Nana and Pop Pop visit

Heidi at her church shower, a photo by Emerald Pankewich.

Emers and I with Heidi and her mom.

Nana and Calvin. I tried to get a better pic of the outfit, yes, it is OU head to toe and daddy loved it!!

I haven't posted in awhile and feel guilty. That is just a mommy's job, though, I've decided. If you devote your time to one thing (or child), you always feel guilty b/c you aren't doing something else (like cleaning house, putting attention toward the spouse, or friends). So, I remain a guilty mommy with a dirty house, but loved kids!

We had a the priveledge of taking Nana to the airport recently so that she could go visit our sweet nephew Simon in Colorado. I wanted to tuck myself in her suitcase, but thought it might get a little uncomfortable! We were super excited to pick her up at the airport and see pictures of Simon upon her return. We even got to witness an adoption happening at the airport, which of course made me cry! Some family was just getting their baby, straight off the plane, so sweet! Pop Pop drove up the next day and we spent the day at "Pop Pop's store" aka Bass Pro Shop. The kids had a ton of fun, and we got some great Christmas ideas for them while we were there. I am always so bad about taking pics when grandparents are around. Sorry!! Later both kids helped Nana make brownies, and that was a treat! On Sunday we went to Heidi and Jeff's house for pizza, yumm! Then, Emerald and I joined Heidi and her mom at Heidi's baby shower. Emerald had fun there, especially tasting all the cake, punch, and kiss-kisses. She loved seeing all of Josiah's presents and told me later that his room was looking pretty and she can't wait to see him laying in his bed.

Calvin has begun to sing his ABC's this week. He also loves to tell us phrases like, No (in quite the sassy tone) and "That's not nice mommy". Wonder where he learned these from?? He misses Emerald so much when she goes to school, which she is still loving by the way! We are having a lot of fun deciding how best to spoil them (just enough) at Christmas time. It is fun shopping for kids once they are old enough to kind of realize the joy of the season. We have also begun telling Emerald about the true meaning of Christmas, and she helped us pick out some angel tree items the other day. She has such a caring heart.

The pregnancy has opened a great opportunity for us to talk about their birthmothers with the kids. Each night during prayers, Emerald asks us/tells us whose belly we each grew in. She says a special prayer for her birthmother, Josephine, and Calvin's birthmother, Leticia. We continue to pray for these wonderful women who, w/o them, we would not have our precious gifts of Emerlad and Calvin. For that I cannot imagine and will be forever indebted to these women!! As far as the pregnancy goes, I am doing well. We had another sonogram at the perinatologist yesterday and all seems to be on track. Our little Lobster is about 14 inches and weighs about 1 pound 9 ounces. That is perfectly on target, even a slightly bigger than where he/she should be, which we are thankful for. I have been having a lot of contractions lately, and am just watching myself. The nurse told me to just rest, take it easy. That sounds so easy, and yet just isn't so much so w/ 2 little munchkins to run after. We won't have another appt until December, but sometime in there we will begin our non-stress tests twice a week. Again, supposed to take it easy, but got to figure out how to schedule all of that! Fun times! I am still loving pregnancy, and enjoy so much feeling the baby moving around all the time. The doc yesterday told us that this baby is pretty active, which will fit in great with the other 2! All of Lobster's organs seem to be developing just fine and that is such a wonderful blessing. We just pray that it all continues like this. Heidi and I took a class on nursing the babies the other day. What a nice thing to be able to go thru this together, along with leaning on Laura and her experiences! I am hoping I won't compare my kids too much, as it will be a slightly different experience this time around.

I am working hard on preparing for a shower for my nephew and Heidi next weekend. I may not post much in the coming week, but I will probably have plenty of pics shortly after that. Hope everyone is doing well and wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!