Two More Weeks..................

I'm at that point.
The point of uncomfortable squished guts and painful back.
The point of really hating to go buy more toilet paper because I pee so much I go through a roll an hour.
The point of gee, I'd really like to roll over at night and get away from hubby's snoring nose, but instead I lay here like a beached whale at the mercy of his big giant nose.
The point of really wanting to have a cute baby to cuddle while I'm up in the middle of the night instead of my tooting old dog who likes to cuddle but doesn't have that new baby smell.
The point of getting so excited for our new addition that everyone around me wants to duct tape my mouth shut so they won't have to hear one more word about diapers and labor.
The point of thinking I could never get any bigger and then I am proven wrong. Again.
The point of really hating how far away Michigan, Chicago, Wyoming and Indiana really are. why are there so many silly little states in between me and my peeps?
Speaking of Peeps, this baby better be out by Easter or I'm going postal and holding the Easter Bunny hostage.
Enough about me and my sunny personality, here's some stuff about the rest of my clan.
Ian has found a new career in donkey basketball. Yes. Ian. On a donkey. Playing basketball. Take a second and picture that. Picture the poor donkey. Picture my cop hubby trying to stay on said donkey. Picture my non-sports loving hubby playing sports on said donkey. Picture donkey getting tired of hubby and depositing said hubby onto the ground. Yes. It really was that funny. It was a fund raiser for a local school and was the funniest thing I think I've ever seen. So if the Army and Police Officer thing doesn't work out for him, he will always have this as his Plan B.
Aly has turned into a grown-up over night. She lost her first tooth and with it she has gained a new sense of responsibility. She is a tad over protective about the baby already and will daily tell me to go sit down because of the baby in my tummy. She has great plans for running the household while I am busy with the new baby, complete with 5 course meals that she is planning on cooking.
Kary is growing up too fast as well and even growing in height a little! A miracle! She is so excited to move to a new house this summer so she can get her own cow. I've tried to explain cost etc. of having a cow but she tells me not to worry about it. She must have some hidden wealth that we don't know about. I may have to check her piggy bank.......
Hopefully my next post will have lots of pictures of us with the new baby! Or of me in my new padded room.................

Just pictures!

So, I'm in a rush and the computer is not, so I'll just post some pictures from my last baby check-up. (pictures courtesy of Kim Wilson Photography. :)
Here is one of my amazing midwives, Holly, along with my mom, Aly & Kary. This is the same room that my nephew was born in 3 years ago. Sniff.
Aly and Holly checking baby's heartbeat. Yes, it is very strong and fast! Another active Takashige baby is on it's way! Baby kept kicking the feta scope and wiggling around during the check-up.

That's it for now, I'll try to get some pictures of Kary and Aly's birthdays up soon!

7 Months?? Already???

Yep, seven months pregnant. This one is really flying by! (Remind me of that the last few weeks as I turn into a unbearable, impatient, Medusa of a woman!) Here is my seven month belly picture for those who haven't had a good laugh at me in a while. Yes, I am wearing stripes. Probably not the most flattering choice for a swollen belly, but really, what is? May as well wear stripes and see what the zebras are talking about! And I must say, looking down into a tummy covered in stripes really took my mind off my ever-increasing backside. Just saying.

Anyway, I really didn't want to turn the blog into just a pregnancy blog but since that's what's going on in our house, a lot of life does revolve around it. Mostly, breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack, snack, snack, snack. The girls are at the perfect stage in life to be enjoying this whole baby thing. I am so glad we decided to have our last (yes, really this time!!) baby now. The girls adore going to the check-ups with us, Kary is quite the expert at using the feta-scope! Both of them like to play The Baby Place (the birthing center we are using) and I have hopes that they will remember the wonderful experience when they are older and become mommies. Ian is enjoying round 3 of baby as well, he is already picking out Star Trek onsies for the child. Poor child! We are both having fun watching my tummy reenact the scene from Alien even though it creeps Ian out when the baby wacks him while he's sleeping. Finally a way to wake Ian up! Heehee. I am having fun with this one too, feeling pretty good in spite of normal pregnancy discomforts. And at the end of the day when Ian rubs my feet and lets me have my own bag of potato chips, I mean, carrot sticks, I get quite happy looking forward to meeting our new addition. Boy or girl, this kid is going to be spoiled rotten!

The past month Kary turned 4. Yes, 4. That's just crazy! She is getting so big (OK, not big, but her hair is growing and she's getting more mature!) She is really loving having Gramma & Papa live so close and begs most nights for a slumber party at their "Low House". Mommy is happy to oblige often!

Aly is getting ready to turn 6 this month. 6!!! Six is a big year in our house, the year where you are allowed to chew gum and get your ears pierced. Years ago when I pulled that number out of the air, I really didn't think the day would come so quickly. It did. Why didn't I say 13???? Another exciting thing in Aly's life is that we (Ian, started it!) sent her picture to a talent agency and they accepted her! This agency is well-known and has been around for years with a great reputation and they only accept 10-15% of applicants. Aly will start by doing photo shoots and in a few years if she wants will get into commercials, etc. She was a little shy and nervous about it at first but when she was told she'd get paid and be able to wear small amounts of makeup on the shoots, she was sold! She is determined to save half her wages for a horse while we are determined to save the rest for her education fund! Kary may want to follow in Aly's footsteps in a few years, but we feel she is still to young right now. Besides, she may just end up being a rugby star. Or a ninja. Or an assassin. Who knows???

The rest of our family, the four footed furry ones, are doing good, The puppy, Gibbs, found a fun game called "Get into the shed and pull out everything u can, then litter the yard with it." He is really great at that game and the other 2 dogs are happy to help him turn the lawn into a graveyard for toys, shoes and the occasional flower pot. Now that the snow has melted and turned into rain, our yard looks really, um, lovely. Otherwise, the puppy is learning his manners and seems to be quite smart. We are hoping he'll make a great k-9 for Ian when Bosco retires.

So, that's what's new in jolly ol' Homedale right now! Now, leave your comments so I feel loved. thanks!

The 12 Days of Mommy Christmas

On the first day of Christmas, my children gave to me- a toy that i fell on, hurt my knee.
On the second day of Christmas, my children gave to me-two baskets of laundry.
On the third day of Christmas, my children gave to me- three sleepless nights.
On the fourth day of Christmas, my children gave to me- four dirty cereal bowls.
On the fifth day of Christmas, my children gave to me- five straight days of whining.
On the sixth day of Christmas, my children gave to me- six years of laughter.
On the seventh day of Christmas, my children gave to me- seven bedtime meltdowns.
On the eighth day of Christmas, my children gave to me- eight broken dishes.
On the ninth day of Christmas, my children gave to me- nine good morning kisses.
On the tenth day of Christmas, my children gave to me- ten "I love you, mommy"s.
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my children gave to me- eleven good night hugs.
On the twelth day of Christmas, my children gave to me- twelve months of pure bliss.


MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Picture!

I am too tired to write tonight, due to the fact that I baked all day today. Literally, ALL DAY! My kitchen and everything in it, including my children, are covered in flour and chocolate. Even the baby bump is covered. On the upshot, the dogs were very happy to help clean up!

Here is my 6 month belly pic, actually taken like 2 weeks ago, but I'm a loser and just now getting it up. Sorry. Sue me. I have no money but lots of cookies!

I Sit In Awe........

As everyone was posting what they were thankful for, I decided I'd write not what I'm thankful for but what I'm in awe of. There are so many things that just boggle my wee little mind right now, (which may be in part that there is a human child taking up residence in my gut and that it is a constant reminder of how crazy life is, or in part that as I get older I realise I'm not the All-Powerful Lary of Oz.) Whatever the reason, here you go!
I'm in awe of my husband. And not just his weirdness, which is pretty awe-inspiring in it's self. I'm in awe of how he is able to work 12 hour nights in a job that rarely sees anything good and still be able to come home and make a fort with his kids. In awe of how he helps around the house on his days off (he is amazing with the steam cleaner!) and how he is ready to welcome our next child into the world in spite of all the horrible things in the world that he sees everyday.
I'm in awe of my parents. They have done so much for us throughout the years, from driving me and my sister to dance classes an hour plus away, even in the worst of Oregon winters, to leaving their beautiful mountain home just to move closer to us. To Homedale. The arm-pit of Idaho. Which is just sheer craziness in itself!
I'm in awe of my sister. She has moved her family across the states to take care of other people's children that really need her. She has more patience in her big toe (which is rumored to be a really big, big toe. Heeheehee) than I have in my whole body. She manages to raise her own 3 kids and cook huge quantities of food for the huge quantities of kids in her house. Her own son is allergic to pretty much everything, so she has to make him his own food most of the time. I doubt I could do that seeing as how I live on potatoes & cheese, both of which he is allergic to. If he were mine, I'd probably stick him in a bubble just so I could eat my cheesy potatoes!
My friends. I have many wonderful friends who amaze me each day. Friends who have dealt with or dealing with loss that I can't even imagine. Yet they still get up every day and take care of their families with a smile on their faces and take time to help me if I'm having my own bad day. Other friends who have gone through divorces, custody battles, health issues and horrible childhoods and yet these are the same people who would drop everything for me anytime. These people are really angels on earth, even if their halos are a little crooked sometimes.
The people I don't even know. Some people who are friends of friends, or cases that Ian works on, or even the random people on face book that we befriend accidentally, these people are warriors. Their own personal stories make me wonder what I ever have to be whining about!
And so I sit on my ever-expanding bottom and pat my ever-expanding babybump and give a shout out to all of you who have impacted so many of us in good ways. May you have a wonderful holiday season and tip a glass (of juice, so I don't feel left out!) to yourselves. You deserve it!

Things I Never Thought I'd Say!

So, back in my younger days, I had a vision of where I would be when I was almost 30. (Yes, I still have 6 months until that day and I'm not wasting it!) I visualised a clean house, a husband who worked 9-5 and came home to a hot meal every night, a few well-behaved children who could read by age 2, a yard full of clean, quiet animals, a garden that has never seen a weed and laundry that is washed, dried, folded and put away instantly. How boring would that have been??? Instead, I find myself married to a amazing cop who works nights and hasn't seen the sun in centuries. Who will happily eat anything I put before him as long as it comes with a strong cup of coffee! We have two children with a third on the way, who didn't learn to read by age 2, but who can sing any Bon Jovi song you can name. Who keep me constantly laughing and rolling my eyes. The yard full of clean, quiet animals? HA! We have filthy dogs who refuse to clean up their own poop and a fish tank of fish that end up in the toilet more often that not. A garden I have given up on once I realised that those weed things grow better than anything I plant and do I really want to be playing in the dirt with all that dog poop around?? As for the laundry............. Well, anyone who has been to my house knows that laundry is my Nemesis. My cryponite. The evil thing that is lurking behind every doorway in my house, just waiting to pounce on me and prove yet again that I am not Donna Reed. Or even Roseanne. Sigh.

So here are some things I never thought I would say. Enjoy a good laugh at my expense!

"Honey, your Glock is too heavy for this purse. I should've brought a different one."

"No, I do not want to look at your poop. I don't care if it's red!"

"If you don't finish watching this movie, you will not get to go outside!"

"So did you get P.C. to obtain a urine sample?"

"I just flushed the last frog."

"You know, if you'd all stop eating I wouldn't have to keep cleaning up the kitchen! I fed you yesterday!"

"Dog, if you eat that roll of toilet paper i swear I will flush you like a frog!"

"Honey, the neighbor is here. Could you please put on your robe? And maybe pants?"

"You had better have taken that sample of pot out of my purse before I go to the airport!"

"You kids had better get in bed so I can watch Dog the Bounty Hunter in peace!"

"No, you may not lasso your sister."

"Whoever is sneaking across the living room instead of being in bed had better run because I've got Daddy's taser!"

"No, you may not lasso the puppy."

"Aly, please pick up the fly body after you squish it. I hate stepping on them."

"Ok, fine! You can lasso daddy!"