Wicked!

We just came back from a fabulous getaway. My sweetheart bought me tickets to see Wicked for Valentine's Day. Does he know me, or does he know me? I LOVE theatre and we just don't go as often as I would like. I don't think we've seen a Broadway play since 2005 when we saw Miss Saigon. I was SO excited about our play, but even more because it was in Dayton and would require an overnight getaway. We've taken an overnight getaway before each of our children was born, but always waited until I was 34-36 weeks pregnant. I was super excited to be able to go a little earlier in this pregnancy so that I'm still feeling reasonably comfortable and don't mind leaving my own bed!

Wicked was AWESOME. Such a fun play--it is the "true" story of the Wicked Witch of the West. So funny, so entertaining, just a really great time. Brent loved it too, so it was just a really great evening. We started off with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and even though I couldn't possibly eat a piece of cheesecake, I ordered one for later. Yum. The play was fun and then we headed over to Wright Patterson Air Force Base where we snagged an awesome suite for $39. Gotta love military housing!! We got to sleep in this morning, the first time we've both slept in for months, It feels luxurious and decadent to sleep in until 10am! So well rested today, yet amazingly, so tired through the whole day. Can anyone explain that?? We had a fat filled breakfast at Bob Evans, then headed out for some shopping--amazing how much fun that can be without kids in tow. I loved it, not sure if Brent did. We finished out our date with a trip to IKEA and dinner and then headed home to our sweet kids. It was so much fun to see their sweet faces after being gone for the weekend. They were so happy to see mommy and daddy and we were just as happy to hold them in our arms again! I can't believe I forgot my camera for this awesome weekend, but believe me when I say it was so fun and so relaxing. I feel like a new woman!! By the way, it's official--our son will never be named. Brent and I cannot agree on a name. We talked names all the way up to and back from Dayton, but our choices are completely different. Anyone have any suggestions??

Sweet Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!! Somehow Valentine's Day is just a bit different now that we have kids. It's less about time alone to reflect on our love and more about celebrating the love we have for each other as a family. We didn't have any big plans for the day this year, but a change in plans gave me a chance to make things special.
Tristan spiked a fever on Sunday February 14th, so I couldn't send him to church. Instead, he and I stayed home for a relaxing Sunday morning while Maura and Brent went off without us. Tristan helped me to make a special Valentine's lunch for us all. He LOVES to cook with me these days, so he was more than happy to oblige me to get some special things cooked.
My sweet valentines were excited about their heart shaped PB&J and soup. I love these babies. What a blessing to our lives. They keep us laughing and bring so much joy every day.
Brent got me an awesome Valentine's day gift--chocolate and tickets to see Wicked this weekend. I can't wait! I'm so excited to have another weekend away before this baby comes. Maura couldn't wait to break into her Valentine's Day gift!
Tristan wasn't quite as eager! Poor guy--he was incubating an ear infection and we didn't even know it.
He was really a lot more interested a moment later and loved his car and truck stampers.
Brent enjoyed his Valentine's gift too--lots of chocolate! We had to pack up quickly after our lunch to get to some Sunday afternoon business, but it was nice to have this sort lunch to celebrate how much we love each other. That evening, we celebrated with our traditional fondue dinner with just the two of us. Cheese and chocolate--yum. I love my husband and think he's such a blessing in my life. Thank you, God for my awesome husband and kids and thanks for the chance to celebrate that love.

There goes the hair!

My babies grow up too quickly. I'm helpless to stop the continual progression of my children as they go from infants to children in the blink of an eye. Because of this, I was in no hurry to get Tristan's beautiful curls cut off. Something about that first haircut makes a child go from baby to big boy in five minutes. I let Tristan's hair get REALLY long as I put off the inevitable, but I finally conceded when someone asked me if he was a boy or a girl. HELLO! He is beautiful, but no girl is as hale and hefty as this big man! One Thursday, Brent and I packed him up and headed to the kiddie salon clip his curls.
We took Tristan to Kiddie Kutters, a kids salon not far from us. They have all kinds of different vehicles for the kids to sit in while they get their hair cut. Tristan chose the airplane and LOVED having a steering wheel to drive. He also got to pick out a movie to watch and was so excited that they had Elmo. Look at those curls! I was afraid I'd never see them again! I didn't realize just how long his hair was until she combed it all out to cut it. Look at his eyes. He was absolutely GLUED to the TV screen and didn't even flinch as she combed his hair and started cutting.
LaShanda was the stylist who cut his hair. She was also the stylist who gave Maura her first cut too. She is so patient with the kids and does a wonderful job, so I was so glad to see that she would be the one to give Tristan his first cut.
I told her to keep his hair a little long--I just wasn't ready for that short little boy cut that everyone seems to get the first time out. I also wanted to see if his curls would come back if we left his hair a little long.
"Look, Ma, I have curls!" The finished product was oh so cute! He looks so handsome, but I will admit he looks a bit older too.
Those sweet curls aren't gone for good, and I'm so happy. When he gets a bath or wakes up from a nap, his hair is really curly and I just love it. He's got the rest of his life to have short hair, but I have just a little while left to let him have curls.
What an awesome job! Tristan did great through his whole haircut and got a balloon and lollipop for a reward. He was so excited!
As a special treat Brent took Tristan to an indoor playground after his haircut. Here's what happens when you give your camera to your husband to take photos at the playground. Can't you just tell how much he's loving the ball pit?? Yeah, neither can I!
A little about my sweet Tristan...this big boy is an interesting mix of sweetness and strength. He's a lover who gives lots of hugs and kisses and cuddles. He LOVES his mommy and daddy and still hates to be separated from us, which means tears at nearly every parting, but he is getting a little better. He's an absolute brute despite his sweetness, so he might knock you over on the way to hug you. He frequently hurts me without meaning to when he's running, falling, or just sitting on me. He feels bad when he hurts me and apologizes with a sweet, "I'm sorry." He's such a physical boy and would rather wrestle, climb and jump than sit and read a book. Tristan can be a real stinker and can throw a monster tantrum, but is also pretty easily distracted away from his tantrum most of the time. Most of the time, all I have to do it threaten to leave him behind by saying, "See you later, Alligator!" He immediately stops what he's doing to run screaming after me, "Mama, Mama!" He's also pretty easy to discipline and responds well to both time outs and spankings. He needs just a tap from a spanking to straighten up most of the time. He's really starting to develop his interests as he approaches his second birthday. He recently has developed a real love of trains. He loves Choo-Choo Soul on the Disney channel and has enjoyed Chuggington the few times he's watched it. He loves to say, "All Aboard!" and pumps his fist in the air as he says it. Recently, Brent got out his electric train and Tristan LOVED it! He especially loved being able to control the speed with a big dial.
Tristan has recently started talking a bit more recently. Up until a month or so ago, he was using mostly one word sentences. He's now stringing about three words together at a time to communicate a lot more. He loves trying out new words, especially ones he hears Brent and I use. My favorite is "Oh Man!" He uses this all the time, from dropping things to accidentally drooling on himself. Tristan is definitely the class clown and if he says something that gets a laugh, he'll repeat it often for more reaction. He makes little jokes all the time. Brent and I imagine that we're going to be getting a lot of calls from his school one day as he's disrupting class with his antics!
Tristan is learning really quickly. He's counting to ten now and is really interested in numbers. He's less interested in the alphabet, identifying every letter as an "A" or a "B." He likes shapes and can identify most common ones. He's working on colors, although blue seems to be his favorite as it's his default guess whenever he doesn't know the answer. He's such a smart little boy and I can't wait to see him continue to learn and grow. Tristan is such a big boy--he was at the doctor today and he and Maura weigh exactly the same--35.4 pounds. Wow. I can seriously not carry this boy any longer. I lift him only when necessary and carry him only when I absolutely have to. Tristan is going to have to grow up quickly when this baby comes, but he's going to have a hard time sharing his mommy!

Proof that my kids do actually love each other and play together nicely. I know I'm going to need to go back and watch this someday to see that they did ONCE get along! My sweet kids bring us joy and laughter every single day and we thank God for their presence in our lives. I can't imagine life without them.

It's a BOY!!

Brent and I have known about this pregnancy since before Halloween. It has already seemed like a long pregnancy to me and I'm only 21 weeks into it! I think the next seventeen weeks are going to drag by. Initially, we considered not finding out the gender of this baby, but in the end I couldn't stand the suspense and we were really looking forward to the 20 week ultrasound. Last Wednesday, the day finally arrived and we all piled into the doctor's office for a peek at the new baby.
Maura was super excited to be there with us. Tristan could not have cared less. He still has no concept of that baby in my tummy. Maura was really hoping for a girl so she could name her Stacy(Her favorite babysitter's name.) I knew that taking both kids would be a hassle, but I wanted Maura to be a part of it, but didn't want her to have to attend the actual appointment portion. My mom came to help wrangle the kids and find out the gender of her newest grandchild.
We all piled into the teeny tiny ultrasound room and the US tech lost no time in giving us a peek at our new baby. So precious. I love seeing that profile for the very first time. Suddenly the baby seems much more real to me. It has a face and a distinct personality. I love that little snub nose. I asked the tech to give us a quick once over so that the kids could see the head, face, heart, arms and legs and so that they could leave the room after we determined the gender. Maura was just captivated by the onscreen images.
Then, the tech moved on down and got a shot between the baby's legs. She said, "Can you tell what it is?" I said, "Oh, yea. It's a boy!" It was VERY apparent. The first reaction in the room was Maura, saying "Oh no! I wanted a girl! I wanted to name her Stacy!" Brent and I were initially shocked. We both felt strongly that the baby was a girl. I kept thinking, "Wow! A baby boy! I can't believe it!" It's taken some time to sink in, but we're both very excited and can't wait to have two boys and one little princess! Everything else looked great on the ultrasound. The tech spent a lot of time looking at the baby's heart due to the angle he was lying at. While she did all that, I was able to check out the baby's hands, fingers, feet, toes and lips. Everything looks so perfect. We were so relieved! What a wonderful report! After our ultrasound, we talked with the doctor, who wasn't exactly excited that she might be delivering another almost 10 pound boy. She immediately got out her calender to see when she could induce me so that the baby would hopefully not be so huge. It looks like this baby will be induced sometime between June 22 and June 26th. So excited that I won't have to carry this baby to my due date!
Maura recovered from her initial disappointment while she waited in the waiting room. She realized that she could name the baby Austin and perked right up. Now she's very excited about the baby boy, especially when she realized she would be our only girl.
Tristan still has no idea what is going on, but he got into the general air of celebration. He'll only be 25 months old when this baby is born. Maura is exactly 25 months older than Tristan too. How is that for timing???
We headed out to Cracker Barrel for a celebratory breakfast. Brent had the day off school due to snow, so we just took our time and enjoyed the day.
Big sister Maura already has lots of plans for her baby brother! She can't wait to hold him.
Lorie and Alex joined us for breakfast too. This second boy evens things up in our extended family--two boys, two girls!!
Proud Grammy! She was so excited to hear about her newest baby grandson. We can hardly wait to meet him and see his sweet face for the very first time! He'll be here in four short months. How exciting and how terrifying at the same time! I know that God will have to give us the grace to be great parents to three wonderful children. Thank you, God, for our beautiful son!

Snowy Winter Days

This winter has been unusually snowy for us. In fact, this area is eight inches about the average for the area and we're not even done with winter yet. Most of our snows have been pretty minor, two to three inches at a time, but that's certainly enough to cancel school. The benefit to being married to a teacher is that he's home with us whenever it's time for snow fun! We've had a great time playing out in the snow this year. Both kids love it, but Maura is especially into the snow this year. She loves making snowballs and throwing them and she's really enjoyed sledding this year. Below are a montage of some of the photos I've taken of the kids playing in the snow this year.

Daddy with his happy snow kids during the first snow of the year.
I love my little snow girl. I'll have to think about getting her some kids skis so she can practice skiing down the slope in our backyard. She's turning into a snow bunny. I'm just barely fitting into those snow pants at this point and it won't be long before I can't zip that jacket. I guess that will be the end of my snow play once I grow out of it!
Brent and the kids discovered a new sport this winter, snow spinning. He whips the sled around in a circle and the kids do their best to hang on. Sometimes they go flying face first into the snow, but they usually come up laughing. I've taken the kids out in the snow a few times while Brent has been at work and they beg me to spin them, but it's really hard for me to do it and I end up VERY out of breath!!
Enjoying some fun sledding. The kids have only gone downhill sledding once this winter and they loved it, but we have a distinct lack of hills in our neighborhood!
It hasn't been all snow this winter. We've had a couple of really rainy days and one one of them, I took the kids out to jump in puddles. I forgot that Tristan owns a nice dark green raincoat, so I stuffed him in to this old one of Maura's. Poor little man. I also REALLY underestimated how cold that rain was and we had to head back to the house for hats and mittens!
The kids loved puddle jumping and I know they'll enjoy it even more in the spring when the weather is a bit milder.
Most of our snow has been dry and powdery and not good for snowman making. One morning, we went out hoping for a snowman, but this little guy was the very best we could do. Maura was very proud of him nonetheless.
" What choo lookin at???"
I love kid photography. Maura took this flattering photo of Brent and I sharing the hammock.
Tristan loves rocking in the hammock with his mommy or daddy. He's just such a sweet little cuddle bug!!
The kids discovered that their pool, which is stowed away in a corner of the yard, gathers lots of snow every snowfall. It has a slide and has become the hot spot for fun winter sports.
Poor Tristan CAN NOT STAND UP in the pool. He spends the whole time with his feet sliding out from under him and just cries and cries for me to pick him up. As soon as I pick him up, his feet slide out and down he goes again!
All that frustration is forgotten when we come inside for hot chocolate. Yum!
My girl loves her some chocolate and marshmallows!
We finally got a nice wet snow the other day and Maura was excited to make a snowman. Actually, Brent and I built the snowman while she just kind of looked on. She was excited about adding the finishing elements, though!
Daddy and his girl with the big man who, by the way, fell over just about thirty minutes later!
Tristan didn't care much for the snowman--it was starting to rain and he was ready to head inside!

Our biggest snowfall of the season happened this week. We got about eight inches of snow, but it blew into big drifts like this one. Maura loved that the snow was about her knees. Brent was doing what he's been busy doing all winter--shovelling. We now have at least two and a half foot piles of snow along our driveway and it sets off the sonar in my van every time I back out of the garage. It makes a good snow fort, though!
Tristan tries out his wheels. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't a four wheel drive!
Loving the deep drifts. I LOVE taking my kids out in the snow to play because walking and playing in the snow wears them out and they take AWESOME naps on snowy day--which means I get awesome naps too!!
Tristan wasn't quite the fan of the deep snow--he has a harder time walking in it. I will say, we've really enjoyed our snowy winter, but we're finally ready for it to come to an end. Brent has missed at least twelve days of school since Christmas break and they're going to be going to school into June. I'm ready for these snowdrifts to melt and for the warm weather to come. Come soon Spring!!