Here it is Monday morning, just me and Adyson. The house is so quiet ... it's almost eerie. My mother and mother in law have taken Landon and Hudson back to OK after spending the weekend with us. Contractions were strong and frequent throughout the night Friday, and the grandmothers thought they would come down and hang around Saturday to see if anything was going to happen. We were busy all over the place Saturday and by the evening they were not that painful, but they were so long and close together. No more during the night, so it seemed best for them to just head home for a few days.

Plus Jeremy left Sunday morning for OKC and he will be there to spend time with the boys in the evening when he is done at work. I have been able to rest a lot over the last day and half. Adyson is such a thoughtful girl. She loves to cover me up and surprise me with a fresh glass of water. We have been cuddling a lot in my bed reading the new library books we got Saturday. Our theme for the week is clocks.

Most of the day yesterday was spent playing barbies and coloring a very detailed pattern (for almost 2 hours). While we were finishing up coloring with her new markers last night, Adyson looked up at me with her huge eyes and just smiled, gave me a tight hug and told me this had been the best day of her life! I love how she is becoming so affectionate and starting to share her feelings with me. Tucked in bed last night, she fell asleep in my arms while I read her the Bible. As I stared at the peaceful child, I relived the last 5 years we have had together. It seems like only yesterday it was her birth that I was anticipating and now here we are sharing this new excitement together. She so badly wants a little sister. It seems that this one is going to be a boy, but God I know you hear this little girls heart and it would joy her so to have a baby sister.

Hoping this baby will hold off until at least Wednesday.

27.

Yesterday my amazing husband and kids were sneaky snakes. Somehow they all woke up before me and made a scrumptious breakfast. Toast with jam and butter, eggs, bacon, english muffins and coffee - the WORKS. They must have hired some mice to do the work, because I seriously didn't hear a thing!

What a great start is was to the day and it ended just a sweet - cupcakes from one of my favorite cupcakeries! I'm sure it is really a bakery, but the cupcakes are so amazing and it is the only thing I ever eat from there.

So in my 27 years I feel like I have accomplished quite a bit, but more importantly I have enjoyed it all! I thought I would list out 27 special moments from the past year, but then I realized that is a near impossible task with my memory. So instead, here are 27 things I plan to do in the next year of my life:

1. Welcome Precious Life #4
2. Celebrate 6 years of marriage, whew!
3. Teach my children how to learn and love it
4. Resume church announcements
5. Spend more time sewing
6. Try gardening again, even though I have only picked 2 strawberries this year :(
7. Keep on blogging
8. Project 365
9. Volunteer in the community
10. Get my bikini body back
11. Read more books
12. Travel to 12 new places, hoping one is far far away :)
13. Print some of our family photos and frame them
14. Improve in overall home skills
15. Work a little
16. Get a new lens for my camera
17. See U2
18. Shoot new family photos before Christmas
19. Complete house projects
20. Try new recipes
21. New prescription for contacts
22. Go on a Missions Trip
23. Attend a family reunion
24. Get a pet fish for the kids
25. Finish Christmas shopping by Dec. 1st, so I can just enjoy the most wonderful time of the year
26. Catch up with old friends
27. Make new friends ~ always :)

Birthday Fun!

Over the weekend we had some of our favorite guests: DaddyPa, Grammy, Haley, MeMe and Misty. This was suppose to be a big gathering with the Webster side of the family, but since I am trying to take it easy, we postponed the event.

I look forward to having all of the family together for my birthday every year - it's the best gift I could ever ask for. But this year was just as special as my MeMe got to come down and visit. This is the first time she had ever seen us in Dallas and we were so glad to welcome her into our home. She is a real trooper for making the ride.




We took it easy Saturday by trying to teach Haley how to whistle and watching some movies. I think the whistling part was hilarious! All of my kids can whistle to some degree, even Hudson. It was quite amusing watching him try to teach her, if you can call it that. I think he gave up on her, but she'll get it soon enough :) Can you believe we even found some Little Rascal episodes that had been digitally colored? Of course, the kids loved them! Too much fun.

As the night went on I did some sewing and Latin with my mom & sister after the kids were tucked in - more on the sewing project later this week.

Sunday morning was pleasant. My parents and sister attended church with us, which rocks by the way (www.theheartlandchurch.com), and then we chowed for brunch at Cafe Brazil before letting them go back home to Oklahoma.

I love my family so much, if you can't tell :) Next time we see them our family will be +1, yay!~

News for August

So I haven't taken any pictures this week - very tired - COMPLETELY drained. Hopefully things will turn around this weekend.

Jeremy - As we speak he is in Houston. Thankfully it is just a day trip and I will get to see him tonight. He has been extremely busy at work lately. Lots of new business, he is really excited about that, but he has been having to put in a lot of extra hours at the office. The next 4 weeks are going to be somewhat challenging with #4 coming and him being out of town a lot. Tonight he has a friend coming over for dinner and to help with a few things around the house. I am looking forward to cooking for them and I haven't seen this friend of his in quite a while, since they no longer work together.

Me - Back in February I had started using the 50 Million Pound Challenge menus to simply make meal planning easier and to make sure that we were all getting plenty of veggies. I loved it and felt so energetic while we were following it. Ever since we went to Disney for a week, we have really blown it though. A couple of weeks ago when I was put on modified bed rest, we bought some packaged meals and quite a bit of processed snacks for the kids. It seemed like the easiest way to take care of the family while I was down. I have never resorted to feeding our family like this before. It feels so yuck to have that kind of food in my body, and I feel awful for giving that to my family to eat. On the bright side, I have only one Fire Roasted Veggie Lasagna left in the freezer. I am looking forward to going to the store this week and stocking up on real food! Hopefully the energy from the nutrients will kick in before this baby gets here.

Adyson - We were so blessed to be able to put her in private school last year. All summer I have prayed about what to do for kindergarten this year. I knew that having both kids in private school full time was not necessary at such a young age, and unfortunately the school she went to last year doesn't offer a half day or 2-3 days a week program. Public school was really the only other option for her, unless I was prepared to drive 20+ minutes away with all of the kids, which at this point I am not. I felt very uneasy about the public school situation, probably normal for any parents like us who went to private schools their entire life (except for the 1.5 years I homeschooled). God closed the public school door when I started having contractions a few Mondays ago. There were only 2 days to enroll her and they were that exact Monday and Tuesday - not possible while I am on bed rest. I am sure the school would have allowed her to enroll after the fact, but it was really important to me to be there that first day so I could get a feel for what the other students and parents were like that she was going to be around all year. After a lot of prayer and some checking around, I have come to a decision ... homeschool! Well where we live, the state actually considers homeschool a "private school." So it looks like Adyson and Landon will be getting a private school education this year and I won't have to drive in morning rush hour in order to get them there.

Landon - He is especially intrigued by my enormous belly, constantly kissing it and talking to the baby. He is convinced he can see his little sibling through my belly button. He loves feeling the baby move and often tells me that the baby is giving him high fives and such... so precious :) He is officially starting preschool this year, and loves to learn. This past week he has started something new - sleepwalking and crying. Yes, the last 3 or 4 nights he comes down around 10p and is obviously not aware he is doing it. We give him a drink and take him to bathroom, which only seems to make it worse. It is so hard to console him and makes us sad when we can't. So we take him back to bed and he seems fine then. Of course, he remembers nothing the next day. After a little research, it looks like he could just be overly tired. So tonight I am going to put him down an hour earlier to see if that helps the situation.

Hudson - Last week he finally started walking more, and now he is choosing to walk vs. crawl about 75% of the time. He is cutting all 4 of his eye teeth right now, and is requiring extra sleep. He traded rooms with Ady this week in preparation for the new baby. Previously, his crib was in the guest room, but now we have moved it to what was Ady's room. Adyson has taken over the guest room, because she has been begging for a big bed. I plan to still use it for guests and she can sleep in the twin bed in Hudson's room when we have company. On a different note, we have been giving Hud soy milk and almond butter instead of the traditional versions. It seems that between these two changes and using Noxzema on his legs, the eczema has really cleared up. I apply about 3 times a day and I am amazed at the results. I think the soy and almond change has a lot to do with it. And did you know that Noxzema was actually named after "no eczema?" Interesting, huh?

Baby 4 - Still no name yet. Any suggestions welcome! I'm doing as much as I can to take it easy. Even though it's due Sept. 19, the midwives said it is okay for it to come as early as Aug 22nd. I have contractions when I do more than a few little things at a time, so I am fully expecting for it to come early. A few weeks back, effacement was already occuring so it shouldn't take much to get my body in labor. We are hoping to be holding this new little one over labor day weekend, and it has nothing to do with "labor" day. It just looks like Jeremy may be in town for about 5 days straight over that period and we would love to have that much time together as a family before he heads back out of town.

Finally Walking

You can't really tell by these photos here, but Hud finally decided to start walking today!

Grammy came down yesterday to pick up Haley and squeezed in some play time before she headed back this morning.

He loved crawling up the slide with lots of help from Grammy, of course!

The kids performed a rock show for us before bed last. They sang "Oh yeah, I'm a rockstar!" and there were other words, but I couldn't make any of them out. It was fun to watch the 4 of them enjoying themselves and us adults had some good laughs, too!

Chicken Cacciatore & Molten Lava Cake

WARNING: Photo of raw chicken just below...







Aunt Haley came back with us Dallas Saturday and she has been a HUGE help. If she isn't curled up somewhere with a book, then she is probably in the kitchen. This girl has been cooking since the day she was born and is absolutely amazing at creating new concoctions.

This lovely guy above was in the refrigerator just begging to be cooked. I can't believe she actually took on the challenge of cutting him up. I think she had more fun playing with him!

We found a crock pot Chicken Cacciatore recipe that sounded good, and trust me it was! After browning the chicken, it just cooks for about 4 hours in the slow cooker. I can't remember where I found the recipe, but here it is:

Crock pot Chicken Cacciatore

1/2 cup flour
salt and freshly ground pepper
Whole chicken with bone in - cut into 8 serving pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 yellow onion
4 garlic cloves minced
3/4 cup dry red wine
3/4 cup of chicken broth
1 can crushed plum tomatoes (I just used 2 fresh tomatoes from my Papa & Nana's Garden. I would have used my own, but that's another story.)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
6 oz. of sliced button or cremini mushrooms

On a large plate, stir flour, 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper together. C
Coat the chicken evenly with the flour mixture.
In a large frying pan, over medium high heat warm the oil.
Add the chicken and brown it (about 6 minutes on the first side and for the second side cook until lightly browned, about 3 minutes.)

Now put the chicken in your crock and return the fry pan to medium high heat.
Saute the peppers, onion and garlic and until they start to soften, about 3 minutes.
Next pour wine and chicken broth in and deglaze the pan, scraping the brown bits off the bottom of the pan from the chicken.
Stir in tomatoes and oregano. Let it simmer.

Then pour the mixture over the chicken in the slow cooker.
Cook on high setting for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.

About 10 minutes before the cook time is up and you are ready to serve, stir in the mushrooms, and season to taste with a little more salt and pepper.

Haley broiled fresh squash and zucchini (also from Papa & Nana) and we served it with brown rice.

If I hadn't been so hungry, I would have taken a picture of the delicious chicken after it was plated. Plus, there were better things to worry about, like dessert!

Haley had helped me make brownies earlier this afternoon for Jeremy to take to work. So I needed to find something else to satisfy my chocolate craving. We opted for the Molten Lava Cake recipe from the Pioneer Woman and it was scrumptious!

I didn't have enough custard cups, so we just sprayed a muffin tin really well with nonstick spray. We cooked them for about 7 minutes and they slid right out after cooling for a full minute after removing them from the oven. I didn't have any whipping cream, but it was wonderful served with vanilla ice cream!

Thanks Haley! You're the best!

Circus Time.

After going to church this morning, I decided to back out of the circus. Somehow I don't think modified bed rest means getting my hair done, visiting grands, going to church and attending the circus all within 36 hours. But then at the last minute as Jeremy and gang were walking out the door, he offered to leave at anytime if I wanted to go.

Well, I had been resting all day after all, so I was feeling better by now, and I was super disappointed that I would be missing out on the circus. So I took him up on his offer and I'm glad I did!

We just stayed for the first half and it was a blast! I don't think we missed much, and we heard that the first half is better than the second anyhow.

Hudsie clapped and danced the whole time in daddy's lap.
Ady said sitting with Haley and eating the giant Lollipop (it was as big as her head) was her favorite part.
Landon loved everything, especially the motorcycles in the big round cage!

It has been such a wonderful weekend.

Last Oklahoma Trip ... with 3 Kids

Today has been a whirlwind day. We took the trek up to Oklahoma to visit 2 sets of grandparents followed by 3 hair appointments and a return trip home all in one day.

I managed to rest quite a bit today considering, and I am so glad that we were able to see some family since we won't be up again until Baby 4 arrives.

Our first visit was with Bill & Grandma Dee. Both have been in and out of the Dr this year for various health reasons, but they looked great and we had fun playing outside on their new patio.

There is never a dull moment with these kids!

Afterward, we headed to visit MeMe. She, too, has been hit with a number of things this year. It just so happened this visit with her today was taking place in a nursing home. Thankfully she was just visiting someone!

Isn't she absolutely beautiful?

Adyson had a drawn a picture of MeMe's garden and couldn't wait to go to the nursing home so she could give it to MeMe & Paul.

It's after 11pm now, but finally back in Dallas. We were glad to pick up a straggler on the way out of town. My little sister is coming to visit for a few days before school starts. We had planned the trip before the bed rest ordeal, but Haley was still game even though we were going to have to cut out a lot of the fun stuff. She's such a trooper!

A very productive day it was. We caught up with both of our parents, Papa & Nana, Bill & Grandma Dee, MeMe & Paul, and had time to get several needed haircuts!

Whew. I'm calling it a night!

This isn't Suppose to Happen to Me.

No, really. I'm healthy, active and have had 3 P-E-R-F-E-C-T pregnancies Things like this REALLY are not suppose to happen to me!!!

Woke up at 5:30a this morning, couldn't sleep.
Popped in my prenatal fitness DVD at 6a.
Out of breath less than halfway through the warm up.
Realized something wasn't right.
Decided to just do some stretching.
Noticed several Braxton Hicks contractions back to back.
More Braxton Hicks while cooking breakfast at 6:30a.
Once breakfast was on the table, laid down on the sofa at 7a.
Still noticed the contractions.
Hmmm...getting a little painful...
Decided to time contractions.
Whoa! 1+ minute contraction every 3-5 minutes.
Thought: That's not good.
Timed them for an hour.
Still going strong.
Called Midwife at 8:30a & was told to come in.
Arrive at Center at 9:30a.
She monitored contractions, told me to arrange for help with the kids for the week and sent me home under the order of modified bed rest.

Okay, and how exactly I am going to get help with the kids? I could get a sitter to come watch the kids, and go stay in a hotel for the week. No that won't really work. I could split the kids up between friends for the week. A whole week? They aren't really old enough for that yet.

Maybe I should have thought about this before moving 3+ hours away from our family. Well, I did what any girl would do when she didn't know what to do - called mom!

She is such a lifesaver. She dropped everything she was doing to come meet us. She offered to take the kids for the whole week! Did I mention how selfless she is?

We hurried home and packed Ady and Hudson's bags and ran off to meet her. I decided to keep Landon home with me since just one kid is no trouble at all. It also helped that he loves to watch movies and take care of me :)

I am going to miss my Ady bug and Hudsie so much over the next 5 days, but I know they are in great hands and that Adyson will be a huge help with her little brother.

Fast forward to now. Jeremy, has been by my side all day providing encouragement and lots of physical help with the kids. I am so glad that he was able to skip going into his office today. After we met my mom to get the kids, Jeremy set us up with several movies to watch throughout the week. He is so sweet! Love ya Babe!