Daddy Leaves, Friends Visit

Sunday afternoon we said goodbye to Mike as he headed of to Walter Reed for his 5 week summer practicum.  This is the first time we've said goodbye when both kids have had a really hard time.  We went grocery shopping at the same time he left so that we could be out of the house and both kids sobbed the whole way there.  Logan held onto Mike like this and said, "I'm not letting go so that you can't leave us, daddy!!"  Break my heart.

Thankfully, we had distractions on the way!  My friend, Valerie, whose husband is a marine, was on her own, too.  We've been friends since we were 9!  They recently moved to NC and are only about 2 hours away.  When she found out that Mike would be gone, too, she offered to drive in when he left to help distract the kids.

Logan was excited to have another little girl around to play with.  It was really surreal to see our girls playing together 18 years later, doing things that we used to do together!  They made paper dolls, played house, played Dr. and cooked up a storm!

They started out in the same room but after an hour and a half of chit chat, we moved them apart.

They happily reunited for breakfast in the morning, though, and were inseparable until we parted!!

James and Brody had fun sword fighting and playing with trains together.

Pardon the blurry picture, we had two young photographers trying to capture the moment.  Here we are  (including babies #3 for me and #4 for her).

And here are all of the kiddos!!  (Kristen age 6, Logan age 4, Peter age 1, James age 3 and Brody age 2)  We looked like a small classroom walking around the mall together!

It was nice to have another military wife to talk through separations with.  She was able to give us insight (after two deployments and several smaller separations) on how to help the kids deal with it and how to get through it all without going crazy.  I haven't had good girl time like that in a while!!

We can't wait to visit with them again after the babies are born so we can get all SEVEN of our kids together!

Baby Boy #2!!

Mike and I were thrilled when the Dr. ordered our anatomy ultrasound 2 weeks early so that Mike could be with us to find out the gender!  We went in last Friday hoping to sneak a peak and find out what gender would be the tie breaker.  Mike was 100% sure it was a girl and I was 100% sure it was a boy.  Brody said boy and after a while Logan started saying she was on both teams (because, like mommy, someone else HATES being wrong).

Five minutes in and I instantly caught a glimpse that told me it was a boy and asked that the tech go ahead and check the gender right away.  Sure enough, little boy 2 was not shy and showed us that he was all boy!  Everything else looked perfect, he's growing right on schedule.

The kids wanted to do some sort of reveal with balloons so after the appointment I took them to the store and let them each pick out an "It's a boy" balloon and we brought them home to take pictures to send to everyone.  

Then I photoshopped little buddy's ultrasound picture to put up so the rest of the world would know we were expecting our second sweet boy.

Here he and I are at 18 weeks!

I'm feeling better.  Some energy has returned, the nausea is almost gone and the only thing I really suffer from is needing an afternoon nap most days pretty badly.  It's nice to finally be able to clean the house and get pictures hung.  It's also nice to be able to cook and eat what I make without wanting to gag.  I'm feeling him a little more, but a lot less than I felt the other two.  His placenta has attached to the front of the uterus (anterior placenta) and so all of his kicks are being cushioned pretty heavily.  On the ultrasound we could see how terribly active hie was, but I didn't feel any of it, whereas at both Logan and Brody's anatomy scan's I could feel all of their strong movements that we saw.  Hopefully in a few weeks he'll be strong enough to kick through the placenta and I'll feel him a little more--I hate to miss out on that part of the pregnancy, it's my favorite!!

We are over the moon THRILLED to welcome a new little boy into our family!  It will be fun to watch he and Brody interact being a little more than 2 1/2 years apart.  It'll also be fun to go to Churchill family gatherings with all of the boys we've acquired in the last couple of years!  Logan was a little disappointed, she really wanted a baby sister, but we talked about how right now our family gets to have two princesses and we get to do lots of special princess things together since there are only two of us and I think she's feeling a lot better about it.

We have no names for this little boy yet.  We've tossed around several ideas but nothing has jumped out at us like the names with the other two did so quickly.  We may not name him until we see him!  But, as always, everyone will find out his name when he makes his grand entrance.  We can't wait for November!!

Ballet Recital 2013

This year's theme was "A Dream is A Wish" and all of the song's were Disney!  Logan was thrilled.  Her class danced to "Middle of a Muddle."  It was in the original Cinderella score but was edited out.  It's sung in "Enchanted" and was included in the new release of Cinderella!  The girls were mice helping Cinderella clean up.  I wish I could have taken pictures or video of the performance, but they, once again, wanted you to buy their $40 DVD and had a security guard walking around telling people to put their phones down.  Sigh.

Brody came this year and did SO WELL!  He sat through the entire performance without fussing.  He and Mike stopped on the way in and Brody picked up some flowers for her.

After the show she was all smiles, despite being starving and exhausted!

Her little slippers made it through the whole year and when we went to put them on for the performance they were SNUG.  By the end of the morning she didn't want them on anymore.  We'll be picking up a new pair when she joins the 4-5 year old's next year!

It's been so fun to watch her develop as a dancer over the past year, she's matured and really enjoys learning technique and new positions this year.

And she's already talking about next year's class!!

Father's Day

This was the first Father's Day that we have gotten to spend with Mike in a couple of years because of school and the Army!  We didn't do a whole lot.  The kids and I made him a big candy jar, filled to the brim with all of his favorites, to take with him while he's away.  They also each gave him a "gift card" good for a daddy date to get ice cream (for Logan) and hangout time at the putt putt course (for Brody).  We went to church, hung out and then went to dinner.  It was a nice, relaxing day.

Daddy of two this year, daddy of three next!

Swimming Lessons

We put Logan in a two week round of swimming lessons at our community pool this year.  We were excited when we moved here and learned they offered them at half the cost of most places!  We signed up for group lessons but no one else signed up, so she ended up with a set of private lessons.

Day 1: Didn't want to get into the water without her puddle jumper and said she'd never put her head under water.

She was very excited and her teacher was able to convince her to get in without the life preserver and even was able to get her to bob in and out of the water 10 times by day 2!

By day 8 Logan was bobbin in and out of the water 15-20 times, had learned how to float on her belly, was gliding forward under water, kicking from one side to the other on a kickboard and had started to work on floating on her back!  She went from level 0-level 3.

Brody did really well with just watching.  I know it was hard for him because all he really wanted to do was be in the pool learning like Logan.  He was happy to sit with his feet in the water and watch, though.

Pouting on the last day because I wouldn't let him get in the water:

Here's Logan getting ready to glide to her teacher:

And kicking across the pool with her kick board:

She had such a great time and is ready for Mimi and Granddaddy's pool, now!!

Kids' Room & Bathroom

We found a nice little 3 bed, 2 1/2 bath townhouse about 15 minutes from Mike's store, which has made for a much easier commute and has allowed for more family time since he's not driving an hour and a half a day.  The reason we chose to rent here (because we found a few other houses either cheaper or bigger for the price) was because of the great amenities offered.  We have two nice pools, a few playgrounds, a gym (that has childcare and great classes) and it's located on a golf course so Mike can play golf for free after 3 every day.  We've taken full advantage of the pools and the playgrounds and Mike played his first nine holes last weekend.  I'm pretty sure we'll enjoy our year here.  

Moving to a new place in the midst of my first trimester was NOT FUN.  I've been so sick and so exhausted that the idea of "setting up house" has almost made me nauseous in and of itself.  But, I keep reminding myself that it's better than moving with a brand new baby, which is what we would have been doing if we had renewed the lease on our apartment.  It's very slowly coming along.  I got the kids' room and bathroom done and unpacked first so that they'd have a place to play and call their own. The transition was a little tough for them and I wanted to make it as easy as I could by providing them their space quickly.  The rest of the house is.....coming along.  Slowly.  But I figured if I waited to get the whole place done, it'd be months before I'd post pictures.  So, I'll post as I finish.

We decided to keep Logan and Brody in the same room.  They're already used to it and love being together, so it was a natural decision to make.  It also means we don't have to sleep train either of them to tune out a screaming baby in the middle of the night and puts the baby in the smaller room right next to our room.  We took out some of the baby stuff from their room, creating more of a big kid room.  It's themed "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" because we found a cute PB Kids matching boy/girl set for their beds.

Looking in from the door:

From the opposite side of the room:

More from the door (the quote is from the book), we finally caved and bought a full bookshelf for them, but may need one more with all of the books they've collected!

Looking from the beds:

Logan and Brody enjoying storytime, together:

The kids' bathroom didn't get much change.  It's still jungle themed.  But it's much bigger!

I did add "wash your hands" and "brush your teeth" to their animal prints for something a little different.

2 Year Shots

Finally got Brody out to take some two year pictures today.  He picked his own outfit...I do realize the shirt is a little small, but I'm trying to let go of the control when it comes to these pictures and allow their little personalities to shine through.  Logan picked her four year outfit, Brody picked his two year outfit.  :)  He also wanted "choo-choo haircut hair" which is what he calls his little faux hawk.  

We have a nice wooded area right behind our new home that makes for a nice backdrop, so we didn't even have to travel!  I can't wait to see what it looks like in the fall!

And he had to throw on his sunglasses for a few:

Big sister wanted to jump in, too!

When he stands like this I can picture him as a teenager.  It's so bittersweet to watch them grow up!

As we were walking back into the house he grabbed his football and demanded he have a couple of pictures with it.  Definitely fits his personality.