Week by Week

12 weeks along...

I signed up for the weekly pregnancy emails this time around. It has been fun to read them each Thursday. At 12 weeks along our baby is now the size of a lime. This week our baby's fingers will begin to open and close, it's toes will curl, it's eye muscles will clench, and it's mouth will make sucking movements.

I am still nauseaus and exhausted most of the time but I am feeling slightly better... only throwing up only one or two times a day instead of sometimes four. It is amazing what a lime sized baby can do to my energy level.

I'm having trouble regulating my body temperature these days. Chris teases me that I have a very small range of the perfect temperature anyway... but pregnant it's even worse. I'm freezing cold or boiling hot, always.

My favorite time of day... 11:00am... naptime. That's when Luke goes down for his first nap of the day and after getting Megan set up with Dora and a buffet of food to snack on, I quickly follow suit. Megan has been a real trooper.

My favorite foods... potatoes-- mashed or baked, hot chocolate, chicken noodle soup (althought that's getting old now), and popsicles. I want to eat fruit but usually it makes me feel awful. I sure hate trying to find something to eat. What a chore! Just the smells of the fridge make me close it right after opening. Then I spend a couple minutes standing in the pantry staring at the shelves and usually coming out empty handed. Thankfully Chris has been doing the grocery shopping... otherwise I'm not sure the kids would eat anything other than potatoes and soup.

Ok, gotta go. Time for a popsicle.

Butter

Megan was sitting beside me today as I buttered my baked potato... a total craving these days. She was eating Doritos since every time I eat she wants to too... and I wasn't about to share my precious potato. "Mom, I think I'm going to put butter on my Doritos!" she said with wide eyes and a smile. I made a face and a pretend gagging sound (which comes very natural to me these days) to which she replied, "Mom, I think it's going to be very good, and guess what, you don't even have to try it!!" ---Needless to say I didn't let her do it or I would have made a real gagging sound.

Emily's Letter

This adorable letter from my five year old made it onto my bed exactly one week after Chris and I found out we were pregnant with baby #6. One week later we told the kids. Of course they were thrilled. We all are!

I'm eleven weeks along and feeling miserable... but happy. Exhausted... but elated. Moody... and well, just plain moody.

Due date: May 14, 2009. Emily, you'll be six!

Note: 'Cilly' is Emily's spelling for the name 'Kieli'. I told her it said 'silly' and she said, "Mom, a 'c' can have a 'k' sound!" You're adorable, Emily.

Megan

I told Megan I wanted a few pictures of her and she gave me a few sassy poses until she said, 'That's enough Mom" and ran to play with the other kids.

This girl is something else... well, ok, maybe I've had a couple others just like her... independent, silly, energetic, creative, stubborn... yep, a perfect little three year old rascal.

A couple weeks ago this rascal cut her hair. Not just a little. She grabbed a huge chunk right in front and cut bangs right above her eyes. Actually she did a pretty good job, I mean they're pretty straight at least. You can tell in the second picture all the little hairs sticking out of her ponytail. Luckily they are long enough to go back but during most of the day this girl has thick brown bangs. The day after she did it she was looking in the mirror and said, "Mom, I think I'm in Camp Rock!" She looks exactly like the main actress with thick brown bangs.

Maybe it's cuz she's bored. She misses Emily terribly while she's at school and Luke is not quite ready to follow her directions. I've tried to step up to the plate with play doh time, puzzle time, and even bought little alphabet and number books to have school time... all of which she loves because I am right there beside her.

She still loves Dora and Backyardigans and the Leapfrog movies and likes the new show 'Kai-lan'... the chinese version of Dora.

She loves to eat. She wants to snack all day long. A couple of days ago she came and asked if she could have a popsicle. When I said yes she pulled the popsicle out from behind her back -- wrapper off and everything. What a character. She often tells me to 'Look at the clock". When I say, "The clock says it's 9:15 and not time for a snack." she gets mad and says, "Well, then look at a different clock!" One time she was even so bold as to get on a chair and move the hands of the clock. She thought she was so brilliant. Then she asked me to "Look at the clock again". When I did I was both frustrated and silently amused.

The other day she said, "hey mom, check it out." I said, "Did you just say 'check it out'?" She said, "Ya, that's my 'check it out' thing that I say." What a character.

She loves it when the kids come home. She loves to go anywhere with Dad. She loves to play Pokemon with Ryan and house with Emily. She's pretty easy going actually. Almost always happy and fun.

She cracks me up. She is full of life, full of smiles and full of surprises.

Preschool Field Trip

Megan's preschool field trip to the Fire Station was so fun. The kids explored the big red firetruck from all sides, tried on the heavy jackets and big boots, got up in the drivers seat and pretended to drive, and held on with both hands to the heavy helmet atop their heads. They were just as excited about the old 1930's fire truck sitting inside the fire station. They sat on the open bench together and took turns ringing the loud bell by pulling the cord while plugging their ears. The field trip was perfect for Luke too. The firemen wanted him to try everything too worried he was being left out... or maybe thinking he was the most interested. He did love it. I haven't done the Firestation since Ryan was in preschool. So fun to spent the morning with Megan and Luke and our friends.