One more day

It's about 6:30 and I've been up for about an hour and a half. This is partly due to the fact that I can't turn my brain off and partly because this baby wanted to make sure that yes I did throw up the entire nine months. Tomorrow at this time I will be getting prepped for surgery. It's so weird knowing that I'm having a baby tomorrow. It feels like Christmas Eve as a kid, or the day before my wedding. The last few days I have been looking at Piper and feeling a little sad. She is still so much my baby, and tomorrow will officially push her into big girl territory. She will be the middle child. Asher really understands what is going on. He knows that tomorrow I'm going to the hospital and he tells me that they are going to take the baby out of my belly. He also informs me quite regularly that he will be nice to the baby, and won't hit it. I think at this point he's more excited that Gramma is coming down. He has the week planned out for her. His plan entails Gramma taking him regularly to Walmart to buy new cars.

I'm going to try to savor today a bit more than usual. I want to really remember just having two kids, of being a family of four. Our hospital finally has WiFi, so I'll try to do some updates in the next few days.

I'll leave you with one last thought. Yesterday as we were driving Asher was chatting in the back seat about Mustangs and tractors. He stopped and said "Mommy does Jesus have a penis?" I still find myself so unprepared for most of his questions.

Turtles

Now that it's warm again our turtles have come out of hibernation. All three are back and the kids once again love watching them. Between the turtle and the kids we go through about 4-5 bananas a day.

Lois is the most outgoing of the three of them.

More party pictures

After we did the petting zoo there were cupcakes. Piper literally dove right in. Sometimes she just thinks it's better to forgo using hands.
There were some nice playgrounds outside the zoo and Asher and his friend Noa had fun on the tire swing. These two boys are very entertaining, and love to play together.

Petting Zoo

After I picked the guys up from the park on Saturday we went to a Birthday party at the hunt club farm. There is a petting zoo there that is awesome. The animals are all really friendly and the kids had such a fun time.
Piper fell in love with the goats. I've been trying to convince Nate to let me get a goat in our backyard for the last few years. Maybe if Piper starts asking he'll change his mind.

They were so cute and loved to be petted, and in this case hugged.

Last day of winter

Saturday was the last day of winter, and even more importantly my birthday. Nate made my favorite breakfast (chocolate chip pancakes) in the morning. We headed up to Virginia and I dropped Nate and the kids off at the fun forest while I did some shopping.

Maybe he'll be a rock climber like his daddy!

St. Patty's Day

I decided it would be fun to get into St. Patrick's Day this year. Asher had school in the morning and made some really cute crafts. We hung them on the door, and he got a kick out of seeing them there.
For some reason O'Niphakis just doesn't have a good ring to it.
Asher has been picking "flowers" a lot for me lately. He snuck outside this afternoon to get me some fresh ones.
I made Irish food for dinner. Both my little Leprechauns enjoyed the shortbread cookies. I put green food coloring in them and drizzled chocolate on top.
For Nate I made corned beef and cabbage with veggies. I also made some beer bread to go with the meal. He loved it and was the only one of us to actually eat it.
I started a tradition a while ago to buy him some new briefs for every holiday. I wrapped them up and Asher handed the package to him while saying "Daddy it's underpants".

Cleaning

Yesterday after church the kids and I had a tea party. Piper got her first set for Christmas from Uncle Matt and the both love to play with it. Even better than the actual tea party is the clean up. Playing in the sink is a blast for them. I usually have to fill the sink up about 8 times because of the amount of water that gets splashed or dumped out. Asher has recently started playing with Piper. He actually enjoys having her around and it's so cute to watch them together.

So tired

I don't have much energy these days. In fact I don't even have the energy it takes to get the camera and take some pictures of the kids. I have 3 weeks left in this pregnancy and am very excited that the end is almost here.

If any of you have ever spent any time with Asher you know that this kid is obsessed with cars. He is also already a backseat driver. He really pays attention when I am driving. He knows how to get to most places: school, church, the Y, and most of his friends' houses. Lately he has developed a fascination with Mustangs. He can point them out and is constantly looking for them. He's already talking about driving one when he turns 16.

Piper is following her brother's example when it comes to electronics. Asher knows how to turn on the TV and get to Netflix. He chooses his own movies all the time. Last night Piper turned it on and started browsing the movie choices. Asher usually chooses Kipper or Diego. Piper turned on Drop Dead Diva. Both of these kiddos keep up constantly entertained.

Staying warm

This has been a very hard winter in NC. It's been unusually cold. We've had to be creative on ways to stay warm. Personally I choose turning up the heat or wearing fuzzy socks. Asher has chosen to bury himself in the couch and bring along his blankets and cars. You can find him like this on most mornings. When I try to get him out he says it's too cold. We are all looking forward to the summer and being hot.