38 Weeks

Drove through a HUGE rainstorm to get to this appointment.

No induction schedule.

Enough said....

The results....

Thanks to everyone who played the name game!  I had fun watching the poll!  I wasn't too surprised by the way the voting turned out .  Since I don't know how to embed the poll in here I'm just gonna list what the results were.

Bailey  -- 6 votes {40%}

Evellyn  -- 5 votes {33%}

Paislee  -- 1 vote {6%}

Maisey -- 1 vote {6%}

Charlotte -- 2 votes {13%}

So what is our decision on the name game?!  Still undecided!  Actually we have narrowed it down to two names Charlotte and Evellyn.  It was narrowed down before I even posted this poll, LOL.  They other three names were ones I've liked but Russ has flat out vetoed.  I was hoping for some sympathy votes and totally got them!  We are currently stuck waiting for me to choose between our two names.  Russ would be happy with either but is favoring Charlotte.  I swing back and forth depending on the day.  I really hope this baby has a name before we get to the hospital!

37 weeks

Going in to the ultrasound today was a bit nerve wracking.  I’ve had some seriously weird dreams about the whole thing.  I even fell asleep while waiting for the results and a had dream which in turn induced a anxiety attack.  In the end things didn’t turn out too bad, just not quite what we were hoping for.

Since I’m in too much pain to drive myself the hour to Houston Russ decided to drive me.  The girls had to tag along as well because all our normal babysitters are out of town for the holidays.  Russ dropped me off at the hospital while he and the girls continued on to a nearby park.

The ultrasound tech was very kind and informative.  This was nice because our first tech wasn’t like that.  She spent a lot of time showing and telling me the measurements she was taking.  I was able to see the baby’s head, stomach, heart, and legs.  The tech let me know that she is had down and sitting on my left side.  Something about my left side must be comfortable because ALL three girls have settled on that side towards the end of my pregnancies. Baby refused to roll over so that the tech could look at her face.  I was a bit disappointed because I had promised Lily and Allie to bring them a picture of baby. The tech showed me on baby girl’s head that she has hair.  She didn’t say if it was long or not but it appeared to be all over.  Very exciting news!  The tech did have a hard time getting some of the pictures she needed because baby was moving a ton!  The tech would get one picture taken and then baby would move totally out of focus.  This was funny until the tech had to start pushing harder on my stomach to get some of the pictures.  I was almost in tears at some points because it hurt so bad.

After all the pictures were done the tech had me sit for about 20 mins while we waited to make sure she had taken enough.  This was when I had my dream and anxiety attack.  She did get enough pictures so I headed over to the doctors.  They squeezed me in right before their lunch which was nice so I wouldn’t have to wait 2 HOURS before their lunch was over.

The doctor gave me the results that baby girl is weighing in at 7 lbs. 12 oz. right now.  Which means she is in the 90th percentile and potentially should reach somewhere into the 9 lb. range if I go full term.  She also checked me and I was dilated to a 1.  I didn’t dilate this early with Allie and Lily so I was feeling pretty hopeful at this point.  But the doctor only said that an induction was a could possibility and that she would see where I was next week.  I was a bit discouraged that she didn’t set a date, but I guess I just have to deal with it.

A few things I want to remember so I don’t have to ask Russ a millions times if it was this bad….

• Severe left hip pain
• Hip pain from separation
• No swelling except when legs are dangling or I’m standing.
• Anxiety attacks more often
• Difficulty standing or walking after sitting for any period of time.  Hips won’t support me.

I made Russ take some pictures of my belly and boy does it show I’ve got a big baby in there.  All I can do is laugh at it so I don’t cry, right?! 

A fun little game...

 With Allie I did a fun little game.  I had everyone guess when she would be born and what her weight would be.  The winners of each received a prize from me.  I thought it would be fun to do this again with Baby Girl #3.  Go ahead and leave a comment here on my blog or e-mail me if you want and add you to the list on the side bar.  If you really want you can get your kids and hubby's in on the guessing game, LOL!

A few facts about my three girls that might help you with a more "educated" guess...

Lily was due July 23 and was born on July 28.  She weighed 9.3 lbs.

Allie was due on June 19th.  I was induced with her and she was born June 20th.  She weighed 9.7 lbs.

Baby Girl #3 has been measuring "big" just like her sisters did.  My due date is Jan. 10th for her.  However, my doctors a bit concerned about her size so the possibility of induction or c-section could be in my future.

Since I will be finding out the fate of my labor on Dec. 22 I'm going to only take guesses up until that time for dates.  But weights can be guessed up until I have the baby, LOL!  I can't wait to see what you all guess and no I won't take offense if you guess a 10 lb baby.  I may get a little offended with the guess of an 11 lb baby.  Oh and if you notice on the side bar I'm being hopeful that they will induce me early :)

The Name Game....

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I like to have things planned and organized WAY in advance.  So imagine the anxiety I've been going through with the fact that Russ and I can't come up with a good name for Baby Girl #3.  I stay up at night for hours going through names in my head and none of them seem right.  At one point we thought we had found the right name and Russ started teaching the girls to say the name.  After a month of this I vetoed it, and now Allie refuses to call the baby anything but that name or Baby.  ACK!!!!

With much trepidation we have narrowed a few choices that I "might" be okay with.  Would you all like to weigh in on what we should name Baby Girl #3?!  Take notice that June WILL be her middle name, it is our way of naming her after my mom.  June is my mom's middle name. Here is the list, and you can find the poll over on the right hand side of my blog.  I'll leave the poll up for two weeks or so.

Bailey June

Evellyn {Evie} June 

Paislee June

Maisey June

Charlotte June

New callings

I honestly can't remember whether I have stated this or not before on the blog.  Instead of taking the time to find if I have I'm just going to reiterate it again :)  

Back in July I got a new calling.  I was called to be the 2nd counselor in the Primary.  I had already been working in the primary so it wasn't too big of an adjustment.  However, the 1st counselor was not back from having her baby.  So the President and I were teaching every other week.  A bit crazy those few months were.  Right when the 2nd counselor came back our President became ill.  We were left completely in the dark of how to carry the Primary forward, since the president was to ill to come to church or even help with primary affairs.  I was also back to teaching every other week with the 2nd counselor this time.  One month I think I even taught every week because the other counselor had sick children and couldn't make it to church.  Our President has finally made it to the point where she can come and conduct but still cannot teach.  The other counselor is out of town for awhile which leaves me to teach until the baby comes.  Who knows what will happen then, LOL!  

This calling has been wonderful and frustrating, as most callings can be.  I've really enjoyed teaching the children though.  As I've seen the children grasp onto some of the gospel truths I'm teaching I am reminded of why I chose teaching as a profession in the first place.  I love seeing the happiness radiate through them as the finally understand what is being taught them.  I've grown to love each of these little ones, and I pray they will continue to develop a testimony of the church as they grow.

Two or maybe three weeks ago Russ received a new calling as well.  It has a bit of a funny story to tell.  I was rushing around Nov 21 to finish up some things that needed done for the primary program that day, when Russ received a call.  The secretary of the Stake President asked us if we could be there to meet with Pres. Whipple by 10:30.  Well, no it was already 10:30.  How about 10:45....well we could try.  In 15 min Russ and I both managed to get dressed, find a babysitter for the girls, AND get to our church that is 10 min away.  Not sure how we did that but we did.  The ironic part is that we had missed a call the night before from the secretary setting up a 10:15 appointment.  Apparently when he called on Sunday he assumed we were already on our way instead of hearing about it for the first time then! LOL!

I was bit nervous going into this appointment because there were two MAJOR callings open in our ward at the time. Russ was extended a call and he accepted it, and I supported him in it.  A week later he was put in as Elders Quorum President.  I know Russ will do wonderfully with this new calling.  Callings like this make him nervous because he doesn't always feel like he is a leader.  However, I've seen that his personality has a way of putting people at ease, and that truly helps him be a leader. 

I admit I cried a bit when Russ received this calling, because of the fact that the baby is due soon, Russ is going to start traveling again soon, and the calling demands quite a bit of time from Russ.  But I bucked up and got over it.  Obviously there is a reason why Russ needs to do this calling now and I need to trust in Heavenly Father in that reasoning.  That thought alone gave me peace of mind that this calling is a blessing to us and our lives.  Okay and I was bit relieved that Russ didn't get called to the other MAJOR calling open in our ward....aka 2nd counselor in the Bishopric. LOL!

November Layouts and Crafts

Last month I had the great opportunity to work as a Hybrid {paper and digital combined} Creative Team Member for a online scrapbook store.  It was a bit stressful but a TON of fun too.  Most of the following crafts and layouts were for this assignment, but a few I did for fun as well!  Enjoy!

Christmas Devotional

Growing up my I never really watched the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional.  I “think” my mom and dad watched it, but they never had me watch it. I was too wrapped up in my dealings to really notice that I was missing it either.

College was much the same.  I remember on a few occasions friends going and asking if I wanted to go and I would always turn them down.  As Russ and I got married and had children we didn’t go because it was difficult to take young children to an activity like this.

A few weeks ago Russ had me find out the date of this years devotional so that he could relay it to someone he was visiting.  This got me thinking about how I’ve really never seen one before and wanted to.  Time drew near and Russ and I decided that we would watch the devotional online this year.  That would work well for us because the girls could watch with us until they lose interest and then go do their thing.

We had a few tears setting up a place for everyone on the couch but once everyone calmed down we were all able to enjoy about 20 mins of the devotional together as a family.  The girls enjoyed listening to the music.

I personally enjoyed all three talks.  Each member of the presidency have a wonderful way of relating beautiful messages about the Savior that penetrate my heart.  Elder Uchtdorf’s message of Christmas being a time to look within ourselves really hit home.  This time of year truly is a time to look inward see how we can change and be more like our Savior. 

I’m excited that this devotional has given me much to think about particularly how our little family can focus more on the Savior at this time of year.  How grateful I am that we took the time to make this devotional a priority in our lives allowing us to learn and grow!

A visit to Santa

Wal-Mart was doing their traditional picture with Santa today.  It took us awhile to find him but when we did the girls were very excited.  Lily was bouncing up and down with excitement and kept trying to run up to him while the kid in front of us was getting his picture taken.  Allie clung to daddy but kept pointing and saying…Santa Clause!

When our turn came we tried to usher Allie forward with Lily but that wasn’t gonna happen.  So while Lily busily talked to Santa about the princess dolls she would like, Russ walked Allie up to him.  As long as daddy was holding her she was okay with the situation.  Allie took her candy cane from him as well, but wouldn’t sit on his lap.  So another year has come and gone where Russ gets to be in the Santa picture, LOL!

{No we didn’t realize Allie’s eyes were closed until we picked the picture up.  By that time though we were just happy she was IN the picture and we let it go.  Aren’t these kind of Santa pictures the best ones anyways?!}

Russ managed to get Allie to tell Santa as we were leaving that she would like a train for Christmas.  Apparently she was too shy close up, but far away she was a-okay letting him know what was on her wish list!

Christmas Movies

One of our favorite things to do around Christmas time is to watch our Christmas movies.  We have collected quite a few over the past few years.  Tonight Russ wanted to watch his Claymation one with the girls but they outvoted him with wanting to watch Elmo’s Christmas Countdown.

The girls got to watch it right before bedtime so they got in their jamies and snuggled up with their blankets and pillows on the floor.  I thought it was just adorable how Allie copied Lily with her setup of pillow and blanket.  {She truly adores Lily and has been following her around like a love sick puppy lately.}  I was lucky enough to get snuggle up with Russ on the couch.  Of course I conked out about 15 minutes in.  But at least we were able to spend some family time together 

Christmas Tree Craft Time

Lily’s homework this week consisted of decorating a cardstock Christmas tree.  She insisted on using the same glitter that she had used on Tom Turkey.  I wasn’t up for arguing so last night we pulled out the glitter after dinner.  Allie of course insisted on “me too”, which Russ kindly accommodated.  He even let her choose “bwoo” for her tree color!

A few pieces of ribbon, pompoms, random scrapbook supplies, buttons and their trees were decorated!  Right as we were running out the door this morning to get to school on time I remembered to take a picture of these “festive” trees.

{PS Isn’t Allie adorable carrying around her purse?!}

What’s Hiding Behind Our Christmas Tree

Russ insisted I share this.  He still can’t stop laughing that actually allowed him to leave the roll there when he was done twisting it around the tree.  He acknowledges the fact that I’m just too tired to care.  But also why cut the ribbon when we may get a fuller tree next year?!  Oh and who is going to see the back of our tree that faces a window with blinds on it that are shut 99% of the time? AND the window faces our backyard?  Not too concerned about it. Anyone else hiding a little something behind your tree?