Why, hello old friend.

Hi, All! 

Its been awhile.

I decided to resurrect the ol' blog after months of feeling irrationally guilty that our second child wouldn't be able to look back and read about our excitement for her arrival and survival of the first year the way Maddie can someday. Fair is fair, right? Hahahaa! Sure, my posts will likely be shorter, more sporadic and probably not as thorough but this time around I kinda have my hands full with a very "particular" 3 year old ;)

Anyway, here's an update on the 3 of us and a glimpse of what is to come:

We bought a house in Hayden, ID last December and for the past year have been fixing it up and making it our own, slowly but surely. We knew that after the first house we bought (which was WAY too big for us, but such a steal of a deal!) we wanted to downsize. Now we are in a small 3 bed/1.5 bath house. There are some things that I wish were different about it - A bigger kitchen & formal dining room would be nice so that we could host meals or holidays; a guest room and normal size garage would be ideal. But in choosing a smaller house with less space, we have cut down our utility bills immensely and have a huge backyard that we love to utilize in the summer months. Last summer I even had a garden and it actually (surprisingly) did pretty well! All things considered, we are happy & grateful for what we have :)

We are certainly feeling the effects of being cooped up this winter though... There has been snow on the ground for 2 months now, deep enough that Maddie has a hard time walking in it and doesn't want to go outside. Also its freaking freezing cold and I dislike it immensely LOL So basically this is how I feel about this winter in particular:

Ryan is still working as a residential tax appraiser for Kootenai County and I am still at home with Maddie, so not much has changed on that front. Maddie is happy, healthy & super smart; She just celebrated her 3rd birthday in January and she certainly in the midst of asserting her independence, which makes typically normal and mundane things rather... interesting ;) She talks up a storm and is basically a human jukebox. She has enough personality for multiple people and she keeps us laughing & on our toes all the time. When we found out I was pregnant in August, literally the first thing we did was crack down on potty training and she took it like a champ! We were NOT interested in having 2 kids in diapers at the same time and thankfully she obliged. She's also in a twin bed and sleeps through the night regularly unless she had a nightmare or is sick. So basically she's a tiny adult and she will be expected to earn her keep here shortly ;) 

And did I mention she is freaking beautiful?!? Seriously, she will be a tough act to follow but I'm sure baby #2 will be just as adorable :) 

 

I'm currently 26 weeks pregnant, so 10 days until the 3rd trimester and I'm starting to feel the typical uncomfortable aches and pains that come with toting a bowling ball around in your belly. Last I checked my pregnancy app, the baby is about 2 pounds and 15 inches long, which they equate to the size of a head of cauliflower. I feel lots of kick, punches and cartwheels going on in there and they are strong enough to wake me up from a dead sleep at times. Everything has been textbook normal so far, hooray! Around week 19 we found out that the baby is a girl and we are still debating on names. We have a few favorites but haven't settled on anything yet. We will probably wait to settle on a name until she is born, as we did with Madilyn.

We've been working on setting up the nursery and preparing our family for a new addition. Maddie knows a baby is coming (although I don't think it will really sink in until shes here) and is so excited to be a big sister! She said over and over how much she wanted the new baby to be a girl and we are so happy that she's getting her wish. We saved almost everything of Maddie's so there is little that we need to purchase this time around in prep for a new baby. We had fun going thru the newborn clothes and literally everything that we pulled out of the box, Maddie would hold up at say "Awww!!! This is SOOOOO cute!!!!"

Here's a belly picture from a couple weeks ago:

Thats all for now, I suppose. I'll update again in a month or so! If you want to be emailed when I post a new entry, just enter your email address on the righthand side of this page :)

- XO -

Emily