It has Been a While...

I've been meaning to update my blog for quite a while. Most times when I sit down to the computer I am nursing and it is hard to type then. Anyways, I've been quite busy lately. Abby is growing so fast and time is speeding by. School is winding down. We've just got a couple weeks to go. We'll take a couple weeks off and then fall into our summer schedule. I'm not sure what that will look like, but I'm sure it will constantly change, based on the weather and whatever else is going on.

We've celebrated a few birthdays these past couple months. Gardening and baseball have begun. The weather this past week has been like summer, so focusing on school is more of a challenge. Here are some pictures and I'll trying and post more soon.

Here's Abby on her 2 month old day.

Josiah turned 8 March 1st. He is getting old enough to help more around the house. He even does a rotation of dishes now, which his brothers like. He has come a long way from hiding under the table when it is time to clean up. He would tell you he'd rather play then do school, but he does it willingly and does a good job. He also has some talent in drawing. He seems to enjoy drawing and doodling.

Jesse turned 4 in January. He got a new bed for his birthday. We put it in the basement with his brothers. He still sleeps some in Rachel's room though. Lately, Jesse has been moody at times. He isn't getting enough sleep, so we are starting to put him in bed earlier at night, along with Rachel. He's always been pretty easy up until now. I hope more sleep will return him to his joyful self.

Here we celebrated James' birthday. He turned 40! He has had a busy few months. Things are busy at the office and church as usual. He is also begun to coach Josiah's baseball team. He is very excited about this. He will be busy every Saturday from now until July will ball practices. Our boys have practice from 7:00 a.m. until about 2:00 p.m. Their pratices are back to back all morning. Four teams, four games a week and four practices, wow we are in for a busy Spring!

Rachel turned 6 years old on February 21st. She got girly legos for her birthday, which she really wanted. I must admit, they are pretty cool and very girly. Rachel is a big help to Mommy with Abby. She gets Abby dressed for me when I ask her. She loves being a little Mommy to her little sister. I just need to get her trained on changing diapers and then I'll be set. She has tried it, but she still need assistance. Right now, since Abby is breast feeding, diapers are pretty easy to change.

Here she is. She smiles and talks all the time now. She is such a good baby and sleeps plenty through the night. Most mornings I wake her up to feed her.

Christmas Time...

We have had a wonderful Christmas break, starting with Abby's birth three weeks ago. Tomorrow begins a return to our routine, although it will be more challenging with a newborn to take care of. We have had lots of fun with Abby. She hasn't quite adjusted to our sleep schedule yet. She is usually wide awake past our bedtime. I try to keep her awake during the day, but I don't always have time for that. We just love her anyways, she is such a blessing!!!! Here are some pictures of our holiday fun.

Matching hats, made by a friend

Lee, James' Dad, turned 70 on Abby's birthday. Here he is with Abby and his great-granddaughter, Reece

Christmas outfits

Christmas Eve after church

Our precious gift under the tree

Jay got a bass guitar for Christmas

Josiah with his new djimbe (an African drum)

Jonathan got an electric guitar

Our sweet girls

Looking at Mommy

Lots of love...

It's a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday I was having steady contractions much of the day about 25 minutes apart. James and I went to his office Christmas party at dinner time. I was wondering if I might go into labor during the night. I got into bed and within a couple minutes I got another contraction and during the contraction I felt a pop that made me jump. I wondered if my water had broken (although I was not expecting that at all). I felt no liquid coming out, so then I pushed on the baby to make sure she was okay. She moved around. I layed there another minute and decided I would get up to go
to the bathroom. I almost made it before the gushing began and right away, I knew my water had broken. We were both pretty excited. We called the doctor to see what he wanted us to do. Because the baby had been high, he wanted us to go on down to the hospital. We made it down here at midnight. My contractions eventually got quite strong, but they were pretty far apart. They started the pitosin early in the morning after I got my epidural. It didn't take much pushing before she arrived. I was in shock and couldn't believe she was a girl. It took a little bit of time to process it all. I'm starting to get used to it, saying "she" instead of "he". She is so sweet. She has been pretty alert when she has been awake. I haven't slept much since arriving at the hospital. I'm hoping for some good rest tonight. What a wonderful blessing God has entrusted us with. We couldn't be happier!
When we called my mom after she was born, I was still processing it all. She asked how big she was and I said 18 pounds, then I said 11 pounds and something ounces. She was like "what??" I quickly realized I was not thinking straight. Finally I got it right with 8 pounds, 14 ounces. She is 22 inches long and was born at 10:48 a.m.

Excited Momma

Isn't she precious...

She was pretty alert after being born. I love this picture. James was pretty excited.

November

Last weekend our nephew, Mike, got married. Jesse got to be in the wedding. He did a good job walking down the isle, dispite his poor performance at the rehearsal.

The flower girl and ring bearer

Mike and Katie Miller
Very Sweet Picture!

Daddy and Rachel had a dance. Rachel had such a great time dancing.

My niece, Heather, is closer to delivering than I am, but I sure do look bigger. We are both due December 15th. I am expecting not to deliver too early, maybe a few days. I am ready any time though. I've been so blessed to have such a good pregnancy.

Our traditional "baby kissing the baby" picture. We couldn't quite get it, so we'll try again before the baby comes. He kissed the baby, but he was so quick, James couldn't get it with the camera.

Barn, Birthdays and Pumpkins

We started building a pole barn at the beginning of September. Here is what it looks like so far. We hope to get it finished by winter. We had lots of help from friends and we hired a few nephews to do the roof. James plans on finishing the rest himself.

On September 17th Jedaiah turned two. James and Josh were on their trip, we celebrated without them. We celebrated with the rest of the family on Joshua's birthday. He is a fun little guy. I think he will be a leader someday. He likes to tell people what to do and he doesn't put up with his siblings when they try to take advantage of him. We are working on potty training him some and he's doing okay so far. He goes on the potty inbetween diaper changes. Speaking of diapers, I have decided to switch to cloth diapers. I got some really nice ones that fit from birth to 35 pounds, so both Jedaiah and Jesse are wearing them at night. They are so easy to work with and they hardly leak at all. I wish I made the switch a long time ago. I would have saved quite a bit of money.

Here's Josh on his birthday present on his birthday. We gave him a much needed new bed and he got a comforter/sheet set from his MawMaw and PawPaw. We celebrated this past Friday night his 11th birthday. He is bigger and stronger than Jonathan who is over two years older than him. He also wants to do everything Jonathan does. Now that Jonathan is in the youth he gets to do some cool things and that creates some tentions. Josh still has his strong willed moments, but overall he is a great kid!

We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday. Jonathan isn't in the picture because we left him home by himself. He went with the youth in the evening instead. We gave him the choice and he chose them over us, bummer. Oh well, I guess it was bound to happen.

I am almost seven months pregnant now. Ten weeks to go until the due date. I am feeling pretty good. I'm starting to get a little more tired, but I don't need to take naps most days. I'm still doing gardening. I've got green beans coming in, popcorn and peppers. I also have some tomatoes, but not many. School is taking up most of my time, so I don't get to get out in the garden too often.

September

Jonathan turned 13 at the end of August. His favorite thing is anything sports. He loves playing sports and loves keeping up with professional sports. He bought his own ipod touch this past summer and uses it to keep up on what's going on in the sports world. He even has an app that enables him to watch live games on his ipod. James and Jonathan have been keeping up with the Cardinals in the playoffs this past week. Since we don't have cable, it is the only way they can watch the game. Jonathan can be a big help to me around home. It is nice to be able to leave him home to babysit when I want to.

In September, one of the countries we studied was Mexico. Here the kids enjoyed their piniata that they had made. It was pretty strong and they all got a wack at it a couple times. I even got to take a swing at it. I forgot who finally broke it open. Jedaiah was expecially excited about the candy. He loves candy!

Later in September, James and Josh went on a pre-adolescent backpacking trip up to Michigan. They went to Isle Royale National Park. They fished and paddled in a rubber kayak. They didn't catching any fish, but they had a great time together. Josh is very inquisitive and we thought we better inform him of some things sooner than later.

Towards the end of September we studied Brazil and South America. Here the kids are proudly displaying a mural we all worked together to make. It came out pretty good.

The new curriculum is working great. The kids are enjoying it and so am I.

Visitors

We had a nice visit with the Levasseur family (Lori's brother) and Papa John (Lori's Dad) last week. This is a picture of all of us at the zoo. We had such great weather much of the week they were here. They arrived earlier than expected while we were at church on Sunday. They hid their van in the back of the house and came to the back door to surprise us after we got home. Our house was a mess because we had planned on cleaning before they arrived. We had a party to go to in the afternoon, so we left Bob and Sarah to rest. Actually, they cleaned our house for us instead, while their kids rested. What a blessing!

Monday, we hung out at home in the morning and then went to a park in the afternoon. The kids enjoyed playing on the playgrounds and in the creek. Tuesday Bob and I went to Lowes and bought some wood and building supplies to finish a room in our basement. Bob and Papa John were able to do all the electric for it, which was great. We got the walls finished to close off the storage area and put walls up for a music room. It isn't done yet, but won't take long to finish. I just want the drywall up for now and we'll do the spackling/painting when we finish the rest of the basement.

Wednesday was our zoo day. Thursday we did some construction. Friday was the Arch and Science Center. Saturday we hung out at home. James and Bob took many of the kids down the river behind our house in canoes and boats. They had quite a storm dump hail on them, but they survived. The Levasseurs left on Sunday after church and Papa John left Monday morning. We so enjoyed our time with them.

School started Monday morning, full-time. We had a pretty good week overall. We are still working on getting into a good routine. It is hard with summer still going.