Meika Turns 2

Where did the past two years go? They seriously have flown by. It feels like yesterday that she was born and I am a little sad to see her growing up into such a big girl!

She was really cute on her birthday. She didn't really "get it", but she loved that we kept singing Happy Birthday to her. At some point in the day, she was singing it to herself almost constantly with a big grin on her face. Once we blew up a couple balloons and I started to maker her (pathetic) birthday cake, she started getting excited. She was so cute when we sang her Happy Birthday and had her blow out the candles. She sang the entire time with us, while rocking back and forth. She even did a great job at blowing out the candles right away. As soon as she did, we realized that the video wasn't actually working and made her redo the birthday song and the blowing out of the candles. She happily did it and then yelled "again!" right after.







Meika also loved opening up her presents!











Meika's birthday had just a handful of presents and was totally low key, but perfect.



There are so many things I want to remember about Meika at this age. I feel like I have been saying this Meika's entire two years of life, but she is such a little sweetheart and such a good baby... or should I say little kid now? She has such a nice, sweet temperament and hardly ever fusses or cries. She has become more of a picky little eater lately, but we are trying to nip that in the bud. Some of her favorite foods are cucumbers, noodles, yogurt and fruit. She is talking now, but seems a little slower at talking than my others (a lot slower than Norah, but she was a freak of nature!!). I feel like in a month or so, she will be a lot better at speaking. She just seems to not be as mature as my other two were at this age. Maybe it's because she is so laid back or because I baby her! She sleeps from either 7:30 or 8 until between 9-10am and also takes a two hour nap. Oh how I love what a great sleeper she is! It will be hard for me to want to transition her to a big girl bed or take away her binky while she sleeps. I don't want to ruin her sleeping habits! She wants to keep up with her sisters and is always playing and mimicking them. I am starting to play with the idea of potty training her. She is not as ready as my other two were and doesn't seem extremely interested. My goal is just in the next couple of months so she can be solid before the baby gets here! She is a little too attached to me right now and always wants me. Abe told me yesterday that we need to wean her from me a little bit! I love my little Meika!!

34

At the beginning of January Abe turned 34. I was feeling a little bit guilty because both Norah and Abe's birthdays snuck up so quickly after Christmas. I promised Abe that next year I will plan ahead and have a plan for their birthdays. Abe had to work a shift on his birthday, so was gone until pretty late. Luckily, we were able to sing to him and celebrate with a birthday cake. Abe had found a Ribs Restaurant that he wanted to go to for his birthday, so that next weekend we headed out for a Rib dinner. Then a couple weeks later, we headed out to some "outlets" (which are NOTHING like the States... they are super expensive) and we found Abe a snazzy suit. He has been getting lots of compliments at church!



I am so lucky to be married to such a good guy. He is such a hard worker and provider for our family. He is such a good dad. Sometimes I whine about bedtime because that's when I lose my patience, but Abe loves putting the girls to bed. He is always willing to watch the kids so I can get stuff done, shop, or whatever is needed. He gets on the floor with them and has pillow fights, wrestling matches and there is always a fun factor. He is always taking such good care of me. Making sure that I am taking care of myself, getting to bed, helping out around the house (folding laundry, doing dishes...) and is such a good, loving husband. Happy Birthday Abe, we love you!!

Norah's 4 Year Old Pictures

Finally got time to do a handful of pictures of Norah now that she is FOUR!! This girl is something special. She is such a sweetheart. She has such a laid back personality and is definitely a peacemaker. If there is an argument or fight going on between her and her sister, she usually gives her sister what she wants and is happy about her decision. She's always happy when she gets woken up in the morning and rarely has any breakdowns. She gives just about the best hugs you will ever receive. She can be slow and take her time (because she's always in lala land, Norah's own little world), BUT she is pretty coordinated and catches on pretty fast. People are still amazed with how well she talks and the vocabulary that she uses. She has the silliest facial expressions. I could go on and on about this girl. Everyone that comes in contact with her falls in love. I love you my sweet sweet Norah!

Norah's Birthday Swimming Video

School PIctures 2013-2014

I love how the girls school pictures turned out. They both are so adorable!

{Norah's Pre-school Picture (British Sunbeam Class)}


Adeline's 1st grade picture (IY3)

Baby #4

That's right. We are expecting baby #4 the end of June. We have been "cautiously optimistic", as Abe would say. When I found out I was pregnant, I had a lot of emotions. I was happy, excited, relieved, terrified, worried... and the list goes on. We kept it a secret because we have been so nervous about it. Nervous that we would lose this baby too. I was worried that if my kids knew and something devastating happened again, they would be crushed. I can't handle that! After I had a ultrasound at almost 16 weeks, we decided that world and our cute little girls could know.





Every appointment that I have been to has been a little bit of a roller coaster for me. I worry that I am going to see the baby on the screen and there will be no heart beat. So far, all is well. My last appointment, I asked my doctor to please show me the heart first. Before I even had time to finish, I could see the baby moving all over the place. What a great feeling. Those first 16 weeks were hard emotionally, but I was able to keep it together and wasn't SUPER anxious. I am not quite sure what happened, but that is not the case anymore. I am more anxious than I ever could have imagined. Every day for the past several days I have cried a lot. I have almost a panic/anxiety type of attack and feel like it's hopeless that this baby is going to make it. I get excited about this new baby (I'm super excited), but at times I feel like I am trying to hold myself back to protect myself from being completely hurt. I think the reason why I am having such a hard time is that this baby has survived 4 weeks longer than the last. I can't even imagine the pain I would have to endure if something happened at this point. I keep telling Abe that if I had my miscarriage before I had any kids, I probably would have had 1 kid. This is rough. I'm truly grateful that I don't want any more than 4 kids. My heart couldn't handle it!

I keep telling myself that I need to relax and not worry so much. Really, there is nothing I can do about it. It is completely out of my hands. My heart is already so invested in this final addition to our family and I am praying that there will be a great outcome. Our girls are so very excited and Norah asks me every day, "When is the baby going to get here!". Good thing we waited several months to tell them! If you ask them if they want a boy or a girl, they both say boy (but they will be happy with either!). Norah says, "I want a brother, because we already have a baby sister!" I love my girls so much.

Christmas, New Years Norah's Birthday and Visitors

Abe's friend Rob decided last minute to drive from England and spend Christmas with us. It was a very low key and relaxing week. The girls were so excited for Christmas to come and they are at the perfect ages to feel the magic of Christmas! The Sunday before Christmas, Adeline approached our friends daughter who was in town for the Holidays. Adeline loves her and was excited to see her. Katy had asked Adeline if she was excited for Christmas. Adeline told her "yes", but then said, "Can I tell you a secret? I found all my Christmas presents in the basement!" Katy prompted Adeline to tell her what she had seen and what she was getting for Christmas and then later told Abe and I. Stressful! Luckily most of the things Adeline saw were little and were intended for their stockings. I ended up individually wrapping them all and saying they were from us. I still wonder though if she had seen some of the bigger stuff that were in boxes.... That sneaky little thing!

Christmas Eve we went to our friends house (the Peterson's) and had a yummy steak dinner. All the food was so delicious and it was good company. Of course I forgot to take pictures!

Christmas Eve, the girls opened up their traditional jammies. It was extremely hard to find cute pajamas for Meika. Poor little thing ended up with Leopard PJs. those were the cutest ones I could find. It was either that or minnie mouse. Yikes.







The girls left out cookies and milk. Adeline also left a present out for Santa.



Seriously, such a sweet girl



Santa came!



I was a really big slacker and hardly took any pictures on Christmas. Whoops.











On Christmas night, we had a couple families over for a casual dinner and hang out. It was a fun time, but of course this is the only picture I took?



It was really nice to spend Christmas with good friends. Being in the military, we rely a lot on our "military family" and "church family". I am always homesick during the Holidays, but it makes it so much better when we are spending it with good friends!

After Rob left, our good friends the Huber's came and stayed with us from England. My girls had been practically counting down the days for them to come! It was nice being able to celebrate New Years, Norah's birthday and just hang out with them.

At about midnight, the night before Norah's birthday, I decided I wanted to transform the Christmas tree into a birthday tree. Derek, Abe and Brooke were good sports helping me blow up the tiny balloons and decorate the tree. Norah was really excited about it when she woke up.



We started Norah's birthday off with our traditional birthday pancakes. She requested purple pancakes this year!







That evening, we did birthday cake and presents. Norah had originally requested a star birthday cake. I thought I had a star cut out, but turns out that I didn't she was a good sport. She agreed on a heart cake instead.







The birthday crew of kids. Sadly, this is the ONLY picture I took that has all the kids in it!









Before bedtime, we met up with two more families and did some fireworks and sparklers. Norah is pretty lucky to get fireworks on her birthday!



New Years Eve for the adults was kind of a bust. We watched a really dumb movie, fell asleep and then woke up saying, "Happy New Year" and hit the sack. Sorry Brooke and Derek that we are so lame. We need to make more of an effort to make it fun!

Unfortunately, Norah's birthday was kind of an afterthought. I felt pretty bad about it. We decided kind of last minute to go to Aquana (a small indoor water park) to celebrate. We hustled up two other families that are good friends and met at the water park. Norah had a blast and in her eyes had a fun "birthday party". That's all the matters!! I'm glad that she had fun. Maybe next year she can have an actual birthday party where we invite all her friends and it will be organized!

Sadly, once again, this is the ONLY picture I took swimming. We did take a ton of video though that I am planning on compiling and making a cute birthday video. Stay tuned :)




While the Hubers were visiting, we also went to Koln and Aachen. I love seeing those cities again and again. We also went on a couple of walks and the kids enjoyed just being together and playing. It makes me sad that we may not see them again before we leave for the States. Hopefully I am wrong!!



Chloe is also missing the Hubers. She got lots of extra attention from Blake!