Tomorrow is a Surprise!

On Facebook I am part of local group.  It is free to join and public.  Basically it is a Craigslist but just for people living in our county.  I have found some pretty neat items.  I got some great books for the girls, some clothes, a neat coat rack and a few other small items.  But today, I hit the jackpot!  I thought for sure my husband would say "no way".  Not because he is mean, but because we try not to spend a lot of money on non-essentials.  But we very rarely surprise our kids with a BIG item just because.  Tomorrow morning they will be waking up to a big just because present!!! I think my husband was won over....A. When we googled it and saw the original price (YIKES)!  B. We are having another boy. 

Any guesses?  I will tell you two hints....it is NOT an animal and sadly it is not a wooden swingset.  In my dreams I have a wooden swing set for the kids, but realistically we will never be able to afford one.
So there you go.  What do you think it is?
Pictures will be posted tomorrow!

Controlled Chaos...or something like that

Tonight was a little chaotic in our house.  My husband came home from work and picked up the Genius.  He took her out on a date and came home to drop her off.  Then he left for a Men's Bible Study/Leadership group he is in called Joshua's Men.  I was left with 3 kids who needed baths, 2 sets of cookies to make and a house that I was attempting to clean/keep clean for company coming tomorrow.  The evening went pretty smoothly.  After having some cookies though the 3 kids got wound up.  They were running loops through the downstairs, screaming, chasing, tickling, laughing.  And it was loud.  Really loud.  I was getting ready to ask them to hold it down and then I wondered why?  What were they really doing?  No one was trying to carry on a conversation.  They were not playing near the stove.  They were simply family members having a blast with each other.  So I let it go on.  The games lasted for well over 30 minutes and there was not a single tear or argument...just LOTS of screaming and laughing.  I truly enjoyed hearing this house filled with the sounds of our kids.  There are always article floating around about being a "yes" parent.  Choosing to say yes to some things when "no" is the first thing that pops into your head.  We took that to heart when the girls were young and we try to look for times to say yes.  Sometimes it is letting them get really loud and run around playing.  A few times it involved fairy wings and a trip to the store.  Sometimes it is kids looking up at you covered in melted chocolate and asking for one more cookie please?  It is pretty easy to find ways to say yes to your kids.  Let them stay up late one night to play a family game.  Wake them up early and surprise them with a donut.  Say yes when they want to play in the mud.  The memories made are truly priceless.

Family Size

What makes a family a large family?  My closest friend is pregnant with her 6th child and she is always getting comments on her "huge" family.  We are getting ready to have our 4th and I have exactly one comment in reference to the size of our family.  So I am curious....to YOU what makes a family cross over from average to large?  Or is it kind of like age...you know, when you are 10, 40 seems OLD.  When you are 33....well 70 starts to look old.  Me?  I don't find 4 kids to be a large family.  I think once you hit 7-8 you become a large family.  What do you think?

Taking a Break

With my husband's new job (which we are very thankful for), he gets very, very little time off.  Most weeks working 6 days a week giving us just Sundays as a family and of course the first half of Sunday is spent at church.  We needed some time away WITH kids.  Yes, WITH kids.  Time to kick back. Time to "Yes make a mess. Yes, touch that. Yes, chocolate for breakfast.  Yes, lets get more dessert. Yes, we will play a family game right now."  So we went away for one quick night and had an incredible time!

Up, Up and AWAY!

I had been updating with my Progesterone levels with this pregnancy.  It has been quite the roller coaster.  They started off low, then I went on pills.  Those did not work.  So they tried supposotories and those did not work.  My numbers were dropping.  My doctor suggested at-home injections on a twice/weekly basis.  At that time she expected me to stay on those shots until we hit week 12.  Once on the injections my numbers began creeping up.  But at week 12 they dropped from 22 to 17.  No reason why, as far as we could tell.  Of course this terrified us because we lost our last baby around the 12 week mark, but we did not discover that until week 15.  My doctor said there was really nothing more to be done but to just wait.  So we waited.  But then I was getting hive like reactions to the shots and they were really hurting my arms.  I was told to quit using my arms and switch to my hip (which is really like your lower back).  My husband began giving them to me there.  At this point in time my doctor suggested not following the numbers on a weekly basis to ease my anxiety and because the baby was still doing so good.  THEN I began getting weird reactions on my back as well.  The last shot my husband gave me (like almost 2 weeks ago), I bled all over the place and got a very scary looking bruise and it hurt like crazy! He said he was done.  I said I was done.  I called the doctor and she ok'd me to stop and said we'd follow up yesterday.  I went in for my labs yesterday.  The nurse called just after lunch to let me know that even after stopping injections..my numbers went from 30 to 40!!!! And just like that...I am DONE with injections.  And DONE with weekly blood work!  I feel like I can relax and just soak up with pregnancy and all the kicks I am feeling.  It feels wonderful and my husband is glad to be done giving the shots. =)

A Basketful of Clothing

Last night we had our annual community garage sales.  My friend, who is also expecting a son, and I spent 6 hours making sure we hit every single house that was having a sale. Yes, we do have a small town.  I scored a Columbia coat for my husband for $10, got him 2 pairs of shorts (nice ones!) for .25/each and got him a pressure washer.  I got the girls one dress for $1.00 and the Professor a John Deere hat.

Oh and I got this adorable sweatshirt for the Professor.

But for the most part...I was there to shop for the baby.  I ended up buying him a basketful of clothing.  Some for when he first comes home and some for the following year as well.

Check out the stylin' outfit for next year!  A Ralph Lauren shirt and gymboree jeans...paid a total of $1.00.

And yes....I guess I am a tad excited we are having a boy.

A super cute shirt with a faux layered look.  I did not get a pic, but I got a pair of matching khacki cargo pants to go with this shirt and it is a 0-3 month outfit.  Adorable or what?

A pile of impossibly small socks.  Are their feet ever really this small?

Some cute onesies.

And since he will be here on Christmas, he needed at least one My First Christmas outfit...or possibly two.

Cannot wait to meet our little man.  Buying these clothes for him made it feel so much more exciting.  Now I am daydreaming wondering what he will look like and what his personality will be.  We love you little buddy and cannot wait to hold our little miracle!

Steve Irwin...or not

Last night the girls had a friend come over.  They were having a blast playing and laughing and running up and down the stairs.  My husband was overwhelmed by all the girliness and went outside to work on something.  While he was there he found a small snake.  He captured it and carried it up to the girls room to show them.  Then he asked me for a container and wanted to put the snake in it.  He took it outside and of course all the kids followed him.  He picked up the snake for them and our oldest says, "Careful Daddy.  You are NOT Steve Irwin!" LOL!
Happy Thursday!