Observations on a Wednesday

First off, really it's only Wednesday, really? Second, we heard the saddest news on Sunday, Pushing Daisies has been cancelled. Shame on all you who haven't been watching, it's like Arrested Development all over again. And thirdly do boys just need less sleep than girls? I'm embarrassed to admit that Luke still isn't sleeping through the night, both girls were at his age. He is also a bad napper. Ashby napped in 30 minuted increments until she was probably 6-7 months old. Luke seems to be following in that pattern. What am I doing wrong and isn't he tired? Heaven knows I am.

On a more positive note, I am very excited that it's almost Christmas. It's so fun having kids who are so excited, it makes me all the more excited. I can't wait until Roger and Ashby are off work and school next week, I'm ready for some serious family togetherness!

Luke's blessing

We blessed Luke at church on Sunday. Roger did a wonderful job on the blessing. We were so lucky to have Kevin and Kelly and Bryan and Anna here. We had lunch after the blessing and it was so good to see everyone. Luke did a good job, he didn't cry during the blessing, but Roger did say that they almost dropped him, he's a big boy!

Thank you Grandma for the cute outfit. Can you see his blurry arm and leg? That's cause he never holds still. He's cute though huh?

Man I love this kid, look at that face!

I was so happy to get a fairly good picture of all the kids. I love it when older siblings hold the baby, it's so cute. I love all those faces!

I also took Luke to the doctor today for his two month check up. I can't believe how fast time flies. He was over 25 inches and weighed 12 lbs 12 oz. Does it ever get any easier to see your children get their shots?

Here's a video of Luke that I took last week. Mostly for the benefit of my mom, but it's very cute all the same!

What I love about the holidays

Not that I don't like reading what I'm looking forward to about having a new baby, but since he's here now I thought it would be time to update my top five. I've been terrible about getting into the holiday spirit this year. Thanksgiving just kind of snuck up on me and now it's over and I didn't really do or feel anything about it. Sad huh? I'm determined to not let that happen with Christmas. I love Christmas and there are so many wonderful things to enjoy about this time of year, here are my top five or six this time:

1. Having a chance to show appreciation to those around me that I love and that do so much for me throughout the year.
2. The way Christmas lights look inside your house when they are the only sources of light. I used to put lights in my window when I was a kid and I loved falling asleep to the soft light of Christmas lights.
3. Christmas makes me feel seriously crafty. I do so enjoy it. Why is it though that crafting can seem so expensive? Aren't homemade gifts supposed to be cheaper than store bought? I guess leave it to the wal-mart to make everything so cheap it's hard to outdo them (not that I have a problem with that, but still...)
4. Teaching my kids the value of doing something for others less fortunate than us. Christmas time is also a good time of year to tell my kids over and over again that no we don't NEED anymore toys and that we should be grateful for what we already have.
5. I really, really love Christmas movies. My favorite is definitely Elf. I laugh so hard every time I see it, it's so great!
6. Yep, I'm adding one more. It's my blog and I can do what I want... Having the chance for about a month to really think about the Savior and remember what he did for me, I don't remember often enough at other times of year.

I hope everyone will enjoy their holiday season. Happy Holidays!

Which one of these things....

is not like the other?

Give up? That's because they are all alike. I never really thought that Ashby and Avery looked a lot alike as babies, but when you throw Luke in the mix, I sure can tell they all belong to us. Man I love these kids. And here's one more picture of Luke kind of smiling. He's a big kid huh?

Goodbye forever

We've had some big changes around here in the last month or so. The girls have grown up a lot in the last month and it all started at the dentist. I took the girls on Oct. 27 and Avery received a stern talking to about her thumb-sucking. The dentist said he likes them to stop sucking their thumb at age 2, we were well past that. He talked to her about it and we reinforced it at home and I'm happy to report that she has tremendous will power and no longer sucks her thumb. Well we don't think so anyway. She only sucked her thumb with her blanket and blankets have been confined to the bedroom for the past year or so, so it's actually hard to know that she doesn't suck any more. She says she hasn't been and I'm inclined to believe her. Ashby also had some major changes. She gave up her blanket, yep we're terrible parents, she was 6 and still sleeping with a blanket. She has done great, despite what she thought. Prior to taking the blanket away, the thought of sleeping without it struck such fear into her heart it was sad and a little scary. Anyway I thought I would show a progression of blanket use in our house. Brynn please don't feel bad about the condition of Ashby's blanket (she made it), no other item in our house has been as loved!

Exhibit A: See it there by the couch?

Exhibit B: Summer 2004

Exhibit C: 2005

Exhibit D: 2005, this is the earliest recorded evidence of Avery's bad habit.

Exhibit E: it's starting to fray a little, can you see it?

Exhibit F: she sure is cute though.

Exhibit G: Look at those strings hanging down, but still mostly intact.

Exhibit H: both girls showing off the infatuation.

Exhibit I: this is the last picture I have of Ashby with her blanket and it was 2 years ago. It still looks pretty good huh?

Exhibit J: this is the blanket today. I guess it would be mocked by other blankets for it's obvious lack of blanketness, but Ashby didn't mind. I put it in a shoe box and contemplated burying it in the backyard, instead I just put it in Ashby's keepsakes box. Hopefully she'll laugh about it later.

Time to check in?

I have been completely checked out of real life for about two months now. Unfortunately I feel like I am being dragged kicking and screaming back into life by various responsibilities. I really don't want to be. I have thoroughly enjoyed being blissfully ignorant of my former pre-Luke life. Blogging definitely went by the wayside, but it's time to update because I will hate myself if I missed out documenting the past month.

Here's October in quick review:

• Luke was born on Oct. 10th. He weighed in at 8 lbs 9 ounces. I took him to the doctor yesterday and he is now up to 10 lbs 4 ounces and he has grown an inch in three weeks. He is in the 97th percentile for height!


• Roger was off work the whole next week after Luke was born. We loved having him around (he will disagree, he hated playing Mr. Mom, but he did a great job!)


• My parents came to town the next week to meet the baby and reconnect with the girls. We again had a great time. The girls ran my mom ragged...it really wasn't much of a vacation was it mom?


• Ashby celebrated her 6th birthday while my parents were here. She also lost her fourth tooth, luckily right before school pictures. She wanted to go bowling for her birthday and I'm happy to report she came in second out of five in our first game. Ashby was so excited to celebrate her birthday while my mom and dad were here, it meant so much to her, thanks mom and dad.


• We had some fantastic Halloween fun. Avery dressed up as Dorothy and Ashby as a clown. They both had the opportunity to wear their costumes to several functions. They raked in some serious loot while trick-or-treating. Unfortunately because I was checked out of life, I didn't do some of the traditional fall things that I love to do. We didn't even carve pumpkins (all you mandated court reporters, please spare us...)

Now for the heap of pictures.

Avery with Luke, maybe this is why she isn't head over heels for him like Ashby is... he cries a lot.

We like to start a million projects at once. Roger and my dad tiled our entry way while my parents were in town. I couldn't go through another winter with carpet, it was wet for five months straight. Doesn't it look awesome?

Ashby, Grandma, Avery and Grandpa

Ashby with her cake of choice. She always chooses Halloween stuff for her birthday, easy for me, but I wonder how much longer that will last.

Sweet six year old Ashby with her missing teeth.

Ashby and Avery bowling, yeah we don't know how to take pictures in a dark place, sorry.

We took a trip to the Carnegie Science Museum. Ashby bouncing her legs away.

Avery doing some serious construction work in the ball place.

Avery (not so sure about Luke), Luke and Ashby.

Luke not looking very lumpy. Why are newborn babies so hard to take pictures of, they always look so lumpy...

The Halloween costumes

Ashby looking like she got beat up after a long night of trick-or-treating

Ashby and Avery before church


Check out these cheeks

Some photos, finally!

We are home from the hospital and doing well. We made it through the first night home without too much trouble, Rog and I are just tired! I feel fine and feel so blessed that everything went so smoothly. I cannot praise Kevin and Kelly enough for coming and taking care of Ashby and Avery. I didn't have to worry about a thing because they were here. Of course our camera malfunctioned and we lost all the pictures we took at the hospital, but here are a few that Roger has taken on his phone.

In other equally exciting news, Ashby lost another tooth. This time one of her two front ones. It actually is scaring me quite a bit because the one tooth that is left has kind of moved over to the middle and is also loose, so is just hanging there. It looks awful. Hopefully it comes out soon. We have school pictures on Thursday!

The girls seem to be adjusting well to the new baby. They love him and want to be where ever he is, I can't say I blame them. I am so happy and blessed. I love our sweet little family.

Luke at the hospital. I love me some chubby cheeks, I kind of want to eat them, does anyone else ever feel that way about their kids' faces?

Luke at the hospital.

Here's little Luke today. I am loving his dark hair, unfortunately I can't keep my hands off of it (it's so soft) so it's greasy all the time.

Ashby and Luke yesterday. She loves him.
One down and please, please one more to go soon!

He Has A Name

Luke Heinz Worth

(Heinz is Chelsea's fathers middle name. So no, we did not name our son after a catchup company.)

Stay tuned for pictures!

He has arrived!

I just wanted to give everybody the quick details. Our baby boy was born today (Friday 10/10/08) at 3:17pm . He weighed in at 8lbs 9oz and was 22inches long. Mother and baby are doing great. I am sure Chelsea will do a post soon with more details (and hopefully a name!). Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Yea for good news

I went to the doctor today and he told me that they would schedule my induction for Monday. By the time I got dressed and out to the desk to check out, they were scheduling the induction for tomorrow! So yea for that! We have to be there bright and early, but it's a huge blessing because we are able to arrange for someone to take care of the girls. I have been stressing big time about what we were going to do with Ashby and Avery and now it's all worked out. I hope everything will go well; this will be my first time being induced. I can't wait to see this little baby! We'll post as soon as we can for all you far away folks!

Just in case

For those of you keeping track... which is every last one of you right? My due date came and went and still no baby. I guess he'll be like Avery and take his sweet time getting here. Avery was born three days after her due date. The overwhelming feeling that I have right now is impatience, I'm just sick of waiting for him to come! Other than that I really feel pretty good. I will be sure to update if anything starts to happen. My doctor told me last Thursday that he will induce me on the 13th if the baby hasn't been born yet. Please send all your patience my way.... I need it!

Happy Birthday!

It was Avery's birthday last week, she is four! She's hardly my baby anymore, but we still call her our baby. She wanted to have a party for her birthday so we invited over her three friends from Sunbeams (her class at church). She was so excited and I think had a good time; she was awfully quiet. Roger was out of town on her birthday so we celebrated with the family the night after. It turned into a birth week... how great is that? We sure do love our little Avery, she brings such a great energy to our home. I enjoy the differences between her and Ashby so much. She is so girly, where Ashby is not, it's so fun. Although Avery is four now and hardly a baby, she did fall asleep in the car the other afternoon and it just reminded me that she's not completely grown up yet!

Here is Avery with the present Ashby picked out for her. We opened these presents as well as did under the plates on Thursday night. Under the plates is a Worth family tradition where every one gets a few surprises under their dinner plates that they get to enjoy prior to dinner. Every loves it! There are more pictures of Avery on her birthday, they just need to be rescued from a wonky memory card, they'll be up later (I hope)!

We love you Avery!

*As a side note, I am still very much pregnant and unfortunately probably will be for quite sometime still.....

Dresser

We've had this dresser for as long as we have been married. I think my parents bought it sometime in the 80's. It was definitely time for a redo and I figured with the baby coming, it would be the perfect excuse to update it. I was really pleased with how it turned out. For under $25, you can't beat it for sure!

Here's the before. And yes indeed that was what it looks like most of the time except usually there are more things hanging out of the drawers, I'm not a very good drawer closer. I like to just shove the clothes in whether or not they fit.

Here's the after. I did a kind of antiquing technique that I learned from my sister. I know that this look definitely doesn't suit some people, so I'm not offended if you don't like it! The walls in the baby's room will be a blue gray and I think the dresser will look stellar in there. We have always used this dresser as a changing table, it works beautifully!

***If you were wondering, Roger did e-mail Dan Sheldon telling him he was a thief. He responded with as much sarcasm as Roger dished out. It was hilarious. Apparently the lack of full size Krackel bars is quite a concern.

Hmmm...

Roger brought this to my attention today... http://www.kutv.com/content/blogs/sports/dansheldon/story.aspx?content_id=d8655c16-00ac-4a6b-9136-dbd4e2705b5b. Read the very last paragraph. Didn't we address this already? Thief!!!

A small update

I was looking over at the timeline on my side bar and indeed I have only about 3 weeks until my due date. I can't believe it. I thought I would give a quick update about how things are progressing. My belly is huge, but it's supposed to be right? Luckily I'm not that swollen yet. Tomorrow's forecast of 88 degrees may do me in though, by tomorrow evening I predict I will greatly resemble the Stay Puff marshmallow man or woman rather. The baby is kicking well. I went to the doctor on Friday and he is pleased with the baby's growth. All my babies measure small, this doctor seemed more concerned than previous doctors. When I went in for my glucose test, my sugar is right on the borderline. The doctor told me to cut down on the sugar. It's been a lot harder for me than it should be, but I'm trying. The doctor mentioned that he may want to induce me to prevent the baby from getting to big (but didn't I just say he was small? I know I'm confused too). He didn't say anything about induction on Friday which I think I'm grateful for. I don't really know how I feel about that. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Roger is going out of town again from September 22-24. What are the odds I'll go into labor while he's gone? My guess is that I probably will, but if he were to stay here, I wouldn't. Isn't that always the way it works? The baby's room is coming together. We are hoping to paint this week. I refinished a dresser and it's just about ready to be filled with stuff (pictures coming). I have felt extremely blessed through this whole pregnancy. I really feel rather good and probably am sleeping better than any 37 week pregnant woman should. I apologize for the randomness of this post, but I have hardly documented what's going on and know I will really regret it if I don't! I will post before and after photos of the bedroom and dresser as soon as possible, it seems we are ahead of my October 5th prediction for finishing.... yea.

A week of firsts

It's been an exciting and busy week around here. There were many firsts for us and it was so fun. It was the first week of kindergarten for Ashby. Seriously, there's a kindergartner that lives here? Crazy. Then it was the first day of soccer practice for Ashby. She has been more excited about soccer than anything else this week. In an effort to develop some of Avery's talents, she started dance class this week. She loved it and unfortunately is not so good with days so is asking me everyday if it's time for dance class again. It was also the first soccer game today. Both girls have been troopers with this busy week. Getting up early is going to take some getting used to, but we are excited. Ashby is in full day kindergarten and I can't believe what a long day it is. Avery and I miss her so much while she's gone. It's been very fun to move into this new phase of our family's life.

First day of school. Luckily the elementary school is eight houses away. I love that she doesn't have to ride the bus. Both girls complain the whole way that it's so far and they are so hot. It's rather humorous.

First soccer practice. Ashby had a great time participating in a circuit type practice. They practiced a lot of different skills, like passing, running, stopping the ball and of course scoring.

On our way to dance class. Avery did a wonderful job telling her teacher her name. She even remembered what her teacher's name was to tell Roger. I am particularly looking forward to watching dance class every week.

Before the first soccer game. Go Bears!! The format for the league Ashby is in is brilliant. They play 3 on 3, there's no goalie and there are only 5-6 kids on each team. The goal definitely is for everyone to play and for everyone to have fun. It was truly a joy to watch today. We loved it.

Awww shucks

Oh y'all (I guess I should use the term youins, I live in western PA after all) are so nice. Not one person voted in favor of me admitting to a lack of street smarts, all thought it was indeed pregnancy brain that made me lock my keys in the car. Thanks everyone, you are all too nice. Hopefully the condition will reverse itself. When will it have been sufficient time for it to reverse? Right after I have the baby I will be so sleep deprived my decision making and memory will be poor. I guess I will quit using the pregnancy brain excuse about the same time I realize that the rest of this baby weight isn't magically going to disappear.

For Goodness Sakes

I usually have a pretty good memory. Well for dates anyway. Roger makes fun of me because I can remember people's birthdays and all other kinds of useless information. When it comes to useful information though, that's a different story. I had the worst brain blunder on Tuesday. I was at the park with my friend Kathrin. It was a beautiful day and the kids were playing so well. It was time to leave and I realized that I locked my keys in the car. So normally that's not so bad, you can just call your significant other and have them come unlock the doors right? Well Roger's in New York for work, nice huh? He did leave his keys with me, but where were they? On their hook at home? Of course not. They were also in my purse, locked in the car. Such a predicament huh? Kathrin again came to the rescue (she babysits kids all the time for me, she's a lifesaver). She has AAA, so we just called and had them come get the keys out. I can't believe what a doofus I am. Good thing for good friends who are willing to sacrifice to help out (Kathrin's son missed a music lesson, I'm a dirt bag huh?) The question I pose to all of you is this; can I blame this serious brain blunder on being pregnant or like my brother always says, do I have to own up to having no street smarts?

The Worth's Rock

We just returned from a vacation at the big house with Roger's family. I honestly felt like a kid again because of the amount of disappointment I felt when we had to go home. It was so much fun. The kids had such a great time with all their cousins and quite frankly I have the best in laws in the world, I couldn't get enough of them. Thanks everyone for such a good time, we can't wait until the next one.

I also wanted to thank everyone for the lovely comments on my last post. I do feel better about life and less anxious than I did. My sister-in-law Nancy helped me put everything in perspective. We love you Clarks and here's to happily ever after.

Holy Cow, look at all them kids. Picture was taken at a waterfall near the house we stayed at in West Virginia.

Holy Cow, look at all them kids again. This time at the talent show. They each have different animal puppets on their hands to demonstrate the story of Noah's Ark.

It's time

It's high time for a good freak out. I realized today that indeed there are only two months until my due date. Ummm, yikes. I was explaining to Roger the stress I am feeling about this fall and he told me to stop talking because his head was going to explode. Nice. So what better way to let it all out then to blog. So Ashby's starting kindergarten and she has all of one pair of shoes that aren't sandals that will fit her and oh yeah, she won't wear them on the playground cause "stuff might get in them". She also has all of one pair of pants without holes that fit. Hopefully it will be shorts season for a while longer. This is just my first child to enter school and I'm already feeling the back to school pinch, yikes, it only gets worse huh? Avery's gonna need new clothes too because Ashby wore out everything in her size. She's really into skirts so maybe she can just wear the skirts she's been wearing all summer all winter and I'll just duct tape some down feathers to her legs or something. Oh yeah and did I mention that the baby doesn't have a place to sleep yet. Roger's been working late hours so I don't let him work on the room when he gets home because I want to talk to him (although maybe not after he told me to be quiet...). I don't own any diapers yet and who knows what the baby is going to wear. Some very kind people have given us some hand me downs and our friend Deanna gave us the first new clothes for the baby, but I haven't gone through and sorted anything yet because there's no where to put them... remember the room isn't done yet. Yikes, yikes, yikes. I guarantee I will be painting a bedroom on October 5th, wanna come help? So what's buggin' you?

I was wondering...

As part of my consume as much sugar as possible diet (what you haven't heard of it?) I purchased a bag of Hershey's mini candy bars today. As I was partaking I thought to myself can you even buy a full sized Krackel bar anymore? What about a Mr. Goodbar or even a Special Dark bar? Were these poor candies replaced by their far superior mini versions? Anyone have any insight on this?

This and that

Just a few updates, mostly for my mom. We took the girls to the Butler-Freeport trail yesterday to ride their bikes. It's paved and flat and they had a good time.Over the weekend we went to Ohio to see Kyle, Sidni and Roc in Kids on Broadway. We went last year and I could really tell how much the kids have grown and improved. It was so fun, they all did a tremendous job. Have I ever mentioned how much I love living close to Bryan and Anna? Maybe once or twice or a hundred times. I really love it though and they are so fun to spend time with. We couldn't find Roc to get him in the picture....One of our home teachers invited the girls and I to go swimming anytime we wanted at his house. The very best part is that he lives only a couple of blocks away. The girls had a great time, they loved all the fun floaties. I'm pretty sure they were trying to see how many they could put on or sit on at one time.

We love summer!