One of those mornings..

We got up around 7 am....I gave the girls each a shower (yes, my kids like showering in the mornings) and we ate breakfast. There was even time for Bells to take down all the stuffed animals and baby dolls from the girl's window and put them all on Hannah's bed so she could play with them.

Hannah freaked out when she got out of the shower and saw her bed all cluttered with toys...we had a major clear out last night and they got a lecture on keeping their room tidy or no presents! Hannah has been taking this consequence very seriously for the past 12 hours...



Then it started soon after I went outside to get the car started to warm up. It's been snowing here...lightly but it's a little icy. I got all the girls in the car and as I go to get in my door, I slip..hard. Nice! Pregnant lady on the ground. I get myself up, get in the car and then I hear my girls tell me how I slipped. I want to scream and say, "I KNOW. I WAS THERE," but I refrain and tell them just to give me a second to just get it together. So we're off. Maybe it's because I didn't listen to that little voice that said, "maybe you should go the other way..." and so I went the usual way I take the kids to school rather than the alternative route and I'm just about over the slipping thing and I'm at a stop waiting to turn, and then it happens...little blue car comes hitting the back end of my car. The girls are asking what is that...I don't even answer since I'm thinking, seriously????!!!! My car....if I have a scratch I'm going to cry. What I can tell there is that my car doesn't have a scratch, but I still cried. I'm pregnant remember, so I can. The lady was super sorry and she was very nice and I think I even said sorry, which I don't know why since I wasn't the one who hit her car and made the front end look not so nice...but it is all really just a blur since I really just wanted to wake up...because seriously...I must be sleeping. And so I get the girls to school...I complain to a friend about my morning since I didn't have my phone since Dan's wasn't charged so I had him take mine and I need to get this all off my chest. I come home, call Dan and he's not there...he like works or something and has a meeting. So not a convenient time for me. I get a call back from him and now I'm hoping he can take the car in to get checked to make sure everything is fine....we're worried about the cameras in the back since that's where she hit. And so that was my morning from 8:30 until 9:30. I would really like to just get under my duvet and do absolutely nothing but I can't....I have this 15 month old who would like to just play and needs to eat and a baby inside me who I'm sure thinks it's funny to sit on my bladder so I have to pee every 15 minutes....okay...it's not that bad but I have never had to go as much as I do with this kid! Tonight is a definite take away night. I am grateful we are all fine and it could have been worse so we lucked out. Good thing we had that lesson last night on gratitude....thanks missionaries! It is funny how they stopped by, one of them is transferring out of the area and wanted to say bye and get a "lovely" picture of us. It was a perfect lesson for today.

Oh baby

I'm not complaining but one can hope that their baby will come a little early. 3 days of braxton hicks contractions...not fun. I have never had them before...wait...I did with Bells but it was like 2 or 3 weeks prior to delivery. This baby won't stop moving...although....I am glad she does move so much now so I know all is well in there. I can still hope for maybe a 38 week delivery rather than a 39....I'm so ready....Dan is too. He comes up and tells her to just come out already...no we don't want her to really come out right now. And yes, I will be lacking sleep and probably be wanting to pull my hair out (good thing my hair gets thicker with every kid) with a new born and 17 month old along with my 5 and 7 year old....although....the older ones really are big helps (when they aren't so tired and complain about everything). I think I'm just ready to see my little family all complete....ready to fall in love at first sight. I am pretty sure I know what she's going to look like considering all my babies look just the same. I think she'll look more like Dan and Hannah.....Dan thinks Hannah was just the odd one...even though she still looks a lot like me....and we will have another "Bobbita." That's what Dan calls Bells....the kid is just like me. I think the cutest thing is when she just sits down right by me by the fire place or on the stairs. Dan laughs...today he wondered why we didn't just name her after me (not that I would ever do that)....and then she puckers up her lips and gives me a kiss. I love that kid. I also love how Hannah loves to go to the grocery store with me....I think she has hopes she'll get to pick out some candy. I love how Madison tells me "secrets" about her life and what's going on. She's growing up...way too fast. Wait...they all are.

Dear Uncle Ryan...

I still LOVE my blanket which is really the blanket you gave my mom for Christmas last year. I think I like it best when it just comes out of the dryer and is still warm...I've been laying like this for 20 minutes now. Mom thinks it's pretty great...I'm sure it has to do with the fact I'm not getting into everything she just picked up.

Who knew....

This girl could make my house oh so stinky!!!

The thought of 2 kids in diapers overwhelms me at times....Madison and Hannah are 22 months apart but Madison was potty trained when Hannah came. Madison started using the potty at 18 months...can I count on Bells using it at 17 months? Oh how one can only hope.

Yes, we're in trouble...

I was driving on base the other day and as I was waiting to go through the gate, I noticed the guys checking ID's were checking out the girl driving. It made me kind of snicker...it was obvious they thought she was cute (she has to be 17 or 18...I know she works at the coffee shop on base)...and then I had this thought....oh my goodness...some day my 4 girls are going to be going through the gates on base, handing their ID's to these 18/19 year old guys and they might get that "look" those guys gave her. I came home and told Dan this...he told me that there are some thoughts I should keep to myself and that is one of them. My girls now might become home schooled and never go out....just kidding....I would go CRAZY homeschooling.

Anyway...so then today, Madison and I went for a little drive this afternoon just to get some one on one time. She sits in the front and gets to be in charge of the radio and she has bum warmers on her seat. I enjoy our conversations. Today it was about why I fell in love with Dan. We agreed he's fun, tells funny jokes, takes good care of us, and then she added, "And he's handsome." It made me smile when she said that. I agreed and we came to the conclusion we are some lucky girls to have him in our lives.

Breaking news....

Bells just napped for 3 hours! Heavenly! And now the big question...was I productive during those three hours? Not so much. And I know tomorrow she'll be back on her maybe two 15 minutes naps...it was nice today.
Apparently she likes apples and quesadillas today. I'm sure that will be the case tomorrow.

Oh and can I just mention Hannah and my conversation...well Madison was there too.

"Mum! Are you drinking wine?"

"No. It's crangrape juice."

"Why can't we drink wine?"

"Because it has alcohol and is bad for your body."

*Biggest gasp ever!* "Jesus drunk wine! That's soooo bad!"

That kid seriously makes me laugh at least once a day with her comments.

Happy Birthday to me!

I turned 29! I'm in my last "20s" year. CRAZY! It's gone by so fast. Someone had mentioned about celebrating my 19th birthday together....why does it seem like that wasn't that long ago? Well...I look at it...I'm going to be having my 4th kid...I'm married to a great guy that I love and most of all...I'm happy. I'm a pretty lucky girl and my 20s have been good to me...well after 21 at least....just kidding....we can call those "growing" experiences.

I woke up and slept in until 8 am...yes...8 am. That was so nice...but it wasn't so nice when I realized I had a HUGE headache and sore throat and felt as if I was congested. We had a lazy morning and while I watched TV, the girls and Dan did this... It made me laugh...I think what made me laugh even harder was the fact Hannah was so opposed to me having a pirate birthday party since I don't like pirates and thought I would much rather have a party with horse masks and rainbows all around the room....(seriously...what is up with the horses...I don't like horses either!) Side note...so they were at the store Saturday with Dan before I picked them up and we went to Birmingham and Dan told Hannah to get black and white balloons. Hannah came back with pink balloons. Dan said she needed to go put those back and get the black and white like he asked. She gave him the "Hannah scowl" and said, "Dad. Mum doesn't like black and white. She likes pink!" Dan and I had a good laugh about that when he told me. My Hannah...always watching out for me.

Bells was not too fond of the pirate hat....

We ate my cake my talented husband decorated and as you can see, took off the flowers. Then he took us all out to Nandos where I ate some tasty food. Yum yum! I love that place...especially the hummus and pita bread. And no, I'm in none of the pictures...I was sick...I was not going to let anyone take a picture of me. And I just noticed you can't see the ton of balloons they blew up for me...they are all on the floor.

Mom, Madison and Hannah day out

The girls and I went to Disney on Ice in Birmingham Saturday and had a blast. We took the bus and Hannah did an instant one of these....

We had time to find lunch which was a big ordeal. We waited inside this Italian place only to find out that we had to have reservations since they were so busy....I think maybe 1/4 of their tables had people seated in them. So we went to this Malt House where they said our food would take up to 40 minutes...we figured we would be okay...and hour later and 10 minutes before the show started, our food arrived and so we scarfed it down and made it to the show on time with a minute to spare. We felt bad since we left the woman we kind of walked around with, she's only been here 3 weeks and had to leave her since her food wasn't even out by the time we left!

We watched the show and the girls loved it. It was the 100th Anniversary Celebration one so a lot of the characters were there. It was so sad...my girls didn't know "It's a Small World!" Why would they...they've never been to Disneyland...and so I'm looking forward to taking them so it all makes sense.

We had pretty good seats...the girls could see everything. They love going to shows...next month...Lion King in London!

Sneaky, sneaky

I asked Dan if he wanted to plan our date last night since I had gotten the babysitter all lined up. It really isn't that big of a deal...we've lucked out with this girl who lives a few houses down who's great with my girls and Bells likes...that in itself is AMAZING! So while we were driving to the girls school to pick them up, Dan had gotten off early to take his truck in to get his MOT testing since we just realized that his Car Tax ran out October 31st, he asked if I wanted to know what he was planning. I said not unless he wanted to tell me...which really meant I did since I was curious. He then tells me how I'm going to be excited...we're going to the horse race track. I think I gave a look of disgust, which I didn't mean to do on purpose. All I could think of was, SERIOUSLY???!!! What would possess my husband to think I would enjoy doing that on MY birthday weekend? I have no interest...he then told me how we will have dinner there and I was just like thinking okay, yeah, that sounds great....(sarcasm)

His face was kind of showing me he was fibbing and so I asked him, "seriously?" He told me he swore he made reservations. I was convinced...my husband truly had lost it thinking I would enjoy that, it but being the trooper I am, I put on a smile and said it will be nice to try something totally off the wall.

And so we came home, I got ready for the date I secretly had no interest in going on, and we start driving. He tells me we're going to go through town instead of the way we would go and so then I get suspicious. He took me to this cute restaurant instead. Phew! I was so relieved. I then asked how he could lie to me, he "swore he made reservations." He said, "Yes, I did swear I made 'reservations', but I never said to the horse races...you just assumed it was that.

So we enjoyed our dinner and dessert while talking about our future....kids, paying for college and weddings, moving, plans after he retires and about dating each other oh so long ago....8 years....and laughed quite a bit. There was nothing at the cinema and we had bowled just the other day and everything closes early or I'm too pregnant to go kart or do any of that, and so we went to Tesco which we both hadn't been in a LONG time since we both dread that place, and shopped for some birthday decorations for me since the girls were pretty upset they wouldn't have any time to go shopping with their dad tomorrow since the girls and I are going to Birmingham to see a show. Dan has Bells duty. I'm going to act so surprised with the theme Dan picked out for me....it's a GREAT one....

We came home and I found the cutest homemade card from Hannah...complete with writing and a picture of all 5 of us. I was the mermaid, Dan a pirate and the girls all had different looks...it seriously is so cute. I got a little teary...I'm pregnant after all....but just that she "LOOOOVED" me. It was a combination of that and when they were all concerned about my birthday and how they hadn't finished shopping and were worried as well as the decoration thing since, "you always decorate the house for our birthdays, we need to do the same for you. So what kind of decorations do you like mum? Do you want My Little Pony or something like Rainbow Brite? I don't think we can find She-Ra." I really do have some great girls.

And so it begins....

Cold and flu season. Bells was up all last night...luckily I had a husband who didn't have to work today so he helped me out. I'm still dragging...remembering all these things I said I would do or go to when they have already happened. And I love how kids love their dad to play with but when they are sick, they just want their moms to hold them. Bells would only sleep if she was lying on me...too bad I have another baby who is already there and so it made things a little difficult. We got creative and I now have a kink in my neck and back.

And this is a total random note but I have just been thinking about it. I can't complain...I have pretty easy pregnancies...it does crack me up though when I hear women complain about their first one....I just think....just wait until you have kids and are pregnant...yeah...there is no time to take care of yourself....you're busy taking care of other kids and life must go on. Just like how I had zero sleep last night but I still had to get up and get the two older ones ready and to school and then come home to a baby who still isn't feeling too well. Yeah...that's all I'm going to say.

And holy moly cow this wind is blowing....and Dan still hasn't fixed the gate door so it's opening and closing like crazy. And I'm sure we have a whole bunch of leaves in our back garden now since the neighbor has this lovely tree that drops them all down onto our grass.

Kind of a lazy day

I woke up at 645 and put a load of laundry in the washer....I'm trying to be good and do at least one load a day...we will see how long that lasts....and got the girls in the shower and ready for school. I made cream of wheat and today I lucked out...Bells likes cream of wheat today...she has been SUPER picky lately and likes one thing one day and then not so much the next....driving me a little crazy. Anyway...Bells and I came home from drop off and she was tired already...so she took a 3...yes I just wrote 3 hour nap. I even got a little one in myself. That's been me though...pretty much doing a whole lot of nothing. It's been nice. I have been stressed out lately and it's just been crazy. And so while Bells and I have vegged out I had to take some pictures of this kid...
In a way...Dan and I hope she never grow any more teeth...(not really)...we just love her two teeth grin.

On the agenda this weekend...family bowling...hair done (my hair like grew this insane amount in this short amount of time I need to get it done), Costo (I'm going to TRY to contain myself...so hard since Christmas stuff is out), TGI Fridays (Saturday I'm pretty much kidless) and then Bonfire night Sunday. It's going to be fun.

Girls

Hannah woke up yesterday claiming she had a headache....I'm thinking...does she really know what a headache is? So I questioned her while she hardly ate her breakfast about this headache. She told me she just couldn't sleep at all last night because her head hurt so badly and she really couldn't go to school since her teacher, Ms. Winpenny, would just talk and talk and give her an even bigger headache. I told her she should try it out and if she still didn't feel well, I'd come pick her up. Hello...I've had 10 days of them home...I was ready for a normal routine. And so we're just about to go out when she had the look of "I'm going to puke" and so I told her to hurry to the toilet to do it. She went oh so slowly and puked in the hallway. Nice! Luckily it wasn't that bad since her stomach was fairly empty. And no...it wasn't due to candy...I'm a "mean" mum and only let them have 2 pieces a day. I think Sunday I let them have 4....so I know it wasn't that. I kept her home and she slept pretty much all day. I think she was just overly tired...wait I know she was...the girl needed a nap for the past 5 days but didn't take one. And so she was back in school today and life was good. She is so like my sister, Christina...that's all I'm going to say.

We call Bells "Linus" sometimes...this girl LOVES her blankets...well just a select few. The lack of sleep is now catching up with Madison...no she's not sleeping in this picture but she's laying down and being QUIET! This is VERY unusual. Fall back has thrown them off as well...they are going to bed at 8 but now waking up at 6 am. This early morning thing needs to stop. I thought we were so done with that.