Sunday, June 6, 2010

Strawberries!




Avery and Madelyn got to go with Grandma Lonna and Grandpa Denny to pick Strawberries on Sunday!! AND Grandma Lonna made yummy strawberry jam too! Avery has told me all about "we pick only the red ones... The green ones weren't ready yet!" Last night we got to have sliced strawberries over ice cream for dessert. YUM!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

SO Far Behind, I Don't Know Where to Start!!

Well, as you can see I did okay with keeping the blog up for about... two weeks? maybe? Clearly I could use a bit of improvement in this area!!

So, since I've last posted we've had just a FEW things going on! I'll try to bullet point them and include pics and videos where appropriate!


- March 14: Andrew's Baptism! Thanks to Godparents Jason and Lisa and our families for being with us to celebrate. And a huge thanks to all four grandparents for their contributions to make the event a success given my unfortunate fall down the wooden stairs that required an ambulance ride, x-rays, prescription pain killers, and a dinner-plate sized, midnight blue colored bruise. (No, I did not allow pictures of the bruise, given the location...)


- March 22: I headed back to work. I still have a job, so I won't complain. A bit more of a challenge coming back from this maternity leave!
- Late March/Early April: Madelyn finally makes a turn for the better, health wise. Her 2nd set of ear tubes have been great and she is being treated as though she has asthma. She is now a patient of my former pediatric asthma & allergy specialist, Dr. Mahr! So happy she is under his care for her breathing issues! Oh, and she is always happiest when she is eating!!!



- Easter! We got to be with my three cousins and their kiddos at my aunt and uncle's house in Belmond. Well, everyone BUT Madelyn, who was too sick to come with us - AGAIN. Madelyn and Daddy made the much shorter trip to La Crescent to hang out with the Theede family. The good news was that the Easter Bunny found everyone in their respective locations. It was great to have everyone together! I really wish we could all get together more often, as all of these kids are growing so fast! Here is Drew's first picture with Great Grandpa Bob!


The girls got sunglasses in their Easter baskets... Here is Madelyn trying hers out... And Blue (Uncle Craig and soon-to-be Auntie Kate's dog).





- April 13: Avery registered to attend Lille By Preschool in the fall for three and four year olds! She is VERY excited to go to school and have Mrs. Michelle for a teacher. Her best buddy Caden from daycare will be in her class too, and I'm pretty sure they have talked about going to school nearly every day they have been together since last September!! Avery even asked for her own "pack-pack" for Christmas!



- Beginning of April-ish: Trying out cloth diapers! Yes, slightly poop-phobic me has started this. When we really started thinking about the $$ spent on our littlest tushies in the house, the number was pretty staggering. AND when we saw first hand the sudden and sharp increase in the weekly garbage pick up, we decided cloth was worth a try. We are NOT 100% die-hard users, but are getting better at it as we go. (We really got into being organized enough to keep it going after the Pampers Dry-Max chemical burns kids were getting on their butts - that happened to our little friend Carson at daycare!)

- Warm weather: Avery is riding her big-girl bike! Well, big 'kid' bike. You may not be able to see the Sasquatch looking creature tattooed all over the bike that dear Uncle Greg bought the kiddos on a recent visit to the States from Australia. He was trying to be gender neutral, as I was pregnant with Madelyn at the time he bought it... So far, only one little neighbor boy has pointed out to Avery "That's a BOY bike!" She quickly countered, "No, it is MY bike!" Classic Avery.

Avery's Bike Ride from Beth Theede on Vimeo.



- Sioux Falls: The last weekend in April we packed up and headed west to visit the Ellweins. Had a really fun time, despite how exhausting travelling with three small children is! Got to watch our little soccer superstar nieces and nephews. Here's a great action shot of Laine. Always fun to hear the "But (Cole/Bryn/Logan/Laine) get to do _____ at their house!!" whining after we leave. I really think Avery believes she is as old as they are, instead of 7/5/4/2 years younger than they are!!




- Daddy Daughter Dance! On May 2nd, day after prom at R-P, our ECFE program does the Daddy Daughter dance using the prom decorations. Paul graciously took BOTH girls... even after he realized I was not going to be working at this particular event. Unfortunately, he spent most of his time chasing the girls who ran in two different directions the whole time. We got some special pictures and the girls are STILL talking about it!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Ears All Better!

We are happy to report that Madelyn's tubes went in with no problems this morning. We arrived at 6am, she went back and 7am, went right to sleep without fighting the mask and was done in 5 minutes. Dr. Case told us that she had really, really thick fluid in her right ear, and it never would have cleared up on its own, so it was definitely the right decision to have the tubes put in again. She was in the recovery room for about 20 minutes and then was brought right back to us. She was a little groggy, but then started drinking some juice and then we got to leave before 8am! She slept for the ride home and then for another hour after we got here. Now she is up and about and playing again. Here is a picture of her pointing to her ear. All better!


While Madelyn was in surgery, I saw my old surgeon, Dr. Hayden, who did all of my hand surgeries after my car accident 14 years ago. I introduced myself to him and he remembered me right away. (Pretty impressive since the last surgery he did was 8 or 9 years ago!) He took a look at my hand and was very happy to see how well I can use it.

Now we are waiting for Auntie Kiley who is coming over to play this afternoon... And hopefully I get a chance to do some cleaning to get ready for baptism this weekend!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Trips, Totes, and Tubes

We have a long post today... I got a little behind. (Imagine that!)

TRIPS
Last weekend, Paul and Avery took a trip "up north" to visit Uncle Jeff and Aunt Beth as well as Grandma Earlyce and Grandpa Lloyd. They had a blast staying and playing at the lake. Check out some of the videos and pictures. Avery got to ice fish, ride a snowmobile, go sledding, make a snowman, and play with Chewy and Jazmine.


Jeff, Beth & Chewy

Snowmobiling from Beth Theede on Vimeo.


What's More Fun? from Beth Theede on Vimeo.

Then they went in to Moorhead to stay at Grandma Earlyce and Grandpa Lloyd's house. Grandma Earlyce even bought some tomatoes to have especially for our Tomato Monster Avery.

While they were gone, Madelyn, Drew, and I did some special projects and we got to see someone else that was visiting on a trip... Auntie Melissa came to visit while she was on spring break. (Not too many people spend their spring breaks traveling to somewhere COLDER, but that's just how much she loves her nieces and nephew!)

TOTES
So, I was reading my friend Kristin's blog, and she described her new organization system she put together for her one year old twin boys. She put a variety of toys into several totes, and now she has a significantly reduced number of toys on her floor at any given time, plus the boys feel like it is Christmas morning every time a new tote comes out! After reading about it, I realized my "system" (no laughing, Paul) wasn't working. Organizing the toys by category only resulted in all of the toys out all of the time. So I went to the store and bought cute little totes to try sorting a variety of toys into each of them. Shortly after I started I realized I was either going to need about 35 more small totes, or I needed to just go with the jumbo size. So I have now filled up six jumbo totes with toys and they are stored in a closet waiting to come out and surprise the girls. But then I looked around and it seriously feels like I haven't even made a dent in the volume of toys. I'd better give Kristin a call- I must have done it wrong. Or there is the slight possibility that Paul may be correct... We could have a few too many toys. I think it is time for a Garage Sale!



TUBES
I should have mentioned in the 'Trips' section that we have once again been making plenty of trips to La Crosse to see the doctor for both Madelyn and Drew. Madelyn has had her second ear infection in a month (one of the tubes that was put in her ear last summer has become dislodged, and does not work now). So tomorrow (Friday the 12th) she will have surgery again to remove the old tubes and put new ones in. We hope these stay in longer and prevent her from getting more ear infections. (We are very sick of having kids on antibiotics!!!) And next Friday she is going to see a pediatric asthma and allergy specialist to address some of her eczema issues and her breathing issues (she seems to be demonstrating signs that she may have asthma already.) Here is a picture of Madelyn not feeling very well.


Thursday, February 25, 2010

Drew ~ Two Months!

Drew is officially two months old! Thanks to our friends Kristin, Ben, Prior, Mason, and Gus, we have these super cool stickers to help commemorate monthly milestones! I took a little video to post... His solo video appearances will get a bit more exciting as the months go on, but we have to video document every stage!!
He still continues to be congested (as you can hear in the video!) but hasn't needed to go back to the doctor. We have managed ALMOST two solid weeks (knock on wood!) without a visit to Gundersen!!! THAT is exciting, given how January and February have gone for us!

Drew ~ 2 Months Old! from Beth Theede on Vimeo.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Baby Drew

I spent some time taking pictures of Drew yesterday... He gave me his first smile on Valentine's Day, but much like his big sisters, it is hard to catch them with the camera!





Sunday, February 14, 2010

Giggles

It is very difficult to get a video of Madelyn, because she really likes to look at the view screen of what is being recorded, instead of getting recorded herself! But, Daddy got some great giggles on video because he was tickling her so she couldn't get to the camera!

Giggles from Beth Theede on Vimeo.