The Last Two Months

Well...two long months of raging waters have passed under the bridge. But I'm back! 

A few of the bigger highlights of the last two months:

1. We're having a baby! We shared the news with our family and friends on Labor Day weekend. The children were super excited. 

The day after I found out we were expecting (at the end of July), Joanna woke up and told me she had prayed to God that he would put a baby in my tummy. I was dumbfounded. Well...about six weeks later she remembered her prayer and was so thrilled that God had answered! She also very assuredly tells me it is a girl. Since this baby is her little miracle, I am wondering if I can count on her accurate gender prediction as well?! This pregnancy does seem to be more similar to hers than to the boys'.

So...from the end of July until about a week ago I was completely exhausted, nauseous, and feeling very overwhelmed. Life has been a fog of survival and nothing more than the bare minimum got done until the past week. Moving on...

2. This is old news by now, but I finished my goal to go a 100 day streak with no THM cheats. That mostly means staying away from sugar, refined carbs/white flour, vegetable oils, and a few other things. My reward was losing twenty pounds without really putting much other effort into it, along with feeling and coping better with life in general. It was a long summer but the lofty goal kept me motivated, even through the first eleven weeks of pregnancy! For the record, I promptly cheated on day 101 just to relieve the pressure.

3. Levi had some excitement in the neurology department this year when the doctor diagnosed him with mild cerebral palsy at his five year checkup in March. He failed the standing-on-one-foot test which finally brought to the doctor's attention a weakened and less muscular right leg/foot. His strabismus (cross-eye) would also indicate possible CP. We had noticed the right side is weaker but didn't think there was anything to be concerned about so didn't ever bother to bring it up to the doctor. We followed up with neurology at the University of Iowa in May, who confirmed the diagnosis and ordered an MRI to check for other issues and to determine the cause. The MRI happened in August and the results didn't show anything needing attention, but did show that the brain damage probably happened in utero, possibly from getting his head hit or being wrapped up in the cord. He was also evaluated by both occupational and physical therapy in August, but we do not need to follow up with either since he seems to be doing fine. He was given some leg stretches to keep up with over time. 

Long story short, I guess there isn't much of a story besides a diagnosis, a few extra doctor appointments this year, and a learning adventure! He is thriving and we are so thankful we were spared from anything more serious!

Ready for his MRI! He was supposed to need anesthesia, but his blankie and a movie kept him so still that he was able to be awake the whole time! 

Levi also became a physical therapist this month.

4. Levi started Kindergarten this year and we took the plunge into homeschooling! We have been going back and forth all year about whether or not to homeschool, but ultimately decided this would probably be the best year to at least try it out. We are now about five weeks into school and it has been fun and going well. Most of our school routine is done with Micah and Joanna, so everyone is occupied and it works well for now. Academically, this year seems pretty low stress since I only have a kindergartener and he is pretty advanced in reading and math already. My main goal this year is to get into a school routine and learn the ropes. 

The first perk to homeschooling was not having to wake up early to get a kid out the door every morning and having an exhausted five year old at the end of the day. I love the flexibility! The main thing I love is just the teaching...it has always given me such pleasure to teach children (or anyone) and watch them learn and grow! 

The first unperk I found was missing the nostalgia of going back to school like I did for thirteen years. And feeling like he was missing out on a lot more exciting things than what I would be offering at home. Thankfully he knows no difference and there are enough perks of homeschool to balance it out. The second unperk I began to find is that my day is a whole lot busier than it would be, and it is hard to get anything else done! Not only do I have all four kids home all day, every day, but I am also responsible for taking the time to educate them (I will say that the getting-nothing-else-done issue has much improved now that I am out of the first trimester and can make it past noon without being completely wiped out for the day).

I don't have any pictures of school time itself, but Matt had an impromptu science lab with the kids on Labor Day when they tested the pond levels. I love it when real life provides its own education! 

And he made us a quality abacus!

Along with all of the above, August felt pretty busy. We served lunch the first Sunday, were in charge of the church singing that got canceled, hosted a Myron Schulz family gathering, celebrated Keenan's first birthday, and planned a potluck and singing in the Keosaukua area for the Burlington, Mediapolis, Bloomfield, and Taylor churches. I was exhausted by the time the month was over! Ok, I was exhausted before it even began from the little one inside and the four little ones on the outside. It was nice to have less big stuff going on in September! :)

Now for a photo dump from the last of our summer days...

Levi got new glasses. He wanted transitions this time so we decided to try them out. 

 

Morning hair is so precious. :)

Lil' Doc.

The boys made a house in the garden. (Err, what used to be the garden...)

With a little help from Daddy they got 'er done!

Doing a little fishing.

Play date and picnic at Big Hollow!

The four year old boys -Ruben, Micah, and Brock!

Four kids playing nicely together on the porch obviously deserves a photo.

Joanna made me some sea turtle ice cream one afternoon. And fully expected me to eat it. I told her maybe we could save it for Daddy when he got home.

Matt made good progress on the landscaping thanks to some help from Jake!

Weiner roast!

This kid was being way too grown up eating his lunch like a big boy.

Got a little applesauce done in August and then in September we did another 39 quarts from our trees. I've still got another couple bushels downstairs waiting to be done, but a busy past couple weeks has delayed that job. And there are more apples on the tree that will perhaps be turned into cider. Applesauce is my one canning priority every year because we go through a lot of it!

Micah was very thrilled for his first day of Sunday School!

Keenan met a classic Iowan milestone: his first corn on the cob!

We enjoyed having Steve and Julie's family around for a week!

Keenan's fitting birthday theme.

He loved his cupcake!

Ahh...One Year Old, and what a year it has been! From my fussier newborn to a jolly social baby to a wildly energetic toddler. I love the one-year-old stage, even if it is so high maintenance! Keenan is starting to communicate with several words and motions, he loves to clap his hands and could spend a good hour dancing to music in the living room if his brothers would leave him alone and stop turning off his songs. Up until his first birthday, he had slept all the way through the night about two times in his life, but in the past few weeks he has been going all night (hallelujah!!)! Last week (at thirteen months) he finally weaned completely from nursing. He takes two really good naps each day, and he loves everything about real food except when it is out of his reach!

I love the silent sound of just-home-from-the-library. :)

The Friday before the big church gathering, I had to go over to Keosaukua to get the key for the building. To make the most of our trip, I invited my parents to come along and stop at the Dutchman's store in Cantril and spend the afternoon at Appleberry Orchard in Donnellson. It was possibly the hottest day ever to go to a pumpkin patch and we drank about six gallons of water, but they were all troopers and we had a fun time! 

This boy could have spent all day in the sand!

The boys loved the fire truck!

They also had a petting zoo and several farm animals.

The next weekend was Town and Country Days and we ended up spending much of the afternoon at the park with the various activities going on! Here are a couple of Joanna's free finds...glasses, lips, and popsicle! (The awesome aunt was a convenient find too! :))

Joanna finding a few coins at the Two Rivers money hunt!

The blowups were also free this year and kept our kids busy for at least an hour or more!

And bubbles! We had trouble getting out of the park due to all the activities, but Keenan and I were getting burnt out so we finally dragged everyone back home!  

Matt and the boys attended Abram's 4th birthday party!

I don't love ripped pages, but I was tickled by this picture of Keenan matching the apologetic expression on his ripped "I'm Sorry" page. 

It is not easy to get three babies to look for a picture, but it is also not often that these three cousins are in the same place at the same time! Narra, Keenan, and Bethany, the three newest Schulz family babies (until the next day when Tim and Laurie welcomed a tiny Brynna to the world)!

I found Micah giving Keenan a lesson on the abacus before breakfast one morning! 

We enjoyed another outdoor Baby Joy in September! Thankful the residents can still enjoy the children with a little flexibility! 

Joanna was so excited for her first haircut! It was in need of a trim and I didn't trust myself to cut it on my own. We went to Ruth, who was my hairdresser growing up! 

I found a couple pics from the archives of my first haircut (16 mos) and first perm (3 yrs) with Ruth!

We acquired an old chalkboard from church and Matt fixed it up and painted it black and now it is in our kitchen and fun to have for school. It serves as great entertainment for the kids during the day as well. 

Joanna was "fixing the dishwasher" with Daddy's tools. Better to be a maintenance girl than a high-maintenance one! 

We enjoyed a little wiener roast and Gator ride one Sunday evening!

Burger King on our way to Morris last weekend! We spent Friday evening at a hotel.

The new Mr. Ryan and Mrs. Devin Ascheman!

We took Christmas pictures with the Massner family at a garden before the wedding, and after the wedding the family wanted a big Schmidgall family picture (like all 50-75+ of us)! Our kids were all pictured out! We spent the night with Derek and Annie and enjoyed catching up with them as we don't get to see them very often. Matt and Derek were inseparable in their early years! On Sunday, we went to church and headed home at noon.

On Monday morning, we laid my Great Uncle Hartzell to rest. I cannot find a picture of him handy, but did come across this one of his sweet wife, Aunt Marian, who greeted him at Heaven's gates! Uncle Hartz and Aunt Marian were very close to my Grandpa and Grandpa Schmidgall (brothers married first cousins). When Mom moved down here from Morris, he kind of "adopted" us as his grandchildren. We have many memories of their visits to play games and visit! When it was time for me to be baptized and married, he took the Grandpa seat in my Grandpa Schmidgall's absence. He was such a special person to know and we are thankful for his love and example. The funeral service was a beautiful tribute with two of his grandsons having the service. He was known to many as "Grandpa Fuzzy" and I have memories as a young girl when he would put his head down so we could feel his fuzz. As we grew old enough for a handshake, everyone knew what "put 'er in the vice" meant! And one could recognize his signature warbly whistle from a distance. My brother Jesse has the same whistle, so the song will carry on! A couple of us thought he should whistle with the choir at the funeral in honor of Grandpa Fuzzy! :)

That evening we also celebrated Jesse and Mom's birthdays!

If you've read everything to this point, I think I mentioned I finally have been getting some things done this week...one of those was getting caught up on taking pictures of our last two birthday kiddos! 

Keenan's One Year Pictures. Seriously, I can't get enough of this boy. He has the funnest personality and has been turning into such a little boy the past few weeks! The bottom two expressions are very classic "Keenan" expressions for anyone that knows him well! :)

Joanna's Three Year Pictures. This girl has the most contagious smile and cheerful spirit and she is always ready to share her "pockets full of smiles" with anyone who needs one! "I have big ones and lots of small ones...which kind do you want? Here are some extra that you can save for later if you need them." She is constantly melting her Daddy's heart and making her mama happy! She is always right by my side when I am in the kitchen and still has an obsession with food (I am hoping to train myself out of my cooking job in the next few years). She does have some sass in her when it comes to keeping her big brothers in line...and y'all better watch out when she gets tired! But sweet bubbly smiles are always right around the corner in the morning! :) I love my little girl...she is getting so big!

Time to wrap up this blog post! Have a beautiful fall!