Cord Blood Donation

It's so easy to do this - and free! Cord blood contains valuable stem cells that can help with research and can save lives! If everyone did this maybe using the stem cells from aborted fetuses wouldn't be an issue.

Here's what you do. Call up or email your local cord blood bank and request that they send a cord blood collection kit to your house. Inform your doctor that you'll be donating it. Then just bring the kit to the hospital when you go into labor and the nurses will do all the work. Call whoever the bank tells you to the next day and they'll come and collect it! So easy, so helpful. Hope our kit gets here before the baby ;)

I had a doctor's appointment today - they usually start checking your cervix at 37 weeks but I requested not to have that done today. They were fine with that. I also talked a little about the actual delivery. With Madeleine I did not have an IV but with John Paul I did. I HATED it. I was so uncomfortable, I had to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes, I couldn't walk around very well because I was attached to a big pole. She said they could do a hep lock and I didn't have to have the IV. YAY! I also said that the nurses wouldn't let me eat last time, for about 15 hours. I was SO hungry and every time there was a shift change I would ask for food and they said no. They finally brought me a little bowl of jello, which didn't even take the edge off. She said she didn't mind if I ate and she'd write it in my chart ;) YAY again!

I can't believe this is 2-3 weeks away! I'm so excited. But I'm actually feeling pretty good right now so I can handle it for a little while longer.

This Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for my sweet girl, who entertained herself the whole way down to Alabama and back reading books, and had a wonderful time with her cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.
I'm thankful for my beautiful little boy even though he decided he didn't want to sleep in the pack and play the first night, but who was also wonderful and had a great time with my favorite Uncle Bobby and my goddaughter Cassie!
I'm thankful for swollen feet and ankles and heartburn because it means I get to meet my precious gift from God very soon!
I'm thankful for my wonderful, handsome, helpful husband who is proud to share his beliefs with anyone, and who is happy to welcome any precious little children that God chooses to send us.

I'm thankful for my whole big family who loves my kids and looked out for them while we were in Alabama so I didn't have to chase them around too much - especially Grandma and Papa!

And... I'm thankful for stretchy pants ;)

Like his mama...

He seems to be a little on the chubby side! He measured today at 8 lbs 1 oz at our 36 week ultrasound. I'm hoping they're a little off but look at those cheeks! No wonder I'm huge and feel like I can barely move! How do they get this big already??

It was exciting to see him - the whole family came, Mom, Ken and both kids. Madeleine was VERY excited to see her baby brother. John Paul was really worried about me laying on the table and cried and kept saying "Mama!" in a sad little voice. I had to keep reassuring him that I was fine. They tucked a napkin thing into my pants to keep the goo off of them and he kept saying "Mama change?" like he thought I was getting my diaper changed or something! Haha!

Since he was so big - also measuring into the 38th week, I was wondering if Dr. P would say I shouldn't go to Alabama. But she said I'd be fine! She said he might be early but not this early. She checked me and I'm about 1 cm dilated which she said was normal at this point. I really don't feel too bad so I'm not worried. She had the nurses print off all my records to take down, and did the group b test. I now have to go in every week so I have another appointment next Monday. I can't believe it's getting this close! I better get my Christmas shopping and wrapping done!

Pics by Julie

My friend Julie was kind enough to take pictures of my kids a few weeks ago. They were very uncooperative (as usual!) but she is VERY talented and managed to capture a few great shots! Thanks Julie! Here are a few of my favorites.





And PS. So far NO problems with the van at all!! WOOHOO!!!

The rest of the story (Please God!?)

So yesterday, the van was dead in the driveway, and the guy came over in the afternoon to take a look at it. He determined that the gas gauge was not working and we had run it completely out of gas. He put a gallon in and it started right up and ran great. I took it to the gas station and filled it up - he was right it was COMPLETELY empty. (Although the gauge showed a quarter tank!)

So the speedometer hasn't been working for months ( I was totally guessing driving around town.) The gas gauge AND the speedometer seem to be working now..... hopefully this is the END of our problems.

So we are still planning on driving to Alabama next Wednesday - Saturday. It's approximately a 9 hour drive and I'll be almost 37 weeks when we get back. I get to have an ultrasound and an appointment on Monday and she'll make the final call if she thinks I'm safe to go, although she said she's sure I'll be fine. I am so excited! My Grandma has 8 kids - my mom is the oldest - and ALL of them are going. Most of their kids and their kids are going too. I think the final count is around 75 people. Some of them I haven't seen for several years. I'm also really excited for a 36 week ultrasound - I have never had one this late. His fat little face probably won't even fit in the screen, but it'll be so fun to see him! I think my mom and the kids are gonna come too.

Dang Van

Thursday it died in the middle of the highway. With both kids in the car. With Ken and my dad out of town and my mom working (taking care of Ava.) Luckily I was able to make it to a left turn lane and put my hazard lights on, and mom was able to come get it. I'm sure it was a humorous sight watching a humongous pregnant woman (and I do mean humongous - I measured my waist and it's as long as a 4 year old is tall - and it's the same as Sew's ;) try to maneuver two kids and two carseats on a busy road into mom's car, with Ava's booster seat wedged in between. We were able to do it, paid 60 bucks for the van to be towed, then the guy said he "fixed" it (for $120 more) and we picked it up Friday. I even asked him if it was safe to drive to Alabama in a few weeks, and he said definitely!

Well tonight it died in the driveway. How fun is THAT?

Silence, kinda. And other random thoughts.

There's no silence around my kids, however when we got our van back, the CD player, the tape player, and the radio are no longer working. Also the clock and the power windows. So it's been a tad more quiet in my car the past few days! The guy is going to look at it so hopefully it's just a fuse or some kind of easy fix. It's kind of annoying to drive through a drive through (had to go to Walgreens and the bank yesterday) and have to open the door!

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Yesterday we were driving in the car and Madeleine said, "Mommy, I'm just your little girl and I'm still learning how not to be naughty." I told her that everyone has to work on not being naughty, and living like God wants us to, even Mommy. She said, "Mommy. You're a grown up and you should KNOW better by now!" (I know, I really should!)

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We have less than 6 weeks til baby Ice's due date now, so I've been doing a few things to prepare for him. I have all his clothes washed and hung up in his room and folded in his dresser. I got his crib set together and put it in his crib, and it looks GREAT. My mom is going to make some wall decorations and I've been washing his handknits ;) I'm looking forward to using the newborn wool diaper covers and pants with this little baby. I LOVE cloth diapering newborns! I also tested out our new car seat and it fits in our old stroller, so that is good! Since my older two are incapable of walking somewhere without pulling or running away, touching everything, and generally getting into trouble, little Ice is just going to have to be worn in the wrap while the other two are strapped into the double stroller. Hopefully he likes the wrap - he has no choice!

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Occasionally I'll watch Dr. Oz during naptime, even though I'm not a big fan. After a show a few days ago I will not be watching him anymore. He was talking about ways to improve your sex life, as usual. One of the two ways he suggested was to GET AN IUD. He then went on to say that 40 out of 100 OBs recommend them for an effective way of birth control. (Woo.) Then he had one of his demonstrations - two clear boxes. One was full of fertile looking soil, which was supposed to be a normal healthy uterine lining. The other one had astroturf, which is your lining on an IUD. So GREAT! Improve your sex life; kill off your unborn children. I was SO upset and I'm done watching that show.

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My hips are KILLING me.

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Peppermint mochas.....MMMMMMMM!!!!


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I got a few new workbooks from Catholic Heritage Curriculum, one is a preschool number practice and one is a letter practice. I have been SO impressed with their materials! They incorporate God and the Catholic faith into every lesson, while making it fun. Madeleine loves the lessons. She also loves doing simple dot to dots so I ordered her some off of amazon. I love seeing her learn and have fun doing it! She's like a little sponge - she is learning all the time and soaks up everything. She's now realizing that she can read some little books by herself. She hasn't taken a nap for a few days but she has sat up in her room for up to 3 hours reading her library books. Love this girl, even though she is NAUGHTY!

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I was kind of thinking of getting John Paul's hair cut, because it's a big rat's nest in the back all day long. However today I decided to try to spray it with Madeleine's detangler and comb it out, and he had the cutest little curls everywhere! I won't be getting it cut for a while. ;)

This turned out more like a quick takes post :)

Big FAT opportunity for sanctification

With a little grace thrown in.

Today we were leaving the library, when our van stalled just as we were getting ready to pull into the intersection. Ken told me to get into the driver's seat and steer while he pushed the van into a parking lot across the street (at my old high school.) As soon as we got into the spot, I waddled out of the car and saw a man who was helping Ken push. He was wearing a mechanic jumpsuit type thing. He said he was a mechanic who lived right across the street. He did some diagnosis on the van and came to the conclusion that it was the fuel pump (Please GOD let him be right and let this be the last thing wrong with this van for a while!) Anyway, he called a friend at Auto zone to see if they had the part we needed. He said he could pull the van over to his house with his truck and fix it for us, $150 for the part and $150 for the labor. We figured this was a good deal so that's where our van is right now. We called my mom and dad to come pick us up. The van probably won't be done till Monday. Ugh. I figured we were fine with the van. It seems like there's always something that happens when we start getting back on our feet. Now I'm kind of thinking we won't be able to go to Alabama for Thanksgiving because we were not expecting to have to pay this $300. But thank God that mechanic was right there.

Not a fan of car trouble.

Perspective

A few days ago I received a giant box of diapers from an online friend - she said she was going to send me one wool cover she had for the baby but she ended up sending me 2 dozen prefolds, about 7 fitteds, 7 all in one organic bumgenius and 2 extra wool covers! I was blown away and have been using a lot of them on John Paul - the fitteds and bumgenius are one size - so they should fit baby to potty training age. They are AWESOME diapers!

Anyway, my kids have been playing in the box for days. Madeleine has barely asked to watch TV since we got the box. Today it was on it's side and John Paul leaned on it and ripped a corner of it from top to bottom.

Me: Madeleine should we throw the box away now since it's broken?
M: It's not broken Mommy! It just has a new door!

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The other day we were going to Mom's group at church. I was running really late and so I grabbed us a breakfast sandwich from Starbucks. (I know, don't judge!) John Paul was eating most of his and then he took a bite and just let it fall out of his mouth, looking like Randy on A Christmas Story.

Me: John Paul! Don't spit food out of your mouth!!!
M: Mommy? Do you still love Little Hance?

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A few days ago my mom was watching the kids while I went to the doctor. Mom and Madeleine were playing a Dominoes game on the coffee table. John Paul kept coming by and sweeping the entire game onto the floor with his arm (he likes to do these kinds of things.)

Mom: John Paul! Stop doing that!!
M: Now Gram. John Paul is just a baby and he doesn't know any better. Maybe we should give him some pieces he can play with?

Have I mentioned that I love this kid?

How I feel...

Little Ice is gonna look like.

We are pro-life

And we voted :)

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I like to break out the controversy around election time

A Reminder to Catholics on Election Day

As election day approaches, we are reminded that as Catholics we are obligated to know the candidates position on these 5 non-negotiable issues which are considered to be immoral and contrary to the Christian gospel. Candidates who endorse or promote any of these five issues should be considered to have disqualified themselves from holding public office and should not receive our vote.

The 5 non-negotiable issues that a candidate may not support to gain our vote are:

1. Abortion

2. Euthanasia

3. Fetal Stem Cell Research

4. Human Cloning

5. Homosexual ‘Marriage’

To find out where your candidates stand on these issues you may go to:

www.focusvoter.com/IN

Halloween Pics

There's no getting a decent picture of the two of them together.
John Paul was St. Francis again this year, to go with Madeleine's raccoon. She REALLY wanted to be the raccoon again so I did not argue! His sacred heart necklace I got in Assisi and it's blessed by John Paul's patron saint! (I kept a close eye on him to make sure he didn't lose it!)
We kicked off the weekend festivities at Madeleine's friend's 3rd birthday party. My two handsome guys. (Soon to be THREE - next month!)
Madeleine's first experience with a pinata. It was a BIG hit with the kids. Someone else was a big hit with Madeleine.... a 12-13 year old dressed like an angel at the party. She has been interested in angels for a while now. Unfortunately, this "angel" was wearing something totally inappropriate for a 12 year old or anyone for that matter. Very low cut strapless black and red dress and angel wings. Weird. M got obsessed with her and followed her around the party for two hours, saying she was her "guardian angel." Great, now she thinks her guardian angel dresses like a little hooker with wings. She said she wants to be an angel next year. I told her she could for sure but she wouldn't be looking like THAT. I also had to explain that she wasn't a real angel, just a girl dressed like an angel!
The next night, Halloween, we started out at Grandma's house. John Paul consented to wear the Bee costume this time! Again, there's no getting good pictures of both of them at the same time.
Ken trick or treating with his little raccoon and bee. We just walked around to the houses on Mom and Dad's cul-de-sac, probably 6-7 houses. That was plenty for us all to get quite enough candy.
After trick or treating we went out to eat at Old Country Buffet, which was having a kids eat free night if they came in costume. My little Bumblebee loaded up on sugar - an ice cream cone in one hand and a "pop" in another! (After his supper, but still - he had to detox today!) Also he had a lollipop from his basket in the car on the way over there, and somehow got his eye stuck shut with it! Messiest little thing.
All cleaned up! We had a fabulous time and I can't believe we'll have 3 little trick or treaters next year!

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. ;)


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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.... ;)