Just the Three of Us

When people ask me how far along I am, I always have to think about it a second and then I realize that "Oh my goodness! It is getting close!" In light of that, we are trying to spend as much time doing things as a family of 3 before we become a family of 4 (plus Jack, of course.)

Kenzie seems to be starting to understand that Will is in my tummy, but we know she doesn't necessarily understand that in about 6 weeks he will be here for sure and not leaving. It's important to us to give her some one-one-one (or two-on-one) time as much as possible.

We have spent a lot of time at the pool this summer. Kenzie loves to ride the "daddy train" through the water. She even adds her own side effects and yells out "choo choo!" as often as she can. It is hilarious.

We have hit up the beach a couple of times (though not as often as we would have liked). Kenzie loves the beach and I think those times spent with her are pretty special. She loves to go to the pier after we swim for a while and eat while looking out over the water.

We have watched a lot of football. What's new? This year though we are trying to get Kenzie more involved. She likes to cheer for touchdowns (regardless of who scores them most of the time as long as she sees or hears other people getting excited). She chants "U-C-F Knights!" and "Go Dolphins!" She has also learned to call not only touchdowns but first downs on occasion.

Our days are filled with things that might seem like small things to some and trivial to others, but for us, and hopefully Kenzie, they are something bigger. We do all sorts of things each week that right now are moments centered around her. While a lot of those things... or all of them... might continue to go on, we know that one day our attention will be divided. As an aside, we will find ways to make sure Will gets one-on-one attention as well. We do not want to deny him that because he is the little brother. I think we take a weekly trip to Hobby Lobby at Kenzie's request. I have no idea why she loves that store so much but anytime we drive near it, she requests to take a trip there. We go to weekly story time at the library. She sings, dances, listens to stories and uses the kids' computers. We play with bubbles on the back porch. We have baked, read books (a LOT of books), played with blocks, done puzzles (over and over again), colored, and generally just shared a lot of time together. She likes to request that I sit down on the floor and play tea party or she brings Daddy her picnic basket and they have impromptu picnics in the evenings.

Just tonight we had a nice evening together. While our plan was to go to Chick Fil A for dinner we went out there only to discover that they had a special event going on. We could have gone in, but there was no seating and the place was overly crowded so we took Kenzie to her favorite restaurant... McDonalds. After dinner we came home and took a short walk around the cul-de-sac behind us so Kenzie could ride in her car. Daddy and Kenzie had an impromptu mechanics lesson on the way back when we lost a wheel to her car and had to put it back on. Kenzie and I colored on the driveway with our sidewalk chalk. Will Kenzie remember any of this? Probably not. Will we? Of course. And we will continue to cherish every moment as a family of 3. Soon we will be 4 and we will cherish all of those moments together as well, while still preserving the close one-on-one relationship we each have with Kenzie and forming new bonds with Will. I can't wait to be a family of 4, but I know that there will be moments that I will miss with just my little girl (and her Daddy.) I wish she could stay this way forever, but I know she will grow and one day I will make sure she knows all the things that she used to love to do with us when she was so small.