heart palpitations, baking, christmas programs and smoke... oh my!!

We have had some very busy days lately. It's busy, but I love it. I love Christmas time!

I've been having some crazy heart palipations the past month or so. They were occuring a few different times a day, about every 15 seconds or so. I was having so many that I was getting light headed and sick. The doctor decided to put a heart monitor on me for 48 hours to see what was going on.

I know... pretty subtle, huh! I was having a lot of palpitations on Tuesday night. Got the monitor put on Wednesday morning, and haven't had any palpitations since. I have a follow-up appt with the internal medicine doctor on Wed to see what was going on. I've learned that this is extremely common during pregnancy. I did have a bad reaction to the 4 badges though, so now I'm dealing with some welt/burn looking marks on me. Getting old is rough... :)

Last week we kicked the Christmas baking into full gear. Carsen was a huge help this year!

Look out Paula Dean, here comes Mr Carsen.

Grandpa Schuler lives at Keystone, an assisted living facility here in Faribault. We decided to make all the residents goodie bags for Christmas. They were filled with yummy goodness such as this...

 The bags were a huge hit. They were so thankful as Carsen handed them out and said "Merry Christmas!". We will defiantely be making this a tradition during different holidays. They were so appreciative, and I love that Carsen is learning a lesson on giving in the process.

Tonight was the Children's Christmas program at our church.

Carsen was a bit excited... in case you couldn't tell...

This was not just any Christmas program, though. The program was directed by yours truely. This definately took me out of my comfort zone. I've never done anything like this before but the kids did great!

This was the choir grades 1-12.

Here is Carsen's class.

American Idol is lucky that this boy isn't big enough to apply.

He would totally smoke the show.

Speaking of smoke... 

Check out my cute kids with their smokin' hot daddy. (Carsen convinced Keith to wear a tie too so they would match) I actually think it's Keith's fault that my heart has been 'fluttering' so much latey. He finished his master's degree last week, and we were able to have THREE date nights in a row!

Thursday we saw "Narnia" with friends

Friday we attended an adult Christmas party

Saturday we went out to eat and saw "The Tourist"

Spending some good quality time together without having to rush home for homework was

 pure heaven.

We've had a great few days, and I know many more memories are waiting to be made, especially the next couple of weeks.

Merry (early) Christmas!

hmmmmmmm.....

In case I haven't mentioned it, I'm pregnant. :) We won't have the option of finding out the gender of the baby until late Jan or early Feb.

Truth be told, when I first found out I was pregnant I was hoping for another girl. I love the girly things like ponytails and baby dolls and pink. But I also love the relationship I have with Carsen, and all the boy things that he likes. The further along I get in this pregnancy, the more I truely have no preference of what this baby is. Boy or girl, I am going to be thrilled!

With Carsen & Madelyn, we found out the gender. The clothes were all put away in their dresser before they got home, their room was painted, we were all ready. This is where my 'dilema' comes in.

I am a bit tempted to be surprised this time around. The realistic part of me says I'll never be able to wait until June. Not because the gender matters, but because I'm extremely impatient. I like to be prepared.

So here's my thinking of why we should be surprised:
We have a boy and a girl, so there's no pressure either way
Many people who have been surprised tell me that it's worth the wait
This is our last baby so if we ever want to be surprised, this is our last chance (we're so adament about this being our last, I wouldn't put it past us if we were surprised with another pregnancy- and our luck it would probably be twins or triplets!) :)
If we have another girl, her and Maddie's birthday will be within a week or 2 of eachother, so the clothing situation would be perfect.

Here's why I think we should find out:
I'm impatient.
I want to have the clothes all ready and the room painted the correct gender color.
I'm impatient.
If we have another boy, the seasons will be off for a bit, so I will need to do some shopping/garage saling before he arrives.
I'm impatient.
Carsen kind of has his heart set on another sister, so I kind of want to prepare him if he's going to have a brother. (which he would obviously be thrilled about)
I think that the 'surprise' of finding out is just as fun in the ultrasound room. There is so much excitement in the delivery room with what the baby looks like and all, I don't know if anymore anticipation is really necessary!
And last, but not least, I'm extremely impatient.

So what do YOU think? Have you been surprised? Was it worth the wait, or did it just drive you crazy!? I'm definately leaning towards finding out, but think I could definately be swayed to being surprised.....

Oh happy day!

Madelyn had her 18 month check up on Friday. I was leaping for joy when they weighed her...

21 pounds!

Yay! I couldn't have been happier. She's still in the 4% for her weight, but I'm just happy to have her forward facing in her carseat... finally!!

Probably not a big deal for most people. Most children turn 1, are already at the 20 pound mark and forward they go. I have been anticipating this day for 6 months now! Maddie is pretty happy about it, too!

The rest of her appointment went well. She's growing well and is a little "ahead" on her speech. Her hemangioma is shrinking. When she first got it, the doctor had a really hard time looking in her ear to see her eardrum b/c it was blocking the view. Now she can see it "easilly". Great news!

The next big milestones for Madelyn & Carsen will be merging their bedrooms in the next few months, and moving Madelyn to a toddler bed. I'd really like to try to get her potty trained before #3 arrives, but I think that might be pushing it.

We'll see! For now, I'm just happy to be able to look in my rear view mirror and see BOTH kids smiling back at me!

holy embarrassing

Whenever I'm asked about my most embarrassing moment, I never really have one to give. Well, until last night.

I met a group of awesome girlfriends (love you fabulous ladies!) at Boston's restaurant last night for some food & fun. What's the first thing a pregnant lady does when she gets to a restaurant? She goes to the bathroom, of course.

I had to pee really bad. I bolted into the restaurant, and ran into the bathroom. Something looked different though. The set-up had changed... there weren't as many stalls. I didn't care though... I ran into the stall, and began to shut the door. Then I realized something horrible.

There was a man standing at a urinal, just a few feet away from me.

Oy. I had entered the "guys" bathroom. The crazy thing is that I remember looking at the "guys" sign, and still walking in. My lack of brain cells (thank you, pregnancy!) just didn't allow it to register that I was entering the wrong bathroom.

I was horrified. In case you've never been into a men's bathroom, the urinals face the wall. I'm very confident that the man didn't even know I was in there. I bolted out of there asap, praying that nobody saw me. My heart was pounding from fear that I was going to get in trouble, but I still couldn't help but laugh.

It was an honest mistake, but I was thankful that it wasn't any worse!

What's YOUR most embarrassing moment??!!

The last of many firsts

When I got my positive pregnancy test with this child, one of the first things that came to my mind was "assuming this pregnancy is healthy, I will prob never have another 'positive' test after this baby is born".

Keith and I always said we wanted 2 or 3 kids. After we had a boy and a girl, we were both tempted to be done. But there was a part of both of us that felt incomplete as a family... almost as if there was 1 person missing. I'm honored to say that the final family member is 12 weeks gestation, and will be here next summer. I can't wait to meet the last member of our family!

There are so many things to anticipate during pregnancy and with a newborn. I always feel movement very early, so am looking forward to that in the next couple of weeks. But I know that this will be the last time to feel the first movement. I know that when I hold our son/daughter for the first time, this will be the last time off seeing our little one for the first time. When he/she smiles/rolls over/laughs/walks/talks for the first time, I know it will be the last time for this first, for me as a mommy.

Keith and I are both looking forward to the next stage in life. We want to travel with our kids. We want to be able to do some of the fun things that are more difficult with a little one in tow. But at the same time, I'm starting to feel a bit sad knowing that this is my last pregnancy. This is my last baby. After this, our family is complete and we're only getting older. (and the kids will be gone before I know it!)   :*(

The 1st trimester of this pregnancy has been fairly easy. Very comparable to Madelyn's pregnancy, actually. With Carsen I was puking 5-6 times a day until I went on a prescription around 20 weeks. With this pregnancy, I have been nauseous in the morning and very tired, but nothing that wasn't bearable. In fact this time, I was thankful for the sickness... it was a sign of a strong, healthy pregnancy. But even on the hard days when I have my head in the toilet and feel so tired that I don't think I can keep my eyes open any longer, I am thankful that I have been given this opportunity to bear children. Amidst all the weight gain and heartburn and "shifting" of body parts, I truely love and enjoy being pregnant.

What a blessing.

Madelyn is 1 1/2!

Today is Madelyn's 1 1/2 birthday!

I can't believe how big she is getting! She has finally taken off with her words. She has gone from about 5 words to 50 words in the past week. Here are some of Maddie's favorite things lately:

SHOES!!!!

The girl LOVES her some shoes in a mighty big way. Whether they're hers or not, she loves trying them on, saying how "petty" she is, and then trying on some more.

I see this as an expensive hobby for her in her teen years.

"TEEEEEEEEE"

Madelyn loves brushing her teeth. She asks for it many times a day. We typically keep the bathroom door shut, otherwise she will climb the stool into the drawer that holds her toothbrush and toothpaste. With all the brushing that she does, she better not ever have a cavity!!

The older that Madelyn gets, the more we see that her personality is much like Carsen's. She is very stubborn! She gets a kick out of "testing" Carsen. One of her favorite things lately is to go behind him and grab a tight hold unto his shirt. Carsen gets so angry and tries to get away, but she just holds on for dear life. We're working on her being kind.

"CHEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

Madelyn loves the camera. Whenever she see's it, she smiles and says "cheeeeeee!!!".

Maddie loves to read books, snuggle with Carsen on his bed, dance and eat! She is a tiny little peanut still, though. She is still rear facing in her carseat. She has her 18 month visit next week, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she is at 20 pounds so we can turn her around!

I love that both of my kids have big personalities. Sometimes it's a challenge, but I love it. I wouldn't change a thing. However it wouldn't be so bad if #3 was more of Keith's childhood personality... :)

I love how much they love eachother

Yes, they fight.

Yes, they scream at eachother.

Yes, they pick on eachother. (although lately it's Maddie picking on Carsen)

But today while I was making dinner, I looked over and saw them standing in my kitchen, just hugging and loving on eachother.

I was glad my camera was right there for me to snap a quick photo.

Then they were spinning and laughing some more.

Madelyn's laugh is contageous. When I hear her laugh, I can't help but smile and laugh myself.

This tiny little baby growing inside of me right now is going to be one lucky kid to have such a fun/loving/awesome big brother and big sister!

GOD Knows.

As you probably already know, I'm religious. My faith is a huge part of my life. So if you're offended by people talking about their faith or their belief in God, please don't read this post.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I have so much that I'm thankful for. Sure I've had some ups and downs, but it's very evident looking back on my life how much God continues to bless our family.

When we were ready to have kids, we merely thought "maybe we should have a/another baby" and the next month we were pregnant.

When Madelyn was about 14 months old, Keith and I were discussing the possiblity of another child. We went back and forth, but agreed that we wanted 1 more to complete our family. Being I hadn't received my "monthly blessing" yet after Madelyn was born (yes, breastfeeding for 12 months is good for some things!), planning was tough. We weren't trying, but we weren't preventing, either.

One day I was curious, so I took a test. It was very faintly positive, but positve none-the-less. I re-read the directions and searched the internet, and was delighted by the fact that "positive is positive", even if it's faint. Yay! I was pregnant!

Keith and I were excited. A little surprised, but completely excited. This was what we wanted.

The next morning I didn't feel well. I had horrible cramping, and I got my period. And this wasn't just any period. It was a bad period. It was obvious that this wasn't the possible spotting that can happen with pregnancy. There was no chance that I was still pregnant.

I was sad. Very sad. They say a horomone drop after a miscarriage is worse than after having a baby. This was so true for me. I literally sat on the couch and cried.all.day.long. But it wasn't from the thought of thinking that my baby had died... more of an uncontrolled horomonal sadness than had taken over. It's evident that God was giving me a peace about this hard situation... a peace that can only come from above.

We were very blessed to become pregnant the very next month again (I am at 10 1/2 weeks already!). I have thought a few times about that baby, though. Would it have been a boy or a girl? Would this baby have had the same spunky personality that Carsen & Madelyn have? Someday I'll find out.

Going through this process was tough, but I also knew that God knew exactly what was going on and had His hand in the situation the whole way through. God knows exactly what is best for our life. God has a perfect plan for our life. God knows.

I've read over and over that there's nothing one can do to prevent a miscarriage, and that most miscarriages occur b/c of something that isn't healthy in the baby. I may never know. But I also know that God's plan is perfect. Maybe he thought that suffering a *very early* miscarriage would be easier emotionally on me than dealing with a lifetime of whatever problem my baby may have had. (obviously if the baby would have lived, we would have loved and cared for the baby, regardless of any imperfections that it may have had).

Hind site is always 20/20. (sometimes I wish that Fore-site was, too!) :) I can't help but look back and thank God for what he has blessed my family with. I know of friends who have been much further along in their pregnancies and have lost their baby. I knew I was pregnant for a whopping 24 hours, and that was tough enough. I can't imagine how hard it would be going through further along in one's pregnancy.

So all this to say... if you're going through a hard time, God knows. If you're struggling in your marriage, God knows. If you're struggling financially, God knows. If you're dreading Thanksgiving this year because you feel like you don't have much to be thankful for, God knows. And HE cares.

I have many wonderful earthly relationships that I am so thankful for. My husband, children, parents, siblings, distant family members and awesome friends are all people I thank God for. Those relationships aren't perfect, though. Everyone will let you down at some time or another. But God is always there. Sometimes He doesn't give me the answer I want to hear or allows me go through situations that may seem unfair, but I also know that His way and His plan is perfect for me.

No matter what you're going through, count your blessings this holiday. Find something to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving, my friends.

Disclaimer: I am not seeking any sympathy out of my miscarriage. It was simply a situation that I went through and wanted to share.

It's beginning to look a *little* like Christmas

We finally had our first taste of Christmas at the Kramer home this week-end. Keith and I are in full agreement that the majority of the decorations should go up after Thanksgiving, so we'll finish this week-end.

But with snow on the ground and the chilly MN weather, I put a few Christmas CD's into my van's cd player, and we put up Carsen & Madelyn's trees.

I scored these 2 trees last year on Clearance. We got both trees with all the accessories for about $10. Considering all the joy they have already provided for the kids, they were WELL worth it!

Carsen enjoyed putting all the ornaments on himself this year. It took forever! a while, being he had to make sure each ornament was in the. perfect. spot. It was quite cute, though. :)

He's very proud of his Christmas tree!!!

 Madelyn has her own tree, too. Of course her theme is PINK! She loves looking at it and calling it "puppy". (we're working on broadening her word base)

The only other decoration we have up is our outdoor Christmas lights (although we refuse to turn them on yet). We're on the ball, huh?? Not really, actually. We never took them down from last year. I know... we're lazy. But now that it's cold out, we're super thankful that they're already up and that Keith doesn't have to get on the roof again!

Speaking of Keith... can anyone say 3 1/2 weeks of school left??!!!! Y-A-Y!!!

So has anyone else started their Christmas decorating?

Are you done?

Am I ahead of the game or way behond??!!

I'm thinkin' Christmas!

We got our first snowfall this week-end here in Minne-SNOW-ta. Yah, you-betcha we did. That's ok though. It puts me in the Christmas mood. I have a few friends who already have all their Chrstimas decorations put up. I'm not that crazy motivated, but at least I'm thinking about all the things that need to get done.

One of the first things that I need to think about is our family Christmas photo card. I personally love using Shutterfly. Their products are great! I have used their site the past few years to make calendars. (which, by the way, make great gifts for grandparents!)

I have also used their site for our photo cards. They have so many great styles to choose from, whether you prefer the classic look:

or maybe a more retro look:

Or perhaps you like this:

Regardless of what your taste is, they have all sorts of styles to choose from. They also have really great custom gifts to choose from. I made my mom a mug very similiar to this one last year for Christmas.

Another thing that makes Shutterfly so cool is that they are giving me 50 free photo cards, just for blogging about their awesome services that they provide! You can receive them, too. All you have to do is blog about them, and go here for your free cards. It's THAT easy!

See... aren't they GREAT??!! :)

Needed: Prayer Warriors

Meet the Cook family. Jake, Dana and their 2 girls, Mara and Alysa. They live in Faribault.

Dana is 30 years old, and is 29 weeks pregnant with their 3rd baby. (however I heard that she went into labor this morning)

Dana has been having some complications the past couple of weeks, and found out on Saturday that she has Burkitt's Lymphoma in both breasts which has spread to her bones. It's a very aggressive form of cancer, but that also means that chemo is typically successful to treat.

Nobody deserves to get cancer, but they are a family that you think "they really don't deserve to get cancer". They are so sweet and loving.

Dana started receiving chemo treatments last night, but then had to stop this morning as she went into labor. They are not sure if their baby has the same type of lymphoma, and won't know until the baby is born. Once she recovers from her C-Section, they will start the heavy chemo again.

I am a huge believer in prayer, and so I'm looking for prayer warriors. Please pray. Ask your friends, bible study groups and church to pray. They have a long road ahead of them. A long road with 3 kids, ages 3 and under.

Pray that Dana will beat this. Pray for the baby. Pray for their family. Pray that God will grant them strength.

Pray. Pray. Pray.

You can read about her progress through her caringbridge site here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/danacook

craft time gone bad

The arrangement with my friend is going well. I have the 5 kids on Monday & Tuesday, and then she watches them on Wednesday & Thursday while I work.

Each week we practice a letter, and this week happens to be the letter "h". We practice writing and saying the sound of the letter, and we incorporate a craft around the letter.

Today we decorated foam visors. (thanks, Nanette!) :) The kids had fun coloring them with markers.

We went for a walk this morning (I love you nice weather!) so the boys wore their newly decorated visors.

 Lookin' snazzy, huh!!

What's that?? You think his hair looks blue??

Why yes... yes it is. If you didn't guess it, cute little Easton decided to color his foam hat blue. And when he put it on his head, his hair magically turned blue! OH NO!!!!!!!

Right before nap I washed his hair, and I think most of it came out. (eventhough I personally think the blue was kind of rock-star looking and kinda cute) Thank goodness for washable, crayola markers.

my SAD day

October 30th was a sad day for me as a mommy. It wasn't totally a bad day, being it's the day that my older brother Brad (the one who lives in Israel) was born, but October 30, 2010 was a sad day for me.

We were overjoyed when we had Carsen. I loved that we would have that "big brother" influence. He's such a joy and so much fun! Then I was delighted when we learned Madelyn was a girl. I had visions of going to get her ears pierced, going shopping, and getting to fix her long, beautiful hair.

Well, Madelyn had long hair. Or should I say, she had a few long hairs. As much as I tried to avoid the topic for some time, it was apparant to me that her hair was border line mullet.

I have been putting off her first haircut for some time, just b/c at almost 18 months, I was sad to be giving my daughter he first hair cut.

 Madelyn sat well while I chopped the few hairs off, but was very excited when we were "all done".

 As you can see, I didn't take much off...

but I felt like it made a huge difference. The mullet is gone... along with some of her curl. I'm afraid that Maddie has her mommy's fine, straight boring hair.

 I was hoping she would be blessed with daddy's ultra thick and curly hair.

Sorry, Madelyn...

Now as soon as Madelyn is able to tell me that she wants her ears pierced (per her daddy's rule)

we'll be running to the mall to get that done. I can't wait for that!! :)

Happy {belated} Halloween!

Halloween was so much fun this year!

The week-end started off with our neighbors having a party! It was geared towards the kids, but us adults definately had a good time, too.

They had a pumpkin carving contest, so Keith put his handi-work to it's best.

 Madelyn was completely freaked out not too big a fan of the pumpkin.

Carsen actually really enjoyed it!!

Sorry... no pictures of the awesome, final product.

And eventhough you didn't win Keith, you're still #1 in my book...

The kids got all dressed and ready to go. Carsen was a monkey, and Maddie was a kitty. If you don't already know, I am a huge clearance gal. So last year I scored each of these costuomes at Old Navy's clearance for under $2 each!

The party was a blast! The kids did halloween crafts...

 and played some games. Here are some of the kids. It's impossible to get a good picture of all of them, so here's the best one I got. (and it's even missing my sweet little Madelyn kitty...)

 Our first trick-or-treating stop on Halloween was to visit Grandpa Schuler.

As you can see from Carsen's face, he adores Grandpa!

 We even had a visit from a pirate and a dragon!! (please note Carsen's excitement)

Carsen & Madelyn did well. We went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood, and at about 7:15 Carsen asked if we could go home. I think he thought he already had enough candy.

What do YOU think?

Madelyn was into it, too. She loved people putting candy into her little pumpkin. She didn't actually realize it was candy, but after people gave her candy, she would sign "more". Yes... that's my girl. Just like her mama.

What's the best part of being a parent to 2 cute little kids who get a ton of candy??

You get to raid it all as soon as they go to bed!

This pregnant mama has NO willpower. None. Zippo. I'm glad I can blame my halloween candy bulging belly on my 7 week old little peanut... :)

here we GROW again!

Yes, I'm pregnant. We had the ultrasound today to determine the due date of June 19th.

It's amazing to see such a tiny little baby forming inside of me, with such a strong heartbeat.

What a gift!

Don't mind the blurry picture... they just did a stomach ultrasound, so it's not too clear.

:(

Dear Blog-
I am so sorry that I have neglected you so much as of late. I promise to give you some love and attention... very soon.

Love,

me

Lesson Learned

Today the 5 kids and I walked to the park (about 1/2 a mile away) and played for a while.

Madelyn & Easton (one of the boys I watch) were having a blast with the small curly slide. Another little boy came over and started picking on Madelyn & Easton. The first couple of times, I just brushed it off as "kids being kids". But I soon became very annoyed.

The mom of this little boy made me so angry. Her son was hitting, throwing rocks, and just being a stinker. She kept telling him to "stop", "be nice", "quit being so mean", "if you do that 1 more time we're going home". Finally after about 10 warnings of taking him home, she finally put him in his stroller to go home. He threw a fit. Not a little fit, but an all out temper tantrum.... but only for a few seconds. She quickly took him out of the stroller and told him he could have 1 more chance. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I was irate. Annoyed. Completely irritated. He immediately ran over to Madelyn and hit her, causing her to cry. Not because it hurt, but probably b/c she had enough of this annoying kid. Madelyn's mama had already had enough, too. I was right there, so I grabbed the 2 kids gave the mom a terribly dirty look and I rudely told the mom "I think we'll go play somewhere else".

I know that being a mom is hard. There are days when I can't wait until my kids' bedtime for some sanity. Discipline is especially hard... especially being consistant. This mom was teaching her child that it was 1- ok to be mean 2- not necessary to obey and 3- that her word wasn't truth. I'll admit, the boy was a brat... but it's not his fault.

I am still annoyed, just thinking about it. But today was a good reminder to me that even on the hard days and even on the days I'm really tired, consistancy is key. When I say I'm going to do something, I need to follow through. My kids may not like it now, but hopefully they'll thank me... in about 20 years.

Our experience as a family of 6... for a week!

My parents have an AWESOME tradition of bringing their grandkids to DisneyWorld when they are about 5. My brother Brien has 4 kids, and it was the 2 older kids' turn to go. Brien and his wife Dawn wanted to go along, so Keith and I offered to watch their 2 younger kids for a week. Ethen is almost 4, and Cara is almost 1 1/2. It was a busy, but fun week. We jam packed it full of fun!

It was a little chilly when they arrived, but the weather got warmer and warmer as the week went on. We spent so much time outside playing!

The boys made a campfire in the empty lot next door to us!

We read books...

A LOT of books... :)

We spent some time in our jumpy house,

tried to eat looked at ladybugs,

 and even participated in a costume parade downtown Faribault on Saturday. I bought a bunch of costumes for $1.50 last year at Old Navy, so we had plenty of costumes to go around! :)

 We also filled our time with baking cupcakes, attending a fall festival and doing lots of crafts. Keith and I are used to having 2 kids around, so to double that number to 4 was definately busy at times. The week went really well though. It was fun getting to know the kids so well, and I think that Carsen has made a new best friend... 

 We're already looking forward to seeing them again at Christmas time!!

And the blogging slacker award goes to....

Amy Kramer!

I have lived in MN for 30 years now. I love it here, and have really come to love and appreciate all the different seasons that this wonderful state has to offer. We're having some crazy hot days lately, so we've been spending most of our time outside. I know that winter is right around the corner, so we're soaking up as much sun as we can before we're stuck indoors for a few months!
Here is Madelyn about a week ago, playing outside in her winter coat:

Here she is yesterday, in our almost 90 degree weather. It feels like summer again!

So if you can't seem to get ahold of us, we're probably outside playing... and it will be that way all week it sounds like. Y-A-Y!!!