What's new with the Ericksons

Wow, it's been a while since I posted! We are now a family of 4! Jada Rae was born September 17th 2010. She was just a little peanut and still is, weighing in at only 11lbs 4oz at her 4 month check up! Jael (who is now 3) is so wonderful with her! She's such a little mommy! She's eager to help. If Jada is upset, Jael says "don't worry mom, I will calm her down". And she does! Jada just loves her big sister!

Luke is busy busy busy. Not only is he Pastor of Community Impact but also Campus Pastor of the Bel Air Mountain site. He really enjoys what he's doing. He is a wonderful daddy and dealing nicely with having 3 girls in the house :-)

I stay busy raising two girls, leading a women's Bible study, attending playgroup and a Thursday evening neighborhood small group. I just adore my family of 4. Recently I have tackled the task of eating sugar free and will add gluten free next month! I look forward to how it will make me feel.

Ok, I'm really going to try to post more!

Busy Summer!

Jael is growing up so fast! She is talking ALL THE TIME and repeats everything we say! She loves to go to the park to swing and go down the slide. She's potty training well and loves the marshmallows she gets as a reward! :-) She loves to test the boundaries mommy and daddy set but I guess that's all part of growing up! Even though I know that I NEVER tested the rules growing up. ;-)

We have found that she does not enjoy going to the pool! We've determined that it's the cold water which I can't say I blame her. As you can see her little friend is in the pool and she was just fine standing on the sidelines!

We had a fun 4th of July. I took Jael to a parade but she was more interested in walking around that she was in the parade. She didn't even notice when two huge spooked horses almost ran into the crowd where we were!!

Jael has also got to go to her Uncle Jim's high school graduation, Aunt Michele and Uncle AJ's wedding and spend a whole week with Grandma and Grandpa Benson this summer!

So far it's been a great summer!!

Our Poor Baby :-(

Well we had our first hospital experience with Jael and it was NO FUN! While on vacation in Iowa Jael started a double ear infection and got the aedno virus. That Friday night she spiked a fever of 104.6 so we took her to the ER. They ran TONS of tests and with no resolve sent us home with a follow-up appointment in the morning with a pediatrician. The next morning the ped. said she had a double ear infection. Two nights later we were back in the hospital because she was getting dehydrated and they put her on an IV. It was then that we found out the tests from Friday night showed she had the Aedno virus. It was not fun for anyone but fortunately we were surrounded by Luke's family! They were an ENORMOUS help as were all the prayers of my family and friends.

We made it through. Jael seems to be doing really well. She JUST finished the antibiotics for her ear infections and I plan to schedule an appointment with our pediatrician to be sure her ears are clear. She has been such a trooper through the entire experience! We love our little peanut!

Sledding!

I can shoot a basket!

We bought a potty chair!

So Jael is growing up so fast! She talks all the time! One of the things she has started to do is tell us when she is going to poop. Crazy huh?? She started by coming up to us and saying "poop" after she had finished. Now she comes up to us says "poop" and will go like 5 minutes later. I'm starting to sit her on her potty when she says poop just so she gets the idea. I won't make her stay there until she actually goes but hopefully this way she'll start to understand that if she needs to poop we sit on the potty.

Also, daddy has taught her how to make a basket. He put a small toy hoop on our banister and Jael will walk over to it when asked to make a basket and throw the ball in. She takes great pride her in accomplishment and loves to hear us praise her!

She is also clearly approaching the terrible twos. Or maybe if I start believing it's the terrific twos I'll make it through. She threw her first public tantrum in Walmart yesterday. What is it about Walmart and kids throwing tantrums. I guess I can kind of understand because Walmart makes me want to throw a tantrum! Turns out it's pretty embarrassing when they do that and it's pretty impossible to "reason" with a 14-month-old. She's old enough to throw a tantrum but not old enough to understand a strict "talking to". How convenient!

Despite her little quirks, we are loving her more and more everyday as she develops into her own little person. It's so fun to watch her grow and learn.

I turned 1!

I had a great birthday. My grandma Benson and Aunt Michele came for my party as well as some of mommy and daddy's friends. I got to have my first taste of cake (well ok it was banana bread cake with cream cheese icing because my mommy doesn't want me to have a lot of sweets) but it was still yummy! I got lots of cute clothes and fun toys to play with. Now I get to go have Christmas with my family in Minnesota AND Iowa. I'm so excited and from what I hear they are too! I am walking all over the place, talking a lot and learning new things everyday. Mommy and daddy have even taught me how to go up and down stairs! I have 5 teeth already! Boy those aren't fun to get in! I'm working on getting 2 more right now! I'm on whole milk now which my mommy and daddy love because they don't have to buy formula anymore! Well, I guess they do still spend a little more money because it's organic whole milk but it's still cheaper! I'm a pretty picky eater which can drive mommy and daddy crazy sometimes but I eat enough and my vitamin takes care of the rest. I still need 2 naps a day which mommy loves! But very soon I'll only need 1! Speaking of naps, I need one right now! More later!