We had such a fantastic Christmas this year. Emma was excited to open all of her gifts and has since enjoyed playing with the all. She got a set of plastic dishes from Grandma and Grandpa Vredeveld and has become really interested in everything kitchen. We are making more cookies and breads and baked goods these days because she loves to help out. She loves to add the ingredients and 'stir, stir, stir.' Another gift she got for Christmas was a series of DVDs of favorite children's stories...and now we are obsessed with movies. It has been fun to hear her respond to these videos, though. It isn't unusual to hear her walking around the house quoting lines from one of her videos or signing a nursery rhyme.
We have tackled the transfer to a big girl bed which has been a huge success. She has only fallen out a few times and knows to stay in her bed until we come and get her. The potty, on the other hand, is a different story. We tried (and tried and tried) to get her interested in taking this next step, but she has NO interest...None!
Baby #2 is coming! soon! It is incredible how fast this pregnancy is. Before we know it we'll be chasing around two little kids. Unfortunately, this pregnancy is world's different. I've landed my self in the ER twice in the past month---nothing major, just playing things safe. At 25 weeks now, I'm having a hard time bending over, I'm getting fuller, faster, and I'm just plain tired out! Regardless of how I'm feeling, the baby is doing well. It's a big kid--97th percentile for size at week 20--and very active. We did not find out the gender so we'll all be surprised in May.
On top of taking care of a toddler, growing a baby, I've just started an intense grad class to finish off my hours to stay a certified teacher. The class meets every Tuesday night and requires me to spend at least 20 hours in a classroom setting.
Compared to everyone else in our family, it seems like Nate is smooth sailing. Just the normal day-to-day stuff that keeps him busy!