Thanksgiving Fun

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Hatch household this year. We held it in our home for the first time, luckily we have wonderful family members who were willing to help out and bring sides for the occasion- life is much more difficult with only 1 oven:)
Michael and his cousins had a blast! Michael, John, Christian and Thomas are all within a year or so of each other- they are going to be TROUBLE together when they get a little bit older:)


I took Michael to the Adolphus Christmas Parade with our friend Kim Palmer and her little girl Lindsey, or "D" as Michael calls her. We had a great time! He loved watching the floats and big balloons! He especially loved Scooby Doo!



Geoff and I went to have a 3D/ 4D sonogram to confirm the sex of Baby H2.....and we are for sure having Baby Boy #2! We are really excited and can't wait to meet our little man in April!
Michael still has no idea whats going on, but I think he will like his little brother:) Here are some pics of the sonogram- such a sweet little face:)

Michael's 2!!!!!

I cannot believe I have a 2 year old! Where has the time gone? It really seems like yesterday we were doing feedings every 3 hours and not sleeping through the night! Now our main focus is on playing and getting into things- Michael is just like his father, very curious:)
We had Michael's Birthday Party yesterday at Pump It Up Jr. It was so fun and so easy! It was a bit chaotic at the end, but overall, I would say it was a huge success! No planning, no cleaning before or after- why didn't I do this last year?:) After the party we came home and had pizza with Annie and Pop Pop & Laura and Charlie- then opened some presents. When it was time for bath time and bed, Bear was not happy to leave his new cars, sooooo, he ended up taking some of his cars to sleep with:) This worked out in my favor because he woke up about 7:00 and played in his bed until about 7:45!!! Looks like Bear will be sleeping with toys from now on:) Here are some pictures from the party. Thank you again to everyone who came to celebrate our little man turning 2!
Kate

Fun, Fun, Fun

Geoff and I went to Jamaica for a beautiful wedding in Jamaica this past weekend. We left last Thursday morning and came back Monday night. Nana and Pops came in town the Tuesday before we left to allow Michael time to get reacquainted with them before we left. Michael Man was very excited to see them and everything worked out perfectly. We are so grateful to Nana and Pops for coming in from Boston to hang out with Michael while we were away. I had a hard time leaving little man, but was fine once we arrived to Jamaica:) The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and we had a great time! The day after we returned, we had a mini-Birthday party for Michael so Nana and Pops could be there to celebrate with him...its amazing how a little bit of cake can get Michael wound up! He had a fabulous time and we can't wait to see them again in December in Boston for Christmas:)
Here are a couple of pictures....

Happy Halloween!

We had a great time this Halloween! We went over to our friend Leigh's house for dinner and Trick-Or-Treating with the Palmer Family. Michael and Lindsey rode in the wagon and jumped out to run to the doors- after about 2 houses, Michael had the hang of it and was running up to the doors, pushing doorbells over and over again:) Then he would run back to the wagon to go to the next house:) Once we got back to the house, the boys collapsed to the ground, and Michael decided to join in! He had such a great time- such a sweet little Frog Prince! On our way home, Michael kept saying, "Night Night? Night Night?"- he was one tired froggy:)

October Fun!

We have been super busy the past few weeks! I think we have had our fill of festivals, from Oktoberfest in Addison and The State Fair to The Pumpkin Festival at the Seskers, Michael has had his fill of firsts:) At Oktoberfest, Michael had his first sausage on a stick, Geoff was so proud:) At the State Fair, Michael loved his first Fletchers Corn Dog! He ate the entire thing! PLUS, half of a grilled cheese from Katie's, half an order of french fries and lots and lots of water:) He also went on his first rides, the animal train with Geoff and the swings, all by himself! He looked so big riding on them alone!!! My baby is growing up!

















We are excited for Michael's first Halloween where he will be Trick or Treating! We had an adorable bee costume for Michael to wear, but he wanted nothing to do with it and pulled it off- it is big for him so we are going to see if we can borrow it again for next year. This year, our little man is going to be the Frog Prince:)

Next week Nana and Pops are coming in town to watch Michael while Geoff and I go to Jamaica for a wedding. We will be gone from Thursday to Monday, the longest I have ever been away from Michael:( I know he will be in GREAT hands, but I will miss him so much!!!

I am now 15 weeks along, I am finally feeling better, no more sickness, so far, and I have my energy back, which is a must when I am running after an almost 2 year old! Michael has taken interest in going potty, we are very proud of him! I can't believe how well he is doing!
We will find out the sex of H2 on November 18th, the day before Michael's birthday! We are both pretty sure it is a girl, but we could be wrong, we will be super excited either way!

I will post once we know!
Kate

Here we go again....

Yep, here we go alright! Geoff and I found out officially today, we are due with Baby Hatch #2 Mid-April. We are so excited and can't wait! We know Bear will be a great Big Brother!!!
This pregnancy, so far, has been very different from my pregnancy with Michael. I had almost no symptoms with Michael...this one is a different story. I am becoming a big fan of Zofran:) Hopefully the evening sickness will go away come 13 weeks...
Here is a picture of Bear in his Big Brother T-Shirt...

Back to School

Where did the summer go? It is so hard to believe that I have started back to school and Michael is now in the Toddler Room! I was so sad to move him from his beloved Carmen and Teresa to his new teachers, but he is a Big Boy now:) He is running all over the place, climbing everything, getting into everything and making me one tired Mommy...but I have loved every minute of it! Michael is just about 21 months old! He is talking up a storm, has is Mama's temper and his Daddy's curiosity! His latest trick was to bypass his crib tent at Annie and Pop Pop's house, climb out, open the door and come say hello to us while we were eating lunch, and he was SUPPOSE to be taking a nap:) He was so proud of himself! Imagine his disappointment when I took him back, fixed the tent and tied the sides down, only to have Baby Houdini slip out in between the tent once again, clapping and saying Hello- That was a long naptime! Luckily Geoff was able to fix it so he could no longer escape and he can still spend the night at Annie and Pop Pop's house without future escapes! We hope!
We ended our summer with a week full of play dates! We went to the Fountains at Addison Circle with Jen, Betheny and Carson, and Kim & Sydney came over for brunch and to play in Michaels playroom! Also, we went to several Gymboree classes with our favorite girl Lindsey, or "D" as Michael calls her. Lindsey of course calls Michael, "Diedle"- They are so cute together- I really think they believe they are brother and sister because we are together so much:) We had so much fun this summer! Just sad it all had to come to an end:(
Here are a few pics from the last few weeks! I hope everyone had a great summer!
Kate

Beach Time

We had an amazing time at Isle of the Palms with the Hatch Family! It was one packed house, and so much fun! The house was perfect and we had a blast, especially Michael! We went to the beach and pool everyday, making for one worn out Bear! Along with his cousins Presley, Hannah Blanche, Kacie, Papi and Tator- Michael was constantly entertained! On downtimes, I think we watch more Mickey Mouse Clubhouse than I ever would like to watch in a lifetime...the joys of children:) I guess it could be worse though:) We were in IOP for an entire week, which worked out because back at home, we were technically homeless- the sellers of our new house wanted a leaseback so they could move (they said out of state, but turned out to be Prosper, the next town over!). Despite the drama that occurred back home with the "tenants" we had a great time! Once we arrived home, we discovered our "tenants" took items they were not suppose to, we got into a bit of a dispute over it and now it is all settled, thank goodness! To top it off, we had a valve break off in the laundry room, causing a flood in the laundry room, office and hallway- about 2-3 inches of water!!! Of course this happened at 11:00 pm and we had to call the Fire Dept to shut off the water- long story short, we cleaned up the water- had a water mitigation team out to dry out the wood floors and wall- and we escaped with very little damage! Thank goodness! Now, hopefully, we won't have any more adventures for awhile!
Here are a few pics from the Beach- I will post some of the house once we get a little more taken care of!
I hope everyone is having a great summer!!!
Kate