Julianne Swartz at Smoca

Gorgeous, interesting, LOVELY exhibit at Smoca currently all about LOVE. And magnets. It was all so heart warming and fun! Frederick wanted to touch everything but was good and patient with us while we talked and explored it all, explaining that we look with our eyes and then think about it with our heads and feel it in our hearts. He did so well, and there were a few things he could touch here and there.

Beautiful beautiful exhibit.

Wrapped in red

Graphic!

Broby loves baby too!

Young Women In Excellence 2013

The girls decided to make the theme Yw in excellence, through the years. The Yw program was established in 1870 and each girl picked a decade from then to now to represent. Many dressed up, decorated their desplays etc with their decade.

Sometimes your power goes out

Sometimes your power goes out and you have to pack up, get outside, and go on a big long adventure. But then you stop on the corner to eat your sandwich and watch big trucks WORK!!

Soon stuff

Ankles swelling, insane acid reflux, have to pee every time I stand...not complaining, just saying ;)

Babes coming soon. 

Plans!

Perineal toning/massage- when perineal rim is adequately softened and toned w massage, becomes numb w pressure of baby's head. As baby naturally is expelled, perineum unfolds and baby passes easily down and out.

When pre-Surges come: slow breathing And listen to birth affirmations. Get in tub.

When Waters release: listen to birth affirmations, eat, breathe, yoga, Collin-script, practice positions, shower

Baby expulsion stage: lay or squat in tub, Collin-touch, script, breathe, affirmations

Ideal birth experience:

Update!!

Thursday I'm 36 weeks and I've been feeling all the normal cramping, practice surges, total exhaustion that comes with this point in pregnancy.

I feel good. I had an appointment today and it was very positive. 

I've been having little headaches; I need to drink more water. I've been having crazy vivid nightmarish dreams every night; I need to write down 5 positive affirmations for each of the dreams. 

In my last two dreams, the babe was a girl. Either way, he/she moves like crazy, non-stop!!

The big one too:::Nichelle described him perfectly today: a brilliant energizer bunny!! I love him. So so much. 

In every prayer he says "thank you for the fair," about 5 times and today he added, "thank you for the bus." He is really freaking sweet with my belly. He rubs gently in a circle while he's nursing. 

Today when we heard the heartbeat, Fred lit up!!! He definitely knows what's going on. He knows there is a baby in my belly and that it's going to come out and be in our family. Now, I doubt he can comprehend having a sibling, but then again, I can't comprehend having another child. Today we watched births of kitties, a cow, and 2 humans. Fred thought they were very interesting. 

OCTOBER! Halloween!

October is over! November is here: the month of thanksgiving, our 5th anniversary, just days and weeks before our jumping Bean joins the family on the outside!! GIVING BIRTH SOON!
I'll now be posting a giant post about October, Halloween etc. This spooky month was pretty good to us.

Big brother

Fred asks multiple times a day to see the baby and I have to pull up my shirt and everything so he can rub, hug, talk to, listen to my tummy, play w my belly button etc. it just makes me want to burst open w love and excitement. We talk about when the baby comes and what it might be like. 

The last week has been hard because I've decided to be strict on nursing just once a day--for the mid-day nap. I love nursing, so so much, but now it's painful and uncomfortable and I don't want to do it. So we had our first ever family meeting and all agreed that it would be just the once a day.

Although Fred made his verbal agreement, there have been a lot of tears, talking, reminding, tantrums, frustrations, etc. 

Tonight while Fred was falling asleep we had the sweetest time together that made up for the hard times in the past few days. He loves me. He loves the baby. We just sat together and he grew tired, and had his arm across my belly. I just stared at him and thought about him as a big brother and didn't want it to go so fast. He said, "milky is sleeping," as if he was saying he would love to have some, but knows it's not possible right now. I said, "yes, and also remember we agreed to just have it once a day, "to which he answered, "once a day." This is so emotional to me. 

Part of me realizes that in the future I will look back on this time and ache to be able to nurse my little boy again...and here I am, ending it. But what makes it ok in my brain and heart is that I know he's growing up and learning to deal with his emotions in other ways and that's important. 

Then just now talking to Collin about it all, verbalizing it all, and again typing it, thinking about it, my eyes well up with tears. He really is growing up and there's nothing I can do about it. This change is huge. And more giant changes I can't even comprehend are coming. 

I'm a giant knotted up ball of emotional hormones right now!!!

Okay so now a bunch of photos of all my darlings:

Iced pumpkin cookies

Iced pumkpin cookies, yummy yum!!! Here's a good recipe I found: 

http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/10033/iced-pumpkin-cookies

Fred LOVES to help in the kitchen. He loves to stir, measure, hold pan handles, turn on the mixer and on and off the lights. He even settles for watching sometimes...rarely...okay maybe once. He loves to help cook, and loves to help eat! 

Ingredients

Cookies

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar

• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Icing
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
  Directions
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• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
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• 2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
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• 3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
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• 4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.
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