My Hiatus is Over...

So sorry for the loooong break I took. Life got a little chaotic and I am rarely by my computer with time to write. But the pictures have been downloaded off the camera and for the few people who read this I thought I would update.

Recent happenings:

Grace turned 3 on November 7th. She had a Dora themed birthday party with friends and family and had a wonderful time. In fact it took a lot of convincing the next morning that her birthday was over. Grace started going to a mom's day out program in Sept and is really enjoying her time. She will gladly talk about her teacher Ms. Elaine. Grace always astounds us at what she says and remembers. She has officially graduated out of Physical Therapy as her gross motor skills are pretty much right on for a 3 year old. We don't ever have to go back unless we start to see problems

Norah is 11 months old and our little destructo baby. She doesn't crawl yet but she can get around scooting on her bottom. You might think it would take her awhile to get from one place to another but it really doesn't. She likes to take things apart and fling the pieces every which way. She is very opinionated (I think she gets that from me). Her vocabulary is coming along, she says hi, bye, come, momma, dadda, gace (grace), nummy, no and other things that sound like certain words but you are never sure.

Scott and I are the same, I went back to work full time in mid september and while we haven't necessarily done a whole lot we are busy all the time. We got a new front door and we re did Grace and Norah's room. We have been blessed to watch Grace participate in her first christmas programs this year. WHile it is sad that she is growing up so fast it is so amazing to watch your child learn and start to understand about Christmas, baby Jesus and all that goes with it.

Funny Grace sayings:

During one of her prayers " God, Father in Heaven we lift up Santa and please help me to get off the naughty list and onto the nice list." (this after a particularly rough day at daycare)

In a discussion with Santa, "Santa why are you dressed up" "I am on the nice list now but swiper (from Dora) is on the naughty list because he steals!" " You're coming to my house to bring me presents."

There are many more but my mind can't think anymore. I will leave you with a few pictures and I will try and be better at updating this blog.

Updates- Pictures to come later

I have come to the conclusion that we really need to get wireless internet so I can get a laptop to have upstairs. I barely ever get downstairs anymore to work on the computer. And if I do get down there to check email etc. I don't have time to update this blog. So here comes 6 weeks of updates in one post.

Norah:

Had her 4 month appt. at the beginning of May her stats were
Weight: 13lb 2 oz (50%)
Height: 24.5 inches (50%)
Head: 16.5 Inches (75%)

We have been to the dr. several times since her 4 month appt. for what everyone thought was a cold that woulnd't go away. Well finally the Friday before Memorial day I brought her in and said this isn't a cold, it doesn't ever get better it is a consistent issue what is going on. The dr. we saw gave me a list of things it could be and decided to start with treating for Reflux. Gave us a prescription for Zantac and sent us on our way. (oh yeah when they weighed her she was 14lb 6oz- this means she gained over 1lb in 2 weeks!) We gave the first dose that evening and saw a remarkable difference. So for right now we are going with the thought that along with the milk allergy she has reflux.

Some milestones for her are:

Some rolling over, while I have never actually seen her do it I have heard from daycare that she did it once and on Sunday Scott put her on her stomach and we were talking and looked back down at her and she was on her back, neither one of us touched her so she did it on her own, that sneaky little girl!

The middle of last week she started to sleep through the night even longer than before, she was doing about 10:30-5:00 and now her last bottle is anywhere between 7:30 and 9:00 and she goes down shortly after her bottle and sleeps until approx. 5:30-7:00. LOVING this part of life now. I actually might be able to start getting stuff done in the evenings.

Lets see what else...she is starting to giggle and when you get her going it is hilarious! She is starting to have some stranger anxiety and depending on her mood may or may not like a person. I always feel bad when she comes back to me and calms right down. Our daycare provider has commented that Norah is not fond of her husband and if she even hears him speak she freaks out. I feel so bad for him because he loves little kids and just wants to hold and play with Norah. Hopefully she will get used to him fast.

I also tried to give her cereal the other night, she's not a huge fan of it but we will keep trying and see what happens.

Grace Updates:

Lets see what can I say about Grace. She is one very vocal child! She now knows her ABC's and will sing them over and over again if you ask her, but beware once she starts she doesn't stop!

She has become very bossy and demanding, in fact last night on the way to Home Depot she did not want Scott and I talking in the car so she told us to be quiet. Scott told her he would be quiet if she said, "silence is golden", she repeated that phrase and then said, "now be quiet." Oh, I was laughing so hard. She is speaking in full sentences now and she makes us laugh quite often. I really need to get better at writing down what she says and keeping them in her baby book or something.

She loves anything princess and even has certain outfits (mostly dresses) that are her princess outfits. She loves to wear jewelry.

I think one of the greatest joys we have with Grace is at night time when we are putting her to bed, she wants to pray so we have started saying 3 prayers with her and she can recite 2 of those prayers. How sweet it is when your toddler is praying to God.

Nothing new with Scott and I. Just the same old stuff. We are heading to Pekin, IL this weekend to visit friends. I am going to get some great mommy/friend time, grace is going to get a good playdate in and Scott will get some golf, and video game time in I am sure!

I will post pictures as soon as we download them. (hopefully tonight)

Updates!

Well as you will see with the 3 posts below I have uploaded some recent pictures of the girls and some of what we have been up to. There are several things not captured on photo that we have been up to as well.

About 2 weeks ago I went back to work, but because of the wonderful economy we have right now I am only back to work 2 days a week. I think right now I have the best of both worlds and am enjoying being out of the house a few days a week but also liking being home with my girls more. Grace loves going to her new providers and in fact most days is asking me to go to work so she can go to Jenny's.

We have switched Norah to Soy Formula because we found out that she coulnd't digest the protein in milk. We have gained a whole new baby with this switch and it makes my days at home much more pleasant. I was for awhile thinking we had a colicky kid, but the formula change really helped with that. Now I also feel like she is thriving a lot more.

Norahs 2 month stats were:
Weight: 10lbs 1oz (25%)
Height: 22 inches (50%)
Head: 15 1/2 inches (75%)

I am excited to see what she is at 4 months as with the new formula I feel like she has put on more weight and is even getting those cute little baby rolls.

Grace is talking a mile a minute. On Maundy Thursday she was the only kid in the nursery and when Scott went to pick her up the lady in the nursery asked if Grace EVER stopped talking. He said no, she pretty much talks all the time. My mom says something about paybacks being hell! (I guess I was a talker) Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am talking to a toddler and not an adult with the things she says. We have hit that point in a toddlers life where they ahve a book memorized and at any point will start reciting it!

On other funny Grace story happened on Palm Sunday, she was allowed to carry a palm branch to the front of the church with the other kids and she loved it, until she had to leave the palm branch at the front of the church. That didn't go over well and I had to go and take a not so happy toddler out of the church. At least we gave everyone something to talk about!

Not much else going on, just living life and getting used to all the changes we have had. Looking forward to the nice weather arriving so we can spend more time outside!

Don't forget to look at the 3 posts below for pictures.

Picture Overload Part 3- HAPPY EASTER!

This is our Easter Duck! She decided that laying her eggs right by our front door was a great idea! I didn't agree, so we had Wildlife Management come and take her and the eggs away!

Don't worry we didn't color the duck eggs, these are chicken eggs that I bought at the store!

This is what Norah did while we were decorating eggs! She found her feet and couldn't figure out how to get them to her mouth.

Grace loved decorating eggs and did a really good job, she was pretty gentle with them we only had a few catastrophes.

Whats Easter without an egg hunt in your front yard?

" I gotta go find more eggs!"

"Look at all my goodies!"

"Hey what is this on me"

"Maybe if I smile mom will take me out of this thing!"

Picture Overload Part 2

Now she gets the exersaucer! When she was supposed to be in it she just sat there and stared at the toys!

She loved playing with the Hula Hoops at the MN Children's Museum

Look what Daddy can do with a washer box!

After a rough day of eating, sleeping and filling my diaper I just need to put my feet up!

"Where are the eggs?" We participated in an Easter Egg hunt at Festival Foods in Onalaska, WI.

This is Norah at 3 months! (can someone please tell me how to turn pictures?)

Picture Overload

Just wanted to show you the fun we've been having the last few months!

Look at me rock!
Oops! Must have rocked too hard!

Wish I had a video camera so I could have taped the serenade we were getting in the van while we were in AZ.

OOOH! If I press the button the frog squirts water!

Maybe I will be a musician!

We thought it was funny that Norah was just as big as the dolls were in the Dr. play area of the Tucson, Children's museum.

She fit perfectly in the suitcase. No worries we didn't bring her home this way!

Sledding with Grandma and Grandpa Vrieze is so fun!

Gotta love chair lifts!

What a Bunch of Sicko's!

So we spent 3 hours today at urgent care for my two little girls. For the past two weeks Norah has had a cough and its a pretty nasty cough. I brought her into the Dr. a week ago for it and they listened to her and did a chest X-Ray and all was clear so we were told it was just a cold. Well now this week the cough was still here and it was getting a little worse. Then Wednesday night Grace started coughing and her cough was quite barky and thick. This continued for a few days and then a fever started so we thought we should bring her in since she does have a history of pneumonia.

Well after 3 hours in the Urgent care we were sent home with both girls on nebulizer treatments and Grace also on a anti-biotic. They also did a nasal swab on Norah to check for RSV and that came back positive so we are just going to watch her. Grace has bronchitis and maybe pneumonia but the dr. wasn't going to put her through a chest x-ray since the treatment course would be the same anyways.

So my girls are sick and I think its going to be a long week. Hopefully the meds kick in quickly for Grace and she is back to her bubbly self soon.

Finally More Pictures are Downloaded

So we are now at week #5 of being the parents of 2 children. I would have to say that for the most part things are going really well. I am thankfully nearing the end of my 6 weeks of restrictions and will be happy to be able to resume all normal activities next week. I do have to say that I have already started cheating a little these past few days in lifting Grace but nothing major just little lifts here and there.




Norah is doing great. We finally got her on a formula that seems to really help with her gasiness and so she doesn't fuss as much as she used to. She does still have a little bit of a fussy time in the evenings but nothing that is too bad. She is a momma's girl though so I always feel bad when Scott has her and is trying to get her to calm down and she just won't and then she comes to me and within a few minutes i have her sleeping. I do gently remind him that it was the exact opposite with Grace, she was crabby for me but would just drift to sleep in Scott's arms. Norah has given me a few nights of 4+ hours of sleep at a time which have been wonderful. But normally we are up every 3-4 hours for a bottle. I look forward to the weekends when Scott gets up with her and I get 8+ hours of sleep.




We are getting ready for our trip to Arizona next week. I thought traveling with one child was hard but trying to pack for 2 and figure out the logistics of getting to the airport etc. has been tiring. It will all work out though and life will be good.




Nothing else new to report. Here are some new pictures of Norah and Grace!

Grace may be our budding plumber!

My Toddler Clogged the Toilet!

No she didn't throw a watch or a toy in the toilet and try to flush it down, she actually had a BM large enough to clog the toilet. Grace has always had issues with BM's, she is quite often constipated and has a rough time going. (it's never been a secret when she's going) Last night was another of those moments, we knew it was going to be a rough one as she was working quite hard at it. Scott finally convinced her to go and sit on her potty chair! Then about 2 minutes later a lot of hooting and hollering came from the bathroom! She had gone! But I must say that I am not sure how something that massive could have come out of my toddler! IT WAS HUGE! (You know if Grace ever reads this, she is going to hate me! But I guess thats what parents are for, right?)

So Scott finished cleaning up Grace and then dumped the potty chair into the big toilet and all of a sudden I hear him say something like " You have got to be kidding me!" and then he went to the garage and got the plunger. Yes, the BM that Grace had clogged the toilet and Scott had to use the plunger. Thats my girl and I am so proud of her.

Introducing Norah Margaret Vrieze

The Vrieze Family would like to introduce:

Norah Margaret Vrieze

Born January 5, 2009 12:45pm

7lb 90z, 20 inches

(Sorry some of these pictures are sideways I can't get them to rotate)

We also had to add one shot of Grace in her Christmas dress. There was no nursery during the service we went to and I have to say Grace quickly learned to whisper. However, when something really caught her attention everyone around us was able to hear her!

My Job Drives me Nuts!

Alright, so I was supposed to work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and then between holidays and vacation days I was going to have off until January 5th. Then January 5th I am scheduled to have this baby!

Well today I get a call from work, I happen to be working from home since we lost our computer access at work yesterday and there were a few things to do online. Then tomorrow we were going to finish cleaning up our project office and life was to be great. Well now it has been decided that all of the paper copies in the file need to be scanned and linked in our data entry system, well I obviously don't have time to do all of that before baby but I will be working next week now to get things organized for whoever the lucky person/people are that get to do the scanning and linking of what hasnt' been linked already.

So much for my vacation/family time before new baby. Thanks work! I hope this baby comes early so I can just be done. My job is driving me nuts with all the last minute changes they are making. SOmeone told me I didn't plan this baby very well, I kindly let them know that I was supposed to be done working no later than Dec. 1st, (6 weeks before this baby was due!).

Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho, its off to work I go!

Pictures

This is how we found Grace one of the first mornings after she started sleeping on her big girl bed. We still find her in all sorts of positions but for the most part she stays in her bed.

This was in Sept. at an Apple Orchard in IL, we went to visit some friends and we had to take an outing to the orchard.

Grace is showing just how much of a girl she is! She loves to talk to Mima and Bipa on the phone during snack time! I think we are in trouble when she gets older.

Bonkers is known for head butting, so Grace is just returning the favor.

We are really hoping that this is not a glimpse into what is to come with her new baby sister. We haven't seen her sit on a doll in awhile but who knows what she will do with the baby.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures, I will try and do better in 2009 just like I said I would do better in 2008!

Sorry for the Delay!

So I have not been good at keeping up with the blog and that is because of several reasons:
1) it is too darn cold in our basement where the computer is so I don't spend too much time down there.
2) By the time Grace goes to bed I am beat and can't function enough to update.
3) Every night for the past week I have been timing contractions hoping that they continue to come at the constant rate they are for them to only stop coming and leave me still pregnant!

Things are going well in the Vrieze household. If this baby waits until after Tuesday to come I will have made it full term (37 weeks)! So far no issues with my blood pressure or anything like that. I am beginning to show some signs of having some issues but nothing that anyone is really freaking out about. For the past week I have had pretty strong contractions and on Friday I really thought I was in labor with how painful they were all day long but then they went away and come back sporadically. I am ready to be done and am hoping that I don't have to live like this for another 2 weeks before my c-section.

Grace is growing like a weed. She had a follow up assessment with the Physical Therapist last month and it was determined that she was still behind so we had to start going every other week again. However, in that time Grace has made incredible strides and is really catching up. IN fact I think my child just knows how to work the system so she can play with all the fun toys the PT has.

Grace is now 2 years old. ITs hard to believe that she is 2, it seems like just yesterday we were holding a newborn baby! Now she is 2 weeks away from being a big sister. She sleeps in her big girl bed (an air mattress on the floor) like a champ and is even beginning to climb onto the furniture on her own, which will be nice after the c-section.

See my next post for pictures. These pictures will be from the summer until now. Hope you enjoy and please forgive me if I don't get on here again until after the baby is born. I will post pictures ASAP when the baby is born I PROMISE!

How Embarrassing!

So yesterday I took Grace in for a simple check of her SMO braces. (The ones she wears on her feet.) By the way that child screamed and carried on you would of thought I brought her in for amputation without sedation. The dr. had no more than opened the door and she started losing it. She has never done this before so I couldn't figure out what was going on, all this dr. does is touch her feet to take shoes, braces and socks off but Grace can not handle it at all. Whether she is in my lap or not, whether I am the one who is taking the stuff off or not, she just can't handle it. Best part the appt. is no longer than 10 minutes long. As soon as we walk out of the room she is happy as a clam! I felt so bad for the dr. and I kept apologizing for her actions but I also couldn't help laugh because it all seemed to so ridiculous since we put shoes and socks and braces on everyday and there are no issues with it! The only thing I can think of is she doesn't like Dr.'s with bald heads!

I had my 28 week appt. today. All is looking good, I got the lovely privilege of doing the glucose test today, the nurse in the lab gave me the drink and I drank it fast "and she said boy you must really want to get this over with!" I said, "no sense in prolonging the inevitable!" Then one hour later she took my blood and I was off to see the Dr. My blood pressure is still looking good but I am not getting my hopes up yet as problems with my pregnancy with Grace began to happen between 28 and 32 weeks. I will start going every two weeks now until delivery just so they can keep an eye on my blood pressure. I also had the privilege today of getting the flu shot, which I have never had before and was quite painless, and also the Rhogam shot, for those of you not familiar with this my blood is Rh negative so I need to get this shot so my blood doesn't attack baby if she is Rh positive. I felt like a pin cushion but I am done for a little while now with the poking and proding, next comes the Strep B test and then then spinal for the C-section!

Update Minus pictures for now!

So I broke my promise to you about updating with pictures last night. We did not get the pictures off the camera so therefore I do not have any to post. That is number 1 on my list of things to do tonight.

The Vrieze's have been going, going, going. In August we took Grace to see Sesame Street Live in La Crosse and I was quite amazed at how well the show held her attention. I wasn't sure she would make the whole show but she did and she LOVED it! I can't wait for next year. Over Labor day weekend we celebrated my parents 40th Wedding Anniversary and my dad's retirement! I still can't believe I am old enough to have a parent who is retired!

In September we had a wedding for some really good friends of ours, Scott was in the wedding and thankfully that was not only our last wedding of the past year but the last one for a long time that Scott will be in. From Sept. 07- Sept. 08 We had 7 weddings and 3 of those Scott was in!

We also spent a nice weekend camping with some friends. Thankfully we picked a nice weekend to go camping as the weather was not too cold but quite comfortable. Grace loved being outside and was a wonderful wake up call to all the people at our site! They say they are ready for kids but after that weekend we shall see.

At the end of Sept. we went to Pekin, Ill to visit some friends. While there we visited an apple orchard and the kids had a great time exploring the pumpkins and visiting the goats. We went to this same orchard last year when we visited them.

Last week we made a last minute trip to Indiana for my grandfathers funeral. He passed away Sunday October 5th. Grace did really well at both the visitation and the funeral and made the drive quite easy as usual.

I think now we are home for awhile. We have lots of work to do in the house before this baby comes and work has gotten quite busy so trying to do things after work doesn't always work. For those of you who are curious as to what we are having....We've been told its another girl. They are quite positive it is a girl as we have had 2 ultrasounds and the baby has had no issues showing us the between the legs shot. We may have our hands full with this one.

Other than that all is well. Grace is growing and learning by leaps and bounds. Her vocabulary has really started to take off and its fun to hold conversations with her. We enjoy watching her take in the world around her and learn what things are. (now only if we could get her to realized that an apple is small and round and usually Red and the big orange thing on our steps is a pumpkin we would be good!!!)

Hopefully pictures will be coming soon.

Update and Pictures coming tonight!

An update with pictures is coming soon, we have been unbelievably busy that I have not had time to sit down and blog. we have been on many adventures over the last few months. I will have Scott download pictures tonight and will get the blog updated. Sorry for the delay!

Update on Life!

Life is good. The vriezes have been very busy!

August 9th Grace and I threw a surprise birthday for party. He turned 31 on the 31st of July so I thought he deserved a party. I actually was able to pull off the surprise! He thought I was going to take a nap while he went golfing!

Grace is growing by leaps and bounds. She is talking so much more, a lot of her words the average joe couldn't understand but we know what she is talking about and boy does she understand what we are saying. It is so much fun to watch her giggle and play and torment the cats!

The pregnancy is going well. I am still on medication and it is still working. I have my bad nights but for the most part its all good. Next week Tuesday we have our big ultrasound hopefully the baby will cooperate and we will know what we are having. Scott and I are having a rougher time coming up with names this time around so at this point I can't even tell you what we are thinking.

I have lots of pictures that i would love to post but they are still on the camera. I am not real good at getting them off the camera so I leave that up to Scott and I keep forgetting to ask him to do it. So hopefully by weeks end i can get some pictures on here so you can see Grace!

Test

Just a test to see if my comment spot returns I will update blog later today when I get a chance.

Where is my comment spot?

So I am having trouble figuring out what happened to my comment area. If you know what to do please let me know. Thanks!

We're Having a Monkey...I mean baby!

Yesterday was my first OB appointment. It went really well and I LOVE the nurse practitioner we saw, she is awesome and I am looking forward to working with her through this! She answered all of our questions and even had other info to give. Asked me about how the meds were working and if we needed to up them and I asked if we could up them and she put me on a whole different med and can I say that ZOFRAN is the WONDER DRUG! I have felt like a normal human being all day and have only had to take one pill. I am trying to hold out on taking another one, which has been no problem at all so far, until this evening.

At our appointment yesterday we also had an ultra sound done, I guess they routinely do them at the first appt. now. It was an internal ultrasound which is not the most comfortable but you get a good picture of the baby. One of our pictures we got was a close up of the baby's face and I think it looks like a monkey. Now Scott hates it when I call it a monkey but I kid you not it looks like a monkey. If I can get it to scan in a way where you can see it I will post it to the blog.

All is looking good and baby is measuring right on. The NP said she was going to watch me like a hawk since my Pre-eclampsia started at 29 weeks before that gives me greater than 50% chance to get it again.