Hello, Texas Bluebonnets

The ubiquitous Texas Family Photo opportunity in spring - Bluebonnets!  Simple, beautiful, and everywhere (for a limited time).  The last two years, I didn't get any decent photos in the bluebonnets.  In 2010, I waited until May and ended up getting photos of weeds with only a teensy amount of bloom remaining.  Less than spectacular, although cute baby Ian was good compensation.  In 2011, I was too preoccupied with being very pregnant that I didn't even bother making plans to get out in the bluebonnets.  This year, I was determined to get some shots!  Luckily for me, there are some GREAT fields of bluebonnets right by my office, so I could scope them out periodically and see if the time was right to bring out the kids.  Our first attempt this year was at high noon on a clear day, which I REALLY do not recommend for open field shots.  I honestly knew better (open sun tends to produce very harsh shadows and far from ideal conditions for subjects' eyes), but it seemed to be the only time and day that worked with my family's schedule.  I was very disappointed with the quality of photos, although I was able to make some interesting photos with a bit more processing effort.  Although I tend to like my photos processed as little as possible, there are a few newer effects in Picassa that yielded some interesting results.  To get some better straight out of the camera shots, I decided to stop by with the kids after work/school one day.  There was a little bit of cloud cover and the temperature and light were perfect!  Enjoy the flashback to spring!

 {Hello, Bluebonnet. @ 3/24/2012}

 {Little Boy Blue. @ 3/24/2012}

 {W-w-w-w-w-hat are you doing? (going through a bit of a stutter phase) @ 3/24/2012}

 {Eyelashes Galore. @ 3/24/2012}

 {Favorite. @ 3/24/2012}

 {Squint. Or why not to photograph at high noon in an open field. @ 3/24/2012}

 {On the other hand, without sun I wouldn't have gotten this adorable shot. @ 3/24/2012}

 {Happy Girl.  Not the best light here, but I love her expression. @ 3/24/2012}

 {Wisps and Bluebonnets. @ 3/24/2012}

 {Daddy and Ian.  After a timeout, I believe. @ 3/24/2012}

 {Love her laugh. @ 3/24/2012}

 {Rare picture of me with the kids. @ 3/24/2012}

 {Ellen and Flower. @ 3/28/2012}

{Sweet Baby Ellen. @ 3/28/2012}

 

 {Goofy Ian, but beautiful light. @ 3/28/2012}

{Curious. @ 3/28/2012}

{Siblings. @ 3/28/2012}

 {Ian! @ 3/28/2012}

 {Ian, again. @ 3/28/2012}

Ellen, 12 months / ONE YEAR (5/11/2012)

Twelve Months – 5/11/2012

Dear Ellen,

Happiest of Birthdays to my Ellen! One year ago today you surprised us by arriving a week earlier than expected, very early in the morning. It was an easy birth, easy babyhood, and (fairly) easy first year. Here’s to many more celebrations to come! I thought with a second child that I would be more prepared with what to expect, and in many ways I am; in general I am more organized with all things Baby, outings, and taking photographs of you. The developmental milestones are less surprising but just as exciting, and maybe even more so. The 19 month difference between you and Ian magnifies the immense amount of change that occurs in the first couple of years, and I know before too long you will also be a toddler, a run-around buddy with Ian and getting into who-knows-what.

My Favorite Thing: The moment many proud parents are waiting for finally happened… you took your FIRST STEPS on April 24th. After those first steps, you didn’t really start walking full force. You could go from squatting to standing very easily but just wouldn’t venture to walk on your own (although you would do fairly well holding a hand). Then, during a weekend visit to Rowena the first weekend of May, you just started walking a LOT! In the past week, you have gradually transitioned to walking more than crawling, and I think a few more weeks of practice will see you walking very confidently. You are already VERY good at climbing, and we have to make sure we carefully monitor all step stools or stairs to make sure you aren’t scaling them unsupervised. I have a feeling you will be trying to climb out of your crib before too long.

Daily Activities and Playing: It is so fun to watch you play. You like to read to yourself and can generally find just about anything to play with. When you finish a task and we say, “You did it!” or “Good job, Ellen!” you like to clap for yourself. I can tell that you are also starting to understand a lot of what we are saying. You can follow very simple directions (hands down, sit down, turn the page) and are repeating via sign when we say a word you recognize. You are also starting to sign those words independently, trying to communicate a need to us. The most consistent signs are: more, please, thank you, water, milk, and all done. I can tell that you are sometimes frustrated by not being able to perfectly communicate to us as you are beginning to scream at us, especially at the dinner table. Usually we either ignore you, or say, “No thank you,” and show/tell you a sign that you can use. It only works about 50% of the time, though.

Sibling: Now that you are increasingly mobile and independent, play time with Ian is going more smoothly. I can leave the two of you playing alone in the playroom or one of your bedrooms while I take care of something close by in another room, and I can generally expect you to play peacefully. There are occasionally little fits if he takes a toy from you, but he will just as often either leave you alone or find toys to give to you. Some of my favorite moments are in the car, when the two of you are just talking and laughing together. You are also starting to imitate what Ian is saying in addition to what he is doing. So far he thinks it is hilarious… let’s see how that sits with him in five years.

Eating: You continue to eat up a storm, often eating as much as or more than Ian. You can eat more and more of the table food, needing very little modification. Now you are eating the same eggs as us (previously it was egg yolk only), which makes cooking up a batch of scrambled eggs so much easier! I am more adventurous with the foods I give you as compared to Ian, but you are also very willing to try new things. You will open your mouth for just about anything, although sometimes you will spit out the food if you don’t like the taste or texture. Sometimes you spit it out just to look at it before happily chowing down. You are still taking 4 bottles per day, and a few attempts to introduce a sippy cup with cow’s milk have not gone over well. However, when I give it to you in an open cup, you are glad to drink it! I think it will take a little while to transition you away from the bottle.

Sleeping: Sleeping continues to be very low key with no problems, and you typically sleep from 8 pm to 7am. You woke up a few nights around midnight needing to eat a bottle (when for some reason you didn’t drink enough milk during the day), but otherwise slept soundly. You like to have your blanket and pacifier before going to sleep. Our nightly ritual is: dinner, bath time, pajamas, read a book, turn out the hall lights, help close the bedroom door, turn off the lamp, and lay down to sleep with blanket and pacifier. We only allow the pacifier in the car seat and in the crib, and you are fine with that. I also noticed in the past several weeks that you no longer suck your thumb when the pacifier isn’t available, although I am not really sure when you stopped.

Special Events: Brooke and Dustin got married the first weekend of May. We traveled to Rowena on Friday morning, stopping for lunch in Weatherford and in Ballinger at the elementary school to visit Mimi. Everyone thought you were too cute, and you showed off your new walking skills. That weekend we had several chances to play outside and in the splash pool. You also rode the four wheeler for the first time with Daddy and then again with Grandpa! The noise didn’t bother you at all, and your “bravery” helped encourage Ian to try it for the first time as well. The wedding was short but fun; you didn’t make a peep during the ceremony and just crawled around after Ian for most of the reception. Your favorite part was the balloons.

Again, I didn't get any on the dot monthly photos, but I included a bunch from the week before your birthday when we were in Rowena.  I just got some really beautiful pictures out there in the shade.  I will share more when I add a post about your birthday party (post still TBD!!)

 {Beautiful Girl on a Beautiful Day; Ellen @ 5/4/2012}

{Clap your hands; Ellen @ 5/4/2012}

 {Sitting Pretty; Ellen @ 5/4/2012}

{So serious; Ellen @ 5/4/2012}

{Blonde Wisps; Ellen @ 5/4/2012}

 {There She Goes; Ellen @ 5/4/2012}

 

{Hanging on for dear life, apparently; Ellen @ 5/4/2012}

{Proof she likes to swing, Exhibit A; Ellen @ 5/6/2012}

{Proof she likes to swing, Exhibit B; Ellen @ 5/6/2012}

 {Proof she likes to swing, Exhibit C; Ellen @ 5/6/2012}

{Pick it up; Ellen @ 5/6/2012}

 {First ride on the 4-wheeler; Ellen @ 5/6/2012}

*This ride inspired Ian to take his first ride as well!

 {On the Farm (Rowena); Ellen @ 5/6/2012}

Ellen, 11 months (4/11/2012)

Eleven Months – 4/11/2012

Dear Ellen,

It’s beautiful outside, and you are blooming right along with the plants this spring. The months are speeding by, and I can’t believe we are on the back end of your first year! As always, time is flying by. I have already started thinking about your first birthday party and how we are going to celebrate with you.

My Favorite Thing: You are such a joy to have in our family, and I can’t wait to see what the coming months bring as your babyhood transitions into toddlerhood. Your personality is really developing, and you are becoming both more independent and more particular. Your attention span is growing and you can sit and focus on one task for a longer period of time.

Daily Activities and Playing: You are still not walking, but I can tell that your balance is getting better. You cruise along the cabinets and ottoman still, but you are starting to just stand up by yourself and stay standing for up to about a minute. I expect for you to start walking any day now! You have gotten really proficient at “filling and spilling” with assorted containers and objects. I like watching you concentrate on finishing the task before you, and you usually make sure that you have put all available items INTO the container before you start to unload it. You have also started wanting to read more. You either stand at the bookshelf in your room to peruse the selection, or you find some books on the floor and read by yourself for a while. You also have more patience when we are reading a book to us, looking at each page and carefully turning the page when it is time.

Sibling: If you could talk, I am sure you would tell us that Ian hung the moon. You love to watch him and talk to him, and he talks right back to you! You really like it when HE imitates YOU. You two laugh together and have started wrestling… although it is a little one sided as Ian has a definite size and balance advantage.

Eating: Your daily schedule has remained the same with 4 6 oz formula bottle feedings and 4-5 solid food meals per day. You still don’t always finish every bottle, sometimes leaving up to 1 or 2 ounces, but then you typically make up for that with increased water and solid food consumption. I am having trouble keeping track of everything that you eat… I call you my Little Garbage Disposal because I can almost guarantee that you will eat anything I put in front of you. If I give you something new, you will usually take it out of your mouth and look at it, but then you put it right back in and chow down. Some of the many things you eat: yogurt (you like it with banana and cinnamon), egg yolks with shredded Monterrey jack or cottage cheese, salmon, tilapia, chicken (usually dark meat, slow cooked or shredded), ground beef, any kind of legume (black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, etc), rice, carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, green beans, cucumber, zucchini, cooked bell pepper, just about any kind of fruit, bread, cheerios or KIX dry cereal, veggie straws … the list goes on and on. You are so easy to take to restaurants because you will eat just about anything off of my plate.

Sleeping: Night time sleep continues to be very good and consistent. You go to bed close to 8 PM and generally wake between 6 and 7, sometimes requiring a wake up call. At day care, you only take one long nap per day, right after lunch, and then again on both the morning and evening commutes. On the weekends, you still consistently take a mid morning nap and a late evening nap. You still use a pacifier and like to have a few favorite blankets. Usually there are no problems with you going to sleep, but if you resist going down for a nap or bedtime, I can usually put a toy in the crib with you and you will play with than for 5-10 minutes before settling down and falling asleep.

Special Events: Your first Easter was a success. After church, we went to Gram and Pops’ house to eat a delicious meal and then do an egg hunt. Unfortunately, it started to rain right after we snagged a big family photo (The Nokes were there too), so the egg hunt was indoors. You didn’t participate much this year and mostly just crawled after one or two eggs, so I am looking forward to the fun to be had at next Easter!

I didn't get any photos of the kids in their Easter attire because I was singing in the choir this year and Brandon was in charge of getting them ready in the morning, but I did redress them a week later for the 11 month photo shoot.  Ellen is wearing this dress out... I just love it so much!

{"Are you still taking pictures?"; Ellen @ 3/25/2012}

{Messy eater; Ellen @ 3/28/2012}

{Easter Egg Hunt (in backup outfit); Ellen @ 4/8/2012}

{Easter Dress, Front and Back; Ellen @ 4/15/2012}

{Happy Baby; Ellen @ 4/15/2012}

{Even Happier Baby; Ellen @ 4/15/2012}

  

{Window Washing; Ellen and Ian @ 4/15/2012}

{Beautiful Girl; Ellen @ 4/12/2012}

Ellen, 10 months (3/11/2012)

Ten Months – 3/11/2012

Dear Ellen,

Happy happy happy about sums up you at 10 months. You smile all of the time and have fun playing and observing others. You visibly brighten when you see me or Daddy, especially when picking you up from school.

My Favorite Thing: I love how you are starting to communicate. You have started signing “all done” and “more” and even adding more verbal communication. I swear one day you were saying “Mama!” to get my attention, and when I turned around you said, “Ah dah” (aka All done) while raising your hands in the air! I think you are a little confused about “All Done” versus “All Gone,” but we will get there. We still need to work on “More” and “Water” and “Please.” Also, when you try to tell me something in words or in sign, and I repeat it and get it right, you get a huge smile on your face.

Daily Activities and Playing: You are very independent and like to explore all over the house, but you generally stay out of trouble. You will sit and play on the piano or other toys in the play room, or you will sit and look through books by yourself. You are standing more and more but mostly holding onto our legs, the cabinets, or the ottoman. You took one step by yourself, but you aren’t really walking on your own and your balance needs time to develop. You still prefer to crawl everywhere since it gets you where you need to go FAST. I have honestly never seen a baby move so fast – you basically do a bear crawl RUN.

Sibling: You two get crazy together. Ian likes to report what you are doing (“Ellen touched me. Ellen play with that toy”) all of the time. You imitate everything he does, from splashing in the bath tub to banging on a toy, and it is very cute. Sometimes Ian likes to imitate you too! An interesting comparison between you and Ian is that your emotions seem to be more intense than his. Where Ian seemed generally content and easy going about just about anything, you tend to get very happy or very sad. Heaven help the one who takes a toy away from you. Crocodile tears and yelling ensue!

Eating: Nothing has changed in your daily schedule, although the milk source has gradually transitioned to all formula. I enjoyed the simplicity, ease, and time with you during nursing, but I couldn’t keep my milk supply high enough to satisfy you for dinner and didn’t want to spend hours every day pumping and washing bottles and other equipment, so I decided that we would move on after you were 9 months old. You get four 6 oz. bottles per day, spread out every 3-5 hours, but you don’t always finish all of them depending on your activity level and what kind of food you are eating. You usually eat 4 meals of food per day: breakfast, lunch, and snack at school and dinner at home. We haven’t had to serve any “baby” food in a while since you mostly just eat what we eat, with a few modifications. Some of the new things we have introduced: mango (steamed slightly to soften it), blueberries, strawberries, ground beef.

Sleeping: Night time sleep continues to be very good. You start getting sleepy around 7:30 or 7:45 and are usually in bed by 8:15. It is a breeze to put you to sleep; we read one or two books, give you a blanket and pacifier, and turn out the light. Usually you are trying to squirm out of my arms at that point so you can lay down, and you don’t have any patience for being rocked to sleep. At day care, you only take one long nap per day, right after lunch, and then again on both the morning and evening commutes. Every once in a while you are asleep when I come pick you up. On the weekends, you still consistently take a mid morning nap and a late evening nap.

Special Events: Your cousin James Luke Abney was born! We went to go visit him and Brooke in Rowena the very next week. He was very small and had a ton of fluffy hair. You didn’t notice him but Ian gave him a few kisses. Our family is going to be very busy over the next several years. The cousins will be stair stepped through consecutive grades in school with only one gap; Jack (then skip a grade), then Benjamin, Anna, Ian, you, and James! We are hoping you can all go to Texas A&M and maybe all live in a house together.

I didn't get to do a "photoshoot" for your 10 month milestone because we were traveling and quite busy... but I still got several good ones throughout the month.

{First Valentine's Day Cards}

{Crawl, baby, crawl; Ellen @ 2/26/2012}

 {Happy Baby; Ellen @ 2/26/2012}

 {Flying, courtesy of Daddy; Ellen @ 3/3/2012}

{Almost 10 months old; Ellen @ 5/10/2012}

 {Swing, swing, swing; Ellen @ 3/18/2012}

Goal Update - February 2012

The Night Shift seemed to be an overwhelming presence in our lives in February.  I functioned primarily on survival mode and focused on keeping everyone fed, clean, and clothed.  That seemed to take up most of my time and energy, so I did very little else in the way of goal accomplishment.  If I did anything, it was during my lunch hour at work, as I couldn't bring myself to work on much once I got the kids in bed each night.

Personal Goals

1)    Photography:

I am staying very current on my photo sorting and editing!  I haven't gone back to catch up on my backlog yet, but I am still confident that I will see great progress in 2012.  My next goals are to get some "deliverables" taken care of... I have seen quite a few ideas for decorating with portraits, and I also have a mini project I told my mother-in-law I could do for her.  Time to start getting things ready for printing!

2)    Sewing:

Sadly, I made no progress on sewing in February.  I blame The Night Shift.  Maybe I will complete project #1 in March? {Note: That didn't happen.  In March either.  Or April.  Maybe May???}  I did end up purchasing some material for a new project I have in mind (a computer bag), but I haven't done anything with it so far.

3)    Physical Fitness:

I have run exactly twice and done yoga a grand total of ZERO times in February.  February fitness was sadly better than January (in which I ran once), though obviously not where I want to be.  Brandon and I are going to work on a rotating early morning routine so we can both run more frequently during the week.  Saturday runs generally prove to be more difficult as one of us (ahem, Brandon) has to run with the double jogging stroller.

4)    Blogging:

I am still doing fairly well on this front.  I have more or less stuck to my calendar of post ideas, and I am working on building up a few "extra" posts in my drafts folder so I can make sure I post something every week, even if I don't have time to compose something new.

5)    Reading:

I have still been reading quite a bit.  Reading is one of the only activities I can manage to accomplish in the evenings as it requires very little physical effort.  Sad, but true.  I am not going to list out all of the books I have been reading because there is not much worth recommending.  Maybe I will eventually get ahold of something worthwhile that I can share with everyone, but for now let's just say my "free book" trend continues.

Team Dierschke Goals

1)    House Cleaning:

Again, I blame The Night Shift for the failure of this goal.  Things have stayed generally straightened up (especially thanks to Brandon getting some child free time at home), but we haven't been diligent about dusting etc.  The bathrooms and kitchen are the only areas that we clean consistently.  We are having some people over to the house in March, and that should light a fire under our rear ends to get things both clutter free/organized and spic and span.

2)   Monthly Date Night:

Two months in a row with a date night!  Hurrah!  We didn't do anything exciting, just went to a movie, but we take what we can get.  Once again, we wanted to see Sherlock Holmes 2, but we couldn't find a showing compatable with our schedule, so we opted for "Safe House" (with Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington) instead.  It was a very entertaining movie, and I enjoyed all of it except for the hand to hand combat/stabbing scenes.  I don't mind violence but punching and stabbing always makes me cover my eyes.  We are hoping to start branching out with our date nights in the coming months, trying something more active than movie watching.

3)    Monthly Time with Others:

Once again, we exceeded our goal.  Which is actually remarkable for such non-social creatures as ourselves.

- BIL Birthday Dessert:  This event was supposed to happen in January but was postponed due to travel schedules and changing reservation times.  The group dessert was s'mores at Tillman's Roadhouse... with homemade marshmallows that you roast at the table!  It was quite fun and delicious.  The only downside was that we didn't really know anyone except my sister and her husband.  We have met and spent limited time with many of their friends, but we haven't been around them enough to know them very well.

- Super Bowl watching Party:  After being out of town for the weekend in Rowena, we rolled into town just in time for a Super Bowl party with other "Young Adults" from a church we have been visiting.  Once again, we didn't really know people, but everyone was very welcoming.  The pastor's wife introduced me to several people and I was caught up in pleasant conversation all night.  Everyone was very nice but it did seem like 90% of the women I met (with kids) stayed at home.  It is shockingly difficult to meet other mothers who work outside the home, especially at church, and it is always a little bit of a bummer to be invited to a weekday midmorning event knowing you can never go.

- Gender Reveal Party for "Chuck":  My sister is having another baby, whose inutero name is inexplicably "Chuck".  She and her husband decided to reveal the gender of the baby via cake cutting at a gender reveal party.  There were decorations in turquoise (for girl) and orange (for boy), and most of the snacks color coordinated.  The room was silent as they cut the cake and.... ORANGE.  Baby is due in early May.  {Update:  baby has been born!}

More updates to come on what has been happening in March, April, and May in the Dierschke family... we've been busy folk!

Cousin Pizza Party

As the years go by, I have a harder and harder time coming up with gift ideas for my niece and nephews.  Their parents and grandparents are extremely generous, so I end up feeling like there is nothing else I can give them that they don't already have.  I wanted to find something different this past Christmas, so instead of another toy or physical item, I decided to give the gift of TOGETHER TIME!  I had this idea mulling around in my head for some time but couldn't decide what kind of activity we could all do since the kids range from 2 to 7.

My husband and I make pizza every Friday night (with store bough crust and sauce) and we started allowing our son to help assemble the pizza shortly after he turned 2.  He loves helping, and it was fun to watch him learn the steps for pizza assembly and how to properly execute all of the steps.  One Friday evening, I decided it would be fun for all of the cousins to make pizzas together!  It was an activity simple enough for the young ones to execute, and novel enough for the oldest to enjoy.  Not to mention you get to eat PIZZA at the end.  I knew that the concept of a "together time" would be difficult for the kids to grasp and would make for a rather dissapointing present opening, so I decided that I needed some kind of physical representation of what we would be doing wrapped under the tree.  Our Friday night experience once again informed my decision; a sauce mishap led me to realize the necessity of aprons for each child.  And so the Cousin Pizza Party (with individual aprons for each child) was born!

The kids were semi excited to open their aprons and party invitations/ingredient order forms at Christmas, but I don't think they initially understood what was going on.  It took a little bit of talking up, and eventually they were all really excited!  Rob and Sheila (their parents) thought it was a nice idea until they found out they weren’t expected to attend… then they thought it was a MASTERFUL IDEA.  They dropped the kids off around 5 pm on the agreed upon evening and left for a date night.  And so it was that we had temporary custody of FIVE children.  Here is a photo of the oldest four, ages 7, 4, 2.5, and 2 (Ellen not pictured as she was too young to participate in both the assembly and consumption of the pizza).

{Cousins!}

The evening went very smoothly.  They all listened attentively to the directions and did most all of the assembly on their own.  Everyone had a blast, although the pizzas were admittedly quite boring since none of the cousins wanted anything but cheese on their pizzas.  They all ate some, but not all of the pizza, which was a little large for such small tummies.  My favorite quote was from the 7-year-old:  "At first I thought that regular pizza [presumably from Pizza Hut] was better, but now I think this is very good pizza and I like it better!"

{Cousins, hard at work}

 {Crust + Sauce + Cheese = Delicious}

{Pizza COMSUMED}

After they finished consuming the fruits/pizzas of their labor, I sent them off to play while I cleared the counters and prepared cookie making ingredients.  They all came back to help mix in an ingredient and help scoop cookie dough onto the baking sheet.

{This is the way we scoop the dough...}



{Helper}

{WAIT... can't eat them yet!}

{Finished product... yummm}

  Another gem from the 7-year-old:  "I didn't think that I would like oatmeal cookies, but these are pretty good.  I really like them."

{Cutie Patootie}

We had so much fun that I decided to try and make the Cousin Pizza Party an annual event!  I am not sure if the party will be their Christmas present again next year or if I will try to come up with a new group activity.  Regardless, I will have to come up with an alternative to the personalized aprons... Feel free to leave any ideas for future activities or apron alternatives in the comments below!

{Note:  Yes, I realize that this post is several months late!  I have had it 99% finished for at least 3 months but kind of fell off the blogging wagon.  I do most of my blogging at lunch while I am at work since the internet connection is fast and I have a nice, big screen to work with, and somehow I couldn't load either Google home page or Blogger.  I randomly tried again today and I magically got access.  So there will likely be a flurry of blog activity as I post some "back issues" of Ellen's monthly updates and some Goal Updates as well.}