18 weeks

Our baby 3 is now at 18 weeks. When we were at this stage with Evalana and Lazarus, we got to find out their genders. We've been praying that God would let us know if we should get an ultrasound. So far i feel completely comfortable with the idea of not peeking at all. I do kind of wish we could have a gender party separate from the birth day party though :-)  Here's the link to put in your guess!

here's the birth info on Evalana and Lazarus, in case it helps with your guesses
Evalana due July 26th:

• Birth date & time: August 1, 8:17 am
• Birth weight: 8 lbs 11 ozs
• Birth length: 20 inches

Lazarus due December 18th:

• Birth date & time: December 18, 3:29 am
• Birth weight: 8 lbs 14 ozs
• Birth length: 20 inches

happy christmas eve

 

 

watching the Nativity Story

little helpers

Tompa and Grandma Nancy had given us Uncle Matt's bunkbed bedroom set years ago. We'd kept it in the garage and halfway forgotten about it. Our kids are sharing one queen-sized bed, but we sometimes have so many guests visiting that we really needed more than one twin bed for all of them. So we got the beds set up in the guest room and did some more rearranging to get the dresser in the kids' room and the desk in the playroom. Evalana and Meema slept in them for the first time last night and said they were very comfy. 

Making gingersnaps

Christmas lights

Joshua had some vacation days that he had to use up, so he took off the whole week after Thanksgiving, and it was wonderful having him at home. One thing he did was put up all the Christmas decorations. I thought he did a great job, both inside and out.

hanukkah

We're slowly learning to celebrate the biblical holidays. In April we celebrated Passover. And this December 8th-15th, we celebrated Hanukkah for the first time. It was another great experience. It was eight evenings of focusing on God's miracles and Jesus's light. The first night Mo and Grandpa Greg joined us. We had a great dinner, including latkes (potato pancakes), and we talked about some of the biblical miracles we'd love to have been present at. One of the best parts of the evening was that evalana filled in every little detail of exactly what the Bible says about each story that was brought up. And you've got to love a holiday that lasts for eight days.

 In celebrating the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days, we get to make and eat foods fried in oil, like jelly donuts.

 

My mom has some good pictures on her camera that hopefully i'll be able to get soon.

two year old lazarus

Our sweet boy is two years old today. We're looking forward to a family party on Saturday, but we got to do some celebrating today too. Lazarus woke up to lots of balloons. And he started off by giving us a great night of sleep; he didn't wake up at all last night, which was a wonderful treat after spending hours up with him with his sinus infection the past few nights. And evalana got over her ear infection a couple days ago, too. Unfortunately Joshua's been working so many hours that he is very short on sleep. Sorry the video starts so dark; he woke up at 7am, which is before sunrise these days.

He had some of his favorite foods today (sausage, cookies, spaghetti). We got to skype with Meema, and he got to talk on the phone to Mo, Gigi, and Noah (and he loves talking on the phone), and we even got a visit from Mo this evening.

 

And, if you want to see another cutie turning two, it's worth a look back at August 2010. i especially liked looking back at this video

lazarus's birthday wakeup

a little girl's birthday morning a couple years ago:

santa at fishnet

 Last Saturday we went to Fishnet's Christmas party for kids. They had snacks, crafts, Santa, and gifts for each kid. This was our kids' first time visiting Santa, and Lazarus was so excited that once Santa came into the room, Lazarus refused to do any more crafts or anything other than wait in line for Santa. When it was our turn, both kids hopped right up on Santa's lap. Joshua and i thought it was pretty funny. Somehow the Santa pictures disappeared off the camera; i have no idea what happened. We didn't have any say in the gifts--joshua just gave them our kids' ages and genders. We like the potato heads. We've also had fun with the car. There's a good chance Barbie will get "lost" soon, though. 

moving baby

14 weeks (3 months).
Think anyone can tell i'm
pregnant yet?  ;-)

At the beginning of this pregnancy, i had thought that the wait between 10 weeks (when i was able to hear lazarus's heartbeat with doppler) and 16 weeks (when i was able to feel lazarus) would be a long one for me, but i was surprised at how easy that extra month was. Maybe because of the prayer we put into our decision not to use doppler, i had no worry about how the baby was doing. I just felt like, unless i have signs to be concerned, i can just trust that all is going well. I wondered if i felt the baby a couple of times at 12 and 13 weeks, but then at 14 weeks, i knew i felt the baby moving around, and now, at 15 weeks, i've been feeling him or her a couple of times every day. it is a really great feeling, to feel those tiny kicks and punches on the inside. We are just so very excited to see this baby this spring. And we still don't have even a single name idea, although i've checked out about every name book from the library. So far i have a bunch i haven't opened yet, and i haven't liked anything in the lists i did look over. my stomach's back to feeling normal, although it was never bad; i just took some B6, and that pretty much took care of my little tummy issues. and, now that i'm over my cough that was keeping me from great sleep for the past week, i'm feeling much more rested, too. although i'd be thankful for a baby even with a difficult pregnancy, i'm thankful that this pregnancy has been so easy so far. Lazarus and Evalana continue to pray for the baby many times a day, kiss my belly, and want information about what the baby's up to. This baby has two great siblings.

zoo with daddy

Thursday we had a high of 60 degrees and sunny, and the kids had been wanting Daddy to go with them to the zoo for a long, long time, so, while i did cleaning without helpers here at home, the three of them enjoyed a zoo afternoon. Joshua even took a few pictures :-)

 

 

plaza lights

For our last night of Joshua's 11 days off of work, we decided to go enjoy the plaza lights. Lazarus had a late nap, and the weather is beautiful (66 and sunny for a high today). Two years ago, before lazarus was born, we went to winsteads and the plaza, so we decided to repeat that. We all had a great time. It was fun to think back to that time two years ago, when we were anticipating Lazarus's arrival, and we're so thankful for these amazing kids now, and we're so excited to have another baby with us next winter!

 

And i just have to share the video of 2010 when evalana was a little older than lazarus is now

Here's a photo someone else took this evening. Same beautiful view we enjoyed but a much better photographer