Date Night!!!

Erik and I don't get out much. Erik gets out a little more than I do, but for the most part, we're home a lot. Friday night was the first time I have been away from Maida and Skogen at the same time. We actually got a babysitter for Maida and a babysitter for Skogen (I figure since I can't handle them both together by myself sometimes, why should a babysitter have to try?!) and went out on a date! We met up with our friends, Dan and Heidi, at a Thai food restaurant down town. From there we went to a UMD hockey game! It was so much fun to get out of the house and be away from the kiddos. (However, I missed them like crazy and couldn't help but count down the hours until I could see them again.) Some of my favorite parts of the night were my Red Chicken Curry, walking in Canal Park at night, getting to know Heidi better, listening to Dan teach Erik about hockey, the UMD fans, and being with Erik without a textbook or computer in front of him. Here are some pictures from the night...

Got milk?

Got milk?

"My momma gots WHOLE milk!"


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This is why our one-month-old wears a 12-month size:


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Last year when I was in the hospital with mastitis, one of my nurses had a baby who was in the NICU and he was living on donated breast milk. He was very ill and he couldn't have anything other than breast milk, but she couldn't produce any.

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I've often wondered if I could use my gift of producing a great quantity of milk (and the fattest quality of milk!!) to help other babies. There are places that ship donated breast milk to babies who are in the NICU here in the U.S. and places that ship it to babies in Africa.

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I'm thinking that my milk would plump up a hungry baby in no time!

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(Don't forget that you can click on the photos to enlarge them.)

22 Months

Dear Miss Maida,

Today you are 22 months old. Where has the time gone? I remember when you were Skogen's age and the complete center of my universe. Although you've grown older, you still are the center of my universe sometimes, however you've had to learn to share that position with your brother now. :) I am the luckiest mom to get to spend every day with you. Now at 22 months you have started talking a lot more. Sometimes you can say things as plain as day, but other times you have your own language that we can't quite understand yet. Luckily you still do some sign language, especially when you want "more" of something and are really desperate to get whatever it is! You love to run and jump and you love to be naked ("nay-nay"). Your favorite toy is either your purses and my high heels or your doll house that you got for Christmas from Grandma and Bumpa. You are completely potty trained (except for a few accidents at night sometimes) and wear a size 2 or 3 toddler, depending on the brand and style. You fall asleep on your own in your big girl bed, only after we say our "Now I lay me down to sleep...." prayer, which you know a few words of, and our butterfly and Eskimo kisses. You love to read books, especially the dinosaur book, which your dad had to hide for a while because it was teaching you how to say, "Mine! Mine! Mine!" You are pretty independent and will go with anyone and everyone to do anything and everything. You love Sunday school, drawing circles and lines, sledding, skiing, swimming, taking baths, ECFE, and Dora the Explorer. You're usually a great help with your baby brother and mostly like to hold him or steal his pacifiers. You are the best part of every day. I enjoy waking up to your voice saying, "Morn Mommy!" I love you so much, princess.

Barkley's Mini League

Song for a Fifth Child
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

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Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

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Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

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The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew

And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo

Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

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The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Just Too Tired

January 2009: The ninth month of pregnancy was wearing us all out! Not only did I feel sluggish and tired, but Maida did too. Weekly doctor appointments and the time it took for us to get out the door to go do anything really messed up our napping schedules at times. This is a video that was taken a couple weeks before Skogen was born. I have been meaning to post it and just haven't gotten around to it, but thought today was a good day since I'm feeling a little sleep deprived!

(Note: we don't have a dining room because we moved our bedroom into the dining room, so that Erik could use our old bedroom as his office. So we don't have a table to sit at to eat dinner, we usually just sit on the couch and Maida sits in her chair on the floor! - I can't wait to get a dining room again!)

American Idol

I love American Idol. I have been a little surprised and disappointed, both, in this year's show, but now looking at the top 12 contestants, I think it will be pretty good from here on out - at least I hope! My ultimate favorite moment from the season so far was from Wednesday night after "Norman" sang, and him and Simon were going back and forth. It was so funny!

I'm not the only one in the house who loves American Idol, Maida does too! She loves to watch the singers and then try to imitate them. Here is a quick video below of Maida singing - we're thinking about having her audition next year... what do you think?! (Oh- I should mention that the toy she is holding is her "my-co-rone".)

Target runs just aren't the same anymore...

Every time I take the kids out somewhere alone, I vow to myself that I will never ever do it again. Today was one of those days where the urge to go to Target (a.k.a. my Heaven on Earth) was greater than my fear of taking the kids out alone. Well, the car ride to Target went well and finding a dry, warm cart (here in Minnesota, the carts are either cold from sitting outside in the thirty below weather, or wet if it's snowing) went well also. After that I figured we were off to a pretty good start.

Five minutes after being at Target, Skogen was asleep in his car seat in the cart and Maida was walking between me and the cart, "helping" me push. Well, just when I thought everything was going fine, a Target worker came up to me and told me that I was violating some sort of safety liability code. What?! I just stared at her while she explained to me that Maida was in a dangerous position because if I turned a sharp corner, Maida could fly out and get hurt. What?! First of all, I was walking slower than a turtle could run and, second of all, I really just didn't understand what was so dangerous about the whole thing. I was speechless and I just stared at her some more and she said, "Sorry, ma'am, your daughter is going to have to move." Irritated, I talked Maida into walking beside the cart and "helping" me push from there.

Shortly after I turned down the baby isle to buy some pacifiers, my phone rang. It was my mom telling me that she found the car keys of mine that Maida lost at her house when we were there last weekend. While I was on the phone, Maida snuck away from me and was halfway up the second shelf of the bouncer seats and exersaucers! I quick hung up the phone and grabbed Maida before she was too high for me to grab and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the safety code liability lady staring at us. I quickly put Maida into the cart and told her if she sat there the rest of the time, she could have an Icee at the end.

My bribery worked and so before leaving, we stopped to get an Icee. Of course while I was ordering, the cart wasn't moving, so Skogen woke up and wanted to eat. We sat down in a booth so that I could nurse and Maida could drink her Icee. Well, the table was too far away for Maida to reach her Icee, so she stood up to reach it, while also trying to show off to a lovely Chinese lady sitting at the next table, and fell! She landed right on her head, under the table, super hard. I felt so bad! I was sitting there with a baby hanging off my chest, unable to disconnect and rescue my little safety code violator from pain. The lovely Chinese lady jumped up and ran to help Maida. By this time Maida was crying so hard that she was holding her breath and the lovely Chinese lady thought she was choking, so she started pushing on Maida's tummy. I freaked out saying, "She's not choking, stop pushing on her!" just as Maida screamed, "MOOOOMMMMMYYYYYYYY!!!!" I instructed the lovely Chinese lady to put Maida beside me on the bench so that I could check her out. When I finally got Maida calmed down, I realized that not only was the crazy liability code lady watching us again, there was blood coming out of Maida's ear, which I was sure wasn't a good sign. I called Erik at school and after we all got home, Erik took her in to get checked out for a concussion or skull fracture of some sort.

The bad news is that our doctor wasn't in the clinic and our clinic had no openings with any other doctor to fit Maida in today. The good news is that Erik is in medical school and has great resources at school, so he brought her up for Dr. Johns to look at. Dr. Johns thought that she checked out okay and just told us to keep an eye on her. So, at around 4:30 this afternoon, I vowed to myself that I would never ever go anywhere alone with the kids ever ever again... however, I have already promised to take Maida to ECFE in the morning and we're out of milk, so looks like I'll be going to the grocery store tomorrow also. The adventures never end...

Baby Shower for Skogen

The women from church had a baby shower for me today!!! I have been feeling bad for weeks about this shower because, (1) I already have a lot of baby stuff from when Maida was a baby, and (2) I didn't think that you had baby showers for second babies. Well, the ladies from church all informed me that they give baby showers for third and fourth babies too, and they love to have a reason to get together and celebrate! Well, the shower turned out being a TON of fun and I am so thankful for all the gifts that we got. My camera died before I could even take one picture of the shower, so I'm getting copies of the host's pictures, however I took pictures of all of the gifts for the baby book after I got home and I thought that I'd post them! I will post pictures from the shower whenever I get them... wait until you see the cake that Julie E made - WOW! We are so blessed to be apart of a loving and giving church family.

All of the outfits that Skogen got!

The toys and books for Skogen.

A lot of the ladies from church are talented. There were quite a few gifts that were homemade by them and even some homemade cards! I felt so special when I thought about all the time that was put into working on gifts for Skogen.

The homemade cards.

A quilt from Judy G. I will always think of Lake Superior when we use this quilt because of the boat!

Homemade blanket from the Julie P with a matching burp cloth

Homemade burp clothes (Judy S), two different blankets (Julie E), and some bibs (Judy S).

Homemade CD of "gentle melodies" from Kathy and Skogen's name made by Beth.

Julie P also made Maida some pillow cases for her big girl bed. I think they are just so cute!

Thank you to everyone who came and who gave gifts: Nikki, Christian, Piper, Eileen, Eva, Shirley, Ruth, Acadia, Natalie, Brea, Melissa, Judy S, Julie E, Margaret, Pat, Julie P, Heidi, Marilyn, Judy G, Kathy, Crimsen, Beth, Desi, and Gayle.

Our Brainstormy Weekend

It seems like this weekend has been spent brainstorming. I am at a loss of ideas on what to do with Maida. She's a great kid and such a sweet little girl, but something has changed since we brought Skogen home, and really, just in the past two or three weeks. She has started to become very testy with us. If we ask her not to do something, she'll do it, and she does it with this look on her face like, "What are you going to do to me now?" She's also started whining and crying a lot. It seems like most days are filled with tears, which is unusual for a normally happy girl. She also started doing things like going potty in her pants and pooping on the floor, right beside her potty chair! I have no idea how to respond anymore. I think she's looking for attention, but what kind of attention do we give her? Do we punish her for these actions, because they are clearly wrong and she needs to know that? Or do we gently redirect her and praise her for the things she is doing right, ignoring the bad for now? I have no idea. I've tried both ways and now I think I've just confused the poor child! (Any advice would be appreciated!) I definitely wasn't prepared for the "terrible twos" to hit quite yet. I also wasn't prepared for how much my relationship would change with Maida when Skogen joined the mix. She's always been my little princess who I've spent, pretty much, every minute of her life with. Now I have to divide my time and it has really changed things between Maid's and I. I think this could be part of the problem, but I have no idea how to fix it. I just keep telling myself to look at the big picture and realize that our little family is just having some growing pains! I'm sure that these will not be the last of them, either!


Maida in Mommy's jacket playing with her babies

Look at how BIG Skogen's belly is getting! Mama makes WHOLE milk! (Mama also has a matching double chin!)

Skogen's new favorite sleeping position. This is how every ultrasound picture that we have of him looked too, with his hands in front of his face!

Skogen has started smiling so much now! This was a poor attempt at trying to finally capture one on camera.

The kids in the bath. Maida is a HUGE help for me since my hands are still numb and numb hands + a wet, slippery baby = disaster

Snuggle time with "the kid" (as Erik calls him)!

Story time with Daddy (BTW: Skogen is wearing a size 6-9 month pair of p.j.'s in this picture!)

Random Ramblings

Five weeks down.
In one sense it's flown by, but in another it has slowly crept by. I feel like it has taken all of these five weeks to finally settle into a schedule that works for us (which, by the way, still includes us sleeping in until 9:00 every morning - YEAH!). I also feel like I'm finally realizing that Skogen is my baby and I don't have to (nor do I want to!) give him back. That sounds bad, and I don't know if it's the C-sections or what, but it takes a while for me to bond with my babies and realize that they are mine. I will say that this time around was a lot easier than the first, though! I'm looking forward to the next five weeks and hope that along with it comes more energy. I'm usually just drained in the mornings and have a hard time showering and trying to dry my hair or put make up on. I don't even remember when the last time was when I plucked my eyebrows or shaved my legs! I have this longing to be beautiful again, but have no idea how to get to that point. I've just let myself go for so long...

Blogworld.
Some people read books, the newspaper, or magazines, but I read blogs. There is something so intriguing about a true life story, unfolding as it's really happening. Lately I've been really inspired and intrigued by Harper's blog because Harper is a little baby who was born two days after Skogen! But unlike Skogen, Harper was not born healthy and her parents spent 20 days in the NICU with her. She came home recently - the Lord did wonders in her little life. Stories like that make me realize just how blessed I have been and remind me how thankful I need to be.

My scar.
I looked at my scar last night for the first time in about two weeks and I was surprised to see how good it looks! Just a month ago I was complaining about how ugly my scar was compared to the first C-section, but turns out that what I was seeing was just the glue that they used to glue me together! Now after all the glue has worn off, it looks great! Today I go to see the OB who did my surgery so that she can make sure the incision looks like it's healing normally. I also plan to ask her about how my uterus looked when she was in there! I know that the more C-sections you have, the more scar tissue builds up, which makes it harder for a future placenta to attach to the uterine wall. I'm not sure if I want more kids, but I don't want to be limited. :)

Dinner date.
Last night Erik, Maida, Skogen, and I went to Perkins for dinner! Thank you to the Esko clan who gave us a gift certificate and coupons there!!! We had a great dinner and it ended up working out well since we didn't have water (again!) so it would have been hard to make dinner. Maida was very well behaved and ate a great dinner! I think that she was just glad to be out of the house. Skogen slept most of the time, which was okay. Erik and I used dinner to discuss our future life plans. I've come to realize that medical school is so stressful - and I'm not just talking about the homework or the amount of material you have to memorize and know - I'm talking about the decisions you have to make, like what kind of doctor to be. This is a hard decision for Erik because I know that he wants to choose a profession that allows him to have some family life too (if that's even possible when you're a doctor!). We've gotten some good advice lately from two different people that I wanted to write down so that we don't forget...
- Erik's advisor told him yesterday that when his kids were young, he didn't only miss out on his children's lives, but his children missed out on having a dad. I think it's easy for us to think about sacrificing our time with our kids, but when we do that, we are also sacrificing their time with us.
- At the movie "Fireproof" the other night, a dad that was there who has grown kids told me to make sure and savor each moment with my kids because the time goes by so fast. He said that he often wishes that he could just close his eyes and go back to when his kids were young, to just remember what it was like for one second. He had tears in his eyes when telling me this, which made what he was saying mean even more.

Maida Raine.
Yesterday I changed Maida's room around while she was playing in the living room. She came in shortly after I had finished and said, "Ohhhh, a new room!" So funny! Lately Maida has had trouble wetting the bed at night. I tried some pull-ups, but she got an awful rash from them. I don't really want to go back to diapers, but I'm sick of washing the bedding! Does anyone know of any pull-up-type-things that are fragrance free that are easily bought at Target or Walmart?

Skogen's Birthday Pictures

Skogen's birth pictures are all finally up! You can view them at: http://scharrerfamily.shutterfly.com/

Valentines Day Weekend

We spent Valentines Day and Valentines Day weekend at Bumpa and Grandma's house. We got to PR just in time to catch dinner with Grandma, Bumpa, Jay, Nancy, and kids. After dinner we attended a showing of "Fireproof" at the church. There was free daycare and free popcorn, so it was just perfect for a Valentines date for Erik and me. The movie was great. I highly recommend the movie to anyone who is married. It really helped Erik and I reflect on our relationship and how we treat each other. The church gave everyone who attended two free copies of "The Love Dare," a book that was highlighted in the movie. Erik and I are very excited to get started on little devotionals every night with our new books!

The rest of the weekend was very laid back. Erik gave me a new computer for Valentines Day, so most of my weekend was spent updating all of our pictures online and catching up on all the emails and blogs that I've been behind on. Erik spent three days at the clinic in town for his preceptor and while he was there on Monday, my mom and dad paid for me to get a massage! I got a full back, arm, neck, and hand massage to see if it would help with the carpal tunnel. It didn't help the carpal tunnel in just one massage, but it did help to get all the knots and kinks out of my back and shoulders that I've been carrying around with me since pregnancy. The massage was a great Valentines present! It was also very nice to get away from the kids for an hour!

Maida got her first haircut on Tuesday! She was very wiggly. It was a good thing that we just trimmed the bottom because making her sit any longer would have been too hard. She's on the go constantly! Skogen enjoyed being spoiled by his Grandma and Bumpa. He was great in the car on the way over and even slept well while we were there, sleeping five hours straight last night!

One Month Old

To my little Skogie Bear: here are the things you are doing at one month old... You turned one month old on Valentines Day, which was also your first visit to Grandma and Bumpa's house. You did well on your first long car ride, but usually prefer not to be in your car seat. You are happy most of the time, and just started smiling, but get crabby when I get you off of your schedule. You finally have your days and nights straight (which was a lot of work, but well worth it) and you fall asleep in your own bed (unlike your sister who I had to rock to sleep). You love to sleep on your tummy, but I usually lay you on your back. You eat every two of three hours and take a bottle if you have to, but prefer to nurse. You're a hard baby to burp and have to get at least three good burps up or you get a tummy ache. You have gained weight quickly and are 12 pounds and five ounces - today you are wearing an outfit that is size 12 months! You still have short legs, but everyone says that they'll catch up to your body size soon. You love your pacifier, but usually only have it when you sleep. You love to arch your back all the time and have trouble sitting on my lap because of the constant arching, but you can sure hold your head up for long periods of time before doing the "bobble head" as I call it. You are really interested in this crazy thing that we call your "big sister" and can't quite figure out how to keep up with her, but watch her as long as your little eyes can follow her. You really love your mommy and know her voice, but you aren't too sure about your daddy yet as every time you've stayed with him, you have given him a pretty hard time-! It seems funny to think that we've only had you for one month - it seems as if you've always been here.

Pictures from Nana and Papa's visit

As promised, here are a couple pictures from Nana and Papa's visit...