George-isms

(In a British accent) "Oxi Clean!  Oxi Clean!  Oxi Clean!" (notices me watching)  "Mom!  I'm trying to sound like the Oxi Clean guy!  You know... when he's speaking French!"

He's really into EvanTube on YouTube (gag) and Evan talks about "Minecraft" but George calls it "Minecraps."  I laughed for about 5 minutes straight about this.... he didn't like that.

"I am not understanding girls."

"My circle stuff in my legs hurt!!"  Me:  "Your... knees?"

"I'm going to tell Daddy that you're not taking care of me." (because I made him get a towel to clean up the water he spilled)

"This summer when we swim, you cannot just sit on the swimming pool stairs.  You have to swim."

"Mommy, I wish I had bunk beds in my room.  Then you and me could sleep together."

(The Bachelor was on while I was getting them ready for bed.  There was kissing.)  "Eew!  Kissing!! I HATE kising!"  (then a few seconds later)  "Last day, I saw you and Daddy kissing in the kitchen."

I tried a new recipe and it did not turn out.  I was talking about it with Steve and George came up and sang "Keep trying, you'll get better!" from Daniel Tiger.

And just to be fair... some Ruthie-isms:

On vacation, she woke up more than once yelling "Oh no!  I pooped!  My diapers are at home! I pooped and my diapers are at home, Mom!"

Me:  "You're so funny"  Ruthie:  "And pretty.... and nice.... and smart...."

Me:  "You look so pretty!"  Ruthie:  "I know.  I a pretty girl."

Oh, my funny kids!

Four Months!

My baby is 4 months old already!  Where has the time gone?? She is such a happy little girl!  She has grown a lot this month, but she is still pretty petite.  

12lb 2oz

23 1/4" long

Size 0-3 month clothes

Size 1 diapers (the longest I've ever used size 1!)

She loves to kick and smile.  She even smiles with her eyes!  (Tyra would be so proud)  She is sweet and cuddly, but loves to be put in her swing with her binky to sleep.  Just this week she has decided on a bed time!  Hooray!  She has been going to bed between 7-8, but the bad thing is that she has also been back to waking up for regular feedings. Boo on that!  (She was sleeping 8 hours straight a few weeks ago).  But when she wakes up, she eats and goes right back to sleep-so I can't complain.  She seems to not be as sensitive to what I eat or drink anymore... except for beans.  She has her first ear infection right now and is pretty patient with taking her medicine.  I knew something was wrong when our happy baby woke up screaming like a pterodactyl last week!  She doesn't have much of a day-time schedule because she is baby #3 and I have to do things during the day... and she will fall asleep in the car seat and stay asleep and the others will not.  So she sleeps on the go.  Someday I will regret this, but for now it works for us!

And we have other kids, too!  And they're wonderful!  And crazy!  In fact, here's a little something about the month of February!

Steve stayed pretty busy with his last build-up line and finally got a real line for March!  I stayed busy hauling kids out and about in sub-zero weather.  Seriously-I forgot how cold it can be!  We have spent the last 4 winters in either Texas or Arizona... and while I cursed the weather from April-November, I will take that a MILLION times over January & February in the midwest.  Oh. My. Gosh.  And you still have to do stuff even though it's -4*.  Life doesn't stop.

I stood in line at the preschool building in our school district for about an hour to get George all ready for preschool.  I left him at home.  Then I went back to get him so that he could have a developmental screening.  The teacher said George is very smart, which we already knew.  His biggest strength is problem solving.  She was very impressed with an exercise they did where she showed him a picture and asked him what was wrong and what they could do to fix it.  She said that most kids know what is wrong and what they can do, but can't verbalize it.  Apparently, my Georgie gave her a dissertation about the situation... which involved taking a bug outside so that he can find his "mommy" and then a whole story about this bug family.  So she said he's where he should be.

Ruthie is becoming more obsessed with "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" by the day.  Seriously.  One night, I was singing our usual primary songs before bed and she made me sing "Gangel Giger" songs instead.  She's a funny girl.  One day I said, "Ruthie!  You're so pretty!" and she said "...and funny! ...and smart!"  She's a big teaser and loves to say "I tricked you!"

We went to visit Steve's sister Liz and her family in February.  That was fun!  We were supposed to be there for the whole weekend, but Steve's work schedule changed once we got there... so it was a great 28 hours at their house!  As soon as we decided to go, we asked the kids if they wanted to go... Ruthie put on her shoes and sat by the door!  She was so excited... and it took us about 2 more hours to get out the door!  The drive wasn't bad in our mini-van.  We love that car!

The end of February, we went to AZ for our new cousin Lucy's baby blessing.  It was a fun trip!  We got to hang out with my family and see Matt & McKensie and their boys, too!  Mmmmm... and I had Cafe Rio.  (side note: I hated it in college, but I think that's because nobody told me what to order.., pork salad for sure).  We planned on going straight home after the blessing, but we ended up going to UT for McKensie's mom's funeral.  So then we stayed for a long time because one of my best friends from OH got married on March 12th!  What we had planned to be two short trips turned into one long trip!  It was fun to play with cousins and Grandmas and Grandpas, but it felt SOOO good to be home.  In fact, I actually flew by myself with all 3 kids!  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  That's a lie.  The flight from UT to AZ was AWFUL... and that was the short flight!  I decided that on the big flight, I didn't care what I had to do, I was getting Ruthie's car seat on that plane!  For some reason she is totally fine sitting in the car seat for a 3 hour flight... it's just a hassle to lug it around the airport.  So after taking a ridiculous time to get all set up on the plane, all 3 kids SLEPT most of the flight!  It was heavenly!  And I read like 100 pages in a book!  A  REAL BOOK!  Who ever has time for that anymore?? 

So now we're home and trying to get back to real life.  The fact that we have had no schedule for the last 3 weeks is definitely catching up to us.  I've felt like I'm in "The Exorcist" a few times... but it sure does feel nice to just be home!

And some pics from our trip... all out of order!

Three Months!

Little Elizabeth is THREE months old today!! I can hardly believe it!  It feels like she was just born yesterday!  She is the perfect little addition to our family.  She has become quite the easy-going, happy baby!  (We were worried about this for a while because she was never happy to be awake!)  We sure do love this little girl!

At three months, she is humming and cooing and has the cutest, softest little voice!

Elizabeth loves:

-being held

-her swing

-watching her crazy brother and sister

-direct eye contact

-smiling

-nursing

-being swaddled

Elizabeth does not love:

-being in the car seat (especially when the car or shopping cart is not moving)

-sitting by herself

-when Mommy eats beans or has too much Diet Coke

-waiting more than a millisecond to eat (and when she decides to eat, she goes from 0-starving in a heartbeat)
-tummy time (I try, but she will have NONE of it... she used to love it because she would just fall asleep... but now she screams and screams and screams)

My favorites from our make-shift photo shoot this morning!

(Bow is from NewlymadeMama)

December & January

December

George turned FOUR this month!  Where has the time gone??  His preschool ended for the semester with a party and an award ceremony.  George won.... "Best Storyteller."  Well, that's what happens when you talk all day long, I guess!  Should I be nervous about what stories he is telling his teachers?  He loves to hold Elizabeth and fight with Ruthie.  He jumps on the couch all day long... we are really trying to break this habit.

Ruthie has been talking a lot more and loves being a big sister!  She really wants to potty train and is always taking off her diaper and sitting on the toilet.  I'm not ready for this, so I lock the bathroom door.  Seriously... when you potty train a girl, you can't just have her pee on a tree in the parking lot... you have to unload everybody and find a toilet.  No thank you.  Ruthie loves fruit and can eat an entire container of blueberries in one sitting!

Steve got to take some time off of work for FMLA at the beginning of December.  It was nice to have him around once the Grandmas left and stuff started to get real.  He went back to work in the middle of the month, but somehow we were able to have him home for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and half of New Year's Day!  I don't know how this happened, but I'm not asking questions!  We loved it!  This was only the second time Steve and I have ever spent New Year's Eve together... ever!  He has always had to work!

I was exhausted the whole month and just trying to stay one step ahead of total disaster.  For some reason, Elizabeth just stopped sleeping unless she was being held.  I guess all of my kids did this at some point, but I have blocked this out of my memory.  I got my hair cut in December and it is so cute!  It was nice to get out of the house by myself for a little bit.

It was too cold to go outside and do anything, so we spent some time at Chick-fil-a to play.  I wonder if they ever get sick of me buying a soda and sitting at a table while my kids play for hours??  If they are, they are nice about it!

Steve's sister and her family stopped by on their drive through our town.  We found out that we can sleep 13 people in our apartment!  It was fun and very loud.  Ironically, George kept bugging his cousin Harrison... which is funny because I remember a certain little Harrison at 4 years old.......

Christmas was awesome!  On Christmas Eve, we went to a little "Old Town Main Street" in our county.  The shops were open and they had people dressed up like Santas and elves from all around the world.  They passed out trading cards to the kids and explained traditions in other countries.  It was COLD, but fun!  We had a nice Christmas Eve dinner and put the kids to bed.  Steve and I watched "Home Alone" while we prepped for Christmas!

Christmas morning was so fun!  George woke up and went directly to the living room before he even woke us up!  He ran into our room yelling "SANTA CAME!!!"  We had a good day relaxing as a family.  Uncle Tom had a short layover, so we drove to the airport to say "hi" and deliver some Christmas cookies!

Pop-pop came to visit at the end of the month for a few days.  The kids loved all of the attention and I slept in every day!

January

New Year's Eve, I took my dad home and ran some errands with Elizabeth... I picked up a pizza and some stuff to make dessert and we had a little family party.  Steve decided that we just couldn't be without Rockin' New Year's Eve, so he went out and got an antenna... and now our family has TV!  We get 10 channels!  (And 4 of them are actually worth watching... hehe)  We let George stay up and he hung out with us until about 10:30... and then he fell asleep!  I watched them ring in the New Year in NYC and then I fell asleep.  Yup, I was asleep by the time it turned 12 in the central time zone.  I'm old.

A few days later, my step-mom came to visit.  Then when she left, our nephew Luke came to visit!  Lots of visitors!  The kids loved all the attention!  When Luke was here, we had the warmest weekend we had seen in a while.  On Friday, we went to the zoo!  It was fun, but the breeze was kinda colder than I expected.  We did the loop the opposite of how we usually do and got to see all the stuff we usually don't get to see (kids are tired or the zoo closes, etc).  We even got to see some baby monkeys!  They were so cute!

On Saturday, we left the house in the morning to go to Waffle House.  Well, after that we were like "we should go to Costco."  After that, we were like "let's go test drive the van that we saw two weeks ago."  So we drove it... all the way home!  That's right!  After two months of cramming ourselves into one car or taking two cars, we finally have a car that we can all fit into!  It's wonderful!  George is very sentimental about the Vibe.  In fact, we went back two days later to have another key made and George made me drive past our old car so that he could say, "hi."  And one day, he dropped a toy and wanted me to pick it up while I was driving.  I said, "I can't, bud.  I can't reach it" and he yelled "I want our old car back so you can reach things!!"

We went to the temple one day.  Steve went in first and I took the kids to Walgreen's.  Well, I realized at the register that I didn't have my wallet.  So we had to put everything back... including the candy that I promised the kids if they were good in the store!  So then I had to wrangle two VERY unhappy kids into the car to pick up Steve.  I couldn't go to the temple that day, either... which was a bummer.  We decided to go to the science center and we had a lot of fun!  The kids loved laying on the ground of the bridge that goes over a major highway and watching traffic zoom past through the plexiglass floor!  Don't worry... we went to the temple the next week so that I could go!

I put up a few more decorations in the kids' rooms.  Michael's has a great new line of wooden frames and letters and embellishments and I went kinda crazy... and then I had to get new curtains.... and a new crib sheet... and pillows.  It's been very "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie"-esque.

(the view from the inside of our new ride.  Notice... no one is crying or biting or hitting or yelling or kicking or climbing out of their carseats.  And it's wonderful.)

And now I'm sort-of caught up!  February has been a great month so far... but it's not over and we have a lot coming up... including a trip to AZ to see Grandma & Grandpa and meet our little niece Lucy and be there for her baby blessing!  That should be fun and give us lots to report on!  XOXO

A Baby!

On Thursday, the 20th, I went to bed with an upset stomach.  It hurt all night long.  It felt like I was going to be sick but didn't know which way it was going to come out.

On the morning of the 21st, I finally got sick.  I was laying in bed when all the sudden, I grabbed my barf bucket and ran for the bathroom (thank goodness I had Steve bring me a barf bucket)!  I was so sick!  My wonderful mother-in-law heard it all happening and came in to help.  She helped me get cleaned up and clean up the bathroom.  It's a little humbling to have someone help you get cleaned up after you get totally sick and I'm so lucky to have a great mother-in-law!  

So, I threw up exactly 45 minutes after I took my anti-contracting medicine... and I threw up so violently that my whole body was tightening up.  I was worried, so I called the doctor's office and they told me that I should be fine, but if my contractions started earlier than usual that night, I should take my medicine a little earlier.  I slept the whole rest of the day and only ate animal crackers and drank (sipped) water.

I was starting to get hungry around dinner-time, so I came out and had some chicken & rice soup.  I started having contractions while I was sitting at the table, so I went over to the couch and laid down.  They kept coming, but were irregular still.  I was timing the contractions.  By 7:30, I took my medicine.  By 8:00pm, when my contractions had not slowed down and were under 5 minutes apart and lasting for almost 2 minutes each, I told my mother-in-law that I needed to go to the hospital.  I didn't have time to wait for someone to come sit with the kids... we had to go!  We threw the kids in the car and started our 40 minute drive to the hospital.  The kids cried almost the whole time because they were way tired... and I may or may not have been squishing Ruthie with my seat leaning all the way back.  I couldn't turn around to look.  I talked to Steve and told him to stay at work and meet me at the hospital when he was done (at 11pm... remember this).  He didn't listen to me and drove to the hospital right away.  My mother-in-law dropped me off and a L&D nurse wheeled me upstairs.  Steve got to the hospital right after I did.

I got to my room and changed into the gown and a doctor came in to check my progress.  I was between 4-5 dilated.  I told the nurse that I didn't want an epidural and I suffered through the contractions.  About 30 minutes later, I broke down.  I told Steve "I am so tired.  I am only at a 5.  I need an epidural.  I can't do this.  I need rest."  I told the nurse I was giving up and I wanted the epidural!  She said, "you have done this twice before!  You can do it again!  Let me check you before I call the anesthesiologist."  She checked me and I was at an 8!  No wonder I was in so much pain!  I decided that since I was so far along, I could do without the epidural (not like I had the option at this point anyway).  They called the doctor and she came and broke my water.  She stayed in the room the whole time after that, expecting it to go faster than it did.  The "rim" of my cervix was really holding on for a while... and by a while, I guess I just mean it felt like a while because this whole process went pretty quickly.  I had no idea what I was doing, even though this is my 3rd time around.  The nurse kept asking me questions and giving me options and at one point I said, "I don't know.  Just tell me what to do!"  I know it sounds dumb, but I felt a lot more in control once she was telling me what to do and not giving me a million options!

Elizabeth Anne was born at 10:52pm.  That's about 2 hours after I was wheeled onto L&D!  Boy am I glad Steve didn't listen to me when I told him to stay at work (remember that??)!  I hoped that since I was 35 & 3 that she would avoid the whole NICU situation, but she was breathing pretty heavily and they had to take her back.  After 6 days of the CPAP and oxygen, she was weaned down to room air!  On day 8, they asked if we were ready to take her home!! So that night, we slept at the hospital and Elizabeth came home to two excited siblings on Sunday, 11/30!

She's such a sweet baby... even though she likes to be held ALL. NIGHT. LONG.  The kids love her and we're so lucky that she's ours!

Here are some pictures, out of order...

Hospital Bed Rest

On October 30, I woke up feeling kinda crappy.  Steve took George to preschool while I took it easy. When he got home, I told him that I was feeling crampy... which wasn't normal since I started the anti-contracting medicine.  He insisted that I call the doctor.

So I called and got an appointment for later that afternoon.  Steve was not happy that I was going to wait that long and called back and got me an appointment earlier at my doctor's other office (the one connected to the hospital). We had to leave immediately.  George was sad and I told him to take a nap and I would be home when he woke up (not a good thing to promise... oops).

We got to the doctor's office and when she checked me, I had progressed to a 3!  Not good.  I was only 32 weeks.  She wanted to watch me closer, so she decided to do a non-stress test (where they hook you up to the monitors and watch contractions and baby's heartbeat).  Her office walked me over to L & D because they would be able to watch me better and longer.  I didn't even have to go outside... just over a walkway and there it was.  They hooked me up to monitors and we watched tv for a bit.

I was having more than 6 contractions an hour, so they decided to keep me for the night.  That night, my contractions got to about 7-8 minutes apart for a while.  I was really, really crampy.  The next day, my doctor came in bright and early and told me that I was going to be in the hospital until I hit 34 weeks.  That was 11 days away.

So I spent 12 days in the hospital.  As luck would have it, Steve ended up getting trips and was gone for more than half of it.  Luckily, though, my mother in law was still here to help!  I don't know how we would have been able to do any of this without her!  Actually, we wouldn't have.  I would have had this baby a long time ago had it not been for all of her help!  She brought the kids down to see me, which was a huge burden for her, I know, because of the long drive and the fact that George screamed every time they had to leave!  Poor kid is going to have a complex about me going to the doctor's office!

I learned that I have great friends in my ward here!  Lots of people were calling and checking in on me and I even had a bunch of visitors!  They were all great because the hospital is about 45 minutes from our house! The nurses were great, too!  I got to be friends with many of them over the 12 days!

Over the days, the contractions eventually stopped and I was taken off of the monitors.  I was allowed to shower and wear my own clothes.  Two days before I hit 34 weeks, they started giving me another round of steroids for baby's lungs.  I went home and did nothing except go to doctor's appointments for the next 10 days.....

Modified Bed Rest

...but really we all knew this was coming, right?  This is a long one, folks!

Last Friday night/Saturday morning I started feeling some pain in my back.  Since I was super lazy on Friday, I thought maybe it was from laying on the couch in the same position all day!  I laid in bed in pain for about 45 minutes before I got up and heated up my little beanbag heating pad (probably the best Christmas present I ever got from a roommate)!  The pain went away quickly, so I just went back to sleep.  I woke up with a little pain, but it went away once I got moving.  Steve went on a trip and the kids and I were just pretty lazy around the house in the morning.  I took a nap when the kids napped, but I woke up with more back pain.  That time, it didn't go away as I got moving... it got worse.  Steve called and could hear in my voice that something was wrong.  He made me call my doctor's office and I'm glad he made me I did.  So I called our great Relief Society president and took a shower and headed to the hospital.  I drove myself and I was convinced that I would return that night.  I got checked in and hooked up and watched a little "Dateline" on my phone.  They were super busy, so it was a while before the OB resident came in.  He listened to my history, ran some tests, did an ultrasound and then checked to see if I was dilated.  He, the nurse, and I were all having a good time until he said "Umm... so you're dilated to about a 2."  I was caught off guard because I was hooked up to the monitors for two hours and it did not show a single contraction!  Obviously, my back pain was moving something.  Sooo... I was staying.  Steve couldn't get home until the next morning, so his sweet sister and her son drove 5 hours to spend the night with me.

They hooked me up to IV fluids and an antibiotic (they did a strep test, but the results weren't back yet) and magnesium sulfate.  I had magnesium sulfate with Ruthie for a little while and it did very little... but they wanted to stop things until they could get the maximum effect of the steroid shots they gave me.  I felt way dizzy, so I also had my blood drawn every 6 hours for 2 days.  I also had to use a bedside commode... and it's weird trying to pee in the middle of a big room with an audience.  

After 2 days, they stopped the magnesium sulfate and started giving me an anti-contracting pill instead.  They watched me for about a day in labor & delivery and then moved me to antepartum.  Apparently they are in the process of renovating a new floor for antepartum... but for the last day it felt more like prison.  I was bored and tired of watching tv (gasp! I know!).  I think I literally saw everything worth seeing on the internet.  All the high risk doctors kept talking in "a few days" but nobody really knew what that meant.  I wanted to stay until they were sure I was ok, but I was really ready to get home!  Finally, on Wednesday around lunch time, the high risk ob said "You're not hooked up to and IV or a monitor, so I really don't see what you are doing here that you can't be doing at home!"  Hallelujah!  He gave me orders to take it easy, but doesn't want me on traditional bed rest for now because he wants me to stay strong.  The resident checked me again and I wasn't any more dilated than Saturday, so I was home by dinner time.  

Friday, the back pain started again and I was back to the hospital by dinner time.  Steve and I got to just hang out and watch Dateline.  It was pretty crazy this week.  After more tests and a few hours, they think I might have a bladder infection, so they sent me home with an antibiotic.  Thank goodness.  I feel totally normal again and I am just praying that everything stays good.  I really, really don't want to go back until it's time.

My mother-in-law was here for the week to take care of the kids and the house.  She had a trip planned that I really didn't want her to miss, so she went home for that and will be back in a few days.  Since Steve's work schedule is so unpredictable, I decided to send the kids to my sister in law's for a few days.  That was hard.  I know that I have to rest, but it's hard to think that I'm not being a very good mom to the two I already have!  I know that they will have so much fun playing with cousins and they will not need to be shuffled around like they would here this week.  Liz met us half-way and we traded babies last night.  Today has been very weird.  I haven't had a whole day by myself in almost 4 years!  Luckily, it has gone by quickly.  I am just praying that the next month goes by quickly and this little girl stays in.  

Until then, I am not really sure what I am going to do... I have watched everything worth watching on Netflix and Hulu (we don't have cable and live too far out for an antenna).  They just put a bunch of HGTV stuff on Netflix, so we'll see if I can find enough stuff I have not seen.  Any book recommendations are welcome... but I really don't even know if I like to read anymore.  I have finished 2 books in the past 4 years and they're kinda embarrassing ("Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me" and "Ask Wendy").

When we left the hospital on Friday night, we stopped by the nursery window and looked at all the sweet babies.  It hit us that we're about to have another one, but it got us both really excited to see those sweet, new babies.  This time, we want one in the regular nursery.  Wish us luck!

Ruthie is 2!

I'll spare you the scary hospital pictures and skip to one right before she was about to come home:

Ruthie at her 1st birthday party!

Ruthie's 2nd Birthday:

I can't believe our sweet, 3lb 12oz baby girl turned TWO last month!  I'm behind, I know!

Some things about Ruthie at 2:

-She is so loving and sweet.  She loves to give hugs and kisses.

-She is a little mommy.  She loves baby dolls and she is always trying to mother her brother!  She often brings George his pants & underwear after he goes potty.... since he thinks that is an excuse to run around naked.

-She is quick to say "sorry."

-She likes to sing and her favorite songs are "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" and "5 Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree" (mostly the "SNAP" part!)

-She loves to eat and will eat almost anything!  It is awesome!  She particularly loves fruit (blueberries).

-She says "enks" (thanks) for everything.

-She loves to say prayer and will kneel down and fold her arms... and then peek around with one eye.

-She loves to sleep and still sleeps 12 hours a night and takes a good 2.5-3 hour nap.

-She prefers Daddy.

-She thinks George is the funniest thing ever... and after he is mean to her and makes her cry, she's trying to play with him 5 seconds later!

-She finally loves nursery and is not as shy!

-She is starting to think that she is really, really funny.

We love our Ruthie girl and we had fun with her on her birthday!  Steve worked in the morning, so we just took it easy and took naps as always.  When he got home, we went to McDonald's and had a little family birthday dinner and then we went to the kids' favorite playground.  Ruthie got to swing on the swings as long as she wanted because it was her birthday!  We came home for yummy cupcakes and presents!  She got some gift cards from family out of town (we have had a lot of fun family nights with those)!  She got a little toy shopping cart, a puzzle, Frozen, and a Jessie (from Toy Story) doll.  I think she had fun... I know we sure did!  We watched Frozen until bed time.  I still can't believe she is 2!  Where did the time go?? She's not a baby anymore!!

Everybody Clap Your Hands!

So, one day a little bit ago, I was doing chores around the house and I had a Pandora kids' station on.  I looked over and George had stopped playing and was dancing.  This isn't the whole video (can't figure out how to get the whole thing off of my phone), but it's the funniest half.  Enjoy!

Catching Up!

I haven't blogged in almost 6 months!! I'm pregnant and lazy, so cut me some slack :)  Luckily, I have been contributing to the family newsletter... so here are our excerpts for the last few months!

March was another busy month for our family!  Steve finished his training and spent time with us while he waited for his IOE (Initial Operating Experience).  Thanks to some clerical errors and a lost employee file, we got to hang out all month!  We had Joe and Tom and Grandma and Kate and Luke and Amie all come visit in March!  We took our first trip on our very own non-rev passes!  We went to Philadelphia for a week to visit Kathleen's dad and also so Kathleen could go to a bachelorette party and bridal shower for her friend.  We went to the Musical Instrument Museum.  We have had fun playing with Matt & McKensie's family.  I think we have spent more time at their house than we have our own lately!  April is looking equally busy!  We applied for an apartment and will hopefully be moving sometime soon!

April was full of playing with cousins, traveling to Idaho for Erin's graduation, signing a lease on our new apartment, and some big news for our family!  Surprise!  We found out we're having another baby!  

May went by too quickly.  Lots of swimming and playing.  Steve flew to Dallas and drove a truck of our stuff up to our new apartment.  Week-long stomach bugs that hit Ruthie and George both (separately... so we cleaned up barf for almost 2 weeks).  Grandma and Grandpa came for to AZ for the day to pick up our car and drive it to Missouri! They are wonderful!! Kathleen went to Tampa for a few days to be the matron of honor in her friend's wedding.  Once Steve had a few days off in a row, he flew to AZ and all 4 of us flew to our new home!  Steve almost didn't make it on our flight, so Kathleen was prepping to fly by herself (and totally scared with the amount of luggage we had)!  Luckily, there was a seat for him at the last second and we all made it together!  We are not quite all moved in... we are still trying to figure out how we are going to organize everything.  We miss Matt & McKensie and the boys, but we like it here so far!  That takes us to the end of the month! 

June was a blur!  We finished our move, explored our new neighborhood, and just enjoyed being all together as a family.  We started to make new friends and took care of all of our past-due doctor's appointments!  We celebrated our 5th anniversary, father's day, and Steve's birthday!  

July was a great month! We had so much fun seeing everyone at the family reunion! After the family reunion, we went to Philadelphia for a layover that ended up being a week! Kathleen and the kids hung out with her dad & step-mom while Steve had a trip. We spent a lot of time at the playground and splash pad! Steve did a lot of flying in July. We went to the St. Louis temple for the first time and then took the kids to check out the zoo... which is FREE here! July feels like it came and went so quickly! That means we are one month closer to fall!! We are ready for some cooler weather! 

August was a pretty mellow month! Kathleen had her 20 week ultrasound and we found out we're having another girl!  And no, we don't have a name picked out yet!  We have a few contenders, but we haven't chosen anything!  Kathleen and the kids flew to AZ and Steve was there for 2 days, too.  We saw Matt & McKensie and the boys, celebrated Kathleen's sister's baby shower, went to the train park, and went swimming.  It was a fun week!  Kathleen survived TWO plane rides by herself with the kids.  George is getting very interested in the new baby and asking all sorts of questions... including "how did the baby get in there?" and "how does the baby get out of there?" There are some more innocent questions, too... like "Can the baby (watch tv/eat food/hear me)?"  He is excited to have another little sister... we just wish he would be this nice to the sister he already has!  As Ruthie approaches 2, she has become much less agreeable.  She basically just wants the opposite of whatever we give her or try to get her to do.  She is talking a lot more.. and her favorite word is "no."  So... fun times around here!  

Ok, so that's the end of the newsletter blurbs... but here's more catching up... 

September so far has been great!  We celebrated my 28th birthday by going to the temple and then I got a haircut!  Steve made me delicious steak and veggies for dinner and got me a "gooey butter cake," which I guess is a St Louis thing... and it is delicious!  I had another check-up and baby is looking great!  For the first time, I have a kid with a normal-sized head!  She was measuring in the 56th percentile!  Whoa!  I was shocked!  George has a chart where he gets stars for going to bed nicely (without a fight and without it taking 2+ hours).  Yesterday, George finally earned enough stars (14) to get a lego set.  While we were grocery shopping, I took him to the toy aisle and let him pick out a duplo set.  Let's just say, we set the goal a little low for a prize that big... and next month, if he gets 20 stars, he gets a happy meal!  He loves his legos, though... they kept him occupied all day yesterday and half of the day so far today (we've been lazy and watching tv).