The Holiday Season is Here!

We have been extremely busy since getting back from Omaha. We bought a Christmas tree, decorated the house and outside (a little bit), and just doing that took me almost 2 weeks! I have also been frantically Christmas shopping! I had to get packages sent out to Arizona and California, and I wanted to make sure I did that before the shipping fees got too expensive. Somehow I managed to get it all done! I have a couple things left to buy, but overall I finished all major shopping! Yay1

In the mean time I had some cramping and wasn't feeling all that great. The doc said it was probably due to dehydration, so I've been drinking lots of water and trying my best to take it easy. I think I've been fighting a cold, too, so that doesn't make it any better. I've been really tired and taking 2 hour naps in the afternoon! Paul's been out of town at a meeting for a couple of days, but he'll be back tomorrow. It's increasingly difficult to chase around Thomas and Sophia as I get bigger and slower and they seem to get faster and faster!

We only have a couple of days of school left, and I'm pretty excited for Christmas break. I'll probably have a very hard time going back afterwards, but time will fly and soon I'll be on maternity leave! Well, that's what's happening here - not much! Hopefully there will be more exciting things to share after Christmas!

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was great! We drove 1000 miles in the new Odyssey to Omaha, Nebraska for Thanksgiving, and we had alot of fun. I hadn't been to Omaha since we evacuated for Hurricane Ike, so I was really glad to be back. The kids did awesome in the car, and I must give many thanks to the DVD system in the car. We can put their movie on and they can listen with headphones so that we can listen to our own music in the front -it was completely awesome!!

My brother and his family also came, so Thomas and Sophia were able to play with their cousins Isabella (3) and Gianna (5 mos). We had family pictures taken, and I'll try to get those scanned and post one. I was able to visit with my friends and family and eat lots of good food! I saw my friend Heather and her new little baby Brookly, my friend Jaimie who got married in Jamaica today, ate at Runza and Big Fred's, got 5 chiropractic adjustments (Thanks Matt!!) and was able to squeeze in a little shopping, too!!

Baby Update: I'm getting bigger and bigger by the day, and it's getting increasingly uncomfortable to bend over and pick things up! The baby moves around alot and I'm definitely slowing down. I've got about 15 weeks to go, and I'm ready to be done already! I'm getting anxious to not be pregnant any more, and most especially to meet the new baby. We have most of the things we need, but there are a few things we are in need of, and if anyone is interested we have a baby registry at amazon.com. We gave away some things to a family in need awhile back before we knew for sure if we were going to try for #3, so that is why there are some things on there that we used to have. I certainly don't expect anything from anyone, but just in case anyone was interested we do have a small registry. Anyway, all is well so far.

The pictures above are: Thomas and Sophia in the Odyssey watching a movie with the headphones, my Brother Eric and his daughter Isabella, My sis-in-law Lindsay and my newest neice Gianna, and Thomas watching the Nebraska game with Isabella, Gianna and everyone else in Omaha.

The Odyssey

Here is the Odyssey! I kept meaning to take a picture of it, but it was dirty and it was rainy for so long I kept forgetting. Anyway, here it it. I LOVE it, and can't imagine not having it. I love that I can open the doors remotely and the kids just run in and get in to their seats. It's comfortable, convenient and has great features for a family with kids.

My students have been making fun of me for getting a mini van and actually told me I should get a Tahoe instead! Haha! I laughed and said we have one and are trying to sell it. So, here's the family truckster!

Halloween!

Halloween was so fun this year! We went to a friend's house who had a birthday party for her 3 year old daughter and also had amazing decorations including lights that blinked to halloween music!! Thomas was a bit scared, but Sophia loved it all. We then all went trick-or-treating together and the kids had a blast!! Sophia was Minnie Mouse and Thomas was a Lightning McQueen Racecar driver. They were sooo cute!

New Beds!

When we bought Thomas's crib, we bought a convertible one that went from crib to toddler bed to full sized bed, but we did not buy the conversion set to make it a full sized bed thinking we would buy it later. Well, I went back to buy it and it was discontinued!! So, when we changed him to a full sized bed we had to buy bed rails and Paul had to drill into the head/footboards to make it work. Well, it didn't really work and the mattress kept falling between the rails almost daily and it was a huge pain. So, since we are having another girl, we decided to get Thomas bunk beds (can be put into 2 twins on floor if we want, and hopefull will be useful in the future). We then gave Thomas's old full sized mattress to Sophia (her crib is convertable as well), and we will use her old crib mattress for the new baby and Thomas's old bed/crib for the baby's crib. So, here are Thomas and Sophia's new beds! So far they like them and Sophia slept great in her big girl bed!!

Then, we will have a few years to figure out bedroom arrangements for the girls! We will put the new baby's crib downstairs in the office for awhile until we figure out what we'll do for a more permanent situation, and also that will assure that I won't have to run up and down the stairs all the time for feedings, etc. with the new baby. Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch a couple weeks ago. We ended up not staying long because there were soooooo many people and the kids were a bit cranky and tired. But, we rode the tractor hay wagon out to the pumpkins and got a couple to bring home. Kids had fun and here are a few pictures.

The New Baby's Name Will Be . . .

Zoe Elizabeth!

Long before I was pregnant, Paul said he liked the name Zoe. It is Greek for 'Life', and he came across that while researching Sophia's name, which means 'Wisdom' in Greek. He thought they were good names together and suggested it as a name if we ever had another girl. So, once we found out it was a girl I searched for lots of names, but nothing really stuck out and Paul kept going back to Zoe. I asked Thomas and Sophia what they thought and they immediately started calling the baby Zoe, so the name just kind of stuck. Other bonuses of the name Zoe are that I've never had a student named Zoe and none of my friends/relatives are named Zoe or have kids named Zoe. It's kind of different, and not something I ever thought I would choose as a name for my child, but it just happened. I also was somewhat partial to a short name and so it worked out.

Elizabeth is Paul's grandmother's name, and Thomas and Sophia both have names from my side. Paul wanted a family name and of all the names he suggested, Elizabeth sounds the prettiest with Zoe, and it sounds like his grandma was a pretty neat lady (she passed away years before I met Paul).

So, for a little background - here are the other kids' name explanations: Thomas is my Dad and Brother's middle name, and Paul really likes the story of St. Thomas (doubting Thomas). His middle name is Vincent and he is named after my cousin who I grew up with and he passed away in an accident in 1999. Vince was 10 years older than me and tortured me like an older brother when I was younger, but I was growing up to be alot like him. I miss having him around and wanted to honor his memory.
As for Sophia's name, we picked it mostly because I really liked it. Then, Paul did a bunch of reading about Sophia and how it means Wisdom and its significance in the church. Her middle name is Vallerino, which flows nicely with Sophia, and is my Mom's maiden name. There are no more Vallerino desendents - my Mom only had one sister and my Grandfather had all sisters who married, so no one carried on the name.

So, that's the story of the new baby's name! I'm 20 weeks along, so I'm about half way there. Baby Zoe is moving around alot, and my nausea has pretty much gone away. My students comment nearly daily that my belly is getting bigger, and I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable doing some things. But, so far so good! I'll keep you posted!

IT'S A GIRL!

We found out on Monday that we are having another girl! I was a bit surprised by this because I was really thinking it was going to be a boy. This pregnancy has been different in Sophia's in many ways - much more nausea, different cravings and just overall different feeling. Maybe I was just hoping it was going to be a boy, but either way it doesn't matter. We are set to have another girl. We are still thinking about names, and will share with everyone as soon as we decide on one.

I've added 2 of the ultrasound pictures - one of the profile and one of the left and right foot. They were the best ones we got. Also, she is healthy and normal as far as they can see. She should be approximately 12 oz. right now, so about the size of a pop can. I"ve gotten noticeably larger in the past couple of weeks and everyone at school is really taking notice. One of my students keeps saying that my belly gets bigger every day. I tell her this is what is supposed to happen! But, I can happily and comfortably wear my maternity clothes now, and I can really feel her moving around in there. Some days she's more active than others, but that is about the only part of pregnancy I enjoy. I've had some nausea popping up again recently, which I'm not happy about. I thought that was gone!! Oh well. At least it's temporary.

Everything else is going very well. Thomas and Sophia are starting to understand that they have a sister on the way, and are helping to pick out names. Sophia's suggestion was "ABCD" and Thomas's was "Tiger". We'll definitely keep those on the list . . .

Garden Pictures

Here are some pictures of the garden. I've planted tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, gourds, basil and squash. You can see some of the plants that I've planted and then I planted a bunch of seeds in the empty spaces. I planted them last Saturday and there are aleady a few squash and gourd sprouts! I've got a couple more things to plant and I'll post pictures later when everything is (hopefully) growing!

Landscaping!

We had to have our front yard re-landscaped recently for several reasons. First, the soil in the flower beds was too high and covering the weepholes which can cause termites and other unfriendly problems. Secondly, the yard sloped up away from the house, which caused some drainage problems. Thirdly, the 2 trees in the front yard died over the summer. And, lastly, the existing landscaping was crowded and not very well done.
So, they fixed the soil problem, added some rocks for drainage, rearranged some plants and added some new ones (there are a few left to be planted), added some trees and made me a garden in the backyard (pics yet to come). They also added some planters in the front to make it a bit more invited and friendly to look at. So, here are a few before and after pictures. We still have some annuals to be planted. We ended up getting 4 new trees for the front yard - 3 varieties of Oak, and one Crape Myrtle was replanted from next to the house to the front yard. Also, Paul transplanted a Magnolia tree that was too close to our house to the neighborhood common area in front of our house. I'll post a few more pictures as soon as I can take them - I ran out of light today.

Landscaping before

Landscaping after - pots in front

Landscaping after


Replanted Magnolia