Andrej, Jessica, Kaiya, Tobi, Eli and Jakob

This is a few weeks late, but I couldn’t help but post some pictures from Halloween of our little pumpkin and monkey. My favorite Kaiya quote from Halloween happened the day before when I went in to get her up from her nap. We were headed to a Halloween party at Andrej’s work and I needed to get her dressed in her monkey costume. Tobi was already dressed in his pumpkin costume so I laid him down on Kaiya’s rug to get started on transforming her. She very excitedly jumped out of bed, ran over to Tobi and exclaimed, “Tobi is a punkin wunkin. I’m gonna pick him!” She then proceed with all her might to pick up the little pumpkin. She soon realized he was a little heavier than the pumpkins we had picked earlier at the pumpkin patch. (Read more …)

We are back home after a whirlwind two weeks in Slovakia. The trip was nothing short of incredible and as soon as we are able to process all that we experienced, we will attempt to put our thoughts into words here on the blog. It won’t be an easy task as the trip ended up being way more than just a vacation. A huge thanks goes out to all of you that prayed for our safety and sanity as we traveled and to those that housed, fed and took care of us during our journey. Here at home we are still trying to get over jet-lag, climb out from under the laundry piles and get back into the daily grind of life. We are looking forward to sharing our pictures and stories soon, so keep checking back.

Since Tobi’s birth our guest room has gotten quite the workout. It started with my parents, who came to help out shortly after Tobi was born, followed by Andrej’s sister, Marina (“Tet Mina”), who spent 7 weeks with us. My parents came back during that time also for Kaiya’s birthday. We were so blessed to have the extra hands and help as we transitioned from our family of three to our family of four. Then a few days after we got back from our Labor Day trip to South Carolina, our dear friend Lenka, from Slovakia, came to visit us for a week. She spent the summer working in Alaska, and since she was so close she decided to pop over to Michigan for a visit :-). We had the best time catching up as it had been over three years since we last saw Lenka. I thoroughly enjoyed the “girl talk” and it took me back to the many conversations we shared during the time I lived in Slovakia. Kaiya fell in love with Lenka immediately and it made the transition from Marina leaving a little bit easier. (Read more …)

Traveling has taken on a whole new meaning with two kids in tow. Gone, at least for now, are the days of flipping through a magazine or settling in with a good book during the flight. They are replaced with coloring books, stickers and playdoh. With Tobi in the front carrier and Kaiya in the stroller, we said good-bye to daddy and made our way through the airport to security. The one place I had been dreading since making the decision to fly alone with the kids to South Carolina for Labor Day weekend. I knew Kaiya would have to come out of the stroller. I knew the stroller would have to go up on the belt and through the scanner. I knew we would have to remove our shoes. I knew they would question the “liquids” I had in the diaper bag. I figured they would make me take Tobi out of the carrier and send it through the scanner as well. What I didn’t know was how I would manage all of those things with only my two hands. The lady checking our tickets didn’t help matters as she took one look at me and commented, “You are brave! Very brave!” (Read more …)

I really want to blog more often. I had even set a little goal for myself to at least post something once a week so I don’t get so far behind. As I write this post I actually have three other posts waiting to be finished and published, but I keep getting interrupted and can’t seem to find a good chunk of time to unload all of my thoughts. When Kaiya finally falls asleep, Tobi wakes up and needs to be fed or vice-versa. I guess these interruptions will be the norm for a while, maybe even for the next 18 years. However, I do have a little time now and before finishing up the other posts I want to quickly document the highlights from the last few weeks. (Read more …)

Unbelievable! Where did June go? For me, June is one big blur of two to three hour intervals of feeding, burping, diapering, cleaning spit-up, rocking, shushing, diapering, cuddling, rocking and shushing some more. There was a little bit of sleep mixed in there somewhere, but I don’t remember doing much of that. Our sweet Tobi basically slept through the first two and a half weeks of his life and then somewhere around the middle of June he suddenly woke up. He then spent the rest of June trying so very hard to get back to sleep. Unfortunately for us all he wasn’t very successful. We had a couple of difficult weeks, but it seems that Tobi has recently accepted his new life outside of the womb and is thankfully adjusting. (Read more …)

Friday, Tobi and I met Andrej at our doctor’s office for his two week check-up. It is so hard to believe it has only been two weeks since little Tobs joined us. It really seems like much longer. I was slightly nervous about the appointment because when we took Kaiya in for her two week appointment, she freaked out and wanted to nurse the entire time. She spit-up and pooped and we ended up changing her clothes several times. However, Tobi was a different story. He slept the entire time. He slept through the weighing and measuring and poking and prodding and didn’t really open his eyes until Dr. B. brought out the cold stethoscope. He got a really good report, minus the small amount of thrush she noticed in his mouth. We both left with prescriptions, and other than that, our Tobi is a healthy growing baby boy. (Read more …)