Almost There....

I am due on January 18th... that is three weeks away and I can't believe it. I think I'm finally starting to feel ready for her to come. We still havn't completely decided on a name yet, we just might have to see her cute little face before we decide on anything. After coming back from Thanksgiving and telling the Dr. of some episodes of contractions and almost passing out while getting a pedicure in Houston, she checked me and we discovered I was dialating a little early and she thought it would be good to go on bedrest for two weeks until I reached the 36 week mark, that way the baby would be bigger, healthier, etc, etc. This was very precautionary I thought and almost too precautionary but I followed suit and stayed down the two weeks before Christmas. How is bedrest accomplished with two kids and Christmas shopping to do??? I was completely stressed out the day I came home from my appointment... I really thought this was a jail sentence. Of course I wanted to do what was best for the baby but I needed to be there for my family and help Christmas happen. So thanks to online shopping/ my wonderful ward/ and my SUPER DUPER Husband, I survived. My ward sent over a cute activity day girl everyday from 3-5pm to play and entertain my kids. How wonderful was that! Seriously, that is the hardest time of the day when Taylor loves to be outside on her bike or scooter and Brent wants to follow behind. So it was so helpful for those girls to come over. Eric would come home from work, make dinner, clean it up, Bathe the kids, etc. etc. I am so grateful for all the help I received. So I went back to my Dr. after my bedrest and I still had dialated more ... I was 3cm and 70% effaced a week and a half ago. She didn't think I'd make it out of December but so far I'm still pregnant. We will see when she decides to come. Meanwhile now I'm off my bedrest, I've felt better than I have in two and a half months. I have energy and I feel great. Maybe this is my last burst of energy before real labor sets in... we'll see.

Merry Christmas

We stayed here for Christmas and Eric's Grandparents joined us for most of the day. I was a little sad prior to Christmas knowing we would be mostly by ourselves. We've never had a Christmas with just our family, so I wasn't sure what to expect. (Part of me was secretly relieved that I didn't have a houseful to have the house perfect for and beautiful meals ready three times a day for) And since I'm so pregnant that was a relief. The two weeks before Christmas the Dr. put me on bedrest because I started dialating early and have early contractions.. so it was probably good I didn't have a houseful.
We woke up Christmas morning and the kids were elated to find what they asked Santa for waiting for them in the living room. Taylor- a pink beach cruiser with flowers ... she's such the California girl now... I didn't even know what a beach cruiser was when I was 6. Brent- got a tool bench...
They both got a slew of other fun presents.. toys, clothes, a Wii from Grandma, American Girl stuff, spiderman toys, a t-ball set, a ring toss set, a new backpack, jacket, spiderman umbrella, which surprisingly was his favorite, movies, candy, and I'm sure I'm leaving a lot out.
We had such a fun day of opening presents, eating the traditional Breakfast Quiche, and Fruit Soup for breakfast and then we just continued to eat, eat, eat all day long. It rained on and off and it was so cozy. In breaks between the rain, Taylor would go out and ride her new cruiser and Brent got to try out his new umbrella and tools.
The highlight of our day was playing the Wii with Eric's Grandparents. Brent and Grandpa bowled against eachother and it was halirious to see my little three year old talk trash to his 76 year old Great Grandfather. ..."Gwampa, I gonna beat you"... He would effortlessly get strikes and spares while Grandpa struggled to keep his ball out of the gutter. We all got a kick out of it... and Brent won the bowling match! It was so funny! Grandpa was a good sport and came back to beat Brent by 3 points the next match.
We had a wonderful Christmas full of memories, and good food. I'm so grateful for this time of year to celebrate the Savior's birth. Being so pregnant I can only imagine how Mary felt traveling to Bethlehem... how did she ride on a donkey?? and giving birth in a stable. I have a hard time going up my stairs, and I'm so grateful for a clean hospital room that will be waiting for me to deliver in.... But seriously it makes me so grateful for all the beautiful events of that first Christmas. I hope that as our kids grow we can continue to instill the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas Eve Traditions

I love Christmas! It is so magical... especially with kids. We try to do a few traditions to make it special for the kids every year. We decorate sugar cookies to leave for Santa later that night...
We love to get in the car and drive around and look at the lights
We always read the nativity/ act it out/ this year since it was just us, we watched 'Joy to the World' a Christmas church video- it's a good one
We sprinkled 'Reindeer Food' on the lawn to attract Santa's reindeer. (Glitter and Oatmeal mixed together) We make homemade pizza for dinner (a Gillis tradition)
And if we are good... I am in close contact the last few weeks before Christmas with 'Bernard' who is Santa's head elf. He takes the sleigh out on Christmas eve for a test run... to make sure everything is working alright ( it has been a whole year since it's been out and about) and Bernard drops an early gift on our doorstep. It's in a red velvety bag with "Property of Santa Clause" monogrammed on it. Inside are PJ's for all of us! The kids just squealed when they opened the door during our Christmas Eve festivities to find it there. Then we leave the sack for Santa next to his cookies and milk for him to take back to the North Pole.

Mom's surprise visit

My mom is spending Christmas in Australia with my brother and his family. They live in Melbourne and she's going out there for the first time to be with them and spend Christmas with them. She missed her connection in L.A. because of mechanical/ weather issues in Houston and got stranded in L.A. for 24 hrs. So we got a 1 a.m. phone call from her saying, "I'll be fine, I don't want you to come and get me, it's too late... etc, etc." ... thank goodness for my sister in law in Australia for talking her into calling us. My mom is so silly, Of course we would go and get her and we were so excited about it. Eric insisted and hopped in the car and went to rescue her. My kids were so excited the next morning to wake up to Grandma Marilyn being there. She was able to come to my Dr.'s appt. with me that next day and help corral Brent. And we also go to Taylor's Christmas party together. It was such a great surprise. Since she was here, we decided to let the kids open their Christmas present from her... a Wii! They were so excited, and we've had so much fun as a family bowling, playing tennis, etc. It's really a lot of fun. I loved to be able to spend the day with my mom. It's going to be weird to have her so far away, not that Texas is that close, but Australia is really so far away and 14 hours ahead of us. I have to really plan out calling her now.
... Oh, at my Dr.'s appt. I found out that I'm 3cm dilated and 70 % effaced. That was last Friday and I'm still pregnant but on Sunday I'll be 37 weeks, so I'm grateful she's still in there. I want her lungs to be nice and developed. So we will see when she chooses to come.
Brent looks at my belly everyday and holds it and says, "Mommy your baby is so big"! (belly pictures, soon to come)

Happy 3rd Birthday Brent!

Our last day in Texas we celebrated Brent's birthday with a family party. Lots of his cousins were able to be there so it was tons of fun. (Everyone who was there: Caden and Noah, Summer and Ben's boys/ Landon and Nathan, Jennie and Phil's boys, Jackson, Spencer, and Kate; Chad and Angie's kids, and of course Taylor.) Grandma Marilyn, Mimmie and Poppie were there with Uncle Curt and Aunt Whitney, Uncle Matt, Aunt Dottie and Garrett. We had it at my moms house and it was a Spider man theme, of course. Brent was in heaven. Since Taylor's party this past summer he has been asking for HIS Spider man party. I would explain that he was the next person in our family to have a birthday, and it would be coming up. But then Grandma Mimi had a birthday and he cried while we sang to her on the phone because he said, "no, my birthday!" It was pretty cute. So he was ready to say the least for HIS Celebration.
We started the party with a few games: pin spider man on the skyscraper; the next game the kids all had spider man masks on and were teamed up with their sibling and had to "web" (with silly string) the villains (Eric and Uncle Ben). Then we did the pinata. We feasted on cupcakes and some little appetizers and treats and then opened presents. It was short and sweet, just long enough for Brent and the kids.
My little guys is getting so big now, it makes me sad. He loves to look at Eric with a thumb up and wink at him and say, "Dad, all boys." He always reminds Taylor and I that we are "gulls" and he and dad are "boys." He is my little mamas boys and loves to give kisses and hugs and always welcomes cuddling. I hope that our new baby in January doesn't rock his world too much, but I think he'll do ok.
In the last few days he's been wearing underwear and is doing really well so far. We will see, he hasn't been ready in the past but Taylor really encourages him when she's home from school and runs with him to the bathroom and coaches him. He loves the attention from her. It would be the best Christmas present for me to have him potty trained before the baby is born.
After he went to the bathroom for the first time the other day, he jumped off and pulled his arm back and said, "YES, I'M A ROCK STAR." It was so hilarious. I have no idea where he got it, but it made us all laugh so hard.



(Brent, just two years ago... my little butter ball)

Thanksgiving In TEXAS!

We flew home to Texas for Thanksgiving this year. With me due in January we knew it would be our last time to fly home to see our parents before the baby is born. My sisters both flew home with their familes and Eric's siblings and cousins were able to be there also. It was so much fun. It was supposed to be a "Harline" Christmas this year but with my baby and Sarah's baby due after the new year, we tried to turn Thanksgiving into a little Christmas of fun activities and many moments to make memories. My sisters are my best friends and we haven't all been home at my mom's house all together in years. It was lots of fun and the kids had so much fun. My kids are lucky enough to have both sets of Grandparents 10 minutes away from eachother everytime we go home to Houston. So they were kept busy every moment. If we had some down time at one house, we'd run over to the other house and join in on the festivities.

My mom took the entire week off of work so we did a little activity with the kids each day: We went to the Aquarium Downtown and enjoyed the amusement park, we saw all the amazing fish, and white Bangle Tiger; Brent and Audrey got the stomach flu that day at the park, but were both troopers and survived with smiles on; We enjoyed the BYU/ UTAH game and Eric was on cloud 9 all week long to say the least. (If the baby wasn't due so soon, he'd be at the Sugar Bowl cheering his Utes on in Jan.) -sorry babe. Hopefully they'll break into the BCS another year. We took the kids to the local fire station and they got to climb all over a real fire truck! We had a really fun shopping day with just my mom and sisters; and even got to go swimming in Eric's back yard. Mimmie and Poppie heated their pool, and the kids were in heaven. The boys enjoyed some golfing, tennis, and even came out of the Thanksgiving Turkey bowl with out any major injuries. And enjoyed some late night card games around my mom's dining room table, oh and hit the movies a few times. (Twilight, and the James Bond Movie) We celebrated Angie's birthday and Brent's birthday (another post)
It was a wonderful but exhausting trip. We love having both our families being so close, but it can be tiring to run back and forth and try to squeeze in everything with both familes.
Eric was a sweetheart and he upgraded his ticket to first class and gave it to me so I could relax and sleep with extra room and luxury on the flights home (Yes, we had a layover) . To add even more stars in his belt, Taylor got the flu bug that morning and not only was he in coach with both the kids by himself, he was having to hold the throw up bag for Taylor and endure the looks from everyone around him. He is my PRINCE CHARMING! love you honey!

Happy Halloween and a little ranting and raving

Taylor had school off on Friday (Oct 31st) so I thought we'd have some fun and make a special Halloween breakfast. I had committed to make brownies for a RS funeral and also make this Butternut Squash Apple Bisque that is our tradition to eat on Halloween night, but I had saved it all for that day. You know in your mind when you think you can be an over achiever, super mom, and have the house clean. Oh, we also had to pack for the night because we were meeting the Jones' in Hemet (and needed to leave early to miss traffic) to celebrate Halloween and I needed to finish putting together these little gifts that I had for them... I know I totally set myself up for failure and frustration and the want to be 'super mom' might have turned evil on Halloween all for the sake of trying to make it fun and memorable.

As I was cooking, baking and trying to let my little helpers assist, something told me to check my load of laundry. As I walked into the hall to the laundry room, I stepped in water! Yikes, yes the washer was leaking somehow and it had flooded the laundry room, bathroom, and it was coming down the hall! I just started to cry, I did not have time for this... !!! As Taylor is running up the stairs for me to gather more towels and I'm frantically trying soak up the flood, Brent shows up in the door way with a big grin on his face and says "look mom I got my flippers" I look down and sure enough, he is in his swim flippers... totally ready for the flooded occasion. I was still crying at this point but now laughing simultaneously. I love how kids always know how to put things in perspective for me.

Here are a few pictures of our morning...



Tay and Brent enjoying their "Purple People Eater" Smoothies



Taylor's Pumpkin Pancake... she did the orange food coloring in the batter herself and loved it (it doesn't show as orange as it really was) ... if you look closely, you can see Brent reaching for the bag of chocolate chips while we were busy snapping pictures... so this leads into the next picture



The bag of chocolate chips spilled all over the floor and while my cute little mother Taylor was trying to clean it up, Brent was scooping hand fulls off the floor and shoving them into his mouth... at this point I just thought, what the heck I'll just capture the moment.






(beginning stages of Bisque)


After our Halloween breakfast, and the brownies were made and the Butternut Squash Bisque was made, the flood cleaned up, the car packed, a Target trip under our belts, and then the air conditioning going out in the van, we were off to Hemet a few hours late but we got there just in time to trick or treat and have so much fun with our dear friends, the Jones'. I love Halloween... whew... I'm so good at making life harder than it needs to be...

Halloween After School Snack

We thought it would be fun to do a little Halloween afterschool snack. They are little bugs made from little sausages and refrigerated dough. Taylor and Brent had alot of fun putting them together! And they were really yummy!

Brent's "School"

Brent and I go on Tuesday's out to Newport Beach for a little mom and me class. Brent calls it his "school." He loves it and looks forward to it every week. My cute neighbor runs it and does a great job. She has a slew of developmental toys for the kids and they do stories, crafts, painting, music time. It's a bit of a drive for us, but she gives us a good deal and it's a fun little spot to drive to weekly. It's technically on Balboa Island, so there are lots of cute little shops and little beach houses to walk around and look at.
This week the kids dressed in their cute Halloween costumes. So cute...