Is it Really January?

Raise your hand if you are loving this spring-like weather in the dead of winter!!! The kids got outside twice today, with just their little spring coats, to enjoy a perfect weather day. This morning, I couldn't quite get their behinds moving to the playground, so we decided to make some spring puddles on the back deck. Katie was in charge of getting the water, Michael enjoyed most of the pouring, and they both danced to their hearts content. Nice way to clean off the concrete! However, I think I did hear snow in the forecast for this weekend. Oh well, it will be February, right?

Swaggerwagon

Sigh! We are officially domesticated and have joined the "Minivan Owners Anonymous" 8-step program. Or, at least, its 8-yr program to help us get through the wonder years of three dependent kiddos. I don't know how many times we've sworn we would never resort to such a move, but it was all but unavoidable with #3 around the corner. Today, we brought home a certified used Toyota Sienna XLE and are adjusting to the new sweet ride in our Swaggerwagon.

Actually, we have all been checking out our new mobile digs (kids included, as pictured) and, given time, I think we all might become HUGE fans of the minivan. So much more space and creature comforts! Can embarrassment turn into pride? Stay tuned...

We decided to hang onto our Ford Escape, as we figure that our days of relying on only one car to get our kids to their activities are numbered. Plus, a Michigan-man can't be in the position of stating that all his vehicles are foreign, can he?

Dat One!

Yeah, we're suckers for any moment when our kids are being cuddly together. So, get used to these kind of shots! Anyway, the kids were bonding over Katie's Leapster Explorer this morning. Usually, Michael is very picky as to who he actually allows into his personal space. (Only Mommy and Daddy....nobody else can really hug or cuddle with him.) So, it melted our hearts to see the kids cuddling and huddling together. We just kept hearing Michael say, "Dat One!" with Katie obliging.

Always on His Schedule

No parent in his or her right mind would ever start the arduous, torturous process of potty training a toddler just weeks before another baby is due. But, do you really have a choice when the kiddo pushes his own schedule? As we highlighted in an earlier blog post, Michael has become obsessed with stripping himself bare. This was all fine and good until we started finding him in puddles of pee or standing near a yucky, dirty diaper. We figured that he might be taking his diaper off out of wetness discomfort, so we started to put him on the toilet as soon as he started to strip. It's now become so routine that he says "Paw-ey" everytime he tugs down his pants. And, nine times out of ten, he will actually do something (#1 only) on his little potty seat. Great, right? Well, since this is so novel, he's doing it like 500 times a day, which becomes exhausting for a very pregnant mama. (Because he's just getting the hang of things, you sort of have to hover over him to make sure he hits the mark, if you know what we mean... You also immediately have to put a diaper on so that he doesn't run off into naked land.) He's also far from being ready to do this outside our home, so it gets to be a battle of wills when he tries to strip at gymnastics class, Katie's preschool, etc. And, did we mention that Traci will not have time to deal with this once Baby comes? ARGH - we hate this whole process!!!! Hopefully, the novelty will wear off, he'll regress back to just wanting his diapers, and we'll pick this back up when everybody is ready for it.

Sibling Peace

The kids are definitely getting to the age where they engage in many sibling squabbles per day. Each always wants what the other has. Each finds something unfair about how much the other has gotten. Etc., etc... So, how do we ever reach the peace? Simple, just put videos on the computer, and you suddenly achieve world peace. Just wait until they are too big to share a chair....

Katie, These Days

Even though we just filled you in on her birthday, we haven't really given an update on what Katie is like these days. So, here goes:

LIKES: Stickers, Playdates with her buddies, Jumping (see video!), Eating unhealthy foods, Hot chocolate, Antagonizing her brother, Just about anything on Disney Jr. or Nick Jr. (TV), Rocknoceros!!

DISLIKES: Getting ready in the morning or at bedtime, The dentist, Getting tickled, Loud noises, Nightmares, The dark, Being the center of attention

NEW SKILLS: Rhyming, Cutting with scissors, Putting on her own shoes/socks/hats/mittens, Memorizing every song lyric she hears

Our baby girl is growing up so fast!!!

Par-tayyyyyyyyyy!

After a post-birthday 10-day-countdown, the day of Katie's 5th birthday party finally arrived on Saturday!!! The guest list consisted of mostly preschool friends, so we very much missed many of you loyal blog viewers this year! But, we all had a blast, because our host - the Hidden Oaks Nature Center - put on quite a production. They thoroughly entertained the kids with an animal talk (including an actual rabbit!), a nature walk, and a craft to take home. The kids also had free rein over the Nature Center's various animal and hands-on exhibits. We saw lots of smiles and heard so much kid laughter that we think the party was a huge success. Please take a look at our photo album to the right for more details! Now....on to the thank-yous!

Katie, Meet Katy

A huge congratulations to our good friends Julie, Matt, Sam (5-years-old), and Oliver (almost 3) on the arrival of their new baby girl (!), Kathryn! Traci, Katie, and Michael headed over with some food and gifts to introduce ourselves to the little beauty today. She was a perfect angel, sleeping the entire time, whether in our crib or being passed around from person to person. The bigger kids....well, they weren't so quiet, but they never have been! Big Katie looks forward to showing Little Katy the ropes someday. Congrats again, guys!

TGITh

We pretty much have a standing playdate every Thursday with our best buds Colleen (almost-3-years) and Ms. Kim. (Shhh....don't tell big brother Patrick, because he gets pretty mad that he has to be at Kindergarten instead!) The kids get along so well that Kim and Traci can pretty much just hang out and let the kids play on their own. (Except, of course, when the inevitable "Moooooooooooom" complaint comes raining down from one of them. Usually because Michael is causing some kind of mayhem.) Michael even looks forward to the playdates so much that he has adopted his own language-form of Colleen: Keeeeeen! Here are the three musketeers downing their mid-morning snack of cheese popcorn and Pirate's Booty. Here's to looking forward to next Thursday!

Pink Blur

What was that blur of pink that you just saw running by? Oh, it's only our little naked bandit. Now that Michael has figured out how to take off his pants and diaper by himself, we often find him in this state. Don't get us wrong...it's cute and all. But, the kid is far from potty-trained so this new phase is wrought with peril. So far, we've only found one little puddle...hoping to never find more than that!

Very Thankful Girl

One of the nice things about a 5-year-old is that they get sooooo excited about every new gift they receive. Katie, the lucky girl, has been getting new stuff in the mail every day this week since a lot of her extended family is far off. And, every single item that has arrived has delighted her to no end. She got some truly fantastic sticker books from Mike's side of the family that she has been obsessed with for days. Isn't that great? She doesn't need any bells and whistles at this age....just throw some beautiful stickers in her direction and she is in heaven. Here is a shot of her forcing her Daddy to do stickers with her for the umpteenth time.

Happy 5th Birthday, Katherine Reese!

DDD

Tonight's annual "Daddy Daughter Dinner" (i.e., the tradition we started on the night before Katie's birthday) was a success, despite the frigid temps. Location? Taco Bell, of course. I mean, given her pick of any restaurant in the greater D.C. area, how could she do better than her beloved beef crunchy taco and pink lemonade?

The evening concluded with a stop by DQ for an ice cream treat. Hmm? Not sure that was part of the deal, but I can't complain given the selection of sweets during our "Run for the Border."

Alright, the preparations for tomorrow's birthday festivities have begun. Mom is currently baking the cupcakes and I need to get wrapping! Can't believe our little girls is almost 5...

Pregnant Me, Take Three - Second Trimester

Well, we passed the 27-week mark of pregnancy on New Year's Eve, so it's time for another blog installment looking back on my second trimester. My first thought, as I post this picture, is "HOOOOOOOLY SMOKES! I'm frickin' huge!!" No, seriously, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this image staring back at me. First I compared it to my first trimester picture, and I swear I've added at least two more babies in the meantime. Then, to console myself, I looked back at my second trimester picture from my Michael pregnancy, and it did not help much. I'm definitely bigger this time around...which means I may be in major trouble as Michael was a 9.8-lb. newborn!! Perhaps I'll blame all the extra size on the holiday feasting. Perhaps it's just because I've had a "It's my last time...who cares?" mentality. I just hope that I don't regret any of my actions when all is said and done.

Anyway, now that I've got all that negativity out of the way, I can happily report that our second trimester has gone extremely well. Aside from the normal aches, pains, and tiredness of pregnancy, I've felt really great. I haven't had any weird side effects or health concerns, so the trimester seemed to fly by. As my belly grows and grows, the kids become more cognizant of the changes coming. When we found out we were having another girl at the anatomical scan, Katie was instantly STOKED!!! She is so excited to finally have a little sister with whom to share all of her girly secrets. (We hope poor Michael will just learn to treat ladies extremely well, what with his two sisters and mother always being on his case.) Although Michael seems pretty oblivious to things, he does point to my belly whenever we ask where "Baby" is. (And, then he promptly tries to punch or squeeze "Baby" as hard as he can, but we'll address that on another day.)

Speaking of "Baby," we are still nowhere close to deciding on a name for her. That is just one of a seemingly bazillion tasks that we must tackle in these last 13 or so weeks. You would think that, by your third pregnancy, you would get this baby prep stuff down pat. Au contraire...we have some pretty major jobs (say, for instance, buying a mini-van) standing in our way. Pretty soon, I will start digging through Katie's old clothes, putting them in the closet to prepare for baby. There's also double strollers and other baby gear to buy...this time without the benefit of a baby shower! But, our most fun and most challenging task to overcome is the name. It's one of our favorite things to do every night as we settle down for bed. Katie definitely has her opinions (Reese, Emily, Carlin, Caroline), and we have ours. We'll keep that to ourselves as we near the time to unveil it.

Anyway, here's to a fantastic last trimester (EVER!). We can't wait to meet our little babe-ster in just three short months!

Catching Up

Some old friends from Michigan dropped by this evening on their way out of town from visiting family. As always, it had been too long, but we had a fantastic time catching up with Amy, Matt, and their kids Addy (4 yrs) and Will (18 mos).

Katie and Michael were beside themselves with the excitement of kids their age with whom they could share their new Christmas loot. Two pizzas, ice cream, and the exhaustion of just about every toy in the house later, we were sad to see them leave.

Come back soon, guys! And best wishes for a Happy New Year!