Booked

Well, my church has found out I can sing and I'm booked to sing a special on Friday night at the Women's Christmas Dinner, Saturday night service, and Sunday morning service.  Time to prepare a new song for Friday and practice All is Well for Saturday and Sunday.

Christmas Part 2

Christmas part two.  We went over to Michael's parents to celebrate with his parents, and his brother and his family.  Patrick loved his tool box and Play Dough tools.  He had to open them up right away and play with them.

There was a little bit of tug-of-war with they RC car Joshua got.  Patrick really wanted to play with it, but since it was Joshua's he had to wait until Joshua said he could try it.  Patrick kept picking the car up and running away with it.  Looks like maybe next Christmas we'll have to get one for Patrick.

 Later, when the rest of Grandma's family came over we put on a Christmas play for Great-grandma and Great-grandpa.  Rachel and I were angels and then wise men.  The little boys didn't want to participate but we had a good time.

Christmas

It's been a busy Christmas week and it's not over.  On the 23rd, Patrick and I went over to Great-aunt Linda's house for Christmas with Michael's family.  We had a wonderful meal and then had the ever popular, White Elephant Christmas Exchange.  Patrick got stamps and an ink pad and I got a can of almonds and this cute snowman decoration.  I finally got to meet Michael's cousin Mark.

On Christmas Eve, the three of us drove down to my parents for Christmas.  We went to the Christmas Eve service at their church.  Afterwards, we had a wonderful meal that my mother made and then opened presents.  Patrick got a puzzle of different vehicles that makes sounds.  He also got Cars the movie.  He loves that move and we have watched it every day since he got it.  We played some games and then came home.

Christmas Day, we went over the Michael's parents for dinner and singing Karaoke.  It was a wonderful time with family.  We are going back over to their house for Christmas with everybody on Grandma Mary's side on Saturday.  I'm excited to see my sister-in-law and hang out.  More pictures to come.

16 weeks

Peanut's the size of an avocado!

Now, she's about 4.6 inches long and weighs about 3.5 ounces, and she's big enough that your doctor may be able to hear her heartbeat.  She's listening to your voice, thanks to tiny bones forming in her ears.  She's growing hair, lashes and eyebrows.  And she's forming taste buds.

Feeling great.  Having a wonderful time with family for Christmas and happy that I don't have to worry about Gestational Diabetes this Christmas like the last time I was pregnant.

Have a Dr. appointment after New Year's and we'll schedule the ultrasound them.  I'm hoping to be able to get it in for my birthday.  We'll have to see what they have open very late or very early as Michael is on night shift and I don't want to have to wake him up to come with.  I'm excited to finally "see" Peanut.

Christmas Prep Fun

 We are getting ready for Christmas at our house.  Monday the daycare kids, Patrick, and I made sugar cookies.  I have 4 cookie cutters, so everyone took charge of one and we took turns cutting out cookies.

Tuesday, DECORATING!!!  I had white, green, and red frosting for using and then different types of sprinkles to top them all off with.  I had a hard time keeping the kids from eating the frosting.  We each had a cookie after lunch and then sent home the girls cookies.

Wednesday, we made a snowman.  We rolled the balls in the backyard and then used the wagon to move the snowballs to the front yard.  The snowman ended up taller than the girls and Patrick.  We are supposed to get anywhere from 4-18 inches of snow (depending on what weather man you listen to) tonight.

15 Weeks

Peanut's the size of a navel orange!

Peanut, if average, at 15 weeks weighs 2.5 ounces and measures 4 inches -- and his proportions are becoming even more normal, since his legs now outmeasure his arms.  You probably can't feel it yet, but she's squirming a ton!  She might even be hiccuping in there.  She's making lots of progress: her joints and limbs can all move now.

Feeling great and can't wait to feel Peanut move.  It took a while to feel Patrick move as my placenta was on the front and muted his movements.  I mostly felt him move side to side, not to much kicking or punching.  I'm hoping this time to feel more kicks/punches than I did last time.  Only about 5 weeks until we get to see Peanut on ultrasound.  Very excited for this as it will be around my birthday.

Christmas Movie Memories

I love this time of year, especially getting to watch all the wonderful holiday specials.  They bring back a lot of memories of childhood and watching them on tv and then VHS.  My favorites were always the ones by Rankin and Bass, you all know them: Rudolph, Santa Clause is Coming to Town, The Year Without a Santa Clause and the like.  All the different versions of A Christmas Carol are fun to watch as well as the wonderful classics like It's A Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street.

My favorites were always The Year Without a Santa Clause and one that most people probably haven't heard about; The Life and Adventures of Santa Clause.  It's based on a book by L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz.  I've yet to find it on DVD or even shown to TV.  The only time I get to watch it is at my parents on the VHS we used the tape it off of TV about 30 years ago.  Today I'm watching them as Patrick is napping.  I hope he has fond memories of watching these shows as I do.

14 Weeks

WOOO WHOOO!  Second Trimester.


Peanut's the size of a lemon!
At week 14, Peanut is 3.4 inches and 1.5 ounces, he's almost doubled in weight since last week and keeps on growing.  He's probably sucking his thumb and wiggling his toes in there!  His kidneys are making urine, and his liver and spleen are doing their jobs, too.  Peanut's growing lanugo, a thin, peach-fuzz-like hair, all over his body -- it will help him keep warm!

Las Posadas

I have twin 3 year olds who come to our home for daycare.  Patrick and the girls get along well and enjoy playing together.  Each week I have a theme for our stories and art projects.  Last week we did Hanukkah since it started at the end of the week.  We made dreidels, learned about the history and how it is celebrated, and made latkes for snack one day.

This week we are doing a "Christmas Around the World".  Today we learned about Las Posadas.  In short, it's usually celebrated in Mexico and a few other areas with strong latino influences.  For 9 nights, people gather to pray and then walk to an "inn" (one of the participants homes)  with 2 children dressed as Mary and Joseph.  They sing a song asking to be let in to the inn.  After 9 or so verses they are let in and everyone celebrates and eats a meal at the "inn".  We also talked about pinatas as part of the celebration.

For our art project we made mini-pinatas to hang on the christmas tree.  They decorated them and then we added yarn streamers to the bottom.  They didn't turn out so bad.  Patrick wasn't to sure about taking the picture though.

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Quilting Fail

Well, not exactly a fail, but not my normal success with quilting.  This was my first large quilt, so I shouldn't be to surprised.

I decided to make Patrick a quilt for his big boy room.  I couldn't find one that I liked, they were either too babyish or too "big boyish".  I wanted something that would work now but also grow with him.  He loved trucks, cars, airplanes, trains, . . . really anything that moves; so I found some fabric that had all kinds of transportation on it.  Until this point I could only find just cars, or just trains, or just construction.  I spent more than I wanted to on the fabric.

I did some quick drawings of what I wanted and then started to piece together the quilt.  It has 12 squares with a vehicle of some kind in each.  The piecing of the squares was the easy part as well as adding the border.  This is were I started to run into problems.

My machine is to small the quilt the twin sized quilt I made.   I gave it a try but it was bunching and wrinkling.  It looked terrible.  So I spent the next two evenings with a seam riper taking out what I did.  I looked into renting one of those large quilting machines but couldn't justify $120 to get certified and then $20-30 a hour to rent it.  I ended up using some colorful buttons to do the "tie comforter"  look instead.  Not by favorite but it works.

Once finished I washed the whole thing, like I always do.  BIG MISTAKE!  The quilting fabric pulled and bunched in the wash.  It also pulled the quilt squares and made some of the seams come undone.  I had to do some quick repairs in the small areas.  Unfortunately, the airplane (the first square I did) was pretty much ruined.  I had to completely redo it.  I didn't have the same blue anymore and didn't want to  spend more money (I already spent way more than I should have) to buy the same color fabric again.  I had a lighter blue that I used, so the airplane looks a little funny.  Light blue next to the airplane and then darker blue all round that.

The curtains look good though.  No problem with those.

13 Weeks

Peanut's the size of a peach!

Peanut's about 2.9 inches long and weighs about .81 ounces, and -- proportion-wise -- her head's now about 1/3 the size of her body.  Peanut's forming vocal cords and teeth and even though she's still teeny, she already has fingerprints.  Her intestines are moving from the umbilical cord to their more permanent place, in her tummy.

Had my appointment yesterday.  Everything looks good.  I talked with my doctor about when to schedule the ultrasound (even though we are not finding out the sex) and my glucose test for Gestational Diabetes.  We also discussed a little bit about what my last labor; i.e. epidural and painkillers while in labor; and a little of what I want to do with this labor.

The best part was getting to finally hear Peanut's heart beat. The Dr has some trouble finding it at first.  She would hear kicking noises and figures Peanut was moving around a lot.  Finally found it after about 5-10 minutes; came in around 150 which is right in the middle of normal.

No Know or Not to Know

That is the question.  Wether it is nobler to find out the sex of the baby or to take arms against the norms and wait until birth.

Michael and I have been talking about wether we should find out the sex of this baby or not.  We found out with Patrick mainly because I wanted to be able to get things together and well, Michael wanted to know if we were having a boy.

This time, we already have everything we would need including both boy and girl clothes.  My sister has been sending my the clothing my niece, Jenny, has out grown.  Since Jenny was born at the end of May, we have the correct season if we have a girl.  If we have another boy, we have all of the clothes my sister and sister-in-law gave us for Patrick.

Michael likes the idea calling our families to tell them if it is a boy or girl as well as the weight and height.  We already have both a boy and girl name picked out, yes I finally decided.  Colin Robert or Evangeline Ann.

With all these things considered.  We have decided to NOT find out if we are having a boy or a girl.  I know some family will be disappointed but not for long I'm sure.

Santa Train

I don't thing Patrick could have been any more excited about seeing all the trains and then being able to ride on one.  We rode in Grandpa's big truck with cousin Jonathan.

When we first got to the North Freedom Mid-continental Railway Museum we when into the depot for our tickets.  Patrick wasn't too keen on not being allowed to go see the trains right away.  Once Grandpa had the tickets in hand we went back outside to see the trains and the different types of cars.  Our first stop was the caboose.  Patrick climbed on well but then began to fuss and cry about "Choo-choo."  Didn't want to do anything but see "Choo-choo."  I took him outside to see the engine and he was as happy as can be.  Evidently there is an order to seeing things in Patrick's book.  Engines first!

You can't climb into the engines' cabs but we did put him on the engine for a couple of pictures.  Once he was able to walk around and see the different engines he was happy to go back into the caboose and look around.  

Once the train arrived we got on and found a place to sit.  It was pretty warm inside the car, so we all took our jackets off and Grandpa handed out the tickets.  Patrick was did well holding onto the ticket and not losing it.  After tickets were punched it was time to look out the windows and watch everything go by.  Santa comes through each car to say hello to each child and get his picture taken.  Patrick wasn't to sure about Santa and stayed with Grandpa.  When the train switched sides, Patrick moved over to Grandma's lap to see out our window.  He slept  great that night.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving Day with Michael's side of the family.  His cousin, that just moved to CO, came with his wife and their 3 month old son Jackson.  We made sure to get pictures of the cousins with the seconds cousins.  We had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed being together with the whole family.  Patrick loved being able to play with his cousin Joshua.  I don't think he ever left his side besides for nap.  Patrick and I went to see my side the next day, Friday, and then stayed the night for the Santa Train on Saturday.  See next post for more on this.

Scripture Help

I know I can find all the scriptures on my own but thought it would go faster if I get some help.

Last year for Christmas I received an Advent Calendar.  It has 24 pieces that are magnetized to a painted background of the stable.  I want to write on the back of each piece scriptures to read when we take it out of its cubby and put it on the board.

There are 4 sheep, 2 cows, 1 donkey, 3 camels, 3 wise men, 1 shepherd, 1 inn keeper, 2 angels, 3 stars, 1 "STAR", and of course Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.

I know I want to put Luke 2:8-18 on the shepherd, and Luke 2:1-7 on the inn keeper.  For the two angels I'm most likely going to put when Gabriel told Mary she was pregnant (Luke 1:26-38) and Joseph's dream (Matthew 1:18-25).

Any suggestions for the others?  I was thinking maybe some of the prophecies on the stars and/or some of the animals.

12 Weeks

Our baby's the size of a plum!

The average fetus at 12 weeks is about 2.1 inches long and .49 ounces.  Most of her critical systems are fully formed!  She's about to enter the growth and maturation stage, in which her organs and tissues will grow and develop rapidly.  She's now developing her reflexes -- if you poke her body, she'll likely move.  She's opening and closing her fingers and curling her toes.  Her brain is developing fast!

We should be able to hear the babies heart beat at my next appointment on the 3rd.  I'm feeling a lot better; my energy is pretty much back and not to many food are causing issues.  I'm still avoiding onions.