Probably going to be the longest 5 weeks of my life

There's not a lot to update on these days as I find myself slowing down considerably and wanting naps constantly.  It always snows on the days I have the car, which steals all my enthusiasm for leaving the house, and the rest of the week Tyler commutes so we are stuck at home anyway. 
   Friday I grabbed plastic bins and a laundry basket and set up a drive in movie lunch for the girls so I could snag a nap midday.  They declaired this the best way to watch a movie and were enthralled in their squished little pillow filled cars until the movie ended.  At which point they cried that they hadn't really wanted to watch the Lion King afterall and demanded a different movie.  This is the new pattern of life.  Heidi usually runs off crying when I say no and Alex mopes until I distract everyone. 
    Saturday was full of baby and bridal showers to attended and it snowed.  Tyler was on child duty and braved the mall alone on a Saturday with both girls to take Alex to make a "Build a Bear".  We had done this with Heidi a few weeks ago and had some coupons that made it worth taking Alex for the experience.  Afterwards Tyler proved his awsome Dadness by taking them to a photobooth and documenting the date.  We've aquired quite the photobooth strip collection and it's one of my prized posessions.  Satuday night Tyler and I got to sneak off to Outback for dinner thanks to awsome Grandma babysitter.  A week ago this wouldn't have been possible (see heartburn rant below) but I was able to enjoy my meal the the company was great.  This date only consisted of dinner which further proves my large exhausted 35 weeks pregnant lameness.
     I finally broke down and realized that not only were TUMS not doing anything for my heartburn, but at the rate I was eating them I was more likely to have kidney stones in a month than a baby.  I called up the doctor and got the OK for some OTC heartburn relef. I heart Prevacid.  For the first time in months I was able to go to bed without 9 pillows stacked under my bed.  I'm no longer cranky and miserable from noon until morning because of acid creeping up my throat, AND I ate some blooming onion at 6pm with NO adverse side effects.  I'm nearly in heaven.  I really enjoy eating and it was really hard to enjoy eating anything when I knew it was going to make me sick. 
     I also discovered this week that a combination of riding the bike and sleeping with a pillow between my knees has really helped my sciatic nerve problem.  When Kate was here we worked out nearly everyday but I sort of lost my motivation when she left (come back Kate!)  I am feeling a lot more mobile than I was a few weeks ago oddly enough, but I know my hobbly old lady limits!
        At the baby shower Saturday I was asked how I was feeling.  I looked at the girl due in 3 weeks whose shower we were attending and said "I'm 2 weeks behind her and she looks 10 times better than I feel!"  My friend told me "It's her first, it's your third- give yourself a break, your body is falling apart!"  It made me feel better in a strange way.  I've started to realize that once you have a kid you are admitted into the secret Mommy club and suddenly have so much in common with every other Mother.   But something changes by kid number 3 and you get a key that lets you behind the doors to the secret secret Mommy club where you get to talk about all the new and exciting ailments that befall your stretched out body.  I can imagine that there are even more levels of secrecy and excitment that wait after each pregnancy and phase of a childs life. 
       The pressure is on to find a name for this child and we think we might have maybe figure it out perhaps?!  I don't know.  The name Quinn came to me while I was falling asleep a few months ago and I latched onto it.  Awhile later I was googling the name and discovered that there was a song about a Quinn.  I was pretty excited about this because we all have our own "theme songs".  Then I saw it was written by Bob Dylan and (sorry Ben) it about ruined it for me.  I won't go as far as to call him a musical genius, but he does have a few good songs dispite his um, unique vocal style.  Well I have to say Thank you Bobby for outsorcing this one because Manfred Mann did a bang up job of performing it and saved the name!!!!  So while Quinn isn't our 100% name, and we don't want anyone refering to the baby as this until she is all out and officially here, feel free to click the name below and enjoy the song. 
  And yes,  when Quinn the eskimo gets here, everybodys gunna jump for joy.


Quinn
Heidi - This was her song from day 1 and I don't imagine it will ever change.
Alex - Alex's song used to be Alejandro by Lady Gaga, but now that she is growing up we've been searching for something a bit more appropriate.  I haven't run this one by her yet, but it's a winner in my book.
Kristen - I came across this one while looking for wedding songs, think I'm going to find myself a new one though.
Tyler - Not a lot of songs out there about guys named Tyler.  But we love They Might Be Giants, so it works.
    

Valentines Week

Alex was pretty excited about Valentines Day this year, mostly because of Preschool I think.  We made up some fun Valentines the week before and passed them out to her teachers at church.  I had made enough to give to her 2 primary teachers, but she insisted on making one for the Primary president, all the councilors, the pianist etc, etc.  It was very cute and I was proud of her.

 Valentines week also happened to be the week that Kate, Archie and Annie came for a visit!

 The kids had a blast, it was as though they never left.  After 7 days of Archie time I felt like I hadn't seen Alex at all!  She would wake up and spend the entire day running around playing with Archie until bedtime.  The girls doted over Annie, who was quite a bit more independent and did not like being treated like a baby, unless it meant being pushed around the house in the doll stroller.

 Kate and I organized our week so we could fit in all the fun things and we almost got them all done, plus a few unplanned activities! There was a glow-stick dance party, a few girls night's out, hair cuts, Ikea, The Dinosaur Museum and Cafe Rio TWICE!

 Mostly it was fun to just sit and talk, or watch ridiculous reality TV together- and Downton Abby.  The kids played really well and it was fun watching them dig their fossils out of blocks of clay on the kitchen floor.  They were so meticulous.

 Heidi had a bit of a hard time.  She wasn't quite big enough to keep up with all the "big" kids adventures, but Annie wasn't quite big enough to keep up with her- so she did a lot of hanging out with Mom and Kate, picking on Annie and bugging the bigger kids.

In fact she was drawn like a magnet to Kate and would choose her 9 times out of 10 when she wanted to snuggle, go to the bathroom, or get an knee kissed.  Annie choose me as her snuggle buddy of choice once or twice so I took solace in that.

 On their last day here we celebrated Kate's late birthday with Tres Leche's cake.  It was a hit.

 Grandma got all the little girls matching shirts, which only added to the confusion as they were all called by each other's names the entire time anyway.

 We played pin the tale on the donkey and the kids decorated the house.  I told Alex that the next day Archie would be leaving and she said "No way Jose, I'm making him stay forever."  It was also sweet to hear Archie tell Alex how much he would miss her and that he wished she could come to Arizona.  They really are best friends.

It was sad to think it would be months before we saw these guys again, and then after that maybe a year!  But deep down I know that it's only a matter of time until we get back together and I'm pretty sure we will always be able to pick up right where we left off.

Home stretch

Tuesday Tyler joined me on my monthly visit to the Ob.  I was a bit nervous because last time the doctor has said 'flower' was behind schedule on her growth and unless she did 6 weeks worth of growing in the next 4 weeks, we would have to do an ultrasound to see what was going on.  Well I didn't feel like I had grown much until I stepped on that scale- then I was REALLY hoping the baby had done her share of the growing!
    It was nice having Tyler along to chat with and ease the tension waiting in the room.  The doctor was easy going and very friendly and let us know that baby girl is right on track again!  That was the good news and it was great news!  The bad news is that nothing can really be done for all my other pregnancy ailments.  Over the counter remedies for this and that were suggested with a shrug and a look that said "You are pregnant, nothing is going to get "better" until that baby arrives honey so deal with it!"  I did stumble upon the realization that having Tyler sleep on the couch helps.  Then I can sleep on my right side and stretch my legs across the whole bed- tossing and turning as I please all night long.  This only works when the kids stay in their beds though- and it seems with bed wetting, night terrors and runny noses- neither Tyler nor I have gotten a full nights sleep in ages.  Also- I do enjoy sleeping next to my husband and I do have a heart.
    We've hit the February doldrums and the days seem to stretch on and on.  Alex and I are trying to do our own version of Joyschool for Heidi (I'm trying to gauge whether I can really be a homeschool Mom) and I'm trying to organize our days a bit better so there is some sort of structure in our homebound lives.  We've officially made Monday Geography day and it's been a lot of fun!  The idea is that someone picks a country and then all Monday we learn about that place, watch video clips about it and learn fun facts.  Then we make a special dinner from that country for dinner and after FHE try and have a correlating treat to go with the day's theme.  It's been a lot of fun, especially when the other adults get in on it!  This week Susan made German pancakes for dinner and these fantastic Black Forest Brownies for desert!  Next week is Egypt!
     I'm thinking of making Friday's Science day and have some fun experiments prepared, then fill in the rest of the week with reading, writing and math.  Alex is excelling in preschool and surprised me the other day by sounding out the written word cat and then dog!  She loves to draw and color and read books and has passed these loves onto Heidi as well.
     I've been a bit lax on my movie rules lately and Heidi has begun to enjoy a few shows again while Alex is in preschool.  I want to spend the time playing with her and getting some quality one on one time-but she BEGS for a show and LOVES them so much.  Yesterday I relented and sat next to her for some Wonder Pets- the theme song made me nauseous (Wonderpets were my fallback during the morning sickness months).  Heidi is doing so great with potty training!  She might have an accident once or twice a week and the nights are iffy especially if we forget to make her go RIGHT before bed- but things are SO much better.  She still insists on help though so i have to stand outside the bathroom and cheer her on so she will go on her own.  I'm sorry Future Heidi for all the details- I need to record this though so I'll remember the process with your little sister.
    The girls love their Daddy the most and often let me know.  Sunday (after 3 days of absentee Tyler) Tyler was pretty much running to show to my delight.  I sat down with Alex to play light brite and asked Tyler to put on some Hymns.  Alex said "Mom, Daddy does ALL the work.  Let him sit down and do something fun!"  I knew she must have just been talking about that day, but I'll admit to being a bit perturbed. The next day we were having a snack and she said "This would be funner if Daddy were here.  He plays silly games with us."  When Daddy is around Heidi clings to him, literally.  She follows him everywhere and cries when he leaves the room.  They are good friends.
    The girls are excited for our new addition and I can only imagine she is excited to meet them as well.  In the last week we started doubting our name choice and have gone back to the drawing board again.  Naming kids is hard!  'Flower' is very active at night and in the morning, rolling all around in there.  I have yet to get those cute little kicks I seem to remember with the others, instead she seems to throw all her against my insides, litterally moving my body with the force.  It throws me off gaurd and catches my breath more than anything, but she did have the hiccups for the first time a few days ago and that was cute.  I've also been experiencing fairly regular contractions for about a month.  They started around Christmas but in the past couple weeks I've been able to count on them more and more.  A dozen or so a day and they are pretty uncompfortable!  I think they are a step above Braxton Hicks because I have to focus on my breathing to get through and they usually start when I lay down.  Oh the joys! 
    We are happy and currently healthy and about to enter the time warp that will suck away March and bring our little Eskimo out of my belly and into our arm!
   

Snow Day!

I have my seasonal list of things that need to be done.  Swimming in the summer, raking leaves in the fall, sledding and snowman making in the winter.  It's pretty basic.  Well we finally got to check one off our list when we got the perfect snowman snow this last week, and plenty of it!

 This was not the snowman we made, but the treat for FHE from a few weeks ago.  I had to take a picture because they were so labor intensive, and un-delicious, that I do not plan on ever making them again.

 Every chance I got this week I sent the girls out to play. We've been cooped up for so long that I had to take advantage of the good weather and make it worth the hour worth of getting snow clothes on an off each time they went out.

 These were the first of 3 snow outfits that day.  Those mittens lasted about 2 minutes and I think Heidi lost a boot or something after about 5.  Daddy ran out in barefeet and shorts to save her.  Now that is love.

 It snowed all day long for nearly 2 days!  The girls were thrilled to go back out and help Daddy shovel a few driveways.  Heidi was a bit less than helpful with her rake.  She seemed to be trying to cover up all that pesky sidewalk by raking snow onto it.

We have a duck pond nearby with about a million ducks.  They used to get fed by a generous neighbor who would stop by the Hostess outlet for animal bread.  Then Hostess went out of business and the poor ducks have since been wandering the neighborhood begging for food like stray cats.  I humored them once and have since found them or their tracks all over the yard everyday.

 Heidi was climbing the mountains of snow and swimming through the piles and refusing to come inside even though a good 6 inches of leg was showing between her boot and snow pants.  I conned her into the house but first she had to grab a ball of snow so I could take a picture of it.

 Snow week was also Grandma's birthday week and we had an early family dinner to celebrate!  I usually go all out for these things but we were snowed in and I was feeling under the weather so we had to pull things together the best we could.  Alex did all the decorating, and made me proud!  She wanted streamers everywhere and balloons, balloons, balloons!  We did our best with what we had and I think everyone had fun.

 The best part of the week was when the whole family made it outside together!  Heidi loves to swing and the girls could and do spend hours on the set.  I'm afraid Tyler won't let me take it with us to PA and if we have a yard and I have a say- it's coming.

 This is the punishment for throwing snowballs at Mommy.

 Tyler made the coolest snow fort complete with second story and stairs!  The snow has no contrast so you can't really see the walls or other sweet features, but it was fantastic! In the background you can see Alex punishing Daddy again for throwing snow at Mommy.  Nice to know someone has my back.

 The girls made snowball soup, snow sandwiches and of course took off their mittens.

 Wish I could remember why Heidi was yelling at me here.  Probably something to do with me insisting she put her gloves back on or she would have to go inside.

 This is what happens when you don't wear gloves and trip into the snow.

 I swore I would document myself this pregnancy as I have about 6 pictures total of myself from the last 2 kids.  So far I've done terribly.  So here is my unmade face, you can imagine the baby bump.

We finished the day with a few snow couches, a snowman and an attempt to shovel the driveway again.  By then Daddy's had gone back inside and Mommy's back was about to give out- but the kids could have stayed out and played all day.  This is also a pretty good shot of my first successful attempt at cutting the girls bangs.  It was a terrible experience, but now I have an idea how to do it and you can once again see their eyes.