Final countdown....6 weeks

So if you can't tell....I am ready for this pregnancy to be over. Fortunately this feeling has just set in, so up until this point my huge growing belly(body) hasn't really hindered me. By far, this has been my best (read easiest to move around, get sleep and function) pregnancy. I will not, however, be posting any pictures of said belly (body). Just use your imagination....I think that my body has this memory of what it is supposed to look like, regardless of weight gain, water retention, sleepless nights, etc... and it has reverted to that look in the past month. So... just imagine me beautiful and full of energy and that will work for me!! Seriously, the time has gone quickly up until about 3 days ago. Now 6 weeks sounds like forever, and if this baby is anything like Olivia, that 6 will become close to 8....I am not thinking of that. Right now, as far as we know, we are having a boy. I say that because the ultrasound tech wasn't exactly the most considerate, caring, comforting individual. He wasn't mean, but I didn't like him....not one bit. So according to him, which is great if he is right, we are having a boy. Convincing Olivia of that has been, and still is, a trial. The other day we were in Target and she found some cute girl clothes that were way to small for her and she said "Mom these can be for the baby" to which I reminded her it is a boy and she said "No for our girl baby". She occasionally will remind me that Dora the Explorer, on TV, her mom had 2 babies, a girl and a boy, so I can too. I just giggle and say again that we are only having 1 baby in March. To which she says "yeah a girl" Every so often I can get her to agree that it's a boy, but not for very long. We still don't have a name, and can't seem to find one that fits, we like, etc... I bought a book of 100,000 baby names and you know it isn't the least bit helpful. Reading a book of names just makes them all blur together and seem the same. So.....we will see. Well I will post more later!! xoxo Kirsten

Foam Curlers

So remember when we were kids and we used those pink foam curlers and slept in them to awake with a crazy head of curls....well I guess I forgot how well they worked. The other day I put what we call "knobbies" in Olivia's hair. Take hair that you would put in a pony tail and twist it around in a spiral then wrap it up in a bun and secure with a pony. They make little knobs on her head and keep the hair somewhat under control. Well later that evening she took them out and had curly hair. She love it and kept saying I want some curly hair. So being the resourceful mom I am I thought and remembered those good old foam curlers. Now I must admit that I didn't remember the results of said curlers being so dramatic....So yesterday I headed out to the thrift store (not for used curlers) but for a small barrel curling iron to touch up the ends after we used the curlers. Found one for a dollar and was so stoked!! Headed to our little store here in town and found a pack of foam curlers with 4 sizes. Pink (the biggest) Green, Yellow and finally Blue (little old lady perm size). Olivia wanted the pink (of course) but I convinced her (silly me) that she needed to have the smaller ones. What was I thinking? That her hair is 3 feet long? With the current short cut they REALLY WORKED. It was a struggle for her to keep them in until bed time but she did. And this morning she was so proud of herself and excited to have curly hair. I took out the first curler and knew I would have to do some kind of magic job to convince her that it was cute. I didn't take a picture...I was afraid she would cry...but imagine frizzy little orphan annie. Kevin and I contained our laughter and kept telling her it was beautiful fairy hair (hence the fairy costume below) and after I brushed it out and wrapped it into spirals (really tight spirals!) she was kind of okay with it. She did tell me however, that next time she only wants it a little curly. Guess we will keep trying!! Enjoy. xoxoK

I put some little clips in to try to contain the craziness.

Olivia and her Mini Market. Got this at Sams New Year's day for $40 instead of $130. Came with wooden food, cash register and wire basket. (also came with an ulimited supply of sanity for me!!)

And here she is infront of her closet with her full fairy costume!

Happenings

Nothing really "blog worthy" has happened lately so I thought I'd share some pictures. As most of you know, Gavin has always liked dressing up. When he was 2&3 he would wear his costumes out of the house shopping, to appointments etc. It never bothered me and was actually pretty funny. Well it still continues except now he is a bit more creative and finds things around the house to make costumes from. Once he had Kevin's shoes and belt on and walked around all hunched over pretending to be an "old man". Then sometimes he will put on Olivia's clothes and pretend to be a girl (she gets so mad). It is hilarious. So just the other day we rented Get Smart, (funny movie) and he got the idea to be a secret agent thus the pictures below. And now since Olivia and Gavin are home together, he gets her to dress up. For a while she protested until for Christmas we got her a trunk with 3 fairy costumes complete with accessories (as shown below also). Occasionally she will opt for the "Wonder Woman" costume Gavin helped her create (incredible suit, spiderman mask and PINK gloves) but generally it's the fairies! And just like her brother she has to do all errands in costume. She insists on bringing the wings, slippers and wand in hand (the wings don't fit too well with a coat) and then putting them on in the cart once we get to the store. I drew the line and only let her carry the slippers in the store and she even tried to get me to let her remove her boots and put on the slippers. She protests with "but mom, the boots don't match and I have to fly, that's what a fairy does." I know logical isn't it, but if it wasn't -45 below she might be able to convince me... Hope you enjoy the pictures! xoxo Kirsten

Haircuts

So...I got my hair cut a few weeks ago and liked it very much...well somehow one morning I woke up and was getting ready when after I dried my hair I noticed I had two balls of hair, one on each side of my face, in the front of fried crazy hair. Not just split ends but these two masses of totally shriveled hair. Not fixable. So I did what any rational woman would do...I cut them off. Not too short in the hopes that my hairdresser would be able to salvage some of my hair. So today I headed to get it fixed and things turned out well. Neither of us can determine a cause since the rest of my hair is healthy and undamaged. Guess I'll just chock it up to pregnancy hormones. Well while Olivia and I were out she decided, rather adamantly, that she needed a haircut. Now if you don't already know, I didn't want to give her a trim last spring so I definately didn't want a haircut! But lately she won't keep any "pretties" in her hair and it is generally tangled and messy. So I figured why not...Kevin has been after me to cut it for a while now....so you be the judge. Here a few pictures!

Kirsten

Winter

So I guess I may never post pictures of the Caves in Missouri. Maybe I'll keep everyone guessing as to when they will be posted? I guess it's kind of funny that my break lasted over a month. I do like to blog but my days are only 24 hours long and I need more time!!! Well...winter has finally hit ND. I don't like it. You know in AK I never really got the winter blahs. Sure I wanted to go to somewhere warm and tropical in the middle of FEB but who doesn't no matter where they live. Except maybe those who live in the tropics, but I can't say they wanted to come up to the frigid north. Anyway....I have the blahs here. With -22 on the days without wind and -45 or more on the other days...we are stuck inside. Not exactly my favorite place to be. Well on Friday we got a weather service warning that a blizzard of massive proportions was going to hit us on Saturday night and continue on until Monday AM. Normally the weather man lacks the ability to be right so often, but with no geographical changes in the landscape here (read: flat as flat can be) anything that starts our way usually makes it with full force. So Saturday night we started getting wind. Not really snowy up by us but Minot got 11 inches so we expected something like that. Well Kevin was supposed to fly out at 3pm on Sunday to WA for the week and earlier sat we received emails saying that church was going to probably be cancelled on Sunday. The weather service site said to stay home and not travel and that the hwy would probably be closed soon. So Kevin left for Grand Forks on Sat night and made it just fine. The roads were still good at 10:30pm so we thought he might still get out in the AM. Well his flight got cancelled until Monday and he spent Sunday in a hotel. Not so bad for him I'd say. Me the the children (the dears they are) were stuck here in the house. Now I guess it wouldn't be so bad but after about 5 hours of knex, videos, dress up, etc...they start yelling and running and pushing and shoving and crying and whining etc.. you get the picture. Needless to say we made it through (barely) and awoke to a nice sunny Monday AM. We got ready for school (which was delayed an hour) and headed out. Now in ND with all the wind we get drifts that are huge and also deceiving. I looked out on the driveway where it usually drifts pretty badly, and it appeared that it would be passable. We load up and make it about 5 feet before I high center on a drift as deep as my knees. I get out and assess the situation. I get the shovel and start shoveling. I shovel and try to get the car out. Payton suggests I push while he drives. He simply couldn't understand why I wouldn't go for this. "But mom, I know how to push the gas". At this point, pregnant, cold, mad, frustrated, all I could do was laugh (or cry) and tell him I would just keep shoveling. So on I went for an hour. Each time I got in the car the boys would say "we said a prayer but our car is just a dumb car" or just yell "Hit the gas mom, Go like 30 mph. That will get us out" or "Mom, I don't want to be late for school" to which I said "then watch for the bus" Not realizing that while I was lying on the ground scooping out snow it had passed. So I know I sound like a cry baby (and that is what I felt like) but I really could have done without this trial. I guess I am thankful for:
1. We were home
2. We got out
3. And mostly...I'm not 40 weeks pregnant.
It was quite the morning. So tonight we have Payton's holiday concert. Given the morning, it should all go smoothly.
Kirsten

I need a break.

So as of right now I have been blogging for about an hour and a half. I will finish up our trip either later tonight or this week. Hope you've enjoyed our trip so far.