My Crazy Kids!

Just a fun update of what my crazies are up to! (FYI...Cole turns FOUR in a few weeks! In his words, "How'd that happen Mommy?"

~They are both into throwing things to get my attention. For example, if Justin and I are talking, or I'm on the phone, or I'm on the computer and they feel neglected...they throw random things and have fun with it. URGH!

~They are looooving to color! Cole is getting so good! He's starting to color things the right color. He brought me a picture of Thomas the Train that he colored and the colors were accurate! Down to the black funnel on top!

~Their pronunciation of words is HILARIOUS! I LOVE IT! Natalie's new word that I'm in love with is "BALLOON". Her "L"s are ADORABLE....ballllllooooooooon. I'll have to try to record it and put it on here! She has said balloon forever...it's just the pronunciation that cracks us up! "The BALLLLOOOOONNNN mommy, I want the balllloooooon...please give it to me!! One for you, one for me and one for Bubba!"

~Cole writes his name ANYWHERE and eVERY where and it is getting REALLY good! This was one of the really good things on his progress report from Miss Angie. He can write it and spell it outloud (thank goodness for short names :) I must add that Miss Chandler can spell her name outloud too and I'm SOOO proud of her!

~Natalie is such a mommy to her babies. She is in love with two monkeys Justin and I got them at Dave & Buster's a while back. They are exactly alike but one is brown and the other is white. She brings them to me and says, "They're cryin' Mommy! Ohhhhh, poor monkeys, it's oookkkkkaaaayyyy. Awwwwwwwww" I mean its ADORABLE! Sometimes I have to hug them or hold them too. I found them "asleep" in her doll house...one in a bed and the other smashed into the baby cradle.

~Speaking of the doll house, the girls are obsessed with it. (nat, chan & brynn) Their favorite thing at this point is taking all of the barbies' clothes off and washing them in the doll house washer & dryer. Justin was a little worried when he found all of the dolls naked. I assured him that most barbies are naked in little girl's houses until they get older. haha! He still wasn't comfortable with it! lol!

~We are suffering from cabin fever. I'm too pregnant to really want to bundle up and bundle them up to take them outside in the cold, so we stay in and watch movies, cartoons, color, play with toys and play dough..and eat and sleep. We are all tired of it and are hoping to have enough money left over from Justin's bonus or our income taxes to get a swingset/playground thing! Let's put it this way...we'd BETTER have one by this summer!!!!

~Cole is really talking like a little man these days. He explains things to Natalie and us and it's so grown up! I can't believe how big he's getting! Here lately he's been saying "last year" a lot to refer to things in the past. Precious!

~He likes to go hunting with his daddy...in the house for animals :) haha! The kids also like to "camp" in cole's room and make shadow pets or whatever you call them. Fun, Fun!

~PS...the THREES are much, much worse than the TWOS (at least for Cole...I'm hoping it's a speech thing....so maybe natalie's badness is coming out in her twos instead!). He has rEALLY been arguing and testing his limits and throwing fits! What works the best for him is for you to give him choices, "You can keep acting like that and go to time out and get a spanking or you can stop, say your sorry and move on" It takes a couple of more questions....I'm the question queen...but it really works!

~I think Natalie is almost ready for potty training! She spent the day sitting on the potty (although nothing ever came out) because she wants to be a big girl. I may try this weekend...or I may just wait until the end of february or spring break. I'm hoping she's easier to train than cole!! He just went through a 4 day rebellion of pooping. He is FINALLY (crossing fingers) back on track and going on the potty regularly again. The key is consistencey for him. I let justin put them to bed pretty much all week...and he got out of the habit of sitting him on the pot...and I think that's what did it! One miserable week later things are going good though! (PS...what an awesome hubby I have that will put them to bed for me! I LOVE HIM!!!)

~They are great counters! While at United, Natalie was jumping on the blue and white squares (how many of us did that too???!) and counting. She counted to 11!! I mean, she will count that high when you count with her...and higher...but I'd never heard her do it to count things by herself! Cole can count to 20 or so! He doesn't care to count things out...but you can tell he's good with math...I don't know how to explain that...

~Cole is a master train builder. He never ceases to amaze us with his train track creations! He will build them along walls and doorways and around chairs...with perfect curves. AND...they are always complete tracks...meaning the train can make loops...it doesn't just dead end. I'll have to take a pic of his creations soon!! Seriously...I'm amazed because I'm a HORRIBLE track maker! I'm only help if he's having trouble getting a track to connect. lol! Justin walked in the other day and asked, "How did he do that? I've been trying to make it like that for days!" haha!

20 Weeks

Ok…let me get it out of the way…

WE’RE HAVING A GIRL!  (I think…more explanation later)

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 20 weeks 1 day

Size of baby: Baby Pierce is the size of a cantalope (I also saw its the size of a chipmunk!  cute!)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I weigh 123.5. I started out at 115-116...so I've gained 8-9 lbs!

Maternity Clothes: Jeans for sure...other than that sweat pants and t-shirts. My "nicer" shirts are maternity for the most part too.
Gender: A HEALTHY LONG-LEGGED GIRL!!!  With Natalie and Cole…we heard, “This baby has VERY long legs!”  haha!  I don’t mind a long legged girl!  Can you imagine…dark hair, dark eyes, perfect skin color and looong legs?  Every guy’s dream. WAIT A MINUTE…I don’t think I like that!

Movement: Baby moved a TON last week…and then took a siesta.  She’s still doing well…I listen to her heartbeat when I get worried1  lol!

Sleep: decent this week

What I miss: Laying on my belly and coloring with my kids!  I just discovered that i can’t do that!  Talk about no fun!!!!

Cravings: Cocoa Pebbles!  I’ve been HUNGRY this week and have eaten 2 boxes of Cocoa Pebbles by myself!  2 bowls for breakfast, snack and before bed….no wonder I gained 2-3 lbs in ONE WEEK!  EEK!

Symptoms: Feeling pretty good this week EXCEPT my umbilical hernia (otherwise known as the belly button being popped).  It REALLY hurts when I’m full.  I whined to my buddies about it all night…..sorry girls! 

I have never been one to surprise people.  For each of my pregnancies I’ve always told people THE DAY I find out I’m pregnant and I text IMMEDIATELY  when I find out the sex.  This time I actually had a fun girls night planned at our house for the day after my sonogram.  SOOOOO…I surprised Amy, Alana & Charla.  i made an Angel Lush cake…and figured I’d do a layer of icing PINK since I’m having a girl.  I forgot that you don’t really ice the WHOLE cake…just the layers and top.  Soo…the cake looked RIDICULOUS…and I had to fill the angel food cake hole with cool whip….but it was fun!  Thanks girls…for letting me surprise someone! 

Pretty sure that our baby girl’s name will be Katherine Beth Pierce.  We will always call her Katie Beth though.  Not sure if we will use Katie or Katy though. 

I’m about 90% sure that she is a girl.  At our ultrasound she wouldn’t put her legs down.  They were tightly held up to her chest.  We couldn’t see a “turtle” and my friends and Justin all agree its a girl.  I may try to get another ultrasound to verify…but who knows.  I’m pretty sure she’s a girl!  I’ve felt it all pregnancy.  I’m excited!  Now…what to do with the room arrangements in our house!  Cole & Nat will share a room for about a year.  Not sure which room…and not sure what beds!  We are thinking 2 beds with storage underneath that eventually the girls will use.  BUT…I just don’t know!!

Pictures!

Just wanted to give ya’ll a heads up that I have a photo website that I hope to upload all photos to!  it is www.flickr.com/photos/janetmp10   Enjoy!

Scary, Scary!!

Saturday, I got a call from Justin's mom...his dad had been a wreck. David drives a semi-truck that hauls milk in those big round cylinder things...looks like its holding oil or gas. Anyway...it rolled THREE times!! For the first hour or so...we didn't know ANYTHING about his well being. To be quite honest...I was scared. Cole and I said a prayer asking God to take care of Paw Paw.

We heard bits and pieces that MAYBE he was up and walking?! I didn't think that would be possible...but it was TRUE! Linda drove to Childress and Justin drove her to Amarillo (where he was in the hospital). AMAZINGLY he only was banged up! NO broken bones, NO internal bleeding. God is GOOD! Justin warned me that he looked pretty bad...so I expected bruises, scrapes...etc. When they got to our house that night, he wobbled in and his arms were bandaged all up, his eye was stitched, his faice was bruised & bloodied and he had skidmarks and scrapes all over. I've never seen someone look so horrible and not be seriously injured. I just broke down and cried. Cole and Natalie were ESPECIALLY sweet to their Paw Paw asking, "You o-tay Paw Paw???!" Right then I realized how close we were to losing him and I just cringe to think it could have happened.

His seat was thrown from the vehicle, the windshield was gone,...essentially the cab exploded through the rolling. How did he make it? The troopers and doctors say he shouldn't have made it, but he did. I know a pretty special angel that was watching out for her Paw Paw...

Christmas time with the Pierce's

Whew...what a WHIRLWIND the past few weeks have been! (I hope to get pics posted soon!)

Christmas week started for us on Wednesday 12/22. That was the day we headed to Lubbock/Wilson in anticipation of seeing cousins! I left the kids in Wilson with my dad while my mom and I went to Lubbock to see my cousin Shannon and her sweet new baby Kinleigh. They were both still in the hospital...with Kinleigh being in NICU. She developed an infection after her mom was in labor with her water broken for over 34 hours! (ughh..doctors!!!) Luckily she was the biggest and healthiest baby in that NICU...I don't like NICU...only been in there twice and the first time I will never, ever, ever forget...(love you baby Emily!!). ANYWAY...Kinleigh is a cutie and a squirmer and I just love her! She weighed a full 2 pounds less than my kids at birth...as well as 4 inches shorter. Can you believe that?!

Thursday 12/23 we spent the day at Grandma Schwertner's house (the kids call her great granny...she lives about 200 yards from my parents :)) Several of my cousins who I don't get to see often were there! Jennifer, Alicia, & Camielle (daughters of my Godfather/Uncle Kurt who passed away many years ago)...and their husbands as well as Alicia's 3 year old son Suede...AND...Amber & Taylor and Afton and Adeline (and their hubbies too). All of our kids had a great time playing together! Cole happily played with Suede...but fell completely in love with Adeline. He has such a caring heart for babies...and he really loved on Addie! Natalie played with everyone and ran through the house a lot! They had a really great time! We drove home that night and got in around midnight....blah!

Friday 12/24 was an overwhelming day for me! We had to make cookies and treats, pack for going to Lubbock (again) the next day, go to church...and I had to wrap a million presents. Needless to say...when Justin got home at 5pm, I was FREAKING OUT! haha! We pulled it together and got it all taken care of...including leaving cookies for Santa and reading the Night Before Christmas (Justin's tradition with them)

Saturday 12/25 we woke up at 7am in order to open presents and get to Wilson by 12pm. Cole was soooo excited and was spoiled by Santa again! His favorite toys were "Stinky the Garbage Truck", "Buzz Lightyear" with remote, and "Woody" with his hat. Natalie loved her Disney Princess Barbie set....but was afraid of her pretty pink Vacuum...so Cole has taken it over as his. Suede would be proud! haha! (Suede loooooves vacuuming and mopping!) We then hurried to Wilson and got there around the same time as Auntie Jess and Matt. We opened our presents there and spent the rest of the day at Great Granny's! She made yummy turkey & dressing! The boys spent the day hunting and playing outside (Cole did some of this)

We stayed in Lubbock until Monday. The kids stayed until Thursday...so Justin and I were able to spend a little time alone and get better. Lubbock has some kind of funky air going on and everybody NOT living there got an allergy cold. It took us a full week to get over it. We also completely cleaned the house...phew!

Saturday we went to Vernon for New Years Day and to celebrate the Pierce Christmas. The kids were completely spoiled! Natalie got a CUTE doll house (she loves it)...clothes and shoes and Cole got a Leapster Explorer and a BB Gun (which won't be used until he's much older, it's sitting in his daddy's closet currently) among other fun things!

WHEW. I had planned on doing the 3 day potty training with Natalie during Christmas break...but there was NO TIME! I didn't have 3 days with her at home...in a row. Maybe this weekend? We'll see!

Hoping to post pics soon! Hope ya'll had a great Christmas!!

18 weeks 2 days

(Baby's first gift!)

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 18 weeks 2 days
Size of baby: Baby Pierce is the size of a small melon or bell pepper

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I weigh 121. I started out at 115-116...so I've gained 5-6 lbs! Maternity Clothes: Jeans for sure...other than that sweat pants and t-shirts. My "nicer" shirts are maternity for the most part too.
Gender: don't know! I still think its a girl...BUT we find out NEXT Friday 1/14! I can't wait!!! I'm just praying it's healthy. I don't care WHAT it is!!

Movement: Yes! Baby moves a LOT when it does move (or when I feel it). I can feel it with my hand sometimes (well...the jolt...not the specific kick)

Sleep: eh...starting to get uncomfortable. I woke up on my belly the other night (Ok...my head was on a pillow and my feet were on a pillow...it wasn't comfy. I toss a lot.
What I miss: Sleeping on my belly...and not constantly worrying if something inside of me was growing normally :)

Cravings: NOTHING

Symptoms: Still pimply...and a nice, growing belly!

I went to the doc today because my belly has been feeling REALLY tight. I haven't felt contractions (like braxton hicks)...just a tightness taht is uncomfortable. He said everything seems fine. Maybe just stretchhing...etc. I'm ready to feel better because our house is clean and I want to keep it that way! Sorry no belly pics...Actually...I can find one of me sitting down...I'll post it! We are anxiously awaiting our ultrasound next friday! I will try to post asap what we find out we're having!!