Long OVERDUE!

So there's this.... Baby #4 Due January 11th! (Which makes me 18 weeks pregnant)

And this... Our beautiful new home, that I have to pinch myself every time I drive up to it because I still can't believe we live here!

Oh and then this little cutie started Kindergarten!! Three days after we got here.  

Needless to say we have been BUSY! We also traveled to NJ and spent weeks with my family. And then to PA for Aaron's graduation. Did I really not blog any of this?

I honestly can't remember the last time I wrote or what I wrote about so I'm not going to worry about catching up. You see the big stuff up there. Baby, new house, new job, new town, new school. It's exciting times.

Being in our space again has been wonderful. I love, LOVE my in-laws. They are great, wonderful easy to get along with people. But having my own house is just the best feeling ever. In fact I'm writing this blog post sans pants just because I CAN. Sorry if that's TMI. But seriously some things you just take for granted.

Our new house has a pool so we swim every day. It has been great. And crazy. Abigail and Nathan both think they're Olympic swimmers, and both are pretty much just not drowning, barely. So I spend the entire time in the pool rescuing them. They jump off the side and "swim" to me. Then swim back to the side, climb out and do it again, and again and again. And trying to get Nathan to wait his turn is about as easy as getting permanent marker off the wall. So usually my arms are full of Abigail and Nathan. Meanwhile Olivia is a little fish and swims her little heart out. She dives, swims to the bottom, and does flips, and can swim the whole length of the pool without taking a breath. She's awesome. But she's also only 5, so of course I still constantly have my eyes on her as well. Two eyes, two arms, three kids. Yeah it's a little stressful!

Speaking of stressful... let's talk about 20 month old boys for a moment, shall we? Nathan is so sweet. He will give you kisses, and say the cutest version of "Thank you" you've ever heard any time you give him anything. He says hello and smiles to strangers he passes walking down the aisles of the store. And then two seconds later he rips his sister's hair out. Literally out of her poor little head. I have no idea what to do with him. We've done everything from ignoring him and giving lots of attention to his victim, to time outs, to pulling HIS hair. None of these have been very effective. He ended up in bed at 6:30 tonight because I was just so tired of it! Half the time it's completely unprovoked, and the other half is because he wants something his sister is playing with. Abigail is usually his victim of choice, but he's gotten Olivia quite a few times too. He is also obsessed with ice pops. And while I love our house and just about everything about it... the refrigerator it came with has the freezer door on the bottom. Where Nathan can go and pull out an ice pop and beg for it any time of day. Many, many times a day. And when the answer is no he is the most persistent creature on the planet. He will scream and cry, and pull at that freezer door all day long. He also loves to see his sisters playing nicely together with some game of some sort, and run over and completely destroy it. Pieces everywhere, girls screaming and crying, and Nathan laughing his head off. For real people. He climbs on the kitchen table. He throws his food on the floor. He turns the TV off when everyone is trying to watch a show. He needs constant attention. He wants me to be playing with him, entertaining him every moment he is awake. If not, he is causing all the havoc previously mentioned.   

Olivia is just as hot and cold as he is. She can be the sweetest most wonderful helper in the world. And then she can decide she wants to push Nathan's buttons as much he pushes hers. So she will grab his blanket, or touch him, or poke him, or whatever it is that makes him scream. But she is also the first one to run to him when he falls and gets hurt (which is about 100 times a day). She also goes to him when he wakes up in the morning and plays with him nicely until I can get my tired self out of bed. This morning she even changed his diaper! She has such a wonderful caring heart. But then sometimes this little mean streak comes out and I keep trying to squelch it, and nurture that caring part. I think we're getting there. She seems to be doing great in school. She loves going, and really likes her teacher.

Abigail has been doing "mommy school" again. She is so smart. I love spending time with her. She has the best smile and her little speech impediment is my favorite thing ever. I love the way she says everything. I love that she will still take a nap. I can't wait for her and Nathan to be able to play together. Today I got to spend time with just her and go shopping together. She was just so sweet the entire time. When she says her prayers at night she says, "And please bless Mommy, oh and I said her first because I love her the most, and please bless Daddy, because I love him too..." cracks me up every time. She can throw her little fits too. And she's very sensitive and cries at the drop of a hat. Which can drive me batty, but I try to remember she is 3 for pete's sake.

And then there's this new town. I can't find my way around to save my life. I get lost in our neighborhood frequently. But it hasn't quite been two weeks yet, so I'll give myself a break. We've met some great people and I am so excited for our time here. And honestly I hope it's a LONG time because moving sucks. Packing, loading, unloading, unpacking, putting away... it sucks! And we've done it a LOT the last few years. So I am more than ready to settle in and be here for a while. The kids also said they want to live here forever. So there ya go.

And now that we have internet, we are in our own house, and I have one child in school... maybe I'll update more! I'll try anyway. But if you are wondering why there are not as many updates read that post about Nathan again! By the time he goes to bed I am ready for bed.