It's A....

It's time for an update!! Yesterday we had our ultrasound done, but you'll just have to wait till the end of the post to find out the sex of the baby, because once again I'm going to start with how everyone else is doing.

Robbie is doing really great. He has a new job at a construction place called Okland (which I guess is a fairly big company out west here). He really likes it and is glad to be doing work along the lines of what his degree is in. They don't mind him working part time when he starts school up full time again in January and they were really anxious to get him to work for them. Plus-good news for us all-they are paying him almost $2 more than he was being paid at his last job! He really likes it so far. Robbie is also going to school part time right now so between work (which might require him at some point to work overtime-he gets paid overtime though) and school he's very busy but found time to go fishing this past weekend and caught another big fish. He's also been such a big help with the girls as I get bigger.

I'm doing okay. I'm still tired fairly often, and I loose steam to get things done quickly, but I still manage to get things done (maybe not everything in one day) and find time to play with the girls and do something for myself. My calling has been fairly stressful lately to do the move and time switches and having to redo the nursery schedule, sharing time, and using the new nursery teaching manual. It's become harder within the last two weeks due to move ins (since school started, a lot of people moved into our ward) and instead of having 6-7 kids each week in nursery we now have 12-13. We are now talking about having to split the nursery which will be a huge thing in our ward since we have never had more than those 6-7 kids at once in nursery. They are so much fun though and full of love and it's so nice to get hugs and to see them taking in what you are trying to teach them...it makes the calling and all it's challenges so much more fun.

Gwen is doing really well. Although the potty training is still not going as planned, she is obviously learning at a fast rate in other areas. She is very very bright and curious and loves to know what things are and how things work. She is still, as my mom said, a corker. She was roaring the other day and I asked her if she was three different things-a lion, a tiger, or a fire. She said no to all three things and told me that she was "Gwenyss...Gwenyss Nancy." To top that off, this morning while I took care of some things in our bedroom, I put the girls in their room and put up the gate to block off the doorway. They were being really quiet and so I asked them what they were doing. Gwen's reply? "I picking my nose!" She is such a funny little thing but very loving and very helpful. She is also very very excited about Halloween-she will be a butterfly this year and we have all ready made Halloween sugar cookies on her request.

Gracie is also doing really well, apart from having a severe cold a week or so ago. She is growing up so fast and has become quite the stinker when it comes to getting into things she's not supposed to. Many of our drawers and doors are now rubber banded together or tied together so that she can no longer get into them. She has also learned how to climb very very well and is constantly testing the limits of that. She is also getting better at speaking. She still says new words here and there but the ones we can really pick out are shoes, down, and baby. She has a big shoe fetish right now so shoe has become her favorite word. She also gets very excited over baby doll and barbie commercials on tv. She still loves to dance and cuddle and is such a sweetheart. She will be Minnie Mouse for Halloween, like Gwen was last year.

Onto the baby. As most of you know by now, yes...it's another girl. So much for my intuition, huh? I'm just happy that the baby is very healthy and growing at the rate it's supposed to. The ultrasound showed that everything is going well with her growth (spine, brain, heart, organs...bones, everything) and because of her size they said I'm actually a day ahead of schedule, which would have moved my due date from the 22nd of January to the 21st, but because it was only a day they're not going to change it-she may just be a bigger girl at birth like gracie (although if she weighs more than grace-8 lbs- at birth, I'm not sure I'll be pleased). She moves a lot more now and I can feel her kicking and turning all the time. She was not shy about showing off what was between her legs, but I didn't really expect her to-Gwen and Grace weren't shy about it either. All in all everything is going well and we are excited. We are still in a debate about what to name her but when we figure that out we will let everyone know. I was so excited for another girl that I shopped some sales online and bought some things that'll make a really cute outfit for her to wear (although I think we'll still bring something in the preemie size along to the hospital just in case)-thank goodness we don't need to get a whole lot for this baby (although if you do want to know what we need, I would be happy to send you the list that I have...). At the next visit they'll do the test for gestational diabetes and some other blood work to check on iron and other things, so I will let you all know how that goes.

As for the ultrasound picture, that is the baby's profile (when they did a close look at her face to check for a cleft lip, I got a good look and her features reminded me a bit of grace's from her ultrasound). She is on her back with her arm at her side (the really bright white line) and yes, her legs are over her stomach and head-they are stretched out (they too look really bright and white). I guess she was a bit cramped at the moment, but it's only going to get worse.

That's about it from here. I will try to update more often and send pictures to everyone more often...I know I've slacked a bit on both this past month. I hope that everything is going well with everyone and just know that we love you and miss you all!!