36 weeks

i am enjoying reading about v-bacs

and natural childbirth

but our library does not have much to offer 

so michael was super sweet and ordered me 

a book from the school library

 ironically the date it says it's due back

is my due date

i think it's a sign
here's to hoping that i can
have a successful vbac this time!!

so talented

friday we told the kids about the ward talent show that night

immediately noah and hazel were coming up with acts

(they didn't get a desire to perform from me)

hazel said she and olive would do a princess tap tap dance

so i got out the tap shoes

(i collect them from thrift stores whenever i see them) 

so they could practice

michael's talent was doing a twinkie eating contest

with ben and dan

ben won!

 when it was hazel and olive's turn

hazel started crying until everyone clapped for her

and olive kind of hid on the side

i didn't get any pictures because i tried to help by 

playing a song on the piano for them to dance to

but they were very cute in their princess dresses

noah decided to tell knock knock jokes

which were funny

but mostly because he set them up really well

and then the punchlines didn't make sense

a peak at eleanor

we had an ultrasound of our baby girl today

she is head down, yay

and pretty crammed in there

the ultrasound was to check her size

she weighs approximately 6 lbs 11oz

which is pretty hefty for being 35.5 weeks

we loved seeing her cute little face

we assume we're about to have our 3rd

little thumbsucking girl

since she likes her hands by her face

the ultrasound tech could not tell if she has hair

so i guess it'll be a surprise whether she does or not

we're excited!

little angels

while we were on our babymoon

michael's grandma snuck in to take a picture of our sleeping kiddies

 i don't know if i would ever be so brave

and risk waking them

but i'm sure glad she did

they are so cute sleeping next to each other

michael's mom told me that one night

hazel chose to sleep sideways

much to noah's dismay

as it was him who got her feet on him

but her reason was

"it's the only way i'm comfortable"

up in the air

this last fall when michael could have been applying to grad school

he decided he didn't want to

and would most likely take a full time job

with the company he's been interning at for the last 2.5 years

this last week

michael got an official job offer from the company 

that was a bit lower than we anticipated

and not enough to hold us here in pullman

so we're re-evaluating our options

he is still able to apply to the colleges he was considering 

if he does it really soon

so he is

but if that doesn't work out

he'll need to find a job

and all of this needs to happen by may

when he graduates

so while we thought we were all settled

and would be living here for a few more years

we probably won't be

and while we thought we were done with the student life

we might not be

and that means we have no idea where we'll be

with our four kids in just over two months

ha ha ha ha.... nervous laughing

so i'm not too anxious to have this baby

no matter how giant or uncomfortable i am

because everything is so unsettled

and i can in no way feel ready for her

but i know it will all work out

and we are happy

and blessed

and at least i do know that we'll be here for a couple more months

 and we won't be moving right before we have a baby..

babymoon

thursday afternoon we drove from pullman to seattle

to meet michael's family for dinner

and drop our kids off with grandma and grandpa

noah and hazel got to ride in grandpa's new mustang

while olive walked on the ferry boat with grandma

then michael and i found our hotel

enjoyed nbc shows on tv

and ordered pizza

 friday we did so much

you can do a lot more without kids

we went to seattle and shopped,
walked around pike place and

ate lunch at chipotle

then walked around ikea and southcenter

and got pedicures

then after resting at our hotel for a bit

we went to a late showing of the vow

 saturday we met my parents at the temple

which was really nice

and ate lunch in bellevue at the cheesecake factory

walked around bell square

and then after resting at our hotel again (i'm so pregnant)

drove up to edmonds to see an improv comedy show

 sunday we went to church

and decided we couldn't take being away from our kids any longer

 so instead of meeting michael's mom to get the kids monday morning

we picked them up sunday

and got to visit with my parents

and michael's parents at the same time
(thank you grandma olson, grandpa olson and great grandma shirley)

the kids liked coming back to our hotel with us

we all slept pretty well in our hotel

and the kids liked the yummy breakfast there

then we drove home today

it was a really fun trip

we now have newborn diapers for baby

some cute new baby clothes

and did some shopping for the rest of the family as well

we're excited to meet our baby girl

and glad we got some one on one time before she comes

i'm 35 weeks today!

a new tutu

hazel's been saying she wants a new choo choo

i was surprised she wanted a train

but she showed me with her hands what she was trying to say

and it was a tutu

 i was happy to oblige
and bought her one at our local dance store

such a pretty ballerina

and quite good at posing, too!

michael and i keep valentine's day pretty low key

but still try to make it special for each other and the kids

he was really sweet and took the garbage out 

first thing this morning

(very unlike him)

as an excuse to go outside and bring me the roses he had in the car

i took him cookies and left them on the seat of his car

while he was in class

then while i took hazel to ballet, he and noah cleaned the house

on our date, we bought each of the kids a special surprise

that we gave to them when we picked them up 

after we went out to a nice dinner

i love my valentine(s)

noah's class valentines party

he was so so so happy to have us there

michael was at school

so it was just us girls visiting
it was a lot of fun

but i might need a nap before the festivities continue

hazel loves to paint

today hazel and i made a deal

 she was dying to go with me to my ob appointment

but i wouldn't let her

 so she stayed home and painted instead

(something she asks to do all the time and i rarely let her)

by the time i got home

she'd painted lots of kitty cats

and ran out of paint

sunday best: hand me down

two years ago valentines day was on sunday

so i made noah and hazel special outfits to wear

here's hazel two years ago in her dress

you can see that post here

today without thinking much of it

i put olive in the same dress

and then realized the coincidence

too bad i didn't have olive wear those same converse 

sometimes...

i have weird dreams while i'm pregnant

that force me to make my blog private at 5:00 in the morning
without warning

part of me wants this blog private

but it is so hard to want to blog!

ahhh

so anyway

is it awkward for anyone else

that i've privated and unprivated this blog like 15 times

in the last few years?

just know i'm impulsive

and this probably wasn't the last time

but for now

public?

she still has good eyebrows

remember this?

well she's still got it

oh, baby olive

where have you gone?

and why didn't we get you into baby modeling?

hazel kitty cat

 i found this darling handmade dress at goodwill last week

and it fits hazel perfectly

i could hardly stand how cute she was in it all day

and even cuter eating a cupcake

on an unrelated note

a typical knock knock joke from hazel goes like this

knock knock

who's there

hazel kitty cat

hazel kitty cat who? 

dog!

33 weeks and a note to my future (more pregnant) self

despite how uncomfortable you may feel, 

how swollen you are, 

you do not want a c-section

you want a natural birth

not just a vaginal birth, a natural one

 you know this is possible, you've done it before

this does not have to be important to anyone else

 your due date is not a deadline

 c-sections are much harder to recover from than vaginal deliveries

 you do not want an unnecessary surgery

 your body will have this baby naturally, it knows what to do

 be patient

 you want to be able to hold your children after their new baby sister comes,

 to give them extra love as they may feel misplaced or unsure

 unlike the last time you had a natural delivery, you are not alone

 you have a husband who will support you in a medication free delivery

 you do not need to have your baby because of anyone's timetable except yours

no matter what, 

labor is only one day of your life

excited

soon we're going on our babymoon

you can read about our last one here

we almost didn't have a chance to fit one in this time

but figured it is probably more important the more kids we have

so we're going

to seattle (it's our go-to babymoon location)

michael's parents will have our kids

and we'll have a long weekend by ourselves

in a hotel

shopping, exploring, eating

all very slowly to accommodate this pregnant body
we're excited

saturday

hazel all dressed up for her friend bailey's princess birthday party

this was the first time i ever curled her hair

pretty cute

 on our way out the door michael surprise took our picture

 while we were gone

olive took a nap

and noah and michael got to hang out

what is it with boys and guns?

after some awesome posing

they rode bikes

and cleaned the living room

we spent the rest of the day 

thrifting, eating delicious food,

swimming at the pool and enjoying each other

the news

this blog is officially and permanently private

michael and i went on a fun date last night

out to dinner

we played cards in between eating

our favorite

and then shopped the clearance at walmart 

it was really fun

olive had some meatballs for lunch

and put one on each end of her fork

pretty cute

noah just told me he needs to lose weight

(definitely not something he's heard at home)

i asked him why

and he said he had a weight in his stomach

maybe from eating too much?

hazel is the girliest girl

she always wants to wear my lipgloss

and while that can be a little annoying

and messy

i love hearing her call it wipfwoss

noah is way in to reptiles lately

it started with the reptile man coming to his school

then at the science center,

 he got to help feed the reptiles and rodents

at the school book fair he picked a book about snakes

and today at school he got to watch a movie about the reptile man

i think he definitely has a new interest

i am so glad to feel so good this pregnancy

it is a total blessing to not be miserable