Hooray for Friday!

Wow, am I glad it's Friday! This was a very long week, I was looking forward to the weekend! Now I have so much to do around the house I'm not going to get it all done. I wish I could buy a maid at the harvest sale tomorrow. (My school has an annual auction - it's tomorrow) I am not complaining, because it only means I have been spending a lot of time with my precious family. Jacob has been a trooper in his stroller - allowing me to get a lot of work done outside. Most of my tulips are planted! I also organized/cleaned the garage! (Most of my strawberries, beans and corn that I worked so hard on this summer spoiled in the garage freezer....:( ) I felt very productive, but once getting inside I don't feel like doing that work!

Trick-or-Treaters were sparse at my door tonight. One trick-or-treater that I was super excited for was my husband! He delivered a delicious pizza and he was tipped with candy - I was glad it was him because I didn't have any cash to tip - my plan was give em lots of candy! Nate also got a bonus Jacob kiss.

So remember last night when I was hoping to be in bed at 10? It was about 10:05 ish that I was officially 'in bed'. Nate came to bed about 10:20 and I was sound asleep! THEN...I proceeded to either sleep through my alarm or decided not to push the switch last night and slept til about a quarter after 7! Chaos this morning! Praise the Lord Nate didn't have to work until 3. Nate so graciously got up with Jacob in the night as well - which only means I am on my own tonight! That's ok with me. Why when you are running late do you drop things 10 times more often then when you are not. From toothpaste to hair clips to keys......at least I did not drop Jacob!

Oh yeah, speaking of Jacob, as promised...this was his costume - he wore it yesterday to daycare. Isn't he so precious?!

Wednesday evening we attended half of Unity's football game. It was chilly that night, so we had Jacob bundled in his hat. Which I searched ALL over for - no one has cute hats small enough for a 2 month old. The one I ended up finding is XS and too big! He'll grow into it though I suppose. Jacob had his 2 mo check-up today. His doctor was dressed as a witch. It was comical watching her with Jacob! Jacob is developing just fine. He is in the 75th percentile for his weight and in the 25th percentile for height. We enjoyed our visit and will go back in 2 months - hopefully we don't have to go in before. Pray for a healthy baby this winter. The daycare had lots of sickness last winter and we pray that will be different this year.

One last photo for my niece Abby, this one's for you!

Tomorrow brings November and 60 degree temperatures. I certainly look forward to more gorgeous days!

In case I don't get to the blog before Tuesday - do your civic duty and VOTE!

N, MB, J

cleaned out gardens = naked looking house (2 months old today)

Wow, what beautiful days we have had today and yesterday and look forward to this weekend. This has meant I (MB) and J have spend a lot of time outside digging up flowers in prep for winter. Leaves are dropping like flies (is that possible!?) I am quite satisfied with the gardens, but tomorrow will spend more time trimming back bushes and hauling this grub away - in the back of our car - this is when we wish we had a truck. And planting some tulip bulbs from Holland. I'm excited to have beautiful tulips this upcoming spring!

I can't believe it's the end of October and I've only brought out the winter coat a few times (mainly for recess duty). Speaking of school...it's the end of the quarter which means LOTS of reports and testing going on. I enjoy the progress monitoring and watching my students develop over the year, but it's A LOT of work to get all of my report cards ready. It's way more than a letter grade, so much goes into a Kindergartener's report card. Then in two weeks we have conferences. (Which also happens to be the night of Katelyn's Fund - a topic which I am [was] super excited to learn about - and am probably going through at times)

We took a picture of Jacob in his 'costume' today. It certainly isn't much of a costume, but why would we spend money on one for a 2 month old? (What we got was $3 - that's a lunch at McDonalds for me, so I can cut one of those out for the week!)

Well, Jacob is getting sleepy and needs more attention than what his baby einstein music gym can give him. Which he THOROUGHLY enjoys - always with big smiles and kicking going on! It's a highlight of his day for sure.

We're hoping to get to sleep by 10 tonight, please, please, please shout my drooping eyelids!

With love,
N, MB, J

fun weekend

We had a very fun weekend. My sister and niece came for a visit. There were many activities throughout the past couple of days that were exciting. We did a little shopping, hit up the pumpkin patch, went to Blue Bunny, carved a pumpkin, baked cookies, played with kitties, loved on baby Jacob and took LOTS of pictures! Here's a sample

Jacob and his new Sunday outfit. He finally outgrew his newborn one!

The pumpkin we carved Saturday night - it's suppose to be Louie - our "fat" cat

Our delicious desserts at Blue Bunny

Jacob in the cart Abby was pulling around the entire time at Pumpkinland

Jacobs first visit to the pumpkin patch
Cousin Abby and Jacob together.

Jacob is completely happy when he wakes up - no matter the time of day! (He certainly did not learn this from his mom!)

Hopefully the wind by you isn't as bad as it has been here today. Wow! I don't remember wind with such force like we've seen today.

On our way home from meeting my brother in Sioux City to handoff Brooke and Abby we saw one of those moments of "remember this, you'll never see it again" moments. A guy on his motorcycle with another passenger - normal, right? As we got closer we thought, what is on the back of his cycle with him?? Sitting right behind the driver was a yellow lab sitting on his hind legs, hugging his master (hanging on for dear life). The dog did not seemed connected to the man (although perhaps he was). The dog also had a ski mask on - a good thing, otherwise his ears would have flown off! What a cold ride today. If I had my camera along, I would have snapped a shot - I didn't. I just have a mental image and hopefully I explained it clear enough.

Blessings on your week ahead,

N, MB, J

Mid October - 7 wks old, daycare, trips, pictures, and generosity

Jacob turns 7 weeks tomorrow. He is growing like crazy and seizes to amaze us every day! He is a PERFECT baby. He has gotten some new toys recently and loves playing with them! One of these includes a baby einstein play gym. (Thank you SCS teachers!) It has lots of bright colors, toys, a mirror, a light up star that plays music. He is absolutely captivated by it. Here is a picture of him enjoying it. It's not the greatest artistically, but he is smiling!

Jacob started daycare this week. He goes three days a week and Grandpa B stays with him at home typically one morning a week. (This week was twice) The picture below was taken after his first day at daycare. Daycare is just a few blocks from our house. This allows Nate to take him on his way to work. This was a good thing, mommy would have had a hard time otherwise. No tears were shed. We both missed him dearly though. The days that he is at daycare, Nate most often picks him up too. I do get the privilege of getting him one day though! The daycare staff seems great so far, mostly 'grandma' type figures who work in the infant room. We are also pleasantly surprised with how flexible the daycare is as well! We don't have to contract hours for the whole year. We go week by week. Looking ahead to the summer, there is a minimal fee for holding his place to re-enroll him in the fall. (I read on another persons blog about their daycare love/hate relationship, I am quite relieved we don't have the strictness of that center!)




We have been learning many things about babies the past 7 weeks. With such a sudden call and still having 'baby books' to read, we are learning as we go. Jacob started sleeping in his crib about 2 weeks ago. I am not a fan of rocking a baby to sleep or swinging a baby to sleep. Every night we lay Jacob in his crib 'awake' and he falls asleep on his own. He sleeps for roughly 5 hours, give or take a 1/2 hour or so. We have learned that Jacob likes his space and not to feel all closed in. We'll wrap him in a blanket - cause it's been cold lately and will only get colder, but the blanket does not stay on for long. This is a picture of how I found him in his crib within 15 minutes of me laying him in his crib about a week ago. He has kicked off his swaddled blanket, spit the pacifier out and has surrendered to sleep.

With the change of seasons or being in daycare, Jacob has picked up a stuffy nose. This makes his breathing a little harder and makes him slightly more fussier. We were prepared for a 'rough' night last night, but he slept 5 1/2 hours before needing attention! The bulb syringe is our next best friend as well as some "Little Noses" saline drops (thanks Breems!). I would have never known about them, and they came in handy last night when we were wondering...what do we do?!

Big day tomorrow! We are headed to Omaha to see Grandma and Papa Lovenburg! They are super excited to see him and we are super excited to seem them too! Hopefully Jacob will be in a good mood despite his slightly under the weather health. We also get to see MB's brothers, their wives and children! It will be a great time.

It was a preschool day at school for me today. My students are phenomenal! I wish I had a tape recorder going to catch all their cute things they say (as long as it doesn't pick up my voice though!) On Fridays the 1st graders and Preschoolers join for devotions and singing. Today it was my turn to lead. The next devotional in my book was on Generosity - a mighty big word to a preschooler, but it started with G - the letter we learned this week, so it fit perfectly. The devotion was about a man and his son who were in a shopping mall near the fountain in the center of the mall. They were sitting on a bench when the dad found a $10 bill on the ground. The dad noticed a man going around to people sitting by the fountain begging for a quarter because the factory he was employed at cut many jobs. The dad realized what a great job he has and how he makes more than $10 in a day. He called the 'beggar' over to him and handed him the money. He said, God gave this to me, to give to you. What has God given you that you can give to someone else?! What a challenge, huh? I believe these opportunities are near us every day if we seek them out. Then, we can also witness to those people.

Jesus told his disciples to GO! How have you gone? Have you gone? What is holding you back? When discussing witnessing in devotions a young girl said, what does witnessing mean? We talked about how it's sharing God with those we know and don't know. Like, if you had a neighbor who doesn't know Jesus, you can talk to them about God and share about how amazing his is. This young girl got a really confused look on her face and said, "But, all of my neighbors know Jesus!" So I tried to explain another situation, but I think it confused her more because her face became quite puzzled looking. Isn't it great that all of her neighbors know Jesus, and that SHE knows that at 4 years old?!

Yes, going to school this week was difficult. But it's moments like these that I will never forget, or last year when a student was trying to write Peanuts and wrote Pen*s! Balancing school and family has become more difficult, but we're trying to stay organized and one week ahead. I have NO school work to do this weekend! All of my work for next week is complete!

Have an excellent weekend!

Nate, Mary Beth, Jacob

Great news!

Just a few hours after I posted yesterday we received an email stating that we had been awarded the grant! We feel completely blessed. Words cannot express how truly grateful we are. So many people have played huge roles in bringing Jacob home - debt free! Every gift, small or large, was so touching. Every step of the way we contemplated applying for an adoption loan. But at each step we said, let's just see if we can get to the next amount needed, and the gifts kept pouring in. We do not have to worry about paying monthly payments to an adoption loan, instead we can focus on raising our son and giving him what he needs. So really, truly, from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!

This, that, NEXT WEEK?!

Here's the latest family picture of us. It turned out decent I suppose. It's better than sticking our arm out and taking it ourselves, or setting the camera on the self-timer and allowing it to do the trick.

Here's MB's side of the family minus niece Abby. We do get to see her in two weeks though! We are very excited for them to come visit. Hopefully the weather will be nice because we are planning a trip to a pumpkin patch and perhaps apple orchard!

Okay Okay...so I've been holding out on you. I took these pictures a couple days ago and am JUST now getting them posted! They are TOO cute! I have my fav and Nates is different. Which one do you like better - closed mouth smile or open mouth smile?



Jacob had been saving up his money in his piggy bank that people had been sending him. We helped him make a purchase of a swing this week. My cousin had a swing that he enjoyed while they baby sat him. After returning home we thought that perhaps it would be a good addition. Of course the one we decided on was expensive, but we thought we'd go for it. Miranda (my sister-in-law in Omaha) asked if we ever search Craigslist for stuff on there. (Craigslist is online classified ads basically) Well, I happened to find the swing there for half the price and it was used for only 6 mos. I was super excited, but thought there is no way the people would still have it. I decided to pursue it just in case it was still available. Within 24 hours the swing was in our home!

Of course, Nate was excited to spend less money on it and I had been looking at new digital cameras as I have been frustrated with our very basic point and shoot camera. I wanted something with better zoom and features that I had more control over. So, as I am emailing the gal that had the swing listed he said, "if you can get this swing for half the price I'll let you get that digital camera that you have been wanting." I WAS EXCITED and thought there is no way this swing will still be available and thus didn't think I'd be getting a new camera any time soon.

So now as I have my new dig. I am trying to learn all the fun settings it has. And guess what, before we even left the parking lot where we purchased it Nate was having TONS of fun with it. He was finding signs that he couldn't read, would zoom in on it with the camera, and then would read the sign/license plates to me! (I was in the back seat feeding Jacob)

I'm excited to download the software that came with the camera so I can transfer and edit pictures. Until then, pictures won't be posted. Hopefully I get that all done soon.

HOWEVER, as many of you know, I am going back to teaching on Monday. That means more of my time will be devoted to my job and less to other things - like my camera. Yesterday before I could play with the camera I had to have my lesson plans and newsletter written - yes, I did stick to that too!

Todays agenda: taking paperwork to daycare and getting everything lined up there (it's a good thing I don't have to drop off or pick up Jacob on Monday), eating (hard to come by at times), yard work?? (I have bean plants that need dug up and tulip bulbs planted, my flower gardens are still flourishing so those will stick around for a bit...), we have a Katelyns Fund meeting in Sioux Center tonight as well. Have you or are you considering adoption? You should come to the meeting. It's a great place to gain support, knowledge, build friendships, and learn about various aspects of adoption. Tonights topic is "Race, Culture, and International Adoption". Next month, Nov. 13 the topic is Post Adoption Depression Syndrome. http://www.katelynsfund.org/

Speaking of adoption groups - we are up for review for another grant. We should hear by Oct. 21 if we have received this grant or not from 'Gift of Adoption'. Will you join us in praying for the selection committee for the Lord to guide them in their choosing and that His will be done and that He will be honored through this process? It must be so difficult to have to make those decisions.

I told you the other day that I had a lot to write about! For now, it's lunch time. Jacob is sleeping. He had a bath this morning and is as handsome as ever!! He smells fantastic, his hair is fresh and he's not as gassy as he was yesterday!

Enjoy the absolutely gorgeous weather we are having, Praise the Lord for that!

MB, N, J

Baby Cousins

Awe, aren't they so cute?! On the left is Jacob and on the right is Kaylen. They were hot and sleepy babies. This weekend we headed to Omaha to visit with family - MB's aunt/uncle, grandpa/grandma, dad, and all three of her siblings were there too! Jacob got to see his cousins for the first time. We had a great weekend and look forward to more exciting weekends this month too! Jacob got off his schedule a little bit, but hopefully we'll get back on today.

I downloaded a new photo editing program and am using that to upload this picture. I'm not quite sure yet how to add multiple photos to a post doing it this way. I'll work on it. I may be able to do a slideshow.

It's been awhile since I posted too! I have pictures of Chicago to post as well. Jacob did not go to the baseball game, some relatives of MB that live in Naperville watched him. They were his first babysitter, I think I was good for them! Jacob was an excellent rider in the car. He slept most of the time we were driving.

I feel like I should have a TON to write about, so much happened in the last week. Perhaps as I post more pictures I'll write more, but for now Jacob is happy and awake, so I should be taking advantage and getting some things done!