Wilcox Ladies Update

I'm sitting here in a quiet house completely by myself.  It's a very rare occurrence these days, and I am enjoying the quiet and appreciating a sweet husband who will take the girls out while he runs errands so that I can get a little bit of rest.  I thought now would be the perfect time to do something besides catch up on my Netflix shows, so here's another blog post.

Adia

Adia has recently been putting on my clothes.  She brought down my pajama pants from my bed a few days ago and pulled them on.

So. Much. Girl.  She is seriously the girliest person I think I have ever met.  We are convinced that if we tied her hands down, she would be unable to talk.  Everything she says includes several hand gestures which makes it so hard for me to focus sometimes on what she is actually saying.  I love this little person and the little lady she is growing into.  She is very sensitive and caring and I am always blessed to see how empathetic she is - even at such a young age.  If I am sick or sad, it truly hurts her.  She cries and caresses me and does not want me to grieve at all for anything.  I love her heart. 

She's attending preschool this year and she is thrilled.  We are counting down the "sleeps" until her first day and she talks about it daily.  She loves people and she loves to learn.  One thing I am really enjoying is listening to her discuss what she is learning each week in Sunday School.  Last week, they talked about Zacchaeus.  She memorized the song and told us all about how he was a wee little man who just wanted to see Jesus, so he climbed up in the tree and Jesus told him to come down.  It's so fun to watch her grow and although it saddens me a bit to think about how she's becoming a kid and she's no longer a baby, I am seriously looking forward to this next phase and beginning her school days. 

Isla

This is how Isla woke up from her nap a few days ago.  The pug stuffed animal is actually a golf club cover she got from my dad.  She calls it her "Maggie."  My parents' pug's name is Maggie.  She sleeps with it (along with about 6 or 7 other stuffed animals) for every nap and each night.

This child is probably one of the silliest people to ever live.  When she is at home and around us, she talks constantly.  She can tell us anything she wants now and she enjoys being loud.  Real loud.  However, when we are around a large group of people or people she does not know well, she will hardly say a word.  She is probably going to be that kid who is super good in school and whose teacher will not believe us when we tell him/her how she acts at home.  She is almost always in constant motion and she's extremely strong.  One of her favorite things to tell us now is, "I do it by mySELF!"  Even though she keeps us on our toes, she has actually calmed down a lot in the past few months.  Now, she will watch an entire TV show without getting up, sit through an entire children's book, stay in her seat/area while she is eating, and plays independently.  She also understands consequences and rewards much better now and therefore has much fewer tantrums.  One of our absolute favorite things about her right now is her love for singing.  It is just the cutest thing in the world to hear her sing, "I wub you... You wub me... We a ha-ppy fa-mi-ly wif a gate big hug and kiss a me to you *kiss*. Won't you say you wub me too?"  Melts. My. Heart. I love her goofy personality, her many kisses she gives us every day, and I am in love with her enthusiasm and excitement for life.  She is joy.  Pure joy.

She is potty trained, but she has recently had a little relapse and has struggled a bit going #2.  She is absolutely terrified of automatic toilets and hand dryers in public restrooms.  We think this caused her relapse.  She was doing fine until we went to a restaurant where she had to potty.  She sat on the toilet and it kept flushing automatically.  It was pure terror, and she has struggled with #2 ever since.  I know she will get better and she will get back on track, but it's so hard when we've made so much progress and to see so many gains and then to see her relapse.  The comforting thing is that we went through a relapse with Adia's potty training when I first started watching kids in my home, but after a little bit of time, she was fine again.  Because I went through that with her, I know that Isla will get it again and be ok and that we will just have to keep encouraging her in the meantime.

Baby - 16 weeks

The pregnancy is really going pretty well.  I was really sick for several weeks.  I never vomited, but I wished I had.  I just had this horribly nauseating feeling all the time and it would not go away no matter what I did.  Fortunately, I seem to be past that.  One thing I've noticed is that all of the pregnancy symptoms just come on sooner and sooner with each child I've had.  I've been feeling the baby move for a little while now and a couple of nights ago, Micah got to feel it with his hand on my belly a few times.  So cool! 

Check out the picture below...  (Sorry if this is too much for some of you readers out there...)  In this picture, I was not quite 14 weeks pregnant and I was having a Braxton Hicks contraction.  I've been having these since about 11 weeks this time!  So crazy.  With Adia, I started noticing them around 17/18 weeks.  With Isla, it was around 15 weeks or so.  This time is so early.  I was laying down when I took this photo and you can see how the right side of my belly would ball up and get as hard as a rock.  I'm over 16 weeks now and I notice them pretty frequently. 

Braxton Hicks contraction at around 14 weeks.

We'll find out in a few weeks what I am having.  I'm soooo excited.  I will be thrilled no matter what as long as this baby is healthy.  Please pray that we have a healthy and happy baby along with a safe delivery.