Little Mommy

I think Ava has been listening to her pregnant mama a little too much lately. I was in the office doing a couple of things and hear her moaning and groaning in the kitchen. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I spilled some water, and now I have to clean it up. And, I'm just so tired!!" This really made me giggle. :)

Since we're on the subject, I'll give a little pregnancy update. I am 30 weeks pregnant now. I honestly can't believe I just typed "30 weeks"!! For the most part, I am still feeling good. As Ava pointed out, I am a little tired. :) Of course, everyone is a little tired this time of year, so I'm sure it is only compounded by being so pregnant. I am having a little trouble bending over to tie my own shoes and putting on socks is a little tricky, but I'm definitely nowhere close to the "completely miserable" stage yet.

I am enjoying feeling my little girl move around in my belly, and I'm not ready to give that up yet. There is something about knowing this is my last baby that makes it that much more special. I am getting excited to meet her, but I would prefer she stay in for at least 7 more weeks. Actually, she better stay in for that long because we have done nothing, absolutely nothing, to prepare for her arrival. :) Ava is still sleeping in what will be Amelia's nursery, I haven't even considered getting baby clothes down from the attic to wash, the cradle is still being stored at my parents' house, her room hasn't been painted, etc. As you can see, we're going to be very busy after Christmas. I do have to say I have been more relaxed about getting all of that done this time. I think Kurt would actually agree! :)

Audrey is walking around saying, "eat, eat", so I better go get lunch ready.

Santa Pictures

I just remembered that I promised I would post pictures of the girls with Santa. One of my girls was not thrilled about Santa, can you tell which one?

I really love the second picture of Ava with Santa. This is the first year she would even go close to him. She is so excited about Christmas, and I can't wait to see how excited she is after Santa visits our house!

I was going to put this in another post, but I'll just add it here. :) Here is a conversation I had with Ava this morning after I noticed the container of fudge on the counter was slightly open.

Me: Ava, did you eat some fudge?

Ava: Yes.

Me: Were you supposed to do that?

Ava: No, but it's not my fault! It was just sitting on the counter staring at me. (pause) So, I ate it!

I probably should have been mad, but I can totally relate. Both of the girls got my sweet tooth. :)

Christmas and Pregnancy

We've been busy around here getting everything ready for Christmas. The house is decorated inside and out, all of the presents are bought, Christmas cards have been mailed, packages have been sent, and I've been wrapping presents like crazy! I hope to be done with the wrapping soon because I like to just sit back and enjoy the last couple of weeks before Christmas. I still have some baking to do, but I'm not sure how much will get done. I have a cookie exchange next week which I'm really excited about, but I've decided I'm not going to kill myself trying to make tons of stuff this year. I think having two kids and being 31 weeks pregnant at Christmas gives me an excuse to take it easy this year, right??

I had a doctor's appointment today. I am 28 weeks and 4 days. The contractions have already started just as they did with my first two babies, so my midwife checked me today to make sure they weren't causing me to progress. Things look good so far, but she said with things following the same pattern as the last two, she is expecting to deliver a baby at 37 weeks. This has tentatively been our plan all along, but she was hoping everything would look good and we could try to let me go full term. She said today that she is pretty positive that's not going to happen. We are going to start weekly ultrasounds and non-stress tests at 35 weeks. So, that means little Amelia may be here in 8.5 weeks!! I need to take a deep breath because that seems unbelievable!

Santa will be working all night to get Ava and Audrey's room ready for Christmas morning. That means we have to get busy on Amelia's room right after Christmas. Thinking about putting Christmas decorations away, decorating a nursery, washing baby clothes, getting all of the baby stuff ready again, etc. makes me tired. :) I need that nesting boost of energy. I learned today that despite taking iron pills once a day, I am still anemic. This might explain my lack of energy. I'm really hoping the boost in iron will give me a boost in energy as well.

I know everyone really comes here for pictures, but that would require that I actually plug my camera into the computer to see what new pictures I have to share. I promise I'll do that soon, but it's not happening today. You'll all be on picture overload again soon with Christmas, a New Year's wedding, Ava's birthday in January, and then Amelia's birth. Check back soon because I'm picking up the pictures of the girls' with Santa on Saturday. Even though I haven't seen them yet, I can promise you that Audrey's reaction to Santa will not disappoint!

The things she says...Part 3

Here is a conversation I just had with Ava.

Me: Ava, do you want to feel the baby move?

Ava: Sure! (as she lifts up my shirt) Wow, your belly is SOOOO big. You must have eaten A LOT of food!!

Me: No, remember Mommy has a baby in her belly.

Ava: Oh, did you just eat too much candy?

Me: (Sigh)

Thanksgiving

I can't believe it is already the week of Thanksgiving. I don't usually do any posts leading up to Thanksgiving saying what we are thankful for, but little Amelia made me think I should do one or two this year.

Today I am thankful for a little baby that wakes me up in the middle of the night kicking me because I've rolled over on her. :)

To add a little to that, I don't ever remember Ava doing this to me. Audrey was a totally different baby (inside and out). Ava was as laid back inside as she was after she was born. However, Audrey would wake me up kicking me if I rolled too much onto my belly during the night. She would also kick me if I leaned into something or if she didn't like the waistband on my pants because they invaded her space.

Amelia is the same way. She kicks her sisters if they sit in my lap and squish her. She also lets me know that she doesn't like it when I sit in certain positions. I have a few pairs of pants that I feel like she would prefer if I threw them in the trash. :) She also wants me to sleep directly on my side. If I roll just a little bit forward, this cuts into her space and she is going to let me know about it.

I have to admit that I love waking up in the middle of the night because my baby is showing her personality before we even get to meet her. I can't wait to see if she is like one of her sisters or has her own personality all together. If we get two with Audrey's fiery red-headed personality, you will all need to pray for us. :) Of course, we love our little Audrey and her opinionated ways. She has the perfect personality for a middle child. She is definitely not going to get lost in the shuffle and we are thankful for that. :)

I'll try to post some more this week, but Happy Thanksgiving to everyone if I don't get around to it.

24 Weeks

I am now 24 weeks (and 2 days) pregnant. It is really hard to believe I am that far along. It seems to be going so quickly. I know the next couple of months will fly by with Thanksgiving, Christmas, a New Year's wedding (Kurt's cousin), and Ava's birthday in January. Before we know it, little Amelia will be here!! I have another ultrasound tomorrow to hopefully get a good look at Amelia's heart, brain, and face. I really, really hope she cooperates this time!

Several people have been complaining that I haven't been posting belly shots this time, so here are a couple for you from Sunday.

Halloween

I've just decided my kids are at a tough age and WILL NOT take a picture together. One is smiling and the other is looking off, one looks cute and the other has her tongue sticking out, etc. So, once again, we didn't get great Halloween pictures. I, of course, still want to remember their costumes, so here you go...

Costumes

Okay, I'm back posting pictures of the kids. :)

First, Audrey absolutely LOVES the dishwasher. I can't load or unload it with her around because she likes to pull things out of it, put things in it, climb on it, etc. I turned around for literally two seconds the other day and this is what I found...

She looks surprised she got caught. :)

Here is one more once she decided she was cute because Mommy was taking pictures of her instead of making her get down.

Here is a sneak peek of the girls costumes. I hope I get some better pictures tonight and tomorrow, but these will do for now.

Strawberry Shortcake

She loves the pink hair!

Ava decorating cookies at her school Halloween party.

And this one was running all over the house, but is that not the cutest little thumb sucking pumpkin you've ever seen? :)

Disclaimer

Okay, Kurt came home and said my last post sounded like I don't like older people. This is absolutely not the case! I was really just trying to say I thought it was funny that we are so popular with the older folks. :) Apparently, I didn't get my point across very well. Kurt said he knew what I was trying to say because he has heard me talk about it before, but it didn't sound like that at all. So, I took my post down because I don't want to be known as an "old people hater" like my husband has been calling me. I actually enjoy hearing their stories. So, I'll keep my blog posts to pictures and stories about the girls that are less controversial. ;)

Shhhh...it's from Santa!

I am so, so excited!! This weekend, Kurt and I shopped and shopped and shopped for new furniture and bedding for Ava and Audrey. I'm not sure if I've said it on here before, but Ava and Audrey will share a room when Amelia is born and Amelia will have her own nursery. Anyway, I'd been eying some bedding online from Pottery Barn Kids for awhile, but I hadn't had a chance to see it in person. I'd also had my eye on twin beds from there too. Of course, it seems like PBK sends me an email just about every day, so that doesn't help my obsession! :)

This weekend, the girls went to spend some time with my parents, so Kurt and I actually had some time to shop. We were able to get everything for their new room. We got quilts, blankets, sheets, pillow shams, bed skirts, lamps, beds, nightstand, nightlight, etc. It feels soooooo good to have it done!!! We've been thinking we'll move the girls in together around the end of the year so they have some time to adjust and we have time to put the nursery together. So, Santa might just put their new room together just in time for Christmas morning. Ava is so excited about moving in with Audrey! I can't wait to see her face when she sees her new room!!! Of course, Santa may need some helpers to get it all pulled together in one night! ;)

And no, I'm not going to post a link to the bedding or the furniture. You can wait for pictures when the room is all put together. :)

One thing off the list...a million more to go...

Sugar Cookie Fun!

Today, when Ava got home from school, we put Audrey down for her nap and decided to make Halloween sugar cookies. I lost my sugar cookie recipe, so I'll admit we used a Betty Crocker mix. By the way, if anyone has a good sugar cookie recipe, please send it to me. Anyway, back to the baking...

My little helper


Now posing with the butter :)

Mixing everything together

The Wilton pan we used

Just out of the oven

You'll have to give us a break because this is the first of the baking season, but we did make some mistakes. We filled the molds too full, so we couldn't get the middles all the way done without burning the cookies which is why they are so brown. We do like soft sugar cookies and they still taste good, but we didn't fill the second batch quite as full and they turned out better.

Ava with the first batch. Huh, the pan made 12 cookies, but there are only 11 here. I wonder where the other one could have disappeared to while I was hanging up clothes?!? Does she look guilty?

Her favorite part. She may or may not have licked the knife in between cookies. :)


The finished product...fake smile and all.

Yes, Ava has on the same outfit that she was wearing at the zoo, but pumpkin patch season only lasts so long. We've gotta get some wear out of the clothes!

I know Halloween doesn't officially start the holiday season, but I feel like it does start the holiday baking season which I love! I also love that I have a sweet little red headed helper that loves to bake as much as I do. I do have to say that she is not quite as messy as last year, so we may be doing this a lot more often this year. And I promise that if we take any of our baked goods to your house, I will not let her lick the icing. :)