Baby Update

A recent photobooth shoot at a company event.

Sheesh.  After one announcement back in October or so I really haven't mentioned Baby #3 so I figure it's time for a dedicated blog entry for this wonderful child.  I'll start with the key items people always want to know:

When am I due:  February 14 but my guess is the 9th

What is it:  A human boy

Any Names:  Nope, it never worked out to pick one in advance with the others so we just have our long list

A couple of hints from the list?  Nope, appreciate the interest but opinions and general thoughts are not necessary.

How am I feeling:  (hate, hate, hate this question).  Standard answer "Fine, how are you?".  That said, I'm ok but will admit this is the hardest of the three pregnancies.  No complications or concerns though.  Once again everything is measuring up perfectly average. 

Emmett and Alexandra are both thrilled about "New Baby No Name" coming and we are prepping them for the day that I head to the hospital.  Alexandra will be fine but I have to admit I"m a little worried about Emmett.  He's a mama's boy and his morning time routine is pretty important to him.  I'm a big part of that routine so we'll see how things go.  It's not like I can avoid it so we'll just have to manage.

I wrap up client work next Tuesday and hope to have a little time to catch up on office work, spend some time with the kids individually and rest before labor.  This is the one thing I missed out on with both other pregnancies.  It just so happened that I finished up work a day or two before going into labor.  With Alexandra I had two days to catch up on internal work which was just enough to complete key items and with Emmett I finished on Friday only to go into labor by Sunday night.

The one thing I'm mostly looking forward to is spending some extended time at home with the kids.  Although not quite ready to be a stay-at-home,  since I really enjoy my work, I will admit I'm ready to spend some quality time with them. I may even have more blogging time then!

I'll keep you posted on the actual arrival of New Baby No Name!

Christmas Vacation

I think I'm probably one of the few moms that is actually NOT looking forward to school starting up tomorrow. I thoroughly enjoyed all the time I got to spend with my kids over the last 10 days (my company has the awesome benefit of giving everyone off between Christmas and New Years). Below is a quick summary of our adventures over the last several days:
- Wednesday before Christmas - Opa and Oma arrive and join us for Moroccan dinner. Great fun and good food.

- Thursday before Christmas - Tante Jacqueline, Uncle Adam and cousins Naomi and Julia arrive at the hotel. Too many drinks at dinner meant they didn't quite make it to our house that night but that was probably good, Alexandra started throwing up around 7pm (somehow getting every nook and cranny in the bathroom). New bunk beds were set up around 7:30 and Alexandra ended up sleeping on the ground after all that.

- Friday before Christmas - Alexandra wasn't feeling too great and threw up one more time in the morning so BRAT diet was implemented. By lunch she was feeling good enough that we decided to move forward with the plan of going to OMSI & seeing the holiday light show with the cousins. Regrouped at the house for pizza and a showing of the Polar Express.

- Christmas eve - Alexandra throws up again in the morning and I'm now convinced it's anxiety. Food prep is in full swing to prepare two breakfast casseroles (for Christmas day), two soups (for Christmas day) and two stews (for Christmas day). The intent was to have healthy, from scratch heat and serve type meals. Then dinner prep for Christmas eve dinner. Nana, auntie Heather and friend Nathan come over for dinner and some initial gift giving. Emmett gets a leapster and Alexandra an easy bake oven. They are both over the moon. Cookies are set out for Santa and kids scurry off to bed. Cousins arrive for sleep over.

- Christmas Morning - ahhhh. After much anticipation the day is here. Alexandra gets her much requested American Girl doll and Emmett a ride on firetruck. Emmett is clearly overwhelmed by the day and acts like his body is made out of suction cups that only stick to mom and dad. Lots of play with toys of course and some fresh air by walking the dogs.

On a geo-caching adventure

- Day after Christmas - more play with toys, a dip in the hotel pool, more play with toys and out to dinner at the Italian.

Playing Pooh Sticks (stick races)

- Tuesday - bowling at Big Al's by popular request from Alexandra who wanted "to try real bowling, not just on the Wii". Cousins depart for California and Oma and Opa stop by for dinner. Now Emmett starts throwing up. Unlike Alexandra who fared pretty well he is dry heaving and very uncomfortable. We sleep together and by 2am Mom and Dad are in the same boat. Let me tell you, throwing up while pregnant is no fun. I've now suffered through Noravirus when Alexandra was 2 months old, bad stomach bug when very pregnant with Emmett and mild stomach bug while pregnant with "New Baby No Name". All three of us were feeling a bit better by morning. No more throwing up but clearly eating hurt for all of us. Come to find out that the cousins and Oma were also sick. Apparently Alexandra had a bug after all.

- Wednesday - mellow day to allow everyone to recover a little more. Baking with the easy bake over, playing board games and making lego cars. The rest of the week was more fun with trips to the playground and a big geocaching adventure where we found 4 caches (all by foot).

Every adventurer must stop for a snack

Other mentionable events - we got great tickets to the Nutcracker this year. Unfortunately Emmett was sick (with Roseola we later found out) so he couldn't make it. We did invite our friend Gabrielle and her mom so the tickets were put to good use. This illness also resulted in Emmett's first hospital visit as his fever was 105.6 and wouldn't drop after Motrin and a cold bath. Once we got to the hospital his fever was 102.6 so I felt like a fool. We really had been trying to get it down for an hour!!

And of course every adventurer has books packed just in case...

Now I'm mentally preparing to head back to work.  On the positive side, it's the homestretch.  About 4 more weeks of client work and then 2 weeks or so (depending on baby arrival date) of catch up / prep time before some extended time off. 

Taekwondo Testing

After months of practice, today was Alexandra's belt testing.  She was pretty nervous about the test but she passed with flying colors. In fact she got an A+ on her focus and balance. Now she's asking questions about her progress to a black belt. Questions like "how will we know how to get to the place where I go for black belt testing?" Although I appreciate her concerns, we have a little time to figure that out! For now a quick video that is badly edited by Mom. If I don't do it tonight though, I'll never get to it...  

A conversation with Emmett

Me: Emmett, can you grab some socks before you head down?
E: No, you do it.
Me: I'm not going to get them for you honey
E: Me neither
Me:  It's very cold out, you don't want to have cold feet do you
E:  It's ok mom, I'll wear warm shoes

Obviously I can't mimic his cute little accents but it's clear that Emmett's vocabulary has increased a lot!

Funny Moments in Life

So often I have these moments where I realize parenthood totally changes what is important.  This morning I was just about to start the morning ritual to get Alexandra out of bed when I realized I wasn't sure if Josh had moved 'The Elf on the Shelf'.  As he was just about to step into the shower I dashed in (ok, waddled probably) asking him somewhat panicked "did you move the elf?'.   No he says as he quickly gets back into some clothes, heads downstairs to move the elf while I get Alexandra up. 

Phew.  Crisis averted!  For tonight the elf is already moved so we're good to go.

Let the Holiday Season Begin!

I have to admit that when it comes to the holiday season that I love this time of year.  I hate shopping in crowds so do little of that, but I just enjoy the simple traditions.  We have been hosting Thanksgiving dinner for a long time and continued the tradition this year.  As always we had some old friends, some new friends and of course the Bickel side of the family. I always enjoy not having to travel anywhere. 

We had a great time and the food was good, and got to the table hot so I was happy.  The kids had their own little table this year and at one point they had all us adults under the table having a 'party' with them.  Once the kids were in bed (way too late!) there was the drinking of a yard of ale.  People had fun.  It was good.

The day after we always go to our local tree farm to pick our Christmas tree.  I love this little farm. They charge $25 for a tree, doesn't matter what size, and they are all nobles (a requirement in our house).  There's no fancy rides for kids, just a basic traditional tree farm.  We had a tour of the owner's collector cars this year which probably includes the premium experience.  Love, love, love this place because of it's simplicity.

Saturday was the civil war game, which the kids and I skipped out on due to crowds, cold etc... instead we visited Sinterklaas at the Dutch store.  Alexandra had no fear this year and went right up to hug him.  With Alexandra being that open and excited, Emmett was even willing to go up and give him a hug.  Santa pictures might just work out this year.

Tomorrow we'll decorate the tree and hopefully complete the transformation of the house.  We may just need to bake some cookies.  Then back to work for three weeks.  I'm already looking forward to the 10 days off at Christmas (best company benefit ever!).

Halloween

The fact that I am blogging about the event indicates that we made it through!  I have to say this particular holiday comes with a lot of activities and the weekend itself was hectic to say the least.

The weekend started with our company Halloween party which was at the Pumpkin Patch down the street(conveniently picked by me!).  This was followed by the school's Trick or Treat event. 

Saturday was the Duck Football game which meant leaving at 7:30am.  We actually left at 7:35am since swim registration opened at 7:30.  After tailgating, the game and then dinner we finally came home at 7:45pm.  With all the sugar (which was actually not that much)  and excitement it was no surprise that Alexandra had a bad stomachache and ended up throwing up several times in the middle of the night.  By Sunday morning all was well again though and she recovered quick enough to make it to Sunday's birthday party.

Sunday morning was bliss as the kids were perfectly entertained playing together for hours.  For over three hours I would just hear giggles and laughs while I cleaned up.  It was awesome. 

Monday I got to attend the class Harvest Festival.  Put me in front of a room of 100 adults and I have no problem presenting or having a discussion.  Put me in front of 20 five year olds and it's a different story.  I felt totally awkward!  The kids had fun though and all was well.  After work the whole family dressed up and headed to the party at the TaeKwonDo studio where Alexandra won an award for best movie costume. This was finally followed by trick-or-treating.  Emmett had a blast knocking on the door and saying trick or treat!  Alexandra figured out last year that the faster you moved the more you could get so she raced ahead with her friends.  We enjoyed seeing Emmett work his cuteness with all the neighbors.