Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Waiting Game

Our baby 'Shauna-seed' is due on March 23rd...exactly 4 weeks (28 days) from today. In many ways that seems like an eternity, and in other ways, it feels like tomorrow! We are mostly ready...still no hospital bag packed or anything like that, I'll have to get to that in the next few weeks!! Baby's bassinet and the newborn clothes are ready. And we have size N diapers...so small!! And what else do babies really need? Not much! I feel pretty much good to go, now we just have to wait on the little ones timing, which is hopefully a few days early:-)

I've got the word from the hospital that the H1N1 visitation rules will not be over until sometime in April, so we are making plans for childcare etc while I am in the hospital. This is a huge disappointment to me!! However I am glad to know it ahead of time so I can prepare myself and not be upset when the time comes. My next appt will reveal my Group B strep status, and if positive, we'll try VERY hard to be at the hospital long enough for the medication so we don't have to stay for 2 days afterwards. I was positive with both other babies, and despite our best intentions of being there long enough (4 hrs) for a dose of the IV meds, we never met that "goal" either time. I hate staying in hospitals when I am not sick and there is nothing wrong with me, I just feel like a caged animal. And it's so boring! I would much rather be able to leave right away, and this time it would be even better since the kids would not be allowed to see me or the baby... so we'll see how that works out. We can't wait to announce the news!!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Art

Abstract or Realistic? You decide:

Kenna is "very good at drawing people", she says. Hahaha! She loves to draw, colour and create special projects. Maybe she'll be a crafty girl:-)

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Special Days & Sushi

We have a little family tradition, dubbed "Special Day" by Kenna after she had her first Special Day...which consisted of going to Home Depot with Brian to order something for a job, and then he got her a Sonic drink. She loved the outing so much, she referred to it as her Special Day, and simply couldn't wait for another one. This was probably about 9 months ago, and she will still talk about it all the time! Brooks got a Special Day recently when he went to the Gun & Knife Show with Brian and Poppa. They love their Daddy dates, which really aren't that spectacular, just anywhere they get to go with Daddy alone! It is actually a little difficult to plan these Special Days, since Brian works usually every Saturday. So we have to capitalize on the ones he has off!

Since we needed a new fish, and I am NOT interested in getting or transporting the horrid thing, I thought it would be a nice father/daughter thing to do. We thought it might work out on a certain day, but didn't. She would randomly say throughout the days that followed "(Sigh) I guess I'll never have a Special Day" Haha. So dramatic! Two weeks ago, it finally worked out to get the fish! Brian and Kenna went to lunch at Tropical Smoothie "and we got a cookie, and a smoovie, and a quesadilla, and then we got Sushi and spring water"...and then to Walmart to select another beta fish. She discussed maybe picking another name for him, other than Sushi (the second), but ultimately thought she liked Sushi the best.

They did a nice job picking him out, I think he is much more beautiful and colourful than the old Sushi.


Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Valentines Day

The kids loved Valentines Day! They got so much candy from church they didn't eat anything else all day. Here they are, home from church, munching on treats, all dressed in red! They are still loving their helium balloons from Auntie Lauren!


We made some Valentines cookies on Friday for the weekend. I could have sworn I had a heart shaped cookie cutter...but I don't! I seem to have every other shape imaginable! Oh well! We coloured the sugar cookie dough with food colouring to make it pink, since we couldn't have hearts. The kids loved them, of course, and they didn't last too long with Daddy around:-)

Friday, February 12, 2010

Birth Announcement - Kenna & Brooks

My mom started the tradition of creative birth announcements when she had me. Mine was an announcement called "I've Had Parents", and it was cute and simple, but as the years went on they got super great and more elaborate! Maryn's was my favourite, I think, it was a cheque with the stub attached...Logan's was a musical score sheet (how appropriate now), called God's Encore (he was an 'encore' to Davis...but not the last encore as it turned out!). Lauryn's was a Baby Doll one, as though she were a doll from the store...Anyway, they were all great and cute!

I just really liked the idea so I decided to continue on the idea with my kids. I am right in the middle of trying to get baby's announcement all sorted out. It's hard to be completely happy with it, I am constantly trying to get the wording right, etc. Since I didn't have the blog with the other two, I thought I would post the birth announcements I made for them.

For my first born, I wanted to do a passport, just like a real one, since Brian and I are both from different countries. I thought it would be cute. It really turned out well, I think, I was very happy with it.

A pink passport, the same size as a real one. Brian is 100% Irish (I am only partially Irish), and the crest on the front is the Bolger Family Crest. It turned out well that the baby was girl and got the Kennedy Irish name! I only have this crest on a plaque and it's in colour, so I taped it up to the window and traced the whole thing out so I could get the line art version. That was a little time consuming!!


Inside the passport


Page above the "main page"


A picture to fill the blank space


And the back inside cover. If you click and enlarge you can read it better!


For Brooks, I made a little storybook, "written by" Kenna. Much simpler than Kenna's announcement, but cute, and I was happy with how it turned out.


First page


Second page


Back outside cover

Bunk Beds

In making room for baby (bassinets, pack n plays, kids just take up so much space!), I am moving a shelf into the garage. I set it in the living room while I organized things... and it was turned into a play toy! The kids climbed all over it and made beds in it. Kept them busy all morning!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Lights On!

Yet another home improvement project completed...recessed lighting is installed (and working!) in the kitchen! There are six lights in there, adding to the ten in the livingroom, so now we can see!! Brian and his Dad got the lights all hooked up last weekend. I'm loving it!! Everything seems like such a slow process sometimes, but it's worth it when it's done.

Hmm, the angle of this (boring) pic, makes it look like they are really far apart...but they aren't. They actually line up exactly to the ones in the adjoining livingroom, so it all looks nice together.


And on another snow related note...it did snow again today! For the 3rd time in 2 weeks! Just a little bit though...it'll be gone by tomorrow I'm sure.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Global Freezing

The supposed global warming phenomenon is certainly not working very hard to prove itself this winter! All throughout the southern states we've been getting snow in places that don't normally see any (Florida for example...notice your o.j. going up in price?). The snow storm we had a few weeks ago was the most snow our area had seen in 28 years! Incredible! It didn't last long, by Wednesday (snowed Sat), it was all gone and we were back to normal. But then this past weekend we had another snowstorm, not accumulating snow (not solid ground cover), just more like a heavy dusting, but it did stick overnight. And now they are calling for more snow tomorrow too. Crazy!! I am personally not loving the snow, only because it comes with such chilly temps. The kids think it's great:-)