Raven Amended

Adam emailed me today to remind me of something neat and sweet about Raven that would be good to add to "her" post from last night.

Raven is learning her manners at daycare, and she's fairly good with please. But, what's interesting is how good she is with "Thank You", and especially when she uses it.

Raven says "Thank you, daddy" after you brush the snarls out of her hair and "Thank you, mommy" after changing a diaper or checking her temperature. She takes the good with the bad and says "Thank You" to it all.

erin

Windy Saddle

A few weeks ago we drove up to Windy Saddle, which sits just west of Golden.  We left right after dinner just as the sun was beginning to set, and for once we remembered to take the camera with us (unlike our trip to Colorado Springs – grr).

Icicles

These icicles were hanging off our overhang two days after our 17” snow… February 5.  One of the neatest things I’ve experienced in Colorado is how quickly snow disperses, especially when the sun peeks out.

Socks

Someone soooooo proud of herself for picking out her outfit… and her SOCKS… for the day.

Raven

Raven.

This picture was taken on our snowiest day of the year.  My boss had told me the night before not to bother coming in, and the girls’ daycare canceled at 8 PM on Thursday night, and we watched 17” fall on February 3rd.

Raven.

Almost potty trained.  Twice.  Obstinate that way, and I mostly have adopted the path yet again I was forced upon by Julia.  I’m convinced there is no such thing as training your child – really, it seems to be a matter of being patient until she is ready.

Cannot be bribed for anything.  She likes you to think she can be, though.  Only to throw it back your face. 

Sweet.  Loving.  Cuddly.  Very sweet.  Loves to gives kisses (for mom, dad, and Julia, it *must* be on the lips).  Loves to say, “I love you.”  And you want nothing more to believe that she understands what she is saying because of how honestly she says it.

Has The. Best. Smile. EVER.

Julia

Four-and-a-half can be rough.

But, there are days that are full of nothing but giggles and smiles.

Lately we’ve been working on what it means to “be nice” to mom and dad.  I witnessed first hand some of the bad behavior Julia picked up at school – yesterday I watched her watch another little girl with her mom – the little girl was throwing a wild fit, screaming, yelling at her mom, etc.

Not five minutes later, I had the girls with me, and Julia started acting Just. Like. that little girl.  However, I was having none of it and pulled her off the the side.  “Julia, is that how we talk to mom?”  “No.”  “What happens when we talk to mom like that?”  “I go to time out.”

Julia had a good trip home, but last evening and this morning was full of vinegar for that girl.  Suddenly my little sweetheart has developed an attitude and it’s her little sister that has become The Good One in our house.  Umm, how did that happen?

(Raven, I will forever give you that title if you would please stop pooping your pants and try harder to use the potty.  “Okay, mom!”)

But, Julia still has her sweet side, and you can see it here.  And she wants nothing more most days than to stay home with me, to “be a family”, to watch Dora, to read books – she’s still a good girl and still my sweet girl.

But let’s face it – she’s entering a stage where she’s learning and growing and testing her boundaries daily – and that makes four-and-a-half a little rough.

Erin

See How They Run

In January we took the girls to the Science & Nature Museum in Denver; despite the fact that we’ve been there a handful of times as we have a membership, there is always something fun for the girls to do and every time we go we look at something different.  Adam had taken them to this exhibit before without me, and wanted to show me the exhibit that captures a person running.

Can you tell which girl is which?  Of course Julia is on the left.  I have to giggle EVERY time she ran, she ran with her head down like that, whereas Raven just scooted straight across.

That’s right.  I’m finally downloading pictures from January even though I still haven’t posted Christmas pictures either… ha!

Erin

Best Friends

(Adam gave Julia this stache with his iPhone at lunch today.)

Julia was watching Dora this afternoon and Dora asked the kids who their best friends were.  Julia’s immediate response: “Raven and mommy and daddy!”

Aww!

32 Weeks

Today I am 32 weeks pregnant… we’re about 7 weeks and a few days out from meeting this new baby!  WOW!

Adam took this picture tonight; realized that I hadn’t posted much pictures this time around.  As you can see, I’m lotsa belly.

Up three pounds this week to a total of +4, but lots of it is swelling again.  Oh, well!  Baby is happy as can be and maybe I’ll get another belly video where you can see the little one going a little nutso… Adam got a good show last night.

Still no name picked out though I’ll confess that Adam knows what we’re having now – that was totally a mistake on my part, but hey, I was really sick, so I couldn’t help it much…!

Tomorrow we’re headed to Babies R Us to buy baby some items… yay!  New car seat, monitor, Boppy pillow, and vibrator/bouncy chair… so excited!

Things are going well health-wise… I had to giggle today because my blood pressure was a whopping 104/60… the other day my boss had asked me if I was having any issues with blood pressure or otherwise this pregnancy due to the stress of work and I said, nope, it’s always been good… guess the only side effect is not gaining too much weight… I can handle that.

Hope all is well out there in the world!  We are great here in Colorado… enjoying the beautiful weather and waiting for our new family member to join us soon!

Erin

Ballad of the upstairs hall light…

About 4 days ago our upstairs light in the hallway (between 3 bedrooms and bathroom) stopped working.  Change the lightbulb right?  Well it was the kind with the quick change nubs that cost about $10 each!

Nope didn’t fix the problem.  So I thought, “screw this weird expensive bulb”, I’ll just re-wire it to accept a standard bulb.   Power off, 110V tester,….safe.  Find spare socket in garage, cut old fixture off, rewire, screw in bulb, turn on power, turn on light….nothing!  hmmm, maybe there isn’t power there.

Tromp around looking for multimeter, test and find out regardless of switch on or off, it reads less than 2VAC.  Weird.  Maybe it got loose in the attic.  Find a step stool, oops too short, go into garage and find ladder.  grab flashlight and look in attic.

Ahh, there are three 8” pieces that were all wire nutted together.  must be a bad connection.  I’ll just get a 2ft section and replace them all with a good wire (opposed to the old cloth wrapped stuff).  Back to the garage, wire cutters, wire strippers, flashlight, pliers,…. check!

Change the wire, re-hook everything, back downstairs to turn power back on, back upstairs to check and….nothing!  Dang, is it farther upstream?  Wait, maybe it’s the switch that went bad.  Okay, power still on, unscrew plate.  The switch has several layers of paint gluing it to the wall.  Scrape and cut away paint so I can unscrew it.  Finally get it free to check with multimeter and find out it is the simple switch with no screws, just the holes in the back…but I realize that it is a 3-way switch at this point.  That is when I  had a “light bulb moment”  (get it?)

I walk down into the first basement and see the switch that we never use set at the 1/2 way point.  So I move it up and voila, it works.  Everything was fine, just the other switch was set 1/2 way and therefore was stuck “off”. 

BEST HOUR OF MY LIFE EVER!

30 Weeks

30 weeks pregnant today already! How fun!

My doctor's appointment went well; the swelling is pretty much completely gone and I'm back down to +1 lb gained for my whole pregnancy... Best. Diet. Ever. Ha!

Blood pressure and everything else looks good, and I'm not sure if I mentioned, but I do NOT have gestational diabetes, so that's all well and good too (yay, I can keep having my mochas!).

Baby was moving around good this morning; this one is strong and gets going in the evenings quite a bit... annoys Raven when she wants to lay on me.

I'm home again from work today with Raven as she's still sick... I think she is "better" enough that she could have gone to daycare today, but she was acting weird this morning so we decided to keep her home. Big sister is at daycare today, though, as it is show and tell day and Julia very much wanted to take Hello Kitty and wearing her "pretty dress".

Otherwise... kicking right along. Adam and I need to sit down and "decide our baby's birthday"... I guess we have multiple options now... how do you even pick that date? Weird. Last time I didn't get a choice - not the scheduled date and not when my water broke a day before the scheduled date - and I was very thankful for that... so this is different, but it can be fun in its own right as well. Sounds like I'll get scheduled either at my 32 or 34 week appointment... crazy how fast that is all coming up!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Erin

Hairdo

Today the girls and I stayed home since Raven has a bad cold and fever.  Julia could have gone to school but was more interested in the prospect of staying home with mom.  One of their morning activities involved doing their doll’s hair:

Too cute!

This doll was my mom’s and then the doll ended up in my doll collection and now the girls play with her.  She had a major hair chopping some years ago… I don’t think I did it… but Julia saw no issue… she just saw hair that needed LOTS of barrettes!

And yes, the picture is fuzzy in the corner… my iPhone camera lens is scratched so now every picture I take has a fuzzy corner.  *sigh*  Must. Use. Nice. Camera. More.

erin

29 Weeks

It’s no secret that I’ve hardly blogged a sentence about this pregnancy… baby #3!  Certainly it’s not on purpose; simply a change in pace and lifestyle.  I was amazed today when I realized, holy cats, I am 29 weeks pregnant, which means I have less than 11 weeks before this baby is born… if the baby is born the day we think it might be, that’s 2 months and 12 days from now, or that baby could come sooner… who is to say!

My pregnancy itself has been going well; my numbers are good, I received my gestational diabetes results (I do NOT have it – yay!  I wasn’t even worried…), and I’m already going every other week… wow!

Up until my last appointment, I was at 0 lbs gained – YES, ZERO – but that time it was +3.  However, we think it was due to fluid/swelling in my legs, and the swelling has subsided again, so it’ll be interesting to see where I’m at next Friday.  I can’t lie; it’s a good feeling not having gained much, because I had a little more to start with than the last two times and it’d be nice to lose weight when this baby is born… ha!

Both girls (Julia and Raven) are already “in love” with the baby and like to protect my belly, caress my belly, kiss my belly, make sure it’s covered (Raven fuh-reaks out if any part of my belly is exposed – she wants to keep the baby “safe”), etc.  They are excited to meet the baby… Julia wants to be “The Mommy”… and every time I ask Raven about being a big sister, she tells me that she is a cat, so I can only assume that’s positive.

We’ve had to put a baby gate up in the entrance to the baby’s room, because the girls have re-discovered the crib, baby toys, and baby books, and we have found them in the crib going to town, jumping up and down on the mattress, only to yell that they are stuck and cannot get out (oh, yeah, I’m THAT lucky – neither my 2 or 4 year old has figured out how to get OUT of a crib yet…HA! – unfortunately they HAVE figured out how to get IN!).

Most days I’m pretty excited to meet this new little wonder and to have maternity leave and spend some precious time with the new baby and the girls… and occasionally there are days where I wish I could keep the little bugger in there another 6 – 8 months just to relish being pregnant a bit longer.

Anyway… just a quick update for you all…

Erin