Christmas

A few pictures Greg took of Christmas morning. Leah and Jeremiah patiently waited for an hour until Colette woke up that morning! I couldn't believe it!

Annabelle

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures! More to come.

 

 

You want to know why I look so awesome? Becuase I was dilated to an 8 at this point... yeah.

 

 Her first stocking... probably big enough for Colette to fit in, but it was fitting considering it was very early Christmas morning at that point. And her little Christmas stocking hat with a red pom pom.

She didn't get any gifts this year, we decided that was because she was born after Santa had already packed his sleigh. :)

 

Merry Christmas!

Out of all the Christmas gifts we could have given or received, this little face was the best gift of all this Christmas.

Annabelle Margaret Hirschi

born December 24th at 11:03pm

Weighing 5lbs 14oz., measuring 18 1/4 in.

It has been quite the whirlwind week. So much happened, To spare you all from the gory details of labor and birth it sufices me to say that Christmas eve I began to anticipate labor, but nothing had started until early in the evening. Jeremiah had strep throat, and we didn't want to share that with any of our dear friends, but there was a baby to be born, so Gregs best friend Nate came over and slept on our couch on Christmas Eve while we went to the hospital, a few hours later this beautiful squishy face was laid in my arms. Greg went home at 2am to relieve Nate so he could go spend Christmas with his own family and so that Greg could make sure everything was ready for our kids when they woke up. He flew solo of Christmas morning, but took lots of video and photos so I could see.

Anna is such a wonderful addition to our family, the kids LOVE her and they all want to hold her all the time. She eats well and sleeps well enough, you know how it is. Greg has been home the entire time! He went back to work yesterday for the first time since her birth. I think he was ready to go back to work. He was such a great help to me, I got to sleep in every morning until 11.... 11!! I must be REALLY tired if I can manage to sleep past 8.  But now i feel great, apart from being a little tired, and I'm really enjoying our little snuggler.

I will post LOTS of pictures later today, for some reason my computer isn't letting me upload strait to blogger, so I had to sync with picasa web in order to get a photo on here! But I promise, more photos are coming!

Vail

I found this post in my drafts, evidently I forgot to post it when I wrote it. Enjoy!

 

In September Gregs grandpa died. We miss his witty humor and cheerful spirit dearly, but we were lucky enough to get to drive to Las Vegas for the funeral and spend time with a lot of family. Along the way we stopped in Vail. It was the off season, so we were lucky enough to stay in a beautiful ski resort hotel and the leaves were beginning to change, so the view was breathtaking. Before we left to continue our trip we took a walk to enjoy the scenery and get our wiggles out before the day of driving before us. The kids all had a blast. Unfortunately these are the only photos I took that weekend, but it was a great trip with lots of loving family.

34 Weeks

Yep, almost 34 weeks and I'm large and in charge. I've decided I don't like having a baby close to the holidays. Its just too much for a girl to take.

Happenings

You see that happy girl? The one in the middle?

 

I think that was the happiest face we got out of her that day.

 

On a random sidenote that may be too much information for some of you: I'm potty training that beautiful happy little girl. And it was going well (once I got past the first two days of wanting to claw my eyes out). Only problem: She is sick now. Croup mixed with Diarrhea. Yes, it makes for fabulous potty training. But I can't go back now!!!!! So its lots of rubber gloves and toilet rinsing and lots of laundry. But theres no going back. I'm determined to only have one child in diapers come January.

 

PS: this is me bragging. Leah can read.... well, not really, but she can sound out basic words and she read her first book today (you know, words like cat and bat, easy). And she is sounds out words on our cereal boxes, and other things she can find. She is so curious and happy (really truly happy, not Colette happy :)) She still gets into trouble faster that I can say Bobs you're Uncle, but I think she'll turn out alright in the end. Fingers crossed.

 

 

 

Halloween

I made sure to take photos this year, since last year I forgot, and perhaps the year before as well.

Granted, these were not the only costumes donned this halloween. Just one set. Leah stuck with what she originally requested, the Funnyman Boogeyman from the Backyardigans cartoon, previously her face was pale blue (did you know they still sell bright blue eye shadow!!!! who wears that?).

Jeremiah originally wanted to be Frankenstein, so I thrifted a womens jacket and altered it to fit him for his costume. Once he tried it on, however, he changed his mind and wanted to be a spy, the first thing he thought of when he saw it I guess.

Colette was a skeleton tonight, but before she was a princess, I just wanted her to be warmer, and I was lazy, so on went her halloween pjs.

I wish I would have gotten a photo of us at the ward trunk or treat. We were garden gnomes. Greg, me, and Jeremiah. It was great fun, and Jeremiah helped me transform the trunk of the van into a little garden gnome house, complete with dollar store ivy and flowers. I'll try to convince greg to pose for a picture with his outfit, so we can get it. Hopefully next week I'll have that picture for you. :)

Until then.... Happy Halloween!

The House

I've been asked to show pictures of the house, but have been hesitant because my house is never clean enough to photograph.... that, and its no where near where I want it to be. But because of that, I supposed that it would be ok to post "Before" photos of the house, and then post after photos as rooms are re-done and completed.

To start us off, I finished a 6 year old project last week. YAY! I posted about this glider before. For your viewing displeasure I'll show you the Before picture :

Complete with highlighter scribbled all over the seat cushion, and cusions that didn't have much to them anymore. This glider was 2nd hand 6 years ago when Jeremiah was born, and covered in a faux denim fabric that was showing WAY too many years of wear everywhere. I wanted to recover it then... and ever since it has just sat there, yucky and staring at me. I got bored one day and took some old curtains that had been ruined by a fountain pen during the move and the left-over foam from my couch project and went to town. I'm not sure I love the orange, but it was free, and much better than the yucky dirty blue. I still have to do the arm covers, but it's better. Hurray for finishing a project!

Girls room, Pink and yellow. Ugh.

To Do: Paint, curtains, a bunk bed, convert the crib back to a crib, get a new dresser and a rug, and create some art for the walls

Our room

To Do: Paint, bedside tables, lamps, get rid of the dust ruffle, move the curtains, bench for the base of the bed, and a reading chair, table and lamp for the large empty corner.

Master Closet

To Do: rip out the whole thing and start from stratch, and add deep shelves or cupboard for linen storage.

Jeremiah's room

To Do: Paint new curtains, new art piece for the wall, dresser for all his suff, headboard, and new bedding, oh, and re-do his closet.

Laundry Room: Super messy the day I took this picture... well, it commonly looks like this, lets be honest.

To Do: Paint, more shelves above washer and dryer, and build a shelving unit below the counter, window coverings, and art, and probably a rug.

Play room/Sewing room: it usually looks like this too.

To Do: paint, shelving for toy storage, and something that will keep my sewing stuff available, but safe from the girls... not sure if thats even possible.

The sewing closet

Family Room

To Do: Paint, move all the kid books to the playroom? window coverings, area rug, coffee table, two comfy chairs, some side tables and lamps. Greg hates overhead lighting, so lamps are the only way I'm going to be able to see in the winter evenings. :)

Living Room: the emptiest of them all

To Do: Paint, comfy movie watchin' couch, soft rug, side tables, lamps, built in bookshelves, floor cushions, oh, and a TV for watching those movies on that comfy couch.

Hallway looking from the front entry, not sure what I'm doing with this.

Kitchen:

To Do: Paint, undercab lighting, over-cab lighting, figure out how to decorate over the cabinets

Dining Room:

To Do: Paint, Side board, lamps, and try to find an alternative to those aweful vertical blinds.

Another Little Padawan

We will be adding another little girl to our lively bunch in January, or late december, but we're hoping for January, as far away from Christmas as possible. :)

I was sure it was a boy.... sure. I was looking at baby boy clothes and everything. But it really is a girl, She double checked. Gregs family had 5 boys in a row, and now... it'll be 4 girls in a row. So Kristina, if you want to have another girl, you'd better do it now so the streak doesn't expire. :)

Proof

This was taken August 1. I was 16 weeks pregnant, I felt HUGE. I couldn't believe the pictures, I didn't look that big, but looking down, I was enormous.

 This was taken today, Sept 5, I'm 21 weeks. And now I am enormous. :)



Please tell me it's perfectly normal to get way bigger with #4 than with 1, 2, or even 3??  I blame it on stress eating with selling the house, Greg being in CO,  moving, moving again... yes, blame it on the circumstances.

Overall, doing great, just feeling huge, and loving my maternity clothes, lots of stretchy things... AHHH. And anxiously awaiting the coming of fall and cooler weather.