21

Wow.  It seems like just yesterday that we posted this blog post announcing that baby #4 was on their way.  We did not know boy or girl and we were filled with equal parts excitement and fear.  The journey of losing one baby and then getting blessed with another baby led us to choose this baby's name.  We cannot wait to share it with our family on the day he is born.  My husband and I sit up at night relishing these quiet times after the kids are in bed and we talk about this new baby.  How happy we are with the name, wondering how big he will be, who will he look like, will he sleep?  It is amazing to look back and see all we have come through with this pregnancy and this sweet boy and to know that in about 21 days we will be holding him. 
We are blessed.

It's the Cutest Thing

Our Thanksgiving traditions are pretty simple.  A meal with family.  A walk outside if weather allows.  And typically the day after Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas tree while my husband's sister is still here visiting with us.  The kids love including her in the festivities and we all have fun....well except for my husband who is in charge of all the manual labor. Ha! This year we had to switch things up a bit.  His sister had to leave the day after Thanksgiving and my husband had to work today.  We decided to move things up a day and do it on Thanksgiving.  Yesterday while the Professor was napping we all put up the tree and all the decorations.  He came downstairs and was amazed at the transformation.  On our tree we have several bell ornaments that will ring.  He spends so much time standing in front of them, gently ringing them and then giggling.  He just loves it and it is seriously the cutest thing! 
Oh, our other tradition is that after doing the tree and decorations we make homemade pizza and watch a movie by the lights of our tree.  Since we live in a rural town we typically make our pizza but other places we lived we would order it in.  Last night I made homemade pesto pizzas. YUM!
What are your Thanksgiving traditions?

How Long Does it Take

24 hours or less is the answer is our home.  But what exactly is the question?  Well, I want to know how long it takes after you clean your bathroom before it is nearly impossible to tell that you did clean your bathroom.  In our house it is less than 24 hours.  I cleaned the bathroom the other day.  I sort of have a schedule for which rooms get cleaned on which days.  Of course in between there is maintenance cleaning.  Well on this day I had done my big bathroom cleaning....bleaching out the sinks and toilet, wiping everything down including the tile portions of the walls etc.  The next morning when I flipped on the light I found nasty toothpaste leftovers caked onto the sink, fingerprints and water spots on the mirror, the clean hand towel was dirty and all askew, my nicely straightened towels were now hanging crookedly and where the kids keep their toothpaste, well, there was a toothpaste splotch on the tile.  It's not the place was trashed or that anyone was inconsiderate it just gets used.  We only have one full bathroom so 5 of us use it all the time.  But if someone had walked in there they might well have thought that I had not cleaned it in a week.  So how long does it take at your house before a freshly cleaned room looks dirty again?

When Things Don't Go According to Plan

Yesterday started off so promising!  Our son woke up early but then went back to sleep.  I ended up staying awake and enjoying some coffee and quiet time.  After my husband left for work, the kids and I all cleaned together.  Later we ran some errands, bought the items we needed for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes and drove through good ole' McDonald's for some much needed grease lunch.  Came home and since the Professor had been up so early he was ready for a really early nap.  This was just a HUGE blessing since the girls had a home-school co-op Open House at 2:30.  He got a fairly good nap in and we went to the Open House.  My parents got to come and we saw the Genius' sewing projects displayed and saw photos of what the girls had done in their Rocket Launching class (and yes these were real rockets!)   After the Open House the plan was to come home and get everyone fed.  Then we were surprising the kids by taking them to a Christmas parade.  One I have wanted to go to for 2 years now and never been able to make it.  I was so excited!  But when we got home from co-op, the Professor said he needed a diaper change.  When I pulled off his diaper I saw blood.  At moments like this, only God keeps me from total panic.  I knew he needed to see someone but it was 4 p.m. on Saturday.  I called around and we are SO rural there are not many urgent care places.  The only open with 40 miles did not want to see him for this in case it was his kidneys.  I gathered the girls up and asked them to pack a bag with things to do, gave them a brief talk about helping out and being patient and we loaded up.  I managed to reach my husband on the phone and he was off early on a Saturday and able to meet us at the ER.  We get checked in and they tell us all the beds are full and to prepare for a long wait.  It was a long wait.  My husband took the girls out to dinner and the brought back food for the Professor and I.  We also had to keep getting him to drink because they wanted a urine sample.  He finally peed in the bag thing they had put on him.  And we sat around some more.  Eventually my husband left with the girls and took them to the parade.  I wanted them to see it at least.  After the parade they came back and we were still waiting.  By this point the Professor was totally over being in a small room loaded with "don't touches".  We had exhausted every song, book, crayon and he was tired of my balloon made out of a latex glove.  And all that drinking he had done...he had soaked through every diaper I had packed.  My husband left with the Hippie and they went to get some (cringe) disposable diapers.  As soon as they left the doctor came in to let me know that 0-1 is normal red blood cell count for urine and the Professor's was just a 3.  Not enough to indicate any infection.  She examined the diaper with the blood on it and his little privates.  She said it looked like he had a tiny cut and when she moved it we saw blood there  So evidently my freak out was for nothing!  And we spent over 4 hours in the ER. 
That definitely was NOT in my plans for a fun Saturday night.
All in all, I am just thankful he is ok!
How was your weekend?

5 Weeks

We are 35 weeks pregnant today. 35. Weeks. That means 5 weeks or less til this baby makes his appearance!  This has been such a special pregnancy for me.  After losing our last baby at 15 weeks and 3 days, this pregnancy took on new meaning.  I have not taken it for granted.   I have tried to not complain.  I have felt so thankful for aches and pains, kicks from the baby and all the extra ultrasounds we had.  I have been so thankful for a Christian OB doctor who, literally, held my hand at times during this pregnancy.  This time around came with a lot of fear.  Not just for me, but for my husband and for the girls.  We have all prayed for this baby every single day since we got that first positive.  Rather than surprising the girls, we told them the same day we got the positive to allow them to be praying for this new life.  Now with Christmas nearing, I find myself thinking about and relating to Mary from the Bible.  The Christmas story feels extra special when you are waddling into the church 35 weeks pregnant with a very active baby boy kicking your rib cage.  This pregnancy has been filled with so many doctors appointments.  With the other pregnancies, I never had anything out of the ordinary.  This pregnancy was rocky from the start.  I had the low progesterone and it kept dropping until I ended up on painful injections here at home.  Then there was the scare with the hole in heart.  And now after all that we sit here at 35 weeks with a healthy baby boy kicking away inside me.  I am just overwhelmed with gratitude. 

5 more weeks!

Overnight Trip!

Surprising the kids was so much fun!  It actually took a lot of work to pull it off but they were totally surprised in the end.  We acted like we were heading off to church.  My husband had packed the van the night before.  The Hippie asked where we going and my husband said to get gas.  We were about 20 miles away when they asked again.  This time I told them.  They flipped!  Then we really did stop for gas, drinks and to hook up their dvd player.  We ended up shopping at a few stores and then had delicious Skyline Chili before heading off to the Creation Museum.

The Professor spent a lot of time looking up.  He was equally fascinated and slightly nervous of the dinosaurs.  "Saur-saurs" as he calls them.

The Hippie helping Noah build the ark.

Getting to ride a dinosaur!!!

The Hippie has officially entered the "i must pose in a weird/funny way for every photo" phase. Ha!

The water fountain was also a popular place to visit.

Attempting to get your family all in one photo.  Kinda hard to do.

After the museum we went to a few more stores but the kids were done.  We had found a really neat place to take them for dinner called Pizza Tower.  Every kid gets a very unsticky dough ball to play with!

The Professor was too tired for dough.

There is a kids area.  We got to sit here so he was able to run back and forth playing.

I believe that is a dog in the front and a heart in the back.

Dinner was delicious! A tad expensive for pizza with kids but well worth it since they were so entertained.  They got free ice cream with their meals.  The kids meals were kinda basic but the pizza my husband and I had was probably the best I have ever had!!!!

After dinner we checked in at the hotel and all went swimming!

Night time was rough with all of us in one room.  The Professor was exhausted and kept calling us all by name and saying "all done".  It was well after 9 before all the kids were asleep.  6 a.m. and everyone was awake again. 
We enjoyed the free breakfast and then took off for the Aquarium.  This was really the only snafu we hit on the trip.  We knew the Aquarium opened at 10 but there was a Barnes and Nobles bookstore next door.  So we went at 9 to go to the bookstore.  They did not open til 10. Uh-oh.  And it was cold and pouring rain.  Luckily there was a closed mall but the lobby areas were open.  We spent 45 minutes playing on escalators and running.

Finally, finally it was 10 and we got to go to the Aquarium.  We got there in time for the Penguin Parade.

The Professor was honestly just too tired.  The girls were loving it and he was just....grumpy.  We still made some fun memories though.  Afterwards we did end up going to the bookstore.  The Professor had never been to a Barnes and Nobles.  He LOVED the trains.  We let the girls each choose a book.  I was super proud of the choices the made with ZERO guidance from us!

When we left we drove through and got lunch in the van.  The Professor was asleep from the time we got in the van until we got home. Ha! 
We had a great time and I am so thankful for the time we all spent together!