Some Recent Pictures For the Grandmas!

Aubrey plays so well by herself! Eating "bugs on a log" at HDO

Painting a bird house... she took her job very seriously!

Making a "muddy pig"

Chocolate cupcakes to celebrate our friend's birthday at playgroup last week!

Jake and I snuck out to the garage after dinner yesterday to eat some Oreos in peace. It was so much fun! We found two chairs to sit in and we talked and chowed down on Oreos ignoring the crash of legos we heard through the wall... it was a blissful 5 minutes... but then we came back to reality... THIS!

Jake is such a great husband and father though! He played on the floor with the girls for a while before he helped them pick up all the legos. He was just telling me today how he enjoys the way each of the girls play, and I loved hearing his perspective. He said Kenzie was standing in the hall way pretending to talk on the phone with him. She said her name was Emma and she couldn't come over and play because she was sick with the stomach bug... haha! So she plays in this world of make believe and Aubrey plays in the land of NOW! He said Aubrey just kept running over to him and jumping on his stomach and saying, "Up and Down! Up and Down!" I love him so much!

Our New Neice!!!!

This is Sophie Jane Boettcher!! She came into our world about 5 a.m. on Friday, March 11 weighing 7 lbs and was 19 in. long!!
Because the girls were sick we didn't let them see her until they were better for 5 days and after Jeff and Angie came home. They were so excited to meet their new cousin!

I love Aubrey's expression!

The girls ran and got Sophie all the toys she had in her room!

The three cousins, soon to be joined by Lucy!

My mom is in heaven with all her granddaughters!!

All of Sophie's aunts!

Angie is doing awesome!!

Standing on a chair in the room we are getting ready for Lucy... 29 weeks pregnant!

Kenzie has been taking gymnastics (or "nastics" as she calls them). She pulls the "I'm-too-shy-and-need-my-mama" move for the first 15 mins everytime, but then she warms up and loves it! It is so cute to see her running around in her little leotard learning how to follow directions and stand in line with other kids. All the kids go to our church and the older ones are really great and look out for the younger ones!

Trying to catch this sweet moment last night, but Aubrey saw me first!

While daddy was busy working on projects last weekend, Kenzie and I did our own project! Now we just need to keep this nice weather around so the birdies will come to their new house!


We are all so in love with Sophie! I got to help give her a bath and then spend an hour holding her yesterday while my mom took my girls to the park. She is so sweet and so beautiful! I think she looks a lot like Jeff... which is confusing to me because she is so pretty and I never thought their could be a good looking version of him! (apparently Angie has been right this whole time and I'm just blind... my brother must be "ridiculously good looking" as she says!) Angie is recovering fast and nursing is going well for her. Jeff is an awesome dad and loves taking care of his girls! Sophie really knows both of their voices, I saw her face totally light up yesterday when they talked to her! I'm so thrilled they had a girl... raising girls together with them is going to be so much fun!!

The Mother of all Stomach Virus's

We just lived through the mother of all stomach bugs. Sunday morning Kenzie threw up without a warning and was quickly followed by Aubrey doing the same. Nothing stayed down the entire day and by 11 p.m. when they couldn't keep down a Popsicle our doc advised us to go to the ER b/c they had had no wet diapers all day and she was concerned about dehydration.

My parents met us over there and stayed with us while we waited. I'm grateful they came, I was struggling with a lot of fear if they were going to get IV's... just thinking about them poking their little arms with their veins all shrunken up made me want to puke! My mom joked that again they were caring for the care givers (that's their role to care for Angie when Jeff gets sick... they really are the best!) They prayed for us before they left that the girls wouldn't need IV's and my sister and Andrew were praying as well. Thank the Lord they didn't! They were given a drug that immediately stopped the vomiting and they were able to keep fluid down since then.

Monday they slept all day. Tuesday Aubrey woke up covered in vomit and diarrhea and then threw up again around 5 p.m. (I panicked and called the doctor, but she said it was ok as long as they were still drinking). They both kept down half a soft pretzel that Jake brought home for them. I asked Kenzie if she wanted Daddy to bring her home anything and she said, "Can he get me a soft pretzel from the soft pretzel store (Wawa)?" It seemed to do the trick and they woke up with more energy this morning. It lasted for 30 mins and then they were back to laying on the couch without moving. They perked up again this afternoon for 2 hrs and we played some games and now they are both asleep. Kenzie is still telling me her stomach hurts and they've had a ton of diarrhea today, but so far they've kept the food down (I made a soft pretzel run to Wawa at 6 a.m. so there would be stuff here they'd want to eat)

My poor babies!

Here is how I've seen God at work in this: If someone had told me when I became a mom that there would be a day my 2-year-old would actually throw up on my face and get it in my mouth, I would have run screaming! Or if someone had told me that I'd have one kid throw up all over our couch at the same time the other threw up all over the rug, I'd cry. Or if someone had told me that at one point I'd have a kid with diarrhea taking off her diaper at the same time the other one is puking all over the rug and a stack of library books... I would have quit while I was ahead. But in those moments, I've met God in a whole new way.

There is something amazing about being in a situation that you just have to get through and there is no one else around to help you... it's just you and God! Like the baby powder incident (although I'd take ten of those days to one of these), I just had to get through it and there was no one there to help me except God alone! I've found these verses to be so true: "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." (Is. 41:10)

Being a mom has made me more aware of my need for grace more than anything else. I am so grateful for the grace God pours out when I come to the end of myself. I'm always so quick to turn to other people for answers whenever I'm going through something, but God is teaching me more and more how He alone is sufficient for my every need. Sure He uses other people often in my life, but there is something so special feeling His tangible care for me in circumstances such as the above. He surely does "gently lead those with young." (Is. 40:11)

I'm grateful for these past few days at home with my sick girls. I'm grateful for all the snuggle time. I'm grateful that I've been able to give them drinks and food that has helped them. I'm grateful for this country and this century where we have drugs that can prevent bigger problems. I'm grateful we have health insurence. I'm grateful for our library with tons of free movies so I don't have to watch the same Dora the Explorer over and over. I'm grateful for my husband who has worked so hard to keep me a stay-at-home mom so when these situations come up it's not a question of who is going to stay home with the kids. I'm grateful for my mom who went grocery shopping for me so I wouldn't have to leave my girls. I'm grateful for the tender side of Mackenzie that I've gotten to see more of since she has been slowed down a lot by this illness. I'm grateful for the leaps in language development I've seen in Aubrey as I've been able to slow down and spend more time holding her and listening to her talk to me. And I'm so grateful Jake and I didn't get it cuz it looks like death to go through! My list goes on and on.........

So we are surviving, they are getting better, God is big and huge and I'm learning to love and trust him more. I can say that I am thankful for this stomach virus... and I'm grateful no one told me about these days that would happen before I became a mom because I never would have wanted them, but I'm grateful for them in hindsight!

Willow Valley!!!

We had a great time on our family vacation last weekend! I enjoyed making some of the same memories with our girls that my parents made with us... like pizza and movies after a long day of swimming! The many faces of our Aubrey....

They loved the breakfast as much as we did!

Kenzie thought she was big stuff picking out her own food!

Aubrey was determined to eat her donut one sprinkle at a time :)

Look at Kenzie holding up her donut just as proud as can be! (and Jake too!)

If I look exhausted it's because the girls really didn't sleep great that first night... and somehow on the second night I ended up in Kenzie's bed with her, and Jake, Kenzie, and I can't figure out how that happened! It was a great vacation... but it was anything but relaxing!

Keeping her busy while we played cards together...

I love this picture of the two of them... it's like she's telling him the climax of her whole story!

Daddy swimming with his girls...

And then this weekend happened...

The girls both threw up Sunday morning and didn't wet their diapers or keep any liquid down all day. The doctor sent us to the ER around 11 and they gave us Zophran and it helped them both to stop throwing up so they could drink something and keep it down. They were both like water... they would just snuggle on my lap and then slowly melt to the floor where they would just lay with their cheek pressed to the floor, throw up, and then just lay there without moving. I've never seen them so sick. They still aren't well, but they are actually watching movies today instead of just laying there with their eyes glazed over. They are sleeping on and off and have fevers, but it's still a big improvement from yesterday. PRAYING Jake and I don't get this... it is the worst bug I've ever seen!