One Month Old - Due Date!

 

It's her due date . . . 

and she's ONE-MONTH-OLD!!!

While it seems like just yesterday she arrived, 

we can't imagine our lives without this sweet baby girl.

Dabney Hazel is such a blessing to our family.

At one month:

.  sleeps swaddled  .  carried in a sling  .  8-10 feedings per day  .

.  wakes to feed  .  squeaky hiccups  .  sweet snuggles  . 

.  sleeps in a mini crib next to our bed, in our arms, in downstairs bassinet, or in our bed  .

.  sucks her fists, teddy bears, blankets, or anything close when ready to eat  .

.  filling out and gaining some chubs  .  skin color is lightening . 

.  eyes are focusing more and crossing less . 

.  lots of grunts and squeaks in her sleep  .

.  impressive carseat leak-throughs  . 

.  lots of love and attention from 8 adoring siblings :)  .
. 8-1/2 POUNDS!!!  .

We are so thankful for our sweet girl.

She is a gift.

Pantry

Our 56 pounds of apples, and 3+ gallons of blackberries (frozen from our June picking)

have been boiled, milled, and processed . . .

We now have a full pantry (we have a small pantry :)

12 quarts of spiced applesauce

52 jars of sugar-free jelly
apple . blackberry . blackberry-apple

The applesauce will be quickly enjoyed . . .
but hopefully the jelly will last us fruit picking next summer!

Walking

19 months

and WALKING!!!

4 weeks

Sweet Dabney Hazel has been a part of our family for 4 weeks.

Her due date is this Saturday - she'll be one-month-old :)

In just 4 short weeks, she's changed so much.

Dabney has lost her squeaky cry.  

Her first week, she sounded like a sea gull.

We still call her "squeaks"
(when she hiccups, she squeaks)

Born at 6 lb 4 oz, her weight dropped down to 5 lbs 10 oz her first week . . .

was up to 6 lbs 10 oz by week two . . .

now she's starting to fill out at 7 lbs 15 oz!

(she is starting to have a booty!)

Now she has a cute little blister on her upper lip (from nursing :)
And, she's not as hairy!

Toothless

On our summer vacation, Burke lost a front tooth.

He lost two more front teeth camping this past weekend.

The fourth one is wiggly . . . 

Poor boy is going to be toothless.

He's thrilled!

Sleepy

.  Sleep .  Eat . Sleep  . Eat  . Sleep  . Eat  . Sleep  . Eat  . Sleep  .

(Dabney's Daily Routine)

Dabs

We are amazed at each and every movement and expression from our sweet girl.  Her face has already changed, her eyes are opening more and crossing less, and she's awake more each day.

The kids are looking forward to future smiles and babbles and play, but let's not wish this sweet newborn phase away . . . it lasts such a short time. 

3-1/2 weeks, in Mommy and Daddy's bed :)

Apple Picking

We look forward to apple picking each September, and thanks to Dabney's early arrival, we were able to venture out all together to collect our fruit this season.

This past weekend, incredibly gracious out-of-town friends offered to host our family for a weekend getaway at their home set on 8-acres outside of Nashville (after we invited ourselves over for a visit :)  The big boys camped out in the backyard, the little ones bunked together upstairs, and we were fortunate to have several hours enjoying the cool September night, great conversation, and fellowship with our friends fireside.

Sunday, our friends joined us for a trip to our favorite apple picking spot, Breeden's Orchard.
(followed by lunch at an Ethiopian Restaurant!)

This year, we actually under-picked!  We came away with only 56 pounds of beautiful apples.  Enough for apple jelly and a few quarts of applesauce, but not nearly the overwhelming bounty of last year.  We had picked 125 pounds last year, and while we had trouble storing all of our applesauce, we had no problem eating it all :)

This was a perfect way to spend a delightfully cool September weekend.

We've been busy processing our delicious apples this week!

School 2013-2014 - Month 2

It's September, and despite being "off" school for 3 weeks, we're 50 days into our school year!
We worked really hard up until the day of Dabney's surprise arrival. 

Upon meeting his sister, Hendrick sweetly exclaimed "I'm so happy we have a baby sister!" followed by, "Now, are we on school break?"

Yes we are!
We have planned a 6 week school break!

So, Month 2 of our school year has been  a week and a half of school, and 3 weeks of break.
(But, we're sneaky parents, school is still getting done :)

Before our abrupt end to our official schooling, we covered the end of WWI with the Americans joining of the Allied Nations.  We put together a canteen to sell goods to Daddy, posing as a soldier in France - the kids collected licorice, chocolate, newspapers, playing cards, kazoos, paper, and Legos to sell :)  We also watched "Sergeant York," wrote secret spy messages with lemon juice and made newspaper army hats.  
Post war, we learned of the deadly Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, infecting 500 million people, and sadly killing 3-5 percent of the world's population.  Our Great Grandma Vee contracted the Spanish Flu the year she was born.

We also plugged away in math, we memorized two new poems, read "The Wind in the Willows," learned more about reading maps, made good progress in phonics and reading, and worked in oil pastels and water color washes. 

Maegli

And then a sweet baby joined our family!!!

Since then, we've been sneaking in school: read-alouds, dinner table Bible devotions and current event discussions (each evening, Mike leads us in a Bible devotion, then the kids take turns picking out and reading an article to the family from their God's World News magazine, then finding the location on our world map), math games, coloring, puzzles, chess matches, preserving fruit, and reading lessons on the chalkboard.

It's amazing how much learning can happen during our "time-off!"   

Computer Math Games

Printed

3 weeks old

Soccer

This fall, Hendrick and Tesfaye are playing in our local city soccer league.  In keeping with our attempt to keep our family life with 9 children more manageable and preserve some margin in our lives, we are only a part of a single team this year (rather than multiple kids on multiple teams.)  This season it's an "Under 10" team for the two big boys, playing with the same coach we've had the past several seasons.

It's a season of just 8 games and we're 2 games in.  The team is thrilled to be 2-0!
And we're enjoying providing a large sideline cheering section for our boys.

The past several years, the younger kids have played games on a quarter field, 3 on 3, with no goalie.  After several years of soccer basics, these big boys are learning more about the game.  These games are on a half-field and are 6 on 6, with real positions: 3 strikers, 2 defenders, and 1 goalie . . . and scores are kept.
The kids are learning a lot about holding their position and passing the ball.  But the most difficult lesson has been in the goal position.  After years of  "no hands!" being drilled into these boys, it's been hard to allow themselves to touch the ball while playing goalie. Their coach has done a great job teaching the boys and giving them experience all over the field, rotating the positions among the team. 

Their team is incredibly talented.  Our boys have both been challenged and are working improve their skills.  This year has inspired them to practice together at home: drilling each other in the front yard and running in the neighborhood to increase their stamina.
Hendrick has enjoyed playing goalie.  Not the most aggressive, but as the tallest player on the team, he is learning to utilize his height and reach advantage defending his goal.  Tesfaye prefers the glory of the striker position.  He has to work hard to keep up with the other fast players, but loves being a part of the action.  He has improved immensely in his team-playing skills: communicating with his teammates, passing the ball, and celebrating with his team. 

We are really proud of our sons - it's been a joy to watch them play. 

We look forward to 6 more games this season.
And we have several kids practicing on the sidelines, excited for their turn to play this coming spring season :)

Family of Eleven

Adored

"We are so blessed to have a baby." - Burke
"We have two babies, one little baby and one big baby.  We're so lucky!" - Maegli

Our sweet Dabney is absolutely adored.

Gramma

We were so thankful to have Gramma here for a week, gifting us with much needed help!

Mike was able to be home for a week following Dabney's birth.

Gramma helped us out for week two!

It's always a joy to have her with us.

Next week, I'm on my own . . . should be fun : )

(Yikes!)