Pumpkin Patch

I'm trying to make an effort to get back onto the blog. So, here it goes... we'll start with my favorite time of the year! FALL! 

Enjoy some pictures from out little family outing to a local pumpkin patch. It was a small little place with some fun for the kids...and some photo ops.  (I've even included a couple of the outtakes)

1400 pound pumpkin -Photo credit: Tryg

-Photo credit: Tryg

-Photo credit: Tryg

I'm The Mom.

I truly don’t believe it is because Mother’s Day is coming up in a couple days (but maybe my subconscious just knows).  However, I have been thinking a lot about being a Mom this week and it’s a good time to write about it.  Not to mention that I have not posted anything on our blog since October.  We call it “survival mode.”

Anyway…

For some reason I distinctly remember a Sunday after church about 14 years ago when a woman was trying to help pack up the church belongings after the service (we rented a space on Sunday mornings) and at the same time she was trying to wrangle her kids.  I don’t remember what had happened but I do remember her being filled with frustration and finally belting out the words, “Because I’M THE MOM!”  I smirked then and I laugh now, just thinking about the whole statement and everything behind it…the joy, the frustration, the title, the ‘entitlement,’ the responsibility, the meaning, the requirements, the power, the lack of power and everything in between.

I remember always wanting to be a mom.  It was just always in the plan.  Little did I know that it would be such a long and difficult journey for me to become one.

Although I was never a really girly girl, I did have some baby dolls to care for when I was little.  I remember in elementary school wanting to have twin boys who I would name Matthew and Michael.  And I did save up all my pennies to buy my own Cabbage Patch Kid from ‘Walmart lay-away’ when I was eleven.  I named him Matthew.  Matthew never got a ‘twin’ though.

Around Jr high age I planned to have three boys and they would be named Noah, Jonah and Micah …Uffda.  I’m glad that never happened.  However, you will note that I’ve always wanted boys!  So far, so good! ~~but truth be told, I wouldn’t mind adding a little girl to the mix.

This past weekend I spent a couple days with my parents.  Just thinking about the shift in dynamics from my family of origin to starting my OWN family has been very interesting.  I mean, for the last 36 years, I have been the child and still am…but now I’M THE MOM!  And for some reason this really hasn’t hit home until lately.  It’s almost as if, for me, the first ‘infant’ years “don’t count.”  It’s like I had to wait until there is more than one and I'm in the middle of the ‘terrible twos or terrifying threes’ before it really counts!  Maybe it’s when motherhood becomes ‘parenting’ that it really starts to settle in.  The first year or so, it’s all about survival and those stinking cute cuddles from the squishy babykins.  Now…it just gets real.

As I look at my three year old son's world, I remember how I looked at my parents when I was a child…they were so “old” and “mean” and “in charge”…they controlled everything!  [of course I remember the times I got in trouble more than the times we had fun together]  Does my three year old look at me that way?  What will he think when he grows up?  

I know I struggle with parenting...what is positive parenting?  How do I be loving AND firm?  I want my boys to know right from wrong.  I want them to respect others.  I want them to have strong character.  How do I teach this in a loving way?  Like right there IN the moment...how do I do that?  That moment that he's pulling on his baby brother for the fourth time while I'm trying to nurse.  I don't want the baby to be distracted, so I'm stuck!  Tryg is distracting Kale and when I try to get Tryg to stop, I am distracting Kale.  It's a no-win situation.  

With pre-schoolers there are so many moments like this.  However, there are also the loving moments that I cherish.  Ah, motherhood....

I’m the Mom….a crazy yet absolutely amazingly enjoyable phrase!  So much responsibility, frustration and exhaustion…but SO MUCH JOY, LAUGHTER and LOVE!

To the Officer Who Pulled Me Over

Yep, sent this in the mail yesterday...

October 18, 2013

To the Officer Who Pulled Me Over,

                It was a year ago last week on Highway 36.  October 12, 2012...a day I will remember for the rest of my life.  We had been trying to get pregnant with our second child for a year and a half.  I was scheduled for our final round of Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) earlier that morning.  However, because of unforeseen issues (which, for your sake, I won’t go into --However, they do make the story much more exciting), I was forced to reschedule to the last appointment slot of the day (they close at noon on Fridays).  I was not given very much hope that this last try would even work.  That day was the culmination of our second infertility journey –no matter what the outcome would be.  It was the last chance that would be covered under my insurance and, hence, our last chance to have another child.  I was devastated and extremely emotional.  I so longed to have another child.  I wanted my son to have a playmate and I wanted our family to welcome just a little more love into it.

                Because my appointment was moved and because of the emotional wreck I had become due to the unforeseen issues earlier that morning, I ended up misjudging the amount of time it would take to get to the clinic.  Therefore, truth be told, I was going a little faster than I should.  You were in the median in your unmarked vehicle.  Even before your partner pointed at me as I drove by, I knew that I was going to be stopped and put into further danger of missing my very last chance.  This is when all my emotions came out!  I turned into an unintelligible blubbering ball of tears as you walked up to my window.

                “Please I need to get to my appointment!  It’s my last chance and the office is going to close,” I shouted the minute you could see me.  You were very confused and also trying to decipher whether or not this was all an act.  After I tried to explain myself a bit more and you threatened [to break HIPAA laws] to see if I actually had an appointment or not, you gave me a warning and sent me on my way.  I was so relieved but still terrified that even after all this effort, it wouldn’t matter.

                However, even with all of the issues I encountered that day, it worked!  I found out I was pregnant on Halloween morning and gave birth to our second son on July 6, 2013! 

                I just wanted to send this letter and photo as a thank you and to ‘prove’ to you that I was telling the truth.  Thanks for letting me get to that appointment.  You have no idea what it means to me to hold our baby in my arms, to see his sweet face and welcome him into our family.  Both my husband and his older brother are also thrilled.  I think of that crazy day often…and don’t worry, I think about my speed as well --especially on Highway 36.

Thank you,

 Mindy

P.S. I don’t even know what police department this officer was from.  It may have been a State Trooper.  If so, you’re welcome to pass this letter on to them.  Thanks.

Football Season

I was working on setting up my Fantasy Football league today (I'm the commissioner, which is pretty funny) and I decided the Little Man needs to be my mascot. Here are a few pics:

Guess Who? (Now With Answers)

Update: A big thanks to Holly and KJ for answering the 'quiz' even though they have yet to meet Kale! I have put the correct answers below in bold text.  See how you did --even if you didn't put your answers in a comment.

So, I realize that most of you have not even met Kale let alone spent much time with him.  However, we think he looks a lot like his brother, Tryg.  Sometimes we (I, Mindy) cannot even tell you which one is which when Erik pulls up pictures of them.  This is not the best sampling but I thought I would make a sort of "quiz" to see if you can tell which one is which.  So, post your answers on Facebook or in the comments on our blog, if you'd like.  Maybe there will be a prize for whoever gets them all right.  No cheating (looking at photo date stamps or on Facebook)!

1. Tryg or Kale? Answer: Tryg (I even got this wrong the first time)

2. Tryg or Kale? Answer: Kale

3. Tryg or Kale? Answer: Tryg

4. Tryg or Kale? Answer: Kale

5. Tryg or Kale? Answer: Tryg

 6. Tryg or Kale? Answer: Tryg

 7. Tryg or Kale? Answer: Kale

 8. Tryg or Kale? Answer: Kale

I will have to work on getting a better sampling --the ones that even I can't tell, but this will do for now.  I also need to work on getting more photos of Kale up in general!  We are doing well but never seem to have time to accomplish much (including blogging).  We are also guilty of not taking nearly as many pics of number 2 as we did with the first.  Luckily we have camera phones or we would have missed most of Kale's first month!  Sad.

So, the answers are:

1. Tryg

2. Kale

3. Tryg

4. Kale

5. Tryg

6. Tryg

7. Kale

8. Kale

It is more clear to us now that Kale has a rounder face...but there are still pics of both of them that are hard to tell.  I just wish I had a better sampling for this blog post. Oh well. Thanks again for looking and to Holly and KJ for participating!

Name Change and First Week

As most of you know, we like to pick uncommon names that also have special meaning to us.  So, what is the meaning behind Kale's name?

Kale Jackson Peter Molin

Kale \k(a)-le\ 
as a boy's name is a variant of Cale (English) and Karl (Old German), and the meaning of Kale is "free man".  Gender: Boy;  Origin: German;  Meaning: Free man.
The meaning of Kale is also "faithful".  It is also of Hawaiian origin, where its meaning is "free man, strong".
Kale is a form of the name Charles -which is my (Mindy's) Grandpa's middle name.
Swedish spelling: Calle  Meaning: Thin, slender man.  Form of Karl.

I actually heard the name "Kale" for the first time when I was running an after school program in Lino Lakes.  I've liked the name since then but was a bit scared to use it.  I mean, who names their kid after a vegetable?!  However, we like that it has both Scandinavian and German roots and that it is a form of Charles (my Grandpa's middle name).  We also like that it's unique. 

However, just like with Tryg when Sarah Palin naming her youngest "Trig," now with Kale all of a sudden kale (the vegetable) is the new superfood and we are hearing about kale salads and kale chips all the time.  Of course this made us a little hesitant but we really didn't have any second choices to fall back on --just like with Tryg.  So, we're going with it! 

**Sorry, I can't get pictures to load! No fun!
Jackson -Jackson, MS is the place that Erik and I really started our relationship.  So, we thought it would be fitting as the little guy wouldn't be here if we hadn't started dating!  Erik and I also both have uncles named Jack.  And we also liked that the initials for Kale Jackson are K.J. -which is what 
everyone calls Erik's Aunt Karen.  Now Karen is already calling him "Little KJ" :-)

Peter *this is where the name change comes in* -you might recall in our first announcement we spelled Peter with a "D" (Peder).  We wanted to use Erik's Grandpa's middle name but there was some confusion on the spelling.  Long story short, involving a fire that burned his grandpa's birth certificate, the family determined that he did actually have Peter with a "T" on his record (drivers license at least).  So, we had to make a few calls but we think we caught Kale's birth certificate in
time to make the change.

This last week has been pretty good.  Kale has been a good baby and despite some further problems sending me to the ER for the night one night, I have actually been feeling pretty good.  Emotionally and physically it has been going much better than with Tryg.  I had a rough time the first time and I think I have been preparing for that again, but it's been better than expected.  However, now that my mom went home and Erik has been back at work, I have been bored!  Tryg has been going to daycare because I am supposed to be resting (since ER trip).  However, the extrovert in me has a hard time just staying home with a newborn...so, let me know if you want to hang out and meet the Little Guy!

He's Here!

We're thrilled that our second little man is here and doing well!  He even cooperated and didn't come on the 4th of July!  He was born on July 6 at 10:54pm.  7lbs 5oz and 19 3/4 inches long.

Introducing...
Kale Jackson Peder Molin

Everyone is doing well, praise the Lord!  While in labor his heart rate kept dropping and once he arrived we found out the reason was that his cord was wrapped around his shoulder and also had a 'true knot' wrapped in it.  We are so grateful that this pregnancy did not end differently -but we're trying not to think about that too much.

Big brother, Tryg is very excited.  His only complaint was that Kale was sleeping and not talking to him.  He was already calling him a "cutie" and telling him he loves him, as well as not to let "the bed bugs bite."  We're thrilled that Tryg loves him so much already.  I'm sure there will be bumps along the way but I'm very hopeful that he will be a fantastic big brother.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.  We'll do our best to keep you posted.

More Progress in the Yard

Along with my 'nesting' as we get ready for Baby #2, we have also been getting some stuff finished in the yard.  My hope is to get as much done as we can before the baby comes so that once he's here, we can just enjoy the house/yard --i.e. try to survive with two kids and no sleep! :)  

One of the projects has been filling rocks along the back of the house.  When we moved into our house, the back was filled with weeds and plants we didn't like.  We pulled them up every year but they kept growing back.  We also had a LOT of earwigs (really gross bugs) nesting in that area.  So, in hopes to stop the weeds and bugs and to make it a little prettier, we pulled up everything (again) and laid down double thick weed barrier and then topped it off with rock.  Erik has been getting buckets of rock every few days in an effort to rid his co-worker's house of the rock they no longer want.  They are giving it to us for free --it's just that we need to haul it away ourselves.  So, slowly but surely we're filling the spot with rocks (2 to 4 buckets at a time).  A few weekends ago, we added a few plants and also continued the rock/plant bed along the side of the deck.  I think it's starting to take shape!  Just a few more buckets of rock to go!

 

We also added some different plants from Linders Greenhouse to the front.  I am not very good with plants or knowing what to put where.  I wanted to add a little "height" to the plants in the front --because we apparently killed off the tall hostas we put there a few summers ago.  (see that post here)  Now we just need another couple bags of mulch in the front and we'll call it 'good' for the rest of the summer.  Then I guess we'll see what grows back next year! 

 

Me and My Sweet Little Helper