The Asmussen Christmas 2010: Part 3

Me: (knock, knock, knock...) Anyone home???
The Other Me: (snooooore. snoooooore.)
Me: Uh, hello!?! Pregnancy brain gotten to you already???
The Other Me: Wha? Who? Oh! I'm awake, I'm awake! I swear!

Yes, it seems that I've become a bit forgetful. Lost track of a few things, I suppose. 'Cause it wasn't until yesterday when I clicked onto our blog to see if any friends had posted recently and realized that I managed to never post the third and final installment of our Christmas adventures. Despite the fact I had already loaded and edited the pictures. Just plain ol' never posted it. So here we are- January 28th- just now getting up the Asmussen portion of our Christmas. Better late than never, I suppose.

We spent most of New Year's Eve over at Mark's mom's house to celebrate Christmas with the Asmussens. She had a yummy meal catered by Orlandos that we all pigged out on before opening gifts. We ended up spending the rest of the evening just hanging out together, playing with new toys, and staying warm by the fire. A great way to celebrate Christmas and ring in the new year!

Kolbe trying to take pictures with G-ma's little camera. He was so disturbed by the fact that he couldn't see the picture after he took it like on a digital camera. Oh, to be born in a different age of technology! (He's also fascinated by land line telephones...)

Trying on new shoes from G-ma!

Opening up new puzzles from Papa Jeep. They got a wide array of fun, educational prizes!

Helping G-ma open one of her gifts

More prizes!

But of course the grand finale had to be the super surprise Power Wheels in G-ma's garage! The boys love to climb on these at the toy stores but never in their wildest dreams did they think they'd actually get to drive one!

Two brothers cruisin' in their F-150. (Rudy is too short to reach the gas pedals!)

Kolbe testing out the four wheeler. (Rudy is terrified of this one, by the way, after Mark switched it over to turbo mode and it went a little too fast for his liking!)

And now for my first attempt at uploading a video from our new HD video camera. You know the little kind with the USB plug that pops out of the side...let's hope this works!

TTT: Season 2, Episode 4

1. Three Thought Thursday comes to you live from The Woodlands, TX this week. Technically we're supposed to be travelling home today. But of course, we're not. You might remember this incident from last year. The one where we travelled to Houston for Kolbe's Shriner's check-up, got stuck here because of a snow storm in Dallas and went through a bout with the stomach bug with Rudy while here.

Funny how history loves to repeat itself.

We're here for Kolbe's Shriner's check-up. No snow storm in Dallas, but it looks like we're staying an extra day. 'Cause guess who decided to barf all over the kitchen table last night? You got it. Rudy. He's had horrible gas ever since we arrived and some not-so-savory diapers as well, so we really weren't surprised when the ginger ale and banana decided to reappear. Ugh! Maybe I need to call Shriners back and demand that we not come to a check-up in January next year. We're cursed!

2. Beyond taking care of a sickly little one, I've been somewhat ailing throughout this trip as well. I'm not sure if I cracked a rib, bruised as rib, pulled some major muscle or what. Yes, leave it to me to wound myself on an airplane of all places. As our plane to Houston was taking off (you know, the full speed pressing-you-back-in-the-seat phase of the flight), the lady across the aisle from me who was holding her baby glanced over and said, "Oh no! She just dropped her paci under your seat! We have to have that!" The mama in me jumped at her sense of urgency and quickly leaned over the metal arm rest to reach for the paci. I could see it under the seat...just inches from my reach. With the speed of the plane fighting against me, I decided to go for it and stretch just a tiny bit farther to see if I could get it. Until I heard a pop in my ribs that were pressed against the metal arm rest. I shot up instantly while the man behind me finally made the effort to lean forward and easily grab the paci for the distressed mom. Immediately I knew something wasn't right. And it hasn't been ever since. I haven't gone to a doctor or anything, because really, even if I did have a cracked rib, there's nothing they can do about it. And it wouldn't exactly be easy to take x-rays being pregnant. It has gotten worse and worse as the days have progressed, to the point where even little movements hurt, which leads me to believe it might be more muscular. Dealing with it has really taken it out of me. I'll probably go to the doctor once we're back in Lubbock, especially since that bone density test a while back showed my less than stellar bone strength. But again, ugh! Why does it always have to be something!?!

3. Time for another listen into the ever-so-entertaining musings of our Kolbe (whose Shriner's appointment went fabulous, by the way):

It's so funny how conversational Kolbe is becoming. Mark and I went to dinner the other night and returned back to my parents' house to find Kolbe on the couch with my mom.
Me: What have you been doing, Kolb?
Kolbe: Oh nothing. Just hanging out.
Me: Really. Just hanging out, huh.
Kolbe: Yeah. You know, just doing stuff. Sittin' round.

Or the way he perceives things:
(One day Mark bathed Kolbe in our bathroom and apparently made the mistake of just using our shampoo instead of the baby stuff. Of course, it "burned" his eyes...)
Me: (grabbing the baby wash) Come on Kolb, let's wash up.
Kolb: Is that one hot?
Me: The soap?
Kolb: Yeah, is it hot?
Me: No, it's just soap. It's not hot.
Kolb: But will it burn?

Or the fact that he's well aware of "rules" and tries to create some of his own:
Kolb: Look, Yah-wuh. (Laura)
Me: Uh, excuse me? You call me "Mama." Only Pinkie and Pa can call me that here.
Kolb: How 'bout I call you "Mama" when your hair is down like this and I call you "Yah-wuh" when your hair is in a ponytail.

As always, sheesh!

Three Thought Thursday: Season 2, Episode 3

1. So pregnancy is finally starting to hit me. Physically that is. Like on the interior. I've been pleasantly surprised at how I really haven't gained any weight yet and am not "showing." How funny...when it's your first, you can't wait to start showing. By the third you're thinking Sweet! My normal pants still button and I'm almost fifteen weeks! Anyhow, I've kind of now reached the phase where the pants still button and I still have no baby bump...until about five in the evening. That's when the button comes undone and a bloated little belly appears. Mark and I did a little experiment the other day. I hopped on the scale in the morning, fresh out of bed. 135. No weight gained. At ten pm, just before I retired for the evening, I jumped on again. 142.5. For real! A total weight gain of 7.5 pounds in roughly fifteen hours! And amazingly, when I weighed in again the next morning, it was back to 135. Now that's some serious water weight! When Mark sees my un-buttoned pants he always makes little remarks like "just bust out the maternity pants!" But seriously, during the first half of the day, they'd look ridiculous. And I'll hold on to my regular wardrobe as long as possible, thank you very much. And as for pregnancy "hitting" me, I think I may have felt one or two slight little kicks or hits so far...and lots of shifts internally. You know, the kind where you're standing there, totally fine, and then all of a sudden the whole uterus shifts and suddenly you feel like you're about to pee yourself. Or someone pinched you on some unknown nerve. Totally familiar feelings, though it's been a long time. Strange and exciting all at the same time. Just a little reminder at how amazing the creation of life is. There is a human being inside of a human being! God is so cool.

2. A little fella at our house sometimes referred to as  Rudus Maximus is starting to make a big step in life. Yes, our almost-two-year-old has discovered the art of going potty. With Kolbe, we waited till he was a few months over two and then hit the potty training full on. With Rudy, I've been bound and determined to have him potty trained before the new baby is born. And as of now, I really don't think it should be too much of a problem! We've had multiple successes...and one major stumble...this week. On Friday, out of the blue, he came up to me in the morning saying Poops, Poops! and grabbing his diaper. We busted out the little potty and sat him down. He quickly got off and was a bit scared. Hoping our same trick with Kolbe might work, we turned on Elmo's Potty Time and sure enough, within a few minutes he went! Of course this was followed by a large sum of cheering and praise and I think he genuinely felt proud of himself. He repeated his feat later that afternoon with no insistence from us. Then we hit our little snag. You see, Rudy is a little bit more private than Kolbe. He's not exactly after an audience like his big brother. And sure enough, when he'd tell us that he needed to go, we'd put him on the potty, all of us standing there staring, and the poor guy would end up with stage fright. This happened for several days. To the point where we could tell he was miserable. He needed to go but didn't want to go in his diaper and disappoint us and was too afraid to go in the potty. By Sunday we had to go for the glycerin suppository to help him out. Such a violation. After a few days of clearing him out, he was back on track and has even gone #1 on the potty a few times too. Man, it sure is nice to not have to change poopy diapers! Or smell them in the diaper pail. I've been a little bit of a slacker with just "going for it" and doing the three day potty training like I did with Kolbe for multiple reasons. One, I'm not sure that the pressure method would work that well with Rudy. He seems to be doing well with seeing his big brother go and then modelling the behavior. Secondly, we've been so busy lately that it would be really hard to stay at the house for three straight days without leaving. Plus, we're going on a trip to Houston on Sunday for Kolbe's Shriners appointment. Don't think potty training would bode well with travelling. We'll get to the full-on-undie-wearing-no-more-diapers potty training soon enough. I'm just proud of my little twenty-three-month old! What a guy!

3. The prospect of moving out of Lubbock is becoming realer and realer. Mark has landed two really good interview opportunities over the next two weeks--one in the Houston area and one in the DFW area. And it's such a strange feeling. It's like for every pro there's somewhat of a con.

Wow! A great work opportunity for our family!
Gosh, we could be leaving Lubbock for good.
But we could be moving somewhere new with lots of exciting new opportunities!
But we've be leaving the little house that is our home. Where our family began.
But we'd be moving to a brand new house! And possibly one that doesn't have single pane windows that let all the heat out in the winter and all the cool out in the summer...
But we could be moving somewhere where we have no family or friends.
But we could be moving somewhere where we could meet tons of new people and start a life of our own.
But we'd have to figure out a way to move...soon! (baby-on-the-way makes this one tough!)
But we could be making a great income at a new job...soon!


See what I mean? It's tough. And even tougher when it's a whole family involved. Not just one person. We're still really just trying to listen to God and asking him to lead us to the right job in the right place. Pray for us too, please! It's scary!

Three Thought Thursday: Season 2, Episode 2

1. First Trimester Wrap-Up- Just like that, the first trimester of my pregnancy flew by. I was thirteen weeks last Friday. Fourteen weeks tomorrow. And considering my habit of having babies at thirty-six weeks, I suppose twelve weeks could have qualified as the end of the first trimester. But we're crossing our fingers for maybe making it to at least thirty-seven weeks this time. Maybe. As for how all is going thus far, it's definitely so far, so good. I haven't gained any weight yet...actually lost a pound or two...and no, I don't have a baby bump yet either. I think with Rudy I was definitely showing by this point. But then again, I was immediately back in the saddle with his pregnancy. It definitely was a much longer break for my body to recover with this one. As for weird pregnancy symptoms, really not much there either. I haven't had much of an appetite, though definitely not morning sickness either. No barfing. Just like with my other pregnancies, the only time I'm even slightly tempted to barf is while brushing my teeth. Go figure. Of course there has been the lovely indigestion and chorus of constant burping. Some medical person at a party that Mark and I attended explained that when you're pregnant, the extra progesterone produced by the placenta actually loosens the closing at the bottom of the esophagus, making reflux, indigestion...and burping...much more common. Good times. Luckily, the Prilosec helps a ton. And while the drowsiness has subsided somewhat, I'm still pretty tired. But then again, that might exist whether I'm pregnant or not. These boys could exhaust anyone! So that's that. End of the first leg of the trip. I'm sure there's big changes to come in part two.

2. We haven't had much precipitation here in Lubbock in a long time. Aside from that mud rain. Really, it was a dust storm for several hours followed by an hour or so of tiny sprinkles of rain descending through the dirt floating through the air, thus creating literal mud raining from the sky. With the temp being in the 30s/40s, the local car washes were having a heyday. But anyway, it's so dry here. The kind of dry where when you breathe in through your nose it's actually painful. And Rudy finds my bottles of nasal saline spray sitting around and knows exactly what to do with them. And people with hair like mine loathe the results of brushing their hair, knowing the static explosion afterward is destined to defeat the purpose of brushing. I think I'm having more of a problem with it this year because I actually have long hair in the winter. That, and I have a hard time avoiding fabrics like fleece. Come on! It's cold! Nothing is better than a cozy fleece jacket. Or fleece pants. But long, thin hair does not bode well with said fleece jackets. And have I mentioned that our couches are made out of that micro suede fabric? Also static carriers. And I'm pretty sure my blow dryer is loaded with a static cartridge that blows warm air and static all over my hair when I attempt to dry it. I'm not sure what's worse: the staticy results of blow drying or the dead, limp look of letting it air dry. Thank God for pony-tail holders. And head bands. By summer when my hair is actually long enough to cut for Locks of Love, I'll be busy enjoying my non-staticy flowing locks. But not now.

3. Mark wanted to know if I was going to be writing about how he's driving me nuts. But really, he's not. On the contrary, he's been somewhat spoiling me. Since we've returned from Houston for Christmas break, Mark has been busy searching for a new job, but I think the waiting process is just about to drive him crazy. Really, it's just the stress of the unknown. You see, it takes roughly thirty seconds to email someone your resume and hours...days...to wait for them to reply. He's contacted tens of different leads and has actually had some great potential responses, but I guess it's just a more tedious process than we thought it would be. So for the past few weeks, he's been my right hand man. Meaning the boys and I definitely haven't gotten back to our previous form of "normal" because instead we're doing everything with Dada. Which I certainly don't mind. As I asked him last night at dinner: "How many nights since you've been home with us have I said anything about how exhausted I am or how I seriously need a break from the boys, even for just five minutes?" Truthfully, the answer is zero. With him at home with us, it naturally dispels the parenting responsibilities between both of us. So as soon as he can sense I'm on edge with the boys, he just steps right in. It's nice to make it to the end of the day and not feel like doing a sideline cheerleading touchdown routine once the boys finally fall asleep. Man, it's going to be a tough pill to swallow once he does go back to work. And by then I'm sure I will be big ol' pregnant and naturally exhausted, making the process that much tougher. Oh well. Enjoy it while I can!

The Asmussen Christmas 2010: Part 2

Part 2...the Hefferly portion of our Christmas break! This Christmas was a "Hefferly Christmas" (we alternate back and forth every year between my family and Mark's family) so we headed down to The Woodlands for a week of hanging out with the entire fourteen member cast of Hefferlys. This number has gone up by three since two Christmases ago. (Rudy, Jackson, and John!) We had so much fun this year! I'll apologize in advance for not being able to narrow down my pics very well. Just had to include a little bit of everything!

Kolbe got his flight jacket for his birthday a month or so ago and Pa was not able to be there, so we had to bring it down to Houston and get pics with their matching jackets!

The boys love taking baths in Pinkie and Pa's big bath tub. One night we attempted to do a bath with all four cousins. Poor little Jackson had just woken up from a nap and wasn't too excited from the get-go. So this....

Quickly led to this! John cried because Jackson was crying. And Kolb and Ru just didn't know what to do about the whole situation.

One afternoon we all went bowling and had lots of fun. At first they wouldn't let us use the metal frame with the boys so we were coming up with creative ways to help the boys roll the ball.

Pinkie had fun hanging out with Jackson at the bowling alley.

They finally let us use the frame on the condition that we made sure not to scratch the floor.

Dada took the boys on a ride in the neighbor's bike buggy that they bring over every time we come to town. They always have a blast!

The good ol' family pic before Christmas Eve mass.

Man, we're starting to look older!

Kolbe loves playing with his cousins....or any baby for that matter! And of course the babies are fascinated with him.

This was one of about a million pics taken...and the best one I could get. Hilarious, right!?! One day they'll all smile and look right at the camera. I swear!

The original crew (minus Dad)

Pinkie with all her grandbabies

Pinkie attempting to read "The Night Before Christmas" to all the kiddos before bed time. It went well for a minute or two...

I didn't get too many pictures of Christmas evening when we opened presents because it was essentially about three hours of organized chaos. But I did snap this pic of Kolb with his prized play doh-filled backpack that Uncle Mikey and Aunt Casey gave him.

Pa with all of the bows that Kolbe decorated him with.

A shot of all the Christmas goodies...including the prizes that Santa left the boys

This is one of those pics that just kills me! My baby isn't supposed to look this grown-up!

Testing out the new soccer goal and ball!

Then the big guys had to take over and start a real game.

I'm not sure who won but they definitely had a lot of fun!

We had a fantastic time in Houston. With big changes going on in our big family, it was a huge blessing for all of us to get to be together again. It was certainly the best gift of all!

Next up is the Asmussen Christmas that we celebrated a few days ago on New Years!

Three Thought Thursday: Season 2, Episode 1

1. So I made up my mind, and I'm back! But maybe not as rigorous as the 2010 "season" though. There's a lot going on. Let me explain. I love writing. Heck, I got my degree in English for that very reason! So writing the weekly Three Thought Thursday has really been a joy for me. Not to mention just the mental release of all the weekly build up that doesn't often get let out to anyone other than Mark. I love it. And on most weeks, writing the post has been fairly easy. I usually start thinking about it by Tuesday or so and almost always know exactly what I'm going to write about before I sit down to the computer. But I must admit, there were multiple weeks when I forced myself to get up early in order to write the post. Or found myself at five in the evening on a Thursday realizing I still hadn't manage to write my post. Life is busy as a stay-at-home mom. I think some people picture us sitting on the couch watching soap operas, occasionally getting up every once in a while to get the kids a snack. So not true. Toddlers want and need a lot of attention. They need you to play games with them. Teach them how to pretend and make-believe. Read them book after book after book. Show them how to do all the things that come second nature to us adults. And guess what? Newborns have an entirely different set of needs. Feeding. Changing. Holding. Rocking. Half way through this year I'll be responsible for filling both of these sets of needs. For three separate people. So while, yes, I hope and plan to continue my weekly posts, it's with no New Year's resolution to do it every single week. No guarantees, no guilt if Thursday night arrives and there's no post up and I'm stuck between should I go ahead and go to bed since the boys and the baby are all asleep? or should I try to crank out a sloppy Three Thought Thursday real quick before the baby wakes up to eat again? For my health and the health of my family, I have to make myself choose the first option. So that's that. Sound like a deal?

2. I hope everyone had a great new years! We celebrated our Christmas with Mark's parents on New Year's Eve and spent the day just hanging out, eating, opening gifts, and enjoying each others' company. Oh, and if you have facebook, you probably saw the pic I posted of Kolbe in one of his totally awesome new Power Wheels cars that he got from G-ma. Yes, I said one of them. There's two. A red and black four wheeler was intended for Rudy but he's a little too short to ride it on his own just yet. Both rides are staying at G-ma's right now as we don't have room to store them. Talk about a cool Christmas surprise! Sheesh! And of course we spent New Years Day watching Texas Tech win their bowl game and then bits and pieces of the multiple other bowl games. Love bowl season! And so sad college football season is almost over! Since New Years, we've been busy trying to get back to normal. With Dada home indefinitely right now, it's been fun to get to spend lots of time together as our little family. Though I think Mark might be ready to jump out of his skin. We even all got to go to a sonogram on Monday to see our new little baby. I'm twelve weeks along right now, so we weren't able to tell if it was a boy or girl just yet, but it was so exciting to see the tiny little toes, round little head, and perfect little body of our baby. Just like his/her big brothers were in-utero, this little one was quite the swimmer! Won't be long before I'm getting to feel all of that commotion! Kolbe was totally fascinated by the sonogram process and couldn't believe how the little "camera" worked. Rudy was just along for the ride. We go back on January 31st when I'll be sixteen weeks along. Should know by then if we've got a brother or a sister! (I'm still totally sure it's another boy!)

3. The job hunt continues for The Asmussens. And can I just say Yuck! We knew we were pretty lucky when our first job just fell in to our laps. Really, it required no effort. They pursued Mark and it was a done deal. The second time around has definitely not been as easy. Mark has received lots of "leads" on different jobs that are available, which is awesome. It's great to have friends and references that are willing to back us up. The only problem has been that basically none of these jobs are in Lubbock. There was one that was a possibility, but it ended up being a no-go. Other than that, the only opportunities we've heard about in Lubbock are in fields that Mark isn't really interested in or willing to go in to. So could we be moving? If you would have asked me that question six months ago, I'd say not a chance. But life changes and you have to bend and mold to each situation God brings your way. Being an Air Force kid, I have no problem at all with moving. I grew up doing it every few years. But being pregnant and moving sounds pretty much miserable. And I have to admit that selling our little house would be both challenging and sad. And adapting to a new city, a new baby, and a new family dynamic would potentially be a lot to handle. We like Lubbock and the friends and family we have here and really didn't plan on moving right now. Maybe some day but not right now. But our plans aren't ever exactly God's plans. So we sit here trying to figure out what He wants next for us. Such a hard discernment process. But I know in the end it will all be for the better. Who knows? Maybe moving somewhere new--a fresh start--is just what our little family needs. Like Mark brought up a few nights ago, my dad left his hometown to attend the Air Force Academy and start a life of his own. My mom married an Air Force man and never returned to Lubbock where she grew up. Mark's mom moved away from her little hometown of Dalhart, TX and his father moved away and started a life for himself too. It just seems like the normal pattern of life for many people. I know some people remain in the same city they grew up in and raise their family in the same city, same church, same schools. And maybe that's for us. But maybe not. Maybe we do have to start a life of our own somewhere. We just have to listen and be open to anything. And know that God will get us through whatever comes our way.

The Asmussen Christmas 2010: Part 1

When I started scrolling through all the pictures from our Christmas weeks, I realized there was no way I'd be able to squeeze it all in to one post. We just had too much fun! I figured I'd start with the fun we had here in Lubbock before heading to Houston.

Going for a "horse ride." A favorite activity of children worldwide!

Making Christmas cookies with cousin Blaze...man, they love the sprinkles!

Forget the cookies...I'll just take that sweet little fella right there!

Blaze helping Kolbe cut out a gingerbread man

On our way down to Houston we stopped in Austin for an evening. We had no idea our hotel would have an indoor pool! I was sidelined by my jeans and T-shirt but Mark and the boys went for a dip in their shorts and diapers!

Rudy loved the water. No fear at all!

But he loves his Dada even more!

Kolbe on the other hand did not want to swim out in the main pool. He insisted on sitting over on the steps so he could swim "By my-elps."

Splashing in his own little world!

Next up are all the Christmas pics from Houston! Check back soon!