Already Eight

Sweet little Sammi. You are eight months old. Before too much time passes I just wanted to jot down a few thoughts.

You are such a little joy. In the last couple of months you have really mellowed. You are pretty much just a content little bundle of sweetness. Unless you're very hungry or tired. Then you let us know!

Your smile lights up the room. I love all it's different variations. The wide mouthed delighted beam, the crinkle-nosed grin, the eyes downcast shy smile, the half-hearted sleepy twitch, the I'm not amused, but I'll humor you smirk. It is so fun to draw them out of you. You are quite ticklish and I love hearing your little belly laughs when I run my fingers down your ribs. You watch with wide eyes as your siblings caper around you and sometimes let out guffaw at their antics.

You have the most beautiful chocolate brown eyes. I love their seriousness when you stare at my face. I love how they light up in the morning when I come get you out of your crib.

You don't growl as much as your siblings did, but you do use your growl on occasion. Mostly when you are really annoyed or really happy. Your most favorite thing to do is blow raspberries. You do it when your happy and it is also your preferred method of letting me know you're full and don't want any more food. You love it when someone blows a raspberry back at you. Your whole face lights up.

Your favorite toy is any remote control. Yeah, so much for actual baby toys. You also like things tat are easy to hold and will fit into your mouth.

You are a good little eater, even though you have gained hardly any weight. You weigh a little over 14lbs. Your pediatrician is worried about you, but he hasn't been able to find anything wrong thank goodness. I pretty sure it's because you won't take a bottle and are still nursing. Peas and carrots just don't have very many calories! So far you have liked every kind of food I've given you. Some you like more then others, but you'll eat them all. Hopefully I can convince you to drink out of a bottle or cup soon. You aren't sleeping through the night yet. You usually wake up once or twice, but since you're such a light weight I figure you can use the snacks.

My dear Samantha. You are such a blessing. You bring our family so much fun and joy. We are so glad God gave you to us. We love you!

She's Here!

Samantha Anne

8 pounds, 8 ounces

20 1/4 inches

Five Years

Trinie Bee. You are five. My sweet, snuggle bug of a baby is five! You have really slimmed out this year. You have always been tall, but you kept your toddler chubbiness up until this last year. Watching you get even taller and losing your little tummy really makes you seem like a big kid, not a little kid anymore.

You finished your last year of preschool this year. It was a good year. You had lots of fun and you liked your teacher. On of your classmates threw up in school right before Christmas break. You really didn't like that and went through several weeks of crying and insisting that you didn't like school and just wanted to stay home. I felt so bad for you because you really loved school, but now you are fairly ambivalent about it. Which is better then a couple of months ago, when you absolutely hated it. It took me awhile to even get out of you what the problem was, but then I finally figured out that you are really, truly terrified someone will throw up again. You even stopped eating school snack for awhile, which is one of your favorite things about school. :) Back in January when I figured out why you were having a fit every time we pulled into the school parking lot, I sat with you and we talked. I reminded you of all the things you love about school. We talked about fear, how it's ok to be afraid, but if we let our fear take control it can cause us to miss out on some really great things in life. We made a plan, about praying, talking to your teacher and closing your eyes if the worst should happen. Then we prayed together. You were still afraid, but you stopped freaking out and started going back to school without tears. I'm so proud of you that you conquered your fear. My brave girl.

When you are not in school you love to play with your siblings. You do a pretty good job of playing with Micah, and you love to play with Emily. You love dolls, dress-up, and all kinds of imaginative play. This past year your love of coloring and making projects has really taken off and you are most happy when you are creating stuff. You still like to help, especially in the kitchen.

I love how you are so quick to make decisions and have complete confidence in your choices. I love your quick smile and your laugh. I love how affectionate you are, always ready with a hug or kiss.

I hope this year I can encourage your servant's heart. I'm not always very patient with little helpers. I hope you always keep your open heart that is so ready to love. i hope I can help you to balance thinking through your choices and making wise decisions, not always rushing in without looking ahead, while still keeping your spontaneity and confidence. I love you Katrina. You bless me and fill my days with joy.

Eight Years

Emily. You are eight. How is it possible that I've been a Mother for eight years. I remember sitting in the hospital in the early morning hours the day you were born, holding you in my arms and looking at you, absorbing every detail of your beautiful face and trying to wrap my head around the fact that I had a baby, that YOU were my baby. Sometimes it still seems hard to believe.

Well, what has happened this year... You finished first grade. You enjoyed having Mrs C. again and really liked Mrs P. You learned even more Spanish. You love Math and your reading has really taken off. Your favorite books are the Junie B. Jones series. You made some new friends in addition to the ones you had in Kindergarten.

Last Fall you decided to ask Jesus into your heart. You had a lot of questions and it was a very thoughtful decision on your part. Then you followed that decision by deciding to get baptized last month. You love going to Sunday school and think it's really cool that you can read the Bible on your own.

You also love gymnastics. You are getting pretty good at flips and twists. You conquered your fear of heights and are will swing on the high bar of the uneven bars. My favorite was watching you teach another little girl from church how to do a cartwheel. I think you have a gift for teaching.

I love to watch you playing dress up, ponies, and/or Strawberry Shortcake with your sister. The two of you get along pretty well. Of course you fight pretty often, but you love each other and usually want to be together.


I love how your sense of humor has developed. You can always pick up on when Daddy's joking and shoot the joke right back at him. You love magic and have learned several magic tricks. It's so fun to watch your face as you perform them. You have also developed a love for origami. You and Daddy even got to do a presentation for your class. I'm getting the impression you like attention to detail. :)


Well my sweet girl. I love you. Thank you for making me your Mama eight years ago. I'm so glad you did.

Expression

"Baptism is an outward expression of an inward faith." ~Watchman Nee

Emily was baptized today. It was wonderful to see her make this choice, work out what she believed and why she wanted to take this step. She wanted to choose a verse to say at the baptism. After thinking about it she choose Psalm 56:3 "When I am afraid, I will trust in you." It is a good verse for our timid girl. She is working hard on doing things even when she feels afraid. It was wonderful to see my beautiful girl take this step of faith in her Christian walk. We love you Emily.

Powder

"Exactly one day in your life your kid will ski as good as you do. The next day, he'll ski better than you." ~Warren Miller

Ski Bunnies

Christoph was able to take the girls skiing yesterday. All three of them were very excited. A family friend and his two kids went too. I was happy to stay home with Micah. :D


Christoph was able to take Emily once last year and she had a blast and had been asking to go again. He was a little nervous about taking Katrina since she is pretty young, (4 going on 5) but of the two girls she is the more adventurous. After hearing Emily's stories she was excited about the idea. Things started off bumpy, Christoph actually called me a bit worried that the entire day was going to be horrible and half-debating turning around and coming home.


Gotta give you the back story. Right before Christmas break from school Katrina had a classmate who got sick and vomited in front of the entire class. Ever since she has been completely petrified of all things related to vomit. I'm sure it doesn't help that because of being pregnant I've been tossing my cookies pretty frequently. She had several weeks of huge fear, almost panic attacks related to going to school, just on the possibility that someone could vomit. If she hears the slightest gag she will run as fast and as far as she can.



You've probably figured out where this is going. On the several hour long drive to the mountain a couple of the kids started to feel car sick. Katrina FREAKED out. When Christoph called to let her talk to me she was crying hysterically and just kept saying, "Please Mommy I want to go home. I don't want to go skiing, I just want to stay with you. Please don't make me go." over and over. I was able to talk her down a little and between me and Christoph she kinda pulled herself together. Fortunately, that was the worst part of the day.

Ski School

Emily and Daddy

Christoph and Emily skied in the morning while Katrina did ski school and then they all skied together in the afternoon. The girls did really well and from what I've been told they had a blast.

Emily on the lift

Katrina on the lift

It's a girl!

Well, the doctor wasn't very happy with some of the views the got at my big ultrasound two weeks ago, so she sent my back for another one. Bonus! This time we decided to leave the kids at home. It was fun to do something just the two of us. It was quiet and we could just enjoy seeing the baby. this US tech seemed much less rushed and less eager to get rid of us (I wonder why!). She was able to get the money shot and told us we are having a girl! Then she stated that she needed practice with the 3D/4D machine and did we mind if she took some pictures. Did we mind? Are you kidding? We were thrilled!

I've always been so curious about 3D ultrasound, but never had the chance with any of my other kids. I was so curious if it would look anything like what my babies actually look like in real life. (admit it, we've all seen some of those more freaky looking 3D pictures.) After they couldn't determine the sex last time, we actually looked into going to one of those places that specializes in 3D ultrasounds, but we just couldn't justify spending $200+ on something so trivial, especially with three other kids to raise and all the regular expenses of having a baby. Oh, but I was sooo tempted.

So, she pulled out the big 3D/4D wand and went looking. Apparently, this little girl likes to snuggle with the placenta, which is also located toward the front of my abdomen. Not dangerous, but it makes getting pictures mighty tricky! Anyway, her picture is a little freaky looking I will admit. You have the placenta, plus her arm and the umbilical cord all getting in the way. I do see some resemblance to my other kiddos around the mouth and I love that her cheeks are already round. So fun!

Well, another girl. I really couldn't decide which I was hoping for. A boy would have been nice, to have things even as Emily says. A playmate for Micah. Easier for room sharing. But girls. Girls are so much fun. I love to dress little girls. So, far I have found girls to be easier to raise (I realize I have no teenagers yet). I'm happy. It wasn't my decision and I would have been happy with either. I'm just thinking of all the things I love about baby girls. Except for naming her. Now that's going to be a bear of a job.

We wanted to do something special to tell the other kids the news. Being that we are having a girl and Valentines Day is coming up, it was pretty easy to find something pink to eat. Blue would have be a LOT harder. We stopped at the store on our way home and bought some pink frosted cupcakes. The kids were thrilled, especially Katrina. Katrina was over the moon. Emily was disappointed, but she got over it pretty quickly and seemed to accept that God decided a girl would be best for our family, not a boy. For some reason I didn't take a single picture. Fail

Here's our girl, smush face and all. One is a profile, one is straight on.

It's a ??

Today we had our 20 week ultrasound. Twenty weeks already! We took all three older kids with us. Unfortunately none of them were on their best behavior. It was a little stressful and hard to focus on how wonderful it was to see our sweet, anxiously awaited baby. To hear the heart beat and see the little squirms. The kids were interested for about five seconds and then ready to move on. Micah was soo squirmy. Poor Christoph had to deal with the brunt of it. And, after all that the tech couldn't determine the sex.

Emily and Katrina have been praying for the opposite sex (Emily wants a boy, Katrina wants a girl) for well over a year now. Either way one of them is going to be disappointed. It will be a good lesson about how God answers prayer and how He always knows what is best for us. However, that lesson is going to have to wait a little longer. I hope we can figure it out before the baby is born. Meeting your new sibling for the first time is not a good time for lessons.

Despite the wiggles it was wonderful to see you little one. We are all so excited about you. Even though we are eager to meet you, I am trying to treasure every moment of this, my last foreseeable pregnancy. I love feeling you move inside of me. I love falling asleep with my arms cradling you and not have to worry about accidental suffocation. Nine months is just long enough. Stay safe and grow. Love you.

The Last Christmas

Last year (I think) we got a new Christmas album. It was Sixpence None the Richer's "The Dawn of Grace". We listened to it several times over the Christmas season and I remember hearing this song, but I don't think I actually listened to the lyrics. I put some Christmas music on the other day and the words of this song just jumped out at me. It is now MY song for this Christmas. It just speaks so clearly of what I am feeling and thinking right now. I love it.

Ok, I realize anyone reading this knows full well that we are expecting a new baby.  Just in case any strangers wander by my blog I'll throw this out there. A fourth little Neumann should be joining us on or around May 28, 2011. We are so excited.

Back to my song. =) If you want to hear it, here is a link:

I start crying just reading the lyrics and I don't think it's just the hormones. Although, I don't take them completely out of the picture either. =)

The Last Christmas

I feel your heart beating
Inside my own skin
And I think of Mary
In Bethlehem
That night in a stable
Our Saviour was born
Yes, we have so much
To be thankful for

On the last Christmas
The last Christmas
The last Christmas
Without you

We're choosing the colors
Preparing your room
For one day; Midsummer
The advent of you
Together we wait for
A heavenly gift
Is winter a wonder?
Enchanted that this is

The last Christmas
The last Christmas
The last Christmas
Without you

See the stars shining from above
Hear the seraphm singing
Praise to the Giver of Life and Love
Maker of Beautiful things..

I feel you heart beating
Inside my own skin
And I think of Mary
In Bethlehem
When darkness was shattered
The dawn of God's grace
And the journey'd begun
To the first Easter day

On the this Christmas
The last Christmas
The last Christmas
The very last Christmas
The last Christmas (x 3)
Without you

Someone's Three

Katrina Bee, you are three. My happy little go-lucky girl. You are growing so fast. How can it be possible that you are turning into a little girl right before our eyes?

This last year has been a busy one for you. You learned to use the potty. You started preschool. You figured out how to amuse yourself while your big sister is away at school. You got a baby brother, who you love to pieces. You have risen to every challenge and embraced each one. You bring happiness to everything you touch.

You keep us entertained with your mis-pronunciations and unique view of life. You are a busy little girl. You love to explore and work to understand the world around you. You climb and get into mischief much more then your older sister ever did.

This year you developed a love for drawing and coloring. Your favorite thing to do is make "projects" and use copious amounts of paper every day toward this end. You have not lost your love of babies and playing dress-up. If anything it has only grown.

You are still my little snuggle bug. You love to be cuddled and always want me to sing to you as you fall asleep for your nap. You can not be without your blankie. It is a strong bond.

You have a strong love for food that has not abated with age. You especially love anything sweet. You always want to know if you are going to get dessert. It is so wonderful that you are not a picky eater and love almost anything I give you. You also love to help. You especially love to help in the kitchen, but you are willing to help just about anywhere. You are so good at getting things for me when I have my hands full with your little brother.

You are a smart little girl and are doing wonderful in preschool. You know your ABC's and can distinguish all of the letters by sight. You know your colors, shapes and numbers too. It's good that you're smart because you are also tall. You are consistently above the 90% on the growth charts. That, combined with how well you speak and express yourself, makes people think you are older then your actual age. Even your Dad and I make that mistake sometimes! We find ourselves getting frustrated with some behavior and thinking you are too old to be acting that way! Then we realize, "Wait, she just turned three, she is supposed to be acting that way!"

Sweet Katrina, the last three years have been so much fun. Being your Mommy is an adventure. I hope I can help you keep your love of exploration, I hope I can teach you when to blaze forth and when to use caution, without being fearful. I hope I can foster your servant's heart, using that spirit to teach you important life skills and what a gift helping others is, and not squelch it with my impatience. I love you! Watching you grow up is so much fun!

Six Years

*Editor's note:  This post was slated to be published closer to March 29, 2009. Unfortunately due to scheduling constraints there was a delay. I hope this in no way affects your enjoyment. Stay tunned for further postings which are also past their deadline.

Emily Marie. I'm not sure who told you it was ok to grow up. Last time I looked you were still a sweet little toddler, now suddenly you're a sweet girl, not even a little girl anymore. Almost all traces of your babyhood are gone and sometimes I can even catch glimpses of the woman you will become. The chubby cheeks and tummy have faded into long thin legs and a gentle smile. I can't lie and say I don't feel a little sad that my baby is disappearing, but how sad can I be when the girl you have become is so wonderful? There are so many things I love about you. Your sense of humor, especially the glint in your eyes when you are being subtly funny. Your love of learning and of teaching others what you have learned. Your compassionate heart. Your gentleness with your baby brother. Your loyalty to your friends. Your creativity. Your love for your little sister.

I still see little girl wonder in your eyes. I'm glad about that. I hope you can hold on to that wonderment for the rest of your life. You have learned so much this year. How to read, how to write, how to add and subtract, how to speak Spanish. You've learned how to ride the bus and find your way to your classroom. You've learned more complex conflict resolution skills. And you're starting to learn piano. You absolutely love to pass all your new found knowledge on to Katrina.

You still love to play dress-up. You love to draw and color and all kinds of crafts. You still hate to perform in front of people. You don't like change. You prefer to have plenty of warning about activities so you can have time to think through how things will go. When you need to make a decision, you carefully consider all your options. Sometimes you take things a little too seriously.

I love you so much. I hope I can teach you to take life as it comes. To cope with the unexpected. To be flexible. I hope I can help you hold on to your creativity and believe in yourself. I hope I can help you understand how amazing our God is and how much He loves you. I hope you will always trust me, even though I make mistakes all the time. I hope you never doubt my love. The last six years have had their ups and downs, but through it all you have been a gift. I can't wait to see what the years ahead have in store.

Disneyland!

So, as I mentioned we went on a trip to California a week ago. Christoph had to travel down there for work. Since his plane ticket and the hotel were paid for, we started talking about taking the whole family down. After checking out ticket prices, the trip quickly morphed from maybe, to definitely, to definitely and throw in Disneyland. We were all very excited.

So, off we went. It was a very fun, very exhausting trip. I took advantage of Christoph being at work all day to catch up with friends. It was soo nice to hang out with them, see their kids, have our kids play together, and just talk. Then of course there was Disneyland!

Disneyland was a blast. So, having lived previously in Southern California, I've been to Disneyland before. However, I must say, going with kids is a whole different experience. As an adult, if you go on a low traffic day and are hardcore you can see and do Disneyland in one day. With kids, you could go for a week and not run out of things to do. Out of necessity, the pace is so much slower. Plus, they care about the experience, not just the rides. So, I was a little caught of guard at how little we did over the span of two days, but at the same time I didn't feel ripped off at all. It was so great. The girls absolutely loved it and they had such a great time. And we did do a lot! Katrina says her favorite ride was Dumbo. Emily really loved Pirates of the Caribbean and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
You can see more pictures on Flickr, just click on the picture. We came home exhausted since we were up late almost every night and the kids weren't being very cooperative about their naps, but it was worth it. I would do it again in a second. Lisa, Heather, Amy, it was so great to see you guys. Thanks for hanging out with me!

Beezie Says

My little Beezie-girl is growing so fast. Although she is only 2 and 3/4 years old, she is now wearing size 4T! She has so quickly moved from sweet mispronunciations like "chlocalate" and "falowler" to speaking in complex sentences. Now the funny things are her random associations. If you want a doozy of a non sequitur just ask her any question beginning with "Why". Although she does still ask for "tessert" and "cimanin toast". Anyway, before they are lost from my mind forever I thought I'd share some of her recent funnies.

Just right now she was eating a mini-snickers when she looked at me with her brow furrowed and said, "You have to watch out for seeds in this." Not so much a fan of the peanuts apparently.

Katrina has a soft green blanket with silky around the edge. She is very, VERY fond of this blanket. She will take it everywhere we let her. Yesterday I decided it was past due time for it to get washed. I may have previously mentioned the time I carelessly grabbed it from her and threw it in the wash. She screamed her head off for 20min without stopping-no exaggeration. Since then I have bribed her to put in in the wash. Yesterday however, she was having none of it. She would just look at me and say "I want my blankie" and THEN KISS IT! After some attempts at negotiation, I finally just took it and threw it in the wash. Fortunately the tears were short lived when we started reading some stories. After I took it out of the wash and gave it back to her, she grabbed it and started kissing it and saying, "I love you, I love you," then she looked at me and said, "Thank you so much for getting me my blankie out to the wash. I love this blanket." Sheesh

Katrina has never sucked a thumb or a pacifier, but ever since she was little she takes the edge of her blanket and pats it against her lips. We were sitting at the table together and I absently started tapping my mouth with the fuzzy zipper pull on my sweatshirt. She looks at me and says. "Mommy, is that zipper your blankie?" I was taken totally off guard and responded, "No, it's just soft, want to feel it?" After solemnly touching it she states, "My blankie is very soft."

I was sitting in a chair playing with Micah and Katrina comes up and informs me, "Micah is hungry. He wants to eat from your booboos." Umm, he hasn't nursed in over two months, I somehow doubt he suddenly has a hankering. But, thanks anyway.

As I was changing the sheets on her bed she came up and asked if she could help. I basically blew her off. She stands on the edge of the bed and says, "When Daddy is making the bed I say, 'Can I help you Daddy?' and he says, 'Yes you can Katrina.' My Daddy is so, so nice." Um, point taken.

The other day she wanted to make a project and I randomly grabbed a church bulletin and cut out all the leaves on the front, which Katrina then proceeded to glue to a piece of paper. Cheesiest craft ever. A few days later it was sitting on the table and she sees it and says, "Remember Mommy when you cut out those leaves for me and I made a project for you? You are so nice, Mommy. I love you. I want to give you a kiss." Nothing like being appreciated.

She is such a little sweetheart, even when she's driving me out of my mind. Love you Beezikins!

December Twenty-Fifth

Christmas Day! Well, I couldn't choose just one picture for today. I wish you all a blessed and belated Merry Christmas! I hope it was a wonderful day, surrounded by those you love. May God bless you in 2009!

December Eighteenth

Katrina's Christmas program was rescheduled for tonight. This was her expression pretty much the entire program. She didn't sing a single word. I was all prepared to cry, but I couldn't stop laughing at her stunned face. That was probably for the best, I hate crying in public. She knew all the songs and would sing them with all the motions at home, but she got a major case of stage fright when the big moment came.

December Seventeenth

Micah had his six month well check today. He was a little trooper through his shots. He only cried for a couple of minutes. Katrina was with me on this trip, maybe that helped. She is so sweet. She likes to stand next to him and say, "It's ok baby Micah, don't cry, I'm here with you." If Emily comes she has to stand out in the hall during shot time. =)

I fully planned to take the camera with me to snap a shot of the two of them together at the Pediatrician's office. After running around getting Emily ready for school, the other two ready to go with me, breakfast for everyone, myself ready, it wasn't until I was checking in at the office that I realized I had forgotten the camera. On a side note-we've been having lots of snow here. I had explained to Katrina when leaving the house that morning that I needed to concentrate on driving and couldn't be handing her things. When we pulled into a parking space at the doctor's office she suddenly pipes, "Yay Mommy! You didn't slip on the ice and we got here safe!" It was pretty funny.
Micah's stats are:
17lbs, 1oz
26 1/2 in

December Sixteenth

All dressed up with nowhere to go. Today was supposed to be Katrina's Christmas program at school. It got canceled because of the snow. We were sad to miss it. Maybe next year!
I video taped her singing some of the songs. Here is my favorite. Please to enjoy: Katrina Singing

Also, in case you were wondering, my house is clean! Yea! There's one thing the snow didn't stop. I feel pretty ready for our company coming tomorrow. Pray for a safe drive from the airport.

December Fifteenth

Emily's class made these at school to decorate for a special event. Christoph and I were admiring them and so she decided to make us one of our own. I was really surprised that she remembered exactly how to do it. The only help I gave her was stapling the pieces together. This was done according to her precise directions, because I had no idea how it was done. She was pretty proud of herself.

December Thirteenth

I think someone's trying to tell me something.

I rather intentionally didn't buy candy canes for the tree this year. It seems like every year only a couple of them get eaten, then the rest just sit around until I get disgusted and throw them out, usually sometime around July. I found these scattered around our tree this evening. It would seem my five year old feels our tree is lacking. I must admit I'm a little astounded by her creativity and motivation to get some "candy" canes on the tree, even if she has to do it herself. I guess there's one more thing I need to add to this week's shopping list. =)

December Twelfth

Ok, so twelfth is a really funny word. I keep thinking it's spelled wrong, but it's not. One of the things I did today was bake some pumpkin bread as gifts for the girl's teachers. I just need to make some cream cheese glaze, wrap them up and that'll be one more thing I can cross off my list.

Christmas gifts for teachers are always one of those things that stump me. I want to show them I appreciate all the work they put into teaching my child, but I never feel like I know them well enough to choose something they'll really love. I got some little bath sets too, because who doesn't like to pamper themselves once in awhile? Anyway, I hope they'll feel appreciated.