Brenner Turns 4

Brenner turned 4 and his one request was to have a Star Wars party.  So that we did.  Star Wars cupcakes, blue and black streamers, and of course his very own slogan, Let the 4th be with you. 

August Already

It's true.  It's been far too long since I've last posted.  Insert about a hundred excuses here.

It's August already.  Kids have been back to school for about a week now.  Emberlyn is loving first grade.  She has a great teacher and one of her best kindergarten friends is in her class.  If you ask her what her favorite part of the day is, it would be recess.  Brenner started 4 year old preschool.  He goes twice a week.  And he's been enjoying it so far.  If you were to ask him what his favorite part of school is, he'd say, "All of it."  They have a pet frog, and he thought that was pretty exciting.  Especially when the teacher explained what they fed the frogs.  Just fascinating for an almost 4 year old boy.

Speaking of almost 4...  Guess who turns 4 at the end of the month?!  Brenner is very excited about having cupcakes.  He wants Star Wars chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  His current favorite thing to do is play with his Playmobil zoo.  It's a toy we got a couple Christmases ago.  And it has been made a daily staple item lately.  Every morning I have to play zookeeper and he plays a mischievous animal that escapes from his cage.  We've got an elephant, lion, giraffe and zebra exhibits.  And sometimes his Star Wars action figures make surprise appearances and they will ride on the animals.  The imagination he has...  If we're not playing zoo, we are playing action figures that is completely dialogued by him.  He tells you what to do, what to say...  He is quite a director.

Emberlyn will be 6 next month.  She has a few wiggly teeth that she is very excited about.  I don't know how much longer til she loses one, but it's on the horizon.  Better brush up on my tooth fairy knowledge.  She got glasses the last day of kindergarten.  So she's been wearing them for a couple months now, and she loves them.  She loves mermaids.  She loves playing Barbie mermaids and loves drawing them.  She is such a little artist.  She can color for hours.  But she especially loves it when I'll color with her.  I still can't believe I have a first grader.  She's growing up and growing fast.  She loves to read.  Her favorite book is really anything by Eric Carle.  They learned about him at school, so she can easily recognize his books while we're at the book store.  "Mom, this is by Eric Carle!!"  She also loves Dr. Seuss and Stellaluna.  And when we read to her, we have to make sure we read the title, author and illustrator.  If you don't, she'll ask.  And when she's reading to you, you have to pay attention and not talk.  Future teacher in the making...

My sister, Chelsea, is still here and has been a huge help.  I can't even explain how my daily life would be if she weren't here besides one hot mess.  The kids love having her here.  She helps with literally everything.  Running errands, taking the kids to and from school, cleaning, cooking, baths...  She's amazing.  And I don't know how to repay her for everything she has been doing.  Love you Chels.

I'm nearly 32 weeks pregnant and large.  I've been feeling really great.  Haven't been sleeping the best, but who does at this stage in the game.  I am so excited for next month and meeting this little one.  I still think it's a boy.  Emberlyn likes to go back and forth, but I think she's settled on a girl.  We've started making our bets for gender, weight, and birth date.  We're planning on a September 23rd c-section, unless baby has other plans.  Most of us think baby will have other plans, anywhere from 1-3 weeks before that.  So, it's time for me to get prepared.  Hospital bags should be packed and ready by September.

Chelsea and I have been working on the nursery all summer.  We got all the furniture off Craigslist and found a lady in Encinitas to redo and revamp.  All we have left are the curtains.  So after we get those hung, I will take pictures and post.  I cannot wait to meet our new house guest.

Exciting Things Coming Our Way

I am absolutely thrilled about this next announcement.  It's something I've been praying for.  Again and again.  Last year ended a little rough.  I was pregnant in August and sadly miscarried nearly 2 months later.  I didn't see it coming, but then again, do you ever?  It was such a difficult and devastating thing to go through, overwhelming at times.  You have that immediate excitement of Ahhhhh!  I'm pregnant!  And I'll be due in the spring!  How wonderful to have a baby when the flowers bloom.  It'll be perfect.  And then I start browsing online at Babies R Us.  Ooo, I've got to have that little bassinet.  And those booties, they're so tiny!  I need more swaddle blankets, a carseat, and new teeny-tiny onesies.  The whole nine yards.  The checklists begin...

And yet one typical morning, everything changed.  It all came crashing to an unsteady halt.  But I knew it wasn't over for me.  I knew that first of all, I have two beautiful, healthy children.  That's more of a blessing than I deserve.  Do I really deserve anything else?  Wade and I talked and decided that this baby was something that we really wanted and God-wiling we'd try and try again.

And I can proudly say that I am indeed pregnant with sweet baby #3.  The beginning was a little rough, so I had weekly and bi-weekly appointments.  But at 13 weeks, I'm doing great and so is the tiny little peach.  The baby's nickname of course changes weekly due to his/her growing size.  That's my favorite part.  Emmy:  Mom, how big is the baby now?  Me:  Well, this week it's the size of a peach!

We will be meeting this sweet peach in September.  Days before Emmy's 6th birthday.  Days after Brenner's 4th birthday.  Smack dab in the middle.  It's going to go something like, birthday party for Brenner, 2 weeks later celebrate baby, and then 2 weeks later celebrate Emmy's birthday.  We thought a spring birthday for a new baby would be nice in spreading things out a bit.  But, God has a sense of humor.  So we're smooshing it all together. 

I am blessed everyday.  I am amazed everyday at the things God does for us.  I am overjoyed with a new baby coming into our family.  Emmy's most excited to see the baby and hold the baby.  Brenner is excited to share a bed with the baby.  Ok, Brenner will not be sharing a bed nor a room with the baby.  But he is deciding what of his the baby can have.  Like, "Mom, this shirt is too small.  We can give it to the baby."  And "I know!  The baby can sleep in my bed, Mom."  The boy has plans.

We also have a bet going on in the house.  Wade and I are not finding out the gender this go-around.  This is extremely hard, because I'm a planner, but most importantly because I'm a shopper.  We found out with Emberlyn and Brenner.  So, it's going to be an extra fun surprise this time.  So far, Wade and I are feeling BOY.  Emmy's convinced she's having a sister and Brenner thinks it's a little brother.   We will have to wait........forever.......anxiously anticipating this sweet little one.  Exciting, exciting things to come.

Here We Are

Saying that I'm running behind, is an understatement.  I've been having such a hard time keeping up with this blog.  I hope that you've been checking my Instagram tab on the right side.  That is definitely something I keep up with, daily pictures taken on my cell.

It's easy to make excuses.  I'm the ultimate excuse-maker.  For example, I am swimming in excess loads of laundry right now, so I really need to get that done instead.  My house is a wreck, I need to clean.  I'm dying to try some new recipes, so I'm going to check my Pinterest and make a list of new foods to make this week...  The list goes on and on.  And things that are put on the backburner are organizing my closet, getting outside and going for a walk to enjoy the beautiful weather, and updating this here blog.  It never seems to make the cut for my daily to-do's.

I keep saying that needs to change.  But sometimes, I really do have other things to do and unfortunately catching up the blog gets overridden.  But I do think about it, a lot.  If that counts for anything.  I will try my hardest.

What has our little family been up to?  Let me think.  We didn't do much in the month of February.  Emmy is adjusting very well to her new school.  She is making friends and reading SO much.  Her favorite book is Green Eggs and Ham.  What's not to love.  I'm so proud of her.  Brenner now likes to point to words in a book and ask what they are.  What's the word that starts with c?  He's also quite an invented speller.  Do you know how to spell mom?  No, it's t-o.  He comes up with some crazy spellings, that silly one.  It's funny to see how interested he gets in Emmy's studies.

We had our friends, Theresa and her daughter Sarah, visit us from Lemoore a few weeks ago.  That was super fun.  The kids were totally surprised and had a fantastic time playing right where they left off.  I miss them dearly.

My in-laws were in town last weekend.  Emmy's was Nana's little sidekick.  And Brenner enjoyed the extra attention and rough-housing.  We went to the zoo and met two other families.  We looked like a circus, but I can't believe how the well the kids did.  We somehow managed to stay together and there were zero meltdowns.  The kids were loving the little things like the tiny bunny that was hopping around outside the monkey exhibit and the peacock that was moseying around the entrance of the park.  

 We were trying to do a "let's all hold hands" picture.  Brenner wouldn't have it.  He's always gotta do his own thing.

 Peacock!  Mommy's favorite

We also got to walk around Old Town one afternoon while Wade was at work.  The fun, exciting toy shops vs. the old, antique artifacts.  I wonder what the kids enjoyed the best. 

 Until next time...

A Day in San Diego: the tail end of Chelsea's trip

We loved every second we got to spend with Aunt Chelsea while she was here.  She not only made our house a more cozy feeling home, but she ran that little twosome of ours ragged.  We explored the neighborhood a bit which was a tiny disaster, thanks to me.  First off, our neighborhood is filled with hills.  If you're not going uphill, you're going down.  And you have to walk up a small hill to get the large sidewalks around the side of the house.  Clearly not thinking it through, I told Emmy to hop on her scooter and go for it.  Next thing I know, she's gliding down the hill, not quite understanding how to stop and completely bit it.  She was a-okay, but I have now learned that we're going to have to find more flat land to wheel around on... 

Chelsea and I took the kids to a children's museum in downtown San Diego, the same museum when we visited in December.  I think their faves this go-around had to be the tire ladder and slide and the bubble station.

We grabbed lunch and hit the beach next.  We couldn't send Chelsea off to TX without getting our toes dirty.  It was a little chilly, but we went to the beach on base at Coronado and watched as helicopter after helicopter buzzed our ears.  And of course, I didn't manage to get a picture of that.  Next time...

Emmy is a lover of the beach.  She and the ocean waves have a special relationship.  She loves running into the water and holding out her little arms as if to say, come to me.  

And Brenner is okay with playing on the sand, but as soon as you pass the dry sand and enter the wet sand, he wants to be held.  He's not so much a fan of the water.  But Emmy was the same at his age, so I'm guessing it will grow on him.  Because it's always a fun day at the beach...