Clara's 2 year stats are as follows:
Weight 26 lbs/42%
Height 35 inches 78%
Head size 19 1/4 87%

We love our crazy, amazing, loveable toddler :)

Brooke's 2 month stats

At 2 months Brooke 10lbs 10 oz which is 26.7%, 23.54 inches which is 77.49% and 14.76 inches for head which is 8.58%.

2012-02-11 brooke 6 months

My Cookie is 6 months! Where does the time go. She is 14 lbs 6 oz and in the 20.2% for weight, 27.01 inches long in the 86.8% for height (tall & skinny like daddy) and 16.6 in head circumference which is the 34.2% for head size. I have been finding myself reflecting a lot about this wonderful blessing God has bestowed upon us and entrusted us with. It was about this time last year I was going in for my 1st prenatal visit and not sure how I was going to handle 5 kiddos. And, while I may not be the most organized mom or have the neatest/cleanest house on the block I try to give these 5 little blesses the best I have each and I am so very thankful that God believes in me each and every day. Here is something I came across in a book a recent read. I feel the need to post it so that it may help and encourage others who are afraid to relinquish control of their lives to God:

"The Hidden Message of the Lost Pearl"

When I was eleven years old, my family took a vacation in Florida. One morning my brother and I went swimming. The shallow water revealed an oyster bed. We began digging up oysters. It was great fun. During the morning we accumulated quite a collection.

Our greatest finds were not the live oysters, but dead oysters which still had both halves of the shell joined together. Many were closed shut, and we didn't know until we had pried them open whether they were alive or not.

The live ones we threw back. The empty ones usually did not reclose, but remained partly open. These we set aside as our most prized treasures.

Toward the end of the morning, I dug up a very nice, complete oyster shell which was in perfect condition. It was obviously dead because it was already open about an eighth of an inch and seemed empty. It was definitely one that I wanted to keep, except for one flaw--it had some kind of object trapped inside that rattled. I thought it detracted from the quality of my shell.

The halves of the shell were still very tight and were hard to budge with just my fingers. It took all of five minutes to remove this rather large, round, perfectly smooth object. Having successfully removed it, and being pleased with my now empty and unblemished shell, I threw the object toward the end of the pier.

At about the midpoint of its flight, a horrifying light dawned in my mind. I was old enough to have overlooked the value of what I had just thrown away. I had treasured what was secondary and had lost what was real. My focus had been wrong.

I visually marked the location of the splash. With great care I slowly approached the spot, trying not to disturb the bottom. For the next half hour I searched diligently.

Finally, when it was time to leave, I told my parents what I had done. Then we all looked for it. Our efforts were useless and our time was up. Our schedule demanded that we leave.

When I was twenty-five years old, I got married. For some undefined reason, I rejected for seven years the suggestion that we have children. I thought I had valid reasons, but no one had ever talked to me about it. I had received no counsel or teaching from either family, friends, or church. No one seemed to consider it to be a critical issue. In addition, the world had all kinds of new medical methods for preventing pregnancy.

As I look back, I don't remember hearing one dissenting voice. Down deep I always knew that I wanted children someday. I didn't really want to be childless all my life. Eventually, I decided that I wanted five children. So, after seven years of some very difficult decision-making, we had our first child--a girl.

To my great amazement, I found that I actually liked having children. In fact, having a child is one of the greatest things that has happened in our lives.

The fears which had prevented conception for so long proved to be mostly imaginary. This new member of our family changed our lives. We discovered a multitude of rewards that we had not known we were missing.

My wife and I have just been told that it now looks medically impossible for us to have any more children! Suddenly, all of our newly established family dreams have been erased. All of the excitement and anticipation of a newly discovered future have vanished. It seems as though there is a void in our lives--like four of our five children have just been killed.

What makes the burden so heavy is that we had the treasure within our grasp and we threw it away. We saw the outer shell and mistakenly overlooked the treasure within. With our hands we plucked it out and cast it away. We tried to take God's timing into our own hands.

Brooke's Birth Story

August 10th, 2011 found me have contractions all day. It was hot, it was a typical August summer and I was busy running to swim lessons and swimming in the pool with my four. I didn't think much of it as the contractions were not consistent and were not getting closer. I took Braeden and Preston to Gamestop and I ran into one of my Owatonna Women's Hockey Team teammates there. We chatted a bit. Brad had a late night meeting and so, most of the kids wanted to hang out in our neighbor Annie's back yard. The kids played on her playset and her and I chatted about baby names and the fact that I was having contractions all day. I even texted Brad at his meeting to let him know about the contractions. His reply, "Tonight?" We were living the one car dream then and he hitched a ride home from his meeting from our neighbor, Mike Jacobson. We put the kids to bed and did some tasks around home. About 10 or so I went to use the bathroom and had my bloody show. I was a bit freaked to say the least has anyone that has suffered numerous miscarriages knows the site of blood prior to delivery is enough to sound the alarms. Brad called the hospital and they wanted me to come in. Annie arrived about 11 pm to stay with the sleeping kids and in we went. They checked me upon arrival and I was only dilated to a 3, which is where I had been after my last prenatal visit. She called my Dr. who was on vacation, but was thankfully, at home. She wanted me to walk the halls. Brad and I walked the halls laughing and all giddy. After quite a few laps another cervical check found me at a 4. I was staying and Dr. Clubb was on her way in. I immediately hopped into the tub. Heaven! I was staying on top of the contractions this way and felt I would not need meds if I kept doing this. Once Dr. Clubb arrived, she had different ideas. She wanted to break my water to get me delivered. I cringed as I knew this meant fast and furious contractions, but I complied. Fast and Furious the contractions did come! I was going to need something. They 1st had to give me an IV to get fluids in me. While that was happening I was burning up. Brad would no more than get a cold washcloth on me and it was hot! I refused to get in the bed, I do not manage my contractions well while lying down. I stood next to the bed until they IV was complete. Finally the anesthesiologist came and gave me my interthecal. I want from 4 to complete in an hour. Dr. Clubb let me rest for about an hour before we began pushing. After the hour, she came back and I pushed 3 times and out our perfect Brooke Adella came at 5:49 AM on 8-11-11. She weighed in at 7lbs 3 oz and 20 inches long and we have been in love ever since :)