Today I'm "Nesting" - Updated

(We had fun checking on this nest all summer long! It was in a bush by our patio.)

Today I'm paying bills and organizing every.single.thing. in every.single.box in our crawl space. It's fun (jk)!

You know what??? I think "nesting" is actually when a pregnant mom begins to let reality set in that she's going to have a tiny little person to take care of. Then she begins to panic because she realizes that she's never going to have another spare moment in her day. And she goes wild with organizing every.single.box in her crawl space. Yes, indeed. Nesting is really just another word for panic!

So there you have it! Today I'm feeling a bit of panic. The same panic I've been feeling all week as I have organized and repacked every Christmas decoration we own. And then there was the random closet in the bonus room that got a make-over. I actually spent $68.00 at Target (which if you really know how frugal I am, that is a small fortune to me) this week on plastic tubs, baskets and buckets. I think I have a vague memory of using a very loud voice to explain to McKenna about how she should keep her books organized on her book shelf. No wonder the rest of my family is outside (away from me) playing in the snow :)

The Update:

We're NOT done, but that is the trash pile! The giveaway pile is even bigger!! And it feels refreshing!

Happy Birthday Jesus Party 2010!

Welcome to our 5th annual Happy Birthday Jesus party!! When we first started having parties to celebrate Jesus there were only five kids involved. We're now up to eight and next year we'll have nine! It's a fun tradition. I would honestly love to have a Happy Birthday Jesus party every week for the entire month of December just so we could invite lots of different friends because it's such a meaningful tradition. It's so good for my kids to be with other kids who love Jesus and who know that this season is really about Him. There is nothing more precious than a room full of daddies, mommies and kids singing Happy Birthday to Jesus!
McKenna, Addie and Gwen are such sweet little friends!

Oh dear, there's a princess crying!

Each family gets to decorate their own Happy Birthday Jesus cake that's in the shape of a Christmas tree.

The kids load it up with sprinkles and candy.

These ladies were taking their cake decorating seriously!

Addie, taking it all in!

Can you see why each family gets their own cake?? Look at all those hands that are involved! Oh my! But the kids love it and we love these precious friends that the Lord has blessed us with.

I Saw Him

I saw our little boy today (on an ultrasound, of course). He's getting so big and he's so cute!!! I actually got a good look at his face and it's just dear! He gave me a thumbs up...actually I think he was trying to get his thumb in his mouth. It was so cute. And he's still a boy, I just asked them to make sure since I'll be painting a bedroom soon!

I'm going to give the doctor a call tomorrow to get an "official" report of what they found out with this ultrasound. I pretty much already know what they're going to tell me.....he's big. So I'm just hoping that he'll decided to show up 10 days early like his sister did. Then we won't have a problem!!

I can not even believe that I'm one day away from being 30 weeks! I remember how long this pregnancy seemed back in August. Where on earth did the time go??

I am going to have to scan the ultrasound pics I got from today and add them to this post later because they are way too cute! I've never had an ultrasound this far along in a pregnancy and it was quite amazing to see what a little person he has become already!!

My Daughter

McKenna loves hand-me-downs!
Whenever we get a bag of clothes from Abby, McKenna just has to try some things on.
And if there happens to be something in the bag with Strawberry Shortcake, Dora, My Little Pony or any other character, she absolutely won't part with it.

It does not matter if the dress is a size 6! She not only tries it on but then she'll ask to have her picture taken and she'll run around the house posing by various chairs, doors and tables.

But it's this last picture that I just had to show you.

It sort of took my breath away the first time I looked at it.

Then I showed it to my sister and she confirmed exactly what I was already thinking.

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She looks just like me!
That is what I looked like when I was two.

Do you see how she has a touch of dark circles under her eyes??

She gets that from me (I've battled it my whole life).

Her nose is mine too.

And I just adore that final picture of her :)

Precious daughter of mine!

The Night Before Christmas

Ryan, Christian and PopPop!

We started out our evening by heading to church!
And when we got home it was time to eat.

The meal would have been a lot better if the thermostat on my oven had been working. ((sigh)) Oh well. At least the roast had been in the crock pot all day. The oven is still not fixed. No baking for me.

After dinner each person got to open one Christmas present (that's our tradition).

My parents gave Ryan and I a tiny little digital video camera. Until now we still had a video camera with tapes in it. It was time to move on, especially with a new baby coming! They gave it to us on Christmas Eve so we would have it for the next morning.

Don't they look angelic sitting there waiting for their presents?

PopPop got some new slippers.

And McKenna helped Grandmom open a new tablecloth.

Hmmm...wonder what's in those bags?? I'll give you a hint...they've been asking for them for months and there is a very catchy commercial that has been sung in our house a few too many times.

Kenna with her pillow pet!

Can you tell that my kids were completely thrilled that they finally got the pillow pets that they had been talking about for the last two months!?!

McKenna got to put Baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas Eve while we all sang "Away in a Manger."

So proud of herself for putting Baby Jesus in the manger.
And on Christmas morning, when Christian could hardly stand the anticipation of presents waiting downstairs, McKenna came down the steps and was talking about how excited she was to see Baby Jesus in the manger. She headed straight to the manger to check him out, until Christian got her attention and she finally peeked into the family room. Then she was off to check it all out, but I love that she visited with Baby Jesus first.

29 Weeks???

That little stat seems to be up for debate these days, although I still firmly believe that I am at 29 weeks. My doctor visit today was interesting. I took the big kids with me because I knew I was just going to be in and out. I thought it would be fun for them to hear the heart beat. McKenna was excited about that but she did not like it when they took my blood pressure. She got all worried and had to sit on my lap and hold my hand. I assured her that it didn't hurt, but she wasn't so sure about that.



So I'm measuring ahead of schedule. I have with each of my pregnancies and it's never really been a big deal. The doctor was convinced that McKenna was just going to be huge, but she was a very healthy little seven pounder. So I'm not getting too excited. They decided to go ahead and do another ultrasound this coming Thursday because they are convinced that my due date must be sooner that the March 19th date we're all planning on, but I also reminded them that they also came up with the exact same due date that I came up with when they did my very first ultrasound (you know the little peanut one) at 8 weeks. Drama! Drama!



I did have a few moments of panic today when it occured to me that I could possibly have a February baby. Umm...not ready for that. I have so much to do. So tonight I started going through all the baby clothes that I've kept for the last 5 years (what on earth was I thinking??). I have kept everything and had no idea just how much stuff that was until it was all piled in the basement. I've spent hours going through everything and I have a very healthy pile of girl stuff to giveaway. It's so hard to part with some of the dresses and outfits that have such strong memories connected to them. My boy clothes are not matching up seasonally very well, so I am going to have to buy some warm little sleepers. Christian was a June baby, so I have lots of adorable 3 month pairs of shorts and the cutest little short sleeved shirts, but I don't think we're going to be using those in March.



I have been packing the clothes that the kids outgrown in those Ziploc Big Bags and when I opened some of the bags of McKenna's baby stuff it actually smelled like my sweet baby girl. That almost made me cry and I realized for the first time this pregnancy that I'm ready! I've been so busy and worried about so many little things that I haven't savored the thought of having a newborn very much. Instead I've been worrying about how on earth I'm going to nurse a baby and take Christian to school and t-ball practice. How on earth am I going to get this baby on a schedule of two naps a day with everything else we have going on in our lives?? How am I going to do this?? This is the first time I've had a baby and actually had other stuff going on in life that I have to do. But tonight I looked at all those precious little baby outfits and I let myself get excited and I felt peace about it all falling into place. I may never get sleep again but I'm not sleeping so good these days either, so it doesn't really matter.

This always happens....

when I take too many pictures. I have a hard time figuring out which ones to include in blog posts. It gets overwhelming and then I don't blog any of it. Then I get behind and I hate to put things on here out of order and so I end up in a blogging slump because I feel like I can't move on without including all the important stuff.

I'm there again.

It happened after I took over 300 pictures for Thanksgiving. And I hardly blogged any of them.

Then I took almost 200 pictures on just Christmas Eve and Christmas day and you guys haven't seen one of them.

What I need is two hours where I could just sit down and blog it all in order. Anyone have 2 spare hours?? Yeah, me neither.

Baby Kicks

Christian just felt his little brother kick for the first time! He was so excited! It was so cute. This little boy is active the most when I lay down on my side, so I crawled in bed with Christian and he sat there with his hands on my belly just waiting. He was not disappointed. Christian's decided that his little brother is in there practicing his soccer kicks so that when he's born they can play soccer together :) He was thrilled to pieces when I told him that he's only the 2nd person to feel his brother move. And tomorrow the kids are going to go with me to my baby doctor appt. I don't know if it's a good idea or a bad idea, but I think it should be a good experience for them to hear the heart beat. McKenna is excited about it and Christian only wanted to know if he could bring his DS along. So apparently this is not all that life changing for him, but he's going anyway!!!

McKenna and I went shopping today and we bought some diapers for the new baby. And then McKenna decided that she could give her diapers to the new baby and she could wear big girl undies. So guess what we're going to do starting tomorrow?? Potty training!! She's been technically ready for a long, long time. I mean seriously, when her diaper is wet she takes it off, throws it in the trash and goes and gets a new pull up and puts it on. But I have hesitated to potty train her or put any pressure on her at all because we've been dealing with some serious constipation issues for almost a year now. It is just plain awful/painful/traumatic sometimes and she has to take prescription meds to get herself straightened out. We just went through this again over Christmas, so I'm not completely committing to the idea of potty training. We're just going to give it a try and see how she does. I think the worst thing I could do was force her to do something traumatic, so for once the ball is in her court. I know that doesn't sound like much of a strategy and as I'm typing this it's sort of sounding to me like a recipe for failure, but we'll see what happens. I'll keep you posted.