Ships Ahoy!

The military had a security operation last Friday which closed the base, thus giving Karl the day off. We all took off to Mobile, Alabama to tour the USS Alabama. It was interesting to go down into a WWII era battleship. There was a sub to tour too (yes imagine a 7 month pregnant momma trying to squeeze through all these tiny spaces).

The stairs on the ship were SO steep Karl had to carry the girls down them, yah for strong daddy!

 The girls loved all the beds in one room!

 This label made me chuckle.

 Looks like our family might have two bad apples.

 About to enter the USS Drum. I still can't imagine spending 3+ months undersea on one of these bad boys!

 Found more beds!

 Steering the sub...the girls got a big kick out of this.

I enjoyed watching the girls have fun touring Navy vessels. Karl enjoyed sharing part of his life with them.

Belly Bump: Week 29

We have officially entered the third trimester! Less then three months to D Day. Crazy I know, but I am really ready for all this to unfold!

There are starting to be too many weekly pictures to put in line, so if you want to see them all visit the week 25 post. But enough about photos of me, let's peek at Elli!

This ultrasound picture shows the bottom of both of her feet, with her left foot slightly on top of her right foot. I love this sweet picture.

 
 The ultrasound tech loved this picture because of her chubby cheek. Don't you just want to pinch them?

 Another profile picture, which looks a lot different then the first one.

 I got some more 3D pictures for volunteering at the school. Again, she was squeezed into the placenta, so only partial views.

 I have to show off this beautiful blanket my mom made Elli Dew. I love it and it will be perfect in her nursery! My mom is so talented (and she is making me tons of cloth diapers...such a life saver, and money saver).

Twinkle Toes

My girls love to dance and it really shows with the twinkle in their eyes when I get to watch them in ballet class. They have started their recital dances for ballet and the teacher allows us to occasionally peak in on them. I haven't gotten a chance to video Brady but here is Reese.

This is only the second week they have worked on the dance.

Yes, I laugh at Reese at the end, but it is because I love that cutie pie entirely too much.

The girls also love dancing all around the house. One of their favorite songs to dance to is Party Rock Anthem. I was video some of their moves and Brady randomly does an AWESOME arabesque. I don't think I ever looked this good in all my years of ballet.

I captured a snapshot of the video, because I was so impressed.

Here is what their moves normally look like for this song...

Give and Take

On Friday, I volunteered as a patient at the ultrasound school here in town. I was actually used as an exam for one of the students. Since I allowed them to use me as a exam patient they in turn gave me 3D ultrasounds! So much fun... only thing is that Elli spent most of the time face into my back during the 3D scan. They did capture quite a few sweet moments though! ENJOY!

Look at our sweet Elli Dew! I know these don't always tell all, but I (from the picture below) think she will look more like Reese. What do you think? Just to explain what all you see on the left, the placenta is covering her right cheek and on the right she is resting on the side of me. She is already in 'go' position and lodged head down.

This is her leg and arm (at the very top).

 This is what she spent most of the time doing....covering her face with her fist. So this would be a profile shot but her arm is over her face.

 Another peek at her sweet face!

 This one is harder to see. But her legs are coming in from the left and her little ankles are crossed.

 Arm and shoulder, we got a lot of arm and leg shots since her face was tucked away.

 I like this one, she is grabbing her toes with her hand. See it?

 Just confirmation of what we already know.

 Again, covering her face with her arm.

 Is that a smile? I think so.

 A profile, but she is smashed in there.

I hope you enjoyed all these. I am going back next week as a volunteer patient, but I don't think they are going to do an exam on me, so it will just be 2D next week.

A Brady First

We bought Brady her first pair of 'tie' shoes on Sunday. We told her she is going to have to start practicing to be able to tie on her own. Then, I turned to Karl and said for the next few months, I am assigning you this job of teaching her since it is tough for me to bend down or get on the floor with her.

The laces that came with her shoes are puffy and difficult to tie so she hadn't really quite got it but we aren't even a week into it and Karl is being the awesome teacher he is and working very patiently with her.

Thursday she was wearing capris that have little bows at the knees. They had come untied and she asked me to tie them for her. I told her I would at home since I was driving. She decided to give it a try...first attempt, not so much.

Second attempt...

I couldn't believe it!!!! Five days after we set this goal for her to learn to tie she did it! I thought this would be months and months of teaching. Props go to my awesome hubby and my smart little daughter. I still get giddy thinking about this accomplishment.

Orthnerisms: Pregnancy misunderstandings...

Both of the girls cracked me up (and slightly embarrassed me) today individually so I wanted to record these moments of innocence.

Walking around Target with just Reese today, we pass by a much older gentleman who had a rather pronounced 'beer belly'.

Reese: Mommy, that man has a baby in his belly.

Me: EMBARRASSED, quickly pick up our step hopping he didn't understand this innocent 3 year olds' comment. "No sweetheart, he doesn't"

Reese: Looking back over her shoulder at him "What is in his belly then?"

Me: Laughing from awkwardness "Nothing, that is just his belly."

Reese: "Why is it so big then..."

Me: "Please lets STOP talking about this!!!!"

I hope for the gentleman's sake he was hard of hearing or something...
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Now for Brady...

Today while Brady was at school, I volunteered at an ultrasound school. She was asking me what I did today while I was at school. I referred to the experience in some point of reference to getting 'scans' done of Elliot.

Brady:  "We are going to have to return Elliot now that she has been scanned?"

Me: "Huh?"

Brady: "you know when we scan something to bring it back to the store?"

Me: Oh the English language's double meanings in the way yet again.... "Brady, that is a different kind of scan"

Baby Bump:Week 25

So here is my current baby bump picture! It is not the best picture of me... LONG busy but awesome DAY! But I wanted to make sure that I got my picture in on the correct day. 

Looking at this picture you may not believe this (and honestly I don't either), but I still have people say to me "oh, I didn't know you are pregnant!" when I mention number three. In the past five days along I have 3 people say this to me...people that see me on a weekly (or more) basis. I know I am tall but I feel like at this point the bump is somewhat obvious...Well onto the past months' pictures...I think Elliot has grown a lot over the last month. I was just saying last month I didn't see much growth in the belly, but look at her now.

I also thought I would share the comparison to my previous pregnancies. This is Reese and the next one is Brady. I carried so small with Brady even though I still gained lots of weight. I also find it interesting that my hair is close to the same length at this point with all three pregnancies.

Now for Elli's big sister cuddle time. The girls love love love Elli. They can't wait for her arrival and ask if she can go ahead and come out. They both give her hugs and kisses at night. One night Reese even told Elli Dew she misses her. LOVE IT! My three musketeers.

 I love the matching shirts for the girls. I was pretty excited they had them in onesies and big girl sizes. Reese has a second one that says big sis but she wanted to wear lil sis until the big day.

I have to add this...(edited from original), my pregnancy brain forgot to do it before. Karl felt Elli kick for the first time on February 1st. On that particular day she was doing some pretty violent kung fu moves so I placed Karl's hand on my belly. Sure enough she gave him a big ole kick! I have been trying to get the girls to feel it but they move their hand or get inpatient. Well finally yesterday they both got a little kick, I told them and waited for the excitement to follow. They both gave me the oh ok response and went back to their playing. Elli Dew, I love the love kicks you give me everyday!

Orthnerisms: Figuring out how the world turns

Conversation about difference between public and private schools spurred from the sight of a school bus and Brady's question of why she doesn't ride one. Enter the middle of the conversation...

Brady: "Oh, so we go to a private school."

Yes

Reese: "We go to POTTY school!!!"

Huh?

Reese: "yeah, private school means potty school"

Then the conversation continues to describe the MULTIPLE meanings of private(s). Oh the English language...

Remember when Brady thought a 'rescue' dog is a superhero dog?

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Brady affectionately rubbing my belly..."Is Elli going to have dark skin or light skin?"

Karl (kidding) says "Yes, mommy, what color skin will Elli Dew have?"

I explain a (biological) baby has a mixture of their mommy and daddy's skin color.

Brady: "So can it be dark like your friend's baby in college?" Again, I get the eye from Karl ;)

Yes, Kathy, your sweet girl is still a topic of conversation in our family, Brady loved playing with her SO much...10 months ago! But this honest innocent inquiry allowed me to explain the beauty of adoption once again!

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Watching American Idol with Reese, she asks me...

"Do they have CDs in their mouths?"

I love this...which came first, the voice or the CD ;)

Missed my calling?

So I love doing the girls' hair in a tight bun ob ballet day when they let me...

I slick their bangs back in all. I had one mom ask me how I do that so well...water and hair spray. She was SHOCKED I used hair spray on their hair...

Anyways, recently the girls had princess day at ballet and got to wear their favorite princess dress. Brady choose her Ariel wedding gown and wanted her hair to look like a bride. I had five minutes until it was time to leave, so I whipped this up for her. The natural curls helped a bunch...

So did I miss my calling for being a hair dressers specializing in up-dos on little girls? HAHAHA no...I am doing my calling spot on....raising my girly girls and loving every minute of it!

Fat Tuesday

Sorry, I am lagging in posting lately, I struggle to stay up past 8:30 most nights, which doesn't really leave me spare time to post on the blog. This past weekend we celebrated Mardi Gras in downtown Pensacola. The wonderful thing about Pensacola (and Mobile) is that they have a couple day time parades that are kid friendly...no boobs and beer. I love exposing my girls to the fun culture of the deep south. Like last year, we found our spot and enjoyed another Mardi Gras tradition...King Cake. 

The weather was sprinkling or rainy the whole time but that didn't stop us from having LOADS of fun, but it did stop me from taking loads of pictures. I did get a picture of one of the AWESOME necklaces Reese was 'thrown' during the parade. Yes, she was fully clothed the whole time ;)

Interestingly though, she was also thrown a liquor bottle (empty) necklace. Yes, a necklace made out of 5 airplane liquor bottles. I told you I had to expose to the classy culture of the deep south!

 Here are the girls having fun with all the beads...notice the background too!

 Brady loved this bobbly head band she was thrown!

 Since we were rained on the whole time we had to spread out our goodies on towels to dry them off. Pace is staking out a moon pie ;).

I love the girls reliving the fun they had at the parade...

Produce Art

I got another idea from the Family Fun magazine that I JUST had to do. The best part is again, I had all the materials on hand...so this is another fun and FREE craft. 

We provided a cut veggie plate for the girls' school. When you cut celery about 3 inches from the bottom is makes the most AMAZING flower stamp! Therefore we made our own stationery. I suggest practicing a few times scratch paper first to get the hang of it. 

Pull one of the outer pieces off, cut off the painted part and then it makes the perfect stamp to create a leaf!

We had so much fun with that we decided to make apples and carrots stamps too. When you cut apples horizontally the seed holes create a perfect little star. 

Here are the final products! First picture is Brady's handiwork and second pic is Reese's. Remember these celery flowers were done by a 3 and 4 year old... I can't believe how awesome it looks from just cut celery!