If only I had this little girl's energy

Welcome back, I promise I'm done being a grouch.

She could do this for hours if we let her... she only has one condition and that is that every 5-10 minutes or so we come and watch her and smile and then she's off to her happy bouncy land.

Moving...

I'm generally a pretty pleasant pregnant woman. I'm not the kind that dread getting pregnant or have put a cap on the number of kids I'll have because I think being pregnant is miserable. It's no secret that pregnancy and labor & delivery are pretty easy on me. But being sick and pregnant IS miserable. Then you throw 2 sick kids and moving on top of that and I become a drama queen. While I was laying in bed the other night sore from unpacking, unable to breathe and feeling like my sinuses were about to explode behind my eyes I told David that I was pretty sure this is what dying feels like. He called me melodramatic. I responded with am I not the most calm person during labor and delivery - do I not deserve to be a little dramatic once in awhile. He couldn't dispute that one. So I fell half way asleep feeling justified. Really I was just grumpy and longing for some nyquil to knock me out.

So we're moved. This is the only picture I have because it's the only part of the house that is all the way unpacked. Don't worry Mom I'll post pics as soon as the house is all the way unpacked. We've been here only 2 full days and I've spent a total of 4-5 hours out there with the kids. I love you new backyard.
So in all my melodrama sickness David's family has come to the rescue. Watching our kids for us, making sure we are fed, coming over with new lamps and light bulbs, setting up beds, cribs entertainment centers, letting me borrow the car to go grocery shopping etc. So really I can't complain anymore. We have been well taken care of. The only real bummer about being sick was missing Ashley's farewell talk at church on Sunday. I read a copy David brought home and cried. She goes into the MTC in less than 2 weeks and she's soo ready! I'm going to miss her like crazy. It's no secret that I think sister return missionaries are in a special cool club that you can't understand unless you've been on a mission. I can't wait for her to join the ranks!

So long story short. We're mostly moved. We love not having a baby in our closet. I love that the kids will sleep in their own rooms atleast for the next 6 months or so and not wake eachother up. David is the only one that made the real sacrifice by having to commute instead of walking to school everyday. But he says it's worth it for the extra space and the yard. I told David when he starts to get sick of the commute in a few months he can rest assured knowing he'll come home to 2 kids playing in a kiddie pool in the backyard a big glass of lemonade and hamburgers or chicken ready to throw on the grill. And while we eat on a blanket we can watch the kids play. Doesn't that sound divine??

It's true. Table for 5 please.

We're pregnant again. Both sets of parents sent the message out in their Christmas cards so I'm suprised we've managed to keep this quiet for so long.
I thought about ending my post there but instead I'll head off all the questions I'm sure to get in the comment section. Let's see how well I can do.

• No, it was not planned. In fact it was a HUGE suprise. David says I'm not allowed to say accident.
• Yes, we're well aware of how these things "happen".
• 10.5 weeks due August 7th.
• Hannah and the new baby will be less than 15 months apart.
• Yes, I freaked when I thought about having 3 children 3 and under but I quit panicking when I set my only expectation to survival.
• I feel good just the normal tiredness and am so grateful I don't get morning sickness.
• Yes, we'll need a new car.
• Yes, this one will be another homebirth.
• We've decided since this pregnancy was a suprise we're not going to find out the gender and let that be a suprise too. That will be new and exciting and may keep me from stressing out about what's to come.

Did I miss anything? While we're completely thrown by this David & I are grateful for the blessing that it is to be parents... and well, we always said we wanted a big family- we just never expected it to be growing at this rate.

I promise we're not starving her...

Hannah is skinny. Everyone sees her and comments on how she's such a tiny little thing. When I complained over Christmas about how she still wakes up every 3 hours to eat my mom kept saying she's just hungry. This girl definitely has David's family's metabolism.

We were eating dinner tonight and she was playing in her exersaucer but kept looking over longingly at us. So I brought the bumbo to the table cleared the surrounding space and plopped her in (don't worry she was nowhere near the edge of the table). Anyway, we were feeding her chicken and she was thrilled.

Well we've known for awhile that she's been dangerously close to weaseling her way out of the bumbo... mostly because she is so tiny she can pull her legs right out.

Well tonight at dinner we had homemade pizza and while I was grabbing one out of the oven and David was a little absorbed into wheel of fortune she made a run for it. She was so thrilled to have gotten to the food on her own she didn't even cry after she landed in it face first. Too funny.

And we're back...

I know you're all just dying to know how Christmas went. The few days after Christmas is what the Ashton family will now refer to as pukefest 2009. After each one of us got the 24 hour flu in turn we were so glad to all be healthy again... poor little Ashton got it the worst and on the first night he puked over 20 times and never slept for more than 10 minutes at a time before he woke up sick. At about 4am his little body was so exhausted he got delirious. After rinsing out of his mouth he laid his head down on the pillow with his eyes closed and said "Mommy, cow says 'moooo' doggy ruff ruff, sheep baaa" it was the saddest funniest thing I've ever seen.

Aside from that we had a great vacation!

Midway did not dissapoint and there was a TON of snow. On the first day there we made David pull 3 of the 2 year olds around in a sled in the backyard.

On Christmas Eve they were so grateful they even performed the Nativity for us.

Mostly they sat their kissing and touching (or hitting) baby Jesus while the parents read their lines. Note King Herod being helped along - or was Jack a wiseman??

Christmas Eve in our new jammies. We really did try to get Ashton to sit on David's lap but he wouldn't let go of Hannah. And hopefully those bells will one day be mine. The lladro bell is the one thing I've staked claim on in the will and I feel no shame in reminding everyone every Christmas.

Christmas morning. Believe it or not those Elmo slippers trumped everything else on Christmas morning.

A little late night slide for the kids (and adults) down the stairs.

And on New Years Eve we played couples Chopped. If you don't know what Chopped is and you have the Food Network you owe it to yourself to watch on Tuesday night at 10/9c. For you poor people who don't get the Food Network the basics are professional chefs with 3 mystery ingredients and they have to come up with a dish using all the ingredients in 20 minutes. We made desserts and had to use churros, some wholistic yogurt, pudding, and strawberries. These are our 3 chopped judges. David & I lost to Mandy and Jason and were pretty sure we didn't come in 3rd just because Cally and Nate set a towel on fire.

Last night as we were playing a final game of Spades and eating licorice Hannah stole one from off the table. We decided to let her have at it. After being sick this was the happiest we had seen in her a week.

And now we have a couple of weeks to get packed up to move to the house we're renting in Richardson for the next 18 months. Can I hear a hallelujah for a backyard and a 3rd bedroom!