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!

Florida

Well, here we are in December already! I can't believe it. We've had an eventful couple of weeks here. We went to Florida for a week with James' family and had a relaxing time swimming, playing sand volleyball, and playing tennis. It was during that week that Natalie really started to try saying words. Some are understandable and some are not, unless you're James & I. It is so fun to listen to her. She had a great time with James' family, his 5 nieces & nephews were so good with Natalie and she had a ball with them. Here they all are at Downtown Disney. It was fun swimming with Natalie. We had one of those swimming suits with the inflatable inserts, that way we didn't have to worry so much when she was walking around.

Having some fun in the sun!

One night we went to a place in Orlando called Old Town. We just walked around and enjoyed spending time together. In this picture, Natalie is completely focused on the carnival ride. She wouldn't take her eyes off of it, it was pretty cute to see her so interested in it.

After we returned home from Florida, we were here for a day and then gone to Canada for Thanksgiving. It was also a relaxing time. The baby is doing well also, growing and moving like crazy. I'm in the 3rd trimester now so we've begun the countdown. We're excited for the baby to arrive and Natalie points to my stomach every time I ask her where "mommy's baby" is. She also points to James' stomach and lifts up her shirt so I don't think she really understands. Oh well, she'll understand soon enough. :)

Wonderful October Events!!

Well,
It looks like I'm holding strong as a once a month blogger. It would be smarter for me to do smaller blogs more frequently, oh well, maybe this month. :) Wow, this was such a fun month. I LOVE Ocotber and we had a blast. Below is a slideshow of some of our events. Let's see, we've.......

*Went back home for my grandma's funeral and rode Rick's 4-wheeler through the cornfields

*Made Fruit Cobbler (Natalie really liked the dough)

*Gone to Vala's Pumpkin Patch with the mom's & babies from our birthing class

*Had a lunch/costume party with the mom's & babies from our birthing class

*Had a costume party/Halloween activity day with some of the wives/babies that James played hockey with

*Went trick-or-treating at Hy-Vee

*Carved Pumpkins

*Went trick-or-treating on Halloween for over an hour. Natalie LOVED it and would walk up to every house, we'd ring the doorbell and walk away and she would wait until they opened the door. They'd open it and she would hold up her bucket. It was adorable. She probably went to 25-30 houses and would have kept going.

*Went to a smaller pumpkin patch that was a blast. Natalie was able to sit on a pony, feed a goat, pet the sheep, go on a hayrack ride, and sling-shot a gord into the field.

*Natalie & I also went to Texas for a week to stay with my niece because my sister had to go to DC.

Man!! It has been one busy month. James has been traveling a good amount for work and actually just got another promotion! Way to go James. He is going to continue doing what he is doing, managing the franchise owners in the Central Region, and is also going to be the manager for the country of Canada. He will hire another person to work for him so he'll have 1 Region, 1 Country, and two people working for him. It's very exciting for him because he'll be able to be in contact with Canada owners.

We're heading out of town on Friday to go to Florida with James' family and we are really looking forward to that. We get back from Florida and James leaves 2 days later to go to a Canada owner meeting that is over the day before Thanksgiving so Natalie and I are going to fly up there and meet him at his parents for Thanksgiving. Whew, it's tiring thinking about it all but we're so excited to be able to spend some time together, especially after he's been traveling so much.

I had a fabulous girls weekend this past weekend and James kept Natalie here in Omaha. I went with 3 girls from Omaha down to Kansas City to meet 2 friends from Arkansas and we stayed in a hotel and ate, slept in, and shopped. It was fabulous.

The Baby!! Well, the baby is doing great. We had our ultrasound and everything measured perfectly. It was amazing to see the little baby moving around. We didn't find out what it was so it will be another surprise. I have about 4 months to go and I'm feeling great, although I feel bigger than I was with Natalie at this point. :)

I think that's about it from the Chalmers' Family. Enjoy the pictures of our October events.

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard

Mommy Encouragment!

I was reading on my friend Kerri's blog and she had this letter on it (origin unknown) so I decided to copy it into our blog. It's so interesting how this came at a time I have been thinking about a lot of these things. I've realized a lot of things in leaving my career of teaching and deciding to be a full time mommy. Teaching provided me with daily success, daily visible growth in my students, and measurable increases in their knowledege and understanding of the world around them. There was such concrete things being learned every day in my classroom that I could leave and feel like I had made a difference. Being a mom is very different. There are days when I wonder if anything I'm doing is causing growth and learning in Natalie. I still can't even get her to sit through an entire book!! I don't see measurable increases in her knowledge every day like I did in teaching. I know some of that is because I had 32 kids to draw from and at least one was going to learn something from me. :) The realization that everything I do all day long is being watched by our little girl is very weighty. There isn't anyone else that she spends so much time with and learns so much from. Yikes!! Am I doing the best I can all day long, every day? Am I showing patience and love in every situation? Am I showing her true joy and peace and contentment in all I do? I can only hope I do and it's because of all those things that I find being a mommy all day is tougher than it was to teach all day. I have a lot to learn and James & I were just telling Natalie today that she's going to have to be gracious with us because we've never done this before and we're going to learn a lot of things from her and make many mistakes along the way. I don't wonder what my purpose is because I know that at this stage of my life it is to be the best wife, mother, and friend that I can be. Sometimes it gets monotonous and I miss being an integral part in 32 little kids' lives and engaging with their families but I know that the most important little kid and family right now is my own. I may not be able to see daily benefits of what I'm doing but I know that down the road there will be great rewards, a strong family with many great memories and hopefully children who know their parents love them and considered them a blessing and a joy and not a stress or a burden.

"I'm invisible.

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated, but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of- style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it.

I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it. And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.