While we wait...

Things have been pretty busy waiting for baby #3 to come. Andrew hates when I do comparisons...but I would already be in the hospital if this were like Gunner or Cooper's deliveries. :)

Last Friday we had our [final date] before baby. We had great seats to the Cardinals game, and our neighbor watched the boys from 5pm-1am! It was heaven. We rode the metro downtown and had dinner, went to the game and sat through a 2-hour rain delay, and then enjoyed 9 innings of uninterrupted baseball. Bringing the boys to games is fun, but not having them was a lot of fun in a different way. :) Even though the Cards lost in the 9th inning, it was very fun times.

Saturday, the Dental Squadron hosted a [Diaper Party] for us and another couple who are pregnant with their 2nd boy. Although we felt awkward having a party for our 3rd boy, it actually turned out to be pretty fun. It is fun to get to know all the dentist and specialists Andrew works with better. The boys had fun playing on the trampoline, watching movies, and eating icecream for dinner. :) They served fajitas, which were excellent, had fun confetti eggs (cascarones??), and we enjoyed visiting. Andrew is pictured with his boss, Dr. Safar, and his best friend/resident, Todd Broyles. I am with Jen Burroughs (due just 5 days after me), and Karen Broyles (who is pregnant with their first). Karen is actually going to be at our birth, if our baby ever comes, as the photographer. I am also pictured with Sister Buhler, who is the Colonel's wife and the other LDS family. She is so sweet. We got a lot of diapers, and beautiful flowers. We are so blessed!

Yesterday was [my birthday]. It was a really fun day. The Primary Presidency I work with at church, took me to lunch at "Rachel's Garden", a cute little tea-party type place. It was so fun. My wonderful visiting teacher, Rachel Nocchi, watched my boys for 3 hours while we ate, chatted, and shopped at the little gift shop. The girls gave me lunch, cookies, comfy jammies, and ginger peach soap/lotion/caddy/candle from Pier 1. I LOVE it! Thanks girls! That evening, we celebrated as a family by going to Andrew's volleyball game, and eating at Texas Roadhouse. The boys loved the "cake" and pushing my face in it. They each took turns re-lighting the candle and blowing it out too. Cooper wondered why no one else came to my party. :) I told him I love my boys so much, I just wanted to party with them! Tonight we followed my birthday up with a fun game of bowling with our friends, the Whittles. I was hoping bowling would put me into labor, but no such luck. :)

Andrew plays [volleyball] with the dental squadron, and it actually pretty fun to go watch him play. Cooper LOVES it, and has actually gone by himself to cheer Dad on at a few games I couldn't make. Thanks to Karen for chatting with him in the stands. I don't think its fair that Andrew gets to play an organized sport...I miss them so much...and "HAS" to work out at work 3 times a week. I need that commitment to get me to get in shape! We love cheering on our Daddy!

Best friends, dental wives, shopping, earthquakes, family fun with the Bentleys...and more!!!

What a fun weekend we've had! Wednesday, Lindsey Bentley flew into St. Louis. I picked her up and we went downtown to the Westin (the nicest hotel in town, directly across the street from the baseball stadium). We attended the Alliance of the American Dental Association conference (for dental wives). It was so fun, and I think we got a lot of good information.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CONFERENCE WITH LINDSEY:

• Staying up until 3 am talking
• The amazing bed and room!
• Seeing other friends from dental school (Zipporah Kofford, Sydney Condie, Misty Kakle, Becky Campbell, and Stephanie Mack)
• Shopping!!!! Great buys at Steve and Barry's, Charolette Russe, Old Navy, Children's Place, GAP, Carter's.... we literally filled the back of my Subaru hatchback! 
• Having the San Francisco Giants in our hotel, and getting pictures and autographs with Rich Aurilia and Randy Winn. 
• Cactus Cafe, Penn Station, loads of candy and treats, catered meals, and lots of fun eating!
• Getting lots of good information and bonding with other dental wives.
• NO KIDS! Thanks Hun and friends!
• While I was away, the base went on "LOCK-DOWN" for a guy holding his wife hostage in on-base housing (ended up killing himself), and a bomb-threat in the hospital! (A couple hundred yards from our house). They wouldn't let Andrew off base to pick our kids for a few hours, and then wouldn't let him back to our house for a few more hours! 
• Waking up in the middle of the night to an EARTHQUAKE! It was a 5.4 and went on for about 15 seconds. It was pretty freaky being in the hotel room higher up. Our room seriously felt like it was going back and forth a couple feet! I actually had 3 strong contractions also...no baby though! :) There were a couple tremors the next day too. 

Friday night, Chris Bentley flew in with their 3 kids (way to go Chris!). Dirk, Coby and Olivia. It was so fun for Cooper to pick his best bud up at the airport, and for us to meet Olivia for the first time! They came downtown and stayed at the hotel with us Friday night. Saturday, we finished up the conference and we all started playing. Saturday morning, Cooper woke up early, and couldn't go back to sleep because he was "so excited" and his "bones won't stop moving!"

HIGHLIGHTS WITH THE BENTLEYS!:

• Cardinals v. Giants game (Cooper and Coby both got balls from players during batting practice!)
• Visiting the Gateway Arch and Lewis & Clark museum
• Union Station...eating, Cooper and Dirk jumping on the trampolines with bungies, the fudge shop, feeding the huge fish in the pond.
• Grant's Farm...feeding the goats and camels, riding the tram, and such nice weather we got sunburned!
  
• America's Incredible Pizza Co. (all-you-can-eat food, go-karts, glow-in-the-dark mini-bowling and golf, bouncy house, etc!)
  
• The boys playing outside in the backyard and at the park, with toys, the Wii, and just LOVING being together!
• Talking and catching up with our best buds from dental school!

16 more days until baby #3 is due! Really hoping I come a week early like I did with the first two! I am getting so swollen in my feet and ankles. I have been on my feet a lot this weekend though...all of it was SO worth it! We'll keep you posted!

3 (or 2!) more weeks!

So I am officially 37 weeks...and I'm feeling it. :) Although the women love details, not sure if all the men that read this blog would appreciate me going into details about my comfort. :) Or lack of comfort. :) Also don't love the swelling of my feet/ankles/face/etc.

So I went to the doctor today, and (sorry for the details boys), I am officially "really, really soft", 60% effaced, and 1 cm dilated. He said I am "so soft" that once I start labor, I should dilate quickly. Better not be too quick for an epidural! :) Gunner did come a week early...so I hope this keeps up with tradition! :) I've gained about the same weight as I did with Gunner, and he was 8lbs 9oz...so I can tell he'll probably be big.

Names... the middle name will be Leo.... Andrew will decide the first name. :)

OK, enough gory details. The sun is shining more, the boys LOVE playing outside, I got a haircut and color today (always good therapy for me...see picture below), and our best friends from dental school, the Bentleys, are visiting this weekend!!! Lindsey gets here tomorrow, and we officially get 2 nights to ourselves at a nice hotel downtown. We'll be attending a conference for dental wives (and shopping, and eating, and talking...all the fun girl things!). Then her husband flies in, with all 3 of their kids, on Friday night (thanks for taking that on Chris!). The families will join us at the hotel, and we'll hit a baseball game, the Arch, and some other fun touristy things. They'll stay at our place a few nights too. We are SOOOOOOO excited!


I won't be curling it daily however...in fact it will probably be in a pony-tail most of the time. :)

Where is the worst place to puke?!

So today was an eventful day. Gunner did wake up with a runny diaper, but when asked if he felt sick he said, "No, I not sick!" He was happy, no fever, ate breakfast, drank a full juice-cup. Things seemed fine.

Off to church we went. We made it until the sacrament was passed, when Gunner tells me, "my mouth hurts". Then we hear him poop. I figured the mouth hurting was probably acid from pooping. He says rather loudly, "I poopy...change my bumb?" Andrew informs him he'll do it after the sacrament.

Andrew brings him back in, and he is happily playing with animals. Then he turns to me and says, "My mouth hurts. I spit?" I hold out my hand, and he spits in my hand. Then he looks up at me and then it came. A big puke right on his toys/bench. Andrew puts his hands up to catch more puke (not knowing what he'd do with it once he caught it). I grabbed the grocery sack with the nursery snack in it, dumped the snack out, and caught half of the next shot. The other half gets on his shirt/pants, Andrew's tie/pants/shirt, and the corner of my skirt. The next two shots make it into the grocery sack.

Of course we were sitting in our normal spot, the row right behind the sacrament boys, to minimize distractions of other people/kids. The poor speaker who got to watch this whole episode! The lady right behind us jets to the back row. Luckily a nice guy (who doesn't even have kids), came running in with a whole roll of paper towels and a bottle of disinfectant. Another family grabbed Cooper to sit with them, and another lady (39 weeks pregnant) comes running in with a garbage can. I just sat there with Gunner on my lap and the grocery sack at his mouth. Eventually, we made it out of the chapel. Andrew got a few hot rags from the kitchen to finish the clean-up.

I tried to get Gunner to sit on my lap in the foyer, but he wanted to run around. I said, "Gunner, you're sick". He would answer, "No, I not sick!" When Andrew finally came out he said, "There's a story for the blog!" :)

Andrew took him home, I wiped off my skirt and stayed at church with Cooper (the Primary Presidency had just changed today...except I am still the secretary, so I felt bad leaving during the turnover).

Gunner came home, asked for popcorn, juice, soup, and wanted to play golf and bowling. He hasn't acted any different, and doesn't have a fever. Hopefully he gets completely better before he gets worse. He did take a 3-hour nap. Hopefully the rest of us don't get sick, since we have our friends coming into town this week!

Could there be a worse place to puke?!

Kansas City here we come!

Well, close anyway. :) The results are in...and we are headed to WHITEMAN Air Force Base, about an hour East of Kansas City, Missouri...and, yes, less than 4 hours from where we currently live. :) It was our 14th pick, so we aren't TOO excited about it, since we would have loved to explore a little more. But, it will be our home from August 2008-June 2010!

Cooper is excited to be Royals fans, and have a Great Wolf Lodge (indoor water park) close. :)

We laugh that we are making the "mormon trek". Even though we started in Utah...we have since lived near Palmyra and Kirtland (in Cleveland), now we're close to Nauvoo, and we are heading toward Independence, Liberty Jail, Far West (all super close to Kansas City)....the trek continues. :)

Another exciting thing, is our base is home of the B-2 stealth bombers, the A-10 Thunderbolt, and T-38 Talon jets. That is a lot more exciting than the refueling wing here in St. Louis. :)

The other residents here are headed to Mountain Home, ID (their 1st pick), and Little Rock, AR (his 5th pick). I guess they did say 80% of people get one of their top 10...we just must be the other 20%.

There really were a LOT worse places we could have gone...at least we are close to a bigger city, and a major airport. :) There are a lot of positives. The move won't be far! Start planning your trips to Kansas City now. :)

Seek Shelter Immediately!

It was about 5pm...so luckily Andrew was home from work. All of the sudden it starts pouring rain, and the tornado sirens start to blow. Luckily there is a siren 30 yards from our house...so they were LOUD and clear!

"This is a tornado warning. Seek shelter immediately."


I turned off the computer, grabbed a blanket, camera, and cell phone...and we headed out to our garage to our storage unit. We live in a one-level house, so without a basement, this is where we had been told to go. We had a few folding chairs in the middle of the room...surrounded by boxes and storage.

As we looked around, we were thankful to realize this is where our 72 hours kits are, our camping gear, some water, our little propane grill...and some dental models to keep our boys entertained. :) Things we wished we had...our ipod to watch a movie, our backup DVD's of all our digital pictures, and our scrapbooks. All things I couldn't stand to loose!

The sirens continued....then the announcement, "A tornado has been spotted in Mascoutah, less than 5 miles from Scott Air Force Base...it is heading TOWARD base. Seek shelter immediately."

Ok, now my heart was pumping a little. I called to tell my mom. Then Andrew said, "Should we say a prayer."
Cooper said, "Why?"
"So Heavenly Father will know we want to be protected."
"Sure."
So Andrew said the prayer. Then Cooper asked, "Now Heavenly Father won't let the twisty twisty wind get us?"
Andrew answered, "He'll do what's best."
"But He'll protect us?"
"He'll do whatever is best Cooper."
"I know he'll protect us."
"You have great faith Cooper."

I got a little teary eyed at the faith of my little guy, until he broke the moment by saying, "And Heavenly Father can make to tornado get all the bad guys' houses!" :)

About a half hour later the sirens stopped, and we opened the shelter to find 2 inches of water outside the door on our garage floor! It had to have rained 4 inches in 30 minutes! It was a good drill for us. We will start making double back-ups of our pictures TODAY, shop for an external hard drive this weekend, and make triple copies of our DVDs of pictures to send home with our parents to keep at a separate location. We also need to get some good backpacks to put our 72 hour kits in...they are just in sealed bags right now. We need to put some more water out there too. It made for a good Family Home Evening lesson Monday night!