Drum Roll Please!!!!!

Here is the video finally!  Took me a little while to figure it out!  We are so thankful God choose us to be the parents to 4 little girls!  

PINK

PINK

PINK

PINK

Pink vs. Blue

The BIG reveal is Thursday.  Our appointment is at 8:30!  But...we are not going to find out!  That's right you heard me!  We decided kinda last minute (meaning last week) that we wanted to share it with a few family and friends!  I know we're crazy and this might have ticked some of you off.  I'm pretty sure my parents were a little sad that they will have to wait all day long.  But, we will be waiting along with all the rest of you.  It's going to be a surprise for us all!

Here is our family verdict:

Gonzo

Jocelyn 

(All my symptoms say girls, but the last few weeks I have leaned towards boys a tiny bit.  I only have something blue to wear to the party though!  If I had something pink I would probably wear pink!)

Adda

Ella  

(Ella only has something pink to wear to the party)

Andrea

Lee

Luke

Abel

Leah

(Leah has no comment when asked and is a neutral party)

Mom

Dad

What is your vote?

Pink vs. Blue 

12 Months Already!

Yesterday morning I took Ella to her 12 month well visit.  All these memories of taking Adda to that same appointment came rushing back to me.  I remember almost perfectly taking my first little monkey and now I've taken my second.  Why is it that time goes by soooo fast???  Before I know it I will be hauling two more in for their 12 month check up.  As I was visiting with Dr. Fikkert, I started to thank Jesus again for the miracles He has given us.  So very thankful for it all!

Here are some of Ella's major 12 month accomplishments:

• Talks all the time!  She is saying about 7 or 8 words on a regular basis and in context and tries very hard to repeat everything else we say.  Adda is so good about not talking baby to her and getting her to repeat real words!  I think she is ready to have another jabber box in the house.  Ella told Dr. Fikkert "NO" and "Bye, bye"!  No is her very favorite word of all!  Probably because she hears it from her sister when Ella tries to take what Adda is playing with!
• No more baby food!  This girl went very fast from pureed to all table food.  Much faster than I would have liked, but she had so many teeth that I think she was bored with eating from a spoon.  Probably her favorite thing to eat is sweet potato and banana.  We usually give her one or both with whatever we are fixing for a meal.  She even ate a ham and cheese sandwich (cut up) the other day, and a hamburger that we fixed for dinner!  
• Drinking milk from a cup!  This is something I had really been praying about.  I am going to be weaning her soon from breast feeding and I wanted to make sure she was drinking milk well before I slowed down.  I am very sad to stop breast feeding earlier than she would like, but it won't be fair to her or anyone else to have to stop right when the twins get here.  And, let me be honest...I don't really want to be breast feeding three at one time!  Ella will be just fine!  Thank you Jesus for answering my prayers!
• Taking steps!  She is not full out walking yet, but she taking lots of steps.  In fact last night she walked in between Gonzo and I and it was almost 10 steps.  I figure she will be taking off in no time.  This is almost exactly where Adda was with her walking at 12 months.
• Yelling at us when she wants something!  Although this absolutely wears me out I think it's pretty cute too!  I think is really shows her personality.  Adda was always so laid back and patient.  Ella is a little different!  Most of the time the yelling happens when she is in the highchair.  We have worked hard at making her tell us the word rather than yell until we get it right.  She still yells the words "wa-wa" (water) instead of just saying it.  When we say, "Ella no yelling, do you want your wa-wa?"  She very quickly shakes her head up and down for yes!  
• Starting to tell us some body parts and animal noises!  She almost always tells us where her head is and sometimes will squint her eyes when we asked about eyes.  Her favorite animal noise is the cow!

It's amazing to me how fast they learn and catch on to the busy daily life.  She watches everything her very busy sister does and works hard at imitating it perfectly!  I pray that the two of them will be best friends some day!  They will need each other!

 And you can see how easy it is to get a good picture!  She is always on the move!

 Oh, thanks you Ella!  Giving me the trash!

 Adda said, "Ella say touchdown!"  Her Daddy taught her to raise her hands to that!

 Ella, where is your head? 

Here is a picture I took of Gonzo taking Ella to bed last night.  She was worn out after we got home from the basketball game.  It makes me think of him holding her in the hospital when she was born. 

 

12 Months Old

  

 1 Day Old

I'll post pictures from the birthday party soon!  I'm waiting for my brother to upload his pictures.  He always takes wayyyyy better pictures than I do!  

Here is a sneak peak of her eating her smash cake!  She got after it!

One Year Ago Today...

One year ago today I was just waking up from sleeping the first night (early morning) with my second daughter. It was a Saturday morning at about 9:30 and there was a knock on the door with a tray of breakfast for me. Ella was fast asleep in her little hospital bed next to my bed. Gonzo was sweating, snoring, tossing, and turning on those horrible hospital couch beds. I felt great and was grateful for a healthy baby girl who came easily and quickly! I was thankful my parents made it in time to see the birth and were at home with my other sweet daughter. One year ago today I was a very happy mommy of two beautiful miracles named Adda and Ella!

Ella's birth story:
From 36 weeks to almost 40 weeks I was only dilated to a 2 but had been having regular contractions that whole time. I had so much pressure that I was almost positive each week when I went in that my doctor would tell me I was dilated more and more. No such luck! You start to get pissed after the third week of being dilated the same. It's like studying your butt off for a test and the grade doesn't show your effort. It's like running a race and not placing! You NEED to justify your pregnancy effort by the doctor telling you a higher number each week. Even if you only go up one stinking number you just need to hear a larger number! I think I might have even said something like "Are you freaking kidding me!!??" when I went to my next to last appointment and he said I was STILL a 2!
At that time I was keeping four kids besides Adda full time. I had a friend who would come sit with the kids while Gonzo and I would go to our appointments. We got back to the house about 9:00 and she asked how it went. We gave her the look we had given her the past three Friday mornings which was only a 2. She left and Gonzo went back to work and I went on with my routine with the kiddos. At about 9:30 I started having contractions. These were a little more painful than normal and were even more consistent. I got lunch ready for everyone and got everyone down for naps by 1:00. I then did what every pregnant girl would do if she thought the time was getting close to deliver a child, I took and bath and shaved my legs! Luckily I had painted my toe nails the weekend before or I would have painted them after the bath! Then I laid down and started timing the contractions. I decided I was not going to call until they had been consistently the same apart for an hour. After one hour I called the doctor and waited for the nurse to call back. She called back and asked if I had been up walking around or laying down with the contractions. By that time it had been almost two hours of contraction every five minutes or less and lasting for five minutes or less. She suggested when all the kids were picked up that I start walking and time the contractions during walking instead of laying.
So at about 4:15 the last of my kiddos had been picked up and I loaded Adda up and headed to track practice. I walked Adda over to Gonzo at the shot-put rink and I started walking around the outside of the track. I was hurting and VERY determined to have that baby in the VERY near future. Over the next thirty minutes my contractions went from every 5 minutes to every 2 minutes and were lasting about 5 minutes each. I walked until Gonzo was finished with shot practice. As he and Adda walked towards me I started to cry. Of course Gonzo started freaking out and I told him I was scared. I was scared of what to do next. I was scared for Adda because I knew we were fixing to go get our bags and leave her with friends as we drove to the hospital. I was scared of having two babies. I was scared that it was here! I was induced with Adda and had a little prep time before we headed to the hospital. I was in labor with Ella and knew there was no turning back.
We headed home and packed some stuff for Adda and then got our stuff together. I took one last picture with my only little girl! I will cherish that picture forever because I can remember every single emotion I had as I held her.

OMG, so ready!

We dropped Adda off at some friends and headed to the hospital. They got me checked into the triage and I went in the bathroom to change into the robe. As I took my Uggs off I realized my socks were soaking in blood. When I got home from the track I took my tennis shoes off and put my boots on without paying attention to my feet. I had walked until my toes were bleeding. Never mind the fact that my feet were probably a little swollen and my shoes were a little small. I told you I was determined to walk until those contractions were almost on top of each other. I was a little embarrassed by my bloody ankle socks so I just stuck my Uggs back on with my gown. I looked fantastic! She hooked me up to the machines and checked me. I was a 3! I wanted to scream! Was she joking?!! My contractions were coming fast and hard and I was only a 3. She suggested we walk in the hospital! I did not want to go home and time contractions all night long but they did not want to keep me at a 3. She told us to walk for a while and come back and she would check me again. So I put my bloody socks back on with my boots and we walked.

 This is a picture Gonzo took on my phone as we were walking through the hospital halls.  Notice how far ahead I was!  I was walking fast and hard to move that labor along!!!  I tried to only walk in upstairs areas so people would not have to see me in that outfit! 

She checked me a little while later and I was almost a 4. So we walked some more. I was keeping my parents and Lee and Andrea informed because both of them were going to head our way if they decided to keep me. Lee and Andrea were going to stay at our house with Adda and my parents were going to drive 6 hours. At that point my Dad made the call to go ahead and hit the road. Shortly after that Lee and Andrea headed to Arlington too! The nurse checked me again and I was a four. She hooked me up to the machines and wanted to watch my contractions for a while. They were coming about every two to three minutes and were pretty intense. I was for sure they would keep me. Luckily, my doctor was on call and already at the hospital. After about another 30 minutes they decided to keep me.
Lee and Andrea were at our house by then and working on getting all the kids to bed. Andrea headed to the hospital and Lee stayed with the kids. She came in the room with a Mountain Dew and was ready to stay all night. That was about 11:00 and my parents made it there by midnight. I was laying comfortably watching my contractions go off the charts.

I was dilating pretty slowly and felt pretty good. All of the sudden I felt like I needed to push. The nurse came in and checked me and said I was almost ready but not to push. They were waiting for my doctor to come in and I was starting to feel the pain again. It was too late to press the button on my epidural. She was ready to come and my epidural had worn off. In a few minutes time (seemed longer) my doctor was there and I could finally push. Two pushes and it was over. Ella came at 3:27am on Saturday, February 11, 2012. She weighed 8 pounds 13.5 ounces and was 21 inches long.

What a big girl and lots of hair!!!

 

After my parents and Lee and Andrea got all the kids up and around they all headed up to the hospital wearing pink!!!

 Adda's first time to see and hold her baby sister!

And that brings us to today...

One year has passed! I can't even believe that Ella is one year old! So much has happened in that year and now we are expecting two more at one time!!!! The best part about the last year has been the same "best part" of all the years of our lives together. GOD!!! He has shown such amazing grace and mercy through every single day of both of our lives. The only reason either one of us can say we are where we are is because of His hand in our life! We have two precious girls and two more babies to come and He has had His hand in every single part of those events. There have been hard things and unplanned things, but all of it has happened because of Him. We can look at where God has us and know that He is in control. Our new prayer as a family of four and soon to be six is that He will keep us tethered to Him. My brother preached last night and used that word.  I like that word...tethered.  It's strong, its braided, it's twisted, it's tight.  Being tethered to something is stronger than being tied to it!  I don't want to waver from Christ!  Things will not always be happy, perfect, and PINK! All we can do is make sure we (all six of us) stay tethered to HIM! We won't make it in this hard world without God! It's not possible!

So, one year ago I said I was a very happy mommy of two beautiful girls. Today, I am still very happy. I'm unsure and sometimes nervous.  I'm difficult and sometimes hard headed, but very happy. I don't know what tomorrow holds for us but I know that He holds us yesterday, today, and tomorrow! AMEN!

Finishing Preps for Ella's B-Day!

Yesterday I cleaned my big-ol-booty off!  If I would just clean lightly each week then it wouldn't be such a beating to clean big every so often!  Whatever!  It's done and so nice to have a clean house!  Makes me feel like I've got it all together when my house is clean.  Probably because I shove things places and find them months later!  

Today I spend the morning getting all the goodies ready for the party.  I had everything baked ahead of time and in the freezer I just needed to decorate it all.  Before I went to bed last night I made the icing for my cookies and the cakes.  That was genius because I woke up and was ready to go without much prep at all.  I'll give recipes when I do the post for her birthday party.  I just wanted to give a little sneak peak of all the things in the making!

I used these colored candy melts to make a giant cupcake liner for the giant cupcake cake! 

 The bottom of the giant cupcake cake is out to thaw because it will have to be trimmed down to fit inside the candy cupcake liner.

 Strawberry buttercream frosting made and ready.

 Cookie icing made and ready to add the color.  Notice by big list on the counter there.  I love that almost everything is marked off the list.

 Half eaten box of brownie bites from Costco.  I told Gonzo and Adda they could have a few!!!

 Cookies are iced and ready!

 Out to dry!

 Here is the candy melt cupcake liner before I took it out of the mold.  Not very pretty!

 Here it is after I took it out.  It popped right out with no trouble!

 Smash cake done!

 Half eaten box of brownie bites decorated with Marshmallow buttercream frosting.

 Giant cupcake cake decorated and in the fridge.  Turned out super cute with the candy liner.

 Cupcakes decorated. 

 Oh, and the organza favor bags worked perfect!  Breathable enough to not grow mold!

The girls are down for their naps and I am done!  Sitting here with ice on my back and watching smut shows!  Now, hopefully they will sleep long and hard so I can veg out!

Superbowl Sunday Happenings

We had a very busy day yesterday.  Sunday morning we got up and made a new recipe for waffles.  Gonzo likes when we have waffles because we put the leftovers in the freezer and he eats them for breakfast throughout the week.  I had used a recipe from a friend a few weeks before that we liked and was going to do the same recipe, but realized I had accidentely deleted the recipe in a text when I cleaned out my texts the week before.  Bummer!!!!  So I surfed around on Pinterest and found one that was similar (using oats in the batter) and we decided to try it.  I am glad we did because they were awesome and we liked them more than the others I made a few weeks before. 

These are the waffles we made, well sort of!  Blackberry Cobbler Waffles

We did not use blackberries, ice cream, or a blackberry fruit mixture on top.  I did use the batter recipe and added frozen wild blueberries I had in the freezer.  They were delicious and we will for sure be making these again with or without the fruit.  I made a double batch to make sure there were plenty of leftovers for the freezer.  Waffles are one of my dad's favorites so I am sure I will be making more when they come this weekend. 

These are our waffles!

Not quite as ridiculous as the cobbler ones above but delicious!  Try them!  You will not be disappointed at all!  The batter recipe is a great one hang onto and you could add different things.  I think adding chopped up cooked bacon would be very good!  Might have to try that next time!

Besides the waffle making I had to RE-make the cupcake shape bird feeders for Ella's birthday party this weekend.  I was not very fired up about the RE-make part!  I was trying to be super on top of my list and get things done ahead of time.  The making them ahead of time was not the problem, it was the bagging and tying them up in favor bags that was the problem.  

I bagged them up with ribbons and tags on Wednesday and set them all aside thinking I was sooo ahead of the game by having that done already.  Well a few days later I walked by them and noticed a few of them were starting to grow a little MOLD!  I guess the flour and sugar being sealed up in a bag created the perfect environment for mold to grow!  Within a few more days they were all covered!  Sheesh!!!!  I started trying to brainstorm ideas of how I would bag these up to send them home after I made new ones.  I didn't want to just send them home on a string because I would be left with birdseed all over my house.  I found organza favor bags in the wedding section at Hobby Lobby!  This would work because they were breathable bags and should not create a mold growing environment.  Luckily they were 50% off on Saturday when I picked them up!

 

Here they are all tied up nicely in their clear (mold growing environment) favor bags!  They looked so cute!

Sorry about the sideways picture!  These are some of the ones that weren't super moldy.  Some of the others were covered completely!  Gonzo was nice enough to carefully take all the ribbons and string off the bags so I could save my ribbon and tags.  We just threw away the bags and feeders.  I didn't think it would be very nice to feed the birds in our backyard molded birdseed!  The new un-molded bird feeders are setting out drying and I will not try to be ahead of the game bagging them up this time.  Even though I am positive the breathable bag will fix this mold problem I am going to be safe and bag them on Friday night when the girls go to bed!  So...to save you the trouble, if you plan on making these and bagging them make sure it's a breathable bag or bag them the very last minute before giving them away!  Oh, and maybe warn people not to leave them in the bags to grow a science project!

In honor of the Super Bowl Gonzo and I made a new chicken wing recipe!  I also found this recipe on Pinterest and we changed it a bit to our liking!  

Here is the original recipe: Sriracha Glazed Chicken Wings

The recipe called for fresh chopped ginger and sesame oil.  I did not use either.  I used fresh chopped garlic and a few teaspoons of dried ground ginger I had in the pantry.  We also added LOTS more Sriracha Sauce because we wanted them pretty hot.  Like about 6 Tbsp. more!  I also added a little more sugar than the recipe called for.  We doubled the sauce recipe because we used more chicken than the recipe called for.  It said to marinate them for 30 minutes and we marinated them for about 2 hours.  I don't think it would hurt to marinate them overnight either!  I cooked them longer and at a higher temperature than the recipe said so that I could get the sauce to reduce and glaze the chicken.  Probably all together they cooked for a little over an hour.  I cooked them at 450 instead of 375.  

 

Here is the picture of our wings!

It's not a great picture and I almost didn't get a picture before they were all gone!  I would have liked to cook them a little longer to get the sauce to reduce a little bit more but we ran out of time.  Everyone loved them and we will most definitely be making these again!  They would even be good as a meal with some sides!  We dipped them in Ranch but they were very good without anything.  Sriracha Glazed Chicken Wings were for sure a hit!!!!