So much to be thankful for!

Well--yesterday was WONDERFUL!! Barney an I hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year because, quite frankly, we have the most room to do so. Mom and Dad cooked the turkey, Kara made Nanny's noodles, and I did the corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and stuffing, and of course, Nana made the pumpkin pies!! It'll probably be the last time we do this for a while as it would be pretty tough to handle with 3 little ones running around!! I have been so blessed with a wonderful and supportive family that I can't even imagine my life without all of them.

I'm also very happy to report that my dad hasn't had a cigarette in 2 weeks!!! Most of you know that I have been extremely concerned for a very long time about Dad's smoking, but he's never quite been able to kick the habit until now! I believe he's been taking the new medication Chantix that came out not too long ago.

I'm going to say that even though everyone I know who claims to be able to predict the sex of this baby says its a girl. I've gone along with that prediction up until Wednesday---now I'm having my doubts. Justin's heart-rate all through my pregnancy was usually in the 140's or 150's. Ada Grace's was always in the 170's and 180's. I went for my check-up on WEdnesday and when the doctor found the baby's heartbeat I was concerned because it sounded very slow to me. His response, "nope--its perfect...in the 150s." I was kind of in shock. The big ultrasound to find out the sex is December 18, so we should know something then if the baby decides to co-operate.

Finally--I'm probably going to be a little out of touch over the next week or so. We are leaving after lunch on Sunday for Orlando! We are taking the kids to breakfast with goofy on Tuesday, then Sea World the same day. I think we are going to take them to Gatorland Zoo on Wednesday, and on Thursday night, we are taking them to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. I understand that this is an AMAZING Christmas celebration, that even includes snow on main street. I think Barney and I might be more excited about this trip than the kids are---but I know they will LOVE it! I'm hoping to get a picture of all of us with Mickey ears for Christmas cards. I'll also try to post some pics on here throughout the week!

Krista

Husbands--gotta love 'em

Well--My husband decided to pull the ultimate prank on me and my entire family last weekend. As most of you know, we are HUGE Ohio State Buckeye fans, and the big game was last weekend. We were facing Michigan for the Big 10 title and a trip to the Rose BOwl. I have always felt like Barney just didn't get the rivalry--Now I know he doesn't:

baby names, and pointless ramblings...

A number of people have asked me if we have names picked out yet for this new munchkin and the simplest answer is, kind of. The boy's name is down to 2 or 3different options, both of which honor our deceased Grandfathers---they are:
Donald James (my maternal and paternal grandfathers names)
Donald Judd (okay that one is really obvious)
Henry Donald (Barney's paternal grandfather who passed last year, and my maternal grandfather)

Girls names?!?! That is a whole different can of worms. I'm really not quite sure where it came from, but the name Evelyn Susanne is the latest girl's name that we like. I hope no one grows to attached to it, because if history repeats itself--every girl's name we have agreed on thus far in this pregnancy has been vetoed w/in about a week or 2 of its original acceptance.

I think the thing that I am most excited about with this pregnancy is that I will most-likely not be returning to work after the baby is born. It just doesn't seem to make sense financially at this point for us to do that-----but we'll see what happens when the baby is 10/12 weeks old. I am absolutely ecstatic about the possibility of being home to raise this baby, and continue to raise Justin and Ada Grace. I know that my aunt Donna loves them immensely, and I could not begin to ask for them to receive more love and better care than they have gotten from her---its just that I want to be the first one to see this baby crawl, walk, sit up, roll over. I want to hear his/her first words. I have wanted that with all of our children, it just wasn't possible financially until now.

I am officially out of the 1st trimester now, and starting to get some energy back now. THe only real symptom I'm having now is HORRIBLE sciatic nerve pain. I'm going to try something tomorrow that I never thought I would-----Acupuncture. I have known numerous people who have had great success with it, and quite frankly, the pain has been bad enough that I really believe if someone told me at this point that the only cure was standing on my head for the next 6 months, I'd try it.

Sometimes I look around at my life and have to pinch myself. I have been so blessed by God with a wonderful husband, and beautiful, healthy, happy children. Every now and then I catch myself asking God if I really deserve all of this? I mean, who grows up and gets everything they ever wished for---down to the right type of house. I always wanted a "cape cod" style house with a porch I could hang ferns from--guess I should have figured out how to keep them alive first, huh?!?!

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and concerns. This pregnancy is flying by, and in no time, I'm sure we'll be bringing home Baby #3. At that point, you may need to visit Barney and I in Dorothea Dix, but he or she will be TOTALLY worth it!!!

Thanks again for all of your love and concern!

Krista

And now.....

The pictures of Munckin #3. I had an ultrasound today and everything looks GREAT!

Ada---being just like her name sake

For those of you who don't know, Ada Grace is named after my great-grandmother. "great" though is the understatement of the century. She was a wonderful woman who I was fortunate enough to know well since she lived until I was in my 2nd year of college. Anyone who knew nanny knew, that she hadn't been in the house more than about 5 minutes if she didn't have a dish towel thrown over her shoulder.....well, the dish towel is all that was missing for Ada in this little video--she definitely takes after her great-great grandmother! Nanny would be proud.

Ada and Justin, pics and videos

all that needs to be said.

Preschool

Well--its official--Justin is attending preschool. It is definitely a good thing, but one that we are really starting to work through. Justin has started to settle in now and thus is trying to test his limits and see just how far Miss Ann and Miss Kris will let him go. He is all of a sudden looking so grown up to me that it is almost frightening. He can usually spell his name, except for some reason he wants to call the "J" a "G".

As for my last announcement--we are expecting Blackburn Baby #3. I am due on May 16 but get to pick a birthday for this baby and I'm leaning towards May 6. (Tony Blair and Sigmund Freud were both born on this day.) I will be 10 weeks pregnant on Saturday and have been doing fairly well, except that I have been absolutely exhausted to the point of barely being functional. Thankfully I have only been sic 2x so far--which is GREAT, seeing as how I have a personal policy against vomitting!!

I'm going to try to do better about keeping up with posts and adding pictures more regularly. In the mean-time, here are some of the pictures from Justins 1st week of pre-school. Also--the first rumors of childhood crushes are floating around the blackburn house. Justin appears to be very fond of a girl in his class named Caroline. He tells us about her regularly, and has even told Auntie Donna about her.

Hope everyone is doing well!!
Krista