The Mulder 2008 Christmas Card

The blog header was our Christmas card this year.

Pictures taken and card made by the wonderful, talented Selena at http://www.selenamariephoto.com/.

A Blizzard and a Party

I really don't like this weather. I really don't like any snow at all, but when it's a blizzard, my hate intesifies. It's freezing, wet and windy. There's zero visability and I'm stuck in the house. None of that is fun. So...I'm really hoping it gets better tomorrow! Here are a couple of pics from our house this afternoon. The last one shows how much snow blew in the garage just while Colin was snow-blowing.

We did have a fun night last night with a Christmas party with my mom's side of the family. It's fun because it's a decent size group...my grandma, her four kids and their spouses, 11 grandkids and spouses and then 7 great-grandkids. Abigail and Henry had a lot of fun and were pretty good most of the night. The adults play Bingo with tons of gifts ranging from a box of Skittles to tools, gift cards and other bigger stuff. Colin won a one-pound Sugar Daddy on a stick...Henry was in Heaven. Too bad we "forgot" it at the party and it didn't come home with us! It was a fun night and nice to get together with family!

This week is busy for us (like all of you, I'm sure!). Monday is a regular day with me working at night. Tuesday is a regular day with a Christmas party at night in Hudsonville (my dad's side). Then Wednesday morning I get to spend three hours at the hospital for my glucose test. We'll go see Santa at Froggy's for lunch and then our family opens gifts at night. My parents are coming that night. Christmas day is obviously busy with the Mulders in the morning and my family in the afternoon/evening. Whew! Busy, but so much fun!

Not sure if I'll post before Christmas...if not...Merry Christmas!!

Singing and Santa

This was the first year that Abigail sang in the church for the Christmas "program." It only included the group singing four songs at two of our church services yesterday and then the other two next week. They sang "Silent Night," "Joy to the World," "Go Tell it on the Mountain," and "Away in a Manger." It really was adorable and Abigail has really enjoyed it! I got a few pictures yesterday. The first one is clapping to "Go Tell it on the Mountain" and the other two are during the motions of "Away in a Manger." I love that she enjoys this type of thing!

There's no smooth transition from singing Christian Christmas Carols to seeing Santa, so we'll just move right on....

The kids enjoyed seeing Santa tonight. Henry was actually more intrigued than Abigail. I think she was more embarrassed than anything. :) It was a fun night and I actually got a cute picture!

Pregnancy Update

I am 25 weeks, 3 days today. This baby should be here in about three months. Crazy really. The time has flown already and will only start going faster I'm sure. I went to the doctor today for a normal check and gained one pound in the past four weeks. I'm still down about thirteen pounds since I got pregnant, but this is the first gain I've had, so that's good! I also failed my glucose tolerance test today. I think that it wasn't wise to have a granola bar and some Coke early this morning. I have to go to the hospital for a three hour test to get rechecked. I'm not really nervous since I haven't had issues in the past and think it's probably more related to my breakfast than anything. :) My doctor also told me to lay off sweets and pop for the few days leading up to the test, so that will probably help!

We also think we've decided on a name. Finally. We've been talking a lot and haven't come up with anything we like. Or one of us loves a name and the other hates it. I knew that it would be a name that we haven't discussed and when we did say the name, we would know it. I'm assuming we'll share it ahead of time, but since Colin and I haven't specifically discussed that I probably shouldn't blab it on my blog yet. :)

Everything else is going well. Tomorrow is a nice day since neither kid has school...we'll have a pajama day and lounge I'm sure. Haircuts for Colin and Henry at night and possibly a visit to Santa. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Where have I been? Life is flying by, Thanksgiving is over, December is here, stress is high...ahh! :) We've been busy and blogging hasn't been top on my list. Sorry!

Let's see...Thanksgiving was great. Busy, but great. We had a big turkey dinner at my parents' house at noon with just our family, my parents and my grandma. Joel and Kelly were in Florida and Brad and Bec were at Brad's parents' house this year. At night we went to Mulder for another big turkey dinner...this time with more people. We have so much to be thankful for (family, jobs, life security, friends, to name just a few!) and enjoyed spending the day with family.

I did do some Black Friday shopping. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go out this year since I wasn't dying for anything, but did end up meeting Marci at Rivertown right at 6:00 (a little later that I usually get going on BF, but still plenty early!). I did really well for not really needing anything! :) My favorite purchase was a new pillow for myself...I've needed one for awhile and I love the one I got! I have the majority of my Christmas shopping done, but still have a bit to go. Nothing is wrapped (except the gifts from Tip Toes...love that they have free beautiful gift wrap!), but I'll get there. I love buying gifts for people, so it's a fun time of year.

This past Sunday my Grandma came for dinner at my parents house and Abigail and Grandma Northouse worked on putting gumdrops on the gumdrop tree. I love pictures of them together...about 80 years between the two of them!

Things are moving along this week. Colin started a new trimester, the kids may have had too many days of lazy mornings, because it's getting hard to get them moving in the morning! I hope to actually do a little scrapbooking in the near future, but we'll see!

Have a great day!!

Picture Previews

Selena put some pics of the kids on her blog today...check them out. :)

http://www.vanklompenberg.com/blogs/nina/

Grandma, Grandpa, Abby, Hanks and Joshua

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elf Yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Pregnancy, Pictures and Joshua

Time for a random post...

~I'm 22 weeks, 3 days today. Everything has been going well since I had that flu so badly. I went to the doctor last week for a normal check and I'm still down about 15 pounds from when I got pregnant...haven't gained an ounce. The baby seems to be growing perfectly at this point, so we aren't too concerned, but it is time to start gaining. It's the first time in my life I've been told to gain weight! One more thing...according to the ultrasound our little girl is measuring in the 50% for height, head, torso, etc., but only in the 30% for leg length...just like her mommy. :)

~The kids had their Christmas pics taking tonight (thanks, Selena!). Oh, what a trip! Abigail was like a supermodel vamping it up...it was really something. Overall they did okay, but I'm sure Selena got some amazing pictures since she has the magic touch!

~Henry and I went to visit Joshua (and Rebecca) today. We went to help a bit (let her take a nap, do some laundry, etc.) and to love on Josh too. He was an angel and Henry loved being the helper. Here's a cute picture of the boys together.




~I'm tired, so off to bed...

More Pictures of Joshua

More pictures of Joshua (I took over 100 yesterday!)...especially for friends of Rebecca's checking this blog! :)

Welcome Joshua Allen!

My first nephew, Joshua Allen, was born today at 1:01 pm. He weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and is doing great! He's absolutely adorable and I was so lucky to spend lots of time with him today. My sister's doing well - she did an awesome job! We love him tons already!

Playing in the Leaves

Our Privilege to Vote

I had the privilege to vote today. This election meant more to me than any other that I've voted in (and I vote in EVERY election, no matter how small). I thought more about the Proposals on this ballot than I ever have. I didn't necessarily go with first instinct or the common thought in my peer circle...I researched, I prayed and I voted with my heart.

I voted for the Presidential candidate that I think will best lead our country. I voted for a man who I know will make a difference in our nation as well as hopefully our world. I voted for a man that I think God led me to vote for...a man that I think will help our nation in this economic crisis, this nation of foreclosures, this nation with narrow-minded views, this nation not worrying enough about poverty and people who need hope.

My votes are (mostly) private, but I am proud of my votes. I am proud that I didn't look at just ONE issue (my biggest pet peeve with SO many people, but that's a whole different blog post that won't make me friends), but rather looked at the whole of the candidates and propositions and voted because I can. Because I get to.

Now...back to NBC to see what's happening. :)

Happy 30th Birthday, Colin!

Today Colin turns 30! The kids think it's the coolest thing to have dad's birthday on Halloween. :) Happy Birthday to the best husband and father anyone could ask for! I love you!

Okay...time to catch up. First, thanks for all the congrats on our new little girl due in March. We are so excited! I think Abigail is the most excited of everyone...she can't wait! It's crazy to think about all the little pink things in the house again. Yeah!!! Oh, and yes, Colin and I both definitely thought girl. Now to try to agree on a name...Here's a pic of the little one. I know, she's cute!


Updating on other things...I had a terrible, terrible case of the flu this week. I mean, I was the sickest I've ever been. I threw up at least 20 times on Monday and just thought I was going to die. I was so weak and couldn't even keep sips of water down. Long day, long story short we ended up in the ER that evening for fluids due to dehydration and a couple of doses of anti-nausea meds via IVs. Still not feeling really near 100%, but feeling much better. That was rough, really rough. I worried a bit about the baby since I haven't lost a lot of weight so far and am supposed to be working on gaining some...not eating for two days doesn't help that. Today at the ultrasound though she measured right on so that put me at ease a bit.

I was going to post some pics of Abigail's fieldtrip from a couple of weeks ago because I got some really cute ones, but I don't think I should post pics of her classmates without asking permission of the parents, so I guess you don't get those. :) I do have a few from the GR Marathon that Colin ran a couple weekends ago. He did awesome! I'm so proud of him!
Today was low-key which is necessary since I'm still hardly eating and then tomorrow is school for both kids (I need that 2 hours alone) then dinner and a little trick-or-treating at Mulders before I head to work at 8:30. Saturday is another normal day of work for Colin during the day and for me at night. Have a great Thursday-Friday-Saturday!

Boy or Girl??? Part 2...

We had our ultrasound this morning and everything looks great. The baby is measuring right on and looks healthy. We'll know more when the doctor reads the report, but for now this little one looks great. The ultrasound tech was also quite certain that Abigail and Henry will be having a SISTER in March! Yeah! We are so excited for another little girl in the house. I stopped at school to tell Abigail and show her the pictures and she jumped up and down and was SO excited. Henry seems excited, but it's tough to know. We have a busy afternoon, but I'll post a picture soon. :)

Celebrate Life.

I have lots of pictures to upload. I have lots of updates to write. Hopefully I'll get to that soon. For now though, I want to share the most beautiful video of celebrating life I've ever seen. I've seen it before. I've cried before, but seeing it again, today on Oprah, reminded me how precious life is. As we prepare for the birth of my first nephew in less than a month and also anticipate our big ultrasound tomorrow morning I've had a little time to reflect on how amazing life is. "Dear Eliot," the story of Eliot Hartman Mooney is one of the most precious reminders of life and how each day is special. Listen to the letters from his dad.

Post Family Farm

Interesting voting so far on the sex of this baby...split right in half, huh? We shall see in less than two weeks!

Tonight we went to Post Family Farm with my friends Marci and Kasha from work and their husbands and kids. Six adults and six kids. There were four boys and two girls ages 1,2,3,4,5 and 6. Fun times for sure. My kids really like going there and had a lot of fun tonight. Here are a couple of untouched pictures, but I wanted to get a few up before the busy weekend!

Busy weekend coming up...tomorrow is school for both kids. I'm heading back to the school in the afternoon to go on Abigail's fieldtrip with her. Where are they going? On a hayride. :) Then I work at night of course. Saturday morning Abigail has soccer and I work again at night. It's going to be a really late night that night. Sunday morning Colin is running the GR Marathon at 8:00 am. Say a little prayer for him! I hope you have a great weekend as well!

Boy or Girl???

I added a Poll in the sidebar of the blog. We haven't set up our ultrasound yet, but should at my appointment on Tuesday afternoon. What do you think...boy or girl? Colin and I both feel the same way on this one. Comment here with your reasons/thoughts if you want. :)

ETA: The ultrasound is set for Wednesday, October 28th :)

Grandparent's Day!

Abigail had Grandparent's Day at school on Friday. My mom was able to get her classes covered in the afternoon so she could be there. Lois also took the afternoon off and came with Tavid. Tav leaves tomorrow for Argentina so he wanted to go and see how Abigail spends her days. Lois took all the pictures, but they didn't get one of her with Abigail! Ugh! Here are a couple of the cute ones.

17 weeks...5 times...seriously?

I am 17 weeks along today in this pregnancy. The past few weeks have been much better...much less nausea thankfully. I am still tired, but that will probably be forever now. :) We had a busy weekend. I had Friday night off (for the first time in months I think) so we could attend my cousin's wedding. It was nice to have a night off with Colin and spend a Friday like non-Friday night-working-people. Saturday morning we had a baby shower for Rebecca. It's fun to go to those and see her get all the new stuff for my nephew (who should be here within 6 weeks!). Abigail got to go to the shower too and thought it was so much fun to be with the girls.

I worked last night and around midnight was feeling terrible backpain. Because I've had kidney stones so much already this pregnancy I knew it was a stone (or stones) coming on. I went home and took Vicodin right away and then a pill for nausea since Vicodin makes me sick. Usually that will be enough to take care of things. It didn't touch it. I was up most of the night wanting to die from the pain. After maybe an hour of sleep I decided we had to go to the hospital. So...my mom came over around 6:00 am (THANK YOU, MOM) and Colin and I went to the hospital. Even there, after an IV and strong pain med I was still in pain which never happens. They gave me another dose and it did make me feel better. Looks like I for sure have at least one stone and probably a kidney infection as well. I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday where they will hopefully know more. I was sent home a few hours later with a med stronger than Vicodin and then more anti-nausea meds. I slept until about 3:15...then a snack, more pills and back to bed. Oh, the title...this is my fifth time with stones this pregnancy...in 17 weeks. Makes me wonder and dread what the next 23 weeks hold in store...especially since they have become increasingly more painful, with this time being the worst for sure.

I have the most amazing husband. Colin is amazing to get up with me, take me to the hospital, sit with me there, do/get anything I need and then on the way home even got me a bagel and a newspaper. He then picked up my prescriptions and kept the kids out of my room. Seriously...I could never get through pain like this without him.

So, there's our weekend for you! I did have another shower today for my sister which I obviously missed unfortunately. I hope she had fun! We have another busy week ahead so I hope that I'm feeling better...like right away!