Life Lately: April

March was a horribly difficult month for our family, so we were so glad to see April come around. We ended the last week of March with the stomach flu in our house, so by the time April rolled around, I was glad!!!

I started April out by driving up to Michigan by myself with both girls. It would have been just fine except for the fact that I had kids with me. Oh, yeah…and one of them (who shall not be named) cried for 3.5 hours of the 6 hour drive. That was a little rough.

During the weekend, I had the privilege of attending Abby’s bridal shower. Oh, isn’t she beautiful and glowing?? We are approaching her wedding date FAST and I could not be more thrilled for her!! I’m so excited to be in her wedding in June!

After driving back from Michigan, I spent the next few days getting ready to welcome back Theo’s brother Ethan and his family! They have been in Congo for 16 months and it was the first time we saw them since they left.

There they are!!! It was SOOOO good to see them again!!!!

Theo’s other brother Barnabas and his wife and kids came up from Tennessee to surprise Ethan and Kindrea at the airport! They stayed the weekend and we crammed as much as possible into those two days. On Friday the three of us ladies went shopping….without ANY children. Now, before you think that’s no big deal, let me explain. Between the three of us, we have nine children. Under the age of seven. Eight of them are girls. We went out, and left those nine children in the care of the three brothers. When we got back to my house, I had never seen it more destroyed. I mean, every.single.toy that Tera owns was strewn across the entire house. But all nine children were alive (and fed!!), and we got some sister shopping time, so you don’t hear any complaints from me!

After that whirlwind weekend, we started to settle into our new routine. I finally started feeling noticeably better, and while I still have to take it slow some days, I’m able to function like a normal human/Mom again!

Although my children have certainly suffered in the bath department throughout this first trimester! After this particular dinner I think I finally declared it bath night.

April showers… and new, yellow rainboots!!

And Little Miss? She is now crawling, and pulling up, and still insisting on clinging to me constantly. CONSTANTLY. How many levels of clingy-ness are there? Maybe 5? She’s a level 4 at least.So I have been wearing her A LOT! I found that it’s really uncomfortable to strap her on the front (it squishes my belly and makes me sooooo nauseas), so I wear her on my back a lot.

We have also entered a new stage of parenting, now that both children are mobile. I’ll call it the, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” stage of sisterhood. Oh dear Lord, can Tera yell that word loudly at Little Miss. I have to say that sometimes she is totally up in Tera’s business, but most of the time I have to stop what I’m doing and explain to Tera that she needs to share and here’s how to do it. Unfortunately, Little Miss doesn’t really get it, and wants the exact object that Tera has in her hand, not the one that is exactly the same that Tera just shared with her. Oh me, oh my. 0

Little Miss has also started to eat real food at the table with us! She and Tera loooooove to eat their meals together, and I will admit that they are huge distractions to each other! But it’s the cutest darn thing EVER! This one particular morning, they reached out and held hands. DYING OF CUTENESS.

Tera is my little baking and cooking buddy. Every time I’m working in the kitchen, I put her up on the counter and she just watches me and “helps” me. She always wants to “pour, pour” when I’m measuring things, and “stir, stir” when I’m stirring things. She also loves to just watch me do the dishes. She is a crazy toddler tornado and basically never stops moving, except when I put her up on the counter. Then, she will sit for a loooooong time, just watching and occasionally “helping” me.

Uncle Dan and Aunt Kelly were meeting up with some friends in the area, so they stopped by to spend the night. Tera loves them so incredibly much. I mean….she LOVES them. And this is why:

Because they adore her and cherish her and spoil her and give her all the attention she could possibly want.

Since I’ve finally started feeling better, I have been making sure to try hard and keep up my running. So far I’ve been able to stay at my normal pace, and maintain 2-3 miles. I don’t think I’ll try to push to improve my time or my distance, but just maintain what I have going right now!

I found these matching dresses for the girls secondhand! They look so super cute in them!!! I took a few pictures on Sunday when we were outside enjoying the gorgeous weather. I wish I could show you all the pictures from the front!

I love this girl and I seriously love the toddler stage. Tera is saying so many words and comprehending so many things. She sleeps so well and eats about as much as me. She’s truly a delight and I just can’t get enough of her!

We are trying to spend as much time with Ethan and Kindrea as possible, since we have been so far from them for over a year! We took a trip to Young’s Dairy last week. Notice the MK climbing all over the fence. Haha.

Cousins! Kyrin is just slightly outnumbered by all these girls…

Avia and Little Miss are two weeks apart!

I found a thorough spring cleaning list on Pinterest, and I’ve been slowly working my way through my house room by room. This past week was the playroom and I decided it was finally time to clean all these toys and sort through them! It’s been a germy winter and I want all those germs GONE!!!