What's the Difference?

Friends or family?  What's the difference?  We are so fortunate to have such close friends who we claim as family and to have great relationships with our actual families!

I thought I'd do a picture overhaul from the last month or so...most recent first.  Enjoy!  :)

Onkel Alex, Claire, and Omi at Onkel Willi's - Claire even got to

feed the fish oatmeal!

Family Time with Mandi and Traudi at Onkel Willi's - Claire is learning

about schnapps like a true German.  Here she is having "Kinderschnapps," which in

this case is cranberry juice.  Mom and I are enjoying the real thing...Raspberry

Schnapps with raspberries from Onkel Willi's garden.

Dessert in a glass!  :)

As promised...a picture of Henry's stunt move!  (Usually both feet are up on

his heels like his left heel in this picture.)  You try it!  It's harder than it looks! ;)

And Onkel Alex doesn't think he could babysit?

Henry loved the quality time he got with Alex and Jaclyn after Claire

went to bed.  Alex even sang a little Elvis for him and

tailored the words - what a composer!

I promise we were happier than this WHILE picking the strawberries.  Notice
Claire's mouth - she didn't do a whole lot of picking!  Grandpa D. loves spending time with Henry as he's so content just to be held.

I love the way these lovely kiddos are starting to interact more and more!

Claire really likes helping - I am seeing less jealousy and more big sister

'taking care of my brother' times.  Henry has tried oatmeal cereal, whole wheat

cereal, avocado, banana, sweet potatoes, and blueberries.  When I look at the

list, it looks a little fruit-heavy!  Let's get some vegetables into this boy's diet!

Claire being the big sister!  (Henry hoping she doesn't hold him much tighter!)

I pray that Claire and Henry grow up with a close relationship and actually

want to be friends when they're older!  I love that Alex and I are close in age,

support each other, and can talk a bout lots of important topics when we want to!

Our little men - Henry and Drew!  Eight days apart...are they

friends or cousins?  They will never know because we are not

giving them the choice of hanging out!  ;)

Stud muffin - Henry's driving the boat!

Twins?  I don't know, but they sure are Zooper Cute!

(I'm a dork!)  Luckily these two love each other so much!

Grandma, Claire, and Aunt Lori enjoying the Band Fest Parade...

Katie and Gabi were there too!

Napping in our room because Sage was in Claire's bed.  Aren't they perfect when

they're asleep?  :)  Make sure you find Henry in this picture.

Aunt Rita always has some sort of children's rhyme that I've never

heard before.  :)  Claire also had fun playing "Catch Johnny!" 

We love being able to host now that we're in town!  And there's my

handsome husband.  :)

I promise, Claire does smile when she's with Grandma and Grandpa D.

Here, we took them out for a picnic lunch for Grandma's birthday!  It's such

a blessing having four healthy generations to spend time as a family!

Happy Father's Day!

Three of the best dads around are pretty special to Claire, Henry, Matt and me.  Here are a few pictures of Matt, Dad/Opa, and Mark/Grandpa...

Claire and Henry really enjoy Grandpa's visits since moving to the farm.  Most days he's here working on something - even when there is nothing to do, he finds something!  That's why all his equipment is in such good shape.  He never stops and we admire his work ethic and appreciate his goofiness.  We are always up for a quick visit from Grandpa - 5 minutes and then it's "well, I'd better get back to work!"

We all love Daddy so much!  We are so fortunate and blessed to have such an involved father and husband.  Henry likes it when Daddy lays on the floor with him and plays.  Claire likes working on things with Daddy.  The other weekend she spent hours outside in the shed with him putting together the swing set!  When he was installing new parts on the shower at the old house, she went and got her little tool box and went to work with him!  :)

This picture makes me smile!  Opa has lots of talents and a wealth of knowledge.  Whenever we have a question about nature and the outdoors, animals, plants, or anything to do with building, we always know Opa will know the answer!  Now that Opa is retired, we like to visit him during the day.  He will always take a break from what he's doing to spend time with us.  Little did he know that he's good at holding sleeping babies, too.  Henry likes to cuddle with him and recently, Claire has enjoyed fishing with him on the pond.  Dad is always there to help when we need him, even if that means putting our projects before his at home!

The Little Man in My Life

Hello blogging world!  It's been a while.

Henry Matthew is an amazing little boy.  Our family is incomplete without him.  We loved him of course at first, but we are now naturally a family of four, leaving three in the dust!  We are past the major transition time and just enjoying being his parents everyday.  

Henry is so content and happy.  After Matt and I had been a little moody a few weeks ago, he jokingly said that God knew that we needed someone in our family who was always happy and that's why he blessed us with Henry.  Well I've often thought since then that it's probably the truth!

Six Month Highlights:

• About a month ago, Henry was chatting away in the living room and I was in the kitchen working at the sink.  After a quietness, he began talking again and sounded really close to me.  I walked over and there he was, at the tile.  He'd rolled himself around the table and couch, half way across the room.  He has continued to do this frequently since...so at about 5 1/2 months, he started rolling so much that he got himself across rooms!
• Henry loves to walk around with Daddy.  Daddy offers his two pointer fingers, Henry takes them, pulls himself up to standing (for lack of a better way to describe it), and puts one cute little chubby foot in front of the other.  They have fun doing this!
• Tooth times two - Last weekend (May 19th) Tante Christine and her friend Nancy were visiting.  Nancy let Henry chew on her finger as he's been loving to chew for quite some time now, but this time noticed two chompers!  What a big boy!
• Within the next week or so, we're starting Henry on food!  Not sure if we're starting him on cereal or on veggie mush, but the doctor wants to be sure that if we start him on veggies, we give him iron drops.  Apparently iron is very important to a babe's diet.  Hmmm....wish he could just get all he needs from natural sources like leafy greens, but alas, it's probably not possible.
• Pediatrician Visit - We had Henry's six month appointment and found a new pediatrician in the area that we really like.  It was an hour and a half appointment, if that gives you an idea of how many questions I asked and how much I picked her brain on her philosophy on medicine and raising my babies.  If you didn't already know me that well, you may be surprised at this.  I know some of you would not bat an eyelid though.
• The death defying stunt move = the backwards bridge!  He does this ALL.THE.TIME.  Visitors have suggested that we should be worried that it's bad for his neck, but we can't stop him and it doesn't seem to be uncomfortable to him.  Babies are sooooo flexible and clearly he's my little yogi with this strong move!  On his back, he arches himself up so that the only body parts touching the floor are his heels and the tip of his head.  I have yet to get a picture.
• Army crawl beginnings...Amber, Sage, and Drew took a day trip to visit today (THANK YOU!!!  We love you guys!) and Amber noticed that Henry's sort of doing a little army crawling.  I know he can scoot himself around and pivot like a champ to get whatever he's got his eye on, but I hadn't defined it as this until she pointed it out.  Go Henry!  (Note to self: You have very little time before you will have to supervise Henry's every move if you don't want him to get into everything!  I forget how this stage went with Claire, but I guess I'll get used to it again pretty quickly.)
• Curiosity!  Everything is something to be explored and the best way to explore is...you guessed it...the mouth.  :)
• More updates later...

Language Development = L.O.V.E.

I L.O.V.E. language development. I find it incredibly interesting and now that my own child is giving me such good material and becoming bilingual, I love it even more!

Today we pretended that I was a mama lion, Henry was a baby lion, and Claire was the "Tierpflegerin" (zookeeper). She decided that she needed to feed me, so she took "fuettern," (to feed) a verb she knows, and called herself a "Futterin." Technically it's not a word, but she was calling herself a "feeder" and she even added the -in because she's a girl! This was the first time she's done this and she also did it with a couple other words later in the day...she knows "bestellen" (to order) and changed it to Bestellerin (orderer) which IS actually a word. Changing verbs into nouns - exciting!! :)

Henrah

Henry, or Henrah as Claire affectionately calls him sometimes, is up to no good these days! Just kidding. He is showing us all his new tricks lately...

• The past couple of weeks, he's REALLY started talking and smiling and interacting. He did this before, but now he's doing it anytime someone will give him the time of day!
• He's trying to roll over. He can get himself from his back to his side, but then that darn arm gets in the way. Usually he's not exactly how we put him down though, he wiggles himself around a bit now. EDIT: Wouldn't you know it happens the day after I post?!? Henry was on his stomach while Claire and I were 'taking care' of the bathroom, he rolled! Unfortunately I missed it, but there he was laying on his back off of his play mat. Now, we'll see if it was a fluke or if he can do it again soon. :)
• He holds his head up at a 90 degree angle when he wants to. He also like to 'stand' now with his legs stretched out while I'm holding his hands.
• Toys now interest him more and he likes to look at them or hold them and put them in his mouth - the best place and way to discover them! He also likes to just reach for them and make them swing.
• He's still getting his "last" nursing at night (11ish), but now he's usually just asleep or almost asleep during it and doesn't have the last awake time anymore. That means his bedtime is usually around nine. It does not mean that I don't hold him for at least an hour or that he doesn't still wake up and nurse throughout the night, however I call it his "last" one because it's the last one before I go to bed. :)

Little Blue Truck

Claire has a set of books called Little Blue Truck and Little Blue Truck Leads the Way. They were gifts from Grandma and Grandpa and are really fun books. Yesterday she, Henry, and I read them while Daddy was at work. We read them in English and discussed them in German (FYI). Some books I translate on the go, but others I like to read in whatever is written. I don't want the author's style, rhyme, rhythm, etc. to be lost in translation. After we read them, Claire read the latter again to herself. I was impressed! Then I encouraged her to read it to Daddy when he got home. (This time I was ready to transcribe from the kitchen!) Here's Claire's telling of Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (which we've read several times, but really not that many in comparison to some others).

Claire:

Little Blue Truck (LBT) rolls into the city. (New line = new page)

The city is high, said the LBT rolls away.

The city is high said the LBT rolls away. Next Paaaage.

Faster, faster! The city is fast. Next Paaaage.

LBT rolls into the city.

LBT is faster, faster!

Beep!

LBT rolls away. LBT rolls into the city.

Oh a big...

Daddy:

What is that?

Claire:

ein Strassenkehrmaschine

Daddy:

Oh, a street sweeper?! (I had to mouth this one to him, folks. He's good, but he didn't happen to know this translation!)

Claire:

...street sweeper rolls into the city. Next Paaaage.

Daddy:

What is this? (Wait time) A limousine.

And so it went! Good thing I have that semester of Remedial Reading under my belt and all those years of running records. In my mama-opinion, this was an excellent retelling from a 2 1/2 year old. Either way, it was pretty cute! :)

Happy 3 Months Henry! Happy 2 1/2 Years Claire!

Henry and Claire have just hit some milestones that I want to be sure to record! It's late and I'm tired, so I'll start here and add some more things as I think of them. ;) There are no pictures, sorry. We did just get professional family pictures taken this morning though, so you'll see those within the week! :)

HENRY MATTHEW - 3 months on 2.11.12

• At 3 months, Henry is starting to show his personality more!
• He's smiling when Mami or Daddy talk to him and just him, making good eye contact. We have yet to capture this on film.
• Mami was doing squats with Henry last week and discovered that this makes him giggle! This was a good workout motivator for her - she did at least double the squats she was planning on doing and her legs felt it the next day. Thank you Henry! :)
• Henry is a laid back baby boy! He's happy doing pretty much whatever.
• Sometimes he gets this look of contemplation on his face...I think he's going to be a little more serious than his goofy sister.
• Usually Henry takes a shorter morning nap or two, and longer afternoon nap, and then an hour or so catnap in the evening and another catnap in the 'early night' as we'll call it, between nursing. He falls asleep for good between 11:30 and midnight. Luckily, Mami is a night owl and as long as she gets her afternoon nap in with the kiddos, she's fine with this routine he's set!
• We love Henry so much and I know I'm trying to enjoy 3 months as much as possible because he's already getting big so fast! At the same time, I can't wait to see what personality he'll have as a little person. :)

CLAIRE ELIZABETH - 2 1/2 on 2.1.12

• Claire pretty much rules this household. I think that's pretty typical of a two and a half year old. It's amazing how cooperative and easygoing she can be at times, and then how sassy and non-compliant she can be at other times. There are definitely things that make this more predictable, like Claire being well-rested or tired or satisfied or hungry, but sometimes it's anyone's guess. I do think that for a two year old though, she does a really great job of listening...usually!
• She's got spunk! She's goofy and energetic, but will usually sit down with you to play or read a book and pay close attention.
• She likes to act like she knows what's going on. Sometimes, when asked, she'll say "ich verstehe, Mama" (I understand, Mama.) even though it's clear that she couldn't possibly know.
• Claire is so stinkin' smart! Seriously. She talks like a four year old. She remembers everything. Yesterday she was talking about 'her' party. She was able to tell me that Henry, Mami, Daddy, and Claire were there, there were fish there, but they weren't real and we didn't eat them, there was a Christmas tree there, there were other people there too but she didn't know them, she had a snack there. Finalllllly, after racking my brain as to what she could be talking about, I remembered. We went to a Christmas party for my German Stammtisch Club. Everything she said was exactly right. The fish, if you're wondering, were decorative pillows...wierd I know. So. stinkin'. smart.

MAMI ELIZABETH & DADDY MATTHEW (as we affectionately joke with Claire sometimes...)

• Mami and Daddy TRY to keep the house picked up. HA!
• Mami has started to go to the YMCA 3-4 times a week. Sometimes the kids go with and go to ChildWatch for an hour, sometimes they stay home with Daddy. She's really enjoyed taking this time to do something beneficial for herself. Swimming laps and yoga are her favorites!
• Daddy enjoys taking 10 minutes here and there (or more time if he can get away) to work on his hobbies. We often have them strewn out on the kitchen counter or table so that he can work on them and still be upstairs to help out a bit!
• Matt and Lauren try to take time with each other, but often times we're just in the 'don't want to think or put forth effort on anything' mode when we finally get a break. I do have something up my sleeve for us though...can't say anything else, it's a surprise! :)