update

I was a bad mom and totally forgot my camera last weekend so I do not have a christmas post, but I will say that we had a GREAT christmas!! Aside from Kallen and I being sick, we had a blast spending time with our families!

Kallen will be waking up any minute and I can hear Lincoln in his crib starting to cry so I am just going to leave you with some pics that I have snapped in the last couple of weeks:

Here is "Kallen the Great Hunter"

- his hat will spotlight a deer from miles away and those bear slippers can run as fast as lightening

This is where Kallen spends a lot of downtime these days. It is amazing to me how long my little busy-body will sit in this carseat.

We find Lincoln sleeping like this quite often....perhaps he is dreaming about riding motorcycles??

Daddy's little UNI fans

(thanks Katie for the awesome matching shirts!!)

This is how I forsee A LOT of future "nice" pictures going.

Kallen loving on his brother a little too much and Lincoln saying "get off me!"

Smile!

These are things that have made me smile this week:

While I was making supper the other night, I gave Kallen his own pan so he could make supper too (and stop whining at my feet). Here is what he managed to find around the kitchen.

(notice how proud he is of himself)

Great Grandpa Dave and his Great Grandsons!

(so special!)

This picture of the boys in their hats that Aunt Stephy made for them.

It's like Lincoln is saying "Not another picture! Tell me when they're done Kallen"

A little brotherly love in their matching pajamas. :)

Santa Baby

I did not grow up believing in Santa- my Mom always felt like he took away from the true meaning of Christmas and I agree. So we have decided that we are not going to teach our kids to believe in Santa either. We will tell them the story of Santa, but we won't pretend like he is real today.

I do, however, still think it is fun to get that yearly photo of them sitting on Santa's lap.

(mostly just to see their reaction)

Here is Kallen last year:

He sat on Santa's lap like he was another member of our family- no big deal! He was roughly 7 months in that picture.

Then there was this years attempt at a picture with Santa.

This is as close as Kallen would get:

he was handing Santa books.

This was on Monday (yes the same day of all the events in my last blog post) and Kallen was in quite the mood. My sister came down for the afternoon to help me get some christmas shopping done. We knew we wanted to try the whole Santa thing and there was absolutely no one in line so we went on in. I knew Kallen would probably have some hesitation this year, but I never fathomed it would go as bad as it did.

As soon as I pulled Kallen out of the stroller he started throwing a fit. I tried to coax him over to santa which resulted in kallen seriously on the ground kicking and screaming (he has never done this to me EVER). I was soo embarrased and thankful that there were not any other people standing in line to witness my childs behavior. I quickly gave up on the Santa idea (thus the above picture- I figured it was as good as it was going to get) and began trying to wrap things up and get us out of there before Kallen made any more of a scene. That is about the time that my sister looked at me and pointed to Kallen who was standing there, looking at the reindeer with his little pointer finger out, saying "boom boom". (his daddy taught him to shoot deer and in his defense what 1 year old would know the difference?) I about died! I'm pretty sure Santa looked at me like I was the worse mother in the world. He was probably thinking "what is wrong with these people!?" I quickly grabbed my boys and we high-talied it out of there!

Of course Lincoln was perfect:

Maybe next years Santa visit will go a little better. :S

It's chaos around here!

Sorry- this is another post without a picture but I just thought I'd give you a glimpse into my life.These are the events that have already happened today and it is only 11:00am.

• I could not find my phone charger and my phone was going to die any minute so I ran upstairs with Kallen to look. He quickly tore apart our entire room while I was searching through our suitcase (we were gone over the weekend) looking for it. I turned around and could not believe (ok actually with this child I can but he never ceases to amaze me) what I saw. Clothes strung everywhere, magazines/books all over the place, a huge smile on his face. Ok, I'll clean this up during his nap.
• I still hadn't found my charger and I had a feeling it was in the car so I began to weigh my options. Lincoln was safely sleeping in his pack-n-play, I would just run out to the car real quick, what's the worse that can happen? I had a little talk with Kallen, then ran out to the car and began searching as fast as I could....found it! As I reached the front door I had a moment of panic as I realized it was locked! then I remembered our garage door is currently broken so I slid it open and hurried inside. I walked into our kitchen to see my towel drawer (luckily the bottom drawer) completely emptied out, with Kallen standing inside it, holding the bag of cheetos that was sitting on the counter, happily chomping away. At least he hadn't dumped them!.....oops shouldn't have thought that- just as I reached Kallen he turned the bag upside down. :(
• With my phone charging, lunch warming up, and naptime just a few moments away Lincoln woke up completely soaked (time for bigger diapers). Kallen has been such a sweet brother today that I decided to change Lincoln on the floor so Kallen could "help" me. He was sitting by Lincoln's head giving him a hug when I slid Lincoln's diaper off and then it happened.....Licoln felt that fresh air and just couldn't help himself- he started peeing- and of course it shot straight up into Kallen's face. Kallen gave me a shocked look at first, then I watched it turn to anger but I was too slow to react- he spit on Lincoln, then (I hope accidentally) kicked his head as he was getting up. Now I had 2 screaming boys. :S
• At the moment their bellies are both full, they are both down for naps, and I just had to sit down for a moment before I start doing damage control on my house.

And this is why- if you ever just stop by my house- I am usually not showered and my house is not clean. :)

What Happened??

Where did the month of November go?

I feel like it was just yesterday that we came home with our new little baby- not sure how Kallen would react or what the next few weeks would bring. It is amazing how quickly you adapt to having a new baby around and next thing you know- you cannot imagine life without them!

Lincoln is already such a blessing to our lives! I prayed for a layed back baby and so far it seems that is just what he is! Poor little guy spends most of his days lying in the pack-n-play because his mommy is busy with his big brother who seems to demand ALOT of attention. But he doesn't seem to mind at all- he is perfectly content to just hang out wherever!

We do have a few challenges though: Lincoln is a spitter. You have to watch out because you just never know when that lovely white stuff will come shooting out of his mouth and nose. Kallen never really spit up so this is new territory for me.

Also- I am still having a lot of trouble getting Lincoln to burp after he eats. This results in lots of gas and some tummy aches. I am up for any suggestions you guys may have! I have tried burping him on my shoulder, rubbing his back, face down over my legs, and rotating his little legs while he lays on his back. We occasionally get a burp but not very often. I have also eliminated dairy from my diet which does seem to have helped with the upset tummy. Bummer for me but worth it for now. :)

We did get some GREAT news this week! Lincoln had his cardiology appointment on Tuesday and THEY DID NOT FIND A HEART MURMUR!!! This was exactly what we were praying for and I was so excited to hear the doctor say he was just fine!! They weighed him while we were there and my tiny little boy who started out at 5lbs 12oz a few weeks ago weighed 8lbs 4 oz! I think we may have a little chunker on our hands...his brother did not gain quite that fast. :)

All in all things are going really well around our house! I am LOVING life with 2 boys! And although it presents its challenges- the good far outweighs the bad! Yes there are days when I am completely exhausted, yes I am sleep deprived, yes there may be times when I go a little too long without a shower, yes there are days where I really have no recollection of what I ate (if I ate anything) the entire day, but then there are the sweet moments like when Kallen thinks Lincoln needs to kiss his finger whenever it is hurt, or the countless times throughout the day that Kallen wants to hold his brother and then he just sits there stroking his head. (I'm pretty sure that is the biggest run-on sentence ever) I love watching my boys bond already and I can't wait to see what the next few months will bring as Lincoln becomes more alert and able to respond!!!

Twins

Here are both of my boys at 1 month old:

I think seeing this really put into perspective for me how much they really do look alike.
I know people kept telling me that- and I agreed they looked similar- but WOW does this picture show how "similar" they really are!
I think the only way I would know who was who (aside from the clothes) is that Kallen had an almost perfect complexion and Lincoln has some baby acne.
It will be interesting to see how Lincoln changes here in the next few months!

Smile!!

These are things that made me smile over the weekend:

Ok, this first one seems strange because this is a picture of the huge goose-egg that Kallen got right before I sent him home with Grandma Tammy. He was running into the kitchen and tripped and fell right into the corner of the chair. It was one of those injuries that swelled up instantly- poor little boy. But it made me smile because he only cried for about 2 seconds and then was over it- but for the next hour he would randomly look at me and carefully put his hand on his forehead and say "ouch". I just thought it was cute. :)

This one makes me smile because of the context of the book (read the title) and how tuned in Kallen was to what his daddy was saying. What can I say- we teach 'em young around here. :P

I just LOVE this picture of Aunt Stephy and her nephews!

Matching Brothers Shirts!!!

2 week checkup

This sweet little boy had his 2 week check up yesterday.

Because of his time in the NICU they had us do a 1 week weight check last Monday. I still couldn't drive so my Mom drove us to the doctor (that brought back memories :P) and kept Kallen entertained for me while we headed into the clinic. Lincoln was back up to birthweight which was 5lbs 12oz (I think we left the hospital at 5.6).

I knew over the course of this past week Lincoln had started to outgrow his preemie clothes so as we headed to the doctor yesterday I was just hoping for maybe 6 lbs. Well, this little guy shocked his momma when he weighed in at 6lbs 12oz!! His length was 201/2 inches (he was born at 18") which put him in the 78th percentile for height and the 20th percentile for weight.

We did receive some bad news though.... our pediatrician detected a heart murmer. :( He wasn't too concerned about it and said most of the time they correct themselves, but we have an appointment with the cardiologist on the 30th just to make sure nothing major is going on. My mother-in-law told me that Shawn actually had one when he was born and it just fixed itself over time so that was encouraging to hear!! I think maybe because of his time in the NICU I seem to be a little more on edge with Lincoln than I was with Kallen. Lincoln still just seems so small and fragile to me so when I hear about little things I find myself getting worried. (not a problem I usually have) But that is something I am just going to have to hand over to God!

All in all things are going really well around here! Kallen seems to have gotten through the rough patch and is now adjusting really well to having Lincoln around. I'll have to do another post to tell you about some of the funny things that have happened already! :)

No Brain

There are alot of things I would like to blog about: Lincoln's Birth Story, so far what life is like with 2 boys, some of the never ending thoughts and emotions going on in my head; but lately I barely have time to lift my computer, let alone blog about anything. That and I have been so exhausted I can't even seem to finish a thought in my head these days. So I'll just give you a couple pictures for now- and hopefully soon I will get some of my brain back.

Change of Plans

I think that alot of times when we think that we have things all figured- God sits up there and smirks at us because He knows that is not at all how it will go. I honestly don't know why we spend so much time stressing about things (it's because we think we need to feel in control).

This was a hard lesson for me this week.

You all know that we have spent the last few months adding on a salon to our house, and all along we have roughly had the goal of getting it done by November 1st. Well, November 1st was coming alot faster than we wanted it to and things were starting to get pretty stressful around the DeBoef household. My lease for my current salon is up as of the 1st so putting things off was not really much of an option. Last Friday Shawn and I sat down and made ourselves a schedule of what would need to happen on what day to have things ready to go. We thought we had things all planned out and were starting to feel pretty good about where we were setting. We have the BEST family in the world and over the weekend/Monday almost everyone was pitching in to help us out any way they could. An added bonus was that Kallen got some great cousin time out of it!!

Here was my attempt at putting in a movie to keep the kids occupied for a little bit. (it didn't last very long)

Lots and Lots of painting!!

The guys were filling in the dirt around the posts and the kids felt the need to "help". :)

Just look at those ornery kids. :P

By Monday Shawn and I were soo thankful for everything that was accomplished over the weekend, but still feeling VERY overwhelmed by everything that still needed to happen this week. (plumbers, electricians, inspectors, cleaning, moving stuff in, etc..)
On top of all of it- Shawn's girls swim team has their big Regional swim meet this Saturday with State following right behind next Saturday. My poor husband could not possible have anything else hit him....right?



Then came my doctors appointment on Tuesday.


I was just going in for a regular 37 week OB checkup and ultrasound. (they have been monitoring the baby pretty close because of some medication I am having to take) I had Kallen with me because normally they are pretty quick and we are just in and out of there- but this time we had been sitting in the exam room for 30min, Kallen had enough, and I was starting to get a little irritated. My regular doctor is on vacation this week, and finally the Dr. we were seeing came in and instead of pulling out the doppler like normal- he pulled up a stool. (uh oh) He informed me that instead of growing like he should, our baby had actually dropped down on the percentage chart. This told them that something is not right. (I am thinking- oh ok they are going to make me wait longer that our scheduled c-section on November 16th) Instead- the words out of his mouth were "we are going to deliver him on Monday". To be honest at this point I almost laughed out loud- he said "lets see here...what is the date?" and before he could look it up I said "November 1st". Basically- they think my placenta has stopped doing it's job and is no longer nourishing the baby. Because of this, they can do more for our baby on the outside than they can on the inside. In the ultrasound he measured around 5 lbs so he is at a good weight to be born. We talked over a few more details and then Kallen and I headed out- me thinking "how am I going to tell Shawn?"


I called him on the way home to say "Well, we are having a baby on Monday!" and the first words out of his mouth were "Are you kidding me?". (poor guy)



So I guess instead of opening a salon on Monday we will be having a baby on Monday! Not quite what we had planned, but that's ok!


And don't worry- Shawn is just fine. After taking about a day to get over the shock, he is excited to meet our little guy. We put a hold on the construction so that Shawn could catch up on some things at school and get ready for a sub next week. Is this ideal timing? not exactly Did we ever think we would be having a baby the week of girls state? not really But is God's timing always perfect? Absolutely


Next week is going to be a crazy week with Shawn needing to run practices in preparation for their biggest meet of the year; but we will get to meet our new little boy, and Kallen will become a big brother, and we will become a family of 4, and for all of that I am soo excited!!
We did finally come up with a name! But I am not telling- you'll have to wait until Monday. :)

Think about it..

I am not very good when it comes to computers, but hopefully I at least figured this one out. Here is a link to my friend Janel's webiste: http://team-sullivan.blogspot.com/ . She posted this today and I think that everyone needs to see it and at least think about it. This is something that has been very heavy on my heart lately and even though we are not all called to adopt, we Should all be praying for God's orphans. There is not a single morning that I don't wake up and thank God for everything he has blessed us with! And lately there is not a single morning where I don't wake up and shed a little tear (I am also super duper pregnant and emotional right now) for the starving children out there who are just waiting to be loved. If nothing else- just take time to read this, say a little prayer, and just think about it!

A day on the farm

There are several things I love about fall! But this is what I love most:

Harvest season! It's probably because I grew up on the farm, but I just LOVE seeing all of those combines in the fields. That is one of the things I miss the most about living in the country- you just don't see any combines around here.

Today Kallen and I drove down to my parents to ride in Grandpa's combine and see my sister Karlee who is back in town for the week.

Kallen LOVED riding in the combine with grandpa! He just sat perfectly still on his lap the entire time- it was like he was an entirely different kid.

We spent most of the day hanging out with Grandma and Aunt Karlee! I didn't get a picture of Kallen with Grandma Tammy but here he is with my youngest sister Karlee!

Karlee is in a program called Fusion which is in Kansas City so we went ahead and celebrated her October birthday while she was up here. We are so blessed to have both sets of our grandparents living close by, so they all came over to my Mom's for a delicious supper!!
Kallen's Great Grandpa Dave even got down on the floor to play with him.

Quite a pile of boys huh!? :P

Once Uncle Jacob got home from school, Kallen was his little shadow. He just followed Jake around and literally did everything that Jacob did.

It had been a while since we had made it down to the farm and boy were we needing it!! Sometimes you just have to get out of the city! I loved growing up on the farm and I plan on taking my boys down there as much as possible!!

Salon Update

I have not posted pictures of the salon progress in a while.

Here is a view from our back yard. We will eventually extend our deck over to the new addition.

This is the main salon entrance that clients will use on the east side of the house. We are going to build a small little deck so that the steps down will line up with the sidewalk.

A view from the inside! The door on the left will go into a closet/storage area and there will be an entryway into our house. The door on the right is the bathroom.

This is the view coming in from our deck. So the door you see is the main entrance and my station will be there in the corner on the right where you see the green sheetrock!

And here is the view when you walk in the front door. That back corner on the left will be a little kids corner and we will have a few waiting chairs along the wall with the windows.

Most of the sheet rock is up! Shawn has just a little bit to finish and then we can get it all taped and mudded. Then I think we are either ready to lay tile, or texture the walls. (I don't remember what comes next) As far as I know we are still aiming for it to be open in November, but we'll see!

A little "artwork"

Tonight Kallen decided that our walls were lacking a little pizzaz. Shawn and I were literally just around the corner in Kallen's room and he ran out and did this in a matter of two seconds.

Such a talented artist our son is. Let's just say he got in BIG trouble!!

Big Boy Update!

Ok, here is a "big boy bed" update:

Night #1 Put him to bed in his crib and transferred him over once he fell asleep, he slept until 4am then cried until I put him back in his crib.

Night #2 We transferred him again and he slept until 7:15 the next morning!!

Night #3 We transferred him and he slept until 6am (up 1 hour too early)

Night #4 We decided to put him to bed in his big boy bed to see how it would go, Shawn and I both stalled upstairs thinking we may have to put him back in bed a few times, Shawn put him in bed and he went right to sleep without a sound!

Could it really be this easy!?! I am almost scared to post any of this on here out of fear of jinxing myself. :)

So tomorrow will begin the feat of naptime in our big boy bed. I have not really tried naptime yet because we have had so much going on this week that I did not want to risk him not getting a good nap. We don't really have anything going on tomorrow so I figured it would be a good day to start. His nursery has a roman shade which blocks out most of the sun during the day, but his new room does not have anything on the windows yet so we'll see if that affects us.

Big Boy

Ready or not I put Kallen to bed in his new "big boy" bed tonight. Ok, actually I tried to put him to bed in his new bed and he just cried, so I put him to bed in his crib and once he fell asleep I moved him over. We'll see how our night goes....it makes me a little nervous to think of him wandering around in the dark but I am hoping he'll cry first before he tries to get out of bed.

I didn't really expect this to be an emotional transition, but I have to admit it kind of was. After I moved him over, I glanced back into his nursery and was so sad to see an empty crib. I still feel like it was yesterday that we brought home our tiny little baby and placed him in his crib for the first time! But I guess it really won't be empty for long and "little brother" will be in there....hopefully sleeping the night away!!

Our next step will be naptime tomorrow.....I'll let you know how that goes. :S

Naptime Battles

Kallen and I have recently hit a "rough patch" in our daily schedule. Up until recently his sleeping schedule has been:

• wake up around 7am
• morning nap from 9-11
• afternoon nap from 12:30-3:30
• go to bed anywhere from 7-8pm.

Do you see the, oh so very narrow, gap that left me to go anywhere outside of our house without a cranky child? Most mornings I would just risk it and run around anyways, but never without complete meltdowns at numerous locations. While this schedule made things inconvenient for me- I came to the conclusion that if my child needed that much sleep for a season in his life, then that was something I was willing to work around. So I run most of my errands in the afternoon, and sometimes do what I have to in the mornings.

Last week I started to notice a shift in Kallen's schedule. I knew we were probably at the age where he only needed one nap/day but he was always so cranky without that morning nap, that I just let him have it. Last week his morning naps started to get shorter, and shorter, and on top of that he began to fight his afternoon naps. I would try to put him down after lunch like I normally do but he would stand in his crib and cry and cry until finally after 45min-an hour I would finally go get him. The results were usually a very cranky boy and mommy for the rest of the afternoon. By 6:30 he would be ready for bed and it was all I could do to get him to make it to 7. I reached my limit when yesterday he decided he didn't need to nap at all. Our entire day yesterday was basically a battle of the wills- Mommy vs. Kallen- and unfortunately Kallen won. :S By the time I had to go to work last night I was completely exhausted, our house was a disaster (when Kallen is tired he gets super destructive), and by the time Shawn got him Kallen was so tired he was crying about everything. I spent most of last night thinking, and flipping through a couple parenting magazines and I came up with a game plan.

#1.) I absolutely will NOT go get Kallen in the mornings until he is happily jabbering in his crib. (usually he wakes up crying at 7 and I rush in to get him) This morning he cried from 7-7:30 and by the time I walked in to get him at 7:45 he was in the best mood, just talking to his fish by his bed and smiling!!

#2.) No matter how grouchy he is, I will not let him take a morning nap!! (This may mean a rather challenging morning for me, but I really think it will pay off in the end) I started this today, and our morning went suprisingly well and Kallen is happily snoozing in his crib right now!! :)

This is probably something I should have done a while ago, but I'll blame my pregnancy on the fact that recently I just have not had the energy to fight Kallen on things. This needs to end because he definitely does NOT need to be the one running this household!! Anyways- I am excited about our new schedule! Plus I think it will work out nicely when little brother gets here in just 8 more weeks!

Go Cyclones!!

Little Gentleman

We tried on Kallen's tux that he'll be wearing for my sister's wedding in a few weeks. I couldn't believe how old it made him look! And it's funny- we really didn't make a big deal about it but once we got all the layers on Kallen's entire demeanor changed. It's like he knew he was wearing something special.

Ok, tell me that's not ADORABLE!!!
He will be one of 3 little ringbears being pulled in a wagon right during naptime. Wish us luck!! :P

Bad Cook

Do you cook for your family? This is something I am really struggling with. I actually really do like to cook- but I get so bored with cooking the same things all the time and lately I have absolutely no ambition to actually look up something new and different.
During swim season the only times we are together as a family is on the weekends (other than an occasional rare evening during the week). I think that is what is fueling my lack of motivation....what's the point in cooking when it is just Kallen and I?? That and the fact that all I ever want to eat these past few weeks is a bowl of cereal.
So I usually try to come up with something half way healthy for Kallen, I happily pour my bowl of cereal, and my poor husband is left taking hot pockets for lunch everyday and to be honest most of the time I have no idea what he does for supper.
I need a personal meal planner: someone who plans out my meals for the month, writes me a grocery list, and then all I have to do is follow the menu! Yes, I realize this is something I could easily do my self but let's face it- I'm just not going to. So until I find some motivation somewhere, I am going to keep on eating my bowls of cereal and my poor husband will still be fending for himself. (sorry honey :S )

Smile!

These are things that have made me smile in the last few days::

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My son's love for dirt and rocks

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And his love for bath time when he is done playing in the dirt and rocks!
All you have to say is "Want to take a bath?" and Kallen will go running for the stairs saying "bath, bath, bath"

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And these matching pj's I found yesterday at Children's Place.
I can already picture the boys in them this winter.....I can't wait!!!

Have I mentioned lately that I just LOVE being a mom?!!!

Coco Keys

Over the weekend we went with Shawn's family to Omaha for a fun weekend filled with swimming and the zoo! We stayed at the Holiday Inn which has this amazing indoor waterpark!! (I think it was called coco keys) I would highly recommend it to anyone who has kids anywhere from age 1- maybe 12? (I don't think older kids would have quite as much fun)

Doesn't it just look like a great time!?

They had this area for the smaller children and Kallen had a blast!!! We sent him down the water slide that you see there in the back a few times, and although I wouldn't say he loved it- he didn't really complain!

He spent most of the time just running around! I think he wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. :P

I didn't get very many pictures because we were having so much fun, but it was a great weekend!! The zoo was fun too- but I would definately say the highlight of our trip was the waterpark! I am thinking we may have to visit again this winter when we are all going stir crazy!!

I should also add, that it was great to just spend time with family!! I have been blessed with Amazing in-laws and I feel so lucky to have married into the DeBoef family!

Thanks Ken and Deb for a GREAT weekend!!!