Three

I'm not sure how this is even possible.

It has been three years since we found out that we were expecting our second child.

I'm so thankful that my sweet friend, A, was the first person that I was able to tell the news too in person. Yes, Big Daddy was second.

This morning, Ellie picked out the shirt that Maggie was wearing in the picture that I took of Maggie holding the positive test!

(Originally posted on November 16, 2008)

Testing...Testing

This is a test post!! No really it is a test post! See the pregnancy test that The Muffin is holding? It says "Pregnant"!
This picture was taken on September 29 and we showed it to Big Daddy when he got home from work. He thought I had taken a picture of The Muffin with a thermometer. (She was just getting over a case of croup and bronchitis, so he wasn't completely crazy!) I took The Muffin to the bathroom, gave her the real test and Big Daddy thought that she wanted to take his temperature!
We spent the rest of the evening talking about the Baby-to be and making plans for the future.

Finally Fall

Maggie has been patiently waiting for the first day of fall for weeks. When I reminded her that today was the big day she said, "Oh my word, I almost forgot".

We decided to put our fall wreath and scarecrows up last week. Unless something drastic happens, that is the extent of our seasonal decorations for fall. We'll buy a pumpkin in another week or so and I'll be planting pansies as soon as I can, but that's it.

This week has been a busy week! This was the first week of our fall school/activity schedule with Big Daddy home. I guess busy is our new normal.

Ellie has started putting together the most amazing sentences and she is so funny! She loves to ask," Where are we going next?" when we're running errands and getting in and out of the car. Ellie likes her new Sunday School class and going to Mission Friends on Wednesday evenings. She has discovered glue sticks and loves art at church and the library.

Maggie has been something lately! She is still enjoying school and her homeschool elective (sign language) class. She seems to be enjoying her Awana class too. She has been creating lots of fun things this week- from puppets to paper dolls. She has a great imagination and has also started writing songs,

I want, I want, I want!!!

I'm in one of those moods where I can think of a million relatively small things that I want! These are the days that before I had kids I would have treated myself to a little shopping trip. I started making a list in my head because my wants covered so many different things from paint to a new (Missoni) scarf.

Blessed as I am, I have a free gift coming tomorrow. He should be here shortly after Ellie's nap and Maggie's school and free is always good.

I'm looking forward to the cooler weather that is coming our way for the weekend (Hello, Fall!) and hoping that Big Daddy has a peaceful re-entry back into the family. He is way behind on homework and will probably have a few work-related projects that he'll be addressing over the weekend, but he'll be upstairs!! We're praying that he arrives safely and on time!

Keep The Balance Right

The past few weeks have been overwhelming at times. We are about to start what will be our "everyday schedule" for fall. I feel like we have fallen into a nice rhythm with first grade schoolwork and I have managed to get Maggie weekly work binder put together in an hour (or an hour and a half) on Saturday afternoon and now we're going to shake things up a bit!

Monday-dance class for an hour in the evening

Tuesday- Maggie's sign language through music class in the afternoon, Ellie will be in a preschool class and I'll help out where needed (these classes cut into ou school time and Ellie's nap, so we may not take them again in January)
Wednesday- Awana- I'll be teaching Cubbies again, Ellie will be in Mission Friends and Maggie and Callie (she's coming along this year) will be in an Awana class
Thursday- Storytime at the library in the morning

Even though the activities only last for an hour or so, I feel a little overwhelmed. I decided that it may be best if Maggie doesn't do children's choir at church on Sunday evenings,but I'm thinking that she'll be doing it in January. If we hadn't already signed up for the sign language and preschool classes through the homeschool network, we'd do it. It's a Christian homeschool network, so the songs that Maggie does will be faith-based. I already have a list of things that we'll be doing or not doing after the first of the year. I want to mix fun and educational things, so Maggie may take a children's literature class or something like that through the network. We'll see how our schedule looks.

Big Daddy and I have always wanted Maggie (and Ellie) to be involved in extra curricular activities, but we have seen too many children that seem to be over-scheduled. I want to have a good balance of fun, educational, free time and family time. I'd like to have a little free time too, but I feel like that will come later. Even though I have only two children and really only work at homeschooling one of them, it takes quite a bit of planning, commitment and time. When things seem so busy, I remember that this is only a season in my life...or maybe two.

I'm going to try and put together a post of Maggie's weekly work binder and our curriculum choices soon. I'd like for her to look back on what we did one day and it may be of interest to someone else that's homeschooling.

Better

I feel much better and much less "poor me" today. I had a little girl's morning out with Maggie and Ellie. Maggie needs a few things for fall (and before we go on our Disney trip) and we needed a couple of things from Target. We ended our adventure with lunch.

Ellie just woke up from a very short nap and we are baking bread (recipe will come later if it's a success) and going to the library to check out a few movies for an all girl weekend.

I have a feeling we'll be going to the zoo in the morning and then Maggie & Ellie are going to play at my sister's house for a couple of hours. I'm going to dump all three toy boxes out in the living room floor and attempt to throw away, donate and organize our toys. If I do it when the girls are here, they start playing with everything and we both decide that we can't part with half of the stuff. I'm pretty excited about purging the toy boxes without interruption!

Big weekend plans, huh?

So much for plans

Big Daddy was out of town all of last week and was supposed to be out of town this week and next week, but we had plans for a date this weekend and I was SO excited. He was in a meeting tonight when I sent him a text, so he texted me back to let me know that there was a problem and he wouldn't be home this weekend.

I haven't felt this disappointed since the time that he left for Georgia and I kept telling myself that it was only for the week and then he didn't come back for two weeks. Then there was the time that he was supposed to be away for two weeks and it was three weeks because of a business trip.

Things like this happen and we're always aware that problems come up. Of course, it's hardest on the kids. Ellie has been having trouble going to sleep because she like for Mommy and Daddy to put her to bed. Maggie had a BAD day on Tuesday because she was just so upset that her Daddy was leaving again. Today was great, but I'm not sure how tomorrow will be. I'll be doing something special with the girls this weekend.

Anyway...I actually had a few posts in my head, but they all left and I decided to have a pity party.

Happy Labor Day!

Kristin over at We Are THAT Family does a Labor (the hardest work she's ever done) Day post every year and I love it!

Baby #1- In the hospital for a scheduled induction at 40 weeks and 4 days. After 4+ hours of PItocin my wonderful midwife broke my water. She left for lunch only to return with a frightened look on her face. She got in bed with me, did an internal exam and didn’t remove her hand/arm until my baby was removed during a crash c-section. I missed her birth because they had to knock me out. We had undiagnosed Vasa Previa, Velamentous Cord Insertion and a succentriate lobed placenta.

Baby #2- In the hospital for a scheduled induction (39 weeks, 6 days)because we moved an hour away exactly one week before. The same awesome midwife was in attendance. I was induced with Pitocin on day one and after 8 hours they stopped my labor. It was started again the next morning and after 15 hours of labor and over 3 HOURS of pushing I had a successful VBAC. Turns out baby wanted to be facing up instead of down and got a little stuck. I’m thankful for vacuums.