My Life

Tomorrow I'll be 35 weeks pregnant!
Funny how excited I get when checking off another week on the calendar.
We're getting close now. Hopefully closer than I think.



At about 4pm every day I want to run...errr....waddle upstairs, take a long shower, put my pjs on and go to bed. I'm pretty much done with the day at 4pm. Unfortunately, the day is not done with me.



I feel like I'm walking in circles accomplishing lots but not the most important stuff. Like today for example; I spent 2 hours cleaning my car (necessary before putting a baby in it, trust me!) But then I decided that my kids car seats were gross, so I took them all apart and am washing them and then will have to re-install them (this was not necessary...it would have been more productive to actually change the sheets on their beds).



I need to actually stick to my list of things that NEED to be done and quit it with all the extra projects.



My kids decided to start yelling at each other about 3 weeks ago. I mean seriously not getting along. All the sudden McKenna has decided that she's not going to put up with the slightest annoyance from Christian. It's pretty ugly around here. It's depressing, but today there was a slight break through. We've been memorizing 1 Cor. 13:4 as a family and today we were in the car and they were fighting over something and Christian said "McKenna, remember that 1 Corinthian's says "love is patient, love is kind" and McKenna said, "Okay Christian, you can have it!" I just about drove off the road, but just kept my mouth shut. It was one of those moments where I felt like the Lord was telling me that I just need to remain faithful in teaching them His word and he will work on their hearts.



I haven't blogged about it and I don't ever plan to, but we've been having lots of drama going on in our family. It's terribly painful. I've cried and lost sleep and just been sick with worry over the whole situation. I feel like I've lived through this nightmare once before and yet here we are again. Different people, different circumstances but the same heartbreak. I find myself constantly telling the Lord that it is clearly time for Him to return and just take control of this sinful world. Why on earth does he even put up with this foolish mess? We are such foolish people, constantly "exchanging the truth of God for a lie." ((sigh)) And just for the record, I am not casting stones. Goodness gracious I am so far from perfect it's just plain ugly. Trust me I could really vent on this here blog, but I won't. There are quite a few Proverbs about how a hasty tongue only brings trouble. Trying to take that to heart. Okay, enough about that.....well, actually...could you just especially pray for our family tomorrow??

So what temp. do you keep your thermostat set on these days?? I'm just curious because our electric company just raised their rates by 3% and on top of that they didn't charge us enough last month (for our estimated bill) and I just about had a heart attack when I opened our electric bill this month. It was outrageous. Now I'm shopping for a different electric company, but it makes me a little nervous to switch to some unknown "family owned" company versus a big publicly traded company. Not sure what we're going to do. So in the meantime we have our thermostat set on 62 and I'm freezing! And I'm convinced that my kids must be freezing too, although they've never complained once. Ryan just thinks I'm a whimp. I probably am :)

And we're off....

This is how McKenna felt about getting her picture taken yesterday and she pretty much feels the same way about going to the dentist today! I don't blame her one bit!
Hopefully it's quick and painless, but I have a feeling it's going to involve a follow-up appointment and we happen to be on a little bit of a time crunch around here.

The Birthday Girl

My big three year old this morning with her new pink kitchen!!

What a fun day we've had :)

This is when I get all sappy....

(Don't get too excited....I did not have a baby! Nope still enormously pregnant! That's Christian meeting McKenna for the first time).

Tonight is the eve of McKenna's third birthday! And tonight at bedtime this is what Christian prayed: "Dear Jesus, Thank you for giving me Kenna for my sister. And thank you that "Baby Chatt" is growing bigger and bigger so that he can be my brother soon. And help Kenna to have a good birthday tomorrow. In Jesus name, Amen."



I remember every single detail of this night three years ago. If you want to read all about it you can click HERE. I love that I blogged all about it so that I could remember. THIS was my post I wrote about coming home from the hospital with her (the pictures are so sweet). And THIS is the post my sister wrote announcing McKenna's safe arrival into the world!!

We are ready to really celebrate tomorrow. We're not having a real party. Just our family and my parents, but McKenna doesn't even know the difference and that's all the party she needs!! There's a princess balloon in her room just to remind her about her special day as soon as she opens her eyes in the morning. We're having pink doughnuts for breakfast. She's getting a little present in the morning to give her something fun to play with during the day while she patiently waits for her "party" when Daddy gets home from work (he's better hurry)! I'm planning on keeping her occupied by decorating the dining room with streamers and balloons for her party! And then there's the pink cake with a princess on top! I don't know who is more excited; McKenna or me??!!! I asked McKenna what she wanted to have for dinner on her birthday and she told me she wanted cake, candy and crackers. My parents will be relieved to know that we aren't going to go with McKenna's menu.

I snuggled McKenna in her bed tonight until she fell asleep. I just wanted to savor my two year old one last time. And this is when I just should wrap up this post before I start bawling....

Thank you Jesus for my precious girl!

6lbs 13oz

Believe it or not, that's the estimate of Baby Chatt's weight right now at just 34weeks. Now it's an estimate, so it totally could be off. There have been people who have been told they're having a 10lb baby only to deliver a nice 8lb cutie a short time later. So we continue with our "wait and see" plan. February 25th will be our big decision making day. It's my 37 week appointment and that's when we will find out the results of one final ultrasound before we decided whether or not to induce or have a c-section. Honestly, I'm just praying that I go into labor on my own right around February 25th. That would just be perfect...unlikely...but perfect.

Let's play a game.....

Anyone want to guess how big "Baby Chatt" was today?? Now, keep in mind these are ultrasound estimates. They measure the baby's femur, stomach and head circumference and then somehow calculate how much the baby weighs based on an average of those measurements. I'm 34 weeks along right now (but measuring 37).


Okay, start guessing.......

Baby Boy Update

I'm heading to bed in just a minute, but wanted to give you a quick update on our baby boy! I'm having my fourth ultrasound in the morning. I'm excited about it. It's fun to see him when he's this far along and I'm hoping that he hasn't grown too much.

I saw my OB today. I'm officially 34 weeks and I'm measuring 37 weeks. Yikes! I've been measuring three weeks ahead for at least half of this pregnancy. Even after I had a stomach virus and didn't eat for days and lost weight, he was still measuring 3 weeeks ahead. I'm glad he's enjoying life in there :)

I think we made some decisions today. The big one is that I feel pretty certain that we will be having a March baby and not a February baby. If I do decide to be induced early, we aren't going to do it super early. I've been wrestling with "what to do" for two weeks now. I've prayed about it and feel like I come to a conclusion and then change my mind. I just don't like having to make decisions about this kind of thing...In the back of my mind I keep thinking that it's God who should be in control of this ((Not me)) and I should just let it all play out the way he wants to. After all doesn't the Bible say that it's God who "ordains our days"!!! But I think that is probably taking that scripture out of context. God has placed some amazing medical professionals in my life and he's given them wisdom and I need to heed their advice.

So today my OB asked me, "Do you want to do what's going to be the best interest of you and your body and your recovery or do you want to do what's in the best interest of your baby and his body and his recovery?" Easy answer. Obviously the little man comes first and I'll do whatever I have to do make sure that he arrives safely in my arms!!

We will be making a final decision at 37 weeks (after I have my fifth ultrasound)! I'll keep you posted!!

An M&M Birthday

My dear sweet Emma is about to turn 10!! Holy cow...really?? How can she be almost 10??? Oh my word I remember just where I was standing when I got the phone call that she was born. My cell phone had died because I hadn't charged it and I called the hospital from a pay phone (who even uses those anymore) and I stood there talking on that pay phone crying. Oh my, anyway..... you guys know that a double digit birthday is a big deal and she's having a bunch of school friends come to her party. Now if you know Emma, you know that she is no ordinary girl. Therefore, ordinary birthday parties are not for her. Last year she had a "science experiment" birthday party. Only Emma!!

This year she wants to have an M&M party because "M&M" is apparently her nickname at school. This idea has Amy just a little stumped. I got a phone call tonight asking for some ideas.
So I thought I might bug you for some brilliant ideas too.
The more I think about it and hop around online, the more I'm realizing that this is a really fun idea. Fun colors! Fun food!!! Fun games!

Check out all the different M&M party supplies you can buy on ebay (HERE). I'm surprised that there are actually some decent options out there.

My Party Ideas so far:

When you invite guests tell them what color M&M they're supposed to represent and have them wear that color (then you can easily divide into teams for games).

Play pin the "m" on the M&M.

Carvel makes an ice cream cake shaped like an M&M

Put a bunch of M & Ms in a jar and as the kids arrive have them guess how many M&Ms there are. Whoever is the closest wins the jar of M&Ms.

Make a batch of cupcakes, frost them with different bright colors, and decorate with M&Ms as the toppings. The kids can make different designs on the cupcakes before eating.

Buy M&Ms in every flavor (plain, peanut, coconut, pretzel, peanut butter, dark chocolate, almond, etc) and then have a taste testing contest. Give each guest one M&M at a time. When they eat it they need to write down what kind of M&M it is. (For example; #1 Pretzel, #2 Almond, etc) and whoever gets the most right wins an M&M prize.

Divide the girls into teams (based on the color they are wearing) and play a trivia or true/false game using all the M&M facts found HERE.

Christian thinks they should hide bags of M&Ms around the house and make everyone find them :)

Divide the girls into their teams. Give each team a large bag of M&Ms. On your count have them dump out the M&Ms and which ever team is able to categorize them by color the fastest wins. To make the game last longer you could have various places around the house (in different rooms) where they have to put their M&Ms once they've been divided by color. For example; all their red M&Ms would go in a red bucket in the family room. All Green M&Ms go in the green bowl in Emma's room....

Okay, I'm out of ideas. Your turn. Leave a comment if you can think of something fun to add to this party. A craft idea would be fun or some sort of fun food idea.