Welcome to the world...

It's a boy!

Calvin Edward Fear

Nov. 28th, 2008 9:34 a.m.
weighing in at a whopping 10 lbs, 4 oz
21 1/2 inches long

No wonder I was so uncomfortable!

The surgery went fine and I am now home recovering. Calvin is healthy and happy, although he has yet to pass his hearing exams, so we have some follow-up testing that will be done in the next few weeks.

Natalie, Beatrice, and yes, even Dexter seem to like having Calvin around so far. :) We are so excited to have him as part of our family.

He has so much black hair that the nurse formed it into a fauxhawk. Jay calls him our little Eskimo baby...

More pictures and a funny story to follow sometime soon. In the meantime, I'm going to take a nap!

Fall is nifty!

The weather is getting crisper, it's almost Thanksgiving, and the leaves they are a'fallin'. I love it! Jay's not so fond of the falling leaves, of course, since he's the one who has the futile task of raking them up only to watch Mother Nature thwart his efforts moments later. But soon enough the trees will be bare and winter will be on its way, so yesterday we took a few minutes to enjoy the rest of Autumn...

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We hope you have a wonderful holiday and that you take the time to remember all the wonderful blessings that you enjoy. I know we will! And the next time I post, there will be a new addition to our family. Agh!!! I can't wait.

Dexter's new...

...haircut:

... favorite pasttime:

And only one week until his new roommate arrives:

Poor clueless little guy....

I couldn't stand it any longer...

Barbie (or in this case, Belle), needed a serious makeover. Check out the kind of clothes they sell for Barbie's these days:

It barely covers her plastic buttcheeks! Not exactly the kind of image I want my girls to emulate. So... I took matters into my own hands:

Much better, yes?

And so as not to play favorites, Giselle got a new skirt, too.

Now those are the kind of girls you can take home to Mom!

I made the skirt pattern myself (I just lengthened the "skirt" you saw in the first picture), and used fabric scraps, embellished with some rick-rack. I'll probably make a few more and figure out how to make some tops, too. I'm so glad to have found a use for my fabric scraps, and even happier that the girls' dolls are now proper little ladies. I knew that semester in fashion design school would pay off someday...

2 weeks...

...until this blog needs a new name!! Any suggestions?

(The plethora of sewing projects I'm working on + pregnancy brain = I have no more creativity left!)

Thwarted Thanksgiving (kind of)

It's been confirmed. I do have to fast before the c-section. You should have seen the look on my doctor's face when she realized why I was asking the question. Then she laughed a little and said, "You only have to fast for 12 hours, though, so you'll just have to eat an early Thanksgiving dinner."

So much for my midnight snack plans! Dang!

A Busy Month Begins

Today, I vote.

And go to Costco. And take back that movie I fell asleep watching. And finally take down Jay's birthday party decorations. And balance the checkbook. And maybe, just maybe, put away the million loads of laundry that are piled up in Jay & I's room.

Why do I always put away the kids' laundry and completely ignore my own? It's a sickness... one that I curse every morning when looking for the only pair of jeans that currently fit.

I hate those jeans.

The rest of the month includes parent-teacher conferences, preparing for Thanksgiving, preparing for Christmas, and - oh yeah - preparing for the arrival of the newest little Fear. I have to admit I am not at all mentally ready for a newborn. Day-to-day life with 3 young kids has left me with little time for pondering the joys and frustrations (mostly joys... right?) that are going to be coming my way starting November 28th. I know there is going to be some sibling jealousy and lots of poopy diapers and lack of sleep, but... my mind can't seem to process beyond the leftover pumpkin pie in the fridge and the fact that I can't forget to pay Bea's preschool bill tomorrow.

That's all the room I've got in my brain right now.

Which might explain why this post is so scattered.

It's also 4:30 in the morning and I can't sleep. People who say things like "get your sleep now, while you can!" have either never been pregnant or have completely forgotten what it was like when they were. I haven't had a good night's sleep in three months, and I'm not expecting to have one until sometime in 2010.

Yikes.

See? This is why my brain keeps focusing on pumpkin pie. It's much less stressful.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Fear's!

Woody and his two Buzz Lightyears

Trunk-or-Treat 2008

We started off Halloween morning with some ghost pancakes and a lot of rain. We will finish the day with some neighborhood trick-or-treating and probably some more rain. Dexter and I will be hanging out at home, passing out candy... Dex is not really into the bee costume we forced him into for trunk-or-treat, anyway.

Poor Jay. He's working today. It's really the first rainy day that he's had to work, and it's a holiday to boot. I'm sure the roads are going to be a mess. Not to mention that he still hasn't been issued his rain gear, and the only hat he has is his dress hat, which obviously he can't wear in the rain. Good times!

And speaking of my wonderful husband...

Happy (belated) 30th birthday, Jay!

The big day was Wednesday, and it turned out really well. My presents to him were:

1) Letting him buy a Wii
2) Letting him play said Wii as much as he wanted on his birthday (which I started to regret by noon...)
3) Taking him to get Indian food for dinner (trust me, this was a sacrifice on my behalf)
4) Throwing him a surprise party!

The party turned out great, thanks to Betsy, Mom & Roy, my friend Robin, my sister Jen, and many others. And the best part was, he was actually surprised! Thank you to all who came to celebrate with us, I know it meant a lot to Jay and to me, too! I will post pictures when I can. In the meantime, have a fun and safe (and hopefully dry) Halloween!