Funny girls

So we were making this recipe this morning for chocolate chocolate chip cookies... they are SO good. And the dough is SO good. I gave each girl a spoon full of dough and Abigail looked up at me and said with her mouth full of delicious gooey goodness, "I uff oooo Mommy!" For those of you who don't speak Abigail, that translates to, "I love you Mommy." Which just cracked me up.

And then they started a band with wooden spoons and empty mixing bowls. And Olivia is totally into it. She gives them a count down and says, "Hit it girls!" Where the heck did she ever hear that! And now she's pretending her audience doesn't like her show, and is pretending to get hit with pretend tomatoes.  And Abigail is just playing along, screaming at appropriate times and running from tomatoes when Olivia says "Run for your whole life!"

While I type this I'm enjoying a performance by the band.... and Olivia is pounding away on her bowls and just asked me, "Mom do you recognize this song??" .... *crickets*.... Sorry honey. No, no I don't. And Abigail just stopped playing and stood up and took a bow and said, "Thank you... Thank you... great song!"

These kids crack me up.

Baby math

A typical pregnancy lasts about 280 days. I am currently 207 days into this pregnancy. 280+280+207 = 767 (someone check my math please). 767 days of being pregnant. Doesn't that sound like an awful lot?

Anyway I can't believe I only have approximately 73 days left... or whatever it is. That doesn't seem like enough time to figure out where we're going to put this little guy once he's here. With Olivia I was really all about the nursery. I loved decorating it and having it all ready for her. I had to have the crib all set up (which she didn't sleep in until she was 3 or 4 months or something) and the pack and play, I was a wreck about making sure that was set up in our room. And then she slept in the nursery for like a month or something before we moved to our house. Then there's poor Abigail who slept in our room for only a few weeks before I moved her into the hallway because she was just a loud baby. She wasn't crying, just grunting, cooing, etc. I didn't want to put her in her room yet, but I couldn't sleep with her in the same room as me... so she slept in the hall way in a little bouncer thing. Eventually we put her into a crib... which was shoved into our spare bedroom and didn't have a hint of cuteness. Once we got to PA the girls shared a room and it's been fabulous. It's semi-decorated.

And now we're thinking about where we are going to put this boy. The hallway really wasn't so bad for Abigail - but I really don't like having that as the plan. I mean it just doesn't sound right to tell people our plan is for our baby to sleep in the hallway. So we have a few options. Keep him in our room. Get bunk beds for the girls and put him in a crib in there with them. Or turn our wonderful playroom into a bedroom. For the girls. Or for Aaron and I. Or for the baby. One thing I have learned as I keep popping these babies out is that you really can't have much of a plan. Just go with the flow and do what works. So we'll figure it out eventually and in the mean time I won't worry too much about it.

If you're wondering I'm almost 30 weeks. I'm feeling fine.. just more like 40 weeks. I seriously feel huge and slow and so worn out by the end of each day. I feel like I should be done by now. But I know I still have a long road ahead of me so I'm pushing through. I really do feel great otherwise. Like no back pain, or any pain really. Besides being tired I really feel great. Trying to continue to exercise and eat healthy and do all that stuff that you don't really want to do, especially when you're pregnant, but should do more than ever. So I'm always working on it.

A simple time

This morning I was just realizing that life is really only going to get crazier. More kids, bigger kids, kids in school, and who knows what lie ahead of us. And some day I will look back at this time with just my two girls and Aaron in school, and I'll miss it.

Today I overheard Abigail asking Olivia if she was happy. It sounded something like this,
Abigail - "Happy, Yaya? Happy?'
Olivia - "Yes Aggigail."
Abigail - "Happy?? Yaya happy?"
Olivia - "YES! I'M HAPPY AGGAIL!!!" (starting to sound frustrated)
Abigail - "YAY!!!" And then she claps.

It was a sweet little moment and I was glad I got to hear it from the kitchen. And again I was just reminded how fast this time will pass. Of course there are the pros to them getting bigger. Like the fact that Olivia has grown so much she can reach the faucet by herself almost wherever we are. Gone are the days of having to pick her up, and balance her on my leg while turning on water, dispensing soap, etc. It's funny because she thinks the bathrooms are just getting smaller. She'll often exclaim, "MOM! Look! This sink is JUST MY SIZE!" It's things like that, and dressing herself, that make me happy she's growing up.

In other news... fall is upon us. I'm really not ready. I'm not sure what it is. Usually I LOVE fall. It gets me so excited and happy, and I just love it. Honestly this year I'm filled with dread because it seems like fall is just this short little respite before the long dreaded winter. And I want to avoid winter as long as possible. Even if it means I have to be pregnant forever I'll take it. I love not having to bundle my little ones up every time we leave the house. I love that they can run outside barefoot. I love playing outside without playing in snow. I love opening my windows and not freezing to death. I am so not ready to say goodbye to these things. So even if the calender says summer is over, and the leaves are changing colors, and the weather's getting consistently cooler, and the sun is setting earlier and earlier.... I'm going to ignore these things until October. Once October rolls around I'll come back to reality. For now I'm going hold onto summer just a little longer.

Love for Livi

So a million years ago I was 19, single, living in a dorm room in Northern Jersey, attending college at good ol' Ramapo. And I met a great group of girls at church up there. One of them was Julie. I always loved any time I got to spend with Julie. And I always wished her and I were better friends... but ya know life is busy for everyone at that time. Anyway thanks to the wonder of facebook and blogs I've been able to keep in touch with Julie. I've loved reading about her getting married, and then having their first baby. Right around the same time I was having Abigail. Anyway, fast forward to the present, and her sweet two year old Olivia, has been diagnosed with basically stage 5 eye cancer. There is a longer name for it, and a longer explanation of why/how she developed it... but that's the gist of it.

I wish I could help her more. But there is really only so much anyone can do. Especially from across the country. So I'm helping out with a blog fund raiser a few of her friends and family started. Please check it out, spread the word, and donate if you can. I can't imagine having to go through all this, and also having to worry about where the money is going to come from. http://love4livi.blogspot.com/

We make cute girls.

Girls first camping trip

All summer long Aaron and I have wanted to go on a camping trip with our girls. One thing or another kept us from this little dream until last night. Our ward was having their camp-out so we knew it was probably our last chance of the season to go camping. And it was about 25 minute drive from our house, with a bunch of people we knew, so if it was a disaster we could leave in the middle of the night drive home, and come back in the morning.

I'm happy to report that we made it through the night, and had a really great time. The only downside was how incredibly cold it was. I am seriously not ready for summer to end. After living in Arizona for 5 yerars, it's been a while since I could say that! But driving home we noticed some leaves already changing colors, and I just tried to focus on the green. Contrast that to last year where I was squealing with delight at the first signs of fall.

The night before I had only gotten a couple hours of sleep, so I was super tired. I slept on an air mattress with Abigail. We snuggled all night for warmth. I will tell you this... it's a whole new level of uncomfortable when you're 28 weeks pregnant, on an air mattress with a one year old on your arm that's now completely asleep (both your arm and the one year old), and you have to roll over because if you've ever been pregnant you know how that goes... laying on one side for too long just doesn't work. Oh and it's freezing... and you have to pee. But you don't dare move and risk waking the little ones that just took two hours to fall asleep. So you lay there and try to just sleep. But you're tent is set up next to a brook and that soothing sound of rushing water... I mentioned the having to pee part, right? And the 28 weeks pregnant? Right. So although I didn't sleep well, it was well worth it.

Our lovely abode. Big props to my hubby for lugging this thing around, setting it up, and taking it down in the same 24 hours.

Me, with my "Abigail hat", and a friend of ours, Hannah.

It was so beautiful!

Olivia with her friend Olivia.

Olivia yelling, "MEEEEEE!" In response to my question, "Who loved camping?"

My kids were so happy. They ran around and played with friends. And got dirty. And laughed a lot. And ate smores. And sang songs. I really wish we could have stayed for a week. Maybe next time. Some things are worth the lack of sleep.

Angels above us, angels around us...

I've heard this is a phrase that was used by my husband's grandmother frequently. Today I got to experience its truthfulness.

Came home from a play date and started to make some Ramen noodles for lunch. The water was boiling on the stove and I just barely poured into two bowls when Abigail started chucking eggs out of the refrigerator. I leave the bowls on the counter, grab Abigail and tell her to stop, and no no and all that. I grab some paper towels to start cleaning when Olivia lets out a blood curling scream. I look up and she had grabbed her bowl of Ramen noodles that was still scalding hot, and had spilled it all over herself. I leave the egg mess, and run to Olivia. I strip her clothes off and put her in the sink with tepid water and a wash cloth. I leave her there, because Abigail is now trying to finish cleaning the egg mess by herself. I wipe her hands off and stick her in front of the tv while I tend to Olivia.

At first glance it looked like her hand, torso, and leg were pretty badly burned. After she was in the water, it looked better, like it was just red, with one small blister on her stomach. I put some Reliv cream on her, calmed her down, and soon the red spots were fading. The blister is already gone. That water was seriously super boiling hot, I can't believe she wasn't burned worse. And that it somehow missed her face, just such a blessing. Definitely have angels watching over my children.

And I look around at my kitchen floor that I just mopped - now covered in eggs and Ramen... and I think... seriously we're going to add another child to this equation?! Heaven help me, indeed.

Seriously I have watched this over and over... it makes me laugh every time. And lately I have been sleeping like crap so it really hits close to home. Last night and the night before I never slept for more than 45 minutes at a time. And each time I woke up it took me like an hour to fall back to sleep. Maybe I got like 2 ish hours total. The devil is totally taking over today.

Last day of summer

I think like most people who grew up on the Jersey Shore, Labor Day to me was always the official end to summer. It was usually spent closing up pools, and getting ready to start school the next day. Today in Erie, it certainly feels like summer just got up and left. Yesterday we were sweltering with 90+ degree temps. Today it's only in the low 60's, and cloudy.

September always makes me think of a new year. I know January is the real new year, but for so long life was measured from one school year to the next, I still haven't let that go. So we have been Erie for over a year now. It is crazy to me to look back on everything that happened from last August until now. We got here. I got strep throat like 2 days later. That was awful. Then not much time passed and my Poppy passed away. The next couple months after that are kind of a cloud of grief, and busyness. Olivia started dance class. We spent a lot of time in New Jersey. Aaron took like 50 million tests and got straight A's... mostly, I think.  Spring took its sweet time getting here. Oh and sometime in there I got pregnant again.

Now looking forward to this year... I'm really excited for fall. Pumpkins just make something inside me smile. I love fall festivities and I'm so excited for all that. Then winter will be here... and so will this baby boy. And life as I know it will completely change again. I'm pretty sure every time you add another person into the family everything changes. You just can't predict what it will be like. Three little babies of my own! Yikes. I really can't think past that point yet. Before winter comes we need to decide where we are going to do rotations. Then we'll know what next September is going to bring...

New Look

Just keeping things fresh around here.  :)  My Sister-in-law drew me an awesome header... and I can't figure out how to make it be my header.   :(   If anyone has any experience with that and want to help, well that'd be swell.

Also check my new link to my Erie's Okay! blog. I just got frustrated one night with the lack of decent websites. Seriously it is next to impossible to find information on the internet about things going on in Erie! Nothing is in one place, and many websites were last updated like a year ago. I'm hoping to keep this one up to date with things going on and around Erie.

Olivia's diet.

Olivia eats the healthiest of anyone in our family. She just naturally wants to eat things that are good for her. I am jealous. Sweets just aren't really her thing. Today for lunch she had a leafy green salad with tomatoes and Italian dressing, and a Greek yogurt with fruit on the bottom, but she stopped eating it when she got to the fruit. So she ate plain greek yogurt.. eww I can't even stand the smell! And she washed it all down with her reliv. It makes me feel like I did something right that she really truly enjoys eating such healthy food.

Then I look at her sister... just licking the ketchup off her fingers, and eating a piece of bread.  And I realize it's not me.