December 21, winter solstice, shortest day of the year, darkest day of the year, end of the world, and...

MATT'S BIRTHDAY!

Happy birthday, daddy-o!

Love,

Lola, Finn and me

6 more days...

December 19 and I haven't watched a SINGLE Christmas movie... besides a few snippets of White Christmas that I caught on TV a few nights ago. I have, however, seen every Christmas episode of Dora, Diego, Umizoomi and Bubble Guppies. Oh, and we've also watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ten times and The Elf on the Shelf (which is actually really cute) about a hundred times. All in the past 48 hours while little Miss was sick. She is MUCH better today, by the way. Fever free and (mostly) back to her old self. Now we're just battling a persistent runny nose and some sneezes.

The must watch list by Dec. 25:
The Family Stone
Love Actually
It's a Wonderful Life
Christmas Vacation
The Christmas Story

And if we have any extra time... (haha):
Elf
Fred Claus
Bad Santa (per Matt's request)

What am I forgetting???

Life

Oh, how I wish I had more time to blog.

Lola started school (technically a daycare, but we call it "school") on Friday. She's going to go two days per week, and we're all very excited about it. When we dropped her off we could barely get a hug and a kiss from her - apparently she's already too cool for that. And she even took a nap. Gasp! The bad news is she's sick now. Boooo. Our pediatrician warned us that she'd probably get sick a lot in the beginning, and boy was she right. I mean, she only went one day for crying out loud! (Must have been one of those two kids with snotty noses. I tried to look the other way when I saw them, but I was secretly freaking out.) Not only does it stink to have a sick kiddo, there's also the added stress of trying to shield Finn from all the germs. Eeeeek.

Here is her sick face:

Good thing we made these over the weekend before she got sick:

This little project really tested my patience :)

Lori stopped by on Sunday and delivered this:

A homemade apple pie. YUM.

In case you can't tell, it says "Merry Ho Ho Ho" on top and has little crust candy canes around the edge. Courtesy of her mama, Bev. I just devoured a piece with vanilla ice cream.

Just a cute picture:

He smiles!

Finn Henry will be six weeks old tomorrow.

And he has really cute feet:

Our tree is trimmed. Bring on the presents and snow!

A super quick update

Yes! We're still here. I wish I had more time to blog, but surely I'll find time again... some day? These pics are from my phone, because it's faster than downloading the pics on my camera. :) All is well in the Wade house. We're wishing for a little more sleep, but besides that we're doing well and settling in to life as a family of four. Finn had his three-week checkup this week. He's 9 pounds, 2 ounces (he was 7 lbs, 2 oz when we left the hospital) and 21.5 inches (grown an inch and a half already!) Lola is still enjoying having her baby brother around, but I keep waiting for her to ask when he's leaving. ;) Happy Friday, everyone!

The softest, fuzziest slippers ever for a baby:

Lola practicing covering her mouth when she coughs or sneezes:

Just a sweet, sweet picture:

Our art project this week:

I'm doing a little work from home today and getting good use out of my baby k'tan:

Welcome, Finn Henry

40 weeks

(11 hours before he was born)

It's go time!

7:05 p.m. 11-7-12

7 lbs, 8 oz

20 inches

Day 2: Lola meets brother Finn

Day 3: Home :)

The "boys"

A hint of a smile...

Day 10: I'm thankful for them:

So much more to tell! For now enjoy the pictures. :)

D-Day

A clarification.

So, I've been telling everyone my due date is Nov. 7. That's tomorrow, in case you've lost track of the days this week. Well, I have a confession to make. My original due date was actually Nov. 10. That's the date I was given when I found out I was pregnant. But then when I had my ultrasound, the ultrasound tech declared it was Nov. 7, based on baby boy's measurements, etc. So, I went with that day because it sounded soooo much sooner than Nov. 10. But really, I never dreamed it would matter because, what's three days when you're talking about 40 weeks? And besides, he was going to be early, just like Lola. He was supposed to be an October baby.

But now here we are six days into November and ONE day away from my due date and still no baby. Or are we four days away? Maybe it was Nov. 10 all along. Maybe I still have FOUR WHOLE DAYS left. Maybe he'll be late! Did you know that more than half of all babies are born after their due date? (Why didn't I know this before? Oh yeah, because my first child was 26 days early, so why would I educate myself about that sort of thing? THIS little family doesn't have late babies!) So if he isn't born tomorrow, then will he be considered "late" or will he not be considered "late" until Sunday? I don't know! Does it really matter?! I mean, really, does it? It's just THREE DAYS difference, people, and either way you look at it, this baby could be born AT ANY MINUTE. At least that's what we're begging hoping for.

One day we'll all look back on this and laugh.

40-week (gulp) snapshot coming soon.

Halloween in P-town

Meeeeeeeow!

She worked the tail:

Me and my kitty cat:

Black fingernails, of course.

Lola and Regan: partners in candy

The three four of us:

39 weeks

I can't get much bigger, can I? CAN I?!

When I saw this picture I said to Matt:

"It looks like I'm holding a basketball under my shirt."

His reply: "More like a beach ball."

A-hem. I'm not sure what he meant by that, but I ignored it.

I feel like I've been pregnant for a decade.

I will wait

Okay, little man. I give up. You're probably not gonna be an October baby (like I've been saying for the past nine months). If you're anything like your daddy you'll probably be right on time (and not a minute late). And that's okay...

Cause I will wait, I will wait for you

And I will wait, I will wait for you

And I will wait, I will wait for you

And I will wait, I will wait for you

We're still waiting.

Today

33 years old.

38 weeks pregnant.

Matt is cooking our favorite creamy, spicy pasta for dinner (a la The Pasta Factory in Columbia - a tribute to this upcoming Homecoming that we're - BOO! - going to miss). I don't really buy into the whole eat-spicy-food-to-induce-labor theory, but at this point I'm willing to try anything. After that I'll probably eat (another) pumpkin cupcake with cream cheese frosting (a la Gigi). Thank you, everyone, for all the birthday wishes. It has been a lovely day. :)

Pumpkin Carving 101

We carved a couple of pumpkins last weekend.

We did this smaller, practice pumpkin first:

Then we tackled the big daddy:

Turns out Lola wasn't very helpful in extracting the pulp;

she just wanted to watch:

And we had to beg her to touch the slimy seeds:

I was tempted to do something really creative, like this,

but it's a good thing we chose an easy design:

because she grew bored with the whole activity pretty quickly.

But she does like to see it all lit up!

A little after-carving treat:

"the last supper"

As my due date draws near I'm *trying* to be conscious about what I'm eating each day. Not because I'm watching my weight - HA! No, that's a lil bit pointless right now. But because when I go into labor I know I'll be asked what I've eaten within recent hours, and I'd like for it to be something semi-healthy (so I sound like a super healthy mama - again, ha ha), mainly because I don't think a chili dog with extra jalapenos would be the best meal to have as a "last supper" before delivering a baby (for many, many reasons).

The night I went into labor with Lola I had eaten a cheeseburger with homemade mac and cheese (hey, at least it was homemade, right? Right?!), and a brownie with ice cream. When I recited this to the nurse I felt like I needed to say: "I'm pregnant, don't judge!"

If I had gone into labor last Saturday my "last supper" would have been Jackie's pizza and peanut butter pie. If it had been Sunday morning my "last breakfast" would have been peanut butter pie. (It's that good!)

Now this morning would have been a good time to go into labor. I had an English muffin with peanut butter and honey, and yogurt with apples, blueberries, dried cranberries, walnuts and granola: delicious AND healthy AND would have made me sound like a super healthy mama.

But alas, it's almost lunchtime now, and I'm still pregnant, and potato chips are calling my name. Hurry up, little man. Your mama's bursting at the seams.

37 weeks and a growth spurt!

This picture was taken on Monday:

This one today (Saturday):

I think he grew. Oy.

Getting ready for baby brother

9 months

I'm now 36 weeks and officially in the ninth month. With the end so near you'd think we'd feel like the waiting is almost over, but I feel like it has just begun! As most of you probably remember, we never got to the "waiting around" stage when I was pregnant with Lola, as she surprised us with a 26-days-early arrival. I had my 36-week checkup yesterday and fully expected to get a report that labor could start any day, but instead it was the opposite. Guess that's why they say every pregnancy is different, eh? I'll admit, I was a little relieved. I'm certainly ready any time baby boy wants to make his appearance, but I'd also like to have one more weekend to wrap up our many projects. And then maybe one more weekend after that to just hang out with Lola and the hubs.

However, Monday is a full moon... 

S'more please!

Last Sunday we went to the park and made s'mores:

At first she wasn't sure about the burnt marshmallow taste:

But it turns out she likes it: 

Uh oh, mom forgot the wet wipes!