Walk With Me Through 2018...

2018 was filled with chasing toddlers while pregnant, and then chasing toddlers with a newborn in tow. So to say it was crazy...is probably an understatement :)

Despite the craziness, the Lord was incredibly gracious to our family. We are now a family of 5 {!}, when just a few short years ago, we were hoping that the next year would be "our year" to start our family. What an incredible blessing!

Past reviews: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 {I can't believe this is my 10th Year in Review post!}

In January, we were still keeping our pregnancy a secret, but we were so excited for our newest little one! We got to see our sweet baby {and confirm that we were only having one this time!} at our first ultrasound. I was trying to navigate life with both Eli and Maddie walking and starting to get into everything. Eli had his first eye doctor appointment, where they determined he would need glasses.

Eli's glasses came in February and it was SO adorable to watch him be able to "see" for the very first time! I got to celebrate my 33rd birthday with friends and family, even getting a fun birthday date out with Mike. We also made our public announcement for our little tiebreaker! We found out we were having a boy, and we were so excited to share the news with the world :)

March brought another bleeding scare and another ER visit. Thankfully everything checked out, and our sweet baby was doing just fine, while Mama recovered from the scare of yet another SCH. My belly continued to grow, and we revealed the name of our sweet baby boy: Aiden Michael. Eli and Maddie transitioned down to 1 nap, and they had their first official egg hunt at Granny's for Easter.

We bought a house in April! Which is crazy, because we didn't really look for that long. We spent most of the month packing and then moving from our rent house in Plano to our new home in Melissa. I reached the halfway point of my pregnancy, a little amazed that I looked bigger this time around at 20 weeks haha. And Mike got a promotion at work and moved into a new role.

In May, we continued getting settled in our new home and community. We also started our Summer Bucket List, which included going to the Children's Aquarium and playing in the spray fountain at City Hall. Grandma came to town, and Eli and Maddie had a BLAST with her.

We continued our fun summer adventures in June. From celebrating National Donut Day and eating ice cream for the first time, to eating watermelon and taking wagon rides around the neighborhood, we fully embraced all things summer. Eli got his very first haircut {!} and we were able to enjoy a fun week of swim lessons with our cousins and Grandma. Which meant we then spent a lot of time at our new neighborhood pool! I was able to see our sweet baby Aiden on ultrasound again, passed my glucose test, and got my shots.

In July, we took a road trip to see Grandma and Grandpa, celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary, and I got a fun overnight Mama getaway. The summer was definitely getting hotter, and I was definitely getting bigger and slower, so our summer activities tended to be a lot simpler toward the end of June {bubbles, sidewalk chalk, reading books, painting with water}. But we did manage to celebrate National Ice Cream Day! We started getting more things together for Aiden: putting together the crib, making freezer meals, and working on his nursery.

August was officially baby month! I was working hard to get more things checked off our summer bucket list, while also trying to get things ready for Aiden. I finally finished his woodland nursery, and then we started the waiting game. I had one round of serious contractions that came on strong and then basically stopped for a week. But once real labor started, we were so excited to meet our sweet boy! Aiden Michael was born, and we became a family of 5!

September was a crazy whirlwind. We were so excited to welcome Aiden, and Eli and Maddie were so excited to be a big brother and big sister. And then life with 3 little ones under 2 settled in, and boy was it crazy! I didn't share the full extent of my postpartum complications until October, but September was a pretty scary and life-altering month for me. It started a chain of events that I am still working through even as the year closes, but the Lord was gracious to spare my life. We had a fun reunion with our Redeemer family, and Aiden hit his 1 month milestone!

We were still in survival mode in October. My mom was gracious to put her life on hold to come stay with us, which allowed us to do way more than I would have every done if she hadn't been here {like go on a neighborhood nature walk or paint pumpkins}. October also brought our first round of sickness for poor baby Aiden. While he was definitely miserable, we were thankful it wasn't more serious. Since everyone was sick, we didn't get to show off our fun family costume for Halloween, but Maddie still enjoyed her tiger costume at home :)

November started to feel a little more normal, but I was still struggling. The whole 3 kiddo thing was kicking my butt! We survived the 2ish month of 3 kids under 2 {but barely}. Eli and Maddie turned 2 years old {!} and we were able to celebrate with a fun Two Cool, Two Sweet birthday party with family. Aiden celebrated his first Thanksgiving, and also started physical therapy for his torticollis and plagiocephaly. I was also able to surprise Mike with a fun Ron Swanson-themed birthday dinner!

We started off December with our Advent readings and songs. Sadly, we decided not to decorate for Christmas this year {wasn't worth the fight with toddlers}, but we still tried to do some fun Christmas things. We attended our city's Christmas parade, and Laura helped us decorate Christmas cookies. I celebrated being in remission from Crohn's after my initial diagnosis 6 years ago. We enjoyed a fun Christmas with family, getting to see Christmas lights, wearing matching family pajamas, enjoying opening presents, and just spending time together. Aiden turned 4 months and we reflected on the completion of our Embryo Adoption journey.

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2018 was a year full of toddlers, pregnancy, and a newborn. We are beyond grateful for how the Lord has grown and blessed our family, and we look forward to continuing to figure out life as a family of 5! Thank you Jesus for our beautiful family!

{iPhone Rewind} :: December

Such a cutie :)

I can't leave these two alone for 2 seconds...

So excited that McAlisters came out with an RTIC tea tumbler! One of my best purchases of the year :)

Snuggles with Grandma

Even Sasha gets glasses haha #maddiehasbeenhere

Selfie with Daddy :)

He wasn't too sure about that pink moose...

This boy loves his puppy dog

Baby boy, you can have whatever you want...

Wearing Mama's boots :)

Hanging out on the stairs

I finally updated our growth chart, adding Aiden!

They were coloring so nicely...until they decided to eat the crayons. Sigh.

We got Aiden's baby blanket from the bank, and I LOVE that each of my sweet babies has one of these sweet {and soft!} gifts :)

Learning about the fun of Granny's house

"Just Because" flowers from Mike :)

Penguin footprints for Mike's Daddy Book

Fun with Christmas stickers thanks to Target's Dollar Spot

Haha #maddiehasbeenhere

Rockin' the tummy time, and loving the monkey :)

Teaching little brother about the fun of trucks :)

Never a dull moment :)

Embryo Adoption :: Our Journey {2018 Part 2}

For 2018, we focused on chasing around Eli and Maddie, and welcoming Aiden into our family! We are forever thankful for the gift of Embryo Adoption, and it's crazy to think that our journey to building our family has come to a close.

**I only provided links for my first 13 weeks of a baby bump in the previous 2018 post, since we didn't make any public announcements until after that. The rest of my pregnancy weeks can be found further in the list below :) **

March 2, 2018: Embryo Adoption :: Snowflake Baby #3

March 9, 2018: Another ER Visit

March 13, 2018: Doctor Follow Up

March 30, 2018: Anatomy Scan + Name Reveal

April 27, 2018: Checking In on Aiden

May 5, 2018: I picked out Aiden's nursery fabric! :)

May 22, 2018: Countdown to Baby Aiden :: 100 Days! 

May 25, 2018: Another OB Visit

June 12, 2018: One Appointment to Rule Them All

August 3, 2018: National Twins Day {relates to EDA because of how we were not surprised by twins}

August 17, 2018: Baby Countdown :: The Waiting Game

August 26, 2018: Aiden is born! {blogged on September 5}

August 30, 2018: Baby Bump- Week by Week // Month by Month {the singleton baby bump with Aiden!}

September 7, 2018: Family of Five

October 15, 2018: Our Angel Babies

November 5, 2018: That Time Jesus Spared My Life {how Jesus protected all of our embryos}

November 25, 2018: Embryo Adoption Awareness Day 

December 11, 2018: Aiden's Thawversary

December 12, 2018: Aiden's Transferversary

December 27, 2018: 496, 497, 604

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In the most basic sense, our Embryo Adoption journey has come to an end. We have given all of our adopted embryos a chance at life, and we will not be pursuing additional embryos. But in other ways, there is still so much more left to write into our Embryo Adoption story. We have 3 beautiful snowflake babies, and now we have the task of parenting these sweet ones. We have already started sharing their unique story with them, and we know that will evolve as the years pass, as their understanding increases, and as their questions arise. I also want to continue being an advocate for the Embryo Adoption community; I want other families to know about this amazing option!

McCullough Christmas

Today we headed over to celebrate Christmas with Granny and Grumpz! It's a full house with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins, but it is fun to have everyone together.

Eli and Maddie had such a blast playing with their cousins. And they were loving opening presents...I think they have become professional gift openers :)

We are so thankful for sweet time with family to make memories. We have lots of fun new toys and activities to keep us busy all year, and we are thankful for such generous family.

496, 497, 604

I have talked before about how our babies are called Snowflake Babies. The agency that we worked with to find our embryos is called Snowflakes Embryo Adoption, and they are the ones who initially coined the term "snowflakes" for adopted embryos. I have always loved snowflakes {and even collect snowflake Christmas ornaments}, so calling our babies Snowflakes is special and sweet to me.

Our agency keeps track of each of its Snowflake Babies, and they send a small gift whenever a new baby is born. So I love that each of my babies has a special snowflake onesie with their specific number on it! These numbers may seem random to most people, but to us, they are so special and unique. They represent our precious babies, 3 of hundreds of other Snowflake Babies whom the Lord has granted the gift of life.

#496 and #497 :: Elijah Winn and Madeline Grace

Eli and Maddie at 6 months

#604 :: Aiden Michael

Aiden at 4 months...wearing the 6 month onesie :)

Aiden :: 4 Months

Aiden,

You are such a joy, our sweet boy! You are growing so fast, and we can hardly believe that you are already four months old. I know I say this every month, but you are just such a happy baby! Your smiles and giggles light up the room, and they can make the most stressful of days so much better in an instant. We have discovered that you are actually ticklish! We can tickle your little belly or your tiny baby toes, and you just giggle and coo and just can't handle it haha. We can already see how you are itching to jump in and play with your brother and sister; you look for them when you hear them come near and start kicking a lot, like you're ready to go catch up with them. I fight the excitement of seeing you running around and playing with them and wanting to keep you tiny forever. We love you so much, and while we soak up all the tiny baby moments, we are excited to see how you grow and develop in the next month.

Love, 

Mama

AIDEN MICHAEL

Stats :: 18.5 pounds {according to your sister, you are "hebby" = heavy}

Clothing/Diaper Size :: you are wearing size 6 month clothes, and we are currently finishing the last of the size 2 diapers {probably a risky move}, but you really have already moved to size 3 {!}

Loves :: watching Eli and Maddie, bath time, giggling with Daddy

Dislikes :: getting dressed, waiting when you're hungry

Eat :: you were still eating on a random and different schedule every day at the beginning of the month, but once you started sleeping better, your eating schedule started to even out. your appetite has really picked up in the last week or so, so you're either going through a growth spurt, or are just starting to eat more on a regular basis.

Sleep :: for most of the month, you really seemed to struggle with this. we thought you were heading for longer stretches at night, but it lasted only a few short nights, and then you reverted back to waking several times a night. it got harder and longer to put you to sleep, so we decided it was time to move you to your own room and work on some sleep training. which also meant that you got to move into the Magic Merlin Sleep Suit {which, by the way, you are at the highest of the weight range for the size small and will have to move to the large suits pretty soon haha}. we took away the pacifier, and you only get it now if we are out and about and nothing else seems to settle you, which {so far} has been pretty rare. surprisingly, you don't seem to miss it at all. I was convinced that it would take some time to get into a rhythm with sleep, but you completely proved me wrong! you fussed for maybe 8 minutes and fell right to sleep with no problem, and you were sleeping 11 hours on night 2. your brother and sister didn't do that until almost 5 months! you still love those 30-45 minute naps, but if you are sleeping all night long, you can have those shorter naps, sweet boy! it took a little bit of trial and error, but it seems that you need/like to have about 2 hours of awake time between naps, and then you won't fuss at all when we put you down, going right to sleep. you really have made it super easy for us; I'm almost afraid to say that out loud because I don't want to jinx it... but we are so grateful!

Play/Development :: you have become very vocal, "talking" constantly. you discovered your tongue this month, so you are constantly sticking it out, and your hands are always in your mouth. or you're grabbing for someone else's hands to put in your mouth. you started rolling tummy to back, though I think the weight of your head carries you over most of the time haha. you are trying to roll back to tummy, but haven't quite figured that out just yet. tummy time still isn't your favorite, but you will tolerate it a little more now, and you have started to reach for toys in front of you while you're on your tummy. you "graduated" from your physical therapy, though we are still working on your stretches and turning to your left. your growth spurts slowed your progress, but you didn't have a regression, so you're right on track to having a nice, round head :)

Unique to You :: little man, you absolutely love bath time! you can be fussy, but as soon as you hear the water start to run for your bath, you are all smiles because you know what's coming! you have had the most stubborn case of cradle cap {your brother and sister had it too}, and it is just now starting to clear up. my absolute favorite time of day is bedtime with you...feeding and rocking you before bed, snuggled up close to me, tiny hand wrapped around my finger...it makes me want to pause time in that moment so I can hold you close forever...

Christmas 2018

We had a really low key, but fun Christmas this year. Because of all the craziness of a newborn, my hospital visit, and twin toddlers, we decided not to put up any Christmas decorations. Which is so sad, considering this was our first Christmas in our new house {and Aiden's first Christmas!} But it made things a lot less stressful, and we really didn't miss out on any actual Christmas fun. Hopefully next year we can decorate...Eli and Maddie can "help" and we can focus on just keeping one walker away from the ornaments {we can only hope}  :)

My parents came into town, so we were able to spend a lot of time with them. My brother had the weekend off, so he spent several days with us too, and that just about made Eli and Maddie's whole world, being able to play with "Uh-Michael." We spent a lot of time at home just playing, and it was fun just to be together as a family.

On Christmas Eve, we decided to show Eli and Maddie A Charlie Brown Christmas. They haven't had much screen time {only watching a soccer game, the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, and a sing-along video on Right Now Media} so this was a special treat! I had given them a Charlie Brown Christmas book that I had found at Target for $1, so they were familiar with "Char Char Bown," Linus, and Snoopy. So when they saw them on the screen as a moving cartoon, they were pretty excited! They were both pretty attentive...until about halfway through when Maddie lost interest and wanted to move around and play instead. Eli sat pretty much in the same spot, eyes glued to the TV the whole time haha. He would get excited and point whenever Snoopy came on the screen, but otherwise he was intently watching. When it was over, his only comment was "again?" :)

We tried to grab some quick photos before heading to the Candlelight Service at Parkway. Taking photos is a challenge these days, so I definitely bribed Eli and Maddie with a granola bar to get just a couple where they were sitting somewhat still...and poor Aiden wasn't a huge fan of his outfit at first haha. But they all sure looked cute! :)

We were definitely thankful to have extra hands {giving us the ability to play man-on-man defense haha}, and our little ones did really well through the Christmas service! It was nice to be able to go to church on Christmas Eve, sing carols with our church family, and be reminded of the good news of the incarnation of Christ.

We were able to get a really great family photo with my parents and brother. I LOVE how it turned out! And then we tried to get a family of 5 photo, and well...they did well through the service, so I can't really complain that they were done and not wanting to take photos. #reallifewithtoddlers

Christmas morning was fun, as this was the first real Christmas where Eli and Maddie knew about the excitement of opening presents. But they are still young enough that they didn't know that this morning was any different than any other morning, so we were able to get up and have our normal morning routine and jump into the present opening when we were ready. We enjoyed breakfast, finished up our Advent reading and song, and then let them open presents. After we snapped a few photos in our Christmas pajamas, of course :)

Take #521

#reallifewithtoddlers

We like the idea of keeping the presents simple. We want them to have the fun and excitement of opening presents from Mommy and Daddy on Christmas morning, but we want to be sure that doesn't overshadow the celebration of Christ's birth. We hope to incorporate some more traditions as they get older and can understand more, but for this year, we stuck to Advent and 3 gifts each. We gave them each something they wanted {something to play or create with}, something they could wear {our matching family pajamas!}, and something to read. And they each got their own wrapping paper, just to keep it simple for Mommy. Aiden is still too little for presents, plus his brother and sister have more than enough to pass down...but he did get his own pajamas :)

Learning how to use the power drill

Our little builder :)

Helping Daddy open his gift from Mommy

Mike wrote me a Christmas poem for my gift! I have to wait to find out what it is {it's apparently a planned event a few weeks from now}, and I'm so excited!

Since Grandma and Grandpa were here, our kiddos also got to open presents from them. So to say that they had a fun morning playing with new toys is an understatement! And I mean our kiddos AND Grandma and Grandpa :)

Aiden loved his Pooh bear from Grandma and Grandpa! :)

#safetyfirst

Granny and Grumpz came over after nap, and they came bearing a fun new gift! Eli and Maddie got a new play kitchen, and they absolutely love it! I see myself eating lots of play food and drinking lots of pretend coffee in my future haha. They also brought over a tool bench that cousins were passing along to us, and I also foresee a lot of cute tool man {or woman} photos in our future :)

We had a really fun Christmas, and we are so thankful for all the sweet memories!