Life Lately

Dear me.  This is most certainly the longest my poor blog has sat silent.  For anyone who has still bothered to check if I’ve updated and is now reading this post, thank you!  We have been fairly busy lately, and it seems that a lot of my writing time has been replaced by other needs and activities.  Plus, I’ve grown more tired as the pregnancy has progressed as well.

At any rate, I wanted to update on what is going on in life these days.  It is a crazy time for our family!  Ryan is in the thick of his residency interviews which has made for significant travel and time apart.  It is an exciting but tiring time!  For him, spending so many hours on the road and in the air, with the additional pressure of going to lengthy interviews that will have a tremendous impact on our future.  And for me, pregnant and home taking care of our boys solo.  It has most definitely been a time of leaning on God for strength and entrusting Him completely with our future, whatever that may look like.

We are in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy with our little guy!  I figured now that we’ve reached that milestone, I should take at least one photo of my growing belly… 29 weeks with Baby Boy #3:

I was experiencing some extreme pelvic discomfort for several weeks, and honestly, I was feeling really discouraged at the thought of going 3 more months in such pain.  It hurt just to walk, and pulling on boots (a must in WI winter!) was next to impossible on my own.  But praise God, the pain has ceased!  And it happened just this week, when I’ve been alone with the boys.  His timing is so perfect!  Aside from general fatigue and occasional bouts of nausea, I’m feeling great and so thankful to be at this point. 

Abe has been asking all the time when he’ll be able to feel the baby move, and it seems that every time I call him over to feel it, he stops moving!  Little stinker!  But the other night, Abe was having trouble sleeping and came into our room.  He snuggled up next to me, and the baby was moving like CRAZY.  He finally got to feel him moving (and a TON!), and it was the most magical moment for us to share.  He was completely lit up and so excited.  It is a memory I will treasure forever!

Charlie is excited about giving the baby hugs and kisses and playing with him, but his understanding is so much different than Abe’s now this time around.  It’s been exciting to experience it through both of their vantage points.

This morning was Abe’s Holiday Sing at school.  He did great!  It was a bit chaotic, but I could tell the music teacher was so invested in the children and excited about sharing her love of music with them.  The pictures are terrible, but necessary I suppose…

Here he is walking in and waving his scarf—he wanted to pick out his outfit today—Christmas colors!

 

When he first spotted where Charlie and I were sitting:

 

I’m not sure what was wrong with this little guy!  It is Abe’s good buddy, Gavin, and it looks like Abe is a little distraught about it, too!

 

Singing “This Little Light of Mine”:

 

Charlie, my little sidekick, has certainly been enjoying “helping” holiday baking!  Here he is licking the bowl clean after we dipped some caramels in chocolate.

 

I love to bake, so baking and then sharing is a favorite part of Christmas for me.

 

Making gingerbread men, the boys’ request!

 

And last, Abe made this Christmas Wish List at school.  I totally love little kid spelling!  His wishes: powerful legos, fire logs, pencil sharpener, and a flash light.  So funny!

 

We look forward to continuing on into the Christmas season, especially after we’re reunited with Daddy.  Praying that your holiday season is blessed!

Abe’s Fun Run

About a month ago, Abe’s school had a “Fun Run” fundraiser.  The kids raised pledges (or flat donations) for each lap they were able to run.  It was a lot fun to watch, with loud, upbeat music playing and parents cheering for all the kids. 

Abe was so incredibly determined—he didn’t stop one time until the final buzzer rang, about 25 minutes of running!  A couple of times as he ran past me, he asked wearily, “Mommy, when will it be over?!” I told him he could stop and walk to catch his breath, but he said, “Nope, gotta keep going ‘til the end!”  Honestly, I really wanted him to stop!  His cheeks were all red and blotchy, and he had been running so hard.  But, I guess his determination paid off--the little guy ended up with the most laps ran in his class!  He was very excited to win, but he also told us he never wants to do a race like that again!

At the very start, full of energy:

 

Hard to see him, but he’s on the very right:

 

About 3/4 of the way through, getting tired!

 

After the run with his friend and “Yellow Team” teammate:

 

Cooling off with some water and orange slices (they let Charlie have some too)!

It’s A….

We had our 20 week ultrasound several weeks ago, and we asked the sonographer to write down the gender and place it in an envelope that I had addressed to my sister-in-law.  This past Friday, we finally found out!

In pictures…:

Pizza before the reveal:

 

Everyone’s guesses—most think it will be a boy!

 

A black balloon filled with confetti to pop:

 

 

…

 

 

The confetti is BLUE, it’s a BOY!!!!  Now there will be 3 LITTLE BOYS in our family!!

 

The post-it the sonographer wrote on and Erin got in the mail:

 

Thanks so much to Erin for putting it together of us (especially after just having delivered her own little girl 4 days prior!) and to my parents for hosting for us.  It was a really special evening, and we are so thankful and excited to welcome this new little man into the world!

Leaf Hunt!

We are so enjoying fall!  The boys are especially enthralled with every part of it, constantly commenting about the leaves, the crisp air, all the pumpkins they see, and asking for hot chocolate or apple cider often.

Abe brought a library book home from school a couple of weeks ago, and it was about two brothers who loved fall and went on a leaf hunt every year.  (I'm sure you can guess where this is going...)  Per Abe's repeated requests (and the rest of the family's desire, too!), we went on a leaf hunt last weekend.  A chilly but beautiful family outing that was a ton of fun! 

At the beginning, Daddy announced that the person who found the prettiest leaf would win a prize.  Abe was SO set on winning!  The problem was that we didn't really have a prize to fulfill this promise... but as the afternoon wore on, it was well past 6 o'clock by the time we wrapped up.  Ryan quietly suggested that we let Abe win and that the prize would be getting to pick where we would eat dinner.... we knew Abe would pick McDonald's, so it wouldn't be too costly of a prize!  Well, Abe won, and as we suspected, he immediately said his pick was McDonald's!  We only rarely eat there if we travel over a meal time, but it has somehow won a soft spot in Abe's heart.  He deems it his favorite restaurant, because they have the best French fries!  I suppose their fries are pretty good if they're hot and fresh!

Pictures:

So beautiful!

Boys:

Boys with Mommy:

In order: Alyssa's, Ryan's, Charlie's, Abe's

Abe won because he found such a lovely colored leaf bouquet, and Charlie got bonus points for finding beauty in the unexpected and looking beyond the exterior (if you click and enlarge the picture, you'll see what I mean!!).

Summer Wrap-Up

Now that it’s officially fall, I suppose I ought to document these pictures from summer, right?!  We crammed in quite a bit of fun right before school started for Abe!

A Sunday evening at the beach.  We finally got the kite out—see it way up there?!

 

Our first attempt to the petting farm with Emily, Brady, and Maddie was rained out (despite the fact that we kept checking the weather and it was supposedly clear), so we found an alternative that appeased our bummed kiddos…. McDonald’s PlayPlace! 

 

The next day-perfect weather!  We were glad we didn’t just chance it the day prior.  We milked a cow, fed goats, road ponies, held baby chicks, went on a hayrack ride and played all sorts of fun games.  A funny side note about the cow: we successfully milked it (really neat!) and then RIGHT after we stepped back, the cow peed….and let me tell you….she really went to town….it was a LOT…for a LONG time…. Anyway, afterward, one of the workers swept it under the stand and put fresh hay down.  Apparently, this was quite a monumental moment in little Charlie’s life, because for 3 weeks after that, he thanked God in his prayers every night for “the chance to go to the petting farm where the cow peed and the boy swept it up”!!

of course out of all the empty buggies, Charlie squeezes right in next to Maddie—doesn’t she look thrilled?!

 

Lastly, Tosa fest!  We told the boys they could pick one activity, and they wanted to ride the camel:

 

The weekend right before school started we enjoyed a quick trip to Indianapolis with the Leuthold family, but sadly I didn’t get any pictures of that!

And now, we are soaking up fall.  The boys are really into it this year, continually noting the changes in the leaves and look forward to carving pumpkins!  While I enjoy different things about every season, this is truly my favorite time of year!

Fun Fair!

Last Friday evening, Abe's school had their annual fall Fun Fair.  It's such a fun way to kick off the school year!  I thought the event was really well done, and we all had such a great time.  The weather was perfect, too, which simply added to the enjoyment.

Naturally, the inflatables were a huge hit.  But Abe enjoyed the games even more!  I think when he realized that you were able to earn punches on your card for every game you played, higher punches for doing well on the game, and the punches could then be redeemed for prizes, he was gung-ho about playing those games!  Both boys earned 10 points for hole-in-one on mini golf (Charlie with Ryan's help!), so that boosted their final score quite a bit.  At the end, Abe ended up selecting a whoopee cushion (many laughs to be had since it came home.....apparently I live in a house full of BOYS!), a flying turkey, and a tattoo.  Charlie got a pull whistle, a hand clapper, and a tattoo.

Charlie in the bouncy house:

Abe rocked the obstacle course and scaled the wall like it was nothing!

Cotton candy made it even more fun (and the boys more wound up!):

Playing a game:

Charlie got his face painted while Abe played more games...he was actually very excited about it, though the picture looks otherwise!

Overall, a highly anticipated event that definitely deserved the hype!

Deja Vu

I was making caramel corn with Charlie today (Abe has been asking for it for a few days in a row, so we decided to surprise him when he gets home from school!), and I took this picture of him:

Then, I suddenly had the feeling I had been in this same scenario before...I went back through some photos from Fall 2011, and sure enough, there was one of Abe in the very same spot!

(I think Abe and I were making yogurt, not caramel corn, but it still felt the same!)

It felt very surreal to be doing something so similar with Charlie, just him and me, while expecting yet another baby (I was pregnant with Charlie in the picture of Abe).  So crazy and so special!  I've also been looking at the pictures and noting how very different our boys look from one another!  (They are about 5 months age difference in these pictures, Abe 26 months and Charlie 31 months).

After that picture, Charlie asked if I would take a picture of him and me together, and I couldn't turn down such a sweet request!

We're looking forward to Ryan being post-call tomorrow and then the whole weekend off!  May you have a blessed weekend, too!