Goodness Gracious!

The Goodness: we had an AMAZING trip!

The Gracious!! My bag is lost... with the nice camera... with all the trip pics. A Lora!

So you'll just have to take my word for it that our trip was awesomely awesome. We are praying the bag shows up soon--and at the same time offering up any material selfishness as best as we can.

Back with verbal trip highlights tomorrow...

Italia, baby!

Just finished the medical release form, childcare details, schedule specifics--it is amazing to me the amount of work necessary in order to leave one's children for any length of time!

I admit, I am replaceable. But not without a lot of explaining!

Now we're off to finalize packing...

I hope to check in at least once while we're gone. We're taking two cameras, so we should have plenty of pics to share.

We would love your prayers... thank you! My mama heart is going to need them so that I don't miss the kids too much while we're gone. I guess I should expect the angst--they are my life!! What goodness, though, to leave them in such loving, capable hands as our Mimi and Papa's.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Ciao,

As of 16

It is good to get my 16-week appt. checked off the list before our exciting trip to Italy at week's end!! GG and I are celebrating our ten year anniversary (a little early) and jet-setting to see his brother in Vicenza while also taking in Venice, Florence, and Rome for 6 days. Many thanks go to our Papa and Mimi duo for making much of this trip possible, especially for caring for our sweet cherubs while we're gone. Are they unreal or what?!? We are so grateful.

As of today's appt...

Baby's heart rate: 150bpm, strong, lovely, I-could-listen-to-it-all-day soothing

Mama's bp: 112/72 (this is really good for me--thanks to a hard workout this morning!)

Mama's weight gain: 7 lbs. (soon to be +15 lbs. after eating amazing Italian food!)

Doc's recs: compression knee socks for the plane ride to reduce the risk of clots, etc. Got some this afternoon--they are HOT! ;)

Mama's clothes: first maternity pants worn today--luxury!

I feel like I'm running around like a mad women, but as of Wednesday afternoon on the plane, it will all be worth it!

Felt the baby kick tonight for the first time!!

This never gets old,

On Pregnancy, the 5th time around...

Our sweet peanut at 12 weeks--no doppler heartbeat earned me a trip for an u/s. Thankfully the baby was just hiding behind an anterior placenta. Whew!

Initial response to the news: disbelief and fear

How we felt about telling family: fear, like we were 10-years-old all over again

Their response: shock, but wonderfully supportive (if they were lying through their teeth, we don't care! :)

How the kids responded initially: thrilled except for M. I had done too good of a job convincing him earlier in the summer that 4 kids was a really good number for our family. Oy vey!

How I felt during the first trimester: nauseous but not as bad as MG, but for as long as I did with MG.

How we're feeling now: total excitement; God is good.

How the kids are feeling now: continued excitement with M completely on board!

How do I feel now: still some nauseous days (this is the latest its ever gone), but starting to feel more like myself again with ENERGY! woo hoo! I'm on "bump watch" with my little pooch beginning to show. I allow myself to start wearing maternity clothes at 16 weeks and this baby seems to be falling right into the norm.

What gender everyone predicts: mostly GIRL, though M would love a baby boy. The kids were pretty smitten with our friend's boy baby bear when they visited in October, so we'll see! Johnsons, we still talk about you all regularly!

Will we find out the gender? YES! Just before Christmas. We plan to tell the family through a blue/pink Christmas gift under the tree. Can't wait!

What we're doing to prepare: talking through car seat and room arrangement details; Big Blue will fit a 5th child (woo hoo!) and since T will be starting kindergarten in the fall, we'll have both his and M's seats free for most of the day. We are planning to move MG and J into the playroom together--J is excited, MG has no clue. ;) M heard about the room changes and was lobbying for all G children to be in one room together. What a dear. Someday he'll want his own space, but for now, we're all about family togetherness.

Lord, I love the way You hold us. Thank you!

God bless,

G-Ville Population: 7

I've done it again. Keeping secrets from you all...

We are pregnant! Another little one will be gracing our family in May!

The kids are thrilled! GG and I can't believe how blessed we are.

We pray we are worthy parents for such an exciting, joy-filled, energetic task.

15 weeks and counting...

Can't wait!

My T-man

Playing BINGO today over lunch, T was the caller. It was getting down to the wire and I knew he and I each had one space to go.

T: Mom, I'm scared to call the next call.

Me: Why T? You might win!

T: That's why. I'm going to win, but I love you. (burying his head in my chest)

lol.

Gosh, I love this kid...

He's the one who would dribble the ball all the way down the field to an open goal and wait for a teammate to catch up so he could pass the ball and give someone else a shot.

He's the one who awoke the other morning at 5am, concerned about people without homes and wanting to give his $7 life worth to help them.

And though at this moment, he's refusing to give his brother the cream player in Pirate Plank, he has a heart of gold and we love him so dearly!!

Blogger's Block

The boys today at the War Memorial.

Thank you to our many veterans, who have sacrificed everything in service of our nation!

I'll admit, with everything going on around here, I've had a bit of blogger's block lately. The computer has just been the LAST place I want to sit at the end of a long day... We've also had a cold virus run through the family along with an unusual stomach bug (that only caused heartburn, thankfully!)

It's also during this time of year that I have to fight my tendency to slow down and want to hibernate. I've had a harder time motivating to get to the gym, to the store, out and about, etc. just because of the colder weather, darker evenings, and cozy feeling of staying indoors. One good thing to come out of all of this is that GG and I are trying to finish our Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving. We are almost done with the boys--we give three gifts each (like the Magi did for Jesus) so that makes it a pretty easy feat to accomplish. All the guys are getting a large Lego set, Lego Star Wars jammies, and books. Gotta work on the books and we'll be set.

I still haven't decided what we'll get for little MG. We'll probably do a special toy and maybe a clothes item. For some reason she is in desperate need of shirts. GG tried to dress her the other day and came out confused, saying all he could find were pants. lol! :) I'm sure we can come up with something good.

On other fronts, the boys' soccer games went well last Saturday, complete with a slide-tackle or two from T (yikes!) GG reports that the first was a pretty sweet defensive move and the second (and third) might have been yellow-card-worthy. lol. M's recital also went well. He seemed to enjoy himself, lost his place on his first song, and nailed his second piece. We were so proud, of course! Later in the week we enjoyed A+ parent/teacher conferences and a wonderful Veteran's Day 1st grade musical performance today by M. Every parent there was over the moon. It was very special for our own veterans in attendance--Daddy, Mimi, Papa... as we thought about other vets we love, who could not be there--Pappy, Uncle Cris, GGP Mickey.

I'll report in again with pics!!

God bless you tonight,

Busy Bees

This week has felt like a whirlwind, especially coming off a trip to Princeton last weekend...

It was a fun adventure, complete with snow (4 inches!), a Sunday morning fire alarm at the hotel (joy!), a missed breakfast with our beloved PU priest (we think the snow threw him off!), and a missed football game (thanks to the snow!) Needless to say, it was a weekend of learning to be flexible with plans and find joy in the little things--like hotel room stays and hot pocket pizzas for dinner! lol.

We had a great time, but there were definitely times when Mimi and I looked at each other and said, "Are we having fun yet?" Such is the case for any 6-hour trip that turns upside-down thanks to weather. Chalk it up to adventure!

All week we've been recovering from our travels, but not without the excitement of Halloween and various school-related ventures and a Bible study brunch for me... Busy! All leading up to this morning. In T-50 minutes, our T will be heading out on the soccer field for his second-to-last game of the season. 60 minutes later, M will do the same. We'll have to pull him from the game halfway through, though, to get him dolled up for his second ever piano recital, which happens 90 minutes later... in a neighboring town! Yikes!! Pray for us--pray that the little ones make it and I can figure out how to feed and nap everyone in the process... We'll make it work.

I will report back with news of our soccer and piano feats. Maybe even post a little video clip of M's recital performance (don't worry, Gramz and Pappy, we'll be equipped with video this time!!!)

Love to all on a Saturday!

God bless,

Fall Goodness

The pumpkin seeds came out of the oven this morning... Delicious!

They bathed in a briny soak for over 24 hours and then toasted up nicely at 350F. Even the kids enjoy the fruits of our pumpkin-carving labor!

God bless,