Catching up (sort of)

I've had this coming. This big, huge catch-up post that I've been putting off and putting off for MONTHS. But it's time. I've had enough people tell me (in so many words) to just blog already that I figured I needed to bite the bullet and get it all done.

First off, I know this is old news by now (or at least I hope it is!), but we're expecting Baby #4 in February. This will be our 3rd boy in a row, bless Pyper's little heart. She so wanted a girl, but she's such a great big sister to her other little brothers that I'm sure things will be no different with this one. (This is me at about 24 weeks.)


I'm now at about 27 weeks and have been enjoying this mid-pregnancy break that I've been having from the nausea that plagued me until about 20 weeks. I feel pretty big already, but knowing how far I still have to go yet, I know this is nothing.

Just like with Finnley, I'm anemic again this time and am having to take an iron supplement. Hopefully soon I will start feeling the effects and my mid-day fatigue will go away for a little while. All in all it's been a pretty run-of-the-mill pregnancy, so I really can't complain. I mean, I can, but I won't. We're so very excited to have this new little one join our family soon!

The kids got back to school in early August and have been doing so well ever since. Pyper is now a 2nd grader and Hakan is in Kindergarten.

We just had parent/teacher conferences last week and Pyper's teacher actually used the words "nearly perfect" to describe her. She went on and on about what a great student she is, which of course every Mom loves to hear. She still really loves art, but if you ask what her favorite subject is she'll say math. She also enjoys science quite a bit and spends a lot of her spare time reading books about reptiles and ocean animals and dinosaurs- just about any kind of wildlife fascinates her.

Hakan hit the ground running in Kindergarten and hasn't stopped since. I was concerned before he started that he just wouldn't catch onto things very quickly because of how indifferent he was to learning all through preschool. But since starting school he has amazed me with how much he soaks up (and retains!) every single day. He'll come home singing the songs they learn and will spend time sounding out words and writing them down. At the conference with his teacher she told me what a great kid he is to have in class and that if she could give an award for "most progress made", he would get it. He went in not being able to identify very many letters or their sounds and now has almost all of them down. I'll never get tired of seeing his eyes light up when he wants to share something new that he learned with me.


Last month Pyper turned 8 (?!!?). She decided that a "spa party" sounded like fun, so we invited a few of her girlfriends over for some pampering.

They started off decorating flip-flops with ribbon while we waited for everyone to arrive.

Lucky for me my parents had come up for a week-long visit so my mom helped me run the stations where the girls would get their pampering done. We had nail painting...

...foot soaking...

... and facials. We all laughed pretty good at those darn cucumbers slices for their eyes. They just kept sliding off of their slippery little faces.



The girls played "musical nail polish" where they'd pass around different colors of polish while the music played and when it stopped they'd paint a toe with whatever color they were holding.

In the end they all had every toe painted a different color.

Of course there were presents...



... and cake...



... and cute flip-flops to take home.

It was a lot of work, but the girls had a good time and that's all that really matters.


The following weekend was Pyper's baptism. I thought this would be a fairly stress-free event, but after realizing the Wednesday before that the white dress I'd ordered online had been shipped to Idaho (because I'm an idiot and didn't update our address with eBay), I frantically searched Modesto for a replacement. Of course, I had no luck, so I bought a pattern and fabric and got to work making one. Once again, lucky for me my parents were here so Mom and I took turns with it and got it finished in time for the baptism on Saturday. (Seriously, what would I do without my parents?!)



It was so nice having lots of family attend.

Afterwards everyone came over to our house to hang out and eat.

The kids spent pretty much the whole time playing our Wii. I love seeing them have such a good time together, no matter what they're doing.


Well, that's gonna have to be it for now. I still have a couple more things to catch up on, but hopefully it won't be four more months before I do that. :)