11 Months! (several weeks belated!)

A little behind on this post but since I've made a post for every single month of Hannah's first year of life, I couldn't leave out her final month post before the big birthday in less than 2 weeks. The little one is a busy little bee!

She started with standing up on her own the very end of December.

She's so doggone cute!

After sticking her face in the foam of Jake's beer!

Early January was so unseasonable warm that we'd open the front door to get some fresh air in the house. Hannah thought this meant she was free to escape.

Worked her way to a couple steps.

Hannah's signature nose scrunch when smiling.

Time to install the cabinet lock under the sink!

STEPS!!!!

Trying shoes on since she's going to need to start wearing them soon. Not a fan!

And video of the walker! She decided last Thursday, the 19th, to start taking off from the furniture. She still prefers to crawl as it gets her to her destination faster but is definitely starting to chose to walk more and more each day!

Terrific Tuesday

I won't pretend to have a good excuse for not blogging in over 2 weeks. Fact of the matter, I write blog posts in my head nearly every day. I just stink at getting to the computer and writing them out and getting the camera to the computer to put up new pictures. Anyway, we have been busy around here with life and since the camera is downstairs and I don't feel like walking 20 steps down and 20 steps back up to put up new photos, I will instead give you a rundown of yesterday, a Terrific Tuesday, which was far from uneventful.

11:00 pm Monday night - finally get to bed after convincing Carter, who took a 2+ hour nap that afternoon that going to bed was a good idea

1:30 am Tuesday - wake up with Hannah who has a cold

4:30 am - wake up with Hannah again

6:00 am - wake up to get ready for work

6:15 am - shower, eat breakfast, and begin waking children and getting them ready for their day

8:07 am - yell for Ellie to hurry up as she needs to be out the door thisverysecond to make the bus

8:08 am - shove Ellie out the door with a quick kiss

8:20 am - dress three children, pack a diaper bag, make a lunch, grab everything I need for my errands during lunch, wipe a behind and redress a child, put shoes and coats on children and myself

8:40 am - head out to van, buckle three children in, make two more trips to load the van with everything I need for the day

8:45 am - back out of driveway

8:55 am - arrive at Grandma's, unload children and all their belongings

9:00 am - head to work

9:10 am - arrive at work, proceed to do my job until 11:45

11:45 am - eat sandwich in car while returning overdue library books to library, getting new books, running to Target to refill a prescription and get milk, bread, and fruit

12:25 pm - arrive back at work, do job duties until 3 pm

3:10 pm - finally leave work after we discussed some issues in afternoon class

3:20 pm - arrive to get children, dress everyone in outdoor gear, load van with all the treasures the kids have decided to "borrow" from Grandma's house

3:35 pm - hit the road to go home

3:40 pm - run out of gas on the interstate 1/4 mile short of my exit (damn it, I knew I should have filled up before heading home!!)

3:41 pm - call Rich to see if he can help me. In a meeting, unable to assist.

3:42 pm - call Deb, who just dealt with my children for 6 hours, to come help

3:50 pm - Deb arrives, load children in her car, head home to get gas can and Ellie, who has been home alone since 3:30

4:00 pm - head back to car with gas can that was half full

4:10 pm - van still won't start as 1/2 gallon of gas is not enough to start a vehicle that is completely out of gas. Pile back in Deb's car

4:15 pm - arrive at gas station, fill gallon can of gas up

4:25 pm - arrive back at van, fill van with entire can, get in van, hear it not turn over the first time, see a tow truck pull up and start to back up to the van (which was NOT called by me), twist key again and SUCCESS, van turns over and starts up, drive off so tow truck can't attempt to tow me away

4:30 pm - drive to gas station and fill the tank up

4:35 pm - get home, unload children from Deb's car where they've been for half an hour, haul everyone into house, deal with a tantrum from Carter because the girls got out of the car before him (he is always the first one out!), thank Deb profusely for all her help, throw the hotdish that Deb had made for us in the oven, deal with Ellie who wants to go over to a friend's house

5:15 pm - eat, get ready to return to work

5:35 pm - drop Ellie off at friend's house, head to work

5:45-7:45 pm - work yet again

7:50 pm - arrive home and collapse on couch

9:45 pm - fall asleep on couch with Hannah, who is already up for the first time for the night with her darn cold that makes it hard for her to breathe

10:00 pm - finally haul myself up to bed and collapse

As you can see, life is far from dull. And I've learned a valuable lesson = when the gas light comes on, don't push it. Fill up right away.

2012 Goals

2011 was quite the year for the Wendorff crew. There were some serious highs (Hannah's arrival) and serious lows (Ava's appendicitis). It was a busy year as I wrapped up my 2nd term on the MN Valley Mothers of Multiples Board and returned to work part-time. Jake played in a softball league and basketball league. Ellie participated in track and field. It was a year in which we all felt like we were constantly running here and there. A good year, but a crazy and hectic year nonetheless.

I'm not one who is big on making resolutions. I prefer to make goals that I try to follow through on the entire year. While I'd love to lose the last 10 pounds I've been carrying around since the twins were born over 4 years ago, I feel that by making that my resolution, I make the weight loss harder and more unattainable. So this year, I have goals that will hopefully get me and this family where I would like us to be in different areas.

Here are my 2012 goals:
1. Get to the gym 4 days a week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. I've studied my work schedule and figured out the best days to go to get into a rhythm, be consistent, and give my body rest time so I don't wear out or get burned out. I'll certainly give myself some flexibility in this schedule as those are also the days I need to use for doctor/dentist appointments, errands, etc, but my goal is to follow this plan as closely as possible every month, give or take a day or two here and there.

2. Increase the family's intake of fruits and veggies. We do fairly good but when everyone wants a snack mid-afternoon, we all tend to go to crackers or chips first. I'd like to eliminate fillers and unnecessary carbs and focus more on everyone eating fruits and veggies for snacks and more at meal times too.

3. Get better at meal planning. Both Jake and I feel we are in a meal rut. We eat the same old foods all the time. I plan maybe two meals ahead of time each week and then we revert to our regular line-up the rest of the week. I want to start putting more thought into what we eat and making sure that each meal is well-balanced, helping with goal #2 as well. I'm thinking the best and easiest way for me to make this happen is to designate certain meal themes for each night of the week. For example, I work Tuesday in the day and have to go back at night. Tuesdays would be a great day for crockpot meals. Wednesday could be chicken night. Thursday, beef night and so forth. Regardless of my final method, I just want to add variety to our meals, make cooking each night easier, and work on eliminating the carbs and adding more fruits and veggies to each and every meal.

4. Get better at budgeting. Jake and I have an excellent 3-4 year plan to get everything in line and be ready to move on to a bigger house in a few years. (Provided the market turns around some and we can at least break even on our current house! If the market and things stay as they are right now, it may be a 5-6 year plan!) Anyway, I have come to the conclusion that we toss a lot of money away each month. Whether it is on going out to eat, last minute grocery store runs due to poor meal planning, buying a child a full wardrobe only to have said child grow a size or two a month later, a lot of money goes unaccounted for each month. I would like to start watching where we spend our dollars and getting an idea of areas we need to improve on. I'd also like to start comparison shopping our cable and cell phone plans and trying to get better deals versus just being complacent with price changes.

5. Finally buy my DSLR camera that I've been lusting after for close to two years now. Yes, I realize the goal of buying a $600 camera blows to heck goal #5 but I am determined to get the camera this year. I've already figured out how to finance the camera (multiples' group spring sale and birthday money) so I can hypothetically have the camera by April! While it may seem as though I'm wasting money on something so frivolous, I think it will earn its cost. Jake has never enjoyed our fall photo shoots and with a fantastic camera, I could take the pictures of the kids myself. The savings in paying a photographer certainly make the camera more reasonable. Anyway, my rationale aside, I will not say good-bye to 2012 without my Canon DSLR in my hand!

6. My final goal is to take more time for me and to not feel guilty about it. Once I buy my camera, I want to take some classes to learn how to use the camera to its full potential. I want to work more on my crocheting and I'd like to actually make it to the book club to which I'm a quasi-member. Long story short, it's time to reconnect with myself again.

Jake has one goal for 2012: to get in the best shape of his life!

Here's to a new year and lots of big things ahead! Hannah's 1st birthday, Ellie's 9th, Ava and Carter turning 5, Jake reaching his last birthday in the 20's, the purchase of my camera and all the other great things in store!