Our 2010 Christmas letter

This past year definitely had its ups and downs, but we pushed on through by the grace of our good Lord!

The majority of the year consisted of grieving the loss of my mom, celebrating the birth of our handsome son, and keeping up with our 3 year old "teenager" in the house.

Our time during the winter season was spent cuddling and loving on the new baby in the house. Alivia did really well with the new baby and loved helping take care of him and making him happy.

In the spring we invited a friend from church, Pam, to come live with us. It was an adjustment having another person in the house at first, but she has been a true blessing to our family and we enjoy having her here. I especially love watching her with our kids, because she loves them so much and I know they love her too. We have had the opportunity to get to know her children and her four year old grand daughter, whom Livie loves playing with. We all have learned so much from each other and I can honestly say that this is definitely a GOD thing.

We had a very good summer which included many trips to Paul and Sally's (Grandpa and Grandma's) lake house. Both of the kids love being in and on the water. Alivia tried her hand at tubing and jet skiing this year which made me a little nervous, but she is so brave that I had to let her try. She does really well and maybe next summer she will be doing even more things that make me nervous!

Fall was spent enjoying the unusually warm weather, the beautiful changing of the leaves, and Alivia starting preschool. We also joined a class that Liv, Weston, and I could all take together. We did these classes with Livie when she was young and they have played a huge role in how we parent, how creative we have become with play, and it allows me to connect with other parents while the kids socialize.

Weston continues to get into everything that he shouldn't be getting into and he is really keeping us on our toes! His favorite thing to do is follow me around, play with his sister, rip up books, torture the dog, eat, and blow raspberries on any tummy that is within his reach. He is practicing his walking skills by taking up to 4-5 steps at a time, but has yet to master them. I don't think it will be much longer before he is having us chase him around!

Alivia is thriving and learning so much in school, it is so neat to see her writing letters and sounding out some words. She just finished up a dance class that she really enjoyed taking. My hope is to try her hand in gymnastics next. She loves reading books to Weston, helping me cook, and being creative with whatever she can find!

Alan is still working at Lino Lakes Prison as a Corrections Officer and leading worship at our church.  I am very proud to announce that Alan has completed his second bachelors degree and hopes to start a career in graphics design and media arts soon. In the mean time he is making websites for friends and perfecting his own. He is a busy guy, but that does not stop him from helping me out when he can and being a playful daddy to the kids. I am truly blessed to have such a great guy.

I am a stay at home mom trying to hold the house and family together. I found a new hobby in photography that I just love and I hope to take it to the next step in the near future. I will be taking a short class that will teach me the basics of my camera, composition, and some other things that will be helpful. I am also teaching Sunday school for the preschoolers at our church, which I enjoy doing. Alivia is in my class and often tells me that I am "the best teacher EVER!". That makes my heart melt and makes me more thankful that I able to be a stay at home mom and do these extra things that I do.

Our trust and faith in God has carried us through this year and that has been a major blessing. It is our hope that the year to come will be even better and God will be present in everything we say and do.

Many blessings to you all!

Love,
The Baertschis

To learn more about what we have been up to, please feel free to browse our previous blog postings and continue to check in with us!

Liv's first haircut!

After 3 1/2 years I finally got the guts to get Alivia's hair cut. I had asked our good friend, Kelsey, to cut her hair and I think it turned out great! No regrets here, thank goodness!

 

Liv did really well and was such a trooper.

Chunky Monkey and Livie Belle

We had so much fun with the kids this year for Halloween! The weather was beautiful and the kids were so incredibly cute. Weston dressed up as a monkey that we got from his second cousin, Evan. Alivia wanted to be a princess, so I let her pick from a few different ones; she chose Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

We had our roommates granddaughter with us as we went to our church's "Trunk or Treat" even that they held for the community.

After filling our candy buckets there, we went home and did some "Trick or Treating" around the neighborhood. Liv didn't last very long as she didn't like being outside while it was dark. Overall, it was a great day spent goofing around!

Weston 9 Months

Weston is 9 months old now and what a challenge he has been for me! He is constantly getting into trouble, bugging his sister, eating stuff that he shouldn't be, attacking the poor dog, and just being a major BOY!

Some of his favorite things to do now are play patty cake, blow raspberries on my stomach, cruise in the pink walker, and flip through books. I am really enjoying watching him look at things intensely and try to figure things out. When he is feeling really brave he stands all on his own. To me, it seems like a long period of time, but I think its only about 20 seconds or longer if he is distracted enough. He can get around pretty fast with crawling, almost too fast for this momma!

Weston now has 4 teeth on top and 2 on the bottom. He has started to refuse baby food and only wants to eat what he can feed himself. This has been a frustrating thing for me trying to find things that are ok for him to eat. So far crackers and cheerios seem to be the easiest thing to give him.

At his 9 month appointment, Weston weighed in at nearly 25 pounds and is in the 97th percentile for weight and height.

We are currently working on some sleep training in hopes to get this boy to sleep through the night and to take better naps during the day. Here's hoping!

Weston 8 months

Holy moly! We have entered destruction mode with Weston! He has grown in so many ways in such a short time. Weston started scooting and rolling around and getting into things that we weren't used to him getting into. He was across the room when Alan waved at him and Weston returned the gesture! At first we thought it was a fluke, but he kept doing it right on cue. Our happy eight month old is now sporting 4 teeth, two on top and two on bottom, with more coming in. He is also crawling some, pulling himself up, walking along the furniture, clapping, waving, and saying some words like "buh-bye, mama, and dada". I'm getting a little nervous about his new move; He acts like he wants to stand up right in the middle of the room without holding onto anything, which means that walking is not far behind. Ooooh dear!

Bob and Larry

Last Monday Alivia kept getting out of bed for random reasons. First it was that she was thirsty, then she was scared, then she had to go potty, then she wasn't tired... you get the idea. I was so tired, so I pulled out the ultimate bribe: We could go see Bob and Larry (from the VeggieTales) on Saturday if she stayed in her bed for the rest of the night. It worked! The bad part was that I pulled this bribe out on a Monday which made for a long week of Liv asking "Are they here yet?".

The day finally came, thank goodness!

 Weston was even a little amused. He was fond of petting poor Bob.

She even got to meet and hang out with a local radio personality, Beth Kidd, from LITE fm.

 

 

Liv loved watching them from afar. I caught her waving to them all while wearing one of the most genuine smiles that I have seen. It's the small things in life, I guess. 

I love being a Mom and I love being able to make my kids happy. 

Weston 6 and 7 months

Weston is working on his fourth tooth, this time it's two on top. We are slowly moving out of the gummy baby stage. I was a little sad, because teeth mean that my baby is getting older and soon won't be a baby anymore.  I think Alan is looking forward to him growing up more than I am. West isn't exactly the best sleeper and he still doesn't take a bottle, that makes things a little difficult for Alan (and anyone else for that matter) to watch and take care of Weston. 

The boy is holding onto his blue eyes still, we are hoping they stay that color because he is so handsome with those baby blues! Last I checked he was weighing in at 24 pounds and is currently wearing size 18 month clothes at the age of 7 months! He loves his big sister and keeps screeching at her; it's almost like a dinosaur sound and it cracks us up every time.

We are on our way to having a crawler and I am not sure that I am ready for that quite yet. I look around and see how much we have to do in order to baby proof the house. Alivia was a very good baby and we never had to baby proof anything (except the top of the stairs for her safety). I have a feeling I am going to be locking everything up and hiding stuff from my monster baby. He is such a boy already. Game on.

Weston at 5 Months

Weston is almost six months old, so I thought I would update everyone with where he is at with things and what he has been doing. Poor kid gets the shaft compared to Livie, I updated her blog every month. Well, maybe he shouldn't keep me so busy with his fussiness and then maybe, just MAYBE I could blog again! :)
The last time we went to the Dr it was because he was having trouble sleeping, was shoving his fist in his mouth, and drooling excessively. Turns out he has "silent reflux". The Dr gave him a prescription and things seemed to get better... for like a week. Weston was quick to go back to his fussy self and I had no idea why. After doing lots of brainstorming Alan and I decided that our next step was to take dairy out of my diet. So, I did. Man, it is the hardest thing to do! You can find dairy in just about anything you eat. My weakness is the cheese. No more hotdishes, pizza, sandwiches with cheese...the good thing is, it's only temporary. My "dairy diet" seems to be helping quite a bit, actually. I'm not perfect, but it will have to do for now. In fact, I may even consider weaning Weston if he continues to bite while nursing. We discovered his first tooth that came in. As of 5 months and 3 weeks, he has a new bottom tooth. That is almost 2 months sooner than Alivia. He is such a big boy now, I can't seem to keep up with clothes that fit him. Last we checked he was 20 pounds and 2 ounces at 5 months. We have his 6 month appointment on Monday, so we will see how big he has grown. He also accomplished sitting up, drinking from a sippy cup, and eating solids... all before 6 months of age. That's my boy!!

Mother's Day without my mom

Last year on Mother's Day I gave my mom a stepping stone that I had made, she loved it so much that she displayed it proudly in the front yard. This year, I only had memories of my sweet, loving mom. I never would have thought that I would be spending a Mother's Day without my mom so soon in my life. It's very hard for me to let go and know that she is in the best place ever.  Sometimes I get caught up in my own "woe is me" moments and I forget how wonderful it is that she is with our Creator. Can't we have the best of both worlds? Some day... some day.

I think about her often and I always imagine what she would be doing or saying at any given time. Sometimes it brings huge smiles to my face and other times it leaves me heartbroken.

I try really hard to keep her memory alive with Alivia. We talk about her often and we always mention that we miss Grandma Bekki.  I like to think that Alivia will always remember her, she was Grandmas pride and joy! Alivia was so spoiled by Grandma, it wasn't even funny! They could play outside with each other all day long! Bubbles, bike rides, and park visits were their favorite activities among many others. I just know that Weston would have been just as special to her if she would have met him.

When I think about my mom, I remember her to be very dedicated to whatever she did.  She made sure that us kids were happy, the house was spotless... and I mean SPOTLESS, and dinner on the table every night. She worked very hard and didn't get very much appreciation from us at the time. She was always being goofy and playful, I loved that about her. At times she would drive me nuts, but that was mom!

I am so afraid of forgetting her and the things that she did and said, so it is my mission to keep the memories alive. I am thankful to have her in a few videos so I can hear her voice and we have a lot of pictures of her, mostly of her being goofy! I miss her so much and am trying to figure out how to survive without my good friend, my phone buddy, my go-to person, my children's grandma.... my mom.

I miss you, mom. Thank you for being you and for raising me to be a good mom myself. Thank you for loving me unconditionally and for being so wonderful to Alivia. I will see you again some day and when that day comes, you better have the biggest hug waiting for me, because I sure could go for one right about now! I love you with all of my heart...until we meet again <3 Happy Mother's Day

Playing Catch Up

What an adventure the past few months have been with the kids! We are still trying to figure out how to manage two kids, I like to think that we are finally getting it down. Weston has been such a different baby than Alivia was and it is fun to compare the two, each having their own little quirks. Weston has proven that he is a very good eater; At three months old he weighs a whopping 17 pounds and 5 ounces. We have made several doctor visits due to an ongoing viral infection and to see an ENT specialist. The viral infection is just hanging on which leaves us with having to give Weston nebulizer treatments in hopes to get rid of the nasty stuff. The doctor thought that Weston had a very small chin and wanted us to get it checked out, so we did. It is a condition called Micrognathia and it can be a problem if the child has a hard time breathing or eating, neither of which is a concern for Weston. Hopefully his chin will catch up with the rest of him otherwise we will have a hefty orthodontic bill when he gets older. Other than the virus and the chin issues, it has been a lot of fun watching the boy grow and do new things. He loves trying to sit up from laying down, he can't quite get up but is getting some good abdominal workouts. Weston has rolled from his back to his tummy twice, but I don't know if it was intentional.

Alivia will be three in less than a month. I am still trying to decide what we should do for her birthday. The last two birthdays have been a rather big ordeal and I would like to keep that going, but I don't know if it's feasible this year. Either way, I hope she has a lot of fun and knows that she is very loved! She has been potty trained for a couple of months now and it has been a huge relief! We just have to work on the night time training and then we will be set! We have her all signed up for preschool in the fall, it will be a bittersweet transition for me! She will be happy to get out of the house and learn new things and I will love the "break", but I will be sad that I can't be there and experience all of the new things with her. She is such a smart girl and she needs more than what I can offer to her, so it will be a good thing. She started drawing faces, which is something that kids start when they are around the age of 4 to 5. I am so proud of her artistic abilities! She definitely has some sass to her and sometimes I am not sure if I should send her to time out or laugh! Often times I catch myself giggling and shaking my head at how grown up she acts. I am in for a treat when she's a teen, I can just tell!

Pain in the..

...wrist, that is. A day at the YMCA daycare seemed to be a bit more than we had anticipated. Alan came back, after dropping Livie off at the YMCA daycare, to find Alivia holding her wrist and crying. He could not figure out what was wrong with her, so he brought her home. After telling me that she refused to move and get out the car, we made the decision to take her to urgent care. After waiting there for a few hours and pushing Alivia around in a wheelchair (because apparently a hurt wrist means you can't walk) we got some x rays done. It turns out it was nothing more than a sprain. She was fitted with a sling and we were sent home. Once home, Alivia still refused to walk anywhere and we had to cater to her every need. We felt really bad for her, but after a while we encouraged her to do more things and she eventually forgot all about her wrist. After a couple of days Alan finally convinced her to take her sling off, she wasn't using it the right way anyways. I think it was just the comfort of knowing that the sling was there that helped.

Weston is finally here!

Weston David is finally here! After 41 weeks of pregnancy, I could not be any happier that he finally decided to come out. I was scheduled for an induction on Sunday January 24th at 7:30am. I was supposed to arrive at the hospital first thing in the morning and they were going to break my water and hope the baby would come on his own and without medication to help the labor progress.

Anticipating that we would be having a baby on Sunday, Alan and I decided to attend an "Ugly Sweater and Mustache" party that Saturday night. We put on the ugliest sweaters we could find from the thrift store and Alan sported a pretty gross mustache, although he thought it was pretty awesome
.

After leaving the party we decided to make a quick stop at Target so we could get an extra battery for our camera. We had Alivia with us, so I decided to run in all by myself. The batteries were locked up, so after getting an employee to unlock it for me I had to follow him to the register to purchase it. The guy must have been oblivious to the fact that I was really pregnant and I was not able to move very fast, because it seemed as if he was running to the registers and I had to try to keep up.

We got home around 10:00pm and not more than 15 minutes after being home I had a pretty intense contraction. I thought it seemed weird to have such a strong one so suddenly. I was under the impression that they would start at a manageable pain level and then eventually progress. A few minutes passed and I had another one! They kept coming every 4-5 minutes. I waited about 20 minutes before texting my mother-in-law to forewarn her of the possibility that we would need her to come over to watch Alivia. I decided that we needed her to come over and as soon as she arrived we were off to the hospital arriving there around 11:30pm. As soon as I walked off the elevator I approached the nurses station and demanded my epidural. The nurses had a good giggle, as I am sure they hear that all the time, and I made sure that they knew I meant business! Everything was happening very quickly and I was very much in denial that this was the real thing. I entered into the triage room and set me up with an IV and checked my cervix. I went from 4cm to 8cm just for being in labor for an hour. They rushed me to a delivery room before getting all of my information into the computer and much to my delight, the anesthesiologist was right behind us! I got hooked up to what I like to call the "wonder drug" and everything was A Okay! They broke my water and around 2:30am they gave me the go ahead to push. I was all set up to push and just waiting for my next contraction when someone came running into the room saying "Don't push yet! Dr. Myles just went into the O.R.!". My nurse asked if there was another Dr and there was, but she was delivering another baby just down the hall. My nurse told me I had to wait until my Dr was done preforming the c-section before I could start pushing. Around 3:30am the Dr came running into my room completely out of breath and very frazzled looking. He quickly started prepping himself for the delivery of our baby.

I was finally able to start pushing! After the quickest 4 minutes of my life, baby Weston David was born! He came with total ease and very fast. My cousin Jessica, who witnessed the whole birth, said that I made having babies look easy. I take pride in that, but I know I have to give most of the credit to the epidural.


Weston weighed in at 8 pounds 6 ounces and was 22 inches long. After some neurological and physical tests, the Dr determined that Weston was born at 42 weeks gestation instead of 41 weeks that we originally thought.





















We came home the following day and had a pretty rough first night, he cried for several hours. I'm not exactly sure what was wrong, but it could have been the fact that he was circumcised that day or because he had a really stuffy nose. Either way it has worked itself out, because he is sleeping and nursing like a champ now. He's awake more in the late night, but I am a night owl so it doesn't bother me all too much. Probably a whole different story once Alan returns to work in two weeks!