The Elferings

Posted By Jill on January 25, 2012

Making progress!

July brought some very fun activities, so this month had lots of video. That makes up for the winter months (like now) when we don’t do much of anything…

We finally made it to the Richfield 4th of July Carnival at Veteran’s Park. Mac hadn’t really had much experience with rides since our trip to Disney on his 1st birthday, so we weren’t sure how he’d do. Turns out he likes the fast ones best – yea!

And July also brought about Vivian’s decision to finally walk more than crawl. Here she is at the park strutting her stuff:

While Opa and Oma were in town, we took a trip to the Science Museum for a “preschool playground” day. Mac had a lot of fun, and we caught just a little on video…

Mac tends to ramble, and when he gets an idea in his head, we just let him go and see where it takes us. This one was about flying back to Grandma’s house…

One of our summer field trips was to Choo Choo Bob’s train store in St. Paul for story time. We stayed to play afterwards (and ended up staying even longer as a storm rolled through).

Vivian (and Mac) loved playing peek-a-boo in the living room curtains…

We had lots of fun with the family at the Edina Pool!

We have train tracks a block from our house. We have seen the trains from the living room window and when we’re in the car, but never up close outside. We are usually not in a place where we can run to see it, even a block away. This one day we did! Vivian was not so happy about it, but I tried to get some video anyway.

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Posted By Jill on January 16, 2012

Hello, Maternity Leave!  I have work I could do, but instead I’ve decided that today I wanted to try to make some progress on my video editing.  Sometimes I worry the kids will be grown before I catch up!  As I watch these today, I already see drastic changes and learning that has happened since June.  I only had two left to finish for June… Here you go!

Mac has a couple of My Friends Tigger and Pooh books – one is an alphabet book.  He used to sing the alphabet and point to the letters at the beginning of the book.  The funniest thing was always that he’d point to “N” where the word “and” is between Y and Z in the song.  I caught it here:

Mac wanted to help with Vivian’s bath, help wash her hair after he was ok with having his own washed:

Vivian with her stacking rings:

We had some rain before we covered the boat. Mac helped Jeremy bail it out:

Vivian climbed up into Mac’s bed and found a new musical friend:

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Posted By Jill on January 13, 2012

Josie continues to do well (and I continue to fall behind in my posts).  I did manage to take her two-week photos only a day late.  Not too much has changed… Josie sleeps for about 5-6 hours at a time at night, and if I time it right I only have to get up once in the night to feed her.  The last few nights she’s eaten between 9:30 and 10:30, we go to bed, then she wakes sometime between 2 and 4, then she sleeps through until about 8 or 9 a.m.  Now that’s not to say she doesn’t wake in that time, but she doesn’t need to eat.  She does wake about every hour and fusses, but she is usually satisfied with her nuk at that point.  Pretty good deal for a 2-week-old!  Even if we have just one night (or two?) of this a week, I’d say we’re lucky.

Today we went to the U of M to participate in the first of a series of visits for a research study on infant feeding.  She did great – really only had to be measured this time.  She weighed in at 8 pounds 4 ounces so is right on track.  They will also track body fat, length and some other measurements and will do some activities with Mac as well.

I also had my check-up this week and was cleared for necessary activity but encouraged to still take it easy and stick close to home when possible.  Mac and Vivian are doing well also.  Mac is back at school and seems to be happy to have me picking him up – next week it will be all of us!  I have to say, I love that he runs to me and gives me a big hug when he sees me waiting at the door!  Vivian is learning more and more each day and is very close to saying words.  We have heard a few utterings that have come close – ball, key, car, cracker – but nothing too consistent yet except for her “eeze” for “please.”  And Mom said she put her pants on by herself this morning!

Life at lightning speed… ready or not, here we are!

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Posted By Jill on January 6, 2012

Mac, 6 days old

Vivian, 12 days old

Josie, 8 days old

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Posted By Jill on January 6, 2012

I’d say I’m surprised it’s already been a week, but a week came and went faster than I could even realize – this post is already overdue!

Josie has continued to be our little angel.  Even though it was technically past a week, it’s worth mentioning as week one came to a close (Wednesday night), she slept 8 hours straight!  Last night was good too, 6 hours straight – I had to wake her to eat just because of MY discomfort!  I wouldn’t expect that to continue every night, but even once a week gives me a nice break.

We had her 1-week check-up on Thursday, and she checked out wonderfully.  She weighed in at 7 pounds 11 ounces, well on-track for being back to her birth weight by 2 weeks, which is what they want to see.  Because she doesn’t have any feeding issues or other concerns, she doesn’t have to go back until she’s 2 months old.  Her weight is in the 75th percentile, and she’s still the same length (20 3/4 inches; 90th percentile) and head size (14 inches; 90th percentile).

Josie eats well and sleeps much of the day, with some alert times.  Her brother and sister are doing pretty well too, though Mommy is anxious to get back to 100% able to play with them.  They could also use to get out of the house a bit, which we’re planning for this weekend.  We managed to capture a few good photos in the last couple of days of some sibling love…

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Posted By Jill on January 3, 2012

I am feeling very blessed this week.  Each day with Josie has been a little easier – not that any have been very difficult!  She is my angel!

Friday night, our first night at home, she wasn’t very content in her bassinet until after she ate around 2:00 a.m.  From the time we went to bed until then, Jeremy was up with her.  Saturday night was more of the same.  It could be that she just got used to being held a lot!  But on Sunday morning she slept for a good couple of hours in her bassinet without fussing, and lucky for me, on Sunday night (when Jeremy was allowed to sleep because he had to work the next morning), she slept well until she was ready to eat and went right back down when she was done.  The same happened last night!  She has been eating well and sleeping most of the rest of the time, with a few alert times here and there.  She has not been a fussy baby at all, thank goodness.

My recovery has gone well also.  I still have pain but it is managed by my meds.  Actually, besides a neck/shoulder ache that I’m assuming is from the positions of nursing, burping and holding Josie, I can’t complain much.  I am moving much better now but still need to take it easy to make sure I don’t overdo it.

So, now that the bustle of the holidays is over and most of the company has gone home, we are looking forward to settling in to our new family.  Mom stayed and will be with us helping out for what we hope will be a at least a couple of weeks.  It has been a relief to me as Jeremy had to get right back to work for another fairly busy month for them.  I am still not supposed to lift anything too heavy, so getting Vivian in and out of bed and her high chair are things I need to have help with until those restrictions are lifted.

The first couple of days of the weekend Mac and Vivian were really whacked out and off their routine.  It was a challenge to get them back napping at home and back to all of our normal rules and routines after having been away for three days, but we’re well on our way now.  We’ve even had two days where all three kids were napping at the same time.  Hey, if just that continues, I think my sanity will be kept well intact!

Mac is doing pretty well adjusting to having Josie home.  He doesn’t usually want to hold her when we ask, but yesterday morning after I was done feeding her, he asked if he could rock her now… Yes!!  It didn’t last long, but every moment like that is so precious.  Today I had her in my arms when I put him down for his nap, and he wanted me to put her in her bed for her nap too!  Vivian is seemingly unaffected by Josie but has certainly found a new friend in Nana… They are, as Nana says, “connected at the hip” these days!

Today marks the true start of my maternity leave as everyone else headed back to school (my email certainly “dinged” a whole lot more)!  So far we’ve stayed put in the house, but tomorrow I do have to go in for a short meeting, Thursday I have to take Josie in for her 1-Week check-up, and Friday I’ll need to pick up Mac from preschool.

Onward!

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Posted By Jill on December 28, 2011

It’s official… we are now FIVE!

Baby Josie joined us early this morning in a very uneventful arrival.  She emerged at 7:24 a.m. weighing 7 pounds 15 ounces, measuring 20 3/4 inches long with a head circumference of 14 inches (same as her brother and sister).  Her Apgar scores were 9 and 9.  She looks tiny and absolutely beautiful.  And no, we’re not biased.  ;)

Mac and Vivian came to visit their new baby sister later in the morning.  Mac was fairly interested for a while and did agree to hold her for a few minutes.  He was very careful and looked a bit timid about it but had big smiles when we could distract him from the enormity of it.  Vivian was fairly unaffected but did show us big smiles too when she was able to be close to Josie and touch her.

Josie’s full name is Josephine Kay Elfering – Josephine after my grandmother (Dad’s mom) and Kay after Jeremy’s mom.  The names continue the tradition we’ve started of carrying forward some precious family names.

We had some other visitors during the day as well, and Josie was fairly alert for them.  She slept a lot too and is doing very well so far with feedings.  As this long day (that started with a 5:30 arrival at the hospital) comes to a close, we are thankful for our blessings and hopeful for a fairly good night’s sleep as Jeremy and I are both a bit behind in sleep already.  We’ll see how that goes…

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Posted By Jill on December 22, 2011

This will likely be the last blog post before our family of four becomes a family of five.  We continue to be very busy in our house with work, kids, housework and getting ready for baby #3.  But there have been some things worthy of blogging, so here ya go!

Potty Training: Step 2 Complete!

Thanks to a “right place, right time” catch by Jeremy the day after Thanksgiving, Mac is now going poopy on the potty!  He was  very resistant to it up until that day.  We’re not sure why, but we also haven’t forced the issue.  After one successful trip, we went cold turkey to underwear that weekend (except at night) and haven’t needed to go back.  He had a couple of accidents during nap that first couple of days but not since.  It’s been great for us and for Mac to have that new independence.  There have even been times he has woken up to go and then goes back to sleep.  The extra bonus is the guarantee that we will NOT have three kids in diapers!  He’ll continue to wear pull-ups at night, but for the most part, no more diaper changes for Mac.  Yippee!!

Vivian’s 18-Month Check-Up

Vivian did really well at her last well-child check-up.  She is growing right on track, falling only slightly now into the 50-60th percentile for height and weight.  For those who like details, she’s an ounce short of 25 pounds (55th %ile), 31 3/4 inches tall (50th %ile), and that head remains in the 80th percentile at 18 3/4 inches around.  Her development and health are both great.  She is just starting to appear as though she might start saying words soon.  She does try to imitate some sounds but doesn’t seem to link them to objects yet.  She continues to improve her signing and overall communicates her wants just fine.  If I dare say, the screaming is starting to lessen, though I have thought that before and it came back with a vengeance!

Vivian continues to learn and develop her motor skills.  She likes to do puzzles now, and she also loves to build with blocks.  The Mega Blocks seem to be one of her favorite toys right now.  And she also has started to drive the cars and trains around the tracks rather than just pulling the tracks apart!  She is curious and into anything and everything within her reach.  I don’t remember Mac being that way.  She’s gonna be a handful!  She also really likes to be in contact with people, so she will often bring a toy and just sit in our laps to play.

Siblings

Mac and Vivian continue to practice getting along.  I would say it’s improving, but slowly.  Mac does try to engage her more often, and he can also go get her for me without her ending up in tears or face down on the floor.  This is a huge accomplishment, believe it or not!  The biggest difference these days is that I can actually leave them alone in a room for a few minutes without worrying about Vivian’s safety.  Come next week, that will be very helpful!

Baby

Well, we’re down to 6 days on our countdown to Baby.  Mac seems to understand as well as any 3-year-old should that Baby has been growing in Mommy’s belly and will soon be ready to come out and meet us.  I’ve taken the kids to most of my OB appointments, and he has heard the heartbeat.  He has also felt the baby move a few times.  He tells people that Baby is still growing.  He’s helped us put some things together, put things in the crib for her, and even noticed that the bassinet didn’t have a blanket and wanted to put one in there!  A couple of weeks ago on the way to the doctor, I started to talk about the fact that we are going to see if Baby is ready to come out, and then later I said something about when the baby is ready we’ll have to go to the hospital so the doctor can help us get her out.  I was surprised this week when we went to the doctor again, and he asked if we were going to the hospital!

We’re looking forward to some time off to enjoy the holidays before Baby makes her debut, and we’re hoping to spend some quality time with the kids before their lives are turned upside down!  Thankfully, Grandma has offered (insisted, really) to take the kids while I’m in the hospital, and Nana will be here too, to help at the hospital and for some time after we get home.  We are blessed to have so much of our loving family around us!  If all goes well, we’ll be home by Friday afternoon to have another weekend of fun and football to enjoy!

Watch here for updates and keep an eye on Flickr for photos!!

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Posted By Jill on November 15, 2011

Halloween was really fun this year with Vivian able to participate for the most part.  Both kids donned their costumes (Vivian reluctantly and needing distraction) and used their manners for Trick-or-Treating.  Fun was had by all!  Thank you once again to our neighbors for lending us the costumes.  Mac wanted to be a cow… again!

Overall, the kids are playing much better together.  We still have occasional glimpses of Mac being a nice big brother and showing concern for Vivian when she’s crying.  But we also still have a three-year-old who reacts normally to a little ankle-biter taking his toys or interrupting his play.  We try to concentrate on the positives and praise him when we see them.  I try not to act out on the other stuff too often.  Sometimes I even just let them work through it without intervening, which can be difficult but I feel is also good for them.  I certainly don’t want to end up with two little tattle-tales who have to run to Mommy any time something isn’t going their way!  Let me share just a couple of the good glimpses:  Last week, I was trying to hold Vivian back from getting to my computer, and she, as usual, started screaming and crying.  Mac said to me, “Don’t hurt her.”  And the other day when Vivian was watching something on the iPad, Mac came up next to her and said, “May I please watch with you?”  We had another good moment yesterday morning…

Last week one of the days Jeremy was home, he had the kids outside playing and took out the little bicycle for Mac to try out (with training wheels).  He’s doing a great job of pedaling and will definitely be ready for spring!  He does better when there isn’t a Little Tykes car in this way…

Last week Mac felt the baby move.  I could tell she had the hiccups, which is really the only time with enough consistent movement that she’ll still be moving by the time Mac gets over to me – he’s not quite patient enough to wait around.  He felt it again last night.  I caught some video, though it’s not great, but it’s fun to see his reaction!

Baby is doing very well, growing and growing and moving a lot.  We’re down to just over 6 weeks left before get to meet our little one.  We still have lots to do, but we’ll be ready… I think!

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Posted By Jill on November 14, 2011

While maybe not quite as dramatically, Mac is growing and maturing as well.  His speech seems to improve daily.  He is often speaking now in complete sentences, and he’s adding words to his vocabulary.  Last week during lunch, he told me, “This is delicious!”  He also shows that he’s engaged in our conversations at the table by repeating parts of what we’ve said and asking for things to be repeated so he can be a part of the conversations as well.  I attribute much of this development to preschool and having to talk with his peers and hearing good examples from his teachers.

Mac is loving preschool.  He behaves well as far as we’ve heard, and even had “show and tell” a couple weeks ago.  He chose to take one of his favorite books about different vehicles that also plays their sounds.  I wish we could have been there to see it – asking him to recreate it at home just wasn’t the same.  His class also sang one of their songs from music class for the Special Visitors’ Day at Blessed Trinity in late October.  I learned about it as I was dropping him off that day and was able to stay to see it and get video (one of the perks of my “flexible” job). The video is not yet edited, but it could be a while before that gets done…

Mac, our big climber, also recently got another new bed.  We had to take the bunk bed apart because he was climbing up to the top – even without a ladder.  Seeing as how Vivian is also quite the climber, we felt it was safer to take it down for now.  Lucky for us, Grandma was looking to get rid of Uncle Mathew’s old bed, so we snatched it up!

And our helper was at it again last night.  I started to take video in hopes of catching his “all by mine-self” and I got it, along with some other precious moments. The video is not yet edited, but it could be a while before that gets done…

Mac is an awesome kid. He’s fun, happy, polite and usually a good listener and helper. He has developed some “normal” three-year-old traits and does test us, as is expected at his age. But I couldn’t be happier with him, and I’m excited for our time together when the baby comes!

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