I'm officially on maternity leave!!! Yeah!!!! I'm hoping to squeeze in as much family time and field trips as possible before Ben makes his debut. A couple of things on our To Do List this week include:
- parent/teacher conferences for Brianna, Elizabeth, and Emily.
- A belly casting mold.
- Finish Ewok's Halloween Costume
- Download soothing, quiet songs for Ben's delivery onto Dad's IPOD.
- Pickup Brianna's retainer
- Costco trip (yikes, I'm scared, we all know what Costco trips cost this family)!
- Finish taking pics of Halloween decor
- Take pic of 38 week tummy
- Maybe, have a baby
Here are some updates on the kids...
Brianna: I got a letter from her teacher the other day inviting me to the first award assembly of the year. Looks like she'll be a lucky recipient of yet another award. This kid always has her nose in a book and reminds daddy and I just about everyday that she's going to Harvard after graduation. To give you a better idea of how bad her book obsession is, I make all three girls do at least 1-2 chores everyday after school. Elizabeth and Emily must do their homework first and then their chores before playing going outside to play. Whereas Brianna must complete her chores first because once she starts her reading homework we won't see her for the rest of the night! She thinks its quite hilarious that I say to her "chores before homework" as soon as she walks in the door and I say to the others "homework, chores, then play!" Brianna recently got her braces off, then got retainers. Then lost said retainer after one week. Remember the cruise she took with Nana and Papa not too long ago? Well, let's just say that Bri left the waiter a little surprise on the table after enjoying one of her last meals on the ship. LOL! Sigh......replacement retainer...$175 ...... ugh!!!! Sigh, again!
Elizabeth: She's also getting an award at this week's assembly. I was just telling daddy the other day that this one's personality is so perfect! Don't get me wrong, she's got her moments, but overall, she's just soooo easy going! The other day she walks up to me while I was outside talking to a neighbor. She said she wanted to wake Ben up and talk to him. I know her all too well, it was an eavesdropping attempt! I told her go inside the house. Rather than complain or ask why, like some of the other kids do, she grabs my belly with her two small hands, shakes it vigorously, and then runs inside as fast as she could laughing the whole time. She made me laugh too. She is so unique. So perfect! She wants to be a witch (again) for halloween. She was a witch last year. In her words, "I want to be a different kind of witch this year." Parent translation: "I don't want to wear the same costume twice! I love that she wants to be a witch though. She's sweet as heck, everybody's best friend, not too girly girl, and not afraid to show others that there is a dark, halloween loving, vampiress secret side to her that not everyone knows about. It's evidence that she is her father's daughter indeed.
Emily: I'm curious to see what her teacher will say about her at this week's teacher conference. I do have to say, we are getting less and less 'talking too much in class' notices about this child. I couldn't be happier. On most days, she's much quicker getting homework done than she was last year. Her latest thing is coming home and asking to use the telephone. She loves to call her classmate and talk as long as I will let her. Once she's on the phone, she disappears, usually to the piano room. Mind you, she's in 1st grade. She also, without confirming with mom, likes to schedule playdates with this friend and invites her over to the house unexpectedly, ugh!!! I'll have to snap a pic of her next time she's on the phone, her composure is just too funny. Her gestures suggest that she's so much older than she is. Her legs are crossed at the knee while she sits on the couch, her free hand flies in the air every now, and she's deep in conversation. Scary picture, I want to curl up and hide when I think of what it will be ten years from now!!! She's wants to grow up way too fast!
Matthew: Geez, the stuff that comes out of this kids mouth lately. His latest thing is to tell mommy how beautiful she is. You can imagine how much I'm eating this up. He usually tells me right before bed when we are saying our 'goodnights' but he's also been doing it during the day and out of the blue. I'll be washing dishes or making breakfast and he'll tell me, "I love you Mama" followed by "you look beautiful, Mama." The funniest thing is that he'll tell me when I'm totally looking my worst, like first thing in the morning with bedhead, stinky breath, and yesterday's makeup smeared on my face. Because of that, I don't believe a word he's saying but nonetheless it still melts my heart. What a gentleman he's turning out to be. He also likes to open doors while saying, "girls first" then allowing mommy and Megan to walk thru before he does. He asks about Ben all the time. He is curious as to why Ben doesn't have clothes on. Oh and last week Nana babysat so daddy and I could have what might be one of our last date nights before Baby Ben comes. When Matthew was told that she was coming over he had a few questions...
Matthew: Is Uncle Joseph and Kenzie coming too? (he's loves having cousin Kenzie over)
Me:No, sorry Bubba.
Matthew: Is Nina going to come babysit us too? (he's getting used to having a 2nd Nana around)
Me: Nope, sorry.
Matthew: Oh. What's in the bags for me?
Me: (Perplexed look on my face) What bags?
Matthew: The bags Nana brings when she comes. The bags with cool stuff in them?
Me: (Laughing Out Loud cuz Nana always brings goodies for the kids when she comes)
Megan: She's getting four teeth all at once, ouch! No complaints whatsoever though. She is the sweetest and happiest little baby girl in the world, even with a fever of 102.4! God, I love her! She just got her 1st pair of tennis shoes (Dora the Explorer ones) and loves to walk around sporting them. She imitates everything that her siblings do. We've learned to keep markers away from her as she sees her body as a blank canvas. Her latest thing is saying, "Awwww" whenever she sees a baby or a puppy dog.
Speaking of dogs...
Ewok: Ewok went M.I.A. yesterday. He was gone the whole day!!! It was already dark outside when I arrived home from work to find Brianna in the driveway with a long, sad face. She was worried about him. (Secretly, I wasn't... shhhh... don't tell her that though) This dog loves to go exploring and runs away about 3-4 times a week. The local high school kids walking home from school are usually the ones who find and return him. But, like I said, it was dark and he's never gone that long! Silly 'ol me was already envisioning the dark wood floors I want to put in the house but refuse tp until we no longer have a dog who has 'accidents.' I was already envisioning the 'Ewok isn't coming home but maybe we could buy a fish' talk we'd have with the kids when all of a sudden my thoughts were interrupted with a Ding Dong. Hmmm, wonder who that could be!!! I open the front door and find 2 gardeners carrying the darn dog, errr... I mean 2 gardeners carrying sweet... sweet.. Ewok. Needless to say, Brianna slept well last night with her doggy at her foot.
Weekend Plans:
We're hoping to make it to the Griffith's Observatory to watch one of their planetary shows. Our kids have never been. And I don't think daddy has either. I can remember going with my parents once when I was a small child. It was the coolest thing ever. I'm thinking the kids will like it just the same, I may even get more out of it this time around, especially because I just finished up one of my last college courses, an Astrology class. Did I mention it's cheap too!
We also have several halloween parties to attend to, not sure if we'll be able to make all of them but we'll see.
Enough for now. Don't forget to vote for me!
"I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich." ~Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford, "Identity Crisis," M*A*S*H
No comments:
Post a Comment