LIghts! Camera!

We went down to the square tonight and got some pictures of the lights. It is supposed to be the warmest night of the week. The temperature was in the 50s. We still had to bundle up, but it wasn't freezing cold like it has been or will be.

The girls got to see the lights up close and ride the ponies! Thankfully it was only $5 a ride. We topped the evening off with some yummy hot chocolate when we got back home. I love family outings!

Here are the pictures you've been waiting for. Click on each picture to enlarge it.

Christmastime is Here!

We finally got all of our Christmas decorations put up today. It really feels like Christmas now! I thought I'd take pictures of some of our things and share them with you.

These first two pictures are of the girls up in the attic "helping" Jim get the decorations down. They only have bike helmets on because they were riding their bikes. We're not THAT safety conscious!
These next ornaments are my "year ornaments". I get one every year that has the year on it. I started this quite innocently the year we got married, 1997. Some of them have been gifts for my birthday, and others I have just bought on my own. (or with birthday money :) And before any of you get picky and point this out to me, some of them have the year on the back. So you can't see it. :)

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Ok, so 2007 doesn't have the year on it. It is also a "licensed character" ornament which I FORBID to be on my tree. HOWEVER, Jim and the girls picked this one out for me. It is Linus reciting the scripture from Luke, "To you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, the Messiah, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11." He concludes with "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown." So I let this one stay. :) It has actually become my favorite one of all of them.

2008

2009

Last but not least, this year's has a picture of Harper on it. I like that this is supposed to be a treat jar with the dog's picture in it.

Trying not to think about it.....

Today was a celebration day! A good celebration day.

It was my 35th birthday.

Yep. It's been 20 years since I turned 15. TEN years since I turned 25, which was, like, soooo old.

We had a birthday lunch for me yesterday at mom's house. The girls made up games and mom decorated a cookie cake.




Today, we went to AQ Chicken House for lunch after church. Then we got an ice cream cake from Maggie Moos. (YUM!!!!) When we got home, I got to open my gifts. I got some Mary Kay skin care serum (just what I wanted!) (heh heh, I bought it and told Jim to wrap it up.....), more lipstick, a devotional book for moms, and *sniff* one of the sweetest gifts EVER! It was a book called "Prayers for my little boy". Yes, I cried immediately upon seeing the title. Jim started laughing and said he knew I'd cry instantly, but he also said he knew he had to get me that book.

I had asked for a devotional book to read during pregnancy. I had no idea if those existed or not. Jim said they do, but they are really more for first-time moms. That's why he got me the book for moms and then the one about little boys. I haven't read much of it yet. (I keep crying!) But I definitely will in the coming months.

Here are some pictures:

Thanksgiving!

Well, believe it or not, another Thanksgiving has come and gone. We had an awesome time down in Little Rock with our families. Here are some pics:

The girls came up with this idea on their own. They drew a "thankfulness tree" on some paper, used popsicle sticks for branches, and drew leaves, clouds, a sun, and turkeys. They had each of us write what we were thankful for on the branches. It was very cute! Here are some pictures of what people wrote. (But not everyone.....didn't know how many people would want theirs posted)





Here is one of the lone pics I got down at Gramma & Pop's house. The kids are playing in a collapsible tunnel. It's very fun!

We had a wonderful time seeing everyone. Can't wait for Christmas!

Drum Roll Please.......

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!

Watch This Space!!!!

Important announcement possibly coming tomorrow evening!

Could be pink, could be blue!

Awesome and Terrifying. All at the same time.

See, now this is what I'm dealing with:

Beta asks for oreos after school. I tell her she can have two. She opens the package and nonchalantly tells me that she has learned to start counting at zero. I think nothing of this until dessert tonight when she asks for two more oreos. She tells me again, "I start counting at zero, mommy! See? Zero, one. I need another oreo to get to two."

Awesome and terrifying. All at the same time.

Update: This afternoon, she again says she'll have two oreos. She counts "zero, one, two." Well, momma wasn't born yesterday nor was she an Underwater Basketweaving major. I told her "no, if you're going to count that way, you can have ONE!" It took a swift hand, but I got them away from her. And she only got 2 oreos. The right way.

Halloween 2009

Beta as a pink unicorn.

Alpha as Wonder Woman!

Getting ready to go!

Of course, mommy and baby #3 couldn't be left out. I put on my one Halloween shirt on the one night of the year I can safely wear it. I was surprised it covered my belly.

So baby #3 went as a...............

pumpkin!


And mommy went as, of course, a mummy!

This picture didn't turn out too good, but it is Jim and Harper watching us leave through the window. If you look in the lower left-hand corner, you can see Harper's eyes.

Our street probably had the most houses that were lit up for treats!

This was an awesomely decorated house down the street. They even had spooky sound effects playing from a cd player in their closed garage. Awesome!

Afterwards, Beta had to try on the new vampire teeth our neighbor got them.

Alpha had to get in on the action as well!

I've been shot!

With the swine flu vaccine, that is! Beta and I got up in the middle of the night to go stand in line and get a shot. If it wasn't so important, it would have seemed silly.

The day started at 5:30 when I, well, wait. Let me back up. The day started at 4:00 am when Beta came to our room and said she'd had nightmares and was scared. Could she get in our bed? Since I was scheduled to get up at 5:30, I figured it would be easier to just say yes.

At 5:30, ok 5:40, I got in the shower. Somehow, we managed to leave the house at 6:30. Beta was surprisingly awake and happy. I think it was the promise of breakfast from McDonald's....

At 6:45, with breakfast in our hands, we headed to the Jones Center. Beta commented that it was still dark. She was right. It felt like the middle of the night and like we hadn't slept at all!

We got in line at the Jones Center at 7:00 am. The flu clinic was scheduled to start at 8:00 am. As soon as we got in line, Beta says, "I left Buddy in the car!!!!" This was her stuffed animal she brought to hold while she got a shot. So, I leave her in line, and RUN back to the car. While I'm there, I grab my jacket (good idea). I also realize she didn't leave Buddy in the car. He was in her backpack!!!!

It was cold. And rainy. I forgot this morning that when Jim says it's not cold outside, it doesn't mean it's warm!

Thankfully, at 7:30, they opened the doors and let us stand in line inside. We moved around several times. At one point, some official-looking person came by and asked if anyone had their form already filled out.

FORM????????????????????????

One person did and she got to go to the front of the line......people were NOT happy.

The next time we moved up, we were all given forms. The government can't do anything without a form, you know.

When the people would look at our forms, they would look at me and say "you're pregnant?" I was like, um, the belly? Hello???? (I had worn one of my shirts that made me REALLY look pregnant so there would be no question! haha!) Then they'd look at Beta and say "how old is she?" because they were only giving H1N1 to kids ages 5-18 with underlying conditions. So I repeated the phrase, "Yes, I'm pregnant and she has asthma" about 3 times.

But we got it! Both of us got our shots. Beta did NOT cry! She is so brave. She told me she was going to be brave. They told me she'd need a second H1N1 shot in 4 weeks. I said, "um, are there going to be any?" They were like, um, uh, well, um, just keep calling your local health department.....

I feel better now. I hope these vaccines work and don't harm us. I think I made the right decision. I feel at peace. I hope everyone who wants the vaccine can get it. It's so scary right now with all the reports.

So hopefully we will be pig-free this winter!

7 things

1. It's official. My kids have the WHINE flu!

2. I'm not fat. I'm just pregnant. (Repeat until I believe it....)

3. There is no limit to the things a dog will chew.

4. The Hendrix Alumni magazine that shows up every 6 months just makes me feel inadequate.

5. I'm still scared about the swine flu and asthma, but the tornado threat has largely disappeared.

6. I had an awesome time shopping with the girls and my cousin yesterday! We found everything we were looking for.

7. Christmas will be here before we know it. Please post your gift requests in the comments!

Swine flu! Asthma! Tornadoes! Oh My!

I'm worried. What am I worried about? Just read the title. :)

Note: This is long. I've got a lot on my mind and I want to get it out. Nothing too depressing, but if you want to skip this, that's ok. :)

Swine flu!
So I had a dr's appointment yesterday afternoon. The baby is fine. All they did was listen for the heartbeat. It was there! Such a reassuring sound. I am now 15 weeks pregnant.

I asked my doctor what she thought about this swine flu vaccine. She said "they are recommending it because of all the complications in pregnant women." I told her I was leery of it. I think it has been rushed, they don't know what the side effects are, and I'm not so sure I want it. Thankfully, she agreed with me! Well, not technically, but her expression changed and she said she definitely understood my position.

I tried looking up information on the internet. I know.....not so smart. Actually, it didn't scare me. I found a lot of places where people commented that they weren't going near the vaccine. I was trying to find updated data, but most of the articles that came up on Google were dated back in July. The best statistic I could find in more than one place was this: Of the 266 deaths from the swine flu that they have well-documented, 6% were pregnant women. Since pregnant women make up about 1% of the population, they (we) are overrepresented in deaths from swine flu. I assume they have done a study and found that, with a 95% confidence interval, this fact is statistically significant. (See, I DID learn something at my first job!)

They are expecting doses of it at the end of the month so I guess I will wait until then to finally decide what I'm going to do.

Asthma!
Beta had an asthma attack today. It came on very suddenly. I had picked the girls up from school. We went to Harp's to buy Harper a Halloween costume. :) (I'll post pics sometime) Then we went to Sonic to get $1 vanilla ice cream cones. (I was craving soft serve....) Right as we got home and walked in the door, Beta started crying. She said her throat hurt and it hurt bad! I wasn't really sure what to do. She went to the bathroom and sat down. I had her drink some water. She said it had really not hurt until she ate the ice cream. Weird. She also started that high, dry cough. Uh oh. I got the inhaler we still have (thankfully) and used it. Within about a minute, she seemed better and wasn't coughing. Within 5 minutes, she was back to her normal self.

She had another episode right before bedtime. She was chasing Alpha through the house trying to dry her wet face on Alpha's pajamas. (I run a tight ship around here, can't you tell?) She slipped on the floor and fell down. For some reason, this started her coughing again. I took her to the bathroom to calm down. Once again we used the inhaler and it seemed to help. By then, though, she just felt awful. So I got her in bed as quickly as I could. I plan to check on her a bunch.

So now I don't know what to do. She first had asthma when she was 3. It has practically gone away. She is not on any daily medicine. She has needed her inhaler a handful of times. Once was back in the spring. Now it's the fall. There must be something that causes it, but we haven't figured out what that is yet. I will probably take her to the doctor tomorrow and see what he has to say. We may be on antibiotics and steroids again. Sigh. I just can't stand it when my babies hurt. Especially when it is kinda scary for me, too.

Then in my readings about swine flu, I run across this wonderful gem. Swine flu is usually pretty mild in children unless they have an underlying medical condition LIKE ASTHMA!!!! Stupid internet.

Tornado!
The girls wanted to make cupcakes for dessert. So we did. They wanted to decorate them with sprinkles. Ugh. I hate sprinkles. I don't like eating them or cleaning them up. I also didn't feel like making a powdered sugar glaze. So Jim kindly offered to go buy some frosting at the grocery store down the street. While he was there, he called me. "Get the girls and go into your closet. There is a tornado coming on [big street we live near]. I'll be home as soon as I can."

I'm like, what? It had been kinda sunny before it got dark. So I grab the girls, who were getting done with their showers, call Harper, and shoo everyone into our bedroom. I turn on the TV. Dan Skoff is on there giving instructions. He mentions our street again and the girls school!!! He says if you are in these areas to TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY!!! Well, I don't want to scare anybody. So we just continue combing and drying hair. Jim gets home a few minutes later. Instead of stupidly standing outside looking for a tornado (it was dark), we stupidly stand there listening to Dan Skoff! Until the rain fade knocks out our satellite signal.

Long story short, if there was a tornado, it passed over us. The KNWA storm spotter didn't see one. He said there had been rotation but nothing ever dipped down. By 8:00, the tornado warning was over and the storm had moved on to the east. Well, the tornado-producing part of it anyway. We are still having major rain and thunder even now at 10:30 pm.

I probably scared the girls. But they wouldn't be quiet so that we could hear the tv. So I told them that we might have a tornado. Not a good idea......Thankfully they didn't panic. Just cried a little bit. I never know where to draw the line between not-scaring them and letting them know when things are truly getting serious. It helped that we were all crammed in our bed watching the news. :)

So my worries for the day started out fairly remote: swine flu in pregnant women. Then I have the very real possibility of an asthma recurrence. THEN, forget all that! I have the VERY VERY REAL possibility of dying in a tornado this very night! I guess it kinda puts things in perspective. I mean, why be fearful of swine flu when there are tornados about? I probably have a better chance of getting killed in a car accident on the way to work tomorrow than of dying from swine flu.

I keep trying to repeat this verse to myself over and over.

2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

I'm not sure if that scripture exactly fits, but going through my mind all day has been "God has not given us a spirit of fear....." So I'm trying not to be afraid.

But it's hard.

Cute dog pics