Mastered Pregnancy Yet? Nope..

I have so many thoughts running through my mind today. From my pregnancy to how much my kids crack me up to holy cow I forgot to switch the diapers into the dryer! Speaking of pregnancy, you would think with this being my 6th pregnancy I would have it down pat by now. I do, for the most part. But there are still times when things catch me off guard. This pregnancy hasn't been too bad sans the sickness and earlier progression of gestational diabetes. Willow is moving and kicking all the time now and you can feel it much more from the outside in recent weeks. She's growing perfectly and one of our kids FINALLY cooperated for the 4-D ultrasound! I'm amazed at how much she looks like Trinity. It makes my heart melt every time I look at that picture. I'm so excited to meet her! We go back tomorrow for another ultrasound (one of the few positives of having GD) and I'm hoping we'll get another 4-D picture!

As far as getting ready for her, I'm all over the place with decisions. Since we don't really have a separate sleep area yet for Willow, preparations haven't been quite as extensive for her arrival as with my other two. I'm still trying to figure out a suitable arrangement for her clothes and am debating if we can use the dressers we already have or if we'll need another dresser. That brings a whole other host of problems though like where on earth I'm putting another dresser! So for now, I'm mostly just working on getting her NB diaper stash together. I'm sewing at least half, if not more, of her diapers and ordered the rest. After a lot of thought and talks with Andy, we've decided to go the AIO route for her diapers since Trinity isn't showing ANY interest in potty training yet. :/ Side note: AIO = All-in-One which is basically as close to a disposable as you get. I've made 5 so far and am in love with them! (You can check them out and my other crafting endeavers at On My Needles.)

I started this post weeks ago and never got around to finishing it but am going to do so today because it's a very special day. My one and only son is a full year old today! I just can't believe it! It's amazing and astounding that an entire year has gone by since meeting my little man. I absolutely love that his personality has really started coming alive the past few weeks. He laughs all the time when he's amused (he didn't used to) and is trying so hard to talk. When you ask him something, he actually responds like he's answering your question. He has the most expressive face and eyes. He loves to snuggle (most times) and wants to do everything that everyone else does. <3 access="" all="" at="" but="" can="" drive="" external="" hard="" here="" his="" i="" is="" moment.="" most="" my="" nbsp="" of="" on="" one="" p="" photos="" put="" re="" recent="" s="" shots:="" t="" that="" the="" they="" this="" unfortunately="" usually="" where="" year="">

Moving on to my other kiddos... Little Love is just about finished school. Her official last day is Friday and she's totally excited (as am I). We have about a week break before she leaves for Girl Scout camp, comes home, has her birthday party, and then leaves to visit her dad for the remainder of the summer. While I'm totally going to miss her while she's gone, I know she needs some time with her dad and future step-mom and -sister. She's totally excited to explore more of Seattle and I'm really excited for her. She's participating in character day on Monday and chose to be Hermoine from the Half-Blood Prince. I'm amazed at how she's taken to reading the Harry Potter series. She started reading them in September and read this last book in only a few weeks! I'm incredibly proud of her!

I'm getting ready to start some lesson planning for Love Bug and am doing research on homeschooling in PA. Oh my is it overwhelming! I'd like to start some sort of "school" time with her this summer to get her (and Harrison) used to a scheduled, structured time for learning. She's already counting to 10 orally so I'm thinking we'll start there and work our way to recognition. She's also doing great with shapes (thank you Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!) so we'll continue building on those as well as introduce more reading time. This is definitely going to be a journey and one I'm nervous about since I have no formal instruction on teaching. PA has a TON of regulations when it comes to homeschooling and thankfully I don't have to start documentation until she turns 8. With that said though, I'm currently looking into creating a Homeschool Planner because I really think it will help keep me organized and things less chaotic. There's so many resources out there and trying to sift through them all has been challenging but I'm very excited God has blessed me with being able to dive into this adventure with my kids.

Well that's all I have for today so until next time, much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

Counting My Blessings

As I sit here with my pumpkin coffee, I can't help but count my blessings. As I was going through my day yesterday, I realized that while my life may sometimes feel like a train wreck, though it may sometimes be painful, I have so much to be thankful for. I have a beautiful home even though it's almost always a mess. I have a vehicle to take me wherever I want to go. I have 3 amazing children who I couldn't possibly love more. I have the most wonderful husband I could ever ask for. But most of all, I have a Lord who has blessed me beyond words and sometimes, I forget that. I admit it. There are times when I forget just how awesome and amazing God is!

I want to talk about my husband for a minute. We've shared our laughter, tears, joys, sorrows, and love for the past 6 1/2 years, 2 1/2 of those being married. I know it sounds cliche but I fall more in love with him everyday. He provides for our family so I can stay home and raise our children. He comes home after a long, tiring, and stressful day at work and helps me with dinner and the kids. He takes out the trash for me. He lets me have a kid-free evening to sit at Panera and knit with friends. He watches our children so I can volunteer with the PTA. There's a million other things that he does for us that I don't even know about because he chooses to do them without recognition. I am amazed everyday at the unconditional love he has shown, is showing, and will continue showing me until death do us part. I don't always remember to tell him how much I appreciate everything he does for our family and I don't always remember to be kind.

As I was sitting at Panera last night, we had a discussion on how we as wives aren't always kind to our husbands. Even though we may be joking at times, the words we say and how we say them can come across as biting or even downright mean. I have found myself being more knit-picky and annoyed with little things since Harrison has been born. After that conversation, I decided I'm going to find only positive things to say to my husband. I'm honestly curious how much better this will make our relationship and help our communication.

Now that all the sappy stuff is out of the way, here's the low-down at the Kramers over the past few months. At the beginning of June, Harrison was born. The transition of going from 2 to 3 kids was much harder than I anticipated. We had a lot of feeding issues in the first month and a half and it's was pretty crazy and stressful in our house (hence why you're only now getting an update). Since then, my Little Love has started 3rd grade (3rd grade!!) and is enjoying every minute of it! Things are starting to settle down and become more routine like now and I'm thankful for that. For awhile there, I thought I might pull all my hair out! It's been a roller coaster of emotions but I'm enjoying every minute of it; and yes, even those pull-out-my-hair and sobbing times!

On that note, I'm off to get my Little Love up for school. Next time, I'll update with some pictures. Until then, much love and many blessings!


♥Courtney♥

Normality... Will it ever return?

Normality... What is it? Right now, it's eat, change and feed Trinity, clean the sink, change and feed Trinity, load the dishwasher, change and feed Trinity, wash diapers, change and feed Trinity, etc. You get the picture... Actually, things really are finally starting to settle down here. Trinity is getting herself on some semblance of a schedule (ah.. blessed sleep!). She's now sleeping through the night and taking 3 fairly long naps a day. It's definitely been helping with getting housework, bills, etc. finished. She had her 2 month check-up last week and it went well. She weighed in at 12 pounds 5 ounces and is 23 inches long. She's in the 75 percentile for height and weight. I did talk to her doctor about the weight gain (I don't remember Kristi gaining that much that quickly) but she assured me that it's in perfect alignment with her height. She's up to eating almost 7 ounces a sitting! We started adding rice cereal to each bottle because of her narfing every time we turn around. Since starting that, she's only actually spit-up once or twice and it hasn't been much. EDIT: She's preceded to narf 3 times today (two of those being on me!) so I take that back... I have to say not changing her clothes 5 times a day is nice!

We decided before she was born that we would be using cloth diapers instead of disposables. We started out with the Thirsties Duo covers and non-bleached prefolds. The covers come in adorable patterns so when it's hot (like it is today!), she can just run around in her diaper! At first, I was a little concerned about the prefolds because they didn't seem to fit her very well. I tried different ways of folding them under the covers but she still seemed to leak a lot, especially at night. I even tried doubling  up at night but no such luck. I have since found a new way of putting the prefold in and I haven't had any problems since (unless she sleeps for more than 4 hours)! I've also starting using the all-in-ones that I got from a friend and am in total LOVE with these! I didn't choose them to begin with because A. I just didn't get how to use them, and B. They were more expensive. Well, I see now why they cost a little more but let me tell you--it's completely worth it! SIDE NOTE: They cost a little more because they go from newborn size all the way to 35 or 40 pounds depending on the brand. They are especially great for sitters, on-the-go, and at night. The inserts definitely seem more absorbent than just using prefolds. (Jeez, I'm such a mom!) I've been using Nutty Bums, bumGenius, and FuzziBunz brands. My favorite, hands-down, is the Nutty Bums. They have so many snaps for a customized fit and work so well with Trinity. Now, my friend who gave them to me prefers the FuzziBunz and I have to admit that they are my least favorite. Every single time she wears it, she leaks--even if it's doubled up! So anyway... my goal is to get more all-in-ones and be completely switched over by the time she needs to go up to the next size in the Thirsties Duo's. And at this rate, that'll be in 2 weeks!!

Okay.. so moving on to some goal stuff. I'm going to be completely honest with you. I suck. At goals. I make them. Then I never achieve them. I guess I don't suck at goals, per say. I'm great at making them. I'm just horrible with follow through. One goal I am succeeding at is my weight loss. Since starting, I've lost just under 15 pounds (I started almost 4 weeks ago). I'm really excited about that because I'm that much closer to fitting into my pre-pregnancy clothes! Yes, I'm going to publicly admit that I'm still wearing maternity clothes. And I hate it. My plan was to start exercising with Zumba this week but at the advice of my health coach, I'm going to hold off on that for another couple of weeks. I'm really excited to incorporate it into my daily regimen, but I need to start off a little slower than that. So this week, my goal is to walk at least 20 minutes each day, not including today. I'm going to pack Trinity up tomorrow and head to our local park for a walk. It'll be nice to get out of the house and spend some time in nature. With that said, if I even remotely see a stink bug, I'm heading home!

The past few days I've actually done quiet time. I set this goal at the beginning of the year and just haven't gotten around to even attempting it. Well, I realized the other day that I just need to do it. That's it. Like Nike--not because I made it a goal or part of my daily checklist, but because I need to spend time in God's word. If I don't, how will I ever grow or know what I'm supposed to do as a follower of Jesus? Going to church on Sunday's for a brief lesson isn't enough. Something a pastor many years ago said made so much sense to me then but didn't really, really hit until just a few days ago. Going to church every week is a great thing but it can't be the only time you hear or study God's word because that makes you a lukewarm Christian. Sure, you can believe that Jesus died for your sins and you can even accept Him as your Lord and Savior. But unless you study his word, you won't grow or have a close relationship with Him. Part of my problem lies in the fact that I'm just so crazy forgetful. I asked Andy's sister how she remembers to do it, especially when she first started. She said that she remembers because one day she woke up and realized that she needed His word. When she said it, it made sense. But it didn't really click until just a couple of days ago. The more I read, the more I want to keep reading. I'm starting with Psalms, reading, and meditating on 2 each day. In just the few days I've been doing this, I'm already noticed how God is showing me things. One area where I struggle is finding the time to have quiet time. In the past week, I've noticed I have quiet time in the mornings and nights because I'm alone. When contemplating Psalm 5: 1-3, God showed me something in my study bible's notes. It states, "In the morning, our minds are more free from problems and then we can commit the whole day to God." Wow! Right there was the answer to my question. It's amazing to me how often God reveals His will to me through circumstances, situations, and other people! In Sunday's sermon, Manny closed with that our lifeline is our relationship with Jesus. I want my lifeline to be as secure as possible so I know this is something that I need.

I'm totally in love with New Release Tuesday. I've been a member of this site for many years but have never really utilized or explored it until a few weeks ago. They have free music downloads every week and an album preview. Today is the first day I've utilized the album preview--Thousand Foot Krutch. It's uh-mazing! It's being released tomorrow and I'm totally going to have to get it because it's just. that. good. If you enjoy Christian music, especially free, I highly recommend checking it out!

Five Years

5 years ago today, I came home from a spring break trip to Chicago. While in the grand scheme of things that doesn't sound like something that would normally be "important", it is one of the most important days of my life. It's the day that marked the beginning of my husband and I's relationship. Wow... 5 years ago... On one hand, I can't believe it's been that long and on the other it feels like forever. In the past 5 years, we have had many ups and downs, laughs and cries, joys and heartaches. In the past 5 years, we have shared our hopes and dreams, loves and hates, and intimate details that no one else but us knows. God has given my daughter and I an incredible gift in the man I now call my husband. He is the most amazing person I have ever met. He loved me unconditionally from the very beginning--no strings attached--just the way Jesus does. It amazes me how much this man makes me want to be a better person. He took my broken soul, spirit, self-confidence, and worth and brought me back to life. He gently and lovingly steered me in the right direction, especially those times I didn't want to go. He loves God with all his heart and tries each and has shown that to me since day 1. Because of him and God's love, I have found my way back to living my life for Christ and I can't thank Andy enough for that. He is my rock when things get tough and the one person who truly rejoices in all that we face. He is my love and I am so thankful that God has blessed not only me, but my family with an amazing and loving man. Happy Anniversary Andy! I love you and look forward to many, many more years with you! XOXOXOXO!

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♥Courtney♥

The first of the year

The first of each year is supposed to bring about change--change from old habits, change towards new goals--change. When I sit down and think about 2011, there are so many great and wonderful memories like marrying my best friend, finding out we're expecting, being in both of my sister's weddings, my honeymoon, vacation with the Echterlings, and a multitude of other things. There are also many things I had hoped to accomplish but did not. I'm not so sure I want to roll over those goals or not. What I do know is that goal help propel us forward, no matter what area of life they relate to. I have many different types of goals like business, knitting, blogging, personal, spiritual, and relational. Each area has its own set yet they are all intertwined and create the fabric of my life, essentially: me. So as I sit here and think about what it is I want to accomplish this year, I'm not only pondering specific things I want to accomplish but also how that will fit into my neat little box of time. Without further ado, here are my 2012 goals:

Business:

I've sat down and thought about this/these goals many times. I've had one main goal and that was to be an Executive Director by a certain time. I have yet to hit that. I'm revamping this to not reflect a position level but an actual dollar amount. By the end of 2012, I want to be making enough money to not only replace my previous income but also bring Andy home with me. That is my long-term, yearly goal. Here is how I'm going to get there:

• By February 29, be making a minimum of $2000 a month and supporting at least 25 clients
• By April 15, supporting at least 25 clients and have a minimum of 3 health coaches
• By May 31, be making a minimum of $3000 a month, supporting at least 25 clients, and have a minimum of 5 health coaches on my team
• By July 31, be a certified health coach
• By September 30, be making a minimum of $4500 a month, supporting at least 30 clients, and have a minimum of 7 health coaches
• By December 31, be making a minimum of $6000 a month, supporting at least 30 clients, and have a minimum of 10 health coaches

This is a really scary prospect to put it all out there, in open internet space. I know the minute I hit publish, that's it. I can't take it back. I honestly don't even know how many people will read this but even if no one does, it feels good to get it down on paper (well my computer screen). I have been struggling with motivation. I get all hyped up and ready to go but then that hype starts to fade and I lose the motivation to follow-through. Well, not this year! This is going to be the most amazing year yet for our family and for my business!

Knitting

I know I usually keep this part seperated from this blog since those posts alone can be pretty lengthy but I'm talking about goals. I have to include these because it's such an integral part of my life, my spirit, my being. So here's what I'm going to accomplish this year:

• Create at least 5 patterns with only 2 of those being dishcloths
• Knit one gift for every family member for Christmas and/or birthdays this year
• Have at least 15 completed projects by the end of the year

That doesn't seem so hard but when I think of some of the things I want to make people, I'm just not sure if there's going to be enough time to do that. I like challenges though!

Blogging

Last year, my goal was blog everyday, even if only something minute. That obviously didn't happen so I'm going to revamp that one a little too. I find that sometimes I just don't have anything to talk about. Instead of blogging every day, my goal this year is to blog at least twice a week. If I do more, great. I think this will be helpful not only to help me remember things (we all know how incredibly forgetful I am), but also help update family members who I don't always get to talk to on a regular basis on the happenings at the Kramer household. So this is number one for this week!

Spiritual

Last years goal for this was to have a quiet time every day. I started out pretty well with this but have since slacked. I don't have an excuse nor will I even attempt to make one. The simple fact is just that I need to do this every day. My goal to start out is to spend a minimum of 15 minutes reading the bible and pondering what I've read/praying about it. As of right now, the best time for me to do that is right after Kristi gets off to school. I have a few hours before Andy wakes up for the day in which to do that.

Last but certainly not least...

Relational

What I mean by relational is relationships. I'm very bad at keeping in contact with people. I say I'll call back but always forget (sorry mom!) and I don't make plans with people much. So my goal this year is to make more time not only for my friends and family, but also more quality for Kristi, Andy, and I.

Okay... so that about sums up goals for the year. I'll definitely be reflecting on these each week as well as revising them throughout the year so be sure to stay tuned! Moving on to the family part of this...

We celebrated Christmas with Kristi this past Monday. Andy's parents came over to join us for the day which was really great. It was so much fun spending time with them and letting them enjoy Kristi opening their gifts. We started with a pancake, egg, and turkey bacon breakfast (and of course coffee). Then moved on to preparing for his parents to arrive. I have to say that I was very proud of how patient Kristi was in delaying the opening of her presents until his parents arrived. We watched Kristi open all her gifts from them and Santa's gifts and then had lunch. We had steamed shrimp with potato salad and both were amazing! Next up was supposed to be watching the traditional Ruldolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (original 1964 clay-motion version), Frosty the Snowman, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. I downloaded and burned the movies the week before; however, failed to check the DVD and realized after trying to play it that the sound didn't work on the DVD. I stupidly already deleted the files from my computer so I couldn't even hook that up to the TV to play. So we watched Percy Jackson in HD instead. LoL! Not exactly Christmas but that's okay. We ended the day with a small ice cream dessert while Kristi tried out her new Innotab (her "kid" iPad as she likes to call it). Here's a couple of photo highlights:

Well, that's about all I have for today so until next time, much love and many blessings!


♥Courtney♥

God's Blessings

It's amazing to me how incredibly easy it is for us to focus on negative things in our lives. Negatively itself is a disease. It sucks the energy out of a person as much as running a 5k. Okay, maybe not quite that much but you get the point. I find myself many times thinking negatively and having negative reactions towards situations. I really don't want to be that way so I'm making a conscience effort to think more positively about situations that happen in my life and start my day with a healthy dose of positive thinking. For example, about a week and a half ago, I left work early to go to the doctor's because I had some light bleeding (for those of you who don't already know, I'm 15 weeks preggo). I totally freaked out because that particular symptom was exactly what happened when I had my miscarriage back in November of last year. The whole way over to the doctors office I was badly shaking, crying, and praying. At first, my prayer was focused on negativity, specifically, please God don't take this baby from us. But then, as I got closer to the doctor's office, I realized that thinking negatively or about the worst that could happen wasn't going to help me or Peanut. In fact, it could potentially hurt both of us because of raised blood pressure, etc. So I turned my prayer around and just simply said that no matter happens, I know You will never give me anything I can't handle. Whatever happens, please let it be used for Your glory and will and nothing less. Once I said those words, I honestly felt calmer and more relaxed. I won't lie and say I was completely okay because I was definitely scared out of my mind, but I honestly felt better. Everything turned out fine; Peanut's heartbeat is strong so the doctor told us not to worry.

Later that evening, I got the phone call that I was being temporarily laid off. At first, this made me happy because I was very stressed with my position and didn't really like going to work anymore (more negativity). Then it hit me... I left early that day plus was losing another day that week so I wasn't even going to get a full week's pay and nothing in the upcoming week or weeks. We're supposed to be taking our annual family vacation at the end of September, Kristi's birthday party was that weekend, and how on earth are we going to be able to pay the bills? Realistically, we can afford our bills on just Andy's income but it would be extremely tight. Again, I started down that path of negative freak-out. Now that I look back on it, I truly feel it was a blessing from God. I got a week off work which mentally I needed and thankfully didn't have a lot of bills due. I start back to work Monday and am only working 9:30-3:00 so I can get Kristi off to school and from school each and every day. Again, another blessing. God works in so many mysterious ways! Moving on....

Kristi's birthday party was awesome. Everyone had a really great time and I was thankful we got to spend some time with our friends and family. Here's a couple of picture highlights (and by a couple I mean at least 5):

Family tradition

She was just a little excited.

The loot

My heart <3

We played iCarly bingo and pin the mustache on Spencer. We listened to a combination of iCarly/Miranda Cosgrove and Big Time Rush songs. I don't think I've ever heard excited screaming as much as I did that day!

Sunday we spent the afternoon at the church picnic and then with Andy's parents swimming. That was a lot of fun and Kristi was sooo excited to finally get a pair of Twinkle Toes from Sketchers! The look on her face was priceless:

Other than that, Kris and I have been hanging out, going to the park, playing games and Barbie's, but not too much else is happening here so until next time, much love and many blessings!


♥Courtney♥