Words from Kate

We went to town today and walked around and looked at motorcycles and had a family day. We stopped to eat lunch at a restaurant. As we were sitting and waiting for our food Kate yelled something about something she saw on the wall. Mark leaned over to her and said that she needed to use her inside voice since we were in a restaurant. She looked at Mark and said very matter of factly, "I'm using my girl-side voice not my inside voice"

Her what?

gato estupido....

Real quick story here.

Last night around 1:30am, I was drifting in and out of sleep (that's what you do with a watermelon in your belly) listening to the crazy loud thunder and lightning rainstorm. All of a sudden I feel water spraying all over my legs. So I'm thinking 'Oh my gosh my water broke'. Then I start to come around and realize water doesn't break in a big giant spray. So what did that? My dumb cat (gato estupido). Turns out he had come inside from the rainstorm through a hole in the screen in the window by my side of the bed. He jumps up onto the bed and shakes himself like a dog all over me. It scared the daylights out of me - unfortunately it didn't scare a baby out of me. Dang it...

Goin' for a walk

The family went for a walk the other night (in hopes of getting this baby out! at least those were my hopes...) around the neighborhood. Stopped for a few pictures. Thought you might like a peek.

just to remember

You can most likely figure that this has something to do with hormones but I'm gonna write it anyway - just cause I'm in the mood.

I was snuggling on the couch last night with Kale and I just started thinking about how big he is. He snuggled up on one side and Jack is kicking the daylights out of the inside and all I can think about is that Kale was doing the karate thing not that long ago. I always hear people say to really enjoy these times with your kids because they grow up too fast and they're right. And my kid's only 4! So I thought I'd write a little about who Kale and Kate are right now so I won't forget. I'm not a good journal keeper or scrapbooker but I've discovered that I like to blog so I figured I'd turn here first.

Kale is one of the most sweet, loving and encouraging little boys I know. He's quick to tell you that he loves you, quick to snuggle up, quick to hug and kiss, and quick to have fun. Many times he'll just come up to me and kiss my belly, tell Jack he loves him and tell me that he loves me. Just out of the blue. I never get tired of hearing him say that. He's become a very polite little guy. Saying please and thank you - to us at least. He's working hard on doing that with his sister and outside the house but he wants to please. He's got a smile that melts your heart with just a few freckles on his nose for added cuteness. He's very logical and likes to know everything. He's constantly asking questions about everything - sometimes we have to ask him to stop because either we're tired of answering or we just don't have enough answers and he winds up being frustrated with us. He's a great little helper to, something that eases my mind with the new one coming. He will get himself dressed, clean his room, help his sister get what she needs (including finding her fire if it's lost in her bed), read books to himself, set and clear the table, feed the dog and more. I know I'm going to be able to count on him to help me with Jack. He is thrilled to be a big brother again to this little one and he has big plans of what he wants to teach Jack when Jack is able to learn. I think he can't wait to teach him about Transformers. Kale's my little buddy and helper and he is his daddy's mini-me. He absolutely adores his dad and wants to be just like him. He's got a sense of humor already and likes to try and tell jokes. He's such a blessing and I have no doubt that he will grow into the amazing man that God is creating him to be.

Kate is our princess. She was born the princess and continues to work the role. She talks all the time with this sweet little girl voice that melts. Especially when combined with her sweet, sweet smile and her dark, beautiful hazel eyes. She's very smart and always figuring things out. You can see the wheels turning in her mind as things happen. She's figuring out this life with a big brother. She wants to do everything with him and is devastated when he wants alone time in his room. She just doesn't understand why he wouldn't want to play with her. She's a snuggler to - thankfully. Our whole family is actually. If you find us sitting on the couch there's no doubt that we're sitting all snuggled up together. Kate calls snuggles fungles. A term we use all the time now. When reading her a story - something she loves - she will crawl up next to you and lift your arm and put it around her just how she wants it. She likes to be up close and personal and I love it. She's very independent. She like to be a big girl and climb and do things herself (except go potty on a toilet of course). She's easily frustrated when we try and move things along and do stuff for her. She's very loving and can't wait to take care of her baby Jack. She's already practicing on her dolls and other babies at the church. Kate is also our performer as you may have seen in previous posts. She loves to sing and dance and will do it in front of almost anyone who will watch and applaud. In fact she's not shy about asking for "yea's" at the end of her performances. She brings so much joy and laughter and is the perfect little girl Palmer.

I can't wait to meet Jack and see how he will fit perfectly into our family. It's been so fun to see how God has taken just Mark and I and created a family that is full of unique and fun personalities. He has absolutely blessed us beyond words and we are so thankful.

I just don't ever want to ever forget how much God has given me in my kids and what a blessing they are, even at such a young age, especially at such a young age.

The Waters family

We had the pleasure of having dinner last night with our good friends the Waters. Seth and Maria moved here four years ago with our pastors and quickly became great friends. They have a little girl named Ella who is the same age as Kate. They also have twin boys, Levi and Ian, born in May of this year. Last night was just a fun night of hanging out and watching the kids play. They have such a good time together. And so do the adults. Unfortunately for us they are planning on moving to California next summer to plant a church. I'm still in denial that this is going to happen but sadly it's becoming more and more of a reality.Kate and Ella hanging out in the papason.

Kate holding Levi. She's practicing for when she gets to hold Jack.
For some reason Kale can almost always tell the boys apart.
I'm lucky if I get it right ever!

The three amigos playing nicely together

some of our lunchtime entertainment

This afternoon at lunchtime, Kate stood up in her chair after she was done and started a little concert. So we had to film a little. She's really a ham! Kale tried to join in but got embarrassed quickly.

My beef with the olympics

Ok, so here's my random musing for the day. I found out at lunch time that USA's women's softball team lost the gold medal match against Japan. It was the first time since softball was introduced to the Olympics in 1996 that the USA team did not win gold. Ironically, I heard two nights ago that the very reason that they are taking out softball is because team USA is unbeatable. Hmmmmmm. I think it stinks. Just because USA is good doesn't mean that they have to remove softball altogether. Seriously, look at China! If we removed all the sports that China has dominated at this Olympics we'd lose men and women's gymnastics, men and women's diving, ping pong etc.... What can you expect from a country that takes 3 year olds and trains them to be Olympic athletes? Anyway, just because a certain country is very good at a sport shouldn't mean it should be discontinued. I guess if the softball teams were allowed to play in bikinis like women's beach volleyball (that's a whole other issue there) there would be no doubt that they could stay. Hmmmmm.

Similarly, yet totally opposite, is baseball. Apparently baseball is being discontinued because no professional players are able to play since it is right now baseball season. So because none of the teams are exceptional they are removing it. How does that make sense? I have no idea. I guess there are plenty of professional handball players, trampoline-ists, and rhythmic gymnasts to keep those sports alive.

So as much as I love the Olympics and am addicted to watching them and thrilled everytime an American runs around with a flag and cries, I just don't understand some of the logic.

final preperations....then we wait

I was a little bored yesterday at my house and was trying to determine why. Usually I'm so busy I don't have time to be bored. I will play with my kids, clean up the house, do laundry, read, etc... Yesterday was different and it took me awhile to figure out why. Then I realized that I'm entering the waiting zone.

Ya see, there comes a time in your pregnancy - near the end of course - when all you can do is wait. You've prepared as much as you can physically prepare so there's not much left to do. As much as I'd like to be scrubbing my floors and picking up toys and doing loads and loads of laundry I physically can't do it all. I pay dearly for it. So I do small amounts at a time then sit. And boy do I get bored of sitting. I don't want to watch TV - don't want my kids watching TV - although we've had some Olympics on. I can't help it :) I've read books to myself and to my kids but you can only do that so long. I would never have survived bed rest!

I've started having dreams (more like nightmares) of my water breaking in Walmart. That's enough to scare you from ever going to Walmart. Of course I'm still going out and doing things but the thought of what if you go into labor never leaves your mind. It's still early (I'm one day away from 3 weeks to go) but Kale was born by this time. Kate waited till her due date so there's no telling what this one will decide to do. I'm not completely fearful but it is comical the things I start to think.
Things like:
'boy I haven't shaved my legs in a while - like anyone will really care'
'I haven't packed my bags yet maybe I should get on that'
'Do I have enough food in the house? I really don't want to go to Walmart the week before...'
'I'll be having all this company after Jack comes and my house is well...not so spotless :) '
'Where's that darn breast pump and all those bottles!?'
'Do I really not have one shirt that doesn't stick out like a tent over this huge watermelon looking belly?'
'Do I have enough clean underwear?'

I'm telling you, the waiting is crazy! You're nervous to make too many plans because every plan has to have a back up baby plan. The truth is the baby could come at any time, the reality is that he probably won't. I don't want to even think that he could come earlier than Sept. 12th because if he doesn't I may go crazy. Similarly, if he comes after the 12th, well let's just say Oh Mylanta.

When the baby comes you can finally move on with life. Make plans again and go to Walmart. Until then, the last few weeks are a guessing game. And I'm one who likes order. I like to know when, where, how long, how will it happen and what will it cost. Not good if you're about to have a baby!

say what?

Wednesday of last week Mark was in Walmart getting some supplies for church. He decided to check out the toy department just to see if Jazz (a Transformer) was there. Kale has wanted Jazz since Christmas and we've done many chore charts so he could earn him. However, every time we went to the store to get Kale his prize, he wasn't there. Seriously, every time. Even for my sister's wedding. She tried to get him Jazz for being in her wedding and she went to Target and Toys R Us - no Jazz. Until now.... Mark found him. He actually called me because he was so excited. We plotted how Kale could earn this most favorite toy and came up with cleaning his room and giving away other toys that he doesn't play with. We didn't tell Kale that we had found him. Well, Thursday morning Kale came into our room where Mark had put Jazz up on his dresser. Kale saw him and about fell over. He was hysterical and I really wish I had had a video camera for his reaction - I totally would've won $10,000 on AFV. He grabbed the box, squealed, kissed it, said to Jazz "I've wanted you my whole life!", jumped up and down and ran to where I was standing asking me a ton of questions about where Jazz had come from. I told him he couldn't open it until he had earned it so he carried around the box and just stared and stared at it. When he found out that cleaning his room was part of the job he raced into his room - unprompted - and cleaned it all. He was so proud of himself. And of course begged me to open Jazz. I told him that he still needed to go through his toys so he immediately went back into his room and came out with a pile of things (things I think he didn't want to finish cleaning up) and dropped them on the floor outside his room and said "there! Now can I have Jazz?" This went on all day Thursday. Finally on Friday he and Mark went through more toys and he really did a great job sorting through them. We finally relented and let him open him. It was like Christmas morning! Since then, every single one of his Transformers has been out on the coffee table for the battle!

Here he is ----- the mighty Jazz!

I also have a little story about Kate. Yesterday in the car on the way home from church Mark was talking to Kale and Kate telling them what great kids they were and how much he loved them.

Kate says to dad "I'm not a kid, I'm a big girl!"

Mark: Well you're both. You're a kid and a big girl.

Kate: No, I'm a big girl.

This went on for a little bit and finally Mark says: You're a big girl if you go potty in a toilet and stop sucking on your fires (pacifier).

Without missing a beat Kate responds: Then I'm a baby!

What a little fire addict! Oh, and she told the woman in the nursery yesterday that she was afraid of the potty. Great...

a few pictures from this weekend

We went to a few garage sales and a flea market this morning to look for something to put toys in. Instead we found this great hat. Didn't buy it but had to take a picture.
Found this one to. Pretty stinkin' cute!
I wasn't too thrilled to have my picture taken but felt like I needed proof that I'm very, very pregnant. My belly made a nice little rain shelter for Kate. I've had people ask me if I thought this baby would be bigger than Kale (5lbs 12oz) and Kate (6lbs 4oz), but I don't think so. The midwife said it was a small baby - I just look huge because I'm only 5'3" and have a fairly small torso. Lucky me! So Jack just keeps sticking out farther and farther. Although he's still pretty high up into my rib cage.
Here's daddy having fun with Kate. It's a little plastic bin they both squeezed into. I didn't think it would hold them but somehow it did.

Another entry in the diary of the mad (as in crazy) pregnant woman

The Battle in My Mind
DISCLAIMER *****To my dear sisters and sisters-in-law and anyone else who has yet to be pregnant, please do not be discouraged by reading this entry. As you know, I love my kids, it's the pregnant thing that I'm not too fond of and that's the truth :) *****

I am in the bottom of the final inning of this pregnancy and stuff just goes downhill - literally... The belly is lower for sure but the battle in the body and the battle in the mind intensify. I believe that God allows us to be pregnant for nine months to prepare us for the upcoming arrival. First off, at this point you don't care how this baby gets out - you just want them out. I remember thinking when I first got pregnant with Kale that there is only one way out (I know there's actually two but not everyone plans on the second way - they just worry about the first way). And then when you've done it twice before, the first way can really be scary again because you remember but you don't really remember. But like I said, at this point, you don't care how it happens or even that it might be the most crazy pain you've ever felt, you just want them out and your body back.

And secondly, you begin to lose more and more sleep at night as rolling over becomes a gymnastics routine. There's the grunting, the pulling, the shifting gently, the rearranging, the organizing of the several pillows and then there's the kicking. Once I've successfully made the move, Jack inevitably wakes up to and begins his little gymnastics routine for another 20 minutes or so. And honestly it's just hard to fall back asleep when your stomach is twisting and turning and dancing. The entire rolling over process can take about 25 minutes of being awake and that's only if once you've rolled over, the baby doesn't land on your bladder. If they do, well that's a hobbling trip to the bathroom - at least another 5 minutes or so. So you see, God begins to prepare us for nightly feedings and living off of less and less sleep.

I have 4 weeks and one day to go till the official due date but who's counting? I am actually and if I knew the countdown of the hours I could probably tell you that to. Now to be completely fair, I am not having a competition with any other woman out there who has had children. This is by far not the worst pregnancy in the history books and I do not mean to imply ever that it is. I am not on bed rest, I do not have high blood pressure or swelling of my hands and feet, nor do I have gestational diabetes. Overall it is a normal pregnancy. It's not a cake walk but it's not unreasonable. But that doesn't mean I still have to love every second does it? I have to try and keep my sense of humor because without it....well, there would be no ice cream, cookie dough or chocolate within a 10 mile radius. And really that's the last thing I need since I've had no problem what-so-ever gaining the necessary weight. I think with Kate they told me at this point that I needed to gain a few more pounds. Not this one. I'm pretty sure they're trying to not hurt my feeling. A hormonal pregnant woman does not like to hear that she's huge. She already knows that...

I have a dear sweet friend that I thought I should mention in this entry. Her name is Linn and I love her very much. However, when it comes to birthing children, she and I are on opposite ends of .... everything :) First of all, she's an awesome mom and would adopt 5,000 children if she could and I'm not exaggerating. She told me that number last night! But she'd also give birth to children over and over again if possible. Due to circumstances, she's not really going to do that but she did tell me with Kate that if she could possibly be pregnant for me and even go through the delivery with no drugs she'd do it in a second. She loved being pregnant so much. I asked her if she was willing last night to take over this one and she very enthusiastically said of course! In fact, she was hurt in a bad biking accident two weeks ago and she told her husband she'd rather endure labor a hundred times over then feel the pain of her accident. Now, I've told her that she's crazy but she already knows that. In fact she'll probably read this entry and be laughing. It really is true and I had to tell you about a person who is absolutely unlike me in this area - just so you (my dear sisters and sisters-in-law) can know that I'm just a cranky one :) There are others who love this kind of torture!

So in closing, this last few weeks is really all about the battle of my mind. Taking it one day at a time and anticipating the arrival of this miracle. Everyday I tell myself that it's not much longer, you can see the finish line, it's coming down to the wire, your competition is way behind you (can you tell I've been watching the Olympics? but I am not the Michael Phelps of childbirth). And I know that 4 weeks and one day will fly by -- it just feels like a penguin flying (because they don't fly.........)

Happy Birthday Aunt Kelly

I needed to give a shout out to my awesome sister Kelly. Today is her 30th birthday. She's just as crazy as we are and that's why we love her! Happy birthday Kelly!

the sword fighters

Sunday night while up at the softball fields for Mark's last game of the season, Kale and his buddy Toby decided to sword fight with sticks. You can try to keep boys from hurting each other but it's inevitable. Sword fighting is just too much fun. Thankfully they turned their attention to the innocent tree branch and whacked that to pieces instead. Kale's only injury of the night came early on when he was playing with a rock and smashed his finger with it. Ouch! They could probably hear him screaming downtown.

Got milk?

I was getting the kids milk last night for dinner and finished off the gallon. I put the empty gallon on the floor by the trash to be taken out later. When I turned back around I found Kate drinking the very last drops right out of the jug. She had unscrewed the cap and helped herself. I thought it was a pretty funny picture seeing how small she is.

I've been working this week at the dentist office (today is my last day). Nice change, but again, I'm thankful that I don't have to do this all the time. Especially 9 months pregnant!

A day at the fair

Today the family got up and ventured to the fairgrounds to see what we could see. First we stopped at the hospital because I had a check up. I'm 35 weeks exactly today but who's counting? :) While I was in the office, Mark took Kale and Kate to the nearby park and apparently Kate had a blow out (that hasn't happened in forever!). Lucky me! Poor Mark. But he's such a great dad - he made it through like a champ. They came back and picked me up and we continued on our way.

Here we are observing the cow judging. The kids got bored looking at quilts and pies and stuff so we went out to where the real action was - the cows.

Sorry dad, the democrats weren't handing out free popcorn :) Gotta love those republicans!
We wandered around the goat pens. I loved the baby ones. I don't want one - but I thought they were pretty cute. The kids thought they all smelled nasty.
See? They ran on ahead. Stinky and not too thrilling.
This is how close we got to some of the cows. Kate just sat back and stared. She wasn't so sure of these big animals but she was fine watching them. Kale on the other hand hated that we were walking through mud. Go figure.
They had a really neat collection of antique tractors. We begged the kids to let us take a picture of them in front of this cool one. You can tell they were thrilled.
Finally we found the place with the smaller animals. I think the kids liked this part the best. Here they are up close and personal with the turkey.
Kale's favorite animal was the rabbit. He made sure I took a picture of this one. He decided that when he's 52, he can have a rabbit. We said that would be fine...
I thought this rabbit was sweet. And very comfortable.

This woman asked if Kate wanted to pet her rooster. Kate did once and that was enough. Kale stayed away.
I thought these roosters were hilarious. I'm surprised I got this picture of them. They just ran back and forth in their cage the whole time we were looking at them.
More roosters and hens.

I think this was Mark's favorite. What a gross head... Can you say Happy Thanksgiving?!

Very fun day at the fair. We got lemonade and watermelon and saw and smelled a lot of crazy things. I think it was great.

Date Night

Last night Mark and I were able to go out on a date. Two in just over a week is practically unheard of so we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves. We normally have Bible Study on Thursday nights but Jerome and Tiffany (our awesome leaders) volunteered to take all the kids so couples could go out on the town. So we went to a Chinese restaurant right on the river. The food and the service were okay but the view is unbeatable. That has to be the reason they're still open. We used to joke that the Chinese mob owned and ran this place. It was fine but seriously, can you believe the gorgeous scenery - and I don't just mean Mark :)



After dinner we went to Starbucks downtown for a little people watching (I love to do that). This isn't a good picture of us but I wanted proof that I exist and that we went on the date together. We're not professional photographers as you've no doubt noticed. We just document our life however we can! And we really wanted to see how many chin rolls we could capture in this picture.

So I took this picture because it represents some of the differences between Mark and I. Mark drinks the hot mocha no matter the outside temp. He'd drink hot in 100 degree weather! Not me. Mine are always iced in the summer. Love that icy chocolate goodness. Plus the flowers behind it were beautiful! I need to learn how to do that in my own yard.

My husband thought the picture would be much better if his mug was in it so I relented and let him poke his nose in....

S.O.S.

This past week, while driving by garage sales, Mark introduced Kale and Kate to the Police. He loaded up my iPod with some driving music. There was the Police, Sting, Simon and Garfunkel and Van Morrison I think. Kale found a song he loved and now wants me to bring the iPod with us every time we're in the car. Here is a little bit of me catching him singing Message in a Bottle - the "sending out an SOS" part :) Sorry the picture isn't too great. I was driving and paying attention to the road of course! Can you tell he digs the song?

The busy nesting weekend

For those of you who don't think that nesting is really a part of pregnancy just ask Mark. I think he is now just as ready as I am to have this child. He asked me on Thursday, 'what're we doing this weekend?' I laughed. I said you might want to ask "what am I doing this weekend". I had made a list of all the things I started panicking about getting done before this kid comes. Rearranging the house (may not make sense to you but makes perfect sense to me!), buy a dresser for the boys' room (love saying that), get out baby clothes and baby stuff, mow the lawn (again, makes sense to me!) etc. Mark was thrilled (see facial expression), of course, to do whatever my heart desired :)

So we designated Friday as a work day and got started. I took Kale grocery shopping with me (where he proceeded to sneak purple applesauce in the cart to be discovered at check out and where he spilled a thing of strawberries in the produce section - otherwise he was actually a joy to have with me) while Mark and Kate started rearranging and cleaning. We moved furniture - actually Mark moved it I just pointed - then bribed our friend Billy with a steak to come help move the heavy stuff Mark couldn't do alone. Our job was so huge it wasn't going to be done in one day.

Therefore, Saturday was a combination of work and play. We spent a few hours garage sale-ing (basically driving by to determine if we really wanted to get out) looking for the "perfect" dresser for the boys' room. No luck and we literally drove by maybe 20 sales. Crazy! So we finally gave up (actually ran out of sales) and went to a park downtown to have a picnic. The kids' reward for being so well behaved in the car driving miles and miles. Or as Kale says, days and days. A friend of ours showed us this beautiful park one block off of Main Street. It has a beautiful bank perfect for a picnic. It's on Junction Creek and the water barely covers your feet in most places so it's a great place to let the kids wade. The water was freezing but it felt wonderful! We had a blast.Mark and the kids venturing out in the cold water. They had fun although Mark's feet were frozen and sore at the end.

The kids were so excited to make it all the way to the log.Can you believe this view is downtown Durango?! Beautiful!PB&J is always a favorite picnic food.
After lunch and naps we went to a woman's house who lives here in Durango and picked up the perfect dresser that I finally found on Craig's list. Wish I had done that before yard sale-ing for "days and days".

So the furniture is rearranged, the prefect dresser was found and the lawn was mowed. A very productive weekend. Much more to come in the next few weekends. Mark is so excited!I also have a funny kid story to tell and an embarrassing parenting moment. But if you have a weak stomach or can't handle bodily functions I suggest you stop reading at this point. By the way I do have Mark's permission to retell this story :)

We went to lunch today after church at Del Taco. A last minute decision after being at church so late. As we were sitting in those lovely and comfortable plastic booths Mark, thinking it was going to be silent, uuuhhh..... tooted. Well it wasn't so silent - in fact it echoed in those comfy booths - and he was definitely embarrassed. You have to understand, Mark is not a gross and crude person. Really he isn't - this was an accident through and through. An accident our children throughly delighted in. I'm not sure who in the restaurant heard it but our table certainly did and our children definitely pointed out that they did not do the deed and were quick to throw Mark under the bus. He tried to blame it on Kale but Kale adamantly denied any wrong-doing and pointed the finger at Mark who was turning bright red. So they are at the age where you can't hide things from them and you can't blame them. Bummer!