This is such a sweet picture. Malcolm didn't feel like posing, he just wanted loves.
This is all I could get Quinn to do. He wasn't into the picture taking.
After church he finally gave in, with some persuasion from his brother. They weren't really cooperative though. Quinn kept running at me, and they didn't want to do anything but this. Oh well, they look so cute anyways all dressed up!
And 35 days to go. Although we can only wish for sooner! I'm really tired of these pictures and posts. Am I the only one!?! Not much to say about how I feel...just big, but not ready to deliver. I feel absolutely huge, and no more room for the baby to go. I can't keep my pants on, although that's been a problem for quite some time, but now I just wish I could wear my sweats everywhere, they are the only thing that's not constantly falling down. And of course all my shirts are too tight, but what can you do when your stomach sticks out so far!
While they were launching the rocket, I was showering. Malcolm came and told me all about it, he was pretty excited. Matt came asking me where Quinn was, and of course I thought he was with Matt since I was in the shower. Matt started looking everywhere for him and started to get worried when he couldn't find him. Then Paka found him just sleeping on the floor. Matt and I didn't even see him just laying there. It was so cute, wearing his snow boots and all still. My kids never just fall asleep. The batteries on my camera died just as I was about to take the picture. Luckily we have our old camera for back up!
We had a great dinner at Mom's. Of course there was way to much tasty food. The only sibling missing was Brianne, so we had a lot of people. Melanie wasn't there either since she had just had a baby, but her Mom joined us instead which was great! This is my sweet niece Emma decked out for Christmas. She looked so cute in red, especially her red bow!
It's tradition in my family to open new jammies on Christmas Eve. The boys were pretty excited to open a present. We gave them a quick bath before opening them so they could put them on right away.
They thought their jammies and slippers were so cool. Malcolm thanked me over and over. I think they look so cute in the old man jammies!
Quinn still has his horsey obsession. I love how Mom is being led around by Malcolm. She wasn't excited about me taking the pictures!
Then Quinnie had the chance to be the horsey too, or a dog, who knows what he was thinking he was this time.
We had Christmas morning with Matt's family. All his family was there except for Ben who's still serving his mission. Our kids were the last ones up some how. We didn't open gifts until about 8am. Our little family Christmas morning, with Rose of course. We don't have girls in our little family.
Quinn didn't quite know what to think of all this present opening. He doesn't look to excited about his Santa gift.
Rose totally loving her new doll and care bear. She is such girlie girl. She's so stinking cute.
Malcolm was so funny. He was opening his Santa present he was so excited, when he saw it was a bumblebee transformer he was totally shaking saying "b..b..b..bumblebee!" It was so stinking cute. Somehow the picture I took of him with it turned out blurry. Ugh! He just couldn't get enough present opening and when he was done, he started helping Quinn out. This is Mack with his new suit from Grandma and Paka. The boys are going to look sharp in those Sunday.
I think Quinn was totally overwhelmed by it all. He ended up giving up for a while and just sat down eating some Smarties. We tried giving him other presents to open, and he just didn't care to open them. Malcolm was opening them for him and showing him what he got. So funny.
Malcolm had a list of four things for Santa. He ended up getting all of them. The "grandma's" totally gave into all his requests. Besides bumblebee, one other request was a red light saber. Gramimi and Poppy gave both him and Quinn one. They were very excited!
They totally light up and make sounds every time it's swung or hit against something.
Paka and Grandma gave Quinn a horse on a stick, you know what I mean, the head of a horse. Quinn was very excited and started riding it right away. Cynthia also remember she had some old cowboy outfits one of Merle's sisters made for her kids. She gave one to Quinn for Christmas. He's a pretty cute little cowboy with just a onesie, vest and chaps! Cynthia is letting us use all the cowboy outfits. Our boys will have some fun in those!
It finally snowed here in Moses Lake. I guess it's snowed before, but it had all melted. I was really hoping it would snow while Laura and Mike were here so Rose could play in the snow. You don't get that chance living in warm weather! We didn't have any sleds, so the boys were trying to go down on garbage can lids and Matt took out a cookie sheet. It didn't work that great!
Malcolm then decided to try the garbage can. What a funny kid! Paka later was pulling them on a shovel. It was so cute, I went back inside by that time. Oh and it was totally snowing at the time so the snow flakes were falling in front of the lens.
We had a great Christmas with both our families. We also had a good time talking to Ben. He'll be home October 2008, so less then a year now. It was great having all Matt's family home. Laura and Mike left Friday. Nate and Jeff leave tomorrow. It's gonna be quiet this next week. Hopefully I'll have some time to go visit my new nephew. I haven't even seen him since he was born. So sad I know!
Emma in her peanut shell. Leisha was showing me what it's all about. I love her little tongue.She's now just over 2 months old. (Out of the four babies being born into my family these next few months, she is the only girl!)
The really great surprise is I have a new nephew. Melanie went into labor 2 weeks early, sort of throwing her for a loop. She'd been induced with her other two boys, so how great for her to go natural with this one. He just couldn't wait for Christmas. He was born on Dec 23rd, just after 4pm. He weighed in at 8 lb 15 oz and 21 1/4 inches long. Good thing he came early! Melanie is doing great and had a great delivery. I'm so glad I was able to be home and went and saw them in the hospital. He's so cute with his round face, and yawns!! They haven't decided on a name yet. Oh the pressure!
As for the rest of the week...obviously we came home for the holidays. All Matt's siblings came home. (Except Ben who's on a mission in Texas!) It seems like I've been busy doing something everyday. Thursday I spent my afternoon at my Mom's kidless. I wanted sometime to visit with Leisha while she was there. I held Emma for over 2 hours while she slept. I totally spoiled her and I'm glad Leisha let me. That will probably be my only time to have that one on one time. I really enjoyed catching up with Leisha. I hate having her so far away. She's such a fun sister!!
Milo blowing out the candles. Just one for every decade. I know it's really dark, I was playing with the setting on my camera, and there's obviously not a lot of time to get is right!
Friday I didn't do much either. Mostly just did the last of my Christmas shopping. Matt and his bros seemed to play games most the day.
6 weeks left! I'm starting to feel like that's really soon, yet still so far away. I don't feel uncomfortable enough yet, or quite big enough, to have the baby. That's hard to say. I wouldn't mind being like Melanie and going 2 weeks early. (See next post.) As long as I go natural...I mean without drugs helping me progress. It's easy to say right now, but I really do not want to be induced this time around. I really hope my body will do it all on it's own, in a timely manner!! I was surprised that Melanie having hers didn't make me feel anxious to have mine. I'm sure when I hit my 38 week mark though, I'll really be hoping to following in her tracks. I've been feeling pretty good! I was back on track with working out last week. I even brought my aerobics stuff home. I walked on my Mom's treadmill Thursday, and did my aerobics Friday and today. Only a little over a month left doing it pregnant. I think I can, I think I can!!
7 Weeks left, and holy huge! It's amazing to think that I still have to get bigger. They say that you start gaining 1-2 pounds every week until the baby is born. I want the baby to get it's fat, but I sure don't! I can see that my face is filling out more. UGH!! I can tell the baby is already running out of room. He seems to be kinda slowing down in his movements, and he's just pushing everywhere. I know I'll miss feeling him when he's born. Malcolm woke up the other night around 4:30am and then I couldn't fall back asleep for quite a while. The baby had the hiccups and kept kicking on the side I was laying on. I usually don't feel him during the middle of the night. He moves a lot right when I get to bed, but then he seems to fall asleep with me. Oh and hiccups are so annoying sometimes. Just feeling the constant hiccup right in the same spot it's so annoying. I always try to massage them away. I try scaring him too, but that doesn't work. He totally gets scared and jumps, just not when I try to scare away hiccups. So my back hasn't been hurting me that much, thank goodness. But that could be the fact that I only did my aerobics on Monday and then only walked 1-2 times the rest of the week. I was really disappointed with myself for being so lazy. I feel like this far along, if I let myself go, I may not get it back until the babies born. So today I made sure I got up, and then I went walking for an hours too. Oh it felt good, but now I'm tired and want to take a nap. We'll see how exercise and the holidays go with my workouts. I have great plans, but I tend to get more lazy away from home!! Yes, I'm blabbing! I'll just blame it on pregnancy!
When Malcolm got home from school Monday, which isn't until almost 4:30pm, Matt took them out sledding. I was finishing making potato soup, so I went out a while later. It was getting to be really foggy and dark, so I couldn't get really any pictures unless I was really close. Matt taught them how to "snowboard" down, and Malcolm loved doing it that way, taking a few face dives. Quinn wasn't quite so brave. 
Quinn has been obsessed with being a cowboy lately. He wears his hat and will sit on the armrest of the couch thinking it's his horse. Obviously he knows what guns cowboys use too. Every time Matt gets down on his hands and knees, Quinn is right on his back. The other day Matt was watching "A Man From Snowy River" on his laptop and when Quinn saw all the horses, he got his cowboy hat, shut Matt's computer and told him to be the horsey. He'll tell Matt to "HEE" and to go big, meaning to rear up. He is such a funny kid!
On Tuesday and Wednesday I made Santa sugar cookies to take to some neighbors and friends for Christmas. My Mom makes them sometimes and I just think they are the cutest thing ever. You use a heart shape cookie cutter and then make the Santa on the upside down heart. My Mom always uses mini M&M's for the eyes and nose, but I couldn't find them anywhere, so I just bought the frosting in the tub for it. Then you use coconut for the beard and top of hat. So festive! The frosting took forever and we didn't eat dinner that night until after 7pm. Good thing I'm such a terrible mom and let my boys frost and eat a cookie!
We just started reading family scriptures together in October. I know we are terrible, but I think Matt and I realized how old Malcolm was getting and we have totally neglected doing this. So after the boys take their bath and get dressed, we sit down at the kitchen table and eat sliced apples and read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon. The boys do really well since they are occupied eating apples, and looking at their books. Wednesday since it was so late, I think Matt and I were both thinking of skipping it and just putting the boys to bed. Matt usually does the bathing and dressing, while I do the kitchen clean up. I'm cleaning up the kitchen and Quinn comes out, wearing a basketball outfit as jammies none the less, and starts putting every ones scriptures on the table. It was so cute, he knew exactly who's was who's. Then he sat down and just waited for the rest of us while looking at his Book of Mormon and asking for an apple. How can you resist to do what's right, when you have the sweet reminder from a two year old!?!
Today I met with Malcolm's teacher to see how he's progressing. I was so proud of him!! She talked so highly of him and is so impressed with how well he's doing. At the beginning of the year he only new that his name started with an M and he could writ that along with some C's and O's. Now he's writing his name without any coaching, and it's totally readable. He loves writing. He'll ask to write my name, Matt's and Quinn's, and then he can copy pretty well anything you write out for him. He's also doing very well with counting. He will see something and without counting out loud he will tell me "there's 4 such and such". His teacher says that is really advanced for his age. (I know he's my oldest, so I'm impressed very easily!!) She says at school he is very well behaved, they never have to get after him. Never treats others badly, always uses his words. Always listens and knows what is coming up next. Is very attentive to what he is doing. She says he's very focused on his work. I was so glad to hear that. I'm so afraid of my kids not being able to focus on schooling. It's the whole ADD thing. I was just so proud of him, but at the same time I told her, he's not like that at home. While she was here Quinn had something Malcolm wanted to look at, and he started throwing a little fit, whining and such. She says she was so surprised because that is not the Malcolm she knows. Here at home he is always whining, hitting Quinn, upset that I tell him to pick up his toys, doesn't want to get dressed, doesn't hear a word we say to him, on and on and on. I wish we had the opportunity to see more of "school Malcolm" here at home. But I'm so glad and proud that he's such a good kid for others!! Just needed to document this!!
8 weeks left is sounding so good, yet so far away!! I think this may be the worst picture yet. I'm usually really good at taking them first thing in the morning. Today Matt had a final at 8 am, so I was just out of the shower when we drove him to school. We didn't take it until 9pm, so I looked pretty worn out. And I'm way too full on potato soup and rolls! Plus it's just not a good full shot, notice the top of my head. Anyways enough about the picture. Matt keeps commenting on how hard my belly is. The baby is always pushing way up against the belly. I'm so afraid he's going to be huge!! Most the time they say they get bigger with each baby. This one could be a 9 pounder folks! Ugh! My back was hurting so bad this last week. One day I could barely walk so Matt had to take care of the kids while I sat and felt bad for myself. I did a trial run of the SI lock this weekend. It did wonders! I barely even felt pain. My physical therapist said that it was $25, then I took it back today and it's actually $40. I just don't know that I want to spend that this time of year. That's presents for the boys! Or for gas! So I'm going to go without it a few days, maybe I'll be convinced by the pain again. I went to the doctors last Thursday and I start going every two weeks, than at 36 weeks every week! Oh it makes it feel like it's all coming to an end. Really does the baby have to grow anymore. I'm really not looking forward to going home for the holidays. Away from my own bed and comforts this pregnant. I must be really tired right now! Blah! Or maybe it's because I've been sick for almost a week.
Malcolm's last day. They also tried out the life jackets. He had an awesome teacher. The funny thing was he ended up being LDS, and so were everybody in his class.
Malcolm doing his back float. He does very well swimming. Of course he can't keep himself afloat for too long, but he can swim to the side of the pool and kinda do some strokes. He had one little mishap. They were practicing jumping in to the teacher one by one, and then they would swim to the edge and hold on. Some how at one point he let go and then couldn't find the edge again. He was swimming, just couldn't keep his head out of the water. The lifeguards and me went running, well I didn't get to far before they were there, and they pulled him to the edge. It didn't phase him one bit. He came out smiling thinking he was swimming the whole time. My friend Mandy asked if it freaked me out, and I didn't think it did, but then a few minutes later I realized my heart was pounding.
Wednesday after swimming the Poteet's and the boys and I all went to a little Christmas thing on campus. (Matt has anatomy lab that night.) At the Alumni building they had free pictures with Santa, and Butch dressed up as Santa too. (He's the Cougars Mascot.) Malcolm didn't want a picture, and Quinn was really really scared crying. They also had cookie decorating, make your own paper ornament and cookies and drinks. All the boys wanted were the cookies and juice. They didn't care about the rest. Here are Georgey and the boys showing off! They are all way too much boy!
The Poteet's! Georgey, George, Mandy and Grayham. I talk about them a lot so I thought I should post a picture of them. Hopefully they don't mind!!
Thursday ended up being a good day. I've been so tired and behind on everything. I decided to take a nap and Matt cleaned the bathroom. I was so happy, and I didn't even ask. I'm so amazed at how well he does. He cleans all the little fixtures and down by the base of the toilet. Some guys don't do so great!! He's the best husband ever. Every year he just gets better too!
