18 weeks...

So, I am about 18 weeks pregnant and I need to officially go dig out my maternity clothes, YUCK!!  I have one pair of pants that still fit, but that just isn't cutting it.  Luckily I've only gained a couple pounds so far (thanks to my trip to San Antonio) but I still needed to lose about 15 pounds from my previous pregnancy, so I'm hoping to only gain 15-20!!  So that means goodbye to my old, dear friend sugar :(  

I went to my first dr's appt last week.  I am seeing a nurse midwife/nurse practitioner this time.  She is with a OB/GYN practice, so I am covered if there are any emergencies.  But I have such easy pregnancies/deliveries, I figured it would probably be a really good experience.  I really like her a lot.  The nurses have pretty much delivered my babies every time anyway!  My ultrasound is a week from Thursday and I'm excited to find out what we are having!!  Grace is fine either way, but whenever I ask Elliot what he wants he says "No!  I don't want that!".   We will have to work on him!  It is kind of nice waiting so long to go to the doctor, my pregnancy feels shorter somehow!! (the above isn't my baby, just an 18 week old I found on the internet!)

Congrats to the Colin Croshaws!!

I know, 2 posts in one day, wow!!  My brother Colin and his wife Lori welcomed their 3rd baby, Cole Wright, into the world this morning.  He is so adorable!!  I can't wait to meet him...how am I going to work out a trip to Cleveland?!?  Aren't they an adorable little family!!!

Crazy Summer Blog Hiatus...

I've been taking a unintended blog hiatus for the last few weeks.   First it was because I left my camera charger at my parents house and just got it back a couple of weeks ago (no photos uploaded with a dead camera!!).  Since then I have just been lazy!  But we have had a fun summer, too!  Here are some pics... (This is going to be a huge post, y'all, just be warned!!)

PLAYING IN THE BACKYARD...

Ugh!!   Look at all those weeds!!

CAMPING...

We went camping at Round Lake in Idaho.  It was so pretty.

Elliot loved it!!

Our HUMONGOUS tent Ray insisted we get.  We could've fit a whole football team in there!!

Grace and Elliot playing on a log (Ray was on the other end!!)

Maggie on the hike...We took the kids on a 2 mile hike around the lake.  The did so good!!  Elliot didn't start asking me to pick him up until we were almost done!!  Ray had Maggie on his shoulders the whole time.  She almost fell asleep on his head!

Grace checking our her wild flowers...

We had to go through this really marshy area.  The mosquitoes were horrible!

4TH OF JULY AND THE WEEK FOLLOWING...

We went to Cascade, Idaho for the 4th of July.  My parents have a house there.  This is a view from their deck of the lake.  It was so fun.  My parents, my sister Leslie and her husband Alex were there.  We got to go out on the boat at watch fireworks.  I forgot to take my camera for that, but if I had I would've taken a video of Grace-she kept saying "Wow, that was AMAZING!!".  It was cute.  Maggie's eyes were glued to the sky, she didn't move a muscle the whole time, it took about 5 minutes after the fireworks were over for her to look away!!  Poor little Elliot fell asleep before the fireworks started!

Little baby liberty

We went on a hike to a glacier lake.  Poor Alex got stuck watching Grace and Elliot the whole time!!

I love this picture!! If only I could photo shop Maggie in, I could use it for a Christmas card!

Our destination (I don't even remember the name, even though I have been there a few times!)

Grandpa teaching Grace to skip rocks

Elliot catching a ride on the way back

(Maybe you should take a break now and look at the rest of the post later!!)

Our ride on the Thunder Mountain Express through the beautiful Long Valley...

Leslie and Maggie

Grandma and Grace.  Elliot slept the whole time, again!!   Poor little guy misses out on all the fun!

We saw some beautiful scenery on the train...

Elliot asleep at grandma and grandpa's house.  Common theme with him!!

The small but fun Pocatello zoo!!

It is, however, the only place I have seen Buffalo!

Grace and Elliot in the tee pee with their peacock feathers.

Elliot being Elliot!

SAN ANTONIO!!

At the end of July I got to go on a trip, BY MYSELF, to San Antonio to see some of my sisters.  My little sister Dana just moved there and it seemed like a good excuse for a trip, kid-free!!  They have this AMAZING outlet mall there with every outlet you could ever imagine.  Somehow I only ended up with stuff for the kids... how does it always work out that way??

The Alamo...it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be.  (By the way, there is no basement in the Alamo...come on all you children of the 80's, what movie?!?)

The famous San Antonio River Walk.  It was so beautiful!!

Me and the girls...have I ever said how much I HATE pictures of myself?  Well I do!!

Eating ice cream on the river walk.  It is HOT in San Antonio!!  I guess it wasn't even as hot the weekend I went because they had just gotten a lot of rain from the hurricane.  It made me very glad to no longer be in Oklahoma!!

All the girls, mom included

Check out the billboard behind us, that says it all!!

The gorgeous Delgadillo children, Eva and Colby. (Yes, he is eating a Texas shaped waffle!)  Don't you just LOVE the dark curly hair!!

And, of course, baby Lilia.  Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks!!

Okay, that 's it, if you are still with me!!  I'm all caught up!

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

My little sister Abby told me about this blog a while ago, it is hilarious!!  Abby just sent in a post, she is "famous" now!!  Check out this link:

http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/2008/07/amber-may-or-may-not-be-missed.html

Yet Another Reason to Dislike Barbie...

I saw this article on the internet this morning:

Barbie’s new S&M look has whipped up a storm — with protesters dubbing it "filth."
The doll’s image is transformed with kinky fishnets, motorcycle jacket, black gloves and boots.
Maker Mattel says Black Canary Barbie, out in September, is based on a DC Comics superhero of the same name.
But religious group Christian Voice said: "Barbie has always been on the tarty side and this is taking it too far. A children’s doll in sexually suggestive clothing is irresponsible — it’s filth."

Oh, SO agreed!!!  I have never liked Barbie.  My little sister Dana used to tell me that she was going to buy my kids Barbies to play with because I always said that I never would.  (Okay, I did buy Grace a barbie bike, but even I have a hard time turning down a steal of a deal at a consignment sale!!  And she needed a bike!  But I have never bought a barbie doll!!)  I think that the whole idea of Barbie creates an unrealistic expectation of beauty/body that is virtually unattainable by 99.99999% of the human population.  Combine this with young impressionable girls idolizing her and I just don't think it is a good thing.  I think that young girls are way too overly sexualized by the constant bombardment of images, such as this barbie,  on TV, magazines, billboards, walking through the mall, etc.  I don't know who thought that making a barbie, BARBIE whose target market is young girls, dressed in S & M clothing would be a good idea.  Have we become so desensitized?!   How are little girls going to play with this barbie?  Put her on a seedy street corner and have Ken drive up in his barbie jeep?!  I get it, it is probably supposed to be a collectors item for adults, but come on!!  I will continue the boycott...

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby (#4) in the baby carriage!

Well, we have been gone for the last week visiting my parents, but I thought that it was probably time to announce to the world that we are having another baby!!  He or she will be due early January (hopefully he so I don't have to buy any new clothes!).  I am about 14 weeks pregnant right now and over the worst of it.  I was pretty sick the first 12 weeks (believe me, that is not fun while selling a house/moving), but now I feel great and just want the next 6 months to be over!!  This will most likely be our last baby and I feel strangely relieved that I am almost over this stage of my life, now I can just concentrate on getting them all raised!!  So that's the news from the VanderLouws, more pics to come of our trip!!

Back Yard Antics

I just had to put this post from my family's blog on my blog so everyone can see how hardcore and crazy my parents are!!  Enjoy!

Hi everyone. Decided it was about my turn to share a little experience I had last week. As all of you know, your Dad has a headlamp that he uses outside, to work very late at night. It has been very beneficial, especially last summer getting ready for the wonderful open house. Well, you may have all heard that we had to do some quick cleaning up down at the bottom of our hillside. Someone turned us into the city, so we spent a day shredding branches, probably there from ten years back. It really was time to clean it up. Another thing we have to do is stack up the railroad ties, many of which have rebar coming out the ends. Another wonderful experience with landscapers. Anyway, dad was working out late in the dark last wednesday night. He slipped and fell on the hillside, and there was a spike sticking up out of one of the railroad ties. It pierced his leg. He continued to work for a while, and as we were getting ready for bed, he mentioned it to me. I could see the bloody hole--not too big--in his pants. He took them off, and he also had a hole in his garments, and HE ALSO HAD A HOLE IN HIS LEG! It wasn't huge, but it needed to be sewn up. Well, it was very late, and Dad proceeded to go through his black bag, found some suture, and asked/told me that I needed to put a suture in it. It really was gaping. I really wish you had been here, Colin. So he draws me a diagram, shows me what the needle needs to do, how I need to jab it in. He really is a very good teacher. Next he laid down on our bed, and I begin to jab into the edge of the wound (he also told me how close to put it in). All this is with no anesthesia. He also showed me how to wrap the suture around my tweezers (didn't have the instrument you use to hold the needle), one way, then the other way, forming a square knot. Eventually, I got it done. It was definitely not a sterile procedure. He didn't wince or anything. I am happy to report that there are no signs of infection, and the wound is healing nicely. Jason if you had been here, maybe you would have been called upon to operate! Anyway, it was a very interesting experience for me. I know how to do it if I am ever called upon again to become a temporary surgeon. Life is always interesting here on 20th. mom


Here they are, the dynamic duo!!