Cousins at Christmas 2013!

It is a truth universally acknowledged that pictures of 4 children under 5 are destined to be more comical than picturesque. Watching the 4 of them was pretty hysterical. I didn't include the whole series because there were some serious duds, but I think we at least managed to capture the controlled chaos pretty well. 

And Baby makes 4!

We are so happy to finally be ready and able to share our good news! Nathan is going to a big brother in the Spring! I suspect that most people who actually read this blog already know the news, but it seems like something worth documenting for posterity. Also, it's a....

GIRL!

We found out that I was pregnant ridiculously early right after getting back from the cottage in August after I said something about being tired (in my defense we had just driven back from the cottage and it HAD been a long day). Brian, somewhat jokingly said, "I bet you're pregnant." I laughed and then started doing a little math, and lo and behold, there was a proverbial bun in my proverbial oven.

We were able to tell Brian's immediate family in person when we were out in North Carolina for Kylleen's wedding, and I'm happy to report they couldn't be happier. My family feels similarly. We're all just a bunch of happy. Sidenote: I was grateful not to be showing TOO much at the wedding.

I think Brian and I are both still a little in shock about what reality of balancing life with two kids will be like, but we are thrilled. At the risk of over sharing, one of the reasons we're still a little taken aback by the course of events is that we got pregnant MUCH faster this time than we did with Nathan, so I think we had both figured we had some time before things would "take." I had been pretty certain that I didn't really want to have our kids be closer than two years apart if we could help it. I'm still recovering from aspects of Nathan's first year, and the idea of having two kids so young at the same time was a little overwhelming. Well, true to my wish, the due date is April 26th, the day before Nathan's birthday. I don't think we could have gotten closer to two years apart.

Perks definitely include that I don't have to buy much new maternity wear since I'll pretty much be in the same position (read: largeness) throughout the next few seasons as I was with Nathan. We also have all the gear a person would ever need for a baby (mostly thanks to Liz and John) so we should be pretty set on that front as well.

Right now I'm thinking that we'll keep Nathan in his room and make the guest room the new nursery. Let the Pinterest searching commence! Clearly, there are still a lot of TBDs, but we're slowly figuring things out.

I'm pretty happy to be into the second trimester where I am saying goodbye to the exhaustion and nausea that comes with the early days and getting back to having a little more energy.

Snow Love!

The snow continues to be a huge hit with our boy. My favorite is when he tries to catch snow on his tongue. I couldn't manage to capture him doing it, but something tells me we have a few more months to keep trying.

Let it Snow!

We got our first serious snowfall today and Nathan couldn't have loved it more. I was doing a little Christmas shopping and came home to these two out shoveling the sidewalks. Nathan was LOVING the snow, mostly just walking around, shuffling into the snow, and following his dad around. The lack of thumbs made things like picking up snow a little tricky, but getting those little thumbs into mittens turned out to be something more of a challenge than expected. A huge thanks to Liz for giving us about 80% of his snow gear!

Later in the day I was wrapping up some presents and engaged Nathan's help in getting the presents under the tree. I think we're going to have to work on his prepositions a little bit. He had been going behind the chair to place them so I didn't see where exactly he'd been putting them until later. Quite frankly, I'm impressed our tree limbs could handle the weight of some of those!

Long Overdue

My iPhoto has been giving me error messages the last few times I've gone to upload photos and each time I've given up on trying to fix it in lieu of things like watching the Walking Dead with Brian. Well, I finally put the brain trust (Brian) to work on it and I have photos again!

So, here are some photos from the last month or so.

Things he loves right now that I've documented here:

• Being outside (especially with Dad) 
• Sitting in chairs or couches by himself
• Piggy back rides
• His new baby (who gets bites of every meal, kisses, and hugs)
• Helping Mom in the kitchen (the learning tower we got him as an early Christmas present has hugely improved my experience making dinner)

Thanksgiving!

We had an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving that seemed to span days because we spent the whole weekend at my parents. The added childcare was amazing, and watching Nathan get to bond up with Nonnie and Papa just tickles my heart. Brian and I even got to go out for lunch and a movie on Saturday which was just heavenly. 

Our Thanksgiving proper happened on Friday and ended up begin somewhat dramatic with an oven breakdown (and ultimate repair), helpful neighbors with a functional stove, and a spatchcock turkey. I, once again, forgot my camera and got to steal Mom's photos. Leah had a bit of an adventure "twying to get all the soap off" which ended with her clothes in the dryer and water spread around the bathroom. 

When Nathan's asked who his favorite person in the world is, he reliably answers, "Papa" though Dad reports that he got him to say "Mom" once when I was out. It may have something to do with the fact that Papa took him out to breakfast, just the two of them, two mornings in a row. He got to forward face in Leah's carseat and reportedly said, "WOW" over and over. The view must have been amazing!

Zach is the most amazing helper in the kitchen. He diligently works at whatever task you give him and when he's finished asks what he can do next. That boy and I make a mean mashed potato and salad! He said while we were cooking, "I sometimes think I like helping the best." Melt. My. Heart. Liz said it was good to get a glimpse of a time when kids in the kitchen turn from making it almost impossible to cook (Nathan) to actually being helpful (Zach and Leah). Boy was she right. Light at the end of the tunnel!

Zach and Leah (especially Leah) are so sweet to Nathan, giving him toys that he might think are fun and not complaining even a little if he steals their toys. I had told Leah how sweet she was being about the fact that he kept picking up the things she was playing with, and later she made it clear to Zach who was getting a little (justifiably) annoyed that he was messing with their game that, "No  Zach, Nathan can take any of my toys he wants." I'm not sure that's exactly how I want Nathan to play with other kids, but I was amazed with her willingness to be so generous at the age of 3. I hope that sooner rather than later he can bring a little more fun and a little less annoyance to the cousin play, but in the meantime, he is pretty darn lucky in that department.