Photo Session

While waiting for Kreg to come home for lunch today the kids and I had a little photo session. I think we actually took some pretty good pictures today.
My Crazy Girl:

My Silly Boy...with crazy girl in the background. In this pic Makayla was actually saying "cheese." She just started saying it today. She says "eeeeeee."


Me with the crazy girl and silly boy.


And one of the 3 of us together! I can hardly believe they are both smiling, let alone that they both cooperated at the same time. (That never happens.) If you look closely it looks like Makayla has both of her top teeth but actually the one on the left is just sooooo swollen that it actually looks like a tooth. Its almost through people....almost through!

Christmas Highlights

What a wonderful Christmas we have had. Woweee it has been filled with so much fun. And we made it last as long as possible too. It all started Wednesday evening with our little family Christmas here at home. I made homemade cinnamon rolls and we had Christmas breakfast for dinner!
Then we let the kids open their gifts from Kreg and I. Aiden got a John Deere big wooden barn he can drive his tractors in and out of. Makayla got a little people doll house, a new baby doll, and a little bottle so she can feed her baby. Amazingly she knew just what to do with that doll and bottle.

We only had a few presents but we totally destroyed the place by the time we were finished opening.
The before:

The after:

Kreg got me a very cool gift that I was not expecting at all. He got a watch that has GPS in it so I can track my courses when I got running. Its so cool. It will record my distance, pace, heart rate, location, etc...then I can put all the info on a program on the computer and keep track of my different runs. I can actually race against myself and see if I'm beating myself from the last time I ran. I can also set goals for things like pace or distance and it will tell me if I'm under or exceeding my goals. Its the coolest little thing! If it wasn't so snowy and Icy outside I would have already tried it out. There will be more to come on my Garmin Forerunner in a later post I'm sure.
Then Christmas Eve we went down to Indy to spend time with my family. We had dinner at my brother's house and had a birthday cake for Jesus.
Here are Aiden and my nephew Luke blowing out their candles for Jesus:

And here's my parents with their four grandchildren!

Christmas day was spent at my parents house. It was a wonderfully relaxing day. My parents got Aiden and Makayla a kitchen. They both seem to love it. Aiden has been making me lots of pizza's.

Saturday morning then we headed back up north to spend the day with Kreg's family. They were kind enough to wait to have Christmas until we could all be together. We had a great time at the Salsbery's as well, although I have no pictures. Silly me. One of the highlights of my day Saturday was giving my sister-in-law, Jessica, the quilt I made her for Christmas. That's right folks you heard correctly. I made a quilt! I had so much fun doing it too, although next time I think I will allow myself a bit more time than 3 1/2 weeks (between Thanksgiving and Christmas just about every waking hour was spent making this quilt). But thats ok because it was all worth it and this winter I even plan to make another one.

So without further ado here's the quilt:


So for the past several days we've been having great fun playing with our new Christmas toys, as Aiden likes to say it. One of MY "Christmas toys" is an electric pressure cooker. I tried it out for the first time today. I cooked a whole chicken for lunch in 28 mins. Amazing! And tonight I'm taking it a step further. I'm going to try making beef stew in the pressure cooker. I'm really excited about my new kitchen toy. I have heard it will "revolutionize my cooking." :) Bring it on baby!

So there ya go, some of the highlights of our Christmas. Such a blessed week of fun. And there is still more fun to be had as this Saturday is Aiden's 3rd birthday party!! Don't worry I will do my best to take lots of pictures.

I know I know....

I know I know...I haven't updated in a while. Well I have an excuse and its called HARVEST. It STILL isn't finished yet! Hard to believe we started this journey back in September and its December 7th with an inch of snow on the ground and they are still in the fields. Its been the craziest year. My wonderful husband has done the best he can to help me out when he's home. I know he's tired and yet when we do get to see him he lovingly plays and wrestles with the kids without complaint. We had a long month of sicknesses/teething as well and he even did his share of holding and comforting the kids in the middle of the night. We're on the home stretch now but its STILL not over yet. I am very much ready to no longer feel like a single parent Monday-Saturday. And I am very much ready to have weekends again. During harvest there is no weekend off. Oh to have my husband home for a Friday night again or a Saturday morning for pancakes and coffee. Its coming...I know it is.

So with that being said most of my days have been spent running around like a chicken with my head cutoff. I pick up the house...and Aiden and Makayla destroy it. I feed them and clean the kitchen up and do it again and again(2 bites for each of them and 1 bite for me...its a good diet plan I tell ya.). I play tractors and choo choo's while holding a squirmy girl on my lap. And then I play tractors and choo choo's more while Makayla destroys/eats the tractors and choo choo's. I tell Aiden to be gentle with his sister about 50 times a day and try to be consistent disciplining my almost 3 year old. And we run errands, go to church activities, and hang out with friends and family. I'm not complaining, I'm just tired. I'm really really tired and ready to enjoy the Christmas season with Kreg at home with me in the evening again. Don't get me wrong, I love my life and I love my kids. They are literally my world right now. I thank the Lord for them every day. I know I am tremendously blessed. Its just been a long few months with some emotional ups and downs and I am just ready to have my husband home to help me once again. I cherish the thought of being able to tell Aiden "It's almost 5pm daddy will be home soon" instead of having to tell him "No daddy won't be home for dinner again tonight because he's working." Oh its coming! The day is coming! I can almost taste it.

Last week was a nice change of pace because I had my best friend since Kindergarten up to visit on Tuesday with her very adorable son Rigg. And then my mom came up and took my kids down to Indy Wednesday and Thursday. That was lovely! I had two whole days of blissful silence, shopping, and uninterrupted projects here at home. Thanks again mom!
And it is at this point that I also most give a shout out to my wonderful mother-in-law who joyfully takes my children every Monday for at least a few hours while I get a jump start on my week. Without her I'm not sure I would have made it through the last 3 months. Being able to at least grocery shop by myself and get some cleaning done around the house does wonders for the rest of my week.

So I leave you now with a few pics from Cari and Rigg's visit to Kokomo:
(I'm so glad you brought your camera Cari)
I just love this picture of Cari with Makayla...both so beautiful!

Aiden's attempt at giving Makayla a kiss and Cari's attempt at trying to catch it on camera.

My cute boy...

My pretty little girl...

And last but certaily not least Makayla trying to make Rigg eat a bus (Sorry Rigg...)

Thanks for coming up Cari! And thanks for helping me keep my sanity mom!

The Remedy

This past Friday Makayla came down with croup. Its not been fun to say the least but we're making it and I think we are now through the worst. It was a long weekend with a bit of a scary day on Sunday. She was completely listless, just wanting to sleep on us and laying around on her blankey and by evening she was running a 102 fever. Every time she would cough she would try to cry because it would hurt but she had no voice so she wasn't able to cry either. The tears would come but no noise. It was a very strange thing to have a baby with no voice. That's how she communicates to me...in her crib, if she gets hurt, if she's hungry, if Aiden takes her toy, etc...she gives a little cry. But the past couple days I have just physically had to watch her to make sure she was ok and not just sitting with tears streaming down her face, which did happen on Sunday. This morning however I am happy to report we are starting to hear cute little squeaks again out of my princess, even though the nasty cough is still there. The cute little squeaks are a welcome sound once again.

So with that being said little did I know Aiden has known the cure all along. I should have just asked him sooner. Last night at dinner this is the conversation I had with him.

Me: Aiden we have to be extra gentle with baby because she doesn't feel good. Her throat hurts, especially when she coughs.

Aiden: Baby needs a band aid?

Me: Yeah baby could probably use a band aid? But I don't think we can put one on her throat.

Aiden: (He ponders this for a moment) Baby need a doctor?

Me: Yes baby needed the doctor. But we already took her to the doctor so I don't think we should take her again.

Aiden: Oh ok. (He pauses once again to think and then his eyes light up and he proudly states) Baby need 3 minutes with daddy?

Me: (smile) Oh yes Aiden. That's definitely what she needs. 3 minutes with daddy would make anyone feel better.

So there it is. The remedy. Little did I know my almost 3 year old would have the answer. 3 minutes with daddy....of course! :)

Miss Lady Bug

This past weekend was family fun filled! We had absolutely beautiful weather (as most of you know) so everyone decided it would be a great weekend for a combine ride. And I do concur...it truly was a fantastic weekend for combining.

Side note: We are still smack dab in the middle of harvest. Last year we were done at this time but this year we still have a ways to go. Thankfully all the beans are in but there is still A LOT of corn out there. So I am doing the best I can to hold the fort down here at home with my two silly munchkins. But I have to be honest with ya...I CAN HARDLY WAIT to have Kreg home again every evening. I'm starting to wear out just a bit. We'll get there I know we will.

Anyway, so Saturday my brother and sister-in-law came up for the day with my niece and nephew. I left for a few minutes Saturday evening to go grab us a pizza and when I came home I heard a story that I shall not soon forget. First of all I must tell you that if you do not know my sister-in-law then you are truly missing out. She's hilarious and fun and well let's face it, absolutely terrified of bugs. (keep this in mind for the rest of the story)

So while I was gone Mindy noticed Makayla was chewing on something (gumming it to death is probably a better description). So she did the mom/aunt thing and stuck her finger in Makayla's mouth and pulled out a macaroni noodle. Now you may think that strange but its really not. When Makayla is napping I allow Aiden to combine macaroni noodles. The kid spends every waking hour of his day pretending to drive trucks and tractors so I like to give him a little something to pretend with. I thought I had all of them picked up but i guess not. Well a few minutes later Mindy noticed that Makayla was still chewing on something. So once again she did the mom/aunt thing and swept her finger through Makayla's mouth only this time she PULLED OUT

(wait for it....yes its true......)

A LADY BUG!
Yuck! Makayla had been gumming a full fledged lady bug! Whether it was alive or dead we shall never know because it was definitely dead when it CAME OUT OF HER MOUTH! Now for those of you who know Mindy please feel free to envision her FREAKING OUT just a little bit at that moment.

(Makayla, mommy says no chewing on lady bugs ok!)

A few minutes later Mindy noticed Makayla was still chewing, very bravely she stuck her finger in one more time and pulled out, yes you guessed it, the other half of the lady bug shell. Yuck!

Makayla no more eating lady bugs! If you're hungry just tell mommy. Ok darling.

My mother-in-law nicknamed Makayla "lady bug" a few weeks ago so I guess that makes the old saying true....You are what you eat!

No more lady bugs Miss Lady Bug!
In the words of Aiden, "Baby that's a No No" :)

Fall Fabulous!

So I don't like Halloween. I don't like what it celebrates at all but I do enjoy dressing my children up in fun costumes. aka...the farmer and the penguin

And I do enjoy the fall weather and the colorful trees and the smell of harvest. I love fresh apples from the orchard and a pumpkin on my front porch. So with that being said, this year we found a very happy medium to all this. Friday the 30th we had a pizza party with Kreg's extended family and had a blast dressing the kids up in there costumes. (I like to think of it as a mid-harvest/fall party.) Thus I present to you the rooster, the farmer, the fairy, the ninja, a ladybug, and a penguin.

And I just have to share this next picture because well I think its hilarious. The ladybug and the punguin are looking at each other like "Can you believe our parents would dress us up like this and have the nerve to take our picture."

Oh what cute little butter balls!! :)
So, then on halloween the kids and I attended our "trunk or treat" at church. I had fun showing my little munchkins off and Aiden had fun getting lots of candy. (no pictures of this however because it was FREEZING outside so we made our rounds and headed home.)
However, the greatest part of the whole weekend was when we got home from "trunk or treat" it was still early so we still had lots of tricker treaters arriving at our door. At first I thought "Oh man Aiden's going to be scared of the rediculous costumes. And do we really want to start this with our kids?" But then we realized we could choose to put a different spin on things and maybe make this a very positive experience. And indeed we did. Aiden loved handing out candy to all the kids that rang our doorbell. He pretty much gave away all of his own candy. (lesson #1 for Aiden: giving is better than receiving) And along with the candy we had Aiden give out tracks to all the kids that came to the door. The tracks were million dollar bills that look fairly real and fully explain the gospel on both the front and the back. I have to tell you it was so so so cool to watch my almost 3 year old boldy stand at the door and put a gospel track in every single bucket or bag that came to our door. What a great way to take a terribly pagan holiday and teach our children that yes we can still have fun, yes we can still get dressed up, yes we can eat candy, no we don't have to be scared of the costumes because the costumes aren't real, and yes we will face halloween straight in the face and share the gospel. And how cool will it be if our kids grow up handing out tracks on halloween. Our hope too is if Aiden can boldly share the gospel when he's 3 then hopefully he will be able to boldly share the gospel when he's 18 or 25! (lesson #2 for Aiden: Sharing the gospel does not have to be a scary thing.)
So there it is my thoughts on this years October 31st. Now please don't get me wrong, I most definitely respect differing convictions for this holiday. To be honest I wasn't sure what my convictions were until recently. I have gone back and forth with what we should do. But for right now I am happy with how we spent our evening on October 31st. I got to take cute pictures of my kiddos and share the gospel with those that stepped onto our front porch.

The Last Nice Day of the Season

I do believe Wednesday just may have been the last really nice day of the year. We hit the 70 mark and it was beautiful outside. All the trees right now are so full of color. So the kids and I tried to take advantage of it and after their naps we spent a good portion of the afternoon outside. And Makayla being the big girl that she is now got to play in the grass, sit in the sandbox for the first time, and sit in the swing! She really really loved the swing. The sandbox was interesting. She kept trying to eat the sand even though every time she would put sand in her mouth she would make a terrible face and try to spit it back out. I have no pictures of the sandbox but I do have a great one of her in the swing.

I also tried to get a few pics of Aiden and Makayla in front of this beautiful red bush in our front yard. But to actually get them to both smile in the same picture or even just to both look at the camera at the same time would be too much to ask for. I would even settle for the two of them just sitting nice and STILL next to each other. That would have been fine with me too. But no, I don't think any of the above happened.

Standing!

Look at me! I can stand up in my crib now!

Oh wow, my brother is really big. Whats he doing in here anyway mom?

Accessorizing

I've been having a little too much fun accessorizing Miss Makayla as of late. Just thought I would share...



And here's a good one of my little man too. I don't want to leave him out!

Bath Time!

Rub a dub dub...time for the tub!

Oh what cuties!

A Serious Bargain!

My mother-in-law is an amazing bargain shopper. She knows how to find the deals. Either that or the deals know how to find her! So today she called and said she found some baby food on sale for $.10 a piece! I said SWEET, how many can you get? So she bought all they had and brought me this wonderful present of baby food this afternoon. I couldn't believe it. Take a look at this picture.

All this for only $1.10!!! That is what you call a bargain!!

In other news baby girl is crawling everywhere!! She is most definitely on the move and LOVES that she can now chase after her big brother. This morning she chased Aiden all over our family room trying to get his combine. Eventually he ended up hiding under the kitchen table so she wouldn't get it! (She hasn't quite figured out how to crawl on the hardwood floor.) Makayla is just a little thing so its sooooo cute to watch her crawl around. Aiden didn't crawl until 10 months so maybe that's why it seems funny to me to watch her crawling around at 8 months.

A few family pics

A few weeks ago I had Kreg's parents meet us at our corn field to attempt a few family pics. If the kiddos would have been cooperating I think we would have gotten some great pictures. However, we waited too long and both of them were too close to nap time to be happy for very long. But we tried.
The cool thing is these pictures are taken in front of our very own corn! Its been fun this year to own farm ground. Its definitely given me a much greater interest in corn prices and weather forecasts. Its been an interesting year to be first time farmers, with the wet spring, the cool summer temps, and now the sudden cold fall weather and rain again. Nonetheless, in a couple weeks our corn will be harvested and we are really excited to see how our yield is this year.
So without further ado....our corn field family pics with two tired kiddos:

Hey gimme that corn!

Hmmmm....maybe another pose will work.....

And of course now he smiles...when he is in the picture all by himself.


P.S. Harvest has officially begun. They started last week, but its been a slow start with the sudden cold temps and all the rain.

8 months old

Miss Makayla turned 8 months yesterday. Its gone fast. I knew it would. It went fast with Aiden and time is going even faster with Makayla. So what is Miss Makayla up to these days you ask? Well here's a small list to satisfy you curious readers.
-She is so very close to crawling. She can get up on all fours but she can't figure out how to move forward. She rocks back and forth and then scoots backwards.
-As of yesterday she can now get herself into a sitting position from her tummy.
-As of Saturday she started feeding herself puffs. I'm really excited about this because it keeps her more entertained at the dinner table and another few weeks and I'll be able to give her some table food.
-She sleeps all night (generally) from 8pm to 6am. She likes to eat at 6am and then go back to sleep until around 8am. Although this morning she slept til almost 9am.
-She loves to squeal and can reach pitches I didn't know were possible.
-Makayla absolutely loves her brother (Aiden is a bit taken with Makayla as well). She LOVES it when he jumps up and down to make her laugh. And to my surprise she thinks its funny when Aiden gives her a crushing hug, clobbering her over and making a Makayla sandwich between the floor and himself.
-Makayla plays really well with toys. Unless she's tired or hungry I can plop her down in the middle of a bunch of toys and she can keep herself entertained for quite a while.
-She enjoys riding in a stroller, whether it be shopping or jogging. She likes to look around and take everything in.
-She is in love with her daddy, giggling when he walks in the room.
-She has one tooth and the second looks like it will be through today or tomorrow.

Makayla is a joy to us. We thank God for both of our children everyday.

Grandma Seifert

This past week was a difficult one for us. We spent last weekend in Chicago with Kreg's oldest brother Kent. We had a great time with Kent, which included a trip to Ikea for me, Kreg finally purchasing his birthday present (a wireless ear piece for his phone. note: his birthday was in July), a visit with another one of Kreg's brother's (Kristopher), a nap, and a trip downtown Chicago to visit my beautiful and most lovely college roommate Miss Heather. It was a great Saturday. However, upon arriving back at Kent's house after our downtown Chicago excursion we got a phone call that Grandma Seifert (Kreg's mom's mom) had peacefully passed away in her sleep that day. We were all shaken and not expecting such news.

Yes, she was almost 91 years old but when we went to Pennsylvania and visited her , just last month, her worst problem seemed to be the annoying arthritis she had in her hip. (God has our days numbered, doesn't He.) She was a lovely woman and I am glad I got to know her. I am so so very thankful we took a trip east this summer...and so recently too. God is good. I will always cherish the pictures I have of Grandma holding my children, especially the pictures of her with Makayla, her great granddaugther. And she LOVED holding Makayla. She would just sit and giggle the whole time.

I can still hear the giggle. God's timing is just perfect. A week before she passed she got to hold her other two great grandchildren, as Kreg's brother Kevin and Jessica took a trip out to see them. And grandma was feeling so good they even took her to church for the first time in years. How awesome that the Sunday before she was face to face with Jesus she got to worship with the body of Christ one more time. Gives me chills just thinking about it.

So Wednesday night my mom arrived to stay with our kids and Kreg and I and two of his brothers left for eastern Pennsylvania at 9:40pm. (His other brothers and wives were a few hours ahead of us) We drove through the night, arriving at 8:15am and tired as we were on Thursday it was a joy that we could be there. We wouldn't have had it any other way. Kreg's mom said how humbled grandma would have been to have all of her grandchildren there to celebrate her life. And as hard as it was to say goodbye to grandma it was definitely a celebration as well. Because she is in the presence of Jesus. And she lived her life for the Lord. At her funeral so many described her as a prayer warrior. When she would tell her grandson's she was praying for them they knew she truly was. She had a list and everyday (ever since Kreg's mom Darlene could remember) she would go before the Father in prayer each morning and pray, pray, and pray. What an example she was to all of us. We will all miss her but thankfully we live with hope and assurance. Hope that we will see her again in Heaven and assurance that we know she is with the Lord now. Thank you God for the peace of eternal life.
This is a picture of Grandpa and Grandma taken just last week. Grandma is holding my nephew James. What breaks our hearts is how much Grandpa is missing his wife of 62 years. You can just see the love in his eyes for his lovely bride.

We got back from Pennsylvania early last evening. And for just a moment I have to brag about my mother. It was hard for me to leave Makayla, seeing as I had only ever been away from her for 4 hrs or so. But knowing my kiddos were with my mom was the best reassurance I could have. When we returned last night the kids were fed, bathed, and ready for bed. Dinner was in the crock pot. Fruit in the frig. And an apple pie on the stove!! The house was clean and picked up. And even my bathroom rug was washed and clean! There were some new clothes for the kids for this fall and even a new toy for each of them. What a mother I have! When I called her and told her we needed to go to Pennsylvania and didn't think the kids could do a 48 trip like that there was no hesitation on her end to keep our kids. And she was even willing to take two days out of her busy schedule and stay up here at our house. Yes I definitely think I needed to brag just a little.

It won't be long now...

Nope, it won't be long until this little one is crawling. Not only is she pushing herself up, she is scooting backwards. The poor thing gets so frustrated when the toys are right in front of her and she moves farther away.

Some people say "uh oh you're gonna be in for it when they start crawling." I disagree. I loved it when Aiden started crawling because he could entertain himself for a while, with no help from mommy. And Makayla will be much happier when she can crawl. Not only will the toys no longer get farther away from her when she moves but she will be able to crawl over to her brother...and bug him! (something I can tell she desperately wants to do)

Finally.....

Finally...Aiden, Makayla, and I are over the colds we came down with LAST monday. Way too long to be battling a cold.
Finally...Makayla went down for her afternoon nap today with no tears. For some reason this week she decided she no longer wanted to nap so all week I have listened to her scream and pretty much had no breaks since several days I didn't get her to sleep until Aiden woke up. But I've been working with her, using a bit of tough love and a few new ideas I tried today, and "ta-da" both kids asleep right now and no tears....FINALLY!
And Finally...I am getting around to posting again. Its been a long couple of weeks. We've had some fun times the past couple weeks but we were battling some pretty nasty colds and with Makayla's whole nap issues we've had some rough days. Thus I have not felt like posting (to be honest) and have had no time.

So let me see if I can catch you all up on the past couple weeks:
Last Tuesday Aiden got to go for his first airplane ride. Kreg's family has a small 4 seater airplane. So Kreg, his dad, and Aiden flew over to Decator, Illinois for the Farm Progress Show. Aiden loved it! So here he is in the backseat of the plane with Kreg's dad, Tim, and then checking out the cow with HUGE horns, the mini combine, and by the end of the day out cold!





Then over Labor Day weekend we went down to my parents house to visit with my grandparents, visiting us all the way from Washington State. It was so good to see my grandparents again. I miss them and really wish they lived closer. We played some great games of Yatzee (my first time actually), sat around and watched the kids play, and ate lots of really good food (thanks again Mom!). Saturday we also took a little mini trip down to Brown County, IN where Kreg's family and close family friends were vacationing for the weekend. It was nice that it worked out for us to be both places over the weekend.
So here's a few pics:
Me and my baby girl

A Family photo

My Grandparents with Aiden and Makayla, and their cousins Luke and Rachel. Obviously the kids were not excited about this picture. Look closely and you'll see Makayla is trying to squirm her way out of grandpa's arms.

And Four Generations


Over the past two weeks Makayla has also finally mastered the art of sitting up by herself. She LOVES to sit up and play with her brother now. I also noticed today that her first tooth is breaking through. I know what you're thinking...duh Stacey maybe that's why she hasn't been napping well. And you're right. It very well may be (I really did not think she was getting any teeth yet). But I also think she's just been starting to explore her independence and see how far mommy will let her push the envelope. i.e. She's starting to throw little fits if she has a toy taken away from her or we don't let her put something in her mouth. I do not think it will be long until she is crawling either. Just this week she figured out how to scoot backwards and today I saw her push up on her knees for the first time. She really really wants to be mobile so we'll see what happens over the next few weeks.

And Aiden continues to amaze me with his vocabulary. He understands so much. Its fun to talk with him. He has turned into quite the movie buff lately. If I'd let him I fear he would sit in front of the tv all day (don't worry I don't). He is very into counting things and his new thing is bargaining. He doesn't quite understand how it works but we're ok with that. For example, we say "Aiden you need to eat 1 more strawberry and then you can be done with dinner." And he will reply "No three, I only want to eat three." OK Aiden have it your way. Three it is. :) He's at a fun age. He also loves to play baseball right now. I'm invisioning T-ball in just a few short years. And of course any day Aiden gets to help daddy on the farm is a fantastic day in his eyes. We are just a couple weeks out from harvest so Aiden will really get his fill of tractors then.
I think that should pretty much catch you up. Below are a few random pics of the kiddos. The first one is Aiden and Kreg in front of the sprayer and water truck.

One of Makayla's favorite pass times is eating her feet. (Lori this picture is for you.) It is often a race when we are feeding her food to see if we can get the spoon in her mouth before all 5 toes get in.

And lastly a cute picture of my kids together. This is Makayla's "straight line smile." I love this smile. I can hardly get enough of it.


Sorry for such a long post. Hope you enjoyed it. I will try and do better at updating more often.