18 Months Old

On April 8th, 3 days after becoming a big sister, Alexis turned a year and a half old! As if the age itself doesn't make her seem more grown up, looking at her in comparison to a newborn proves that she is not my baby anymore... not sure how I feel about that :( We had some professional photos taken of her to capture her in her "18 month-ness".

 Alexis at 18 Months: We have noticed in the last 6 months or so that Alexis is a very strong willed child.

She knows what she wants, and more importantly to what she doesn't want. She is a very happy girl for the most part and loves to give hugs and kisses. She enjoys watching Sesame Street, particularly Elmo's World. Alexis likes to drink from Mommy's Starbucks water cup. No matter how many cups of her own that she has available, she wants Mommy's. Whenever she hears a sound outside of our door she yells, "Daddy!" and runs to the door. Sometimes she will take Mommy or Daddy's keys and walk to the door and try to put the keys into the door handle while saying, "bye bye!" She knows how to turn on the TV as well as Daddy's PlayStation console (she knows this is how to get Netflix started). Alexis also loves to video chat on the phone with anyone, but gets especially excited when we get a call from her cousin Macie. Alexis likes to unload the silverware from the dish washer and hand it to me to put away. She helps Mommy do laundry by sitting on top of the dryer and throwing items into the washer, then later Mommy hands her items from the washer to put into the dryer. She is a great helper!

Words Alexis can say: yeah, no, uh oh, Elmo, Macie, Mommy, Daddy, Nanny(Nana), please, thank you, no thank you, all done, more, up, down, sorry, hot, hush, dog, yummy, ball, baby, hi , bye, eyes, nose, head, toes.

Favorite foods/snacks: strawberries, apple slices, grapes, animal crackers (or any type of cracker), fruit snacks, hot dogs, cheese quesadillas, macaroni and cheese, Puffs, yogurt melts, yogurt, and Cheerios.

Favorite books: anything with Elmo, Goodnight Moon, and Eric Carle books.

Favorite songs: Jesus Loves Me, The Wheels on the Bus, Sesame Street theme song, any song with Elmo. 

Mommy wants to remember...

• When I go into Alexis' room in the morning or after a nap, she is almost always standing up in her crib with a big grin on her face and she greets me with a "Hi!" 
• Sometimes she will come over to me, lean in, and give me a hug and a kiss "just because". 
• When we read books at bedtime she has started chanting "hush" until I give in and read her Goodnight Moon... "the quiet old lady who was whispering hush". 
• She still has a difficult time with separation from us when we drop her at the nursery for church or when I am at Mom's group during the week. However, I'm told it only takes her minutes to calm down and she always enjoys herself. 

We sure love our sweet girl. Is 2 years old really less than 6 months away?!

Ryder Allen Teune

After waiting 41 weeks for our little man to arrive, he finally came into the world. Here is his birth story...

I had been uncomfortable for a few weeks before the birth and was very anxious to go into labor. I even thought I was in labor a couple of times, but nothing happened. Around 4am on Saturday, April 5th I woke up to what felt like contractions, however with having experienced what I thought were contractions during the previous weeks I was paranoid that I would "cry wolf" about going into labor. By 4:30am I knew it was the real deal so I woke Greg up to let him know (and can I just add that he had stayed up until 3:30am playing video games online with his brothers!) At 5am we called our parents to let them know I was in labor and I got in the shower to wash my hair and shave my legs, because all you moms know it was probably going to be a while before I could shave again. I was only in the shower for a couple of minutes when I realized things were progressing very quickly.

Our friend Sara came over to stay with Alexis until my parents came through to pick her up, and Greg, my sister Brittney, and I began the 45 minute drive to Springfield. While laboring in the car was not ideal, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. We arrived at the birth center just before 7am and delivered our baby boy at 9:45am.

Labor was intense, to say the least. We wanted a natural birth like we had with Alexis, so pain medication/epidurals were not and option. I had terrible lower back pain the whole time and I wanted to throw in the towel several times (as if I had the choice). But seriously, I had moments throughout labor where I thought, "maybe they will need to rush me to the hospital to cut him out so I won't have to keep pushing..." Amazing what the pain of labor can do to a person. I was hooked up to oxygen for a while because I could not inhale through the contractions. The pain was so bad I could not get a breath in. Our midwife told us that baby boy was not turning, which caused me to have such painful back labor. With each push I gave, our midwife tried to help turn him. Unfortunately he did not cooperate and would later be born "sunny side up".

After laboring for an hour in the tub and another hour or so on the bed, our midwife suggested I move to the birthing stool and let gravity help things along. After my first push on the stool she asked if I wanted to reach down and feel his head, which I did, but all I could think was "we could see Alexis' head for three hours before she was finally born. I can NOT do this for another three hours!" Thank goodness that was not the case with our little man, after about five minutes on the birthing stool and a few good, solid pushes, he was born! I cannot even begin to describe the relief I felt when I pulled him up to my chest and into my arms.

Ryder Allen Teune was born on Saturday, April 5th 2014. He weighed in at 9lbs 6oz, 21 and 3/4 inches long, with a head circumference of 15 inches.

Snowpocalypse... yes, I used the word snowpocalypse

A couple of weeks ago we were hit with a huge snowstorm. And when I say huge, I mean 14 inches of snow. I honestly can't remember ever seeing that much snow outside my window. It really was beautiful to see the constant flakes fall from the sky day after day.

Our backyard with the snow coming down

By the second day of it, Lexi and I were getting cabin fever and were rescued by friends. This is snow in their backyard. The pink you see in snow there is the top of a ruler.

Lexi and Lily were snow buddies that day, although we didn't take them in the snow.

My car, the reason I needed rescuing if I wanted to leave the house!

On Saturday, Greg took Alexis outside to explore and play in the snow for a bit. I wasn't too interested in that so I bundled up a bit and took pictures of them.

She was eager to get out there and explore.

"Hurry up Dad!"

Hope all my Northwest friends enjoyed the snow. I have a had my fill, I'm ready for summer!

Recap Post #2: Back to Oregon!

After a short 8 month season in Lewiston, Idaho we were blessed with the opportunity to move back to Oregon. Originally, Greg was to work as the General Manager at The Holiday Inn Express in Lewiston for a minimum of 2 years, but when an opening came up at the HIE in Corvallis, Greg threw his name in the hat and was transferred! God works in such incredible ways and always knows the desires of our hearts, whether or not we ask him for certain things or not.

Once we were home we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family. Macie and Lexi were very excited to be reunited!

Greg's grandma made darling, matching Christmas scarves for Lexi and Macie

Grandma and Grandpa are thrilled to have both grand babies around!

Alexis and I have been very happy to find many weekly activities to keep us busy. We meet friends at the library each week. This particular time, Alexis and her friend Lily were matching :)

We are also thrilled to be able to deliver baby boy at the same birth center we had Alexis at. I had to snap a picture of the waiting room because I always feel so relaxed when I go there for appointments.

After a week of being back in Oregon, Greg's side of the family came to our home to celebrate Christmas.

Hanging out with Nana and Papa

Alexis was VERY spoiled by her Nana, Papa, Aunts, and Uncles!

My most memorable gift from our gift exchange. Ben had picked my name and my list that I had given prior to knowing who would be shopping for me had "nursing tops/shirts" along with other things on it. He took it upon himself to make me this incredible nursing shirt! As if that wasn't enough of a gift,  he also included a Starbucks gift card for me.

I had to add this because it's very typical for our home, especially when Greg's brothers are around. Grown men playing video games... But hey, they were having a good time while the girls drank coffee and talked so it was a win win for everyone!

While writing these "recap posts" I can't believe how quickly time has gone by! I mean seriously, February is almost over. How can that be possible? Personally, I'm ready for Spring. More daylight, only one season away from summer, and oh yeah, I'll get to meet a pretty special little guy!

I've Returned to the Blogosphere!

For various reasons, I took a temporary hiatus from blogging back in October. I don't pretend to have a large blog following, but know that family and friends who follow enjoy seeing pictures and hearing stories about our family. I also love this platform for a journal of sorts for our family, especially when trying to keep track of milestones for kiddos. So here is a recap up until we made our move back to Oregon!

We visited a pumpkin patch, however she ended up picking out a gourd instead!

Our little ladybug. We attended our church's Harvest Carnival on Halloween

Alexis is starting to figure out that something is happening with Mommy's belly.

Baby BOY Teune

Grandma Teune treated Alexis to a photo with Santa... this was captured between lots of anxious tears!

The picture on our Christmas card

Discovering Christmas ornaments

Helping Mom get boxes ready for the move back to Oregon!

Our first snow in Idaho

We ended up with about 4inches by the end of the storm

Christmas morning checking out her stocking

Merry Christmas from the Teune family!

Helping Dad pack the truck for our move.

 Another "recap" post coming soon!