Mitchell is potty training!!

There is some major excitement in our house...Mitchell has decided that he is ready to start going pee-pee on the big boy potty!! We have been trying to get him interested over the past few months, but he wasn't showing any enthusiasm about it. Two nights ago, Steve sat him on the potty & he actually went for the first time. We didn't have any success during the day yesterday, but then again last night he went before bath time and then woke up this morning with a dry diaper. So, he said he needed to go pee-pee on the big boy potty this morning and he went!! He is so proud of himself & we are so proud of him! Today he is wearing his first pull-up, so we are all anxious to see how he will do during the day. What a wonderful gift for his mommy, if he gets this down before the new baby arrives!

Okay, maybe I should give this blog thing another go!

As stated before, I am not very good at keeping up with things like this and of course that is very apparent in the fact that I have not posted a new blog entry since the end of January!! However, I would like to try again because I do enjoy reading other people's blogs & find it a great way to capture those day to day moments that would otherwise just be forgotten all too easily.

To catch up, we found out the end of January that we are expecting another baby! As I type, we are 34 weeks pregnant with baby #3!! We chose not to find out the gender of this baby, which was hard for me as the impatient one, but fun nonetheless! The kids were thrilled to hear the news that they were getting a new sibling & have really enjoyed watching the baby grow in Mommy's tummy. Although the pregnancy has been difficult on me physically (just the every day aches & pains & trying to keep up with 2 very energetic kiddos!) it has been a relatively event-free pregnancy. We are so very excited to meet this new addition to our family in just a few short weeks & can't wait to watch our family continue to grow!

Steve also had a big career move in February, when he moved from Merrill Lynch to Morgan Stanley. The move has been a good one for our family, but has been very stressful & hard on Steve, as he has had to move all his clients over, which is never an easy feat. He has been working so hard for our family & we are so fortunate that he loves us all enough to do this!

Abigail & Mitchell continue to grow & change every day! They can be challenging at times (what pre-schooler & toddler aren't?) but they are also lots of fun! We love the joy that they bring to our lives.

Most of our summer has been surrounded my Mommy's ever-growing tummy & the anticipation of the arrival of our new baby, but we were able to get away for a week on vacation as a familiy. The four or us spent a week in South Haven, MI in July & had a blast!! It was an awesome vacation & one that we will not forget! We didn't do much, but just spent time as a family on the beach of Lake Michigan & in the swimming pool. Perfect vacation in our book!

Abigail will be starting 4 yr old preschool after Labor Day and she is very excited to get back to her class. Mitchell will be home being Mommy's big boy helper with the baby, let's hope that all works out!!

Hopefully, now I can get back to blogging & trying to capture these momemts in our family's life! I vow to try much harder at taking the time!!

Trying to get caught up

Okay, so I underestimated my ability to keep up with a blog. I probably should have take a clue from the fact that I have never been able to keep a diary or journal of any kind! But, I am attempting to get our blog up to date and want to keep everything in order, since I do want to use this as a journal for our life with our children. So, bare with me. I am working on it! I hope to get more caught up over the next few days!! You will just have to scroll down to see the posts that I am adding in the appropriate dates!

Abigail loves Bible stories!

Abigail is our big reader, really takes after her Mommy! I always have a book that I am caring around, that I am in the middle of reading. I think that Abigail has picked up my love for reading and is always "reading" too. We can read her a story 1 time and she almost has it memorized and that way she can "read" all by herself. It is the book that we read stories out of before bed and I can't tell you how many times we have gone through it.

A funny story, today Abigail had her Children's Bible Story book, her absolute favorite book to read. I asked her what she was reading today and she told me that she was reading the story called "The Last Breakfast" instead of "The Last Supper"! I was laughing and said " you mean The Last Supper?" She said "oh, okay" and went on reading. It was too funny! I love the things that kids say, it keeps life interesting!

Mitchell & Christmas Lights!

Today we put our Christmas tree & decorations up around the house. We all love doing this! We put on Christmas music and reminise as we get each ornament out. This year the kids were very interested in the different ornaments, especially those that were unique for them.

Mitchell was amazed at the Christmas tree & all the lights (or as he said it Missmiss Mights!) He said "Wowee!" and "I touch it" He couldn't get enough of the pretty lights and just standing there in pure amazement and wonder. Our neighbors also put up their many, many outside lights, which was another amazing moment for him! It is so true that seeing Christmas through the eyes of your child is one of the most awesome gifts that our Father gives us! It definitely always keeps the "Christ" in Christmas, because our children our such a blessing from God!

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend as usual, spending time between Steve's side of the family & mine. We spend Thursday-Thanksgiving Day at Steve's uncle's house with his extended family, as well as his parents & sister. The kids had such a great time seeing their cousins and eating lots of great food! We had an enjoyable time getting to catch up with everyone and just enjoying good company.

Friday we woke up and got ready for our trip to Carrollton to spend Thanksgiving with my side of the family. This year was a special treat, as my Grammy & her new husband made the trip north from their home in TX. The kids loved seeing them and again got to play with a cousin and of course, Nana & Poppa's dogs.

I think Thanksgiving has to be one of my favorite holidays. I love some good food (and believe me, in our 2 families, there is plenty of that!!) and getting to spend so much time just talking and socializing, without the hassle of presents and everything. I was so excited to see my Grammy this year, that was truly the icing on the cake for me! I am so thankful that our kids come from 2 wonderful families and are blessed to get to experience this kind of togetherness. I know that it's because of those people, that Steve & I are who we are today and in turn, will help shape Abigail & Mitchell too.

Abigail's Kisses

We are very lucky that we have such great kids and I guess that they have learned from us how to be affectionate. There is never a shortage of hugs & kisses around our house and there are always lots of "I love you's" going around. Tonight while putting Abigail to bed, I was able to gather even more goodnight kisses than usual! Daddy was the first to tuck her in tonight and he taught her a butterfly kiss, where you let your eyelashes flutter together. She thought this was so great, another way to kiss! So, when I went in next to say prayers & tuck her in, she showed me how to butterfly kiss. After the butterfly kisses, she asked for some Eskimo kisses that I had showed her to do several weeks ago. Then off the top of her head, she asked me if I wanted a giraffe kiss. I said sure and asked how we did giraffe kisses. She preceded to tell me that you have to rub your foreheads together to giraffe kiss. So, we did some giraffe kisses. Next, she sat there for a minute and I could tell she was trying to come up with another type of kiss, and she asked me if I wanted to zebra kiss. At this point, I am trying to hide my laughter, but she was being serious and had given lots of thought to these. I asked her how to zebra kiss and she said that we had to rub our chins together, that was a zebra kiss.

So, needless to say, on many nights we now have a plethora of kisses to choose from and never know what crazy thing she will come up with next! She is so creative and has such a vivid imagination that we never know what she will dream up! As a parent, it is so amazing to watch your kids' personalities take shape and get to take part in their dreams and of course to share many, and sometimes, silly kisses!