Fun with Friends

My friend Dawn was in the area visiting her parents and they invited us over. Grandmom Bergey lives about 35 minutes from us. The kids had fun visiting and enjoying all of the yummy food they shared with us. I should have took a picture of the delicious spread she had for us. They have a huge backyard and their neighbors have buffalo and horses.

Home, Home on the Range

All was well until adventurous Pearl tried to climb the rusty barbed wire fence and cut her hand. I was in the house and heard her crying. Have you ever seen a 10 month pregnant lady run really fast? Well, I didn't know it was possible but it is! I may not be able to waddle to the bathroom in the middle of the night but I can sprint if my baby gets hurt.

As you can tell it is quite far to the back of their yard.

Georgia is exactly a year older then Rose

Pearl with Jude (he is just two months younger then Rose, her kids are close in age)

Wordless Wednesday!

It's JUNE! We are meeting our baby soon!

The countdown is on! I have been busy working on getting her room together a little more, cleaning my house and making a few meals to freeze. The girls have been having fun bouncing in the bouncy seat and swinging in the baby swing. Hope they don't break them before she gets here. If I don't have her by June 11th I will be induced that day. My mom is coming on Saturday June 6th, so I am hoping not to have her before then as it would be much easier to have her here to watch the girls. I really don't want to get induced as I went naturally for Rose and was able to survive without any drugs or epidural. I got induced with Pearl and although my labor was fast and smooth the pain was worse with induction. I actually asked for an epidural but things were moving too fast and I couldn't get one so I got some drugs in my IV that made me loopy and sleepy. Hoping and praying to avoid any drugs or epidural this time.

Please leave a comment guessing the baby's birthday and weight.
Rose was five days early and weighed 6#7oz - length 19"
Pearl was five days early (induced) and weighed 8# 5oz - length 20 1/2"

Warning: Don't Mess with The Pregnant Lady!

I lose all social politeness and reserve when I am pregnant. If I think a stranger is being rude and unfair I just say what is on my mind. I am not like this at all when not pregnant.

This morning Rose had her pre-school graduation program. (Pictures to come soon.) We were sitting waiting in the audtorioum for the program to start. Pearl had been sitting on Mike's lap quietly and we decided to move her to the empty seat between us so she could have her own seat. The seats are the movie theater type seats that fold up automatically and and after two attempts we realized she did not weigh enough to keep her seat down. Mike picked her up to sit on his lap again and moved over to the empty seat to sit beside me. Mike is very tall (6'4") and does not have a lot of knee room in these types of chairs and since he was holding Pearl he may have bumped the chair in front of him or Pearl may have bumped it as they were getting situated. The lady in front of us immediatley turns around and says could you please not let your little girl kick my seat. Now if Pearl had actually been kicking her seat on purpose and this had happened several times that would have been one thing. ( Both of us try to be very sensitive to the girls kicking the seats of others on planes etc.) But Pearl had only just attempted to get into her seat and then Mike had just moved to that seat so literally the most we were occupying the seat behind this lady had been thirty seconds of which people were just trying to sit. There was no kicking going on maybe an accidental bump but no kicking. So I just start mumbling to Mike about how this lady is not being very patient and she must not be a very good grandmother when we weren't even doing anything and that maybe it was Mike that had bumped her seat since he has long legs. I can't even remember what else I said and I didn't really care if she could hear me or not! Mike was literally about to steal Pearl's lollipop out of her mouth to shove into my mouth to shut me up. Anyway this is not the first time I have done this type of thing when pregnant. I remember telling a waitress off when I was pregnant with Rose, at the time I was as shocked at my own behavior as Mike was. I also told some lady at the airport off when she was complaining that I was in the way with my suitcases, carry-ons, two carseats, stroller and two kids. I was attempting to move all of the things over as fast as I could (Mike was at the ticket counter.) That was earlier in this pregnancy so the telling the lady off was followed by me crying for about thirty minutes afterwards. NOW it is not so much crying just me telling people off. Mike is praying I have the baby soon or he won't be going out in public with me for the next few weeks. Did you feel more likely to speak your mind out loud when you were pregnant? Anyway don't say you haven't had a fair warning if you meet up with me.

Wordless Wednesday

7- The # of pounds I gained in the last two weeks!
6- The # of times Pearl yelled "MOM, DON'T FORGET TO PEE IN A CUP!" As she sat in the waiting area while I used the restroom at my last doctor appointment.
5- The # of pillows I need to get comfortable enough to get some sleep.
4- The # of times I get up to use the RR at night.
3- The # of weeks I have left until we meet her
2- The # of big sisters that are so excited!.
1- One sweet baby that will make it all worthwhile.

Word-full Wednesday

I thought about doing a Wordless Wednesday post but had some really cute things that Pearl has been saying lately that I needed to jot down before I forget. She is just at that age now where she is really able to express so many of her thoughts in a way that gives you a sneak peek into her mind.

When my grandmother passed away we were watching videos of her singing with my brother Chris. He had long hair and a full beard that he had been growing out for a show and you couldn't really see his face much in the video. My grandmother and Chris were singing the song "I'm in Heaven" and I said she really is in heaven now and Pearl asked "Is that Jesus?", referring to my brother Chris.

My grandmother's funeral service was held at a beautiful old Irish Catholic church. When we entered that church Pearl asked in awe "Is this heaven?"

Driving to my Grandmother's grave site we passed many headstones in the cemetery. Rose says "Boy, they really pack them in here, where are they gonna put Gram?"

The other day my parents were visiting and my dad (aka Papa) was reading the girls a story about mommy having a baby. As they were looking at the pictures in the book he asked the girls "Who else has a big belly like that?" to which Pearl replied "Papa does!"

My friend Suzie's little baby Henry had surgery this week. Mike and I were talking about it at dinner and Pearl asked "Why is Miss Suzie sad?". I said "Well her baby is sick." Pearl looked at me and said "We can give her our baby!". I told her that we would miss our baby and that we can't share babies and Miss Suzie loves Henry and just wants him to feel better. So Pearl said " I don't want to give my baby away, let's give Miss Suzie a cookie to feel better."

Rosey's Sips and Treats

Rose has been wanting to have a Lemonade Stand since last summer.

She saw a commercial for The Great American Bake Sale and decided she wanted to participate.
All of the proceeds go to help hungry children.

Pearl helped, well mostly ate half of the merchandise.

Rose dressed in yellow to match her Lemonade.

She raised $25! (More money then I made at the garage sale.)

Just in case you were curious how big the baby is (I am) at 35 weeks... HUGE!
I don't think I was this big with either of the girls and Pearl weighed 8lbs 5 oz.
Hope this one doesn't top that!

Thankful Thursday

This week I am very thankful for my sweet husband.

Last weekend he let me go away for a long-long weekend (Thursday- Monday) to Nashville, to visit with my many dear friends and attend a women's retreat at one of their churches.
He also took Friday and Monday off of work to be with the girls.

He not only fed and cared for the girls but also took them downtown to the carousel.

As you can tell they had fun!

They went to the playground.

He even took pictures of their weekend so I would see all the fun they had and of course recorded Pearl's lovely fashion sense.

He got the girls dressed in their Sunday best and brought them to church! (Okay Pearl added a few touches like the coat and socks in 90 degree weather. Pearl would not wear socks all winter but decided the first HOT weekend of the year that she finally likes socks!)

Now don't tell him but all of the above would have been enough to to get him plenty of great husband/Daddy points, however he went way above and beyond that.

While I was away that weekend he also manged to
-paint the kitchen
-refinish my dining room table
-plant our vegetable garden
-dig up the weeds in our flower garden, plant flowers and mulch it
-purchase and assemble two bookshelves for our bedroom
-bought me little rose plants from the girls and new tea towels for my kitchen
-made welcome home mommy signs
-and got to the airport on time to pick me up with my two sweet babies who were dressed up.
All while taking care of the girls!

I should go away more often! Anyway just had to share how thankful I am for my wonderful husband.

Visit from the cousins!

Easter weekend my brother, sister-in law, and sweet niece and nephew visited us. We took the train to downtown Philly for a little history lesson.

Marker at Ben Franklin's grave.

My nephew Ben at Ben Franklin's grave.
I did not find out why people leave penny's on his grave.

Brooklyn, Rose, Pearl and Ben.

Did you know that the crack on the Liberty bell was only a hairline crack? Then someone thought that if they carved it out and put some bolts in to fix it it would sound as good as new.

Independence Hall

The kids listen intently to one of the great storytellers.
(Edited to add: Pearl just saw this photo on my blog and said "That is me with the pirate." )

The train was a little crowded so Rose sat on Brooklyn's lap.

Happy Easter

UGH, my face is getting fat not sure if I should blame it on the baby or to many jellybeans.

My cutie patooties. (I bribed them with a jellybean to get this shot;)

Don't mind Pearl's pants she had the same pink laced edge leggings as Rose but will not wear them. She hates tights but I was hoping it was just the feet that she hated, but no the cute pink leggings were too fitted for her. Since the wind shill was 20 bare legs were not an option so we went with pants under her dress.

Oh well cute lacy leggings or silly white pants she is still cute!

Cheese!

Rose wants to be a ballerina when she grows up.

Put on your Easter Bonnet!

My Precious Gram

This week my sweet dear grandmother went home to be with her Lord. She was the most loving, kind person anyone ever met. I am sure there was not a person that knew her that would not agree with me. She loved little children, good thing, because she had eleven of her own. We will miss her smile and her hugs and singing old songs with her. We are thankful for the wonderful memories we have of her. I pray that I can be grow to be even half as loving and faithful as she was.