39 week update

The update is that there really is no update! I don’t go back to the dr until Friday but so far no signs of Evelyn wanting to come out! I think that we are all getting a little antsy. Jared is trying to stay on top of everything at work, ready to walk out at a moments notice. The girls don’t even pay attention to talking much about a new baby anymore because we’ve been talking about it for so long. And I am uncomfortable and tired of feeling like I need the house ready to walk out of at a moments notice. I’m doing laundry and getting groceries all the time trying to make sure we’re always ready. AGH!

Thankfully, this will be easy with the girls. They are in school until 1pm, Matney’s best friend lives a few minutes away and her parents are ready to take them at a moments notice. Plus, our kids would rather be at their house anyway! We all go to the same school so they’ll go to/from school with friends. This weekend they have a birthday party to be at so they won’t just be home even if we aren’t here. They’ll come back home to sleep and probably think it is the most fun few days since Disney World! Because of germs/flu season, etc. we have decided that we do not want them coming to the hospital. We can Skype with the girls from the hospital so they’ll see us and we’ll see them.  I sure will miss those rugrats though!

 

Even when you’re having girl #3 a MoMo just can’t help herself. Love those tutu bloomers, socks and hats!

A belly shot a few days away from our due date. Holy cow that is one big belly!

 

My friend Kim came up last week with her daughter Lauren. We did the math and Lauren is exactly the same age that Matney was when Halle Kate was born and OH.MY.WORD. a 14 month old is still a baby! I have no idea how we survived. Going from 2 to 3 is sure to have challenges but having two kids who can are semi independent will make this sooooo much easier!

Matney and Mommy love to share

There is no question that we’re raising Daddy’s girls in this house. HK is for sure her Daddy’s buddy and loves to watch football and go to the sports store to look  at bats and balls. Matney loves to cuddle with Daddy but she is very much like her Mama! Right now she  is in love with her Mama’s craft desk! You can find Matney on this stool for hours a day using all my crafting supplies. Recently she has been making Valentines for anyone and everyone. She says that she has to do them “super speedy” before Evelyn gets here. I have assured her that she has plenty of time but when I realize she has disappeared and I haven’t heard from her in a while I can almost always find her here. She’s made about 20 cards so far and they are tied together with a ribbon and stored under her bed. So cute!

On the desk I have a decorative plate that I write on with a dry erase marker. In the beginning it said “Stacey’s very own space”, then I changed it to “I never finish anthin     ” and now Matney keeps asking me to make it read “Matney and Mommy’s craft desk”. So cute….if I wanted to share! ha! She also says Daddy is going to build her her own desk but I think it is going to be a long while before that happens!

 

 

Aquarium!

Since we don’t have a baby yet we have been trying to fit in lots of fun things with the girls. Last weekend we went to the GA Aquarium. The highlight of the day was the dolphin show! First we tried a 4D fish show in the theater but Halle Kate could not take the noise for more than the first 10 seconds so we quickly left. Ever since she was born she has NOT liked loud noise.


After trying the 4D show and looking at some fish we went into the dolphin theater. Matney loved every minute of the show! She sat next to me and it was so fun to watch her expression and hear her “AHs!”.
As soon as it started filling up HK was in Daddy’s lap with her hands over her ears. She was fun to watch because it didn’t take long for her to start smiling. Granted, her hands stayed over her ears for most of the 30 minutes but she loved it and didn’t ask to leave.

After the dolphin show (couldn’t take any pics once the show started) we headed to find the sharks, penguins and, of course, the moving sidewalk….such an aquarium priority when you’re young! We had such a fun morning. We’re ready to meet Ev but have been having a great time with our family just how it is!

Princess Sofia

There is a new Disney princess in town and there is a new Friday night routine in our house. Matney is in LOVE with Sofia. She was a new princess in a tv movie several months ago but a new Sofia tv show just started on Fridays. Last week she made a theater in the living room about 6 hours before we watched it and drove HK and me nuts all day because we were not allowed to go near it.

We record the show and then wait for Daddy to get home and watch together. It has a prince, trolls and flying horses so  HK is even interested.

All of Matney’s princesses and several of Hk’s guys were ready to watch….except that the girls didn’t think about them sitting below the tv means that they couldn’t see.

Daddy had dinner and the girls had dessert while they watched. I think this will be a fun new Friday night tradition as long as Matney doesn’t start counting down the minutes on Friday mornings at 7am!

Dance class with a friend

Look at our pretty ballerina! Matney was invited to “bring a friend to dance” day at Madigan’s dance studio. She was soooo excited to go! Madigan has been on the blog before, she is Matney’s best friend. They met in their 2 year old preschool class and haven’t been in the same class since. After several months of hearing “I miss Madigan” I contacted her mom through the preschool when the girls were 3. It turned out that we live just a few minutes away from one another. I’ve gotten to be good friends with Madigan’s mom and the girls have stayed best buddies! When they talked about each other all the time at 2 years old I never figured they’d still be bestest friends heading into Kindergarten!

Baby Evelyn Update

This is easier than an email so if you want baby updates check the blog. If we go into labor then yes, family, you’ll get a call. Otherwise assume my giant belly and backside are hanging out at home!

I went to the dr yesterday and am still 1cm. I am not planning to induce next week (I am able to on the 31st) and will try to wait her out. The latest we’d be allowed to wait would be the Feb. 7th. My dr. won’t let you go longer than 41 weeks because the chances of a stillbirth start to really increase. So, we have a for sure date of 2/7  if nothing changes. I had no signs of labor when my water broke 2 days before HK’s due date so my fingers are crossed that she’ll decide to come out on her own!

Until then I keep coming up with projects to do which seem to create a giant mess in one part of the house while cleaning out another part. Dear Evelyn, please come out soon. We’re all getting really impatient!!!!

 

And since I hate to do a post without a picture here’s Ev’s diaper bag. Exciting right? I realized recently that we didn’t have diaper bag without one of the girls’ names monogrammed on it and had borrowed a bag from a friend. Both Jared and my mom thought Ev needed her own bag and gave me permission and a gift card to go shopping. Whoo hoo! Love that!

Survey Says

I have been trying to think of a good way to “end” the year on the blog and I think we’ve finally got it! I got this idea from Pintrest, explained it to Jared and pretty soon my creative husband had a list of questions for the girls in my inbox.  We took them into separate rooms and had them tell us their answers. The plan is to ask the same questions and post their answers at the end of each year. So, here we go. Get ready to laugh! I’ll leave this here for a few days and then I will move it to the end of 2012.

Our questions are in black, their answers are in red. Matney had a lot of fun with this but HK’s attention span ended about question number 4!

 

 

Matney – 4 years 10 months

1. I love it when my daddy bear hunts because it is the funnest.

I love it when my mommy cuddles because it is warm and snuggly.

I love it when my sister hugs me because it is squeezy and tight.

2. It makes me laugh when my daddy jumps up and down.

It makes me laugh when my mommy jumps out and says “boo!”

It makes me laugh when my sister makes funny faces.

3. My favorite color is pink and purple because they are bright.

4. My favorite kind of weather is snowy because I want to build a snowman.

5. My favorite thing to wear is dresses because I like the little skirts.

6. My favorite song is Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star because it is a bedtime song.

7. My favorite food is ice cream…chocolate chip with cookie dough because I like to find the cookie dough pieces.

8. The best television show is Peppa Pig because she has a silly imagination.

9. I don’t like it when my sister pinches/hits me because it hurts and I have to get an ice pack and she gets in time out.

10. My family is special because we are nice. Even Evelyn is nice in Mommy’s belly.

11. It is hard being a big sister because it is hard to take care of 2 kids (HK and Ev) because the new baby may throw something at my head like  Britin did (her friend’s little sister last week during a play date).

12. If animals could talk I would like to talk to Max the dog. And I would ask him “what does Granddaddy do at his house?”.

13. One rule at home I would change is that we couldn’t lock people in their room, we would go to the stairs for time out and not rooms. (no worries, no one gets locked up in this house but they do go to their room for time out!)

14. I really like learning about a flower growing.

15. My favorite game to play is musical chairs because you walk around in a big circle…OUT! And whoever finds the last chair gets a prize in my class room.

16. My favorite book is the night time princess book because they have my favorite princesses, that is all the princesses.

17. My favorite toy is McKenna because I like to do gymnastics and she likes to do gymnastics.

18. My best friend is Madigan because I love all my friends.

19. My favorite thing to do is play with Daddy because I like playing with him. And I like getting snuggles from Mommy and getting hugs from my sister.

20.When I grow up I am going to be a princess because I want to live in a castle.

21. My favorite restaurant is the dough place (Buckhead Pizza Co where they give them dough to play with while we wait) because I get to play with dough.

22. I know my Mommy loves me because she gives cuddles to me.

I know my daddy loves me because he gives kisses to me – the big kisses.

I know my sister loves me because she gives me hugs.

 

 

Halle Kate – 3 years 7 months

1. I love it when my daddy adventure bear hunts because I like finding treasure and cotton balls.

I love it when my mommy watches tv with me because I love watching cartoons.

I love it when my sister plays with me because she is so kind to me when she plays.

2. It makes me laugh when my daddy makes funny faces because his face is all funny.

It makes me laugh when my mommy and sister (same answer) makes funny faces because funny faces are so funny!”

3. My favorite color is red because “you know how you say ‘red’ in Spanish? ‘Rojo. Rojo, red’. This ball is rojo”.

4. My favorite kind of weather is Summer because Sumer is pretty warm.

5. My favorite thing to wear is my dinosaur shirt because I like the big dinosaur.

6. My favorite song is My Little Sunshine because it makes me laugh. (We have no idea what My Little Sunshine is)

7. My favorite food is spaghetti (long noodles with butter and parmesan cheese)…I like  them long and slurppy. Sometimes I get to play with them.

8. The best television show is Higglytown Heros because I like when they jump around.

9. I don’t like it when I spill my drink (she’d just spilled her drink at dinner) because I do not have any drink.

10. My family is special because I love my family. 

11. It is hard being a kid because it is not hard to be a kid.

12. If animals could talk I would like to talk to a puppy. And I would ask him “Arf! Arf! That’s ‘hello” in puppy English?”.

13. One rule at home I would change is that we could stay forever because we do leave now.

14. I really like learning about science, to tell new people the truth.

15. My favorite game to play is rock collection because it is a fun game. You gather all the rocks up, pick up them and put them in the bucket.

16. My favorite book is the Boogeyman book because the Boogeyman just wants to scare you.

17. My favorite toy is my grey robot because he is soft and cuddly.

18. My best friend is Conner because he is a boy.

19. My favorite thing to do is see my teachers because I go to preschool. I like preschool.

20.When I grow up I am going to be a teacher because teachers have to make us have fun.

21. My favorite restaurant is Carrabba’s because they have slimy noodles.

22. I know my Mommy loves me because she is nice.

I know my daddy loves me because is nice.

I know my sister loves me because my sister doesn’t love me. Today Matney hurted my feelings from being mean.

Nesting

*warning, pregnant 3am blog post ahead. who knows where this is headed!

Anyone know what this is a picture of???? All of our 2012 photos being organized and in albums…with captions. Whoooo hooo! I am normally much more behind than this but something about having a baby at the beginning of the year is very good motivation for being caught up!
We had a week full of rain so I stayed home when the girls were in school and got all our pictures caught up (I’d ordered them a few weeks ago), have almost finished our 2012 family scrapbook and have the 2012 blog book ready to print.
There were a few times this week that I thought “I cannot do it all and I’ve got to pick something”. As in, do the blog or the pictures or the scrapbook but I’m never going to be able to keep up with all of life and 3 big photo projects a year. And then I had dinner with my friend who’s niece just died and I was reminded about why I pick these things to spend so much time on. Whether it is for the kids because something happens to me, or it is for me because, heaven forbid, something happens to one of the girls, I want these books for the memories. I pray that one day Jared and I have been married for 40+ years and we’re flipping through them all while our 3 girls are grown up happy and healthy somewhere in the world. However, when I don’t want to spend the time on them that it takes I will remind myself that these are our memories (and since we found the m&m’s in the freezer not long ago and the house phone in the garage today clearly my memory is not going to be credible much longer). The blog is detailed like nothing else I have, the photo albums are pictures of our entire year, way more than what makes it onto the blog. And a family scrapbook is a quick overview of the year we’ve spent together. So yes, they each require a lot of time but I’m going to keep trying to keep up!

My other thoughts right now as a full term, very uncomfortable pregnant woman.
1 – Physically I really should have gotten pregnant and had my kids at 16. I’m too old for this nonsense.
2 – Emotionally I really should have waited until I was in my 40s to have kids. I sure do get a little wiser/more mature/more mellow each year. I bet if I had kids in my 40s I’d be a much better mom!
3- Jared is going to look at this list and laugh!
4- I can’t believe we’re having another baby. I’ve not been paying that much attention to it until now. I mean, I obviously knew she is coming but it’s finally seeming real. These last weeks are the hardest to me. Not just because I’m uncomfortable but because we’ve gotten this far and I just want her born and to know she is as healthy as we can possibly know at that time. Let’s get her home and figure out life as a family of 5!
5- As much as I am not looking forward to being totally sleep deprived I am MUCH more relaxed and excited this time than ever before. Matney was new, she was terrifying. HK coming when M was just a baby was exhausting. This time, while I’m sure there will be challenges, I cannot wait to snuggle this baby and enjoy her without being so stressed. I also cannot fathom having a baby and my kids being at school. Nap when the baby naps? This time it may happen!
6– I am looking forward to a week or two of Jared being home when she is born. We would both tell you that the 7 year itch has not applied in our marriage. Our first few years were so not fun. Now we’re finally in a groove and really really happy.  We’ve never had a week at home with as much time together as we’re going to have (since the girls will be at school in the morning). I am excited about “doing this baby thing with him”. We have decided we just want it to be us when she gets here. I know some friends think that is crazy! We have plenty of grandparents/family who we know would love to come help and stay here but we’re going to give it a go on our own. I am totally loving how our family is right now and think this is going to be a super fun couple of weeks. And I reserve the right to totally freak out and call for backup the first day Jared goes back to work full time if I need to. Ha!
7- I am ready to GET THIS BABY OUT OF MY BODY! I am so very thankful, and aware, of how blessed we have been to get pregnant easily and carry our babies to term with little/no complications. All that said,  I cannot wait to be comfortable again and I really can’t wait to get moving. I have had several dreams recently where I am outside running on a beautiful day and I wake up sad when I realize I can’t catch my breath walking around the house! I may hate it when I start but I see some painful (in a good way) workouts in my near future! I am by far the biggest I’ve ever been pregnant but it is strange. I weight 20+lbs more than when I delivered HK but I am in the same pregnancy clothes and my wedding ring still fits. With both girls before I couldn’t wear my rings after 6 months. Strange how the number on a scale can be so different but sizes be the same. That’s probably a life lesson for me to learn!
8 – if I don’t get off this computer an accomplish something more than a blog post my to-do lists are going to start stacking up again!

Princess Baking Party

Halle Kate and I went to the most fun birthday party tonight. A girl in her class turned 4 and had a party at Pink Pastry Parlor. It was one fun night!

Be ready to be shocked. The invitation was pink, had princesses all over it and HK still wanted to go. She even dressed herself in a dress and bow.

 

When we got there the girls got to jump on a big bed and have a pillow fight. At first they all looked nervously at us moms like “are you sure we’re not going to get in trouble?”. Once we’d given them permission they were all giggles and bounces. And all us mamas had huge smiles watching them have so much fun.

After they jumped for a while we went into a room where, with the help of a pink employee, every two girls made a batch of cupcakes. They were so excited.

 

Once the batter was in the oven they got to make their own icing. Pretty much every girl chose pink or purple….except HK who wanted “green like slime”. That’s my girl! She also was more than happy to sample her icing. They were some sugared up girls by the time we brought them home!

 

While the cupcakes baked the girls went to dance on the runway. At first they were all very shy.

Poor HK. Do you see her in the picture below? Yep, that’s my peanut with the hat that kept falling over her head. I finally took it away. All these girls are together in class at preschool. HK is not the youngest but she sure is the smallest.

Once the music cranked up the pink employees helped teach them a dance.

And then HK showed her true colors. See her jumping in the picture below? By the time Justin Beiber was done singing “baby baby” Halle Kate had danced and jumped so much that her tights fell all the way around her ankles. I was videoing and you can hear me say “her Daddy will be so proud” as another mom pulled them up for her. Many of the other girls eventually warmed up and danced but HK stole the show. She was wild! Several parents commented that “she sure knew that song” and I had to tell them that no, she’d never heard a Beiber song before. She’s just that wild!

Once the dancing was over we went into another room for a tea party and dinner. There were sandwiches, fruit, veggies, chips, brownies and marshmallows. HK’s plate ended up with brownies and marshmallows. Again, sugar rush!

 

The birthday girl had a huge Barbie cake and a cupcake tower. The girls ate cake and when they finished the cupcakes were out of the oven.

Time for icing! Each girl got 3 cupcakes to ice and then we packed them up to bring home….along with another cupcake from the tower. It’s a shame sugar isn’t a food group!

Halle Kate was very proud of her green slime creations!

After cupcakes we headed into another room with doll houses and TVs. My child found a punching bag and stayed there beating it while everyone else cheered her on. She has seen me wearing gloves/doing that in a class at the gym and was very proud to get to try herself.

Doll house area.

At the end all the girls sat down for a picture together. They were shown how to cross their legs and sit up straight but that lesson didn’t stick!

 

Honestly, I wasn’t very excited about going but we had such a fun time. I think as a parent if your baby girl is having fun then you’re having fun! I know both of my girls would love a party there, especially Matney. I went to the front desk to ask about parties before we left. Ummmmm, holy smokes! The smallest size you can have is 7 children for this party. Which costs……wait for it…..grab your water so you don’t choke…..$700. Yep, $100 per kid for the first 7 kids and then $66 per child more than 7. So, in case you wondered, no, you will not be getting an invite to a party here from us EVER. If you’d like to throw a party for your child here pretty please invite ours because they’d love to come!

Frankie and a Car Ride

Every day the girls take FOREVER to load up and leave for preschool because they have to take a “guy” on the trip. Some random dolls/toys always ride along to school and then get strapped into the carseat while the girls are at school.

 

On Friday, Matney left McKenna in the car and went to school while HK ran around town with me. In one store I had a $10 credit and HK fell in love with this random guy left over from Halloween and named him “Frankie”. He was only $1.85 so she got to bring him home and we picked out an owl for Matney. I paid no attention to what she was doing in the backseat until we got in the carpool line to grab Matney. This is what I found when I turned around….who thinks that Matney was impressed when she got in the car? She.was.not. According to Matney, Mckenna will NOT be riding with Frankie and Robot….and HK thought it was so dang funny. Rotten girl!

Sunday Fun Day

We spent the day on Sunday having a fun time as a family… before Evelyn gets here and we don’t get to leave the house again for the next two years!

Jared surprised the girls with a trip to Panera for breakfast. Matney LOVES a cinnamon crunch bagel and HK LOVES a chocolate chip…and I’m pregnant, all bagels are yummy!



It was 70 degrees in January so we played outside in the backyard for a while. It was so nice to be in fresh air! In these pictures Jared was being a troll under the bridge (slide).


Then they had all sorts of races around the yard. Halle Kate got new shoes that morning because her current grey shoes were falling totally apart. She had worn them every day since August. I’d tried getting her in cute grey TOMS but they all have glitter or sparkles and she wouldn’t wear them. We found these in the boys shoe department at Target and HK was sold!  



The girls picked Mexican for lunch. HK LOVES cheese dip and M likes a quesadilla and we all like chips! We hung out at home for a while in the afternoon and then went to the grocery store together.  We had such a super fun day.

We are all excited to have Evelyn join the family but we’re going to fit all the fun we can into these last few weeks of free time as family of four!