Happy Belated Birthday Hannah!

This past month did not go exactly as I had anticipated. No month ever does, really, but August held a lot more mental (and physical) adjustments than normal. Among these adjustments was the realization that the way I had planned to celebrate Hannah's birthday was not going to work out. I was planning for simple, just not quite so simple as it became. You see, my baby was due a week after Hannah's second birthday. Both of my girls were late and I had prepared myself for yet another late arrival. In fact, I had CONVINCED myself that I had a full two weeks after Hannah's big day before I even had to think about another little one's birthday. Ha ha. Enter Baby #3. A full two weeks EARLY and a week before Hannah's birthday. That wonderful little surprise coupled with the fact that he was jaundiced and had to be hospitalized on her birthday disrupted birthday plans a bit.

I did manage to bake her a cake the day before. The girls were delighted to help, but my midwife who had an in-home visit that day more than suggested I was trying to do too much. I think it was worth it - she's only going to turn two once! I would do it all over again for that look of joy on her face as she showed it to Daddy and proudly declared "MY bir-day cake!"

The first thing Heidi did when she woke up on her sister's birthday morn was retrieve her present from it's hiding place and run and give it to Hannah.

A couple of weeks prior we had spent one of Hannah's nap times making her a draw string purse. Heidi sat on my lap and directed the fabric through the sewing machine while I pushed the pedal.

She wrapped it right away,knowing exactly how she wanted the package to look, then hid it until the big day arrived.

How special to have a sister-made present!

I had managed to finish her hobby horse the day before Levi arrived so thankfully she had that for her birthday as well.

I sent the girls off to church with Daddy while I stayed home with Levi and called the midwife about his level of yellow. Of course they had to wear princess crowns - what's a birthday without them?

After church we quickly ate lunch then rushed off to the hospital to have Levi's bilirubin levels tested and start him on his little glow bed.

Then came the hard part. I hugged my little birthday girl goodbye and sent her off with Daddy while I stayed with Levi.

Daddy was wonderful and took advantage of the fact we were in town anyway to take the girls to a park to play.

And that evening, he even remembered to take a picture of Hannah with her cake for me. He forgot to do it while the candles were in, but I forgive him because he did remember to do ALL the dishes pick up toys, sweep and make beds all before my parents and sister arrived late that night. What a hero!

So, the second anniversary of Hannah's birth came and went without much fanfare, but I pray she'll always know how blessed we feel to be able to call her our own.

A Colored Baby

A couple of weeks before Levi was born,Heidi and I had the following conversation:

Me: Who do you think our baby will be?
Heidi: I think we will have a black baby.
Me: A black baby?!? Why a black baby?
Heidi: I would like to have a black baby.
Me: Well, usually babies are the same color as their mommies and daddies, and we're white, so the baby will be white too, just like you.
Heidi: Oh, that's too bad. Now I'm sad because I wanted a black baby.
I know! Maybe it could have black hair!

Then, a couple days after Levi arrived, I overheard her whispering to him:
I love you baby brother. I really wish that you could be a black baby.

Needless to say, she didn't get her wish, but she did get a yellow baby.
Our little Levi became quite jaundiced over the weekend. While the girls each had some mild jaundice as babies, Levi was yellow enough that I began to get concerned and put a call in to the midwife Sunday morning. She met us at the hospital to test his bilirubin level and sure enough his was high enough to warrant a night on a bili-blanket. So once again I spent Sunday night to Monday morning in the hospital with Levi. This time with him on a little glow bed and me not allowed to pick him up except for feeding times. I'm thankful that they now do the light from underneath instead of on top so his eyes didn't have to be covered and I could at least sit and talk with him while he was awake. By Monday morning his bilirubin level had gone down enough that he could come home and he was starting to look pink once again.
In other news, our little guy has started gaining weight once again and is looking much better and stronger. Thank you for your prayers! I had to start pumping and feeding him expressed milk in a bottle to get him to this point so my prayer now is that we'll be able to ease back into nursing soon and be able to skip all the pumping , bottles and sterilizing hassles. This time with a newborn is so precious and fleeting I'd rather spend it holding him than sterilizing bottles!

Little Levi

I'm anxious to post more pictures of our little man, but I've run into technical difficulties and need to get Karl's assistance with that.
For now I'd like to ask for prayer for Levi. He's lost a bit more weight than the midwife and I would like to see and seems to be having difficulty figuring out how to accomplish that taxing task called nursing. "It's just too hard, Momma" he wails, and yet I relentlessly push him to try and try again. Needless to say, I'm not on his good side at the moment. I'm sure I'll soon be wondering how he can eat so much, but for now I would appreciate prayers that he'll learn to eat. Thank you!

Introducing...

Levi Anton 7 lbs, 8 oz, 19 3/4 in long

Blessed surprise at 12:40 this morning

Perfect in every way





Awed by God's great faithfulness and grace

Little Helpers

I have been blessed by my children lately.
There are days when I feel overwhelmed by the amount of "help" they want to give me, but I am thankful God has reminded me to encourage them in that in spite of how much extra work it can make for me. I had no idea that I would be reaping the rewards so soon, however. Last week Heidi disappeared while I was cleaning upstairs and I had a moment of panic when I realized she had been in my room and quiet and was now asking me to "Come see the surprise I have for you, Momma!" I was bracing myself to not react in anger no matter what she had gotten into and opened the door to discover she had made the bed for me! She's done it every day since. Why did I doubt? My Hannah has surprised me as well with her initiative to help. Lately she starts setting the table as soon as she sees me preparing a meal. It amazes me that she picks up on what I'm doing so quickly and will drop whatever she's doing to come put all we need on the table. Thank you, Lord, for providing me with extra hands!

Eight Months

See that Pregnancy ticker in my sidebar?
The one that tells me I only have four weeks left before I meet this baby?

I don't believe it.

One, because previous experience tells me due dates are something to be bypassed before Baby makes an appearance. Two, because this pregnancy seems to have flown by compared to my first two. Three, because I still can't seem to wrap my mind around the fact that I'm actually having a baby. One would think that the feeling of having a bowling ball in my abdomen and all these kicks and squirms from within would convince me a little one is on the way. Instead, I keep forgetting and wondering what could be going on in there!
Wee Wagenhoffer #3 will make an appearance whether I believe it or not, and it seems my subconscious is picking up on that fact even if I can't fully acknowledge it. Nesting appears to be in full swing around here and every extra bit of time and energy is being spent on cleaning and organizing. I'm loving how much is being accomplished and hoping I can feel done before Baby arrives.
The other thing I'm hoping is in place before Baby comes is a name. Oh, we have a boy's name all ready (and it's NOT Maxwell, no matter how many dreams I have where I tell everyone that's my son's name) but we still have no idea what we will name a little girl should be blessed with one. Heidi is insistent she's having another sister. I've been trying to convince her a brother could be good too. She finally conceded and told me "Yes, Momma, you can have a boy baby. But first you will have a girl baby, then after this one grows up a little you can have another one and that one can be a boy. Actually, you could have one more girl to make three girls and then you could have three boys, that would work well!" I can see her point, another girl would be fun, but as I keep reminding her, God gets to choose, not us, and part of me is hoping for a boy just so we don't have to scramble for a name! Our absolutely not list is growing well, I just wish there were some names being added to the possibility list. Suggestions are always welcome!

Canada Day

Having Amber here for 11 days was a huge encouragement to me. Not only did she spend lots of time playing with and reading to my girls, she also helped me get my house a bit more organized and clean! I don't think there's any gift more appreciated by a Momma who's about to add one more to her charge.
Since Canada Day took place while she was here, we had to take part in all the festivities and show her that stuff really can happen, if not in our little town, then at least in the small town nearby. At the horse show the night before the girls delighted in the novelty of having both Auntie Amber here on a visit and Uncle David home from Bible School for the summer.

Heidi, (for whom I take no credit for her outfits these days, she chooses them herself) also thoroughly enjoyed watching from the fence with Daddy.

The very rusty fence.

Much to the demise of one of her best sweaters and recent bath.

This picture is a bit hard to make out, but that's my Karl.

On his belly.

On a tarp.

Behind a horse.

The horse is running.

Fast.

He volunteered for this people.

He said it was fun.

Maybe it's just pregnancy, but it looks like anything but fun to me.

The morning of July 1st Amber and I took the girls to the parade.

The excitement of which to them is mostly all about the candy.

It being the first parade Hannah could really remember, she was a bit confused about the whole thing at first. Why was Momma sitting with her on the side of the road?

Then the candy started to come. Momma has good ideas!

Soon she was running to greet each parade participant before they even tossed her the candy and I had to put a limit on how much she was allowed to stuff in her mouth at once.

Then we had some time before Daddy came to meet us with our picnic lunch so we spent it playing hard on the playground. Once again I found myself grateful for Auntie Amber's energy while I was already feeling done for the day!

The rodeo was next. Another event for which Hannah was wondering why we were sitting there doing nothing. Then the cows came out. They're one of her favorite animals and we were sitting right next to the chutes. The look of wonderment on her face was worth all that sitting in the hot sun! My favorite comment of the day came from Heidi as she watched the rodeo participants rope a steer, "Hmm", she said slowly and with the certainty of one who has just discovered a great truth, "I think they must be cowboys".

By the time evening arrived Hannah was getting excited about all this waiting in strange places. What would happen next?! I wasn't really sure how she would respond to the fireworks, but each one was greeted with a darling little "wow" as she clamped her hands over her ears the entire time (We had brought hearing protection for both the girls, but only Heidi accepted). Am I the only one who gets more enjoyment out of watching her children watch fireworks than in watching the fireworks themselves? This time in which all is new and exciting is so precious and short I just can't get enough of it!