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Our biggest news (for those of you who haven't already heard), is that one week after my last update in November we found out we are pregnant with our fourth child. I actually found out on Monday that it is a GIRL so I am ecstatic! Our family will be nice and balanced like I like things, two boys and two girls. When the baby arrives in early August, we will have four kids ages 4 and under. That is a bit overwhelming to think about, but it is exactly how we wanted it. All the kids will be about a year and a half apart and we hope, as a result, they will be great friends growing up.

The holidays were pretty relaxed for us this year. We had my sister and her family over for Thanksgiving, which is when we first announced our baby news. The following day my sister and I did a little early morning black friday shopping, and I finally broke down and bought a GPS and a new tv (both of which Paul has been bugging me about for years). For Christmas we had planned to go to Paul's parents' house, but a snowstorm prevented us from doing so. Instead we headed to my sister's house and enjoyed a couple days of sledding and making lefse. Paul had to work on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, so for the first time in my life I was alone when the ball dropped (although the kids were sleeping upstairs). I was exhausted from my pregnancy at the time though, so I didn't even make it to 10pm anyway! Guess there is always next year.

January was a pretty quiet month for us. Paul's parents did come to visit, as did some friends from our small group in VA that we hadn't seen in years. I love it how you can pick right back up with close friends no matter how much time passes in between seeing or talking with them! We also had one last dinner with some friends from our IA small group who have decided to join the military life we are so familiar with. Good luck James and Mali!

In February we had a bout with sickness in the family, but were also fortunate enough to enjoy our first vacation without kids since we had them. Within two weeks Kye got both croup and RSV and was brought to the hospital for each one. He actually had to be admitted to the peds unit for observation because of the RSV (which was a first for us), but fortunately he recovered on his own and they didn't even have to treat him while he was there. Shortly after that (while packing for our trip) I got a 24-hour stomach bug of some kind, then Kye got it the first night he was with Paul's parents, and Paul got it the first night of our cruise. Between needing to catch up on sleep and feeling sick, Paul spent most of the first two days of our trip in the room. The weather during the cruise was also not that great (relatively cold, cloudy, and windy), but that didn't stop us from climbing a lighthouse in Key West and going snorkeling and swimming with the stingrays in Grand Cayman. Fortunately when we got back to Miami, we had two days of beautiful, sunny weather to close out our trip. We took advantage of it and learned to windsurf, visited another lighthouse and South Beach, and also kayaked 5 hours through the canals of the Everglades. On our way out of the Everglades we walked a short boardwalk trail where we must have seen at least 30-40 alligators. We also saw a crocodile and alligator right by our kayak earlier in the day (which was a little intimidating). Thank you SO MUCH Lowell & Ruth for watching the kids for us so that we could have a nice trip alone together!

While on the cruise I found out that my grandma passed away. It was very unexpected, but she was a strong Christian and died peacefully in her sleep so I find a lot of comfort in that. I unfortunately was not able to make it back from our vacation in time for the funeral, but I did get to spend the following four days up at my grandpa's house in Grand Rapids, MN with my dad's entire side of the family. It was nice to see everyone again all in once place.

Paul's work schedule for March is pretty brutal, but the nicer weather since we've been back is certainly helping me to keep my sanity. The snow is mostly melted and the kids are having a blast playing in the big pond that is in our backyard from the extra water. We even had two duck in it the other day! Kye isn't quite walking yet so he is stuck inside with me until things dry out. We are all looking forward to summer!

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