Tiny wonders

Leah is potty training right now. I think she has finally gotten into the swing of things. Yesterday she peed on the potty 6 times and only had one accident. So we have a sticker chart that she gets to put a sticker on every time she pees and then she also gets a piece of chocolate from an advent calendar we had still from Christmas. It is a Pooh Bear theme so she really loves it. We are still working on poo, but we are getting there. She stays dry in her diaper or pull up during nap times so we are doing well. She is so cute with her training potty. I think she loves the portable part of it. She loves to go get it and set it right next to me wherever I am in the house when she has to pee. Or she sits right next to Mary. I wonder if she will still like going potty when she just has to use the big girl potty in the bathroom.

Leah is such a ham and she really knows how to get Elsa going. The other day Leah was singing a Primary song (they sing ALL day long) and Elsa started singing with her and Leah yells:

“No, not you! You get in TROUBLE!!”

She picks up on a lot more than I think she does. The other night we were sitting down to read scriptures and Leah opens up her book and starts reading: “Und es begab sich…” (that is German for “and it came to pass)

In this picture, Elsa had just finished making a tower of blocks using all the blocks we have. She was very proud of her creation and Leah walked up to it and turned the kitty around there on the top and Elsa FLIPPED out. It is so funny to watch them play together and bounce off each other. Mostly Elsa is the leader and decides what they play with and what they do but Leah can get in there and put in her two cents as well.

This is Leah belted into her potty chair. We were at our wits end one day because she kept peeing and not in the potty so she got strapped into her potty. It only took a few minutes until she figured out she could just stand up and walk around with her potty on her bum. It was just too funny!

Leah is very good about sharing with Elsa. But Elsa is terrible about sharing with Leah. Here Leah is sharing her fishy crackers. I don’t think Elsa ever shares those unless we make her. But on this day Elsa got out her “sloofy” pink shirt and gave it to Leah to borrow to wear. I think this is the beginning of MANY years of fighting over and hopefully some sharing of their clothes.

Leah’s favorites: playing with cars, watching Cars, pretending to be a kitty with Elsa, singing “Sunbeam” or “I am like a Star” or “I am a Child of God,” eating granola, eating tomatoes (especially sneaking out of the salad I am still in the process of making for dinner) she loves to “snuggle for just a minute,” and she still has her binki…need to work on that one!

My little Miss Mary is already five months old!!! Right now she has a cold and a cough and it is so sad. She sleeps a lot during the day right now and when she is awake she is snuggly. She can now grab and hold onto toys (yay!!) She can roll over, though I have not seen her do it. She was on her tummy one morning when I went to get her out of her crib. She hated it! She was crying really hard. It is hard to give her tummy time or let her just play on the floor. Her sisters attack her with too much love whenever I lay her on the floor on a blanket. So mostly we just give her some floor time right after we put the girls in bed. One night she fell asleep just after I laid her down on the floor to play. It was so cute.

admin | Baby 1, Baby 2, Baby 3 | 01 26th, 2012 | No Comments »

On Sunday after church Elsa was bored so I got out some popsicle sticks for her to play with. She went right to work spelling out her name. She was very proud…especially since it looked like her German name (Germans pronounce Elsa as Elza) Of course I had to get a picture and she saw me and then asked to see the picture. I guess she decided she looked pretty cute and so she would go sit somewhere or do something and ask me to take a picture. I could not resist giving in and taking tons of pictures of her as she posed to cutely.

Update on my pink girl:

She had her four year doctor check up a little while ago and she did awesome! First off the doctor asked me to get her to pee in a cup. I thought, no way will she do this, she will freak out. So I told her we were going to play a silly game and see if she could pee in a cup. She giggled and said ok, so we got that done. Then the doctor’s assistant worked with her and did a bunch of tests. Checked her eyes, hearing and other skills. She had her hop on one foot, copy her clapping, pick specific toys out of a basket, name colors, count, and then she asked her to color a picture. I guess for Elsa’s age she is advanced. When an average four year old is asked to draw a person they draw a face with legs and arms poking out. But Elsa draws everything…eyelashes, a decorated shirt, shoes, silly hats or bows in the hair and fingers. The doctor also asked her to copy some symbols and letters that were on a paper. Supposedly four year olds cannot normally draw the letters S or Z yet, but Elsa can. I guess it also helps that there is an S in her name so she has that one nailed of course. She also had us fill out a survey. It was a paper with both sides but we did not understand the questions on the back side (it was in German) The doctor said it was ok, we did not need to fill it out because it was about helping your child communicate. The doctor said, I can tell your daughter has no problems with that!! She does indeed talk a LOT!

Just now Elsa is sitting next to me putting together her pony puzzle and he looks at me and sounds out J-O-O-P. And asks me why my glasses say JOOP on the side. This girl has taught herself how to read and is constantly sounding out any words she sees anywhere.

To complete her doctor check up Elsa needed one shot. She sat on daddy’s lap and I thought she would freak out but she just sat there and watched them give it to her with out even crying. My tough girl, though for the next three days she wined about her arm and had a total breakdown when I took the band aid off in the tub a day later. On the way home from the doctor we had a discussion about why we need to have shots. I just asked Elsa if she remembered why we have to get shots and she said: “so we can keep our bodies from…. um….coughing!”

Mom, this picture reminds me of that picture of the little girl in a blue dress lounging on the chair that I think used to be in our house somewhere…didn’t you tell me that it looked a lot like me?

I just love Elsa’s blue eyes!! This pink dress we found for her at H&M for her birthday. And below is my new favorite picture of Elsa. The colors are just perfect! (well, except you can see the edge of the nasty carpet we tried to cover up in this room.)

admin | Baby 1 | 01 26th, 2012 | No Comments »

Leah is POTTY TRAINING….still. Leah is hard to figure out. I cannot bribe her with anything! So potty training has been slow. Finally we found some crackers that she loves and will sit on her little potty for. She has peed in her potty 4 times, with much reluctance. But she wants to wear “panties” (pull-ups) so I told her she has to pee on the potty. It is great that she does not think she can pee in them, she grabs her bum and gets all scared when she has to pee then I know to get her on her potty and help her stay there until she goes. The other day we were talking about her potty training and I told her we would go to the store and let her pick out a new toy for the next time she used her potty and she got all excited and said she wanted a CAR and some TREATS!!! So we found a car at the store and are still reminding her of it during the day. We are making slow progress there.  (Liza- the car we found that she wanted is just like that one Daniel has with the play power drill to take it apart!!! It was at Kaufland, how cool is that?)

Elsa has been very supportive of Leah learning how to potty. She will tell her to come in the bathroom with her all the time and watch how “the big girls” go potty. Leah gets excited and brings her potty in the bathroom with Elsa. Here they are figuring out how to use the potty while wearing their tutus! Elsa has even tried bribing Leah to sit on her potty. She will offer to give her a pony to old or even her whole pony castle she got for Christmas! It is cute, but it does not motivate Leah to hold Elsa’s toys.

A random bit of coolness: Doing the girls hair on the go…GET A TACKLE BOX!!  (as seen on Elsa’s lap) Casey found this little plastic box at HELA I think and it is awesome for holding all the girls hair things so i can just grab it and do their hair wherever they will sit still for a few minutes. This is a must have for mommys with little girls!

Playing swords in the kitchen. “Let’s fight”  And of course sword fighting is always best in your jammies with wild hair all over the place too!

I think Leah was pouting because she lost the sword fight. What do you think of her crazy hair? I am thinking I want to get the girls hair cut short.

Smuuuuuushed in our car for the ride to Oma’s house for Christmas break. Thank goodness for portable DVD players. We had such an awesome Christmas this year. We got to be at my mom’s in Gimsbach along with the Johnson family (my older sister and her husband and three boys) It was crazy but it was so fun to be with everyone and to see the cousins playing and sometimes fighting. I wish we lived close to some cousins. Sigh…someday maybe.

I am sad this picture is blurry, it is so cute! This is Elsa and Nathan (cousins) holding hands and walking around at the Heidelburg Christmas Market.

Me and my girls hanging out watching movies together.

Leah had a rough time at Oma’s. She usually has a three hour nap during the day but it just was not happening while we were there so she would often crash in the evenings before dinner. She has never done that before and then she was doing it all the time. But then she got a bad cold and started taking naps again. I love Anne’s feet in this picture!!! She said she had so many unmatched socks so she just decided to wear all the mis-matched socks. I think that is AWESOME!  I think I would like to start doing that with the girls socks.

My little Mary in the Christmas dress. She is almost five months old now. Wow! She is going to have beautiful blue eyes just like her daddy!

Leah enjoying some treats from her stocking before going to church on Christmas day.

We tried to set up some professional pictures for our family this year but it fell through…so this is as good as we could get on our own. The whole family in one picture and no one is crying…successful family picture!!!

With all the grandkids in one place this year we had to act out the Christmas story this year….that was awesome! Elsa is Mary and Mary is baby Jesus. Leah was an angel or a shepherd.

We had a great Christmas with lots of good food and going to the church in our village and a quick Christmas Eve program from the grand kids and gingerbread contest and lots of late nights just talking and playing games!  Having Christmas with my mom is always picture perfect! I don’t know how I will ever live up to her standard of making holidays wonderful and memorable. I have such a great mom!!! My sister, Liza on the other hand…she is doing such a great job with her handsome little boys and she is such a wonderful homemaker and mommy. She found out that she will be having another baby boy in February!! I am so excited for her, but sad that we cannot live close to each other. I am so blessed to have such great sisters and a wonderful little brother who is still on his mission in Portland Oregon right now.

After Christmas, a few of us took the kids to the castle in the next town and to see the storks. The kids had a great time fighting the dragon (uncle Scott)! I think the girls loved having some wrestling that we don’t usually do at our house.

The boys got swords for Christmas and so Elsa had to find some leaves to pretend to be her swords. I think later she tried giving one to Uncle Scott and told him it would protect him.

This is the same castle that Casey and I had our engagement pictures taken at. Elsa is such a little ham…a cute one!

Elsa and her cousins Nathan and Daniel at the castle.

Anne and Leah…they were totally inseparable during our stay with Oma. Leah still preferrs Aunt Anne over mommy! Anne loves having a little shadow.

Funny kids and beautiful German countryside.

This picture is awesome…the boys being tough with their swords and Elsa holding a ballerina pose!

ELSA TURNED 4 YEARS OLD!!! I made her a barbie cake this year and it was soooooo much fun. I think I may have to just keep doing barbie cakes every year for my girls! Elsa got a little distressed when she saw me pull a leg off the barbie to fit it on the cake, but she soon forgot about it. I thought it was funny how she wanted to lick the barbie clean of all frosting after pulling it out of her cake dress.

For Elsa’s birthday she wanted an everything pink day! We had lots of pink food and we all wore pink and she got lots of pink presents from the family!

I cannot believe my little Elsa is already four! That went by way too fast. This year (2012) we are looking forward to putting Elsa in German kindergarten. But atleast we have until April when it starts so I can be clingy until then. I love my little pink princess Elsa. Heavenly Father really has blessed me so greatly with the sweet little girls I have and with an amazing and handsome and loving husband. I have nothing to complain about! I am excited to see what we will do this year in our new home here in Germany. Lots of learning is ahead of us but it will be a fun adventure!

admin | Uncategorized | 01 15th, 2012 | 3 Comments »

What do you do with your little ones to help them have good behavior? What do you use to keep your home in order? How do you keep track of important calendar dates and appointments? How do you structure time with your kids or do you just go with the flow?

I know that every child is different as is every mother and we are all motivated by different things. My girls are soooooo different and so it has been hard to find a behavior chart that works for both of them and for me. I have tried several things. I thought it would be fun to catalog the things I have tried and show you what we are using now. Please leave me comments and tell me what you do with your kids. What works for you?

Behavior charts:

I have made Elsa a chart before, but I was terrible about keeping up with it and it was too hard to keep updated. Look here for what I did for that one, maybe it is what you need for your little one. So I brainstormed for a long time to find something more simple. I am now addicted to Pinterest. I love the search feature. I had been trying to figure out a simple behavior chart for a while then decided to search on Pinterest and this one caught my eye. I adapted it a little bit and just used materials I already had so it cost me nothing to make!  So this is what we are using now:

It is super simple. We all have a clip and at the beginning of every day we all start on “good” and then during the day depending on how we do our clips move up or down. I like that I have a clip too because it helps me realize that sometimes I need a time out too for being too impatient with the girls. Then every night we look at the clips and if they are on good or higher we get a sticker to put on our treat and when the treat is full of stickers then we get to eat it!

I made a small, more portable version out of cardboard. It works to use in my Primary class as well and to take when we visit my mom so the girls can still have consistency even away from home.

Loving lips chart:

For FHE one night we decided our girls needed some extra help on good communication. And so after scripture study one day (the rare day that I actually got my scripture study done in the morning…I am working on that) I had the idea to make a flower. Elsa had been asking to plant a flower for FHE and so I made a flower for us to “plant.” We had a lesson on how to use our lips nicely and use good communication. Then we planted the flower and tried to make it grow. Elsa was a little confused at first. She would go sit on the floor in front of the paper flower and say; “You are such a pretty flower. I love you.” So we had to give her some examples of what we really meant by using her lips in a loving way to speak to others, not just the flower. This took a lot of work on my part to be sure that I noticed EVERY good thing they did with their lips, but it was ok to do for just one week to help the girls improve their communication. They loved watching the flower grow taller. I wrote down the good things they did on a green sticky note and that was a piece of the flower’s stem. Then when the flower got all the way to the top of the closet, they earned some ice cream.

The next week we thought we could continue and do a “Listening Ears Flower” but I think the newness of making a paper flower grow wore off and it was not fun for them anymore and they were not motivated by making it grow. So it was a good one time thing, or maybe we will try it again later. But it was a fun idea for just a one week focus on a particular behavior you want your kids to improve on.

Manger- A Christmas Tradition

This year since the girls are a bit older I wanted to do something special with them to help them focus more on Christ and not just presents at Christmas time. I had heard this idea in a RS lesson a while ago and just remembered it. So the idea is that you have a manger (I made a simple one out of cardboard) and you fill it with pieces of yarn to prepare for Jesus to come. Every time the girls do something good, I give them a piece of yarn and they get to put it in the manger and help the bed become more “snugglie” for Jesus. Elsa especially LOVES this because it has to do with a baby and a bed. She is very into that kind of thing right now. Leah most of the time is excited about it but she will give her yarn to Elsa a lot to put in the bed for her.  I decided to put our little manger on our Christmas tree, partly because we don’t really have a lot of decorations and because I did not want it just floating around the house and it is a good reminder having it on the tree to help me also remember the reason we have the tree up right now. When I first introduced this to the girls I sat down with them during a FHE with some pictures of the Christmas story and told them the story. Emphasis on the manger. Then the plan is on Christmas Eve as part of our family program we have every year, we tell the story again and can put an actual baby (a doll) into the manger and show the girls they helped prepare for Jesus to be born by all the nice things they have done during the month.

What Christmas Traditions do you have with your kids to help them keep focused on Christ?

(funny thing: the night after we did the lesson, Leah asked to go to sleep in a Manger for bed time!)

Playroom schedule- still working on this

Ever since I graduated from college, I have had a hard time with making a schedule for myself. If I do not have a schedule I waste my day. But it has been sooooo hard for me to figure out what to fill my schedule with, especially with the girls. So I brainstormed, and looked on Pinterest. In the playroom we will have a chart of things that I do with the girls every day. The chart is in English and in German. There are some things we do every day like reading time, cleaning time, snuggle time, meal times and school time. For the school time part I will have 7 clips to schedule a different theme or subject for school time each day. Some examples of themes: Singing time (learning German Primary songs), Numbers and math, Letters and writing, exercise, field trip, cooking, cleaning, Science/exploring, German, Art…etc. I am so excited about this idea and I know it will help me a ton to use my time better with my girls.

I am still working on the chart, but here is an idea of what it will be like: (my sketches from my top secret parenting ideas book)

Mommy’s command center- still working on this

I have a huge white board in my kitchen with my millions of to do lists and on it, but in the spirit of getting obsessed with charts…hehe…I wanted to make another CHART! This one I needed a space for: meal planning, cleaning schedule, family events, grocery list, important family numbers and a general daily to do list. Pinterest has TONS of ideas. Just go search under “kitchen command centers” and you will find lots of ideas. I am still putting together mine but I have finally settled on the design for mine. Here is the plan from another page ofmy top secret notebook:

With all that being said, I don’t want anyone thinking I am perfect and have all these cool charts that make me and my kids perfect……NO WAY! For the most part I try a new chart or system way too often because I am terrible about following through. These are just some ideas that maybe you can take and run with and make them work better than I could.

Here is a picture of what my kids are doing while I am writing a blog post about being a good mother and using my time wisely with my kids:

I love being a mommy but sometimes it is very hard. We all need help and support and new ideas to try with our little ones. I hope that in my blog you can get some ideas that can help you in your job of being a mother. Please do leave me comments and tell me what you do with your kids. I am always looking for more ideas, better ideas of how to be a better mommy for my girls.

A few more super cute pictures of my angels:

Elsa and Mary are always happy to pose for pictures but Leah is always a blur in pictures, she must be a two year old!

OH another question: we are having family pictures taken this Saturday. Any suggestions on getting family pictures done with a two year old?

admin | Uncategorized | 12 15th, 2011 | 2 Comments »

My girls are being way too cute lately so I have waaaay too many pictures to blog. I will have to just put them all in gallery form to get them all on here. Take a look at my three little girls and get your fill of PINK for the next few months. I love these little girls soooooooo much!

Question: does anyone know how those – print out your blog into a book – things works? How much does that cost?

admin | Uncategorized | 12 15th, 2011 | No Comments »

Warning: long post, no pictures but lots of very funny stories about my three girls!

Elsa- cracks me up! Just now as I am writing this post she is sitting next to me drawing fleas. Her fleas are dots with circles drawn around them. And of course there is a mommy and a baby. I think she got the idea that fleas look like that from the book “The Napping House.”

Elsa is doing very well here in our new place. Even in our German ward she is doing very well. She is excited to learn German and every day she asks me how to say things in German. We work on  German one word each day and for the most part Elsa picks the word or the phrase. The other day she picked “princess rug” to learn in German. Now you know what is important to this little girl.

In our ward we had our Primary program last week and that was my third week in Primary. I am Elsa’s teacher. For all the practice sessions we had Elsa was very shy and did not want anything to do with her part. Though at home she loved practicing her part all day, using a paper towel roll as her microphone.  So I had the thought that on our actual program day she would also freeze up and not want to participate. Not so! She not only said her part (perfectly memorized) but she also said most of my part, as I whispered it to her. She even said the opening prayer in Primary. I am so proud of my Elsa! And now all this week even though the primary program is over she has been teaching Delfta (her doll) her part for the program. I got a video of her whispering to Delfta what her part was. It was something to do with John the Baptist and how he did a really bad job at school. So funny! She still comes up to me and spouts off her part perfectly and then asks for a treat because she said her part all by herself. She does not understand that now she does not need to have her part memorized anymore.

Elsa sees fun in everything, and she loves pink! Examples: after lunch today she was pouting in the corner and I asked her what was wrong and she said: “My panties are not pink!! Don’t talk to me!” And she always has to have her bowl, cup and utensils be pink. If I happen to give Leah the pink bowl or plate she nicely gives it to Elsa. Leah knows that everything pink is Elsa’s. Though that is not the case with toys, only with stuff at the table.

Elsa was helping me eat some leftover pumpkin pie and stuck her finger in some cream. With a huge smile on her face she said: “Look mom, it’s a finger turkey!!” The cream on her finger looked like a pointed beak like on  turkeys we had made out of our hands for Thanksgiving.  Then Elsa spilled some milk on the table at breakfast and again all excited she said: “look mom, my spilled milk made a moon on the table!”

Last Saturday the girls went with daddy to get a Christmas tree. They came home with a 5 foot fake tree and the girls were very excited and helped put the tree together. But we did not have any decorations so I planned to make some with the girls throughout the week. Our first project was making butterflies.

I got some coffee filter paper and then some water with food coloring in it, several colors. Then showed the girls they could paint on the paper. Elsa ate it up. She was so focused. She probably painted 30 papers!! Leah did about 5 and she was done. Then we let them dry over night and the next day I folded the papers up like fans and made the butterflies. As I made them, Elsa put them on the tree. I made one big one and Elsa quickly designated it as the daddy butterfly and put it up high on the tree all by itself. She came and told me: ” that is the daddy butterfly. He is at work.” Later Leah wanted to help put the butterflies on the tree and started putting the small butterflies up by the daddy butterfly. Elsa watched Leah doing this for a minute then I could almost see the light bulb above her head as she realized that the baby butterflies could go visit the daddy butterfly. After that she put all the baby butterflies up by the daddy.

Here is a funny bit of information about living in Germany: we have shelf toilets. And so this causes messy problems, especially when Elsa goes poop. So I showed her the other day how to put two squares of toilet paper down in the potty first before going so the potty would not get all messy from going potty. After showing her that she was excited and said: “thanks mom for showing me how to poop.”

“tuhyhtyyituiiiiiiiiiiiiigiukytj477777777oou00t9it9gh9yhy9hyh9yg0h0gvgvgvp”

That was Elsa. She came to me and asked if she could write a message.

Elsa just came and plopped her foot on me and said “Mom lemme show you my family. (then pointing to each of her toes said:) Daddy, Mommy, Elsa. Leah, Mary!! See this is my toe family.” I wonder what she will do when we want to add another piggie to the family?

Leah- is so close to starting potty training! The same Sunday we had the Primary Program Leah peed in her training potty for the first time. The girls were watching a movie and we had the potty out for her to sit on. She was having some air time as she had a bad diaper rash and we thought she would like to practice sitting on her potty. Daddy was sitting at the table making crepes for dinner and Leah wanted some cheese. Casey asked her if she peed in her potty. She said yes and went and grabbed her potty and brought it over to Casey. And what do ya know…there was pee in it!! So we made a huge deal out of it and she helped me flush it down the potty and then we gave her a toy we had saved for when she went on her potty the first time. We also called Oma and Anne to tell them. She seemed pretty pleased with herself and so I planned for a week of potty training. But the next day she wanted nothing to do with the potty. I guess we did not get her a cool enough toy or something. Elsa is very encouraging. She keeps telling Leah to pee on her potty. I think it is because she thinks that if Leah pees on her potty again, we might give Leah another new toy and she can take that one away from Leah too. (should have thought of getting something pink and giving it to Leah-again, Elsa thinks she owns everything pink)

So Leah is not potty training right now. Something funny though: Leah thinks she can use the “I have to go pee” excuse to get out of bed at night like Elsa always does. I have been trying to figure out what will motivate Leah to use her potty and I have found she is not motivated by treats or toys. She wants tomatoes or salad and she wants to wash her hands!!!!

My Leah is such a sweetheart! Several times during the day she will come to me with her blankie (the green one with pink flowers that Grandma Kennington brought her has become her blankie of choice) and she will say “uh snuggle for a little bit!” And if I am holding Mary at the time she will tell me where she wants me to put Mary down. She says thank you all the time, well she says “thank you very much” most of the time. She loves sharing everything with Mary and loves hugging and kissing her and rubbing her head. Now she wants to pick her up and change her diaper. She was mad at me the other day when I would not let her change Mary’s diaper. So then she got her doll and perfectly put a new diaper on her. I guess she would do an ok job of changing Mary’s diaper.

Leah still has naps in her big girl bed. When she figured out how to climb out of bed a few weeks ago I almost cried. I thought that would be the end of nap time peace and quiet, mommy regain composure time. But thankfully we found that our Landlord had keys to some of our doors and the girls bedroom was one of them!! What a blessing. So I lock Leah in her room after snuggling and singing with her. She falls asleep perfectly then I go unlock the door when she is asleep. Sigh. A few more months of mid-day peace is ahead of me.

Before Leah can go to sleep for nap time, though, she always has to kiss Mary and get a hug and kiss from Elsa. These girls really do love each other, even if they do fight a lot.

Mary- is laughing now! Last night I was bouncing her on my lap and I got several laughs out of her. I love it! When she first sees me in the morning she gives me a huge smile, dimples and all, eyes beaming! And changing her diaper always makes her so happy.  When she is really happy and smiling she gives a little cough, almost like she does not know how to laugh yet but wanted to do some kind of happy noise. She sleeps through the night. She eats very well and hardly ever spits up. She loves it when her crazy sisters talk to her or sing to her and she does not even mind when her sisters think it is funny to “help her blink” by poking her eyes. She still has her dark hair, except for an awesome baby bald spot on the back of her head. She gets sweaty feet like her daddy and she loves to suck on her hands all day which means she either has freezing hands or super wet blankets from trying to suck on her hands through her blankets.

Mommy- I feel like I am still a total beginner on this mommy of three thing. But each day gets better as I figure out more of what our daily schedule here at home should be. I have been having morning snuggle time with my girls right after we clean up breakfast and I have found it helps me and the girls a lot. I still look forward to bed time so I can squeeze in a crafty project here and there. I need to start working out to get rid of my baby fat. It seems with Mary I have not lost it all with the delivery like I did with the other two. I still wear a pony tail every day but am thinking I want to go super short with my hair because we have hairdressers in our ward that I can go to to keep up a short hairstyle. But we will see. I love Casey more than ever as I watch him provide for our family doing something he loves doing. He is such a sweet daddy for our girls and I still think I am the luckiest girl in the world because I got to marry this hunk!! I think our family is going to really thrive here and do well. I still need to work on going on outings with the girls often during the week so we don’t get cabin fever being in the house all the time. It is a total workout to take all three girls anywhere by myself with no car to use. How do you moms do it? I am loving pinterest and have found many fun things I want to try but probably will not have the time or be organized enough to try for a while longer.

Behavior chart: I will have to get pictures of this up soon, but I made a chart for the girls and decided to put me on there too. I have noticed that when the girls are at the bottom of the chart (the warning and time out and lose privilege zone) I am down there too because I lose my patience too easily when they are being naughty. I need to work on more patience. More hugs instead of yelling. I am wide open for advice on how to do this with toddlers.

Well, that is our update for now. I guess I better get back to life and crying kids. Pictures of my crazy girls to come later when I can find the camera they are all on.

admin | Uncategorized | 12 1st, 2011 | 1 Comment »

The Playroom. Elsa helped me make a tree out of boxes. We made letters for the girls names also out of cardboard and covered with scrapbook paper. Elsa was also my big helper with that. She thought it was great fun to use the glue stick. We got the cubbie shelves from IKEA and also the bins to go in them.

Art wall. I hung up a bank of hooks to hang buckets on (yogurt buckets) for the girls to store their crayons and such in. Then used hooks and ribbon to make a spot to hang their pictures. As soon as I hung it up Elsa noticed there was room for more artwork so she colored madly until all the spots were filled. How do you like Elsa’s face??

Our storage wall. These are just sides of a crib hung on the wall with hooks from IKEA on them. Then we have been collecting yogurt buckets for a while to use on them. I plan on covering them with different colors. We played a color game with them yesterday where the girls have to fill each bucket with toys of one color. I also am going to put numbers on the buckets for a number game: the girls have to put a toy or toys in the bucket according to the number on the bucket.

The girls having fun with Mary in the playroom.

My sweetheart girls. They love each other so much. They walk around holding hands most of the time. This is them “walking silly.”

Our bathroom complete with cute baby on the changing table. The only thing I hate about this bathroom is the white tile. You can see all the hair and fuzz and dirt on it. Makes me want to vacuum every day.

Our living room. I feel really spoiled with the big tv. The girls love watching Heffalump on that thing!!!

The office. Op, there is that cute baby again. Mary loves this swing and I love it because it has a seat belt and a tray to keep Mary safe from her very loving sisters.

The dining room. I wish we had more space for the dining room, but we have a real table so I am happy. That is the doorway into the kitchen there on the right.

Another view showing the office and dining room area. Leah is “working” on daddy’s computer and Elsa is playing dress up in my clothes.

OUR REAL KITCHEN!!!! This is the nicest kitchen I have ever had and I love it to death! The dishwasher and the pull out oven are the best parts.

This is will eventually be Mary’s room and the guest room and my craft room…right now it is just a mess and we are trying to get a handle on some old mold there in the corner. That is my sweet Leah pretending to talk to Oma.

My lovely craft corner…it is the biggest spot I have had yet for craft stuff. You can see the hand print turkeys and butterflies we made yesterday drying there.

The girls room…I was going to clean it up, but it is never clean, so I thought you might as well see it like it always is. The girls keep asking me for a big bed they can sleep in together. Those sweethearts!

My latest crafty creation: clip storage for my girls. I love how it looks and it was so easy. Old frame and fabric and ribbon… and there you have it! Now I need to make some more clips for them now that I have a place to put them all.

So, that is our new home. We are very happy here and are finally feeling settled in.

Time to go make lunch for my crazy girls! Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

admin | Family, House | 11 23rd, 2011 | 8 Comments »

We are finally moved into our new home in Germany! My sweet little angels are growing and happy and loving it here.

Elsa is almost FOUR years old!!! Her favorite color is pink, favorite animal is kitty (she is waiting for us to find and buy her a real pink kitty), her favorite foods are chocolate milk, fishy crackers, cereal, cheese and strawberries. Her favorite thing to do is play with Leah and boss her around and tell her how to play. She loves to sing and chatter all the time. She loves reading. She is a very smart girl, she can spell her name and whatever else she wants to. She spells everything phonetically. This is how she spells her name: “FLAWR.”

Leah is TWO years old, and she acts it more than Elsa ever did…she gets into everything!! She is still a total binkie baby and loves to make sure Mary always has her binkie too. Her favorite color is whatever Elsa tells her it is. Her favorite foods are tomatoes, cheese, chocolate, bread, fishy crackers, spinach and she prefers veggies over ice cream. She has learned how to climb out of her crib and now the pack and play so mommy’s quiet time and time for regrouping is over. Leah loves Aunt Anne and talking on the phone. She loves wipes and cleaning. I am thinking of giving her a full package of wipes and her own broom and dustpan for Christmas! hehe. Leah likes playing with cars over dolls, although she does have a purple baby that she sleeps with. The girls favorite movies right now are “Despicable me” and “The Heffalump movie”  We have been watching them every day because it helps mommy have some time to get more of the house in order while they are lazing in front of the tv. (something I need to work on…)

Mary is now THREE MONTHS old! She loves to smile and even giggles, especially when she is on the changing table. The girls can make her smile when they talk to her and sing Primary songs. She still has her dark hair, although she has the baby bald spot on the back of her head. She is following in Leah’s footsteps with a binkie. Mary now sleeps through the night most of the time. She is a great eater, sleeper, poop-up-her-back kind of girl. She loves tubbies, I think because the girls love to watch and laugh at her the whole time. Mary can hold her head up very well and is almost ready for the BUMBO. She constantly has black fuzz in between her fingers. (how does that happen…she only ever wears pink??!!)

Mary’s baby blessing on our last Sunday in our Nancy ward. Casey’s parents were able to be visiting us for two weeks during that time and were a huge help in our move back to Germany. It was so fun to have them around and we miss them a ton.

Before we could move into our new home in Germany we had three weeks of homelessness…the Wagnitz family let us stay with them until our apartment opened up. They are our guardian angels and the girls love them. This is the girls hanging out in our room watching one of the four movies we had to watch to keep the girls from going crazy.

Herr Wqagnitz taking us on a bike tour of our new town. This was the girls first bike ride and they loved it!

The Wagnitz family had a cool hanging baby bed in their living room that Mary hung out in. The girls loved swinging her and watching her all the time.

This was Mary on her first Sunday going to church…she has already grown so much!

This is the girls making fun use of all our empty boxes after moving in. They had to both be in the same box to color. I tried putting them each in their own box to color and have some more room, but they have to be together.

This is my little sneaky Leah. Now we have child proof locks on most of our cabinets. She found some fun looking bum cream and decided she wanted to see how it felt on her face and hair and hands and clothes…not fun to wash off!!

A small preview of our new home…the girls were helping me make cute letters for their names for the play room.

My wonderful new home!! I will post more pictures as I get more rooms finished. I love our new place and I think we will be very happy here.

Here is my newest little angel!! Isn’t she the cutest thing ever? I love being a mommy of three girls. We just cannot get enough pink here!

It is too bad this picture is blurry. It shows Leah’s classic smile for the camera face.

admin | Family, House | 11 20th, 2011 | 2 Comments »

My little baby Mary is already growing fast. She is two weeks old! Daddy took her to her first doctor apppintment on Monday. The doctor said she was all healthy and was even gaining a good amount of weight. She has had a tiny issue with nursing, but I guess she is still getting more than she needs so that is great. She is such a good baby. Her worst night was the first night in the hospital. She wakes up a few times a night and I change her diaper and feed her and burp her and then put her back in her bed and she is good to go. Sometimes she is a little fussy then I just snuggle with her a bit longer and then she will go to sleep. I love snuggle time with this little one. It is the best thing in the world to have a baby sleeping on your chest. Even at 2 am.

Here is Mary’s bed. It is the same pack n’ play we used for Elsa and Leah. She’s got all her blankies and burp cloths close. (we are waiting until after we move to get some needed furniture) Mary’s bed is the only safe place from her sisters right now. The girls love baby soooo much and want to hug and kiss and hold her all the time and be around when I change and feed her. But this week has been hard because Elsa and now Leah are sick with barking coughs. It is so sad. I hate having to tell them they cannot be around their new sister. But I would hate to think what a cough would do to baby if she got sick…so she stays in our room in her bed most of the time.

Elsa gets these coughs a lot. We just have to stock up on children’s cough drops (which are pretty much just vitamin drops) and use the humidifier every night. Getting her to eat good food or take naps while she is sick is very hard. One day she just made herself a little bed and fell asleep right before dinner. The little sweetheart. Yesterday she finally had a good long nap in her own bed and she is getting over her cough, but now Leah is starting one. So the humidifier is in Leah’s room now. I really hope that Leah does not get as bad as Elsa because she does not understand the whole cough drop idea and just gets it wet and plays with it in her hands and thinks she is funny.

My two sweet girls. They love to take our tiny IKEA couch apart all the time and put it in different configurations. They like making a big bed on top of all the pillows and snuggling with their blankies and animals.

This is my friend Marie-Noel from our ward here in France. She has been my guardian angel in many ways. She came to our apartment every week for a while when we first moved here to help me with learning French. She sent me emails every week translating the lessons and talks from church. She always brought the girls Smarties when she visited. She let me borrow lots of French kid videos for the girls to watch. She helped me translate and prepare for sharing my testimony in French. And this week she came by twice to cook for us. I thought she would just bring by some bread and a simple meal, but she brought huge bags of food and prepared three delicious meals on both days that she came. She is a great cook!!  We really have been taken care of well in this ward and it will be sad to leave all the wonderful people we have come to know and love here.

Moving update: We are hoping to move to Bielefeld on October 10th, though we have had some problems with the housing agency here in having them actually say that the 10th is ok for us to move out. We are still looking for a home to rent in Germany and are still trying to figure out the moving van situation. But we know things will work out and we will be where we are needed in the end. The next big thing we have to do is go to Paris to get Mary a passport and Elsa a new passport. We are going to go visit Oma for a few days before and leave Leah with her while Casey, Mary, Elsa and I drive to Paris. We will be staying in a hotel for one night and doing some sight seeing and then spending the day at the American Embassy to get all the passport stuff done.

admin | Baby 3, Family | 09 4th, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Mary Lorraine Kennington

born at 1:20pm on Friday 19 August 2011 in Nancy, France after 5 hours of labor. She was 18 days early. She weighed 7.05 pounds (3.200kg) and was 19.6 inches (50cm) long.

Labor and delivery

On the Thursday before Mary was born, I decided I could do some housework and see if anything would come of it. I had been having BH contractions a lot whenever I did much of anything so I thought if I did some cleaning that would maybe get some real contractions going. I wanted baby to come sooner and was feeling pretty good so I rearranged the girls room, including moving the beds around. I organized all their toys, cleaned up the kitchen and spent the afternoon doing lots of squats while picking up toys all over the apartment. Nothing happened…until about 2am the next morning, Friday.  While trying to sleep I was having a lot of contractions, though not painful at all. I got up to walk around and see if I would have more. Nope. So I went back to bed and slept a little here and there. Then at 8am I started timing contractions, and with each one they got more painful. Elsa kept asking me what was wrong and I told her my tummy hurt and she kept kissing it. But she noticed that her kisses were not working. She kept telling me “I kissed it better!” …like saying to me, you should be fine now, I kissed you all better.

By this time Casey had gone and come home from a run and we were deciding what to do. We already had scheduled for the missionary couple in our ward, the Salways, to watch the girls for a few hours that day at their apartment. So we gave them a call and asked if they would mind coming over to our apartment and watching the girls. They showed up at about 9:30 and I was having more contractions and they were slowly getting more painful but still really short in duration. Casey showed the Salways around and we talked for a while and I continued to walk around the apartment to keep contractions coming. I kept thinking it was going so slow! With Elsa and with Leah as soon as my contractions started they were really close and really hard. But I still had a few minutes between and they were short. So we I did not know if we should go to the hospital yet. But I eventually figured that it would not hurt to go, even if they did send me home. So we got ready to go. I told Elsa mommy was going to the hospital and she said “ok, go to the hospital and get a shot.”

The elevator ride, the car ride and the walk up to the hospital were…painful. Atleast I only had one contraction while in our yucky elevator. At the Maternity I kept thinking someone would rush out and give me a wheelchair to sit in, but no. I guess it was good for me to keep walking though and get more contractions going, but that was a hard walk. As soon as we entered the Maternity, a nurse met us and was asking Casey about my contractions and due date. Then they made me pee in a cup, I thought was weird. Then they put me in  a labor room and checked me. I was at a 5 and the nurse then asked me if I wanted an epidural. I had not decided beforehand, but my logic then was that it was already going a lot slower than with my other two girls so I probably would have time for a sucessful epidural (I had one with Elsa and it did not work at all until I was already done) So then they had me waddle over to the delivery room and I got my pretty gown on and hooked up to an IV, bloodpressure cuff and three heart monitor sticker things on my chest.

They told me the anethesiologist would be there in a few minutes. But he was not. Such is always the case I think. By now the contractions were really bad, but still I had time to breath in between each, something I did not have with my other girls. The midwife told Casey that he was not allowed to be in the room when I got the epidural. So he had to leave. That was awful!!! That was when I needed him most. The nurse had me sit up on the edge of the bed and put my feet up on the armrests of a chair. That was a very painful position to be in with each contraction. But I guessed that is how they wanted me for getting the epidural. But the anesthesiologist did not come for a LONG TIME it seemed. I kept trying to put my feet down because it was so painful. Finally the guy showed up and got me all preped for the epidural. That hurt a bit more than I remember it with Elsa, but I kept thinking, soon it will all be ok and I will be good. With each contraction I thought “productive pain….productive pain!!!”

And then there was peace…..the epidural WORKED!!! The anesthesiologist stayed with me until he was sure it had all worked. Thank you modern medicine! Casey came back in the room as soon as I had the epidural in. Then I had like an hour of just chilling in the bed. I was totally amazed! I am in labor and I can talk to you, I can breath!!!! Totally different experience than with my other two labors. It was wonderful! The worst part was over and now there was just the pushing.

I guess the epidural had slowed things down so I got a pitocin (sp?) drip and they came and broke my water. Then a little bit after that the midwife came in and asked me if I remembered how to push and wanted me to practice. And so I did a practice push…then the midwife said “STOP” and Casey said “the head is out!!” SERIOUSLY!!!??? Mary had the cord around her neck, it was cut and then there she was on my chest. My third baby girl! That was AWESOME!! So my labor started at 8am and Mary was here at 1:20pm. Not bad. I love epidurals.

I stayed in the delivery room for several hours after. I tore and got six stitches. They cleaned me and the baby up and we tried nursing. I had a new baby girl, a perfect and beautiful baby girl on my chest. TOTAL BLISS!!

The hospital stay

After getting a picture with my two midwives, I was put in a wheelchair with my new little one and wheeled up to my hospital room. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. The room was not nearly as nice as the picture on the Hospital’s website and it was SUPER hot. But I had my own room and bathroom so it was good. And Casey bought me some beautiful flowers that made my room much more happy.

I was told that I had to stay in the hospital for three days, but that Friday did not count for a day, so I would be there until Monday. That was my longest stay after a delivery and I thought that I would like a longer hospital stay, but it was hard. The nights are the hardest. But I did have a lot of visiters and Casey was such a sweetheart to stay with me for so long and to bring me whatever I needed.

The nurses were all very kind and took great care of me. The baby and I both got checked every day and Mary even had two real baths at the hospital in my room. The food was even great!

I had a chart to keep track of baby feedings and diaper changes and if she peed or pooped. Mary got a doctor check up and even an ultrasound to make sure she had a gall bladder! Remember me saying during my last ultrasound with her that the doctors could not find her gall bladder? So after she was born they had to check…yes she does have one!

On Saturday morning Oma and Anne brought Elsa and Leah to meet Mary. My mom drove down on Friday and went to our apartment to take over taking care of Elsa and Leah so the Salways could leave. That could not have worked out better. The Salways are so sweet in being willing to help so much. I am sure it was not easy for them to watch the girls for 5 hours while I was in the hospital. When Elsa and Leah arrived, Mary was on the boppy pillow on my hospital bed and they both ran over and tried to climb onto the bed. We washed their hands and took their shoes off and put them both on the bed. Daddy had taken pictures home the night before to show the girls and apparently Leah was so excited about seeing pictures of baby that she would not eat her dinner. Leah tried to poke each feature of Mary’s face as she pointed out eyes, ears, nose…it was adorable. They each got a turn to hold Mary and we tried to get a good family picture.

Soon cookies were more interesting to the girls so they jumped off the bed and with cookies in hand decided to run around in the room and then the hallway. So they did not stay long. Oma and Anne took the girls back to Germany for the weekend and were going to be back in Nancy on Tuesday (Leah’s birthday) on their way to Switzerland just to have Opa meet Mary.

I was thankful for the visitors who came to see me and Mary in the hospital. The Salways, Severine and her sister, Caterina and her son Hugo and her husband (the bishop of our ward) all came to see me and we had a great time. Casey took a video of them all just hanging out in my room and chatting. Caterina’s son Hugo watched the entire “Bolt” movie while everyone visited and took turns holding baby Mary. I feel so blessed and loved here in this ward. It has been a wonderful experience to have a baby here in France. I will really miss the sweet people I have met and come to love. At least we will not be too far away and several of them have said they would like to visit us when we move to Bielefeld, Germany.

Switzerland trip

After a lot of running around and getting paperwork all figured out, Casey brought Mary and I home on Monday afternoon. As soon as we got home he left again to do more official stuff and pick up all the perscriptions for me and the baby.  I called my mom to let her know we were home and she offered to invite us to come with her to Switzerland on their week trip to Lauterbrunnen. After a lot of back and forth, I decided I would go with them with Mary and that Casey would come later and join us. So on Tuesday, after only one night at home with my newborn, Oma, Opa, Anne, Elsa, Leah and the two dogs came in the packed van to pick up Mary and I to drive to Switzerland. Crazy, yes! But it was a good thing. The drive was not too bad and Mary did not even poop out of her diaper and only needed to eat once. It was a blessing to have so much help with the girls and to be in such a beautiful, peaceful place. My sister, Anne was super helpful and even helped me with the girls at night. Mom and Dad were so kind to sacrifice the peace and quiet they could have had with us not there, but I am so glad they let me come. I don’t know how to repay them or thank them enough for all they have done to support and help me with each new addition to our family. Casey was able to join us on Thursday after doing yet more paperwork and footwork for our upcoming move. I did not ever leave the house but it was a great week and now I have to get back to real life and see how my new little family works.

Home with the sisters!

We somehow fit three carseats in the back seat of our little car and made the 4 hour drive home with only one stop and little fighting. Elsa sat by Mary and every so often we would ask her: can you show me how Mary is laying?” I wanted to just make sure Mary’s head was not bobbing around and she was sleeping ok. Most of the trip the girls just sang songs and watched a movie. There was some crying and fighting involved…it is amazing what a simple wet wipe will do for toddlers. Leah was in meltdown mode and I gave her a wipe and all was fixed. She used it to clean her face, carseat, seatbelt and then used it as a hat.

Since getting home there has been a lot of “don’t touch her” and “come out of there” going on. The girls want to be with Mary all the time. I guess it is a great thing that they are not jealous and that they do like the baby. I think I need to be more careful about letting them be around her and giving the girls all equal attention. It is so wonderful to have three little girls. If I can just figure out how to be a wife and take care of myself too while also being mommy, that would be great. I am working on it. Casey is my saving grace and still helps a lot with things. I love my family and I am so thankful that we are an eternal one!!!

(hehehe….we were trying to decide which flower matched her outfit in the hospital. I made a bunch of tiny felt flowers for Mary. So fun!)

A HUGE thank you to my family for all your help. Thanks mom for watching Elsa and Leah and helping me with my new little one and for giving me encouragement for the days ahead. Thanks Anne for holding baby Mary, for helping with the girls at night, for helping with the girls during the day. Thank you dad for letting me crash your vaccation and for always asking me how I am doing. And thank you to my forever friend and eternal companion Casey for your patience, love and hard work in taking care of our growing family so well. I promise I will start doing laundry again and cooking meals and cleaning the house as soon as I can handle it all.

admin | Baby 3, Family | 08 28th, 2011 | 5 Comments »