Update

Being pregnant this time around has actually been a lot easier than it was last time. Aspen was 2 when I was pregnant with Journey, and in the stage where he was really testing boundaries. It was exhausting. I have been quite surprized this time around at how much better I have been feeling in the first trimester than the last two pregnancies. Without going into too much detail, with Aspen I just wanted to die, Journey, it wasn't quite that bad, but I was still pretty miserable, and with this baby, I've been more tired and feel nauseas mostly in the evenings when I am tired. I have been able to continue to work out and keep the house reasonably clean.

Aspen is very excited about the new baby, and tells people about it that we meet all the time. He will be coming to the ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby, and is really looking forward to it. He has also been stepping up to help me out with entertaining Journey, cleaning the house, and doing things to help me out because he knows I am tired and not always feeling great.

One other thing about Aspen because I want to remember later....
Aspen got a really cool remote control rock crawler for Christmas. He loved it for a couple weeks before the engine burned up. He was pretty bummed about that, but instead of asking for a replacement, he came to me and asked if I had any work for him to do so that he could earn money to buy another engine!

I was very excited about that just because it told me that he had connected the whole "gotta work to get what you want" idea of life. A couple days later Mark found some work for him to do (clean the garage, help with cutting down a large shrub in the yard, clean the house, etc.). He was surprized at Aspen's good attitude with what ever work he gave him to do. Seeing progress like this has really given us (well, me!) encouragement that all the hard work of parenting will actually pay off. His questioning, constant boundary pushing personality can really wear us out, and it is so nice to feel like we see some results :)

Our Families Getting A Little Bigger....

And now the reason for why I have been posting so infrequently........I'm pregnant! We found out right before Christmas. It was a great early Christmas present, and we are all very excited. I am due August 18th, Mark's birthday. Right now I am 8 1/2 weeks along, and am doing pretty good compared to my previous pregnancies. The picture above is me at 7 weeks.

Here are a couple things that Aspen has been saying...

"Mom, if Journey wakes up tonight, I'll go in and take care of her because you aren't feeling good with a baby in your tummy, and I can help you out".

"Mom, do you have any garbage? Give it to me because that will make you too tired. I can do that for you".

"Mom, I love you so much. I'm so happy that you have a baby in your tummy. That means that God answered my prayers, doesn't it?" (he prayed one morning for a new baby about a month before we found out).

And Journey...

When we asked her if she wants a baby brother or baby sister, she said emphatically,

"baby sista!" (I didn't even know she could say sister!)

Christmas 2008

Well, I am finally getting around to posting about our Christmas. I feel like I have so much to catch up on each time I post, but I have a good reason for that this time. More on that another time though.

We are so blessed to have awesome families. We usually spend the weekend before Christmas up at Mark's parents house, Christmas Eve at Mark's aunt's house, and Christmas Day at my parent's house. This year we switched it up a little, and it was a good thing we did. We had record amounts of snow the week before Christmas, and we had a white Christmas this year!

Christmas Eve we open stockings. Can you tell they were excited about that?!
Aspen watching over Journey, ready to "help" her out.

Christmas morning, getting ready to eat our traditional Christmas morning cinnamon rolls. Mmmm!

Aspen and Daddy putting together his present, a remote control rock crawler.

Yum, this makes me hungry...

Princess Journey trying on her new dress up accessories.

This was Journey's big present, a play kitchen. She loves it and has spent a lot of time cooking already.

Aspen wearing his new superman underoo outfit.

Another one of Journey's favorite gifts, a shopping cart. Thanks Aunt Charity!

Papa reading the annual Chrismas story.

We spent a relaxing Christmas morning at home opening our own presents, eating cinnamon rolls, and playing with the new toys. Aspen was so in love with his rock crawler and almost immediately started setting up jumps in the living room for it. He is so his father's son!

Next we went to my parent's house to spend Christmas with everyone. It was a little crazy trying to get there with all the snow. We couldn't get up the driveway so Troy and Justin brought us up with 4-wheelers...us and all our presents!

Now for the Wilde Christmas. Here's the annual cousin picture. Journey and Ava refused to sit with the boys unless Diana and I would sit with them.

Opening presents. This was a big talking, singing my little pony named Pinky Pie. She loves this toy and dances to it every day.

Journey and Ava reading books with Nana. It's so fun watching their relationship develop. Journey calls her "Vava", and likes to talk to her on the phone.

Both girls got matching baby strollers. These were easily their favorite toys they got, and spent the entire weekend racing them around the house.

This was another one of Aspen's favorite gifts, a star wars guy costume from Aunt Charity.

We spent the weekend after Christmas up at Mark's parents house with everyone. Thankfully, both Aspen and Journey slept pretty good (I need my sleep!). It's a blast for the kids to spend so much time with their cousins. It works out perfectly as Aspen has so many boys around his age to play with, and Ava and Journey have each other.

The guys had planned to go skiing, but the weather changed and it was raining up on the mountain. They had a fun guys day, while we hung out, ate a lot of great food, played games, and had a generally relaxing weekend. We will be going to the beach with the whole family next month, and can't wait to have another weekend together.

"Why doesn't He talk to me?"

Aspen's number one question about God right now goes like this.

"Why doesn't God talk to me? God! Talk to me!"...pause..."See mom, I don't hear anything. Why doesn't he talk to me? Why can't I hear him?"

He's been bringing this up a lot, and boy is that a hard one to explain. Yes, God loves you. No, it does not mean that he doesn't love you if you don't hear him, but he doesn't talk like me and you. He talks to us in the Bible and through our thoughts.....

And you know, it really is a valid question. I've wondered the same thing myself.

After having this conversation with him, I often ask God to talk to Aspen in a way that he will know it's God talking to him.

I just thought I'd update life a little with what's going on with us right now.

Aspen is still high energy, but he is such a joy to be around (most of the time!). I've seen a big change in his attitudes and obedience in the last couple months, and am so thankful for that. One night I was just feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with the daily ups and downs of parenting him, and I stumbled across a website on parenting. I read through it and started putting some new things into practice. It really took no time for things with Aspen to change around. He is incredibly smart and perceptive and is such a quick learner. He is very loving and tells me every day how much he loves me. I am soaking it up now because I know the time is coming way too soon where that won't be happening! The next thing we have to work on is the arguing. I am getting a little weary of the constant negociations.

He is learning to play nicely with Journey. The problem is that he knows how to bug her.... Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, huh? The things he does to bug her right now are: all the sudden he really wants to play with Journey's dolly's, he will come up and give me a full, possessive hug in front of Journey, or he will swipe whatever she was just about to pick up/play with just because she wants it. Yes, this drives me crazy. Especially when they fight over me.

Aspen has taken part ownership of my lap top. We set up a kids web browser on my computer called Kidzui, and he loves to search for and play new games. There are literally hundreds of games to choose from on there. About once a week, Aspen and I will have a "date". Basically, a date is just a time where just him and I go somewhere together. It could be the grocery store, or more often, the coffee shop. It's fun to spend time with just him, and he seems to really value it. He reminds me everytime we are in the car alone together that we're on a date :)

He has also been learning to love some of the things Mark enjoys like remote control rock crawlers and spending time on the boat. Mark took Aspen out last week to be apart of the Christmas ships. He had a blast, and was so proud to be one of the "guys" (Ryan and Mark's dad went too). They didn't get home until 10pm, so he was pretty proud of being able to stay up so late!

Today, Troy and Tyler came over on 4-wheelers since they can't drive their cars in the snow. Mark took Aspen on a ride around the neighborhood in the blizzard. Apparently, they were doing cookies on the 4-wheeler (so glad I didn't see that!), every time Mark asked Aspen if he was scared he said he wasn't and that he loved it! Too bad Mark got rid of the rhino. They would have a blast in the snow and ice that we are having.

Journey is still my sweet girl. She loves to cuddle in the rocking chair at night, and prompts me to sing "Jesus Loves Me" over and over by saying "Jesaah, Jesaah". She will snuggle up totally still against me as long as I will sit there. It's so sweet, and I try to soak it up each night.
She has become my shopping buddy because she hates it if I ever leave her behind. I have never had a problem with her at the store (like I did with Aspen at this age countless times!), and we just enjoy being together.

She loves Aspen, but has a piercing scream for him whenever he does something that makes her mad. It really drives me crazy! Oh, and one more thing, she is a total Papa's girl. She has my dad's heart, and it's so cute to see her with him. As soon as she sees him, she will say his name in the sweetest way, as if she's in love with him. I need to get it on video one of these days, so that we don't forget it.

Christmas Ships

Can I first just say that I can not wait to get a new camera??! All these grainy shots are killing me. Anyways, Mark is mooring his boat on the Willamette River for the winter. He noticed some boats in the marina getting decorated for the Christmas ships. His first idea was for us to go out and watch the Christmas ships on the water this year. Well, that soon morphed into him meeting the guy who heads up the Christmas ships and signing up to be apart. Mark quickly decorated the boat (complete with a fishing pole catching a tuna!), and we joined them last night for the first time. It was a lot of fun.

Well, as you all know, Mark doesn't do anything half way. Tonight he is out on the river again, but this time in St. Helens. Since it is so far away, he is spending the night on the boat. Yes, in the 20 degree, predicted snowy weather. Yep, I'm pretty sure he's crazy!

Piggies!!!

Yay! Journey's hair has grown just long enough for me to put it into piggy tails! Okay, so it's just the hair on the sides of her head. The top is still very short. But you have no idea how long I've been waiting for this day! She even let them stay for the whole day.