two's company...

Three's a house full of estrogen, curling irons, training bras, hairspray, princess shoes, pink everything, bins of hair accessories and nail polish, frequent flyer miles with Tampax, gallons of Drano, drama, drama, and more drama!



(She's a real lady--thus the crossed legs)

When the Dr. told Grace she'd have a new little sister she exclaimed "I can't wait!!!" The Dr and the resident both just about died--it was SOOO sincere and sooooo cute!

I think most people we've told today assume we're disappointed, but really, the fact that she has a healthy heart, all her limbs, an Allred head and isn't accompanied by a twin sister- that's really all that matters!

We'll have our 3 girls, and we're really getting excited about it! Grace and Abby are best friends. They play so well together, and have since the day Abby learned to move on her own. And although they have their battles, the times that they play together make it all worth it. And I really look forward to seeing my three girls play together, fight together, go to ballet class together, be in high school together...okay, i'm getting a little ahead of myself--just a coping strategy.

The truth is I'm completely freaked out. It's funny to talk to people about having more kids, and they tell me how they're "waiting" cause they don't feel "ready" or don't think they could "handle it right now." ahhhhhh, i remember saying such things not long ago.... But, ready or not, we're doing it. And i'm surrounded by AMAZING moms who inspire me to be a better mom and with much help from above I might manage to be a decent mom who doesn't get reported to child services :)

Grace

In light of a few cute moments I had this weekend with Grace, I thought I'd take a crack at posting tonight.

Yesterday (Saturday) was beautiful--70 degrees and blue skies--so Grace and I went to the park while Emily and Abby napped. (As a side note, we woke up to a blizzard this morning. There are now 5 inches of snow on the ground.) Grace had me push her on the swings, climb up the jungle gym, slide down the slide, lay on the grass, look up at the sky and clouds, and run around with her. At one point, I was swinging with Grace lying on my lap; she was "welaxing" with her eyes closed. After a few minutes, she looked back at me and asked, "Are you okay back there Dad?" I ask her the same thing when I'm driving and she and Abby are in their car seats. Later, when we were lying down on the grass, she looked over at me, placed her hand on my arm and said, "Dad, I'm so proud of you." Neither Emily nor I know exactly where that came from, but it was cute.

After work on Friday, Emily and the girls picked me up from the light rail station so we could go to a Cub Scout banquet. I dropped off Emily and Abby at the church and took Grace (who was asleep) to the store to get some ice cream for the party. When we go to the store Grace woke up. She was groggy and confused, so I explained what had happened since she had fallen asleep and what we were doing. When I took her out of her seat, she snuggled in my arms, squeezed me tight, and with her face in my shoulder, said "I love you Daddy." What more could a guy ask for?

they say that most accidents...

happen within the home.


Due August 23rd

I could write a novel about how i have felt physically, how i feel emotionally, how we found out, how much this explains, how freaked out i am--and maybe i will later. but for now i just need to get the news out there. I'm 14 weeks now, and fighting getting out my maternity clothes that i swear i JUST BARELY put away!!!! I've gone from scared, to mad, to depressed, to happy--which is where i am now, finally.

The thing is, I had this plan. It was the 4 year plan. 4 years between Abby and the next baby. Well, God laughed at my plan... :)

oh, and reid and i DO intend to enroll in the local 7th grade health class. We're missing something....obviously.

Are you guys newlyweds???

Two days after reid got back from his 7 day business trip to Belgium, he had to leave to attend a conference in San Fran. the thought of him there, and me here.....alone.....with the girls......again....was just too much! so we did it! we got me a ticket to SF and we finally had our very first post-children get-a-way! it was short, but it was AWESOME!!!

I flew out Friday afternoon, shopped for a few hours while his conference wrapped up (they have an H&M!!) and then met up with Reid for dinner. We had the best 36 hours of our lives!!!! and i guess it showed cause people kept asking us if we were newlyweds--i know, i know, how cute, huh?!?! we kinda felt like it, too!

San Fran is beautiful!! I'd never been there, and had always wanted to. We saw just about everything we wanted to, and had time to relax, and sleep-in, too!! If only it could have lasted longer...(but who can afford to pay a babysitter for more than 2 days!?!?! These are the moments we wish we lived near family....)

here are a few pics

Here we are on the crooked Lombard Street (you have to click on it to see the street...)

Loved, loved, LOVED the trolley!!!

Can you see the seals behind our huge heads?
Anyone who's been to Pier 39 knows these very seals...

Coit Tower - 409 steps total

excited to climb the steps - step #1

Wondering how much longer we've got - step #203

nearly dead, burning thighs, huge regrets - step #360

Glad i did it....LOVED the (foggy and rainy) view from the top
of the tower!!!

So, for any of you wondering if you need a get-a-way....just DO IT!!!! best thing ever!!!!

Lard, anyone?

I really need to know this, so please respond.

I LOVE the oreo cookie itself, but CANNOT stand the nasty stuff inside. In elementary school someone told me that the filling was made of sugar-flavored lard, or shortening, and i've never been able to eat it since!! In face, I just finished scraping the insides of 3 cookies and had them with milk...yum...and the filling got thrown away. (Does that just kill some of you pseudo-lard-lovers??)

I just need to know if there's anyone else out there who prefers the cookie without the filling. I've asked over 20 people over the years, but thought i could reach even more through this post.

Am i the only one??

EDIT: i'm not saying that it is lard inside (i'm sure it's not), that's just what i was led to believe, and i've never been the same.

And then there were none...

one by one i cut grace's binkis last week. she just would not stop hitting/pushing/taking toys from her sister, and i'd had enough! so, they're gone! and so is NAP TIME!! and sleeping 11-12 hours at night!!

I'd been planning on getting rid of them soon anyway, so it wasn't just cause of her naughtiness. But now i'm really wondering WHY?!??! who's the idiot that convinced me that i needed to get rid of these precious sleeping aids? honestly, she only had them at night time/nap time. she'll get new teeth (if that was a concern). She's speaking as well as any other kids her age. So why the %$#@ did i do this?!?!? it's been almost 2 weeks now, and she WILL NOT NAP anymore and i'm loosing it!! She's gone from sleeping 12 hours at night, plust 2 during the day, to 10 hours at night--total!!!!!

really what i want to say, for all those moms with Binki Babies, don't take it away just because of peer pressure!! i caved and now i'm paying--big time!!!

Christmas Concussions, etc.

We had such a fun, and crazy christmas vacation this year! We decided last minute that we'd leave 2 days early to beat the snow. I packed up all the stuff the night before, and then that morning, while trying to get last minute work projects done, Reid packed up the car.

Thank heavens for DVD players in minivans...and yes, i hate to say it, mcdonald's (specifically their play yards and their apples). The 8 hour road trip is only doable because of a combination of the two.

By Saturday, the 22nd, Abby had just started warming up to the Ashworths, and that's when the craziness all started. i decided to just list things, rather then write them in paragraphs - hoping for a great shock effect.

Grace got hives (22nd)
Abby fell down the stairs at friends, landed on tile -- got a concussion (22nd)
Abby and Mom went to Emergency Room, and abby got a CT scan (23rd)
Abby got the Influenza (24th)
Grace got a TERRIBLE cold(24th)
Emily got a TERRIBLE cold(24th)
No one slept at night(22nd-29thth)
Grace got into the Tylenol and overdosed (24th, call #1 to poison control)
Reid got sick(26th)
Abby plays in urine in the unflushed toilet (28th)
Mom and Abby ate some green beans that had botulism (3oth, call #2 to poison control and ER)
Mom gets the stomach flu and thinks she's dying of botulism...honestly (31st)
Abby's head kept swelling where she had fallen (26-31st) (3rd call to ER)
TOTAL amount of sleep obtained by Emily in 12 day period =39 hours
TOTAL amount of sleep obtained by Reid in a 12 day period = not much more than me

It sounds even worse when i tell it in person (you know the dramatic flair i can add to any story). and it was. it really was crazy. Yet somehow we managed to have SOOO much fun with all our family. Visiting with family, eating AMAZING food, and rounds of charades (celebrity bowl game), Apples to Apples, Farming Game, Scategories, and Speed Scrabble made it all worth it!
...and watching Grace open her Wiz o' Wiz of Oz present --she got a Toto dog and basket, Red Ruby slippers, and i made her a Dorothy dress out of some old curtains (very "Gone with the Wind" of me, i know!) She couldn't have been happier. sorry, no pics, just videos that i don't know how to edit and download yet...

maybe we'll just stay home next year.... :) (ju, you know i'm kidding)