Annabelle June turns five!

Whew!  This was a tough one for mom!  What is it about five that seems so huge?  Probably the beginning of "real school"?  Leaving the toddler years well behind?  No matter how hard I scrutinize her little face, I can't bring back all the baby fat or her tiny little voice that was just learning language.  Now our "baby" is full of ideas, stories, hopes and dreams of her own.  I couldn't be happier with the baby, turned toddler, turned little girl that we've raised so far.  So rather than mourn how quickly time is passing, I'll roll around in our happy present.  

Annie spent her fifth birthday at Santa's Village, where she rode all the rides until they closed the doors for the day.  We took off after swim lessons, not telling her where she was going.

The following weekend we celebrated with friends and family, enjoying a perfect summer day.

Happy Birthday big sister!

Embracing the chaos, happily!

It's true!  We're expecting another mini Meeklet around here!

It's nearly impossible to conceal a pregnancy the more kids you have, between my eager to expand belly and Annie's sheer joy in announcing to everyone that "we need new beds and a mini van", any attempt at waiting to share the news is futile. 

However, today we heard little 3's heartbeat for the second time and saw that sweet jelly bean looking ultrasound change to a tiny little baby with two arms and two legs.  So, we're happy to share the news officially, and frankly, I'm more than happy to buy myself a public pass for my recent weight gain. 

Newest Meeklet - 12 weeks

We're thrilled :)  

No, it wasn't an accident.  

No, we're not necessarily "trying for a boy" (although the girls think a little "variety" would be good).

No, we're not finding out gender before the birth, again!

We're just excited to add to the love and joy (and sleeplessness, diapers, dishes, laundry, etc) around here with another little giggle in the house.  

Due Date: November 6, 2014

(I have never come within a week of a due date so far.  Momma's guess is that we have an October baby on the way :)

Meeklet 3

After Emeline was born, I clapped my hands together and felt complete.  We had each other, the girls had each other...we all had each other...done, right? 

Then I watched the way the girls have grown together, their giggles down the hall, the mischief they get into because they have each other as partners in crime.  Slowly, I started hearing another giggle, and seeing another smiling face at our table (which is ironic, because we have a table with four chairs) begging for another drink, or a napkin, or something else that requires me to hop out of my seat just before my rear ever hits it in the first place.

I started packing away Emeline's clothes as she outgrew them.  Many were donated to new families with babies in need.  I gave away the big space hogs like baby swings and bouncy chairs.  But there were a few favorite onesies and specialty items I placed in a box and mentally labeled "just in case".

I  planted the idea that maybe we had a little extra love to share around here...Mr. Meek looked at me as if I hit my head (and I'm still convinced he was hoping I had).  A few months went by, and I couldn't shake the feeling that we were missing someone.

A few more months went by, and I'm writing posts about a new baby.

Our little four year old's ears were burning with the idea that there "might be a new baby".  She was quick to drop hints to friends and strangers alike that she was going to need some bunk beds for her and her sister.  After the third  ultrasound, and our chance to hear our new little heart beating, we've let her change her story from "might" to "we're definitely gonna need a new bed set up and a mini van".  She promptly announced this information to her preschool class.  Imagine my surprise to all the "congratulations!" at school pick-up.

So now we're going from the tidy family of four, to a whole new territory: family of five.  That third kid throws a few new logistical challenges, a station wagon is no longer big enough (no kidding), the bedroom:child ratio has been 1:1 so far, time to do some furniture swapping and roommate pairing.  That table with the four chairs?  We're searching for one of those cute benches, so we can squeeze another booty in on one side.  Swimming lessons, eventually will cost triple, same for karate, dance, and whatever other talent the little Meeklets choose to master.

But we have plenty of room for another, the closets will combine, our ride will change, our bank account will shrink, but our hearts are just going to burst with all the joy that is surely on the way...

...along with sleep loss, finishing touches on any maternal stretch marks, and the insurance for a minimum of two more years of bottles and diapers.  When reminding ourselves of this, Mr. Meek said "you really wanna start all over?" 

But honestly, I'm not ready for any of it to end.

I'll start all over, with the sleepless nights, the tiny diapers, the mushy little helpless blob that will melt into our skin and grow right before our eyes.  I'll watch Annie get another baby sibling, but this time her experience will show, and I'll watch Emeline's eyes light up with wonder, a twinge of jealousy mixed with pride, as she realizes she's now a big sister too.

Before we know it, life before our third little Meeklet will seem like a distant memory, and we'll wonder what we ever did without him or her.  One day we'll tell our littlest one about life before the mini van, and the older girls will tell stories of having their own rooms and closets, and then we'll tell them how wished for and loved they were, long before they arrived.

Baby Turns Two

Sweet Emeline Joy turned two on the last day of February.  We celebrated at a state park and lodge with a weekend full of hiking and swimming, family and friends...just the way we like it!  Two years with Emeline has gone by in a blink.  She learns so fast, is such a capable little lady, and always knows exactly what she wants (and when she wants it).  Nobody gives bigger hugs, or runs faster, or climbs higher or gets into more trouble than our pretty little two year old!  Her vocabulary grows by the day and it becomes increasingly obvious there is a lot going on behind those sparkling blue eyes!

Hiking

Hiking break

Breakfast Party in the Cabin

Relaxing with Dad at the Cabin

Birthday Cupcakes, featuring Farmer Jason, Elmo and Emeline herself

Coloring in the cabin with big sister

Another frosty hike!

Shamelessly wedding crashing around the fireplace in the lodge.

Family time at the lodge

Aunt Shannon & Big Sis

Family celebrating Emeline's birthday

Giggling with Great Aunt Bonnie

Grandma M time

Even the birthday girl gets sleepy.  She partied as much as she could, but eventually needed some beauty rest and her Daddy.

We had such a fun turn out for our little getaway, I wish I would have taken more pictures (I know...)  It was so great to have the a Grandpa, the Grandmas and the Aunties, Uncle Scott, a Great Aunt and our super awesome neighbors with us to celebrate.

I want to make sure I remember Emeline as she turns two.  The way she runs through the house, skidding around corners.  Her love of bath time.  Her obsession with  Farmer Jason & Signing Time right now.  The way she insists on standing through dinner, on top of her booster seat, despite every discipline tactic we've tried.  The way she calls her big sister Annie, "Nannie".  Her pacifier is her "money".  Her favorite blankie is her "banky elwee" (elephant blanket).  She adds our names to the beginning and end of every request or statement:  Mom, I want a dink, Mom.  Dad, I want Singing Time, Dad.  Nannie, gimme dat, Nannie.  She never smiles bigger than when she's been hard at work in her play kitchen, she will bring over a stack of food (usually a pizza-ham-pizza sandwich ;) and when we pretend to eat up her concoction and praise her for her cooking skills, she swings her arms around and jumps up and down grinning ear to ear, nodding her head as if she just knew we would love it.  The way she pushes her stool around the kitchen (or just climbs the handles on the shelves to help herself to the counter).  She begs "Mom, I stir Mom!", I'm pretty sure she requests eggs every morning, just so she can whisk them.  One of her favorite songs is "if you're happy and you know it", she can shout "hooray" louder than anyone.  Emeline almost always knows what she wants.  When we started "tumbling tots", she knew she wanted to jump on the trampoline.  She also knew she had no use for stretching, balance beams, bars, obstacle courses, making friends, singing songs (or rather, Emeline had no use for the first 40 minutes of the 45 minute class, visibly so).  She was however, the happiest camper the last five minutes as she blissfully jumped as high as she could on the trampoline.  Emeline endures several hours a week of boring lobby time while we wait for Annie in various activities.  Her favorite is choir night, where she invades the church nursery toys.  Her second favorite must be watching karate, she giggles in the doorway as I say "don't go in, just stay by the door".  She then puts one toe in the room and giggles at me...testing one toe at a time just to see how far she can get.  She can't start karate fast enough.  The same stubbornness that can be so trying during these toddler years, creates the best honesty.  The girls were squabbling over a toy the other day, and I asked Emeline "can't you just share?"  She told me very confidently, and with zero confusion: "Mom, no."  She crawls out of her crib regularly at an unacceptable hour, and comes to our bed, puts her nose up to my sleeping face and says, in anything but a whisper "HI MOM".  She then crawls into the bed, chattering and flopping around.  Each night when I put her to bed, she says "Mom, hold me like a baby, Mom", and of course I hold that giant "baby", like a baby.  We sit in her rocking chair and I always say "you know mommy loves you?" and she nods, "and you know daddy loves you?" and she nods (we go through the heavy hitters in the family before cutting it off).  On nights I'm in a hurry (or exhausted!) and I skip a few people, she calls me out on it, and finishes the routine herself "and mamaw loves me, and papa loves me..."

We all love you Emeline!

Decision 2014

The past few weeks can be summed up best, as they were by Aunt Shannon:

"the great Pre-K debate of 2014".

(very reminiscent of "the great 3 day vs 5 day preschool debate of 2013")

I can't even remember how it began, but somehow amidst the paperwork for kindergarten registration, we (I) had an epiphany or was enlightened to a simple fact:

Kids must be at least five to attend kindergarten.

Kids don't have to attend kindergarten at five.

Woah. How did this not occur to me earlier?

I went on a two week bender of zero sleep, research/article reading, polling the crowd, phone calls to teachers, phone calls to administrators, I listened to stories of families who considered waiting and didn't, I listened to stories of families who did indeed wait to start kindergarten, I tried to imagine what implications we would have with our daughter ultimately as a 2027 graduate or a 2028 graduate. I made pro & con lists folks. I even drew a time line with smiley stick figures to visualize our choice. I will hang my head in shame over this self imposed madness, but I'll be damned if anyone ever accuses me of making a thoughtless decision. ;)

I could share with you the research, the lists and countless conversations. I could explain why we're doing what we're doing, but here's what finally pushed me off the fence:

All of the reasons I would have registered Annie for kindergarten this year came from societal presumptions and pressure from a few peers.

All of the reasons we would do a year of Pre-K before kindergarten, came from what was best for our family and what we feel long term is best for our child.

(I'm embarrassed I gave it thought beyond the second bullet point.)

We have a smart cookie, Annie was anything but oblivious to the ongoing debate this past week. She worked through the timeline with us, and asked me why some of the stick people were named "freshman, sophomore, etc"

I explained.

Then she asked me: "what's college?"

I told her that is when she would pack up her bags, move out, and go learn somewhere else. A long, long time from now.

She told me she never wanted to leave her family, she loves us and wants to live with us forever.

She's four.

I know this sentiment will change.

(Oooh, will it change! And I can't wait to remind her of these innocent thoughts one day!)

The public school system can have their time with her from 6-18.

We're soaking up the full 0-5.

Thank you 2013

 

I have to admit, 2013 had me a little nervous.  After several years of some tough times, 2012 had been a big turn around for us.  I didn't think the lucky number 13 would continue to be so kind, but it most certainly was.

Nothing dreadful happened in 2013, nothing over-the-top exceptional happened either, but each day had a little surprise inside.  On New Years Eve of 2012, Emeline wasn't yet walking.  Anyone that has been with her lately knows she certainly figured it out in the past 365 days.  We will never have another year where Emeline goes from an immobile, non-verbal, roly poly, to a sassy, silly, head strong mover in one short year.  Not another year will pass that our girls will be three and a few months, or four and one year old.  I'd like to think we soaked up every possible minute, marveling at their innocence, curiosity and energy.

Surely the future holds far more fun.  But I have to take a moment to reflect on such a great year:

January 2013:  Annie enjoyed starting "Little Learners" and "Jumping Beans" with the park district.  She continued to enjoy library programs like "Wiggles & Giggles" and keeping up with her friends.  Hard to believe, we started touring preschools this month.  Dad took a trip to Vegas for an inspectors conference.  Mom & Annie took Annie's first train ride downtown and went to the museum.  The girls and I took Grandma Fitzpatrick to the conservatory for the first time.  We hosted Grandma's birthday party at our home.  We started our first home brew.   Emeline started walking.

A few weeks earlier we had dropped Lauren & Jared off to get on this train, Annie was so excited to finally go too!

 

February 2013:  We celebrated Great Grandpa's birthday in Peoria.  Tagged along with Dad to an inspectors event and spent a night at Pheasant Run.  We had a great time wandering the trade show and hanging out in the pool.   If I remember right, this was also a completely sleepless night, where we found the two girls preferred to sleep with us when visiting a hotel: one queen bed, four bodies.  Cozy.  We also took a family trip to the Shedd Aquarium.  Little Emeline turned the big ONE on the last day of February.

We spent Emeline's first birthday at the Nature Museum.  She was getting around just fine with and without help from big sis by now.  2.28.13

March 2013:  We had a great visit from cousin Lauren & fiancé Jared.  We held an abbreviated version of Emeline's birthday party (poor thing was sick).  We celebrated at cousin Maddy's birthday party.  We attended a fantastic toddler St. Patrick's day party.  The girls had a tour of the local fire station.  We celebrated Easter at home for the first time, we colored eggs, played outside, and enjoyed a simple day.  Annie continued on with her classes, Dad's inspection business really picked up, and Emeline turned in her walking shoes for running and climbing shoes.

Easter weekend, easy livin'.  Girls dined al fresco on the dock.  We got out the hammock swing, and started dreaming of full on spring.

April 2013:  April was a blur of continuing play dates, classes, inspections, chamber events, meetings, laundry, dishes, changing weather and, well, life.  We continued to tour preschools for Annie.  Mom worked the bi-annual Recycling extravaganza through the ECO Commission, with help from Annie.  Mom & Dad had a date night to go see Dennis D'Young, who know that could be such fun!

April showers brought some record flooding to our area.  Of course weather geek Mom and her trusty side kicks were out taking pictures all day.

May 2013:  Celebrated/Participated in Grant's Wish - the annual local galactosemia fundraiser.  We always enjoy our chance to see our favorite galactosemia families and spend a morning making a difference!  We had a beautiful Mother's Day at our home, complete with the Grandma's to make our day the best.  Mom got her chance to sneak off to Vegas, quick girl escape with Aunt Cheryl! I'm pretty sure this is the month we really started doing tons of fishing for the season as well.  Summer nights at the Meek house almost always include grilling, fishing, and/or kayaking.


That's not snow, that's cottonwood!  By May we were full swing into the playground most days.

Our galactosemia "family" after the Grant's Wish 5k

June 2013:  We started the month off with a trip to Kansas for the annual family reunion and a great visit with family.  Along the way we stopped in Missouri for some amazing hiking and sight seeing at Elephant Rocks and the Johnson-Shut-Ins.  We celebrated Dad's birthday on the 10th.  We hosted a little reunion with a group of coworkers from waaaay back when Mom had a "real" job.  We celebrated Father's Day in Lacon with our Fathers.  We spent the warm days at the pool down the street.  Dad & I celebrated our 6th anniversary with a fun night in the city and Jimmy Buffett concert!  (June was a blast!)



Cousin time at the playground.

Great Grandma Fitzpatrick made this blanket for Emeline, long before Emeline came along.
 

Catch of the season.

 

Elephant Rocks & Johnson-Shut-Ins

July 2013:  We spent a few days at the lake in Michigan.  We had our annual summer bash/Annie's birthday party with tons of family & friends.  The kids had such a good time!  Annie turned four.  Annie started swimming lessons.  Mom had a birthday.  We watched Grandpa's dog for two weeks.  Spent lots of days swimming, fishing, hiking, grilling out and enjoying life.  And ended the month back at the lake with friends. 

She'll only turn 4 once.  Sigh.

Dancing on Annie's new big girl bed (Entire set was Great Grandma's, we love heirlooms!)

Anderson Gardens.  Annie saying "no, Emeline, that's a hosta.  HOSTA!"

Summer

Annie & Grant - such a blessing of a friendship.

August 2013:  Annie had her annual genetics visit in early August.  Great check up, healthy report!  Gal-1-p was 3.2.  We went to the first annual Oswego Beats & Eats with our neighbors.  Had a great birthday lunch with family where Annie and I shared an amazing steak. :)  Annie had an echocardiogram mid-month to check on a slim chance of a heart issue, all results good, no issues!  Ever thankful for our health.  Dad took a man trip to Wisconsin, while Mom & the girls went up the Michigan coast for a little girly beach time.  The girls were unbelievably well behaved and post card sweet - which I was so thankful for while attempting our first major road trip with a 1:2 adult/kid ratio. 

Fishing, again.

 

 August corn.  2013 was the best crop I've tasted in a long time!  Fitting, considering the awesome year.  We had a fun day getting dirty, shucking corn with family and friends.  We were also able to recreate the 1980 photo of Grandpa & Mom, with Grandpa & Granddaughter. 



Lake Michigan - just the girls.

September 2013:  Annie started karate & preschool in the same day.  Unbelievably crazy, emotional time for mom.  Annie did great - and school has gone smoothly since day one.  Mom worked another ECO recycling extravaganza.  Dad took us to his leads group party at the golf course, so sweet to let the family tag along.  We went to Brew at the Bridge with Aunt Shannon & Uncle Scott and our super fun neighbors.  We visited the farmers market for the last time of the season.  Dad seemed to be swamped with inspections.  We were outside grilling and fishing every chance we had.

First day of preschool.



Sandwich Fair

 

Bedtime stories by big sis.

Cantigny



Dad's goodbye and welcome home from the window every time he leaves for work.

October 2013:  Dad attended the IAR conference, Annie kept up with karate and school, Mom tried to keep up with Emeline.  We hiked Starved Rock every chance we had, enjoyed the emerging fall colors and weather.  We helped out with Annie's pancake breakfast at school (mom snuck in some home pancake batter so our little preschooler could partake in pancakes with everyone else).  Annie started singing with the church preschool choir.  We had a nice visit with family at Great Aunt Bonnie's, including all seven of the Aunt Hill.  Dad attended the ASHI Leadership Conference.  All the pumpkins we carved this year were from our garden!  What a treat for the girls to plant the seeds, watch them grow, pick them, carve them and make pumpkin bread and pie from their efforts.  The girls had a great time with both Grandma's and Aunt Colleen here helping them celebrate Halloween.  Halloween night we trick-or-treated in our neighborhood, enjoying the amazing neighbors we have (some of whom purposely make special safe treats just for our Annie) (ok, I just wiped a tear typing that, we love our neighborhood).  Annie was tigger, Emeline was super girl...Dad and I carried giant umbrellas as we braved the wind and rain for some fabulous loot.

 

Fall Hike

 

Fall Hike

Fall Harvest

Regulars at the Library, returning some goods, and enjoying the landscape Dad planned years before.

 

Fall fun, pumpkins and Halloween

 

November 2013:  November started to get a bit chillier.  Fishing season pretty much came to an instant halt.  We adjusted to the season, put up the Christmas tree early and enjoyed our first Thanksgiving early at Grandpa Fitzpatrick's.  We celebrated Aunt Cheryl's birthday with a big family luncheon.  We took a little week night road trip with the girls to see their favorite musician, Farmer Jason.  Mom was room mother for Annie's Thanksgiving party at school, the kids had a fun time.  Then we promptly packed up the ol' station wagon for a two week road trip taking us to Kansas for Thanksgiving and family...and then on to....

Emeline letting me know the leaf truck already went that way.
Keep raking, Emeline.

It could just be a trip to Walmart.  But any trip, with Emeline, is an adventure.

Momma working on her family defending skills.

Decorating the 2013 Christmas Tree

December 2013:  ...Texas.  We visited Grandpa & Grandma at their new Texas home for the first time.  Enjoying warm weather and new sights.  Our trip home was an exciting ride through one of Texas' biggest ice storms - three full days on the road with two little ones, and we survived to tell about it!  After spending the first half of the month on the road, we came home to a busy week.  Dad received the Presidents Award at the NICASHI Christmas party!  We kept up with our yearly tradition of driving through the Aurora lights on a nice snowy night.  The weather seemed to get the memo that this was the best year ever, and graced us with little snows every few days keeping things pretty and festive. We enjoyed the neighbor's annual holiday party.  Dad & Annie had a father/daughter sledding date.  We finished out the holiday with a beautiful Christmas Eve.  Annie sang with her choir at our local church.  We had tons of family to share the night with us, and awoke at home Christmas morning to find Santa had blessed us with things that could be wrapped - and life had gifted us with all that we could ever ask for.  A healthy, happy family.  A year full of great memories, lots of hugs, milestones and love.

Tin Star Ranch in Texas

Hiking in Texas

Little side show in Luckenbach, TX

Icy Texas

Snowy Home

Love

Our little choir angel

Christmas Cinnamon Rolls

Christmas Snow

Our stars of Christmas

As with the wrap up of each year, we seem end with excess, the holidays have too much food, too much stuff, even a fantastic year such as this needs to be put in the books.  Even though I would relive this year in a heartbeat, it's time to tuck it away in our hearts, simplify a bit and look forward to 2014.

Our best days are always the ones we spend simply, together, hopefully lost in nature somewhere.  They're not always remarkable or exotic, they're just perfect without effort:



Final hike of 2013.
Annie 4, Emeline 22mo.