Ha ha, just kidding =)
We reached the half way mark last week and I'm FINALLY feeling half way normal again. The "morning" sickness has subsided almost completely, I don't have the flu anymore, and even though I've had a bit of a cold since September and it seems all I have to do is look at someone sick and I catch what they have, things are going well. There are days I half wish I lived in a bubble, though!I think one of the best milestones in pregnancy is feeling those little movements. I LOVE it!! It's when I actually start feeling pregnant (in a good way vs just feeling sick) and the little jibs and jabs are so reassuring. We had an ultrasound today and things are right on target for our March 29th due date. Everything is functioning and growing as it should, thank goodness! I will say, though, that of the 3 kids, this one has played the most difficult. This one is perfectly content wrapped up in it's own little ball with the arms hiding the face. The technician managed to get one good shot of the face (and arms), so here it is-
And one more, just cuz with Eli and Livi they always had their hands curled up in fists so I really like this shot-
While I can't say the first half sailed by I do have a feeling the next few months will fly with everything we have going on. I am SO EXCITED!!!
*Please ignore the cheesy "I got it on camera!" comment. We were obviously very excited for her =)
Lately everyone has been posting, blogging, thinking, saying etc what they are thankful for. While I am thankful for many things, I have been SO grateful for my awesome washer and dryer the last 2 weeks!
A few days before Halloween we ended up taking Livi into the ER. The poor little girl was having an allergic reaction to something...hives all over! She was such a little champ and was polite and cooperative with every doctor that examined her. She was ultimately put on steroids to put a stop to the miserable hives and benadryl to stop the itching (and wow did that knock her out!). She was NOT a fan of the steroids (I wasn't either, I hated the idea of giving them to her but alls well that ends well) and still states, on occasion, that she doesn't ever want her cherry medicine.
We racked our brains trying to come up with something that may have caused the reaction; the only thing we could come up with was laundry soap and fabric softener since I changed brands (over a month previous). That meant re-washing EVERYTHING!! Since then, no problems, so I hope that was it.
About a week later Eli woke up sick. Unfortunately, she was sick BEFORE she made it out of her bed. More laundry. Sandy and I ended up having her sleep with me and Sandy up in her bed so Livi would be able to sleep. She didn't make it to the bathroom once-MORE laundry. We kept her home from school Thursday and Friday so we wouldn't be sharing the love. Sandy ended up coming down with the same bug on Friday but had drill in Salt Lake so he spent the weekend sick, in Salt Lake. I, however, managed to have the same bug all weekend. *let me insert here how thankful I am my parents came over on Saturday to help with the girls, much needed for all 3 of us. And chicken noodle soup always tastes better when someone else makes it!*
I re-washed a bunch of things one more time in hopes of getting rid of any residual germs since Livi hadn't suffered through it yet (not to mention all the Lysol I went through in 5 days!) Then Eli had a relapse Sunday night! ARGH!! So, you guessed it, more laundry! Naturally, Monday was Livi's turn.
We are all on the mend now, so I am very grateful for our health. And a good washer and dryer that could keep up with us.
It seems that every year Eliana's excitement for Halloween (or holidays/celebrations in general for that matter) outdoes the previous year's anticipation. She gets SO excited, I love it! What's even better is how contagious it is, especially when it comes to Olivia. They both were so excited for Halloween and were always asking anyone who would listen what they were going to dress up as and then share their costume ideas. Neither of them could wait to wear their costumes and go Trick-or-Treating!
A few days previous to the trunk or treat event our church put on we carved our pumpkins. Neither of the girls hesitated getting right in and cleaning them out, much to our surprise! We even had a baby pumpkin that I didn't plan on carving but Livi had so much fun she insisted that it needed carved, too. Eli wanted to have a scary pumpkin and found a mean, vampire-like face she wanted carved. Livi was too in to the pumpkin guts, or "slimies" as she called them, to care about a face, so we did a couple of simple, cutesy ones too.
They both couldn't wait for the big day to don their costumes . I like to let them choose what they're going to be and pick out their costumes; they are the ones that will be wearing them, after all (I know to some that may seem like an obvious choice but I can't believe how many parents are such perfectionists they can't even let their kids pick)! Eli knew right away what she wanted to be and had a rather specific idea in mind-she wanted to be a Unicorn Rider. Done. Livi was a bit harder, she wanted to be LOTS of things. I thought for sure she'd choose a monster costume since, as far as she's concerned, she's not Livi, but Livi Monster (she introduces herself that way and will correct you otherwise if called something else!). After showing her LOTS of different pictures and giving her different ideas, she ultimately chose to be a Green Crayon. We also let the girls choose what we should dress up like; I think they have as much fun coming up with something for us as they do for themselves! This year Sandy was told he'd be a clown and I was supposed to be a nerd. Not a stretch for me, haha!
We lucked out and had some really nice weather for Trunk-or-Treating and both girls' buckets were so full they didn't even bother going to all the trunks there. There were SO many kids there!! We passed out around 7-8 bags of candy (and some of those were the super-sized bags, and only one piece per kid!) and luckily ran out just as the event was shutting down. That meant the only candy coming home was what the girls got, YAY (although Sandy was disappointed the Swedish Fish and Sour Patch Kids were all gone).
Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year we had to make it fun for the girls that day, as well. After church (and my sugar CRAZY primary class) we made a day of Halloween movies and treats and, of course, had to have a fun "Monster Guts" dinner, any other day being Spaghetti and some Jello Jigglers. Olivia has been asking every day since Saturday if she can go Trick-or-Treating and, every day, is VERY disappointed she doesn't get to. I love having kids, the holidays are so much more fun, even Sandy's not such a scrooge anymore (he was as excited as the girls to dress up this year!!). So here's to the holiday kick-off! I love this time of year!
And one more, just cuz with Eli and Livi they always had their hands curled up in fists so I really like this shot-
