Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Decker Baby #3

We will soon be a family of 5! In the beginning of December I used this picture to make our announcement (with the sweet assistance of my boys): 
A special little gift will be joining our family in May! We are excited to find out at
Christmas whether we will have another boy or a girl!
Luckily time has flown by this time of year and before I knew it I was already 20 weeks and ready for my ultrasound on Monday, December 22. We dropped the boys off and Luke met me at the doctor's late that afternoon and got started right away. I was really nervous because I wanted a girl so badly but felt I needed to prepare myself for the idea of having another boy since my pregnancy has been the same and as easy as they were before. 
But as the nurse was going through all the body parts on the ultrasound, without warning she said casually, "..And there are the girl parts.." And for a second I didn't realize she was already revealing the gender and then I gasped and said "Are you serious? Are you sure?!" Once she proved she was positive it was a girl, Luke tells me, "You did it Kara! You got your girl!" Ha it was awesome. 
So then we needed to go home and finish packing that night because the next day we were flying out east to see our families for Christmas and were waiting until then to reveal the gender. But that night before the boys went to bed we were able to tell them, and Jacob was especially anxious to find out. 
Here was their reactions to the news!
So the boys are excited and our families were happy as well. When we told each of our families I was wearing something pink to give them a hint, so it was fun to be able to see all our family and tell them in person over Christmas. On my side of the family my brother James and his wife Tammy are expecting a boy a few weeks before us; and in Luke's family we'll be the first between his sisters to have both boys and a girl. 
A week later I made my news public with this announcement: 
We are thrilled to announce the newest addition to our family will be a baby GIRL!
Everyone has been so excited for us and we appreciate all the love! We feel so blessed with our little family and are so excited to have the opportunity to raise a girl now too! I think I'm still getting used to the idea of having to start over with new girl clothes and toys- it's odd after being so used to the boy things! Luckily there's still time to get organized and think of a name, because ready or not, baby girl is due May 9th!

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Fall Traditions and Halloween Fun

We have had a long, beautiful, warm fall this year! I feel we're pretty lucky to have made it to Halloween without any snow yet! So here's what we've done the last month for fall and Halloween:
 We kept it simple and went to the pumpkin patch by our house again this year so the boys could pick pumpkins.  As soon as we got there they saw a "pirate ship" and went to go play on the playground, and corn seeds.
 We finally convinced them to go look at pumpkins and they each picked one.
 One Sunday we decided to go for a drive in the mountains and see the fall trees. Most of the trees had lost their leaves already but it was still a pretty drive up to Echo Lake, though a little chilly so we didn't walk around for long, but it was beautiful. 
 Afterwards, we headed back down the mountain into Idaho Springs to our favorite park and spot to picnic at along the river. We literally come up here every year and the kids love it.
Jacob has also really gotten into wanting to take pictures on my camera, so he took some of me by the river this year, and I tried to get some cute pictures of the boys again too. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time in the mountains.

Later in the month we finally carved our pumpkins- actually I only carved Jacob's. I've decided I really don't like this job- pumpkins are pretty gross, ha. But Jacob was a good helper, and we've discovered he loves eating roasted pumpkin seeds.
 The weekend before Halloween we went to the school party, and also the ward's chili cook off/trunk or treat party. They were able to play games, and get candy and run around with friends so they had a good time.
On Halloween Blake and I went to Jacob's school to watch him in the costume parade then we stayed for the party with his class and I helped out with some of the activities. Everyone had a good time and even Blake was a trooper.
 We also got to stay and have a little breakfast snack with them after their activity stations, it was a fun way to start off the day!
  Finally the boys got to go trick or treating later Halloween night. As you can tell Jacob was a pirate and Blake used the Buzz Lightyear costume we had, pretty easy (but cute!) costumes this year.  
 Blake wasn't interested in wearing his costume to any of his preschool parties or anything, so I was glad he put it on and was excited to go trick or treating. I took the boys out while Luke stayed back as usual to pass out candy.
The boys were able to run into a few friends along the way but halfway around the block they both got tired and starting losing interest, but I made them keep going until we made it around the block back home. I know, I'm a mean mom that made them collect more candy!

 But it was worth it. Once we got home we had plenty of treats to keep us all happy. Whew, I'm glad Halloween is over this year, I'm ready for the next holiday season!

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Preschool and Potty Training

Blake has started preschool! When did my little guy get so big?! He seemed so little to already be going, but we felt it might be good for him, and a nice break for me too. It's only twice a week for an hour and a half, so not very long, but just right for him.
 
Although all summer he had been uninterested in the idea of preschool, when it came to the first day he was actually a little excited!
He liked having a backpack and knew that there were toys in the classroom so that's all he cared about. In fact, when I tried to wave good bye that first day he was just looking over my head in awe at the other toys packed above the shelves. He was totally fine and I was just glad he wasn't crying.
   So the first few days went great, then by the third day his teachers noticed that Blake was in a diaper when he asked to go to the bathroom. I have no idea why he asked to go to the bathroom, and I was a little annoyed with him for blowing our cover, because he was technically supposed to be potty trained and I was hoping to slide by until we had gotten there. But Blake just hasn't been ready.
   But once I realized I would need to pull him out unless I got him potty trained I spent the next two days frantically trying to potty train him and it was exhausting! By the time it came for him to go back to school two days later I decided to see what would happen if I just sent him in underwear, even though he had still been unsuccessful going at home. I was so nervous that whole day that I was going to get a call or something, but when I came to pick him up not only did he stay dry but they said he even used the potty too! I was shocked. But also prepared with a bag of lollipops, so he was happy and proud of himself too.
   Since then he has used the potty one other time at school, but since then he's refused to go potty at school but at least he stays dry. At home he's been getting frustrated sitting on the potty, so we seem to have come to an agreement that he can continue to wear diapers at home as long as he wears underwear at school and stays dry! As much as I would like him to fully train, I guess he's getting the best of both worlds- he gets to still go to school but can decide when he's ready to switch to underwear full time. And I hope he's ready soon, though I realize I may be setting myself up for this to drag on awhile...
   But anyway, I think Blake likes preschool. I don't think he's bothered with making friends yet, and I think he usually keeps to himself. Every day when I ask him what he played with, he tells me that he called me on the phone to talk to me and that he missed me. He always seems surprised when I pick him up, he says "You came back?!" Haha but I'm proud of him for being brave and facing something new and handling it well. My little boy is slowly but stubbornly growing up!

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Our 8th Anniversary

 Luke and I just celebrated 8 years of being married! Though we wish we could've celebrated on the beach again we felt lucky enough that we were able to be at the beach a few weeks before our anniversary. The real day fell on a Tuesday this year so it was a pretty normal day and that night Luke got me flowers and we went out as a family to Cafe Rio for dinner and got a Lime Pie to take home for dessert. The boys went to bed early and we stayed up watching a movie and eating our treats. It was a good night for me!
 So by Friday night we finally got a babysitter and went out for a date. Last minute we decided to go downtown to Maggiano's for dinner and then went to Comedy Works afterwards to see Tom Segura. It was an interesting and fun experience and all the comedians were pretty funny. Afterwards I was able to get a picture with Tom Segura on our way out- sorry Luke takes fuzzy pictures.
 Afterwards we walked downtown for awhile and 16th Street Mall, and then went to Union Station, which was filled with people hanging out even at 11 pm, and we met up with a few friends and chatted for a bit. It was a long, fun night out! We at least still felt young, even if we're getting older! Eight years has gone by fast but I'm glad we're still having fun and enjoying where we are in our life right now :)

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Jacob starts Kindergarten!

 Jacob is growing up so fast! He started his first day of Kindergarten on August 20. I think he was a little nervous about starting school since it was a little longer and earlier than preschool had been, and he was worried since he didn't know anyone else in his class. So here's his nervous but excited face before the first day.
 The first day me, Luke, and Blake all walked him up to school to see where his class lines up.
He started getting more nervous but once his class was ready to go inside, he followed his teacher Mrs. G in and Luke was proud Jacob didn't even look back. It's different not being able to walk him into class and trust that every day he will give what he needs to for his teacher and so on, but I guess that's growing up.
  That first day when I picked Jacob up he said he had a good first day and made new friends. I was proud of him!
That night for dinner was Jacob's choice so we had fish and rice. Then at dinner he felt his tooth come more loose. It became loose at the beach when he was biting a floatee and he had been patient with it and waiting for it to fall out on it's own. After dinner Jacob asked me to look at his tooth again, and it literally just fell out without even pulling on it. I was glad it finally came out without having to hurt him and now he really looks like a big boy! What a big day of firsts!
The tooth fairy even let him keep his first tooth.
(But after that, what is the tooth fairy to do with all those teeth..?)
Anyway, Jacob has been doing well with his first week or so of Kindergarten, which is great. I was worried we'd be having meltdowns or I'd be dragging him out of bed every morning, but he usually wakes up on time (as have I) and gets ready quickly and hasn't been tired or whiny when he gets home! Yay! Maybe the tiredness will kick in later but I'm glad he always transitions better than I think he will, I need to start giving him more credit. 
And Luke has often been helping dropping him off in the morning which is a huge help to me- it pays to have a school in the neighborhood! Having it so close makes it easy and every now and then we walk home after picking him up. So we're all getting used to the new schedule- I hope he has a great first year of school!