One of the best things about summer....

Seeing old friends!! (Don't worry girls.. I am not implying WE are old. I mean friends that I have known since middle school :) It is getting harder and harder to organize time to get-together now that everyone has multiple kids and lives in different places BUT when we make it happen it is always "chicken soup for the soul"! Love seeing every one's beautiful kids growing and changing ...

Isabel, Quinn, and Dylan

Figgy the fabulous mommy of THREE now!

Kylie, Dylan, Bel and Anika

It was great to have a last minute play date with friends we don't usually see--Megan (visiting from Iowa with her two kids Broderick and Anika) and Jill (visiting from California with her two kids Quinn and Clay)

I also got a chance to meet my friend Arian's newest addition

Charlotte Anastasia Bichsel

I forget how TINY they are at first...

Mommy just  few days after Charlotte was born-- what a trooper!

In fact,Arian invited us ALL over for

a girl's afternoon with the kids two weeks after Charlotte's birth.

So many kiddos! Jillian's oldest, Kari, is great at "babysitting"them.

Christine and Jackson

Colleen and Emmy

Kristin, Arian and Jillian

Arian's backyard "bounce house" with sprinklers was a HIT on a 95 degree day

So much fun connecting with my girls -- even though it is slightly impossible to carry on an actual conversation at this point in our lives. We are so lucky to have these beautiful children!

Isabel... almost 2 1/2

 

Now that Bel is older I don't really think to do "updates" on her anymore- but since this blog all serves as my "baby book" (oops... never got around to filling one of those out) and since I want to be able to look back and reference this when I have the next baby,  I decided that I was overdue for an update on what Bel is doing now..

2 years and 4 months old.. (what a little artist.. painting with her teeth?!)

Talking- She never stops!! Bel talks in complete sentences and gab, gab, gabs. She is very expressive and is like a little sponge picking up new vocabulary words. (Which of course can be good and bad :) She says things like "Oh my goodness, I can't believe it" and "Mmmm that is tasty" and "That's gorgeous Mom" ha ha. She even asks if she doesn't know what a word means. For example,he asked me what "defender" meant when we were in the car the other day. That kind of threw me because it seemed like a tough word to explain to a 2 year old. Although she is a BIG talker (must get it from her dad) she can be shy in new social situations and tends to be a kid who "hangs back" more and starts talking your ear off once she knows you better (like me :)

(such a healthy diet)

Eating- Well... I think she exists on nothing but fruit snacks. She is a "fruit snack" bandit. Basically all she wants to do is eat snacks- and it is difficult to get her to eat well at meals. Seems that she has gotten pickier with her diet and would be happy to eat fruit or crackers and chips all day long. We STILL can't get her to eat meat- Except maybe the rare hot dog or taco. Obviously she is not wasting away, (healthy 33 pounds at last check up :) but meal times are frustrating with lots of bargaining and bribing. When I was a kid I remember my mom saying things like "This is not a short order kitchen" and "You'll eat our dinner or I guess you'll be hungry" but I think I was older and it might be easier to take the "hard line" with a non-toddler aged kid. We'll see...

Hangin out in her pull-ups with her "ponies"

Potty Training- HA HA HA
Let's just say the "potty training boot camp" that I was all about at the beginning of the summer, has not exactly panned out. Partially because I haven't had it in me to be very vigilant (I would much rather be out and about enjoying our summer days than hanging out at home in the bathroom) and partially because my daughter is the most stubborn little thing when it comes to doing something she doesn't want to do. And she doesn't want to do it. No amount of stickers, M&Ms, bribes, positive reinforcement, new "big girl underwear", etc... have convinced her that she should start using the potty yet. Yes... she will usually go if I place her on it before bed or after lunch etc... but she will definitely NOT warn me if she has to go and happens to not be wearing diapers. She pretty much just looks up and says "Uh Oh" as pee is running down her leg. And pooping on the toilet is a whole other issue. She is appalled by the idea and can't believe we would suggest such a thing. Doesn't everyone say that they will do it when they are ready? Well... let's hope she gets ready soon.

Sleep- Not much new here. She goes to bed around 7pm like a trooper. Bath, books and not much complaint. She wakes up anywhere between 6 and 7am  (I prefer 7) and usually we hear her shouting "Daddy... Mommy... Come get me...I neeeeed you" (Not as cute as it might sound at such an early hour) Then she takes a nap around 12:30 for 1-2 hours. She still sleeps in her crib but we will probably be trying to transition her to a bed before the new baby comes. I am not really looking forward to that. I like to know that she is contained in one place all night :)

What else? She is a little bit of a TV junkie. I totally blame us for that. We like having TV on at our house and find that she can be a little hypnotized by her fave morning shows. She has moved on from Elmo and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and is now into Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Little Einsteins.

 Belly also loooves books. We get 10 books each time we go to the library (which is good because we are pretty sick of the ones around the house by now) and she would be happy to have you read the same book or story to her 1,000 times. She memorizes the words and likes to participate in the reading. She can pretty much recite all of Jonah and the Whale (her fave Bible story) and sometimes tries to hold the books and "read" them herself.

This summer she is pretty busy with kids her age because she goes to daycare on Thurs. and Fri., and is in the 2 year old class at Sunday School each week. We also take "Kid Rock 1" a little music class on Wed. nights for kids her age and do a "Shapes and Numbers" activity class once a week in the morning. These things break up our days and give us something to get out of the house and "go do" - so her mom appreciates them too :)

Paging Dr. Isabel..

I think one of the neatest things about Isabel's age is that she is really learning to use her imagination and "make believe" so much more. She likes to feed, rock and put her baby dolls to sleep now. She has a little "Doctor" kit and she loves pretending to give us medicine and shots.And our neighbor gave her a whole bucket of "My Little Pony" (80's flashback) and she is alway asking us to play them with her. (Hilarious to listen to Jason playing Ponies)

Jason is more "in his element" teaching Bel to play T-Ball than playing My Little Pony

But if this picture is any indication.. he will have his work cut out for him

 (she could have inherited my athletic genes)

She loves being a "big girl" and seems happy about helping me with the new baby that is coming. (we'll see though) She also really likes her cousin Paytee and is interested in teaching her how to do new things. Sharing is still a challenge. She prefers not to ... and we still do time-outs when needed.

Loving up her Cousin Payton

I think each age is getting better and better. Two and a half is more fun because she can really communicate with me now and we can go and do a lot of things together. We call these our "adventures" when I am home with her in the summer and I know it will be hard to go back to work again in the fall. Just have to be thankful for the time I have an enjoy it!

Baby Update #1

Here is the very first pic of the newest Leppin! Approx. 9 weeks and 1 day.....

Yes... that is him or her.. the little blob in the middle. While there wasn't much to see at today's ultrasound- Jason and I did get our first glimpse at our little baby's beating heart (161 bpm) So cool!!

Since I decided to switch to a new practice for this pregnancy, I was pleasantly surprised that I got to have this early ultrasound (last time I didn't get one until 20 weeks). And while it was mainly just to confirm the due date--- Feb. 9th 2012 (Darn! I had calculated Feb. 4th myself so I became less pregnant and lost a few days) it also confirmed that I am NOT having twins.

Although that might sound a little silly, I really was a bit freaked out at the idea. Twins run in my family (my grandma was a fraternal and she had a set of fraternals) and I had a dream very early on that I was pregnant with twins. Soooo -- I was getting nervous. Especially because this pregnancy has felt VERY different than the first one so far.

For one... I felt pregnant right away. I knew I was pregnant before the at-home test even confirmed it. In fact, after running the Fox Trot 5K on Memorial Day weekend I looked at Jason and said "I'm pregnant." I just knew it and sure enough two days later I took a test (okay two tests) and I was! Plus I have been SUPER TIRED and I don't remember being this tired the first time around (of course I didn't have a toddler to chase either) but the biggest difference is that I am very nauseous. Starting at about 6 weeks I felt queasy and sick before and after I eat anything. It isn't really a morning sickness thing either because it goes all day and becomes the worst around dinner time.

The good news is that you would think since I am feeling so sick- I wouldn't be eating anything and therefore not putting on any early preggo pounds. Ha ha ha.. you are sadly mistaken. Instead, I am eating whatever random (usually unhealthy) thing that does not repulse me at the moment. So... Egg McMuffins... chips and dip... Sour Patch Kids... yeah... real healthy. I am hoping to get this under better control soon. Otherwise it could get ugly.

On another note... after talking with my new doctor I will most likely be having another scheduled C-section. That is not confirmed yet but very likely..so the positive thing about that is that I pretty much know that the baby will come a week early (Feb. 2nd ish) and be delivered at Sherman Hospital in Elgin. Nice to be able to plan it but I have mixed feelings about going this route... so we'll see how it all plays out.

Speaking of mixed feelings, Isabel seems to be warming to the idea of the new baby. Most times when we ask her about it she ignores us. However, recently she has taken to telling us that she is going to have a sister. We warned her that it could  be a brother but she seems to ignore that fact. If it is a boy she suggested we name it "Moses" - I'm guessing because we read a Bible story about the little baby Moses floating in the basket. (Cute- although we probably won't be adding that to the short list :) The other night, totally unprompted Isabel hugged me and then kissed my stomach goodnight and said "Night Night Baby' so that was pretty adorable. I'm sure we'll have some ups and downs with her getting used to this big change.

So... that's about it! I am going to make an effort to try to post updates about this pregnancy  every once in a while since I did that for the first time. (Poor second babies.. they always get the short end of the stick)

Looking forward (and a little freaked) about this next chapter!!

Happy 4th!

Fourth of July was especially fun this year because the weather was great and all of our family could spend the day together. We started the morning with the South Elgin parade- then off to Diane's for a snacks and drinks. Then we topped it off with a cookout and swimming in my parent's pool. Such fun! The only downsidee was that we didn't make it to fireworks again this year ... Personally, I was exhausted and ready for bed by about 7:30 - but we did watch them on t.v. :)

 Belly with her Grandma Marsha

 My man!

 I love my momma

 The girls

 The cutest Kerruish clan

 Dad staked out our spot NICE AND EARLY this year- thanks pop!

 Grandma Diane and Payton

Bel watching the parade with Daddy- She was excited to collect candy this year

 The chefs

 Grandma and Payton- She popped new teeth this week!

Brown Bear after a day of swimming

Goodbye Dwight!

Last Sunday, Jason's dad preached his last sermon at the Dwight United Methodist Church and the whole family was able to be there to hear it. It was entitled "Taking the Journey" and it was an inspiring message about not being afraid to let God lead you into taking a next step in your life.

What I took from this message was that God calls us all to be faithful and follow the plan he has laid out for our life. God plants seeds in our head and prompts are heart --- little "pushes" towards what he wants us to be doing to best serve Him and others --- and though it can be scary (and very uncomfortable for a "control freak" personality me) we should listen when God is trying to guide us into something new because no matter how scary or uncomfortable or  uncertain a "next step" might be -- he always provides us with what we will need to be successful.

So, after 41 years of ministry, Jason's dad and mom will be retiring to Huntley, Illinois and they will definitely be entering the next step of their lives. One of the most exciting parts of this change is that they will be (much) closer and we will be able to see them more often. That means our children will have BOTH sets of grandparents close by and present in their daily lives.. and that is pretty great!

Here are some pictures from the retirement celebration the church threw for the Leppin's--

Bill preaching his final sermon (I only took one because Jason couldn't believe I was taking pictures with the flash during the message. Ha ha... leave it to me not to miss a picture opportunity)

The whole family after the service- Thanks Belly... you have such a way with the camera :)

Cake and a pregnant lady...... need I say more?

Here is an excerpt from a cute poem some friend's wrote for the occasion...

"Through Bill's ministry, souls he's been preaching,

To lead them to Christ with his Biblical preaching.

Will he miss the ministry? Well, some things maybe.

We know he will miss kissing each baby.

His schedule will change as he answers bluntly,

I won't be here- we are moving to Huntley.

They will be driving to Huntley, but wait there's still more

Bill's going to carry Marsha through the front door.

We are sure they will enjoy their retirement so,

And they will say we should have done this long ago.

We love the Leppins, and will miss them each day,

We wish them the best and for them we will pray.

Happy retirement Marsha and Bill

God be with you, We know it's His will!"

and TODAY they officially moved into their new home in Del Web - Sun City!

The place looks great and it seems like they will have plenty to keep them busy during these first few weeks of unpacking.

and we timed it....25 minutes to get home from their house! Believe me.... I will not miss driving to Dwight with a toddler :)

Welcome home Grandma and Grandpa Leppin!

Pssst....

Baby Leppin #2

Coming in early February 2012

Stay tuned for more details!

A Few More Father's Day Pics...

 Isabel made this for her daddy at daycare - sweet!

 A picture with my Grandpa Joe and Belly. Can you believe he is 81?

 Ready for a dip in the pool

Such a great dad! Don't you love our self-portraits?

My niece Payton... I literally want to bite those chubby little legs- what a dolly.

Happy Father's Day Daddy - We love you

Uncle Terry providing us with some party music

 Bel is not the bravest swimmer- but she is warming up to the idea

Uncle Zack and Payton

My mom and HER dad

The grill master- making steak and crab legs. I am literally still full and it has been three days

Happy Belated birthday Bean!! Is this 26 or 27? No worries. You are still a baby

Daddy/Daughter golf lessons :)

What a fun day!