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!

Baby #2 on the way!!!

Surprise!!! Baby Yost #2 is on the way... due sometime in June! On October 27 I decided to take a test just for fun. Well... it was a positive!!! I really had no idea, since my cycle hadn't returned yet. I just thought, what if....

We told our family and a few close friends. We wanted to keep it quiet until we went to the doctor. My first appointment was a couple days ago, Dec 27. We had the ultrasound first. The measured me at 14 wks 5 days, which put my due date on June 19! I guessed I was around 14 weeks, so I wasn't too far off :) The ultrasound tech gave us a guess on the gender, but she said it was very early yet, so we are keeping that quiet for now (until the next ultrasound). When I saw the doctor, she said my due date is June 19, give or take 10 days! So I could really have this baby any time in June... Since I never got my cycle back, it is hard to determine exactly how far along I am.

I have been feeling pretty good this time! I felt sick maybe 3 or 4 times total... and I think those times were either because I wasn't eating enough or ate something that didn't agree with me (orange juice). Much different pregnancy this time so far as far as the sickness... and I've been STARVING. I was hungry a lot with Claire too, but I feel like I need to be eating constantly. Tired too, but that's to be expected. I usually go to bed right after I put Claire down at 9. Not really showing yet, but some of my jeans are starting to feel snug.

So, they're going to be about 15 months apart. Yikes?? It's going to be a challenge for sure, but I've heard great things about kids close in age. Hopefully they'll be bff's :) Plus, Claire won't really know what it's like to be the only child, so there shouldn't be much jealousy going on. I am excited!!!

GOD IS GOOD!

Baby Y #2