B3

We'll be welcoming a 3rd baby into our family this August! Certainly wasn't on my agenda yet, but God had other plans :)

Needless to say, I was completely shocked last week when I took a pregnancy test and it was positive! I was getting ready to start some antibiotics and thought I should just check, even though I knew there was really no chance that I could possibly be pregnant. Ha! Wait, it gets better.

Warning: this might be a little TMI for the male population (just in case there might be some out there...which I doubt...but the disclaimer is there, nonetheless)...

I'm still nursing baby girl. Like all the time. She doesn't really nurse much less often now than she did as a newborn. Seriously. So that decreases my chances of getting pregnant. Not only that, but I hadn't had a period since she was born, either. Another decrease. Oh, wait. And then there's that whole thing about how I had a tubal pregnancy that ruptured my left tube and it was removed. Another decrease. Oh, and we were using a method of birth control. Right. Ok, so you add that all together, and you get...a pregnancy planned by God. Not me. Oh, and I'll be 8 weeks tomorrow. Just found out. Last week. Yeah.

You will not ever hear me say that this pregnancy is a mistake or that it shouldn't have happened. God's timing and plans are perfect and I totally trust Him. Will this be stressful? Without a doubt. Will it cause me to lean more heavily on God to get me through? I'm thinking that might be a big part of His plan. Having two 2 and under is not a simple task, but it's been a little easier than I expected. And I, being me, have characteristically tried to do it my way, rather than asking for help. Having three 3 and under scares the pee out of me. So yes, I believe I will be taking God up on His offer to be in charge. Because who even knows what these children will end up like if I don't. Scary.

Also, I'll be around until August (or until it gets too hot). After that, I'll catch all y'all in approximately 2014. Give or take a month.

Only child

Ava has gotten to enjoy being an only child for the past several days. Cade has been visiting his grandparents in a neighboring state since Friday. So he's gotten to enjoy being an only child there, as well.

I've missed my buster brown, but it's been so great to have some extra one-on-one time with baby girl (and the extra sleep has been appreciated as well...Ava and I both have gotten more sleep than when Cade is here :). And I know Cade has enjoyed the time with his grandparents and great-grandparents. It's a win-win :)

But he's headed back as I type, and I am definitely ready to see him!

Here's Girlfriend this morning...she's so stinkin' cute (she was trying to peek around the phone so she could see me :)

A sitter!

My big girl (she's not big, she's not big, she's just a baby, she's just a baby!) is sitting by herself now. She's been working on it for a couple of weeks now, but just last week is when she really started being able to sit for longer periods of time without toppling over. And even sometimes catch herself when she does topple over.

There's still a crazy 2 year old who runs around and makes her fall over, but hey, what are big brothers for?

So far, it seems girlfriend is on just a little slower timeframe than Cade was (and that's totally fine by me!). He started sitting at 6.5 months, she was 8. His first 2 teeth were at 6 months, her first one was around 7.5 months and now she's working on the second one. We waited longer to start her on solids, so she nurses a lot more than he did at this age.

It's only been 2 years since we did this with Cade, but it's so amazing how differently we parent her. You learn a lot with your first. Some of the things we changed are simply out of necessity (Ava doesn't spend lots and lots of time playing on the floor because there's a rowdy 2 year old running around...Cade did). Some things are different because I've done more research and reading (waiting to start solids a little longer this time). And some things are different because we know how quickly this phase passes by (I'm not setting a date for weaning her like I did Cade...even though she won't take a bottle and therefore has to be with me constantly). Oh, and she's a girl (which means we have a tendency to snuggle her and be gentle with her more than we did with Cade).

Snuggles

The boy is at preschool today, so it's just me and baby girl. She's still fighting a little bit of a cough, and she thinks she's big, so she doesn't want to snuggle like she used to. But last night before bed, we got to snuggle for a while, and she's being pretty snuggly again right now.

I love this girl.

Pictures

One of my goals this year is to document what's going on with my kiddos a little better. We'll see how well that goes :)

Today, we've been working on a little potty training. We've done this off and on for a while, so Cade definitely knows what to do. It's now just a matter of getting him to want to. We made it from waking up this morning until naptime in underwear with no accidents, with approximately 9 trips to the potty. Seriously.

Here are my 2 babies...Cade is watching some Diego-go as a reward and Ava is playing.