News from Arizona

All About August!

Wow! What a month we have had here!

On Wednesday, August 8^th we celebrated Leah’s First Birthday! I am not the type of mom that throws huge parties for small kids, so we kept this celebration pretty mild. We invited some of my family that lives close by over after dinner for cake and ice cream, we watched Leah open her presents and 45 minutes later it was over- that is my kind of party! Quick and easy! Don’t get me wrong, I love parties and I especially love entertaining, but I just don’t think babies need a huge birthday bash! And if you set a precedent with one kid one year, it becomes expected by all your kids every year! My philosophy: Keep it simple! And we had a blast! I always love hanging out with my family, so it was nice to get together.

Leah was a funny girl, she dove right into her cake and looked at us all weird when we laughed at her. She got a couple dolls, which she loves- including her first Cabbage Patch Kid (that was from me because I LOVE CABBAGE PATCH KIDS!) and Ethan got Leah her first Barbie. She also got a princess dress up kit with a glittery purse, earrings, a cell phone and fake makeup, which Leah played with all night- she even kept the earrings on, which surprised us all. She is our little Glamour Girl!

Here are some pictures of our simple celebration:

Leah's Gifts-
She had no desire to open any of these, so Big Brother Ethan and cousin Mackenzie did it all for her. But boy was she excited when the wrapping was off- it was like she had won the lottery with each toy! We got some funny video of her expressions!

L is for Leah!-
Ethan and I made an L cake for Leah. He was too camera shy (surprise surprise) to get in this picture with us, but he was very proud of the cake he made!

Starting off Slow-
I think she was wondering if I made a mistake and gave her a whole cake! But she wasn't complaining. She was also probably wondering why we were all starring at her...

Dig In!-
It didn't take her long to completely demolish this cake!

Clean Up Time-
Before we could even take her upstairs we had to hose her off in the sink. She has too many "hiding spots" on her body (in case you haven't noticed all the rolls) and cake was falling outta who knows where!

Anyway, I can’t believe my “baby” is 1! Time certainly flies when you’re having fun, and that’s how I would describe this past year, it has definitely been a fun one!

We love our not-so-little-anymore- Leah and feel so blessed to have her as part of our family!

Also this month… Some BIG, UNEXPECTED NEWS! Baby #3 is on his or her way!

This pregnancy came as a big surprise, but we are welcoming it with open arms and feel so blessed. I got pregnant right away with Ethan (1st month off the pill) but then struggled with infertility to get Leah here! It took us nearly a year and a half with a miscarriage in the middle, so I never thought an "accident" would happen to us of all people. But we were definitely not trying (preventing, in fact) and somehow this little miracle happened!

After over a week of being sick with my family "joking" that I was pregnant, I decided to take a pregnancy test to "rule out that option." Much to my amazement, it came out positive, and my emotions were so mixed up! Leah had just barely turned 1 and I never imagined myself with 2 kids so close together! I emailed Rob and told him the news and it is surely an email neither of us will ever forget!

I thought I was somewhere in the very early weeks of pregnancy, so at my appointment, my doctor decided to do an ultra sound to get a due date. She asked me how far along I thought I was and I said, "Maybe 6 weeks" to which she replied that the u/s wouldn't show us much that early on, possibly not even a heart beat. But much to our amazement, as soon as the Doppler was on my stomach, there was this baby on the screen, arms and legs and all! I am further than I thought! The baby's measurements put me at about 12 weeks along setting the due date on none other than my very own birthday- March 18th! That is kinda exciting!

So this month I have seemed to fall off the planet! I literally lay down all day long! It is nice having my mom close by- I can go to her house and let the kids play while I crash on the couch. Teaching preschool is tough! I don’t ever want to get out of bed in the morning let alone wrestle with 10 3 and 4 year olds. Good thing I have a good class or I would be dead! Hopefully I won't be sick for too much longer- I wasn't sick at all with Leah, but I was really sick for maybe 20 weeks with Ethan, so who knows what to expect. I threw up all day every day with Ethan, and it inst that bad this time but it is definitely worse than with Leah! Man did I take that for granted!

We are hoping for a boy, although having one of each has taken pressure off this one for us and we will be happy for anything healthy! (That is also my fear- until the day of my big u/s I always freak out that there will be something wrong! I think because I have always thought that if anyone could handle a handicap child, I could, so maybe I am preparing myself for that day- who knows!) Anyway- we won't be finding out the sex this time around (this time its Robs choice not to) so we will find out in March what the sex is! (Even though I have never been right with any of mine so far, this one does feel blue to me- strange, I know. Maybe because so far the pregnancy has been like Ethan’s- I am sick, and I am craving carbs and hot foods- like pastas and meat and potatoes. With Leah it was all about the sweets- me at the check out stand with all that candy was a dangerous thing!

So anyway, that is the update! As soon as I am feeling better, I am going to hit the potty training with Leah- I dont want 2 kids in diapers!!!! AAAHHHHH!!!!