Welcome Josefine Rose!

It’s a Girl!! We are so excited to welcome and announce our newest addition Josefine Rose! We could not feel more blessed this Christmas season! Josefine was born on Thursday December 21st at 8:52pm. She weighed 7lb 15oz And was 21 3/4 inches long. She is absolutely perfect!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had to snap some quick pictures before leaving my 2 babies for the hospital!

 

 

Josefine entered the world quickly! I took a hard hilly long walk with my friend Kelly on Thursday morning and when I came home I was a little more crampy then I had been days before. I informed joe that he might want to leave work that day with things wrapped up. Around 9am my water partially broke at home and so I knew, even though contractions hadn’t started, that I would have to be admitted To the hospital due to higher risk for infection. So I waited until 11am and called my doc and she told me to make my way into hospital. From 9-11 I was running around like crazy packing a bag, cleaning the house, making some food for the kids for the next few days and getting some last minute laundry done! I think I was suddenly overwhelmed and not feeling ready! Joe and I headed to the hospital and they confirmed my water had broke and that I would be staying in the hospital until that baby came! They told me they would need to start a pitocin drip 8-10 hours after water broke if contractions weren’t starting on their own. For the next few hours joe and I walked those hospital halls and I did so many squats to try to start contractions. Around 4:30pm they started a small pitocin drip, 5:30pm I was measuring 3cm and was starting to feel contractions, and at 8:52pm after an intense and fast natural labor/birth, Sweet Josefine came flying into the world! Stefanie made it for the last hour of labor and the birth and my mom was on the elevator just minutes away while Josefine was born (since i encouraged her to Hang at Home and get my kids to bed because I thought it would take much longer than it did..) I am so grateful for all of their support in the labor process and I definitely needed Joe and Stefanie there to keep me strong and motivated during labor. 

 

 

The kids came the next morning to meet her and they were so excited!! (Well my Mom said Elisabeth kept saying “I’m not ready to go yet” and Jack kept telling her how exciting of news he had about the new baby!) Once at the hospital they were both so in love with her and had many questions and comments to

Make about their new baby sister!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

German School Concert

Jack had his last day of German school on Saturday until the New Year and it included a concert and holiday party with all the classes and people involved in the German Society! Since Omi and Opa also attend German school they were there and they brought Oma and Opa along to enjoy it! Oma's dear friend is Jack's teacher (she has been teaching for 47 years!) so Oma enjoyed visiting with Frau Leuker! The morning was adorable and Jack was proud to show off some of his german language skills!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a very festive day and the kids enjoyed  

Singing  German Christmas carols and visiting with Saint Nicholas. We were so happy Oma and Opa could be there - they seemed to really enjoy themselves!

One Purple Spoon and a Baby

Elisabeth is really developing her personality and makes us laugh many times a day! She's a feisty, silly little girl and she just cracks me up! Her language is coming around and she has started telling lots of stories (sometimes only I can understand) but they always start with "one time last week...".  She picks up on everything around her and shows so much empathy and concern for Jack anytime he needs her. 

 

 

 

She is really really into babies, playing house, playing mama, cuddling her babies, feeding them, playing with her doll house, and packing up her purse with all her favorite things. Her and Jack are often found upstairs in the bedrooms playing "mommy and daddy" and using each room as different parts of their house. They get very into it!

When Elisabeth is asked what she wants for Christmas she will reply "purple". The girl is obsesSed with anything purple and will screech at just the site of the color! If you push her to come up with a more specific Christmas wish list she will tell you "one purple spoon and a baby from mamas belly." She is so so excited for the baby and is constantly loving on my belly, talking to my belly and "making sure baby is moving in there." 

 

On any given day if you open up that girls purse you will be guaranteed to find: a purple marker, her play phone, a lipgloss (or 2 or 3), her babies bottle, the hyena, and a purple lego. 

 

She runs around all day playing with "Jackie" and has zero trouble keeping up with him. She Screeches his name and squeezes him with hugs when he wakes up in the morning. She will do anything to make him laugh.

She still has a major obsession with Joe and begs him to put his cologne on her "and give me a big huge hug" each morning before he leaves  for work. Lately though, with baby just around the corner, she has wanted so many extra mama cuddles and snuggles and I am totally ok with that!

 

We got to babysit baby Henry a few weeks ago and Elisabeth was the best little helper! She couldn't get enough! 

 

 

St. Nicholas Day!

Definitely one of our top favorite holidays in this house! I used to get just about as excited for St Nicholas Day as a child as I did Christmas! It feels like the kickoff to Christmas and I have passed that excitement onto Jack and Elisabeth! They set their shoes up so early and we spent much of the week leading up to the holiday reading books about Saint Nicholas and talking about him! Jack learned a lot about him at Atrium and they talked about him at German school so he was well prepared! 

 

 

 

 

I love to experience their excitement as they open the bedroom doors to see the goodies in their shoes! Too much fun!

Thanksgiving!

We had a beautiful, relaxing, family filled Thanksgiving this year! We stayed in Cincinnati for thanksgiving day and then went to Cleveland from Friday morning until Sunday. Lots of time to just be together and do nothing which was much needed! 

Wednesday night before Thanksgiving joe and I headed out with some of my adult cousins! We haven't done that since more have gotten older than 21 so this was a really memorable night! Anna was in town from Norway so we all enjoyed showing her the downtown scene! 

 

 

Thursday morning my family all did the Turkey Trot! Truly doesn't feel like thanksgiving if not started downtown at a race! Joe and I decided to run with the stroller this year (well joe did all the pushing - hello 36 weeks pregnant!) but we did end up running the whole race and I felt so proud of myself - it was a fun year to run because I had no expectations and just really enjoyed Joe and the kids being with me! 

 

We headed to my Oma and Opa's house Thursday afternoon for the big family Thanksgiving! I took very few pictures but will always have the most fond memories of Oma and Opa's house during the holidays! My Oma still does much of the cooking (which every year we try to take from her but she just doesn't want to give it up). 

 

 

 

 

We then headed to Cleveland for the rest of the long weekend and had such a nice relaxing stay! We went downtown on Saturday to enjoy some Christmas festivities but otherwise took it easy which was perfect!

 

 

Again I took almost no pictures the entire weekend so just a few to capture the happiness we felt being a Grandma and Grandpas!