So Much to be Thankful For!

I can't even list all that I am thankful for, unless I wanted to write for days.  I love my life....it's not glamorous; it's never a fairy tale.  It's messy, chaotic, LOUD, it has big ups and big downs, but it's MY life and I love it.  I love the people in it and the blessings I have.  Thanksgiving this year was not full of any extended family, but it sure was full of love.  The Holidays are what you make of them, and we had a really nice night, complete with "fancy make-up" for the girls and all!

After the clean-up was done and the girls were tucked in, Shawn and I played Chess for a couple hours rather than going through ads.  I didn't do Black Friday shopping this year, simply because I didn't have anyone to go with and going when you're pregnant isn't very fun alone....I've done it.  I've gone pregnant alone and pregnant with friends...the latter is much better.  But I had so much fun with my hubby last night and that's all I could really ask for :)  He's just the best.


Lucy asked if we could take pictures last night (she even rounded us all up for a family picture!), so that's what we did! :)  Piper was not too into them, which is why she's only in one!

And now I guess I need to back-track a bit to last week! In school, Lucy had a real Indian Chief come in and talk to the class about the Native Americans and showed them some weapons that they used to hunt with and some cool tribe stuff.  I don't have any pictures, but it was cool for them to see some authentic Indian stuff.  The next day they had a Thanksgiving Feast inside a big Tee-Pee that their teachers built for the month of November.  The kids dressed like Indians and talked about "Papooses" (babies) and learned all about the Native Americans.  Lucy's Native American name is Jumping Hummingbird.  Super cute!


We also decorated our house for Christmas last week because Lucy was begging us nearly every day in November to do it.  We usually wait for Black Friday, but we decided to give in a bit early....they're only young once!  And it is SO magical for them! This year is probably going to be our best year with the girls yet, simply because of their excitement over Santa.  Lucy wakes up each morning and checks on our "Elf on the Shelf" to see if she has moved (if she moves it means she visited the North Pole last night to report back to Santa on the girl's daily behavior and then flew back to our house before we woke up). When Lucy discovers her in a new spot from the day before, she comes RUNNING into our room yelling in excitement that "Tip" has moved (that's what the girls named her last year) and shouts "SHE'S REALLY REAL! SHE MOVED, SHE MOVED!"  The glimmer in her eyes is there and her innocence and belief in Santa is the most heartwarming thing ever.  Because of Lucy, Piper is fully aware of Santa too.  Piper LOVES our "becorations" and talks about Christmas presents just as much as Lucy does.  And of course, at night when Shawn turns the Christmas lights on from outside they just squeal and giggle as though it's the first time they've ever seen something that cool...every night.  Haha.  Christmas with babies is just the best!

The clusters of ornaments on the tree from my little helpers makes my tree EXTRA special!

Do you see what I see?  All 3 of my babies stockings are hung!  My sweet boy won't be here quite yet this Christmas, but he has a stocking waiting for him and it makes me feel really happy!  

Lastly, I'll leave you with a few more pictures of my cute girls..... 

Up next:  DECEMBER..... it's gonna be ultra chaotic and busy, but exciting all at the same time!  

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Here's What's Happening in Our Neck of the Woods

Yessss! November is over halfway done and that's awesome because even though I LOVE October and it was full of events, it felt like watching paint dry as time slooooooowly ticked by....  It was a slow month for me and when you're pregnant, it's not fun to have days pass by like you're wading through molasses.

So here we are!  So far this month I have reached 2 cool pregnancy milestones!  I passed 25 weeks which is always HUGE for me (both literally and figuratively...).  After 25 weeks your baby can survive outside the womb if born early.  Yes, with tons of medical intervention and a long NICU stay, but survival none-the-less!  There are 3 "micro-preemies" at Lucy's preschool (all of them are 4 or 5 now and thriving!) that were born at 25 weeks and 28 weeks.  Hearing all about how awesome the Dartmouth NICU and Mass General in Boston are (ranked one of the best hospitals in the Nation) gives me relief that we have amazing facilities around me if I ever needed one.  

 25 weeks ^^              ... & 26 weeks ^^  (photos taken by Lucy and Piper!)

The second milestone I hit TODAY is making it to 27 weeks: The 3rd Trimester (see pictures below- I took them a day early so that Shawn could help before he went out of town)! Yaaaaaaay!  We're in the home-stretch, Sully!  As much as I can't wait to hold you in my ever-lovin' arms, I actually don't want you to come early this time around.  I don't want another Christmas baby (as magical and sweet as they are, one is enough for me!), and I REALLY don't want to have you across the country without Daddy at your Uncle's wedding.....So please, PLEASE stay inside your warm cocoon until February....Also, let's get past Daddy's birthday and Valentine's Day and just make it all the way to February 18th :) 

I'm feeling Ok.  Sometimes I still get that pesky nausea and some-days my uterus is so achy that laying down is the ONLY relief I can get.  I'm constantly out of breath....I'm heaving and wheezing everywhere I go and probably look and sound like the crazed Mommy at Lucy's pre-school drop-offs..... but we're managing.  Most days.  I haven't hit the hardest part yet; that comes right at the time of Jess' wedding....Woo- hoo (not really).  So yeah.  Utah and Boise are gonna be tough for me.  I've been pregnant before and I know how much it hurts me at the end, so am I worried?  Yes.  Am I stressed about it?  Yes.  But I also can't miss his wedding.  So for 8 days of my life I can try to suck it up and make-do....Even if I might cry a couple times from the pain.... But, such is life....

A couple other things happened this last week. Piper went to the eye doctor again to get her "wandering eyes" looked at and although they still wander a bit, they're the same vision and the same strength in each eye so the doc said that's good and means she won't need surgery or anything.  They still want to monitor her every 6 months and eventually she will need glasses, but that time has not come yet.  She had her eyes dilated for the first time, which was weird for her, but she took it like a champ and walked away with some cool new sunglasses :)

Lucy got to go to her first "big-girl" drop-off birthday party of a classmate of hers.  It was at an art studio where they made ceramic figurines.  It was super cute.  Daddy took Piper on a Daddy-Daughter date that day to get ice-cream so that she got some lovin' too.  

Her hair.....what's better?!

As for this week, Lucy is "Star of the Week" at school!  That means she got to choose a show-and-tell to bring in and she thoughtfully chose her little photo album of our trip to Disney World (back in May) to show her friends all of her "meet-n-greets."  Also, the Pre-K class was able to eat lunch at school yesterday (usually they don't show up until after lunch) and oh my GOODNESS, she could NOT contain her excitement.  You would have thought I was offering her a new puppy when I told her lunch was at school.  She went back and forth between all of her lunchbox choices and finally settled on Barbie, along with telling me EXACTLY what I was supposed to pack in her lunch.  She was one HAPPY little preschooler!

Daddy put the Christmas lights up on our house a couple of days ago to avoid having to put them up during a cold-spell, but luckily November has been good to us! I hope this is an omen for what's to come....Last November at this time we were already knee-deep in snow!  We haven't had more than a dusting last month and the temps have been fairly mild.  Yes, it's getting colder and there is snow in our weekly forecast, but to have made it this long without a big Winter Storm is awesome to me!  The word on the street is that El Nino is actually going to bless us with a more mild Winter.  Compared to all the records we broke last year with outrageously cold temps and mountains of snow that didn't melt until nearly June, this is music to my ears!

Piper is giving her pony a makeover :)

Thanksgiving is next week and although we won't be with family, I'm still going to do my best to serve up all the traditional fixin's and Shawn's going to smoke a turkey!  Yummmmm!  Before I know it, it will be Piper's birthday, then Christmas, then the wedding, then Sullivan's debut!  Crossing my fingers it all happens IN that order!  

I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I will love this little boy just as much as I love my daughters.  Remember how nervous I was to bring Piper into this world, wondering how it would be possible to love her as much as I loved Lucy?  I was honestly terrified.  It couldn't happen (I thought).  Boom.  I was dead-wrong.  You hold that precious newborn and feel such a strong love for BOTH of your children that you almost don't feel like your heart can handle it all.  And you can't explain it.  You just have to FEEL it.  So I know that my heart is going to swell and grow until it's bursting at the seams for all three of my darlings and I can't even wait until that moment.  I love him with such an incredible force already, but the icing on the cake will be when they place this angel in my arms and our hearts are beating together and he feels the love emanating from me.... what a beautiful moment that is.  The miracle of birth is so incredible.....I am beyond blessed to have experienced it.

So, let's do this!  In 13 weeks, my life will begin again.  And I can't wait!

This is Halloween!

Whoa.  October happened and it was busy (and really long)!  I already wrote about the first part of the month, so lets just skip ahead to the festivities!

There was a day in mid- October where I felt like life was going too fast and we were too busy and we needed some good family "down time" where we didn't have an agenda.  So we went out and fed some ducks on a COLD day (it snowed!) and then came home and "baked" some Halloween goodies.  It was a slow and cozy day with all of us home and it was good for my soul! No chores to do, no yard-work, no errands.  Just us.

Catching snowflakes!  They were falling!

This has nothing to do with festivities, but we made it to the dentist this month and still no cavities! Yessss!

Next: Lucy had her first ever Classroom Halloween party.  I didn't get any pictures of her at school because it was a "drop-off" party, but I got a couple of her and Piper before the party.  They were so cute :) It was also on the day I hit 24 weeks with my little Sullivan, so we snapped a couple pictures of that as well! 3 more weeks until I'm in my 3rd trimester! Woo! I've been feeling a lot of nausea for the past 2 weeks, which is weird and not fun, but at least it comes with a baby who's growing stronger and kick, kick, kicking away daily!  His kicks are soooooo sweet and not painful yet, so I am LOVING them!  He's not nearly as busy as Lucy and Piper were, so I think he will be much calmer than them :) (especially Lucy;  I think she must've set a world record for the busiest baby in utero).

We also had some sunny Fall days where the girls played outside a lot, we stayed in some nights while Daddy was travelling and did Halloween Mani/Pedi's and ate sugary popcorn snacks, and the girls got a new Ballet DVD so we filled some cold mornings with "lessons" in our very own living room!

 

They sounded so cute in the next room over, giggling and whispering with each other. I didn't know this is what they were getting into😂 How could I even be mad? They were using paint as makeup and had handheld mirrors out to check on their progress as they went! Hilarious. I was laughing SO hard!

Then we painted/ carved/ decorated pumpkins.  Between the 4 of us, we had 8 pumpkins....hahaha!  It's because I was having a CRAVING for pumpkin seeds and wanted more than just 4 pumpkins could give me.  Shawn so sweetly scooped out every single pumpkin of ours and cleaned the seeds so that I didn't have to do a thing!  Seriously.  Husband of the year!  All I had to do was take pictures of the girls, help them with their pumpkin decorations, and roast the seeds.  Oh yeah, and I carved a Minion as well.  The girls are really into Minions this year so him and I did a few of them.

Then came Halloween!  I had the cutest little Kittens that you ever did see!  I was so glad their costumes were super easy and SO cheap this year ($2.99 each!) and they seriously looked adorable.  Every house we went to would "oooh" and "ahhhh" over them and say "Oh my GOODNESS.  Look at these girls! They are ADORABLE!"  I couldn't get enough!  

I was a skeleton with Sullivan involved and Shawn was a Lumberjack :)  Our neighborhood closes off 5 blocks so no cars and get in and out and the kids can trick-or-treat from 5-7 without worrying about running into a busy street.  We make it 2 blocks in an hour (they're slow.....) and then they're ready to come home and warm up!  I LOVE Halloween here in Lincoln.  It's safe, it's easy, it's fun!  I'll miss that when we move!

Yesterday was also Mr. Lux' 2nd birthday.  The girls insisted on giving him a "cake" of canned cat food- complete with the birthday song and a candle to blow out. We really love that fat cat!

And now it's November and one month closer to meeting my little guy.  I am so in love with him already, I can't stand it!  I don't want to wait 16 more weeks!  But I know how worth it it all is :)  I'm just happy that the Holiday season is around the corner to keep me occupied :)  

Happy November!  Hope everyone enjoyed their extra hour of sleep today!