Month of June

Okay, I know this is going backwards but this is the only way I can think of to get the blog back up-to-date! I thought about it and didn't want to skip the summer because we were getting adjusted to a new town, friends, etc. It was hard at times but we're coming through on the other side.

We officially moved to Albert City on June 2nd.  I can't explain to you the emotions as our entire house (that we LOVED) was being packed up into the back of a semi.  It was hard to leave our first house that we had bought and spent a lot of time fixing up to be just the way we wanted it.  We lived in Marshalltown for 8 1/2 years and our house for 8 years.  Of course I was experiencing all these emotions while having a 5 week old baby.  I still have memories of walking back through the house with all the rooms empty as I reflected in each room the tears were falling and I could hardly face that we then had to say good-bye to our friends, who became more like family to us.  Looking back at this time it still brings tears to my eyes. Thank you friends for everything! We love and miss you terribly!

Loading the semi....can't believe how much stuff we had!

We were thankfully able to all ride in the van together, another person that came to help us move from Albert City drove our car.  That was such a relief, I was wondering how I  was going to drive a van with 3 kids and deal with all the emotions I was having.  The church sent a van of people to help us and a semi to haul our things.  Once we arrived in Albert City to our "new" house there seemed to be 1/2 the town here to greet us.  I seriously think that there were 30 people waiting to unload our things and help us set up our house.  We took a break and people had prepared a meal, and then it was back to helping us set up.  We arrived in Albert City around 5:00 and went to bed that night with all our beds set up and made and our kitchen unpacked.  What a blessing!

Bapa came to help and we took a night off to go to Storm Lake

We spent the rest of the month getting settled and organized.  My dad came to help with the big organizing (the garage and basement), Linda came and helped with the kids (just when I was having a break-down) so that was perfect timing, and the Bolands came to help me decorate! 

Evelyn at 2 months old

Father's Day picture of Super Dad

2 months old....a great sleeper at night!

Swimming at the local pool, walking to the library and playing with new friends at the church park quickly filled our days.   Our neighbor hosted a baby shower for Evelyn and I, which was a great time of getting to know ladies in town.  Our goal was to not drive anywhere unless we left town, which I think we accomplished that goal!  I was also introduced to Bunco as a ladies night event once a month so that was a nice mom's night out!

Stay tuned for July and August!

Evelyn!

It's a girl! Evelyn Ann Stepec was born on April 25th at 10:45am.  She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 20 inches long.  We were so excited that she was a girl! It was a fun surprise and we are blessed.

Here's the story:

I was put on bed rest because I had Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension on April 17th.  I was really bummed and it was a lot harder emotionally than I ever thought it would be.  After a week I was really starting to lose my patience.  I was only 36 weeks when I was placed on bed rest. I had 2 appointments a week for an ultrasound and a non-stress test.  It was neat to see a baby at 37 weeks since the only other ultrasounds I had were at 20 weeks.  I was finally determined to enjoy the time that I didn't have a newborn in the house and spent time watching movies with Steve and playing games with Jack and Henry. At 1:30am my water broke, when I got up to use the bathroom.  We headed to the hospital around 2:00 because I was having contractions.

I was settled into my room with everything set to go around 2:30am, with hopes to get some sleep. Yea right! Steve was snoring away in the chair next to the bed....but I watched all kinds of TV and couldn't shut my mind off knowing we were going to have a baby in a matter of hours.

The doctor came in at 7:00am and I was at a 4, which was a surprise since with the boys I had to be induced once my water broke because my body didn't go into labor on it's own.  Before I knew it I was at a 8 and the party was starting! I didn't have to push for too long...and before I knew it they were yelling for the doctor to come (who had to run over from his office at the clinic). I had to wait to push her out. That was by far the worst part of the entire delivery.  It seemed like it took him 30 minutes to get there, even though it was probably more like 30 seconds! :)


When they told me it was a girl, I was so shocked! What a gift.  I seriously thought I was going to have a boy. 

Saylor

After 9 years, we said good-bye to dear Saylor. She is staying in Marshalltown, and has been adopted by a wonderful family with 6 kids. It was not an easy decision since she was our first "baby" but it was what needed to be done. Jack has had the hardest time with all of it, he cried and cried when she left. He wrote a letter to send with her so she could always remember her. The saddest thing was that he wanted a picture taken with her so he could put it in his room.

This picture just breaks my heart:

It is so weird to have a pet around for 9 years and now have none! No one runs and greets us at the door or cleans up all the food that gets dropped.

She is missed.

Easter 2012

Easter was a little unique this year because it was at the end of our Spring Break. Not only that but I couldn't travel because of being pregnant and they were watching my blood pressure. So we stayed home for the week and had a lot of fun doing and making different things.
We started our week off with homemade donuts:

Another day we made s'mores with peeps:

We ended the week making homemade ice cream in our new ice cream maker! YUM!


One last thing (not involving eating) we dyed Easter eggs...

My dad and brother came down for Easter weekend. We had our Easter dinner on Saturday since I had to go back to school on Monday and people needed to travel home on Sunday afternoon. It was a great weekend and again we all had fun hanging out around town. I was not very good with the camera when everyone was here! I didn't take any pictures.

The Easter Bunny came on Easter morning and brought exciting things like new makers, toothbrushes and toothpaste! :)

boy or girl?

Tonight when Jack was writing a birthday card to someone and he was writing our names on it. Then he went on to say, "I better like the new baby's name". I'm thinking he is hoping the name is short and not long. We will see. He has his heart set on a girl, we keep telling him how much fun another brother would be but he has not bought into that yet. I assured him that if it's another brother then he will have someone else to wrestle with, or play superheroes with. We are getting excited around here to meet this new little one. Hopefully at least a couple more weeks left. I am 33 weeks now, and we're hoping to make it to at least 35 weeks. Jack was born at 35 weeks and Henry was born at 36 weeks.

The rest of our life changes are continuing on. Steve is working every other weekend in Albert City, so we have been really busy with that. On the weekends he is home we're trying to get things organized/packed/etc. We spent last weekend at an All Church Retreat with our new church family and we are really looking forward to getting to know them more and be a part of the church and community.

Because I can't seem to post without adding a picture...we are all looking forward to this! Still crazy to think there will be another one added to this picture by the time we're at the lake again.

The 80 degree weather here has sure been nice!

Valentine's Day

This is a very late post...but I guess February isn't officially over yet! We had a great low-key Valentine's Day. The boys and I along with a friend made and frosted cookies to share with people. The boys picked out a Batman shirt for Steve at Target on a Sunday when Steve was gone for the weekend and as soon as Steve came in the door Henry asked him if he got his new shirt yet. He was too excited! Steve got his present a little early...we gave the boys each a pair of swim goggles since Henry is starting swimming lessons. Steve bought us donuts for the morning and we ended up eating at Jimmy Johns for supper because of a house showing. Hopefully sometime when our lives calm down a bit Steve and I can sneak out for an evening out or something!

Jack also got to celebrate with a party at preschool. Last year he was sick so he wasn't able to go so he was beyond excited to use his box that him and Grammy made last year!

Here's the Valentine's he made:

house sold!

Our house went on the market on Super Bowl Sunday and on Valentine's Day we were presented with an offer we couldn't refuse! We couldn't believe it. God is amazing! The other really awesome thing about it is we're not closing until June 5th, which means I can stay and finish out the school year should the baby come before his/her due date! Not really looking forward to that part, so hopefully the timing will all work out so I don't have to go back.

So now we've officially started house hunting in Albert City. We will see what happens, in a small town you really don't have too many choices. We both really like 1 house, which is a foreclosure which means more hoops to jump through before we know if we even have a chance. I know it will all work out how it's suppose to but it's hard not to get a little anxious about it.

changes at the Stepec house...

Albert City here we come!

Over the next couple months are lives are going to be changing a lot! I am due with #3 at the beginning of May (which will probably mean sometime in April)...and Steve got a job in northwestern Iowa! He is working part-time now, which means he is working a couple weekends a month. It's about 3 hours from here to our new town.

We are moving before June since Steve starts full-time June 1st. All the while I am finishing the school year here, hoping the timing of the maternity leave will all work out so I don't have to go back at the end of the year. Oh yes, and we need to sell our house and look for another one! Needless to say, I think the rest of my pregnancy is going to go really fast! :)

The name of the neighboring town is Pocahontas, we stayed here during the interviews, etc. Here's a picture of Pocahontas and Steve! Seriously, I know you all want to come and visit and see this! :)

Henry is 3!

We have celebrated Henry's 3rd birthday all month it seems like. The 4 of us celebrated on the 10th (his real birthday) and then Grammy watched them for a weekend and they celebrated again, and then just this morning we had his "party" with the Bolands, Knuckles and Bapa. Here are some pictures of all the fun!

Birthday breakfast at the bakery! Yum!

present time...

birthday cupcakes at home...

cake Steve made for his breakfast birthday party this morning...

We love you Henry!

New Stepec!

In May we're expecting #3! We couldn't be more thrilled to be able to welcome another member into our family. Here's a video I made to tell my students...enjoy!

Christmas 2011

After many months of not blogging I am finally updating about Christmas. It's been a really weird winter here in Iowa. We have no snow and haven't had any snow all year. The kids are wondering when it's going to come so they can play in the snow. This year we had a quiet, relaxing Christmas here in Marshalltown.

Here are the boys on Christmas Morning: (yes, I still buy them matching pjs)

My dad and brother came down for the weekend, and then on Christmas Day we traveled to Iowa City to spend Christmas with family. We stayed there until Wednesday, and then came home for a night before heading to Missouri to visit my grandparents. The boys had fun staying at a hotel and swimming in the pool, so it was a great overnight!

I apologize for how long it took me to post and how few pictures I have. I keep forgetting to carry around my camera. One more thing to work on I guess...