Family Day

Hey.

Remember how I told you I follow over ten regular bloggers?  A total of over forty?  I haven't been keeping up with them since Evelyn was born.  At least five of them are blogs that I want to catch up on, but that means hundreds of posts.  Bah.

Ok, so last time I said I was going to do a follow up on 7.  Well, Molly wrote about it, and frankly, she covered the biggest points far better than I could.  So rather than trying to re-say what she already did beautifully, I just want to send you over to read about her experience with the book.  Ditto- to the whole thing.

A couple weeks ago Jered suggested we have a family day.  He presented the idea of going to the zoo, but when the day arrived, he said we should go to Saylorville Lake instead.  Oh great, we get to go fishing again, I thought.  No, no!  He assured me we would go walking on the trail and maybe, maybe he would cast out a net while we were there.  I'm thinking, ok- he's going to toss the net out and check it after our walk.

Nope.  Apparently, when one is casting out a net, one immediately pulls it pack in and recasts over and over and over.  For like- an hour and a half or so.  You may recall a similar story about fishing from last summer.

Not exactly what I had pictured for the day, but Evelyn and I enjoyed a beautiful afternoon underneath a shade tree, so there's that.

[Evelyn is going to have the same ability to open her eyes for outside pics as her mama.]

We also visited Raccoon River Park that night.  That's right- more fishing.  At least it was a pretty out.

 

In Jered's defense, he did read a chapter of a book aloud that I wanted us to read together.  He also didn't make us stay very late because it was cooling off and the bugs were coming out.  And then he took me to Dairy Queen, so we'll chalk it up to a win.

I can't be too hard on him though.  He is making it possible for me to be with my girl all day.  I'm watching her play with her toys as I write this.  

She is the sweetest.  We are so very, very in love with her.

Til next time.

Aim

A Few Things and a Baby

Hi.

Well, the little girl is sound asleep.  Of course, I just pulled out the computer, so it stands to reason that she should wake up soon.

Before I jump into all things Evelyn, a few other non-baby thoughts:

I mentioned that my days are in need of more structure now that I'm staying home.  It would be far too easy to sit on the couch and watch Evelyn play all day.  (Gee- even my non-baby topics include baby.  Oh well.)  So, I've been closely inspecting our apartment to find deep cleaning problems that need solving.  (Ok, maybe closely inspecting is a bit exaggerated- most of them are fairly blatant... like the mold growing above our shower.)  Anyway, I've taken to making a weekly checklist because who doesn't like putting checks next to the things they've accomplished?

My goal is to work in some artsy time for me too.  Like a project a week, or even just a sketch a day.  I think it's much to Jered's chagrin that there is nothing regarding cooking on there either.  Ideally, one new meal a week will end up on the list as well.

It seems much less letter space-worthy now, but on the subject of post-baby body issues: bleh.  Fortunately it hasn't been as bad as I dreamed, but the insecurities still surface.  After my six-week go ahead, I started working out again- slowly, but surely.  I've taken up the 21 Day Fix workouts and have seen positive results.  While they aren't as drastic as they would be if I followed her meal plan like she suggests, I'm feeling stronger, more flexible, and have noticed differences in my posture.  So, yay!  I feel like I'm close to my normal size, just... softer.  But I enjoy the workouts because there are several different ones, keeping me from getting bored, so I'm optimistic.

Jered and I have been working at de-cluttering the apartment.  We both cleaned out our closet, which I love to do a couple times a year- especially when I have sisters-in law and friends that can adopt clothes that I actually like but just don't wear.  Yesterday we got rid of stuff that had filled our entire entryway.  It felt gooooood.  I'm thinking that he might have gotten over his Craigslist addiction because he looked at the entryway and said, "How did we ever accumulate so much stuff?!"

That brings me to the other topic I want to touch on: my most recent book read: 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess.  If I'm honest, this is probably something I'm going to come back to a couple different times, and you will probably get sick of it.  I originally read about the book on another blog, and then heard about it from Molly, who has never recommended a book I didn't like.  She also perfectly summed up the book by saying "It's wrecked my life."  For now I'll leave it at this: I am suddenly more aware of how casually I spend money, the nickel and diming we subject ourselves to, how much garbage we produce (when I have never, ever been a "green" person), how many clothes I have that I do not wear, how little time I spend in prayer, and perhaps most humiliating- how little thought I spare for the needy.

Yep, I think we'll talk about that again later.  There's just too much to address to include in this already lengthy letter.

So how 'bout that baby?!  Gosh, we love her.

I know we I share lots of pictures of her scowling, but she is actually a smiley little thing.  A chatterbox too.  Last time the two of us went to Target she sat in her stroller and talked to me the whole time.

It's really fun to watch her learn her body.  She's been focusing intently on her hands and noticing her feet too.  She now grasps her hands together to play with her own fingers and sucks on her hand/sides of her fingers if she loses her pacifier.  When she sleeps, she usually has one hand playing in her hair, while the other hovers somewhere near her mouth.  

She's upgraded to her big girl bed, otherwise known as a crib.  Moving her into her own room wasn't quite as hard as I thought it would be.  It almost made getting up in the morning easier because I was even more eager to see her little face.  

She rolled from her tummy to her back for the first time this week and has done it several times since.  (However, if we're being honest, she does have a fairly large head, and it probably helped her over a bit.)  In the last week we've seen a huge difference in her head and neck control.  She always seemed strong as far as holding up her head, but she's doing it for longer periods of time and is much less jerky with it.  She actually seems to enjoy tummy time now, rather than endure it.

She's really starting to fill out.  Her chicken legs are thicker every morning.  Sometimes I swear they plump up during her naps.  And those squishable cheeks.  We just love them.

She gives the absolute best snuggles.  I can't get enough of them.  I've been trying to limit myself to holding her for only one nap a day so that she doesn't grow dependent on us for sleep, but sometimes it takes all my willpower to put her down in that crib.

I'm pretty certain she's going to have a little ornery streak in her.  Just like her dad.  Before she was born, I swore she was stubborn because she would never kick for the camera, and she does the same thing with smiling for the camera now.  It's tough to catch them.  

Well, this letter already got interrupted by a waking baby, a visit to Jered's work, and a trip to Target.  I let her continue sleeping in her carseat once we got back in the apartment, but I hear her stirring again, so I think I'll leave well enough alone for today.

Talk to you later.

Aim

Oooooooklahoma

Hi all.

Just some quick highlights from last week's trip to Oklahoma today...

We picked Jered up after work around 8:30 Friday night.  We had a seven hour drive ahead of us, and Evelyn's face kind of captured how we felt heading into that. 

 

Jered and I split the drive.  I slept through his half (the second part), and when I woke up we were in the middle of nowhere.  His directions had landed us on some back roads and he literally went in circles for awhile.  It was like a creepy movie because so much fog covered the roads that we couldn't see anything.  Finally, we made it to the bed and breakfast at 3:30 Saturday morning.

 

 

The bed and breakfast was awesome!  I don't know what other bed and breakfasts are like, but this one was way better than staying in a hotel.  It was extremely comfortable and homey.  We were amazed and thankful to be allowed two free nights there.
 

 

The wedding was lovely, but I don't have pictures because I was using Snapchat to send clips to family that couldn't make it. 

 

 

Evelyn and Aunt Jessa got to meet and hit it off right away.



 







 

 

It was so sweet to see Jered and Barak meet each other's daughters.  We can't wait for the girls to be best friends just like the boys were.  I'm hoping to teach Evelyn the lost art of being a pen pal.



 

 



 

 

We enjoyed spending some time with Barak, Clare, and Emma over some delicious pizza.  I think Evelyn was sad to be back in her car seat.  She had the most depressed look on her face during dinner.

 



 

Luckily she made it out of there soon and was able to stretch.

 



 

 

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was seeing old photos of the Flinkman family and watching home videos of them and the Tschirharts.  I loved seeing how cute Jered was as a little boy and seeing how even back then their personalities were evident.  They were also just really funny.

 



 

[Heather - Heather, Joel, and Jacob.]

 

[Jacob and Joel as a lion and Daniel]

 

As always, it was heartwarming to see everyone love on Evelyn.  We are so crazy about her, and it brings tears to my eyes to see that she has that effect on others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had such a nice time- everyone was overwhelmingly hospitable and it was well worth the long drive to spend some quality time with family and friends.  It was particularly neat for me to get a peek into Jered's childhood.

 

 

 

Oh yeah, and then we had a shredded tire on the way home, adding two hours to our trip.  Thankfully, God provided, and we were less than a mile away from a Walmart since our donut was incredibly low on air.

 

Aside from that, in Jacob's words, we had a "delicious time!"

 

Later.

 

Aim

Flink-visit

Hello. 

We've had an exciting and busy couple weeks.  Evelyn has been quite the trooper.  I'm 99% sure she has been in and out of her carseat more times in the last two weeks than in her entire existence.  She has now nursed in a Target multiple times, a Walmart, a Taco Bell, a parking garage, a car at a gas station, and an interstate oasis.  I'm so proud of little girl for being full of smiles after what must have been an exhausting two weeks for her.

We're going to have to catch up in a few posts, I think. 

Last week, wait two weeks ago?  (I'm losing track of time.)  Molly and the girls were here, so Evelyn (and we) got to spend some cherished time with her Aunt and cousins.  Gosh, we missed those girls so, so much!

 

[Norah and Lily are growing up so fast that I'm tearing up just thinking about it!]

 

 

[Norah is full of contagious smiles and Lily's vocabulary continues to amaze and entertain us.]

 

[They don't know it yet, but they will be best friends. - Picture from Molly]

 

 

[Uncle Jered/Daddy rocked the baby entertainment as always.]

 

 

In a rather serendipitous manner (at least, I don't think it was planned), Jeremy and Kelly visited on the same weekend that Molly and the girls were here. 

[She was more pleased than she looks.  Haha]

Even more wonderful, was the fact that Jered only had one half day of work during their stay.  While he was gone, Jeremy, Kelly, Evelyn, Pollyanna and I spent a beautiful breakfast lunch outside a Starbucks with our coffees and delivered Jimmy Johns sandwiches.

 

[Evelyn slept the whole time, but Pollyanna guarded the door and enjoyed a puppaccino.]

 

 

[Oh yes- this letter and a Flinkman visit wouldn't be complete without an outdoorsy adventure.  Beware Flinkwomen: Jered is trying to spread the fishing obsession to your husbands.]

 

[Aunt Kelly with her girls. - Picture from Kelly]

 

[Not to sound cocky, but we Flink-people make ridiculously cute kids. - Picture from Molly.]

 

Somewhere in there, Evelyn had her two month shots.  I nearly held it together, only tearing up a little bit.  Thankfully, she recovered quickly and was her smiley self shortly after.

 

That same day, Jered and I went on our first date since Evelyn joined us while Molly babysat.  We made it halfway through dinner before our conversation turned to, "Evelyn is so cute.  I can't believe how much I like her.  Did I show you the picture from earlier today?" And we flipped through phone pictures for most of the remaining meal. 

 

We went to see Jurassic World, and before it even started Jered was asking me how long it was going to be because he already missed Evelyn.  I agreed.  We checked his phone throughout the movie because Molly is like me and knew we would like updates.  The second the credits popped up, we jetted out of that theater as fast as we could.  Like, we literally ran to the car.  

 

So, there's one big update off the list. 

 

I have to tell you about one more huge one before I finish for the day.  I've had several people ask me about when I'm due to return to work.

 

I'm not.

 

That's right, after much deliberation and several phone calls by Jered, he worked it out for us to be able to afford me staying home.  It involves him taking a heavier course load during his Nurse Practitioner program, but he was adamant about me being with Evelyn rather than having someone else watch her. 

 

I am over the moon about this development and incredibly grateful for such a sacrificial husband.  I get to spend all day, every day with this cutie pie!  Being a stay-at-home-mom brings with it a whole new way of looking at my days, so I'm sure we'll have lots to talk about in that area. 

 

Ok, maybe tomorrow I can tell you all about our weekend trip.  It was my first time to Oooooo-klahoma!  Gosh, now I want to watch the movie.

 

Until then,

 

Aim