22.5 weeks and new blog!

So I haven't posted in awhile, mainly because blogger told me I ran out of room.  Instead of paying to add more storage, I am planning to start a new blog.  Details coming soon.  For now, a pregnancy post for baby #3.  I am now 22.5 weeks, though I feel like I've been pregnant for much longer.  It may be a very long 17.5 weeks.  Lord bless my husband for having to deal with me...

But no, I really was starting to feel pretty good.  I've gained 20 pounds already (yikes!), am completely in maternity clothes, still working out daily (until last week struck-details to come), and am thrilled to be expecting another baby boy.  We finally settled on a name, and are sharing it this time.  All four of us love the first name we've picked, Nolan.  We are still working on a middle name, so feel free to share any suggestions.  We were thinking something that starts with the letter M would be nice, mainly for posterity's sake.  (Nate's initials are NMP, Morgan's are MNP, so we thought it might be kind of nice for this one to share initials with daddy).

As I said earlier, last week was a doozy for us. The week before, Morgan had some sort of virus/stomach bug that kept him completely out of commission for three days.  Then last week I picked up a sinus infection that just will not budge.  I have resorted to all sorts of things I've never tried before, like using a Neti pot (yuck, though it does provide some temporary relief) and I did finally succomb to taking Sudafed yesterday.  But really, I've barely slept in the past week because I just can't lay down.  Even sitting up totally clogs my head.  I am going to try to make a doctor's appointment for this afternoon.  I think it is time for an antibiotic!

So, the new blog.  Don't get too excited yet, as there's not much there, but the new address is http://palmerpartyoffive.blogspot.com

Hope you continue to follow!

What We've Been Doing

We had a great week last week.  Momm was off work from Wednesday to Sunday and we so enjoyed our time together.  I was going to send the kids to daycare for a half day Wednesday so "Santa" could wrap Christmas presents, but they both wanted to stay home with Mommy and I didn't have  the heart to say no.  So instead, we went to the gym, followed by the bookstore to play choo choos and read books.  A quick trip to the grocery to get the supplies for our Thanksgiving butternut squash soup rounded out the morning.

 The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Deerfield Township hosted their annual tree lighting, complete with free carriage rides, hot chocolate, and a visit with Santa.  Tessa was a bit hesitant to sit with Santa (again) so Morgan climbed up by himself, telling Santa about his desire for a blue race car.

 Saturday morning both kids had a blast at Anna's 5th birthday party.  I actually have a lot of pictures (some with Tessa too) from here, but I haven't downloaded them from the camera yet.  You'll have to wait!

 On Sunday, Nate left fairly early in the day for California.  I was thankful my parents invited us down for dinner and we all headed to the Festival of Lights at the zoo afterwards.  The kids loved all the lights, the train ride, and the Polar Express 4D movie (which I have to admit myself, was pretty cool).

 Here are the kids with my parents!

 And to end with, a creepy picture of our dog, pictured with Mrs. Claus (aka Tessa).

In approximately 5 hours we'll know if baby #3 is a boy or girl.  Can't wait!

There Could Really Be A Lot More Here...

 Since we celebrated Thanksgiving, we couldn't help but put up the Christmas tree the next day, which turned into all our decorations.  And to provide fill disclosure, I may have put up our outside lights two weekends ago when it was unseasonably warm.  Now, the whole house is decorated for the holidays, which means I'm really going to enjoy my extra three days off with the kids.  They may be going to daycare Wednesday (even though I'm off) so I can wrap Christmas presents from Santa (yes, I'm done shopping for them...and most everyone), make butternut squash soup for Thanksgiving (it takes forever), and clean the house in peace.   I'm also hoping to bring the kids down to the train display at the museum center and maybe drive through the holiday in lights at Sharon Woods.  Tessa also has a birthday party to attend for her good friend Anna.

And isn't this the cutest?  Total pinterest project!

There you have it!  Three posts in a day.  Pretty good for this tired lady!  My big ultrasound is next week, so expect a pregnancy post then!

Some Special Tessa Time

 Tessa has been a bit difficult as a 4.5 year old.  Lots of whining, being mean to her brother, not listening.  Normal kid behavior really, but not what I wanted from my little girl.  So we've started a little reward program similar to the colored level chart they have for behavior at preschool.  And you know what, she's actually been much more pleasant.  Sure, there are still moments where she isn't nice, but they are far less frequent than they were a month ago.  She is sleeping in her own room again all night (thank God, as Morgan isn't right now), being nice most of the time to Morgan, and helping Mommy quite a bit more by clearing the table, putting her laundry away, etc.  As a reward, I picked just her up from school on Friday at lunch time and took her to Run, Jump, and Play (her choice).  She had a blast and really enjoyed the 1:1 Mommy time.

She got even more of it at a baby shower for my cousin Allison the next day.  Her favorite part: painting a block for the baby's room.  (Though I have to admit she was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to bring it home with us at the end of the party).

 Doesn't her twisty hair look cute?

Saturday night we celebrated Thanksgiving with Nate's side of the family and had a great time.  Morgan was a wild man, running around with all of his cousins!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Nate turned 32 on November 10th!  We had several celebrations, one including this awesome peanut butter pie my mom made.  This was followed by a night out with friends for Nate and I.  We even managed to make it down to Hyde Park and I stayed up past my bedtime.  Woo hoo!

On the home front, the kids and I let Nate sleep in on his real birthday since it was a Saturday.  We decorated the kitchen while he was sleeping.  And got him the most awesome present ever - an electric toothbrush.  You may be laughing, but he really wanted one!

Sorry again about my lack of blogging.  This is the one thing the pregnancy has taken out of me.  I promise I will get back in business, though you may still have to wait another 21 weeks...my bedtime just keeps getting earlier and earlier.  But more on that soon!

Halloween Fun

 It was COLD on Halloween, and rainy.  Not really ideal trick-or-treating weather.  But we layered up in our winter coats, hats, and costumes and headed out around our neighborhood.  Tessa made a beautiful Cinderella and Morgan rocked his Spiderman costume.

 Tessa made it to about 10 houses and Morgan made it to 12.  Maybe next year we'll hit more?  On a positive, Tessa really enjoyed handing out candy.  In fact, she told me next year she'd rather just hand out candy instead.

 And the high school teachers always dress in themes by pod.  Our A2 pod was dressed as different decades.  My area of the pod was the 50s and we dressed in poodle skirts and Grease-style (for my student teacher).  A fun day at work!

Despite the weather, the kids still had fun.  And another positive, Morgan wasn't sick this year.  Hard to believe next year we'll have three little munchkins to dress up!

A Few Cell Phone Pics

 Morgan thoroughly enjoyed playing in the leaf piles while raking last week.  He also enjoyed a visit to the Disney store last weekend.  For the record, he wants what he is standing by for Christmas (along with about everything else he sees). 

 Tessa wants these.  Right now every time they ask for something, we say we'll take a picture and send it to Santa.  So far, it seems to be working.

And if this video works, there were an awful lot of Cinderellas at Tessa's Halloween party yesterday...