shopping for each other

This year I decided the bugs were old enough to pick out gifts for one another. Grammy was kind enough to "borrow" each bug on their own to make some Christmas treats so that I could take the other bug on a little "date."

Bitty decided to start his morning off with a little OJ from our favorite watering hole.

He also learned that standing in your Starbucks chair and leaning backward will make the chair tip over backwards and the entire store will run to your rescue.

This is the gift he chose for his brother... Umm, sorry kiddo, not quite what mommy had in mind...

In the end Bitty picked out some "Cars" cars for the Bugman, and a toy broom for himself (he shops like his mommy :) We picked up the Bugman, came home to watch a little "Cars" in the basement, and this is what a found a short time later... Shopping sure is tiring!

The next morning it was Bugman's turn. He was lucky that Daddy had a half day off from work (we had our "baby portraits" done that morning too.) We started off at Bob Evans.

Ironically enough, this is what Bugman picked out for his brother... He also settled on some "Cars" cars in the end.

...And we came home to Bitty's sugar cookies with Grammy :) Might I add, GFS makes some mean pre-cutout sugar cookies... just sprinkle and bake!

It's a...

It's a... from Leanne Alldred on Vimeo.

and we couldn't be more excited (except we have NO prospects for names!) OK, so Bugman may have burst into tears and requested a trade-in for his choice of genders, but it was nothing a few Lightning McQueen cars couldn't fix!

Merry Christmas!!

merry christmas!

the flip

Mommy bought herself a Flip camera as an early Christmas gift... or perhaps I should say bought the family a Flip camera. Yeah, that sounds better. I mean, I would never just buy myself Christmas gifts...

I'm posting a not-so-exciting video of Bugman playing with his beloved Pixar Cars toys. I want to make sure I can figure out how to post the big moment tomorrow :) Luckily, figuring this out only took about half of my life...

practice from Leanne Alldred on Vimeo.

ten on tuesday - preggo addition

1. I'm officially 19 weeks 1 day pregnant... almost half-way there! I think this may be the fastest pregnancy ever. At least it feels like the weeks are flying by!

2. We have our 20 week ultrasound next Tuesday. We will find out the sex of the baby, but not until Christmas Day. We're planning to have the ultrasound tech write the gender down and seal it up.

3. For those of you who know how impatient and sneaky I am, (you know, the kind of kid that found all of her Christmas presents) I have a friend taking the envelope from us and giving it back Christmas Eve. Apparently I am untrustworthy (or she is more impatient than me and needs to know that day :)

4. Being preggo for the third time is like being an 80 year old man.

5. The heartburn is ridiculous already.

6. My umbilical hernia is giving me trouble ( apparently a "grin & bare it" situation).

7. All I need is some ear hair and I would officially be an old man ;)

8. Alexander is insistent that we are having two girl babies. Ummm, not so much buddy. Only ONE baby in there. I've tried to explain to him that it could be a boy baby and we would have three boys in our house. His response "Then we need three girls too!" Oh dear, I'm not sure our baby plans include SIX children!

9. This little one has been become more active and could be felt moving from the outside of my stomach last night!

10. Baby #1 - maternity clothes at 22-23 weeks
Baby #2 - maternity clothes at 20 weeks
Baby #3 - maternity clothes at 18 weeks! I may literally be the size of a house by the time this is over :)

so this is what its like

To be a mama of three! I friend from school asked if I would come and take some pics of her kiddos before the holidays. I'm all about getting some practice (the ol' camera has been getting a little rusty the past few months!)

The T family has three kiddos. Their oldest is 5. The baby is 1. Its not far from what our family will look like in a little over a year from now!






This is J. He's 3 and every bit as ornery as he looks. What? He doesn't look ornery? Well his momma insists that he is. He loved the camera and I'm pretty sure it loved him to. Don't you love those baby blues?!





This is baby M. She just turned one and is one of the most content little ones I've ever met. She had no interest in me or my camera, but LOVES her mama and some mama tickles!






This is big sister M. She's 5 and in my kindergarten class this year. She's nice and shy and quiet at school. She likes to organize and clean up after her peers. I've seen video of her at home. She is a wild and crazy dance machine. I love how kids can be so different at home and at school!

merry christmas??

You may have noticed that your mailbox was missing an important piece of mail from us last year. We never sent out Christmas cards. I never got the photos I wanted of the boys and then it was too late.






But never fear, we had this super cute ideas about New Year's cards. You didn't miss out, we, um, well, never got that done either. Oops!






Now that it is getting dark so early I thought I would take the boys out on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Uhhh, well, that didn't happen either.






We were left with the five seconds of daylight that is left when we get home from school.






Perhaps I shouldn't quit my day job. What do you think?

my favorite

I'm not sure if you knew, but Bugman is my favorite... well my favorite four year old anyway!

He's having a great time being a 'very big kid' and going to preschool two days a week.

He had an ear infection in September. We took him to Dr. Cata on September 16th to be exact. It was his first infection in almost a year and a half.

Six weeks later we went back. Bugman was still coughing and didn't seem to be hearing us very well. We heard lots of "What??" and "What did you say??" We found out that he still had fluid in his ears.

... and not just fluid, thick, honey-like fluid. The good news... no infection. We started antibiotic round 2.

Four weeks later we went back for a recheck. The verdict - Honey-like fluid in both ears and a referral to see an ENT.

We saw Dr. Turner, the ENT on Monday and he decided to try one more antibiotic. Its aimed at treating antibiotic resistant infections. We go back in January and cross our fingers that this worked. If it didn't, we look at getting tubes :(