her first carnival ride - Indiana Beach - she loved it and went on about 10 more rides, all by herself! Such a big girl at 18 months!
Fiona, relaxing with her legs crossed and arms behind her head at our 17 week ultrasound.
Video killed the radio star, just like facebook killed the blog. I have REALLY been neglecting my blog because it is sooooo much easier and faster to post pictures on facebook. With the click of a button, I can upload 50 pictures in 2 minutes and share them with hundreds of people. Being a busy mom, always on the go, I rarely have time to sit and write at my blog.
So let's see....here's what is new.
Angelica is growing fast and learning tons of new things. She is so much better at communicating and can always manage to let us know what she wants either with the actual words or actions. I haven't actually kept track of how many words she knows but I would estimate it to be somewhere around 100 for now. Of course she doesn't speak them perfectly clearly, but for the most part I can understand her. She does a lot of repeating what we say. She is mostly out of her high chair and sitting at the big table with us. She uses her utensils to feed herself (most of the time) and she just loves playing pretend. She often puts her pajamas on her teddy bear and wraps him in a blanket and then sits in the rocking chair with him while kissing him and patting his back. She shares everything she has with Rusty and she always remembers to pour Rusty a glass of "tea" and even holds it to his lips for him when she is playing with her toy kitchen set. Rusty is a very patient dog - let me tell you! And best of all, Rusty is preparing Angelica for what it will be like to be a big sister.
We found out that our new baby is a girl. We had this confirmed at both our 17 week and 21 week ultrasound. I felt comfortable enough to buy a letter "F" charm for my charm bracelet (as we plan to name her Fiona) and to order her crib, dresser, and bedding (even with her name embroidered on a pillowcase!) We are getting excited for baby number 2 to arrive.
It's been interesting adjusting to not really working. I love my job, and I put a lot of "blood sweat and tears" into starting my own business 3 1/2 years ago, branding myself, and making a name for myself in this business. But I don't love my job nearly as much as I love my kids. So, I work during naptime - when I feel like it. I do enough to get by. I know that my job will still be there one day when my kids are in school and I can work more when I want to. I have struggled with the frustration of not being as good as my job as I know I could be, but I am starting to accept it. As the saying goes "God always provides." Although it can be difficult living on essentialy half of the income we are accustomed to, we still manage to pay our bills, keep food on the table and a roof over our head. We are so grateful for the things we do have that we don't miss the things we gave up all that much. Where there is a will, there is a way! I am glad I laid the foundation for my business so that when I do want to work more, I will be able to do it, but that I will still have the flexibility to go with my girls on field trips and be able to volunteer at their schools and other activities as they grow up. On top of all this, I am grateful for my loving and hard working husband who puts in extra hours at work when we want to save up for something special. He firmly believes that mom's should stay home with babies and raise kids. Maybe some people would consider that sexist, but I appreciate it and it works for us. He encourages me when I want to work and he also encourages me when I want to play all day with Angelica or take a nap when the pregnancy is taking it's toll on me. He is the best friend I need and I am lucky to have him.
I thought Dennis might be bummed out about not having a boy. Who knows maybe we will have more kids someday. But for now, he is so excited to have another girl, and that makes me excited too. From the beginning he said he just knew it was going to be a girl, and he was right!
It is hard for me to imagine that this year our Christmas card will have 2 little girls on it. Life is moving fast. This pregnancy has been fairly easy so far and I am more than halfway done. Come October, we will welcome little Fiona into our home.
Angelica has kept us busy with all she is doing and learning. She goes to gymnastics every week and absolutely loves the trampolines! She also likes going to the parks, going down slides, playing outside on her bikes and toys, and visitng with people. She especially loves her cousin Nate. She is pretty well adjusted and approaches most people with a big smile. While she loves us to pieces, she never cries when we leave her with a babysitter. I know someday I will have to give her a good talk about staying away from strangers because I think she would hug everyone if she could. She thoroughly enjoys playing "pretend" and dressing up. She likes to wear our shoes and walk around the house. She knows what she likes and what she doesn't like. She sleeps like a champ - 12 hours every night and a 2-3 hour nap every day. She does have her temper tantrums from time to time, and she can wear me down with whining when I don't want to give her something she wants (usually a bottle of water). But all in all I am grateful that Angelica is who she is. We will see how her sister is! I am hoping she is as easy as Angelica has been.
In other news, Dennis and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary in May. We went to St. Joe, MI for a long weekend - just the two of us. We went to the beach, the movies, out to eat, had a couples massage, and just relaxed. We played board games and watched our wedding video. It was a lot of fun. It wasn't exactly the trip to BoraBora we had always said we would go on for our 5th anniversary, but we were still content. Maybe we will save BoraBora for the 25th anniversary! :)
We have been busy making our house a home. We finally feel very content here in Beecher and hope to stay. Sure we dream about living on the beach or on a lake, but in all reality we do like it here. We put in some new landscaping this summer that really makes it feel more like home and not just a temporary place to stay. Maybe someday...some day far far away....we will be able to get a weekend house on a lake or something, but for now we are continuing to invest in our home here. We have all that we need and even more than that. We have a lot of room and this is a good place to watch our family grow and our kids grow up.
