I'm not dead. . . just nesting!

Randy has been laughing at me because I'm "nesting" right now. We got iPhones for Christmas, so I'm RARELY at the computer, thus the lack of posting on my blog!!!! I check my e-mail on my phone when I have two seconds, then respond to important things (most of the time; I've been much worse about replying to e-mails since I haven't been at the computer very much!). I've even been paying bills, etc. while I've been waiting for Kate at dance or gymnastics. It's been very handy to have! Plus, my kids LOVE watching movies on it. It's saved my life a couple of times when I'm on a long shopping trip with Luke and he is just done!

With all my "extra" time I've had, I've been gutting and reorganizing my whole house, getting ready for Alyssa to come! We have about 10 more weeks!! I always love when I hit the 30 week point (on this coming Sunday) because then I know I have in the single digits of weeks left!! For me, it may be more like 12 weeks instead of 10, but I'm being optismistic. I'm also determined that I'm going to go into labor this time, instead of having to be induced like I was with Kate and Luke!!! I guess we'll have to see!

We had a wonderful Christmas break. We had a quiet, peaceful Christmas at home. The kids had a great time not having many places we had to be. They loved just getting to hang out and play with their new toys!!! It was quite the shock to them when life started again, Dad had to go to work everyday, Kate had to go to school, etc.

We are looking forward to Kate's 4th birthday next week!!! I can't believe that she's already going to be 4! She started Sunbeams in primary this year and is SO cute. My neighbor across the street is the primary chorister, and she said Kate was absolutely adorable on Sunday, because she knew all of the songs and would just sing her heart out! She said that she kept pointing out to senior primary, "Look at this brand new Sunbeam! She is singing better than you guys are!!!" Kate was very proud of that!

Here are some pictures of our Christmas to get us caught back up a little. I hope everyone had a great Christmas break. We are enjoying a BEAUTIFUL day here. It's almost 70 degrees! I have five kids all day today, so I'm trying to survive the day!! I'll be ready to crash when their dad comes to get them at 5pm tonight! I'm enjoying Luke and Bradley sleeping at the same time right now!


This is in College Station (we went there for a visit and to go to the Houston temple the week before Christmas) at a Christmas lights place called Santa's Wonderland. It is a drive-through light display place. We were all in the back of Randy's parent's truck.


Our attempt at our nativity scene on Christmas Eve. Luke didn't want to leave his Joseph outfit on.


Our family picture in our Christmas pajamas. I am SO happy this turned out! We used the timer on the camera with it set on our sofa. Can you believe that everyone looked in the right spot and smiled at the same time?! What a miracle!!!



My cute Kate in her Christmas nightgown that I made her. I didn't get the elastic in the sleeves in time. She took it off Christmas morning while we were waiting for Luke to wake up and let me finish the sleeves.


My handsome little Lukey in his Christmas jamas. He LOVES Mickey, so he was thrilled to have even more Mickey jamas.


Kate and her new Nellie doll in their matching nightgowns that I made them. Kate LOVES Nellie and would take her everywhere with us if I would let her.


You can see how much she loves Nellie by how snuggled they are together! This is a little grainy because Randy took it with his phone. It's so cute to see them sleeping together like that!

What a crazy month!

This month has been so crazy, I haven't been on my blog in almost a month!!! We had a very fun Thanksgiving. Randy's parents, older sister, brother-in-law, two nephews, and younger sister all came to our house. We had a great time! The kids loved having everyone at our house, being able to keep a somewhat normal routine.

We are looking forward to a nice, quiet Christmas at home. Randy's squadron is on their GDF rotation (Global Deterrence Force), so we can't go anywhere more than 8 hours driving. We loved our quiet Christmas last year, and I know that it will be very relaxing again this year! Since I was released from my calling, I'm keeping myself busy with doctor's appointments, car pools, etc. and sewing doll clothes for Kate's new doll for Christmas! It will be a very busy month! I have my regular OB appointment this month, one more next month, then it's already time for me to start going every two weeks again! I thought that by Christmas time this year, I'd REALLY feel huge and pregnant. I'm feeling pretty big, but I don't think the reality has totally set in yet!

I am going to be making my blog private. Everyone that I'm aware of who reads my blog will be added to the list. If you don't get the invitation, let me know! I've just heard too many creepy things!

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! I'll get pictures up here sometime soon!

To my disappointment

Quite a few people have asked me when my half-marathon is, which is this Saturday. Last week I had to go see a neonatologist for my level II ultrasound. The baby looks great, everything is healthy and growing like it's supposed to. I just happened to mention off hand to him that I was running a half-marathon in a week and a half. He was NOT happy with that. He told me that I couldn't do it! He said that my body will start sending all of my blood to my leg muscles, instead of the baby. So, no more 13.1 miles for me! I'll have to do it at this time next year. It will just be tough then, because any time I run too hard when I'm nursing, I lose my milk. At least I've had something to keep me in shape during the beginning of this pregnancy! Hopefully I will lose my baby weight even faster than I did with Kate and Luke! So, there's an update for anyone who was wondering. The race is on hold for now. I will do it! Maybe I'll do a full marathon since I won't be pregnant! I'm sure I'll start with the half then work up from there!

Our Halloween and our new baby girl!

No, I didn't have my baby early, we just have ANOTHER new addition to our family. We had a very fun Halloween! Kate was Aurora from Sleeping Beauty (since the movie has newly come out, she was insistent that was what she would be), and Luke, well, he boycotted Halloween that morning. So he wore an orange shirt to be at least a little festive. We spent the whole morning helping out at Kate's school with their Fall Festival. Then we went trick or treating at 5pm (that's when base trick or treating starts, it was so nice to go so early!). For trick or treating, I was able to convince Luke to wear part of his turtle costume from last year (he was supposed to be a really cute lion this year, but he FREAKED out when I put the pants on him for the costume).


Here's Luke before his hair was done, but he's at least in his orange shirt. Kate was SO excited that she got to wear make-up to be Aurora.



Here's Kate at school waiting in line to start their parade.

We only got a few pictures with Luke in his "costume". It was WONDERFUL weather! It was about 80 degrees, sunny, and so comfortable!


Kate was getting annoyed that her hair kept sticking to her lip gloss. I told her to get used to it, that it happens all the time to Mom! Here's an inadvertent picture of my ever expanding baby belly, too! Luke didn't care at all about candy. He just wanted his cheddar bunnies.



Here's our new addition, Kathryn. Kate is the one that named her. She is the SWEETEST little kitty I've ever seen. We got her on Saturday afternoon about 5 minutes before we had 5 extra kids come to our house. As of yet, she hasn't scratched ANYONE! Not even accidentally. She is so cuddly, but still very energetic.


She lets Kate play with her claws, push her around in the doll strollers (although, that doesn't usually last long, she'll just jump out), put her to sleep in the doll beds, etc. She is SO nice!


Kate got a line from the first Madagascar movie, where Gloria says that a critter is so cute, she wants to dunk it in her coffee. Well, all on her own, Kate came and told me on Saturday, "Mom, Kathryn is so cute, I could just dunk her in my coffee!" I got a good laugh at that, then told her that we don't drink coffee, but she could dunk her in her hot chocolate. Kate and Kathryn were very disappointed when they couldn't sleep together last night. Dad wants to make sure Kathryn doesn't have any potty accidents first, (which she hasn't, I love how cats are so good at potty training themselves!) then told Kate they could sleep together. We love our new little baby!!!

We love Fall!

I've been very delinquent in posting. Life has been crazy as ever here, as I'm sure everyone else's has been as well! Kate got to go on her first field trip at school. Luke and I were able to meet her there, and we had a great time! We went to a pumpkin patch and walked around. Luke thought that he needed to be a member of Kate's class. He didn't like it very much when I wouldn't let him in to listen to the stories, etc. because I knew he'd just be a huge distraction to the other kids.

We also went to the fair, which isn't very big here, but we still had fun. They have an exotic zoo with a zebra, two giraffes, camels, a kangaroo, pigs, goats, and more. We also took the kids to see the livestock, which they thought was interesting. Some people let the kids pet their animals: chickens, cows, goats, sheep. They thought that was cool. There was also a free little circus that was quite the experience for the kids to see.

We're getting ready for Halloween. Kate has a party at school on Friday, which Luke and I get to go to. Then we're crashing another ward's Trunk or Treat, because our ward isn't doing anything!! So, we're going to go take part in theirs!


Kate excitedly on the bus to go on her field trip.


Petting a giraffe at the fair


Waiting for the Circus to start at the fair



Kate on a ride at the fair

What a weekend

Randy took leave this entire last week. It was really fun for us to have him around, but it went by WAY too fast!!

On Wednesday (after my shocking ultrasound) we drove to College Station. Early Thursday morning, Randy and I got up, kissed our kiddos goodbye and headed to Dallas for a long, VERY LONG day. While the kids were playing with Grandma and Grandpa, we went to the temple, did LOTS of shopping, and went to the BYU vs. TCU football game. Wow, was that depressing! It was a very sad way to end a great day! It was embarrassing to walk out of the TCU stadium with BYU shirts on. What a game. . . we were planning on staying in a hotel since we didn't get to our car until almost 11pm, but we decided that we were too depressed to spend anymore money on the day. So we headed back to College Station, arriving at 2am. Poor Randy. I couldn't stay awake on the way home! Luke had been up for an hour in the night, so I was VERY out of it by the time midnight rolled around. Plus, we stayed up late playing games with Randy's parents that night. . . so there were a couple of things working against me. Thankfully, he got us back to College Station in one piece, and we got to sleep in (all the way until 8:30! WOW!) the next morning, thanks to Grandma! The kids had a great time playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Kate was given Beary, her classroom Teddy Bear to take on our trip this weekend. He has a journal that you're supposed to fill out and bring back with pictures of the weekend's events. Here are a few of the pictures we took.



This is at the Fall Festival on base. I told Kate that had better be the only time I see her in a police car!


Firefighter Kate. Luke wouldn't climb up because he was so ready for a nap. It was really sad, because he LOVES firetrucks!


Our regular stop at the zoo in Tyler, TX on our way to College Station. Luke couldn't take his eyes off the tiger that was RIGHT against the fencing. I think he was a little nervous!

Kate LOVES the giraffes at the zoo. Here's a picture of my baby belly!



Us before the disappointing football game!


Kate and Luke making Halloween pictures with Beary.


Teaching Beary how to roast marshmallows.

Kate and Luke are enjoying the campfire.

The cruelest thing EVER!

So, I had my OFFICIAL 15 week ultrasound today (the one on Friday was the nurse practioner doing it). . . It's a GIRL!!! Oh my goodness! Randy and I were in COMPLETE shock! We've been telling everyone it's a boy, calling it Jackson. . . poor baby girl is going to have a complex now! We were SO excited for Luke to have a baby brother/best friend forever. Well, now he'll have a little sister he can watch out for. :) So, SURPRISE!! It's a girl! We have to name her quickly now so she won't feel so upset! Now that I've gotten out all of the boxes of baby BOY clothes. . . what a mean thing to do to someone! In defense of the nurse practioner, the ultrasound technician looked at the ultrasound from Friday and said she would have said it was a boy, too. But she said today, there was no doubt that it was a girl. I have a level 2 ultrasound in a few weeks to check the baby for spinabifida (since I was born with it), so I'm not buying a single thing until after that! There was no doubt in my mind on Friday that it was a boy. I've felt like this was a boy all along; I was right about my other two kids! Randy described it well today, by saying he felt like he'd been hit by a truck. Not that we're disappointed, but just so shocked!!!