So you received the delayed birth announcement?

Welcome to our blog! Being that I have only shared this blog with a handful of people to date, I can assume that you are a new visitor brought here by the incredibly delayed birth announcement you recently received. Well, welcome! Let me take a moment to recap where we are at as you join us on our journey!

It's me Sarah, better known here as 100k mom. If you don't read back in my previous entries, let me explain that my 100k mom title is a simple reference to my $100,000 all girls, private, Catholic college education...now stay at home mom, diaper changer, tantrum referee, slave to 2 [adorable] little munchkins. Even with all of that education, I am still stumped everyday HOW to raise a 2 year old!

Since the news of Gloria's arrival is ultimately what brought you here, allow me to dedicate a brief moment to our little "Go Go Dog" (as she is lovingly called). Gloria came screaming into this world just 4 short months ago as a tiny little fuss-bucket. She has since made the remarkable transition into the sweetest little girl...so much so it's hard to find the words to describe the absolute JOY she brings to our life. Besides Go-Go-Dog, we also call her "Porky" for her exceptionally large appetite (a trait of us Lehnerts). She is also an award winning sleeper...sleeping 12 hours straight at night since she was 5 weeks old. Currently, she is in bed by 6:30pm and wakes at 8am the following morning. THAT'S my girl! She is a rolling, kicking, smiling, squeeling machine and we just can't get enough of her.

You are welcome to explore back on previous posts and see what we have been up to lately, otherwise, prepare to just jump on in! I really hope to locate our camera cord one of these days so I can add some pictures to our posts...in the meantime, here are a few out of date ones off my in-law's computer. I try and update once a week, so be sure and check back often. This blog will be taking all kinds of direction in the coming months as we prepare to move to our new home, begin a large scale remodel and attempt to keep up with our two little cutie pies! Thanks for visiting!

Houston, We Have No Problem...

I just returned home from a wonderful weekend in Houston with one of my nearest and dearest friends Jaime. Jaime married the apple of her eye, Mike, in Michigan on May 22nd of this year...just 5 short days before my due date with Gloria. BEYOND unfortunately, I had to miss her wedding and I was so incredibly disappointed. We both figured it to be considered in poor taste to deliver a baby at a wedding reception, so I ultimately made the decision to be sidelined at home and wait patiently by my phone as her sister texted me pictures throughout the day. This weekend, I finally got the chance to celebrate her nuptials and witness the love birds in action. It was a fantastic weekend and they spoiled me rotten!

Meanwhile, while I was off wining and dining my way through Texas, Jeff was running operation chaos at home! It amazes me what he is capable of accomplishing in a single weekend. Our "living quarters" were tidied up, bed was made, laundry done...not to mention a trip to and from the cabin to facilitate dock removal for the season close of the lake. Despite all of that, he was back to pick me up from the airport...and even brought my two favorite people with to greet me. I was just DYING to see the kids by the time I got back...literally RUNNING from my gate to the baggage claim. I couldn't find them at first, but turned to see my little Rosemary running towards me. It was like a scene from a movie and I was just as giddy as the corney actress seen running in slow motion to a ridiculously long embrace. I was equipped with souvenirs and plenty of tall tales about my "magical airplane ride to Texas!"

Our house, or shall I say my IN-LAW's house, will be full of hustle and bustle this week with all of the activities, meetings and events going on. Already today, we have been to school with Rosemary and met Jeff for lunch (Gloria got to come too!) Tonight Jeff finally gets to join us for swimming lessons. Hopefully Rosemary doesn't go 3 for 3 on crying through them. Also this week we have a trip to Pump It Up planned with Auntie Bulie and Jessica and a trip to the Pediatrician for Rosemary's 2 year check up and Gloria's 4 month check up. Jeff has 10 credits of Continuing Education to finish up by Thursday and a meeting in Kansas City on Friday. It's going to be a VERRRRRRRRRRRRRY busy week!

Traveling with TWO...

This weekend we successfully completed our first roadtrip as a family of FOUR. We have really only taken one other long roadtrip and that was when Rosemary was about 11 months old and we drove primarily through the night to get where we were going. This time was different, we pretty much traveled all day. All things considered, it went GREAT! We traveled via caravan with my two brothers, one sister-in-law, 3 nieces and 1 nephew...and not to be forgotten...2 DVD players, endless Dora and Bob the Builder episodes, popcorn, Sprees, goldfish crackers and anything else we could think of to cram in the kids mouths to keep them occupied and quiet.

In a lot of ways, the trip was nostalgic...bringing back SO many memories of traveling out West with my parents and brothers on family vacations, traveling to Chicago with my mom when I was young to visit our relatives while my brothers and dad were gone in the Boundary Waters, etc. It also gave me and my brothers an incredible appreciation for the work my parents did to make those trips and experiences happen for us.

Rosemary and Gloria both did notably well - only melting down when the perfect storm had aligned (no nap + no food + 11pm bedtime...what did we expect?) That being said, we did learn a thing or two for future reference...allow me to save you the hassle:

1) NEVER GET A ONE ROOM HOTEL ROOM! Trying to get kids to sleep in the same room you want to relax and unwind in doesn't work. Not to mention their snotty, runny noses make noise all night that makes it impossible to sleep!

2) Never travel a long distance without a DVD player and an artillery of movies. My parents would disagree on this one because "we did it when we were young"...but it sure buys you a few moments of silence and a break from the "I WANNA GET OUTTTTTTTTTTT!"

3) The only way to make it easier is to keep on doing it. It's easy to just avoid putting yourself in these situations, but I truly believe the more you get out there and do it, the easier it is for everyone.

4) Screw the schedules and have fun. Although it ultimately leads to the inevitable meltdown, you went on the trip to have fun, so don't compromise fun for a schedule. Everyone will survive and you'll have a lot more fun if you quit tip-toeing around and just get to it!

Aside from our weekend escapade to Chicago for my cousin's wedding, we also made some progress on the house front. We met with the architect on Thursday and had a great meeting. Fortunately, we were able to get her in the house for an hour to tour it and give us the direction we were looking for. Ultimately, our remodeling plans will include the addition of a main floor powder room, remodeling the kitchen and reconfiguring the main floor living space a bit, adding a large bathroom in the basement and finishing the basement off, re-siding and roofing the house and adding some sort of cover over the front door so our guests aren't quite as exposed to the elements. Although it sounds like quite a bit, it pales in comparison to what we did on our last house. At this point, it looks as though we will spend a few months preparing, planning and bidding the remodel and ultimately will start it after the 1st of the year.

Highlights of this week include Rosemary's second swimming lesson tonight (hopefully she doesn't cry through the entire thing again;-), Rosemary's first "big kid" birthday party where we drop her off and pick her up when it's over and also a trip to Houston for me to visit my dear friend Jaime. How DREAMMMMMMMMMMY! The kids will spend the weekend up at the cabin with Jeff and all their cousins for dock removal. Last but not least, only 25 more days until we close on the house...yippee!

Work Hard, Play Hard!

Jeff just finished up an 18 straight day work streak and finally had a few days off for us both to rest, relax and get caught up (with life, the kids and eachother!) While sometimes I absolutely despise Jeff working such long hours, it certainly makes the time he DOES have off that much more fun. A few highlights from this weekend included a motorcycle ride up to St. Cloud to have dinner with our two favorite nuns (sans kiddos) and a trip to the Renaissance Festival with my parents, brother Matt and nephew Nolan. Rosemary had the opportunity to pet a snake and turtle, ride an elephant and ride a pony. She LOVED it and wore her fairy wings (thanks Meghan) and birthday crown to blend in with the crowd as best she could. Surprisingly, Gloria really seemed to enjoy herself and only screamed when lively music was played (which was actually pretty cute).

Speaking of Gloria, she REALLY seems to be turning the corner with all of this fussiness. There has been SUCH a noticeable change in her attitude and demeanor over the past three days. She has been so sweet, so content, so smiley...just the happy girl we've been waiting for. It really has been like they say in books where it's as if a switch is flipped in their little heads and suddenly the fussiness seems to disappear. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I am certainly enjoying this new little person:-)

Aside from that, Jeff and I seem to be chatting non-stop about the house, dreaming of its potential and are anxiously awaiting this Thursday when we will meet the architect at the house to get a plan in place for some remodeling. She is so great for giving direction and we are just dying to hear where she sees this house going.

Also looking forward to Rosemary's first day of school (ECFE) tomorrow AND first evening of swimming lessons. Thanks to my mom and dad for coming along to watch Gloria while I'm in the pool with Rosemary (Jeff has to work). Friday we leave for my cousin's wedding in Chicago and are looking forward to visiting with all our relatives. Until next time...cheerio!

Geeze, Why So Snippy?

I'm revisiting my abandoned blog in hopes of giving it another go and thought I'd read back on my previous entries to see where exactly I was going with this thing. I'd say I was a TAD on the hormonal side. Clearly the third trimester of pregnancy does NOT agree with me. Promise to be less hostile from now on.

Since my last update, LOTS has happened. For one, I'm no longer pregnant! Pleased to say that on May 26th, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. We named her Gloria Frances Schaffer. She weighed in at 6 lbs, 13oz and was 20" long. Another little slice of Heaven to keep as my very own.

Gloria is MUCH different than her older sister Rosemary. Without sounding crass or sacreligious, I will tell you that we call her satan for short (notice I did not capitalize the "s" in satan as to not add reverence to the title). While I have managed to fall in love with her despite her lengthy list of uhmmm..."flaws"...I must say that at times I question whether she was put here for the sole purpose of making me miserable. I'm mostly kidding, but God certainly has a sense of humor when he puts a monster size personality in a tiny little being.

Over the past three months, more life changing events have happened. We sold our house! I have to thank God for this little miracle because keeping the house prepped for showings with a 20 month old and a newborn was enough to send me to the looney bin. Thank goodness it was short lived and we were able to seal the deal on July 29th. Despite our efforts, we were not able to find another home to move into, so we have since settled in at my in-laws while our belongings settled in at their new temperature controlled warehouse in Brooklyn Center.

Most recently, we put an offer in on a house in Minneapolis and it was accepted! Huzzah! Jeff and I both have a GREAT feeling about this house. We loved it from the moment we first walked in...but were really torn about its location. After nearly a year of having our home on the market and everything that involves, we are ending up just five blocks from where we started. It just feels odd. But we looked and looked and combed every square inch of every location we could think of...and ultimately, we feel like we are ending up at "home." We have lived in SW Minneapolis for 6 years now and are at peace with our decision to remain there for what we hope will be a long time. We really see ourselves staying in this place and THAT is a great feeling.

Now while we LIKE the house a lot, that doesn't mean it doesn't come with its fair share of projects. However, Jeff and I are anxious to jump back on the remodeling train - this time - with a general contractor. Boy have we learned that lesson the hard way!

Well that pretty much brings us up to the present. I plan on getting back to our blogging, if with nothing else - just to keep up with where we are at in life. Jeff and I are feeling on top of the world these days with the monumental changes in our life: another child, the sale of our home and the promise of a smaller mortgage in our future! Cheers to the changes ahead!