Home Brewed Smittle: Week 26. 14 To go.

It's been a long Holiday week with lots of mild lower back pain. It's that time in pregnancy where that lower back feels like it's on fire! Stretching things and hormones are the cause, but busy schedule and Christmas shopping haven't helped.
I'm still feeling good and doing great. I had my glucose test this past week and a GIANT amount of blood drawn. It was a 2-hour test, and it seems to have thrown my blood sugar issues out of whack. I've just started snacking more on high protein foods, and that seems to help.
I can't believe it's getting so close! In less than FOUR months I'll be holding my sweet boy! We were talking about what he would look like with the kids because of course they are curious and I started thinking about how I hoped he had dark hair! None of my kids have dark hair like me and I just want ONE of them to have dark hair! Ha!! Either way I'm sure he'll be beautiful just like the other Little Smittles!
Babycenter says the baby is the size of an English hothouse cucumber. What the heck is one of those? I mean, seriously Babycenter? Can you not think of something else that measures about 14 inches and 1 2/3 pounds? Ha! Here is a picture of one.

Aunt Steph Brings Cool Things

If you've read my blog for long you know that I have a fantastic Sister-in-law, Stephanie. She's so wonderfully artistic and creative. The kids LOVE her and she's wonderful with them. She thinks of things that they'll enjoy and does the most interesting things with them when she's with them. They just love her creative mind and all the fun that she brings into their lives.
She and her band recently released a new CD that includes a song that she wrote for the kids. I'll have to put a video of the kids singing it on here some time, but here is Steph singing it.

A few weeks ago she brought some stuff over that she thought the kids would enjoy. When they first saw it they called them treasures, but they didn't know what to do with them. BUT, Stephanie had suggested we make them into kaleidoscopes. SO we did!

These were our materials.

Brubbs getting his tube ready.

After he put his flowers in he kept saying, "I see things!"

Addi decided that her "plain" tube was in need of beauty.

 

She said, "This is MUCH better."

Olivia with her materials.

KK was a little excited about making her kaleidoscope.

KK looking through her "pirate scope."

Mia being SO happy to have her tube finished! Ha!

Isaiah said "Mom. Make mine say I-S-A-I-A-H!" 

Silly Mia with her cheese face!

Olivia getting her inside parts ready for her scope.

Their finished products. They looked pretty cool on the inside too!

Thanks Aunt Stephanie(and Stephen)

 

Home Brewed Smittle: Week 25. 15 to go.

I found this little ticker with lots of fun facts on it.

The Due Date is: Sunday, March 3 2013
You are presently: 5 mo 3 wks 2 days Pregnant (25 weeks or 176 days)
To Due Date: 103 days 10 hrs 53 mins 31 secs
To beginning of 2nd Trimester: 0 days 0 hrs 0 mins 0 secs
To Viability (24 weeks): 0 days 0 hrs 0 mins 0 secs
Beginning of 3rd Trimester: 9 days 10 hrs 53 mins 31 secs
To Term Pregnancy (37 weeks): 82 days 10 hrs 53 mins 31 secs

Only 9 days until the third trimester! I'm feeling this big boy this week for sure.
AND, we're passed the point of "viability." That just means that if this baby were born now he would most likely live. That's a good feeling, being to that point.
I've gained a lot more weight this time than I usually do, but at this point I've decided this is the last time I'll do this, so I'm not too worried about weight gain. If I have 15 or 25 pounds to lose afterwards it's going to be hard either way!!
Babycenter says that Eli is about 13.5 inches long, and weighs about a pound and a half. He's starting to chub up and look more like a newborn and less like a spider monkey.  It also says that he's growing more hair every day. My granny always says that heartburn means that the baby's hair is growing. If that's true, I'm expecting this baby to look like Samson when he's born! Ha!
SO, Babycenter says he's about the size of a rutabaga. I've never had one and the only time I've even heard anyone talking about one is on Winnie the Pooh! Ha! Oh well...

KK's Kooky Birthday

Since KK has been dubbed KK we've been calling her kooky KK. That girl is so silly! Lots of people ask us why we call Emma Claire KK and the answer is simple. When Addison was a baby she couldn't say Emma Claire clearly, so what came out sounded like "clay clay." We eventually all started calling her that which quickly turned to KK(because it's easier to say. SO that's why we call her KK.
ANYWAY, yesterday was KK's SIXTH birthday! It's really hard for me to believe as she had a pretty rough start, but time has flown and now she's SIX! Anyone who knows KK knows that she has a love affair with FOOD. She can smell a box of cookies from a mile away and tell you exactly what kind of cookies they are. She can taste specific ingredients in food and tell you what it has inside. She thinks about food all the time. At breakfast she wants to know what's going to be for lunch and at lunch she's talking about what's going to be for dinner. Food is REALLY important to her! SO, for her birthday she had a food plan she politely asked us to follow.

For breakfast(in bed) she wanted a colossal cinnamon roll from Stoby's.

She LOVES to have breakfast in bed!!

KK helped her dad put together the beds from yesterday.

Cook KK

KK asked for fried pork chops for dinner. We NEVER make fried food, so it was a rare treat for her(and us)!!

The cookie cake KK asked for.

KK with her dirty apron. She gets so excited when it gets dirty. ha!

KK's kooky cookie cake

 

My sweet girls!

 

The girls show their silly side!

Bubby's silly face!

 

Mia's silly face.

Daddy is going to eat the whole thing. I LOVE Mia's face! Ha!

Momma and daddy. Daddy looks tired after a long day!

 

Happy Birthday, my kooky KK. We love you so much! We're so glad God chose us to be your parents!

 

And then God Put a BED on the Side of the Road

So, my husband recently took the plunge and left his well-paid job with excellent benefits to pursue his dream of being a private practice counselor. I'm so proud of him. He turned 30 this week. 30. And he's beginning to live out his dream. It's been so evident that the Lord is protecting us and providing for us, but this weekend he took it to a whole new level.
Since August we have had several financial set backs. Isaiah's emergency surgery, several deductibles, paying for Elias, and a very pricey medical procedure Scotty has to get next month to name a few. To say that we've been living on a tight budget is the understatement of the year. ANYWAY, we have seen God provide for our needs and honestly haven't had to make too many sacrifices in spite of Scotty getting started in his new practice(which is going REALLY well, I might add).
So, one of the things on my "we need to get this soon" list is a set of bunk beds for Brubbs room. Now that he's going to have a brother he'll FINALLY have a friend in his room! I knew that eventually we'd want to get bunks for his room. I had started to look for them, but with the price of the beds and mattresses I just decided we'd need to get them sometime next year. But you know that the Lord likes to keep us on our toes, right!?
Well, last night, as we were taking the kids to the church for parents night out we noticed a set of bunks on the side of the road with the trash in front of a house. The first time we passed them I just thought that they were probably all broken and in bad shape so I didn't make Scotty stop(like I usually would have). Then we drove back by them two more times that night and I decided that we'd go home and put the kids in bed then I'd send Scotty back out and if they were still there and he thought they looked good he'd bring them home and we'd really check them out. SO, we did that and he brought them home in a pile of boards and mattresses(did I mention there were mattresses too!?)

So, here is Bubby helping his dad bring in the pieces. He was just a LITTLE excited!

 

He wanted a firetruck bed, but decided that this bed would be cool too.

The kids decided to make the bed into an old fashioned schoolhouse. KK got to be the teacher because today was her birthday.

Mia helping daddy with the bed.

SO, turns out the bed is basically new with every single piece. There wasn't a slat or even a screw missing! It's a lot like the ones the girls have only the boyish version. I wanted them to be navy or black, but I'm thinking now we'll get some fun plaid bedding and turn their room into a camp out themed room. It looks really lodgish. I may still paint them, but for now he has a new bed sent down to us from the Lord! Can you BELIEVE it!?!

Home Brewed Smittle: Week 24. 16 to go.

Still not a lot of new news. I've had some lower back pain this week, and still a few leg cramps, but overall still feeling really great. I'm so thankful to be having a great healthy pregnancy. There at the beginning I really felt like I was going to DIE, but it's been a GREAT second trimester.
I'll have my regular appointment this week with Kim, my midwife. She'll also help me set up my appointment to have my glucose test and blood work done. I'll do that at our local lab.
OH, this week I ordered and received THIS for free! I'm not overly pleased with the fabric, but it's cute and it was FREE and Elias will be nice and toasty in his carseat in early March and April.

The best part is the dark grey minky on the other side.



Babycenter says that his little brain is really budding this week, and that his lungs are beginning to really branch out and start to prepare for life in the outside world. Also, he's about the size of an ear of corn. Now THAT is a food I know something about! My FAVORITE!

Home Brewed Smittle: Week 23. 17 to go.

Nothing new to report this week. I guess at some point I should post a belly picture, but I haven't take ANY this time. So bad! Elias seems to like music, which I love. He also likes strawberry nerds. I know because he told me after I ate EVERY pack out of the kids Halloween candy. He told me by being up doing flips WAY after I was ready to go to sleep.
I have been so blessed by giving friends lately. I've had to friends bring me maternity clothes and undergarments. I'll be set for the rest of this pregnancy and through nursing. Actually, I also bought a dress this week that is nursing friendly. That's always so awkward; nursing in a dress! I mean any other time I can modestly pull off nursing in public, but most dresses make it impossible to nurse!
Anyway, I guess Liz Lange picked up on this fact and made a CUTE line of maternity/nursing dresses. They are made so that they will fit both before and after the baby is born. If you are on the market, check them out. They actually had a few different ones on clearance for $8 at our local Target this week! Score!
Babycenter says Elias is about the size of a large mango and that he's getting used to the regular sounds he hears in our day to day life. Better be getting used to it baby brother, because you are stepping in to the Smittle Three Ring CIRCUS! Ha!

Smittle's Bakery Crew

You know if you've ever read my blog that I'm a fan of Rhea Lana's. It's my favorite place to pick up cheap costumes for kids. You'll remember my loot from the fall sale this year included three SUPER cute cupcake costumes. I'm pretty sure one was an ice cream cone, but we decided for our uses it would be a cupcake! SO, I took those cupcakes and added two bakers and easy peasy

HALLOWEEN 2012!

A friend of mine told me I should have been an oven so that I could have a "bun in the oven," but I couldn't get Scotty to help me make it!

All we had to buy for these CUTE costumes was an apron for Bubby(which we needed anyway.) It was $1.99 at Hobby Lobby. We made the bakers hats ourselves with white tissue paper and poster board. EASY and SO cute! Scotty had the kids pat their hand into flour and then put it on their faces and aprons. Turned out really sweet.

This cracks me up! Ha! Mia was in a TERRIBLE mood for the pictures and basically the entire night, so we took advantage of her only wanting to be held! HaHa!

At our first fall festival. Our area is so great to provide fantastic events for the whole community. SO much fun! Free food, candy, games, and so much more!!!

This picture made me laugh out loud after I looked at it at home! It looks like she's about to cook this bird UP! The kids were NUTS over the petting zoo! Olivia is so crazy about animals. Sweet little thing would DIE if I told her it looked like she was about to cook this little baby!

Addi riding the pony. These are actually the same ponies that came to our house for Olivia's birthday party a few years ago.

KK loves horses too!

Lulu on her pony.

Brubbs LOVED riding. The guy in charge said he had a good seat(or something like that) and was a natural.

Bubby with a goat.

KK and Addi were asked if they were twins no less than 15 times.

Bubby playing a game with duct taped toilet paper and toilet lids. Gotta love church carnivals! Bubby LOVED this game!

Addi's favorite moment of the night was when the police officer showed her how to make the siren go off. Ha! She screamed SO loud and said, I'M A POLICE!!

Brubbs using his mixing bowl(which we used as their candy buckets) as a drum! That boy will drum just about anything he gets his hands on.

Mia, still being grouchy and needing a paci finally gave it up for a bounce house. This one was KILLER!

I promise she loved her first pony ride, but you wouldn't know it by this picture. I don't know what was the matter with her, but she would not take her hands out of her mouth and she WOULD NOT smile! Little stinker!!

The second festival we went to had corn dogs and fruit! The kids were in heaven!!

Brubbs loved this game and was actually really good at it. I need to have him make one for our house.

FINALLY got a smile from Mia yesterday when we went to US Pizza for their kids eat free night(with costume). It was so much fun!

I love the relationship between these two. They have decided since they'll not have official buddies in the future that they're going to be each others buddy. He adores her and she thinks he has the best ideas for playing.

CRAZY KK! That silly girl has so much personality.

Is this not the cutest thing? We'd been there before a few times for the kids to make their own pizza, but this was the first time I caught it on picture. I love this waiter guy. He's so nice with the kids. If you know him tell him he's famous.Ha!

My Little Smittle Bakers.

Addi made her pizza a smiley face.

Mia says her pizza is GOOOOOD!

My sweet sweet Lulu.

After we left US Pizza we had ONE stop to make to go trick-or-treating. NANA AND POP'S!

Mia found the stash of candy for their trick-or-treaters. She filled her basket at least 10 times. Little monkey! We used the girls Easter baskets for their candy baskets.

Momma and her SWEET little baker boy! This was at our Children's Ministers house. She had us all out for a hay ride and dinner. So much fun.

Our Family Halloween 2012

 

 

A few more fallish pics

Mia's cheese face.

She has a 'tude like you'd never believe! Ha! She either REALLY wants her picture taken or wants nothing to do with it! Ha!

My black and orange buddy sisters

The brown and orange middles. So sweet.

Addi reminds me of me when I was little in this picture. I was skinny, had long knobby knees, and long braids. She looks so adorable with pig tail braids.

The kids all dressed in their Halloween/fall clothes.