Addisen is TWO!

Happy Birthday to our sweet little Princess! 

Addisen how you have grown in the last 2 years and oh my how you have allowed our family to grow!  You have a great sense of humor, are very strong willed and definitely like to tell others what they should be doing!  You keep us on our toes and gosh I don't think we could love you anymore!

 

You seem so smart to me (I'm sure every mom thinks this) - you have a memory like your brother's and just seem to think of things that we have forgotten.  You love to dance, say your ABC's and Elmo!   You are so sweet to your brother - always giving him a hug, kiss, high five and pounds goodbye every morning.

 

 

 We started your birthday celebration on Saturday with a party with Grandma, Bobo, Uncle Neal, Jenny, Uncle Bob and Aunt Judy.

Grandma was a lifesaver and helped decorate your elmo cake on Friday night.  There seems to be something with the stomach flu and holidays with you - on your first Christmas and then your second birthday!

You blew the candle out before I could even get the camera ready!

 

 

We recreated it again tonight (on your real birthday!).  This time you had a little more difficulty blowing it out - it took about three tries...but it finally went out and you were proud of yourself!

 

You had such a great time opening your presents this year.  Everything was so exciting to you and you had a hard time moving on to the next present.  Your big brother was there to keep the encouragement coming to tear into more!

 

 

Your teachers at daycare are so creative - this is the sign I saw on the way into your room today!

 

A few weeks ago I was out doing some holiday shopping and I came home to find out that Daddy had taught you how to "show your muscles".  You get so serious when we ask and your face is the best!

 

On Thanksgiving night we decided to move you to your new big girl bed and take away your pacifier.  It probably wasn't our best decision to do them both - but it is too late to turn back now.  It seems like we triggered the onset of separation anxiety with all of the change.  You now cry everyday when I leave you at daycare and will cry at the door when we put you to bed at night.  It typically only lasts about 5 minutes and you put yourself to bed, but it breaks our hearts!  You continue to sleep through the night and play in your room in the morning until everyone is up - so hopefully bedtime will get a little easier!

We went and got our Christmas tree the first weekend in December.  Unfortunately there was no snow, but it was kind of nice to have mild temperatures.  Brody and Addisen found the perfect tree and then we headed into Rockford for the Annual Christmas parade.

 

We decorated gingerbread houses last night.  I did much better this year with being "hands off".  Addisen enjoyed putting the decorations on and then eating them!  Her houses don't have much frosting left on them.

 

 

Brody was very serious about his houses this year.  Jim helped him with some of the decorations, they both loved coming up with the patterns for the roof! 

 

 A few weekends ago we got the first snow of the season - it wasn't too much, but the kids sure had fun.  The best part was watching Brody try to pull Addisen around in the sled! 

 

 Baby Raguckas Update:  I had my 32 week appointment last Friday.  Everything went well, the baby's heart rate was 136 - so running close to where Addisen was at this point.  I have been feeling smaller than I did during my last pregnancies and the doctor confirmed that I was measuring about 1.5-2 weeks smaller than where I am.  She wasn't concerned, so I guess I won't be either.  I will go back again on the Friday after Christmas and we will see if things have started to progress.  My hope is that this baby is smaller, so they want to stay in there a little longer than their big sister!

 We hope everyone has a great Christmas!  I will post pictures after the holiday!

So Much to be Thankful for!

I know I am a few weeks behind in posts - hence the Halloween pictures!
This was our first year of having two Halloween parties at different places.  The morning started out at Brody's school for his party.  He was so excited to have us to his room and it was a lot of fun to see how he interacted with all of this friends.

This is his class.  The little girl in the front row, second from the right, is Dawn - Brody's "girlfriend".

It's so neat to see how much work he has done this year.  Above is his locker and the cat that he decorated.  He had to tell his teacher three things about the picture and then trace the words.  Below is the "monster" that he made.

They had a parade through the school to show their costumes off to the older kids.

Then we sat down to decorate some pumpkins and cookies.

 

On Halloween night Bobo and Grandma came to visit.  The kids had a lot of fun "riding" them around the house.

I think Bobo and Grandma had a lot of time running around too!

On Halloween night Addisen came up with her crazy face - she hasn't forgotten it.  We were reading a book tonight that asked for your silly face and she still remembered it!

Here is our Batman and Lion before we went out Trick or Treating.  It was a rainy and cold night here, so we just stuck close to home.  The kids were not short on candy - our neighbors ended up having to go out of town so they gave each of them a whole bag of candy!

Addisen keeps us laughing!  She loves to dress up in things - her winter hat and gloves, goggles, cowboy hats - she is always entertaining us!

We have so much to be thankful for this year.  I never dreamed that I wold be sitting here on this Thanksgiving Eve with another little baby growing inside me.  It was something I really wanted, but truly thought that Jim had decided we were done.  We had our 28 week ultrasound about a week ago to check and make sure everything had formed correctly with the baby's heart.  At 20 weeks, the baby just wouldn't stop moving, so they were unable to see the blood flow to/from.  We were so happy to know that everything was perfect.  Jim was even able to be there with me to see how much bigger the baby is at 28 weeks (he wasn't able to go to Addisen's 28 weeks ultrasound).  Unfortunately they did not take any measurements of the baby, so we have no idea how it compares with how big Addisen was at this time.  The baby's heartrate was 140 during the ultrasound - making me wonder if it is a boy.  The ultrasound tech has asked if we knew what we were having this time - just by her asking, made me think it was a boy too - I thought that she must have seen some parts or something to make her ask!  My doctor said that everything looked good so far, and that things were right on track.  Around Christmas she will start to monitor me to make sure it doesn't look like this baby will come early - I really hope things continue to go perfectly - I can't imagine having to go on bedrest - and I'm not sure Jim could imagine taking care of EVERYTHING for weeks before the baby came!

Last week we also had Brody's first Parent-Teacher Conference.  I was so proud to hear his teacher say that he has a good heart.  She said he doesn't like to color or draw too much, and during those times has a hard time keeping on track.  He is so bright though - she said that he loves to find patterns and work in the other areas of the classroom.  I have been surprised by how honest he is with us each day.  They have a red/yellow/green system at school to show how well you listen during the day.  Brody always comes off the bus and either tells Jim or I if he ended up on the yellow that day - he really does well most days - until this week of course.  We had told him last week that if he stayed in the green for the week he could go see the movie "Wreck it Ralph" with Jim on Friday.  We made it until Thursday - and then he told us he was on yellow.  So we said if you can stay green on Monday and Tuesday this week then they could go today - he was on yellow on Monday - maybe we shouldn't offer rewards :)

We hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving.  We wish that we were able to spend it with all of our family this year!  Somehow we have to figure out how to get Pennsylvania and Michigan closer together!

Daddy Hits FIVE!

On Sunday, October 21st Jim ran in his 5th Marathon!  We were so proud to watch daddy run this year - I even came up with some creative signs to hold!

My parents were here to navigate the course and help me with the kids (thank goodness!  I would have never managed with Addisen, she really didn't understand what we were doing!).

Jim did awesome - he improved his time by 7 minutes and finished in 3 hours and 24 minutes (if you know Jim, of course this wasn't the "perfect" run) we were amazed with our daddy!  He has improved his time by almost an hour from the first time he ran this marathon 2 years ago!

This picture is the best - Brody was so excited to see Jim at mile 21.  He was hoping for a hug, but was so excited to at least get his high five!  The expression on his face is just complete awe of his daddy - I think I will love this picture for a long time.

Here comes daddy at the finish line!

Jim had a much better finish this year - no punching the cramp in his leg...thank goodness!  I don't think I could have taken it!

Finish line in sight!

After the race we quickly found Jim and Brody just took off running.  I have a feeling Brody will be following in his daddy's foot steps - he is just so proud!

 

Brody wore a "sweat band" on his wrist that morning.  When he saw Jim he showed it to him and offered to dry the sweat off Jim's forehead!  I just love how serious Brody is while Addisen and Jim are laughing.

The best we could do for a family picture - the kids just don't want to sit still or look at the camera.

I had a few of Brody's birthday party pictures left to post.  He had his "friends" birthday at a local place called Java Gyms - he had a blast playing with his friends!

 Then on that Sunday we had the family party - complete with my SpongeBob cake creation this year!   

Nanny and Poppy sent some treats for Halloween this weekend.  The first "ring pops" that Brody or Addisen have ever had.  You can see they really enjoyed them!

We carved pumpkins yesterday.  Addisen was very dainty in putting in her light pegs - she only filled about half the holes I made for her.  It was Brody's first year for following a patter on his pumpkin.  We think he did a great job!  The light doesn't shine through very well in the dark - but the face turned out great!  I carved a Mickey Mouse this year and Jim did Winnie the Pooh - all in all they were a success!

Baby Raguckas Update:  I went for my 24 week appointment 2 weeks ago.  Everything is going well and I had told the doctor that I thought it was another girl based on the previous heart rate.  But this time - it was 140 when she first checked it but then jumped to 160 as we were talking about it possibly being a boy instead - so I guess it just wants to keep us guessing!  In another 2 weeks I will go back for another ultrasound so they can make sure the blood flow to and from the heart is good (the baby wasn't facing the right way during our 20 week ultrasound).  I am excited to see what the baby looks like then - I can remember getting to see Addisen at 20 weeks and seeing how much she had grown.  I think this one is going to be a little more active than Addisen was - it definitely has it's "awake" times during the day!

He's FIVE!

 I can't believe that my sweet little boy turned FIVE today!  This was the birthday that I actually got to relive the week that he was born.  It was so strange to be at work yesterday remembering that I was sitting there filling syringes with flu vaccine when my labor started!  How can it be five years already?

I'm glad that I have this little one growing inside me right now, it has definitely saved some tears knowing that I still have two more younger than Brody :)

 

Last night I wanted to fill Brody's room with balloons - unfortunately all we had were small balloons - it still fulfilled the purpose, he was excited to see them this morning.

While I really can't believe that 5 years have passed - I have so many great memories with this little guy.  He has forever changed our lives - in a GREAT way!  As he started DK this year, we realized just how independent he is.  He gets on the bus in the morning and heads off to school with no worries at all - he is so much braver than I was at that age!  I got an email from his teacher this week that said she really enjoys having him in her class.  She said that he has a great attitude and is always willing to try something new.  I was thrilled to hear this, but at the same time so surprised that he is so comfortable there - I am use to my shy little guy.  It's amazing how much I love him - with every day he becomes more and more special to our family.  He is so loving - to both Addisen and this little baby I am carrying around.  Everyday he wants kisses and hugs with Addisen and never forgets to hug and kiss the baby each day.  Out of the blue he will just say "Mommy, I love you so much!".  We are truly lucky to have him in our lives everyday!

Our annual picture - the angle has had to change since we now have neighbors and there are not many spots that don't have a house or pole barn :)

This morning I got up early to make Brody his special birthday pancakes - complete with sprinkles and icing!

Addisen was very excited for Brody to open his presents.  She did a good job of not riping into them, but she definitely thinks that they are her toys to play with!

He was actually interested in opening cards this year! 

 

Jim bought him a special present to wear to Rockford High School's Homecoming game tonight - a new sweatshirt!

 

 

 
Brody was able to open presents from us and Nanny and Poppy tonight.

 

He picked the "Cheese Taco Place" to go to dinner tonight.  We are pretty regular customers there, but Brody typically is too shy to talk to any of the waiters.  Tonight he told the waiter that it was his birthday - he was so excited to see the big fried ice cream come his way! 

 

 This is just the beginning of the birthday celebration.  Tomorrow is his "friends" party at a local place called Java Gyms and then on Sunday we will have the family party.  This will be one spoiled little boy by the end of the weekend!