We're Having a..........

Boy!!!! Yay, we are so excited! As soon as the technician put the instrument on my abdomen, Doctor said, "It's a boy!" We're so grateful that it was so obvious. We aren't sure about a name yet, but we still have 4 1/2 months left, right? Dude is really pushing for Megaman. We might end up being so desperate that we actually go with that. :) I thought that Princess would be disappointed because she really wanted it to be a girl, but she actually is super excited. Every morning she asks if my baby slept well. As a side note, we sat in front of a couple at church who are pregnant and due any day. During the meeting, Princess really loud said, "Look mom, that lady has a really big baby in her tummy!" Thank goodness she was pregnant. During the ultrasound the baby was very shy and kept moving away from the camera, but we did get a few pictures.

Presents and Sugar

Our little family has been incredibly blessed this Christmas season. We especially enjoyed the extra time that we got to spend with Dad. We were all spoiled with way more presents than we could ever need, and there was plenty of sugar to go around. Here's some pictures of our kids enjoying their new things.



Honey Bunch enjoyed the candy more than anything, I think. When she wakes up she usually runs in my room and begs for breakfast. The day after Christmas I woke up to the sound of a chair moving in the kitchen. I walked out into the hall and followed a trail of candy wrappers into the kitchen where I found a pile on the floor and Honey Bunch hurriedly shoving some pieces into her mouth. She apparently decided to fix her own breakfast.

Christmas Traditions

We have a Christmas Eve tradition of making pizzas for dinner. This year the kids really got into it and we had a lot of fun.
Princess' pizza looked so appetizing that Doctor kept asking her for a bite.
Honey Bunch stuffed just as many toppings in her mouth as she put on her pizza. Dude carefully placed each topping in a circle around the edge of his pizza.

We also made sugar cookies for Santa. The kids actually did really well with the cookie cutters, and I heard from Santa that the cookies tasted excellent. (Even if they weren't his mothers recipe because we didn't have almond extract)

Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?

We were eating lunch a few days ago and Honey Bunch shouted, "Look, me! Look, me!" When we looked we saw that she had turned her lunch into a mask. She cracks me up.

Thoughtful Child

Doctor has to work overnight at the hospital tonight, so he gathered the children together for the "call night lecture." This consists of him telling the children that he will be gone and that they need to be extra good for mommy. Dude said, "Don't worry Dad, and I'll make sure that no one asks Mom for breakfast." Hilarious. I'm not quite sure where it came from though. I hope he doesn't think that me getting the kids breakfast is a bad thing. I'm pretty sure he was just being thoughtful saying they wouldn't wake me up. I hope that's it, anyway. Hmmm........... :)

Another quick story about Dude while I'm already on here. We were driving home from school the other day when Dude told me that Santa had visited his school that day. He said he told them a Christmas story, and then he said, "Santa told us what a virgin is. Do you know what it is?" I freaked out. I'm not prepared for that talk. Especially with Princess, Honey Bunch and Princess' friend in the car. I calmly as I could asked him what it meant. He said, "It means something different." What?! Then he said, "Santa said there are different virgins of stories." He confused virgin for version. Too funny. And I'm relieved that talk can be postponed a little longer.

First Haircut(s)!

So Princess has always had the most beautiful hair with natural highlights and curl. Lately it has become a long tangled mess. She has a hard time not getting food stuck in it and she cries every time we brush it. I've been dreading her first haircut because, quite frankly, I'm emotionally attached to it. Well, today was the day. Doctor offered to do it, but remembering the time he cut my hair I politely refused. (That's a whole other story for a whole other day) Anyway, I made an appointment for a salon here in town that I had heard good things about. Here are the before pictures.

Princess was SO excited! The lady called us back and I told her that this was her first haircut so I would like to keep it. She said, "OK, so I'm just trimming it then?" I said that I actually wanted her to cut it shoulder length. Well, she combed it and combed it and combed it. (Very reminiscent of the time Doctor cut my hair) Then she snipped a tiny piece of blonde curl maybe 1/8 of an inch. She picked it up and handed it to me. I luckily came prepared with a baggy to put it in. She continued to barely snip at her hair and then said, "How's that?" I said, "I would like her hair to be shoulder length." She replied, "Well, I'm a hair saver." Whatever that means. Well she cut it a little shorter. Like maybe another 1/2 an inch and it took her forever! I was so frustrated and realized that she obviously didn't understand what shoulder length meant. I had a flash back in my mind of a time my dear mother took me to get my hair cut by a similarly talented person. I remember she kept telling the lady it wasn't straight, so she kept trying to fix it and I ended up with bangs almost equal to my hairline. I didn't want the same embarrassment and fate for my little girl that my mom, myself, and the person trying to cut my hair endured. As politely as a could I said, 'That's fine." If you know me very well, you know that the word "fine" never means that its ok. When we got to the counter and they said the cost was $15 I about croaked. I might as well of dropped the money at the front door and walked away without a haircut. Well, Princess, bless her heart, was just thrilled to have the experience and couldn't wait to show her Dad. When we walked in the door he looked at me and said, "It doesn't look any different, could you not get it cut?" I was so frustrated that I went into the bathroom with Princess and cut her hair. I didn't take an after photo from the salon because it's almost identical to how it was before, but here are the after photos from my try at it.

Here's how much I cut.

It isn't perfect, but its not bad for my first time. I'll definitely keep the $15 next time and do her hair myself. Lesson learned.

Nightime Conversations

This is the conversation Dude and I had about 15 minutes after I tucked him in tonight:
Dude: Mom, I forgot something I really have to tell you.
Me: It's bedtime Dude.
Dude: It's really important. If I don't tell you now, I'll forget.
Me: It's bedtime Dude. If its that important you will remember in the morning.
Dude: Mom! It's really important.
Me: Fine. What is it?
Dude: Um.........well....................today.................I.....................saw.....................................um........................................well............... I...............saw..................Nathan............................um.............................he.........................was the only kid to have a card change today......................um.....................I think.
Me: Ok. Go to bed.
This is a pretty typical conversation at night. He is so like me. When I was his age, my phrase was, "I just have one more thing to tell ya." I guess this is my payback. :)

HO! HO! HO!

Today was the annual visit by Santa to the medical school here in town. It was during the day, so I was only able to bring Princess and Honey Bunch. Princess has been so excited for days in anticipation of today. True to form however, when the moment arrived excitement was replaced with fear. When it was our turn, she looked at me and said, "Would it be ok if I just stood by him?" Honey Bunch had no fear and jumped up on his lap. Yes, she's eating a cookie in the picture. They had a dessert table right before the Santa line that couldn't be avoided.

Santa gave each of the children a gift. Princess got new dress-up shoes that she "has always wanted," and Honey Bunch got a slinky that she calls, "snake." They were so thrilled.

I wish I could take credit for the matching dresses that my mother-in-law made, we got a lot of compliments. The other highlight of the day was that Princess' best friend, Jackson and his little brother, Landon were there, too. Honey Bunch has a huge crush on Jackson and usually makes him hold her hand. It's too cute. Well, at least for now. :)

Too Amazing Not To Share

Doctor took this picture of the tree in our backyard. Beautiful. The weatherman is calling for 2 inches of snow tomorrow, I'm not sure what that means for the ice and our power, but we'll keep you posted.

Click the picture to see the detail.

My Little Rock Stars

Yesterday Princess and Honey Bunch were playing in their room while I was making lunch. They came in the kitchen and Princess anounced the arrival of two rock stars. Aren't they adorable? Not to mention how wonderful it is that they were actually playing together. Oh happy day!

Ice Anyone?

We've got enough to go around. The ice storm that hit the middle of the United States has been visiting us. We got about an inch of ice accumulation on everything, which actually is really pretty and picture perfect for winter time. We've been pretty blessed at our house, every time we've lost power it has been only for short periods. Some of our friends were without power for several hours today. There are some perks to living in the same power grid as the hospital. :) It's pretty crazy to look out the window and watch tree limbs falling to the ground. This bush is actually taller than the fence when its not covered in ice.




School was obviously cancelled today, so the kids wrote letters to Santa, and Dude decorated a Christmas tree to hang in the hall at school.

Speaking of school (were we?), a little anecdote about Dude. He does really well with his school work, and usually finishes his assignments well before his other classmates. In the interim, the teacher gives the students who are finished "choice time" to do an activity of their choice. When I asked Dude about his day last Friday he told me, "not good." I asked why and he said that he didn't get choice time. I asked how come, and he told me, "cause I'm not good at sewing stockings. I always get choice time, and I was embarrassed." I explained that there are alot of things that he does really well at, and if there's something he doesn't do very well, he can practice and get better. But its ok to not be able to do everything perfectly. Tonight when I tucked him in he asked if we could practice sewing tomorrow so that he could make a new better stocking. Another perfectionist on our hands? I think so.

"Tis Better to Give Than to Receive"

The generosity of others, especially this time of year is astounding to me. My family was the recipient of such kindness and generosity last night. Doctor and I were making dinner when Princess announced that someone had come to the door. I went to the door and found a bag with several wrapped packages inside hanging on the door knob. I looked out in time to see Miss Lisa driving away. Miss Lisa was Dude's bus driver for his two years of pre-school. She is one of the most thoughtful, caring, self-less people I know. The fact the she thought of my little family at Christmas time is truly incredible. She remembered the names of all three children, and there was a package for each one of them. Miss Lisa has reminded me of the true reason for Christmas. I am also reminded of my own selfishness, and the need to give more. I am so grateful not only for the gifts, but for the example of Christ-like love and thoughtfulness that I hope to emulate in my own life.

Who Needs Plastic Surgery?

Yesterday I was the recipient of a nose job. Yes, a nose job. No, there was no anesthesia involved, or even a surgeon. Here's the scoop:
My son Dude managed to break my nose 4 times during the first 4 years of his life. Because of this, I had a deformed nose. There was a hump in the middle, and it tilted to one side. I often mentioned to Doctor that at some point I would like to get it repaired. Well, the wait is over. My lovely Honey Bunch took care of it for me last night. We were all cuddling on the couch watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Honey Bunch was sitting in my lap, and apparently she wasn't comfortable. She attempted to re situate herself and inadvertently crashed her head on my nose. Now, those who know me, know that I have extremely slow reactions. The situation went down like this:

Really (I mean REALLY) loud crack
My thoughts: Something terrible just happened. Really terrible. I can't believe that just happened. Did that really just happen? Oh, this is not good. Really not good.
Me: OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH!
Doctor: What? What was that sound? Who did this to your mother?
Me: OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH!
Doctor: WHAT HAPPENED!?!
Me: (Now with uncontrollable tears) OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH!
Kids: I don't know. I didn't do it.
Doctor: WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT WAS THAT SOUND!!??!!
Me: Uncontrollable tears

You know its amazingly fortunate to be married to an otolaryngologist when something happens to your nose. When he was finally able to look at it, I got the best news.

Doctor: Your nose is fixed!
Me: What?
Doctor: She fixed your nose. There's no bump and its straight. Wow.

Not the way I pictured getting a nose job, but it works. :)

Let it Snow!

We spent the afternoon Saturday playing in the snow. We all had a blast!
Honey Bunch giggled the entire time. Doctor took the kids for rides on the sled.



He went all out with Dude, and I was pretty impressed with how well he hung on. Princess did pretty well herself. Snow out here is much drier than snow out west, so it's hard to make a snowman, maybe the next storm.

I'm so proud!

I love each of my children immensely. They are each so unique. Dude is, well, hilarious. I am constantly laughing when he's around. He's caring and thoughtful. And man is he smart. Princess is adorable. She's so helpful, and I appreciate so much how she enjoys helping me with the household chores. I actually enjoy folding laundry with her. She has a smile that melts your heart. And Honey Bunch........she's a character. She has an incredible vocabulary for her young age, and I love listening to her sing Old McDonald and Twinkle, Twinkle. The problem is that she's hitting the terrible two's with a vengeance. I can't turn my back on her for 2 seconds. She's constantly naked. I have to safety pin her clothes together so she can't get them off. Everything that she could potentially stand on becomes a stool. And sitting still for ANY length of time well, that's completely out of the question. So you can image my fear when I took my darling Honey Bunch with me to my OB appointment this morning. I was certain she would be racing the halls, opening all the drawers, tearing all the paper of the beds, you know, being her. I am so proud to report that I saw a glimpse of my little angel again today. She was as good as gold. She sat patiently in her chair and played with the quiet games I brought for her. She was amazing. I am so proud of her, and I am so grateful to see that side of her again.

And everything is going wonderfully with the baby, phew! :) I love the sound of the heartbeat. I've cried at every appointment with every child listening to it. I'm incredibly blessed. The ultrasound is schedule for Dec. 27. We are so excited to find out the gender, we'll keep you posted.

Now Introducing.........

A couple of weeks ago, Princess wrote a Christmas song. I'm kind of biased, but I think its pretty good for a 4 year old. Honey Bunch enjoys the camera as well. Enjoy!

I caved!

Well, I finally gave in. We are now official bloggers. The doctor has been bugging me for quite some time to get this going. Our kids: Dude, Princess, and Honey Bunch are always saying and doing the darndest things, so hopefully now all our family will be in the know.



So.......after dinner on Sunday, Princess asked if she could clean the table. (Yes, she LOVES household chores!) I reluctantly agreed (yeah, right). Anyway, Dude came running in asking if he could, too! Then, Honey Bunch, not wanting to miss out in the fun joined in. Here's a pic of my slaves, oops, I mean children. :)