1st Snow and other updates

We got our 1st snow of the season last night and this morning. They predicted 1-3" but I'm not exactly sure how much actually came down. I tried telling the girls it wasn't enough to play in, but they wanted to go outside and play in it anyways.  I spent a good 10 minutes bundling and layering them up, snapped a few pics and sent them outside while I started preparing lunch. They didn't last long out there, I would say less than 10 minutes, which means it took us longer to get ready than to actually "play." Oh well! They complained that their hands were wet and cold, and I couldn't blame them for wanting to come in. We need to buy better/waterproof gloves for them. I have a pair for Kaylee i bought last year, but they are too big. I put them straight into a warm bath when they came in. They thawed out quite nicely while playing.

In other news, I had another doctor's appointment yesterday and it seems I haven't made much, if any, progress since last week. She said i could be like 3 1/2 cm but definitely not 4. I had a rough night last night after being poked and prodded at the doc. I experienced lots of pressure down low and felt like something was "happening". Needless to say I was able to sleep it off and am back to normal today. Well normal as I can be, I think Ive been over doing it a bit trying to get all things ready for baby and Christmas, as well as meet the current needs of the girls.  Today I started feeling hot, dizzy and light headed and had to lay down to let it pass. This hasnt happened to me very freguently in this pregnancy so started to become a bit nervous.  I really need to find a way to take more regular breaks during the morning. but I feel like there is just SO much to do!


We completed like our 4th day of school for the entire month of November today! We have totally been slacking in the school department. There are SO many distractions that pull us away from doing school, when we have errands to run, or I was too lazy to prepare the night before, or like today playing in the snow seemed more interesting than doing school. I have to stop putting school on the back burner and make it more of a priority. I realize it is just 4-K but I don't want to sink into any bad habits when it comes to our school schedule. It seems like the days that we DON'T do school Kaylee says "Mommy I LOOOOVE school can we please do it today!?" and the days that we DO school she complains "Mommy I really don't feel like learning today, can we please not do school?!" Guess you always want what you don't have! Not only do I want to build good schedule habits I am trying to get in as many school days as possible before this baby arrives. I know that when that happens school days will be few and far between. So I'm trying to buckle down and get as much done in the days to come.  I am comforted by the fact that I KNOW she is getting more "education" at home with me than she would be if she was in the MDO program 2 days a week that she was scheduled to attend. So it makes me feel better that she is at least on track, if not ahead, of that.  Since I last posted about school we have started our new curriculum. We are only 2 days into it, and I can tell how much harder it is for Kaylee.  Still completely doable, but it is different, and she has to learn how to deal with different! There are life lessons all around!  I am still on the hunt for a Kindergarten curriculum that will be the perfect fit for us, and am hoping to be able to attend a HS conference in April in Memphis. I feel like I can reach out to other moms as well as find some curriculum ideas. Looking forward to that!


On the adgenda for the next couple of days is to finish up the Christmas shopping, put up more Christmas decorations (we started today), wrap all Christmas presents, get tree and put it up/decorate it, plan Christmas dinners, start working on the Christmas card/baby announcement (I've decided to do a combo card this year, when I considered the proximity of the 2 events, the cost of postage which will be approx $54 as well as the added work, doing one card seemed to make sense), I also have to do some grocery shopping to stock our fridge and freezer as to avoid going to the store, or sending Marcus, after the baby is born.  My lists are piling up and keeping track of them a daunting task, but Im up for it, and will be crossing many things off in the days to come............wish me luck!

Updates on Everyone and Everything

Lots has been going on around here and I feel like this ole forgotten blog needs an update, so here goes in bullet format

• I am 3cm dialated and 50% effaced. I could potentially walk around like this for weeks, but my doc seems to think Im going to go early. We will see! I have my birth plan almost finalized, I went on a tour of the new hospital and I have begun all the nesting routines around here. I think we are just about as ready (as we will ever be) to bring this baby home! My next appointment is Monday, cant wait to see if I have made anymore progress.
• The girls are trying to get sick again. Just a little head cold, but anything that makes our days harder is NOT welcome around here. I have to say they both handle being sick very well all things considered. So I cant complain too much. I just hope they are better before baby arrives.
• We STILL havent completely narrowed down names for this little one, that should probably be moved to the top of the TO DO list.
  I recently got my new stroller and am IN LOVE with it! It is the Baby Jogger City Select, I got it on super sale with the second seat and adaptor. It is so versitale and easy to use. Cant wait to cart the wee one around in it. Marcus and I decided it was our Christmas gift to each other, so we will enjoy bringing home a new baby as our Christmas gift to each other as well as giving gifts to the girls.
• Christmas shopping for everyone else is just about 1/2 finished. I would like to be farther along in this category.
• I am hoping to get the Christmas decorations down today and up over the next couple of days. I told Marcus if we dont have our tree up by next weekend we arent getting one. I really hope that he comes through and gets his girls a tree so we can decorate it.
• Oh almost forgot, we had a fabulous Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, and will celebrate with Marcus' family on Sunday. It is really nice to spread it out, cause I cant fit much in my smoshed stomach, and I just love eating Thanksgiving food!
• I am still in the process of getting Kaylee's room upstairs ready, I really wanted to have it painted by now,. but that has NOT happened. Ainslee has been asking lately to sleep in a big girl bed. She is excited about getting out of her crib. But she still doesnt try to climb out of her crib by herself......thankfully!
• One of my bestest friends is moving away from me! She is not only the closest in proximity to me, but our girls get along, and we are so similar in our beliefs and how we raise our girls. Not to mention she is my biggest home school support person. She isnt moving far from here (4 hour drive) but she will be missed more than words can describe.
• Speaking of home school it has sort of taken a back seat lately. Between me not feeling well, finishing our current curriculum, the girls spending the night out, and the holiday we havent been doing much in the school department. I still feel like she has gotten WAY more "education" at home than she would have going to MDO 2 days a week, so I dont feel too bad about taking an extended break.
• Kaylee has been more and more into watching movies lately she is still quite particular with what holds her attention. It is so adorable to watch the 2 of them watching a movie and Ainslee turning to Kaylee to ask quesitons about what is going on or why things are happening in the movie. Kaylee takes the time to explain it to her sister. They can be SO super sweet to each other it nearly makes me cry.

I know I have more updates, but once again my brain has failed me.......besides this is probably enough to bore you for one day.

WORDY Wednesday - Baby bump

35 WEEKS

I cant believe I am technically down to days, 34 days to be exact. Maybe even less! My appointment before the trip I gained 5 lbs and was measuring 4 weeks ahead of schedule. I thought news would be even worse at my most recent appointment (last week) but thankfully all my bed eating in Washington didnt come crashing down on me. I didnt gain anything, and Im only measuring 1 week ahead of schedule. But because of the frequency and number of *contractions Ive been experiencing lately (up to 8 in an hour) my doc decided to do an exam to make sure we dont miss anything. The results amazed me, probably shouldnt but they did, i am nearly 2 cm dilated. The baby's head has been down for the past like 5 weeks, and when my baby's go head down, they typically stay that way, so hopefully that will not be an issue this go around either. my doc seems to think I will be going earlier than my due date, but again only time will tell. I have decided to do this one as naturally as possible (with the girls I was induced) so im not quite sure what it feels like to actually GO INTO labor. I would like to stay at home as long as possible for a few reasons; for comfort and to avoid the problems we had in the hospital when I delivered Ainslee. Speaking of the hospital we have our hospital tour scheduled for next Monday, where we will get to see the new facility that has been built since delivering Ainslee. Also I have MANY questions and concerns that I want addressed before going into the hospital for the birth. I have high hopes for this tour and really want everything to go smoothly. My next appointment is next week and she said she is checking me again, i am eager to see if any progress has been made in the 2 short weeks.

Based on my baby chart the baby is measuring approx 18.2in long and weighing in at 5.25lbs

So speaking of births and babies I have had 4 babies born to people close to me in the past couple weeks....a college teammate/friend had a baby boy, a high school friend/teammate had a baby boy, Marcus's cousin in Ireland had a baby girl, and a very good friend from my childhood had a baby boy.

Now if you are going on trends 3 out of those 4 were boys. I still hold my thought of this baby being a girl, but it seems that EVERYONE else thinks this little one is a boy! Kaylee even referred to the baby as "he" the other night at dinner, but it must have been a slip of tongue because this baby is ALL girl in her book. And according to her if it should be a boy, he will not be allowed to come home with us. Her plan for our family includes FOUR girls!

*the bulk of my contractions are occurring almost every night between 5-9pm sometimes more come than others, and they have yet to become strong. So my guess is this baby is coming sometime in the evening. OR I have been getting up to pee almost the same time every night, so my second guess is the baby is coming sometime around the 3AM mark.

Last night I was plagued with a debilitating head ache. It was bad people! I havent had many headaches lately so this one caught me completely off guard. It was so sweet to see the girls be so compassionate with me. Kaylee was getting me anything i needed including an ice pack for my head, she would rub my back, talk quietly (if you know Kaylee you know that in itself is a HUGE thing), they sat and played quietly without problems for over an hour. Ainslee would come and "check" on the baby, asking "baby sick mommy?" To say that the girls are excited about this baby is an understatement, I am totally looking forward to seeing the 3 of them together and seeing the bonds they build, it will be quite remarkable!

Washington Trip

Im finally getting around to posting some pics from our trip. Clearly we didnt take pictures that come even CLOSE to doing our trip justice. The sights were amazing, but none of the pics seemed to quite capture that. (i need a tutorial on my own camera, maybe that would help). I tried to pick out a few of my favorites, and when I get the pictures from my friend's camera I will try and post them in a timely manner.......I'm sure they are WAY better than ours!

We had an AMAZING time on the trip. The girls did excellent again with the travelling aspect, surprising everyone around us on the plane with how well they fly. That makes me proud! They ate well, and slept well on the trip which made me more at ease. They played well (most of the time) and overall enjoyed all that Washington had to offer. I wish I wouldve taken notes or something to remember all the things I wanted to post about, so you might just have to bear with me and my rambling, i might even have a few more posts about this trip as I remember things.

Here we are on top of Hurricane Ridge again the picture does not do the scenery justice

Our attempts at getting a good shot of all 4 girls started early on in the trip, not sure if we ever really succeeded

Hurricane Ridge

Hiking on Hurricane Ridge the girls were told to pick their Christmas tree out

Cant remember where we were for these next couple of pictures, once again I shouldve taken notes. Even though I cant tell you exactly where we were I can tell you it was BEE-utiful!

I was terrified of being on this rock with the girls. Clearly I am a mommy now, as 5 years ago I wouldve been up jumping around and doing flips, but this time all I could do was completely FREAK OUT at the danger!

After our adventure down by the water

Matching PJ's

Such sweet friends

And the treat they were promised

This little froggy felt left out

These are the beginning of the Seattle portion of our trip.

Here we are with a loooong time family friend (both Marcus and my family) who used to live up the street from us growing up. We were able to visit with her and then go to dinner. It was quite exciting!

Mt. Rainier

Outside the Science Museum

Self explanatory

On top of the Space Needle

Outside the Public Market

Inside the market......clearly Ainslee was amazed by the fish throwing

The "fake" green screen shot of us we got at the Space Needle

Wouldnt you know the entire reason why we made the trip in the first place was for our Godson's Baptism and I dont have a single picture of the event! I sure hope I can get those pics from my friend K.

I cant tell you enough how awesome this trip was, visiting with friends, seeing people who used to live close and now live so far away. Getting a little bonding time in with our Godson, eating FRESH amazing food. BTW most restaurants we went to served local foods mostly organic, and TONS i mean TONS of GF options! I could write an entire post on how much I ate on this trip merely because of all the GF choices!

Ok enough rambling for now, I will organize my thoughts and post again soon......