17 Weeks!!

I was almost sure this week's post would be pictureless -- where shall I start.........? This past weekend we traveled to Dallas for the birth of our nephew, Turner. As always, it takes us about 3 times as long as we plan to get ready and on the road, but needless to say -- we were off and traveling around 11 am Friday morning. The girls did great on the road trip. Jorgia didn't make a peep (that I remember), and DK did fine as long as we met her every demand. :) We were worried that we wouldn't be there right when Turner was born because Clancy had been dilated to a 2 or 3 for a couple of weeks. Luckily, by the time we arrived in Frisco, little Turner was still making his way to the world. The girls were very excited to see each other (that's not to say that there still weren't some love "pats" given here and there). After being in the hospital waiting area for a while, we decided to go and check into our hotel. Clancy was about a 6 at this point (I think) -- she thought we had plenty of time -- so, off we went. Once we got checked in the room, hung out for a while, and ate a few snacks -- we got the word that it was time to get to the hospital!! We were all running around excited, trying to get going as fast as we could. We had to go back in our room for something, and our key would NOT work. Keep in mind we were on the fourth floor. Trev ran down for them to reactivate the key. He tried again. Nothing. Back down he went. Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep Darb's from running off and Jorgia happy in her carrier. Thank goodness, the next attempt was successful! We grabbed our stuff and headed to the hospital. Once again, Turner hadn't quite made it to the outside world. BUT, not long after we had gotten there (7:38pm to be exact), William Turner was born. It never ceases to amaze me -- the miracle of birth -- a tiny baby, so new to the world. He had a head full of hair! To me, he really favored how Maggie looked when she was born. He is precious!! It emphasized the fact, once again, how short the tiny-baby phase is. I can't believe that my tiny Jorgia was that size a few short months ago. ANYWAY -- we oooooed and awwwwwwwwwed for a while, then gathered up the girls and headed to get some food. Once we got back to the hotel, we each grabbed an armful of kiddo, bags, food, etc. and went to the room to (hopefully) get some rest. We brought the pack 'n play for Jorgia -- which worked out well. There was a sleeper sofa (a.k.a. the "special bed") that we were going to see if DK was interested in. At first I thought there was no way she would stay over there by herself (it was right next to our bed). To my surprise, she was actually okay with it. She got in her bed, tossed and turned for a while. A few times she would say, "stay with me, mommy" or "mommy, I want to sleep with you". But, I would try and distract..... After a while, she drifted off into sleepytown.........until about 4am. She woke up. That was the end of the special bed. I will say she did a good job while in our bed. No strangling my neck or darth vador breathing in my ear. And now to the point of why this blog almost was and future ones may be pictureless -- Trev was downstairs to get our hang-up clothes, and upon his return delivered bad news. Someone had broken into our vehicle and STOLEN our hang-up clothes, Trev's laptop and.......MY CAMERA!!!!!! They shattered the glass on Darby Kate's side of the vehicle. Yes. We know and regret that we left those things in the car. We had our hands full, and just didn't make it back out to get the rest of the stuff. All in all, it was the best case scenario in a situation like this. a) Trevor asked that I pack lightly (a task which is rarely met) -- so, I had only put a few hang-ups for each of us gals. b) they didn't take our coats c) our video camera was UNDER our coats d) they missed out on some other valuables in the car e) and most importantly, noone was hurt. The main thing that upset me was that I wouldn't be able to have the pictures I had taken that night of Turner and the family. Fortunately, and mainly due to the blog -- I was up-to-date on downloading all of the pictures of the girls. Lesson learned (as usual -- the hard way!).

We tried to enjoy the rest of the weekend -- it was kind of funny (well, not really at the moment), after we waited all morning on the guy to come and fix we window -- we loaded up the girls to go do some furniture shopping, and.........the car wouldn't start! UGH!! SO -- just another bump in the road. I was proud of Trevor - he kept his cool. He took care of us and we just went right on truckin'. We did meet several behavioral challenges throughout the day from Miss Darby Kate. But, after I got home and really thought about it -- we were asking quite a bit from a two year old. Shopping all day for furniture is not an ideal activity for them, and all the gazillion things that they are NOT suppose to touch are just so enticing (not to mention mostly breakable!). It was an adventure to say the least!

We have been busy this past week getting ready for Christmas, and still working on house stuff. We are thinking (and hoping) that we will be in the house by the end of January. We could move in earlier, but with all this rain -- it has been difficult to get the sprinkler system installed, which needs to go in before the grass, which needs to be down before our little doggie children go outside and come back in with red clay all over their puppy paws!! Good things come to those who wait.................

And now for our Santa Adventure.......Miss traveled with us yesterday to go and see Santa!! The weather was not ideal for traveling. I thought we had waited until things calmed down, but we did have some heavy rain while on the way to Texarkana. We made it there safely, got the girls inside and dry, and headed to find Ho Ho. I was so glad that the line was short AND so happy to see that Ho Ho had a REAL beard!! We made our way over (with a double stroller, big camera box (I borrowed the camera from Trevor's office), diaper bag, my purse, etc. -- oh yeah -- I was also holding Darby Kate because, of course, she refused to ride in the stroller). Darby Kate talked a big game as we stood in line. Yes, she was going to sit in Ho Ho's lap. Yes, she was going to tell him she wanted "big toys" for Christmas (a fairly consistent answer to "what do you want Santa to bring you this year"). The time came for the girls to go and talk to Santa...............Jorgia goes in like a champ (I know.....her age is a big factor :) ), Darby Kate won't go near him. The persuading of Santa's helpers wasn't getting her any closer either. Finally, I swooped her up and kneeled down next to Santa. Santa and I discussed how hot it was -- I was feeling the heat of the parents waiting in line behind us, and Santa had on a few extra layers. Darby Kate did her best to turn her head AWAY from the camera. BUT, we finally had a couple of shots with us all facing forward (no smiles from the girls, though). Mission accomplished. Moment documented. WHEW!!!!! Thank you, Miss -- I couldn't have done it without you!!

Once again, so much more to say, but not enough time to finish! Will try to fill you in on some more at a later date. I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed Christmas! Travel safe!

The next three pics are the ones I used for our Christmas card.....

a good one of DK

oh wait......this one wasn't used (sorry)

a good one of Jorgia!

this was the only shot I got of DK -- she was always too close to me for me to get a pic of her

Ho Ho and Jorgia -- she's smiling big at Darby Kate

sugars from Santa

What a great Santa!! (curly-Q moustache and all!!)