Christmas part I

I have so many pictures from Christmas this year. You'd think it was a milestone year or something. Oh wait, it was - baby's first Christmas! It figures that I'd have way too many pictures. I'm just thankful that thanks to digital cameras I can see the pictures instantly and delete those that I don't want. Imagine how much I'd spend on rolls of film and getting it developed! yikes.

Anyway, I thought that I'd just post the pictures and possibly give a little narrative for some of them. If I wrote about all the little details it would take forever and probably bore most of you so I'm calling that good. :)

This first post is the batch of California Christmas pictures - events leading up to Christmas and our little family celebration. The batch of Christmas photos from our trip to my parent's house in Chicago is going to need to be a separate post!

It is a tradition in my family to make Swedish Coffee Cake at Christmas time. It used to be a major deal to bake this special bread but now with the gift of bread makers it takes very little effort in comparison. Luke helped me this year. Ah, Grandma Phillips (my mom's mom- 100% Swedish) would have been proud!

"Helping" by unloading all the bowls and tupperware out of the cabinet

Watching as the bread maker worked its magic mixing all the ingredients to create dough

Just before putting the coffee cake into the oven.

Luke was a little impatient, clearly wanting to get a bite!

"Is it done yet?"

The finished product

Luke's first taste of Swedish Coffee Cake.

I know, I know. He's not supposed to have sugar before his first birthday.

But it's Christmas and it's a tradition. Get over it.

I called my parents on Skype so they could share in the moment of Luke's first coffee cake

(I'm telling you, this bread is a big deal in my family).

I went back and forth about decorating our house for Christmas this year. Since we were going to be spending the holidays in Chicago Matt and I both had our 'Bah Humbug' moments, thinking that decorating for Christmas would be more hassle than it was worth, especially since we'd only be 'enjoying' the decorations for a week or so. Well, I figured that since it is Luke's first Christmas and Charles' first Christmas in the States we HAD to have decorations up... and they just might stay up until Valentines Day, we'll see.

Luke was more interested in the tree's box than in the tree itself. Surprise surprise.

Playing with the tree skirt.

Surprisingly he was not all that interested in the ornaments on the tree, or pulling them off the tree for that matter.

Luke quickly lost interest in the tree box when he found out how much fun it is to crawl underneath the end tables.

and coffee table.

(no, that is not Luke's tooth you see in this picture. He does have those two upper teeth now but what you see in this pic is a piece of styrofoam he put in his mouth. Don't worry, I got it out before he ingested it.)

Since Charles was heading back to Taiwan for Christmas vacation we wanted to celebrate the holiday together as a family before he left. So the first DeBoer family Christmas occurred on December 16th rather than the 25th. We had a nice meal and opened presents together. It was a little rushed since Matt needed to get back to Redlands for the school's Christmas concert but it was still nice.

Matt helping Luke open a present

Our little tree -nothing special. Maybe next year we'll get a real one.

Charles displaying one of his gifts

Jung, or Pebbles as Matt affectionately calls him when he wears his hair like this, displaying one of his gifts.

Luke waiting patiently as Matt opens up one of his presents. (he lost interest in all of 12 seconds and went off in search of wrapping paper/ribbons he could destroy)

Newest Addition!!

Welcome Micah Robert Klingenmaier!

I have officially joined "Team Auntie" and I couldn't be more thrilled about it! My very first nephew, Micah Robert Klingenmaier was born December 31, 2009! Proud parents, Erika and Aaron (my sister and brother-in-law) are doing great and adjusting easily to this new realm of parenthood. Matt and I were so glad that we were able to be in town for his birth and able to meet him in person (not just via skype)! Since Micah was due to arrive on Jan. 11 we were thinking we might miss out on that. It was such a blessing to be able to hold him and see my sister shortly after giving birth!

Micah's original due date was Jan. 11, 2010. Erika had been having some troubles in her third trimester with high blood pressure, high levels of platelets and proteins, retaining lots of water, etc. So the doctors were keeping an extra close eye on her. She was a trooper through quite the roller coaster ride of numerous doctor appointments, ultra sounds, and non-stress tests. She had a doctors appointment on 12/30 where the doctors were going to do some special tests and depending on the results, they might opt to induce her that night or wait until 1/5. We were torn- praying that both Erika and the baby were healthy and that the test results came back good but at the same time, if she was induced on 12/30 then we would most likely get to see the baby before the DeBoer clan headed back to CA on 1/1. Erika and Aaron went to the appointment early on 12/30 and were sent home. Everyone thinking that the baby would be born on 1/5 - which also happens to be my dad's birthday. However, later on in the day Aaron received a call from the nurse saying that Erika's protein levels were quite high and that they needed to come back that evening to induce- it's baby time! It was quite the day! We were able to have a nice dinner with the whole family, which included Aaron's parents, Bill and Debbie, by this time and then sent the soon to be parents off to the hospital. We were kept informed of the happenings via phone calls and text messages. Erika wisely opted for the epidural and was able to rest comfortably for most of the day. The baby's heart rate would drop whenever Erika would have a contraction, much like when I was in labor with Luke, so the doctors were a little concerned about that, but otherwise, things were progressing fine-slowly, but fine. Around 6ish we got a phone call from Aaron saying that the baby was getting tired and the doctors felt that it was necessary for Erika to deliver via C-section. Everything went very smoothly and our precious little Micah Robert was delivered around 7pm! Nice tax planning guys. :) We (my parents, brother Jim, Jim's girlfriend Julie, Matt, Luke and I) were all gathered around the phone to hear the news and were all jumping up and down and praising God for a healthy new baby and healthy mama. We were able to go visit them all in the recovery room just after that. The hospital staff graciously kept them in the recovery room longer so that we could come visit. If they had moved Erika up to her room they wouldn't have let us in since visiting hours were over. I know I said this before, but it was SO wonderful to be able to be there and see the happy family so soon after Micah's birth! What a blessing!!

Baby Micah all snug in mommy's arms

Uncle Matt getting used to holding a newborn again

The DeBoers (minus Luke who was not allowed into the recovery area). See Erika's head popping up between us - ha!

Proud Pops and Proud(er) Daddy

The whole big happy family!

(and yes, if you are a man in our family you must have facial hair - it's required)

Sisters and new moms - what could be better?!

SO happy!!

The original Thomson kids and the newest member of the next generation!

Daddy and Micah - what a way to ring in the new year!

I have MUCH more to blog about. I was not able to meet my goal of getting our blog fully updated before leaving for Chicago. So I have those posts and now more posts about our trip/Christmas. No promises as to when I'll get those up but stay tuned. For now we wish you all a very Happy New Year! Blessings.

All over the airport and through 'The Wood', to Grandmother's house we go

I am writing this post in the comfort of my parent's home, looking out the window at the snow covered lawn, drinking hot tea, listening to eruptions of laughter from friends and family playing games in the basement, all sorts of delicious smells coming from the kitchen... ah, this is Christmas. Things seem as though we fell out of a Christmas story book. However, we have gone through quite the ordeal to get to this point, let me tell you!

Our flight was scheduled to leave from LAX at 9:52 am, Sunday morning (Dec. 20). We arrived at the airport more than 1 1/2 hours before our departure time, had all of our luggage in tow, and even managed to score a Starbucks -to tie us over. :) Our flight was on US Airways - terminal 1. We were the first to be dropped off (off the shuttle) and got in line to check in. It was a long line but moved fairly well so we weren't too discouraged at this point. However, this feeling of excitement and enthusiasm for traveling would soon be a fleeting memory. When we got up to the kiosk to check in we were informed the we needed to check in at United Airlines, not US Air (apparently the flight was operated by United or something... I'm still a little fuzzy on those details). So we had to go downstairs to baggage claim, go outside, across the street, catch the 'A' bus to take us to terminal 7 where we would then go back upstairs and check in at United. (Mind you, we had 3 suitcases, 6 carry on/personal baggage, a stroller and a baby to tote around). We made it to United's terminal about 9:10 and raced to the kiosk to check in. Well, we weren't able to check our bags because it was less than 40 minutes before the flight was to take off. We were told we needed an agent to check us in but no agent was available so we were told to wait in the 'full service' line. And in line we waited.... for 2 hours. Obviously, we missed our flight. When we were finally able to talk to an agent we were told the only thing they could do for us was put us on 'standby' on a United flight. If we wanted to change our flight we would have to trek back to US Airways (terminal 1) and wait in line there to see if there was anything they could do. The agent was hopeful so we checked our bags and proceeded to security. We made it to the gate and Matt talked to another agent to see what our odds were to get on that flight... she practically laughed in his face. Not a good sign. We were numbers 36,37, 38 on the standby list and the agent had been able to get 2 people to fly standby to Chicago all day (out of over 60). Not good. So we waited. We waited with an 8 month old baby, 3 diapers and one bottle left. Not good at all. We watched three more flights take off for Chicago and watched our names go from the 36, 37, 38 to 45, 46, 47 (apparently they give priority to people who pay more for their tickets, so since we scored a good deal on our tickets, we kept getting pushed to the back of the list). We were NEVER going to get out of there. Finally, Matt made the executive decision to move our little party back to terminal 1 and try our luck with US Airways. So, again, down to baggage claim, outside to catch the 'A' bus, back to terminal 1 to wait in line for another 2 hours so see if there was anything they could do. The best option was to catch a flight to Chicago (with a 3 hour lay over in Vegas) the next day. My parents graciously put us up in a hotel that night so we didn't have to drive 90 miles back to Beaumont only to come back to LAX the next morning. Our hotel was in Inglewood - also referred to as 'The Wood' (hence this post's creative title)- and is pretty much the ghetto. By the time we got to the hotel, I had 2 diapers left, desperately needed to nurse Luke, was hungry, tired and extremely discouraged. Matt literally had to run through 'The Wood' looking for a place to buy some diapers and food.

AH! We laugh now as we somehow managed to survive this misadventure. But if I never have to go through that again, I'll be happy.

The diapers Matt managed to buy at the corner market store looked as though they'd been there for 10 years. No pampers or huggies here! At least they did the trick.

Waiting in the hotel -MUCH more comfortable than waiting in the airport!

The hotel didn't have a portable crib or anything for Luke (the best they could do was give us some toothbrushes since ours were packed and on their way to Chicago). We tried to have him sleep between us in the bed but that didn't work so well. He ended up sleeping on my shoulder the majority of the night. On top of everything else, Luke ended up getting sick! I didn't have the thermometer but I know he had a fever and was just miserable... which meant I was pretty miserable as well. Luckily, I had the baby tylenol in my purse so Matt didn't need to make a midnight run through the ghetto looking for meds!

Trying to nap

Finally sleeping, but not for long

Waiting in the airport Monday morning.

We finally made it to Chicago about 10:30 Monday night. We were all exhausted and hungry but happy to finally be here. Luke was still a pretty miserable little guy. He ran a fever all night and was fairly clingy and lethargic all Tuesday - NOT at all like the 'normal' Luke. My mom and I ended up taking him in to the health clinic to find that he has ear infections in both ears and what looks to be a pretty sore throat. Poor baby! The doctor prescribed Azithrmycin. (I am allergic to Amoxycillin so we thought we'd avoid that drug, just in case). Well, last night as I was getting Luke ready for bed, I discovered a rash all over his chest, stomach, neck and around his hairline! We called the clinic and were told that it is most likely a reaction to the medication. Honestly. On top of it all, Matt is just now feeling better and I am now coming down with a cold myself. Ugh. Merry Christmas to the DeBoer family.

We're praying that things start to turn around for us this trip. So far, not so good. But again, we are thankful to be with family to celebrate the birth of our Savior. After all, He is the real reason for the season.

We hope that all of you out there have a wonderful (and healthy) Christmas!

My son: The escape artist

I usually wait to take a shower until Luke is napping. However, it is not always possible to squeeze in a shower with everything else I put off to accomplish during nap time. Well, Wednesday was one of those days that I had too much to do AND Luke decided that 30 minute naps was all he would grace me with. So, if I wanted to get a shower in I'd have to resort to plan B - strap Luke in his baby seat next to the shower, surround him with toys and entertainment items, and hope that I can at least get the shampoo out of my hair before he starts squirming/whining to be released.

At least that was my plan. It has worked in the past, so why wouldn't it work now? (I have so much to learn when it comes to being a mother to a very active baby boy.)

I started the shower to get the water warmed up, strapped Luke into his seat, surrounded him with toys and even a snack of Cherrios, then left the room for one minute. Upon my return, I found that Luke been able to wiggle his way out of the straps (he had leaned forward enough to tip the chair then walked on his hands - picture a wheelbarrow race- to get his legs out of the straps) and was crawling into the shower. Mind you, the water was running and Luke, fully clothed, thought it looked like fun.

I probably should have stopped him and told him "no" but instead, I grabbed the camera and had a Kodak moment.... and then jumped in with him, taking a shower with my clothed, soaked 8 month old splashing and having a glorious time at my feet. It's a win-win situation. :)

The scene of the crime - notice the buckled straps

Pure Delight!

Done already?!? But I'm not even wrinkled up yet?

(sorry, I couldn't resist posting the butt shot)

Again with the videos

I'm starting to think that I won't make my goal of having our blog fully updated by the time we leave for Chicago and the beginning of our Christmas vacation. Life has gotten just a wee bit busier at the DeBoer house lately, all thanks to the fact that Luke is now crawling around and pulling himself up on everything - chairs, coffee table, house plants....

He has been scooting for quite awhile now but recently seemed to figure out that he can cover more ground in less time if his belly is off the floor. He has a unique little crawl though- he has his right leg bent and keeps his left leg straight, so its as if he has a peg leg crawl (not sure I'm describing this quite right. I've been trying to catch it on video but so far I haven't been successful). Now that he can move around a bit faster and pull himself up on furniture he is into everything WAY MORE than before, if that was possible. So, my days home basically consist of telling him "no", taking things away from him that he shouldn't have, pulling objects out of his mouth, wrestling with him to change his diaper, picking up after him, comforting him after he's donked his head for the thirteenth time on the table legs.... It's a glamorous life, really. In all seriousness I do enjoy the time I have with him at home. I know these days are precious and will soon be a memory so I won't complain (too much) about a messy house or not getting the luxury of a shower everyday. It's all worth it.

I'm still hoping that I can carve out some time to post some of the pictures I've taken recently but for now a few more videos will have to do. :)

A few old videos

As I mentioned before, I'm trying to get our blog fully updated before Christmas. So far, so good. We'll see if I can keep this up.

When we first bought our Mac I had trouble downloading our videos off the camera. I blamed the computer, of course, and quickly got frustrated. Later, I figured out that it was an operator error. (insert sheepish smile here). Happily, I have now learned how to download videos and upload them again onto our blog - for your viewing pleasure. The videos are a bit dated. Hopefully, I will catch up to 'present day' videos before too long! :)

Enjoy

Belated Birthday Post

I am trying to get caught up on all the events that I want to blog about before we leave for Chicago. At least that is my goal. We'll see if I am actually able to reach it.

It was Charles' 15th birthday the week before Thanksgiving (Nov. 19). Charles is such an old soul that it was hard for me to remember that he was only 14 when he first got to our house. It still amazes and impresses me how these boys are able to go through high school in another language and entire oceans away from their parents and everything familiar to them. I know I couldn't do it, at least not as a teenager. So, Matt and I try to do what little we can to make them feel comfortable and special, especially on their birthdays and other holidays.

Charles with his birthday cake, cookie cake, and presents

(we got him a basketball and chocolates - sorry no pictures).

Blowing out the candles

I asked Charles what he would like to do for his birthday several times. He kept responding with, "I don't know". Finally, I realized that he may feel awkward requesting something special for his birthday, so I threw out a few suggestions/ideas. When I mentioned that we could go bowling, he asked, "what is bowling?". After explaining it as best I could, Charles said that he had heard of the sport but had never gone bowling before. So bowling we went! Matt and I haven't been bowling in... gosh, I don't know, years at least! It was fun for us to go out as a family and have some friendly competition. :)

Charles and Luke at the bowling alley

Luke, obviously, didn't bowl but he DID like investigating the bowling balls

"So this is where the fingers go"

Matt

Jung

Charles

Charles, again.

Matt, who is a self proclaimed 'terrible bowler', bowled a fantastic game our second round. If look closely at the picture you can see his first 3 frames were strikes, followed by 2 spares and another strike. I think his next few frames were pretty much the same - either a strike or a spare! The rest of us did not do quite as well but it was a fun time overall. We will definitely go again.