Hung by the chimney with care

This photo represents so much more to me than candy from Santa. About three years ago, I decided that our old Christmas decorations were ready to be retired and I went out and bought some new things, including these stockings. I obviously only needed four stockings, but then I figured, I was really, really hoping to be able to add one more child to our family so maybe I should go ahead and buy the 5th stocking now so that I'd have a matching set. That year, I hung up four of the stockings and never even took the last one out of the bag - I just stuffed it into my holiday storage bin to await the time when I might be lucky enough to use it. Each year since then, including just last year, I've come across that bag and questioned my optimism in pre-buying that 5th stocking. This year, though, as I came across the bag with the 5th stocking, I was a little overcome with post-partum emotion as I finally got to remove the stocking from the bag, cut off the tags, and hang it on the mantle with the other four. And just for fun, I tucked the receipt in the toe of the stocking so someday Audrey can see the date and know how long we'd been waiting for her.

Long overdue update.

Audrey Sloane , the third and final installment in our family trilogy, made her big debut on Halloween. She must've heard there was going to be candy.

Labor was an absolutely lovely experience. I'll be back with a more thorough birth story, once I get a chance to write it. Recovery is going remarkably well too. Overall, I feel like the luckiest momma on earth. It's been a long time coming but she was well worth the wait. We feel truly blessed.

Overheard at my house today

Here are a couple new Sydney-isms:

"Mom, Spencer's messing around with the computer and he's going to get us a fungus again!"

"Spencer wants to put the Million Farcan on his Christmas wish list."

32 Weeks

Still feeling good. Scary good. Pregnancy is not supposed to be this easy... I feel like fate is going to have to get even with me eventually.

Back-to-School!

Here are the kids heading into a new year of school. Sydney started last week, so we took her first day pics then, and Spencer started today, so we took more pics this morning -- hence the different outfits for Sydney. [You can click on these pics to make them bigger.]

My funny husband

As pregnant women are frequently known to do, I fell asleep last night on the sofa while watching TV. Mr. Funny Man decides to go get a red pen and do this to me. I didn't see it until this morning:

A day that will live in infamy...

Last night, dh has this fun idea to set up his big tent outside and have a backyard camp-out with the kids. We bathed the kids since they were still a little sandy from our day at the beach the day before (there'd been no time for a bath that night we got home). We get out all the sleeping bags (brand new, mind you) and got the kids all settled in for a fun night. I went back in to putter around the house and finish up my laundry. I had just washed everyone's sheets from our day at the beach (they'd gotten sandy from the dirty kids the night before). I was just going to go to bed and leave some stuff for this morning but it occurred to me that maybe I should go ahead and get their beds made back up just in case something should go awry outside and they need to come back in to sleep. I had just finished making the kids' beds when I hear the patio door open and in comes dh with Spencer, telling me he'd thrown up all over everything. Spencer was a mess, his pajamas were a mess, and of course, the tent was a mess. So while dh hosed off the sleeping bags (his and Spencer's) and the air mattress and everything, I cleaned up Spencer, changed his clothes and put him into the clean sheets that I had just finished putting on the bed not minutes before.

Then, thankfully I had the foresight to get Sydney's bed all ready too, because an hour later dh brought her in covered in puke as well. Wash, rinse, repeat. While dh hosed off everything outside, I got Sydney cleaned up and stuck her into her fresh-out-of the-dryer sheets. Dh and I got to bed at about 3am and woke up this morning to about a dozen loads of laundry. I've spent the day washing all the sleeping bags, all the bedding that was outside, all the bedding that was inside, all the pajamas we went through, plus towels and buckets and other accoutrements one uses when one is sick. Then the kids, who just had showers last night before bed, got right back into the shower this morning.

But dh pointed out the bright side... at least the camp-out was in our back yard rather than some campsite somewhere far from home. Can you imagine?

Here's a photo from before the night went south: