Noah reading

This is a 5 minute video, but so worth watching it all if you have the time.  I'm so proud of my smart little guy!

14 weeks 2 days

Those of you with multiple children probably remember the phenomenon of  showing earlier with each child.  When I was pregnant with Noah I couldn't wait to be able to fit into maternity clothes.  I remember being 16 weeks on Christmas and there was a little tiny belly sticking out.  With Elliana I remember that belly (which, unfortunately was never "little tiny" haha) poked out much earlier.  THIS time around, though I'm only 14w2d, I'm looking and feeling much closer to 20 weeks!   Here are my first (two) official pregnancy picture(s):

Some Easter Fun

 My wonderful (and very talented) friend, Michelle, set up a little Easter shoot for some of her friends.  I couldn't believe what a great job she did designing this little photo shoot set (except that she's really talented, so I kind of can :) ).  I also couldn't believe how absolutely adorable these pics turned out!  These are mostly of my kiddos (and Michelle"s daughter, Sydney...one of Noah's best friends) and though I'm a little biased, I think they are the most adorable kiddos ever. :)

Done!

You may remember my post back in September when I wrote about Elliana starting to show signs that she was ready to potty train.  Honestly, I wasn't ready to potty train her.  Anyone else agree that a diaper is super convenient...especially with an 18 month old??  She continued to tell me that she had to go potty several times a day, and even though she was staying dry most of the time, I kept her in diapers.  Finally, in February, I realized that I just needed to make the transition from diapers to big girl undies.  She was SO ready!  I think of it as a trade off...when she was a baby, I was up in the night with her WAY more than I was with Noah.  But, she made potty training super easy.  :)  It's so funny how big her pants look on her bottom with no diaper...so cute.

Forever

I know, it's been forever since I updated!  Sorry!  I'm blaming it on first trimester fatigue and being sick (not pregnancy sick!) for almost 4 weeks.  I am finally on antibiotics, but relief can't come soon enough.  Needless to say, every free moment has been spent resting, or doing something to try and feel better.  I have some posts that I've written in my mind, but the energy it takes to sit and write just hasn't been there.  So, be patient with me. I really do promise that I'll be back sometime soon. :)  In the meantime, please pray that healing would come quickly for me.  Thanks, my friends!

Here it is

I had a bunch of creative ways to tell my blog friends our fun news, but now that it's time to tell, I don't want to wait to take a picture of the kids in cute shirts, or post the "awkward" post I'd been planning (though I DO want to do that!).  Instead, I just want to say that today we had an ultrasound and saw our precious baby #3 and heard our precious baby #3's heartbeat for the first time.  God is so good!  So yes, baby Hylkema #3 is on the way, due this October and we are ALL so excited!

Bath time

Noah and Elliana love to make each other laugh. And we love to hear it.  Here's a little sample of what we got to listen to during bath time tonight. :)

TWO

How can it be that my sweet little Elliana Joy is two years old?!  Was it really TWO years ago that I was looking down a this sweet little face? (haha. not mine! :) )

Was it TWO years ago that these cutie pies were posing for pictures together for the first time?

 And TWO years ago that Daddy was cuddling with his TWO kiddos?

 And here I am TWO years later getting to look at this sweet face

 

 Getting to take pictures of these cutie pies

 

And, TWO years later, I'm taking pictures of daddy playing in the snow with his TWO little ones

Happy 2nd birthday, my sweet Ellie girl.  I love being your mommy, you are such a joy! With these TWO, I am blessed, indeed.

Drums

Noah loves to drum...LOVES to drum.  And, when we're at church he gets to play on the real drum-set...such a treat.  At home he is totally content with drum sticks and a rubbermaid bin.

Valentines

Noah and Elliana got special Valentines in the mail from Grandma and Bacca (my mom and dad).  It was so fun to watch them open their cards and play with their silly bands.  Thanks, Grandma and Bacca for the special Valentines. :)

"Show me your Valentine Cards"

 Busy at work opening their cards

 "Look, mommy!  Silly bands!"

Backing up

**This post is 3 weeks old...my computer has been giving me trouble uploading the video, so I never posted it...just had to get a few more Christmas pics up before I could move on** 

In the rush to get Christmas documented, I forgot to post some pre-Christmas pictures.  We had so much fun decorating, baking, looking at lights and getting the kids in their "Christmas Best".  Noah loved going downstairs and turning on the Christmas tree lights.  Elliana caught on and within a few days she was running after him saying, "my turn, my turn".  Soon enough they were taking turns turning on the lights.  Noah really wanted all of our lights on all day.  By 7:30am the Christmas tree lights were on, and I was already being asked, "can I turn the village lights on?  What about the fireplace lights?  Outside lights?..."  I'd usually compromise with one or two more sets of inside lights.  We spent several mornings dancing to Christmas music.  Both the kids love Christmas music (like their mommy and daddy) but we have a strict "no listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving" rule, and we begin weaning ourselves from it after Christmas so that by the new year it's off until the next Christmas season.  I'm still having to remind Noah that Christmas is over, and that Christmas music will have to wait until next year.  Enjoy a few more Christmas pictures.

Noah (and Elliana too) loved helping me make all the Christmas goodies.  I may have bribed him with those very Christmas goodies in order to get this picture. :)

 We all had so much fun decorating the Christmas tree

I loved coming home so beautifully decorated with Christmas lights

Christmas Part 2

After waking up, opening gifts from Santa and eating breakfast with Oma and Opa, Hylke's brother, sister and their families joined us to open presents.  We stayed until about 10 am and then headed to my parents house for more Christmas fun.

For several years we've enjoyed a Christmas brunch with my family, and every year we ask my dad to make the same thing- Holiday Morning French Toast.  It is sooooo yummy.  We usually arrive, eat and then open gifts, but this year all the kiddos were anxious to open gifts, so we opened some, ate and then opened some more.  Noah was SO excited about each one of his gifts.  It was so fun to watch him...it's the first year he's really enjoyed Christmas.  He got a talking Woody doll, two new Thomas the Train wooden trains (James and Henry), a big set of Jungle Animals, new wooden train tracks, some books, clothes and a new bike!!  He was in heaven.  Elliana had just as much fun opening and playing with her presents.  As has happened with Noah in the past, we brought home one unopened gift...she was too interested in playing with the things she had already opened, and didn't care about opening the last gift.  That's ok, her birthday is less than two months away....she'll never know. :)

The kids are at such a great age.  They loooove being at Grandma and Baca's house and both of them gave my parents some great cuddle time.  Elliana would ask for my dad first thing in the morning and Noah loved the special time reading books with my mom and playing with "Tom the cat" on my moms phone. They also had a great time playing with their cousins.  So fun to watch them make memories.  We really had a great time relaxing, eating, laughing and enjoying time with each otherHere are some pics from our time with my family:

My nieces and Noah were the present hander-outers :)

 

Elliana talking on her new "alphaberry" maybe she'll want to use mommy's blackberry less :)

 

This sweet smile shows the excitement he had after opening each gift 

 

We teased my mom (mercilessly, I'm afraid) about the lack of gift tags on the gifts this year.  She had to peek in the bags to see whose was whose.  She got lots of new gift tags the day after Christmas. :)

Elliana loved her new purse--and all of the goodies that it came with!

 Noah loved his new James train--thank you, Grandma and Baca!

 And his new Woody doll. :)

 

 Elliana loved snuggle time with "baca" 

we found her like this several times over the weekend

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