April Date Night!

This month, Mike planned our big date night and it was a “blast from the past!”

We started out by driving by some of our most memorable relationship spots in Dallas: Baylor Hospital/nursing school- where I went to school, had my first job, and where we welcomed both of our girls into the world- our old apartment in Lakewood and finally we arrived at our favorite Mexican restaurant: Matts! We used to eat at Matts at least once a week and would walk there from our apartment when the weather was nice. 

Our first place! Such fun memories here...

I was so fun to reminisce about the good old days and talk! It was also so wonderful to have a kid-free dinner!!! Seriously, not being interrupted while talking and not having to worry about a two year old tantrum or a 4 month old spitting up was so amazing. I LOVE my girls, but I LOVE spending time with their daddy too. 

After dinner we drove to Starbucks, grabbed some chai/coffee and walked to the spot at White Rock Lake where we got engaged (the second time!). Surprisingly we’ve never been back to that spot in the past 5 years! The weather was beautiful and we made it just in time for the sun set- just like when we got engaged.

Where I said "Yes!!!"

It was so wonderful to talk about where we’ve been, where we are and where we want our marriage to be. Mike planned a perfect date for me: Mexican food, margaritas, lots of talking, chai tea lattes, Lakewood and reliving old memories!

Thanks sweet hubs!! 

The Love Bird Vogs

Khloe- 3 months!

Eating: Every 3 hours… her meal times are usually 7-10-1-4-7 and 10. She is breastfed for almost all of them but the 10 which is her “dream feed” and we wake her up for it and give her a 5 ounce breast milk bottle. Sometimes she’ll wake up at 5 and want to eat and then goes back to sleep until 7/8ish.

Sleeping: She’s sleeping from 7-5/6 interrupted by the dream feed at 10. She’s taking roughly 3 naps a day- 1 hr morning, 1.5-2hr afternoon and a cat nap before dinner. We weaned her from the paci last week and she’s starting to learn to self-soothe! It takes her usually 5-10 of crying and then she’s out. Total opposite of Mk- she rarely ever cried to sleep.

Milestones: K has head control pretty much down and she’s starting to like to sit up in our laps to observe her surroundings. She’s definitely found her hands, and they are pretty much always found in her mouth. She hasn’t gotten the thumb sucking thing down yet, but I’m hoping soon. She’s started laughing at us too.

K is roughly 13lb (based on our home scale) and she’s in 3/3-6month clothes and size 2 diapers when she’s not in cloth.

Our sweet Khloe is such a love bug- she loves snuggling and being held by mommy and daddy. She’s also such a social girl, always looking around and smiling! Tiny sweets (my nickname for her)- we adore you!

Love,

The Vogs

Reflections

I love looking back on my life and seeing God’s hand so clearly. One of the reasons I love to blog is because it’s like a journal that I can reflect back on… a very public journal! ;)

 I was reading this post from almost a year ago and just remembering the state of my heart. This time a year ago I was closer to Jesus than I had been in a while. I was daily depending on him, praying  constantly, working diligently on the ugly sin skeletons in my closet of jealousy and entitlement.  I am SO incredibly thankful for that time in my life. It was such a short time of waiting compared to some, but the Lord used it in mighty ways. It was a sweet time of falling more in love with my Savior as he continually reminded me that He was there, He loved me, He was sovereign, He had a perfect plan for my life, He was dependable.

I hate that my heart wonders away from the Lord when things are going ok, when I’m “in control.” What a terrible lie that Satan uses in my life to pull me away from my Lord. I have to fight like crazy to put Christ back in His rightful place in my life- the throne. I’m so thankful that He uses times where we feel like we are at the end of ourselves to remind us that we can’t do it alone and to draw us closer to Him.

Thank you, Lord, for your mercy and allowing a selfish, self-righteous, control freak like me to crawl in your lap, to rest in you and to allow you to work in and through her. Thank you for making me a mom, another way to expose my own selfishness and daily opportunities to pour myself out for my littles and to be filled up by You. I adore you.

Love,
Katy 

Confessions of a Paciholic

We were both addicted… I loved having an easy fix to a fussy baby and a sure fire way to get her to sleep and she just plain loved it… and then two weeks ago happened. She started habitually waking up at 2:19am on.the.dot…. and out popped the paci, which started the frantic search, which lead to the freaking out, which prompted the crying, which woke up the mommy, who put the pacifier back in... and this cycle repeated for 2 hours, for almost a week.

So, on Sunday night during one of these cycles in the early evening I decided to call it quits… cold turkey… good bye pacifier. And guess what? We’ve have the best two nights of sleep in three months!!!! She’s finally finding her hand/thumb (one arm out of the swaddle).

Self-soothing for the win! J

Adios cute wubanub at night time… you might still be useful to us at church or the gym nursery as a soother for sweet K, but your services at night are done!

Thanks for the reminder sweet Khloe, that sometimes mama has got to get out of the way and let you/help you discover new things on your own. 

Love,

Mama Vog

Lately...

I finally feel like we've gotten into a good routine and have time to update this blog!

Miss Khloe is putting herself into a wonderful routine and I've been able to keep up with our house and work on some fun sewing/house projects.

I've learned more about my selfishness and insensitivity to others needs by having kids and here's one of my latest reflections: After having two babes and letting the Lord really work on my heart, I think I've found the key to happy Vogelaar babies- learning their cues and respecting them- putting aside my selfish desires to better serve my kiddos. I did not do this well with MK and the first couple months were touch and go... not terrible by any means, but not great. She slept awesome at night, but our days were unpredictable and sometimes just filled with tears- both hers and mine! Finally around 4 months I started picking up on her tired cues and respect them and life was MUCH easier for us! I also tried to let her run the show with naps ... if it was nap time, we were at home (only exception was on weds for bible study). I learned quickly that a napping baby is a happy baby so I was going to do everything possible to protect those naps. My "my baby will just go with the flow" attitude was quickly changing and still is! My selfishness reared it's ugly head and I had to realize yet again that life is so not all about me! Fast forward two years-  Khloe has been a very easy baby to read- she cries when she's hungry or tired. She typically eats every 3 hours and naps for a hour or two about an hour after she eats. If she starts getting fussy after she's just eaten I know it's nap time! Maybe I've just been blessed with good babies, but I learned the hard way that if I don't respect their needs (especially the sleep needs) and let go of my own selfishness it does not go well for me! :) I am so thankful for the insight and wisdom God gives mommies to know just what our babies need! That has been my continual prayer during Khloe's short life and He has answered abundantly- like he always does (see James 1!).

During Khloe and Maddie's afternoon nap time (yay for coordinated naps!!!) I decided to tackle our living room. I made some one yard poufs- using this tutorial- for the girls to sit on that I'm storing under our coffee table. I also made some coordinating pillows for the chairs and couch. I'm in love with this mustard yellow and how it looks with the green and white! Also, since the time change we've been getting blasted with sun through the parts of our windows that aren't covered with blinds, so in a moment of frustration I decided to put up some curtains! These white ones are the same as in Khloe's nursery and they are from Ikea- $19 for a pack of two! Can't make them for cheaper! The rod is from Target. I love the way they look... they make the space so clean, elegant and break up the green on the walls very well. Plus, they are functional so I can pull them closed to block the light in the morning!!

The yellow is def more of a mustard than in this pic... and our walls are not THAT lime green! :) 

I've also tried out some new recipes lately. I missed cooking, although it was a huge blessing to have meals provided for us for almost two months! Pinterest continues to be my recipe inspiration and these two did not disappoint! Mike raved about them and MK ate them up without complaint- hence why they were a hit at the Vogelaar house!

It's beginning to look a lot like spring here in TX and we've been taking advantage of the gorgeous weather by taking lots of trips to the park! Khloe sat in the second (back) seat of the Phil and Ted on our most recent trip and she LOVED it! I usually take her in the Ergo carrier on walks to the park, but this time I decided to change things up. The Phil and Ted continues to make me fall more in love with it! :)

Easter is only two weeks away and has really come fast this year! I had fun shopping for two Easter baskets this year! Can't wait for MK to open hers! I also want to try to be super intentional these next few weeks to prepare my heart and MK's for Easter. We've been reading the Jesus Story Book Bible about Jesus' death and resurrection. Mk is very curious and concerned about Jesus' "boo boos" (picture of him on the cross) and we talk about how Jesus had those "boo boos" because He loved us. She also loves to shout "He's alive" with me when we read about the tomb being empty! I'm also working on some craft ideas to help initiate more conversation. She's memorized a few bible verses in the last month (Proverbs 17:17 for when she's not being nice to friends, Phil 2:13 for whinning and Psalms 24:1 for sharing) so I going to be looking for an easy one for her that has to do with Easter!

Ok, this post is long enough! I'm hoping to be back on here more often!

Love,
K Vog

March Date Night Challenge: MJV

Mike and I suffer from a severe case of laziness when it comes to planning dates. So, after we were inspired by a talk at our church's marriage conference (you can listen to them here) we decided to come up with a plan: One big date night a month, $50 budget, planned by one person for the other and using a creative challenge. We organized a date night swap with the other couples in our community group that have kids, so we know at least once a month we are going to have a sitter!

Here's what I planned for Mike for our March date!

Challenge: Plan a date that Mike would enjoy using his initials- MJV 

M= Mission:
Mike loves games and challenges, so I started off our date by handing him a card with 5 missions that he/we had to complete during our date. His reward was... married people fun- a PG way to put it on the blog ;)

J= Jump:
Mike is a very active guy and likes trying new things, so I decided to take him to an indoor trampoline park! We were surrounded by middle schoolers, but we still had a blast! We played trampoline basketball with each other and just acted like silly kids! It was so fun to do something so out of the ordinary and not have to act like responsible parents. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't go back again- unless it was with MK- but it was a fun adventure anyways!


V= Village Burger Bar
This is our favorite burger place and they have a fun outdoor patio. We got our usual Blue Burgers (blue cheese, bacon and avocado= AMAZING!) and sweet potato fries and yummy margaritas and just talked. Having dinner out without a two yr old and an infant is so amazing... although we love our kids, we also love our mommy-daddy time!

I was reminded during this date of how much fun we used to have when we were dating and how much I've missed that aspect of our relationship. Mike is my best friend and I love hanging out with him and making memories. We both remarked at the end of the date that we felt like we were back in college! Date night= success!!! :)

This fun date totally spurred us on to keep being intentional with each other, even if it's just at home without a sitter. We've been having "no screen" nights once a week where we turn off our phones, iPads and TV and just talk, study the word/pray together and play games! Its been such a great opportunity for us to connect.

I'm so thankful that I have a husband who I want LOVE to hang out with... who adores, cherishes and honors me so much.

Hoping this encourages you to be intentional with your sweetie today!
Love,
The Vog lovers

Khloe at 2 months!

I can't believe my sweet girl is two months old!

Eating: Khloe's eating every 3 hours during the day. She's still breastfeeding like a champ and if we give her a bottle (she gets one before we go to bed- her dream feed- and sometimes she gets one during the day with Mike if he's watching her while I'm at the gym) she eats 4-5oz! I'm slowly adding back dairy and caffeine since she's not spitting up as much anymore. I'm pumping only once or twice a day- always in the morning when she only eats on one side. I still have quite the stock pile of frozen breastmilk, more than 100 ounces... I'm researching how I can donate it to NICU babies since it's only good for 6 months and I'm not thinking I'll need it by then.

Sleeping: Khloe's been giving us an 8-9 hour stretch consistently for two weeks now. Sometimes she goes down at 7 to sleep and we have to wake her up at 10 to feed her, other times she's up and wanting to play until 9:30/10 and then falls asleep. Either way she sleeps until 6/6:30/7 which is WONDERFUL!!! During the day she has a couple cat naps after she eats and usually one long 2 hour nap in the afternoon. She's gotten much better about putting herself down to sleep without having to be held this month. I can give the Baby Whisperer book credit for that... it was my life saver with MK and it's proving to the be the same with Khloe! Khloe still likes to be swaddled to sleep and sleeps propped up on her side with a white noise sound machine blaring (a must with a noisy big sister around!).

Milestones: This month Khloe slept through the night (2/9/13) and rolled from her tummy to her back (2/19/13). She is lifting her head up really well during tummy time and definitely has control over that wobbly head when we're holding her! She's also been smiling up a storm. She is such a happy baby and loves when we talk to her... I think she's going to be my social girl!

What we've been up to this month: This month Khloe got to experience her first super bowl party at the Davis', spent the day with Aunt LaLa and big sister while mommy and daddy were at the Uncommon marriage conference at Watermark, and she went to the Dallas Zoo for the first time with mommy and big sister! She also got to snuggle with her Poppy and Gigi and meet her Opa this month... lucky girl!

Dr. Appointment notes: Khloe is weighing in at 12lb 2oz (80%) and measuring 23 1/4 inches (also 80%). Her head circumference is 15 1/2 inches (60%). She checked out great and we'll go back in 2 months for the next check up. Khloe got her 2 month shots today- Polio, HIB, pneumonia, hep B, DTap and Rotavirus... 3 injections and one oral vaccine. She wasn't a fan (who is?) and cried a whole lot :( The sweetest new grad from Baylor nursing school gave her her shots... I just love how our pedi still uses nurses in their office.

Our family is adjusting so well to our sweet new addition! She and MK have made this mommy of two thing so wonderful and a very easy transition. I love seeing miss K's little personality coming out already and how she's starting to interact with us! :)

Love y'all,

M, K, MK and KM Vog!