Spring Break Suprises

We had a wonderful Spring Break that actually in a way lasted two weeks.  Billy had a week off and we got to enjoy some fun family time together doing things like having a picnic in the park, shopping and lots of time spent outside.  Surprise number one was the gorgeous weather we had in March - 70s and 80s - which I believe was record breaking.  Last year it snowed until April!  The following week, we had tentatively planned to have my siblings come up for their Spring Break but we were never sure who and if they were going to be able to come until the last minute.  So surprise number two was that not only did both my brother Scott and my sister Hannah get to come, my mom also got to come with them!  We spent such a wonderful (although too brief) time with them.  Maryn had a blast - she always had someone to play with - and she got to know my siblings much better.  She is still talking about Nona, Scott, and Hannah.

Playing with Scott

Hannah taught Maryn how to play Zelda

Picking up sticks and finding bunnies with Nona

Hannah also got to take a few super sweet pics of Maryn while she was here:

This picture just makes me laugh everytime

Our final and third surprise was one that we actually knew in February, but didn't share with family until that week we had family visiting...(drumroll please)....we're going to have another baby!!!  We are so excited and can't wait to meet our precious little one sometime around November 1st!  Right now, I'm about 11.5 weeks along (and showing! amazing how much quicker that happens the second time around) and looking forward to entering the second trimester.  I'm ready to feel more like myself.  I'm doing well and we got a quick peek at baby on an ultrasound last week and everything looks good so far.  We've decided to go with a midwife again since we had such a good experience with Maryn's birth.  And, yes, we do plan on finding out the gender - that will be in June sometime.  Of course we'll keep you posted!

5 weeks pregnant - I'll do another pic at 15 wks

Maryn's announcement

18 Months Old

So, technically Maryn is soon to be 19 months old.  I'm finding it's really difficult to sum up the developments in Maryn's life since her 15 month update.  She is transforming from baby to kid and everyday there's something new.  I guess I'll start by giving you her latest stats, since she's had issues with her growth chart curve in the past.  I'm happy to report that she is now 22.6 lbs (22nd percentile) and 30.5 in tall (15th percentile) - she has had a huge growth spurt! She's finally fitting into some size 18 month clothes.  For a while there, she was also eating like crazy, but that has slowed down some.  I think the most amazing development in the last 3 to 4 months has been her vocabulary; I can't even count how many words she knows.  She is really becoming quite the communicator.  I just keep waiting for the moment when she starts putting things together in sentences. Also, we got her a little potty chair and she has actually peed in it twice!  She isn't nearly ready to start potty training officially, but she is definitely curious and loves to talk about her potty.  There's a light at the end of the diaper tunnel!  Here are a few other tid bits about our sweet girl:

Favorite food: Banana, with french fries in close second
Favorite lovey: Curious George, with Baby in close second
Favorite toy: Dollhouse
Favorite song: A Little Squirrel Went Scampering
Favorite show: Sesame Street  (she knows all the characters by name)
Favorite pastime: Making up songs on the piano and singing
Favorite book: Please, Baby, Please
Favorite academic pursuit: Counting ("wah, wah, wah, DOO!")
Favorite artistic pursuit: Coloring
Favorite athletic pursuit: Jumping (she has a zero inch vertical)
Favorite outing: The library
Favorite games: Kick the ball and hide and seek with Dada
Favorite technology: Youtube, Skype, and the toddler channel on Pandora
Favorite word: Spatula ("at-chu-cha!")

16 Months

17 Months

18 Months

Why I haven't blogged lately

I've mentioned in my last couple of posts that we've been pretty busy lately.  Here's why:

Exhibit A: New car
Due to car issues, we decided to buy a new car.  Which is wonderful and stressful all at the same time.  I do love it, though, and am so thankful.  It's a Subaru Outback, and the all wheel drive sure is great in our Michiana winter!  The toasty heated seats are a nice bonus, too.

Exhibit B: New house
We've been living in an apartment since moving to South Bend.  It was okay, but we were ready for some more space and independence.  We wanted a yard and room for Maryn to play.  We really considered buying a house.  The market here is great for buyers, but not so great for sellers.  And we knew if we purchased a home we would be selling it in 3 to 4 years, which means we could be stuck if the housing market doesn't drastically improve.  But we have some friends from church who have had their house on the market for a while, wanting to move to Colorado for her to go to dental school.  And by the providence of God, we were able to make an arrangement that was great for both of us - we would rent their house for the remainder of our time here in South Bend!  We are so thankful for the change, and we have already enjoyed the house immensely. But moving with a toddler is just exhausting! Here is a picture of our new home, in the glory of spring (can't wait until it actually looks like this - right now everything outside is dead and grey and slushy):

And everything on the inside is slowing looking less like this chaos - it's a long process:

Exhibit C: Notre Dame

Billy just started his last semester of course work, which is very exciting.  But it doesn't make it any less crazy and time consuming yet!  Of course, he is doing incredibly well, but we are both very much looking forward to his courses being done!  Then on to exams and dissertation!

Exhibit D: Winter

So I guess winter doesn't really make me more busy, but it does decrease my motivation for doing lots of things, including blogging.  I just get the winter blues here, I think.  It's always overcast, and you just never know when a bunch of lake effect snow will be dumped upon you, ruining all your plans.  Granted, it has been a much milder winter than our first winter last year.  But I still don't like it.  Side note: Maryn loves to talk about snow, but she HATES to touch it.

Exhibit E: Toddler mood swings

Maryn has been wonderful, adorable, lovable, and entertaining as usual, but she has also shown that she does have a dark side, haha.  She can be downright exhausting sometimes.  We have entered the world of fits, complete emotional breakdowns, defiance, moodiness, and the word "NO!"  Oh dear.  Sometimes I feel like my time with her at home is completely consumed by her demands.  How do people do it with more than one kid?!  Thankfully, her amazing-ness outweighs any of her difficult moments.  And we love her more and more every day.

Okay, so have I successfully presented my case?  I really will try to be a better blogger from here on out.  :)

Christmas time was here...

Yeah, so it's been a crazy month for us.  More on that later.  But I wanted to do a quick post about Christmas, now that it's February, haha.  Long story short, we had car issues and ended up not going to Oklahoma for Christmas.  That was a sad day.  We missed the family members that we did not get to see so terribly.  But I was not too upset about missing a 17 hour drive with a screaming toddler.  In the end, we had a very nice Christmas here in South Bend.  Maryn loved every bit of it, and it was so great to see her enjoy everything about the holiday.  She really got into the basics of the Christmas story, which made me happy.  She wanted to hear about baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph over and over.  But mostly about the sheep, the cow, the donkey, and the camels.  Oh, and she loved pointing out the star.  Once we put up our little Christmas tree, she would run out of her room first thing every morning, go up to the tree and say "Oooo!".  And when it was time to open presents she would say "Oh, boy!!" for every one.  Even for boring clothes.  What a joy.  We also got to have an extended visit with my mom which was amazing; it was especially good for Maryn to really get to know her.  And then my dad and his family got to come up for a couple of days too.  Maryn definitely enjoyed all that extra attention.  Overall, though it didn't go according to plan, it was a very Merry Christmas.

Busy times with Jane Eyre

Things are kind of crazy around here, not much time for blogging.  We had Christmas, and family visiting, and we bought a new car, and this week we are moving into a house, and next week Billy starts school again, and Maryn is growing so quickly, and all of these things and more deserve their own individual blog post.  Soon.  In the mean time here are three things I read today that were encouraging.  And one ridiculously cute video of Maryn.  Enjoy.

Cast Your Home Cares - from the girltalkers

Don't Carpe Diem - a mom blog

My Better Half - by R.C. Sproul Jr, who just lost his wife to cancer

Itsy Bitsy

This video is from 3 weeks ago and is too cute not to share. The Itsy Bitsy Spider is Maryn's very most favorite song right now and she asks us to sing it over and over every day!

Thanksgiving 2011

Last thanksgiving was hard for us.  It was our first time to not be with our families for the holiday.  We tried to make the best of it, but between a grumpy baby, yucky weather, not so great restaurant food, and homesickness, it just wasn't all that we had hoped for, although at the time we put on our happy faces and called it good.  We realized that no matter how we felt, we had so much to be thankful for, and we were just glad the three of us could be together.  

This year, however, was way better.  The best remedy for being unable to travel home for Thanksgiving is to have dear friends close by who also can't travel home.  Their pain = our gain.  Ha!  Seriously, we had a wonderful day with the Esteps, along with a few other graduate students who were unable to be with their families.  We celebrated at the Estep's home, and we cooked a full Thanksgiving meal with "all the fixins".  It was such a blessing to spend the day with friends with whom we are growing closer each day.  It was almost as good as being home.

Kevin cooked and carved the turkey - we were very impressed

Graduate student talk

Maryn with Daddy

Me and my little turkey

Maryn and BFF Elliott

For some reason they really like sitting on the step together

Me, Erica, and the girls (and baby boy Estep)

We are thankful to have such good friends!  How did you spend your Thanksgiving?  Anyone else have to be away from family?