And MORE Christmas

There are so many great photos taken by my step-dad, Benton, from Christmas at his and my mom's house, so I thought I'd devote an entire blog entry to them.
I'd like to start by saying how absolutely gorgeous I think this boy is. Watch out, ladies, in about 20 years.
And here's my brother, Chris. Isn't he sweet holding Carolina? Won't he be a great dad one day?
And for another handsome boy, check out my nephew, Jack. Love the hair, Jack.
And my favorite of all handsome boys, my hubby. Can't you just see him saying, "Thank you for my gift, Martha and Benton!"? Actually he was making some joke about the packing material. Have I ever mentioned how much he makes me laugh? No matter how hard times are or what we're going through, he can always make me laugh. He is so hilarious.
And now for some beautiful ladies. There are lots of them in my family but here are a few of them. First, the matriarch. I know she'll roll her eyes at me putting this photo up but I think she just looks like her teenage self here and so I love it. She's so gorgeous it could be irritating except that she's even MORE beautiful on the inside (and I'm not talking about her intestines, although I'm sure those are hot, too).
Just look at this delicious little baby. Yep, she's mine!
Maggie has such great expressions.
Now we're done with the beautiful women section. I hate, hate, hate photos of myself, but I have decided in the last year that I am going to be in them anyway, and even post or print some, because I know when I'm an old lady that I'd be sad to look back and not have any photos of myself. So here I am.
And in the same vein, here I am with Finn and my sweet niece, Lily Kate, opening Christmas stockings.
Carolina is so talkative now. She'll just coo and gurgle at anyone who will give her a minute (but...I get the most coos!). Even Finn will walk up to her and say "goo" to get her to talk back to him. Do I look happy in this photo? Well, I am.

Christmas Countdown Paper Chain, Part II

Something sad about this Christmas is that Maggie figured out the truth about Santa. It started innocently enough when she asked if the tooth fairy was really parents. I told her the truth and that was that. Then, about two weeks later she asked if Santa was like the tooth fairy. I asked her what she meant and she said, "Is Santa your parents? Because it seems like Santa is really your parents." I sort of put her off and meanwhile tried to figure out what to say to her. Finally Grant and I told her that yes, Santa is really parents, and that it's just like a fun game to play and we were going to keep playing it with her and Finn and Carolina. Luckily they're too young to know one way or the other but when they're old enough to know I want to do all the fun Santa stuff with them, too. Maggie wasn't upset at all and took it in stride. I also made her promise not to tell anyone at school, church, or her cousins, and she kept her promise. I just can't believe she figured it out so early! I thought we had several years left before she found out.
Another one of our Christmas activities was going to see the lights and decorations at Opryland Hotel. We HAVE to go every year and this year on the day I had scheduled us to go it actually snowed enough to close down the roads. Then Grant was out of town and things got away from us until the week after Christmas, but I feel like we squeezed it on so my tradition is still intact. We even found a top secret free parking lot (I won't tell you where it was but I will say we didn't get towed and didn't have to pay the outrageous $20 parking fee). Maggie always loves to see the giant outdoor nativity scene (you can kind of see it behind them, below).One day's Christmas activity was the Christmas pageant at our church. (PS-If you go to our church's website you might see someone familiar on the home page, although this familiar person may be in an unfamiliar person's arms.) This year was super exciting for Maggie because she was upgraded from lowly sheep to heavenly angel. Here she is as an angel with her friend, Adie.
In other exciting pageant news, the role of baby Jesus was played by none other than our sweet Carolina! My friend Susan's daughter was Mary and she did a great job with Carolina. Carolina was peacefully gazing around for the first half and then when she started fussing halfway through I got her back from Mary.After the pageant the children had birthday parties for Jesus in their Sunday School classes. Here's Maggie with Mimi right before her party.Some of our other fun activities included decorating a gingerbread house, making cookies for Santa, making Christmas cards for friends, wrapping Christmas presents, decorating the house, baking treats to take to our neighbors, and painting Maggie's fingernails red and green (see below). It was so much fun and I plan on doing it again every year.

Christmas Countdown Paper Chain, Part I

We did something so fun this year for Christmas. It wasn't my idea so I can't take credit but Maggie and I made a red and green paper chain with 24 links on it. On each link I wrote the date (December 1 through December 24) and a Christmas activity for that day. If there was something already scheduled (like our church's Christmas pageant) then I put that as the day's activity, and I filled in the rest of the days with activities I thought of. Then each morning Maggie would get to take off the day's link and see what the activity was. It was fun because the activities and anticipation were fun and it also gave her a visual for counting down the days until Christmas. I didn't get any photos of the paper chain but I did photograph some of the activities.
One day we went to Starbucks and had a peppermint hot chocolate (hmmm...maybe that activity was as much for me?!).
Another day we went to A Dickens of a Christmas in downtown Franklin. It's a neat little festival where people roam the (roped off) streets dressed as characters from A Christmas Carol, vendors sell roasted chestnuts and sugar plums, and there are horse-drawn trolley rides around the town square. We met up with my sister, Erin, and her family there. Here's Maggie with Aunt Erin and cousin Jack.
Here's one of me and the kids at Dickens of a Christmas. Why am I the only one looking at the camera?!
Another activity was making s'mores in the oven. I'm not sure why this was a Christmas activity but it just seemed like fun (and it was!).
Check back soon for Christmas Countdown Activities, Part II!

Accidentally taking a little break...

What can I say? It's been a busy month with Christmas, New Year's, Grant's family in town, and, oh, yeah, we have three small children!
So here's a rundown on the last month or so.
We had a good but weird Christmas. Most of us were sick at some point or another, Carolina has been going through a phase of not napping more than about 45 minutes at a time, so that was rough, and things just felt kind of off. But mostly it was great. We enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa (Grant's parents) in town with us for Christmas.
This year Maggie got a much-coveted American Girl doll from her Mimi and Poppy. We had told her she had to be six to have one and later changed our mind (without telling her) so she was beyond surprised and excited when she got it. The look on her face when she opened it was just pure joy and she rushed over to my mom where she hugged her, hard, for several minutes. I keep walking in on her just holding Felicity and gazing at her like a mom with a newborn baby.Another big hit was a sort of funny present. Maggie always wants to use our paper for art projects and I hesitate giving it to her because I don't want to use it all up and not have it when we need it, and I don't want to be wasteful about paper. I bought her an entire ream of white printer paper and wrapped it up and she has had more fun using that. It was a very inexpensive gift that has made a big impact.
Finn still is at the age where the boxes and paper are more fun than the actual gifts but he's had lots of fun with the million or so balls that his Grandma and Grandpa bought him. I also bought him a toy broom in the hopes that he would quit wanting to play with my real broom, but so far he just wants to play with BOTH brooms.
Here are the kids (sorry Maggie's cut off) wearing Christmas pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa. Is it just me or is it impossible not to smile when this guy is smiling?
Come back for more Christmas photos in the next few days. And I really mean it because I'm going to write the posts right now and then set them up to auto-publish!

Dad update

I just wanted to say thank you for your prayers. I think it's really a miracle that my dad is still here. He went home last night and is still on oxygen and requiring a walker to get around - he's just weak from being so sick. I think he'll be doing some physical therapy to get his strength back.

My Dad

(Here's my dad with Finn about a year ago.)
My dad is at Vanderbilt right now in the ICU due to sepsis and multiple organ failure. His kidneys are shutting down, his lungs have shut down and are filled with bacteria and his heart isn't doing great, either. He's sedated and seems to be aware when we're there talking to him and has communicated some through shaking/nodding his head and moving his hands and feet.
It is pretty dire right now and we would all appreciate any prayers you have for him. Please pray also for my family. My dad's wife, Elizabeth, just moved here in June and doesn't have her family/support network here, and my 13-year-old brother is having a very hard time with everything. Of course Erin, Lindsay and I are scared and upset, too.
I'll try to update the blog as anything changes and I thank you in advance for your prayers - we need them.

Settling in with our little lady

We're just settling in here! This transition has been easier to get used to than going from one child to two children. I think I'm just used to being exhausted all the time! Mealtimes and bedtimes are pretty hectic, but during the day things are pretty smooth.
Like all of my other babies, Carolina doesn't love her car seat, which is a huge pain during the two hours we spend in the car Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays driving Maggie to school in Franklin (thirty minutes each way in the morning and afternoon). Luckily we just started carpooling with a boy who lives down the street from us, so we'll have to make that trip half as often now.
She still sleeps 3-4 hour chunks during the night, which is pretty manageable. I'll be excited when she drops a feeding though!I think having Carolina has really brought out the best in Maggie. She wants to hold her all the time and she loves doing little things to help with her. I think if we had had another boy this would not be the case. She's sooooo excited to have a little sister. And check out Carolina's dress in the photo above. My friend Elizabeth MADE IT! I'm so impressed. She even has her own labels to sew inside.

Here's a photo of Carolina that I took with my Hipstamatic app for my iPhone. I love the way it makes it look vintage-y (is that a word?!).
Here's another Hipstamatic of Finn, sleeping in his car seat. While I hate it when he falls asleep in the car (messes up his nap), I love taking photos of him sleeping. I think my kids are awesome and super cute when they're awake, but when they're sleeping...the cuteness takes me over the edge!
Finally, these last two photos are in the "Little Lady" photo series:) The way she has her hands folded under her chin just looks so ladylike. What can I say?! We're already working on her manners.
Here's the second in the series. First of all, she always scrunches over so that her face is right next to the edge of the bassinet. I guess she's trying to recreate the tightness of the womb? Anyway, I went in to the room while she was sleeping and found that her feet had escaped from the swaddle. To me it looked so ladylike to have her tiny feet crossed, especially with the Mary Jane socks she's wearing.
We all know Carolina is a big baby. She was 9 lbs, 3 oz at birth and at her two week appointment she was already up to 10 pounds. I think Maggie was 3 months old before she weighed that much! It's so weird to me to have had one baby girl be so little and now one that's so big. I think she'll probably even out down the road, but everyone always comments that she looks older than she is because she's so big. One of my friends saw her and said, "That's a big lady you've got there," which just makes me laugh when I think about it. So I guess I should start calling her my big lady? On second thought, "little lady" just has a much nicer ring to it. I think I'll stick with that.

For my mom and Christin

Here are Jude and Finn again at 6 and 9 months, respectively (taken December 2009):
And here they are at 15 months and 18 months, at Gentry's Farm (taken October 2010):

Happy 5th Birthday, Maggie!

Maggie is into all things fancy, and since everyone knows that anything French is extra fancy, we obviously had to have a French-themed birthday party for her this year. Here's her invitation, made by Grant:
And here's the tres jolie birthday girl:
So for this fancy, fancy party (not really) we reserved a park shelter at Sevier Park on a beautiful day the first weekend in October. I was technically on bed rest during the party which was a bummer because I had to ask for lots of help (which my family graciously gave) and I didn't get to run around as much as I would have liked. It was a lot of fun despite my limitations! We borrowed a 3 ft Eiffel Tower and a life-sized standard poodle from my friend Tiffany (lucky for me she just happened to have both items) and used them for table decorations with balloons tied to them. You can see the tower in the following photo of the kids eating their cupcakes. That's me in the back right corner. For some reason most of Maggie's girl friends couldn't make it but there were lots of fun boys (who maybe weren't the best ones to enjoy a girly French-themed party!)
We played pin the tail on the poodle.
For prizes the girls got pink scarves for their necks and the boys got stick-on mustaches. They were so cute with those mustaches and they mostly humored me with leaving them on for a photo!

We also had lots of time to just run around and play on the playground, which Finn loved.
Maggie's cousin Jack had fun playing, too.
And Maggie got lots of cuddles and hugs from two of her uncles:
After the "friends" party we went back to our house for a family birthday dinner. Maggie loves to play with Grant's musical instruments and we thought she'd love to have one of her own so we bought a ukelele for her. It's perfect for her because of its size and Grant can teach her how to play it. They've had a few lessons already which she loves because it's one-on-one time with Grant. It's a really sweet little ukelele - not a toy, but a real instrument! This is just the first step of the Howard Family Band that I've always dreamed of.
It's hard to believe she's five. She still keeps me laughing all the time, sometimes drives me absolutely batty, and always makes me count my blessings, of which she is a huge part. Did I tell you that during Carolina's birth she called herself my doula and rubbed my back and gave me sips of water through a straw? And here's one final little funny: the other day she asked me, "Mom, are mermaids for real?" I said, "Nope" and she immediately responded, "Ohhhhhhhh mannnnnnn!" I was sorry to be the bearer of such bad news but I don't want to shield her from life's harsh realities :)

She's HERE!!!!

I'm happy to announce the arrival of Carolina Pearl Howard, born Sunday, October 24, at 8:42 in the evening. She weighed 9 lbs, 3 oz (!) and was 21.5 inches long. I do feel a little bit like I deserve a medal!
It's been a busy week since she was born but here's the scoop. Also, it's pretty long so I'm going to break it up with photos even though they won't be pictures of what's happening in the story.

So, being on bed rest from weeks 35-37 I thought that I would just go into labor the minute I was taken off bed rest. But obviously that didn't happen. Since I had been having contractions for weeks and I have a history of fast labors, combined with the fact that my amazing midwife, Susie, lives about an hour away, at 38 weeks Susie decided to do an exam to see if I was dilated (while OBs often do cervical checks routinely, midwives often do not as it doesn't necessarily tell you anything useful and can sometimes lead to infection). I was 5 cm dilated and about 50% effaced. Since I had walked around for a while at 6cm with Finn I didn't necessarily feel like I would go into labor at any minute (although I did hope I would!).
Then on Thursday, October 21, I had some harder contractions throughout the night so I called Susie that morning to let her know. She was attending a birth in Springfield (about an hour north) so she told me to lay down and not do anything to get things going! As soon as that birth was over, around 4pm, she and her assistant, Cindy, came to the house. She checked me and I was 8cm and 80% effaced. The baby was still high up so we started lots of natural/homeopathic things to get labor going. (At this point I still wasn't having any timeable, painful contractions, just the same mild cramps I'd been having all along.) My best friend, Tiffany, and my mom and sister, Erin, came to the house and it looked like the herbs, etc. were working and from about 8pm to 11:15pm we walked up and down the street, around in the house, got on hands and knees, got in this crazy pretzel position to bring down the baby, and even had to lay down in bed for an hour or so to concentrate on getting through my contractions. As it got closer to 11:15 the contractions just started fizzling out. Finally Susie tucked me into bed and said I should get some rest. I told her, "I really don't think there's any way I can go to sleep but if you say so..." and then the next thing I knew, it was 5:15 and there was a houseful of people sleeping on my floor, couches, etc! Susie checked me again and things had not changed AT ALL.
Everyone went home and I felt really discouraged. I kept taking the herbs and trying other things to get my labor started again but nothing helped. Friday was also Susie's birthday and she said she hadn't delivered very many babies with the same birthday as her so we were really hoping it would be that day. Friday passed with virtually no contractions. Saturday we went for a hike at Radnor Lake, hoping that would stir things up. Nope.
Finally on Sunday morning as we walked around the neighborhood with the kids we called Susie and asked her if she'd come over after church and see if anything had changed. We attend the same church but she said she was planning on staying home because 3 of her 5 kids were home to celebrate with a birthday lunch. She said she would come over around 4pm. We went to church in the meantime and enjoyed getting out of the house and being with people. Once the kids were in nap/rest time I resumed the herbs, pretzel position, and hands and knees, hoping to help bring her down. By the time Susie arrived at 4pm and checked me I was 100% effaced and the baby HAD moved down. Hooray! So we called back the troops and my mom and step-dad, Benton, took Maggie and Finn for dinner and we kept doing all the same things. I think this would be a good time to tell you that the herbs I took, tincture of black and blue cohosh, taste like dirt dissolved in nail polish remover. One time when I took it it was so nasty that I immediately threw it all up. I took about 15 doses of this over the course of four days. The kids came home at 7 in time for Finn to go to bed, which he did, and then things got going.
Erin and my mom and Tiffany came back to the house. Right at 8pm Susie checked me, said the baby was low enough that she felt comfortable breaking my water so she did! About a minute later I had a VERY intense contraction that lasted about 2 minutes. Thirty seconds after that I had another CRAZY-long, CRAZY-hard contractions. Okay, this was for real now! So from 8pm to 8:40pm it felt like one long contraction. It was a little hard to manage because the contractions were so long (4 minutes!) with a very short break in between, and sometimes one would start to wane and before it was even all the way gone another one would start. I never get rude or mean in my labors but I do remember getting mad at Grant that his back rubs didn't seem to help. I didn't say anything but I was mad at him, even though I knew it wasn't his fault. After a little bit I started feeling like I was going to throw up and I wanted to push. They called for Maggie to come in and she did. Even in the middle of it all I had the presence of mind to try to convince her to stay, that I was working hard but it was okay. She stayed approximately 5 seconds and then turned around and left! Oh well. I pushed for about 5 minutes and then I was holding her in my arms! Tiffany was there the entire time and took so many great photos, and then as soon as Carolina was born Maggie, my mom, and Erin all came into the room so it was just like one big love fest for Carolina.

My best friend Tiffany, who is a wonderful artist and photographer, took some amazing photos that Grant will put together in a slide show so I can't wait to post that.
Meanwhile we've had my mom here for the first week and my in-laws for the second week and it's just been a sweet time with our family. Carolina was pretty jaundiced, requiring us to go to the hospital overnight, but she's doing great now. The big kids are having fun with the various grandparents staying here and Maggie thinks she's won the sibling lottery. Finn's having a little harder adjustment but he's really doing pretty well, too. I just don't know how I got so lucky to get to mother all these wonderful children. Thank you God!
Here's a photo of my sweet little guy to finish off the post.

Still Pregnant! (37 weeks)

Here's a photo! I guess I'm brave :) I think my stomach looks a little lopsided here and I'm not sure if it really looks like that or if I'm just turned slightly to the side! I also think I look kind of like a zombie here.

And here is a photo of my two handsome boys:
We've had an eventful last week and a half. We had Maggie's 5th birthday party (scheduled early for convenience - her actual birthday is 10/12 so we'll be celebrating with her at home tomorrow). Then she got a stomach bug, which sent our house into freak-out survival mode trying to prevent any of us (especially Finn) from catching it. The photo above was from when Grant took the day off of work to help me since Maggie was sick. We were trying to keep the kids apart as much as possible and it was really hard because I was on bed rest and Finn just wanted to be wherever Maggie was. So Grant took Finn on lots of outings - Radnor Lake, Costco, etc.

So we were hoping the baby would be born yesterday on 10/10/10 but that didn't happen so now really any day would be fine. Since I made it to full term I'm off bed rest and have been running all over town, vacuuming, and doing lots of walking around.

I also had my best friend, Christin, and her adorable little guy, Jude, who's the same age as Finn, in town for the weekend. We had lots of fun and I had been looking forward to her visit as the light at the end of the tunnel! She's moving from New Jersey to Vermont in November and since she lives so far away we don't get to see each other that much. Needless to say I LOVED having her here.

The last time they were here Finn and Jude were about 9 and 6 months and didn't exactly play together so it was fun to see them interact more.
(Back in December)

Hopefully this little girl will decide it's time to be born soon and I look forward to sharing photos and stories with you!

A slightly different kind of count down

At 34 weeks and 5 days I had a sign of early labor and was put on bed rest by my midwife. It's been almost a week and I'm still pregnant! It's been really dull having to lay around the house all day but on a positive note, not being very active and not carrying/holding my 27 pound baby has really relieved my back pain!

We've been so fortunate to have our wonderful church family bringing us meals and lots of people are helping with childcare - although I've been able to just stay home with both kids most of the time. I lay on the floor in Finn's room and play with them, and when they're bored with that we move into Maggie's room, where I lay on her bed and play, and then we move into the living room when we're tired of that! So I'm really getting relaxed in every room.

As of today I'm 35 weeks and 3 days. I just need to make it to 37 weeks which hits officially on October 10, so if you could just pray that she stays put until then, that would be much appreciated! If I go into labor before then then I'll have to go to the hospital and I won't get to have my sweet home birth that I'm looking forward to.

In other baby news, everything is pretty much ready! Her room is really close to finished, I'm almost done with the owl mobile I'm sewing for her, we have all of the baby gear and clothes we need, and now we just need that sweet little girl! Grant said yesterday that it just hit him that she's almost here and we get to see and hold her. This whole pre-term labor/bed rest thing has made us realize how close we are. I personally am DYING to see if she looks just like her siblings, who look just like each other, in my opinion. AND I can't wait to see if we got another red-headed little girl. Fingers crossed!

Countdown

The countdown has begun! Today I'm 34 weeks (and 3 days, but who's counting?!). All of my previous babies have been born anywhere from 37-38 weeks so I'm REEEEAAAALLLY hoping that I'll go around that same time again this time.

I had a midwife appointment today (at my house...awesome!) and everything looks good. I don't have any swelling (which is a miracle considering my first two pregnancies, and taking this insane heat into account). My blood pressure is low (100 over 65 - am I alive?). I'm measuring right on track with everything else and baby is head down. Now all I have to do is survive for 3-4 more weeks.

I have everything needed for my home birth now except a roll of paper towels! I have all the baby things I need (except I could use one more pink hooded towel - gotta get to Target!).

And Finn is officially sleeping in a pink room. Poor guy. I have a feeling he hasn't noticed though.

If I can work up the nerve I'll post a picture of myself. Lord, help me.

Another family video

Grant made this video for me back in May, for Mother's Day. It's really silly but funny (the last part where Grant has Maggie in slow motion makes me crack up every time). It makes me miss the days when Maggie had long hair and Finn would just sit still for a few minutes! But not really - I do miss Maggie's long hair but the stage they're at right now is pretty fun.

Anyway, enjoy!

Maggie Sings- mothers day 2010 from Howardyoudoing on Vimeo.

Finn's turn

Since the last post was predominantly about Maggie I thought I'd devote a blog post to the sweetest, most handsome little boy I know: Finn.

You know how everyone thinks their own child is the smartest child they know? Well, I'm no exception:) I think Finn is SO smart!

He loves to point out the objects he knows when he sees them in books, for instance, the moon. Whenever he sees a moon in a book he points to it and says, "Moon." He does the same for dogs, babies, apples, cars, buses, and several other things. When he hears a dog barking he stops what he's doing and says, "DOG! Ruff, ruff!"

He's also at that stage where he turns everything into a phone and holds it up to his ear. He says, "Yeah, yeah...yeah, yeah...yeah, yeah...bye-bye." I know where he learned that behavior from and I'm a little embarrassed but I can think of much worse things he could copy from me. But don't expect me to give any examples.

He's also a little bit of a tease. Today I was getting ready in the bathroom and he came over saying, "Up! Up!" I squatted down to pick him up and I said, "Hold you? Up?" and reached out for him. He ran away, laughing, and saying, "No, no, no, no, no!" He came back and the exact same scenario was repeated at least ten times.

Have I written about his Power Move yet? He must be watching some WWF wrestling when we're not looking. He'll walk over to one of us when we're sitting on the floor, put both of his hands up above his head, and then slam his whole body down on us. It's pretty funny, but he's a stout little guy and there is some power behind his Power Move!

Ohhhh...I just love that little guy. Although I'm worn out daily by the challenges of parenting, I count my blessings EVERY DAY. I'm so lucky to get to parent these amazing children (plus one more!)

Pregnancy Update-
As of today I'm 31 weeks along. Since I've gone 2-3 weeks early every time I'm DESPERATELY hoping that I'll do it again with this baby. If that does happen, then I'm about 5-6 weeks from NOT BEING PREGNANT ANY MORE!!!!!! I am over being pregnant. My sciatica has been horrible, probably due in large part to the fact that I'm still toting around a 25-lb baby much of the time. He's walking really great but still needs to be held/carried a lot (parking lots, uneven terrain, etc.). Two nights ago I couldn't fall asleep until 1am because the sciatica was causing my legs to go numb and I couldn't get comfortable. The baby kicks a lot and is very active, so that's a lot of fun. I love it when I'm rocking and singing to Finn before his nap and the baby kicks him. If only he knew what an ominous warning it was :) Let the countdown begin!

Some Funny Maggie Stories

I have a few funny Maggie stories for you:

(Maggie being coy at cousin Lily Kate's first birthday)

Maggie has an art desk filled to the brim with art supplies (all of which are inappropriate for a 17-month-old) and we keep it in our bedroom. Finn has figured out how to get in the room even if the door is closed and he always makes a beeline for her art desk. He loves to pull out every crayon, paint marker, and sticker, and they usually end up in his mouth. The first time it happened Grant and I were in the kitchen and we suddenly heard Maggie scream, "ART ATTACK! ART ATTACK!" She really has a knack for coming up with funny names for things.

Two weeks ago I had a craving for chicken noodle soup and so I made some despite the sweltering temperatures (I basically will make and eat soup year round, no matter how hot it is). I won't lie - it was pretty darn good. Maggie loved it and said, "I bet this soup is in heaven and God eats it every day. A great dinner for a great day."

However, her compliments and phrases have the ability to make people feel both great and terrible. For instance, she tells me, "Mama, I love you with ALL my heart. And I love Daddy with HALF of my heart." But Grant knows she loves him more than that :)

We love to tell both Finn and Maggie how wonderful they are and all of their best qualities. Last week, after telling Finn about how smart and sweet and handsome and strong he is and what a good walker he is (okay, he's 17 months - it's not like we can tell him he's good at art or something), he immediately proceeded to smack Maggie really hard. She said, "Finn! Use your powers for good, not evil!"

Maggie's really gotten good at writing and decided to make a sign for her door because she was tired of Finn coming in and pulling all of her books off the shelves. She painstakingly wrote, "No babies" on the sign and then carefully taped it to the door. Approximately two seconds later Finn pushed the door open and walked right in, heading straight for her bookshelves.
Maggie said, "ARGH! There's just one problem...FINN CAN'T READ!!!!"

Here's one last photo (Thanks, BW for the photos) of a bunch of my family at my niece Lily Kate's (in red/black) birthday party. This was about 2 weeks ago so I'm about 7 months pregnant in this photo.