20 Week Belly Picture

For those of you who asked for it, here it is...

They think it's a....

GIRL!!!

The baby was very uncooperative at our ultrasound today. Sitting breach in my pelvis very low. It took over half an hour to view the three things they look for with the heart. Everything looks great and baby is growing well. Both the ultrasound technician and the perinatologist guessed it was a girl, but just couldn't get a good look. My regular ob/gyn said she would look again for us later to see if we could confirm that. So for now we are anticipating our third daughter!

A Bunch of This and That...

The girls had a good time trick or treating this year. We had a rough start when a neighbor's dog wouldn't stop following us from house to house. Ella was freaked out by him, I guess because he was bigger than her, and she refused to get down from her daddy's arms until we lost the dog. It took several blocks but we managed to do it. After that she got into her treat or treating groove. After every house she would say, "More 'ouse (house), more treat."

Here's a picture of them the first Sunday in November, just because they looked cute and I actually had time to do their hair...

I'm finally feeling the baby move now! I'm trying really hard to remember how sweet it is to feel all those kicks and flips, just in case this really is our last baby. Friday is our ultrasound, and you know what that means...

I don't know what's going on around here, but I've been baking. I know. I think I've gotten rid of my unreasonable fear of yeast. Here's the evidence...

Homemade pizza crust...

cinnamon rolls...

and homemade bread, which I didn't have the chance to take a picture of before it was eaten up. Okay, so their is a quarter of a loaf left in the fridge, but it just doesn't look as pretty anymore.

Mark finally snaked our toilet this morning. For the last three weeks I've been having to plunge it every two or three flushes. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how unpleasant that was. I'm praying that this solves the problem and I don't have to plunge anymore. Mark is hoping this solves the problem so he doesn't have to pay for a plumber.

Does anyone else have a corner somewhere that looks like this...

It's the beginning of November but I'm elbow deep in wrapping paper. I've had to wrap every single Christmas present I've purchased because I no longer can hide things in my house. The kids can sniff out my hiding spots like hound dogs. So until we get a tree, this corner of my bedroom will have to do.

I wanted to drop my kids off on the side of the road today. Just kidding...kind of. They fought and screamed and drove me nuts the whole way to and home from Yankton. They fought about what movie to watch, a plastic horse, whether or not to hold hands, crayons, and just about anything else you can imagine. Seriously. The side of the road. Instead, I just sat there and transported myself to a happier, quieter place.

On Monday Drake turned 1 year old. Happy Birthday, Drake! Thanks for being such a good friend to our girls. We wish you many more happy, crayon-eating, leaf-chasing years.

Happy Halloween! 2009

Hair Cuts!

Here are my children today after much needed and long-awaited hair cuts...

We can finally see our baby's eyes again, and pretty ones they are! Thankfully, everyone at our house is feeling well now after three long weeks of coughing and runny noses, and we're praying it stays that way!

Update on Ella

The good news? Ella is feeling much better today. She's still running a fever, but not nearly as high. She slept much better last night and when she woke up this morning she was walking around, playing, and she finally ate something.

The bad news? Whatever virus had its way with Ella has moved on to me.

Having to take care of two small children while being sick has got to be on my list of least favorite things.

Thanks to those of you who said a prayer for Miss Ella, would you do the same for me?

Would you please say a prayer for Ella? She started running a fever at midnight last night and it's been climbing ever since. It's now at 103.6 degrees. She's restless and achy and just feeling crappy all over. We've never seen her so lethargic. This is definitely the sickest she's been in her two short years of life.

We took her in to her pediatrician this morning. They tested her for H1N1, which came back negative. They also checked her inflammation levels (which would indicate an infection in her kidneys, bladder, sinuses, etc.) and white blood cell count, both of which were okay too.

So the doctor's guess is that it's just a nasty virus that needs to run it's course.

In the meantime, our baby is hurting and it's hard to do nothing but give her Tylenol and Motrin and pray that she feels better soon.