Big Sisters in Training

The girls went to a "Super Siblings" training class at the hospital to learn how to be a good sibling to the baby and dos and don'ts of taking care of a newborn. With their dolls in tow, the nurse taught them how to diaper their babies,


how to hold their babies,
...and how to feed their babies.

The nurse gave them hair nets and surgical masks too to show them what the doctors wear when the baby is born. Then we got to tour the birthing unit of the hospital and the girls got to see the room that I'll be in when the baby is born. The girls loved the class and they liked being able to keep the bottle and diaper for their dolls.

Sydnee has been practicing diapering her baby all day, it's so cute to watch her talk to her baby as she explains that she has to change her diaper since she peed in it telling her "that's naughty." I've tried explaining to her that it's only naughty when you know how to go pee in the potty already, but she doesn't understand. Poor Bentley will learn early on that "it's naughty" to pee in his diaper. Maybe he'll potty train quicker!? They're going to be such good big sisters.

Say, "Ahhhhhh."

This was Syd's first dentist appointment, and I was a little nervous about how she would do since it's always a fight when I try to brush her teeth. Hallie got to go first and the hygienist was great with the kids, explaining what the tools are, what they do, and she even let Sydnee stand next to her and watch while she cleaned Hallie's teeth.

Sydnee kept asking, "Is it my turn now?" Finally the other hygienist came to get Sydnee and bring her into the other room. I started to get up when Syd said, "It's my turn now, bye Mom!" Well then! And away she went like a little person. I was shocked, so I stayed in my seat not wanting to ruin the excitement she had going. But she did let me sneak in a picture. I could hear her telling the dentist that she didn't like the toothpaste they gave her and that next time they should give her a different kind. I just laughed, she's so opinionated. They both did great and are cavity free.

34 Weeks Prego

34 weeks pregnant already... wow, has it gone fast this time! Of course it helps to be really busy moving out of state, decorating/painting every room in the house within one month, having your basement flood, living off of one car for two weeks, oh ya and taking care of two other adorably energetic kiddos during your pregnancy but I don't recommend it!

Being pregnant with a boy definitely has had it's perks:

• I didn't gain as much weight this time around,
  
• I didn't have morning sickness,
  
• no new stretch marks,
• I felt this baby move really early on, and he's been moving ever since,
• Cam and I agreed on a name months, not days, before he was born (this meant me not having to nag for months on end),
• I literally crave to eat my favorite unhealthy, most processed food in the world: mac and cheese,
  
• I still have energy even into the last few weeks,
  
• I still have patience... are you thinking what I'm thinking? Yes, I should have been having boys this whole time.
• I can still bend down and shave my legs and paint my toes even at 34 weeks
• But tying shoes... forget about it.
  

Of course there are things I do look forward to again:

• like being able to carry laundry up a flight of stairs without sounding like I just ran a 5k
  
• not being so hot all the time
• being able to stay up past 9:30pm
• not falling asleep on my newly proclaimed bed every night: the couch
  
• being able to roll over in bed without having to use all of my arm strength to sit up, turn over, then lay down on my other side... only to find out that all that effort made me have to pee...again.
• and not having to explain my large tummy to my three year old when she forgets my need for privacy while in the shower. I will not miss her surprised (or is that horrified) look when she interrupts my showering festivities... yes, I look the same as I did yesterday and the day before.
  

Other than that, everything is going well, we got to see the baby again in another ultrasound the other day and he was sucking his fist, so cute. I told the doc that I was a little nervous about the baby being a girl, that they might have made a mistake in the gender, so she calmed my worries, and showed me that yep, he's definitely a BOY!

Sydnee's Co-op Preschool

I decided to do a Co-op preschool with Sydnee this year and a couple of her friends from nursery. I had so much fun doing it with Hallie a couple years ago so I started one for Sydnee. Each of us Mom's take turns teaching twice a week, and I had the chance to teach first. Sydnee was so excited helping me get the craft and snack ready for her preschool but when it started, the kids were so quiet, it was like pulling teeth to get them to sing with me or talk to me. But it was a fun first day as we learned "all about me."

Here's Sydnee, Grace and William with their "all about me" crafts.

We also learned about the color red for apples. With their snack I let the kids juice some apples for homemade apple juice. It was so good, but the kids didn't think so. William gave it a try then said, "I just like the juice that's at the store without the bubbles on top." It was cute, at least he was honest!

Preschool is in the mornings while Hallie is still home, so I let her be my "teacher's helper" which she loves doing. She helps the kids with their craft, leads some of the songs, and takes all the pictures of course. (See William's face... he gave it a faithful effort!)

The second day, the kids were much more talkative, singing the songs with me, answering questions, they were just excited to be there which made teaching so much fun! I love that we have a small group too, they are such a well-behaved group of kiddos too which always helps!

The second day of preschool, we learned the colors yellow and green and I had them try different yellow and green foods like cucumbers, peppers, pineapple, bananas, and pudding. For their craft, they had to glue different green nic naks on the green grass and the yellow nic naks on the yellow sun.

By the way... notice our basement is finally FINISHED!? We love our new carpet too.

Stay tuned for next week's first preschool field-trip to the apple orchard, my favorite thing to do in the fall!

Labor Day Weekend

I'm a little behind in blogging... first time ever, I know. But this is a funny post if you're anyone besides Cam and I, because life just never gets boring with our family lately. Here's what I mean...

We met our friends from IN, the Winter's in Toledo, OH for the day at Imagination Station on Labor Day weekend. Our girls were so excited to see Lana and Rose and Kirsten again, so we packed up some snacks and DVDs and made the two-hour drive to Toledo... little did we know we were going to have quite the detour. About 30 minutes outside of Toledo, Michelle texted me saying they would be a little late because they got a speeding ticket (we won't say who the driver was). Cam and I got our laughs out of it, but about 30 minutes later, we texted them the same text, "We'll be a little late, our van's transmission just DIED!!" Only it wasn't as funny. We pulled off the highway with our van jolting forward every few feet to figure out our next move. Meanwhile, the girls had to pee, so the grass next to us fulfilled that purpose as Hallie peed a little on her only shorts that I brought and Sydnee stepped in Hallie's puddle of pee while getting out of the car to stretch our legs. Ugh! This Momma was about to lose it. I squeeze Hallie into an extra pair of Sydnee's shorts I brought, rinse Syd's sandals off with our only water bottle we had left and we get back in the car and drive to a tranny shop to figure out what the problem is.

At that point, I'd gladly take the Winter's speeding ticket fine any day over our $600 tow fee back to Cleveland, $150 rental car to get back home, and $2700 transmission repair. It's just money right? It grows on trees. So yes, it's been quite a month with our basement flooding and now our van's transmission dying... what else could go wrong, since it always seems to happen in threes? I know what you're thinking and no, I didn't have my baby yet, phew.

So the Winter's met us at the ghetto transmission shop that we managed to drive our van to to keep us and our kids company for four hours until the tow truck got there. What LIFESAVERS they were! So after the van was towed, Michelle drove me and the kids to pick up our rental car at the local airport. Have I mentioned what great friends they are?

Here are the kiddos in Michelle's truck just enjoying life, having literally no clue of the predicament we were in. In fact, when we got into the rental car to drive to the museum, Hallie didn't even know that the museum was our actual meeting place. She thought the last four hours at the transmission shop was where we were meeting our friends!? Thank goodness for ignorance!

Eventually we made it to Imagination Station, a way cool children's science museum. Here's Kirsten, Rose, Syd, Lana and Hallie. Rose's pose just cracks me up.

The Winter's: Michelle, Kirsten, Shannon, Lana and Rose


Here they are making clouds. Hallie went to touch the cloud and gave me this confused look. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "You can't feel them!?" I said, "Nope. Clouds are just moisture in the air." She said, "No, they're balls of cotton in the air!" She was a little disappointed with that exhibit.

Playing tug-of-war... can you guess who won? Syd and Michelle did actually... it was rigged so the same side wins every time (shh, don't tell Cameron, he's trying awfully hard :)



Michelle rides a bike two stories above the ground...eek!



And before going home, we took a trip to the moon. Yep, it was a fun day, thanks Winter's for hangin' in there with us, hopefully we can meet up again soon, just not in Toledo :)

We Have a Niece!

My brother, Justin and his wife, Brittany gave birth to the cutest little girl ever on 9-10-11 (cool birthdate huh?). Her name is Tenley Ann, and we are so excited to welcome her into the family! Tenley is just a few weeks older than our baby will be, so it was so much fun being "prego" the same time as Brittany!

Congrats you guys, she is such a doll!