22 wks!

 i had to stop and check how far along i am this week. hahaha. for real!  been busy, days are blurred!

this is the most uneventful, boring and wonderful pregnancies!  i feel good, even thou sleep doesn't come easily most nights.  i don't have any cravings but i can eat salad now! yippee!  i get heart burn at night if i eat past 8, which i always do cause im hungry!

not sure about the weight, but i can fit into my pants so thats good. haha.  i don't do any exercise other than chasing the kids around.  i do wish to walk when the snow melts but by then it will be july and the baby will be here.....sigh

i am thankful and happy to be having this bonus baby and look forward to the changes ahead.  one day i just might blog about all the weird and wonderful comments/conversations ive had with ppl about going from 2 kids to 3. very thought provoking!

 the bare belly.  4th pregnancy and no horrid stretch marks ( but i did have a scare last week! ha!) 

nate wanted in the pic before we left this morning.  he wanted us to be ninjs's, with sticks. sigh. boys are so funny

and with that, im back on the couch to enjoy the wonderful sow storm! NOT grumble, grumble.....snow storm at the end of march???? what is this, the end days???? 0 comments

Posted by mel at 4:34 PM

family love

 fri, i was antsy and itchy and bored and restless, so i packed the kids up and took to the mall, the kida walked around, we had booster juice and had a small snack.  chris met up with us after work and nate sat ellie in front of him to protect her from danger

 she was very thankful!


so sat morning!  nate came to us with a surprise! he made us breakfast in bed, all by himself and all alone. i was very impressed!

he made, toast with butter and cheerio's with milk and brought it up for us to enjoy. the kids joined us in the bed as we dined.  oh nate also read to us while we enjoyed his breakfast

 ellie had some too

 and this is about how nutty it got

imagine, we are adding 1 more monkey to this family zoo! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 4:21 PM

school

 nate finished his alpha book from math us see yesterday. i deliberately took a month to go slow, view and make sure he grasp the concepts 100% before we move on.  its not about getting to the next level, for me its learning and knowing....anyways!  we are going to start beta next week! yikes!!!

 we finished up all his grammar and reading curric books/workbooks a few wks ago.  i thought he was ready for science so we started his astronomy text book/work book with apologia on monday. we spent the week together working through chapter 1, figuring how it works and getting familiar with the new curric

to be honest, i was more insecure, and looking at this subject with dread, not knowing how it will work out.  nate has it rough, ha. he is my practice child. ive never home schooled anyone before, i have no clue what im doing!  but with all things, face your fear and find your strength! right?!?

we had an AWESOME science week.  i really like this curric. i LOVE that we can use the text books for all the kids, 2 times each!  each book has a jr and a reg notebook so the lessons are taught 2 times. 

we are studying astronomy. and to be honest, ive learned a lot. haha.  the great thing is if i stick to this curric for elementary, i will know the book inside and out/how it works so it will be much easier when i go thought it again with the girls

anyways. the above picture is nate doing his copy work, my favorite thing is to watch him work.  hes so much like his dad!

bath time

someone wanted to play peek a boo!

 BOO!

 woosh shes gone!

happy friday everyone!

i have my ultrasound this morning, so i get to watch my little girl again!  1 comments

Posted by mel at 9:09 AM

dress up/snow storm

 ellie in her pretty and fire man hat

 wed we were hit with another storm.  this is what the back porch looked like wed night around 6

 view out the back door. cant see anything

 snow amount before bed time

 yesterday morning. it was over nates head!

they are calling for another 30 cm on sunday

sigh

i am DONE with winter, cold, snow pants, mitts, boots and jackets. i want shorts, tanks, flip flops and grass! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 8:56 AM

helper girl!

 ellie LOVES to help me with gathering the printer papers and bringing them to me. she started doing this a while back on her own. as soon as she hears the whirl of the printer starting up, she comes running

 standing om tip toes

 and brings it to me

 i love my helper girl!

she does this for chris too

please note the "pretty" around her neck.  ellie LOVES necklaces, bracelets, hair bows and getting dressed....she wears this pretty, as we call it, almost daily.  i love having a girl. ha.  im lucky to get nate to brush his teeth and wash his face muwahhhh


0 comments

Posted by mel at 8:52 AM

thankful

 for my dancing queen

 my stinker who loves to leave me pics on my phone

 angry ninja

sleuth ninja

yesterday, a huge storm hit n.b.  i was dreading ANOTHER storm, another day stuck in the house, another day of the same old mindless routine, with little human contact due to nate's classes being cancelled (storm)

i was dragging my butt up to shower and get ready for the day, with a stinky attitude and a longing for summer,  filling my mind with my list of things that i do each day, change a bum, do some laundry, wipe some walls, floors, make 2 meals and countless snacks, clean up after the meals and snacks, sitting down and spending another few hours working with nate on his school (while i sit there bored, restless and antsy to get it over with)

around 11 ish, my phone rang, it was chris, bring the master house lady i am i put him on speaker while i changed ellie's dirty diaper.  chris was sharing with me the struggles of his coworkers that morning trying to find alternative child care arrangements for their kids (schools and some day cares were closed)  and the problems they had to find places to put their kids until 3.  i finished the diaper, picked ellie up, fixed her hair and wiped her face, which is always covered in something! 

i took her to the chair and she curled into my arms as we sat and talked to chris, or rather while i listened to him talk.  as we rocked, the baby kicked.  ellie reached over and wrapped her tiny arm around my every growing (sigh) belly, she rested her head on my shoulders

chris wrapped the phone call up, and i went to put ellie down for her nap. i picked up a sippy of milk, held her as she drank, played with my fingers, her blanket and finally gave me the cup. looked at me and said "mama. HI!"  placing her  head back on my shoulders we rocked until my bladder said no more! haha

i put her to bed, covered her in her blankets, gave her her bunny and kissed her tiny fingers...leaving the room i said what i always say "have a good sleepy, we love you ellie girl. ill see you when you wake up"

i left her room, and sat on the brown chair outside her room.  i decided to change my heart and my though patterns right them, i cant control the weather or the closures that it brings but i can choose how i will spend the day

walking down the stairs, i called to nate "hey! its tine for school!"  and found him sitting at the table with his book out and ready. i knew we would have a great day at school. and we did

i find its hard doing the routine, the mundane, the boring same old, esp during winter but its a  season and it will pass and no longer will i have little feet running through my house, messing up my walls and windows, crying at nothing, yelling at the top of their voices, demanding "MOM!"

i choose to be so very thankful, to be home, raising my babies....even when its routine and boring. hahaha

*we ended up having an awesome snow day!  lots of school got done, fun was had and memories made 2 comments

Posted by mel at 9:04 AM

it's a...............!

i am so excited that ellie is going to have a SISTER to play with!!!!  now my daughters can write the story of their adventures, just as i have with my own sister

we had our ultra sound on friday, the tec asked if we wanted to know the sex, um YES!  she went to peek but we found crossed legs, so we started taking measurements and watching our baby kick, hit and roll around.  finally, the baby uncrossed her legs and we zoomed in...i saw 3 lines and i said to chris " i see 3 lines!! its a GIRL!" 

chris laughed and smiled then yelled " YES! i wanted another girl"  then high fived me and fist pumped the air

really, chris? can you not be more excited about this???

haha

of course the tech wasn't able to tell us but did resort to calling the baby she from then on in.

i had my prenatal appointy yesterday and the dr confirmed it's a GIRL!!!!!! 

my appointment went AWESOME.  i was in and out in 45 MINUTES!  record!  my blood pressure is low, my weight is high (i received the "you are putting on too much weight lecture"  according to their numbers i'm at the 15 pound mark, 25 being the max amount....so i have what, 17 more wks to gain 10? NOT gonna happen, im predicting my normal 50 pound gain. hahaha

i am meeting with the obg at 32 wks to book the section to have this little bonus baby girl!

nate is THRILLED to have another sister, and i quote him "i want another sister because ellie is so cute and she doesn't play with my toys" hahaha  raw honestly

i am SOOOOO happy that it's a girl. not that i care really, but logistically it's perfect for our family. nate will be 7 when she's born, not a play mate for him but more for ellie

i grew up having an older sister 11 months older than me, for 1 wk each yr we are the same age.  we are ubber close, esp growing up.  my sister was my best friend, we did everything together, we worked at the same job, hung out, went on trips, and spend tones of time together.  even though we are different as you can get, we are still besties. now, my daughters will have the same chance... they will ultimately choose if they will be friends but i can pave the way to allow it to happen

i feel like our family is perfect. for us.  an older son, which i was blessed and so very grateful for having all to myself for 5 yrs before his sister joined us.  those yrs i spent with nate, playing, going places, parks,. play dates, gym, swim, preschools etc...are years busting, over flowing with memories that will be forever engraved in my heart.  they are ours. our memories.  just him and i.  this is something so special that none of his sisters will have.  5 yrs of just mom.  it worked out to be a blessing for us, nate got the time and attention he needed to grow into an amazing brother and son. we are still close and i have his heart to watch over and protect but it's different he's getting older....sob sob and i am letting him go....

then along came our little surprise, our ellie belly- boo!  our peaceful, calm delight.  nate took to her better than we could dream. i don't think a day goes by that we don't sit back and think how amazing he is with her.

nate and ellie have been buddies for 19 months now....and now another sister to welcome, love and enjoy!

so there you go, we are having another baby girl!  wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!

(and a HUGE thank you to my sister who is graciously allowing me to hang on to charlie's clothes for this baby)

4 comments

Posted by mel at 2:53 PM

parental visit

 dad and ellie boo

 loving her tickles

 ellie and nana

mom and dad came up thurs night until this morning.  i invited mom to come to my 20 week ultra sound/baby scan measurement/sex determination etc...mom and chris came along and we were able to watch our little bonus baby on the screen.  i have to go back this week sometime to finish the ultrasound bec the baby fell asleep on their tummy and we were not able to get the baby's  heart specifics....i have my prenatal appointy on mon and the sex will be officially told to me....i will share after the confirmation but we are 99.9% positive about the sex.....chris and i saw clearly what the baby is.  ha!

we had a great visit and ellie was so sad to say good bye to mom and dad, she stood at the door and waved good bye a good 5 mins after they left, then she kept going back to the door to check. calling out "papa-ha! nananana"  very cute! 2 comments

Posted by mel at 12:02 PM

saturday!

 i took nate to the movie. little rascals. i laughed more than he did. awesome movie!

we hit up the winter carnival at the church
nate participated in the snow man building competition, while i chatted and chased ellie

 making taffy on the snow

 ellie watching the big kids play

 and a blurry shot of NATE winning the snow man building competition. he is quite happy about this. great job buddy!  i love you!

0 comments

Posted by mel at 11:54 AM

school and other stuff

 nate finished up his reading program!  which is funny, cause i use the sing, speak and spell books but this curric (a mix of what works for nate and what works for me. haha) 

nate is finishing his last book test for his math on monday as well. i plan on giving him a break for a wk then start him on BETA!  with math u see. sob sob.

nate also finished up his writing program...im running out of work for him. kidding!  the plan is to bust open his science and start up a  geography  course....with another unit study thrown in there that should keep us busy until june.  the plan is to school him until june, then start back up in oct/nov :)  love it!

i put the kids to bed the other day and came down to this.  ellie was hard at play.  love her!

 my gym!  ellie was so excited to have TWO balls!  she held them the whole time and ran all over the place. silly kid

 wed night i was teaching the kids, ive been talking to them about worship and heart felt praise. all on her own, this little doll was busy worshiping. so proud!

 i asked nate to write a sentence
he came up with this
and even drew a picture
silly boy!

0 comments

Posted by mel at 11:50 AM

art!

 after a mini fight of telling nate is IS doing art today, he decided to have a good attitude and participate. i explained to him that i would step him through it (nate is NOT good with change, trying something new and doing things outside his comfort zone, not clue where he gets that from. haha) 

he changed his attitude and really enjoyed the lesson!

it was on abstract art, making shapes with circles/patterns and color. 

 after he traced his shapes, he painted

 ellie played and ate cookies. yum!

 finished his first picture and wanted to do more!

 working away

 ellie wanted to join in. she did great too!

finishing up his last picture.  i am pleased with how they turned out and nate got to practice living out side his comfort zone, with a splash of creativity! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 10:25 AM