Happy 23 months Preslee and Mason

how is is possible that a month has already passed and today preslee and mason are 23 months old? i mean, really, how does time go by that quickly? well, it has and here i am. my baby girls are 23 months old today. only 31 more days until we will be celebrating them turning two years old. i have held onto the fact that they are still babies for the last year, but i think at 2, isn't there some unwritten rule that they are officially toddlers now?

we have quite the conversations now. doesn't matter what time of day or night, when they have something on their minds, we have to talk about it. yesterday in the mail, i got my new breast pump. they were very fascinated by the whole thing and i explained to them as tactfully as i could that this was one of the ways that mommy would get milk to feed baby finley. they nodded and touched it and that was that. well this morning at 130am, i heard preslee calling me. for 15 minutes (yes, i lay there and prayed she would go back to sleep, but she didn't). so, i went in the nursery and she and mason were both awake and wanted to rocky (rock in the rocking chair). so we did and we talked and talked for 45 minutes. here's how the conversation went.

preslee: mommy got breast pump
me: that's right, mommy did
preslee: mommy's boobies, feed baby finley milk. stopped and was thinking. then, preslee eat too?
me: no, preslee and mason are big girls now and they don't need mommy's milk anymore. they drink special milk.
mason: can mommy make juice too?

happy 23 months girls! i love you so much!

36 weeks and all is good.....

today we had our 36 week nst and bio-physical profile. finley did great, even with the hiccups! my bp was way down from the last two weeks and still no protein. my ob is feeling pretty confident that everything really is ok and we are not going to have to worry about pre-eclampsia. thank you all so much for your prayers! and thank you to drew for giving me the chance to rest so much over the holidays. he kept the girls busy, cooked and yes, even cleaned! i am so blessed! only 16 more days until we meet our sweet baby girl!

Can you believe it?

christmas night as i was getting ready for bed, drew ran in and hugged me out of nowhere. he was so excited as he said, "can you believe in two weeks we are going to have three children? next year, we will be celebrating with our THREE daughters!" it is still hard for me to believe, but tonight the reality set in. drew went and had our third carseat installed and we put together our HUGE stroller. all i can say is, i am going to lose the baby weight quick and have some great arms hauling this thing around. it's truly amazing!

 

 

Christmas 2008

hard to believe that another christmas has already come and gone. we actually took our tree down today and put away all the decorations. i just needed that to all be cleaned up, just in case, finley decides to come early.

we had two wonderful days with our friends and family, both christmas eve and christmas day. it was so amazing to watch the girls and see how much they really did understand compared to last year when they were only 11 months old. they looked so beautiful in their holiday dresses. santa brought them so many things including a kitchen. drew and i have "eaten" countless pieces of pizza and "drank" many cups of coffee that they have fixed for us in the last two days. it is so funny to watch them pretend to cook and then clean up. i heard mason washing dishes this morning say, "just like mommy."

here are some pictures of christmas 2008

2008 was amazing and we are looking forward to 2009.....only 18 more days until finley arrives!

Merry Christmas!

yes, it's 6am on christmas eve and everyone in my house is still asleep, except me. on my last trip to the bathroom, only one in about 20 last night, i just couldn't fall asleep, so i have been awake since 430am! drew gave me the "just lie really still and you will fall back asleep" advice, but after about an hour of that, i realized that it wasn't working. finley is either really unhappy about me being awake too or just as excited as i am about christmas. she has been kicking all over the place this morning.

preslee and mason are so excited about christmas. every morning this month we have come downstairs to get their "treat" from the advent calendar. now preslee is much happier when it is chocolate and not raisins, but they can't wait to get downstairs to see what is in that little pocket for the day. when you ask them what they want santa to bring, we get the whole list: mickey, minnie, daisy, donald, baby dolls, kitchen, hims (which are m&m's), milk and my favorite, baby fimwee (finley) to come. little do they know, santa is bringing almost all of that tomorrow, except for finley who better hang tight another few weeks.

growing up, i have always chosen christmas as my favorite holiday. when i was younger, of course it was because of all the presents, but as i got older and grew up, i became so thankful for time with friends and family and celebrating Jesus' birth. as we prepare our hearts to celebrate christmas with the girls this year, i can't help but be so thankful for all the blessings that God has given us over the last few years. what a blessing to be running out of room to hang all the stockings in our house! as we celebrate Christ's birth, i can't help but think of mary and the way she must have felt as she carried Jesus and as she gave birth to her sweet baby boy. did she know just how special her child would be to all of us? we never know what God has in store for us, who our children will be and become, how much they will be loved by so many, but as we celebrate Christmas this year, we are holding our beautiful preslee and mason a little closer, giving finley a tummy rub, counting each of our blessings one by one, and praying you will also be blessed in the coming year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

34 weeks, 5 days

34 weeks, 5 days. wow...time has gone by so fast. at this same point, 34 weeks, 5 days is the exact day in my pregnancy that i delivered our beautiful preslee and mason. that was the most amazing day of my life! now, they are almost two years old and we are getting ready to welcome their sweet sister finley to our family.

today i had another non stress test and ultrasound. finley is doing great, everything she is supposed to be doing. but, i gained three pounds over the weekend and my BP is a little high. same symptoms that i had when i was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia with the girls. my ob checked for protein and because there was none present, she opted to not admit me at this time. please keep our family in your prayers over the holidays and the coming weeks. although i can't wait to meet finley, she needs a little more time to grow to make sure she is as healthy as she can be and stays out of the NICU. i also feel like i need a little more time with just the girls. i don't want to spend one day in the hospital away from them. so, my instructions were to take it easy, drink lots of water and we will see. i don't like those words. thanks for your prayers! i go back to the doctor on friday and i will keep you posted.

christmas crafts at our house

this week, i have been so tired and achy, so the girls and i have been finding things to do at home. martha stewart visited and we did some christmas crafts. here they are:

our hand wreath

 

 

 

 

and today, making a sugar plum tree

 

 

 

 

the finished product