Insomnia

I've always heard it is God's way of preparing you for the sleepless nights that lie ahead. It's 4:15 am and I've been wide awake since 2:55. I'm prepared, God. Now please just let me fall back to sleep.

37 weeks...

Went to the doctor today. 50% effaced and hardly dilated. Happy that she has some more time to cook. Really, I have no complaints. I feel pretty good...just sleepy which is to be expected with everything going on. The insomnia is really the toughest part. I am thankful to have a husband who helps me with the boys...and helps me put on my shoes. :)

I can't believe I only have 2 weeks left to be pregnant. I kinda don't remember what it is like not being pregnant. I will miss it. I like having her safe...with me all the time.

But yes...this is my last pregnancy ever. I am sure.

So...in the next 2 weeks I am going to try to rest, spend some quality time with my sons, go on a date with my husband, and go to the 5 million appointments we have scheduled. Which by the way...Harrison has another ear infection. (even with his tubes) So...the pedi thinks it is a good idea to do surgery to remove his adenoids and get a new pair of tubes. He goes to the ENT on Tuesday which means that he will most likely have surgery on Friday the 8th. My poor sweet boy...hopefully this will make all the difference in the world for him.

Christmas 2009

Both Russell and I agree that Christmas 2009 has been our favorite yet! My parents came on December 23rd, we all went to Russell's sister's house to celebrate Christmas Eve with the Roberts family, seeing lots and lots of snow, waking up to smiling boys who were excited about their presents, eating a great Christmas dinner with us and my parents, celebrating Jesus' birthday, having my sister and her boys come the day after Christmas, enjoying watching the cousins play together, and just really cherishing the most important things in life. Merry Christmas 2009!

Yeah, Thanks Mimi...

Okay so my mom (Mimi) taught Leyton when he was just a little baby to smell the flowers in books. It was so cute to see him sniff the book every time he saw a flower. So, I taught Harrison to stop and smell the flowers too. Except now he sniffs every picture in the book. It's just kinda weird. Then to top it off, Leyton saw Russell and I laughing at Harrison doing this and decided he would top his brother by licking the pictures during story time. We are a strange, strange family. :)

On the 5th, 6th, & 7th Day of Christmas...

Looked at Christmas lights.

Played a game.

Went shopping with dad for mom.

Really Leyton decided he didn't wanna cooperate and get dressed to go shopping with dad for mom. SOOOO...on the 7th day of Christmas, Leyton threw a doozy of a fit and ended up staying home with mom instead of going shopping. Consequences. He is becoming very familiar with that word as he tests his boundaries. He'll say "Remember when I had to ___________. That was my consequence." :)

Harrison has been walking more and more.

Leyton has been a big help. (except when he threw his doozy of a fit!)

Can't believe it is almost Christmas. Not much is wrapped. Feel somewhat unorganized. I figure this is my last year to have a darn good excuse for that---better make the most of it!

Update on our DAUGHTER...

That still sounds so weird. I love it!

We had our last sonogram today. The first thing the sonographer said was "Gosh, she has a lot of hair!" What?!?! I have only had SERIOUSLY bald babies. Turns out EE has a full head of hair...on the back of her head! You know like an old man---bald on the top with some hair around the sides! Really though, Leyton and Harrison had the same thing when they were born and it all fell out a little bit after birth. I see some really cute pink hats in her future...or a great ponytail on the back of her little head. :)

She is head down. With her little Flintstone feet hanging out in my ribs. Speaking of Flintstone feet, her feet are 100% identical to Russell's. I saw them and said...Look at her "Barney Rubble's." The sonographer said she thought Flintstone right when she saw them too, but didn't wanna say something in case it may offend me. Offend me? No way! I love her little wide feet, with toes all equal in size!

She has her hands up around her face. She has done that for every sono we have had. She was sucking the entire time...the sonographer told us to have her pacis ready. We do. Pacis have always been a big hit in the Roberts' house.

She is weighing in at about 6 lbs. 3 oz.

So...we are scheduled to deliver on Tuesday, January 12th. I am so excited to hold my sweet daughter and kiss her precious Flintstone feet.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas...

the Roberts' family, watched Rudolph on the tv. Popcorn. Snuggles. Loved it!

On the Third Day of Christmas...

...the Roberts' Family read a Christmas book. The end.

The book was called Careful Santa. Really it was me reading and the boys wrestling. I even skipped some paragraphs because they were so not into it. When I finished up the last line of the book, Leyton "man tooted." Never quite how you picture it in your mind. Merry Christmas, folks. :)

On the Second Day of Christmas...

...the Roberts' Family, bought a toy for a child in need. We explained to Leyton that we are going to buy a present for a little boy whose mommy and daddy didn't have money to buy gifts for him. Don't know how much it really sank in. He said that he'd open the little boy's presents for him. Then, he thought the little boy was at our house waiting for Leyton to bring him his gift. He picked a good toy though and he didn't expect to get anything for himself which I guess is a good thing for a boy his age. Harrison was just along for the ride...happy go lucky.

We also went to the Gaylord hotel for the ICE show. It was freezing. Leyton was impressed with the snowflakes leading the way into the hotel. These are cardboard snowflakes that you follow to show you where to go. He kept pointing them out saying "This is SO much fun!" He didn't seem too impressed with the massive ice show itself. The cardboard cut-outs were much more exciting. He did love when snowflakes fell from the sky at the beginning of the exhibit.

All in all, a great second day of Christmas for our fam!

On the First Day of Christmas...

the Roberts' Family, each got a new ornament for their Christmas tree.

This is the ornament that I picked. It is a cross with three little stones in it. I picked it because it reminds me how thankful I am to God for my 3 sweet sweet blessings.


This is the ornament that Russell picked. It is a white wire reindeer and he picked it because it is probably the only ornament on the tree that cannot break. Practical guy...very important with a 3 year old and 1 year old around the tree.


This is the ornament that Leyton picked. It is a snow globe. Or as Leyton describes it..."My perfect snow globe." It is an A&M snow globe for our future Aggie. (& no, we didn't persuade him to pick that one)


This is the ornament that Harrison picked. It is a stuffed snowman. We knew this was "the one" because he kissed it when we gave it to him. Oh, and he likes to chew on it.


This year our sweet Mimi was with us for our first day of Christmas. She picked an angel for the tree. When I asked her why she picked it she said it is because she likes it. That makes sense.

12 Days of Christmas!

Tomorrow begins "The Roberts' 12 Days of Christmas Celebration!" I am so excited. Russell and I have come up with 12 activities for our family to do together each day. I wrote out all of our activiites and framed it...each year we will pack it up with the Christmas decorations. That way the following year we can put our frame up as a reminder of all the fun family things we will do together over the Christmas season. We plan to do the same things each year and have it become something we all look forward to.
Here's our 12 day celebration: (not necessarily in this order)
1. Go shopping for each family member to pick out their special ornament for that year.
2. Buy a gift for a child in need.
3. Watch a Christmas movie together.
4. Hide a note for each member of the family to find somewhere in the house.
5. Game night
6. Read a Christmas book.
7. Go shopping with Dad for Mom.
8. Go shopping with Mom for Dad.
9. Look at Christmas lights together as a family.
10.Wrap gifts.
11.Do a Christmas craft.
12.Have a steak dinner and bake cookies for Santa Claus.

Recent Pics...

I thought I'd put a couple of pics on the blog of the boys. I went and got my camera to find that Leyton has taken 149 pictures of things around the house. Here a few examples of his work...





The boys enjoying a nice, warm bubble bath after a hard day of playing...


See! I told you they live a tough life. Here they are watching a Leap Frog video together...


Here is our little artist, Leyton, with his latest creation---a whale. He has drawn about 554 snowmen so I decided to take a picture of him changing things up a bit the other day.

Walking with Caution...

Today Harrison took about 6 or 7 steps all by himself! He got lots of cheers so he started walking back and forth from Russell to me. Don't get me wrong...I am not in a hurry for him to grow up, but he is 14 months old. I don't call that rushing folks. AND...I'm carrying around my big ol' belly already--- so it'd be great to not have to carry him everywhere when we are out and about. Looks like our cutie is on his way to walking. Very cautiously.

Speaking of my guy's cautious side. He is going through some new phase where he is so super needy. He wants to be held, cries when we sit him down, screams at bedtime...none of this is part of his usual demeanor. So, when he decides to throw a fit (let's say I just sat him down) he doesn't throw himself on the ground like you would imagine for a typical tantrum. He gingerly lays his body on the ground (using complete caution), wallows around, screams, and cries. It takes him a good 15 seconds to completely situate himself carefully on the ground before his actual tantrum begins.

Today I was chewing gum while I was holding Harrison. (surprise! I was holding my hip baby!) I blew a bubble and he started screaming. I mean it was a scream from a horror flick. Completely terrified. He pushed my head back and demanded to get down. I blew another bubble (not to be mean...just to confirm that is what he was scared of) and homeboy started booking it to get away from me. Petrified of gum!

I'm completely enjoying all the time I get to spend with my 2 little men. They each have such unique little personalities and I love figuring them out. I'm sooo thankful to be their mommy!

Christmas with a 3 year Old...

Okay...so Leyton has an unusual Christmas list. Like I mentioned in a previous post, he wants a red notebook and a red robot. Check. Got it. I ordered 8 Blue's Clues notebooks with the chair on the front from Amazon. Grand total is something like 22 bucks. They even come with their own crayons that fit snugly into the little spiral up top. (that is one of the main reasons he likes it so much) I thought he was out of the notebook phase but this has been a consistent request from him since sitting on Santa's lap. He doesn't really watch Blue's Clues anymore, but whatever. Then yesterday he tells me that the red notebook must have a chair on front. Whew! I'm doing good, right? Wrong. He tells me that it needs to have yellow paper on the inside. I asked him how he'd feel if Santa could only find the kind with white paper. He was not having it. Apparently this yellow paper is extremely important to him. Sooo....being the sucker that I am, I got back online today to see if I could find some notebooks with yellow paper in them. ARE YOU READY FOR THIS? Seriously. Are you sitting down? ONE Blue's Clues notebook with the yellow paper is over 100 dollars. Apparently my child is not the only one who prefers yellow-papered notebooks. CRAZY.

Mimi found a red robot. Thank you, Mimi.

Other things on his list are a red airplane and a red octagon. I think that he came up with the red octagon one day while we were driving and he saw a stop sign. He has mentioned how badly he wants an octagon on many occasions. Odd request? Yes, but I will make him one...and it will be the best red octagon you have ever seen.

Oh...and he was also REALLY wanting a snow globe. So, we went to Garden Ridge and he picked out his very own snow globe with Frosty hanging out behind the glass. He exclaimed while jumping up and down..."I have always NEEDED a snow globe." I don't know about you, but a snow globe has never really been a necessity for me. I am glad he is so thrilled with it though.

Russell took some time to talk to Leyton last night about how we are going to start wrapping the gifts and putting them under the tree. Then he told him all about how Santa will come down the chimney on Christmas eve and leave him and Harrison even more presents. We have talked about this before but for some reason it really sunk in this time. After Russell laid in bed with him and read him stories, Leyton said "Is Santa going to leave me presents?" right as Russell was shutting the door. Russell told him that he would but not until Christmas Eve. Well, Leyton had let-down of the year this morning. He ran over to the tree, laid on the ground (On his tummy), and pushed himself way under the tree straining to look/find the presents. Poor guy thought Santa had forgotten him. Hope we don't have to do that 20 something more times until the actual day arrives!

EE

We had what I thought was my 34 week appointment today. Turns out it was my 33rd. I just can't keep track. Anyway, it went well. Doc said that she is lying across my tummy...head not up or down. That explains why I haven't felt her in my ribs. Her heartbeat sounds perfect and I'm measuring where I should be. I am so thankful for another great appointment. Looks like we will be meeting Miss EE on Tuesday, January 12th...if she doesn't decide to come any earlier on her own. YEA! Can't believe that I only have a little over a month to be pregnant. It is kinda sad since I know this will be last time. I am thrilled to meet our baby girl soon though. Now...just gotta get some things done!

Oh...and I gained a mere 7 lbs. in 2 weeks. I didn't know that was humanly possible...but it is! Must have been the turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing, rolls....bowls of chocolate ice cream each night (with magic shell, of course), my peppermint hot chocolate from starbucks almost every day, the pack of now-and-laters I devoured last night, etc. etc.....but I blamed it on the bulky sweater I was wearing. Looks like next week will be the time when I start getting on the scale backwards. I like to do that at the end of my pregnancies...ignorance is bliss!