Jacob- 5 Months

Our sweet little boy is now 5 months old! He's growing up so fast.

Jake is a pretty happy baby. Also a pretty fussy baby. He's happy whenever I am holding him... always. Many times when I lay him down, he starts fussing. If I put him in the swing to nap and he isn't quite tired enough to fall asleep, he will cry if he can't see me. If I sit next to him, he's usually fine... but the second I walk away, he starts screaming. Such a mamma's boy! He does pretty well when I put him in the jumper. He usually stays in there for 10-15 minutes before he wants out. I hold him a LOT. He is just as happy as can be when he is being held. Not so much while I'm sitting down on the couch... but standing :) My back has been sore lately... Trying to find other ways to keep this boy happy too!

He is growing great. He wears 6 months clothes now (and poops on them daily).  We are still exclusively nursing, but I think I am going to try rice cereal soon. We started Claire when she was about 5 months. The recommendation is now to wait as close to 6 months as possible... but just a year ago "they" said 4 months was fine. So I think we'll give it a try soon :)

Jake loves to pull my hair, and his sissy's hair when he gets the chance. He laughs like crazy when I tickle him :) He also loves when I lift him into the air, and give him lots of kisses. He has the sweetest little laugh :) Claire still gets along with him great! She is doing wonderful as well. Her new favorite things are eating dog food and taking off all of her clothes and running around butt-naked. She's talking so well now and can tell me what she wants most of the time. It's incredible how fast they learn!

We have 10 1-week old puppies in the house as well! They are so cute. A little stinkey, but so cute! We already have new owners for 5 of them! Loving having pups :)

Jacob 5 Months

Jacob- 4 Months

Jacob is now a happy 4 month old baby boy :) He is growing great and is pretty easy for the most part. We still aren't sleeping through the night... Usually 3-4 hours. A couple nights ago he went 5 hours, but right back to the 3-4 the next night. We have the babywise routine down perfect during the day... he just gets hungry at night. I'm thinking about adding a little rice cereal to a pumped bottle at night to see if that helps. He only takes bottles when he's away from me or when we're on the road, but he usually does pretty well with them. The doc said we could try it, even though they recommend waiting as close to 6 months as possible. I started Claire on it at about 5 months, so I think he'll be ok. Just need a little something extra to fill him up at night!

Other than not sleeping great at night yet, he's doing great. He started rolling over at 15 weeks. He first rolled front to back, and then not even an hour later, he rolled back to front! He's been a rolling machine ever since :) I think he has been capable of it for awhile, he just had to figure out how to get his arm out of the way. He can hold his head up very well now, and does baby push-ups too :) He smiles and laughs a lot... and he is very ticklish! He giggles like crazy when I tickle his sides. So sweet! He also thinks it's hilarious when I change his clothes :)

Claire has continued to do great with him. She often will say "HI BABY!" when she sees him... and she recently did it in church when we brought her up from nursery for communion. It was quiet, and most of the church heard and started laughing :) Lately, she has figured out how to take her pants off... and loves to do it. Of course, I always think back to the poopy crib incident last month which makes me want her pants right back on! We've been wearing jeans on her a lot lately, which are harder for her to get off :) She has temper tantrums once in awhile, but nothing too horrible. I can put her in her crib for a 5 minute time-out and then she's usually fine right after. She's a great little girl most of the time!

Ben is working hard on the garage! About half of the concrete has been poured. We will get 2 more loads, and then start working on the walls. I've had to help him a few times with screwing in 2x4s to giant 6x6 20' and 24' poles... and did some concrete work the other day. I guess I'm learning all about the construction process! Can't wait til it's done. It has snowed a few times already, and I can't wait to have a garage to park my car. Speaking of car, I've been looking to get a new one. Possibly a GMC Acadia. My mom has been looking on salvage auction sites where cars have been in accidents and they sell for cheap. A guy at her work fixes them up... so we're looking for one with not a lot of damage at a great deal. We could really use a vehicle with a third row! My Equinox is just getting too small, especially when we have it loaded up with stuff. Haley is due in less than a month! Pretty sure she is pregnant... She hardly ate for a couple days until I started putting canned dog food mixed in with her normal stuff. It's also looking like some milk is coming in! Can't wait for some pups!!

Jacob 4 Months

Jacob-3 Months!

Our sweet baby boy is 3 months old already! He's growing so fast. He's smiling and laughing a lot! I have to hold this boy quite a bit-he is definitely a mamma's boy right now. If he's fussy, he usually wants me. He still gets reflux once in awhile and has screaming sessions. I can usually calm him down pretty quick though :)

Jake is not sleeping thorough the night yet... Right when he turned 8 weeks, he started sleeping for 7 hours straight, but that only lasted a few nights. He went right back to the 3 hour schedule... and he's still there. Sometimes he wakes up after 2 hours... makes for a long night for me. We go by the Babywise schedule pretty well, but the nighttime thing just isn't happening yet. Thankfully he only eats for about 5 minutes and then he goes right back to sleep. I try holding the paci in his mouth, but after 10 minutes of that, I just give up and feed him. I should probably start letting him fuss it out longer.

Ben just started building our new garage! SO excited.  It will be 930 square feet, plus 930 square feet upstairs for storage. So much more room! Can't wait to move all of the stuff out of our back bedroom and move Claire in there so we can move Jake into the nursery. I know I will struggle again moving him out of my room... but he will probably start sleeping better once we do.

Ben is working in Clare right now, so we have been able to go stay down in Harrison with him during the week. It has been great! Lots of packing and unpacking for me each week, but it's worth it.

Oh... we bred Haley too! Should be getting a litter of puppies at the end of November!!!

Jacob 3 Months

Claire- 18 Months!

Our sweet little girl is 18 months! She is growing up so fast. Life has definitely been busier with 2 little ones in the house!

Claire is such a blessing and a wonderful big sister! She is so nice to Jake (95% of the time) and loves to give him kisses. She always gives me his paci whenever she finds it :) She has only acted jealous a few times when I went to nurse him... but most of the time she just goes off and plays with her millions of toys. She's a great eater... has been trying to use forks lately. Also just started using plates, which she does very well with! She loves to wipe whatever is in her hands into her hair... makes for some fun hair-styles :) She loves wearing my shoes around the house (Ben's occasionally too)... so fun to watch... Especially when she wears my high-heels! We have been transitioning into using a sippy-cup, which results in melt-downs once in awhile. I still give her a ba-ba in the morning.

She's learning new words constantly. It's funny how I will know what she is saying but anyone else would have no clue. Like Gum-Gum= Grandma. Boo-Boo=Blueberry. Ca-Ca=Cracker. She's getting good pronouncing Thank You (Take-You) and Please (Pease)... and of course Mama and Dada. Whenever she sees a cat, she yells, CAT!!! Cracks me up. When she sees a dog, she goes Ruff-Ruff! It's incredible how fast they learn. She's also a great little dancer when music comes on :) She loves to tackle Dada and laughs so hard when it's tickle time :) She can point to most body parts when you ask her to. She's a great sleeper and asks to go Nu-Night. Whenever she asks for something, she says Pease? and then gives me a kiss.... makes it impossible to say no! Thankfully so far she only asks for baba's, cups, and ca-ca's. She really enjoys tearing apart all of her books... and I was going to share a diaper story here, but I'll leave that for when she's older :)

It's impossible to explain how much love I have for my sweet girl. Sure, sometimes she will throw a screaming fit while the baby is also screaming and definitely test my patience.... but thankfully those instances are rare. She is so full of love and happiness, and I feel so lucky to be her Mama :)

Claire and Jake

Jake, Claire and Dada with his 275 lb bear!

Jacob: 2 Months

Our sweet little boy is already 2 months old! He is a great baby. 11 lbs 7 oz and 24.5" at his checkup :) 90% for his head as well, of course. He gets acid reflux once in awhile, but he is pretty consolable most of the time. He also has pretty bad cradle cap, but we are working on it! He loves laying on his little jungle gym and grabbing at the toys. He also loves napping on momma... especially at 5am :) That's ok with me though, because I now know how fast they grow! He was sleeping 7 hrs straight for 3 days in a row right when he hit the 8 week mark, but he's back to about every 3.5 hrs now. Hopefully we can get back to the longer stretches at night soon! He smiles a lot and squeels with happiness, it is the sweetest!!

Jacob- 1 Month!

Our sweet boy is one month old already! Seems like yesterday we were coming home from the hospital. He is a great baby. He is usually content and very consolable when he cries. We are usually up every 3 hours at night to feed, but last night he went 4 hours and was only up twice :) Let's hope that continues! He weighed 9 lbs 6 oz and was 21.5" long... 40cm head circumference which is in the 90%! Go figure :)

Claire is also doing great! She is adjusting well... give baby kisses all the time! She has only tried to smack him a couple of times... so far. She is still very busy and always is getting into something. 2 nights ago I had my first minor crisis... Ben is back to work so I'm on my own. Jake was pretty fussy (which is rare) so I gave him a little gripe water and was nursing him. He started to calm down... just as Claire pinched her finger in the pantry. I jumped up and put him down real quick (started screaming immediately) and went and grabbed her. Her diaper was leaking... so I went and changed her real fast since Jake was screaming pretty hard. I just put her diaper on and left the onesie off. I grabbed him and resumed nursing. All was well.... until I turned around and Claire was standing there butt-naked waving her diaper in the air while dancing to whatever commercial was on TV. Good times!!!

Jacob 1 Month

My little loves :)

Welcome Jacob Lincoln!

Our sweet baby boy finally decided to make his appearance on June 25th :)

I had an ultrasound and doc appointment on Monday June 24th, and all looked good. I was dilated to a 2-3 and was 80% effaced. We decided to induce on Friday if he hadn't come yet. Well, on Tuesday I took Claire for a stroller ride out back, and on our way back up to the house I had a couple of light contractions. I told Ben, and he asked if he had time to go get a load of dirt from my parents' house. I said oh yeah you definitely have time. That was at about 6:00... and from then on, contractions were every 5 minutes apart. They weren't really painful yet, but they were close together right off the bat. His mom and grandma were on their way up here already, so that worked out good for them to watch Claire. Ben got back, I jumped in the shower real quick... and we were ready to go! As we were headed out, I said that I wasn't sure if we should go so soon because they weren't that painful yet... and Ben's mom said I should go because they were so close.

On our way in, we stopped at BK... I was starving and knew I couldn't eat once I got to Munson. I just had a side of fries and shared a strawberry shake with Ben. We got to the hospital at 8:00 and got right into Triage. I was at a 4 already! They admitted me and got me into my room at 9:00. The Tigers were on and Ben and I were joking about if I could have the baby by the time the game was over (I think it was in the 3rd or 4th inning). When I got to the room and the doc came in, I was at a 6! Wow... Contractions were getting intense. The doc asked if I wanted an epidural... I told him that I was going to wait it out a bit longer. He said I should decide soon. I was still managing. Shortly after (probably about 10:00), I hit transition and was at a 7-8. WOW. I got the shakes bad and felt like I was going to puke fries and strawberry shake. I said, "OK, I want the epidural!!!" So the nurse ordered it and started an IV (Took 4 tries to hit a vein...). Doc came in a bit later and said I was at a 9-10 and by the time the epidural took effect, he would probably be here already. So... no pain meds for me!

At 11:05, we got to meet our precious baby boy! Jacob Lincoln weighed in at 8 lbs. 5 oz and was 20.5" long... and PERFECT.

I was shocked at how much faster he came versus Claire. 5 hours of labor vs. 21... The second one definitely comes faster! My recovery was better in all aspects, except for the after-pains which I did not really know about... They started on day 4 and lasted 3-4 days. I got these 15-30 minute cramps that were quite painful... I had to lay down with a heating pad for a couple of them because I could barely move. Thankfully those are over! Jacob is a great nurser and has quite an appetite! Nighttime sleep has been rough, but the past 2 nights have been much better. He has went 3.5-4 hours between nighttime feedings :) Let's hope he keeps that up!

We are so blessed.... Our little family of 4 is doing so great. Claire is adjusting well and loves giving baby kisses! God sure has blessed our family!!!

Jacob 10 days old

40 Weeks!!!

The due date has officially arrived! I'm actually writing this one day late :) Feeling pretty good! The sciatica is gone, so I am much more comfortable. Just the normal back pain when I sleep, which is tolerable. I've been having on and off contractions, but nothing major. We were really hoping to have him by this weekend so our Pastor (who was re-assigned) could dedicate him before he left... but it doesn't look like that will happen. Hopefully we get to make it to church tomorrow! Keeping this one short... come on baby boy, we are so ready for you!!!

40 Weeks

38 Weeks... Full Term!!!

Officially full term with Baby Boy!!! I am ready...

Still having back issues, but not quite as bad as last week. After my doc appt, they referred me to see a physical therapist. I just happen to know a great one, Stacey Walton :) so I got ahold of her and got things set up. She's been over 3 times to do exercises and stretches with me. I think he's been dropping, and thankfully coming off of my sciatic nerve. I'm still being very careful walking since my right side is still pretty bad. Waddling/limping around... but not as bad as before. Last week, I had many strangers run up to me asking if I needed help!

Ben's grandma came up this week to help me out with Claire. I'm not supposed to be lifting her... it has been really nice having her here to help! Plus I get to sleep an extra 30 minutes in the mornings :) I only have 1/2 day of work Monday and Tuesday, then I'm done... wow. Bittersweet. I don't know if I'll be coming back after my 1-year leave or not. I love this place and working here, but I have to do what's best for our family. We'll make that decision when the time comes!

Any time now, baby boy!

36 Weeks

Less than a month left!! Baby boy is growing and doing great. Mamma has had a rough couple of weeks, but hanging in there... A couple weeks ago, I had to have by toenail on my big left toe removed due to a lingering infection that just wouldn't go away :( Not so fun. Went to my primary doc first, and she sent me to a specialist... who pretty much told me immediately that it would need to be removed. So he put 5 numbing shots in it (which were awful) and then started working on it to take it off... and then it got super painful when he got near the infection, so he put in 2 more shots, then took it right off. I was instructed to soak it in epsom salt then pour hydrogen peroxide on it and cover with band-aid and Neosporin... well, I definitely was not able to handle the soaks or peroxide for a couple days. Ouch. It is better now, and my check-up went great and the infection is gone.... phew. So, this past Wednesday I woke up and my back was not in good shape. I think I may have slept on it wrong... I had a doc appt that day and he said to take Tylenol and use a heating pad. Well, that didn't help much and my back was worse on Thursday. I could BARELY WALK. Each step was excruciating. When I was sitting or laying down still, I was fine. I think I pinched my sciatic nerve. Yesterday was really bad too... and I had to walk into Munson for my Materinity Stay Appointment and barely made it. Went to my great friend Stacey's house last night (she's a PT) and she worked on it for me and did some adjusting. She put tape on it too to try to straighten things out. Still gimping around quite a bit today.... but the pain isn't shooting down my leg like it was before. Trying to rest and stay off my feet as much as possible. I still have 4 weeks left and have quite a bit of training to do with my replacement, so I have to get better!!

Claire is doing so great. Talking more and more, and doing a little bit of signing too :) She knows "more" and does it when she's eating. She helped her Daddy mow the lawn this morning and is out shopping with him right now so I can rest. She is still taking 2 1.5-2 hour naps a day and sleeping 10-12 hours at night. Can't complain one bit! She just starting kissing my belly... it's the cutest thing. Love that little girl so much. So excited to add a baby brother to the family!

36 Weeks

34 Weeks

Only 6ish weeks left!!! This pregnancy is flying by.

We had another ultrasound on Friday to re-check Baby Boy's kidney... the one side is still slightly enlarged. They are functioning properly, so that is great news. Doc said this usually goes away on it's own, but it's something our pediatrician will have to monitor when he is born. I have faith that the Lord will take care of it! All else with Baby Boy is perfect :) His weight was estimated about 5 lbs 6 oz which is right on track. It was pretty funny.... he kept grabbing his boy parts during the ultrasound. Such a boy :) Also, looks like he's going to have some chubby cheeks! Can't wait to meet this boy!

Claire is doing great. She is really developing her personality lately! Her vocabulary is growing as well... she says mama, dada, baba, bye bye, hi, all done, BUCK (so funny, she points to the buck on the wall), and she even tries to say Haley.... and she tries to repeat things I say. She also tries to brush her hair when I hand her a brush, and she's getting more helpful when it's time to change clothes. One of her new favorite things to do is fling food off her tray and onto the floor after I cut up small pieces for her... which is always fun. She's growing so fast! I have so much love for her, it's hard to put into words. She is such a blessing.

Ben is still working hard down in GR all week, and weekends sometimes. Last week he worked every day, and came home Sunday evening. Long hours for him... but we're managing. He'll take a couple weeks off when Baby Boy gets here. I had to get my big toenail ripped off last week due to a lingering infection around the nail that just wouldn't go away.... no idea how it got there. That was painful. Hope I never have to go through that again!

Had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! Could have done without the snow, though. Serously... snow on May 11th and May 12th. Ridiculous. Ben's birthday was May 12th. We didn't do anything too special, but I got him some new jeans and made him a blueberry cheesecake :)

Counting down the weeks!!!

32 Weeks

34 Weeks

Baby Boy @ 34 Weeks

30 Weeks!

I have been a bit behind on updating my blog with baby boy info.... but honestly, we have just been so busy lately! It's hard to find time to fit everything in, and blog updating went on the back burner. Oh well... that's life! Anyways, we are now 30 weeks along with only 10 to go! This pregnancy is definitely flying by. Much more so than my pregnancy with Claire. My guess for that would be because I have a 1 year old to chase around :)

Pregnancy is going great! This little boy is super active and likes jabbing me in the ribs (and bladder!). It's funny how his movements are different than Claire's. Sometimes he moves rapidly, almost like shaking... I asked my doc about this and she said it's totally normal. She said it's a reflex that happens sometimes when they get startled and they are trying to grab on to you. Kinda cool :) Nothing I was concerned about, was just curious. I came in high on my glucose screen, so I had to do the 3 hour test again... not fun. This time, I ate a TON of food before I went to bed, so I didn't get nauseous like I did last time. The 4 pokes weren't fun, but I survived. Passed the test :)

A nasty cold swept through our household last week. We were in Harrison over Easter weekend, and I think Claire picked it up from one of her cousins. When we got home, she was fussy with a really snotty nose and a cough. She got a fever too and puked on me once (while I was changing a poopy, that was fun!)... poor girl. Motrin did great keeping her fever down. I ended up getting the cold soon after, and we are both still recovering. Seems like it is lasting quite a bit longer than normal right now, and my doc said that's due to pregnancy. Longer recovery and harsher cold. Oh, then Ben got it too... he ended up coming home from work Wednesday to sleep. He's down in GR all week, so it was really nice to have him home. I also had a snow/ice day (yes, on April 10th!) so it was nice to be able to spend the day together at home, even if we were all sick. We are all nearing the end of it, so should be back to normal soon! Claire was a trooper through her cold... she definitely had her fussy moments, but wasn't bad at all. Was super cuddly, which I loved :)

Starting to think about getting ready for baby boy's arrival! We definitely need an addition soon, hopefully we will get it done this fall. Just a garage with an attic upstairs for storage... so I can move Claire into her room to open up the nursery. Looking forward to that :)

Enjoying every little moment right now... I know kids grow so fast! Claire is starting to say a few words now... she says hi and bye and waves, and will try her best to repeat words when you say them... like apple :) When you say, Claire, what's a sheep say? She goes, BAAA! Cow? MOOO! So cute :) She's getting so smart. Loving life and enjoying every moment!!!

26 Weeks

28 Weeks

30 Weeks

Claire is ONE!!!

Wow... hard to believe our sweet baby girl is one year old already! How the time flies. Claire is such a great baby... well, I guess she's transitioning into a toddler now! She is happy most of the time, and her smile lights up the room :) She is a great eater, has had no allergies to anything, and has been quite healthy overall. She has 4 teeth that have popped through, and she has done pretty well with teething. Sure, she is fussy at times, but nothing unmanageable. I picked up some homeopathic teething tablets for her, but we haven't had to use them yet.

Her first birthday party was Saturday and it went great! We had a great turn-out, I think about 25, and Claire had lots of fun. I decorated the church hall with an owl-theme, and we had pizza, salad, cheesebread, and cake. I fed Claire some cut up pieces of pizza, so she wasn't too hungry for cake afterwards... but she enjoyed making a mess out of it :) She got a lot of great clothes and toys! She should be set for awhile :)

Couldn't ask for a sweeter little girl... and my pregnancy is going great! 26 weeks now :) God is good!

She's ONE!

24 Weeks!

I am 24 weeks along with our baby boy already! Time is flying. I feel like I said that a lot when I was pregnant with Claire, but it definitely feels faster this time. Probably because I have an 11 month old :)

He is moving around and kicking like crazy. Love it :) He should be around 1 lb and about a foot long at this point. Still feeling great. I've had very mild heartburn a couple of times, but nothing too bad.... yet. My guess is that will get worse as we continue to grow. Haven't had any back pain yet either, but I know that came with the third trimester last time. Really enjoying this stage of pregnancy!

Claire is doing great! Learning so much. When you ask her, "Claire, what's a sheep say?" She goes, "BAAA!" Cracks me up. She is also learning what objects are... The other day Ben told her to go bring him her sock. She jabbered something, walked across the room and grabbed her sock out of a pile and brought it to him. Later he asked again where her sock was. She went to her toybox, threw a few toys out, and pulled out a sock! Such a little smarty-pants :) Still napping great and sleeping through the night. She will be 1 in 2 weeks... so hard to believe! I'm pretty happy we get to make the switch to cow's milk soon and introduce some new foods to her. She's a great eater and hasn't had any allergies to anything yet. Tooth #3 has popped through the top, and I think #4 right next to it is on it's way as well. She hasn't been too bad with the teething... she gets fussy once in awhile, but it never lasts long. She is so busy and active... never sits still. She loves her Minnie Mouse car and is constantly climbing on that (and occasionally falling off of it). She just started tipping her head back when we take a picture of her, along with a huge smile... so adorable. Love that little girl so much. I can't wait til I can stay home with her all the time! Speaking of that...

I've decided to take a year leave from work once we have Baby Boy. TCAPS has a great leave option, so I can take 1 year for child-care leave and still be guaranteed my position. After that year, I could take an additional year of leave, but my position would not be promised back. I LOVE that I have this option. This way I can spend a whole year at home and then at the end of the year, I can make a decision if I want to go back to work or stay home until they are in school. I have been doing well with my new Premier business and I'm really enjoying it. This has provided some additional income for our family, and will definitely help when I am not working my full-time job. Let's me contribute while allowing me to stay home :) Ben goes back to work on Monday, so I'll have to start dropping Claire off to get babysat while we are both at work. It has been such a blessing for Ben to be able to stay home with her for this long... and we have a great friend of ours who will be watching her during the day. It will only be until June when I am done with work. I think I can handle 3.5 months of this... and then I'll be home with my 2 babies :) Oh, and we might have a litter of puppies at that time too!! Going to be a busy household :)

So blessed and excited for our family!

24 Weeks

It's A BOY! 22 Weeks/Claire 11 Months

It's a.... BOY!!!!!

And we couldn't be happier :)

We are now at 22 weeks! Past the half-way point, and still feeling great. Haven't been sick at all. I go to bed between 9 and 10 usually so I can get plently of sleep. Drinking lots of water... and feeling great! I am feeling tons of movement lately :) Ben felt a kick the other night too, so exciting!

We had our ultrasound on Wednesday and got the amazing news that we are having a baby boy! We were hoping for a boy, and are so happy. We have to get one more done because he has a slightly enlarged kidney which is pretty common in boys I guess... They just have to make sure it goes back down. No biggie... doc said not to worry. Similar situation with Claire and those tiny cysts that ended up going away. Of course I had to google it... but sounds like I shouldn't be at all concerned. He wasn't in the best position for good pictures, so hopefully we'll get a few next time. He didn't have any problem showing off his boy parts, but I'll save him a little embarrassment and not post those :)

Claire is doing great. 11 Months old now!! Walking all over the place and just as happy as can be. I have started planning her first birthday party, and we're doing an owl theme... should be fun!!

All is wonderful in the Yost Household :)

Claire-11 Months

22 Weeks

Baby Boy!!!

My thoughts on the Super Bowl...

We just stayed home this year instead of going somewhere to watch the Super Bowl. I watched most of the first half, and then went to bed. I was not impressed.... I'm not a prude, but I was very put-off by most of what I saw.

First off, the commercials. Many of them were just raunchy. Sexual references everywhere... just inappropriate and not family-friendly. The Go-Daddy commercial with the super-model making out with the computer nerd was completely repulsive. The Calvin Klien commercial was way too much... Even the Best-Buy ad had me shaking my head. It didn't take me long to tune-out.

Next... the half-time show. I think Beyonce is very talented and beautiful. However... her outfit and dance moves were provocative and not for kids! I spoke with several other moms who said they turned it off quickly. She was wearing this tiny black leather thing while groping the floor and performing stripper dance moves. She is a mother now too... I just don't get it. She is supposed to be a role-model for girls. Apparently  they're trying to teach our youth that this is the norm, and this is what it takes to be "cool"....

I didn't watch much of the first half at all, but I heard later that there was swearing my players and coaches that was easily heard on the TV. Again, are these supposed to be our kid's role-models?

Our society has become SO desensitized. It saddens me. I'm going to be raising my kids in a very scary world. There is only so much I can shield from them... even many cartoons out there are not ok. I remember when I was young, the only show we could not watch was the Simpsons. My parents didn't have to worry about football games and commercials. It's hard to believe how much has changed in just the past 15-20 years. I guess all we can do is pray and do our best to raise our kids and hope they make good decisions as they grow... and pray, pray, pray.

20 Weeks!

I am now 20 weeks along with baby #2! Still feeling great. I've gained about 12 lbs so far, which is the same as where I was with Claire. I feel like my belly is popping out faster, which is expected. I have been feeling quite a bit of movement! I guess my only complaint is that I have to go to the bathroom 1-2 times during the night... but that is also expected. Our gender ultrasound is going to be Feb 13. 2 of my best friends who are also pregnant and due around the same time as me are scheduled for the 13th and 14th, how cool is that :)

Work is going well. We've had a ton of snow days lately... 4 in the past 2 weeks! It has been so great to stay home with Ben and Claire. It allows Ben to go work in his shed or get out and do some fishing, and I get to spend extra quality time with my little girl :) She is officially walking all over now! She truly amazes me. Her First Birthday is coming up... time to start party planning!

I absolutely love our little family... so incredibly blessed!!!

20 Weeks Baby #2!

Claire:10 Months/18 weeks with #2!

It's hard to believe that Claire is just 2 months away from her first Birthday! It is SO true that they grow so fast. About a week ago, she started taking her first steps :) She has taken 5 steps a couple of times now... she is well on her way to becoming a walker! As I've mentioned before, she is extremely active and doesn't sit still very often. Diaper and clothes changes are quite a challenge. I usually have to chase her around her room to try to button her PJs.... She sure keeps me busy!

She is still eating great! She gets 3 meals a day plus formula in between. Last night, Ben made some juice with the power juicer... apples, oranges, pineapple, carrots, tomatoes, and celery... we poured a little bit into her sippy cup. She drank it all... but later that night she was super upset :( I think it may have been too much citrus for her and gave her an upset tummy. I felt terrible. I was up pretty late holding her and walking around... she eventually calmed down enough for me to put her to bed. She cried for awhile, and then fell asleep and slept most of the night. Poor girl... momma won't be doing that again anytime soon.

She still has just the 2 teeth that I can see. I'm guessing we'll be seeing more soon. Her very blonde hair is thickening up, and sometimes is quite wild when she wakes up :) I try putting headbands on her sometimes, but she just takes them off within seconds. Maybe someday!

Her first Christmas was wonderful. We spent lots of time with our families, and Claire had a ball. She even helped open some of her presents (and tried eating the wrapping paper). She got a new big toybox that we put in the living room for her, a rocking horse, a Minnie Mouse scooter car (her favorite) and lots of other toys and clothes... she is a lucky girl!

As for the pregnancy, we are doing great!! I felt movement for the first time last week, so exciting :) I think I've gained about 8-10 lbs so far... I'm surprised I haven't gained 30 with all of the eating I've been doing. I'm seriously so hungry... I can't eat enough. I eat breakfast right before I leave at 7:30, and by 10, I need to eat! Hungry child :) I have an appointment in a week, and I'll get the ultrasound scheduled then where we will find out the gender!

I decided to start the Bible 1-Year Reading Plan... almost through Genesis! I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I have never read the Bible cover to cover. I've read many chapters of it, but never straight through. So far, I have loved it... it is really filling to just sit down and spend time in God's word. I am also reading a devotional every morning that my good fried Stacey gave me that was written by Joan Horner, the co-founder of Premier Designs Jewelry... and it is wonderful! So glad I'm adding more God to my daily life. Being filled helps me be joyful and stay positive throughout my day.

So incredibly thankful and blessed!