Loving Our New Little Sister

We are having so much fun with our new baby, Alice. She is a super good baby. She is patient, mild tempered, undemanding and is able to sleep through all of the her brother and sister's hyper-excitement.

Sam is just starting to warm up to her enough that he's willing to touch her. He's very concerned every time he hears her make a squeak. He makes sure she always has her blankets and binky - even if she doesn't need them.

Kate is an awesome big sister. She loves to read and sing to her, watch and hold her and especially loves to give her kisses. She is getting eager to teach her new things.

The first night Alice was home, Daddy was in helping Sam get to sleep in his room while Kate was in her own room across the hall trying to get to sleep herself. Alice was in her crib in our room and was getting hungry and started to make a few noises.

Kate (yelling across the hall to Daddy): Is that Baby Alice?

Daddy (yelling back): Yes.

Kate: Do I need to show her how to sleep or something?

Daddy: No.

Then all was quiet and everyone went to sleep. It was really cute.

Kate can't stop telling us how "adorable" Alice is so we thought we should get it on camera.

Introducing....................

Alice Love Chandler

Born July 16, 2008 at 6:28 a.m.

8.3 Pounds and 21 Inches Long

Sam's Room

We finally finished one of our many projects that needed to get done before the baby is born. We've been working at painting and fixing up the kids' rooms so we don't have to worry about it with another baby in tow. Here are some before and after pictures of Sam's room.

Before...

...and After

Sammy seems to really like it. His first reaction was, of course, one of the few words he says all the time, "Wow!" When Kate first walked into the room she gasped and said, "It looks amazing! Mom! Did you see this?"

One Week Left...FINALLY!

I am so excited to only have one week left until our baby is scheduled to arrive! It felt like the beginning of this pregnancy went so fast and was no big deal but once I had about 6 weeks left, time slowed down like crazy.

I am so grateful that I am able to have children and be healthy in the process. However, I would like to list a few things I am so happy to be done with about this pregnancy.

- No more swollen ankles... I mean cankles, in this case. Heck no more swollen everything.

- No more having people tell me I look "miserable." I try not to, even though I know I do. And I feel like I am at this point. But there's no need to tell me. That's just rude.

- No more having people ask me if I'm having twins. That's just a dumb way of saying, "You look extra big." And that's rude too.

- No more having people (especially strangers) touching my stomach. It's still a part of my body. You wouldn't walk up to me and touch any other part of my body so my pregnant belly should be no different.

- No more gaining TONS of weight at such a rapid pace...55 freaking pounds to be exact, believe it or not.

- No more wearing the same 2 or 3 shirts just because their the only ones that will cover my entire tummy.

- No more having to wake up 15 times a night to go potty.

- No more heartburn. Not that I really got it very often but it was annoying when I did.

- No more tripping on things or walking into things just because I can't see them around my big fat belly.

- No more feeling like the "fat girl" in the room.

(Just to name a few)

I know, I know...I'm HUGE!

I feel really bad that I am unable to pick up and hold my children as much as I would like to. Sam's having a hard time with it too. Here's a couple pictures of the view I get of him complaining when I tell him I'm not going to pick him up. So sad.

Mmmmm...Mud

A couple nights ago, Joe was working in the front yard and "watching" the kids so I was able to rest. When I came out to see how everyone was doing, I found Kate playing with the mud Daddy let her make in the the flowerbed. Now, I'm not one to really like messes or messy kids for that matter (especially when I'm super prego) but she lucked out that Daddy was the one in charge. She had a great time. And needless to say, since she was in control of the hose, Sammy was drenched! But he was too busy running around everywhere and playing so I wasn't able to get any pictures of him. At least they had fun.

Fireworks

We spent the 4th of July together as a little family. Kate was really excited to go buy some fireworks with Daddy but when it came down to actually lighting and watching them she freaked out and we had to cut our tiny home display short.
We also took the kids to Melba to see their fireworks display. We'd heard it's good so we thought we'd check it out. We just parked on the side of a country road and watched them in the distance which was actually a good idea considering Kate would have been too scared to be any closer. Sammy was mostly interested in all the other cars driving by. But all in all, Kate and Sam ended up really enjoying the show and had some really great reactions.

A Relaxing Weekend at the Cabin

We took the kids up to my family's cabin in Smith's Ferry for the weekend to have one last little get-away before the baby comes. On the drive up, Kate was getting a little apprehensive about the whole thing and started asking if we could go home. But after the weeked was over and we were driving down the hill to the highway, she started wimpering and saying she wanted to stay at the cabin. So needless to say, they really enjoyed it and it was nice to spend some relaxing time together.

Joe's sister, CoraLyn, and her family came up for a night too but I didn't get any pictures of them. (oops) It was fun hiking, swimming, hanging out, watching movies, playing games and of course snacking and eating!

We took the kids on a little walk (for me it was more like a hike because I'm so huge). Sam was all about just going ahead and tromping down the road without looking back. Kate really loved seeing the flowers.

Joe with the kids on the deck before our walk.

Sammy hiking up the hill like a champion.

Kate with a cute pose during the walk.

Huge Mommy trying to keep Sam reigned in.

Daddy and Sam about to go on their "boys hike."

Kate up on the deck.

Daddy and Sam on the walk.

Here's a funny little video of the kids playing with Joe. They love to do this at home so why would the cabin be any different?