Greta Jo Wichert

For the glorious name of the Lord is blessed forever and ever. 
From sunrise-brilliance to sunset-beauty, lift up his praise from dawn to dusk! 
Psalm 113:2-3

Greta Jo is here! She was born on February 28th at 2:58pm, 7lb8oz, 19.5". Jo is my middle name and we thought it was fitting for our youngest to share a middle name with me as I'm the youngest in my family too. Also, our birthdays are just a day apart. I also love at the end of Little Women when the professor says "Jo, such a little name for such a girl". Greta is a name Brent and I both loved and decided on pretty early on in pregnancy. 

Birth Story:

We checked in about 7:00am and Dr. Ablard was in about 7:30 and broke my water and IV was started. Because I was group strep b positive, they began antibiotic and decided to wait on pitocin until I had a dose of antibiotic. I was having regular contractions every 2-5 minutes. Around 9:00 I got my epidural. Around that time I was measuring at a 4. They started pitocin around 10 and I could feel my contractions so I know they were pretty strong and regular. Dr. Ablard came back around 12:45 and I had only progressed to a 5. That was surprising to me, since my delivery typically goes quickly. It was then that she determined that baby was face up. So the nurses tried some position methods with me to try to get her to move. The last one they tried worked because she flipped and I went from a 5 to a 10 in 40 minutes. I was at a 10 and they called Dr. Ablard. She was there within minutes and one push later Greta was here! Since she came so fast, her lungs had a lot of fluid. I only held her for a second and then they took her to pump the fluid out of her lungs. After a couple minutes, she was back and crying and looked great. It was then that we noticed all her blonde hair! We were shocked. 

Haddie is 6

Oh sweet girl, how are you 6?! Haddie turned 6 on January 2nd and here we are at the end of the February. I better get it written down now, so we can remember. :) Our big girl has grown in her independence, most notably, this year. We can't believe how brave she is. Last year, we pursued counseling for her very real and terrifying fear of animals. She went to one session and then decided she was going to like our cat, KitKat. Since then, she has pet a few animals and has even expressed she'd like a puppy. We have another cat, Oreo, that is super resilient and snuggly and Haddie likes him too. We are truly praising God for the work He did to get her to this point.

I think at least some of her independence can be attributed to Kindergarten. I can't express how proud of her we are. In both of her teacher conferences words and phrases like good friend, confident, helper, and dependable have come out. She's made some dear friends in her class and had her first play date with one of them. She absolutely loves her teacher (Mrs. Seuser) and school. It's been an adjustment not having her at home, but it's been has good for her. 

She still likes to play babies, Barbies, house, and pack all her papers and creations into whatever container is near by. Lana has followed suite and their room can get out of hand in a matter of minutes. It really is astounding. She is able to hold her own whether playing on the trampoline with her brothers or pretending with Lana, which can be a different kind of challenge. :) 

We have (barely) begun piano lessons at home. We'll see how mom is at staying consistent. Haddie loves singing and music and I love to hear her sing. I know I'm biased, but I think she has beautiful pitch and rhythm. Our prayer is God will use her gifts, not just musical, to bring honor and glory to Him. We can't wait to see what He does in her little life. 

Oh Haddie, we love you so. You are so good at caring for all of us and showing empathy when anyone is sad or hurt. I can't wait to see you be a big sister again. I know you will love it. 

Height- 44"- 50th percentile

Weight- 44lb- 50th percentile

Eli is 10

For his birthday meal he requested crab legs, mashed potatoes, biscuits, and tres leches cake. 

Better late than never, right? It's been a whole decade of parenting this joy of a child. My brain can't quite compute it, but I will do my best to document some of who he is so I can remember. I'm noticing the older I get (and probably the more children we have) the harder it is to remember who said/did what when. Although blogging seems to be becoming a thing-of-the-past, I will continue to document so Brent and I can sit in our chairs when we're old and gray and reminisce on this beautiful/crazy season of life. 

Eli is such a big helper. He notices things and has really grown in his awareness of people this year. He knows when someone is upset and wants to help. He is especially sweet with Lana and she knows she can get him to do about anything by grabbing his hand and asking sweetly with her blue eyes if he will...help with her chore, or play house, etc. 

He also is a deep feeler and I'm not sure he had the ability to communicate that until this past year. It took us by surprise at first, but we really have grown to admire his emotional awareness and ability to communicate with us how he's feeling. Brent and I often stand in awe of this and take notes for our own health. :) 

At school, it seems that he's known for being a big eater, big reader, and for being the world's loudest Cowboys fan. Can't win them all, I suppose. :) He usually plays soccer at recess. He also has had a "happy plate" streak dating back to 2nd grade that he is very committed to. 

At home, he is either playing outside with Micah, reading a book, or watching some sports something, board or card game, or playing xbox. He loves to be competitive and active. He enjoyed another season of fall soccer and was on a team with other Buhler kids for the first time. It was really good for him. He also played baseball last summer and found he really liked catching (as opposed to standing in the outfield waiting for a miraculous hit- anyone else hate kid-pitch?). He also got fitted for contacts during this time. And we just finished another good season of basketball. He really loves to compete. 

Again, the LORD has been gracious to grow Eli is stature, wisdom, and in favor with God and people. We pray that He who has begun a good work in Eli, will continue it until the day of completion. It's a complete honor to be a part of the journey and watch as it happens. 

Height-  55.5" 60th percentile

Weight- 81lb 75th percentile