Announcing Anya Lu on October 22nd

We are happy to announce our little dolly! We were so sure we were going to have a boy and we have another girl!! Two daughters - how lucky we are! Never a moment of disappointment, after all, that's why we don't find out, we wanted the SURPRISE!! and oh my were we. Love it. And love her. It is wonderful how quickly one can fall in love all over again. Completely and wholly in love. 

Anya Lu was born Oct 22nd at 12:26pm 8 pounds, 8 oz and 19 inches. She is a healthy, beautiful little love and as sweet as can be. 

She is sleeping well, eating lots, all systems are go :) (I forgot how many diapers a newborn is) She was born 3 days late if you go by my first due date, and 1 week early if you go by the 2nd. I honestly think the first one was correct because she is perfect. I couldn't go another week in my emotional state of all over body itching and waking every half hour (last 3 weeks of pg) because of her sitting on all my nerves. Literally :) I haven't felt 3 fingers on each arm for weeks. Dr says it will go away very soon. I'm still waiting on the soon.

Mom is here, thankfully and more photos to follow, but recovery is a little harder this go and probably having a 30lb toddler has much to do with the seemingly slower recovery. And Zaiya being busy, I just don't have my camera at every beck. It by no means lessens our joy and total delight over our sweet Anya Lu. Her first name because we love it and her second for her grandma Lulu (Hagbom) Voth. 

To say the least, Zaiya isn't overly impressed. I had a feeling the adjustment would be big and it. really. is. big. Since being home we've had several learning curves, but she always goes to check on Anya for any squeak or sigh. :)

This photo was the first she met Anya and pretty much was a "ummmm , hi. Okay goodbye, you can go back now" wave that cracked us up!

This was a little later when she came to terms that this was a little tiny 'people' and not a dolly. We're very into finding every point on the face and she was determined to show me where Anya's nose was :)

We're tired, but in love with two perfect little darlings and that accounts for energy that we don't feel we have and the awe that we are so lucky to have healthy, loving, and ever so loved kids.

4 Month Catchup.

4 months since my last post. Eek! I'll just say energy has been used elsewhere. It's not easy growing a baby that is already estimated to be 8lbs at birth!! (not at present thank heavens!!) and chasing around a 31lb toddler who is one bizybizybizybizybizy little girl.

Consolation? I'm not the first woman to do this, nor the last one. Also, I am 36 weeks, Zaiya takes a 2 hour nap and I nap then too. So at least I rest. The house doesn't get attention and I have 100 lbs of tomatoes to can. About a bushel of corn to freeze and I honestly don't know if any of it will happen or not. Potatoes and Carrots are still in the ground because I don't have a place to store them and they'll be fine. I would not have even picked tomatoes, but Sept 10th we got a hard freeze and picked them in a snow/sleet storm. The preserving part just seems like too much, too big of a deal, and what did they invent grocery stores for anyhow!??! 

The trouble is, in another 6 weeks after a birth and getting back into the swing of things, I am going to be very sorry I didn't can my own tomatoes, I'll be hungry for corn, and I will be irritated at the prices in the grocery store over the things that I grew.

Never a perfect world.

Much has happened in 4 months. I"ll see if I can do a quick catchup. 

I am so hungry. This is what I have expected all along that is going on in my expansion to XL and I found this in the Dr. office. Substitute the hot wings for anything with ice cream, hot or cold sandwiches, and curry. And lately, chocolate. The worst craving ever has been those nasty little tater tots with even nastier plastic-tasting Nacho Cheese Sauce. And Rocky Road ice cream.  Pretty sure this baby is a boy. 

I can't wait to get back to my yoga and real food to eat. Thus far I have to force veggies down my throat after a self pep talk every.single.meal because I know I need to. Dr has strictly enforced a no exercise rule on me which I've never had that happen before! Have had a few scares here and there with this pg and partly is forcing myself to slow down. Lots of pressure/pain where they've taken many tests to make sure I am not in pre-term labor. This started about 32 weeks. Last craze is the severe itchiness from head to toe which they were worried about ICP. It isn't, they don't know why, but at least we have the  relief of knowing that I am not going to miscarry which apparently can happen up to 40 weeks with ICP. Talk about living on pins for  a few days.

Happier days were going 'home' for 2 weeks to the WEST side!! And what a long ol' road it is. We sure put this kid through a lot. No sitting around at home waiting for her to grow up. We go, she goes and what a trooper she is in a 12 hour long car ride.

We played, we worked, and it was just plain good to have a change for 2 weeks. Zaiya and her Uncle Tony are great buds. This kid has absolutely no fear of anything. She was so happy to have her legs kicking in the water and leaning over to see the bottom which usually contains a crawdad or two. (I caught her one, she wasn't impressed.)

Sitting with cousins enjoying the summertime evening on the lake.

She loves water! And her Uncle Tony :)

And got around to shearing the poor sheep. Dustin's first go with that. He said it was fun, but he wouldn't make a habit out of it! :) We have 3 left from my sister Lynae's flock from high school days.

Zaiya couldn't let go of grandpa while they were sacking the wool. She wasn't scared of the sheep at all, just the wool!

VERY big wether. The muscles were working hard on Tony and Dustin!

I love this photo of Dad's pickup. Stock full of every need out in the hayfield! It is the way it is during haying season. And that nice stack of bales in the background. It just makes me happy!

Dad bringing home a load of hay

Zaiya went to meet grandpa along with the dogs, Whiski and Willie.

We also picked raspberries with grandma. By the gallons. And oh how good they were!

Zaiya loves sitting with Grandma. This is one where she brought the hymn book and they were singing. She's really getting into music, more so than dancing around. She climbs up on my electric piano and makes the thing just ring. I don't know how she gets 1/2 the keys to work because I never have!

So that was our trip back west. In the interim, Dustin bought a truck.

Sharing Sunday night popcorn.  She loves to read! This is a usual setting.

And she loves our dog Buddy. He wandered in about a year ago and never left. I hate him. (he's a 2 year old yellow lab. 'Nuf said.) But he would do anything for Zaiya. He never leaves her.

I think he WOULD like to leave her sometimes!! This is blurry thru the window, but she insisted he have a blanket over him in 90 degree weather! haha! Then she washed his blanket in his water dish. 

And a huge highlight... we have an "Uncle Graham" who is back in the states from Kenya for a time and we ran up to Aylesbury Canada to see him for a weekend. Worth every bit of travel involved and tenting it in a thunderstorm. Zaiya did amazingly well even though it was 100 degrees. So wonderful to see Gra. It's been 13 years since the last installment. My mom and several of her friends had a flat near his work in England some 40+ years ago. Wonderful a generational friendship!

Telling him a big story.

a Quick note ...

..for an update. Some of you know that my dad went in for a 5 bypass this morning. Four hours later he was through the successful surgery. Two hours after that he was awaken and eating a bit. For those that know dad well, meds do not do well with him. Ever. In his delirious state of awake and being spoon fed from mom and Jewel, he was complaining that "they didn't fix his adenoids yet cause he still is snortin' and kept referring to them as his muffler bearings." and that "he thought they stripped his gears".  Even in a hospital, flat on his back, he is still farming!! (Although we are very amused at muffler bearings. Their purpose...their very description for that matter!)

I think all of us have laughed more that that is actually funny but the relief we all feel is tremendous and we are left feeling very very thankful.

This all started with him 10 days ago going to schedule his knee replacement. They do a physical
and a lot of things with his heart showed up. Considering his father had a triple bypass in his mid 70's and his brother passed away of a sudden heart attack 4 years ago, the Doctor said he was lucky he came in as it could have been just days/seconds from something not good at all.

We have been shaken up a bit to put it mildly. All of us. I think today was the "easy" part, not discounting the incredible Doctor, but more that drugs and dad don't mix (he responds to them 10 times more than the average person) and he is going to be in tremendous pain. They don't mess around though. Tomorrow he has to sit in a chair to get breakfast.

Mom has braced up well considering. Tending is a lot harder than it is being tended and at least he'll be in the hospital for 5 days. The real work comes after that. He can't even drive for 10 weeks (not that he'll even feel like it) but it is just the time of year that we need all hands on deck. It'll work out. Hasn't it all before?!  Jewel is with her now, Lynae and Taylor will come in 10 days time and depending on his recovery, I will go some time later. A little harder being 18 weeks pregnant, not able to bounce around on a tractor all day to help with planting, and having a 16 month old who is very active, loves her grandpa, and probably not very quiet like grandpa needs!!

Thanks for all your care and your thoughts our way.

Carmyn

PS Mom just texted that after he was out of the "delirious" it was amazing! Even in one hour he had it figured out who his nurse's mom and dad were and they were who we got Cheyenne (a roping horse) and her colt.

Knowing dad, I'm not even one bit surprised over this. He'll know everyone in that hospital by the time he goes home...

In addition to....

We've had some nice days this week, excepting the wind, but oh how wonderful it is to see the grass starting to turn green!! Gives me hope for flowers, for color, for summer outfits without my SmartWools and Cuddleduds!!

Haven't been posting very much and I have a reason. I'm a mother of a very very ohmyword very busy toddler. At 15 months there is nothing she can't get into and nothing she hasn't tried. This morning I found her in my closet "shopping" which consists of riffling through all my clothes, inspecting them with great intent and throwing them on the floor... in my super tired brain and body, this is harder to keep up with than it was a month ago. No, a week ago. 

How do they change so much, so fast? Still?!

But tired is acceptable I suppose. Zaiya is going to have a brother or sister Oct 19th. I am feeling great, tired, but great. And I'll take tired because with the first monkey I was horribly sick for 7 long months.  

Zaiya found this name book (only she knows where) and has packed it around often over the last 2 weeks. I think she's concerned we don't have an inkling of ideas for names...! She even "reads" it, stopping at a page and seemingly studies it out. Today there was special concentration in the R's. !!!

Happy days to Us!

Lots of smiles today! Happy 15 months sweet Zaiya!!

Ashley Lake in February

We went home in February for a week. Dustin got to feed cows, be outside on the farm, drive tractors, and assist all the times we were stuck. There was about 20 inches of snow that fell when we were there... the beauty of it is it came straight down!! And STACKED!! It didn't blow away.  *sigh* I know people dislike shoveling snow, but I do miss the snow coming straight down and never at a 45 degree angle!

The stuck factor can be an issue especially when it involved pickups, a tractor and our last resort was starting the D7 CAT which hadn't been used in 7 months. It took Tony three hours (I was his assist for the first hour) to start and had to let it run all night. Worked slick! but a 13 hour period passed... At least the cows were already fed before the whole debacle!

I got to cook in mom's fabulous kitchen, make a mess of the downstairs basement in sorting things from years gone by to get rid of stuffity stuff that seems to accumulate with a lifetime of a well-loved, well-lived in house.

Zaiya did nothing but be her cheerful silly self and got the most reward for it all in loves, laughs, cuddles, and food.  :) This kid can eat.

Of course I had my camera and of course I took it out maybe twice in the 7 days we were gone. Why is that?!

In the office with Grandpa.

Grandma and Zaiya playing. She learned how to say Kitty when we were there. 

Grandpa teaching Zaiya bad manners!! True moment that you can get away with anything at grandpa & grandmas!

Going to feed the chickens :) Look how far down her little sled is... She loves to go sledding. 

My birthday is in Feb. Right about Valentine's Day and Mom insisted I needed "my" cake. Since it's so close to the holiday, I have had a Red Velvet Heart Cake for as long as I can remember, sometimes changed up with a delectable dark chocolate torte with a gorgeous Raspberry Sauce and whipped cream. No issues here!! This year, Zaiya helped make my cake with grandma. So cute!!

Zaiya loves Uncle Tony. Her word right now is Hi. And Hi to everything and everyone at any opportunity :)  It was so cute Sunday morning as we were all sitting quietly, she saw her cousins walk in (3 little girls under the age of 6) and proceeded to tell them all hi several times!! We all grinned as it wasn't too much of a disturbance and fairly early yet. A few minutes later, Tony walks in and sits behind and to the right of Dustin who was holding Zaiya. Suddenly the Hi's became loud and repeated! She scrambles up and out of Dustin's arm and bales over the couch right into Tony. I was just glad he was paying attention!! He was grinning all over himself. She sat quietly in his arms, took a bookmark out of his Bible and then wanted back to her daddy. :) What a kid.

On the way back to Wibaux, we stopped in Billings to see Aunt Jewel :) This is a photo from the month before, but it's the only photo I have of our week spent there.... I nicely erased everything from that week but this photo... :( 

Birthday Girl!!

On January 11th 2013, a stork delivered us this bundle....

It is amazing how fast a year flies from the time a new baby is brought home until the time their first birthday rolls around. Thank goodness I am not the same person I was a year ago - a whopping large whale - but more than that, she's changed me. Thank goodness. Cause me needs lotsa improvements.

I learned patience. Mountains of it.
I'm still learning patience.
I learned the feeling of sweetpainlove feeling whenever I watch this child. I don't know another description for that.
I learned that you can be exhausted and still get up and function.
I learned that beautiful is not what I'm wearing, or me, but it's the reaction of a sweet little face gazing at me and a proud daddy cuddling his girls.
I learned that it's impossible not to talk babyish to a little angel who is learning new things.
I learned that to give thanks at the table or reading my Bible with her in my lap matters even when it seemed so fruitless at the time with scattered thoughts because now she respects it.
I learned that I thought I knew what loving someone was like. I didn't. That feeling consumes me daily.
And I learned that I'm still learning.
And the more I learn, the less I know, the more I'll learn.

Being a mom is the best thing and the hardest thing. And when it's all weighed in the balances, it's the best.

What a privilege!

So happy birthday baby girl. We love you so much we can't even come up with a good verb for it.

1 Month

6 Months

We are lame parents. I know parents who spend weeks planning a first birthday and it is all so picture perfect and cute and everyone says awwww when they see the photos posted the same evening of the party with the perfect decor, perfect cake, perfect smiles with the parents and baby, perfect little outfits, perfect color scheme and perfect theme.

I am not that parent.

For one, I looked at pinterest and found adorable ideas. I posted them. Looked at them repeatedly. And when it came down to it:

She is one years old. She doesn't have a clue what's going on.

When she's 10 and has a half dozen friends over for a slumber/birthday party? Yeah, I'll be paying for this party in 100-fold on that day. So why start it earlier than you have to??

See?

Horrible mom.

Kind of no nonsense, and lots of reality thrown in.

We did plan a prime rib dinner on the night of her birthday with her grandparents and a pink tablecloth with pink, white, dk brown balloons. She loves balloons. Daddy had to work and we didn't want anything too major. Always fun to have a room full and baby has a breakdown because there is so much going on right...?!
I had the meal planned out, everything ready to go, even down to the shrimp appetizer and jalapeno/bacon appetizer. I was going girly with white china and cloth napkins and maybe a plunked down vase of carnations. That decor would have taken 5 minutes on thought, 10 minutes on execution. That's my kind of style. And the food? Well what's easier than prime rib? (well thanksgiving turkey is, but I digress) Just have to keep. eyes. on. it. Not too hard. And a meat thermometer. Always have a reliable meat thermometer. It's as necessary as knives. And chocolate. The appes are quick to do and can be done before hand. Salad done, twice bake potatoes can be done the day before and warmed the last 15 minutes of cooking the prime rib. I made bread a couple days ago and froze the rolls. The hardest part of this meal I can promise is a baby climbing up your leg every 15 seconds pointing at the bananas. Because she could exist solely on bananas and muffins. If I let her.

And what do you know, a sick baby turned into very sick baby. We've been fighting it since Christmas when the flu bug hit us. And now it's a head cold that won't quit. We went to the Dr. We cancelled the party.

We did have a Birthday Breakfast though! I made GF apple/pear muffins which are AWESOME and Zaiya ate 2 1/2 of them and would have stolen my other half if I hadn't hid it.

Birthday Girl

Still a sleepy girl

She can recognize the muffin tin. And at this point it was getting a little too long to wait.

What is that thing in my muffin?? 

She has no fear. She poked the candle out of the way and in the muffin she went.

Ahh muffins! No smash cake here! Just a very delicate one finger and thumb pick up and insert in mouth. Repeat.

Not the little birthday we were planning, however smallish it was. But we are okay with that. Small is good and easier. And not having one is okay too. She's one!

And then daddy left for work and mommy and baby made a kitchen stove out of a diaper box and a couple door knobs I had lying around. That was our big pressie :) I made her some outfits but I don't feel like wrangling a sick baby into trying on clothes. That is the least fun I could think of doing for myself or her.

Little skeptic about the nobs because she's been playing with them unassembled for a week.

I love this photo of her flinging the sink! It's such a violent toss and her expression is so bland!! 

Then before nap time we played with balloons. She is a sweet little love. And we can't get enough of her little ways and talks. She says mum mum and yeah. What a dolly.

HappyBirthday!