Last day as a family of 4..

Or what *should* have been ....

I had big plans for Thursday: breakfast & play at Jungle Java in the morning; naps for the kids & work/errands in the afternoon; then, dinner w/ my mom & dad.

INSTEAD.... we did go to breakfast, then Drew & I spent 1 1/2 hrs at the drs office to get the dreaded diagnosis: swine flu! Got a RX for both kiddos, since Ava had already been coughing, then called my drs office--I was also having some symptoms. To be on the safe side, my dr suggested rescheduling the c-section to Tuesday & starting me on Tamiflu. We then spent the rest of the afternoon trying to keep 2 kids that didn't feel good happy, rested & hydrated.

Of course, I wanted to do what was best for the baby...but, am kind of sad today not to be holding him/her(& STILL not knowing boy or girl! ;)). Fortunately, it seems that we caught it early enough & the tamiflu is working quickly. The kids seem to feel great...w/ just the occasional cough. I'm a little worse off, but still just a little achy w/ a cough....and impatient for Tuesday to get here! :)
Here are a couple of pics from our 'last' breakfast out:

Ava did not want her picture taken!

And resting on the couch today w/ Dad:

Playing together

I just love that Ava & Drew can play-without fighting-sometimes. Not exactly sure what game they are playing, they certainly seem to be having fun.

TV Breakfast

Here's a 1st: letting Ava eat her breakfast in front of the TV. The other morning she decided to sleep until 8:30 & since she often doesn't eat breakfast anyways, I thought I'd give her her milk(which she does ALWAYS finish) in her chair watching TV. I figured I should at least offer her waffle & banana....and whadya know...she ate it! Not that I'm going to let this become a daily routine, but she did really seem to enjoy it!

There's a baby in there?

I can't believe I'm already 38 1/2 weeks & our c-section is Friday! This time has just flown by. Guess that's what happens when you're chasing 2 toddlers all day.
Of course Ava & Drew have no idea of how much their world is about to change, but they have shown quite an interest in my ever growing belly--especially Ava. She'll pat & rub my belly & say 'baby'. Drew's more interested in where the baby is going--the pack-n-play we've set up in the playroom.

Church Clothes

It seems we're always rushed on Sunday morning, but I always want to get pics of Ava & Drew in their dress clothes. This morning I was determined....Ava was in a new dress & Drew had new pants! They, of course, didn't really want to get their pictures taken, but we got a couple good ones:
"Hey, don't we look good!" :)

Freedom

Lately, I've been trying to give Ava & Drew a little more freedom to roam the house. They've gotten somewhat more dependable at obeying me, so I feel like I can trust them a little bit. We're not quite to taking down the gates--they are still necessary sometimes(ie when I'm cooking dinner or need to run upstairs for something)--but I do try to leave the gates open for the majority of the day. At 1st, they would just run circles around the house--you could almost hear them screaming "FREEDOM!!". Now that I've been doing it for a week or so, they've gotten more used to it & usually will settle down somewhere after a while. Here are a few pics of them roaming:

Cry Baby, Cry

Both Ava & Drew can be a *bit* dramatic at times. The smallest thing can set off the biggest reaction with them. In these pics, we were happily playing around the house & all the sudden....crying fit. I can't remember exactly what happened: either Drew dropped the shape sorter bucket OR 'sis' took one of the shapes, but either way, it was devastating for Drew!

What a face! :)