Family Fun Night

Every so often, Jonathan and I will decide to have a "family fun night" with the girls.  We'll pull all of the pillows and blankets into the family room, set up their tents, light a fire if we can, and cuddle.  We'll play games, focus completely on them and do whatever they want to do.  It's a time when we turn the computers and phones off and will sometimes watch a movie together.  Now that I no longer work outside of the house, I try to make a lot of the day focused on the night ahead.  

I didn't want to have to worry about cooking a big meal and missing out on setting up and playing with the girls, so I opted for a Crock Pot recipe that my family LOVES.  This taco chili recipe is delicious and ingredients can easily be substituted or left out if you don't like everything that's in it.  I grate cheese, offer sour cream and serve it with warm tortillas.  It's a perfect fall meal that's not traditional chili.  Once that was in the Crock Pot and Annabella was asleep, Madelynn and I made Halloween cupcakes. 

Then it was time to set up the tent and pile up all of the comforters, blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals. The girls will stay entertained playing with their tent forever.  We don't have the space to have it set up all of the time, so it's a treat when they get to play inside of it.  The dog, the cats, and the kids all pile up inside of it, it's really adorable.  

"Hey mommy, look at this face!"

After we ate dinner and cupcakes, Jonathan and I focused all of our attention to the girls and let them have the rest of the night.  We always entertain the idea of sleeping downstairs and have done it in the past before Annabella was born, but at the ages they both are now, it's next to impossible to get them to both settle down and sleep outside of their beds.  I thought we could really do it this time because Madelynn was happily cuddled up with Jonathan in the pallet and Annabella was cuddling with my on the couch.  BUT they started getting restless and Jonathan and I started getting more and more sleepy, so it seemed we were going to lose the battle again.  

Seconds after I took this photo, Madelynn moved to lay on top of Jonathan and really cuddle.  Before I could take the picture, my battery died. :(

Around 10:00, we took them upstairs and they were asleep in seconds.  The best part of family fun night for me was getting to cuddle with my baby.  Anna is always going 100mph and won't sit still long enough for anyone to hold her and snuggle with her.  Madelynn is the same away a lot of times.  So when we settle down and put a movie on at the end of our night, they stop what they're doing and cuddle with their mommy and daddy.  It's such a sweet moment.  For the next few days, I'll leave the pallet and tent in the living room until they've tired of it or I can't take the cuddle anymore.  Now, go and plan a fun night for your family!!  

Are you SURE it's a BOY?!

It's been official for about a month.  We're going to have a BOY!  Jonathan and I are so thrilled, excited, elated, ecstatic, insanely crazy over the fact that we're going to have a son.  It almost seems surreal, but didn't I say that I felt like this was our opportunity from God to have a son?  We would have been just as excited about having a girl, don't get me wrong.  But the thought of embarking on this journey of raising a a little boy is a wonderful feeling. A little scary, yes, but we're up for the challenge.  

Our ultrasound appointment was on the morning of September 4th.  The girls spent the night with my parents the night before so Jonathan and I could wake up and go straight to the doctor.  My day started with me waking up 5 minutes before I was supposed to walk out the door.  My pregnancy brain had failed me the night before and instead of setting my alarm when I should have gotten up, I set it for when we were supposed to leave the house.  Jonathan had already gotten up and gotten in the shower, thinking he was being sweet by letting me sleep in a little longer.  Thankfully I had taken a shower the night before, so I was able to straighten my hair, brush my teeth and throw on a dress in roughly 7 minutes, letting Jonathan drive so I could put my make up on.  My stomach was in knots and I was terrified they were going to give my appointment away if I was too late, especially since no one was answering the office phone.  By the grace of God we got there less than 10 minutes late and they called us back within minutes.  Neither of us were talking very much because we were both so nervous.  This would quite possibly be the last time we were ever going to have this moment.  We haven't entirely decided on no more babies, but chances are we'll stop at 3.  The ultrasound tech greeted us and was very alert to the fact that we were insanely anxious.  She told us that she would tell us the gender right away and then do all of the "boring measuring".  There was no chit chat, no "what do you think the baby is?", no preparing us at all when she announced less than 10 seconds after she touched my belly: "It's a boy!"  I was STUNNED.  Jonathan was immediately laughing and celebrating and I was speechless.  Finally I was able to find my voice and ask her if she was sure.  Her response was, "Honey, it's a boy.  Trust me."  And she pointed to the evidence right in front of my face.  We were crying, laughing, rejoicing.  God gave us the son we had asked him for.  Why were we so surprised?  I scold myself every time I'm surprised that God answers a prayer, but it's only human nature to have doubts.  

She spent the rest of the appointment measuring him, admiring how perfect his spine was, and laughing at how active he was.  We also got to have a DVD of a portion of the ultrasound, so when she started recording, we just sat in silent awe and watched him move around inside of me.  He wiggled and turned, spread his legs wide one more humorous time, and then began sucking his thumb.  We had never gotten to see either of the girls suck their thumbs in the womb, so that was a very sweet moment.  When we got up to leave she had to give me a tissue because I had mascara lines running down my face from all of the tears.  It was such a great moment.  

We carried our pictures and our DVD out of the room with giant, proud grins on our faces and full hearts.  Jonathan's dad was working out of town, so he got to be the first one to find out he was going to have a grandson.  For the rest of our parents, we bought blue iced cookies and wrapped them in a gift bag to open.  Everyone was so excited to be welcoming a little boy into our family.  Prior to the ultrasound we hadn't had any names chosen, but the name Noah had come up briefly.  The only thing we knew for certain was that if it was a boy, his first name was going to be Jonathan.  As we were in the car driving home I asked Jonathan if we could please name him Noah.  He thought for a moment and simply answered, "Yes".  The name Jonathan means 'gift from God' and Noah means 'peace'.  The entire first trimester all I was praying for was peace and a healthy baby.  Living day to day, worrying if I was going to miscarry was a horrible feeling.  Peace was what I prayed for, so it only seems fitting that his name should reflect that.  

That day we bought his first outfit; a blue and gray fleece sleeper with a precious puppy on it.  It was so exciting to buy boy clothes for my son.  Madelynn is so excited and all she can talk about is her baby brudder Noah.  Annabella has no idea what's going on, but I know she'll be a good big sister, too.  Even though we've had a month to adjust to the idea, I'm still a little bit in shock.  I've been spending a lot of time planning his nursery and purchasing furniture here and there as well as choosing a color scheme.  We're going with a really cool retro green, blue, and orange color scheme with a lot of neutrals and some dinosaurs.  What little boy doesn't like dinosaurs?  I can't wait to dress him just like his daddy, save him from tea parties with his sisters, and watch him become the little man that he will eventually be.  We have just a little over three months to go and my heart is already so full that I feel like it's going to explode, I can't imagine how it's going to be able to hold enough love for the three of them.  God is so, so, so good.

Me (and Kalvin) at 20-ish weeks.