25 weeks

When you count time in weeks it's easy to see how fast it goes... and how slow. I can't believe all that's happened in the last 25 weeks. It's gone by so fast. Yet, when I think about having 15 weeks of pregnancy left it still seems so far away.

It's not just the weeks ticking by that remind me I'm growing a baby - I gained {11 pounds} in {three} weeks! I haven't had much of an appetite up until that point -it's definitely come back, and with a vengance, too. In one week I went from wearing my normal clothes to fitting into NOTHING. Litterally. All my old maternity clothes are summer. But I was trying to hold out on buying maternity until the winter clothes came out. Plus, I've been harboring a secret hope that my low waisted pre-preg. jeans would see me through to the end - well, that's not gonna happen!

And on top of that I was waiting for a difinitive prognosis of placenta previa, that they suspected at my last ultrasound - why by a new wardrobe if I'll just be on bed rest, anyway?

I went in Friday for my appointment and the ultrasound was an answer to prayer - NO placenta previa. It's still close to my cervix but far away enough that I'm not at risk for hemmorage and as long baby is head down by delivery time I can have a normal delivery.

While the Doc was checking things out with the placenta I couldn't resist asking, "as long as you're taking a look can you tell if it's a boy or girl this time?" The doctor got a GREAT shot between the legs - what he saw was.... umbilical cord!!! The cord was hanging down right over the all important "spot". At one point he thought he saw the makings of a "boy part" but when he turned on the sound it had a pulse so he knew that was part of the cord. So, bottom line - Doc saw NOTHING to say it is a boy but the cord made it impossible to say that was a girl. "The little "worm" could be hiding behind the cord or there isn't one and it's a girl," That's what he said to me.

Guess we are in for a surprise! I was a bit dissapointed feeling like I couldn't "prepare" without knowing the gender. But I've decided that the basics will do until we know. A couple girl outfits and a blanket and a couple boy outfits and a blanket - everything with tags; that's all we need for a while, right?!

Last night something a little special happened. During dinner the baby started going CRAZY. I had Austin come over (he seems the most interested in the baby so I called him over first) and feel the punches. Austin's face lit up and he was SO happy. He just wanted the baby to "punch" him all night long. Then Landon and Cameron came and joined the fun. We are just all so excited to have this baby come to our family we don't even really talk about weather it's a boy or a girl.

I know these next 15 weeks will fly by fast; so while I'm counting I'm going to enjoy the time! (....and try to curb my weight gain a little.... :) )

..because..

• conjunction
• definition - for the reason that; due to the fact that
• pronunciation by a two year old: be-pohz

EVERY meal with Isaac goes a little something like this:

"oh look. I did it. that was fun. hmm, it's empty? just like that?" Look how happy he is that he's dumped his bowl out... And not just on his high chair tray - rest assured that there is plenty of soup on the floor and the other chairs, and his cup of water (he refuses a "sippy-cup") has been dumped over the side and thrown across the kitchen

He looks up to see me looking at him, "there she goes again. on and on about not throwing my food. blah blah blah..."

"hurry. look cute so she doesn't get too mad this time."

Then, when I turn around to get a paper towel or washcloth or ... hose, I hear the unmistakeable sound of Zac's bowl being thrown across the kitchen to land somewhere near his cup. When I look back at him he gives me this look like, "who me?" or maybe it's more like, "whatchya gonna do about it?" I'm not sure....

3 meals and 2 snacks a day

7 days a week

Will this ever end?!

The other day when I asked him, "WHY do you think you always have to throw your food?" I wasn't expecting an answer. But I got one. He gave me his best innocent look and said,

"Be-Pohz". Well then, that explains it....

Family Night Fun and a Preschool Repeat

Cameron had Columbus Day off work and the weather was a lot warmer than it has been so we took advantage. The boys spent the day finishing the shelves in the garage - not only do they look awesome but they hold SO much - and I finished sorting through my winter and maternity clothes - and determined that I HAVE to go shopping :) - and did some laundry.

We had planned on heading to Boise afterwards but we got carried away in our work and ended up not finishing until almost 5:00. So we headed to Smokey's Pizza (the only good non-fast food resteraunt here - believe me, I'm not exaggerating) and then went to a corn maze and pumpkin patch out by Bruneau Sand Dunes. It was cute and inexpensive and we had a great time just hanging out together.

I loved how they all celebrated when they got to the top

We ran around in the hay and picked out pumpkins. Then we ran around in the hay some more. The older boys led the way while Isaac entertained us during the hour we spent in the corn maze (yes, I just said, "hour". Thank goodness it wasn't dark, seesh!) He made up songs {Oooby doo... dooby doo... laudy doo}, gave us a play by play of what we were seeing {coin, big coin, pop coin, coin, coin, pop coin}, told us what different animals say {before he says an animal sound he says, "what 'bout the hoise say" or "what 'bout the boid say"} and pretty much jabbered non-stop the whole time {"wuv oo Daddy. Daddy's bubby (buddy)...no Mommy's bubby...no Daddy's bubby... no Zaustin's bubby....no Nandon's bubby..."}

The next day we went back with Austin's preschool class. We left with a couple more pumpkins, a ride on the tractor, straw covering our coats and gloves and corn and wheat in the kids pockets and shoes. And holes in both kids' pants. Now that's the description of a boy's paradise...

Family Christmas Card Pictures

In THIS house Fall {Autumn} means:

*Flonase and Zyrtec - Landon's allergies are WAY worse here

*the smell of the air at night - the smell of fall - I love it!

*lots of weekend projects. I finally got Landon's Star Wars pillow made. First time I've sewn a pillow - and the piping. I only had to rip the thing apart once.


* the flies and mosquitos are mostly gone!! That is a huge plus for me. Still dealing with spiders but hopefully the winter will take care of them.

*we have soccer 4 nights a week plus 2 games on Saturdays


*"good" TV finally comes back on - after the kids go to bed we watch our recorded Grey's, Private Practice, Cougar Town, Modern Family, Dancing with the Stars, Brothers and Sisters - OKAY, so I watch those shows and Cameron is forced to endure them (I think he gets into them though!). He loves college football season so I'm forced to endure that on weekends (and I don't get into that except to see who won - that's all that really matters to me).

*Creamy Vegetable Soup becomes our favorite family dinner - you HAVE to try it; even the kids love it. Here's the recipe:

1 turnip peeled and quartered
4 medium potatoes peeled and cubed
2 carrots peeled and cut in chunks
2 celery ribs cut in chunks
1 small onion peeled and cut in chunks
1 medium tomato cut in chunks
2 14 oz cans chicken broth
1 chicken broth can water
salt/pepper
Italian seasoning to taste
dash tabasco sauce
1 tsp dried rosemary
sour cream for garnish

Put all vegetables in pot with chicken broth, water and seasonings. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes stirring occasionally. Do NOT drain. Put all soup in blender (you may have to do this in batches). Blend until thick and creamy. Serve with a dallop of sour cream. (my kids love it with club crackers to dip in it too.)


*Spending an ENTIRE day going through drawers and hand me down boxes to pull out fall/winter clothes and put away too small summer clothes.


*Enjoying the last days of warm weather - actually, I think the warmth is gone for good now. But this was two weeks ago when Cameron took the boys on a "hike" after soccer one day and I went home with Isaac for naps. Not quite the hiking experience Colorado Springs was but fun for the kids anyway. Landon's highlight was finding a broken arrow and Austin is just happy as can be to be outside.


*Fall cleaning - I think I do more cleaning out in fall than spring. I don't know why; getting ready to hibernate for winter? You'd think we'd be all organized and cleaned out since we just moved. But we're not. Getting there though. I've got a huge Goodwill pile and Cameron's planning on building shelves for our garage this weekend.

*Did I mention soccer 4 nights a week?

*visiting pumpkin patches - we have plans to go on Monday... can't wait

*Our "Fall Feast". This is really the big Kick Off to fall that we do the Sunday after the first "official" day of Fall. Our friends, the Conlins, introduced us to this and we love it. This year instead of a roast and potatoes we did a mini-Thanksgiving dinner (I still have a severe red meat aversion for some reason). I really shouldn't say "mini" because our dinner might as well have been Thanksgiving. I made my grandma's carrot-sage stuffing, pumpkin pie with homemade crust -a first for me, Lion House rolls - the kids helped with those, and all the other Thanksgiving sides; the only difference, really, was that I cooked a turkey roast instead of a whole turkey. And just so the kids can remember all I do for them there's a picture of SOME of the dishes that DIDN'T fit in the dishwasher!! (5 hours of cooking + 1 hour of dishes + 1/2 hour of cleaning up spilled flour from the kids "help" with the rolls =20 minutes of eating and a great family tradition with lots of memories)

*Wearing jeans again. AND hiding Austin's shorts so I don't have to fight with him about wearing pants. AND waiting for Austin to go outside and "make sure" it's really cold and there really is frost on the roof before he'll agree to wear his coat.

*Holiday decorating. This is the best time of year for decorations, I think.

*Cameron's and my anniversary. It's on October 4th. This year we were in Utah for Conference weekend. So Monday I made him blow out 9 candles on our pumpkin bread. We celebrated with the kids - but we DO have a babysitter for tomorrow night so we'll see where we end up to officially celebrate 9 great years together.

We did finally get Cameron the truck he's been wanting forEVER. We'll call that our anniversary present to eachother! Actually, I'm glad he finally got it. He deserves it.

*honey crisp apples become a staple in our fridge. We were introduced to these in Iowa and although nothing will compare to Wilson's Apple Orchard these are the absolute best apples. Well to be honest Song of September apples are the best (they taste like apple cider!) but I've only seen them at Wilson's.

*Making something with pumpkin at least once a week. Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are always my favorite but if you want to try something a little different and oh so good try this:

Pumpkin Gingerbread from allrecipes.com
The only change I made was 2 C sugar, 1/2 C oil, 1 C applesauce - yummy yummy

*buying new clothes - more of a challenge this year because I have to go to Boise. It's an hour and half just for the driving time. Fitting that into school and nap schedules is a little crazy but I'm getting the hang of it. If only, Landon's jeans I just bought fit I wouldn't have to go again for a while.

*hot chocolate becomes part of our daily routine. Landon and I drink it every morning and sometimes I drink it before bed too. In fact, I think I might go get some right now!

*halloween costume shopping and the kids wanting to wear their costumes ALL the time. Usually, I make them wait until Halloween because I don't want them ruined but this year I figured who really cares? At least we're getting some use out of them. Isaac asks to wear his football player costume everyday and won't even take it off for naps. I finally hid it away because it really is getting ruined - and it was just annoying putting it on and taking it off all the time. He loves it though. He runs around screaming, "TOUCH DOWN!"

Fall has always been a great time of year for me. I just love it. I'm missing the leaves changing colors, though (look at the hiking pictures - no trees!!). But other than that this time of year could last forever!

It's a S/He...

No - not a "she-male" or anything like that! We just couldn't tell for sure what this babies gender is.

But before we get to that; the most important news - as long as the radiologist doesn't find anything abnormal our baby is healthy and doing great. The only potential problem we're facing is that this baby is in the same position as Isaac was so unless it turns it will be breach; and although the placenta healed it is partially covering the cervix (in case you don't know the baby has to go through there to get out) so I may need to have a C-section. But the doctors will keep an eye on it and it may move as my uterus gets bigger. They'll send me to more experienced doctores in Boise if it looks like I'll need a C-section or a version (to turn the baby).

Here's the reason we don't know for sure what the gender is. This kid is folded in half. Isaac was in the same position but the technician could see a little bit of something "external" sticking out between the legs. This technician couldn't see anything external but cautioned us that it might just be hiding in there. He said, "placing bets, I'd buy pink but I'm just not 100% sure." So there you have it. Guess I'll keep all the tags on and hold off buying that adorable little girl crib bedding until we know for sure.

I know this is a blurry, skeleton-like, picture but I still love it. I love that little hand up by her/his face.

This ultrasound and seeing this picture was really important to me. Up until now, to be honest, I haven't felt that... what? maternal attachment?... feeling I've gotten with my last three kids as soon as the pregnancy test was positive. I've almost been in denial about this pregnancy. A little apathetic, really. At times, it's seemed like a burden to deal with rather than a wonderful joyful blessing. (I'll blame the move, the morning sickness that lasted 15 weeks, the fact that I was convinced that I was going to miscary with all the bleeding, the migraines, and the already-horrible backaches. Who knows why I've felt that way.)

Seeing my baby play with his toes, snuggle up with his hands by his face, those perfect lips, brought me out of my funk. I just fell in love with this little person. February can't come fast enough! I can't wait to meet my sweet baby.