House Party

Today I hosted a "Huggies Pull Up House Party."

If you have never heard about a house party, they are REALLY cool. If you ever get invited to one, always say yes! It is a new way of advertising where people host parties advertising whatever the product is, and you walk away with TONS of free stuff just for attending! It is not like direct sales where they try to sale you things at the party at all, it's just a way for companies to get their name out and to get people talking about their product. And, like I said, you get FREE stuff!

Anyway, it was a lot of fun getting some friends (and their kids) together- we had a great time! It was fun, too, because it was just Claire's party so we got to have her friends over and it was all for her- that was nice. Ben took Audra roller skating on a daddy-daughter date, so don't worry- she was not neglected.

I pretty much ran this party like I run all of my parties.

We started with some coloring:

 Then we read a book (a pretty good one for potty training):

 We then did a craft and made a train potty chart, but I didn't get any pictures of Claire making hers. Oops!

Here is Claire playing her guitar while doing the potty dance:

 We had a potty for the kids to practice sitting on- doesn't Claire look completely ready to potty train?

 And, of course, the best part- snack time:

Despite Claire's lack of smiles, she really had a great time. She was so sweet and so excited to have her friends come over. It was really sweet. It was also really nice to be able to do something just for her- it's nice to have that special time with her.

The party was a success! I was very impressed with Huggies and the party packs they gave everybody- they included a training DVD with the potty dance and tons of great advice, the guitars (which the kids LOVED) to help with the potty dance, potty charts, fantastic coupons, and a lot of other things.

Claire's Talents

Claire has many, many talents- but today I was able to capture two.

Talent #1:

She is very good at puzzles- really, really good. She does these complicated puzzles without any help. We got her a bunch of puzzles for Christmas and she will spend a couple of hours a day working on them. At first I had to help her, but not anymore. Perhaps we have a budding engineer- Ben sure hopes so.

And talent #2:

 Avoiding pictures. She has gotten VERY skilled at it. As soon as she catches a camera in her peripheral vision, she darts away. It is quite impressive. Nevertheless, after much cajoling and having the camera hidden, I was able to quickly snap this cute shot of her:

Got Cowboy?

Today was "Cowboy" day at school. We really don't have anything country in our house, so it was a little hard to come up with something, but I think Audra turned out pretty cute:

What To Do During A Snowstorm

We woke up to about 7 inches of snow. It's hard to tell, because the wind has the snow blowing everywhere. Then, it has been snowing all day- in fact, it is snowing worse now then it has the whole time. We have at least a foot of snow now, with at least a few more inches coming. Even for Denver, that is quite a bit.

So what are little girls to do?

We started with a craft. Audra made a kitty house for her baby stuffed kitten Princess Katty.

 Claire painted a regular picture:

 Then we headed outside where the girls "painted" the snow (water with food coloring in a spray bottle):

 Sweeping the driveway:

 Digging holes:

 Making snow angels:

Getting completely covered with snow and freezing yourself so you have to cry and come inside to get warm:

I am guessing tomorrow will be very similar!

Music Class

Claire and I have been taking a music class at one of the local rec centers. She  has really enjoyed it- especially the stamp that she gets at the end. She enjoys showing off her stamps.

Surprisingly, she behaves very well in class. She sits on my lap and follows directions and is mostly nice to all the other kids. She talks about music class all week. Today was her last class, and I need to figure out what to sign her up for next.

Here's a couple pictures:

 A favorite for all the kids was a big drum they got to beat on:

Here's something else going on with Claire...

She is OBSESSED with the word "poop." I thought this was a boy thing. I was wrong. She thinks it is hilarious to go around saying "poop" and even made me come up with a song about poop that she wants me to sing all the time (don't ask how that got started). Because it was right after I was teaching the kids a new song at church, this was the song I came up with:

I came to earth with power to choose.
Good choices bless me and my family too.
Poop poop poop poop poop poop poop
Poop poop poop poop poop poop poop poop.

She and Audra crack up and Claire keeps saying, "again! Again!"

Ben told me I was being a bad mom by ruining a nice church song.

So I came up with a poop song to The Beatles "Hey, Jude." Ben was not happy. I told him he could come up with a poop song. The great things we get to do as parents!

A Little Pregnancy Update

I never really documented anything about my previous pregnancies, so I thought I would document just a little of how I am feeling now that I am about 22 weeks along.

Cravings: Dairy, dairy, and more dairy. We are going through a gallon more of milk a week than we used to, and I can't get enough of that or cheese, or yogurt, or whatever. The only other things that I'll have cravings for are cold salads and fruit.

Sleep: Sleep has started to be difficult- and it takes me a long time to get comfortable at night to be able to fall asleep. It drives Ben nuts because I am tossing and turning, but I can't help it.

Weight gain: As you can see from the not so pretty picture, I am definitely starting to show, but I look more fat than pregnant- I am at that awkward stage where you can't quite ask "are you pregnant?" because I might just be fat- you all know what I mean. I'm really not all that concerned about weight gain this pregnancy, because since I know it's my last pregnancy I know I'll be doing some great fitness and diet plans to get back to my marriage weight (and let's not forget all the nursing and pumping I will do- that's my favorite diet plan because it is so easy!)

Sickness: Outside of those first few weeks, I haven't felt sick at all.

Pains: I do have "Pelvic Girdle Pain." I looked it up the other night and I definitely have all the symptoms. Basically, my ligaments in the pelvic region are stretching too much and causing pain to walk. And move. And roll over in bed. And sometimes even to sit. It will probably only intensify as time goes on, so I am not looking forward to that. The cure is to give birth. With the other two I had bad sciatica, and I had a little bit of that but now the sciatica is gone and I just have this other pain. Oh, well- it's better than nausea.

Swelling: I am sure the ankle swelling will be coming soon- I always get HUGE ankles. As of yet, however, I haven't had much swelling at all except in my fingers. They have swollen just enough that I can't wear my wedding ring anymore. 

Baby Kicking: I have actually been feeling the baby kick since about week 16 or 17. I know that seems early, but I did. She usually kicks the most right as I am about to fall asleep, but it isn't enough to keep me awake or anything. It's fun to feel the baby moving, though. Audra likes to try to feel the baby as well- it's very cute! She doesn't quite kick strong enough for anyone else to feel it, but Ben did feel a few little flutters a couple of weeks ago.

Overall mood: I haven't had any weird hormonal mood swings or anything (at least that I am aware of- maybe Ben disagrees!). I'm tired ALL THE TIME, but overall I feel great. My past pregnancies were pretty easy outside of the sciatica, and this one is the same. I really can't complain- I'm lucky that way. That doesn't mean I like being pregnant- even with easy pregnancies I don't like it, but I know it could be A LOT worse, so I am grateful.

The coolest part of being pregnant (as I am sure most of you moms will agree) is realizing that I have this person inside me. The miracle of life and how people come into being is so miraculous, and it is indescribable to be a part of that. Creating this new life. It's awesome.

That pretty much sums up my pregnancy. I know it's not very exciting, but I am sure someday this little one will want to know how I felt with her growing inside of me!

Time To Celebrate

After finding out about our GIRL (thank you so much for all of the congratulations!), Ben and I headed up to Estes Park for a getaway.

Audra and Claire got to stay the night at Grandma and Grandpas- HUGE thank-yous to them for being willing to watch them overnight! As we were packing up to go, Audra got a huge pile of clothes to pack, turned to Claire and excitedly said, "We're moving in with Grandma!" Sometimes they really know how to make us feel loved.

Some friends of friends offered to let us use their cabin. It is so incredibly generous of them- this couple is the most thoughtful couple I know, and being willing to let virtual strangers use their cabin is just one very small example of all of the kindnesses they have shown us and many, many, others. We were thrilled that they let us use their cabin so we could have a night of sleep without kids waking us up. We actually got to sleep in! It was wonderful.

Anyway, we started our trip by driving into Estes Park. We went to the Stanley Hotel and went on their "ghost tour." I went on this several years ago with my former roommate Katie and her then boyfriend Ben and I am absolutely, 100% convinced this place is haunted (what do you think KT?). I was SOOOO excited to take Ben so that he would finally agree with me. Unfortunately, they have redone how they do the tours and it was more "history" than ghost stories (unless you go on the 2 hour official Ghost Story tour which they only do late at night), so Ben left completely unconvinced. We'll have to do the 2 hour tour sometime, I guess. Here are some pics of the tour:

Here is a Stanley Steamer, built in 1909:

 Here is spooky room 217- the one Stephen King stayed in when he was inspired to write "The Shining." It is said to be haunted by a former maid to that room who now unpacks peoples bags, opens doors, and shows great service to the guests (how could these stories not convince Ben that the hotel is indeed haunted???):

 This is the inside of another haunted room. In this room, somebody turns the bathroom light off and on while people shower:

 This is an underground tunnel, and employees have to enter through this tunnel. (I should explain. The tunnel we are in front of goes to nowhere and is not used for anything, but the larger tunnel that this tunnel is inside is how the employees walk through to get to and from work. Does that make sense?) How creepy is that- even without a good haunting? But, sometimes, the lights go out in the tunnel for no apparent reason. Scary!

Then we went to dinner at the only restaurant in town that was open, and we were the only guests the entire time. Estes Park is definitely in shut down mode in the winter time, which we actually liked. We don't like big crowds, so it was perfect.

After dinner we headed to the cabin. Here is a picture of it the next morning:

 

We had to park at the bottom of the driveway because it was all ice, and from here you can't really see the cabin, but you can see how beautiful the area is. 

Then this morning we went to breakfast at Dave's Diner. Here's a picture:

If you look closely, you can see the diner on the right and the Medical Marijuana Pot Dispensary on the left. We weren't sure we wanted to go to a restaurant right next to a Pot Dispensary, but we were on an adventure, so we figured "what the heck?" Everything turned out just fine.

It was nice to be away without kids and just spending some time with Ben. It was also nice to realize once again how much I LOVE just being with Ben. After 7 years, there is still nobody I would rather spend time with. I sure do love that man!