Year in review through iphone pics

Hope turned 1 on January 8th!

Headed to Grammy's.

Morning before Bryan took off with the moving truck to Portland!

Grace and her crazy cat picture

Welcome to Oregon!

Downtown Portland!

She is very intelectual.

Lounging in our new place.

Grace's picture of her and her husband.

Park across from our house.

Nike Town

Sisters

First day of Preschool!

Miss Hollywood

Surprise, we're having a 3rd baby.

ANOTHER GIRL!

Dressing up is so much fun!

Shopping at Trader Joe's.

Double rainbows

Ice skating with Daddy

Happy Thanksgiving

Macy's Christmas parade in downtown Portland.

Headed to Grammy and Papa's in MO.

Quality time with Tinkerbell.

She was pretty exhausted.

Merry Christmas!

My life.

Setting up Hope's train for Christmas morning.

Seeing a movie in the theaters!

Decorating girls rooms are my favorite! Grace, Hope, & Noel!

Can't wait to see what 2010 holds for the people who sleep in my house. Hope will turn 2 next week. Noel will be born soon. Bryan and I will be married for 8 years. I turn 30. Grace turns 5. Life will be exciting at our house, that for sure!

Happy New Year!

My Moment

This morning the realization of being almost 30 weeks pregnant and the fact that Noel will be here in less than 10 weeks has really got my mind going 90mph . I have a list long enough to be in competition with Santa's naughty list. To add to the list of to-do's is just how uncomfortable I am. Being as this is my 3rd child, I can tell you that the 3rd pregnancy is the worst about the effect it has on your body. I was in pretty good shape when this all started. Now, I feel like I am a mushy, flabby, punching bag that can't bend over. It's nothing new to those moms who have gone through this a couple of times. If this is your first pregnancy, enjoy it.

Some of the things I am thankful for are that there are no NEW stretch marks. The map of winding roads that already exist on my lower abdomen will hopefully only stay with HALF of the United States by the time this is all over with. Okay, so that is only one thing I can think of. Oh, and Noel is healthy, strong, and active! That's a big one, I know.

Several things that don't make my days so happy are that my feet feel like they are on fire almost constantly. They hurt and burn. I would like to just soak them in water all day long, but that just isn't the life of a stay at home mom with 2 very active children. My hips feel like I am approaching 80 and need a hip replacement. Oh and let's not talk about my boobs. Yeah, those are quite lovely with veins heading every which way as they get larger and larger. I'm just hoping that by 35 weeks I'm not leaking!

I'm holding out for that moment. You know the moment I'm talking about. All of those that enter into labor, work for hours on end, push with all their might for that one glorious moment where the entire world stops. Time literally stands still. The moment the baby is out and you feel instant relief as if you've been constipated for 9 months! The rush of relief overcomes you because first of all you feel free and secondly you hear that baby begin to wail. Tears of all consuming joy pour down your cheeks as the Dr. flops your newborn baby up on your belly. You count fingers and toes and then lay back with sweat beading around your face and your bangs painted onto your forehead and then you begin....to.....breathe. Yeah, that's the moment I live for right now. And that moment I shall have.......in 8-9 weeks!

Home

Webster's Dictionary defines the word Home as 1 a : one's place of residence.

You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it's all right. ~Maya Angelou


Home is not where you live but where they understand you. ~Christian Morgenstern


Home is a place not only of strong affections, but of entire unreserve; it is life's undress rehearsal, its backroom, its dressing room. ~Harriet Beecher Stowe

We like to talk about home a lot. "Let's go home!" "Oh, I left it at home." "I'm so ready to just be home!" "Are you coming home for Christmas?" I think everybody associates home as a place. A building with a roof, pretty windows, and a kitchen table inside. Home for most of us is that place that we sleep. We bathe. We watch our favorite tv shows. Cook good meals. Do laundry.

As young adults we leave home and make a new home but then we go "home" for Christmas or for visits. Home is this term we use for places but I've thought about this word home a lot lately. I've moved around a lot. I've never owned a house. I don't have a town that I grew up in my entire life. There is no place that I consider to just be "home" as Dorthy fondly refers to in The Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home." Some people say that your home is where your parents live. Well, my parents have lived overseas and now live in Missouri. I love to go for visits, but it's not home. Some say that home is where your heart is. I like this one. I think it is more accurate.

My home wakes up every morning to get up with our children. He makes them pancakes on certain days. My home makes the coffee and pours me a cup the moment I get out of bed. My home goes to work daily for his family and provides shelter, food, and plenty of love. My home loves to spend his time playing his guitar, writing books, or just being with me. He could move to Antarctica and I would follow him all the way there. He is my home. Home isn't a house. Home is certainly not a place. Home is my best friend and husband.