An Update... FINALLY!

It has been about nine months since I have written last! That is unbelievable! What is even more unbelievable is how much our lives have changed since then. I am planning on getting back to blogging now that things are getting settled back down in my life. This blog is just a quick update blog, and I will expand on the following events in later blogs to come. For now, here is a catch-up list about our family.

1. We MOVED! We no longer live in Colorado Springs, but we moved up to Longmont. Scott applied for a job up here back in October 2010, and he got a job in Boulder. He started the first week of December, so during the month of November we put our house on the market; "staged" it to sell by packing lots and lots of clutter; packed up the kids, cat, and dog; moved in with my parents; and celebrated Thanksgiving! It was a whirlwind month!!

2. In December we got settled in with my parents up in Longmont, and Scott started his new job in Boulder with EKS&H. He really enjoys his new job, and he seems to be really flourishing there! He still works as an auditor. I am so proud of him!

3. Also in December, we found out that my Grandpa Alvin was terminally ill with colon cancer that had spread all through his body, and we moved him and my Grandma into an assisted living where he could get the medical care he needed in his last days. Less then 2 months later, he passed away. I feel blessed that we had moved up just in time to be around to help get them settled and spend as much time as I possibly could with him before I had to say goodbye. My Grandma is now settling back into her home in Boulder, and the kids and I go visit her about every week. She makes us the best waffles, and we have loved getting to spend so much time with her.

4. The end of December, our house in Colorado Springs went under contract, and we started looking for new houses up in Longmont. We thought it would be pretty easy to find a new house in Longmont, but it took us what seemed like forever to find our new house. It was worth the wait, though. In March, we sold our house in the Springs and then closed on our house in Longmont a few days later.

5. Our house in Longmont was a foreclosed home, so we got a pretty sweet deal on it.  And although we fell in love with the floor plan, we did not fall in love with the greasy carpet, mold, and dog pee that was everywhere. It needed a lot of TLC before we could move in. My parents were so gracious to let us stay with them in their house until the major renovations were completed and we could really get settled in. We put new carpet in, appliances in the kitchen and laundry room, re-tiled the bathrooms upstairs, and painted as many rooms as possible before we finally moved in. It is still a work in progress, but we are getting settled!

6. Jackson is already 9 months old! He has 6 teeth and can army crawl to get just about anywhere he wants now. He is in the 94th percentile for his height, and happy as can be (as long as he's not teething)

7. Adyson is almost 3, and now she can talk in full sentences. She likes to dance and sing, and she loves playing outside. She loves to help us with Jackson every chance she can, and she has got such a sweet and caring spirit!

8. Charlie turned 3 in April, and he is still the most wonderful dog that anyone could ask for! He loves our new home where he gets to chase lots of birds and squirrels and most of all- the wild bunny that is often in our backyard! He also loves being closer to family and nana and pappy's lake!

9. Early in May, our wonderful kitty, Izzy, started losing a lot of weight and then suddenly lost the use of his back leg. It was so sad! Within one week he went from being his normal  social and cuddly self to all of a sudden hiding in the basement in pain. We made the hard decision to put him down because he was suffering so badly. Poor kitty! We miss him so much!

10. Our house felt so empty once Izzy was gone that we decided to find a little kitten to come live with us and perk Charlie up. We found an add in the paper for some farm kittens just up the road, and went to check it out. Instead of one kitten, we found two! We brought little Lilly and Marvin home. They are two very sweet and rowdy gray kittens. They love Charlie and seem to be very tolerant of our babies!

11. Scott and I are just about to celebrate our 6th anniversary this year! We are looking forward to going down to Denver for a few nights just the two of us to celebrate our crazy year, our crazy family, and our crazy love!

Stay posted for more details coming soon! I'm sorry I haven't been writing. I promise to write more, now!
Here's a picture of us on Easter Sunday. It's the most recent picture of all of us together.

Lots of love,
Karen

Jackson Douglas Willcutts

He's here! Exactly one month ago today, our precious Jackson Douglas Willcutts was born! Sorry for the delayed blog update. I have found that I don't have quite as much free time as I used to now that I am chasing a two year old and taking care of a new little one. It has been wonderful, though! 

He was born on August 16 at 5:40 in the evening. He weighed 8lbs and 2.5ounces,  and was 20inches long. Labor and delivery was surprisingly smooth, and by God's grace, he came out healthy as can be! What a relief to us! He is an absolute sweetie, and we are so glad to have him as the newest member of our little family. 

I'll let our pictures tell the story of his first month. Enjoy! Oh, and sorry for the long delay! 

Two pictures below: Team Jackson! I made t-shirts for everyone who was going to be at the hospital when Ady was born, so I thought it was only fair for us to have Jackson team shirts, too! These are all the wonderful people who helped us through the hospital experience! Ady had her team shirt on later that day, too:)

Below: Just moments after he was born! He's here!!! I was just elated to finally have him in my arms and to actually get to hold him for longer than just a few seconds! Praise God for a healthy baby!!!!

Below: Welcome to the world!

Scott with his little man

After his bath at the hospital.

Ady got to meet Jackson the next morning, and it was sisterly love at first sight! I am one lucky mama to have two, such beautiful children.

Scott with his babies! We are so blessed!

***We had so many visitors at the hospital and our first few weeks home that I'm afraid it would take up too much space to post all those pictures here, but A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU who were willing to drive down and help us, visit us, feed us, and love us in this super exciting time!!! We feel so encouraged and loved!!!***

Below: Welcome home, little brother!!!This is one of my favorite pictures of all time, and probably always will be. Ady is a wonderful big sister, and loves her brother so much! 

People keep asking us who we think Jackson looks like, and to be honest there is only one person I can compare him to the most... I'll let you be the judge, though:)

They even have the same birthmarks on their foreheads, eyes, and same hair pattern. So cute! I'd say he looks mostly like his sister!

Here are some more pictures from his first month here with us! What a little blessing he is to us. He is so cuddly and sweet!

And these last two are pictures I took today. He is already one month old today! We call him "bubba" as a nickname.

I have an update to post soon about Ady's 2nd birthday that was on August 30th, so stay tuned for more pictures and stories from her fun day!

Lots of love,

Karen

Got Baby?

It's official! Lord willing, our precious little boy will be here no later than Monday. I had my last OB appointment this morning, and it went really well. I am roughly 3cm dilated and 60% effaced. It is exciting to think that he could still come any time before then, but for sure we know I'll be induced Monday morning. We appreciate all of your prayers, and we will keep you posted! We are definitely excited and nervous!

As one can imagine, we have been busy with all sorts of preparations around here for this little one to get here. Carpets have been cleaned, meals have been cooked, and the house has been baby-afied again. Even Ady is feeling the excitement and has been talking about babies a lot more. 

I had the epiphany last weekend that this would be my last week with just Adyson at home, so I decided  to make the most of it and to enjoy every moment with just the two of us. I wish I could have had this perspective every day as a stay at home mom. Something to work on. :) Every day I planned something fun for just Ady and I to do during the day, and we have had a blast! 

On Monday we went to one of our favorite parks in Northern Colorado Springs and played really hard! There is a little pond with baby ducks there, too; so we had a good time watching the little ducks with their mama going for a swim. I also repainted her toenails a pretty pink to match mine. She is such a little girl, and she just loves getting her nails done. 

Tuesday we went to Focus on the Family to have lunch with my dear friend Blythe. Ady and I love getting to hang out with Blythe! She is probably one of the coolest and sweetest people we know.  After lunch, we stayed to play at Whit's End for a while. Ady had never played there before, and she had so much fun climbing and jumping around on all of the play equipment. She also took her first real shower that morning, and loved getting to splash around in the shower.  She cracks me up! 

Ady has been recovering from Mono since early July, so we still have to take it easy somedays when she has been super busy. So Wednesday, I planned for us to go on a nice drive in the country to look for some cows "moo", horses "ney!", and other random animals. We saw not only cows and horses, but llamas, buffalo, antelope, birds, and some dogs. It was such a nice drive. That afternoon we got to go on a walk with and hang out with some of my friends and Ady's friends: Amy and Ava, Kelsey and Jacob, Marti and Maya. It was such a beautiful day, and it was so encouraging to get to spend some time with such wonderful moms and babies. 

Thursday we decided to go up to Garden of the gods for a nice walk. It was a beautiful day for a walk, and we stayed there well over an hour just wandering around and looking at all the rocks and flowers. Ady brought her baby doll with her, so she got to practice being a big sister and pushing her baby doll in the stroller. After our walk, we stopped at a new park on the way home, and Ady played on the swing "sing" and went down the slide "side" over and over.  We were both so tired, but we had a blast!

This morning was my last doctor appointment, so our sweet neighbor up the street offered to watch Ady for me. Blake and his wife Amy are the parents of Ady's favorite buddy Ava or "Avie" as she calls her. Ady LOVES getting to go over and play with "Avie". This morning Blake set up the pool on their deck, and the girls spent about 2 hours playing in the kiddie pool. Those girls play so well and so hard together. It is adorable. What a huge blessing their family is to us. They have been so helpful to watch Ady at a moments notice.

Scott has gotten to spend some special time with Ady every evening this week, too; and we are so grateful that we took the time to appreciate each day with our precious girl this week! She is going to be a great big sister, and we are so proud of her!

As an update on our little lady... I have to say she is learning and growing so quickly these days that it is hard to keep track of all the things she can do and say now. Some of our favorite words this week that she is saying are "sheefies" for fish, "nuffies" for nothing, and "surfy" for thirsty. She is able to jump really well now, getting both feet several inches above the ground, and she is able to climb up onto our really tall kitchen table chairs all by herself. She has decided to rename our cat Izzy as "Cat", now, and she loves to boss him around. More practice for being a big sister I suppose. Mostly, we are just impressed by her tender little heart. She loves to pray at meals and before bedtime with us, and she is very aware of anyone with an injury or hurt. She likes to make everyone feel better or happier when they need something. We are so blessed to have this blossoming little girl in our midst every day, and she is teaching us so much! It is hard to believe that in just 3 short days she will be a big sister, and in a few short weeks she will already be 2 years old! What a big girl!

Well, I guess that is about all the news I have for now. I am thinking that my next post will be about our new little arrival, so stay tuned! 

Here are some fun pictures from our week.

Have a blessed weekend!

Love, 

Karen

Above: Adyson, our cool girl, with her baby

Below:  Mommy and Ady at Garden of the gods

Below: Having a snack on a big rock. She is turning into such a climber!

Above: Big girl! Going for a walk with her baby

Below: Big sister training- pushing the stroller. So adorable!

Below: Scott and I are so blessed to call this little girl ours!

Above: Ava and Ady in the pool at Amy and Blake's house

Below: A closeup of our sweet girls. Such good buddies!

Below: Adyson and her daddy playing on the ipad. Is he teaching her or is she teaching him? Hmm?

Below: the baby Jackson bump. I had Scott take some fun pictures last weekend so we could always remember how big my belly really got.

Some Updates

It's already been over a month since I posted my last blog update?! It is amazing how fast time seems to go sometimes. I still don't have a lot of time today to write a long blog, but I thought I'd at least post some new pictures and fun facts about our growing family for my wonderful blog followers and friends.

1. Ady took her first trip to the zoo the end of last month. We went with Scott's brother and wife (Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sarah). It was pretty hot outside that day, but we all had such a great time.  We were a little nervous about how Adyson would respond to the animals, since she is pretty timid; but I have to say she did great! She really loved getting to see the giraffes, feed them, and pet them. She even got to pet a baby albino wallaby. She did great!

above: kissing and petting the giraffe

below: family picture while cooling off in the shade

below: Scott and Adyson hanging out at the zoo

below: Uncle Jeffy and Aunt Sarah

below: Mommy and Ady cooling off in the shade

2. We had a lovely Fourth of July weekend with family and friends. We went to my Grammie Sue's house for swimming and a barbecue in the early afternoon, and then headed up to Lake Loveland with Scott's family for fireworks that evening. Our fireworks ended up getting rained out, but we still had such a nice time with everyone. What a blessed Nation and people we are as Americans. We forgot our camera, but my dad caught a few pictures from at my Grandma's house. 

above: Adyson and Daniel on a ride in the wagon. It is so much fun to have kids so close together with my brother. Even our second kids will only be about 5 months apart, too. 

below: Two of my most favorite men: Hubby Scott and brother Mark. What a blessed girl I am.

3.  Last weekend we went on a get-away weekend with our best friends, Corey and Blythe. We dropped Ady off at Nana's house, picked up the keys and clean linens, and headed up to the cabin for 2 nights. We had such a great time getting to connect with them, and getting to relax in the mountains. The guys played a game of golf on Saturday morning, and Blythe and I went shopping in town. That night we cooked up a delicious steak dinner with s'mores as dessert. It was delicious! The next morning, we had a nice quiet, slow morning eating a delicious breakfast on the deck of the cabin and enjoyed the rest of our time in the fresh mountain air. We had such a great time playing board games and talking and laughing. It was wonderful! Corey and Blythe are such a blessing to us, and we loved getting to have that time with just them- especially with our new little one on his way soon!

 Below: Breakfast on Sunday morning on the deck with friends.

Below: Scott with Corey and Blythe in Estes

Below: Me trying to get a picture with our dog, Charlie, and their dog, Sammy. Our dogs are best buddies, so they were being squirrly...

4. I finally just about finished Jackson's room. It was quite a job, but I think it turned out pretty cute. We are so excited for him to get here! I painted all of the paintings myself! It was so much fun!

 

5. As of this weekend, I will be 26 years old and 35 weeks pregnant. I had an ultrasound last week, and our little baby boy is looking good. He is almost 5 pounds they are estimating, and he "has a big head" the ultrasound tech told me. Lovely. We are just praying and hoping for a healthy baby, and we are so excited to meet him! 

Here are some good belly shots and our most recent ultrasound pictures (good luck making sense of them! We sure cant really tell what they are. We're just glad he seems healthy and strong!)

 

6. A quick update on Adyson. She is still growing and learning more and more. It is incredible to watch! She has more words than we can count, and she is getting better and better at recognizing people and places. She has a little friend up the street named Ava (Avie- to Ady), and every time we drive by their house she exclaims, "Avie! Avie!". At the grocery store she asks for a "tookie" (cookie) "peas" (please), and then says "tks" (thanks).  Our favorite word she is saying this week is "fish". She just started being able to actually say the word, whereas she used to just put her hands together and make them move like they're swimming. Now that she can say it she calls fish "shiff". She somehow turned the word around backwards, and it is adorable. Poor thing! I think we ask her to say it too much because it is just too cute.  She also started to be able to point out my car when we are in parking lots! It is really cool that she can recognize stuff so well now. 

Well, I better get going for now. I hope this blog finds you all well!

Lots of love,

Karen Ruth