you might want to grab a kleenex {or maybe that's just me}

In early 1999 -- January. Maybe February -- we started. Crib shopping, that is. Our first little bundle was scheduled to arrive right around April Fool's Day and he or she would need a place to sleep, right? So the two of us "kids" {me not even a quarter century old and Kirb just barely ahead of me} went crib shopping. We found one we liked after much discussion {drop side? sleigh? dark wood? light? painted? one that converts to a toddler bed? -- so many options} and took it home and painstakingly set it up. Then we took some pictures of the finished, bug-themed nursery and waited for the baby. That baby arrived a little earlier than we expected, but we were ready. Beginning the night of March 25th, 1999 -- the day we came home from the hospital with little Jacob -- our crib went to work. That was nearly 5,000 nights ago. Most every night since then {with the exception of times we were away from home} a Stoll baby has slept in that crib. First Jacob. Then Rebekah {who got kicked out at 14-months to make way for her new sister}. Then Lydia. Then Joe {who had the longest run in the crib -- nearly 3 years}. Then Anna. Then Sara. It has served us very well and has been more than worth whatever it was we paid for it.

But last night that crib was empty. We weren't out of town. No vacations or anything. We were here. We were here and it was empty.

Last night Sara slept in her big girl bed. A twin bed. She looked so big under those covers!

She went to sleep without problem and didn't even try to get out {she was, however, extremely tired!} About 4:30 I heard some little footsteps. She doesn't usually sleep all night, so it didn't surprise me that she would wake up, but I was curious as to what she would do when she was awake and able to escape. No longer a prisoner in that crib, she plodded along in the dark and ended up in our room. She came to my side of the bed and announced :: "I dit out. I sleep a Daddy's bed." So I gave her a little boost and she crawled up, snuggled in and joined us for a couple hours.

I'm not sure how tonight will go. If she'll sleep in the big bed again, or if she'll be in her crib. We're not committed to totally going cold turkey {like we did with the nuks a month or two ago} or anything. We're just at that transition point. Maybe two steps forward and one step back. Who knows. We'll see. But it certainly is the end of something. I'm not quite ready to take the crib down and live in a crib-less house, but that time is fast approaching. Weird! I've always had a baby, it seems, and now I don't any more. I'm certainly a bit sad, but it feels ok too. You can't keep them little forever!

multitude monday {yet another two-weeker}

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2429. Joey telling me about his crazy dream
2430. dragonflies all over the place in the evening sky :: so cool
2431. Sara's face covered in chocolate after eating her pudding pop on a 90+ degree day all by herself -- Little Miss Independant
2432. falling asleep again when I had given up on sleeping any more for the night
2433. hanging up beautiful art in our basement hallway :: all done by our kiddos
2434. genuine gratitude from my kids
2435. a great morning of shopping in Buffalo :: great bargains!
2436. being "carded" at Trader Joe's buying beer for Kirb
2437. the boy pushing his mini cart around Trader Joe's belting out "Mighty to Save" without an ounce of concern that someone might not like the fact that he's singing in the grocery store
2438. lemonade stands
2439. kids occupied for hours and hours {see #2438}
2440. a fun baby shower
2441. night out with a friend
2442. dinner at IKEA
2443. IKEA shopping {with a gift card!}
2444. the farmer's market
2445. unexpected, encouraging email from a friend {Hi Katie! . . . thanks, you made my day}
2446. girls enjoying a birthday party at the roller rink
2447. an absolutely perfect weather day
2448. evenings at the park
2449. visit from Mel, Chad & the kids
2450. exciting news
2451. my Grandma's TV debut {she's toward the end, if you watch the clip}
2452. BopBop and Joe taking a bike ride
2453. Rebekah singing with and praying for Sara before she goes to bed :: to hear her pray that Sara would come to know the Lord makes me so joyful, grateful and blessed!
2454. my friend Jodi's little guy, Eli, on the news :: what a brave little man he is!
2455. a cool, beautiful morning run
2456. music and how it touches me so deeply
2457. lots of time to create -- it makes me feel alive and refreshed
2458. apologies, hugs and forgiveness
2459. Joe reading to me from "Farmyard Tales" until I fell asleep
2460. dancing flames and glowing coals
2461. decorating the basement
2462. a family walk
2463. the sounds of the night :: taking time to really listen and hear them all
2464. Sara's laughter
2465. finding videos on my ipod that Anna recorded of herself
2466. beautiful evening walk with my love {and Sara . . . we left the others at home with a movie!}
2467. seeing kids playing tennis in the middle of the street while out on a run {and the fact that I knew the kiddos made it even better}
2468. laughing as a family
2469. my mom :: she is such a blessing in my life!
2470. crafting up a storm and being totally caught up on orders for the first time since May :: that feels good!
2471. Smashburger with Rebekah
2472. "throwing away" Sara's nuks :: bittersweet, my baby is getting so big {unfortunately still not "big" enough to sleep through the night!! honestly babe, let's get that one nailed down already!}

2473. Joey's desire to be baptized
2474. my patient, loving, meal-cooking, dish-washing, kid-putting-to-bedding, hard-working, cute husband


Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday {or maybe the one after that} for the next installment.

school's out for summer

Well, we officially have an 8th grader, a 6th grader, a 5th grader and a 2nd grader . . . oh, and also a 4-year-old-preschooler and an extra-cute toddler! Where on earth did that school year go? It seems like it just began. For the most part, everyone had a good year. The report cards, although not perfect, were good and showed hard work from our crew. Think what they could do if they were only children {or even one in a family with 2 or 3 or even 4 kids} and their parents actually helped them with their homework and did other parental things like making them practice their spelling words . . .  I guess they'll never know how that would be.

last day of 7th grade

Rebekah, Savannah, Brita and another Savannah :: right before their last couple hours as 5th graders

what greeted Joey and his classmates as they walked into their classroom

Lydia and her FABULOUS teacher Mrs. Schroeder

Joey and Mrs. Norgon {who also taught 1st grade to Rebekah and Lydia}

Rebekah and Mr. Hausman {who has a daughter named Rebekah -- same spelling even :: those 2 were a wonderful student-teacher match}

some of our very favorite teachers chattin' it up after the buses all pulled away and most of the students had cleared :: we are blessed with a WAY-above-average staff at Falcon

It was a great school year, and now we're excited for the change of pace and activities that summer brings! So, that's a wrap on the 2011-2012 school year. We are so thankful for all it held for each of our kids and for us as a family!

stats

Little Miss Sara had her one year check up the other day.

Here's some important info about Sara at one::

• 30 1/4 inches tall (75th percentile)
• 23 pounds 3 ounces ( 80th percentile)
• 18 inch head (75th percentile)
• 5 teeth (3 on the bottom, 2 on the top . . . with a 6th one about to appear)
  
• can walk (but still often opts for crawling)
• waves, claps, signs "more", knows "how big is Sara?" and raises up both hands for "SO big!"
• can say "hi" (and does often!), "momma" and "dada".
• is not a fan of drinking from a cup -- prefers a bottle or a straw
• has yet to sleep through the night
• doesn't mind being carted around by her siblings (or their friends) even if they hold her in ways that look, to me, like they would hurt . . . what a trooper
• jabbers a lot
• will make a b-line for the bathroom to splash in the toilet if you forget to shut the bathroom door (she has some freakish radar for an open bathroom door)
• has mastered going UP the stairs, but can't get back down safely (although, unfortunately, has gotten down in an unsafe manner . . . yup, exactly what you're thinking. Don't worry. She survived just fine.)
  

There is a song I've been listening to lately that makes me think of my baby and how fast she's growing. I've been humming it a lot the past few days since my "baby" transformed into a toddler and I'm mourning her baby days while remembering to enjoy her blossoming toddlerhood. It's a fabulous song (the whole album is pretty darn good, in case you wondered . . . and so are all the other JJ Heller albums I have, too). To hear "I get to the be the one" by JJ Heller, click here and then play the first clip on the page entitled JJ Heller's song dedicated to her new baby due in the fall of 2011 (the baby has since been born and is a girl named Nora) and go here if you want to read the lyrics (they're very sweet).


Those babies, they grow up so fast! The other night as Sara was sick (blasted ear infection) and I was up with her most of the night I held her as she slept . . . and she's just. so. big. So long. So heavy. So grown up looking. That particular night, she would only sleep against my chest while I was sitting up. Anytime I tried something else (laying down a bit, or -- heaven forbid -- putting her back in her crib) she'd start screaming again . . . and with 5 other kids in the house, middle-of-the-night screaming is something we try and avoid. So I sat on the couch with her sleeping on my chest for a good portion of the night. It left me pretty tired, but, these days, the chances I have to hold her as she sleeps don't come very often, if at all. So, I'll try to see the silver lining and remember the feel of her one-year-old body against mine heavy with much-needed, but hard-won, sleep.

it blows my mind . . .

Don't ask me why this thought came into my head. I don't know! But it did, and I can't shake it::6 years from now, in the late-summer of 2016, I will be preparing to send my first-born off to his last year of high school and my baby off to kindergarten. I'm already a mess thinking about it! What a year that will be::a senior, a sophomore, a freshman, a 6th grader, a 3rd grader and a kindergartener. Yikes! Watch out, I'm quite sure I'm going to be a big puddle over it all! A little financial tip::you may want to buy extra Kleenex stock. {on a related note, I also figured out -- being the geeky, numbers girl that I am -- that by the time baby #6 graduates from 6th grade, we would have had at least one kiddo at Falcon Heights Elementary school every single year for 17 straight years. And Jacob didn't even go to kindergarten there. If he had, we'd be at 18 consecutive years. Do you think that qualifies as some kind of record?}

Big Girl

My big girl this morning {it's in the 50's . . . on November 23rd . . . in Minnesota . . . how crazy is that!}

Anna got her first haircut last week and looks like such a big girl to me now:
Before: her hair has gotten so long lately it often hung in front of her eyes and drove me crazy. She wouldn't keep anything in it {so much for cute little pigtails} so it just hung there.
The back was pretty long and uneven too after nearly 20 months of unaltered growth:
So, we decided it was finally time:
What do you think? Doesn't she look bigger? Older?
Thankfully, though, the curls are still there. I was afraid they might get cut off and never return. It is humid today, but I think they'll be sticking around even when it finally turns winter and the air is dry.
That's my new and improved, bigger Anna Grace:
Alrighty, gotta run!

Thankful Thursday

Today I'm extra thankful that my kids have such a great dad. Kirb & Jacob went on a pre-teen father & son camping trip last weekend and had a great time! They got wet due to quite a bit of rain, hiked in a few state parks, talked lots about growing up, did some exploring, cooked over a camp fire and generally had a great time together. I can't believe my baby is getting big so fast!

Kirb is such a stellar dad and partner in this crazy parenting journey that we're on. I am thankful for him each and every day and can't imagine anyone that I'd rather share the craziness of our life with. He loves our kids so much and does so much to make their lives great and my life wonderful too.

Here are a few picture from the boys weekend:










I am also thankful for those who have gone before us in parenting pre-teens and done stuff to help make it easier for us. Kirb and Jacob went through this book {So you're about to be a Teenager} on their weekend and they also used this curiculum {Passport 2 Purity} which we will continue a little more as he gets even older. They both helped to make what could be pretty anxiety-producing experience {or even just thought} for a parent much easier to go through with and talk about and bring up and explain and all that good stuff . . . 1 down {at least partially}, 4 to go! We'll get our money's worth out of that investment, that's for sure!