Waiting Impatiently

I figured I'd write one more update before baby comes.  We've settled well into our new life here in Seattle and as I think back on all of the changes that have happened I feel grateful that we feel as sane as we do.  We may not feel quite as sane once we have a new baby and move a couple more times, but I'll let you know once we're there.  It's fun to look back at how different Edith was when we moved from Columbus last year, bald and tiny.  She's a little less tiny but a lot less bald.  She talks like crazy now and has a great vocabulary!  She surprises us with the sentences she comes up with here and there.  She mixes up her pronouns still, but honestly we don't correct her very often because it's just so cute the way she says, "I hold you" or "I chase you".  I think she's really starting to understand that there's a real baby in my belly and is excited to have her sister come out and play with her.  She kisses my belly often and with her hands out in front says, "I hold you" to her sister.

We have some amazing friends in this ward and one of them threw me a baby shower this week, even with us being so new and this being our second girl!  I felt completely spoiled and was so grateful for all of the support we received. 

This pregnancy in a lot of ways has felt like a first pregnancy for me, just because it's been so different than with the twins.  I'm 38 weeks now and I've never had a baby this big inside me!  It's a very different experience to feel like she's trying to break out when she stretches really hard!  I'm still feeling pretty good so far, but hope she gets here soon.  I'm starting to feel really impatient!

We've explored a lot of Seattle now and have loved living in the Northwest.  It's been fun to experience living coast to coast.  Matt has loved taking Edith hiking every weekend he gets the chance.  

One of our favorite places so far has been Double Bluff Beach on Whidbey Island.  You have to take a 20 minute ferry to the island but Double Bluff has one of the best beaches in the area with perfect California sand and shallow water for Edith to play in.  We also explored the tulips at the Tulip Festival in April, the aquarium, and the zoo!

Edith looks bigger to me every time I take a picture.  And she's only going to seem bigger once this baby girl comes!  Here's hoping for a Mother's Day baby...

Toddler Two

It's hard to believe it's been 2 full years since I had my babies in my arms!  So many changes have happened that we hardly recognize our lives compared to a few years ago.  I've quit one job and started another (more full-time) job as a mom (which is just as fulfilling as I had hoped it would be), we threw caution to the wind and quit Matt's job after being accepted to MIT and became students once again, sold our house we loved so much, and moved to Boston!  Leaving Columbus was hard and we miss our friends who became our family, but loved exploring a new city.  We then found out we were pregnant(!!!!!), Matt got accepted to do an internship at Boeing in Seattle for 7 months, so we packed up again (#3 of our 5 moves in 2 years), lived with family for 2 months over the holidays, and eventually made it to Seattle beginning of February!  That was a very quick summary of our lives over the past 8 months.

  

With this crazy but exciting move to Seattle also comes a new baby, smack dab in the middle of this internship.  Luckily for us I have a brother only 30 minutes away so we have family really close by for the first time in our marriage.  Edith has adjusted really well to all of the changes, especially when I write them all out like that!  She's changed so much since we left Columbus and has become a full-on toddler.  She talks like crazy and has started surprising us with 4 word sentences here and there.  She runs everywhere now, "I running fast" is a common phrase out of her mouth.  She loves to laugh and tease us.  She'll say the opposite of what she knows she should say, then laugh and say "teasing".  She adores having friends around, cuddles and feeds and takes care of her baby dolls all day long, and is obsessed with dogs and trains.





We celebrated her 2nd birthday with a doggy party, complete with a doggy cake and a million pool toys (thanks to our indoor heated pool that she wants to swim in everyday).  To say that we're happier with her in our lives is an understatement.  She makes everything more fun and life more meaningful.



It's another special boy's birthday too, and to keep with our new tradition of remembering Owen and making him a part of this time too, we had Owen's service day.  Last year, with the help of friends and family, we made birthday bags for a women's shelter in Columbus, filled with fun birthday gifts to different age groups.

This year we found a retirement center near us and delivered valentines, flowers, and chocolates to many of the residents there.  They were so sweet and loved having a 2 year old hand them a flower.  We felt so happy doing it together and hope that Edith gets excited about this fun tradition each year.

 Happy Birthday to my sweet babies!