Gwendolyn

Our bright star, the heart of our family, always tender and kind with her little sister. She graces us with (many many many) drawings and her humor. She was born at around noon this day 5 years ago. So tiny. She was a pound lighter and an inch shorter than her brother (6lbs, 5 oz and 18 3/4 inches), but seemed like a fragile little doll compared to him. We are so blessed to have her personality and spirit in our house.

Newborn

1 year

2 year

3 years

4 years

Today

3 years

3 years ago this week my Grandpa died. I had forgotten about it until I saw the date noted on my Mom’s calendar.

In one way, it seems like such a long time but it also seems like such a short time. We all still miss his presence in our lives.

Boy!

Today we had our ultrasound and found out that we are being blessed with another boy! We are thrilled!

Everything looked perfect and based on measurements the baby is about 4 days ahead of my due date, but nothing will be changed of course. That's not big enough to make any difference and is really meaningless as babies grow at different rates. They said the baby weighed about 8oz.  It was so nice to finally “see” this baby.

Here are some pictures from the ultrasound:

T-Ball

Ethan is participating in Lake Stevens T-Ball this year and today was their first real game. He did great, and really enjoyed himself which is the important part!

Posing in his Titans uniform

Elsa bewildered by the fence (that ended just a few feet over) and Gwen trying to guide her

Ethan snoozing on the bench…

There, that’s better.

 

Calling his hit to right field

He made it to first!

Running to home

 

Gwen and Elsa doing their respective poses

Gorgeous view from the field

My beautiful baby girls

Ethan getting a good throw into first

All and all it was a good day, but extremely long to be entertaining a 2 year old. I think we may come about halfway through next time.

Just a few pictures

Not much to say, except that my ultrasound was bumped up to Monday. THIS Monday, the 12th! I’m sooooooo excited. Usually by this time we’ve had at least one ultrasound but not so with going through the stand-alone birth center. I’m eager to see the little baby, and I’m eager to find out if its a boy or a girl. I have no patience, I just HAVE to know these things as soon as possible!

Other than that though, nothing much happening. Just wanted to share these photos I took yesterday.

We were at MOPS all morning which means Elsa missed her morning nap and was played out. We got home, had some lunch, and she just crashed out on Gwen. Its so cute how these two love each other and enjoy sitting and snuggling. Any time Gwen is on the couch, you’ll hear Elsa saying, “Gwennie wap? Gwennie wap?” which is how she asks for Gwen to lift her up to her lap.

Later in the day I was making some cookies and I caught Elsa and her stool (they are constant companions in mischief) sneaking some cookie dough from the bowl. I have never had a child so interested in kitchen workings. She fiddles with the stove, tries to stir pots, cut veggies, and just do everything I do in the kitchen. It’s a little scary!

Today we have Ethan’s first t-ball game, along with his pictures and all that. Its gonna be an full afternoon event, so I better get moving and prep everyone for the day. Look for an update on Monday when I’ll definitely be sharing if a little boy or girl will be joining our family!

How time does fly…

It does not feel like two weeks since my last blog post! Many days seem very long, but the weeks just slip by before I know what is happening.

Nothing too exciting has been going on the last two weeks. Ethan is now reading simple stories quite well and I'm so proud of him. Every unit (which lasts about a week) ends with him making a little story booklet. Here's a video of him reading one of them. I've noticed that he tries to memorize the book, which you'll notice I missed in the beginning part of the book, when he didn't read it correctly. I caught him in the later part. But he can and quite easily does read the booklets.

Gwen has started reading as well, but it doesn't come very easy to her and she doesn't like doing it. Well, I take that back. She likes it, but its hard and one thing about Gwen is that she likes to do things well on the first or second try. Going back over and over something is very frustrating for her so if she thinks it will take a lot of effort she'd rather stop before she starts. For now, I'm dropping her lessons and letting it lie. I'll pick it back up in a few weeks and see if she's in a different frame of mind.

The kids are so different in their styles. Honestly, I always thought Ethan was going to be the more difficult one to school, but I've found him quite willing to work on something until he gets it right and doesn't need constant parental interaction and affirmation. Gwen, perhaps suffering a bit from the wunderkind traits that many people attribute to her, wants a lot of feedback and affirmation. For instance, she'll be practicing her letters and EACH letter she will stop and look at me and wait for positive feedback before moving on. She'll read one word and stop and wait for that affirmation. Its very frustrating and time consuming! I'm not giving her the constant affirmation because I don't think its a good habit to get into, so we often bump heads and she feels like she's not doing it right because I'm not there constantly telling her how good she's doing. We're both learning!

Elsa is very two, though her birthday isn't for another 6 weeks. Perhaps I don't recall the other kids at two very clearly, but she seems to be more precocious than they were! She talks very very well and figures out how to get into absolutely everything. She wants to do everything herself, from warming up her own milk in the microwave, to stirring pans on the stove (which I've scarily found her doing a few times!), to changing her own diaper, to adventuring down the street or across the parking lot in a few seconds time. Yet, she's very funny and loving to her siblings and she makes us all laugh when we need it most. What a lovely little child she is, despite the near heart attacks she gives me on a regular basis.

Pregnancy is rolling on fine for me. I hesitate to post this, but I haven't had a severe headache in a couple days and I'm cautiously optimistic that perhaps that stage ended very early this time? I don't know... I'm not getting my hopes up! I'm still wearing my regular clothes and am barely showing which is surprising! I'm kind of ready to get into the comfy maternity pants!

Last night we had an Easter/Passover celebration at my parents house. I made a huge pot of matzo ball soup and we had other goodies there as well. It was a long day but it was a fun mix of both mainstream Easter traditions (candy, egg hunt) and Passover. My Mom had gotten some EXTREMELY hot horseradish and Ethan put a huge spoonful on his matzo and literally erupted in pain! I tried to give him a drink and he spit it all out and started crying and screaming. I took him to my Mom's room and flushed his mouth but there isn't much you can do but wait it out. As he was crying, he said, "Mom, I'm peeing my pants!" and I just busted out laughing and then so did he, but he was still sobbing too. Oh, my poor little man. His face was so red from the pain and the crying. At first I'd been annoyed and thought he was over-reacting, but when I saw how much he'd taken, no wonder he was in agonies!