Babies, Babies Everywhere...

Labor Day

2011-09-05T11:46:00.002-04:00

Today Mike and Wanda took us out for breakfast at IHOP. The we went over to the park to play for a bit. The kids had a really good time, but our weather went from 100 to 65 degrees in no time flat so it was a bit chilly. Looks like I need to start getting our fall wardrobes in the closet and ready to use!

First prenatal appointment was uneventful as expected. After reading Simcha Fisher's recent post I think I'll be skipping first trimester appointments in any future pregnancies. I go back in a couple weeks then we have a whole bunch of birthdays happening. We have all four kids' birthdays between 9-25 and 10-21! Fun fun fun!

Perpetually Applicable Blog Title

2011-08-15T20:37:00.003-04:00

I hate that I don't blog regularly! Oh well, I do have some exciting news though! We're expecting Baby Number Five!!! Our due date is March 14th. I'm very excited to be having a spring baby, since all the others have come right when the weather starts getting cold and yucky. It will be great to just have to throw on a onesie and head out the door instead of putting on layer after layer and fifty blankets before I can leave! I have my first prenatal visit next week so hopefully I'll be posting updates. We'll see if I can stay on top of things.

Here are some pictures of my boys. Ian will be 3 next month and Owen is about 10 months. Aren't they cute together?

My Brother's Wedding

2011-07-05T07:00:00.001-04:00

Friday night when Scott got home from work I took off with my grandma and Owen to make the 8 hour drive to Missouri for my brother Andy's wedding. We weren't going to be able to go since the wedding was Saturday afternoon and I had the paper route to do Saturday night. Turns out, I got laid off a few weeks ago so we were able to go down.

This was the first time we got to meet my niece Addison who is just a month younger than Owen. She's a squirmy little thing and moves around a heck of a lot more than Owen (probably because she has a lot less weight to carry around!) but she's such a sweetie.

Here is my grandma with Addison and Owen, her two youngest great grandbabies.

And here I am with my baby brother right before the wedding.

I didn't get any pictures at the ceremony, but it was super fast. It was actually faster than my wedding, which I didn't think was possible! It was outside at a botanical garden and it was a little over 100 degrees outside, so they had a good reason to make it fast!

This was their lovely cake.

Cutting the cake.

The family a together. Rachell, Andy, Bailey and Addison.

First Dance

Father of the Bride

Addison, Grandma Willa, Andy and Owen

Andy and Addison, my mom, me and Owen

Good picture, then Addison tries to choke Gramma!

I think Owen was getting a little bored with all this wedding business.

Happy Fourth of July!!

2011-07-04T09:40:00.003-04:00

Conveniently they all had a red, white and blue outfit in their current sizes!

Meeting the Duggars!

2011-06-11T14:00:00.002-04:00

Today I got to go to a Duggar book signing! It was really neat. The whole family was there! I didn't get to take many pictures, but I've always wanted to meet them so it was pretty exciting!

By the time I got up to the tables, the younger children were off taking a break. I did get to talk to Jana, John David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, and Joseph. And Michelle and Jim Bob of course!

I only took Owen with me, but after standing in line for about an hour I kind of regret not taking the stroller in. Man are my arms sore!

Vacation

2011-05-23T17:07:00.006-04:00

Let me start by saying this is the cutest picture ever!

OK. Now that I've done that I can tell you all about our vacation. This is the first time we've ever gone more than a couple hours away since the kids came a long and we've never stayed overnight anywhere with them. Mike and Wanda invited us to go down to Hilton Head Island with them. Scott had to stay home and work though. :(

The kids had a really good time seeing the beach for the first time. They love playing in the sand and jumping in the waves and looking for seashells - 3 buckets of seashells!

Abby did get a little freaked out by the seagulls though. If they thought you had food they would go crazy and get super close. She didn't like that very much.

This was a cute little lighthouse we went to see on the rich side of town.

Then we let the kids have some fun at the park. There is a really cool tree there with lots of really low branches and it has a huge treehouse built in it. The kids loved it!

And I was happy to get a pretty good picture of them all on one of the branches. If only Ian would look at the camera!

One day we went on a dolphin tour which was pretty fun. We got to see a few baby dolphins even. So freaking cute! They are super hard to get a picture of though.

Here's a dolphin splash.

And a fin.

Sandcastles!

Sleepy beach baby.

Owen messed with the sand for a minute, but ended up just getting mad at it.

Since it's a 12 hour drive to get there and another 12 hours to get back I got a few pictures in the car. I definitely wish I had thought about putting some movies on my iPad...

We had a pretty good time. Not too many meltdowns. And I was the only one to end up with a really bad sunburn. The kids got to meet their great great grandmother which is something most people can't say.

For me, it was super exhausting, but I'm really glad the kids had such a good time. I had a good time too. Just a really sleepy, good time. So if anyone has pointers for going on vacation with small children just let me know and I'll remember for future reference. Thanks!

A Family Picture

2011-05-09T18:36:00.005-04:00

I set the timer on the camera, ran to the back, and finally have a family photo!

It's not that great, but this is the only one I took so I would have to say it was a success. We don't have any other pictures all together so this will have to do for now.

Poor Little Owen. I leave the room for a minute and Emma sticks a Batman ski mask on his head! He didn't seem to mind it though. He's 6 months old now, weighs 22 pounds and is sitting on his own. Hooray! I can't wait until he's mobile. I definitely prefers the later stages when they can move around on their own! It will be a little different this time around though since the "big" kids are starting to play with some toys that have smaller pieces. I'll have to keep an eye out for that. Oh, and we have stairs now! That's ok, I'll still like it better.

We've been in our house over a month now and I still don't have everything put away. I'm definitely lacking motivation. I seriously need to get it done though. And there are soooooo many things I want to do around here it's crazy! Re-do the bathroom, put another bathroom in the basement, turn the sunroom into an actual room.... Don't ask where I'll be getting the money for all of this stuff though... Who knows?! I'm optimistic - we'll just have to do a little at a time. It will be awesome though!

The kids and I will be heading to the beach soon and I am having a heck of a time finding a swimsuit! Especially one that is in my budget! I'm highly against a one-piece, but after having 4 kids, I do need to cover my midsection. And I also prefer boy-short bottoms. It's been hard to find things that don't look too grandma or are under $20 per piece. Per Piece! I seriously can not imagine spending 40 bucks on something I will only be using this one week. No way. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to send them my way!

Dinosaur World

2011-04-19T08:20:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we drove to Cave City, KY to Dinosaur World. And the kids loved it! They had over 100 dinosaurs, a museum, a playground and a couple of digging activities. The kids really like the digging. They got to uncover a full size dino skeleton and then sift for smaller fossils that they got to keep. They also got to stick there head in a T-Rex mouth which the loved! It's hard to really see, but in the picture below all 6 of us are siting at the feet of the big orange one.

It's Quite A Likeness....

2011-04-04T13:53:00.002-04:00

Some Owen Progress

2011-03-17T21:19:00.002-04:00

Owen has started sitting!! A little bit anyway. I definitely can't leave him unattended yet, but he's been doing a really good job. I'm super excited!! He'll be 5 months on Monday. I like it when they start getting older and eating real food and moving around on their own. He also had his first baby food today - bananas - and... the custard filling from a doughnut.

We'll be closing on our house in the morning which I'm also super excited. This is a great anniversary present! That's right, it will be 6 years on Saturday!!

My mom's birthday is on Sunday and kids 1-3 each made her a birthday card. Emma even wrote out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" all by herself. She's getting so big! I didn't let my mom know they were coming so they were a nice surprise and the kids had a lot of fun making them.

Here's another pretty decent picture of all the kids together.

Evil Virus

2011-03-07T14:03:00.005-05:00

This has been a normal scene at our house for the past couple of weeks.

Taking turns. All 6 of us.

Emma spent a week with Gramma and brought back this lovely virus to share with the rest of us. Feel the love? Now she is the only one that is completely over it and it doesn't seem like I will ever get better since I can't sleep because I have to take care of everyone else. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. I mean, I feel a little better, but come on! Mama needs rest too!

I got a pretty good shot of the boys together not looking sick, but one is looking rather chubby.

This little porkchop weighed 18 lbs when he went in for his 4 month check a couple weeks ago. He is definitely the biggest baby we've had. Emma started out bigger, but she was only 17 lbs when she was 4 months. Owen is so round and cute I just want to squish him all the time!

In other news, we're buying a house!!

This is it. Isn't it cute?! It does actually have more space that it looks like. Four bedrooms, finished basement, an actual dining room, and a nice playset in the back yard! I'm very excited! We will be closing in just a couple of weeks. That means I have lots of packing to do (and toys to get rid of!).

News and Pictures

2011-01-19T08:21:00.001-05:00

Here's a good one of smiley, little Owen.

Emma loves her new brother!

Owen is going to be 3 months old in a couple days! He's big enough to sit in his BebePod seat now and is so cute and smiley. I really can't wait until the weather gets warm again! The kids get a little crazy being stuck inside only playing with each other all the time. We did finally get to go to playgroup for the first time since the baby was born and it is completely amazing how well everyone plays together when you just add a couple kids that they don't see everyday! Why can't they act like that all the time?

We are seriously going to be trying to get a house this spring and I am so excited!! And nervous! Mostly excited though! We found THE house so now we just need to get a little bit of a down payment together so we can get the ball rolling. The house is 5 bedrooms and more than double the square footage we're living in now. We could really use the space, let me tell ya! I'm hoping nobody comes in and swipes it before we get a chance to get everything taken care of. Donations to our Down Payment Fund will be gladly excepted (just kidding...mostly).

And here's another goofy shot of the kids :)

Presents

2010-12-27T12:10:00.002-05:00

We are pretty much overloaded with new toys now! I don't know where I'm going to put all this stuff. Here are some of their favorite things.

Scooters!

Super Hero Costumes!

And the Bat Cave!

And we decided to call this little cutie The Power Pooper :)

My Christmas Babies

2010-12-26T14:03:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T21:03:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas!!

Snow

2010-12-13T16:15:00.004-05:00

I hate snow. Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying it though! They only liked it until they realized how wet and cold it was making them. I don't mind them playing in it except that I'm the one that has to do all the work and then they only stay out for about 15 minutes. I will be super happy when everyone can dress themselves up to make pointless trips outside!

Checkups

2010-12-06T17:41:00.003-05:00

I managed to get a decent shot of the kids together so I thought I would share. Aren't they adorable? I really though I was going to start posting more often, but I never manage to get on a real computer. It's so much easier to just do everything on my iPad, but it won't let me do blog things for some reason.

Owen had his one-month check and was up to 12 pounds 2 ounces so needless to say, breastfeeding is going quite well! I was soooo worried about it and we haven't had any problems at all. I'm really glad it's working out and saving us money! I was also worried that I would never get any sleep since breastfed babies are supposed to eat more frequently than bottle babies. That hasn't been the case at all though. The first few weeks he usually on ate 2-3 times a night. And now he sleeps all the way from about 11:30 to 5:30 in the morning! I only have to feed him once a night and he goes right back to sleep so I have actually been getting a decent amount of sleep. That definitely doesn't mean I'm not tired though! And he's been making lots of cute little baby noises. His favorite person to talk to seems to Abby. I think it's because she has such a squeaky little voice. He's so cute :)

The girls also has their yearly checkups last week. They're doing perfectly fine. Freaked out when they got a shot though! There is no way it hurt as much as they made it sound! Emma was especially loud. It was a little embarrassing. I'm sure everyone in the building thought someone was being murdered. Emma was 84th percentile for weight and 95th for height. Abigail was 64th for weight and 79th for height. No wonder she seems so petite to us.

Owen's Baptism

2010-11-16T13:24:00.003-05:00

Owen got baptized on November 7th. That was also the day the clocks went back, which was not good for Ian. When we arrived at church it was already what would normally be nap time so he wasn't super happy that day, but we made it through. I learned not to schedule important things on days with a time change!

Owen looked ADORABLE in his baptism outfit!

He ended up sleeping through the whole thing.

Jessie was supposed to be there to take pictures. She usually takes A TON of pictures which is good so we always know there will be good ones somewhere in there. But she accidentally over-scheduled herself that day and couldn't make it. The godparents' daughter Emme (who is 10 or 11 I believe) ended up taking pictures for us. She didn't take very many, but there were a couple good shots. Good job, Emme! And afterwards the Wades came over for pizza and everyone had a good time passing the baby around. :)

Halloween!

2010-11-01T12:03:00.003-04:00

Here we have a ladybug, Minnie Mouse, and a giraffe.

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!!!

Big Surprise

2010-10-27T14:04:00.003-04:00

We're now a family of SIX!

Owen decided to make his appearance early Thursday morning. Which was a huge shock to me since I had already accepted that I would probably have to be induced.

I was sleeping and at 2:30 I had a contraction that woke me up. I thought it was just a fluke and planned on going back to sleep. Ten minutes later, another one. Ten minutes later, another one. They weren't very painful, but I definitely wasn't going to be able to sleep through them so I decided to take a bath and see if they would stop.

That didn't work. They still kept coming so I did a load of laundry and watched part of a movie. They weren't getting any more intense, but by 4:00 they were only 5 minutes apart. Since I wasn't really in pain I was not convinced that these contractions were doing anything. I didn't even wake Scott up. He knew when I got out of bed that I was having contractions and thought that they would just go away like they did last time.

And by 5:00 they were only 2-3 minutes apart. And at this point I was still a little on the fence about going to the hospital. I didn't want to have to wake my grandma up to come sit with the kids if they were just going to send me home. The contractions had gotten a little stronger at this point, but still weren't super painful or anything.

Since they were so close together I finally decided to wake everyone up and head to the hospital. We got there and checked in around 5:45. We went up to the room, I got my gown on, got in bed and my water broke at 6:00 on the dot. They hadn't even got to check me yet. The nurse came in to do that just a minute later and I was fully dilated and ready to go!

That was completely unexpected!! So they got everything set up and we started pushing around 6:30. And I pushed and pushed and pushed. This is the fourth kid. You would think he would come right out. Nope. So I pushed and pushed and pushed some more.

There wasn't really time for an epidural and I wasn't in that much pain anyway. So this was my first completely natural birth. No induction, no epidural. And overall, it was the perfect experience.... And then, during those last 5 minutes of pushing, I thought I was going to die. I definitely scared the crap out of Scott! Poor guy. He probably though I was dying too. I have this nearly painless labor all night and then 5 minutes of the worst pain I have felt in my entire life! Completely unbearable! I swear, I am still traumatized. Will there be any more kids in our future? Ha, I don't know! :)

After pushing for over an hour he was born at 7:49am. Just 5 hours after that first contraction. He was exactly the same size as his brother. 8 pounds 13 ounces and 22 inches long.

Progress??

2010-10-18T21:22:00.003-04:00

I made it to 39 weeks on Friday and had my check up today. And guess what?! NOTHING! I went from "almost 1 cm" to "slightly more than 1 cm". What is wrong with this kid?? I was focusing very hard on not getting my hopes up and I guess it's a good thing I did! I was having contractions all day Saturday, Saturday night, and into Sunday morning. They started about 30 minutes apart and by Sunday they had gotten down to 15 minutes apart. And I was getting a little excited. They weren't painful, just noticeable and occasionally just a tad uncomfortable. I took a nap and when I woke up Sunday afternoon they had stopped. And they never came back! And obviously they didn't get much work done. The doctor is going ahead a scheduling my induction for next Friday, the 29th. I have to go in for another checkup Tuesday and if I haven't made any more progress by then I'll have to go to the hospital Thursday night for a little cervix ripening. Sounds fun! At least we know he'll be here by then!

Here is a fun, albeit blurry, picture of Scott and the kids (Abby wasn't home that night)

And this will be little Owen's baptism outfit. Isn't it adorable?!

38 1/2 Weeks

2010-10-12T13:56:00.003-04:00

We're 38.5 weeks now and this baby can come any time he wants! So far it's not looking very promising though. I went to the doctor yesterday and haven't made much progress. I'm "almost" 1cm (which might as well be nothing with this being the 4th kid!), but I am 50% thinned out so that's a little bit of something I guess.

This doctor won't induce me until I'm at least a week late. And at this point I'm not getting my hopes up that he's coming out on his own. I'm definitely expecting an induction. So we could end up with a Halloween baby! We'd have to draw whiskers on his face as soon as he pops out I guess! And if we really have to wait that long I'm definitely expecting him to be a 10-pounder!

Jack-O-Lantern

2010-10-09T22:22:00.003-04:00

Well, here is our giant pumpkin as a jack-o-lantern.

And I tried to get a picture of it with the kids, but of course none of them turned out.

Our Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-08T21:28:00.002-04:00

We got to go get our pumpkin today! We decided to just get one big family pumpkin this year instead of several little pumpkins. And I mean we got a BIG one!

The kids really like taking the wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch.

For some reason I didn't taking any pictures while we were actually looking for a good pumpkin. Maybe because I had a bunch of little people tripping every time I turned around. But here we are back on the wagon after we got the perfect one picked out.

Daddy, of course, got the lucky job of carrying and holding the beast.

We haven't carved it yet, but it is taking up a good chunk of our table. When were out in the field, we were trying to guess how much it weighed. I didn't try to pick it up or anything, but just by looking I said "it looks like it's about an Emma" (because I tend to use my kids as units of measure). An Emma = 40 pounds. When we got back to the store to pay for it we found out it weighed 42 pounds! So there is our crazy beast of a pumpkin!

Birthday Party

2010-10-04T21:12:00.003-04:00

Well before I get to the birthday fun I'll give you a baby update. Sadly, nothing to report. No progress! I was a bit disappointed to hear that, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see where we're at next week. I have been having a few teeny tiny contractions here and there the last day or two, but now I'm just thinking that maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up.

I was super busy this weekend and didn't get around to writing birthday posts for the girls. Oops. Their birthday was Saturday. Emma turned 4 and Abby turned 3. That was also the day of the shared birthday party for all three kids!

This is the amazing cake that our friend Debbie made for us. So cute!!

And here, Abby just wanted a random picture with Jessie. She's adorable :)

Blowing out the candles (Ian didn't want to participate)

Opening presents.

All Ian wanted to do was play with his new Thomas train toys.

That's why he wouldn't blow out his candle, eat any cake, or play in the bounce house.

Although he did finally get in and loved it of course.

And after the party Daddy and Grandpa even got in to bounce with them!

Jessie (seen above) rented the bounce house as her present to them and the kids really had a good time in there - no wonder they love her so much! I was worried because about an hour before the party it started to rain and I thought they wouldn't get to use it. Luckily it didn't rain very hard and didn't last terribly long. It was crazy having everyone crammed in our little house for the beginning of the party, but I think everyone survived.

I might try to give the girls each a birthday post. That way I don't have to be stuck with any mommy guilt for writing one for Ian and not them. :)

FULL TERM!!!

2010-10-01T20:10:00.003-04:00

Ok. Here we are. We hit 37 weeks and the baby is officially full term! And honestly, I don't think I'm going to make it much longer. I've been feeling so much pressure that I can barely walk at times. Very intense. The kids' birthday party is tomorrow though, so I would like to make at least make it through this weekend and then Owen can come whenever he wants. Normally I would have had an appointment today, but for some reason I have to wait until Monday. I'm really hoping for some progress by then!

Bunk Beds

2010-09-30T14:51:00.002-04:00

Half of the day yesterday was spent assembling the girls' new bunk beds. Why am I 9 months pregnant and putting beds together? I don't know, but I'm glad we finally got it done and they look really cute! I love the new bedding I got for them too. So cute! And not really something they'll grow out of, like Disney Princesses or Dora. They were very excited about them. Emma loves sleeping on the top bunk. I think when we were talking about them Abby didn't quite understand what we meant. I'm pretty sure she thought we were wanting her to sleep under the bed. Haha! But once we got them put together she got it figured out and was just as excited as Emma. They spent a good chunk of the morning hanging out on Abby's bed. (I wouldn't let them play on the top, because I didn't want Ian falling off) Anyway, I'm really glad they like they're new beds and very glad that I'll be able to set they're room up differently.

Happy Birthday, Ian!!!

2010-09-24T22:16:00.006-04:00

Today, my little Ian is 2 years old!!

Two years ago I was supposed go in to be induced at 7:00 am. Apparently everyone decided to go into labor that day so my induction kept getting pushed back more and more until it was looking like it wouldn't be happening that day at all. We finally got in around 4:00 that afternoon and they started the pitocin and broke my water right away.

This labor was very intense right off the bat. I got the epidural only a couple hours into it and oh boy it did not help very much! There was an insane amount of pressure. I had never felt that way after having an epidural before (which makes me think I might just try to skip it this time). I was in labor for 5 and a half hours when they told me I could start pushing and by then I felt like he could come flying out of there at any time. So I was very surprised that it took longer to get him out than it had with the girls. I figured it was my third kid and with all that pressure i was feeling he would be out in no time. It took a whole 30 minutes to get him out of there though. I guess that's still pretty fast compared to a lot of people, but I wasn't expecting it. He was finally born at 10:03PM at 8 pounds 13 ounces and since it was so late it was a lot quieter than after the girls were born. We didn't have any visitors until the next day.

The day after we got out of the hospital Ian got to go to his first party! We got out on a Saturday and the girls' 1st/2nd birthday party. That was a busy weekend. We did get to have our first family picture taken that day.

Happy Birthday, Ian!!

36 Weeks

2010-09-24T21:28:00.003-04:00

Here is my 36 week belly! I went to the doctor today to and was checked for the first time and everything. No good news though. Confirmation that his head is pretty much as low as it can possibly get, which I could tell myself every time I switch positions (or walk or lay down or MOVE!). I'm at 1cm which might as well be nothing. That's ok. We'll see where we're at next week. I'm pretty sure the baby is over 7 lbs already. Over the past 4 years I've gotten very good with guessing my babies' weights. Not other peoples' just mine. If we make it to the due date, I'm expecting a 10-pounder! :)

In other news, my house keeps getting cleaner and cleaner!! I'm so happy! One day this week I went crazy and deep cleaned the kitchen and since then I've done the living room, the bathroom, and the girls' room. Everyday I've been making sure to keep up with what I've already done and add a little bit more. The girls' floor was almost completely covered in toys - as in they had a path to each bed and that's it. All three kids helped me pick up and organize ALL the toys. Now they are not allowed to even open their closet without asking first, because if it ends up looking like that again I'm might lose my mind. The boy's room will have to be next. I need to get all the baby clothes into weatherproof boxes so I can get them out in the shed so we make room for little Owen.

Now I just need to learn how to cook! That is something I haven't been doing much of. Hot dogs, chicken nuggets, pizza..... That seems to be what we live on these days. Luckily the kids eat more snacks than they do at actual meals so there is usually a lot of fruit and yogurt and other healthy things throughout the day. I really wish I could cook though. Maybe someday... It would also help if this family (myself included) wasn't so freaking picky. Any recipes or cooking tips are welcomed and appreciated. :)

35 Weeks!

2010-09-17T21:42:00.002-04:00

Well here's a shot of my lovely 35 week pregnant belly. We're getting SO CLOSE!! I went to the doctor today and not much happened - heartbeat, belly measurement, that kind of thing. Next week she will start checking me and it seems weird to say, but I'm so excited. I like to know if I've made progress. I never have any contractions, but by the time they start checking me I'm always at least 1-2 cm. Plus this is my fourth kid so I've got to be getting somewhere by now right?! Not to mention his head has been locked in position for about a month already. The doctor asked me to bring my birth plan though..... my birth plan = avoid a c-section at all costs! I just like to go with the flow. After having 3 inductions, I'd like to go into labor on my own, but if I make it all the way to the due date I'd be all for getting induced. Epidural: had it with the other 3, definitely not against it, but it didn't help very much last time so we'll just see how it goes. Biggest thing: I don't want a c-section!!!! Is that the crappiest birth plan ever? Oh well. Can't help it.

Fishing

2010-09-15T10:58:00.005-04:00

We went fishing a couple of times over the summer. We didn't go very often since most of the time it was over 100 degrees. The kids had a really good time though. Surprisingly none of them were afraid to touch the fish. They thought it was pretty neat. They were all teeny tiny fish, so we would get one and then let the girls reel them in. They weren't very interested in just standing there holding a pole so we just let them do the fun part. I even caught a turtle! It was cute and I wish I had taken a picture of it. Oh well. Maybe we can go again soon since it's been much more bearable outside.

Emma with her catch!

Emma also insisted on taking my picture, so that's why there's a random picture

of me looking goofy.

And I think Abby just looked adorable holding her fishing pole!!

Fair Pictures

2010-09-10T15:59:00.002-04:00

Since I didn't post anything for most of the summer I have some catching up to do with pictures. Today I decided to post some from our trip to the KY State Fair last month. We had a really good time. I don't think the kids can ever get sick of looking at animals! That was what we spent most of our time doing. The girls were dying to ride the Ferris wheel, so they got to ride that and a car ride right before we left.

Abby loves her daddy!

Ian LOVED the car ride!

He got pretty mad when it was time to get off. Poor guy.

It seems like everyone in bloggy world are starting to have their babies.... And it's making me a little impatient! In the past week or so at least Maggie and Hallie have had their babies. What's up with that anyway!? Of course, one of my favorite things to do is read birth stories so I hope they post theirs. :) I guess that could be one good thing to come out of it. Well, and their cute new babies, of course. It's definitely making me a bit antsy though...

Long Time, No Post

2010-09-08T19:53:00.003-04:00

Well, a dear friend informed me that it had been a very long time since I posted anything. So here I am! I'm 34 weeks along now and my belly is quite a bit bigger than the last time I put up a picture (as you can see below)! I feel like I could explode at any minute! I'm very happy that the weather has decided not to be so freakishly hot. Those 1oo+ degree days were killing me! Starting next week, I'll be having weekly check ups so that should help make the time go by a little faster. Scott has the job of picking the middle name and even though we thought it would be Owen Scott in the beginning, I'm pretty sure that he has decided on Owen Benedict. So there's an update for everybody. Only 6 more weeks!!! And so much to do between now and then!!

I started doing reading lessons with Emma back in April/May, but after a few weeks I could tell that she just wasn't ready yet so I decided to back off for a while. I was planning on giving it a shot this month, but I don't see that happening at this point. I'm definitely not worried about it anyway, since she's not even 4 yet! We have plenty of time. Sometime soon I would like to start regularly scheduling some "school" time with her. Nothing major. Mostly I just want to have some kind of routine down for when we start really getting into things.

Little Abby is almost completely potty trained now. She has been wearing big girl underpants nonstop (except a pull-up for overnight) for about a month now with very few accidents. Yay! She also seems to be getting goofier and goofier. What a crazy kid!

Also in the past month or two, Ian has finally started picking up some words. He's almost 2 and I thought that kid would never start talking! He's doing much better now. He probably has about 15-20 words that I can definitely understand and even if he doesn't use any real words he has no problem getting his point across!

The same dear friend I mentioned above (Lynn Davis!) took these awesome pictures for us a couple months ago. These kids are definitely not the easiest subjects, but she managed to get a few usable shots so I consider it a complete success! I think she might be doing family pictures for us after little Owen gets here. That should be fun....

Well hopefully I will start posting more often than every few months! I'll be even more encouraged to post if I get some comments - hint hint! See you soon!

ULTRASOUND

2010-06-11T13:05:00.002-04:00

It's a BOY!!! Owen Scott :)

19 Weeks and Henry's Ark

2010-05-28T20:58:00.002-04:00

Well I'm 19 weeks today. I had a checkup last week but nothing very exciting happened. Ultrasound is 2 weeks from today though!!!! Can't wait to find out if we're having an Anna or an Owen!! Here's my 19 week belly shot....enjoy:

We took the kids to Henry's Ark to feed the animals the other day and I think everyone had a really good time. Ian especially liked running around with the loose ducks.

The zebras were very friendly while were there. The kids really like it when the animals get as close as they can to you.

Belly Pic - 15 Weeks

2010-05-05T19:44:00.001-04:00

14 Weeks

2010-04-26T14:34:00.002-04:00

I was 14 weeks on Friday and had a doctor appointment last week. Nothing really happened. Just got to hear the heartbeat again and found out that this new doctor likes to wait until 21 weeks to do the ultrasound. Usually I get me ultrasound around 18 weeks, so that stinks that I have to wait 3 extra than I was expecting. My next check up is May 21st when I'm 18 weeks and then they'll schedule my US for 3 weeks after that. I guess I can wait...

We watched Avatar last night and it was really good. Not as stupid and boring as I expected. It was at least really good up until the last 30 minutes, which I missed because I fell asleep. I might try to watch the end later. Why do movies have to be so long?? It's even worse since we don't get to start them until at least 8:00 depending on when we get all the kids to sleep. I still haven't finished The Men Who Stare At Goats because I fell asleep. Maybe some day....

All of us minus Emma went to the mall today and we went in the Disney store. I love that place!! Everything is so neat I just want to buy 3 of everything! I ended up grabbing new cups for the kids (which were actually cheaper than the ones I was planning to buy from Toys R Us) and 3 Toy Story dolls. We recently got the movie for the kids and they love it so of course when we got in line to check out they had Toy Story 2 so we grabbed a copy.

Pools, Potties, and Breastfeeding

2010-04-13T14:13:00.002-04:00

The past couple of days I've spent a couple hours helping my grandma get her pool cleaned out so we can get it ready for summer. That has been a job! We got all the old water out and today we plan on scrubbing the inside a little bit and giving it a final rinse so we can let it fill up overnight. Hopefully we can get that accomplished today and then we'll be done!

Since it's warm out now, I've been putting Abby in regular underpants and just dealing with the consequences. Luckily we have hardwood floors! She is getting better though. She stayed dry almost the whole day yesterday and even told me she had to go twice (on time!). It will be amazing to only have one in diapers soon. Wow. That hasn't happened around here in quite a while. We've even have 3 in diapers at once so 1 will be fantastic.

I have decided to definitely try nursing this baby and any tips or advice are very welcome!! I'm a little nervous, but confident at the same time. I plan on taking a breastfeeding class at the hospital in August and reading as much as possible, but I would still love any advice you have to give. I'm very excited about really trying this time. I'm hesitant about reading many books though because the few I've looked at have been very anti-bottle feeding which ends up making pretty mad since I have 3 perfectly healthy bottle babies. I want to read about how to breastfeed not why I shouldn't use formula!

We also have names picked out. I love getting that out of the way as soon as possible. We have Owen for a boy and Anna for a girl. We won't find out what it is for a little over a month though and I don't think I can wait that long! My next check up is Wednesday next week so I guess I'll post an update though I doubt anything exciting will happen.

Bunch of Random Things

2010-03-30T09:37:00.005-04:00

I guess it's been a while again since I've posted anything. Sorry it just seems like we do the same thing everyday which doesn't seem exciting enough to write about. The weather's been much nicer lately - for the most part - so we got to go to the zoo for the first time this year. I forgot to take any pictures though. Next time we go they will have this really cool dinosaur thing set up and the kids are really excited about it. It costs extra money though so we'll probably only look at it once. I love being able to go to the zoo for free whenever we want. I would recommend getting a zoo pass to everyone!

Soon I'm going to start going through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Emma. I think she'll pick up on it very quickly. She already knows most of her letters, maybe all of them, with little help from me. So I think she'll do fine. I just need to figure out when will be the best time to get it done. I'm lucky enough that she still takes a nap and they all nap at the same time, but that would also be our best time to go through it since it's nice and quiet. I'll just have to give it a shot when everyone is awake and see if it works. It's only supposed to take 15 minutes a day so we might be able to make it through without too many distractions. If anyone has gone through this book I'd love to know what you thought of it and any advice you might have.

Abby is still doing ok on the potty. She doesn't tell me if she has to go yet, but if we take her frequently she's able to stay dry pretty much all day. I really wish I would remember to take her more often! Emma only goes a few times a day, and that's usually when I remember about Abby, but I forget that she has to go much more frequently. I'm starting to feel much better now, so hopefully I'll get on top of things soon.

I hate the news! I never watch it anyway since it's mostly sports and sadness, but my grandmother feels the need to inform me of every depressing thing that happens. And I am very sick of hearing about babies being found in trash cans. This has happened in our area at least twice in the past month. What is up with that?! Uhg, I don't even know what else to say about it, just that I can't stand hearing stuff like that.

On a MUCH happier note: there's going to be a new Twilight related book out soon!! I'm so excited! It doesn't involved the main characters, but I'm sure it will be good anyway. I wish Stephanie Meyer would finish Midnight Sun, but I guess I'll take the story of Bree. Better than nothing for sure. To everyone, I say READ TWILIGHT (Lynn!)!!!

Potty Training

2010-03-10T08:08:00.002-05:00

Abby has begun the potty training journey! So far I'd say she's doing pretty well. As long as I take her to the potty regularly she can keep her pull-up dry pretty much all day (I found this out yesterday). So now I just need to make myself be as consistent as possible with taking her. Every time she sits on the potty she goes, even if I discover that she's already gone in her pants. So if I can keep taking her until she is finally able to tell me when she has to go - with enough time to make it to the potty - we should be good to go! I don't think it will take very long since she wants to do what Emma does and I will be very excited to only have 1 baby in diapers, even if it will only last until October!

Flashback

2010-03-08T08:15:00.002-05:00

Well I still haven't taken any pictures so here's a flashback picture of Abby from almost 2 years ago. The quality isn't very good because I think it was taken on Scott's phone, but she's still adorable! I'm feeling much better since the last post. I thought I wasn't going to make it at that point. I'm ok now though. Not nearly as sick and tired. Definitely still very tired, but I'll make it. My mom is going to be coming down in a couple weeks for her birthday! Yay!! The kids are very excited to see Gramma.

I didn't make it to the grocery store over the weekend so I really need to get that done today. It's hard to squeeze stuff like that in with Scott's schedule. He gets up and 8 (usually) and leaves at 9 for school and when he gets home it's time for lunch and then the kids lay down for naps and he has to leave for work at 2. It's really a pain in the butt. Oh well, hopefully I will get it done today.

Picture-less Post

2010-02-28T10:48:00.002-05:00

It's been a couple weeks since I posted anything. Sadly I haven't taken any pictures during that time either. Since the last post we found out we're expecting baby #4. And I've already gotten my first trimester blood work done. Everything came back normal. They even checked my thyroid levels since I won't be seeing that doctor until the end of March and they are normal too. Hopefully that means I probably won't have to take any thyroid medication. My 3 other pregnancies were all exactly the same and very uneventful. This one seems different. So I'm pretty convinced we're having twins. I'm very tired and fat already and have been pretty sick feeling. No vomiting, but I feel so bad sometimes that I would prefer to just throw up and get it over with. I'm usually not this big until around Easter, so that's a concern. If anything, I should be smaller than usual since this one is due about a month later than the others. Twins would be scary and fun so I guess we shall see.

First Haircut

2010-02-17T19:10:00.004-05:00

Abby got her first haircut today! She did a really good job. I think she was a little scared sitting in that barbers chair though, because she didn't move a muscle. Her hair was always getting in her face and she had a definite mullet going on so I finally took her to get it cut. She actually got her first haircut after Ian had his first haircut. That's weird. Luckily she still has some of her cute little curls on the ends. Every time I tried to get a picture she blinked though. Oh well, she's cute anyway!

Krispy Kreme

2010-02-16T21:06:00.002-05:00

Today we took a trip to Krispy Kreme to get some donuts. Usually I would just go through the drive-thru so getting to go inside was a real treat. I was surprised at how well behaved they were. I guess they were just happy to be getting out of the house since that hasn't happened very much lately with all the snow and the surgery and everything. It was a nice little outing.

SNOW

2010-02-16T20:58:00.003-05:00

We've had WAY to much snow lately. I hate snow!! Scott wanted to take the kids out in the snow though so we gave it a shot. Luckily they didn't particularly like it so that means I won't have to take them out to play in it.

Scott tried to get the kids to make snow angels with him, but they refused.

Ian did not like the snow at all!

Emma at least tried to make a snowball.

And Abby was a bit hesitant.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-16T20:54:00.003-05:00

I made this yummy heart-shaped cake for Valentine's Day. It turned out great considering I'm not much of a chef. The kids liked it though and that's all that matters.

Frankenstein

2010-02-12T09:58:00.002-05:00

Viewer Discretion is Advised! Well, It's not that bad, but I do have a bad case of Frankenstein neck. I took this picture when I got home from having the surgery. Yuck! I got the staples taken out a couple days ago, but it might look worse. I can't decide.

The surgery went well. They didn't find any cancer when they looked at it so that's good. They said they would be looking at it more closely over the following couple of days to make sure, but they haven't told me anything new, so I guess it's ok. I have to go back in the middle of march so the doctor can check it out again and probably get blood work done to make sure my hormone levels are ok. Thumbs down to surgery!

Cake

2010-02-12T09:53:00.003-05:00

The week of my birthday, Jessie and Debbie came over to watch the Biggest Loser with me and surprised me with this SpongeBob ice cream cake! Aren't they the best?! The kids were already asleep, but they enjoyed some of it the next day.

Surgery Day

2010-02-03T22:07:00.004-05:00

Well, tomorrow morning I'll be heading to the hospital for my surgery. I'm a little nervous about it now that it's right on top of me. I have to be there at 10:30 to get lab work done and then the surgery is scheduled for 1:00. Hopefully everything goes ok whether they find anything really bad or not. For those of you that don't know, I'm having more than half of my thyroid removed because of it's size and 2 nodules on it. If they find any cancer in the part they take out, they will go ahead and take the whole thing out while I'm still under. I'm looking forward to having this done. :) Wish me luck!

The Host

2010-01-28T21:00:00.003-05:00

Well I finished The Host yesterday and it was really good. At first it seemed a little strange so I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not, but it just kept getting better and better. I wish it would have been longer or that there was a sequel for it or something!

I was completely confused this morning and thought it was the 21st for some reason. So I just figured out that it's my birthday tomorrow. Yay for me! Today ended up being a little exhausting. My grandma wanted us to go to the store with her and Abby spent the entire hour and a half we were there crying and/or whining. Then we got back, nobody would eat dinner and the whining continued. Everyone stayed up late and had a rough day so hopefully they will sleep in tomorrow.... I can dream can't I?

Sleepy Baby

2010-01-25T21:19:00.003-05:00

We had a pretty uneventful weekend. We actually did completely nothing. That's ok though. Abigail didn't take a nap Saturday and ended up falling asleep on the couch around 7:30 or so. I was going to be putting the girls in bed anyway as soon as I was finished cleaning the kitchen and Scott found her zonked on the couch. I thought it was adorable so I took a picture, of course.

I can't wait for the weather to get nicer so we can go to the zoo. It seems like we do the same thing every single day when it's cold or wet outside. Tomorrow we're actually switching it up a bit and meeting friends to play in the play area at the mall. So that should be fun as long as I can get everyone to leave without screaming. :)

Pumpkin Picking

2010-01-18T19:22:00.006-05:00

Well I didn't quite get the laundry room finished, but I did get the drawers that I wanted so at least I'm one step closer. I've been feeling super exhausted lately so I haven't been getting much done. I don't know what's up with that, but hopefully it will pass soon.

I just finished reading Rome Sweet Home and it was pretty good. I know Scott would like it if I became Catholic with him so I'm at least looking into it. We'll see how it goes anyway. So I just started reading The Host by Stephanie Meyer. I try to alternate a little between fiction and nonfiction.I've been getting a lot of reading done and I'm so proud of myself since I barely read anything for about 2 and 1/2 years. If anyone has any suggestions of what to read let me know!

Jessie and Debbie came over Tuesday night and we watched the Biggest Loser and played the Twilight and New Moon board games. I know, we retarded, but I am glad that one of my friends finally got into Twilight. I felt so lonely for a while. :(

I prefer to post with pictures and since I didn't blog for such a long time I have a lot of catching up to do. So here are some pictures of our trip to the pumpkin patch in October!

Happy Days

2010-01-15T21:49:00.002-05:00

I have been in happy mode lately. It's been great! And since I've been in a good mood, the kids haven't been driving me crazy either. I'm really happy with their behavior lately. The girls have actually starting interacting and pretending with each other when they play. It's so cute and keeps them occupied for a lot longer and they have really been enjoying each other. It's REALLY loud though. I would definitely rather have loud happy noise than screaming and fighting any day though, so I'll take it! And everyone has been going to bed without much fuss. Abby is even in her big girl bed after refusing to use it for the past year. Happiness!!

I'm in the process of getting our laundry room organized. I've decided to keep all of our clothes in there since they very rarely make it to the bedrooms anyway. I'm getting it under control and this weekend I plan on finishing it. I just need to create another place to hang clothes and get some kind of small drawer system. I'll be so happy to get that taken care of. Laundry has been such a pain since we had kids, so it will be great to have everything in one room at all times.

Hey, Lynn....I'm watching a David's Bridal commercial right this second. It's a sign!

It's Been A While

2010-01-13T14:22:00.006-05:00

I've started reading quite a few new blogs lately and realized that I haven't done anything on mine in quite some time. In the last post, Ian was 9 months old. He's now going on 16 months and just started walking this past week! Finally!! Some major stuff has happened between then and now; Lynn took this miracle picture (shown above), we've had a 3-2-1 birthday party, we're done with apartment life and are now renting a house (yay!), and Scott is in the process of becoming Catholic. I'm sure some other important things have happened, but who knows?

I have thyroid surgery coming up in just a few weeks on February 4th. They'll be removing most/possibly all of it. Not looking forward to that so much. I'm really hoping we can avoid getting pregnant for one more month, otherwise it will have to be postponed. We'll see how it goes. :)

Hopefully I won't be neglecting my blog so much from now on. Talk to you soon!

9 Month Checkup

2009-07-20T17:54:00.002-04:00

Ian went to the doctor today and he's only 1.5 lbs lighter than Abby. Big boy! everything was fine with him and I'm interested to see how close in size those two are at their next checkup since all 3 kids will see the doctor the same time fall for their 1-, 2-, and 3-year visits. I'm thinking Ian might pass her up by then. We'll see.

I'm supposed to be getting hooked up with an awesome (and free!) camera soon. My brother is getting a Canon Rebel from his friend and he's giving it to me! I don't know much about those cameras, but I know it's better than not having one at all! Hopefully everything works out with that. I'll let you know how it goes.

Movie Time

2009-07-03T18:40:00.002-04:00

We let the girls have their first movie theater experience today... They almost made it through the whole movie. I was pretty impressed even though we did end up leaving early. We went to the dollar theater to see Monsters vs Aliens. I think they really like it. They just don't quite have the ability to see still very long. We'll probably give it another shot soon. I think once they've done it a few times they might get the idea. We'll see.

I'm done with all the Twilight books! I'm sad cause now I don't know what to do. They were really good though and I would highly recommend them. And I can't wait for the next movie to come out! I gotta run, but anyway.....READ THEM!

Books and stuff

2009-06-29T18:02:00.003-04:00

Well, since my last post I've already finished reading New Moon and Eclipse. They were both really good. I'm kind of sad that there is only one more book in the series. I have amazed myself by reading them so fast. Usually I don't feel like reading at all, but I can't put these things down! It's insane!

This week is supposed to be nice so I think I might try to catch Lynn for another photo shoot. (Lynn, if you're reading this, let me know when is good for you!) We'll see how that goes. I've almost recovered from the weekend. For those of you that don't know, I have a paper route and one the weekends I have to get up at 3am. Not fun. By the time I get home, Emma is about to wake up so I hardly get any sleep. Oh well. I survive for the most part. So the thought of a photo shoot makes me tired just thinking about it, but we'll manage.

Ian has his 9 month check up soon. It seems like time has flown by since he was born. I don't know what it is, but it's crazy. He's almost as big as Abby! She only weighs 5 lbs more than him. I'm pretty sure he will pass her up within the next year or so. I'm interested to see what happens there.

100th Post!

2009-06-24T19:35:00.004-04:00

This is my 100th post apparently. How exciting! I tried to post some of my new pics, but blogger just wasn't going to let it happen. Oh well, I'm sure whoever reads this blog has already been able to see them on Facebook. Lynn was nice enough to put one of them at the top of the page for me though. Thanks Lynn!

I finished reading Twilight today. It was very good! (to my surprise) I had been not reading it on purpose just because everyone was making such a big deal out of it. One day there wasn't anything good to watch at Redbox, so we rented the movie and I really liked it and finally decided to read the book. It only took me about a week to read it which is amazing since it's nearly impossible for me to read between messing with kids all day and being tired by the time they go to sleep. I'm very proud of myself. :) So I will be starting New Moon as soon as possible. Can't wait!

Emma got a new bike to day: a two-wheeler with training wheels so we can pass the tricycle on to Abigail. She was very excited about that, but of course Abby wants to ride that bike too even though she can barely reach the ground or the peddles. And Mr. Ian is EVERYWHERE now! Gotta love those crawling babies! That means in the near future he will be walking and that makes me very happy - the less I have to carry them, the better!

Lynn's going to be taking some outdoor pictures soon, which hopefully I will be able to post. So stay tuned!

My Little Mechanic

2009-05-24T23:25:00.004-04:00

Abby really enjoyed helping my brother change the brake pads on our van. She sat in his lap the whole time!

Update

2009-05-20T19:49:00.002-04:00

Well I should be posting some pictures soon. My grandma is supposed to be putting up her swimming pool tomorrow so I'll need some pics of them in their cute little swimsuits. We'll see what happens!

My friends Rita is having her baby tonight some time (unless she's in labor for 3 days or something!) and I'm super excited! I wish she wasn't in Oregon though! Hopefully it won't be too long before I can meet little Jacob. I guess it's time for us to have another one! Ha! I don't think so! Although the kids have been very well-behaved lately...

I'm watching a really sad show on TLC about feral children. It's really interesting, but super sad. It's about kids that have been raised by dogs and/or without any human contact and such. :(

Well I should be putting Emma in bed about now. Hopefully I will have some pictures soon!

No Camera = No Posts

2009-05-14T21:07:00.003-04:00

I'm sorry to anyone who cares if I make posts or not, but I feel silly posting when I don't have any pictures to put on here and since I don't have a camera right now, I don't have any beautiful pictures that make my blog feel complete. You know how it is.

I have become obsessed with looking at real estate! I do it almost everyday. It's really sad. I think I just want to be prepared for when we can actually get a house and know what kind of place we'll be able to afford. We're hoping to be able to get a place next summer (when our lease will be up again). We made a budget and are trying to stick to it so we can save as much money as we can. I'm happy to say that we're almost through the first month with the budget and have done a pretty good job sticking to it! Who knew you could have money left over at the end of the month!? I'm also going to be getting an additional paper route so we can save even more! I'm so excited!

Scott will be starting school at Ivy Tech this fall. I know that he was planning on going a couple of times before, but this time it is going to happen! He's going for law enforcement so everyone better be on their best behavior! I think he's pretty excited (and nervous) about it.

I'm sad the the Biggest Loser is over though. What am I to do with my Tuesday night? I was very shocked the Helen won though. She would have been the last person I would have picked. I was rooting for Mike. He was only 4 lbs away! Poor guy. Well I think I better be going. Hopefully something exciting will happen soon so I will have something to write about!

Henry's Ark

2009-05-09T20:28:00.003-04:00

We come here on a pretty regular basis. It's a small farm in Prospect, Kentucky that has goats, sheep, deer, donkeys, emus, porcupines, capybaras, buffalo, camels, zebras, bison, and probably some other things I'm forgetting. The kids love it,especially since you can pet and feed all the animals!

porcupines

goats

more goats

emus

Easter Egg Hunt

2009-05-09T06:29:00.003-04:00

Ian enjoyed his egg!

The girls did a good job finding the eggs.

I'm finally getting around to cropping these pictures and getting them on here!

Gotta Love the Milestones!

2009-05-08T11:36:00.005-04:00

As you can see from the picture, Ian started sitting up this week!! I'm so happy! The girls are really excited about it too for some reason, like he's becoming one of them. He's liking it too although I think he still prefers to roll around everywhere. And look at those pudgy legs! how cute?!
Of course I had to put the girls on here too. Abby actually said "cheese" for this one! Cutie!

These are the funny faces I get when I ask Emma to smile for a picture. What a goober! Recently she has made friends with a fly on the paper route so now every fly she sees is her friend she says. That's good progress from a week ago when she was evil and every time she saw a fly she said, "I wanna SMASH him!".

Almost A Good Day

2009-05-06T18:05:00.003-04:00

Today started out pretty good. Scott had to work first shift so he could go to orientation this afternoon so for some reason that made my day a little easier. It seems like we have cram a lot of stuff in between the time he gets up and the time he leaves for work. So I even got to finish a book and start a new one! Anyway, everyone was behaving and i got everyone bathed which knocked Ian out for 3 whole hours, during which time I wanted the girls to take naps. I put Abby down first so she could be asleep before Emma went in there so they wouldn't be talking to each other all day. Abby never went to sleep though. I talked Emma into going to sleep on the couch which worked out just fine. Emma and Ian woke up from their naps before Miss Abigail even went to sleep so I decided to give up and leave to do the paper route. Abby finally fell asleep in the car when we were almost done. So she didn't get much of a nap. Then things just started going downhill... We were at my grandma's house for a bit with little fussiness, but on the way home they snapped. They are all in bed already and it's only 6:00! Abby's in bed for being grumpy and is making up for her nap, Ian's in bed cause he's flexible so he just sleeps when the girls sleep, and Emma is in bed early as punishment. Maybe tomorrow we can make the whole day good.

Uhg

2009-05-04T19:43:00.002-04:00

What a busy, whiny day this has been! I spent the whole morning doing laundry, feeding everyone, and bathing children. Then, after Scott went to work, my mother came over to help me clean the house. Her last job was as a professional maid so we REALLY cleaned. Her job description doesn't include decluttering though. :( The whole time we were cleaning the kids were taking turns crying and whining. It was so fun! The house definitely looks better though so that's good. Since I was losing my mind a little bit, I decided to take the kids over to my grandma's house to spread out the craziness a little bit. I'm a little tired now and I'm still not done cleaning! Oh it never ends around here. . .

2009-05-04T13:22:00.004-04:00

Cookies!

2009-04-30T21:09:00.003-04:00

I just finished making peanut butter cookies. I switched it up a little and tried to make it a little healthier by adding a secret ingredient. I was a little worried that they would taste funny, but they're actually really good. I'm very pleased, but I do need to tweak it just a little for texture's sake. I think I need to take the day off! I have discovered that I like baking (when I'm not being bombarded by children), so that can be relaxing at least. I need to get a new camera so we can take more pictures. I only have Scott's iPhone to work with. :(

Here are some attempts at a group photo... They're hard to work with!

Quick Post

2009-04-27T21:40:00.002-04:00

I figured out that regular napping will help me survive my weekend routes. It's a little tough, but it's a good thing the kids all sleep at the same time or I might die. I think I'll survive tough. Scott and I watched Twilight last night. It was really good! I was pretty indifferent about seeing it, but I'm glad we got it because I ended up really enjoying it. I might actually try to read the books. Who knows? We're planning on getting Netflix again in a couple weeks and that means I can rent all the seasons of the Biggest Loser. I just started watching it this season and have become a little addicted. I was a bit sad because the finale is next week, but now I get to check out the old seasons and see what they were like. Yay! Tomorrow night (while we watch the Biggest Loser) I'm supposed to be Lynn's hair stylist. She gets to go to a fun dance in Tennessee and I'm supposed to make her look beautiful I guess. we tried and up-do last week and now we're going to see what we can do with it down. Fun fun! I better go... getting sleepy.

Work and Play

2009-04-22T21:12:00.004-04:00

I just finished my first week of delivering papers. So far it's working out. The kids have been playing at my grandma's house everyday while I'm out on my route. They have a pretty good time with their new swing set and bouncer. This weekend nearly killed me though. Today, I've been up since 4am! The kids just went to sleep so I plan on taking a nap myself in a few minutes. Hopefully I can ignore all the distractions.

Ian got his first 2 teeth the other day! If I hadn't been checking them on a regular basis I would have never known. He wasn't fussy or anything. It was amazing! Just one more thing to prove he is the best baby ever! Haha... not that the girls are horrible... Abby apparently also just popped out 2 more teeth. She was crabby though so I could tell something was going on. Oh well, hopefully it will be over soon.

Here are some pictures of them with their new toys!

Finally!!

2009-04-20T20:50:00.003-04:00

I'm happy to say that we finally got the internet. It's been weird adjusting to looking at things on an actual computer instead of an iPhone though. A lot has changed since my last post I guess, so i don't even know where to begin! Emma and Abby are talking like crazy and Ian, at 6.5 months, is almost sitting up. He is the happiest, most content baby I have ever seen! We've been enjoying the weather with trips to the zoo and Henry's Ark. Fun Fun Fun! They love the animals.

I'm starting my new job tomorrow. It's not much of a job really, but I got a paper route. So it's a little extra money and very flexible. I can even take the kids with me if necessary. That's my kind of job! We are going to be trying to save money and get on track financially - for us, that really means no eating out! So if anyone has any healthy, easy, kid-friendly recipes let me know! We're trying to eat a little better and it's working (for Scott). He's lost about 30 lbs in the last 6 months or so! I can't think of anything to write right now so i give up. Here's a picture!!

Christmas pictures!

2008-12-17T10:34:00.002-05:00

Hello! This is Lynn! I broke into Shelly's blog again to post some cute Christmas pictures of the babies!!! I went to her house the other day to take some pictures of them in their Christmas outfits... I just to have to say that I LOVE Ian's little suit and tie! And of course, the girls are adorable as always... here are a few of the best ones:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! :)

Emma & Abby's Birthday Party

2008-09-30T09:42:00.003-04:00

I think I pretty much qualify as Shelly's personal secretary! (it's Lynn again). Anyway, I just wanted to post about Emma & Abby's birthday party on Sunday!

First of all, isn't Shelly awesome because she had a baby on Thursday, came home on Saturday, and then had a birthday party?! Yeah, I thought so!

Anyway, on to the party! Emma and Abby got lots of wonderful gifts... Emma's favorite, of all things, was a little Cars freezer pack that Jessie randomly decided to pick up in the check-out line. Good thing she did. After Emma opened that she was done opening presents! Apparently Jessie is a good present-picker-outer because she also got them a Doodle Pro which they both seemed to love!

After presents we were on to CUPCAKES!!!!

Abby didn't like them as much as I thought she would.... I've never seen her turn down any type of food, but she was not really all that into the cupcakes.. :(

She got pretty messy but thats only because she knocked the cupcake over and then leaned into it. haha

I think she might have just been tired.

Emma mostly just ate the icing with one finger:

And little Ian slept most of the time, but managed to wake up and make an appearance after the party was mostly over. What a cutie!

Happy Birthday, Emma & Abby!!!

Ian Thomas Embry is here!!!!

2008-09-26T14:48:00.004-04:00

Ian Thomas Embry

September 25, 2008 at 10:03pm

8lbs 13oz

23in

Isn't he cute! I got to meet him today - when he was barely 14 hours old...awwww - and he is super cute! Oh yeah, this is Lynn again. Shelly and Ian are still at the hospital, but they should be coming home tomorrow. Not only is he cute, he is also really quiet and wrapped up like a little burrito. He was awake for a lot of the time I was there and I know he is a newborn baby, but he seemed especially mellow and content to me. Which, Shelly informed me, is very good news. :)

He does have really long fingernails though, and I did not realize newborn babies' fingernails were so long. He scratched his face a little bit before they got him some sock-mittens.

I am not sure what else Shelly wants me to write about. Mom and baby are both healthy and everything went well I think. Emma and Abby seem to like their baby brother. Abby kept trying to pick him up which was really cute and sweet, but those pictures are on Shelly's camera. I'll try to steal them from her soon and post them!

The baby is coming!

2008-09-24T19:19:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! This is Lynn - I hijacked Shelly's blog to give you all a baby update! Actually, I guess it's not really hijacking since she gave me her password, but I do have a baby update!

Ian is coming tomorrow!!! Okay, so that's not really an update since Shelly said that in her last post. But now there is more specific information about the time of his arrival - Shelly will be induced tomorrow at 7:30. So whenever little Ian decides to make his appearance after that, he will be here!

I also have a new picture of the Embry girls:

Aren't they cute!!!!?

I will be back tomorrow (unless perhaps Shelly can find a place to post from at the hospital?? do they have wireless there?) and I'll include some pictures of Ian!!!

It's Been A While

2008-09-16T16:18:00.001-04:00

Well I haven't posted in forever!! We got rid of the internet when we moved and posting from Scott's iPhone apparently doesn't work. So I am currently posting from Lynn's lovely BlackBerry. So I won't be able to post pictures or anything, but I can at least give you a quick update.
I am due in about 2 weeks, but I'm scheduled to be induced next Thursday (the 25th). At 36weeks they were estimating that he was already over 7 lbs so I'm being induced at 39 weeks and apparently having another fairly large baby. We've also changed his name to Ian Thomas.

Emma is talking like crazy now. It's strange to have her blurt out something new everytime I turn around. Abby is getting really big too, but shows absolutely no interest in walking which is very disappointing since I will have another one that can't walk very soon. She cruises like crazy, but refuses to let go. Just lazy I guess.

Post from iphone

2008-06-18T09:07:00.000-04:00

Pictures

2008-06-15T19:18:00.001-04:00

Makeover

2008-06-14T11:04:00.003-04:00

In case you didn't notice, my blog got a makeover! Lynn Davis was nice enough to completely redesign my blog layout for me. It looks great and I would have never been able to make it look this good. Thanks, Lynn!! There are finally some more up-to-date pics of the girls and she even included little Jonah. What a pal!

I'm feeling pretty good today. The past 3 days or so, I've been getting to bed around 9:30. I fall asleep pretty much instantly, so I think being asleep before 10 has been gradually helping me. Emma still got me up around 6am, but I managed not to actually get out of bed until almost 7. Not too bad. I don't think I'm ever going to stay up late again!

Next week is VBS at State Street and I will be teaching the toddler class. That will probably be pretty exhausting in itself, so I don't really plan on getting a lot done as far as packing goes. My goal is to go through all the closets and get them ready to go. I'm pretty sure a lot of that stuff will be going to Goodwill though. The following week is VBS at Rolling Fields and I was planning on being involved until I found out for sure when we were moving and that will be the very last week to pack so I don't think I can handle all of that. Not without nearly killing myself anyway, so I probably shouldn't do that while I'm pregnant!

Potty Training?!

2008-06-12T12:41:00.002-04:00

Miss Emma decided that every time she needs to go potty she should take her diaper off. Most of the time she hasn't gotten it off until after she already went in her diaper. Once though, she took it off, ran into the kitchen, and went pee-pee in the floor! Better there than on the carpet I guess. I snatched her up and put her on the potty where she went a little more. I gave her candy for going in the potty and told her that she needs to let me know when she has to go so we can sit on the potty and get some candy. It's pretty much worked so far. She's gone in the potty twice this morning and I've only had to change her diaper once ( it was a little more than pee-pee though!). I don't know why she had to pick right now to be ready for the potty. I don't have much time to mess with it and am super exhausted with packing and everything. I got a good nights sleep last night, but I still feel worn out. That's OK. Maybe she'll be out of diapers around when Jonah gets here.

I feel like I've gotten no where with packing and here I am writing on my blog. Yesterday I wasted a bunch of time making peanut butter cookies when I should have been packing. Oh well.
I guess I've got a pretty good little chunk of it done. I've got 2 and a half weeks left. I should be fine. It is really tiring though. Hopefully I survive it.

It's Official!!!

2008-06-09T20:16:00.002-04:00

The new apartments finally processed our application and we found out today that it was approved!! We're taking them our deposit and doing a walk-through in the morning. I'm so excited that we get to move! All the apartments around us have had problems with mice, but we haven't seen any. We think Tinkerbell might have been keeping them away. But the other day Scott got face to face with one, literally! He found it in the cabinet above our stove. I'm just glad he was the one that saw it and not me!! Besides the mouse thing though, I'd still be really excited about moving. It does mean that I now only have 3 weeks to pack though. I've only got one box packed cause I wanted to wait until it was official before I got everything packed up for nothing. I've got my work cut out for me.

Daddy's Girls

2008-06-05T12:48:00.003-04:00

I really need to start packing. We've never done this with kids and we only have a month to get things together - a little less than that actually. I'm sure once I get going it won't take me too long. I just need to figure out where to begin.

The girls and I got to celebrate two birthdays yesterday! The Delaneys came over and we had pizza and cake for Issac's 2nd birthday and then later we went out for ice cream for Debbie's birthday. I'm pretty sure she turned a little more than two though! :)

It's looking like we might have to postpone Scott's schooling yet again. This, I think, is his 3rd attempt at starting. With our rent going up moving to a 3-bedroom apartment and a 3rd child on the way, it just doesn't look like we will be able to afford it. I won't be able to make up for his missed hours at work cause that would leave my grandma babysitting 3 kids ages 2 and under 3-4 days a week. She can barely survive with just the two of them so I would hate to stick her with that job, even though I know she would do it anyway. We haven't got it figured out yet, but that's the way it's looking right now. Oh well...someday maybe.

Well Behaved Kids??

2008-06-03T14:58:00.002-04:00

I was beginning to think I would never see a good day again, but here we are going on our 3rd in a row! Since Abby has officially started crawling and can get where she wants and follow Emma around, she has been much more pleasant. I don't know what changed Emma's attitude, but she has been much more fun to be around lately too. She has developed this evil look she'll give you if you tell her to stop doing something or ask her to pick toys up. It's quite humorous though. I can't get Emma to eat today, but besides that, today has been good too. Abby has been eating enough for the both of them! She has been a little piggy lately! I'm still extremely exhausted and my back hurts really bad (and I've still got 4 months of this pregnancy left!!) but them behaving has really helped. Now I need to start getting everything packed up. What fun! I don't know where to begin. I need to get it figured out soon though. I guess I should try to get a little done now while the girls are sleeping...wish me luck!

Group Picture

2008-05-31T12:25:00.003-04:00

It seriously took 40-50 shots to get this picture and they still aren't looking at the camera!

The ones of just the 2 of them together were surprisingly easy today! It's so cute that they interact now! I'm glad they like each other...most of the time.
Abby is crawling all over the place now. It still makes her mad sometimes though.
Emma got her first haircut yesterday. Just a trim so I don't know how noticeable it is in this pic.

Apartment

2008-05-29T16:55:00.003-04:00

We're getting much closer to making our move official. It looks like we will be moving the 1st of July. The manager is processing our application now and we should know for sure early next week. I'm sure there aren't any problems since we aren't felons or anything like that. I will be glad to know for sure so I can get started packing. I'm sure that will take twice as long as usual - we've never moved with kids before. Emma likes to help a little too much and now that Abby is mobile I'm sure she'll be in on the mix too!

It looks like are going to start attending Rolling Fields once again. I'm sure some of you have already heard. The reasons that made us leave in the first place are long gone now and I'm really looking forward to the switch. I do love State Street and when we first started talking about it I was pretty much neutral about the whole issue (and still am). It seems now that our decision has pretty much been made though. I'm sad to be leaving our current church family, but at the same time, excited to be rejoining our old friends at the Fields.

More Sickness

2008-05-27T15:40:00.003-04:00

The past week has been kind of crummy. After Emma got better, the rest of us got it. It isn't fun being sick and having a sick kid and having to stay on top of daily chores (not that I've done a very good job of that lately!). Scott and I are still sick, so it does help that the girls are feeling better except they got in the habit of be cuddled and babied a little too much. I'm working on getting Abby to leave me alone at night still. Last night she was only up once so it wasn't too bad. At least she doesn't expect to be fed at night anymore. Hopefully it won't be much longer. I guess I should pretty much plan on not sleeping until I'm about 50 and can't have kids anymore. I don't know.

I finally got our application put in at the apartments where we want to move. It took me long enough, but I finally got it done. Now we just need to wait until some one moves out so they have an empty one. Who knows how long that will take?! I called today to try and find out if they had an estimate but no one answered. It will be very stressful, I'm sure, but I'm really looking forward to moving. I really need to go through our stuff. I came up with an entire plan to go through everything and get organized within a couple weeks. I was off to a pretty good start and then everybody got sick again. Once we're back to normal, I plan on trying again. Hopefully I can stay on track!

Zoo Trip

2008-05-22T15:52:00.002-04:00

Merideth and I took the kids to the zoo today. It was an adventure to say the least. I don't think I'm ready to tackle that again until I have a double stroller! My plan was to let Emma walk and if she needed to be in the stroller to carry Abby in my sling. That worked for about the first half of our journey. Abby went to sleep and Emma got really tired and wanted me to carry her. She weighs a ton, in case you didn't know! It wouldn't have been as bad as it was except we apparently decided to go on field trip day. There were elementary school kids everywhere. It was hard to keep an eye on Emma with so many kids around and she wasn't doing a very good job of staying with me cause she wanted to follow everyone else. We still had a good time. It was just very exhausting. We came home and Emma put herself to bed, literally. She's just now waking up - 3 hours later!

Crawling??

2008-05-21T12:56:00.003-04:00

Well not quite, though she has made it a few feet! She sure does look cute though!

Poor Little Emma

2008-05-18T16:52:00.002-04:00

Feeling sick all day!!

Missing the Celebration

2008-05-17T20:32:00.002-04:00

Today was Kyla's 1st birthday party and we had to miss it. Emma had been very grumpy all day and this afternoon she ran up and gave me a hug and it felt like her head was on fire. So I took her temperature and she did have a fever. It wasn't outrageous or anything, right at 100. I gave her some Tylenol and I laid down on the couch cause I was pretty exhausted after all the fussiness. Emma crawled up on the couch with me and was sitting next to my head and the next thing I know she's completely passed out! It was only 6:30! I apparently had fallen asleep myself. Scott said he said something to me and realized I was asleep. Oh well...If he says so! I felt too bad to wake her up since I knew she wasn't feeling well so I just transported her to her bed. Hopefully I don't regret that decision. No partying for us today. Well, Happy Birthday Kyla!!

Jonah's Bedding

2008-05-15T17:15:00.002-04:00

I got Emma back to sleeping until 7:00 or so, but now Miss Abby decided she likes getting up at 6:30. Oh well. It really hasn't been that bad. I've been getting to bed before 10 every night so I think that's helping. I took a break from my house organization project today and just took it easy (as much as is possible anyway). I've been working on it pretty hard lately and it's definitely starting to effect my back. I picked out Jonah's bedding today. I found a great deal at Walmart.com - a 4-piece set for only $31!! I didn't want sports really since this family isn't really into sports and I don't like the car/truck theme very much. The one I found has rockets on it, so it's a little different at least, and for the price, I love it! Here's a peek.

Abby has really been moving lately. She actually got up and crawled about 3 feet or so a couple of times today. I'm thinking that by this time next week she'll completely be able to crawl. I'm pretty impressed since it's earlier than when Emma started. Yay for Abby!!

Babies!

2008-05-14T20:57:00.002-04:00

Rising Early

2008-05-14T05:40:00.003-04:00

Well here it is, 5:30AM, and Scott just left to go work for his dad for a couple of hours. I thought I'd roll myself out of bed too and get a head start on a few things. I plan on getting quite a few things done today, mostly going through as much of our stuff as possible and packing up stuff to give to Goodwill and somewhat organizing whatever is leftover. I started yesterday with our food cabinet in the kitchen. My plan is to start in the front of the apartment and just work my way back. Who knows how long this is going to take me!? I hope the girls are as cooperative as they were yesterday.

Emma actually stayed up until a little past 9:00 last night. (Even though I'm up early anyway, it's nice that I didn't have to get up. I still hope she sleeps in a little!) Scott got home a little late and I figured she might as well eat with us since she was that close already. She did pretty good with. Wasn't too grumpy. At dinner she did start acting like a goober though. She kept doing this crazy fake laugh instead of eating. It was obvious that some one was sleepy! Everything went fine last night. Pretty good actually. Abby finally made it through the night without a peep. Well she did wake up once, but that wasn't her fault. I'm pretty sure Emma woke up everyone in the building around 12:30 last night! She just started screaming and came out of room in a full blown tantrum - convulsing, throwing herself of the floor, just inconsolable. She didn't want me to be nice to her, she didn't want me to be firm with her, didn't want to be held or talked to at all really. I put her back in bed and told her to sit there until she felt like being nice. When she came back out of her room, she calmly laid down in our bed and went to sleep. It only took a few minutes for her to pass out so I moved her to her bed and everything was perfectly fine for the rest of the night. The entire episode only lasted 15 minutes, so overall I would say we had a pretty good night. Pretty soon it looks like I'll be able to let Abby sleep in her room in stead of the living room! That will be nice!

A Good Day

2008-05-13T14:58:00.002-04:00

Not much has been happening. Just anxiously awaiting the deposit of our stimulus check! Sunday was Mother's Day. We didn't too anything too spectacular. Scott and I left the girls with my grandma and went to eat at Famous Daves. I had been there before and have been wanting to go for a while now. To Scott's surprise, he actually liked it. I told him he would. He even wants to go back! I do too, cause it was a very unenjoyable trip. This past week, I had been having some serious belly pain. It kept getting worse and worse and by Sunday evening I was sure I was going to die. I couldn't eat cause the pain was so bad it was making me dizzy and everything and I just completely lost my appetite. I wasn't nauseous or anything, I just couldn't eat. What a waste of a trip out to eat on my part! Oh well. After I went home and relaxed a little and took a hot bath I felt a ton better which is good cause I was on the verge of going to the hospital.

I got my new cell phone yesterday and so far so good. It was just a cheap $20 refurbished phone. It seems a little old school as far as the way the menu looks and the setup of things. It was definitely worth 20 bucks at least. I can make phone calls and text and that's really all I need. If Emma ends up destroying it, at least we won't be out much.

Emma has been waking up at 6:30 every morning for the past week or so. Today I decided to keep her up. We will actually get to eat dinner as a family this way, so it is better in some ways. It's past 8:00 now and she's getting a little giddy. She usually goes to bed at 7:30) Hopefully the outcome of this will be a later awakening from my chubby little alarm clock.

We have had a great day today. The past couple of weeks have been very stressful for me for many reasons. I have been extremely irritable and impatient though. Today, I felt fantastic. I got some things accomplished around the house and didn't freak out all day. This is how I want every day to be!!

Abby wants to crawl so bad! She'll get in position and rock a little before getting really mad. I'm guessing it will just be another week or so before she figures out how it works. I know she would like to be able to get to Emma more quickly. Soon enough.

Ultrasound

2008-05-09T20:53:00.002-04:00

I now have a little more time to write about some details. The baby looks good and everything. He's a little on the big side, but we've come to expect that in this family. I know my dates are extremely accurate when calculating my due date and according to that he should be weighing at about 8 ounces. According to the measurements taken during the ultrasound, they have him weighing in at 11 ounces. That doesn't sound like a big difference, but when they're that small it kinda is. That's OK. I'd much prefer a big baby. I figured it was big anyway and almost thought it was twins since I'm quite a bit bigger this time around. I really thought we would be having another girl because after comparing belly photos with past pregnancies, I seem to be carrying the same and I definitely don't feel any different or anything. However, it was quite evident that our new little bundle of joy was a male! I really wanted a boy, but now that it is, it's kind of got me freaked out a little. I don't know why. The ultrasound tech did say that it looked like I had a low-lying placenta again. We won't know for sure until the radiologist looks at it and I go see the doctor again though. I had that with Abby and when they did the 2nd ultrasound to check it, the placenta had moved up and out of the way on it's own. So it's nothing to worry about at this point. If if doesn't move on it's own, we might have some problems.

The Results Are In

2008-05-09T16:26:00.002-04:00

To my surprise........................................It's a BOY!!

Darkness

2008-05-08T19:36:00.002-04:00

Last night all the ladies from Bible study met at Debbie's house for a little game night. Everyone was chatting and eating their pizza and all of a sudden the power went out in the entire apartment complex. It was off at least half of the time we were there, so we didn't get to play any games. It was fun to just sit around and talk in the dark though. Maybe next time we can squeeze in some games before it blacks out!

Abby's second tooth followed the first one out right away. I think it took Emma almost 2 weeks to get her second one in and Abby's only took a few days with minimal fussiness. She has wanted to be held quite a bit more than usual. Most of the time she is content to just roll around on the floor all day, but not so much this week. She hasn't been up all night screaming or anything, so I think I'll manage.

Out of nowhere this week Emma has gotten pretty good at combining words. I've been really impressed. It started out with "bye-bye water" as I let the water drain from the tub after her bath. Then today Abby was sitting in the floor and started crying (I think Emma hit her in the head with a car) and Emma went and patted Abby on the head and said "Cry no more". This morning we actually had a conversation! It started because Emma laid her banana she was eating for breakfast down on the couch. It went like this:

Me: Aren't you going to finish your banana?
Emma: No.
Me: Why not?
Emma: Want no more.

I know it wasn't a very long conversation or anything, but I was really excited about it. A lot of people like the "little baby stage", but I really think it gets better as they get older. It's so neat when they start doing new things. I always said I couldn't wait til Emma started walking and everyone said I would regret saying that. I definitely prefer it once they start walking though! Everything just keeps getting more fun and entertaining, especially with the whole talking thing.

Tooth Number 1

2008-05-06T15:11:00.002-04:00

Kara and I have been trying to get pictures of the girls done for about 3 weeks now and have had to keep rescheduling because of the weather. We finally had a clear day yesterday and that's the day that Abby decides to pop her first tooth out. Needless to say, she wasn't very cooperative. The hardest thing was trying to get pictures of them together. It's pretty much impossible to get both of them to look at the camera and be happy at the same time. She did manage to get a few good shots. (Way to go Kara!) Abby wasn't really smiling in any of them, but there are quite a few good ones of Emma by herself. My girls might have Kara re-thinking her profession though!!

Only a few more days now until we find out about this baby. I'm pretty convinced now that "Jonah" is actually more of a "Dana". I can't wait until Friday!!! Luckily this is a pretty busy week, so it might just fly by.

Next week, I will be adding a little more chaos to my life. It will only be temporary though. I'm going to be babysitting my boss' 4-month-old baby girl. It's only going to be 3 days a week and I will be getting paid for doing something that I have to do everyday anyway. His wife is a principal, so I will only be doing this for about 5 weeks - until school's out. I've got to get used to handling 3 babies soon anyway, right? Not quite a 19 month, 7 month, and 4 month old, but that's OK. I'm sure it will be fine.

Fun Times

2008-05-01T19:08:00.003-04:00

Today the girls and I went to the park with Krista and her 3 boys. What an adventure that was! Emma has only been to the park a couple of times and was mostly just pushed in the swing on those occasions. She wasn't too sure about any of it at first and I had to hold her hand and talk her into going up a few steps and keep holding it whole she went down the baby slide. It didn't take her too long to take on that task alone, which was good since I was lugging Abby around. I talked her into going down the second smallest slide which she made me hold her hand with again. It was sweet to know that she still needs me to feel safe sometimes. Things were going pretty well until some older kids arrived. They nearly trampled her on several occasions. Then she followed them up the stairs to the BIG slide. It was a covered twisty slide and I think she would have freaked if she actually tried to go down. It was also a lot of steps for her to fall down so I had to go rescue her. When we left Krista came over to our house to chat for a while since we couldn't get a lot of that done while keeping track of all the kiddos at the park. By the time they left Emma was pretty pooped. She's not used to so much excitement. So she ate steak and goldfish (good combo huh?) for dinner and went to bed around 7:00. It was a fun day, nice change of pace. I can't wait until Krista and I try to tackle the zoo with all 5 kids!!

Horrible Day

2008-04-26T19:54:00.002-04:00

Today started out on a good note. I felt fairly refreshed when Emma woke me up a little after 7:00 and got quite a bit of housework done right off the bat before making breakfast around 9:00. Things were going pretty smoothly. Abby took a nice 2 hour nap and woke up just 15 minutes after Emma went to sleep around 1:00. No problems. We then had to meet Mike and Wanda at Rocky's for dinner at 3:00. As soon as Emma woke up we had to leave. Everything was fine in the car on the way over there. This is where it all begins. Both girls were just plain awful at the restaurant! I couldn't believe it! They're usually very well-behaved. A little fussy here and there maybe, but that's it. Abby has an excuse at least, because you can see that her top two front teeth are about to bust through. Poor thing. I don't know what Emma's issue was though. She wouldn't sit still at all. She usually loves going out to eat with Mike and Wanda, but the whole time today, she was just whiny and wanted to run everywhere and not eat anything. Between the two of them there was quite a bit of commotion. Luckily the place was pretty loud anyway so I didn't feel too bad. During all of this I got to hear more negative comments about expecting another one and how I wouldn't be able to handle it and whatnot. Sure, if all 3 kids are acting like that we probably won't be going out. Overall they don't act like that though. They catch us on a bad day and take advantage of the opportunity to let the comments fly. I'm not a very emotional person and it's a good thing I typically hide my feelings anyway cause I really just wanted to cry when they were saying that stuff and I can't imagine crying in such a public place, but I came close. Emma could be teething too I guess. She is expecting her last 4 molars any time now. Oh well. And I really wish Scott was home right now, cause right after I put the girls to bed at 7:30 and 7:45 a bunch of guys decided to start a football game right outside our bedroom windows. They haven't woke them up yet, but I know I wouldn't be able to sleep through all the noise they're making. I'm way too scared to say anything to them. I wish I wasn't such a sissy. Hopefully they get some sense and leave soon before I go crazy.

Here's a picture I got this morning when everything was still A-OK.