Camping Fun!

Earlier this summer, at the end of July, we went camping for a weekend (well, cottaging really) with our family to Cran Hill Ranch, along with some of my cousins and aunts and uncle. They camped for real, while we stayed in a cottage right next to the beach – Jon and I, Elijah, Matea, Grandma, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Lori, Noah, Lexi, Tori, and Nathan and Andrew. We had a great weekend, and it wasn’t as hard to travel with a baby as I thought it was going to be (of course, it helped that I had stopped breastfeeding by then!). The cottage was very nice as well, with a nice big yard for the kids to run all around the cottage and play.

Playing soldiers on the big stump outside. 

The ranch offered a “Buckaroo Basic” pass for the weekend which got the kids two ice cream cones, a tie-dyed t-shirt, a pony ride, and unlimited boat (kayak, rowboat, etc.) usage for the weekend when with an adult. Elijah loved the ice cream of course, but wasn’t too sure about the other things at first.

Superman ice cream makes my tongue blue!

I like chocolate too. :)

How exactly does a three year old tie-dye a t-shirt? Let’s see . . .

1. Start with a plain boring shirt in the correct size. Lay it on the table and look at Mom for help.

2. Watch Mommy fold my shirt and then stick rubber bands around it. Then swing the finished product around above my head (that’s the critical step).

3. Let loose with the dye!! And see how fast Mom has to scramble to keep up with a permanent-dye-wielding three year old!

4. Get the finished product back the next day and see that my excessive dye squeezing paid off! My shirt is awesome!

Elijah wasn’t too keen on his pony ride at first and though he didn’t say he didn’t want to go he also wasn’t jumping with excitement at the prospect. Then, at less than ¼ of the first lap he said, “I’m done Daddy.” He did get his full two laps in though, and said he liked his pony at the end. Her name was Ophelia, and now when we go to Meijers he insists on riding the penny ponies (he never wanted to before) and calls the horse Opehlia.

Pony spectating is more fun than pony riding.

Eli also held a bunny (reluctantly) and then just kept saying, “You hold the bunnies, Mommy.” He’s never been exposed to holding bunnies before though, so maybe next time he’ll like it better.

The look on his face says it all . . .

My Aunt Linda did a “Christmas in July” for the kids, complete with gifts. Elijah got a ride-on shark for the water and LOVES it! And he also got this light-up squishy ball with florescent “worms” inside. He loves his “wormy ball” as he calls it, though the texture grosses me out.

Slick and squishy! Eww! I love it!

Land shark!

Here comes Jaws! Better watch out everybody!

Jon and I took Noah, Nathan, Andrew, and Elijah on a rowboat ride, which was really fun. We even sang “Row Row Row Your Boat” to Jon. Cheesy, I know, but Andrew and Eli at least thought it was funny (I think Noah and Natey were rolling their eyes at me though).

And our whole family went on a hayride on Saturday night – we took up one entire wagon! Yes, that’s right, EVERYONE in the picture below is related to us!

Pepperoni! (Yes, that's what he was screaming)

Checking out the animals after the hayride. All those little buns belong our families kids!

We had a really fun time and maybe next year we’ll go for a whole week. It didn’t work out this year with the baby and all, but there was a lot to do and I wasn’t ready to leave when it was time to pack up. And we didn’t even roast marshmallows, so we need to camp longer next time!

Matea Pictures!

Things have been very busy since Matea joined our family 7 weeks ago today!  All of you "Little Bean Too!" fans out there may have noticed that this space has been somewhat quiet lately.  The following list of daily activities pursued by Missy and I (shown here in descending priority order) may help to shed some light on this state of affairs:

1. Take care of Matea.
2. Play with and take care of Eli.
3. Sleep.
4. Sleep.
5. Write blog posts!

Most days we manage to get (1) and (2) taken care of pretty well; the remaining items on the list, we're still working on.  I'm sure we'll get there in time!

In the meantime, here are few pictures of Matea selected by Missy:

Matea's Two (weeks old that is)!

Our little girl is two weeks old today! I can't believe it's been that long already. We are adjusting really well to having her part of our family. Her nights and days were messed up at first, but seemed to have adjusted now, with Matea falling back asleep after her night feedings without problem. It is a huge help to be living with my parents though. I’d highly recommend moving in with my parents before you have a baby. :) My Dad takes Matea at night if she doesn’t go back to sleep (a common occurrence the first week), and helps with Elijah a lot in the afternoons. And Mom cooks (yay!) and makes sure I eat, and then plays with Elijah and shares bedtime responsibilities with Jon. It’s like having four parents in the house instead of just two. What a blessing!

Eli is getting on fairly well with Matea. He is definitely aware that he is getting less attention and is slightly passive-aggressive towards Mommy about that sometimes, and definitely more moody to Mommy. He just lights up when Grandma comes home though (his ticket to fun is home!). And Elijah always wants to know where Matea is if she’s not where he saw her last. And he always needs to make sure her stuffed frog that he picked out for her and brought up to the hospital is always in her bassinet when she is in there sleeping.

As most parents and families do we’ve come up with some nicknames for our little one already. The first one was actually one that Eli gave to Matea and came up with all on his own. He calls her “Mashed Matato.” Like mashed potato, which he thinks is just hilarious. We’ve spun off of that a little and called her “Matato-tot” and (mommy’s favorite) “sweet Matato.” Daddy has been calling Matea “Princess and the pee-pee,” since, unlike Eli who could have cared less, Matea HATES to have a wet or a poopy diaper. She will get very uncomfortable and very vocal about her discomfort until she is changed. Mommy calls her “Miss Fussy Britches,” since it’s usually Mommy who has to change her! And I’ve also been calling her “squirtle” and “tootle” because Matea poops and toots constantly. She’s supposed to go at least three times a day, and with her it’s more like 9 times a day. She’s constantly squirting, and has even had multiple changes where she’s gone through two diapers before I get her off the changing table because the minute I put on the new one I hear a huge squirt. Gross but cute. Besides the silly names, we’re also going with the traditional “sweet girl,” “pumpkin,” “doodlebug,” (we call Eli that too), and “princess.”

We’ve had a very good first two weeks and even managed to go to the grocery store, to Target twice, to the doctor’s twice (Matea had an eye infection), and to the Frederick Meijer Gardens with Grandpa Bob and Nana Sherry when they visited. What a busy time! I’m feeling much better recovery-wise than with Elijah, and the breastfeeding is going MUCH better than with Eli as well. Matea left the hospital weighting 4 pounds 15 ounces, but is up around 6 pounds now on the home scale (she was 5 pounds 13 ounces at her doctor’s visit last Thursday). She has been gaining weight well so far and eating about every three hours. So at two weeks in to parenting another little one we are doing great!

 Matea during one of her alert times. 

 Milk coma. Mmmmm.

Hi Mommy! I love you! (or that could just be the gas talking)

I don't want to take a bath! Elijah helped wash Matea's hair (and only got water in her eyes once!).I'm not so sure what just happened to me. I didn't like it, whatever it was.Going to the gardens tuckers me out.

Announcing: Matea Marie Schneider!

Melissa and I are very excited to to announce the birth of our
daughter, Matea Marie Schneider! 

Matea ("mah·TAY·ya" -- Hebrew, "Gift of God") was born on Wednesday, June 18, at 9:49pm.  Both Melissa and Matea are doing great!

Matea was born at 39 weeks, but was little for a full-term baby!  She weighed in at 5 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 18 inches long. She has a full head of dark brown hair already though!

Melissa had quite a fast delivery:

Left for the hospital	8:46 pm
Arrived at hospital	9:04 pm
Matea is born!	9:49 pm

Only an hour between leaving for the hospital, and having our baby!

Melissa had a sense that she might be in labor throughout the morning and afternoon, with mild contractions every 8-10 minutes, but she wasn't "sure" until after dinner; Jon worked a full day (through 5:00) that day. After dinner, things sped up quickly, and we got to the hospital in the nick of time.  We spent a total of only nine minutes in the delivery room before Matea's arrival!

Matea is little but perfect, and we are enjoying getting to know our little peanut!

38 weeks . . . she's almost here!

Well, I'm 38 weeks along now with our little girl, and since Eli was born at 38 weeks I'm guessing that it won't be long now! Last week I was already dilated to 1 centimeter and 70% effaced (the thickness of the cervix), so the doctor doubted I would go full term. Who knows? I don't think the stats really mean much, but I can tell that the baby is a lot lower than she has been, which is giving me quite a bit of discomfort this last week. So I figured I'd better record some of my thoughts and experiences of this pregnancy while I'm still actually pregnant!

I haven't blogged much about the pregnancy this time around, being with busy with Eli and everything else, but once again I think I've been blessed with a great pregnancy. I was much more nauseous than I was with Elijah, and lost my appetite for pretty much the first four months of pregnancy, but then I really felt fine after that. I haven't gained that much weight either - only 17 pounds so far (I gained 19 with Elijah). I've been more uncomfortable this time around though, and had more what they call "round ligament" pain. My muscles low in my abdomen are split apart from my last pregnancy so they don't hold things up quite as well this time around! And man can I tell.

Our newest little bean has been much more active than Eli was, so I'm interested to see how that relates, if at all, to their personalities. I felt this baby move earlier, and once she started she didn't stop it seemed like! Peak hours are 10:30 pm or so until about 12:30 am in the morning, and she can usually be counted on to do lots of interesting things during that time frame! Up until about a month ago she really liked to do flips, which took my breath away a lot. Then she settled down in to a lot of going side to side and kicking. it's only been in the last two weeks that the movements have calmed down as she's running out of room in there! Eli had the hiccups almost every day, but this time I have only noticed them maybe twice a week. Jon got to see and feel a few of the episodes though, which he thought was pretty cool (Eli always had hiccups about 3 in the afternoon, so Jon never got to feel them).

I look more pregnant this time around than I did with Eli, but I'm still not one of those super-cute baby bump pregnant ladies (who I dislike more and more the closer I get to my due date). God gave me big hips and my babies seem to just settle in and not show much. And I'm carrying low again, with plenty of room near my ribcage. I should be happy since that means I rarely have a hard time breathing or have indigestion, like a lot of pregnant women do, but I also don't have that cute baby bump think going on because of it.

I don't even look pregnant most of the time . . . phooey.

Jon and I finally decided on the spelling of our little girl's name (we have had the name for a bit but couldn't agree on the spelling, so I never blogged it as that requires spelling it!). We've christened her Matea (muh-tay-ah), which has a Hebrew origin and means "Gift of God." She will truly be our special gift, so we thought that was appropriate! And it is just adorable to hear Eli say "Matea" or "Tea" as he often shortens it to. Eli's ready for his sister to be here and keeps asking when Matea is coming.

Just yesterday Eli saw a few surprises on the bed that "Matea" bought for him (some trains of course). We explained that they were from Matea and she would give them to him when she was here. So all day long today I've been fielding the "Is Matea ready to come now, Mommy?" question, and the "I want Matea to come out so I can have my prizes!" statements. He told Grandma and Grandpa all about his surprises at dinner tonight, and then gave his pouty face and said he was ready for Matea to come out NOW! We asked him what would happen when Matea came out and he told us that, "Mommy will take off her shirt!" I think we'll leave the mysteries of childbirth unexplained at this point, so yes, Eli, Mommy will take off her shirt and Matea will come out! :)

Anyway, things are counting down to our little one's arrival, and we are all very excited. Eli may be more excited about the trains he's going to get, but even he is ready to see his sister and is looking forward to meeting Matea. I'm going to miss being pregnant (well, maybe not the last two weeks), but can't wait to see our little girl too (and put something pink on her)! :)