Bed Rest

I went for one of my OB appointments and the doctor put me on bed rest. I am quite swollen with tenderness in my calf. He seemed concerned about blood clots. I've been doing my best to follow his orders, however with the holidays approaching and two little ones it's been HARD! So far I lost two pounds in one week which I attribute to extra fluid I was holding. The swelling in my legs has also gone down considerably.

I have an ultrasound tomorrow, December 30th to check my placenta. I'm anxious to see her as it's been quite a while!!! I'm currently 3 days shy of being 37 weeks, which they say is full term. Physically, I'm beyond ready for her arrival, however mentally and emotionally, I'm not. She still doesn't have a set name. We think the middle name will be Michelle. (Johnathan's sister's middle name is Michelle to give this little one a family name!). I'm torn between Kinsley and Adalyn. Kinsley is everyones favorite, however before we even started trying for a third, I had it set in my head another girl would be called Adalyn. Another factor is Ashlyn...she likes Adalyn. On her Tganksgiving school assignment, she had to write something she was thankful for for each letter in Thanksgiving. She wrote Adalyn for the A. She also has been making pictures for Baby Sister, and she keeps writing Adalyns name on them. So time will tell what we choose. ;)

Visit with Santa

Ashlyn ran a low grade fever Monday after school, so I decided to keep her home on Tuesday. Of course she woke up feeling like a million bucks, but I still didn't send her because of the schools 24 hr fever free policy. So that morning, we took Jadie to Mothers Day Out, and Ashlyn and I spent some time Christmas shopping. She picked out quite a few gifts for her grandparents and Daddy. She also got to see Santa. She was so impressed with him, thinking he might have been the real Santa and not just one of his helpers! She asked him for an easy bake oven and a ballerina for Jadie.

The next weekend Ashlyn went home with my mom for a few days, so Johnathan and I took Jadie to see Santa. When we got there the line seemed forever, so we tried to talk Jadie into waving and coming back during the work week when it wasn't so crowded. She agreed so we starred towards the parking lot after a quick wave to Santa. Just as we approached the exit she stopped and got a pouty look and said "I wanna sit on Santa's lap.". So we turned around and stood in line. (well John stood with Jadie and I sat on a bench until it was Jadies turn. She was glowing with excitement!!!

School Pictures

Here is Ashlyn's First Grade School Picture. I scanned it so it isn't the best of quality. I don't like that you can't even tell her eyes are blue in it!

I have starting taking pictures at local daycares. Only two schools have called me so far! However, it's been great money! Here is a picture I took of Jadie while trying out a background for a little daycare in China. I hope they like their pictures and I get invited back in the Spring!

Santa Hats

My mom asked me to take pictures of the girls in some Santa hats she bought for them. She is using one of them together in her Christmas letter this year. Ashlyn was very into having her picture taken....while Jadie...wanted to be doing anything else! Interesting thing...it's usually the opposite!!!

Decorating

We decided to decorate the house for Christmas. The girls were so excited since the "stuff" had been out of the attic for two days! I think that was torture on them!!! Jadie of course found a way to entertain herself after I emptied out the ornament storage container! She is so limber!!!

We put on a Christmas movie and started attaching hooks to some new ornaments we bought at Sams.

Here is the finished product. As you see Jadie is gone....she lost interest very quick! Ashlyn lost interest as well so Johnathan and I had to finish the tree....but of course Ashlyn was willing to take credit and stand in front of the finished product! :)

After we finished our tree, the girls went and started to decorate their own. Ashlyn had earned $5 for losing a tooth, so she went to the dollar store earlier that day and bought some tinsel for her tree. She also wanted to use some of the sparkly balls we didn't use on the big tree.Jadie of course was entertaining herself! She didn't get into it until her Daddy came in the room and started to help!

Ashlyn decided that it was more fun to play with the tinsel than to put it on the tree. The girls had a good time taking pictures with their new toy!

And finally, the finished product!

Lemonade and Pappadeaux's

The girls made lemonade! They were soooo proud of themselves! When I emptied the container that night to clean it...I think they added about 8 cups of sugar. (It was all settled on the bottom!)
The next picture is one Johnathan captured while we waited to meet Grandma and Grandpa K. for lunch one afternoon at Pappadeaux's in Houston.