It's a...

We had our ultrasound yesterday and are pleased to announce that we are expecting a baby GIRL! We were super shocked when we found out, but we're looking forward to a change of pace. Everything looked great and the doctor said she is the right size for my due date, so that isn't changing. We are still discussing names, but we'll have one picked out soon. Everything else is going great! Nothing new to report.

Things here are continuing to go well. The boys are doing great. We have split them up at night, which has just been great. Not only are they sleeping better, but it is a lot less stressful for Jon and I since we no longer have to worry about them keeping or waking each other up. It's wonderful!! We have no idea what we are going to do when baby #3 comes, but we'll figure that out when the time comes.

Justus is still doing really well with learning new words. It's a lot of fun to teach him new words. He is even putting little phrases together, which is also good. I think he is also in the middle of a growth spurt...that or his pants are shrinking : ). I'm just hoping he stays in his 2t pants through the winter so that we don't have to go buy anymore pants. I'm looking forward to garage sales this summer to get some 3t and 4t clothes for him.

Matthias is doing well also. He is starting to put more sounds together and I'm pretty sure he can say "thank you" now...although not in context. He's getting really good at imitating sounds as well, so I'm sure it won't be long before he is saying a few new words. I'm thinking that he is teething right now, which isn't very fun. He hasn't been very cranky, but he hasn't wanted to eat much of anything. He is usually a very good eater, but I can't get him to eat hardly anything right now...except for bananas. He is definitely due to get some new teeth. He only has 5. Justus' teeth came in pretty late as well, but his started coming in all at once. I'm hoping that might be the case with Matthias as well. I would rather him be cranky for a few days and get it all over with than spread it out. I guess we'll see what happens.

In pregnancy news...I am currently 17 weeks. We are getting super close to our ultrasound...it's scheduled the last week of the month. We are very excited to find out the gender and to also pick out a name. We thought we had names picked out, but I keep changing my mind. We decided we would wait until after we find out the gender to look for a name...that way we are looking for one instead of two. I'm not sure if I have felt the baby move or not. In the next couple of weeks I'm sure it will become more obvious.

I hope you enjoy all the pictures from Christmas and from the past couple weeks!

The boys enjoying a little Christmas morning candy.

Justus' new guitar. He loves it and dances when he plays it.

The boys got a gumball machine for Christmas. We are going to use it as a reward when we start potty training.

Stacking pegs...he did that all by himself.

The boys love climbing on the high chair.

Things have been pretty busy, but have finally settled down. Christmas was wonderful. The boys really had a great time and loved getting new toys! Christmas Eve was spent in Mt. Vernon and Christmas day was spent at home with Jon's dad and sister. We really had a wonderful time relaxing and hanging out with family.

The boys are doing great. Justus is starting to repeat words after us, which is kind of exciting since he hasn't really done that in the past. We can get him to say a variety of new words and we're even trying to teach him the alphabet! We've also been working on new animal sounds, which is going pretty good. He can do cat, dog, pig, cow, sheep...but for some reason has a problem with remembering what the horse says. He'll get it eventually though.

We have officially taken the pacifier away from Matthias. We weren't sure how it was going to go, so we had been putting it off, but we decided with the new year we would get rid of it. It has actually been a pretty easy transition. The first night he didn't like it too much and cried for at least 30 minutes before finally falling asleep. He woke up a couple times in the beginning of the night and cried, but by the time we went to bed he was out for the night and didn't wake up until the next morning. Since that first night he hasn't cried a bit, so we are excited that he has adjusted well. Next up is the bottle. That one is going to be a little harder, but we're hoping it will only take a few weeks. We are going to try to eliminate them one at a time. As of right now he doesn't care for the sippy cup too much, but we know he will get used to it.

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. I am almost 16 weeks now! It seems to be going so fast! I had an appointment last week and the doctor said everything looks great and the baby's heart rate is 150. Our next appointment will be midpoint, which means we will get our ultrasound!! We are super excited to find out if the baby is a boy or girl. Our appointment is the last week of the month...I can't wait!!! I still haven't felt the baby move, but the doctor said it is still early, but should start to feel the baby within the next couple weeks. That by far is my favorite part of being pregnant!

I need to update with pictures from Christmas. I'll try to get to that sometime this week!!