Family Time

This weekend was full of fun and family time.

Some of Richards cousins and their families came to my in-laws house castle to stay for the weekend.

Most of them we hadn't seen for years, and most of the adults hadn't met the children. 

The kids had fun meeting each other too and playing.

We ate yummy food, went to one of my favorite restaurants for breakfast, debated talked tons, tried on costumes, went to the pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins, picked apples and so many more fun "fall-y" things.

Richard trying to get Brielle (aka the "pink blob") to pet a pig

the 3 boy "cousins"

Liam decided he wanted to pull the wagon full of kids ;)

took a lot of tries to get a picture of them all together!

She was SUCH a ham this weekend!

Liam sat carving the top of his pumpkin for HOURS this weekend

It was so much fun spending time with family!

The kids had fun, and the adults might have had more ;)

My only complaint?

This weekend went too dang fast.

The ferry ride epitome

Last week, we went to Seattle on a improptu family trip/a business errand for Richard. We rode the ferry over to Seattle, ran the errand Richard needed to do, went to a mall with a playground to let the kids play around, had some food, and took the ferry back home. Doesn't sound like much, but by the end, the kids were dirty (Liam had chocolate milk which was all down the front of him). Dirty, but O so happy. 

We pulled up in line in our dirty mini-van (dirt roads + rain), car full of stuff we brought for the trip, trash from the kids food, 2 happy but worn out parents, and 2 happy but dirty children. To the side of us pulled a brand-new mustang, perfectly clean, with a beautiful lady driving it. Perfectly manicured. Perfect hair. A business suit. Sitting in the car on her smartphone. Alone.

For a second, I looked down at my pregnant body, and up at my tired face and messy hair. And felt a little insecure. Liam was so excited to get out of the car and watch the water, so we scooped our giddy children out of the car and went to show them around the ferry. Instantly, when I saw their dirty, smiling faces who were so excited to see us, all my insecurities were forgotten. We had fun running around the boat, playing hide-and-seek and laughing. At the end of the ride, we came back down to our car, opened it to reveal its messiness, played with the kids a little more and buckled them up to leave. We had to wait in our car to disembark the ferry for a bit, and I kept thinking about the girl to our left.

But my thoughts changed.

I looked in the rear-view mirror to see 2 wonderful, darling children. My gorgeous children. I looked to my left and saw the smiling face of the love of my life and best friend.

And it hit me.

I was the lucky one. I was the one whose heart is full and brimming over with love for my family. I have another one coming. My car is full of stuff because we had a family adventure. My kids were dirty because they were playing so hard. My hair was messy because Liam loves to play with my hair while he gives me hugs. I was tired because the night before I talked too long with my lover before bed.

My life is so full. So wonderful.

As we pulled off the ferry, I did so with a smile.

And a prayer of gratitude in my heart that I am where I am, and with the people I am.

And I felt so lucky to have a dirty mini-van full of my kids and dear husband.

I saw the emptiness that could have been, and felt my heart swell with gratitude that my life is so full. Of love, blessings, memories, finger prints, fishy crackers, diapers and smiling faces.

The littles

We have taken a break from the internet lately. At first we didn't have control over it (we moved next door to my parents who have just moved into their new house and didn't have internet set-up). But then we decided we liked not having internet and it's distractions, restricting it only to our phones so we can still stay in contact in basic ways. It has been a very nice break from the many distractions and I have found myself playing pretend, organizing, cooking and sitting watching my babies play. 

But, it's time to update. There have been some cool milestones reached and I wanted to write about the kidlets.

Liam: He is growing up so much and so fast, it hurts sometimes to think about how fast it is going. He sleeps great at night, goes to bed early, and still refuses to take a nap during the day no matter how tired he is. He is talking up a storm, and no longer sounds like a baby talking, but a grown child. We have long talks regularly and he says the funniest things. The biggest change for him, is that he has been potty trained for the last month. Honestly, I was terrified to potty train him. I knew he was ready, but I was scared it was going to be a horrible battle. But, he is such an amazing, smart kid and he was potty trained within the first day and fully potty trained AND night trained within 3 days. We never had any problems and he hasn't had an accident in weeks. I am so proud of him and how well he did! He is totally independent in that "area" and it's so nice to only have to change 1 set of diapers, at least for the next couple months. He is so excited to go to "school" (aka preschool) next fall and can't stop talking about it. And he is so polite!! If you asked him if he wants something, he will say sweetly "no thank you. I am fine". He is stubborn, too smart for his good AND 2-years-old, so we still have "moments" if he doesn't want to do something, or wants to do something he shouldn't. But we have learned that if we just sit down and explain the situation out to him, he understands and is obedient on his own. It's so nice when you figure out how to work with your kids in the way they need!!

He is such a wonderful little boy, and my best little man buddy ever. 

 

sooo handsome!

Brielle: O my little princess. She is such a funny girl! Ever since she was 11 months (2 months ago), she has been walking and now constantly running like a pro. She goes so fast though that she falls down a lot and almost always has a bump or cut on her face! She has no caution and just runs full force ahead. She is cutting 4 teeth right now which will end with a grand total of 12 teeth when they come through, so her night time sleeping has been less than ideal, and most nights up hurting for an hour for two, sometimes more. That has been hard on this pregnant mommy. But even so, she has been such a champ and still her abnormally cheerful self! She is always jabbering and "talking" to us. I swear she says "thank you" and "all done" and then "yes" or "no" if we ask her a question. And she loves to wave when she sees anyone. She is so smiley, so happy and such a wonderful little girl! She has charmed anyone that meets her with her cute, flirty smile! I serve in the nursery and bring her in with me, which she loves!!  She squeals with excitment when we get close to the nursery room! She is such a people person, and always wants to be a part of what is going on (just like her mommy).  She also has adopted this little wooden basket that she carries around on her arm wherever she goes, which is so cute to watch!!

That sweet little girl brings so much happiness into our lives, it's hard to comprehend...

Baby: I am 16 1/2 weeks now and can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going! Thankfully, as soon as I enter the second trimester a couple weeks ago, my morning sickness and nausea went away! So nice. Glad to have that finished with... It has been so much fun to feel our little sweet-pea bumping around more and getting stronger with those bumps. He/she seems particularly active in the early morning, after I eat a meal and when I am going to sleep, probably because those are the only times I am still and it wakes up! Because I am on my feet constantly, all day with hardly any breaks, I am starting to get some varicose veins which were hurting pretty bad. I am all about prevention, and once I got 1 long one that was pretty painful, I got some support hose which make a WORLD of difference. I am supposed to sit down and prop my feet up as much as possible still, but with 2 little kids, we all know that isn't possible...but I do try as much as I can! It's also been hard because with Brielle not sleeping well at night and Liam not napping, I hardly sleep. With the other kids, I had to take naps in the middle of the day to survive, so it's been...interesting! But I have found that if I just stay really busy (speaking of, I need to get up...), it's fine and we just go to bed pretty much as soon as the kids go to bed. Because this is going to be my third baby in 3 years, my stomach muscles aren't the greatest, so my belly has grown really fast and I am way bigger than with the other 2 kids. Also, because I am carrying this baby so low, most maternity pants are already uncomfortable. So I ordered some maternity jeans from Motherhood Maternity that should work, but until then I am living in yoga pants and leggings!

I had my 4 month appointment, and as normal, all is well! Baby is super low (already...) but very active, blood pressure is low, weight gain is on-track and all is good! I made our appointment to find out the gender on November 1st!! I am so excited!! I can't wait to find out. I think it's a boy, because my pregnancy has been more like Liams, plus that is just my hunch. But the chinese chart says it's a girl, the babies movements are more like Brielle's and before I got pregnant I had dreams I had Liam, Brielle and a little baby girl. We'll see! Can't wait to find out!!

good-bye toes...

We also have some incredibly, exciting news that I wanted to record in our "family journal", but because this is getting so long, I will save it for it's own post.

We are so happy. 

So enjoying this "calm" time of our life and every minute we have. 

We feel so blessed and life is so wonderful.

Sleep deprived and all.