Baby #3

Noah: "Is THIS what you will look like when your tummy gets bigger?"

It's so fun this time that the kids actually understand that we are having another baby. Autumn is the most "motherly" little girl I've ever met, she's ALWAYS taking care of her babies, or her little Minnie Mouse, putting medicine on them, feeding, bathing, changing etc. So I'm wondering what it will be like when her brother or sister enters the world, if she'll be the mommy, or if I will :)

Ever since we told Noah we are having another one, he's taken a tiny, short-lived interest in Autumn's "hospital baby" (she has one that looks just like newborn with a hospital tag).

He got all excited one day and asked me if he could learn how to change a diaper. He says he'll only touch it if its "not wearing pink"

He tried pretty hard, but needed lots of help :) He likes to pretend to be the daddy.

Autumn learned that you have to "burp the baby" as well to take care of it.

I've been having quite alot of "afternoon sickness" where I just feel super urpy and tired after lunch, so I usually rest when my kids do. Noah's been super compassionate with me and asks me all the time how I'm feeling. He's had some really good questions and always says "tell me more about the baby in your tummy." He's fascinated by little things like when the baby's born it can't hold up it's head, and that its attached in your tummy by a cord and that's how it gets fed through the belly button etc. He always asks when I'm eating if I'm chewing it enough so the baby can swallow it ok. And he still talks through my mouth to the baby.....REALLY loud. Autumn will pray every night for "mommy's baby in the tummy" and will sometimes lift my shirt and say "where's the baby?" It's been fun watching their reaction to it all!

Baker Baker

Today's menu: Muffins

Taking turns pouring and mixing

Stirring is kinda hard when your just 2

The taste test:

I think we have a winner!

And the aftermath. I didn't take one of my floor lest you gasp. :)

My 2 year old

I know this is a little overdue, but I have a 2 year old, I just can't believe it! It REALLY seems like just a few months ago we were bringing her home:

And now this party-haired spunky little girl is in our lives. By the time she turned two there were no more diapers, woo hooo! It was SO quick with her I really didn't even have to train her! She's so proud to wear her little "prince-ness pants"

We threw a "girly safari" theme cause she LOVES Lions and Crocs and Elephants. If I tell a story it must have one of those in it.

Her cake! I was SO pleased with how it turned out, and it was my 1st time making 3d characters, so fun!

Family pic

Singing to her, she loved this

And she knew just what to do!

We had some friends over for her party, as well as her Grandpa from Pretoria, she had alot of fun! Her favorite was playing with her babies with all the girls, and how the older girls in our Young Adults read her new books to her.
Autumn at 2 is the girliest girl I've ever met. She LOVES babies and dollies, she spends much of every day putting them to sleep, wrapping and unwrapping them until it's just perfect, and rocking them in her pram. She is quite the independent girl, she'll often just sneek off to her room to make a pretend cup of tea for her dollies, and you find her there an hour later still happily playing. She loves to be read to and will ask for more stories after reading for over an hour (Noah's the same!) Her favorite Bible story is with Moses because there is a mommy, a baby, and a princess who comes to take care of the baby in the basket. She asks to read that one every day. She's often found saying "I'm a ballerina" and will dance around on her toes. She loves going on walks and will stop and talk about every bug and every flower. Since she's been out of diapers and moved into her big girl bed, Noah's been MUCH more interested in playing with her, since she's now a "big girl" and they will play chase and draw together. He's still confused why she needs a pacifier though (we'll work on that one later!) She's my super brave girl and will try anything daring, jumping off high rocks and no matter how high you swing her she'll say "higher" or "faster". We love her to bits!

Dubai

On the way back to SA we stopped off for a few days in Dubai to break up the crazy 16 hour, 8 hour flight sequence. AND to visit our friends who live there the Penny's. I was amazed at how it was just DESERT with TONS of buildings everywhere, and crazy big malls. It was so cool seeing the church there as well and how multi-cultural everything is.

Noah and Autumn made very very good friends with Donna and Hannah while we were there. They talk about them all the time and ask if they are going to live in South Africa.

It was hot even in winter (it's the desert!) so we rode little bikes to the pool every day.

And had tons of fun swimming!

Walking hand in hand to the pool

It was fun to have some "daddy time" since his studies were all done!

Noah took some swimming tips from Donna, he's getting better!

The beaches are beautiful, and the kids had lots of fun

The city is really beautiful at night!

Thanks Penny's for hosting us, we had so much fun with you!

And we saw the tallest building in the world, it makes you dizzy when you look up at it. It's the Burj Khalifa standing at 2717 feet tall. My camera had a close zoom lens so you can't get the full effect, but it was pretty stunning!

Catching Up!

Wow I haven't caught up blogging about our time in LA! Well the best part about LA are the people, and that's what we miss the most, so I'll blog about that! And the BEST part about going this time was seeing our kids absolutely LOVE the same people we love!

Noah and Autumn LOVED going on the train with Grandma and Grandpa!

And we even went to train town (I think that's what its called?) where they got to see real trains and climb in them and everything. Noah talks about this trip all the time and says "Can we go see the REAL trains with Grandma and Grandpa again, right now?"

Autumn loved playing Mr. Potato head with my dad and would often put the parts in HIS mouth or ears, it was really funny

And Autumn loved being pushed in the swings by Grandma!

It was awesome catching up with SCV our old Bible study, and the best part was seeing ALL the new kiddos and how they all loved each other too!

Noah and Autumn made really good friends with all of our friends children. They talk about them by name all the time even now that we are home and Noah will ask "Where do they live, in America or South Africa?" and I'll have to tell him America and he gets very sad. And Autumn will just ask "Where's Kali May, or Where's Annie?" So we are thankful for the time they had together!

Autumn even formed a little relationship with "Baby Olbive" (baby Olive) in "Caities Tummy" and would hug and kiss the "baby in the tummy" It was a great transition for when we told her that WE also have a baby in the tummy, (Yes baby #3 is due Sept 30th!) We loved hanging out with the Taylor sisters too :)

Clint and Austin....I think they both morph into other crazy people when they are together, but its fun to watch :)

And me and Steph, thanks for always opening your home for us!