Timothy's first active Christmas

I wanted to make sure that my title was accurate: Timothy was here in time for Christmas last year, but was still in the NICU last year and really too young to understand what was going on. This year, he is still not old enough to understand what was going on, but he could at least participate in the festivities. And boy was he busy!

With a birthday so close, by Christmas morning he got the hang of opening presents. As long as we took any little pieces of paper away. And we pulled off half of the paper too. :) He was also dealing with an ear infection and a very congested head. Can you tell by the color of his nose and the pathetic look on that face? The poor kid was sneezing large amounts of goo every 5 minutes. Hence the snot rag...I mean bib.

After church, we drove to Rapid and spent the afternoon/evening at Jared's aunt and uncle's house. Timothy hung out (happily, I might add) with lots of family members.

We also spent the next few days at grandma and grandpa's house...playing cards...

Playing with our new car...

playing with all of the toys at grandma and grandpa's house...

and playing the piano (as well as discovering dynamics, especially forte). :)

We also celebrated mine and Jared's birthdays while we were out there. Unfortunately, our get together kicked off the passing of a stomach bug. Which so far none in our immediate family has gotten.

And it will hopefully stay that way.

Overall, we had a really nice time and there are lots of pictures in the picasa album.

The joys of Christmas

Timothy has been busy! Helping mommy sew (by happily playing with plastic storage containers), checking the mail for Christmas cards (and then eating all of the envelopes), and being assistant baker (shaking up the colored sugar). I am so thankful, especially this week as I am trying to finish up last minute projects, that Timothy still takes 2 naps. :)

Baby #2

I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family. :) Baby Nies is about 12 weeks along and should be joining us the end of June. We found out on Halloween that we were pregnant and I have been DYING to post this! We told both sets of grandparents about 2 weeks afterwards and most of the extended family around Thanksgiving.

So far, the pregnancy is going well. I was really nauseous and had a strong gag reflex for a few weeks, but that is calming down. Yay! I have also been pretty tired, but not nearly as much as with Timothy. Of course, I am not going to work at 6am either, so maybe that has something to do with it. :) I am looking forward to sharing updates with you as we go along!

Freezing fog

I don't think I have ever experienced a freezing fog before. Timothy and I have been enjoying the beauty from inside while Jared has been dutifully sliding his way down to church.

Day 1:

Day 2:

Party time!

Saturday we had a great time celebrating Timothy's 1st birthday with family and friends. We have been truly blessed with wonderful people in our lives!

He wasn't really interested in the cupcake. I have this feeling that he will be one of those kids who doesn't like to get messy and will not be into finger painting. :)

There are more pictures in the picasa December page, so check them out!

First Birthday!

How can I be a mother of a one year old already?!?!

I can hardly believe it, but just one year ago, we met Timothy:

Unfortunately for my son, he got his one year old check-up on his birthday, shots and all. He is 19 lbs and 28.5 inches. That puts him in the fifth percentile for weight, thirteenth percentile for height, and 28% weight for length. His doctor and parents couldn't be happier. With the MMR and chickenpox vaccines today, he is nearing the end of the vaccine cycle, which makes all of us very happy. We had the foresight to plan his appointment in the early afternoon, so after the shots were done, we went home and he had a nice nap. After a good 2 hours, he was ready to go!

He is standing at our coffee table and playing with toys for several minutes at a time, spending lots of time on his belly, lifting himself up off the floor, and scooting backwards. Whenever he tries to go forward, he smacks his forehead into the ground because he hasn't figured out how to get the arms moving, but he is so close! He much prefers walking around with help, especially at church when all the old ladies coo at him and he can flirt as he goes. :)

He got to open his present from Jared and I today and had more fun with the paper than anything else. More pics are in the picasa page. Many more to come with his party on Saturday!

The Latest Project

Jared loves Christmas lights. I have been hearing about how he is going to decorate his house for Christmas since we were dating. He did some while we were living in Litchfield, but he really wanted to go all out. Two weekends before Thanksgiving, with the help of his dad, Jared did this:

With every string of lights we own on the house, garage, and various trees, I think he did a pretty good job.

He is already planning bigger and better for next year...

First snowfall

Just so you know, I have been hearing for MONTHS (since April, when we found out that we were moving to SD) that I have no idea what winters are like because I have never lived in South Dakota. I am going to be miserable, I was told, and suffer greatly under piles of snow, through whipping wind, and sub-zero temperatures. With mild temperatures and basically no precipitation since September, I have been sorely disappointed in my first arctic experience thus far. Never mind that I come from Michigan, a state that also has harsh winter weather...I am going to stop there. Not stepping into that argument. :)

Anyway, I have been craving the first snowfall and we finally got some of the white stuff! Not much, just enough to cover the grass, but it was pretty to watch as it fell and it makes all of the dead stuff outside look so much nicer (the perfect snowfall in my opinion). It also gave my husband the opportunity to take Timothy out for his first ride, a fatherly duty he was looking forward to. Timothy really enjoyed the first two minutes, and then had enough. :) Maybe he will last a little longer the next time. They finished up by investigating the bird feeder.

How the mighty fall

After a full morning of playing, sleep came, but not without a fight. I still can't figure out how he loses socks in the crib. Only one more week until my little man turns one!

We have been decorating for Christmas and I have to be honest, I shed a few tears over this sweet ornament when it came out of the box:

The overnight nurses in the NICU were always crafting with the babies in the wee hours of the morning and we were surprised one morning with this little handprint! I can't believe how long his fingers were!

This is going to be a long week approaching his birthday for this momma if I am crying over his handprint...what a year it has been!