And We're Off

I've been debating for awhile on whether or not I should create a new blog for our family. I finally decided to just get started. I figure I can keep people updated about what's going on in our lives and have some fun at the same time.

So about the family...

We moved to Jacksonville, FL in September of last year. One of my sisters live here. She has a daughter a few months younger than Allie and also has a 4 month old son. I love being near her and am grateful that we get to raise our children together.

I was a director at one of the Sylvan Learning Centers here. I absolutely loved my job. The people are all wonderful and I couldn't ask for a better working environment. I haven't been in the classroom since I left Washington Middle School in 2008. Sylvan has been really great for me.

I am 28 weeks pregnant with our second daughter. My due date is June 29th. Allie will be 3 about a month later. I'm on bed rest now due to a soft and short cervix. I'm getting weekly progesterone injections to help prevent preterm labor. I've been a stay at home mom now since March. I got to be home with Allie for about 3 weeks before my doctor ordered bed rest. I've been on bed rest for two and a half weeks. We're trying to prevent having another kido early. Allie was born at 30 weeks and 3 days and the doctors and I are doing everything we can to make sure it doesn't happen again.

The reason I became a stay at home mom to begin with was that my husband got laid off. We had been very blessed in the fact that we were both working and he was able to do all of his work from home. He got to stay home and take care of Allie while I went to work. Well when he lost his job he had to look for work again and was not able to find anything that he could do telecommuting. He got a new job and seems to be very happy. He says that it seems like he's known the people he's working with now forever. When he started his new job I came home.

Allie is crazy smart and really curious. She's always very observant too. Each night when we read bedtime stories she always notices something new. The other night we were reading a book and there were two bears building a snowbear. Allie looked at the picture and pointed to the coal nose and said, "Mom, his carrot is missing." She looked all over the page for a carrot because she thought all snowmen had carrot noses. It was too cute. She loves to watch Nick Jr. I watch shows with her and we talk about what we see. Being on bed rest has forced me to be a little creative with what I can do with her. We play a lot of educational games on my iPhone. She knows her way around my phone like the back of her hand. She loves to do puzzles, paint, draw, play tea party, and of course make lots of animal sounds. She has soo much energy it's crazy. She's my little bundle of joy and I love her to pieces.

We talk about the new baby with Allie all of the time. She gives my belly hugs and kisses and even high fives. She likes to put her ear against my belly and listen to her little sister. The other night she really cracked me up because she lifted up my shirt and put a piece of pasta in my belly button and said, "Here you go sister, eat up." She also tells us to be quiet sometimes because the baby is sleeping. Her little "shhhhhhes" are so cute!

We're still working on names for this one. We had an idea but I really want a name that people can spell. I hate having my name always spelled incorrectly. It drives me nuts. We worked really hard when we named our first daughter Allison Kayla Baumbach.

Will, my husband, spends his time when he's not at work doing a variety of things including developing web sites, playing games online with friends, coding all sorts of things, and relaxing with Allie and me. He's been playing World of Warcraft and leading organized groups. He is really interested in checking out the new Star Wars Old Republic game that is due out any time soon. I think it might be fun to play myself but, I'm on bed rest and it is due to come out soon. The likelihood of me having time to play a game like that with a newborn is not very high.

We also have a wonderful dog Nikki Nicks. She's a black lab/german shephard mix. She loves playing with Allie and going for walks whenever she can. I'm very grateful that she seems to love kids and puts up with a lot from Allie. Allie likes to chase Nikki around sometimes and be silly. She'll try and put dress up jewelry on her too. It's cute and Nikki doesn't complain.

I look forward to updating this as often as possible with news about the family and sharing pieces of our daily lives with everyone.