a "wild" night out

Me and my hubby had an incredibly "wild" night last night...Don't get any crazy ideas. I'm only talking about a hockey game.
We were invited to the Wild hockey game with some friends from church who have incredible season tickets. Unfortunately for them, their boys came down with H1N1 and they couldn't go, but fortunately for these guys...

...They were able to come with us and use the extra tickets. Did I mention they were incredible seats? Talk about up close and personal. Recognize the man in the photo??
I'm not usually the type to take pictures of "famous" people, but when the governor of Minnesota happened to walk right in front of us (several times, I might add), I figured I'd put my hot pink Canon PowerShot to good use.

Fun times!

funny ramblings by britten lou

Britten has got to be one of the funniest little individuals I personally know (not that I'm biased or anything). She's been a goofball from the beginning, and truly was the easiest, happiest baby in the world. She gave us her first real smile at 2 1/2 weeks old (no one believes us, but it's true!) and hasn't really stopped since (except when she's throwing her emotionally intense tantrums, which seems to happen too often these days).

Britten will say the cutest, most clever things all the time, and every time she does, I tell myself to write it down. But of course I never do. And sadly, as everything does these days, her clever little sayings slip my mind.

In the last few days, Britten has randomly said a few things that have made me literally laugh out loud, and I knew I had to document them somewhere lest they be lost forever.
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Just today, after I took my shower, I threw my wet hair up in a clip for a quick finish. A little later on, I noticed Britten eying my hair, so I asked her what she was thinking (I'm always curious to know why the wheels are spinning).

She said: "Your hair looks like a palm tree."
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As we were eating dinner last night, I noticed again that Britten was staring at me in wonderment. All of sudden she asks,

"Mommy, where did you get those beautiful eyelashes?" *

Me: "Well, from God, of course."

Her: "Can I pick at them?"

Me: "No, honey, you can't. Please eat your dinner."

* I guarantee the only reason she noticed my (normally very stubby, far from beautiful) eyelashes in the first place was because I was actually wearing mascara - a rarity these days.
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Speaking of beauty, this conversation with Britten takes the cake.

The other night, Britten was going on and on about how much she loved her Daddy (And she does. She's a total Daddy's girl).

So, I asked: "Well, what about me, Britty? Do you love me?"

She looks at me, real serious-like, furrowing her eyebrows, and says, "I only love you when you look beautiful, like you do right now."

I was totally caught off guard. "What do you mean?? When don't I look beautiful to you?"

Still real serious, she responds, "In the morning, when you wake up, when you wear your glasses. I don't love you then, because I don't like the way you look."

Talk about being brutally honest. I attempted to explain the concept of unconditional love to my 4-year old, but it didn't seem to make a dent.

man vs. woman - always a different perspective

As I was peeling boiled eggs today, preparing to make egg salad sandwiches for lunch, I said to my husband:

"Boiled eggs always remind me of Jesus' resurrection."

He looks at me, confused. "Why?"

"I know it seems weird, but they do. I guess it's because they remind me of Easter, which immediately reminds me of his resurrection."

Him: "Oh. They remind me of farts." No explanation needed.

snowmen in october??!

For as much as I can't stand the idea of having snow in October, my girls feel MUCH differently about the idea!

***The girls decided that bocce balls would make good buttons. They fell off about an hour later as the snow started to melt.

moving right along

28+ weeks

Honestly, where does the time go? It's almost been an entire month since my last post, and I feel it's only been days.

Well, here I am again in all my pregnancy glory - just over 28 weeks. I can NOT believe how much I've my baby boy has grown in the last 8 weeks. It's becoming obvious to everyone else, too, because I can't even count the comments I've gotten in the last couple of weeks about how much I've "popped." There's been several of the "you're getting HUGE!" comments flying around already, and all I can think, is "if you think this is huge, just give me a couple more months!" I do get huge, that I can attest to, but I guess it's only expected when I'm just under 5' 3" and have a very short torso.

Overall, I am feeling really good right now, though I'm just starting to experience the aches and pains that indicate I'm in my final stretch. This week at my appointment I get to take the glucose test and drink my favorite drink of all time. Given my history, I'm not at all worried about the results, as I'm sure they'll be fine.

As of now, my doctor and I have talked about the following options. If you know my history with my previous pregnancies, you know that I tend to start the "laboring process" around 35 weeks. The 9th (or is it 10th?? I never understand that!) month of my pregnancy tends to be very uncomfortable as I slowly, but continually,contract, dilate, and efface over the course of the last few weeks. Amazingly, my body and my baby still hold out until they are fully cooked (39 weeks or so) despite that they are literally almost falling out of me.

Let me give you an example from Chloe's pregnancy: At my last check-up, when I was 39 weeks, she was literally so low (and had been for weeks) that my doctor said he could tell she had hair (yikes!), and, to top it off, I was 100% effaced and 4 centimeters dilated. No wonder I was SO uncomfortable! Needless to say, he scheduled me to have my water broken two days from my appointment to avoid me having the baby at home. Chloe had a different plan, though (don't they always), and came on her own that very night (in the hospital - thank God!). Total of 2 hours of labor - that's including pushing, and it would've been 45 minutes shorter, but we had to wait for the doctor to get there so he could break my water. Waiting at 10 cm for 45 minutes to start pushing was not one of my most memorable moments!

Anyway, given my history and the fact that labors tend to be quicker in subseqent pregnancies, my doctor and I have agreed that I should have a scheduled "water break" (with hopefully no pitocin, as long as I'm progressing like previous pregnancies) the last week of December. That's assuming baby doesn't come sooner...

I personally think he might....come sooner, that is. I'm already carrying him SO low, like I can feel his hiccups vibrating my pelvic bone. That might be TMI (too much information), but I wanted to give you an idea of how low he already is. He's also head down and has been for a while (again, the hiccups give it away), and considering he has little to no space to move around (poor little guy), he might just end up staying there until he's ready to come.

He also seems big (let's hope he stays around 8lbs or less!!), filling up my ENTIRE mid-section where I'm already getting kicked in the ribs a little bit. Nothing too painful yet, just a little something to let me know he's there. :)

I love this little guy to bits and pieces and can't wait to meet him. He seems so sweet, gentle and laid back, only giving me nice little nudges and pokes. Reminds me a lot of my pregnancy with Britten, and she turned out to be the easiest baby in the world. Time will tell I guess, and whether he's colicky and high needs, or a cuddler and low maintanence, I'll love him just the same!