Thankful day 30

Thankful I'm 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced :)

Thankful day 29

I'm really really thankful that soon I'm going to get a 2 day hospital "vacation" where I can order any food I want, lay in bed all day holding my sweet baby girl, and watch whatever I want on tv.

I might be a little TOO excited about this ;)

Thankful day 28

Today I'm thankful I got to hold and kiss sweet Henry and meet his mama last January. Little Henry went to be with Jesus this afternoon after complications from a recent surgery. Henry had a cleft palate and Carla and I helped each other through the boys' surgeries. Please pray for the Dobrovits family.

Thankful day 27

Today I'm thankful that my thoughtful kids keep finding stuff to save for the baby sister. That Jenny brought me an iced chai and let me hold baby George! That we are on week 14 of school and going strong, and that we found the advent wreath!

Pic of the blankets the kids are finding for baby sis and putting in her cradle!

Thankful day 26

I'm thankful that my very talented mom works so hard and makes my kids amazing Christmas stockings :)

(And I'm sure she prays for them while she is working on them!)

Thankful weekend!

This weekend I'm thankful we got more stuff ready for baby girl. Diapers are out, swing is set up, bouncy seat is clean and ready. I'm thankful we got a few Christmas decorations out, including stockings and nativity set. I'm thankful that I got to be there for baby George's baptism!
I'm thankful that I finally got to meet my godson Owen and my kids got to play with their other kids and had a great time. I'm also attaching a pic of how Leo looked when I was holding Owen. Pray for us!

Thankful day 23

We had a wonderful thanksgiving brunch at moms house today, I am thankful for my family!

Also thankful that daddy plays games with the kids and makes wonderful memories. And gives then baths.

And again thankful for tums!

Thankful day 22

I took zero pics of my kids today! Ahhhh!

I'm thankful it was a very warm day and they got to play outside, and a delicious thanksgiving feast with kens side of the family. My kids have some awesome cousins!!!

Oh and I'm very thankful for tums ;)

Thankful day 21

I'm thankful I got to see humongous baby girl today! At 36.5 weeks, she weighs 8 lbs 1 oz according to ultrasound. This is about what happened with Leo and he was born 2 weeks early. I'm hoping that happens again!

Speaking of Leo, I'm soooooo thankful he said TOE and TUM last night.... He has never said the T sound before! So proud of him!

Thankful day 20

I'm thankful my handsome hubby is home for 5 WHOLE DAYS!!!!

Thankful day 19

I'm so thankful to Ken tonight for taking over when he got home. I had the worst day with the older 2 kids I've had in a long time. He fed them and put them to bed and let me take a bath!

Side note. No punishment works with
these kids. Ken made them pack up all their toys from their rooms when he got home and said they have to earn them back. Did they care? No. They played "the grinch!"

Thankful day 18

Today I'm thankful that my great friend came to visit this morning! My kids absolutely love her and love when she visits. We got to walk around an outdoor mall close to our house and enjoy some early Christmas decorations and eat some pizza. Anddddd I got to try this amazing cappuccino at Sur la Table and now I want this espresso machine for Christmas :)

Thanks for coming Lori!!

Thankful day 17

Today I am very thankful for a fun girls morning out with my mom and Madeleine. We went out for a nice breakfast (my kid ate FOUR pumpkin pancakes!) and then went to a special showing of Wizard of Oz at a beautiful theater in town. Madeleine of course had to dress up as Dorothy and bring Toto, and she was a big hit! The managers even came out to take her picture for their Facebook page!
Thanks mom!

Thankful day 16

Today I'm thankful that after my 3 year old pooped all over his bed and himself during naptime, it was buy one get one free peppermint mocha day at Starbucks. Both for me.

Thankful day 15

Today I'm thankful that the wrap I ordered in April for baby girl finally came! And that I had a giant baby to try it with ;)

Thankful day 14

Today I'm very thankful that Madeleine and John Paul can somewhat clean up after themselves. It's getting very hard to bend over! And also that they can play outside in the backyard and have fun together :)
John Paul ready to go out first thing this morning.

Thankful day 13

Today I'm thankful I'm almost 36 weeks!

Thankful day 12

Today I'm thankful that Leo hasn't had an ear infection since he got tubes during his surgery in March, after multiple infections before that!
That John Paul still wants me to rock him every night.
And that I found an old favorite series that I read when I was a kid.. The Happy Hollisters by Jerry West... and I started reading the first book to Madeleine today.

And that the kid can do school looking like this....

Thankful day 11

Today I am thankful for this beautiful warm day! We got to play outside a lot today and its probably the last day it will be this warm here. John Paul described himself as "stupendous" hitting the basketball goal! We also got to play at the park with grandma!

And Madeleine decided to read a book about Pope John Paul to her brother :)

Oh and John Paul is thankful for the special treat he got at grandmas house!

Thankful day 10

Today I'm thankful for the saints! It's so great to learn about men and women who gave their lives to Christ. It's so inspirational to me and recently Madeleine has started to LOVE to read about saints! And today is Pope St. Leo the Great's feast day!

I'm also very thankful that I got a shopping and coffee date with my mom this morning. I see mom all the time but we hardly ever get alone time to just talk :)
While we were doing that, Ken took the kids on a hike and picnic on this beautiful day. And then M and I got to go to mass tonight while Ken stayed home and cooked dinner.

Anddddd I'm thankful that Leo hasn't had a major injury with his climbing habit yet. Any tips on how to keep the boy off of high places??

Thankful day 9

Today I'm so thankful for the bond Leo and I have. When he was born and couldn't breastfeed, I really worried that I wouldn't bond with him like I had with my other kids. I'd read stories online about mothers feeling like they had a different bond with their bottle fed children than with breastfed children. And I didn't know of any way to prevent that. So I just mothered him the best I could. I fed him probably 98% of his bottles in his life. I wore him everywhere. In fact he was over 16 months when he rode in the grocery cart for the first time. I held him, fed him, read him books, put him to bed every night. And he is probably the most attached of the three. He loves his mama. He's my cuddliest baby. He kisses and hugs me and sits on my lap all day. As much as I hope any future babies have no feeding problems, I will never worry about bonding again.

Thankful day 8

Today I'm thankful for the craziest thing!
Madeleine has had a rash on the back of her thighs for probably 3 years. The pediatrician and I assumed it was eczema the whole time. We have tried every prescription steroid cream, hydrocortisone, different soaps or lack thereof, etc etc etc. She is always itchy and has been suffering with this for all this time!
So about 3 weeks ago I called the pediatrician and said we had had enough and we needed to get to the root of this problem. He agreed and sent us to a pediatric dermatologist today. She looked at her for 5 seconds and determined that it was contact dermatitis from the toilet seat! She said its very common with harsh cleaners (which I use... We have boys) and also much worse with wooden toilet seats which we have upstairs. I can't believe it! She said to change the upstairs toilet seats and start cleaning them with dial soap and it should clear up in a few weeks! I'm so happy it's something simple.. But sad that it took us this long to figure out!

Also thankful that Leo said the word POOP.... He has never ever said the P sound at the beginning of a word until today! (It's a hard sound for a kid who had a cleft palate because it takes pressure in the mouth.) So yes!!!!

And I also had a dr appt today and she said baby girl is head down, great heart rate, good bp for me, and ill have group b strep test in 2 weeks and then start going once a week. Is it just me or did this pregnancy go really fast??

Also I checked off something on my to do list during nap today.... Lots to be thankful for!

Today....

I'm thankful that God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Thankful day 6

Yes of course I'm thankful for the right to vote, and also I'm thankful for my son Leo. Since he was born with a birth defect I'm even more passionately pro life than I was before! He (and all babies regardless of any issues they may have) deserve the right to life just like everyone else!

Thankful day 5

It's been a rough day. Today I'm thankful my kids go to bed at 7:30!
And that we finally have a light and mirror in our downstairs bathroom.
And that our electricity came back on last night after a big scare where we envisioned having to call an electrician and spend $$$$.

I did make some shirts for the festivities tomorrow!