Happy Birthday, Lincoln and Annika

Lincoln and Annika celebrated their 2nd birthday on the 16th.  It is hard to believe how fast the last two years have gone.  We love our babies, but I guess they aren't really babies anymore.  I'm not sure what to call them since I don't like to refer to them as "the twins".   Here is a little about each of them and pictures from their birthday.

Lincoln is still a "mama's boy" and doesn't like to share my attention at all.  He is doing surprisingly well with Eden's arrival.  He loves to hold her and doesn't seem jealous that I'm caring for her.  That is a huge relief.  Lincoln loves cars, animals and tools.  He loves to get a tool or anything that resembles a tool and make noises as if he is drilling on the wall.  It's really fun to watch him.  He also loves the vacuum attachments and is very possessive of them.  He likes animals and making animal sounds...usually a growling or roaring sound. I guess you could say that he likes to be vocal and make sounds for just about anything.

He is very good at repeating words.  He will say just about anything we tell him to say.  He does an excellent job saying prayers.  He can count to 10.  If he hears the word "to" he will almost always follow it with a "three" even though we aren't counting.  Annika does that as well.

At his 2 year old check up he weighed about 22 lbs which is still below the 3rd percentile for weight.  He was 34 inches long which is the 50th percentile for height which surprised me.  Joseph took Lincoln and Annika in for their appointment and he said they handled their flu shots without batting an eye.  

We love Lincoln and the fun boy that he is.  He is so easy to love.

Holding up his new giraffe.  A tiger and elephant are also in the picture.

Making sounds with his elephant.

Playing with his new fire truck.  He loves this truck and new airplane
and won't share them with Annika AT ALL!

Airplane and fire truck.  His two favorite toys.

New airplane.

Opening presents together.

I'm not sure what it was, but both babies insisted on using the scissors without help.
It made first time mom, Chandra, very nervous.  

Annika is our feisty fireball.  We love her.  She is so full of spunk, life, energy, whatever you call it, she has it.  She has a great smile, but it's hard to capture it in a picture.  She loves teasing others, especially Lincoln.  She is very determined and likes to have her way.  She is full of energy, but she will also sit for a long time just looking at books.  She loves music and signing.  Both she and Lincoln will sing in church at the top of their lungs, but it's usually when the song ends that they start singing.  Annika loves dolls and being a little mother.  She can climb just about anywhere, but thankfully her legs are too short so she can't climb out of her crib yet!  She doesn't like having her hair in her face so she willingly lets me put it in a ponytail.  She still likes to color on the walls or go hide if she is doing something she knows she shouldn't, like sneaking candy.  She likes to be helpful.  She found some paper plates one evening and set the table for dinner.  We ate off her plates so she would know we appreciated her help.

At her appointment she weighed about 21 1/2 pounds, still below the 3rd percentile.  She is 34 inches just like Lincoln and that puts her in the 75th percentile for height.    

Here is Annika's scissors picture.  She is trying to open one of her presents.

Annika applying her "lipstick" that came in her new purse.

This is my favorite picture of the day.  Little Miss Diva.  Here Annika is sporting her new
glasses, shoes, purse, baby doll, and cell phone.  She is all ready to take on the town. 

Annika already knows what to do...baby in one arm while talking on the phone with the other.

This picture shows perfectly the chaos of opening presents with 2 toddlers.
There were presents and paper everywhere and we really didn't buy them many gifts.

Annika LOVES shoes, anyone's shoes.  She will put on any pair of shoes
she finds so we thought she would love having her own princess shoes.

Since the babies are individuals that happen to share the same birthday, I try to keep things special for them.  This year I wasn't sure what to make for their birthday treat.  They really haven't caught the vision of desserts and treats yet.  They do like chocolate, but it's hard to stick a candle in chocolate chips.  I decided to make them cookie cakes since I can usually get them to eat cookies.  Well, they ate the M&Ms and didn't have much interest in the cookie.  Oh well.

I wrote their names on their cakes and intended to write "Happy Birthday", but it didn't fit.

Lincoln was so excited about his cake.  He knew just what to do once the candles were lit.  We had to hold him back so we could finish singing to him.

Annika wasn't as adventurous blowing out her candles as Lincoln was, so Joseph helped her out.

These last pictures are from the doctor's appointment.  I can honestly say it never occurred to me to take pictures of them at their appointments, but it occurred to Joseph.

I love this little face of Lincoln.  It shows a side of him that a lot of
people don't see.  He is being very silly here.

One more silly picture.  These two always keep things interesting.

We are so blessed to have Lincoln and Annika as part of our family.  They definitely feed off each other when making messes and mischief, but we love them.  I'm eager to see how they grow and change this next year.

"Sisters, Sisters...."

"....there were never such devoted sisters."  Are you singing the song?  Don't worry if you aren't, I know my sisters are!!  I'm so grateful for my sisters!
This pregnancy was a hard one for me mentally.  I just felt huge most of the pregnancy and felt such stress to keep my weight at an acceptable limit.  My bigger concern though was how I would find someone to care for my four older children while I was in the hospital.  I know a lot of people think a first time mom needs a lot of help when she has her first, and the help IS nice, but I have decided that you really need help the more kids you have.  Yes, you know how to care for a newborn, but you need help caring for all of your other children.
We no longer have close friends that go to the same elementary school as Kimball and Rebecah so I wasn't sure how I would get my kids to school.  I hate imposing on people so I also didn't know how I would find someone to watch Lincoln and Annika while I was in the hospital.  Since I don't like asking favors from people, even friends, I just knew that I would just end up with Joseph at home with the kids and maybe have him visit an hour a day and that would mean a VERY long and lonely hospital stay, in addition to a c-section recovery.
One day I was expressing y concerns on the Johnson sister chat that my mom, sisters and I use to communicate and later in the day my wonderful sister, Chandra, volunteered to come help while I was in the hospital.  I was SO grateful that she would make the sacrifice to come help since she was bringing her 1 year old AND taking care of my big kids and toddlers.  It was such a relief to know that my sister had my back and was able to relieve some of my burden.
Two years ago when I had Lincoln and Annika my sister, Sharon, came to help after they were born.  It was wonderful to have her help for a few days.  It was a big sacrifice for her to leave her family of 6 kids to help me.  I felt the same appreciation having Chandra visit too.  These are pictures from Sharon's visit 2 years ago.

    

I am a big believer when The Family: A Proclamation to the World" teaches:  "Extended families should lend support when needed".  I'm grateful for my sisters who made the effort to support my family.  My mom would have come in a heartbeat if her situation were different.  I know it is as hard on my mom not being here for me as it is on me not having her here.  Who knows, maybe it's harder on her.

My kids LOVED having "Channie" visit and Christian, too.  If Chandra and Chrisitan were in their room busy for too long my kids would start asking where they were.  Annika even started saying:  "Channie, OUT!" after her naps when Joseph or I didn't respond fast enough.  I love how my sister was able to develop such a warm relationship with my kids, especially Lincoln and Annika.  They really miss Christian and Chandra now that they are gone.

Chandra with Eden

Sisters!!

Annika and Christian.
Annika was really like a little mother to him and it was adorable to watch.

Christian was napping so Annika and Lincoln had Chandra all to themselves.

Lincoln loved feeding Christian bites of food.

I'm still trying to convince Sharon to move here and it's been 2 years, and now I have another sister to work on convincing.  If only we could get my mom and Heather out here with all of my sisters it would be perfect!

Announcing Eden Elizabeth

Eden (Edie) Elizabeth joined our family in Wednesday, October 12, 2016 at 11:47 a.m.  She weighed 6 lbs 5 oz. and was 19 inches long.  She has a lot of dark brown hair.  I'm so excited to have a dark headed baby!  She is our biggest baby but she still seems so tiny.  The c-section went well and we were glad to head home on Friday.  There's no place like home.

One last pregnancy picture.

My "delivery" room.  I always think operating rooms look so messy. 

Greeting everyone as they walked in the room.

Joseph brought the kids and Chandra and Christian to the hospital Wednesday evening.  Everyone loved meeting the new family member.

Aunt Chan and Eden

Cousin Christian and Eden.

Here Joseph is showing the babies a "pea pod" toy.  He made each little pea face peek out so now they refer to the toy as "Peeking!"

 

Joseph and Eden and then Rebecah watching over Eden very intently.

 

Kimball and Eden.                                    Annika and Eden. 

 

Lincoln and Eden and then Rebecah and Eden, again.

I had no idea how Lincoln and Annika would respond to having a baby in our home.  I know they like seeing babies, but having one in our home was still a worry to me.  They both genuinely love Eden and like to hold her and watch her.  They get concerned when she cries, too.  Lincoln and Annika ARE having a bit of a difficult time understanding why I won't hold them, pick them up and let them sit on my lap.  As they cry just wanting to be held it breaks my heart.  Sometimes sitting next to me just isn't good enough.  I'm just glad they won't remember feeling "unloved" by me when they get older.  I try to give them as much affection as I can by holding hands with them, touching their heads and having them sit next to me when they aren't too wiggly.

 

Here is Eden in her car seat ready to come home from the hospital.  Lincoln holding Eden.  He really gets excited to hold her and asks to hold her multiple times a day.  It's a relief that he loves her so much since I'm not currently able to hold him or pick him up.

We are so glad to have added another sweet spirit to our family!

Annette's Birthday 2016

I turned 37 on Columbus Day.  It was a great birthday.  Chandra was here to help me celebrate so we took a day trip to Palmyra.  Since we don't know when Chandra will be back I wanted to make sure she could visit the amazing church sites in Palmyra so we went for my birthday.  We had a good time even if the kids did get a little bored by the end.

Group picture at the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center

I told Joseph not to get me anything too expensive this year since we have spent a lot of money adding on to our house this year and I was glad he listened.  He did get me a cookbook I wanted and a Nativity set from Guatemala.  The kids each picked out something small too.

Everyone is always so excited for birthdays even if it isn't their birthday!

Guatemalan Nativity
I told Joseph it would be fun to have a nativity from the countries he visits.
So far I have my Guatemalan and German Nativities.

For dinner we had a favorite meal--spinach burgers--and a French Silk pie for dessert.  The pie was amazing and worth the calories to eat it.  It was chocolaty and smooth and just divine!  I also converted Chandra to spinach burgers.  She and Christian really liked them.  They sound a little weird and most people are a little suspicious of them, but they are really good.

 

As you can see, Lincoln loved the pie so much.  He now asks for "pie" a lot even if the
chocolate treat being served isn't actual pie.  He and Annika both like chocolate. 

Visit to the Apple Orchard 2016

We made our annual trip to the apple orchard this year.  We were a little later than in years past, but it was a perfect evening to go.  Our Saturday mornings are usually busy with soccer games so we had limited time to make our trip.  We went on a Friday and picked the kids up from school.  It ended up being the perfect day to go.  My favorite apple--the jonagold--was open for picking.  It is a cross between a jonathan apple and a gold delicious apple.  It is crisp, sweet and crunchy.  It is a perfect apple.  It didn't take long to pick apples. We just filled one 1/2 bushel bag, but it sure was fun.  My sister, Chandra with her family--Joe and Christian joined us.  We picked apples, looked at pumpkins and visited the animals.  We weren't there too long, but we took some fun pictures and made memories.

Rebecah working hard.

Apples!!

Christian LOVED his apple orchard experience!

Peeking!  

I love this picture of Lincoln.  I think he worked on the same apple the entire time we were there.

Group Photo minus Joseph.  It was hard to get all of the kids looking at once. 

The Coleman Family:  Christian, Chandra, and Joe

Sisters!!!  I love my sisters!

It was so hard trying to get all 4 of them looking at the camera at the same time!

We had a great time.  Eager for next year!

Operation Walk-Guatemala 2016

Joseph went and participated in Operation Walk-Guatemala again this year.  He went last year and was gone 9 days.  This year he only went for 7 days.  He came home 2 days early "just in case" I went in to labor and we needed him home sooner.  We missed him a lot while he was gone, but he had good experiences and we were so busy we didn't miss him quite as much since we had school and an evening activity every night.
He was able to see a few people that he met last year and that was fun for him.  He bought everyone a little keepsake from his trip and that was a highlight for everyone.  Joseph is sad that the Op Walk Team isn't planning another trip to Guatemala next year, they are going to Ghana instead.