T - 2 1/2 days

Just a short note. I'm posting 1 more time before the next little Brown arrives. It's getting to be the end of my last work day before this little one joins us & the nerves have SET IN. I'm pretty certain that I haven't been this nervous with any of the kids yet & I'm not sure why this one is any different. Anyway, just wanted to tell everyone to have a great weekend & I'll post some pictures next week!
Later~

T - 6 days

Hi Everyone~ Well, I'm on the "OFFICIAL" countdown! 6 days until delivery. I was at the Dr yesterday & Dr Gaetze told me that Monday's the day! WOOHOO. I managed to keep my blood pressure down, stay off of bed rest, and just stay healthy. Dr Gaetze would have liked to see me gain more than 12 pounds, but all in all, I am so proud of myself! I was a little worried, (so was my dad) about my blood pressure for a while there. We're on the home stretch & before all of us know it, we'll be letting you know if the next little Brown is a boy or a girl. Mollie informed me yesterday, after asking for a brother all along, that she has changed her mind & now wants a sister. Lord help us!
Through all of this, I can't THANK my husband enough for being so great! I know that's cliche, but it's true. Especially this last month or so. I have been really uncomfortable, not sleeping well at all & CRABBY! I complain so much that even I'm sick of hearing it. I don't know how he puts up with me, but thank goodness he does. He still loves me too! Ha ha.
The other person I need to Thank is my dad. He's been awesome through all of this! My Dr's appointments have never been an issue. He's worked around all of them, and even put his fun plans on hold for me. He's supposed to be at Lake Erie right now trying to land the "BIG ONE", but decided to stay so that if he needed to be here, he was. I'm feeling bad that everything is going so well & that after it's all said & done, he really could have gone & had a great time, but I thank him the same for sticking around for me! (I still think I'm his favorite oldest daughter) I have a feeling that next year when this trip comes up, I'm going to owe him BIG time. Wink wink!
My parents & my in-laws have been great. Between them, they kept the kids for us most of the weekend so that Rob & I could tie up a bunch of loose ends & get things done around the house. I still need to pack the girls & us, and get our hands on a new car seat, but that's the easy stuff. My plan is to have that feat taken care of tonight so that I relax & enjoy the rest of the time with no worries. Mollie & Ava are both so excited to have a sleepover at Grandma's house! I hope Grandma & grandpa are ready for them!
Wright & Evelyn made it to Sioux Falls last week. It's so good to see them. The girls are LOVING all of the attention!
I'm off early today to go take a tour of JFK Elementary School with Jill, Mollie & Grace. I can't believe that it's almost time to begin this new journey with Mollie. It will be nice to share this with Grace & Jill. I think it will make things easier on all of us!
Well, the next time I "Blog" will be with fun & exciting news. I can't wait to share it with everyone!
Post you soon!

T - 2 weeks

Hi Everyone~ There isn't a whole lot to report this week. Not much has changed other than we're a week closer to the next little Brown joining our excited family, and the fact that I'm that much more uncomfortable. Poor Rob. I'm sure that he's sick to death of my complaining! He's a saint for putting up with me! Boy, it's hard to explain to a 4, almost 5 year old that 14 days is a long time to them. We're trying. I was at the Dr yesterday & my BP was 121/68, which is normal for most people, but for me is EXCELLENT! My next appointment is Monday April 27th, (Happy Birthday James) at 9am.
Speaking of the 4 almost 5 year old.... she had her 1st soccer game of the season on Saturday afternoon. WOW! I don't know what happened between last Fall & Saturday, but what a difference. She was volunteering to play & right out there in the middle of everything! The timid little girl who was afraid to kick the ball or be kicked last Fall is GONE! She scored the first goal. Boy was that exciting!
Mollie had to have a new bike this year also. The 12in bike that she rode all last summer is officially to small. The seat was all the way up & she was still kissing her knees. I found a GREAT deal on a brand new bike that was still in the box at a used kids store. We brought it home last night & daddy, along with his 2 little wrenches went to work putting it together. Mollie now has a 16 inch bike & Ava is DYING to ride the 12 inch. Hopefully it will be nice enough outside when we get home tonight to let them ride!
Happy Birthday yesterday to Grandpa Wright. Mollie can't wait for them to come & asked him last night on the phone if they would be here tomorrow.
Happy 3rd Anniversary to Mike & Lynne! Have fun on your date night!

T - 3 weeks

Time is flying! I was just at the Dr yesterday & must confess that I was REALLY nervous about yesterday's appointment. The week before, she had talked about putting me on bed rest if my blood pressure (bp) didn't come down & I gained some weight. Well, I'm not one to just sit around & wouldn't know what to do with myself if she said "Laura, you're on bed rest". So, I went in to see her & my bp was 121/76 & I had gained a pound. She was happy with that & let me go. I don't have to see her again until next Monday! YIPPPPEEEE! She did say that this wasn't going to be a very big baby. I guess I would be more excited about that if I had to deliver all natural, but seeing as how it's a c-section, not that big a deal. The heartbeat was good. Strong. 142 - 144 bpm. I'm getting uncomfortable, but the light at the end of the tunnel is visible!
Update on Mollie: I was home with her all week last week due to Influenza B. According to her Dr, the most contagious & the roughest one to deal with. She was one sick kid! I'm happy to report that after finishing the Tamiflu, and going through an antibiotic to treat a possible case of pneumonia along with the Influenza, she is getting back to her bubbly, playful, ornery little self! Luckily, Rob, Ava & I managed to keep from getting that nasty stuff!

Saturday, the weather was so nice that we took the girls to the zoo! They had a blast. The animals were all active, out & about.

We had a really nice Easter. The weather wasn't too bad. The girls had an Easter Egg Hunt outside at Grandpa Mike & Grandma Lynne's, and then another one at Grandpa Mark & Grandma Suzy's. Man, that bunny moves. We tried to catch him at the Hagen's, but he slipped away, maybe next year. The girls had so much candy, that I would bet we have some left over next year when Easter rolls around!

Soccer is beginning & Mollie is still doing Gymnastics & Sunday School, so we keep busy with that. I can only imagine what life will be like once Ava starts getting involved in stuff & we have the new little one.

Things at the house are just about ready. Only a few little things left to do. What gets done, gets done & the rest will have to be.

That's all I have for this week. I'll post again next week. Take care everyone & I hope that you all enjoy the beautiful weather!

Hi Everyone~ This one will be short & sweet. I just got home from the Dr with Mollie & she has Influenza B. She is on the medication to help it, and we have one for Ava for preventative measures. Keep your fingers crossed & say some prayers that the rest of us don't get it.
Things are going well otherwise. The baby is active, especially at night when I want to wind down. We're on the home stretch & before I know it, I'll have pictures to post.
Take care. I hope everyone stays well.
Happy Easter!

T - 5 Weeks

Well~The whole goal of posting at least weekly is off to a rocky start. Rob reminded me yesterday that I needed to get on this. "Chop Chop" were his exact words.

Things in the Brown household are still crazy, (does it ever change?!?). Last Sunday, March 29th, we celebrated Grandma Vera's 78th birthday at mom & dad's house. Thank goodness it was there. I don't know where else we would have put the more than 50 people that showed up to help her celebrate. Uncle Jon suggested that we rent the local VFW, after everyone started to show up. We had a GREAT time. Grandma was so happy to see everyone. Of course, there was a TON of food. She out did herself again.

On Monday, Rob invited my family & his mom and Mike to our place for Ribs & Pork Loin on the grill. It was delicious. That night around 12:30am, Ava woke up with the flu. She was miserable & up the rest of the night. She finally stopped around 5am. I didn't feel so well, so Rob got up with her the last few times. Around 8am, Rob had it. 3 down 1 to go was all I could think. It was a miserable day. Having the flu when you're 8 months pregnant is NOT fun. Ava was pretty well back to normal by late afternoon, Rob started feeling better late that night & I was finally feeling better on Wednesday morning when I woke up. Mollie never got it thank goodness. She was a helper though! We found out that this flu made it's rounds. Matt & Katlyn had it, Jill, Grace & Eyan had it, Uncle Al & Uncle Jon had it, along with Victoria. What a bummer.

Wednesday morning I went to the Dr. I have to go back again next week. She's giving me until then to see if I can change things or she will look at putting me on bed rest. The bottom number of my blood pressure was 76 at my last appointment 1 1/2 weeks ago, on Wednesday it was 89. I also lost 9 lbs since my last appointment, and had only gained a total of 14. So hopefully, the 5 remaining lbs is all baby. I don't think that she's so concerned with the weight, it's the blood pressure. I was pretty disappointed. I have been trying so hard to keep my blood pressure down, and with only 5 weeks to go, I was hoping that things would be different. Oh well. I guess I should be thankful that if I am put on bed rest, it would only be for 4 weeks. Could be worse I guess. I'm just not very good at sitting around with nothing to do.

Mollie is officially registered for Kindergarten! She is SO excited & asks every morning when she starts. "Mommy, do I go to Char's today, or do I get to go to school?" (I have a feeling it's going to be a long summer) I told her that when the weather is nice we will start practicing her "walk to school".

It's Friday. What a relief! It's been a long week. I'm hoping that Phil Shreck is wrong with his weather forecast. Mollie is supposed to have her first Soccer game on Saturday pending the weather. Keep your fingers crossed that the four letter word they're forecasting misses us.

I hope that everyone is doing well. I can't believe that Easter is next weekend already. Hopefully the weather will be nice for all of those little ones looking forward to the Easter Egg Hunts!

Have a great weekend!

T - 7 weeks

Hi Everyone~
With family & friends near & far, I thought it would be fun, (& much easier) to keep everyone up to date via this blog. I'm very new to this sort of thing, so please bear with me. I'll do my best to keep this thing as up to date as possible.
The Brown Family has been so busy this year. I thought things would slow down & get easier. BOY was I wrong. This post might get long. I'll try to keep it short, but would like to get everyone up to speed on what we're up to. Posts after that should be short right ;-)
Mollie is busy with gymnastics & Sunday School. She loves doing both. In February, we had the opportunity to get her into some hip hop & ballet dance lessons. A 4 week trial run. She had a blast! Class was on Wednesdays from 10:30 - 11:15am. Mommy & Daddy were both busy at work during that time, so Grandma Lynne & Grandpa Mike did the honors. Reports show that after dance class, they hit the local McDonald's and Mollie ordered herself a cheeseburger, french fries, orange soda & ketchup & ate EVERY last bite. I still swear that they had the wrong kid. When she was faced with the decision as to whether she would like to take dance lessons, or continue on with Gymnastics, she of course picked Gymnastics. She really likes her coach Kylie & loves to tumble. Rob said that she walks the high beam with no assistance now. We register her for Kindergarten on March 31st & Spring soccer starts April 4th. I'm not sure who will be more worn out, Mollie, or Mommy & Daddy.
Ava is your typical 2 year old. She's into everything & tests our every patience. She talks non stop. Most of which we can understand, but I think she throws a little of her own language in just to keep us on our toes & guessing. She LOVES stories! I guess she could want us to do worse. Problem is that I can't say no & she's figured that out. Especially when it comes to bed time. Our other obstacle is going to be the outdoors. Ava loves to play outside. Doesn't matter if it's cold or not. It's been beautiful here lately, so we've been outside more. She HATES to come inside! We're still working on potty training, slowly but surely. I need to figure out how to get her to tell me before she goes rather than after. I'm open to suggestions!
Rob has been a TROOPER! Without him & my brother, I'm not sure what we would do. Our house has been just about completely overhauled. It started out as a little project & grew into 4 HUGE projects. We started upstairs, wanting to fix the sheetrock nails that were starting to push back through the wall. Matt & Rob cut out all of the nails & replaced them with screws, then filled the holes, taped, textured & we painted the walls in the livingroom & foyer. (By the way, Rachel & I helped too!) We also scrapped all of the popcorn junk off the ceiling, fixed a spot in the ceiling between the dining & living rooms, fixed the ceiling in Ava's room and then painted them. Rob crawled up in the rafters & fixed the ceiling fan over the foyer, then Matt's friend Steve came over & stretched the carpet in the livingroom & Mollie's room. After that project, I was in the laundry room starting the laundry, (this was at 11:30pm on Saturday night, we had a party planned at our house the next day at Noon for the Daytona 500,) when Rob came down to talk to me & said "What the hell is going on with that wall". I turned & looked & the wall behind the washer was SOAKED from ceiling to floor. We came to find out that the return sewer pipe had broke at the 45 degree angle where it came into the basement from the upstairs. So, Monday, with the help of Rob, my dad & Matt, we pulled EVERYTHING, (and I mean everything, WOW I have a lot of Scrapbooking stuff) the sheetrock came down, carpet went out, the pipe was replaced, the studwall was basically rebuilt, new sheetrock went up, along with tape & texture. We decided not to put carpet back down, but instead to paint the floor. Rob mixed up the cleaning solvent to prep the floor on a Tuesday evening, went downstairs to start & when he got down to the Laundry room, found water on the floor that had run down the new sheetrock. Not a happy camper to say the least. He figured out that the hose upstairs in the kitchen sink was leaking & running down the pipe & down the wall onto the floor. Off to Lowes we went to find a new faucet for the kitchen sink. After that problem was solved, we painted the laundry room floor & walls and replaced all of the electrical outlets, switches & covers. We're waiting on cabinets, which should come tomorrow. Oh yeah. Once he got the laundry room done, the light switch in the downstairs bathroom broke & had to be switched along with the electrical box that housed it!
Now we're in the process of painting the bunk beds that we got for the girls' bedroom. All of this started on February 9th, 2009. I'm afraid to say that we're almost done for fear of what might come up next. Oh well. "Welcome to the world of happy homeowners" as my dad would say. We roll with the punches, and I have to say, that I think Rob & I take a bit more pride in everything knowing that it's our blood, sweat & tears that have accomplished everything. His more than mine. Oh yeah, last week, we received a letter in the mail from Stockholm Engineers stating that the city will be replacing water mains & resurfacing Cheyenne Drive & Cheyenne Court beginning in May. Construction will hopefully be complete in September! Rob & I have the stroller & umbrella's in the back of the van all ready. I guess I look at it as a blessing in disguise. All that walking will hopefully help shed some of this baby weight that I'm gaining!
Baby # 3 is still on schedule to arrive the beginning of May as long a s my blood pressure stays where it's at. So far so good. 120/73 at my last appointment. We'll find out more tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Well, I think that's long enough for today. I'll do my best to keep this up to date.