My latest Ultrasound

I went and got a 3d/4d ultrasound. I have wanted one and never got it and now I am down to my last 3 weeks. I am sure in 2 months from now I will think it was a dumb idea, but for now it was totally worth it. It is absolutely amazing. She was sucking her arm, sucking her thumb, and moving all around.

Here are 2 of the better ones of our little baby girl:)

Candace, Paige, and Kelsey...don't make fun of me!

...Pretend I'm not here...

is almost over. Only 2 more days. Wow, I have completely and totally wasted 2 weeks of my life...not surprising to those of you who know me. I have moved the girls into the same room, cleaned the baby's room and Hannah and Kate's new room. My mom helped me organize my kitchen, put all my laundry away, cleaned my sink, john's coffee pot(which probably has never been touched except for by him to make coffee.) It's a nice pretty silver color with a clear pot!:) So the house is done. It's all ready for the kids to come home and completely destroy it. It's weird to walk into an organized house! I highly recommend it:) It would probably pass under the guidelines of my strictest and most anal house keepers my sister in law Julie and my H.S. friend Gaby. The closets are organized, clothes are folded, and all those other things.

Other than that I have watched a lot of football, spend a whole lot of time with my mom (my Venn diagram as my sisters call us) and catching up on TIVO. I have 98% available which I believe should set some type of record in the Ross house. It's usually at about 2% available.

Our house is ready for the pitter patter of a new little girl. I am so ready to be done being pregnant, but at the same time trying to enjoy all the little things that are positive about it...mostly her moving around in my belly. From what I hear my girls love their little cousin and I will have quite the hard time keeping them off of the baby.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a wonderful and healthy 2009. Thank you to all who were worried about me being alone on Christmas:) It was actually quite peaceful. I was able to hang out with my sister and husband and new little nephew, my uncle, and my Grandma, who is not doing too well. My mom and dad and I were all in bed...together by about 7:30pm. Definitely different to what I am use to, but I have so many things to be thankful about and enjoy everyday of the year.

We'll keep you posted on the upcoming arrival of the baby.

Court

Please feel free to call my cell phone or the Hospital (Kaiser Permanent in Irvine off of Alton/Sand Canyon (Kollen-Ross)) I love to be in the hospital and I welcome your calls...hint hint! I will be delivering on 1/20 if all goes as planned!

I am still pretending I am not here:)

John and his family took the kids to see Santa. While Kate is doing much better she still doesn't like Santa!

Pretend I'm not here...

That is my new philosophy for the next 11 days. John took the girls to spend Christmas in Ohio with his family. It was their turn to have them and I can't travel because I am so close to my delivery date. No one can believe I let this happen, but in reality, the kids don't know Christmas morning from any other day. We will celebrate when they come home.

I have been hanging out at my mom's house because Kelsey and the girls are here. Let me tell you, watching Kelsey with them makes me even more appreciative of this time by myself. They keep asking me to do things and I keep saying..."Pretend I'm not here." I told my mom that the minute Kelsey leaves I am out of here and going to lay peacefully on my own couch. I will be here at night, but in reality, I shouldn't be here, so...PRETEND I'M NOT HERE!

In a matter of seconds

This will only be funny to those of you who know my dad and even then, it might not come out as funny as it was, but I have to say it now before I forget.

Situation: My dad is on the couch watching the news, I am at the sink peeling an orange, and my mom is on the friend with her friend Nancy.

Mom: okay, well have fun on your trip.

Courtney: where is Nancy going

Mom: she's going to Chicago for Bob's company Christmas party.

Dad (out of nowhere): Courtney, tell me what your mom just said that she won't tell me right now!

Courtney: WHAT?

Dad: what did your mom just whisper that she is keeping from me?

Courtney: She said that Nancy is going to Chicago for Bob's Christmas party.

pause

Dad: Bob's company is going under?

Courtney: WHAT?

Dad: they shouldn't be taking people to Chicago if their company is going under with the economy.

I have no idea what conversation he was a part of.

Not 3 seconds later, my mom leaves the room in annoyance and the news comes on with that little 3 year olf from Florida who is missing. The news says they found a child's body in Florida a 1/2 mile away from her grandmother's house.

Dad: Who is that?

Courtney: That is that little girl in Florida who's mom killed her and they can't find her.

Dad: Oh that little girl in Florida who's mom killed her and they can't find her.

He is a horse of a different color:)

Gingerbread Lane

A dropped purse led to a lot of picking up during the walk!

The big kids lining up for a picture.

The little kids sitting so nicely in their strollers

All the kids minus Kona.

Hannah making herself right at home. As soon as we walked in the door she found this costume and didn't take it off!

This afternoon the girls and I took a drive out to Corona to meet up with a few of my friends that I got my masters with at Fullerton. They are really good about getting together and I always seem to have something to do. This time I was worried Kate not feeling well would stop me. She was fine though. We got together for pizza and drinks and then took a short drive over to an area in Corona where the people go all out in decorating. The kids had a great time looking at the lights. There are 11 kids total between the 5 of us. 7 girls and 4 boys. Poor Kai could not be convinced to go and play dress up. He's gotten a little to old to be around all these girly girls.

Update

It's been a rough few days. We are home and healthy most importantly. Kate has had a rough last couple of days. She was in a lot of pain which has now subsided slightly and because she can't talk her choice of communication is whining and pointing. It is very frustrating. She is not a big fan of her medicine which has us on a schedule of every 4 hours every 6 hours, and every 8 hours...which equal medicine every 2 hours when you time it. We have tried every trick in the book. She blocks it from the back of her tongue and spits it up and out! It totally sucks!! Today was her first good day and I tried to enjoy it:) She is starting to eat and drink more so we'll see where we go from here.

Hannah is busy being Hannah. Last night John told her she was built like a tank and she replied "no I'm not, I don't have any fish in me!" She is so sticking smart. She has been a bit challenging the last couple of days with the attention being directed towards Kate. She is right up in your face when you are loving Kate giving you something she made or telling you something she did. She is a little bit of an attention whore like her daddy. She started Ballet/Tap class and absolutely LOVES it. I have added a video of her. Sorry that it is sideways:)

We're home :)

Kate and Hannah the night of her surgery
My friend came to visit and brought Kate this crown and earrings. She slept in it.
About 3 hours after her surgery. She was not a happy camper!
Right before surgery, they give her a relaxing drug called verced. I tried to get a perscription, but they weren't to on board with it:)

We are home safe and sound from Kate's surgery. She ended up getting tubes in her ears, her adenoids had partially grown back so those were removed, and she had her tonsils removed. It is not a fun recovery.

We left her with the drs about 7:20 am. The surgery was almost an hour exactly. The ENT came out and told us that there was definitely fluid in her ear. It was so thick he referred to it as gel as opposed to the fluid normally in there. He actually had to suction it out. Her adenoids had grown back a little, and her tonsils were not only enlarged, but had puss all around them. He was very happy with what he saw in the sense that it was an answer for what we were seeing at home. The not talking, runny nose, snoring. He is cautiously optimistic and he put it that this would solve it. I am hoping more than anything that this is it and it's over!

We were in our room resting very quickly and had an uneventful day. The night...not so much. She was on medication every 3 hours and she was not feeling well. She couldn't break the fever, so I had to pat her down with wet towels. She was not happy. Luckily it was a pediatric floor and she wasn't the only one crying. Her fever would not go down. The next day, tired, cranky, and dirty, they tell me she also needs to eat. Well she doesn't eat anyways, much less when she is sick. She won't even look at food. I can tell that it hurts her so much when she swallows. Finally at 8pm they tell me I can go home. I was more than excited.

She had an okay night and okay today. She is still in a lot of pain and pretty cranky.

We are so thankful that it's over and hopefully everything went okay. I on the other hand have probably lost all my friends. Any one I talked to I said "hey what are you doing, want to watch Hannah for a while?" I pawned her off on just about anyone who would answer their phone. My poor dad was picking her up and dropping her off all over La Mirada. I even had her going to our family friend who already watches her 3 grandchildren. My mom was in SD with my new nephew and John had to fly out of town. Needless to say it has been a very difficult time!

Thank you to all of you who kept us in your thoughts. Hopefully we are on the rode to recover, a clean nose and no more snoring. As J.J. said..."I'm glad to hear that snots is doing well!"

A little prayer

Kate will be having surgery again tomorrow to put tubes in her ears, redo her adenoids, and post probably remove her tonsils. If you are up and looking at the clock around 7:30am, a little prayer would be greatly appreciated. I am very nervous, but I know we need to do this for her! I will keep you all posted!

Courtney

Kenly Braylen Axline

I am happy to report that Candace and Matt added a new little boy to their crew on Monday. I didn't ask what he weighed or how long he was or any of those other things, so you will have to check her sight.

The girls and I can't wait to meet him. Bennett is so happy to have a boy to play with. He bought him a General Grievas from Star Wars today at Walmart:)

Congratulations Candace, Matt, Bennett, and Mallory

HAPPY BELATED THANKSGIVING

We want to wish everyone a belated Happy Thanksgiving. We had a nice quiet dinner and I mean quiet. Paige was in the hospital, my dad was out of town, and John was sick. Kate slept through dinner and Hannah and McKenna were too busy playing to eat. I guess that's how normal families celebrate the holiday a few adults, a few kids, a quiet dinner, and then dessert. That's not the norm for the Kollen family, so it was a little weird, yet eerily calming.

We have many things to be thankful for...our house, our jobs, our children, our families, and our friends. We are eagerly looking forwarding to the birth of our 3rd little baby girl and all the things that life will throw our family.

We hope you had a wonderful holiday!

John, Courtney, Hannah, and Kate

John and the girls are out hanging Christmas lights, so there is a picture from that, but otherwise you can see that it was another successful picture taking holiday at the Ross Compound!

Love to all!

I am your controller

So, let me start off by saying the flu bug has hit us all. Kate got it Thursday night, I got it Friday, Hannah got it Saturday, and John looks like he is getting in today!! Anyways. I decide to take the girls for Christmas pictures today to get them out of the house so John can rest.
We get ready, I blow dry their hair, put their dresses on and Kate won't budge. She screams, rips her onsie off, pulls out her hair, etc. So fine, she will take Christmas pictures in her pink top and jean shorts. We get in the car and head off to the Cerritos library. They have a pretty fountain that I was going to go to. I wanted the beach, but too far, rainy, just too much. We get out of the car at the library and I dress Kate, she lets me, and Hannah says, "Yeah, it's raining!" No it's not I say, let's go. Sure enough, it starts raining. My mind didn't have polite thoughts. I throw the kids back in the car and it slows immediately. I change my mind, rain or no rain, we are taking these pictures. To make a long story short, we get the pictures. They SUCK!! Kate won't listen to a damn thing. Hannah has this funky smile, and Kate refuses to take off her crocs. We finish, and I promise Hannah a Build a Bear moose if she listens. She does that, minus her smile, so off we go. We get to Disney and there is a tree with Christmas balls all around. We attempt to take more pictures. I throw the kids up on the tree, past the yellow caution tape and go for it. Once again, they SUCK! Oh well, you shall see when you get your card:) We go to build a bear, Kate could care less, Hannah is in Heaven.
Now what makes this story complete. We are in the car, Hannah is dressing her moose, can't get the clothes on, can't get the bear out of the box, on and on. I hear from her. "Let's go moose, you need to listen to me now. I am your controller!" Gotta love it!

                         Giving the kids a bath.  We have since moved them into Kelsey's jacuzzi tub which is much bigger.
The highlight of the girl's birthday was the free sno-cone maching.  Here is Kate eating #3 or 4.
                    Showing off their snow cones.

I'm going out in style. My last traveling before the little nugget makes her entrance.  The girls and I have had a busy last week. It started last Friday when I rushed home from a long day at work to find my mom in my driveway with the girls ready to drive to Arizona to celebrate the twins birthday. I need to park in the drive way, but since she is deaf, she does not hear my horn 3 time. My old next door neighbor does though and he comes out of his house.

We load up my stuff and are out the door on our way to Arizona by 3:09 pm.  The drive was uneventful except for the use of my mom's Magellan that she CANNOT work.  I can see her eyes veering to the right every so often to check it out and as her eyes veer, so does her car.  At one point she is trying to grab the thing from me so she can do it!  We are trying to find a restaurant with it about 3 hours into the trip and it is showing nothing.  My mom tries to tell me it is because there is nothing close.  I try to explain to her that it is satellite and it will show the closest one no matter where it is.  We agree to disagree on this point.

We arrive in Arizona safely, and celebrate a great 3rd birthday with the twins.  The girls have fun swimming, bouncing, and eating.

We drive home Tuesday morning only to have me leave again on Friday.  This time I flew though...thank God.  My last trip out of Orange County before the baby comes.  I am looking forward to not going anywhere for the next 6 months after the baby comes.  I have done way too much traveling this year!!!

We are having a good girls weekend with Kelsey and the girls and some of Kelsey's friends who's husbands are all in Seattle on a boys weekend.  We have done nothing and like it that way.  We might venture to Sam's Club tomorrow!

I need your help!!!

I need your help. PLEASE!!! My daughter Kate, who I love very much:) is in the terrible 2's. She will not...
eat
wear clothes
wear a diaper
talk
let me dress her
wear jammies
sit in her car seat
wear shoes
not stop changing clothes
the list goes on

What do I do? I am tired, fat, lazy, etc, whatever you want to call it. She is driving me crazy. Currently she is outside in a diaper and a bathing suit top bangin on the front door shouting MaMa (that is her only word). I let her in and she bangs on the door to go outside.

Today the speech therapist is coming to our house to assess her and I honestly think she is going to have to do it naked because I can not keep clothes on her!

Help!!

Googy's Kitchen

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We took the girls to Goofy's Kitchen today at the Disneyland Hotel. It is a little expensive, but highly worth it. The characters all come up to your table. They talk to the kids and take pictures. Hannah loved it. Kate, not so much! She was a little afraid of some of the characters. She warmed up to the princesses though !

Kate getting use to the whole trick or treat thing

A little shout out to McCain

Kate costume #2, still not too happy.

Kate Costume #1...she's not too happy with it



I am such a BAD mom. I hate Halloween. Luckily John takes the girls trick or treating. It takes all I have not to shut out the lights, close the shutters, and close the doors. I am 'that' house this year. No candy, just pretzels. Hopefully the word will get out and people won't come:)

This wouldn't be funny except that...

Kate did not get put down for a nap in this outfit. She got into her dirty clothes hamper during nap time and completely changed. It is on correctly and it matches!!! Go figure. Maybe she's a future Project Runway contestant:)

Tea Party

Hannah was with her older cousin McKenna last night. McKenna taught Hannah all about tea parties. Here is Hannah's 1st tea party!

The Reason

was that I got up and had to do work, no I was on the phone, no I left the phone in my hotel room, etc. I didn't forget if that's what you are worried about he tells me, I had it written in 2 different places. That's nice, he needs to write it down to remember, Oh well:) On a cuter note, though Kate doesn't say a word she is just about the cutest thing that ever walked the face of the earth. She has such a personality and has no clue that her form of communications doesn't mesh with anyone well, in the whole entire world. She babbles all day long and has the cutest face as she waits for you to answer. We have been listening to The Little Mermaid on CD and I ask her what does Mermaid say ( I think I got this from Kelsey and the twins, but it's cute) Here is her response. Though it isn't the best, she doesn't perform well with a camera. She stares at it, so this is about as good as it's going to get with the camera on! Thanks for looking

What could possibly be the excuse???

Today marks the day that the big bright yellow sticker AMA on my pregnancy chart goes into effect. ADVANCED MATERNAL AGE. I am officially 35. The sticker has been on my chart since my 1st appointment, but now it's really true!

To top it off, everyone in my family is gone, they had all given me gifts already, and John is out of town.

To top that off, John hasn't called to wish me a happy birthday. For those of you who know him well, he will most definately have an excuse because most things are never his fault. I am just wondering...

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE HIS EXCUSE?????

Pumpkin Patch

In the wagon getting ready to go pick their pumpkins


We took our annual trip to the Cal Poly Pomona pumpkin patch today. It's so damn hot what's the deal? The kids had a good time, though mommy and daddy rushed them through! We were a little later than usual because John was out of town and I swear, all the good pumpkins were gone!

It is the most amazing pumpkin patch. First, it is amazingly cheap. For those of you who have visited a pumpkin patch recently, they are ridiculously OVERPRICED! This is a fundraiser for their Agricultrual School and it is affordable. There are pumpkins as far as the eye can see, though not today.

Kate was not so much a fan of the pumpkins. She was more interested in my kettle corn and the fresh squeezed orange juice Johnny had bought. Hannah loved it though. John taught her how to find a good pumpkin, one that was not rotting. You could see her eye each pumpkin, turning it around feeling for soft spots. Hopefully she has John's green thumb!!!

Disney's Halloween Adventure

Hannah with Mickey and Minnie.

Hannah and I at Disney's Halloween

Hannah, Rylie, and Lexi getting ready to go on Toy Story Adventure

All the girls with Mickey and Minnie

Getting excited for the night

Last night I took Hannah (Thanks mom for keeping my precious gift from God for the WHOLE day) to meet up with friends and go to Disney's Spooktacular Halloween event. Carrie organized the whole thing to celebrate Rylie and Reese's birthday. We met at the Paradise Pier Hotel about 3:30. The kids loved being in the hotel room because the view was of California Adventure and they could see all the people and the parade going on. We ordered them room service and then headed to California Adventure. They had so much fun. They were dancing and running around. They got pictures with all the characters, went trick or treating, and even managed to get on some rides. Needless to say, I was exhausted, only to walk out of the park and see the line for the tram about 20 people deep. I wanted to cry. I said my goodbyes and with my 45 pound daughter asleep in her jammies in the stroller, I lugged my fat preggo body another mile or so to my car. I am so glad I went. I hope Hannah is old enough to have memories of her and her friends, because the looks on their faces the whole night was awesome:)