December

Well, I have about one hour to post this and have accomplished my goal of at least one blog post per month for the year! So let me attempt to recap December for you...

December started with lots of concerts and parties. I think in all we had 9 concerts and 5 parties! What a month! The week before Christmas my brother Joel and my sister-in-law Shantel and their 5 children all came from Minnesota to visit. We had a week of one family function after another. On Tuesday the 22nd we all met at Heritage and spent the day watching movies, playing games and doing puzzles (which was a good thing because it rained all day).

Everyone talked, ate and played...

Cousins got acquainted...

Joel brought Spike and all the kids got to play inside him...

Super Smashbrothers went for hours...

When all the family festivities were done, it was finally time for us to enjoy Christmas! This was taken Christmas morning and though it's blurry (the lights were off), I think you get the idea. Angie was so excited!!

It was a fun day for all of us, even Ruth did a pretty good job opening her gifts.

The year was finished off by Caleb's brother Eric getting married on the 29th.

Now to make my Holiday cards and do all of the other things I just didn't have time for this year. More to come in 2010...
Happy New Year!!!!!

Granny Annie

About two weeks ago my niece purchased a wig and thus began Granny Annie! The latest webisode is Grannie's Thanksgiving, but I will post all of the earlier ones in reverse order. Enjoy! By the way, these movies were filmed and edited by my other niece LeeAnn and they are unscripted for the most part.

Granny's Thanksgiving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjEy9vAeSeY

Granny Annie-Twilight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKEfswJWQXM&feature=channel

Granny Annie & the coupon book

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCMuvUi5eSI

Granny Annie feeds the birds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwYPVoGWENc


Cute girls and lots of talent!

Halloween Fun

This year Angelique decided to be a witch for Halloween and after much searching I finally decided to make her costume myself. I am always amazed at how much they can charge for so little costume! It took me about two hours from start to finish, but I did not have a patern so I had to make one myself. I don't think it turned out too bad. She was happy with it and that is the most important thing.

Here she is making her scary witch face!

Of course she had to have a broom

Ruthie got to be a dragon this year. After Halloween last year I found this costume for $5 and decided it didn't matter if I had a baby or not, I couldn't pass that up. Isn't she cute?

I love the back! Hood was a little too big, but otherwise a perfect fit.

My two girls!

Spooky!!!

This year we actually found time to decorate our house for Halloween! Caleb went all out with blacklight, scorpions and everything! It ended up looking really good in the end and all of the trick-or-treaters were very impressed.

This is the pumpkin Angie and Caleb carved. Unfortunately I was stuck down at the school building the set for our upcoming play, but I'm glad they had fun. From what I understand, Ruthie had a lot of fun watching the whole thing transpire.

They also decided to write on the back. And yes, it was "Creepy"...

This is Bob. He was added to our decoration a couple of years ago. He is light sensitive and says thing like "If you think I'm scary, you should look in the mirror." His eyes light up and usually his mouth moves, but his mouth suddenly decided not to work. Caleb will have to try and fix him next year.

We found this awesome spider at Target this year and couldn't resist him. Now all we need is a really big web to put him in.

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope your was as good as ours!

Ruthie

This picture is of Ruth.
Most of you guessed right, but some of you had some help. I still can't believe how similar Angie and Ruth look. It has been so long since Angie was that small, I had forgotten what she looked like.

It has started to get colder now and I can't wait to bundle Ruth up. She looks so snuggly in her winter clothes! This is her ready to go for a walk for the first time in a stroller. We walked to Aunt Karen's house to get her food processor so I could make a pie crust!

Angie had to jump in for this one. Can't let Ruthie steel all of her thunder!

My little girls

My two little girls
Both 3 months old
Can you tell which is which?



I had no idea they looked so much alike. It is really amazing the resemblance. I have been looking through pictures all weekend and I realized if I don't label all my pictures now I will never be able to tell the girls apart.

Leave your guess in a post and we will see how many of you get it right!

12 Weeks Old!

Ruth is now 12 weeks old and is getting so big! She is very close to rolling over from her back to her stomach without help and she is starting to grab for toys!

Peeking at Daddy!

She loves it when Daddy works on building up his embouchure, she thinks it's funny.

She is also very good at spitting now and thinks it is hilarious if you spit back!

"Those who control information hold the power."

I have always wondered about intervention in births and how much is really necessary. As most of you know I choose to have my babies at home. I have several reasons for this; one, I don't like to be touched by strangers and that can't be helped in a hospital. Two, I don't want my baby taken out of my sight. After nine months of taking care of it, talking to it and growing more attached to it every day, I think I have the right to hold it for as long as I want and no one should be able to take it away from me or touch it if I don't want them to. Three, I like to do things at my own speed and in my own way (I'm afraid I am about as stubborn as they come). I could go on and on, but I will leave it at that for now. You might think I'm crazy, but when asked, I would probably say the same thing about people who have their babies in the hospital. My opinion is that hospitals are for sick people and I am not sick (nor do I want to become sick). In 1960 the US was 12th lowest in low infant death rates, as of 2004 we are 29th out of a list of only 35 other countries! (http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/04/06/health/infant_stats.html) What is going on? That is very concerning to me.

The other day I found this article -

Fish can't see water The need to humanize birth in Australia

by Marsden Wagner (MD, MSPH)
http://www.birthinternational.com/articles/wagner03.html

It is full of things I have been thinking about for a long time, but could not find very much research to back up what I believed to be true. Dr. Wagner makes the statement "Those who control information hold the power." I think this is so true. We need to do our research and not be afraid to ask questions. We are the ones hiring our doctors to work for us. If you had an employee you were already paying and they came to you and said that they had a list of things they wanted to do for you, but each one would cost you extra; wouldn't you do your research to see which things were necessary and which were not? Doctor's are only human and they don't know everything. Each body is unique and cannot be expected to fit into a mold that has been created by analyzing data. (I should stop here and say that I do appreciate doctors and I defiantly think that hospitals have there place, but I also think most interventions in birth are unnecessary and cause more problems than they help.) I am not suggesting that no woman should ever go to a hospital to have a baby, but that she do her research before she gets there and knows what she wants to have happen while she is there. I think it is important that each woman birth where she is comfortable, with people she is comfortable with.

Well, I will get off my soapbox now because I need to get to bed. Please read this article and leave me comments, I am very interested to see what others have to say about it.

Labor Day

We had a nice day of bike riding, breakfast at Cracker Barrel and a long nap!

I love long naps!

Ruth woke up right after I took that last picture, but at least she was happy. Try as I might though, every time I would hold up the camera she would stop smiling.

She is so funny!

Angie's First Tooth

Angie lost her first tooth today
(with a little help from Caleb)

Thus begins months of complaining about not being able to eat! Caleb said after he pulled it he was sitting in the living room and she came running in (with ice still in her mouth) and said "I love you, thank you for pulling my tooth out!" It made his day!

Ruth

My Little Ruth
7 Weeks old today!

Polling Time!

Here are your baby pictures to compare and decide who Ruth looks the most like. You can vote on the right side of the screen.

Caleb


Jennifer


Angelique

Visiting

Visitors are welcome anytime. Please call first to make sure we are not asleep and plan on a short visit. Can't wait for you to meet Ruth!

Ruth Katherine Shoemaker

Ruth Katherine
Born at home on Friday, July 3rd 2009 at 9:26pm
Weight: 8pounds 13oz
Length: 201/2"

Look at her hair!!! (I hope it stays!)

Angie with her new little sister. She is SO proud!

More of Ruth

Three and a half month ultrasound

Six month ultrasound

Birthday picture July 3rd 2009

Mom and Baby
(So glad she is here and everything went well)

Ruth and her Daddy
(Relieved is an understatement!)

The Last Picture!

Here you go! The last picture of me with my big belly!

Any day now it will be gone and I have to say that I will not miss it very much. Though it has been fun, I will be happy to sleep again! (and wear my clothes and bend over and walk normal...you can take it from here!)
Everything is ready! just waiting on you Ruth!!!
Next posting.....BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Montissori House Graduation!

On Monday, May 18th Angie's school had a graduation for all those leaving 6th grade and those leaving Kindergarten.
Here is Angie getting her certificate of achievement from her teachers.

Angie in her cap and gown (isn't she so cute! She looks so little!!)

This is Angie with her cousin Annie who was also graduating (though not from kindergarten)

So, now it's on to first grade! I can hardly believe it. Next year should be an adventure for all of us!