Updates

I know I've been neglecting my regular routine of writing every day, but I'm back and I'll try to catch up on all the latest stuff. :)

First off, I was making the bed this morning and when I tossed one of the sham pillows up on the bed I saw something kind of jump off the pillow. My first thought was a spider....I do not like spiders and the thought of one being in my bed was horrifying. So, although I knew I had to do it, I reluctantly moved the pillows and started to pull down the covers.....it was a huge cricket! Ok, so at least it wasn't a spider, but seriously I dislike crickets almost as much as spiders....actually I would be just fine living without any spiders, crickets or bug like creatures...especially when they are in my house or anywhere near my bed. I also have so many stories involving spiders and crickets, it's not even funny, but to get back to this mornings episode.....it thankfully hopped off the bed onto the floor, so I ran to get a shoe hoping it wouldn't go under the bed, then realized as I was getting the shoe I didn't want to have to get too close to it so I switched to the fly swatter. It took a couple of attempts to get it, but I took care of it and hopefully there are no others lurking nearby hoping to make it into my bed!

Ok, now that I have that off my chest I'll move onto things more important. :)

Pregnancy Update:
Everything looked really good at my prenatal visit on Friday, which is always a good thing! Ella's heart rate was 160, and she actually behaved and held still so that was good, since in the past she has made the midwife chase her around. :) I'm measuring at 23cm, but I think I'm probably at least a week farther along then that. With Bethany I was measuring at 22cm when I was actually 25 weeks pregnant and it was that way for pretty much the whole rest of the pregnancy, so I think I tend to measure smaller than I am, maybe partly since I'm pretty long-bodied. Ella is also laying sideways right now instead of up and down, so I think that also might make me measure smaller, but I guess I won't really know for sure till she gets here, and then I'm probably not going to care too much! I am hoping that when she decides to change positions she decides to go head down like a good girl. :)
We decided to just wait until my next prenatal to check my iron since I've been taking Hema-Plex, and the midwife isn't too worried about it at this point in the pregnancy, but I have to continue taking it every day....which means I need to order more since I'm starting to run low....oh joy(not).
I've been feeling pretty good though and I was able to get out and run 3 days last week, and yes it's a slow run and I only go 2 miles, but something is better than nothing and I plan on working up to at least 3 or 4 miles so that I can hopefully keep it up until I have the baby. I've also been walking every day I don't run and even some on the days I do run, so I hope it pays off in the long run! :)

Not too much else has been happening around here. It was pretty rainy over the weekend, but Jacob was able to work with his dad on Saturday, and there should be other Saturdays he can work too, so that will be nice to have a little extra money coming in. Even with him working part of the day Saturday, Jacob and I were able to go out on a date Saturday evening and that was a fun little break....I love getting to do things just with him! Hopefully we can squeeze in some more dates before Ella gets here and we have a little tag-along. :)

I've also been in the mood for soups...must be the cooler weather. :) Of course, I'm not a real fan of healthy-for-you-vegetable-soup, I'm more in the mood for chicken and dumplings (YUM!), or potato soup(Mmm!). I'm definitely not a health-nut, although I have been trying to do better and have a protein smoothie for lunch....but then all I can think about it is chicken and dumplings, or those times when I want ice cream! Yeah, I could definitely never be a die-hard-health-nut. :)
 

Random Thursday

So, about two weeks ago I discovered these...

 Ok, so I know they've been around forever, but I've never used them before! I got the CLOROX bottle for free, and seriously, these things are so handy for wiping off everything....counters, table, chairs, refrigerator, door knobs....anything! Being a mom of two little girls who have grubby hands, the majority of the time, these are so nice because you can wipe everywhere they've touched and know it's killing germs at the same time as cleaning. Plus, I can give them to the girls to "clean" their toys with and they love it (they're wet...kids like things that are wet!)....I mean really, you can't complain when they're having fun, but at the same time helping you out by cleaning up any lingering germs on their toys!
So, yes, these have been my go to for a quick wipe down when something looks dirty, and they'll be handy this winter when all the sicknesses are going around and I get paranoid about all the germs everywhere. :)

This is totally random as well, but I've been wanting to do some baking! Something like this....

 

These are Lemon Meringue Tarts, but I think it would be fun to do a variety, so some Lemon, Chocolate, and Coconut ones! Maybe, Thanksgiving....? :) 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, and cheesecakes....
Ok, ok, we weren't talking about cheesecake, but I have been thinking about it a lot and thinking something like this....

Pumpkin Toffee Cheesecake

might be good to try out for Thanksgiving too. I never really thought about mixing pumpkin and cheesecake, but this picture pretty much has me convinced that I'm going to have to give it a try!

I love cheesecake and making them; I wish I could find someone that would buy them so I could try out all the cheesecake recipes I have....that would be so much fun!

I need to get off of here and finish cleaning house, but I'll leave you with this....

Turtle Cheesecake

....to drool over! :)

Park Time!

We went to the park on Monday since it was such a nice cool morning....the girls loved it too, especially the swinging, so I taught them how to "fly/swim" on the swing.......

They thought that was lots of fun and did a lot squealing and laughing. :) They did do some sliding too, but I apologize that the pictures are blurry. Plus, my camera started to die so that limited my picture taking opportunities.

We usually do some walking at the park too, and they love to say "hi" to every single person they pass by, and then proceed to discuss whether they liked the person or not....at least normally it's positive things since they don't usually wait for the person to be out of earshot!

Quick Post

I know I've failed to blog a few days this past week, but if I don't do it in the morning it doesn't happen, and yesterday we needed to go to the park. Ok, the girls "needed" to go to the park, but it was a nice little outing, and I think they enjoyed themselves immensely. I will post pictures tomorrow because, of course, I haven't downloaded them yet. :)

I also went for a nice 40-minute walk/jog yesterday, although it ended up being more of a fast walk....I gotta get used to running with a belly because it feels kind of weird! I'm hoping to go out again today when Jacob gets home and doing it again with maybe some more jogging. If I could do that at least every day, but Sunday, I'd be really happy....and feel good too. :) I don't know how those teeny-tiny pregnant people do it other then starving themselves....I guess even when I'm not pregnant I'm not real small, but it would be nice to not gain weight so easily!

Oh, and I have my next prenatal visit scheduled for Friday morning...woohoo! :) I'm looking forward to seeing what my belly is measuring, and hopefully seeing that my iron has gotten back up to a good level. Of course, even if it is at a good level I'm still going to have to continue taking the "dog food smelling" Hema-Plex...and I'm not kidding those things stink like dog food! Ugh, and speaking of it reminds me that I need to go and gag one down. Alright, that part of my morning is done. :)

I better get the girls to eat breakfast...it seems like some days they go on a breakfast strike and refuse to eat breakfast until it's lunch time, and maybe it's just me, but them wanting pb&j for the first thing they eat is just disturbing!

Random Thursday

Yes, last week is was random Wednesday, but this week I changed it......you know, it is my blog so I am allowed to do it that way. :)

First off....

The girls are whispering again while they're playing in the living room...is that cool or what?! :) I don't know why they do it, but I absolutely love it! Of course, it is funny when their toys start arguing, but they do it all in a whisper....for kids that must take a lot of extra effort!

I really do love it when they play so good together...it makes having had them 13 months apart so worth it since they are close enough in age they get along pretty well. It will be interesting to see how baby girl #3 fits in with them.

Speaking of her, we've pretty much decided on a name, so I might as well start making sure everyone knows and start using it when I refer to her!

So, we've settled on.....Ella Violet

For those of you who don't know, we've used flower names for middle names, so we figured we'd continue...at least for now. I liked Gabriella, but Jacob said since we were going to call her Ella we might as well just use it as her actual name....so that's what we're going to do! :)

Here's the meanings out of The Perfect Name book:

Ella - German: All, complete. English: A beautiful fairy woman.

And of course, Violet just means a lovely purple flower. :)

We're looking forward to meeting little miss Ella in about 4 months and seeing what she looks like!

I also keep thinking about the fact that I'm going to want a clean house when she decides to make her appearance. Unfortunately, since you never know when they're going to decide to come, I have a feeling that the whole month of December will be spent constantly cleaning just to insure that when she does come everything is clean. I don't remember ever really thinking that with the other girls, but with Abigail my mom came and she cleaned the apartment before we got home from the hospital, and then with Bethany I was living with my Dad and Mom (since Jacob was on his deployment) so of course, Mom always has a clean house. :) I guess I feel it more this time since I'm going to be having the baby here in our house, so I'm going to want it clean, plus I might not be up for cleaning too much for awhile after just having had a baby.

So, yes, that's a random thought that I've had about the month of December....hope you enjoyed it! :)

Another random thing: the fire alarm just went off...and since it's right over the laptop it's quite loud. It does that at random times as a test, but it's quite creepy...especially when it announces(after beeping loudly multiple times) that zero carbon monoxide was found in basement. Whew, what a relief....but how on earth does it know this is a basement?! I guess it must be programmed to know that, but still....talk about creepy!

And the last random thing for today.....

Bethany announced last night that she wanted a pet "dead" squirrel! Yuck, why a dead one?! Don't ask me why cause I really don't know why she would say that, but enjoy that last little tidbit! :)

Fun On A Walk

A view of one of the lakes in our subdivision.

 We've been trying to go on more walks lately, partly due to the fact we're trying to make the girls tired, but it doesn't always work! It's fun though since they usually get all chatty and you never know what they're going to say, which can keep things interesting.....and we never know when we might find twenty dollars laying in the grass. Yes, that could definitely be some motivation to go out walking every day! ;)
I don't know what we'll do when we're cooped up in the house this winter....hopefully I won't go crazy!

Watching your shadow is lots of fun!

The girls love watching their shadows, but then they end up fighting over who's shadow is taller which results in them trying to outrun the other....things aren't normally dull on our walks.

Like father, like daughter! :)

Spontaneous jumping-jacks!

Now for the walk home....

And of course we have to stop at the "rest stop."

 So I got some pretty good pictures while they were resting. :)

It'll be nice when it cools off a little more and we don't get really sweaty just taking a walk, but it was still a good walk and I'm sure there will be many more!

Well....

Today I was suppose to have my prenatal visit, but my midwife had to postpone it due to a family emergency.

So, how about a weekend recap? 

I didn't get a lot of pictures....I always get to visiting and having fun and forget to take pictures till later. Oh well, with time maybe I'll get better...especially with my picture taking skills. It's seems like almost all my pictures are blurry or dark...ugh!
It was a fun weekend though! My brother and sister got to come home from college, there was a couple of games of Duck-Duck-Goose....whoever thought that would end up being such a hit! :) There was lots of good food, laughing, talking, and piano playing....

Nathan playing.

Nathan & John rough housing in between piano playing!

Nathan & Adalie having fun at the piano; and cute, clean girls!

 The girls had so much fun...they love getting to see their aunts and uncles, and getting to play Duck-Duck-Goose with them made if even more fun! I didn't get any pictures of us playing, but it was highly entertaining. 
I mean, what could be more entertaining then seeing pregnant me running (or rather trying to run) around couches, Aleah's intense running looks and flying over couches endeavors, Jacob and Nathan's multiple retries on catching each other (which included some falls, leaping over couches, and lots of laughing!), John's attempts at making others slip and slipping himself, and Abigail and Bethany forgetting where to sit, or making multiple trips around and around the couches before realizing they needed to sit down! So, yes, it was a lot of fun. :)

There was also some serious study time....

They both look like they're studying hard!

Abigail had to join in the studying too!

Nathan had to do some studying while he was there, and Bethany decided she wanted to studying too so she went and got the toy laptop, borrowed Nathan's book, and started working on some Spanish! Both of the girls love their uncle Nathan, and think that going to college is pretty cool. :)

Hopefully it won't be too long before we can get together again!