The Preister's

Sunday, March 08, 2009

I really can't think of much to write about tonight, maybe my mind is tired...:-)

I sang at a wedding this weekend, and it seems like it has been while since I have been at a wedding! I enjoyed listening to the message and the phrase "marriage is about self sacrifice and not self fulfillment" stuck with me. I thought about that phrase and wondered when the last time I truly made a self sacrifice for my marriage. I can't really come up with anything, so today I watched turkey hunting with Chad as a way to TRY to start self sacrifice!!!! Baby steps???

this was me Thursday morning...23.5 weeks

Charli's friend Elli (and friends) made this picture for Charli and gave it to her last weekend! It is super cute!!!

I have been feeling the baby move a lot this weekend. Chad officially got kicked in the head this weekend by his second born :-) Charli even got kicked...but I don't think she realized what it was! She has been really talking about the baby this weekend...showing her grandma and grandpa where the new baby will sleep after it is ready and out of mommy's tummy!! She is starting to put a lot of thought into her words and stories...it is very fun to be around her!!

Have a great week everyone :-)

Sunday, March 01, 2009

slow!

I am sorry for being so slow in getting something posted!

Last weekend we went to Broken Bow to celebrate Ryen's 6th birthday, the girls had SO MUCH FUN!! I am so sad that we don't live closer, to see the girls together is priceless. It would be nice to have them together more often. Charli and Macey are 10 months apart, but the same size! Macey teaches Charli all sorts of things that "3 year olds" do! You will see below a video of one of these "things"!!! They have a GREAT time together! And, poor Ryen...she used to be the ring-leader but as the girls get older they are starting to want to play their own way, and their own thing!! Regardless, the three girls are are like the musketeers!!!! Happy LATE birthday Ryen :-) (and Kara and Amanda!!)

This weekend Charli got to spend another full day with the McMeekins! Chad and I went to Omaha with Brad and Amanda to eat at Kobe's Steakhouse and watch J. Medicine Hatt at the Funny Bone. The food was great, and the show was hilarious!!

Tonight we had a Relay meeting, which hopefully got people motivated to start raising money!! Need details -- let me know!! Charli had a full day of playing, eating, playing, and eating up all the attention!!! Apparently she got a ring pop and all night she wanted a sucker for her thumb, and was so sad to not get one. She was not too excited about coming home with me today :-) It is great when they have fun while away, but it makes the transition back home a real bear!!!! She is sound asleep now and tomorrow will be a new day, one that will end with with a ring pop after supper tomorrow!!

This is me at 22 weeks. As you can see I am fat, but not obviously pregnant. Depending on what I am wearing I just look frumpy fat. Oh the joys :-) I am 23 weeks tomorrow, and as pf now we plan to have the baby at 38.5 weeks, which means 15 weeks left. Depending on how you say it, it can sound like a L-O-N-G time, or a very short time!!

This is the ultrasound picture from two weeks ago. We weren't able to get a "great" shot, but we did get a picture! The video is a little better because there are more options for viewing!! As Charli said "I don't want that monster to come to my house!!". It is almost like she knows how much of a monster she will think he/she is in about a year when he/she is taking her toys :)!!!

Finally - one video demonstrating monkey see - monkey do of the Charli & Macey duo!! I guess God knew what he was doing when he put these two 2 1/2 hours apart, they would be trouble I think!!!!! They have a great time, and that is what memories are made of!! So, I thank God for the time they have together :)

Sunday, February 15, 2009

mac cheese and roni

Sorry it has taken so long to update, I've been a little busy/preoccupied the last two weeks or so. We had our big Kick Off and Sponsorship Day for the Relay For Life last week which took a lot of emotional energy out of me!! It was great to get our first meeting under my belt and hit the ground running so to speak!! It would have been nice to take a few days off from planning, etc but I quickly remembered that I was asked to speak to the Nebraska Well Drillers Association Auxiliary Group on Thursday in Lincoln! So, I took the weekend to regroup and started to work on that project Monday! I don't know why I spent so much time on it! I always rewrite something for each "talk" to make sure it is personal and doesn't get too rehearsed and I also made a video, but once I got started the "script" flew out the window and I just did my own thing. It is nice to have the script to fall back on just in case...but I spent so much time on it for nothing!! Oh, well...I had nothing better to do :-) I got a very yummy breakfast out of the deal, and was able to talk to a room full of attentive women who must have been eager to help. The next day I was given an envelope with $300 that was raised by the individuals who attended the brunch as well as from their formal organization. I was touched by their generosity. I look forward to donating this money on their behalf knowing that it will make an impact. I mentioned our site at our meeting, so if any of you reading this were at that meeting -- thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.

Last weekend we went to Omaha (one week early, yeah!!) to pick up Charli's furniture! The night before Charli and I had a sleepover at the farm so we could make Derek's early morning basketball game in Newman Grove. Charli had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's, and at the game!! Chad quickly got Charli's room put together Saturday night but we thought we would wait until Sunday before making the attempt to have Charli sleep in it! She helped move all her toys to her room and helped make the bed, etc. She seemed to really enjoy making the transition with her things and putting her clothes in the new drawers. For some reason we decided to try nap time in her new bed, on the first day of her seeing her NEW room...and much to our surprise she did GREAT!! She has been sleeping and napping in her room since! What a big girl...she really does make life seem so easy :-)

Chad and Charli got to play in the snow a few times this weekend, you will see an obvious picture of that below!!

PS - the title probably should be explained! For each meal this weekend I asked Charli wanted she wanted to eat and each time she would tell me "mac cheese and roni mom"!!! If you haven't seen her for awhile she has really grown up and changed a lot in the past two weeks. She is so much fun to be around, it is funny to listen to her and watch her as she is starting to become miss independent!

Chad, Charli, and the 8-foot (plus) snow creature!

she doesn't look to excited here, but she was!!

I got a bouquet for Valentine's Day!! 1/2 does cookies wrapped to look like flowers - too cute, and too yummy!!

Charli moving toys into her NEW room! She makes sure to stress NEW room vs OLD room!

moving the ever-important silky!

trying to maneuver her way down, it is a "little" tall for her right now!!

making herself at home!

helping daddy move everything into to her NEW room :-) she is a pretty good helper!

Monday, February 02, 2009

I NEED ONE!!

So...Charli has really started to catch on to the ways of the world!!
#1 - If you say PLEASE and THANK YOU before/after any request, it is hard for anyone to say no when asking so politely.
#2 - If you offer kisses after a "Please daddy", chances are your are in!
#3 - If you say "but I said please daddy", chances are you will get what you want!
#4 - If you say "but I need a sucker daddy", chances are you will get one!
#5 - If you say "come on guys, please", chances are you will get one!!

It really is hard to say no to a two-year old who asks for things in such a sweet voice, even if it is a sucker at 9am :-) (although, we do manage to say no!)

Charli got her first "official" haircut this weekend. Some of you may remember Charli's "first" haircut about 18 months ago. Although...we will always consider this to be her first! When she started to loose her hair after treatment we cut a few strands off to compare color, etc. She was such a champ...didn't skip a beat, bat an eye, or think twice about what was going on.

after the BIG cut!!

proud little peacock!

Charli thoughthis was fun :-)

let get to it Aunt Amanda!

she is searching after those socks she "hides" under there each night!

the "book tower" - each book had to be taken off her shelf for this project...and done again the next night!! This was such a fun time for Charli!!

Charli, "this is what mommy looks like". Gee, thanks for teaching her that daddy!

who you calling funny-looking?!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

new camera :-)

These should have been posted last weekend, so I will update those before this weeks!!

Grandma and Grandpa Preister stopped by last weekend with two of their granddaughters from Jody's side. The girls had a great time together, it was so much fun to watch Charli play in action!

building a VERY important house with Grandpa

kisses for dad!

We went out to the farm last night and Charli got to play with her cousins! They had a good time, and never seem to have enough time before the night is over!

Charli is growing up so much each day, it is amazing the things she learns from day to day! And, the things that she can remember is frightening!!

We got a new camera last weekend, which has been fun for taking all sorts of random pictures! As you will see it is great for taking "self portraits" of Charli and I! Charli likes it because she feels like she is taking the picture!!

Charli and Macey at the farm

Charli likes to "hunt" the deer on TV with her gun from Santa!

does anyone want to take credit for teaching her this?

this is put on for my sister Rachelle, who I recently told that she takes dumb pictures!! :-)

"Daddy does my hair"

Ahh, the good life! Prop up the beanbag chair on the couch and enjoy Dora!

I think Charli looks so funny here!! She is all personality!

They also enjoy some daddy and me time hunting at night before I get home!

"take one together" she says!!

I can not believe I am posting this! In years from now someone will see this picture and think she has bad teeth!! Charli ate a chocolate star and it stuck to every third tooth...making her look like, well...look like this! I swear it came off minutes later! She has nice teeth!!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

just for your information...

My mother-in-law sent me these pictures today of the BIG BLACK DOG from our Christmas party a few weeks ago! As a recap, this is the dog that Charli was so scared of! As she started to want more and more chocolate covered pretzels I kind of made her "warm" up to him, I tired to ease her fear! Well...I can't say if it worked or not - but here are some pictures!!

a little bigger than the two five-pounders she is used to at home!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

late, but not not forgotten!

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted! I have lots to say, if you can believe that!!

Last weekend we had the Preister family Christmas at a "cabin" outside of Columbus. The weather was a little cold but everyone had a nice time I think! The owner of the cabin has a HUGE black dog (that I didn't get any pictures of) that Charli was so afraid of! We couldn't believe it, probably the first thing she has really be scared of. She kept one eye on that dog the entire night and made sure she didn't get too close! She discovered that she really enjoyed her Great-Aunt Janice's chocolate covered pretzels, and was asking for them all night! So, after her 2nd or 3rd one I told her that if she would pet the dog she could have another, not thinking she would...and she braved up, walked right over to him (behind him) and pet him! She looked me in the eye and said pretzel please!! She earned it! Later she asked again, so again I made a deal with her to pet the dog and again she did it for the food!! Although, this time the dog lifted its HUGE head to look at her and it scared the snot right out of her! And again...she got the food :-)

Last weekend we made a trip to Omaha to get Charli's furniture for her BIG GIRL room! We ended up getting the first one we picked. We are waiting on one small but important piece to the bed so we won't have it until February 14th, if all goes well her room will be ready to sleep in that night! She seems excited to have her new room, but not to leave her old room!

Bedtime has been a struggle the past two weeks or so, so I am not looking forward to making the change! I know she is too big for the crib, but we can keep her confined that way! She talks to herself for about 40 minutes before yelling for a bandaid for one reason or another. Tonight, 47 minutes after putting her in bed she is having an argument with her stuffed animals about something.

Charli has spent the entire weekend talking up a storm! Chad has re-named her "little Brenda" because of her talking skills!

We have started to watch Charli's baby video, which we haven't watched before! It is amazing how little she was! And, sad how life with Charli was turned into "Charli with cancer" and "Charli after cancer", but I had forgotten all about the "Charli before cancer". She WAS happy and amazing and little...and all the things she was supposed to be! All I could ever think of was her crying in a hospital bed, bald, and then healthy again! It is sad how much of her little life cancer took, while not taking any of her life at all -- if that makes any sense. Lesson learned, I hope, I hope to take less for granted with this baby. I also got to see the last three minutes of video of Charli before we knew she was sick...I wish I could go back in time and realize what it felt like before we "knew". I think in the video after that day, you could hear the difference in our voice and the look in our eyes. But, it is what it is...and Charli is amazingly perfect now - and we are thankful for the road we have been given. Just remembering...