Meeting Grandpa and Grandma Witzig

Kyla Annelle, 

You met your great grandpa and grandma Witzig tonight. Grandpa was turning 97, so we met them at the Beefhouse for a family celebration. 

My favorite part of the evening was after we had tried to take a good picture of you, Elias and the great grandparents. 

You spontaneously looked up at grandma, and gave her this adorable grin. 

I'm sure that blessed Grandma and warmed her heart. 

I always hope to be like my grandma Witzig when I grow up. And it's so sweet to have a picture of you looking up at her. My prayer for you is that you can become a woman of faith and mercy, like her. 

Thank you for making our night so memorable, Little Nell.

I love you! 

Your adoring mommy 

Eric's Year and a Half in Review

This is a PDF taken from a Christmas letter that I designed and wrote, but never sent out in January due to morning sickness. This summary of Eric's major life events is pretty accurate (though it only shows medical school life events). YES, he does have a life outside of medical school, it just mainly involves wife and kids.

Birth of a Daughter & Resuming a Blog

I guess it takes a life-changing event to make me start up blogging again: our second child, a little girl has now joined our family.

To make myself feel better about not having kept up with this blog, I'll have to post a year and a half's wrap up on all Elias has been doing. It's more for my sake than for anyone else. :) 

But for now, I'm just posting to say Kyla Annelle Frantz is here and healthy (well she's been here since August 4.)

Kyla - Victorious
Annelle - (Combination of her grandmother's middle names: Ann (Gma Frantz) and Nell (Gma Zeller)) Gracious and Merciful Light

Our prayer for our daughter is that she will be victorious in Christ and spread the gracious and merciful light of the gospel to those God brings into her life.

"We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39 

Our Boy

It's so hard to believe our boy is three months old. 

His coos and smiles grow more a part of his sunny personality everyday. So does his intense focus and concentration. Today we experienced what Elias will do when he doesn't want to take a nap - cry for an hour. (He was fine afterward and then slept for the next three and a half hours). 

His new favorite thing to do is sit on my hip while I'm working around the house. He'll sit up straight with his little head bobbing from side to side like a wise old man surveying people's actions and making observations. 

What else has he done in the past three months? 

Spent time with Grandma Frantz

Watched the snow fall during the winter storms we've had. 

Met his Aunt Andrea face to face.

Done "tummy time" - and hated it! 

Slept.

Prayed with Mommy for friends and family.

Discovered how to get his fingers into his mouth - a most satisfying snack.

Painted with Adopted Aunt Bethany at church - love her hat on his little head.

Took naps with Daddy.

Fussed.

Charmed.

Smiled.

Laughed.

And best of all - spent lots of time with cousins! 

Malachi 

Cedrik

Claire

Clayton

Makayla

Aubrey

All the Standish Girls.

Ashley 

Your monkey...though he's not a cousin, you adore him.

What an eventful three months! I'm sure Elias is worn out...

...But we look forward to more memories to come.

Cloth Diapering: Day 1

The holidays are over, meaning we are traveling less; and Elias is now two months old, which means there are less poopy diapers in a day (actually he is down to just one a day). 

That also means one more thing: We are now officially cloth diapering! 

Today was a success. We even made it through a poopy diaper without too much of a hassle. 

Some interesting facts about cloth diapers we learned today: 

1- Elias doesn't get so mad about them being wet. With disposables he can't stand for them to be even a tiny bit soggy, which made for us going through probably 15-20 diapers a day. Today we only went through two cloth and one disposable diaper. That pleased this money-pinching momma. 

2- cloth diapers make my baby's bottom huge! It isn't a problem, just laughable at times, because he is such a small guy. 

3- I am so thankful to have a bum genius diaper sprayer! 

It hooks up to the toilet's water line and makes cleaning diapers a breeze. No diaper dunking in the toilet! 

So far so good with cloth diapers! We'll see how the next year or two goes. :)

Elias Dean Frantz

Born October 29, 2013: Elias Dean Frantz has kept our lives busy with changing diapers, cuddle sessions, and late night feedings.

We love our little man, and are looking forward to watching him grow! 

Elias - The Lord, He is God. 

Dean - Leader

Our prayer for Elias is that he will be a leader in showing men that The Lord is the one, and only, true God as his namesake - Elijah - did on Mount Carmel. 

See 1 Kings 18. 

Saving Money Tip #1

This med student wife is determined to live on the prescribed budget allotted to our family for the semester.

One way I'm doing it is baking my own bread in our nifty bread machine. 

I simply place the 1 5/8 cup of warm water in the bottom (that's free - or very close to free)

Then add 2 cups white flour ($.15 when considering I buy a 5 lb. bag of flour at Aldi for $1.59)

Add an additional 2 2/3 cups whole wheat flour that I've ground with a wheat grinder. (This could be considered cheating since the average person doesn't have a wheat grinder and wheat berries to grind)

Then 1/3 cup brown sugar (that figured out to $.63 based on a $1.49 32-oz. bag of brown sugar from Aldi).

A yeast packet costs ~$.33 and then a teaspoon of salt comes out to be so minimal I hardly count it ($.00269/tsp.)

TOTAL = ~$1.12

That makes this med student momma happy.