My Last Trimester-Ever?!?

30 Weeks!

My 3rd trimester went pretty well, all things considered.  I started having noticeable contractions at 30 weeks, and they continued off and on for the next 8+ weeks.  I ate A LOT of Tums.  Like A LOT.  Aside from being big and worrying about knowing when to go to the hospital, it wasn't too bad.  I have mixed emotions about this probably being the last time I'll ever be pregnant.  Part of me is relieved.  Part of me is a little sad.  I think the sadness will pass though.  The fear of having another girl pregnancy scares me out of it.  Aleah nearly killed me, haha!  Lucas was a lot easier on me.

38.5 Weeks!

We got to go on "one last date night" in February.
It will probably be awhile before that happens again!

I did A LOT of nesting.  I spent a lot of time reorganizing all three of our bedrooms.  We made a "boys room" and a "girls room."  We got Hannah new furniture and passed everyone else's on down to the next child.  So transferring bed and dressers and making room for another child took time.  We also made room for Lucas in our bedroom, which took some work.  We're starting to max out our space, but I think if we can get everyone used to new sleeping arrangements, we'll be fine in the long run.  

Another highlight of my third trimester was that my mom and sisters did a "sprinkle" for me.  It was fun because I haven't had a baby shower in 8 years.  Also, Jacob's clothes aren't lining up for the right seasons, so I did need some new things!

We also had a girls' pedicure day.  I wanted light blue toes with baby feet so my toes would look good at the hospital.  The girl misunderstood and did hearts, but I still liked them, and all of the nurses were talking about them.  We were literally discussing them minutes before he was born, which was a welcome distraction.  Josh was laughing at me trying to talk about toenails through contractions.

I also decided to crochet a blanket for Lucas.  I didn't have much to do for him in terms of a "room," so I put my efforts into that, I guess.  I hope he likes to use it!  

Birth Announcement

Card with envelope

February Social Events

February was insanely busy for our family.  We had one party after another after another.  I guess it was good I wasn't due to have Lucas until March!  Our parties included:

• Mom's Birthday Party at my parents' house
• Super Bowl Party at my parents' house
• My niece Hadley's 3rd Birthday Party at the Town Hall

• Jacob got to go to Landry's 5th Birthday Party (and I got to stay because he was sad):

• We took the kids to an all-school skating party
• We celebrated Jordan's birthday at the Possum Trot
• We had a few Valentine's Day celebrations (school party, home dinner, school dance)
• My mom and sisters had a sprinkle for me and baby Lucas:

• I took Hannah out for dinner and to see The Little Mermaid:

• Hannah's basketball program had an end of the season party
• Hannah participated in the Salt Fork Cheer Camp for 3 nights
• We met the Humistons at the Decatur Children's Museum:

• We celebrated dad's birthday at my parents' house.  
• We had a little celebration at home for Hannah's 1/2 B-day with Hello Kitty cupcakes:

• I organized a freezer cooking night for our moms' Bible Study, which involved purchasing $1100 worth of groceries!  That was maybe a bit ambitious for being 8 months pregnant, but I was happy to have meals in my freezer for post baby!

As you can see, we were VERY BUSY.  Much busier than I like to be.  This is not to mention lots of doctor appointments, including weekly OB checks, teaching at Cross Training, school, U of I studies, and several "special" church meetings (annual retreat, staff breakfast, monthly elders meeting, missions committee).  And on top of all of this, I was trying my best to prepare for the baby.  Yes, it was crazy.  I'm so glad we have a less hectic March calendar!  

Shooting Stars & SFS Cheer Camp

Hannah played basketball once again this winter.  She really enjoyed it.  It was a little different than last year.  This year she played with 1st-2nd grade boys and girls, whereas last year, it was just kindergarten.  It took her a bit to "get into it."  But we saw a definite improvement over the season.  And she had lots of fun!

Hannah also got to try out cheerleading for the first time.  The high school girls had a 3 night camp as a fundraiser.  Hannah loved it.  It will be interesting to see what the future holds-basketball player or cheerleader?  I could see her being good at either one!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day Festivities:

Hannah got to make a Valentine box for her class party, and she decided to make a unicorn.  I was glad her teacher requested us to keep it small.  Some of the ones I saw on Pinterest were out of control big!  Hannah was happy with how it turned out:

The school also had a father-daughter Valentine dance the week before V-Day.  Hannah got a new dress for the occasion.  They had a great time and even got to go out to eat afterwards:

I was in charge of Hannah's class V-Day party.  I hadn't planned to make anything for this party, just coordinate and help serve, but another mom came down with the flu, so at the last second, I put together these treats.  It seriously took 5 minutes to make, and they were a big hit!  I bought red Jello-Cups and put whipped cream, sprinkles, and V-day marshmallows on top.  Amazingly easy and I couldn't believe how excited the kids were for Jello! 

Our family tradition has become to have a "Valentine's Day Feast," as the kids call it.  It is one of my favorite nights of the year.  We have steak with lots of yummy sides and chocolate strawberries and sparkling juice.  We all take turns saying what we love about each person and Josh and I give the kids small gifts.  It is such a fun night:

Hannah got a new Tiana doll, and Jacob got Connect 4 because we like to play games a lot:

All Aleah wanted was the sparkling juice:

I think Valentine's Day is way more fun with kids!

Illini & Harlem Basketball

We took the kids to a couple of basketball games over Christmas break.  The first one was Aleah's first Illini basketball game.  You can see in the picture how much fun she had (haha).  

As a Christmas gift, I also got Harlem Globetrotter tickets for the family.  I started to get nervous that they weren't old enough for it when they kept asking if it was going to be just a "boring basketball game."  But thankfully, they LOVED it!  Every time I looked at Jacob, he was cracking up laughing at the players.  Hannah thought it was awesome too!  Aleah, on the other hand, was an absolute handful.  I think this is the toughest age for going places where you have to sit still!  I was so exhausted and hot from wrestling her all night that I literally walked my pregnant self to the car in a tank top in January at 9:30 at night!  Also, my friend Sandy had these cool jerseys for us to borrow! 

NYE with the Strungas

The Strungas have been good friends of ours since Mike moved here to be our youth minister in 2010.  I haven't been very good at taking pictures when we hang out though because they're often just over late at night to play games, etc.  It makes it easy for them to come over once our kids are in bed since they don't have any kids... yet!  But they just found out they're expecting TWIN GIRLS-Lyla and Cora!  We're so happy for them!  We have spent several NYE nights with them over the past 6 years, but that might change with the babies-we will see!  We had fun this year, playing games and toasting at 11:00 with the kids.  Aleah really liked the sparkling grape juice!  Kristen and I were surprised our pregnant eyes stayed open until after midnight!