I have a lot to catch up on. This week was spent at our new house, painting the walls. The main floor/kids bathroom is now a bright, cheery sunflower yellow. The room makes me happy because it's so yellow. It's going to look great with our ducky stuff. Natalie's room is a bright magenta purple. It's much more purple than I expected, but it's really pretty. It's likely we'll have to paint it over before we leave, because it's anything but neutral, but it's really pretty and Natalie loves it. I also found a curtain for $4 the other day for her window - it's darker purple with light purple flowers on it and magenta purple sequins. Natalie really has her purple room!  On Friday morning, my friend Ashley came over and helped me paint the living room. The color I picked out was a light sage green. I was planning on doing the room around this Monet print that I love, that I've had since college but have never had a good place for it. I even got sage green slip covers for the couches my sister is giving us. We started getting the paint up, and then realized that the color isn't sage at ALL! We don't know how it happened, but we really liked the result - the color is more of an ocean green -- very relaxing and cozy -- though definitely not sage and it did NOT work with the slip covers! I swapped them for a beige chenille set this afternoon. We're going to go with the unexpected color, and make the room a beach theme. I told Phil - the color reminds me of the water in the Florida Keys. I might try to find some photos from our vacation there and make some big prints. 

Now all that's left to do is finish getting our new blinds installed, and we're ready to move in! We're tentatively scheduling it for next weekend, with our big move day on Sunday afternoon. We originally wanted to move in this weekend, but we had too much going on this week to get packed. Which worked out just fine -- it got REALLY cold this weekend, and Phil came down with the same flu I had a couple weeks ago, so it would have been miserable. Hopefully it will warm up again by next Sunday afternoon.

On Thursday I had my Usborne Books kick-off party at my house, where I stumbled through the presentation and tried to figure out what I should say. I really think I'm going to love it -- my biggest question was figuring out which books to talk about, since I like so much about pretty much all of them, but I couldn't go through every single one! It really was hard trying to pare down the books to ones I could talk about, that would still show the breadth of the titles, without feeling like I was leaving out so many others. On Saturday I'll be at a book fair booth with Kelley (the person who I signed up under) for most of the day. We'll be splitting the sales and the home show leads from that. 

Last Saturday (boy, I really am behind on here!) was Natalie's Dora party at Chuck E Cheese. It was slightly chaotic, but Natalie and all the kids had a ton of fun. She's still talking about it. First we had pizza (yucky, as I expected, and I thought it was funny that we bought two pizzas and still had to beg for more than three plates. They charge drinks per cup, too - we couldn't get a pitcher - so Phil and I think they probably make all their profit on paper products.) After that the kids did the Dora piñata. (It's the kind with pull strings, so there was no whacking involved.) Natalie and all her friends took a turn, and still hadn't found the right string. Ethan came up and wanted a turn too, so he did. And he pulled the right one -- all the candy came pouring out and the kids ran all around collecting it for their goody bags. It was cute. Then Natalie opened up presents (lots of Dora house stuff, which is still being played with constantly, and from Addie, her first Polly Pocket, which she loves. (And Natalie's Mama really loves those teeny tiny shoes the most! They are FUN to find ten times a day!) She also got some more necklace pendants from Aunt Nanny (we're both wearing a lot of necklaces these days!) and an electronic Candy Land game and a gardening set from Grandma and Grandpa Hedrick. Natalie has already decided that she's going to help me plant stuff this spring at our house. After presents, we had cake, then the kids ran off to play the rest of the time. Natalie said it was her "best birthday always."

Here are just a couple photos from her party--

The cakes that took literally all day Friday to make. Dora had about eight different colors, and yes I make each one from my yummy homemade frosting. (No Crisco!!)

Natalie (Addie is next to her) gets ready to blow out the candles.

Natalie pulls the first piñata string. We held up the piñata on my broom handle, which worked really good because we could raise it up for taller kids and still let Ethan, or peanuts like Ashley's daughter (in the lower part of that photo) reach it too.

We took a lot more pictures, but lots of them didn't turn out too good because the lighting was bad in there. (Too dark in some spots, too bright in others.) My friend April took some pictures with her really nice digital SLR, though, so I'm going to have to get copies of those. Just the few pictures that I saw really shows a difference in quality versus my camera! (Which is a really nice point and shoot, but it's still amazing to see the difference.)

February 10, 2006
Natalie had a very good day yesterday. She did such a great job getting her picture taken! The lady took 12 different shots, and every single one of them was good. It made it very hard to pick! She has different smiles in almost all of them, but she didn't have that fake smile in a single one. The lady taking her picture was really good - she didn't make that "clicking" sound to get her attention (like they all have since she was a baby, and it never worked then either), she actually interacted with her and got her really comfortable. I ended up picking out four different shots, but it's such a shame that I couldn't get all of them! They are scheduled to come in on the 23rd (Natalie's due date). After that, the next hard part will be deciding who gets which picture. (Because I WILL send some out!)

After we were done at JCPenney, we went to play over at the new play area at the mall, then we walked around the mall for a bit and got a soft pretzel for a snack. As we were walking back through JCPenney to get to our car, we saw a bunch of jewelry at 75% off or more, so Natalie and I played around there for awhile. (Ethan did great too, he just liked holding a bracelet and eating his raisins.) She found a pink and purple bead necklace for 77 cents, and I found a really pretty bracelet and a sparkly silver necklace for $2 each. So that was fun. 

After dinner, Grammy and Papa Brett came over, bringing a big box. Grammy couldn't wait until Saturday either. Natalie got her Dora house, including all of the people. The second big thrill of her day. Apparently there is more coming on Saturday, too. (Natalie noticed right away that she didn't have a bed for Dora. Or a kitchen table. Or Dora's Backpack.) She also got a card from her Grandpa Gerth, with four dollar bills in it. (Phil says that he always got a dollar for every year, too.) She was pretty excited to have her own "moneys". It was a very pleasant day. Both kids also behaved relatively well all day, which made it much more pleasant for me too!

We woke this morning with Ethan throwing up. He's seemed fine ever since though, even eating some breakfast, so I don't know what that was about. Hopefully it was just a one-time thing. If not, though, at least we don't have plans today. I just plan on making the birthday cakes, and Natalie plans on continuing to play with her Dora house. She played with it until we put it away at bedtime last night, and she's been playing with it nonstop since she got up this morning, too. Ethan wants to play with it too, usually right where Natalie is, so that's been fun.

I forgot to mention one thing when I wrote my rambling update the other day. Last week I had my checkup at the ob/gyn, and she was still concerned that I'm still having cycles every two weeks or so. She seemed a little put-off that I had stopped taking the hormones, until I told her about the extent to which it was making me feel so miserable 100% of the time. She said she'd never heard of such a strong reaction to such a low dosage, and she agreed that I couldn't live like that either. Since Ethan has been weaned since November, if the messed up cycles were caused by nursing, it should have started to regulate somewhat by now. She asked if I had been regular prior to having kids, and I told her no, I'd never, ever been regular, except the one month before I got pregnant with Ethan. I've always had problems. So she told me to give it one more month, but she's not expecting much change. If this continues she wants me to call back in about a month to schedule an appointment with one of the doctors. (She's a CNP.) She wants me to talk with them about where we go from here. She said it doesn't necessarily mean a hysterectomy, that they don't just rush right to that anymore, and that there are other things we can try, like a uterine ablation. (Which basically fries the lining of the uterus.) I don't know, I just want to get this under control, whatever that will mean.

So this doesn't end on a down note, here's one cute thing Ethan's been doing lately. He's obsessed with smells, and he loves to share the smells he finds, too. He loves to smell candles when we see them at stores or at houses, and if we don't bring it over to him fast enough he yells, "mell!" Last night once we got all the Dora house pieces out, he found the plastic flower pot, and he carried it around to everyone asking them to "mell!" (Actually it sounds more like "mowl".) About a week ago, I was changing his clothes, and he was playing with his feet. Then he stuck them under my nose and said, "Mell!" (so I did, of course) and they were STINKY because they'd been in socks and shoes all day. I held my nose and said "P-U! Stinky!" and he giggled so hard. Then he repeated the game a few more times. After that first time I just pretended to smell, though. They WERE stinky.

February 9, 2006
Happy fourth birthday my sweet girl!

Can you just see that glee on her face? We definitely could not wait until Saturday for her to open this one. The Backpack. With Map. And, as Natalie said, "Look, it's CLEAN inside!" She's been wearing it now, all morning long. Right now she's watching the DVD about when Dora goes to Daisy's birthday party, which she found wrapped as another present, inside of Backpack. Her other gift this morning was Dora's Backpack Adventure computer game, which she played first thing this morning. This Saturday will be More Dora. She wanted a Dora birthday, after all. I wonder if she'll decide on next year's theme tomorrow, just like she did last year. 

Last night when we were putting her to bed, I actually felt a little melancholy about her turning four. That was the last time we'd put her to bed as a three year old! My baby is really growing up. Three sounds little still, but four is...almost five! As she was getting dressed this morning, Natalie asked me if she will be five tomorrow. When I told her she would be four for a whole year, and then she'd turn five, she said, "That's a LONG TIME!" Just enjoy being four right now, kiddo. Enjoy it now, when you can just snuggle up with me every morning and fall back asleep in my arms, for just a little while longer. Pretty soon you will have too much to do to want to spend precious morning time snuggled next to me. At four you want to be independent as much as possible, but you still want to snuggle with me and crave physical touch, though thankfully less these days than when I first met you four years ago this morning! You can cuddle next to me as long as you want, but I know you won't want to forever -- at least, as much as you do now, just soaking in being close to me. I love you, sweet little bean. Even as you get bigger, and your face changes more every day into a little girl instead of a baby, you're still our little bean. I love you Natalie Jayne!

Just within the last week or so, Natalie has told us about just about everything, "I want to do it by myself." She'll let us start the zipper on her coat, but if we zip it up too much, she zips it all the way down to the bottom, and zips it back up. She likes to start up her own video games, her own movies, and she almost always dresses herself these days. This morning, I think she was most excited about being four, because now she can have a whole vitamin by herself. The label on her children's vitamin says only half for under four, so this is a big change for her. Now she doesn't have to share one with her brother. She's been looking forward to having her own "bite-a-dem" for a long time.

I have to go get the kids in the bath now, and get Natalie ready for her picture. I still don't quite know what she's going to wear. Chances are good it will be something purple, though. Right now she has picked out a velvet purple dress, but the sleeves on it have that kind of trim that goes out over your hands, and it usually annoys her, so I'm betting that she might end up in the casual outfit that Grammy gave her last weekend!

February 8, 2006
Natalie is turning four tomorrow! (Actually, tonight at 4:20 am. Today is really the day that feels like her birthday, to me. All the work was done by the time the 9th really came around!)  We're getting her picture taken at JCPenney tomorrow. If you want one of her pictures, and you don't get one, please just let me know and I'll send you one -- I'm really bad about getting photos out in the mail, I know. I still have a huge stack of pictures from Natalie's last birthday, and some from Ethan's first, too. 

I can't believe it's already been four years. In many ways, it's gone very fast, but also there are times we can't hardly even remember what life was like "B.C.". When we drove past our old apartment the other day, the first one we lived in when we got married, I commented that it almost feels like a lifetime ago! 

I need to do just a quick update of things today, since I've fallen so far behind. I signed up to be an Usborne Books at Home consultant last week (we LOVE the books!), so I'm doing a lot of reading and such with it; that's been taking up what would be my writing time. Between that and then we're signing the lease on our house this Saturday, I probably will have another several days before I can get in here and write a good journal update! (So I apologize in advance, I'm sure this update today is going to jump haphazardly from one topic to another!

About that, we're excited to be getting our keys on Saturday afternoon. We'll be taking the next couple weeks to fully move in, including painting and getting things ready and packed up on this end. No, I haven't started packing yet. But I've mentally prepared for how I'm going to pack things. It's all packed very nicely in my head. Natalie is excited about moving to our new house, which will have a backyard and a basement. (That's all she talks about with it. Oh, and sometimes that her room will be purple. We need to find purple paint.)

Natalie's birthday party is this Saturday - lots of fun and frivolity will be had at Chuck E Cheese. We don't really have any plans for her actual birthday tomorrow. Yesterday Phil and I celebrated one more dinner with both kids being 3 or under (therefore, free) by going to CiCi's. We'll probably do something tomorrow, though, like maybe let her open one present from us. (She'll have enough to open on Saturday anyway.) She doesn't quite understand why her party isn't tomorrow, though. We just told her that her friends, and Grammy, couldn't come until Saturday.

Last night Ethan said his name for the first time. He loves to play the game of "who's Mama? Who's Natalie? Who's Ethan?" and he points to each person with much gusto. Last night he was saying our names: Mama, Sisss, and then he pointed to his chest when I asked "who's Ethan" and he said "Ten". It was cute.

Today I took Ethan to his pulmonary doctor visit. We all think he has grown out of his lung issues. He hasn't been on any medications now all winter long, and he hasn't had any breathing problems -- even though he's had several colds. (But they haven't caused him to wheeze like last year. They've just been very normal colds.) We're still going back for another follow-up in June, just to be sure things are still going well, but it looks like he's outgrown it and it won't be developing into asthma. Yay! 

In addition to Natalie turning four, next week Ethan will amazingly already be a year and a half. We had check up appointments scheduled for both of them, but our insurance on the kids was changed last week, and Dr. Kern won't take it. That made me really sad - he's been their doctor since  they were newborns, and I really like him. I did find another doctor today, and she's very close to where we will be moving to, so that could be good. Still, I hate having to change the kids' doctor. He knows their whole history and they know him. On the plus side, this new doctor (and our insurance) will cover immunizations done actually there at the office, so I won't have to take the kids to the clinic anymore. (Which I always fall behind on, since they are scheduled at strange times, mostly when one or both kids are sick.) It's been a pain to track down an open clinic, and get the kids there on schedule. Ethan still is behind schedule on his shots, so he'll be getting some when we get there (great way to get him happy with a new doc!) Unfortunately the earliest I could get in was March 16, so I won't have good growth stats on the kids this time. Ethan was weighed and measured today at the pulmonary doctor, but it was in kilograms and I don't know how that converts - it was 12.2 kg in weight. His length was 36 inches, I think...