so long to update

wow, i've been getting some slack for not updating the webpage. my last post was sometime in june! i am currently learning how to put some videos on you tube and transferring them to the webpage. i hope you find the little snippets as fun as i do.... sorry i am not able to find time to edit the clips yet so they may be.... rustic :)

can i say how much i love that this website allows me to put the photos in chronological order... after the fact? i will slowly get the photos and some videos up as life in the next few days allows me to.

right now we are enjoying the 'indian summer' and autumn favorites. i remind myself each day to look for the fleeting moments of a 2.5yr old and almost 6 month old. these days are going by so quick and i need to take more pictures and take more sips of my chai tea and savor them for what they are... precious!

leaf child

here is our little leaf child. oh the leaves were perfect for this.... freshly fallen and crisp. meredith could have played in them all day! do you remember when you were this little and first experienced the glory of having a leaf pile to hide in and play in?? i love this!!

jumping in the leaves

our little princess and our little dinosaur enjoy the outdoors.... if you look closely you can see our dinosaur sitting up so well on his own and enjoying his first 'food!' you guessed it! leaves!! meredith thought he was hilarious and she kept trying to rescue the leaves from her furry brother's hungry mouth!

pumpkin festival

we love festivals and today we went off to the pumpkin festival.... we almost froze our noses off if it wasn't for the hot cider and donuts :)

today was theodore's first official ride in the stroller.... not bad for being 5 months old :) he only liked if for a few minutes and then wanted to cuddle with mommy some more.... awww

just hanging out

just wanted to 'catch' my little kids in their happy mood in the play kitchen! i'm still so excited to see theodore sitting up on his own tooo.... and crawling a little bit like an inch worm....

play time

its play time and theodore is officially sitting up! he has been honing his skills and its just fun to see him so proud! i'm glad i captured a few photos of meredith and daddy wrestling... its a favorite activity for meredith and she craves it! she is one tough cookie! roarrrr!

our cheese head

we recently got a sweet package in the mail from our wisconsin friends and one of the things they sent was this cute packer shirt for our little man! here he is learning to sit up and holding his own football too!

happy birthday katie!

what fun it was today celebrating katie's first birthday! we had fun with the family today and loved how katie liked her little dolly.... so sweet! meredith is still talking about the party and wants another birthday party NOW!

theodore is 5 months old!

so what is our little 5 month old doing these days?

he is learning to sit up!
he is interested in the details on his toys and loves playing the drum.
he is reaching up for momma to pick him up!
he is a social butterfly with smiles and rants to all his immediate fans!
he loves to keep his eye on his big sister.... she is so cool that no matter what she does, he will smile and cheer for her!
he is starting to 'steal' things from mommy... grabbing my water glass, and things in hand!

apple picking

we enjoyed a sunny day by going to our favorite apple orchard. the trees were so full of apples and incredibly sweet. meredith savoured her apples right from the tree, and is finally learning that you don't eat them once they've fallen on the ground! it was nice to have nana with us today too and reminiscing about how much papa loved the orchard too! we had to take a photo of us sitting on the ground just like last year when we took a break with papa to finish a few apples before eating cider and donuts!

cider mill

a rainy day still can't keep us away from such a tasty local cider mill.... this also was a fun time for meredith to really use her ladybug rain gear and have a special pony ride :) everything is magical when you are 2.5!

jumping

the jumper is a fun and noisy place to hang out.... as well as with nana and building the coolest lego city ever. it was complete with a church and traffic light!

a model

today i took some photos of my little man modeling his handmade carseat poncho and wool diaper covers.... here is a link to her etsy site
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sunrayemomi

circle of fun

theodore enjoys his circle of fun because of the neat toys... i think its fun because i can catch these great smiles on camera

theodore's baptism

theodore was baptised today during a lovely ceremony with Godparent's uncle mikie and aunt kerry. our little man was sound asleep during the baptism but was still cuddly in his little tuxedo. it was wonderful to have family present for his special day :)

ren fest

we enjoyed going to the ren fest once again with friends today

he talks!

here is our little man with nana. you can hear grandma foss and me (mommy!) on the video. theodore is having fun with all the new sounds he can make.... soooo precious. he really loved this!

in wool

here are my beautiful children in their wool diaper covers. they both are soft and non scratchy (if you can imagine that!) and of course incredibly cushy, and waterproof. meredith loved getting her arms around her brother... and he was trying to figure out what was going on! its cute how she thinks kisses will help with the crying. but she actually tries to kiss him as much as she can throughout the day....

here is my meredith in my shoes! she loves to try on anyone's shoes and model them. its a bit of a chore to collect them all and bring them back to the front door, but she does have a lot of fun with them.

wonder when theodore will be trying on shoes and walking around...

what makes you smile

with grandma and grandpa over we got lots of extra smiles today! check out the family resemblance with meredith and grandpa! it was fun to capture meredith enjoying one of her many highly requested cappuccinos! they are the most delicious frothed organic milk with real chocolate sprikled on top drinks that you ever did taste..... not tooo hot and not too cold. and the pig tails aren't required when you place the order with daddy!

can you tell meredith is all giggles when daddy is holding her??? awwwww!

flowers

a smiling baby and a beautiful day to smell the flowers..... many blessings today!

love the photo of 'proud meredith' and the ones of our walk with grandma in the subdivision. notice meredith and daddy have matching sandals????

3 weeks old

grandma foss enjoys her snuggles with her precious 3 week old grandson! happy 3rd week birthday theodore!

pacifier

here is daddy holding theodore in the successful daddy football hold! theodore isn't yet a huge fan of the pacifier, but we have our fingers crossed that this will work out.... and for some reason i think it is sooooo adorable to see a happy baby with its paci in its mouth. i tried to get meredith interested in a pacifier.... but gave up around her first birthday. she now thinks they are the greatest things around at 2 years old! eek! i still have a few from 'back in her day' and let her play baby with them so she can explore that whole side of 'being a baby.' thankfully its just a play toy at this point for her and about being creative....

little mommy

meredith is really into giving her dolly's diaper changes. aunt kerry got meredith this cute diaper bag fully equipped for our little girl's mothering.....

i know someday i'll look back at this photo of theodore and the glow worm... both so little. right now my lil man seems so long and skinny, but the perfect size for cuddling and nursing.

napping

yummy sleeping baby photo alert! theodore is swaddled in the wrap that i was wearing him in when twilight took over.

he is still so cute

i think its cute how meredith still just adores her little brother. you can see it in her eyes as she peers over him at the changing station. she will point out how cute he is and how small his little hands are. the funny thing is how she will continue to watch me change his diaper despite her gagging when its a poopy one! she is just mesmerized....... and proud.

cousins visit

today we had aunt kerry, uncle joel, jake and katie over to meet theodore and play! meredith loved showing off her baby and having fun. lots of cuddles today!

2 weeks old

how amazing it is to reach a thursday and learn that my children are already a week older.

here's pics of the kids in their big sister and lil brother shirts! meredith just asks all of the time to hold her baby brother. she says his name beautifully and loves to touch and hold him like her very own doll!

nana had fun reading to meredith in disguise! she is wearing a fun wig that papa wore! she thinks it is funny too, but when its time to read she is serious. i think she looks like a little einstein in the photos.... our little genius right?

we also took photos of theodore in his super baby onesie to grow into over the next 2 years and a few of him in a light blue outfit that daddy wore as a baby! those cute shoes and feet just rock! have fun trying to fill your own shoes theodore!

tummy time

i'm almost 2 weeks old and mommy has me trying out tummy time. its no big deal. i'd rather be cuddled and naked in the sun though.....

check out my cloth diaper! mom and dad are old fashioned cloth diaper fans and i think they are pretty soft and better engineered than those new fangled paper diapers.... he he

first time outdoors

its so beautiful out that we took the kids outdoors.... theodore was snuggled close to mommy

potty time

got pee pee?? look what our big sister knows how to do!

bug shirt

hey, i'm up! let's play and check things out! mom dressed me in a bug shirt today. she says that bugs are cool, and so does big sister.

lil man

our theodore is alert and loves to look up and out to the world

just like daddy

here is my big man and my lil man all snuggly!

more of today

here are more photos from today. we had fun playing meredith's fishing game for the first time! thanx nana and papa for a fun way to introduce fishing!

family photo

here is a new family photo.... i should have put my overalls on like the rest of the family.

knows to nurse

some more photos of our little artist and these ones of theodore show his awesome head control and knowledge about nursing already! just adorable!

the nap

a cute little nap!
our little theodore is one week old today!

holding

babywearing

here i am snuggling theodore in one of our favorite woven baby wraps. theodore loves to nurse and sleep while snuggled close like this...... and it comes in handy as well as feeling amazing for me too! yummm! look out for more babywearing to come! meredith still loves to be worn too and i look forward to giving her 'rides' soon tooooo

i'm growing

today was theodore's first visit to the doctors and he got an A+

theodore's healthy appetite for momma's milk is helping him to gain weight, get taller, and ward off jaundice! we are still going to keep up his daily sunshine baths to keep his jaundice on the low side and snuggle and love him as much as we can while he is still a 'little man!'

happy mother's day!

ahhhh mother's day is here and i have two beautiful children to love and watch grow. just a few short days ago i thought i might stillllll be pregnant today. i loved being pregnant and was feeling pretty good physically but mentally i was wondering about all of the 'what ifs' that were making him wait for his time. and so today i thank him for coming and i praise God for having a healthy family.

day two

today was a big day for theodore! he got to meet grandpa and uncle mike and miss shannon! he also got to give meredith a special big sister present of dress up accessories!

meredith was excited about putting balloons up at the mailbox and celebrating with family. she seems to 'share' her baby just fine and it is cute to hear her say his name so delicately. yesterday she was still saying some of our 'practice' names for theodore....... and today it seems that theodore is defintely the perfect name for him in her mind tooooo.

one day old

lots of snuggling and holding our little son! today we officially named him theodore michael and brought him home.

proud big sister

here are more bithday pictures! nana and grandma brought proud big sister meredith up to the hospital to meet theodore just a few hours after he was born. from the moment she heard that today her baby brother was born, she was excited! today is a day for celebrating, and she clapped and was overjoyed with "yay's!" and wanting to hold him and kiss him...........love love love

we enjoyed our 'recovery' room in the special alternative birth center within the hospital. an added bonus was a healing herbal bath(that is why the water is a different color) for theodore and i in the big whirlpool tub in the room. he wasn't such a big fan of the water.... until he got to nurse in the water :)

happy birthday!

we are proud to welcome the birth of our son theodore michael!!
he is a handsome 8lbs 5 oz and 20.5 inches long

we waited patiently for 41 weeks and 5 days for his official entrance into this world. he has melted our hearts already.

the birth was beautiful and spiritual. we are all healthy and doing well. we were able to labor naturally without medications and felt supported by our midwife, nurse, and especially our doula. we really can't say enough positive things about having the kind of support that we had :)

here are photos that our doula toni took just minutes after the birth.... i hope to get a few minutes here and there to post more photos sooon!!!

special birth items

just wanted to share some special items that will bring me comfort during the upcoming birth. here is the beautiful neclace made out of the beads given to me during my mother's blessingway. each wonderful bead in the neclace was given by a special woman and mother (or future mother) with a specific blessing and well wish for theodore's birth. the orange fabric and signs are all ready for being used as decoration in the labor room at the hospital. i have our suitcases packed with all of the other goodies..... that i have packed and unpacked now at least a half dozen times!....

it is exciting to have planned to decorate the labor room and myself with special calming and empowering items. i also plan to have special calming music, dim lights, special clothes to wear instead of the typical hospital gown, and my own birth ball. i'm looking forward to enjoying (yes, enjoying!) some of the special techiniques that my doula has up her sleeve too..... like massage, fragrant scents/aromas, cranio sacral therapy, and positioning support....

okay baby!

just hanging in there

i was only pregnant for 38 weeks with meredith when my water broke and we got to meet her. and so it is no wonder that i'm an anxious momma at 39weeks and 4 days tonight. i can't wait to update the blog with snuggly newborn pictures!

mother's blessingway

today my friends threw me a mother's blessingway to celebrate this pregnancy and the birth. it was a wonderful way to bring family and friends together (on short notice too!) and have a wonderful afternoon filled with positivity and motherhood.

some of the special highlights from today:
sage smudging (sage was burned to purify the space)
sharing of blessings, prayers, and beads (for a neclace to be worn at birth)
a momma foot bath and massage
a red cord binding around our wrists to wear until the baby is born
and making birth art with clay

thank you everyone who was able to be there in person or in spirit! it was a wonderful time! and i'm so glad that the baby didn't come too soon and have me cancel the party....... awesome!

playground

we took the grandmas to the playground today for a special treat. these glimpses of sun and warm spring weather are heaven sent. even the baby in my belly enjoyed the warm sun... and the break from being indoors snuggling with baby clothes and itty bitty socks and the smallest and softest cloth diapers......

happy easter

wow the easter bunny came to our house and meredith got to eat candy! jelly beans and a tasty chocolate easter bunny were favorites, as well as fun with family today. i missed quite a few fun photo opportunities because i was busy being a pregnant momma and napping (blush) or eating (blush)

decorating eggs

we finally get to decorate easter eggs! this is a treasured activity from my childhood and meredith seems to join right in! she kept wanting to make the eggs 'kiss' and crack them...... she is going to have so much fun tomorrow

the little wrap

meredith and i have been wearing our baby dolls in our wraps lately to practice for when our baby is born. isn't she just the cutest little momma in her own sized wrap? baby doll maria was so content and loved.

cousins

we had some fun with cousins jake and katie today.... the kids are almost too fast to capture on camera

dress up

papa's little angel just had to get dressed up today toooo. God Bless You Papa! we miss you so much already!

(this cute outfit helped us all get a few smiles and grins today)

a thank you

today my brother's friends are throwing a benefit to honor my dad and to help my mom. my heart is overjoyed at their efforts and their support. i have felt the love of friends and family over the last few days that i cannot put into words..... the wonderful hugs, encouragement, love and support. i will be forever grateful, and i thank God for bringing us together during this time of sorrow. you are all in our prayers. thank you!

a eulogy by me

Good Afternoon
I know that I’m going to cry up here
I’m pregnant
and I believe that my dad was Superman
and the best Papa in the world!
I miss my dad so much already

But I want you to know that my Dad is still with us, right now in this room
He would not want us to be sad for him. He is in heaven.
He would not want us to hurt.
He would not want us to feel pain.

I believe that he wants us to know that he is okay now, and that everything is going to be okay tooo.
God and Jesus have healed him and now it is time to celebrate life and being together.

We want everyone here today, physically or in spirit, to know that you are part of our family. My Dad loved you and we love you.

Perhaps you shared a beer with my Dad almost a week ago, or laughed together even 10 years ago.
I’m sure my Dad would want you to know that you were important to him.

Our memories of being together with my Dad can bring us comfort and inspiration.

My Dad was here in our lives
To love us
To help us
To encourage us
To guide us
To show us that ‘we could do it’
To laugh with us and enjoy life
To celebrate anything and everything
To bring us strength

I want you to remember how he was present in your life.
I want these memories to inspire you to:
Show a young child how to fish
Learn how to cook your favorite food… and share it
Step up and pitch in
Do the right thing now, instead of later
Find a way to make life easier for someone else
Enjoy being outdoors or find more time for your own hobbies
Spoil your family and friends
Say, “I love you” more often or even start saying it…..


There is nothing in this world that my Dad couldn’t do.
He just had to work hard to accomplish it.
Actually, he seemed to work even harder if he could do something for someone else

When my Dad started his courageous battle with cancer, he tackled it in the same way.
It took
Not 1
Not 2
But 3 cancers
And multiple rounds of chemotherapy with each cancer
When not the first chemotherapy
Or the second
Or the third try or type of chemo worked exactly right.

And my Dad still did not loose the fight.
He was still ready to continue working and fighting hard for my Mom and us.
And God was ready to heal him in his loving arms.

My Dad is in heaven now.
He will not soon be forgotten and will continue to be missed.
But he has given us something wonderful.
He has showed us how to be courageous and unselfish and loving right to the end.

Please don’t be sad today.
Please be inspired instead.
Please celebrate life and family.
We have all been blessed just to know my Dad.

Thank you and AMEN!

my dad is in heaven

our hearts are breaking because we miss my dad. he is in heaven now. here are a few of the wonderful pictures that we have to savour.

the playground

a little bit of sunshine finally warms us up enough to play outside... and meredith loves it!

my gloves

another fun thing about visiting nana and papa in the hospital is the cool gloves and mask! meredith enjoys every second of our special family time together..... with all of the cool 'tools' and accessories of being neutropenic (extreme low white blood cell/immunity)in the hospital

our baby brother

it is fun getting ready for a new baby brother! meredith loves her books that show a big sister helping with the new baby and she is especially excited to talk about the umbilical chord falling off of the belly button (oh yeah she really does talk about this stuff already.) this week she was able to goto the baby appointment with me and hear the baby's heartbeat really loud.

our little doctor

visiting nana and papa in the hospital is one of meredith's favorite activites right now! she gets so excited to be able to play doctor/nurse with the stethescope especially! she gets very possessive of her 'tools' in papa's room. she tries to hide the little blood pressure cuff and stethescope when the nurse comes in because she doesn't want to share it. she is also fond of the 'real' telephone and being able to make nana and papa giggle with her singing and dancing and pretending!

two years old

we are the proud parents of a happy two year old!! we had fun celebrating meredith's birthday all week long! (that way we could have some cake with nana and papa and meredith got lots of practice singing happy birthday and blowing out her candles.)

our growing up girl will happily sing happy birthday and tell you that she is 'two months' old! she loved playing with her cousin jake especially at her birthday party. she just adored everything that jake does!! the two of them really were excited about the curious george themed party, but baby katie enjoyed the balloons the most :) we just cannot get over how alert she is and meredith gave her lots of attention tooo! awww!

last year meredith just devoured her cake with wild passion, and this year we expected no difference! to our suprise she carefully ate the icing off of her cake using her fork mostly and was really rather gentle! she still loved the cake, but i guess just not as much as the frosting. we had a homemade german chocolate cake with homemade frosting.

a cute moment from today... when she was singing twinkle twinkle little star and changed the verse to be 'twinkle twinkle little guitar' when she was playing with her homemade guitar! it is so cute to here her sing the whole song :)

thank you everyone for such a wonderful day and wonderful party fun with thoughtful presents tooo!

100 units

today papa got a special award..... his 100th transfused donation of blood! it is amazing to know that so many volunteers have unanimously saved his life with each and every transfusion!!!! God bless every one of you!!!

please donate blood to the american red cross so that you can help save someones life tooooooo!!!

george birthday party

with papa and nana in the hospital for meredith's special birthday, we just couldn't let them miss out! so we brought the special curious george birthday party to them too!!!!

who are these masked party goers????

george fan

here is our little curious george fan in her new pajamas from nana and papa..... oh my goodness!!! they are george pajamas!!!! how cool! i could hardly get her in the photos she was excited!

meredith has been lucky to watch tv before the age of two. we have tried to keep it very limited but i think parenting has gotten the best of us and she has a full fledged love for certain shows. it is cute when meredith asks for 'gorge' (as she often requests it!) but it is even *cuter* when she will lay still for a diaper change while it is on.....

my new room

we have been getting ready for our 'baby on the way' by making a 'new room' for meredith. soon the nursery will be for our 'new baby brother.'

it has been exciting getting the new room all ready. sadly the old dinosaur boarder on the walls needed to be removed, but it was a simple project. the painting of the walls however wasn't as easy.... i picked the 'wrong' shade of yellow at first. hmmmmmm i wouldn't recommend the shade 'decisively yellow' to anyone! scott was really patient and did most of the work in preparing the new room and painting the perfect shade of yellow for our happy little meredith. we think yellow will go great with her ladybug quilt and bright colored toys. the funny thing is that they yellow is still so bright on the walls that scott and i will often go in there just to 'shut off the light.'

meredith and i enjoyed some time in the wrap together. this green wrap is called 'simon' and she looooooooooooves going for rides on mommy's backk in it! it is actually still possible to do with the baby in the belly :)

time to enjoya lovely felt lunch..... just don't ask meredith what the peanut butter felt piece is :)

a cousin my size

we had a fun playtime with 2nd cousin sarah tonight!! sarah is only a 1/2 year older than meredith so she fit right in with playing red sparkly dress up shoes and serving up tea in the play kitchen!

dolly and me

today we had some tasty cinnamon rolls and pierogies for breakfast. somehow we've started a weekend ritual now with the cinnamon rolls and pierogies.... i don't think aunt fran and uncle john realized what 'traditions' they would be starting!! i can't wait for meredith to be able to help me make the cinnamon rolls in the morning too. its fun to bake from scratch again :)

here are a few pics of meredith and her homemade amish dolly named 'baby frances.' aunt frances made the dolly and the clothes. here is meredith wearing one of the matching outfits :)

pancakes

its fun to suprise meredith with her new felt food at the dinner table. blueberry syrup on your pancakes is the best....

felt food

aunt frances and uncle john have been busy making felt food for meredith to pretend with...... yummmo!!

my farm

today momma captured me playing with my fun play farm, house, and fairy mushroom. my wooden animals hand made by great aunt rosemary fit right into my farm tooo. check out the cute 'heiny' picture of them all in a row! i was playing with the deer like it was an reindeer. did you know that santa claus lands on the roof with his reindeer and goes down the chimney? my barn has a chimney and this whole idea is just sticking with me... how awesome! the toys you see in this picture were all new toys for me this christmas and i'm just beginning to really use my imagination to play with them. thanx for all the cool and fun toys!

the pizza

today meredith is cooped up with us again in the house.... with her snotty cold. so today we kicked it up a notch. most of our dollies attended our first pizza party! thanx to aunt fran and uncle john for crafting up some awesome felt pizza accessories and some bacon and eggs. today was the first day we got them out and i could barely get meredith to look up from her 'cookin'. she didn't want much assistance. she loved calling each piece by name and making it the tastiest pizza ever. she had fun with the bacon and eggs too. chef meredith. notice how dolly patty is still dressed in meredith's christmas outfit from 2007. as a special treat we ate pizza for lunch after we played. it was a hit too!

holidays for littles

we had a fun holiday playdate with friends today. the girls enjoyed special treats and exchanging gifts with each other. meredith learns quickly from her 'older' friends and they are suprised how quickly she is catching on.

like kids

we enjoyed our visit with friends at the grand rapids children's museum. its great to see so many different exhibits geered towards the developing young minds. we especially loved the kitchen area and kaleidoscopes. andother favorite for meredith would be the nuts and bolts that you can stack on the magnetic strip or having 5 adults chase after you in the museum to see what you'll discover next.

college friends

our lives have been enriched in different ways since the good ol college days and it was fun to get together while we were all in the same state! it was extra special to visit our friends during the holidays on the west side of the state this weekend. everyone is changing so fast and we felt welcome into their warm homes. meredith enjoyed catching up in her own way too.... lots of smiles and exploring like mad! thanx for such warm visits!