Christmas letter, 2009

EDIT: I am so sorry that this is cramped and hard to read! I am in a fight with blogger right now, and I might not win. My apologies!

..............................................................................................

Wow, another year has passed! I so look forward to Christmastime, despite it's hectic and over scheduled nature. Believe it or not, I also look forward to writing a Christmas update, letting people know what has been going on in our lives and reflecting on the past 365 days. This year, like every other, has been full of ups and down and lots of firsts for kids and parents alike. More ups than downs, thankfully- and that will be the subject of this year's letter.

At the close of 2009 the Patenaude's are extremely thankful for...

...Sisters! Our crew now numbers three, and three GIRLS at that! We have so much fun watching the girls be sisters together. Playing, pretending, laughing, loving, fighting, and being funny.

...The end of a decent pregnancy with no true complications.

...A face paced and simple delivery, welcoming Esther Hansen Patenaude to the family (October 2).

...A steady job for Eric that meets our needs.

...The sometimes uncomfortable opportunity for reflection and change that Eric's job brings.

...The opportunity for Becca to stay at home with the girls, attempting to shape little people into God-followers.

...The forced humility that comes by parenting and being with these little people day in and day out.

...A co-worker who picks Eric up two days a week so that I (Becca) can use the van. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we scurry around to preschool, errands, and play dates.

...A warm, dry, and snug house.

...The possibility that someday we will live in a warm dry and spacious house. :)

...An emergency room only 4 blocks away. Each of the girls had a trip this year: Eva for stitches in her chin, Hope for anaphalactic shock (egg allergy), Esther for viral meningitis.

...The opportunity to supplement our income by providing daycare for another baby.

...And the last day that the baby came to our house and started being cared for by her own daddy.

...Our not-so-small group at church. We share the intimate details of each other's lives and do our best to "love each other deeply" (1 Peter 1) through word and deed.

...The five weeks of meals provided by our small group after Esther's birth.

...Monday nights when we alternate childcare and dates with our dear friends Aaron and Bethany.

...A growing marriage in which we seem to become increasingly at peace with ourselves and each other.

...Camping. Eric did some hardcore winter camping last January. The rest of us camped with him several times during the summer. It was especially fun to camp with my grandparents and parents at Lake Mille Lacs, a four generational camping trip!

...Levi Justice. We happily welcomed our first cousin on the Spears side, only 4 weeks older than Esther. We're expecting two more cousins on the Patenaude side, bringing the grand total to 12!

...Energy. My days at home are bustling, and I'm thankful for the grace to keep up with it all. I'm also thankful for happy little girls who spin circles around me and make daring leaps off the couch into my lap.

...Fun. Nintendo Wii, trips to the park, bike rides, hiking, sight seeing, relaxing with friends, grilling, and building snow houses are just a few of our entertaining endeavors.

...Visits from friends and family. This year has been a bit slower than years past, but our itty-bitty spare room and bath provided comfort for many dear ones over the past year.

...Good books. I have so enjoyed reading to Eva and Hope this year, particularly the Little House on the Prairie books and the Box Car Children. Eric and I have even cracked a few books lately as well!

...Hard work. Eric continues to get himself into a wide range of home improvement projects, and it seems to be really good for him on many levels. We all enjoy the fruit of his labor when they're complete.

...Friends and family. We are blessed to call many delightful people friends and so thankful that they stick with us through the ups and downs. We also cherish the fellowship of both sides of our family where relationships are strong and constant.

But we are immeasurably thankful for...

...the birth of Jesus, celebrated at Christmas. Through Him we have these abundant good gifts, fellowship with God the Father, and the Holy Spirit to walk with us on this wild journey. Someone recently praised Eric with the words, "you're a good man, Mr. Patenaude." To which he rightly responded, "Noooo, but I have a great Savior!" We are thankful for Jesus' birth, death, and most importantly resurrection this year.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a new year filled with a deeper understanding of God's love for you!

with Thanksgiving,

Eric, Becca, Eva (4), Hope(2), and Esther(2 mos.)

We're home!

Praise God, he saw fit to make our hospital stay short and uncomplicated! We came home early this afternoon and have just been resting and enjoying the peace and quiet. Esther is doing much better today. No fever, much less neck pain, and no headache that I can observe. She is eating like a horse (yes, hay and oats ;), and her tummy seems to be feeling better too (no throwing up). The real upturn seemed to be when the other girls came home this evening.

Eva and Hope played at a friend's house all day (thanks, Gibsons!), but came storming in the door around 7:30 tonight. Hope's first words, "Mama? You're home?!?" Eva attacked me with a hug, then ran to smother Esther. Hope wanted to give Esther some big lovin' too, but Eva was sooooo protective of her time with her. She really, really wanted to be alone with Esther, and I could hear her whispering to her about how sweet she is and how much Eva missed her. I also overheard her say, "I bet you're glad to be back with us. Not with those noisy doctors and nurses!" Eva is probably right, but in defense of the "noisy" doctors and nurses, we had WONDERFUL caregivers. I was very pleased and impressed with all of their bedside manor and tenderness for the sick little babe.

No exagerating, after the snuggles, caressing, and laughing with the older girls, Esther finally seemed herself. She was more alert, smiling, and following the girls with her eyes as they ran around doing their thang. As a person from a small family (with my sister and I spaced 6.5 years apart), I am really amazed at how much of a bond my three have already. It's cool.

So, Esther's meningitis turned out to be viral. Caused by some unknown virus (perhaps hand, foot, and mouth which Hope had last weekend) that decided to settle in the lining of her brain. For now, she is happy and doing well. She does have a mild cold and her system will be recovering from the massive amounts of IV antibiotics she was on at the hospital (just a precaution in case the meningitis turned out to be bacterial). We leave for Christmas in Colorado in about a week and have out of town company for four days coming up, so we covet your prayers for our family. We are tired, the house is unkempt, and Esther's health is still on our minds. We are psyched for Ryan and Stephanie and Thor to visit, and psyched to head to Colorado, but still it is a little overwhelming. Pray for complete recovery for Esther and an extra measure of God's grace for me to be an effective home manager, wife, and mom over the next few weeks.

Such a minor blip as this (in the grand scheme of things...) has resulted in our family feeling incredibly loved! I had 99 emails in my inbox today (including facebook and blog comments), most of which were friends and family writing with encouraging words and offers to help us out. We have people bringing meals (thanks Wetzels and Fredricks!) and childcare lined up. Wow! We are so blessed. Thank you, everyone!

Never a dull moment

Hi all-

Just writing a quick note to let y'all know that Esther has been admitted at the University Children's with meningitis. They are unsure yet if she has viral meningitis or bacterial, but they are suspecting viral, which is a better scenario. Please pray for fast and complete healing for her! We were admitted late Saturday night after 24 hours or so of high fevers (103.7 with tylenol). I had actually taken her to the ER on Friday night because of the fever, and after running several tests, they sent us home to wait it out. When the fever didn't subside and she began to have "altered consciousness" we took her straight to the ER here at the U. They went ahead and did a spinal tap, revealing meningitis. At the earliest, we could be discharged on Tuesday sometime, but it could be longer too.

The doctors want to see her fever gone, no sign of bacterial causes, and her skin clear up (she has a rash all over) before they discharge. Please pray for this, and for no lasting complications. Meningitis can be really scary and messy, but the docs think this case will be pretty straight forward, so that is a relief!

We are so thankful for our family and church family who have offered TONS of help. The older girls are being well cared for at home. Tomorrow they'll have a Grandma Day with my mom. After two late nights in the ER and not getting settled into our room until about 4:30 this morning, I am pooped! Pray for me too ;).

Thanks for praying for little Esther!

Photocards Update

I don't know any of you out there are planning to do the Seehere.com free photo cards offer, but they've just sweetened the deal. Now, in addition to the newbaby code I talked about here, they have 50% off their entire site (excluding plain prints) for Sunday (12/6) and Monday (12/7). Plus, they are offering free shipping on all orders of 60 photo cards or more. The coupon code is 2day. That's better than when I ordered them!

Friday Frolics

It's cold and it snowed. Yay! I guarantee I will not be celebrating this sort of event in March, but we've had such a lovely prolonged fall that it feels like "finally." After all, what is December, the Christmas month, without a little white?

The snow has been l-a-z-y, falling for more than 24 hours with little more than a dusting. But since it is here at last, we'll forgive it's slow ways. Happy for me, after less than 15 minutes of zipping, snapping, Velcro-ing, and scarf tying the girls played peaceably outside for at least 20 minutes. That is a pretty good ratio of bundling up to time outdoors when you're working with a two and a four year old. Our new goal will be: better than 15:20 for the next outdoor adventure. I didn't venture off the front stoop, but I still managed to get some shots of cute snow bunnies!
The obligatory "you're finally all bundled up" photos.

Eating snow... when you're two, everything is perceived as a first time experience (what with no memories and all), so you try EVERYTHING!

I just love toddlers all cozied up in their snow gear. Hope could hardly walk and did fall flat on her face a few time. Darn those chunky boots and puffy pants!
The frolicking continued inside. Yes, they achieved this disaster all in one morning. I tell you, that floor was clear when they went to bed last night! Do you notice that Eva's sheets and mattress pad are even off?!? They were playing "travellers." That should tell you something about how we travel ;)!There's the little wrecking ball traveller herself, complete with purple headscarf over her face!

Two year olds

Tonight when I went to check on Hope, who was supposed to be putting a few toys away before bed, I found her wearing five swim diapers and no clothes! It was akin to peeling an onion, getting those diapers off of her.

Yes, FIVE swim diapers, one on top of the other. :)

Christmas Bargain

You all know me to love a good deal! I'm thrifty, budget-minded, and always attempt to stay out of the stores that really drain my pocket book. But around the holidays, it is so hard to stay the course with a small budget!

Ever since we've had children, I've sent a picture greeting card around Christmastime. You know, since I don't send birth announcements I figure I've got to do something to let everyone know that our brood is ever-increasing! Last year I made a valiant effort at frugality by making photo postcards at Kinkos. We saved a lot of money in the cost of the cards, but the savings on postage was pretty great too. I'll admit, the quality of the card wasn't awesome though.

That's why I am psyched for this year's Christmas card! Thanks to Carrie over at Pocket Your Dollars, I found out about Seehere.com, where they have a couple of great coupon codes. Go to the site and make a 4x8 holiday card. Enter the promo code newbaby at checkout and you'll receive 50 cards for only the price of shipping ($3.19 for me). Good deal, eh?!? If you want more than 50 cards, you can make a separate order and enter the promo code photocard which will give you 25% off the order. They also have a deal on that site for 100 free prints to new users (I'm assuming that would have to be your first order ever, so do this before ordering your photo cards).

Although I almost tore my hair out when I first started creating my photocard, after I figured out how to use the site I really like seehere.com. Your photo cards can be almost completely customized, unlike the cards you might order from Wal-mart or Target. Use as many pictures as you want with a wide range of clip art, text, backgrounds, etc. I will probably use this site again, now that I've figured out the software!

I hear jingle bells jingling and coins jangling (in your pocket of course, after you've saved so much on your holiday cards)!!!

Happy card making :)!

Kickin' it with Esther

It is no secret that Eva adores Esther. A.D.O.R.E.S., yes she does!

Yesterday, Esther was a little fussy as I was getting breakfast ready, sitting in her bouncer and waiting for her turn to eat. In sympathy, Eva sat down next to her and bounced her, which calmed the whimpering right away. In fact, I had to use a very stern voice to get Eva to actually leave the baby's side and come eat her own breakfast. She said, "but I don't like her to cry." Ohhhhh.

Immediately after breakfast, Eva ran to get some wooden blocks and sat down next to the bouncer again. Every time she sits down by Esther and starts talking to her, Esther's eyes get so alert and a crooked little smile lights up her face. Eva has discovered that all that singing, talking, and silly baby talk has the grandest reward ever when the little one actually beams you a happy smile. It is so, so, so fun to watch these two interact. I think that Eva gets more love from Esther than any of the rest of us.

Anyway, yesterday's game was baby soccer. Eva would take those little wooden blocks, hold them to Esther's pajama'd feet and say, "kick it, Esther!" at which point Eva would toss the block up in the air away from Esther's little toes. That would be followed by giggling (Eva), smiling (Esther), and lots of encouragement. "Good job, Esther! You'll be really good at this when you get bigger! Nice kick, Esther!"

I had to stop my puttering to watch the game and cheer along, it was so sweet. I am one proud soccer-mom!

Week in review

I tend to build posts around pictures, so since our camera's gone missing, I've been wracking my brain for something to post about. Anything. Something. Well, I've finally got it. I'll write about our everyday lives. And you'll see them for what they really are... typical, routine, uninspiring, dare I say it: boring.

1. The camera is missing. Hopefully it will be found when we head home this week for Thanksgiving. We think Eric left it at his Dad's house when they went deer hunting a few weeks ago. I feel unable to enjoy the moment if I can't attempt to preserve it in digital format. Strange person, I am.

2. We have not had H1N1. We have had a run of the mill round of coughing and sore throats. Even poor little Esther experienced her first viral infection at the ripe old age of 6 weeks. She handled it gracefully (thanks be to God!), and we all pretty much better except for a lingering cough here and there. Nobody missed preschool or any other scheduled outing due to our illness, so it must not have been that bad. And to give it a positive spin, our well conditioned immune systems will probably be so strong that we won't get sick in Crookston during the upcoming long weekend.

3. When I said our lives were boring, I didn't really mean it. They are routine, but the routine was broken slightly last Sunday when we dedicated Esther. That was a fun day. The church was packed with the extended families of six or seven young children whose parents were promising to train them up in the knowledge and fear of the Lord. Although we know that it is God who draws each one to himself and ultimately saves them, it is a solemn moment in which we dedicate ourselves, as parents, to the grand task of guiding our children towards the light of Christ. The children were prayed for, and the parents were prayed for that we might be able to portray the gospel and Jesus Christ as altogether lovely and desirable to our little ones. Lord, let that be so! I especially love the part where the pastor asks the rest of the church family if they will come along side the parents in this endeavor (in a few more and fancier words :). It is so affirming and reassuring to hear a hearty "we will" coming from the people you live life with throughout each week.

4. Following the dedication, we had a small gathering at our house. My parents and my sister and her family joined us for dinner and hanging out. The highlight, in my opinion, was the lovely chocolate cake with coconut-vanilla frosting.

5. Eva had a nice week of preschool. The theme this week was Thanksgiving, since we are taking next week off altogether. Her teacher on Thursday told with me a few fun things that Eva had shared during the day. First, she raised her hand in confusion and insistence regarding the pilgrims, "The Pilgrims were immigrants, right?" Well, sort of. "No, they WERE immigrants." Well, technically they were, I guess. After hearing about Abraham Lincoln declaring Thanksgiving to be a national holiday, Eva raised her hand (again), "George Wilkes Booth killed Abraham Lincoln." Thank you for sharing, Eva. The teacher told me that they then launched into an explanation of assassinating presidents, and (of course) how killing someone is a sin. During show and tell time, Eva introduced her little people doll house and the people who come with it (dressed in apparel and colors reminiscent of the late 1990's). The people, however, were introduced as "Pa, but his real name is Charles. And Ma, but her real name is Caroline. And Mary, Laura..." You get the idea. Have I mentioned that Eva is obsessed?!?!

6. We've missed Eric a lot lately. Between deer hunting weekend and many evening meetings at church, it seems like we haven't seem a lot of him. One night as he headed out the door, Hope had a total meltdown. She sat crying on the floor, probably kicking and writhing, though I don't rightly remember. Anyway, she quickly got up and, through her crying and screaming, managed to put on her shoes, socks, coat, and mittens to go out and "find Daddy". After I locked the screen door and it became apparent that she wouldn't get out, she stood at the door crying, "He's LOST, he's LOST, he's LOST..." over and over again. I said it was pitiful and sad, but my mom (who overheard the ordeal on the phone) said I should blog about it. So here I am blogging.

7. Eric was busy as a beaver today. After a big cup of coffee this morning, he suggested that we wash the windows. After washing every window in the house, inside and out, we had lunch. He also cleaned the gutters, raked the leaves, and worked on "real" work. Now he is playing poker with his buddies and it is a well deserved break!

8. I had a productive day too. After the window washing and cleaning up the backyard flower beds, Eva and I hit the mall. I purchased a shirt for her ($2.49), and a pair of cute jeans for me ($2.59), and a few other majorly discounted items. Any day is productive when you find brand new jeans for $2.59.

9. Now I must be productive and load the dishwasher, fold laundry, and make chili. Told you my life is boring. ;)

Wordless Wednesday - Playing outside