Ethan 3 months

Ethan James you are 3 months old! Here's a little bit about you right now. 

You have big blue eyes and fluffy light brown hair.

Wear a size 1 diaper and O-3 month clothes although you are slowly moving into 3-6 months. 

Inconsistent is the name of the game with you! You nap well if it is quiet and Mommy is holding you, however with a 2 year old sister, that doesn't happen often. On rare occasions you will fall asleep in the car and sleep for a few hours. 

Most of the time you scream in the car. It makes driving a stressful experience!

You love to chew on your hands.

You sleep better at night time and usually go 6-8 hours to start with and then shorter stretches after that. You are typically in bed by 7:30pm. 

You eat every 2 1/2-3 hours during the day and are getting much better at taking a bottle. 

Breathing is still a bit of an issue with you although we are hoping you grow out of whatever it is very soon!

You are much more smiley and happy now than you were a month ago. Maybe the Colorado air is doing some good for you! 

We love you and are so glad that you are part of our family! 

Movin on Up!

So quite a few things have happened since my last post. I'll do a quick rundown and then get to the real reason for this post.

 Ethan James Lomicka was born Friday August 24th at 1:22 pm weighing 7 lbs 12 oz and 20.5 inches long.  He is pure sweetness in a tiny package!

Chuck and Cheryl stayed for 2 weeks and blessed us by preparing meals, doing errands, and playing with Emma. 

Mom and Dad Montgomery came to visit too. They had lots of fun chasing Emma around and holding Ethan.

This crazy girl started preschool 2 days a week to get some extra social interaction and to give Mommy some time alone with Ethan. She's growing so fast and her vocabulary expands every day. She loves to run to Matt when he gets home from work and yell  "Daddy! Daddy! I miss you too!" It's one of the cutest things I have ever seen. She is pretty determined to do things herself and doesn't appreciate it when you try to do it for her. The most recent is putting her shoes on by herself. I'd say she's got about a 40% success rate for getting them on the right foot!

AND..... the big announcement..... 

We're moving! That's right, we're crazy. Moving with a toddler and a newborn. But we like to do things the hard way I guess. We moved to Indiana when I was 5 months pregnant and now we're moving with a new baby. We are very excited to soon be enjoying this beautiful city!

Matt got a new job at a company outside of Denver. He starts very soon and we have to move ASAP. We can't wait to be closer to our family in CA and to have the Rocky Mountains in our backyard. We are looking forward to raising our kids camping, hiking, and snowboarding/skiing just as we were. 

Fort Wayne was a great experience for us and we've met many wonderful people along the way. We will be sad to leave our friends, our church, and to be moving away from Megan and James. Emma has made friends at MOPS, church, and preschool but we are glad that she is young enough to start over without too much trouble. Please be in prayer for all of us during this time of transition. 

the little gymnast

You may remember me mentioning that Emma has been taking gymnastics classes for about 6 weeks. At her age it is not really "gymnastics" but more of an obstacle course that improves their strength, balance, and coordination. I have noticed a big improvement in Emma's strength and ability to navigate through different things since we started. We went to the park the other day and she decided that the handrails would work well as a hanging bar. (Pardon the bathing suit. We were at the splash pad)

The approach

The initial jump

Hang and swing! Look at those legs up. Way to use your muscles Emma!

I think we'll continue these classes through the fall for as long as Emma is having a good time :) When she turns 3 then she can start a real introduction to gymnastics class! For now we'll enjoy our Mommy and Me class and keep working on her skills :)

What we've been up to

Sorry it has been so long! Things have been a little busy around here. Matt went on a hiking trip the last week in June, we had a crazy storm, we've been busy preparing the house for the baby, and I had a baby shower. That about covers it! Here are some pictures of our recent adventures.

We played with friends in the pool.

We played at Science Central

Lost shingles in the storm

Matt's poor truck

The tree that shed it's limbs. You can really see how dry it is here. Everything is completely dead.

What used to be our tree. It's now a stump.

4th of July cutie

More updates coming soon!

31 Weeks

How far Along: 31 weeks

Approximate Size of Baby: 3 1/2 - 4 lbs and 16 or so inches

What's Baby Up to This Week: (according to my pregnancy calendar) He's busy gaining weight and filling out. His lungs continue to mature and his brain is growing. 

Weight Gain: 5 pounds. Holding pretty steady, but guessing I'll put on a few (or many) more in the next 8 weeks before he's born :) 

Gender: BOY!!

Symptoms: My right hip is pretty much a constant pain and Insomnia is nuts. I can't sleep at all. I usually go through a cycle of 4 or 5 days of not sleeping well and then I sleep like a rock the next night. 

What I Miss Most: Sleeping on my stomach and steaming hot baths. Sleep in general :) 

What I'm looking forward to this week: Some quality time with Emma while Matt takes a few days to backpack with the boys in the Upper Peninsula.  

28 weeks... A Day Early

Pregnancy Highlights

How far Along: 28 weeks

Approximate Size of Baby: 2 1/2 lbs and 15 inches

What's Baby Up to This Week: (according to my pregnancy calendar) His brain is growing like crazy, he's adding fat to his body, and his eyes are starting to filter light. He may even start to recognize my voice. 

Weight Gain: 4 pounds

Gender: BOY!!

Symptoms: Still struggling with some sciatica pain but trying to be a trooper about it. Insomnia and some nasal congestion. But I'll take it over the constant nausea I felt for 9 months with Emma!

What I Miss Most: Sleeping on my stomach and steaming hot baths

What I'm looking forward to this week: Our first family vacation with just the 3 of us next week and taking Baby Boy on many trips in the future!

**Matt asked why I hadn't been taking any pictures of my belly this time around since I did one a week with Emma from about 18 weeks on. I guess I better get with it because this poor baby isn't going to have anything documented! 

Potty Training

Well, its back to just the 3 1/2 of us since Matt's parents left on Tuesday so we figured we better get back to work on the potty training. I am really tired of changing Emma's diapers and she's tired of wearing them. Not to mention the fact that they are considerably more expensive the bigger your child gets. We don't have any plans made for the next few days so I will be staying at home and working on getting her to use the potty. This morning I went in and got her up and we went straight to the potty. She didn't pee but she did sit there. Of course, her diaper was extremely wet so I may have missed it already. After that we didn't put a new diaper on. We put on the Minnie Mouse pan.ties that she picked out at Targ.et and had a talk about how big girls wear pan.ties and pee on the potty and she didn't need her diapers any more. She sits on the potty quite frequently but so far nothing has happened. We haven't had any accidents yet today, but I'm sure we'll get there. Fingers crossed that she starts to catch on soon! 

23 Weeks and Counting

I'm now 23 weeks and a few days pregnant with Little Boy. Since the first trimester ended I am feeling pretty good. Occasionally I feel rather exhausted, but nothing too bad. My back has been pretty bad and I've been having horrible sciatica flare ups. For those that may not know, I had surgery on my left foot to correct some problems I had with the bones being in the wrong places and joints being dislocated. These problems were hereditary and I happen to have it on both sides of my family. Lucky me! Most people in my family have the problem on both feet. I only had it on one, but with a greater severity. So in high school I had it fixed with a pin and screws and 4 months of crutches. Apparently 15 years of my foot being that way affected the way I walk, my growth plates in one leg, and a number of other things.

 I am supposed to wear hard, molded inserts in my shoes to help correct my posture and gait. Only I don't. They don't fit in most shoes and I mostly just forget about them. Back pain has been an issue for years but i mostly just deal with it. I guess it's not something I ever thought would change so you just learn how to live with it. Unfortunately, pregnancy shifts everything and the pain has become unbearable at times. I limp a lot and have difficulty sleeping. So, I finally went to see a physical therapist at my Dr's recommendation. An appointment I thought would last 30 minutes ended up taking an hour and a half! I was pretty shocked and so was the Physical Therapist. Apparently I should have sought out some kind of care sooner! Ha! My spine is so out of whack and my hips are way off along with a number of other things. I left armed with homework and strict instructions to wear my inserts from now on, or at least until the end of my pregnancy. If Matt has his way, I'll wear them forever and never wear another pair of sandals or heels. We'll see about that....

Baby Boy

Yep, at 22 weeks gestation the little man is still nameless. And no, even if we had chosen his name we still wouldn't tell you! Don't take it personally, we did the same thing with Emma. Matt says that everyone already knows its a boy so we should keep his name as a surprise until he's born. I'm okay with that.

Things are going smoothly so far. First 14 weeks were rough but now I feel pretty good nausea-wise. Occasionally I feel rather exhausted but I think that's to be expected with a 2 year old :) Sciatic pain has been annoying but overall, I can't really complain.

22 weeks down, 18 to go.... more or less.... you know, cause I wouldn't mind if he decided to come a week early ;)

Birthday Girl

Emma Catherine turned 2 on Friday April 6th. She is now 34 1/2 inches tall (75%) and weighs 30lbs (85%). She enjoys playing outside, blowing bubbles, eating snacks and watching Minnie Mouse. Current dislikes include eating vegetables, coming inside when she wants to play, and leaving Mommy's side. She is starting potty training and likes to get herself dressed. She can get her own shoes on and can pull on her pants up to her thighs but cant get them on completely. It's pretty funny to watch her learn new things all the time. She's very vocal, especially when she sees one of us after we've left for a little while. It's quite a greeting!

Watching Minnie Mouse

Cheesing it up for the cameras

Helping Daddy put together her new soccer goal.

We love you so much sweet girl! We love watching you learn and grow everyday.

Who would've thought?

Who would have thought that my pearl wearing, sparkle shoe loving, squealing girly girl 

would love to play in the dirt so much? Certainly not me! Emma can't get enough of being outside. We hear "out si. out si. Shoes shoes!" All day long. Emma knows that she has to put her shoes on before going outside so she always goes to get them first. The bad news is that she can reach all of the door handles and open them because they are the pull down lever kind. The good news is that she can't reach the dead bolt.

Emma has been helping us with the garden expansion. Here she is raking up wood chips. This summer I'll have a gardening buddy! Now if only I could teach her how to pull the weeds!

Little Super Star

With the weather being so nice we are trying to get outside as often as possible. 

 We took a nice walk after dinner yesterday. There is a nice path behind our neighborhood that goes straight down the road for a little over a mile. We usually walk to the end and back. This time Emma decided that she'd rather walk than sit in her stroller. She loves to explore the outside. She picked up rocks, leaves, and pinecones and pointed out many different things. She's so much like Matt in that way.

She got some new sunglasses. She cracked us up with them. What a little super star. She went back and forth between wearing them and holding them in her hand. A young couple approached from the opposite direction and she slipped them on, looked up with her cutest smile and said "hiiiiiii". We were cracking up. Someone knows they are cute!

Pretty Winter Days

This winter has been a lot warmer than usual. We haven't had as much snow as we normally do and for that, I am very grateful. When it is sunny and warm enough to play outside Emma and I have been trying to take advantage of the day. She likes to run to the fence and see if the boys next door are playing out back. Here are some pictures of her backyard adventures.

Running to see if the boys are there

She can see them!

Asking to go play next door

Running to the gate

We hope there are many more warm days in our future!

Uh oh

In the last week I went from this

To this:

I think morning sickness is officially gone (Fingers Crossed!) I have hit a very hungry phase. I'm trying to be smart about the things I snack on, but there are so many things that DON'T sound good. I usually end up eating whatever I can stomach at the time. I don't want to blow up like a balloon, so I'll have to watch it. For some reason I don't think I'm only going to gain 14 lbs like I did with Emma.   :/    ugg

Phone Dump

So I don't have a cool IPhone that lets you post pictures online really easily. BUT, my phone does have a chip that I can take out and upload pictures the old school way. Sorry about the orientation and quality. Like I said, its old school. Here are some random pics from my phone.

Morning snuggles with Mama

What? All the cool kids travel like this.

Planking

Bibs are for babies.... and Mommy does a LOT of laundry

The most effective means of watching Bubble Guppies. 

She wears my strand of pearls everywhere. Such a girl!!!

I left my heart in San Francisco

Matt and I went to San Francisco last weekend for a little R & R without Emma. We left her at home with our wonderful friend Amy. 

We were lucky to have beautiful weather while we were there. It was 65 and sunny every day which allowed for a lot of sight seeing and walking around. We got to do all of the fun touristy things like going to the Golden Gate bridge, touring Alcatraz, going to Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, the Ferry Building, and Ghiradelli Square. We also got to see my college roommate and friend Annalisa and her husband Dave.  It was such a great weekend and I'll post more pictures when Matt gets home with the camera. He had to stay in S.F. for the week on business. Emma and I will be very happy when he gets home on Friday night!!

Party of 4!

Sorry to leave you all hanging. Things have been a bit crazy around here. Matt's busy at work, I'm busy with Emma and church, and Emma is just busy being a toddler :) We finally let the cat out of the bag this week and announced that we are pregnant with #2! We are very excited to become a family of 4 sometime towards the end of August. I'm 10 1/2 weeks pregnant and no, I have not been feeling well. But its all part of the process and I really can't complain too much. Emma keeps me busy so I don't have time to sit and wallow :)