Category Archives: family

Faye’s Baptism Weekend

October 17, 2017

What a WEEKEND! Whew! We’ve had family in town since last Thursday here to celebrate Faye’s baptism this past weekend. My sister Jillian was the last to depart just this morning, so we got a ton of sister and cousin time together! Ivy’s already missing her buddy.

The fun started on Thursday when my two sisters and her daughter flew in to visit. One sister lives in Portland, Oregon, and the other in Indianapolis, Indiana, so we only get to see each other 2-3 times a year, NOT ENOUGH! We all grew up here in Sioux Falls and our parents are still here, so it’s a lot of family time when we are able to get together. Love seeing the sisters and spending time together. Our brother, who lives near Aberdeen, even stopped for a quick visit on Friday! Everyone got to see Faye and all the cousins (and another boy due in Dec!) were together and rowdy as ever!

Faye’s baptism was on Saturday morning. She wore the same gown that Ivy and Leo wore, gifted by John’s Mom Betsy. It’s a beautiful white heirloom gown that I’m happy Faye fit in since she’s so big! My oldest sister is the godmother and John’s brother is the godfather. Happy to have such great siblings to fit the godparent role!

Baptism with Father Desmond

With the godparents

My big huge family!

John’s family and Faye’s grandparents

The rest of the weekend we had lots of bottles of wine and just had fun spending time together! I put the phone down and really enjoyed time with each other. And probably because we were busy with 4 kids in the house! :)

Sistas!

Koch Kiddos with cousin Alexandra

All the cousins together! Jillian will be adding another boy – due Christmas day!

Happy Baptism Faye!

Ivy’s Baby Doll 4th Birthday Party

October 3, 2017

Ivy is 4 years old! We celebrated her birthday this past weekend with our friends and family and had the best day! She chose a baby doll party for her theme, which is super cute because ever since Faye, she’s really gotten into her babies and her dolls. I decided on an “Oh Baby” theme (see inspiration post here) with balloons from our friend Ryan at Queen City Balloons (he’s the best!). I found an invitation to match that was originally for a baby shower, but I had her revamp it for Ivy’s party. The combo worked perfectly!

We had her friends bring their own doll to join in the fun, so we borrowed some extra high chairs and baby doll items so all the little girls had something to do with their dolls. It was adorable watching them play babies! :)

The party was a blast and we showered her with love, gifts, and lots of cake! Ivy got a ton of new clothes for her dolls, which is her favorite thing to do – dress them in new outfits! She was so excited about all her gifts!

skirt // shirt

cake from The Cake Lady // balloon tassel cake topper // candles // cake stand // candy jar

Look at all these kids!

This is such a fun age! Her excitement and love for life is contagious and so super sweet. She ran around with her friends like a crazy person and loved being surrounded by all her loved ones. She had so much fun with all the little girl and doll gifts she received!

Rounded the Koch clan for a quick pic! Leo in his own world with his new truck, haha

So we decided to join him :)

Ivy, you bring us so much happiness. Your sweet personality and spunky behavior gives us so much joy and laughter. You are such a little mommy bird and I can always rely on you to be the responsible one! We love you so much and I hope your hugs are always this big and full of love! Happy Birthday our little big four year old. xoxo.

sneakers // jeans // shirt

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Black Hills Labor Day

September 5, 2017

We made the trek West River to head to the Black Hills for a family vacation last weekend! So much fun to be in a different environment and surrounded by the lush pine trees and historic towns. I love all of the history there and the buildings are so neat! John was out there for some work early, and the Grandparents offered to keep Leo, so off I went with Ivy and Faye. First stop, WALL DRUG!

Faye made it the whole 4 hours there without us having to stop! That was awesome. So we were all ready to get out and explore a bit and stretch our legs. So many quirky things to look at and do there. And we had to have a donut! Yum!

We finally made it to Daddy and we were so happy to join him!

The next day we drove to the Southern Hills to Hill City. Stopped and went for a little walk on the Mickelson Trail on the way down.

Hill City has the coolest little main street and I was sooo excited to try Miner Brewing Co. Last time we were here it was just getting built so I was anxious to see it and have a cold one (or 5!) I’m a sucker for a tasting flight and each of the beers were so good! We went back the next day for another one! The atmosphere and vibe is so cool, love the industrial rustic look they have going on.

Day 3 we went to Keystone. Neither of us had ever been there so it was fun to see a new town. We went to the Rushmore Tramway Adventure Park and rode the tramway! It was soo much fun! The slide back down was the best part! Even Faye liked it, haha :)

And up top there was a beautiful view of Mount Rushmore and the Hills. So pretty!

Our last day was spent in the coolest… Deadwood! This historic town has a special meaning to us, it’s where we got married! I love to stroll the streets where we took our photos and visit our reception place, the Deadwood Mountain Grand. So much to see in Deadwood. I always want to check out every place, they’re all so old and neat!

And lastly as the day heated up, we took off to Pactola Lake and enjoyed some beautiful scenery and fresh cool water! All the smoke from the wildfires in Montana blocked some of the view, but it was still gorgeous!

Can’t wait to go back for a winter adventure!

Three.

July 28, 2017

Well, we’ve officially joined the “crazy club.” 1. Crazy to have three kids 2. Crazy: as in chaos crazy. Nevertheless, with all the craziness going on, I could definitely add a third crazy 3. Crazy in love! Not to quote Beyonce or anything, but this third kid suuuurely has my heart. Maybe it’s being the baby of the family, there sure is something ultra sweet about Faye that has completely filled up my heart.

Enough gushing. Really. Okay what you really want to know… How IS IT with three?

Someone asks me this almost every day with the same look on their face expecting me to say how hard it is and how tired I am and how much work it is, everything you’d expect if you had three kids, and ~~all~~ most of those things are true, but they’re missing one key thing about all of the 3 kid business – that BABIES SLEEP. Praise the Lord! This is the only way I’m surviving right now!

Faye has been such a good sleeper! She made it 7 straight hours at night for two nights in a row this week! WHOOP! Otherwise, she’s usually around 6. Then she just wakes up to eat quick, chug-a-lug, then right back to bed for another 3-4. So again, THANK GOD for sleepy babies! Plus during the day, she hangs out and has Ivy in her face every second for an hour, then back to sleep. Hallelujah. During her naps is where we get things done!

This has given me enough energy to make it through the day to keep up with these rascals. I’m NOT good at staying home, I get antsy, the kids get antsy, we just have to either get outside, or go somewhere. Faye’s mellow personality has allowed us to keep doing the things we love to do – pool or park day all day errry day! Or the zoo to run these kids wild from animal to animal. Basically anything to maximize our time away from the house and get these kids to use up their energy.

Oh. And popsicles. YAAAAAS. They’ve saved me keeping Ivy and Leo entertained! I need 15 minutes to nurse… POPSICLES. I need 15 minutes to shower… POPSICLES. I need 10 minutes to change because I got breastmilk or spit up everywhere… POPSICLES. I need 30 minutes to cook dinner… TWO POPSICLES. Haha, okay maybe not that extreme! But popsicles have saved me this summer! (I could also replace ‘popsicles’ with ‘ipad’ to be honest! Judge the way you want!)

Mostly, three kids has been about a new routine.

New routines, like, I might just have to throw a kid in their bed without a book because I’m trying to get three kids to bed at the same time. I might just have to clean that mess up later because I have to go nurse. I might just have to get fast food on the way home because it’s easier. I might just have to neglect a kid a little because another kid is screaming. All the things that give you SERIOUS Mom guilt. Your attention is divided amongst another child and it’s tough on everyone. It’s really hard to put Faye down because I just want to hooooooold her and snuggle my baaaaaby, but I try to use her naps to the fullest and take that time to be present with Ivy and Leo. Then her hour awake time before she falls aleep again is when Ivy and I get to play with her, because Leo has NO interest whatsoever #boys

Thankfully kids are resilient and change as we change, after those first few temper tantrums, of course, but eventually they get it.

So, how is it with three? Two to three is definitely harder. I swear, Leo’s had more meltdowns this last month than his whole life. Everything takes so much longer, especially with nursing before we go anywhere. Ivy is curious and asks a million questions in my space and Faye’s all day. Routines get all messed up as we start new ones. I have serious Mom guilt on and off all day as one of the kids is always getting neglected. BUT we’re getting the hang of it. And choosing to be positive and trying to be easy going really does generate a good mood amongst everybody! We’re just going with the flow here and trying to survive.

My goal with three is just to embrace all of it. The minute I realized we need new routines and everything won’t be perfect, was the minute I knew I would be okay, WE would be okay. Nothing is right, nothing is perfect, it’s basically a shit show, but I’m going to embrace the shit (pun intended… baby poop diapers, MY GOD) and try be as stress-free as possible and just love on these little kids and enjoy this chaos as much as I can! Our last little baby, gotta hold her as much as possible! And frankly, it doesn’t last forever! These kids grow up too fast!

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Faye’s Newborn Lifestyle Photos

July 11, 2017

Babies are just TOO cute to not photograph. Their rolls and sleepy eyes and cute little pudgy bodies, gah! Love it all. So I couldn’t WAIT to get some pics of our new little (or big, 10 lbs!) bundle Faye. I wanted to do more of a lifestyle shoot instead of the posed newborn photos, so we booked Emily Mitton and she worked her magic! I was excited about getting the three kids in some photos together as I knew Ivy would cooperate, but Leo was a whole nother story! CRAZINESS. That was one of my first lessons with three… have low expectations! Ha! Just kidding (well, kind of), but really, Leo was a maniac and pretty sure we don’t have one great photo of the three of them, but hey, that’s what “lifestyle” is all about, our “lifestyle,” the chaos and far from perfect life that our house holds. And that makes me love these photos even more! Seeing my kids’ true personalities in these photos makes me cherish them! Thanks for capturing our love for our children and our spunky kids Emily!