Here is a little video of what my days look like at home. These two crack me up and love eachother so much. They each think the other is so funny and have these great conversations with eachother.

Messy Boy

Yesterday Natalie wanted to feed Michael "all by myself". So, I walked out of the room and let her do her thing. It was so cute watching when she wasn't looking. She would try to wipe the food off his mouth after every bite and he was loving it. She dropped the spoon on the floor so I went in and wiped it up and left the cloth on the table. When I came back a couple of minutes later she had wiped his face and bib off. Oh, I wouldn't trade the squash all over the floor, highchair, Michael's outfit and in his hair for anything. That was such a sweet moment.

Wow!! Major update needed.....

Make a Smilebox slideshow

It has been way to long since my last post. It seems like it always happens that way. I figure that pictures can tell way more than I can write so I made a pretty lengthy slide show for you at the bottom of this post. You can scroll through the pictures at your own pace so you can look quickly. A couple of highlights:

• Michael is crawling all over the place, standing up on everything and actually taking some steps behind one of his toys. He also climbs steps and moves from one piece of furniture to another if they are close enough.


• Natalie is talking so much now, a million miles a minute. She says the funniest things. Like tonight...."Natalie, I love you. Do you love mommy?" "No" "No, you don't love mommy?" "no" "Well, who do you love?" and with so much excitement she screamed "I love JESUS!" It was so cute and I cracked up. She later told me she loved me too, phew.


• Natalie is such a mimic of us. For example, if we tell her to do something we say "Natalie, you need to put your toys away. You say 'okay mommy' and obey" She knows that she has to say okay and obey us right away. So now she says to Michael if he's doing something he shouldn't be doing "no, no, Myny. You obey mommy, you obey!!" Poor little guy has 2 moms!


• James was traveling for work for a week so I went back home to Randolph for 5 days. It was a wonderful time of visiting with family and friends. There are pictures of our time there in the slideshow.


• We have a friend living with us. His name is Dieudonne and he moved in about 2 months ago. He has been attending our church (http://www.cdomaha.org/) for about a year and half. He is a refugee from Burundi, Africa and is going to Central High School. It has been so much fun and such a blessing to our family having him live with us. We've had some great conversations and Natalie loves playing with him and talking to him. We celebrated his 19th birthday with him in October.


• Our church, Coram Deo, is celebrating it's 3rd Birthday next week. We have grown so much spiritually through the teaching and community of people we are around. All of the sermons are on the website if you are ever interested in listening to one.


• I am absolutely LOVING my job of a stay-at-home mom. I look at our kids every day and am so thankful I get to spend all of my time with them and friends. I get to use all of my energy on my family and watching it grow is so wonderful. We spend our days doing whatever comes our way. Natalie will wake up and say some of the following statements "are we going to the woo... are we going to MOPS... can we go on a walk... are we going bye-bye in the car.. can we play with coco "or names other kids"


• I'm starting to work on sign language with Michael so he stops grunting when he wants another bite. We did it with Natalie so that she could communicate with us before she was able to talk. We started with the sign for please and she would have to do it before we would give her food or anything else. So, I would say to Michael "do you want more" and then take Michael's hand before every bite and sign "please." Natalie would laugh and then a couple minutes later said to me "mommy, may I have some more milk please." Amazing what a difference 21 months makes.


• I've been making baby food for Michael. It's been great. It cost 1/2 the price to make my own organic food than to buy non-organic!! And, not to mention the difference in the food. Gross. Here is a picture of green beans that I bought and food that I made. Yuck. I think I'll stick to making my own. I'm not sure what they have in their "green beans" but why isn't it green???

Some Videos of the kiddos

Here is a video of what some of my conversations look like throughout the day. Michael and I are engaged in a very deep conversation here. He is so much fun. Having problems downloading the video, i'll try later.

Here is a video of Natalie and James while we were camping over Labor Day. She loves when James plays keep away with her. Also, she learned how to do a somersault so she defers to that when she can't get the ball.

Updates...

Here are some of the major updates going on in the Chalmers' Family

1. Natalie is potty trained!! Here's her new favorite face!




2. Michael is crawling and potty trained! Just kidding, he's just crawling. He can go from crawling to sitting up.




3. Michael started eating rice cereal. Natalie loves feeding him so he often has food on his forehead. Oh Well, what are you going to do.




4. Natalie & Michael are sharing a room now.




5. Natalie can count "1,2,3,8,9,10!" We're still working on the middle numbers.




6. Natalie's favorite songs: "Jesus Loves Me", "Zaccheas"


7. I gave Natalie her first haircut since she was born. She wasn't quite sure what to think of it but she did great. James just fed her chips the whole time. I kind of miss her wild, crazy, and out of control hair but I suppose it was time.




8. I'm playing in a fall co-ed softball league. Go "The Masterbatters"

Michael's Dedication

We had Michael dedicated on August 3rd. It was a very sweet day. Here are the verses that we choose to have our pastor, Bob, pray over him.

Romans 12: 9-13
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Ultimately, our prayer for Michael would be that he sincerely loves others, clings to Christ, honors others, serves the Lord with zeal, is joyful, patient, and a prayer warrior, serves those in need, and shows hospitality to all he comes in contact with.

Michael's Personality: He is so sweet, cuddly, and laid back. He has this huge smile that lights up his entire face. His eyes just light up. He loves his big sister. Anytime she talks to him he will laugh and smile at her. Anytime she does "big sister" things (i.e. trying to help him crawl by pulling his arms forward and he hits the floor with his face) he doesn't even mind. He just goes with the flow in everything we do. He doesn't cry when I lay him down for a nap, he just starts to suck his thumb and goes to sleep. It's crazy how they come with their own little personality and how it manifests itself in everything he does. He's going to be the silent, sneaky one. He's starting to crawl already but he does it so quietly. One minute he's where I laid him down and the next he's moved across the floor to something that caught his interest. I'm going to have to watch him closely because of how quiet he is. He'll probably be in great mischief before I even realize it. Natalie will probably keep my on my toes because she watches him pretty closely.

Alaska

Here are a couple of pictures from our trip to Alaska. We had a great time and the kids did great here with Nana and Papa. It is so beautiful up there. Also, a couple of pics of the kiddos during their stay with Nana & Papa.

We went on a rafting trip down the Kenai River while we were in Alaska. We saw 2 black bears and a grizzly bear in the water eating a fish. It was so amazing and beautiful. Here is the best picture of the grizzly bear, we were probably only 40 yards away from it.


Look at the background in this picture. I love it up there.

My brother, Chaed and his new wife Kari, had a beautiful wedding. It was at the Alaska Heavenly Lodge and we enjoyed our time so much. Thanks so much Chaed & Kari, we had a great time. Here's a couple of pictures of the family, for those of you who don't know, it's me, Chawndell, Chaed, Dawn and my mom in the front. I have some great pictures of Chaed & Kari during their wedding on our other camera but it's new and I have no idea how to get them on our computer, James will have to do that and then I'll post them.

Unfortunately, James and I got the stomach flu when we got to Alaska, YUCK. I was in bed with the curtains shut for 36 hours and couldn't even turn the TV on because my head hurt so bad. My hips actually started to hurt because I couldn't lay any other way than on my side because it hurt my stomach so bad. That's no good. James got over his much quicker and when we called home, Natalie, Nana, & Papa got it too. The only one to avoid it was Michael. Here's James and I, after we recovered, at the wedding.

Summer Events!

We went swimming at a friend's pool.
Michael playing on his tummy.

Well, look at this, I'm posting again and it has been less than three months. Crazy, I know. I was just going to post a few pictures and give a quick update on the last couple of weeks. We went back to Randolph to see my family on the weekend of the 4th of July. It was so nice. We relaxed at my mom's house, lit some fireworks that they got for Natalie, (which she loved), went to Rick's farm and rode the 4-wheeler and shot a .357 magnum handgun, went to my aunt & uncle's house for a BBQ, jumped on the trampoline, and then headed down to the fireworks show in Norfolk from their house. It was a great weekend.

Natalie's doll enjoyed riding on the 4-wheeler too.

Natalie loved jumping on the trampoline.


This handgun was so loud! I actually was pretty close to hitting the bulls eye a couple of times, James, of course, was a pro.
Anyone else remember these snakes at the 4th of July, they were so fascinating, Natalie thought so too.
We found out when we were back home that James' Grandma passed away so we headed up to Canada for the funeral on Monday night. We left here at 5:00pm and arrived at 7:00am. I surprised myself and was able to drive about 4 hours!!! Amazing, I know. It was a very special funeral in the sense of how personal it was. There were many special moments and stories shared about her life. It was nice to be able to spend some time with all of James' family. We went to the beach one day with James' sister Michelle and her husband Tim and their kids Daniel, Leigh, & Emma. It sure would be nice to be so close to the beach! It is beautiful.



James and Michael took a little nap on the beach.

We returned to Omaha on Friday and then James' Dad, sister Christine, and her two kids Matthew and Madison arrived on Sunday. They were here for the week for James' hockey camp. His dad helped him with that and Matthew was in the camp. It went well and Natalie loved having her cousins to play with for the week. They were great with her. When Matthew was at the camp, Madison and I would cook the meals together and she would set the table every night. She became quite the food chopper when she was here, it was a fun time. They headed home yesterday and James' dad will remain here, his mom arrives tomorrow night and we head out to Alaska on Wednesday. Natalie and Michael are staying here with Nana and Papa. We will be gone from Wednesday-Tuesday for my brother's wedding. I'm excited to go on a trip with James. We'll miss the kids like crazy but they will be in good hands.

Here's Matthew, Madison, James & Natalie downtown on our walk.

Michael is still doing great. He rolls over both ways all the time with quite a bit of force. He has the most precious smile that lights up his whole face. His eyes completely change when he smiles, it's so sweet. Natalie is still so funny. We were driving today and I was cracking up at her. I thought if anyone was watching me they'd think I was a bit crazy. Some of you know that she won't/doesn't say "baby" with the "b" sound. She says "ngng". We have no idea why. So today I was telling her to say "b b b b b baby" she would say "b b b b b ngng" Then I sang a song with the word "baby" in it and she would say all the words and when it got to "baby" she would say "ngng". Very interesting.

I'm amazed at how much Natalie understands and does. I was changing Michael's diaper today and I told her to go into my room and get one of her cloth diapers from the clothes basket. She came back with the diaper and then I told her to go get the insert for it. She came back with the insert. I told her to put her diaper on her changing table and her water on her bed so we could get her ready for a nap. I walked in her room expecting it to all be thrown on the floor but both things were where I told her to put them. It's so fun to watch how much she grows and learns, she'll be mowing the lawn before we know it.

This is what happens when I try to do too many things at one time. I started filling the sink, left the kitchen for some reason and came back to find it overflowing and Natalie playing in the bubbles. That is very typical behavior of me. To repeat a phrase I've taught Natalie "Oh Well."

Here's a little video of Natalie and James on the trampoline.




Here's a video of Michael. He would only roll over for a while when we weren't looking and in his crib. I was trying to get some video of him rolling over but he wouldn't do it. Instead, he did what he does so well, spit up. He spits up so much, we both need about 3 outfits a day.

Daily life with a 2 year old & a 3 1/2 month old

Wow, where to I begin. It's been 3 months since my last post so there is so much to talk about. Sorry, this is probably going to be a long post with a couple of different slideshow pictures. I guess I'll start by saying that things are going great. I am loving being home with my 2 kiddos every day. We are busy and active and I love it. We also have days where we stay home and hang out only with eachother and I love that too. It's funny how every day as a stay at home mom is different. There are those random days I wake up and from minute 3 things just aren't going well. I had one of those days about a month ago. It was just one thing after another and things were dropping, spilling, breaking, and I felt like I was treading to stay above water. Both kiddos were crying and all I was looking forward to was 9:30 when I was leaving home to go spend time at Neale Woods with some friends. Well, I couldn't find my keys, of course. I ended up canceling and found my keys 4 hours later, on the kitchen counter under my diaper bag. So many things happened that day that were frustrating and I laid down exhausted that night, telling myself that tomorrow would be a better day.

What could be more fun than James surprising me for our anniversary with a night out on the town with the car we drove on our wedding night.
The next day I woke up and it was a much better day. It was actually one of my favorite days so far this summer. Michael was up early so I was able to spend about an hour with him by myself and that was such a sweet time. We coooed at eachother and laughed and smiled and both loved it. He went down for a nap that ended up lasting 4 hours and Natalie and I headed outside. Every day we get our breakfast and head out to the front porch to eat. This particular morning was trash day and street cleaning day. We watched the garbage trucks come by, watched the street sweeper and ate our breakfast. Then it started pouring rain. I got her boots and she played out in the rain and in the puddles forever. She loved it and I loved watching her. I wouldn't trade those moments for anything. Those lazy mornings that we spend together every day just enjoying conversation fit for a 2 year old. It's funny how I don't remember every detail of the "not so good" day but I remember every detail of the next. The worst day at home (the days where Natalie comes upstairs with blue magic marker and you find it all over furniture and stairs) is still better than my best days I spent teaching, and I LOVED teaching, I just love spending every day with Natalie and Michael even more. The things they do every day just melt my heart and make it swell with so much love.


I love watching Natalie with Michael, telling him "Good Morning", helping me change every one of his diapers, giving him his bottle if he's crying, and always reminding me that we have to take Michael whenever we leave the house. I love watching Michael interact with Natalie. I'll watch them when I'm driving and they are looking at each other, Natalie's talking to him and he is smiling from ear to ear. It's so incredible how they already have such a strong connection and they've only known each other for 3 1/2 months. If James takes Natalie on a bike ride or anywhere, the first thing she says when she gets in the door is "Myny go" (the way she says "Michael go").

She is talking so much now, it's crazy how she picks up on things so quickly. She loves running around, playing with her golf clubs, playing in water, riding her tricylce, jumping off anything, and going on walks. Michael is rolling over now from his tummy to his back, eating like a monster, and sleeping like a champ. He's so incredibly laid back and chill and smiles and laughs all the time. He's also a good cuddler which I love because Natalie was never that way.

Here's Natalie, James is already making her a proud 1/2 Canadian


Gardening and Camping

Well, we planted a great garden on Memorial Day Weekend. It was so much fun. Natalie played in the dirt and did her 2 year old version of gardening. I planted 12 tomato plants, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, pumpkin, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, bannana and chili peppers, beets, white and green onions. Natalie and I would go weed and water the garden every day. I would pull the weeds out and Natalie would throw them back in, not understanding why I was taking them out. I had told myself that I wasn't going to have a perfect garden because I was doing it with 2 kids and she was a part of it every day so that was okay with me. It was just so much fun spending that time working together. She would have her little watering can and shovel and work away. Then, Friday, we were pummeled with a storm. We had drifts of hail a foot deep in our yard and needless to say, my garden was destroyed. I was so bummed. James said it looks like someone took a weed wacker to it and then picked up all the weeds, there is absolutely nothing remaining. My tomato plants were up to my waist and so full and in a matter of 10 minutes it was gone. Natalie looked at it and said "uh oh mommy." I guess we'll have to try again next year and hope that the 80-90 MPH wind holds off and there aren't any hail blizzards. I was more bummed about my garden than the part of our ceiling that fell in, our car that has hail damage galore, all of our plants and flowers that we have planted, our roof and siding that has damage and who knows what else, the insurance guy is coming on Friday and we'll know more then. In the midst of all the chaos and the ceiling falling, scaring Natalie, and water pouring in I wasn't able to get anyone in the basement and Michael stayed sound asleep upstairs. James and I were hit with the reality that we cannot get too attached to the things of this world because they aren't what matter anyways. It seems God was teaching us a little lesson to not hold on tightly to the things we have because they are not the things that matter. So many people had way more damage than us, we have a lot to be thankful for.

Here is a little slideshow of some of the things that happened to our house and neighborhood during the storm.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We've also gone on a couple of wonderful camping trips this summer. They were both at new places and they were beautiful. Camping is definitely my favorite thing to do together as a family. It's so peaceful and relaxing. The second child definitely gets the shaft when it comes to "protection." When we went camping with Natalie when she was 10 weeks old she would hang out in the pack-n-play outside with a bug net over her. Michael was just on the ground on a blanket and enjoying life. Both kids did great sleeping and playing and I love nothing more than Natalie being covered in dirt from head to toe. Natalie was drinking a glass of water and actually gave Michael a drink by dumping the whole thing on his face. I heard him gurgling and all he did was let out a little grunt and was fine, he is so incredibly adaptable and not bothered by much.

Here is a slideshow with random pictures from the last 3 months. Make sure you press play and you can adjust how quickly the pictures slide through. Also, for some reason, you have to keep moving your mouse over the pictures for the headings to remain on.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Well, there you have it, a little picture of what the last 3 months have been like for the Chalmers Family. We have a great time together and we're trying to cherish every moment. Hope you are all doing well.

Natalie's 2nd Birthday

Here is a little slideshow from Natalie's 2nd Birthday party. We had a small gathering here with my family. It was a great day and it was so fun watching the kids play together. It's only the beginning of many parties and so much fun. It is so hard to believe that Natalie is already 2 years old. She has grown so fast and is such a little girl. It's fun but sad at the same time. We are hit with the reality that the time we get with her at this age will fly by and we'll never get it back. We're trying to enjoy every part of it.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Michael John......

Well, here are some pictures of the first couple of days with Michael John. Things are going well. Natalie is adjusting well for now, James has been home so we'll see how it goes when he goes back to work. I'm recovering very well, it was a quick labor of only 4 1/2 hours, the midwife that we used was amazing and James was an incredible coach, I would not have been able to do it without him. Natalie is LOVING daddy right now, she wants to be with him all the time and has spent the last 2 days outside with him, going to the park and on "bowks", her word for walks. She's semi-interested in Michael and will give him kisses and hugs but otherwise she just goes about her business playing. Michael is so sweet, such a precious gift. He seems to be pretty laid back and alert at the same time. It just melts my heart to watch all his sweet baby movements and listen to his cute sounds. Ahhhh, such a blessing. We've had a couple of people ask if we are going to shorten Michael's name to anything else, we are not going to. We're going to call him Michael. :) Here are some pictures for you.

Michael John
March 9, 2008

7:02 a.m.

8 lbs 10 oz

21 1/2 inches long

First "Family of Four" Photo - Michael was about 9 hours old when he met his big sister.

Natalie - a proud big sister!!

Some have asked if we think Michael looks like Natalie did.... you can decide. Here is a picture of Michael...... sorry it's kind of blurry
And here is a picture of Natalie.....

James & Michael

Mommy & Michael

Christmas 2007

Happy New Year Everyone!

Man, it has been a great month since our last post. Natalie is changing so much and doing so many fun things. It's been a bit of a rough start to the year because Natalie has been pretty sick but hopefully we're on the mend. She started getting sick on December 30th and has had diarrhea since then. About a week after she started that she got a brutal cold and then 4 days later had a fever of 103.9 and pretty much stopped eating. I took her in during the first week for a normal checkup and then this week because she's not getting better. She has lost 11 ounces in 6 days which is a lot for Natalie because she's already so tiny. She ate a couple of bites at each meal today so hopefully that keeps up.

Natalie also made the transition to a big bed and that has gone unbelievable well. She did it with no fighting or issues. The first 2 nights we didn't have rails up so she ended up standing next to the bed crying in the middle of the night. She probably fell out so we decided to put up the rails and it's been smooth sailing ever since. She also transitioned into the next room for Sunday School. She's in with the 18-36 month year olds and has to sit for the bible story and snack, it's hard to believe she does that! She also started to love reading books. She says "buuuk" and does the sign for it. We sit with her and she will actually point to the pictures and try to say the words instead of tossing it on the floor. She loves singing while we're driving and knows all the actions for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It's so much fun! She also wants to go outside all the time, regardless of the temperature. She wanted to go outside so bad tonight so James took her out while he scooped the sidewalks and then went on a walk and pulled her around on the sled, it was 16* outside and she was out there for about an hour, with no complaints. I guess that's the Canadian in her. When we sit down to eat she knows we pray and she pushes all of her food away, folds her hands, and sits quietly while we pray. She says "Nanen" for "Amen" and then she starts eating. The funny thing is that whenever anyone gets up from the table and sits back down she pushes her food away and wants to pray again. We sometimes have to pray 4 times during a meal, it's so cute.

I'm feeling good pregnancy-wise so that's good. We have 7 weeks to go, which is hard to believe. It's came so fast and we're getting so excited. I wonder what it will be like for Natalie but I'm sure she'll adjust just fine. James is doing well, he hasn't traveled since November so that's been nice, we've enjoyed a lot of nights together.

Well, enjoy the slideshow and I hope everyone stays healthy!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!