More Christmas fun

The videos are up, and here come the pictures! Isaiah's first Christmas was a hit! It was so much fun watching him (try) to open his gifts. At this point he can't get too excited about what is under the wrapping, but it will come.

Christmas Eve was full of tradition, church, and moisture. Weird combo huh? It had been raining here for about 3 days, and it was POURING on Christmas Eve. I can honestly say that is a first for me. We went to the 4:00 service, which we thought would be the best time for Isaiah, but we were wrong. For the first time ever, he had to be taken out of church. He just couldn't sit still. Oh well. We made it home to our traditional Christmas Eve meal and off to bed, but not until we put out cookies for Santa, and retrieved the last presents from the basement.

Christmas morning was exciting as ever with opening gifts. We had to take a break for breakfast, but then we were back at it! We had to cut it short for nap time as well. However we did manage to open every last present, even the one hidden outside. (Steve's gift from me was outside, and I tried to be sneaky and get him to take out the garbage so he would find it, but he refused to take out the trash.)

We lounged all day, actually all weekend. It was so much fun hanging out in our PJ's all day, munching on goodies, and being together. I can't wait to do it all again next year. Hopefully we can include more of our extended family into our celebration next year! We missed you all.

Isaiah's First Christmas Morning

We had so many gifts under the tree this year; and they were mostly for Isaiah. But Christmas is so much more fun now with him around, even if he is more grateful for the boxes and paper than the gifts themselves. We are trying a new thing with posting videos. They may be a bit long, and not real exciting but at least you'll get a glimpse of Isaiah's first Christmas. This first video is first present of the day, one he had happened to try and open a couple days earlier than he should have!



This little toy from NJ Grandma and Grandpa provided the chorus and music of our Christmas morning. Isaiah loved bopping along to the music and beat; I guess we'll have to pick up some matching bling for him now too.

Ahh, the Christmas Letter

It seems like such a short while ago I was sitting here in disbelief that it was already November. Now I sit here almost half way through DECEMBER! Only 15 shopping days left ‘til Christmas, yikes! Life has been busy getting ready for our first Christmas as a family of three. And a birthday party at the same time! I guess this will be our life from now on, so I better just get used to it! We have made it very clear and committed ourselves to making sure Isaiah's birthday is always celebrated separate from the holidays. We want him to have his own special day. Fortunately, he doesn’t know any better now but he will in the future. Overall, I think that I finally have things both Christmas & Birthday under control; and as Steve likes to remind me, I make things harder than they need to be. But the Christmas cards are sent, tree and decorations are up, gifts are being wrapped, Christmas movies are being watched, cookies are baked, and we are ready to celebrate the CHRISTmas season. Last year we were so preoccupied with having a baby that the holiday zipped right past us. Not this year!

The past year of our life has been completely, wonderfully crazy! Since last Christmas, we welcomed Isaiah David into our family on December 31, 2008 at 2:12 am. He just made that tax credit deadline; what a good kid! This new addition should not be breaking news to most of you reading this. Our lives have revolved around him ever since. What a gift and blessing from God! I can remember pre-parenthood when the days were filled with Sunday naps, watching TV, and sleeping in, but they do not even compare to the hugs, kisses, smiles, giggles, love, cuddles and amazement that now fill our lives. Who knew one single little human could bring all of those things? There is nothing we love more than being parents!

It is so hard to believe that he is almost a year; how quickly it has gone. He is growing and learning so much so quickly. At this point he is mimicking most of our actions and even some of our words. But he is still the cutest little guy, a happy and easy-going baby, and the source of hours of fun and entertainment. We can't imagine our lives with out him. I already said it, but it warrants repeating, we love being parents!

As the year 2009 went on, we were busy packing, moving, and unpacking. Our vicarage at Our Redeemer in Moorhead ended in July. But we do often think back on our time there. We made so many great friends and had so many great memories. We really do miss our time there and our vicarage family. The next couple months following vicarage were spent in MN and NJ, visiting family and friends and re-adjusting to life in St. Louis. It has been a busy year of changes and we await more. The coming year will bring us another new home. Where? Stay tuned, we will find out Tuesday April 27th at 7:00pm (CST). It will also bring the conclusion of a long 4 years of Seminary life with graduation on May 21st. It has been a crazy, wonderful ride but we are so excited for having a place to permanently settle into and call home. Still, even after graduation, we will be living in St. Louis until August when the National Youth Gathering is concluded. I have been working with the Youth Gathering registration so the last part of my job will be attending the Gathering down in New Orleans.

That's all for now. It was brief, but if you go back through our old posts you can see more news and more pictures. You can watch how much our little guy has grown and changed! We hope that you enjoy our blog. Come back and visit often; we try to update at least once every couple weeks. Leave us a message; we love to hear from you all! May God grant you all a wonderful Christmas and holiday season, full of joy and love with family and friends. May the true gift of new life and hope in the Bethlehem Babe fill you with peace!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
><>Steve, Calie, and Isaiah

Thankfulness

Thankfulness, it's a word that gets thrown around a lot this time of the year. We all know that we should be thankful at all times of the year, but Thanksgiving is a time to really give thanks. I am thankful that there are only 4 months until call day, 8 months until we move (hopefully for the last time), and 8 months until I get to (hopefully) become a full time Mom again. I am thankful that I got time off from work, to spend with the 2 men I love most in my life. I am thankful for them. The list can really go on and on, but I will spare you and stop there.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. Steve finished his last fall quarter at the Seminary, so he enjoyed a two week break. He played with Isaiah, taught him new things and caught up on ESPN. I was off of work for a few days, and REALLY enjoyed cooking, scrap booking, and spending all day with my boys. On Thanksgiving day, we were invited to our friends, Katie and Joe's house. We had a wonderful dinner and great company. Later that night we were invited to our upstairs neighbor's house to play games.

I got caught up, as usual, in the madness and great deals of Black Friday. I decided that I wasn't going to go out early, so I hit the shops at about 6:50. Steve made me return something at Target, which I thought was CRAZY on Black Friday, but it turned out to be profitable! I left with the vacuum that I wanted within 7 minutes. By 7:03 I was at Kohls shopping my heart out. By 8:00 I was home. I went out for round 2 at 9:30. It amazed me that it was busier at 10am vs 7 am. All in all, I got some great deals, and I am done Christmas and Birthday shopping. Now onto the wrapping!!!

Saturday we went to a first birthday party, then went to cut down our Christmas tree. What an adventure! It's harder to choose a tree than we ever thought! We took the wagon out to the field and started walking. The trees were all long needle, which neither of us really wanted, but they grew on us and we ended up finding one after a lot of searching. Steve, with all of his manly muscles, cut down the tree while Isaiah watched and I took pictures. I hope you enjoy the show!

This week brings us back to the grind of daycare, work, school and homework. We are thankful for all of you who actually read this labor of love. Leave us a message and let us know how you are doing!

November?

November already? I know it's hard to believe! I am thinking about turkey and pecan pie, while Steve is thinking about putting up Christmas decorations! I can understand his excitement, since Christmas last year was anti-climatic. It's always such a festive warm holiday. I guess I too am looking more and more forward to it than I thought!

The past couple of weeks have been busy, but great!
* Most impactful event - end of the first quarter for Steve. He now has two weeks to play with Isaiah and sleep in, as much as Isaiah will let him! That thought makes it especially hard to get up and go to work everyday! At least I will have some time off over Thanksgiving.

* Most fun event - Visitors! My Mom and little sister, Tressa, made the long journey here for a visit. It was SO much fun! I wish that they, and the rest of my family, could come every weekend! It was so nice to spend time shopping, eating, laughing, and hanging out with them. I know that Isaiah didn't mind the extra attention either.

* Most exciting news - We found out that we are going to have another niece. Tressa and her husband Drew, are expecting March 24th. We already knew about the due date, but we just found out the gender last week. Steve and I both guessed a boy, we were wrong. Isaiah is definitely out numbered! I already envision him learning all about how to properly have tea, or getting dressed up with the girls.

* Most developmental news - Isaiah is starting to stand on his own, without holding onto anything. It is fun to watch him wobble, try to balance, and become so proud of himself. He also is learning how to get balls out from underneath things...see the pictures!

It has been a full two weeks of IM games, fun, and sunshine. Steve is preaching at our field work church this weekend, and we are looking forward to Thanksgiving. We hope that you enjoy your Thanksgiving feast as well.

Halloween Fun

Halloween is my favorite time of year. I love the candy, costumes, candy, the pumpkin carving, did I mention the candy? The weekend before Halloween we went to the St.Louis Zoo. They had a fun day called, Boo at the Zoo. The zoo was decorated for Halloween,they had a candy trail, costume parade, and many more activities. Since Isaiah is really too small for candy or crafts, we just went to check it out. I didn't want Isaiah to get his costume all dirty, so we dressed him in his warm pumpkin sweatsuit. I think that he had fun looking around at all of the other kids.

This past week Isaiah learned how to shrug his shoulders, which we think is just the most adorable thing! We caught a few moments of film. He also started puckering his lips, like the famous fish face. I have not been so lucky to catch that on film yet. I'm still trying. He also celebrated his 10 months birthday on Halloween. We got some smiles even though he was sick, again. We had plans to go to a Halloween party on Saturday, but Isaiah had been on Motrin all day, with a runny nose and drool like you wouldn't believe. We are not sure if his teeth are moving, or if he is sick. Either way he was crabby, so we decided not to go and share our germs, just in case. So we got in our costumes and headed to a friends house to say boo, then we hung out at home and passed out candy. You can see who had the most fun with the candy. I think that we have a little sweet toothed man on our hands! They always say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I guess they are right! A man after my own heart, or sweet tooth!

I hope that you enjoy the pictures of our Halloween fun.

Every Week

Well, my goal was to update this blog every week...where does the time go? I can't even remember all of the things that have happened since my last post, so sorry for the repeats.

Since our last post I celebrated my birthday, and I have realized that after 30, I just want to forget that birthday's exist. So I will celebrate them, but I think that I am going to remain 30 forever. Actually it was a great day. It started too early in my opinion, but I got to spend some one-on-one time with Isaiah while Steve was at church. (yes, we skipped church. Steve had to be there for two services, which is too long for Isaiah to be quite) It made me SO happy to spend the one-on-one time with Isaiah, and it made me realize how much I miss it. As Sunday ended, I was dreading going back to work because it meant that I had to leave Isaiah all day again. I also had the opportunity to watch the Vikings win, and eat some fried chicken at a wonderful restaurant (Hodak's) who gives free birthday meals. All-in-all it was a great day.

On Saturday we went to the pumpkin patch which is the same place we go for our apples. We had fun picking out our pumpkins, even though Isaiah looks less than thrilled in the pictures. Steve bought me a mum for my birthday, since they last longer than flowers. Saturday night we went to an LWML banquet for 4th year students, while Isaiah was at the childcare they provided. After the banquet, Steve and I raced to pick up Isaiah. (Steve won, I had heals on) Little things like this just remind me how lucky I am that Steve loves being a Dad as much as he does. And how lucky Isaiah is to be loved so much that his parents fight over who gets to pick him up.

Later in the week Isaiah got pretty sick, with croup. He had a hard time sleeping since his cough would wake him up. The croup cough went away fast and left a rattle when he breaths. His upper four teeth have also been coming in quicker too. So needless to say we laid low over the weekend.

I think that something must be lacking in Isaiah's diet, because Sunday morning I found out that he likes to eat wood. The rails in his crib in particular. I was especially not happy since this crib turns into a full size bed, which will now forever have teeth marks in it. What a memory!

I hope that you enjoy the pictures of our week and half.

Too much to see

Well, the weeks seem to be flying by, which is both good and bad. Good because it brings us one week closer to the end of our seminary journey, bad because it means Isaiah is one week older and getting bigger. While I enjoy watching his new accomplishments, it makes me sad that he is getting so big. Thankfully he still likes to cuddle.

On Sunday I was boxing up some of his old clothes and he decided to close the box, the right way, and use it to walk around the room. (sorry no picture...I was too slow) He loves to stand, and now uses the couch, coffee table, and anything else he can find to pull up on. Last Saturday I went to scrapbook, so Steve decided to use the pudding in the refrigerator to play with..pictures below. It looks like they had a great time!

Steve and I had our first placement interview on Monday. This interview was to review the paperwork that we had already filled out with information about what geographical location we would prefer, size of city, and so forth. They wanted to meet to get an idea of who we are, and so that we could elaborate more than what is asked on the form that we filled out. It was a nice interview and exciting that the process is starting! We have our second interview on Thursday. The purpose of the second interview is to review and talk about the kind of people that we are, and Steve's ministry style. We'll have to let you know how that one goes!

As for now that is the news from St. Louis. Enjoy the pictures that I FINALLY got around to posting. (I had to bring my camera to work to get to them!)

Feeling the Fall

Ahhh, the crisp smell of the fall, leaves turning colors, and pumpkins galore. The sights, sounds and smells of autumn have hit the St. Louis area. I have yet to get out my fall decorations (gasp), but hopefully they will get out before it's too late.

Our family has been settling into a nice routine these past few days, even though it is a busy one. We have been enjoying our Sundays together watching football. Steve in his NY Giants gear, Calie in MN Vikings apparel, and Isaiah alternates weeks in his Vikings/Giants wear.

The big news this week is that Isaiah turned 9 months old on Wednesday! I can't believe that he has been out in this world the same amount of time he was growing inside of me. He is full out crawling now, and trying his hardest to stand by himself. He enjoys walking with your hands to help, but you can tell he would rather do it himself. He is still full of cuddles which makes me happy, and I hope that he never gets tired of giving them. (or getting them for that matter!)

Steve is still plugging through classes. Calie is still getting up way too early to work. We have managed to squeeze in a date night, spend some time with friends, and scrapbook.

We are looking forward to a great weekend. Be sure to leave us a note....we always like to hear from you!

On The Go

Well, nothing is safe in our house anymore...the little man is officially crawling. He still doesn't do it much, but he can. He will crawl to get items such as Mom and Dad, paper and his nuk. Last night I dropped a piece of bread on the floor, and he quickly crawled over and ate it(pictures coming soon). We have also taken the stationary part off of his car, so now that the wheels are exposed, he can drive anywhere! He just has to figure out how!

Isaiah still likes to stand the best, and is working on pulling up on furniture. He likes to use our hands to pull up to stand, and will stand by himself if you get him to the furniture. He has tried many times to use the coffee table to stand, but it usually results in him getting stuck and hitting his head.

I am glad that he is learning new things, but I wish that I could have frozen him in time two days ago...when he didn't really move! I don't want him to grow up, he is a ball of fun right now. His little personality is shining through, and I love it!

Oh, I almost forgot, he also has four teeth coming in on the top! YIKES! He is such a trooper though, he was only crabby on Sunday afternoon.

Isaiah had his first Seminary babysitters, Joe and Katie Behnke. They are fantastic friends who donate their time to play with Isaiah.



Steve and I are doing just fine. We worked at an auction on Saturday night, saw the hot air balloons light up, and Isaiah and I took a road trip to see my Mom, who was visiting St. Louis on her women's weekend.

I will try to add more pictures when I get home from work.

Look Grandma!

This post is dedicated to my Mom, the dental assistant.

So life has fallen into more of a routine, Steve is back in classes, I'm back at work, and Isaiah is at daycare. We are still learning how to deal with homework and family time, but we will have it mastered in no time!

Classes started, and the report that I get is that they are, "not too bad". The intramural season has started as well, which makes Steve one happy guy. He does not have class on Wednesday's, so he gets to hang out with Isaiah all day.

I am settling into my new job. I can see that it may be hard in the future, because I am part time Youth Ministry secretary, and part time in the National Youth Gathering Office. There aren't any set hours for either, just working on which ever job needs to be done. So ultimately I support our Director and 5 Associate Directors. I also do not fully understand what each of them work on, so it is a lot of learning. I was approved last week to work 6 am - 2:30, so I have been getting a lot less sleep these days, but it is worth it to get home to spend time with my boys.

Isaiah is still fantastic. He is our whole world, and he knows it! Yesterday he figured out how to get onto all fours, in the crawling position, without falling onto his tummy. He screams when he is on his tummy and can't get up. I was making an apple pie on Monday, and he thought that it was super funny when I sliced the apples, so we had some good laughs.

Isaiah is still seeing the chiropractor, which seems to be helping. He is eating a few new fruits and veggies, and really enjoying finger food. He has also learned the Seitzer way of taking care of teeth. My sisters and I have always been taught the value of good oral hygiene, so I am passing my knowledge onto Isaiah. See the pictures below. He really LOVES to brush his teeth, and it seems to be a highlight of his day. He always smiles when I pick up the tooth brush, and proceeds to open wide. I don't even have to ask! He also loves to "brush" his own teeth, and he doesn't even stick the toothbrush in too far! Maybe he will grow up to follow in his grandma's footsteps and become a dentist.

The Grind

Well, since our last post, I have been back in the daily grind of the workforce. I have to say that I have not missed it at all! I sit and stare at my computer screen which houses a large picture of Isaiah, while wishing that I was at home with him. I daily remind myself that I am really lucky to have a job, and I will (hopefully) never live this day in St. Louis again. (Meaning I hope we will be at our first call next year at this time.)

Steve has been Mr. Mom, and a GREAT house husband. He has been busy doing the laundry, washing and putting away dishes, cooking yummy meals, and taking Isaiah on all kinds of outings. Oh and changing all of the poopy diapers with only minimal gagging. He will start school again on Tuesday.

Isaiah is still a fun loving, laid back little man. He is 8 months old already! He has been pulling up on everything and tries to get into the crawling position, but just can't quite get there. He got his first haircut the other day; see pictures below. He was really squirmy, but did a great job. The stylist even put gel in his hair!

As our followers know, Isaiah has had GERD, which is basically acid reflux, since he was born. In other words, he throws up a lot. He was on medicine, but we were not convinced it was working. So based on many recommendations, we decided to take him to a chiropractor who is also a nutritionist. She gave us so much helpful information. She felt his back and found that his body had tension spots in the area of his intestines, stomach, and gallbladder. She also said that she doesn't think that his body is breaking down proteins properly. So she did a little spinal adjustment (a gentle massage), put me on a dairy free diet (ugh, no ice cream), and Isaiah on organic food. He goes in again today for a follow up, and we are hopeful that this will eventually help solve this problem.

Welcome Back to St. Louis!

So much has happened since our last post. In just about three weeks we have packed up and said our goodbyes in Moorhead, had a quick visit with Calie's folks on the farm in St. Peter, landed in St. Louis, vacationed in New Jersey for 12 days, and we are now back in St. Louis. Our boxes are unpacked; we are all settled in and we are not leaving. Or at least for the next nine months! So if you want to see us, make your plane reservations now!

Vicarage is over. I am no longer "The Vicar". We had a beautiful farewell Sunday the last weekend in July and said all of our goodbyes. After preaching my final sermon and an old-fashioned roasting, the congregation gathered for a farewell potluck. The church was such a supportive and loving place to learn and grow. Moorhead has become such a wonderful memory in our seminary journey. Much was learned and we gained so many new friends and family in Christ. We think quite often about the people and places we miss from vicarage.

After landing back at the seminary just long enough to unload the truck, we headed out to New Jersey to spend some time with my family. It was the first time Isaiah got to meet most of my family and friends. Our time there went really quick. But it was nice and relaxing--a family BBQ, three days at the Jersey Shore, mini-golf, hot-tubbing and lots of time and meals spent with people we love. Not to mention the amount of Jersey-style pizza and Taylor Ham & Cheese sandwiches we were able to eat at the infamous Lox of Bagels. We even got to go the NJ State Fair for an evening that included going to the petting zoo and seeing the racing pigs. And Isaiah fit right in with the rest of the Sussex County crowd with only his two teeth!

I'm pretty sure that Isaiah enjoyed New Jersey the most as hardly a second went bye when he was not being held or entertained. It's been bit of a hard reality for him since we've been home and have been busy unpacking and cleaning the new place. I also had the privilege to preach and lead worship services at the congregation I grew up in. Got to stand in the pulpit of the place where this crazy pastor thing all began. Overall it was really just a nice trip back out east, even despite the realization that I'm becoming less and less "Jersey" via losing my accent and actually trying to be a courteous and patient driver. Jersey drivers do not like to merge!

As for St. Louis, we are just about now settled in. We are moved completely into our on-campus apartment and have everything put away and all the pictures hung. We really like our place, perhaps pictures will come later. And though we already miss our dishwasher in Moorhead we are so thrilled to have our very own washer & dryer. No more quarters or waiting for other people, yay! The simple things in life indeed! Though I don't start classes until after Labor Day, Calie starts work back at the LCMS International Center next Monday. This year she will be working in the youth ministry office; working primarily with the 2010 National Youth Gathering in New Orleans. So, I will be able to be Mr. Mom until classes start. I'm really excited for this but need to work a bit on my gag reflex when it comes to diapers filled with #2. Once I enter back into the wonderful (blah!) world of academia, we have been blessed to so easily find childcare for Isaiah. He will be watched by a seminary wife on campus who also watches two other children. Her husband is an exchange student and they are from Brazil. They are both really nice people and Isaiah snuggled right up with her when they first met. This is a God-send! A perfect fit for us as far as location, cost, and quality care. God is so good, praise Him for answered prayers and peace of mind!

So now in these next few days we are trying to enjoy our last few days of open family time. We have already re-visited the Budweiser Brewery and will soon be going to the St. Louis Zoo and Ted Drew's Frozen Custard. It really is nice to be back in the sultry St. Louis area, knowing it is only for 9 months. The weather still is hot and nasty. Today, the temp wasn't so high but the humidity was at 97%. As long as the central air keeps working it will be all good.

Enjoy the pics!

Moving fun

The packing has begun, and is (hopefully) almost done! Just a few last minute things to throw in boxes. We are visiting our favorite places one last time, saying our last goodbyes, and getting ready to hit the road. Isaiah and I leave on Friday morning for my parents house. Steve will join us there later in the evening with the moving truck. Saturday morning, Steve will head to St. Louis while Isaiah and I will head to Iowa with my parents for my cousin's wedding.

So, in the packing process Isaiah reached a new milestone. He can now pull himself up to standing! I am definetly not ready for this yet, but it was pretty exciting! The pictures are in the slideshow below.

This will probably be the last blog for awhile, since as soon as we get to St. Louis, we head out to New Jersey for 10 days. Check back at the end of August for a ton of pictures and a long update!
Look for an email with our new address as well!

Our First Family Vacation

Yes indeed, we had our first family vacation! We hadn't take a vacation since our honeymoon almost four years ago. Usually when we head out and go on trips it is to visit family in either MN, NJ, or FL. So this was our first official vacation! It was short, but sweet. We left Thursday morning and headed to Park Rapids, MN. We arrived at our home away from home, The Vacationaire Lodge. We checked in, settled in and went to the lodge to eat. Since the weather was less than desirable, we explored the small town shops in downtown Park Rapids. This was just a cute little strip down main street that included antique shops, souvenir stores, restaurants, and a couple of old-fashioned candy stores and fudge shops!

Throughout our weekend we had to make up for the crummy weather. It was rainy, cold and windy. Just perfect for the MIDDLE OF JULY!!!! So instead of swimming in the lake or fishing off the dock we enjoyed the simple things like: eating out, family naps, watching the Penguins of Madagscar, and swimming in the Lodge's indoor swimming pool. On Friday there was enough dry weather for us to head to Christmas World and play some mini-golf, which I won! That night we had a nice little venture to the "restaurant capital of the world" in Dorset, MN. This town has a population of 22. I'm pretty sure that they have more places to eat in this town then residents. But they do have a number of real tasty places to eat and do pretty decent business up there surrounded by so many lakes, campgrounds, and resorts. Oh, and they even have a Lutheran Church there so we are hoping we do not get sent to Dorset come Call Day 2010! Can you imagine?

On Saturday we headed up to Itasca State Park to see the Mississippi headwaters. Thankfully it was a nicer day and rain free. So we enjoyed walking through the "mighty" Mississippi River and walking around Minnesota's oldest state park. We walked the Park museum and a few other short trails. We even walked through some old Indian burial mounds. If only we could have stayed on Sunday it would have been a perfect day to rent a boat or bikes to see more of the park. But when the sun finally came out late Saturday afternoon, it was time for us to get ready to head home. We headed back south into Park Rapids one last time to eat a bar that claimed to have possibly the best burgers and fries in Northern, MN. Big time disappointment. Steve is always looking for a good, small-town, hole-in-the-wall bar that serves awesome handmade, heart attack-inducing, big and juicy burgers. This was definitely not the place but kudos to them on their effective, yet misleading advertising! (However, Billy's Bar & Grill in Vergas, MN is the place according to him!) Anyways, we stopped at an old fashioned "Minne-soda" fountain to get some ice-cream for the drive home.

Here is the slide show of our vacation: