Reading through all the old posts, I must admit, I am feeling really guilty about stopping this blog and not documenting anything about Lincoln or River. Granted, it does get a lot harder once you have a second child (and even more so once you have a third) to find any free time but still, I feel really bad and sad that I don't have anything in here about the boys. Because of that,  I will start from the beginning - with Lincoln's birth. I'm sure a lot of you have heard this, but again, I'm writing this so I remember :)

Lincoln was another miracle baby. We had gone through 4 IVF rounds with no luck and we we're ready to start the 5th and final round of IVF treatments. At this point,  I had come to terms with the fact that Lilian might be our only child and that was ok.  Going into this last round of IVF I had to prepare myself for the reality of the situation. Anyone who has gone through IVF knows that there are so many emotions that come with the whole process - hopes and expectations, disappointment and heartbreak, and for the lucky ones happiness and gratefulness. This last round of IVF was it for us - we maxed out on our insurance benefits and I was done, spent - emotionally and physically drained.  My doctor started me on what would be the first of many medications. As part of the process, weekly and daily blood draws are necessary to keep track of your hormone levels and to determine what comes next - continue or stop with the medication, add more/less, start or add a new medication. I can't remember how long I was taking the first medication but when I went to get a blood test, surprise, surprise - I was pregnant and we didn't have to go through another IVF!

My pregnancy with Lincoln was not as easy as Lilian, but was also not hard. I was just a little more uncomfortable and felt a lot bigger. Lincoln was born 4 days overdue so that didn't help either. The day of his birth, we had gone to the zoo and did some serious walking, starting from the bottom of the zoo and headed up the big hill. I had felt twinges of contractions but nothing major. We went about our day and ended up going to our friends, John & Ann's house for dinner. That's when I felt my contractions coming a little more often but again, nothing big. After dinner, Ian decided to go to the casino about 45 minutes away and dropped me off at home. My mom had flown in a few days before my due date so she was at home with me and Lily. Around 9 pm, my contractions had been about 12 minutes apart for the last hour. I texted Ian just to give him a heads up. By 10 pm, contraction were about 10 minutes apart and still not painful. But around 11 pm I started to panic because the contractions were getting closer and started to feel more intense.  I told Ian he needed to come home and by the time he got there, I was in pain. I don't remember how close the contractions were but we called midwife and she said she would meet us at the birth center in 20 minutes. We were totally unprepared and Ian still had to put the carseat in the car before we left. Luckily, the birth center was a quick 5 minutes away and as soon as we got there, I was already dialated to 9.5 centimeters. I really wanted to have another water birth but Lincoln wouldn't wait until the tub was full so I got into a half-filled bathtub and with only a couple of pushes, Lincoln was born. It all happened so fast and it was such a blur. Lincoln, unlike Lilian, came into this world kicking and screaming so I like to describe his birth as "fast and furious".  Photos to come...

Wow! Time really does fly by so fast. I can't believe it's been over 2 years since my last post. A lot has changed in 2 years and it saddens me to think that I don't have a record of what's happened. Looking back at all my previous post I realized how important it is for me to be able to document what is happening in our lives and how much I enjoy being able to share and look back at all the memories we have had. I also have to admit that my memory is shot and I need this blog to help me remember! So, here I am, blogging again. I have a lot of updating to do on this blog - starting with putting up a new photo of our now family of FIVE :)... But that will have to wait until another day. I'm letting myself start back again slowly, baby steps... 

I can't believe it's been over a year since my last post! Time flies, that's for sure. Anyway, I've made a new commitment to keep this blog up to date and I'm starting with our recent trip to Puerto Rico. Then, I'll work my way back through the last year.... Here we go!

Lil, Lincoln and I were lucky enough to join Ian on a business trip to Puerto Rico a couple of weeks ago and we had a great time! We stayed at the El Conquistador Resort and spent most of the time soaking up the sun by the pool and playing in the sand on the resort's private beach. The weather was perfect - mid 80's and breezy during the day and 70's at night. Ian and I managed to get away the first night for an evening kayak trip to visit the bioluminescence bay (plankton that glow in the water) while one of Ian's co-workers watched the kids. It was an awesome excursion, although I did get a little freaked out kayaking in the canal to get to the bay. The trees hung over us and at times it was pitch black. As we entered the bay, the  water began to sparkle when our paddles touched the water and it looked like our kayak was leaving a trail of glitter behind. It was so cool! We also went on a day trip to Flamenco Beach in Culebra (picture above). We were supposed to leave on Monday but due to a winter storm in DC, our flight was cancelled and we got to stay another day and explored Old San Juan, which was super cute. 

I'm not going to make any excuses for not posting anything new, except to say that having a 2 year old really does keep us on our toes! She's becoming her own little person with her own little personality and ideas of what she wants and how things should be done. It's quite cute and funny most of the time but can be very frustrating and crazy making sometimes (i.e. insisting on sitting on the potty for over 45 minutes and screaming and crying when making her get off). And yes, we have started potty training. It's actually not as painful as I thought it would be and Lil's doing pretty well. We've learned that bribing her with M&M's is the magic trick. She is a non-stop chatterbox, talking, asking questions and singing from the moment she wakes up (at 6 am EVERY morning!) until she goes to bed. Her new favorite word now is "why?" and she loves to ask it 4-5 times in a row. She has to do everything herself and will say "NO! I'll do it" or "NO, I'm going to do ....". She likes to yell at Grizzly but also loves to give Grizzly and Squirrel big hugs. She likes to make us laugh by tickling us and making silly faces.  Every day keeps getting better and better...

We celebrated Lilian's 2nd birthday at the Playeum. It was an Elmo and Abby Cadabby party and she had such a great time. My parents flew in from Seattle for the celebration and Lil got to spend a lot of quality time being spoiled by them!

Lil LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba and was Foofa for Halloween! Our neighborhood organized a parade for little kids to walk around the neighborhood to go trick or treating together and has a band following them playing music. It was great! Lil only walked up to one house on her own and I had to carry her to the rest of them. Luckily, she didn't get too much candy and was only interested in the M&M's. 

(This was written last month but I forgot I started it so didn't get it posted on time). I can't believe I'm kinda on time with this entry. Right now, Lil's favorite thing to do is jump. She jumps in her crib, jumps on the couch, and tries very hard to jump on the ground. She can't quite get both feet up at the same time when she's on solid ground, but she will bend her legs and get down as low as she can to get more power and when she shoots up to jump but no matter how low she goes, that one leg just won't go up like the other one. It's so dang cute! She's also starting to talk in 2 and 3 word phrases like "More ice, Mama" (She's strangely addicted to chewing on ice) or "Come on Gizzy (Grizzly)" or "Where's Squirr-ree (Squirrel)?". Her personality and sense of humor is taking shape and she's become quite a little character who seems to crack us up all the time. Her other new thing is asking to look in the mirror to see what she looks like - not sure this is a good thing. She's also learning her numbers and can almost count to 13 by herself. She still says "NO" a lot but has added "OK" to her vocabulary and uses it at about a 1:3 ratio, which has been a refreshing change. Lastly, she is completely obsessed with Elmo and asks to watch Elmo's World at any and every opportunity she can. 

Not only have I been terrible at writing updates, but also taking pictures of little Miss Lily. This past month we spent time on the west coast in Seattle and Portland. It's always a great time seeing our family and friends but I hardly took any pictures! Lil and I flew out early and spent time in Seattle with my family. Lil did a great job on the plane except when we had to turn off all electronics before landing. She was in the middle of watching Yo Gabba Gabba and had a complete meltdown and was crying and screaming for about 10 minutes before I could find something to distract her. Not bad considering we had already flown from DC to LA and was on hour 8 of traveling. 

As for what Lily is up to these days - She can say her ABC's and count to 20 on her own. She loves singing Patty Cake, Happy Birthday and I'm a little teapot. She's become our own little parrot, mimicking everything we say, including calling Ian "babe" like I do. She's talking like crazy and saying things like "Look at that, Mama!", "Where'd daddy go?" , "No way, Jose" and her newest one "I need help, Mama" which I have been trying to get her to say instead of whining and crying when she gets frustrated. 

**Pictures of our trip will follow shortly. 

Ok, I'm not going lie and tell you I remember what Lil was doing 3 months ago. I just wanted to post some pictures I took of her when she was 19 months old. We went to her friend, Jaden's Western-themed 2nd birthday party that started at a playground, where I was able to get these adorable shots of Lily girl. 

I can, however say with certainty, that her favorite word then, and still is "NO". Her vocabulary continues to grow and grow everyday and it gets easier and sometimes harder to understand her. I also remember that running was a big thing for her. If only I could get it on video because true to doing it her way, she has quite a unique way of running. She holds her right arm out from her side and keeps it there while her left arm swings at the same time her right foot is moving. Hilarious! 

Stay tuned for more updates to come!

For the past few months, we have been consumed with packing, moving, unpacking and trying to get settled in our new place. It's definitely taken us a lot longer than we expected to get things in order and it's been a lot harder to make this rental feel like home. One of the major projects we wanted to do was fix up the backyard so Lily would have a place to play outside. The previous renters had dogs that tore up both the front and backyards. Originally, the backyard was covered in all gravel and weeds (I'm so mad because I didn't get a before picture). We decided to push the gravel to the sides to make a border and put sod in the middle. The only problem was that there was a huge stump in the way of where we wanted to put the sod. So, Ian borrowed a friends chainsaw and with the help of our friend Matt, conquered the stump! I wasn't there to witness the victory so I don't have any pictures of that part but here are some pics of the rest of the process.... 

Another project I'm almost done with is refinishing a vintage metal glider and chair that I got on Craigslist. I had been looking for a metal glider since we moved into our place for our little porch in the front but they were either way too expensive because they had already been refinished or in really bad condition. For those of you who don't know, I am addicted to Craigslist. I can't tell you how many things I have bought and sold on Craigslist and I am a firm believer that if you have patience, eventually, you will find whatever you are looking for and for the price you are willing to pay. After months of looking, this set popped up and I was able to get it for a really good deal. As you can see, it had some surface rust that had not gone through the metal and I was able to sand it off, prime and paint it with no problem. The glider feet were super dirty but cleaned up easily. I just have to refinish the rocker chair and the set will be ready for some serious porch relaxing. 

we just got back from our first cruise to the bahamas and had a great time relaxing and enjoying the sun. we started the cruise in miami then headed to freeport, stirup cay, nassau and back to miami. it took lily some time to get used to the sand on her feet but after we got her some beach toys, she couldn't get enough of the it.