Molly's birthday party

On Saturday we headed down to Collegeville for Molly's first birthday party! We had a wonderful time! Amy did a winter theme so Clark got his favorite rice snack plus a pair of adorable mittens as his party favor! He gobbled down the rice snack and has worn the mittens every since. Thank you Amy! We all had a great time at the party but I think Clark enjoyed it most of all. He played with Josiah for about 45 minutes--all by themselves just hanging out saying "dada" back and forth and sharing toys. They are so cute!! And we also got pictures of them with the adorable birthday girl. Molly was dressed in the cutest pink dress with a sweet little pink bow in her hair--ahhhh someday I'll have a little girl too! :) She is trying desperately to walk! She was pulling up on the couch and letting go--she is well on her way! It was great to have the whole family together.

The rest of the day was super laid-back. Clark napped on the way home. We had dinner, gave him a bath, tucked him in bed, and just relaxed for the rest of the night. This is our new social life: out and about until 6ish then home for the night :)

Sunday was super relaxing too. Clark did wonderful in nursery--such a charmer. :) Josh was in charge of the power point for evening church so we got there early. Clark, once again, charmed his way through nursery. When I picked him up they said of all the kids (they are all together in evening church, up to three years old) he was the best one! Yay Clark!

Water Play

Happy Birthday Molly Elizabeth!!

Today is Molly's 1st birthday!!  We can remember her birthday like it was yesterday--we prayed and prayed for her as she spent some time in the NICU.  Congratulations to Aunt Amy as well for making it through Molly's first year!!  This is Amy's last baby so I'm sure the milestones are super sentimental. :)  

Here is one of Molly and Clark's first pictures together:

this was alllll the Fenton cousins at Clark's baptism!  Annie is holding Molly on the left:

And here is a fun photo shoot with Clark and Molly at his baptism:

And here are the three Fenton baby cousins at Christmas! Josiah, Molly and Clark:

Molly is such a sweet little girl!  Clark and her get along super well. :)  He likes to poke her in the eye, or in the above picture, grab her shoulder!  All signs of affection from Clark!

We are so excited to see Molly getting older every day.  We are looking forward to her birthday party tomorrow!

January catch-up

Time for an update!!! :)

Tuesday: Grandma came over in the morning and watched Clark while I made a trip up to the insurance agency in Pottstown where I used to work.  I picked up a computer because I'm going to be going through the training with them for the new system they're implementing this month and next.  They said they will pay for me to be trained in case I want to start working there again.  Long story...if you want to hear the whole thing call me sometime! :)  Anyway Grandma was very gracious to watch Clark so he didn't have to drive up there with me.  I got back around 12:30pm and Clark took his nap shortly after.  I organized Clark's clothes while he slept.  After he woke up, we popped over to say welcome home to Pops!!  He got back from Africa a little after noon and we were so excited to see him!!  When we got home Clark took another catnap before dinner.  Aunt Kim came over around 6:45pm and watched Clark so Josh and I could go to small group.  She even put him to bed for us!  Thank you Aunt Kim!!!  

Wednesday: I don't remember much from Wednesday except that I took Clark's 8 month pictures that day.  And he pooped a LOT that day.  Like five poopy diapers.  He usually averages one or two a day.  Anyway!  I had my first young women Bible study in the evening and it went really well!  Josh said Clark did not go to bed easily so that was sad.  He said he held him for awhile then patted his back (Clark was laying on his side in the crib) until he fell asleep.  Poor guy was overtired.

Thursday: In the morning I had training with the insurance agency.  I did it remotely (conference call and internet website) and Mom came over to tend to Clark while I was occupied.  It was from 8-9:30am so Clark went down for a nap during it!  That was the main reason I needed Mom here!  Although as it turned out Clark was being really loud before Mom got here and I'm glad she came.  The trainer said, "Is that a baby I hear???" :)  The rest of the day on Thursday was low-key.  Except Clark surprised Josh and I by waving when Josh got home from work!!  Those videos are in the last post.

Friday: Despite feeling sick, I hosted a playdate at my house on Friday morning--10am so I didn't have to get up terribly early. :)  Clark slept in until 11am.  TOTAL FLUKE!!!  I have NO IDEA why he slept that long.  Super weird.  He hasn't done it since!!!  He almost missed the entire playdate!!!  It was actually really funny.  The ONE DAY I would like him to get up early.  Oh well!  Friday night we had dinner at my Mom's house to celebrate Kimberly's birthday!!  Happy 24th Kim!!!  It was super fun--and delicious!!!  Afterwards I left to play for the Summerfield Hymn Sing with Grandma and Grandpa.  Josh took Clark home and tucked him in bed.  When I got back from the hymn sing we relaxed in front of the TV for a bit before bed.  

Saturday: We woke up to snow on the ground!!  So fun!!  (Especially when you don't have to go outside! :)  We just relaxed alllll day.  Josh ventured out into the snow to shop at Lowe's and Walmart.  But Clark and I stayed warm and cozy inside.  It was great to have a fun family day together.  

Sunday: Josh was the projectionist for the church service so he got up early and stayed at church all morning.  Clark and I went to the early service.  I was nervous to put him in nursery with his cough and runny nose but the nursery ladies assured me they would keep him away from the two other babies.  (He's usually in nursery alone!!  There happened to be two visitors that day.)  I was feeling nasty, coughing, sneezing and nasty sinus pressure.  So I took a nice long Sunday afternoon nap (thank you Josh for tending Clark during that time!!) and geared up for Sunday evening!  The Jobels Korean choir gave a concert on Sunday night!!  It was really great!  They sang in English and Korean.  There was a solo violinist too who was very good!  We really enjoyed it--it was so encouraging to just sit back and soak in the music. :)  Clark did well in nursery in the evening--AND the service was nearly two hours long!!  

MONDAY: Today I still don't feel 100%, and Clark is starting to really grab at his ears. :(  I'm avoiding taking him back to the doctor because they will just give me more antibiotics and I want to avoid putting him on those as much as possible.  IF he was super miserable (like he was two weeks ago) then I would take him in a heartbeat.  But he doesn't complain about it, he's just super snotty and he'll grab his ears.  Last night I made a list of goals for myself for this week.  So today I did Clark's laundry, cleaned the powder room, practiced violin, and....that's it.  Hahaha!  I wanted to give myself ATTAINABLE goals!! hahaha  Okay so I'm going to do one chore each day, practice violin each day, devotions, read through "King's Cross" by Timothy Keller, and also work on Clark's "tricks."  I want him to do "so big", say mama, and clap his hands in the near future so those are his goals for now.  I think it will take him more than one week. :)  Anyway one thing of note from today was Clark took a 2 1/2 hour afternoon nap!!!!  YAY!!!  That hasn't happened in weeks!!  Very exciting.  And also, he gives wonderful open-mouth kisses so as I was receiving one tonight (I also had my mouth slightly open...) he accidentally threw-up. In my mouth. AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!  It was so nasty.  To say the least!!!!  But he was very apologetic and embarrassed so I got over it quickly. :)

Here are some pictures from this past week:

Mimi made this cross-stitch for Clark for Christmas: I hung it up on Thursday!

I had misplaced his hat on Tuesday so we got creative with this lovey: hahaha

Clark waves!!! (probably...)

Tonight when Josh got home from work Clark waved hello!  At least...we think that's what he meant....Here are two videos...what do YOU think??

Keep your eyes on Clark's little hand (Josh's hand gets in the way) if you look closely you can see his fingers waving :)

8 months!

Finally I took Clark's 8 month pictures today :)

WEIGHT: 19 pounds

That's the only stat I know. :)  He now says "Dadda" all day long, enjoys sitting and reaching for toys--occasionally falling forward into a crawling position in the process, eating heartily, and showing affection.  He has become very affectionate in fact!  He will reach up with both hands when he wants to be held.  He will give the sweetest kisses!  He is also completely weaned.  Looking forward I will probably nurse my next baby longer, but I am secretly glad to be done with nursing for now.  Without further delay, here are his pictures:

Weekend Update

Hi all!
  Sorry I haven't been updating over the past couple days....Here we go!

Thursday:  We had a slow-paced Thursday napping and hanging out at home.  I got laundry and cleaning done.  Around 2pm, I dropped Clark off at Mimi's and went food shopping.  It was nice of her to watch him on her cleaning day!  When we got home Clark went down for a nap and I made banana and chocolate chip muffins.  In the evening, Grandma and Grandpa came over and watched Clark while Josh and I went on a date!  Grandma even put Clark to bed for us!  It was wonderful to be out together.

Friday:  In the morning I had my friends AmyBeth and Stacey over for a playdate!  I had gotten up early to make a pumpkin casserole.  I also served the banana/chocolate chip muffins from the day before plus limeade and hot tea.  I feel like I'm getting back into the "hosting" role--and enjoying it more now that Clark is older.  We had a wonderful time visiting (Clark even took an hour nap while they were here!) and they stayed until almost noon!  So fun!  Friday night Josh and I went over to Kim & Jon's house for dinner!  It was great to be out!  There were two other couples there as well and it was just so nice to socialize!  Another highlight was seeing the progress Kim and Jon are making with their basement--WOW!!  I can't imagine how much work has gone into that space.  What an accomplishment!  And it looks so beautiful.  I'm so happy for them!!

Saturday:  After Clark's morning nap we packed up and headed over to Mom-mom and Pop-pop's house in Collegeville.  We had a wonderful time visiting with them over lunch!  Aunt Amy and her kiddos came over as well, which was so nice!!  Clark took an afternoon nap while we were there.  He showed off his sitting and squealing skills.  And although we tried very hard to get him to say, "Dadda," he clammed up.  Oh well!  We got home just as it was getting dark so we fed Clark dinner and tucked him in bed.

Sunday:  I played in the church orchestra Sunday morning so Josh got Clark dressed, fed, and to church on time all alone!  I really appreciate that!  And Clark was all put together, bottle ready, when he got to nursery.  When I picked him up after the service the nursery workers said he was "delightful and very entertaining!"  Apparently he was talking the whole time!  Cutie.  I had a lunch meeting about the Women's Retreat so Josh took over again!  He took wonderful care of Clark all afternoon and then I took over when I got home.  We went to prayer meeting in the evening and Josh gave a report about the Uganda team (Pops has been in Uganda since January 7th!).  Clark did very well in nursery but cried the whole way home.  He was so tired!

Monday:  Today I was super bored so I packed up a lunch and we headed over to Mimi's.  We may as well be bored at Mimi's!  Hahaha we weren't. :)  Aunt Kim joined us after lunch and we hung out for awhile.  Clark took a pitiful nap (30 minutes only!!) so after that we went home.  Josh came home around 5pm (YAY!!!) so we had an early dinner (relatively speaking) and lots of playtime with Clark before his nighttime bath.  He was hilarious in the bathtub.  He always is!!  We just love watching him enjoy the water.  He will splash around now and grab toys.  If you tap the surface of the water he will tap back--at the exact same spot!!  Pretty smart. :)

Anyway that's the update!  Here are some pictures:

sorry it's so dark and blurry!!  Clark has started trying to pull himself up in his crib:

random:  this is the picture Josh gave me for Christmas!

Clark entertains Mrs. Frey

Over the past two days Clark has been feeling progressively better!  We are giving him Tylenol whenever he starts grabbing his ears--and today that wasn't until 6pm!  So that's a huge improvement.  Here's a picture of him from Tuesday morning:  

And here's a video of him from this evening:  huge difference!

This morning I put Clark down for an early nap.  He slept from 9:30-10:30 then I packed him up and we headed out.  We picked up Mimi and headed over to Mrs. Aurelie Frey's house.  Mimi and I played a mini-concert for her since she is basically a shut-in now.  She still comes to church but it's hard for her to get out of the house during the week.  It was a huge blessing to Mimi and I to play for her!  I just really enjoy doing that.  Mrs. Marla Frey, Mr. Don Frey, cousin Olivia (Mrs. Frey's nurse) and Grandma (Mrs. Frey's close friend) were all there.  I was hoping Clark would be on his best behavior--and he was!!  He sat on a blanket (or on Grandma's lap :) for an entire hour and just played.  Then we took a break for lunch and he played contently again.  Marla Frey had made a fresh fruit cup, salad, crab quiche, pumpkin and apple muffins and chocolate angel food cake for dessert!!  It was a delicious! After lunch we played a couple more songs before leaving.  Clark was still happy!!  It was a total of 3 hours that he just hung out.  I just thank God so much for that.  After we were done playing, Mr. Frey showed us some of Mrs. Frey's paintings (before her brain surgery, she was quite the artist!).  Every Monday her neighbor comes over and helps her paint again.  It's really neat!  She let Mom and I each pick one to take home.  I found the perfect white frame for mine!  (You can see the reflection of my chandelier in the top of the picture.)

I'm planning on hanging it in the powder room--it matches really well.  Overall it was a wonderful time and Mimi and I emphasized to Marla Frey that we would love to do it again sometime!  Everyone just commented over and over at how cute and happy Clark is!  Grandma said she can't believe he is the same baby that used to just cry and cry at her house.  It is pretty amazing how much he's changed--for the better!! 

After we got home Clark went down for a nap.  I did some reading then took a nap too.  After he woke up we played for awhile until Josh got home.  We had dinner and Clark ate pretty well.  He was getting tired by this point so we gave him a bath and got him ready for bed.  We've been putting some vapor rub on him at bedtime to help clear his nose.  Plus the humidifier is running almost nonstop!  I'm hoping it doesn't spontaneously combust from running so much!  (Josh tells me that isn't possible...but for some reason I think about it pretty often haha.)

So now he's tucked into bed and I have some housework to catch up on.  I hope you're all having a great week!

Precocious? Yeah, we think so :)

Yesterday Clark discovered a new way to play with his blocks!

2012

The new year has been highly eventful so far!  First Josh, then I, then Clark caught a cold!  My and Clark's colds have been lingering for over a week.  I've been hacking up a lung recently and then over the last three days Clark has joined me.  It's a bit more disconcerting when a 7-month-old is hacking like that!  He also had a fever during those days.  Tylenol would help it subside but then it would come back again the next day.  However through it all he was still fairly happy.  

Until Thursday.  I made an appointment at 11am and I'm so glad we went!!  He ended up being really clingy and whiny in the morning and by the time we were at the pediatrician's office he was crying for no reason.  The nurse took his temperature and it was 101.8.  He weighed in at 19 pounds (we left his diaper and onesie on though).  While we were waiting for the doctor I tried feeding him a bottle.  He drank about one ounce before batting it away and fussing.  Dr. Watson came in a couple minutes later and checked him out.  She said he has a double ear infection, sinus infection, and should be cutting his two bottom teeth very soon!  I was surprised that he had a double ear infection since he hadn't been swatting at his ears at all.  

Until we got home!  Then I noticed him grabbing his ears and just generally whining for the rest of the day.  Poor guy!!  He ended up taking four naps throughout the day because he was just feeling so sick!  Dinnertime rolled around and I was hoping Clark would eat better.  He had to be hungry!  He had a tiny bit of fruit for breakfast and some oatmeal for lunch!  And he wasn't enthusiastic about his bottles in between.  So I started shoveling Gerber's chicken and rice into him and about three quarters of the way through he was really whining so I figured he was done.  I took his bib off and he had a coughing fit.  And proceeded to vomit all the chicken and rice out all over his clothes (which OF COURSE was one of my very favorite outfits of his!!  now stained ORANGE even though I washed it twice right afterwards!).  Poor Clark!  I'm sure that really burned his little throat.  Josh came home from work at 5:30 with Clark's antibiotics in tow (yay Daddy to the rescue!!).  So we pumped some amoxicillin and tylenol into him then gave him a bath, took his temperature (103!!!) and tucked him in bed.

Aaaaand then he cried.  So we took turns holding him until he was asleep!  I am still coughing so I would be holding him and having coughing fits--not conducive to helping him fall asleep!  So Josh graciously took over.  He woke up after a couple hours and I popped his paci and now he's been sleeping for about two hours straight!  I'm hoping he will sleep through the night.  He needs to rest!

Here is a pic of Clark playing all alone after all his cousins left on Tuesday :(

Here we are at the doctor.  It was a sad time! :)

And here's the brave Mr. Sniffles right before the vomiting incident...

That's all for now!  I'm hoping he'll feel better in the next couple days.

Stoltzfus Christmas!

This past week was an extended Stoltzfus Christmas week! :)  We enjoyed spending time with the Brusts and Canches who traveled soooo far to come!  Clark loves hanging out with his cousins.  He is highly entertained by interacting with other kiddos. :)  We got a picture of the three youngest on Tuesday afternoon:

Here Haley is escaping!

Tuesday was spent catching up and helping them get settled in at Mimi and Pops' house.  I had a hair appointment at 4:30pm so Clark stayed with Josh (who was working from home) during that time.  Then we went over to Mimi's for dinner to celebrate Katelyn's birthday!  We had a wonderful dinner and Clark did very well during it.

Wednesday around noon we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to have lunch!  Our cousin Natalie and her husband David were in town from Florida so Grandma had us all over to see them.  Clark had never met Natalie before! :)  She was very sweet and said how cute he is--and how big!  She said she enjoys seeing his pictures on facebook.  Clark took a nice nap Wednesday afternoon then we headed back over to Mimi's at 6pm for the Annual Stoltzfus Family Christmas Program.  Josh is puzzled by this event every year but I always look forward to it.  For the past eighteen or so years (!!) my family has put on a musical program for three super close friends, our grandparents, and Aunt Esther.  It's a tradition that has grown from serious music to serious plus some silly numbers. :)  Hopefully next year Clark can join in the action.  Here are some pictures from Wednesday night:

Haley, Calla holding Jay, Clark, Kelsey:

 

 Kelsey switched over to the left side because she wanted to hold Haley :)

 Thursday morning Clark recovered from the late night before by sleeping in until 8am!  Of course then we had to hustle out the door to his 9am doctor appointment.  He got a booster flu shot.  He was so happy before the nurse came in:

He handled it pretty well.  He only cried until I picked him up.  The nice part was we were in and out of there in under an hour!  The rest of the day was spent hanging out with the cousins and waiting for Josh to come home from his last day of work at Johnson & Johnson!  We were super excited to greet him!!  Josh seemed happy when he got home--with all his desk items in tow.  He said he's nervous about starting a new job since change is always difficult.  However we have high hopes that this job will be a better fit for him.  And Clark is looking forward to having more time with him during the day!!  And of course if we ever "happen" to be shopping at the outlets we can stop by and say hi to Daddy! :)

Friday morning was Josh's first day off so he stayed with Clark while I went to a brunch at Linda's house.  Linda is our family friend (to any Fenton relatives reading this: she's our Liz :) who always the girls over for brunch at Christmas time.  I arrived early (yay no baby!!) and helped her put the finishing touches on the meal.  Aunt Kim was early too so she helped as well.  The meal was absolutely delicious!!!  And the conversation is always fun!!  We covered all topics from sex trafficking in Paris to gay-haters attacking Rick Santorum to weaning.  A wiiiiiide variety!  hahaha  Caleb was working for Dad by reading the water meters so he stopped in and had some brunch too.

Friday afternoon Carly, Katelyn and I had a playdate with our friend Miriam and cousin Holly.  We all went to high school together so it was fun to see each other!  And now we all have kids!!  Crazy.  We used to sit around and dream about honeymoon locations, wedding dresses, and the latest fashions.  Now we discuss nursing ideas, the ingredients of our various baby formulas and share stories of pregnancy scares!! Again we had a great time! :)

Friday night all the adults went out to dinner at Bistro on 10 in Honey Brook.  It was absolutely wonderful!!!  Grandma, Grandpa and cousin Grace watched the five kiddos.  Clark was just getting a cold (plus they had to change his diaper twice in three hours!!!) and Haley's ear infection and baby bronchitis were in full swing!  Needless to say they had their hands full!  But they were still smiling when we got back.  It was so neat to go out without the kids--we'd like to make it a tradition!!  Someday Calla will be the designated babysitter, poor thing. hahaha

Saturday morning was our official Christmas time.  Josh, Clark and I came over to Mimi's at 9:30am for breakfast.  It was delicious!!  Then we opened gifts.  Here is a picture of all the gifts!!

I thought Clark looked funny sitting among all the gifts :)

the girls were in their Christmas jammies! 

Clark got many wonderful presents!!!  I will post pictures next time.  Here he is opening his first gift from Mimi and Pops:

he loves it!!!

Here's his second gift from them: 

a basket for all his toys!!

Like I said, I'll post more pictures of the gifts later.  Here's a shot of all the Stoltzfus ladies: 

After gift opening we hung out all day (Josh left for a couple hours to watch the Flyers alumni game).  And then we spent New Years Eve together!  Josh and Clark went home early and I stayed until about 11pm.  We had to be up early for church the next day!

That's all for now since Clark just woke up from his nap :)