More Garrett & Rainy Day Fun

We had a great time celebrating Mother's Day a day early with everyone being here to meet Baby Garrett. Mom Bell was still here so we gave her the gift for her. The boys cooked and cleaned (although Quentin conveniently left before the clean-up!) for dinner. We had ribs, pasta salad (that was yummy since Nick made that part!), potato salad, baked beans (one of my favs!), and yummy cheesecake...we were lucky to be sent home with leftovers from this, Nick's clock is ticking on him eating his share before I tear into it...I've been battling not eating it ALL DAY!
Then of course all day we took turns holding Garrett...or should I say holding Garrett with Cora's help. She couldn't get enough of him and whoever was holding him, she had to be right by him. In fact, Natalie asked her if she thought Kayley would want a turn and Cora replied with a "no, I don't think she would want a turn." Then when Natalie asked Cora if I could have a turn, Cora said, "I can hold him with you." She just adores him so much!

Then yesterday was my mother's day. We didn't do a whole lot being on a Sunday, but Nick did lots helping with the girls/cleaning/cooking/everything to where I pretty much got to relax all day! It was nice to have such a relaxing day. We are so lucky to have such a great husband/father that is such a loving provider for us all! Evidently Cora wore herself out and made herself a bed before bedtime and just fell asleep! It was cute.

Then today it's been rainy all day. So what more fun to have than to make a fort, have a picnic in the fort, and then have a dance party! Now this momma wasn't dancing with the extra belly, but the girls had a great time and they played so nicely with each other. It turned out to be not such a boring day with all the rain! Now to think of activities for the rest of the week as it's supposed to rain all week!!

Meeting Baby Walker

Yesterday our newest nephew was born. He came in at a mear 7 lbs 7. oz and 18 in. long....which is a really small Walker baby! He did have to come c-section, but all ended up going well thankfully! He is as healthy as can be and Mommy is doing well when we went to go visit her. The girls talked about holding him all day, Cora especially couldn't wait! In fact, once we found out it was a boy, her baby that she carries with her everywhere (which is usually named Baby Alexa) is now referred to as a baby boy! We are excited that they had a boy so that our boy can have a cousin so close in age to him and we are also lucky that they are so close in proximity too only living 30 min away from us! Here are the pics we got of him, we did have to wait patiently to hold him since as soon as we got there the nurse swept him away to be under the heated lamp for a bit...but it was worth the wait as you can see from the pictures since he's awfully cute! Cora didn't want to stop holding him! Can you tell how excited she will be to have a new baby in the house soon!?!

I did get a few holds in too, but Kayley really impressed me with how well she held the baby. She's getting to be such a big girl and I think she will be a big help when our baby arrives. The current question of the day from both girls has been, "Mommy, when is your baby coming out of your tummy!?" They can't wait...neither can we!

Oh This Boy...

Well, I went for my 30 week check-up today. I got another ultrasound to check if the placenta had moved on it's own...it had thankfully, but we traded it for another problem! Apparently there is too much amniotic fluid (which was rather a bit calming to me as now that explains why I feel so HUGE! I knew it wasn't just me being paranoid of gaining weight! But it also calmed me a bit that I wasn't having this huge baby either!) So, with what little information I've been given so far, apparently that means that if the fluid continues to rise it could possibly put me into early labor. I'll go for early, just not too early to where he is unhealthy! So immediately after my doctor's appointment I actually had to be admitted to the hospital to have a non-stress test done to make sure all the neurological aspects of the baby were running smoothly. So I trekked over with the girls (who were great through it all by the way!) and got hooked up to the monitors. It's also nice that Nick works there so he just popped in for a bit to see how we were doing! The nurse verified that we have quite the mover in there, which I already knew and which also explains why he moves so much...because he can with all the extra fluid! But everything came out normal. However, apparently I have to have these twice a week now according to my doctor and have another ultrasound, but a more detailed ultrasound (how detailed can you get!?!) So I have to do the extra ultrasound sometime next week and I'm still figuring out all the details with the multiple non-stress tests! This boy better be cute is all I'm saying all this stuff he's already putting us through!! I know it will be worth it when he comes out, but it's a bit stressful for now! Oh well!

Here's some pics they sent home with us from our ultrasound today. He's still a boy as you can see from the bottom right picture (see caption of "all boy"). Kayley also kept saying how big his head was, that apparently freaked her out about how big it was! Oh and she also asked if the baby was living in my whole body today while at the doctor. That question came after I tried to describe to her what the stirr-ups were when she asked me about those. I guess the way I described what the stirr-ups were made her think that the baby was also in my legs! Funny girl!

Homemade Ice Cream

A couple of weeks ago we were watching some cartoons on PBS and in between some shows they put on a few craft ideas. This time they put on how to make homemade ice cream with just 2 ziploc bags and within 5 minutes. I was skeptical as I know how long it takes for our electric homemade ice cream machine to make ice cream, but I told the girls we would try it someday. Well, they have good memories and definitely do not let me forget! Once I figured out how to print it off (part of the procrastination was that it was so dang hard to find on their website!) But today after we got home from the doctor and before naptime, we did it and it did literally take no more than 5-10 min. It probably wouldn't have taken as long, but I had to keep reminding the girls that they were the ones in charge of shaking the bag, not me! It turned out pretty good I thought. Here's a pic of them enjoying it! I didn't get any pics of the process, but I will include the recipe below! Enjoy!
Ok...for some reason my copy and pasting won't work in the blog, so here's the link for the recipe! www.kcptkids.org/letter_pages/activities/I_Zip-Loc_Bag_Ice_Cream.pdf

A Mini Spa Day

This last Saturday was Michelle's neighborhood garage sale among many other neighborhood garage sales in Liberty, so we made a trip up to check them out. We got a few good things, which is always nice! But we also got to visit with Grandma! Grandma came up for the weekend because Michelle was going to be induced the following Monday (pictures of that will follow later!) So she just made a weekend of it and came up early. I had planned on stepping out of my box for a bit and giving Michelle a pedicure/foot massage since she was getting ready to have her baby. Apparently one of her friends had already set it up for them to go get one together, so I gave Grandma one instead. The girls were enthralled watching me do Grandma's feet. Then I painted Gma's toes and they wanted theirs painted too...so Gma lined them up on the couch and did them all at the same time! Sadly on Sunday it was a bit chillier so they both had Sunday shoes with socks on, so they couldn't sport their newly painted toes, but that didn't stop them from sporting their newly painted fingernails! Everyone they talked to, they mentioned that their Gma had painted their fingernails. Who'd thunk a little bit of paint would go a long way! Oh...and notice that Kayley was very specific on getting paint on every bit of the nail (shown in the bottom left she is pointing out a spot that Grandma missed!) It was a fun day!

28 weeks

Wow! I can't believe I'm already at 28 weeks! I guess that means I'm officially in the third trimester...crazy!! There are times when I can't wait to be finished being pregnant and then other times where I am just fine with this little guy cooking just a little bit longer! I've actually been feeling pretty good lately. Some pains I've had in the past that have plagued me all day/everday have subsided and only seem to come back every now and then, I assume maybe just when he's growing lots?!? Also a good thing, my headaches have started to subside some. I still have them, but lately they haven't been everyday like before. I think last week I only had 3-4! I still feel huge!! I think part of it is because I've forgotten what it feels like to be pregnant maybe? I have an appointment in 2 weeks for another ultrasound to check if my placenta previa has corrected itself...I'm still kind of nervous about that as if it hasn't it increases my odds of having a c-section (one of my biggest fears of labor/delivery), but I'm trying not to stress about it too much. I'm sure it will be fine whatever the case! I also had to take my sugar test twice (luckily only the hour one twice!) reason being because the lab messed up my results somehow....grr!! I'm just glad I didn't have to do the tolerance test that's 4 hours long and you have to drink 4 of those nasty drinks, plus you have to do it fasting! I had to do that with Kayley and it was awful! One of my favorite things now is that for some reason Kayley constantly says, "Mommy, you're pretty!" Just what a pregnant momma needs to hear!

It still amazes me what your body is capable of when pregnant and what such a privilege it is for me to be able to have this experience, even amongst all the aches/pains! I'm very grateful to my Heavenly Father for all the blessings I have with being a parent and having this experience! I know my family is only mine if I do what He wants me to do in raising them correctly! I'm glad that Heavenly Father has trusted me with caring for my sweet children!

This picture was actually taken by Kayley...I think she did a pretty good job! One of their favorite things to do lately is to take pictures with my old camera. Someday I'll have to post them to show off their camera skills! I actually let them take one picture of me with my new camera, but that is now off limits so it doesn't get broken!!

Our Girls

Well, I was all excited about these matching dresses for the girls for Easter because I found them on sale and they had Kayley's size in them, which is getting harder to find Kayley's size in something that matches Cora! However, since General Conference was on Easter Sunday, we didn't get to wear them until later. Anyway, here are the pictures from their matching dresses debut. They had to do some cheesy/funny faces as well as the usual cute ones. Now I just have to find a cute little boy outfit that matches these dresses and then when our little boy is born, we can get pictures of all three of them!
Here'a a random picture of the girls trying on hats at Bass Pro while we were waiting (patiently, I might add) for Daddy to finish up at the shooting range. Cora refused to wear the racoon hat, so she opted to just wear her hat from home that they had both brought in. Have I mentioned that I love our girls!?!

A funny thing they did yesterday, we were on our way to church we saw one of the Blue Springs water towers. One of their favorite things to do is to figure out whose water tower is whose...this particular one has always been Olivia's and Katrina's water tower because it's by their house (old house now)...so yesterday Cora got excited about seeing Olivia's water tower and I had to sadly remind them that they didn't live over there anymore. Kayley responded that they should take the water tower down and move it to where Olivia lived now so that Olivia can have water where she lives now. I told them they have water towers by where they live now and would have plenty of water. It's still taking a while for it to sink in that the Carles live so far away now..for all of us!

Three Little Pigs

I forgot to post this video a while back. A couple of weeks ago our ward had a Primary Talent Show. It was lots of fun to see all the kids do their talents and let us learn a little bit more about each of them! Have I mentioned that I love my calling as Primary Pianist!! Anyway, Cora was the only one that wanted to participate. She wanted to tell the story of the Three Little Pigs. We practiced for it quite a bit and she was doing great practicing at it! My favorite part is when she acts as the big bad wolf and blows the piggies houses down! However, when we got up there, she chickened out and I was the one that told the story. Oh well, I was just impressed that she had the courage to get up there. Kayley didn't want to do anything, a stark difference compared to last year's talent show when she sang a Taylor Swift song. Oh well, maybe next year both of them will want to do something!

Again, don't forget to pause the music.

Cora & Kayley Dancing

This is a video of Cora's new kind of dancing. It's so cute cause she puts her hands on her hips and kind of does a twist thing. I'll let you be the judge of her cuteness. It's kind of hard to see at first because we forgot to turn on the light until Kayley came in and she tries to dance with Cora too.

Don't forget to push pause on my music below so you can here them!

Our Trip to Farmington and St. Louis

This last weekend was very nice and relaxing to say the least, even though it seemed jam packed with fun! It was Nick's 4 day weekend, which we love as it comes every 5 weeks and love the extra time with Daddy at home! So on Friday we got up and headed to St. Louis to the Temple where we met Grandma (Nick's mom). She graciously watch the girls so we could do a session at the Temple. The girls of course loved the time with Grandma, in fact when I called her on our way there to make sure about what time we were meeting, Cora got extremely mad that we weren't seeing Grandma right there at that moment! I sadly didn't get pictures of the girls at the temple, but looking back I should have taken the time to and will try and do that next time. I'm glad though that they do get excited to go to the temple even though they aren't old enough to go in. I look forward to the Kansas City Temple being built soon so they can go through the Open House.

After the temple we headed to the zoo in hopes of catching a few animals. We were short on time, so everyone was great troopers (including us adults) as it had been quite a while with a decent meal. I was glad I packed a lot of snacks, which tided us over. Luckily the girls each had their own animals they wanted to see and they were both in the same area. Cora wanted to see the Lions and Kayley wanted to see the baby Camel. I was just glad no one wanted to see the elephants...they always seem to take forever to get to! Here are some pics of our animal sightings!
More animals, including the baby camel, it's kind of hard to see them all underneath their shedding coats! The baby camels humps were laying flat, which was weird too. I guess that's something that comes as it gets older.

Then after the zoo, we headed to Chilis for some yummy food then headed to the condos in Desoto. Thanks to Grandma being so willing to come and get us in the condos, we got to stay for the weekend. The next morning we said goodbye to Grandma who wanted to head home and then headed to Farmington for the JDRF (Juvenille Diabetes Research Foundation) walk. We were amazed at how many people were there. Apparently their goal was to raise $1500 as this was Farmington's first time doing a walk (I think), they actually ended up raising $15,000! We were amazed! We were just glad to be able to be there with family! The Farmington Felkers were there of course and my Mom and Otto also made the trip. It was great to see them as well as all the other Farmington family/friends! I just love this picture of Elizabeth and Kayley (thanks to Stephanie I have more pictures as I had my camera, but didn't get very many taken at all!)

Here are some pics of the girls (Kayley, Mallory, & Cora) playing. My girls loved playing with this hot wheels car...I think Santa or the birthday fairy has her work cut out for her to find one of these! Also some random zoo pics that didn't get in the spot earlier. We also got to go to Lix, the beloved Ice Cream shop that is only in Farmington. I have to say, Nick and I are not fans of Custard at all, but this one was the best custard place ever! It almost took the place of Maggie Moos! Too bad it's only in Farmington...I guess we need to take more trips there now!

Here's some more pics of the kids playing on Saturday. Edward and Stephanie were gracious enough to let our kids play all day with their kids! They loved spending time with their cousins!

Nick got schooled in basketball by Elizabeth...and by me of course!! We had many fun games of Horse and Pig! It brought back memories playing Edward as he and I used to play many games when I was younger...all of the time I would beat him of course!! :)

All in all it was a great weekend seeing lots of family and having lots of fun! We were sad to see it end all too quickly!