Yay for Weekend Guests!

For the third weekend in a row we were blessed to have weekend visitors! Papa and Grandma Sally had planned to come over and Sarah and Leah were going to join them on Friday night. However, things came up at work and they had an auction the next day so my mom and dad were unable to come :( I don't know who sounded more bummed, the girls or my dad when Rob talked to him on the phone. However, Sarah and Leah were still able to head over on Saturday and the girls were so excited for that. After all what would we do for a whole weekend with no one around to hang out with? ;)They woke up on Saturday morning asking the question "When are Sarah and Leah coming?" Rob got them distracted for a while involving them in some morning stretches. It was so funny! Yes to watch them try to stretch but more so to listen to Rob grunt and complain about how old he is and how tight he was after having a week of basketball again! He had gotten out of habit the two weeks of intensives.We whipped him quickly back into shape that day though once Sarah and Leah arrived. He served as the official "horsey " for the three ladies. Sarah helped them all get on......and had to squeeze them on a little so they would all fit...We did get a quick picture-not everyone was looking but in the next few seconds......we lost Leah and Karys was quick to follow suit ;) Gracie stayed on for a while but eventually got bucked off as well!Karys and Leah had a ton of laughs jumping and dancing around with Auntie Sarah!Once Leah was dizzy from the dancing, she headed over to get herself straightened back out by Uncle Rob...Then it was off to the bathtub...Gracie had taken a shower with Rob earlier that morning so she was really excited to "give" Leah and Karys a bath ;)Once everyone was all clean and dressed in their princess jammies...Karys led everyone in some "Simon Says" It was hilarious! She would call out for everyone to clap their hands and stomp their feet, then started to recite a rhyme we learned in Kindermusik..."Tall as a tree, Wide as a house, Thin as a pin, and Small as a mouse" So funny to watch them all try to follow each other and do the motions!The next morning we got snow...really? Snow in March!!! I know, I know, this is NW Iowa ;) Anyway, it finally stopped and Sarah and Leah decided to head home so they could be home on time in case they did hit some weather on the way. We all headed out to help them clear their car off and play in the snow a little. The nice thing was that it wasn't so frigid cold...we really haven't played in the snow much this winter b/c whenever it has snowed the temps have been SO cold that my skinny little ladies haven't lasted that long outside. The snow was so white and fluffy that all the girls were tasting it...we just had to remind them never to eat the stuff that was yellow ;) Luckily Maggie goes to the bathroom mostly in the back yard.Gracie loves being out there! She was the first one dressed and eager to get her rake and help daddy clear the driveway off.Karys is a little more hesitant, she doesn't like to be cold and doesn't like to wear snow boots. She would only go outside if I let her go out with her rain boots on ;)Took Leah a little bit but eventually she was reaching down to dig into the snow right along with the girls......she loved watching the girls throw the snow and was eager to show Sarah and I the snow she picked up...Look, Mommy! I have snow! So cute to watch her try to eat it and throw it right along with the other girls...won't be long until they will be smiling and scheming right along side each other ;)Karys loved throwing snowballs! She would get up right next to you and basically smash it into you. If she didn't it would veer off to the side or go flying backwards ;)Daddy was causing some trouble and throwing a few snowballs too...

...Got himself in some trouble when he landed one right in Karys' hood!

She quickly stopped crying though once he cleaned it all out and she got the "free shot" opportunity to smash one of her own on his head!

All in all we had a GREAT time with Leah and Sarah! Thanks for coming over to see us ladies!

PJs and Toddler Tunes

In the beginning weeks of March the weather flopped back and forth so much between nice days and frigid temperatures, that I feel like the girls and I couldn't really keep up with what kind of plan to make for the day until we woke up and looked outside. On the days it was nice we would scrap whatever indoor plans we had and head outside to play and on the days it wasn't we would camp out in our comfy clothes, the girls one day changed into 4 different pairs of PJs throughout the day!!! They also got into listening to our iPODs, Rob got one for his birthday as well ;) and we have some of their music on them and on Rob's you can watch videos. They loved it! One night we even went to play at the RSC at the college and run some of our pent up energy out, and once Gracie was done playing around all she wanted to do was listen to the ipod...she barely took it out to get her coat on to go back home! I don't know if we are quite that ready for our girls to enter the consuming world of technology! "Here let me find you some Bible songs"

"Gracie, you know this song?" Quickly followed by Karys singing along loudly ;)

"Mommy, we need some longer headphones...Karys keeps pulling it out of my ear!"

Karys' Sunday Ritual

So this is Karys' normal Sunday position...she does the dame thing every Sunday after we get in the door from church and start to talk about what we are going to have for lunch. And holding true to routine it was no different the Sunday Heather and Seth were getting ready to leave. We got home from church, she went into the living room and laid down on her pillow and when we asked her what she wanted for lunch she was already breathing hard and out cold. I remember Heather saying, "Isn't it funny how she puts herself to sleep for nap but loves to get in and out of bed at night and just has a hard time with that?"

So true, the girl cannot function without her nap but hardly ever is she ready to wind down for the night and go to bed....funny!

More Birthday Fun!

The weekend of Rob's birthday, Heather and Seth came up for the weekend to visit us and celebrate! The girls were so excited to see them and were definitely loving the weekend visitor routine ;) Immediately they roped both uncle and auntie into playing and having a good time, and b/c the Comfort's arrived a little later they also quickly ran out of play time. However, they were up and ready to go the next morning reading books, playing babies, and watching some movies. We eventually got a plan in place and headed over to the library here in town just to get out of the house and enjoy the day a little more! The girls had tons of fun playing computer games, jumping off the "steps" they have in there, coloring and choosing new books to bring home. We then came home, had some lunch, and busted out the Birthday cookie that Heather and Seth had brought with them. The girls got the chance a little bit the night before to "decorate" it some more and write Happy B-day Rob on it ;)Daddy was really excited about the cookie since we had eaten cake all week ;) And as you know the candles were a must!He even got a chance to blow them out all by himself this time before any one else ;)Everyone gathered in the kitchen to sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles...Then it was Gracie's turn to help Daddy blow those candles out.The pink frosting on the cake was potent and most of us took the majority of it off b/c it was SO pink and SO sweet! However, Karys loved it and got upset when I took a chunk of it off...I distracted her by taking a picture of how pink her tongue was.We went out for supper to "the Lodge"...the same place we had eaten before, but the wait for Blue Mountain was over an hour long and we probably couldn't wait that long to feed the girls. We love the Lodge though and can always find something good to eat and not have to bribe the girls too much to eat their food ;) Gracie was giving Rob "butterfly kisses" for his birthday after we finished our mealKarys and I attempting to smile pretty for the camera...Heather and Seth smiling and satisfied after their first adventure to the Lodge ;)Karys was full of expressions! "Let's do a happy face mommy!"Gracie wanted to show her "silly eyes" with her mad face...So Karys and I answered back with our sad, pouty face ;) "What are you looking at?"

Bailey Marie Schuiteman

So the first of our friends, Angela, had her little baby girl on Feb 25th. This is Justin and Ang's first baby and so it was so exciting not only to watch them become parents for the first time but just for all of us friends, their family, etc. There is something so special and unique about that first experience. Just watching things happen for the first time and having things be so new. I know each baby is different and each time you experience new things (of which I am about to discover for a 3rd time very soon!) but I love the "virginity " of that first time. The good and the bad...feelings you have never felt before, totally new experiences, and life...delivering life into the world. I don't know if any of this makes but yeah...I love it!Me, Ang, and Rachel...Rachel is like 36 weeks I think in this picture and I am 26, crazy to think that we will be able to take this picture twice more in the coming months!Little Bailey Marie...full head of dark hair, slightly tanner skin tone, and look at those little lips!Love the footprint with the info card in the background, look at her little wrinkles ;)So hard to think back and remember this little tiny baby stage...she was 7'11", right in between the weights of the girls. Makes me want to really hold on to the baby stage b/c it goes so fast!My baby holding Bailey, she is very much into the big sister thing. Been caring around two big sized babies for the past week dressed in little "real" baby clothes ;)Karys LOVES holding babies. She is so good with them and likes to check out all of their little features while she is holding them. Only way to sit this little baby still is to put a baby in her arms.Gracie, Kennedy, and Karys....all about to be Big sisters soon!Looking out the window with Justin at all the trucks in back of the hospital. What a good time to have a baby and be inside, the weather outside was frightfully cold and windy!Something so precious and yummy about fresh baby! She hadn't even been in the world 12 hours at this point!
I am so excited to watch Ang grow into the mom role!!! She has been such a blessing to be as a friend but even in the way she has loved my girls so well! Can't even wrap my head around how great of a mom God is going to grow her into as she loves on and shepards the heart of her little Bailey!

Preggo update and ultrasound pics

So I am approaching 29 weeks already...the third trimester of this pregnancy! SO CRAZY how fast things have seemed to have gone and even crazier to think about meeting this little one in a short amount of time. If I would deliver the same time I did Gracie I would only have 5 weeks to go...and Karys only 8 weeks. I don't know if I am ready for that! I kind of have the feeling that if I didn't have to grow any bigger she could really stay in there as long as she wanted. After all, it is safer and still warmer inside there than it will be out here ;) But at the same time...I anticipate her birth, just to see the face of our newest little lady and be able to see all the ways that God has created her to be her own little self as well as all of the similarities that our girls will have. Will she have the same freckle on the right side of her scalp that Rob, Gracie, and Karys all have? Will she have a head of hair, or more so will it all fall out? So many questions and the time that it will be for them to be answered is drawing nearer and nearer!

I really have been feeling good though still up until now. Can move around and be fairly active and haven't been having to deal with the regularity of the contractions I had with the other two girls. Must be how much the little ladies I already have have taught me to mellow out ;) I did have a bout this weekend though where I was contracting and I started to feel it on the top of my uterus as well as the bottom. We were in Minneapolis so there wasn't really a lot of options as far as what to do. My midwife told me to take a hot bath...there weren't even showers, she also told me to go in, did I mention Minneapolis in the rougher part of town? So luckily after a rough night things kind of settled down and I was able to make it through Sat and Sunday and get back home...Oh sweet Jesus, let the good pregnancy continue a few more weeks!

These are the ultrasound pictures that I had at my last Dr.'s appt. Hard to believe that that has already been three weeks ago and I go back again this Friday. Don't think they will be measuring growth as much this time as they will be just checking my cervical length. Hopefully I will still be able to catch a glance of my little lady though ;) Been so crazy to watch her features really develop through being able to see the 4D ultrasound pics each time! Amazing!Profile picGood strong heart beat right around 152 bpm...Hopefully not going to get the long toes, but pretty inevitable she will have the big feet...Trying to hide her face from me...Her lips are too cute and it was so fun to watch her expressions! She kept putting her hands up by her face so it was hard to get a clear shot...Here is a picture of her arm, covering her face and nestling in to the wall of my uterus...

Look at those long legs!