My comings and goings...

Funny Valentine

2012-02-16T05:41:00.001-06:00

I loved the idea of doing something non-candy for Micah's valentines this year. I have absolutely nothing against candy (I quite enjoy procuring my cut from my kid's Halloween bags, valentine's haul and even the Easter basket that comes home from the school egg hunt. I'm going to be bummed when they are old enough to eat it all themselves) but at this age they are getting plenty so I thought I'd do crayons instead....

I LOVE THEM!!! Sixteen completely unique crayons for Micah's classmates. I wish I'd had time to pick my faves for photographing, but I grabbed the top two 3 minutes before it was time to go to school....

I found the idea for these Valentines on a craft blog that I follow and I used this crayon tutorial from Pinterest along with this printable.

Micah signed the back of each one with some help from mama (he can draw lines and a circle and spell his name, but he's not quite to writing letters yet :)~

He was so excited and proud of them.... I'm glad I took the time to make them this fall, otherwise there is no way they would have happened!

Da Zoo

2012-02-15T05:06:00.000-06:00

Nate and my mom took the kiddos to the zoo a while back before Nate went back to work after Janie's birth. I'm so glad the kids got to get out and have some fun in beautiful weather and I can't wait until I get to go with them myself!

Our little monkeys~

Micah loves the giraffes... especially feeding them. Lizzie was upset that they weren't allowed to eat the goldfish from her snack cup~

My kids consider the carousel an instrument of torture and yet beg to ride it each time.... go figure~

Ah, there is the money's worth!

A Photo a Day- Part 2

2012-02-14T05:17:00.001-06:00

Remember this?-

Well here is my second installment :)

Day 6- Dinner--> To be fair, this was dessert (at Bunco).. I forgot to take a picture of dinner!

Day 7- Button --> The handicapped door button at Kingsland. I stared at this at 6 am as I sat outside Micah's school to sign him and Lizzie up for preschool next year.

Day 8- Sun --> Or in this case, son ;-)

Day 9- Front Door --> I had a crush on our door the moment I saw it... no lie.

Day 10- Self Portrait --> It takes courage for me to photograph myself right now. No sleep + 20 extra pounds makes me more than a little self conscious.

Day 11 - Makes me happy --> Jane's hair after a bath.

Day 12- In my closet --> My (now) very organized pantry makes me giddy every time I open it!

Day 13- Blue --> Which is what Jane is here... she is being forced to stay awake to try to get her night and day schedules to switch. Cue Patsy Cline~

Guess Who's 2?!!

2012-02-11T05:33:00.000-06:00

I'll give you a hint, it's NOT our first born...

Happy birthday Lizzie!!! At two years old, Lizzie is a lot of fun and a lot of work :) She is absolutely adorable and is very sweet and affectionate. She is typically pretty obedient, but will often throw a fit even as she is obeying just to make sure you know that she's not happy about obeying. She is very smart and has most of her letters (and the sounds they make) down and can count objects up to 12. She loves to read books and will bring them to you and either demand you "read, READ!" or "TALK!!". Her vocab has exploded and she is now able to communicate a lot more of what she is thinking.

Lizzie is our little adventurer and continues to be a prolific climber... which sometimes gets her stuck in precarious situations :) I absolutely adore our oldest little girl and I love what she has brought to our family. Happy birthday, Lizzie Boo!

Rub a Dub Dub....

2012-02-08T05:33:00.000-06:00

...Jane hates the tub. Or the sink, in this case... can you tell?

Hmmm, how about now?

Yeah, bath time around here is a blast!

Friends

2012-02-07T04:56:00.000-06:00

It can happen.... my two oldest CAN get along for more than a minute at a time. And I have the pictures to prove it!

A Picture a Day Keeps the Doctor Away...

2012-02-06T05:15:00.000-06:00

Several people that I know have started doing a photo a day challenge and it sounded like fun, so I jumped on board for February. The iPhone definitely makes this MUCH easier! Here is the challenge~

Day 1- Your View Today. Lizzie being super adorable~

Day 2- Words. My living room wall... I don't get out much these days~

Day 3- Hands. I see a lot of sweet baby Jane right now~

Day 4- A Stranger. Fact- I am too wimpy to risk someone knowing I'm taking a picture of them, so I took this one stalker style from my car~

Day 5- 10 am. Church, yo~

Dress-up Days

2012-02-02T05:19:00.000-06:00

Definitely my favorite superhero~

Even if he is a bit unconventional~

Turns out that all it takes to bring out the girly in my girl is a wand... and a mass load of pink :)

1 Month Stats

2012-02-01T05:30:00.000-06:00

Jane had her 1 month appointment yesterday and she's doing great! Her percentiles are tracking well and she's growing how she should... yay!

Height- 21.75 inches.....75th percentile
Weight- 8 lb 6 oz...........25th percentile
Head- 14.57 inches.......50th percentile

Life is a Highway

2012-01-31T05:19:00.000-06:00

For Christmas this year, I ran across an idea that I thought would be perfect for Nate and my brother~

It's a car mat/shirt/massage medium! I think this is my favorite thing I made this year :) The one above is Nate's. It has our church (which looks like our church), school, playground, Exxon station, my parent's house (which looks sorta like the real thing ;-), our house, and Target (which Micah is obsessed with and talks about constantly.. "Are you going to Target?!! Are you going to get more fooooooooood?!! For ME?!!").

This one is my brother's.... I changed the name of the church to theirs but it'd be hard to draw so it looks like ours ;-). I swapped Target for a replica of their local library which they go to all the time, and gave them a representation of Big'z (their favorite burger place)~

Each dad got a shirt and a car for each of their kiddos to use on their new shirt! Our kids are big fans and Nate gets a back massage of sorts when they play with it... everyone wins!

1 Month Old

2012-01-30T05:01:00.000-06:00

I'm trying to avoid saying this because it has to be one of my least favorite cliches, BUT.... I can't believe Jane is 1 month old already! It just does not seem like it has been that long, but here we are.... it makes me a little sad since Jane is (as far as we are concerned) our last baby. I have a feeling I will be disproportionately emotional about each and every milestone she reaches until... well, forever :)

So anyhoo, I have always taken pictures of my kids at each month "birthday" but never with a certain stuffed animal or a sign saying how old they were or any of that. Well..... I am a sucker for a good idea, so when a friend of mine with a daughter two weeks older than Jane posted her 1 month pictures I simply had to shamelessly copy her... the idea was too cute!

See? Cute, right?! Well, if you don't think so then I am officially no longer your friend... try to control your tears. Anyhoo, I have an idea for how I want to spice up some of the other months, so we'll see if Jana does the same thing I have in mind :)

Janie decided to go to work immediately on removing her flower.... I guess I officially have my second hair accessory intolerant child, le sigh~

At one month old, Jane is starting to spend more time awake (day and night) and is fairly content.... unless she's not... just sayin :) She follows people and sounds with her eyes and will track her very noisy brother all the way across a room. She will happily do tummy time as long as she has a book propped up where she can look at it.

She has started giving us a very occasional awake, non-gassy, non-tired smile but you really have to work at it. Mostly she'll just give you a look like she's just not too sure that you're "all there" the harder you try to make her smile. Her siblings both love talking to her, patting her head, and giving her kisses and our main problem is keeping them from suffocating her with blankets or burying her in books while they're trying to take care of her.

And because the startle reflex is always good for a laugh~

We didn't even pose her, Lizzie just wanted to be near Jane~

Happy 1 month to our Janie Bear... we love you!

DIY Gifting

2012-01-25T05:00:00.000-06:00

I made a lot of the gifts that we gave for Christmas this year... have you noticed that? It was actually a lot of fun being able to really customize our gifts. Well, here is one of the last ones I wanted to share with y'all. Notice I didn't say it was the last... I still have more..... I'm not sure where I found the time/ energy being preggo and all :P Anyhoo, I made these scarves for my sister-in-laws (all 3) and had to churn one out for myself in the process~

The first picture shows the color more accurately... sort of a middle ground between Fightin' Texas Aggie maroon and OU crimson. And before you ask, yes... I do describe colors based on their similarity to NCAA division I school colors :) But I like this pic better~

However, due to my lack of ever being able to remember to take pictures while it is light outside, they were both taken by my iPhone in the hall bathroom.... basically they are as good as can be expected under the circumstances and hey, you get the idea :)

Endless Expressions

2012-01-24T05:02:00.000-06:00

Lizzie has no shortage of expressions that she can pull out for pictures. She is a total ham and she enjoys the reaction she gets from people when she's doing her thang~

I'm obviously incredibly biased, but I think she has grown into an absolutely beautiful little girl... just saying :)

Life with Three

2012-01-23T05:25:00.000-06:00

Funny thing about having your third baby... the first two still expect to be entertained; go figure ;-)

Of course, this entertainment looks a little different when you have three~

Nate is doing some serious multi-tasking there! I was scarfing down dinner and saw his offspring juggling act... and amazingly they all seemed happy!

Well, Jane is unconscious but I'm sure she's happy too ;-)

Wide World of Sports

2012-01-19T05:36:00.000-06:00

You have to love Texas in the "winter".... it could just as easily be 70 degrees and sunny as it could be 40 and cloudy :) Anyhoo, the kiddos enjoyed some different activities while their Kansas family was here... hockey pics are mine, all others courtesy of Aunt Ray :)

The kids really got into their new street hockey/ soccer set!

Micah tends to wear his emotions on his sleeve... wonder where he got that from~

Yup, we ARE the kinds of people who just leave their kids in their pj's all day and throw on a pair of shoes to go outside.... don't hate :)

Lizzie enjoyed playing, but she also enjoyed her management position with Daddy~

She actually has some decent skills for a not-even-two year old with no previous experience~

After hockey, the kiddos decided to take a few laps around our indoor tricycle track~

and much enjoyment was had by all~

Lizzie figured out a way to keep the paparazzi at bay~

and, of course, nice weather means that time on the swing set is an absolute must~

I've saved my favorite pictures for last... I'm excited to share them with you next week!

Visitors

2012-01-18T05:43:00.000-06:00

The kids were a wreck when Nate and I had to leave for the hospital the night before Janie was born. While there were multiple reasons that I was anxious for labor to move more quickly than it was, the biggest was that when we left the night before, I anticipated Jane being born during the night and that the kids could come up and see us right after they woke up. As labor continued and we approached nap time, it broke my heart that the kids wouldn't see us before they woke up from their naps.

The kids were definitely ready to see us and when Nate met them outside the hospital, they ran up to him and smothered him in a great big hug~

Headed up to meet baby Jane~

She is looking so old to me recently!

Making introductions....

Micah is such a sweet kid and he has been so interested in Jane~

Apparently the entire time we were in the hospital, the kids ate.... 24/7. According to both sets of grandparents, they were endless pits and each time they came to the hospital, they helped themselves to whatever they found on my tray as well~

Jane meeting Grandma Cathryn.

I got some sweet snuggles from Lizzie :)

Scoring even more of Mommy's food...

Lizzie found a buddy in her Aunt Ray~

Heading home...

Nesting

2012-01-17T05:37:00.001-06:00

One of the Christmas crafts I made were these nest necklaces. I made myself one (with an "egg" for each kid) and made one for the girls who hosted my shower as well as one for my MIL with 2 blue and 2 white beads to represent her grand kids. I'm happy with how they turned out!

A Barrage of Photos

2012-01-16T05:21:00.000-06:00

It has been entirely too long since I used the word "barrage", so there you go. Anyhoo, Nate's family came in town after Christmas and happened to be here when Janie was born. If there is one thing I can count on, it is that anytime Nate's sister Rayanna is in town we will end up with some truly great pictures of the kiddos. It truly is a gift to me every time she comes. Well, this trip was no exception! I have TONS of pictures of the kiddos that I love and will be sharing with you over the next two weeks or so... there are way too many to do just one post. So today I'm just starting with some random ones!

Micah with Grandma Cathryn~

The crew making cookies on the day that Jane was born~

Micah messing up Grandma's yarn beyond repair and Grandma eating it up~

If I know Lizzie, she is likely asking "What's that?" even though she knows exactly what it is... she just wants to make PaPa say it~

The kiddos with their PaPa~

If you've spent more than 2 minutes around Lizzie, you know this is 100% her... maybe that's why I love it so much!

What makes Ray so great, is she doesn't just go for obvious shots. She realizes that gorgeous pictures can be had while the kids are brushing their teeth~

That's all for today!

Fatigue

2012-01-13T05:42:00.000-06:00

The holidays can be very draining... especially when you are at the end of a pregnancy. I had NO IDEA though how much every member of my family was exhausted until I saw the pictures my sister-in-law took on the first day of their visit right after Christmas. I've chosen a small sampling, but pretty much every pic she took that day featured joyous expressions such as this~

and this~

and this ~

I'll be honest, about halfway through the first day pictures I started laughing at how pitiful we all looked. And the pictures continued to deliver~

I call this one "The Face of Full Term Pregnancy"~

Lizzie's expression just makes it even better :) You will be happy to know that pictures from later in the trip are significantly more lighthearted.

First Two Weeks

2012-01-12T05:07:00.000-06:00

Jane had her (early) 2 week appointment yesterday and even though she was still 2 days shy of actually being 2 weeks old, she was already back at her birth weight! Woo hoo, way to go Janie! She has also grown in length and is now 20 inches long... 44th percentile.

Anyhoo, I thought I'd do a photo dump from my phone and even a few from my camera so you can see what Jane has been doing the first two weeks of her life. I'll give you a hint, it involves sleep... lots of it :)

This one is my favorite picture of Jane so far. Even with all the wires and tubes, I love the way she is laying and I feel like she looks absolutely beautiful~

I was so happy when they were able to remove the tube that ran from Jane's nose down into her stomach. I sent this pic to my parents with the caption, "Look Ma, no tube!"~

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em~

I forgot about all the crazy positions newborns like to sleep in. This one looks super comfy~

This next one falls under the category of surprisingly good shots you take of yourself with your cell phone. In my defense, if I didn't take self portraits then I would have no pictures of myself with my kids AT ALL.... just saying~

Micah has been SO sweet with his baby sister (I wish this would translate to how he treats Lizzie as well) and always wants to be near her, hug her, talk sweet to her, burp her, hold her and get anything that you need for her. We do have to monitor him carefully though to make sure he doesn't tuck her blanket in too high or lay down too close (or even on top of) to her.

Check out her perfectly round little head! The nurse even commented on it right after she was born~

Even in her sleep, Janie knows how to throw down. Here she is going all gangbusters without even opening an eye~

She has begun smiling in her sleep, which is always a fun stage~

Once again, an homage to infant sleeping positions ~

Wait for it, wait for it... a picture of her...... sleeping!~

I have so many pictures of Nate and our babies passed out together, it's always hard to pick just one~

Deep thinking is one of Jane's favorite past times. Here she is pondering string theory.... or her next feeding.... it's difficult to get a clear read on her~

Wait a second... she's awake!! Grab the camera... FAST!~

Hey there beautiful ~

Lizzie's Christmas Present

2012-01-11T05:47:00.001-06:00

Because life wasn't crazy enough with Jane on the way, I decided to take on a very time intensive project for Lizzie's Christmas present. BUT as crazy as it felt at times, I was very pleased with how it all turned out! First of all, I made pillows for her....

I know, I know pillows don't sound like every almost two year old's idea of a good time, right? Well, they are sort of the side dishes for the main course in this case so please pause a second before you decide that I've totally lost it, mmmm k?

Ok, I know I'm biased but I think these bolster pillows are some of the prettiest things ever. When I finished them I just kept looking at them and thinking, "I can't believe I made those!".

The third pillow was a love bird pillow that goes with the nature theme of Lizzie's room~

Then last but not least is this super fun tree pillow that I made to coordinate with the giant tree I did on her wall~

All of these pillows are just furnishings for this baby~

A tent! How fun is that? Nate helped me put together the frame and I sewed the flaps and cover for the tent. With as much as our little girl loves books, I hope this becomes a little reading nook for her when she gets older. For now it's just a fun place to hang out and play!

Nate had to get in there to convince Lizzie that it was safe but then she got right on in there with him! Here is a shot of it in the room with a few decorations that I've added over the past couple of months. I still have a bit more to do on the room, but it is coming along nicely!

The Good of the Bad

2012-01-10T05:31:00.001-06:00

As mentioned earlier, Jane spent some time in the NICU after she was born during which she was mostly being fed from a bottle (formula and pumped) on the insistence of the Neonatologist. Then, only two days after coming home, I was admitted to the hospital for several days with difficulty breathing and a dangerously low heart rate. Because of medication I was on and exposure to radiation, I was not allowed to nurse Jane for the entire two days I was in the hospital. All this to say that Jane has seen A LOT of bottles in her first week of life.

While this has made nursing significantly more difficult, it also has it's bright points. Nate has never been able to be involved in feeding the kids and it was cool that he was allowed to have this experience several times with Jane. In fact, when she was in the NICU, he was dubbed the Bottle Whisperer. She would take breast milk from anyone, but he was the only person who could get her to eat the supplemental formula from the bottle...

It's always good to focus on the silver lining :)

Amy Kicks Booty

2012-01-09T05:25:00.002-06:00

My sister in law decided to flex her crafty muscles this Christmas and created these awesome profile ornaments of the kiddos~

I'm kind of in love with them :)

Christmas

2012-01-04T05:29:00.000-06:00

This year was the year for my brother and his family to spend Christmas with us in Katy. I love to see our kids grow up together and to see how much these cousins enjoy each other's company. I especially love it when they are tearing up my parent's house and not mine ;-)

I love shopping for stocking stuffers.... have I mentioned that? As such, I have continued my mom's legacy of buying way more things than will actually fit in a stocking including some things that are too big just by themselves.. oops!

That's what the area behind the stockings is for..... right? Anyway, after the over-full stockings were in place, we allowed the kiddos to come down from their quarantine upstairs~

Some were faster than others... but if you can't take your time coming down in order to strike several adorable poses, then what's the point?

Lizzie has developed a very special relationship with her Pa. He is the first person she asks for after Nate and myself and she always has some lovins to spare for Pa. He went back to Paris yesterday and I know she's going to miss him like crazy until he's home again~

Micah made quick work of his stocking~

I knew when I put these toothbrushes in their stockings that they would be one of their favorite things.... what can I say, dental hygiene is AWESOME~

In one of those "It doesn't hurt to try" moments, we put all of the kids in front of the tree to get a cousin picture. We didn't think we'd get anything decent, but somehow we got 5 kids aged 22 months to almost 6 to sit still, smile and all face the correct direction... without coercion.... for about 3 minutes straight. CRAZY. My dad has some shots with better settings for the lighting, but here are my favorites from what I got~

Happy kiddos~

Micah LOVES this car~

We are introducing Lizzie to the world of dress-up clothes.... I love that our car, block and ball loving girl also likes to dress pretty, throw tea parties and don fairy wings~

We had a wonderful time with family and I just wish Jane had come early enough to meet her San Antonio Aunt, Uncle and cousins before they headed home. Oh well, she will soon enough!

We're Home!

2012-01-03T05:39:00.000-06:00

After 5 days in the hospital, I am super pumped to be back at home with all three of our kiddos together. I loved the hospital where Jane was born... the rooms were huge and beautiful, the nurses were on top of things and a lot of fun and we couldn't have asked for a better experience BUT we were so excited to finally leave!

I haven't had a chance to blog much recently and I must admit, I'm not sure what to write about next. I haven't documented Christmas or the first part of Nate's family's visit or the rest of my homemade gifts, but I also have a precious new baby to write about... do I write in order of when things happened, or skip to the baby and come back to Christmas later? Decisions, decisions :) Well, for now I'm just going to write down a few things from the hospital that I want to remember~

~ Unlike previous labors, this one started in the late afternoon. This meant that the kiddos actually saw us leave for the hospital (they were less than thrilled). When Nate met them on their way into the hospital the following afternoon, they sprinted to him and hugged on him like nobody's business. They had a hard time with the separation and I'm glad we're all together again.

~ Jane had a strong personality in the womb, so it's no surprise to me that we have already begun to witness her individuality. Because of the concerns over her breathing, Jane was not allowed to nurse at first but instead was bottle fed. I was in her NICU room feeding her and she was dutifully sucking down formula from a bottle for 5 minutes. I put the bottle down to see how much she had eaten and she had not actually taken a single sip! I looked down at her and she was frantically straining and trying to latch on to breast feed... HA! She had been faking eating, quite convincingly I might add, until she got her opportunity to strike. She also will pretend to fall asleep if she doesn't like what she's being fed and when the bottle is removed she's suddenly wide awake and trying to get to what she does want to eat... silly girl.

~ On our second full day in the hospital, Nate's fam brought him lunch (I could order room service for myself). Micah overheard someone mistakenly say that the food was for me. I was out of the room and Nate started to eat the food... apparently Micah went a bit nutso on him for eating "Mama's food". It's good to know I have someone out there looking out for me!

~ On New Year's Eve, Nate and I noticed something out our window. We turned the lights off and stood at our 4th floor windows that had views from I-10 and Barker Cypress south of I-10 all the way to Katy Mills and a good amount of area north of I-10 along this same corridor. Because fireworks are legal in Katy, we got a panoramic views of hundreds of people setting off their own fireworks at midnight. The sound was unbelievable and it was so cool to be completely surrounded by fireworks!

~ On my last night in the hospital I was supposed to vacate my room as insurance would not cover a 4th night. I was going to sleep in a recliner in Jane's NICU room. I had only gotten about 7 hours of sleep over the previous 3 nights combined so this was not a fun prospect. I called a nurse in to help me move some things to the NICU that evening. She told me that because I had been discharged, she wouldn't be able to get me any medication or anything after midnight, but that the nurses had been talking and the floor was rather empty and they wanted me to stay in my room so that I could have the bed to sleep in in between feedings in the NICU. So I would be there but the hospital would kind of turn a blind eye to it. I broke down crying when she told me from relief and gratitude and I imagine hormones ;-) God was so gracious to me by giving me Francis and Carmen and the other nurses who recognized my exhaustion and offered me a life line. Even with feedings every 3 hours, I had a very restful night and I felt God's peace.

Jane Has Arrived!

2011-12-31T06:19:00.003-06:00

Jane Susan Ezell made her way into the world on December 30, 2011 at 12:46 in the afternoon. She is 6lbs 15oz and 19.5 inches long! Now here is how I imagined our new baby girl~

As of last night, this is our new reality~

Jane has been in the NICU since late last night for repeatedly turning the color of a blueberry, along with a few other minor irregularities. The Neonatologist discussed with us last night all of the different possibilities for why she might be having these issues and there were quite a few scary possibilities. After a night full of x-rays, blood tests and even a spinal tap (poor baby!) we are waiting on results but it is looking optimistic that her main issue is that she has swallowed a ton of fluid and wasn't in the birth canal long enough to squeeze it all out.

We are hoping and praying that this is the extent of her issues, but she will be here under observation likely until at least Monday. It is definitely not fun to see your new baby with an IV, tons of wires and a tube to her stomach. Poor thing isn't allowed to eat anything right now and even when she is, it will be a few days before she's allowed to nurse.

Anyway, enough scary and serious stuff for you? Well, here is the brief story of Janie's birth for those of you who are interested! I started having contractions at 4:45 in the afternoon on the 29th and after they hung around for an hour I called my OB's after hours line where they suggested that due to my history of fast labors I should head to the hospital immediately.. Woo Hoo!

We arrived here and were set up in a triage room on the L&D floor where I found out that I was only 3cm dilated..... weird for me. I had a lesson in faith here as each contraction was a result of prayer. I knew I needed to be admitted but I also knew that I was borderline from their perspective. Every 5 minutes I prayed that God would grant another contraction strong enough to convince them to admit me. If I didn't pray, I didn't contract. It reminded me of the power of prayer and of my complete dependence on God for every aspect of my life. The doctor decided to admit me after all because of my previous fast labors and because I was group B Strep positive and it takes a minimum of 4 hours to get the antibiotics into my system to protect Jane from the strep (which is nasty stuff.... Google it if you never want to sleep again :P)

In a very un-Abby-in-labor move, I continued to not progress and by the morning I was...... 3 freaking centimeters. ARG. The L&D floor at the hospital where I delivered had every single room full by this time (I had gotten the second to last one) and they were talking about sending me home since I hadn't progressed. Which begged the question, with contractions every 3-5 minutes, when do I come back? Oh, and will there be a room for me then? Well, when the doctor busted in around 8 am (she is another doctor from the practice I go to and she is a force of nature.... kind of overgrown kid mixed with stand up comedian mixed with Tasmanian devil and yet she knows exactly what she's doing and you can tell... make sense? ;-) and the first words out of her mouth were, "Do you want the baby in or out?". The answer was a resounding OUT!

Despite my aversion to interventions, she was breaking my water within about 5.2 seconds of my answer (Tasmanian devil... remember?) and finally we started to get somewhere. I dilated 2 more cm within an hour and 15 minutes or so and continued to make decent (albeit SLOW for me) progress after that. The nurse started me on a small amount of pitocin to get my contractions closer together and at first I was anxious about how it might affect the pain level I was experiencing, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the contractions still very much bearable and really not that bad.

Jane continued to take her time even after water breaking and pitocin (two things I was very opposed to previously because of increased c-section rates, but I felt that the water at the very least was necessary in my situation) and I wasn't ready to push until 4.5 hours after my initial intervention. Now, transition contractions (8cm to 10 cm) have always hurt like the dickens in each of my labors, but usually I have 3-4 before I'm ready to push (I was SO spoiled) instead of an hour and a half of them like I had this time.... yowsers. Anyhoo, when it was time to push, Jane finally did one thing typical to my labors and came out FAST! She actually beat her sibs by coming out on the first big push and I was grateful that 20 hours of labor wasn't followed by a long time pushing too!

Wow, did I say brief? Sorry, I've never had this much happen in a labor so it took more than usual to detail it :) We feel incredibly blessed that God allowed me another safe delivery with no c-section and no pain meds. It is only by his grace that these things are possible. Anyhoo, I'm going to cut it off here and just say that we are thrilled with our new little girl and are looking forward to taking her home soon!

Oh yeah, Jane's random holiday was VERY random.... National Bicarbonate of Soda Day. BUT Jane was born on Nate's birthday and our wedding anniversary so it's a pretty special day to us already :)

Failure

2011-12-29T08:08:00.001-06:00

I was hoping by not scheduling a blog for this morning that I could somehow increase my overnight labor chances... Shockingly, this was ineffective... I know, you have no idea how that could NOT work, right?

Anyhoo, today is Pepper Pot Day which, if you are like me and had no idea, is a type of soup :) Not my first choice of holiday, but it is also Nate's grandma's birthday which would be cool! Tomorrow is Nate's birthday AND our anniversary so Janie has the potential to hit on some big days coming up!

Progress

2011-12-28T04:30:00.000-06:00

As of yesterday, I was 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. This of course means NADA... gotta love childbirth, you can go into labor without being dilated at all or you can be 3 cm for weeks. Anyhoo, If Jane comes today then she will have her birthday on the very desirable Card Playing Day... Ooh, Ahh ;-)

Micah's Day at Work

2011-12-27T04:47:00.000-06:00

Last Friday, Nate took Micah to work with him.... a nearly empty office + a predictable early quitting time = perfect opportunity for a bring your toddler to work day! Micah was very excited to go with Daddy to the "work office".

His day began with checking in at the visitor's desk and making some new friends~

Micah got his laptop set up and his morning coffee (or maybe it was a sippy cup of juice :)~

A giant white board is VERY handy when trying to entertain a 3 yr old in an office setting~

Nate decided to have some fun and take pictures of Micah to use in a security presentation. Here our young hero is telling you that you are definitely NOT supposed to share passwords~

Of course, Nate's coworkers got in on the action as well~

Micah is ready to take the corporate world by storm!

Safety first!

I believe Nate committed a serious security infraction~

Even with work ending at 1:30, Micah was pooped! This is what happens when an overly tired 3 yr old is given chocolate just before getting in the car.... love it~

Well, you've probably figured out by now that Jane has yet to make her appearance. Despite periods of regular contractions (up to 1.5 hours long) ever since the morning of the 24th and random contractions all throughout the day filling in the gaps, she has yet to start the labor. This is the most contractions I've had with any of the kids (by far) and I have no idea if they are doing anything or not. I go to the doctor this afternoon, so we'll see! For now I'm just along for the ride, but it is getting uncomfortable so I'm hoping Jane is coming sooner rather than later.

If she comes today, Jane would share her birthday with Make Cut Out Snowflakes Day and National Fruitcake Day. These are the best random holidays until the 31st... so let's get this done today!

Full Term!

2011-12-23T04:39:00.001-06:00

Today, Jane is officially full term! She is 37 weeks along so she is now welcome (VERY welcome) to come any time she pleases :) If her ultrasound was accurate last week, she should now be somewhere around 6lb 12oz. She is staying fairly active, considering how cramped she is getting in there, and she is staying low.... you can tell if you compare this picture to one a month ago that she has dropped dramatically. So now we sit, and wait. The home stretch can be difficult, but at least I have Christmas and New Years to distract me and make time go by faster! If she makes it to January, I'm going to get restless :)

Anyhoo, if Jane were to come today she would share a birthday with Festivus (SO FUN!). Saturday is National Chocolate Day and National Egg Nog Day. Sunday is CHRISTMAS (in case you've been living under a rock) and National Pumpkin Pie Day.

New Additions

2011-12-22T05:00:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite decorations at Christmas are the felt stockings that my mom has made for each member of our family. My mom had her hands full this year! Not only was Jane in need of a stocking, but she made me a new one as well. In picking Jane's stocking to coordinate with Lizzie's, I inadvertently chose the most intricate design my mom has ever done... oops!

Can you see all that crazy detail??

Here is the finished product! You can see the front of the heart name tag on a later picture~

When searching for Jane's stocking, I came across one that was so me that it finally made me thing about replacing my childhood one that I had been using~

I love it!~

My girls' stockings side by side. Both had Holly Hobby designs~

The whole family of 5!

Thanks Mom, they are perfect!

If Jane was born today, she would share her day with National Date Nut Bread Day... the December holidays are interesting :P

Micah's Christmas Party

2011-12-21T05:10:00.002-06:00

** There is a poll for when you think Jane will be born... check it out -->

Micah's Preschool Christmas Party was last Thursday and he was very excited about it! Mostly about his juice, seeing Mama there, the balloon tied to his chair and the book exchange. If you asked him what the party was for, he would would proudly (and loudly) proclaim that it was Jesus' birthday party!

Abby and Megan were striking the kind of pose that makes a mother proud... I think it's adorable~

The table setup~

I have learned to appreciate the toddler "CHEESE!" face~

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Today is my OB's birthday and if Jane decides to make it hers as well, then she will be celebrating Humbug Day, National Flashlight Day, and Look on the Bright Side Day!

Teacher Gifts

2011-12-20T05:16:00.000-06:00

I had grand aspirations this year for teacher and nursery worker Christmas gifts that involved over 5 different types of homemade candy and countless hours slaving in the kitchen. Well, the bed rest incident put an end to my lofty goals for this year and I can't say that I'm entirely disappointed about it either :) When I recalibrated my expectations, I came up with a much more reasonable alternative~

You're probably thinking, "Great! What are those?". Well, I took canned peaches and removed the bottom of the cans with a can opener. I emptied and washed them out then filled them with (store bought) candy and resealed the bottom with the help of my trusty glue gun. Add some cute scrapbook paper, a funny label and some ribbon and the gifts are ready. The cans are pull tab style, so all they have to do it pop the top and enjoy!

Micah's teachers and both kids' nursery workers got these cans and the teachers got these cute apple ornaments that I found as well. Thank you Jane for saving me time and sparing me countless hours on my feet!

Anyhoo, today is Go Caroling Day :)

I like small bags (and I cannot lie)

2011-12-19T05:32:00.000-06:00

As soon as I found out the Jane was a girl, I was instantly on the hunt for a diaper bag for her. Lizzie's still goes to the nursery with her, so I needed a new one. I checked all of the big retailers and discovered that it is very difficult to find a diaper bag smaller than a baby elephant. I seriously felt dwarfed as I picked up bag after bag that Micah could easily fit in... maybe even with Lizzie. I switched to Etsy and found that it was still really difficult to find smallish bags and the ones I did find suffered from a major case of boutique pricing.

What's a girl to do? I decided to swallow my fear and make my first real bag~

So pretty, so cost me less than $15. I wish I could have used the pink fabric on the outside of the bag, but it is woven and would snag and stain too easily if it was on the outside of the bag. Still, I thought that it was a super fun surprise on the inside of a tame brown bag~

It isn't without flaws (not even close!) but I'm pretty happy with it as my first structured bag!

Today is Look for an Evergreen Day and Oatmeal Muffin Day.

36 Weeks

2011-12-16T04:51:00.002-06:00

That I would post this very unflattering picture shows my unwavering dedication to keeping y'all updated with belly pics no matter the personal shame involved ;-) Anyhoo, Jane is a whopping 36 weeks along today! That puts us only a week away from full term! In the past week, Jane has dropped considerably and I have been feeling the effects of having a low riding baby. My OB said she was at -1 station yesterday, so she's pretty dang low for a 36 weeker. According to the tracker, Jane should be about 19 inches long and between 5.5 and 6 pounds. According to my ultrasound yesterday, Jane is measuring 6lbs 4oz.. although those estimates can be unreliable. At this point she is just sitting pretty and packing on the fat. I am helping her in this pursuit by being unable to resist any and all holiday goodies set before me :P I was checked yesterday and I am 2cm dilated and 80% effaced... the same as Micah and Lizzie at 36 weeks.... maybe I will have a January baby after all.... I guess we'll see :)

Here are your random holidays for this weekend :)

Today- National Chocolate Covered Anything Day (what a great day!)
Saturday- National Maple Syrup Day
Sunday- Bake Cookies Day & National Roast Suckling Pig Day

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-15T05:05:00.000-06:00

This may just look like a Christmas tree with a crooked star ( I tried everything and it stayed crooked!) but when I look at it, I see something more along the lines of this-

This is a Christmas tree as seen by a parent of young children.

~Zone A is comprised of non-breakable ornaments. To place an ornament in this zone, you must first think through every single possible thing that could happen to it including it being pulled on, sucked on, etc and feel comfortable putting it within the reach of your lovely littles.

~Zone B is comprised of slightly more fragile ornaments/ ornaments if ripped from the tree might damage the wood floor :P Take care when choosing these ornaments that you do not choose anything too shiny that may tempt your littles to make the effort to acquire something out of their reach.

~Zone C has breakable ornaments and/or ornaments with significant sentimental value. I am pretty darn attached to the majority of my ornaments, so the non-breakables that make this level are sacred.

~The golden circle is for the handful of ornaments that I would shed significant tears over should they meet their demise at the hands of a hyper toddler... two of them are from Delft :)

And there it is... our tree through mom-colored glasses :)

Today is Bill of Rights Day and National Lemon Cupcake Day... mmmmm, cupcakes..... must go to Ooh La La soon.

2011-12-14T13:21:00.001-06:00

9 days until full term!

Today is National Bouillabaisse Day... Umm, ok.

Up All Night

2011-12-13T01:09:00.001-06:00

Total exhaustion all day yesterday has led into insomnia tonight... Fun stuff, right? In order to pass some time, I thought I'd pull up an old Annalee favorite-

Tonight was Micah's Christmas program at school and I was SO excited about it... I planned on blogging about it right afterward, but life got in the way....

-I did not wait until the last minute to pull Micah's costume together for the program. Nope, not me.
-I certainly had no doubts about whether or not Micah would be compliant for the program.
-When we got to the room and I dressed Micah, I certainly did not stay longer than I should have.
-When it came time to take his picture with his buddies, Micah definitely didn't throw a completely irrational fit, not my child.
-He absolutely would never refuse to wear his sheep ears or start taking off his costume on his own.
-When witnessing this and hearing him say he didn't want to do it, I would never feel like I had no choice but to just take him home right then and there.
-No matter what, I certainly would not start crying as we left the room from disappointment, frustration and probably pregnancy hormones.
-And in all of this, I definitely would not forget to get one single picture of Micah in his costume.
-Lastly, I certainly would never take this situation as a demonstration that I am a terrible mother who will never be able to handle three kids (stupid hormones again)... Nope, not me.

Speaking of three kids, it's too late to do much about that, so let's just talk holidays, shall we? Today is Ice Cream Day and Violin Day.

Almost Here!

2011-12-11T21:22:00.001-06:00

This is the last full day before my parents get back from France!! For those unaware, they've been there since September :P Can't wait to see you guys!!

Today is National Ding-a-Ling Day (as in a ding bat, not... Well.... Something else) and Poinsettia Day.

A Weekend of Holidays

2011-12-09T08:21:00.001-06:00

Here are the random holidays for this weekend... Although I think I am doing them more for Jana (who is overdue.. See the Mattern's blog to the right) at this point than I am for myself :)

Today- Christmas Card Day & National Pastry Day
Saturday- Human Rights Day
Sunday- International Children's Day & National Noodle Ring Day

Native Texan

2011-12-08T11:51:00.001-06:00

You know that moment when you are driving and your car starts making a dinging noise and you are instantly dreading what might be wrong? Now imagine you are driving your mother's very nice, 6 month old car... Yeah.

So anyhoo, I was driving her car two nights ago when the dreaded sound met my ears. I looked down with trepidation and saw something flashing... Oh great, I broke the car. Well, that's what flashed through my mind :) Turns out that what was flashing was the outside temperature. I could almost hear the car screaming at me, "It's 37 degrees outside!! What the heck are you doing dragging me and yourself out here!!" Well, the car did have a point.

I've decided that she may be a German car, but she's a thin blooded (or oiled?) Texan at heart.. I think I love her even more now :)

Oh, and today is National Brownie Day :)

Prayer Requests

2011-12-07T05:43:00.000-06:00

Hey guys :) When I got late into my pregnancy with Lizzie, I posted a list of prayer requests for the labor, for Lizzie and for myself. It was such a blessing to have y'all pray for me and it reminded me of what I should be praying for myself. So here is a similar list for Jane :)

~ We pray for clarity in knowing for sure that I am in labor. With the speed of Lizzie's labor, we want to be able to book it to the hospital as soon as possible after labor begins. I pray that labor would occur at a time that Nate is at home as well.

~ We are praying for a labor free from complications. We pray that God's hand would allow the labor to occur naturally without interventions or c-section.

~ We are praying for a negative on the Group B Strep test that will be administered at my next appointment. With a potentially fast labor, I will likely not have time to get antibiotics during labor should I test positive. We pray for protection for Jane against Group B Strep should I test positive.

~ We pray that Jane would be born healthy with every system functioning properly.

~ We are praying that the third time's the charm and Jane will learn how to nurse correctly almost immediately.

~ We pray for my previous issues with severe baby blues. They were terrible with Micah and after a ton of prayer from great friends and family, they came and went in less than 2 hours with Lizzie... praise the Lord! We pray that the depression, loss of appetite, negativity, and anxiety would not gain a foothold after Jane is born.

I really cherish your prayers and would love to surround this time in our lives with excessive intercession :)

Side note~ today is Pearl Harbor Day and National Cotton Candy Day

If you like it, then you should have put a wreath on it...

2011-12-06T05:38:00.001-06:00

Wreaths, wreaths and more wreaths..... which is funny because I've never made one before this year. I just remembered I have another one I haven't even showed you guys yet, but alas... no pics. Oh well, here is one I showed you last week, I just thought I'd show it in situ....

and because I NEVER remember to take pictures until after I've lost the natural light, here is the same pic without the flash. Makes a big difference, doesn't it?

I also wanted to make a wreath for Jane... My first idea was to have it made for the door of the hospital room after she is born, but I think I'm just going to have it waiting in her room for when she comes home instead :)

and today is St. Nicholas Day, Mitten Tree Day and Put on Your Own Shoes Day.. yee haw.

34 Weeks

2011-12-05T05:14:00.001-06:00

Yup, as of Friday I was 34 weeks! Every day brings us closer and closer to full term and I feel truly blessed in that :) Jane is still chilling out head down and continues to reassure me that she's ok by moving around A LOT. A baby at Jane's age would be around 17 inches long and 5 lbs! We are getting really close to newborn numbers now! As of today, I am 39 days from my due date and only 18 days from full term.. WOW.

Today is Bathtub Party Day... just in case you were curious :)

Block Ornaments... take 3,004

2011-12-02T05:21:00.002-06:00

If you've been around this blog for awhile, then you have likely seen these babies~

...or a version of them at least :) Still, I thought I'd show off 4 of the 16 ornaments I made with two other moms to be part of the party favors for Micah's preschool Christmas party. Did I mention that I'm helping to organize the party? Yeah, I can't turn down a sign up sheet... it's a weakness.

Anyhoo, here are your bizarre holidays for the weekend~
Today- National Fritters Day
Saturday- National Roof Over Your Head Day

Sunday- Santa's List Day and Wear Brown Shoes Day

Lists

2011-12-01T00:48:00.001-06:00

My to-do list right now is RIDICULOUS!!! And pretty much every time I cross something off of it (which is daily) I have to add something else on. Anyhoo, all that to say that I'll have plenty of pictures to share on here...

A) as I finish things
B) when I get the chance to load the pics
C) after the recipients have opened them for Christmas

Phew. Some things don't have a part C, so I can blog about them sooner :)

For now, it's about that time to start talking about bizarre holidays. Ok, it's a bit early, but with the bed rest I've decided to start earlier with Jane. SO, if Jane were born today, she would share a birthday with Eat a Red Apple Day.... Umm, ok then.

I did cheat and look ahead and I'm not gonna lie, I'm pulling for the 23rd of December. Jane will be full term (37 weeks) and it's FESTIVUS!

A Different Kind of Thanksgiving

2011-11-29T05:34:00.003-06:00

With a lot of family out of town this year and us unable to travel, we weren't expecting much out of Thanksgiving this year. We were very pleased when my grandma emailed and asked if we wanted to join her for Thanksgiving dinner at Eagles Trace. It was great! We got to see my aunt, her husband, and my cousin as well. The kids were SO GOOD the entire time we were there, even in the dining room. They were interactive with their relatives and just sweet as pie :)

They enjoyed watching the parade and exercising on GG's bike before it was time for our dinner seating~

They definitely started to fade after the meal, but still kept up being really happy and fun to be around. My Aunt Melinda took a family shot for us and I'm so happy with how it turned out!

The kiddos playing around~

As my mom said, "You can really see the Asian heritage!" in this pic~

Rainbow Owls

2011-11-28T05:19:00.000-06:00

I have a confession... I stink at hand sewing. Whew, glad to get that off my chest! It's kind of embarrassing to me actually, so I decided to take it head on while I was creating a permanent Abby-sized crater on my couch the past couple of weeks. My ambition collided with my rather extensive felt collection and turned into these babies~

Cute, right?! FAR from perfect too, but I did get better as I went :P I decided to make one for each kid and each of their cousins. I'm not going to say who gets which, but here are the girl's owls~

and here are the owls for the boys! That's right, my parents have a perfect split of grandsons and granddaughters :)

I'm looking forward to giving these to the kids!

2011-11-24T04:58:00.000-06:00

When I picked up Micah from school last week (my first time driving in 2 weeks :P), he bounded up to the car proudly wearing his "crown" of feathers. The entire drive home he would remove it, count the feathers excitedly, and put it back on. He was so proud that he decorated the "crown" and painted the feathers himself... all of the handling left the feathers a bit limp by the time we got home, but I still had to capture his joy!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

A is for Argyle

2011-11-22T05:48:00.000-06:00

I'm a big fan of argyle, so when I decided to do yarn wreaths for a couple of friends (and myself!) argyle was a natural choice. Now that all the wreaths have been given, I can show them to you guys! This first one was for my friend Devon~

I also made one for my friend Kelli, but I forgot to get a picture before I gave it to her! It was dark brown with camel and ivory diamonds. And finally, I made myself a Christmas wreath. I can't wait to hang it up!

32 Weeks

2011-11-21T05:42:00.000-06:00

Jane was 32 weeks along as of last Friday! She is head down and is persisting in doing all sorts of break dancing moves in there. My doctor's appointment last week went well and I get to wait 2 weeks until my next one! I'm allowed to do a bit more with the restrictions being that I still shouldn't be lifting anything, standing for any length of time or exercising. And I'm still supposed to sit as much as possible... just knowing I'm allowed to get up if I want to has made me feel so much better! My body has definitely been letting me know when enough is enough (it doesn't take much to reach my limit), so I'm just trying to listen to it and sit :)

I got an unexpected ultrasound at my appointment (yay!) and little Janie is growing right on schedule! Everything measured perfect for her gestational age and the tech estimated her to be 3 and a half pounds. So glad she's still baking and so glad I can return to some measure of normalcy! Here are some numbers to freak a person out, if Jane were to come at full term (37 weeks) then we only have 32 days left to go! If she goes to her due date, it's only 53 days... weird!

A New Obsession

2011-11-17T04:58:00.000-06:00

Riley Blake fabrics.... LOVE THEM!! Up until now, I have mostly gone into Hobby Lobby, Joann Fabrics, and Hancocks to find fabric for my projects. While I will continue to do this for the most part, I have discovered the fascinating world on online fabric shopping... particularly on Etsy and eBay. I was needing some charm packs or a layer cake (5" or 10" square cuts of every fabric in one line of fabric) and they are just really limited as to what you can find in person. So I hopped on Etsy and started piling up my favorite options and guess what? They were ALL designed by so and so for Riley Blake. I am now obsessed. When it comes to fabrics for kid's projects, no one else can compare. I'm definitely going to buy fabric for kids projects and gifts from Riley Blake from now on... and it's so much cheaper online! Here are a few of my favorites from my weekend search~

This line would have been my hands down choice for the projects I was buying for, but it isn't being released until January and I have a Christmas deadline on one of these projects... bummer! But I don't know if I'll be able to resist ordering some when it comes out~

I ended up with a layer cake (10" square stack) of one of the above lines, and I can't wait to show you guys my patchwork creations!

Taking Our Show on the Road

2011-11-16T05:24:00.000-06:00

Micah has been VERY excited about his cousin's birthday party for the past month and a half and this past weekend it was finally here! We weren't sure if I'd be allowed to go (it involved us going to San Antonio for the weekend) but thankfully my doctor said it was ok to travel as long as I did bed rest once we were there. Sooooo, instead of spending the weekend on our couch I spent the weekend on my brother's couch... which was a nice change of pace, actually :)

The same day that I was admitted to the hospital two weeks ago, my brother's family got into a car accident. Ben got nasty air bag burns on his hands and Amy (my sis-in-law) broke her pinkie and had to have surgery last week. Just what every mom wants a week before throwing a party, a broken finger on their dominant hand :P Well, in a way it kinda worked out. I was able to sit on their couch and cut things out for her as well as icing cupcakes (try doing that one handed!). I wasn't able to go to the party, it was at a park, but from everything I saw it looked SO COOL! Way to go, Amy!! Nate took some pics for me because I hate to miss kids parties (not even kidding)....

Evan (the birthday boy) tearing up the superhero obstacle course WHILE holding a present, which is just plain impressive~

Micah's got some mad ups!

Lizzie, as a typical almost 2 year old, was doing her own thing~

Amy explaining how to take out the villains with the bean bags~

Almost there Bubba!

Super Micah!!

From the pics Nate got, I gathered that Micah was VERY dedicated to taking out the villains~

Lizzie prefers to try to council them into changing their ways~

Micah helping to rebuild the stone wall for the next super hero to bust through~

And of course a real live villain who, when attacked by silly string, would cough up candy for all the heroes~

Seriously great job Amy.... so many excellent creative touches!

Genetics

2011-11-15T05:14:00.001-06:00

Anyone who has children has probably been amazed by what passes down to your kids. They will inherit mannerisms from distant relatives that they have never met or they will sit just the way you did when you were a kid. I've seen many such things in my kids already, but maybe my favorite is this one~

Do you see it? Hint... look at her feet :) From a VERY young age, both of my kids have walked around on their toes quite a bit. If they're barefoot, they do it more often than not. I was known for walking on my toes in my family and did it all the time even into high school age. I still do it without realizing it, just not nearly as much as I used to. Anyway, I love that both my kids do this... it's so much fun! Oh, and just cause it is stinkin' adorable~

New Skills

2011-11-14T05:42:00.000-06:00

Trying to stay seated as much as possible has been a challenge, but I have been working on ways to be useful without leaving the couch and I have to say that last night I think I outdid myself a bit. I managed to make dinner... on the couch :) Nate brought me all of the ingredients along with the cookie sheet, cutting board and knife. All it took was a TV tray and the nerve to assemble the meal on the cookie sheet which was balanced on the couch cushion in front of me.

Micah liked it as he often stands on a chair to watch me cook and this was right in front of him! Now this does have limitations, aka I can't make anything that requires the use of the stove, and I had to be very careful to keep the food off the couch. BUT I'm excited and it makes me feel productive... I'm looking forward to making a homemade pizza tomorrow in my gourmet couch kitchen!

Sitting Still, but not Idle

2011-11-09T10:32:00.004-06:00

I'm not saying I'm thrilled to be on bed rest or that I have the key to making it bearable or fun, but I have come up with a surprising number of things that I can do without ever getting up. The first one will shock you, but I've been crafting quite a bit.... try to contain your astonishment ;-) Turns out there is a lot you can do while sitting on your bum with your feet permanently stretched in front of you. Unfortunately, machine sewing isn't one of them so I've had to shuffle around my project list to bump up some projects more in keeping with my sedentary lifestyle. I've been hand stitching felt ornaments (3 so far), making wreaths, making necklaces (3) and wrapping numbers in yarn for impending birthday parties~

Which brings me to the second thing you can do on bed rest.... take cruddy pictures in bad lighting with your iPhone ;-) I want to post pictures of some of the other things I've been making, but I'm holding out until I can get some better pictures with my real camera.... and natural lighting.

I was in pretty good shape on Christmas presents, but with the help of 6 days on my posterior, Amazon, and a few other sites, I'm almost completely done now and I have things I really think people are going to like!

My situation has also allowed me to document some interesting family moments. I wish I could post this whole video, but that would involve getting up and finding the transfer cord whereas I can email half of it to myself without moving :) Just know that the back and forth screaming with joy part happened WAY more times in real life~

Too Much Rest?

2011-11-08T04:27:00.000-06:00

Hey peeps. I figure most of you know by now what went on with me at the end of last week, but for those who don't I thought I'd let y'all know.

I went in for my normal OB appointment on Thursday and when I told the nurse I was having an increase in contractions, she decided to check me for dilation... Surprise! I was already 1 cm dilated and was admitted to the hospital for observation for the following 30 hours. After anti-contraction meds, steroid shots and constant monitoring the doctor felt I was good to go home on Friday late afternoon.

So from Friday at 4pm until now I have been on strict bed rest at home and we will find out more at my next appointment later this week. They didn't want to check me for dilation in the hospital since checking can sometimes get things started. At my next appt they will check and I will find out what kind of restrictions I can expect going forward.

I have to be honest, the whole thing is very discouraging for me. I feel lazy for not being able to do anything, frustrated at having to cancel so many plans, guilty for relying so heavily on Nate and sending him to get me water, or my computer, or a Baby Ruth ;-) and just plain antsy trying to sit still....

BUT....

It's worth it for Jane. And I feel grateful for the steroid shots that are maturing Janie's lungs in case she comes early. I feel grateful for a husband who is such a servant without complaining and for a job that will allow him to work from home. I am grateful for friends who are bringing us food, driving me around to appointments, offering to entertain our kids, sending me encouraging notes, and most of all praying for Jane's health. I'm thankful that Jane is still cooking and not stuck in a NICU incubator.

There is so much to be thankful for and I hope to have even more things after my next appointment!

Better Than Free!

2011-11-02T05:44:00.002-05:00

Micah went to the theater this summer and he saw something that he has literally talked about every day since.....

Well, I decided we would get it for him for Christmas (it's good that he's too young to realize that it came out this week :) and I started looking for some deals on it. I started with the standard Disney new release coupon for $5 off. You can get it here. Then I moved on to rebates... Holy bajoly, there are some GOOD rebates for this movie!! Here are the three I decided on~
Rayovac
Band-Aid/ Johnson and Johnson
Kimberly Clark

The total rebate value is $25!! I found the 5 disc combo for the cheapest at Best Buy. It was $25, so after the coupon I got the movie for $20. After rebates, I'm getting paid $5 to take the movie!! Well, that's one way to look at it :) The reality is that you have to spend money on the rebates to get the money back... let's be honest. But here is my breakdown~

I got-
30 (double) rolls of Cottonelle toilet paper.... does anyone even make single rolls anymore?
2 large packages of Huggies baby wipes
80 Band-aids
1 pkg of gauze pads
1 roll of medical paper tape
32 batteries
Cars 2 5 disc pack which includes; the 3D Blu-ray copy, regular 2 disc Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy of the movie

and it all is costing me $40 after rebates. The total regular retail value of these items (before coupons) is $95... not too shabby! The great thing about these rebates is that they are all on very practical items that I already buy... might as well get something back for it!

If you seek to join my crazy train, just know that the sale prices on the movie as well as the coupon from Disney are only good through Saturday.. just FYI!

Trick or Treat!

2011-11-01T05:40:00.000-05:00

After feeling overwhelmed by crowds at the church fall festivals over the past couple of years, we decided just to skip the hassle and go trick or treating in our own neighborhood. Micah CLEARLY remembered trick or treating from last year (after a botched festival attempt) and he was pumped about it. Lizzie had no idea what was coming, but she caught on quickly.

As always, it's the pictures that are a little off that are my favorites~

"Micah, say cheese!!!"

"Ok now, Lizzie say cheese!!!"

Ah, excellent. It's cowboy Micah! I refused to invest money in his costume knowing he would likely refuse to wear whatever I bought or made. I had two possibilities from stuff we already owned, and cowboy won out~

He kept pulling his hat lower, and lower, and lower....

Lizzie the bee! Thanks to the wonderful closet of Abby Rose, we had a great hand-me-down costume for Lizzie this year~

And we're off!

Lizzie wanted to hold onto every piece of candy she got, so once her hands were full, we had to sneak new candy into her basket.

Lizzie's favorite part of trick or treating was visiting the houses with dogs. She would totally ignore the offered bowl of candy and just flirt with, talk to, and squeal at the dogs behind the storm doors. Micah loved getting candy, but I was pleased to discover that he had considerably more enthusiasm for handing out candy at our own house.... he is such a sweet kid and I love that he stood happily waiting by the door for his "friends" to come by so that he could give them candy and tell them excitedly..."Trick or treat!!"

Happy Monday, Y'all!!

2011-10-31T07:59:00.000-05:00

28 Weeks

2011-10-26T05:28:00.000-05:00

... or close anyway ;-) This Friday I will be 29 weeks and the picture was taken at 28.5 weeks...

Nobody seems to come to a unified decision on when it starts, but at 28 weeks I am in my third trimester no matter who you ask :) Yay for me and yay for Jane! At 28 weeks, Jane was around 2.25 pounds and around 15 inches long. By 29 weeks, she will likely be around 2.5 pounds! She has been active the entire pregnancy, but recently her spaz out sessions have increased in frequency. She has also started tickling me from the inside... I laughed out loud the other day when it caught me off guard and Micah thought I was mental at first and then just thought that I had started a new fun game. I'm feeling fairly good, but my body is putting up with less and less time on my feet as the days go by.... that should make the Nutcracker Market fun!

Jane's New Ride

2011-10-25T05:01:00.000-05:00

When we registered for items for Micah, we tried to make sure that we stayed gender neutral so they would work for future girls as well as boys.... for the most part we did a good job, but Graco thwarted our plan when it came to car seats. Every cover they had at that time was very girl or very boy. The most neutral we could find was this one~

It's not bad at all, but when I found out Lizzie was a girl, I wanted something more girly for her. So I went on ebay and bought a gently loved girls cover. It's adorable, but after my skinny mini used it for 18 months, it's just kinda nasty. Apparently car seat covers have a two owner limit... even with washing. Sooooo, I really wanted Jane to have something new and fresh but I didn't want to jump on etsy and spend an arm and a leg on it. I decided to be ambitious and try to make it myself....

BAM! It's cute, right? I'm so pleased with how it turned out! To make it, I started by literally ripping out every single stitch on the original seat cover. Ummm, yeah... that took awhile. I used the padding from the original cover and just cut new top pieces from my new fabric using the old as a template.... that took awhile too. I then zigzag stitched all the layers together to make new pieces... repeat after me, that took awhile. I reinforced and cut the slits for the straps and assembled all of the pieces to make it a cover again! The reassembly was one of the easiest steps.. but it still took awhile :) All I had left was to re-attach the old bias tape and I had a new cover with pretty, finished seams and sides!

Oh yeah, but then I had to make the canopy :) I reused the front and back panels, but replaced the middle one and lined all three with the gray patterned fabric. I also changed out the piping to my gray fabric and changed the small padded strip on the front... this all took awhile... are you seeing a pattern? But it was so worth it! I once again reused the old bias tape to finish off the edges, re-inserted the plastic framework and it was good to go! The next pic just shows the canopy lining and the bias tape ribbing~

Well, hello there beautiful.....

Do you want to know the best part? By reusing parts of the old cover, buying my fabric on sale, and using a coupon on my lovely gray thread, the entire project cost me less than 8 dollars... for real.

Not too shabby for 8 bucks :)

Weighing In

2011-10-24T05:16:00.000-05:00

Some of you may know that my kids are skinny... gasp!! What you may not have known is that it has become a problem. They aren't gaining weight how they should and as such, I have had to take them back to the doctor for weight checks to monitor them. Lizzie's first weight check resulted in a loss and we were shocked. Ever since then I've had a lot of anxiety over trying to get them to eat. Micah's weight check was last week and... HE GAINED!! A LOT!! He went from 11th percentile to the 33rd percentile and I couldn't be happier! I just praised God for allowing him to pack on some pounds and asked that Lizzie be able to do the same before her next weigh-in in a month. Anyhoo, no more weight checks for Micah!!

Fun stories though, without being prompted Micah thanked the nurse after she weighed him (and measured him (literally, "Thank you for measuring me!!", and gave him magnets to play with.. etc). She was laughing by the end and telling me that he was the first kid to ever thank her specifically for measuring him. Well, then we went to another nurse to get his flu shot. He laid still and perfect, but the second he felt the prick he started crying. HOWEVER, immediately after the prick while he was crying, he turned to that nurse and said, "Thank you for my boo boo..." and then he cried a little more. He's such a sweet kid.

Micah was thrilled at his weight gain!

Oh, and here is a little sneak peek at the fabrics I used in a project to be posted soon... very soon... possibly tomorrow, we'll see :)

The Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-20T05:17:00.000-05:00

Any planned photo shoot with children should be approached with a realistic expectation that you may not get any good pictures should your progeny not be in a cooperative mood. I have found that the more you dress up your children and the more thought you put into the shoot, the less likely it is that you will get any decent pictures.

I had all of this in mind when we dressed our children for fall and headed to the pumpkin patch.... in 90 degree weather. In Texas it's important to create the appearance of seasons even when they do not, in fact, exist..... It helps to go in the morning so the kids don't sweat too much..... just FYI. The kids were in good moods, but were not standing still for more than 2 seconds at a time. I left thinking I had maybe 2 cute shots, but when I plugged in my camera I was more than pleasantly surprised!

At these ages, a good sibling shot is anything where they both fit in the frame..... if no one has their back to you, it is officially a GREAT sibling shot.

Is it mean to set your kids up? Like, just hypothetically, if I pointed to this pumpkin and told Micah to pick it up...

I have several pictures of him trying... he thought it was good fun! Just another precious Lizzie expression....

Cute expressions = SUPER great sibling shot... are you guys taking notes?

Classic shot..

and another...

Master of the cheesy "CHEESE" smile, this one made me laugh...

and then I saw this one and I laughed harder....

and finally this one had me laughing so hard that Nate was trying to figure out what was wrong with me. But Nate spends a lot of time trying to figure out what's wrong with me anyway ;-)

Finally, Micah politely asked me to desist with the photography and I complied.

Not too shabby for 15 minutes at the patch!

2011-10-19T05:33:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine from my First Baptist days is due with a little girl a month before Jane is set to make her arrival, and her shower was this weekend! She's one of those pregnant women that makes it look good. When I saw her Saturday I thought, "hmmm, maybe if I put some more effort into it, I could actually look stylish while pregnant!" That thought was followed by a resounding, internal "NAH!!".... and I'm ok with that :) Anyhoo, I made a taggie for baby M out of some leftover fabric from the diaper bag I just made for Jane...

The second picture is a weird angle, but it shows the colors better....

I love this fabric so much and I'm planning on making a taggie for Jane out of the same material as soon as I get the chance! Oh yeah, and I've got to get some pictures of the bag to show you too... but I've got a tiny addition I want to make to it, so I have to get that done first.

Things Lizzie Likes

2011-10-18T00:12:00.001-05:00

Sooo, I have some cool stuff I want to show you guys, but I have to download pictures first. I'm blogging on my phone so I thought I'd show you a few things Lizzie likes based on the pics I have on my phone from the past two weeks.

Lizzie likes to read to herself....Lizzie likes to snuggle even when totally ignoring you...Lizzie likes using her bib to turn herself into a superhero...Lizzie likes to take pictures of herself with my phone....Micah is still being elusive in pictures :)

ABC's of me

2011-10-13T12:47:00.003-05:00

This little survey is making it's way around the blogosphere, so I figured why not make an easy post of it!

A. Age: 28... and 3/4
B. Bed size: Queen.
C. Chore that you hate: I really hate doing the dishes... so Nate does them :)
D. Dogs: No thanks!
E. Essential start to your day: ummm, potty break?
F. Favorite color: I'm a sucker for a good Tiffany blue and I'm also fond of dark purple right now.
G. Gold or Silver: Silver. Or gold that looks silver ;-) (This, of course, excludes my Aggie ring which is gold gold and always in fashion)
H. Height: 5'4.75".... I can't get myself to say 5'5" since I've been just shy of it for 16 years now.
I. Instruments you play: Tell you what, I'll sing and YOU play... mmm k?
J. Job title: Stay at home mom
K. Kids: Micah, Elizabeth and soon to be baby Jane
L. Live: TEXAS
M. Mother’s name: Susan
N. Nicknames: I literally have dozens, Abby is even one. However, my most significant nickname is Gator.
O. Overnight hospital stays: 2, one for each kid.
P. Pet peeves: Illogical statements, poor grammar
Q. Quote from a movie: "You keep saying that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." The Princess Bride
R. Right or left handed: right
S. Siblings: 2 brothers, Jesse and Ben
T. Truth or Dare: Truth
U. Ultimate Vacation: Maui is my favorite... hands down
V. Vegetable you hate: Broccoli.
W. What makes you run late: I don't do late..... my kids occasionally do late, but I try to minimize that :)
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Arm, back, foot
Y. Yummy food that you make: Salted Caramel bars. Oh, and I'm kinda known for my scones.
Z. Zoo animal: Otter

That's my name, don't wear it out

2011-10-12T05:08:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure when it became almost a given that you had to put up your kid's name on the wall of the nursery. Or, when people started getting everything personalized/monogrammed. I don't remember this being the case at all when I was a kid. But anyway, here we are and I like the name on the wall trend. I like how I can be creative and do it differently for each of my kids. With Jane, I decided to do string art letters. I printed out the letters, cut them out, taped them to plaques that I had painted and painstakingly nailed in a bazillion nails around the edges. I then ripped the paper up (using tweezers) and went nuts with 4 different colors of pink embroidery floss. Here is what happened....

To give some scale, the plaques are each about 12 inches high.

I love them. They took forever....they were a pain in the butt....I'm glad Jane only has 4 letters in it.... but I love them.

Road Trip Stop 6- Rome, GA

2011-10-11T05:35:00.000-05:00

My cousin's wedding was the whole purpose behind our trip and that's how we ended up in Rome, GA for the last couple of days of our trip. It really is beautiful in that part of Georgia and the town of Rome itself has a great feel to it. Our hotel was in the historic downtown and was in a renovated factory with exposed brick and creaky wood floors and it was pure gorgeousness. A lot of our time was spent at my Uncle's house it a very pretty area a bit of a drive out of town. The kids were a fan of his neighborhood....

Have I mentioned that Lizzie Boo has learned how to say "cheese" for the camera? The faces that result crack me up....

Micah was very proud of his rocks and we were happy for him... til he chunked one randomly and nearly hit Lizzie in the head... that would have been fun.

But look at that face! He wasn't trying to hit her, so we let it slide....

Lizzie was getting in some good Memaw time and I love this whole series of pics...

She also got in good Daddy time....

And spared a moment for Mommy...

Back to the house to sit out on the balcony.

I love this picture of Micah....

And back to Lizzie and her faces...

Micah was the ring bearer in Sonya's wedding and he did a wonderful job! He didn't particularly care for the sitting and waiting for things to start portion, but when his time came, he was all smiles...

I really hope someone else got some good pictures of Micah in his suit, because he didn't stand still long enough for me to get anything decent!

Lizzie was in typical Lizzie form and laid some good expressions on me...

and, of course, more Memaw time :)

I feel I would be remiss if I failed to mention that during official wedding pictures, they got the entire wedding party posed and added Micah and the flower girl at the end. Micah looked nervous and after the first camera click, started shouting "I HAVE TO GO PEE PEE!!!" over and over again at the top of his lungs.... it was awesome :) My dad got some great shots of the kids in Rome too, I'll have to get those from him at some point!

Road Trip Stop 5- Atlanta, GA

2011-10-10T05:03:00.001-05:00

Our last stop before we headed to the wedding was Atlanta. Our first day there, we headed out to a daytime Braves game! The fans are semi-nuts, but it was fun to give a live shout-out to Michael Bourne again!

Micah and Lizzie were happy to find out that Turner Field served Chick-fil-a-

Lizzie is very generous with her food.... sometimes too generous and you end up with a very full mouth!

Our second day in Atlanta, we took the kids downtown to the Children's Museum. It's a lot smaller than the one in Houston, but the kids loved it and the size made it way more manageable. Please forgive the flash photography... it was pretty dark in there~

They had this great two story ball structure with pulleys, cranes, ramps, and all sorts of crazy ways the balls moved up, down, around and zig zagged above you. Anyhoo, it's hard to explain, but the kiddos were enthralled!

Lizzie enjoyed shopping with her own little cart~

It was so much fun she figured two carts would be TWICE as fun.... she was very frustrated by reality~

Micah moving the crane and dumping a load of plastic balls~

The train tables were a big hit as well...

And, of course, Lizzie went back to the food. Again and again and again...

Road Trip Stop 4- Nashville

2011-10-06T05:45:00.000-05:00

Our fourth stop on our grand tour of the south was Nashville! We spent a lot of time driving around the city and seeing this BEAUTIFUL city from the car on the first night we were there. We went by Vanderbuilt and spotted a gem of a park across the street. We decided to take the kids back to Centennial Park the next morning. Our first stop was to feed the ducks on the lake~

Micah was expressing his outrage that the ducks were ignoring us (and our bread)~

Turns out they were a bit shy, but that didn't stop us from faithfully throwing carbs into the water.

Then all of the sudden, the geese noticed our generousity and with their approach, the ducks began to take notice as well~

and before we knew it, we had a faithful crowd!

Lizzie had a good time :)

From there we headed to the park's wonderful shaded playground. The kids had a good time (I swear) but I couldn't resist posting this very Lizzie picture!

p.s.- while in the park we saw them filming a segment for the Biggest Loser!

Micah's First Day of School

2011-10-05T05:43:00.000-05:00

He was excited.....

Can you tell?

25 1/2 Weeks

2011-10-04T05:35:00.000-05:00

I had intended with this pregnancy to do a once a month update with a belly picture. Ummmm, yeah... that would have been at 24 weeks, but I kept forgetting to take the picture and only thinking about it when Nate wasn't here! Stinkin' pregnancy brain! Oh well.

So as of now, Jane is 25 weeks 4 days and according to all of my doctor's appointments, she is growing right on schedule and appears to be completely healthy! She is fairly active and has started having spaz-out sessions in which it looks like I am popping popcorn inside my stomach :) She is around 14 inches long and likely weighs between a pound and a half, and two pounds. Cool fact, she now has fully formed fingerprints.. kinda neat!

Road Trip Stop 3- Memphis Zoo

2011-09-30T05:08:00.000-05:00

We did a quick (non shooting) drive-by of Memphis on our way from Little Rock to Nashville. We spent our Memphis morning at the zoo where the kids got up close and personal with fence....

After fence.....

...after fence :)

Don't you love how pictures can make it look like everyone was in a good mood the whole time? Yeah, we had some moody kids that day, but luckily they still had some sweet and happy moments.

Polar bear!

Lizzie was a fan of the Sea Lion show and as usual was VERY vocal about it!

SEA LIONS!!

This lovely Micah expression was Howler Monkey induced... I can't blame him, they're pretty stinking cool.

Lizzie wasn't all that into the Popsicle, but the stick was a different matter.

Next stop, Nashville!

Road Trip Stop 2- Little Rock, AR

2011-09-29T05:29:00.000-05:00

We went from Kansas to Little Rock to spend the weekend there. I was amazed at how pretty Northwest Arkansas was as we drove through it, and Little Rock itself was also a very pretty city. Lizzie has been working on saying "Cheese!!" when she sees a camera and it is still pretty, well.... cheesy :)

Micah was pretending to sleep on the hotel floor but Lizzie was ready to go to the park, and decided to wake her Bubba up her way. "Wake up....."

"Wake up!!"

"WAKE UP!!!!"

We were staying downtown, so we walked to this great park right along the river.

Micah did some experiments involving static electricity~

It took awhile, but the kids warmed up to the idea of the splash pad fountain~

My girl is my daredevil..... go figure.

Lizzie at the window became a fixture of the trip, I just wish I pictures of the 3,000 other times this happened.

Road Trip Stop 1- Galena, KS

2011-09-28T05:26:00.000-05:00

Our first stop on our road trip was at Nate's parent's house in Galena. We got to spend a week there and after the kids adjusted, they had a great time! Lizzie has become a bit of a ham in front of the camera lately~

Micah again found a good buddy in his pseudo cousin Maddux~

We were so happy when Lizzie relaxed enough to give cuddles to her Kansas grands~

This chick is always on top of some piece of furniture or play equipment~

Micah loved his Grandma and PawPaw and talked about them a lot after we left~

"Paw Paw, where did all your hair go?!"

The cats were also a big hit with the kiddos.

The munchkins also got in good quality time with their Gigi Lois~

Playtime with Daddy and Grandma is always in fashion...

Believe it or not, this is a happy face :) She was yelling "CAR" in a perfect Boston accent as they passed by on a nearby road..

Also not unhappy... just waiting for more cars!

"CHEESE!!!!"

A rare picture proving I was, in fact, on the trip.

We had a great time with family! Stop #2.... Little Rock!

Things I Learned On Our Trip

2011-09-22T05:42:00.000-05:00

~ Alabama has entirely too many different license plate designs

~ The Nashville area is GORGEOUS! I had no idea how great the land/scenery was in that area.

~ Braves fans have unrealistic expectations for what their team should accomplish in the first inning alone. Oh, and they are overly proud of their merchandise.

~ Despite the veiled drug reference, The Mellow Mushroom in Rome, Ga serves some pretty stinkin awesome pizza.

~ The main highway through Chattanooga has a 45 mph speed limit.... for miles and miles and miles.... and it's a 4 lane (each way) elevated highway! Craziness.

~ Micah and Lizzie get along pretty well when they think we aren't there... or when they think we are asleep.

~ Micah thinks his Aunt Rayanna's name is GiGi ;-)

~ Tornadoes are no joke. Seeing the devastation in Joplin first hand was nuts.

~ People from Georgia are eerily similar to Texans when it comes time to party.

Road Trip Craziness

2011-09-21T05:28:00.000-05:00

Over the past two weeks that's what we've been doing... driving... ALOT. In 2 weeks we crossed through TEN STATES. Yikes. Texas-Oklahoma-Kansas-Missouri-Arkansas-Tennessee-Georgia-Alabama-Mississippi-Louisiana.. phew! We went to visit Nate's family in Kansas for the first week of our trip and then slowly made our way to Georgia for my cousin's wedding. Pictures, details, funny anecdotes and hair-pulling moments to follow :)

Gone

2011-09-12T06:49:00.001-05:00

Yup, I officially cannot see my toes anymore. Probably a good thing as I can no longer reach to paint them either... Ignorance is bliss :)

It has to be a sign.

2011-09-10T15:46:00.001-05:00

No, literally a sign. We were driving back from Nate's parent's house through Missouri and came across a town with a familiar name.

The sign following the city limit sign made our jaws drop. We had been joking about Jane coming on Christmas (37 weeks along) and now I'm thinking God might be trying to tell me something :)

If you can't get them out of your shot...

2011-09-08T09:40:00.000-05:00

Just go ahead and take their picture :)

Our Reveal

2011-09-06T09:37:00.000-05:00

This is how we gave our family the gender reveal fortune cookies....

Cute, right?!

What I've been baking

2011-09-05T05:11:00.003-05:00

At my 20 week anatomy scan, Nate and I were thrilled to see a little GIRL rolling, kicking, waving, somersaulting and swallowing in there! Jane is growing right on schedule and everything is accounted for and functioning as it is supposed to! You can't ask much more than that :)

Jane Susan will get her first name from Nate's mom (her middle name) and her middle name from my mom. We hope that she will be a tribute to both her namesakes :) We revealed the gender to all the grandparents using fortune cookies that I baked with It's a girl!! on the fortunes... pictures of their reactions to come :)

20 Weeks

2011-08-30T05:28:00.000-05:00

I really need to stop making weird faces while pictures are being taken :P As of today I am 20wks and 4 days pregnant! The baby is currently the length of a banana (about 10 inches) and weighs 12 ounces. Grow baby, grow!

God is Good

2011-08-29T05:26:00.000-05:00

A little over a month ago, I was speaking to a couple at my church who is adopting a 3 yr old girl from Russia about the return trip they were making in October to hopefully finalize the adoption and bring her home. Because of the laws in Russia, they have to be there for the adoption hearing and then wait at least ten days before they can take their daughter with them, at which time they have to get her visa in order. With their family of five (six on the return trip), the plane tickets and extended stay become expensive. When we spoke in July, they had about half of the money they needed.

God laid it on my heart to put together a garage sale at the church to help raise money for their trip. The elders green lighted it, Cinco green lighted it and we were good to go!! My mom and I spent all last week receiving, organizing and pricing donations in the church sanctuary. I could only come after 4 on M-TH (when Nate got home) but we'd stay until at least 9 each night. My mom was there during the day every day as well (I tried bringing the kids, but it was counter productive :). We didn't know how we would get it all done, but without even organizing it or asking for help, people would drop by during the day to help. Inevitably they would show up right before a big influx of donations. God timed everything perfectly to where there were always enough people there to get the work done... it was very cool to watch :)

It became very clear that God was running this event and I stopped worrying about if we'd advertised enough or if we'd have any shoppers, because I knew that God was going to make this sale as successful as he wanted. On Saturday, I showed up 30 minutes before the start of the sale and shoppers were already lined up outside. By the time the doors opened, we had a thick line wrapping around the building and people streamed in "like it was Black Friday at Walmart" as one volunteer put it perfectly. It was crazy to see that that many people had showed up already! We had a crazy first hour and then a steady stream of shoppers for the next four hours after that!

All of our volunteers showed up on time and worked hard. The last shopper left (without be asked) 5 minutes before the official end of the sale. The Katy Christian Ministries truck arrived 10 minutes later when our volunteers had already boxed up all the remaining items for donation. The sanctuary was cleared out, vacuumed, and completely back to normal for Sunday morning by 30 minutes after the end of the sale..... We thought we would have several hours of clean up for sure! It all went so smoothly that you could almost see God orchestrating the entire thing as it went. Our grand total raised at the end of the week was $4,667.05!! God is so good!

I Tried to Just Say No

2011-08-23T10:03:00.000-05:00

In a rather uncharacteristic move, I have found myself repeatedly turning down offers to join Pinterest..... this was the first line of the blog I tried to write last week. I was going to talk about how I have so much stuff I want to make and so little time to make it already that joining Pinterest would just be overwhelming.

Well, I typed that line and went to Pinterest to get the link to put in my blog entry..... and I saw something that caught my eye. 2 hours later I was still cruising Pinterest and had officially joined. So much for my resolve :P It turns out that I have mostly been getting recipes off of there and marking craft ideas for later. I am making 3 pinterest recipes this week... I'm hooked.

Click at your own risk~ http://pinterest.com/

The Early Bird

2011-08-21T14:05:00.002-05:00

gets to throw a party. That's how the saying goes..... right?? Well, that's the philosophy I'm living by at the moment :) I am currently planning Lizzie's second birthday party.... which will be in February. (feel free to laugh at me here... it's been the most common response so far) But, as always, there is at least a little bit of method in my madness..... I promise.

Issue#1~ I don't have that much time to work on crafts. I really can only do it when the kids are asleep and I'm not always able to do it then.

Issue #2- The holidays are coming up, which are always insane and come with plenty of crafts themselves, from teacher gifts to Christmas ornaments.

Issue #3- The baby is due so close to the holidays that I'll be lucky if I have time to get all my Christmas decorations put up before it is born. Then after it is born I will have NO TIME or energy to craft for Lizzie's birthday a month later.

See, I told you.... method ;-) But yes, I still admit the madness too. I've already made her cupcake toppers, ordered party supplies off of Etsy, and started the centerpieces for her table. I am mulling over the menu and doing anything else that I can while my brain is still functioning. It makes me feel so much better to be on top of things..... yesterday I bought the supplies to make Micah's valentines for his preschool class..... please don't mock :P

18 Months Old!!

2011-08-12T10:04:00.003-05:00

As of yesterday, that little bundle of pure trouble is a year and a half old! Oh my goodness. She has reached such monumental developmental milestones as getting her head stuck in between the spindles on the stairs and flinging herself off of furniture with no regard for personal safety :) Seriously though, at 18 months Lizzie is~

~ A bit of a daredevil who loves to climb and jump and live on the edge (of the furniture ;-)
~ Loves to climb behind me on the couch, poke her head out and shout BOO! and then laugh hysterically.
~ Not afraid to defend her territory against the advances of her big brother
~ A bit of a hot head. It doesn't take a lot to make her upset and she will definitely let you know if she is unhappy with a situation.
~ An avid reader... or should I say that she is avid about getting read to :)
~ Still cuddly and loves to be held or to squeeze in next to you while she drinks her juice.
~ A girl of many faces... the stink eye and the raised eyebrow (aka, I'm in on the joke) are the most prominent.

We love you baby girl! Happy half birthday!

A Seriously Crazy Weekend

2011-08-09T05:11:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, Nate and I had planned to leave the kiddos here with my parents and head to Dallas for my high school reunion. God had slightly different plans in mind. My great uncle Bill passed away late last Wednesday and now our babysitters also had a reason to be in Dallas last weekend. With some crazy scrambling around, the whole family found ourselves in Arlington for the viewing on Friday and the funeral on Saturday. My parents drove the kids back here after the funeral and Nate and I drove almost directly to my reunion.

It was kinda hectic. BUT, I am so thankful that I was able to be there for Bill's funeral. He was a wonderful man of God and impacted so many people positively for Christ... he will be missed.

I also had a great time catching up with friends from high school and meeting their spouses :)

There were a couple of out of body experiences from this weekend, including~

- Watching a 9 yr old girl at the hotel breakfast pile her plate to overflowing with AT LEAST 40 strips of bacon. She did this with her father's help, ate it all herself and threw in some biscuits, gravy, cereal and more bacon for good measure.. yikes

- My dad walked into the funeral with a bag (with his camera stuff in it). He put it down next to us and realized he'd left something valuable in the car so he left to go get it. Immediately, an usher from the church approached my mom and asked frantically, "Do you know that man who just left his bag here?" To which she replied, " Yes, he's my husband." Usher (relieved)- "Oh, ok. I thought maybe he had left a bomb or something." Really? A bomb? WOW

Believe it or not, these are candid

2011-08-04T05:23:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, when you're a toddler, you just need to climb on top of a table, put on Mickey Mouse ears and practice being cute....

If your parents are lucky, they'll get there with the camera before the moment is over...

Just before this, Micah put the ears on his blankie and declared him to be "Blankie Mouse"...

They're cute.... I think we'll have another :)

Fighting for Life

2011-08-03T05:13:00.001-05:00

In a society that presses the idea of tolerance at every single turn, I get so tired of being made to feel like having morals, beliefs or even (gasp!) a desire to live a godly life is somehow wrong or hating my fellow man.

I recently joined a forum online that is comprised entirely of women who are due the same month that I am. In a lot of ways it is really great. If you have a question about whether something is normal or are considering something new to you (like a midwife, or a VBAC) you can ask other women who are at the same point in their pregnancy as you are and learn from their experiences.

BUT... It has started to really depress me for the state of society these days. I read posts from women who are pregnant by their boyfriends and it's not working out and they can't believe it. In so many ways, unmarried mothers-to-be out there are suffering terribly and they don't even consider that their approach to their life has led to a lot of their heartache.

I've seen multiple women complain about catching their husbands with porn and I see the responses of countless women who say it's "healthy", "normal" and that "all guys do it". Some even claim it is a constructive thing. Guess what? IT'S NOT!

I read a post of a girl who found out today that there is a 1 in 350 chance her baby might have Downs Syndrome and she is doing further testing so she'll know whether or not to terminate the pregnancy. It broke my heart. I ached for this girl who couldn't fathom that an extra chromosome didn't mean a life wasn't worthwhile. She said she hoped no one would judge her either way she decides since "no one knows what they would do til they're in that situation." I do. I know what I'd do. I'm not saying it'd be easy or fun all of the time but there is NO WAY I would terminate. I commented on her post, wished her the best with further testing and gave her a link to my friend's blog.... they have an infant son with Downs and they are hard core about advocating for the life of these children and you know what? Their son in awesome.

Our society is broken and I'm tired of being silent and pretending like abortion is ok.... it's not. Or that sex outside of marriage is ok.... it's not. Or that any number of things like pornography or (from another post on the forum) gay marriage is ok... it's not. Do I hate the people that engage in these? No. But I refuse to pretend that society going against God's will in these ways isn't the root for countless problems. I realize that most people who read my blog are my friends and hold similar beliefs anyway, but I had to get it off my chest.

16 Weeks

2011-08-02T05:46:00.000-05:00

As of last Friday, I was 16 weeks pregnant! Everything is going well so far, the baby has a good strong heartbeat and has started getting very active. I have been able to feel it move for several weeks now, but it is finally getting consistent and Nate has been able to feel it moving from the outside a couple of times in the past few days.... that is WAY earlier than we've ever been able to feel a baby externally.... we may have a soccer star on our hands :)

The morning sickness is mostly gone by now and all I have left is unending fatigue.... which may have something to do with the 3 yr old and 17 month old I have living with me ;-)

The Circus Came to Town...

2011-08-01T05:08:00.000-05:00

So we went, cause that's how we roll :) We got tickets for the day before Micah's birthday, packed up the fam, the grandparents and GG and went to see the show!

A key component to our success any time our kids have to sit still is popcorn...... lots of it

A little bit of sugar doesn't hurt either :)

The acts that they have in the circus now are so cool! Between caged motorcycle riders, contortionists, aerialists, performing elephants, tight rope walkers and the crazy acrobats it was a really great show!

We did have to leave a touch early though, cause the kids were definitely ready for a nap~

Interesting.....

2011-07-28T10:33:00.003-05:00

So, as much as it pains me to admit it, I am the teeniest bit superstitious. Not hard core, but just the occasional occurance. Anyhoo, I recently joined a forum with all women who are also due in January 2012 and it is INSANE how many of them already know what they are having!! I am waiting until 20 weeks, so I still have a month to go.. Blah!!!! Even though it has only predicted one of my pregnancies correctly in the past, I still thought I'd go ahead and see what the Chinese gender prediction chart thought I was having. It's a fairly quick thing to do except the website I went to this time had something I'd never seen before...

Instructions on how to use the chart.

Hmmm, I mean it's just your age cross referenced with the month you conceived, are instructions really needed for that? I clicked on them and found out that they were. Hmmmm, turns out it's your Chinese lunar age cross referenced with the Chinese lunar month you conceived. Turns out that the Chinese consider me a year older than I am and they don't divide their months like we do.... Also turns out that the chart was right with both my previous pregnancies... Did I mention that I can be superstitious? Even when I know intellectually that a gender prediction chart is ridiculous, I can't help but check it and wonder if maybe it will be right a third time. (the odds are 50/50 anyway, but I still can't help it) So anyhoo, just thought I'd let you know that the Chinese moon people believe I'm having a girl. So there you go :)

4th of July

2011-07-26T05:03:00.000-05:00

Late enough for ya? I just got a chance to hook up the camera, so I'm catching up on old pictures :) Our church puts on a celebration on the 4th of July and the kids had a great time playing on the bounce houses they rented~

He climbed this on his own!

Micah's Party

2011-07-25T05:30:00.000-05:00

To celebrate Micah's 3rd birthday, we had a Mickey Mouse Breakfast! I wish I had pictures of the Mickey scones, but I seem to have forgotten to take a lot of pictures I normally would of the decor/ food at the party... oh well!

Because I'm crazy, I decided to make each kid a set of Mickey or Minnie ears to wear at the party...the guests were all so cute!

Cade rocks the Mickey ears for sure~

Micah blew out his candle....

.... and was SO proud of himself :P

Evan more or less hovered by the cupcakes hoping one would jump into his mouth :)

I love this shot (and the girl in it)~

Asher just cracks me up~

My little climber~

We got him a really cool Wall-E robot with lots of great controls.. he loved it :)

Happy Birthday Bubba!

Micah's Birthday Invite

2011-07-20T04:47:00.000-05:00

minus some not so public information :)

The Boy is 3

2011-07-19T05:00:00.001-05:00

Three years ago, this little boy was born with chop style sideburns and an insane ability to sleep through everything... including feedings.

This last Saturday, that little boy turned three years old and I'm not sure how exactly that happened so quickly~

Let's see.... Micah as a three year old is~

- Still a really sweet and thoughtful little guy

- A bit unpredictable when is comes to meltdowns, but he has gotten WAY better about this in the past couple of weeks

- Really into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Toy Story 3 and Cars

- Very good at puzzles and is completing puzzles rated ages 5+ by himself

- Likes to answer "yes yes" in quick succession when asked a question

- Able to count to 16 (random, I know :P) in English and 10 in Spanish

- Loves to sing, particularly the ABC song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

- Adores his cousins and has a crush on a whole family of girls (3) from our church :)

- Really polite and constantly says please, thank you and may I

We love our little man so much and he is a constant source of joy in our lives.... Happy Birthday Bubba!!

Long Time Coming

2011-07-14T09:16:00.002-05:00

A good friend of mine has 3 great little girls (of whom Micah is a major fan). She is preggers with #4 and we were all thrilled to find out that it is a BOY! Woo hoo! My mom and I decided to throw her a shower to help her go blue (couldn't have the poor kid running around in pink all the time, now could we?) and it was a lot of fun.... I just wish I had pics of all the cute things at the shower :P Anyhoo, She is doing the nursery in a cowboy theme so I decided to put my sewing skills (such as they are) to use in making her gift. I made a bib~

A lovie blanket~

And a beach/bath robe~

The robe was from a pattern I purchased at MADE. If you like to craft (especially sew) then Dana's blog, MADE, is AWESOME. She gives tons of free tutorials and patterns and some that she sells as well. Anyhoo, I'm really happy with how everything turned out and I can't wait to meet the little buckaroo!

2011-07-11T18:41:00.003-05:00

Micah's birthday party is coming up this weekend, so the blog may be a bit sparse this week as I finish up everything for my soon to be 3 yr old. I'm waiting on some pics I took on a borrowed camera so that I can show you my latest bout of craftiness... As soon as I get them,I'll slap them up here!