Year in Review 2016

Before we begin a new year, I want to share some highlights from 2016.  Despite what most people are saying, I think 2016 was a great year filled with lots of highs and only a few lows.

January

We rang in 2016 at home with just the four of us and I was completely surprised that both girls made it until midnight.  Later in January, we took the girls to Science City (for the first time) with Kaitlyn's preschool class.

February

February brought Valentine's Day and a few days of spring like temperatures. The highlight of February was spending a day at the zoo with friends.

March

March included all things Easter. Pretty dresses, egg hunts and coloring Easter eggs.  It also brought some beautiful spring weather and a couple visits with cousins (in Oklahoma and KC).

April

The highlight of April was spending a weekend at Great Grandma Bogle's house.  April also included an incredible low.  The loss of a dear cousin's husband.

May

The month began with my 34th birthday.  It also included Kaitlyn's first preschool program and the last day of preschool, meeting two new cousins (Gracie and Ava), and the building of our firepit.

June

June was full of fun!  It began with the Italian Fest, Kaitlyn's first dance recital, staycation #1 (Legoland, Find Dory in 3D, Fritz's and the park), Father's Day, and another trip to Great Grandma Bogle's house.

July

We celebrated the Fourth of July and the girls loved watching all of the fireworks.  July marked the start of our kitchen remodel, which took much longer than expected.  We also enjoyed staycation #2 (two trips to Worlds of Fun, Deanna Rose, and the zoo), and another movie in 3D.

August

Madi turned 3 and celebrated with an Ariel party.  We enjoyed our last long weekend of the summer.  We had our first (and hopefully our last) experience with hand, foot, and mouth disease.  Kaitlyn had a very mild case of it, but Madi's was quite severe.

September

I had my getaway since becoming a mom.  I had a great time in Nashville celebrating with Staci and her friends for her bachelorette party.  Top Coat Cash was officially finished and ready for distribution.  Kaitlyn also started pre-k.

October

Such a busy month!  David's film was picked up for distribution by Indie Rights, we found out that we are expected baby K#3, we were all in Staci and Justin's wedding, and trick or treating without a coat.

November

November brought the start of the holiday season. It also bought the worst pregnancy symptoms I've every experienced.  

December

Lots of Christmas traditions...Crown Center, Union Station, decorations and more.  Kaitlyn turned 5 right before Christmas and we found out that we will be completing our family with the addition of a little boy.

I hope everyone has a safe New's Years Eve and a happy and healthy 2017.

Elf on the Shelf 2016

The holiday season is almost over, which makes me both happy and sad.  I love everything about Christmas, but I'm more than ready for the order to be restored within our house.  One of the things that I am more than happy to pack up is our elf, Sally.  While I really enjoyed watching the girls excitement every morning, its quite the commitment to make sure she moves every night.  I am impressed that I remembered to move her every night.  It really helped having a list of where she would move to every night.  Hopefully, I can be just as organized next year.  Here are the the 28 things that Sally did this year.  It all started with our First Annual North Pole Breakfast.

   See you next year Sally!

Christmas Traditions

I LOVE Christmas and everything about it!  As the girls are getting older, I can tell that they love it just as much as I do.  I don't remember any specific Christmas traditions from my childhood except for putting the tree up on Thanksgiving night.  I don't want our girls to grow up and not remember how we prepped for this important holiday.  Here is a list of our Christmas traditions (in no particular order).

1) Put up our tree and decorate the house (usually the weekend before Thanksgiving)

2) Visit Crown Center and see Santa (We usually go there a couple times, but only see Santa once.  The girls love to climb on the outside decorations, visit the toy store, eat at Fritzs, and see the waterfall at the Westin.)

3) Elf on the Shelf

4) Drive around looking at lights

5) Make a gingerbread house

6) Read the Christmas story from two of our children's Bibles

7) Weekly pajama party watching Christmas movies (Current favorites are The Polar Express, Home Alone 1 and 2, and Jim Carey's How the Grinch Stole Christmas)

8) Read "The Night Before Christmas" and other Christmas stories

9) Make Christmas cookies (This is new this year.  We usually make some for Santa, but I'd like to make more than one kind this year.)

10) Visit Union Station

11) See the Plaza Lights (new this year)

I want to add an advent calendar to our traditions, but I'm not sure if it will happen this year.

Crown Center visit #1

Crown Center visit #2

Holiday Express at Union Station

We did better than I expected this year and completed almost everything on our list.  We haven't made Christmas cookies yet, but it will be happening tomorrow (Santa needs cookies).  It looks like we won't be making a gingerbread this year.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Katilyn is 5!!!!

Happy 5th Birthday, Kaitlyn!  How can you already be turning five?  These last five years have been nothing short of incredible.  You have really blossomed this past year and I have enjoyed watching you change. No longer are you the little girl who is pinned to my side or cries every time I leave the house.  In fact, you often say that you would rather stay home instead of running errands with me.  You have done a complete 180 from last year.
In the last few months, you have become very social and now engage with strangers with we are in public.  You are incredibly intelligent and amaze with how much you have learned this past year.  You love school (pre-kindergarten, as you are quick to point out) and dance.  You are an awesome big sister to Madi (most of the time) and I am positive that you we be great with your little brother.

This year we celebrated your birthday at Chuck E Cheese (again) with all of your friends and most of of your family.  You wanted a Rainbow Dash cake that was a rainbow on the inside too and I did my best to comply with your wishes.

You were so excited about your cape, tiara, and balloons.  You have asked for balloons for the last three years, but this is the first time we bought any.

You loved the ticket blaster, but didn't get any tickets.  Our Chuck E Cheese host felt bad, so he gave you 1000 tickets.

 On your birthday, we had chocolate donuts in daycare for breakfast and rainbow cupcakes for snack.  All of your daycare friends enjoyed celebrating your special day.  On Wednesday, you took mini cupcakes to school the celebrate.  This was your first time to get to celebrate your birthday at school.

We ended your birthday with presents and {more}cupcakes with Mama, Daddy, and Madi.

This Rainbow Dash was your favorite present.

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn Noel!!  You were (and will always be) our best Christmas present!

3 Months Pregnant with Baby K #3

I can't believe that it is already the week before Christmas.  The month of December always flies by and this year has been no exception.  So far this month we have decorated our house inside and out, visited Crown Center twice (Santa once), Union Station, driven through the Plaza to see the lights, and celebrated Kaitlyn's birthday (which we will celebrate again tomorrow).   While it's sounds like it been a pretty monthv (and it has in many ways), there has also been more than enough sickness. I caught David chest cold right before Thanksgiving and it left me without a voice for a week.  I was healthy for just two weeks before catching another cold and strep.  I'm hoping that the next month brings better health.

How Far Along: 3 months (14 weeks today)

Size of Baby: Lemon

Gender:  BOY!!

Weight Gain: just under 3 pounds 

Milestone: First sonogram and revealing the gender to our family and friends

Food Cravings: This is strange for me since I didn't have any cravings with the girls.  I have craved crushed ice, frozen orange, mozzarella string cheese, and just about anything salty. Cheez its have been my go to snack, but really anything salty especially pickles and chips.  I doesn't seem matter how much salty food I eat, I never get sick.  Unlike some healthier options.

Food Aversions: Coffee.  I gave up caffeine when I was pregnant with the girls, so I don't know if I would have an aversion to it before.  Up until week 9, I had no problem drinking one cup a day.  After that, it started tearing up my stomach.  Pineapple juice does the same thing.

Movement: I started feeling a few flutters around week 13.  They are very spratic, but since I've been pregnant before, I know they are definitely the baby.

Sleep: I have been sleeping great, just lots of waking up due to nausea or having to pee.

Clothing: Still my regular wardrobe, but some of my pants are getting tight.  They all still button, but I no longer have to wear a belt. Flowy shirts have been my friend.

Other Pregnancy Symptoms: Nausea, lack of energy, and feeling full no matter how much I eat.

What I Miss: Coffee.  It smells wonderful, but I'm still afraid to try it. 

Best Moment: Learning our the results of my extra testing (everything was negative) and of course, the gender

Looking Forward To: Watching the bump grow--except I for the lack of comfort that comes with that!!!  But....like I said before I definitely want to enjoy this pregnancy seeing that it's my last!!

Here are my bump photos from the past month!  Follow me on Instagram (@hklinginsmith) for a weekly (or biweekly) glimpse!

It's a ...

It's a ...

When I was pregnant with Kaitlyn, I had never heard of a gender reveal party.  We found out her gender at my 16 week ultrasound and shared the news with it's a girl balloons for our moms and photocards for the rest of our family.

When I was pregnant with Madi, I really wanted to do some kind of reveal with our family.  Since David couldn't make it to my 16 week ultrasound, I had the gender sealed in a envelope.  I had fully intended to share the news over dinner with our parents.  However, David really wanted to know so I opened the envelope while we were both at work and we found out together over the phone.

With this being my last pregnancy, I wanted to do something special to share the news with our family.  The girls (especially Kaitlyn) understand that there is baby in my tummy and I wanted them to be a part of the reveal.  When given the option at my 10 week appointment to either have a level II ultrasound or have an informed pregnancy screening done, I opted for the blood test.  I chose the blood test for two reasons.  The first one was because I would have to have someone (my mom) cover daycare for me if I had the ultrasound and that would be challenging with her end of the semester schedule.  The other reason was because the blood test could be done in the office and three of the abnormalities that it tested for were related to the sex chromosomes, therefore telling us the gender.

My appointment was during the week of Thanksgiving, so I expected the results to take a little longer than usual.  We impatiently waited for the doctor call.  After two weeks of waiting (we were told it would take one - two weeks), I couldn't wait any longer so I called the office.  Nurse Karen returned my call and said that everything was negative and the baby was healthy.  I was really happy that everything was normal (I assumed it was since no one had called.  No news in usually good news.), but I still wanted to know the gender.  When I asked about it, Karen said that it wasn't recorded.  At this point, I was pretty bummed.  I was totally prepared to wait until my 20 week ultrasound to find out, but when I was told we would know sooner I got excited.  She said she would try to have it added to the results, but couldn't promise anything.  She said that I could have another blood draw if they couldn't get it.  I definitely didn't want to do that because I already have to fight insurance to cover this required test.  Karen called back later that day and told me that she would have the results with in a day or two.  I was completely surprised when she called back at 5:15 pm the next day with results.

I thought about letting my mom find out for us and then having her bake cake, but ended up deciding that they best way to share the news would be to tell them at Kaitlyn's birthday party, which was on Saturday.  At the end of her party, we had both girls open the balloon filled box.

It's a Boy!!  Some how I didn't get a picture of the  box when they opened it.

We are so excited to be adding a little BOY to our family!  I look forward to adding a little blue to our pink and purple filled house.