The real reason I haven't blogged a lot lately

OK. I am ready to make a confession to all the blog world as to why I haven't been blogging much lately. I have been super busy and super tired. The reason that I have been so tired is because we are expecting baby #5! That' right folks, there will be a brand new Finch in the world later this year. I am about 14 weeks along (about 3 months). The baby is due August 23. I have really been well besides the fatigue and an occasional flareup of some varicose veins. I hope that now that I am entering the 2nd trimester I will feel even better.

Some of you may remember we had some RH incompatibility problems with Ben. We knew going into this that would be an issue this pregnancy as well. We will start seeing the specialists in Iowa City at 20 weeks. We are very hopeful that things will go well and that we once again will be blessed with a healthy baby. My titer levels (the way they measure how much antibody is in my blood) have been low so far, but with Ben we don't really know when they started to increase, but at 28 weeks they were more high. We will see, but, like I said we are positive and hopeful right now.

We just wanted to share the news. Our family is thrilled, and we want you to be thrilled for us too. Any prayers for our little baby our welcome too.

A transition for Ben

We have been talking it up with Ben, and on Saturday we finally made the switch to a big boy bed. For some of you, you may not consider a toddler bed, a big, boy bed, but anything out of the crib with nothing to contain him anymore is a big, boy bed. He is pretty pleased with himself and the kids have been great at encouraging him. How has he done you ask. Well, he has done really well. The first night or two he was afraid to get up at all after exhortations by both parents, but he has gotten up the last couple of nights, but after he says what he needs to say, and we tell him to get back in bed he does. Naptimes he hasn't gotten up at all. That may be because I close his door all the way at naptime, but not at bedtime. It is fun that he is growing up so much. He is starting to want to be a big boy instead of a baby now, which is pretty tough when your brothers and sisters all call you "baby" instead of using your name. I even got him to wear his church shoes for the first time on Sunday because I called them his "big boy shoes". Now he wants to wear them all the time! He's growing up so much I think in a week or two I will start potty training. He is almost 2 1/2 which is when I started with all the other kids. He is at a fun age, and some of his two year old antics have seemed to die down too. We love Ben!

Anna's teeth

So I mentioned that Anna had lost her two front, bottom teeth. I wanted to post a picture so you could all see. She has not liked us to touch or wiggle them at all. The first tooth she lost was very wiggly for several weeks, to the point where it could have easily been yanked out, but she patiently waited, wanting it to fall out by itself, which it did. I was starting to think it was never going to come out! She is much more patient than me. Her second tooth was getting to that really loose stage, and again she didn't want us to touch it, so we didn't. Unfortunately, it was taken out by a mean piece of garlic bread and promptly swallowed by Anna. At least that is what we think happened. We have never seen the tooth since. No worries folks. The tooth fairy still paid her a visit even though there was no tooth. Anna has loved that she is losing her teeth earlier than Adam did. Her first one she lost about a week before her birthday, and she is proud of the fact that she was only 5 and lost a tooth. Enjoy the picture of Anna. I took it first thing in the morning, so she is still in sleeping hair mode.

Anna's birthday pictures

Well it is about time that I contributed to this blog, so I thought that even though it is 2 weeks after the fact, I would post some pictures from Anna's birthday. She told me she wanted a party, and I said, "OK, who would you like to invite?". Her reply "The Jensens." They are our closest friends here and they have 3 little girls, 2 of whom are close to Anna's age who she adores playing with. We had them over for dinner, spaghetti and meatballs. We played one simple game of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey". We had cake and ice cream. We played a lot with each other and with the balloons. It was a lot of fun and each of the kids even got a goodie bag.

Our beautiful Anna is six now! I can hardly believe it. Over the last 3 weeks she has lost her two front bottom teeth. She has also started full day kindergarten and is doing very well. She is ever sweet and caring. I guess we have told her this enough that now she will tell me that her gifts and kindness and love. It is very sweet. She is definitely a peacemaker and helps our family run more smoothly because of it. Her relationship with Adam has been more involved since they have both been going to school together, but she continues to still find time to play with Lizzy, and even Ben. She will often just come up to me and say, "Hug!" and proceed to give me a big one. It is often when I am feeling worn out or frustrated. She is fun to go shopping with (how many kids can you say that about?). She enjoys looking at things and just being with me. She is also a lot of fun. She can giggle and be crazy with the best of them. She is especially good at making Adam laugh. We love our sweet Anna. Happy Birthday!