busy living life

I’ve pretty much ignored the blog. Sorry about that. I’ve been busy with end of the school year and then Nick’s family was able to come to town. It’s been a good couple of weeks but busy. Life’s funny that way, especially pregnant. I have all these things to accomplish but the energy only last so long. I feel great right now so that is nice. I kind of forgot this stage of pregnancy. I remembered the beginning and the end very clearly but the months of feeling pretty good had faded from my memory.

This is going to be a really long post. I have several other post I have to get up soon but this one includes lots and lots of facts and stories.

While I was away (from the blog) we found out that our baby is a boy!!! We are all very thrilled. THRILLED :)I’m so excited for Wills to have a brother and to be able to reuse all his clothes and all that good stuff. So fun!! It’s also super fun that my brother has a baby boy and now my cousin so the boys will all be close in age. How fun!  I’m a big fan of finding out. I love being able to think about my little boy and get ready for him and bond with him verses the unknown “it”. I think it encourages me in labor more than not knowing. In case you are wondering we didn’t find out with Allie so I actually do know what I’m talking about for me :) Nick doesn’t really care but he’d prefer to not know (I think) but he says I’m the one who has the baby so it’s up to me.

While I was away (for a month, insert sheepish grin here) our Miss K turned 2!!! She is every bit a big girl now. My parents were on vacation during her birthday so for us it was a little more low key. We went up to the cabin with Dan and Chrisy and family. We watched the kids Friday night, while Dan and Chrisy went and saw Bill Cosby, and had cake and open presents the next day. She didn’t want to open her presents. It was kind of funny. She’s very opinionated and she kept yelling no. She just wanted to enjoy her “doggy doggy come get your bone” candy bag. Uncle Dave sat down and helped her open her presents. Big shock that her favorite present was a bathing suite… Keira loves swimsuits. She wears them everyday. Before I share her birthday pictures I wanted to mention some things about our girl.

-She’s getting so big! She talks all the time. She’s tells us about everything. She plays with her brother and sister all the time.

-She sings. It’s the cutest thing ever!! really, hearing her sing Jesus loves me is adorable.

-She has a big attitude. She yells a lot when she doesn’t get what she wants. She isn’t nearly as just stubborn as her sister though. She is stubborn but not as much the “I don’t care what you think this is what I’m doing stubborn” She’s more sensitive (not sensitive just more than her sister)…

-She still sleeps in her crib but she climbs in and out. She likes to climb in herself verses me put her in there most of the time. If she wakes up happy she climbs out and comes and gets me. She’s never done it in the dark but she’ll do it at nap time and in the morning. It’s pretty cute to roll over and her be standing there saying “hi mom!”.

-She tells me she’s scared of things. She tried to tell me that yesterday when it was nap time. She was totally trying to get out of going to bed. She does get legitimately scared of things like the vacuum though. It’s hard not to just want to smother her in kisses when she gets a sad look on her face and tells you she’s sceered.

-She loves her daddy and big brother. Nick spends a lot of time reasoning with her when she gets upset about something. Often this makes me the bad guy though because 1. I deal with it 20+ times a day so she doesn’t get the same amount of debating time. When she get’s mad at me she runs to him or crys for him. he can’t say no to Keira. She get’s in plenty of trouble with him as well but she totally has him wrapped around her finger. 2. She has a completely different relationship with me. She responds different to me doing the same things that he does. I’m mom. She still needs me and snuggles with me and will choose to come to me instead of him but she’s well on her way to being a full daddy’s girl. I am trying to learn from him though to be patient with her at times. Hopefully she’s learning to that she doesn’t always get the chance to explain for 10 minutes…

-She is SUPER particular about her clothes. SERIOUSLY!!!! She loves swimsuits and wears them every day. She also likes a few specific pairs of shorts. She gets in a lot of trouble because she doesn’t want to get dressed. It’s ridiculous. She sits in her room for a long time until she get’s on some clothes. She loves to just run around naked which sometimes I let her (see the next bullet). When we go out though that doesn’t exactly work. She likes to pick her clothes out and put them on herself. half the time they are unmatching and on backwards but I’m kind of over it. At least she’s cute. Or I think so :)

-She’s potty trained!!!!! I’m still a little shocked by this one. She was showing serious interest right before he birthday so I set her on the toilet and she freaked out at first but once she went once that was pretty much it. I am still a little shocked that my baby is potty trained. Thrilled, yes. Just surprised. Neither of the older two were potty trained this early. I would love to share my secrets with you but I didn’t do anything. She lets me know when she has to go and we go. Sometimes 4 times in a half hour but she seriously goes every time. We have very few potty accidents. I’m still baffled, seriously. Maybe getting a jump on it when they are little is the way to go. They just get it maybe or maybe its just her, I have no idea!!??!! It makes her seem much more grown up though.

-She started chewing through all of her binkies the week we went to Yosemite so she doesn’t have a pacifier any more either. She’s done really well with that as well. She has a blanket she’s much more attached to now but it really hasn’t messed with her naps or anything. I’m really thankful, when we tossed Allies (she was much older) she gave up naps pretty much completely. Keira is a much better sleeper than Allie though.

-She likes to do everything brother and sister do. If they color she wants to color. If Allie get’s her nails painted she wants hers painted hair done you name it. She's also pretty independent though and will happily play by herself. She likes to read books and look at pictures. My mom has this flip album and Keira loves it. She points everyone one out and talks about them.

-She still loves to buckle everything. She is very particular about getting her car seat buckled and where she sits and in which seat. Since we watch Jill there are often 2 seats she can sit in. She’s a stinker about most things.

(I’m pretty sure I’m missing a lot of facts about my big girl but this whole post has taken me a long time and my kids are running around and need momma back before my house gets torn apart even more… )

We sure love our baby girl and are so thankful for the two years you’ve been a part of our family. We wouldn’t be the same without you!!!

 

she blew out her candles really early. She loves to blow out candles so Nick relit them and she did it twice while we sang.

I love that Autumn climbing over Dave while he helps Keira. hehe if he is ever a dad some day he’ll be far more ready after spending so much time with all our kids :)

 

hard to tell but this is the kids having smores off the back deck. yummy yummy

On a serious note the trip was also one of scariest moments of my life. After lunch Dan and Chrisy were packing up, I was doing dishes, and Nick and Dave went dirt bike ridding. I hadn’t seen Wills and Kate for awhile but it didn’t think to much about it at first because there were lots of people walking inside and outside. Well after about 10 minutes we really couldn’t find them. We covered all the basic area’s and still couldn’t find them. Dan Chrisy and I started looking everywhere and still couldn’t find them. After about 20 minutes of searching I called Nick cell which he shockingly answered. He said he was pretty annoyed I was calling but they came right back as soon as I explained. So the 5 of us kept looking. After about and hour Dan called the sheriff and they were headed out. I was crying and trying not to completely loose it when Dave and Nick came running up with them on their backs. I’m seriously almost in tears just remembering the whole experience. They had been gone about an hour and 15 minutes I think. The sheriff drove up right in time to see our family reunion. I was balling my eyes out.

The kids had decided to follow the boys on the dirt bikes. They walked a couple miles on the trail and had decided to start heading back when they saw Dave. William wasn’t the least bit worried. Part of me was really proud of him for knowing exactly where he was and not being the least bit scared. I was thankful that at least he wasn’t lost in the woods petrified. The other part of me was furious he just decided he could head off into the woods without asking. I guess at my parents other house there is a little more liberty for independent exploring. We really don’t even know this neighborhood at all and that was pretty frightening. 

I’m so thankful that God returned our kids without any incident. I have to say that even though that hour was one of the scariest of my life it also really made me stop and once again realize I have no control. It made me realize that William belongs to God and not to me. I got a lot of opportunity to think about how whatever the outcome, I had to trust God. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to survive if we didn’t find them but it made me buckle down and pour out every insecurity to God. pray  His scripture and remember that God is good even when I don’t understand. He promises not to give me more than I can handle with his grace so I got an opportunity to rest in the fact that his grace once again is sufficient. It was a good, horrible experience, one I don’t want to take lightly or ever experience again. I also took comfort in the fact that I’m pretty confident that I would see my little man again some day. He has a very tender heart for God and surprises me with his understanding of the gospel. Ok so I’m crying now… :) Pregnancy really brings out the hormones. I’m so thankful I can tell you this as a story of a difficult hour instead of you seeing it on the nightly news… Thank you LORD!