Catch Up: April

I was still suffering from my back injury in April, and even took a trip to the ER, so I was still relying heavily upon others for their help in all of our daily tasks. As the month progressed I started to get better & resume a little bit more of my household & motherly duties.

How fun is this: my little Elsie-girl has started to smile & her tiny little squishy face just doesn't have enough room for all the joy that spills out of it when she lights up like this. It just melts my heart. I think I forgot how much joy there is in raising these sweet little spirits.

Another thing that brings me immeasurable joy: NAPS! I fell asleep nursing Elsie and Van snuggled up with us to watch a movie and nodded off too. When Tyler got home from work, this is what he found.
My aunt & cousins came up from Utah for a visit. The younger girls were a dream come true for Van and they played until he was exhausted every single day. The older girls (Diane and Lecia) took such good care of me & Elsie and even stayed up all night with the baby while I was drugged out & pumping. As always, they always help out at the store a ton too & it seemed to me like they spent most of their Spring Break working harder than if they had just stayed home. But we were sure happy to have them visit. Makenna celebrated her 12th birthday with us, so we whipped up this crazy beach cake in about an hour and a half. It turned out quite cute & the look on her face when she walked in & saw the 8 inch flames was priceless! One of Van's favorite holidays is Easter (which happens to be one of Tyler's very least favorite holidays). We try to teach him what Easter is really supposed to be about, but we try let him have his fun too, so we celebrate all the "bunny-type" stuff on Saturday so that Sunday can be more Christ centered. He got to dye eggs with his cousins this year & it was so endearing to see him work with such concentration and care on each egg. Making sure not to drop them, getting just the right colors and stickers and collecting all the toys & treats that the bunny left in the basement. I took him to a crazy hunt at the park and while it wasn't that much fun and was over in 22 seconds, he seemed to LOVE it!
I thought Tyler was giving Van a hair-cut, but instead Tyler shaved Van's hair. Off. With no guard. And while this isn't necessarily Van's exact reaction, (it's not too far off) it's a pretty good indicator of my response to seeing his new do. And this I know for sure: Tyler will not be in charge of haircuts ever again, regardless of how bad my back is hurt!This spring we participated in a co-op pre-school with some of our friends. And despite the fact that I was unable to uphold my share of the teaching and my inability to get Van to 8 of the last 10 lessons due to baby drama and my injury, those sweet moms still let him "graduate". He had so much fun learning the letters and doing cute projects with them. He actually learned more than I thought he would & it has been impressive to hear him randomly spout off his new knowledge over the past few months.

Catch Up: March

In the hospital, I would sweet talk Elsie and I kept calling her my "little squishy". I was in awe of how small and... squishy she was & I loved to hold her close and squish her tiny body into a tender snuggle. She has grown into her name quite well and is the ultimate in squishieness as seen in these pictures:We also call her Miss Squish, Squishy Girl, Elsie-Moo-Moo.Van's life of luxury continued in March and included 2 birthday parties. One on his actual birthday given by his sweet Grandma Julie and one for all of the family and a few close friends to celebrate towards the end of the month. This is a picture of how his Grandma Julie lets him break the rules and get really silly- not because it's his birthday & exceptions are what make it special, but because she is the grandma and she is all about this kind of silliness... ALL THE TIME!
I got a herniated disk mid-way through the month which made it extremely difficult and nearly impossible to care for my family & myself. I will never be able to properly thank all the wonderful angels that stepped in and helped with child-care & meals and I'm not sure I will ever get over the mommy-guilt I suffered.
My mom, who was in Hawaii for Elsie's birth got to meet her newest grandbaby on the 7th. There is something so sweet and magical about grandparents that I never knew about until I started having kids. That unique relationship is one of such magnitude and I feel so fortunate that we live within 10 minutes of both sets of our parents & that they are very involved in the kid's lives. (My mom didn't want these pictures taken since she had been awake & traveling for 26 hours before coming straight over to meet Elsie, but I just couldn't help capturing that moment & I hope she'll forgive me for not only taking them, but for also sharing them.)

Elsie has been a fantastic baby. She sleeps a lot and gets more lovely every single day. Van adores her and has been a wonderful big brother and helper for his mommy.

Catch Up: February

February brought more tests & more stress as well as Tyler's birthday. Elsie was born 38 weeks into my pregnancy, on the 25th. The rest of the month was spent loving on her.

Wanna meet Elsie?

I figured I was a little over-due on introducing you to our tiniest new family member. So here she is:

Elsie Mae Stucki
born on February 25th, 2011
6 pounds, 8 ounces

Our first picture together.

She was quickly whisked away from us to NICU where she was monitored for 16 hours.

Our precious little squishy baby, with us at last!

And the very proud and loving big brother!

I'll try to write up a bit about her birth sometime soon. I've been meaning to do it for 3 months now, but everything happens so quickly that its hard to put it all into words.

Catch Up: January

For me, most of January was spent between Doctor's visits and tests at the hospital with lots of prayers. We had to closely monitor baby's growth and her fluid levels to make sure she was still thriving. It was an emotional roller coaster, as one week things would be looking like she would have to come out within a few days & the next week, she would beat all the odds and be doing wonderfully. Throughout it all, she showed incredible strength and I was so proud of her.

For a fun break, I took Van to a mom-n-me roller-skating session. It was his first time on skates, & about when I got too tired to help him anymore, he really started to get the hang of skating. It was fun to watch him play limbo, toss balls, dance to "single ladies" and race wheelie carts with his friends at the rink.

Tyler & I celebrated our 5th anniversary & even though we don't normally do anything, I wanted to make this one special since we had been going through a tough time with the baby & I figured we could use a fun night. Everything was themed around camping, so I made "tin-dins" for dinner and smores for desert. We drank sparkling cider from our wedding glasses and slept in our sleeping bags on our bed under glow-in-the-dark stars. It was just what we needed- a fun silly night that celebrated our marriage & our favorite outdoor activities!

Catch Up: December

My dad won the award of super grandpa this month. He took Van to a Build & Grow workshop at Lowes and made a train set, took him to the Museum of Natural History at ISU, went on many a "dates" to McDonalds and took him bowling (yes, again) with his employees from the bank. And of course there was the typical spoiling-your-pants-off that Christmas brings. As you can tell, December marked the beginning of Van's celebrity treatment that will continue for the next 4 or 5 months....

It's a long story:

In January I began having complications with the pregnancy that required me to have several tests each week, many at the hospital, so Van was whisked away to playdates and pampering by friends and family. After the baby, those same angels were anxious to let me recover & bond with our new little bundle, so the spoiling continued. Just before Van's 3rd birthday, I herniated a disk in my back and in addition to excruciating pain, I was unable to care for either of my children. In rushed the rescue crew again and more fun and games. People would ask how he was adjusting & I could only answer that he loves being a super-star, but he has no idea what it's like to be a sibling.

(Again, sorry for the picture-less post)

Catch Up: November

• Happy Birthday to me! My dad took Van & I bowling to celebrate.
  
• Holly (Tyler's little sister) & Joey got married!
• We went to Utah for an early Thanksgiving.
• Tyler & Van made the traditional Gummy Bear & toothpick centerpiece for Thanksgiving dinner at the Stuckis.
• We set up our Christmas decorations & decked the tree.
  
• I was 5 months preggo with a baby girl, due in March.

(I can't seem to get pics to load for this post, so it's bare, but I'll keep trying.)

Catch Up: October

October was another fast month for us. Van, as always, is wild and energetic. He keeps us laughing every day.
For my birthday present, I bought Van a "dress-up" box of super-hero outfits... yes, MY birthday present. He loved them so much that he insisted on dressing up nearly every day & all our play was centered around super-heros. He especially loved wearing the Spiderman costume (since he is pretty positive he IS Spiderman) and making everyone else strap the other masks on and fighting with him. On this day, he convinced my parents (grandma Sue & grandpa Jeff) to dress up & fight with him... he was in heaven!!!

Catch Up: September

Ummm... the only thing I can remember about September is that we went to the Fair in Blackfoot. And it rained. And that's about all. And wouldn't you know it: I don't have any pictures from September either.

Catch Up: August

I just love to spend the summer months camping and boating with the Stucki family. Each time we go somewhere new, I find another reason to love Idaho (when not so many years ago, I couldn't stand it here!) I love having the family all together, being in the outdoors, and on the water, I love campfires and sleeping in our tent- I love it all! This summer we went out to Palisades and it was so lovey there! Brit and Jace brought their 4 wheelers, so we went for a little adventure on them and the kids loved going for rides.

We took the boat out and did some skiing- & let me tell you, my husband ROCKS at waterskiing! After a few years of not getting on skis, he did amazing & it was so fun to see him tearing up the water! Van and Avery made Ty paddle them to the shore to play in the sand, but it turned out to be disgusting silty mud! At first Van was grossed out by it, because he is very much like his mother, but his yucky daddy convinced him that it was awesome and he ended up with mud in everyplace imaginable!
Our ward had a Minute to Win It activity night & I had to try to get a cookie from my forehead into my mouth without using my hands. I felt like a major dork & I lost big-time... totally not my thing, but it was fun.
My latest cake creation for the same boy I made the Yoda cake for. It was his birthday and it was a midevil themed party. The boys flipped over this enormous cake and all the fun little candy details!

And the real highlight of my month (and my whole summer) was reaping the yummy rewards of my very first gardening attempt ever. It was a lot of work, a lot of fun and very yummy. I couldn't have done it without Julie who is pretty much the mighty gardening guru. I grew carrots, beans, peas, reaspberries, beets, spinach, zucchini, pumpkin, acorn and summer squash as well as lots and lots of weeds!

Catch Up: Vacay to Yosemite

The scenery was beautiful, the weather was perfect, the water was cold & the trip was amazing!

It was so great to go back to my favorite childhood destination & show my family that piece of my history. We made the trip West with the motorcycle group we used to ride with. When they left, we stayed for a few more nights to explore, hike, bike & swim before making our way back home again. When we arrived in the valley, we were unloading our packed-to-the-max car when a bear walked right through our camp-site... wow! At night, he would busy himself with "making our beds" which mostly meant throwing the sleeping bags & pillows around inside the tent until we made him lay down. Van loved every little bit of the trip!



Another thing that made this trip super awesome was that Van potty-trained himself while we were there. He kept saying "I want to point at that tree" (or rock or whatever else looked interesting. Then he would pull down his pants, point himself at said object & let it fly. By the time we got home, diapers were obsolete!