"Not-To-Do-List" for Christmas

I saw this on a friend's blog and it made me think what was on my "Not-To-Do-List" during this wonderful, busy holiday season...

I will NOT:

1. I will not take for granted the days I have off work over the holiday. I am going to enjoy my time with family and not stress about the mountain of paperwork I left behind.
2. I will not lose my cool with my kids over the simple things. I will remember they are 1 and 2 and not perfect. I will not raise my voice when they are just being children at Christmas and instead, I just might join them.
3. I wll not fret that my house is not perfect during this crazy time.
4. I will not go back to the store one more time before Christmas. If I don't have it, we don't need it.
5. I will not sacrifice nap time (trust me, my kids need it).
6. I will not be going anywhere on Christmas morning. We are so excited to begin some family traditions with our family of 4.
7. I will not try to fake it if someone comes to the door with a gift and we do not have something for them in return.
8. I will not forget the Baby who makes all this possible! Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

What will you NOT do this Christmas?

Christmas celebration #1 complete

Ella's face says it all... she was an absolute crazy lady at our first Christmas celebration of 2010. I am not sure what got into her, but she just was absolutely off the hook! We are hoping she begins to calm down for the remainder of the celebrations!

Merry Christmas to all!

From our family, to yours...

Merry Christmas!!

Shaken

You just never know when someone is going to say something and absolutely shock you. Today, was one of those days for me. I was completing a new hire physical at work on a lady. She was 40 something and on the paperwork they complete for me, they are asked to answer some family history questions. I noted on her paperwork that both of her parents were killed when they were in their 40's in a train accident. I don't usually ask too many questions around something like this, but for some reason today felt compelled to ask her. She told me that when she was 8 years old her parents were preparing to move her family to a different state, as they were preparing to retire from 20+ years in the military. She was with her 3 siblings while her parents were running errands and were hit by a train and killed. Our conversation continued as I noticed she had also listed all of her siblings, but had no information about their medical history. She told me that her aunt took her older sister, younger brother, and baby sister in, but that she was placed in a children's home for the next 10 years of her life. She has not had contact with her siblings since that time. My eyes filled with tears as she recounted this story. She also told me that her aunt made it so she was not allowed to be adopted and would have to remain at the children's home until she was 18. Now, of course, there are many details missing in this story that I do not know, but I have never had a physical reaction to someone sharing their health history like I did today. I could not help but think of my own precious babies. I know they would likely be fought over in an event like this, but as a mommy, I cannot imagine what this little girl must have been feeling and must have experienced during her time in the children's home. She told me the day she turned 18 she was given her belongings and placed on the front step of the children's home and told they had no further obligation to take care of her. Can you imagine? I suppose in my naive perspective I can imagine that things like this happen, but in the comforts of my small world I choose to not think about them very often. Today shook me. It certainly reminded me how blessed I am to have each of you in my life.

Trick or Treat

Almost 1 year...

Ever since we purchased our new camera, I have been having trouble uploading pics. I think it takes such large pictures that blogger has trouble uploading them several at a time. I am too impatient to upload them individually. Here are a few shots of Ella and Matthew in the backyard. Since we have a new camera, we are going to try to take Ella's one year pictures ourselves! Ha! This was a little practice session last night!

I can't believe my little baby is walking. In just a bit more than a month, she will be one and the baby stage will be all over in this house.

Don't let the smile fool you, she hates the hat. I can't believe I have any pictures of her with it on. She usually removes it faster than I can get the cameral on!

I love this one! She looks so innocent! If you've been around her for any period of time, you would know she can keep up with the best of them!

Stay tuned for more picture posts. I think after I edit them they are easier to load onto blogger, so hopefully we will have more pictures to post again soon!

Happy Birthday, Matthew!!!

Matthew had his 2nd birthday on August 12th! Our little boy is 2!!! I really have been trying to post an update for some time, but have been having issues getting pictures uploaded, so here we go! The photos in this post are from his party. We had a zoo-themed party as he is a HUGE fan of the zoo these days and Bill the Lion. We had a great time with family and Matthew was quite excited about opening his gifts this year!

The post below is from my cousin's wedding. Mollie and Kevin were married on Saturday and Matthew and Jacob were asked to be ring bearers. They did a great job! Aside from the fact that we do not have one picture of Matthew smiling from the entire day, he did walk right down the aisle behind Jacob and even gave the preacher and Kevin bumps at the front of the church. Mommy does not want to have too many more days with only a 30 minute nap for awhile, but we survived! Congratulations, Mollie and Kevin!

The only other worthy news from the Peppler household is that Ryan and I are training for a half marathon to take place on our anniversary. We have both run 8 miles this weekend in preparation. It has been fun getting back into running for the most part. We are realizing how much different it is to train when you're almost 30 compared to 18. We do not bounce back quite as quickly these days!

Hope you all are well! We are looking forward to fall activities: carving pumpkins, raking leaves and a little cooler weather! Until we meet again... take care!

Mollie & Kevin

Dad Life (Father's Day Opening 2010)

Catch up

It's been awhile. Sorry. We have been busy enjoying the beautiful, hot summer weather we have been having. This is a picture of Matthew at Grandma and Grandpa Kessie's pond on the 4th. He LOVED the fireworks and had a great time playing in the pond.

Matthew and Ella find each other fairly hysterical these days. We caught one of those moments the other day in the backyard while they were playing catch!

Here is our family at Winona Lake over the 4th. We really had alot of fun!

Ella has figured out how to tackle and crawl all over Matthew. The best part of this is that Matthew loves it! He often lays down in the middle of the floor when Ella is around with the hope that she will attack him.

Matthew and Ella cheesing it up!

We are having a great summer and enjoying every minute. Matthew will be 2 next month and Ella is just 8 months. She is crawling everywhere and cruising her little heart out. Matthew is talking in sentences sometimes and is still enjoying our frequent trips to the zoo or the 4-H fair to see the animals! Hope you're having as much fun this summer as we are!

Thankful Thursdays

Today, I am thankful for...

1. Summer camps. Church camp was a HUGE part of my life as a youth and I am so thankful that lives will be changed this summer at camps. This will be the first summer in a long time that Ryan nor I will be taking an active part in camps as a camper or counselor, but we are definitely excited to hear about the changed lives of our friends!

2. The zoo. This is the 2nd summer we have had a zoo pass and Matthew is very excited about going to see the me-me-muls (animals)!

3. A storage room. I am so glad we have a storage room in our basement. I have no idea what we would do with everything if that didn't exist. It's amazing, I had a garage sale 2 months ago and already the garage sale pile is quite large for this fall!

4. The idea of a full night's sleep. Ella is still not consistently sleeping through the night. And on the off chance that she makes it through the night, Matthew seems to wake up and cry about something. I think it's a conspiracy! I am still hopeful that one day I will sleep through the night again.

5. Online bill pay. I do not know what I would do if I had to write checks for everything. I think I am still on my first order of checks from when Ryan and I got married almost 6 years ago! We use our debit card/online bill pay whenever it is available! I LOVE it!

Have a great weekend!

Thankful Thursdays

Today, I am thankful for...

1. Viruses. Yes, I cannot believe I am typing it either. We have had several viruses at our house this Spring. Although, fevers, cranky kids, and clinginess are somewhat irritating after awhile, I am thankful that all we are dealing with are viruses. My babies are healthy and happy most of the time, so I figure a virus here or there is a walk in the park compared to what others have to deal with.

2. A little mini vacation. We are going to see Adam and Rachel's new house! They recently moved into a beautiful home close to Cincy and we are stopping by for a visit soon! Can't wait to see them!

3. Scrapbooks. I am almost completely caught up on our scrapbooks. With only about 10 pages to go, our scrapbooks will be up-to-date. The problem is, life continues to happen, so by the time I finish these 10, there will be 10 more waiting I'm sure.

4. Sunshine!

5. Tootsie rolls. It is never a good idea for me to buy tootsie rolls. I have the final 4 wrappers of the bag I purchased on Sunday sitting in front of me right now. I ate them ALL!!! They make me happy, so therefore I will not worry about what other rolls they cause on me at the moment and savor the final one.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Thankful Thursdays...

I thought about making an excuse for not having done this in awhile, but decided that would be silly since it may have been six months since I last posted one. Anyway, my absent Thankful Thursdays certainly do not mean I have nothing to be thankful for. Here is an update.

Today, I am thankful for...

1. Matthew and Ella. Matthew turned 21 months old yesterday and Ella will be 6 months old next week. I cannot believe how big they are getting and I find myself enjoying each moment more and more. Matthew is very good at recognizing his ABC's and his numbers (except he never says 3... he says, "1, 2, 1, 4, 5, 6,...) Not sure how to fix that one. He knows many of his colors and some shapes. He is quite active and loves being a boy! Ella can sit up by herself and has tried just about all the baby food items. She loves Gerber puffs and Mommy loves that she can feed them to herself while I cook or clean or something...

2. Ryan. They have been busy at work since spring hit. He has been working long hours and then as soon as he gets home Matthew and Ella want his undivided attention. He does such a good job providing for our family and is still involved in all that goes on at home!

3. My job. I have had the opportunity to wear a bit of a different hat at work recently. I have been coordinating some wellness activities for our staff and the community. It has been fun and a bit of a change of pace from the regular stuff I do each day!

4. Busy weekends ahead. We have plans every weekend from now through June. We have friends getting married, a trip to Cinncinati to see Rachel and Adam's new house, church receptions to plan, baby and bridal showers to attend, birthday parties... the list goes on. Typically, I might be a bit hesitant to put this on my thankful list, but after our successful trip to St. Louis, I am looking forward to more opportunities to go on short little trips/outings.

5. Our garden. We are getting ready to plant the garden as soon as we are sure the frost is gone! We can't wait to have fresh tomatoes/cucumbers from the garden this summer!

Hope you have a great week!

I used to wonder...

When I was a child I used to wonder what it would be like to be a mommy. I would carry my dolls around, play house and dress up for hours. I was sure no one could take care of my dolls better than me (even though sometimes I colored on their faces or forgot to put their clothes back on them).

Then, I became a teenager. I didn't care what it was like to be a mommy and I certainly didn't think I needed my mom telling me what to do.

Then, I went to college and I missed my mom so much! I wanted her advice and for her to tell me that all that was wrong with the world would sort itself out and I didn't need to worry.

Then, I became a nurse. I watched people become mommies and watched people lose their mommies. I celebrated and cried with families over both.

Then, I got married. I certainly could not have picked a better partner in life than Ryan, but we had so much fun just being together, that we didn't know if we would ever have children. He had a great career and I was busy getting my Master's.

Then, I became a cynic. I saw women with their children and said things like, "When I become a mom, I will never let my child behave in such a way."

Then, my sister had a baby. I saw how much love our nephew created and I knew that I wanted someone to call me Mommy.

Then, I became a mom and everything I knew flew out the window.

As the years have passed, I have realized 2 things:

1. You only get one mom. I have an incredible mother, one who would do anything for me. I do not know what I would do without her. I am so thankful for my own mom and for all the women in my life who have acted as a mother at one time or another. Women have an amazing way of nurturing other women and I am certainly grateful for all the wonderful women in my life!

2. There is nothing quite like being a mom. It certainly has its share of craziness, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. The 2 precious babies in my life make each day an adventure!

Happy Mother's Day to all the women out there who have impacted the life of another person. Whether you have biological children or not, you have been a mother when someone needed it most and the world is a better place because of YOU!

Family pictures

Well, this started out as a Mother's Day surprise, but Daddy has a little trouble keeping secrets. It worked out great because we ended being able to get our family pics taken at the same time. Here are a few of our favorites.

Behind again

Still in our jammies!

Playing under her jungle gym.


Caleb, Jacob, Ella & Matthew on Easter!

Well, I must say my blogging skills have definitely fallen by the wayside. I cannot seem to get down here to post anything in a timely fashion... Here's the latest: Matthew is 20 months old. He currently has croup, but a mild case and he is on the mend. He LOVES to play outside with the neighbor kids. He is in love with his little sister and is very protective over her. When I take them to the Y to the childwatch program, when I return the first word out of his mouth is "Ellya!!" He is so afraid I am going to forget her! Uncle Kyle is the only person he will talk to on the phone. He is very curious about other kids. The other day at the park he was going up the stairs when 2 little girls about his age came up to him and they all just stared at each other. One of the little girls put her arm around him and patted his back (future mommy). I couldn't get the camera out of the bag fast enough!

Ella will be 5 months old on Sunday! Her favorite hairstyle is pig tails as long as Mommy can get them done on the first try. She slept through the night last night, although I wouldn't say that is the norm around here. She is still often waking up once per night and thinks she needs to practice her vocabulary (which consists of squeals and jabbering). Daddy does not hear any of it, but Mommy gets to enjoy late night discussions with Ella. She has been able to avoid the croup up to this point. She LOVES to swing and play outside as well. She is eating cereal like a champ most of the time and is almost sitting up. She is working on her 3rd tooth and will be ready for some real food soon! She hates her tummy and rolls over almost instantly anytime someone dare put her on the floor! She also thinks her big toes taste good. I had her in a dress on Sunday and whenever I put her down she would throw her legs up in the air and put her feet in her mouth!

We are enjoying the spring weather! We took Matthew to the indoor water park in Shipshewana a couple weeks ago with Jacob & Caleb and they had a blast! Daddy even got to go down the big slide while we were there! Looking forward to having lots more fun in the water this summer! Well, that hopefully gets you pretty up-to-date with our little family. I will try to do better! Have a great day!

Little Stinker

Matthew cracks me up!! He has recently learned to shake his head no and is using this new trick much more often than Mommy thinks is necessary. He has also learned several new words over the past couple weeks thanks to Uncle Kyle and Grandpa Dave (constipation and sperm whale to name a few). We find ourselves laughing at him all the time and love it that he is developing his own personality. He is trying to put 2-3 words together and form sentences, but currently it sounds very jumbled and Mommy and Daddy are usually the only ones who know what he is saying. He is at the library right now with Daddy and Ella and I are supposed to be cleaning. So far, I have the floors swept and mopped. Looking forward to a fun weekend with the family! Better get back to work!

Mommy's little princess

Ella was baptized over the weekend (pictures of that soon). As I watched her this weekend, I realized that my little girl is already 4 months old and she is changing everyday. I also realized how much the Mommy in me has changed over the past 4 months. When Matthew was born, I was most concerned about making sure he had strong male role models in his life and I am so thankful for his daddy, grandpas, and uncles who provide excellent examples for him everyday. When Ella was born, something changed in me. Growing up, I didn't have a great self-esteem. I thought I was ugly and fat and was sure that no one would ever see me as beautiful. I remember people telling me things like, "You are so smart" which translated in my head to, "Thank goodness you have brains because your looks are certainly lacking." All I ever really wanted was to be beautiful and I went to some pretty ridiculous extremes to try to attain it. In 5th grade, I went from 120 lbs to 93 lbs by eating only 1 Oatmeal Creme Pie for the entire day. In high school, I stopped playing volleyball after my freshman year and started playing soccer because it required more running and I thought that would make me beautiful. I would even go to 2-a-days and then go for a 5-6 mile run afterward to try to become beautiful.

When I met Ryan, he made me feel beautiful, and slowly, some of my issues faded into the background. But when Ella was born, those feelings came flooding back. I made a decision that I did not want my daughter to struggle with her self esteem the way I did. I think as women we all have moments where we look in the mirror and tell ourselves that we are fat or that our hair looks terrible, but as a Mommy I am trying to make a conscious decision to love myself so that Ella will learn to accept herself just the way she is. I think as moms this is probably one of the best things we can do for our daughters, not just telling them they are beautiful, but believing it about ourselves. As I watch Matthew learning so many new things each day, I realize most of what he learns he absorbs by watching us. If I model a positive self image for my daughter, my prayer is that she will also have a positive self image for herself. I know she is Mommy's little princess, now I just want her to believe it!

Some random thoughts...

Today, I found out one of my dear friends from high school is pregnant with her 2nd baby. Her children will be 16 months apart. Needless to say, she is slightly overwhelmed and experiencing many of the same feelings I had a few months ago. There were so many questions like: What would I do if both kids were crying at the same time? I had anxiety about what would happen if Matthew got hurt while I was caring for Ella. I had nightmares about losing my babies in a crowded place. There were moments when I wondered why God chose me for this and although I typically consider His sense of humor amusing, I was not the slightest bit amused.

When Ella was born I remember the first night at the hospital having this feeling that I could not breathe. I knew I could breathe and I knew there was nothing physically wrong with me, but I was definitely on the verge of a panic attack. The nurse brought Ella in and once I had her in my arms, I was just fine. That was the first of several new experiences for me.

I also had post-partum blues with Ella. I did not have one ounce of the blues with Matthew. I never cried or was weepy. I was out walking around the block within a couple days of having a c-section. I really didn't feel like my life was altered that much other than I was able to bring this beautiful baby boy along with me wherever I went and have people gush over him. It was a little different experience this time around. I was not weepy until we came home from the hospital. I was still having moments of anxiety and I felt like I didn't know how to manage my time between my children. My recovery was much more intense this time... probably because I didn't do what I was told. I hurt much longer than I remember hurting with Matthew and my incision did not heal as well this time. I can't really describe it other than to say that I felt completely overwhelmed and inadequate for several weeks following Ella's arrival. I was so happy to see that pass and I can definitely empathize with women who struggle for longer than I did.

After we made the initial adjustments and I realized that both babies were going to cry at the same time and Matthew was going to throw a fit when I had to feed Ella for the 10th time that afternoon, I started to settle into a routine. I began to realize that I didn't have to be supermom. I didn't have to feel guilty when I needed to have a break for 10 minutes (I remember one day saying to Ryan when he came home for lunch, "I am going to get the mail, I will be back in 1 hour"). I didn't have to get the final dishes put in the dishwasher before bed... they would certainly still be there in the morning. I didn't have to feel bad that I looked forward to naptime, or date night, or coffee with a girlfriend. All my kids really needed was for their mommy to love them unconditionally and I have done that the best way I can.

I cannot believe Matthew is 18 months old and Ella is already 3 months old. I know we will look back at this time and laugh at how crazy it was. I know we will laugh at how naive we were only a few short months ago. I know I will laugh as I think of myself trying to get in and out of places with 2 little babies (I am sure other people are laughing at me as they watch)... but what I am most thankful about is that I am laughing along the way. I love being a mommy to 2 of the most precious little faces I have ever seen, and I can't wait to see where this ride takes us next (it will not be to a 3rd child... unless God REALLY has a sense of humor)!

As I think of all the other mommies out there who are struggling to try to figure out this crazy roller coaster called parenthood, I hope we all can just enjoy the view from the top and hang on tight because it's bound to be a wild ride! Have a great day!

Mary Kay

Well, I am officially a Mary Kay consultant... Even as I type this, I am not sure what I was thinking! I am hopeful that this little venture will be a chance for me to meet a few new people and perhaps make a little money as well. The best part is that I have always used MK products and will receive a nice discount for selling them. Don't worry, I won't be hounding you to buy from me... I hate that. I may send you an occasional email or letter in the mail, but will hopefully be able to mainly go with word of mouth. If you know anyone who needs a MK lady, give them my name!

In other news, Matthew had his 18 month check-up today. He is 27.5 pounds (75 percentile) and 34.5 inches tall (90th percentile). He and Ella both have shots in the morning (pray for Mommy).

I have also had a spurt of energy devoted to their scrapbooks over the last couple weeks. I have done about 15-16 pages total and am almost caught up! I am so happy to be on the ball for once with their memory books. By the way, I LOVE my Cricut!

Have a great week!

YMCA Musings

Well, we joined our local YMCA a few weeks ago and let me tell you I always leave there with a story to tell. We are so thankful for our Y membership and have been utilizing it almost everyday (at least one of us). Here are a couple things that have happened since we joined the Y:

1. One day, there was a man on the treadmill next to me who smelled so strongly of B.O. that I nearly passed out. I was so paranoid that someone would think it was me, so I cut my workout short and moved to a different machine.

2. Today, there was a woman on the treadmill running > 8 mph. I am pretty sure some vehicles do not move that fast! She was flying!!!! I am going to stick with going around 6 mph for safety sake.

3. Once, when I stepped on a treadmill the woman beside me leaned over and said, "You might want to wipe that down, there have been 2 people on it who didn't wipe it off." I am not sure why some people do not think the rules apply to them. If you touch the machine, you are then entitled to wipe it off!

4. Our Y has a childwatch program where I can drop Matthew and Ella off while I workout. I LOVE IT! It is so nice for them to get to play with other kids and Mommy doesn't have to feel guilty for getting in a good workout. I found that trying to workout at home with them here is about impossible! However, it is almost as much of a workout for me to get both of them into the building as it is to complete a workout!

5. We have taken Matthew swimming in the pool several times and he is loving it! He even will jump off the side into Daddy's arms. We are thinking about taking a swimming class this spring. The only downfall I can see to the pool so far is that he thinks the bathtub is also his own personal swimming pool which makes for large messes sometimes! He got in the tub with his clothes on the other day while Daddy stood there and watched! That was a soggy diaper!

Frosty the Snowman

Daddy and Matthew playing in the snow!

Matthew kept falling down and had a hard time walking in the white stuff, so Daddy put him on top of the partially finished snowman to rest while he finished building it.

The finished product... sorry it's blurry, I dropped the camera in the snow! If you can't tell, Matthew is giving the snowman a hug in this picture!

Winter Fun

A few weeks ago we tried out Paige's Winter Jumperland with Matthew and Jacob. As you can tell, Ella was really enjoying herself!

Yes, Jacob is in this picture... Matthew just plowed him over coming down the slide together!

Lots of fun and a great way to burn energy. Best part: It's free for kids under 3!!!!

New hat!

Ella got a new hat, too!

Back to work...

Well, the time has come. I am headed back to work on Monday. Part of me is dreading it: leaving my babies, having to get up at 5 AM, dressing up, dealing with other people, more responsibility, being gone 20 hours. Part of me is excited: adult interaction, getting to show off pictures of my babies to some friends, having my Mom who is taking care of my kids while I am away, only working 1 full day and 2 half days each week. During my maternity leave, I have had many opportunities to consider why I work. Some of the reasons are completely selfish, like getting out of the house a couple days during the week. One of the main reasons I work is because I provide the insurance for myself, Matthew and Ella. Working in the medical field has allowed us to have 2 children and only pay our deductible for their deliveries/hospital stays. I know many people who do not have this luxury and I know we are blessed. Part of me wishes I could be a stay-at-home mom, the part that misses my kids like crazy everyday when I leave for work... this is also the part of me that has dissipated by the time Ryan gets home on the days when I don't work. I know being a mom is the hardest job I will ever have and I admire the women who do stay at home with their children. A larger part of me knows that being able to have some adult interaction and provide a small portion of my family's income for me is the right decision. I am probably typing this more to convince myself of this than anyone else. I do know that I am so blessed to be in the field I am, where I am allowed the flexibility to choose where/when I work. I know going back to work is going to be difficult... maybe even more this time than with Matthew because we do not plan to have anymore children and I will never again have this long of a stretch of time to spend at home with my kids. However, I also know that my kids are in the best possible care and even after a long day on the job I come home refreshed and excited to play with them and be the best possible Mommy I can be!
Hope you have a great week!

Couldn't resist...

Well, I am sure to be banned from the "Parent of the Year" nominations for posting this picture of my darling little girl, but I couldn't resist. I just love this stage where their eyes go crossed just about every time they are opened, and I was able to capture it on the camera last weekend. I think she looks a bit like a caricature in this picture! As you can all see, she is definitely not starving! We are planning to grow into our cheeks in 2011! Have a great day!

Joyful New Year!

As I was reading Facebook posts this morning and thinking about the upcoming year, I was thinking that wishing people a HAPPY New Year really didn't make that much sense to me. As much as it would be nice to have a HAPPY New Year, I realize that there are going to be times throughout the next year that will inevitably be unhappy. There will be moments of sadness, there might even be full days or weeks of sadness. There will be times when I do not feel at all HAPPY, when I am upset, mad, nervous, scared, etc. Not to be a total downer as we look ahead to the New Year, but I have decided that I will not be wishing people a HAPPY New Year for 2010. Instead, I think Joyful is a much better choice of words. No matter what happens during the next year of my life, I know Who I belong to, and that God has a master plan for all that happens in my life. I have little control over the day to day happenings in the world, whether they are happy, sad, devastating, or exciting. In fact, there are moments when I have no control over myself, but regardless of what happens in my world, I will still have JOY in my heart. The best news of all is that even in moments of great sorrow and pain, I have seen and experienced JOY in my own life and hope that each of you have as well. So, as we move forward in 2010, I wish you the JOY that comes from knowing how great a God we serve! JOYFUL 2010!