where to begin...

Mr. T has just realized in the last few days that the baby is no longer in my tummy...
Mr T: where baby, mama?
me: what?
Mr T: baby not in tummy?
me: no, baby right here in my arms (snicker... )
Mr T: oh, gosh!!! she's coot! (otherwise known as cute!)

Queen V: oh, mama, why do you have to wake me at night for school?
me: the sun is coming up... take a look...
Queen V: I don't want to go to kindergarten... I'm just so tired!
me: get up and get going, you'll be late....
Queen V: what's the magic word? say it and I will get up...
(like bargaining with me is going to work.. if it were my mom she would have flicked on the light, shuffled over in her trademark slippers and sung "wake up, wake up with a heart full of cheer! wake up, wake up or I'll spit in your ear!" lol!)
me: Queen V. A. Z.... get your bottom out of that bed!
Queen V: that'll do... and she jumped out of bed...
see, once she's up she is good to go.. but dragging that bag monster out of bed is a difficult task.. I see this will be going on for a few years... my, how my little one loves to sleep! lol!

Lady G: I had a great day, Mama!
me: you did? tell me about it..
Lady G: I got to chase the boys!! We had a great time!
me: and the boys still want to play tag?
Lady G: oh yea, and we girls are catching up with them!
a little later we talked about the day...
Lady G: 3rd grade is fun.. it's not hard like you said...

everyone wants to hold the baby... oh, and Mr. T calls her George... and then laughs.. he knows he is funny.. he just cracks me up!!

as for me... I pulled the coffee pot out today... after being up since 3:20am I knew it would be a long day. I lost all the baby weight... yep, hate me now... lol! I am actually lighter than before I got pregnant with Princess A (aka George)and I hope it just keeps going off of me! I colored my hair but it needs a trim... maybe in a week when the girls are coming home more or less at the same time. Right now kindergarten is out at 11:30 and the rest of the school is out out at 3. It's not enough time for me to get to the other side of town and get it cut.

two little feet to walk right into our hearts

I have to share this...
yep, while I was getting stitched I got Jeff to send the camera my way :)
I waited for these little feet to pop up... all inked and ready for the baby book!!
c'mon...
a little higher...
a little higher baby girl...

gotcha!

home again, home again....

We are all home...
all 6 of my clan are home...
what a wonderful feeling to have such a full home.
We have been blessed with a little girl.
We are going to call her Princess A.
She was born August 12 and weighed 9 pounds 3 oz. and was a whopping 21 inches long!
She gave me one last kick before she left my womb... just one last reminder of how our relationship will be?? lol!

I am exhausted and need to rock a wee one...
thanks to all for the prayers, thoughts and emails :) They will all go in the baby book.
I am too tired to work on photos tonight but will get one up soon.

finally!

When I graduated college Mom gave me a tshirt that read
I'm OUTA here!!

well, after many hours of contractions I am headed to the horse-pistol to see who has been growing in me for the last 9 months...

Queen V is playing computer games
Lady G is practicing blowing bubbles with the last piece of bubblegum
Mr. T is sacked out in Daddy's arms

We are waiting for grandparents to arrive...
My mom has called and is ready to pounce... her BatCar is waiting to do multiple Bat Turns... those of you who have ridden with Mom know these turns well... hahahaha

If this turns out to be nothing I will have to take up high diving... seriously... this baby has got to come out.. DH just saw me do "the sway" and commented how he knew we were going to have a baby... he remembers my faces and how I move my body back and forth getting ready for the moment..

I better go grab my pillows.. hospital ones slurp!

**don't forget to say prayers for 10 fingers, 10 toes, cute little button nose... and no ripping on mama :) **

Mr. T turns 3!!

Happy Birthday, Mr. T!!!
So you wake up at 6:30 and come ripping into our room... "Ta chase me... Roar!"
Yep, another bad dream about Queen V chasing you around the house pretending to be a crazed horse...
Lots of snuggles follow and you sleep diagonal in our bed for another hour or so...
You wake smothering me and Daddy with kisses telling us you want Party Cake for breakfast... we tell you you have to wait... poor fella, can't have what you want for your own birthday breakfast..
We watch Fox & The Hound and you are mesmerized by the mean bear... I can imagine that will show up in dreams soon... go figure...
You wander out of our room only to see all the streamers in the hallway and tons of balloons in the front room.
Politely you ask if each of the presents on the hearth are yours... of course they are!! :)
You open Queen V's first... The Amazing Bubble Blower... there are batteries attatched and you tell us they are for Daddy... sweet boy!
Next you open the mit and ball Lady G gave you...
Next you open the Little Chef's cooking tools. YOu have had such a great time cutting and stirring with me in the kitchen lately that we thought you needed some of your own tools. Please don't whack your sisters with the whisk or rolling pin... you will now have 3 minutes of time out... oh, I can hear the tears now...
We run out to the back porch to see how amazing the Amazing Bubble blower is... it's pretty darn amazing!!
We still have to take you to go get your big present... your very own cowboy boots!!!
Grandparents come and we enjoy a great meal of Roar, babies, me cheese, memade and Party Cake... yummo, buddy!! You picked a great menu!!
Grandpa wasn't too keen on you licking the chocolate Teddy Grahams and putting them back on the Party CAke.... that's ok... we'll enjoy them later... well, you will... I don't care for prelicked cookies! lol!
Finally, after lunch we got to see you open presents from grandparents... tools, tools and more tools! Your very own desk, color wonders and bubblegum... what a treat!! Because we ran into nap time you pretty much came unglued and needed a nap. You woke to ask for yet more Party CAke and "me cheese."
We played a bit more and went outside to blow more bubbles....

mind you... all of this was done after MOmmy had been up since 4am with contractions that led to guess where... NO WHERE!! Nope, my son, you will not be sharing this day with a sibling but this day will forever be your day... perhaps tomorrow you will get the gift of being a big brother...

The night draws near and Daddy is playing a great game of Hide and Go Seek with you and the girls... lots of giggles and grins... what a great day!!

Mr. T's last day of being 2

wake up before everyone else- check
tell Daddy to wake up and play- check
ask Mommy to go outside and play- check
shut girls door really loudly so I don't wake them up- check
watch my pick of the library movies Mommy got- check
put on play clothes before Mommy changes my nighttime diaper- check
ask for cereal and then spill it on floor- check
pick it all up and make Mommy proud- check
get piggy back from Lady G- check
find girls' secret hiding place in Mommy and Daddy's closet- check
swim in pool- check!
hold Prince's leash- check
hand out pickles at pool picnic- check
swim more in Gran's pool- check
go home with Daddy and fall asleep in his arms for nappy- check
get up and find gummies to snack on - check
get dressed for Mass- check
get yummy Mac-n-cheese from grocery store deli
check Party CAke with Mommy- check
watch some Olympics with Mommy and Daddy- check
wonder where girls are and if I can help wrap presents- check
discuss party list and guests for tomorrow... Gran, Papa, Gandeeeeee, Daddy, Ta, Weeeeee.... hooray!!
Party Cake Me!!! check
fall asleep in Daddy's arms for nighttime- check
sleeping in big boy bed dreaming of "party cake"- check

Lucky or Unlucky???

so wehre is this bambino??
seriously
I have had enough contractions to kill a moose...
it's the luckiest day in China.. 8/8/08... what is this kiddo waiting for???
if he or she were born today "shim" would have his/her own birthday and would not have to share...
but... I would get to watch all the Olympics I wanted without someone asking me if I could change the channel... ha! I am an Olympic Hog.. it's true...
I love the Olympics...

do you have an Olympic story?? I do!!
When we were kids the kids on our street made our own Olympic Games.. it was 1976 and we had a great time... even though I got a javeline in my foot...

yep, you read that right!!
We had all sorts of track and field events...
high jump (we used the neighbor's horse jumps for that)
swimming (neighbors had a great pool)
diving (borrowed their pool again- super meter board with great spring!!)
tennis (back by the barn)
gymnastics (neighbor had a trampoline)
javeline (you know those flag things you put on the back of a kid's bike so cars can see them coming???... do you see this coming.. here is the story for the day....

I asked Norris to toss me the javeline so I could practice...
He threw it at me...
I thought I lifed my foot enough to have it just miss me..
nope...
it lodged in between my big toe and the one next to it..
I picked up my foot and the bike flag aka javeline was sticking out of my foot!!!
ACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!
I pulled it out and my neighbor, Jan, picked me up and carried me in her house to clean out this open wound... I cried and cried.. She told me to go home and tell my mom...
I hopped a few acres and got to Mom and told her the story of what we were doing...
She calmly called Dr. Miller and discussed stitches and such...
yikes!! all my siblings had had stitches but not me... I didn't want to do that!!!
So the result was I had to soak my foot in epsom salts and wait for it to heal from the inside out...
no more Olympic Dreams for me... I would have to watch Mark Spitz and Nadia Comeniche and be happy....
And for now???
Well, I can't curl my toes as much as I used to... I can on my right foot but not my left... bummer...
So, did I tell my kids about it? Yep... and warned them that if I caught them taking the flags off of their bikes they would be in big trouble! lol!
Live and learn...

GO TEAM USA!!

bet you thought the baby was born...

NOPE!
this kid is in there for the whole 40 weeks!! lol!
Mr. T's birthday is on Sunday.... what do you bet this one stays until then?? All Mr. T wants is "party cake... me!" He doesn't care where... just as long as the cake is where he is on his birthday!! lol!
Sooooooooooooo... we wait...

It's been so blinkin' hot that it's too much for me to get going on a big walk around here... 11 days at least over 100*. I did get out and swim today.. only because my kids let me get a decent nap in the afternoon. I was exhausted!!! So we went for a swim when we knew the sun would be behind some trees and we wouldn't have to use sunscreen but could just enjoy the pool...
Mr T jumped off the diving board again and again
Lady G and I had swim races back and forth in the pool... she can keep up pretty well with her mama :) I give her a head start but get into a zone and just swim. I love to stretch and make those muscles work, pulling the oxygen through me.. oh.. reminds me of when I would swim a mile (kid you not!) in Mom and Dad's pool. They would come out and watch me just find my rythym and let me swim away!! Soon I bet Lady G will be wanting to do the same. DH was there to watch the others while we raced.
Queen V pretended to be a puppy. She has the most graceful stroke for freestyle... Hard to believe she was frightened during swim lessons last year and now she is a fish!! She starts school in about 20 days... I can't believe it... It struck me so hard tonight when we were hanging out in the deep end just chatting... What a great kiddo, she just plugs right along, finding her own rythym... I hope the teachers in kindergarten realize what a gem she is when she starts. She has such a way about her...

My bedtime/labor curfew is coming up so I better sign off... tomorrow I have plans of getting some things from the Grocery Game and making more meals to stuff in the freezer for our family. The kids all have helped out and it is such a blessing!!