Swingin' Through Spring

Things in April and May Besides the Baby

I updated back in April about the new addition. Things continue to go very well! The first two months, I had a lot of help with the children. Clara was a month old before I went a whole day with no assistance! We are so thankful and blessed with a great support system!

This man is my greatest support! :) Since Clara had to be under the lights and stay an extra day at the hospital, Matt relieved my mom one night and had a sleepover at our house and spent a morning with the kids. 

While I was in photo mode with Clara, we also got caught up on annuals for the boys! This is Keenan at 1 1/2 years. He is in the cutest, most hilarious and ornery stage right now and certainly keeps me hopping (much more so than the new baby)! I think being out of routine for two months kind of did him in, so we are trying to instill some structure and discipline into the child again. He is so proud of himself in this picture with his hat and the Gator! 

Micah is still our sweet and sensitive five year old. When it comes to getting things done, his motto may be something along the lines of, "Slow and steady wins the race!" While at play, he is an active little monkey like his daddy and loves to run, climb, and ride his bike! I am impressed at how he can play and get along so well with any child. When he has nobody to play with, he is generally entertaining himself in his own little world. He finished his Tuesday morning preschool with Aunt Timna in April and is getting excited about learning to read and playing the piano!

Levi is our quick-thinking, smart and silly fun-loving six year old. He loves to read, learn new things, think of big ideas, play games, and be goofy. He is becoming a good and willing helper around the house and also keeps busy playing with his younger siblings! It has been wonderful to watch him learn and grow this past year at home, at school, and at play! He doesn't like anything to be "boring" and will generally do anything if he can find a way to make it "fun." 

Oh, and Joanna. Thankfully I have 23,473 selfies of her on my phone since it wasn't time for her four year picture yet. (For anyone who doesn't understand why I have so many selfies on my phone of her, taking pictures is the only thing you can do on a phone without unlocking it. Looking through her selfies is a good way to figure out all of her hiding spots from Mommy.) She is a bucket of sugar and spice and everything nice, doesn't miss a beat in keeping up with her brothers, and is never afraid to speak her mind. She is quite social, loves to talk, and adores her little sister. She is also learning to read a little and play the piano and is pretty pleased with herself! She is not three, she is three and a half. "I'm almost five...because pretty soon I will be four and then I'll be five!"

Oh, and three baby geese were born on our pond in April. They always promptly depart because apparently Uncle Troy's pond is a better place to raise your goslings. 

I'm telling you, this kid is busy and ornery, getting into trouble and always running out of my sight. But he's so happy-go-lucky and pretty agreeable and fun to have around. (If I can just keep him around...!)

The Redwood Brothers made their debut a couple weeks ago! We couldn't even make it through breakfast the next morning without another view of some of our favorite singers! :) The Redwood Brothers is a music group consisting of my four youngest brothers and a family friend. I will link to their first video later on in this post.

Ok, Fine...and A little Bit of Baby

Storytime

All the girls

Clara and Iris (Nate and Lucy) at Young Couples

All smiles these days!

Clara has been such a good baby and has loved the commotion of the family from the start. She was an early smiler, which is always so fun! She has been eating, sleeping, growing, and adjusting well. 

She is two months old now and sleeping through the night! Lots more smiles, cuddles, and coos this month. She loves to be wherever we are - in the high chair, the swing, or outside in the stroller!

We love her so much!

The Life and Times of Geronimo

Once upon a time, there was a nest of six baby squirrels that caught on fire from a brush fire. Three babies were scorched to their doom, but the other three were able to escape the nest before burning to a crisp. Matt and the kids discovered the babies and decided to rescue them. Thus began our squirrel-raising adventure. 

Three baby squirrels. I was pretty squeamish about having rodents in my house, so a new home was quickly arranged for them in the garage. 

A little home for three baby squirrels. 

Matt faithfully fed the squirrels a milk-like concoction every few hours, as long as he was available. Within the first few days, he wasn't able to reunite the squirrels with the mother and two of the squirrels met their death. One remained, so he was lovingly named "Geronimo" after the Indian who jumped his horse off a cliff (since the squirrels had jumped out of the tree). 

Matt was smitten with his new pet (sneaking Geronimo in the house by hiding him in his sweatshirt). I was grossed out and preferred to snuggle my much cuter baby.

Geronimo's bath time

Matt's babies...

Once Geronimo's eyes opened, he needed to be moved to a cage so he didn't escape the cardboard box. Our handyman concocted a nice squirrel cage and has been continuing to keep the squirrel fed and entertained as it grows to adulthood. 

Tristan thinks our pet squirrel is awesome and has told his parents he needs one too. 

"I never knew in a million years I would be doing this right now!"

Geronimo is now ready to enter adulthood whenever we are ready for the grand departure. I did touch the squirrel once and I fed it once *pats self on back*. I will say he is much more cool now that he looks like an adult squirrel, but I have just been busy with my own babies lately.  

Easter

Rewinding a bit to Easter weekend! We got some special visitors as Bruce and Penny's family made their way through Iowa to get to one of their boys' games. It was fun for them to meet Clara!

We also decided to tie dye for Easter. We had gotten a kit for Christmas with the shirts and needed to get the project accomplished while the shirts still fit! The kids had fun picking out their designs and colors.

Doing Easter eggs with whipping cream...using colored farm eggs! Trying to keep it quick and low-mess but not sure if that is even possible!

We didn't have special Easter outfits this year, so instead we celebrated Easter with the girls wearing a couple of my old dresses! 

We spent the evening with the Massner family and wore our new shirts!

It decided to snow on Easter, so the egg hunt was in the living room this year! 

Enjoying the fruits of their egg hunt.

Mother's Day

We spent Saturday evening before Mother's Day with the Massner family at a park in Muscatine. Bocce Ball got a little down to the wire. :)

We spent Mother's Day with the Lanz family at Uncle Ron and Aunt Timna's. Micah found a ball that matched him.

Clara and Mo hit it off well. 

Official End to the School Year

Levi was wanting to make life-size people pictures, so while I was gone one morning Matt helped the kids make themselves! 

Though we finished our goals for the year before Clara was born, we continued to do some busywork up until a couple weeks ago when we hit the 150 day mark for school days. Levi officially graduated from Kindergarten! He has come so far this year and we had so much fun! I am so thankful for the opportunity we have to homeschool!

Our homeschool group had a field trip to a beekeeping operation in Mediapolis! Matt came along and my boys decided to wear their little bee suits, of course.

I have finally braved up and bought paint for my kids. They love it and I haven't had any serious mental breakdowns over the matter, either!

Breaking Free of the Indoor Life

Matt installed a basketball hoop in our driveway that he acquired from Grandpa Schulz. Now if only we owned a basketball...

Took a little stroll out to Lake Virg one day!

Found a good day for a picnic in the front yartd!

Seth & Brenda came over one evening to help Matt shear our three sheep. The job got done! 

On the Road Again

We cleared most things off our schedule in April, so the beginning of May brought several appointments with it. One was the kids' visit to the dentist - Keenan's first visit! He did great! 

We joined a few other church moms and children at the Mediapolis nursing home for Baby Joy to entertain the residents one morning. 

Finally! Finally got to visit my Grandma Knobloch in May after over a year of not seeing her in person! It was great for the kids to meet her again. 

We then trekked over to Morton for a quick visit with Aunt Angie! We also have not seen her since Covid started. She was pretty thrilled to see the baby!

I don't remember what the occasion was, but I was obviously pretty pleased that all five kids were sleeping at the same time. 

We joined the Hartters and some other Schulz family for Asher's 7th birthday party on Memorial Day!

These two are becoming quite the little companions. They could hardly contain themselves from digging into the cake...

Projects

My stress relief/outlet the past few weeks has been a couple home projects - painting our computer desk and our kitchen cupboard handles. 

I can't find my "before" picture, but this is the material of the desk before I painted it. The surfaces were getting beat up and worn out so we thought painting would help give it a refresh.

We were happy with the finished product!

While I was redoing the handles for the desk, I decided to do all the handles from the kitchen as well. They were gold, though some were so greasy that they looked brown. Here is the progression of the (dirtiest) handles...from dirty, to clean, to painted...

...to the kitchen! Fairly unnoticeable but a nice fresh touch. One could also take note of the fresh coats of paint on the kitchen walls that we finished before Clara arrived. But one most likely would not notice, seeing that the colors didn't change much. 

Another afternoon I painted some wall décor to go downstairs with the boys' pictures. Paint seems to be the theme of 2022 around here. We have a couple more painting projects on my list, but we are planning to take a break now and focus on outside things...

...like the never-ending landscape project! Matt has been building walls for the last five years and it is starting to look really nice! 

We've still got a way to go, but it is nice to see some finishing touches being made to make the place look less like a construction zone! This guy is impressive! It is good for him to have a way to burn off some physical energy after sitting at an office job all week! 

In Loving Memory

As Memorial Day approached, both Matt and I had classmates pass away the same weekend. Garrett Rupe was my class president (Mediapolis Class of 2012). Micah Keller was a year older than Matt, but their main connection was going to state wrestling together in 2005. It is tough to see them go and to see their families go through such difficult times. Losing someone so young certainly helps bring life into perspective. 

Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, Matt's family brought flowers to their Mom's grave and spent some time together at the cemetery looking through pictures and reminiscing. This week will mark 24 years since her passing. 

We also found my Grandpa Massner's grave. One thing my children have in common with me is that we both have a grandparent who passed away when our dads were ten years old. We both have the blessing to look forward to meeting a grandparent for the first time when we get to Heaven!

Thus, I will end by sharing the first recorded song by the Redwood Brothers, "Far Side Banks of Jordan." How thankful we can be for the hope we have of meeting our loved ones again after this life is over! God's blessings to you all!

(Click Here to be redirected to YouTube if the video above doesn't work.)

Clara Beth

 Announcing the arrival of our little Miss...

Clara Beth Schulz

Born March 29, 2022 at 3:28pm

Weighing 7lb 11.5oz

Measuring 21.5 inches

Welcomed home by all her excited siblings!

Those teeny little feet...

Her big brothers love to hold her...

Big sister is so thrilled for another little girl!

Keenan doesn't really know where she came from, but he is in LOVE with this new baby of his and takes very good care of her!

It is so fun to have another little girl...and a baby who adores her mama above all else! (Daddy tends to take over as the favorite person pretty quickly once they figure out how fun he is! I mean...can't blame them!)

The name Clara is one we have liked and had picked out since we were expecting Micah, but somehow Joanna's name prevailed when we had our first girl. Clara is also named after my great-grandma Clara Moser (my mother's maternal grandmother). Our Clara shares a middle name with her Grandma in Heaven, Karen (Beth) Schulz. 

A Labor Story That You Aren't Obligated to Read: It all began with ingesting many gallons of red raspberry leaf tea, several bags of dates, and a few pineapples. All the usual that generally don't help labor come any sooner for me. But Clara happened to be my second-earliest baby at only six days overdue! Yeehaw!! 

I was dilated to 3.5 cm at my 40 week appointment the week before. I woke up on Tuesday the 29th around 2:30am with regular contractions about 5-10 minutes apart. So I promptly got up and did laundry. I know that's what everyone does when they know they are in labor; don't try to tell me it's a fifth child thing. I got the remainder of our hospital bag packed, finished the laundry, and laid back down until Matt's alarm went off for work at 5am. At which point I informed him that I was in labor. He had a hard time believing me because it was a little soon...like only six days late? Say what?

My goal was to not need to go to the hospital until the kids were all awake, fed, dressed, and packed for Grandma's (ok, as I review this I am a little humored that there are clearly more urgent matters than a pending childbirth when you've got four other children. I mean, life must go on!). So we kind of just chilled out for awhile and let our morning routine roll on. I was starting to get uncomfortable enough that I couldn't really focus on managing children, so we shipped them off around 9am and came back home to get their bags packed and try to get labor to progress with a little less chaos.

I had just enough time to get the kids' stuff packed up before I started getting anxious about being a half hour away from the hospital, so we headed for Burlington. Our first stop was McDonald's because I was hungry. Then we proceeded to Menards. I figured the baby would surely come quicker if the alternative option was being at Menards (hehe...neither of us can figure out why that store fatigues me faster than any other place in the world). So Matt was in his bliss meandering around his favorite store while I walked up and down the aisles trying not to cause a scene as I waited for my water to break in the lightbulb section (thankfully no such scene ensued). Within about a half hour, I was getting uncomfortable enough that being only two blocks from the hospital was starting to make me nervous, so we made our way to the final destination.

Hospital arrival was 11am. And...drumroll please...3.5 cm dilated, the same as five days prior. Wahoo. But I guess I had thinned out quite a bit with eight hours of active labor. I sat in the waiting room on the monitors while they got all my admission paperwork completed. I walked around the halls for two more hours, and by 2pm contractions were three minutes apart. I officially got admitted to my room and was barely dilated to four centimeters. So encouraging.

I was only able to do my power walking for another twenty minutes or so, then came into the room and needed Matt's support. Soon I was in the whirlpool tub. Around 3pm, I was so uncomfortable and contractions were starting to last a couple minutes each. I was quite discouraged (assuming I was dilating slowly) and ready to throw in the towel for an epidural because I was in way too much pain to go on for hours in that condition. I got out of the tub and asked for another cervix check before I made any rash decisions.

And that is when all the discouragement turned to complete joy when that wonderful nurse said I was fully dilated! EH?? A hee hee hoo and that about wrapped up the most beautiful birth ever.

And I got to be the first one to snuggle a very beautiful, healthy baby girl. God be praised!

'Tis the end of that story, but only the beginning for sweet Clara Beth.

Our hospital stay was extended an extra night so she could spend some time under the bili lights. We finally got to bring her home to meet the kiddos on April Fools Day! 

Heading home with our new baby Clara!

 

First view... :)

Our growing family of seven!

They were all thrilled to meet Clara! 

Getting Clara dressed in the morning.

When the old baby gets promoted to BIG brother and looks huge! (And when little baby had a blowout and all I had was a size 18 month onesie in the diaper bag...)  

We've enjoyed all of our many visitors! 

I'm in love with that red-tinted hair!

After Clara's arrival, the next thing on the agenda was welcoming her cousin Charlotte into the world eight days later!

Aren't they sweet??

The seven Massner grandchildren!

Two little guys became big brothers (for some reason they wanted to swap babies for this picture)!

These little girls are already the best of friends! 

More later...just thought I should make Clara's presence known! :) Things are going very well transitioning home. She has been an amazing baby, we've been getting plenty of help, and I have felt very well. God's grace is always sufficient, as we have learned many times over!

Thank you all for the prayers and support as we welcome home our new addition!