Baby it's Cold Outside

Brrr. I love being home with my babies when it is January. Holy Moly it is cold outside. I did just see on the Grand Casino web site that today's high is tomorrow's hotel price. So does that mean they owe you money when it is -10?? Sounds like a deal to me! Oh wait, need a babysitter and someone to go with since bball is in full swing! ha!

Ryan's been really busy with ball. I sure liked having him home from school for a week - even with the bball tourney going on - which I might add his team won! First time ever! And at Ryan's alma mater! He was proud.

On NYE we went to a wedding of Ryan's HS friend, Seth. We had a great time with good friends. Can't beat that! Lola and Teague did well overnight away from us in Auntie's great care. Lola wasn't super crazy about the bottle but she adjusted when she was hungry enough! I was up bright and early ready to go home to my babies though!

Now Ryan is back to work and I have been busy being on call. I took a lot of shifts in January as there is a new manager and so I have been helping with the transition. I am enjoying the flexibility of making some money but still being able to be home!

My dad is so brave. I cannot believe all he is enduring and he never complains. He had a really rough week after he finished chemo with mouth and throat sores. His whole inside of his mouth and lips were just covered. But he never complained. We just continue to pray that he makes a full recovery from this and refuse to hear the "bad" stuff that that "C" word can bring. It's looking like surgery will be the end of Feb or beginning of March.

Otherwise we are good. My kids are fabulous and growing like weeds. Unreal.

Have a nice weekend - there's a heat wave headed our way!

Lola's Dedication

The weather was just OKAY, but we made it to church for Lola's dedication. I think there's something with having my kids dedicated and bad weather since it was the same type of weather for Teague's dedication 2 years ago. We had a nice service, dedication and wonderful brunch put on by my mother in law (YUMMY FOOD)!!

The "Mohr" Family

The Dusha Family

Grandparents


Godparents & us

The Table of 4

Lola's beautiful cake

Lola's Dedication Gown - the same one I wore a few years ago...my mom made it and my grandma Sigri (whom Lola is named after) bought the material - so lots of meaning in this gown!

This is what happens when Mommy's home alone with the kids and is busy feeding Lola - Teague gets into Lola's diaper cream....

Try to sum it up...

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all were able to celebrate with your families like we were able to do. We especially cherished this Christmas, it's just too bad that sad news makes you realize how fortunate we all are. We had a great time, my kids got too many presents and I am ready to take down all the decorations and hunker in for the long rest of the cold winter. BRRRR!

So to summarize our life for the past month:
* Lola is working on getting two teeth. Yes, that's right, TWO teeth and she is JUST 3 months old. I am super sad about this as this is just another reminder of how old she is getting TOO quickly. Teague didn't get teeth until 6 months...
* Lola still does amazingly well sleeping all night. Sometimes up to 12 hours a stretch. CANNOT COMPLAIN ABOUT SLEEP HERE THIS TIME AROUND!! WOO HOO!
* Teague is so smart (we aren't being biased at all I don't think)!! He can count up to 15 (maybe higher, we don't know as he does these types of things - counting- when he wants and not when prompted. He counted all the fish tanks at Walmart and there just happened to be 15 of them. Ryan and I looked at each other wondering who taught him that - Tina of course. He also can do the whole alphabet - again, Tina. He uses phrases and words that we can't believe he knows or even knows the correct context to use them in, like me: "Teague, should we go eat at Pizza Ranch?", Teague: "THAT'S a GREAT idea!"
*So we are super proud and smug of our kids.

My dad has started his cancer treatments and he has started to feel the negative effects of them all. That's very hard for me to see, I don't want my dad to be in ANY pain. He is so brave and strong. What a guy.

I am happy to have Ryan home for the next week (well sort of, bball tournament takes precedence of course). We have a wedding on New Year's Eve, so that will be my first night away from Lola.

Tomorrow Lola gets dedicated at church. We hope the weather stays nice enough for it! Have a great week and a Happy New Year!

Eating breakfast on Christmas morning - with Papa's silly hat!

Lola trying to lick Nana's hand on Christmas morning - wants any and everything in her mouth to comfort her sore gums! =(

Teague loves his new fleece blanket!

Lola playing Baby Jesus in the kids' program - she looks so happy!

The 3 "wise men" - or 1 Shepard, Mary and Joseph??

Chase showing Teague Baby Jesus. The youngest person is to put Baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas Eve - Lola is just a bit too young for that!

Teague placing Baby Jesus in the manger.

The Table of 4!

The best I can get of my kids together these days. The novelty of holding/hugging/kissing his sister has wore off!

Celebrating at home with the 4 of us. This is my attempt at getting a picture of the family (I don't really count).

Listen closely, she actually giggles!

Lola just jabbering away instead of being tired for bed!

Sad News

I know I haven't updated much and I swore I would be good about that being I am home more now, but I have some sad news to share. My dad (my kids' Papa) was diagnosed with Stage III Esophageal Cancer on Monday. It's been some tough news to take in and honestly it hasn't really hit me yet. I think as adults we (at least I) feel the need to reverse roles with my parents at times and be the caretaker that they have always been for me. I just want to be there for my dad - but also my mom. They are both such strong individuals so hearing/seeing them crying is difficult right now. But most of all I can't help but to worry about the impact of this on my kids. My dad and Teague have a bond you don't see everyday between a grandson and Papa. Teague doesn't understand and I just pray that we never have to explain it to him because my dad is going to beat this. Please pray for our family and especially the medical team assigned to him as he is to see the oncology surgeon on Friday. In the meantime, please keep up to date with the Caringbridge website I have started for him: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/vernmohr

I hope to get some pictures on here soon and hope to feel back to bragging up my kids again in the near future.

...the most wonderful time of the year...

She just loves to smile at Daddy!

Papa's idea of a funny prank to play on Daddy!

Getting lots of "help" from Chase, Skylar and Teague decorating the tree in the basement!

Teague wearing Skylar's Jonas Brothers hat and reading the instructions to putting the mega blocks castle together!

Here is a picture of what I heard Teague yelling up the stairs to me while he and Lola were downstairs... "Mommy I CAN'T DO IT! I CAN'T CHANGE YOYA'S DIPE DIPE! TOO HEAVY!" So I ran downstairs to her sleeper unzipped and a diaper laying next to her.

Teague's favorite thing to do is "play on Teague's bed" - I think it's because it's the place where we keep his "guk guks" and he's not supposed to have one unless he is in bed (which happens about 50% of the time) and so I think that's why he likes to "play" there. He also loves looking at the pictures on my camera so we took one while "playing" on his bed. He thought it was great!

This is such a fun time of the year, especially with kids! We are having a good time getting the yard (me anyway) decorated and most of the house for Christmas! I thought Teague would be good about leaving Christmas ornaments, etc. alone since he was very disinterested in them last year, but he can't keep his hands off of anything "new" or "unusual" in the house. He takes the fake candy canes off of the tree and bites them and proclaims "yummy!" and they are again, fake.

Ryan has started bball and we are adjusting to our new normal now. You'd think I would get the hang of it year after year, but adding another kid to the mix has changed it for me again! Lola is doing AWESOME. She is like a new baby with the zantac. The chiropractor seemed to work, but only for a day or two and then she was back to fussing and crying. Within a day or two she was a new baby on the zantac! She is taking great naps and her night sleep is wonderful. I think I can count on one hand the number of times she has gotten up more than once and more and more she is sleeping all night and she is not even 3 months! God is totally paying me back after getting up NUMEROUS times a night with Teague for nearly a year!

I am running a 5K on Saturday, should be interesting just 10 weeks post-partum. I am worried I am going to slow my friend, Beth, down! I told her this summer I was signing up to do it to motivate myself to get back into shape post-baby. It's the only way I can stay "honest" to my goals is if I sign up for a race - if I pay for it I better get my money worth! ha!

Some new videos are below! In the meantime we hope you are enjoying this wonderful time of the year.

When asked, this is what Teague thinks his name is...

He has been hanging around his big cousin Chase too much, he copies EVERYTHING Chase says. Here are the newest things he has learned from Chase...