Happy Halloween!!!

It Snowed

Can you see it?

Okay, so it flurried for about 10 minutes...but Owen got to enjoy the brief minute of the magic.

(Please ignore the fact that Owen is blurry, I forgot the rules when setting the camera, and the moment was over before I figured it out...just pretend that I took an amazing shot!)

Just for fun:

Owen quotes as of late....

After John pointed out that Owen's feet were big, John asked Owen if he was going to grow tall. Owen's response, "That why I three!"
A lot of Owen's answers begin with "that why."

When trying to get people to stop talking and listen to him he can be heard yelling, "Hear this! Hear this!"

Owen's most popular catch phrase is, "I tols nu" (I told you). He uses it all the time...but what is funny is when he uses it wrong. Like when he was struggling getting on his feetie pj's by himself so I jumped in and showed him how and then he told me, "See, I tols nu!" To which I replied, "No, I told you!" But he would have none of that. I now know that disputations with a 3 year old are fruitless.

WE'VE GOT SWINE FLU PEOPLE!

Ainsley's fever had gotten better and then came back worse tonight. I freaked out, due to the fact that I had been told, and had read on the government website that this was something to watch for and take kids to the emergency room for. I felt like a terrible mother, like I should have noticed her 102 degree fever sooner. We ended up taking her to an after hours doctor (and the only reason they would even see her was because I was pregnant, otherwise they would have instructed us to let it run it's course, do you think the medical world could get their stories straight?????).

They swabbed her nose and the test was positive for the flu. Although they don't specifically test for swine flu, they said that over 95% of positive flu tests right now are swine flu. We were perscribed tamiflu and I was instructed to contact my doctor to see if they want me to take it as well. I just want this to work through the family so we are all healthy when the baby is born....I'm contemplating just holding the baby in until flu season is over!

(*Allow my rant for a moment...tamiflu came with the price tag of a $40 COPAY....what do people pay that have crummy or no insurance? I called my pharmacist friend and she explained the nonsensical reasons for the outrageous price. She would have compounded Ainsley's prescription had she been at work, and you can bet your buttons that I'll be calling her to get me my pills if I have to get them tomorrow! Can we say,"Corprate America taking advantage of the general public! What some people won't do to make a buck! Rant over.*)

I guess I got what I asked for, last night I was talking with some women after a meeting and made the comment that I wish we would just get the flu so we could be done with it...and sure enough...it came.

On a side note, I love the exceptions that are made for women about to give birth. I had to change my Dr. appointment this week. The receptionist told me that the week was full and that we needed to look at next week. I told her I was due on Friday. She said, "Oh, okay, when would you like to come in?" So not only did it get Ains into the doctor, it apparently has the power to free up a doctors full schedule. I'm going to start claiming 9 months pregnant when scheduling all future appointments!

Proud Moment

I got an email a while ago that Ains would be getting an award today for demonstrating confidence. Her school will be focusing on different skills every month and then kids will be selected at each month to receive and award for demonstrating those skills. I can't think of a better skill for Ains to be awarded with than confidence...she oozes it!

(***Warning...this next paragraph is nothing more than shameless bragging about my child...***)

She is the one that will get called on in primary opening exercises to hop up and fill in if anyone is missing or unwilling to give their part, I've yet to see her get stage fright. She performed in the primary talent show a few weeks ago (she sang "Leavin' on a Jet Plane while I accompanied her on the guitar) and she didn't miss a beat. I think I was more nervous than her...she stole the show! She is one of the few readers in her class and I know that her teacher uses her to demonstrate things and read for the rest of the class. Along with her confidence comes her independence, she has a field trip tomorrow that she informed me she wanted to go on by herself. I guess I'm not needed already! Soooo, to get to the point...Ains is one of the most confident people I know and totally deserved this little award.
So today, despite being sick, John took her over to the school for the award ceremony and a little breakfast before she came home to crash on the couch. I stayed home with Owen. At the time we thought we would like awful parents if we took two coughing kids to the school. But John said the room was so packed that no one would have even noticed, so now I'm bummed I didn't go!

Taken by Surprise

Despite my best efforts of becoming the germ and hand washing Nazi, the flu has settled upon our home (I'm pretty sure it's not H1N1 but who knows). I was caught off guard though because it struck the wrong child! I have been watching Owen like a hawk because he has had a cough for almost a week now, I've been waiting for it to turn into something else and it just hasn't...he hasn't slowed down one bit!

And then yesterday Ains woke up with a cough. I assumed that she had the same cough Owen has had and sent her to school (my bad...another moment that might win me mother of the year) she came home, plopped down on the couch and stayed there all day. By last night she had a fever and went to bed by 7:00. She was up during the night and even threw up, poor girl. She's pretty miserable.

I'm just hoping this passes quickly, and that the rest of us don't get it. I'm usually not so uptight about illness but I really don't want to have a newborn and the flu in the same house if I can help it. So I figure we have a week to clear this out of our house, hopefully sooner so the kids Halloween isn't ruined!

Halloween Carnival

We have some friends that like to party, which works out nicely for us, because then we get to go to lots of parties without planning them! This year they decided to do a Halloween carnival. The plan was to get a bunch of people together for a chili dinner and then for every family to plan some sort of a Halloween activity/booth for the kids. There were probably 20-30 families that ended up coming and the kids had a blast.


Our booth was sugar cookie decorating, which we did because it sounded easy, until I panicked when I was told there would be about 70 kids and made a billion cookies. Suddenly baking sugar cookies and making frosting was a huge chore. I thought it turned out cute though. I had the kids frost the cookies white and then we drew black frosting circles and dragged a toothpick through it to make it look like a spider web and then the kids got to choose a spider ring to put on top.

There were a ton of fun booths. The mad scientist, coloring contest, face painting, plinko, fishing, ghost bowling, bean bag toss, balloon animals, ghost suckers, feeling creepy things, making skeleton hands out of popcorn, and the list goes on. I was really impressed, everyone went above and beyond and the kids loved it!

When we were in the car headed home Owen's only words were, "That was fun!" Which doesn't always happen after our little outings. So the evening was a success!

Direct Quote

Ainsley (whining): "Owen gets to do everything!"

Me (sarcastically): "Really? What does Owen get to do?"

Ainsley (still whining): "He gets to be threeeeee!"

I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean...

I'm Ready

I'm officially declaring myself ready to have this baby! ALL baby clothes/blankets/carriers etc. have been washed, folded, and tucked away.
The curtains have been washed.
EVERY closet in the house has been organized (and while I know you want a picture of every closet I will refrain and only share one :).
The car seat has been thoroughly washed and car seat cover has been sewed and altered so it fits in the seat the way I want it to (I have my mom to thank for that one...the button hole foot threw me for a loop).
The pantry has been cleaned out. (Important, I know...)
BOTH cars have been cleaned inside AND out! We had to clean John's car too...just in case the baby ever had to ride in his car, because it was a little scary.

Also the garage has been cleaned out. Completely emptied, swept, and reorganized!
The yard is ready for winter....garden is torn out, sprinklers blown out, lawn mowed and edged, plants cut down and trimmed.
Patio furniture is tucked away and covered for winter.
The other things on my list that have been checked off are....

****Christmas shopping done!!!!!!
(Except for extended family, but I can handle that much with a newborn). I must say this is nice, except that I will never do it again, because if I finish this early I just want to keep shopping, or I see something at a price that I can't pass up. Luckily I will have a newborn to help deter some of the frivolous shopping that I would normally be tempted to do.

*****Eyebrows have been plucked (this was really on my list....sad huh?) I took a picture of my eyebrows but I realized that they already needed plucked again...

*****Toe nails clipped. This was really hard, and I gave up on cleaning off the old nail polish. I'll just have to give birth with ugly toes...how will I survive!?

****I bought non-maternity fat pants. Mostly because I almost cried the other day when I realized that I had no sweats to come home from the hospital in.

*****The lamp shades have been vacuumed and the window sills cleaned.

*****Thank You's have been sent!

All very important things right? If someone could explain this to John that would be great!



Unfortunately there are just a few minor, yet necessary, jobs yet to be done. (But they are minor so I'm still declaring myself ready)

John has to vacuum out the air vents (don't laugh, I swear this has to be done :).

I need to sanitize the pacifiers. These must be ready to accompany me to the hospital so that I can start forcing them on my baby ASAP.

I need to buy more baby powder....since Owen dumped the powder out on the floor after he pee'd.

And I need to set up the pack and play. And that takes all of 5 minutes. Although I was a little bummed that I can't seem to find my pack and play sheet...how could it have just disappeared? We're not setting up the crib for a while since the baby will be sharing a room with Ains. We'll let her enjoy her space for a little while longer!

Now I just have to live the annoying life of waiting, and hoping that the baby decides to come right after I clean the house and do laundry and not right before, because I'm anal and I obsess over things like that!

So see, I'm ready. I just wish the baby was as ready as I am!

Today

Today I am grateful for good friends.

Some friends took me out last night for dessert and to have a little shower to celebrate this baby that will be here shortly. I didn't make the planning too easy for them, due to the fact that I felt silly having a shower for a 3rd child, and I already have some girl hand-me-downs.

But It was so low key it was perfect. I got to have a night out, got some REALLY cute new baby clothes, (every baby deserves new, in style clothes!), and got to hang out with great friends! My only regret is forgetting to take my camera to get a shot of our group!

Pumpkin Patch

John had the day off, so we decided to take the kids to the pumpkin patch this afternoon to let the kids pick out their pumpkins. (And I'm not feeling very wordy...so here's some pictures...)

The petting zoo...
Jump houses...

Straw bale maze...
Me being brave and posting a picture of my 9 month pregnant self...do I not look ready to give birth and drop 60 pounds?! (This was the best picture of my BTW, I didn't dare post any full body shots...too depressing :)
Stopping to take a picture before heading out in the field to pick a pumpkin.
Owen picking his nose in the pumpkin field, nice.

Today's Game

This morning I lost my temper with the kids and their assumption that that they can watch TV WHENEVER they want. After months of threatening to unplug the TV, this morning it actually happened. The TV and the DVD player have been disconnected from the wall. At first I dreaded the outcomes that my hasty actions might bring...but I must say, it's been a nice day. Owen struggled through the morning but eventually settled down and played with play-doh and read books while I cleaned the house.

Our afternoons have been filled with fighting and screaming (the kids fight, watch TV, and get yelled at by me to turn off the TV). This afternoon however has been very pleasant. I got my house cleaned, the laundry done, and there has only been one minor battle between the children. Once they realized that the TV really was unplugged and wouldn't work, they gave up trying and have found other ways to entertain themselves....and have been much happier I might add.

What I have loved most about the TV being off today is the game that Owen and Ains played most of the afternoon. I'll call it FFM for lack of a better name(which I learned today stands for free field apparent motion FYI). Ains has 3 or 4 kids in her class that are hearing impaired. I learned last week when I went on a field trip with her class that the teacher wears an FFM device that looks just like a microphone and the kids that have cochlear implants hook something up to their ears (don't know the technical term for that piece...sorry) so then they can hear what the teacher is saying. Ains and Owen made FFM's today out of blocks and played a little game of school like I have never seen before.

The kids lego technology was nearly as impressive as the real thing...unfortunately they have long since been destroyed.

Ains always made sure that Owen spoke into his FFM so that she could hear him, and the two of them sat and read together and Ains gave Owen a little lesson on letters. Ains carried around her cochlear implant attached to her ear for a long time. I think she's a little obsessed with them, the other day she wore half of a plastic Easter egg for her cochlear implant. It was really cute. Reminds me of when I used to use paper clips to make retainers because I wanted one really bad. I also remember making my sister sit and be the student while we played school, we just never thought of using our FFM's!


****As a final note on the day...the no TV thing continued to work well until late afternoon. It didn't save me from the crazy that usually happens later in the day, bummer. It only took an hour and a half of crazy to bring me to my breaking point, there was a lot of yelling coming from mom this evening.

Jumping the Gun

I feel the need to get everything ready early, thinking that somehow by being super prepared this baby might come early. Or maybe it will make the month go by more quickly. It's a cruel trick to play on myself really, but I always do it anyways.
On Friday I made John crawl up in the attic and get down all the Halloween and fall stuff. It was October...time for Halloween decorations right? John didn't seem to think so, since I'm pretty sure we are the only people we know that have decorations up outside. But with my sticks made and thus my indoor decorating done, I felt it was the appropriate time to move outdoors! Owen ran around the yard the entire time we decorated wearing his monkey costume, yes we are ready for Halloween people! This year the kids and I made some vampire bats to hang outside. I'm realizing now that these decorations were meant to be indoor and made closer to the actual holiday (I'm not sure why this didn't occur to me as I read that they were made of paper and balloons). Nonetheless, we have our paper/balloon bats hanging outside currently deflating and warping due to the rain and we'll have to take them down and replace them with something else soon.

We did hang one inside in the kids hallway though...good thing I'm so smart!

Worth it?

Conference started out great this year! On Saturday the kids were surprisingly well behaved. Ains even was interested in listening to bits and pieces of talks and songs. It was sooo nice! And I'm grateful we were able to listen on Saturday because...

then it all went down hill, just in time for the Sunday morning session. I can't say that I got anything out of that session, even though John was being nice and taking care of the kids. The afternoon session wasn't much better. Ains was content to color her conference packet, while Owen was done with his in all of 15 seconds and then continued to be a pain for the remaining hour and 59 minutes.

I guess conference is no different than church...difficult to get much out of it with little kids in your midst!

It's a little sad...

I'm a little too proud of the black sticks I made for Halloween. Enough so that it's a little sad.

More specifically these black sticks, that I cut out of my mom's neighbor's yard, and then spray painted black. So it was free, and I though of it all on my own, and I think they turned out nice and Halloweeny looking. Maybe I'll add a little bit of spider web to finish off the look. Did I mention I'm ridiculously proud of these sticks.

Sad, I know.