Big and Healthy

Tuesday was such a fun day!  I had my last ultrasound appointment.  A sweet lady from church offered to watch Benjamin for me.  The girls wanted to come with me to the appointment and see the baby.  I also invited our youth minister's wife to come with us.  We made a girls' morning out of it.  The appointment went so smoothly!  Our baby boy still has the hole in his heart but it has not grown and no other conditions are present so that is a big relief.  The baby looked so big and cute and cuddly!  On Tuesday we were just over 33 weeks and he was estimated to already weigh in at 6.6 pounds! Woah!  But I am not worried about a big baby since our other babies were on the larger size as well.  Plus those estimates can be off by a pound or more.  The best news is that he is head down and in the proper birthing position.  Woo-hoo!!!! 
Today I had my OB check up.  His heart rate was actually just over 140 today and everything looked good.  I am measuring ahead but again, our other babies have been big so it does not concern anyone. Tomorrow we will be 34 weeks which means at the most we have 6 week and 1 day til we meet our son.  Our whole family is SO excited! Well, not really the Professor.  He has no clue what is coming.  This baby will rock his little world. Ha!  The Professor is a bit of a mama's boy.  He loves me to hold him every morning and snuggle while we watch cartoons.  I know this baby will be a shock to him but he will adjust and it will be such fun to watch our 2 girls and 2 boys playing together.

The Genius will be 13

Our poor kids.  We woke up to the news that Obama was re-elected.  Heaven help us.  The Genius will be 13+ when we finally get a new president.  I don't even want to think what damage he will do to America in these years in between.
Moving on.....
I took the kids with me to vote yesterday.  My husband kept the Professor outside but the girls came in with me and were able to watch.  The Hippie was so cute!  She said, "I bet we have to keep our hands down since we're not 18 right?"  I asked what she meant.  She thought we voted by raising our hands and that people were there to count it. LOL!  I love the logic of kids.  They were both surprised and intrigued by the computerized voting system. 
As far as I can tell nothing I voted for passed and it appears that next to no one that I voted for won but I did exercise my right to vote and was able to teach our girls a lesson in politics. 

Good Times are Coming!

I am SO excited!!!! My husband has Monday off because of Veteran's Day!  We did not realize he had it off until a few weeks ago.  Meanwhile, I had a desire to take the kids away for a night of fun before the new baby makes his appearance.  We decided to take the plunge and take the kids away for that Sunday night.  The cool part is they have NO idea!  On Saturday night my husband and I will load the van while they are sleeping.  On Sunday morning we will wake up and have a normal morning.  We will tell the kids it is time for church and then load them up.  We will have everything stored int he trunk  of the minivan, including their dvd player for road trips.  The van will look like normal to them.  We will start driving and see how long it takes them to figure out we are on the wrong road.  Once they figure it out we will tell them and then stop and hook up their dvd players.  Our first stop will be either lunch or a snack and then we are off for the Creation Museum!  My friend works there and is letting us in for free.  Afterwards we plan on finding a Barnes and Nobles and letting the girls pick out a book and letting the Professor play on the trains there.  Our hotel (which is free!) has an indoor pool and offers room service.  We will eat dinner out somewhere and then let the kids swim and order desserts in the room.  On Monday we will get up and eat and go to the Aquarium.  I know the girls love going and cannot wait to see the Professors reaction to it all!  This week feels like it is going to go so slow because I am so excited to surprise them like this.  I love fun times with family!

Cute Kids!

Last week my husband actually had a day off!  It happened to be gorgeous out!  We did a little school and then spent the day working and playing in the yard.  He raked up lots of leaves for the kiddos to play in.  It was so much fun! 

The Difference Between Boys and Girls

What I found the girls doing:

The Genius reading CS Lewis.  The Hippie reading the latest American Girl Catalog.

Sigh.  What I found the Professor doing:

And sometimes people wonder what I do all day.

Turkish Delight

The Genius had to select a novel to read for home-school.  She will be doing a book report on it soon.  She chose "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" by CS Lewis.  I was so excited for her to read it.  She is almost done. 6 chapters left.  She LOVES it!  The other day she was telling me that the chapter ended with Edmond getting ready to eat the Turkish Delight.  I said, "Oh! We should google and see if there is a recipe and then we could make it!"  In all sincerity she replied, "Oh Mommy.  You cannot make this."  I said, "Why not?"  She says, "Because.  It says right here in the book "And the Turkish Delight was filled with magic". LOL!  She can be SO adorable!!! Love her!

When Mommy Gets Sick

Moms don't usually get sick.  Well, at least most moms are given the luxury of being able to be sick.  If you are a mom, you get what I am saying.  But when you are a mom and do get truly sick it takes its toll on everyone!  I had a scratchy throat last week and a few sniffles.  Thursday I started to not feel the best but was still active.  Friday I did not feel real great and was really coughing a lot but again, was super active.  Friday night I started feeling rough.  I had made a turkey and mashed potatoes for a family event.  As I was carrying them to the van I felt like I could not breathe.  We were a good ten minutes down the road before I could get through a sentence without gasping.  I thought, "my word.  This baby must be on my lungs!"  Saturday came around I woke up feeling awful.  All night long I had coughed and coughed.  Finally I got up at 445 and just came out to the living room so my husband could rest.  While he worked all day Saturday I did less than nothing.  I let the girls make whatever they wanted for lunch.  They watched movies and played computer games.  They took their brother upstairs and played with him for hours.  I literally did nothing.  I would get up and use the bathroom and then cough for 15 minutes.  Saturday night was worse than Friday night.  I got up about 4 a.m. just to let my husband sleep.  He was scared and told me I needed to be seen.  My mom took me to the ER.  I guess I basically have a cold but it turned into bronchial spasms?  Not sure what that means but he said it was like getting asthma.  I was given a high does of steroids, an inhaler and mega strong cough medicine.  The cough meds make me sleepy so I cannot use it during the day.  But it helped last night.  The whole point of this post though is that I thought the kids enjoyed me being sick.  They got to do a lot of their favorite things and I did not set time limits.  But I was surprised and touched when I learned that was not the case at all.  They took their brother upstairs and came down later.  They presented me with a bound "book" (paper hole punched and tied with yellow yarn).  Inside they had all made pages for me.  They said how they were scared.  How they knew how hard it was for me to try and take care of them while being sick.  They were worried and did not like me taking me so much medicine.  They were worried for their baby brother.  They talked about how much they love me and appreciate me.  Talk about emotional.  What an absolute treasure that is to me.  I will keep it forever.
I am so blessed!