Chris and Jenni

Before I forget I just have to write down the cutest thing Eamon said yesterday. The kids were looking at the big calendar I have on the wall, I have a bunch of little pictures signifiing events we will be attending and the kids were admiring the stick figures and talking about which ones were their favorites. Eamon says out of the blue… “I like ladies, I wanna marry a lady.” Of course Aidan pipes in his two cents, “Yeah Eamon, you have to marry a lady because you’re a boy!” But I could tell that Eamon wasn’t just making an initial discovery about ladies, it’s definitely something he’s thought of before, just restating what he already knows to be true. I love little boys, they may have tons of energy and drive me bonkers sometimes but there is something so amazing about watching this little man evolve from a tiny little boy. They are constantly making comparisons between daddy and I. They will say things like, “yeah, you cant do that mommy because you’re not strong like daddy.” Just matter of fact, no offense intended. It is so fun to watch those chivalrous qualities developing as well. Like last night for instance, I will often get bad headaches that will put me out of commission for awhile and the kids are beginning to understand this. The last headache I had Eamon, upon hearing that I had a headache said, “I’m sorry you’re not feeling well mommy, that’s no good :(” And last night Aidan was telling daddy, “Tomorrow if mommy says, ‘I have a bad’ headache and you (daddy) tell me that she has a headache, I will say, “I know, and I will take care of her.” Even though they can’t really do much for me at this point in their lives, there is something so amazing about knowing that if they were not only 3 and 5 years old, they would. I love my little growing boys!

One last cute thing. I like to talk to the kids about their dreams for their future (Aidan wants to own a watermelon store currently, and Eamon wants to help him with that). Well, I was talking to Guenna about how we’ll go into business together when she’s a woman. Aidan joined in, “yeah and I will work in the store too because then we will be friends.” Speaking of he and I. I don’t remember ever having told him that but he’s pretty perceptive and I think he’s gathered that from the relationship he sees between Chris and I, and his nana and papa. Such a cute little man!

By the way, we are back from camping! We had a blast and we’re so glad to be home. Soon I will post pictures of our trip but I’m still just trying to get back into the swing of things, and I’ve been working a lot on our garden so I’ve been busy!

Well, I had a Dr (not midwife) appointment today, it’s been almost four years since I’ve seen my Dr. I usually go to the naturopath but my insurance doesn’t cover her and I have insurance while I’m pregnant. Anyway, I’ve been having a lot of heal pain lately. It started as though I had bruised my heal and so I didn’t think much of it. Then when it didn’t get better but started getting much worse, to the point where I was unable to walk on it in the mornings/evenings, I decided I must go see the doctor (which you can imagine is a big deal when you have four small children, and no one to help watch them while you go to the doctor :) So we all went today, and the kids did great, they would have done a little better if we would have been seen at the time of the appointment and not an hour later, but that’s life right? So she diagnosed me with a fairly common condition called plantar fasciitis. It’s basically an inflammation of the plantar muscle which connects the heal bone and the toes. So, just in time for us to go camping, I have this lovely condition which requires me to stay off my feet as much as possible. Even if we weren’t going camping, that is nearly impossible already! Oh well. Life goes on right? So she prescribed me to get some new orthodics in my shoes and I bought some new tennis shoes since mine are pretty old. Hoping those and the exercises and the ice, and the extra resting will do me some good. :) Have a great week all! We are heading out for awhile so don’t be surprised if you don’t see a post for a while. Blessings!

Today we had our 20 week ultrasound for the baby. We’ve done this with every baby. Both Chris and I love to see the baby, just one little peak at the baby before he/she is born. We were so good this time, we had decided long ago that we would not find out the gender of the baby and we stuck with it! The baby’s position was perfect and we got to see a lot of good views and got some cute pictures.

Here are the boys, patiently waiting for mommy’s name to be called. On the way in I had informed them that they might not be able to go in with mommy to the appointment. They have a one adult one child policy and we pretty much far exceed that, so I told them, maybe if you guys are really good and quiet, they will let you come in (hoping!). Eamon was so cute while we were waiting he sort of asked/told me, “Maybe I should whisper and be really quiet.” I said, “yeah, I think that’s a good idea.” Our tech was wonderful and didn’t even flinch when Chris wheeled in the two others! So we all crammed into the room and the fun began. The kids were really fascinated and loved seeing our little one on the screen…

This one is my favorite, I was so glad that she was able to get such a great profile pic, I think this is only the second of five kids that I’ve been able to get one (no one else wanted to cooperate, come on, smile for mommy!)

The girls were getting a little “busy” so Chris went ahead and removed them away from all the expensive machinery and took them back out into the waiting room while the boys and I finished out the rest of the ultrasound. At the very end she got an amazing view of the legs, I asked her to stop there and was showing the boys the details of the legs. The baby was totally cooperating for us and did some fancy dance moves so we could see those little legs in action. I think it was a really neat moment for the boys, which was really cool to them. I’ve seen this before but it’s all so new to me. So the ultrasound was over and we now need to load everyone and head back to Chris’ work.

Hmmm, that was interesting…

Me- “Chris, I think we are having a boy.” (Me thinking-I’m not really sure but I think I saw something during that little leg dance move.)

Chris- “Yeah, me too. I wasn’t going to say anything but when she first started I thought I saw something but you weren’t looking so I wasn’t going to say anything if you didn’t.”

Hmmm, we told her that we didn’t want to find out but both of us are really suspicious now. Before, I was really strong, I didn’t need to know. But now I have this piece of information that will bug me for the next 20 weeks! 20 weeks, that is so far away! Oh well. So we loaded the kids and then Chris handed me a pen. “Here, take this back and ask the tech if we are right.”

So, feeling a little silly, I went in and asked for the tech who came out a minute later. “Um, yeah, a weak moment here. We thought we saw boy parts, did we?” She smiled and said, “do you really want to know?” Feeling just a little bit juvenile for having explained to her how we were so excited to keep the gender a secret this time, “yes.” “Yep, you were right. You’re having a boy!”

Oh my goodness, another boy! I can’t believe it! I can’t believe we know, already! That was so not the plan, but oh well. How exciting! The boys were very excited (although I don’t think Guenna’s choice of a name will fit very well for this one, “Eva” is her choice for pretty much any baby right now!) Well, it shouldn’t be nearly as hard to come up with a name now that we know the gender. I’m really kind of in awe, another little man in our home. I feel so blessed, so honored, and a little scared. Boys have a lot of energy. Well, I wont dwell on that thought too much, just like you don’t want to dwell on labor for too long when you are close to your due date, it’s just not healthy. Cross that bridge when I get there.

Thank you Father. For this sweet little boy. It’s hard to imagine, and somehow I feel so unworthy, so unprepared. Can I really mother another little boy who will one day grow into a man? Will I be able to help mold him into a man of virtue and godliness? Will I fail him, or will he rise and called me blessed one day? I’m truly humbled as I look once again at the job description that God apparently sees me fit to accomplish. And I am so thankful that He will never leave my side, always molding me, reshaping and refinishing, his mother. And everyday as they get older I see those glimpses of Him in their eyes and I know that He’s the one doing all the molding, I’m just another empty vessel doing my best to be willing and ready to be used by Him. Thank You Father.

It was Carrie’s birthday on Monday so Sunday we all celebrated with Chinese food and then DQ ice cream afterward. While we were eating at the Chinese restaurant Eamon asked, “are there Chinese in Heaven?” Oh my. I have no idea why he would ask a question like that, but since we were there, why not ask right?! After dessert at DQ everyone headed over to our house for some coffee and to check out the progress on our little gardens (since we’ve had so much rain there has not been a whole lot of progress, I’m waiting to take pictures until I see some more growth!).

I think the picture above is so sweet. Guenna wanted to hold baby Eva so bad and so after I got her settled down a bit (her mommy was drinking coffee and she did not appreciate that!) we set Guenna up with a pillow and her little baby. I was surprised that Eva just felt right at home and fell asleep in Guenna’s arms. Most of you moms know that this doesn’t happen very often for a two year old, and you can imagine that Guenna was very pleased to be able to hold her cousin for so long. Well, we are enjoying our little girl, she’s such a little cutie, and is getting quite the little arms and thighs, we love those chubby thighs around here!

Happy birthday sister! Hope you had a wonderful birthday! I’m so glad that I have a sister in law so close, hey we should do something this week ;) Love you, and Happy Birthday!

How’s that for a title? Yes it’s true, our little baby is supposedly nine inches, crown of the head to his little rump! Isn’t that amazing? I put a measuring tape across my belly yesterday so the kids can visually see how big our little sibling is getting and they are all so amazed at how big our baby is getting. I’m 19 weeks today, almost half way there! Wow, this pregnancy has flown by! Tonight while I was sitting at the computer the baby was going nuts. It was the first time the baby was so active for so long. Usually I get a kick every couple hours but this time it was a real dance party in there. This is my fifth time feeling one of our little ones growing in my womb and I will just say that it doesn’t get old. There is something so awesome about the miracle of the life growing within me.

We’re going to be having our 20 week ultrasound next Friday, and no, we are not going to find out what the baby’s gender is. We will all just have to wait! Just think, this first half has just flown by, so will the second half! And then, oh my goodness, I will have five kids! Yikes! We also don’t have a name picked out yet. Not even a clue, whatsoever! We usually have the name picked out by now, but I think God will have to speak audibly this time because it’s just not there! Well, God has His ways of whispering His thoughts in our ears, we just have to listen when He’s speaking right?

I better get to bed, looking forward to a fun day with the kids tomorrow. You will have to look at the pics I uploaded of the kids at the river tonight, they are so cute! Good night and God bless!

For those of you who may have noticed the pictures that I posted a few days ago which included my cute pregnant sister and her sweet husband, I’m sure you are thinking, “I didn’t even know they were coming to WA?!” Well, that was intentional, I intentionally didn’t mention it, for fear that you would all flock to WA to see her cute belly and then I wouldn’t get as much time with her. They came a week ago Wednesday and left last Wednesday. It was a terribly fast trip and I kept looking at her belly and thinking to myself, “I probably wont get to meet that sweet little babe until he’s a year old!” I’m tearing up just thinking about it now! But that’s life eh? Time flies and our babies grow up way too fast!

We had some fun times together while they were here. Somehow we didn’t get pictures at all the events, oh well! Had some good times visiting with mom and dad, with AJ, Jennie and the boys, seeing the grandparents. We had a memorial service for dad’s girlfriend Brenda which turned out really special and I think dad and Brenda’s son were very pleased. Then after the weekend, they came back up north with us for a couple days and to see the Burns side of the family (you know, the in-laws;)

We spent a day in Bellingham, and had some fun with the kids. I just have to say that my kids absolutely LOVE their auntie and uncle. In fact, I think my kids have the BEST aunts and uncles in the world, they love them all!

And then all the sad good-bye hugs and kisses. My kids wonder why they have to live so far away, and Aidan’s big question this weekend was, “How many days would it take to drive a car to Hawaii?” I think the question was stemmed from his dislike of the whole plane ride, though not wanting to admit that he wouldn’t like something so incredible as a plane! And the last picture of Cait and uncle San just says it all. Uncle just won her heart this weekend. She is such a snuggly baby and uncle San really took the time to hold her and play with her. When they were getting ready to leave she had already gave him a hug and I was standing next to him and she grabbed him again wanted him to hold her again, I think she knew that they were leaving, or sensed that we were saying good-bye. Well, I’m just looking forward to both of they beautiful people becoming parents together. Tam and San, we love you so much and thank you for coming and spending your time and money to show us you love us and miss us and that we are important to you. If I had all the money in the world and could also afford a babysitter, I would come to be with you while you have this baby. But sis, I believe in you, and your wonderful man. You will do amazing together and God will bless this new adventure with His kiss of approval. You are about to step into the most amazing adventure of your lives together. The journey, if you allow it to, will draw you so much closer and you will see God in a new light. I’ve already seen how God has grown you two through this joyful journey. May you find the grace that God has for you all along the way. We all love you so dearly and pray God’s protection on all of you through the birth and beginning of life with a new Watanabe baby! Love you and miss you, soak up some sun for all of us here in WA!

I can’t believe our little niece is getting so big, she has really started smiling and I got a couple on camera. She is such a sweet little girl, and our kids continue to adore her. Every time we see her Cait goes nuts and it’s all we can do to keep her away from the baby. The boys want to hold her the whole time and Guenna just loves her to pieces. She still thinks that “baby Eva” is in my tummy, and every other baby out there is “baby Eva.” It doesn’t help that our close friends have a baby Eva who is just a little older than Eva!

Here’s a cute one of mama and baby, and the boys swinging at nana and papa’s. I’m sure some of you have noticed that Eva has half a head of hair. It’s actually a birth mark! The amazing thing is the placement of it, it’s like a dark brown mole and it goes along the lining of her hair. It appears that the hair on the birth mark will be curly, we are hoping that her other hair will be too, but only time will tell. So far both sides are the same color, but it could definitely change, again time will tell. So many adventures in life. We are just so thankful for a sweet little beautiful healthy little girl!

Lot’s of fun, and so tasty! Check out my post on my homemaking blog.

We finally did it, we got most of our garden planted, some of the boxes we will wait to plant as we go so that they wont all be ready at the same time. But we got a little of everything planted, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, basil, cilantro, cauliflower, romaine, mixed salads, orange/red beets, kohlrabi, celery, two types of kale, yellow/pickling cucumbers, pumpkins, corn, and potatoes. I have a couple more things that I would like to plant and I will continue to plant through the summer. And hopefully plant some winter crops this fall. It’s been such a fun adventure, I’m learning so much and have so much more to learn!

In all of our time outdoors because of the nice weather we’ve been having, Cait got a bee sting today on her lip :( I was in the kitchen making sandwiches and all the kids were on the back porch eating raw corn (Cait had eaten most of an ear) and I could here the boys almost yelling at her, “NO Cait, NO!” And I could hear Cait fussing at first and then screaming. I assumed it was just the boys being bossy and then Cait throwing a fit because they took something away from her. Then Aidan ran into the kitchen, “Cait got stung by a bee!” Of course I ran outside to see Cait, with half of a bee in her mouth. Aidan explained that the bee was on the ground and they told her to not pick it up, but knowing that she didn’t really have to obey them, she picked it up and of course, put it in her mouth. The bee wasn’t nearly as excited about the whole event, so he stung her! I removed the bee from her mouth and picked her up and tried to comfort her. But now with the pain of a bee sting on her lip she was not able to suck her thumb. And that is when I saw it, THE STINGER!! It was still in her lip!! Leaving every last bit of venom in her poor little lip, I felt so bad that I hadn’t seen it earlier! Well, needless to say, she cried a lot, I gave her something for the pain and then a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. (Which I of course had to wipe off of her hurting little face after she was done!) She is napping now and seems like she’s going to be fine. I wish I had a charged battery in my camera, her lip although really fat, is of course, cute.

Do you love coffee? Have you ever tried Fidalgo Bay Coffee? I know those of you who have love it, and those of you who haven’t, will! It’s really the best coffee I’ve tasted yet, I think I’m kind of picky though and just a little bit spoiled. When your husband works at a coffee roasting company you get spoiled with really fresh delicious coffee, and anything that has sat on the on the shelf for longer than say a month just doesn’t quite taste right ;)

Anyway, Chris is hosting a coffee giveaway contest on their company blog. Fidalgo Bay Coffee has just launched their new website and their new look. All you have to do to enter the contest is go over to Chris’ post and leave a comment, pretty simple! Hope you join in the fun, and add their blog to your blog reader, these guys are pretty funny!

Oh, and as an extra incentive for entering the contest, Chris is going to hand deliver the coffee and you will wake to the fresh smell of freshly roasted, freshly made coffee. (Wait, I don’t know if they have authorized that yet, so don’t hold your breath, but definitely go and enter the contest! ;)

Catching up with my videos. Here’s one of Cait taking some of her first steps, this video was taken a couple days after she first started to walk. She’s getting more confident each day and the older kids love to see her trying to walk, she gets lots of cheering and encouragement which always makes her smile. She’s such a joy, it’s so fun to watch her grow up together, I love that my kids appreciate each other.

Cait’s Walking! from Chris and Jenni on Vimeo.

Here’s one of the kids helping me move dirt. And a sneak peak at Mama Chicken setting on her eggs. I have to report that today Mama Chicken took her baby outdoors today. I was so impressed! That little chicken can get over an 8 inch board, I have no idea how she does it! (I say she, but with our luck, she will probably be a he!;)

Gardening with the kids, and a hen setting on eggs from Chris and Jenni on Vimeo.

If you are interested, I uploaded a few more videos, one isn’t working right now, not sure why. Anyway, enjoy!

For those of you who know about juicing, this juicer is amazing! The pulp is totally dry when it comes out and I’m getting a lot more juice for how many vegetables I am juicing. Tonight we made ice cream from frozen fruit, it was absolutely amazing! We are going to get years of use out of this machine and will probably use it daily if not multiple times a day! I can make juice, nut butters, ice cream, soup, and if I had the other attachments I could make pasta and bread sticks (among many other things). Anyway, this tool is going to be a great benefit to the health of our family, thanks for letting me get it hon!

Green Lemonade Just wait until you see the ice cream we made tonight, simply from frozen fruit, that’s it! It was delicious, although I think it gave the kids a bit of a fruit sugar high, they were really wired before bed time! :) You gotta live a little right?!

Guenna loves the outdoors. It was funny tonight when Guenna saw this picture, she kept saying, “Eamon, worm?” I think she was confused because she was wearing Eamon’s coat. Then when she realized it was her she said, “Guenna, eat worm.” Just for a clarification, she did not eat the worm but from looking at the picture it does look like she’s about ready to.

This one is for nana Judi, all her babies with their gloves, hats, and shovels!! Thanks nana, we will have endless fun with them this summer (that is if we can keep track of them, and when one is missing someone doesn’t try to steal his brother or sisters! Oops, too late!)

Cait loves the outdoors as well, especially when she can see the chickens. And when she’s close enough to kiss one, even better!

I love the summer time, it’s so great to have more space to play and more things to keep all these little hands busy! It’s been raining again the beginning of this week so we’ve been indoors cleaning up, getting ready for some more sunshine! Hopefully tomorrow we will be outdoors again.

…or I guess I should say in our coop!

And here she is, isn’t she adorable! The black hen next to her, is her “mama chicken” although she didn’t come from one of Mama Chickens eggs because they are not fertile since we don’t have a rooster. My neighbor donated a few eggs and this sweet little chick hatched after 21 long days of setting on them, she was the only one who hatched. We made a little calendar to mark off the days, with Friday the 16th being the 21st day (it’s supposed to take 21 days to hatch them), and believe it or not, she hatched on the 16th! I was a little surprised to see her in there that morning, and very pleased! I tried to “help” the mama out a few times, but only seemed to make her upset so I just left them be and she brought her cute little chick down from the nest (which is about 4 feet high and they have to walk down narrow planks and over 5 inch boards to get down there, I have no idea how that tiny little chick did it but she did! We are all excited to watch this mama chicken with her own little chick, the only down side is that the chick will be wild because we wont be able to catch her, but oh well, it’s still lots of fun. It will be really fun to see what kind of chicken she ends up being, her daddy is a banty and I have no idea what her mama was so it should be interesting :)

Here’s another shot, better of Mama Chicken, it’s actually just the same picture as above, just zoomed out.

This is the first time that I have been pregnant and too tired to care how far along I am. I usually have to force myself not to look at the calendar several times a week only to see that I am only two days closer to my due date than last time. I’ve usually written several posts about the pregnancy already, but this time I have just been plain tired. Unmotivated. But not depressed. So don’t worry ;)

I will be 16 weeks pregnant tomorrow. We had another midwife appointment today, got to hear the baby again. Guenna keeps saying, “baby Eva?” I think she thinks baby Eva will soon come out of my tummy! The boys are both sure we are having a boy, and all the kids are just excited that we are having another baby. Of course except for Cait, but she will be, as soon as this baby is here. She LOVES babies, so much so that we have to really watch her around Eva, she’s bound to grab that baby so we just have to make sure not to leave the baby lying around ;)

Tonight I was telling Chris, “I can’t believe we are having our 5th baby!” It’s funny, when you have your fourth in four years, people assume that you are done and you were just trying to “get it over” with real quick. Then when they realize you are pregnant with your 5th in 5 years, people start to say things like, “you’re going to have more [aren’t you]?” instead of, “OH, two boys and two girls, how PERFECT!” And at 3 kids they were constantly saying, “Ooop, you got your girl [good for you, better go get that problem fixed before you mess it up with a boy at the end]!” So it’s kind of nice now. I think we’ve convinced people that we really do want a large family, and that all these children weren’t just a bunch of “oopses.” Well, I’m feeling much less crazy now that I am not wanting to throw up all day long and I am starting to feel somewhat myself again. Just in time to plant the garden!

Well baby, we can’t wait to meet you! You are 5 1/2 inches long now and I’ve just started to feel you move the past few days. It’s always such an amazing feeling, like “I’m not crazy!” There is a precious little babe in my womb, and one day soon I will have the honor of holding and nurturing this dear life. I’m really excited for that day, but I’m glad I have a few more months to prepare for another little family member. I’ve got so much to do!  Well, I better start with getting some rest, good night!