Growing Up

Just when I thought I would have all 2 year-olds, they turned into capable kids. It is so nice to have them be able to run around outside together and just play.

Brooke, 2 1/2

Anna, nearly 7

Mary, 8

Good Times are Here Again

While this may look like a typical sleeping child, we have not seen it for a while. After our last pacifier fiasco, I wondered if life would ever be the same, but I think we might be back on track. Brooke had not been sleeping through the night at all, waking up 2 or 3 times a night. I was beginning to worry that she would keep this up until the babies were born. I also decided that if she was going to be crying anyway, the passy might as well go at the same time! So we are officially "passy-free". It is now for the babies. HOORAY!

Crafting again- a "tag" blanket

So ever since Brooke was born she has been my hobby. She is still really busy, but today she took a really long nap and I actually had time to do a project! This is called a "tag" blanket. I think it originated from the fact that most babies will spend their time sucking on the tags of their stuffed animals and blankets. So I made this for my friend and thought it turned out cute. It is only about 14" square so the baby can carry it around without a lot of hassle. Plus as you can see my embroidery machine is up and running and I didn't break one needle on this, Hooray! (Sarah, no peeking). I am making the most of the second trimester and enjoying having some energy back. I figure that if I want anything for the girls when they are born I had better get started now:).

Our un-Labor Day

The kids started the day off enjoying the sunshine and water. They had a great time filling up the tubs. Who says kids need fancy toys anyway?

Brooke is never a step behind the big kids. If you ask her, she thinks she is 5 too. As you can see she still enjoys an occasional opportunity to put on my make up.

After Moss made a quick trip to the hospital to see a patient, he took the older kids on a bike ride down to a local trail that has a creek near by. It is one of their favorite things to do.

The creek is full of crayfish and minnows which they spend the whole time trying to catch. I guess after this pose, Jake's crayfish reached up and pinched his finger. He just stood their totally paralyzed by it and screamed. (He still doesn't think it was very funny.)

I don't think Jake is going to suffer too much being the only boy.

Its a Girl and Its aGirl

Well, we made the big mistake of setting our hopes on giving Jake a brother, especially since we had 2 chances with twins, but the ultrasound revealed two healthy little girls. I always get nervous about deformities or other risks when it is time to get the ultrasound, so we are grateful that everything is in order.
I am really beginning to feel concerned about the reality of caring for 2 new babies at the same time, but as always you just do what you have to do. It is not like I am all that great at keeping things in order anyway, but I am sure my social life is going to suffer:).
We are so grateful for all the help and support we have received from friends and family. As far as an early delivery, unless the babies come on their own they will not induce more than a week early. Even though I may be huge, the babies still need the full pregnancy to develop and grow. We are excited and can now begin the planning and preparing...

First Day of School

Just as Summer seemed like it was slipping past us, somehow the last week before school seemed to last forever. The girls were very excited and anxious to find out who their teachers would be and what their new class would be like. We have been so fortunate to have such fabulous teachers so far. We are so grateful for their teachers who work so hard for our kids.
Anna decided to go for a new look for the new school year and cut herself some bangs. I had to cut a few more to balance out her job, but unfortunately I did not do it right and she trimmed them up again! So now she is looking rather retro with her short spikey bangs, but still adorable nonetheless. I of course strongly impressed upon her the fact that no one cuts their own hair.

To pacify or not to pacify?

This is a big decision for many new parents as they bring their child home from the hospital. You may find that many individuals have very strong feelings about whether or not to use a pacifier, but I on the other hand believe in the happiness and health of the new mother. If the pacifier does in fact pacify the child, then why not? Mary refused to have anything to do with it, and Anna and Jacob gave it up around 9 months and would have nothing more to do with it. Well, Brooke is my first child to become addicted to her pacifier. Having Brooke so hooked on her pacifier really began to worry me, especially with new babies on the way. I had decided to let her keep it until she was a little older and could negotiate, or be bribed off it.
Our plan changed abruptly as Brooke allowed our pet hamster Silky to chew up her last pacifier. I thought this would be our chance to break Brooke from her "passy". She could explain very well what had happened to her dear passy, but in the end the affection was too strong. She teared up as she explained to Moss that "Hampter ate da passy". To complicate the transition, she came down with a fever 2 days later which only made it worse (now I wonder if it wasn't psychosomatic). But after 3 nights of very little sleep we were begging for a pacifier, anything to get a little sleep. So now we are back to square one. (Although I do think the attachment has lessened somewhat.)
So back to the question, "to pacify or not to pacify?". All I can say is that the pacifier allowed for a lot of peaceful days and great naps. I am pretty sure we will be using them again when the new babies come:).

Retina Fellowship

Well, Moss has had his mind set on doing a retina fellowship since he began his residency. He has submitted his application to several programs, and now we just have to wait and see where he will be asked to interview. As you can see from his first two invitations, San Francisco and Rochester, NY, we could end up literally anywhere. We are both hoping to end up a little closer to either of our families if possible. In the end we don't just get to pick where we want to go, we have to submit a rank list and go through a matching process. In some ways this simplifies the decision-making, but in other ways it is hard to not have more control. We know the Lord has a plan for our growing family, and we are anxious to see where we will end up. We will find out sometime in December. It is hard to believe all the changes that are coming this winter. We know we are blessed, and look forward to all our opportunities to come.

Family Reunion, Part 2- The Cabin

We spent the second half of the week at our family cabin. It is such a great place to be and to relax. Especially after having braved the elements for 3 days, it was nice to have a place to go inside. The kids love it because they can run and run and run. Plus they pretty much did whatever they wanted with very little adult intervention.Crazy cousins

Grandpa's rocket shooter, never-ending fun. With a little air compressor, the rockets would shoot at least a 100 feet into the air.

The Grygla Men

and the women

The kids.

Here is Jacob with his 2 cousins closest in age, Emma and Zoey.

My brother Dave, with the help of others put up quite the zipline down the meadow. The kids loved it and went as much as possible. He also put one over the ice cold pond, but no one seemed deterred by the temperature. There is something about those kinds of experiences that make being a kid so great.
I definitely had to include this sweet little picture of Brooke. What else do you need besides a life jacket anyway?

One the most important parts of the trip were the horses. Just being able to be with them and pet them was heavenly for Anna. Of course she realized once again that she was being deprived and desperately needed a horse and a dog. The poor girl is going to have to wait a while before any of that changes.

Grandma Charlotte and BrookeJacob with his cousin JamesThe plan was for the kids to have "kids camp" while all the adult siblings went off on the big hike. I unfortunately stayed behind for obvious reasons and helped out with the babies. Grandma and Aunt Shanna took all the kids on a hike up to a tree where my great grandparents had carved their initials into a tree. Cousin Sarah then gave a presentation on safety and emergency preparedness to all the kids. Grandma Carolyn had prepared emergency bags for each of the kids. They had a great time and were thrilled. They spent the afternoon making crafts and running around together.
Here is the hiking crew. See how fresh and excited they look? The hike turned out to be quite the challenge, and as you can see from the pictures below took a lot of team work. They all still came home quite exhilarated from their accomplishment, well except for poor Moss with his broken heel.
The water was quite disgusting and they were not excited to find a dead animal lying in a puddle at the top of the climb.

I had to include a few of the more glamorous pictures of these magnificent caves. To walk through them (when not filled with water) is really quite amazing.