here's a shot of that.


I put Peanut in a snow suit that totally doesn't fit her but it was warm nonetheless. Then I sat her down in the snow and took some more pictures. :)


Oh and here are some pictures of the snow from last night and this morning.

Snow Day at the End of March?!

What in the world is going on with our planet?! Since when does Kansas get insane amounts of ice and snow at the very end of March? We all really have to make some big changes or our planet is going to give up on us. Here are some pictures from our front door....



Delaney looked really cute today in her stripes so of course I had to take some pictures. :)

Camps Camps Camps

So around here we are already thinking about summertime activities. With two very active, intelligent, creative older girls having them stay at the house all summer just doesn't work out. However we aren't the richest people in the world and activities=money. Thanks to some friends (Andrea & Susann) I have been turned on to ways to do activities without much money out of pocket. Here's the events of the summer

June: Harris Family Reunion 12-14
Camp Shakespeare 15-27 (Charlotte received a full scholarship $275)
Delaney's Baptism with small reception 28

July: Vacation Bible School 13-17 (Julia attending, Charlotte helping)

August: Camp Chippewa 3-5 (Charlotte's first sleep over camp, received 1/2 scholarship $75 from the church and she may get the other half paid as a birthday present)

We are also planning on putting Julia in a animal activity (once a week for four weeks) at our church. And we may also sign her up for another summer activity. Our family is also joining the local outdoor pool so we can enjoy swimming all summer. We are planning trips out to The Bruns land to play. A couple of trips to The Nelson Art Museum and possibly the zoo with The Bruns. This should be a pretty busy summer for very little out of pocket money considering what we are doing.

Charlotte gets a solo

Charlotte is in the school choir. Every year they have two concerts and the in the Spring concert they always give out solo performances to the kids. Well try-outs were right before Spring Break last week and this week the choir teacher announced the winners. Charlotte got her first school choir solo!!!! :)

What a long day

Delaney is going through a growth spurt and she got her shots yesterday so she's pretty much a mad little baby. Super clingy. Super cranky. Won't sleep. The only thing she is doing well is eating. So since she refused to sleep today I caught a non screaming moment with my camera.






P.S. Thats a newborn size outfit

2 month check...visit with friends

Delaney went for her two month check up today. (9weeks 5days) She weighed in at 9lbs exactly which is at the 10th percentile for weight. She measured at 21inches long which is at the 10th percentile for height. Her head measured 39cm which is the 50th percentile. She also received her 2 month vaccinations (polio, DTP, HIB, PTV, and rotavirus). 2 shots in her left leg. 1 shot in her right leg. 1 oral vaccination. She screamed and screamed and screamed. It was pretty traumatic for me to watch, but I got through it and so did she. We also have an order for follow-up blood work to check her liver function and a referral to an Occupational Therapist to help with her latch issues (may be related to tongue tie). All in all Delaney is doing perfect! Oh and she also laughed for the first time right before she got her shots.


Tonight we made our way back to Wednesday Night Live at church. We were able to catch up with some old friends. Will, Ellie, and Susan even brought Delaney a gift bag full of clothes and books and a rattle! Thank you!!! :)

Things I never thought I'd actually do....

I always dreamed of being more of an "Earth Mama", however there were some things I was perfectly content not doing. While I was pregnant I said I would not exclusively breastfeed. I was a little creeped out by the whole thing. I also said I would NOT NOT NOT cosleep. Another thing I said I would not do is wear my baby. Well

Delaney has not had a bottle in over 48 hours with no plan on returning to the pumping/bottle in the near future.

I wear Delaney for AT LEAST two-three hours every single day.

We cosleep Delaney almost every night (she starts out in her pack and play at the foot of the bed and when she wakes in the night to eat she joins us in bed for the remainder of the night)

I've learned that we all have these dreams and expectations of motherhood/parenthood...sometimes we meet them...sometimes we fall short...sometimes we exceed them...and sometimes we make new ones. For us at this time in our lives...cosleeping, breastfeeding, baby wearing, cloth diapering... makes sense and feels right. Eventually I hope to add homemade babyfood making to that list. We are also being more earth friendly by reusing her cousins' clothes (thanks Avery and Vincent), her cousin's toys (thanks Vincent), and a swing and vibrating seat from a friend (thanks Elizabeth).

Now all I have to do is become an in shape, always positive, peaceful, minimalist wife and mother. :)

Reading and glasses

Julia's ability to read has JUMPED considerably. She can pretty much read most books you put in front of her with ease and grace. She LOVES reading aloud so that others can be excited about her reading ability as well. Delaney seems to be a person that will always listen and always has time. :) So this morning Julia hopped up in bed and read "I love you so" to Delaney...



Charlotte got her new frames today. They look absolutely wonderful on her face and fit much better than the older ones she'd outgrown!!!

Healthy eating...positive parenting...cloth diapering...baby wearing

OKay so I like to feed our family healthier meals. I'm not into tofu and neither is my family. We can live with or without meat. I am really struggling with EASY, CHEAP, QUICK healthy meals. Right now we eat grilled chicken and veggies, homemade turkey meatballs, tuna/salmon patties, bean soup, deluxe turkey burgers(without the bun and condiments), etc. We have growing girls and need hearty meals that everyone will enjoy. We also add at least one veggie, one fruit, and sometimes yogurt to every meal (no veggies for breakfast LOL). If anyone out there has any recipes I would be greatly appreciative if you would leave them in a comment...


I have adopted a new way of parenting. I was just so tired of yelling, getting frustrated, getting angry, and punishing the kids. So I stopped. I still get frustrated but it doesn't come out often in my parenting anymore. I focus on rewarding good behavior and "ignoring" bad behavior/choices. Our darling daughters also write fruits of the spirit to learn appropriate behavior (Galatians 5:22 Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faith, Gentleness, and Self Control). They write the Webster definition of the word, a Bible verse that goes with that word, and then a sentence about how their behavior will show that character trait in the future. They get three fruits for each bad choice. Like fighting with each other results in something like Love, Kindness, and Self Control. Breaking something because they were frustrated or didn't follow directions results in Gentleness, Patience, Self Control. This is not a punishment but a learning opportunity. I am a happier mom and the girls are happier kids.

We are cloth diapering more of the time now that we've run out of all our free disposibles. We have yet to buy diapers. I even learned how to fold a prefold old school diaper today. :) We don't like that the G Diaper leaks pee pee when worn overnight, but we like them otherwise.

As far as baby wearing. It is going well. Once of us wears her at least once a day. She loves it. We love it. :)

Day with Grandpa Mike....then off to play outside

Charlotte and Julia spent most of the day with the Grandpa Mike. He took them to Topeka to visit their great grandmother on her farm. They saw cows and horses, enjoyed some oranges, a bite of cake, and drew some pictures. Then he took them to the famous Bobos Restaurant for burgers and apple pie. Finally they went to the Kansas History Museum. Once they got home I loaded the girls in the car and headed out to play on the Bruns land with Natalie and Vincent. Here are some pictures from the playdate.

Working in the flower beds and generally being cute

All the girls are generally being cute today...but only two are working in the flower beds :) The big girls want to show their Grandpa Mike that they can handle a vegetable garden!

Slide Shows

Today is the first day of Spring Break for the big girls. It is so beautiful here so we have enjoyed lots of time outside. We ate a nice breakfast (Charlotte fixed it for all of us) and then we went on a family walk....we even took the dogs too. Then we came back to the house, Jess went to the store, and the girls and I played out back. After a couple of hours of playing outside we came in and ate a nice lunch. Now the girls are enjoying some quiet time inside. Me, Charlotte, and Delaney are about to go on another walk. I just love it when it gets nice out. Not too hot, not too cold. Absolutely perfect!

Springtime Photos

We went to Jess' parents house this afternoon and since it was nice out, we decided to take some shots of all the girls. Here are some of our favorites.

Wow that's a lot of clothes

We got a box today from Annie and Avery. This box had diapers, clothes, socks, and hats from Newborn to 6-9 month clothes, plus one 12 month item. This is the first of many I'm sure. The box weighed over 20lbs if that tells you how much was in there! When I opened the box I could smell Avery and it made me smile and miss her dearly! I love me some Avery snuggles, smiles, and laughter. Well I think Delaney knew she got new clothes today because she peed through her diaper and needed a total change. We put her in a beautiful newborn outfit by Carter's.





This weekend the last few days of our big girls restriction. We are totally hoping that behavior turns around so we can hang out and do some fun things this week since it's their spring break. I should have some great pictures up next week of all THREE girls. :) Oh and my "big digital" camera has been fixed so it's back up and running for outdoor pictures.

Through it all

Through it all I have learned we have some really great, loving, wonderful friends. We have people who are not only there to celebrate with us with the birth of our youngest daughter...because it's really fun and easy to be there for the birth of a baby....but we have friends who are there through the day to day drama of raising three girls...the mundane things like diaper talk and tv talk. We have some friends who are even there when we can't rid of the sickness that has gripped our family. Here is the breakdown of 2009 so far:

• January 15 can't do amnio...no fluid
• January 16 c-section, birth of Delaney
• January 18 released from hospital to come home with our baby
• February 13th ER visit with Delaney
• February 14th second ER visit with Delaney...admittance to the hospital
• February 18th our friends beautiful daughter was born
  
• February 19th transferred by ambulance to a bigger hospital with Delaney
• February 21st released from the hospital
• February 24th I got the virus that Delaney had
  
• February 26th Jess' grandpa died
• March 4th & 5th Grandpa's funeral and internment
  
• March 5th I catch a cold
• March 11th cold turns into bronchitis and is effecting my breathing

We've had a challenging year to say the least, but we are making it through...and in no short part due to the love and care our friends are showing us. Just to know that we can cry to them or laugh with them or vent to them is so amazingly helpful! We love you guys! And to those three ladies (Eryn, Dani, and Carla) that I talk on EVERY SINGLE DAY. I don't know what I'd do without you. I love swapping kid stories, advice, and just chatting. My life is better because you are in it.

And then I have to mention my loving wife. She has been so amazing through all of this. Keeping so calm and so steady. If it weren't for her I'd probably have gone completely crazy! I am so lucky to have married such a wonderful wife and mother! :)

3.10.09

I was trying to capture Delaney rolling over so I could post a video for my parents to watch it, but she was not having tummy time today! LOL Gotta love a baby...they don't really go with your schedule. They make their own. I did however get a nice little picture of her chewing on her hand.

Side by Side

8 Week Pictures...

Here are the 8 week pictures:

My baby pictures

After going through the garage last night I found a frame that had my baby pictures in it. So I thought I'd show you how similar Delaney and I look. :)

The middle picture is me wearing the same dress that Delaney came home from the hospital in.
I'm not sure what age i was in all of these pictures. I'd have to find out from my mom or dad.
That first picture though looks almost exactly like Delaney looked in her first month!

Super Baby!