December Us

I almost let December slip away without a blog.  I have one waiting for editing by Trent, since it's a blog by the both of us, but someone likes to spend his downtime doing more entertaining things.

So a quick update is what you'll be getting from me!

Trent has been busy at work the last few months.  In December he spent most of his time landscaping Chik-fil-a (so happy to be getting one, and right next to Target, where it belongs!). He has some time off between Christmas and New Years, but he ended up having to leave Boise ON Christmas (it was pretty sad) to get to TF in order to do snow removal.  He came back to Boise a day or so later, and we finished up our Boise Christmas celebrations then.  I'm thankful that he has a job, but I don't think any wife/mommy would be happy about their husband having to leave on Christmas to work.  All that to say, the snow here is BEAUTIFUL, and we are enjoying winter wonderland SO MUCH!

Ila finished up her semester of school with a fun Craft Christmas party that Chessidy and I attended.  We had fun.  Ila is growing so much verbally, and mentally it's hard to keep up.  Her language skills are SO good, but she still says some super cute things.  Our current favorite is "Did you have a nice, good nap?"  Which she says to ANYONE after then wake up, and ANY time of the day.  Ila is struggling to share these days, and loves telling us all what to do and how to do it.  She has an amazing imagination, and a great sense of humor.

Chessidy is growing physically, mentally, and verbally at a very rapid pace.  She crawls all over the house now, she mimics sounds and is constantly babbling.  She loves eating, and has been attempting to feed herself lately. She does great with rice crackers, but actual rice is a bit more difficult and extremely messy. Chessidy plays silly little games and has a cute laugh.  She loves playing with Ila, and flying with Daddy but still has a bit of mommy's girl goodness going on!

I am doing well.  Keeping busy and staying out of trouble!

We had a wonderful Christmas in Boise.  We hope you had a Merry Christmas, and that your 2013 will be blessed!

30 questions with a 3 year old.

1. What is your name? Ila Vieu Becker.  My name is Ila Vieu Becker
2. How old are you? holds up 3 fingers
3. What is your favorite color? red
4. What is your favorite toy? "aminal"
5. What is your favorite fruit? grapes
6. What is your favorite movie? i want grapes movie!
7. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Shrimp and noodles
8. What is your favorite outfit? dresses
9. What is your favorite game? I want to play church!
10. What is your favorite snack? cookies 
11. What is your favorite animal? dog
12. What is your favorite song? Jesus loves me
13. What is your favorite book? The Bible 
14. Who is your best friend? Grace, her name is Grace
15. What is your favorite cereal? Kixs

Here she is, a week before her birthday, but cute as can be!

16. What is your favorite thing to do outside? swing 
17. What is your favorite drink? apple juice
18. What is your favorite holiday? we're home!
19. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? sleep with the babies
20. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? i want to eat snacks. Bite!
21. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? happy birthday with the cake!
22. Where do you want to work? I want to work with Daddy!
23. Where does daddy work? Daddy's work in the truck!
24. Where does Mommy work? mommy work in the van.
25. When you dream at night, what do you dream about?  pinecones
26. What do you like to cook?  Corn
27. What is your favorite chore?  I work in the dryer (moving clothes to the dryer with mommy)
28. Can you tell me a secret? whispers in my ear: "you are goofball!"
29. What is your favorite thing to do at school? ride bikes and I want to sing the bye bye song.
30. What makes you happy? happy time.

6 months! by Nicole

My little lady, Chessidy Light, is 6 months old today!  I can hardly believe it's been 6 months since you were brought into this world.  You were one BIG baby, and that hasn't changed!

Here you are on your first day in the world.

At 6 months old, you are wearing 9-12 month clothes.  I haven't weighed you yet today, but I'm guessing you are about 19 pounds.

Here you are today, at 6 months old.  All smiles.

You smile, smile, smile!  You love people and smile at them if they make eye contact with you.  You LOVE your big sister.  You ALWAYS smile at her and look for her when you hear her voice.  You don't mind when she squeezes your cheeks too hard, lays on you, pushes you down or takes your toys (yet).  You just smile at her while she does this, and I'm pretty sure you like it!  And I can't forget to mention your dimples!  You have the sweetest dimples ever!  One on each cheek and a third on yous upper lip (on the left side). They add so much character to your smiles!

You and your big sister, playing with each other!

You LOVE baths and showers.  You are a water baby through and through.  You love splashing and you even think it's funny when you splash your face!  You like it when Marma gives you a bath the most though, I'm certain of it!

Here you are after a bath, with a sweet hairdo.  Thanks Marma!

You are hard to get a laugh out of.  You will smile SO BIG and it seems like you are about to burst with laughter, but you just keep on smiling.  The first time you laughed was about a month ago.  Ila was playing with you and laughing in your face and you laughed back.  Then Ila laughed again, and you laughed again!  It went on for a few minutes and my heart about burst out of my chest I was so filled with joy!  You are laughing a little bit more these days, but it takes a lot of work to get that silly laugh out of you!

You babble, babble, babble!  "Ahbah" is the most common expression.  You love to play with your toes and babble, babble, babble.

yep, here you are chewing on your toes, and you were babbaling away!

You LOVE eating food.  We've only had rice cereal and oatmeal so far, but I think we're going to start exploring the world of squash in another week or so.  You still love nursing, but you seem to get excited/jealous when you see us eating at the table!

nom nom nom

You can finally roll over from your back to your front!  What a big girl you are.  You finally mastered it just the other day!  I'm thankful that you only do it  when prompted right now, but gone are the days of napping on mommy and daddy's bed!  It's also almost time to move you to your crib.  You sit up so well now, and you roll over.  It's only a matter of time before you can get into the sitting up position on your own, and then the bassinet will have to go away.  I will miss you sleeping right next to me!

You are such a sweet baby and you bring us so much joy!  The Lord was right on when He gave us the idea for your name.  You are a delight, and you are a constant reminder of His lovingkindness!  We love you Chessidy, don't grow up too fast, I don't want to miss it!

What's That Up Your Nose? #4

This was the WORST, or perhaps BEST What's That Up Your Nose incident we've had in this house.  I was talking to my sister-in-law  the other day and she said something I'm SURE is true:
 "I bet Marma (Trent's mom) used to wish that Trent would have kids just like him, for pay back!  What she probably didn't think of was that his wife would be the one cleaning up all the messes!  Marma's probably thinking "oh, poor Nicole, I guess shouldn't have wished a mischievous child on Trent" now!""

I think she is right.  Marma, as you're reading this, just think back to all those times you wished that wish, then come pick up Ila and take her to water the flowers and give this mommy a break!  :):):)  For real though, I'm super thankful that you are so involved in our kiddos lives, and that you DO watch them often to help us out and to spend some quality time with them!

On the the story now.

It was Saturday afternoon and we had company.  The company was some family, and they had boys ages 8 and 10.  Ila LOVED the boys and had been happily playing with them all day! Trent was out grilling burgers and the boys were out playing on the new tree swing Trent rigged up.  I was inside, getting the meal ready and gabbing away with my 2nd cousin once removed.  About twenty minutes had passed and I realized that I hadn't seen Ila swing by the window at all. I popped my head out the door and asked Trent if Ila was out playing.
 "Nope, she hasn't been out here at all." He responded.

I figured he was joking, so I asked again, and he responded that she REALLY hadn't been outside AT ALL.

Horror struck my brains.  I knew that we were in for a mess.

I called out Ila's name, and heard her respond from the depths of the house, "yeah?"

My stomached churned as I realized that she was most certainly in my bathroom, unsupervised.  My faithful readers know what can happen in the bathroom when Ila is in there unsupervised.

I walked quickly, thinking I could stop whatever was happening before it got worse.  Boy, was I wrong.  That damage was DONE.

I got ready to turn the corner, ready for anything.  Well, almost anything.

It hit my nose first.  Poop.  The smell of poop.  It smelled too strong to be in the toilet.

I braced myself and entered the bathroom.

There she was.  Standing by the toiled, COVERED in something dark.  All over her legs, her hands, and worse,  HER FACE.  By her mouth, her eyes, there was dark stuff everywhere.  Then on the floor, right in front of the toilet, a nice log of poop.  It looked fairly untouched....

Do I vomit?  At this moment I'm pretty sure poop is all over her face.  I say something to my cousin, who is right behind me about vomiting.

Then I see it.  Right in Ila's hand.  HOPE!  A mascara tube, and on the floor, near the poop, the mascara wand.  I look over Ila again and realize that she is covered in BLACK stuff.  Mascara had been rubbed all over her face and body.

I breath a sigh of relief and praise the LORD that my child had not covered herself with her own poo.
I get ready to reprimand Ila, and get her in the shower, when my cousin tells me that I should take a picture. I agree, so I take the picture and then get Ila in the shower.  Then daddy came in, shocked as I was, but in no mood for picture taking.

We got the mess cleaned up, and saw that Ila had poked the poop a bit with the mascara wand, so that went in the trash.

At this point, I think I'll just show you the picture and end this post. I drew some panties on Ila, because we don't do the naked photo thing!












All I can do is bow my head and shake it.  One day I'll belly laugh over this, but I'm just not there yet.

Becker Update!

I figured it was about time for an update of the goings on here.  

Chessidy

She is four months now, weighing in at 17 pounds and stretching to 25 inches long.  She eats rice cereal before bed and sometimes she loves it, and other times she hates it.  She enjoys her Johnny Jump up and her jumping saucer and her bumpo.  She likes to be UP.  But I would too after pretty much laying for 4 months.  She smiles, and makes all sorts of fun "talking" sounds.  She LOVES Ila, and smiles whenever she sees her.  She likes baths, showers and clean diapers.  You can almost always find her chewing on her hands.  Boy does she love those hands!  She is also figuring out that she has control over those hands of hers.  She pinches quite often (not on purpose) and dang does it hurt!  She is so cute though, that no one seems to mind!  She is overall a very content baby.  We are currently struggling with bed time, but we'll work thought it.  She wants to be held and nursed to sleep, and that's just not how we roll, so we're working through that together.  I'm tickled that her name fits what she is in this family so well; delight!

Ila

Ila will be 3 in 2 months!  That is crazy to me.  My little baby is growing up!  She in weighing in at 30 pounds.  Ila is speaking pretty clearly these days, and getting better and better at communicating.   She is sleeping in her big girl bed, and we've only had once accident so far!  She goes through spurts of wanting to nap and not wanting to nap.  Her latest thing that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside is that she likes to  "cuddle!"  She asks me to cuddle with her and I LOVE it!  She also asks if she can "hold me" which really means she wants me to hold her.  She is such a good big sister to Chessidy and a big help to me.  She can be super mischievous, especially when she is slightly bored, so I try to keep her busy, busy, busy!  She starts pre-school next week.  It's a toddler lab at CSI, and we are all looking forward to her 4 hours at school every week.  Ila daily asks us to go to church, and I think she'll be asking to go to school as well here in a few days!  Her current favorite foods are american cheese slices (trent brought some home from work one day and she was HOOKED!), shrimp and noodles, rice, fish, blueberries, strawberries and gummy bears.  She loves watering the trees with daddy, swinging, being chased and playing with her "aminals."  Her favorite book is Llama Llama Red Pajama, which has a picture of the author on the back.  She thinks the author looks like Aunt Tawna, so every time we read the book she hugs and kisses Aunt Tawna.  

Trent

Trent will we 33 in 3 months!  I'm not sure what he weighs these days, but I'm guessing about 165.  He is staying busy at work, but thankfully getting a bit more home time these days!  The spraying season is wrapping up and so are the 14ish hour days! When he is not at work you can find him relaxing inside, working outside and/or playing with the girls.  

Nicole

I will be 27.5 in 2 months!  I'm weighing less every time I weigh myself, which is nice.  I'm feeling SO MUCH BETTER since having my gall bladder out, and for that I'm super thankful.  I am almost all healed up, but when I stretch, I can feel those incision spots pulling apart (well, that's what it feels like) and that hurts, so I try to avoid doing that.  I am back in the swing of things with my house duties though, and it has felt good to put a home cooked meal (by me) on the table the last few nights.  I am hoping to start swimming again next monday and get my muscles back to feeling good (because your muscles feel good when you swim laps!).  Other than that, I can't think of much more to report on.

So there you have it.  We are one happy family here in the Becker house.  Here is a picture of us at Chessidy's baby dedication we had a few weeks ago:

Hey, what's that up your nose? #3

I'm pretty much at a loss for words. This all happened while I was changing a poopy diaper and putting Chessidy in her bassinet for a nap.

Do you know what that is?

I only took pictures of one hand....

have you figured out what is all over her hands yet?

those are my toes....which I painted last night, and then forgot to put the polish away.


"Ila, what are you doing?" I called out from the bedroom as I changed Chessidy's diaper.  "I'm painting, mommy!"  You'd think that would get me running out to see what she was painting, right?  Nope, not me.  I finished changing the diaper and put Chessidy in bed while I tried to figure out if Ila had said "painting" or "cleaning" and what she could be "painting" or "cleaning."  I found out.  I'll take most of the blame for this incident.  Who in their right mind would leave nail polish out with a toddler running around?  I guess I wasn't in my right mind...

Hey, what's that up your nose? #2

I've actually got three stories to write on "hey, what's that up your nose?"  For today I'll give you just one!

Yesterday, while I was nursing Chessidy,

        Look at the awesome smile!

 Ila went off to her room to play with toys.

yeah, you are super cute!

I love when she does this, and I sneak down the hallway to see her talking and playing with her animals like kids should. It is so sweet!  This, unfortunately, was not one of those times.

As Chessidy was coming close to finishing, I heard Ila laughing and talking about something getting clean.  At first I didn't think it was a big deal...but then I heard those four little words: He's getting a bath!" That shot me up out of my seat, I popped the little one down (she was close enough to done that she didn't object, thankfully!) and sprinted to the......

bathroom.

If you have had or do have toddlers, you know that this is THE LAST PLACE you want to find them playing alone.

There she was.  Standing on her stool at the sink, naked, and giving her one of her cars a bath.  Water was POURING over the sink on the floor and there was already about half and inch of standing water in the bathroom.  Our sink does not have an overflow drain, blurg.  The regular drain was clogged with mounds of toilet paper.

Thankfully the casualties were only 3 rolls for toilet paper.  I managed to save the other 4 that were out.  The amount of water I cleaned up completely soaked 2 very large bath towels and Ila's clothes that she decided to take off for bath time.

I sure love my sweet toddler, but she can sure be mischievous.

You know you can be mischievous!

That, I am CERTAIN, she gets from her father!

"What? Me?  No....never!"

Purposeful life.

This past weekend our Becker family had the privileged of watching our pastor's daughter get married.  It was a beautiful wedding and we were so glad to be a part of it!  It was strange too though, not the wedding, but what was going on in our little family before during and at the reception.  It was as though time fast forwarded and Ila was the one getting married!  Let me explain.

When we sat down for the wedding, we sat behind another family from church and they have a 3 year old son, Brogan.  Apparently Brogan and Ila have become friends and they were quite excited to see each other, and wanted to sit near each other.  As we waited for the wedding to begin, I snuck a look at my daughter and there she was, holding hands with Brogan!  They had been talking and sharing pine cones and then all of a sudden they were holding hands.  It was super sweet, but then I looked at Trent and asked, "do you ever think about our girls getting married?"  He responded yes, and my heart flipped a bit.  There our two year old girl was, holding hands with a handsome little guy and my mind fast forwarded 18 or so years and it was Ila's wedding we were all of a sudden at!

Fast forward to the reception and Ila was dancing with not one boy but TWO boys (I have to mention that she danced with the older girls too, and learned some new sweet moves!).  She was chasing and being chased all around the reception hall by one of the boys.  She was having a blast!  I looked at Trent and said "She's either going to be a heart breaker or a big flirt!"  To which he responded "or both."  It was so sweet watching Ila dance and have a good time, but it made me do some serious thinking about parenting.

I was reminded that we only have so much time to teach our kids how to be responsible, how to communicate through the good and bad, and how to treat and love others.  I want Ila to be a great wife and mom when the time comes, and that starts with ME being a great wife and mom.  Ila is getting to the age where we are creating memories and where the foundation is being laid for respect, responsibility and love.  What a great thing to be aware of!  I'm going to be much more purposeful in my life, so that my children will benefit!

Here are some things I see on the path of purposefulness (by no means is this the only/all of things, of course!):
1. The Lord.  Abiding in Him, and His word and teaching my kids that it's the most important relationship in our lives.
2. Focusing on my children!  Stopping housework, or computer things to read a book, play a game or build something.
3. Getting and staying healthy.  We eat well here, and I've been swimming laps in the mornings, but I could eat better and work harder!  I want to have little workouts with Ila when she wakes up from her nap.
4. Let my yes be yes and my no be no.  I'm not talking about in discipline (but it's super important there too!) but more in following through with what I say.  So often I'm in the middle of something (like cooking) and Ila asks me to read a book.  I usually say "when I'm done cooking, I will."  By then though, Ila has moved on to something else, so I just go ahead and move on to something else too.  I want to follow through though, and get her, and read her that book!
5. Serve Trent better.  Make him lunches without him asking, keep up on the laundry (because I know he hates digging through the clean pile to find his work clothes!) maybe even do some yard work (although that may put him into shock.....)!  The key to service though is the ATTITUDE behind it.  So I'll have to do this with a good attitude.
6. Fun.  Kids need to have fun in their individual play time and with their parents!
7. Education.  Not just learning letters, numbers and all that good stuff, but life lessons, healthy communication and relational education.
8. Manners, manners, manners. Everyone should have them.  We are always reminding Ila about manners and it's not time to stop!
9. Respect.  I need to remember that the amount of respect I show to someone is the most amount of respect that my kids will show them.  This includes self respect.
9. It all boils down to this really: LOVE.

What about you?  What would you add to the list?

Growing girls!

It's been two months since the Lord blessed us with Chessidy Light, and let me tell you what a delight she is! She currently weighs 13 pounds 3 ounces and is approximately 23 inches long.  She still eats every 2-3 hours during the day, but after her 9pm-ish meal she sleeps till about 4:30am.  Some days, like today, she sleeps until 6am! She is an easy baby too!  We always thought Ila was an easy baby, but comparatively, Chessidy wins!  She pretty much only cries if she is hungry and if she is awake and wants to be snuggled up in blanket with her pacifier to drift off to sleep.  She sleeps anywhere and everywhere and the more noise the better!  She is not a gassy baby, and we have not had a "cry for no reason" session with her yet!  She is not nearly as playful as Ila was though, which can throw Daddy for a loop sometimes.  She is not the biggest fan of "flying" or sudden loud noises.  She scares easily and likes to be held close.  Chessidy hates her car seat (I guess that's another reason she cries) and will scream until the car is moving.  Once we pull out of the driveway though she is usually a happy camper!  She loves being rocked and bounced.  She loves the bath and the shower.  She still dislikes getting her diaper changed but is learning to deal with it. As for milestones she had started smiling big, goofy smiles.  She coo's and just today she started leaning forward in her little seat, like she wanted to sit up. No giggles yet, but they will come soon I am sure!


Chessidy's big sister is stepping into the role quite nicely.  Ila is trying to teach Chessidy about being more quiet ("Chessidy, that's too loud!" I hear quite often when Chessidy is wailing.).  Ila also likes to help Chessidy retrieve her fallen pacifier and fetch mommy more spit up rags. Other than her big sister duties, you can often find Ila playing with her animals (pronounced aMinals), reading books, counting and running around outside (and inside!).  We're working on letter recognition and also on writing letters.  She still is napping every day (praise the Lord) but she likes to fight nap time (boooo!).  She loves brushing her hair, my hair, your hair, anyone's hair.  She is fully potty trained (with occasional accidents of course) and is sleeping through the night more and more.  She picks out her own pajamas and can put the bottom half on without help, and the top half on with at least some verbal help.  She is talking up a storm and catches me off guard daily with a new saying or with the hilarious way she puts sentences together.  Her newest thing she has finally learned is to say "no thank you" instead of just "no."  This has been good and bad since our non-requests are often answered with a "no thank you."  She'll learn soon enough to differentiate between questions and commands though!  My absolute favorite thing she says these days is in her greetings.  When Aunt Telcia comes over she says "Oh, hi Aunt Telcia!"  Everyone is greeted with "Oh, hi _________!"  It's pretty cute and everyone seems to love it as much as I do!  Ila calls every meal dinner and she loves having snacks.  Treats are of course awesome, as is lemon-aid, bubbles (sparkling cider) and apple juice.  If you put a drink in a fancy cup, you'll be her favorite person for at least five minutes.  Ila also has enough hair now to do some cute hair-dos!  She loves pony tails.

My girls are sure growing like crazy.  Chessidy's physical growth is more noticeable than Ila's and Ila's mental growth is more noticeable than Chessidy's.

Trent has been working like crazy these past few weeks.  That is good because he gets time and a half for over time and not good because we get to missing him.  His employers really appreciate him though, and he likes his job so it is all good!

I also just got a part time job!  I'm going to be working for Living Earth (Trent's employers) too.  They needed someone to do routing and public relations and some paper work, and Trent told them I would be great at it.  Since I can do it from home, I was super excited to take the job when they offered it to me.    After I learn the system I'll probably just have a few hours one day a week that I commit to being at the office, but the rest of the time I'll work from home.  I really like the sort of work they need done, and it will be nice to have extra income for sure.  I start tomorrow.  I get to bring Chessidy with me and Ila will go play with Aunt Telcia.  Next week I will have to spend a few hours at the office every day to get it all figured out, but then I'll be free to work from home.  I'm thinking it will be about 10 hours a week, which I will do in the morning before the girls are up and during nap time. That way once Trent gets home from work, we'll have family time.

So there is the latest and greatest from us!

Hey, What's That Up Your Nose?

When you nurse a baby every 2 hours for about 20 minutes your toddler has that much time to be mischievous.  I try entertaining Ila while I nurse Chessidy, but sometimes it just doesn't work.  I'm thankful that Ila often times entertains herself and stays out of trouble, but what toddler wouldn't pass up 20 minutes of less watchful parenting every once in awhile?

I've decided to keep a journal (in blog form of course) on mischievous-ish things Ila does.  Once Chessidy is old enough I'm sure she'll make the list as well.  So here we are with our first ever "Hey, What's That Up Your Nose?"

Let's start with how I got the name for the blog.  Last week, Ila, after going poo in the potty and requesting a lemon drop sat down to watch a movie while I nursed Chessidy.  Ten minutes into nursing Chessidy, Ila walked up to me saying something about her lemon drop and requesting to blow her nose.  I wasn't sure what she was getting at exactly but her face appeared to be quite sticky and she was asking again and again to blow her nose.  I didn't have anything for her to blow into, so I asked her to wait.  As she stood there, continuing to talk I realized that she had possibly stuck her half gone lemon drop up her nose.  So I did what any mom would do in that situation, I plugged the nostril she was not pointing to and told her to blow (I'll take this opportunity to thank my husband for teaching Ila to blow her nose!).  Sure enough, a lemon drop came shooting out of her nose.  She excitedly ran after it and picked it up, but I stopped her from putting it in her mouth because 1. eww gross and 2. (and more importantly) she needed to know that girls who stick lemon drops up their noses do NOT get rewarded!  I worried that this "put things up my nose" incident wouldn't be the last, but we went the rest of the week and weekend with clear noses.

Today I sat down to nurse Chessidy while Ila watched Monsters Inc.  She was enjoying a nice healthy snack of apple slices.  What happened next may seem like de' ja' vu, because it pretty much was.  Ila walked up to me and talked about her apple and wanted to blow her nose.  So I plugged the nostril and asked her to blow and out shot an apple chunk!  That one shot so fast we didn't see where it landed. I'm sure I'll find it when I clean the floors tomorrow, unless she found it and ate it without my knowledge.

I had a talk with Ila about how we should not put things in our nose, and so did Trent, so here's to hoping she gets the memo!

Mother's Day of greatness!

We've had Chessidy home for 3 weeks now and life seems pretty darn great.  God has sure blessed our family with 2 sweet and cute little girls.  3 weeks later my body is still feeling like it birthed a 9 pound baby.  I've had a pretty difficult postpartum time, especially compared to postpartum after Ila.  I've had a bladder infection, continued bleeding and few "episodes" of excruciating rib pain that I think turned out to be gas.  There is also internal pain where Chessidy's head sat for months (which is pretty much my cervix/uterus area).  Other then the physical aspect of things though postpartum has been good.  Not too emotional or hormonal, and I seemed to be able to catch my hormonal moments before they get too crazy!  Ila and I have had some rough nap time sessions but we're hoping to get them sorted out with some sort of reward system, yet to be determined.

We are getting ready to close on our house.  Tomorrow we do that last of the paper work before we close, and we should actually close on Friday or the following Monday.  We are going to paint the girls room and we are hoping to re-carpet if we can find any for a good price.  But other then those 2 cosmetic things, the house is move in ready and super awesome. I'm excited to show you pictures once we are in and settled.  Better yet, you should all come to our house warming party that the Realtor throws us!  

This Mother's Day was my best yet.  Let me give you the run down of festivities:

-Thursday night Trent came home from work with a yellow mini rose plant for me, 3 bottles of wine and some other yummy treats!

-Friday Night was Murecker (A fun filled night with Aunt Telcia and Uncle Jon, usually including dinner, playing time and a movie, and of course hilarious and/or deep meaningful conversation) night with delicious fish tacos and the movie Starsky & Hutch (to begin our "cop trilogy" set).

-Saturday was the drive-in movie with our awesomely behaved daughters (woot!) and Uncle Jon and Aunt Telcia. We saw The Avengers and it was AWESOME!

-Sunday we woke up with sick girls (they've been sick for a few days, but seemed pretty terrible this morning).  After feeding CHessidy, I fell back asleep and woke up to the sound of the dishes being done.  When I finally made it out of the bedroom I walked into a clean kitchen.  Thank you awesome husband of mine :)

-Then it was on to lunch with my dad, who was driving through Twin Falls with the U-Haul full of my grandparents stuff (my mom's parents are moving to Boise!)

-After lunch we went to Hands On, which is a ceramic painting place.  We picked 4 soup bowls and had a grand time painting them.  I'm excited to pick them up on Thursday and see how they turned out!

-Onto Starbucks for frappicino happy hour, where I was treated to a very large, decaf frap. of deliciousness.

-When we got home the girls went down for naps and I drove 3 minutes away to free internet and watched a show and then went home.

-Now we are at Marma and Poppy's celebrating Mother's Day with Marma.  

It sure is great being a mother.  Thank you Lord for bringing me two beautiful children and for a husband who made me feel super duper great on this Mother's Day!

Chessidy, Ila, house.

Today Chessidy is 2 weeks old!  What a wonderful 2 weeks it has been.  She mostly sleeps and eats, but we sure enjoy our time together.  Chessidy also has developed her cry from dinosaurish to an all out scream, it is pretty vicious, but we love her none the less for it!  She likes to stay curled up like she was in the womb still and loves being held against a chest, but she sleeps nicely in her bassinet, for 4-6 hours at night.  I sure appriciate that!  So far we have not had night and day mix-up problems, and I hope it stays that way.

Ila loves being a big sister most of the time. She is adjusting well, but has a hard time when mommy is feeding Chessidy for the umpteenth time in a day.  I do my best to spend good quality time with her in-between feeds and cleaning at what not.  Ila helps me with laundry and in the kitchen some, so that is fun.

Trent is still loving his job.  I'm loving mine.  We are in the process or buying a house, and it is supposed to close on the 24th of this month if all goes well.  It's a pretty great house, so we hope all does go well.  I'm not looking forward to moving for the 9th time in 4 years but I'm looking forward to living in our own home, and hoping that it means we'll be in one place for awhile!

Chessidy's Birth Story by Trent

In case you were thinking this might be a repeat of Ila's birth story, please kindly take your pessimism to some other blog!!  This story helps highlight, among other things, a new appreciation for healthcare workers and the beautiful teamwork that took place among our birth team members which included the hospital staff and doctor.

Chessidy's birth started the same, it seemed, as Ila's.  Good progression in the weeks leading up to the birthday, and leaving the doctor's office with encouraging words that it is likely "going to be today, and happen fast!"
Nicole started having fairly regular contractions right away on Thursday the 19th ranging from 10 to 15 minutes apart.  By the time I got home from work she was having them about 8 to 10 minutes apart, but we had some house hunting plans, and decided to continue with them, in an effort to spur on the labor.  It sure seemed like it was working, and by the time we were done looking at places we called our Doula and started in with our plan of making it to the hospital a little sooner for the birth.

We ended up checking in to our lovely birth room around 10:30pm on April 19th and were all expecting to hear that the baby was all but out.  To our surprise Nicole was still about 4cm dilated, which is what she had been at 6 hours earlier during her appointment.  We just figured that we hadn't really hit the "hard" contractions yet, and rolled up our sleeves (because the room was warm) and started in with our mantra!

Three or so hours later the nurses were excited with all of the positive labor, and attitudes and said we might be nearing the "pushing part" and offered to give Nicole a little checky-wecky.  Well, she was progressed to 7cm, which was positive, because that meant that we were definitely moving forward to the birth, but we were all a little miffed that it was now 2:00am and we were just starting the hard part!!!

That wasn't enough to phase this team though, and the nurses were encouraging and helpful in lots of ways.  However, by the time 4:00am rolled around, and Nicole was still not fully dilated, suggestions started being murmured of breaking Nicole's bag of waters to help urge things along.  We said we were open to that if it was going to be beneficial, but we didn't want to just do it and then find ourselves not progressing AND being in lots of pain from the missing cushion of waters.  The time for the water to be broken came when our doctor gave Nicole the go-ahead to start pushing because she had finally dilated (around 5:30am on 4/20).  Nicole asked if she could push a little bit to see if the waters would burst on their own.  After a couple really good pushes, she politely requested for the intervention.

Since Chessidy was positioned so low breaking the bag of waters didn't appear to accomplish too much since only about a tablespoon of water drizzled out.  However, this took some of that hydraulic pressure off of the cervical area and allowed for the pushing to drive little Chessidy on through.  The drive involved a change in positions from sitting up in the bed to kneeling while facing the bed.  This position allowed gravity to help with the descending little one.  As Grandma pointed out later, "Gravity: it's not just a good idea, it's the law!"

So with just a few more pushes Chessidy graced us with her entry to the world at a healthy 9 lbs, 2.1 oz; 22 inches long, with a head circumference of 35 centimeters!  I was able to clamp and cut the cord, after we re-positioned Nicole to have some skin to skin contact with Chessidy and the cord stopped pulsing.  The placenta also came out without having to be tugged on or anything like that.

Within a couple hours we were in a new room recuperating and getting used to life with Chessidy Light.  The nurses and doctors were all we could have ever hoped for, and left us feeling well cared for, and valued.  They appreciated our concerns, and didn't pressure us to make conventional decisions, and they were very helpful and attentive when we needed explanations about certain nuances in practices or procedures.  This was important to us because of the disenchantment we experienced with healthcare professionals with Ila's birth.  We wanted to feel more trustworthy of our local healthcare facility and Chessidy helped us do that with her birth.

Introducing Ila's Best Friend

She has finally arrived! Our new bundle of joy finally joined our family!

April 20, 2012 at 5:53am.

9 pounds, 2 ounces

22 inches long

Here she is, our beautiful daughter:

Chessidy Light Becker

Her name is quite unique like Ila's, and has very deep meaning as well.  We got Chessidy from the Hebrew word "Chesed" which translates to Lovingkindness.  Her middle name, Light, is to remind us and her of God's light that shines upon us, and her name is also chessiDELIGHT, as in we Delight in her, the Lord delights in her and we delight in the Lord.  We find her name to be quite Delightful! :)

Chessidy is nice and healthy, mom is doing well recovering after a long, hard, natural (yea!) birth and we are all trying to catch up on sleep, as we were up all through the night.

Settled

We are sure happy to report that we are nice and settled into our new/temporary home. Our 2 closets 9a regular sized on and a very large walk-in are stuffed to the gills with boxes as is the 4X4 storage unit that came with the place. Most of our stuff fits nicely enough though, and we are thankful to our Marma and poppy for storing the other stuff that doesn't fit, like our deep freeze.

Ila is pretty well adjusted to the new home and we are so happy to be back to our normal routine! I find that not having the internet sure makes for more productive days! I do miss being able to look up recipes and switch up dinner plans at the last moment, but I will survive! I do have several cookbooks that are being used, so that is nice.

My last doctors appointment put me at 2cm dilate, 75% effaced and the baby is at a -3. That means she is super low, which was no surprise to me as I'm pretty sure she's been at a -2 this entire pregnancy! My body is HURTING like crazy, but it's worth it. I'm super excited to meet our little one though, and to figure out her name! We're hoping for April 16th for the birth 9because we have so much control...right?!?!) because it's Trent's grandma's birthday, and it would be a real blessing to have a little one on that day. We'll see if we can make it happen!

Trent is enjoying his job. He already had a bit of a shift in what he is doing, and it fits him much better. He was the lawn care foreman, but now he is the landscaping foreman. He like landscaping wuite a bit, so he is excited about it. Also, if you've heard about the Chobani factory being built in Twin Falls, you'll be pleased to know that Living Earth (Trent's company he works for) got the bid to landscape it, so he'll be running the crew that does that landscaping there, and of course getting his hands dirty in it! He is currently studying for the CDL test, as his company would like him to have one and it comes with a raise, so why not, right?! Trent's two weeks working outside have renewed his appetite, darkened his skin and brought home some bacon, so I'd say things are going really great!

Ila's potty routine took a hit with the move, but we seem to be back to all good now. Her current favorite things are playing with her toys (which she has a new found passion for, since she didn't see them for two months). She plays and plays and plays, putting babies to bed, telling them to "be quiet" and taking them to the potty. She also has two new favorite movies (goodbye Tangled and Toy Story 3) Bolt and Finding Nemo. She especially likes the sharks and the whale in finding Nemo, and always likes to mention Dori. It's pretty cute, and it is nice to shake things up a bit! Her vocabulary is pretty incredible. She can sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star all by herself, say the alphabet (with a little help) and count to ten, if you say five for her. She LOVES counting things! She knows her colors, and I think we'll start working on letter recognization next. Oh, and her other favorite song (TTLS and ABC'S are her favorite 2) is Little Bunny Foo Foo, who was hare today and goon tomorrow!

So that is our story! Please forgive the typos, I'm writing tis int he driveway of my in-laws and would rather go hang out with them, then re-read it! :)

36.5 weeks

How far along?: 36.5 weeks.

Heart Rate of Baby: averaged 140 today

Gender: we were told Girl at 20 weeks, so we'll go ahead and assume they were right.

Total weigh gain: 25 pounds

Maternity clothes: for sure

Stretch Marks: same ones from Ila, but they are getting more stretched I think. I have one VERY painful and large one right where all my pants sit. It makes wearing pants not so great.

Best moment this week: getting my parenting issues with Ila sorted out. We are back to being happy, happy people!

Sleep: sometimes I sleep. It's never the whole night through, or very comfortable, but it does happen. The best sleep I get is when Ila is sitting in my lap watching a movie.

Miss anything?: Sleeping on my back. The ability to roll from one side to the other without shooting pain, cuddling with my husband (I'm too hot and too uncomfortable to cuddle much these days!) and running after Ila for more then 3 minutes.

Movement: Lots, and I know she is feeling squished in there these days by how hard to pushes around when she moves.

Food cravings: meat, and chocolate (but it gives me heartburn if it doesn't have almonds in it!).

Anything make you sick or queasy?: nope.

Labor Signs: contractions are getting harder and I just have a feeling this little girl is coming soon! And, I'm already dilated a bit over 1 and 60% effaced. My doctor told me he thinks she is coming soon too. Oh and I pretty much feel her head pushing on my cervix ALL the TIME!

Belly Button in or out: I'm going to go with halfsies again. It looks pretty funny.

Wedding ring, on or off? On. I have not been a swollen pregnant lady ever (yet) and I'm MORE than okay with that!

Mood: Pretty good, but lots of mood swings and stress.

Looking forward to: Getting moved and settled. It is pretty much all I think about these days! I really need to nest.

So there you have it. I've had a feeling this little one would be coming soon for several weeks now, and the doctor pretty much confirmed that news today. I am super excited to meet our little one, but I'm praying like crazy that she waits until we've moved. I want to get Ila settled and get the house ready for an infant SO BADLY!

35 weeks of change.

It's hard to believe that I'm 35 weeks along in this pregnancy and living in Idaho, although not in our own place yet. 35 weeks ago we lived in Washington and Trent had a job. We were pretty excited about growing our family and thinking it was a great time to do so, since we had a steady income, a home, insurance and a nice healthy family and marriage.

A lot of thing can change in 35 weeks. As my body has grown, the saving account has shrunk. As our little baby made a nice home in my uterus, we have lost ours. Thankfully though, Trent and my relationship has grown stronger, as has our relationship with Ila. We can thank God for that, because as we lean on Him, He teaches and grows us together, and that my friends is a good thing. I'm not saying this 35 week road has been easy, because it really hasn't. I'm not saying it was fun, because it wasn't. I'm not saying I would gladly do it again, because I wouldn't. What I am saying is that the Lord loves us a whole lot, and without Him I'd be a wreck.

Now is a time for celebrating. Trent starts his job on Monday, and we will probably (maybe hopefully is more accurate, but I'm going to be optimistic and go with probably) be moving next week or next weekend. If the moving guesstimation is accurate we'll have enough time to get the house in order and possibly relax for a few days before our new little one comes. I am on the edge of my seat about the housing thing and I think my nesting is fighting for SOMETHING to organize and get ready for the new arrival. I'm curbing the urge as much as possible and hoping it comes roaring back when we are finally in the house!

I also have to mention that Ila is wearing big girl panties today. We've had her in slightly padded panties since we started potty training (back in July/August) but we finally (after 2 solid weeks of no poo in the pants) made the switch. She was pretty excited about them (possibly because Aunt Telcia and I were so excited). She even pulled her pants down to show her Daddy her big girl panties. He didn't find that as humorous as I did... It was strange having a child completely pee potty trained and night time potty trained but still pooping her pants. She would run off and poop in private, and then come say "uh oh, poopoo!" Not my favorite thing ever. I'll tell you the secret that finally did it, LEMON DROPS. That girl would do just about anything to get a lemon drop. She LOVES them. Every time she would poop in the toilet we would give her one. Now, the second she hears her poo plop in the bowl she yells "LEMON DROP!!!" I can't wait till she poos in a crowded public restroom!

Now, back to the 35 weeks of change. I've had my doubts and wonders about why this pregnancy and the unemployment happened at the same time. Here is what it has come down to: The truth is that there is sin in the world, and we are all sinners. Some people chose to act on some sinful behavior and that threw our lives into this whirlwind. It is just part of life on this earth, dealing with the repercussions of our own sin and others sin. Just because we love the Lord and do our best to serve Him does not make us invulnerable to the sin of others. Sin is hard and hurtful, but how great is it that it all gets washed away and we will one day not have to live in it?!

I see now how this is still a good time to grow our little family. Things don't seem so perfect or so lined up but it is God's timing and our choice in family planning and things don't have to be perfect for it all to work. We were never promised a life full of perfection, consistency, control or routine and this 35 weeks has shown me that so much. I'm grateful that God is still teaching me, and that I am teachable! Our little bundle of joy will come into this world loved deeply, and will be well cared for with or without a job, with or without our own place, but certainly not without God and all his awesomeness!

Moving!

Well, it looks like we have a home to live in! It's not our home, but it will be, temporarily (what isn't on this earth though?), until we find something not so temporary. We feel very blessed by the circumstance and what not of how we came to have a place to live! Our move-in date is not certain yet, but it will be soon.

We're heading to Boise on Monday and then to Washington on Tuesday to pack up our stuff. We'll be there for the week, and then hopefully load the moving truck over the weekend and head back to Twin. We're hoping the timing for our move in date and our moving coincide, but it may be a few days (or a week) in between. Prayer that they would coincide would be great though, as that would save a lot of time, work and energy of our helpers (and if you live in Twin and are reading this we WILL need helpers! I'm not going to be up for much more than watching Ila while people carry boxes and furniture, so we would appreciate any and all help we can get)!!! We'll let you all know when the help is needed too, when we've got it figured out.

It's sad to see our time in Washington end, but it is also good. Since Trent lost he job there it has been difficult for us emotionally to live so close to the farm he work so hard on. We were super blessed to live off the farm and on a ranch owned by amazing people (who will be greatly missed by us!) but it was still difficult to be living in the area. Washington is the place Ila has lived the longest and also that Trent and I have lived the longest together. It was a great home, and we feel quite sentimental about it all. We're really hoping, praying and planning that this move to Twin will be much longer then any of our other moves!

Ila is doing great, but ready to have her usual space and toys back. Or maybe I'm ready for it. Either way, she is a trooper and seems to adjust to change pretty well. I'm hoping that she adjusts to life with a sibling as well as she does to new places, but I'm not counting on it! Lately, she has been hugging my belly and saying "ohh, baby. Ohhhh!" It is the sweetest thing ever.

31-32 weeks along!

Pregnancy update:

How far along?: 31 going on 32 weeks.

Baby's heart rate today: 128

Total weight gain: 20 pounds. I have told the nurses several times that they should take my blood pressure BEFORE they weigh me, because I can FEEL my heartbeat dramatically increase when I step on that scale! They don't take me seriously though and they really should.

Maternity clothes?: yes, most certainly, but my pants are just not very comfortable this time around. Did that happen to anyone else? I loved maternity pants when I was pregnant with Ila, but this time I just can't get comfortable in them!

Stretch marks: so many. And the really bad one from last time around is getting bad again.

Sleep: Oh that would be great! We did work out a better pillow system in bed though, and that's been helpful, but if I lay in one position for too long it's really painful to move.

Best moment this week: Meeting the new OB and finding out that he is amazing and totally perfect for us!

Miss Anything? Chasing Ila around without getting contractions (braxton hicks) or round ligament pain, or super winded.

Movement: yes, it has REALLY picked up this week!

Food cravings: Cheeseburgers, with extra pickles sound AWESOME!

Anything making you queasy or sick: no, thank goodness!

Gender: girl!

Labor Signs: Just a lot of practice contractions, although they were so strong at Winco tonight I thought for a moment or two I may be going into labor super early! They let up though, when I stopped and took a breather.

Belly Button in or out? halfsies, which doesn't make much sense unless you see it, which you won't because it's kind of ugly looking!

Wedding rings on or off?on

Happy or Moody most of the time: so, So, SO moody.

Looking forward to: Seeing Trent and Ila with this new little babe. And seeing what she looks like, because in her ultra sound she looked JUST like Ila did, but in my dreams she looks like a very feminine and beautiful Trent (so no beard or manly body hair!). Oh, and having a home to bring her too (which will hopefully be getting sorted out this week!).

Sleepwalking?

Praying works! Trent has gotten a job offer here in TF. We are still hoping for an offer or two more (I mean, who doesn't want options?!?!) so if you could keep praying that would be appreciated for sure! The job start date depends on weather though, which is not so great, but it does give him time to do a few bigger jobs with his Dad!

Our housing situation is still up in the air, but not as much as it was last week. We are in the process of buying a house. We put in an offer last Friday and are waiting to hear back today sometime if it's accepted or not. We started low and are pretty much expecting to have to make a better offer, but hey, that's just how it goes, right?!

Ila is doing some new things that are great, like saying a new word or two everyday. It's exciting to see her learn so quickly and to speak in sentences that are understandable (for the most part). She has developed a strange nighttime habit though (which I'm starting to think could be sleepwalking) that is not so great. It involves a trip to the bathroom and then extremely loud crying (like she is afraid) when she gets put back in bed. She seems to be pretty much asleep till the crying starts. It's very difficult for me to get her to calm down too, and usually Trent has to come in and help out. The whole thing is frustrating, but also a bit unnerving. Last night she walked across my in-laws house (and if you've been to their house you know that walking across the house is no short distance) without making any noise. Once she got to the far end of the house she cried and woke her grandparents (and us) up. Her Marma came downstairs and started leading her back to the room, and Trent met up with them in route. I didn't know what on earth to make of all these night wakings until a sister of mine mentioned possible sleep walking. I don't know how to go about figuring out what it is exactly, but I'll pay closer attention to her behavior and see if that could be the case. If anyone knows more about sleep walking or has some suggestions for us, please share away!

A little Q& A for inquiring minds.

Have you missed me? I know I've been gone for awhile, so you're all probably going through ourbeckerfamily withdrawals. That's okay though, it's good to have a little break from things that you just love.

Let's get started though. I know there are loads of questions floating around your minds about our life. I'll do my best to guess what the questions are and give an adequate answer. If anything is unanswered, leave a comment asking and I'll get back to you!

Where are you now? Well, we're here, in Twin Falls Idaho.

What are you doing there? Trent is working with his dad and looking for a job and I'm looking for a place for us to live.

What do you mean? Why are you looking for a place to live, you live in Washington? It has the potential of being a long story, so I'll make it short. After 3+ months of being unemployed, seeking the Lord for direction and thinking long and hard about WHAT and WHERE we want to be at this time in our lives, we decided that Twin Falls (or thereabouts) was the place for us. Trent wants to be a farmer and/or work with his dad. He can be a farmer anywhere, but he can only work with his dad here, so here we came.

Where are you going to live? Well, we are hoping to find a perfect place to move. Something permanent would be nice, but all the ducks have to line up just perfectly for that. We are looking at rentals too, but nothing is coming around in our needed size and budget yet, so prayers would be super appreciated in that area specifically.

What about your awesome OB in Prosser? Well, thankfully I have a mother-in-law who just happens to be a nurse AND a sister-in-law who WORKS on the OB floor at the hospital here in town. I got the insiders scoop on doctors from said sister (who has the same outlook on birth, interventions etc. as we do!) and have an appointment with one she HIGHLY recommended on Thursday. I am sad to leave our Prosser doctor, but so pleased that there are a few in TF that will work for us!

So, how is Trent's job search going? Much better here then it was in Washington. He had two interviews yesterday and has been able to at least get his foot in the door in many places around town/surrounding area. We are praying something works out soon though, as finances are running low and having that said job would help us get a permanent place to live.

Well, aren't you going to miss Washington? That questions answer is actually one of the things that helped us make the choice to move to TF. We figured out that we had 3 reasons to stick around. 1. Our neighbors are the greatest neighbors you could ask for. We were super blessed and even thinking about moving away from our neighbors is difficult! 2. Our church. Oh how we love Grace Fellowship in Prosser! Great people, great fellowship, sermons, worship, and food! I had also just started a bible study that I was super excited about. Thankfully we have a church here that we love, but it's hard to leave one for another. 3. My doctor, but as you can read above that is not a problem anymore.

So when is this big move? Oh how I wish I knew the answer! I will go back to Washington and start packing when one of two things happens. 1. we find a place to live. 2. trent gets a job. We thought that #1 would have happened already, but alas, it has not. We know we need to move sooner then later, as I am now 30 weeks along in this lovely pregnancy and we need to get moved and settled before baby B joins us!

How do you feel about moving again? Oiy vey. Not super great, but I've been thinking of it more like this: we are moving back to a place where we have family. When you think of it like that, it's much better. Plus Idaho feels more like home. The cost and work of moving is pretty daunting though.

So there you have it. Hope that answers all your questions! :)