Our First Snow

There is nothing like the first snow of the season when you are 2 and 4.  As soon as I opened the girls' shade this morning they were oohing and aahing as if they had never seen snow before (in all reality, Lucy may not remember ALL the snow last year).  Although I am not a snow person, it is quite fun to see their faces filled with excitement.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent the day at my SIL, Shawna's, parents.  We had 10 adults and 4 kids.  The food was excellent - although I filled up much more quickly this year since my stomach is being squished by a little one.  

Shawna's mom used to teach elementary P.E. so she always has lots of fun things for the kids to do.  The weather was INCREDIBLE and their backyard is HUGE so we spent quite a bit of time outside!

Kevin's parents are here for most of today- not sure what our plan is.  Are we brave enough to head out to some stores?  I would like to go to Michaels, Gymboree, and Toys R US.  I know - totally random stores.  Michaels, of course, is having a big sale plus good coupons.  I want to get a kit to make a gingerbread house.  Norah's theme this week is fox and the recommended book is gingerbread man.

Norah saw a skirt at Gymboree - not just any skirt, but a HOT PINK TULLE skirt.  They are having a 30% off sale and I have a 20% off coupon.  I think Norah will be totally excited on Christmas to open this skirt!

We are looking for a doll house for the girls.  I am incredible picky and can't decide what I want them to have.  If you have little girls and have a suggestion - let me know. 

Lucy's First Drawings

Lucy drew a couple of pictures and actually labeled them.  Normally, she just scribbles, but this time she deliberately drew pictures.  

This first one is a spider.  I think she actually wanted to draw a face based on her language as she drew, but when she finished it, she looked at me and said, "I made a spider!"
She said this second one is a face.  As she drew the eyes she counted "1 eye, 2 eyes!"

Thanks to my great husband for getting me the scanner!  I have had a number of drawings that I wanted to scan and now I can!! Yea!

What's that Sound?

Oh, it's . . silence!!  That's right - my girls are asleep - not just in bed, but actually asleep.  The girls are doing great in their bunk beds, but Norah hasn't napped since.  She has a rest time either in my room or in the baby's room - but she is busy coloring and writing.  Every once in a while she has seemed tired, but she won't give up and fall asleep.  

Norah had multiple meltdowns today and actually has bags under her eyes, so both girls were in bed by 6:45.  Hopefully, this will help Norah catch up on sleep.  Lucy goes to bed by 7 every day anyway, so 15 minutes doesn't make much of a difference.  

*Update

*Just an addition to my post yesterday.  A different nurse called me late afternoon yesterday to talk about the results of my 3 hour glucose test.  Since a nurse called me the day before, I was a little confused.  The nurse yesterday said basically that I was borderline gestational diabetes so they do want me to follow their diet plan.  She was putting it in the mail to me.  I go see the doctor on December 3, so I am anxious to talk to him and find out why the 2 nurses basically told me 2 different things.  The first nurse basically told me to eat a well balanced diet and try to avoid greasy fast food.  The nurse yesterday told me I need to follow their diet (I did mention to the nurse yesterday that she was telling me something different and she couldn't really explain why).  

I am anxious to get the diet in the mail to see how this is going to affect how I eat on Thanskgiving, Christmas, and my birthday.  

Quick Little Update. . .Nothing Exciting

Other than the girls being sick - nothing else is gong one here.  Norah has an ear infection - according to the doctor it is really bad.  Besides the antibiotic, he prescribed her some eardrops for the pain - which he has never done before.  Poor girl!  

I had to go for the 3 hour glucose screening on Friday because my numbers were too high after the 1 hour.  Oddly enough, this time I was 140 (seriously no idea what the number actually represents) and they want you to be below 140.  What does that mean you ask?  I have no idea.  I don't technically have gestational diabetes - thank goodness - but I'm also a little higher than the doctor would prefer.  According to the nurse I am just supposed to monitor my diet a little better - limit fast food intake as much as possible and try to eat a balanced diet.  Other than sometimes indulging in a craving, I don't think I eat that bad.  I'll just try to be a little more carefull - I will need some serious willpower over the holiday season.  I LOVE to make Christmas kind and often make 8-10 different kinds.  I may have to take a year off, though, so I am not tempted to eat too many!!

It is hard to believe that we will be having the baby in 9 weeks!  I have my c-section scheduled and we have started to count down.  I think we have actually narrowed down our names to a couple of boys names and we may actually have a girls name!  Middle names are still totally up in the air.  With a last name like Swinigan (kind of a mouthful to say) I am incredible picky about the length of names!!  

Today was the last week of the women's Bible study at our church.  The study I did was Lord, I Want to Know You by Kay Arthur.  It was excellent.  It is interesting to me that although I grew up in a great Bible teaching church, I didn't know much about the names of God.  Sure, I had heard them before (names like Jehovah-jireh, Elohim, Adonai), but I never actually knew the specific meanings of each name.  Nor did I know how and when the names were revealed to the Israelites.  It was a great study and I would highly recommend it to anyone (our facilitator was excellent, too).  I will miss not going after Christmas, but I just don't think I could with the baby coming.  By next fall - we will all be ready!  

I haven't posted a lot about school with the girls for a little while.  We are still trucking away (mostly with Norah), but I have been a little too tired to worry about posting the details.  We have about 4 or 5 weeks left of the curriculum that we are using but we are going to take a break next week to do Thanksgiving stuff and we will take a break in December to do Christmas stuff.  We will still have school - we are just adding some of our own stuff so basically we will finish up the My Father's World curriculum the week before the baby comes.  Should be perfect timing.

As I said - nothing too exciting - just normal everyday stuff. 

Lucy Funnies

A couple of Lucy's new favorite phrases:

1. Wowah (that would be Norah, which she can say correctly if we tell her too), change your attitude.

2.  Why do I do all the work?  (she often asks this when she is picking up toys)

3.  Yes, Mommy and why, Mommy  (this is what she says when I tell her not to do something - such as, stay out of Norah's bed)

I know there are many more - I just can't remember!  I need to get better about posting things as soon as she says them! 

After 6 Weeks. . .

We think Norah is officially over her finger sucking habit!  I say, 'think,' because we obviously don't really know what she does in the middle of the night.  She doesn't put her fingers in her mouth at the times she used to - when she is tired, watching TV, in the car, when she is hurt, etc.  I have even napped with her a couple of times and she hasn't even tried!  Yea!

Norah's big reward for filling up her chart (she got a sticker every morning if she kept her gloves on all night) was a trip to Build-a-Bear.  Last weekend, we dropped Lucy off at Shawn and

 Shawna's house (Kev's brother & SIL) and we took Norah to the mall.  She was very excited to pick an animal - of course, she chose a PINK leopard.  She was amazed at all the clothes to choose from (actually we were, too) and ended up picking a denim skirt that is similar to one she has and a purple shirt and leggings.  

We finished our little outing with cookies from the Great American Cookie Co.  Yummy!

Bunk Beds

Between computer issues and just feeling too tired, I haven't blogged about anything fun recently.  So here we go!  The girls are in their "new" bunk beds!  We bought them off of Craigslist a couple of months ago.  They were a light wood which I probably could have learned to like, but the great (and handy) husband that I have knew that I had my heart set on white.  He spend the last several weekends stripping, sanding, priming and painting - and they look fabulous!  He did a great job!

We debated whether to put the girls to bed at the same time or put one down earlier and one later.  Typically, Lucy talks/sings herself to sleep (this has been her routine ever since she could carry a tune) and Norah falls asleep instantly.  It doesn't seem right to put Norah to bed first, since she is older, but if we put Lucy to bed first, it could take a LONG time for her to fall asleep.  So, we have put them to bed at the same time and so far it is working great.  The first night both girls were exhausted so they both fell asleep right away and they both slept until 7 (unusual for Lucy - her typical time was 6:15 or 6:30).  The second night Lucy was singing and we heard one loud "SHHHH" from Norah (we temporarily put the monitor in their room - mostly for our own entertainment).  Lucy continued to sing, but both girls drifted off fairly quickly.  Last night, they giggled and talked for about 20 minutes.  At one point Norah was singing and when she stopped, Lucy said, "Norah, do that again."  Kevin went up one time to remind them that it was bedtime -  and we didn't hear another peep.  7:00 has been their wake-up time this week - I love that!

So far so good.  I know we will have some nights that aren't so great, but I am happy with how well they are doing for now.

Naptime has been a little more difficult partly because Lucy is so excited to be in a new bed.  I have to take the ladder to the top bunk out of the room during naptime.  Lucy won't stay off of Norah's bed and this morning she had actually climbed on the outside of the rail to the top bunk.  Next thing I know she will be jumping from Norah's bed to her bed. Ha!

I realize that my pics don't actually show the beds - just proof that they are sleeping.  I will try to get a picture of the beds to post.

Regression

While I have several fun things to post about (Norah is no longer sucking fingers!  We moved girls into their new bunkbeds!) I am too tired to upload pictures and write a lot.  However, I could use some advice.  Lucy has totally regressed when it comes to the potty training.  She is having accidents all the time - not even just one a day.  She is probably having more accidents than she is actually going on the potty.  If I remind her then she will go (although today I was helping her pull her pants down to sit on the potty and she peed right there on the floor), but if it is up to her - like at MDO, Bible study, or church, she just goes in her pants.  She also doesn't seem to care - she actually laughs when she sees that I am frustrated!  She has also started going in her car seat and tells me after the fact - even after she just sat on the potty before we left.  Yesterday we were going to Kevin's brother's - about 40 minutes away.  We had to stop about 20 minutes in so she could go potty.  She had been holding it for hours if we were in the car. 

I realize that it is totally normal after a new baby comes that she would regress - I just didn't think it would happed before.  Although, she talks often about being the baby and says "That baby is your belly be the big kid."  

Anyway, anyone have any advice?  Being so tired doesn't help my attitude about it, but it is driving me crazy!!

A Teenager

I think Norah has skipped a few years and is nearing 13 or 14.  She has been a little obsessed recently with how old you have to be to be a teenager.  She often asks if she has to be a teenager to do certain things.  

Last night, she and I ran to Kohl's to do a little shopping.  I could use some black pants - I think with the girls I had borrowed from someone else.  (I had no luck by the way).  I thought we would look at the Christmas dresses for Norah.  Plus, we did a little Christmas shopping there too.  I had a 30% off coupon so I figured we should do what we can.  While we were at Kohl's, Kevin and Lucy were at Circuit City.  Norah said at one point, "Girls don't like shopping for computer stuff - only clothes."  She is at a fun age to take shopping because she enjoys it, but I still have the final say over what she picks out - and she's okay with that.  I know that won't last forever.

She has started using the word "like" in way too many sentences.  While looking at the clothes, she said, "Mom, isn't this like so cute?"  "This is like so much fun like shopping for clothes."

I wasn't going to make her try on the dress she found, but she really wanted to.  While in the dressing room, she was dancing and singing, "I love beautiful, fancy dresses!"

As we were leaving Norah said, "Wasn't this like so much fun?  We just got to talk and talk.  I loved it!" 

So Tired

I know it's normal - to be this tired during the third trimester - I just don't like it. I think I have hit the fairly normal end of pregnancy insomnia. Some nights I sleep great - other nights, I hardly sleep. Some days I nap, some days I feel like I have too much to do to nap. Today, I was laying with Norah - who isn't feeling very well. I actually fell asleep and she did not. I woke up to her just sitting next to me - staring at me.

I had a doctor's appt. yesterday - everything seems great! It's hard to believe that we only have 11 weeks to go! We have so much to do before this baby comes!! The girls still are not in their bunk beds, yet. Kevin is refinishing the beds that we bought - we are hoping one day next week!!

I have been feeling the baby move constantly and just like with Lucy, this baby seems to settle under my right ribs. I realize that because I am short, there isn't a lot of room for the baby, but seriously. It's like this baby sticks a body part - arm, foot, I don't know - right under my rib!

Norah felt the baby move this week - that was the highlight of her week!!

Foreign Language Friends

Just wanted to put the bug in your ear to this GREAT website for teaching Spanish to your children! I've seen brief snippets of it - my brother is the creator - and it is excellent! As with any early childhood program - the earlier a child begins something, the better!

Foreign Language Friends will launch on January 12, 2009, but check out the website now to read a little about it! We will be making it apart of our homeschool experience!!