The past few months I have sure put my blog on the back burner. As I am nearing the end of this pregnancy there are just so many things that have gone to the bottom of my priority list, BUT you are all in serious need of some updates. I hope that I can get my pictures to work for this one because I have a ton to share. So, get ready for a really long post. :) (Also I was able to finally get some pictures put up on my last post if you want to see those beauties)
O.K. first, for Easter
weekend we decided to take the opportunity to go and visit the Andal family in Las Vegas. Emma had been begging to see her cousin forever and we didn't know when we'd get a chance to see family with the new baby coming so off we went. There was a van we wanted to check out there that didn't work out, but we ended up finding our van at the next place we checked. The Andals were such a great help since they watched our kids for us the whole time we were gone. What a LONG process. We love seeing family and wish we lived closer to everyone else as well. We took them out for lunch the next day as a thank you and I was CRAZY ornery. As we were driving the van I started to notice that my seat dug into my leg and I was just pregnant stressed with everything that I was a BEAST! So embarrassing. I was not fit to be in public. :) Hopefully I will be forgiven. Anyway, the kids had a great time with their cousins and we always enjoy our time as well, such great hosts. It was a short, but sweet trip. When we got home we found that someone had "Egged" our home and the girls were so excited to be able to come home t an Easter Egg hunt. We don't usually do more than an egg hunt and coloring eggs because we want to celebrate the true meaning of Easter, but it was fun.
So, as I was saying about the van. I was so upset because every time I got in the van to drive it the seat would just dig into my leg and I couldn't find anyway to fix it. I would get ornery and irritated at everyone and thing and I was just getting ridiculous. Mike was not so pleased either since it's not like we could just take the van back or trade it in for a new one. We had been saving up for a long time to get it, and it was just so disappointing. Anyway, after a couple weeks of this, my patient husband took some time to just brainstorm with me. We eventually discovered that by putting a raise under my foot of just a couple inches it really helped with the problem. So, a slab of 2 inch Styrofoam later and all was well. Oh, what a relief. It seemed so silly, but to me and my pregnant body, I was pretty beside myself.
Oh, that reminds me that I never talked about my blood clot scare. So we were going to be leaving on this trip to Vegas and I started having shooting and throbbing pain in my leg. I have varicose veins and just decided that this was a side effect of them, but wanted to be safe since we would be in the car for a long time. My doctor advised me to have it checked out and after 4 hours waiting at urgent care they took a blood test to discover that I had an elevated level or blood clots. Because of this I was then sent to the ER to have an ultrasound performed on my deep veins in my leg. It was a little scary at this point, but to make this story shorter everything turned out to be fine. We got the go ahead and continued with our trip plans. It was a little hairy for a bit though. Just thankful I didn't end up having deep vein thrombosis. Wow, I feel like I am getting old.:)
Vivian is pretty much potty trained. It was a pain to start out with, but luckily she has finally caught on. She still has accidents at night, but that's not big deal. I'm just glad we got her trained before the baby comes. Hopefully she won't revert:)
We are getting fruit. We sure need to prune our trees this coming year because they are huge and out of control. We are getting a lot of plums and nectarines. I made my first batch of jam for the year, plum/nectarine, and it turned out pretty good if I do say so.
Emma is so excited to start Kindergarten. She is very creative and loves to use scissors and make things. She made this cow. She just grabbed some scissors and glue and went to town. I was very impressed! How Fun!
Rust finally got a haircut. He gets so mangy, but nothing a good cut can't fix.
O.K. so on to more fun things. We went to Murray Family Farms again for our traditional blueberry pancakes and fruit picking. We just got a few berries, but the pancakes are worth the cost in and of themselves. Yummy
We finished up preschool for the year and had our last field trip to Round table pizza. It's fun because the kids get to go back and make their very own pizzas. It's a big hit! Every year preschool has a different dynamic, but it is always fun and my kids love it. Vivian can't wait to be in preschool FULL TIME!
We got butterflies again this year. It is always fascinating watching them go from caterpillars the size of ants to these huge caterpillars that make a cocoon and then emerge as butterflies. We just love it. Emma was very brave this year and wanted to hold all the butterflies. She was in charge of finding them flowers and she loved her job.
So technically we have 6 more weeks left before Baby Brother Sharp is due, but at my last doctors appointment they said I was measuring small again. I went in for the ultrasound and supposedly he is measuring right on target for his gestational age. My uterus usually stops growing at this point so we'll see how it goes. We'd love for him to stay in as long as he can and grow some more, but we are kind of used to whole being induced a month early scenario. Either way we just want him to be healthy and safe. The kids are so excited, especially Emma. She is going to be a BIG help, or at least she wants to help in a BIG way. I may have my hands full, but she sure LOVES babies. Good times. Here are some cute pictures of my kids. They are getting so big. I love then to pieces!!!!
