Update, Big Changes

Warning:  Long post!  It's a catch-up one, again!

So, I don't even remember the last time I blogged.  Let's just say it's been a while!  Here's a taste of what's been going on in our neck of the woods:

 We went to Utah in June to visit family.  It was a nice visit, and it took advantage of Eli's two weeks off for the summer.  We left the day after he took his huge and super important boards. I am happy to report that we have since gotten the score and he did very well on it, like we all knew he would!

 We took Caroline to temple square with Eli's mom and Grandma.  We also spent a few days in St. George with all of Eli's siblings and Dad and step-mom.  It was fun but soooo hot!

 Caroline got a chance to play with her cousins a lot.  Here she is with my sister Annie's sweet kids.  I never take enough pictures and didn't get any of Caroline with my sister Cindy's boys, or Eli's sister's children.  Sorry guys.  Remind me next time to take more pictures!

 She has mastered the ladder thing at the park, which really terrifies me but she's really good at it.  Seriously, those things look like a death-trap for kids under 5!

This is the only way for Caroline to go to sleep.  She takes the "penguin jammies" as we call them, and puts the on backwards with the zipper towards the back.  They are too small for her to actually wear anymore, but she likes to pull one sleeve down to cover her hand and put that soft fabric up by her nose.  Don't ask me how this started.  I have no idea. 

 We have started potty training.  All I can say is I am not a fan.  Also, she refuses to go #2 in the potty, and I don't know how much of it I should force or just let her keep going in diapers...it's a fine line between pushing her to accomplish something and completely traumatizing her and scare her for pooping on the toilet forever.  Sigh.  Can you sense my frustration with potty training?

My mom was kind enough to pick up Caroline and I on her way to visit my sister Alaina in North Carolina.  We had fun, Caroline really enjoyed their nice house, all the trains and boy toys they had, their new puppy, and learning how to be a bit more mischievous from her cousin Oliver!  It was so cute to see them playing together.  One day they spent a couple hours taking every toy they could find and putting it in the pack n' play she was sleeping in.  She's never really continuously played with another kid like that.  It was really fun though!

 The best/scariest spot of mischief these two got into was filling up Alaina's big bathtub with freezing cold water and dumping a bunch of toys and books in it, UNSUPERVISED!  I was asleep, Alaina and my mom were making dinner and we all thought these two were playing nicely in the toy room.  It was so scary to think of what might of happened, but also kind of funny.... ok, really funny.  They were having so much fun!                                

 

 

 

 We went to Huebers farm in Indiana to pick peaches with our friends Emily and Kyle.  It was such a nice day and we even fit in a picnic lunch with them and swimming at a lake.  It was also on Eli's birthday!  We also had a nice dinner and a party at a park with our friends to celebrate the day!  Happy Birthday Eli!  You're 28 now! 

Caroline got a new helmet and a tricycle as a reward for filling up her potty chart.  She loves both, but has a hard time working the pedals.  She'll figure it out though!

 

 

The biggest news for us though is that we are having another baby!  She's a girl, due December 16th.  I can't say this pregnancy has been as easy as Caroline's.  Case in point; I'm writing this at 1:30 in the morning because I've got some bad heartburn tonight and the little one won't stop kicking me, and I can not get comfortable!  We are really excited to have another girl and to have sisters!

 We went on the pedestrian bridge across the Ohio river.  It was so nice!  If anyone ever comes to visit us we will take them there!

  Our good friends Tom and Whitney moved to Lexington for Tom to attend law school at UK.  We went out to see them one Saturday and had a blast!  We went to Keenland race track, it was so beautiful!  We also got to meet their daughter Ava for the first time.  Caroline loved Tom and playing with Ava's toys.  Its fun having good friends so close to us now!

 

That's about all.  Eli's started his third year, which is no longer lectures, classes and tests.  He is doing 6-8 week rotations with different specialties.  So far he's done Internal Medicine and is currently on his surgery rotation.  He's been doing well and really enjoys being in the hospitals with real patients and seeing what it's actually like.  But the poor guy is so tired because he still has to study when he gets home! As I'm typing this he is at the hospital, on call for more than 24 hours.  Surgery is the most demanding rotation though, and considerate man that he is, set it up so he could have it done before the baby is born.  I'm so proud of him for how hard he works.  We've gotten pretty boring over the past couple months however, both of us are so tired all the time!  I'll try to be more regular with the blog.  Thanks for reading!