Christmas Celebrations 2014

We had a wonderful Christmas week with no major sicknesses, lots of family time and lots of food! We hosted most festivities at our house this year, but my wonderful husband and family did so much of the work and took sympathy on my pregnant state, which I was so very thankful for.  Unfourtunately, I realized that as Christmas gets busier with little people running around and hosting at our house my remembrance of taking pictures has significantly decreased.  So, I need to work on that, but I did manage some.

On Christmas eve we were with Adam's family and had a nice dinner and then went to church at the downtown church.  Going to church on Christmas Eve was the one thing that was really important to me.  I knew it would be chaotic (mostly due to a crazy 2-year old little boy) but I really want this to be a family tradition for us, so I wanted to make it work.  Adam was my hero and chased Haddon around during the whole service and I got to sit with this cute girl.  This was her first time holding the  candle and she did a great job, until she thought it would be fun to turn around and try blowing out other people's candles. Ha.  

I tried taking a picture of both children on Christmas Eve by the Christmas tree, but this is the best I could get due to the fact that Haddon doesn't stay still.

Amaia had a very "Frozen" Christmas this year, as I am sure many other little girls did :)  She is always so enamored by high heel shoes and wears mine just about every opportunity she gets, so I got her some of her own.

She was also gifted this ice castle.  I did not even know she had such an attention span, but this is quite literally all she has done for the past 2 or 3 days.

I didn't get any good pictures, but Haddon had a very truck Christmas!  He was gifted a fancy blue truck and can't put it down either.  He now walks around holding his doggy and truck basically everywhere he goes.  We are going to have to get him a man bag soon, because he just doesn't have enough hands for all his treasures that he insists upon carrying around with him!  I love how much of a boy he is becoming.  My boys are so handsome.

My sister and her husband flew out to visit us this year and my children very much enjoyed seeing them and playing with them while they were here.  Here are Amaia and Aunt Jessica at the Americana.

We had a great week of seeing family and celebrating this past week and now I am so ready to meet this baby!!  I'm still wishing for a New Year's eve baby, but trying to enjoy the last days or weeks as a family of 4.

Haddon Turns 2!

I still think of Haddon as my baby, but I guess it is time for me to change that because he is a big 2 year old now!  And also we have a real baby joining the family in the near future :)

I decided with Amaia that we would play the 2 year birthday very low key, because let's be honest at 2 years old the party is still more for myself than the birthday boy.  Thus, we had some family over for dinner and birthday treats, opened gifts and enjoyed our little, big guy.  

Haddon is very into trains or "choo-choos" as he calls them, so we went with a Thomas cookie cake.  I didn't know that it would come with a toy train on it, but this became quite possibly his favorite gift of the night.  Go figure! Proof that kids don't need much in the way of fancy toys.

Our gift to the birthday boy was a basketball hoop and I do believe it was a hit!  With his long fingers and good grip I do believe he has the makings of a basketball player one of these days, so we are starting the training now.

And now, quite possibly for my own memory keeping only some things I want to remember about Haddon at 2 years old!

Haddon is often stubborn and wants to do things on his own, but he is also the sweetest, most cuddly kid and he melts my heart.  He is always willing to give our hugs and kisses and often when we are having an eating or diaper change meltdown he ends it by saying "hug" and reaching out for me.

Haddon loves cars and trucks and trains.  It must be innate boy thing, because I don't think I ever really encouraged this, but he loves them.

Haddon loves his puppy.  He always looking for and hugging and cuddling with his puppy.

Haddon is now a walking machine! He started walking at about 20 months and is fast, fast, fast.  He can also walk up and down the stairs holding onto something.  We went to the doctor on his birthday and he is now 27 pounds, which is the 35% - yea!!!

Haddon in an independent man, he always wants to do things on his own and his own way.  He has a good amount of words right now, but not a lot of phrases.  However, his most used phrase is "I do it" and typically does not want help, I'm so looking forward to seeing the strong man he will become.

My Ode to Amaia

As I get farther along in my pregnancy I am becoming more and more sentimental and in semi-depression (kidding ;)) that my favorite girl is no longer a baby or even toddler - she is a full fledged big girl!  I can NOT believe how quickly the last almost 4 years have gone and I want to remember just what she was like as a little girl, so.....here is all about Amaia at approximately 3.75 years of age!

She is a total girly girl.  I don't know if I did this or if it's just who she is, but princesses, dress up, high heels is what she is all about these days.  She wears my high heels about a million times more often than I do these days and turns every blanket and towel into a dress.  I think she just enjoys feeling beautiful and don't we all :)  We did have a phase in which she had a total emotional breakdown every day that I would not allow her to wear a dress, but I kind of put my foot down on that and thankfully I think we are mostly over that!

Amaia is an amazing big sister.  Of course Haddon and her have their moments, but for the most part she amazes me with how kind and wonderful she is to him.  They are really beginning to play a lot more with each other and laugh with each other and it's pretty much favorite thing in the whole world.  She "reads" him books, plays and shares with him so well and helps me so much. They have a "game" that they play right now in the bathtub, in which she tells Haddon to tell her a joke, he leans forward and jabbers something incomprehensible to me and then they both erupt in laughter and they do this over and over again.  It's pretty much the cutest thing ever.  We talk often about her baby sister and I have a feeling she is going to love holding her and having someone new to play with.

She is amazing at puzzles.  I am often amazed at how smart she is and I don't really know what is normal for her age, but she loves doing puzzles and does a 48 piece puzzle right now in 5 minutes or less.  

She also loves books and I think she is ready to learn to read - yikes!  I am a bit intimidated by that, but I think that will be our project this winter.  

She loves her friends!  At one time I thought she was going to be shy like her momma, but I am not so sure anymore.  She still typically takes a few minutes to warm up to new people or situations, but after that she is good to go.  She loves her friends at church and plays so well with them.  She is so friendly when we are out and about running errands, saying hi to just about every worker.  Makes me feel good about giving her another lifetime friend/sister very soon :)

I feel so lucky to have Amaia as my daughter.  I could not imagine a better girl to spend my days with!

Fall: In Pictures

I'm so behind on this blog I don't know where to start! My absolute favorite season is fall and it feels like it is nearly over now.  We had a busy one, but a really fun one.  

To kick the fall season off, we went to a cute little farm and picked apples one beautiful morning.  Amaia was great apple picker, but I do think her favorite part was getting lemonade after we were done.

Myself and a couple other moms started a little preschool group for our 3 year olds and it has been so much fun.  We take turns hosting and planning activities for the day and Amaia loves it.  She adores getting to hang out with her friends and it has been a really fun way for me to start getting more serious about learning activities too.

We went to the zoo nearly every Sunday morning.  I don't think I would be out of line saying the zoo is Amaia's favorite place to go, so we go a lot.  She loves feeding the goats and basically walking around like she owns the place.   Also new this fall she loves gift shops!  Ha.  I wonder where she got that from?? ;)

We went a family trip to see Adam's parents new home at Lake Tablerock, which is beautiful in the fall.  We got out on the boat a few times and did a lot of other fun activities.  Adam got to pet a lemur at the zoo we went to and we celebrated 6 years of marriage. It was the perfect trip and we are already looking forward to going back again soon.

Back at the zoo!  We went to Night Eyes at the zoo again this year.  I love this event for little kids.  Amaia was Elsa this year and Haddon was Charlie Brown.  I originally wanted them to be something that coordinated together, but the days of Amaia not caring about her costumes or clothing choices in general and far behind us now :)  Amaia loved seeing all the other girls dressed up at Elsa and the candy of course.

 And here are my little cutie pies on Beggar's night.  I decided that Haddon needed to be Charlie Brown this year, because he just looks the part.  If you are wondering why there are so few pictures of Haddon this fall, it is partly because this picture of him smiling and looking at the camera is Halloween miracle AND partly because he is pro-walker now and my boy is fast.

Oh and I'm still pregnant!  This is me at 28 weeks and trying to remember to document this pregnancy too!  This time around has definitely been the hardest on my body, but we are making it through! :)  

We found out that this baby girl has a similar hole in her heart to what Haddon had when he was born.  It came to us as a definite surprise, but we are praying lots of our little girl and trusting the Lord.  

I can tell that Amaia is excited about having a baby sister.  We talk about her and pray for her often and the kids almost always go the midwife appointments with me so they have playing "doctor" a lot and checking on the baby for me.  I kind of can't wait for January to be here, but I'm excited to celebrate the holidays with our family without the demands of a newborn too :)

Baby GIRL!!!!

I am officially half way done with this pregnancy!!!!  Last week we got to experience my favorite part of pregnancy (other than when it's over and we actually get to meet our baby) - the ultrasound!  I LOVE ultrasounds!  It puts into perspective all the discomfort and annoyances of pregnancy and reminds me that there is an amazing fully formed life growing inside of me.  

This year I came across the idea that Adam would be the only one to find out the gender at the ultrasound and could be the only one to know for a little while until we all found out.  Well he kind of loved the idea.  I did slightly regret coming up with the idea the day of, but I'm glad it was fun for him.  The next morning we had some family over and ate filled cupcakes to reveal the gender.  Chocolate chip cupcakes with an actual cookie in the bottom to be exact, which were amazing!

Pink filling = baby girl!

We are having another little girl and I am SO excited!  I could really see the benefit of having a boy or girl.  However, Amaia has been hoping very much for a sister and I am so excited to give her one!  I guess we will just have to give it another try to give Haddon a brother :)

The Great State Fair 2014

I have never been much of a state fair enthusiast.  I enjoy the food, but other than that could never see the appeal, but everything changes when you have children :)  Amaia thoroughly enjoyed her fair experience which made Adam and I thoroughly enjoy ourselves as well.

We visited a few different booths in the varied industries building and made sure to stock up on Hawkeye tattoos for football season.  After that we partook in some mini donuts, visited all the baby animals and then visited the little hands on the farm area, where she got to walk through the full farming experience. 

Picking lots of veggies.

We found a familiar face on our route through the farm 

And I was so proud of my newly picky eater for choosing an apple (amongst candy, crackers, and fruit snacks) as her treat of choice at the end.

After that Amaia and Adam rode on the Yee Old Mill and then we basically ate our way out of the fair.  Haddon was there too!  He didn't have quite the full experience as Amaia did, as large animals seem to scare him at this point in his life, but he absolutely enjoyed the food!

Family of FIVE!

Amaia and Haddon are pleased to announce that they have a brand new baby sister or brother of the way!!  Actually, Haddon has no idea what is going on at this point, but the rest of us are very excited!  Amaia is hoping for a sister, mostly based on her love of Frozen I think and she thinks we should name her future sister "Block", which is definitely not happening :)

I am 13 weeks along now and my official due date is January 13th! I have been feeling VERY tired and somewhat sick for a couple of months now, but I can tell that I am starting to have a lot more good days than bad days.  Oh how I love the second trimester!

We were able to have an ultrasound a couple of weeks ago to date the pregnancy and just make sure everything was going well.  Amaia and Haddon came with and it really seemed to click with Amaia after that what was going on.  She asks all the time now if she can see the pictures of the baby and when we get to find out if the baby is a boy or girl.  I love ultrasounds anyways, but I loved even more how it made her understand so much more what is going on with her mommy.

We are so excited to have another little baby in our family and I'm also so excited to give these two precious kiddos another sibling to play with and be crazy with for the rest of their lives!

4th of July Festivities

We had a great 4th of July this year! The weather was practically perfect and Amaia is starting to get old enough to really appreciate the fun of it all.

We started our day off at a parade and it was CRAZY with so many people, but we were able to find a spot and Amaia enjoyed herself, so it made it worth the craziness :)  She didn't have to try hard at all to come away with quite the stash of candy, which she will be sharing with mommy and daddy. 

Haddon didn't care too much about the parade yet, but he sure looked cute!

We then went out to a nice lunch and ice cream with grandma and grandpa and then went home for a full family nap - always included in a good day!

Then we went out to a party that our church was hosting and ate lots of watermelon - among other things.

Lucky for us my parents now live very close to where the fireworks are shot off from - so convenient.  We hung out in the backyard and I let Amaia stay up waaaaaaaay past her bedtime to watch the fireworks for the first time.  I am normally very protective of my kids sleep schedules, but she is getting to the age where it isn't as hard for her to stay up.  I think she thought they were going to be scary before the fireworks started, but she ended up loving it.  I wish I could of taken a picture of the awe on her face in the first few minutes.

So thankful that we live in the best country on Earth!

Spring 2014

Spring is finally here!!!!!   

We finally get to get outside and it has been glorious.  Just a little picture update.

Walking around the neighborhood.

At Easter Lake park with my mini-me.

I put Amaia in the baby swing and quickly realized she is too big :((((  

So we are working on swinging like a big girl.

My happy Haddon.

Siblings.  I know they will have moments of conflict, but they are so sweet together right now.  They are really starting to enjoy playing with each other.  Amaia loves to lay on the floor and let Haddon climb over her.  They love to play ball together or rough house a little bit.  They are the sweetest.  They make me want to give them another sibling :)

Spring has also meant garage sale season!!  Amaia has found a new found love for puzzles (and princesses) and likes going to garage sales with me now so we can find new ones.  She really surprised me with how well she does with them.  

The only picture I took on a rainy mother's day, but it was a good one.  Looking at the lovely lilac arboretum.

Amaia turns 3!

My sweet and silly little girl turned 3 years old this week - cue the tears!  Amaia Ruth is absolutely one of the best things that has ever happened to me and it was so much fun to celebrate her this week.      She thoroughly enjoyed all the birthday celebrations this year and it just made me happy to see her so excited and loved and happy.  It was a really special few days for me too.

This was the first year that I didn't really plan a themed party for her and she enjoyed herself the most - go figure :)  My sister and her husband were in town and stayed with us for a few nights over her birthday.  So we went out to dinner with family, had cake and presents, sang to her, spent time with family and kind of did it all over again the next day.  

A few things I want to remember:

She was SO proud of herself for blowing her candles out all by herself.  She kept telling me : "mama, I did a really great job blowing my candles out!"

She is definitely a dessert lover like her mama.  When asked what she wanted for her birthday she pretty much always said "cake".

At 3 years old she LOVES to dance and sing.  The most common thing we hear throughout the day is "Dance with me!"  I got her a dancing ribbon as birthday present this year.

She loves the alphabet too and it really starting to figure out how to sound out words.  She is constantly asking us what different words start with and doesn't usually need help to figure out the answer.

She is in the 90-percentiles for both height and weight!

Me & the birthday girl

At Tumea & Sons for a birthday dinner (Photo cred to Aunt Ashley)

 The birthday girl and her balloons

 Amaia, Jessica & Haddon

Blowing out her candles for the second time

Amaia's 3 year interview