Dining Room: Before and After

So we've spent the last two weeks frantically (at least on my part) trying to finish the dining room before company comes and so we could put up our Christmas stuff.  It had wallpaper and we had avoided this room 'cuz it was really, really hard to strip the paper.  We finally decided to paint over it.  In order to do this we had to primer it with special shellac primer that goes on wallpaper, then Patrick textured it to look similar to the rest of the house, then primered again this time with regular primer and finally paint.  Here are some pics:

Before:

The one of James is the before pic...in the background.  It was the best I could find.  We've switched computers recently and I don't know where all of my old pics are.

We had to cut out the bottom of one of the built-in bookcases so we could put the piano against that wall too.

This is after we've done the first coat of primer, but before the texturing.

Patrick priming after texturing, the night before he has to leave on a business trip....

Ready for paint.

The drama of the bookshelves begins.  I thought the darker green would look good...but was overwhelmed by way too much green....so I bought yellow paint...that was awful.  It looked like a preschooler colored our room...I didn't take a picture.  Then I bought a gold/wheat color.  That was much better:

This is before we put up the Christmas stuff.

After (don't laugh at our tiny table and mismatched chairs, we're working on it...):

and here's a shot of just our tree...the big 9 footer we got to match our 11 1/2 foot ceilings (we thought our 6 /12 foot tree might just look silly).

So there you have it.  The result of nearly two weeks of 2-3am nights.  What do you think?

Here is Henry's reaction to the whole ordeal:

Coming Sometime in the forseeable future: Hallway: Before and After, Baby's Room Hallway addition: Before and After. 

New Moon in a Minute

For those of you who haven't made it in to see the new Twilight movie, this about sums it up. ;)  Sorry my formatting cuts off the side of the video.

Special Marriage Meme for our Anniversary

What are your middle names?
  Mine is "Anne" after Queen Anne of ....somewhere. ;)  Patrick's is Russell after his dad, a tradition in their family is for the first son to get the dad's name as his middle.

How long have you been together?
  Well we met in October of 2002, but our first date wasn't until March 6, 2003 (the day before my birthday).  We were married Oct. 17th of that year, so married six years, friends for seven and "significant others" for six and a half-ish.

How long did you know each other before you began dating?
  Well, as I said above, we met in October, but didn't really start hanging out or talking much until the following January when Patrick returned from Christmas with short hair.  My friend and I were appalled that he had cut his hair and went over to tell him so.  My friend decided that that was the time for her to take a temple prep class, leaving the two of us alone for Sunday School.  In Febraury we decided to drive to New Orleans together and the first week in March he asked me out to "check if I was crazy or not" before our trip.  I guess I passed the test.

Who asked whom out?
  He asked me.  I would never feel comfortable asking a boy out...I would assume they did not like me if they had not asked me out first.

How old are you?
  I'm 28 1/2 and he's 33 and 3/4.  I've always liked older men...never really even attracted to guys my age, much less younger.

Whose siblings do you see the most?
  Well since four of his six sisters live within a couple of hours drive, we see his more often.  My closest sibling is in Utah...an 18 hour drive from here.

Which situation is hardest on you as a couple?
Uh...what?

Did you go to the same school?
Not really...I guess he took a couple of classes at UNT where I eventually got my Masters, but we didn't meet there or anything.

Are you from the same hometown?
  No.  He's from the army...he doesn't really have a hometown.

Who is smarter?
  That's an antagonistic question.  I think we're equally smart in different areas. 

Who is the most sensitive?
  Generally me, though there are some areas where he is the more sensitive one.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
  Uh...McDonalds?  We also like Applebee's for "fancy" dinners, or Bari's Italian restaurant in Denton...though I think it's called "Fera's" now....

Where is the furthest you have traveled together as a couple?
Istanbul, Turkey

Who has the craziest exes?
 That would be him since I never really dated anyone before him and thus have no exes to speak of.

Who has the worst temper?
I think we're pretty even on that one, though we get mad about different things.

Who does the most cooking?
   Hmm...I think he may cook more than me...but I bake more, so maybe we're even.

Who is the most stubborn?
  I think I am..

Who hogs the bed most?
  I do...and as soon as he leaves I take the rest of his side too.

Who does the laundry?
I do, he's at work all day.  It's the only "chore" I do consistently.

Who's better with the computer?
  He's better with internet stuff and I'm better with word processing/excell type stuff.

Who drives when you are together?
   He does.  I think I've driven maybe 3 times when we're both in the car since we've been together, which is funny since he always says he'll need me to drive on road trips, but it's never happened.

Okay I guess that's it.  Happy Anniversary Patrick!  Hope you come home in time for us to go to the movie! ;)  (We're finally going to go see Harry Potter at the dollar theater).

Our wedding day six years ago...... 

Just home from our anniversary date. ;)

Henry Russell born Sept 23rd, 1:28pm

Sorry it's taken so long to get to this blog, but our computer was down for a few days after James spilled a nearly full can of soda on it...aparrently soda and computer mouses don't mix.  We have now bought a new one and are good to go once more.

   So as you know I was supposedly due September 23rd according to the doctor.  I am of the opinion that I was actually due on Sept 16th for various reasons that I will tell you if you care, but if not I'm not going into them. So the 16th came and went, no contractions, no dilating/effacement etc....  Then the night of the 22nd I was up late reading my book (the Dresden File if you're interested, much better than I thought they'd be).  Anyway I was sitting in a semi-reclined position, which was a change from laying on my side and reading as I had been doing the last several weeks.  I think this may have had something to do with what followed.  So about 2:45 am I decide to call it a night, Patrick at this point had been sleeping since around midnight.  I got up to get a drink of water before turning in and passed one of James' toys on the way to the kitchen.  Thinking that I would undoubtedly trip over it on my subsequent trips to the kitchen that night (I'm really thirsty when I'm pregnant and wake up a lot to use the restroom), I bent down to pick it up.  As I stood to put it on a shelf I felt what it retrospect I think of as a faint tearing, but I may be making that up, followed by a gush of water in my nether regions.  For a split second I thought I must have overtaxed my bladder, but as I was unable to stop the flow I rushed into the bathroom (about ten feet away) to investigate.  I discovered that my water had broken...beyond any shadow of a doubt.  This kind of freaked me out for a second as my water had to be broken by the doctor several hours into labor with the last two...but as my sister had just gone through a similar experience two months ago, I was more prepared than I would have been.  I quickly cleaned up as best I could and grabbed a clean towel to fold between my legs for the trip to the hospital.  I then carefully made my way to the bedroom where I started getting dressed.  Patrick woke up at this point and looked at me in question.  I said something like; "Wake up Patrick, my water broke" to which he replied; "really?"  He thought I was kidding, I assured him that I wasn't and he pulled himself out of bed all bleary eyed and sleepy.  He called our friends in town who promised to watch the kids and the wife came over within ten minutes.  I was in the mean time hurrying to pack all of the last minute items I needed, taking a 40 wk picture (since we hadn't gotten one yet)

and emailing our other babysitter so she'd know to expect a call the next day.  At this point I still hadn't had any contractions.   I was a little bummed 'cuz I was hungry and knew they didn't let you eat anything once you were in labor at the hospital.  Patrick offered to buy me a candybar at the gas station since we needed gas anyway.  About thirty minutes from the hospital I finally started having contractions.  They were five minutes apart  and then suddenly two minutes apart which kind of freaked me out as my sister-in-law had her baby in the car the month before and I really didn't want that to happen to me.  Once we got to the hospital, Patrick helped me out of the car and the contractions stopped.  Unfortunately my water started leaking again now that I was upright and I worried about leaving a wet trail all the way up to the maternity ward.  This problem was solved by borrowing a wheelchair from the ER and Patrick pushing me. 

   We wheeled up to Labor and Delivery and I reported that my water had broken.  They asked a bunch of questions (which they hadn't done before) about my name, doctor, etc...before showing me into a room.  I changed and the nurse checked me and said I was dilated to a two.  She said they had to run a test in the lab to make sure my water had broken and then they would admit me.  She said they used to just use those litmus papers, but they had too high an occurrence of false positive so now had to use the lab.  My nurse was about 8 months pregnant...interesting because my nurse with James was also very pregnant.  Anyway, we waited and waited for the lab results which she said usually took about 15 minutes.  She called down to the lab eventually and found they were backed up but would get to them soon.  In the mean time my contractions had gone back to being 5-7 minutes apart.  Finally she said that she used the paper and it changed color immediately so she was counting it.  They admited me about an hour after we arrived (so about 5am now), hooked me up to an IV and monitered my contractions for awhile before giving me pitocin to speed things along.  The contractions hurt more after this.  My doctor came in about 8 am to check on me (it seems that if you're there during the day than your regular doctor will try and deliver you, so that was nice) and I was about a five.  She asked if I wanted an epidural first off and I said "Yes, please."  They ordered me one right away.  After she left the nurse said that they had paged the anesthesiologist and he was coming....twenty minutes later she said the same thing....30 minutes after ordering it she checked and said he was on his way when they had an emergency situation come up and he was now in surgery.  That sucked.  I was worried that he wouldn't get there in time and I would have to have the baby all natural...which is what happened to my sister.  Finally an hour and twenty minutes after calling for him, the anesthesiologist came rushing in.  He explained that he was still in the middle of surgery stuff, but he had maybe ten minutes to give me my epidural.  He repeatedly said that I needed to understand that this was a REAL emergency and my patience was appreciated...that he was sorry it took so long, but there was a REAL emergency so I just needed to bear with them.  (He said this like 3-4 times, it was kind of funny)  I told him it was okay, since he got there before I needed to push....or something to that effect since I wasn't big on the talking at this point.  Finally the epidural was in and I was able to relax and get some sleep.  About 11:45 Patrick asked the nurse if she thought he had time to go grab some food.  He said she gave him a dirty look and said it was hard to judge these things.  I told him it was fine and he left...for like 45 minutes.  He came back and said that traffic was bad and he forgot it was lunchhour so people would be out. 

    Anyway, about this time I was feeling pressure with each contraction, though not much pain.  The doctor came back to check me around 12:30 and said I was a really elastic 8-9 centimeters and 90% effaced.  She said she'd be downstairs and they could page her if we needed her.  She left and the nurse came in and said if I started feeling alot of pressure I should let her know right away.  I asked what a lot was since I was feeling pressure with each contraction and she said something vague about if I felt "more" pressure I should tell her, but that she'd be back to check on me soon.  This worried me as I was feeling more pressure with each contraction, but I didn't want to call her back too early.  I decided to wait until she came back...hoping the baby wouldn't pop out in the mean time.  She came back and I explained the pressure situation.  She then started getting the room ready before checking me.  I was now at a ten and 100% effaced so she thought we should try to push and then she'd call the doctor...yes in that order, don't ask me.  So we did a few pushes and she said they weren't doing much and that she'd page the doctor and maybe turn off the epidural so that I could feel enough to push.  This disturbed me since I could feel alot more than I could with either of the other two kids and I pushed them out just fine...I could even still move my legs slightly which I couldn't at all with them.  I told her how big James was and she exclaimed that if this baby was that big she might need someone else in there to help her she already had an assistant (nursing student?) with her but said she'd need someone else for such a big baby.  I don't know why.  Anyway, Caren (my doctor) came in, along with the nursery people and someone else ( I didn't catch who she was) and we started pushing....oh wait.   First they doused my parts in iodine...which apparently Patrick said they do everytime to sterilize the area maybe?  Anyway, the point being I could clearly feel them doing this...along with the "pressure" of each contraction...not fun.  So we started pushing...and it hurt...a lot.  I don't know if the nurse did turn off the epidural or if it wasn't working properly to begin with or what, but I was very annoyed that it hurt so bad...although I wouldn't have put it so nicely at the time...;)  Caren even said when she came in that they would leave it on since she was sure I'd much rather have to work harder but be comfortable than to be in pain...it didn't work out that way though.  So when the baby was crowing, Patrick mentioned how I had wanted to see this one and asked if they had a mirror.  They quickly got one after I said I couldn't see the reflection in Caren's mask...I took one look and said "wow that's nasty!  Nevermind!" and they took the mirror away.  Of course now that I could tell what I was seeing I could see the reflection in Caren's mask.  But my eyes were shut for most of the birthing process after that (see above re: crap epidural).  So the baby came out, with much pressure relief, followed shortly thereafter by the placenta which brought even more relief...it's funny how you don't notice how incredibly full and stretched out your stomach is until the pressure is suddenly gone. They then plopped him on my stomach....which made me say something very motherly and affectionate like "eeew!" and pull my hands back so I wouldn't have to touch him.  The last two they asked if I wanted them on me and I said no, they didnt' ask this time.  After a second the nursery nurse asked if I wanted her to take him and clean him up.  I said yes please.  As he came out Caren said she didn't think he was as big as James. But low and behold he was 10 lbs, 1oz. 

Patrick and the nurse said they thought they saw some red in his hair (though I've yet to see it) so we named him Henry as I thought Henry sounded more like a redhead and William a brunette...his eyebrows are fairly light though...nearly white blond so maybe he'll have lighter hair.  I stayed at the hospital that day and we went home the next. 

Patrick took Friday off of work to stay home and watch the kids, which was very nice.  Another reason I think the epidural wasn't working; before they take you to the recovery room they make sure you can pee.  The past two times the nurse has had to physically support me into the wheel chair and into the bathroom since I could barely move/feel my legs.  This time I could just walk in there...the nurses were surprised when I didn't want any pain relief until later that night when I started cramping from nursing.  They asked me to rate my cramping on a scale of 1-10...I said maybe a 2-3, they then asked me to rate the pain in my bottom the same way.  I said a 1.  They looked confused and I explained that it really didnt' hurt.  I don't know how other women experience childbirth but my parts really don't hurt afterwards.  I feel generally tired and muscle-achy, but I don't cringe everytime I sit down or anything.  Anyway, so here he is. 

He's very cute and sleeps well for the most part.  He seems to want to be awake between 12 and 2 in the morning which is annoying, but otherwise he sleeps until 8 or so.  Isabelle and James seem to like him and always want to help with the baby, which is sweet, though kind of annoying too since their idea of helping is often different then mine.  So if the doctor was right, she said I am one of less than 6% of women who actually have their baby on the due date, and if I'm right he was exactly one week late...just like James and Isabelle.  Well this post is already too long, so I'll write more later. :)

Kitchen Corner: Before and After

Remember how I painted the trim in the kitchen and it made the wallpaper especially ugly?  Well Patrick helped peel off the paper in the corner I started and then plastered and sanded over it so I could paint.  Here are the before and after pics. 

Before:

Intermediate:

James helped.....

After:

I haven't decided yet if I want to do the rest of the kitchen that color or not...if not I may paint over this when I decide on a color, but it looks nicer for now.  What do you think?  There really isn't that much "wall" to paint in the kitchen, just around the two entries and about a foot worth above the cabinets.  The rest is all backsplash that we were planning to replace...

On the baby front:  Nothing to report.  I'm due next Wednesday according to the doctor, or last Wednesday according to me....and the midwife I saw this week (doctor was out of town) who said I was measuring at 40wks...which would seem to agree with my due date.  Anyway, not dilated at all, some contractions, dont' seem to be accomplishing anythign...my next appt is for the 25th, two days after the doctors due date.  If I still haven't had the baby then I'm assuming she will be scheduling me to get induced the following week around the 30th.  Fun, fun.

UPDATE:   Here's the handle cover I made for our carseat...it totally looks like it goes with it if you don't look close huh? If you'll recall, the rubber grip had melted in the attic and I didn't want sticky stuff on my hand everytime I tried to pick up the carrier, so I made this out of the head insert that came with it since I had already bought a better one. What do you think?

When Patrick's away....

Kiera feels the need to re-decorate.  Patrick was away on business this past week (doesn't that sound so professional?) and I felt the need to paint the remaining two brown doors in the kitchen as well as the wainscoting poking out the sides.  Not as grand a plan as I've had in the past, but it still took some doing.  Here are some pics:

Before:

(notice the doorway, not the baby)

Intermediate:

I hate having to primer things...stupid dark wood. ;)

After:

This only took a day, which was nice.  I primered/taped while the kids were awake (and miraculously they didn't get into it) painted the first two coats during their nap and then finished up after they went to bed.  I think it helped lighten the room....unfortunately I think it also made the ugly wallpaper stick out whereas before you didn't notice it so much.  Consequently the next day I got it into my head to try and pull off all of the wallpaper in the kitchen.  "Maybe it will come off easy," I thought, "then I can repaint the kitchen before the baby comes and wouldn't that be awesome?"  So I spent an entire load of laundry peeling wallpaper...after an hour I had managed to remove about 3/4 of one small corner by the garbage can.  That's when I decided it was too much work and quit.  We'll paint the kitchen some other time. 

So I also decided randomly at 2:30 in the morning the night before Patrick left, that maybe I wanted bangs again.  I did a search for short curly hair with bangs and found this pic:

So I went into the bathroom and kind of parted it where it should go and thought "yeah that might be cute, maybe I"ll go get a haircut when Patrick comes back..."then I thought; "screw it, where's my scissors?"  I then proceeded to cut my hair.  The day after painting the kitchen I also decided to dye it.  The hair dye I bought was supposed to be very close to my natural color.  After I was done I thought it looked really dark, but after holding up a piece of the bangs I had cut previously I found it really was my color...I just had way more highlights before than I thought I did.  After coloring my hair I went to fix it in the mirror...and decided that the back was way longer than the front and that I didn't like it.  So I pulled out the scissors again and started hacking away.  It's very hard to cut the back of your own hair.  I'm not sure how bad it is yet since I let it go curly and you can't tell as easily where it's uneven.  So here is a pic of the finished product (yes I know it's sticking up funny on the side) as well as my 36 wk belly.  :P

Patrick is going away again next week.  I don't have any major plans to do anything yet, but who knows what will happen?

Laundry Room: Before and After

So after the baby's room I swore I was done painting until after the baby came....but then last week I decided that the laundry room was small and thus should be really easy to do...plus we already had all of the paint in the colors I wanted...the only things I needed to buy were a cool vintage "Laundry" sign I saw online and a new cover for our butt-ugly ironing board. Well the room turned out to be more work than I thought, largely because I wanted to do stripes but we didn't have enough tape to tape them all off so I had to freestyle it, and because the space was very small and my belly is very big, making it difficult to manuever. Somehow I managed as you can see. Anyway, here are the pics:

Before:

(Pardon my big belly getting in the shot) As you can see there was nothing really "wrong" with the room, it was just very, very dark. My grandpa's house had dark wood paneling everywhere and a dark kitchen floor and I always thought it was very depressing, so I was trying to lighten up the room. It's kind of sad because the panel is kind of warm and pretty when it's cleaned, if you like that sort of thing. Oh well.

Intermediate:

This is where you say "What in the world are you doing painting when you're that pregnant?" and I answer "well obviously I am insane."

After:

The lighting is different in the after pics 'cuz of the time of day so it looks darker than it does in real life. Here is the pic I was using as inspiration from Better Homes and Gardens:

So they have way more light than we do, but our window looks out onto a covered porch, so there's not much light in there anyway. What do you think? Remember we are planning to replace the floor with something a lot closer to white than that ugly brown and yellow stuff they have down now...I think that will help alot.

PS:  Okay I think we figured out how to fix my pics so they'll blow up, but I don't want to reload them all since it takes so long.  However future posts should work. :)

PPS:  Okay I retook the first after pic in better lighting and added it with the new editor so it should blow up bigger now...not that any of you are re-reading this, but I just thought I'd say.

Jerks

So today we went into Denton to go to the doctors office to get my bi-monthly allergy shots. Generally the routine is we go in, Isabelle and James settle into the toys in the kids area and then when we get called back I get my shots and Isabelle gets a sucker. Up to this point I think James has been too little to get one too. Following this Isabelle tends to run around the waiting room generally amusing and charming any other patients who happen to be there. They compliment me on how cute she is and ask her questions which she is happy to answer...they then exclaim over how well she speaks and how smart she is and how old is she? Only three? That's amazing! She always is so proud to tell me how she's "not shy of people" anymore and loves talking to them. The type of patients range from other kids to older grandparent types. The worst anyone has ever said to her was that she shouldn't run with her sucker in her mouth as she could choke. She then obligingly takes it out (the same guy says it everytime and we've been there at the same time a lot more than you'd expect) and they tell her how she's a good girl, etc... This admonition is generally given with a chuckle and an amused smile.
So today; we go in and I decide that James is big enough for a sucker as he is gesturing repeatedly towards Isabelle's and babbling (he can't really talk yet). I ask if he wants one and he nods emphatically. I give him a sucker and he walks around eating it going "mmm....mmmm" over and over again. He eats the entire thing as Isabelle alternates between running around visiting with people and reading/looking at books. I am at this point complimenting myself on how I am such a good mom since I let James have a sucker, and allowed Isabelle to wear her underwear all the way to the doctors office. She even went potty in the restroom there.
Anyway, I am sitting down reading a magazine and listening to Isabelle talk/run to ensure she isn't bothering anyone (which has never really happened before to my knowledge so I wasn't too worried about it...as I said most people think she's charming and compliment me on how cute my two kids are). So this older couple has come in (around late 50's maybe) and is sitting down waiting for their turn. I hear the woman tell Isabelle at one point that "running is an outside activity." I roll my eyes and think to myself how she should mind her own business as she isn't her mother. However I tell Isabelle to come over and ask her to finish her sucker so we can go. She agrees and continues to roam the waiting room munching on her sucker. I then hear the gentleman (and I use that term loosely) tell her that she "needs" to "go back over by her mama". I'm a little annoyed at this point since she isn't hurting anything but I again have her come over and tell her we're going to leave and maybe she should start help cleaning up (as they tend to dump the entire basket of blocks as well as all of the kids books on the floor while we're there....the kids area is on the opposite side of the waiting room in a kind of foyer area so this doesn't tend to bother other people). Anyway, Isabelle is over there eating her sucker and I am awkwardly crouching over my huge pregnant belly encouraging my 1 1/2 year old toddler to help pick up (which he's doing quite well), I again ask Isabelle to come and help. Now for those of you who have ever been pregnant you know how uncomfortable and hard it is to bend over and pick anything up, much less lots of things and watch two toddlers at the same time. In most social situations I've been in this has elicited sympathy and unasked for assistance from other people. Not the case here. As I'm in the middle of this the guy gets out of his seat, stalks over to me and demands that I "control my child" with a please added on as an afterthought. Now again Isabelle was not hurting anyone and I am obviously not in a position to go over there and physically restrain her in her chair. She's three years old! She has wiggles!
So my first impulse was to say something to the effect of "control this" and flip him off. Instead I restrained myself and told Isabelle in my firm/mean voice to get over here right now unless she wanted her bum spanked. She ignored me so (under the glaring supervision of the uber evil, child-hating couple) I walked (more like stomped) over to her and she immediately sat down saying something to the effect of "I'll sit here!" I say no, pick her up (again with my huge pregnant belly) and carry her back over to our side and sit her in a chair. I then continue to shove toys/books back where they go with more force than is necessary as she cries, not understanding what she did wrong. I explain to her that some people don't like it when she runs by them and gets in their space. She is crying more now since, as I said usually people think she's cute. The couple walks out and she again asks why they were mad. I am at this point very mad myself and tell her, in a voice loud enough for the nurses to hear, that it's because they're JERKS. This gives me a little satisfaction, but I"m still angry.
I ask you what am I supposed to do to "control my child?" Maybe I should have said "Oh I'm sorry but I seem to have left my duct tape at home" or maybe explained to the gentleman that I didn't see that she was doing anything wrong and how maybe he was the one with the problem...or just flipped him off and called him a jerk. We've been going to that office several times a month for the past three years and I have never once had anyone say they had a problem with either my children or the manner in which I "control" them. I'm sorry but after driving 45 minutes to get to the stupid clinic I think it's okay to let them move around and get some of the wiggles out. I don't feel the need to restrain them in a chair just on the off chance they may bother somebody. Again the idea that the man would come over to me and say something like that when I'm obviously pregnant and not at my "restraining children" parenting best, crouched over awkwardly on the floor trying to be a good citizen and clean up after my progeny, both of whom are too little to be able to sit in a chair for that long with nothing to do and then demand that I "control my child"? WTF? Stupid jerk. Okay that's all about that.

On a more positive note; James went to nursery for the first time on Sunday (two weeks early, which was very nice of them to allow) and had a great time. Every time we asked if he wanted to go and run around/play with toys/Isabelle/etc..he nodded his head emphatically and tried to go. So by the time nursery came around he was ready. Patrick took him (as they tend to cry if I leave them somewhere and not so much if he does) and he reported that he took off running down the hall to get there, went right in and headed straight for the toys without looking back once. Patrick explained where he'd be and made sure Isabelle would "watch" him (though I don't know how helpful she was) and left. The nursery leader reported that he did really well and Isabelle said he didn't cry once even when one of the other kids "ran him over." She said he ate all of his snack and that they had fun playing. Also Isabelle wore her underwear all day to church on Sunday without any accidents. Patrick warned the teacher she was wearing underwear and was surprised when she then explained that Isabelle has been asking to go potty for weeks and they've been taking her with no problems. Who knew? I took her to go before nursery and after and she went just fine. So now if she can just manage to poop in the potty I'll call this a potty training success....of course she only poops in her diaper every 3-4 days so who knows when that will happen....

Shorn

When I was growing up my great grandma always wanted me to be a beautician...I think so I could do her hair for free... Since I'm not doing anything with my Anthropology degree I thought maybe I'd try out my "beauty" skills on my husband. What do you think?

Before:

First we cut off his ponytail. Isabelle thought that was great...

Intermediate:

I actually kind of like this length, but it would drive Patrick crazy 'cuz it would get into his eyes. After we put the kids to bed I cut off alot more....

After:

I took these pics the next day so his face is all dirty from work, but otherwise, what do you think? Oh and here is my belly at 32 weeks with one of my new maternity outfits. :)