Northpointe Kids Singing "Come On Ring Those Bells"

I'm new to the YouTube thing, so that's why I have these 2 videos in separate posts. Our church had the kids sing for Christmas during the service yesterday. We had practiced the songs with Jeremiah, coached him on standing still, and even had a discussion about that he would NOT be holding a microphone.

But evidently the speakers and poinsettias on the stage were just interesting enough that he needed to check them out. As one of his teachers told us, "He was just curious." Oh, if she only knew!

Anyway, the congregation was entertained! After a while, Jeremiah had enough, so he decided to make his exit.

Northpointe Kids Singing "Go, Tell It on the Mountain"

A lot happens when you don't blog for 4 months . . .

First Bites

Sarah had her first bites of cereal today. Overall, I'd say it wasn't a really big hit.

Resemblance?

What do you think? Is there a resemblance? (You can also weigh in on whether Sarah looks like her Grandma Kroesche.)

Adjustments

Ever since Sarah was born, Jeremiah has been a little more clingy to Mom. Always before this Daddy's boy only wanted Daddy to read the story, Daddy to do the bath, Daddy to put him to bed. Now, he wants me.

And when someone else has had to watch him while I've been gone for a while, it's even worse. Several weeks ago, Aunt Amy watched him while Sarah and I went to a MOPs meeting. As I drove out of the garage, I could see his lower lip slowly getting farther and farther out. Amy reported that when I was gone, he cried, then proceeded to hide behind our living room chair sobbing, "Why does everybody leave me?"

Then this morning, I had another MOPs meeting, one which provided childcare. He happily went into the room, but was pretty sad when I picked him up. As I buckled him into his car seat, I asked him why he was crying. "I don't know," he sobbed. I said, "You know that Mommy always comes to get you." "Yes," sob, "I know" sob "that you always" sob "come to get me."

"Mommy won't leave you, Jeremiah. I love you very much." "Yes" sob "I know" sob "you love me very much." Sob, sob.

Poor little boy. But I love his tender heart.

Super Why at the Zoo

This morning we headed out to the Lincoln Children's Zoo. Characters from the PBS show, Super Why, were going to be there, and I thought it would be a fun family outing. So did everyone else in town. We got there about 40 minutes after the zoo opened, and there were no spaces left in the parking lot. So Jon dropped me and the kids off while he searched out street parking. Thankfully, it didn't take him too long to find, since Jeremiah was more than ready to see Super Why, Alpha Pig, Princess Presto, and Wonder Red.

The line to see the characters and get your picture taken with them was huge--much longer than either Jon or I wanted to wait in on a hot day with two kids. But Jeremiah had already lost interest in them and moved on to other things, like playing on the playground and trying to crash a birthday party in the Crooked House. We saw three neighbors, ate lunch with another pilot family from Duncan who we ran into, saw animals, and found a much shorter line to see one of the Super Why characters at the other end of the zoo. And Jeremiah got to do his absolutely most favorite thing at the zoo--ride the train.

Despite the crowd, it was a really fun day. And even though Sarah didn't really see any animals, she enjoyed it as well.

Important vs. Unimportant

As I'm still in that adjustment period after Sarah was born, I find myself putting activities and tasks into the above two categories. What's really important for me to do today? And what doesn't really matter? And guess what? The things that fit into the second category far outweigh the first.

Oh, I still somehow find time to do some unimportant, trivial things. Facebook manages to make it into almost every day. And there are some very important things like reading my Bible or doing my freelance work that I just don't dedicate enough time to.

But I'm realizing that it's OK right now that there's dust on top of my piano. It's fine that I'm two years behind on Jeremiah's scrapbook and have yet to start on Sarah's (or even get photos of her printed). We have clean laundry, we have meals to eat, and I'm spending time on three of the most important things in my life.

I don't know why I have to justify that to myself, but I do. And I know someday Sarah will sleep better, Jeremiah will play more independently, and I can do those other things. But right now this is where we're at. Maybe I should write that in the dust as a reminder!

Family Photos

Six Weeks

Six weeks--that's how old Sarah is today. And that explains why we haven't blogged in a while, or done much of anything else for that matter. All of those people who said the adjustment from one child to two was difficult were absolutely right!

It's hard to believe that much time has passed already, but even though we're still making adjustments, it's harder still to believe there was a time when Sarah wasn't here and a part of our family. Jeremiah absolutely loves his baby sister; sometimes a little too much and sometimes he expresses it in inappropriate ways. Today, for instance, he announced loudly, "I like Sarah!" followed by a "whack" on her nose. Sigh. That's normal, right?

Jon and I realized how quickly we forgot what the first three months were like the first time around. We remember being tired, but remembering isn't the same as experiencing it again. And Sarah has some sleep issues that Jeremiah didn't, which makes it a little more challenging. Right now I'm thinking that the money I spent on a swing at a garage sale was well worthy every penny. For the first time in possibly a few weeks (other than a few exceptions), Sarah was asleep before 11 p.m. or later and without someone holding her. Now at some point I'm going to have to take her out of the swing into her crib, but I'm praying this lasts.

But it's not all hard. Sarah is giving us beautiful baby grins more and more. She especially likes her big brother, who always seems to be right there in her face. I guess she's OK with him invading her personal space. And she's cooing and "talking" to us more too. As much as I want some of the aspects of these first three months to be over, I'm going to miss other parts of this little baby stage.

Here's just a few pictures from the last several weeks. Sorry, no shots of the smile. As soon as she sees the paparazzi show up, Sarah puts on her serious face.

What a Mess!

We have a cupboard downstairs where we keep all of our board games. Jeremiah knows where this is and loves to get a game out on occassion, mostly just to take everything out of the box. This is OK when we are there to monitor. Today however, he was downstairs playing while Mindy was upstairs working on lunch. Jeremiah decided it would be fun to take ALL the games out of the cupboard. Not only did he take them all out but opened most of the boxes and emptied their contents on the floor. When his "fun" was discovered it was lunch time. After nap time we spent 45 minutes working on sorting out which parts go with what box and putting everything back in the cupboard. Phew! Hopefully Monopoly didn't get mixed up with Scattergories!

Welcome to Sarah Elisabeth Kroesche

Well, she's finally here. Our long wait, which really wasn't so long, is finally over. Sarah Elisabeth arrived on April 9th at 6:44 am. She weighed 9 lbs. 13 oz. and was 20 3/4 inches long. We are so happy and excited to finally meet her. Jeremiah is beginning to make the adjustment to being a big brother quite well, so far.

Let's Go Fly A Kite

So Jeremiah and I have gotten to go fly our kite a couple of times now. I must say he really enjoys it and so do I. We're going to have to get a bit simpler kite for him to make it easier for him to keep it in the air though. I'm looking forward to more days when we can go fly a kite.

Jeremiah took this shot.

Little Mimic

The other day Jeremiah was playing with his toy phone. This was the end of the conversation that we heard him have. "Let me call you back, I need to check the weather." At this conversation we both smiled, of course. The day before I had just had a conversation with our dispatcher on the phone where she had asked me to check the weather for an upcoming trip. I told her I would check and call her right back. He's definitely a little mimic.

Packing the Bags

So it's usual that when a bag or suitcase comes out of the closet that means that I'm off on another trip. Usually one night trips only require a duffel bag and the longer ones means I'll need a larger suitcase. Fortunately I don't have many trips that require the large suitcase. However in this case I'm not the one packing the bags. There are two duffel bags out and they're not even for me. No, Mindy and Jeremiah aren't off on a trip. The day for the baby to be born is drawing much closer, so Mindy will be packing a bag for the hospital for her and one for Jeremiah for his short stay with friends. This week is the 36th week and 37 to 42 weeks is considered full term. Soon....

Changes, Changes, Changes

So some of you have been asking for pictures of all the changes going on around here, in preparation for the baby girl on the way.

Here is a small preview of the baby's room.

Some of the changes in Jeremiah's room.

One of the "New" guests rooms downstairs.

The other guest room downstairs. As you can see Jeremiah enjoys being in the new rooms!

Finally, the office/library shares a space with the "game room."

Two Big Words From a Two Year Old

Yesterday Jeremiah decided to try out a couple of new words on us. He just got a water paint set from his Aunt Amy. He had been playing with it and decided he didn't like the water that he was using. I informed him that this was the water he could use or nothing at all. He decided he wanted nothing. So as I took the water away he sat on the floor and told us, "I'm disappointed." I asked, "What are disappointed with?" He responded he was just disappointed about the water.
Later at supper he was not behaving and we told him he needed to stay seated in his chair. He informed us, "I'm frustrated." To which I just broke into laughter. I know I'm not supposed to laugh at those things but hearing that word come out and in context was more than I could contain.

Hide Your Word in my Heart

We have been working on John 3:16 for some time now, and he has it memorized but always wants a little help.

Jeremiah singing The Cowboy Song (a.k.a. "Home on the Range")