The past two years...

To my sweet, spunky Lauren,

I can hardly believe that this morning, as you were still dreaming away, you turned 2 whole years old.  Two years ago today, I was snuggling you in the hospital, marvelling at how tiny you were and how perfect you were, and looking so forward to having you meet your big brother and so many of our family who loved you so much already.  And today, I'm up to my eyeballs in Elmo birthday party supplies as we prepare to celebrate you turning 2 years old.

Your curls and your sweet smile are two of my favorite things in the whole world.  I love that when I come home from work in the afternoons, you come running saying "Mommy, you're home!"  I love that even though you're getting to be such a big girl, you still like to snuggle up with me to fall asleep.  You love it when I sing "Cherry Tree" to you and you love to give me squeeze tight hugs.  I love that you love Elmo and Mickey and gaboons and Tootsie Rolls.  I never imagined how I could love you like I do, Lauren, but I do...so very much.

I am so proud of the little girl you are becoming.  My heart warms at the sweetness that I see when you tell Joshua that you love him, or when you pet Watson or hold a baby.  And although it makes me crazy sometimes, I also secretly love your spunk- the way you won't take orders from your big brother, or give up on what you want just because someone tells you "no".  While this may be a real source of frustration for me right now as your Mommy, I pray that this tenacity will follow you through everything you set out to accomplish in life. 

Sweet baby girl, you are the love of our lives.  I can't wait to see you as you fall in love with your baby sister in a few months and to watch you grow even more.  Although it would be fine with your Mommy if you decided to stay just as you are forever.  I love you as high as the sky.

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Mommy

A rare moment captured.

There's nothing like the iPhone to halt sibling rivalry.  After an evening of intense bickering, squealing, arguing and Lauren waving her finger at Josh saying, "Josh, don't you do that ever, ever, ever!" (her new favorite phrase), we found the two of them quietly sitting together working on the Monkey Lunchbox preschool game on my phone.  When Lauren would get stumped, Joshua would assist.  When she would get a question right (like colors or shapes or something pretty simple), he would praise her. 

And so, I thank you, Apple, for the gift of peace and quiet on an evening when I couldn't take one more moment of dispute between the two loves of my life.  Although I have learned to serve as family referee, it's not the duty around here that I most particularly enjoy.

I wonder what it's going to be like to referee THREE of them?  15 weeks and counting.

A whole bunch of stuff!

I absolutely love when fall is in the air.  There's something about this time of year that energizes me.  Maybe it's the overabundance of ginger snaps I tend to consume.  Or the crispness in the air.  Whatever it is, I love it.  A burst of autumn energy has been a blessing in recent weeks as our schedule has left no room for fatigue! 

I spent two days at home with the kids last week to give Grandma a much deserved respite after pulling all-nighter duty with the munchkins when Jason and I were in Boston for the wedding.  These two days served many purposes.  First, I got caught up on just about everything on my to-do list at the house.  Once you're used to working at the pace of a person who has, at the maximum, one or two good hours to get things done at home each day to having more than 12 awake hours to work with, you can really accomplish quite a bit.  I even managed to start the dreaded toy cleanout that needs to happen here pre-Birthdays and Christmas lest we get overrun with toys and drown in all things Fisher Price.  We also managed a yummy pot of homemade chicken corn soup with rivels, and that made my tummy so happy I can't even begin to explain it.  If you're wondering about this, go ahead and read the first paragraph again about all things Fall.  And to me, there's nothing that screams "the weather is changing" like boiling a chicken into stock and dropping balls of dough into it.  But after all of this cooking and cleaning up and doing laundry and changing closets over to fall clothing, I realized that it was time to go back to work.  Evidently two days is the longest I may moonlight as a stay at home mom.  Perhaps you should all pray for me (and more importantly, the kids) for when maternity leave starts in January.

Speaking of the littlest one among us, who spends her days kicking me and rolling around in my tummy, we had a chance to take another peek at her on Wednesday so that, hopefully, we could get a good picture of all 4 chambers of her heart.  She cooperated well and even let the sonographer confirm that she is, indeed, a girl.  And now, let the furniture shopping and purple bedding shopping commence!  As always we are so grateful for what appears to be a healthy, perfect baby girl who is getting closer and closer to coming to meet the world.  It is looking like we will be marking our calendars for a January 11, 2012 birthday party for her, and I am already beside myself thinking about it.  Honestly, how lucky can we possibly get to have another opportunity to do this again- greet a new life, and by privileged enough to help her grow?

The rest of the week flew by, but ended with a bang as Jason made his business move and opened the doors to River Valley Financial Advisors.  We were so proud of him!  Hopefully this is going to be an exciting step for our family and one of those "leaps of faith" that we'll look back on in 30 years and remember how scared we were, but how God has blessed us through the transition.

We spent a wonderful, quiet weekend together at home and did some last minute Target shopping to make sure that we had everything we need for Lauren's big #2 birthday celebration on Friday.  (And let's just take a moment to ponder how on earth she is turning 2 already....................................nope, still doesn't seem possible.) 

Sunday morning marked an important step for Lauren as she agreed to go to big kids church with Joshua.  (Joshua might be the golden ticket in our transition, here, and I have no shame in putting him to good use!)  Lauren marched like a big girl into the classroom and had a good time with the bigger kids.  Apparently there was one moment of panic when she realized we weren't there with her, but she quickly rebounded and spent the rest of the morning playing nicely with the kids.  And I am happy to report that Jason and I both sat through an entire sermon without one up-and-down, in-and-out catastrophe.

The afternoon was a highlight as well, as the Mowry's came over to gloat as Earl's Browns beat the Dolphins.  But let me tell you, we ate like it was the Last Supper.  There were more dips and picky foods and treats than you could shake a stick at.  And suffice it to say we will be cleaning up leftovers for the rest of the week.  I love watching the kids play together and hearing the giggles of all 4 of the big kids.  Baby Kinley did what she does best--- snoozed, ate, and looked adorable.  A highlight for me was Lauren getting to hold her.  And despite the fact that Kinley was crying, Lauren just kept holding on tight, smiling at her.  If only she loves her baby sister like she appears to be smitten with Kinley, we are going to be in great shape.



Here are a few pictures since the last time I dumped the camera.  I hope you enjoy!

Here is a sneak peek at Baby #3, who to this point, still remains nameless.  For any taking notes, this ultrasound picture looks identical to the ones we have at similar number of weeks for Joshua and Lauren.  So it appears we can expect to meet another baby who looks identical to her siblings.  Why would I think we would have one who even remotely resembles me?

The post that is desperately lacking pictures.

It has been quite a couple of weeks.  And generally speaking, they would have totally been blog-worthy...if only I had taken the time to write about it.

I was sure things had to be taking a turn for the better after our weekend of the sickos on Labor Day weekend.  I was oh so wrong about that.  The impending storm the week of September 8th had us all on edge...but mostly me from the insurance end of things.  Although I have to say that my concern was focused more on our friends who typically get water and the many clients I have who are most definitely in the path of rising waters in Lewisburg and the surrounding areas.  But while I was waiting for Joshua's class to let out on Wednesday afternoon, I saw a Facebook post from our neighbor who said they were ankle deep in their finished basement.  Knowing that our house has never had measurable water in the basement, the thought didn't even cross my mind to worry about ours.  Instead, I was focused on my friend Sue who was scheduled to arrive late that afternoon for dinner and an overnight stay.  But when I got home, I decided to check the basement.  And was shocked at what I found---- 4+ inches of water in OUR basement. 

To make matters more complicated, roads were closing around Turbotville at the speed of light.  I was stuck at home without a laptop and it wasn't looking good for getting back to work anytime soon.  So, for the next two days, I stayed at home, worked with the water mitigation people who were working to pump the thousands of gallons of water out of our basement, and trying to do the best I could to be in touch with the office to help clients who needed assistance. 

We were thrilled that roads were opened and our basement was dry enough on Friday afternoon to head to Nana and Pap's for Brooke's 3rd birthday celebration.  I can't tell you how happy it made me to pack bags and get things ready to go after having spent so much time at home in the previous two weeks.  This excitement quickly changed, though, when Lauren started complaining that her ear hurt her during her lunch.  When my pleas of, "No honey, I'm sure you're fine..." didn't console her, it was clear that a pit stop at Lewisburg Pediatrics was going to be necessary.  Luckily we got our prescription to go and had it filled in Lewistown.  And yes, she had two infected ears.  Great.

The weekend at home was wonderful, minus the humiliation PSU suffered at the hands of Alabama on Saturday night.  But the joy of being there to help Brooke celebrate her princess party was wonderful.  The kids seemed to have a good time playing together- giggling, riding the gator and Brooke's Jeep, digging in the dirt and eating far too many cupcakes. 

The next week took a sad turn when we found out that my cousin's husband, who had so bravely battled cancer, had gone to be with Jesus on Tuesday.  I traveled home on Thursday evening for the viewing, and then Jason and I went to Lewistown on Friday for the funeral services.  We are all so sad, but so relieved that we know where Joe is, and are assured that he has no more pain, no more sickness, and that he is basking in Heaven's glory. 

Mom returned to Turbotville on Friday afternoon and spent the night here so that Jason and I could leave before the rooster crowed on Saturday morning for our whirlwind trip to Boston.  We were on the road before 6 and arrived in Boston around 12:45.  We spent some time walking around in the city, and had some lunch at the Union Oyster House and even managed to catch the PSU game at the bar.  We made it back to the hotel in time to watch the only 3 minutes of the game worth seeing and then got ready for the wedding.  The wedding itself was on a yacht that was sailing on the Boston Harbor and was very nice.  We had dinner on board and enjoyed some beautiful views of the city.  Before we knew it, it was time to head back home.  A very tired trip, but Jason did a great job of getting us home to the kids safe and sound.  This was the first time that we had left Lauren overnight, and she did a fantastic job.  Gives me a little bit of hope for when I'm in the hospital to have the baby in January.  Our special thanks to both Nana and Grandma for splitting duty with the kids.

Now, today and tomorrow I'm home with them while Grandma rests up for the rest of the week.  I can't say I'm minding spending the time with them one bit.  I haven't ever gotten used to being away from them, and I really don't like it, but it sure does make the coming home very very sweet.

I'll work on some pictures.  My apologies for not having much to share here today.

The loooooong Labor Day Weekend

It's a really good thing we didn't have plans for the long holiday weekend.  I had an air of confidence about me on Friday afternoon because I felt 'ahead of the game' for once in a very long time.  My to-do list was getting things crossed off of it--- and I love when I hit my stride like that.  I had visions of a great, relaxing weekend.  If you sense some foreshadowing here, you're completely right.

As I was leaving the grocery store, earlier than usual, in an attempt to get home to relieve Grandma after two very early mornings this week, my phone rang.  And if you've read the post below, this is not generally a good thing.  And this was no "pee in the potty" celebration call.  Joshua, it seemed, wasn't feeling well.

He spent all of Friday and most of Saturday in this position, except with me underneath him.  But by Saturday evening, he was back up and at least vertical again.  We were all grateful for improved conditions. 

Sunday morning it struck Lauren.  She was pretty miserable and assumed Joshua's "in my lap" position for most of the day.  We did manage to do a few craft projects just for a change of scenery and positioning.  I guess whether you're almost 2 or 33 doesn't really matter.  There is only so much Mickey Mouse Clubhouse you can watch before you start to lose it.

Things improved a bit on Monday although no one was well enough to go anywhere or do anything exciting.  And the buckets of rain that were falling outside didn't help the mood.  So day 4 of house arrest brought more TV, more playtime, lots of towers built and some baking.  Joshua was a great banana smasher for our banana bread and he was quite proud to partake in the finished product as well.

On the list of positives is that I began the work week totally caught up on household chores.  That hardly ever happens, but always makes me happy when it does.  I also caught up to the rest of the free world and finished reading "The Help".  And I definitely enjoyed it.  Now to find a free two hour span to go to the movies and see the movie version. 

We certainly hope your Labor Day weekend turned out a little better than ours--- with no sick kids and some out of the house time!

A phone call at the office...

Everyone in my office knows that when Judy calls on the phone, it's generally not good news.  She does such a great job taking care of the kids while I'm at work that it's rare for the phone to ring with a question or situation from home that needs my attention.  Generally speaking, something has either broken at the house or one of the kids is sick or hurt.  So when I hear that she's calling, I immediately drop everything and say a quick prayer that it's nothing serious.

It happened this morning.  I was chatting with an Agent friend and mid-story had to jump off the phone because Grandma was calling for me.

When I got on the phone, I heard that Lauren needed me because she had to tell me something.

She peed on the potty.  That was her first time, despite countless times that she has attempted.  Usually she just sits there, tapping her bare feet on the floor after having stripped every ounce of clothing off of her body.  Apparently the girl can't pee with a shirt on (or socks, or pants around her ankles).  She sits on the potty a lot- with every diaper change she needs to give it a shot, before she gets dressed in the morning and before her tub at night.  And usually a few times in between.  But it appears the timing was just right today on two occasions and she's learning what it feels like to do it on purpose.  It is nothing I have pushed, with either of the kids, because after Joshua's 24 hour potty training episode just before he turned 3 where he literally got it down in one day of running around without pants on, I realized that these things tend to happen on their time, despite our own desires to drive the process according to our time schedule.  I just figured I have a whole lot of other things to get aggravated about that I'm surely not about to give myself some artificial time table to stress over.  The world hands me plenty of those without creating any extra.

I know we have a slooooooooow learning process ahead of us, but dare I dream that I might get my wish yet again of having only one in diapers at a time?  A lofty goal, I know...but I'm going out on a limb and saying out loud that I hope it comes true.

Trust me when I say I'm not rushing this baby to big girl transition, but it's happening right before my eyes.  Way to go Lauren!  We're so proud of you!