Grrrrr.....

Time for a vent......

Yes, we know how babies are made. Pretty sure I'm done hearing that joke. Already.
Don't refer to this as an "accident." A baby is a blessing, whether planned or a surprsie.
No, I'm not having twins. Yes, I'm positive.
Yes, we'll be busy. It's OK. Pretty sure we can handle it. If we have trouble, we know we have people we love that will help us out.

That's all for now. Can you tell the hormones are raging?

And Now for Something Competely Different....

I guess it's time to formally let everyone know our news. Most of our family already knows.

Despite all of the struggles we had becoming pregnant with both Blake & Ava, we have been blessed with the coming of a 3rd baby.....as a complete surprise! We both had it somewhat in our heads (& hearts) that we wouldn't become pregnant without medicinal aid. What a shock we had when we got home from our trip. Apparently God has a bit of a sense of humor & has allowed us to become parents again.

Now, we are the first to tell you what an incredible joy it is to be pregnant & have our children. But, I would be lying if I told you that this did not completely rock our world. The shock has not quite completely worn off. The nerves are still there. (After 2 miscarriages how could they not be?!) We both have these moments of thinking, "How in the world will we manage this!"

The past 2 weeks have been a time of reconnection for all of us. It has also been a time of adjustment to the idea of having 3 little ones.

Will we love this baby with our whole hearts?
-YES.
Will all of this work itself out?
-YES.
Will our lives be forever changed for the better with the newest member of our family?
-YES.
Are we completely freaked out that we will have 2 kids under 2?
- YES YES YES!

May God give us peace and sanity in the coming days/weeks/months. Everything else will work itself out.

Trip of a Lifetime!

Oh what a time we had this weekend! All 4 of us had such a great time on our trip & I know the memories will stay with us for a long time.

Both of the kiddos did WONDERFUL during the EIGHT hours that it took us to get from Lubbock to New Braunfels. Hardly a fuss out of either one & Blake even stayed accident free the whole time!!

We had a blast playing in the water & relaxing for 2 days. Blake even braved some slides with Danny. Ava & I splashed around the kid areas.

Then, we spent Monday at SeaWorld where I saw Blake's face light up more brightly than ever before. He loved feeding the dolphins, seeing the giant aquariums, riding a kiddie rollercoaster and was awed over Shamu. Of course, he then proceeded to wander off out of the play area by himself where he was found by a kind SeaWorld employee. And gave both of us near heart attacks.

All said, we all had an incredible time together & can't wait to travel together again! Here's some pictures:

The Calm After the Storm...

With our days so packed lately, things have been a little hectic at the Holwerda house. We've been running back and forth to the hospital (to see Grammy), getting Ava settled at her sitter, and playing host to my mom. Whew!

So, starting Friday, we will be taking a family vacation. The first one we've taken, in fact. (I'm not counting trips to see Noni & Grandad.) Especially with all 4 of us!

We will be heading to the Texas Hill Country and spending 2 days at Schlitterbahn. Then, we're going to spend an evening on the Riverwalk in San Antonio, followed by a day at Sea World! Since, I've never been to Sea World, I think I may be just about as excited as Blake. And he's pretty freakin' excited.

Danny & I are looking forward to some nice time with the kiddos without any other demands on our time/attention. It seems like some days it's all we can do to make it through the day.... needless to say we feel like we've been slacking on the "fun time" with Blake & Ava. We're definitely looking forward to focusing on US for a few days.

I'm sure everyone will be excited to see our pictures when we return.

Pirates of 77th Street

As a cheap and easy way to reward Blake for being incredibly patient during a long day of errands, we ended a recent weekend day at Toys R Us. Now, usually a stop here ranks way down at the bottom of the "fun" list for me, right along with cleaning toilets. However, $25 gift card in hand, we entered.

We started out with a very specific set of "things" we were looking for, including swim diapers for Ava to wear at Schlitterbahn. Of course, TRU being what it is, none of the actual things we needed were available. Sigh.

Poor Blake rode peacefully in the basket of the cart, only occasionally uttering the dreaded, "I want..." So, when we were about to leave & he spotted some foam swords, and asked for them, we caved.

It was completely worth it. He's so excited about them & loves running in the backyard with his Daddy to play pirates. Both of them got locked up in "jail" tonight. And both of them came in giggling and happy.

A complete value at a mere $5.

Running Wild

You know how some people say they wish that their kid had more imagination? Well, not us.....we haven't been able to call Blake by his actual name in over a week, nor have we been called by our actual names. The dear boy has such an imagination that his identity is changed daily.

One day he might be Spiderman & shoot webs at us, attack "bad guys", & help save his sister.

Another day he's a rocket ship zooming through.....everywhere......

And, we've already covered the squirrels. He loves squirrels. And other animals.

Maybe we have a really creative child who shares his father's love for drama & make-believe. Or maybe we have an undiagnosed schizophrenic. Only time will tell.

Diva of the House

Ava and I were playing the other day while Blake napped & I couldn't resist setting up some cute photo opportunities. Here is the princess at her sweetest!

Playing with the tea-set she got from Grammy:

Wrapped up in a feather boa (doesn't every diva have one?):

And, examining her shoe collection closely:

This girl makes us smile so much. Especially her brother.