Tucker

We were so excited that our new nephew, Tucker Scott, (born to Steven's brother and his wife) decided to make his entrance into the world the night before we arrived in Michigan. When you live 500 miles away, seeing your nephew at one day old is a serious privilege!!

With big sis:

With Steven's mom:

All five cousins:

Crazy Mix-Up

This week shaped up to be one of those weeks that looked busy on the calendar but was taken to another level in real life. I've decided that happens because, on the calendar, you don't have slots filled in for bad attitudes, sibling rivalry, and minor break-downs during Phonics. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for sympathy. I get my rewards in zur-burt kisses, tiny giggles, "Mommy, I love you"s, and bear hugs. I'm just stating the Mommy facts of life.

So last night, mixed in with running around like a chicken missing its you-know-what, my eldest kindly reminded me, "Mom, don't forget tomorrow is 'Crazy, Mix-up Day' [at co-op school]." Oh, fabulous. As I fell into bed last night, my littlest gymnast was extra energetic, making sure to keep me awake so that I could dream up what on earth I could dress the boys in the next morning.

We appropriately started our Crazy, Mix-Up Day with a crazy, mixed-up morning, scrambling around to find the right clothes. It culminated in Isaiah holding the iPod Touch up for me so that I could see the step-by-step instruction on Google for tying Elijah's backwards tie. We were done after 10 minutes and a bunch of whining for daddy. From me, not the kids. As we rushed, late, out the door, I realized that a photographic documentation was probably a good idea. So we ended up with something that looks more akin to mug shots of Mr. Half Summer, Half Winter and Mr. Backwards.

Preggo Pics

When the camera comes out, the place I want to be is behind it. Never is this more true than when I'm pregnant, specifically more than 6 months pregnant. If the camera adds 5 pounds when you're not pregnant, than it seems to add 15 pounds when you are. Or maybe it was the last 20 donuts you ate.

Besides having to be confronted with the fact that, yes, you have put on weight, and no, it's not just all baby, you also have own up to your face. Because, as if it doesn't look bad enough now, one day you will actually have to look back on these pictures wondering things like: "Was my face really that fat?!" and "Why didn't some stop and tell me it was that fat?!" Though if they had, the only choice at that moment would have been to punch theirs.

The problem is that my kids love looking at photos of me pregnant with them, and I happen to enjoy the photos of my mom pregnant with me. To further complicate my wish to remain unphotographed in the last trimester, my friends from afar convey wishes to see my preggo progress. And I'm the hypocrite who pesters long-distance, pregnant friends for a peek at their own blossoming bellies.

So here are some photos of my "four" children...

So there you have it, my pregnancy in all it's *cough* glory.

*Sigh* It's all too depressing, and I need some cheering up. I think I'll go have a donut.

Green Day

Our "green day" happens to come on March 17th. St. Patrick's Day is excuse to take a normal school day and mix in a few pinchy giggles and a lot of green in the hopes of making memories. The kids donned their green tall hats as soon as they woke up to ward off any pinches in the green-less pajamas. They made sure I picked out clothes with green while Elijah lamented the fact that his only really green shirt was a dress shirt, and settled for some thin green stripes.

While we of course ate our traditional "Irish Reuben Casserole" for dinner (I can't remember a St. Patty's Day without it), I tried to spice up each meal with a bit of green because even just some green sprinkles on yogurt makes it taste better.

We Interrupt Your Winter Programming...For Spring!

The change from winter to spring seemed to happen in the matter of minutes here in Northern Virginia. One day we were having the blizzards of the century, and the next we were enjoying temperatures in the mid 60's. Thank God, because I was ready to migrate to Cancun at the next sighting of white...and I wasn't even shoveling!

This means we've gotten to take our three little couped-up-waaay-too-long bundles of energy outside. You know, the kind of going outside that doesn't involve one hour of bundling and two hours of cleaning up slush and drying everything down to their underwear by the fire. Ahh, spring!

While your kids are on the playground, swinging and sliding, my oldest is the one off on the sidelines playing with his favorite toy- sticks.

Steven was going around with this walking stick when Adriana informed him that he looked like Willy Wonka.

That would be a pretty scary version of Mr. Wonka...the kind that actually makes Johnny Depp look cuddly.

Little Soldiers

If you aren't already aware of it, we're a homeschooling family. Both Isaiah and Elijah are homeschooled four days a week and go to a co-op school one day a week.

Lately we've been learning about World War II in History. I was relaying a story of some French priests taking Jewish children to safety. As I told the boys that the priests took the children over the border to Switzerland, Elijah gasped.

"Switzerland! They're bad!!"

Completely confused, I questioned him, "Why are they bad, Elijah?"

"They tried to beat our hockey team!!"

Now that's some serious Olympic sentiment...

Here is a photo their teacher sent me from "Boot Camp Day" in their History class; Isaiah is in the back middle and that's my little Swiss-judger in the far back left whose face you can hardly see:

Adriana Video Interview

These Days

This pregnancy has officially rendered me "Winter's Most Boring Mom"; not that I have ever been in the running for "Most Exciting". Nausea and sheer lack of energy have kept us at home with things like accomplishing school, reading, Wii playing, bouncing off the bunk beds (not me!), watching old Cosby shows, and playing multiple games of Sorry for entertainment. Besides school our biggest accomplishment was reading through the entire set of the Chronicles of Narnia.

The other night I finally pulled out the camera and had my kids pose for a couple of head shots, just so I could actually say that I'd taken a photo of them in 2010.

Our recent favorite quotes have come from Adriana. Here are a few:

As I did my hair the other day, she was watching me and commented, "Mom, you're so jealous."

"What does jealous mean, Adriana?," I inquired.

"It means that your putting gel in your hair!" (Well, duh!)

Me: "I'm looking forward to seeing what our baby looks like."

Adriana: "She'll look like a butterfly."

Me: "Huh?"

Adriana: "Well most babies look like a butterfly."

Then it clicked. Me: "Oh, I get it. You mean when they're all bundled in their blankets?"

Adriana: "Yes!"

We've discussed that all our baby will eat when she arrives is mommy's milk. So here was Adriana's bedtime prayer the other night: "Dear God, please help our baby to be able to eat yogurt and milk and crackers and eggs, like Carter, and cereal. Amen."

The First Half

Technology has changed our means of recording life. Adriana's baby book was abandoned after the first year when I decided that a family blog was a better way to record her (and her brothers') tender years. And I was thinking about how Facebook statuses have tracked my pregnancy, which by the way I am now half-way through! For anyone not familiar with Facebook, everyone participating posts "statuses" which are short updates on your life. I pulled up all the statuses that referred to my pregnancy and put them down for oldest to newest as a sort of pregnancy diary starting immediately after we announced that we were expecting. So here is a glimpse at my recordings of the first 20 weeks:

• Thanks everyone for sharing in our joy!
• I'm O.D.-ing on Saltines...
• Steven to me: "Now that our kids are allowed to tell people we're pregnant, we might as well have printed up fliers for the neighborhood.
• I'm at least glad the toilet I'm sticking my head into is emitting a fresh smell...
• I don't quite understand how one sweet, little pea-sized human being can wreak this much havoc on an adult body.
• I laid awake last night in misery thinking that having flu-like symptoms for multiple weeks was not what I had planned for my fall. Then the Holy Spirit reminded me of my purpose. I'm here to glorify God in whatever way He sees fit; I'm not here to have my own plans fulfilled.
• I'm humored by my daughter's latest attempt at begging for a snack. Adriana: "I'm pregnant and I'm hungry!"
• An advantage to being too weak to take a shower is that your only other option is a bath...and I can't remember the last time I enjoyed one of those...
• Thank you, Zofran, for reintroducing me to Mr. Appetite. Shall we try to be friends again, sir?
• I went to the midwives where they drew blood and threw around fun words like "hypo-thyroid" and "Epstein Bar". We're all just hoping to solve this extreme fatigue mystery.
• My bloodwork came back normal- Yeah! I found out that I was having an adverse reaction to the amount of Zofran I was on. Combine that with a large case of morning sickness, a cold, and low blood pressure and voila!... you have extreme fatigue. So I'm cutting back on the meds--more puking, but the ability to get out of bed more often- I'll take it!
• I feel like I should be getting a bulk discount at Panera for how many of their spinach artichoke souffles I've eaten in the past three weeks...
• "Dear Body, That foreign object inside you is a BA-BY. No matter how long and hard you try, you will not be able to throw it up."
• I'm fine with the blossoming belly, but begrudging the blossoming hips.
• When I'm pregnant, I eat more cereal than a college boy...
• Got a glimpse of myself in the mirror and automatically thought, "Gosh, I need to do some sit-ups", before suddenly remember that I am housing a human in that bulge.
• Felt baby flutters for the first time!!! So excited!
• When I got so ill that I could no longer live in my own home, my kind parent's offered their home and help to us. I would have never dreamed how long it would be for, but God sustained us, and now 7 weeks later, I have finally grown strong enough to move home tomorrow!
• Read about the baby, and I'm not making this up. At this stage of fetal development, scientist have observed that the female fetus tends to move its jaw more than the male fetus....who knew it began that early?!
• Hand over the smoked gouda and nobody gets hurt!!!
• After nearly 4 months of pregnancy I finally got to hear a heartbeat...love at first sound!
• Stop it, lunch! Stop it! YOU are not dinner which means YOU are supposed to stay down!!
• ♥♥ tiny kicks ♥♥
• Headed to the ultrasound...keep your legs uncrossed little one!
• I'm enjoying spending time with her sisters and smiling at the thought that Adriana will get to have that experience too....
• Bought littlest Miss Sieb her first piece of Janie & Jack apparel today...
• My New Year's resolution is to gain a bunch of weight and then lose a bunch of weight!
• Crazy preggo dreaming is not condusive to my job! I had wedding photography nightmares all night...first I realized I had to be the florist too, then next dream I forgot my lens, next I arrived late! I feel like was working all night...now off to the real wedding...let's hope this isn't a nightmare!
• Ready to sleep...baby girl seems ready to party.
• If only I had had the foresight at the beginning of this pregnancy to talk my husband into budgeting me a $1 spending money for each time I threw up. Had I done this, I'd be wearing Prada boots right now...

If you actually read all of that, you are one seriously dedicated blog reader! Reading over it is a fresh reminder to me of God's faithfulness to me, my baby, and my family.

Some Votes

I'm having a "Favorite Photo of 2009" contest over on my photography blog and would love for you to play the judge and give your opinion!

Only one vote per person please: http://alyssaannephotography.blogspot.com/2010/01/2009-favorite-photo-contest.html