stereotyping

Tonight I decided to try a little something "new" with my cooking, and instead of making regular old pancakes as usual, I decided on making oatmeal pancakes. I thought they were delicious - a little heartier and flavorful than the regular ones - but when Ella took a bite, her response was a little different than mine.

Ella: "Mom - is this Chinese food??"

Me: "No, honey. They're pancakes. Why would you think it's Chinese food?"

Ella: "Because it's DISGUSTING!"

I'm not sure Ella's even TRIED Chinese food before...She's only ever seen us eating it, and she thinks it looks gross.

Who knew you could even stereotype food!

trapped

In the photo below, you will see a smiley, happy Chloe. But just moments before, she was screaming for dear life.The girls have been playing "house" a lot lately, where Ella is the Mommy, Britten the Daddy and Chloe the baby. They have a whole set-up in our unfinished basement with a bedroom for naptime, toys in a playroom and even a kitchen for their happy little family. Ella and Britten are good little parents, taking good care of their little baby. Clothing her, changing her diapers, and even strapping her in her booster seat and giving her a bottle of water.

The problem with having a 4 year old and 6 year old as parents, is that they can become easily distracted and forget altogether about their baby. They become so distracted, in fact, that they unintentionally leave their baby strapped in her booster seat, all alone, screaming her head off in the unfinished basement. This has honestly happened at least a dozen times in the last couple of weeks.

Chloe's screams are like white-noise around here, so she literally has to scream and scream for way too long before someone actually hears her or remembers they left her strapped in her seat, all alone in the basement.

Andy and I have had many talks with Chloe's "parents" about not leaving their baby unattended, and despite their promises of never doing it again, the fact is, they are 4 and 6. Their promises don't mean much. Chloe is either a glutton for punishment or has the child-like ability to forgive and forget, because she agrees to play "house" with Ella and Britten day after day.

But as you can see, she doesn't seem traumatized by it at all:

Let's hope her REAL parents do a better job taking care of her! :)

our little plumber

In working with our water meter, Chloe very clearly shows us her plumbing skills.

nothing quite like it

There's nothing quite like the perfect summer day. As a child, my definition of this would include: swimming, picnicing on the beach, playing at the park...and of course, ending the day with ice cream. I guess now that I think about it, this hasn't changed for me as an adult.

Me and the kids had a day like that today...Enjoying so much quality time together outdoors. I love these sort of days, knowing we're creating memories they'll take with them into adulthood. They're priceless.

The beach was a blast. We met up with some friends to swim, play and picnic on the beach. I don't have pictures to document, but I WISH I would've had my camera on me when Ella literally caught a FISH in her small toy bucket. Not a minnow...an actual FISH. She was utterly ecstatic and very carefully ran around the entire beach showing everyone her "catch of the day!" I honestly don't know how she did it, but that girl has determination like no other child, and when she sets her mind to something, she does it. Such is the case with her catching a fish in her toy bucket. Amazing.

We ended the day by stopping by a local park. We had intentions of playing at the park while Daddy ran errands, but when we got there we found something better! They had a community outreach going on that included live music, FREE woodworking kits for kids (compliments of the local Home Depot), food booths, ice cream, and lots of other things...

We had a blast! I love last minute surprises like that...especially when they're FREE!

Ella enjoyed putting together her birdhouse. It was so cute to see how proud she was of herself when she was done! We're going to paint it tomorrow and put it somewhere in our yard.
This was Chloe's favorite part of the evening...go figure. This girl never stops eating.
It was a fun-filled day, leaving us tired and sun burnt, but it was worth it!

There's nothing quite like the perfect summer day!

6 months old

I know, I know, you've been sitting on pins and needles for MONTHS waiting to hear the new about this little guy... In short, our life has been NUTS the last six months. I won't go into it all right now, but I know there have been a few concerned blog readers wondering about our well being. So I will just say that we are doing GREAT. And so is the sweet little face you see above.

In fact, that sweet little face turned 6 months old today, if you can believe it!?!? It seems like only yesterday that Asher Andrew was born. Like I expected, I had a very quick (I didn't say painless, just quick!) labor and delivery. They clocked the labor at about 1 hour, and I only pushed through one set of contractions before he was born at 2:04pm on January 1st. 2010.
It left me with a very bruised tail bone, and him a bruised face, but otherwise all was great!

He was a little guy, like we expected him to be. At 6 lbs, 9oz, 20 inches long, Asher was our smallest baby! But he was ready to GROW, and more than doubled his weight by his 2 month appointment.

In a nutshell, I didn't blog right after having Asher because I very much struggled with postpartum depression, along with anxiety/panic attacks. I only struggled through this a short time after delivery, but words cannot describe how scary this was for me...feeling SO out of touch with myself and not being able to control my emotions. My heart goes out to women who struggle with this for months, sometimes years! It's truly debilitating and leaves you feeling completely helpless and overwhelmed. Anyhow...

I can't explain it, but even the idea of blogging stressed me out, so I decided that I wouldn't blog again until I really WANTED to. I realized that day came today...When it dawned on me that my baby boy turned 6 months old and I wanted to show him off to the world - well the blogging world!
This is me and my smiley, sweet boy just a few days ago. He is hands down the sweetest little guy in the universe. The name "Asher" actually means happy, which I found out while pregnant. Somehow, I knew in my heart that his name would suit him perfectly and it really does.

There will be more posts to come, so please don't give up on me. There is a lot of fun things going on these days, and I'm excited to start sharing them with you again!

Until then, Happy 6 months, Baby BOY! You were the best gift God could have ever given our family!

now THAT'S a growth spurt!

So much for having a smaller baby! In the last two weeks my baby boy has grown...and grown...and grown. I could tell he was getting big by how uncomfortable I've been, but I couldn't believe the difference in his size until I took my 2-week photo today. Holy moly.

This is me two weeks ago...
This is me tonight...

It's only a matter of days (or hours?) before I meet my little guy and I can't wait. My doctor and I have tentatively scheduled a "water break" for this Thursday, December 31st, unless he comes sooner, so the end is in very near sight. I'm feeling very pregnant these days - like I could go at any given moment - but my body's ability to hold off full-blown labor never ceases to amaze me.

Life has been crazy lately. We sold our house last week, hosted Christmas at our house for my husbands whole family, and then to top it off, my husband is terribly sick with strep throat right now. He feels so miserable that I don't even think he's physically capable of coming to the hospital if I were go into labor tonight. Fortunately, me and the girls are healthy and I'm praying it stays that way!

I'm sure you'll be hearing from me soon - I'll post something on my blog as soon as baby BOY makes his arrival! YIKES!

any day now!

Two weeks ago, at 35 weeks:

Tonight at 37 weeks:
It's like I have nothing else to blog about these days except my growing belly. There is a lot of important and memorable things going on in our household, but it takes brain power to write a good blog post and that's something I'm lacking these days. I could make a laundry list of things I've forgotten in the past few weeks, and some of them being major and quite embarrassing. But I guess people are willing to cut me a little slack, given my pretty full plate.

Aside from pretty severe insomnia, leading to my lack of brain power, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm definitely starting to get uncomfortable and I can tell my body is preparing for labor. Lots of lovely things going on, but I'll spare the nitty-gritty details.

In case you have or haven't noticed from my belly pictures, it doesn't seem that baby has any major growth spurts in the last 4-6 weeks. He's definitely getting bigger, that I can personally attest to, but there was some cause for concern at my doctor appointment last week because baby was measuring on the smaller side. I've never measured small with my girls, in fact, if anything, I was always on the bigger side, so hearing I was measuring small was a little shocking, and as you can imagine, a little nerve-wracking. My doctor ordered an ultrasound for the same afternoon, just to put my mind at ease.

Fortunately, everything crucial checked out fine - fluids, umbilical cord, etc - but he is a little small. Last week he was measuring around 5 1/2 lbs, which put him in the 30th percentile for 36 weeks. I understand from what I've read and in talking to others that the ultrasound can be off by a pound (or more sometimes) because they can't determine the amount of fat on the baby, so he might be a bit bigger than that. Needless to say, I'm hoping baby stays INSIDE as long as he needs to because I want him chunked out for the Minnesota cold. Considering his size, we probably won't go through with the induction, and I'm totally okay with that. I want him to come at HIS own pace, because that is ultimately what is best for him. For now, I'm choosing not to worry because my doctor has assured me that everything is fine.

I'd be curious to hear if anyone else has experienced this before and what the outcome was???

it's time again!

With another two weeks under my belt (literally), it's time for me to photograph the changes in my pregnancy. Here's me two weeks ago, 33+ weeks:

Here's a couple of me tonight, 35+ weeks:

My belly almost looks smaller, but I can guarantee it's because he's dropped in the last week or so. Even though I still feel really good, I'm getting more uncomfortable and I can feel that he's a lot lower.

I'm shocked that I have less than a month to go. We're still on track to have a scheduled "water break" (sounds refreshing, doesn't it? It's not much of a "break" if you ask me!) on the week after Christmas. I'll be over 39 weeks at that point, and if I haven't had the baby by then, my doctor wants to make sure I have a "controlled delivery" given my history of very fast labors. We might have to do it a bit sooner depending on how my body progresses, but for now, I feel really good.

For as excited as I am about having this baby, I'm not even close to being ready. We just listed our house for sale and have been looking at options to build, so suffice to say, I've been very, very busy and preoccupied with all of that. I honestly haven't purchased one baby item (not even one!) for my little guy, not even an outfit to wear home from the hospital. I'm a horrible mommy!

The truth is, I'm not even concerned about it. The more babies I have, the more I realize that most of the preparation for a new baby is done in vain. As long as the car seat is installed properly for the ride home, all the new baby really needs is me. That makes me feel special. :)

two more weeks down...

Here's my last belly photo taken 2 weeks ago (31+ weeks):

Here's me today (33+ weeks):

Not near as much "noticeable" change from the side view as my last comparison (see my last post), but if you look closely you can tell he's grown more upward in the last couple of weeks than out. From the kicks in my ribs, I'm not at all surprised. He's definitely getting longer and packing on some weight!

Even though he feels big, the measurements at my appointment last week verify that he's growing right on track. To the very week, actually.

This pregnancy has been so good to me. For those of you who know me, you know that I have pretty severe circulatory/vein problems that initially began while pregnant with Britten and required me to have surgery before getting pregnant with Chloe. But they still got so out of control with Chloe that it was literally debilitating and I could hardly get around the last couple of months of my pregnancy. We chose to stop having babies after Chloe because it was so horrible, and frankly, I was scared of what another pregnancy would do to my body.

Suffice to say, God had another plan for our family and despite all of OUR effort to NOT get pregnant, he blessed us with our 4th addition. Ironically, it was while I was at my pre-op appointment preparing for another surgery that I found out I was pregnant again. I can't say that my initial reaction was happiness...It was more like fear.

Fear of having yet another baby when I just stopped nursing Chloe and we just started sleeping through the night again! Fear of the financial implications of adding yet another child to the budget. Fear of starting the baby stage all over again, when I was so ready to put that behind me and move on in our life. But mostly fear of how this might affect my body (not in a "vain" - no pun intended - way, but physical). How could I keep up with everything in my life when struggling with the pain for almost 9 months?!?!

Once the news finally sunk in a little, it didn't take me long to get excited and realize that God gave us this baby for a reason. I assumed it was a boy from the beginning, only because God knew we were already content with the three beautiful girls He gave us...didn't He?!?!? :) Though we would've have been thrilled to have another girl, Andy and I were practically speechless when we found out we were having a boy. God is good. I decided to put my fear aside, leave it all in God's hands, and know that He is ultimately in control. Besides...in the whole scheme of life, it was only 9 months, and I could handle that.

With only about 5 1/2 weeks to go, I am totally amazed and honestly in awe of how good I've felt this pregnancy. I've had days where I'm in pain, and all my body aches to do it sit, but overall, I've been great, and my doctor even commented on how my veins don't look near as bad as they did while I was pregnant with Chloe.

Call it what you will - whether it's related to the hormonal difference between being pregnant with a girl vs. boy, or how the baby is positioned in the womb, or who knows what other medical mystery it might be - but I'm calling it what I think it is: a miracle!

So yeah, overall I'm very happy with how this pregnancy has gone/is going, and I haven't sweat the small stuff this time around. But that's not to say that I'm not looking forward to having this pregnancy done and over with...Because when it is finally done and over with, I'll be holding my little miracle in my arms.

what a difference 2 weeks make!

I'm posting this more for my own amusement than anything. When you're the one who's pregnant, the day-to-day and week-to-week changes aren't really noticeable. The view from above doesn't change a whole lot, and even though it feels like the baby is filling up more space, and I do feel more uncomfortable as each weeks passes, I honestly haven't felt bigger. In fact, two nights ago I was lying in bed actually worrying about the little guy, wondering if he was growing like he should be.

My concerns were put to rest this afternoon, after I decided to do an impromptu "belly photo" session in front of my bedroom mirror with my phone. I knew I had taken pictures about two weeks ago, so I decided I'd take a few today and see if I could see any noticeable growth.

Here's the one from exactly two weeks ago today (29 1/2 weeks):
Here's one from tonight...You tell me if you see a difference!
Yikes is the first word that came to mind. Seriously. If this is an example of how much he's going to grow on a bi-weekly basis for the remaining weeks of my pregnancy, I'm a little concerned that I'll give birth to a very big boy. I'm about 31 1/2 weeks right now, so that leaves him with about 7 weeks (my approximate guess, based on past pregnancies) to pack on the poundage (is that a word??).

Anyway, I'd much rather have him gaining than not, so seeing this actually made me laugh. I decided that I HAVE to take pictures at least every two weeks from this point on to document the growth. It'll be interesting, to say the least, to watch him/me grow!!!

YIKES!

halloween 2009

I have to admit, that as a mom of three girls, I'm very lucky that (aside from Chloe's obsession with dolls and babies), my girls aren't really into anything "girlie"...yet. I've been able to save a lot of money and storage space because my girls could literally care less about Barbies, Hannah Montana and American Girl Dolls...yet. I say "yet," because I'm sure it's bound to change one of these days/years.

It's partially because of this that my girls have never obsessed about what they wear for Halloween, and for the fourth consecutive year, have gladly donned their princess and frog costumes.

See proof below:

Halloween 2009

I didn't get many pictures of Halloween this year, and the ones I did weren't very good quality. I was "single-parenting" it for the night (hubby was out of town), and quite frankly, had my hands very full. We were (and still are) also in the midst of recovering/dealing with the flu, and that didn't really help matters. either. It just so happened that all my girls felt good on Halloween, so we were able to handle a little trick-or-treating.

Halloween 2008

Halloween 2007
Halloween 2006

Halloween 2005*
* though there aren't pictures to prove it, Ella wore the frog costume that year

The amazing thing is that the princess dresses have continued to fit them each year - the bigger size being a 4T and the smaller one an 18 months. Both Britten and Chloe will still be able to wear the princess dresses next year and maybe even the year after (that is, if they haven't caught on to my manipulative ways on trying to save money without having to buy new costumes).

The 2010 Halloween mystery remains....

What will Ella and her baby brother be???!?!?

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.
____________________

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."
_____________________

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.
___________________

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!

desperate attempt

This afternoon, while baking chocolate chip cookies, I found my tot literally making out with my oven door to get another taste of the delciousness. She was going all out - kissing, licking, noises and all. She had already sampled a small cookie from the previous batch, but apparently one wasn't enough to satisfy the cravings. But really, who can blame her? When it comes to freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, when is one ever enough??

growth spurt

The not-so-big news around our household is that we're going to have another baby! I've known for months and have neglected to blog about it until now. So much for the "suspense" factor...

Despite not announcing it on my blog right away, we are still thrilled about the idea of welcoming another baby into our family and are even more thrilled by the fact that we're having a BOY this time around!

I've never been one to take pictures and "document" my pregnancy, because quite frankly, I didn't really like seeing proof that I was getting bigger. I know that sounds vain, and I'd tell any other pregnant woman out there to cherish their beautiful growing belly, because it is just that: beautiful. I adore the baby growing inside of me, but can't say I "adore" anything else happening to my body.

But knowing it's my last pregnancy and perhaps because I've done this three times before, I find myself less stressed out this time around about my body changes and I actually don't even care that the scale continues to creep up every time I step on it. I decided that I do want pictures of my growing bump this time around, because no matter how I feel about it now, it will be fun to look at in the future, and I'm sure my children will get a kick out of seeing how huge I get.

So, without further ado, I want to share my growing bump with you. It just so happens that I took pictures of myself almost exactly 1 month apart without even trying, so why not continue the trend in the months ahead?

8/9/09 - 20 weeks

9/11/09 - 24 weeks

Well, there's a definite growth spurt, which of course is expected, but funny how you don't notice it much while it's happening. I'm a little embarrassed by how messy my bedroom is in the 2nd picture, and how disheveled my little Chloe looks. Not to mention how exhausted I look in the 2nd picture...I am tired these days, and it is definitely impacting the amount of time and energy I exert into cleaning my house and keeping my girls (or myself) put together. I honestly don't care, and I have a feeling that it'll only get worse over the next few months.

O'well. I have an excuse...I'm pregnant!!

britten's big day

A day after saying goodbye to Ella and sending her off to her first big day of kindergarten, we said our same goodbyes to Britten - except she was heading to her very first day of preschool!

Below, Chloe (not exactly dressed for the occasion) and our neighbor boy, Edward (AKA Chloe's boyfriend) decided they needed in on the action. I think they felt left out!

Ella and Britten wait patiently as we continue to take pictures before heading off to school.

Chloe attempting to be "just like her sister!" A common occurance in our home! :)

Chloe and Britten are best buddies and Britten takes such wonderful care of her little sister. I guarantee that there will be a void in Chloe's day when Britten is gone at school.

Britten, you are such a big girl and we are so proud of you! We love you and are so glad you enjoyed your first day of preschool!

a good excuse to blog...

My baby heading to her first day of kindergarten!! (sniff-sniff)