28 weeks!

I'm so overwhelmed with the thought that in just 3 months we will be welcoming another little bundle of joy to our bunch!  People think we are crazy...and sometimes so do I!  I love our crazy, busy, beautiful life.  I haven't had much time to post recently and I would really like to get better about it! So sorry to everyone. Hopefully I will get on board here soon-life just seems to be moving way to fast!

I think about this baby and I just get so excited.  Elijah is already such a good big brother and he is always trying to help with everything.  I can't wait to see him with another baby.  If you ask him what is in mommy's belly- he will proudly say "baby tuck(Stuck in Elijah lingo)" He knows there is a baby in there, but unfortunately for him at the moment it is stuck.  He will quite often pull up my shirt, knock on my belly, and say "hello?!, Baby stuck, luv eww, bye bye." He will then put my shirt back in place.  Nothing more precious to me than seeing him really enjoy getting to know the new baby.  He wants to play with the baby-and for the first time the other day he got to see and feel the baby move.  His response was priceless "oh baby get me, baby movin" as he continued to poke and prod my stomach trying to get the baby to move some more.  Every time the baby would kick-he would squeal "oh no baby get me!" I loved seeing the joy on his face as he got to experience this.  It is one thing for Greg to talk to my stomach and play games with the baby-it is another to see it reenacted in your 2 year old.  Something so sweet and precious about it. I'm so glad that he loves this little one already-I have a feeling we will have to watch him once the baby is unstuck. He is constantly trying to pick Athaiah up and carry her around the house.  Usually the attempts fail and he says "baby sisa heaby" I love the way he talks and loves on his little sister.

Athaiah on the other hand has no clue what is coming her way.  She is definitely a mommy's girl and isn't quite so happy to share me even with her big brother.  It may take a bit of adjustment for her, since she will have to share a lot more of my attention.  We are blessed that she is already a busy girl and will probably be walking by the time the new baby gets here, hopefully that will keep her busy enough!

Our new little one so far is right between the two kids in how they acted while in my belly-I'm excited to meet it and get to know it's personality.  This one moves pretty consistently but not an over achiever by any means.  Elijah didn't ever stop moving and Athaiah moved twice a day to readjust her position.  It has been fun to see how different 3 pregnancies so close together can be! A great reminder that every child is different and unique and made according to God's purposes!  I look forward to finding out what this little one is...we are keeping it a secret this time, which has honestly been so much fun!!  I kind of like not knowing what to expect-something different....and at the same time a huge leap of faith for anyone that really knows Greg and I.  We are planners and like to know everything ahead of time so we can figure stuff out and have a game plan.  Not this time-we are winging everything.  This time I will hopefully be able to have my baby naturally-although if God plans differently we are very much ok with that....so because of that we do not know the date or time this baby will come. And like I said before the sex of the baby will also be a surprise.  I get more excited the closer it gets! We shall see if I can make it to the due date this time.  A lot of people don't think that will happen.

 I have a lot of humor this pregnancy-but I guess I have to...I'm pretty big this pregnancy compared to my last 2 but I have had them all close and am still within normal weight range. I have had plenty of people tell me I'm going to pop any day and plenty of people question as to if I'm having twins!  I actually don't mind the comments- I tell them I must be having another Elijah!! I love fat babies and would gladly take another one!  I have way more to worry about then how big I am...After all according to the Dr. I'm doing great.  I have gained 19 lbs and I'm currently measuring 29.5" and I'm 28 weeks, so really I'm not doing awful.  I have a 2 year old and a 1 year old to chase around and they keep me plenty busy and they are way more important to me than worrying about how big I am.  I have sleepless nights and sometimes endless days.  I have learned I can only rely on God and His strength to get me through.  I have needed him more and more as our lives become a bit crazier.  I'm looking forward to everything that God has planned for our little crazy family!  We can't wait to meet you baby #3!

Debt

...we have a lot of it.  Not something I'm proud of, but I went to college for 2 years total and my husband went for 4 years, and that alone can sink a person.  Then we decided to have kids, I love them and wouldn't trade them for the world... but alas more debt.  Well then the family was too big, so then we needed a bigger car-more debt.

We are strongly convicted in this area to get out of debt, it is a huge sink hole.  It has been a huge burden and the object of so many of our prayers.  We realize it is a sin to be in debt and we want nothing more than to just GET OUT! 

We have not taken the Dave Ramsey class although I have read a book of his-and man is it full of so many good ideas as to how to get out of debt.  We have applied a lot of them and have done a lot of things to creatively live on less money.  We have had some help, and we have had a lot of encouragement.

Well today is a big day... I just put the last payment for one of our medical bills in the mail.  This means we can now start applying the snow balling process that Dave Ramsey talks about all the time.  It is a wonderful tool-it just took us a while to be able to utilize this tool.  I'm so happy to say that starting next month we can start snowballing those payments by adding them onto our next lowest debt.  Debt here we come-we finally have some momentum going and it feels so good to get it moving!

One of my goals was to get at least one bill paid off-I can now check that off my list.  But I'm going to aim for 2! Let's see if we can get at least one more bill paid off this year.  I would shoot for 3 but I'm not going to get too excited...yet.  But God has always provided in miraculous ways so you just never know! Maybe we will get 3 paid off this year!

Demolition.

Demolition bathroom style has begun! YEAH!  The master bathroom is finally about to be tackled.  I can't tell you how very excited I am for this moment!

Of course there are always surprises, one of our first two are, one wall isn't a wall at all it was just drywall glued to the outside wall, and the longest wall in the basement was studded, but all crooked.  No wonder the walls looked so crazy.

Currently, the long wall is being studded.  I'm aiming for that to be finished by this weekend, so we can start getting the drywall up. We shall see how it comes along.  We only have weekends to work on this so it is a several week/month project since we also have 2 children to chase around in the middle of putting up new walls. 

Elijah has really enjoyed getting to see power tools in action, and he even helped us rip out some of the old drywall.  He loves to help and get his hands dirty whenever he can.  His big job this past weekend, was walking around the bathroom floor and picking up all the pokies(screws) and putting them in a bucket so no one stepped on them.  Daddy cut out the old gas line and so Elijah got to see some big spark flying and man was that cool for him.  I'm excited for this to be a good family project since Elijah loves to watch and help whenever he can.

Fun in the Snow

Running around, falling down, giggling, and laughing.  This is what all our snow days looked like.  Elijah had so much fun going out and playing the snow.  Daddy would be outside shoveling and Elijah couldn't get out the door fast enough to join him and play.  Red in the cheeks and he still would refuse to come in.  We had chili for lunch one day and a pot roast another. Two good hearty meals that I can't resist when it snows or gets really chilly!  Being in Kansas this year, I learned about a lovely new treat.  Snow Ice Cream!  Why have we never heard of this in MI?  All those years with huge snow storms and we never got to enjoy this wonderful treat.  Elijah lovingly called it snow cream and it will be our new family tradition.  Athaiah also enjoyed this, although her poor fingers were red by the time she was done because she insisted on eating it herself-which involves just her fingers.  I'm posting the recipe I used below for all those that haven't heard of this before...aka my MI friends and family!

Snow Cream:
1 gal fresh snow
2 c milk
1 c sugar
1 TBSP vanilla

Mix the milk, sugar, and vanilla together until the sugar is all dissolved.  Then pour over top of the snow and mix well.  We topped ours with some sprinkles because who can resist fun colored sprinkles.

Precious Times

My babies are getting big so fast.  I'm not sure I can keep up! In a good way, of course.  I have found myself a lot less connected to media recently(which I'm not going to complain about), because I'm thoroughly enjoying all the time I'm getting to spend with them.  They love to laugh and giggle at each other and they have become best friends.  Athaiah is always trying to crawl all over Elijah and love on him(of which he isn't always fond of, and other times welcomes it with a tackle).  Athaiah is trying to repeat every sound you make.  She is a smiley, happy baby just like her brother.  She is crawling all over the place and is soo fast.  Something we are so not used to in this house!  She is busy constantly, and doesn't know how to sit still.  As daddy says, she must take after her mommy. She also has started pulling up on things and bear crawling-I think our little pumpkin may just be walking by the time she is 1 year old.  
Elijah repeats everything you say and is trying to say small sentences now.  We can finally understand most of what he says which is amazing and so much fun.  Now we can enjoy conversations with each other and talk about all kinds of different things.  He has recently discovered a love of tractors, he got one for his birthday, and has become so crazy about them, with some of his extra birthday money we had to run out and get some more.  He sings and dances around the house and is mommy's big helper still, and he loves it.  He will start crying if I tell him he can't help with something(usually because I'm using the stove or something hot).
If nothing these past couple weeks have really hit me hard as to how fast time really does go.  The dishes can wait, but spending time with your children really is priceless and is worth so much more.  With my knee bugging me, once I'm down I stay down for awhile which has really helped me live in the moment with my kiddos.  It makes the phone just ring because I can't get to it fast enough.  It makes the chores wait because well that is a lot of walking to sweep and mop! The extra needed time with the children is amazing and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I love hearing the giggles as we get into tickle fights, and play cars on the floor.  I love the snuggle time when they both crawl into my lap and want me to read to them. Life could not be better! I'm writing this just to remind myself and those around me, to stop and slow down.  Life really can wait.  Spend time with those you love and I mean really spend time with them.  Put down the technology, you will find something so much greater. 
If I'm slow on posting I will apologize to you, but it just hasn't been too much of a priority lately.  I do have some good new recipes and crafts I would love to post about-hopefully sooner rather than later. 

Athaiah-9 mo

Where has time gone? I can't believe you are 9 months old already.  You are such a "big woman" as daddy always says. 
All the things you can do, I never imagined they would happen this soon. 
You can scoot all over and have attempted crawling on all fours. 
You have 2 teeth and are working on 2 more.
You smile and giggle, coo, and grunt, say mama, dadda, ba, and na. 
We have so much fun listening to you babble and yell.
You are such a little girl always squealing with delight, wheither it be day or night! 
You love to play cars, farm, and baby dolls.  
You have a sweet smile, and it makes everything so worth while.
You can't sit still, not even for a minute, and if something is within your reach you will surely be in it.
You have finally learned how to take a sippy cup.
You love to play and splash, with your big brother, in the bath.
You look at the world with wonder and amazement.
You are mommy's sweet girl who loves to snuggle, hug and give big kisses too.
I love you baby girl, please don't grow up too soon!

Resolutions

I'm not usually a huge fan of resolutions, but I decided to make a few for this year.  They are my goals for this year.  I'm hoping I can look back next January and say that I accomplished all or most of them.

1. Be more organized-specifically in my home(some areas are a mess)
2. Be more intentional about my Quiet Time
3. Memorize a verse every 2 weeks (Thanks to my wonderful sister-in-love for this one!)
4. Be intentional in the way that we raise our children-use scripture to back up everything: also be a more intentional wife-do the little things he appreciates
5. Read to my children daily (I often forget this part and Elijah loves to read)
6. Teach my children EVERYTHING, and have patience in the process(everything meaning more like let them help me with whatever I am doing or observe so they may learn)
7. Finish the house(Bathroom, Laundry room, new doors, any finishing touches)
8. Have baby #3(that one should be easy...relatively speaking, due in June!)
9. Have a get away with my husband (haven't had one since our honeymoon and this year will be our 5th anniversary), Can I just say I never would have thought that before we hit our 5 year anniversary that we would have already added 3 little people to our family?!?! How exciting!
10. Stop and smell the roses, don't always be in such a hurry
11. Exercise daily (I miss my daily walks with the kiddos, once this snow melts we need to get out again)
12. Be a better with managing the time I have
13. Set a budget and stick with it! (I'm not good in the food dept, always going over since I like to cook)
14.  Plan meals ahead of time to help save money
15. Pay off at least 1 bill this year! (I'm going for medical, or my school loan if possible)

Well that is it, I probably have more, but these are the ones that are most important to me.  Now I shall sit down with my husband this weekend and see how we can plan for all these!