Noah is on the countdown...4 more days till Grandma comes! He complains, "but mom, that will take forever!" And for several days now he has been telling me (multiple times a day) "mom, I'm going to have hot chocolate with Grandma." I guess you're usually here when it's cold outside : ) Both of the kids are VERY excited to go trick-or-treating with Grandma. I'm excited to take both of my kids trick-or-treating too, and I'm so glad you'll be here to enjoy it with me! And, of course, I can't wait to have my husband to myself for 4 whole days in warm, sunny Florida! We can't wait to see you!
John picked me up from the airport on Friday and whisked me off to San Francisco to celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary. John continually out does himself - we stayed in a suite at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco. It was pretty amazing. Beautiful room, HD TV's , even a mini TV in the bathroom, pretty view, access to a special lounge with food 24/7, plus the company of the most romantic, best husband in the world who spoils me. It doesn't get any better than that - I am a very lucky! It was a wonderful weekend!
The main reason for going to Utah was to help Michele finish up the baby's nursery and get all the baby bedding sewn. We finished the bed skirt and the bumper pads and sheets, we even added a little pillow. Despite some problems when we were all done we had to agree it looked wonderful. Michele has put together a beautiful nursery and I have never seen any one so happy to be pregnant. (Sorry - I can't relate. For me it was always miserable and just a means to an end. But Michele is really enjoying it) It was so much fun to work on this project together.
I had so much fun going with Michele for the day to watch the triplets. It is so cute to see how much the girls love her and how good she is with them. The whole thing is pretty overwhelming but Michele seems to have it all figured out - feeding all 3 at once, play time, nap time. Michele is going to be a fabulous mom!
I wasn't sure I could tell the triplets apart (except for autumn who has the dark hair) but after just an hour or so their personalities were so distinctly different it was easy. They were all so cute but I think Autumn was the friendliest. She is so cute! Spring liked me too but Winter was having a rough day and pretty much just wanted Michele.
So we had our 20 week ultrasound. He is beautiful and weighs 1 lb 1 oz. He looks very healthy and is growing right on schedule. He moved his eyes and mouth during the ultrasound, it was crazy. He moves so much and now I can feel him almost constantly. I have gotten much bigger over the last 2 weeks, I think he had a growth spurt, or I am just eating too much. Either way, I'm starting to really show and John loves it... he says my belly doesn't even look real. When the baby kicks or punches hard John can feel it so exciting, it makes the pregnancy seem like it is finally real. I spend a lot of time in the nursery these days. We ordered a glider and I can't wait for it to get here so we can put it in there and I can sit in it and wait for him : ) I still have mixed feelings about whether or not I want to be pregnant forever or if I just want him out... though the bigger I get and more uncomfortable it becomes, the more I want him here. I can't wait to see his little face. It is the strangest feeling all the sudden to imagine him being out of my body and in my arms. The last week I have been feeling different about him... like he is real and I actually love him like a mother loves her baby, and I think about who he is and where he is coming from and how he is half of John and me and I feel so incredibly lucky and blessed. Everything about him is a miracle to me. 18 weeks to go! We hope it flies by!
Tanner was home for a quick weekend for a trip to Kaiser for his mission physical. John had to be at a Emergency Prep Fair at Northgate most of Saturday and Tanner wanted to go do something - so after a stop in at Northgate we went to San Francisco for the day. (Just the two of us) The weather was gorgeous! There was a big sail boat race out in the bay, we went to my favorite french bakery and explored the North Beach neighborhood. Then we went to this park near the Museum of Modern Art - I'd never been here before and it was really pretty. We made a quick stop in Union Square so I could return something and called it a day. A very nice day - wish you could have all been there with us - it really was beautiful! It was fun to have Tanner home for a visit - even if it was just a quick one.
Our latest addition to the nursery is the changing table I bought on craigslist back before we were pregnant. It was a real steal... just $100! It was bright white and I wanted it to match the crib, so we sanded it and painted it beige and added cute hardware. It was a pretty fun project, and quite a deal, $30 for primer and paint and $30 for knobs. You could never find a changing table this fabulous in a store for $160! Needless to say, I am pretty proud. 21 weeks down, 19 to go!
Autumn is the cutest. (the one with dark hair and pig tails) I know I should love them all the same, but she has the most personality and is the happiest most of the time. Spring and Winter, the identical ones, require more attention than you can give to a triplet sometimes. Autumn is walking now and is so funny I just laugh at her all day long! Spring is not in these pictures because she pretty much has cried ever since Summer left. She misses mommy. Winter and Autumn are happy to have me as a surrogate for a few days. They love me : )
They love the shower! Autumn crawls around the water to play with the toys and Spring never moves from being right under it. When they are all in there they have fun, but getting them in and out alone is a nightmare... By this time it is bedtime so they get tired and grumpy and wow... I run out of patience. This is the best job to have when you are expecting your first baby... one will seem like a piece of cake! I'll have to remind myself of that frequently when he arrives.
So I spent the last 3 days with the babies while the rest of the family is on vacation. It has been exhausting and eye opening to be with them by myself for 24 hours a day! I told John I wasn't so sure I wanted twins anymore! They are so cute and funny but wow... what a handful! They just started eating dinner in their high chairs with real food and they LOVE it! This was so entertaining to watch them eat spaghetti and meatballs with their hands. Needless to say, we went straight to the shower after dinner. I got a work out running up and down the stairs to put one baby in the shower at a time. They seriously are the funniest babies... but my goodness, I think God knew what he was doing when he gave me one baby instead of 2!
Tanner and I had so much fun on our trip and saw tons! I'll just give you a few highlights as none of the photos will really show how fantastic it all was. Here we are in the real dungeon underneath the city where we learned about Edinburgh gruesome history.
The Tattoo is listed in the book -"1,000 places to see before you die" - so Tanner and I can cross that one off our list. We were lucky to get tickets - it sold out last Feb! It was a big military parade and show at the foot of the Edinborough Castle and it was fantastic!
None of the photos will do justice to the beautiful scenery we saw in the Highlands. Tanner was fun to travel with because he was so excited about everything. He jumped out of the car in the pouring rain to get up closer to this waterfall.
We had our pciture taken by this statue of Robert the Bruce because my Dad says our geneology goes back to his line. He is the 2nd biggest hero in Scotland - the 1st being William Wallace.
Tanner was always the thrill seeker. Here he jumped a railing to sit by a sign that was on the edge of a cliff that he thought was funny. Right behind him was a straight drop to your death!
Here we are on a tram that took us to the top of this mountain - where at the top the wind was whipping around at 60 mph
