No baby, yet

So I was curious as to what the babynamey ticker would say when you go over. Apparently it doesn't calculate the 5% of women who actually go past their due dates. For an update, no baby, but I still feel fabulous. That's the problem really. If I was miserable I could probably get some contractions going just long enough to get to the hospital and them decide to keep me. But alas, I am still loving being pregnant and I am content to let her come when she wants. It won't be later than Monday anyway. So don't be fooled and have a GREAT New Years!!

Merry Christmas!!!

The kids pulled it off. We have been having an unusual amount of fighting and resistance to chores in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Santa almost had to skip the Schaugaard home this year, but at the last minute, everyone put in 110% effort and got their names on the nice list just in the "Nick" of time. Santa surprised us with a Wii. Everyone is loving it. Of course it is after 11:00pm and they are all still at it. Matt loves his Wii Fit and has been getting better and better at the games. He was a little ticked that he is considered "overweight" and I was "normal" at 39 weeks pregnant. Go figure!! But it made my 2 week weight loss goal really easy to make. I could probably shed a few pounds named Jersey. It will be fun to work out together and keep track, always more motivating. Other highlights are the bowling. I love that the kids kick our butt. It beats going to an actual bowling alley any day. Plus with four controllers and lots of kids, everyone gets a turn and they haven't fought all day. Progress.....

Christmas Eve PJ's

Over Thanksgiving weekend up at our family cabin, I made our yearly Christmas PJ's. I do this ever year just for fun. I am not much of a seamstress, so some years turn out better than others. Usually I go with the drawstring approach, but this year I spent the extra time to put in elastic. I made all of them in one day and finished the last the next morning. Pretty good for me. Jersey didn't get to wear hers in time, but they will still be fun later. This is us trying to get a decent picture. Yeah right, but oh so funny. Plus everyone is straight out of the tub so the hair styles are great. I love this little tradition and the kids love opening up something the night before. We even threw in Christmas socks this year. Matt wore his "girly" socks all night with very little complaining. Mostly that they were not made for a size 13 foot. But who makes socks that big anyway?

Hear the Music!!

Autumn had her dance showcase for Ballet/Tap and HipHop this month. We recorded them and I forgot to snap an actual picture. How silly of me. She did so well though. Especially with the HipHop one. She had a solo at the end and looked awesome!! She will be doing HipHop again in January because she loves it so much. She says it goes along with the kind of music she wants to learn to play on her electric guitar.....when she finally gets one. She is so amazing and talented in all of the areas that I am not. It does make it slightly hard to be able to help her, but then she doesn't seem to need the help.

Autumn and Sage also had the great opportunity to sing Spanish songs at the mall, in a performance at school, and at church for the Christmas Sacrament meeting. They both have learned so much in the Spanish Immersion program at our school. I love the opportunities that it gives them and the extra effort that it takes. Autumn is an absolute natural. She can ace a pretest of 42 words after two days. Autumn is a producer and a pleaser. Sage is not quite there, but has been working so hard. We are working on staying focused and doing our best "every time". Sage likes to keep things stress-free and easy going, a free spirit in a sense.

I love my girls!!

Stoned Creed?

So Creed has a preschool program and had been complaining that he "didn't feel so good". Mean mommy that I am, I gave him some Tylenol and made him go anyway. He had a little duet as a drummer boy. Matt and I were laughing the whole time because our uncontrollable Creed was in a daze the whole time. Completely out of character for him. It took multiple songs just for him to even do the actions and he only sang a little bit of the songs. Creed had been walking around the house for weeks and knew every word to every song in the program. (We had heard them MANY, MANY times.) We recorded it so these pictures aren't the best, but was a great experience. Creed can be calm when sick and with a little bit of meds in his system.

Incredible performance!!!

Sage had her Christmas tumbling performance and did so fantastic. This is her before the program and her cousin Hadley. Sage was able to make quite a bit of progress this year and instead of doing the "easy" back-handsprings, she did the much harder aerials instead. We were so proud of her. She hasn't been able to do them for long. Hadley was able to do her round-off, back-handspring, back tuck. Again, incredible!! She just got that too. It has been so much fun to watch them both and have something in common.

Kids and Halloween

These are the long lost Halloween pictures. Sage had a program this year. It was great!! Also all the elementary kids had a parade. The others are on our front porch right before going trick-o-treating. Thank goodness for fairly good weather. I get to stay home and pass out candy. Autumn was a ballerina, Sage was a fairy, Jack was Zorro, Creed was a knight king, and Annie was little orphan Annie.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

So I realize this is a little late, but I wanted to share the things that I am thankful for.

I am thankful for a husband who can cook. I can't make anything unless it comes in a box with detailed instructions. (That means I can "warm" things up.)

I am thankful for family. Last Sunday we had my family over for Thanksgiving dinner. Since it was at our house.... we cooked the turkey this year. Matt and I have been married for 91/2 years and have never had this privilege. Matt of course did everything and it turned out fabulous!! Everything was moist and yummy!! I even had him up until midnight the night before cleaning and moving things and carrying things up and down the stairs. And he did not complain even once. He is the best and I love him so much.

I am thankful for Matt's family too. On Thanksgiving day we had dinner at his parent's house. Of course it was spectacular with place settings and 3 times as much food and a group that big could ever eat. And that is a big group. I was able to sit on the couch and try not to move and no one looked down on me or thought me to be lazy for not helping out. The Schaugaard's have so much love for each other and truly do everything to help each other deal with whatever they are going through at the time. I know I could not have married into a better family for me.

So back to why I was being a lazy bum on the couch.....I am grateful for a healthy, strong-willed baby that can't make up her mind about coming out early or not. I have been having the real kind of contractions for awhile now and the night before Thanksgiving I worked my 12 hour holiday shift. I came home and slept about an hour and a half....not at one time....and it was off to dinner. I was dying by then and could barely walk. I could keep my eyes open but was having a lot of pelvic pressure and tons of contractions. This little one is keeping me guessing. I really would have been so content with January 5th as a birth date. I am thankful for a great job too. It's been hard right now with the kids and pregnancy but I feel so lucky to take care of the patients I do. I took care of three beautiful heart babies that night. Looking at their situations make me so grateful for what I have waiting for me at home.

I am thankful for my kids. Each one is so unique and each one makes me laugh for a different reason. Yes, there is the yelling part to, but I am trying to work on that. Jersey won't recognize my voice unless I work on that. My kids try so hard to do everything that I ask of them and try to do their best. That is hard to do sometimes. I love them for their effort and for the love that they show each other. I was given a great bunch and I worry every day that I won't be able to teach them what they need to know.

I am thankful for a Heavenly Father that forgives me of my weaknesses. I would not survive without the gospel in my life. Everything I have and everything I hold dear is a gift from Him.

I am thankful for my friends. I feel so lucky to have such great ones. I have my sister-in-laws. They are the loving and caring type and are there for you when you go through the worst times. I have my GNO girls who I find I can still be myself around the most. I love these guys and I have so much fun every month with them. I love swapping stories about life and kids. I love the "crazy" conversations about nothing in particular. I love the girls in my neighborhood. I got to go see Twilight at midnight with a group of girls from my ward (and a few other friends) and I can't even tell you how much fun it was. A bunch of stay-at-home moms partying until 3:30am. My neighborhood rocks!! And I have friends at work. The unit I work on gets along great and I feel very much a part of it. It makes me excited to go to work just to catch up on all of their lives.

I am thankful for parents who bought a cabin. I love spending time with my parents and with them having a cabin, we get to hang out with them for multiple days at a time. After eating Thanksgiving dinner with Matt's wonderful parents and family, we left and drove the two hours to the Uintas to spend time with mine and my sweet sister and her kids who I don't see nearly enough. You know how mom's are. They sit you on a couch and wait on you. I didn't have to do anything all weekend except play games, watch movies, read, make 8 pairs of matching pajamas for Christmas, eat great food (junk food is a given at the cabin), sleep, and watch my husband and kids go sledding in the 4-5 inches of snow. It would have been so much fun to participate in that part but I wasn't taking any chances of delivering in Evanston. I didn't even have to do the dishes one time. I love the cabin because it is not home and there are not the overwhelming projects waiting for you. You can really sit back and relax.

I am grateful for a wonderful Christmas season. I have much to look forward to and I am more excited this year than most. We are 2 presents away from being "done" and I feel so much relief that I can sit back and relax for the rest of the month. When I say relax, that of course is at a party, a performance, a program, etc. It will be a very busy month full of the great stuff, spending time with loved ones and watching your children succeed.

Happy Holidays!!