10.30.2012

30 weeks



How far along?
30 weeks

Weight Gain?
I'm still at about 8 pounds. All the 140 ounces of water I drink a day don't put on the weight I guess :)

How big is baby?
about the size of a cucumber and around 3 pounds

Sleep?
I am having trouble falling back asleep when I wake up in the middle of the night....which I often do!

Maternity Clothes?
yep!

Food cravings?
i was craving wings the other day--weird--but there aren't any here, so I didn't get them. I have been eating apples and pumpkin dip a lot.

Food aversions?
pretty much any meat--except formentioned wings.....

Symptoms?
still throwing up, heartburn, everything has started stretching--having lots of hip pain.....lovely third trimester things :)

Doctor’s Appointment?
I had one today! Knox is still growing well. Doctor said he has long limbs like his mama---he kept talking about how long my legs were--ha! Knox still needs a little fattening up, so I am supposed to eat lots of eggs, milk, and meat. yuck to the meat :(

Movement?
He is moving around all the time now!

Belly Button?
In--mine has never popped out with any of my pregnancies!

What am I looking forward to?
being on the other side of my flight around the world at 33 weeks pregnant with Rylie......by myself.
We are hopefully leaving on the 12th of November

What do I miss?
sleeping throught the night, but I guess I should get used to it :)

Best Moment this week?
all the sweet friends who have brought us dinner and helped our family while I have been on bed rest! We are so blessed!

10.26.2012

War Games

As I was trying to figure out how to have a fun party for 7 and 9 year old boys while on bed rest, my sweet friend Wendy came to the rescue! Her oldest Nic is in Everett's class and turned 10 at the end of September, so we decided to do a joint party with all three boys. And then Wendy and James found this AWESOME laser tag place in town. Party not at my house, Wendy helping with food, something fun for te kids---I was sold!!

So we met at the park with 10 boys to play a fun game of laser tag. And then Wendy and I saw grown men totally decked out in camo getting ready to go onto the field. We looked at each other and said--"Are we sending our kids into war games?!?"
But no worries, they were on a field by themselves, with an instructor coordinating all the games for them. They were safe.
The field was really neat with overgrown grass to hide in and old tanks and bunkers.

Here are Everett and Reid with part of their gear on.


the group getting instructions

almost ready to go.......

here come the helmets and vests.....


the birthday boys--Nic, Everett, and Reid

my sweet soldiers

and the guns........ready for battle fun!
The dads joined in to "help". They may or may not have had more fun than the boys and may or may not be planning another afternoon for adult laser tag.

And cupcakes for the birthday boys!

green flame!

Rylie and Lexie--
the little sisters who hung out with their babies while the boys played :)

We are so thankful for great friends that God has provided for our family here! The Wrights are such a fun family and it was SUCH a blessing to this mama to be able to do a party with them, so my boys could still have a fun party, even though I am on bed rest!

10.20.2012

7--the perfect number!

Reid turned 7 on Wednesday!! (slow internet took me three days to finish this post!)

He woke up to birthday balloons!

made a weird face for birthday oatmeal--complete with candle!
(it was awfully early to be taking a picture....)
had a BIG smile for birthday cupcakes at school with friends!

kept his smile for birthday dinner at Peters!

Everett loves to use the camera these days. And Rylie was enjoying herself, despite what the picture presents.


and then we headed home for some cake!

And of course Reid wanted a volcano cake.
What? Did you think I was trying to make a regular, round, two layer cake that looked nice and somehow the top layer totally collapsed while I left the kitchen for 37 seconds?
Nope. He's totally into volcanos these days.

making a birthday wish!!

and from what I hear volcano cakes taste just as good as pretty ones......I'm just sayin'........
sweet siblings!

We are so thankful for our sweet 7 year old! What a fun dynamic you brings to our family! We love the constant laughter, funny jokes, tenderness, and compassion that you show. Your love for learning the Chinese language is such an encouragement to us.
Everett said he is most thankful that you love to play with him.
Rylie said she is thankful that you pick out books at the library that you know she will like.

You are such a blessing to our lives, we are so proud of the person you are becoming, and can't wait to see what God has in store for your future! We are so thankful that He entrusted you to us!

10.14.2012

Princess Party

There are a a lot of little girls over here between the ages of 3 and 5. Which results in a LOT of pink.
Lexie had a princess party for her fifth birthday. All the girls dressed up like a princess and were treated like royalty.

they got their nails painted,

and got crowns and wands.

And Lexie's mom Wendy, is a party thrower extrodinaire.

They played pass the doll and a fun princess and the pea game.

Rylie throughly enjoyed the pink immersion, as she is surrounded by boys at home, and it only is going to get worse from here :)

10.13.2012

Pumpkins

Matt has meetings all weekend, so i decided we would try to start tonight off with some fun while he was gone. We made these rice krispie treat pumpkins, which I am sure I saw on pinterest.

E and Ry with the first one we made.

Reid hard at work cutting his out

The finished products :)

And the kids wanted to take some pics.....

They turned out ok. They seemed to be extra sticky but the kids loved it! You have lots of leftovers from around the cut out shapes.......I may or may not have eaten all of them. That will fatten up a baby right?!

10.11.2012

28 weeks


How far along? 28 weeks

Weight Gain?
I've gained about 8 pounds! The doctor here said that the baby wasn't fat enough, so I needed to fatten him up. Matt asked what I could eat to do that. The doctor said eat carrot soup. Who ever got fat off carrot soup??

How big is baby?
about the size of an eggplant and about 2 lbs

Sleep?
Sometimes I have trouble falling asleep, so I have been reading before I go to bed. Which almost always turns into Matt putting my kindle down for me after I have fallen asleep while reading.....

Maternity Clothes?
Definitely, especially pants!

Food cravings?
Clemintines are here! yay! I have also been eating LOTS of the pumpkin granola that I brought back from Hong Kong. Sadly, I am almost out and it is no where to be found here :(

Food aversions?
still better most days! Any raw meat....

Symptoms?
still throwing up, heartburn has started......hair stopped falling out! Yay!

Doctor’s Appointment?
I had one last week. Knox was growing, but my fluid is still low, so still on bed rest. Praying through whether we should go back to States to have him or not. Would love your prayers!

Movement?
He is moving around a lot now! mostly when I lie down to go to sleep at night :)

Belly Button?
In--mine has never popped out with any of my pregnancies!

What am I looking forward to?
Deciding where we will have him (the planner in me is really having trouble being still and waiting--perhaps there is a lesson in here somewhere?)

What do I miss?
cereal, rylie sitting in my lap, sleeping on my belly

Best Moment this week?
Everett's Birthday--he said the what he was looking forward to most in his 9th year was Knox being born!

10.08.2012

Party at School

Today Rylie, Matt and I took cupcakes in to school for Everett's birthday. It was my big outing of the week :) He wanted vanilla cupcakes with blue frosting. I didn't get a picture until he had eaten his--he was really fast!

His desk at school. Note his naem in cursive. They are learning cursive and it is not his favorite subject :)

Everett and one of his good friends in his class Nic.

Everett was so proud to have Rylie come to class so he could show her off! She enjoyed it too, despite the look on her face in this picture :)


Not quite Intown Quilters......

(for those of you not in Atlanta, Intown Quilters is one of my FAVORTE little places to buy fabric)
So we have a fabric market here. It is next to several other markets. It is about 6 square city blocks. It has so much random stuff!

like gigantic stuffed animals. Pretty sure they supply Costco with theirs.


Random fans, ribbon, kind of like tissue paper, frames
(and my friend Wendy)

this aisle has buttons, ribbon, hot glue guns, linings, mesh, twine, findings, elastic, etc.

and here's some yarn.
I wish these were scratch and sniff pictures. Because you might be throwing up now. The bathroom--if I can even call it that--smells SO bad you can literally smell it a block away. And there are guys who go up the aisles selling food around lunch time. Not yummy smelling food. And then people spit on the floor--or on you, as they mosey about. And they might even blow their nose on the ground for you to step in. If you are lucky.
It is quite a trip out there--pretty much takes up your whole day. And since I am back on bed rest, I will be wandering the aisles no more :(
But I did get some stuff last time I was there and will hopefully show you some of the creations I make with that stuff soon!

10.06.2012

Almost Double Digits

Today was Everett's 9th Birthday! I know I say this everytime, but how do we have a 9 year old!? He sure has changed a lot in the last nine years.....but I haven't. Weird.

Anyway, he woke up to birthday balloons....

we had some birthday homemade cinnamon rolls,

with candles of course!

Some friends came over to play a new wii game that he got for his birthday, Just Dance.
Funniest. Game. EVER.

Opened some presents with the family,

And got measured on the annual birthday growth chart. Well, its going to be the annual birthday growth chart. This was the first year. I measured Ry on her birthday this summer and added her in late, but we have lots of years to go!!

We also talked to lots of family in the States for birthday wishes.
At dinner tonight we went around the table and said what we were thankful for about Everett. Reid said "that he loves to play games with me" and Rylie said "for being Everett, reading to me, and tickling my feet".
We asked E what the most exciting thing was about his 8th year--he said moving to China. We asked what he was most looking forward to in his 9th year and he said Knox being born! Already loving his baby brother :)
We are so thankful for the blessing E is to our family. He is a loving older brother, enthusiastic reader and seeker of knowledge, funny, and a joy to be around. We love you!!

10.04.2012

Trip to the farm

This week is a big holiday over here. This year two holidays fell the same week--National Holiday and the Harvest Moon Festival. The kids have off school for a week and the entire country pretty much shuts down. Ok--thats not totally true. But a lot of people have off work, lots of places are closed, and a LOT of people travel. Some go home to their hometowns, some go to Beijing or other touristy places. It is a lot more expensive and a lot more crowded to try to go anywhere this week. So we decided to stay here. That and the whole bed rest thing. 
So Monday one of our nationals had some people up to some farm land that his family owns.
Matt took our kids and they had such a good time!! They grilled out, feed pigs, and got REALLY dirty! All signs of a great time!!
They also went on lots of hikes....

Ry getting ready to start

a little break on the way. Several families went, so there were LOTS of fun friends for the kids to play wth!

They found a toad and the girls loved it!

Then there was this cliff. And my boys were probably very glad I was on bed rest at this point, because I might have not let them climb up a four story wall of rock with just vines........


But alas, mama wasn't  there, so off they went!
 Reid was the only kid to climb the whole way up! Since he is still alive, I guess I am proud of him :) 
Matt assures me he was holding onto him the whole way up--except I don't see any hands on him in this picture......

This is a picture of the second floor of the house. The kids played a bit of Lazer tag in the afternoon and LOVED this porch look out!

I loved that the kids got to see how people live outside of our city!