The Girl

Update on Baby Cora

 These are some photos I took of Cora this morning.

 She has most definitely found her hands, and is interested also in her feet.

 She's been sleeping great!  

Everyone asks if she sleeps through the night.  Yes!  Since she was 9 weeks, she has been sleeping from 6-7 pm until 7-8 am with a feeding anywhere between 4-6 am.  Last week, she had a few nights with a 1 am feeding, after her first immunization, but since then has come back to a 5 am feeding again.

 Yesterday I taught my first yoga class after having Cora.  

She slept in the Kids Club with this cute little munchkin.

I made another attempt at swimming with the kids.  This time I spent about 45 Minutes trying to get Cora to nap while the boys swam, but she was not interested in napping at all.  I was hoping she would just sleep the whole time, but since she didn't, I took her in the pool and she LOVED it.  We were in there for at least 40 Minutes, and she was loving it the whole time, even though she was missing her nap window.  I was grateful that it went so well, because Timmy starts swim lessons in April, and I'll have to take her with us.

A Baby Shower for Steffi

My friend and neighbor, made us these beautiful delicious amazing cakes 

and helped me pull the table setting together at the last minute.

 We played Wer bist du Baby?, "Schnuller Spuken", guess how big the baby belly is, and tried to glue photos of Steffi and Saman together to create a possible photo of their child.  

 The group gift was a flexibad with newborn insert and poncho.  So cute!  And a Baby Björn Wippe (Bouncer) with toy attachment.

 The girls were so much fun!  We had a really fun time together!

My favorite little game we did, was actually "Schnuller Spuken."  That means Spit the Binky. :)  We just took these candy binkies and spit them across the room as far as we could.  Miri was the first to spit, and the CLEAR winner. :)  It was hilarious!

While Scott was away, the Stapletons play.

I threw a baby shower for a friend of mine on the Saturday last, and had to clean out the mountains of paper that accumulate in our house each month.  Some things though, you just need to remember!   Like this family tree chart that Timmy got at Sommerfest and "filled out", not with names but with photos of little people. :)   And these cute little doggy hats that cousin Maya made when she came to visit.

And this darling Valentines card that Timmy painstakingly made and gave to Bärbel and Mike.  This cute little "fingerspiel" from Kindergarten that the boys can both say from heart.   

I am glad that they both like drawing and making things so much.  On that note, I got a sweet find from "spermüll" this week!  A white desk that matches the boys room perfectly for them to use for their art projects.

Since Scott was gone, and the boys hair was so long, I could hardly stand it, I cut their hair myself.  First haircut I have given ever.  I just buzzed 'em clean.  Aarons was the first, so his sides are messed up, but at least the rag of hair of his head is gone. :)

Timmy lost his FIRST tooth!  We got out a special "tooth box" to put it in and under his pillow, because the thing was so tiny, I didn't think the tooth fairy could in any way find it under his pillow without a casing.  He got a Euro the next morning, which fits perfectly his his little tooth box.

I took all three kids swimming (all by myself) last Thursday.  Cora did not like the water at all, but I managed to sit in the pool with her for 15 Minutes just holding her, while she was on the brink of panic the whole time.  Then I sat with her wrapped up and warm on a lounge chair for an hour to give her a nap before we started the process of showering and dressing.  Made for a late night, but the kids slept great!

Photos of Grandma

Our sweet Grandma, Vila Brown, passed away on Saturday.  We will miss you Grandma!  

Here are a few photos of her.

 Wedding Dinner the night before our sealing.

With Jon Poelman

Allie and Grandma

 Grandmas Birthday 2006

In the hospital 2007

2007

2007 Ogden

The Atria 2011

To all the nice people

I feel like I need to just say how very blessed our family has been to have some amazing family and friends around us.  Having a baby has been much easier in some aspects, since it's the 3rd time around. We've got some things figured out that we didn't before.  However, some aspects never change, and others are more difficult, since we have two preschoolers as well.

 It's a stress physically from the birth, to lack of sleep, to strapping three kids in seat belts for each drive.   It's a stress emotionally with roller-coaster hormones.... the joy of a newborn, and the stress of less time in each day, and more chores.  It's a stress practically to try to fit in errands in between naps, and try to take the older children to their appointments and classes while you nurse the baby in gymnastics class and change a dirty diaper on the floor at therapy since there is no changing table in the bathroom.

With all this change, I have to say, it's been much better than I expected.  And that is in large part because we've just had such helpful family and friends!  I wanted to write down some of the nice things that have been done for us, so I will remember and so that I can let some of them know how grateful we are!

First of all, mom and dad were amazing when they visited.  I didn't do laundry for 7 weeks!  7 weeks!  They must have done over 100 loads of laundry.  I have a small washer, and usually have to do a load every day to stay on top of it.  Mom and dad were constantly putting laundry in, switching out the washer to drier, folding it up, putting it away, like little invisible fairies.  

The part of having a new baby I was most dreading was driving the boys to school and picking them up each day with a newborn in tow, as well as driving them to their therapy and gymnastics classes.  Dad learned their routine and route and just let the baby and I stay at home while he got them out the door each morning.  Mom prepped them their backpacks and snacks and helped get their shoes, coats, hats, gloves on. It's a big process in the winter! They both attended their classes with them, and figured out the crazy parking, and driving.   It was so helpful, and I feel like they saved the boys from getting put on the backburner while I was recovering.

Timmy had his birthday also just a couple of weeks after Cora was born.  I wanted to do something special, but didn't have time/energy to plan anything big.  Having mom and dad there made his birthday very special because we could celebrate together.  We went to the Tierpark, had a birthday dinner and a birthday Cherry Cobbler.  G-ma and G-pa spoiled he and Aaron with a special gift from the USA.  Planes!!  He had a great day, which meant a lot to us.

My 2nd cousin Bekka came out to our side of the country just 9 days after Cora was born.  She drove 5 hours out of her way to come visit us, and congratulate us.   Her family lives on a military base, so she asked if she could bring me a few American things.  I suggested a few little food items, and she came with like 20 sacks of groceries!  She stocked us up with canned pumpkin, brown sugar, maple syrup, cereals, chocolate chips, sugared coconut, baking soda, salsa (that doesn't have wierd sweet sugar in it) poppyseed dressing, and other yummy things that you just can't get in the German grocery stores.  She also brought 4 darling little sets of clothes for Cora.  I have been enjoying each gift immensely!!

She also helped me with a Christmas errand that was stressing me out. :)  SO helpful!   She also treated us to lunch in Aachen, and we enjoyed visiting the Christmas Market there.  SO fun!

The family all sent gifts from the states as well.  I have been using everything and am so grateful for sisters who know what I needed!  They sent blankets, clothes, hats, booties, hair bows, and lots of wonderful things!  I especially love and use the Ergo Carrier from Christa every week!

  

  
Our good friends, and house-neighbors, the Timmers brought us this (pictured above) beautiful amazing birthday cake for Cora the night we arrived home from the hospital.  Along with two quiches with a creamy sauce.  It was amazing!   Then, just a week later, they brought us up this delicious cheesecake.  

Mike is a professional pastry chef, so these desserts and pastries are gourmet!

Several friends in my ward offered to have a baby shower for me.  It was so much fun, and they were all so generous to make delicious food, plan fun games and shower us with gifts.  We got some darling clothes and other items for Cora and a fantastic swing as a group gift from several friends.  

(That swing has been WELL  used, I can tell ya!)

I have had so many thoughtful gifts and kind invitations that I don't even think I could list them all!  This cute little elephant came unexpectedly in the mail from one of my yoga participants. I got a darling outfit in the mail from Ohio, a gift card from Portland, a cute sleeper from Virginia, and another friend sent me a sleeper and outfit from Atlanta.   Linda invited mom and I to an English speaking tea party.  Mikaela surprised us with some handmade crocheted gifts!  Sister Classen gifted me a pair of maternity jeans in my last two months that fit perfectly!

I am super-grateful for the boys teachers' at Kindergarten who have been doing wonderful projects with them, taking them hiking, playing and reading with them. Also, their primary teachers, who teach them the gospel every Sunday, made "Plätzchen" with them for Christmas, and helped them put on a nativity at the church Christmas Party. They were 2 of the 4 wise men. :)  They get to do so many fun things at school and church.

My upstairs neighbor gave us this crib from her sister.  I love it!  The mattress is so much nicer than the mattress I had for Aaron and Timmy.  So comfortable!  Monica let us use her bassinet as well.  Mario brought us this changing table that we refurbished.  Harald and Mirjam gave us this rocking chair that we painted (mom covered the pillow...isn't it cute?), a nursing pillow, and a bunch of toys and odds-and-ends for baby.

Anyway, thank you to everyone! Apparently it does take a village to raise a child.  We're grateful to ours!

Growing up

Dear Mr. Stapleton,
Your daughter is growing up while you are away this week.

Today, she is taking her nap without being swaddled.  We're officially weaning the swaddle blanket.  She keeps breaking out and waking up.  It's time.

She also discovered her hands, and has been looking wonderingly at them, and also sucking on them.  Last night....she went to sleep with a binky.  Yeah, weird.  I know.

She seems interested in stuffed animals, and likes naked-time

In addition to cooing and being darling on the changing table ......

....she has started doing a little dance every time I lay her on the changing table too.  It's pretty awesome!

(why does she love the changing table so much? :)

The boys are getting sugared up....as usual

Journal in Pictures

Little Owl

The nursery

Friends from High Priests at our house for dinner last Sunday

Aaron's New Hobby

Blue Eyes

"Toot widdow face"

A day in the life

Timmy got a 2-pack of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles underwear last week.  He had a huge fit last night about putting them on, which made no sense to me because he loves them and picked them out.  After he calmed down enough to talk, he was able to tell me that he was upset because the other pair were in the wash.  He didn't want to wear this pair, because then they would be dirty when the others came out of the wash, and he and Aaron couldn't both wear the TMNT underwear together on the same day.  OK.  Duly noted my dear.

The boys love the Smurfs right now.  They use the German names for the Smurfs (Schlümpfe), like Smurfette is Schlümfpine, Brainy is Schlaubi, etc.  But "jokey" smurf is "Bwowd up Smurf," because he gives the gift that blows up in the other smurfs' faces.

Aaron says nonchalantly the other day, "Smurfs wear underwear!"

At the breakfast table:

Aaron:  "Mom!  Wook at my nose!"

Me (looking confused): "Yeeees????  I don't see anything."

Aaron: "Wook!  Heeheehee.  Wook at my nose!"

Me: "What is it?"  ( I still don't see anything)

Aaron: "hahaha...heeheehee.....Oatmeal on my nose!"

(Apparently he thought it would be super-visible that his nose dipped in his oatmeal. :)

Aaron:  "Mom, wook how "wots of"  I got!!!"  (Look how much I have!)

Both of the boys enjoy referring to who is the "sir" when they are playing.  There is LOTS of discussion as to who is the "sir" of the game, or who is the "sir" when it is their birthday.  We realized that they meant the "boss," At school the kids use the terms "Chef" (boss) or "Herr"  (translation: Lord or Mister).  Even if we offer up "boss", they definitely like using "sir" the best.

Looking at the videos in our case....
Aaron:  Popeye the Stronger Guy!
Me:  haha!  It's Popeye the Sailer Man. :)
Timmy:  No!  It's Popeye the Stronger Man!
I've been singing it "Popeye the Stronger GUY!" now.

Aaron calls Strumpfhose (Wool Tights) "Scrumpfhose"
(This is perhaps only funny if you speak German, but it reminds me of the word Scrumptious :)

If Timmy doesn't know a word from school in English, he just says it in German.  Today he was talking about how Bruno the Storch lives in a treehouse, and kletters up to the house, and that the tree has Kirsche in it.