.the gender cake.

I wanted to know the gender of our babe last Thursday at the ultrasound - it took some convincing from Greg & friends before I agreed to wait three more days and find out with everyone else on Christmas Day.  But I am SO very glad I waited!!  It was such an exciting way to find out.  We had the doctor write down the gender and place it in an envelope (she added a picture, too).  We took the envelope straight to our friend, Renae's house and she made us a gender cake!  On Christmas Day after a delicious dinner we all (my parents & greg's parents and siblings included) gathered around for the 'unveiling' of the gender!  Kassidy cut the cake open to reveal....

BLUE!!

It's a BOY!!!

We are thrilled to be welcoming another little steeger man to the family.  :-)  We already know his name, and will reveal that soon. 

Thank you to everyone who is sharing the excitment with us!  We can't wait to meet our little boy and can't wait to share him with you!  :-)

.and baby makes five.

So I guess I'd better change the title of this blog. :-)

Pretty much all the world knows this...but in case you missed it....I got a little babe in my belly!!

Here he/she is at just 10 weeks:

We are now at 14.5 weeks and I am finally feeling SO good! That 1st trimester was awful!

Dr appt on Wednesday, and we'll hopefully get to hear the heartbeat for the 1st time!

We've SEEN the heart beat...just haven't heard it yet. Anxious to do so.

Even the third time around I am still baffled at the concept of a baby growing inside me.

It both amazes me...and creeps me out.

For example, I learned today that my baby can now pee. My baby is peeing inside me.

Hmm. Not sure how I feel about that. ;-)

Either way, there's a babe growing inside me and I fell in love with this little babe at the moment I saw him/her wiggle in my belly at our first ultrasounds.

*love*

Next time I post (unless I get motivated before) I will let you know if this little babe is a BOY or a GIRL! Woohoo!!!

.kristi.

it's a good thing my kiddos didn't grow up this fast...

as the last post mentioned, we got a puppy. =-)

he's a little bigger now. 30 lbs bigger and still growing...

he digs. he chews. he jumps up on the counter looking for a treat. he barks when we aren't with him. he won't stay of the couch, even though he knows for certain he isn't allowed there. he gets excited with the kids and has torn at least 3 holes in Landon's clothes. he's a puppy, that's for certain.

and he's a darned good puppy....

he house trained in 4 days. he sleeps great at night. he loves to cuddle. he is smart as can be - knows stay, come, sit, down, off, & shake. he waits to dig into dinner until you give him the ok, even though it's sitting there in front of him so enticingly. he is, for the most part, a very mellow puppy. he lays as close to us as he possibly can when we're watching tv at night. he's loyal & loving...

he's a fantastic little dog and he fits perfectly into our family.

so, in short, he's a keeper. =-)

we're getting a puppy!!!

*love* he gets to come home with us in 3 weeks!

freckles

freckles.

speckles.

angel kisses.

whatever they might be called,

i love them.

my little man has just one. one single freckle. it's on his toe...and then there's my girl. with a beautiful splash of them across her face.....

she doesn't like them. she asks me to photoshop them out when she sees me working on pictures. (and NO, i most certainly never do!)

this breaks my heart - my gosh it breaks my heart. i tell her over & over again how much i love them. people are starting to comment on them almost as often as they comment on her gorgeous natural curls. (she doesn't like those either).

it's funny how self critiquing can start so early. and if it's already this profound - what will her teenage years look like? ugh.

so i worry about her. i get annoyed that she's so concerned already about her outward appearance, about what other people will think. i am sad for her that she actually feels 'ugly' because of them. (her words, not mine). i worry she'll spend way too much time worrying about what other people think of her....i worry that i worry too much....

and then i take a step back, and i pray.

i pray that our daily reminders to her that her beauty comes from within will help her to avoid putting so much worth on her outward appearance.

i pray that God would show her what He sees when He looks at her. that she would know that He placed each one of those freckles on her face, curled each little curl, aligned each little tooth, and made her just the right height.....and that He made her in His image....and that there is absolutely nothing more beautiful than what God has made.

i pray that she feels beautiful.

inside and out.

and more than just a wordly beautiful.

but a beautiful that can come only from her creator.

"He has made everything beautiful in it's time."

Ecclesiastes 3:11

happy v-day

this picture is almost as cute as the moment that took place just before taking it.

me+ a (washable) red marker + the bottom of two kiddo's feet = lots and lots of giggles.

apparently the bottom's of their feet are very, very ticklish.

:-)

to all our friends and family who are close and far away,

WE LOVE YOU TONS & TONS!

happy valentines day!

love,
us

buh bye first baby tooth!

speaking of kiddos growing up too quickly...

my baby girl lost her first tooth last night!

she was chewing gum in the back seat of the van on our way to a daisies event and she said "uh, mom? my tooth fell out, it's in my hand!" :-)

she is the last of all her friends to lose their first tooth. in fact most of them are on their 3rd or 4th wiggly tooth. and as you can tell by the adult tooth that has almost fully taken it's place, this tooth had been loose for about 6 months. in fact, a few days ago the dentist told us if it isn't out in a few weeks, he'd have to take it out for her. he said that shouldn't be a problem, since all she'll have to do is sneeze hard and the thing should fall out. :-) she's not the type to pull a tooth out - she let it hang by a thread forever! her goal was to make sure it didn't bleed. i guess she heard me tell someone if you let the tooth fall out when it's ready and don't force it, it won't bleed. that's my girl!

so here's the little miss with her first tooth all gone. normally pictures of kid's teeth creep me out but she's my daughter so i love 'em. :-) sorry if you don't. :-) hehe.

stay this little, please

looking back over the old posts on this blog have me feeling a little, well, sad.

not that i don't love where we are now.

i love the freedom that comes with having "older" kiddos.

i love sleeping through the night.

i love conversations about real life stuff.

i love watching them grow into a young lady and a young man.

but amidst a busy school/dance/gymnastics/piano/soccer/daisies schedule

i get a little sad.

just a little sad that the 'little' years are going by so quickly.

but since this is the season God has us in at this time, i'm gonna love every minute of it.

and i do. :-)

the dancing. the laughter. the pretending. losing most races of Mario Kart to my 4 year old boy. playing veterinarian with my girl. tickling my little man without even touching him when ginourmous laughter erupts. having a fashion show with my girl. the snuggles. the kisses. the hugs. notes from my girl that say 'who could be a better mom?'.

cuz i know before i'm ready, it's all gonna be a memory from many blog posts back.

so i'm thankful for today. and i'm gonna lay by my girl for a bit every night she asks me to. cuz i don't do it enough. gonna make sure to chase, tackle, and tickle my little man at least once a day, too. cuz i can. :-)

thanks for reading. make sure to say yes to that one thing your kiddo always asks you to do. cuz pretty soon they won't ask any more and you'll wish you had said yes more often.

nite. :-)

starting new. again.

Ok, yes, it's been a really long time since I've been on this blog. After watching several friends in the last few days start a blog for their family or pick up again on their long lost blog (glad I'm not alone), I felt drawn to continue ours. So, for all you friends and family that live far away from us (which is about 75% of our relationships these days...cheers for the Air Force)....here's tid bits and up dates from our family of four in a web friendly way that doesn't involve Facebook!

So here's my goal. One post a week. I think I can handle that! And I promise each post will have a picture. Since pictures of cute kids and other random things are probably much more entertaining than any words I have to say, I'll try to keep my talking to a minimum. If that's possible for me. ;-)

With that said, I can't really start blogging again without a picture, right??? So here ya go. This is a picture of ice on the INSIDE of our windows this week. I guess -14 degrees and a lot of hot air will do that, right??? :-)

Oh, and while you are here check out the old posts below.....they are from almost TWO YEARS AGO!!!!