in case you missed it ...

baby Lynch #3 will arrive this summer! Due date is late June (or early July).

We are all thrilled!

Mankato was my photographer. John is gone this week for work ...
He (Mankato) didn't do too bad. By photo five he finally captured my head and I was looking away! HA! Belly is growing. 

new. new, new

Since coming home from Nebraska our daily lives have been go-go-go, partially by choice and partially not (sickness, John gone). We've been keeping with our routine of Story Time, church, and weekly play dates with friends, but have also added to the weekly schedule.

Natural Childbirth classes.
Many of you may have seen my Facebook post about my new adventure as a Natural Childbirth instructor. I am very excited about combining my love for childbirth and my love for teaching. A perfect little marriage of passions.
http://www.bradleybirth.com/tenishalynch

MOPS
This fall I took a little leap and decided to join our local MOPS group. We are only one meeting in and it has been one of my best decisions. Absolutely refreshing for this busy momma, and Mankato loves going to "school" at MOPPETS. If you are a MOP (mother of preschooler(s)) I highly recommend checking out your local MOPS group.
http://www.mops.org/

LifeGroup
Another new addition this fall has been starting a LifeGroup through our local church. After much tug on my heart, I am excited to be surrounded by a wonderful group of ladies as we explore being virtuous together.

Shakes
I drink shakes, and drink them often. They are delicious and it took me nearly six months of contemplating to try them. They provide me with additional nutrition, help me feel organically energized, are so easy, and are helping me lose the last of my Loxley pounds and inches ... I'm coming for you, gray-skinny-jeans!
________________________________________________________________
Now an update on my kiddos (because I know that's what you've really been waiting for). Mankato went through a spell of naughtiness and I was all sorts of nervous it was the new "almost-three-year-old" coming out, BUT I am happy to report he was a little sick and once he was feeling better my sweet boy was back. He is an absolute sweetheart to his sister. Just this morning we were putting a puzzle together at the table to avoid tornado Lox from hitting, and once we were done he went and grabbed her and said, "here, sis, now you help take apart". She very happily helped take apart the puzzle. He is considered, and has a memory that amazes me.

Lox is a tornado. Her new freedom in crawling (it's been two months now) is a daily battle for my floors/dishes/cereal/dog water. She's busy, but a dollface. She has been mothering her baby (she only likes playing with a specific one) and spends quite a bit of time covering it with blankies and rocking and kissing it. She is a a blast, and has an appetite that amazes everyone. And she is ALMOST ONE!

This post is mainly about me, and additions to my life. In the last (almost) three years of being a mom I have realized the importance of still being Tenisha. It's a hard trick to accomplish, and often I WANT my two littles to experience everything with me. Often times I will tell John how much I need a break ("just 20 minutes, babe") and then he will offer to take the kids to the park or to Lowes and I.....well, I go along. I don't want to miss out on any of their preciousness. But at 28 years young, and one full year of living in NC, I am finding my way. I am realizing how to be present, but have necessary me time.
And now I'll leave you with their preciousness ...   

our j'ville house

As promised... our house...

toy room

front room aka guest room

playroom to kitchen

kitchen and dining room

Mankato J's room

Loxley Lou's room

living room with tv

our bedroom/sewing room/office/thinking couch

Not pictured: the bathrooms (because, well, they're bathrooms), the laundry room (it has a washer and a dryer and lots of clothing articles/rugs/blankets/towels/a pillow), and the back patio (needs some TLC). There is plenty to love and hate about this house. The longer we are here the more the love grows.

I'M BACK

Mankato was 10 months the last time I posted. Loxley is now 7 months.
I have come to realize that writing is therapeutic to me, and although I have been writing in journals since my last post, I figured it's darn time I start writing here again.

I am not going to attempt to catch you up on the last two years, because, well, lets face it ... I am a mom of two and ain't nobody got time for that. It is nap time now, and although I'd love to spend all of nap time typing in my quiet bedroom with the desk lamp on and the window breeze coming in, I also need to fold laundry, load the dishes, clean the upstairs bathroom, and do a general "pick-up" downstairs.

I will share pictures of our "new" (we've been here seven months already) house in the next post (there will be a next one) and I will tell a few Mankato stories in this post (he would make a great novel character).

The latest:

Mankato is a talker, and it's quite fun to have someone to talk to all day long. He is forming sentences like a pro and you can see his little brain working by all of his ever-changing facial expressions. For about two weeks now we have had the same conversation several times, usually post-nap:

Mankato: "Where dada go?"
Me: "Dad is at work, he'll be home later"
Mankato: "No, worch dada, mom worch, dada stay home"
Me: "Well we will have to talk to dad about that"
Mankato: "okay, call him"

a few notes ... he calls me "mom" almost always (so grown up, it makes me a little sad it's not momma or mommy). He has also had this same conversation and instead of telling me to "worch" he says "Mom fly HUEY. Dada stay home." (he always finds it's most approriate to yell HUEY!). One last note, I am not sure if I should be heartbroken that he wants me to work or be glad that he loves his dada so much? My feelings are still up in the air.

To say Mankato is the best big brother is honestly downsizing how great he is with Loxley. He loves her so much, and the more she interacts with him the more he loves her. He asks (almost nightly) if she can sleep in his bed. We keep telling him when she is bigger she can. Then recently she started trying new foods (or trying to get new foods to her mouth) and he said, "Oh! sis is big! Sleep in Kato's bed?" So we have now started telling him that she can sleep with him when she has a birthday. The kid doesn't forget a thing.

And Loxley. Oh, Loxley. She has not been sleeping well, so I will have to try to find nice things to say about her. Jk. Well, sorta. She hasn't been sleeping the best, but she is such a DOLL! She is so smiley (even without sleep) and loves to play with any toy. And loves music of all kinds. She is starting to "speak" her mind when it comes to what she wants, if she can't reach a toy, she yells at it (or maybe she's yelling at us?). If she doesn't want to hold Mankato's hand (he ALWAYS wants to hold hers) she will push him away and give a little scream. She may end up to be a ball of fire, but for now she loves cuddles and nursing more than anything.

And as abruptly as I brought this blog back, I am ending this post. Until next time ...

new house, for now

In the last post I imagined I'd write again once we knew where we were moving. That didn't happen. We are moved.
John received his wings on September 13, and we were completely unpacked in the new house by October 12. In between there we packed up our Florida house, moved ourselves 29 hours, found a house to live in, and unloaded the moving truck. Our plan had always been to have the military move us this time around (we have way too much stuff). But that didn't work out and we had another successful do-it-yourself move (minus a break-in ... our moving truck had some visitors one night who needed a microwave, toaster oven, air mattress, drill, motorcycle helmet, and dog bowls).
We are almost entirely settled at the new place now. We have a few more frames to hang, but we can happily call it home (for now). "It" is Camp Pendleton (located in Oceanside, California). The base is huge (even has horse stables!) and the weather is gorgeous (we had our first beach visit this weekend).
Our house is exactly what we needed. We prayed for a house on base with a fenced in yard and that is exactly what we were blessed with. It was the only available house on base when we came looking and it has everything we were looking for (a big yard for Belleau, a two-car garage, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, "wood" floors).
What I love about it: everything listed above + the three huge sliding doors to the backyard, the playground out back, the closet space, the neighbors (three different sets stopped by the weekend we moved in, and two of those three brought cookies!), the gas stove/oven, the water pressure.

livingroom/kitchen/dining room/extra space

Mankato's room

our bathroom/bedroom + John and Bells

backyard aka Bellea's domain

messy office/soon-to-be guest room

Sadly, we will only be in this house for six(-ish) months. John is learning to fly the Huey here (one more school...) and then we will be (happily) stationed in North Carolina. Hopefully I will update before we are out of this house and into another. I can truthfully blame my lack of updates on my very busy 10 month old. He's a blast. A busy blast.

In the midst of getting settled, we went "home" to the midwest for 10 days to celebrate my baby brother getting married. As always, it was great being home. And even better to welcome Jamie to the Vandament clan!

Where has the time gone?

Thanks to a friendly reminder from my dear friend Stephanie, I am updating the personal blog!

If you have been wondering what we've been up to ....

up at night with a teething baby boy (finally have one tooth!!)
vacuuming all the time because I have a CRAWLER! 
finding stuffing from Belleau's toy in Mankato's mouth
discovering Mankato can eject games from the wii
realizing I desperately need to baby proof (no inch is safe)
rethinking where to put the camera for the monitor that Mankato now throws on the floor
helping John memorize entirely too much material for any human brain
walking Belleau every day to help her lose weight (6 lbs to go)
running to prepare for my 10k that's quickly approaching
driving to Birmingham to move Tori into her new apartment
washing sheets/towels after/before our visitors (we have LOVED all of our company!!!)
praying for John as he finishes up his training (please join with me. only four weeks left)

our next post will more than likely include where we are headed next! How exciting. And I will be more detailed. Though, that isn't a promise. It's nap time around these parts.

July 23

4th of July

gparents and cousin Eliza!

NOLA

We took our first official family vacation (not counting trips "home" to the midwest) and it was quite a success.

John planned a trip to New Orleans without my knowing. We stayed right outside the French Quarters, meet my cousins Kim and Jaxon and had a wonderful weekend full of food, walking, food, shopping, food, perfect weather, swimming, and more walking. I could have easily spent the rest of the week exploring the city.

Mankato was a trooper. He took many naps in his stroller. Smiled at strangers. Ate bananas. And took his first swim in a pool. He did great. And we would both proudly say we are excited for our next family vacation with the little man(Kato). 

Where ever that may be.

In other news ... our little guy is growing WAY too fast. He has started to explore food!! So far he has ate/tried/chewed on: sweet potato, bananas (current fav), honeydew, brocolli, and ground oatmeal. He will be trying avocado this week at some point. Milk is still his favorite thing and it is not near as messy as the others. 

I can't get enough of him. Even on the fussy days, he's still the best.