Our year in pictures

January (in Las Vegas)
February
March
April (with friends Noah and Macrina)
May
June
July (at Aunt Jess's wedding)
August (in South Carolina)
September
October
November
December

Things that made my day

Megan's friend Oscar turned five yesterday, and we gave him five dollars (in one dollar increments) in a card today. You would've thought he had won the lottery. He had a fistful of dollar bills, was running all over the house hollering, and insisted on counting them about four times. It was fantastic. :)

However, on the list of things that did NOT make my day would be the delightful Anchorage drivers I had the joy of sharing the road with today...like Mr. Green Nissan in the Wendy's parking lot, who--instead of waiting his turn behind me in the right lane like a normal person--pulled up in the left lane beside me, waited there for two minutes, then whipped out in front of me as soon as there was an opening in traffic. Also on my list is the 17 year old MALE who took the last "Expectant Mother" parking spot at my OB. Dude, I KNOW you are not pregnant.

Peaceful Days

What a wonderfully relaxing day. At least, it was until Dn. John left before bedtime to go to a movie with a friend and the kids both flipped out. But up until then, it was mostly peaceful. Marina took a nap in my lap while I read a book this afternoon, we spent the morning doing puzzles and took a short walk up to the church to run an errand. I didn't clean anything. It was delightful. I feel rejuvenated.

Tomorrow is my 30 week appointment with the OB. That's right, 3/4 of the way done!! Woot! I'm actually almost 31 weeks, but whatever. :) It seems unreal that I'm now at the point where I head to the doc every two weeks, instead of every month. The baby seems to have had another growth spurt, and has also flipped head down. He/she now kicks and rolls unmercifully, and you can see my stomach churning all over the place. Baby kicked me really hard today and I gasped a little bit, and Megan turned to me all alarmed and said, "Why did you gasp? Is the house on fire?" Wow, way to jump to huge conclusions, little girl.

Hopefully this weekend we can start on our rearranging projects. I figure if we do one a weekend, we'll have the baby's room ready, our new office space organized, and everything relatively settled by the time Number Three makes their appearance. First on the docket is putting some shelves into a poorly used closet, and re-purposing it for jam storage. Once the jam is out of the way in the utility room, that corner will be used for the computer so we can have the office for a bedroom again. It's a serious cascade effect that will alter almost every room in the house in some way, shape, or form. It'll be pretty cool once it's all done, and I'm looking forward to getting started.

A year ago

Just for kicks, I looked up my blog posts from a year ago to see what was going on then. It's interesting what has changed, and amusing what hasn't.

Roughly a year ago....

--Marina had just been diagnosed with all her allergies. Thank you Lord, that is no longer a topic of sobbing blogs, and a reason for nightmares and antacids.

--It was between -5 and 5 outside. So far, little change, although I did see the thermometer warm up to a balmy 12 this afternoon.

--When at prolonged temperatures below ten degrees, our septic system had the unfortunate habit of freezing and sending sewage stench into the living room. Also, no change. Double bummer on that one.

--We only had two kids to blog about. :) Very blessed and joyful change on that topic.

--Amusingly enough, we were also having internet problems a year ago. The last couple weeks has been fraught with them, but we got a new modem, and now all is well again.

It was fun to read about the kids' antics...although I seemed to be complaining about a record number of fits. Ah well. I suppose those things come in cycles.

Now that the insanity of Christmas prep has passed, I can graduate into the nearly-equal insanity of Christmas clean up. I think, at my current speed, it will take me a couple days, especially since 90% of it is gathered on various parts of the floor, and my ability to bend over is severely hampered at this particular moment. If only I had small people around to help me with such things....hmmm.... I think it's time to break out the M&M's. That's right, I am not above bribery, especially if it gets stuff done with a minimum amount of crying.

Oh yeah, we're having a baby

According to the baby website, our new little one is now 3 pounds, 17 inches long, and gaining an average of 1/2 pound a week. I am suddenly struck by a *slight* amount of panic as I realize that this pregnancy is winding down, and before long I will have three screaming children instead of just two (haha--but seriously, guess what the first two are doing right now??).

All along, I figured I would get through Christmas and New Years, then worry about having a baby. Well guess what folks?? In a week, I get to start worrying. As of January 4th, we will only be two months (give or take) away from Boom-shak-a-lakka's birth, and that suddenly seems very, very close.

Yikes.

Flu days

So...we have the flu. It sucks. Last night I was up puking all night, and tonight it's Dn. John's turn. The only good thing about all of this is that we have seen Marina rise to the occasion of sweetness and caring. She was incredibly worried about me this morning while I was in the bathroom throwing up, and kept coming in to pat my shoulder and say, "I sorry Mama. So sorry. Feel better. You okay." Then when Dn. John started in this evening, she was standing outside the bathroom door crying for him. When he came to lay on the couch, she ran after him, snuggled up beside him, and sat and patted his cheek while he assured her that he was okay.

And then there's Megan. :) Her end of things consisted of having a crying fit this morning because, and I quote, "I don't want to listen to Mom puke any more!" and then this evening, refusing to use the toilet because it had been puked in. She ended up dragging Marina's potty chair into the living room and peeing in there, after demanding that we build a new bathroom, so we can have "one for potty, and one for puke."

It seems to be an 8 hour thing, and I am on the upswing. Hopefully Dn. John will make it through the night without any major incidents, but he's got a good 7 hours to go. My main and sincere hope and prayer is that the kids escape this. It is complete misery...especially with a 2 pound unborn child protesting violently every time I had to throw up. At least no one else will have to deal with that particular madness.

In any case, please keep us in your prayers.

Christmas with my daughters

Some of my favorite memories of the last couple weeks, as we get ready for Christmas...

--Megan's anticipation and excitement as we grew closer to her Saint's day on our Advent calendar

--Marina carrying around the Mary from her play Nativity set, and stopping every few minuets to shake her "hand" and ask, "Hi Mary! How are you?"

--Megan asking why the Wise Men rode camels and didn't just take a plane to see Baby Jesus.

--Making cardamom bread with Marina

--Hearing Megan correct me on the color of the Vestments for Christmas. "Daddy will wear his gold vestments on Christmas." "No Mom, he will wear the white ones. " (They learned about the vestment colors in Christian Ed this week).

--The huge burst of energy both kids had when informed this morning that we would be putting our tree up today

--Wrapping presents with Megan manning the tape dispenser and picking out ribbon colors