Merry Christmas!

Another Christmas has passed us by. Natalie could really get into it this year and that made it so fun. We went to Grand Haven and spent Christmas Eve with Ryan's sister Heather and her in-laws the Hoexums after attempting to go to our Christmas Eve service at church. We pretty much sat in the back and continually fed the kids snacks. Christmas morning was so fun opening presents in our jammies. Natalie had a blast and loved her pat pat Rocket from the Little Einsteins. Michael loved to eat the paper. Maybe we'll see a little more excitement from him next year! My parents came for brunch and we played with the kids and watched classics like "The Christmas Story", "Elf" and "The Polar Express". So maybe the first two aren't really classics, but we love to watch them every year. I guess that makes them Telman classics. After a nap in the afternoon Roo had her first experience decorating Christmas cookies. She had so much fun. He method was to get as much sugar as possible on each cookie and then clean up by licking every inch of her hands. Needless to say, Natalie has her own special plate of cookies, the rest of us have our own! She still is singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus every time she sees Christmas decorations. I think she'll be really bummed when all the lights are gone.

It's Exhausting Being This Cute

When you smile and laugh and are generally a happy little guy, you've got to get your rest when you can.

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New ZZZZZZZ

Well Hello everyone. What a Fall and early Winter we have had at the Telman household. Since my last post Michael was dedicated at Front Line. Natalie developed a weird knee infection and didn't walk for like four days (we got to spend a lovely day at Butterworth's Radiology department). That is all resolved and she has no problems running around like the little mad woman that she is. I found a lump, and had surgery to have it removed last Friday. The surgeon is confident it is not cancer (praise God!). My Grandmother (my Mom's Mom) passed away at the age of 89. She was a strong Christian woman and is in heaven with Grandpa and Jesus (also a praise God! even in our sadness). Then to top it all off I was having some issues with some muscle twitching. Two neurologists, an MRI, an MRA, an EEG, and two sleep studies later I just got the phone call and I am officially a Narcoleptic. Honestly, I think it is kind of funny. The sleep specialist thinks I have probably been developing symptoms for the past 15 years but the pregnancies pushed it into the full-blown disease. I start medication tomorrow and have been told it is a miracle drug. He told me it will be life changing! So there you have it.

Natalie and Michael continue to be a joy and amaze me every day. Ryan and I are doing well and can't wait for our Christmas with the two little ones. There is something about small children at Christmas that makes the Christmas spirit fill our house! In an effort not to focus on the commercial side of things we told Natalie that Christmas was Jesus' birthday. Now, every time she sees Christmas lights she yells "Christmas, Jesus' birthday!" and quite often follows it with a 2 year old's version of "Happy Birthday", she's so darn cute. Michael is sitting and getting on all fours and rocking. He is working on cutting his eighth tooth and is an eating (and pooping) machine, watch out! He still is just a little thing, I can't wait for his 9 month appointment in early January to see where he falls! Merry Christmas everybody.

All About Michael

I had to catch a few pictures of my little man in his crib. He'll be six months here soon and is growing like crazy (well, at least by his standards!). As you can see in one of the pictures he is the proud owner of two bottom teeth! He is rolling over and "talking" all the time, quite loudly. He loves to eat applesauce and peaches mixed with cereal. His favorite song is "You Are My Sunshine", which could not be more fitting. He is smiles and laughs about 90% of the time. It is so amazing to see the differences between my two children. I didn't think I could love any other as much as I love my Roo, but I do. He's completely different, yet my heart somehow made room, or grew! Well, enough gushing.

A Rainy Saturday

Roo turns 2!

Labor Day at the Lake

Natalie pouting because I told her "no", I see this face about 50 times a day

Always on the move

Aren't we Pretty?

"You gotta mash it up real good!"

What a rainy day! I'm not complaining, I was getting sick of seeing everything so brown. So, I thought why not update the blog? That and Jessica asked me to a couple times! I'll give you a quick summary of our summer since the last update, the pictures kind of go in order. At the end of July, Ryan and I celebrated our 4th anniversary and 5 days later Roo celebrated her 2nd birthday! She had a ton of fun and even learned to sing "Happy Birthday" (one of the cutest things I have ever seen the girl do, I'll have to try and get it on video). We went up to the Leja cottage on Lake Michigan for Labor Day and the weather was fantastic. I think Ryan and Natalie were at the beach for 3 hours straight! We also have had someone sick in our house for about the past month, we just keep taking turns. Except the kids, they both got sick and once and I felt very torn, it was the first time Natalie has showed any sibling rivalry with her brother.

The last of the pictures are from the Children's Museum today. We had never been there so Ryan came up with the idea to give it a try. We went with Brooke, Charlie and Addie (our last outing sans a newborn, Brooke is the cutest way-pregnant girl ever!). The girl's had a blast and went crazy for about an hour and a half. Then Natalie crashed and was asking to go home. Other than that we are happy and all healthy at the same time here. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I turned 30 (I have to practice saying that, I've been saying I'm 22 for so long!). Ryan surprised me with flowers, a Tom-Tom for my car and a charm for my bracelet and then dinner at San Chez with friends. It was perfect!

Falling Off the Wagon

Okay, I haven't updated in a while out of embarrassment. My weight loss journey has taken a break. I lost some weight in the beginning, but since then I have just stayed the same. There are a lot of excuses (camping, going back to work, etc) but they don't really matter. So, I'm climbing back on that metaphorical wagon. I joined Weight Watchers on line today. It worked for me in college when I had about the same amount of weight to lose, so here's to what works! Thank you everyone again for all your support, and I'm still going to make those goals and get those pledges! Hey, no one ever did sign up to shave their head or do anything crazy like that, you still could. Here's some new pics too (camping and Natalie's 2 year), I know most of you just check this site for that anyway :)

"Mom, you're so funny!"

Just thought I'd share a captured moment with you. He is still such a good baby. All smiles and cuddles (most of the time!). He has the sweetest little baby coo right now. His sister's favorite word is "no" right now. He'll be there in such a short time.

Roo Hangin' With Her Home Boyz

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Natalie was loving that long stretch of nice weather. She digs her new swing set and the neighbors sand box! The neighbor boys love the swing set too so there is never any shortage of friends to play with. Michael is growing like a weed. It's all in length and none in any chubbiness so people are still always saying he is "so tiny". I think he's perfect. I might have Mommy goggles on but he seems fine to me. He now tips the scales at 10 pounds! Speaking of scales, I'm down 10 pounds, maybe he just picks up what I drop!

Okay, I thought these pics would load differently. Just crank your head to the side and pretend I did it right. Our friend Jessica was in town last week and we took Michael to Naked Plates to make the pieces above. She did one of Natalie when she was a newborn and now we have a matching set! She does such an amazing job. The ornaments are presents for the grandparents. They'll have to act surprised!

A Fresh Start

I hate to admit this, but I got an idea from a morning talk show (it was either the Today show or Ellen, I can't remember). A woman was being interviewed because she had lost a ton of weight and had made a web site about it. She had friends and family sponsor her weight loss. What a great idea! People signed up for certain pound increments and when she reached that number they had to fulfill their pledge. One of her friends shaved his head! She said it helped to have not only the support of her friends and family, but also the accountability.

So, in my quest to be genuine on my blogs, I will admit that I need to loose 50 pounds. This is so embarrassing for me to admit. How in the world did I get this far down this road? I realize I was pregnant twice in the past couple years, but those babies didn't weigh that much! I am so motivated to do this because we are 99% sure that Michael is our last child and I never want my kids to remember me being over-weight. I can't run yet (my back got pretty screwed up during this last pregnancy) so part of me wants to just say I'll get healthy when I can start running again. This won't work, this is the thought process that got me into this mess, you know it, the "I'll start that tomorrow".

I am asking all of you to support me as I get healthy. I'm hoping just five of you come up with a creative idea and pledge to fulfill it at 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 pounds lost. If more than five want to, I'll change it to five pound increments. Just think, Jeff and Sarah could pledge to move back to Michigan (I can always hope). Someone could shave their head (I'm voting for Kurt, can't you just picture him bald, makes me laugh hysterically). A wealthy stranger could read this and send Ryan and I on a cruise, who knows! I have started walking quite a bit and the changing my diet portion started today. I can't wait to read your pledges!

Roo Get's Her Own Place

We got this too cute play house for our deck so Natalie could be "outside" even when Mommy is taking care of Michael. Unfortunately, we put it up over a week ago and she has spent those days in between with her forehead pressed to the slider crying "house" as it rained. I'm pretty sure she would sleep in there if we let her. Ryan found out that he is a sucker for a cute little blondie when she pulled him in there the first day it was up and he sat hunched over until her couldn't take it anymore. I'm apparently not as big of a sucker, I sit in a deck chair!

Happy Family

We are adjusting to life as a family of four much more smoothly than expected. I'm pretty sure Michael is a little angel sent to us, he is such a good baby. He's already slept through the night a couple nights in a row now! Natalie loves to kiss him and "hold" him. She sits in my lap and I put him in hers and she just stares at him. Her newest sentences are "he cry" and "he happy" which pretty much sums up the extent of his emotions right now. The little guy won't stay little for long, he eats about every two hours during the day. We had his two week appointment last Friday and he had gained 12 ounces since his discharge weight from the hospital. It may not sound like much, but if you only started at 6#7oz it is a considerable jump. Well, my little man's eyes are open so I'm gonna go shake a rattle at him, or start him on his multiplication tables, we'll see how ambitious I get!

The Latest Spa Treatment

I don't know if there is a yogurt facial out there, maybe Natalie has invented a new craze. We'll make millions! This was the Key Lime flavor. Usually the child can't gulp down yogurt fast enough. This must be her subtle way of telling me she doesn't like the flavor.