2 weeks!

It is hard to believe that Harper is now 2 weeks old! I am always amazed how fast time flies once a baby arrives! Harper continues to be a true blessing to our family - she is a really calm baby who hardly ever cries (much to the disappointment of her big sisters who are on active stand-by all the time ready to pick her up and cuddle her). She weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces at her 2 week checkup this week, so she is apparently very good at eating! She is sleeping between 3-4 hours at a time at night so I am feeling very rested and good! I am planning to go back to work next week. Since I am blessed enough to have a job where my kids can come with me, I don't have to worry about leaving the baby behind, and so I am not worried about the transition! I have been enjoying the time home with the kids, but with the weather being as crummy and cold as it has been, the kids are starting to get a little house bound, and are probably ready to go back to school - though they would never admit this! Jim returned to work this week, and we have missed having him around, and I was getting a little spoiled by his waiting on us....freely admitting that I hate to go shopping, and having the excuse to make Jim go was a really big happy place for me!

We are looking forward to the new year, although we have no plans to go anywhere, the kids think we are going to make nachos and watch movies, so they are excited. It doesn't take much to entertain this tribe!

The Day After

My niece really enjoyed her new cousin!

Is there anything sadder than the day after Christmas? All the shopping, rushing around, food preparation is done, all the secrets revealed, and all the trash left in its wake. It is easy to say that we will keep that Christmas spirit all year long, but do we carry through? I know that I don't. We try to do good works, help our neighbors, lend a hand to those in need, visit the sick and the elderly, and pray for those who need it, but sometimes we slip into a routine that does not include this stuff. It would seem that outside of December, the rest of the world doesn't really include these things either, so it is easy to let them slip by the wayside. Maybe this can be the year that we do better. I am dedicated to trying a little harder.

Colin wrestled in his first tournament of the season today. I didn't get to go, but Jim reported that he worked very hard. He got 3rd place. He wasn't very happy with this, but he says he will just have to practice harder. The tournament was in Rossville, and the roads were questionable, Jim said that they got almost there and he was saying 'whew we made it' - when they had a little trouble and slid into a ditch. Luckily, they got a ride into town and Colin made the weigh-in in time...I managed to get the number of a tow truck guy from Rossville, and he was able to get Jim pulled back onto the road. Nobody was hurt, and the van is fine too. After that adventure, I was sort of glad that we decided that I should stay home with the little ones! I do hate to miss his matches though! He has a couple of weeks before his next tournament.

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas!

It has been quite an adventure here! Yesterday we took off for my brother's house in the afternoon. I have to admit that although it was sleeting a little bit, I had not paid any attention to the forecast at all, until we were on the way and they came on the radio and said that we were under a blizzard warning. Even after hearing this, I didn't pay much attention, after all we get told all sorts of stuff in forecasts all the time and they don't necessarily happen. So we managed to make it to my brother's house, had a great time visiting, eating ourselves silly, opening gifts and watching our children play with our niece and nephews. My mom, who had surgery last week even felt like coming over for a bit, so it was nice to have the family together. After a couple of hours, I realized that it was snowing and blowing really hard...the kind of snow I hadn't seen since I was a kid. So Jim and I decided to gather our tribe and head for home. My sister had taken a few of our kids for us, and she decided to go then too. Luckily, she has 4 wheel drive and was going to go ahead of us so that we could follow in her tracks after she blasted through the drifts. My brother lives about 15 miles from our house, and it took us an hour to get home! It was pretty bad out....visibility at times was about zero. Having made it home, Jim and I had already decided that midnight mass was out of the question, (even though I was a little disappointed because it is my favorite mass of the year). However, once home we realized that they had cancelled the services for both last night and today.

With my grandma going through chemo, she isn't up to having her annual Christmas dinner, so we had planned to stay home today, which is good because we aren't really able to get out anyhow! The girls helped me prepare a turkey dinner here and we have been enjoying the day with no place to go, playing with our new toys and watching Christmas movies on tv. Preston proclaimed that this is "the best Christmas ever" so I guess we did something right! Jim did a great job shopping, and the kids were very happy with their gifts. All in all, I would have to agree with Preston!

I hope that you have all had a wonderful Christmas too, filled with blessings and love!

Home, happy, healthy and thankful

Just wanted to take a quick minute to update on things here. We are all home, enjoying some time off work, and school. I have had a pretty easy recovery from the c-section, and am feeling really good! I am so thankful for the outpouring from our neighbors in the food department, as we have been treated to quite a feast of different foods, none of which I had to cook in the past few days. Harper is a really good baby, who is sleeping about 3 hours at a time, with the exception of last night when she seems to have come down with a bit of a stuffy nose. Madison did a great job of updating the blog for me while I was in the hospital, and first home and unable to treck up and down the stairs to the computer.
I have to admit that when I found out that I was due to have a baby on Christmas day last spring, I was thrilled about the new addition to our family, and less than thrilled about the due date. I just couldn't get over the idea that Christmas is not a good time of the year to be laid up, or to try to add more stuff to my 'to do' list. I was so wrong. It has been great - the kids are home, they have been a great help to me. Jim had accumulated some vacation time, so he has been home as well, and tackling our Christmas shopping for us... I hope he knows how much I appreciate his running around, and all his help! I am so lucky to have such a great family. What a nice time of the year to be home with out having to go in to work, or having to go anywhere at all, to share time with my kids and husband! God truly works out the details for us is we let Him.

Harper and More Harper!

As you can probably tell, Harper is the center of attention. She hasn't been put down all day!

Quite the Week!

Hope and Harper have returned home safe and sound, but not without missing two Christmas programs. We are happy to say though that Harper is a wonderful addition to the family, and we will enjoy spending the coming years with her!

Harper is born!!!!!!

Everybody is fine. Hope and Harper may be home on Friday.