Another Anniversary

Aren't we so young and thin? 7 Years ago we were. Yesterday Ryan and I passed a mile stone in our relationship. It is hard to believe that it has been 7 years since we got married. Marrying Ryan was probably the best decision I have made. He is a wonderful, patient man and I am so lucky to have him as my husband.
The other night Ryan and I were reminiscing about our "dating" relationship. I say "dating" in quotations because we never really dated officially, we kind of just were friends and then one day decided to get married. In fact our families did not even know we were dating or in a serious relationship. Ryan and I knew each other for just over a year when we got married. We hung out with the same friends and did a lot of things together. I had a hard time deciding to actually date Ryan because he is only 1 inch taller than me (and I loved to wear high hills), but he eventually beat me down and I went out with him. He was the only guy that actively pursued me. I loved that about him, he was persistent.
I love you so much Ryan! I am so happy we are together. We have a great life together and I can't wait for more ups and downs throughout our life together. You are a wonderful man!

Potty Training

Can I just start by saying that I hate potty training? It is not my idea of a good time. Some people say it is so easy, but I personally think those people are liars or extremely lucky..... no offense is that's you reading this. When I potty trained Isabel she was one of those kids that just wanted to please me and did everything I asked her to do. She was fairly easy and I was lucky. Lucy has been a different story. She has gone potty a few times on the toilet, but I think it was luck more than skill. She is very funny though, she loves to sit on her little toilet. She also loves the ipod. So, she is only allowed to play the ipod while sitting on the toilet. She will sit there for half an hour sometimes (mostly because I forget that she is in there). I have decided that Lucy is potty training herself along with my ipod. I am not interested in fighting her or cleaning up potty messes at 7 months pregnant. So, we will see what happens. I really would love for her to be potty trained, but I am not going to force it any longer. She and the ipod can have a good time together.

Bring on the Wooden Legs!

So some of you know that with this pregnancy I have experienced horrible leg cramps. When I say leg cramps I don't mean "charlie horses" or cramping in my calves. I mean terrible, horrific, extremely painful cramps. Not only do my calves cramp, but the sides of my leg, all around my ankles, and up and down my shins. Did I mention it all happens at once too. Cramping everywhere all at once. Yeah, it's been pretty bad. I wake up in the night and pretty much start crying while Ryan tries to rub my legs.
So, after dealing with this for months off and on. I decided maybe my doctor might have some miracle answer. I have asked doctors in the past and they always say something dumb like "drink more water" or "eat more bananas". So I asked my doctor and here is what he suggested:
Wear compression socks
take a calcium supplement, a vitamin E supplement, a Magnesium supplement, a vitamin D supplement, and my prenatal vitamin daily
Deep calf massages in the evening
Stretching before bed
I was pretty skeptical of his advice, but I thought I would give it a shot. I am shocked and amazed, but since I started doing all this I haven't had a single leg cramp. It's been 3 weeks and I am cramp free. I am truly amazed that it worked. So, I wear these ugly socks everyday and I am feeling so good.

26 weeks

I am on the down-slope of my pregnancy and so happy about it. I am getting so big. This is the size I am at 8 months pregnant when I only have about 4 weeks left. Well, I have about 10-12 weeks left and a lot more growth to come. Everyone keeps saying that I don't look too huge, but boy am I feeling it. These babies are very active and kick me regularly all day long (which is fine with me because then I don't worry). I went in last week and they are measuring 1 lb. 11oz. and 1 lb. 9oz. The boy is slightly smaller than the girl as of now. Everything looks really good and I am so happy about it. Being pregnant is a stressful thing for me. I worry all the time that something will go wrong. It will be nice to be done with pregnancies after this one (most likely).

Goodbye Good Friend

So this week has been a little emotional around our house. Our dog Ollie is so cute and we love him. As I have posted in the past, Ollie is deaf and has been extremely hard to train. Well, since we have had him not only is he been hard to train and been rough around the kids, he has destroyed many things around the house. He has eaten one of the girls bikes (literally), my beautiful Indian doll from India, my porch swing cushion, many of the girls toys, the cord on our electric heater, and many more things. It has been a real frustration and Ryan and I were feeling like things would never change. This week Ryan decided to talk to the lady we bought him from and see if there were any options available. She was so nice about it and offered to take him back and give us a full refund. It was so generous of her. So, yesterday we took Ollie back to her. She has a sister with a deaf dog and has offered to take Ollie. I was really sad to see him go despite all the costs and damage he has caused us. Isabel cried when we had to say goodbye. We told her that maybe someday we can get another dog. I think it was the best decision for everyone, but I feel a little guilty. We loved Ollie, but he will be happier with another dog and an owner who knows how to train a deaf dog. What a bummer, right?

November

Today we were driving to my parents house when Isabel said, "I think I lost a tooth". I turned around and asked what she was talking about. She said, "there is a hole in my mouth, where did it go?" Evidently at some point her tooth fell out. She said she did not swallow it and can't find it anywhere, but it definitely came out. At first she was a little nervous about the "hole" in her mouth, but now she is pretty happy about this whole thing. I can't believe that she lost her first tooth already. It makes me feel like she is getting so big. She is no longer a baby or a toddler. She is my big kid.

On another note, I have decided to make most (like 90%) of our Christmas presents this year. It has been so much fun making little gifts for the girls and other people. My sister Emily's sister-in-law Callie made these dolls and I saw them on her blog so I decided to give them a try. I love them! I think they turned out so cute. Lucy and Isabel really want them, but I have told them they are for their cousins. I think they are going to love them. I am so thrilled that I decided to make gifts this year. It has already been the best Christmas ever.

Happy Halloween!

It was another fun Halloween! We all dressed up this year and it was fun to go out with the kids trick-or-treating. I was a Rice Cooker, Ryan was Mario, Isabel was a fairy, and Lucy was a love bug.
Lucy had such a good time trick-or-treating. It was so funny after every house she would say, "they gave me candy", like it was amazing it worked. She acted somewhat baffled that people were just handing over candy when she said trick-or-treat. It made us laugh and she was beyond excited. The girls got tons of candy, more than any other year. Over-all it was just a ton of fun.

p.s. thanks for voting on our poll. It looks like Isaac won for boys name and it was a close race between Alice and Amelia (I can't decide which I like better either).