Did I mention . . .

I am going to have a baby tomorrow?

Well I am! I've got my c-section scheduled for tomorrow morning and I am so excited. We have the house in order. Mike's parents are here to help out. My belly is giant. There is nothing else to do except go and have this baby.

For Family Home Evening last night we showed the kids baby pictures of themselves and had a little lesson about what a special blessing it is to have a new member of our family come from living with Heavenly Father and to be in our home. Annabelle took part in the discussion while Asa mostly just pointed at the pictures saying "Shh, baby".

Looking at the pictures made me feel even more curious about what this baby will look like. I won't have to wait too long to find out. In between now and then I'll just compare these babies and wait.

This is Mike, his mom's heaviest baby. He had a round head and fine blonde hair.

This is me with lots of dark hair (no surprise there).

Our beautiful Annabelle, the tiniest so far weighing 6 lb. 12 oz.

Asa with his soft dark hair that didn't stick around too long.

He was a little chunk weighing 8 lb 7 oz.

Home Improvements

Can you tell I've been knocking things off my 'To Do' list? Yes, catching up on blogging is one of them! I've had Mike home and off of work since Christmas Eve and have been taking full advantage. Last week we worked really hard getting ready for the baby and getting all the little things we've wanted/needed to do around the house DONE.

Priority #1 was to get ready for the baby! We unpacked the baby clothes (yes this is a little late at 38 weeks). Mike set up the cradle and we made this little nursery nook in our bedroom for him. Mike designed and made this cradle when I was pregnant with Annabelle. I love it and am glad to have it back from storage in Colorado and in our house to use with this baby! I know, it is beautiful - and will look even sweeter still with a sleeping babe in it.

Priority #2 was to get my craft room under control. One reason is because it also doubles as a guest bedroom which we need right now for Mike's parents who are here to help us while we have the baby and when I come home. The other reason is because having crafting supplies everywhere and no real easy way to get them in and out only leads to a disastrous looking room and more time searching for items than actually getting to use them! So Santa brought me shelves for Christmas and Mike created this space for me. I love it. I've already used it 2-3 times in the last week.
Priority #3 Get the toys organized! As many other moms probably feel after Christmas I felt like we needed to shift through the toys, decide where they were really going to belong and which ones the kids had simply outgrown. After all of that was done I thought it would be fun to label our existing toy bins. I cut these vinyl letters out and so far it has worked like a charm. The kids actually seem to be playing independently MORE often since they can find what they need . . . or maybe it is just all the fun toys they were spoiled with this Christmas!

Fancy Nancy

Annabelle loves reading 'Fancy Nancy' books. Since Fancy Nancy also has curly hair we had a 'look like Fancy Nancy' photo shoot the other day.

Funny enough it turned out to be one of the coldest days we've had in Arizona so Annabelle had to put a coat on over her outfit and giant pink jewelry.

If I can talk her into dressing up like Fancy Nancy for Halloween or something then I'll go find a big feather boa to go along with the rest of the outfit.

It was fun to play dress up. Next time we'll have to make sure we have warmer weather.

Christmas in Arizona

We celebrated Christmas away from our families for the first time in our entire marriage this year. I have to admit that I was not looking forward to being away from home - but happy to report that Christmas still felt like Christmas!

I decided a few weeks before Christmas that I was going to have a positive attitude and make it special for our family. Mike got us off on the right foot by taking us to get a real Christmas tree right after we came back from Colorado. We all loved it. Asa rearranged the ornaments on a daily basis while Annabelle always seemed to find the ornaments with bells to ring as she danced to Christmas music. I loved the smell and how happy it made our house look.

On Christmas Eve we had our friends over for appetizers and dessert. After we visited and ate, the kids helped put on the Nativity story for us. With 4 girls and 1 boy around Asa was a shoe-in for the role of Joseph. He refused to wear a costume but was much more willing than 'Mary' to hold the baby while the older girls acted out the parts of the angel, shepherd and wise WOman.

After our friends left and we were getting the kids into their jammies my sweet friend and what must have been her husband's entire family came caroling to us. They sounded wonderful and it totally made my night. Afterward Annabelle exclaimed "I don't know why but I just couldn't stop smiling! I tried to stop mom - but I just couldn't stop".

Christmas morning was so fun. We decided to encourage the kids to play with each toy as they opened them. Annabelle was just as enthusiastic about her new clothes as she was about her new toys. Asa now has a plethora of boy toys and will yell "Go, go, go!" while raising his fist at his train, fire truck, dump truck and cars.

1 and a Half!

At 18 months Asa is still quite the rascal. He knows how to get into things. He figured out how to push chairs up to the kitchen counters to 'help'. He will yank a few yards of toilet paper off of the roll just to wipe his nose. He hangs off the oven door while saying 'hot, hot, hot'. He knows how to climb up onto the bathroom counters, put his feet in the sink and turn on the water. He climbs up on top of buckets in the pantry to reach his snacks and surprises us on a regular basis with ways to get himself into trouble.

Asa is also very generous. I can not hand him a piece of candy or a cookie without him then holding up his hand and asking for another piece for Annabelle - which he will immediately deliver to her. He frequently wants to share his toast or grilled cheese sandwiches as well.

As Asa's speech is improving he has learned to make us laugh. He surprises us everyday with new word combinations, my favorite lately was "Stinky pants, potty". He still signs a few things while he is speaking, just to ensure that we understand him but for the most part he is tries to repeat whatever it is we are saying. With this new skill Asa now takes part in our family scripture study, repeating one word at a time for about half of a verse or until he becomes distracted.

I am anxious to see how he will react to the baby. So far he loves other babies and hasn't ever minded when I've been holding another child. On the other hand he can be a real momma's boy!

We love him so much and greatly enjoyed the first 18 months.

p.s. No, he will not let us leave him in nursery at church.

Mom Update

Thanks for the concern about my mom. Her surgery was a month ago and was a success! She spent close to 2 weeks in the hospital recovering from having the tumor on her liver removed. She suffered from some painful complications but was thrilled to be home a week before Christmas.

Since she has been home her energy level has been increasing slowly, but she is still in pain everyday.

The cancer was classified as a bile duct cancer. It looks like they got it all out with the surgery but she still needs a few scans and to meet with an oncologist to determine a definite treatment plan.

I feel so grateful that the cancer was operable and localized. It has been hard to be apart from family but I have felt strengthened by the prayers and support in our behalf.

For any of you interested you can read her/my Dad's updates at: caringbridge. Her page is rosaliamckean. You'll have to register with the website but it only takes a minute.

Thanksgiving in Colorado

I am continuing to use my imagination for my third post this morning. So this post was really posted on December 5th, (wink wink).

With our happy 3rd addition set to arrive so close to Christmas this year we decided we should spend our vacation in Colorado over the Thanksgiving holiday instead. The drive went smoothly and the weather was even mild.

We spent all of our time with family. Our parents are friends with each other which makes it easy for us to bounce between homes and activities. Mike's parents even hosted Thanksgiving dinner for all of this year.

Mike's aunt Sue loves to cook and she prepared a lot of the meal. The food was delicious, I only wished this baby would have allowed me to eat more! I guess that is what leftovers are for. Mike's parents set enough tables for all of us to sit in the same room (this picture is missing a few Sherwoods) - I think there were about 25 of us in all. It was quite the group!

My mom was diagnosed with cancer a few weeks before Thanksgiving and I was so grateful this year to be able to go home and spend time with her. We enjoyed working on several projects, decorating the house for Christmas and getting a start on her holiday shopping.

These two pictures are of us assembling stationary with our favorite photos of Mike's. We enlisted the help of some Sherwood cousins and my sister-in-law Kristin.

With my time spent on projects, the kids enjoyed being spoiled by whoever had volunteered to watch them. Asa quickly developed a love for Papa Zeke's truck and tractor. Here he is taking a ride with my Dad on Thanksgiving morning:

And taking a nap with Papa one afternoon:

While Annabelle was usually supervised, she and her cousin Isaac entertained each other pretty well. On Thanksgiving morning while the adults were busy with their own duties these two found Grandma Shauna's supply of scotch tape. THREE rolls of tape later they were discovered.

Annabelle claims looking at this picture that Isaac was Santa Claus and that she was supposed to be Mrs. Claus, even though she is the one with the beard! Grandma teased that without any tape left in the house she wouldn't be able to wrap any of their Christmas presents!

Mike convinced me to stay for the week after Thanksgiving. I am so glad that I did. It gave me more time to spend with our families and knock off a few more 'to do' items with my mom before her surgery on Dec. 7th.

Early that week it snowed so Kristin and I bundled the kids up and took them out to play, despite the bitter cold. - Sorry, no pictures. My photographer was home in Arizona.

Grandma Shauna delighted Annabelle one morning by taking her to get a manicure and pedicure. She said that the women just fussed over Annabelle and one small Asian woman even carried Annabelle out to the car so that she wouldn't mess up her toe nails!

We went off-roading (well, just barely off the road) in Papa's truck before we left. This had quite the impression on Asa, as he still yells "Whoa Papa, whoa!" anytime I go over a speed bump a little too fast.

It was hard to leave Colorado just days before my mom's surgery and knowing that I wouldn't be back for Christmas - but we all missed Mike as well. He made coming home easy with dinner in the crock pot, a clean house and a newly painted toy room to enjoy. What a stud!