A Birthday and A Baptism

During the month of November & December, the Otte family saw each other every weekend.  We had Annie's baptism, Scarlett's birthday party, Cohen's baptism, & the extended Otte family Christmas party all on consecutive weekends.  It was fun, but also busy!  

At Scarlett's birthday party, it was decided to take a picture of all the kids.  It's a big undertaking, and I love everything about the outtakes.  These are way, way better than the ones where everyone's happy and looking at the camera.

At the beginning of December, we traveled to Findlay for Cohen's baptism.  He had a nice baptism at a beautiful church.  The party afterward was fun, too!  

 The baptismal font was at the entrance of the church in a gathering area.  It was beautiful!  We stood around the font for the baptism, so we had to corral the little ones from taking off.  All Vin wanted to do was run or eat snacks.  Papaw tried to hide the snacks, and of course he was unsuccessful.  I had Vin lost for a few minutes, and honestly I felt pretty panicked.  The church was huge, there were tons of places for him to hide, and I was not familiar with the building at all.  I found him hiding behind one of the entrance doors with a big, ornery grin!

Out with the Old, In with the New...

2015 was a really good year.  For our family, the highlights were moving to our new house (on Valentine's Day in a white-out blizzard) and welcoming sweet baby Annie to our family.  I was so fortunate to stay home for 12 weeks of maternity leave.  I had an awesome sub, and from what I gather, things at school went very, very well.

And now, as we turn to 2016, I return to work.  Maternity leave is over.  It's so bittersweet.  I am really excited to go back and see my coworkers and have adult interaction.  A new routine will be good for us, though I know it will present many challenges as well.  But, like all working moms, it's going to be tough to leave my sweet babe with a babysitter and accept that my special time with her has come to an end.

I had a great maternity leave.  The fall weather was perfect.  We had so many sunshiny days that lifted my spirits when I was sleep deprived or overwhelmed.  Warmer days made it easier to get out, even just to run into town, so I didn't go stir crazy in the early weeks.  As I reflect on the conclusion of my maternity leave and the start of a new year, I find myself thinking about how much has changed in 3 months.  The first days and weeks at home were not easy.  I couldn't have done it without the help from our parents, and of course Adam.  He deserves a medal for balancing a chaotic home life with working 8-10 hour days.

Eventually I accepted the challenge of taking Vera to preschool and Vin to Patty's on my own.  I had so many mornings of yelling and frustration, which led to deep guilt for yelling and getting frustrated.  But, I learned what worked.  If we were to get Vera to preschool on time, I had to be ready before anyone woke up.  Non negotiable.  It was so hard to make myself get up and get going some mornings when I'd just settled into restful sleep.  Some mornings I pumped, in the bathroom, as I dried my hair and I got ready.  If didn't have to nurse Anne after the older 2 were awake and trying to get ready, it saved my sanity.  Chaos prevention.  It was faster and more efficient to feed a bottle.

Honestly, the physical dropping off of Vera and Vin was the easy part of the morning.  I could handle all 3 at preschool.  The breakfast, getting dressed, fixing hair, putting on shoes, remembering school necessities, and getting out the door was the hard part.  More than once, I meant to pack Vera's lunch and completely forgot.  Thank goodness we kept diapers and wipes at Patty's house.  A diaper bag was one less thing to get ready and grab as we left the house each day.

These days, I won't say it's easy, but it's much easier.  Anne is more predictable.  Vin is easy to get ready (provided he doesn't make a huge mess with his breakfast.)  Vera is always the variable.  She can be so good some mornings.  Other days she's quite pokey and absentminded; she needs constant prodding as she gets ready.

Maternity leave was also a time for me to get a few things done around home.  I don't know how I would've been ready for Christmas if I were working.  I was able to do a few small projects, catch up on errands and my to-do list.  The older 2 were gone almost every day to the babysitter, so I was able to keep the house together and give Anne all of my time and attention.  When the older 2 came home at the end of the work day, I was ready for them to be home and enjoyed their company in the evenings, even though our evenings were pretty crazy!

The last two weeks, I've had everyone at home everyday.  I'm glad for that.  We've had a care-free and unstructured end to maternity leave.  It's nice to not have to leave the house in the mornings.  We can sleep in, take our time getting dressed, and enjoy our days at home.  The kids and I have had time to really play with their Christmas toys.

A festive breakfast

Annie Girl is such a good baby.  She is happy, predictable and so fun.  She smiles and coos generously, and I just love it.  Lately she's been sleeping through the night more consistently as long as she's swaddled tight.  She takes a bottle really well.  It's not stressful to feed her or get her to sleep.  And surprisingly, she does have a schedule despite the hustle and bustle of the recent holidays.  All of these things make me feel at ease as I return to work.

This was my last day at home alone with Anne before Christmas.  My Instagram caption said,"Last day of maternity leave with just this girl and I.  Enjoying my favorite things today: coffee and shopping online next to the glow of the Christmas tree, holding my baby while she naps and listening to the rain outside. #thebestdays."  

So, here's to a new year and a new beginning for our family.  Let's do this.  After all, if it is totally overwhelming and chaotic, it's only 6 months until summer break!  :)

Happy New Year, from my crew...

Christmas 2015

We had a great Christmas this year.  The best part, by far, was watching the kids' excitement and wonder as they experienced the magic of the season.  It was also special because it was baby Anne's first Christmas.  I am sad because we didn't get a picture with her and Santa this year.  I was sure we'd make it to see Santa again after the Hometown Christmas, and we just never did.  So sorry, little girl, that you don't have a picture.  #momfail

Our holiday parties began a few weeks before Christmas with the extended Otte family at Briarwood.  It didn't feel like Christmas that day; the temperature was in the mid 60s.  Vera was so excited to rip open the first gifts of the Christmas season, so much so that she ripped open Vince's gift before anyone even realized that she had Vince's gift.  We had to immediately talk to her about only opening gifts with her name on them and lay out a few gift-opening rules.

Here she is "helping" Vin open his present.

All of the Otte grandkids received matching pajamas.  Little Annie is "Santa" and everyone else are the "elves."  Cute!

Chippy the Elf revisited our house this year.  Vera was a little nervous that he wouldn't know where to find us since we're at a new house this Christmas.  Finally, he showed up when St. Nick stopped by to fill our stockings.  The kids enjoyed finding Chippy each day.  Even Vinners got excited to find him each morning and would point and squeal when they finally discovered him each day.  We had one mishap with the elf this year.  He was hanging from the ceiling fan in our living room.  The kids and Adam were having a dance party one evening.  Chippy got bumped, and down he fell.  Vera completely freaked.  She was crying hysterically because dad touched Chippy.  Quickly, I looked up on my phone how to give the elf his magic back.  We sprinkled some red glitter on him before we went to bed, and when we woke up the next morning, he was in a new spot.  He also left a note telling us that Santa gave him all of his magic back.  Schew!

Vera & Vin enjoyed a few of Chippy's silly antics too.  Here's where we found Chippy on the last day at our house...
Vera was curious over and over again as to how Chippy ended up inside one of our drinking glasses.

Vera and I wrote a letter to Santa before St. Nick Day.  She drew a nice picture for Santa at the bottom of the letter.  Then it was time to fold it and put in the stocking for St. Nick to pick up, and Vera melted into tears.  She was so upset because she just couldn't part with her nice picture she drew.  So, the letter laid on the counter all of December because we could never convince her to send it to Santa.  Somehow, Vera was certain that Santa already knew what she wanted.  She'd written him a letter at preschool and also talked to Santa and Mrs. Claus at the preschool family night.

One of my favorite Christmas memories this year is the evening that we exchanged our family gifts.  Vera went to Santa's Secret Shop at preschool and bought something for everyone in our family.  She was so, so excited to give us our gifts.  They helped her wrap them at school, so we had absolutely no idea what was inside.  As we opened the gifts, Vera was jumping up and down in excitement.  She got Adam a hat, me a Peek-A-Boo, Vince a stuffed cow and Annie a sock monkey.  Perfect!  :)  Then Adam and I opened our gifts from the kids.  Adam got a Bluetooth speaker, and we ended up spending the entire evening dancing, listening to music, and having a "House Party."  So fun!

Santa visited our home on December 23 while we were having dinner at Sideliners.  Chippy left a note on our tree saying that Santa wanted to stop by early because he had some big presents to deliver to our house.  His sleigh was getting pretty crowded, and since the kids were so good this year, Chippy told him it'd be ok to come early.

Whoa!  Santa was here!!

We had a fun evening playing with all of the surprises.  We also had some tears and fighting because we just couldn't share.  Vera was on total overload.  So much to take in when you're 4 years old.

While we were eating at Sideliners that evening, we noticed Vince's eye seemed red and kept oozing, even after we would clean it.  As the night went on, it was clear that it was bothering him.  On Christmas Eve, he woke up and had a sore, swollen eye.  So, at 8:05am, I called the doctor and we were lucky to get an appointment.  Sure enough, the little monster checked out with Pink Eye.  Ugh!  On Christmas Eve, we went to Grammy and Papa's for the Pearson family Christmas.  Vin looked miserable earlier in the day, but perked up as the day went on.  While we were opening gifts, Vera came up to me with a sore, gooey eye complaining that it itched.  Without batting an eye, we started her on the antibiotic as well.  The two kids were troopers, and so far no one else has caught it.

Our Christmas with the Pearsons was nice.  Food was good, kids were spoiled with gifts.

Sure would be nice if the oldest child would start looking at the camera for pictures!

That evening, though we were exhausted, Adam and I went to 10:30pm mass while Rosie stayed with the kids.  We decided that it would be too big of an undertaking to have everyone ready for 11 mass on Christmas Day.  Plus, they really had no business going to church with Pink Eye.  It was nice for Adam and I to go to Christmas Mass together and truly reflect on the reason for Christmas.  We didn't have our kids as a distraction.  I really enjoyed the quiet calmness of the church and of course the beautiful music.

On Christmas Day, we went to my parents' house.  The Pink Eye situation looked much better.  Vin took a 3 hour nap while we were there, which helped a lot.  It was a long day, but fun.  Lots of gifts and plenty of good food.  The gift opening was pretty wild.  It's hard to tell 6 kids (who are 4 and under) to wait their turn.  Annie Pie was the only patient one.  ;)  Vin was in wild man mode during gift-opening, as you can see from the pics.

Don't they look thrilled?

I took 20 pictures of this pose.  Here's the best one.  It's pretty good, really.  No one has a pacifier, no one is crying, and everyone is looking, even Papaw.  Vin is trying to make a getaway and Cohen wasn't too impressed.  We'll just crop out grandma's bare feet and the Snuggle bear on the floor.

Merry Christmas from these little elves.

We were so happy to stay home on Saturday, December 26.  It was a sleep-in, regroup, and play kind of day.  The roller coaster was finally assembled, and that was the highlight of our day.

Construction is underway...

...and so is the fighting.  Vin is ticked because Vera won't let him sit at the very top.

Of course Vin thinks it's cool to stand at the top.  His guardian angel caught him a few days ago as nearly fell off.  I was in the chair feeding Anne, told him to sit down, and as he was crawling down he wobbled and teetered, and nearly fell off the side.  It's only a matter of time until someone falls off the side or gets run over by the car.  We know this.

Of course Vera got the first ride.

On Sunday, December 27 we ventured, in the cold rain, to the Bruns home for the Bertke family Christmas.  The kids were troopers even though we were totally exhausted.  Vince took a nice nap, and little Anne was so very good at all of the parties.  I wish I would've taken a picture of all of the food.  Surprisingly, no breakers tripped (that I know of) from the lineup of crock pots.  The dessert table was impressive!

Our Christmas was filled with many thoughtful gifts, warm smiles, innocent excitement and abundant blessings.  Merry Christmas, from our wild household...

Matching sisters.  I so wish Vera would have smiled nicer...because look at that little Annie's smile!

Christmas jammies photo shoot.

I love how Vin is looking at the girls here.  Warms my heart.