Two months old...

Our little cupcake is 2 months old...she's 12 pounds and 24 inches long.  She's talking and growing into the sweetest baby!  She's sleeping through the night (YIPPEE!!) and has gotten into a pretty reliable day time routine as well.  The pediatrician was amazed at her ability to soothe herself to sleep and gave her a perfect check up.  We are so thankful for our precious addition and cannot believe how quickly the time goes.  

Caleb's first haircut

On New Years Day while daddy was finishing up the kid's bathroom remodel and update, we decided it was time to cut Caleb's curly locks.  This was his first haircut and with the help of Super Why, we were successful.  

Before:

During:

 After:

 Mommy had to keep some length to maintain those cute curls, but there are many mornings when we lovingly call him Einstein or Cramer due to his fashionable bed head!  

Sledding

Upon moving into our new house, we were promptly informed by the neighborhood kids that they use our side yard as their sledding hill...of course who were we to tell them they couldn't.  When the first flakes flew--we were the first ones out there enjoying the thrill of some downhill sledding.  Hannah and Caleb went out night after night and stayed out for hours.  Hannah learned quickly to bring her sled back up the hill with her, Caleb still needs a little help, although, he's getting the hang of it.  Craig was out of his mind thrilled on night when Hannah asked to make a jump off the steps.  They made a two tiered jump to which Hannah said--Daddy, it's not big enough.  Craig said he had been waiting years for this situation to present itself!  He was thrilled to make a bigger jump!  Caleb will go down the hill and the jump without even holding on to the sled...this leads to some pretty bad wipe-outs, but he just keeps going.  We've had days of snow now--once it gets out of the single digits during the day, we will go out and try the fresh powder!

Happy New Year!

2012 was quite a year.  We found out we were pregnant, sold a house, bought a new house, had a baby, celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, went on vacations, and got way behind in many things!!  We have settled into our new home and love every bit of it.  The kids have fallen in love with their sledding hill and have had many chances to go...and with the snow coming down outside now we will be white for a while!

Hannah turned four on November 17th.  We had a party for her at the end of October as we knew our new arrival would be coming close to her birthday and we wanted her to be able to celebrate.  Her party was at Kid's Gym and she had a great time.  She was especially excited as her cousins were here from Kansas for the weekend and were able to celebrate with her.  Of course it was Hello Kitty themed!!  On her actual birthday we had family over for pizza, cake, ice cream and presents!  We redid her room for her birthday, complete with a pink crystal chandelier, new bed and bedding and decorations to match.  The iron bed was my Grandparents who bought it at an auction in 1935...it has quite the history and we are happy to have it live on!  Hannah also got her ears pierced...it was only  slightly traumatic.

One week later...Olivia Elizabeth joined our family.  Just a few days late (we all thought she would arrive early like her brother and sister) and after only a few hours of contractions at home, we thought it was a good idea to go to the hospital and see if we were ready.  As my water had broken at home with Hannah and Caleb I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be feeling, but I knew something had changed.  We were 4 cm when we arrived at the hospital and were admitted a little after 5:00 pm.  After getting settled in our room, some very STRONG contractions, and a wonderful epidural we called the nurse about 7:50 as I knew it was time...at 7:59 pm on Saturday, November 24, Olivia Elizabeth entered the world.  We were SO surprised to see she was a girl and were overwhelmed with joy that she was healthy and absolutely beautiful.  She has made our family complete!  She was 7 lbs 12.4 ounces and perfect in every way.  We were able to come home on Monday and begin our life as a family of five!  Hannah and Caleb absolutely love her and have an incredible ability to tune out the crying!  The first few weeks were really rough as Olivia cried and cried and cried...as she's gotten older, though, she has really turned into a wonderful baby.  I can say this as she has recently started sleeping through the night and EVERYONE is better off because of that!  She is now 8 weeks old, she is smiling and cooing, sleeping great and getting lots of compliments for being beautiful!  She's learned to love her baths and tolerates her car seat.  We have a few more weeks together at home before I have to return to work.

And...Christmas...The Christmas that Olivia cried through.  I felt like we deserved a re-do!!  Next year will be FAR better...it has to be!

2012 was a year full of so many changes...we pray that 2013 offers just as many blessings and wonderful opportunities for our family.  It will be a year of firsts for Miss Olivia and Miss Hannah as she will be going to school in the fall.  We hope Caleb will be out of diapers sometime in 2013 :).  I love my family and am so thankful for our health, our happiness, and our Lord who has made this amazing life possible.