Perfect Symmetry!

When Todd and I got married he told me "You can have as many kids as you want".  I thought it was a really weird thing to say since I was pretty sure I had told him I only wanted two!  Over the years, I always knew he wanted more, but it took me a while to realize that that is what I wanted too.  

I NEVER pictured myself with four kids!  But through the sleepless nights, temper tantrums, and complete chaos; we have found so much joy.  And we are soooo excited to be welcoming another

BOY

into our family!

Of course, we would be just as happy to be getting another girl.  But if I had been given the choice, I would have chosen a boy.  Out of 7 grandkids here in Boise, Ty is the only boy.  And he really needs a partner in crime!  Add that to the fact that we have a 3 bedroom home, and another boy is the perfect fit for all of us!

All of our kids were excited to find out, and I was really happy that we could all find out together.  This video is dark, but you can still see how excited Ty is to have a brother on the way.  He keeps telling me that he is going to teach his little brother how to play Angry Birds!

This is my favorite shot from the ultrasound.  Looks like he is yawning.  So adorable!  Can't wait to see and hear those little baby yawns this summer.  

It is so fun to be finishing off our family with 3 girls and 3 boys in the house.  I am glad that God sent the girls first though.  I feel like I needed those first few years of parenting to prepare for parenting boys.  And now I have 2 older sisters to help me, so I know I can survive!  

Now What?!

I hate when Christmas is over.  This year I am participating in my typical rebellion by taking down all of my Christmas decor, except for the two trees in my front room.  They only have their stars on now, but their lights are on all day.  I keep the blinds shut so I can enjoy their twinkling for a little longer.  The house always feels so empty when Christmas goes away.  Clean.  But empty.

We got a new camera for Christmas, and are soooo excited about it!  It has an image sensor from Aptina, which is the company Todd works for.  It is awesome to finally have a product with an Aptina sensor in it, and even better to have a good camera!  So we have been busy taking cute pictures of our sweethearts.

We've also been busy taking silly pictures!   Pretty sure there is an apple slice in there somewhere!

And even though not a single person has asked to see a belly shot of me, here it is anyway!  (Funny how no one is all that interested in a 4th pregnancy...)  I am 15 weeks here.  Pretty sure I am twice that big now at 18 weeks!

My mom came up for a preChristmas visit, and we had so much fun.  We recorded a lullaby for Hilary's baby, and I had the bright idea of adding the clarinet to it.  Note:  I only had the idea.  Todd and mom had all the talent to make it happen.  It is so great to have a recording of my mom playing, and I just knew it would mean so much to Hil since she plays the clarinet as well.  At the time of recording this, I was so excited for Hilary to have her baby that I had to lock myself in the bathroom and have a little cry after I recorded my part.  I was so emotional!  (Hilary had her baby on the 11th, and was a total ROCKSTAR!  We are so happy for her and C, and loving baby Ruby from afar.)

I was really excited to have a camera that would take outdoor pictures at night!  We had so much fun going to the Botanical Gardens with Todd's mom.  We almost froze our faces off, but it was totally worth it.  Kids loved it, and everywhere I went people talked about the leash I had Ty on, LOL!  Never thought I'd be one of those parents, but I am, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  The leash made the night awesome!

Be sure to check out Bronwyn and her hilarious hat in all these pics!  I am seriously laughing out loud!

Seriously!  Bronwyn is cracking me up.  Love that kid.

We spent Christmas Eve at my inlaws, and had a wonderful time.  Ty clobbered anyone with a cell phone in the hopes of feeding his Angry Bird addiction.  Where did we go wrong?

We were surrounded by the cutest Christmas elves EVER!

We were even given a Christmas concert by some of the older grand-daughters.  I was so proud of Bronwyn for playing the piano in front of everyone.  She and her cousin learned the same song on different instruments, and did an imprompu duet.  I am definitely looking forward to more of these concerts, and watching all the kids develop their talents over the years.

Later that night, we set out some carrots and nanaimo bars for Santa and his reindeer.  I know for a fact that they all enjoyed their treats.  :)

Then after putting the kids to bed, Todd and I opened all our presents!  It was so fun!  And it made Christmas morning alot more relaxed since we had to be at church at 10:30.  Todd always gets me the best gifts, and surprised me this year with a diamond necklace.  Sure makes the two books I got him look kind of lame...  And let's just pretend that my face doesn't look fat in this picture.

I couldn't wait for Christmas morning.  Ty was sooo excited all week, and kept talking about how he wanted to open his presents.  But he started feeling sick on Christmas Eve, and when we woke him up Christmas morning he greeted us with a big "NO!".  Despite his sickness, he was able to go through his stocking and open his presents.  Just not as animated as he usually is.

Santa brought all our kids their own laptop in the hopes that it would make them play with mine less...  It kind of worked.  :)

Magsy went straight to work coloring a bag that she really wanted for Christmas, and Ty went straight to the couch.  Where he stayed for about 3 days, except for the during his 40 plus diaper changes.  Could I be more grateful that Todd was home when our kid in diapers had the runs?  I think I changed maybe 3 diapers that week.  Thank you, honey!

I was so bummed that both Todd and Ty were too sick to spend Christmas afternoon with the entire family.  But we still enjoyed our week home as a family, and spent alot of time doing fun projects with the kids.

And Ty didn't let go of his "little, yellow angry bird from Aunt Shellie" the entire week!

Thankfully he perked up after a few days, and we had him open the rest of his presents.  And the second time around we finally got to see what we had been waiting for!  The cutest little boy on the planet, who couldn't have been happier to open up presents!

The Nutcracker

Today was our school's production of "The Nutcracker".  Bronwyn class danced to "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies", and it was adorable!  I was so happy to see her singing and dancing, especially since we were up way too late the night before!  

Then we went out to dinner and ran into this guy!

Ty was literally jumping in his seat, yelling "SANTA!"  He was overjoyed, and it was so stinkin' cute!  Now... allow me to explain my kids' clothing...  The girls had ballet, so I just had them throw a shirt over their leotards.  But Bronwyn got this awesome Tinkerbell Snuggie for her birthday last week, so she threw that on too!

We capped our night off with some Christmas duets by Todd and my mom.  It was awesome!  I SO miss hearing the clarinet.  I used to hear it every day!  It got me all choked up and totally feeling the holiday spirit again.  Looking forward to the next few nights while she is here!

Since I got pregnant...

Since I got pregnant:

I have been the least productive I have EVER been.

I have thrown up more times than any one person should ever have to, their entire life.

I have had an almost nightly meltdown to my wonderful husband.  ("How can I possibly endure another day feeling like this?!")

I have gained about twice as much as I should have by now.  Welcome back love handles.  I sure enjoyed the 3 weeks we spent apart.

I have cried and been moody, and any other stereotypical behavior you can think of.

I turned (gasp) 31.

My hair has gotten REALLY gray.  Too bad I am totally afraid of toxins and won't be coloring it for a while longer...

Ty decided to stop taking naps at the exact moment that I started needing one every day.  So when I nap I can hear a distant "mom, are you still there?", because there is no way I'm letting him out of the crib yet!

Ty also decided to turn into a full blown BOY!  He is huge!  Talking in full sentences and cracking us up all the time.  It should be ok that he isn't a baby anymore...

But it hasn't ALL been bad.

My mom and I got certified in ZUMBA gold.  Meaning, that if I can ever find motivation again, I can start teaching prenatal zumba.  We had such a great time dancing and shopping.  Added bonus, we got to spend the daylight savings night in a hotel without kids!  For once, I actually got to sleep for the extra hour!  I may have to take a trip with my mom every weekend that we turn the clocks back!

I took the girls to a fundraiser, and we enjoyed a night of treats and face painting.  Always a crowd pleaser.

We put up a Thanksgiving tree.  The girls were SO cute, and immediately made some hand turkeys to hang up.  They melt my heart.

Both girls had Thanksgiving festivities in their classrooms.  Todd was super dad, and went into work a couple hours early, and went to and from the school twice that day to hit both parties.  Totally worth the effort.  We had so much fun spending some time with the girls in their classrooms.

We also attempted to take some family pictures, just incase I find the energy to send out Christmas cards this year....  Still debating on that one.  I have sent one every year, and hate to break the tradition.  But apparently, I also hate getting ANYTHING done!

We spent a great Thanksgiving weekend at my mom's house.  She ruled with her amazing cooking and 9 pie variety!  We even did a little Black Friday shopping, but quickly discovered that no amount of savings is worth standing in a 3 hour line in the middle of the night!

My cousin, Susie, came through with an Ingoldsby tradition:  The Tire Roll!  We always rolled tires down the scary hill my grandparents lived on.  Our version was much smaller, and thankfully, much safer.  The girls loved it!

Just when you thought footie pajamas couldn't get any cooler...

Magdalen lost her first tooth!  And I was so thrilled that the tooth fairy remembered!  :)

While in Utah, we took the kids to the dinosaur museum and had a great time!  It was so fun to be learning as a family.  Todd and I both LOVE science, and are excited to share our love of learning with our kids.  It was such a fun afternoon together.

In spite of all my first trimester woes, I am still so thankful for my wonderful life.  I know that every bad day I have carrying this baby will be replaced with so much love and happiness.  I am so thankful to be a mom.  I love it so much!  It is ironic that I have been so miserable with this pregnancy, but have never been happier.