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Friday, February 1, 2013

January at The Schulze Shack

It is hard to believe that January is over.  On the bright side, here in Wisconsin it means we are one month closer to warmer weather.  Yes, I know that truly warm weather may not happen for a couple months still, but once the second half of February rolls around, we may start to see the occasional day in the 40's (or even 50's) and it will truly feel like spring.  Then the local Drive Inn will open and we can start walking to get our ice cream cones again.  That is the official start of spring (well, at least for me).  My heart is warming up just thinking about it! 

Libby getting ready to head outside and make a snowman.
We had a really low key month of January at our home.  William took a few days off to go fishing on Lake of the Woods (that is on the Minnesota and Canadian border for you non-locals) with some of his co-workers and had a good time, even with sub-zero temperatures that they had to deal with.  But for the most part, the kids and I stayed at home.  This is the first time in a long time we haven't been traveling at least one weekend out of the month.  We did venture out every weekend to attend church and a few other miscellaneous events so it felt like a nice balance for me.

My Gratitude Journal ~ Started during my current bible study.
I talked with William at the end of December and expressed my feelings of how hard it was on me traveling all the time and how I really needed to take a break and just focus on our immediate family and our home for a little while before beginning the travel cycle again.  He agreed that we had been gone a lot this past year (and rightfully so, we were being intentional about spending a lot of time with his family prior to his step-mother's passing) and now that things had settled down, it was time to relax a little bit.  I am so grateful for a husband that understands my introverted self and lets me take the time I need.  Especially when he is the type that could be gone every single weekend.

We finally got our family photos back this month and now have to decide which ones to have printed and send them out to family.  They turned out so good and I am excited to be able to share them.  They will be coming to you all soon.


I didn't take as many photos as I should have this month.  Probably because we were not off somewhere for the weekend.  It is tough for me to remember to take photos of every day occurrences.  But these are the ones I truly want to remember, so I need to get better at keeping the camera out and ready for the unexpected moments. 

A tube of my homemade chapstick.  I love it.
Libby is getting much closer to being potty trained.  She is now doing the majority of her business on the "princess potty".  She is very proud of herself, as she should be because learning how to use the potty is difficult.  It has been difficult for me to see her struggling with this, but has been a good tool in teaching me how patience does really pay off.  I am also being a little humbled by the fact that she didn't grasp this right away.  Of course my children are perfect in my eyes, but it is good for me to remember that they are human too.  And humans make mistakes.  Over and over again. 

Eddie can now hold his bottle all by himself and drink.  He has also started rolling over (from tummy to back) on occasion.  He eats almost anything we put in front of him and even some things we don't intentionally put in front of him (like his sister's safety scissors, OMG that was a rough one for me).  He had his first taste of green smoothies this month and he seemed to like them.  He sucked them right out of the straw.  He is now getting meals three times per day (still pureed foods) and has milkies 5 times per day (and during the night as well).  He isn't sleeping well in his crib, so he does spend a lot of time with William and I in our bed, but we need to stop this.  I think I may look into somehow getting his crib into our family closet (which is really a bedroom turned into a closet because there are not any closets in our house) so he can have his own space to sleep and we can let him try and cry himself back to sleep occasionally.  Libby usually sleeps through his crying, but when she doesn't it can be trouble.


I am still plugging away at my One Thousand Gifts bible study.  Here are a few more things I was grateful for in the month of January.

A warm winter day
Fresh eggs from the Gronski's chickens
Homemade Chapstick, Face Cream and Deodorant (and feeling productive while making them)
Hot tea
Potty training successes
Edward's wrinkled nose when he smiles really big
My sister-in-law and her great stories about dating (so glad I am not at that point in my life!)
Grandma Connie and her willingness to help me whenever I need it
A husband who listens to me

1 comment:

  1. Your family photo looks great! So cute. Sometimes you do just have to take a break and stay at home. I'm a homebody, so I prefer not to travel. But you do have to compromise as well!

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