Getting Crafty

If you weren't aware already, I am very excited to be having another girl. It has been a long time since Savannah let me dress her up in a cute outfit that I picked out or let me do her hair in any way except a pony tail. So, in preparation for having a baby girl around to dress up I learned how to make a couple different kinds of bows for her hair. Thanks so much to Heather and Mary for showing me how to do this. Also, my sister Ali gave me the great idea of making a hair bow hanger-thingy with ribbon and a picture frame. Now they are all organized and look very cute on the girl's wall. Thanks Ali!

A couple of my favorites. . .

And my sister Heather showed me how to make flowers out of ribbon. Very easy and very cute!

I can't wait till she has enough hair for piggy tails and she can wear these.

And, of course, she is going to need some jewelry to go with all those bows so I made her a cute little pink and silver one with beads I already had from one of Savannah's old bracelets that was broken. It looks pretty small to me though so I may have to add some more beads to it after I can try it on her little wrist.

Now if only this little girl had a name . . .

Robby's Birthday Celebration

Robby's birthday was on Monday so we celebrated all weekend. On Saturday we took the kids out to eat with us (something we never do) and they were SO excited to get dressed up and go out. Robby gave Will some of his cologne and Will felt so grown up. He kept asking everyone if we could still smell him and if he smelled good. It was pretty cute. The kids behaved really well at the restaurant. We were pretty shocked. We may actually consider taking them out with us again sometime. Maybe.
When we got home Will wanted to take pictures of all of us dressed up. I had to include these first three pictures even though they are blurry.


Will striking a pose


I'm not sure what he was going for here, but it was pretty funny.



And Savannah joining in the fun

All three crazy kids

The whole family

On Sunday Robby's parents, his sister and his brother and their families came over for cake and ice cream.

He wasn't making that face because of the thought of eating chocolate cake, but of having to dish it out for everyone else.

Opening presents

Trying out his new light weight sleeping bag

Cute, cute Jaden

On Monday we had a little family party and Robby got to open more presents.

Happy Birthday Robby! I hope you had a great weekend. We love you!

37 1/2 Week Pregnancy Update

I just got back from the doctor and the baby is doing well. Last week when I went in I was dilated to 1 cm and about 40% effaced and today I am still at 1 cm but I am 70% effaced. I haven't been having as many contractions the past couple of days either so it seems like she's not in any hurry to get here like the boys were. Maybe she'll be a bit calmer than the boys are too? My next appointment is on Monday morning so we'll see if anything has changed yet then.

Getting Everything Ready

I am 36 weeks pregnant now and I'm feeling the need to make sure everything is ready for the baby to come. Isaac was born 26 days before his due date (which happens to be how many days I have left for this little one) and I was sooooo not ready for him to come. I was in the middle of packing up for our upcoming move the next weekend. I was planning on buying a carseat the next week and getting out the baby boy clothes and getting them washed and ready to use. I guess Isaac had different plans. Luckily for us he was healthy (and almost 7 pounds) even though he was early and it worked out fine-thanks to A LOT of help from our families.
So, this time around I would like to be a little more prepared. Last weekend we switched the kids' rooms to make room to put the crib up. This was a much-needed project. I'm embarrassed to show the before pictures because the kids' rooms are such a mess, but it really shows how good the after pictures are. We had a lot of clutter and garbage to get rid of and it felt so good to get everything clean and clutter-free.

The boys' room BEFORE

Savannah's room BEFORE

And, Savannah's room (soon to be the girl's room) AFTER

And, the boy's room AFTER

It does feel good to know that she can come anytime now and we are ready for her. Hopefully the kids will keep their new rooms a lot more organized and clean than they did before.

Well . . . It's Official

I am now the driver of a minivan. I vividly remember when I was in High School swearing that I would never drive one. I would either only have three kids or would be able to afford an expensive SUV. Well, unfortunately for me, I can't afford an expensive SUV and I'm only a few weeks away from having my 4th child so . . . .




. . . there you have it. It really isn't too bad either. The kids absolutely LOVE it! They are giddy every time we get in it. I'm sure I will grow to love it eventually, especially after we sell one of our other two cars and we can park it in the garage. That was a bit of a rude awakening this morning when after 2 1/2 years of being spoiled with a garage I had to go out and scrape ice off the windows to take Savannah to school.
So now the baby can come anytime and we will at least be able to get her home from the hospital. I'm really glad I don't have that to worry about anymore.
Oh, and BIG THANKS to Robby's parents for test driving it, picking it up and keeping it at their house for us for a week. We REALLY appreciate all you do for us!

Pregnancy Update

Well, here's another self-portrait for you at 34 1/2 weeks pregnant. I feel like I can't get much bigger.
I had an ultrasound and a doctor's appointment today and everything looks good with the baby. The ultrasound tech said the estimated weight based on her measurements is 6 pounds 1 oz so I'm really OK with having her a little early so she's not gigantic! She could make it to 10 pounds if she stays in there for another 5 weeks! They also told me that her shoulders are measuring 1 cm bigger than her head and that might make it a little harder for her to come out. That's a little scary to hear. It was fun to be able to see her little face on the ultrasound and see that she already has chubby little cheeks. I can't wait to really see her.
Even though she'll probably be big, everything looked healthy and normal and that is always good to hear. My fluid levels were good, her heartbeat was good and strong and we could see her lungs moving as the ultrasound tech said she was practicing breathing.
Five more weeks to go, unless she decides to come early like her brothers and sister.