Happy Birthday Dear Meggie!

Oh my sweet little Meggie.  What a fun little turkey butt she is.  Look in those big brown eyes of hers; you can see both sweetness and turkey butt all at the same time! This is why we love her.  She is so full of life and happiness and bossiness and ... and...and...and...and (quoting Megs here :)... BEAUTY! I am literally obsessed with this child.

We have LOVED watching Megan grow. She is different from her mellow brothers. She bosses them around. She mothers them. She coos at them and strokes their hair when they cry. She smacks or bites them when they have something she wants. We love her.

She knows most of her ABC's and counts to 10+.  She is talking up a storm but still gets frustrated when she can't communicate exactly what she wants.
I love the way she nestles her little head in my neck when she wants to snuggle. I love how she strokes my arm while she sucks her thumb. I love that she lets me do her hair without fussing. I'm a novice so this is very helpful. I love all the chattering she does. I love that she mimics her big brothers. "Oh yeah, oh yeah."   I miss that she recently stopped doing her senorita cry. No more rolling her R's.  She want's to do everything on her own ("My turn. My turn!"). I love seeing that determination.  I love seeing the girliness come out despite the fact that she has two big brothers who shun all that is girly (oh except for the pink camera). I love that she loves dresses.

We celebrated Meggie's birthday as a family this year.  We really didn't know what Megan would like to do so... we went bowling. She loved it and even played a whole two rounds.  We took a bunch of pictures but I can't find them. (Frustration!)
She got an automatic bubble blower, a Little Mermaid micropone that she loves to yell into and a big pink camera (her brothers love it too).

Uppity Date

....The weather has been spectacular this week. I love me some 80 degree heat.

....Kyle is diligently watering an apple seed out in the planter boxes. What a sweet boy he is.  He has been off track for the last week and a half and I've loved it.

....The kiddies got their pictures taken last week. Here's a sneak peek.

....I, apparently, am finally looking pregnant.  I am 22 weeks and people are finally willing to admit that I look pregnant.  It's funny because I am on my 4th kid and it's taken me longer to look pregnant with this baby girl than the last.  With Megan I was looking the part at more like 19 weeks.

....I hosted Bunco at my house last night. I have a lot of fun hanging out with these girls.  It was a little weirded out when I thought about the fact I'd been in this Bunco group for about 3 1/2 years!! Wow. That was quick.

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My beautiful babies.

Dang. I may be biased about the utter beauty of these children but... I don't think so.

Oh my gosh. Look at that sweet face and the Mater teeth! Looooove.

Megan was extremely fun to watch because she is such a poser! The camera guy would tell her to put her hands and feet a certain way and if she forgot she immediately put them back in position.  There was no difficulty in getting her to smile and flirt with the camera.  My boys were also really good at smiling and just doing what was asked.

My favorite.

This kid is just getting too too big. What a handsome boy he is turning out to be.

Precious.

It's a....

GIRL!!!!

We are so so excited and surprised to be welcoming another girl into our family. 

 Yay! A sister for the Megs!

I thought in the beginngin that we were going to have a boy but as my pregnancy progressed and my symptoms felt more similar to Megan's pregnancy, I began to doubt my original prediction. Another girl and now we are even. :)

Even better than that, she is a HEALTHY baby girl. We feel extremely blessed.

The kids are all excited as well.  When asked what he would choose, Kyle said a boy. However, when we told him he was getting a sister he said he was happy to be getting a sister and that it was fine that its not a boy.  Noah even come up with a name suggestion.  "Let's call our next baby 'Lilly'". Not bad!

We haven't decided on anything name wise yet but hope to soon. I am so bad at the name game. But girls are, at least, easier. Wish me luck!

I can't wait to meet this little angel.

Megan Quotables

Our sweet little baby girl is a talker. Here are a few of our favorites:

Ta-Da: Yelled any time she accomplishes something and wants recognition.

Pooh Butt: May seem a little disgusting, but it actually means "Push button" as in I want to push it.

Pees(please): As in I want that.

Awshome: "Awesome" and yes she says this often.

Ma Turn: And it always is Megan's turn.

A-Noah or A-Kyle or A-Tommy: This usually proceeds her telling on her brothers or dog. Megan is our little tattle tale. Her favorite victim is Tommy.

Coo-y: Or "cookie". This is extended to all snacks not just cookies.

Nook: Milk. This one is our favorite and will probably become a staple of the Shiflett language. We think she got this one from the way Erin used to say Milk in her baby voice.

Ky-Nook: Chocolate Milk. Now this was Megan's mind working to produce pure comedic genius.

Meeeee?: Megan says this all the time. I don't even know if I can explain in typing why this is so cute. It basically means "For me?" One time we were taking a balloon to Ava's house for a bday party. She asked if it was hers, I said no, its for Ava. Megan: "Meee?" Not its not for you. It's for Ava. "Meeee?"  Its Ava's birthday. We're going to give it to her. "Meeeeee?"  She wouldn't give it up. She makes us laugh.

We love our little girl and everything she says (which is a lot!).

Snow Day

Few weeks ago we actually got snow in the valley. This year that has been a rare occasion, so we decided to take advantage of the situation and ran the boys out with the sled. As you can see they had a great time. 


The first run Kyle jumped on the sled and started his run. Immediately he veered for a big jump in the middle of the hill. In the back of my head I heard Kyle crying already and the end of our sled riding. He went flying off the side of the jump the sled completely away from his body then landed on his back. "Here it comes..." I thought. He turned around and started laughing "That was awesome..." After that Noah wanted to go off the jump too (I declined).   


After a few runs we ran around making snow angels and pelting one another with snow balls. Snow days rock.


Mommy and Megan were at home (little too cold for Megsie).


{Post by Adam}

Sometimes being in second is better than first...

This pregnancy hasn't been too hard me so far (although Adam would probably beg to differ...). Yes, I was nauseous. Yes, I was tired but none of it was BAD. And I am very grateful for this.  I even started feeling better by 8 weeks. Yeah, LUCKY.  But still, I prefer the 2nd tri.
 No more nausea. Less tired (notice I only said "less" tired. :) I'm even working out 3-4 days a week. I have never done this before in a pregnancy!  (My cruise IS a huge motivator. :)
The 2nd tri is when you find out if your baby is of the pink or blue variety (I'm feeling the blue vibe.). I get to find out 2 weeks from today!!
You get the cute little baby bump. Although I can tell my tummy is rounder I still haven't, ya know, popped. Waaaiiiting...
Oh and one of my favorite things? A little something the books like to call "quickening".  I love to feel my little butterfly fluttering around inside me. (about 15 weeks this time) Looooove it. And its even more fun when Adam and the kids get to join in.
Yes, It has taken me a while to get in the groove with this pregnancy but I am loving it now just as I knew I would.

Joining the Craze...

The "Lent" craze, that is.  No, I have not converted to the Catholic religion

 but I DO like the idea of giving something up to prove ones strength or will power.

Well, recently Facebook has become a major vice for me. I'm pregnant. I'm tired. I'm lazy. Perfect scenario for a Facebook/iPhone addict. I'm on it all the time.  I am coming into my second trimester and I'm beginning to have a lot more energy. I figure now is a perfect time to get rid of the things that are slowing me down and harness some of that energy into productive activities....like cleaning out the refrigerator.

So wish me luck on this 44 day silence. I think I'll come out a better person for it.

#4

I can't believe I am announcing this but Adam and I are expecting our 4th child at the end of August.  Wow. I feel like I was just pregnant with #3 and really haven't felt quite ready to be pregnant with #4 as well!!  I have never been this nervous for one of my babies.  I'm not sure of the exact reason but it could be that I already have 3 kids or that I know how exhausted I get when I'm pregnant and I'm busier now than I have been with any of my prior pregnancies OR maybe I'm just a big baby.
It only took us one try and it only took a few days before I knew I was pregnant.  I took a pregnancy test about a week before my missed period where it revealed a very faint line indicating a positive result.  Of course I couldn't just leave it a that.  I took a few more tests over the course of a week until I got a nice bold positive. Adam was very excited to hear the news but I was still kind of in denial.  I think I still am a little.
I am in the middle of my 6th week and I'm constantly mildly nauseous and moderately tired.  This is better than the first with my three others but I'm also not naive.  It could all go full bore in the next day.  I hope not! I'm in better shape with this pregnancy than with any of my others so I'll pray that that will make a difference.
Numero quattro... here goes nothin'!

Update:
I wrote the above about 6 weeks ago and what a difference 6 weeks makes! I really was pretty anxious and admittedly not very excited for #4.  Things have changed however.  I had a pretty good 1st trimester, all things considered.  I felt kinda crappy up to about 8 weeks and then things got suddenly better. Like, literally overnight.  So while I haven't felt perfect the entire time, I think I can say that this 1st tri has been my best/easiest.  Also, I am feeling so much more excited about this little baby which I knew would happen sooner or later.  And sure enough, I've relished in the sound of this baby's beautiful beating heart and watching my stomach grow rounder.  Yaaaaaayyyyy. :)