Introducing Baby Donatini

We are 20 weeks and everything is going very smoothly. Today we found out that we are having a girl. She will be named Chloe Faith. Here is her best shot!

Thank you!

You are all so sweet. I will definately keep the blog up, but just won't be writing very often. I'll make sure to put special announcements on there like the baby's gender and the delivery. Thank you for all of your encouraging words over these years. I love reading all the comments!

Goodbye

Well fellow bloggers and readers, after much consideration I have decided to exit the blogging world. I will keep up with reading blogs, but things are just too hectic around here to maintain a blog. Adding a third child means even less time at the computer.

By the way, the baby is doing well. We are three months now and his/her heartbeat sounds great. Just pray that the poor child gets named before he/she enters this world. We can not come up with a name. Hopefully once we find out the gender we might have an easier time naming our child. It is odd because we named Mya and Sara before they were conceived. I am not sure why this one is so hard to name.

The family is doing great. Dan's job continues to go well and the girls are healthy. Mya will go to preschool next year. She is so excited! Sara's language continues to develop with leaps and bounds. She is quite the talker, especially on the phone. I am staying busy with the kids and with part time work here and there. I just finished editing and typing a book that my mom wrote and it comes out tomorrow. I am also doing some workshops on special needs topics. And I will be supervising student teachers for AU next year as well as coordinating one more year of MOPS.

Thanks to all of you for reading my blog these past three years. It has been fun!

Calendar

Mya and I have been talking about getting a calendar for her so she can start learning about days of the week, numbers, and predicting when an event is going to come. We have tried a couple places in town to find a calendar, but haven't found the exact one that we want. So I decided to make my own on the computer. That way I can put actual photos of people on days when she is going to see them or have a birthday party or things like that. I was working on the calendar this morning and she asked me a very serious question. She looked at me with those big blue eyes and said, "Mommy, are we going far, far away in a distant land to go get me a calendar?" Oh so cute! Luckily I was able to surprise her and show her the calendar I was making. No need to go to a distant land to find it. We just walked to the printer in the kitchen and printed it out. Ta da!

Relief!

This weekend my digestive system finally decided how to work again. I still ate 6 meals a day with tons of calories, but I didn't hit starvation mode and I didn't crave fast food near as much. Finally I get some relief from the guilt that I have been carrying for eating such bad food. Today I craved oranges. That is a good sign! I still haven't gotten motivated to get some exercise yet, so hopefully with the weather clearing up I will feel up to doing that. My belly has popped out a little bit and I am nearing the end of the first trimester. Yes! Good times ahead!

Totally Different Pregnancy

Either I have a really bad memory or my other pregnancies were totally different than this pregnancy. I had one week of bad nausea and now I am just plain hungry ALL the time. I don't remember being this hungry ever. I feel like the baby is taking everything from me when I eat and there is nothing left for me. I am talking about severe hunger. If I don't stay on top of it by snacking all day, then it is miserable. And of course all I want to eat is fast food. What a shock to my system. And I am not exercising. The other night I ordered a pizza at 11:30 pm because I was so hungry and had to have a Papa John's pizza. I know exactly what I want and I just go for it when I get the urge. But I am not gaining weight with grace. I have no energy, feel grouchy, and just plain unattractive. I am eagerly waiting for the second trimester to come (only 4 weeks away) when I get to feel really good. There is something about that second trimester that makes everything feel great. I am usually not a complainer, but boy am I struggling with this pregnancy. Maybe it is different because I have two toddlers to chase after when I just want to lay on the couch and relax. But aside from all the negatives, I am forever grateful that the baby is doing well. It is all worth it in the end!

Decorations

Today I fell victim, once again, to the "silent house" epidemic that we have going on here. They were ONLY silent for two minutes! They were in the basement and I was at the top of the stairs cooking dinner. They managed to get the large laundry detergent bottle off of the top of the washer, open it up, and smear it all over the place. Mya claims she was just decorating the basement. How can I fault her for wanting to decorate?

Good News

We went to the doctor today and the baby looks great. We are 7 weeks along and have a due date of October 12th. It was such a relief to see that little heartbeat!

Baby Prayers

Dan and I found out tonight that we are pregnant again! We want to ask for prayers for this baby. Of course we pray that we don't have a miscarriage again, but we find great comfort in knowing that God has a plan for our lives and for this baby.

Mya's Photo Shoot

I have high hopes for my daughters and today Mya proved that she could be an aspiring photographer. Boy did she do a good job. Check out her photo shoot with me.







Of course this is the best picture of all! She is the one that we should be taking pictures of.

A Must Tell

Saturday I was watching a Lifetime movie while the kids were taking a nap. Before kids this was a regular thing that I did on the weekend. As strange as the Lifetime movies are sometimes...there is just something about them that I like. It is like reading a good novel to me. Anyway, Mya woke up and came out to the couch to lay with me. It happened to be during a love scene. Oops! The man and women were lying on the floor kissing and the man took the shirt off of the woman. That was the extent of the scene, but my three year old doesn't miss a beat with the television. She looked at me and said, "Mommy, what are they doing?" I said, "They are kissing because they love each other. Mommy and Daddy kiss too because we love each other." I like to find opportunities to talk about my love for Dan whenever I can and this was a great moment...or so I thought. Then Mya says, "You and Daddy lay on the floor and kiss like that?" And I said, "Sometimes." Thinking that would be the end of the conversation. Then Mya says, "Does Mommy take her shirt off too?" Oh boy!!! Needless to say I was too shocked to know how to respond to that. Luckily she let it go. Mya is going to be one of those kindergartners who tells her teacher something like that during sharing time.

A Quiet House Is NOT Always A Good Thing

Since having children, I have found out that when the house is quiet, the girls are usually doing something they shouldn't be doing. So today I came up with a list of things that the girls have done in a very quiet manner, usually done while I am talking on the phone or doing house chores.

-After taking two tubes of toothpaste from my bathroom drawer, the girls climbed into Sara's bed, took the caps off the tubes, and started eating the toothpaste. They cried when I took it away from them.

-The girls decided they were hungry so Mya opened up the freezer and they pulled out three bags of frozen vegetables. One of the bags was open so after dumping the frozen mixed vegetables on the floor, they ate them. And they loved them!

-While I was taking a shower, the girls unrolled all the toilet paper, took it in the living room and shredded it to pieces.

-Mya took all the kleenexes out of the box, lined them up on the floor, and decided to jump from kleenex to kleenex.

-Both girls got deodorant from from our bathroom drawer, hid in their room, and started putting it on like lotion.

-Sara took Mya's glue stick while I was schooling Mya, hid in a corner, and put it on like chapstick.

-While in the bathtub, Mya took my brand new bottle of Biolage shampoo (which isn't cheap) and poured it on her head and on Sara's head. Both kids were screaming as the shampoo was dripping into their eyes. It took Dan and me a good 15 minutes to get all of the soap out of their hair.

Party At My House

If any of my readers are interested, I will be having a Silpada jewelry party on February 15th from 6-8. I would love to have you stop by!

Retreat

Dan and I woke up on Thursday morning, looked at each other and said, "Let's get out of this house." So we took our no longer infected family out of our infected house and headed to Columbus for two nights. We went on priceline.com and got a room at a very nice hotel for $50 a night. What a deal! So we left Thursday afternoon and headed away with the girls.

Before we left town, we stopped at Starbucks and Dan went inside to get me a peppermint hot chocolate. My new addiction! While he was inside, I attempted to take a picture of me and the girls in the car. There was a guy sitting in the car beside us laughing at me while I was doing this.

Here is my first attempt...you can see Mya in the background.



Here is my next attempt...oops, no kids in this picture.



And here is my final attempt...if you look close you can see all three of us in the picture.



Our time away was wonderful. I have never NOT wanted Dan to go back to work this bad before. We have really bonded as a family this week. And with all the time that we spent together this week, we didn't drive each other nuts. I am really going to miss him come Monday when he goes to work. And boy are the girls going to miss him too. Dan is a wonderful father and husband and I feel so grateful for our time together this week. I am amazed at the kind of father that he is. He adores his little girls.

Here are some more pictures of our fun trip together.

Broken Movie

If you read my previous post you might think this is kind of funny. After deciding to take Mya to the movie, we got there and found out that the specific movie we wanted was broken. Only that happens in the Ashland theater. Not to mention the fact that if the heat was on, it was most likely set at 50 degrees. Okay, that is an exaggeration, but I am kind of glad that we didn't have to sit through a movie with the kids in the cold theater.

"Oh... the Guilt!"

All I can say tonight is, "Oh...the guilt!" I feel so much guilt. Poor Mya and poor me. I took Mya to the dentist today for her first tooth cleaning. Everything was going so smooth. She let the hygienist pick at all of her teeth and scrape the plaque off. This went on for a good five minutes. Then it came time for the spinny toothbrush. Oh boy....she flat out refused this, which I was not prepared for. She uses my rotating toothbrush at home and she used to have one of her own. It was never an issue. But even the bubble gum toothpaste at the dentist wasn't enticing enough. So as the frustration grew for both of us, I resorted to bribery. This is the number one thing that I promised I would not do with my kids. I thought that parents who used bribery were just plain lazy. Well, I was one of those parents today and it wasn't because I was lazy. It was because I needed leverage...and fast. So I used going to a movie tonight as leverage. I told her that if she wanted to go to the movie then she needed to let the lady brush her teeth. Well, that did not work. I continued to push the issue thinking she would just give in. That didn't work. Then I attempted to hold her in the chair and that didn't work. Then....I attempted to hold her head and force the toothbrushing thinking that if she could just feel it once she would like it. But quickly I regretted that and felt so much guilt. Forcing a child to do something is never good. And it is another thing that I said I would never do as a parent. Ugh! So we left with no tooth cleaning and the promise of trying it again at the next visit. And after Dan and I talked about things when I got home we decided to go ahead and take her to the movie. Mostly because I didn't feel right taking something away from Mya when the situation was about fear and not negative behavior. So I gave in instead of following through with the consequence that I said I was going to enforce (not going to the movie). Another thing that I said I would never do. Especially from my background as a behavior specialist I know that when you say something...you better follow through with it. Luckily we can reason with Mya and weigh the pros and cons and learn as we go. Once we were home I told her how much I love her no matter whether her teeth were brushed or not. That is what I realy wanted to communicate to her. Bottom line....I have to forgive myself for making mistakes today and just learn from them. I wrote a thank you note to the dental staff thanking them for their patience with my daughter and with the mother. The other bottom line...every situation is different and it is okay to bend the rules and try new things with our daughters. I think that making sure they know that we love them and giving them hugs and kisses no matter what the circumstance is going to help all of us heal from the mistakes that we have made and will make as parents.

My Butt Is Making Noises

To add some comedy to our unfortunate situation last night, I have to post a comment that Mya made. At about 4 AM, Mya woke up with a very bad case of diarrhea. I mean...it was bad. But as she was sitting on the potty doing her thing, she looked up at me with smiles and said, "Mommy, my butt is making noises." Then she laughed. She thought it was so funny. I had to laugh in the midst of all that was happening. And then to top things off, I woke up at 6 AM with the same thing. Ugh!

Vacation

Well, here we all are with the flu. Yipee! And Dan is on vacation. What a vacation! Dan and Sara got sick on Sunday and Mya got sick last night. I have held off but now am feeling some nausea. This morning I cleaned the house from top to bottom in hopes that I would escape the sickness. We shall see. We planned on taking all of these fun trips with the kids this week so I hope that we are on the mend by tomorrow. We all need to get out of the house! Please pray for healing for our family.

Personality Test

The Animal In You - You're an Otter!

Thanks for taking the Animal In You personality test! We've determined that your personality best matches the Otter, but you might also be a Sheep or a Beaver. Click here to take the test and find out more about over forty other animal types!

Dress Up

I guess when you watch evening cartoons it is very important to wear a princess hat and sunglasses!

Family Day

Boy was it a great day yesterday (Saturday)! Dan had to work in the morning so the girls and I stayed home. I cleaned the windows in the house while the girls followed me around with the paper towels and Windex. They also helped me clean the breezeway. I know...I know...all of this will be filthy again as the snow continues to melt. But, it felt so good to clean some things that were really dirty.

At noon, Dan and I took the girls to the hair saloon to get their hair cut. They think they are so special sitting in the chair getting their hair cut. It is adorable.

After the girls took their nap, we went to the YMCA to swim with the girls. We lasted about 20 minutes because the water was cold. Brrrr! Both girls clung to us so tight, but they did have fun. So we packed them up, thankfully they have a family locker room so Dan could help me with the kids, and stopped by the pizza shop to get a $5 pizza. The best meal on a budget! We went home, ate the pizza, gave the girls a bath, and watched a new Dora movie. I love family days. I forgot to take the camera to the pool so I took pictures of the kids in the bathtub instead.

Sara Sue Sue

Snow Day

Bad Blogger

Oh....I have become such a bad blogger. I have good intentions and by the end of the day I am ready to crash instead of blog. But I do miss it. So here I go again trying to keep up with it.

So what is new with us? Well...Dan is busy with work and trying to beat his latest video game. I love when he tries to beat games because he plays at night and I sit beside him reading these Amish novels that I am really into. It is fun hanging out together. And then when I have a silly show on like "Desperate Housewives" or something like that, he watches it with me. And because we have PVR or DVR (can't remember which one it is), we get the best of both worlds. He can play games while I read, and then we can watch the taped show later in the evening. Love it! I am busy with typing a book that my mom is going to publish and sell, organizing MOPS stuff, and chasing after the kids. I also will be doing some workshops in the spring for parents. I will be teaming up with my friend Kate to present on teaching literacy skills with a focus on special needs. The biggest thing that Dan and I are praying about right now is whether or not to have another child. We have had some letdowns with our medical insurance, which has caused us to question whether or not we should get pregnant again. Of course there is always the consideration of my blood clotting disorder. I don't want to risk my health for another child, yet I would like to have one more. We go back and forth on it. Please help us pray in this area. We aren't getting pregnant and haven't since the miscarriage in September. I think it is interesting that we aren't getting pregnant when I was so fertile with the first two kids. It is like God is giving us time to really submit to Him in this area.

On a lighter note, in addition to growing my hair out, I recently died it a darker color. Well, I mean my sister-in-law did it for me. I am still getting used to it, but Mya took my picture this morning so we could put it on the computer. She was pretty excited to take Mommy's picture.