Amazing Grace

Here is an update on sweet baby Gracie who is now 3 months old. She is still my sleeper and only gets really grumpy when we disrupt her precious sleep. She is very mild and thankfully is content to spent (too much) time in her swing and bouncer chair. She is a very light sleeper, which is tough with her two crazy siblings. She hates tummy time, I think it is because her noggin is so large, poor little girl! Andrew LOVES Gracie, Lucy is still deciding.

We are moving...

Any guesses?

Here is a hint...



We are moving back to California, but this time we are going to try out the No. Cal scene. Clarke got a job at an Insurance Company called Allianz. We will miss our sweet home, the cheap cost of living and most of all the amazing people. We are excited to be back in the West, done with school forever (I hope!), warmer weather, and most of all living close to our families.

I can't remember life ever feeling so overwhelming and stressful. I am trying to pack, make our house perfect for selling, and taking care of my busy kiddos. Here are a few pics of my home. There will be tears when we say goodbye.

Christmas

This year was our first year by ourselves. It was not as bad as I anticipated. We hosted a Christmas Eve party with other friends who were by themselves. Christmas morning I tortured my kids by dragging it out as long as possible. The whole day we stayed in jammies, watched movies, snacked, and played with new toys. I "took the day off" which meant that our house was literally trashed by the end of the day and I had to work 10x's as hard the next day. Ugg. It was a nice Christmas.

Gracie's (disastrous) Blessing

Why today was disastrous...
1. Two of the guys Clarke asked to stand in the circle were not there. (no big deal)
2. The microphone didn't work so no one could hear the blessing, we were on the front row and I had to strain to hear him.
3. As I was busy jotting notes Lucy (2 1/2) ran up on the stage (AHHHH!!!) I had to run up and grab her.
4. As I was holding her hand between my knees while I continued to write notes, she started to scream.
5. I let go of her hand and she ran INTO THE BLESSING CIRCLE!!! I had to reach through the bishop and one of our friends and grab Lucy. It was a nightmare! I gave up on note taking.
6. Clarke sat down and asked how it went I honestly couldn't answer him, I missed the whole thing.

The silver lining:
1. Gracie was a gem.
2. Most people missed the fiasco because their eyes were closed.
3. Suzy and Spencer were here (thanks for coming guys!)
4. Someday I will laugh about this, just not today!

Update

I feel so guilty about not sending a Christmas card this year. I rationalized by saying I am taking the year off since I just had a baby, but it is a lame excuse. Thank you everyone for all your Christmas cards I love looking at them.



Merry Christmas Family and Friends! We are so thankful to have you in our lives. I promise to send Christmas cards next year!

Gracie joins the family

On Saturday at 3:00 AM, I woke Clarke up and told him "today is the day" for the next three hours I tried to practice all my relaxation techniques, I took a bath, and even attempted to read a book. By 6:00 the contractions were making my toes curl and they were coming about 4 minutes apart. We called my friend and neighbor Megan to come watch our kids. When we got to the hospital they checked me and I was a 6 1/2, they told me to walk the halls for awhile. It was intense, I had to stop ever couple of minutes andd try to breath threw my contraction. After a couple of painful hours they wanted to check me again and this time I was a 7, I was so disappointed "all that pain for 1/2 a centimeter! I decided it was time for an epidural. It was HEAVEN!!! I was completely relaxed and I even rested. The nurses left me alone and 1 hour later they came to check me again and the nurse said "oh...I see a head." All of a sudden there was a flurry of activity and I pushed through two contractions and my beautiful daughter was born.

1st family picture as a family of 5. I realize how much I am needed when I am gone. Lucy in this pic has jam in her hair, chocolate around her mouth, and she chose her outfit. It was so nice to go home and be together as a family!

Baby Gracie, is so far (knock on wood) my calmest baby. She is a great eater, very alert, and patient with adoring big brother and sister.

1st car trip home. She looks JUST like her big brother Andrew, I will post some pictures of him as a newborn to prove it. We love love love baby Gracie.

Halloween War

So this is what I want my kids to dress up as for Halloween...however.... Lucy only wants to be a Princess and Andrew wants to be Cowboy/Power Ranger/ Ninja/ dog (he added that one yesterday. Since I am due to have baby girl that week, I think I will open the dress up box and let them go crazy, but this picture is going in the album for Halloween 2009 (hah, let's see who gets the last laugh)