Sammy’s 5!

Samantha had a birthday last month!  Her birthday was on Monday and she wanted to bring treats to school that day, so we celebrated the Friday before.  It was quite the day!  She was in charge of everything we did.  We started out with breakfast the the Original Pancake House (so glad it wasn’t Denny’s).  Carter and Samantha both got the chocolate chip pancakes.  Quite honestly, they made me a little sick just looking at them, but they both seemed to enjoy them thoroughly.  After a quick stop at Kohl’s to let their stomachs settle a bit, we headed over to Flabbergast, a bounce house. One of my favorite things about this was listening to Sammy say Flabbergast all day – Flabbagast.  Once we had worn them out sufficiently we came home for Ben’s naptime.  Mike took Carter and Samantha to see The Lorax while Ben slept and I assembled her birthday gift.  Finally it was gift time!  She really loves Barbie lately (she doesn’t have any real Barbies, just the Disney princess version).  So she got some of those.  Ben gave Mike a confidence boost when he kept calling Ken “Daddy”.  And every princess and her Ken need a home, so that was Sammy’s big gift from us.  And sticking with the princess theme, this is the cake she picked:  And just for old time’s sake, 4 years ago, she sat in the same spot (old couch) and opened her presents. No princesses then, just a shape sorting cookie jar.  Where does the time go? 

We did the 20 questions with her.  Here are her responses:

How old are you? 5

Who is your best friend? Helena from school

What is your favorite color? Pink and Purple

What is your favorite food? Shells and Cheese

What do you like to do with your family? Go fun places

What is your favorite toy? My princesses

What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher

What makes you happy? Being funny

What makes you sad? When Ben hits me

What is your favorite show to watch? My little Pony

What is your favorite book? Any princess book

What do you love to learn about? Jesus

What was the best part of your birthday? Flabbergast

Where do you like to go? Fun places

Who is your teacher? Frau Savignac

What is your favorite treat? Suckers

What do you think about before you fall asleep? Nothing

If you could meet someone famous who would it be? Jesus

What was your favorite birthday present? Dollhouse

 

Happy birthday Samantha!  We are so glad that you are a part of our family!

Should I be offended?

I think the hearts mean that this was meant in the sweetest spirit possible, but I’ll be honest, I’m not 100% sure. 

Building Bug

It may or may not be a good thing, but I tend to have a “if they can do it, so can I” attitude about most things in life. Now, I don’t have the desire to do everything, but when my friend Kara posted the bookshelf that she made, I was interested.  Then she made a bed.  I was inspired.  I headed over to ana-white.com, where she got the plans for the bed.  Then I really started feeling the itch.  There are so many great projects, and the blog is written by a woman.  And that’s when the “if she can do it…” kicked it.  I looked at all of the projects over and over, dreaming of making beds and armoires and coffee tables.  For a long time, that’s all it was – dreams.  When Carter’s bookshelves fell apart, I asked my neighbor to help me make some cuts and build a new set.  As much as I would love to take the credit for them, mostly I just watched him cut and then assembled them.  I still really wanted to make something on my own though.  For Christmas, Mike got me a Kreg jig.  If you don’t know, it’s a system to make joining pieces of wood much easier than just nails and glue.  So then I was waiting for it to get warmer so I could do my cuts outside.  Finally I just decided that I needed to just get going on something or I wouldn’t ever get to it.  So I did.  Every workshop needs a good workbench, so I started with that.  I know that these are horrible pictures, but it’s in a corner in the basement with a lot of other crap.    And then I got to work on some more bookshelves for Samantha.  Since we put her in her own room, she has been keeping her books in cardboard boxes.  Real classy, right?  I had been promising her some for a while now.  At one point she told me I should just go buy some.  But I’m glad I didn’t. Once I finished building hers, I finally painted Carter’s while I painted Samantha’s.  And here are the finished products: 

Carter’s painted and ready to go back upstairs: And Samantha’s all finished! 

It may be a small thing, but I love it.  I feel so much pride when I look at them.  They aren’t perfect – for my next project I will look harder for better wood.  But I love that I made them from start to finish on my own.  I love that they are so sturdy. I love that I can make something with my own hands for my kids, even if they don’t understand how great that really is.  I love the confidence it gave me.   And now I can’t wait to do more!  I’m thinking a new bed for Sammy.  Or maybe a coffee table?  Workbench for the garage? 

Déjà vu

I had my 32 week appointment today.  For the most part, things are looking good.  My Dr. gave me a maternity belt, which is amazing. It’s like a hug for my belly.  I was just telling Mike last night how heavy it was.  In his dear, sympathetic way, he replied “yeah, it is really big.”  So sweet.  Honestly now, am I really that big?

I’m totally kidding, I know I am.  What happened to my boobs?  I guess they have been swallowed up by the great expanse which is my belly. 

Anyways… as my Dr. was feeling the baby, she asked if that was a head or a bum up in my ribs.  Like I have any idea.  So she pulled out the ultrasound and yes indeed, this baby is breech.  Just like Mr. Carter was.  Now, he still has 8 weeks to flip, but at this point, most babies stay where they are at due to space restrictions.  We’ll try to flip him at 37 weeks if it hasn’t happened by then, but if not, it looks like another C-section for me.  I’m not heart broken because obviously, we’ve done this before, but I would really rather have him naturally.  A C-section was hard enough with just one baby, I don’t want to do it with 1 baby and 3 other kids.

Here’s hoping he does a 180! And that this isn’t a sign of things to come…

Baby Talk

Carter has been super helpful with getting ready for the new baby.  The other day he made this chart for Adam.  You know, so he would be able to talk sooner. 

I hope you noted the translation for Ga-Ga.  That’s right.  Lady GaGa.  Vital to any infant’s vocabulary.  And the picture is pretty special too.  Why did Lady Gaga get clothes and curves and I got nothing? 

Girl’s Getaway!

My friends and I have been talking about getting away for a little girl time for a while now.  Well I’m not getting any smaller, and this baby will be here before I know it, so I decided it was time.  And I’m sooooo glad I did!  We had the best time.  We drove to Minneapolis to visit the Mall of America.  It was so great to have a weekend to ourselves, with no responsibilities and just hang out as friends. 

 

Here we are heading out.  Can you see the excitement on our faces?  That’s me and my 2 BFF’s Karen and Jessica.  Love them.  We were supposed to have a fourth, but she had some unexpected family issues to attend to.  We missed you Tamara!  Sadly, we did not have an aux in for an iPod in the car.  Karen pulled through with her 2 massive books of CD’s.  That’s right, we went old school.  It was hilarious hearing some of the music from high school and college.  Be forewarned, we ate a lot.  Basically, we went to eat.  I personally went to eat without little greasy fingers all over me and children dancing around me.  I went to eat undisturbed.  I went to eat a meal where I didn’t have to worry about what or how much anybody else was eating.  I went to eat something that I didn’t have to prepare or clean up after.  And let me tell you, it was a.maz.ing.  Unfortunately, that was reflected at my weigh-in at the OB 3 days after we got back.  Totally worth it though. 

 

We did a lot of research before we left, to be sure that we hit up some of the best local spots.  We were no disappointed.  We went to Chino Latino after a quick stop at the hotel.  So delicious.  And random. We ate Carne Asada, fried bananas, bulgogi lettuce cups and chicken satay.  Needless to say, our tummies were a bit unsettled afterwards.  Maybe we should have focused on one country’s cuisine.  I would totally do it again though.  For dessert, we stopped by Izzy’s.  They won against Booby Flay in a throwdown – how can you go wrong there?  Again, it did not dissapoint.  I got the mango ice cream with a pineapple sorbet “Izzy” (that little scoop on top).  Just the thing to settle a confused stomach.  After a good night’s rest (ok, I’m not sure it was that good for any of us), and a couple quick trips to Ikea, we made it to the Mall of America.  It was huge.  So many stores.  For someone who doesn’t do much shopping, it was pretty overwhelming.  We stopped by Jamba Juice to get a little energy boost first.  I learned a very valuable lesson here – always check out the picture before you shove your face through the hole.  Did not realize that was a little boy’s body.  Free pretzels, what?!?  Totally our lucky day.  While this picture is not the most flattering of me, it kind of blew Carter’s mind to learn that Woody was made of Legos.  They are building a Lego store at our mall here, and I have a feeling we will be going there often.  After a long, hard day of shopping, this is the damage.  It could have been worse, but after about 2:00, Jess and I stopped really looking for anything but benches. Maybe we should have gone the spa route…

And the rest is just food.  We went to Matt’s Bar, home of the Jucy Lucy.  I was so sad that my stomach wouldn’t allow me to finish it, but if you are ever in the area, this is the place to go for burgers.  Look at that face?  That is pure cheese-filled bliss.  And then we went from a super laid back hole in the wall to a very upscale bar and restaurant for dessert (we didn’t know it at the time).  We looked like complete idiots more than once, but we now have a fun story to share.  And we know that the bike lanes in Minneapolis are HUGE!  And on our way out of town, he stopped by Hell’s Kitchen for breakfast.  It has nothing to do with the show.  But it definitely had something to do with that weigh-in.  And more confusion for my poor digestive system. 

These girls are the best!  I have been so blessed to have friends that I count as family here in WI.  I can’t imagine how I would cope without them.  We have seen each other through good times and bad and I know that I can call on any of them in a pinch and they will pull through.  I count them as sisters and life-long friends and hope we never lose touch.  And if you haven’t had a girl’s weekend, I can’t recommend it highly enough.  I love being a mom, but it was fabulous to get away from it all.   It was so nice for me to remember what it’s like to just be a girl.  We got make-overs, shared make-up tips, stuffed our faces, and had hours of laughing and girl talk.  I’m thinking this will definitely be at least a yearly tradition.   I hear Chicago has some tasty food…

6 Months Down…

…and three to go!?!  I remember getting to this point with my other pregnancies too.  I feel ginormous, uncomfortable, and completely stretched out.  And I look in the mirror and wonder how I could possibly get any bigger.  And then I do.  Here I am yesterday:

And about a week before Samantha was born (don’t be jealous of Mike’s mad photography skills):  And 2 weeks before Ben was born.  I cringed a little when I saw this one. 

In my defense, my babies are not small, at least 8 pounders, but still…wow!  That is one big belly.  I’m going to be needing some serious ab rehab once he makes his appearance. 

 

Other than my hugeness, things are going well.  I broke out all the baby stuff in a crazy basement cleaning episode, so that’s all ready to go.  We’re pretty sure his name is Adam, but we reserve the right to change our minds on that at any time.  The kids are excited, although I’m not sure they really get all that a new baby involves (does anyone?).  All we need is for him to finish growing and come on out!