it's been a while!

Wow I didn't realize it's been almost two months since I've blogged. Just goes to show how fast time flies with little ones! I am so thankful that I'm home to enjoy this beautiful fall day with the kids. Thanks Grandpa for saving some of the leaves for us to play in...(or maybe you just ran out of bags??:)

Jonah and Levi fighting over the little rake...haha they are really starting to become little boys!

our new life

Today marks the two week anniversary of living with....what? my parents??? Two weeks ago we closed on our house and moved in with Mamas and Grandpa Brody. When we put our house on the market in July we weren't expecting it to sell four days later!!

Jonah has gained FOUR pounds since we've moved in 2 weeks ago. Haha!

Goodbye old house:(

It was so sad to leave the house that I brought my little ones home to. Plus, I was a little nervous but I have to admit that they have been so easy to live with! I am very thankful for their "sacrifice" and things are going really well over here at the Brody/Carlson residence. Jonah has become a total Grandma's boy and Jayda had no problem adjusting at all.

Quick update since my last post...Jonah turned ONE and is starting to walk! Jayda moved to a big girl bed and is POTTY TRAINED, we moved, Cliff and I had our FIVE year anniversary (and a really nice night away from the kids in Iowa City- thanks Gma and Gpa Carlson), my little Levi turned ONE, and Alisha and I are moving into a new position at the Credit Union. Lots of big changes this summer...I'm looking forward to taking it easy this fall and winter to gear up for our big project next spring.

what is a springform pan?

Among the many frustrations of today, I attempted to make a blueberry cheesecake for dessert tomorrow night. I followed the directions perfectly until I got to the sentence "press the mixture into the bottom of the springform pan"

Although I've heard of a springform pan, I don't really know what one is. What I DO know, is that I do not own a springform pan. So I did it my own way and baked it in a regular 13X9 pan. It looked great...until I baked it. The sides were puffed up and the middle looked raw. The directions also stated to "Remove the cake from the oven and cool completely on a cooling rack" So...I did it my own way again and flipped the fresh cheesecake upside down, onto a baking sheet, and then again onto wax paper. WHAT WAS I THINKING??

And that's life. We try to follow instructions from God, our parents, our boss...Even a sincere attempt to make a good cheesecake can end up in a disaster. What's even funnier is that it tastes pretty good. (ask Isaiah:) Sin is tasty, isn't it? How blessed we are to have a father and a savior who loves us enough to accept us as we are, and is there to clean up the mess that we've made to give us a new start. The Bible is true. His instructions are good. And his forgiveness is eternal.

Did I mention all four kids are sleeping right now? :)

almost one!

Today we met Holly at the UNI campus to take a few (or closer to 300:) pictures of Jonah for his first birthday, which is THIS FRIDAY! I can hardly believe it. ...I tried adding more of my favorites, but the files are too huge thanks to Holly's amazing new camera! Thank you Holly and thanks Kyle for staying in town the whole time with your tired and hungry kids! I can't wait to get some of these printed!

another Carlson wedding

Yesterday we went to Iowa City to witness the marriage of Cliff's cousin, Travis, and Megan. The ceremony was outside and picture perfect...except for the HEAT! I'm not sure what the index was, but with the humidity I'm guessing it was over 100 degrees. I watched the first half of the wedding behind a fence because Jayda wanted to "go inside" but there was no where to go. I think this was our first wedding/reception with two little ones. I'll just say that getting ready for the event was more fun than trying to keep them occupied for 5 1/2 hours (totally my fault for not bringing any toys. I guess I'll know better next time.)

here's my boys getting ready to go...aren't they handsome?

and the cute newlyweds...

and here's Jonah sweating his little tooshie off.

we eventually stripped him down to his shorts. Jayda appears to be loving on him, but this shot was taken a few seconds after she was pretending to bite his back. ??? She is so sweet and so naughty sometimes!

Here's a random thing that most of you have probably heard about by now. The other morning I was drying my hair and heard Jayda screaming in the kitchen. We had waffles for breakfast...apparently she wanted more syrup because she had stuck her finger in the bottle and it was TOTALLY stuck. I panicked because her finger was already turning purple and it had swelled enough to make it impossible to slide off. After water, soap, and trying to cut the lid with a normal scissors, (and panicking with the thought of her finger falling off...or having to take her to urgent care for THIS) we found a way to cut it off with a metal cutters. She now says that it was "silly" although I would say it was more scary at the time. Just glad there was no harm done and no bill to pay!

hi

My little bear is growing up so fast...he is crawling, starting to stand pretty well, eats cheerios on a daily basis, gets really mad when I take his toys away, and.........talking?!?!? About a week ago he started waving, and somewhere between then and now he started to actually say hi when I wave to him. Any bets on what his next word will be???

faith like a child:)

Tonight Jayda threw a book at me (not really intentionally) and hit my arm.  She kissed it and said, "God will heal it..." (something we usually say after getting owies)

then she says..."God's in m-m-my heart...and God's in y-y-your heart too? 

...and God's in the basement?....i-i-in the hole?  and he's on the wall?"

This all came from our conversation last night.  We were talking about Him healing another owie and she said, "God will come heal it and then he will go bye bye?  Where is God?"  I didn't think my conversations with a 2 1/2 year old would be this deep.  He's everywhere.  He's way up high, he's here, and there, and he's in your heart and mommie's heart too.  

"He's in my heart?  What is my heart mommie?  ...and he's in your heart too?"  We were in the basement and she looked up at the ceiling and said "I want to see him... hold me way high up"  So I did. 

The "hole" is the heat vent which she kept trying to look into, to see God.  Seek and you shall find, right? :) 

  

a good day

It's so hard to start a post when you have so much to talk about.  Considering it's been over a month since I last shared...  I'll start with today.  Right now it is nap time for the big kids, and I'm guessing that I have about 15 minutes before one of the babies wakes up.  Even after one blow out, puke all over the exersaucer, and Levi getting a black eye, it has been a really good morning. Sometimes I wonder if the neighbors are laughing at me when they peek out their windows and see the chaos.  In Jayda's words, "oh well:)"

We added some water to our sandbox...which made things a lot messier and a lot funner...

Even Jonah got to get his hands dirty!  (sorry Levi- you were sleeping!)  He played in the sand for a few minutes before he even tried eating it.  That's unheard of for my little guy- it's usually straight from his hands to his mouth.    

 

eating the the leftover sand...

After playing outside, the big kids got to take a bath (and "swim") and then.....SMOOTHIE TIME!  They think the blender is hilarious.  Then it was movie time, books, and naps.  (and somehow I was able to do a few loads of laundry in the middle of everything.  All credit to my abba in heaven- he is good, isn't he?:)    

 

Next post...Jonah CRAWLING!!!  (as soon as I can get a good video of it!)

  

the walker

Here is one of Jonah's new tricks...he has learned how to get around in the walker!!!  Nevermind the girl in the background who is whining for "her own" ice cream:)  He thinks it's pretty cool and we've even found him trying to get into things already (like the plates on the console table, the freezer:)  I might have to re-baby proof the house!  

He is growing up fast, isn't he?!  He even has his first ear infection:( confirmed by the doctor at his 8 month appointment today.  Poor thing has been pretty miserable the last few days...104 degree fever...runny nose...waking up in the night several times.  It's been fun, but we're hoping the antibiotics will do their thing.  Fast:)  

He is now weighing in at 17.8 pounds and the percentages at his apppointment were 25% for head, 10-25% for weight, and 50-75% for height!  Skinny little thing!!!   

number thirteen!

On Monday, baby Homan decided it was finally time for some fresh air:)  I was home with the kiddos when I found out Heidi was at the hospital.  I was still waiting for a phone call from Holly when Cliff emailed asking if she had the baby already (thanks to facebook- haha) .  I had to look all over for my phone.  Of course it was on vibrate and I couldn't find it.  I finally found it and got confirmation- he was here!  Heidi did great and he is a beautiful healthy baby boy with dark hair.  Jayda was very excited to meet "baby homan" and even got to hold him that night!  I guess this is as good of picture you can get with three little ones...

oh and I almost forgot-  His name is Devin James Homan.  Pretty adorable, don't you think?!

J & j

Jayda loves playing with her little brother...before I took this picture, she was sitting next to Jonah with her arm around him showing him all the toys.  It was so cute!  Have I also mentioned how much Jonah loves his big sister??  They will always be best friends right??? 

One more cute story- yesterday I was trying to teach Jayda that her diapers have a "five" on them and Jonah's have a "three"  (they both use Luv's and sometimes it's hard to tell the difference)  So when we were eating pizza last night, I asked Jayda how old she was.  She said, "FIVE!" :)      

we made challah!

Since my mom has been in Israel the last few weeks, I decided it was time to start making challah for our family on Friday nights.  I've always depended on her to make it and every week we look forward to our little family night...blessings...wine...bread...good food...and just being together without all of the distractions of everyday life.  I might be getting a little sentimental, but there's just something special about starting traditions with your kids and making bread is going to be something that I (and hopefully the kids too) will look forward to each week!  So this morning we woke up and got started right away...and look what we made!!!  

I was pretty excited that it turned out so well since last week's was...um...not so perfect:) 

Here was our first attempt last Friday...apparently you can "kill" yeast with water that is too hot.  Maybe that's why it was like a lump of dough even after it was baked...

BUSTED!!!  At least someone liked it!  I finally had to move the bread to the top of the fridge...it looked like a little mouse had gotten to them.  (ok so all those missing pieces weren't just from Jayda...:)

making baby food & sitting up

On Tuesday I worked from 8-12 and Alisha was nice enough to keep J&j for the afternoon while I went home to make some home made baby food!!  It was a LOT of fun and pretty easy!  (thank you Jess for the idea and tips!)  The picture above is about half of what $18 of pureed produce looks like.  I made peas, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, peaches, and bananas.  Jonah LOVES all of it and I'm probably stocked up now for at least a few months!!  

In other news...Jonah is now able to sit up really well by himself!  

I think he is in transition from sleeping all day to wanting to be awake (and held) more and more which is an adjustment for me (and probably Alisha too:) but he has been such a happy guy lately...just think in a few months he will be a little rug rat!  

 

best buds

I am still amazed at how well Jayda and Isaiah play together...sometimes she will even ask Isaiah for help before coming to me!  Their new thing lately is to take turns on the potty...Isaiah went pee on the potty three times on Monday!!!  Jayda likes to sit on the potty but hasn't quite figured out how to get there in time.  On Wednesday I made them each a potty chart, so now instead of an M&M each time they pee, they will get a sticker and when they finally go #2 in the potty they will get a "special treat"!  Last night Jayda was looking at all the stickers and she wanted one so bad!  So she sat on the potty a long time but still no luck.  I explained she only gets a sticker after she pees, and she agreed, "yea- I go pee on the potty and get a hot dog sticker!"  (hot dog is her name for mickey mouse)  Haha, she'll get it soon enough:)

The other day I caught them snuggling during their "show" before nap time.  It was too cute not to share...

Here's another picture of them playing outside this last week... I am so excited for spring to get here- it is going to be so much fun playing outside with the little ones!!!

has it really been 6 months???

Six months ago we were blessed with our little Jonah.  We weren't expecting to meet him for a few weeks, but when I went to my 37 week appointment, my midwife told me to go home and get my things because I was going to have a baby that day!  A little shocked and totally nervous, I called Cliff, who was on his way to get the oil changed on his car.  He said something like, "so you mean I don't have time to get my oil changed???"  About 6 hours later...

It's a boy!  (officially!)   I love this picture of me and my mom...what a special moment to have her witness the birth of our second baby, and first born son!  

Here is newborn Jonah... weighing 6 pounds 10 ounces...

And here is 6 month old Jonah...he now weighs almost 16 pounds!!

Here are some sweet pictures Jayda help me take this morning:)  I went a little nuts on the sepia tones but isn't he precious?!:)

oops...

Jayda wanted to play with markers this morning so I had this great idea to tape her coloring pages to the countertop and let her color while I worked on some laundry.  This is what I found when I came back to check on her....

It was all over her hands, the walls, her chair, and even her socks.  She was so proud of her work, it was hard not to laugh...and I think I learned my lesson!  Thank goodness for washable markers!

fun video, pictures, &...teething???

Sweet Moves!

This is a few weeks old, but so cute...Isaiah and Jayda love to dance to all kinds of music.  Since we bought Jayda her own little pink cd player, she has been playing the Go Fish cd's that Alisha gave to us ALL DAY LONG.  A few times I have peeked in her room and found her dancing to Go Fish and watching Elmo all by herself (a rare thing for Jayda to play by herself!) 

Sweet Shades!

A few days ago Jayda decided to put her sunglasses on "Jo" as she now calls him:)   It was too funny...even Jonah was laughing!

Sweet Stash!

Mr. Potato Head is one of Jayda's favorite toys right now...she really likes to get creative with the pieces hahaha...

Sweet girl...

It's amazing how fast my babies are growing up!  Jonah will be 6 months soon and Jayda is becoming such a good big sister!  I have noticed her becoming more motherly lately...this morning during breakfast she had one of her dollies on the table next to her cereal.  She gently patted the baby's belly the entire time.  It was really sweet! 

teething??? 

So I know there's lots of stuff going around, but I am beginning to think Jonah is teething.  He hasn't been himself since yesterday.  He only ate three times ALL day and his poor nose is running like crazy.  Last night we took his temperature (haha...the accurate way...Jayda watched and then said, "my butt!!!  mama butt!!!") and he had his first fever of 99.9 degrees...Every time I try to feed him he gets very angry and I'm pretty sure his bottom gums look more um..bumpy?  We put a washcloth on his head last night and I think it helped a lot.  Jayda had to put a "hat" on her head too:)