Kids cuteness

"I'm as hot as a snickerdoodle!" -Lacy, today after her bath.

Lacy has been really cute today. She was playing that she was a mommy and first gave birth to baby Elizabeth. Then, surprise, Elizabeth has a twin sister, Charlotte! Finally, a third girl came into the world, but I can't remember what Lacy named her. Then she asked Rose to watch her children because she had a very important meeting she needed to attend. I asked her what they would eat while she was gone, and she said, well, they can have formula. Which really, really surprised me because lately she's been quite the lactivist! I questioned her about it, and she said, "Mom, it's just for pretend!"

Suddenly, she was a queen, and she was making clothes with swatches of fabric. I was *this close* to getting her a simple sewing machine for Christmas, but I don't think she's quite ready for that yet. I think I'll teach her how to knit first.

I've been under the weather for the past two days, and can I just say that my mom saved the day by getting Rose a collection of children's songs and music for Christmas? I didn't much feel like reading to the kids tonight, but I was feeling guilty for not reading as much as I should lately and for excessive use of the TV (we actually skipped TV-free Tuesday this week- shame on me!), but I was able to put on a story CD for the kids tonight at bedtime, and now I'm feeling just fine about it! No guilt whatsoever. In the collection is three or four CDs of just stories, including many famous fairy tales, Peter and the Wolf, Peter Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland (condensed version obviously) and several others I hadn't heard of before. The other day, Lacy just sat and listened to stories for about an hour. I'm sure these CDs will get a lot of playtime in the next couple of months!

A few photos from Christmas and Christmas Eve...

First off, I was 35 weeks on Christmas Eve, so Dave very kindly took a belly shot of me by the Christmas Tree (at Dave's dad's house).

My sweet girls all dressed up on Christmas Eve
Reading the Christmas story from the Bible

What Santa brought...
A choo choo train and a piano for Rosie, and a telescope, veil and The Sound of Music DVD for Lacy, plus stockings full of all sorts of good stuff! The easel they got earlier that evening from their Papa (Dave's dad).

Christmas Day at my parents' house... Rose, Regan and Lacy all in their beautiful Christmas skirts that Les and Mom sewed up for them! Don't they look great?


We had a really fun Christmas this year! I'm really excited about my new sewing machine, and Dave is stoked that he got gift cards to Wholesale Sports from both his Dad and my parents! Lacy and Rose got some really great gifts and we are so appreciative of everyone who thought of us this Christmas.

Hope you had a great Christmas, too!

Dave found Rudolph

...and he's going to taste delicious!



For any of you from out-of-state, who may be used to other species of deer (especially mule deer), this is actually quite a large black tail deer. And with a bow, it's an absolute trophy! We rarely ever see deer this large, and we see deer quite often living out near the woods. I'm so proud of my hubby! (Not that he was looking for a trophy- as he always says, you can't eat antlers! This deer also has a big body and will provide us with quite a bit of meat)

Is all I ever do baby updates anymore? Plus other good things.

Yet another midwife appointment. Baby apparently had a growth spurt, because I gained 3.5 pounds (a total of 26 pounds thus far- not too bad!) and am measuring a bit ahead of schedule again fundal-height wise (last time I was measuring exactly right on). Everything's looking great- baby's still head down and he's not posterior at the moment, and he's feeling like he's more average sized (I am capable of delivering a 12 pound baby I am sure, but I don't really want to!). I'm feeling like he's going to be in between Lacy and Rose's size- high 8's or low 9's.

AND I went BY MYSELF to my appointment! My sister was so kind as to watch my children for me so I wouldn't go crazy while I was there. They love going to the midwife with me, but honestly, it gets to be a little too much sometimes with them!

After the appointment, I went by K-Mart because I figured they wouldn't be as busy as other stores would be a few days before Christmas. I was right, however, their selection stinks and I couldn't find anything because I never shop there, so I still spent an hour in the store. At least I didn't have to deal with stinky parking situations or long lines, which I dread. I was able to find a few things I needed to get, but forgot to look for the materials I need for this year's funny gift.

After shopping, I went back to Leslie's, and we spent a little time in the kitchen making a few Christmas treats. The girls had a lot of fun eating them and playing with their cousins. We went home to have leftovers for dinner (yum!) and now the girls are settling in their beds. We'll see if they actually go to sleep- their sleep schedules have been so wonky since school got out.

But the BEST NEWS OF ALL: Dave's friend had two beef cows. One was butchered last week. Ever since then, their remaining cow has been going crazy. Escaping and going into the neighbor's yard, destroying fences and property, and basically acting wild. They decided they can NOT have this in their yard anymore. But because they're already going to have an entire cow to put in their freezer, they have opted to give it to us! Dave went out this afternoon to try to find it, and he killed it himself, dressed it out, and is taking it out to a close friend's house who has a meat locker and a processing center. Next week will be butchering time! If that wasn't good enough news, he ALSO shot a 3 point buck with his bow today (for those of you on the east coast, that's a 6 point buck, and for a black tailed deer, which is all we have around here, that's a decent size)! He didn't have time to track it and find it, but he knows he got it and he knows exactly where it is and will get it tomorrow to dress it out and hang it. I don't have any more details than that at the moment. I'm feeling incredibly blessed that our family will have plenty of meat to get us through the next year. Not only that, it is all good, basically organic meat that ate the food naturally intended for that animal to eat, and locally grown, too!

UPDATE: Dave went back and got the deer already! We are going to be overflowing with meat soon!

Wee One Update

Today I am 33 weeks! Just 4 weeks until I am considered term, and 3 weeks after that until I will likely deliver my baby! Lacy and Rose both came right around their due dates, so I'm not expecting anything earlier than 39 weeks with this one.

The good news is the birthing center is almost finished! I walked around it today- they're just doing detail stuff like caulking around the giant whirlpools and such. They need to furnish it still and get approval from the health department, and then they're in business! Hopefully they'll have it all done in 5-6 weeks so it will be ready before I go into labor! It's going to be beautiful! I'm so excited! My city has needed a birthing center for a long time. The closest one is 30 miles away in a larger city, but there are two out-of-hospital birth midwifery practices in my city, so there is certainly a need being filled with this birthing center.

As far as I go... today my blood pressure was super high- 120/80. For me, that's really high. Normally I'm in the 90/60 range. Baby's heart was at 150 and is still head down. I was getting worried because I was feeling hiccups all over the place over the last few days, but I thought I was feeling his bum at the top so I wasn't sure. Sure enough, I was right- that lump I was feeling at the top of my uterus was indeed his bum.

The best news- I am measuring right on at 33.5 cm and I only gained 2 1/2 pounds since my last visit 2 1/2 weeks ago. Considering we've had Thanksgiving and lots of cookies and candies because we are in the midst of the Christmas season, I'm thinking that's pretty good! I would really like a baby slightly smaller than my Rosie, so not gaining two pounds a week (like I did in my 3rd trimester with both girls) is really encouraging. I'm not feeling as giant as I felt when I was pregnant with her, too.

I'm keeping my hopes up that this upcoming birth will be easier than Rose's. I ended up having several complications that emerged at once, resulting in a hospital transfer. My labor with Lacy was only 4.5 hours, and Rose's labor, which should have been shorter since usually 2nd labors are faster than first labors, ended up lasting 9 hours. I was exhausted and just done by the end, but once my (sunny side up) baby arrived, I was over the moon and ready to run a marathon (okay, maybe not quite, but I felt great). I'm hoping this time for a fast labor like Lacy's followed by an easy recovery like Rose's.

Santa Claus is Coming To Our Neighborhood!

Tonight was the food drive put on by the local fire department. They come through the neighborhood with the lights and sirens going and have Santa with them on a sleigh to help collect food. We told the girls that Santa was in the neighborhood and they were so very excited. Lacy immediately put on more appropriate clothes for wearing outside, and I swear we waited outside for 20 minutes because she couldn't stand waiting inside where she could possibly miss Santa coming by our house.

It was freezing cold. But the girls were so happy that they got to sit up with Santa on his sleigh for a minute. Thankfully I remembered the camera.

'Tis the Season... for Static!

This time of year when the humidity is low (except when it is raining) and it is cold, my thin, dry hair always seems to be very staticy. My lucky children also have the type of hair that lends itself easily to a lot of static. Here we have Rose, who just came in from the freezing cold outside.

Wish Lists to Santa

Here's what my girls have asked Santa to give them:

Rose:
Piano
Doggy
Choo Choo Train

Lacy:
Wedding Dress
Veil
Cake Topper

Lacy's a bit obsessed with getting married lately. The other day, she packed all her clothes in a suitcase and told me she was moving to Utah because she was getting married and her husband had a job in Utah.

What's your guess?

I asked all my family members what their guesses are for this new little baby. Here are our guesses, and we'll see who is closest! If you want to play, too, just respond with your guess in the comments!

Rose
Date: January 22
Time: Night/10 pm
Hair? Lots of blond hair
Weight: 9 lb 3 oz
Length: 22 inches

Lacy
Date: January 31
Time: 2 am
Hair?: Lots of blond hair
Weight: 8 lb 5 oz (shockingly, that's Lacy's birth weight)
Length: 21 inches

Carolyn
Date: February 2 (my second choice is January 25)
Time: 10:30 am
Hair?: Lots of brown hair
Weight: 8 lb 12 oz
Length: 20 inches

Dave
Date: January 21
Time: Sometime at night
Hair?: A medium amount of light-colored hair
Weight: 8 lb 14 oz

Past history to help you make your guess: Both Lacy and Rose were 21 inches long. Lacy was 8 lb 5 oz, Rose was 9 lb 6 oz. Lacy was born 5 days before her due date, Rose was born on her due date. Both girls were born at night. Lacy had a smallish amount of light brown hair, Rose had a ton of dark brown hair. As far as Dave and I go, I don't know many details on Dave's birth. I believe he was on the larger side, but he was early (his mother had complications due to the shape of her uterus though, which probably resulted in the early birth). He was a blond, bald baby. I was born in the morning at 9 lb 2 oz/21" long with tons of dark brown hair just like Rosie.