Surprise, Pools, Pigs, Paint, Cribs

Been a crazy couple weeks...
Family visits.
Doctor visits
House repairs
Still no pick up returned - frame shops, paint jobs, reassembly, blah blah blah. New rental.

The big celebration at our house was Kevin's arrival! No, just kidding, we celebrated Randy's 60th birthday - and with that we celebrated Kevin and Kevie coming with Jan, Rick, and Denise to surprise Randy on his birthday. They had been working on the details since hunting and we played house host due to the size of the group and the fact that it made it easier to contain E & G. Was so good to see the family and see how happy Randy was that they came for him. E was very intrigued by the whole birthday thing - she was impressed about buying balloons and decorating for Grandpa and all. She even had the song down - that is until we all sang it. Then it all went out the window.

Due to our "living conditions" everyone stayed at Eric's or at a hotel - which worked out nice for us because they let us come crash their pool. The water was chillier than I expected but that didn't stop all the kids from going down the slide!

We even had a couple good days where we headed outside and played on the lake with the sleds. G is getting better outside but still has trouble getting and standing up!

G's gland is getting smaller and after another ultrasound showed we are still in the clear. However the boy is cutting i teeth and between the gland and the teeth - we aren't sleeping through the night. I'll admit, he isn't terrible to go back down. We usually hand him his water and he chugs a good amount down and then rolls over but I'd be happier if he'd sleep more than 3 hours at a pop. He's starting to pick up some words too - he'd got rough versions of hello, buh-bye, Lola, Go, Mom, Dad and noises that cats, dogs, and dinosaurs make.

Matt and the families butchered pigs too over the past weekend. We had our list ready and Matt was excited about the planning and doing of it all - this year we did brats, andouille sausage, and some breakfast sausage - a bit different from last year with the bangers but Matt is still excited to try and do it. I spent the day with the kids. On Sunday, Matt smoked and we packaged everything up.

We are also starting to concentrate on the final baby's arrival. It's hard to believe she'll be hear before we know it. We've been prepping E for her little sister - but the whole idea that she's in mom's belly seems a bit far out for her mind to comprehend.

EER putting blankets on ALR.
EER: I'm covering up my baby sister.
ALR: That's nice.
EER: Mom, you go to the doctor?
ALR: Sometime, I'll go to the doctor.
EER: You see, Nurse Natalie? (That's E's nurse.)
ALR: No, I'll see my own nurse - but she's nice like Nurse Natalie.
EER: Ok.

Matt and I spent our holiday prepping the baby room - I finally got 90% of the clothes sorted and stored and with the contractor finishing up the ceiling downstairs, we put those away. We painted the nursery and when we ripped off the paint lines - We were disappointed to see we had painted a racing flag on the walls! It took another week and more tape and another paint color before we got it to a place we like.

We also took some time and got the new crib up too. We had so much "help," probably too much help. We had our 36 week appointment and she's measuring at 6 pounds. Hard to believe it's coming down there. I was hoping to see her face again but like her brother - she had her face into my spine and her little butt in the air. We'll just haftah wait to get a glimpse when she arrives.

In the meantime, the temps are record lows so we are just worried about staying warm and keeping things safe. Daycare and schools even closed because of record lows.

Sitting at the table - after Matt had spent the morning alone with the kids.
EER: Daddy pooped in the potty. 
ALR: Oh? Did you clap for him.
EER: Yeah.
MJR: Yes, I did Eleanor, thank you for sharing. 
EER: We say bye poop!
ALR: You do know if she's sharing this with me, daycare may be aware too?
MJR: Yeah, I was just thinking that too.