Joy whistles at Noah

Here's a glimpse at a moment during one of our days last week.  I'm so thankful to be able to capture moments like this on video.  These two are so much fun, most of the time.  :)

Noah Shakes It!

Noah is really close to crawling!  And, he's perfecting his dance moves.  Check him out below...

Thanksgiving 2012

We spent Thanksgiving with the Krafve family this year.  We drove up to the farm and arrived in time for Thanksgiving dinner (or lunch) and returned home on Friday evening right at bedtime.  It was a nice visit with mom and dad, Christi and Bart, Nancy and Ralph.  Jenni and Aaron were with Aaron's family and we are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of their little girl, who is due December 6!!  We ended up getting about 1 in of snow on Thanksgiving Eve too.  And, of course, we have a video to share of Joy and Noah...

Halloween

Halloween was so much fun for us this year!  Joy came up with a family costume idea we couldn't say NO to.  She wanted us to be the 3 little pigs and dad to be the big bad wolf.  I have to say, I think we were a hit.  It will be a challenge to top this idea in years to come.  We were blessed with 3 occasions to dress up for: Grandma Rainbow's Childcare party, trick-or-treating, and a belated birthday/Halloween party for little friend of ours.  We made some great memories together!

October Fun

Well, October came and went in the blink of an eye, like this whole year so far.  Joy continues to talk constantly and her sense of humor is developing more.  She says and does some pretty funny things these days.  Like, she will insert an animal noise at any random point in the day, timing it perfect, and making everyone in the room crack up laughing.  She has been working hard on learning to hopscotch, as you'll see in the video below.  She was a little unsteady the day I took this video, but it gives you the idea anyway.  Noah started giving us high 5s at the beginning of October.  He also loves to knock over towers that we build for him.  Lastly, he really likes music evident by him bouncing when music is on, whether it's Danny's guitar, music from a toy, or on the radio.  He continues to be a happy and snugly guy.
Business has slowed at Danny's golf courses.  The course in Watertown is now closed for the season but the course in Waunakee is still open.  It will remain open until the weather stays cold for a period of time or the snow flies.  Though we are thankful for a successful golf season, we are ready for Danny to be home both days of the weekend, for a few months anyway.  Since he really didn't take any paternity time off at the time of Noah's birth, he might take Fridays off this winter, which will give us 3 day weekends!!
Enjoy the video that captures some of the joy our kids bring us.

Noah is 6 months old

Noah is 6 months old already.  We can hardly believe it!!  His personality is shining through and we adore him!  He is very snugly baby, giving hugs and resting his head on our shoulder often.  He also remains a big boy with a few rolls, as you'll see below.  He's already 20 lbs and wearing 12 month clothing.  He really enjoys watching our cat, Angel.  If he is having a crabby moment, which doesn't happen very often, he starts smiling as soon as he sees her.  He also enjoys: sitting while playing with toys, jumping, playing peek-a-boo, bath time, and watching his sister.  He continues to be a great sleeper, with a few hiccups here and there now that he is getting teeth.  His first two bottom teeth are in and the doctor said the top two will be here soon.  Mama's not too excited about teeth.  He had his first double ear infection with a cold a few weeks ago, but has recovered.  I can't get enough of this little guy.  I often thank God for letting me stay home and soak in this time with him and Joy.  Enjoy his pictures and video below.

Joy is 3!

Well, it's been a month already, but Joy turned 3 on September 12!  She is a pretty amazing little girl.  If she is comfortable around you, she will talk nonstop and tell you everything you did, or did not, want to hear.  She loves her little brother, a little too much sometimes.  :)  Her favorite things include: hiking, visiting her grandparents and the kids at Grandma Rainbow's childcare, playing with her baby dolls, baking, board/card games, and reading/looking at books.  Right now, if we had to guess, Danny and I think she will someday be a Broadway or Movie star.  She loves to watch videos and have books read to her, which is almost always followed by her acting out what she just watched/read.  Danny often gets drug into the pretend play and has to play a role in her scenario.  He's a much better sport about it than I am.  Joy's most recent, great accomplishment is giving up her pacifier.  The timing was finally right and she rose to the occasion.  God surrounded her with angels during this transition because I never expected her to do so well.  She shed only one tear the first night, but was excited to earn her 'BIG' cupcake for working hard to sleep that night.  She made it from 8:30 to 7:15 AM!  And, now we are past the rewards and she is doing fine.  She is so proud and has told everyone what a big girl she has been.  We continue to praise her for being so brave and working so hard.
Below is her 3 yr old pictures and a video capturing her during the month of September.

August catch-up

Here are clips from videos we took in August.  I'm a little late because we had a birthday to celebrate a few days ago.  I'll comment about that in a future post, since this is my catch-up post.  Joy and Noah continue to keep us busy and happy.  We are so blessed with such great kids!  In the video, you will see that Joy continues to adore her brother.  She did have a change of heart one morning when she told us we could give him to another little girl.  But soon after that, she was upset because we didn't have time for her to sit and hold him.  You'll also see that Joy is our little performer and she is getting more and more coordinated.  Noah is growing SO FAST!  Someone please slow it down for us.  He likes to lay on his back and play with his toes.  He started sitting at exactly 5 months old.  He also started perfecting the skill of spitting in August.  As you will see, he can really get some distance now, which causes a problems when he eats.  Yes, eats, Noah has started baby food.  He has had sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, and green beans.  And, Noah has started to laugh and giggle a lot more.  He finds his sister especially hilarious and giggles at about anything she does.  He has also discovered his voice has volume, all of which you'll see in the video below.  Thanks for checking in!

Highlights of July

Hi.  July came and went without warning.  Our family is doing well.  Noah and Joy are both growing fast.  They are amazing gifts.  I thank God for them often.  Joy has enjoyed visiting my parents at the farm, twice so far this summer.  We hope to make our first visit, as a full family, to the farm towards the end of August.  I haven't been home for almost 6 months.  It will be a nice get-away!  Joy also spends about one day a week at Grandma Rainbow's childcare.  The kids there have all become good friends and are at an age where they play really nice together.  It's so fun to see her interact with them - or be a mom to them.  In the video below you will see clips of Noah, at 3 months old, babbling with us (while on his back) and then scolding us (when we put him on his tummy).  Then you will see footage of him sucking his thumb, also so cute!  He has also started to giggle a little, especially when those around him are laughing.  Lastly, the video ends with Joy trying to walk the day after she fell and skinned her knee pretty bad, twice on the same walk.  Enjoy!

Our Daily Life

So Noah is growing like a weed.  He is in 6-9 month clothes already.  He rolled over again, after quitting on us two months ago.  He loves to smile and coo at us, watch his sister, and lay on his back while he kicks about.  His sleep is up and down.  He slept 11 hrs without getting up for 3 nights, then started getting up once a night again, but not necessarily to eat.  So it is hard to know what a night holds when I go to bed.  I might get anywhere from 3 hours to 6 hours of sleep these days.  But, I have to say, Noah is an awesome baby!  We are having so much fun!
Joy is really maturing.  Her language is clear and she has a large vocabulary.  With that has come more talking back and attitude.  She definitely has a mind of her own now and likes to do things her way.  Danny and I are really learning how to pick our battles.  But, if you were to hang out with her, she would be very pleasant, sweet, and cooperative, which is proof she is learning what we struggle to teach her.  She will be 3 in just over 2 months.  She continues to love on her brother a lot.  Her biggest accomplishment of late is she no longer wears diapers!  She quickly took to wearing underwear and is very proud of herself.

Here are a few pics and videos of the kids.  The one of Joy and Danny racing around the house has become more common due to the HOT weather this summer.  Enjoy and God Bless!

              Joy was 'watching' Noah for me.  When I returned, I found this (above).

                       Above: playtime with dada          Below: bedtime with mama

Noah's Baptism

Noah was baptized on May 27.  We were honored to have it be the first baptizm at this church location and the first for our good friend and vicor, Matt, to perform.  God has been so present in Noah's life so far.  We praise Him for choosing Noah to be in His family and ours.

                               Godparents:  Aaron and Jenni Hughes, Ben and Amy Lassanske

                                                 Grandpa Allan Krafve with Noah Allan

Joy and Noah

Hi.  I apologize for how long it's been sine I last made a post.  Life has become significantly busier, in a good way.  :)  Noah is now two months old.  He is smiling a lot and cooing at us.  He gets up one or two times a night.  He is on a stretch of twice a night this week, so I am feeling a little bit more tired lately.  Joy loves being a big sister and is really good about entertaining herself when I am feeding Noah.  I thought she'd be watching more videos at this point, but we've been able to maintain her 1 hr per day limit.  We are eating!  We were very blessed with meals delivered to us from our church family and friends that lasted about 6 weeks.  Now we are using up frozen meals I prepared before Noah was born and making simple meals.  Danny is getting to cook more these days since Noah likes to eat whenever it is time for the rest of us to eat.  Joy bounces between being a trying 2 yr old and being really sweet and helpful.  I do my best to get us out of the house for her sake and she goes to Grandma Rainbow's childcare at least once a week too.  Here are some pictures of the two kiddos.  We are so in love with our little family!
                                                                                               April 24

                                                                                          April 24

                                                                                       May 24

Noah baby pics

Introducing Noah Allan Rainbow

Noah Allan is finally here! He was born on March 28 at 12:02 pm via c-section. We were planning a natural delivery until my 40 wk appt when he measured 3 cm bigger than the week before. An ultrasound was scheduled for the following day which guessed he was appx 10 lbs 10 oz, give or take 1 or 2 lbs. Plus they found a lot of fluid which might mean the baby was under stress. Given the possibility of such a big baby and the added risk of extra fluid, my doctor and a consulting OB recommended a c-section. We were scheduled to have our baby the following day. The OB doing the surgery was actually Joy's prenatal dr, who was not working the weekend Joy was delivered. So, she remembered me and made room in her schedule to do my surgery. That was a huge relief, especially given the hospital was bursting at the seams with moms and babies. Our surgery was schedule for 10:00 but got bumped because of another emergency. What an experience this birth was compared to Joy! We are jumping with praises to God for the technology of ultrasounds and c-sections because Noah was born at 11 lbs 5 oz and 22 inches long. We are also praising God that I didn't go into labor before finding out this information. Noah was able to stay with us, minus the initial 5 minutes, from the time he was born. That time will always be treasured by Danny and I. Our little boy is perfect and we love him so much. We named him Noah, to go with Rainbow and gave him the middle name of Allan, after my awesome dad, who has waited 31 years for a boy in the family.
We were discharged from the hospital 3 days after having him. I am healing well. It is hard to take it easy, especially now that my family has all left and we're on our own now. But they didn't leave me much to do. My house is very clean at the moment. :) It is also very hard to not pick up Joy. My wt restrictions should be lifted after four weeks, so only two to go!
So far, Joy has adjusted great. She loves her little brother and gushes over him all the time. Danny worked his regular schedule last week since we had family support and is coming home early this week to help out. Since we didn't end up needing our doula, she is giving us some postpartum help in addition to some postpartum hours that were given to us as a gift. Our doula comes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for the rest of the month to help out. And our little Noah is pretty amazing. He wakes up twice a night to eat and goes right back to sleep. I'm not feeling too sleep deprived and can usually get a nap in during Joy's afternoon nap. Noah surprised us last week (when he was 1 wk old) by showing us his super baby skills of rolling over, if propped up on his arm. He did it 3 times in a row, the video below is the 3rd time and he has done it several times since. I will attach the video below with a few pics. It is pretty hard to pick only a few so if you are on Facebook, check out my album of him there.
Thanks for checking in on us and please pray for continued fast healing for me and for continued health for Noah.

Joy practices guitar

Little Pig Blues

Hi. Joy has been singing A LOT lately. She'll sing along with music, demand we sing with her or not sing at all, or sing something with her own random/made-up lyrics. She sings to everyone including: Danny and I, our life group/bible study group, the doctor, cashiers, etc. And she'll sing anytime, for example belting out a song during pastor's sermon at church. And when we ask her to sing quietly, she'll guilt us by loudly saying, "But I want to sing." Danny caught her on camera singing along to the "Three Little Pig Blues". And, just so you don't worry about safety, his eyes were on the road the whole time. He started recording and then rested the hand with the phone on his shoulder to capture this precious moment. Oh what great memories! Enjoy.

32 weeks and counting

Time is flying by for us! I am 32 weeks pregnant today and can hardly believe our due date is just around the corner, on March 26. We are interviewing doulas this weekend and are anxious to have her on board helping us to finalize plans and most importantly, help us with the birth of our baby boy. We are praying for a smoother delivery of this child than we had with Joy (which lasted 48 hours with a long list of interventions). I am feeling good. My only complaint is loss of sleep, which I figure is only practice for what's to come. :)Danny returned yesterday (a day early!) from a week long trip to Florida. He and two other guys went down for the PGA show. Their goal was to market Danny and Gary's (Danny's dad) internet business called 'Rainbow Golf Systems'. They were a bit disappointed in the attendance at the show, but have about 40 leads from around the country to follow up on. Joy was so happy to see Danny when he returned. They chased each other around the house for a LONG time and she talked none stop about all she did while he was away. We are thankful to all be together again and have a new-found respect for our military families. I've always been thankful for their service and sacrifice, but am even more so now.
Below is a picture of some fun we had outside today in the 40 degree weather.
Joy continues to grow and talk more and more. She has become very interested in books and games lately. Her favorite books include her favorite characters most of the time, like Curious George, Maisy, Clifford, Mickey Mouse, and others. We have a few different versions/forms of the Memory game that she is often asking us to play with her. She also really enjoyed a game called 'Silly Faces' at my parents last week. Below are some pictures we took of her in her Christmas dress. She has become quite a little princes!

Christmas and New Years

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We spent December 24 -26th with the Krafve's this year. A possible pink-eye diagnosis for Joy delayed our arrival on the 24th, but we made it and had a wonderful time. Joy wanted to do Christmas all over again when it was time to leave. You will see in the video below that they guys spent some time shooting my dad's guns. It was pretty cold and windy, but the boys had to get out anyway. We returned to Madison on Monday afternoon and left again on Friday for Ida Grove, IA. Joy's grandma, Peggy Rainbow, is from Ida Grove, which is appx 6 hours away. It was Joy's longest car ride to date and first overnights in a hotel. She did pretty good but was exhausted by the time we returned. She has slept in every morning this week in attempt to catch up, I think.
Danny and I 'acknowledged' 8 years of marriage on January 3rd. I didn't say celebrate because Danny came home sick from work, so we stayed in. We will 'celebrate' sometime in the coming weeks hopefully. Danny is gearing up for the PGA show in Florida in a few weeks. And I am LOVING being a stay-at-home-mom! I've entered the last trimester of the pregnancy. We are excited to meet our little boy in a few short months.
Enjoy the video below. I decided to put a few of our favorite video clips together from the month of December for this post.