Seven Years of Love

Dave and I got married seven years ago in Madison, WI. Every year we go back to celebrate our marriage and reminisce of the days we met and how much fun we had on campus. I do love Madison and I can't stop smiling the whole time I am there. We got in a few dates... dinner at the Italian Restaurant where we had our rehearsal dinner, canoeing in Lake Mendota, biking around Lake Wingra. It was much like the day we got engaged. It is fun to return to my college town with Luke and Eva. I love sharing Madison with them. It is "The Snapple," the Greatest Place on Earth.

My Mom with Eva and the flamingos.

Dave canoeing past lake shore path and the crew house. It reminded me of all my runs along the path and the ones that ended with a jump in the lake. It also reminded me of the white pier that Dave and I swam off of in our early dating days. We canoed near The Edgewater, the first place we went in public when we were engaged. I will never forget looking at my ring sparkle there as we ate dinner.

Luke is playing at James Madison Park. In college, I overlooked this park from my "penthouse" apartment. I could watch the men living in the vans in the parking lot, people playing basketball at all hours, and great sun sets. I laugh about finding a sleeper sofa on the curb and making it our own. I laugh about my roommate riding her scooter in 2 feet of snow with her goggles on. I laugh about the Christmas tree we had with no needles. I laugh about my other roommate dating 3 guys at the same time while she lived there. I loved doing my Nordic track in my bedroom over looking the lake while I listened to Sarah Groves. I liked our acoustic lounge Jackie wanted to sing in. I loved that we had a self portrait of Jackie on the wall.

Here I was re-creating my wedding pictures. I just used Luke instead of Dave.

The picture above shows me practicing spinning with Luke. This is the same place Dave and I practiced our fox trot up on top of the Monona Terrace before our wedding reception. What a great day!

We had a great time walking by the farmer's market. I remember going to the farmers market in college and wishing that I had more than one person to cook for. Now I have this family that I love so much. I never would have guessed it would be so good.

Dave, I will love you forever.

Mother's Day

The Friday before Mother's Day was beautiful. The weather made it seem like spring was really here. I had a very special day with the children.

Mother's Day is deceiving because Luke and Eva are supposed to appreciate you for a day and they do not even know it is Mother's day. So, husbands have to appreciate their wives in honor of the children. But the Friday before Mother's day was such a gift where Luke and Eva really loved me all day long. It started with a mother's day breakfast at school. Luke and I sat a one of his small snack tables and ate a breakfast snack together. His eyes were bright as he was narrorating what everyone was doing. Later, Luke made me a gift at school and when I picked him up he galloped to get it, looked inside, and then shouted, "My Gift," and ran to give me a long hug. I cried just a little. On the way home the grade school was having a half day so there were many buses wating to pick up the children. As we drove past, Luke asked to go back and watch the buses so we made a U-turn and went back to school. We got out of the car and watched all the dismissal activity. Luke stood with a wide stance and his hands clapsed behind his back appearing to be very serious about his bus watching business. Both kids napped at the same time. And then we spent the rest of the day enjoying the beautiful weather. In the evening I went out to eat with 9 great friends that I am doing a bible study with. It is always great to get in some Ladie's nights.

On Sunday we went to Eberts with both sides of the family and then we went out to eat with Dave's family and had a wonderful time. Luke enjoyed reading books with all the familiy members and looking out the window at a bus parked outside.

I have realized that I do not like change. I love my kids just the way they are and don't want them to get one day older. I wish I could always have a 6 month old and a 3 year old around for the rest of my life. The only problem, I will be alive for 60 more years and it is not possible for me to have 30 more children so I can always have young kids. Even if I had 8 more children they would still grow up. When the children are older and I miss this young stage I may need to get a pet; a dog or a horse. I will need something that I can give unlimited kisses to and pet.

Happy Easter 2009

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays. Growing up we always celebrated it at my Grandad's home in Sterling, Illinois, with my extended family. I love spring -and it was always slighly warmer there than in Wisconsin. One of our Easter traditions, that I loved as a child, was hunting for our Easter baskets. My dad, the bunny, would hide them 25 feet up a tree, over a 6 foot stone fence, on a beaver's dam, and other creatvie places. This year I was the bunny. I hid the baskets for Luke and Eva and I loved watching Luke run to find both. Now he has been carrying around all his important items in his basket. He has his blankets and stuffed animals in them currently.

I also loved Easter because I loved wearing an Easter dress. My grandmother would buy all the girls Easter corsages that we would wear to church. We would bring home an Easter lily from the front of the sanctuary. Everyone in the family would sing, "Christ, is risen, Allelulia" throughout the day as they felt lead. They would sing the special "Grandy way" where you do a heel raise for every high note. After church we would lay out on the grass on a pink sheet and absorb the sun that we had not felt over the long winter. We would climb the magnolia tree and take our pictures there. Now, I was the one carrying my daughter in her dress. I love her so much and kiss her all the time and I still want her to know that I love her more. I want to give my children the special memories I have of Easter.

Sweet Spot

I am so thankful for the wonderful child care that I have found for Luke and Eva as I work on Tuesday and Thursday. Before Luke and Eva were at a day care called All About Learning. Dave dropped the kids off and picked up so I did not have to say good bye to the kids on a daily basis. Yet every day I hated to leave and I wanted to quit my job. I imagined them in one room for 10.5 hours with rotating hourly workers.

Now, Eva stays with Marilyn and three of my co-workers kids. Eva gets held and loved all day long. Marilyn even has two pictures of Eva framed and hanging in the wall of her foyer. I am so fortunate to have her to love Eva. I enjoy working again because of her. Here are the boys letting Eva drive the space ship to Pluto and then then sun.

Luke's school has also been a wonderful place for him to receive consistent love. He will have the same two teachers until he is 5.5 years old and starts attending Kindergarten. Every week a family brings the sharing basket. Last week we brought the basket with strawberries, cantaloupe, bananas, grapes, flowers, many crackers, gallons of milk, and cleaning supplies.

Luke's Third Birthday

Luke has accomplished so much in three years. It is such a fun milestone as a parent. There are a lot of things that I love about Luke but here are a few of the most recent...

How he will come by me 5-6 times throughout the day and say, "I love my mommy," and then give me a hug and kiss.

How he looks out the window at the dead grass, the arborvitae with winter burn, the grey clouds, and the wind blowing and says, "It is beautiful outside, it is beautiful." (That is the exact opposite of what I think is beautiful.)

How he sometimes just wants to lay in the pillows in the family room and talk together.

How he says, "excuse me," when I open the garage door into him and he is pinned behind the door and falling off of the stair.

I love him so much.

After receiving this puzzle gift (below) he completed it 8 times in 24 hours while he was playing with all his other new toys.



Luke was so excited for his birthday that he helped Dave do some of the shopping for his party. He bought the plates, napkins, and his candle. He slept with the #3 candle for two days before his party. He then carried around his plates and re-stacked them in all areas of the house while he was talking about who was going to be at his party..

Grandma and Grandpa Krause came over on Luke's actual birthday of March 31st. He got a Thomas the train car - James - that is motorized. He also got a basketball hoop. Eva also got a present, a pink camping chair, to match her brother's yellow chair. Luke liked it more than Eva and wanted to hold Eva in the chair.

My sister and Grandy also have March birthdays. Here is my sister who is fabulous at 40 and my Grandy who is magnificent at 95.

Priceless Love

I never counted on having children that love each other. Typically, I expect the worst so that I can not be disappointed. I didn't know I would love watching child one help child two. When I was doing laundry in my room after I put Eva down for a nap Luke insisted that she needed her stuffed animal. He went downstairs to get it for her and then ran back up the stairs. As he was doing this I just warned him not to put it on top of her face. Later, I went in and saw how perfect she was after Luke tucked her in for her nap.
Now Luke is wearing Eva's new sun hat and drinking from his pink bottle. He must like having a sister. He does love the part in the song, "He's got the whole world in his hands," where it says ,"you and me sister." He makes sure to point to Eva where ever she is...upstairs, still in the car sleeping, or sitting on my lap.

Having two kids is great most of the time. I didn't want to leave out a note about the difficult times, however, since Eva has been born here are the books that I have read:

Bringing up Boys

Love Languages of Children

Parenting with Love and Logic

Raising Kids You Want to Keep

How to Talk so Children Will Listen

Manipulative Children

Changing Your Child's Behavior by Changing Yours

My least favorite parts of the days are when my children hurt me (physically). Eva is really good at pulling my hair, scratching me, and pulling away about 6 inches while she is nursing while not letting go of me. Luke has started this new thing where he tries to strangle me and pull my hair and climb on me at the same time. It is a good thing these only happen once a day.

Occasionally, I want to be able to get more things done in a day. But at the end of the day I can always count on the fact that I have loved my children.

Luke helping at home

Luke recently switched classrooms at his Montessouri school. His new teacher is Ms. Kim. Luke has been loving school and enjoying being part of a community. His favorite things are helping set the table for lunch time and helping push the dishes to the dish washer. At Montessori school the first year is focused on doing tasks of daily life and developing sensorial awareness. Here are some things he has been doing at home...

I want to lay by Eva

Luke has started to play with his sister a little. He asks to have her propped in a bumbo while he plays by her. He also asks to lay by her when she is laying on the couch. He informs her when he burps and blesses her when she sneezes. He likes to rock her in her car seat and he likes to turn her sound machine on and off. He talks all about her pretty outfits with flowers and her small feet. I am glad he likes her. What would I ever do without them?

Operation Bottle

Well, aside from Eva smiling all the time and sleeping though the night she has one little issue. She will not drink from a bottle. She has gone 16 hours without eating on Sunday and she goes up to 5 1/2 hours between feedings while I am at work. I leave work twice to nurse her. We have tried 9 different bottles. We have tried formula. My mom has tried cheer leading for 1 hour straight. Dave has tried marching with her singing "The Saints Go Marching In" while feeding her. Since I returned to work I thought her day care provider might have some luck. She is known as the "baby whisper." She told me on Thursday that she feels like a failure. I am still deciding how to proceed with this situation. Here is Eva on her 16 hour fast. She would cry with the bottle in her mouth and was much happier with no bottle.

Here is Dave feeding her with a silver spoon. It worked better than the eye dropper, syringe, and tippi cup.

Luke's First Week of School

Well, this week started out rough. Luke cried violently for 30 minutes on his first day of school. That episode made me feel so bad that I decided that I would never leave Luke again... no more church, working out at the health club, working as a physical therapist, etc. Luke had enjoyed three and one half solid weeks of time at home with me and extra time with Dave at the holidays so the only thing he wanted to do was, "Stay at Luke's house."

Fast forward to the end of the week.... Now Luke has a special glow in his eye when I pick him up from school. He is so proud and he talks about how much fun he had. He is already applying many of the things he is learning. He has gone from basket case (that may be a word only my family uses) to marching in straight lines and saying "more brusselsprouts!"

I was a little worried about Luke having to conform to too many rules and standards with the Montessori process. It is a amazing way of learning however they are very particular. For instance, when doing an activity you must lay out a work matt, then take the activity off of the shelf with two hands and place it down, then get on your knees, and then use three fingers to remove the pegs. If you sat instead or used two fingers you would be corrected. (It is a wonder that these teachers never say no. They can influence children by modeling instead.) There are other things I was worried about also. Could he go three hours without running or being silly? Can he carry glass plates and dishes without dropping them? Can he stay dry when he is in a new enviornment? Can he say, "Good morning Mrs. Smyczck" and shake her hand as they must do as they come in the room? Can he even say Mrs. Smyczck and Mrs. Ashwini Manjul?

I think that Luke may have the best teacher he will ever have until he gets to college. Here is her bio:

Mrs. Laura Smyczek, Lead Teacher.Mrs. Smyczek received her Elementary (ages 6-12) AMI (Association Montessori Internationale) Diploma from the Montessori Institute of Milwaukee in 1994, followed by her Primary (ages 3-6) AMI Diploma from the Midwest Montessori Institute, in 2000.She taught in a Lower Elementary class at Forest Bluff School in Lake Bluff, Illinois, and during that time, she was featured in Paula Polk Lillard's book, Montessori Today, and was invited to be a speaker at an AMI/USA National Conference on grace and courtesy.She has lived in France and Italy and has studied and played the piano her entire life. She also earned her B.A. in Art History from the University of Dallas. She brings her love of art and music, and her appreciation of beauty, to all she does.

Eva's pictures at 28 days

Below is a photo of Luke at 28 days.

I took Luke for photos at 28 days and I have cherished those pictures ever since. So I took Eva for her own matching set at 28 days. I was so amazed with both children that there eyes were open, that they were not crying, and that they actually looked at the camera that I was a great Sears customer for each of the photo sessions.

She is already growing way too fast so I have these pictures to never forget her first days. She is so sweet and loving.

Merry Christmas

The entire time I was pregnant I looked forward to having a baby by Christmas. It made the end date seem real.
I love having kids plural for the holidays. It was fun to watch twice the presents being opened. Luke loved his school bus, puzzles, leap pad, and toboggan. I enjoyed opening all of Eva's presents which included rattles, cute new outfits, and some clothing that my sister and I wore when we were Eva's age. There were two things sewn by Eva's great-great grandmother and two things sewn by Nana. These outfits were accompanied by a trendy outfit from Aunt Jackie that called her "Daddy's Honey Bunny."

This is the first picture of the four of us on our camera! We couldn't even get the four of us captured together for our Christmas card so we did the 2 photo collage.

Luke liked being pulled in his new toboggan both indoors and outdoors. It is quite an upgrade from his rummage sale toddler sled.

This is Christmas morning. Luke is still young enough that he has to be told to open his presents on Christmas morning so we had time for a picture before presents.

Luke with his cousins and great-grandy. Bennett, Andrew, Boden, Grandy, Aaron, Ethan, Eva, Luke, and Sam in front.

The two day snoman

Luke loved building a snowman that was bigger than him. His main contribution was adding carrots to the torso in all different positions. Dave and Luke built the snowman in the driveway because the snow was too deep in the yard. Dave then had to carry the snowman to the back patio.

Potty training is complete! (As long as Luke stays in the house and only wears undies.)

Eva in one of her many cute outfits.

Luke just goofing around.