TTT: Season 3, Episode 4

1. Yesterday we took Kolbe to his annual Shriner's appointment. It's a day each year that I both love and loathe. Love because it's so neat to see how far he's come. So special to meet other families who are going down roads we've already travelled. So wonderful to realize how much we've been blessed by their program. But tough in that Kolbe is really starting to realize that there's something different about him. This year was the first year where he actually expressed a disinterest in going to the appointment. He's always compliant, he just well aware that he's having to go to the doctor because he was born differently. He's starting to think that his "special smile" isn't so special. My heart already aches for the first time someone will make fun of him because of it. Something that we see as so beautiful and unique will be cause for poking fun by some mean-spirited kid. I realize that I can't protect him from this forever and that God will use those moments and incidents to shape his character and teach him compassion. But it's still not easy. In the beginning it was toughest on Mark and me as he really didn't know what was going on. Now he does. And thus begins the tough-on-all-of-us stage.

2. Last Friday my mom and I finally made our long-awaited trip down to Ikea. It's really only about a forty minute drive from our house, so I'm surprised we haven't gone sooner. It's always been discussed, just never carried out. Prior to our trip, my mom had never been to an Ikea before. Needless to say, she found it be just as overwhelming as I did during my first visit. It was nice to just have Grant with us so we could take all the time in the world to peruse the rooms and rooms full of furniture, storage supplies, kitchen accessories and more. Really, a $10,000 shopping spree would be plenty. We left with tired feet, parched lips, lists and lists of things-I'd-love-to-get (at least for me!), and a few odds and ends that we just couldn't leave without. It was a fun day with Mom! And hopefully next time we go back I'll actually be able to make some of the larger purchases I spied out on this visit.

3. I'm an aunt again! My sweet little nephew, William Mark was born early Tuesday morning to very unexpecting parents, Abby and Andy. Will was not due to be born until February 24th so he was officially a month early. And for no rhyme or reason. Abby went in to labor and it never stopped so Will joined our world and our very excited family. Though he was doing well to begin with, things unfortunately have been quite a struggle over the past few days. He was first place in the NICU  for precautionary measures but has since digressed to the point of being put on a ventilator to help him breathe, so all prayers will be greatly, greatly appreciated. I know his parents (and grandparents, and aunts and uncles, and...) will be so thankful! We trust in the Lord's providence for his care and have faith that he'll be rolling around with his big brother, John, in no time at all. God has been so good to our family. Baby Will is just another example of how beautiful and precious life truly is. Welcome to the world, little guy!



When Grant was born, he too was put in the NICU for breathing problems that the doctors referred to as "grunting". With his name being Grant, we naturally started calling him "grunt." Some how, that became Grundel...like Grindel from Beowulf. (Don't ask me..) It's certainly not his full-time nickname like how Reagan has "Rudy," but I couldn't pass up taking a pic when we passed a little door hanger at Ikea called "Grundtal." Everything there has weird, Sweedish names.

Trying to take him out of his car seat when we got home from Ikea...now that's shop till you drop right there!

Kolbe brought me these from the backyard a few days ago because "girls like to get flowers." True, son, but these would be known as weeds.

A few nights ago the boys wanted to set up their train tent. We put it in the front entry way since it's fairly big. Mark and I sat talking in the family room. Kolbe came and told me several times that Rudy was pretending it was a kitchen and was making a pumpking pie. Several minutes later he brought me a wet rag completely covered in some type of seasoning. We rushed to the tent to discover the sight seen above. That would be a can of pumpkin in the top corner, a food scale, a toy tea pot, a can opener, a jar of garlic pepper, and then a paper plate and a can of Rotel in the bottom corner. It's hard to see, but the contents from the garlic pepper are actually spilled on the floor between the can opener and the seasoning bottle. Good times.



We've been outside riding the trucks a lot lately and a few days ago Kolbe decided they "needed some work." He managed to shimmy under there and check things out.

We've got quite the mechanic on our hands! ...Now if only he could fix Dada's car too...

Grant: 7 months as of Tuesday
crawling (awkward, but still mobile nonetheless)
loves making raspberries, chewing on everything, observing his brothers, and mama, mama, and more mama
he's our biggest jumper ever. Mr. Bounce Legs.
2 blue eyes, 2 forehead skeeter bites, 2 chins, 0 teeth, and 0 neck
a growing interest in food beyond mama's milk...though still not sure about the textures
responds to Grant, Grantness, Grundy, Pugsley (yes, like Pugsley Addams), Pugs, Grant Squash (Kolbe made that up and thinks it's  an awesome name), oh and the aforementioned "Grundel." I don't know why we're so big on nicknames....but he still definitely goes by Grant! Ha!

TTT: Season 3, Episode 3

1. This past weekend Mark took the boys on their long promised fishing trip to the pond by my parents' house. Ever since they got their fishing poles for Christmas, they've been itching to go "real fishing" as opposed to simply casting and realin in the attached practice fish around the house. As I sent them off on Saturday morning I thought they'd either be back within an hour or gone for a long time. Lucky me, it was the later! Despite the fact that the first pond they went to had no fish to be found, they stuck with it and went to another pond and had much more success. My dad met up with them along the way and from all of the stories I've heard, they had a blast. What little boy doesn't love to fish!?! And all I've heard since then has been "Mama, when is Dada taking us fishing again?" Guess we'll have to make it a more frequent occurrence. And considering I got a lot of work, a fair amount of cleaning, and a tiny bit of rest in while they were gone, I know I certainly won't be complaining!

2. If you happened to look over my bucket list for 2012, you might have noticed that I aspire to make curtains for several rooms in our house by the end of the year. As of this week, I may have already cheated just a bit on that one. How could I help myself when Pottery Barn sent me an email on Monday saying everything on their site for that one day would ship for free? It just begged for me to at least check out what I could find on there. Especially since my house in my dreams looks similar to every picture from the pages of the Pottery Barn catalogs. Sure enough, the drapes I had previously pinned on pinterest were not only still there and available, but on sale as well. Like more-than-half-off sale. Really, I could make drapes at that level of quality for the price. After debating for a while, I ran up to our local Pottery Barn to see if they had a sample of the drapes available. (Thanks, Mom, for meeting me there so I didn't have to take all three boys in alone! I'm sure we would have walked out with a purchase of some sort of broken item had I attempted that feat.) We'll see how the drapes they look when the show up. And if I don't like them, I guess that's just a sign that I need to suck it up and actually make them! I'll keep you posted.

3. I'm pretty sure that Grant is teething. No festering blistered gums just yet. Only a randomly fussy, constantly waking, chewing on everything little guy. Why is it so easy to forget the tough aspects of raising little ones sometimes? I've been thinking back to when Kolbe and Reagan were teething and it made me realize that we pretty much went through a good year or more straight with teething in our house. It started around the time Kolbe was seven months old and since Reagan was born when Kolbe was just fifteen months, his started before Kolbe's was totally finished. We've had a nice solid break for a good year and in that time I managed to forget the woes that accompany the event. And I suppose I had also gotten spoiled by Grant sleeping so well at night. Now that he's up several times, wailing...and not due to hunger, and struggling to fall back to sleep, I'm one tired mama a lot of the time. I'm not a coffee drinker. Maybe I should abandon "drink more water" on my list and add "learn to enjoy coffee."

Two handsome brothers getting ready for their fishing trip!

They've got all their gear packed up...

After a successful day of fishing, every good fisherman needs his rest.

Mama and her big boys

Pinkie and Kolbe (outside of Pottery Barn)

Sitting up all on his own!

The Butterfly Conservatory

A while back I bought a groupon for a set of four tickets to visit the butterfly exhibit down at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences. As the months passed, I realized it was going to expire if we didn't use it up before the end of the year. So a few days before Christmas, my mom and I decided to break down and take the boys in to the city for a fun day. Had we known how cool and fun the trip would be, I'm sure we would have gone much sooner! And I think my mom and I were every bit as fascinated as the boys. After the museum we rode the kids train around the park nearby, too. So fun, and great weather! I haven't seen that same groupon lately, but if it pops back up we'll definitely be doing it again!

Riding the giant caterpillar just inside the exhibit doors

Upon entering, you first go through a museum-style section where you get to look at displays of bugs, caterpillars, butterflies, etc. Very creepy crawly! There's also lots of hands on, interactive activities that I'm sure the boys will be more in to when they're a little bit older.

You then enter the actual butterfly conservatory at the top and work your way down. Rudy was very skeptical at the butterflies flying every where when we first entered!

Thinking we were really clever, we opted to take the stroller in with us instead of my baby carrier, thinking we'd be there for a while and it would be better to be able to set Grant down and help out the other two boys. Bad idea. We didn't realize the conservatory part is a massive circuit of stairs from top to bottom so no strollers are allowed in the entire exhibit. We had it park it in the supervised lobby and carry the chunk the whole way. No carrier. Note to self: always throw the carrier in the bottom of the stroller...just in case! Good thing he's such a happy baby and was just along for the ride as usual.

Pretty butterflies!

We had a contest going to see who would have a butterfly land on them first. And Pinkie won! I'm pretty sure they were attracted to the hairspray.

Even I was shocked at how well this picture came out! Love my boys!

Riding the train! (Grant was crashed by this point.)

So much fun!

And of course they had to check out the locomotive. A great end to such a fun day!

Thanksgiving 2011

Nothing says "January 16th" like a Thanksgiving 2011 post! Two months late is kind of pushing the better-late-than-never philosophy, but oh well! We had a fabulous Thanksgiving here in The Woodlands. Both of Mark's parents came down to visit for several days and we had lots of fun visiting, shopping, playing...and of course, eating! And the best part was that Mark was able to take a few days off and actually be a part of all of the festivities. That or the fact that Mark and his parents did almost all of the Thanksgiving Day cooking (I made the pies the night before!) giving this overly exhausted mama of three a much needed break and an awesome morning nap! Who hosts Thanksgiving and doesn't cook!?! One of these days I'll get my Martha Stewart on and really host a Thanksgiving. Until then, I'll just celebrate the wonderful one we had...almost two months ago.

Papa Jeep and Grant with Kolbe looking on

After perusing the Black Friday ads, we made a massive pile of rubbish and let the boys go to town. They loved it!

I love this face! The eyes!

G-ma and Kolbe getting in some cuddles

One night the weather was really nice so we went down to the waterway and had a blast! We ate at a yummy new taco shop, walked the riverwalk, rolled down the steep hill behind the convention center, watched the Christmas fountain display, and wandered through Hubbell and Hudson, a unique market store.

Such a fun night!

Rolling down the hill. Poor Grant was just in there for the picture. :)

Kolbs and Dada

Grant loves his G-ma!

Our little Thanksgiving baby!

2012 Bucket List

Mark asked me a few days ago if I had any new year's resolutions. Typically, I do try to come up with one or two things that I'd like to improve upon or change in the coming year. This year, I was having a hard time nailing down anything I really wanted to change. (you know, since I've practically reached perfection and all...bah!) Instead, I just kept thinking of things I'd like to do. Some just for fun, some to make me a better person, some to help out our family, some to help others, and on and on. So I thought I'd come up with a like "bucket list" of sorts for 2012. A compilation of things I'd like to do or achieve before the year comes to a close. And just for fun, I'll keep up of things on here--give a little background as to why it's important to me, how my progress is going, and when I eventually get to cross it off the list. So here goes!

1. Drink more water.
2. Try new foods. Get Thai food with Mark at least once.
3. Follow the two daily devotionals that I received for Christmas for a full year.
4. Read our Dave Ramsey book and fine tune our budget.
5. Make at least one thing for our home each month.
6. Make curtains for our family room, rec room, and kitchen, and the boys' room.
7. Blog more often.
8. Develop and maintain a house cleaning schedule.
9. Take a weekend trip with just Mark.
10. Teach Kolbe how to read.
11. Teach Reagan his full alphabet and numbers.
12. Develop and implement a manageable discipline system.
13. Pray the rosary more.
14. Find a way to volunteer with the children.
15. Actively listen more.
16. Less cell phone.
17. Purge our house and donate items at least six times.
18. Take a mini family (overnight) vacation.
19. Write and send a meaningful letter once a month.
20. Treat myself to a spa day- hair, pedicure and manicure.
21. Meet my yearly business goal for my shop.

Ahhh! When looking at it all typed out, it sure does seem like a lot. And Lord knows if I tried to achieve this all in say, one month, it would be a lost cause. Thank goodness there are twelve!  Annnnnnnnnd we're off!

TTT: Season 3, Episode 2

1. We got a new fridge this week! Toot, toot! We've been (very unsuccessfully) trying to set aside money to get a new one for a while and after receiving a few generous monetary Christmas gifts, finally had enough to splurge and go get one. Our existing fridge was still working, it just was doing a very bad job of meeting our wishes. Those wishes being to have enough room to store our food and to make ice. When we sold our house back in Lubbock, the buyer requested our kitchen fridge as part of the deal. We gave in and just took our garage fridge with us, which is what we have been using ever since. While it's not a bad fridge, it's a small, very basic model with a broken ice maker. After seven months of filling ice trays and cramming food in, we're happy to have a new, big, ice-making fridge in the kitchen! And it dispenses water to boot! That little feature will definitely come in handy with one of my goals for the following year: drink more water. I'm horrible about it. But now with cold water right at my finger tips, I'm sure I'll get better. Maybe. Hopefully.

2. I think I've got a little case of the winter-time blues. All of the hustle and bustle and excitement of the holidays has ended and it's back to boring normal life. I strike at 'boring' because it doesn't seem quite the right word. 'Cause really, how could a life taking care of three boys be 'boring?' It almost seems like an oxymoron to be both 'bored' and 'busy,' but I guess that's kind of how it feels. Lord knows I'm busy all. the. time. Heck, there's more that I need to get done than I could possibly do in an entire week's time. With no kids to 'make it interesting!' But it kind of just feels like I've become bored with the mundane-ness of this whole existence. Can you blame me for being tired of nursing the baby....again? Making lunches....again? Reading that same book....again? Attempting to discipline the boys for the same issue...again? I do realize that in days to come I'll long for the boys simply to come home and share a lunch with me or want my advice on things they should or shouldn't do. I realize that. But right now, I'm not ashamed to admit that this work is exhausting. I often feel disconnected from them solely based on the fact that I've somehow entered a zombie mode of existence. I've felt this way before. And I know I'll feel it again, too. It comes and goes, as does most things with parenting. And like I said, most of it now is just a let down from the 'seasons' changing. Gotta get reality back to being an enjoyable place to be.

3. Speaking of returning to real life, I feel like we've kind of hit somewhat of a lull in our learning endeavors at home. Could it be possible that the boys want...or even need a break from learning? Granted, I remember plenty of times growing up when I was burnt out with school. Or just did whatever it took to get by and really was uninterested in what I was actually learning. I think most kids feel that way a lot of the time. The boys used to get excited about our little learning activities and now it's more like pulling teeth. They've reached a point where they really don't want to participate and it's frustrating for me. To the point where they intentionally respond incorrectly to get me going. Like "Ok, Kolbe spell out these letters for me." And he intentionally says the wrong letters when I know good and well that he knows his alphabet. So then it becomes disciplining over education. And I'm pretty sure it isn't supposed to be that way! Which leaves me realizing that I need to probably give it a little rest or do things in disguise for a while and then try some different strategies with these yahoos. One in particular would be doing some type of physical activity before sit-down learning activities. Their stir-craziness just compounds the issue!

Ugh! Sorry to be a downer this week! Guess some just go that way. It really wasn't a bad one, I swear! On another note, I've done another post below with my 2012 bucket list! Instead of resolutions, I've got quite the hefty to-do list for the year. Things I'd like to make happen in the next three-hundred-and-fifty-some-odd days! And here's our pics from the week, too.

fascinated by the fridge installers...please pay no attention to our counters! We had to empty the old fridge!

Working on math problems with his new street signs that he got for Christmas

Trying on brother's helmet...he's ready to be a big boy too!

My favorite comfort food this winter...baked potato soup!

Pa's birthday was yesterday and the boys had a blast spending the whole day hanging out with Pa, making his cake, and making homemade pizza for dinner. The cutest chefs around!

Make a wish!

TTT: Season 3, Episode 1

1.Welcome to the new year and a new season of Three Thought Thursday! We're finally back to the Asmussen Abode and in major recovery mode. This time last week we were frantically packing for our Christmas trip to Lubbock. And today it's much of the opposite. Staring at piles of clothes that need to be returned to their rightful places, attempting to find new homes for oodles of Christmas presents we brought back, realizing the whole house is still decked out for Christmas, and too tired to want to mess with any of it. Is it just me or is it so much fun to decorate for Christmas and no fun at all to take it all down!?! Just about the only part I enjoy is making notes of what I'd like to add or change next year. And while we were gone my little business had quite a boom. Not that I'm complaining, just that I'm also staring at that to-do list and kind of wanting to curl up in the fetal position and suck my thumb until it all just goes away. Ha! Really, I'm thankful for it all. The business, the decorations, the un-packing, the gifts...it all adds up to wonderful memories, feelings and more for our whole family. Let's just hope that this time next week I'll be proudly exclaiming that it all got completed and not that I'm still staring at a fully lit Christmas tree.

2. On the good stuff...
Our trip to Lubbock was fantastic! In a story that's too long tell, we ended up flying up Lubbock and driving back. (My parents took our van up a few days earlier for my niece's baptism and flew back.) We were slightly apprehensive about flying with all three but it went so well. The only bad part was waking up at 3:30am in order to get to the airport that's an hour away and catch our super early flight. That aside, the boys did great and we arrived in Lubbock early enough to actually enjoy the day! That evening we spent time with Hefferly clan, as it was the last day my brother Mike's family would be in town. We were so excited to meet our one and only niece, Kennedy for the first time! And we had a blast spending time with everyone else as well. The only one missing was my dad. Saturday and Sunday were filled with lots of time with G-ma and Papa Jeep, Uncle Brian and Aunt Cristi, and the rest of the local Asmussen/Ramirez family. We also had several chances to see our Lubbock friends, eat lots of good food, and even sneak in a few naps. Of course the boys had a blast! It's always fun at G-ma's! And no trip would be complete without a visit to their favorite "castle park." Of course crazy sleep patterns and lots of traveling have gotten us all out of whack, but we'd all quickly admit that it's totally worth it to get to escape the real world for a few days and spend time with people that we love. It was a perfect end to our Christmas season and we definitely look forward to our next trip to Lubbock.

3. Apparently little Grant just needed one chaotic week of traveling to debut some of his new skills. Seriously, just in this past week he's managed to start eating solid food and develop a modified crawling motion as well. I mentioned last week that he was chomping at the bit to start crawling...while we were in Lubbock he finally figured out how to get that big belly off the floor and get his knees under him. He rocks back and forth and then eventually just dives for it. So cute! And in just the past few days, he's managed to figure out the legs and is just waiting for those arms to get the message to move forward. For now it's just a series of dives, but he still manages to get across the room when he wants to! He also started productively eating real food this week. He's been very intrigued by it for a while and would even grab things off of our plate or reach for things headed to our mouths while we're eating. But every time we'd let him try a dab of something on his tongue, he'd totally spaz out, gag several times, and end up barfing. I guess he was totally thrown off by the texture. He managed to make a spectacle of himself at G-ma's when I let him try a little dab of my sweet potatoes. But all of a sudden, he's seemed to figure it out. And he's even very active in the process. He wants to hold the spoon or try to put the food in his mouth. Granted, his eating motion is still a work in progress (he's still attempting to suck instead of chew, thus leaving quite the messy bib!) he's definitely taking a liking to eating. (as if we'd ever doubted that he'd eventually love food! Kid doesn't miss a meal!) Is it just me, or is this baby growing up way too fast!?!

Here's one of our first little clips of his attempts at  crawling. He's gotten much better since!

 

Mmmmm...oatmeal!

 And here are some shots from the rest of our week:

Our plane had to stop in Dallas and they made an announcement that it would be about twenty minutes before they loaded the remaining passengers (a flight running early!?! Rare!!!) To avoid getting stir crazy, we let the boys roam around the empty plane and had a little fun with our carry-on luggage, Grant.

All of the Hefferly Cousins! (John was hilarious...he was bound and determined to escape the picture!!!)

Cousins and Uncles...just missing a Mikey and a Grant!

Isn't she a doll!?! Me with my little niece, Kennedy. I tried to sneak her in my purse but...

A rare shot of all five Hefferly kids...these are way too few and far between

G-ma and her boys

Uncle Brian and Grant were matching! ...Hey, Uncle Brian, shouldn't the baby be the bald one!?! :)

Chillin' in the mini-papasan at G-ma's

Good ol' family Christmas pic. Merry Christmas from the Asmussens!