Baby #3 Update

There is nothing that exciting to report on baby #3. I'm 23 weeks and 4 days pregnant so we're a little over half way there. This baby seems to be pretty gentle so far with the kicking but I'd imagine he still has a decent amount of space to work with. I'm sure his mannerisms will change when he starts to feel like a watermelon in a sardine can. I'm starting to notice that acidic foods give me heartburn a lot easier now than than before and I'm starting to regret the half dozen or so homemade Caramel de-Lites that I ate today.

Our official due date is May 20, so with the schedule c-section this little guy will probably make his appearance sometime between the 13th and the 18th but we won't know that for a while. I have an appointment on Wednesday and will be 24 weeks that day. According to Babycenter, baby #3 is currently about the size of a large mango. So far I can handle a large mango sitting on my bladder but I'm not looking forward to the mini watermelon that is projected for week 39.

Gabby's Breakthrough

Gabby has always been the more bashful of our children--as evidenced by Colin introducing himself to the bagger at the comissary the other day--but a few weeks ago she final broke out of her shell a little bit.

During offertory at church, one of the serves stands out in front of the alter with a basket for the little kids to bring up their money. This is a great opportunity for the kids to get up and run around about half way through mass and it's fun to watch the little ones waddle up there. Colin has been running up to the basket since about the time he could walk. Gabby, on the other hand, has been to shy to do this until about 3 weeks ago. Sometimes the kids get Starburst as treats during church if they're quiet and behave. That particular Sunday we told Gabby that she could have a second Starburst if she took her money up to the basket instead of waiting for the one that comes down the row and she took off without a question. I was kind of surprised to see her go but was very proud of her. When she got back to her seat she shouted, "Mommy, I did it!" loud enough so everyone with 15 feet could hear her and then gave me a big high-5. Then she sat down and said, "See, that was easy," like I had been the one who was afraid of the 30ft journey to the front of the church.

Now we just have to work on social interactions with other kids. The last time we went to the Children's Museum she pointed to a group of girls playing in the grocery store area and said, "Mommy, will you ask those girls if I can play with them?"

Decorating the tree

Gabby says, "Ta-da!"














Colin kisses his Thomas ornament.

My Crafty Christmas

I took it easy on knitting or sewing gifts this year. I haven't had a whole lot of time to knit lately and the time I did have was mostly spent sleeping. Baby #3 made me very tired for the first trimester. Anyway, I finished all of my crafting for the season today. I made each of the kids a Christmas stocking. They are made from the same pattern that my great-aunt Shirley used to make stockings for my family, and I'm assuming many others. The only thing I have left to do is find someone to embroider the kids' names in the white cuff at the top. In case you can't figure it out on your own, Gabby's is the pink one and Colin's the green--they chose their own colors.



















The only gift that I knit this year is a felted purse for our daycare lady. I used an entrelac pattern that I already had and just altered the colors and number of rows along with need size and handle attachment. I think it turned out nice and I hope Ms. Gina likes it.













I've got a new scarf pattern that I'm going to start tomorrow and hopefully I'll have some time over the holidays to do some more knitting. I might try to get a start on a stocking for baby #3 and I think Matt needs one too. Gabby says his should be bwoo.

Gabby the Snooper

Matt and I have been hiding Christmas presents under our bed to keep the kids from playing with them and to keep their presents a surprise. This morning Gabby announces that she's found some toys under our bed and she wanted to know if she could play with them. Now I was a pretty good snooper in my day but I don't recall ever gloating about my victories. I had to lie to her and tell her the presents were for someone else and then she cried because she thought that meant she didn't have any presents at all. I assured her that her presents were hiding somewhere else and she immediately headed off to my room to look for them. I guess I'm going to have to wrap the presents before she finds them all and has no surprises left.

Wireless headphones=God's gift to parents

When we got the new car in May it came with wireless headphones to be used with the DVD player in the back seat. Matt tested them out to make sure they worked but we hadn't shown them to the kids until today. For the last hour of our trip home today Matt and I could listen to music we wanted, talk to each other, and even just enjoy some quiet time. The kids were watching Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer...you know, the special that is on TV every year at Christmas time. They really enjoyed the experience and so did Matt and I. Plus they looked so cute.

Gabby and Colin's Christmas List

So the questions have started coming in and I'm going to make it easy and just post some Christmas gift ideas for the kids. So for those of you who have been asking...

Clothes sizes: Gabby 5T and Colin 4T; both wear size 11 shoes

1. They have both requested new pajamas with a zipper--a.k.a. footie pajamas. Colin really likes to zip them up by himself and he really likes dinosaur jammies.

2. Matt and I are getting the kids a Leapfrog Tag. The pack came with The Cat in the Hat and Ozzie and Mack books with a carrying case so any other books to use with the Tag would be great. There is a Disney Princess book and a Cars book that I know they would love.

3. Every time I ask Gabby what she wants or suggest something to put on her list she says, "No, we already have that." She has been in love with Dora the Explorer lately though so pretty much anything with Dora on it would probably be a win. The Disney princess are also favorites.

4. The only thing Colin has specifically asked for from the Target toy catalog is the Playskool Tonka Bounce Back Racer. Which of course is out of stock in every store in the Omaha metro area. He points at the picture and says. "I get dis, for Trissmiss?" Good luck finding one though.

Please don't go overboard on the kids this year. They really have plenty of toys, books, games, etc. and too many more will mean we have to add on to the toy bins in the basement. Getting to see family and friends is gift enough to keep them happy.

Update: The Bounce Back Racer has been found and also the books Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Walter the Farting Dog are taken from the list.

The Tie-Breaker

When I was growing up my dad was outnumbered 4 girls-1 boy. Matt's family was the opposite. It was his mom and 5 boys. Right now our house is evenly split 2 girls-2 boys, but that's about to change.

In case you didn't know yet we're expecting baby #3. My due date is set right now at April 12th but that could be changing next week when I go for another ultrasound. April 12th is kind of a guess at this point so they're going to measure the baby and see if maybe this baby is going to wait until May to appear.

We're all very happy and excited for the new baby to come. Gabby and Colin know there is a baby in mommy's belly and Gabby even likes to kiss my belly and tell the baby good morning some days. We'll hopefully find out the sex next week too but Gabby is convinced it's a girl. I asked her if it would be okay if this baby is a boy and she said, "Momma, it can be a boy next time but this time it's a girl." If she's right I'm going to send her off to Hogwarts.

Back to blogging season

Well, it's been almost 3 months since I last blogged. I think there is a definite blogging season since many of the blogs I read have also been dormant for a while (egh, egh). I think that at the end of the summer the last thing that anyone wants to be doing is sitting inside staring at a computer. So we all abandon our blogs for a few months so that we can squeeze the last bit of outdoor activity out of the fall before the cold weather comes along. Cold weather arrived in Nebraska today...thus the blog entry.

We've been pretty busy this fall. My new job is awesome. It took a while to adjust to traveling to 3 schools each day, but now that I'm used to it I really like it. It's nice to have a little break between each set of classes even if it is spent in the car.

The kids are doing really well. They've both been working on developing their vocabulary and Colin has started talking in full sentences lately. Gabby always has something interesting to say and has no qualms about ordering her parents around the house. We're still working on manners. Colin is working on potty training. He'll go all day without an accident as long as you watch him very carefully and put him on the potty every hour or so. Gabby was so much better about telling us when she needed to go but I guess that's the difference between boys and girls.

Matt just finished up a big project at work a couple of weeks ago and is busy working on papers for graduate school. He'll be done in May and then I think we'll stay out of higher education for a little while.

I added a few pictures to the kids' Shutterfly site. They're just from Halloween but it's something. Email me if you need the password.

I'll try to be better about updating this blog now that we're back in blogging season, but I'm not going to promise anything.