The boys

We had our annual Fall "photo shoot" the other day. I try to do this every year at this time to get a good yearly picture of each of the boys. I bribed them with a movie and marshmellows and they actually did pretty good. It's maddening trying to keep them still and to smile on command. It often doesn't work, but I always end up getting some great pictures of them. My favorites are the ones where they aren't smiling perfectly. Here are a few...

 

 

 

 

Sam

 

 

 

 

Gabe

 

 

 

 

Chili Recipe?

Thanks for all your tips on party favors. I like the idea of making cute cookies, so I might try that. If I don't get up the energy to do that, I think I'll buy each kid a candy bar or a book.

Now...I'm looking for a good Chili recipe. I have one for Cinncinati Chili that we make every year and I'm getting sick of it. I'm looking for a good, old fashioned Chili recipe...does anyone have one? If you do, email it to me at ldwatson24@comcast.net or leave it in comments, if you can.

Thanks!

Calling all Moms...

Sam's birthday party is coming up in two weeks and I need party favor ideas from all of you. What are some cool things that you've seen at the many birthday parties you have attended? It will be both boys and girls and we really don't have a theme. It's at Pump It Up, so I'm obviously looking for something inexpensive, but thoughtful. Ideas???

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was a little different this year than it usually is. Some of our friends had a Thanksgiving Breakfast that we went to and had a blast spending time with friends and meeting some new ones. Then we came home celebrated with our little family and Neal and I cooked a turkey for the first time ever. I will give all the credit to Neal, he was the one who really did all the work, I just supported his decissions and made the easy stuff! Before we ate, the four of us held hands, and said a prayer telling Jesus what we were most thankful for. Sam said Superheros and Gabe said Tucker and Skyler (two of Sam's best friends, but Gabe would say they are his best friends too!) We had a great day cooking, being lazy and enjoying being together.

I'm happy to welcome the month of December this year. Sam's birthday is on the 3rd and I really can't believe that my little baby will be 5. I'm looking forward to all of our families coming in at some point in December to celebrate Christmas with us. We always enjoy having company and I've already gotten my menu planned out and Christmas decorations on their way up. I'm also looking forward to December bringing Luke's arrivial a little closer. I can't wait to hold this baby who will finally complete our family, who has been prayed over by so many people, and who is making it really hard for me to breath!

I'm off to make turkey sandwiches for dinner!

Happy Thanksgiving...

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Doctor's Appointments...

I'll start with Gabe first...we spent some time at his Dr. yesterday because he had another asthma-like episode. After a breathing treatment and some steroid medicine, Dr. Ladd gave a "working diagnosis" of "mild, intermittent Asthma". It's funny to me that they are so hesitant to diagnose something like this and allergies at this age. He was careful to emphasise the mild and intermittent part, I guess he was worried I would freak out. I can handle mild and intermittent...no prob! Anyway, we made it home with a nebulizer, Albuterol, some liquid steroid and Amoxicillin for the ear infection that I had no idea was even there. He is complete spazz right now with all that running through his system...totally hyper and fun one minute and then crying, sweating and wanting to be with me the next. We go back tomorrow for a follow up. It looks like allergies and "Asthma" will be a big part of the Watson household for years to come...

Now me, I went to my weekly appointment today to check out Luke's heart rate and it's still sounding good. One of the great things about my Dr. is that he is all about the epidural (his catch phrase is "We'll give it to you in the parking lot if you want it") and he also doesn't make you go past your due date, he will induce if you're uterus is "ripe" (not kidding, he says that). I went into natural labor with Sam the day before my scheduled induction and due date and was induced with Gabe on my due date. Anyway, today we got to talking about my due date and he said that we would have this baby way before January 15th, that he would induce me earlier if I was looking ready. Before those of you who hate Pitocin and inducing have a fit, I had great experiences with both and had totally normal great labors with no complications what so ever, so I'm all about ending the misery as quickly as possible. You tell a pregnant lady who can barely breath and starting to be miserable that she could have her baby a week earlier and most of them will jump at that...and I sure did. The thought of one week less of being pregnant made me happy for at least 2 whole hours today (see previous post "I've been taken over")!!! A year and a half ago, I was looking forward to enjoying my third pregnancy, but after the miscarriages and this heart stuff, it's not really been all that enjoyable. I'm happy to have the end in sight!

The boys new room

The boys are officially in their new room, complete with a fantastic, huge, new closet. Their first night upstairs was Sunday and Neal said that Gabe fell out of his bed 5 times (in the old room, his bed was against the wall). He keeps telling everyone that his old room isn't his room anymore. Sam is thrilled to have a TV (no channels though, just DVD) and the whole upstairs to themselves. The first night, we layed down a few rules, one of them being that the TV was not allowed to be turned on until the clock said 7:00 and it was morning. So, the next morning, I wake up at 6:57am, hearing them chatting in the monitor. I turned it up to listen in and I hear Sam telling Gabe, "No, we can't turn the TV on until 7 is on the clock"...then..."Oh, there's a 7" and I hear Toy Story starting up! My little rule follower...I'm so proud. Anyway, it's been fun having them up there. It's great because all the toys fit in the closet, so that makes clean up easier and the new rule is that toys stay upstairs. I've started cleaning out their old room and getting all the baby stuff in there. I have to say, when I pulled all that stuff out, I got a little nostalgic and overwhelmed at the same time. It's weird getting ready for another baby, pulling out all the stuff that I've already used for 2 babies and now a third will be using much of the same stuff. I'm hoping Neal will get the crib up this weekend. Here are a few pictures of the boys room, complete with my little computer genius enjoying a little noggin.com!

Me and My Boys

I've been taken over

...by the mean, impatient, cranky, grumpy and tired pregnant lady. By my third pregnancy, I know to expect it, but it is never welcome. My body is not my own, my thoughts are not my own, my emotions are not my own, my words are gone (literally, I can't think of the simplest of words, conversations with me have to be maddening)...where am I???? I miss me, I used to be nice. If you see me any time in the next 9 weeks, watch out and please don't take offense, it's really not me. I'll be back sometime next year...hopefully!

Home Renovation Update

***warning - this post contains a lot of complaining***

Oh my goodness...what were we thinking????? Obviously, we weren't! I'm so sick of my house and our life right now. Literally, every spare moment is spent doing something, finishing one thing, to start on the next. I'll admit that this was all my big idea...I started it...I'll own up to that. I had the big idea to move the boys upstairs (actually, Sam was the one who told me he wanted his bed up there), but there is no closet upstairs. We have a 3 bedroom house with a bonus room, almost 3 kids, and a need for a guest room since we are the only people in both of our families that don't live in Texas. Moving the boys upstairs frees up their room for Luke and then we can keep the guest room...perfect. But we still needed a closet up there. Neal got going on that about 5 years ago (slight exaggeration, maybe 6 weeks ago?) and it has been slow going. Then we decided that now was the time to put in wood floors in the kitchen, something we have wanted to do for the 8 years we have been in this house. Neal got really excited about doing that because he was so sick of the closet upstairs. These projects never end up going the way you plan them too. After 50 trips to Lowes and Home Depot in one day, he finally got started 2 weeks ago. I'm happy to report that he finished them last Sunday night and they look fantastic. I spent the week with my new floors, but didn't have 2 of my cabinets, because we had to move them up to account for the height of the new floors under the fridge, they came crashing down on us, broke and we had to buy new ones. Neal finally got them up today. Then he realized that there is a leak in the water line of the fridge and freaked out because of the danger to the wood floors. He has spent ALL day trying to get that fixed, a day that was going to be spent putting shelves in the closet upstairs. We had the painters here Thursday and Friday, so shelves and moving the boys furniture is all that is left.

All this work is really starting to stress us all out, Neal and I both have little patience, especially with the boys, and in turn, they are being either extra crazy, or extra whiny. We finally decided we had to get out of the house and go do something fun, so we took them to see the Bee Movie. It was very cute, they both loved it and Neal and I enjoyed not being in our house and watching them have some fun. It's so cute seeing them looking so little in those big chairs, staring at the big screen in wonder. Tomorrow afternoon, the boys are going to play at a friends house and Neal and I are going to have a shopping date.

I'm sorry I'm being such a complainer! I really am so excited to be doing all these things. It feels so good to actually be doing stuff that we have wanted to do for year, and to have a fresh start with our house. I've gotten to do some re-decorating and re-organizing, and there is more of that to come, which I love. I can't tell you how thankful I am to my husband, who has worked so hard on all of this. He is so good at so many things! Everyone keeps telling me to take pictures, but I have to wait until everything is all put back together before I can do that. Hopefully, that will be the case by the time December rolls around. I have to say, this is really killing my normal desire to go all out decorating for Christmas, I might have to low key that this year!

Gift Ideas

We've done gift ideas for kids...

Now I need gift ideas for adults...friends, husbands, parents, in-laws, brothers, sisters...

What is something you really want for Christmas (that's affordable!)

What's the best gift you've ever gotten?

Comment, comment, comment!!!

Things I'm Thankful for...

*My husband Neal, who...loves me, loves the Lord, takes me seriously, honors me, cherishes me, takes me and my feelings into account, protects our family, loves our boys, finds joy in being with us, provides for us, doesn't let anyone get away with messing with me, puts in wood floors in our kitchen, adds closets to rooms, drywalls said closets when he hates drywalling, finishes what he starts, always does what he says he is going to do, can figure out how to do anything, can figure out the answer to anything, is very smart, is open to changes, is very self-aware...I could go on and on. I love him and he makes my life safe and rich.
*My boys, of course. I'm about to have 3 of them. They are jewels, gifts, blessings, a delight. They fill my heart.
*My parents. Their support, consistency, example of Christ, example of a Godly marriage, their love for me and my family, their prayers for me and my family.
*My family. Even though they are far away....
*My friends. Who listen to me, pray for me, love me and want to hang out with me in spite of my flaws and annoying little tendencies, and who blog with me!
*My Nashville family. That the Lord brought us to this far away place knowing nobody, and now we have people to spend holidays with when we can't be with our family, we have friends to call on in a second if we need something, we have dear friendships here.
*My church. We are so blessed with a wonderful church, and a wonderful Community Group (who fall into the above category)
*Target. What's not to be thankful for when you think of Target?
*Fall in Nashville, the view outside my kitchen window is beautiful with the leaves on the trees changing and falling.
*A nice, hot, bubble bath with a good book.
*Neal's job and that he loves what he does.
*Chocolate chip cookies
*Dr. Pepper (I can't wait to have a DP from Sonic after I have Luke in January! I've already requested one to be brought to me in the hospital)
*Soup, specifically Chicken Tortilla and Potato.
*Our old quilt and our fleece Green Bay Packers blanket that I cover up with on the couch at night or when one of us is sick.
*TiVo
*My MAC studio fix powder
*My house with it's new wood floors!
*Quiet moments at home when Sam and Gabe are playing together nicely.
*That Sam and Gabe love to play together nicely!
*Chap stick
*My laptop
*My "Mom's Agenda" Calendar.
*Payday
*Jesus. I'll just sum this one up with that name in itself, if it weren't for Him, I would have nothing to be thankful for. I'm most thankful for the ways that He reveals His glory in my life and that He loves me in a way that is incomprehensible.

I could come up with more, but decided I had to have a stopping point. My sister-in-law, Laura, did this on her blog and asked this question of all her blog readers, and I will do the same...

What are you thankful for?