Our sweet september baby

Come September we will be welcoming our final baby into our family. I never fully knew we would be adding one more until we found out we were pregnant and my whole heart knew this baby was meant to be in that moment. I have been so content with my two boys and wasn’t sure I wanted to rock the boat, but God opened my heart to prepare for this final child that is supposed to be ours. The journey to this baby has been so special too! Adam and I got to go on a trip of a lifetime and spend two weeks in Australia. It was a second honeymoon all over again except this time we brought back our best souvenir.

I had been feeling off a bit the 3rd week back from our trip, I was gagging a bit at random things such as coffee grounds and when I would wake in the morning I had a bit of nausea! After thinking maybe it was more then just jet lag from all of our travels, I took a test christmas eve which came back negative! While I knew I tested early, I thought maybe it was just in my head. Christmas morning I woke again with the same feelings and had one more test, so tested and and I was pretty sure I saw the faintest line ever, so faint Adam was convinced it was another negative… That whole day being with family was so weird knowing I might be pregnant, but wasn’t sure! The next morning, I told Adam, I had to test again, that it was killing me.. so I bought a different brand of tests and that positive came up pretty quickly! We both got teary eyed and hug and felt this overwhelming feeling of how this baby was going to be the forever baby of the family.

Enter the first trimester of DEATH! I went from the most amazing month in December of traveling with my family to Florida, a two week trip to Australia with my husband and christmas with family to the hardest trimester yet. By week 5 by symptoms were full blown, all day nausea and extreme aversions. I honestly barely functioned for three months, my kids ate cereal for dinner, maybe toast some nights? Adam didn’t have one home cooked meal waiting for him and he gained all my pregnancy weight first trimester! sorry babe! I would lay in bed watching my kids play hockey in my room pretending like I was cheering while I was closing my eyes. My first throw-up hit by week 7 maybe? and after that it was hard to control and think I threw up once or twice a week. I had my final throw up at week 12 and starting seeing the light… by week 14 I mostly have had my appetite back although a few things still make me nauseous, coffee grounds, my dish soap, and my anti bacterial spray i use for my counter tops!

Here is the little stinker at 10 weeks. The boys were with me for the ultrasound and the baby was wiggling and moving which they loved seeing!

Below I’m 15 weeks with this baby. Its my biggest bump at 15 weeks of all three, I have been more bloated this time then the other two!

We find out in 2.5 weeks who will complete our family! My heart is so ready to know and prepare! I could not love my two little boys more. I am so ready for God’s plan whether it is a girl or another boy. Motherhood is my greatest calling and I couldn’t love my children more.

my world wrapped up.

I never want to forget these ages, having a almost four and two year old running around the house. I love hearing them running up the stairs together, giggling at what mischief they are about to get into. I love how Kai copies everything his older brothers does, he thinks he’s the best. I love the sweetness in their baby voices they still have and the innocence in their eyes. I love that they sleep with stuffed animals for comfort and want our undivided attention when playing sports.  I love most of all that they still need me, to kiss their boo boos, cuddle them when they are sick, a hug when they are sad and most of all, being their best friend. My two little boys, you are your momma’s complete joy and my finest work.

our little lover, Kai guy

Our youngest is now a couple months shy of TWO! What a wild ride its been with our Kai! He is so different then his brother, but I love love having two completely different boys, they compliment each other so well, and we always say in our family they are just like my dad and his brother, Noah being like my dad, calm, kind and witty and Kai being like my uncle bob, adventurous, mischievous and on the go! But even as much as he keeps me on my toes, his big brown eyes and blonde hair that likes to stick straight up melts me every time! And he is such a lover!! loves cuddling on laps, hugging pi pi or when “No no” gives him kisses, he always leans in for more! I love watching this guy grow and am shocked all the time by how good his gross motor skills are! He is always keeping up with brother! Love you, Kai and can’t wait to see where your strong will, adventurous side will take you! I have a feeling, I”ll be watching you a lot from the sidelines.

What you love!

• Love all sports like your brother! Get so excited watching basketball or baseball on the TV with daddy and Noah. Love trying to all the sports your brother is into, hitting a tennis ball, swinging a golf club, bat and hockey stick and shooting basketballs into our hoop!
• Babies! You are memorized every time you see a baby and let me know when you see one! You give our friends babies hugs and kisses all the time and are so gentle. My heart puddles watching you with babies.
• Stuffed animals! Noah never liked them until he got older, but you have to have two “pup pups” in bed with you every night
• Blue seems to be your favorite color so far! You say its your favorite when asked and love pointing out blue things!
• Books, i catch you sitting in your chair in your bedroom reading books a lot
• Milk… you drink a lot! like your brother
• sucking your thumb still, in your crib!
• Dancing, you are our little dance machine, when ever you hear music, those feet start moving and the jumps come out!
• when noah plays with you!
• Elmo, Curious George “Georgie”, and Thomas the Train “choo choo” are your favorite shows

What you know:

• starting to really learn your colors and point them out, blue and purple are the two colors you notice the most right now
• really starting to talk and put words together! My favorite things you say are
  • “bye no no!” when he goes into his classroom for school.
  • “Show two” since noah always asks for three shows, you always follow and say two… little stinkers
  • “oh shoot!” I must say this a lot, because now if something spills or falls you say “oh shoot, oh shoot, oh shoot”
  • You say “Hi” or “bye” to everyone, my favorite is when we arrived to one of daddys matches outside, a player from the opposite team came to the fence and you yelled “hi” to him as loud as you could
  • refers to himself in third person just like noah did, “kai’s shoes” “kai’s cup” so sweet to hear you say your name!

Whats been challenging:

• I could write a novel on Kai and teething. I mean its been SO hard. He perfectly spaced them apart and his teeth will literally take a full month, maybe two to cut. And he’s in pain the WHOLE time. I don’t know what we are going to do when molars come in.
• sickness… poor guy gets sick every time he’s put in child care… it made for  really hard winter and hard for me to enjoy putting him because then i’m dealt with a  sick kid for a week. Hoping his immune system gets better soon.
• His attachment to me. While I love how much he loves his momma, Noah never had issues going between adam and I, infact, Noah wanted Adam more then me alot of the time! But, Kai has epic meltdowns when going into said child care. that’s hard to hear and see.

Love you so much, Kai.

sweetness wrapped up in this boy

Our oldest child is a few months away from four… and each day this guy steals our hearts ten times over! Your kindness is rare. Your laugher and giggles are so contagious! The other day a parent was in school and heard your giggle and she made a comment to your teacher on what a happy wonderful kid you were! People see your light where ever we go! Your teachers said you are always happy, kind, funny and a friend to everyone. They are sad they won’t have you in class next year! I love your spirit, i love your drive to want to do good and make people happy. I hope you never lose this side of you, but keep on sharing it with the world. we love being your mom and dad!

Update on who you are these days!

What you’ve learned:

• You are finally potty trained!! whoo hoo! this was more a battle for mom then you! But a little after christmas you decided you were ready and once you were, you totally got it! It took you a bit longer to go number two in the toilet but we finally are over that hump and now you want privacy always when in the bathroom haha!
• You went from identifying a few letters in the alphabet in the beginning of school, (mainly your name) to knowing all the letters! You sometimes gets M and W mixed up 🙂
• Being able to only really scribble to writing your name and trying to write other letters as well
• your gross motor has always been a little bit slower, but you have improved so much and are becoming more daring by the day! You also are finally getting competitive! If you don’t do it right the first time you want to try again! Keep that drive honey! We say “Losers don’t try, Winners always at least try!” I told you that once and you always tell me and show me you’re trying!

What you love:

• Favorite sports are still hockey, baseball, golf, soccer and tennis! Golf and tennis are your speciality right now! You have been doing private tennis lessons with daddy and taking his clinic on tuesday nights, you went from not being able to hit the ball over the net to being able to drop bounce the ball over the net and run and hit it! Your backhand is so strong!! Its been so fun to watch you get so much better and enjoy it! Your golf swing is always so good! You hit the ball off the tee almost every time and it goes far! You want to do hockey and soccer again this summer! So hard to pick and choose what sports to do, too many options, but trying to stick to what you enjoy!
• The color red is still your favorite! and probably mom’s least favorite haha!
• family adventure days! we do these special days a few times a month and you are in heaven the whole day when all of us are together!
• Your brother!! some days more then others, but when he’s napping now you ask whens he’s up constantly so you can play with him! You sing “Jesus loves me” to Kai before bed and i think I cry everytime I hear your little voice sing to him.
• Pasta!!  Loves anything with noodles and sauce!!

Drinking chocolate milk after a fresh hair cut:

Boppa has been visiting once a month and the boys love it! 

This was too cute, all the guys below put their hands behind their back for the national anthem and you had to do it too!

Daddy’s boy. Always has been.

Love you Noah Joseph!!!

Life in preschool

That grown-up, infectious smile you see is my boy’s first school picture ever… and he killed it! We couldn’t be more thankful for such a great start for Noah into school. He has been doing SO well, we have seen his confidence continue to grow and him taking more risks. He has been known to be a bit of class clown ha! I always get reports of how he has everyone cracking up.

Going into the school year, I found out he was the youngest kid in the class. It made me a bit nervous knowing that, but his teachers couldn’t be kinder and tell Adam and I all the time that he’s three, going on 25 with how well he communicates. In fact, his teacher told me the older  day that he may be one of the most well spoken three-year-olds she’s ever encountered. We couldn’t be more proud.

We had our first parent-teacher conference last week and it so nice to hear how well he is doing. And one of my favorite parts was hearing how he’s best friends in class with two older boys, Everett and Elliot and every day after rest time, they will read to Noah. His teacher said its rare that three first born children get along so well, but those three boys are all the sweetest. His kindness continues to grow and affect others and we only pray he keeps spreading his contagious joy.

This class picture of him is so funny and a great memory.

Kai Everett at 15 months

Our blonde hair, brown eyed boy just turned 15 months! Since he was 5 months old, he always surprised us with how strong and determined he was, and that has not changed at all as he’s gotten older! He is so opposite of his brother and I love having two boys with two completely different strengths.. its been amazing and humbling to realize how different children can be and to celebrate them for who they are. We can’t wait to see what this kid will do, his competitiveness will be sure to keep us on our feet!

What you say:

• “Mama” (you now call me mama intentionally)
• Da! (is how you call your daddy, when he walks through the door after work, you go running to him yelling, “Da, da, da!” so cute
• “Goal! This was your first word besides mama and dada, you also raise your hands while yelling goal. Seeing that you were kicking a soccer ball at 9 months and first real word was “goal” i will be SHOCKED if you don’t love soccer
• “Boppa” Your boppa is the first grandparent you said! its so cute!
• “nigh nigh” You just start saying “nigh nigh” at bedtime
• You also love to communicate through signing, you sign “more” like crazy and “milk” you are always telling me those things because you want more food and milk all the time! Also can sign “all done” “please” and we are working on “thank you!”

What you know/love:

• Running around the house
• Starting to know body parts, can point to nose and head
• Playing hockey with noah… but you also will hit noah or pilot as hard as you can in the head with sticks so I have been hiding all hockey and golf clubs until this phase is over!
• Playing with your brother, you guys have been playing together more and more and makes me so happy to see you two have that bond!
• You are more content when noah is around even if you are not playing together
• Daddy! Going through a daddy phase and get so excited to have him hold you or be near him, except when you are teething you are all about your mom!
• You look up and point to the sky when you see a airplane
• Love pointing out dogs when you see them. It was actually sad, Pilot recently got a haircut, and Pilot does look so difference after a hair cut and Kai was SO scared of Pilot, it took him a full day to realize it was the same dog
• Into jumping, even try jumping off little steps
• instead of just kicking a ball, you now run and kick!
• love waving hi to people or bye
• DANCING! it is so so cute! Noah was never as big into dancing as Kai at this age and its so sweet
• sucking your thumb still at night, you have been getting red bumps all around your mouth I think from teething and sucking your thumb

What’s been challenge:

• Your teething! He just has a really hard time when they are close to cutting and is so clingy and cranky
• Your strength- You will seriously hit Noah or Pilot SO SO hard with hockey sticks or golf clubs and its gotten to be really dangerous. You think its funny right now, so I have to be always aware of what you are doing
• Child care – you have a hard time if mom puts you into child care when I work out for have MOTS and it absolutely kills me! I know its your age, most kids this age do and Noah did as well and overcame it, so we just have to get through!
• You want all the attention! If Noah is upset, then you start crying to and run to me and try to push Noah away and put your head on my shoulder… or if you hit noah, you will immediately come running to me and try to cuddle so I’m not mad… LITTLE STINKER

We love you so much Kai, and how you keep us on our toes!

Halloween 2016

We kicked off halloween this year with Noah’s school trick or treat! Kai and I got to treat or treat with him around his school, which was so much! The hayride they were supposed to do got cancelled because of rain!

Here is our big dinosaur!

His whole class! (with a few brother and sisters thrown in)

Halloween day we got ready for a few family pictures.. here is the littlest dinosaur..

Our Jurassic Park theme! 🙂

Time to trick or treat!! These boys both did not nap at all, Kai was teething SO bad and Noah was too excited, so off we went with two tired boys, but you would never have known it!

After the first stop we got some suckers! Kai was so happy and sucked on that thing the whole time.

Kai got so into it! He would have to get out of the wagon every time and walk to the house, it was too cute!

Auntie Sarah always comes for halloween and was so special to have her here again! Last year it was rainy and cold, this year 60s and sunny!

Love my dinosaurs! Can’t wait until next year!

Fall in Indiana

Indiana falls really are one of the most beautiful things! It stays a little warmer later in the year here and the leaves take the full month of October and some of November to change colors so we can fully enjoy it! This year was so much fun with Kai and Noah! We have played outside almost every day before old man winter comes a knocking! Supposed to be 70 degrees this friday and then a high of 45 degrees on Saturday! Here are some shots of how we have been enjoying the fall!

Fun in a hay maze at the pumpkin farm:

My little helper:

Love these two brown eyed brothers

Putting our pickings on the doorsteps!

Nothing says “brothers” like this picture.. love these sweet boys!

Spent lots of time at the Notre Dame Park

Helping daddy buy a new leaf blower for the millions of leaves that will blanket our yard

Snuck away for a 70 degree date night under the lights

My three boys

And this is why you have boys! My future lawn service! Practice makes perfect!

Addy and Noah got hair cuts on the same day! This picture is too much cute!!

On a adventure with dad!

First hockey game of the season with best friend, Finn.

Another warm November day, so I took my boys on a Zoo date.

You have been so good to us Fall, please winter be very kind! Decorating for christmas begins this weekend!

Our Kai – ONE year!

ahh a year! our littlest is a year!! oh my sweet Kai. you have worked your way into the deepest parts of our hearts and we just love you so!! You are determined, STRONG, have the biggest crinkled nose smile and can be so sweet with mommy! You have been getting into a really fun stage where you love jumping with noah on couch cushion and randomly dancing in the room. Everyone thinks you look a lot like noah, which you do, but I see a lot of daddy in you, his nose, smile and cheeks radiate your dad. You have the biggest brown eyes and blonde hair coming in. You suck you thumb for every nap and going to sleep at night, but you will only suck in your crib and i love seeing it on the monitor. You will wake in the morning and quietly suck your thumb until I come in, but if I’m being extra slow, you let me know:) I love that i’m still learning who you are…you are going to keep momma on her toes and i’m up for the challenge baby boy!

What you love:

• Food
• Running
• Balls
• Hitting Noah in the head
• Jumping on pillows
• laying your head on mommy
• wrestling with daddy

What you don’t love:

• CAR RIDES- the day you don’t whine in the car, we are throwing a major party.
• When Noah steals your toy
• Waiting to eat
• Teething! When you get a tooth in , we all feel your pain.

Growth:

• You seem to be very focused on your physical ability… your early walking has turned in to running, walking up hills, climbing…
• Words you seem to be taking longer. You have say mama a lot but not on consistent basis and you went through a dada phase for a few weeks, but again not on consistent basis. you love to make sounds and mimic noah and say a particular that sounds like “away” all the time.
• You love clapping, hitting things and throwing! You actually will try to put noah’s baseball glove on and throw the ball inside it!
• You have become a great sleeper, thank God! Sleeping around 11.5 hours a night and taking two 1.5-2 hr naps a day.

Happy FIRST birthday, Kai Everett! What a gift you are!

noah joesph – 3 years!

Our oldest just turned Three! Can’t believe it!

what you say:
“Follow me, mom”
“I want lots of some”
“Maybe you should put Kai down for a nap”
“We will fix that, later”

What you love:

• Still love digger trucks
• Favorite sports at the moment are hockey and baseball. You love to pretend to be the goalie and the catcher
• Favorite color is Red
• Jumping on the couch cushions with Kai
• Playing outside
• Jumping at Sky zone! (literally his happy place)
• family time
• shows- maybe a little too much! so he has a set time a day he can watch a show

What’s been a challenge:

• Classes we take. Currently in swimming and just finished soccer. At soccer some classes he was great, at others, he didn’t want to participate. We are working on trying hard, even when we don’t want to. Swimming class has become a recent challenge, after going under water for his longest consecutive seconds and his teacher left, he developed a fear and is having a hard time.
• Potty training… well that might be my challenge, I have yet to really start training!! Come on, Mom! His interest level hasn’t been too high, so we will see how this goes!
• Over coming fears. He can be very tentative when trying new things, working on his confidence!

Who you are:

• Kind, kind, kind! He really is just so naturally sweet! He will almost always share his toys, loves inviting kids to play with him and can really control his anger. We are so proud him!
• Mr. talkative! Loves to talk to anyone he meets and tell about the tree that cracked in our yard.
• napper king – he still takes 2.5-3 hours naps a day! and needs them! His body really seems to need that down time in the afternoon, which makes me a little nervous for preschool!
• Kodak memory. His memory will always surprise and amaze us.. and i apparently remember a lot of things incorrectly and he is always right! oh boy!
• Has a great imagination! Makes leaf blowers and weed wackers out of sticks, is always building with train tracks and blocks and his trucks are always on a mission. At the park he becomes “fire fighter noah” and saves friends who don’t even know they are being saved 🙂

What’s ahead:

Preschool! He will be attending two full days a week! We are so excited for this big milestone and first introduction to school. We think he will excel at learning new things and making friends. I know the first few weeks will be a bit hard with him adjusting to hopefully a little nap there and being away from me all day! I didn’t think I would be as sad thinking about him being gone two days as I am! I thought I would be ready! But he really has such a good nature about him, days at home with him are not hard and I love our time together, but know he’s ready to expand his horizons!

His daddy and him have always had a special relationship. So thankful for the bond they share! 

and he has mommy wrapped around his finger forever.  xoxoxo.