Questions answered..

Saturday morning I wasn't feeling too well-a bit dizzy and faint and told Joe about it. I have to admit I felt something was wrong and went to lay down. Well later that day I found out why:
I recieved a letter stating that my glucose test went fine this week-no gest. diabetes here. On the other hand-my iron levels are low. So the dr. wants me to start taking an iron supplement. I will do it, but I am not looking forward to it as whenever I take iron-my nausea gets worse. On the otherhand-I don't want to become anemic before baby is born-so it's one of those sacrifices I again get to make. I am crossing my fingers that my levels go back up to normal and that I don't get too sick again. At least I only have two more months. I am starting to get really excited that the end is nearing and soon well see our little surprise!!

Baby Talk-what are your thoughts?

Okay so this has bothered me alot lately and I am really hoping that I don't become like this now that I am nearing having my last and final child. There is a huge trend in babying your "baby" or your youngest. I mean I don't think we let whitney get away with as much as the younger ones and it seems to get easier to slip into this with each kid. I understand we do this because time goes by so fast and soon our babies are in kindergarten and growing so super fast. It's our natural reaction to try to slow it all down. But as mothers does any of us wonder what we do to our kids by doing this?? The long-term affects it may have on them as they get older and face life's dissapointments.

My biggest pet peeve is "baby talk."

As a mother of a child with a speech delay-it made myself look at how I was talking to my children and if that was in any way affecting how they decided to respond. Now I admit that I didn't baby talk to my kids all that much-I'm not saying i didn't ever do it once. But it somehow felt immature of me to do so -for some reason it made me feel stupid, so I just didn't do it. I am not against it in the 1st year of a childs life. But am I wrong in thinking-it's just not something you should do after your children reach a certain age-I mean c'mon a 3 year old is not a baby..even if they are still your "baby."

I guess it just bothers me when I hear a mom speak to her 4-5 year old this way-it's just plain unnerving to me. I know I am venting -but can someone explain to me why they feel it necessary to continue it when their children are totally capable of understanding and speaking "adult" language?? Aren't they a little curious as to how this affects them in developing language skills or if it mentally makes them believe they are younger than they are?? Or if other kids make fun of how "they talk." Who would willingly put their child through this?? I know what it's like to watch kids make fun of my child because she cannot keep up with them conversationally and it's hurtful for both of us. SO please when you child turns 2...please please speak to them on their level.

Now there are so many other things that you can do to baby your older children and I was wondering what are the big ones that bother you??

And just to step off my soap box for a bit-I do admit to helping Amber get her "tough" shoes on when she's having a hard time of it. So really I am not trying to be judgemental- this is one of the pet peeves that I have yet to get over -sorry.

Day of Basketball and very warm PJ's

Saturday was Whitney's first Basketball game. She did okay considering this was the first time she ever played. She did better defensively than offensively. So we definitely know what we need to work on. Then Later that night we went to our local college girls basketball game-we were able to get in for free. The girls had alot of fun and Whitney got to watch how the "Big Girls" play ball. Amber danced during the breaks and was actually caught on camera and got to display her moves on the big screen-she was so excited about that. I have to admit we were a little nervous about how this outing would go-but the girls really did well and between the game, the band, dancers and cheerleaders-it provided enough distraction that we only had to buy 1 bucket of popcorn to help us through the event.

Brooke saw a guy cheering like this-so she decided to mimic him.

Joe, Brooke and Whitney watching the game.

I wish I had gotten a picture of Amber getting her groove on but this picture tells another story completely. A few nights ago-I went in to check the girls as they were sleeping and found Amber all bundled up like this...then noticed Whitney dressed similarly. When I asked the girls about it the next morning Whitney said they were scared that someone was going to break into the house so they got ready to leave if it happened. Too funny. The wind was pretty fierce that night so I don't blame them too much for feeling a little spooked. It sure made me chuckle. Don't you just love kids!!

Strange Coincidence?? Belly Picture!!

Okay so just oddly enough while blog hopping to a friend's blog I found another blogging mommy and guess what??? Not only does she share the same last name as me, the same faith, the same passion for dance-she teaches too (crazy i know)-lives in the same area, but here is the big hair raising moment-we are both pregnant and due on the same day. Well she was brave enough last week to post her belly picture so I thought I would finally let the blogging world see my protruding stomach as well..are you all prepared?? With 12 weeks and 2 days to go here I am in all my glory:

How do you clean?

So while I was doing some of my regular house cleaning-I started to wonder if I am a bit old fashioned in how I clean my home. This train of thought came to me as I was cleaning my bathroom-I usually use comet or ajax to clean about everything but the mirror (which I use ammonia on-I usually do all mirrors and windows a different day than the day I clean the bathrooms because of the bleach in comet/ajax). And I was wondering if anyone else does the same or is everyone using the "new" cleaners out there-like lysol disinfecting wipes or those toilet bowl brushes that are one time use-then you flush it down the toilet. I have to admit I was thinking similar thoughts when mopping my tile in my kitchen/dining rooms the other day as well-I use Mr. Clean and a regular mop-but I was also pondering if those swiffer wet mops work well on tile -or are they too costly to continue buying all the refills-etc. So now that you know some of the ways I clean my house-what are the ways you clean your house and what have you found cleans best or is easiest or less time consuming??? Please share-with a new baby coming-I really would be interested in other options.

The Naming Game

As I am entering my third tri-mester, time seems to be flying and I am starting to think of baby names. Right now Joe and I are finding it difficult to agree on names-as usual. Obviously with the girls' names-I like traditional names that aren't outdated but also that have normal spellings. So I am open for suggestions for both boy and girl names. I am also curious what you think I will have Girl or Boy? So I have added a poll on the left of my blog-so if you want to guess, have fun! Ofcourse I may be adding more polls later like hair color, eye color etc-it will be exciting for sure to finally see what this little one is and what he/she will look like. 14 more weeks!!

Snow Day!!

We woke up to about 3 inches of the white stuff!! While Brooke went down for a nap, I let the older girls go outside and play in it. *I heard we were to have some rain later-so knew this might be their only chance.* Afterwards they came in all wet and enjoyed some hot chocolate followed by a nice warm bath. Loving today!

Christmas

Making the Cookies for Santa

I thought I'd put a picture of me in here-for once.

All Santa's Loot

All smiles-she knew I had the camera ofcourse and hammed it up as usual!If she could jump for Joy-she does!

My favorite gift to give out this year was Whitneys-she has been pleading with me all year to sign her up for basketball. We haven't been able to fit extras like this in the budget for quite some time but through a little christmas miracle-we were able to sign her up for winter basketball. So we bought her a basketball and some shorts that she we found on clearance and wrapped them up with the registration form on it.

She was so excited when she found out-can't you tell??

Gingerbread Girls and Boys

One of my favorite things to do during the Christmas season is to make cookies. Since Sunday we have been making Gingerbread boys and girls. This was my first time making these fun cookies and since I didn't have a cookie cutter I used a stencil and hand cut them all. I think they turned out pretty cute! Luckily for our tummies, none of them have run away yet. Tomorrow night we will be doing the traditional sugar cookies for Santa!

Wow I just noticed that this is my 300th post...crazy.

Today I feel so blessed

From my blogworld I have learned recently of a tragedy that has happened to someone I don't even know. But learning of it has made me even more deeply appreciate how much I have in my life. This friend of a blogger friend lost her husband and two children to a house fire-she was able to get out with her step daughter but the rest of her family did not survive. I can only imagine the heartbreak if that was to happen to me and have been teary eyed all morning thinking about this dear woman and the challenges that face her. You can read more about the story Here.

I feel everything happens for a reason and sometimes we are blessed to know the reasons and sometimes we don't ever know. I have seen many small miracles in my life and as I sat this morning holding my youngest (she isn't feeling well today) and rocking her I couldn't help but feel that being a mother is one of the greatest miracles I experience everyday. Too bad it takes sweet moments like when our children fall asleep on our laps or the laughter we hear from them and sadly, the loss of someone to help us remember that.

Everyone has new years resolutions-lose weight, do more acts of service, save up money for a vacation, etc. But my goal -and hopefully it is something that will stay as a habit with me, is to always remember the blessings that are mine and to do as Elder Bednar encouraged us in the last Oct conference ;"Express love and show it."

I never want to question whether my children and husband know how much I love them and how proud I am of them. They are so special to me and I hope that I will be able to show them that more than I do now-and also to find many ways to express it as well.

Say Cheese!

Can you tell this girl loves the Camera?? What a Ham!

Stretch Marks and Stuff

I am really excited about the changes to report so far-no more excessive saliva, sensitivity to smells have decreased (not totally gone-but way better than before), and my stomach isn't churning at all times of the day anymore. Almost 6 months along and I feel that I have made it over the hill and am on my way down. I am one that gains all baby weight up front in my stomach-not anywhere else. Most women have the lower tailbone pain that feels like your hips are being split in two. With each of my previous pregnancies I have ribs that slipped out of place in my middle back as well. Mostly due to hormones making everything more flexible to make room for baby-added to the months of being sick and laying in bed-no exercise, they just slide out and it's really painful -as my stomach is getting larger, there isn't much I can do to put them back in place. I do physical therapy exercises to help me lesson that.

Rigtht now-I have one out of place and it's affecting my right hip-which i think is out of place as well. I am going to try to get into a chiropracter to get adjusted as best as I can before it gets worse. My hip went out with Brooke and I remember after she was born it was still out (probably because she got stuck and the dr. literally twisted and yanked to get her shoulders out) Say OUCH. I remember at times I would put weight on my right leg-it would give out on me -which scared me knowing I was carrying an infant most the time. I always made sure I had something to lean on for support. It was horrible. I really don't want to deal with that again.

My dr will induce me early with this one-no matter how much I don't want to. My kids have jumped 1 1/2 pounds with each one and that would make this baby roughly 11 1/2 lbs-no thanks, I'll pass. For those of you who wonder if it's because I gain alot during my pregnancies, this is what I have gained with each of my pregnancies and how big each of the babies were:
Whitney gained 17 lbs she weighed 6 lb 14 oz (lost 20 to begin with gained that back +the 17)
Amber gained 17 lbs she weighed 8 lbs 1 oz (lost 10 " ")
Brooke gained 26 lbs she weighed 9lbs 9 oz. (lost 8 to begin with, gained it back + the 26)
Baby 4 so far 15 lbs gained (none lost-i'm scared already)

My sisters used to say that I was lucky to get morning sickness because I didn't ever gain much and didn't get any stretchmarks like them. Well I can now brag that I have my very first stretchmark ever on my stomach-right above my belly button. Not something any pregnant woman would boast of-but for me I feel with my last pregnancy it's nice to say that I have had at least one- I am sure I will get more, since I have 3 more months of stomach stretching that will occur-so sisters beware-you might get sick with your next babies...ha ha. Just kidding. I would never wish this on anyone.