Carly

_____I hear the term "terrible twos" quite often, and even more often I hear mothers say, "Oh, but it wasn't the twos that were bad... it was the threes!" Hearing both of these things scares me. Maida is now 20 months old, well into her "ones," and it's bad. By bad, I mean, she is the most emotionally aggressive, most stubborn, self-centered one-year-old going on fifteen that I have ever seen. We are totally at a loss of what to do with her sometimes. Her two favorite words are "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" and "MIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!!!" and she says them with either a push or a hit to accompany. She will fight with anyone, of any age, that will fight with her (including Barkley!), which brings me to our next concern.

_____Maida has recently created an imaginary friend! Her name is Carly and I think that she's from the Nickelodeon "iCarly" TV show that Maida has seen a few times (which happens to be a show for teens, not tots!). Maida will talk to Carly all day long and also yell and fight with her! Erik isn't convinced that she actually has an imaginary friend, though, rather that she is aggressive with the ways she plays with her toys and pretends that they are fighting. It's funny at first, that she is fighting with an imaginary person, but the more she does it, the more we have realized that this just might not be a good thing - both the imaginary friend (who she's obsessed with) and the fighting!

_____Luckily, Erik has been able to spend the last three weeks witnessing our sweet little girl's behavior (like the time she started strangling one of her friends) and now we've been trying to put our heads together to come up with some sort of plan. We've talked to some child development "experts" and gotten their opinion. All we keep hearing is that it's probably a stage and that there are reasons why she is going through this, the obvious being that she senses the changes coming with the new baby. Children develop their thoughts and feelings earlier than the speech to communicate those feelings, so that may play a part in her getting frustrated when she doesn't have the words to say what she wants. Maida is, at the same time, very ahead of her age group in other areas, which makes it hard to deal with the whole speech thing too, I'm sure, as she just wants to keep up with everyone else, including the older kids she plays with occasionally. We have been told, too, that we have too high of expectations for Maida at this age (is that a first child thing?).

_____Anyway, regardless of what we've heard or tried to come up with, I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has advice! Do your kids have imaginary friends? Is this a good thing/bad thing? Did you notice your children going through certain "stages" like the one Maida seems to be in when there were big changes about to take place? We love and treasure Maida so much and know that she'll turn out okay in the end, but we don't want that to be an excuse for lazy parenting and want to know that we are doing everything we can to be good parents right now. This parenting stuff sure is an adventure, isn't it? Never a dull moment, as when you get out of one stage, you enter right into another.

_____And here are just a few random pictures to wrap up with...

In Daddy's house shoes

Playing with Daddy's headlamp

Momma Kinks bowling with Wii Sports!

Pregnancy Update (and a bit of complaining!)

A few weeks ago we had our last ultrasound to determine if Skogen was still breech. Prayers were answered and it was then that we found out that he has flipped and is not head down. We also found out that he was about six pounds and eleven ounces (give or take a pound) and has a lot of hair! Since the ultrasound, I have been busily preparing for a natural delivery, ruling out a repeat c-section all together since his positioning was right on. However, in the last week I have developed some sort of pregnancy induced carpal tunnel syndrome, which seems to really be affecting my pregnancy and the decisions that lie ahead.

Natural birth, for many different reasons has been my number one priority this pregnancy. After my c-section with Maida, I was determined to never have to go through that again. I have researched repeat c-sections and I know specifically why they are more risky than VBACs (vaginal birth after c-section). I know that a VBAC would be not only healthier for me, but for Skogen as well. As I flip through the statistics, while also examining my own personal dreams of having a natural birth, I can’t ignore the pain of the carpal tunnel syndrome and I’m second guessing my decision for a natural childbirth.

The pain is so great in my hands, especially at night, that I feel like if I just call up and schedule a c-section for next week, I will know for sure that I only have a few more days to endure the pain (supposedly, the carpal tunnel syndrome goes away after you give birth). At this point, we have no idea when Skogen could come. It could be today, or it could be in four or five weeks! I just don’t know how long I can stand this pain. It’s the kind of pain that makes me crazy. Not only is there pain, but there is tingling and numbness, making it very difficult to do anything around the house, even simple things like brush my teeth or feed myself breakfast. It’s the kind of pain that I can’t get away from. I can’t pop a pain killer and expect it to go away. I’ve tried everything from hot packs, cold packs, dangling my arms while I sleep, propping my arms up while I sleep, sitting up while sleeping, bracing my wrists, massage, cold baths, warm baths, to increasing fluid intake… nothing takes this pain away. It is also the type of pain I can’t sleep through. I’ve been getting about three hours of sleep a night for the past five days, and that’s three hours of waking up every half hour to shift positions and try to get my hands comfortable again. This pain is also affecting all the “nesting” that I want to get done. I have this deep need for everything to be perfect when Skogen comes. I have a strong desire to clean and organize like crazy until he arrives, but with my hands this way, I can’t do any of it. I’m really wondering where I should go from here.

Have any of you had this carpal tunnel syndrome while you were pregnant? What did you do for it? Did it effect your birth (for example, I can’t imagine pushing a baby out on my hands and knees if my wrists are this sore)? For those of you who have chose to have repeat c-sections (for whatever reason) or had to have a repeat c-section (no choice), was it easier than the first? Did you get to hold and snuggle and breastfeed your baby in recovery? Do any of you have any tricks on how to get the baby to drop and labor to start naturally? With Maida I walked a whole lot and ate pineapple, which I have always thought started my labor -Ha! I would be totally comfortable waiting until Skogen’s due date, or after, for him to come, but it’s just this darn carpal tunnel that is killing me! I can’t imagine being in this much pain for two, three, four more weeks. I see our doctor next week again and so until then I look forward to any advice (or encouragement!) that any of you have. I’ll continue to take one day at a time and we’ll see what happens…

Christmas 2008

We had an A W E S O M E Christmas! I was especially thankful for the time we got with our nieces and nephews, getting to know them better. They change and grow so quickly and when we only see them once a year, we can really see the changes. Our oldest is 25 and our youngest is six, so we have quite the age range, but that never matters when we play games or have good old family time.

There are a lot of things that go into making the Kinkel family Christmas so special , but here are a few of my favorites...

1. Sled Cam - this HAS to be the BEST thing about Christmas. Our entire family looks forward to sled cam every year. Sled cam is when we all go out to the sledding hill (that's right - everyone participates, even the "big kids"!). We make a human train, everyone piling on the sleds and tubes that we have, hooking together with arms and legs. The person in the front of the train (usually my nephew Darin) rides backwards with a video camera, videoing us as we go down the hill. The point of sled cam is to try to all make it, train in tack and all, all the way to the bottom of the hill, which is very hard to do. It's actually pretty brutal, we usually end up with a couple injuries, and the best part is watching the movies when we get back home, especially all the big crashes in slow motion! These videos are so hilarious. In fact, we usually take a good hour or two over Christmas break to watch all the old sled cam videos from years ago. It is so much fun! I was not able to participate on the hill this year, because of obvious reasons(!), but I really enjoyed watching the videos they made and laughing at all of them as they complained of their soreness and injuries all week long!
2. Mom's Christmas cookies - my mom always makes the BEST Christmas cookies! This year Erik was eating some of her frosted sugar cookies and said, "Why do I like these so much? Is it the cookie or the frosting that I like?" I have always wondered the same thing! Why are they so addicting?!!!
3. Christmas Eve (opening presents) - we always open presents from the family on Christmas Eve. I love how we go in order from youngest to oldest. No body seems to be in a hurry to open and we all watch everyone else open up the gifts, taking turns until everyone is out of presents. It's so fun to see what everyone else gets.
4. Christmas Day game night - on Christmas Day night when everyone is finished with their own family Christmases, we have always had my cousins and aunts and uncles over to play games. This is usually a very competitive night, always consisting of some sort of boys vs. girls game and it seems like I never want it to end. This year the Wii was a big hit, along with Balderdash, Cranium, Hand and Foot, and Catchphrase.
5. Punch - on Christmas Day my mom has always made punch in her big crystal punch bowl. This was the only day of the year that I ever got punch when I was a kid, and we still have it on Christmas! It's soooo yummy and goes great with all of the Christmas cookies.

It seems like each Holiday just keeps getting more fun and more fun with Maida. She really enjoyed opening presents this year and being with the family. I wish I could have had a video camera on 24/7 to capture her true spirit over the holidays. It was a very magical time. Erik and I look forward to many more years of Christmas with our children.

Here are the pictures from the week: http://scharrerfamily.shutterfly.com/
And here's a video of Maida looking for her presents from Santa on Christmas morning:

Scharrer-side Christmas

We opened presents from Erik's family in Oklahoma yesterday morning. We woke Maida up early before church, so not only were we all in our pajamas and Maida's hair was the true definition of "bed head," but Maida was very crabby and groggy and really didn't appear to enjoy her presents until we got home from church later that day when she was more awake!

THANK YOU TO: Nana, Papa, Uncle B, Aunt Karlie, Deda, Mema, Aunt Lola, Uncle Ron, and Jacob for the nice presents.

Here's a little clip of our morning since you couldn't be here with us.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We love Minnesota!!!

Today brought us another snow storm, adding more snow to our big piles that we already had! Erik took Maida outside to play for the second time (hoping no more injuries would occur!) and they had a blast! I stepped out just long enough to take some pictures and a video of them sledding on the hill in our front yard. It is supposed to snow and snow until Sunday night, so I'm sure that it will be over Maida's head by the time it's done. We feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful country.

... I'm not sure who had more fun playing outside, Erik or Maida?!!!

Potty Training Update #2

Maida is officially potty trained! She has gone four days in big girl panties - even out Christmas shopping, and other fun adventures - and no accidents! We are so proud of her. She still wears a diaper at night, but she has been dry for the past two nights, so maybe we won't have to do that anymore after a while. This is a huge blessing, not only to save money on diapers, but to have her all potty trained before Skogen comes. Yay Maida! We won't have two in diapers after all.

It's all fun and games...

until someone gets hurt...

Yesterday we got a good foot of snow. It was snowing and blowing like crazy and Erik and Maida decided that it would be a great time to play in the snow! I stayed inside because I don't have snow pants that go over the baby bump, but also because I had so much fun watching these two out the window! They were laughing and laughing, having the best time. Erik buried Maida in a snow bank and she loved it, all the while eating as much snow as she could stuff in her face! Then Erik decided that she would have fun flying through the air and landing in a snowbank. So he was throwing her up in the air and into a big bank in our backyard - which she LOVED -when Barkley! caught a glimpse of Maida flying through the air our of the corner of his eye and thought she was a toy, apparently, because he then proceeded to pounce on her. He landed right on her face, scratching my beautiful, little baby's skin apart!!! We immediately brought her inside, along with a bowl of snow for her to eat to help make her lip and tongue (yes, Barkley! even cut her tongue open!) feel better. Some Tylenol and a good nap made everything okay.

Last night Barkley! was still quite upset that this happened and he wouldn't even eat his dinner! He paced all night long outside her door and kept waking me up too, worried about her. I'm so glad that she didn't get an eye poked out or her nose ripped off. I'm also glad that Barkley! felt bad and knows that what he did was wrong.

The fun and games...

The hurt...

A few hours later...

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Straightening out the branches... Crawling behind the tree...

Hanging the lights...

Putting on the ornaments...

The finished product...

Our stockings...

And a cute story...

As we were hanging the stockings, I was explaining to Maida that we only had one for mommy, one for daddy, and one for Maida, but that we'd have to get one for Skogen soon, too. About an hour later while going through other Christmas decorations, Maida found an old stocking that I had in college and came running to me with it. She was holding it out to me and yelling, "Skogo, sock! Skogo, sock!" It was so cute that she remembered that we needed a stocking for Skogen and that she was so proud of herself for finding one!

Christmas Break is Almost Here!

Today seems like much of a transition point for us. Erik is currently taking his final and when he gets home (***update, he just got home and he did well on his final!), Christmas vacation officially starts. YAY!!! We plan to spend the day putting up a Christmas tree! I have been telling Maida all about how we put up the tree and hang lights and bulbs and she jumps up and down, points to herself and says, "Me, tree, yeah!" I think she's pretty excited.

Our plans for the break are pretty low-key. Erik will probably do a lot of skiing, in between studying, and may even take Maida out for her first time on skies. I hope they make ski boots fat enough to fit her fluffy feet! I will more than likely be watching from the chalet and taking pictures, however, I would give anything to be able to be out skiing with Maida for her first time. I know that it will be a very special moment for Erik, though, as he begins a new chapter in his life, teaching his first child his favorite sport. My presence as a the photographer may be more important than my actual presence on skies! Erik also plans to go winter camping and ice climbing with some friends this weekend. While he is gone, I hope to get our Christmas presents wrapped and shipped out to family, along with get some baby stuff ready! They always say to pack your bags for the hospital at 35 weeks, which is an exciting thing to do... I can see the end in site!

We have two doctor appointments scheduled over break. One of which is an ultrasound next Friday. Our doctor is still concerned that Skogen is breech, so we will determine that at the ultrasound. The appointment the following week will be to determine if we need to flip him or not (via "version"). If we choose to flip him, that will fall within the following week sometime. I am praying that he flips on his own!

We plan to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Park Rapids with my family. My sister Kim and her family are coming up from Arizona, so I'm sure that we'll have a great time! Yesterday I mailed out our 170 Christmas cards that we send every year, which made me happy, but I really get excited every time we get one in the mail too! I love to hang the pictures up and compare them with other years at how everyone is changing (yes, I'm a dork and I save all the Christmas cards and letters we get!!).

I will end with two different websites. They are both websites profiling Skogen Sprang, the famous skier that we got Skogen's name from (for those of you who think we made it up!). I love the website with the video (the second one) because you can actually hear the name spoken and it just makes it more real to me... AH! WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!! AND HIS NAME IS SKOGEN!!!!!! Enjoy...
http://expn.go.com/athletes/bios/SPRANG_SKOGEN.html
http://www.tetongravity.com/profiles/Athlete_Skogen_Sprang.aspx

Catch Up on Little Miss

Little Miss has been up to a lot lately, but I have had no computer to post with, so I thought I'd catch you all up in one big post...

Maida moved into a toddler bed!!!

Maida helping Daddy take down the crib...

Mommy showing Maida her new bed for the first time. Maida jumped up and down and clapped her hands and kept saying "Yay! Yay! Yay!"...

Maida sitting in her bed for the first time..

Jumping on her bed! She was just so excited!...

First nap in the new bed...
Maida talked Mommy into laying down with her while she fell asleep...

Maida has also been getting into lots of trouble in Daddy's office lately! She thinks that she's Daddy's secretary and would talk on the phone and take messages all day if she could!!!

Maida got to go see Santa Claus and he gave her her very first candy cane! She thoroughly enjoyed it!

It has been so cold here, and we finally got snow, so we had to pull out Maida's heavy duty winter hat. She LOVES it and wants to wear it all time time. It's just perfect for Duluth temperatures.

More pictures and posts to come!

Second MC Treatment

Maida had her second treatment last Friday. This time around she seems to be a little feeling worse than before, but maybe that's because the dermatologist treated more of the MC at a time than he did before. Her next treatment is on Friday, the 19th (and every two weeks after until the MC is gone). Here are some pictures of just the beginning of our road to recovery...

Day of Treatment: the dermatologist put some liquid "acid" on the bumps (it's not really acid, but that's what I call it!) and then he put some tape on top. The "acid" and tape stay on for two-three hours and then she soaks in the bath. Here's Maida with the tape on:

Maida soaking in the bath before we had to rip off the tape:

Day One of Recovery:

Day Two of Recovery:

Day Three of Recovery:
All of the yellow ones were the ones that were treated. Some more on her arm and back were treated at the same time, so you can imagine the pain she's in when someone tries to pick her up!!!

Day Four of Recovery:

On Friday the dermatologist said that the ones he initially treated were looking good and that they didn't look like they would scar!!! Keep praying for Maida. She is such a trooper and I know that she's in a lot of pain. I would take this pain from her in a heartbeat, if I could. It's so hard to see your child suffer!

Thanksgiving

After attending the Thanksgiving celebration at my parents' house last week, I have begun to realize that my family is even cooler than I thought! I could not believe the work and effort that went into the cooking of all the food, the decorations, the costumes, the talent show, the competitions, and everything else which makes our family Thanksgivings the best ever!

My mom's side of the family has a big family Thanksgiving every two years. When I say "big" I mean B-I-G. We always have a theme and everyone comes in costume. We also always have a talent show, in which almost everyone (of all ages) participates. Added to the celebration are little games and fun competitions. Our Thanksgiving parties usually last two or three days (since almost everyone drives about 1,000 miles or more to get there!) and are really enjoyed by everyone.

This year the theme was the 50's and we were supposed to come in costume, which consisted of poodle skirts, saddle shoes, and scarves for the girls. And letter sweaters or letter jackets, rolled up jeans, and slicked back hair with sideburns for the guys. Some of us even wore our old high school colors and my aunt Becky got really creative and instead of having a poodle skirt, she had a "panther skirt" which had a panther on it (her high school mascot) instead of a poodle. We had a hula hoop contest, best costume contest, jitter bug contest, best talent contest, and the annual North verses the South soccer tournament in the snow. Special to this year was also the lighting of the tree ceremony down town Park Rapids and a geocache treasure hunt all over town!

We have about 400 pictures from the weekend, but I tried to narrow it down to a hundred or so which I've put here. Enjoy!