Happy St. Valentine's Day!

\

Today was our best Valentine's Day yet. It was the first time I made an effort to get into it with the girls..we made crafts galore and Maria was sooo excited for the day to come. Not sure what she was expecting to happen....but this morning she exclaimed (after we finished eating cinnamon rolls) "This is the best morning I've ever had!" This afternoon we made heart shaped cookies:

And for supper we made heart shaped pizza:

The highlight of the day was Daddy coming home for supper. Usually on Tuesdays he doesn't come home because he has night class til 9:30..but today he found time in between classes to grace us with his presence:)  And he came bearing gifts!

Roses for his three girls: Maria was delighted-her first time receiving flowers!

With her cards from Daddy

Maria's cards from Daddy:) On them he wrote things that he loves about her:)

 The whole supper Maria kept saying "We have such a special Daddy! I love you so much Daddy!" It sure makes putting an effort into things enjoyable when they are appreciated in such a fashion:) 

       Hope everyone else had an equally pleasing day!

35 weeks!

So here I am at 35 weeks! Getting so close! 

So I am beginning to realize that this baby will have to come out of me somehow within the next 7 weeks.......there is no getting out of it! Needless to say I am freaking out. I hate not knowing when it will happen...or how it will happen..it could be like the other two, or it could be vastly different! Just trust in the Lord, right?! 

Just for fun, here is me at 35 weeks with Maria 5 years ago:

I think I've gained about 25 lbs less this time around! Thank goodness!

One of those days.....

Today was one of those days. The kind where when I finally get the kids in bed, and the house is quiet, I am left with a sense of failure.
   Last post I talked about how easy my kids were at their current ages. Clearly I was having a good day. Today I have to admit that my kids are frustrating me to no end. I feel like I've tried and tried and nothing is working.  Fellow moms out there: I need your advice!
    My two and a half year old is mostly a really sweet kid. But bedtime is driving me crazy. She's always been pretty annoying to put to bed, dragging the process out as long as she can. "I need some more water!" "I need to say goodnight!" " I need to say I love you!" etc. etc....... And I have to admit that rather than put my foot down and say "only one drink of water!" or "you already said goodnight 3 times!!" most of the time it is so much easier to just give in to the little stinker because she is so darn stubborn. So this has long been a problem. And then we had the bright idea of setting up her "big girl bed". At first it was fine, and she didn't get out by herself much. Then she started to want to do everything by herself - get her own water, climb in bed, get her dollies, and tuck herself in. Fine. But all this has to be done without anyone else in the room. And do you think she does any of it in a timely manner? No way. Left to herself, she would come out a million times to "say goodnight", so that I finally have to go in and demand she get in bed... but then she insists she has to "do it herself"...and of course if I put my foot down, which I am definitely inclined to do, she has a huge fit and cannot get over the fact that she didn't get in bed by herself and will scream and scream and scream and scream and scream. And the exact same thing will happen every. single. night. AND every. single. nap. And I'm tired of it..but don't know what else to do to get this kid to listen.
   And then there's my four and a half year old. Again, she's a sweet kid. At least on days when she wakes up in a good mood. But some days she has the hardest time listening. So over and over she gets in trouble. And every time it goes like this: ex. Maria hits her sister. Mommy says "Maria, that's a two minute time out." Maria throws herself on the ground screaming, "Nooooo I don't want a time out!!!!" Mommy: "Maria, go to your room now or I will make the time out longer." Maria: still screaming. Mommy: "Ok, that's three minutes." Maria: still screaming and running around "I don't want a time out!!!!!!!" Mommy: "four minutes..." Maria: runs into her room, and then back out still screaming. Mommy: "Five....six....seven..." Maria: still screaming and still not in her room. Mommy: "eight, nine..."and all the way to twenty, sometimes higher...until Maria finally slams the door to her room and continues to scream for at least five of the twenty minutes. Afterward, she apologizes and we have a nice little talk about how she has to listen and not throw fits, because if she hadn't thrown a fit then she would have only been in there for two minutes, which is really very short. And Maria seems to perfectly understand this. Until the next incident happens an hour later. And the exact same scenario ensues. Now, I have always considered Maria a smart kid....but how can she not get this, time and time again?! Am I expecting too much out of her?
    So between these two things, I feel like I have to be constantly mad at someone. And I hate it! I know I need a new approach, but I just don't know what that is. I feel like a) I am an awful mother, b) my kids are awful, or c) I am an awful mother and that's why my kids are awful kids.
  HELP!!!!!!!!

Living in the moment, skating, and 32 weeks

Today I am mourning the loss of the weekend. We had so. much. fun. I am really trying to treasure this time - before school gets too busy so Shane is actually able to take a whole weekend off, and before life gets too crazy adding a newborn into the mix. All too often I find myself counting down the days til the baby arrives, but I know I need to stop and enjoy the right now - this time with our two girls. They are at such easy and wonderful ages (for the most part..hehe..right now I'm forgetting about all the tantrums and stubbornness....). In short, I need to live in the moment, instead of always waiting for something.

So this weekend I enjoyed our little family. We did errands, went to the market, had quiet time while the girls napped, got things done around the house, made delicious hamburgers on the barbecue in the middle of winter, and finally, to cap it all off, on Saturday evening we went skating on the outdoor rink downtown. We  were so bundled up that we weren't even cold, and there were only a handful of other skaters there. And the  girls stepped onto the ice and were instantly at least twice as good as the last time we went (we've been about 3 or 4 times this winter). Shane and I were amazed at how Maria flew around the ice, skating faster and faster by herself, on the bumpy outdoor ice. And little Felicity forsook my hand in favour of scooting around by herself too! 

In other news, here are the babe and I at 32 weeks!

Happy Monday everyone! 

Good for Us

This morning I was doing this prenatal workout recommended to me by the wonderful Christy from Fountains of Home and Grace from Camp Patton. Its a pretty good workout, although I wasn't left feeling exhausted, which is how I like to feel at the end of a workout......but I guess I'm not supposed to push myself that hard anymore? Boo hoo...another reason I can't WAIT to be not pregnant! Anyway, my two and four year olds stayed quietly by my side for the entire 50 minutes! I'm used to Maria doing this, as she is a very dedicated exerciser, since its "good for us". But Felicity usually gets tired after about 2 minutes...so having them both by my side today was too precious. They were so focused and into it. Maria would stop every now and then to eat some carrots, broccoli and celery I had given them for a snack, or to drink some water and then she'd say "Mommy, I'm doing three things that are good for us! Eating vegetables, drinking water, and exercising!"

30 Weeks

Here I am at 30 weeks!! And there's Maria who is quite the funny child...imitating her mother....

So only 10 more weeks! Or probably 12 more..if I tell myself that then I won't be as anxious when I'm overdue..........right? 

I'm definitely looking forward to having this baby. Strangely I 'm not nervous about the whole labour thing...yet. I feel like I should be, but I probably won't remember just how wonderful it all is until I start feeling those lovely contractions. Oh joy.

Christmas

Christmas was blast this year, as all 6 of my sisters and their husbands and kids made it to my parents' house!

The seven girls! The three of us in the front row are all preggo:)

The 7 grandkids! Sooo hard to get a picture of them all!

Highlights for me:
  Sister time. I adore my sisters and hate that most live so far away! I soaked up every second.
  Watching the girls play with their cousins. I love that there are so many of them close in age, and they all get along so well!
   Having my husband back for two weeks. AMAZING.
   Christmas baking. We did a ton, which means that I ate a ton.......
   The camera that Shane and I gave each other. We are both having sooo much fun with it! And we took about 500 pictures in 2 days. haha.

Its always so sad when its all over and everyone leaves. We never know when we'll all be together again. Maria is already looking forward to next Christmas though..."Next Christmas we'll make some more ornaments Mommy", or "We'll see Emma next Christmas"...I don't think she understands just how far away that is..haha.
 It was really nice, after everyone left, to spend the last couple days of Shane's break at home with our little family. We tried to use up every minute, getting things done, (like buying an SUV!), having quality time with the kids, playing games, going out to eat, going bowling (at which Maria legitimately beat me! haha!). And now he's back at school. sob.

And now I must go and tuck Felicity back in bed. She's supposed to be napping, but she's singing "Angels We Have Heard on High" at the top of her lungs. At least she's not out of bed, I guess. We converted her crib to a toddler bed a couple days ago. It makes her seem like such a big girl! Now I have no kids in diapers, or a crib, or a high chair. Guess I'm ready for this baby! Adios!