Back to School for Abigail!

Abigail started back to school today! She was so excited & has been counting down for almost 2 weeks now. She is in her final year of preschool & goes 3 days/week for 3 hrs and is loves it! She has some friends in her class from last year, which she was very happy about! Mitchell is trying to adjust to having his "GaGa" not with him all day, but it does make him even more excited to see her when we pick her up!
We are so proud of our little girl, she is so brave & so independent! It's bittersweet though, I can see her needing us less & less, but hope that she always knows that we are here for her!

Bedrest as a SAHM is no fun!

So, things have been fairly easy throughout the majority of this pregnancy, but the past month or so has been rough. We have been dealing with pre-term contractions/labor, something that we are all too familiar with, as we also dealt with it when I was pregnant with Abigail. Fortunately, this time around it started later in the pregnancy and has been manageable without complete bedrest & medication. However, this past week that all changed & I am now on a modified bedrest, modified only because I am the only caregiver for the kids during the day! The kids & I have been doing a lot of vegging in bed & taking it easy during the days because anytime Mommy is up that is when my problems start. The goal at this point is to make it to 37 weeks, which is Sept 18, and of course anything beyond that is just bonus.

Steve has also been affected by this new development, as he has to work all day & then come home & take care of all the things that I usually do. He has been amazing to me & the kids, which I am not surprised by, because he always puts our needs above his own! I don't know what I would do without him & his support!

We are so excited to meet this new baby, but want he/she to be completely healthy, so the longer he/she stays in the better it will be. We just have a little bit longer left until our lives can return to normal, or as normal as it will be with 3 kids!!

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!