December

Baby pictures and info coming soon.  I am trying to play catch up!

I spent most of December doing the single parent thing (from November 29-December 18).  We didn't do too much besides keep the house clean.  We had 16 showings in 3 weeks, but we luckily got an offer and the house is under contract.  Even better, is that they wanted a 60 day closing, which means we have till the end of February before we have to be out.  I was so worried that I would either be homeless with a newborn, or still showing the house with a newborn, so we feel blessed with the way things worked out.

We had a few things happen in December:

Tyler earned a new belt in karate.

And then later that afternoon had his first piano recital.  Here he is with his teacher, who we love and will miss.

Brady and Carter had their Christmas program at preschool.  This is the fourth program in their preschool career, and each time they do better.  Brady was actually on stage and singing, and Carter went up on the stage for the first time! They said they liked doing it, and that they liked wearing their pajamas to school.  Yet another thing I am sad about.  They have done so well at preschool, and have great teachers. 

We had quite a bit of snow, and the kids loved playing in the snow and sledding.  Grandma and Grandpa have a nice small hill behind their house that Tyler, Abby, Brady, and Carter played on.

And just a few totally random pictures:

Christmas prep

We scaled back a lot this year.  I let a lot of things go that I didn't think I could do without a spouse.  We did no baking, no big trip to the city to see lights, with our house on the market we cut out a lot of decorating, but it has still been a good month.

We did put up a little tree this year, with a few decorations.

My mom also had her annual trim the tree party, this year with an extra special visitor.  I love her traditions, and thank goodness she was willing to carry on this year when I wasn't.

We decorated the tree.

The kids got their new ornaments.

We broke the pinata.

And finally, had a visit from Santa.  Brady and Carter wouldn't go near his lap, even with the promise of a present.

 

37 weeks

One week ago today, I thought I was looking extra pregnant (probably the shirt) and snapped this picture.  Today I am 37 weeks.  I have my c-section scheduled for 2 weeks from today, January 4. Two more weeks.

I am really ready to be not pregnant anymore.  Everything this time around has been just more.  More morning sickness, more aches and pains (back, sciatic, pelvic), more heartburn, more fatigue, more dizziness, more weight gain, more of every wonderful pregnancy symptom.  I think the one and only thing I had less of was migraine headaches.  I guess what they say about advanced maternal age is true.

But on the other hand, my mind is in such a different place than it was with my other pregnancies.  The idea of a baby in my arms still seems very abstract.  My other pregnancies, especially the last one, were preceded by years of longing to be pregnant.  And while this baby is every bit as longed for and wanted, I really am in a different place emotionally.  Or maybe it's just that it's the third pregnancy.  Or is it the fact that I am chasing after other kids and forget that I am pregnant sometimes.  Whatever it is, the reality of this pregnancy is more vague than before.  I'm sure the reality of it all will hit soon enough, like when we have a newborn to take care of. Wow, when I stop to think of it, I do get really excited to snuggle that new life.  Yay!  A newborn is coming soon!

November in review

I feel like November can be summed up in one word: exhaustion.

Let's see.  I've been growing a baby--tiring by itself.  I've been chasing after 4 kids, including 2 preschoolers and a toddler.  And we found out we are moving.  Which led to 10 straight days of massive decluttering and cleaning, followed by keeping my house clean every day for the last 2 weeks.  So yes, I'm tired.

What about this move?  Well basically Dan was at a national sales meeting for his company the first week of November and called to tell me the company had announced some plans to restructure.  Basically for him, it meant that if he still wanted to work for them, he would be moving.  We were very lucky that they were accommodating enough to get him a territory back in Houston.  He started his new position December 2, and will be back and forth for two months.  The rest of us will head down as soon as I can travel after having the baby, so probably the end of January.

I've been pregnant 3 times.  The first, we moved when I was about 14 weeks pregnant.  The second I moved locally at about 10 weeks, and then across the country at about 18.  The third pregnancy I will be moving about 4 weeks post partum.  Yes, we move a lot.  Yes, I hope we are done with the moving.

Anyway, that was our super exciting November.  We fit in one trip to the zoo.  I took one picture on Thanksgiving (which was actually super nice and as always delicious.) And in addition to the cleaning, we did the usual running around, grocery shopping, carpools, and so forth.  I know--so exciting.

Halloween, just a little late

This is just to prove that we really did celebrate Halloween this year.

We made Halloween gingerbread houses with grandma.

We went to our neighborhood party.

We carved pumpkins.

And we did dress up (I did go for the pregnant nun this time around.  I've wanted to do it every pregnancy!) and go trick-or-treating.  (Tyler and the twins just ran off with their cousins.  Jackson stayed by mom and dad, and was absolutely adorable in how he said "trick-or-treat" and "thank you.")

The Pinewood Derby

Dan Tyler was so excited for the pinewood derby this year.  Dan got a little carried away preparing for it, and spent a little too much time and money trying to figure it out, but Tyler had fun in the end.  They really did enjoy building it together, and Tyler's car came in 6th overall out of 23 cars, so they didn't do too bad.

And like I said, Dan went a bit overboard, including a practice car.  But it worked out because we told the twins it was for them and they took painting it very seriously. 

First Day of School

7 weeks ago, Tyler went back to school, and two weeks after that the twins went to back to preschool.  So this is only a little late.

My fourth grader:

 

My kind sister (who moved in around the corner from us this summer) and friend volunteered to do carpool, and just let Tyler tag a long.  So I am the major moocher mom who just freeloads rides off people.  But the best part is that every morning, the other three kids have to say hi and bye to the carpool.  They stand at the door and wave, and then Jackson usually tries to sneak out.

And here are my preschoolers:

When we went to get in the car, Brady climbed on this rock.  I told Carter to go stand by him and this is the picture I got:

It's enough to melt a twin momma's heart.

And here's Jackson while we were getting the twins' backpacks together.  He doesn't like to be left out of anything.