Adah is 13 MONTHS!

Here's my sweet Adah!  Already over a year old.  I can't believe it!  She is so much fun and like Keziah I haven't taken the time to log anything this month with the holidays and being so busy!  There are a couple things I can post about from memory:
Adah  got her 10th tooth this month (Dec. 8-top L molar).  She learned to say 'na na' (no no) and 'nigh nigh' (night night).  She says this as we are walking out of Kezzie's room at night!  She has learned many things this month.  I can't tell you how sweet and smart she is, you just have to see it for yourself.  She LOVES to dance.  She dances in circles sometimes with her left arm leading her (I will try to get video).  She has also learned how to do a somersault (tucks her head and puts her hands down and then we pull her legs over) and pretty much anything else big sister Kezzie will do.  She started copying Kezzie in the bath when Kezzie puts her face in the water to blow bubbles except Adah isn't as successful, so we have to try to discourage her sometimes!!  And Kezzie isn't always aware of the things she is doing that Adah can't do (ie: climb up the side of the banister on the outside)!  Someday she will be doing everything Kezzie does!  And they will be the best of friends and live happily ever after!  Isn't that the way it is supposed to go?  Ha Ha!  We will see!! 
Sorry this post is so short, we'll have lots to talk about next month!!

Oh Christmas Tree...

Once again, the tree fell...Bucky (our mini dachshund), has really dry skin and scratches himself on the lower branches of the tree. Something must have startled him or tickled him the wrong way and he jumped up into the Christmas tree causing it to come crashing down (for the second time this year). Austin saw him jump out of the tree and onto the couch just in time to be spared! We had a couple important ornaments break this time but nothing a little glue couldn't fix. The saddest thing is we were then forced to put the tree away early this year. We were going to at least leave it up for the rest of the week! Either way, I still got my Austin to do the traditional 'decorate-him-like-a-Christmas Tree' picture. It's so fun to see how much he has grown over the past years of doing this! It took A LOT of convincing to get him interested though! In the end he did it because he knew it would make me smile!  Awwwww!  (click here to see previous year Austin pics)

Uglum side Christmas!

Another wonderful day spent with family!  It would have been perfect if only Brady didn't have to get sick.  The poor kid was puking all through the night.  We didn't see the point in staying home and missing our family Christmas over it so we still went and chanced it!  Hopefully our immune systems are strong!  The verdict is still out! Hopefully we will be in the clear by the end of the week!  Friday night (Christmas Eve) we spent the evening at Brian's Uncle's house with a bunch of his cousins and aunts and uncles.  Thankfully his Uncle lives in New Hampton so we didn't have far to go.  We couldn't stay too late since the girls needed to go to bed but it was great to see everybody again!  It's hard to believe that almost a year has gone by since Brian's grandmother died.  It was hard not to have her there with us.
Christmas morning we got to Brian's parents' around 11:30 or so.  We ate a nice brunch and opened gifts before the kids needed to lay down for their afternoon naps.  Here are some pictures from our day:

Our Family Christmas!

What an absolutely amazing morning!  I have never felt so blessed in my life.  It was so much fun!  I just sat and looked around at the wonderful family that God has given me.  It's hard to describe how great God is but if you look at my family...there ya go!  We got to wake up at our own house and take our time opening gifts and enjoying each of them.  Adah got to take a nap in her own bed and when she woke up she was refreshed and ready for more excitement!  We spent the rest of the day at Brian's parents!  Here are some pictures from our amazing morning (it was too difficult to choose):

Austin got a Kindle, Kezzie a jewelry box, Brian showing Adah the things in her stocking, Austin with his new Iron Man 2 DVD, The tree all set up the night before, Kezzie opening her stocking, Adah is getting into how this is all done, Austin checking out his Kindle, Adah successfully opened a gift, Adah looks on while Kez opens her new cash register, Kezzie is checking out what Adah got in her stocking, another shot of the tree all set up, stockings are hung, Kezzie is looking through her binoculars Austin wrapped up for her from his toy box (so sweet), Kezzie is showing off her new book and new movie, Brian opened his special chocolates I ordered from France, and Austin is digging into his stocking.

Kez and I learning our way around her new MobiGo, Brian testing out his new gloves, Austin holding up his new Chickasaw pants, Kezzie opening her MobiGo, Kezzie opening Don't Wake Daddy game, Austin opening his Carnivorous Planetarium, I had to take a picture of Kezzie's Sunday School activity-it was a picture of Jesus in the manger and the sheet going over the top is wrapping paper with a bow at the top.  We put this under our tree and looked at it again today and talked about how Jesus is the greatest gift we can receive on Christmas!  Austin is showing off his new nerf football, Kezzie and Adah got a HUGE pack of new play dough, Adah's working on getting her weebles unwrapped, we wrapped up Austin's 6th grade football jersey for him since we had the option to buy it at the end of football season, Adah is waiting patiently for mommy to get her toy out of the box, daddy and Adah cuddling on the couch with the 'ball', Adah opening her new pull along phone.

What an incredible day spent together as a family.  I am so grateful for each and every one of them.  I am even more grateful that God sent His son to earth as a tiny baby, to live like we live, to grow like we all grow and to experience life like we do, so we can more easily believe in Him and our Heavenly Father and through Him have eternal life.  Can  you imagine if there was no baby Jesus?  Austin and I have really enjoyed borrowing a book from a friend that started when Advent started and ended Christmas morning.  We read a chapter each night together and it has been so much fun.  It was an adventure story based on the story of advent leading up to Jesus' birth.  What a great reminder of what Christmas is really all about!

Silly Willies!

This is the girls' favorite place to hang out when I am getting ready for my day!  Even Adah knows right where to find this sleeping wedge.  We store it under the bed and every time I get done with my shower and come into my room to dry my hair and get dressed she immediately plops herself down on the floor and looks under the bed grunting and reaching for it.  Kezzie likes to pretend it is a slide.  She will lay out pillows in front of it to pretend like they are stairs and then slide down the wedge.  She has even started doing somersaults down it.  I think what makes it so much fun for them is having it right next to our mirror closet doors where they can watch themselves in action!  But mostly the two girls just like to lay next to each other on it and roll around giggling. 

A snowy day!

It's Christmas eve and we have a lot of snow.  Kezzie and I couldn't resist it any longer!  With the temperatures up a little it was the perfect chance for us to get outside and enjoy it!  We went sledding down our snow pile, filled our bird feeders and made snow angels.  We had so much fun!  We really wanted Austin to join us but with his knife incident just a couple days ago, he isn't going to feel like playing outside for a while!

Keziah is 37 MONTHS!

I am doing quite well just to get pictures up this month with Christmas right around the corner.  I hope this will suffice until next month when I will have more time to write about her growth!  Isn't she such a cutie?!!

A little oops!

Austin had his last day of school yesterday until next year!  We have now entered into Christmas break!  Unfortunately, he won't be enjoying it too much...he cut himself pretty bad with a pocket knife last night.  Of course it had to be on the night before his first day off.  Brian and I were watching TV and he was kind of watching it while building himself a cross bow.  He was being very careful and even told me he played it out in his head where the knife would go if it slipped etc. He thought he was in the clear and instead it didn't happen like he thought it would and came right across his thumb knuckle.  It's not as bad as it could have been but we couldn't get the bleeding to stop and it looked really deep so Brian thought he better take him in for some stitches.  He ended up with just a couple.  He wanted me to take these pictures for him to remember this by!  I thought it was a good opportunity to tell you all about it!  Boys will be boys!

Bean Bag Fun!

Austin had his football bean bag upstairs tonight to watch some TV and Adah couldn't resist it!  She would climb up on it and daddy would pull her around taking her in circles.  She was giggling and having so much fun!  She got up and her hair stood on end from all the static.  Eventually we realized there was a hole in the bag and little white things were everywhere-and I mean everywhere!  Adah's head was covered!  It was fun while it lasted anyway!

Playgroup Christmas!

Today was our playgroup Christmas party.  It was at one of the mom's houses.  She told me I could come early and lay Adah down in a pack-n-play for her nap.  It worked out perfect!  Adah took a nice long nap and I was able to relax and have some adult conversation.  Kezzie and Abby always play really well together too!  We were about the only ones there but with Christmas later this week, we weren't surprised!  It was nice to have some one on one time to talk and get to know each other more.  Another mom and her daughter showed up a while later.  All three girls played so nice while the three adults talked!  There were so many cookies to decorate and when we were done we got to take some home!  It was so much fun!  Thanks April for hosting us once again!

Smith side Christmas!

What a blessed weekend we all had together! Our family does every other year with our husband's family on the day of Christmas and this year was it.  So we all agreed on the weekend before Christmas to celebrate.  So Friday night we all stayed the night and the next morning woke up as if it was Christmas day!  The night before we all got our kids to bed and then it was time to relax...Emily brought some white wine and Moscato de Asti and we got out some board games to play. I don't know how late we were all up but it was definitely late enough.  After we were all done with the fun and games we filled the tree with gifts and got out our party supplies-after all we were celebrating a birthday!  We blew up A LOT of green and red balloons and laid out some noise makers.  The kids loved it all.  We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus the next day at lunch time!  Here are some pictures from our special couple of days (ok, not just some, A LOT!).

 

(click images to enlarge)

Mom was up early and made us a butter braid and egg casserole.  Mom's are the best!  Not to mention the lunch we had later on! 

Mom got a curio cabinet for one of her gifts from dad which created a lot of fun with the box.  I really wanted to take the box home but there just isn't room anywhere for it.  Adah just had so much fun climbing through it.  She had plenty of room to sit up and hang out.  I was even able to get in it with her!

A few gifts that I can remember for each of us are: I got a bunch of baking stuff and a couple of manger /Jim Shore ornaments to add to my collection, Brian got a box of cards (he got a card in that box that was worth more than the box itself) and a nice Hawks sweatshirt, all three kids got ornaments that had their names on them along with a gift that had their name on it-Kezzie a backpack, Adah a dolly, Austin a necklace.  There were many many more awesome gifts from every one but I can't name them all!  

Unfortunately, even though all of us stayed (except Emily and Adam's family) Austin had to leave for the night to go be with his dad around 4:00.  We stayed until Sunday and went to church the next morning!  What a great time we had!  Thanks mom (and dad) for all the hard work you put into feeding and housing us all for the weekend!

Family Pictures!

We decided to get family pictures taken this year by a professional photographer!  I love her work, she always does such a great job!  Thanks Ashley for the great work you do and how well you worked with my three kiddos!  Everyone please take a peak and leave a comment too.  If I get 25 comments in one week then I get a surprise and if I get 50 comments I get an even better one, so help me out!  I would love to hear what you have to say too!  Here is the link: http://ashleyschrage.blogspot.com/2010/12/whole-family.html

And if you want to view the full gallery of photos, follow this link:  http://www.ashleyschragephotography.com/, click on client viewing at the bottom right, then personal galleries, and then Uglum family.
the email address is: mybabadj@yahoo.com
the password is: AKA3

Let me know your favorites by emailing me to help me have an easier time choosing!  I would really appreciate it!  It's going to be pretty tough!

Humbled by my Christmas tree!

First of all, I have been pouting and complaining about how bad I want a new Christmas tree for a long time.  Every time I am at the store I am looking for a new one and obsessing over the prices.  This was all in an effort to avoid having to put up the Christmas tree I have had to put up every year for way too long.  It was a tree given to me by my grandma Smith and who knows how many years she put it up for.  I was determined to NOT have to put that tree up and avoided it for a long time.  Finally, I resolved myself to Brian not agreeing to a new tree, sucked it up and retrieved it from storage (11/30).  To my surprise, I fell in love with my tree all over again.  I knew it was God working on my heart and Him teaching me to let my husband be a leader.  It was like God reached into that box and arranged the branches before I even put it up because when I set it up I seriously didn't have to rearrange or primp any of the branches!  I took care to center the base and get it set up perfectly so I could be as happy with it as possible and in the end it was like a new tree I was seeing for the first time anyway!  Unfortunately, the devil was working against me and just a couple of days ago (12/12) Austin was retrieving a ball out from under the tree and just the slight brush of his back made it come crashing down to the floor.  Thankfully it didn't fall down on him (or anybody else) and only a few bulbs broke while all the others fell to the floor.  So, not knowing what to do with it, I left the tree unlit, propped up against the corner between the stairs and wall and ignored the huge project in front of me...until today (12/14)!  I got a plan of how to fix the problem (there have been too many holes drilled into the post of the tree).  I ended up putting a toilet paper roll around the post and wrapped it with duct tape and set it back up.  It was still a little un-sturdy so I put duct tape around it AND the stand.  I don't think it is going anywhere!  But, unfortunately we are going to have to find a different solution for next year.  Upon un-decorating the tree so I could 'fix' the post, I also decided to move it more into the living room area. I had to rearrange some furniture but I am so much happier with this set-up then before!  It was a blessing in disguise that the tree fell because now it is safer AND it is in a better place (it's also in front of a window so people outside can see our pretty lights too)!  I never took a picture of it going up in the not-so-favored spot it was in before (the same as all the other years), but here is a picture of it in its new spot!  God has a funny way of working everything out for good!  Who would have thought I would be humbled by my Christmas tree?! 

Major updates!

I have been working overtime trying to play catch-up in the posting department...so check it out!  I have back dated stuff to the middle of November!  Plus I have added some new videos at the bottom!  I really wanted to get caught up so I can get behind again when Christmas comes!  Thanks for keeping up with our family!  It's so much fun living The Ug Life!!

A very lazy weekend!!

As you can see, we spent a lot of time doing nothing this weekend!  Friday night Brian took Austin to his basketball practice.  That ended about 7pm.  After putting the girls to bed Austin and I headed to the grocery store for some much needed groceries.  When we came out of there it was raining/sleeting pretty hard.  I knew then that it was not going to be good!  We ended up getting rain into Saturday morning which turned into a heavy snow that lasted until Saturday evening.  We were definitely home bound.  It only got worse when the wind started to blow because then drifts were created.  Our alley was completely snowed over so we were unable to get out of our driveway.  A huge plow even got stuck in our alley while trying to plow it and decided after 20 minutes of getting unstuck that he wasn't about to come back and try again.  We were finally plowed out sometime before we woke up this morning and Brian was able to go to work.  On saturday the weather was decent before it started getting windy so Austin and Keziah were able to work off some energy outside.  I think they spent close to 1.5 hours playing!  There is one picture of Austin pulling Keziah with a rope on the sled coming down our sidewalk out front of our house.  That was pretty funny to watch from the comfort of my recliner!  I know we got outside some last winter, but Keziah is really enjoying the snow this year!  And the snow was perfect for snowballs!  I went out for just a little bit but came in when it got dark and made some hot cocoa for us all!
Adah loves it when daddy takes her over to the mantle and grabs a stocking.  She hugs it like it's a blankie, they are so soft!  She also found a little nook to hang out in next to the couch and window sill.  She wedged herself in there and just looked out the window.  Our neighbor across the street has Christmas lights on outside and she likes to look at them!  And I just couldn't resist taking a picture of that cute little butt crack!  Every time she bent over you could see it!  At some point we played a different version of hide and seek (we hid an object to find) and we also played a game of charades for kids (which Kezzie loved)!  It was a great weekend even though by Sunday night we were all going a little stir crazy (and to top it off, school for Austin got canceled today!).  We are just going to look forward to next weekend even more (we are celebrating Christmas with my side of the family)!!

My walking wonder!

(10/21/10) Here is Adah at the first glimpse of learning to walk.  She is successfully standing all on her own!  I think it was that same day that she took her very first step forward.  It may have only been one or two but it was the beginning of what she is doing today! 

Sometime between then and now she has become a really good walker.  She started out with only a few steps at a time and did this for a while.  She would resort to crawling after 3-4 steps.
Here she is on 11-5-10.

Then she went onto walking between things.  We would challenge her to walk longer distances between Brian and I and eventually she started doing it all the time!  She is getting really good at stepping over obstacles and keeping her balance in the process!  I even caught her standing all by herself from the middle of the room earlier this week! And she is a pro at kneeling down to pick something up and standing back up with it in her hands.  Her little legs are getting so strong!  I think she is sleeping better because of all the activity too!  Here she is just last week (12/10/10).  I finally got around to getting her on video!

My monkey!

Here is my little monkey.  She LOVES to climb everything.  I don't even have pictures for all the things she tries (usually successfully) to climb!  She is definitely not afraid of falling.  Her favorite place to climb is onto the couch.  She is still too little to do this from the floor so she usually has to use either the window sill or the basket of books.  Once she is up there she flops around giggling or stands up and walks the length of the couch before plopping down on her belly (supervised, of course).  Her other favorite place to climb is the rocker.  She likes to push that around to places she wants to get up to.  One common place she pushes it over to is our shelf with a lot of pictures on it.  She holds onto the back and rocks herself as if she is surfing.
There are a few other places pictured that I can find her throughout the day.  Her recently discovered one is behind the toy box on the window sill.  She will hang out there for quite some time before either climbing out or whining to be rescued!  There is usually one of those leap frog musical tables right next to the toy box and she typically has to climb onto that first before getting behind the toy box to sit on the window sill!

Happy Holidays!!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

The Girls' Check-ups!

Both of the girls had their year check ups today!  I am very happy to say we have two very happy, healthy girls who are developing beautifully!  I give all the glory to God as He is the one who gives us our many blessings! 
At Keziah's 3 year check up today she weighed in at 30 lbs 6 oz. (50%) and a height of 3' 2.75" (+75%).  She had to get one shot and seemed to handle the initial poke just fine, however the entire evening today she complained and cried at random times that she was getting sharp pains.  She also fell on the cement on our walk back to the car and scraped up her knee a bit so I think that was bothering her too.  She had a bath tonight so hopefully she will wake up feeling much better!
At Adah's 1 year check up today she weighed in at 21 lbs 3 oz. (-50%) and a height of 29.5" (50%). Her head was 18 cm (-75%).  Adah had to have 3 different shots and also had to have her lead level and iron checked (which required a finger prick).  She also does pretty well with the initial poke but you can tell that she hasn't been feeling like herself all day either.  Although, nothing nearly as dramatic as her sister!  She is still pretty playful and happy!
UPDATE: (12/10/10) I got a call from the nurse today and she said Adah is slightly anemic and needs to be taking some iron drops (ferinsol).  We have to get her retested in January to make sure she is getting the amount of iron she needs.  Her lead levels came back normal!

Adah is ONE!

Adah is such a joy to have in our lives! She is an amazing and smart little girl.  I don't think I can even begin to remember all the things she can do/say but I will give it a shot (why don't I learn and just keep a log?)!

Adah signs: milk, bath, book, more, eat, drink, all done, shakes her head yes and points to things/places she wants to go.  I am a huge advocate for this because it is so handy when trying to communicate-at dinner time especially!   She says many things, mostly only Brian and I can understand because we taught them to her but some of them actually do sound like what she is saying: banana (nana), bye bye (baa baa), apple (ba um), baby (bay bay), mom/mama, dada, yum yum, moo (for cow), meow (me me), barks like a dog, blub blub (for a fish), she tries to neigh (horse) and baa (sheep) but it just comes out sounding like a cough,  puts her hands in the air and says 'ta da', plays peek a boo, tickles you and makes a tickle noise, understands the word NO and looks at you with a cheesy grin to see if she is going to get away with it anyway!

Adah got her 9th tooth (top right molar) on her birthday.  All day I was feeling in there because she wasn't acting like herself and finally at bedtime I felt it again and there it was, just barely sticking out of the gum!

 Adah is starting to learn her body parts.  She points correctly to the following (most of the time): eyes, nose, ear, hair, teeth, tongue, mouth, fingers, foot and belly.
Adah's current schedule goes something like this:

Wake at 7am, nurse at 7:30 (sometimes earlier), nap at 9ish, wake at 10:30/11, nurse at 11/11:30, lunch at noon (eats whatever we are having with water or milk in a sippy), nap at 1:30ish, wake sometime between 3 and 4, nurse by 4 (usually has a snack at this time too), supper at 5/5:30 (whatever we are having with water or milk), nurse at 7:30 with bed to follow around 7:45.  She sleeps through the night only waking when her teeth are bothering her and usually a little orajel will do the trick!

This month Adah really took off walking.  It's funny that she is already walking...she looks so little!

What a wonderful first year we have had with our Adah!  I can't wait to see what this next year brings!  Praise God, for He is the one who gives us such awesome blessings!

This was how we spent the day of Adah's first birthday:

She got to open her gifts (2 books and a Leap Frog play b-day cake-so cute), we ate her favorite lunch (mac-n-cheese) and peas along with pears, and for dessert she got another shot at a cupcake.  But she still wasn't a fan just like at her party so instead we let her have a few licks of a tootsie pop.  She LOVED that!  And since we didn't have any more cupcakes left, Kezzie got a sucker to celebrate with too!

Happy Birthday Adah!  Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

Keziah is 36 MONTHS!

Keziah is so beautiful!  I can't help but stare at those big brown eyes and long eyelashes!  She is becoming so funny too.  She says some of the funniest things!  I have logged a few over the month (there are many more, but I don't always remember to write them down): Keziah has a really good sniffer.  It's hilarious, she always lets us know if something smells funny!  And she is always right about it too.  If Adah is poopy she will sniff with her nose and say, "it smells like poop in here."  Or if our stubborn dog poops in the house, she isn't in the room a second and she immediately identifies it and upon deep searching I always find it hidden in the corner or something.  She identifies many other smells too before I even notice them.  It's so funny!

On a ride in the car Adah was quite upset and Kezzie was becoming frustrated.  She looked over at Adah to apparently find her flailing her arms while crying.  I overheard Kezzie respond to Adah by saying, "Adah, stop hitting yourself and you wouldn't have so much problems."  She didn't say this calmly by any means! 

Another funny thing she said was to Austin.  Austin was getting yelled at by me and he and Kezzie were sitting at the table eating breakfast together and in an effort to make him feel better she says to him, "She yelled at me too Austin, she yelled at me too!"  (I didn't yell at her too but she pretended I did to try to make him feel better?!).

Kezzie is getting a very large variety of vocabulary.  Sometimes she knows what she is saying and sometimes she uses it in really weird places (ie: 'change your attitude' when really somebody is in a good mood-or maybe she is just trying to be bossy!).  She likes to say actually a lot!

Keziah is in love with her finger, blankie, and now her penguin she recently aquired for her birthday (daddy  got it for her).  She will panic if not all three are within arm's length at all times.  Although, she is ok if her blankie is in her bed and she knows that is where it's at.  In fact, her blankie is supposed to stay in her bed at all times (but that's not always the case)!

Kezzie's love for Jesus is growing too.  I love it when I ask her a question she always thinks the correct answer is 'Jesus'.  We have a devotional every night before bed.  They only last a minute or two but they include a bible verse (which she always tries to repeat after me) and a prayer (which I break up into pieces so she can repeat it after me).  I recently asked her what we were going to be celebrating at Christmas time and she answered me Jesus' birthday!  That really warmed my heart.  We talk about it, but I didn't know how much was really getting through!  I just love it!

She is looking forward to church more every week.  She has started doing crafts in the room she is in now.  Everything she decorates is typically colored blue (her absolute favorite color).  But what I love the most is that each craft comes with a slip of paper explaining what she learned in class that day.  I like being able to re-talk it over with her and just solidify the story she learned about!  God is so good and I pray that she will continue to live for and learn more about Him!

This is how Keziah spent her third birthday! We had such a great day! We woke up and I made homemade pancakes (per her request). Before daddy even left for work, we let her open her gift from us.  She absolutely loved it.  It's called squinkies.  A little story for ya: One time when we were at Fareway Austin got Kezzie a miniature puppy from one of the vending machines.  She has since wanted more and loves the three that she has so much that she carries them everywhere with her.  Well, the squinkies are kind of the same thing.  The squinkie home is like a gumball machine.  There are squinkie pennies that you put in (or you can use a regular dime or penny) and you turn the dial and a little squishy, rubbery, figurine comes out in a little plastic bubble.  This is just the beginning of the squinkies though because you can collect many different series.  They are adorable!  Her favorite one is a baby and it has a paci!  We have rules with these squinkies as this can be a huge problem with Adah around.  She can't get them out unless she is going to play on the dining room table or play when Adah is napping.  We haven't had too many problems!
Anyway, after a quick nap for Adah we headed over to playgroup at one of the mom's houses. We had a Thanksgiving party where we ate fun treats and made Indian hats that portrayed all the things we are thankful for. Keziah put all the normal things on hers such as: family, home, nice warm bed, food and clothes. After playgroup, I decided I would go out of the norm of eating lunch at home and instead take her to lunch at McDonald's and let her play for a bit with Adah.  I told the other moms at playgroup that they were welcome to join us and to my surprise, a couple of them did!  I really thought this would help Keziah be brave enough to go up into the big part with the big slide, but she got scared and I had to rescue her (yet again).  Daddy got to join us too, for a little bit, which of course made her day!  After getting home late and rushing into bed for nap, we somehow managed to forget to have birthday cake or sing happy birthday to her.  She didn't care though and instead spent the rest of the day enjoying all the many toys she received for her birthday!  Don't ask me what we had for supper or why we didn't think of singing to her then either!  It was a great day!  Happy Birthday my beautiful Keziah!  Mommy and Daddy adore you and love you so much!

New toys!

Kezzie is enjoying all her birthday gifts so much! Here she is tending to her baby like a good little mommy! It is so much fun for her to have new toys to play with.  She loves that she can feed her baby like mommy feeds Adah and she can change her baby like mommy changes Adah.  She especially likes giving her baby a bottle because then she has to change her wet diaper.  She is getting better at this and even tries to help me when I am changing Adah!  She has even 'nursed' her baby while I am nursing Adah!

Birthday Party Fun and Uglum Thanksgiving!

What a fun and awesome day!  The party started at 10AM and lasted until about 1:30 (mom and dad stayed until about 2:30).  Emily and Ethan and Alanna were unable to come because they had the flu so that was a bummer!  Casey had to work so she and Nate and Gavin didn't come either.  Dad was in the hospital for a few days (due to an infection that developed after bunion surgery) prior to the day of the party but managed to get out the day before and made it to the party.  That was a nice surprise for us all!  Even my good friend from Cedar Rapids and her son came!  What a treat!  Keziah and Adah received many great gifts and we all got to enjoy ham balls, veggies, fruit and cheesy carrot casserole together!  What a great time to reflect on how blessed we are to have these two beautiful and healthy girls! 

Since Mat and Steph and the boys were in town we decided we would celebrate Thanksgiving that same day so a little bit after the girls woke up we headed over to Riley and Kathy's house for the evening.  It's always great to get the cousins together and have a little adult conversation!

Keziah!

I am so blessed to have her in my life!  What a beautiful and precious gift God has given us!  She definitely has a deep love for her blankie and finger! I had to snap this picture of her on our way to church in her nice white winter (garage sale bargain) coat.  She just looks so cute!

A few of my favs!

Here are three of my favorite peeps in my life!  I'm not sure what Austin is doing with his hand but aside from that this is the best picture we've had in a long time!  I love my kids so much!  Each one is an individual blessing of their own!  God is so good to me!  Aren't they just beautiful?!

Camping Itch!

Either we have been really bored lately or we really have an itch to go camping...we got this tent out and set it up in our living room and the kids had a lot of fun together! Adah especially loves rolling around in there with blankets! Kezzie likes closing the door and 'locking' herself in (or 'locking' Adah out)! It provided several hours of entertainment over the course of the few days we had it up!

Baskets and dentist apts.!

Adah and Kezzie have a new obsession...baskets.  Kezzie pretends like our big blue basket is her shell and she goes inside it.  She has started putting a blanket over it since there are holes on the sides and she doesn't want us to be able to see her.  Adah sees this as an opportunity to either a) annoy Keziah b)to have fun hiding under a blanket with Keziah.  Kezzie doesn't see it as b and as you can see in the picture tries to yell at Adah to leave her alone :(.  I guess they can't get along all the time!  Adah has a hobby of her own.  She likes to climb in and out of her small toy box.  She thinks she is pretty cool stuff!  And then just last night she found the baby cradle and gets in there.  This is way more fun then the toy box because it actually rocks back and forth.  She gets going pretty good in it too! Gotta love cheap entertainment!

Today Keziah went to the dentist.  Actually, Austin, Kezzie and I all three had dentist appointments.  Luckily mine was first thing in the morning and Kezzie was able to see how easy it was.  Her and Austin go to a peds dentist who is really good with kids so that helped too.  She was really nervous to go but after seeing me get mine cleaned she was ready to go and knew exactly what to do.  She climbed right up on the table/chair and opened wide!  Dr. said she still has quite a crossbite but that her teeth and gums look really good.  She said we should give her a paci back because she is doing way more damage with her finger then she will with a paci.  If you remember right, we've been through this before!  Summarized:  early 7/09 we took her paci away, late 08/09 she started sucking her finger, early 09/09 gave her paci back, 04/10 took her paci away again, it wasn't until Sept. or so that she started sucking her finger again.  I don't know what to do.  Dr. said her arch in her mouth is being affected and that her cross bite is getting worse.  Any suggestions? She has an oral fixation and has to have something in her mouth all the time (takes after her dad!).  She typically sucks her finger while watching tv or going to sleep but it doesn't stop there.  She also bites her fingernails already at her age and will chew on her blankie and even the collar on her shirts and sleeves.  The Dr. thought maybe if we gave her her paci back something would click and she would think, 'I don't need this, I'm a big girl'.  I don't think we are going to be that lucky!  But I don't know what else to do!

Great Great Grandma!

Brian's Great grandma died a very peaceful death Saturday (11-6) at the age of 99!  One of the nurses took her in to use the bathroom, brought her back out to her chair and went back to the bathroom to clean up, when she came back out, she had passed away.  Her visitation was Monday and the funeral was this morning.

I remember when Brian and I started dating she was still doing really well living on her own.  She since then moved to a nursing home here in New Hampton.  She was Brian's mom's mom's mom.  Her name was Selma Hahn and she was a very sweet lady. I am pretty sure the most recent picture anyone has of her is with my girls.  It was the day we went for a visit to the nursing home for playgroup all dressed up in our Halloween costumes.  Here she is.  I remember her asking if Kezzie could sit on her lap again!  With the camera ready to go, we said, 'sure!'

A nice visit!

We went to visit my grandma Smith today.  She is so much fun to be around.  You can definitely feel the Lord's presence in this women!  She isn't always happy but she is very loving.  The kids ADORE her and her laughter!  Austin found a boomerang there the last time we visited and so he pretty much played with that the whole time.  The neighbors' cats came to see what was going on so Kezzie had to go out and investigate!  She spent quite a bit of time outside too until she fell off the picnic table.  And it wasn't because she was looking at the cat and not paying attention.  Her and Austin were sitting on the picnic table and spitting and she leaned too far over to look at her spit and fell!  After that 'incident' they came inside and road my dad's scooter all over the kitchen (he had another surgery on his other foot to remove a bunion 11/2).  Austin was giving Adah rides and she just lounged on there!  My dad is like a little kid when it comes to taking pictures!  He's so difficult!  That's why there is two!   Gotta love him!

McDonald's Playland!

Out of sheer boredom we decided to go to McDonalds for some ice cream after supper on Saturday.  I was once again reminded of what a waste of money this is.  The ice cream is pretty tasteless and there isn't even any options really.  Kezzie got a coupon for a free cone from Halloween so we wanted to use that and her only choice was vanilla.  I don't think she even ate any of it.  It was nice to get out of the house and let the kids play though.  It was the only thing we did other than going to church on Sunday.  This of course isn't great for someone who stays home all week but Brian enjoys being home on the weekends since he goes to work all week.  It is a common battle between us!  Kezzie, once again tried going up in the play area, and once again I had to rescue her!  She and Adah had fun on the little slide though!

Happy Halloween and More!!

This last weekend we stayed with my parents all weekend because it was also the weekend of a wonderful Rise and Shine Women's Retreat at our church (guest speaker was Lysa TerKeurst, I will post more on that later).  So that's why you see Adah in her jammies!  She found the pantry and had fun 'hiding' in there.  Sunday we went to church and everybody got together at mom and dad's for lunch.  We got a nice photo of all the grandkids (except Gavin) and their Grandma and Papa!  Alanna is so cute in her bones outfit!  The boys had some kind of Halloween attire on too!  When the girls got up from their nap we headed for home.  Trick-or-treating in New Hampton was from 4-7.  We got home a little before 5 and ate supper and then headed out for about an hour and a half.  The girls had a lot of fun and got a ton of candy (not Adah).  Austin met up with some friends as soon as we got home and didn't come home until almost 7.  He somehow didn't have as much candy as Kezzie...goofing off maybe!!  He said he had fun too!  When it was all over I managed to get somewhat of a shot of the girls in a picture together with their costumes on. Today Adah found a sucker I attached to some balloons from Henry's first birthday. Mat and Steph forgot to take them home with them (thanks Steph!) and somebody needed to enjoy them so they landed at our house.  Adah wouldn't let the sucker go.  She apparently was getting some flavor even with the wrapper on and loved it!

And I think I forgot to mention in any previous posts...Jamie (my youngest sister) is expecting baby #2 May 25th, 2011!  I am so excited to be an Aunt AGAIN!!!
And on that same note...my oldest sister Casey is going to be having her C-section on December 28th!  That is coming so fast!  They are having a girl and naming her Molly Maxine!  I can't wait!  I will officially be an Aunt to five AWESOME kids before the year is over!  What an amazing Holiday gift!

Adah is 11 MONTHS!

What a fun little stinker!  I could hardly get a sit still and smile kind of picture this month but after two different photo sessions, I think I managed to get some to show you!  Sometimes the best ones are of her laughing it up anyway!
Adah gained two more teeth this month.  #7 arrived sometime in the last week of September (top left-next to the front left), #8 (bottom right next to front ) came through October 3rd.  She is lookin' pretty cute with all eight in front now.  I am wondering when her next will arrive at the rate we are going!  Although, we have managed to get through the rest of this month without anymore appearances!
Adah is doing great learning all the things she is watching happen around her.  Kezzie teaches her good and bad things!  How to giggle and dance, how to get frustrated and yell and even hit!  I don't think Adah would like life very much without her big sister.  She thrives so much on everything Kezzie does!  But Adah also likes her alone time.  She doesn't get very much of it but when she is by herself (away from Kezzie) she plays very well.  It reminds me so much of what Kezzie was like when she was her age.  Adah loves to play in her farm pulling the animals in and out and can make several animal noises (cow, dog, cat and sheep).  She also likes to 'drive' things around the living room and make an engine noise.  It doesn't necessarily have to be a car, however, she knows it is a car that makes that noise!  She will also do the razz noise if she is cold (like after a bath I often catch myself doing that noise).  She can sign bath, milk, more, eat, drink, bye/hi.  She gives kisses if you ask her to and if she is in the mood (that's the key-if she feels like it!).
Adah is in an excellent routine right now.  It is as follows:
Wakes about 6:30/7:30am and nurses
Baby cereal with breast milk and culturel around 8ish.
Down for a nap around 9am
Wakes from nap around 10:30
Nurses around 11/11:30
Lunch around noon (whatever we are having-veggie, main dish, fruit and drink)
Nap at about 1:30 (no more nursing at this time!)
Wake around 3/3:30 and nurses
Ready for supper around 5 (similar meal to lunch)
She doesn't get cereal before bed anymore
Nurses around 7:30pm and goes straight to bed!
This month we got a toothbrush and have started brushing her pearly whites before nap and bed time.  She loves it and thinks she is so cool.  She has a stool in the bathroom that she gets to stand on while I brush them and she feels so privileged, you can tell!
Adah is walking more and more with assistance and will even brave a one-handed walk.  She is a pro at walking behind her baby stroller and other things that will move ahead of her (ie: up-side-down hamper, chair, etc.).  I know I lost my 10 month bet, but I am pretty sure Adah will be walking by the time she is a year old!
I don't know if I mentioned that at the beginning of October we got rid of all door handle things (on Kezzie and Adah's doors).  There was one on Adah's door to prevent Kezzie from going in her room the second Adah made a peep, but we took it off.  There are times where this is still a nuisance (ie: if Kezzie hears Adah awake in the morning and gets out of bed and goes to 'visit' her before I am ready to start Adah's day-that is sometimes a problem).  Adah will play in her crib after a nap or waking in the morning really well.  This will sometimes buy me an extra 20 minutes if needed!  So for Kezzie to go in there and let Adah know everyone else is awake makes Adah really upset!  I don't have any plans to put it back on the door handle though!  It can also be really fun for Adah!  If Adah is upset in her crib and I need a few extra minutes to finish something up I just send Kezzie up and she will play with Adah making her laugh!  Sometimes Kezzie even gets in the crib with her and they have so much fun together!
I am so glad that my girls get to go through life together and I can't forget to mention what a great big brother Austin is too and how lucky both girls are to have him.  He is always protecting them and trying to make them laugh.  He will never admit that he enjoys their company as much as they enjoy his, but he does.  I love that they all have each other to grow up with!  My three little blessings-and I can't believe my littlest is approaching ONE!

Where's Adah?

So, I was sitting in my recliner this morning doing my own thing and I looked over to see that Adah was going after a ball.  I thought, 'ok, that's great, she's going to play with that ball.'  Next thing I know I go into the kitchen to do something and think again, 'I wonder where Adah is and what she is up to now.'  I came into the living room where she was last seen going after the ball and she isn't there anymore.  I noticed the stairway gate was open and started heading up the stairs.  I didn't see her on the first flight so I continued up the second flight.  Low and behold, there's Adah three steps from the top...with the ball in hand!  I sometimes let her climb up in front of me on the way to nap or something but she hasn't ever tried to get on the stairs on her own.  It's just never been a problem.  Plus, the gate is almost always closed.  I guess we are going to have to be extra careful to make sure it gets closed for sure!  She seems pretty steady on them by herself, but when I watched her get to the top she was ready for a rest and almost fell backwards off the top step.  She was way too close to the edge!  It was pretty funny though to see her going up all by herself.  When I found her I said to her, 'what are you doing, miss?' (in a playful kind of way) and she just got really excited and giggled and tried to go even faster.  So sweet!