We're BAAAAACK!

....maybe!

No one told us how busy and exhausting having two children would be....or maybe they did, and the full breadth of it never sank in! Hopefully I can get myself motivated to start updating this blog again so we have something to look back on and remember where we were in our lives when Molly was a baby and Sadie was 3. Just a few updates, thoughts, and some pictures....

1.) Yes, that's right, Sadie is THREE! We celebrated her birthday in style on March 26 with a tea party. Her little friends Janie, Makenzy and Makaley graced us with their presence and Sadie had a great time. She loves having friends over. So this was a true treat for her! She continues to be a very vocal, outspoken child. She spends alot of time pretending and telling Daniel and I where we fit into her world! She is finishing up with dance this month, took swim lessons last month, and is in soccer right now for 10 weeks. I think I overcompensated for our lack of activity throughout the winter by over-involving her in activities for April....lesson learned! Dance continues to be a major highlight, and her little class is preparing for their dance recital the first week of June. Swim lessons were a bust, though she did learn everything she SHOULD be doing in order to swim! She can't swim herself yet (or jump in or stick her face under water or lie on her back in the pool), but she can now teach swim lessons (verbatim!) to her imaginary students in the bath tub! Soccer has been fun and is another great opportunity for Sadie to work on participating in a group and listening to an adult (something she needs much work in!). Her days involve lots of puzzles, reading, going to pretend "dance class" and "swim lessons" in our home, her babies, helping me, and having an opinion on everything. Her latest obsession in life is what my mom called "initial sound recognition", where she constantly is telling us what sounds words start with. She's mostly into M's, S's, and B's, with some D's, P's, and a few other letters here and there. It really brings a whole new element to our world! :)

2.) Molly is now 6 months old! Can you believe it? I can't! She is a PURE joy to be around. She is such a wonderful baby! She is on the verge of sitting by herself. Of course she can sit for short periods of time while monitored. She rolls all over the place to get to what she needs. She's a laugher! She laughs when I cough or look at her even. She laughs when Sadie whines or says something defiantly. She laughs at herself too. What JOY! She enjoys talking (she comes by that honestly! :)), and can be quite loud. She's not much of a sleeper though, unlike the rest of her family. I've slowly been able to get her on a general schedule, but the girl just doesn't want to take a long nap. She started cereal shortly after 4 months old to try to get some tummy troubles under control. She hated it! Once we started fruits though, we slowly added cereal back in, and she's been fine since. She is a very messy eater though and likes to have her fist in her mouth in between each bite. She has been through all the stage 1 foods and moved on to stage 2 and is eating 3 meals a day now. Like her sister, she doesn't care much for pureed green beans. She also certainly looks alot like Sadie at this point....and we hear that alot. I think that's great. I'm glad my children look like sisters. We of course know the differences...and they are many, as both girls are pure individuals.

3.) And finally a lesson learned....the start of winter in Indiana is NOT the ideal time to have a baby! Whew! While I can't believe Molly has already been with us 6 months, I can 100% believe that our winter lasted a solid 6 months (if you can follow that logic). It was The. Longest. Winter. Of. My. Life. We are so very glad for Spring to have finally arrived in our little world. We fully took advantage of all the nice, warm weather last week and very much lived outside....eating lunches and dinners, playing, walking, riding bikes, working around the yard. It has been quite the breath of fresh air to our stale, closed-in home that we have stared at for far too many days this winter. I say this even as temps are in the 50's now and the forecast shows rain and not much improvement for warmth for a few more days, but it has still breathed new life into my lungs and helped me to finally feel like we're functioning and doing around here! Like I said before, two kids has been quite the challenge for me at least. We are grateful that Miss Jane has allowed Sadie to go play with the other kids 2 days a week for the better part of the last 6 months. Having babies makes me very homesick and wish for the presence of any of our family nearby....even if they were only here to sit and visit and enjoy my children with me....what a gift that would be!

Like our lives, our hearts are very full right now! We can feel and recognize the great blessing the good Lord has bestowed on us in our marriage, our girls, and our faith. Life is wonderful, and I'm looking forward to updating the blog with pics from Sadie's birthday, visits from family, Easter (maybe even Valentines!), and our every day lives real SOON!