WV and snowshoe

WV and Snowshoe were amazing! First and foremost thanks to everyone that was there and helped me with the girls. You made my time much more relaxing than it would have been!

We drove to Pitt with John on Thursday night. It was an uneventful drive and we arrived at a hotel close to the airport at about 11. One funny thing was that Av complained the whole way there that she didn’t want to go and stay in a “hospital” she wanted to go straight to G&PP’s house. Kept trying to tell her it was a hotel we were staying in but she just could not get it right. Hehehhe We all slept but only for like 6 hours or so. Camille was up bright and early. I guess she wanted to spend more time with John before he took off.

Friday the girls and I dropped J off at the airport and started the 1.5-hour drive to my parent’s house. After a Starbucks I was feeling better and the girls were good. My dad had set the pool up for the girls so they were excited to enjoy that when we got there. My dad worked the night before so he went to bed and my mom had to work for a bit so we headed to Aunt Anne’s house. AA had like a wonderland of crafts planned for the girls. It was the best ever!! Camille took a nap and didn’t want to get up when it was time, as usual. When she finally did get up she tackled my mom so hard she knocked her right off the bed. After knowing my mom was pretty okay from her fall we all laughed pretty hard about it. Av also took a bath in AA’s big bathtub and then we headed back to G&PP’s house for dinner.

Saturday was the Welsh fam reunion. My grandfather was one of 17 so my mom had over 100 cousins! It is a BIG family. There were over 200 people at the reunion. It was in Pittsburgh so we drove to my Aunt Jenny’s house where we met up with the rest of my mom’s sisters and families that were going. From there we headed to the park for the reunion. The girls had the most fun. Av collected and ate more candy than she has ever had in her life! They made friends, played with bubbles, helped crack a piñata and got pretty darn dirty. After that we headed back to my Aunt’s house where Av sat with the “big girls” aka my cousins or now known as “my cousins” to Avery. She didn’t even want me outside with them. It was my first taste of what my week would be like with all my aunts and cousins playing with the girls. It was great. We left about 8:30 and headed back to my parents. We didn’t sleep so well that night. Av was over tired and woke up about 2:30 and was just a mess. She came to get me and woke Camille in the process. Camille never wakes up in the middle of the night so I didn’t know what to do. Then Camille was awake again at 6 am. As soon as I got her back down Av woke up again. Ugh!

Sunday we had to get ready for Snowshoe. Or really I should say Matt, Suzanne and my dad got us ready for Snowshoe. There was not really a grocery store within an hour and since we were 2 hours away we thought we would do the grocery shopping for the week before hand. Those 3 went and did an amazing job!! I am so glad I didn’t have to do it. $800 later we had food for the week for almost 20 people. Not sure how it all got packed in many many different coolers and tubs but it did somehow (Matt) and made it to the house. Wow that was a big job. Camille of course got sick again! She woke up with a fever. Every time my kids are with G&PP one of them gets sick. Double Ugh

Monday we left for Snowshoe. My mom and I drove up first with the girls and most of the food in the mini van. We got to the house and got to explore all 4 levels, 7 bedrooms, 5.5 baths, and 2 kitchens first. It was fun. Very nice house. My Aunt Rosie, her two girls Emily and Rebbeca, cousin Mike, my dad and sister all joined us that first night. By the time we got there and got settled it was time to make dinner and hang out. The girls got in the “cool tub” with their cousins and loved that.

Tuesday we just kind of hung around. Walked to the village but the whole time Camille was throwing a fit bc she didn’t want to be in her stroller and she just wanted me to carry her. She was very tired. Her and I stayed at the village for about 2 minutes before I took her back to the house for a nap. The rest of the group stayed there for a while and had fun. After that we just hung around the house playing and waiting for more of our group to arrive. That night Aunt Sally, Aunt Jenny and Danny all joined us. On Wednesday it was a rainy, over cast, and kind of a cold day. We still decided we wanted to go hiking. We went on one hike to see some waterfalls. The girls and I with my parents didn’t make it to the very bottom but had fun throwing rocks in the stream waiting on them. We had hiked down many many steps and both girls walked up every step on their own on the way back. It was pretty neat. We picked a lot of wildflowers. Camille is now obsessed with wildflowers and wants to pick every flower she ever sees. On top of picking them she still has her hording tendencies so she holds onto them forever. I find dried flowers all over my house. After that we went to check out some cranberry bogs. All of this was kind of a long drive and I rode in the back of our van with my Aunt Rosie. It was really nice to get some one on one time with her and pick her brain about good teaching strategies (she is a first grade teacher) for Av. That night the last of our group arrived. John(!!!!!), my cousin Katie and her boyfriend. It was great to see them.

Thursday we decided to take the girls to the pool. They had been dying to go. It was a pool at the resort at the top of the mountain at the village. It was an indoor-outdoor pool. Very nice pool. Both inside and outside had a water slide for the kids that Av and C did at least a 100 times. They loved it. The pool inside was like a splash part with very shallow water and jets and sprays. We went before nap and then again before dinner time that day. I forgot my camera so I was not able to capture any of the big slide smiles. So sad. The rest of the group took the chair lift to the bottom of the mountain to the lake. My poor sis came down with Camille’s flu and spent all day in bed.

Friday it was my turn to join the flu crowd. Ugh it was not fun. I was not totally horrible. I kept debating on if I was just over tired or did I have the flu so I went with the rest of the group on the train ride. We went on a real coal burning train into the mountains. The girls really thought it was pretty neat. After that I went home to nap with Camille while my dad and John took Av on the chair lift down to the lake. She was so excited to go on the chair lift and to be with PP and Dada! It was neat for her.

Saturday it was time for us all to say bye. It was very sad to leave everyone. We had such a blast. The girls just loved being with “my cousins” as Av calls them. We headed back to KY on Sat. I was still not feeling well so the car ride was long for me. Luckily the girls were good and I actually slept a lot of it.

On a side note the AC in the house did not work all week. It was pretty frustrating. Most of the week was very hot so sleeping was pretty hard. All and all the week was great but I don’t think I got one good night sleep the entire trip.

baby brother

Avery has been talking a ton about her baby brother. It is too cute. She asks me all the time where he is and when I tell her, “his feet are here and his hands are here.” She asks where his head is and even asked if he would have hair the other day. As I was cuddling on the couch the other day with them I said, “I love my girls so much!” Av said, “do you love my baby bother too?” She loves feeling him kick and is very excited to pick out a blanket for him. Blankets are big deals in our house. Av has about a million that she loves and plays with on a daily basis. Camille has one special one that she loves. So picking out a blanket for her baby brother is very special to Av. She loves her blankets so much so she wants to get one for him that he will love. Camille has a lovie (giraffe) that she loves. Avery says that she will pick out a blanket for baby brother and Camille will pick out a lovie. They are sweet!

time flying by

Wow! Where did the summer go? School is starting in 3 weeks. The summer is GONE! Avery will go back to her normal preschool and be in a class that is called the “4 day 4’s.” It’s crazy to me she will be in school 4 days!!!! This will be a first for me. It will be so weird for me to be home with Camille and not have Av home with us. It’s the first time school will actually be school and not just a day care for the girls while I work. It’s going to be such an adjustment on me. My big girl will be at school while I’m home. Not sure how I am going to handle that. I guess with Camille and ncb I will be just as busy but she’s my girl, my baby girl. I will almost feel like I am cheating on her. I can’t go have fun and take the other 2 to the zoo without her. Avery will go to school Mon, Tues, Thur and Friday. She will be there full days Tues and Thurs while I work as will Camille at her school and just till noon on Mon and Fri. We will all be home Wednesdays together. I have a feeling Wednesdays will be my new fav day!

31 weeks today

My sweet little baby boy, he is making his presence known more than ever. His kicks and movements are pretty constant throughout the day along with contractions. He is just too sweet. I can already tell. I am going to miss him so much when he is not with me constantly. We are still doing pretty well. I am starting to slow down big time and hit a wall with comfortableness. My muscles holding up my belly are starting to protest and the screaming from them is getting louder by the day. When I get up from sitting it takes me a minute to get everything going. I’m stuffy every night when trying to sleep and heartburn and the burps are always an issue as well. Thankfully this has by far been my easiest pregnancy. Even so though, I am about done. I love being pregnant and I love being with my boy all the time but I am ready to shut this door of my life. Which I’m glad I feel that way. Being pregnant has been wonderful for me and I thought after this I would be very sad to never be pregnant again. I probably will with all those hormones that go nuts after birth but right now I can confidently say I am done! I am so blessed to have been able to carry 3 wonderful babies and have loved it so much but enough is enough and it is time for the Hoekstra family to move on from the baby stage and into the fun family growing up stage!!

talking

Camille is learning so much from big sister Av. Some of the sentence (yes I said sentences, she is now talking in full sentences) could be something that came from Av’s mouth and not Camille’s. It’s amazing. Av is always so proud when she finishes her food (we had such eating issues with her for so long it was a big deal) so she always shows me her empty plate. I act so surprised and pretend not to know where the food went. She says, “it’s all in my belly!” as she rubs her belly. Camille has taken to saying the same thing. Today she told me all her bagel was in her belly when most of it was still in her mouth. Last night John was asking her who the Sesame Street characters were in her book and when they came to one she didn’t know she said, “not know is.” Meaning I don’t know who that is. It made us both stop to laugh. Camille has never said anything like that and really with a word or two added that could have come straight from Av’s mouth. For the longest time Av said, “I not know.” We finally have broken her of that and she says, “I don’t know” now. Looks like we will be working on that with Camille too. Also, if you ask Camille, “did you play with Emily today?” She will answer with, “I played with Emily today.” She does that with most questions that could be answered with a yes or no. Kind of neat. I guess they are teaching her that way at school.

"big pool"

We went to a friend’s pool over the weekend and since there was not a baby pool the girls spent the whole time in the “big pool.” They swam and swam for 3 straight hours. Such fish. Av can now climb out of the side of the pool and jump back in totally unassisted and Camille just needs a touch of help climbing out. They had a ball. At one point Camille kept telling John, “big pool.” He thought that’s what she was saying but was confused bc they were in the big pool. The only pool. She was getting frustrated and he was as well. Finally figure out that the big pool she was referring to was the deeper end they had been swimming in earlier. Being almost 2 is hard, no one understands!

Fashionista

Av has become my little fashionista! She is cute. We all know she totally cares about her pretty dresses she wears but now she is helping me out. Nothing fits right these days and I needed a tank top to wear to something. I just wanted something cheap so while at Target I was trying on tops and she said, “no momma, that’s too big.” Then she picked out the one she thought looked the best on me. I agreed. Last week I decided I had to have a new bathing suit. I have been wearing the same all black maternity bathing suit and I wear it a lot. Like 4 times a week, every week. I was going to throw up if I put it on again so while at Target I was looking at the maternity suits. I found a few that were ok and asked her which one she liked. She had very strong opinions that one was the best so that’s the one I got. Shopping with her is going to be fun!