Snow and Hot Chocolate

One snowy day, River and I went outside to play in the "tree snow cave." The heavy snow weighed the trees down in the back yard to form small caves and tunnels. River was in his glory. Mason watched from inside. He was not a fan of the deep snow. On other days, when both boys play outside, they always come in asking for hot chocolate and marshmellows of course. Here are a few pics to enjoy.

Dress up time with Cedar!

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The boys love to dress up in costumes. Thanks to Auntie and Uncle Chris giving River a bunch of Halloween costumes for Christmas, the boys are entertained for hours! Last week they decided to dress up with Cedar. It was hilarious! These were the best pics I could get of the cousins.

Our Visit with Mommom

River enjoying the snow racer with Preston

I'm back for a moment anyway...

So, we are all still alive, just way way busy. I anticipate this blog will be abandoned even more once baby #3 arrives. Yikes, that is less than 8 weeks away! Instead of trying to play catch up with Christmas and Thanksgiving, etc. I will just pick up with where we are now. River continues to tell me how big my belly is getting and how I take up almost all of the chair. Mason loves to pat my belly, lift my shirt and kiss the baby. I wonder what he actually understands. Tonight I told River, "Wow, these steps are getting hard for Mommy. The baby must be getting big." River said, "You should get one of those chair lift things..." I had to laugh b/c it is so true. Simple tasks are getting very difficult such as bending over to pick up something, washing dishes, changing Mason's diaper, helping Mason pee pee on the potty, changing the sheets on the beds, etc. Although everyone, including my doctor, is telling me that I am smaller with this baby, I'm feeling quite large:) We had a 2nd ultrasound a few weeks ago and the baby was in the 7oth percentile for weight, 3lbs. 13oz. We are getting so excited and are enjoying the beautiful 3d pics we received. River is going to be such a great big brother. He cannot wait to help. I bought him a big brother book 5 days ago and I have to read that book to him before nap and bedtime now. He loves it. It will be neat to see him with the baby since he is older now and will understand so much more than when we brought Mason home. Mason will be such a sweet big brother. He will keep us on our toes with being around the little one, potty training, and temper tantrums. I get sad to think that he is getting so big and I am eating up every moment I have with him for extra TLC and cuddle time. He is such a cuddle bug. The last 2 weeks have been very busy for us selling River's bed/bed table on craigslist, painting Mason's new room, picking out new mattresses for both boys, putting together their new twin beds (which will eventually be bunk beds), shopping for new sheets and now looking for bed tables and a dresser for Mason's new room. I have just started to wash baby clothing. A bit behind but hey, it will get done. Eventually we will paint the baby's room once Mason's room is complete and he is officially moved. I'll end right about here...

"River, we have something to tell you..."

Yesterday afternoon, River woke up from his nap so happy. Probably because Daddy was here:) We decided to tell him the news we had been keeping. Logan, grabbed River's hand and while rubbing my belly told River that "Mommy is going to have another baby. You know how you are a big brother to Mason, you get to be a big brother again to either a baby brother or sister." We explained that God has blessed us with another baby that is growing inside of Mommy's belly. River smiled with that huge smile of his and was delighted. He said, "maybe there is 2 or 3 or even 5 in there!" He was so happy and we assured him that there was only one. I was amazed at his response and we were careful about letting him feel special like he now knows the good news and can tell others. We kept it simple and continued our evening normally. But throughout the evening River asked over and over again if he could rub my belly and "touch it" while grinning from ear to ear. He even ran over to Mason with such excitement and said, "Mason...Mommy is going to have a baby and we have to be really careful around her belly." He felt like such a big boy when he called Gaga and Poppa to tell them the news! It was too sweet and something I hope I will never forget. We enjoyed our woodstove fire last night while laying down in front of the fireplace as a family and even with Doah, I would catch River smiling every once in awhile and looking at my growing belly. I was so thankful for this response because I know the highs and lows of change in our lives, especially for River and Mason, that will take place when we transition from a family of 4 to a family of 5.

Cute sayings by the boys

On the way to school, we always play word games with River. One game is where we describe something with a few clues and the others guess. River's was so cute today. "What lives in the ocean, has a big hole on the top of it, and starts with Hump?" Daddy says.."Ummm a humpback whale?" River is always amazed when we guess it! Too cute. Another one that comes to mind, River said "what has 2 eyes and growls? Daddy guesses "Mommy?" Ha ha ha Honey...as we all laugh and River says, "Daddy, I meant an animal." All of this is going on while Mason is yelling "I spy a giraffe...etc. Gotta love the chatty car rides.

Mason was helping me unload the dishwasher today and fell off the chair and landed on his face on the dishwasher. Ouch. Then tonight, he was running naked (of course) and rammed into some chairs. Crying and limping walks over to me and says, "My boo boo broke open." There was no boo boo just a pink toe but that is how it felt to poor Mason. I'll usually ask what happened even though he is usually right near me and he will tell me "River" while crying, even though River could be upstairs putting his pj's on..keeps us laughing.

Never a dull moment with the boys, especially having a toddler in the house!