She's getting so big...(sniff)

Seeing these two pictures made me realize how much Willow is growing up.  She is getting so tall and thin and loosing her baby look...

 Therefore, since she is now 2 years old, and we have just around 8 weeks until the baby is born, it was time to say goodbye to the beloved binky.....  :(  (yes, mommy loves it as much as she does).

Rounding up all the binkys in the house for the big goodbye...

I was dreading the day when we would have to throw the binkys away, but decided that now that we were home from the beach, it was time.  I had big plans to do what I did with Aspen - ask her if she would want to throw it away in a really happy voice, she would say, yes, and the drama would be spared until nap or bedtime....  Yep, didn't go as planned... 

With Aspen, he was like, yeah!  Then proceeded to throw the binky away, and went on with life until naptime (and he realized that the binky wasn't coming back).  Willow, on the other hand, looked at me like I was crazy and said NO!!  Then stuck it in her mouth and chomped down.  I ended up having to pry it from her teeth, throw it in the garbage, then walk the garbage bag out to the can all while she was screaming and throwing a fit in protest.  Five days later, she is still sometimes (very) angry about the loss at bed/nap times.

Now to decide if I want to pursue potty training....  Seems like she wants to, but honestly, I don't want to.  Confession time: I hate potty training!

Back to school - 2nd grade

 We are just a week into the 2nd grade school year.  Here was Aspen's first day of school picture....he was trying to look happy....

.....but this was how he really felt about going back to school, lol

I can't blame him.  We had such a fun summer, and it went so fast.  It's hard to get back to reality and buckle down to the school schedule for all of us!  I wasn't ready for him to start school either.  I love having all my kids home, and watching them have so much fun playing together.  Now, that doesn't mean I could do the home school thing.....  I just love summer, free time and my family all together  :)

32 Weeks!

I have just 8 weeks plus a few days (if history repeats itself) before baby boy makes his appearance!  I am getting more and more excited and anxious to meet him.....especially since it's been in the 90's, and I've been hibernating inside the house all week trying to keep cool.  :)  We are no closer to choosing his name.  I thought we had narrowed it down to 3 names, but now I'm not sure.  We will probably take our list to the hospital and choose when we meet him  :)

I've been measuring 2 weeks ahead for the past couple months, so am expecting a big baby (although hopefully not too big!).  Everything else has been healthy, and up until now, my midwives have let me go 6 weeks between appointments.  It has been super nice since it's a 30 minute commute each way for a 10 minute appointment.  They've now put me on the 3 week schedule, but at least that means I'm getting close to the end  :) 

One other funny thing that I'd never remember unless I wrote it down -
Aspen has asked me multiple times if he can be in the room when his baby brother is born.  He feels like he is old enough, and really wants to be there with Daddy, lol.  Hmmm, for your own good, and future sanity, I'm gonna give you a big, fat "no" on that one, Aspen.  You'll understand when you are older....