It's a......!

GIRL!!!!

Sooooooo excited to have yet another sweet little baby girl in our family!  If you asked me what I wanted this time around I would have said girl so when the doctor said "You're having a girl!" I couldn't have been more thrilled!  As I thought more about this yesterday it made me even more excited to have another daughter.  One thing my mom said when I was pregnant with Keira and is something I hadn't really thought of is that daughters hang onto their relationship with their mom for life.  Yes, that's there with your son's as well, but they grow up and have their own families and it's just different and not as close (not always, but typical).  While I hope to always be super involved with Kellen's life and have a close relationship with him, I know it will be different with my two girls.  I'll get to do the wedding thing twice, and the prom thing twice, and then help them take care of them when they have THEIR babies!  This just thrills me knowing that I get to get all Keira's old baby clothes and use them again!!!!! (well, the ones she didn't puke all over and ruin with her insane amount of spit up)

So excited to see more of what our family will look like.  I have two girls and a boy!  I couldn't be more thrilled!!  Thank you Jesus!!!!!!!

The specifics

So it's 4:30 am and I'm up yet again with pregnancy insomnia.  Yes! I'm pregnant again.  SOOOOO excited!  :)  I'm 10 weeks and have my first sonogram tomorrow which I am so, so, so anticipating.  As I was just laying in bed (attempting to get back to sleep), I was thinking about how sweet this pregnancy is.  With Keira everything was brand new.  I had no clue what parenting would be like, what being a mom would be like, what having a baby would be like...nothing.  I knew nothing of the other side of the womb.  With Kellen it was even better because I had gotten a glimpse of how much I loved Keira and how much I loved being a mom.  Knowing that more of that was coming (with a boy now!) was so exciting!  Now with this one, it's different.  Keira is 3, Kellen is 19 months...I'm in the full trenches of parenting and I am completely and utterly smitten by my two babies.  I was made to be a mom and knowing that more of that is coming just makes it all the more precious to me.  I think that's why I am so excited to see our baby tomorrow (today) morning because it is the first time I will lay eyes on a person that I will love with my life.  The first time I will see the little body that I will kiss and hug and tickle and play with and once again, be completely and utterly smitten with!  The anticipation of who this next baby will be (boy or girl?) is so huge this time around and I absolutely love it!!!  My cup is filled and overflowing with love for my THREE babies and I get to "meet" the 3rd one for the first time tomorrow morning.  AY so exciting!!  :)

There are so many things I've been meaning to write down lately so as I was laying there in bed having already been awake for an hour and a half and no sight of sleep anytime soon, I figured I might as well get up and unleash my thoughts.  I've been wanting to write down the little things that I love about Keira and Kellen and the little specific things they do that make me smile.  I don't want to forget these things which is why I want to write them down.  So for my memory's sake and for when I read back on this years from now and miss these moments....

Keira...
* I love how every night before bed the last thing you say to us is "Where should we go now?"
* I love how you take the absolute biggest bites (despite my telling you not to) of food sometimes and stuff as much as you can in your mouth! haha
* I love how you can recite your verses and know them so well
* I love how after your nap you just want to sit on my lap and hug me for a long time
* I love how you are so content to play in your room during your "nap" time
* I love how you hate wearing a pony tail but want to wear "clippys" all the time
* I love your "on purpose" smile
* I love that you love "my eesy" (cousin Elyse) and "baby Shepherd"
* I love that you make sure to thank God for our food after every time we pray
* I love how you sing Jesus Loves Me and Behold Behold and The BIBLE and your ABC's
* I love how you have to take your Baby Ladybug every. where. we. go.  :)
* I love how you strap her in the back seat of the van with her blankie
* I love how you take care of your babies and carry them around in the carseat and wrap them in their blankets
* I love how at bedtime you have to have Minnie on your right side, Baby Cora on your right and Baby Ladybug in her pack n' play next to your bed, both your fans on, your nightlight and your "maker" (noisemaker) on
* I love when you sing to your babies to put them to sleep and tell me to be quiet
* I love how you lay in the tub and just relax...your face above the water and you just lay there :)
* I love how you love your "peanut butter tortillas" at lunchtime
* I love how you love to have dance parties in the family room to Pandora and clear off the entire carpet to clear your dance space
* I love how you ask for a "wash-a-col" after meals to wash your hands with
* I (love) how you will not eat meat?! (not really)
* I absolutely love when you tell me that you just want to snuggle with mommy on the couch!!
* How when I say "I love you Keira", you respond in the sweetest way possible, "I love you too Mommy."
* I love how when I ask you if you had any dreams when you were sleeping, every single time you say "Eesy was a monkey."

Kellen...
* I love how when you make a "funny face" it's basically a big cheesy grin
* I love how you snuggle on mama's shoulder before bedtime and have to have all 3 of your woof woof's and your blankie snuggled with you
* I love how you chase after your sister laughing with delight
* I love you how put yourself in time out then 2 seconds later laugh historically (not funny when you really are being punished!) :)
* I love how you love your woofies and squeal in delight when you see a doggie in a book or in person
* I love how you love to read your books
* I love how when we pray you thank God for "dada, mama, "iss" (sissy), and baby"
* I love how you march, march, march
* I love how you love to dance...aka spin for you...with your sister
* I love how you love your mama
* I love how when you sit or every time when you eat you cross your feet
* I love how you get so excited when dada comes home
* I love how you've just learned what it is to "boomp" (fart :)) and try to push it out, then laugh histarically!  Typical boy!!
* I love how you get SO excited when Daddy gets home from work!

The California Life!

Oh life is good!  We have made it HOME!  Yes, San Diego (well Lakeside), CA is HOME now and my heart is finally at peace and at rest.  I have my "nest" back and I can't tell you how good it feels to finally be here.  While it was great and wonderful spending time with my parents and Pete's parents, having our little family back to normal and making my own dinners and spending the days with my kids at the park and doing laundry and the normal day in and day out stuff has never been so welcomed!  We are home!  Can I say it again haha!  We are home!!

California is beyond beautiful and I am just loving it so far.  The weather (as everyone always says) is just gorgeous.  Christy was out here this past week and it was just perfect every single day.  This will never get old and it just does something to my spirit when I walk outside and it's perfectly sunny and 70 degrees.  I'm convinced I was made for California weather!  :)  Not to mention the beauty of the mountains that are everywhere!  Absolutely gorgeous!!  There have been times I'm just driving and have to snap myself back into driving mode because I'm just in awe of the scenery.  Seriously.  So beautiful.  How did I get lucky enough to live here?  Wow.  Love it!

The kiddies are adjusting very well and just love having their cousins so close.  Keira and Elyse are just too cute together and play so well which we are so thankful for.  Kellen is all over the place and already is that little brother who follows the girls around wanting so bad to keep up with them!  Shep just has to start walking so Kellen has a little buddy to hang out with.  God definitely knew what he was doing with our kids giving them each a playmate!  So thankful for that!!

Lately I have just found so much joy in my kids.  I don't know if it's just being their "mommy" again (rather than the daughter role at my parents) or if they are just at an age that is bringing about a new stage or what it is, but daily, I just laugh at them and my heart just wells up and I am so filled with love for them.  Keira has just the sweetest spirit in her.  She just absolutely loves her babies and taking care of them and she feeds them and changes their "big stinky poopy diapers" and rocks them and sings Jesus Loves Me to them all the time.  It is so, so sweet.  She is so polite (most of the time) and does a great job at remembering to say please and thank you.  She's fairly obedient and it doesn't take much to look into her eyes and tell her when she's made a bad choice and to see her heart through her eyes as she says she's sorry.  She has such a soft and tender heart and I'm just so drawn to it!  We've been working on our verses and she's got about 4 down pretty well.  I love hearing her say Scripture and watching her learn what it means.  When she does get disciplined we always reference back to one of her verses which has been cool to see her start to make the connections of what it means.  My prayer for her since day 1 (literally since she was in the womb) has been that she would have a kind and gentle heart and I just so see God answering that prayer.  I pray that she would have a sweet spirit and a love for people.  That she would be that girl at school that everyone just loves because she always has kind words to say and reaches out to those who may not feel loved.  I can't believe that she will be 3 in 1 month (from today!).  The past 3 years have gone so fast and I am just so blessed with this sweet girl!!

Kellen James is just a mama's boy to the core.  That little guy could melt me to the floor with his lovies and kisses and his giggles.  It's amazing to see the differences in not just the boy/girl thing, but just in his personality and his spirit.  He is definitely all boy which is so fun to watch.  He grunts and vrooms his cars around the floor.  He climbs on EVERYTHING and has no fear!  If it's elevated, he wants on top of it.  I have to watch him constantly!  He loves playing catch and when we run to get him and tickle him.  He is definitely much more clingy than Keira ever was which has sometimes been hard.  They have to call me out of church frequently to come get him because he's crying.  :(  That separation anxiety has kicked in and he loves his mama!  I love having a mama's boy, but there are times when I just want to make dinner without having to hold a 15 month boy as well.  :)  It's exhausting at times, but I'm okay with it.  I know it's just a stage so I will take it and enjoy it because that is where he's at right now.  He won't always want me to hold him all the time.  :)  I soak every minute up with him that I can get!  My prayer for my boy since day 1 has been that he will grow to be a man full of wisdom and integrity, courage and boldness.  That my little guy would have the strength to obey God rather than man and that he would lead and lead well.  That people would long to follow him because of his character.  That they would be drawn to him because he makes right choices.  I pray that he would have a love for God's Word and Spirit and a love for people.  Oh how I want great things for my boy!

We're starting to think #3 pretty soon here which is exciting and crazy all at the same time.  I've been ready for awhile now and we just had to get moved and settled before we even entertained that idea.  Now we're here and the thought is very prevalent on my mind!  :)  Three kids.  Wow.  I was telling a friend yesterday that that's like a family haha.  1 kid is just getting started...you're new at the parenting thing.  2 kids is getting there.  Then 3 is a family haha!  Most people have 3 and are done.  Which in our case, I can't even imagine being done after this next one.  I've had my heart set on 4 kids from the beginning so I'm halfway there.  :)  I think just the thought of knowing and loving another baby is so exciting for me!  Not knowing who they are right now, but knowing that there are 2 more family members for our family is so fun to think about!  I'm so anxious to see them and know them and love them and be their mommy!!  I could just keep going haha...knowing that we can keep making more!  :)

Anyways...that's an update on life lately.  I like writing updates every so often so I can go back and read them.  More for myself than anything else.  :)  An online journal without all the personal stuff that goes in my real journal.  :)