fishhook park

allan's sister, joann, came to visit us this weekend and we decided to take her camping (how original!). we headed over to fishhook park where we enjoyed a nice view of the snake river. the kids loved it, especially now that they are "experienced campers." :0) lucas had fun riding his tricycle and playing in the river with emma, allan, and aunty joann. emma kept sticking her dirt-covered shovel in her mouth (yuck!), so we will have to work on that. altogether, it was a HOT, good-eatin', and fun-filled weekend!

an update

so, i'm 22 weeks pregnant and i definitely look and FEEL pregnant now. this little one seems to be more laid back than both emma and lucas. she's not kicking and moving around as much they did. it could be that i'm more busy so i notice the movements less, but who knows. allan can feel her movements from the outside without any problems now; actually, we have been able to see her kicks and jabs by just looking at my belly. very cool!

lucas is as inquisitive as ever, to the point that sometimes i just answer "i don't know" to him because i don't know what else to say. his mind and memory are amazing. lately, he's been recalling and recounting things that happened to him back when he was 2-2.5 years old. wow. his favorite movie to watch right now is monsters inc., and he still LOVES curious george.

emma is a darling. she loves her big brother, but is also very adamant about what she wants. just yesterday she bit lucas because he tried to take something from her that she was playing with. it was really sad because she bit him pretty hard. i found it really hard to discipline her because she's still such a baby! she's also starting to feed herself with a spoon. it's probably considered late for most kids, but it's my fault for not letting her do it sooner. i'd rather feed her than clean up after her. (i know, i know...)

:: some pictures of emma in action ::

a mother's day celebration

this mother's day was really special for me because lucas (sort of) understood what was going on. the night before, he blurted out to me that he had created a card for me and kept asking allan, "where's mommy's card? let's give it to her!" i couldn't contain my laughter because it was so cute. my mother's day consisted of church service, brunch at the clover island inn (yummy...my favorite was the crab!), a relaxing and quiet pedicure, and then dinner with friends. it was definitely special and i felt honored and blessed. can't wait to see what'll be in store for me next year! ha!

holding hands

we were driving around town tonight running some errands and stuff when i looked into my rearview mirror and saw the sweetest thing. emma was fast asleep in her car seat and lucas was holding her hand! he was just holding her hand, looking out the window. i wished i had my camera with me. he's going to love having two little sisters.

here's a picture of the two enjoying their lollipops from miss tammy. it's true what they say...it's so much harder to keep your second (and third and fourth, etc.) child from eating sweets and stuff because they want whatever big brother or sister is eating.

20 weeks, 3 days

 18w5d            20w3d

backyard play

lucas loves to take his sister out to the backyard to play. his favorite thing to do is, well, everything. he loves to mow the lawn, play soccer, go on the slide, play on the swing...you name it. emma's favorite thing is the swing. i tried taking her off of it today thinking she was done, but she shook her head madly to tell me that she wasn't ready to come off yet. it was very cute.

it's a...

we had our ultrasound appointment yesterday, when i was 19w5d pregnant, and found out that we are having another girl! we were a little surprised only because our doctor thought that we might be having a boy. it was just too early to tell at 11 weeks. allan and i had already started preparing ourselves for another boy. we began thinking of boy names (our top choice was owen lee), telling lucas that he might be having a little brother, and telling friends that we thought we were having a boy. what a shocker!

we brought lucas and emma with us to the appointment. emma wasn't aware of what was going on, of course, but lucas was asking all kinds of questions. my favorite was, "what are you doing to my mommy?" our ultrasound technician was great...and patient. she let lucas listen to the heartbeat as many times as he asked to (we finally had to tell him to stop asking), she sat him on her lap and let him help her push some buttons (data) into the machine, and she let him help with the dvd and pictures. he was so proud of himself, and we were proud of him, too! our babiest girl weighs 12 ounces and is healthy and thriving.

we're excited that emma and her sister will only be a year and a half apart, and that lucas will have TWO little sisters to love and teach and protect. allan's comment when we found out it was a girl was, "uh-oh, lucas, we're outnumbered." i can't wait!

in order: girl, foot, foot, face (a little scary, we know!)

tumble bumble

i've experienced flutterings in my belly a handful of times now. the first time i thought i felt the baby move was on march 28, when i was at the end of my 15th week. even though this is my third pregnancy, i still wonder whether it's really the baby moving or something else going on in my belly when i feel movement. well, tonight it was absolutely clear to me that it was the baby! it's been a relief because i was expecting to feel movement sooner this time around...you know, since i'm more experienced and all. :0) the baby is still bumbling around as i'm typing. such a sweet, sweet feeling. babies are truly miracles God gives to us, that's for sure!

as for updates on our other two little miracles...

lucas is incredibly thoughtful and inquisitive. there's probably not a day that goes by that he doesn't say or do something that amazes me or completely melts my heart. lately, he's been telling me that he loves me all the way up to the moon and back (aaawww!). lucas is fully potty-trained and has been since the middle of january...yay! his favorite book to read to me is "if you give a mouse a cookie." he's learned how to use the mouse on the computer and loves to play the educational games offered on pbskids.org. i'm working on teaching him how to write his name. so far, he's learned how to write L.

emma loves to point at things and say, "da," which is her way of telling us she wants "that." she is not talking or signing as much as lucas was (mostly because i haven't been as diligent at teaching her), but she definitely knows what she wants. she loves food and will scream when she sees it and doesn't get it. we stopped by sonic tonight during happy hour to enjoy some refreshing fruit slushes for half-price. emma started squealing and pointing saying, "da" as soon as i placed my cup in the cup holder. she was relentless! it was very cute. she's also picked up "no!" from her brother. she will actually use it in the right context, such as when you are trying to change her diaper when she wants to play instead. i fear she's going to be a handful!

emma having a blast with lucas pushing her on the rocketlucas and emma in their new car seats (emma gets to face forward!)emma trying to put on her shoeemma posing and being cute!

sharefest 2008

our small group from church participated in sharefest 2008 this morning, helping to clean up a code violation home in kennewick. besides working hard, we also had lots of fun eating donuts (thanks, steve and angela!) and watching the kids try to attack ants with their shovels. here's an "after" picture of one area that we helped clear and clean up, along with pictures of our good-looking gang!

18 weeks, 5 days

plymouth park

while my sister was in town visiting, we decided to take her on a quick camping trip aboard our new trailer. we drove about 20 miles to a place called plymouth park. we loved the campsite because it was close by (we can do last-minute trips), it had a lake, clean bathrooms, and sites with full hook-ups. lucas and emma had a blast with their aunty vicky. they played in the mud, rode on their scooter, played chase and tag, and roasted marshmallows. the best part for me were the s'mores (i had 3 of them!). the weather turned out to be perfect - warm and sunny, so different from our last trip just a month ago. whew!