Legionnaire Training at Bethlehem

We've been going to the Santa Clara First Baptist Church's presentation of Bethlehem for a few years now.  We went this year as soon as we could, with hopes of making sure we got it in before baby arrives.  It's so neat to see how much more Emeline experiences from it each year.  This year Emeline enjoyed making a bracelet, making mud bricks, and some other activities in addition to watching the reenactment of Mary and Joseph looking for shelter in Bethlehem and watching a live nativity scene with music.  Kate had lots of fun taking it all in too.  She LOVES animals and just squealed with delight watching the camel, sheep, goats, and other animals.  

This year they had a Legionnaire Training for little kids.  Each kid got to put on a little roman soldier costume and then learn to duck and joust a bit. At the end she got a gold coin and a training certificate. It was good fun!  We didn't get any pictures of the Bethlehem part, but here's Emeline having fun with the Legionnaire Training.  Enjoy!

Afternoon play dough

Trying to keep the girls busy when I'm sick and pregnant is tough. They enjoyed afternoon play dough the other day :)

Dear Baby #3 on the inside

Dear Baby #3 (on the inside),

I think it won't be long until you are here with us on the outside, so I wanted to write you some thoughts and document some memories about your time with us while you were on the inside.  I haven't done very well at documenting your pregnancy, and I fear once you are out in the world I will be even worse at this sort of thing, so I'm trying to do some of this now.  

First of all, you will come to know that you were quite the surprise.  A surprise yes, but unwanted, undesired, or unconsidered definitely not.  After your sister Kate was born, I couldn't shake the feeling that she would be a middle child.  This made no sense to me, as we hadn't set out to have any specific number of children.  It worried me, for her sake, that she might get left out as the middle child.  But your papa continued to tell me not to worry about this, she had only just been born.  But this thought stayed with me, that we weren't done having children, and honestly it surprised me.  It surprised me so much that I knew the idea of you must have come from God, because it certainly didn't come from myself.  As I sat with the idea, it began to spark into a desire.  But, as you will learn, if you ever have kids of your own, having two small children is completely exhausting, so your papa and I thought that though it might be wonderful to have another one, that would have to wait for now.  

So imagine our surprise when God decided you would arrive a mere 17-18 months after your sister Kate!  I saw this...

And I didn't quite believe it, so then I saw this...

And then I texted your daddy this...

We were stunned to say the least, but I can't say that God hadn't been warning or preparing me in some way.  Then I read this...

And then of course the morning sickness (or as you and all my babies like to give me...all day sickness) began...and continued.  And the exhaustion...and everything else in life just kept going on.  The idea of another baby so soon was just overwhelming.  So despite the fact that I was hurtling towards the reality of having 3 children in under 4 years, I've been clinging to the fact that I knew that God had a plan for you.  He put the idea of you in my heart and mind.  And that has been growing over the last 8 months just as you have been growing.

6 weeks

8 weeks

12 weeks

22 weeks

35 weeks

You've now been growing for 36 weeks.  We've heard your heart beat...

And last week we even got to see you sucking!  This video does not do your cuteness justice.  

When I saw that last ultrasound, and saw you sucking away, and what a cute chubby baby you are becoming, my heart welled up with love and excitement to meet you.  That idea of you that God planted in me so many months ago is becoming a reality.  We can't wait to meet you, get to know you, and see what a wonderful part of our family you will be.  I admit, I'm pretty uneasy about what the details of life will be like after you join us, but I am so very excited to know who you are. It's so incredible to be on the precipice of knowing you.  Right now I can't imagine at all what life will be like with you here, but in a few short days or weeks, I won't be able to imagine what life was like before you.

So dear baby #3, we love you, and we can't wait to meet you.  You will arrive as God's planned child, in His timing, and you will usher us into an amazing new adventure in life.  

Love,

Your mommy

Mommy daughter date

Today Emeline and I had a mommy daughter date.  I haven't spent that much alone time with Emeline in quite some time, and it was really nice.  As my pregnancy has progressed, I've become more sick, tired, and uncomfortable, and I feel bad for how unavaliable I've been to my two daughters, so it was really nice to be able to do something special for just Emeline.

Ever since I chopped off my hair a few months back, Emeline has been asking to cut her hair short like mommy.  Given she's such a daddy's girl, it's sweet to hear.  So today we made a date out of a haircut and lunch.  She insisted on wearing a brown sweater to look like mommy before we left.  Here's a before photo, one last look at her long locks.  (Not a very flattering picture of mommy at 36 weeks pregnant, but this is life right?) 

It took a couple tries to find a place with an appointment open today, but we finally made it.  Here she is getting it all chopped off.

Looking short!

And here's the back.  Looks cute!

And the front :)

Then we went out to lunch together, here's a self portrait with Emeline and her new do!

Veggies and ranch and pizza for lunch.  Yum!

Happy girl!

Singing

Emeline loves to put on a show these days.  Kate is enjoying singing and dancing along too!

People!

Here are Emeline's first drawings that actually resemble people!  I'm so excited.  I've seen some of her friends do these kind of people drawings for a while, but Emeline wasn't doing them.  The worry wart in me was worried something was wrong, but I knew that of course that wasn't true, and she would do that kind of thing in her own time.  

I was so excited today when picked her up from a friends house after a doctors appointment, and my friend said she drew pictures of mommy and daddy.  I expected to see her usual circles and scribbles, but I was so proud to see these.  I know it's silly, but indulge me.  

I present to you...Emeline's rendition of Papa:

And...Emeline's rendition of Mama:

Yay!  I love that the mommy picture is actually more petite and some how she even made it seem more feminine.  

Riding a bike

A few months ago, one of our neighbors gave us a hand-me-down bike that her daughters had grown out of.  It came with training wheels, but since Emeline had started to learn on a balance bike, Wes really wanted to see if she could make the transition from balance bike to regular bike without training wheels.  She's been getting pretty good on her balance bike, so we'd been looking for an oppurtunity to see how she would do on the real thing.  

We finally had a free afternoon yesterday, so we decided to give it a try.  It was amazing to watch her.  Wes showed her how the pedals worked (coaster brakes), held her up while riding a little ways, and then she was off!  

Here's a video of her very first time on the bike, Wes was still holding on, but he could feel her chomping at the bit.

Pretty soon he just let go and followed closely behind her, helping reminder to to steer, etc.

In a few minutes, she was pedaling like a pro!

She still has some trouble getting started.  Wes taught her to push with her feet to get some momentum going, then put her feet on the pedals.  She needs a little more practice before she's on her own completely, but it was amazing to see how quickly she picked it up.  I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 8, so it is so cool to see her pedaling so confidently at 3 and a half!  Here's our little biker!