Baby Update

 

 

I had a doctor's appointment and ultrasound this past week.  Everything looks good!  Here's a picture of baby's profile and abdomen.  His/her chin is down on the chest and the feet were all squished up there too, though they don't show in this picture.  I'll add some other details below the picture.

 

Friday, the 7th, marked 20 weeks of pregnancy.  I'm feeling pretty good, though worn out from some of the busier days we've had lately.  I think that's more December related than anything though!  I have gained 6 pounds, which still puts me 5 pound below my pre-pregnancy weight.  That's pretty good I thought!  I certainly had a little extra to lose, so nothing to worry about.  Baby's measurements put him or her at 20 weeks 2 days, which was 4 days ahead of gestational age.  Each measurement was about 60%, and all was proportionate.  No really long legs or big head just yet!  Baby weighed 0.78 pounds, however many ounces that is - 12ish.  At 20 weeks, baby should weigh about 10.5 ounces.  I've been thinking a lot about when this baby will be born.  Maggie was 8 days late, and then Aaron was 3.5 weeks early.  No predictions here.  And baby's heartrate was 140, which is right in the middle of what the old wives tales say for boys and girls.  Looks like baby will keep us guessing right up until the end.  I have no suspicions or mother's intuition this time around, yet.  Each day I'm feeling the baby moving more and more, and it shouldn't be too much longer until Tim and the kids can feel it too!  Norah's especially looking forward to that. 

Christmas Goodies

Norah did ALL of the green sugar cookies this year!

#1 official candy unwrapper.

Ah, the perks of being a helper!

THREE helpers!  Aaron just jumped right in.  He saw what the girls were doing and that was it.  He had to be involved.

I wouldn't suggest mixing 4 kinds of cookies at once unless your children are sleeping!  Thankfully, I didn't have too many distractions and I don't think I forgot anything.  They all turned out anyway!

Our Godchild Jonathan

I haven't visited a newborn in the hospital in FORever!  Jonathan Andrew Frank was born November 25.  His parents are another Pastor and his wife who live near us.  Jonathan weighed 10 pounds!

Here's the happy family.  Big brother Samuel is missing though.  He's about 2 months older than Aaron.

Tim and I are Jonathan's sponsors.  Tim wasn't able to make it for the service, but he hurried over as soon as he was finished with church.  December 2.

Maggie and Norah both had a turn holding Jonathan too - we had to steal him away from his great grandpa though!

Assorted November Pictures and Thanksgiving

 

Yes, I did take a picture of the wall Aaron colored.  Third child, first crayon on the wall.

 

Aaron wasn't so happy I scolded him and then tried to make him stand by the wall to take a picture of him with his masterpiece.

Aaron was a very tired boy after Grandma and Uncle Josh visited.  This is lunch, just a few hours after they left.

We had a "Girls Afternoon" and went shopping for Christmas presents.  The 11 Chase cousins do a gift exchange, and it was extra fun this year for the girls to pick things out themselves.  They also helped me wrap the presents.

Aaron looks like such a big boy after his first buzz.  Nothing too short, but still a pretty dramatic difference.

Thanks Grandma and Auntie Jessi for the fashionable Thanksgiving outfits!

Aaron got a shirt too.  Happy Thanksgiving!

It's tough to get all those cousins together and behaving for a picture.  I think this was the silly picture, though it's pretty close to what all the "nice" pictures looked like.  Cousin Peyton had already escaped by the time we did this one, just as Aaron had managed to slip away at the beginning and nobody noticed for several shots!

Aaron's Big Boy Shoes

 

Thanks Grandma!

 

(Look at me with two posts so close together!)

Let's Get Caught Up OR I Finally Feel Like Doing Anything

Hello again... sorry it's been so long.  I vow to do better.  In the last 2 or 3 weeks I have finally started to feel like getting things done, and updating this blog is one of those things.  Here are some pictures from the last couple months.  They're in reverse order, so the most recent are first.  I'm too tired tonight to try to rearrange them all...

 

Happy Halloween from Cinderella, the Cowboy/Sheriff, and Snow White.  (Yippee for winter jackets underneath!)

We recently had a vacation at Camp Okoboji for one whole week.  It was wonderful, except that it rained for 3.5 days.  We didn't get to the playground or hiking trails as much as we would have liked, but we rocked the games, crafts, and stories.  Here Norah is reading to Maggie and Aaron before bedtime.

We visited Tim's Godparents on our way home from Camp.  Isn't this a lovely family picture?  It's been a while since we've had one.  I guess we're all looking at the other camera though...

They had quite a few barn/farmyard cats and kittens.  All three kids LOVED them.  Maybe we should get one.  It could eat all the mice that seem to want to live in our house.  Ick!

Is this a senior picture pose or what?!

Pure joy on that boy's face!

Norah played soccer this Fall on a team of girls ages 4-6.  She was the youngest, and it was rough at first.  I'm not sure she really gets the game yet, though by the end she'd do everything except try to get after the ball when it was among other kids.  We'll work on the aggression next year!  Norah cried for days once we made her understand soccer was over for the year.

Aaron has to do everything like his sisters!  I'm not kidding... he even cries to have a pony tail put in his hair sometimes.

And the boy already doesn't listen when Mommy says, "Don't do that."  This still makes me laugh!

Norah is enjoying being homeschooled and having Mom for her teacher.  Here she's doing some math work with manipulatives.  Maggie and Aaron are big fans of math too!  Norah has terrific handwriting, a great mind for math, and LOVES to read.  She'll have no trouble working her way through all the Kindergarten (at only a young age 4!!!) material we have planned for this year.

Aaron got his first haircut in September.  We were very sad to see all his precious curls cut off, but they are coming back a little now that he needs another trim.  This picture reflects well how Aaron felt about the whole thing.  I held him on my lap and was covered in his hair after trying to wrestle him still the whole time.

Just in case you missed our big announcement!  We will be welcoming our 4th baby at the end of April, approximately.  As I said before, my energy has returned.  As of today I am 15 and a half weeks.  My next appointment is Wednesday, but all is well so far.  I lost 11 pounds (still had plenty of cushion, don't worry!), and have now gained 1 or 2 back.

Big things in our pretty boring life... Aaron isn't taking a morning nap anymore.  This was a common site at lunch for a couple weeks until Aaron got used to it.  The girls thought this was just hilarious, and Aaron would get so annoyed when their giggling would wake him back up.  :)

Noree-Oree-Oreo Turns 4!

We had quite the weeklong celebration for Norah's birthday this year.  It was a whirlwind, and I think we're all still recovering!  We went on vacation with Tim's family for a few days Sunday through Thursday and came home in time for Tim and Norah to catch the last two days of VBS Thursday and Friday.  My parents and sister arrived Friday evening (that's a party in itself!).  Saturday we had some friends over for a great party, and Grammy and Papa were able to spend half the day here on their way home from vacation.  Sunday was our church's Mission Festival at the campgrounds nearby and we made a trip to Sioux City for Chuck E. Cheese and delicious frozen yogurt at Peachwave (Daddy had to leave early to conduct a funeral prayer service).  Monday was a little more low-key for her actual birthday day.  We fired up her new waffle maker from Grammy and Papa for breakfast.  It makes them heart shaped!  Grandma, Grandpa, and Jessi left and friends arrived to spend part of the day.  We played Memory and Life, watched some Olympics, and opened up Norah's new Bakin' Treats Pla-Doh set... among all the other running around those kids did.  Dad was gone most of the day for the funeral.  Norah picked her lunch of SHAPED mac 'n cheese (usually we're too cheap for that!) and hot dogs, and we ate supper in the living room while watching Norah's new Dora DVD she got from Maggie and Aaron.

Norah had a lot of help opening her gifts.  She got some great ones!

This is the cute little birthday outfit I made for Norah.  She's really into skirts right now, and I thought this was SO cute.  It also ended up going really well with the Candyland theme we chose after I bought the fabric.

Look at all that sugar on top of sugar on that cake!

We went to Chuck E. Cheese Sunday evening with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Jessi.

The girls enjoyed lots of fun and games, and Auntie Jessi and I enjoyed using up a lot of their tokens! 

Monday was Norah's actual birthday.  Tim had a funeral, and we had friends over.  Their parents were both helping out too.  Norah's other friend (the boys' sister) joined us after lunch.

Giant Candyland board!

And "Pin the Cherry on the Sundae" were our activities during her party.  Here are all the party-goers together.  In case you're wondering... NO, I didn't get a better picture!

No, the girls haven't disappeared!

I haven't been taking many pictures lately.  The camera batteries were dead and we had issues with the battery charger.  Sorry!  But these are pictures from the last month or two of my sweet girls.  I didn't realize until I did the last post about Aaron that quite a few of the latest posts were all about him.  Oops!  Well, these are apparently in random order.  And it's quarter after midnight so I'm not taking the time to fix them.  Darn giant Diet Dr. Pepper at 9 pm!

Looks comfy, right?  Maggie actually fell asleep like this, and I ran for the camera before I moved her back onto the bed.

Bored, girls?  Okay, let's wash the van!

Really, really?!  You took the couch cushions off again after I repeatedly told you not to?  Okay... as long as they're off, why don't you vaccum all the junk out!



Doesn't our new sprinkler look like fun?  And yes, they are in their undies.  Going inside to put on swim suits was just too much work for them.

Soaking wet, but much cooler!

The Sioux Falls Zoo brought a skunk to the library's summer reading program. 

It's so nice to have a willing helper for EVERY thing I do.  How long do you think before she realizes chores aren't so much fun?

We went to Bay Beach in June when we visited Grandma and Grandpa.  Kids had a blast, even Aaron got to ride once!

Norah said, "Mom, we DESTROYED that cotton candy!"  I think Maggie ate most of it though.

Our haul from the Moville 125th Anniversary parade.  Yes, Norah did help me sort it all into piles to be stored in an organized manner.  I may have OCD issues that I shouldn't be passing on to my kids, but look how proud she is!