I'm. Tired.

"I'm tired" has been a common theme around our house lately for both Michael and I....I don't know why Caden sleeps in on the days I work but gets up early on the days I'm at home. For example, he woke up around 7:30 yesterday morning and woke up at 6:15 this morning. Ughh! So, aside from that, we're busy when we're at home with the kids and busy with things at work and to top it off Emberly hasn't been sleeping very well at night ever since Michael went on his trip to India. I'm not sure if it's because she's teething (she had 2 teeth pop in on the bottom in January and now 1 has dropped down from the top in February) or she doesn't know how to go back to sleep on her own or if she's having separation anxiety. Whatever it is, I'm really hoping and praying that she'll get it figured out soon because it's draining!! I remember when Caden was a baby and we were able to just let him "cry it out" when he woke up in the night and he would just go back to sleep on his own but that's not the case with Emberly (unfortunately!!!) We've tried and she just cries and cries and cries for hours on end. So if you know of any tricks on how to get her back to sleep w/o rocking her or letting her co-sleep in your bed, let me know!!!

Wow, that was a depressing way to start a post! Let me switch gears :) Like I mentioned before, Em has 3 teeth in now and it's really cute when she smiles because they poke up from her bottom gums. I need to try and get some pictures of them because I don't have any yet.... And now that she's 8 months old she's tried a couple other baby foods besides oatmeal and squash, she's now added sweet potatoes, green peas and carrots to her repertoire. So far she likes them all but has a hard time eating/swallowing if there are little pieces in it. Since I make her baby food at home there can be little pieces in it, so last night I put her peas through a strainer to remove all the husks and little pieces that didn't blend up in the food processor so she wouldn't gag on it (again!). In other news she's still rolling around on the floor to get places and only has the reverse gear on when she crawls :) She's getting really good at sitting up on her own though and knows how to go back and forth from being on her belly to sitting and vice versa. I wonder if she'll ever crawl or if she'll be one of those kids who goes straight to walking. We had a well-baby checkup 2 weeks ago and here are her stats: 18 lbs 13 oz and 26 inches tall. Yep, she's cute with her chubby cheeks, arms and legs! Her hair's starting to grow in more too.....and it's still auburn-colored.

Caden is still his normal, toddler self and is learning new words every day....I swear, that kid doesn't ever stop talking! And because of that he acts much older than his (almost 3-year old) age. He's definitely starting to be more rough-and-tumble with Emberly now that she's mobile, so we've really been trying to work on our patience and teach him the right way to play with her...which is NOT sitting on her, or hitting her face with his trucks....oh boy!


A couple weeks ago we made an impromptu trip to the beach and it was P-E-R-F-E-C-T! It was like 55 degrees with clear, sunny skies. It's amazing that we have days like that in the middle of "winter" amidst all the rain and clouds. It was much needed and very refreshing. Here are a few pics from that day:

Caden playing in the sand with his tractor

Yes, she's just wearing a t-shirt, it was that nice!

Look at that red hair!

Saying Goodbye to 2011 and Hello to 2012!

It's 2012. Seriously? Where has all the time gone?!?!

For Thanksgiving, we had a houseful...my Mom, Dad and brother Andrew came up and we had a nice dinner w/ them and all of Michael's family. Our theme this year was everything had to be homemade and the healthier (ie. good, whole foods and real ingredients) the better. It was a huge success and the food was wonderful! It's so easy to buy pre-made or boxed stuff from the store but it tastes sooo much better when you make it yourself, you have a wonderful feeling of accomplishment AND it's sooo much better for you!

For Christmas we headed down to good 'ole L.A. Pine or as Caden calls it, "Pine". My sister, bro-in-law and nephew, Jacob, flew up from Texas and we all headed down to my parent's house for the week. It was soooo good to have them here and they finally got to meet Emberly. Caden had a wonderful time playing w/ his cousin, Jacob, and we got to spend some time w/ other family too (Grandma Oster, Aunt Kathy, Uncle Dennis, Aunt Renee and cousins Amelia, Ashley, Dakota, and Jack). We were all hoping for a white Christmas BUT the snow didn't decide to show up UNTIL we were driving them to the airport - of course! The kids didn't get to play in it but at least they got to see some :)

Emberly is almost 7 months old and earlier today she was gnawing on my finger, which she's been doing more intensely lately and something felt different. I felt around inside her mouth (as much as she'd let me) AND I'm pretty sure she has a tooth coming in on the bottom. Goodness - teeth already! Now the extra fussiness and not sleeping well the last couple days makes sense. I'm thankful it's taken this long though because Caden had teeth as early as 4 months. Crazy! She has another doctor's appt at the end of this month...so we'll get to see how big she is now. She's not crawling yet but is getting really close, she's starting to lift her belly all the way off the floor and has even crawled backwards a few times. I'm thinking it won't be long before she figures out how to go forward :) She likes to roll around all over the room and is getting good at turning to get where she wants to go. She's also getting really good at sitting up on her own. She's also started eating baby oatmeal....w/ squash next, yummm!

Caden's latest fascination is super heroes. He loves anything with Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Spiderman, Transformers, etc. and is all about the good guys getting the bad guys. It's funny because when he plays with his regular toys, like his cars or trucks, he asks me where the guns are and which bad guys they're getting. It's cute! :) He's still as curious as ever and wants to know what everything does, where it comes from, what it's name is, etc. etc. Also, a HUGE thing that happened recently is that he's potty-trained...at least mostly....he's wearing big kid underwear all day long and only wearing diapers for nap and bedtime. Yes, I'm so excited! I never thought this day would come!!!

As I'm typing, Michael is in India (hopefully napping after his long trip), on the other side of the world!!! He left yesterday afternoon and made it there a few hours ago. He was traveling for almost 24 hours straight. He's there for work and will be gone for just under 2 weeks. It's been awhile since I've posted so I don't think I've mentioned that Michael was promoted at work. His boss moved to a different department and Michael took their position, so he is now the Manager of the AP Department. It's such a huge blessing for him and our family but has meant extra stress on him the last few weeks because he has an open position that needs to be filled to help lighten his workload. I'm still working part-time, 3 days a week, but it's probably going to be for just a little while longer since they really want me to come back full-time but that's just not what's best for our family. Please keep us all in your prayers....pray for Michael to have safe travels, a really good trip and for him to find the right person to fill the void in his department and for me and my job, especially at home as I take care of the kids by myself while he's gone. I seriously don't know how single parents do it, it's a lot of work!

With it being 2012 and the New Year and all, here are a few resolutions for the upcoming year. I normally don't do New Years' resolutions but think these are good things to start doing for both myself and my family, New Years or not:

• Make more food from scratch and use better ingredients (ie. whole foods, organic, local)
• Be more intentional (I totally stole this from my sis-in-law Erin (check our her blog at http://www.christianmamasguide.com/) but it's so good and really hit a place in my heart. I want to be more intentional in my relationships with my husband and my kids and not just let life pass me by. I want to spend more times w/ my kids while they're little and I have the chance to be at home w/ them. I've talked w/ a couple people lately who have been telling me that time goes by sooo fast and I can already attest to that...I mean, really.....where did my almost 3-year old and 7-month old come from?!?!?!
  
• Stop putting things off. (Do the dishes now, not tomorrow. Pick up the living room now, not later.)
  

So far, so good...but it is only the 7th....of January :)

And now for the toast to 2012 - There are a lot of things to look forward to in the coming year: babies to be born (a new nephew!), trips to be made, birthdays to be had and milestones to take place. Now here's to taking advantage of the time God has given me and making the best out of it! ....which at this very moment is going to lay down to try and get a quick nap in before the kids wake up! :) Cheers!

Pumpkins, Trips, Costumes ...

We've been busy since our last post and this is what we've been up to....

After Labor Day I went back to work part-time, 3 days a week. Grandma (Michael's Mom) is watching the kids on the days I'm at work. She watches them at our house, which is such a huge help! Work has been up and down, which is pretty typical for this time of year. We're in the midst of Open Enrollment and are down 2 staff members so I've been stretched pretty thin BUT thankfully I'm able to keep on everything so I can still be part-time.

Our friend Carolyn visited from Texas for a few days, while she was here we went to the Pumpkin Patch and it was such a perfect day!

My Mom watched the kids for a night when Carolyn was here so we could go out. It was a nice evening sans kids, we went to the mall and then the Cheesecake Factory and caught up on things.

I made a trip down to Central Oregon a couple weeks ago with both kids. Michael couldn't take any time off so I braved the trip by myself! And I have to say I'm very proud of myself and my kids, they both did awesome!!! 4.5 hours one way is a lot of time in the car and we only stopped 2 times each way to take a little break and feed Em. Caden talked almost the whole time we were in the car (surprise, surprise!) and Em cried just a few times. :) We got to stay with Nana, Papa and Uncle Andrew in LaPine...and we made a trip out to Christmas Valley and stayed with Great-Grandma and got to see Uncle Linn, Aunt Denise and meet new cousins! Caden loved seeing all the mighty machines on the farm.

Great Grandma with Emberly

4 Generations

Caden and Em with Uncle Linn

Caden hugging on Em in Great Grandma's yard

Caden being cute!

Emberly chilling in the tree

Caden being silly with Great Grandma

Cousin Savannah, Caden, and Emberly with Great Grandma in Christmas ValleyI don't have any "size" updates on Emberly yet because she doesn't have her next Dr. appt until the end of the month. Since I went part-time my insurance changed and we had to find a new Dr. for her so it took awhile :) Lately she's been rolling over and figuring out how her hands work. Before she would reach for things but it was only on accident when she grabbed something, now it's intentional and she knows how to do it. She's growing like crazy! And more recently she started sleeping through the night again....for about a month she was waking up around 3:00/4:00 every morning and wasn't able to go back to sleep on her own but now she might wake up, cry a few times and then go back to sleep on her own. Yay, I see more sleep in my future!!! :) She also must be getting teeth in because she's really slobbery and constantly putting something in her mouth to chew on, and she has the occasional red cheeks too. So far no teeth have broken through so we're just waiting....

Em at 4 months, sleeping with her thumb in her mouth

For Halloween, Caden dressed up as Super Man and Emberly was a lady bug. We went to the Harvest Jam at church for a little while and Caden played some carnival-type games...he got candy for playing each one but he really didn't care about that part, he just liked the games! :) After the Harvest Jam we went over to Andrew and Wren's to hangout for a little bit until it was bedtime for all the kids. Caden can't get enough of his friends!!!

Caden hugging on Emberly :) Sooo cute!!

"Superrrr Man!" So serious too, haha!

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is 3 weeks away!!! I'm still so amazed how fast time flies when you have kids. Busy, busy, busy! We're going to have Thanksgiving at our house this year and will be in LaPine for Christmas. Annie, AJ and Jacob are flying up for Christmas so that is going to be wonderful!! I'm really looking forward to both, I love Holidays! And I don't get to see my sister enough so I am very excited!!!

Emberly - 2 month checkup

Wow, time is flying by. It's hard to believe Em is already 2 months old and Caden is 28 months old. We took Emberly to her 2-month checkup today and here are her stats:

Height = 23" (74.73%)
Weight = 12 lb (80.05%)
Head = 15" (32.68%)

It's crazy to see her stats because she's so much smaller than Caden was because he topped the charts in all areas.

Miscellaneous Pics

And here are some pictures from the last few weeks...most of them have been altered using Instagram.

I love that app on my iPhone!!!

Our 2 little monkeys!Posing? :)

Sleeping beauty

Playing outsideCutie pie!
All smiles!
Playing at the park for Uncle Eli's birthday

Pictures from Michael's Bday

Here are some pictures from our adventures on Michael's birthday -

Walking to the streetcar from work
Riding on the streetcarYes, this is mostly what Emberly did the whole day :)Riding on the Max trainDinner with the family at Claim Jumper

Happy Birthday Michael!

Michael had his golden birthday this year - 30 years old on July 30th. We went on an adventure to try and do 30 things...this was our day:

First we made breakfast at home, went to Dutch Bros for his free bday drink, drove to Con-way, walked to the streetcar, walked around Pioneer Square, rode the Max to the zoo, went to see the Elephants, rode the Max back downtown, walked along the streetcar line, stopped at Cupcake Jones for a cupcake, ate lunch at Hungry Planet and Hot Lips pizza, drove home, took naps, went to dinner at Claim Jumper with his parents, Heather and Eric, and then Michael had a free bday cupcake from the restaurant. Phew!!! Such a long but FUN day! Since that wasn't 30 things his bday celebration spilled over into Sunday. After church we made an impromptu, adventurous trip to the beach...where we: drove to Seaside, walked the pier, got taffy and jelly beans, went to Costco in Warrenton (random, I know) and ate hot dogs, drove to Battery Russell, went to the beach and took some BEAUTIFUL pictures, went to Dairy Queen, and then drove home on Hwy 30. Another long but FUN day!!! I'm not sure we made it to our goal of 30 things BUT we got pretty close.

Happy Birthday Michael!!! You are a wonderful Daddy and Husband. We love you and are excited for the many years to come!!!!! Thank you for being you and loving us!