Happy 30th to my Husband

Love this man! He is seriously SOOO good to us! We are so blessed to have him for a father and husband! And today he turned 30! (these uploaded backwards, sorry, to lazy to change them)
Instead of Cake we had brownie sundae's!

After dinner it was time to rough house with dad (I watched)
We were going to blow up 30 balloons, but only made it to about 25... oh well, after 10, who's counting?
Matt and the kids...
Steak dinner, with party (cheesy) potatoes, cauliflower and salad... YUMMY!
"30" streamers we hung up!
And, a few others that HAVE to be shared!
The reason my daughter's hair looks so gorgeous is because it was Crazy Hair/Clothes day at school...

Elliot & Mayci... playing so sweetly together! I think they were "talking on the phone" here!

Believe it or not I do have 3 (almost 4) children, I know it doesn't always show on here by the pictures, but they are still here, just gone a lot... school, friends, sports, everything!

So, with that intro, I have another picture of E! He got new sunglasses today, with basketballs on them!
Obviously he thinks they are very very cool!

We have also been working on going potty today! He stayed dry all morning, and again after nap time. He doesn't exactly tell me when he has to go though, which kind of defeats the purpose, I can't put him on the potty all the time (at the right time at least). Oh well, we are making just enough progress, and I know that in 3-4 weeks we will take a major leap backwards and this will all have been a waste! Whatever!

Off to find some Tums for this unbearable, ever present heart burn, just in case you wanted to know! Have a great weekend!

Nap Time

So this one isn't nap time... but cute none the less!
I have been sleeping as much as a 2 year old lately... literally, we take naps together (I might wake up 30-45 minutes before hime) and we go to bed at the same time! Which is so nice for me. He has always been our one child that will not sleep with us, which definately was a blessing when he was little, he knew how to put himself to sleep, but I did always miss cuddling with him. We're making up for it now, for a few more weeks at least!

3-on-3 champs

It was a long morning, but so worth it in the end to see Landon and his 3 on 3 team (Mini Trotters) win the basket breakers tournament. They didn't loose even one game!

More Pictures...

Landon finished one of his projects for school yesterday with a Wax Museum/Theatre. He was a nervous wreck the night before, right on through 5:30 when it was done, but he did a great job and as far as I could tell didn't miss any lines! The costume... oh that was fun! We sewed coffee filters on a white t-shirt, black football pants, black baseball socks and black shoes. To bad about the hair not being accurate, but whatever! (He was the person that wrote the Star Spangled Banner)
Matt is still coming home for lunch much of the time and Elliot still loves it as much as he has for the past 2 years! (So do I, it breaks up my day a little) Yesterday he was a bit more cuddly than normal with Matt... so sweet
You don't even know how this makes me cringe! NO ONE can touch my belly button, it is disgusting to me, the thought disgusts me and Elliot thinks it's so funny that I think it's sooooo gross!

New Date

I don't want to get my hopes up to much, but I did get a new date for a c-section today! April 21, I believe that is only 34 days away. I have to have an amnio the day before that to check for lung development (which is why I'm hesitant to get my hopes up), the last time I had an amnio was with Landon and his first one came back that his lungs weren't ready yet and we had to wait another week and another amnio. I'm crossing my fingers and saying prayers that Little Girl is as ready to come out as I am to have her out!!! As slow as this seems to go at times, it's starting to feel like it it's coming to an end quickly. I still have a few things to get. Necessary things. I would love to get a new pump if at all possible (my SIL's insurance covered hers, so now I'm wondering if mine would cover one??, one can hope), I need to get a swing and a bathtub, wash some clothes and bottles, but really I could make do as I am right now if I had to!

Spring

I am in love with this weather! It has been sooo gorgeous out! We have spent a lot of time outside playing basketball, drawing with chalk, blowing bubbles and Matt is currently setting up the trampoline. Landon has been fishing a few times already (at the nearby ponds), so he is thrilled about that, he even caught 2 fish today apparently! I'm currently sitting on my bed with the window open enjoying the quickly cooling breeze, lovely!

We had a great time on Saturday night at church. Watching people scramble for the overflow chairs was almost as comedic as the commic himself! The church was PACKED, I can't even guess how many people were there or how far over code they were!

I have a lot scheduled this week. As you can tell from the top I had a doc appt yesterday, baby and mom are both doing great! I have another one tomorow, this one in Holland though, and then two more next week! Only 7 weeks left, and the best part is there was "mention" of possibly going one to two weeks earlier than that! I'm not sure how ready I am, because as "fun" as this has all been, I'm worried it's going to be MUCH harder once she comes out and needs to eat and be changed and rocked and cries! Getting nervous about that part now!

Not much to update really, but I do have some pictures to share...
What we do when we need silence for a minute... turn on the tv. Such a terrible mom huh? Did I mention how much basketball we have been playing? He is obsessed! He dribbles the ball around the house, shoots whenever possible, if he doesn't have a ball, he pretends to dribble and shoot...
Look at the trees budding... spring is near!
St Patricks day parade downtown Holland!
Switching it up a little bit... D!

I know... twice in one day...

but I just had to pop in to say that I'm absolutely amazed at how much one can love thier child. My heart literally aches sometimes with love for these kids (and sometimes it aches with the need to just be alone)! Isn't love an amazing thing????

(Change of plans, they didn't go to the game, so I'm not alone, we made muffins instead, Matt's cleaning the garage and Landon is playing at the neighbors with Dimitri)

Yummmm!

I just made this salad for lunch... Asian Noodle Salad (from Pioneer Womans blog again) and boy oh boy, was it DELICIOUS!!! Lot's of chopping, but sooooo worth it! We'll probably have it for a quick dinner tonight too. I think the boys are headed to the Zeeland basketball game, I can only hope they take E along too and then I would be all alone! (What's that like I wonder?). B is staying the night at a friends house!

Tomorow is the St Patricks day parade downtown Holland that, as long as it's decent out, we will be checking out (never anything to special, but still fun). Then at night we are going to see a comedian, Jeff Alan, at our church. Sounds like it's going to be super busy, but should be a good time.

Another pretty uneventful weekend, but hey, I'm not complaining! Uneventful is what I do best these days!

The restless leg stuff has gotten much much worse in the past few days, I find myself constantly flexing my muscles to bring a bit of relief, which in turn causes cramps. It's a vicous cycle. The last few days I've had a can of pop (caffinated), so I'm trying to do without (not that it's hard really, I've all but cut caffine out of my diet) to see if that brings any relief. It really is enough to drive a person absolutely CRAZY, certifiably CRAZY. Only 51 days and 18 hours...

Baby Nursery

Just some pics of the baby's room... not great pics, but you get the idea... here is my ghost child with the baby's bed (which E is still haveing a hard time adjusting to giving up for the baby, even though he's had a "big" bed since November")
This chair actually will not be there, there will be a couch against the window instead, but we need a slipcover for it yet. You can barely see the shade in the window, but trust me, it's cute.

Baby's new dresser and red rug...
And a better picture of her bed and bedding "set". I was starting to worry that it wasn't going to be girly enough, but with the addition of the red rug and the light I'm completely happy with it!
So... now that this is ready, any day now girl!

Sleepy...

Butterflies...

Yesterday we took a very last minute, unplanned trip to the Frederick Meijer Gardens to see the butteflies! The kids were off from school and it just worked out! We all had a great time, there were a ton of butterflies to see, some got a bit friendly with me which I wasn't to fond of, but other than that it was fun!
We even got to go outside to the childrens garden for a little while...


Landon has been an amazing big brother lately... ok, he always has been, but he's been extra helpful lately! Bailey has actually taken a lot more interest in her brother now that he is older and can play too, she really didn't care all that much when he was little! I'm so blessed!

Cheesy little grin!
Look at that face, isn't it cute??

Doing some kind of dance... not sure what that was all about!

And a conversation I'm having with Elliot right now... at 9:30 in the morning!
E: Mom, I want cake.
Me: We don't have cake Elliot.
E: Oh. What kind of cake?
Me: We don't have cake.
E: What kind of cake?
What is he talking about???
Me: We don't have cake Elliot.
E: Show me?
I give up... I can't show you something we don't have child...
and this is a typical conversation that we have multiple times in a day!

Thoughts

Yesterday I was able to spend a full day with just Matt, with no kids, thanks to Sarah! It started Friday kind of, Bailey went to a birthday party for the night, Landon went to Sarah's and I kept Elliot home b/c he's a little stinker and still up a few times in the night and it drives me nuts, didn't want to drive her nuts. Sure enough, he was up 2 or three times, one of which he wanted nothing more than to tell me he had a loose tooth, or had lost a tooth, can't remember I was soooo annoyed. Pretty sure we have another sleep talker!

Saturday morning bright and early I dropped him off and off we went! We headed to Detroit to go to Ikea to get a few necessities for the baby, like a dresser, and as always ended up with more than we went for. I have to say that I have NEVER had a less enjoyable ikea trip. It was busier than I've ever seen an ikea, we felt like we were walking with the herds, always had to keep walking, weren't really able to look at anything. But that probably saved us quite a bit of money too! I did find a ceiling light that I love for the baby's room. It goes perfectly with the colors that we have in the blanket and makes them look way more girlie! I did enjoy being there with my husband, just didn't enjoy the crowds!

While at Ikea I was perplexed by the return of frosted denim... I saw two girls wearing it, one of which looked like she was quite a trendy dresser in all other aspects besides the jeans.

I have to say that walking through Ikea for hours was probably not a great choice, by the end while Matt was picking up the furniture I found a bed and just sat and waited, it was a bit painful!

After Ikea we headed home, stopping for dinner on the way. All in all, it wasn't an exciting way to spend time away from the kids, but it was time away w/o resposibility or whining or nagging.

After we got home, Matt was ambitious enough to put together the baby's dresser and bookshelves for both kids. I went to bed. On one of my trips to the bathroom in the night though I peeked in the nursery and was very pleased with what I saw. Not only did the dresser get put together, but the crib did too, the rug is down, the clothes are put away and the light is temporarily hung (found out it's supposed to wire into the ceiling, which we aren't going to do, so that will have to be fixed). It definately makes things way more real, we really are going to have a baby... and soon! I will have to post pictures soon, when the lighting is better I will!

We picked up the kids this morning, happy to say there were no visible injuries this time (Ha Ha Ha), and they had a great time! Thanks so much Sarah for taking them for the day, I'm so glad you could pretend to have 6 kids for a day! (Crazy you)!

ETA: Couldn't find it earlier, but I just did... this is the lampshade that we purchased for the baby's room...

Lovin' this weather...

Yesterday...
This is the Elliot I want to remember forever! This is just soooo him! He was laughing soooo hard here b/c I was pretending to smell his "stinky" feet, which he found to be hilarious!
Look what I got in the mail from my friend EJ yesterday... how appropriate! (and quite humerous too)

Today...
Oh my, it was gorgeous out today, I had windows open, we spent tons of time outside blowing bubbles, riding bikes, playing baseball, coloring with chalk, chasing basketballs before they went in the road (yup, that was me doing the chasing, very cute I'm sure), eating popsicles, oh yeah, and taking pictures! I'm so loving this weather but have little confidence in it sticking around for very long!
Elliot's bubbles that were in the garage were still frozen and pretty much ruined when we tried using them, so while at the store we picked up this Thomas set... very fun!

Bailey had to give it a try too!

Popsicles...
Baseball, which at times was quite difficult, the wind was blowing so hard the ball wouldn't stay on the tee!

For dinner we had this Ginger Steak Salad which can be found on Pioneer Woman's website! (Great site by the way). The salad was absolutely delicious, although I'm finding out that Salads are just NOT enough to fill up my boys. Should have had some bread or something to go with it I guess, but I was so focused on the meat I didn't think of that. After dinner and showers we made cupcakes... E just couldn't wait for them to be ready! Here he is watching and waiting... and playing a mad game of "Paper Rock Scissors" all by himself!

Tomorow is supposed to be another great day, I'm sure we will spend a good deal of it outside again and I can't wait!

Now for my apology...

Please know that yesterday's post was not about me being ungrateful! I KNOW that this baby, just like my others is a blessing from God. She will bring me much joy, once she is in my arms, not my belly! I'm sure she will also bring me many tears, sleepless nights, frustrations and many more emotions. But that's what kids are for! (And no, I'm not just speaking of the baby years, I expect those feelings to carry over well into the teen years and beyond). I know that I am blessed to be able to carry this child, please don't ever think that I'm being ungrateful. As much as I would love her to arrive any day, I know that it's best she stays inside and grows stronger for 9 more weeks, and I'm willing to go through anything to give her that time! And, I'll try to have a better attitude about it too! Promise!

Complaints... or not

I have been trying soooo hard not to complain so much, and please know that while I sometimes feel like I have a lot to complain about right now, I know that others have it much much worse and I truly have it pretty good.

When someone asks "How are you", I try not to be too honest... but sometimes something slips out and it's like the floodgates open. (Sorry if you've been the recipient of that complaining).

Poor Matt, he gets to hear the majority of what I have to complain about, but I'm pretty sure he's immune to it now and has no sympathy what-so-ever. I wish he could be pregnant for a week, just to see, because without this experience how could one EVER know? And really, not just the first time, b/c that wasn't so bad, heck the second and third times weren't so bad, it's just THIS TIME!

I'm resisting all urges right now to make you a list of all the things I find uncomfortable and irritating right now... b/c you don't really care, I shouldn't have to share them with you to feel validated, most of you have caught on to the fact that I don't sleep so what's the use re-writing it again? Instead I'm going to look forward to the next few days and the warming trend that the weather man is predicting. I'm going to look forward to a weekend with just my husband and be so thankful for a friend that willingly volunteered (at her own free will, didn't even have to ask, how great is that?) to take my kids so we could get away before the baby arrives. I'm going to be thankful that I'm still alive after getting pushed off the road on the way to Grand Rapids once again (yup, that's 3 times in 2 trips). I'm going to be thankful that my kids are relatively healthy for the moment, that I didn't get the flu instead of a cold, that we have a little food in our fridge and cupboards (gotta get groceries), that I have the heat on in my little house so I don't freeze, that I have a wonderful husband that is so good about helping out around the house above and beyond what he normally does, and most of all I'm thankful that I have a wonderful savior that continuously forgives me for complaining (among many other things)!

Weekend...

We've had a pretty low key weekend. Friday night was Bailey's school carnival that Matt, Elliot, Bailey and I attended, and Landon and some friends went to a late nighter at church and then spent the night here. Saturday morning we were just lazy, we hung out at home and did NOTHING (NOTHING at all) until about 4:30 when we decided to go out for dinner with family (El Rancho) and then dessert with family too! This morning we got up for church and Sunday school, came home, ate lunch, napped, dinner, a family game of hide and seek (in the dark) and then bedtime! So yeah, very very boring, but that's ok, there's always next week!
Just some pictures from dinner tonight...


Who knows what this kid is doing... who EVER knows!

Landon reluctantly letting me take a picture.

Grilling dinner...

Dinner... Pork steak, asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, baked potatoes with all the toppings and strawberries!

Hiding from the camera...

At one point she started laughing sooooo hard! Couldn't stop!
And my favorite picture in a while...