Welcome....Here's a glimpse of our happenings!

The verses that have REALLY spoken to me (Sarah) lately....



"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock." Matthew 7:24-25



Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. I Peter 5:8-9



From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' Acts 17:26-28



May the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14



So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. Deuteronomy 5:32-33



God, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It's up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation. Deuteronomy 29:29 (The Message)

About the Friesen's....

We are Marc, Sarah, Luke, and Kate Friesen. We were married June 5, 2004. We have one son, born July 21, 2008, named Luke Andrew -- now 4 years old. We also have a daughter named Kate Christine -- born June 6, 2012. Marc is working at Cessna as a Senior Accountant, and Sarah stays home full-time with Luke. Sarah also gets to work very part-time at home for Graber Backhoe -- an excavation company AND VERY part-time at our church. We LOVE being a part of Grace Community Church here in Newton, KS. We lead a Community Life Group of other wonderful couples. Marc thoroughly enjoys long-distance running and Taekwondo. Sarah thoroughly enjoys walking -- especially when the weather is nice to take Luke and/or out in the stroller. Thanks for reading our blog!

Monday, September 14, 2009

A Comment, A Bump on the Head, and Naptime....

1) Several posts ago, I posted a bunch of photos from my (and Luke's) walk through town. Then, just a couple of days ago, I was in Wal-Mart, doing some grocery shopping. I was browsing over the variety of yogurts when a woman (whom I did not know) came up to me and said, "Aren't you the cute gal who walks all of the time with your baby in the jogging stroller?"

I said, "Yep -- I walk all of the time with our little guy."

She replied, "You always look so cute when I see you."

*****

I think I had mentioned at one point in time that we live in a small town, but it's not that small -- around 17,000 - 18,000 people. Apparently, people do watch what you're doing.

I only had to post this as a message to my husband -- he always has to BRAG a bit when somebody notices him or calls him cute, or etc......So, I merely am pointing out that people do notice me as well :) I Love You, Marc!!!!!

2) The other day, Luke got his first "goose-egg" on his head. He's not a real risk-taker; therefore, we haven't had too many falls yet (we figure that if God blesses us someday with another child -- that child will be the risk-taker and will completely make up for Luke's conservative nature). Anyways, it's amazing how fast after a fall, in the midst of the all of the crying, that a goose-egg will form.

This photo was actually taken the day after -- the swelling had gone down substantially. But, there is a nice bruise. Fortunately, Luke hasn't seemed bothered by it since the initial accident.



3) Marc and I feel extremely blessed to have a child who sleeps sooooo wonderfully. We actually think we've done a good job of "training" Luke to do so. He first slept through the night at 8 1/2 weeks old. I actually haven't had to physically pick him up out of his crib at night in almost a year now -- yep, almost a year. And, there have only been a hand-full of times that I've even had to get up at night to check on him -- since he first slept through the night. He routinely sleep 12 hours at night, and he doesn't get up early.

O.K., O.K. -- I'll stop talking about that. Our next child may be the daredevil as well as the "non-sleeper." Who knows?

We'll love them all the same.

Anyways, moving on -- Luke, up until the last 6 weeks or so, has also been a fairly decent napper. All of a sudden, about six weeks ago, that drastically changed. We figured out that he was ready to move to just one nap a day. That transition didn't come easy, but it's slowly, but surely, getting better.

Then, he started only sleeping roughly 30-60 minutes the entire day -- WHOA!!!! That is definitely not enough for a 13 month-old, and our evenings with him were proving that point. Our late afternoons and evenings because not so very fun in the Friesen Household -- all because of Luke's short naps. Can we just say "Mr. Cranky Pants" was with us?

I started talking to other moms. Various pieces of advice were offered. Change his nap time; Purchase a white noise machine, etc. etc. etc.

Marc and I experimented around with naptimes (what time we put him down). That didn't seem to help.

I then purchased this....



A white noise machine -- I know, I know -- a fan will do the same thing, but I wanted something with some real volume control.

That helped a bit, but it didn't help enough. Finally, I started watching some things a bit closer -- like his window.

I don't yet have a curtain in Luke's room, but we do have some new blinds that we put up shortly before he was born.



I realized that there was still a hint of light -- even with the blinds closed (I'm not sure how well this photo looks on this blog, but you'll have to just trust me on this one).



So, I made his window ugly -- just to see if it would work. I hung up some dark fabric as well as a dark towel.



Now, even during the day, his room is DARK with the lights out. It worked for two days. He slept for 2 1/2 - 3 hours each day. We're now on day 3. As I'm typing this, Luke is still asleep, and he has been for close to 2 hours.

Marc and I refuse to believe this is the answer until Luke does this for at least 5-6 days in a row. If this does solve the nap dilemma, I will work diligently to find some VERY DARK curtains.

Do any of you experienced mothers or grandmothers out there have any other suggestions?

I'm praying for answers on this one....

Thanks.

4 comments:

Candice said...

It's amazing that you haven't had to pick him up through the night for a year. Wow! Graham is a good sleeper as well, but we have had to rock him for 5 minutes in the middle of the night many, many times. Usually when he's sick, or cold. Good for you!!

The Sieberts said...

AVa always sleeps in when its cloudy or stormy in the morning because of the lack of light. So who knows-this could solve your dilemma...for a little while anyways :)

Allen and Debby Graber said...

I noticed Luke's head Sunday morning. poor guy. sophie is always having bumps too. Jill has found that the dark curtains definitely help with nap times.

Kelly said...

I love the curtains! Honestly I may have to do something like that too. She has not been sleeping very long at nap time either. Naomi has 2 windows in her room. But I will wait until after the home-study. Thanks for the idea!

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