Soph's Jokes

Soph has been saying the most hilarious things at the dinner table! She wants to be just like her brother and it is so funny to see her try to emulate his conversations. The other night, Magnus was telling a knock knock joke and she had to get in also. Her jokes:

Knock knock
Who's there?
Cow
Cow who?
Cow with sheep

Knock knock
Who's there?
It's a joke

Magnus is also into rhyming. One day out of nowhere, she goes, "haaah, it rhymes. Ranch and dressing." Sure Soph, if you say so! Sometimes it's so easy to love her!!!!

Friendship

In our homeschool group, we always have a mom's retreat in the fall. This particular year, I was crying out that my son doesn't have any friends.

Magnus is a different kind of child. He is very gentle, very cautious, and has no assertive bone in his body. So we prayed for Magnus to have a friend come along.

A few years have passed from that retreat...Looking back, Magnus was just being Magnus and I was being an overly sensitive mom. Doubting my son, thinking there was something wrong with him and that's why he didn't have any playmates. At 5 years old, he doesn't have the skills to be a friend to the extent that I wanted him to be. I was expecting too much. As time passed, he has made great strides. I really shouldn't have been a basket case like that...

I am so thankful for our friend Shelly, who is just amazing! My heart is filled with love when I think of how conscientious she is that Magnus is always included, that she always encourages her kids to play with him, and how sensitive she is to my feelings about this.

Here is her son with our son enjoying the sun!

Broken Tea Pot

The downside to having your children be a by product of you, is that they get your qualities. Good or bad. It is quite unfortunate and frustrating when it is the bad. Nobody wants that and nobody wants to deal with it. But you have to!

Soph has this fit of rage. When she is frustrated, she yells. When she is mad, she yells. When she doesn't want to do something she is told, she yells. At one point, she even threw things, hence broken tea pot. So I ask, where does she get this kind of behavior from??? It seems that all fingers are pointing to me. How disappointing and sad.

So we are working on her. We are telling her that it is not ok for her to act like that when she has those feelings. She is trying. There are good days and bad days, but mostly days of crying. Poor thing. It must be hard to not be able to express how you feel.

By the working of the Lord, I am no where a "rager" as I use to be. God is good and we are banking on the Lord to do His work on her too. I can't wait to see His handy on her!

Last Sewing Project

It has been quite some time since I have sewn anything. Time is not by my side for this thing. Keeping house, keeping children in harmony, and keeping up with school takes precedence. But the kids are becoming more independent and I think I could be back to this real soon!!!!

I got the pattern from here. It's super easy and super cute! Hopefully I can make more cuteness like this and not have to wait a year or longer. I'm talking about the dress...

Magnus is 2 years from the double digits!

That Magnus, we are so ever thankful for him. He is so smart, so compassionate, and quite a stinker! I mean in the literal sense of stinkyness! He is so good with Odin, seeks so much love and approval from his sister, but doesn't quite it it from her. Sometimes lacks total common sense that gets me in a tizzy. Bath taker that last for hours if I let him. When that does happen, he needs to take a potty break from bathing to do his business and then back in the tub he goes! Disgusting!!

Some things about Magnus right now:

Loves playing video games on dad's iPad

Reading anything and everything he can get his eyes on

Watching Shaun the sheep-I believe the show is made for toddlers, but it cracks him up

Cooking

Digging holes in the yard-I think it's a subconscious trap for me to twist my ankle

Being an ambitious teacher to his sister when teaching her letters


Magnus our lives would not be the same without you in it! We are so blessed to have you as our first born and as our son. We look forward to your growth in the Lord. One day not too far, you will surpass your mom in height! We love you so much son. Happy late birthday!

Odin is 1, what!?!

Our last, our baby is no longer a baby. He is growing.

His favorite things right now:

His big brother-he gets so excited every time he sees Magnus

Veggie straws-maybe it's the salt 

Fleece blankets-he's got a few of them. Whenever I put one on him for bed, he reaches for it with both hands and brings it towards him, so he can snuggle with it

Pulling on his dad's shirt collar-dad does not like it

Sleeps sucking his thumb

Loves to play with shoes-I don't get it

Happy late birthday Odin! We love you so much!!!

Odin's roller coaster health ride

When Odin went in for his 4 months check up, he had only gained a few lbs from when he was born. Usually at this point, their weight would have double from their birth. The peds dr that we saw suggested that he have some formula to supplement the breast milk. She thought that my breast milk didn't have enough fat in it. We tried that for a couple of weeks and it wasn't making too much of a difference. At that point they really stressed giving him more formula as oppose to breastmilk. With this disappointment and lack of nursing, the well soon dried up. Thankfully I had plenty of frozen liquid gold from the previous months. 

Even with all the formula he was having, he was gaining weight at an extremely slow pace. Odin was the 0 percentile child. We tried to rule out any disorders by doing multiple blood draws, stool samples, and expensive testing. It was so frustrating when the results would come back negative on everything. We just wanted something that would give us an answer so we can move forward. 

After the more invasive testing was done where a specialist was consulted and the results were negative again, everyone was finally accepting that perhaps Odin was just suppose to be a smaller baby. 

Breast feeding was not an option anymore. I'm saddened that it did not end on my terms, but there is nothing that I can do about it now. 

Since then Odin has steadily gained weight. He is still small, moving into the 5th percentile range and hitting all the milestones for a baby. 

Throughout this ordeal, we've had to just let everything go, not stress and firmly believe that God would carry us through. No matter what the situation would have been. There was constant praying, crying, and a feeling of helplessness. But God has endured this with us. We are so thankful for the support we got from all of our friends and family. We are so richly blessed.

At 2 1/2 months

At 3 mths

At 4 mths

At 5 mths

At 7 mths

At 8 mths

As you can see in his face, not too much has changed in between the months. But he is an ever growing boy!