There's No Day Like a SNOW DAY!!

Who am I kidding. When you don't have kids in school, any day you get flurries is a snow day. :-) The last couple of weeks have been freezing. Literally freezing! Last week we had a day where the high was -3! Talk about nippy! So even though we have had snow, it hasn't been worth the risk of frostbite to get out and play in it...until yesterday. :-)

It's been a dry winter here. I heard on the news last night that we are well below average when it comes to cumulative snow. Our family and friends in Wichita and Newton got almost 18" dumped on them whereas we only got about 3". And of course, we were the ones that moved to CO because we love snow. :-)

Oh well! Once the temperatures hit around 30, we bundled up and made the most of our 3". Braxton still has a love/hate relationship with snow so I tried not to overdo it with him. He seemed to enjoy it until I dumped him over in the sled. But after the dump Justin gave him in the sled (which apparently had snow down Braxton's shirt), he didn't seem too traumatized. :-)

His expression was so funny when he saw the slide. It was like he was thinking "ummm...excuse me! What happened to my slide??"

Clapping for sled rides!

Nothing will keep this kid off the playground. He couldn't understand why I wouldn't let him go all the way up, but it was too slippery and I wasn't going to take a chance since I don't have prime catching abilities.

Our little blessing!

Love You Forever

I'll love you forever
I'll like you for always
As long as I'm living,
My baby you'll be.

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch was one of my favorite books growing up - in fact, it probably still is my favorite children's book (right after Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day! :-)). The book follows the story of a mother and her son from birth until the mom is very old. Each page covers a different phase of life in the boy (baby, toddler, adolescent, teenager, and adult) but they each end with the same scenario of the mom picking up her son and singing "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living my baby you'll be." We read Love You Forever until the cover ripped off, until the pages were bent and until it looked like we had loved that book forever.

When I became a mommy on June 1, 2009, that book began to take on a whole new meaning. I began to understand what it meant to always think of your baby as your baby no matter how they grow. I began to understand what it was like to rock your baby for hours and hours, gazing into their precious little face. The first page finally made complete sense to me. Last night, the second page came to life as well.

"The baby grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was two years old, and he ran all around the house. He pulled all the books off the shelves. He pulled all the food out of the refrigerator and he took his mother's watch and flushed it down the toilet. Sometimes his mother would say, "This kid is driving me CRAZY!" But at night time, when that two-year-old was quiet, she opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor, looked up over the side of his bed; and if he was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:

I'll love you forever I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living My baby you'll be."

Yesterday we had a day exactly like what was described. Braxton was on the tail end of battling Roseola all weekend and while he was acting normally health-wise, he was overly grumpy personality-wise. He was running around the house destroying one thing after the other. He pulled all the books off our bookshelf in the time it took me to go to the bathroom. He dumped his sippy cup on our suede green chair. He woke up from his afternoon nap almost two hours early. He was hitting me all day long. He would not listen when I would tell him to do something. He would not stop touching and flushing the toilet (and I couldn't close the door because we had clothes line drying in our massive guest bathroom). He had been in timeout so many times that day that he began putting himself in time out! More than once, I told Justin "This kid is driving me CRAZY!!!"

When Justin came home from work around 5:15, I was about to pull my hair out. And of course, Braxton becomes a perfect angel the whole time Justin's home. He was laughing, playing happily in his room by himself (a feat that had caused WW3 earlier in the day), eating his dinner cheerfully. He was a completely different child. Then Justin had to go to choir practice at church. Within 5 minutes of Justin walking out the door, Braxton did a 180 again. I was having trouble getting him to focus his after dinner chore (helping unload silverware). He was more interested in throwing the silverware on the floor. Timeout. Then he wouldn't say sorry. Timeout. Still wouldn't say sorry. Timeout. Asked him to say sorry. He sat back down in the timeout corner turned his head over his shoulder and said "BYE!" (I'm not even kidding! When was he 1.5 going on 15???). As soon as I set the timer for 2 minutes, I sat down on the floor in the kitchen and cried. I was so fried. I was done! This kid was driving me CRAZY! At the end of Braxton's 4th consecutive time out, he said "sorry" and we gave hugs and kisses. Bedtime couldn't come soon enough. At bedtime we prayed for Braxton to have an obedient, cheerful heart and for mommy to have patience. We earnestly prayed for the patience! As soon as I put him down for the night, I sat on the couch and zoned. I was exhausted from all the focus and attention he had required that day. I knew all the discipline and "discussions" would pay off and be worth it, but that didn't change the fact that I was exhausted.

Then Kaden woke up. He is really quiet during the day and at night likes to perk up and move around. It was around 10:00pm and I was so tired I just wanted to curl up in bed and end this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day! But Kaden rolling around in my belly was preventing any sleep from happening.

Around 11:00pm after another hour of having nothing to do but watch my stomach bounce up and down and think about the day, I was feeling haunted by how horrible it was. I felt awful for the times I had lost my patience with Braxton. Did he lay there in bed thinking mommy didn't like him anymore? I know those aren't really rational thoughts, but it was 11:00 and my brain wasn't in the best shape. But then it had a brilliant idea...

I quietly opened the door to his room, snuck across the floor (because let's face it, 6.5 month pregnant women don't crawl!), looked over the side of his bed, and once I ensured that that baby boy was fast asleep, I picked him and rocked him back and forth, back and forth. And while I rocked him, I whispered (for fear singing would wake him up!) "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living my baby you'll be." He lifted his head, half awake and very groggily said "mama?" Melt my heart!! He nestled into my shoulder and went soundly back to sleep. I rocked and rocked and rocked. While I rocked I prayed for God to help me become the mommy Braxton needs me to be. I prayed for forgiveness for the moments when I wasn't an example of Christ to Braxton. I prayed for the patience to discipline with love and control. I prayed for extra measures of grace if we have a repeat of that day tomorrow. Isaiah 40:11 says, "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he will gather the lambs with his arm, and carry (them) in his bosom, (and) shall gently lead those that are with young." Lead me, Father! Show me how I'm supposed to train and raise this little Covenant child because right now I feel like running away!

I realized there's nothing wrong with admitting a phase of life is difficult. It doesn't mean you are discontent or wishing you never had children. When you admit that something is difficult and you are struggling, you admit that you need guidance. Hang up the supermom cape and hang onto the Shepherd's Hand! There's so much pressure on moms to have it all together and to be perfect, when in reality we need to be gently lead by our Heavenly Father the same way we are to gently lead our children. We're not going to be perfect. We're going to stumble and fall and have rough days. But as I was rocking my baby, "singing" to him and reminding him how much mommy really does love him, I was letting myself be rocked and comforted by my Heavenly Father who spoke to my heart and reminded me "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living My child you'll be."

The Reluctant Clipper

I've always loved a good deal - but I like good deals that I just happen upon. Like an 80% off clearance rack at Target. Those are my favorite. I hate coupons. I hate having to think through every single shopping trip trying to find the best deals. I hate having to plan my shopping trips and drag my toddler to 3 different stores. But I love saving money. What's a girl to do? Well this girl has been just toying around with coupons the last 6 months. I'd have a couple of really good weeks, then forget about it for a little while, then try it again...meh.

As many of you know, our home back in Wichita has been on the market for almost 9 months with almost no interest. Each month we have been paying mortgage and utilities on a house we don't even live in, in addition to rent and utilities for our apartment out here. It has been extremely draining to our budget, but by the grace of God we have been able to do this so far without accumulating any debt. We made the commitment before we got married that we would not go into debt outside of a mortgage. It's easy to keep that commitment when times are easy. It's harder during times like we are in now. That little piece of plastic looks really tempting (and it's really easy to justify using it when you're talking about buying groceries - not something trivial like a new pair of shoes). What's a girl to do?

This girl had to do what this girl hated - coupons and deal seeking. *Deep reluctant sigh* Oye. I can honestly say I've never been in a position in my life where I HAD to clip coupons and shop sales. While we've never been rolling in the money, we've always had plenty to fulfill our needs and the majority of our wants. Couponing was just a little extra perk and the money I saved usually went toward a fun date...not toilet paper.

One of my New Years "Resolutions" was to have more resolve. I'm notorious for sticking with something for about two weeks. I really wanted to strive to have more self discipline and more consistency in my goals that I set for myself (and goals we set for our family). Well, God has given me the perfect opportunity to work on that. :-) As with anything in life, you can do it with a grumbling, "why me, God????" attitude or you can chin up and look at it as a challenge and a new adventure. My sin nature naturally wants to choose the first response because its an easy cop out. But where will that get me in life? Bitter and angry. Instead, by much prayer and God's faithfulness, I'm going to choose to look at this phase of life as a challenge and a new adventure.

Two verses I have been clinging to this past month are:
Philippians 4:19 - And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 6:8 - And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

My goals are small right now. Our monthly budget for food has been $220/month for all of us. This does not include date nights or eating out. It does include breakfast/lunch/dinner for all of us though because Justin packs his lunch every day. My February goal is to absorb the cost of our household products into our grocery budget. We had been paying for those out of a separate cash envelope, but my goal is to not touch that envelope all month. That would be a $20-30/month savings. Doesn't sound like much but over the course of a year it adds up.

So I begin my journey toward becoming a wiser steward of our shopping budget. I'm using this blog as a way to hold myself accountable, but also as a visual reminder for myself during my "off weeks" when I'm just not feeling like mapping out the deals. Another aspect of this new goal that I'm excited about is watching God work through our grocery budget. It's the daily things in life that if you slow down and look for God's hand, He will prove that He is faithful and will (not might - not maybe - but will!) supply our every need...and yes, I do have to remind myself daily that Sonic Happy Hour is not a true need in the grand scheme of life... :-)

The Naked Cowboy

I mean, really? Does it get any cuter than a cloth diaper and a cowboy hat? This kid wears his cowboy hat everywhere. I let him roam around the house in his diaper for about half an hour a few days ago and these were all the different poses I found him in (I promise - nothing is staged. He's just naturally this adorable!)

And just cause it's fun...

My Christmas Surprise!

My big Christmas surprise came in the form of a box full of blue. We had our gender ultrasound on December 16. I had been anxiously counting the days to twenty weeks since the afternoon I found out I was pregnant (you think I'm joking! I'm not!). The night before the ultrasound I had a quick change of heart and opted not to find out. Instead, I wanted Justin to surprise me with the news Christmas morning. My reasoning is the dads rarely get to do any of the surprising when it comes to baby things. We aren't going to have many more of these big moments in life and I'd rather hear this special news from my husband, not some ultrasound tech who is tired, grumpy and wishing she would've gotten a snow day (she actually said that as I laid down on the ultrasound table. Nevermind that this is a big day for us!!). It was fun to do something a little different, but those were the longest 9 days of my life! :-)

On one hand, I was surprised Kaden was a boy...on the other hand, I wasn't. The whole pregnancy my gut has said boy, but my pregnancy symptoms have been completely opposite of Braxton's so I kind of figured it was a girl. Either way I knew I would be elated - I just wanted to know!! :-) Thankfully he didn't make me wait long on Christmas morning. Enjoy the video! Sorry it's kind of long. I didn't feel like editing. :-)






We can't wait to meet you Baby Kaden!!!!

Christmas!

I'm really not even sure why I bothered taking my camera with us to Wichita. We were there for 10 days and I used my camera two of them. So here are a few of our Christmas memories that we managed to capture. :-)

Braxton with two of the Aunts. This was on Christmas Eve when we celebrated Christmas in Meade with Justin's grandparents. We left Colorado Springs at 5:00am that morning, endured 5.5 hours of driving (plus one episode of projectile vomiting from toddler) before arriving. We left Meade around 7:00 and drove to Wichita, arriving at my family's house around midnight (just like Santa!). I was hoping we'd see reindeer, but no such luck.

Braxton thanking Grandma and Grandpa Isaac for the truck they gave him.

Getting up at 5:00am and then not having a nap will wear a little guy out!

He kind of has a thing for hats...and "pretties" (aka "no touch!!!")

A mere twelve hours later at my parents house Christmas morning. Kathrynne and Johnny await commencing of present-opening.

Grandkids...plus Johnny.

Siblings

Where's Braxton? Drowning in the wrapping paper

Trying to get a good family picture at stocking time, but Braxton was pretty much done with Christmas by this point.

That's all there is! The rest will just have to be memories!

Proper Care and Feeding of Bergen Boys

I told my husband the other night after tasting our homemade Alfredo sauce "mmmm! That is yumm-O!" Then jokingly added "You married one good cook!" His reply "No. I married someone who learned how to be a good cook." Oh my. Yes, I suppose it's true. Our meals those first few months were meager at best. It wasn't for lack of knowing. My mom did teach me how to cook and meal plan. It definitely wasn't that I didn't care about food - it was just very very low on the priority list after classes, homework and teaching.

Then came along morning sickness, then a newborn, then major work projects (CYT, etc.), then the move to CO, then another bout of morning sickness. Whew! It's been a big couple of years. While my skill in the kitchen got better the longer we were married and blended our meanings of "yummo" (don't even get us started on spaghetti! That one is still a debate! I like sauce - he likes paste), well rounded, creative meal planning always seemed to take a back seat to whatever was going on.

Maybe it was the ravenous hunger that comes with the second trimester of pregnancy, maybe it was the fact that I now have two guys in the house that eat full meals, but I have been more determined the last few months to plan hearty, healthy, well rounded meals.

My new best friend is The Pioneer Woman. Her recipes are hearty (Justin votes yes!), tasty (Braxton votes yes!) and relatively inexpensive (Laura votes yes!). As you can see, it's a fan favorite in the Bergen household.

I've also started couponing/sale shopping again. Out here you really have to unless you want to be stuck eating the "great value" (maybe more like gag value?) Walmart brands while trying to stick to a grocery budget. So every Wednesday night, I sit down at the dining room table armed with my personal cookbook, my Pioneer woman cookbook and springsbargains.com and map out our next week of meals. I plan 21 meals a week and then if we decide to eat out, something gets rolled to the next week. I make my list of whats on sale and then I find recipes to go with what ingredients I'm planning to purchase. I've found that using this method has really expanded our menu. We're trying new things like homemade fried chicken (I FRIED it people...in oil! Legit fried chicken!) or getting to experience old favorites with quality ingredients (there is no comparison for Chicken Alfredo with Philadelphia Cream Cheese :-)).

Here's a glance at our menu for the coming week.

Our menus start on Thursday because that's the day I go grocery shopping (the day the sales rotate). I also only plan breakfasts and lunches for Saturday and Sunday. On Weekdays Braxton and I wing it with whatever we're feeling like. :-)
Thursday - Chicken and Rice Casserole with a side salad
Friday - Malaga Stew (trying to use up potatoes I got on sale a few weeks ago before they go bad!)
Saturday Breakfast- Homemade Cinnamon rolls
Saturday Lunch - Frozen Pizza (got this for a steal of a deal this week!!)
Saturday Supper - French toast with fruit salad (bread and eggs were on sale.)
Sunday Breakfast - Chocolate Malt o Meal (Justin makes it every Sunday for himself and Braxton)
Sunday Lunch - Leftovers or Grilled cheese
Sunday Supper - Pork Chops, Sauteed broccoli and Oven fried potatoes
Monday - Spaghetti, side salad and homemade rolls (Monday is officially spaghetti night!)
Tuesday - Chicken and Noodles, steamed carrots and side salad
Wednesday - BBQ Meatballs, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans

There you have it! I'm hungry just looking at it.

Good News and Bad News

Well, the good news is we are still living and loving in Colorado! The "bad" news is, we've been so busy with our activities that it doesn't leave a lot of time for extra things like blogging.

Here are a few updates about us:

Justin:
Justin has been putting in hundreds of hours creating his program Alesco. Almost every night as soon as dinner is finished, he's on his computer working again. Quick break to read Braxton bedtime stories, then its back to work until 2-3am. It's been long and taxing, but the end is nearing and we're praying that all his hard work will pay off!! If only two people buy the program - we may both cry.

Rock climbing season is kind of at a stand still because the rock is so cold. He got to go snowboarding a few weeks ago with his brother and cousins which I heard was a really fun, albeit tiring, trip. He is still going to choir practice every Monday night and has started attending a young husbands/father's Bible study led by one of our church elders on Saturday mornings.

Laura:
I'm not going to talk about myself in third person. :-) Right now I'm about 25.5 weeks along into this pregnancy. I finally stopped getting sick about two weeks ago and it has been wonderful to finally have long-term relief!! Now that the hardest and most daunting part of pregnancy is behind me, I've started getting more excited looking at baby stuff and begin making some purchases. Not saying it wasn't fun before, its just I was more focused on surviving. :-)

I'm still attending my women's Bible study on Tuesday mornings and I recently started trading babysitting with a friend who has twin girls Braxton's age. That way we each get one morning a week as "me time" to work on projects or have a few hours of quiet. It's been great to see Braxton interacting with other toddlers again.

Music Man rehearsals begin next Tuesday. I've been working on creating dances and movements that will be challenging but not overwhelming for the actors. I'm loving being back in the dancing world - now if I could just get my center of gravity to stop shifting every couple of days. :-)

Braxton:
Whew! We definitely have a TODDLER on our hands. I hear a lot that we've hit the terrible twos early. I wouldn't call them terrible. My child isn't terrible. This stage is very very difficult though. Trying to remain consistent in discipline when you've been disciplining for the same thing all day is very difficult. Trying to remember to keep things into perspective is difficult. But at the same time, for every hard side of life - the flip side is absolutely amazing.

He is learning and absorbing so much of the world around him. He can distinguish almost every major body part and can identify 10-15 animals as well as the noise they make. He has started showing an interest in counting, but not enough to really learn the concept. He loves his daily Elmo time in the morning and Barney in the afternoon (while I make dinner!). This morning Elmo taught the chicken dance and Braxton walked around all morning with his arms tucked under like wings and singing "cluck cluck cluck." He is still a picky eater, but he is doing better. We found that giving him a big for and spoon like ours encourages him to eat more.

My favorite thing about Braxton right now is his expressions and his goofiness. He can clearly differentiate between using "Oh My!" as an exclamatory phrase and using it as part of an exasperated sigh...and he uses them regularly in the correct context. Whenever Justin "sings" along with the music its usually more like mouthing the words. Braxton has picked up on this and whenever we have music on, he sways his head with the beat and pretends to mouth along with the words. We got video of it the other night, I'll have to see if I can put it on here. The other goofy thing he has started is he'll grab your face with his hands and bring it to his face like he's going to kiss you. Then when you're about a millimeter from his face he sticks out his tongue and gives you a big lick on the cheek. It's disgusting and we have no idea where he learned it!! But at the same time, we can't stop laughing once he does it. The hard thing is, that he's inconsistent enough that you never know if you're going to get a kiss or a lick. Ewwwww!

A huge accomplishment is that we are finally binkie free! It took about 30 hours to get to where he wouldn't fuss at all for naptimes and he's been doing great without it. My hope is that he is completely independent from it by the time Kaden is born so he's not tempted to steal Kaden's.

Kaden
Speaking of Kaden, might as well do a little excerpt about him. :-) Only about 14 more weeks until we get to meet our new little man! We chose the name Kaden...well...because we liked it. It took a while to agree on a name, which was funny because we had a girls name chosen almost right away. On our 8 hour drive home from Wichita for Christmas we decided we were just going to talk until we decided. We narrowed it down to two and then decided on Kaden. We do have a middle name, but we are keeping it a secret until he is born. Can't give away all the details, now can we? :-)

We had to have a follow up ultrasound a few weeks ago based on some concerns our OB had about Kaden's heard from his 20week ultrasound. They had concerns about the vessels, the chambers and fluid build up. Thankfully, everything looked normal on the follow up!! He does still have fluid build up, which can be indicative of Down Syndrome, but they said it wasn't enough to cause enough concern to recommend an amnio. They also checked many of the other body aspects (bridge of nose, cleft, etc.) that would contain flags for Down Syndrome and they all appeared normal. So as of right now, our risks of him being born with Down Syndrome are within a normal range based on my age. That was such a relief to hear.

We also got to see some amazing 4D images of him while at the U/S. From the 20 week 2D ultrasound I thought his profile looked very different from Braxton's. Well, they did a 4D full face picture of Kaden (not just a profile) and my boys definitely look like brothers!! I held the ultrasound picture next to one of Braxton's newborn pictures and it looks like they have the same nose and eye/forehead shape. I do see a big difference in the chin. Kaden has Justin's chin whereas Braxton has more of mine. Of course, only once he's born can we tell for sure but it was fun to already see some slight resemblances between the two.

Braxton loves to give Kaden kisses, but now he's a little confused and points to his own chubby belly and says "Kay kay?"

House:
Yes, I'm updating on the house. It's like the member of our family that just doesn't want to leave. Right now, things are still at a stand still. We pulled it from the market and have hopes of renting it out. Justin oversaw the completion of the basement and it looks beautiful! We get asked a lot if we have renters for it - trust me - when we have renters, you will know! :-) We will be shouting it from the rooftops. It looks like we will be staying in our little apartment at least through August. Of course, we appreciate all prayers that our house would quickly rent so we can begin saving for a new house soon.

Well that about does it for now. I'll leave you with an adorable video I got of Braxton. Everyday he unloads the silverware as one of his "chores." I love seeing him develop a heart that wants to help. And please excuse the messy kitchen - but you gotta unload the dishwasher before you can reload it! :-)

Our Little Monkey!

Braxton's was a monkey for halloween this year. We didn't take him trick or treating because I still think he's too young. We went to the Reformation Day party at our church and Braxton and the other little toddler (who was dressed as a dragon) got honorable mention in the costume contest. What can I say? They were too much adorableness for words! :-)

Look at the tail!!! :-)

Peek-a-boo!

The real monkey of the Bergen family

We took off the costume and let him play for a little while. The slide is his favorite part of the playground!

Gotta love the banana!

Our family after the party at church

Happy November!!!

We did family pictures on Saturday so that we would be able to order our Christmas cards before the season rush. :-) We went to the lodge that we had our wedding reception at. They have really developed the land behind it and now there is gorgeous landscaping in the forest. We also had an unusually warm day so we took advantage of it! (Even though, as you will notice, the sun got in our way for some of the pictures!)

Enjoy!!