Growing Baby

18 Weeks 2 Days ....

Baby is growing ....

Heartbeat was 151 today :)

Thankful for a healthy baby 

BOY or GIRL ...

I still say Girl ....

Baby was opening and closing his/her mouth today ....

It was the sweetest thing ....

Two more weeks of patiently waiting  ....

Then we will know ....

The baby will finally be ...

He or she instead of "it" ....

If we don't back out that is ....

And go for the Surprise at delivery ....

We will keep you posted :)

18 Weeks :)

Here we are at 18 weeks :)

Nope !

You are definitely not seeing things ...

That is indeed a Christmas tree hidden behind the belly ...

My parents got a little confused ... they thought it was the first of December not November ....

Not Really ....

They wanted to put the tree up while my sis and her kiddos were here ....

They left this morning ...

So there is sadness all around...

There were tears ....

My kids look like life might never be the same ...

What will they ever do without their cousins here ...

Well for starters ...

Back at the ole school grind tomorrow morning bright and early ....

We do miss them already though ...

Alberta is a very long ways away ...

My sis is coming though when the baby comes ...

And we will see them all in 9 months when we meet up for vacation in Tennessee next August ...

Until then, we have Facebook, Skype, phone and good ole fashioned snail mail to get us by ....

 And Remember ...

Time has this way of always going fast ...

Braces and 16 Weeks

We are almost to the 16 week mark, and getting very, very  round ...

Please ignore the stain on my shirt ...

It is obviously some sort of food I have dropped and landed on my tiny tummy ...

A very helpful tidbit I've learned this pregnancy ....

It is much easier on your body to be pregnant at 22 than at ?? ...

I am so tired this time ...

I'd like to think it's because I already have 3 kids , home school and hubby has been working extremeley long hours .....

but I was visiting my Grammie a few days ago ..... 

" complaining " about being so tired this time , and she kindly told me it was probably my age this time around  !

So there you go ... :)

We had a big day planned yesterday .

John even took the day off ... 

It was the day the braces were to come off !!!

So we headed out early to the city ....

 Mr. Cooper heard about the long drive, the waiting room, the hour and a half braces removal ext... and decided he wanted to stay home and spend the day with my Mom .

So to the orthodontist we went ....

and they took one look in Maggey's mouth and decided ...

those braces aren't ready to come off today after all ....

yeah ....

Poor Mag ... she was so looking forward to eating tons of the candy that will be floating around next week ..

So now were are getting them off Dec. 12 ...

 Hopefully :)

The trip wasn't a complete waste though ...

John got a FREE haircut :)

My cousin Rebekah is in hairdressing school and she needs to do 85 men's haircuts in the next month ...

John was # 2 :)

The girls had a great time watching ...

She wants me to bring Cooper down and get at his hair ....

but ...

I'm just not there yet ....

We also got to go out to eat with this adorable nephew and his mama ...

So we had a great day anyway ...

Even if the braces didn't come off ...

Plus we are now down to only 48 hours until my sis, nieces and nephew arrive :)

On another note ...

My hubby now likes the name Dolly if we have a girl ....

Who comes to mind when you hear that name ?

:)

Happenings

So thankful for everything I have ...

~ My Hard Working Husband

~ My Children 

~ My family 

~ Food to eat 

~ Warm home 

~ Maggey getting her braces off 1 week from today :)

~ My sister, nieces, and nephew arriving in only 9 more days ...

~ It's been a long 17 months without seeing them ...

~ Thankful both my sisters said they would fly and drive here right after the baby arrives !

~ They are the bestest :)

Emily & Kanani joined the girls for school Friday morning ...

Coop's getting really good on the Wii ...

We cancelled the satellite so ... cartoons are a thing in the past here now ...

The girls started back to swimming lessons again ...

Halley in Level 7 

and ....

Maggey in Level 4 ....

Ever the supportive little bro, Coop came to watch ...

O.K. !  Well he really has no choice ~ What with only being 4 and all :)

So he makes the best of it, playing with new friends ....

We've been busy putting fresh coats of paint everywhere ...

Everyone works in this house :)

A baby purchase !!

Yep - this is the biggest purchase we've made so far ...

Pink or Blue ....

Which will it be ?

14 Weeks +

Well it's been quite a week for sicko's in this house ....

We started last Thursday with Mr. Cooper getting the flu, then Friday night Hubby went to emerge and found out he had strep ! Saturday morning Cooper still wasn't up to par then Halley came down with a bad case of flu ..... that lasted until Sunday and I thought ~ phew .... it's done . Well that is until I came down with the flu  on Mon- Tues :) Then we were in the clear ! NOT ! Yesterday it was Maggey's turn to get sick, and my washing machine was put to the test again :)

Thankful for my Mom who helped immensley with looking after the kids :)

So here is hoping all the germs are outa this house ... for a few days at least !

On a brighter note !

We passed the 14 week mark :)

and I am getting rounder :) It's starting to look like a basketball in my tummy. Which according to Old Wives Tales,  means I may be carrying a boy ....

Yesterday we had our prenatal appointment. It went great ! Everything is going wonderful. Baby looks healthy and strong :)

We also heard the heartbeat for the very first time.

Very Exciting !!!

John made a recording of it ...

Strong at 165 beats :) Which according to Old Wives Tales, usually means girl ....

So one way or another ...

I am definately having either a boy or a girl :)

Fall Decorating and Great Pics

This blog post should really be titled " who taught Shan how to take such bad pictures ... " and why in the world can't she figure out the settings on her camera ?"

You'll soon know why once you scroll down to look at the beautiful pics I took yesterday !

Playhouse all decorated for fall ...

Cost of decorations $ 0

You can find all kinds of things in the woods or around your property that look great all mixed in together .

Very festive! 

Looks like fall around here :)

This is my most spectacular photo! I hope your not blinded by the light :)

I know you would never guess by this picture but that flower box is actually brown !

Who would like to hire me to do their wedding photos ????

Cornstalks , cattails and pumpkins ....

Again - $0

Is there a better way to decorate ???? :)

My trees turning a beautiful color ...

Soon all these leaves will be all over the yard ....

The kids can't wait !

While I was taking 5 whole minutes to walk around my yard taking amazing photos...

My girls were busy reading ...

and doing their cursive  ....

Cooper and his new friend Jamie .....

were working hard in the dirt ...

which basically means .... digging holes in the driveway ....

again - not really this bright out !

Enjoying the last few days I'll beable to do this ....

and ....

here we are at 13 weeks :)

12 Weeks & Baby Names

We did it !!

We made it to 12 weeks :)

This might seem kind of a silly goal to most but ...

I was exactly 12 weeks last year when we found out our baby had not made it.

So getting to this goal was a big deal for me. I've been very nervous up to this point .

Now I feel like I can finally relax. 

Everything is going great. 

Baby is great :)

I am definatley growing ...

Still a little sick and tired ...

but this will pass ...

Healthy baby that's all that matters :)

Everyone here is very excited about our little one that is on the way.

We all have our guesses on Boy or Girl .

John ~ Boy

Shannon ~ Girl

Halley ~ Girl 

Maggey ~ Boy

Cooper ~ Boy

We find out on November 23 :)

If we don't back out from finding out that is ! We never have before. We're more the surprise when the baby arrives kind of people. Still love that ! On the other hand - I would like to be prepared :)

With summer over and more time spent indoors it's given us more time to compile lists of baby names we like ... I'll give you a short list of some we love .

GIRLS 

      

~ Sadie  

~ Bethany

~ Josey 

~ Miley

~ Tessa 

~ Lyla

~ Maria

~ Blaire

~ Farrah

~ Paige 

~ Janey

~ Marcey

~ Jessa 

BOYS

~ Hudson

~ Barrett

~ Canton

~ Elliott

~ Cash

~ Lincoln

~ Dawson

~ Lancen

~ Jack

~ Samuel

~ Deacon

~ Simon

 ~ Cord

~ Jesse 

~ Axle 

 ( Ok, John is not actually a fan of Axle  - YET :) )

That's our list :) I'm sure we'll knock some off or add as we go along .

Feel free to tell me the ones you love.

Family and Friends ~ Inbox, text or tell me in person :)

The ones you like not the ones you don't like :)

Have a great day everyone :)

What's New ?

Last weekend the kids talked their Dad into sleeping all night in the playhouse ... Notice I said " talked their Dad into it " :) I opted for being the official snack fixer and volunteered to sleep in my nice comfy bed :)

Remember back on Labor Day, hubby and the kids went fishing ???? Well this was the catch. This "catch" went into one of my good tupperware containers and into my fridge . Guess what got forgotten about and I found yesterday tucked in the back ???? Not sure what shocked me more when I opened the lid ! The eyes staring back at me or the smell ..... Into the garbage went my tupperware :( That smell would never fully go away !

Guess what happens when your pregnant for the 5 th time ????? Your stomach grows in leaps and bounds almost immediately! So  instead of looking 11 weeks along.... I look more like 24 weeks along .... Wondering how big I will be by 24 weeks ???? :)

By the way Mag's is referring to me as " a pregnant lady ".

Everything seems to have that tagged on to the end !

They were all very excited at the Walmart last night when we pulled into " The Pregnant Lady " parking spot up near the door! Even more excited when they realized that's where we can park for the next few months!

I'm just a commodity now :)

Good for parking up close to the door :)

We went through the fun task of getting rid of too small clothes, packing away the summer clothes and digging out the winter clothes ! Glad that's done and thankful to see that the kids don't need too much. Mostly their outdoor things :) Makes things easier.

Yesterday afternoon while Little Man slept, the girls helped me whip up another batch of pickles ....

Which puts our total for the winter at 47 jars ... 

I think we're good :)

Apples

Last Sunday was such a beautiful fall day , it made it almost seem like it was still summer not September .

We thought we'd head to the orchard and pick a few fresh apples.  

The sun was shining ...

The apples were delish !

Perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon ....

The first picture of the 3 of us ....

Apples Apples Everywhere !

Our babies ....

Not so much anymore ....

Love how these go from this ....

to this ....

to this ....

Yumminess :)

Happy Fall Everyone!

It's here :)