Merry Christmas Card 2017!

This is our 8th year of creating a musical family-caroling Christmas card as we look back on our year in photos! Every year we get to involve the kids more and Jonathan learns something new on Garage Band as do I on iMovie. We collectively choose the carol we all want to sing and play it around the house for awhile so the kids are familiar. Reese had been singing the chorus to The First Noel and was excited to record, but when we got to the basement's makeshift studio, all she wanted to do was shout "Noel!" into the mic. What we've learned in nearly 8 years of parenting now is that for everyone's sanity and maximum enjoyment, it is best to just go with it! So J weaved her Noel shouts nicely into the mix and Heath helped carry the chorus!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

This year's Christmas card highlights the kids on the chorus, with Reese finally piping in at the final round more loudly. May you and yours find warm snuggles this season and blessings in the new year! Merry Christmas! Love, the Manz fam

Indiana Life Update

Yesterday marked 2 months that we have lived in our Indiana home. It was also the first day that I got bored at home. Since we moved from Virginia in late July things have been rolling with the final month of summer and exploring the area pools and parks, craigslisting to find some key furniture for our new space, and then of course the actual move in and unpacking after we honeymooned on Purdue’s campus for 4 weeks until closing. In the midst of that our firstborn also started his formal education journey in kindergarten! (22 more ‘grades’ to go we tell him to match daddy or 18 to mama)

Heath

We had our first parent-teacher conference last night with Heath’s kindergarten teacher and heard great feedback that he is excelling in the measured categories of learning and has been great to have as part of the class. This came as a huge relief because we have been having behavioral challenges at home with him since the move… really once we said we were moving back in June. He started regressing with his bathroom usage and has been flat out ignoring us as we talk or disobeying basic family rules (we don’t jump on furniture, wash your hands after using the bathroom, etc). A lot of mornings have been a struggle to get Heath up, dressed, fed and out the door. Once we get out the door and in the fresh air his attitude is always a positive one, but man is that first hour of the day a doozie! His teacher said that Heath is such a happy kid and is always positive, you can tell he is loved at home, and has a great sense of humor. The few days he has been moved to ‘yellow’ (on the behavior chart) are because he hasn’t followed the rule of staying silent in the hallway. She asked if he likes to make sounds a lot at home with his mouth? Um yes, understatement. He is constantly humming a tune or playing mouth trumpet or scatting. She said Heath is on the younger end of the class spectrum having only turned 5 two months before the cutoff, so a lot of his behavior in class seems very normal to her and part of his age development. (Side note- totally blessed to have a kindergarten teacher who is raising three boys of her own) Of course he is smart and doing great in reading comprehension, writing and math, but I was most pleased to hear that he is respectful to his classmates and his joy is being noticed!

Heath and his good friend Mariel from kindergarten

A week ago it felt like a breaking point in Heath’s behavior and I reached out to a few of our friends to pray him through Monday morning and a new week at school and home. We also reached out to friends on Facebook to help support the 3-5pm witching hour at home post-school by sending some mail to fill his love bucket. I contacted the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) at Purdue (an insurance benefit I am a huge advocate of!) to set up a play therapy meeting for Heath with a counselor later this month. I felt overwhelmed with the parent role and was staring at Jonathan’s upcoming work travel where he would be gone 12 of the next 15 days. Of course I felt overwhelming support from all of you and relief that our tool belt would be expanding on how to help Heath during this season. What I was not expecting at the conference last night was his teacher to note that just in the last week there has felt like a maturity with Heath that he has had better control over his body (song bursts!) and asked if I had done anything different over the last week in particular. Praise God!

Leaf cleaning day

Reese

Reese has broken two more teeth in this month and has two bottom ones that are fighting to get through (ugh). Last I wrote she was doing the newborn waking thing all through the night and we were moving her into the guest room. She is gladly back in her bed and mostly making it through the night sleeping with the last couple days of exception due to I think teething pains. Reese’s vocabulary is really exploding lately and her ability to communicate with it! She enjoys watching a baby signing video and has started to do the sign before they show it. Yesterday when we were walking she told me to ‘stop’ and I didn’t right away until she followed up her stop with a second STOP and used the sign for it at the same time. She was pretty proud of herself. She loves to walk Heath to school in the mornings and give him a hug and a kiss goodbye. On the walk home she plays shy with the crossing guards but when we get to our neighbor’s porch she yells “MORNING!” or “HI!” as they sit and drink their coffee. Then she wants to stop at our other neighbor’s yard and “wing, wing” (swing). So we usually do that for a bit before eventually making it home. Reese is enjoying playing with some of the other neighborhood kiddos who are home during the day as the parents arrange for some regular together time for kid socialization and parent sanity. We visit the library reading time weekly where she is participating more and more in the songs and movements. We grocery shop Monday mornings at Aldi where she is becoming known due to their lack of a radio and Reese providing the music instead. (I’m seeing a theme in our kids)

Riding the City Bus one afternoon post-school per Heath's request

Free bus riding fun!

Us
During our walk to the school conference yesterday J and I got actual alone grown up time- thank you to our neighbors who kept the kids for a bit! He asked me where my thoughts were on exploring work. It is something I thought about a lot yesterday because I was bored for the first time. I have been getting notifications of job postings at Purdue and while some have even matched my skill set and would be a similar or stepping stone on the career path I’ve been taking, I have not felt compelled to apply. Mostly my thoughts on that have centered around our family quality of life right now and when I compare it to what I was balancing when working at VT, I don’t want to go back to that. For 4 years it is what we did and did not feel bad, it just was what it was- we both worked and J studied, we did the full time childcare thing and we felt supported. But it also felt crazy and rushed, especially M-F after work until bedtime. Life now does not feel even a drop of that. I told J I like this version of myself better. I am beginning to see where I have open time and capacity now that we are in a rhythm, and I definitely would love to make money again, but I’m not willing to sacrifice the quality of life our family has now. So I’m keeping an eye out for what something part time could be, but also realize that impacts Reese and needing to pay out for childcare, which may not be fiscally logical, but we shall see. I’m also embracing where God has me right now in this season and trying to not rush into something just to feel the old normal of working.

Siblings hanging out at a camp while dad worked

And the PhD journey is celebrating an important marker November 9th when J will have his prospectus. A term that means having his committee read his first 3 chapters of his dissertation and discuss with him any feedback. It is sort of like a mini-defense to check that he is on track with where the research is headed. Jonathan could probably write his own blog post for the challenges it has been just to get this thing scheduled (he has been ready since May), but I'll just sum it up to say my husband continues to amaze me with his patience and grace. He has leaned into his Harmony strength and continues to persevere on all matters PhD!

Camping with Friends

The last weekend of September was spent in Chillicothe, Ohio with our friends the Chinns. What a beautiful break from the new adventures in Indiana to be reunited with community that we have shared the last four years of our lives with. As I was describing to someone what the Chinn family has been for us while in Virginia I realized we have spent more time with them then anyone else, saying 2-4x/week over the past four years between church, homegroup, football watching, play dates, borrowing stuff, swapping date night coverage... They've been the extension of our family and so the last 8 weeks without them has felt like forever.

We knew we wanted to connect our families this fall and so after looking at a map determined that Chillicothe was the halfway point for each of us to drive 4+ hours. Our first thought of staying at a camper cabin in the state park didn't pan out with booking, so we looked for other affordable options and decided we were all up for giving tent camping a try! I'm so glad we did, it was awesome. Having a 6,5,4 and 1.5 year old sleeping outside two nights I thought we might be crazy, but at least we will be crazy all together. But it was fine.

It rained overnight both nights, but things were relatively dry in the mornings and the weather felt great to be outdoors and enjoy campfires at night. The campground we stayed at was mostly populated by RVs, but they had a few 'primitive camping' spots that gave us a charcoal grill, picnic table and fire pit- while still being ~150 yards away from a bathhouse. We definitely recommend checking out Walnut Creek Campground if travels have you in the middle of Ohio. There was a pond with paddle boats that we explored one day, and a basic playground that the kids enjoyed each day.

Lots of memories were made, many more to come in what may be our annual trip ;)

Life lately

So Jonathan is finishing his 4th week of the new job at Purdue, Heath is finishing his 3rd week of kindergarten, and Reese and I are making slow progress on unpacking boxes as this marks our first week of owning our new home in Indiana. We didn't have internet for awhile there in the transition and so how on earth would you know what was going on in our lives?!? (You could have called like uncle Adam did)

Here is the short and skinny:
J- Yes he likes his new job and working full time again. He is enjoying the colleagues in University Residences and loving the opportunity to connect more regularly with student staff in his neighborhood (three building areas he supervises). He has done his part to make updates on his dissertation and awaiting a response (over a month now) from his advisor on moving ahead with the next item of scheduling his prospectus (kind of like a defense of his first three chapters). He is enrolled as a student at VT this semester as he will work on the dissertation from a distance.

H- Yes he likes kindergarten. As he tells people about it he describes it as "hard work" and that he is learning new things, like the sounds that different letters make. He has nightly homework that I think is a bit much after a 8:15am-2:45pm day of working hard, but we are learning a rhythm to try and get that done before J comes home so we can have family time in the evening. His homework consists of tracing upper case and lower case letters, coloring patterns, writing his first name, reading a short story nightly and practicing sight word flash cards nightly. Hard work is a good description. His teacher speaks Spanish so of the four kindergarten classes, they assigned most all of the Spanish speaking kids to her room and Heath gets to learn a new language alongside all of the other lessons! We think this is awesome, and a big part of why we wanted to be in a mixed neighborhood and public school system.

R- She is needy in this transition. Just as we were getting into a rhythm of living on campus, our house was ready and we moved again, uprooting anything that had become normal. She is tired at night but wakes up consistently at 5 or 5:30am. She is learning all the stairs and doors of our home and gotten a few bumps and bruises in the process. She enjoys taking walks around the neighborhood and walking Heath to and from school and waving at all the friends.

L- I'm trying to take each day at a time, set mini goals so I feel that something is accomplished, but still needing to lower my expectations. The honeymoon of living on campus and not having to deal with unpacking and boxes is certainly over. Once we get settled into this new space I know the days will find a rhythm and not be so overwhelming, but this week they have been. In part because of the boxes that Reese's clinging won't let me get to, in part because of Heath's disregard for listening to me or rules like not jumping on the couch, and in part because J has had to cover for his team this week and work some extra evening hours. This too shall pass.... right? :/

Our first week

Since 2015 has been spent in the job search, we weren't able to plan a summer vacation. It's ok, you don't have to feel sad for us, life has been full and we have not minded the time at home purging and packing. Before Jonathan starts his new job August 3rd, we took this 2 week window to pack and move one week in Blacksburg and have the second week to explore our new town(s) of Lafayette and West Lafayette. So our staycation this past week has been mostly awesome (with some tantrums and child meltdowns sprinkled in).

Here are a few places we explored:
Downtown Lafayette Farmer's Market- we had breakfast burrito/sandwiches that were delicious and a blueberry scone that J called "the most amazing scone he has ever had in his entire life!" We later discovered that the bakery where said scone came from is located a few walking blocks away from our new home!!

Libraries- After the Saturday market, we went into the downtown library (this will be nearest our new home) and enjoyed family story time. It is huge!! Our entire Blacksburg library could fit in the children's wing of this place. Both kids approved of the books, toys and computers. Later in the week we visited the West Lafayette library location for family story time and also enjoyed the craft and people.

Columbian Park- This huge park we did over two separate days. One day was the playground equipment and free zoo, including a train ride around the park that Heath will be saving up his money to continue riding ($2). Another day we went to the water park on this same lot, Tropicanoe Cove for family night where we all got in for $8- pretty sweet deal considering they had a lazy river with inner tubes provided and some slides for adults as well as kid areas.

cheesey Reesey at Tropicanoe Cove

The most amazing custard I've ever had- right beside Columbian Park

Castaway Bay- This was the first public pool we explored in Lafayette and it was really perfect for our kids' sizes. They had a zero-level entry and some fountain areas.

Lake Michigan- So when we were moving to Indiana, I had no idea that Lake Michigan was going to be within reach (I'm more of a west-coast geography person). But Jonathan grew up vacationing on this Lake with his family and was excited to drive the 90 minutes to get there on the Indiana side. So one day we went to the beach, and sand got every.where. but I am surviving.

snack break at Lake Michigan

deep thoughts beachside

Lommel Park- There is another new family to the Purdue Housing life that just relocated a few weeks ago and they have two kids in between our kids' ages. So we explored this new park with them one morning (and the Library, Tropicanoe Cove and peach pickin') and the kids had a lot of fun together, especially Heath and their son who were talking about one another for the rest of the day.

Peach Pickin'- There is a farm about 20 minutes from where we are staying on campus that has peaches in season right now for u-pick. So we got a couple fresh pounds and enjoyed the beautiful drive out there.

Life Maintenance- In addition to the 'fun' stuff, we have also been exploring some basic needs in the area, like Heath got a haircut at the local Sports Clips. I grocery shopped at an Aldi for the first time. We have bought a few things from Craigslist and explored new neighborhoods that way too. This afternoon we will go to Heath's elementary school to register him for kindergarten that starts in a week and a half! And I got my nose pierced.

Transitions are hard. We find that jumping in with both feet and exploring where you are like an adventure helps to make it not feel so hard. Reese has had fits of sleepless/screaming nights in the new apartment. Heath has ridden some emotional roller coasters of bursting into tears that we left Virginia and missing his friends. Bathroom accidents have come a new norm and we are trying to navigate the challenge of consistent parenting amongst emotional change and the need for grace. Not easy.  But we are still standing a week down in our new hometown(s). Looking forward to family pizza night this evening with our Arkansas friends Matt and Bryttani who are here at Purdue and exploring the Children's Museum in Indianapolis this weekend (an hour away). A new normal will begin next week as J starts work Monday and the following week when Heath begins school.

Traveling North, part 2

So day 2 of the journey to Indiana we got a good start with breakfast at the hotel after a restful night. We were loaded by around 8am and headed north for what we expected to be the other 'half' of the journey to West Lafayette, totaling 4 more hours. Wrong assumption. We made it about an hour and just outside of Xenia, Ohio the brakes in our Altima went out.

We were traveling on a stretch of highway that had a few stoplights and after slowing down for one of these lights, Jonathan made a jerky move of the wheel to the left and hit the e-brake. I said 'what happened?!' He said, 'I just lost the brakes.' There were a few cars stopped in front of us and a few behind us. Thankfully Jonathan's reaction after he tap, tap, tapped the brakes and no response was to merge over into a center median to avoid hitting someone or getting hit. After the cars passed us at the green light, we made our way across two lanes and turned right at the light to pull over where we could see a little more shoulder on that side of the road.

Jonathan called his dad. I called our insurance for a tow. The kids sat in the backseat entertaining themselves. We had some locals stop and see if we needed any help. After we arranged for the tow, we noticed there was a parking lot across from us at the entrance of a park so we got the kids out and waited over there safely. Another local stopped to see if we needed any help. Jonathan called the repair show that insurance told us they would tow us to and they unfortunately said the could not work on it today if we came there, it would be at least until tomorrow, but they recommended another shop. J called there and they shared the same. Then we googled.

When the tow truck showed up, Heath was beyond excited for the experience of watching our car get lifted onto the bed. Our driver said the shop we googled would not be his first choice, but that he'd call shop #2. We said they were full. He said, I'll call. And he did, and they told him to come on over. During this time, another local stopped to see if we needed any help and offered a ride for us. Heath was determined to ride in the tow truck as already promised, but Reese and I opted for the back seat of these strangers, Jackie and Jack. They had just come back from breakfast at Cracker Barrell and were headed out for a drive, they *happened* to have a car seat in their back seat that is usually occupied by their 2 year old grandson. So Reese got to enjoy her first forward facing car seat experience on this 8 minute drive to the shop.

The repair shop was able to offer a quick assessment when they got the wheel off and see that our brake line had come loose from the front and then caught in the wheel, puncturing it and draining all of the brake fluid. They called around to find the tube part needing replacement from the left side and a shop within an hour *happened* to have one left side tube remaining (no right sides in). They said it'd be a couple hours. Jackie and Jack said they would take us to a shopping area north of town that had a water fountain the kids could play in and plenty of places to walk around and eat. They offered us their stroller from the trunk. They gave us their phone numbers to call them when we needed a ride back to the shop. They *happened* to have Thomas the Train books from the library in the back seat of their car so as the 4 of us crammed back there tried to entertain the kids we had material! It was closer to 20 minutes to the shopping place, but well worth it.

Heath loved exploring the fountain!

We grabbed lunch at Chipotle, Reese took a nap on me in the carrier, we looked at a bookstore and then the shop called that all was ready to go! So we called our new friends Jackie and Jack who promptly came to shuttle us around town again. They said they drove by us on the side of the road and noticed our out of state license plates and thought 'they probably don't have anyone local they can call' so they did a u-turn about a mile passed us to come back around and see if we needed anything. And they were persistent helpers! We got them a gift card to the fro-yo place at the shopping center where they said they loved to take their grandson. Small thank you for a BIG blessing.

Have mama, will nap.

So after 5 extra hours in Ohio, we set back on the road with a functioning car to take us the remaining 3 hours to Purdue's campus, getting in close to 5pm. We ordered pizza for dinner (it was Friday night after all- a weekly Manz fam tradition). And we all crashed shortly after that in our temporary apartment here until we close on our house next month (8/20). We are grateful for the prayers of safety covering us on our journey and the traveling mercies we experienced. For your brakes to go out on a highway, we know this was the best possible provision where our whole family was safe and the damage to the car and our pocketbook was minimal. It was all part of the adventure and only took a bit more time, something we had plenty of as we entered this week of stay-cation time in our new hometown!

As we crossed the border, Heath chants "Indiana, Indiana, Indiana.... COOOOOOORRRRRRNNNNNNNN!"

Traveling North! part 1

So we have made the move to Indiana! We are settled into our temporary apartment on Purdue's campus for the next 4 weeks until the purchase of our Lafayette home closes August 20th. These last few days are already a blur, but we know we need to document all the craziness of transition!

We got a family dinner at the duck pond in during our final week! As an added bonus, we bumped into VT President Tim and Dr. Laura Sands walking and had a nice chit chat about our move to Boiler country where they just came from last year. Lots of good things happening at Purdue and VT! It was fun to hear their interest in our family relocating and asking about neighborhoods and Heath starting kindergarten.

Loving the duck pond

Reese was fearless walking right into the ducks with her 'Superman' run

Friday, July 17th Jonathan and I both worked our last day at Virginia Tech and said our goodbyes to our work community. We grabbed some delicious food at Souvlaki's and sat on Henderson Lawn to enjoy our last free Friday night concert downtown.

Thanks Dave for being the last parent standing with energy Friday night!

Saturday and Sunday we enjoyed with our friends, hanging at the Children's museum and going to church. It was a beautiful break of not packing and soaking in the last of our weekend with community. We were incredibly blessed by our New Life friends who shared well wishes Sunday morning and the Chinn's hosted a farewell celebration in the afternoon, which we tallied a grand 6 hours of leisurely eating, socializing, s'more making and laughter. It was a great Sunday.

Post bath and pre-story night at the Chinns' Sunday

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the kids went to daycare as usual while J and I worked all day long packing up the house. We were reminded how much we appreciate the staff at Rainbow Riders and how they give our kids love and consistency, even when home is crazy and boxes are everywhere. Tuesday was a rough packing day as I got discouraged trying to load the kitchen up- nothing fits in any box! And we discovered that our stash of boxes under the house we had planned to use were completely useless as they got wet and moldy- yuck! This included our tv box, which was kind of an important one to have proper packaging for in the move. So we made a plan to purchase more boxes and in the middle of all that got an email from our mortgage officer in Indiana that a signature was needed on a form. With no printer or scanner in sight, we headed over to the Chinn's to handle business. As we got there Wendy had just received an Amazon shipment for a new printer that came in a larger shipping box 2x as big as the printer box. Daisy was playing in it as we eyed it up for measurement. We took it home and the box could not have fit our TV any better! Praise God for that provision!

Thursday morning the movers arrived at 8am to load up the UPack (ABF) trailer that was dropped off the day before. Hiring these three movers to load in all our stuff after we had invested 3 days of packing it all was the wisest choice ever (behind keeping our kids in daycare 3 days that week). It was amazing to have them handle it all while I offered information and Gatorade. Jonathan took the kids out of the house for a morning of breakfast and play at Chik-fil-A and the library. We were all loaded by 11:30am and I had swept the house out as instructed in our seller's agreement. We took a family selfie in front of the loaded trailer and then hauled our tired bodies into the silver bullet, loaded down with a carrier on top stowing all of our 4 week needs. We waved goodbye to our first house, the street and then the town as we got on the highway and headed north!

Reese fell asleep in the car shortly after we left and Heath did his usual self-entertainment of song creating and talking. It was a smooth drive, despite some physical and emotional exhaustion settling in as the day went. We stopped in Chillicothe, Ohio for the night and had dinner at a local drive in that's been around a few decades, Sumburgers. The food was good, but the kids were tired and Heath had a complete refusal of obedience which led to a meltdown by Reese, me taking Heath out of the restaurant and then us quickly paying the bill to go to the hotel, thankfully only 5 blocks over. Despite the light outside, the kids went down near their usual 7pm bedtime after a quick bath and with the boys in one double bed and the girls in the other, we were all asleep quickly. I'm feeling tired again just thinking of that day, it was a rough one. . . . so part 2 of the journey we will share later!

Our growing girl!

After posting an update on Heath this past month, Reese made it known that she was equally deserving of an update post!

Reese Jean is a week away from 16 months and has made quite a splash of development in month 15. She went from taking a step or two then dropping to the crawl, to now walking and even charging ahead on foot every day, all day. If she drops to her knees, she picks herself right back up to her two feet to move.

She has also introduced the high pitch scream this last month, finding her own voice amidst having a big brother around. It usually comes out when she is frustrated and doesn't have the language to articulate what she wants (that toy) and so she clinches her fists, shakes her whole body and lets out the roar!

Enjoying the horse at the Children's Museum

After the physical growth spurt of walking, her language started to take off in the last week and a half. This welcomed development has limited her scream a bit more as she expresses herself often with sign language combined with words for: more and please. She is trying out any word she can by repeating what we say and to our surprise is executing quite well for: thank you, water, cracker, Heath, Reese, carrot, bean, up, down, all done, orange room. For a girl who up until a year had only been saying dadda and mamma, this past season has been exciting! She has even started to make the connection of needing a diaper change with the sign for potty. When we took the diaper mat out at an event last week she laid down and rolled onto it, welcoming the change! My heart is so hopeful that this girl vs boy thing will make potty training a different experience for our future!

She likes to eat :)

Florida Vacation

Back in the fall the Manz family began to talk about a spring vacation in Florida. Jonathan's grandpa lives in Port St. Lucie and is 92. J's dad has always made a trip each spring to visit him, and we thought we should join in while we are still living in this vicinity and he is still well enough to appreciate visitors. As the timeline developed it worked out that all of J's siblings and their wives would be able to join in!

So just as Blacksburg was getting hit with more snow and multiple days of temperatures in the single digits, we busted out of town late February for a warmer climate! We drove to the inlaws on a Friday night, staying in Georgia for the weekend. The folks then rented a minivan that we could all fit in and took off Monday morning for the ~8 hour drive south. The kids did pretty well in the van. Reese is still not a lover of the road trips, but comparatively, 7/8ths of the time was spent not screaming, so I call that a win!

Enjoying the Dodge Grand Caravan!

Our first full day in Florida we visited the beach as it was the sunniest day of the week. Reese LOVED the sand. She rolled in it, snuggled her head and cheek on it, ate it, ran her fingers and toes through it- just loved it! Here is a brief clip of the first moments there.

We also took advantage of the hotel pool while we were there and it was Reese's first time swimming. Her big brother Heath who is in lessons right now showed her all the ways to kick and jump and blow bubbles.

One day we all drove 90 minutes south to visit Jonathan's great aunt, Mil who will turn 102 next month. She was wonderful to be with and Heath enjoyed reconnecting; she reviewed with him how to spell his full name and it finally 'clicked' for him on this trip. The family all enjoyed having the kids around.

Heath, 4.5, Aunt Mil 101, Reese 1

I think we tallied about 30+ hours in the car for the week experience, but the vacation was well enjoyed! We now have the minivan drive experience that helped us to consider a future model for our family (you know, when we have two incomes again). We returned to snow on the ground, but some good vitamin D in our body that will hopefully get us through the last of this Virginia winter.

If you want to know how my minimalism plays into packing, feel free to journey back to 2012 for this post and read my tips!

Heath Lately

Heath and Mama Date Night- music class followed by ice cream cone!

Everyone has asked us since Reese has been born, how Heath has been doing. Overall he has had a wonderfully positive response to welcoming his little sister and dotes on her with mooches and hugs. He loves her. He has ceased to love listening to his parents. So we have had lots of roller coaster emotional rides with him in the past 2 months. Amidst the crazy I wanted to document some recent Heath-isms as he continues to make us laugh with his sometimes intentional and sometimes unintentional charm.

At school his teachers asked him what love is. His response "when my mommy and daddy give me hugs and mooches, that's love."

When he had a big BM on the toilet and called J for help. J asked him if it was stinky, his response "Ya, it's pretty stinky I think you need to put fire on a stick and then shoo it away. There is a firebox on top of the shelf there."

At school he was asked to share directions to his house: "Drive fast to it. Bicycles drive past it, people run past it. If friends want to come to my house, they need to ask me."

He has been singing a lot of original songs lately. He made one for his sister that went "Reesey Reesey Reesey I love you, Reesey Reesey Reesey I love you!"

Sharing the backseat with Reese has turned Heath into an even larger commentator.
    "Mom, Reese is 'hicking up'!" (had the hiccups)

     "Mom Reese is awake. Mom she closed her eyes. Now she opened them again I think she is awake. Mom she just closed her eyes." (That play by play given in a 50 second span). 

Words that he has created lately:

Handsitizer. (Hand sanitizer of course)

Fvussert. (Dessert which he believes is bonus fruit after dinner).

Fvasagna. (lasagna)
Microwave. (an actual word except that he uses it to describe his microphone)

He completed the community center's Guppy swim class this February/March

I forget the exact context, but I think it had to do with if he continued to be a good listener that day we would give him a cookie after dinner. He reached the goal and I pulled out a tupperware with cookies inside and told him he could pick one. He quickly retorted,  "Not the potty cookie!" with his hand to his face and head shaking. (apparently oreos are only for pooping on the toilet rewards) 

Heath has also gotten theological on us lately asking some questions during Holy Week: Why did Jesus die? Is God a boy?

J took Heath into a Wendy's bathroom on our drive up to NYC this month. There was clearly a man sitting in the stall going #2 when Heath loudly exclaimed "It is Stinky like poop in here." 

We let Heath take a bath with Reese (and Daddy) the other week. Being in this new space with her naked naturally prompted the question, "Where is Reese's kajina?"


So no matter what stage our independent growing tot is going through (he will turn 4 June 3rd), he has certainly continued to make us smile and it is good to remember that!

Life with Reese

We've been a family of four for 3 weeks now and I thought I'd better capture what that's been like before I forget!

Heath is transitioning beautifully to his big brother role. Although his initial meeting with Reese was hesitant, he has quickly come around to self initiated kisses and hand holding and requests to hold her. I've been most pleased with his ability to sleep through any baby noises during the night or afternoon nap. One harder night he was very tired in the morning and I think Reese must have woken him but he never got up or called out for us. 

The day my mom left Heath was sad to lose Oma, but I enjoyed getting my morning snuggle buddy back. The next day he came crawling into our bed like he usually does on weekends, only this time we were a snuggle bed of four! Heath have Reese's head mooches then wanted to hold her hand. So precious. 

Reese so far has been the easier second child we were hoping for, compared to Heath's challenging infancy. She has really only fussed to have a diaper changed or to be fed, mostly to eat though which is an easy need to meet. By night three she started sleeping overnight with a block of stretches time 3-5 hrs, eating then another 2 hrs sleep, then eating and dozing in bed together the remainder of the morning. Pretty fantastic! 

Getting sleep at night has made the biggest difference in this postpartum experience compared to the last. Every day has felt manageable. I was ready and excited to have some outings with Reese after the first week. Many other factors like her 5 hr birth, birth team postpartum support, and placenta pills have all contributed to this being a very positive transition experience for me and therefor our family. 

Feeling blessed.

Heath's Nesting

We are coming up on baby girl's status of 'full term' this Saturday at 37 weeks. As we near our time as a family of three, it seems like Heath is sensing what's ahead and has been nesting in his own ways.

For a few nights in a row last week, he climbed up on J's lap and asked if they could just hug for a bit.

In the past 2-3 weeks he has been a BIG proponent of snuggling. When he lays down for bed at night after stories and prayers and songs, he asks if we can just snuggle with him for a bit in his bed. Of course, we have obliged. When J told him he needed to get up now and go snuggle with mama on the couch for a bit, Heath asked "but then when you are done, will you come back and snuggle with me more?" J said 'ya buddy I'll come in and give you another mooch goodnight.' H replied "no, in the bed snuggling."

Heath has also enjoyed telling us how we are going to end our evenings after dinner, by a rundown of "clean the dishes, then take a bath, then 'tickles and mooches', then story time, then prayers, then songs, then snuggle in bed."

Heath has continued to be interested in his baby sister, giving my belly hugs or talking to her and saying hello or goodnight. I am cherishing his snuggles and soaking in our family of 3 moments too.

Because laying beside me would have felt too far away apparently ;)

Team Jonathan: Flair has arrived

If you know my mom this post is going to make a lot of sense, and if you don't - you are still probably going to grin.

If you didn't catch Jonathan's update a few weeks ago regarding his prelims, I'd float back and read that for some context. Since he shared privately with friends and publicly with the blog we have both received wonderful support and affirmation from family and friends, local and across the US.

I describe to people who have not met my mom as 'the perpetual cheerleader, not the spacey dancing kind, but the rah-rah support your team kind.' She has always been blessed with positivity and energy and runs on virtually no sleep.

So two weeks ago on a Saturday morning ~8am in Virginia, Jonathan received a text message from my mom in California (awake at 4:58am):
B: Woke up with idea of orange team Jonathan wristbands. A silent/prayerful/daily reminder for your family/friends/team! Your thoughts? I'll get it done. Back to bed, maybe sleep :) Brenda
J: Haha, cool idea. Now you are awake way too early get some sleep.

Jonathan did not tell me about this message having thought that my mom was joking and/or it was just early and forgot about the conversation. So two days later we were in the car and he started laughing out loud surprised to have just received this text update from my mom:
B: Team Jonathan to arrive in Fresno 7 days. 200. How many to you? Would your parents send them out to your family? I'll send to Henks. Very excited :)

It was at this point that J decided to deem Brenda the cheerleading captain for Team Jonathan. The flair has arrived in Blacksburg and is ready for dispersing. If you'd like a physical reminder to aid in your support of the PhD journey, let us know! And if you are in Fresno- see Brenda :)

Baby Hugo is on Team Jonathan

End of Summer/ Fall Kickoff Recap

My work commitments in August are at full steam with new students arriving and our orientation responsibilities to ensure they transition well. We were so blessed to have J's parents with us for a week to ensure the house stood, we were all fed, and Heath was well loved. While J took his written exams, Heath and I flew to California for my cousin Eli's wedding. Here is a quick camera roll of what we've been up to in the last 30 days!

My travel guy- 17 hours there and only 14 on the return home- such a trooper!

Me and my cousin Eli, the groom! Day-after wedding brunch. 

Eli and Cecilia's Wedding in Santa Barbara, beautiful location right across from the Pacific hosted by the Four Seasons who milked and dined Heath-the only kid- with all kinds of treats, Oma & Heath 

Church of God Softball Tournament in Modesto, CA where we got to spend time with Great Oma, Uncle Dietmar and Aunt Dania. Heath is in the neon green shirt on stage with Opa singing Amazing Grace with the men and on the field after the Championship win with the trophy tshirts!

Heath REALLY enjoyed playing with his older cousin Beka (top photos) including lots of wrestling hugs. He also enjoyed his friend Violet at the ballfield and playing at restaurants we went to.