I have never been good at journaling so I am not surprised that I have let this blog go. The stress of a miscarriage followed by the sickness of a new pregnancy got me further behind. Then getting over the fact that I had not posted prevented me from getting back on. Well I have finally decided to bite the bullet and post. I hope to keep up with it. Hopefully our few followers didn't give up on us. We have been a busy little family since I last posted and I will not even attempt to capture everything but here are a few highlights.
In February we had a blizzard in Chicago I think we got 22-24 inches of snow overnight. The kids were in heaven, but the clearing the driveway scare Andy and I to death. We got the kids bundled and started digging though the snow. Thankfully a nice neighbor brought over his snowblower to aid in the clearing. It ended up breaking down on the last leg of the driveway. Thankfully our neighbor is handy, and he happened to have an extra engine in his garage, and fixed it. He also garbage picked another snowblower, fixed it up and gave it to us. It was after the last big snow so we have not had a chance to actually use it yet, but I am sure it will make clearing our large driveway much easier.
We got a new swingset this summer. Our old one was free a few years ago but was over 20 years old. With the kids getting bigger and the swingset only getting older it seemed a little unsafe. We got an awesome one at Costco. I have been horrible with pictures so I don’t have a picture of them playing on it but here is one of them helping to set it up and the manufacture’s photo. We were thinking of getting it for Christmas but were glad we decided on the summer as it was a HUGE undertaking to set it up. Andy, Grandpa Ed, and Uncle Matt spent a day working on it. Then Andy worked several evenings and 2 whole days himself. Uncle Matt came back up on the 4th of July to help finish to job. When we are outside they are usually found playing on it.
3 weeks ago our power was out for 30 hours. Then just last week it was out from Monday morning until Saturday afternoon. Thankfully a few of the days were in the 70s (this week we are in the 90s all week). The first few nights were too hot to sleep upstairs so we had a family campout in the basement. We borrowed a generator from Grandma and Grandpa Ed but are very happy to have power restored.
Of course our biggest adventure has been adding a new member to the family. Nellie Grace was born on June 25th. She was our biggest baby weighing in at 8 pound 15 ounces 20 ½ inches long. Her chubby cheeks just make me smile. She is a good baby, if she is being held by mom. She still sleeps most of the day away and as long as she is being held she typically only cries when she is tired or hungry or in the carseat. She hates the carseat and screams the whole time we are in the car no matter how short or long the ride. We brought the pacifier into the car today on the way to the library and it was much quieter. She is always trying to suck on her finger, something she did well in the hospital and I suspect in utero, but has not figured it out again just yet. I think she will be an even happier baby and will go to sleep easier when she does.
Caleb finished kindergarden. He is reading at a mid first grade reading level, which is pretty good considering he was not really reading when he started school in the fall. He loved school and met so many kids. It is weird for me because everywhere that we go he knows someone, most of the time someone that I do not know. We are enjoying having him home for the summer and can’t believe he goes back on August 16th. He is branching out a little from Spiderman and has been really into Star Wars. He has a Wii game where he has learned a lot, plus he loves to get Star Wars books from the library. Andy and Caleb have even started watching the movies together. He is a great big brother to all his siblings. He always wants to hold Nellie and wants to make sure he can see her face because “her face is so cute.” He is playing flag football this summer and Andy is one of his coaches. The league is extremely unorganized, but he is having fun.
Lucy learned to ride a two wheeler this spring and can often be found riding in circles around the driveway. She has always loved riding bikes but I think her love has grown. She started ballet this summer and really seems to like it. She still wants to do everything that Caleb does and wants to read. She does not, however, want to sit down with me to learn. She always gets this set of books from the library called Bob Books which all the words can be sounded out and can read most of them. Maybe this school year she will let me help her branch out a little more. She is my little helper with cleaning, organizing and the babies. She got to take the train downtown with mom and dad to pick out an American Girl doll for her birthday. She is ecstatic that Nellie is a sister for her and is a big helper.
Toby is just getting big. He is potty trained and he talks so much it is hard to believe that just a year ago he hardly said a word. He uses complex sentences and of course is always asking WHY. He learned to pedal a bike this summer and rides his training wheel bike constantly. He is really great at it on the driveway but freaks out if we go off of it because there are “hills”. He was also afraid of the new tube slide at first, but now he loves it and can even climb the rock wall up to it. He is such a great big brother he introduced Nellie either as “Nellie Grace” or “Our Nellie” which combined with his 2 year old voice just makes me melt. He always wants to get diapers and wipes or a spit up blanket for me. If I put her in the swing or bouncy seat he is always right next to her. One night I was fixing dinner and he was singing songs to her in the bouncy seat, while strumming on the guitar. He goes up to Nellie at ever chance to kiss her or cuddle her. When he holds her he pats her bottom just like mom does and tells her not to cry.
1 comment:
Great update, Laure!
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