Colorado Crockers

...I will be posting cute pictures of life from the past few weeks. I will do my best to add witty captions and minimize the snarky comments, but no promises. I am feeling hopeful of more sleep soon to come, babe has been going about one 4-5 hour stretch a day. Since Annabelle is the newest member of the family, she will be featured in this first set of pictures. Here is sweet baby Belle chatting with her papa. She has started to smile and coo, its so much fun when they finally do something other than sleep, eat and poop. Here is Annabelle sporting her new kick's and headband from Jenny. So cute. I love that my friends feed the shoe addiction I have. I try to teach my girls from a young age what really matters: cute shoes. Here is the first bath. She now takes a bath with her sisters every night. Matt won't put all 3 girls in the bath unless I ask him to. Just because Annabelle has pooped 2 out of the 4 times he has bathed them all together...I think its just a bad attitude. ...

I know, I haven't updated in much too long. I would like to say that it is because my life is so exciting that I haven't really had time. That would not be the case. In truth, my life isn't that thrilling and in my severely sleep deprived state I was unable to think of anything creative or inspiring to write about. Lest you think that I have been inspired and that is why I am writing, let me assure you that I am no more creative or inspired now than I was yesterday. Or last week. This is it, the best I can come up with, so you will just have to deal. Matt: Out of town this week to sunny and warm CA. I am bitter because it is freakin' freezing here. He is back to work after 2 delightful weeks off. The girls miss having him to play with. I miss all the help. I have decided he shouldn't work and some one should offer to sponsor our life. let me know if your interested. Gretchen: Sleep deprived. My filter, which is loose weave anyway, is full of holes. What to know what...

Here are pictures of all 3 girls at about the same age. Can you tell who is who?

Our newest daughter joined our family November 15, 2009. She came into this world at 11:55 am. weighing 7lbs and 11 ozs and is 19.75 inches long. She has a smattering of dark hair and a great set of lungs. For those of you who are not freaked out by the whole birth thing, this is the story: I had my 39/40 week prenatal appointment on Tuesday. The baby looked great, healthy and good heart rate, about 7 and a half pounds. Wednesday morning my doctor called me and said he would not deliver her any way other than c-section and dropped me from care. I scrambled, got a whole bunch of names of doctors and was blessed to find a Dr. Hall who would talk me on. Thursday I got the chance to meet Dr. Hall. I was impressed. He was ok with me doing a normal birth. He told me I could try some Castor oil to get my body ready and maybe even put me in labor, so I picked some up on the way home. I took it that night, it certainly cleaned me out for a few hours but nothing really happened. Friday, early mo...

I can't believe my little girl is 4. I couldn't be more proud of the child she is becoming. She is kind and compassionate, sweet and funny and is such a blessing to have in our family. For her birthday this year, she had the flu. What a bummer, but she was a trooper and enjoyed her chosen meal of waffles and eggs with a few close friends and family. On Wednesday we had a birthday party with her friends. Elie has been looking forward to this for so long. She requested a pajama party and even picked out the kind of cup cakes we should make. She had a blast. Here are some of the highlights.

The belly is large. The baby is about 7.5 lbs according to ultrasound. I don't feel like she is any closer to coming out than she was a month ago. Fluid levels look good, she is crazy active and perfectly content to stay where she is. I have another appointment next week, lets hope I don't make it!

One of my least favorite parts of life is waiting. I have a very strong dislike for knowing my world is going to change but having to just wait for it to happen. Like before you move, or start a new job, or when expecting a baby, transition is hard for me. I dislike waiting for things or people who don't seem to feel my sense of urgency. My Father in heaven gets a kick out of this, I believe. At least He seems very willing to give me chances to further develop this character trait. Really, it all comes down to the "p" word...patients. For instance, I have been blessed with a 4 year old who has 1 speed. This is not a fast speed. She has no ability to "hurry up". Her 1 year old sister is significantly faster than she is at most things and will stand at the bottom of the stairs yelling "lets go!". Most of this is age and personality, not a bad behavior thing, she is obedient and has a good attitude about doing what I ask. Eliana will be sent up stairs to ...

This is probably the first time we have ever gotten the nursery finished before the arrival of the baby. I even have clothes and diapers in the drawers. Now,when this kid finaly shows up, we are set! Except for the whole name thing...

Halloween was well celebrated this year. We had 2 party's and 2 chances to trick or treat. we got our money's worth from our costumes! We also have an appalling amount of candy. The girls had so much fun, Elie really gets excited about holidays and Addilyn get excited about candy.

Yes, I know the counter to the left tells you all I will have this baby any day now. This isn't the case, unless the little counter knows something I don't. I am only 38 weeks, 37 if you go by my doctors dates. Baby can't come this week, we have too much going on. Monday: Meet friends at Barnes and Noble to play, lunch date with my friend Sarah, babysit Amanda's kids. Tuesday: Halloween party #1 Wednesday: Play group Halloween party, doctors appointment Thursday : Visit Grandma Betty and Grandpa Jon at there new place Friday: Golden "Boo Street" with Grandma We don't really have plans for the weekend, but next week is Elie's birthday party. So, really, I don't need this kid to come any early. On that note, I tested group B strep positive meaning I have to get to the hospital at least 4 hours before this kid shows up so I can get IV antibiotics . If I don't get them, the baby has to stay in the hospital at least 48 hours after she is born. No...

We went on a nice family walk last night, stopped at the park and played in the leaves on the way home. When we got home, Matt and I were making dinner in the kitchen when I picked up Addilyn. I noticed she had something in her eye...and it was big. It was a chunk of leaf! It didn't seem to bother her at all, so we decided to wait until after dinner to see if it would just wash out by itself. It didn't. Our next plan was to rinse her eye out with saline solution. That didn't work either. I was afraid to let her go to sleep with it in her eye, so off to urgent care we went. Our Urgent care is very close to our house, they already had a file on AJ so the whole process was quick. The doc basically did what we did and used a q-tip to get it out. We left leafless and with a prescription for antibiotic drops for her eye. I am thankful for good insurance and close medical care.

Although I am sure you are rivited by all my intellectual prowess, I figured it might be time to show off my beautiful children along with some quick updates: Eliana: Soon to be 4, she is pretty sure she knows just about everything. Loves books, creating things, she can write her name and loves going to MOPS and bible study. Over all, a very sweet natured girl. Elie hasn't showed a lot of interest in competition or athletics stuff, but she loves to play outside. Plays very well with her sister and is a natural care taker ( and bossy as anything) She loves animal, her bed is full of them. We play pretend all day long. She is really getting into her doll house too. Addilyn: Going on 2, is much fiestier than her big sis. Quick to lose her temper and just as quick to recover, loves to cuddle and wrestle. Would follow her sister to the ends of the earth. A natural vegetarian, still overall a lousy eater. She is a ham, loves to make people laugh (especially herself) Much more daring than...

Some days, I put in my time as a mother and end the day feeling like I sucked and accomplished nothing. Today was not one of those days. It may help that I am "nesting". Much to Matt's dismay, since there is only so much I can do, he gets to help me nest. First of all, the bunk bed is up and the big girls are offically sharing a room. So far so good. We having been working on the organization of 2 children's worth of stuff in one small space. Lots of progress was made and a little more needs to be done. Second, the crib is up and baby #3's room is starting to come together. I need to pull out newborn clothes and diapers still, but at least we finally got started. Third, I am a cooking fiend. I made 2 loaves of banana bread and a batch of pumpkin fudge. I had left over evaporated milk and pumpkin from the fudge, which is a pet peeve of mine. What the heck am I supposed to do with half a can of each?! I also had meal left overs that included butternut squash and bro...

Matt and I celebrated our 10 th anniversary this weekend. In some ways it seems like more, like he has just always been a part of my life. In a way, he has, my adult life anyway. I guess that is what happens when you get married so young. We were discussing how we have changed and grown over the last 10 years, and the changes in both of us are massive. We also discussed what we used to think marriage was and what we now believe it to be. Here is one thing we have decided everyone who is to get married needs to know: The Stupid Clause: At some point in your marriage, one of you will do something vastly stupid. The price will be high and it will be paid by everyone who is in your family at that point. It won't be fair, it won't be your fault and everyone will suffer the stupidity of one person. That is what marriage is about. Yes, sometimes it is sunshine and roses and happy feelings. Often it is just hard work. Sometimes your spouse is a glorified room mate that you would kick...

The other day I went to my favorite store, Goodwill. They had out all there costumes for Halloween so I picked up a bunch for Elie and Addie including a monkey, puppy, penguin, bee and monster. I threw in a few dresses for when friends come over. Eliana was thrilled, her sister was completely unimpressed. Later that day it was time to go over to a friends house for a bbq. I told Elie to go upstairs and get ready to go. She came down wearing a monkey costume with a dress over the top and her pink cowboy boots. Not exactly what I had in mind. This was a pride check. Every mother wants her children to be well received. My child looked...ridiculous. We left for the bbq, Eliana in the outfit she had chosen. I could have made her change, but I wouldn't have been doing it for any reason that benefited my child. It would have been to avoid being "that" mother, the one who lets her kid wear her shoes on the wrong feet and cowboy boots with her Easter dress. Eliana and Addilyn are ...

I am getting to the point in my pregnancy where I am questioning the wisdom of my gym membership. I am too uncoordinated for the elliptical (which is actually the case when I am NOT pregnant too, but that is a whole ' nother post) I look a little silly doing Zoomba . In an effort to not waste the money, to escape my children and to not hit beached whale size, i am exploring other options, the most recent being water aerobics . I have a friend who refers to that class as the "water Buffalo's " and lets just say I don't feel to bad in a swimming suit next to most of the people in the class. I also drop the age mean by at least 30 years. Over all the class is great, I like the water and can work up a "sweat". The people are nice and I learned you can get a pretty decent work out. It has also been enlightening in other ways. Mainly in regards to old women and nudity. I am not really all that modest. I don't get uncomfortable nursing in front of people...

Last Thursday night I got a call that my cousin Shelley had passed away. She was 36. We don't know many details yet and may never really understand what happened. Tonight our family got together to celebrate her life. We laughed a lot, which might seem strange to those who didn't know Shelley or the members of my family. As the kids all played at the park, the family sat around a table of food, remembering. I grew up with Shelley and there was never a dull moment. She had a unique spark, a love of the written word and opinion's about everything. In fact, my last conversation with her was about baby names. Her view of the world was one of a kind, and so was she. She was smart and fearless to a fault, but broken too. Shelley's story didn't end how I think it should have. She has been struggling for the last several years with illness and I never had the pleasure of watching her become everything I think she could have been. Sometimes it feels a little unfair that God ...

I am sure I will get around to posting a more comprehensive list of what we have done and seen while enjoying New York City, but until then...

I have been awful about posting pictures as of late. I blame my camera because that sounds better than my real reason: the fact I am a camera snob and hated the camera we bought in May. Matt got sick of me whining and asked the digital imaging guy for another one for me. i am glad to say I love it so you can expect more pictures. Here is me 29 weeks preggers .

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32404017/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/ School crazyness is starting and I am so glad to be spared from the maddness . I have been struggling a lot lately with what I believe to be true about childhood. Here are some of the very loose conclusions I have come to: - I am a big believer in protecting innocents. Maybe this is the same a "sheltering", I don't know. All I know is I believe my girls have the right to be innocent for as long as I can let them. - Early childhood should be about play, not stress. Elie doesn't compare herself to other kids yet and I love that. Kids should be playing in dirt, running around, living in a pretend world of there own making. -I don't care when my kids learn academics . Elie will learn to read and add, I don't care if she is 8 before it happens because no one will care once she is 25. -Life, education, parenting...none of this is "one size fits all". Don't tell me what is best for my k...

Matt is up in Breckenridge doing a training, part of which is a Myers Briggs type test for personality. Not one to be left out, I did one too. This is what it said, and it seems to sum me up well (I added the bold when I thought it was REALLY me): Extroverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Perceiving" Clever describes ENTPs best. They deal imaginatively with social relationships as well as physical and mechanical relationships. They are alert to what is apt to occur next, and sensitive to possibilities. ENTPs are the engineers of human relationships and human systems.Verbally as well as cerebrally quick, ENTPs enjoy arguing: for its own sake, and to show off their impressive verbal skills. They often have a perverse sense of humour, and play devil's advocate regardless of consequence. They sometimes confuse, even hurt, those who cannot understand the concept of argument as a sport. Innovative and ingenious at problem-solving, they sometimes manage to outsmart themselves. ENTPs have bee...

My house is never clean. It's not that I don't LIKE it clean, on the rare occasions I find it that way I really do enjoy it. I can't even claim that I don't have time to clean it, my kids play nicely together and I make time for other things in my life that I find important. I think my problem has several layers, the first being that cleaning just isn't fun. I like to play with my kids, cook, chat with friends and do all kinds of other things that take up the "cleaning time". I am also a terrible finisher and don't really mind a bit of a mess, but those are different blog posts. Back to things I think are "fun". I like crafty things, projects that, when finished, stay done. Unlike my laundry or dishes, which have never in my memory ever been totally "done" for any amount of time. While figuring out how to make my soon-to-be 3 daughters dresses for my soon-to-be-married brother in laws wedding, I came across this site: http://www...

Matt and I have always prided ourselves on being at the very cutting edge of popular culture. We spend countless hours and dollars to achieve this higher goal. These last two sentences would benefit from the use of a " sarcasm font" if such a thing existed. Matt and I are both more than happy if we just have clean clothes to wear in the morning. I am thrilled if I stay presentable until noon. The closest thing we get to pop culture is our free subscription to "Entertainment" magazine . We had to relinquish our "cool kid" cards with the keys to our Jetta in exchange for a couple of kids and a mini van. Occasionally we participate in a trend and get be "with it" for the duration. After all, if you give enough monkeys laptops they will eventually reproduce Shakespeare's works, so stranger things have happened . Last weekend, we were cool. We participated in the trend of "Stay-cation". Instead of jet setting to some posh location...

I am at the very fun stage of pregnancy where I want to eat everything not nailed down. And if it is nailed down, I might just gnaw on it for a while. Food tastes great, I can think of a million different things I want to eat for every meal. Taking all that into account, I can see why this may not be a really exciting blog post for those of you who are not eating for two. It should also be noted that I am very fond of all things kitchen gadget. This is unfortunate due to the microscopic size of my kitchen. I mean, there are those living in New York City with kitchen bigger than mine, which can lead to some storage issues. It may also be important to note that I hate to clean and usually choose to cook to avoid cleaning and my floors are in a sad state right now. Don't even get me started on my bathroom. But I digress... I have tonight's dinner cooking already. Some may want to believe that it is because I am so very on the ball, and if you are one of those, please re-read the a...

I'm not great about keeping up on world events. Two children have MASSIVELY shrunk my sphere, but none the less, I do attempt . This is something I read this morning: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32222438/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/ This got my goat enough for me to blog about it. For those of you without the time, let me sum up the article : the UN spent a couple BILLION dollars on an initiative to improve the health of children in poor countries only to find out it really didn't make a bit of difference. Noble, yes, but completely misguided. Now I know I am not comparing apples and oranges here, but this is what worries me about Obama's big health plan. The massive amount of tax payer money, my money ( ok , well, Matt's) being used to finance a program that is chock full of holes. The UN can at least claim ignorance about not knowing it wasn't going to work. Obama can ask Hawaii how the whole government run health care thing turns out ( they had to close ...

The common theme I have found through all stages of motherhood thus far is balance. When you bring home a tiny bundle that is totally dependent on you, it doesn't seem like it should be too hard to figure out what to do, but it is. How do you balance the need to nurture a child to sleep and teaching them to figure it out on there own? As they get mobile you have to figure out the balance between rescuing them when they crash and letting them pick themselves up. Here are my balance issues right now: Entertainment: I don't believe my primary job as a mother is to prevent boredom in my children. I want to find a healthy balance between exposing the girls to a bunch of "stimulating" activities and memory making events and letting them explore by themselves. I don't sign up kids for a bunch of classes but I do let her do art, dance and music at home. I don't want my children to expect to be entertained, to not have to think of creative ideas to occupy their time....

How did my baby girl get to be a year and half old? If time goes this quickly with baby #2 I had really better pay attention to #3 or I think I will miss it all together. Addilyn seems more "baby" to me than Eliana did at this age. I don't know if it is because she doesn't talk quite as much or if it is that I have a big kid to compare her to. She is a ham and will do what she can to make anyone laugh, she cracks herself up all the time. She loves to put on clothes, the other day she was wearing her outfit, a pair of Elies short and t-shirt, and 3 pair of my underwear. She can also undress herself, which is trouble. Shoes are always a hit and so are baby dolls. The child eats no meat of any type but would live on diary, fruit and carbs. She sleeps at least 12 hrs at night and takes a nap for almost 2. She has a fair amount of words and signs. If told "no" or has an object taken away she will lay on the floor, cover her face and throw a fit. She is spontaneou...

I have always fancied myself a gardener. I'm not really, but I like to think of myself as one. Gardening holds a couple of major hurdles for me; for one you have to remember to water it. This poses a problem due to my somewhat spacey nature that is very spacey when preggers which I have been for a couple of years now. Another hurdle, or two in this case, is the dogs, who love to dig in and run through my garden. Alas, after many years of half-assed attempts at something productive, I have success. I am proud to say my garden ROCKS this year. We have already enjoyed a nice harvest of spinach and radishes. We eat a salad fresh from the garden several times a week. The herbs are used in almost every meal. My tomato plant is going to need its own zip code soon. The snap peas never even make it inside, I just pick them and eat them. In the next week I expect to have a few peppers to enjoy and the cucumbers are not too far off. Look at me and my green thumb! See, all you need is a fence ...

-For some reason the baby on the left of the screen is growing faster than mine. I am not 23 weeks yet, subtract about 10 days and it is a little more accurate . Strange. -I have had a 1, 2, and 3 year old at my house for the last several weeks. My house looks like I have had 3 small children in it and I am still deciding if I care. - I feel good, sleep a lot and want to eat everything that doesn't move. I feel baby all the time. She gets hiccups just like the first 2 did. Matt can feel her too. -I have all 3 kids asleep. I should get some kind of award for that. -My garden rocks this year. We are enjoying fresh herbs and salad fixins ' right now. My tomato is going to need its own zip code soon. -I want to hire a cleaning lady. I would have to clean before she came which seems to defeat the point a little. -We really should start working on a name for this little girl. - I got fried yesterday. I went for a walk with my friend around the lake. I never wear sunsreen on this wal...

"15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever." How do you introduce yourself? Sure, there is the obvious name part, but then what next? Do you say where your from? What you do? Where you went to school? What about your spouse and kids, do they come up? At church on Sunday (yes, I went) the guy speaking talked about the above passage from 1 John. It is a very easy part of the bible to create a bunch of "rules" about, but if you do, you manage to miss the point entirely. Basically , it comes down to this: Who you are comes from your heart, "the wellspri...

I have issues, both general and specific, one of them being with the phrase "I'm sorry". I am sure I don't like apologizing any less or more than the next person and the issue isn't with me uttering the phrase so maybe this doesn't count as a "me" issue at all. I don't make my kids apologize, usually, even when they do something wrong. This may make me very unpopular, which I am ok with. I have no problem with other parents making there kids say sorry, its just that I find it a little...hollow. If this is the definition: Sorry: regretful: feeling or expressing regret or sorrow or a sense of loss over something done or undone I am pretty sure my 2 year old doesn't feel it when she decked your kid for taking a toy she wanted, and forcing her to say it seems pointless. I guess I feel like empathy is a more important lesson than apology. And then there is the whole power struggle aspect. I am bigger than my kid and can physically remove them from...

Can't think of a better way to spend my 29th birthday.

We left CO on Wends. morning. We were expecting Addilyn to be a pain in the tush on the airplane, she doesn't love being made to sit on our laps. We got to the airport only to find out our flight had been delayed. We grabbed some lunch and a little snack from the candy store while we waited. Once we were on the plane, Elie had no problem keeping herself busy and Addilyn fell fast asleep. Such an easy flight. We picked up a rockin' mini van and drove up to Aunt Darlenes. We went to visit Grandpa John, who is 86 and waiting in the hospital for a valve replacement surgery. Matt had to work on Thursday and the girls and I played with Matt's cousins and there kids. Elie never wanted to leave Darlenes with all the toys, the pool and friends she made. Friday was Disney and we had a blast. So much more fun this year than last. The day was cool and we had almost no lines for any ride. We rode Small World, Dumbo, Tea Cups, Mr. toad and a few others. We visited Micky and Minnie in the...

Friday afternoon Matt and I were sitting on the couch discussing what we should do for dinner and commenting that it looked like it was going to rain. I heard a noise in the back yard, assumed the dumb dog had gotten into something and went to investigate. This is what I saw: Unbeknownst to me, we now live in Oz, where large houses (sheds) fall from the sky and land on things, in this case, my garden. No, it wasn't really windy. We called the Honeycutts and asked if they would be willing to send there strongest man (Matt) over to help us. The shed is now sitting up-right in our yard, killing grass.

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Nothin' much to say, just thought it was about time to add some pictures to my blog. Some of these are a few weeks old others are from this weekend when we celebrated Grandpa Thurber's 80th birthday.