Poor Cory. Last night at work he called to say what a horrible headache he had. I offered to bring something and wait for him when he came out to do a delivery, but he declined. Then he came home with a bad burn on his hand. He was in a lot of pain last night. He's doing better today, but it's a bit awkward for him since it's his right hand. Hopefully tonight he can come home unscathed.

Today the kids and I made three separate trips to different places. We had to run to the store in the morning to pick up more bandages for Cory, then after lunch we went to the library when Accalia asked, and finally we took Accalia to art later in the afternoon. It was definitely starting to feel like too much for us. Coordinating three children to go places - to want to go places - at the same time is not always an easy task. Then you throw in getting all of the winter gear on, and it feels like a lot of work. Being able to slip on sandals or shoes and head out the door in the summer will definitely be a pleasant change.

Cory's dad is in Arizona this week visiting a woman he dated a year or so ago before he started seeing Bev. Now, as far as we know, Myron and Bev are still together, although a while ago Myron made a comment about Bev really pressuring him to get married and that he just doesn't want to get married again. So now he goes to visit this ex that he's kept in touch with all along. Myron seems to be living quite the soap opera right now. Wonder how it will all turn out.

I should just take a shower tonight since Ella is asleep, but I'll probably end up putting it off until the morning. My laziness knows no bounds.

I've officially completed the first trimester. Unfortunately, this milestone didn't bring an automatic change in my general feeling of yuckiness. Darn.

This afternoon we went to the chiropractor. I wasn't sure if we'd need to reschedule our appointment because our chiropractor's sister-in-law died just a few days ago, and the funeral is tomorrow. He was still open today but won't be tomorrow. His sister-in-law was 37 and left three or four young children. She died due to complications of stomach stapling. The procedure affected her kidneys, and ultimately she died of kidney failure. How sad.

Cory is working both tonight and tomorrow night delivering pizzas. The next night he'll be doing that is Sunday, which means he has Friday and Saturday off! Hooray! The kids are very excited about that. So am I.

Tomorrow Accalia has art, and maybe we'll make it to the library. We were planning to go today, but Ella just wouldn't get dressed when everyone else wanted to go. I wasn't too sad because it's cold and windy and snowy.

Now I'll see about getting Ella in the tub. She just got done painting and probably has more paint on her body than on the paper.

I'm finally getting some pictures uploaded...

Today has been an ugh sort of day mainly because I've felt rather crappy. It probably didn't help that the kids and I were all up somewhat early (8 a.m. is early for the four of us to be up on a Sunday). Then Ella had a huge meltdown and wouldn't come out from under the table because she wants to paint the paint-by-number picture that Accalia has been working on since yesterday and wants to use those paints and that brush. Once Accalia is finished with her picture, Ella can go crazy with the paints and the brush, but since Ella is still quite the color mixer when she uses a variety of paints, we need to keep them pure for Accalia's sake. No other brush or set of paints would make Ella happy, so I walked out of the room for a minute. When I came back, I knelt by the table with my arms out, and Ella crawled out to me and ran into my arms for a big hug.

As I've mentioned, parenting Ella has been quite challenging of late. Two was never that bad with either Accalia or Cole - three is where it seemed to get a little bumpy - so I'm hoping we can get past this and on to a smoother run before the baby arrives. I'm hoping that it's the winter doldrums that's turning my normally cheerful children into snarly, cranky children. Oh, they're not like that all of the time, but it's definitely more prominent.

Yesterday the kids yelled "groundhog!" as soon as they got up because they had read that if you say that word first thing on Groundhog Day, you'll have good luck all year. They were really hoping that the groundhog would not see his shadow and that winter would be ending sooner. I suppose it's actually more like seven weeks until the official start of spring, but I can totally handle that.

Cory's delivering pizza tonight. No one could take off because of the Super Bowl. We'll see how crazy it gets. I think we had been invited to a friend's house for a party, but obviously that's not happening. So, Cory's taping the game (and, of course, the commercials) and we're going to watch it after he gets home. I don't particularly care about either team, but if I had to choose I'd go with the Giants. Tom Brady really annoys me. I don't understand his appeal at all.

What I'd really like to do right now is curl up in the recliner and watch An American in Paris. That's not going to happen, though, so I guess I should pick up some stuff.

I'm determined to make it until my second trimester (I only have to wait until Tuesday) until I wear maternity clothes. I have absolutely no idea why. I don't even remember when I started wearing maternity clothes in my previous pregnancies. I just wish I had a million pairs of yoga pants 'cause those are super comfortable. It's always daunting to start wearing maternity clothes because they look so darn huge when you have no more than a little baby bump. I love my Old Navy maternity shirts because they're designed to not look like huge tents, especially in this transitional time. Unfortunately, most of my early pregnancy wear is more suited to spring or summer. I'll just have to dive into my maternity clothes and see what I actually have in there.

Today we went over to a friend's house for a little bit. While we were there, the 10-year-old was telling me that she and all of her friends at school call their younger siblings "devils." Not too long ago, a mom at dance was talking about how this age (meaning Accalia's age of 8 or so) is very interesting (in a not so good way). She started talking about all of the eye rolling, etc. her daughter was doing. It really makes me feel sad that attitudes and behaviors like this are cropping up at this age already. It blows me away a little. I'd never claim that all is sunshine and roses at our house and that the kids never fight with each other or that we don't get upset with each other, but it's not at a level where it's the norm or it's the first thing that comes to mind to bring up in conversation with another parent.

It would be wrong to blame it all on school for the attitudes toward younger siblings and parents, but as Accalia and Cole get older and spend more time not being exposed to the social structure of school, I do notice differences when they get together with other kids. Accalia and Cole get along very well and spend a lot of time playing together. I've noticed that, especially with the neighbor girls last summer, that one of the biggest things they wanted to do was find ways to tease Cole (as the only boy) or find ways to bug the older girls (younger vs. older). It just really makes me happy that Accalia and Cole (and Ella and the new baby) are able to grow up not surrounded by this need to do or not do certain things because they're in a certain grade or because they're a certain gender. Sure, there's probably a little of that that spills over into general life mostly because school is such a huge basis for our society. I'm glad that Accalia and Cole can live the majority of their lives without that coloring their interactions with each other.

I write all of this in light of the fact that this past week or so has felt like way too much crankiness and shortness toward each other. Ella, too. It seems as if we can't go into a store lately without Ella having a meltdown for some reason. You know, it's one of those phases where you start to wonder where you screwed up as a parent. It makes me wonder how celebrity parents like Jennifer Garner, who is photographed numerous times throughout the day and week without prior knowledge, can always be shown with her adorable (and apparently always happy) two-year-old daughter. Seriously, doesn't little Violet ever get ticked off because the gumball machine won't give her the right color gumball? That happened to Ella last week - or maybe this week. Someone tell me her secret if they know.

Okay, time to clean up the living room and maybe relax a little.

I love fall and winter, being able to wrap yourself up in the cocoon of a cozy home and wardrobe. Lately, though, I can't stand the cold. True, it's been really, really cold and not really ideal for frolicking outside in the snow. I think it has more to do with me being pregnant and apparently not able to handle extremes in temperature. Gee, I can't wait to see how I'll due during hot and humid July and August! We also don't have heated floors, so the main floor does get rather cold on some of these nights with our unfinished and unheated basement the only thing below. Maybe it all seems to be that much worse at night when I'm tired and start to feel bad, too.

At any rate, this only seems to bother me. Accalia and Cole are happily creating robot after robot. Ella fell asleep a little after 7 p.m. I just took a shower. Cory might be home in about an hour. Now I'm going to work on cleaning up the living room so that at least is clean.

Yesterday and today have been really, really cold - single digits for the highs - and today it's been snowing lightly since this morning. I'd prefer to not even have to go outside, but Accalia does have art this afternoon and can't wait to finish her bird watercolor that is being entered in an art contest.

Last night around midnight both Cory and I realized that the power was off. It probably came on an hour later (or even sooner), but I brought up a bunch of extra blankets in case it was off for much of the night.


Ella has been doing a lot of painting lately. She can't seem to get enough of it, and that includes painting her chest and belly. Reminds me of Accalia when she was that age.

I continue to struggle with keeping up with things around the house (reminds me especially of my pregnancy with Cole) and am really hoping that the end of the first trimester in about a week's time will remedy some of this.

I'm going to put together supper soon so I can just toss it in the oven later. Cory's delivering pizza tonight, so I need to have that ready since I'll be going back and forth to Accalia's art class and won't have time to prepare it then.

This morning, not long after eating breakfast, I was taking clothes out of the dryer. Accalia was standing near me. I stood up and said, "Oh no, I have to throw up!" and ran to the bathroom. Accalia was right behind me yelling, "Okay! Okay! Everyone out of her way! Don't go in the bathroom!" Then I heard her explaining to Cole and Ella that "sometimes when you're pregnant you don't feel well and have to throw up." It's ended up being a rather iffy day in the feeling well department, so that trend followed throughout the day.

While Cory slept in the morning, the kids and I did the grocery shopping. That, and buzzing Cory and Cole's hair. Ella kept climbing into the chair to have her turn, but I don't think I'm going to be able to cut off those curls. That was our big chore for the day. We've just hung around home the rest of the time. I'm not sure what it is, but Accalia has not been in a very diplomatic mood with Cole over the past few days. Something will happen and it won't be how she wanted it, and she'll either start to pout or start stomping around. Either way, it puts their previously peaceful playing to a halt. I asked Accalia what was going on, and she had no idea. Hopefully this doesn't continue throughout the week.

Okay, gotta get some food for the kids.

So I was going to post some pictures (cause I know you can't wait to see me in a King Kong mask), but now I can't find the camera. The house truly is a disaster, but I should have plenty of time this weekend to look for the camera. Cory works tonight, Saturday night and Sunday night, so I'll have the time.

Today is close to 30 degrees, and Accalia and Cole were so happy to go outside and try to knock icicles off of the house. It's such a difference from yesterday when we had a record low of minus 26 degrees. Yeah, you're all wishing you were here, right?

Accalia has tap in a couple hours, but that's it for the rest of the day. We did a little grocery shopping run (will have to do more this weekend). Last night we were catching up on episodes of Pushing Daisies (the whole family likes that show), and since one of the main characters, Ned, is a pie maker, I'm always craving pie after watching it. So I picked up a pie today - dutch apple. Anyway, we were standing there looking at pies and Ella started asking for chocolate. I told her that we'd get some chocolate next, and our dentist walked by right at that time. He just smiled and said hi. We've seen him and his family before at McDonalds before, so I'm not too concerned that he's horrified by our eating habits.

Hmm, I thought I was going somewhere else with that, but my mind blanked out. Okay, time to get off the computer, I guess!

I'm so tired today. It was a really crappy night of sleep for a variety of reasons, and I have a feeling I won't do very well staying up late tonight. It's too bad that Ella is napping right now.

I had my first prenatal appointment today. Cory took part of the day off and stayed at home with the kids. Usually they'd be coming along, but I knew that I'd probably also have a pap smear since my last was about a year ago, so we thought it would work out better to wait for everyone to come along until it was just a regular old prenatal appointment. Everything looks great. Dr. M agreed with my due date estimation of August 19. She even did an ultrasound, which I had no strong feelings about either way. It was wonderful seeing the baby, though, and watching the baby's arms and legs move all around.

As soon as I got home, the kids and I hopped in the van and went off to storytime. Then we came back home and that's where we've been since. Cory has a couple counseling sessions tonight but should be back around 7 p.m.

Today I'm having a very hard time functioning with all of the noise and activity of the three kids. I like to think it's because I'm functioning on much less caffeine than I used to, but that's probably not it. Before I became pregnant, I had gotten into the habit of drinking a couple cups of coffee each day, but for the last five weeks I've had absolutely no desire for coffee. It's actually rather repulsive to me right now. I also rarely drink pop because the sweetness is almost too cloying right now. This is actually the first pregnancy where I've felt like that.

I was supposed to go to my first prenatal appointment yesterday, but I rescheduled for this Thursday because the weather wasn't too great. We received about eight inches of snow between Sunday evening and Monday evening. It's a very light, fluffy snow, so shoveling was too hard. I think this is probably the latest I've ever had my first prenatal appointment - 10 weeks - but I remember thinking at my first with Ella (around 7 or so weeks), "Okay, what's the point of coming this early?"

I had my first pregnancy dream for this pregnancy. The really bizarre part was that I wasn't present for the birth. Cory and our doula were there, and I stayed at home with the other kids. I had a boy - 9 lbs. 5 oz. - that we named Raimi after Sam Raimi, the director of the Spiderman movies. I'm pretty sure we won't actually be naming the baby that, but it makes me wonder if there will be any connection between him and the name we eventually choose.

That's about it from here. I should post some pictures of the kids, although I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately.

This morning I lay in bed waking up and I thought, "Wow, I feel really good!" Usually I wake up and can already tell that I'm feeling sick. And now I've felt great all day so far - great as in before morning sickness hit. I almost don't want to write that because I don't want to jinx it.

Yesterday I mentioned I've been catching up on LLL work. At the end of January, I'll be finished with my three year term as a division administrator (western part of the U.S.) for the Leader Accreditation Department (LAD). That means that I'll no longer be acting as a support person for five different areas (Minnesota and the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Oregon and Washington). I could have continued my term for two more years at the max, but I am ready to be finished. I'll still continue with LAD work, and I'm also serving as the Coordinator of Leader Accreditation (CLA) for Iowa right now. For a while now I've had the urge to really cut back on my involvement with LLL, and it's been easiest to cut out the bigger things first. I actually wouldn't mind cutting out all LAD work and just focus on our local group, but I would feel horrible cutting out on those responsibilities without a really pressing reason.

It's extremely cold and will be through the weekend. Think single digits. Cory doesn't deliver pizza tonight, so we'll have a rare Friday together as a family. Accalia has tap class tonight, but that's all. Tomorrow Accalia has a birthday party in the afternoon. It's actually a sleep over, but Accalia doesn't want to sleep over, so I'll pick her up in the evening before the other girls start getting ready for bed.

I think I'll throw supper together soon so I can just stick it in the oven while Accalia's at tap. Have a great weekend everyone!

Just checking in to say hi. I've felt absolutely horrible all week and just haven't been in the mood to do much of anything. You should see our house! I've had to do a bunch of LLL stuff, too, so that's where most of my computer time has gone these last few days. Will hopefully write more this weekend.

Ella decided to have another odd night of sleep on Friday. She fell asleep really early - around 6 - and I couldn't really get her to wake up again. She was determined to keep sleeping no matter what I did. I was up until 12:30 a.m. so I could talk with Cory after he got home from delivering pizzas. I was definitely not ready to get up when Ella popped up and jumped out of bed at 3:43 a.m. We went downstairs where I tried to doze on the couch while Ella watched The Wiggles, changed into a bunch of different dance outfits and had a snack. After a couple hours, we headed back upstairs where I was finally able to get her back to sleep. I was so happy about that, not only because I was tired, but also because I had La Leche League Saturday morning and knew I wouldn't be functioning well on three hours of sleep.

So, the meeting went well. There were four other mothers there - all "core" moms - so we had a discussion about overcoming cultural difficulties: coming from a family where breastfeeding isn't the norm, how to deal with separation, breastfeeding in public, etc.

There wasn't a lot going on the rest of the weekend. Cory delivered pizzas Friday, Saturday and then tonight. Next week he only does that Wednesday and Saturday, so we'll have a lot of time with him over the weekend. Of course, next weekend Accalia also has a birthday party to attend, but Cory will be working during that time.

I haven't felt too great today, but hopefully that will change tomorrow. My mom asked today if I'm starting to show at all. I'd say my belly has definitely gotten a bit more rounded, and I have three pair of pants that fit. That's the lovely part of subsequent pregnancies - you start to show a lot earlier than your first, so you're feeling so icky from morning sickness as well as having trouble finding clothes that fit. That was the nice part of my pregnancy with Accalia. I remember it wasn't until I was at least three months along that clothes started getting a little tight.

That's about all from here. I'm going to try to read a little while everyone is content.

Ella's early night last night apparently didn't mean she needed extra sleep all through the night. She woke up around 4:30 a.m. when Cory was getting ready to head to the gym and kept poking me until I got up with her at 5 a.m. She's napping now, so at least she'll be well rested for the rest of the day. I guess the positive side to first trimester fatigue is that I always feel tired so I'm not hurting too much - yet!

I need to get busy cleaning up a bit since we're having friends over tomorrow. That's about it from here.

Today I felt reasonably good. Still, it sucks to wake up each day just knowing I'll probably feel sick for the next 14 hours or however many before I go back to bed. Blah. I love pregnancy, but I do not love the first trimester. I'd love to be one of those women who never experiences a bit of morning sickness. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Well, I do have a friend who never has had morning sickness but would have horrible heartburn. I imagine that would be just as bad. I know there are women struggling with infertility who would like nothing more than to be experiencing my morning sickness, so I don't want to come across as ungrateful. It just seems that moms never get to whine and complain about feeling sick, and I'm taking this opportunity on this blog rather than complaining to Cory every night. See, isn't that considerate of me?

So now that you've all figured out that I feel icky most of the time and aren't happy about it, I'll leave it at that and stop complaining for the next four weeks or however long until I'm past it.

Ella is sleeping - has been since a little before 7 - which probably means she'll be awake soon and up late. Her favorite words of late are Cole and Accalia. She can't quite pronounce Accalia - sounds more like Accase or Accalie - but she never misses an opportunity to connect them with something that's happening. She loves to pick out crayons or markers and tell me which sibling would like it.

The other day Cole said: "I can't wait for it to be summer again so the neighbor girls will play." It's true. It's been months since we've seen them. How can you live right next door to one six-year-old and two five-year-olds and never see them? They can't play inside our house and vice versa, and apparently they don't want to play outside either. Even after all of the snow, we didn't see them at all. Our lawn was trampled with boot prints and covered with snow angels, but theirs remained untouched. Maybe they're dividing their time with their other parents or something. It's just really odd.

I really need to do dishes and clean up a million different things, but I doubt I'll actually get to any of those tonight.

This week is visiting week for Accalia's ballet and tap classes, so last night the four of us went to see Accalia. She always likes the visiting days when parents and grandparents come to watch. It's also the day where we'll see pictures of their costume for the spring recital. After that, we pretty much just vegged in front of the tv for the evening. Well, Cory sat at the table trying to catch up on a pile of paperwork from the prison.

Yesterday I really didn't do much of anything. I took care of laundry, dishes and the kids, but otherwise I just sat and read. I had wanted something fairly mindless and entertaining, so I picked out this Nicholas Sparks book that had been sitting on a bookshelf for a couple years. It turned out to be a book that probably wouldn't be recommended for any woman expecting a baby. If you don't want it spoiled, don't read this next sentence. At six months gestation, the baby is diagnosed with a potentially life threatening condition and the mother dies after childbirth.

Anyway, it doesn't bother me during pregnancy to read things like that because I don't tend to get too upset about all of the potential what-ifs. When I was pregnant with Ella and reading Ina May Gaskin's "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth", I remember reading in her introduction to the birth stories section about how nearly every pregnant woman hears gory or scary pregnancy/birth stories throughout pregnancy and is told again and again how horrible labor will be and how much it will hurt. She then talked about a novella that Stephen King wrote called "The Breathing Method", so I had to make sure I read that right now. Again, it's not a story to read if you get freaked out about unhappy pregnancy/birth stories. But did you know that King has had several children born at home?

I'd better make this short. Accalia wants to play hangman and Ella has me feeding her imaginary food from Spiderman's hands.

It's already Sunday evening. The weekend passed quickly! Yesterday we went sledding for a couple hours. We tried two different places. The first was a hill in back of the high school, and we were the only ones there despite plenty of evidence of others sledding. Accalia and Cole had fun, but Ella was a bit iffy with the whole thing. Then we went to a different hill at a park, and it turned out to be a much steeper hill. It was more fun for everyone, too, but it was so tiring to climb back up the hill. Ella wanted to keep going down again and again. We were all exhausted and sweaty by the time we got home.

After that, Accalia and I ran to the library to pick up a couple movies. She's been on a huge Jim Carrey kick and loves the humor in the Ace Ventura movies. Then Cole and Cory went on several errands around town. That night we watched the final Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Did that thing go on forever! The movies have been entertaining enough, but I haven't been that into them that I especially enjoy watching one for nearly three hours.

Ella's quite tired right now, but I'm hoping to keep her awake just a little longer so that she'll hopefully be down for the night instead of waking up after a couple hours. Cory's working for a few hours tonight. Tomorrow we're supposed to get snow. Accalia has ballet, and it's visiting day. That will be interesting for Ella since she'll most likely want to be in there with the girls dancing.

I've felt worse these past couple days. Today I thought back to my early pregnancy with Accalia when I had started my final year of undergrad in Vermillion. I think I had arranged my class schedule so that I had maybe three days per week at the most that I had to be on campus, but at least one of those days was so long. I remember sitting in the library studying and laying my head down on the table trying to stay awake and/or fight off the nausea. I also remember a few times when I anxiously waited for class to finish because I had to run to the bathroom to throw up. Ah, those were the days.

Anyway, Ella isn't feeling too hot today either. She woke up this morning sounding as if she's smoked four packs a day for all of her 26 months. Hopefully this cold doesn't last too long. At least she tolerates me wiping her nose, which is more than Accalia or Cole would do at this age.

I ended up rescheduling my haircut. Ella fell asleep, and Cole and Accalia were having a very hard time enjoying each other's company. I just knew that trying to keep that combination of children happy for 10-15 minutes of my haircut while waiting for Cory would not work at all.

This afternoon I was lying up in bed nursing Ella down for a nap. She had already fallen asleep when Cole came upstairs and crawled into bed. I whispered to him that Ella was falling asleep, and he replied with such a deadpan expression on his face, "Oh my, how awkward!"

Cory's working tonight, so the kids and I are having a very quiet night at home. Tomorrow Cory doesn't work at all, so we're all quite excited. I suggested to Cole that we go sledding, and he was very excited about that. Maybe Cory and I will actually watch a movie tomorrow, too.

I'm feeling a bit better now.

Yesterday, after lunch, we went to the library and picked out some new books and movie. Almost as soon as we walked in the door, the phone rang. It was a friend who happened to be in town and wanted to stop by with her youngest. I warned her that the house was a complete disaster, and I loved her reply: If I want to see the house, I'll make an appointment. I'm coming to see you, though. So we hung out for a couple hours. Her youngest is six months old, and Ella had so much fun with her. So that's a good sign that Ella enjoys the company of babies so much. I just have to hope she'll also enjoy living with one.

Accalia's in quite a sour mood at the moment because Cole didn't want to do exactly what she wanted when she wanted. I'm going to see if she's ready to let that slight go or if she still wants more time to stew in it.

I decided to try to post in the morning instead of at night because I usually feel much better right away in the morning. That's not the case today, though. It could be a really long day if this keeps up.

Last night Cory was home for the majority of the evening, and it was so nice just to all be together. Tonight it will hopefully be the same. Cory has a 5 o'clock client, and he'll be finishing up just as my haircut will begin at 6 o'clock, so there will be a bit of an overlap and the kids will have to come with me so he can pick them up and take them home. Hopefully all goes smoothly.

We'll see what the day brings...

Brr!! It's really cold here in Yankton. Thankfully it's going to warm up for the rest of the week. While Cory was making chili this afternoon and the kids were happily occupied, I ran to the grocery store to pick up a few items. I really didn't want to bother getting any of the kids bundled up to go out. It's perfect weather for chili, but it ended up being too spicy for me. That's too spicy for first trimester me - not regular me.

It was a crazy night for Cory delivering pizzas last night. He was supposed to get out at 8:30 but ended up staying until nearly 10. He's working again tonight and called to say tonight made last night look like fun. I get that it was New Year's Eve yesterday and lots of bowl games today (and a lot of people not wanting to go out in the cold to get food), but it's almost obscene how many people order pizza and do so quite often. What gets Cory are the people who actually tell him that they can't tip him because they're out of work. Umm, so why are you spending $20 or $30 to have a pizza delivered?

Cory did bring home pizza for us last night (as I now finish complaining about people ordering pizza), and the kids were so happy as they'd been expecting it more than an 1 1/2 earlier. Cole had actually fallen asleep for a short time but woke up only to begin laughing hysterically about anything and everything. I started laughing so hard every time he'd laugh, and Accalia came downstairs and asked why I was so sad because I had tears streaming down my face. So we all had our pizza and watched the ball drop twice on tv (once with Dick Clark and once with Carson Daly). Ella was out before midnight, but both Accalia and Cole stayed awake. Accalia really wanted to do that and was excited to welcome in 2008 ("I'm 8, too!"). She's also excited that this is the Year of the Rat, and we spent a while today looking at what years of the Chinese Zodiac we were born in and what characteristics those years have.

I guess I'd better clear a path through the living room so Cory doesn't trip over something when he comes home.

The last day of 2007 here in Yankton is cold and gray. Wait, I'm seeing some sun and blue sky peaking through the clouds now. Ella's napping. She was upstairs by herself for a while playing with the Little Pet Shop toys in Accalia's huge, wooden dollhouse. Then I heard her calling for me, and I found her in our bed covered up and waiting for me. She nursed to sleep and has been out for at least an hour. What a peaceful way to transition from one thing to another.

Cory is working just a few hours tonight as a favor to another driver who had tried to take the night off because of family visiting and wasn't able to get it off. Cory has thrilled the kids with the promise of a cheese pizza once he returns home. That, my friends, will be the excitement of our night. I'm not entirely convinced I'll be able to stay awake until midnight. I think I made it until 8:30 the year I was pregnant with Accalia. We shall see. I start to feel worse and worse the more tired I get, so it's usually a relief to crawl into bed at night and sleep through the nausea.

Hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year's Eve and a wonderful start to 2008!

It's been a really quiet weekend around here, mostly because Cory has been gone much of the time delivering pizzas. The good news with that is that for Friday and Saturday combined, he made $100 in tips. Not too shabby. My days have mostly been spent obsessing over how to try to feel the least nauseated, and that would be seriously boring to detail. I think some of us may be getting sick. I've had a bit of a runny nose today, and Cole has had a runny nose and a bit of a cough. He's definitely a little sickie. Ella's been quite cranky today, but I can't tell if she's getting sick or is just having an off day. Cory thinks he has a sinus infection.

We just found out yesterday that a friend of ours from when we first lived in Yankton (they now live in Wisconsin) has been diagnosed with cancer and that the prognosis is not good at all. She worked with Cory as a counselor and her husband worked with me at the paper. It takes us back to Mary's diagnosis and the doctor telling us there was nothing more he could do. I just hope she doesn't accept that. She's just in her forties with two kids still at home.

That helps put things in perspective, doesn't it? I think I can manage a few more weeks of nausea and fatigue.

It is just amazing how quickly morning sickness goes from those occasional twinges of nausea to worshipping the porcelain god. I'm just glad this didn't start until after we made it home. I guess the good news about having three other children at home is that I don't really have the opportunity to sit and feel sick, so I can just run around all day keeping that feeling just below the surface (most of the time, at least).

It's beautiful outside with the fluffy white snow covering every surface. Now that the sun is out, more and more of it is falling off of the tree branches. Cory's working in Yankton today, so I'm glad he didn't have to worry about bad roads on the way to Springfield. We've just been hanging out at home so far. I've vacuumed and am working on laundry, although it usually seems to make little difference after the kids are awake and going full force.

I have a pretty good selection of pregnancy-related books, and Accalia has been having a lot of fun going through them. Her favorites so far are an old issue of All Round Magazineat is all about birth. Unfortunately, the magazine is no longer being published, but you can still buy back issues. A book that Accalia keeps asking me to read to her is a coffee table size book called Pregnancy Goddesses (or something close to it). Each page has a different very pregnant woman dressed up and posing in a way that has an important meaning for her. Then there's a short piece that she's written about the pregnancy, what the picture means, etc. It's already brought up discussions about pregnancy-related issues from miscarriage to adoption.

I think what the kids are most excited about is when the baby actually starts resembling a human baby around 8 weeks or so. I showed the kids an image of what the baby looks like now - kind of in a c-shape with a tale. Accalia keeps talking about "when the baby is in human form."

Cory works tonight delivering pizzas, so we don't have any big plans. We don't really have any plans for the entire weekend. I guess we'll just work on getting back into the groove of being at home again.

Thanks for the congratulations! Anne, if I can come up with the money for a plane ticket for you, you'll so be my doula. Navigating the day with morning sickness always takes a little readjustment as I experiment with what foods taste good and what foods make me feel sick. Sometimes upping the amount of B6 I get does make a difference, but other times it doesn't. Sometimes ginger tea will help. Other times it just makes me feel even more sick. The key for me is usually eating often (at least every couple hours) and not eating much. That usually helps keep the nausea manageable.

This morning we made a run to the store to pick up odds and ends. Accalia and Cole also wanted to spend some of their Christmas money, so they did that, too. Ella was a happy girl for most of the trip, but as we headed toward the registers she suddenly switched from happy babbling toddler to extremely irate toddler. I have no idea what caused the change, but it made for a not so fun trip out of the store.

Ella's been napping for a while now. I think she's trying to catch up on sleep that she missed out on over the past week. Accalia and Cole have kept plenty busy with all of their new things, and Accalia made a very yummy cake with her Easy Bake Oven. Ah, the power of a 100 watt lightbulb!

I'd better get back to doing laundry. There are lots of things I want to post about, but I just don't have the desire to sit at the computer any longer right now. Maybe later...

A white Christmas is an absolutely lovely thing to experience when you can stay curled up inside your home or only have to drive around town to celebrate with family or friends. When you are traveling, though, it absolutely sucks. The slick roads and snow from Sunday were a bit of a pain for that night when we had the children's service at church and my brothers came to my parents' house for the kids to open gifts. The roads were fine from when we left Christmas morning for Lake Wilson and Myron's house, but about 20-30 minutes from L.W., it started snowing. We ended up with about six inches there and about four inches here in Yankton. Honestly, we were all hoping to just have a few hours visit with Myron and then head home, but that wasn't possible with the snow.

We left for home after Myron took us (and Bev) to lunch at McDonald's. The fog was horrible on and off throughout the trip, and by the time we were south of Sioux Falls and less than an hour from home, we were stuck in the middle of the interstate with the rest of the traffic and stayed sitting there for close to a half hour. There had been a bunch of accidents throughout the day due to the fog and people overdriving the still slick roads, and accidents involving a camper and a tractor trailer caused the traffic problems. We made it home later in the afternoon, though, and had to shovel the sidewalks and unload the van before doing anything else. The rest of the day has pretty much been spent unpacking and helping the kids with some of their new toys.

I think the kids really enjoyed their Christmas. They were all excited about the gifts they received. Accalia was thrilled to finally get an Easy Bake Oven (I always wanted one when I was little), and Cole was overjoyed to add to his super hero collection. Ella loves her Little People toys, too. Being in Mankato for nearly a week was a lot of fun for them, but I could definitely tell in the last couple days that everyone was just ready to get home.

I thought I would wait a while longer, but since word is already getting out, I'll share with all of you. Baby #4 is on the way! It's so early - six weeks - so I'm not due until around August 19. I'm already enjoying all day morning sickness, though, and that's how I knew I was pregnant before even taking a test. The morning sickness really seems to hit around six weeks, and I'm just going to assume it'll get even worse (as it always seems to) before hopefully ending around 12 weeks. Accalia is so excited about the pregnancy and having a baby in the house again. I'll have to share all of the fun conversations we've had since we told them. Cole is really excited, too, although he's not as curious about the pregnancy as Accalia is right now. Ella, of course, really doesn't know what's going on. If Accalia says "Mama's having a baby!", she'll run to me and pat my belly and say "Baby! Baby!", but she does that more because it makes Accalia so happy than anything else.

This is most likely the last baby, so it's a strange feeling going into this pregnancy knowing that this may be the last time I experience all of these things. Cory's pretty settled on this being the last baby (I probably don't feel as sure), but I think in the end we'll feel quite complete as a family of six.

Well, I should get ready for bed. I hope everyone has had a wonderful week!

Cory is working late tonight. Ella just went to sleep, and Accalia and Cole are watching "Frosty Returns" on tv. I've been scrambling around all day packing and doing all sorts of last minute things since we leave for Minnesota tomorrow and won't be back for nearly a week. It's wonderful being with family for the holidays, but it's a bit more hectic when you're not at home and have to pack your celebration to come with you. Thankfully we don't have to fly or else we'd never fit everything we take along! I guess we'd end up shipping a bunch of stuff ahead of time, huh?

Any who, I'm going to shut myself up in a room and stuff the kids' stockings (or stock the stuffings as I apparently said to Cory last night). We're opening stockings tomorrow before we leave. That's what we always do no matter when we leave for the holidays. It's the one gift opening event that happens at our house. Hopefully the trip will go smoothly. We're stopping in Sioux Falls to try to get a couple presents we need at Toys R Us.

I hope everyone has a beautiful and fun and lovely time wherever you are this next week!

After Cory finished with work on Sunday, we drove around Yankton looking at Christmas lights for about an hour. There were some neat displays, including one house that synchronized their lights to music. Cole fell asleep before we saw that, though, so I might take the kids up to that house after Accalia's dance class is over tonight.

Much of yesterday afternoon was spent wrapping gifts. We still have a few gifts to purchase, but right now we're all caught up with wrapping. Now it's just a matter of fitting all of those gifts into the van on Thursday.

Ella's napping right now - a rare afternoon nap. She hit such a cranky spot earlier and couldn't shake it. A bath didn't help. Even chocolate didn't help. Hopefully sleep helps, or else it will be a very long night.

Quick update, I guess, since Cole wants me to sumo wrestle with him in the living room...

Cory is working a 12-8 shift today, so we've been on our own and have been keeping it pretty tame. We could have gone out to find something to do, but I'm about 15 miles from empty with the van's gas tank and just don't feel like parting with $50 yet. This morning into this afternoon we baked pumpkin muffins. Not really the right holiday season, I suppose, but we were running short of ingredients for the other things we had planned to make.

This afternoon Accalia designed a summer outfit that she now wants to sew. She found scraps of fabric and had me grab the sewing kit, but when she wanted me to go freestyle from there and help her sew up a shirt and a dress, I had to stop. I told her I have absolutely no experience sewing clothes and that if she wants me to be an actual help rather than forever confuse her, we might have to search for a simple pattern to make something. So that's what we'll do. It's really quite sad how inept I am with anything involving sewing/knitting/crocheting and the like. Accalia bought a crochet kit at the dollar store - simple hoop that ends up producing a small bag. She got stuck, and I was absolutely no help. It was like the directions were in a foreign language. So that means I'm bringing this little kit to Mankato next week and I'm hunting down Rachel. Please don't laugh too hard at me, okay, cuz?

So now I have beverages to fetch and wrestling to commence. Wish me luck.

Christmas cards were finished and mailed off late this afternoon. Holla! I can now truly sit and enjoy all cards that come our way, knowing I've finished at least this one small part of our holiday duties (not that it's a duty to send out love to our loved ones, but you know...)

This afternoon our elderly neighbor Julius came over with a Christmas card and plate of goodies as he does each year. We've been back in Yankton in this house for five years, and before that we were here for two years before moving to Mitchell. We kept in touch with Julius and his wife Ruby during those two years we were gone, so it's been nearly a decade that we've known them. Wow! It's hard to see his slow decline after seeing how active he was even just a year or two ago. His arthritis in his back is so bad now that it takes him a long time to get going in the mornings, and he can only walk about a half block before getting winded. He's waiting to get an electric scooter, and his eyes lit up as he talked about that.

The big news that he had to share with me was about an article written about him in this weekly newspaper. Unfortunately, the article isn't online, but it's about the part he played in helping construct the Bishop Marty Chapel on the campus of Mount Marty College in the late 1940s. There were hundreds who worked on the construction, but only Julius and another man were with the construction from the bottom all the way - 187 1/2 feet high - to the top of the steeple. He helped put the 600 pound cross in place that sits on the top of the steeple.

It was neat to talk with him about this today because I've just finished reading Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth", which revolves around the building of a cathedral in 12th century England. Amazing book. When I finished yesterday I felt like crying because I had just left these people and their lives that had been with me for nearly 1000 pages. Awesome.

Accalia is bored, so I must now see what would interest her. Why isn't it ever sleep?

For the past few days, there's been A Mood in the house. No one seems to be happy for long, Ella especially. She's had rough nights, too. She has a couple teeth coming in, so maybe that's contributing. I think the bigger thing for her, though, is just continuing to make big developmental leaps and trying to find autonomy throughout all of this. I've noticed that lately it's a lot more difficult to transition her from one thing to the next, particularly if we're leaving the house. That's always challenging with each child to find out how to do that smoothly, but we'll all work together to figure it out. Ella slept 14 hours last night and napped for an hour or so later this afternoon, so perhaps there's a little need for extra sleep mixed in there somewhere. It was a little easier today.

Cory's delivering pizzas tonight. The kids are watching Christmas specials or videos and playing with toys. I have to finish getting Christmas cards ready to send out - almost there. Then I have to concentrate on the baking I need to do for several things as well as wrapping presents. We have a few more presents to get, and then we'll be finished with that.

It looks as if Cory will get off the time he was asking for around Christmas, so we'll be leaving for Mankato next Thursday and staying there through Christmas morning. Then we'll drive to Lake Wilson and spend a day there before returning back to Yankton on the 26th. That will be a nice break from everything for a while. Until then, though, it'll be rather hectic.

It's been snowing since a little before 2 p.m. today, and at nearly 8 p.m. it's coming down even harder. We could get up to 8 inches of snow by tomorrow, which is very exciting for Accalia and Cole. Cory, however, is out in that snow right now delivering pizzas and is not having a very good time. Of course it's very busy since no one wants to go out to get food, so hopefully those who are calling to have pizza delivered will at least tip well!

Last night Cory wasn't supposed to be the closing driver, but he got to work and found out the manager had not scheduled a closing driver. Since Cory was supposed to be the second to the last driver to close, he ended up closing and made it home around 11:30 p.m. rather than 10:15 p.m. We ended up staying up until nearly 2 a.m. talking, which probably wasn't the smartest thing to do since I had La Leche League this morning. It was really nice to catch up on things, though.

So, this morning's meeting ended up with no one coming. Most of the people that usually come drive from out of town, so i wasn't too surprised since everyone has been preparing for this storm. I actually brought all three kids to the library with me because Cory was still asleep. He ended up coming to the library right before the meeting was supposed to begin and taking the older two back home.

This afternoon, just as the snow was beginning to fall, I took Accalia and Cole to a Santa's Workshop thing at the art studio. This was a free event that Lita had planned so kids could come and work on different crafts - making holiday cards, painting wooden ornaments, etc. Cole had a blast, and Accalia was excited because three friends were also there. Ella stayed at home with Cory and was looking just a wee bit distrustful as we walked out the door, but she was perfectly content staying home with Cory.

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A while ago I had gotten this book and stuck it on a shelf knowing that one day it would probably interest Accalia. Accalia picked it up the other day, started looking through it and then asked if we could sit down and read it. We've been reading it on and off over the past couple days and she can't seem to get enough of it. Now, I really do hope that Accalia is at two or three years from hitting puberty full force, but the reality is that girls as young as 8 1/2 or 9 are starting to develop. I was at least a couple years older than Accalia when my mom sat me down to talk about body changes and all of that, and it was a talk I had been dreading her initiating. I didn't really feel comfortable talking about any of that with her, and now that I think of it, I don't think that either of my parents ever even talked about sex with me. Anyway, it's so exciting for me as a parent because Accalia is so eager to talk about all of this with me and is not at all embarrassed. She's so excited for all of these changes to happen and tells me she'll tell me when everything does happen. By the time that does, she may be a little more self conscious and not be quite as open about everything, but I'd like to think that the openness we have in our relationship now will just continue to pave the way as she grows older.

The book really is neat. The author talks a lot about the wide range of normal as far as development and how this is a time to be excited about what is happening and to celebrate it. There's also a good deal of talk about how to handle being at different stages of development with the other girls in school, about being teased, about what to do if you have your period while you're at school, etc. Obviously those aren't concerns of Accalia's - yay! - and it did remind me of how nerve wracking it was for me when I was that age and in school.

So, the book is one I'd definitely recommend. There's also one for boys. When Accalia's older and is menstruating, another book I'm definitely getting for her is this one. Weschler's "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" is a book that I think every woman should read, and her book for teens sounds just as good.

But, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. I'll just continue to enjoy the little girl that I have, the one who is so excited about going outside tomorrow and making snow angels.

I'm so sad about the mall shootings in Omaha. That's an area that's just way too familiar - too similar to where we live, even if there's quite a difference in size of our town versus the city. It's never easy to lose a loved one either, but the horrific nature and time of the year just seem to magnify it. No one we know was killed, but I haven't heard back from everyone yet to find out if they were there and/or injured. So sad.

The weather today is awful for traveling, and I hate to think of Cory slowly making his way home tonight. We went out this morning for Accalia's haircut, and at that time the main roads were more wet than icy.

The bright spot in the day - Cory will be home at 6 or 7 and we'll have him for the entire evening! Yay!

So I've had coffee this morning, which truly can be a wonder drug for me. These past few days Ella has been going to sleep early thanks to no naps and has been waking up early the next day. So it's been just the two of us for an hour or so in the mornings. Last night I found an old pair of Blue's Clues shoes that were probably hand me downs from our niece Mariah (now driving!), and Ella fell in love with them right away and has been stomping all over the place.

Here's a video that I took the other morning while Accalia was still asleep. If you'd like to hear Ella giggle and see Cole roll around in a blanket, this is the video for you:


And, since I rarely have pictures of myself to post, here's one that Cole took of me and Ella:


One of Ella's favorite activities of late is to watch videos of The Wiggles or Dan Zanes on YouTube. Just so you don't miss out on what I hear throughout the day (and because it's a cute song promoting a great cause), here's a holiday tune for you:


While I'm typing, I wanted to add (before I forget again) that this time of year means one of my favorite fruits - pomegranate - is readily available. It is so yummy to eat oatmeal sprinkled with the arils of pomegranate!

I have felt so unsettled these last couple days, and I'm just not sure why. I don't really have anything extra to worry about, and there's nothing coming up that I have to do that I'm really dreading. I just don't know what it is, but it's really annoying. I think part of it may be that I haven' felt like I'm really accomplishing anything lately. Again, that's odd because I'm not really doing less than I usually do. I think that somewhere in the near past I read or heard a reference about someone who seems to be doing it all and doing more than "all" who makes the rest of us look like lazy slobs. Yeah, that must be it.

Over the weekend Accalia had a hard late night where she worried and worried about dance class and whether she should just stop because the warm up exercises were hurting. This is the first time she's ever mentioned that, so I talked with her dance instructor and sat in on the first part of class to see what was going on. They're doing a lot of exercises to stretch the hamstrings, and that really can be a difficult and painful exercise. There are some girls in her class who are super flexible and can easily do the splits. Accalia is not one of those and, as her dance instructor told me, she never was either. So Accalia and I talked about how it would help to do these stretches more than just once a week at class and that she could do them while sitting and watching tv and that I could do them too. Then we talked about how yoga helps with your flexibility, too, and that excited Accalia and sent her into planning to do her yoga tape while Ella was sleeping. At the library today she found a book of yoga poses and has been doing those, too. It's a neat book because it explains exactly what parts of the body she's working and other benefits (concentration, etc.)

Accalia is much more excited about her recital dance in tap and came home from class a couple weeks ago announcing that they were dancing to a song from High School Musical 2. Now, Accalia has never watched any of the High School Musical movies (not that there's anything wrong with that) or had any interest, but I could tell that she was excited (maybe a little in awe?) because the other girls must have been really excited, too. She's shown me the first part of the dance and it's really cute.

Cory's delivering pizzas tonight, Ella's already asleep after not napping, and Accalia and Cold are watching Rudulph the Red Nosed Reindeer on tv. After that's done, they want me to pretend to have story time with them.

It feels like the rest of the week will go quickly. Accalia has art tomorrow, and on Thursday she's getting a hair cut - just a trim. Cole's the one who really needs his hair cut, but he refuses to let me or anyone touch his hair at all. Friday will be tap class, and I have my LLL meeting on Saturday. So that's about it!

Yesterday we woke up to see our first snowfall of the season. It was only an inch or two of snow (the rest was sleet and rain), but Cole was the happiest boy in the world. He and Ella were outside with me the entire time I shoveled, and today he and Accalia have been out a couple times despite the wind and the cold. Unfortunately, all of that rain and sleet made for very icy conditions last night when Cory was delivering pizzas.

So the kids and I haven't left the house or yard this entire weekend. It's been really nice. Tomorrow, though, we'll have to go out to buy groceries. Accalia has ballet, too. Ella fell asleep between 5 and 6, so I'm assuming she'll be waking up before long for a late night. Better sit down to read and relax while I have the chance.

During elementary school, an annual activity that I loved was the reading of Stone Soup and subsequent lunch of stone soup made as we children looked on. I was reading Stone Soup to Accalia and Cole yesterday afternoon and told them about that. They were so excited about us trying it so we went out right away and picked up ingredients to make the soup using this recipe. Accalia and Cole did the majority of chopping and dicing for the soup, and it turned out delicious. Actually, Accalia and Cole really weren't too excited about eating the soup (and didn't eat much at all), but it was a lot of fun creating it together.

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This morning we went to the dollar store in search of candy buttons. No such luck. This is the second store I've looked for them and haven't found them even though I swear I've seen them everywhere. Anyway, the kids were each picking something out, and it often drags out for quite some time with Accalia because she has a very hard time making decisions about what to get. Cole picked out his - playdough - within minutes of entering the store, but Accalia probably stood in that aisle for a half hour or longer trying to make a decision. It's usually not a big deal if we don't have to be someplace or everyone is content, but Ella was getting really fussy. Accalia was nearly in tears because she couldn't decide between a pink and a green version of this craft kit, and I suggested the pink one since she usually picks out the pink version of anything when she can. She still was unsure, though, knowing that there was this green version that she also really wanted (they had each picked out two things and I didn't have enough money along to add a third), but when I told her that she knew that was something else she wanted and could come back and get it next time, she completely relaxed. "Thank you, Mom!" she said as we left the store. "Thank you for helping me make a decision!" Oh boy, can it ever be a gut wrenching decision for her some days.

So today the kids have been busy with the things they got at the dollar store, and I just remembered Accalia has tap today. I would easily have forgotten that. Ella just woke up from her nap and is having a leisurely nurse. Cory will be home a little earlier from work but then goes off to deliver pizzas from 5-10.

One of the most frustrating parts of parenting is helping your children get through those patches where they're making huge developmental leaps, and one of the greatest parts of parenting is after they've made that leap and are having a blast with whatever new skill they've mastered. It's like the calm after the storm. Ella seems to be there right now, and it's a small leap in her verbal skills. The majority of what she says is still fairly indecipherable, but little by little she adds a word here or there and is trying out more sentences and phrases. Her favorites seem to involve Cole. Yesterday morning everyone was waking up, and Ella and Cole decided to stay upstairs to play with the Polly Pocket toys scattered on the bedroom floor. "Are you going to stay up here and play with Cole?" I asked Ella. "Umm, yeah! I go ba ba ga goo Cole!" Accalia's name is a bit tough for her to say yet, so Ella usually refers to Accalia as "A Cole."

Accalia seems to be going through some leaps, too, although hers are definitely more emotional. Accalia was a huge comfort nurser as a baby and toddler - probably more than either of the others - but she's also been the least likely to show affection as she's gotten older. When I tell her I love her, she usually replies, "Okay!" Lately, though, she's been all about showing love to the mama. There are hugs, cuddles on the couch, head on my shoulder, jumping into my arms, etc. She also wants to be there with me helping and being part of keeping the household functioning. She talks a lot about what she'll do when she has her own house or what babies need, etc. I remember going through that stage, too, and thinking about how cool it would be to have your own house with your own dishes to wash and furniture to dust. Why can't it seem so exciting now?

Last night Cory made it home before 11 from his shift delivering pizzas, and he brought back a ton of food given to him for free. Sometimes a cook will be working who makes a little of each type of pizza, so if there's anything left over it gets sent home with other employees. Cory brought back a calzone that he took for his lunch today, breadsticks, and three pizzas (two of which hadn't been cooked yet and are now in our freezer.

Tonight Cory has two counseling sessions but will be home for the rest of the night. Yay!

We're fully mired in the lunchtime blues around here. We need to break out of our rut and come up with some new ideas for the meal, so if anyone wants to share what they do, leave a comment! Today, I told the kids, we were having an "appetizing" lunch - insert groan for corny wordplay - and I set out plates of cheese and crackers, lunch meat rolled up with toothpicks, peanut butter and jelly finger sandwiches, apple (two kinds) slices, and several different veggies. They loved that, so I was happy to do something simple that was also entertaining for them.

I've started reading the next Oprah Book Club selection. I'm not quite sure why I tend to read all of her selections; it's not as if I watch her show more than once or twice a year. I think it's because I usually enjoy the books she selects, so I keep on keepin' on. I was a little hesitant about this one since it's nearly 1000 pages long - quite a challenge for someone who has trouble reading through a monthly magazine before the next one arrives - and it takes place during the twelfth century, which is not an I'm particularly interested in. I'm hooked. This is one of those books that I instantly know I'm going to like and that I wish I could just sit around all day lost in it. I've never read any of Ken Follett's work before, but now I'm wondering if I'll have to go back and read everything of his if I'm going to enjoy it this much.

A couple days ago the kids asked if we could make gingerbread cookies. I wasn't sure if we had all of the ingredients, and we forgot about the cookies until today. So I looked and discovered we did indeed have everything necessary. I called to the kids from the kitchen, telling them that we had everything we needed to make the cookies. Cole's response? "Are you being sarcastic?' Not a clue where that response came from, but Cole thought he was pretty clever indeed. So we mixed up the dough and will make the actual cookies tomorrow. Yummy!

Other than that, it's been a pretty quiet day. Cory did some grocery shopping. Ella napped this afternoon. I've been reading whenever the kids allow. Cory's delivering pizzas tonight but should be home in about a half hour.

Usually Cory has a Saturday morning counseling client to see, but he didn't today because of the holiday weekend. That was so nice for him to be able to sleep in a little. Last night I had started getting Christmas decorations out and set up, and today we pretty much finished that. The kids and I set up the tree and decorated it, while Cory hung up outside lights and set up a few wooden cutouts that Myron made for us a few years back. The only thing left to put up are the stockings, and I can't find one. Hmm. We're so Christmas-fied over here that I'm even drinking my coffee out of a great big Santa mug that our friends Amy and Paul gave us about five years ago or so. Accalia has been listening and dancing to this cd. She's playing Christmas songs on the piano. The kids have watched "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" (the cartoon not the Jim C. version) twice today. Yes, we are going to be so ready to be done with the holidays by the end of next month, but that's okay. Time seems to pass so quickly, and I just want to enjoy this season as much as possible.

Our home is now even more of a wonderland for Ella. She's in love with our tree and stands there looking over each ornament. When one comes off the tree, she runs to me to put it back on. She's been constantly asking for me to hold her up at the entertainment center so we can look at the top where the Christmas village is set up. She points to each piece so I can tell her all about it. Her favorite is the old-fashioned library. We have to play a game of me directing her fingers where to go: "Walk up the steps. Open the door. Walk inside and check out books." Her favorite is when she points at a balcony on the top floor and I have to say, "Go! Go! Go!" That delights her to no end for reasons unknown to me.

Cory's delivering pizzas, and Ella is going from happy to cranky right now thanks to no nap. It didn't help that she was dancing in the kitchen with Accalia and Cole and Cole accidentally tripped her, resulting in a bloody nose. There's one of the true challenges of parenthood - trying to keep a two-year-old with a bloody nose calm and comforted while attempted to keep the blood from going all over the place as she shakes her head back and forth while screaming. Ah, good times.

Hey, guess who wants to look at the Christmas village?

I hope everyone who's celebrating had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday and is enjoying a long vacation. And if that isn't the case for you, then I hope you're having wonderful days no matter where you are and what you're doing.

My parents came yesterday morning and stayed until right before lunch today, so it was a short visit but a good one. We have eaten so much food over the past day and a half, and it's all been so yummy. Cory did most of the cooking, so it was only fair that I did most of the clean up, right? Of course, having my parents around made that job a little easier. After lunch, we took my parents over to see how construction on the new bridge over the Missouri River is progressing, and even though it was only in the 20s, we stayed at the little park for a short time to walk around. My parents actually stayed at a little hotel just a half block from our house because they thought the kids would have fun going to their room. This was huge for Accalia and Cole because they've always wanted to see the inside of the motel rooms, but that's never happened. Really, our visit consisted mostly of eating, visiting and playing. It was a little bit warmer today, so this morning my parents took Accalia and Cole to the park with the duck pond so they could feed the ducks and geese. Soon after that my parents left to return home.

My mom told me that a lot of the relatives in Mankato were expecting some sort of baby announcement from us this Thanksgiving since we seem to do that, but I'm going to have to disappoint those relatives and say that there is currently no baby on the way. And really, we've only made the pregnancy announcement once at Thanksgiving and that was in 1998 when I was pregnant with Accalia. I guess that in 2001 my announcement at this time was that I had miscarried, and it was just a month later that I found out I was pregnant with Cole. We announced Ella's pregnancy at Easter in 2004 - same day, in fact, that Jessica and Jeremy announced her pregnancy with Brooklyn. So that's my short history of pregnancy announcements and holidays.

Last night we all went to bed early - around 10 p.m. I was exhausted and Cory was planning to get up early to hit some Black Friday sales. I so foolishly ventured out this afternoon to pick up a couple things, and Cole and I even stopped at Goodwill to drop off a bag of donations and browse. We found a brand new Eloise board game, which Accalia and Cole have had fun with today. I also picked up a few books for myself and a book for my dad - a collection of stories about flying.

Cory is working tonight and called to say it's quite busy. There are six drivers on tonight, and usually there are three or four on the weekend. He's supposed to be done at 10, and hopefully he won't have to stay longer. Cory works Saturday and Sunday nights, too, but otherwise we don't have big plans for the weekend. Tonight the kids and I have been putting up a few Christmas decorations, gotten out all of our Christmas videos and books, etc. Maybe we'll put up the tree tomorrow.

This weekend has passed so quickly. After our rather disasterous trip to the park on Friday, thankfully things improved. Ella napped nearly all afternoon, but she didn't really wake up in an improved mood. The kids and I went to the Parade of Lights in downtown Yankton that evening. In the eight years we've lived in Yankton, we've never been to that. It's the kick off to the holiday season, I guess, and we get to see one or two or three Santas. The kids came away with quite the stash of candy canes (only Accalia likes), and we had free hot chocolate and marshmallows (not really necessary since it was in the 60s). Ella waved so, so hard at Santa. She was very excited, to say the least. The entire parade only lasted about 15 minutes, which confused the kids since they are used to hour plus parades, but they weren't too sad about returning home. Cory was delivering pizzas that night and didn't get home until close to midnight.

On Saturday, Cory had one appointment in the morning and then we took the kids to McDonalds. Cole had fun except for one small boy who was not particularly nice. Cole was very insulted when the boy called him a taco. It wasn't too hard to see where the boy's less than stellar social skills came from as we listened to him mom - extremely loud and extremely rude to that little boy. The first thing we heard her say when they arrived in the play land was a threat to spank, and it continued the entire time. It just makes you wonder why someone is so miserable and has to treat their child that way.

After lunch, we did our Thanksgiving meal shopping as well as additional groceries. We have everything except for the wine and a pumpkin pie. I'm not ashamed to say I'm too lazy to make a pie. I haven't done that since three years ago when Cole turned the oven to broil while I wasn't looking, which resulted in a very burnt pie. Cory delivered pizzas for about three hours that night, and the rest of the evening we all just sat around catching up on episodes of The Reaper. For whatever reason, all three kids really liked that show last night.

Everyone slept in this morning, and it wasn't long before Cory took Accalia and Cole to Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Mixed reviews from the bunch, but the movie going experience is usually enough to turn a so-so movie into fun for the kids. When Cory told the kids last night about going to the movie, Cole was pretty upset that I wasn't going along. He knows that Ella won't sit still for a movie, but the idea of me not being there wasn't a happy one. We talked more about it this morning when he was well rested, and he was fine with me not going along.

There hasn' been a lot of other stuff going on today. Ella fell asleep around 7 p.m. after going without a nap today. Cory is delivering pizzas until 9:15 or so, and that's about it. Tomorrow I have to tackle bathroom cleaning, and I can't forget to put the turkey in the refrigerator to start thawing.

Today is an amazing November day for South Dakota - sunny and 60 plus degrees. After lunch we went to the park by the Missouri River, partly to see all of the holiday decorations that have been put up (I will refrain from ranting about how early holiday decorations now pop up) and partly to take advantage of this mild day before the cold sets in for good. It started out great, and here are pictures to prove it:





Our outing did not end very well, though, and here's what I could have done differently. This park is huge, one where I can't necessarily see the kids if we're on opposite ends. It's also right along the Missouri River, and water is way too attractive to stay away from, especially for Ella. After Ella had her fill of the playground equipment, she started wandering toward the water, leaving Accalia, Cole and our pile of stuff (jackets, diaper bag, etc.) unattended by me. It was okay at first because I could still vaguely see the kids at the playground, and the park was pretty much deserted save for a few couples walking along the paths. We spent some time on the dock, looking at the green, green water and at the Meridian Bridge and construction of the Discovery Bridge. Then Ella started wandering even farther away down toward the shore. At that point, we would have been too far away to see the other kids or our things. Ella resisted every attempt of mine to turn back, and finally I ended up carrying a crying little girl for quite a distance back to the playground and almost immediately back to our van.

So, with a little more planning on my part, the trip could have been so much happier for all of us, and everyone's needs for exploring and water could have been met. Actually, the most helpful thing would have been to have another adult along so they could have stayed at the playground with Accalia and Cole and I could have wandered around with Ella. However, as the lone adult, I should have done the extremely simple task of taking along my backpack style diaper bag, which is roomy enough to stuff everything inside and handy enough to carry on my back and still keep up with Ella. Then I would have had no worries about where our things were, and I should have just expected that Ella wandering away from the playground meant she would be going far and not just heading back to her siblings. I'm sure Accalia and Cole would have been eager to get down to the water, too. I've just gotten too far out of the routine of going to the parks that I just didn't think of what a wanderer Ella is becoming as she gets older.

Next time, right? It probably didn't help that Ella was pretty much exhausted and fell asleep for a nap soon after we returned home. There are some days where she's not ready to nap until 4 or 5 p.m. and others where she barely makes it past noon.

What, you may ask, am I doing right now? Well, other than blogging, of course. I'm listening to my newly repaired dryer work! The repairman had a cancellation, so he came this morning instead of this afternoon and quickly found that the thermal fuse had opened and was restricting air flow. It would take a lot to top having a working dryer in the house after a three month absence, but a really cool addition to the day is that Ella's new prefolds arrived, have already been washed and are now drying in the dryer. Hooray!

I really, really need to pick up a few groceries today, and I'm hoping that by later this afternoon, when we need to drop Accalia at art, that Cole will be a willing participant in that errand. He's been a bit on the cranky side so far today. Accalia, too. Yesterday they were both closing in on hyper with the amount of energy they had, which perhaps they borrowed from me. I was completely depleted yesterday - crampy, tired, just wanting to curl up in a chair with a good book. Did not happen. Not even close. Let's hope I'm more successful on that front today.

This morning we headed a little over an hour north to visit our friend and her beautiful new baby girl. You know, no matter how many children you have or how many babies you've held, I don't think it ever gets old to hold a newborn. Of course, you don't necessarily feel that way at 3 a.m. when you're desperate for sleep and that said newborn is cooing or crying in your arms. A bonus for this visit was me getting back a couple books I had loaned to her quite some time ago and had forgotten she had. Nice!

We ate lunch and ran a few errands in Sioux Falls and then came back home so Accalia could go to dance and Cory to his two counseling sessions. I did some cleaning this evening, and that was the excitement. Tomorrow is storytime, and on Wednesday a repairman is coming to look at the dryer. Yay!

It's been a while since I've posted pictures, so I'll have to do that soon. For now, though, here's a short video of the kids one night while Cory was away. It's hard to get shots of Ella because as soon as she sees you with the camera she wants to be by your side watching how the pictures turn out. I love how Accalia is just dancing in the background the entire time.



Cole has been one cranky, tired boy today, but he now seems to be in a better mood. Accalia's been pretty tired, too. Hopefully tomorrow will be a happier day for them. We're (Cory included since he has the day off) heading up to see our friend and her new baby. Can't wait! I think the kids are probably more excited about the fact that we're going to eat lunch at Sonic.

Ella had her pictures taken today. I think they turned out pretty cute. She wasn't very interested in smiling or looking at the camera until after she could see the finished result. She was very excited to play with props, though. Cory and Cole scored some great deals at the $1 racks of summer clothes. Cory picked up three pair of shorts, and I found two pair of shorts and a shirt for Cole. Only one pair of shorts will probably fit Cole next summer, but that's okay. I don't know why I never find deals like that for me!

I think I'm going to wash some diapers now. Other then our baby visit tomorrow, the rest of the week will probably be pretty typical. I hope I'll be able to go to that birth center open house next weekend, but I have no ideas beyond that. Oh, and I suppose shopping for Thanksgiving dinner will be a good idea one of these days.

The event that has been so prominent in Cory and my minds' today is the anniversary of Mary's death. Three years ago. I can't believe it's been three years. In some ways it feels as if her death - and life - were lifetimes ago. Accalia says she doesn't remember her, and Cole definitely doesn't. That was one of the most heart-wrenching parts of thinking about life after Mary, that she would no longer be in the hearts or minds of the kids. I see it in different ways, though, even if the kids don't realize it without us mentioning it. The other day Accalia was explaining to Cole how she knows the things she cooks are good: I just taste it with my eyes. We would groan in partly mock frustration when asking Mary about a dish she made and the measurements of the ingredients. "Oh, I don't know. I just add things until it looks right" was her reply. Tonight, out of the blue, Ella reached for the picture of Mary we have in the living room, motioning for me to bring it to her.

While Cory was in Mitchell with his brother and dad, Myron told him that things with Bev probably would not go on much longer. Bev broke her leg this past summer and apparently became extremely pushy about the two of them getting married. Myron said that he doesn't want to get married again, that his life is good right now, and that Mary was the only woman he's wanted to marry. I think this is just what he told Cory - probably different wording with Bev. Neither Cory nor I will be heartbroken to see his relationship with Bev end, truth be told.

The kids and I watched The Wizard of Oz tonight on TBS. My brothers and I would do that every year when we were growing up. We'd always need a snack of Cracker Jacks, too. Not sure why, but those two things are forever connected in my mind.

Accalia wants to play games on the computer, so off I go.

It was so nice having Cory home for the majority of the day. Yesterday we saw him for just a few minutes after I dropped Accalia off at tap and he was getting ready to deliver pizzas. Then we talked for about an hour after he came home before going to bed. This morning Cory had one counseling session, and the timing was such that I took all three kids with me while I set up for the LLL meeting. Then Cory came to us and took Accalia and Cole back home with him.

The meeting went fairly well. There were three other moms there, and between the four of us there were seven children. We had a great discussion except for at one point one of the mothers made a comment of a somewhat political nature that made me cringe. The discussion had gone off topic anyway, so I quickly redirected our conversation. I just really hope no one was offended; well, other than me. One of the mothers became a member today, too, so that takes me up to three members in our Yankton group. Yay!

Our afternoon seemed to go by fairly quickly, but it was also pretty quiet. Ella didn't fall asleep for a nap until around 3 p.m., and then she slept for nearly two hours. Accalia and Cole played with one of the neighbor girls for a little bit, and Cory even napped for a while on the couch.

I finally finished the book I've been reading for a couple months - Love in the Time of Cholera (yes, another Oprah Book Club pick). It obviously took me a while to get into it since it's not a terribly lengthy book - 348 pages - and I enjoyed it for the most part. It's supposed to be a love story that spans more than 50 years, but most of the time I just felt like I was reading about one man's obsession with the woman he couldn't have. I did like the ending, though.

Cory will hopefully be home a little after 10 p.m. from delivering pizzas. Tomorow we'll need to do some grocery shopping, and we're getting Ella's picture taken. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll let me fix her hair a little. Her hair is plentiful and rather out of control. Cory will work for a few hours delivering pizzas, but hopefully he won't be there too late.

I miss Cory. Since last Friday I've only seen him for maybe six hours. That just sucks. I'll maybe see him tomorrow between him coming home from Mitchell and leaving to deliver pizzas and then hopefully for an hour or two after he gets home. It was a pretty quiet day today. I can't even remember what we all did, but when I look around the house I can see we were doing plenty.

I'm positively exhausted right now, which is, I suppose, better than being negatively exhausted. See? I must be really tired if I'm trying to be witty in my blog.

Cory left around 7:30 this morning and spent an exhausting day helping his brother build a new garage. It sounds as if they were well fed by our sister-in-law, though. He'll be there tomorrow and for part of Friday, too. I spent some of the day picking up on the upstairs landing and in Accalia's room, knowing they'd have friends over in the afternoon. Accalia had art, so we dropped her off and then picked up C. and A. at school. They were here until a little after 6 p.m., as were the three neighbor girls. Five extra children in the house definitely saps my energy, but they all got along well for the most part.

Tonight Cole and Ella had baths, and I've been trying to catch up on work and emails. I even ordered new diapers for Ella - just boring old prefolds. Accalia's been flitting around going from one project to another. She seems a little lost tonight.

I talked with my doula today and found out that the doctor I used with Ella's pregnancy (also my GYN) will be moving at some point in the foreseeable future. That sucks because there's not another doctor nearby that I would want to see for a pregnancy, so that means traveling a bit. This is assuming I will have a future pregnancy, of course. There's a birth center opening up in Norfolk, NE, which is about 50 miles away, and that may be something to investigate. There will be an open house next weekend, and I may try to go to that. I drove about 30 miles to see my last doctor, so this wouldn't be too much more of a stretch. It's just that I would lose out on only being two minutes from the hospital and being able to go in minutes before giving birth. Anyway, this isn't something that will be happening in the near future, so I won't dwell on it too much.

There's nothing scheduled for tomorrow, so we'll see what pops up.

We're back home after being gone to Mankato Friday through Monday. We had a great visit. As always, we saw lots of the cousins (always a thrill for the kids), my brothers and their wives. Saw my grandparents. Spent much of the afternoon with Heather and her two kids. Leaving wasn't too bad for the kids knowing they'll see the grandparents again in just a few weeks when they come down for Thanksgiving.

Cory stayed busy delivering pizzas, doing things around the the house, and nursing a cold. He's delivering pizzas tonight, too, but then has the next few days off (from all work) because he's going up to Mitchell to help his brother build their new garage. His dad will be there, too. I think Cory's really looking forward to spending a few days with his brother and father. So, we won't see much of Cory this week, but hopefully we'll have more time together this weekend.

Lots to be done. Hoping Cole is asleep soon so he can get some extra sleep and get over this case of the crankies. Hopefully it's just that and not him getting sick. Maybe I'll be inspired to blog something interesting, too, over the next few days.

Yesterday was a fun and exhausting day for the kids. Accalia dressed up for her art class, wearing this witch costume there as well as when we went to a party put on by the local college


The kids and I went around the neighborhood for about an hour, covering just about four blocks. Accalia dressed as a frog, Cole as Spiderman (without the mask), and Ella as a bee:


After that, we went to the party at the local college where there was a haunted house that scared all three kids and a few games to play. We ran into some friends, too. Cory had a busy night delivering pizzas and even got some candy out of the deal. The kids came away with quite a bit of candy, and right away Accalia sorted through hers and set aside half or more for Cory and me since she didn't like it. Ella seems to enjoy unwrapping the candy more than anything, so you know that means I have to eat up whatever she unwraps and doesn't eat!

It's been a rather rough day around here so far. Ella is napping, and Cole and Accalia are finally playing together happily. I'm attempting to pack and catch up on things before we leave tomorrow. I also woke up with a scratchy throat and feeling a bit under the weather, which hopefully won't get worse just as we're getting ready to visit.

Yesterday was also a happy day because our friend Amy gave birth a a baby girl named Gianna Faith yesterday! I hope to be able to stop on our way out of town or on our way back home to visit, but that completely depends on them as well as if I'm feeling better.