Baby's First Christmas

This past weekend, we took Isaac to Gertens in Inver Grove Heights to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. They also give reindeers rides, but there was a long line, so we opted out of that...maybe next year. After waiting in line for about 40 minutes, Isaac was able to sit and listen to Mrs. Claus read a story. He sat so nicely and listened very attentively...we had to pick him up when it was time to go see Santa...he would have sat there for quite awhile, I think. He didn't seem to mind sitting on Santa's lap...we showed him a picture of him on the computer before we went...I'm sure that helped him to not be scared ;-) Santa told Isaac to be a good boy and to go to bed when his parents told him to.

Even though Santa Claus is a fun tradition, he is far from the real, true meaning of Christmas. This story I found is a bit long...but worth the read...and some cute pictures await you when you're done ;-)

Just a week before Christmas I had a visitor. This is how it happened...I just finished the household chores for the night and was preparing to go to bed, when I heard a noise in the front of the house. I opened the door to the front room and to my surprise, Santa himself stepped out next to the fireplace. "What are you doing?" I started to ask. The words choked up in my throat and I saw he had tears in his eyes. His usual jolly manner was gone. Gone was the eager, boisterous soul we all know. He then answered me with a simple statement . . . "TEACH THE CHILDREN!" I was puzzled. What did he mean? He anticipated my question and with one quick movement brought forth a miniature toy bag from behind the tree. As I stood bewildered, Santa said, "Teach the children! Teach them the old meaning of Christmas. The meaning that now-a-days Christmas has forgotten. Santa then reached in his bag and pulled out a FIR TREE and placed it before the mantle. "Teach the children that the pure green color of the stately fir tree remains green all year round, depicting the everlasting hope of mankind, all the needles point heavenward, making it a symbol of man's thoughts turning toward heaven." He again reached into his bag and pulled out a brilliant STAR. "Teach the children that the star was the heavenly sign of promises long ago. God promised a Savior for the world, and the star was the sign of fulfillment of His promise." He then reached into his bag and pulled out a CANDLE. "Teach the children that the candle symbolizes that Christ is the light of the world, and when we see this great light we are reminded of He who displaces the darkness." Once again he reached into his bag and removed a WREATH and placed it on the tree. "Teach the children that the wreath symbolizes the real nature of love. Real love never ceases. Love is one continuous round of affection." He then pulled from his bag an ORNAMENT of himself. "Teach the children that I, Santa Claus, symbolize the generosity and good will we feel during the month of December." He then brought out a HOLLY LEAF. "Teach the children that the holly plant represents immortality. It represents the crown of thorns worn by our Savior. The red holly berries represent the blood shed by Him. Next he pulled from his bag a GIFT and said, "Teach the children that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. Santa then reached in his bag and pulled out a CANDY CANE and hung it on the tree. "Teach the children that the candy cane represents the shepherds' crook. The crook on the staff helps to bring back strayed sheep to the flock. The candy cane is the symbol that we are our brother's keeper." He reached in again and pulled out an ANGEL. "Teach the children that it was the angels that heralded in the glorious news of the Savior's birth. The angels sang Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will toward men." Suddenly I heard a soft twinkling sound, and from his bag he pulled out a BELL. "Teach the children that as the lost sheep are found by the sound of the bell, it should ring mankind to the fold. The bell symbolizes guidance and return. Santa looked back and was pleased. He looked back at me and I saw that the twinkle was back in his eyes. He said, "Remember, teach the children the true meaning of Christmas and do not put me in the center, for I am but a humble servant of the One that is, and I bow down to worship him, our LORD, our GOD."

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas as you celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May He alone be your peace, your comfort, your joy, your strength, your center, your hope, your Everything...Always!

 

 

Santa Baby

Isaac decided today during his bath that trying to eat the bubbles and drink the water was great fun! He made himself look a bit like Santa in the process...

 

Our little Schroeder...

Here's a video of Isaac playing the piano at my parent's...

Monkeying around...

Isaac LOVES his little monkey that Grandma and Grandpa Burmeister got him on their trip to New York this fall. Whenever he sees Monks (very original name, we know) :-) he gets a huge smile on his face, gives him a big kiss, and then starts talking to him. He gave Monks a piggy back ride at his Great-Grandparents' last weekend, and fell asleep with him last night in the jumperoo at Grandma and Grandpa Burmeister's. Life is great when Monks is around!

I'm growing some hair!!!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is definitely not my favorite holiday...in fact, it's probably my least favorite. First of all, I really don't like the color orange...that too, is probably my least favorite. I also don't care for spiders, ghosts, goblins, witches, etc. and think that they make for some rather ugly decorations...though I have seen a few cute ghosts. However, Halloween does happen to fall right in the middle of my favorite SEASON, and I do love pumpkins, pumpkin flavored foods, and seeing the joy in children's faces when they get to get dressed up for Halloween, and when they see their newly carved jack-o-lantern lit up in the dark outside. There are some fun things that go along with Halloween, I have to admit. Isaac enjoyed his first Halloween dressed up as a little bear (thanks, Jill, for the costume!).

The week before, we went to Grandpa & Grandma Nelson's to carve his first pumpkin. Needless to say, as you can see in the pictures, he was not impressed. In fact, he seemed downright scared of the pumpkin.

The little bear had a difficult time playing with his toys once his hands turned into paws...

We were at Grandpa and Grandma Harrison's for the weekend, so went trick or treating to three of their neighbors. Isaac looked at us like we were crazy and was definitely wondering what in the world we were doing, but he seemed to have a good time, anyway.

Isaac with the pumpkin Grandpa carved...grown in his garden. He seemed a little less scared of this one...maybe he's getting used to this whole Halloween thing.

Fall fun!

We've been wanting to take Isaac to an apple orchard for several weeks now, but our schedule and the weather haven't seemed to want to cooperate. This past Sunday we made it work, though. The weather was beautiful! We stopped at Apple Jack Orchards in Delano on the way home from Mom and Dad's. They came with, too, and we had a fun time walking around, taking pictures, picking a few apples and eating dinner. Isaac loved the apples and thought they worked very well as a teether for his sore gums that don't seem to want to let any teeth through. Here are some pics of our time at the orchard...

 
 

Daycare friends

I started doing daycare in our home when Isaac was 2 months old, the last week of March. We are very thankful that it has worked out for me to be able to stay home with Isaac. I can't imagine having to drop him off at someone else's home for the day, or at a center...for as long as I can remember I have always wanted to be able to stay home with my children. I love that he is able to have other children around to play with, as well. It's been a great thing for us as a family and we pray that it continues to be so. With the economy the way that it is, calls for people needing daycare have been few and far between, but the Lord has blessed us with 4 children to care for so far. Jermaine (age 4) and Azzareya (age 2) were the first, then Alex (age 16 mo.) started the beginning of May. Mason (age 3 mo.) started the beginning of September and comes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's been a little bit of a slow start, but we have placed our daycare business in God's hands and have very much felt His presence in it, and His hands around it. We know that He will provide the right kids at the right time for us. Here are some pics of Isaac with his daycare friends...

 
 

On the move...

On the eve of turning 8 months old, and after a month of rocking back and forth on his hands and knees, Isaac started crawling! He's quite proud of himself, and loves that he now has another mode of transportation other than rolling around and being carried around. He never did the "creeping", as they call it, so this moving forward thing is a first for him. We recently got a new computer, which I LOVE, and I've been having fun with imovie...not the best video here, but just threw this together quick to show Isaac's newfound skill. One of his biggest motivations for crawling is to get to the computer, as you can see. He thinks if mommy seems to be having so much fun using it, it may be fun for him, too! We don't usually have it on the floor, but if it helps him learn to crawl, we'll put it there for him. :-) The video is about 1.5 minutes, and not as good of quality as in imovie...must have happened when I converted it to another format to put on the blog. I'll figure this all out someday...anyway...enjoy!

* I typed this up last night, but the video took so long to upload I decided to go to bed and do it this morning. He's now crawling all over the place & trying to pull himself up on things this morning...computer no longer needed for motivation. :-)

rubber ducky you're the one...

Isaac absolutely loves bathtime...especially now that he can sit up in the tub and play. His favorite of course...rubber ducky. Since these pics, we have added some more toys to his bathtime fun!

 

Crawling...getting SO close!

He wants to go somewhere so badly, but just can't get his arms and legs to move yet. He was a little fussy in this video...he has started to get rather frustrated while trying to crawl...it will happen soon enough! Pretty sure he says "Mom" at the end of this, too...and yesterday during the Viking's game (with Tracy as my witness), he said "I want my ba ba (bottle) mama"...right, Tracy? :) He has started to "talk" a LOT the past couple weeks (oddly enough, when we took away his pacifier except for nap and bedtime) :), and some of it sounds so much like real words...fun to listen to!

Fun in Alex!

We have spent a few weekends in Alexandria at the Harrison grandparents' home this summer. One of those weekends, Isaac's Aunt Kat was in town from Baltimore. It was fun to spend time with her and we were so glad she could see Isaac for awhile while she was here...and he had a good time playing with her! The weather hasn't been the best while there, but we have been able to get in a couple boat rides, and Isaac thoroughly enjoyed lying in the hammock! He also enjoyed picking marigolds and pulling all the petals off...we only let him do one, but I think we'll let him pick some of ours just for fun later this fall before it freezes. :)

 

At the doc...6 month well check

We just got home from Isaac's 6 month well check. Since his birth, he has gained 9.65 pounds and has grown 7 inches! The doc says he's just perfect in every way...we couldn't agree more! We love you Isaac...SO much!

 

Growing up so fast!

It's hard to believe, but a little over 6 months have already gone by since we welcomed Isaac into the world. We have his 6 month check up tomorrow night...a couple weeks late, since we have to have evening appointments and they are hard to come by. I'll post his "stats" after his appointment so we can see how he's grown over the months!

 

Our little snorer...

I can't figure out how to turn this...doesn't work like a normal picture, so just tilt your head and enjoy! :)

At the Lake...

We went out to Grandma and Grandpa Burmeister's a couple weekends ago. Grandma and Grandpa Nelson stopped over for dinner, since they were at their cabin nearby for the weekend. We had a great time eating dinner on the new patio, playing with Isaac, going for a boat ride, and making s'mores. Isaac still enjoys his boat rides, but we are very much looking forward to next summer when he can play in the sand and go swimming! We tried putting his feet in the water, but he wasn't too fond of it...too cold from a cool summer. Maybe he'll even try fishing next year!

 

Who does he look like???

I've had a few people tell me they were confused by this collage. The pics with the caption "Me" are Isaac...not me (Nikki). I'm just the "Mommy" one :)

 

These are a few of my favorite things...

 

Friends

 

One Month

It is very hard to believe that half a year has already gone by since we were eagerly anticipating Isaac's arrival! In just 12 short days he will be 6 months old...crazy!!! These are the pics we had taken when he was just over 4 weeks old at Carlson Studios in Spicer, MN. I didn't post them earlier, so here they are...

 

1st 4th

We spent Isaac's first 4th of July at my parent's lake home. Isaac enjoyed helping my dad drive the boat, and we also discovered that he loves to lay on the floor of the boat on a pillow during boat rides...very cozy. Diamond Lake always has a boat parade on the 4th, and Isaac watched it on the dock with Grandma and Grandpa in his new Bumbo seat from them. For the fireworks, we went to Green Lake and went out on the pontoon of some friends of my mom and dad. It is very fun to watch them go off over the lake, and Spicer always puts on a great show. Isaac stayed awake to watch them...the picture of him in the lifesuit and tan blanket is at the fireworks. We are thankful that he appears to still have good hearing...Grandma did a good job holding multiple layers of blankets over his ears for 20 minutes! And thankyou to Jill, Lydia and Sophia for the very cute 4th of July outfit!

 

Fun at the park!

Last weekend, we went to our friends Kim and Andrew's for dinner. Afterward, we went to the park so their son Benjamin could play and we could get in a little walk. Turns out Isaac had a great time playing with his daddy! Actually, I think Brian had the most fun...he's really going to have fun when Isaac can run around. Brian is the most wonderfully amazing dad - Isaac is one blessed little boy!


 

First rice cereal experience...

A few posts ago I said our doctor had told us to wait until six months to start solid foods. We got a bit antsy, though, and decided to try it over the 4th of July weekend. Isaac seemed to really like it that first time, and the second time...and even tried to feed himself, but now a couple weeks later just gags every time we try. The gagging sounds a little fake and he thinks its kindof funny, but he isn't actually swallowing it, so it doesn't work too well. I can't say that I really blame him...that stuff has to taste and feel disgusting in the mouth. We even tried mixing some pears in with it, but he still didn't care for it. Will keep trying though...


 

Mmmmm...toes!

I think most, if not all babies at some point discover that putting their toes in their mouth is great fun! It's been one of Isaac's favorite activities for a couple months now...they are better than toys most days. Every time we change his diaper, as soon as we lay him on the changing table those toes go in the mouth. He also loves staring at his hands and thinks they are quite fascinating. We're hoping his love for his toes diminishes a bit once he gets teeth. He chews them with such vigor that we're sure he could draw blood with teeth! OUCH!

A little fish in a big sea

On June 24th, Isaac went swimming for the first time! With a mom who was a lifeguard, swimming instructor and loves to swim, and a dad who really doesn't care to swim, it will be interesting to see what Isaac thinks of the water. As you can see, he wasn't crazy about his first experience, but seemed to warm up to it a bit the longer he was in the pool...and once his body warmed up! Swimming, in my opinion, is one of the most important skills a person can learn...especially if they spend a lot of time around the water as it can end up being a life-saving one! So, we are starting early to teach him to love the water and be a strong swimmer.