A new love

Baseball season started a few weeks ago and Wyatt spent many nights on our porch watching the boys across the street play.....




And last week, it was finally his turn. After much asking, Wyatt finally started T-ball and had his first game this week. In contrast to hockey, he loved it from the moment he stepped on to the field. He loves wearing his jersey (even took it for Show and Tell) and will proudly tell you that he's #7--Joe Mauer's number!












He has SO much fun and everyday he asks Matt if they can play in the backyard. He's pretty good at it too, but I'm mostly just glad he's having so much fun!

Our little wanderer....

I have been meaning to post this story for quite a while but just haven't had the time to actually sit down and write it all out. We'll see if I get interrupted at all this time.....
It happened on a Saturday, a few weekends ago. We were outside on a beautiful day with most of our neighborhood. The kids in the neighborhood were all playing together and having a great time while we were doing yard work, spring cleaning, etc. It was just before lunch and Matt was going to take a run before we ate. Wyatt asked is he could go with (his new favorite thing to do--ride his bike alongside Matt and I while we run) and Matt said sure. Sadie was down the street at a friend's house (just 2 houses down) playing outside. I had the monitor with me and heard Blake waking up so I asked my neighbor if she could keep an eye on Sadie while I got Blake and fed him quickly. During this time, Matt and Wyatt were getting ready in the garage and I heard Sadie in the garage with them. A few minutes go by, all is quiet in the garage, and Matt and Wyatt were off on their run and Sadie was back at her friends' house....or so I thought. The doorbell rang and it was Lily and Gracie, our neighbors from down the street who Sadie had been playing with. They asked if Sadie could come back out to play. I said, "She's not in here. I thought she was outside with you guys?" Nope. I thought, "No big deal. She must be in the garage playing..." Nope. So Lily and Gracie, their mom Terri and I started looking around for her....checking both garages, backyards, across the street, the park.....nowhere. By this time Terri is starting to freak out and feels terrible. But I still wasn't worried......no one could have come and taken Sadie because everyone would have seen it happen. I figured she must have just been hiding somewhere or playing somewhere where she couldn't hear us. (Sadie has NO fear and will wander off to play on her own without saying anything, so I tried to stay calm and just look everywhere where she might be). After a few minutes of searching everywhere, including the trunks of all our cars and inside our houses, I started to get a little panicky. I looked in the garage and saw her bike was gone, to which Terri said, "Matt wouldn't have taken her running with he and Wyatt, would he?" My initial thought was, "No way. She can't keep up with them on training wheels!" but the more I thought about it, that was the only explanation with her bike being gone. So I asked Terri to hold Blake (who, by the way is such a great baby that he didn't make a peak this entire time, despite the fact that his meal had been interrupted about halfway through!) while I drove through the neighborhood to find Matt, Wyatt and hopefully Sadie. Matt usually runs a similar route when Wyatt is with him, so I had a pretty good idea of where to look. As I drove down one of the streets, I just 'happened' to look down a side street and saw a flash of pink pass by---it had to be Sadie! I quickly pulled down the street, parked my car, and ran down the path where she was biking....ALL BY HERSELF!!!!! She was crying and saying, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" and I just ran as fast as I could and picked her up. After I comforted her (and myself!) I asked her what she was doing so far away from our house by herself?! Her answer, "I was going for a run with Daddy and Wyatt but I couldn't find them." Turns out that when Matt and Wyatt left our house and told her she couldn't come, she still followed and tried to keep up.
I wish I could show just how far she had gone, but let's just say that although she stayed on the path the entire time, she had crossed 2 streets (in addition to ours) and had gone up and down a decent sized hill. I put her bike in the trunk and drove her home. I was half relieved and half upset with her. I proceeded to explain the dangers of going that far without an adult; my attempt of putting a little fear in her since she has none! When I got home, there were two other families from our neighborhood and all their kids waiting to see if I had her, since they ad continued looking to no avail. When they saw her, they were so relieved (especially Terri, who I didn't feel had any responsibility in any of this, but she still felt bad).
We recounted everything that had happened and all the details, amazed at how far Sadie was able to get in just a short amount of time. Our nerves weren't able to calm down for quite awhile and I just kept telling Sadie why she can't just wander off like that. She proceeded to tell all the kids in the neighborhood who had gathered around about her experience, still not telling it with much fear in her voice but rather with a bit of pride (a problem I'm not quite sure how to combat!) So by the time Matt and Wyatt got home and I told them the entire story, they were sparred of any of the emotions I had endured during that time.
Matt and I laid in bed that night, amazed at the difference in personality of our first two kids.......Wyatt is still very reluctant to play in our yard without Matt or I outside and Sadie had no problem taking off on her own to try and catch Matt and Wyatt. With Wyatt, I have never mentioned anything about someone taking him because he would never leave my side if I did. Sadie, on the other hand, still isn't too afraid of being taken as I think she thinks it would be some fun adventure! YIKES!!!

Speaking Truth

At church yesterday, we read over several passages and one of them stood out in my mind....
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" I was reminded of how deceptive our heart can be and that, because of our sinful nature, it can't be trusted. Yet we are surrounded by a culture that tells us to just follow our hearts and do what we think is right. Which lead me to thinking about the people I have in my life that I know will speak truth to me and how thankful I am for them. You see, so often I can think that I know what is right and what is best, but I am SO blessed to have 3-4 friends in my life that are willing to stick their necks out and tell me things I might not want to hear, yet need to hear. Matt and I both realize that in marriage, parenting, and life, there are many things we don't know (more that we don't know than we do know) and we have a strong desire to learn from those who are wiser than us. We have committed to always be reading a book on marriage or parenting and trying to constantly grow in our knowledge and wisdom. But we still fail, many times, and it is in these times when I am so thankful for the women in my life who will speak truth to me and tell me what I need to do, change, consider, etc. And let me just say that this is never easy--for them or for me. But they love me enough to say the difficult things and I have been thinking lately about how thankful I am for them. My walk with the Lord, my marriage, my relationships with others, my role as a mother--all of these aspects of my life would be so drastically different if it weren't for these women in my life. (As a side note, Matt has a few men in his life who do the same thing and as his wife, I am also so thankful for them!)
I pray that my children will have relationships like these as they grow up--that they wouldn't shy away from them but would embrace them and grow in them. And it is these people who keep Matt and I accountable in our life on a regular basis. If it weren't for these friends and our relationship with Christ, we would be so lost.
I could go on and on, but I will end by saying that all this talk is mostly to say 'thank you' to these women in my life. You are amazing blessings to me and such wise women! I pray that I would have the same wisdom you have had as you have spoken truth in to my life when I might not have wanted to hear it (which is almost always, isn't it? We get defensive before we can truly hear the what the Holy Spirit may be trying to tell us!) Thank you for your persistence, love, and above all, your commitment to growing in your own faith in the Lord. Because when you grow, so do I!!

Encouraging the athlete in her....

I took this picture of Sadie on my phone (hence the poor quality) when we were at Play it Again Sports the other night buying Wyatt baseball cleats. She immediately found the purple golf clubs and had to try them out. Notice the outfit? We spent all day at home cleaning and doing laundry, so when she wanted to wear the tu-tu over her pants, I thought 'why not?'......it seems to fit quite well with the purple golf clubs!

My kiddos

I took these pictures Saturday morning......the kids were still in their jammies and relaxing in the family room.





On a side note, our kids usually watch a TV show or two on saturday mornings and sometimes on weekday mornings. But about 2 weeks ago, I decided one morning to not turn the TV on (due to inspiration from a couple in our small group and a book I've been reading). That day has turned into 2 weeks of no TV and it's been awesome. The kids have been forced to become bored and then be creative on their own, play together more, and work out their disagreements. Sure, it has created more work for me in trying to settle their disputes or turn down requests to watch TV, but after about 3 days without it, they quit asking. Matt and I both love it and are excited to see how this change will continue to help our family grow closer. TV is just another outside influence that our kids don't need.....and neither do we! (except to watch the important sporting events in our lives:)

Family Time--all 5 of us

Wyatt has made several comments over the past few months that he doesn't want anymore babies in our family. Matt and I are, of course, surprised by this since Blake is such an easy baby! But when we ask him why, he says, "Because Mommy doesn't get to do stuff with us because she always has to feed Blake" (referring to skating, skiing, playing in the snow, biking outside, etc). Little does Wyatt know that I actually dislike that part of having a baby as well.....I hate missing out on things and having to stay inside to feed a baby. Over the weekend we were heading out to look for some furniture for our deck and Wyatt said, "Mommy, are we all going?" When I told him yes, he said, "I don't even care what we do. I just want us all to be together." It has made Matt and I realize that often times one of us will go do something while the other watches the kids but we haven't spent much time doing things as an entire family since Blake was born. So last night we decided to try a family bike trip. We put Blake in his carseat and then put the carseat in the bike trailer with Sadie and it worked out great. Sadie loved being able to be in charge of Blake and Wyatt loved that we could all be together.

The big 2-wheeler!

Do you think Wyatt was pretty excited?

Little Mommy at it again....

Sadie has been very observant of the changes that have occurred in our household since Blake was born....i.e, the use of nursing pads!

Do you know what your "philtrum" is??

I'm guessing that prior to reading this post, the only person who would know what a philtrum is is our ENT resident friend Bill. Most of us have never known the proper term for the skin between our noses and lips. But the other night at bedtime, Sadie felt it on her lip and asked us what it was. Matt and I both replied that it's just the skin between your nose and your lips. She wasn't content with that answer, so she persisted, "But what's it called?" So Wyatt entered the conversation and thought aloud, "Well, your nose is where snot comes out and this part (touching the philtrum) is shaped like a slide, so it's called a 'snot slide'." Snot slide is now an official term in our household, to be added to the Sorensen Dictionary which began with the Rausty Naust.

Easter

A few thoughts about Easter before I go on about our day.....

I took this picture on sunday amidst all the egg hunts, food, and fun we were having. What a wonderful picture God has given us in nature of what Easter means.......

For those of us living in certain parts of the Northern Hemisphere, Easter comes in springtime. How fitting that amidst all the dead grass and brown nature outside, easter time brings new life...I have noticed several little signs of 'life' this week when I've been running outside and have wanted to take pictures of them (but it's hard to run with a big camera!) Just looking at this flower, I couldn't help but think of the new life we can have in Christ as a result of Easter Sunday...new life, vibrant and filled with color, joy, and growth...only because of Christ's resurrection. But more about our day now....


Unfortunately Matt was on-call for Easter this year so we had to stay in town, but it ended up being a great day and he didn't get called in until around 9pm (not so great for him to have to do surgery until 1am on Easter sunday, but still great for the rest of us that it didn't cut in to our family time.)

We had an easter egg hunt around lunchtime with 3 other families in our neighborhood (have I mentioned that we have the GREATEST neighbors?)

It was pretty fun getting to have an egg hunt right in our own backyards!

Matt found a caterpillar and Sadie was quite anxious to hold it

Showing it off to the other girls

Enjoying the fruits of their labor

After lunch and naps, we went over to our 'extended family's' easter dinner. It's a bit complicated to explain how we are related, so I'll just say that Matt's grandpa Sorensen's sister (Barb) is the grandma of this family. One of Matt's best friends from college also happens to be Barb's grandson, making he and Matt something like 2nd cousins.....whatever it is, we are related! And it was great to have Easter with family since we couldn't be with our immediate families.

Sadie, Alivia, and Merritt

Our 1st family picture of all five of us (I had to take these pics since I have recently realized that we have NO pictures of all five of us together!)

And I'm also realizing that we'll never get a picture where all of us looks great.....it's a law of numbers, really..the more people we have in our family, the less likely we are to have a great picture of everyone!

The 2nd egg hunt of the day

(Laurie Merritt put together about 200 eggs! And there were only 8 kids, with 2 of them being too small to get many eggs)

Grandma (Barb) Merritt holding Blake

Blake at 4 mos. old

Blake continues to be a great baby.....not much new this month...we go in for his 4 mos. checkup next week but he weighs about 18lbs, 6oz. I had to take him in to the dr. office last week (which is how I know his current weight) as I thought he might have an ear infection. He was waking up more frequently at night, which is so unusual for him. So i took him in only to find out that he doesn't have an ear infection but does have swollen gums! Wyatt and Sadie didn't get their first teeth until around 6mos. but this kid may be getting his already.....although it could just be movement of the teeth and they might not actually break through for a month of two. He is showing signs of being hungry as well, so we'll probably start him on cereal within the next week or so. Wyatt started cereal at 4mos. as well--those big babies just get hungry and need more sustenance than milk!

He started the month out like this.......almost rolling over but not quite there yet..

Watching some March Madness

...with Auntie Cam...

And I just took these pictures today.....and right after I took them he rolled over for the first time! Way to go Blake....Wyatt was so excited he started cheering for him which actually scared Blake! It was quite hilarious....