Catching Up

I'm going to share a hodge podge of pictures and stories from over the past month.  I have not been good about blogging at all.  Be sure to scroll back a few post to catch up on a few others.

(Christmas here and here)

(Valentines Day here)

(Sesame Street Live here)

A few weeks ago it was a rainy Friday.  Elliott announced that he wanted a "hunkburger" (hamburger).  I told him we didn't have any.  He then proceeded to ask where we could find one.  He then said "can we get a hunkburger from Old McDonalds?"  We don't frequent McDonalds often, but it was hard to resist this particular request.  Also, it was Freddy T.'s day off and I think he wanted some peace and quiet, especially since it was raining and we had been couped up all morning inside.  So we headed out.  This was in the elevator on our way to the bus.

 The weather here last week was amazing.  We spent the majority of our days outside.  

 On this particular day Lillie and Elliott were almost inseparable.  Lillie sat down on the playground pouting about something and Elliott sat right beside her till she was ready to play again. This happened several times this day.

 Yesterday after church I needed to go to the grocery store.  I typically have the twins in a stroller at the store and Jack pushes a kid cart.  I did not take my stroller to church this particular day so I had them all loose in the store.  They each grabbed a kid cart and followed me around the store.  We took turns loading items into each cart.  They did amazingly well.  They all obeyed and followed me all through the store.  It was like leading a parade and we got lots of looks and comments.  Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

 Jack has been asking for a lock for his scooter for a while so he could ride it to school and keep it locked up.  Finally in late February we got around to getting one.  This was his first afternoon riding his scooter home.  His classmate Elena had her scooter as well.  They raced from school to the corner.

 Ever since we got rid of of the paci's nap time has been quite challenging around here.  Lillie and Elliott aren't really tired till around 1:30 or 2, but by then we are getting ready to get Jack from school, so they don't get much sleep and then are very grumpy.  We've just been having a little quiet time or nothing at all.  It's sometimes hard during the day but it has helped bedtime go more smoothly.  On this day they had been very quiet for rest time and I went in their room to get them up and this is what I found.  They were sitting in the floor right beside each other and Lillie immediately thew her arm around Elliott and smiled.  

 This picture is pretty blurry, but this was on the bus one day.  Jack just laid his head over on Lillie's lap and she rubbed his head and back.  Not bothered at all.

Jack's Thoughts

Jack is a sweet funny kid.  He comes up with really cute ideas and thoughts all the time.  Here are a few recently.

He asked me the other day if he could write his own Christmas list this year.  I told him he could and he said "you better watch out... I'm putting a dog on it!"  He had a huge smile on his face.  Freddy T. said Jack must have forgotten who Santa Clause really is :)

A few evenings ago I took the kids to Gallery Church to be there when the group for City Uprising came in.  After we left church and were headed home we were waiting to cross the street and the bus pulled up to the stop.  As soon as we got the walking signal Jack tore off across the street and ran to the bus and held the door open so we would not miss it.  I wasn't too far behind running, pushing the stroller with Lillie and Elliott in it.  Once we got seated I looked at Jack and said "Jack, thanks for running and holding the bus for us."  He smiled and said "don't thank me, thank my shoes!"  So funny!  He is convinced his shoes are the fastest ones out there.  He'll only wear other shoes on days he thinks he doesn't have to run, which is rare.

Last night I said "Jack, I still need you to help us think of a name for your baby brother."  He said, "You can come up with the first name, I'll try to think of a middle name, and his last name is easy, it's Wyatt, so we don't have to think about that one."  A few minutes later he said, "I figured it out, Your name is Susan Beth and Lillie is Lillie Beth.  I'm Jack Thomas and daddy is Freddy Thomas, Elliott is Elliott David and he doesn't have anyone to share his middle name with, so the babies middle name needs to be David, that way we all have a partner."

Another Boy!

It's official, we'll be adding a baby boy to our family!  We found out last Friday and there is no denying it is a boy, although I'll spare you the picture :)  I'll go again in 4 weeks for the full anatomy scan.

Jack has been convinced that this baby was going to be a girl.  He told us the night before we found out that he had been talking to God a lot about this baby and asking him to make it a girl.  I was kind of nervous to break the news to him.  When I told him he was at first disappointed, but I quickly told him that it meant we would have 4 boys in our family and 2 girls.  His face lit up and he smiled and said "that means the boys win!"  "God must have wanted the boys to win!"  Now he is excited about another brother and hasn't mentioned girl again.

Lillie and Elliott know its a boy, but they don't have a great concept of what all is going on other than there is a baby in my belly and someday they'll see it.

We're excited to think blue again.  Now if we can just figure out a name!  This one's going to be tough.

Sesame Street Live

We took Lillie and Elliott to Sesame Street Live one morning while Jack was in school.  This was the first show either of them had ever been to.  Before the show they had a chance to interact with a few characters.  

 Visiting Big Bird's Nest.

 Waiting for the show to stop.

 Lillie and Elliott spent the majority of the second half dancing in the isle.

 Hanging out with Oscar in his trash cans.

This was a fun show and Lillie and Elliott loved it!

Valentines

Jack addressed all of his own Valentine's this year for his class.  He worked hard and was proud of his 

accomplishment.

.

"Expecting" The Unexpected

We are happy and excited to announce that come August, Lord willing, our 4th child will be joining our family.

We told our kids the news this morning.  It was fun!  This is the first pregnancy when we've been able to actually get a reaction.  They actually get what is going on.

(I'll post the video separately, once we get it uploaded in the next few days)

Shortly afterwards we asked Jack is he was excited and he said "yes, but did you want 4 kids?"  We asked him what made him ask that question.  His response was "a long time ago you said you didn't want any more children."  It's crazy that he recalls that.

The truth is we were not planning on having any more children in the near future.  Maybe adopting sometime down the road.  It's not that we don't have the desire, it's just that our current living circumstances doesn't really lend itself naturally to an addition.  When we found out we were moving to NYC I was already pregnant with Lillie and Elliott and considered it a blessing to be carrying twins, because I always wanted a big family and big families are not the norm here.  In fact 3 here is pretty big, especially living in a 1 bedroom apartment.  But I saw it as God giving me the desires of my heart in giving us the twins and a calling to NYC at the same time.  It gave us a "big" family when we probably would not have tried past 2 kids if I had been carrying a singleton.  

Within the last year we officially have emptied our apartment of all things baby.  We felt like we kind of crossed the baby road and now have more independent kids.  Kids who can be out all day and it not be too big of a deal.  Kids who are potty trained and there is no need to pack diapers and extra clothes.  Kids who can eat whatever we eat, no need to be prepared with baby food.  It was actually feeling kind of good.  It kind of felt like we were finally settling in and ready to really put our roots down here.  Like we survived the "hard younger years" now we can do anything!

Everything changed on December 23rd.  I shared with Freddy T. on the 22nd that I had a few suspicions  I might be pregnant.  But everything I could think of that seemed off I had an answer for.  I was tired a lot more than normal, but it had been a busy December, so that seemed to make sense.  My appetite was not quite right, but I had been fighting a cold so that made sense.  The other thing was my period was late, but mine aren't normally normal so that wasn't so strange, except I was on birth control and that usually makes them normal.  That one I could not really explain.  The next morning and 3 pregnancy tests later, it told me what I suspected...PREGNANT.

We were in complete shock. Scared. Nervous. Overwhelmed. Excited. What are we going to do?  What will our family and friends think?  Holy Cow... this was not in our plans.

Proverbs 16:19 says "The heart of a man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps." 

Proverbs 19:21 says "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand."

That day these 2 verses brought us comfort.  We had plans, but God's are bigger and better and we can trust that.  Children are a gift from God and we believe that with all of our hearts and we accept the new gift we've been given.  There are still a good bit of logistics around here that we need to figure out.  We have ideas of where we'll put the baby bed, how it could work in our apartment.  I think a year ago we would have immediately packed our bags, now we are not so quick to get out of here.  A lot has happened in the past year, this past Fall especially, we really feel like we've hit our stride.  It's not our first desire to load up and move.  We find ourselves praying for wisdom in how to navigate these waters that we find ourselves in.  We would be honored if you would pray for us too.  We've had a good month to let the shock wear off, now we are just excited and humbled to get the opportunity to raise another child.  Now we are ready to embrace sleepless nights, lots of feedings, diapers again, and all things baby!

After we told the kids this morning Freddy T. left the room to get something and Jack looked at me and said "was Daddy telling a joke?"  So funny... no joke Jack!  We later loaded up to go hang out and play in Grand Central Station for a few hours.  When I was helping Jack get dressed he said "I guess the baby is going to go with us" and before he left the room he patted my belly.  On the bus he announced it was the baby's first time in New York City.  It's going to be fun seeing this experience from his eyes.  

I've been to the doctor.  So far everything looks good.  Here they use an older, smaller ultra sound machine to check the babies heartbeat, so Wednesday we saw the baby and a heartbeat and got an estimated measurement.  I go back this coming Wednesday for an official ultra sound.  Oh and by the way, she only saw one!

Stick around... I'm sure the next 7 months will fly by and there will be lots of changes around here and lots of excitement.  August 13th will be here before we know it!

No More Paci's!

I realize blogging has not been my strong suite lately :)

The month of December was full of all things Christmas related.  I think at least 2 straight weeks, if not more, we had something every. single. night.  We were worn out but it was a good worn out.  We headed to TN for Christmas, left Christmas Eve and I returned back home with Jack on Jan. 2nd because he had to go back to school.  Freddy T. had the opportunity to serve as a small group leader at Passion so he headed down to Atlanta for a few days while Lillie and Elliott hung out in Tennessee.  We had a good break in TN, but Lillie, Elliott, and myself were sick the majority of the time.  I had a horrible cough, Elliott was in the ER Christmas morning getting breathing treatments and medicine and Lillie and Elliott were both over at a family Dr. friends house getting checked up mid week because Elliott wasn't really improving and Lillie was in as bad of shape as Elliott.  It was kind of crazy. My time with Jack here alone was sweet. I can't remember the last time we had that kind of time together.  Of course he was in school during the day, but we had all evening to hang out.  It was fun.  Unfortunately I was still feeling rough and didn't get as much accomplished as originally planned, but the rest alone was helpful.

Things are back in full swing here now.  I have a few blog posts to update on like some of our Christmas pictures, our newest family pets, Jack's 5th birthday, and probably something else I'm forgetting.  Just tonight the kids were looking through a picture book I made from our blog back in 2009, January through June.  Reminded me how much I enjoy having this to document our lives.  The kids love looking at all the old pictures.

So, for tonight I'll share our latest big accomplishment.  On Saturday the 21st, Lillie and Elliott threw their paci's away forever!

We started telling Lillie and Elliott in early December that after Christmas they were going to throw their paci's in the East River (it right out our back door).  We talked for weeks getting them pumped up for this big event.  Both love their paci's, but Elliott LOVED his.  He was pretty attached.  We would say "What are you doing after Christmas?"  They would yell, "Throwing our paci's in the river!"  "Who are you giving your paci to?"  "Baby Fishes!"  So a early last week Freddy T. told them Saturday morning was the day, we were heading out to the river to throw them away.

 One last night getting to sleep with a paci.  I've looked at this view for over 3 years... maybe I was more sad about them giving them up than they were.

 Headed out!

 One final enjoyment... in true Elliott style.  He always sucked on it upside down, always.

 Lillie's last time!

 Of course the morning we plan to do this we wake up to our first real snow of the season.  It was cold and very windy.

 Isn't that the most pathetic sight.

Yay!  My Big Boy and My Big Girl.  Elliott didn't care anymore, he was trying to guard his face from the wind and snow blowing.

Here is video documenting the action.

Lillie & Elliott throwing their pacifiers in the East River from Freddy T. Wyatt on Vimeo.

Lillie and Elliott have done really well with out them.  Lillie has hardly missed a beat.  Elliott has asked for it several times and had a hard time the first nap, but I think they are over it.  One more step in growing up!