What I've been up to...

I've spent the past two weeks completely absorbed in our current project of turning our guest bedroom into Anna Kate's new big girl room. AK's about to get booted from the nursery so she can get used to her new digs before January. I'm designing the room for both of my girls, though. (I'm still getting used to saying that... I wonder how many times I'll say "my girls" in my lifetime!) We figure that if for some unexplained reason a #4 comes along, we can make an easy transition putting the girls together. So good-bye, queen-sized bed & hello, adorable twin girly beds! I hope our guests like pink! ...even if they do have to sleep Leave it to Beaver style from now on.

I'm really excited about the girly wonder that will be Anna Kate's room. We've got the room painted (pink with wide horizontal sage green stripes against the back focal wall), the beds have been delivered, we're getting ready to shabby-chic a dresser, desk, and armoire, and I've been bargain-shopping my little heart out! My amazingly talented friend Jerri Ann designed the bedding and is mailing the fabric to me this week so I can give it to the seamstress. I'll post pictures when it's all finished. With all of my energies being consumed by this project, I have neglected to take many pictures of my children. All I have on my camera are pics of lamps, fabric samples & furniture. I did instruct Michael to go take the kids' picture yesterday morning as a stalling mechanism when I was rushing to finish getting ready for church. Aren't they cute??





When Michael dutifully reported back to me in my bathroom where I was taking out my rollers to show me the picture he had taken, I said, "Take some against a pretty back-drop." (Yes, more stalling). Is it funny to anyone else that Michael thought a plain pink wall was so much prettier a back-drop than a plain white door?? I kinda meant like, outside, by a tree or something. I think he's just proud of his pink wall. Michael did a great job painting everything and I'm so lucky to have such a great hubby that's ready to tackle all of the other design-related projects I've got lined up for him. I've decided that my husband really can do anything. He amazes me. Install a light fixture, replace a garbage disposal, paint stripes, distress furniture... he just looks up info on the Internet or reads the instructions and then gives it a go. And he's always ready to serve. He comes home every day asking what he can do for me, and asks me every Friday what projects I have lined up for him for the weekend. I really am so very blessed in the husband department!

-Below- Okay, Michael took this pic, but my guess is that Anna Kate was refusing to hold Wesley's hand. I'm having to introduce Wesley to the concept that Anna Kate doesn't have to do what he wants her to do. Usually she loves to follow her big brother around and do whatever he's doing, but in her recent moments of individuality, Wes is having a hard time coping with the fact that his sister has a mind of her own!





I'm totally grasping at straws for photos here, so I called Michael and asked him to send me the pics he took on his iPhone Saturday. We went to a local flea market so I could look for some little treasures for Anna Kate's room, and while we didn't find much treasure, we did find lots and lots of alligators! (Note to self: Next time skip the flea market and go straight for the downtown antique stores... flea markets are not what they are portrayed on HGTV!). Sweltering in heat index of 111 degrees in nearly stink'n October! I'm so OVER summer!!





We left the flea market and its 111 heat index for our cute little downtown district, where Michael played with the kids in the children's museum while I shopped the quaint little (air-conditioned!) shops. We ended up having a pretty fun Saturday. Yesterday Michael and I both came down with colds. He's home in bed and Anna Kate just woke up and is literally climbing all over me and hitting the keyboard in the process, so I guess this is the end of my blog post!

Good-Bye, Cradle Roll!

Anna Kate turned two in mid-July, but her cradle roll teachers were traumatized when I attempted to promote her after her birthday. So I gave them until the end of August to soak up their last days of Anna Kate, and she started in the 2's and 3's class in September. These pics are from her very last day in cradle roll. Miss Debi, one of Anna Kate's very special cradle roll teachers. The other, Nana Susan, was not able to be there for AK's last day. We've watched Anna Kate go from a very clingy baby to a little girl whose eyes light up when she spots either of these special ladies. For the last few months I never had to walk Anna Kate to class on Wednesday nights, because she would run to Debi or Susan in the auditorium and walk to class with them without giving me so much as a backward glance! Actually a very gratifying feeling for me as a mom to see my sweet baby girl develop these special bonds. Clockwise from top: Miss Debi, Claire, Makinna, Logan (with the Bible on his head... hilarious!), Jonah, Presley, Kaden & Anna Kate.





Susan and Debi always insist that Anna Kate sit by Kaden (he's on the Autism spectrum), because she calms him when he gets upset. They say she rubs him and pats him when he cries. As you can see, she's incredibly patient with him! Anna Kate pats her Bible WITH VIGOR!





Jonah and Claire singing "the wipers on the car go swish, swish, swish." This was before we had to separate Jonah & Claire... their sibling squabbles were cracking me up!



Anna Kate pretending to be alarmed at the froggy eating her finger. Such a little goof!





"The babies in the car go waa-waa-waa." And the grand finale to each class... bubbles!! Thank you so much, Debi and Susan, for the special love you give our children. You will always hold a special place in their hearts!

The third child's usually the favorite anyway... ;o)

Kelly (with her mom Shawnee) is mere weeks or days away from welcoming baby girl #3. She tried to resist a shower, but as a third child myself, I've made it my mission to ensure that third & fourth children everywhere get celebrated!





Kelly with Katherine, her first baby girl. Wesley can't handle being excluded from photos... despite Katie's attempt to re-direct him!





Opening presents... with lots of help! (Anna Kate had just pulled out her pigtails. This is what her hair looks like around the house these days. She never touches her bows or pigtails when we're out and about, but the minute we walk in the door, she wants me to let her hair down!)



Preggy Pals Kelly, me & Beth. This is the 3rd time we've all been pregnant together. We each have a 4-year-old, a 2-year-old, and one on the way! Wesley is the only boy of the bunch so far... Beth still hasn't found out the gender of #3 though, so Wes may get some competition yet!

By the way, my hair is all flat and blah because it was pouring rain when I got home to set up for the shower, and the garage door opener in Michael's car doesn't work (he had my car because he kept the kids at church for the potluck). That's why I look like I just got out of the shower. It poured all afternoon, so I have no idea why Kelly and Beth look so fab. I started to write this disclaimer and then started to backspace asking myself, "Am I really so shallow that I feel it necessary to explain my hair??" But then I realized that the answer to that question is, why yes indeedy!





We've got a perfect progression going on... 1st trimester, 2nd trimester, and third trimester. I'll be there soon Kel! We're so blessed to have all these babies to love - and doubly blessed to have wonderful friends to share in this whole motherhood experience! My mom has always told me that the most significant friendships of my life will be with the women that raise their kids alongside mine... we'll always have a special bond!

Well I THOUGHT they were washable markers!

The exact moment I realized that I'd accidentally bought non-washable markers! Definitely Murphy's Law - Anna Kate plays with washable markers all the time and had never (until this day) decided to turn herself into a human canvas. Thank goodness I'd just stripped her of her clothes (she had dirtied them eating lunch right before this). These pics were taken this past Tuesday... forgot to post them with all the excitement of last week's ultrasound.





Ironically, (or maybe not!) this was also right after I'd picked the kids up from preschool, where Miss Barbara informed me that Anna Kate had refused to have her hand painted for the day's art project. REFUSED. Would have none. of. it. I guess she was just holding out for full-body-imprint art project day! AK went straight into the tub after this and I scrubbed her like a potato, but it still took another day for all traces of marker to wear off her skin. By the time we were done it looked like I had filled the tub with pink lemonade... notice she likes pink and purple!

It's (another)... GIRL!!!

"I'm gonna have another sister and I'm gonna name her Anna Kate AGAIN!"

That's been Wesley's official announcement today. I'm so glad we brought him with us to the ultrasound. I wish I could have taken a picture of his precious little face during the whole thing... he was just beaming. He got so excited when we found out he would be having another sister. Sweet boy never did express a preference... every time we'd ask him if the baby was a boy or a girl, he's shrug and say, "I don't know." I think he was seriously starting to wonder why we thought he knew! We had talked to him a lot about this morning's appointment, and he was pumped. He truly understood what we were doing and why we were there, and I got as much joy out of him sharing in that experience with us as I did seeing my new baby girl! I should note that Anna Kate came with us as well, but she munched on mommy's backup bag of Fritos and got down from her chair to tickle my toes every once in awhile. That's about it. When we were walking back to the car, Michael asked Wesley what we should name the baby. Wes thought about it while he buckled his carseat, and then he said, "Daddy, I'm just gonna name her Anna Kate again." Thus his official announcement for the rest of the day!





And here she is! This is truly the exact moment in the pregnancy when it gets real... prior to this the whole mystery-baby-in-my-tummy thing seems pretty surreal and almost hypothetical. After this exact moment, this "thing" became my daughter. My bonding with all of my babies has surged on the day the "it" became a he or a she. Such a special thing!

And yes, sweet little thing, most parents have too much class to post this shot. Your parents, however, are not among them! We asked the ultrasound technician to let us look for ourselves (seeing as we pretty much consider ourselves experts now! Ha!) for the gender. The whole time the technician was looking at this view, I was searching for that tell-tale little turtle head peeking out from its shell. And I didn't see it. So I was thinking girl pretty much right away, but wondering if something was hiding somewhere. When the technician finally froze the screen for us to look, Michael said, "I don't see anything." I said, "I don't either... it must be a girl!" Then we both started exclaiming for Wesley that he was going to have another sister, and Wes literally starting jumping up and down and squealing! I think he would have had the same reaction to a boy - he just loved the excitement of finding out!





We had to take the kids straight to preschool after the appointment (they were just a little late but they both got to announce their big news to their class!), and then Michael had to go to work. We tried to take pictures at the appointment and my camera battery was DEAD (tragic!), so I charged the battery when I got home. When I picked the kids up a couple of hours later I tried to get a sweet picture of all THREE of my kids... this is the only one where neither of the ones currently living outside my tummy weren't fussing. Anna Kate had reclaimed her unfinished bag of Fritos from my diaper bag and had a fit that I was taking them away for the photo-op! So this is as good as it gets. ...Anna Kate refusing to acknowledge her sister. The girls officially outnumber the boys in this family for the first time ever. Let the drama begin!! I was outnumbered for a couple of years there, so now it's our turn! The boys' days of dominating this house are gone forever... the best they can hope for now is to even things up! 4 kids is my limit! (Which prompted Michael to start chanting "twin boys, twin boys, twin boys..." when I brought up this line of conversation. He's just kidding though - he loves his girls!).





I promised Wesley that if he'd let me take his picture, he could take mine. He's getting pretty good! ...Another picture by Wesley (of course I had to delete about 20 shots with little fingers covering the lens!)





With each of our babies, we have gone out for a celebratory dinner the day we find out the gender. We never eat out (only while on vacation or when family or company is in town), so this is an exciting thing for us... it's the Rogers version of "Whoa, go crazy!!" We went to Chili's after finding out Wesley was a boy, and we went to Outback after finding out Anna Kate was a girl. So we'd planned on going to Outback since it's another girl, but Wesley would have none. of. it. He wanted to go to "the tomato restaurant" (i.e. Chili's... he used to think the giant pepper on the sign was a tomato. Now he knows it's a pepper, but the name "the tomato restaurant" stuck) because Mimi and Grandpa took him there recently and he wanted a balloon from the balloon guy. Wes was a happy guy once he got his balloon sword! Anna Kate asked for a money... pink, in honor of our new baby girl!

-Below- STILL my baby boy! It may sound strange, but I was less ready to give up Wesley being my baby boy than I was Anna Kate being my baby girl. When AK was born, I made a big deal to Wes about how Anna Kate was my baby girl, but he was still my baby boy. It's something we've repeated to each other thousands of times in the past two years. It really seems to resonate as something special to Wes. So I wasn't ready for him to have to give up that title.





And my big girl Anna Kate! I guess it should make me sad that she won't be my baby girl anymore, but honestly, being the big girl suits her. She's never been as cuddly and snuggly as Wesley (which is weird, because she's always been much more clingy, but that just means she wants my full attention at all times!). She's a girl on the go, and cuddle sessions with her quickly turn into games where she hides under the covers or squishes my face in her hands. Maybe God put her in this family just to keep us all entertained while the rest of us snuggle!





Anna Kate turned her monkey into a sword so she could battle Wesley. And now for a Rogers Family blog fun fact... my very first blog post ever was my "It's a girl!" post, announcing that Anna Kate was a girl. This is blog post #223! Thank you, God, for an exciting day and a healthy baby!! We are so blessed.