Music

Georgia is always willing to take her ears out when I suggest it. Just now we were listening to Hey Soul Sister by Train getting ready to take a shower and I told her to take her ears out while I was thinking about it. She said "No, I want to listen to the music." Such a wonderful sign to me. Now I just have to remember to take them out when the song is over. She is my dancing queen.

P.S. I am still pregnant.

Happy 4th and Pregnancy Update

It's July 4th and I am still pregnant. I am not surprised, just a little disappointed. I am so ready to meet the little person in my stomach and introduce her to my other sweet girls. My due date is not until tomorrow and Darby was 4 days late so I am not too surprised that I have not had the baby yet. I guess I am just too inhabitable. We got the pool set up last Thursday and now all I have to worry about is climbing in an having a baby. I hope it is sooner rather than later but I won't be surprised if I don't go into labor for another week. I know everyone around me is anxious for me to have the baby but believe me, I am the most anxious. Here is G with the tub.

Hopefully my next post will be baby news but I will try to get some pictures from tonight up tomorrow.

Blue Bell

We went to Blue Bell's Days of Summer last week and for $5 got all you can eat ice cream and novelties. Georgia really enjoyed the tour of the factory and it always cracks me up that my kids know industrial terms like "pallets" and "forklift." I guess this is what I would expect with them growing up in a manufacturing plant. We hit the Jupiter Jumps first which the girls always love.


Darby is not a huge sweets fan but she tried some things and did okay. Here she is with a cherry Popsicle and Daddy.

Look at the size of that tongue.

She also wanted one of these giant rainbow pops.

Georgia on the other hand tore it up. She ate a cherry Popsicle,

two cups of cotton candy ice cream,

and this monster called a Megabite.

She finished it all.

Rock Star Darby

Big News

Most people who know me know I am a pretty laid back mom. I don't force my kids into things they aren't ready for. For example, G has slept in a crib with no sign of wanting out. I have tried taking the side off and end up in her room at 2am putting it back on. Well with the new baby coming and such a big change happening, I though it would be wise to get her out of her crib. We bought a twin mattress and put it in her floor and told her she didn't have to sleep in it but it was there if she wanted to. The first night she woke up twice. The first time to find her pacifier (which is a whole other story) and the second time she wanted in the crib (at 5:30 am). Since then it has been smooth sailing and she has done great with it. It is so nice to have her wander out in the living room in the morning with a big "Good morning." I am sure she feels good about being such a "big girl." I would also like to note, she never ever climbed out of her crib, which is why most kids end up transitioning to a regular bed and we never saw a need.

I took these pictures right after she fell asleep the other night. Out A/C had gone out so she was staying cool. Notice the "icy bear" on the top of her head. She had a bump from school and she insisted on taking her ice pack to bed with her.

Mischief

Whenever the house gets quiet and I am trying to get things done I have to make the choice between interrupting the mess that is being made of just cleaning it up later and getting done whatever I am trying to get done. It never fails, when there is silence, there is mess. I came out this week to find G "washing" D's hair with lotion.

Don't get me wrong, Darby was helping.

We have a little stream that runs on the edge of our land when it rains really hard and the girls love to play in it and splash all the puddles. They also like to jump over it.

Super G.

She is looking so grown up to me lately.

This one just looks cute.

Turtle Girl

As stated before, Darby LOVES turtles. I found this little guy last Sunday crossing the road and had to stop and get him. We kept him all day and pulled him around the house in the wagon wherever we went.

Turtles just make her so happy.

Giving him the sideways glance.

Close.

Closer.

We did finally let him go in hopes of seeing him again another day.

Mother Blessing

My wonderful friend Jennifer had a Mother Blessing or Blessing way for me last weekend. We made a labor necklace and painted my stomach with Henna. It was really a great day and I am so thankful for the other women in my life who came to bless me on my way into motherhood for the third time.

Here I am with my sister getting started on the painting. She did a Max from "Where the Wild Things Are."

This is the finished product with the Henna still on it. I had to leave it on for about six hours before I flaked it off.

Me and my girl Jennifer.

This is the necklace we made for me to wear during labor. Everyone brought a bead to contribute.

Here is my finished stomach the next day. It got darker over the next couple of days and today I can tell it is on its way out.

Hearing Update

I can't remember what I last posted about G's hearing but I can say things are going very well. We have already had one of the aids break and had to send it in for a repair. That was no fun because we were without it for a week and she was walking around with one hearing aid in. She actually didn't seem too bothered by it so we just tried to get her to wear the one as much as possible.

We also had an incident where I accidentally put her in the shower with her one aid in and didn't realize it until she was out. Luckily she hates getting water in her face and the hearing aid came out dry. I am a water lover. I love to swim and shower and it is so hard to have such a fear of water this summer. We are working on some rules to help everyone remember to check her ears before she gets wet but it is still so scary. Living next door to a swimming pool has its advantages but it is also really freaking me out this summer.

We have started our home visits through the ECCO program which is a program sponsored by the Oklahoma School for the Deaf. We have a lady come to our house once a week in the evening and work with the whole family on communication skills and things we can be doing with G to improve her communication and ours with her. We met our "counselor" for the first time last week and I really like her. She has a lot of experience working with the Deaf and hard of hearing and I think she will be a wealth of knowledge as we navigate through this process. I also want to mention this program is free.

Our ext two steps are to get G's hearing tested again at the beginning of July and see if her loss is staying stable and we have an appt. with an ENT on June 30th to have her ears looked at by an MD. We all just need to hope the baby stays put until July so I can get these things taken care of.

I am just so amazed by Georgia and her ability to adjust to this situation. I know she is young and we have many challenges ahead of us but everyone who really knows G is so awed by her kindness and sweetness and love. I think that will take her far through this process and I know that I love her so much more than I ever thought I could.

My Girls

These two are so much fun lately. They get along amazingly well and really like each other. They are very much into playing baby and most of their play time centers around one being the baby or taking care of baby dolls. In this picture Georgia was teaching Darby how to hold her bay sister. Darby sat there and held the baby for over 5-minutes, which for Darby is an eternity.

G loves to put Darby to bed and here she is patting her back to help her get to sleep.

I am not too huge into dessert but summer brings out the Popsicle in me. I have found that the Blue Bell popsicles have the best texture and flavor if anyone is hunting for the perfect one.

5 Weeks To Go

We have begun the final count down to the arrival of baby #3. It is crazy to think I only have five more weeks of pregnancy to go and at the same time so awesome. I am ready to hold my baby and not be pregnant any more. The exhaustion is really getting to me and I have moments where I think I might die if I don't lay down right away. Sundays are the worst and I don't know if it is the week catching up to me or just the fact that I have Matt home to help, but a 2 nap Sunday is not unheard of. And while I am speaking of it Matt has been so amazing and considerate lately. He lets me sleep all I want and take all the breaks I need. I even spent a morning at the lake this weekend fishing with my sister which was such a treat.

I have begun the nesting process in fear of an early delivery (which won't happen) or in case the exhaustion gets worse. This weekend we deep cleaned and rearranged our bed room (aka "the birth suite") and got all the baby clothes out. We bought a dresser so we have somewhere to put all the clothes since the girls closets are already full and baby will be bunking with us for six to nine months. I alos set up the co-sleeper just to lay the ground rules and get the girls used to the idea that it is off limits. So far Darby has been in it and I have been sleeping next to a baby doll dubbed "baby sissy" that keeps getting put to bed there. I guess I need to get a little firmer with my ground rules.

And just for the record, it is not like she fits in this thing. Her feet are all wadded up under that blanket.

This weeks chores include ordering my birth supplies, calling and confirming delivery of the birthing pool, and finding a missing box of clothes that have gotten lost somewhere in the shuffle. I hop to have the energy to post a hearing aid update soon as things are going really well there. It is now the witching hour and I am off to bed.

Nanue & Big Papa Visited

We had a great visit with Matt's folks last weekend. We always have so much fun and it is such a relaxing time. The girls really enjoy both of them but Big Papa was a real hit this trip.
Darby was especially fond of him.

Here they all are just hangin' out on the love seat.

We got lots of outside time with the warmer weather we have been having. We didn't have to worry about travel delays at all which was a nice change from this winter.

Georgia intent on her chalk.

We can spend hours in the sand box and Big Papa really got into it with us.

We buried D's feet.

And then G's feet.

D kept trying to bring Nanue "food."

Then there was a wasp killing incident that Nanue handled with such grace.

The spray.

The smash.

The carnage.

We can't wait until their next trip to town. Nanue will be here in a couple of weeks and I bet we don't see Big Papa again until the new baby is here.