Pumpkin carving

This was our first experience carving pumpkins with the kids (we slacked off the past few years!) Madeleine was SO excited. For some reason she wore her pumpkin candy bucket on her head....

She was very helpful getting all the seeds and pumpkin guts out! John Paul was content to watch. If you look really close you can see our new tile.


Madeleine designed the faces and told me what to draw. She wanted her pumpkin to be scary and John Paul's to be smiley.

After Buddy's pumpkin was done, he kept sticking his finger in the mouth and saying, "Bite! Ouch!"
The finished product!

32 weeks, 1 day

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Ice's Christmas Hat

I'm 32 weeks today....

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7 Quick takes (off the record)

1. I did not get on the computer for two weeks! I did have my phone so I could check emails and stuff, but hardly read any blogs and did not post on my own.

2. The first reason was because we got all new floors on the main level of our house. We got new carpet in the family room, new tile in the kitchen, dining room and entryway, and new laminate in the playroom. It took the entire week. We went to Chicago the first day of the week, but the rest of the days we mostly hung out at mom's, went to the Children's museum, and basically stayed out of the worker's way. The floor was torn up and all the furniture was in a room they weren't working on, so basically we had to leave as soon as we came downstairs in the morning - there was no way I could put John Paul down downstairs. I was really dreading this week, but it wasn't so bad! I was able to bring them home for naps in the afternoon, and we all just stayed upstairs. Also mom cooked dinner for us every single night of the week! Thanks Mom!

3. I LOVE LOVE LOVE our new floors! Our whole house looks MUCH better!

4. Last week we spent almost the entire week putting the house back in order from the previous week. I took a HUGE amount of stuff to Goodwill, threw away a bunch more, and rearranged some more stuff. My mom spent the entire day here one day helping me clean out our spare room and getting John Paul moved in there. We have 4 bedrooms upstairs so John Paul is now moved into the last room, using Madeleine's old crib and her old changing table/hutch/dresser. Cleaning out that closet was a CHORE. But he is all moved in, his clothes are put away, his walls are decorated and he made a very smooth transition. His favorite part about his new room is that the previous owners had put glow in the dark stars all over the ceiling. So we read books at night then turn off the light and look at the "tars" for a while in the rocking chair. He loves them. His old room, with the crib, changing table, dresser and all little clothes will be the new baby's room. That room is right next to ours and the other two are down the hall, so hopefully the new baby won't wake them up.

5. We also turned Madeleine's room into her "big girl room." She got a new dresser and bookshelf that I painted white to match her daybed. We got all her too small clothes out of her closet and put them in bins in the garage (I really need another girl someday to use all my favorite clothes again!), took her bed rails off and got her a new big girl chair. The chair is like a chaise almost, we got it at a garage sale for pretty cheap, and she loves it! It'll work for her room til she goes to college. We needed her rocking chair for the baby's room.

6. Speaking of the baby's room, I am working on his room next. I actually have all the 0-3 months clothes in his drawers and hanging up in his closet already, all washed and dried in the sun. I found the perfect bedding,

And my best customer of my knitted items, Mary, totally helped me save to buy it with all her orders. You're the best Mary! By the way if anyone needs a hat for a baby shower or anything like that, let me know - the room is still going to need a lamp and curtains ;) And I can knit some really cute stuff! I'm making a little Christmas Santa hat for little Ice right now.

7. While all of this was going on (for TWO WEEKS) my van was dead in the driveway. Ken tried several things to fix it, including a new battery, but it was doing some really weird things. So I drove Ken to work and sometimes picked him up, and we drove his car. In the end, it turned out to be corrosion in the power control box, which was only a $145 fix - Could have been SO much worse! My speedometer is broken but I downloaded an app for my phone that hopefully tells me an accurate speed.

After all that craziness, I think everything is getting back to normal!! Thank God for normal days!

18 months old!

My sweet baby is 18 months old today! He is totally in toddler mode, growing and learning new things every day. I know this is a bad picture, but this is what he likes to do every morning - he brings his "silky" or as he says, "Kicky," George ("Doge") and his "Juice" to the chair and wants to "Wock" with me. It takes him a while to wake up - he just likes to sit with me for a while when he first wakes up, which is fine with me! Sometimes he even wants to watch the Colts in the morning ;) He says "Go Colts! Kick! Fro! Run!"

He is extremely coordinated (compared to someone else around here, especially!) He runs, kicks, throws, climbs, goes up and down stairs, etc. He is very sturdy and I don't worry much about him falling. We went to the Children's museum today and I loved this picture of him looking in the mirror....
His vocabulary is getting HUGE! He learns new words every day and is even putting 2-3 word sentences together. He loves dinosaurs and goats (I know, goats?) He can name lots and lots of animals. He loves books, especially ones with animals, and Curious George. His favorite is Good Night Gorilla, which he calls "Lilla." I'm so thankful he has outgrown his screaming phase now that he can talk better and tell us what he wants. He is very excited about EVERYTHING. My dad loves to ask him "John Paul did you have fun today?" because he always says, "YES!!!!" He also says Yes whenever I ask him if he wants to eat, and "I EAT!" is one of his favorite phrases. He also loves any kind of water fountains, and pumpkins.
He is still a really cuddly, lovable kid. He loves to sit on our laps and rock, and will randomly come over and hug my legs several times a day. He loves his sister SO much, and she loves him. She calls him "Little Hance" or "Hancey" - short for Handsome ;)

I hope he's ok when little Ice is born - he's still kind of needy and a little on the high maintenance side. I know it will be a blessing for him but it might be hard on him at first.

I was worried about how Madeleine would do with him, and he's been nothing but a wonderful blessing in all our lives!

We love you John Paul!!!

Baby Boy Clothes

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Thank you St. Anthony!

Today we weren't able to be downstairs much because we couldn't walk on most of the floors. SO, we basically woke up, got the kids dressed, and went to Grandma's house. Sometime during the time we were getting the kids dressed and ready, Ken handed me a substantial check to deposit today. I stuck it in my pocket and promptly forgot about it. We went to Grandma's, I went through a bunch of clothes we got for John Paul from friends, we ate breakfast and headed to the Children's Museum (and had a great time!) I paid for our lunch and then pulled my phone out of my pocket to check a text from Ken, which said to make sure to deposit the check. Check? What Check? I checked my pockets. I checked my wallet. I checked my purse, the stroller, the car, went home and looked at the changing table where I was standing when Ken handed it to me, and could not find it. Uh oh. I told Ken I couldn't find it. I prayed to St. Anthony and asked him to help me find it. Not 5 minutes later, the Children's Museum called and said they had the check!!!!! I could not believe it. I had to drive all the way back downtown to get it, but it was totally worth it. ;)


_____________________

In other news, I haven't talked about my ultrasound on Friday. That boy was measuring a full 2 weeks bigger than his dates. I was 28 weeks 3 days and he was measuring over 30 weeks, weighing in at a whopping 3 lbs 7 oz. Whew! The doctor said that he might have had a growth spurt and would even out, when I expressed concern at having a 10 pound baby. She also said I could have another ultrasound at 36 weeks, right before we went to Alabama for Thanksgiving, and also check my cervix, but she thinks I'll be good to go. I have to go every 2 weeks now, which I actually enjoy! I love hearing his heartbeat. By the way, he is just ADORABLE and looks like his big brother. He had his hands up by his face most of the time. I actually can't believe we're about to have 3 kids. I'm so excited to meet him. I was kind of worried before John Paul was born about Madeleine having a sibling, after having us all to herself for 2 years. I wondered how she would do, and if I could possibly love him as much as I loved her? But now that he's been here for 17 months, I see what a wonderful gift he is to ALL of us. Madeleine loves him, he makes her a better person, he makes us better parents, she is a wonderful big sister to him and they play together SO well. It's obvious they love each other. So I'm SO excited to add another sibling to the family. I truly believe what John Paul the Great said, "The greatest gift you can give your child is a sibling." This time I'm not worried about them, or if I'll love him as much as the other two, but maybe a little about my own sanity.... ;)

Road trip!

We are getting our new floors put in this week! I thought about going to visit Lifehopes, which would have been awesome, but the flights didn't look good and also John Paul has a cold so I wanted to stick close to the doctor and his nebulizer. So we decided to take a short road trip to Chicago yesterday to see Cathy and family. We pretty much invited ourselves up and they were very gracious and wonderful hosts! We had some issues in the morning however.

Actually it all started Sunday night when I went to Mikes Car Wash to vacuum out the van. I finished cleaning it all up and then it wouldn't start. Some guys jumped me and I made it home. Then Ken put in a new battery and it started right up, so we figured we were good. The next morning I got up at 5:30am, packed the car with everything we could possibly need - books, toys, extra clothes, pajamas, double stroller, potty seat, snacks, diaper bag, stories on tape and CDs from the library, etc. I was just about ready to get the kids up to leave when I decided to try to start the van. It wouldn't start. DARN IT! I was just about to tell Ken to NOT get John Paul up but he already had. Ken went out and tried to start it (although I didn't feel comfortable taking it,) and it was completely dead. So I moved everything to Ken's car, which was much more crowded, dropped Ken off at work, and left, about an hour and a half later than I had hoped. I was kind of nervous about the 3 1/2 hour drive with them by myself. When I say "them" I mean BUD. But the kids were GREAT. I got them breakfast in the car, and we only stopped once on the way up for a potty break and diaper change. I packed a huge box of books and put them between them and they just looked at books the whole time. Bud fell asleep for about the last hour too, which was awesome since I'm scared of driving into Chicago, and at least it was a little quieter in the car so I could concentrate. By the way, I LOVE my Navigation App on the droid. Took me straight to their house.

We went out for lunch, and Bud showed off his food throwing and mess-making skills. Then we went to Navy Pier, which all the kids LOVED.


Madeleine with the remote control boats. (Which we didn't pay for, but she just liked the steering wheel.) By the way Cathy, thanks for grabbing my naughty girl before she fell in the water!

John Paul on the carousel. (Thanks Joe for the tickets!)

Madeleine and Mary on the chairs - they LOVED the chairs! We were probably there for 30 minutes! They were great friends - playing and holding hands all day.

Madeleine and Mary on Thomas the Train. You can see the start of the meltdown in this pic if you look carefully. She decided she wanted off in the middle of the ride.

3 happy kids with their lollipops.

On the road!

Thank you so much Cathy and Joe for hosting us and for paying for everything!!! You guys are awesome ;)

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My Kids

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28 weeks

Third trimester! Woohoo!

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Back to Reality

Yesterday at mass, I carried Madeleine up to communion. The priest blessed her, and I received communion so little Ice did too. I carried her back to our pew and hugged Madeleine, felt the baby kick, closed my eyes and thanked God for my blessings. Then....
Madeleine, looking at the lady next to us, said in a perfectly loud and clear voice, "Mommy, why is that lady's hair so funny?"

Lord give me strength! ;)

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Good thing there were no pics of this....

Yesterday I went with Julie and Jenny to this awesome indoor playground at a church. I didn't even know it was there and it's only 20 minutes away! (Of course it took Jenny and me an hour to get there, because we had the wrong directions on our phones.) But it was so fun! My kids had a wonderful time and Madeleine said it was her "favorite place ever!" John Paul, on the other hand, got a little too bold and climbed up this tiny spiral staircase and through a tunnel made for 5 year olds before he realized how high he was and freaked out. Then guess who had to drag their humongous fat self up there to get him?? And guess who had to crawl through the tunnel holding them, then slide down the tiny staircase with him on my lap, laughing his fool head off all the way? It's a good thing it wasn't a clear staircase and tunnel!

In other news, we gave it one last try for pictures today, and the kids did great! I got some fantastic pictures which I'll post when I get them ;)

Fall Baking

Madeleine and I have been baking a lot lately. I bought this book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. I have never been able to make decent bread and I really wanted to try it. So far we've made 3 recipes out of the book and they've all been fantastic! I would totally recommend it if you need more delicious carbs in your life ;)

We've also made Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins and Pumpkin pancakes with homemade applesauce.

I tried to have the kids pictures taken today. I bought them new clothes, went to two stores yesterday to find white shoe polish for Bud's shoes, woke him up early so he would take a good morning nap. They looked SO cute. I was hoping these would be their Christmas pictures. Unfortunately, John Paul started crying the second we stepped into the room. Madeleine either wouldn't take her thumb out of her mouth or was making silly faces. NONE of them turned out. We're trying again Friday. Pray for us ;)

Oh he was perfectly fine at home.

It wasn't until we got there that the screaming fits started.

She looks SO GROWN UP!

I already washed their outfits so they'll be ready on Friday. Our photographer who we've been going to since Madeleine was born is leaving Olan Mills and starting her own studio. I'm sure she'll be fantastic but I'm thinking it won't be $5 a sheet!

Pirate Day at the Children's Museum

You know we couldn't miss this with our little Pirate fan! It's actually National Talk Like a Pirate Day, we found out. Madeleine was so excited to wear her pirate outfit, and couldn't wait for John Paul to wake up so we could go.
There were lots of pirate activities there, the kids could get a pirate name, and Madeleine's was Ruby Crossbones ;) They had lots of people dressed as pirates walking around talking to the kids. They were all impressed with Madeleine's outfit! They had a little game where the kids walked around in a circle and whoever stopped on the X got to pick as many prizes out of the pirate treasure chest they wanted. Madeleine won the grand prize, so now we have little pirate dolls, pieces of eight, fish, an eye patch, and who knows what else. Buddy got a little pirate figurine, which he really liked and asked for "Pi!" all day.

At the Children's museum they have a beautiful glass sculpture that goes up through the center of the building. On the bottom floor they have a glass ceiling where you can look up and see the bottom of it. They also have lots of pieces like are used in the sculpture for the kids to play with. (They're plastic though.)

Looking up through the glass ceiling.

On the floor of this room, they have really reflective black tiles. Here's what the floor looks like:
And here is John Paul, scared to walk on the floor! He refused to walk on it, it was SO funny! When Ken put him on it he kind of freaked out - and wouldn't even walk two feet to where I was. Poor little Buddy!

What are you trying to get me to do??

Here's Madeleine holding one of the pieces of the sculpture. It's really beautiful!
This is where people can lay and look up at the beautiful glass. It rotates so they could see it from all angles.


They had an awesome "Pirate band" playing in the atrium. Bud tore up that dance floor. They were extremely talented - the vocals were pretty amazing. There were a lot of four part harmonies and they sang really catchy pirate tunes.

This guy was Captain Jack Sparrow. Talk about talented - he had the voice, the outfit, the moves, the swagger DOWN. Seriously. He was awesome.
Then they had a pirate lookalike contest. Madeleine really wanted to enter, and she was by far the youngest one. She was the only pirate sucking her thumb, but she stood up there with the rest of the kids like a champ!
The judges deliberated for quite a while, and were deciding between her and another girl - the other girl won because she showed the most "swagger." Madeleine didn't care - she didn't even really realize it was a contest, she was just having fun with her pirate clothes!
In line waiting for the judge's decision. She was definitely the cutest pirate, if I do say so myself!
We had a great time, and she played "pirate" for the rest of the day. Then we had to read 3 pirate books before bed. When she woke up from her nap, the first thing I heard on the monitor was "Yo Ho Ho!" I love this kid!

Showdown

We've been having an issue over here with a certain 3 1/2 year old. (Well, several issues but that's beside the point ;) I've been trying to get her to pick up her toys before her Daddy gets home from work. She was doing well for a while, but lately she has either ignored me completely when I ask her, or flat out refused. (Stubborn little %$#@.) Anyway, I end up getting into a big fight with her every night, yelling, putting her in time out, etc. I'm not happy with how either of us are acting, especially because during that time I am fixing dinner and trying to keep John Paul away from the stove. So I asked some friends for advice. They said that I should set the timer for 10 minutes, and tell her that she can keep whatever she picks up in 10 minutes. So I did that today. 10 minutes before Daddy got home I set the timer. I told her that she could keep whatever she picked up, but anything on the floor when the timer went off was mine. Well, she must have been testing me because she did not pick up a single thing, including her "silkies" (blankets) and her Wonder Pets. She has slept with her silkies every night since she was born, and she's been attached to the Wonder Pets since my mom got them for her last week. Ken got home when the timer went off, and he got a big box and packed up everything on the floor and put it in the closet. So this is the first night she's EVER slept without her silkies. I told her if she was good and stayed in her bed tonight she could have the silkies and Wonder Pets back tomorrow, but I'm keeping everything else until she shows me she can clean up her toys. I felt much better about this situation. There was no yelling, no fighting, no telling her it was time to pick up toys NOW. She didn't do it, and there was a consequence. Hopefully she'll learn her lesson, and I'm not going to back down. We'll do this until she learns to listen when I ask, even if it means she has NO toys to play with.

On a happier note, I got to meet a new friend today! Julie and her adorable daughter Isabella! We had a great time sitting at Barnes and Nobles and chatting for hours this afternoon. I could have stayed longer but everyone 3 and under needed a nap! Thanks for hanging out with us Julie, I had a great time and I hope we can meet up at playgroup soon ;)

I finally bought something for Number 3 aka Ice!

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Bird feeders

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Weird pregnancy dreams

So last night Miss Leila showed up in my dreams. She's everywhere!

We were at some kind of Catholic conference at a University, there were tons of college kids there. Leila was with me, and she was super tall - she towered over me! (Maybe because she's like a Mother figure?) And she had on a suit and heels and her hair done nicely, while everyone else wore jeans. I thought, "That can't be right, but Leila can wear whatever she wants!" I remember some of her kids were there, they'd come up and hug her and then go on their way. I also remember she went to the bathroom with me, and it was really crowded in the bathroom. By the way, every single night I dream that I go to the bathroom, no matter where I am in the dream, because I always really have to go!

That's all I remember, but thanks Leila for hanging out with me at the Conference! :)

The REAL List!

Haha did you enjoy my list last night??
Ok I'll do a real list since Megan said my last one didn't count.

1. I haven't missed an episode of Big Brother this summer. I blame Jenny.

2. I'm discerning schooling options. Doing a TON of research on all options. I ordered some preschool curriculum and a Catholic reading program from Catholic Heritage Curriculum and we're going to do that this year. I am really really excited about it!

3. I'm a little nervous about switching from Man to man to a zone defense in December. Especially during church. And bedtime. And the mornings. Will I ever shower again?

4. I haven't made or bought a single thing for kid number 3. Poor deprived child.

5. I absolutely LOVE number 3's name. I picked the first name and Ken is getting to pick the middle. He hasn't chosen yet.

6. Nope, we're not telling ;) (Ok that wasn't all that surprising!)

7. I'm still nursing the Bud at 25 weeks pregnant. That surprises even me. I think I'll have to go to college with him at this rate.

8. I threw a book away today. This book. It is AWFUL. My Grandma got it for M, I'm sure because she thought the title described her. But in it she lies, calls people names, laughs when people get hurt, then they get revenge on her. She got obsessed with the book and then started lying to me. So I told her if she lied to me again, the book was going straight in the trash. And it did. Sorry Grandma.

9. I absolutely could not LIVE without my body pillow when I'm pregnant. It's my best friend.

10. I have been known to sing my new favorite song to the Bud. See Answer 10 from my last list ;) He absolutely LOVES it. Run and tell THAT!

10 Surprising things about me

Thanks Megan, for tagging me!

1. I used to be a nun.
2. I once tried to swim the English Channel, but hypothermia killed that dream.
3. I live in Costa Rica.
4. I once won second prize in a beauty contest.
5. I was inspired to learn sign language by Koko the gorilla.
6. My dream vacation is Philadelphia.
7. I got my pilot's license at 17 but then developed a fear of heights.
8. I had a grand prize winning jam in the state fair last year.
9. My father was a hairdresser.
10. These are my favorite YouTube Videos. Number 1. and Number 2.

Ok so number 10 was true ;)

Are y'all surprised?