my day doing nothing

Last night, the new baby tried to make an early appearance. After lots of medicine and 5 hours of one-on-one time with my midwife (who I think should moonlight as a therapist), I was ordered to spend the day in bed. I cannot remember the last responsibility free day I had. It was great! My mom and her sister came over to help with the kids. We had both lunch and dinner delivered to us by kind family members. I chatted on the phone, gave the girls manicures and pedicures, caught up on my e-mail, made a few to-do lists, and played Farkel. I think it would get old quick but one day of bed rest was heavenly!

our weekend

3 birthdays- Sam, Chandler, and Olivia. Sorry Chan but I didn't get a good pic of you at your party. We also got to spend an evening with some of our favorite people.

and baby makes 6

I get asked ALL the time how I'm able to get ready for this new baby when I don't even know if it's a boy or girl. First of all, let me just say that I'm glad I don't know what this baby is. The suspense is fun, it's incentive to get through labor, and I just want to experience the surprise once. I couldn't of done this with my first, and probably not even with my second, but it's been pretty easy to do it with a fourth. Here's how I'm managing. I'm not into yellow or green as the traditional unisex colors so we are painting the bassinet and changing table (both of which will be in our room) black. I had my doubts about a black bassinet, I thought it might look a little goth, but then I got the new Pottery Barn baby catalog and they are selling a black bassinet so I figure ours will look fine. My mother in law is helping me make sheets for it out of black and white gingham. I searched high and low for fabric that could be used for either gender and I finally found this (pictured above) at Hancock. I made a baby sling out of it and I will probably make a diaper bag in the coming weeks with it. That's all the neutral stuff I'm doing. If it's a girl, well she won't be wearing the same thing twice. I have all of my girls' clothes plus Jen gave me Molly's stuff so we have lots and lots of pretties for her. If it's a boy...well....I realized I only had one gown and one blanket. So every time we go to Target or the mall I'm picking something boyish up and saving the receipts. Target just on Wednesday got in this line of baby stuff. I bought three blankets in boy colors and I can't wait to go back and buy more. And that's that.

a valentine birthday

We celebrated the girls' birthdays today with a valentine tea party. They had so much fun and they loved all of their gifts. They have been wearing their new nightgowns while playing with their new toys all afternoon. I think a MLK b-day party might become a tradition since it's a day off of school and it's in the middle of both of their birthdays. Thank you to everyone for coming!

Kansas City

We had a wonderful, very relaxing weekend in Kansas City celebrating Mandy's birthday. The rumors are true, Rick and Jan really are the best hosts. We shopped a lot, ate a lot, and watched the Cowboys lose. Jan introduced me to Nell Hill's which inspired me silly. I have been hanging pictures and moving stuff around all morning.
We can't wait to go back!

Our weekend

We welcomed home a very happy Sam.

Celebrated Lucy's third birthday.

New Year's Eve by the numbers

 

The party began at 8. Mark brought 72 pages of games to play, 1 atomic clock, 1 sprig of Mistletoe, and 4 downloaded versions of Auld Lane Syne. 9 kids lasted past midnight, 1 did not. Johnson had to pause his dog joke 4 times because he was laughing too hard. We used 2 pounds of chocolate in the fountain. We had 8 bottles of sparkling juice which we thought might not be enough. We have 3 left over. We played 2 truths and 1 lie. We missed 8 of you who were stuck by weather in Colorado.