Craziness.

Oh, dear.  I have so much to write, and no sooner do I sit down to type, it flies out of my mind.  I'm going to try to remember some funnies that we've had around here, but I'm sure I'm going to forget most of them...

* Elyse has been cracking me up with her new phrase, "that's really great."  She'll be telling me just about anything and will tack that phrase right onto the end.  She loves to give compliments now, too, with that phrase on the end.  She said, "Mommy, I love celery.  That is really great."

* My neighbor keeps giving the girls Oreo cookies.  I'm trying not to be mean, but seriously, too many Oreos!  My girls now leave the house like this:  Emily says "COOKIE!!!" and Elyse says, "Can we go see Miss I?  Can she give me a cookie?"  Of course, our normal playtime outside is after the girls' afternoon nap (aka right before dinner), and trying to get turkey and stuffing in a mouth after two cookies is practically impossible.  Okay, I'm done venting about generosity :)  We love her, seriously.  She give me Oreos, too.  That rant reminds me of what Elyse said the other day after getting her cookies... she says, "Thanks, Miss I- that was really really really great."

* Emily ate half of an earthworm the other day.  No amount of mouth rinsing could make me accept kisses from her that day.  I'm not sure if I can justify how it happened, but it did, and that's what matters.  She will find a way to put things in her mouth...

* Elyse fell off the bathroom counter last week, and that's how she got her possibly broken nose.  I felt awful about the whole thing. I put her on the counter so often to comb her hair, let her play with my makeup, etc . . .  I have thought so many times that I should NOT let her up there even though I'm right there, and sure enough, she did a nose dive last Saturday.  Her top lip was very swollen, and her nose about doubled in size.  After lots of blood and fruit snacks (Hey, whatever would calm her down!), I decided her poor nose looked suspiciously too large.  I took her to an after-hours clinic and waited for a couple of hours to see a doc... just to hear that she'd be a rare toddler to sit still enough for an effective facial x-ray.  Sure enough, she flipped out.  Daddy even came to hold her, and it was an epic FAIL.  Thankfully, her nose didn't show any signs of being crooked or deviated, so they told us a possibly broken nose is better than an obviously broken nose :)  She's had a nasty bruise near the bridge of her nose, but she says her "boo-boo is all better now, but it really hurts."  ?  This picture makes me so sad!  She looked so pathetic :(

* Emily is trying to run.  She's a riot.  She is showing lots of temper lately, and I seem to remember a certain sister of hers doing that around this age!  She keeps us laughing with her hilarious antics.  She CANNOT close her eyes for anything... it's so funny to watch her try.  We all end up laughing our heads off.  Her little eyes squint shut for about 2 seconds.  She tries to make funny faces and she'll always be the one to start the giggling during reading time before bed.

* Elyse loves to tell stories.  Most of them are in song form, and they typically end up being about Emily (of course).  Today's song was about how much Emily cries (?) and how she jumps out of her bed.  I wish I could get them all on video!

* Elyse's new obsession is with being tucked in.  She will ask for her neck to be tucked in, and if the blanket doesn't feel JUST RIGHT, we're summoned back into the room.  Needless to say, we put up with that about ONCE. :)  It's so hard not to laugh, though.

* Some of my new favorite times of the day are when Jordan and I sit on the couch after breakfast and drink our coffee.  The girls sit on the love seat together with their books, and they jabber and "read" to each other for a nice long time :)  Jordan and I love to watch them interact with each other... when they're not at each other's throats.  They are so much fun, I must say.  I remind myself of that a lot when we're having... ahem... "moments."  Like tonight.  They were playing SO WELL together, and I just couldn't resist starting a little Christmas baking.  I should have known that expecting my two sweeties to occupy themselves well the hour before bedtime was a big mistake.  Thirty minutes later: screaming, tattling, large messes, injuries, etc...  So, I put their pj's on, read to them, and enjoyed their last half hour of wake time while my baking waited.  Patiently.

* Wow.  I'm always amazed at what a ride mommyhood is.  Seriously!  How can two little people give you so much joy and work at the same time?!?!  :)   I love them so much!!!

Thanksgiving

I have a very full heart today.  It might burst.  Seriously.  I'm overwhelmed today with gratitude for all that my God has done for me.  I will never cease to be amazed at what a difference he has made & continues to make in my life.  How do you express gratitude for hope & meaning in life?  

I have a wonderful husband, two sweet & precious daughters, and a precious little boy on the way.  God's goodness is overwhelming.  

Love him!

 (Yes, this is Elyse sporting her latest injury... a more-than-likely fractured nose & a grand bruise!  More on that later...)

Precious baby Jakob... we can't wait to meet you little man!

I hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful as you reflect on the 

goodness of God!

Where to Start?

Oh, there is much to share.  I am so behind, I can't even think of where to start!  We just returned from a nice, long trip up to Canada.  We spent time with Jordan's parents & even managed to sneak in a three-day getaway up to Quebec City for a church planter's retreat!  We were very graciously invited to this retreat, and it was such a blessing to us.  QC is a beautiful city and we spent time with some wonderful, godly people.  Our girls DEFINITELY did not suffer while we were absent, as Gramm and Pops spoiled them rotten.  For a little humor, you can read about their time with my in-laws here.  You'll laugh.  That is, if you have EVER been around children, you will laugh.  Jordan's parents live in a beautiful city (Ottawa, ON), and we had fun exploring the awesome sights.

(yea, we stayed in the most awesome hotel ever.)

Now that life has returned to normal, we are back to a fairly scheduled routine peppered with random happenings.  One such happening is that Emily is finally getting herself into a standing position (exciting, I know!).  You may ask, how can she be walking and not be able to do that?  Good question.  I don't know.  But she's doing it now, and she's just so pleased with herself.  Em also loves to pick lint out of her toes.  This girl...   *sigh*  She leaves a small trail of crumbs behind her wherever she goes, but she's happy as a clam most days.  Because of that, I'm happy to clean up :)  I love watching her walk (or waddle) around with her hands on her tummy and a little grin on her face.  She loves to ask to see the baby, and I still can't make out 80% of what she's trying to tell me!  Em's very attached to her daddy these days, and she will weep if she doesn't get her hands on him whenever he's home.  It's pretty cute.

Elyse has such an imagination!  She loves to chat on her little phone and make statements like, "Well, I was just calling to say 'hi'. . . How are you doing?" and "Well, Emmie was up on the table, and she fell off and got a baaaaddddd booboo, and she took a nap, and. . ."  It's quite funny, and, NO, Emily did not fall off the table.  My mom got the girls a treasury of Eloise Wilkin's Little Golden Books, and she LOVES a picture in the book that has a baby sleeping at the foot of the parents' bed.  She also just happens to be very sad about bedtime lately (perhaps because we shared a room in Canada?), and I feel there must be a correlation.  I hope this fear of bedtime disappears quickly!  I love when she reads to Em and talks to her just like she hears me talk to Em... "How's my sweet baby?  I love you so much..."

Elyse loves to do "ring around the rosie" with Emily now, and it usually ends in some major falling down.  Quite funny.  As well as they've been playing at times, they've also been fighting quite well.  Emily has totally figured out how to push ALL of Elyse's buttons, and it's all I can do to keep from laughing.  It's those little shoves she gives Elyse right during prayer time, or the way she steals her snack when Elyse walks away from it for one second... It's hilarious.  Don't misunderstand, Elyse finds a way to play the game, too, but her "pestering" is a little less provoking.  Our side-by-side stroller can be a huge source of contention these days, and it's probably for the best that a new little person will be taking Elyse's place this spring :)  "Mommy, Emmie's touching me!!!" is getting old already.

Elyse and Em are very excited about the baby.  I'm almost 19 weeks along, and you can definitely tell I've got a cantaloupe-sized uterus in me.  No doubt about it!  The girls love to kiss my stomach and even blow raspberries on their poor baby sibling.  I'm sure he/she will come out crying in self-defense.  I wouldn't blame the baby one bit.  I'm craving spicy foods and coffee, but my favorite snack is yogurt, berries & granola.  Buffalo chicken grilled cheese might be the best thing I've put in my mouth ever, and this poor baby will probably hate spicy foods someday.  Oh, I definitely have cravings for anything sugary or fruity, too.  HELLO, I am pregnant!  Yes, we plan to find out the baby's gender.  I can't wait!  He/she is moving a lot, and I think that's my favorite part of pregnancy.

That's the scoop here.  Can anyone tell me where this fall is going???

There's always a story.

Always.  Sometimes the story might seem unremarkable, and sometimes it's quite the opposite.  I don't feel like I have to post this story, but I don't necessarily want to forget it, either :)  AND, I know I can laugh about this because it is such a perfect reminder of one of our little mottos over the last few years of life... sometimes if it can happen, it will :)

I jokingly started 2011 by stating that our New Year's resolution was NOT to have a baby.  Well, technically, we will meet that resolution.  Don't get me wrong: I LOVE the way our girls are spaced 17 months apart.  It has worked so well.  It's crazy at times, but I don't think I've ever met a mother of two who has said it's never crazy at times.  That being said, Jordan and I thought that it would be wise to make the spacing a bit larger next time.  Normally, we're not very indecisive people, but in this situation, we just decided to put off thinking about having a third child.  Mostly because we couldn't decide when.  We live in a two bedroom duplex, and though we took care of upgrading the size of our vehicle this spring, a few other *ahem* major changes seem to be in order for the arrival of another sweet baby.  Here is the how-we-found-out story...  These details are not exaggerated.

Rewind to...
August 1:  We settle in at our cabin in northern MN, and this gal is starting to feel a little odd.
August 2:  I mention to my sweet husband that I'm not feeling so hot.  He gets this strange look on his face.  We drop the subject.  Entirely.
August 3:  Still feeling sick.  Pregnancy alarms sounding loudly in my head throughout the day.  I ignore them and decide to think about it later.  Leave Jordan out of it.
August 4:  My eyes pop open at 7am.  I just know it.  I wake Jordan up.  He gives me a small, shaky smile.  We spend the morning with my family & try not to think about our afternoon adventure into "town."

We sneakily manage to borrow my sister's vehicle to drive about 10 miles to the nearest town.  No major pharmacies.  Anywhere.  I dash into the only other pharmacy I know of, and I'm pretty sure it's got the same employee that worked there when my Grandma filled prescriptions 50 years ago up there.  Seriously.  I wrote a check for $13 (yes, folks, a check!), and walked out with a name-brand pregnancy test.  I mean, I did have two whole brands to choose from, and there was one of each kind.  Sweet.  We walk over to the local visitor's center across the street where "Crazy Dayz" booths were set up along the street.  Jordan occupied himself examining furniture made out of TREE STUMPS while I disappeared.  When I came out of the visitor's center, my pulse was still pounding in my ears & my knees were weak.  I've seriously only had that a few times in my LIFE, but my knees were practically shaking.  I walk calmly over to my hubby, who has now found a lobster trap he's interested in.  He's deep in conversation for, oh, perhaps TEN MINUTES while I pace calmly about 10 feet away from him.  He doesn't even look my way.  HE KNOWS :)  After eternity passes, he gives me the biggest bear hug and tells me everything is going to be okay.  He's right.  He's awesome.

Our heads were spinning that entire vacation week.  The humorous part was telling my family.  You see, my grandfather (who is 87, by the way) spends a great deal of time planning this trip every year.  He's endured us adding 5 children to our cabin over the last 5 years.  He loves each one.  But, we happened to kind of max out our cabin.  He started the week by just ASKING if we would please try not to add any kids next year.  All in good humor, of course.  We all reassured him that we'd take that into consideration :)  We had such a fun time telling my family that night around the bonfire that we'd have to go back on our word.  Gramps forgave us quite willingly.  He then promptly went to the office the next morning and reserved a second cabin :)  Ah, yes, life is unpredictable.  And, it's fun that way.  This is how my hilarious hubby decided to spread the news on FB... silly guy.

I can't wait to meet this baby.  There's something so fun about knowing God had our family planned long before we did!  And, I love having one less decision to make... you know, as if it's up to us anyways, right?  Three kids in 3.5 years is just plain ol' fun.  Kids really are a blessing from God.  We seriously couldn't be happier right now!