Christmas Preview

Today we went to Homewood Nursery's Poinsettia Open House.  Our intentions were to take a picture to send out with our Christmas Cards.  Mission accomplished.  Above is not the one that made the final cut, so don't worry.  You will still be surprised when you get our card in the mail.  The holidays are here!  Can't wait!

Staying Sane

Believe it or not, Derek is on another business trip this week.  He left on Sunday and will be home on Wednesday.  Not too bad, but I certainly do miss him and his help.

On Monday, Mimi and I took the boys to Pullen Park.  It was a gorgeous day and it was slammed at the park.  This is pretty normal though.  Pullen is always crowded these days.  We all rode the train and then Chandler and Maverick rode the little boats.  We ate lunch at the local cafe there and then Maverick and Mimi were off to ride the carousel.  Chandler decided last minute that he wanted to ride too, so I switched places with Mimi in line.  

Chandler looks grumpy in this picture because Brighton didn't want to let him sit with him.  Can't blame him for that.

Today, Chandler had school and so I took the other guys to PlayNation for a playdate with some other MOPS moms.  They had a good time, but Maverick is not at the age where he can play unsupervised.  I have to be his "spotter" on the climbing structures and slides so he doesn't get hurt.  Keeps me busy too!  After picking up Chandler from school, I'm going to attempt to take the boys to visit TJ.  Wish me luck!  Hopefully the rain will stop.  

Come home soon Daddy, we miss you!

Singing at Church

Both big boys are singing in the church choirs again this year.

Brighton is in the Cherub Choir and enjoys it so much.  This Sunday he sang "Good Old Noah" which is like a version of "Old Mac Donald" so he held a cow during the song.

Chandler sang two songs.  The kids choir is 75% + girls, and this Sunday there were only 7 boys on the stage.  Chandler has been working really hard on learning the songs and the hand motions.  I'm really proud of both my big boys!

Finishing Touches

The time is here!  We are Finally putting the final touches to our house.  The house-warming party is one week away and I can't wait to show off our "new" house to family and friends.  

Thanks to my parents, we have a new mailbox!  We stained the post to match the house porch-rails and the mailbox is a green to match the house.  Much better than the plastic and battered one we had before.

Our neighbor, Gerry, has been working for several days to get our front door just the right shade of stained wood.  He has also been applying a UV-polyurethane to it so the color won't get bleached out by the sun.  What a nice house-warming present!  Gerry and Mindy do so much for our family and we are so grateful to have them for neighbors.

I know I've been slack with updates about the house, so I'll wait and show some after the party.

Technically we still aren't totally complete, with a few touch-ups here and there that need to be taken care of, but it's mostly done :)

A sweet bouquet

Today I plan to visit TJ at Wake Med Rehab hospital.  I wanted to bring something, but didn't think a 22-year-old guy would appreciate flowers as much as I would.  I figured this type of bouquet would be right up his alley.  I hope so.  It was very easy to make.  A quick trip to Walmart this morning to buy a flower pot, thin wooden dowels, and 16 candies and I was done.  Brighton helped me out assemble it when we got home and it was like torture for him since he wanted to eat all of it!

Meet Baby!

So here's my first official baby bump shot.  I think I'm a little behind on this, as I'm already 18 weeks along!  This pregnancy is flying by!  

We had our ultrasound today, and I had been hoping that we would for once (out of 4 pregnancies) be given an A-OK checkup.  Unfortunately that was not the case.  I'm trying to focus on the positive that over all the baby looked strong and healthy, and this same type of thing has happened 3 times before with the outcome being a healthy baby, but it's just not the thing you want to hear.

Baby waves "Hi"

Here's a 3-D shot of the back of baby's head.  The left arm is bent with the hand up by the face.  This little baby did not want to show their face, so we will certainly be surprised as to what they look like.  We kept the gender hidden, and so that will be a surprise as well.

During the ultrasound, I could tell there was something "wrong" with the baby, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was.  It turns out the baby has two cysts on their brain, and this is a marker for Trisomy-18.  Luckily, there were no other markers seen, so we are praying for a healthy baby and this was just one of those abnormalities that I tend to have with my babies during pregnancy.

There is no follow up to this, because the cysts will resolve on their own, and that does not change my risk for Trisomy-18.  When the doctor came in and talked to me about the findings and what this all meant, I broke down.  I was really not this upset about the ultrasound, but with everything that has happened this week, and with the news about TJ, it was all too much for me to take.  I was offered an amniocentesis, but it won't change anything for me, and there are risks, so we passed on that.

Please keep baby in your prayers that they will be healthy and wait until 37 weeks to be born.  That is my prayer.  Oh, and a side note.....my nausea level is highly correlated to my stress level.

Less stress for mommy = happy baby!

Halloween 2012

Brighton got to dress up on Monday for preschool since there was no preschool on actual Halloween.  He went as a cowboy and came home as a cowboy/pirate (see the beard and eyepatch)

Chandler had school on Halloween and participated in a school-wide parade.  I think only the lower grades dressed up, but there were a few older ones in costume too (although not many middle schoolers)  I guess it's "not cool" at that age!  Chandler wore a somewhat homemade costume where he was a magician.  Most people thought he was a wizard, but that's okay too.

Waving at us during the parade!

One of Chandler's friends was born on Halloween, so he had a small party that day from 4:30-6 p.m.  You were asked to come in costume.  Chandler had taken off his costume from school earlier that day and when I asked him to put it back on for the party, he burst into tears.  Not something I was particularly fond of, but I tried to keep my cool as I inquired as to what was wrong.  The best I was able to determine is somebody or somehow Chandler got the impression that his magician costume was not scary enough for Halloween and therefore not cool.  He refused to wear it to the party.  

Since the party was in 15 minutes I told him he could pick from our other costumes and dress up clothes, and he decided to be "Jake" the pirate.  He added the pirate gun for effect.

We picked Chandler up from the party a little early so we could go trick-or-treating as a family.  It was a cold night, so we wore PJs under our costumes, and that helped bedtime go smoother.  Chandler was back to being a magician for trick-or-treating, but would tell people various unrelated answers when they'd ask what he was.  He wanted them to be scared of him!

All in all, a fun, but exhausting day!