Week 31

Traben family at the Indians game a couple weeks ago.

I am starting Week 31 with Baby # 7! I can't believe how fast the pregnancy is going. We have a ton of things going on this summer with our family: baseball almost every night, swim lessons every day, Metroparks camps and 2 weddings coming up in July and August.
Ken's sister, Diana, is getting married on July 3rd and my sister, Mandy, is getting married on August 7th. Baby is due August 21st, so hopefully, we'll make it through everything and then baby will decide to come.

Here we are (me, Kateri and Luanna) at Diana's wedding shower on May 24th. Doesn't Kateri look just lovely with her chocolate sucker face!

The kids are rooting for a baby girl, to even things out a bit with the 4 boys and 2 girls. I just want a healthy baby...really does not matter to me. With all the nice weather, I've been walking the dogs a lot every day. Good for me and good for them too.

Week 23

I am in the 23rd week of pregnancy with baby # 7!! Everything is going well and this pregnancy is flying by. I am starting to get big I think...although I had someone today tell me they did not even know I was pregnant. ?? Guess they just thought I was fat!

The 3 boys all just had their birthdays. Jeremy turned 11 on Feb 17th, Oliver turned 9 on March 11th and Isaiah turned 13 on March 31st!! Kateri's 7th birthday is this friday (April 30th), and then Elliot's 2nd bday is the next day (May 1st). Lots of birthdays! Both Luanna and the new baby (and me!) will all have the August birthdays.

This is an ultrasound photo of baby Traben from April 2, 2010. He/She looks great and is healthy and vibrant...such a cute profile. We did not find out the sex, so we are all left in suspense here.

I'm Back!!

(Traben family- November 2009)

Wow....sorry to be gone for tooooo long.

I've been so busy with the kids, dogs, work, homeschooling and posting on Facebook that I honestly forgot about my blog. I just thought about it again and checked it out and I miss posting here with longer posts and lots of stories and photos. I will attempt to keep up with it again.

Our big news now is that I am again expecting a baby....baby # 7 for the Traben clan. I am due in August and we are all thrilled and excited. Baby Elliot may not be thrilled though when baby comes, as he has become my spoiled little love.

I need to post some updated photos.

Summer winding down...

As you can see, with my lack of posting this summer...I've been VERY busy. The kids have been all involved in baseball, swim lessons and tennis. We are usually not home pretty much every night. However, things are winding down, and getting calmer. Both Jeremy and Oliver won the Championships for their baseball teams. So, we have 2 winning teams!!

Oliver's team- the Mets! They had the best record this year, with only one loss all year. They were, by FAR, the BEST team in the league!


Jeremy's team- the Timber Rattlers! His team were the under-dogs. They did not have a great record...probably middle of the road, so it was a total upset that they made it through the playoffs into the Championship game. And, then winning it was a total shocker! It was an exciting playoff season. Go Rattlers!!


Isaiah did not have a winning team, but he really enjoyed his season so much this year, and he improved so much. And, of all the boys, he probably loves baseball the most!


This week, Isaiah and Jeremy are in California! They went with my youngest brother, Brian (age 20), and they are visiting my other brother, their uncle Vince, who is a Norbertine monk in California. They are all staying at the abbey and participating in the summer boys camp there. Last update I had, they were all having a blast catching tarantulas and snakes, swimming and playing lots of sports. Of course, they are also doing lots of church activities there too, like daily mass, rosary and Catechism lessons...which are probably my boys least favorite things to do at the camp. But, it sounds like they are very happy and having a great time. They come home tomorrow night! I am soooo excited to see them both and give them big hugs. We've missed them both so much.

Also, this summer, both my youngest sister Mandy (age 22) and Ken's youngest sister, Diana (age 22) BOTH got engaged!! Actually, Mandy got engaged in May, and Diana just called us tonight...guess they got engaged TODAY! Looks like we will have 2 family weddings next year. Mandy will be having her wedding next summer on my bday (August 7th!!) I am honored!
Mandy with her fiance, Jeff.


Elliot starting walking on Independence Day- July 4th, which is pretty ironic, since now he is so independent! Well, he does still like to cling to Momma sometimes, but this walking thing is pretty great.

Elliot walking in the Lakeview Cemetary...the boys are taking an art class there. It's actually a very cool place to visit.


Have you ever been this tired?


Here's my little walker...ain't he cute!!

Summer time!

Summer is my most favorite season! To me, it seems like a long, long party where there is just a ton of fun stuff going on every day, like baseball, swimming, camps, parties, cookouts, bike-riding, walks/hikes, playground dates, dog-parks...ect ect. And, we usually do not do a whole lot of "schooling" in the summer, although this summer I would like to do some. I bought the "Math U See" program for the oldest 4 kids to keep working on their math this summer. I just noticed that 3-4 months of doing no math school work made them forget so much by September. I am also hoping to keep up with their reading this summer with some fun books. I usually have a big box of books labeled "Summer Reading", fill it with all sorts of books that we did not have time to read during the school year and whenever the kids complain they have nothing to do, we go and find a book from that box.

Most nights already we are at the ball-fields. All 5 kids are playing baseball and or t-ball this year, so we have a number of teams we need to follow, and keep track of. It's really insane. But, Ken and I really enjoy watching them all play, and they look so cute out there on the fields. This weekend, Oliver, who is also on our city's travel baseball team, had his first tournament. They won 2 out of 3 games today, so he is playing again tomorrow morning for the semi-finals. Oliver's batting average was .429 today in the tournament, and he played left-field. Good luck tomorrow Oliver!


Here are the boys' before and after photos with their "summer haircuts"!
Before.....

...and after!

Elliot's Photo Session

I just had to share these precious photos of Elliot's one year old photo session at Sears. I took him there last week and he behaved sooo well. His photos came out just as good. Enjoy!

Look at him sitting in a chair like a big boy.


They got him to actually stand...something he does not do often.


I want to eat up those chunky thighs! What is wrong with us mothers...why do we always want to nibble on our babies?!


I love this precious photo!


OK...another nibbly photo. Look at that chunky fat.

Elliot is ONE year old!!

My baby is ONE year old already! He turned one on May 1, 2009.

This first year always flies by, especially with baby #6! It seems to have gone super fast with him. I can remember so clearly everything about his pregnancy, labor and birth! My "little" 10 1/2 lb newborn was the most precious thing...and he still is. Elliot just loves his Mama. He loves me maybe a little too much. If I am in the room, he needs to be with me, in my arms, playing with me on the floor, snuggling or nursing, and will scream and fight anyone who prevents him from getting to me. Mama does not get much of a break from him, as he is quite attached, and really does not prefer ever going to anyone else (unless I am not at home...then he'll go to Dad quite fine).


Some words that he says are: "Mama", "Baa" (Ball), "Dada", "Gggg" (Jeremy), "Dddd" (dog) and "Kssss" (kiss). He loves to play with balls, go on swings at the park, hang out in my Snuggly, go on walks with Mom and the beagles and play/rough-house with his brothers. His sisters love to sing to him and sometimes they will sit and play the piano with him, which is very cute. He also loves all the dogs and hangs on them, kisses them and snuggles with Fatsy, the best beagle-nurse ever!! She still hangs out with him all the time, protecting him from harm, although Elliot is so big and strong, sometimes I worry that he will hurt Fatsy with the way he hangs on her, and grabs her. But, Fatsy does not seem to mind and lets him grab her, without running away (like many of the other dogs do!). Elliot is not walking yet, but he will hold on to the furniture and cruise around very fast. He can crawl super quick and get all around the house in a matter of seconds. We've had to block the stairs, as he can scale the stairs very quickly too. One thing that drives me nuts is that he will try and get into the dog's big water bowl (many times a day!), so as soon as I hear him scooting towards the kitchen, I have to pick up the water bowl right away, or else he is soaking wet and loving it. Sometimes we forget to put the bowl back down for hours. The poor dogs have had a few months of being extra thirsty at times I think.

People keep asking me how much he weighs. I do not have the exact measurements in ounces, but we've weighed him on our scale at home and he weighs approximately 27 lbs, give or take a few ounces. I still need to get his height as well. Yep, he continues to be a big boy.

We had a birthday party for Elliot last Saturday with the extended family...about 35 people in all. Actually the party was a triple celebration. Kateri turned 6 yrs old on April 30, Elliot turned one yr old on May 1st and Oliver had his First Communion on May 2nd. So, how's that for a lot going on at once! It's always busy at the Traben household.


We had a little party for Kateri's 6th bday on April 28th at Rescue Village, which is an animal shelter (for dogs, cats and some farm animals) near our home. It was very nice and the kids got to tour the place, play with some pooches and learn about animal rescue! Kateri invited 10 of her friends from our homeschool co-op. All the girls are very close in age (their bdays range from November- May...all turning 6!), all except for Luanna and Augustine who are both 4 1/2 (the 2 little ones in the front left and right). And, of course, Kateri is the small little fairy-creature in the center.


Kateri has been asking me for an American Girl doll for about a year now. She had decided on Julie, the 1974 hippie girl, which I thought was pretty cool, since that is the era I was born in!


Here is Kateri with the triple celebration bday/Communion cake on May 2nd.