Happy Birthday Lilly!

Four years ago today was a very big and important day for our family. The day started out with a trip to the hospital to have our second child. We arrived at 8 am, got settled in, and they started my induction. Around 10:15 we got some great news--no, the baby wasn't born...our realtor called Andy's cell to say the offer we'd placed on a house was accepted! We were soon to be home-owners and we were so excited to have our own house to raise our kids. And what a day to get that great news!

The rest of the day was pretty basic and low-key, until Lilly's delivery. It was probably one of the scariest moments of our lives, as well as our parents' and sisters'. I had gotten an interthecal, which is like s step down from an epidural. We don't know what happened, but instead of just taking away the pain it left me completely unable to feel anything from my belly down. That wasn't such a bad thing until Lilly's heart-rate started taking dives and slowing down. I felt completely helpless because I couldn't feel what was going on to be able to contribute anything to the nurse. Long story short, I delivered her without even knowing it, that's how numb I was. We don't know how long she was out until I mentioned that I was getting feeling back and the nurse checked me. It was so terrifying to see her lying there, not breathing, and have the nurse tell Andy to go get any doctor NOW. Our doctor (loved him and miss him dearly now that he's no longer at our hospital) just happened to be coming to check on me and walked in right then. He got Lilly breathing and all checked out, and she was fine.

Lilly Irene was born at 5:36 (that's when we found her) and weighed in at 7lbs 1oz. She had the darkest blue eyes, which quickly turned brown, and dark brown hair. She was just a peanut and loved to snuggle in with whomever was holding her.

Later in the evening, once things had calmed down, our doctor came back in and apologized for the lack of attention paid to our desires (we had asked the nurse repeatedly to call him when she started having the decels in her heart rate) He explained that the decels were tell-tale signs of the baby moving into the birthing canal and that the nurse had completely dropped the ball. He also said that she was no longer employed by the hospital after this "incident."

Though she made such a fuss when she entered this world, she's been the calmest and easiest-going little person around. Sure, she is a whirlwind and full of energy, but she also is the sweetest, most loving little big girl around.

And today she turns 4. Four is the year that I can no longer pretend that she's my baby. At 3, they are still toddlers and still learning so much in the language and physical development departments. But at 4, they know how to communicate and run and jump and ride bike and do puzzles and so many other things. She's a big girl now.

We celebrated her birthday with family and friends this past Saturday, on one of the most beautiful days you could ask for in Wisconsin in October. The sun was shining and it was upper 60s, so we were able to be outside much of the day. This year was the first time that she asked for a themed party, so we did pumpkins like she requested. We had a pumpkin cake, pumpkin candles, pumpkin decorations, the whole family wore orange. For her present from us, we went as a family to see Laurie Berkner in concert. She's Lilly's favorite singer and WOW, was it a good show. It was so fun to see how excited all 3 girls were and the cool factor was only upped when we got free seat up-grades to the second row! It was a great birthday weekend.

So now that I've written a novel, I'll leave you with a picture overload...

My uncle Brian and I comparing bellies when I was 8 months

Newborn Lilly

Lilly at 11 months

Lilly's 2nd Birthday

Lilly's 3rd birthday

Cake from this year

My big 4 year old (well, almost in this picture)

Riding her new bike!

Lighting the candles

The whole congregation sang to her at church on Sunday

Lilly had volunteered a couple of weeks ago for a solo and sang it Sunday

Two anxious girls waiting for Laurie Berkner

Happy family in the new seats

Daddy & a tired Mikayla before the show started

Laurie Berkner!

Laurie & Adam Bernstein, her bassist

Lilly was so intent on the action the whole time

Suzy Lampert, Laurie, Adam

Lilly dancing

Mikayla and Alayna dancing

I'm not that old...

Saturday morning I went on a trail-ride with some friends. As I was brushing my hair and getting ready to go, Lilly wandered into the bathroom. She watched as I put moisturizer on my face and then asked, "Mommy, is that sunscreen so you don't get burned today?"

"No, honey, it's moisturizer so my skin stays nice," I said as I rubbed extra cream around my eyes.

"Lilly," Alayna says, in her 'I-know-more-than-you-do older sister voice', "Mommy has these things called bags under her eyes. She's trying to get rid of them."

Thanks, darling child of mine. Yes, I have bags under my eyes sometimes from too little sleep or too much going on or how many other million things. But to point them out?! And then educate her little sister on them?! That was a step or two too much. Sure, there have been days where they are more suitcases than bags. But there have been plenty of days where they aren't there at all. Now I have to wonder about who I think I've been kidding. Look what came in the mail today:

You grew up in small-town Wisconsin if...

Okay, I feel the need to post a disclaimer at the top of this post. It's from a chain e-mail and I can only attest to about 99% of these. There's at least one that is not true in my case! LOL



* You know how to polka, but never tried it sober.

* You know what knee-high by the Fourth of July means

* You know it is traditional for the bride and groom to go bar hopping between the reception and wedding dance.

* You know the difference between 'Green' and 'Red' farm machinery, and would fight with your friends on the playground over which was better!

* You buy Christmas presents at Fleet Farm or Farm and Fleet

* You spent more on beer & liquor than you did on food at your wedding.

* You hear someone use the word 'oof-dah' and you don't break into uncontrollable laughter.

* You or someone you know was a 'Dairy Princess' at the county fair.

* You know that 'combine' is a noun.

* You let your older siblings talk you into putting your tongue on a steel post in the middle of winter.

* You think Lutheran and Catholic are THE major religions.

* You know that 'creek' rhymes with 'pick'.

* Football schedules, hunting season and harvest are all taken into consideration before wedding dates are set.

* A Friday night date is getting a six-pack and taking your girlfriend shining for deer.

* Saturday you go to your local bowling alley.

* There was at least one, if not several, in your class who had to help milk cows in the morning. And/or smelled like it.

* You have driven your car on the lake.

* You can make sense of 'upnort' and 'baatree'.

* Every wedding dance you have ever been to has the hokey pokey and the chicken dance.

* Your definition of a small town is one that only has one bar.

* The local gas station sells live bait.

* At least twice a year some part of your home doubles as a meat processing plant.

* You think that the start of deer season is a national holiday.

* You actually understand these jokes!

She's growing up

Mikayla has apparently had enough of this play-all-day baby stuff. Now that she kind of has the potty in the toilet thing down and can get other people to understand her about 50% of the time, she's ready for the real world...

She just walked up to me with a purse on each shoulder, a baby in her arms and her toy cell phone in hand..."Kiss?" She asked, while holding her face up to mine. How could I resist?! I honored her request for a kiss, then watched as she mounted her ride-on car and drove off into the sunset. Or maybe it was the entry-way. Either way, as Mikayla drove past me she waved and called, "Bye-bye! See ooo yater!"

I don't know what I'm most shocked about. That she did it all and was so mature about it, giving me a glimpse into the future...or that she looked and acted just like ME while doing it!

Why I love living in the country

I love living in the country...


*We own 5 acres, so our girls will often take their stick-horses out and ride on the horse trails in the pasture. It's great time spent outside, running around getting exercise! Even when they aren't riding their horses--real or stick--they have room to run and play without too many worries of strangers or traffic.

*I love that my animals are at my house. I can see and hear the horses all day long. If I want to go for a ride, I get Andy to watch the girls and I just go. I don't have to drive anywhere. Our dog has lots of room to run and play. She can often be found monitoring the yard, doing rounds like a guard on duty. The cats have their favorite places for hunting and napping. Sure, I don't like the "treats" that they leave for me, ever so proud, on the front porch. But that's part of life.

*Local families and gardeners will pick their gardens and put any excess produce on a trailer at the end of their driveway. The trailer will be un-manned and have a coffee-can for "Free-will donations." People can take and give what they want.


*Above-mentioned trailer of produce is hardly ever stolen from--produce or money-wise.


*We can be playing in our yard and have deer, bunnies, and other wildlife walk right across the driveway. The other night our neighbor also had a bear walk through his yard, across the road and into our pasture, but we weren't home to see it.


*When we go for walks, bike or horse rides, people always wave and slow down as a courtesy. If we walk or ride by and people are outside in their yards, they'll yell hello or stop to talk to us. Even if we don't know them.


*At night, the sky is so dark and full of stars. And there's a "quiet" that's unique to the country. There are no car noises or factories or sirens. There are coyotes and crickets and frogs and owls. Those natural noises lull you to sleep or help you relax better than an ambiance cd anytime.


*When I look out my windows or stand anywhere in my yard, I cannot see the neighbors. Yes, we call them neighbors because they are the next closest houses, but they are 1/4 mile away at the closest. All I see when I look around are trees and wilderness.


*There are plenty of learning experiences on our own land. The girls learn about life cycles of animals and plants, they collect rocks and leaves and pinecones, they have exposure to plenty of nature's things without going more than a few feet out the backdoor.

Fall is Here

Fall is officially here and it's starting to look like it, too. I took this picture just yesterday of the leaves starting to turn. In a week or so, things will be brilliantly colored. Stay tuned...

Weekend Review

Andy was out of town this past weekend with some friends, so us girls had some fun. Afterall when Daddy's away, the girls can play, right?! He left for his fishing trip to Devil's Lake, North Dakota on Thursday morning. Well, this is what happened after that fateful morning...

I woke up on Friday and our 7.5 year old turned 15 overnight. Seriously. Doesn't she look at least 14.75 anyway? She thought that meant she could stay awake for the Ladies' Night that I had here Friday. Didn't work, but she tried.

Saturday we went to the Twin Cities. Well, we live over 70 miles from the cities and with gas prices what they are, we combine trips and maximize our experience. Before ending our day at our friends' BBQ, we went to Sam's Club, the mall, Wal-Mart and Como Zoo. Can anyone spot the giraffe? (You may have to click on the pic to make it bigger)

At Como, they also have a mini amusement park for kids. The girls got to go on some rides and they had a blast.

Sunday morning we went to church, where Mikayla got to play outside while the girls were in Sunday school. The wind was blowing and she was having fun. Love the hair.

After running some errands, it was nap-time. During nap-time, I practiced making Lilly's birthday cake. She wants a pumpkin themed party and my friend Alicia inspired me to make a pumpkin shaped cake. Mine is smaller than most people's, but I think it turned out great. I used one cake mix and 2 glass bowls for baking, instead of 2 mixes in 2 bundt pans. The little cake will be for Lilly and whomever she chooses, everyone else will get cupcakes on the big day. This cake turned out better than expected (I've never done anything like this before) so it was a surprise for Daddy when he came home.


Then the best part of the whole weekend...Daddy came home! The girls all ran and hugged him, clung to him, talked to him non-stop about the weekend and I was left in blissful peace. They didn't want or need me after not having Daddy for 4 days. It was GREAT!

One Word Says It All

Fun and not as easy as it looks!

1. Where is your cell phone? ............counter
2. Your significant other?................sexy
3. Your hair?............................shorter
4. Your mother?...............vacationing
5. Your father?.....................vacationing (I'm a little jealous, LOL)
6. Your favorite thing?...................riding
7. Your dream last night?...................unrecallable (is that even a word?!)
8. Your favorite drink? ...................milk
9. Your dream/goal?...........................happiness
10. The room you're in?......................family room
11. Your ex?.............................nice
12. Your fear?...........................unhappiness
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years?........home
14. Where were you last night?.............home
15. What you're not?.......................rested
16. Muffins?..............................blueberry
17. One of your wish list items?..............furniture
18. Where you grew up?........................Wisconsin
19. The last thing you did?.......................phonecall
20. What are you wearing?...................jeans
21. Your TV?............................clunky
22. Your pets?............................loyal
23. Your computer? ...................works
24. Your life?.............................wonderful
25. Your mood?............................good
26. Missing someone?...................yes
27. Your car/truck?.....................broken :-(
28. Something you're not wearing?..............shoes
29. Favorite Store?..........................Sam's
30. Your summer?.....................over
31. Like someone?....................hubs
32. Your favorite color?......................red
33. Last time you laughed?..................recently
34. Last time you cried?......................hmmmmm
35. Who will re-post this?................dunno

Now re-post this with your own answers if you wish! If not, then don't worry about it.

*Did you all see the adorable videos below this post?!

America's Got Talent, Here We Come!

We listen to a lot of music in our house. We listen to "Mommy music," which is just about anything--classic 80s, country, christian, oldies, "Hippy Lesbian music" as Andy calls things like Sarah MacLachlan and Enya; "Daddy music" isn't heard as often in the house because he works a lot and listens to hard-rock (which I do, too, but it's not generally in my music rotation on the computer), and then there's the kid music. That's listened to a LOT. We listen to Backyardigan CDs, sing traditional nursery rhyme-type songs and spend lots of time with Laurie Berkner. It's not uncommon at all for the tv to not get turned on and just recycle the kids' cds in the cd player all day long. Needless to say, our girls sing a lot. They sing about what they did, their animals, their family...Lilly has even been known to sing during, and about, going potty.

Well, Mikayla has caught on. She sings and dances all the time. It's so cute, especially now that you can understand and follow her when she's singing. She knows several songs that other people know. She also has a few songs that are total gibberish, but she consistently sings the same sounds and tune.

Usually, whenever I pull out the camera to video Mikayla singing, she's shies away and stops with the vocals. Yesterday, however, she kept right on singing. It's a little hard to understand her, but if you know what she's singing you can totally follow along and catch it all right with her. Remember, she is only 20 months old. So without further ado, here is Twinkle Twinkle and the ABCs (with Twinkle Twinkle thrown in at the end...she's already caught on that it's the same tune!)

We are pretty...oh so pretty!

Now that I've firmly got that song stuck in your head--with only a slight modification in the lyrics--I'll continue on with my post. Take a look at us.



Aren't we oh so pretty? Thursday night Andy was at a church council meeting, so it was just us girls at home. I had taken a few pictures of the girls and then was told "Let's get a picture all together!" Ummm, okay. After about 15 shots with missing siblings or chins or eyebrows or total blur, we got this pretty decent picture. Jealous, aren't you? And yes, my arm was getting awful sore from all the self-portraits of ourselves.

Then on Saturday, we were getting ready to go to a baby shower. Alayna took one look at me and says, "Mom, let me take your picture since your hair is actually done all nice." Hmmm, should I take that as a compliment, or an insult?