The countdown

We are officially 2 weeks (actually a week and 6 days) away from Gracie's arrival. But who's counting, right? We (aka Gene) still need to hang pictures in her room. We also need to rearrange some things in the kitchen to accommodate bottles and pump equipment. Other than that, everything is done.

Austin is asking a lot of questions about how the baby is going to come out and is bragging to everyone that will listen about how his baby is about to pop out. He's very excited but very concerned about me. I've tried to reassure him that everything is going to be OK. Andrew doesn't know what's coming of course. He's still too young but he does talk about his sister, Gracie, and is very interested in his new cousin Max. He likes to hug and kiss on Max although he doesn't quite know how easy to be with a new baby.

I'll post pictures of the room soon after the pictures are hung. In the meantime, the countdown is on!

The tooth fairy flies again!

Austin has had 2 loose teeth for a while and we've been just watching and waiting for them to fall out. He refuses to let anyone mess with his teeth. He'd rather walk around with them barely hanging on rather than wiggle them enough to pull them out for the tooth fairy to visit. I guess those dollars aren't all that important to him.

Last week, he and a friend bonked heads at school making the top tooth even looser than it already was. So all weekend, we watched and waited. On Sunday, we thought we were going to be able to pull it but Austin refused. So, Monday I e-mailed his teacher to let her know to be on the lookout for the tooth. She responded a little bit later that the school secretary pulled it!

Andrew had to show me his teeth too!

Then, on Thursday, Austin came home with another pulled tooth! Again the school secretary pulled it. She must be one magical tooth puller. The tooth fairy visited our house twice in one week. I think that may be it for a little while.

Baby Shower #2

Friends and family threw me a baby shower. We truly are blessed to have such wonderful friends and family members to help us celebrate our little girl's arrival!

Basketball

Last fall, Austin kept asking if he could play basketball. The season didn't start until winter and, as luck would have it, would end just a few weeks before Gracie's scheduled arrival which worked out well.

The first practice and game were painful to say the least. But he practiced and got somewhat better. By the end of the season, he had decided that basketball wasn't his thing. I think Austin thought that they'd just stand around and shoot the ball like he does at home. At least we've ruled one more sport out! We did manage to get some pictures of him playing though.

Valentine's Day 2011

Happy Valentine's Day! We always get the boys something small from us for Valentine's Day. We got Andrew a couple of books, some Mike & Ikes (his favorite candy), some M&Ms, and an Iron Man toy. He's obsessed with Iron Man; we have no idea why. Austin also got some books and M&Ms, some gummy bears, and a Lego set.

Baby Shower

The people I work with threw Gene and I (and Gracie) a baby shower. Luckily, we hadn't gotten rid of everything that we had with the boys so we had most everything. But, every baby should be celebrated whether it's your first or third. And since this one is a girl, she needed some new pink pretty things!

Gracie update

I realize that I have posted anything about Gracie. You know, the surprise 3rd baby we're having that just so happens to be a girl! I've started my every 2 week appointments and am right on track. I'm 30 weeks (give or take a few days) and I'm officially scheduled for a c-section on March 11. I'm carrying her differently than I did the boys. I'm not quite as "large and in charge" as a friend of mine said. I was concerned about it just because I'd done this twice before and with both I was quite big around. But my doctor says that everything is fine and I'm measuring right where I'm supposed to be.

Over the Christmas break, Gene painted Gracie's room purple and her dresser arrived yesterday. We were fortunate to be given a crib from a good friend, but the FDA (or whoever) has since banned drop sided cribs so we ordered a new one. That should be here by the end of January.

I've started tagging the boy's clothes for consignment. And it's sort of bittersweet. Looking at all the tiny little boy clothes that Austin and Andrew wore and knowing that there's not going to be another little boy to wear them. But, that's all part of it I guess. And we'll get rid of stuff that's taking up room in the basement. That's one good thing (among others) about Gracie joining our family. We've been forced to weed out things that are old and throwing things away that we don't need. The sort of thing that you always avoid until you move.

On a sad note, I traded my car last night. I bought the Maxima in 2002 after I got my first official, real job at the 'Cross. Overall, the Maxima was a great car! Sure, we went through tires like they were water and I was on my 4th alternator. But I loved the sporty-ness of it, it's get up and go, and the gas mileage. But, alas, it was not big enough to fit Gracie and since I'm the one that does most of the kid hauling, I traded it in for an Armada. We picked it up last night. This thing is a beast! I feel quite powerful in it. It really is super nice and I look forward to driving it. I, of course, don't look forward to a car payment after years of not having one.

Christmas 2010

Our Christmas was so much fun! The boys were up at 6:30 wanting to go downstairs.

Austin got a new 4 wheeler!

Andrew got a new jeep!

Andrew spent most of his time stacking his presents. He finally started opening them.

And to top it all off, it snowed on Christmas day! We had to go outside for at least a few minutes to try out the new toys and play in the snow.

Christmas Parties

As luck would have it, both Austin and Andrew's school Christmas parties were on the same afternoon. Fortunately, Austin's was at 1:30 and Andrew's was at 3:00. We made it to Andrew's just in time for singing!

We made snowmen out of a sock, rice, and buttons.

We decorated gingerbread men!

Austin's teacher made stockings for each child. He's checking out all his goodies! Andrew, dancing to Christmas music!

Andrew singing. He was the loudest one!

Austin and Andrew eating snack

Visit with Santa

For the last few years, we've taken the kids to see Santa at the Bass Pro Shop for many reasons. 1) It's a free photo. 2) There's a ton of stuff to do with the kids there. 3) It's just a cool place to go. So, today was our day to go tell Santa our list of demands, I mean, wants, and get our picture taken.

We arrived a few minutes before Santa "opened" and the line wasn't too terrible. I just knew we would go through the line quickly and then be free to do the fun activities they have there at Christmas. Boy, was I wrong. Santa's computer was down so the camera and the ability to upload the pictures to the online program they use wasn't working. After 1/2 hour or so of waiting, they finally said that we could go sit on Santa's lap and tell him our list. Luckily, I brought my camera so I took my own picture. I was so surprised at how well Andrew did. He didn't fuss at all!

Halloween 2010

The kids had a great time trick or treating tonight! Austin was Shaggy (from Scooby Doo) and Andrew was a "construction site worker man." My favorite part was Andrew saying at every house "I want a lot of them" (referring to the candy). They were both troopers and walked and walked and walked. Andrew actually got more candy than Austin did!

IT'S A GIRL!

Our little surprise baby really is a surprise. It's a girl!

We've always had a girl's name picked out, ever since before we got pregnant with Austin. When we first told Austin, we asked him if he thought the baby was a boy or a girl. He said that he hoped it was a girl and that he wanted to name her Gracie. (Gracie is the name of his little girlfriend from kindergarten.) Luckily, our girl's name is Grace Anne. Austin was so excited when we told him that it was a girl!

I'm measuring right on schedule at 20 weeks and she weighed 12 ounces. Her heart rate was 147 beats per minute.

Now, it's time to change my shopping habits. Think pink instead of blue!

Andrew's Halloween Party

Andrew's class had a Halloween party and it was the best party that I've been to since we've been at Bright Horizons! They had a snow cone station, "go fishing," and face painting. And, of course, there were snacks!

Zoo Field Trip 2010

I took the day off to chaperone Austin's field trip. As usual with a bunch of 1st graders, it was like herding cats. But, I only had 2 boys, Austin and one other, so it was easier to manage. They sure are fast though! They didn't necessarily run, but they can walk a lot faster than I can even when I'm not pregnant. The kids had a good time and I think the parents did too. We will sleep well tonight for sure!

Tornado Intercept Vehicle

Yesterday, we found out that the Tornado Intercept Vehicle from the Storm Chasers series was going to be in town for 3 hours today. Three hours only. And in the middle of the day. After talking, Gene and I decided to check Austin out of school for a couple of hours to take him to see the thing.

We didn't tell him that we were going to check him out. We didn't want to get him distracted for the few hours that he'd be in school during the morning. I went to the school to check him out and he was completely surprised. And when I told him where we were going and what we were going to see he was even more thrilled! The guy in the picture is Sean Casey, the camera man who built the vehicle.