Some cute ones

Bathtime buddies!

First time in the jump up!  She doesn't know how to jump but loves her new view!

Claire thinks it's a swing.

Daddy daughter date!

4 month stats

I took Emma in for her 4 month appointment today.  All is going well!  She's a happy and healthy little girl.  She weighed 15 lbs, 7 oz (90%) and was 25 inches long (80%).  I checked back in Claire's baby book to see how much she was at 4 months and was shocked to see that even though she started out 3 1/2 pounds less than Emma, she was already 14 lbs, 10 oz at 4 months old!  Man, that girl caught up fast!!

We have the official go ahead to start her on solids.  I'm in disbelief that she's already old enough for that!  Although we started Claire on rice cereal at 4 1/2 months, I think we'll wait awhile before we start with Emma.  It's just one more thing I have to do each day.  I'd like to keep things simple for as long as I can! :) 

Although Emma still spits up some, I have noticed she does it much less now that she did those first couple of months.  Claire spit up TONS until she was 11 or 12 months old... yucky!!  I'm glad that seems to be decreasing earlier with Emma.  Hopefully we won't be dealing with nasty green and orange spit up once we start solids like we did with Claire. 

Just a quick little update!

Christmas 2010

We had a great time celebrating Christmas... 4 times in 7 days!  We were wiped out after all of the food, family, get togethers, presents, cookies, etc..  It's so incredibly easy to lose sight of what the advent season is all about.  Since Claire is getting old enough to start understanding holidays, Justin and I really had to talk this year about what we want Christmas to be for our kids.  We made some decisions about how we want to be intentional about the way we approach the holiday season, what we want our focus and our children's focus to be on, and what traditions we want to incorporate into our celebrations.  It's hard enough as it is to get distracted from the unmatchable gift we were given in Jesus.  THAT and only that is what Christmas is about!!  Without that gift, there would be nothing to celebrate.  We want to keep Christmas as simple as possible (NOT an easy task!) by giving each of our children just three gifts each year - because Jesus was given three gifts from the wise men.  We've also decided not to 'do' the whole Santa thing.  Obviously they will know (and already do!) who Santa is but we want our kids to know their gifts are from mom and dad and that they are given these gifts because we were given the BEST gift of all - JESUS!  If you ask Claire why we celebrate Christmas, she'll tell you because it's Jesus' birthday!!  May it always be so simple and clear-cut!  I pray that my children will be grateful girls and will learn to focus on God's amazing gift to us.  

I somehow went on a small tangent there.  :)  Anyway, Christmas celebration #1 was with Justin's mom and step-dad at Andy and Lacey's house the Saturday before Christmas.       

As always, Nana and Papa were so generous!  The food was yummy and the time together was sweet!

Despite the crazy snow storm on Christmas Eve, we drove to Jorie and Mark's house for Christmas celebration #2 with their family and Grammy & Babu.  We had a delicious feast, including some of our traditional Swedish favorites. 


Christmas Eve morning

Our Family

The girls with Grammy and Babu

The cousins had fun playing together and opening their gifts.  Grammy and Babu picked out the perfect things for the girls and spoiled all of us!  One of the highlights of our time together each year is our ornament exchange.  We draw names and you get your selected person a gift and then a special ornament for that year.  I always look forward to seeing what ornament everyone gets!  This year my mom had me and she picked out a cute snowman family ornament with all four of our names on it and then one that looks like a coffee bag - to go with my addiction to coffee! :)  Mark had Justin and got him an ornament that looks like a tool box with tools in it and it says 'Do it yourself' - perfect!  The other highlight of our time together was the gift for the three Dill Boys.  Justin made them a Lego table and it turned out great!  They loved it and I hear it's already getting some good use! :) 

We came back home, full of yummy food and totally exhausted and went straight to bed.  It was wonderful to wake up in our own home on Christmas morning!  We started our celebration (#3) with some strong coffee and Justin reading the story of Jesus' birth from Luke chapter 2. 

The girls in their new matching Christmas jammies!

 Then they got to open their gifts.  Since they only got 3, it was nice to take our time and enjoy each gift before moving on to the next one.

What a beautiful Christmas morning!

Then, we headed to Eric and Jenny's house for Christmas #4.  We celebrated there with Eric and Jenny's family, Andy and Lacey's family, and Justin's dad and stepmom.  I was so wiped out that I didn't even take any pictures this time.. oops!!

Anyway, we had a nice, low-key time together, despite some crabby girls (they were worn out from so much partying)!  Grandpa and Grandma always pick out the cutest gifts and both girls love their new toys!  They, too, are so good to us and really spoil us!

Merry Christmas!!!  May your life be changed because of that tiny baby that was given to us that first Christmas. 

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders,

and he will be called

Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Matchy Matchy

I'm loving the whole two-girls-in-matching-outfits thing!  The girls were super stylin on Christmas Day with these A-DOR-ABLE outfits from Auntie Jorie!!  Check it out!



Checking out each other's rockin outfits!



Artist Claire

Claire loves her new finger paint set from Auntie Lacey and Uncle Andy!!  Let's just say this in one activity that ALWAYS ends in bathtime!

This is why I hate winter...

SO MUCH SICKNESS!!! Plus I hate the cold weather and snow... but that's another blog post for another time... Anyway, I took Claire to the doctor this morning after a weekend full of fever, little sleep, and coughing so hard it made her throw up. It turns out she has a double ear infection and the doctor finally diagnosed her with viral-induced asthma. She has suspected this in the past, but after so many episodes of simple colds turning into weeks of horrible coughing spells, she finally made the diagnosis. She said most kids outgrow the asthma by the time they are 4. If they haven't, then they'll officially diagnose asthma.

She's on an antibiotic for the ear infection and a steroid for the cough. Let's hope this clears up in time for our Christmas celebrations!

Hot chocolate, anyone?

One year ago tomorrow (December 18) we found out we were expecting another new baby! I just have to re-live the day because it was sooo funny how it all went down...

For some reason, I had wondered if I might be pregnant. I really had no basis for thinking this because my period was literally only ONE day late, which wasn't abnormal. I couldn't justify taking a test because, like I said, there really wasn't any reason to think I was pregnant yet. Anyway, it was a Thursday so that meant we had playgroup. We went, as usual, and before leaving, my friend Bridget (all of you blog readers know by now who Bridget is, right?? My best mommy friend, mama of Liam and Nora...) asked if I wanted to come over the following morning for some 'really good hot chocolate.' Right away I thought... HUH?! Bridge and I are the type of friends that do things last minute all the time... never really planning much ahead. We usually would just call in the morning and say, "Hey, wanna come over?" So right away I was suspicious. I kinda looked at her funny and said, "Sure." By the time I got home, I had convinced myself that she was definitely going to announce to me that she was pregnant, so I sent her a text and said, "Do you have a little announcement for me?" She called back right away and said, "I really wanted to tell you in person, but... I'm pregnant!!!" She said she was due on August 21st, we got really excited, I congratulated her, etc... As soon as we got off the phone, I told Justin the news. Then I said, "I think I might be pregnant too, so I'm going to HyVee to get a pregnancy test." Justin was like, "HUH?!" because he had no idea that I even suspected I could possibly be pregnant (mostly because there wasn't much of a reason to suspect), but being the supportive hubby he is, said, "Okay."

I went straight to HyVee, bought the test, came home, and took it. I waited the five minutes and then went back to the bathroom to look at it. Guess what I found?! TWO PINK LINES!!! I think Justin was down in the basement with Claire and I immediately screamed, "Oh my gosh, I'm pregnant!!!!!!" We hugged, screamed, freaked out, and then went online to figure out my due date... August 25th.... 4 days after Bridget. I called Bridget back and, through my laughter, said, "Hey, umm, so I was wondering if you wanted to come over tomorrow for some hot chocolate?" She was like, "Huh?" and then I said, "I'M PREGNANT TOO!!" She started freaking out and screaming and I remember Liam started crying because he got scared from all of her screaming. It was the most hilarious, exciting, unbelievable moment!! The best part is that, surprisingly, we hadn't really discussed much about when we wanted to start trying to have another baby so we had no idea the other was trying.

And now, here we are with sweet Nora and Emma... 4 months old and the best of baby buddies! :)

I love that story.

Working Hard

December 11

December 11 is a date that will always hold a special significance to me. This is what December 11 means to me.

Thinking about that sweet little life today and wondering what it would be like to be celebrating a 3rd birthday.

The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. Psalm 145:9

Potty Talk

Poor Claire Bear has a urinary tract infection! :( Starting this morning, every time she would go potty she would say, "Owwie, diaper rash." Being a girl with a history of UTIs myself, right away I knew what it must be. We went to urgent care and sure enough, poor little girl has one! I'm so thankful she can communicate so well and was able to tell us that she was in pain. Hopefully this isn't the start of an ongoing problem...

In other news, I'd say that she is totally potty trained! After about a week and a half of training, she completely figured it out. That was waaay easier than I had anticipated. I pictured my life being miserable for several weeks, even months, while she tried to figure it all out. Thankfully that wasn't the case! She even wears undies at naptime and wakes up dry every day. We haven't had any accidents all week... even with several outings each day. She still wears a diaper at night, but I'm totally okay with that. After all, she JUST turned two! She goes to the bathroom just fine in public restrooms too, although she is scared of the loud flush. She always says, "No flush it" before going and I always tell her I won't. The other day at the library, she made sure I wasn't going to flush and I realized, after she was already going to the bathroom, that it was one of those toilets with the automatic flush. I had to explain to her, while she was still sitting on the potty, that it was going to flush when I took her off. She did NOT like that...

Anyway, I think that's enough potty talk for now! :)

Growing Girl

Emma is getting so big so fast! She is so much fun! She's really been settling into more of a daily routine, which makes my life a lot easier and more predictable. She usually wakes up around 5 or 5:30 am and I nurse her. She goes back to sleep until about 7:30. Her first nap is around 9 and she sleeps for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Then she naps again around 12:30 for another hour or two. It's great because Claire goes down for her nap at the same time, so I actually get a couple hours to myself in the afternoon! Emma takes another short nap around 4 or 4:30, just for a half hour or 45 minutes. She's in her jammies by 6 and asleep by 6:15-6:30!

We tried out the exersaucer for the first time the other day. She liked it for about 5 minutes but then decided it was way too much work to hold her head up for very long. She let us know she had had it by some nice screaming! :)

This was during the 5 minutes of fascination!

Daddy and Emma on Daddy's 30th birthday! (Notice she's quickly growing out of her

3-6 month clothes.. poor girl is sporting some serious floods!)

Sweet, happy girl!

Daddy/Daughter

I realize we won't be able to do this pose EVERY year on Justin's birthday, but so far we have!

Justin and Claire on his 30th birthday!

Justin and Claire on his 29th birthday... the day after he got laid off last year!

Justin and Claire on his 28th birthday... the day we brought Claire home from the NICU!

Over the hill

Well, it's official... I'm married to an old man! :) Justin celebrated his 30th birthday on December 2nd. We've had lots of fun celebrating. His coworkers surprised him with a mini-celebration at work on his bday, complete with the entire department dressing in all black to mourn his youth... :)
Anyway, when he came home from work for lunch that day, Claire and I had a little celebration for him.

Claire even helped Daddy blow out the candles!!


Justin and I went out to a DELICIOUS dinner at Tuscan Moon in Kalona that night. (Thanks for watching the kiddos, Baumhovers!) It was such a perfect date night!!

Justin thought the celebration was over at that point, but I had a surprise party planned for him on Saturday night. When we first walked in and everyone yelled, 'SURPRISE!!' it took Justin a good minute to figure out that the party was for him!! We had a great time with great friends!

My friend Lindsey made these perfect signs and had cute balloon bouquets on the table. Everyone needs a friend like her... she's amazing! :) Thanks, Linds!!

Thanks for helping Justin celebrate, friends!!

Claire's a big girl now!

Well, potty training has been in full force for the past week around here! Although I was totally not prepared to start, Claire was so we went with it! She's been going every now and then for the past couple of months, but last week, she went 2 or 3 times a day on Monday and Tuesday - all initiated by her! So, I decided that if she's ready, why not go for it? We made a big deal about buying some big girl undies (we kept talking about how cousins Anni and Si Si wear them... she LOVED that!) and put her in them for the first time last Wednesday. We started by setting the timer for every 20 minutes and putting her on the potty every time it went off. She got two M&Ms each time she went. She had a few accidents but overall, did really great. The only issue was that she wouldn't poop in the potty - she kept just going in her undies. So, on Monday I decided to do the totally n*ked approach. Surely she wouldn't poop on the floor, right??

She went through the whole day Monday and almost all of Tuesday without pooping at all. I was beginning to get discouraged. How can this girl be potty trained if she won't poop on the potty?

Well, we had a major breakthrough last night. I was at my jewelry show so Justin had the girls by himself. He was busy feeding Emma a bottle and started hearing grunting and groaning coming from the playroom. (We moved her little potty seat in there since that's usually where she is when we poops!) Anyway, he asked what she was doing and finally got up to check, thinking he'd find a big turd on the floor. She was sitting on the potty and told him, "Leave Daddy!" So he did and after awhile she said, "I'm done!" He went to check and she had pooped! Yay!! All by herself!! The crazy thing is she did it two more times for him last night and she's already done it twice today. PRAISE THE LORD!!!!

I'm now just asking her about every hour if she wants to go. Sometimes she does, other times she doesn't. Sometimes she just goes and sits on the potty herself if she needs to go.

I'm finally allowing myself to get excited... could we possibly have just one in diapers?? This girl is growing up sooo fast! I'll gladly welcome this new stage though. Woohoo!!

So thankful

We had a perfect Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for. Our families, our health, our children, our home, our jobs, each other, our loving God, our salvation... the list could go on forever!!

We spent Thursday and Friday at my parents' house. Even though they live just 40 minutes away, we like to stay there every once in awhile to get as much time together as possible. I'm so thankful that we live so close to my parents and have such an awesome relationship with them! Our girls love their Grammy and Babu and I love seeing their faces light up when they get to be with their grandparents!

Justin and my mom were the biggest contributors to this year's meal. Justin was in charge of the turkey and my mom many of the sides. Jorie and I also both contributed appetizers and some sides as well.

Justin and Rho, prepping their food on Wednesday night

Claire checking out the Black Friday ads

Emma and Grammy

I love this picture of Claire and Grammy!

Justin and his beloved smoker.

Cousins! Silas, Joel, and Claire. Claire can't get enough of these boys!

The Dill Fam

Claire was so excited for the meal!

Yummy!

Justin never disappoints... his plate is always the fullest one on the table! :)


Good food, good conversation, good fellowship! Happy Thanksgiving!!

New Shoes

Doesn't every girl just LOVE a new pair of shoes?!