Happy Birthday Jack

My big man turned three yesterday! We really enjoy spending time with the kids on their birthdays. We like celebrating as a family. That could be why i only have one birthday party for all the kids. :) Plus, i am not a birthday party fan. Anyway, his birthday fell on a Tuesday and we knew Eric would be at work so we celebrated on Saturday. We took him out to Chuck E Cheese for lunch and then out to Dairy Queen for dinner and an ice cream cake. I am not sure if Jack or Eric was more excited about the cake. It was a fun day. He also got to get some Lightning McQueen rain boots. Somehow Eric thought they fit. Turns out they are a few sizes too big so we will certainly get our use out of them. We didn't do much yesterday. We rested from our travels. Jack made cupcakes and Uncle Wes brought in a few toys. Now i am having to keep up with little foam disc and repeatedly blow up balloon thingies. Thanks Wes. Eric and i got him new Lightning PJs, house shoes and underwear. Ella and John gave him Tic Tacs. I love when they are so little and easy to please. He wasn't feeling well last night so he had and early bath and was off to bed. I think he was exhausted. It was a beautiful day here so the kids had lots of time outside. I will keep you all updated on our move and plans. 

Goodbye Raleigh

Monday morning we packed up the car, said our goodbyes to Eric and then to our neighbors and headed out of our neighborhood for the last time. I turned out onto Forestville Road toward the interstate that would bring us "home". I drove past the house that doubles as a Vietnamese temple. It was all decorated for the celebration of the Vietnamese New Year. It was always interesting to see it decorated on top of all the massive figurines in the yard. We waved to the small house sized Buddha and yellow goats as we passed. On the interstate and thinking we were settling in for a long day, we put in a movie and i drive. I cried. Not because i am going to miss Raleigh itself or this job (at all) but because of the wonderful people we met. We had wonderful neighbors that made the time we were there easy. Easy to go out and have people to hang out with and other kids to play with while Eric was working. My Grey's night with the girls every Thursday. It always gave me an excuse to make a sweet treat and eat late. We found a really good church that i never wanted to miss, always a good sign. The kids loved their classes and teachers. Gymnastics was also a hard thing to leave. The teachers were amazing and the kids knew that every Friday was special because it was gymnastics day. We collected e-mails and phone numbers in order to keep in touch with Ella's BFFs. I look forward to hearing back from them all. Three of our friends are expecting and i am sad they won't get to share in our joy as we have another one and i am more sad i won't get to share in their joy as they go through their pregnancies and bring their little ones home. Introductions and goodbyes are just a part of the job. We will go to a new home and find a new church and new activities for the kids but these people will always hold this time in our lives. As we drove it didn't take long before Jack had to go potty so my mind was off to other things. Granted we were only a little over an hour into the trip. I thought it was going to be a much longer day than expected. We only stopped twice before getting to Birmingham. We made a stop at Uncle Wes's for dinner and then on to Grandpa and Grandma's house. 12 hours, 3 stops, 2 gas fill ups, two meals, lots of snacks and countless movies, we were there. Not sure where to go from here but we are good at winging it. Eric was told to try and stay in Raleigh for another few weeks before having movers come in and pack up. He has vacation for two weeks the first of February so i guess he will go back to get the move done. Where to you ask?? We have no idea. :) Mom and Dad rented bunk beds for the month since our length of stay is unknown. I have a doctors appointment set up for Monday and we will go from there. Eric is really ready to finish up this job. Doug has gone and gotten started on his new job so Eric is alone. Still having long days and nights because it all needs to be done NOW. That is just the way it is sometimes. I look forward to him getting here and having some time with us. So for now, i am 26, pregnant with my fourth child and living upstairs in my parents house. 2 adults, 4 kids and 2 dogs upstairs in three bedrooms and one bath. Another adventure God has planned for us. :)

33 week check-up

I had my 33 week check up on Tuesday. I drove in the snow to get there (gasp)! Yes, that was a big deal around here but i felt well prepared given my experience driving in Idaho. Needless to say i got right in since there was one other patient that showed up for their appointment. Talked to the doctor but not much new. Still don't know where we are going so nothing new to talk about. Baby sounded really excited (high heart rate). I guess the baby was happy about the snow too. Everything is right on track and i am due for an appointment around February 3rd. I am just not sure where i will have that appointment. Hopefully news will come soon. I will keep you posted. I also put up a new poll for you guys to vote on. When will the baby be here?? We will see.

Snow day

Yesterday was wonderful. It snowed and Eric got to stay home and play. We woke up to 3 inches and it was still falling. It snowed until about 1 in the afternoon. I had a Dr. appointment so Eric got up and headed to the job site and then home with doughnuts for the kids. I went to the doctor and Eric took the kids out to play. Ella and John didn't last very long but Jack was having a blast. They came in and when i got home we had lunch and hung out in front of the fireplace until John got up from his nap and then we were back outside to try some "sledding". We played in the yard until one of our neighbors came by so we headed down the street to play with our friends. Over an hour of play later, Ella's toes were freezing and John's hands were burning so we headed home, changed into some dry clothes, and went to meet Doug for dinner. It was a wonderful, relaxing, "family" day.

What a week!

This is the job from..... okay, well we will just say it is never ending. Just when Eric thinks they have things worked out they get another task thrown at them. I do understand that this has been a very valuable learning experience for him. I just wish he could have learned it over a few jobs and not all at once. He and Doug have worked so hard and we thought he would get a bit of a break when they passed the state inspection and he did for about a week. Then it all came crumbling down! :) He has been working until 11 or later for about a week and a half now. They were finishing up the architect's punch list today and the new Holly Hills Psychiatric Hospital will be open on Monday morning! Yeah! Somehow the closer we get to the opening of the hospital the more work Eric and Doug seem to accumulate. They are now in charge of hanging the pictures on the wall. Really?? I thought they were building the hospital not decorating it. Anyway, it is almost over...i hope. We were suppose to hear where we were moving yesterday but just like our luck sometimes, no one called. Still no news today. Maybe Monday. We were hoping to move as close to Tuesday as possible. That will be the last two week break that i have in doctor's visits so it would allow for a few days to visit each family and then get moved. The longer they wait the less time to visit. The kids had their gymnastics today. I am really going to miss their teachers. The kids love it but we will find another program. I am thinking next week will be a busy week (if we find out where we are moving). I will try and keep you posted.

Ella's funny:
We eat at Chick-fil-A every Friday in between the kids classes. Today, there were two other little black boys in the play area with Ella and John. On the way back to the gym this is what she said " Mom there was a little boy in the playground with me and his face was brown and he had a little brother too. His brother's face was brown and so was his mom's. We climbed all the way up to the car and i drove and then he drove. That is just what we did. He asked me what my name was and i said Ella and then i told him i had to go and he said where and i said back to my gymnastics class. I told him we eat there when we have gymnastics so he can come back then and fortunately the boy with the brown face is my new best friend." I love that Ella loves to make friends with everyone....and that she tells them our schedule. :)
She also thinks that the bigger my belly gets the more i look like Santa. I think she thinks that is a compliment.

Jack's funny:
Jack continues the think that there is a duck in our ceiling that lives in the vent where the air comes out. No matter how many times we try to explain the difference in a duct and duck he still thinks there is a duck up there. Anyway, now when he walks through the upstairs he will ocassionally step on a squeaky part of the floor. This causes him to stop, go back, find the squeak and insist that there is now a duck under the floor too. It must be the baby duck. Well, of course!

The new desk

I cannot decorate. I just want to put that out there. Knowing that it takes me FOREVER to pick out furniture, bedding, wall art, and everything else that would go in your home. Our desk was getting old and due for retirement. I began with just a simple search. You know, Target, Office Max, Staples, etc. I knew i didn't want to invest $500 or more in a desk since i don't know where we will end up or if it would even fit in the next house. I found one that was just perfect at Target. Of course, when i went back to get it a few months later it was..yes, you guessed it, GONE. So, i search again and find it again. It was cheaper than at Target so no complaints. After another three weeks of putting off ordering i find it is gone again. That is what i get. Eric finds it at another site (with really bad customer service reviews) and orders the desk. We soon found out that the desk was discontinued and so i wasn't expecting to ever receive it. A month and a half and a few calls to the customer service department later(i feel sure that it is a requirement to be on drugs to work there) we receive the desk. Not to my surprise it was one long skinny box. Great. This meant an afternoon of assembling. We all got ready:

We began with step one in what i was sure could be considered a novel. I went really slow and double checked everything so i didn't make a mistake. I think all the pregnancy hormones killed off my good brain cells.

My helpers were in and out. Always willing to grab and run with something i was sure to need in the next step. Finally, about 4 or 5 hours later i was finished and ready to push my new desk back into its new space and turn the computer on. I turn on the computer and it all works. No time to enjoy all my hard work. I was off to cook dinner.

It is not quite what Eric and i thought it was going to look like but it is still very nice and hopefully it will last us the next 5 years and 5 moves. :) On a side note: the kids still have those nasty coughs. Slowly getting better. I didn't take them to gymnastics today because i didn't want to pass it around. Still no word on a move. Eric ran into a few problems this week and had a long night Wednesday and will be going in for a full day at least on Saturday and maybe Sunday. The hospital is scheduled to begin moving in on Monday. Hopefully next week will bring us news about our new location. Check back.

31 Weeks

Jack and I went to my 31 week appointment this morning. Nothing really interesting. They are sending all my paperwork to the hospital. Are we really getting to that point? I guess so. Belly is still on schedule and the heart rate was 150. I have to start keeping track of how many movements a day. I laughed. I don't really have time to sit and see how long it takes the baby to move 7 times. Do they think this is my first?? :) We talked at length about traveling. She recommends getting where we are going and staying there, just in case. Speaking of traveling, still no word about the move. I am enjoying Eric getting home at 5:30 so i am in no rush to get to another job and back to his work schedule. I think Eric is a little ancy because we haven't even heard of any possibilities. The waiting continues.... The kids have a cough they are passing around. It started with John and has successfully made its way to Jack and Ella. Hopefully it will pass soon. The weather here has been wet and cold so i haven't gotten much done. Rainy weather is good for resting. At least that is what i keep telling myself. The sun should come out tomorrow so i will get it done then....RIGHT! :)

John is 18 months old!

John actually turned 18 months old in December but we just went to his 18 month check-up today. He is fantastic other than a cough. Chest was clear so no medicine needed. He weighed 22 and a half pounds and was 31 inches long. I know that doesn't mean a whole lot. Basically, he is in the 10 percentile for his age in the height and weight categories. Eric stayed home and kept the other two so it was a pretty easy visit. I was concerned about his lack of speech. It isn't that he doesn't speak but i just thought he should have more than 8 to 10 words in his vocabulary. Apparently, i am just paranoid. He is really smart. He never has a problem getting what he needs and doesn't show any signs of frustration when trying to communicate. We started working on some sign language so when the baby is here we can use it. After 20 minutes John had already caught on to two of the other signs. He is too cute and quite clever so i should probably stop worrying. Better safe than sorry. I guess that comes with the job. He is loving his new bed but still doesn't care much about going to sleep. It is always better if Jack is in there with him. Next check up is at the 2 year mark. It will be here before i know it. We have a busy week so check back often.

New Year, New Beds

The boy's beds were finally delivered yesterday. They were able to ring in the new year in their new big boy beds. They are big! I don't think they are larger than any normal bed but i am used to them sitting a little lower to the ground. The trundles are wonderful. I look forward to having an extra bed and extra storage. We pull John's trundle out some just in case he rolls off. Most of his body should hit the mattress. :)The boys (and even Ella) are enjoying them. It is amazing how much furniture can change a room. It looks like a boys room now. I am thrilled. Eric is as equally happy. I think he is more excited about me making an effort to get the house decorated. I am not sure why, we are just going to move again. :) Speaking of the move, we still don't know but hopefully in the next few weeks we will hear. I hope to get moved out right after my dr. appointment on the 20th. I have to work in two week windows now. I am trying not to think that far ahead. None of our plans ever seem to work out so we will take it as it comes. Life seems to more fun and adventurous that way. We had a wonderful New Year's day. Eric was at home and we were able to relax and spend time together. That is always a nice way to start a new year. I hope you all had a wonderful day. I wish you all the best in 2009.

Jack's bed and the boy's dresser and bookshelves

John's bed and the kid's getting ready for bed (i.e. playing)