The MASSIVE Blog Update

Okay, I know I have been gone for way too long, but I have good reason :) I have been very busy!

So I will give you a quick update on all the happenings in our lives!

1) You probably already noticed my new blog design! I have been wanting to do a custom design for quite some time, and I finally bit the bullet and am so happy with how it turned out! If you want a new design please check out my friend Lauren's design site. The link can be found by scrolling down the blog, left hand bottom :)

2) Peter and I went to Disneyland and had a great time! I had no idea just how badly I would miss the boys, but it was still so nice to get away and NOT have any responsibility for a few days! It was a bit of a rough trip for me (see #7) but we still had a really good time!

3) Elias turned 7 months (mommy fail by not doing that update!) and is just about to hit the 8 month mark. He is really starting to figure out the crawling thing and we are going to have two mobile babies very soon!

4) Malachi is 17 months and will be 18 months very soon. I can't believe how quickly he is growing. He is starting to learn his letters (thank you Sesame Street) and just seems like such a big boy now. Oh well, I can't keep him small forever (not that he was ever "small").

5) I have been really enjoying Pinterest and have been less and less enthused by Facebook. In the coming weeks I hope to try some of the more crafty projects but for now, I have tried some of the recipes. I would not be a good friend if I did not pass this one on for your enjoyment: Sopapilla Cheesecake

And now for the BIG things that have happened in our life:

6) Peter PASSED his CPA exams!!! Seriously, I know some of my blog readers were praying for us in this area so I can't thank you enough! This summer was HARD, with me juggling the kids all the time while Peter hit the books none stop, but it paid off big time! We didn't even realize how there has been this balloon of pressure hovering over us for the past 3 years and now that ball of stress has blown away and we can finally move on with our lives :) It feels pretty darn good! For the first time in our lives together, Peter will not be studying for something and we can actually just live! God really made it clear to us 3 months ago that we needed to buckle down and get this thing done. We didn't fully understand the urgency at the time, but now with big update #7 we understand why:

#7)

Yes, that would be another baby you see there! At the beginning of August we discovered that we would be adding another member to our family. To say I spent a few weeks in shock would be a total understatement. But then the morning sickness showed up and that quickly gave me a dose of reality that this WAS happening! A few weeks ago we went in for our ultrasound and getting to see your baby for the first time, well there just isn't much equal to it in the world. I was a huge ball of nerves going in, just afraid that something would be wrong, but everything looked perfect and it is just so cool to see this teeny tiny little blob of a baby with a little heart beating away!

We have an official due date of April 25th, but with Elias coming a month early we are definitely at an increased risk of another premature delivery. As the pregnancy progresses that will be of bigger concern. I will do everything in my power to avoid another NICU stay.

As I approach the second trimester, the morning sickness has let up drastically. I was disappointed that the second pregnancy came with morning sickness too, but it is going away a full 10 weeks earlier than it went away last time so I can't complain :)

There you go. Now that the exhaustion and nausea are subsiding, I will definitely do a better job of blogging!