Christmas Fun

We had a busy 5 days of Christmas from December 19th, then 24th-27th.

*We celebrated at Grandpa Rob and Grandma Bonnie's on the 19th, also with Duluth Krugers and Auntie Liz. (We later got to celebrate with Dave & Bethany and Becca too, when we went out to Fogo de Chao for dinner on the 30th with everyone!)

*We celebrated at Grandma Lollie and Grandpa Jeff's with the whole Ennen crew, which is around 50 people, on Christmas Eve.

*We celebrated at Great Auntie Debbi and Great Uncle Block's (Uncle Ron... long story) on Christmas day with excellent prime rib and twice baked potatoes! Yummmmmm

*We celebrated on the 26-27th with Grandma Judy, Bex and Addi, and Duluth Krugers in Duluth. We thoroughly enjoyed our steak (Daddy, Jonah, and Phia) and Lobster (Mommy- Jonah did try it but promptly asked if he could spit it out with tears in his eyes!).

Here are some pictures of our festivities!

All three kids in their Christmas Attire!

Jonah gazing upon the fire while enjoying a sugar cookie

Aphia enjoying her Christmas morning cocoa from Grandma Lollie

Isaiah in his "My First Christmas" outfit! Smiling for Mama!

All of the cousins (Hannah- 8, Emily- 7, Jonah- 5, Aphia- 2, Addison- 1, Isaiah- 8 weeks) with their stockings made by Grandma Judy

Merry Christmas from the Krugers

The Kruger Family wishes you a very Merry Christmas! May the joy of this season bring peace to your heart!

With Love,
Jeremiah, Janine (NeeNee), Jonah, Aphia, and Isaiah

Photos by: Studio 139 Portraits
Card Design by: Designs of Faith

Mary, did you know?

I'm in the middle of wrapping Christmas presents, watching a little bit of the boob tube and I feel the need to blog. Why? Because it's 10:00 p.m. and the only other significant adult contact and conversation I had today was the couple minutes that my friend Tina was here (because Jeremiah's at his Grandpa's tonight). Women need to talk. Word is that they need to say like 800 bagillion words a day. Ok maybe not that much, but sometimes I think I need to say that many. Jeremiah can attest.

Anywho. Onward! So I was nursing Isaiah the other day, listening to Christmas music, sipping on my decaf coffee, eating too many ginger snap cookies (Dad, if you're reading this-and I know you're not- pretend you don't know that I made ginger snaps and act surprised when I give them to you!) while Aphia slept and Jonah watched Dinosaur Train... of course Dinosaur Train... what else?! I was listening to the song, Mary, Did You Know? I think it was the Kenny Rogers version, maybe not. Either way, I was listening to the words that went something like:

"Mary, did you know, that your baby boy would someday walk on water? Did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters? Did you know that your baby boy has come to make things new? This child that you've delivered, would soon deliver you?"

WOW. Did she know? As I listened and looked down at my baby boy, one who will never do these things, I wondered if she knew the magnitude of who she was cradling in her arms. I wonder if she knew the life he would lead. I wonder if she knew what his life would lead to?

But then I wonder what my baby boy will do. Will he love the Lord, like I pray for him all the time? Will he be gentle spirited and kind hearted? Will he make people laugh? Will he lead others to Christ? Will he be athletic? Will he be tall like his dad? Will he be musical? Will he be snuggly? Will he invent something bigger than the internet? Will he be quiet? Will he be loud? Will he say, "Here am I, send me."? Will he marry and have children of his own?

All these things I wonder about my baby boy. But these things seem so little, and are, in comparison to what Mary must have wondered about her baby boy. I cannot fathom being the mother of the Savior of the WORLD. I mean c'mon folks, that's kind of a big deal! But I'm not gonna lie, I really don't envy her. I have enough fear that my kids will contract H1N1, or fall and break their head, let alone go through what Jesus went through, and have to watch that as a mother. Um, NO THANK YOU. I'll pass.

But she did watch him. She watched him as a baby, and kept him safe from King Herod. She watched him as a boy, teaching the leaders in the Temple. She watched him as a man, turn water into wine. She watched him as the Savior, die a brutal death so that we all can have the chance to live. WOW. What a mom. And what a man.

jealous

I have a confession. I'm jealous. I'm jealous of lots of things and lots of people. I hate it. I've lived with this issue my whole life. Around Christmas time it can get pretty bad. The world is shoving materialism down our throats and there's commercials and ads and HUGE SALES for everything under the sun. During this time that I want so badly, only to be focused on Jesus and the miracle that God gave us in this tiny baby, I constantly find myself wanting, wanting, wanting. Reverting back into a little kid with the itch for gynormous, grandios Christmas presents. But that's not even it. I'd be totally fine not getting much for Christmas, maybe not even anything... As long as I could go shop the "after Christmas sales" and buy, buy, buy!! It's ridiculous. I kind of make myself want to puke.

So I'm choosing differently this year. I'm the one who controls my thoughts and attitudes. I'm doing my best this year to give Christmas to my children in stories about baby Jesus. About his mom. About his dad. Where they went and why. With questions for them to ponder and think about. And I'm praying that in this season, I won't look at what others have, that I don't have. I'm praying that I will look upon the 3 little faces looking back at me, and know that I've got the world in them. I've got everything I had always hoped for in them. And I'm grateful for the gift that God has given to me in them. What a blessing to be their mom. What a blessing to be here with them everyday. THIS is what I wanted. THIS is what I want. I have JUST EXACTLY what I've always wanted and in this Christmas season, I need to remind myself of that.

I Love Them Differently

I love my children all equally, but I love them differently. I love them differently, in accordance with their personalities. I love different things about them, because of who they are. But I love them all the same amount.

For instance, I love Aphia because she can be so very bubbly, full of life and she has one of the most spectacular laughs I’ve ever heard. I love Isaiah because he is my little version of Jeremiah- so far. He is calm, laid back, and very predictable- my easy baby. (Although I do have to say, as infants, they’ve all been pretty calm and laid back)

I love my Jones because he says things like, “My hypothesis is that this bag from McDonald’s is mine, not Aphia’s. I’ll go upstairs and look inside to test my hypothesis!” What 5 year old says that? One that watches a lot of Dinosaur Train I guess. But I also love him because he is utterly sensitive. We sing this song about my cousin who is bald (that he taught them) that goes, “Seany got no hair! Seany got no hair!” One time Jonah told me that if he was bald, he wouldn’t want people to sing that song about him because it would make him feel really bad.

The other day, I mentioned something about adoption and Jonah asked what that was. I went on to explain what adoption was to him. I said things like, “Sometimes a mommy has a baby and for some reason she can’t keep the baby and take care of it. She usually loves that baby SO much that she wants a better life for the baby. She cares so much that she gives the baby to someone else, who she thinks will do a really, really great job at loving and taking care of the baby.” I wanted to paint a good picture of these moms for him. I then went into those who do the adopting, saying, “Then there are some people that can’t have babies for some reason and they get to adopt these babies. Or they just want to be able to help someone and love another baby so much. These people are so wonderful because they take those babies home with them and love them so very much. This is just like Sarika (Jeremiah’s cousin- adopted from India). Her mommy and daddy couldn’t have anymore babies, but they wanted another one very badly. So they adopted Sarika, so they could love her and take care of her and give her a wonderful life!”

I can tell that the wheels in his head are turning, turning, turning at this point! He asks a couple questions and I answer them accordingly, mostly about the moms who give their babies up for adoption (Again, I tried to paint them in a really good light for him, saying that they love their babies so much that they give them up to have a better life). He then sits for a while and starts to look very sad, almost as if he’s going to cry. He then says to me, “Ok well I guess when I get married, if my wife is ok with it, then we’ll give our baby up for adoption.” Oh my, oh my, oh my!! That was NOT what I was trying to accomplish!! My bad! BACK UP! No one is going to be giving up my GRANDCHILD!! ☺

I then had to re-explain a bit. I told him that I hoped he’d never have to give a child up for adoption and that when the time was right, God would give a baby to him and his wife and they would be able to take great care of their child and as many children as God gives them. He was much happier with that idea.

I love Jonah for his sensitiveness. For his selflessness. For his tenderness. For his giving spirit. For his desire to do what’s right. Wow.

I have a little girl who...

I have a little girl who...
Is very spunky.
Is very snuggly.
Is very much “girl”.
Loves her brothers.
Loves her mom and dad.
Is a spitfire.
Gives us a run for our money.
Knows what she wants in the moment.
Knows that she wants something completely different the next moment.
Is very strong willed.
Has an enormous temper for a two year old.

What, oh what, do I do with a girl like this?

Let me back up. When she was 18 months old, she had her first “episode”. She had fallen down and hit her head and was crying SO hard that she stopped breathing, started arching back, her eyes glazed over and completely freaked me out! It’s like she’s having a seizure almost- her whole body just seizes up. She finally came to after a few moments, but they were the longest few moments of my life.

This has happened a couple more times since then, when she’s really upset and crying very hard. The last time it happened (prior to last night) was in August. We were at a birthday party, she fell off a bike and started crying. I was able to blow in her mouth, causing her to gasp and she came to, within a moment. It only lasted a few seconds, not long enough for anyone else to notice what had transpired.

Fast forward from August to December and we have another episode. We had just gotten home from Cubbies and I was bringing Isaiah in the house. Jonah was already in the house when I heard Aphia start to cry. I went back out, figuring Jonah had shut the van door and she wanted to or something equally as ridiculous. By the time I reached the door, she had stopped crying, and as I rounded the van I saw her. She was still very much crying, just so hard that it was silent. She was not near the van, but on the other side of the garage and as I saw her I could tell what was happening. She was getting that glazed look and she started staggering towards me. I ran to her and grabbed her just before she would have collapsed on the ground. Her body was very stiff, she was arching back, her eyes were rolling back, glazy, and her lips were already turning purple. I tried to blow in her mouth three times, to no avail. I rushed her in the house talking to her, saying her name, and “Oh God, help me!” In the entry way I could tell that she wasn’t going to come out of this quickly, so I ran up to the kitchen to grab the phone and call 911. The phone was not on the charger and I panicked. I had no idea where it was and called to Jonah to look for it. My cell phone was out in the garage as I had dropped it on my way to grab her from falling. I fell to the floor with her in my arms just tried to keep her head level, so she could breathe when she finally started to. I finally felt her little body start to go limp in my arms, and I knew she was coming out of it. Within seconds of that, she was “back”. She started to wimper and I just held her close to me. She had a very confused look on her face and when I asked her what happened, she said, “I fell.”



When I got the story from Jonah he said that they had hopped out of the van and she asked him if he wanted to see her bike helmet. He said yes, but then decided to run in the house before she could show him. THAT is what made her SO upset. Really? REALLY?! Yes, really. That is how volatile she can be. I say again, “Oh God, help me!”

About 20 minutes later Jeremiah gets home from church and the kids were getting jammies on. I told Aphia to go potty. I hear her yell from the bathroom that Jonah’s Cubbie vest was on the floor and she starts to FREAK OUT! (NOOOOO! Not the Cubbie vest!!! AAAHHHH!!... seriously) Jeremiah walked to the bathroom door and she was starting to do this whole thing again, glazy eyes had started, silent cry from not breathing... But this time, she had been screaming, pounding her fists in the air, and jumping. She then fell over, hit her head on the toilet and that must have jolted her enough not to go into complete spasm mode.

This is too much for a mother to take. I’ve had stinking breathing issues with every person in my family. One day before we had kids, Jeremiah had a major bronchial spasm and couldn’t breathe (I called 911, but he started to breathe within about a minute or two). Then Jonah and his whole birth/not breathing/pneumothorax stuff. Then Aphia and this. And Isaiah and his whole, “I’m not going to cry or cough, thus never getting any gunk up, thus mucus getting lodged in my airway and Mom having to use the bulb syringe to suction it all out.” FOR REAL PEOPLE!! My nerves can’t handle this!! You’re all giving me gray hair!

Anyways. Has this ever happened to you or anyone you know? Most people I talk with confirm that it is truly just her getting SO upset for one reason or another. She’s either hurt or something doesn’t go her way, but either way it’s not a medical thing. It's just her personality, rearing it's U.G.L.Y. head. Any advice on what to do from here on out?



My MIL gave me some great words of wisdom and I’m doing my best to implement them. Stay calm during the spaz attack. Continue talking to her, “Aphia, Mommy’s here and I love you. You need to calm down and use words to talk to me. This type of behavior is not acceptable.” Keep her head level so she can breathe. Keep her safe so she doesn’t get hurt. And deal with the issues when she freaks out a little bit so that hopefully she’ll have better self control when the “big” times roll around.



Any other words of advice you’d like to give? Anything else I should look into? Your help, thoughts, and words mean very much to me! Thank you!