Our Fun and Lazy Week!

We have spent a lot of time indoors as our little family.  Daci has loved playing with all of her Christmas gifts and has also become quite the artist.  I have been scrapbooking a ton (almost done with 2011!  I want to finish before our crazy 2012 starts!) and she sits next to me for hours and draws.  She has always just drawn scribbles and lines and circles but recently she started making actual forms out of those scribbles!  Our sweet neighbor brought this cute washable horse over for her....you can draw on it and then wash it in the washing machine and start all over again.  She's been drawing "people" this week.  She draws them JUST like I did when I was little....I even still have my first picture saved in my baby book (Thanks, Mom!).  I would do a circle for a body, two eyes, a nose, a mouth and legs coming out of the circle with circle feet at the end....no body :) Daci was intently drawing on her horse and said, "Look, Mom!  Its a wicken witch!" (She has been obsessed with wicken (not wicked) witches since Halloween). This time she drew the face with a bigger nose and straight hair coming off the top.  I was so proud....and so was she!

The Wicken Witch (the green "figure" on top)

Proudly showing it off

With Rick being home all week, which I have LOVED, I have been laying in my bed upstairs a lot.  This week I have been contracting A TON.  If I am standing or sitting, I am contracting.  And, they are really sucking the energy out of me.  I am exhausted!  I am also having the round ligament pain daily.  Rick has been so sweet to let me sleep a lot.  He and Daci have gotten so close and I just love watching them.  He has been such a good daddy.  He has been doing tons of puzzles with her, working on the ABC's with her, teaching her how to write the ABC's, reading to her, and playing with his new snazzy helicopter with her.  She has loved having him home!  One afternoon I came down after a two hour nap and found this:

How cute is that!  Rick said she just climbed up on his lap with her blanket and cuddled with him.  If you know Daci, you know this is huge.  She hates to cuddle!  She doesn't sit still for more than 5 seconds at a time. I love that she and Rick have gotten so close!

And, I had quite a few requests for a 35 week photo.  At the time of my post I didn't have any that I dared post because I haven't gotten ready all week :)  Its kinda hard to get ready nowadays.  It hurts,  takes forever, and Rick has to basically dress me :)  But, yesterday I went to take the Illinois Drivers License test.  Yes.....I have lived here a whole year and a half and haven't done it yet.  AND, why the heck did I wait til I was 35 weeks pregnant, bloated and puffy to get the picture taken that I will have on my license for years to come?!  Who knows.  But, I sure am glad I did it.  I passed with flying colors and officially have my license! Is it weird that I thought it was fun?  I kinda miss the whole studying and taking test thing.  I know, weird...but I haven't done it forever!

Here I am at 35 weeks, 1 day. Getting larger by the second.  Oh, and my first two stretch marks just popped up.  Boo!  On a happy note....I only have 20 days til induction and 15 days til my mommy comes!  Can't wait for the excitement that is about to begin....okay maybe I can :)

Pregnancy update-35 weeks!

I am 35 weeks today! 3 weeks from today is my induction date. It seems so close, yet so far away. I had my weekly appointments yesterday. The babies are still doing great. I had my non-stress test and just like the last three weeks they were as busy as ever! The nurses love my babies because they make their jobs easy :) Non-stress tests can take up to an hour each week, depending on how much they move. They have to get 30 minutes of movement to see how their heart rates react. My sweet children are just as wild and crazy as Daci was in the womb. It makes it nice for the non-stress tests, but I have a feeling our hands are going to be quite full when they come! After my non-stress test we had the growth ultrasound. Both babies are exactly 5lb 6oz! They are each growing at a half pound a week. If they make it to their induction date they will be at least 7 lbs each. Then I had my regular OB appt and I am dilated to a 2 and 60% effaced. I haven't been feeling all that great. I think the 11 pounds of babies hanging off the front of me might have something to do with it :) My round ligament pains are getting more and more frequent and a lot more severe. I don't sleep well at night between getting up to use the bathroom every hour and my back killing me from bearing the weight of my tummy. Luckily Rick has been home with me this week. He has been such a big help. My weight gain has shot up the last two to three weeks. I started retaining water and I am quite puffy. I am at 44 lbs so far. My blood pressure is still good so I am grateful for that. I am measuring at 41 weeks! I get lots of funny looks and eyes popping out of people's heads when they see me :) Funny story, yesterday in Target I had one of my round ligament "episodes" start up. I got bright red, sweaty, nauseous, doubled over in pain and was visibly shaky. Once I finally Made it to the register the lady took one look at me and said, "Honey are you going into labor!?" I jokingly said, "I might be!" She panicked! She asked when I was due and I told her not for three more weeks but that I was carrying twins so I look like I'm due today. She's like, "No, you aren't making it three weeks you are having those babies today!" I tried to assure her that I was fine while at the same time trying to keep it together because I felt like I was going to die :) I came home and Rick put me straight to bed. I laid in bed in awful pain for 5 hrs, got up to eat, and went right back. During those five hours I was contracting every 10-13 minutes. Luckily the contractions stopped being so regular and went back to being random once the evening hit. The doctors say that 90% of babies born at 36 weeks get to go home with their parents and at 37 weeks pretty much all of them do. Gotta make it to at least next Thurs, but would love to make it to 37 weeks! Like I've said before, my blog is sort of my journal so that I can remember what was going on when I get around to scrapbooking about it. Im sorry if this post was boring, or sounds whiny. Just want to document what the last few weeks of this pregnancy has been like :)

Christmas Eve and Christmas

 A few disclaimers to this post:

1. I think if you have read my blog very often, you know that I am "snap happy".  I take a bajillion pictures and don't know how to edit what I put up.....just to let you know, this is about a third of what I actually took.  So, now that you all know that I know that I have a sickness, lets move past it and try not to judge :)

2. I have officially hit the puffy, fat, ugly stage of pregnancy and I'm pretty depressed about it.  As much as I want to cry when I see these pictures of me, I know that it is important to document this time of my life, so I just take a deep breath and hit "upload".  Last week at my 34 week appt I was measuring over 40 weeks for a singleton pregnancy.  Lovely.  I also gained 5 lbs in one week.  I am retaining water and its not a pretty sight...just FYI.


CHRISTMAS EVE


Ok, on to exciting things!  On Christmas Eve morning we took the girls to see Santa at the mall.  It is Micah's family tradition to go to the mall every year on Christmas Eve so we thought we would join them.  Daci was so excited.  Unfortunately the Santa was pretty darn LAME!  He wouldn't even look at Daci, or ask her what she wanted for Christmas, or talk to her, or smile or say "Ho Ho Ho!"  Pretty lame.  Luckily, Daci didn't seem to mind :)

They had these cute cut outs you could take pictures in while we were waiting in line.

The mall pretty much wore me out and sent me into quite a few contractions so I came home and took a two hour nap and then woke up to make The Pedersen Family traditional Christmas Eve dinner.  I made homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, homemade gluten free breadsticks, and our delicious "slush".  We had Carly and Micah over for dinner and it was a lot of fun!

After dinner, we continued the Pedersen tradition with frosting sugar cookies for Santa.  Everyone was pretty worn out by then and both Daci and Rick weren't feeling well so we kinda just slopped on some frosting and called it good :)

Carly brought a yummy cookie and ice cream dish that she made...here are she and Micah enjoying it with some Oberweis Egg Nog

After dinner and cookies Carly and Micah left and we did our Christmas Eve presents with Daci.  She was SO excited to open up a present!

 She got PJ's, slippers, and a book

Lovin' her pj's and slippers

So excited about her book

Then she helped Rick and I open our presents.  My mom sent us our PJ's so we could still participate in that fun tradition.  This year she did SUU shirts (since almost everyone in our family either went to school there, or graduated from there) and basketball shorts.  I think she was mostly thinking of what I would fit into :)

We read Daci her book and then tucked her into her bed.  She was out like a light within a few minutes...it was a very busy and exhausting day! Later that night I snuck downstairs and snapped some pics of what Santa brought Daci :)

Santa brought her: puzzles, books, a My Little Pony Doll, a Princess Belle dress up dress, a Memory game, a Strawberry Shortcake purse, and a new stroller because hers was broken

CHRISTMAS MORNING


Daci woke up at 7am on Christmas morning. I, of course, had been up since 4:30am....I am not sleeping at all lately.  We told her that we think Santa came for her and she got so excited!  

Waiting at the top of the stairs

Seeing her loot from the stairs....so excited!

Rushing down the stairs to claim her prize

So many toys!  Which one should I grab first!?

She loved this My Little Pony baby doll that talks to her and calls her Mommy.  It hasn't left her side since this second.

After she looked at all her stuff from Santa we went to open presents by the tree.  We skyped with Rick's family while we opened the gifts from them. Daci got a Snow White dress up dress and a Princess Ariel doll from Yia Yia and Papou. They gave us our stroller and video monitor for the babies.  They gave me some sheets for my new bedspread I got for my birthday, and they gave Rick an indoor RC Helicopter.  Thanks Yia Yia and Papou!

Daci opening presents from Yia Yia and Papou, and Rick and I.  We gave her a remote control car, fridge phonics by Leap Frog and a Cinderella barbie.

Me opening a present from Rick...some Mac eyeshadow!

Daci gave Rick her present and was so excited for him to open it!

I framed a finger painting she did for him.  She is showing him her handprint in the middle of it.  She was so proud.

Awww :)

Rick's parents got him a little indoor helicopter and he LOVES it!  He has been flying it all day, every day :) 

Daci playing with her toys

In front of her treasures

She got a Strawberry Shortcake remote control car that she absolutely loves.  Rick was teaching her how to use it here.

Later in the afternoon we skyped with my family and we opened our gifts from them.  My parents got her the game Candy Land (which she LOVES playing!) and some awesome books.  They got Rick a Nordstrom gift card and me some fun clothes...can't wait til I can fit into them :)

Opening our mail from Daysha and Easton. They gave Daci some awesome Princess Ariel PJ's and some princess coloring pages, Daysha gave me a beautiful necklace and journal, and E gave Rick a cool Nike Chicago shirt and an iTunes gift card.

After we skyped with my fam, we headed over to Carly and Micah's house for dinner.  We did The Roberts traditional dinner: Ham with cherry sauce, funeral potatoes, and brussel sprouts. It was delicious!! We also exchanged our gifts with Carly and Micah.

Daci gave Leni her present...a little Minnie Doll.  I love this look on Eleni's face!

Micah got Rick personalized golf balls.  Rick loved them!

 I didn't get any pics of Carly and I exchanging gifts :(

Santa brought this awesome playhouse to Eleni and the girls had a blast playing in it all night!

And this is what the girls look like when they watch tv at Carly's house.  Oh they are so goofy!

Family pic.  Super sad about what I look like, cuz Daci and Rick look so cute!  Oh well....only a few more weeks :)

We had a wonderful Christmas! It was a lot of fun to have our own little Christmas with just our family!  We sure missed our families back home in Utah though. I can't believe how spoiled we were by our families and friends!  Thanks for the generosity!  We love you all!

Sugar Cookies

In my family we frost sugar cookies on Christmas Eve and leave them out for Santa.  I am really excited to carry that tradition with Daci.  We made a morning out of making sugar cookies together and had so much fun! There were lots of things that she loved about it:

She loved helping me count each cup or teaspoon as they went in the bowl

She loved hamming it up for Daddy when he was taking pictures

She loved turning on the beater

She loved to hold it with me as we beat the ingredients

Of course she loves to eat the beaters once its all mixed together

She LOVED picking out which cookie cutter we would do next

And she loved being able to cut them out 

Daci loves to bake but she especially loved baking sugar cookies.  She loved watching me sprinkle the counter with flour and rolling the dough out with the rolling pin.  After watching me a few times she had the steps down and when I turned my back for just a second she took over :)

We had a lot of fun together.  It also tested my patience a little bit :)  She is so independent and after she figured out how to do it she wouldn't let me help anymore.  I guess I'm a little bit of a perfectionist (or so Rick says) so he thought it was hilarious watching me squirm while she would do things not quite the right way :)