Thank you Lord for coffee

Caffeine is such a blessing.  I know that sounds silly - but really, as a mom who tries to "squeeze" a lot in, then doesn't get a full night's sleep or is woken before dawn by an energetic toddler or fussy baby, coffee is a lifesaver.  I know God provides for us in strange ways, and seriously today I am thankful for coffee.  It's like I can go from zombie-mom to ready-to-go-mom in 15 minutes when aided by my hot liquid stimulant.  I know we are a coffee-addicted culture (in part thanks to me), and I try not to spend $4 on an espresso drink except for special occasions, but I'm just trying to be grateful for those things that make my life a little easier.
So I finally weaned my baby boy, no thanks to his cooperation.  Much to his dismay he only gets cows milk bottles not, even though he still tugs on my shirt after almost 2 weeks of quitting cold turkey.  He's 14 months as of yesterday, so I figured it was time whether he agreed or not.  It's exceedingly nice to have my body back, even if my cup size is back to a "B" :-)  I don't have to worry about when I might need to pump, where I might leak if I forgot a nursing pad, when he might wake up in the night wanting to eat.  I do feel a little sad though - my baby is not really a baby anymore.  He does stairs, eats real food, says a few words, and has a mind of his own!  Lord, please help me (and him) to adjust to the changes we are going through as mother and son, and grow in your grace with each other.

Soren had a sleepover at his Aunt Kate's house last night, and then today he's gone to work with her at the preschool where she teaches.  I couldn't tell who was more excited for it - her or him!  She couldn't wait to introduce her special nephew to her coworkers, and he couldn't wait to have a real sleepover at his fave Auntie's place.  He told me all day that he was going to throw the ball for Saint, their fetch-obsessed dog.  I can't wait to hear how the last 24 hours was for them, when I go pick him up today.  Thanks Aunt Kate!

Does "monthly" measure up?

Maybe it's a good goal for me to aim to post monthly.  As a mom, if I do something monthly it is probably something that appears on my list of priorities, though not at the top.  There's a pathetically short list of things I get do daily...such an exciting list: pee, eat, drink coffee, change diapers, feed/clothe/entertain children, clean house, drive, pray.  Weekly I get to add a few more things: read, do something social, work, exercise, laundry, volunteer, watch a show, go to church, take kids out and about.  Then monthly, I can expand it even further: there's where I think blogging will appear, right alongside journaling, mopping, and cutting 3 people's hair and nails (can you guess who are the three? ;-)

So I posted in December, now I'm posting for January.  I want to share about what a great visit we had to the Broomfield Rehab Center yesterday - we go to visit the residents in the alzheimers/dimentia unit once/month, and yesterday we made Valentines (albeit a little early, but now they can decorate their rooms).  Soren is such a sweet kid, all the seniors there LOVE to touch his hair, and hear him talk to them in his darling voice.  He made valentines for like 8 of them, and put smiles on their faces.  He actually gets excited to go!  Not quite sure if that's because he actually likes to visit them OR because we hardly ever do craft projects at home...creativity is not my strength!  Then when we got home, I got an email from one of the other moms who went thanking me for organizing our visit, and telling me her heart was full of joy yesterday afterward.  Lord, it's times like these that I love following you, and I thank you for blessing me with the opportunity to share these seniors with my children and vice versa!

The other fun thing we've been doing with the kiddos is going to community food share as a small group to help sort food monthly (see, it all happens monthly....is monthly enough Lord?)  The older kids help sort, and the younger kids hang out while we mommies and daddies help the food bank sort the good from the the bad, and into food groups.  It's an easy way to bond as a small group and build relationships while serving those in need and set an example of helping others for our kids.  I so worry about them growing up in an affluent "bubble", and don't want them to turn out spoiled or thinking they're entitled to all they have. 

One final note: Anders started walking the week before he turned 1, at my mom's house in MN. Go little monkey!!

Holiday happenings

2010 is winding down!!  The end of our year has been busy with outings and celebrations.  We hosted 16 adults and 6 kids for an "orphan" thanksgiving with Aunt Kate/Uncle Kelly (+friends), some of our neighbors, coworkers, and friends.  It was a feast made by MANY hands, so I didn't have to do all the cooking (thanks for the BBQ Turkey, Roy!)  Check out my table all decorated..looks nice huh?

The following weekend we had the MOD North Holiday Party and we ventured downtown to Denver for the Parade of Lights with a few friends, which Soren was really into.  He especially enjoyed the music; Christmas carols are big for him this season, since he's learned a bunch at pre-school while practicing for their Christmas pageant (coming up on Wednesday!)  

We are starting to get ready to travel back to the Midwest for Christmas for the first time in 4 years.  Looking forward to celebrating Christ's birth with Grandma Blueberry and Grandpa Bob, as well, as three Aunts and Cousin Lucas.  There's nothing like extended family at the holidays, if you ask me.  Minneapolis just got hit with a big blizzard...yay for a white Christmas!  Then we'll be going up to Echo Point to visit Grandpa Tom and Brenda for a few days after Christmas.

With football season wrapping up, the Badgers are headed to the Rose Bowl on New Years Day!!  We can't wait to watch the game.  Soren was watching football the other day with Matt, and he said: 'Daddy, is this game "Go Badgers", "Go Packers", or "Go Buffs"'?  How's that for team spirit?  Now we just have to teach him each team's colors...

He's certainly into Santa this year.  He was very specific with his wish list, and told Santa no less than three times when we visited him at the mall.  Anders just likes ringing the jingle bells and watching the dancing moose we have the sings Jingle Bell Rock.  He's a guy who loves a good beat!

Lovin' Logic

Two of the things I love about Soren are his 3-yr-old logic and sense of time.  He tells me his toe hurts and I ask him why, only to find out it's because he ate too much.  Or he'll tell me that he can chew gum because he has a baby brother.  And of course "Anders can't be a big boy, because he's a baby".  Sometimes he tries to entice me into giving him things.  "Mommy, if I pick up my toys, then I can have a treat.....right?"  Or, he'll worry about things causing other things, which apparently are related somehow in his little brain: "If I walk in the street, then I will ride my scooter in the street really fast away from all the cars."  Huh?

Last week when he asked me what day it was, I said it was Thursday.  He said, "I don't want it to be Thursday, why can't you make it be Tuesday, mommy"?  This is presumably because preschool show-and-tell is Tuesdays, and not Thursdays.  He loves to know what day is is, what season it is, and when the next Holiday will be.  But as all you parents know, you can't tell a preschooler what is coming too far in advance, or he'll bug you about it constantly.

Visits from our beloved MN friends

Oh how we love visitors!  It rocks that we live in a place where friends want to come visit.  We were so blessed to have two of my dear high school friends come spend some time enjoying Colorado fall with us this September.

First Alix, who has traveled to so many exotic and remote places around the globe, came out to do some hiking with me in Rocky Mountain National Park, as well as check out a bit of Denver and Boulder.  We really enjoyed reconnecting on our two hikes, talking about family, sustainability, and social justice issues as we hiked the high alpine Ute Trail (8 miles roundtrip) on Saturday and through the woods and up some rock scrambles to the alpine Sky Pond on Sunday (10 miles roundtrip).  Alix jumped right into some hard hikes at altitudes over 10,000 feet...impressive!

Then Anders' friend Bryce came to hike with him (transported by Becca and Luke Ludwig).  Anders and Bryce are 4 days apart, but both happy, mobile, and cuddly little guys who cheerfully but assertively took each other's toys, cups, and paci's all weekend.


We all went up and stayed at a friends' condo in Frisco, which allowed us do to some hikes out of Breckenridge.  We did Mohawk Lakes (6 miles roundtrip) as a group, then the guys did Mayflower Gulch on Sunday without moms and babies.  Becca and I strolled our cuties into town and enjoyed hot drinks while exploring the main street of Frisco.  She also took me out to a super yummy dinner in Breck Saturday night where we discussed some of the issues of being wives and moms.  Thank you Becca!


Looking forward to our next visitors, Grandma Marcia and Grandpa Al, next weekend...

Things that just make me laugh about my boys

Soren has said some things lately that Matt and I just crack up over.  Like just now I heard him upstairs in his bathroom going for it, grunting, etc...and it ended with "whoa, that's some big poops! (flush)"

The other day we got a Halloween box from Grandma Blueberry which included, among other things, some fake teeth to put in a pumpkin jack-o-lantern.  When Soren asked what they were, I said they were pumpkin teeth, to which he replied "but mom, I already have teeth!"

Last weekend when he was playing outside with some neighbor kids in our cul-de-sac we heard the doorbell ring.  Matt answered to find Soren, pants around his ankles, matter-of-factly asking "can you help me pull up my pants?  I just went pee in the grass."






A couple weeks ago I took Soren to his first college football game, when the CU Buffalos played Hawaii.  We went with his best little buddy from church, Brock, and his mom Christin, because one of Matt's friends on the football team had given him free tickets but Matt was off hiking that day!  It was exciting and energizing (even though kickoff was at 1, so we sacrificed naps that day ;-) but after about one quarter, they asked, "when do we get to see the buffalos play??"  Lucky for them, the mascot Ralphie is a real buffalo... Ralphie runs, and I mean RUNS around the field at halftime, which thrilled Soren and Brock!  

When I'm a daddy

Soren likes to talk about what he's going to do when "he is a daddy".  Today he told me that when he's a daddy, he will always use the word "awesome", and never use the word "cool".  Because awesome is a way cooler word, I suppose.  Also to come, when he's a daddy:

• he'll be able to ride his bike
• he'll be the strongest boy on the earth
• he'll marry me
• he won't wear any dresses, only shirts and shorts and pajammies
• he'll climb all those mountains (the ones we can see when we drive around town)