I normally share these updates monthly, but sadly that is not going to happen this time around! BUT, I have been keeping track of the little details and trying my best to take weekly photos at some point during the week. Time is limited now days with our busy life as a family of four, and I know that won't be changing once we are a family of five, so keeping the little details on this space is what's most important now. 

9 weeks:

• Nausea is all day now, even when I wake up in the middle of the night for a trip to the bathroom. Thankfully I haven't gotten sick, I really don't want to throw up. 
• Trying to keep my stomach full with snacks and big meals during the day, even if I don't want toe at. 
• Still using all the peppermint oil!
• Realized looking at my phone makes me feel sea sick, so I've been putting it down a lot. 
• My chin is COVERED in zits & my hair is also become super curly?!?

10 weeks:

• Sea bands are helping SO MUCH!!! Wearing them all day and trying to eat small snacks during the day. 
• Not enjoying meat that much unless it's beef, but still loving salads. Especially taco salads with ground beef!!! 
• Asher has self weaned all on his own, except for first thing in the morning. We'll see if he weans that soon, not going to push it. 
• The belly is very evident now, especially by the end of the day! 
• Had my first midwife appointment this week and got to hear the heartbeat, 161 and so beautiful! 
• It's been a hard week and I've had several times when I've been scared to death about having a third baby, but I know that God will provide like he always does! Leaning into Him for patience and strength. 

11 weeks:

• We announced Eliya Baby 3!!! 
• Eating meat much easier now, even some chicken. Still craving burgers and/or salads.... I'm going to be shocked if this little bit is a girl since I craved the same exact things with the boys before. The only difference is the aversion to chicken. 
• Most days this week I've felt awesome all morning and afternoon till 4, then I hit the brick wall and feel awful! 
• Felt the baby move the day before I was 12 weeks!! Couldn't believe it. 

12 weeks:

• Feeling so much better and loving the little flutters I'm feeling in my belly off and on during the day! 
• Been praying most of this pregnancy to feel better by Solomon's Birthday (the day I turn 13 weeks) but I'm so thankful that God has shown His faithfulness and given me the full week ahead! As long as I keep something in my stomach I feel great!
• Feeling all the hormonal emotions with having a four year old and knowing just how fast it all goes by.

13 weeks:

• Shocked at how round my belly is by the end of the day after eating throughout the day! 
• Enjoying all the foods now, but sweets still don't make me feel super great. I usually just want to skip them. 
• After a busy day for Solomon's birthday party, I felt my first braxton hicks contractions and was shocked they were showing up so early. Trying my best to remember to drink water on the busy days. 

14 weeks:

• Still feeling good with a lot of energy as long as I pace myself. Trying to stay hydrated with a lot of water, also. Craving it most days so it's easy to keep my yeti around with ice water. 
• Enjoyed a short trip to Charleston with the boys while daddy was working. We loved eating some yummy food and of course some Jeni's Ice Cream! 

15 weeks:

• Nausea hit pretty hard on the ride home from Charleston which was a random surprise. 
• Happy to be home and sleeping in our bed again! 
• Celebrated six years of marriage with a date downtown and walking around and enjoying some apps from some of our favorite spots. 
• Flew to Maine and realized how my lap space is quickly disappearing with Asher on my lap! 

16 weeks:

• Felt so old and tired by 7:30 on the night of the wedding! HAHA, we were in bed before midnight which is a first for a family wedding. 
• Enjoyed so much delicious seafood during the trip but we craving a burger by day 4!
• Also had some swollen feet for the first time this pregnancy after a lot of walking and sight seeing. Trying to take it easy and rest when I can. 

17 weeks:

• Feeling the baby much stronger now, a few kicks have surprised me! 
• Needing more food and a lot of snacks throughout the day to keep up my energy. 
• Round ligament pain and the aches are starting. The chiropractor is a must!!!
• Very happy to be home with no trips anytime 

18 weeks:

• Random waves of nausea that got really bad and no food would help. Thankfully the preggy pops helped a little till it passed. This is one of the few things that makes me wonder if we have a baby girl on the way?? 
• Exhausted by bedtime and falling asleep with the boys most nights. 
• Got to hear babies heartbeat at the midwife appointment and Solomon helped hold the Doppler, it was a sweet moment! 

19 weeks:

• Starting to run out of breath, especially when we are out and about and Asher wants to be carried. 
• Enjoying naptime with Asher each day and taking a quick snooze while I lay down with him and Solomon has his quiet time each day. It's the best little break in the middle of our busy days.
• Found out about baby girl and we are all so excited and shocked!

20 weeks:

• Received some gifts for Olive and it seems UNREAL that we are getting a baby girl. It's truly crazy. 
• Our family got hit by a cold this week which helped us all slow down and rest, which was very nice. Hoping we can all fight the funk quickly. 
• The drainage and snot from the cold is making the pregnancy nausea return and it is not fun at all. 

baby is a......

I can't believe I'm actually typing this!!! We are having a baby girl! It's so surreal and I don't even feel like it's true yet. I honestly, probably won't believe it, until we have her in our arms. I even keep thinking that the ultrasound tech was wrong somehow and we might end up with a surprise boy, hahaha!! But, I am so excited and happy to celebrate our new little baby and be able to call her by her name. Baby Olive. The little Olive that we have been waiting for.

When we were pregnant with little Solomon, we knew we would either have a Solomon or an Olive, so we have patiently been waiting to be able to call a baby girl by that name. Never truly knowing we would be given that chance, and honestly perfectly happy with the idea of a house full of boys, but now our lives have been changed forever. Solomon said it perfectly on the ride home after lunch today.... he said, "awww, sweet baby Olive, I'm so excited!" We are all thrilled, and we can't wait to meet our baby girl!

These photos are at the ultrasound place today, after the tech put the answer in an envelope for us to open as a family together. This is our third time with that little tradition and I love it. I had a gut feeling and I was finally brave enough to admit I felt deep down we were having a baby girl. I also had crazy real dreams last night that we found out it was a girl. I know part of me didn't want to admit my gut feeling because I didn't want to be let down if we didn't have a girl, but now that seems silly. Boy or girl, I know that God has a plan and He knew exactly what we needed!!! The boys painted a fake white pumpkin this afternoon so baby Olive will have a little reminder of the day we found out! 

We are so excited and on cloud nine!!! 

picking apples.

We have loved going to Justus Orchard the past couple of years, but we always wait too long into the Fall, so we enjoy the weather, but we don't get any apples from the trees. This year we decided to go a little earlier in September, and we got so many delicious apples, but it was way too hot! The cool weather lasted only for a very short amount of time first thing in the morning, then we regretted the long sleeves. Oops, we will have to head back again in October so we can get some cute family photos like the years in the past! 

sharing some sweet apples!

sharing apples can be tricky! ;) 

so glad my mom could come with us this year! She had never been apple picking before, like ever. 

me & my littlest apple in the shade before I took off the cardigan!

again, finding the shade.

& this boy living his best life. haha!!

Gigi was so sweet to buy the boys a ride on the cow train!

these cuties growing way too fast!!! 

& all three of my pumpkins!

Solomon // four years.

My big boy. I really don't know how we made it to four years old. My little mini-me boy is growing up so quickly and I don't even know how to handle it. Sometimes I have to go sit with him and just hold him in my lap, because I think about the days that are way too close, when he won't fit anymore. I'm trying my best to take in all the little things that make Solomon who he is as we get to know more of who he will become. I constantly pray for his sweet heart to stay soft and protected in this big world. 

Time flew by, but then again, year three was really hard for us. We had a lot of changes during the last year, and add in the growing emotions/feelings of a three year old, and we definitely had our challenges. The biggest change for Peter and I was figuring out what type of discipline we wanted in our home. As Solomon grew, we realized what we thought would work, wasn't actually working. We also realized that some of the things we were choosing to do, didn't help him understand his feelings and emotions. Instead of a time out, we started to model a form of "time in" and would get on his level and communicate what he was feeling and his expectations calmly. I can drastically see the changes in his behavior in just the past few months, and I've enjoyed seeing how he can articulate what he is feeling much easier now. He now tells us that he isn't happy because he is tired, or hungry, or even because he is mad or sad for a certain reason, then we can work together to fix the problem and he will be his happy self again. I love watching him become more brave with his emotions, and we are still working on using our words instead of our hands when he gets frustrated. I can see all the little lessons we have had in the past few months starting to shape who he is.There are definitely a lot of things we are still working on as a family, but I really love where things are heading. 

One of my favorite things about Solomon right now is how he is starting to show his kindness. He has started to go out of his way with me and Peter to say thank you, and I love you, and he has also become such a sweet and protective big brother. One of my favorite moments in the last month was a busy day when we picked up some lunch to eat at home & Asher fell asleep in the car. I took Solomon in to the kitchen table and opened up his food and told him to go ahead and eat and then I'd come down and join him after I put Asher in his crib. It took about 10 minutes to get Asher settled and then I finally came down to eat with him. He had this sweet smile on his face and said "did you see what I did mommy?" As I was going to sit down next time him he told me that he opened my food for me and got my silverware out and was waiting on me so he could pray. My heart seriously almost burst. For ten minutes, that precious boy sat at the table and waited for me to eat. It's things like those little moments that make me want to pinch myself. I really don't know what I did to deserve such a sweet and kind little boy. 

He's been talking about making new friends all the time, and loves to be out and about, but he definitely is a homebody at heart. He loves his routine and I love that too! It really is such a joy to have him at home with me everyday. I love how it allows me to see him changing and growing. One of the biggest blessings of our new homeschooling adventure is teaching the big life lessons as a family, not just the educational lessons. Learning how to work together and be together as a family, with a happy heart isn't always easy, but I do believe it is what God has called us to at this time. I'm so thankful that 90% of our time together is full of laughs and sweetness. I'm so proud of who this little man is becoming, and I will continue to pray for God to shape his heart into what He wants him to be, and use Solomon for His Kingdom.

eating // still a happy eater, which we are so thankful for. He will try almost anything and usually likes it. His favorite type of meal is when we share a bunch of different things, especially Thai food. He loves the soups and will eat off of every ones plate. He loves to connect events to food also, which I think it so cute. If we go somewhere and then we go get ice cream he thinks that place will always involve a trip to ice cream.... or if we have a family movie night, he always asks for popcorn, even if that only happened one time. Of course he still loves the normal kid staples like mac n' cheese and french fries and hot dogs and chic-fil-a. 

sleeping // thankfully he is still a great sleeper. He doesn't nap at all most days now, but if he does it's still very hard to get him awake, unless I catch him right after he falls asleep. He still likes to wake up in the morning (or sometimes in the middle of the night) and crawl into our bed with us. He's gotten pretty good at it, and sometimes we don't even realize he's there till morning. I still love waking up with him between us! 

wearing // 3T (and some 2T shorts still, skinny boy!) but his pants are going to need 4T for Fall I think. We'll see when the weather cools down. 

loves // still loves coloring, puzzles, playing pretend with any kind of toy (which I LOVE to listen to), reading books,  swimming, singing songs, constantly playing with legos and building things and he really loves to play a few video games with daddy on the weekend. We have learned it is a great perk for him having a good week and being a good listener. The meltdowns have died down drastically, except for when we are leaving somewhere when he's not ready. That is still a big struggle we are trying to work on. 

& here are the answers to some questions!

favorite book // LEGO instruction books (he will seriously read them all day long)
favorite food // Chicken Salad Chick
favorite song // Sleeping Bunnies 
favorite toy // all his legos 
favorite thing to do // play hide and seek 

Solomon, Buzz and a lot of friends.

It's really surreal to think about how much this boy has changed in the last year, and as much as I welcome his 4th year of life, it's still so hard to see it come so quickly. This precious little soul is so excited to be four. He's been talking about it for months, and he hasn't stopped talking about it since Saturday. It really is such a privilege to get to mother this sweet boy. I can't wait to see all the things he will do with his life, but for now, he's still my little guy, and he'll always be my baby! He was so excited to celebrate with family and friends with a Buzz Lightyear party. It was the easiest, stress free party we have thrown, and I loved it.  

Big smiles, and ready for cake!!!!  

love this picture that Peter's brother took!

So much love on our couch, and this was after two sweet families left!

I hate that we missed the five kids that left early, but I honestly don't know if they would have fit?!?

We love you SO SO much, Solomon & we can't wait to see what your 4th year will hold!