Jack These Days

Jack is such a precious, spunky, hilarious blessing to our family.  Although he's two and is WIDE OPEN the entire time his eyes are open, he makes up for the exhaustion with his endearing little personality.  Towards the end of the summer, he started talking NON-STOP.  Now I have competing voices in the back seat and sometimes he will turn to Anna and say, "Stop talking, Sissy. It's my turn!" And indeed it should be!!  

He is big for his age (around 95th %ile for height and weight) so I just bought 4T shirts and 2T or 3T bottoms for school.  He wears a size 8 or 9 shoe.  He has absolutely zero interest in potty training, so I'm not pushing him.  He will eat anything and wants to eat ALL.THE.TIME!  There are some things that he doesn't care for, but he will always taste a bite first.  He is a bottomless pit--there are some mornings that he will eat breakfast three different times!!

He is so sociable and personable, saying hello to everyone while we run errands or walk down the hall at church.  He loves being with other kids, especially his Sissy.  And did I mention that he talks non-stop??

He still loves his tractors and his trucks and his trains and will let me know if we pass one on the road.  His knew love, though, is Diego and Dora.  He has started asking us to say words and phrases with him, just like they do on the show and is quick with a "Swiper, no swiping!"  It's hilarious.

He's also just recently made the amazing discovery of stoplights.  Now I am fortunate to have a running commentary in the back seat on whether the light is green or red and what we need to do about it.;) Two is such a fun, exhausting, but rewarding age!

We just love our little man so much and in the light of our recent circumstances, he has become even more of a little miracle, our ray of sunshine smack dab in the middle of our miscarriage experiences.  I thank God every day for the beautiful gift we have in Jack.

Loving being the "only child" while Sissy in at school!

Cool dude

He was in heaven when Mr. Jake
let him drive the big tractor!

Not a little tadpole anymore...

Jack's First Day of Preschool 2013

So excited!!

 Since Sissy had already started school, Jack was raring to go by the time preschool finally started after Labor Day weekend.  He was so cute with his backpack on!  He has the same teachers that Anna had at two that we love.  They were so excited at open house because of how much he was talking.  He was excited about the tractors, cars, and train table that were in his classroom!  Mommy is excited because he gets to go in the carpool line instead of being walked in!!  Woohoo!!  Here's to a great year!

Sister Love

He wasn't so excited about taking this picture--he wanted to go in!

Big man on campus!
He just strutted himself right down that hallway.;)

Too enthralled with the train table to look at the camera.
We love Miss Susan and Miss Jane!

Jack's First Gymnastics Class

Jack has sat and watched Sissy do gymnastics for the past two years, with me barely keeping him off of the gym floor.  He has wanted to be out there so badly!!  Well, it is finally his turn!  This year, on Tuesday mornings, we started a parent/child gymnastics class and he LOVES it.  That first morning, I could barely keep up with him as he bounced around from station to station, showing Miss Gaylyn all of the things he has learned from Anna.  It was too cute!

Our Family Adventure

After moping and womp-womping around Friday and Saturday, I was tired of being at home.  I told Will that I wanted to take the kids somewhere where I wouldn't see anyone I knew and just "play in a creek".  Was I out of my mind?  I did some research online and found the Hebron Rock Colony off of the parkway near Blowing Rock.  One article said the rocks and falls were just a "ten minute walk from Price Park".  Score!

So Sunday morning, we loaded the kids up with a picnic lunch and drove west to the mountains.  We got up to the park and ate our lunch by one of the creeks.  Then we started our "short walk" to the falls.  Well, whoever wrote that article lied!  After 45 minutes through mud and over rocks and through tunnels of trees through the woods, we were only a mile down the 1.5 mile path.  Plus, a storm had blown up and it was raining and thundering.  Will and I had to make the really hard decision to turn around and trudge back to the car without ever seeing any waterfalls.  It was a huge lesson for Anna about "going with the flow" and Jack was a trooper keeping up with us most of the time.  They played in the creek back by the car for a few minutes, but all of us were wiped out from our hike.

Oh well.  We did go somewhere that I knew no one and got to play in a creek, so I guess we half-way accomplished our goal.  And Will was so positive and refrained from calling me a raving lunatic, which I so appreciated.  Maybe next time we'll be more prepared!!  We chalked it up to a great family adventure! ;)

Jack's Big Boy Bed

Our Third Little Angel

The reason why I haven't blogged ALL SUMMER LONG is because I was pregnant.  We found out in June and my due date was February 10th, right after Jack was to turn 3.  We were so excited, but cautious, since I had two miscarriages in between Anna and Jack.  I had the normal first trimester exhaustion along with night sickness.  In the morning, I felt fine.  But as the day wore on, I would become more and more nauseated, finally sequestered to the couch almost every night praying I would actually get sick so that I might feel better.  Poor Will was so supportive and helped so much.  He pretty much had to take over when he got home from work because most nights I had to lay down once he got home.

Miraculously, I made it through the first trimester and we had heard the little heart beat multiple times.  They even scared me with an ultrasound to check to see if there was just one baby because I was measuring bigger than my dates.  We got to see one little precious baby moving all around, so much so that the tech could barely get its measurements!  We had gotten over the hump, so we let our guard down a little bit.  We told friends and family.  We talked about it often with Anna and Jack.  We ordered Jack big boy furniture because we thought we would be putting together a nursery pretty soon. We had started to get excited about it.

On Wednesday, August 28th, Anna's third day of kindergarten, I went to my 16 week OB visit.  They couldn't find a heartbeat and we found out that our precious little one had become an angel. I had a procedure the next day and have spent the last few weeks trying to wrap my brain and my heart around all of it.  I had prayed so hard and had tried to listen to what God was leading us to do about our family.  I had been so confident that having a third child, despite my Crohn's situation, was what He wanted us to do.  Now I'm left hurt and confused and numb.  I know with time and more prayer, a new path will become evident.  But it is so painful to wade through the grief to get there.

We had such an outpouring of support from friends and family.  Just the small note or text or email was so huge, letting us know we were being lifted up in prayer.  The hardest part is answering Anna's questions:  Why did this happen?  Why didn't God want us to have a baby right now?  Are we ever going to have another baby? 

I don't know, sweet girl...I just don't know.

My favorite thing that she says is the random (and I mean random--in the bathtub, sitting at the breakfast table, riding down the road), out of the blue, "Mommy, I really wish we had been able to keep that baby." Me, too.  Me, too.

I will just have to wait and hold my precious baby in heaven.

Anna's First Day of Kindergarten

It's just so hard to believe that the little tiny baby girl that we brought home from the hospital just days ago, it seems, is now old enough to go off to kindergarten.  She is so ready and has been asking about kindergarten since Christmas.  Her Daddy and I just hope and pray that she will continue to love school and that she has a fantastic year.  We can't wait to watch as she learns and grows this year.  We love you so much, our sweet Anna, and are so proud of you!

Mrs. Hayes and Ms. Hamilton

I'm so proud of myself for holding it together that morning!

Her favorite part of the day: riding the bus home!