Sarah is growing so quickly! She gained 3 lbs in a month weighing in at 10lbs, 7 oz at her two month appointment. She has started smiling and now seems like a very happy baby! She likes her paci and her siblings (especially Andy!) and also bath time. She’s still sleeping pretty well, even though we keep messing with her schedule as we try to find a routine that works well for us and for her.

She has her first stuffy nose and is a good sport despite not being able to breathe very well. She has also started talking more, which thrills the big kids to no end. They mimic every peep she makes and announce to the entire house when she talks to them. 🙂

Sarah went on her first and second road trip this month and was a champ in the car! She slept most of the time she was in her car seat and did great in different surroundings. Sarah can’t wait for her next trip to West Lafayette and her first Thanksgiving!

Sarah Abigail was born on September 12, 2014. She weighed 6 lbs, 13 oz and was 19 inches long. She looked a lot like Andy did when he was a baby but with brown hair. She has a VERY loud cry, which earned her the nickname “Pterodactyl”.

Sarah is now 1 month old. She weighs 7 lbs, 8 oz and is 21 1/4 inches long. She is sleeping about 5 hours and then 3 hours at night and is much more content during the day. She hates having her diaper changed but really likes bath time. She has only smiled at Andy so far, despite pressure from everyone else in the family and has already made it clear that she prefers to be part of the group instead of in a room by herself.

The kids LOVE her (sometimes too much) and are always eager to hold her or put her paci in her mouth. They like it when she is down on the floor and they all lay around her talking to her and touching her little hands and feet. Andy says about 50 times a day, “Sarah is so cute!” while Grace tends to focus on how Sarah’s diapers smell and Eden likes to announce every move that Sarah makes.

There’s not very much time to rest with the fourth child, so Sarah has already been to the pumpkin patch twice, to three soccer games, to church many times, out to eat several times and went in for a little “show and tell” at both kids schools.

Most of the time Ben and I feel like we’re doing pretty well with 4 kids, but bath time and bed time are a bit challenging. We’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of family come to help us out. The big kids have loved the attention and fun activities with everyone and Ben and I have really appreciated the extra hands and the many meals that we’ve received.

Clearly the blog has suffered since we’ve been back in the US and life has been so hectic, but I didn’t realize that it had been quite so long since I last wrote. Here’s a quick update on everyone:

Ben- He really enjoys his job and is working from home almost every day now. We love getting to have lunch with him and the commute is pretty great as well 😉 Ben broke his wrist playing soccer in February and had to have surgery to put a plate in. His soccer days are now over (according to me!), but he did get to return to basketball last week and is quite happy about that.

Meghan- I’m doing well, and am enjoying pregnancy number 3. I’m 30 weeks now and Sarah is busy flipping and flopping, especially at night. She measured right on at her 28 week ultrasound and now we’re seeing the doctor every two weeks. We’ve stayed busy this summer with weekly trips to local parks and I’m looking forward to settling into more of a routine after school starts back up.

Eden- Eden is 5 1/2 now and starts kindergarten at the end of July! We can’t believe she’s old enough to go to school. She’ll go for a full day and will ride the bus. She’s very excited about both of those things and has been busy making plans about her new backpack, school clothes and school supplies. Eden moved to a new bedroom last week in preparation for Sarah, so she and Grace now share a pink room. She loves it (although gets easily annoyed by Grace talking to herself in bed) and shows everyone that comes over her new room. Her first tooth fell out a few weeks ago and she has another one that is loose. She’s still a good big sister, and likes to make plans, schedules and rules for everyone to follow.

Andy- Andy is still all boy, but has grown a lot in the past year and is much better at listening and following directions. He loved preschool and can’t wait to start the 4’s class in August. He joined his sisters at gymnastics this year and really like his class. Andy was also able to attend VBS this summer and had a great time! He is still fascinated by cars and has developed an interest in legos as well. He can spend hours building with his legos and driving his cars around in his room. Andy and Eden attended soccer camp last week and he really got into it. Ben and I both enjoyed watching him catch onto the skills and concepts of soccer and he thinks he wants to play in the fall.

Grace- At 2 1/2 Grace’s personality is much bigger than her body. She finally hit 20 lbs and it’s funny to watch her run around and hear her talk because she is so tiny. She copies everything her brother and sister do and thinks she’s the boss of the house. Grace isn’t afraid of anything (except bugs) and she often makes our hearts race as she climbs, jumps and runs around chasing Eden and Andy. She’s very excited about Sarah coming, but we anticipate her excitement will diminish once Sarah actually arrives and Grace is no longer the baby. Gracie loves sleeping in her new big girl bed, or at least being in her new big girl bed. We’re still working on the actual sleeping part, because being in a room with Eden AND in a big girl bed is apparently just too exciting.

We’ve had a busy summer so far with a wedding in May (all the kids were in it and were practically perfect!), many weekend trips to Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Chicago, West Lafayette and Ohio and we have another wedding coming up in August. We hope your summer is going well and look forward to seeing many of you as the summer continues!

I seem to have missed posting when Eden turned 4 1/2, so here it is!

Eden has changed a lot over the last six months. Being 4 seems to be a bit hard on her. She’s much more opinionated (which is hard on me!) and often seems to be in a snit about something. She’s developed a lot of sass, but is quick to rephrase when she’s called out on it. She still loves being the helper and is a great big sister. She has become very independent and likes to get herself drinks and snacks and normally gets some for her siblings as well.

Eden’s really glad to be back in school and is of course, doing great! This week she is the bell ringer, so when it’s time for everyone to sit on the carpet, Eden rings the bell and everyone has to sit down. As you can imagine, she loves the power! Haha!

She’s doing gymnastics at a gym down the street and they’ve been really pleased with her skills there. They’ve been modifying things for her and her teacher told me the other day that she’s going to start working on back handsprings with her next. Eden has a real awareness of her body and is very strong, so it’s fun to watch her learn new skills, especially since she loves gymnastics so much!

Eden recently learned how to ride her bike without training wheels, so Ben and I bought her a new bike. She’s on a 14 inch-er now and she zips around the cul-de-sac like she’s been riding for years! Andy and Eden love to ride everywhere and spend a couple of hours every afternoon riding around with the neighborhood kids. She’s taken a couple of spills recently and her knees and face took the brunt of it, but she is really brave and hasn’t let it slow her down much.

There is always a song on Eden’s lips these days and it’s wonderful to hear her singing church and VBS songs. She loves to go outside and swing on the swing set and sing to herself. Even the neighbors can sing the songs now after listening to Eden sing them so often! Ben and I are entertained by the funny lyrics that she sings. She sings very confidently, but some of the words are totally off.

It’s so fun to watch Eden grow and she’s constantly amazing us with the things that she understands and the mannerisms that she’s developed that make her seem like a little adult.

This has been a busy month for Grace because she is potty trained! She is just the cutest little stinker, and as soon as Ben and I decided that we were going to wait to potty train her until next summer, she went ahead and potty trained herself! It started on a Sunday with her randomly announcing that she needed to go #2. She sat down on the potty and did it. I spent the following few days doing minimal potty training which basically consisted of following her naked self around with a little potty. She had a few accidents, but since the weather was nice most of them were outside. By Friday she had a pretty good handle on things and Saturday morning she woke up screaming at 3am because she had to go potty. Her diaper was dry and Ben took her to the bathroom and we’ve been on a roll ever since.

She’s had a couple of accidents since then but those occurred when Ben and I weren’t there, so we’re not too concerned about it. She prefers a big potty and already likes to check out the bathroom everywhere we go. She’s wearing big girl undies which are big on her, but she loves them.

Grace has also started to gain weight so the high calorie diet is working! We’ve had to make a few adjustments, but overall it’s been fairly easy.

Gracie loves the water and has really enjoyed being at the pool this summer. I think she’s resigned herself to the fact that we won’t let her just swim around in the big pool by herself and seems to be happy in her floatie now. When it’s not too crowded she can just float on her back around the shallow end next to us while the kids play and she likes that she’s not being held by one of us.

Here’s a picture of Grace on the potty!