I'm Back

Wow! This has been an adventure trying to get logged back into this blog that I started in 2005 before Alaina was born. Inspired by two of my friends Sarah Bass and Linda Smith, I have decided to "rejoin" the world of blogging. (If you could even consider me a blogger to begin with having only written three previous posts!) So here I am, hoping to stick with it this time. I guess since my husband, Aaron, is the gifted writer of the family and a successful blogger I have always thought I would leave it up to him. However, after reading other moms blog about their kids and daily life, I thought I should recount some of the events of the past fours years in our life. But before I start let me warn you I am not a writer and my grammar skills leave much to be desired. So if you decide to read this blog please read out of support and not as a critic, because I can assure you correcting all my grammar errors will be a full-time job. (I do realize that some of you may take that as a challenge).

Where to begin? It feels weird to go all the way back to the birth of our first child, Alaina, our beautiful and very intelligent daughter, but that is where I left off 7 weeks before she was born. So here it is in a condensed version. Alaina Rose was welcomed into the world on November 19th at 12:11 am, after 29 hours of labor. She was immediately taken to NICU because she had swallowed some meconium and the umbilical cord had been wrapped around her neck twice. Thankfully, she was only in there for a short time. She was a healthy baby weighing 8 lbs 2oz and 20 and 1/4 inches long. What a blessing! Over the next few months our lives changed dramatically and wonderfully as we watched her transition through all the normal stages of development. By her first birthday she was already saying several words and putting together small phrases and soon began to walk at 14 months. Astonished by how quickly she picked up words and started speaking in full sentences, we knew we had a "smarty" on our hands. Alaina soon began to enjoy her favorite show, Dora, and singing a few of her favorite songs. While enjoying all the little moments with her we were surprised to find out that we were expecting our second little miracle.

This time around we were having a boy and although the pregnancy was a little tougher with him, it was still bearable. I continued to work as a second grade teacher through the end of the 2006-2007 school year and decided to resign my position to become and full-time mommy. So our second little blessing, William Aaron, was born on September 23 at 1:14 am after 25 hours of labor. No complications just a healthy baby boy weighing 8 lbs 12 oz and 21 inches long. How strange it was to be thrust back into the baby stage with night-time feedings and a lot less sleep. But, much like Alaina, Will soon began sleeping through the night and the transition was moving along nicely. What I didn't mention was Will was born only a week after moving into our first house, so while taking care of two kids I was still unpacking boxes and turning our house into a home.

So without laying out all the details of the last 4 years I will bring you up to date with us now. Alaina is 3 years old and very inquisitive about everything. She loves learning and is already counting to 20 and to 100 by tens. She knows how to spell her full name (first, middle, and last). Also, she knows some Spanish words from watching Dora and likes to make up other "Spanish" words. She is a very good singer and loves to entertain us with songs she has made up on her own. Will is a very solid 1 year old weighing 31 lbs only 4 lbs less than Alaina. He will be two next month and spends most of his time trying to keep up with his big sister. He has begun to put words together and usually says phrases with 4 or 5 words. He also loves to sing although his version of the song rarely sounds like the original ("Linkle, Linkle, Little Car"). He has picked up some Spanish words and he spells his name with prompting and counts to 10 (kind of). They are both excited that mommy has a new baby in her tummy and when asked they will argue on whether it is a baby boy or girl.

I am about 18 weeks along and starting to feel better. The first trimester, or so was very trying with pregnancy symptoms. We are awaiting our appointment on September 1st, where we will have the option to find out the gender of the baby and check on its development so far. Well, for my first blog back I think I have covered a lot of ground. So if you are interested in continuing to hear about the happenings in our lives, please tune in as I am hoping to keep up with this blog on a semi-consistent basis.