Here Comes Number 3!

Yep! We're pregnant and it's a girl! The current due date is May 31st, but if I go back to C-section (leaning that way right now) then it could be earlier. We announced the news to my family this Christmas, when I showed up in Texas wearing the shirt shown below:

It's says Bump's First Christmas. And this picture is of girls modeling the cool hats my brother Logan sent from Peru. (Lindsay was photoshopped in so cleverly by my Dad.) Morning sickness was a bit rougher than Ike's pregnancy but not as bad as Nora's. Unfortunately I have had some lingering nausea even now (I'm 19 weeks!) I know I was definitely over the nausea by this time with both pregnancies. Oh well.

Nora is super excited both to have a new baby and to be getting a sister. Before we found out it was a girl this week, she had already decided on names for either gender: if it was a boy, he'd be Sam and if it was a girl, we should call her Flower. :) Thanks for the suggestions, Sweet Pea!

Texas Trip

 We celebrated Christmas a day early so that we could fly off to Texas to spend a week with our family. Fortunately, Nora thought it was perfectly fine that Santa would make a special early trip for us.

 I was really impressed with this drawing. She tried to copy the Spiderman on the punching bag. Pretty good perspective drawing for a 4-year-old!

 This is the latest quilting masterpiece my mom created for her newest grandchild. She is already on to her next one, a jungle themed quilt for my due-any-minute nephew Colt.

 We started out the week with a large crowd, including Steph, Carter, their three kids, my parents, and Briana and Craig and their two little girls. Throughout the week, the size of our party gradually diminished, but I'm so glad we got to be there with everyone for at least a little while.

I don't have any pictures of it, but Thursday Steph took us to South Padre Island, an incredible beach just 45 minutes from her house. The weather was gorgeous and I couldn't believe that my kids were running around in swimsuits on the beach in December. So fun!

On Friday we took a trip to the Brownsville Zoo, where the kids had a blast at the petting zoo and waterpark/playground.

 We got to celebrate New Year's Eve with Stepharter and Co. The nice thing about having little kids is that they have no idea what time it is, so we had them watch the countdown in Sydney on youtube at about 7:30, let them light some sparklers and they were down by 8:30 pm! :) And they thought that was great!

Here's the kids bundled at our Vegas hotel and ready to jump in the car at 6 am on Monday. (The best flight prices we found were in Las Vegas, so after flying in the night before we still had a little drive ahead of us.

Such a wonderful trip and so fun to be with family! We definitely missed Lindsay and her family and Logan of course. We'll catch them next time, I guess. It was so wonderful though to see all the cousins playing and having a good time. Thanks Steph and Carter for a fantastic week!

A Book for Remembering Far Away Family

 

A Few (or More) Family Photos

Clipped and Fit!

Ike now officially has a normal length tongue. The surgery was this morning and went perfectly. Our little guy was a little out of it afterwards, as you can tell by his dazed look. He's wearing his prize for being such a good patient. He picked them out himself. 

He hasn't seem to be in much pain at all and is now bounced back from acting lethargic. Now we just have to work with him to realize he has a long tongue. Bring on the ice cream cones!

Thanksgiving!

We were lucky enough to get Branden's parents with us for Thanksgiving this year. I'm really glad they were able to make the drive out. 

 Here's Ike enjoying the Macy's Parade with G & G.

 With a table full of delicious food, all Ike wanted was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

 Nora's favorite part of the meal

 The Saturday after Thanksgiving we head up to our favorite Christmas tree farm again. Here's Nora at the base of the treehouse.

 Ike, waiting for a ride on the train.

Here's us on the train. Nora insisted on sitting in the back in the cattle car. :)