Week 5: Birthday Fun and Thanksgiving in March

This week has been a little more eventful than the past few. My amazing hubby Nathan turned 33 for starters! Every time someone has a birthday we decorate the house, hang up signs, and have a special birthday dinner chosen by the birthday person to celebrate. Than's choices were London Broil followed by cheesecake! And I had to point out the "Chumlee is my homeboy" shirt I bought for him. We watch(ed) Pawn Stars religiously and Chum is our favorite. We saw someone on TV wearing this shirt once and talked about how we HAD to have it! So I found it and got it for him. He thought it was humorous :)

The girls helping daddy open his presents and blow out his candle.

Today (Sunday), we had a surprise Thanksgiving in March dinner at my brother in law and his families house. They are moving to Iowa in a couple of months so they wanted to have a Thanksgiving dinner with the family now since they wouldn't be around come November. We had some awesome Turkey, rice, fruit salad, plus some more goodies, and desert was to DIE for! Chocolately-peanut-buttery-awesomeness. I just wish I knew what it was called! Trust me - it was delish! Here are a couple pictures we snapped while there. I should have taken more - but my point-n-shoot is desperately needing to be replaced!

My niece Elizabeth and my brother in law Alex

Me and my sister in law, Jennica.

Me and my sisters in law Teresa and Jennica

As far as sicknesses go - I spent another evening in the emergency room after dealing with a fast heart rate and vomiting. After some fluids and an ultrasound to make sure I didn't have a blod clot in my leg, I went home feeling better. Since then I've discovered Nyquil/Dayquil and its been the only thing helping me feel alive during the day. It's even taking away the cough! So hopefully the next 10 weeks will be smooth sailing from here.

As of today - I am officially 30 weeks pregnant. And for those who are wanting a belly shot - here ya go. Just for the record - I'm half asleep because I'm currently in a Turkey-induced coma ;)

Week 4: Sickies - leave us alone!

Unfortunately, our week was another uninteresting/uneventful one full of the sickies. We did however get one "okay" day out - even for just a couple of hours, and even though it wasn't we originally had planned the girls still had a good time. That's all that matters, right?

On Thursday (St. Patricks Day) we were under the impression that a lot of the local attractions were having a "free day" where we could get in for free. So we decided we would take the girls to the local aquarium. Unfortunately, its not the coolest aquarium in the world (once you've seen Chicago's aquarium anything looks dull) but for free we figured we'd go check it out anyway. Unfortunately when we got there - we realized we were wrong and it wasn't a day of free admission. We weren't going to pay the outrageous admission fee's for all 4 of us, so instead we improvised - we took the girls to see the big fish in the tanks at Cabellas! I know I know, not quite the same at all - but my 4 year old and 2 year old didn't care as long as they were seeing fish - and Cabella's was free!

The girls eating lunch at Mc Donalds

Feeding the fish at Cabellas

Who care's that the animals weren't real and alive? They loved it regardless.

So easy to please at such a young age. Better take advantage while I can right?

Our Cabella's trip was cut short because I was feeling very sick that day and nearly stayed home in bed, but I didn't want to miss the excitement with the girls so I made myself go out. The next day - I woke up feeling like death so I ended up spending most of the afternoon in the emergency room. After having an x-ray of my lungs and a bag of fluid the verdict was in - I had tested positive for Influenza A (Flu) and Bronchitis. So I'm back to my lovely friend, the Z-Pack, once again. On top of it all - my heart rate is kind of high - higher than normal that is - so it makes me extremely tired and I have been laying around since I got home from the ER. I can tell the Z-Pack is working, just have to give it more time.

Not only am I sick, but Nathan is still having problems with his UTI, Katelyn has finally gotten over her runny nose, and Madison still has a nasty cough. Not to mention the rest of the family who is passing around the flu, and a sister in law with a kidney infection. Aren't we all just a basket full of fun?

I'm really hoping the sickies leave us alone FAST. Im starting to go a little stir crazy and I desperately need to get Katelyn fully potty trained. At this rate the poor child will be 10 and still wearing diapers!

But, to end this blog post on a happy note - check out this video of Katelyn dancing to the "Cowboy Song" (as she calls it) also known as "Viva las Vegas". She refuses to do the dance without sporting the cowboy hat.

Enjoy!

Week 3: So much for getting things done...

The past week has been uneventful yet eventful all at the same time, if that makes any sense at all? We're all battling some kind of illness - so running errands pretty much took the back seat.

It all started with Nathan having a sinus infection and his UTI came back. This resulted in 2 visits to the E.R. (We have to start out with a bang, right?) Then my cough came back full swing and has been super annoying. Now, Katelyn and Madison are getting the cough/cold going around and pretty much the entire household here has it. FUN! Not to mention for some reason my kids refuse to sleep at night - so me and Nate pretty much never sleep anymore.

Other than that, theres been a whole lot of nothing going on besides sitting around, a little unpacking, and visiting with family. The older girls have fully introduced my girls to one of those dancing games on the Wii so now they're always dancing. They love it!

I decided to teach myself some new crochet projects so I started a baby cloche hat for baby Allyson - after many unsuccessful tries, I've finally got the hang of it. I hope to finish it in the next day or two, whenever I can find enough quiet time to focus on counting stitches.

Also, my brother in law turned 19 this week! Happy Birthday Josh!! Somewhere my mother in law has pictures of the girls dancing and Josh's birthday so these pictures are hers. I was an awful photographer this week and my camera hasn't left my car (I've already kicked myself in the rear for that one).

I did however find my card reader finally! So I've updated last weeks post with the pictures finally, so make sure you back track to check those out.

This week my goal is to take more pictures of our week - I'm super slacking!

Week 2: Destination: Utah

(Finally updated to add photos, only a week late.)

The past week can only be described correctly using one word: insane. The first part of the week we spent nearly every waking hour preparing for our move and visiting with family and friends. Inbetween packing boxes and running errands, I tried to keep the kids on a semi-normal "routine" (whatever that is). Madison conquered writing yet another letter in the alphabet: a capital "B". She is so proud of her accomplishments! We have also mastered the capital and lowercase A, and the number 1. Katelyn is practicing her tracing because she has her colors and shapes mastered. So proud of my girls!

I had an ultrasound on Tuesday the 1st, and the doctor confirmed that I have a 2 valve umbilical cord (a normal one has 3 valves). Basically me and the baby are fine, but they want to watch her just in case it affects her growth. Other than that, mommy and baby are both still doing just fine!

Also on Tuesday I spent my last day as an editor and staffer on The Montage Student Newspaper. For the past 2 1/2 years I have worked as a photographer, photo editor, and online editor for the publication. I have gained a lot of new friends and even more experience. I've laughed and cried and have many memories from my time spent in the newsroom. My fellow editors sent me off with an awesome cookie cake and had really nice things to say about me. I hope they know how much I appreciated hearing them. I'm going to miss being a member of The Montage, but at the same time, I wont lie - it's kind of nice to have my Tuesdays back ;)

We left on our journey to Utah on Thursday the 3rd, and split the trip up into 3 days (2 nights) rather than the normal 2 days (1 night). The first night we drove to Topeka Kansas and stayed overnight in a Holiday Inn. The next morning we let the girls get in the pool for about 20 minutes while we washed and dryed clothes that a bottle of listerine spilled all over (They still smell cinnamon-y). Then the second night we stayed overnight in Cheyenne at a really nice Days Inn. The girls LOVED the swimming pool since there was one just for their size with a fun sprinkler, and mommy and daddy took full advantage of the hot tub. Maddie wanted to feel what it was like in the hot tub so she sat on the side with her toes in the water. Next thing I knew, she had fallen in! After having a heart attack I realized she was completely fine, and not even really that afraid (it was a miracle) so we finished up our swim and went to bed.

I am happy to say we are finally in Utah, staying with Nathan's parents and attempting to rebuild our lives from the bottom up. It's going to be rough, but I have faith that this will work. Nathan has a job interview on the 7th so we're praying it will be a good start in the right direction. The next week will consist of doctor hunting, job hunting, and taking care of other business. Wish us luck on this journey :)