Update on Baby #3

I had an ultrasound on Monday and everything looked great! We are proud to announce we are having a girl! We were very confident that it was going to be a girl, based on how I had been feeling. This pregnancy has been so similar to Evangeline's with all the nausea and such that we would have been shocked if it was a boy. Either way though we would have been happy. We are just thrilled that most everything looked normal. I say most everything because there was a small spot on the brain that showed up, but generally those go away over time. Evangeline had the same thing and hers was gone by the next month's appointment. No biggie!

We really wanted to find out the gender for the sake of a name. If it was a girl, we were going to need lots of time to find a name. But a boy we already had covered since before Evangeline was born. Maybe next time we will have a little Lincoln. :) So the name hunt officially begins. We are always open to hearing suggestions!

The last week or so I have felt some little kicks, but during the ultrasound she was so active but I barely felt any of those. I will be 18 weeks tomorrow so I imagine the next few weeks will bring a lot of change in that area and also in the way I look. I'm ready to finally look pregnant with an (obvious) baby bump!

This little lady was sitting indian style and was moving her arm up by her head. She is still so tiny but it's amazing what technology can see.

I'm hoping once October hits that this pregnancy will speed up some. When other people are pregnant it seems that their pregnancies fly by! Staying busy through the holidays should help. My brother has a birthday at the end of February so it will be fun to see when this baby decides to come! 

some of September

Ari has officially started playing a sport. I will use the term "playing" loosely for now. His first game started off well, then I think he was really overwhelmed with the number of kids swarming the ball. Some tears were shed and by the end of the game he was determined not to play soccer again.

Here Ari is explaining to his buddy that he's not supposed to pick up the ball. This was practice before the game.

After his first game we got a pizza and picnicked at the park.

Wee!

Last week we had the opportunity to go pick some apples at someone's house. Evangeline and Ari stood around eating them while we worked hard gathering all that was left.

It might take a lot of time to make applesauce and apple butter from scratch, but it is totally worth it! You really can't beat free apples.

For Ari's second soccer game we had a little incentive to get him to participate the whole game. He has wanted to go get a donut from the donut shop (something he's never done), so we figured this might be a good incentive to get him to play the whole game.

Even though he stood in the same spot practically the whole game, he at least stayed on the field the whole time. I think most of our photos are of him exactly like this with all the other kids running around him. We are just working on progress for now :) Maybe next game he will guard a different area of the field.

As usual Evangeline is putting anything and everything she can find on her head. This is a baby doll's dress.

She is so stinkin' cute.

AJ took Monday off so we took advantage of the nice cooler weather and camped out in the backyard Sunday night.

Then Monday we went to the zoo. The weather was at least 20 degrees cooler than the last time we went so it was nice to not feel rushed so we could get out of the heat. There weren't large crowds of people and lots of animals were active.

This little girl seemed more interested in the animals this time around. AJ and I both agreed that we can add a new word to her vocabulary. Nearly ever animal left her saying "wow!"

For some reason Ari wasn't in to watching the dolphin show so we left before it was over to go see some other animals.

It was a fun day off together since our weekends have been so busy. October isn't going to be less busy, we just have more fun things planned. Hooray for fall!

siblings

These two have really bonded and it warms my heart to see them love on each other. Ari is very observant to her needs and thinks of reasons why she may be crying at times. He loves to share his food with her and usually makes sure she has a toy in hand at all times.

His nurturing side did not come natural at first, but his role as a big brother has really taken off. Of course Ari is still his old self...wanting to entertain everyone and have a party everywhere he goes. His sister has really gotten used to his wild side and sometimes she likes to partake in the party and dancing too.

You can see from this picture last year that he is just as fun today as he was then. This was September last year when I was trying to take a picture of Evangeline. He just can't help himself getting in front of the camera and being silly.

He sure does love his baby sister though...despite taking all the picture glory.

Looking back at pictures from a year ago, I came across this one of our little girl. Oh my, has she changed!

How is it that she is so big now? Once she hit a year old her personality has really come out. Instead of a shy, timid chunky thing (who was very attached to her momma)...she waves to strangers now, is more comfortable away from mommy, and has definitely thinned out.

Even though it took Ari a while to adjust to being nurturing, I am confident that Evangeline will come by it more naturally with the next baby. She really is a love bug and wants to care for other babies she sees. Oh how a year can fly by, but yet hold so many changes.