Knutson Baby #3

God has blessed our family in so many countless ways, and we are truly grateful for the love and protection He provides to our family.  And our blessings continue.  Nathan and I will welcome baby #3 into our family this summer!  I am currently at 14 weeks now... due date of August 6th.    I have had an IDENTICAL first trimester across all three pregnancies - very manageable symptoms and tiredness was the only real major symptom.  (For that, I'm very grateful!)  Overall, I'm feeling great and pregnancy agrees with me!

We have our ultrasound on March 16th, and I am *pretty sure* that we are finding out the baby's gender but it's still up for debate.  Nathan wants to find out and it's not very important to me.   For those of you that are familiar, the Chinese pregnancy calendar was accurate for predicting the sexes of both Madeline and Henry, and this time around it is predicting a girl.  The night I took the pregnancy test, I had the most vivid dream of this random ultrasound shot where the baby's legs were all sprawled open and it was a boy.  But, I go back and forth about if I have girl vibes or boy vibes. I've never been great at having those accurate vibes about the sex like some women do.  Either way, it's the "tie breaker" and we're excited to meet this little one to complete our family. 

The kids have been ecstatic about the baby.  Madeline, of course, wants a sister.  She picks out pink toys at Target and wants to buy it for her baby sister.  She'll make little comments about "the baby will like this song" or "the baby will think this is funny."  She is going to be such a great helper!  And Henry is surprising me that he totally gets that I'm having a baby even though I'm not showing.  He understands that he can't jump on mommy's belly, which is hard for a 2 year old! 

I think the timing is great.  Madeline will be going to kindergarten this fall, so I'll have them all home with me during maternity leave.  So, I'll be able to walk her to and from school for the first month or two of her new school adventure.  And, yes, I plan to go back to work after my standard 12 week maternity leave. (boo, but there are bills to be paid!)

Hopefully that answered most of your questions.  We welcome all of your prayers and blessings for a healthy pregnancy and baby, as we will continue to add our own on a daily basis.  Thanks in advance to all of our friends and family who surround us with love and support and friendship.  God is good!

Henry's big boy bed

Back in November, Henry moved into a big boy full-sized bed.  To be honest, I'm not exactly sure why we did it when we did... I suppose tradition?  When Madeline turned 2, we were pregnant with Henry, so moving her to her own bed was a necessity to clear up the crib.  Her 2-year old birthday present from Grandma Rita was her big girl bedding.  So the tradition continued with Henry that he got construction truck bedding for his big boy bed.  We weren't exactly sure when we'd move him, but there there was a mattress sale for Veteran's Day (because that's how you properly celebrate federal holidays in this country!!  geesh!) and so then we bought the mattress.  So voila - Henry now sleeps in this big huge full bed on his own.  The transition was actually very, very easy, and we already have a full routine established.  He never had a phase where he got out of bed - whether in the crib version of the toddler bed or the full bed, so we consider ourselves lucky that we didn't have a reset on sleep schedules or habits.  He looks so cute in this big huge bed!

Christmas photo shoot

We had some much-needed family photos taken over the Christmas holidays, including a big family one with my sisters, our families, and my mom.  I think they turned out great!

Christmas 2009

Hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone already. We had 5 distinct Christmas celebrations...
1. With Grandma and Grandma Schwartz and a house full of cousins












2. With just the 4 of us at home








3. With Grandma and Grandpa Knutson, Erik, Chelsea, and Laura

4. With Grandpa Knutson's extended family








5. With Grandma Rita, Katie, Albie, Amanda, and Frank and the 4 cousins












We're still trying to put the Christmas loot away - the kids were very blessed! The basement is a complete and utter mess as it has become the temporary dumping ground. Oh well - it's a project for 2010!

Need to update

Making a note that I know I need to update the blog, esp. with Christmas pictures. Will work on getting pictures downloaded from my NEW CAMERA! and get this blog updated. Thanks for your patience!

Happy New Year!

First (and probably last) dance recital

Madeline took a 8 week jazz/tap/ballet class through the Maple Grove parks and rec department. So, a great class for a very reasonable price, but definitely not top of the line dance instruction. That probably is a good thing. I think she liked it, but it took forever for her to warm up to it. At the end, I think she had a great time, but I'm not so sure another dance class is in our future. We're probably going to sign up for swimming lessons again this winter...

Hard at work

Henry has been putting his new tool bench to good work by "fixing" his little 4-wheeler. He always makes such a dramatic show of flipping his 4-wheeler over and then getting all the tools he needs to fix it.