My Bountiful Blessings

Advent

2011-12-10T17:16:00.001-06:00

The kids painting their "mangers" for baby Jesus.

Gaga not too thrilled with getting paint on her finger!

Junior (and Gaga) getting to put the angel on top of the tree.

All three kids playing with our Little People nativity set. Each year they love playing with it!

Kids with St. Nick at our church

8 Months Old

2011-12-04T23:08:00.007-06:00

Over the past month Smiley has learned to pull up to stand at furniture (see picture in crib below). He is finally rolling over from back to front now and started to really crawl well (alternating hands and knees) at 7 1/2 months. Since he can crawl with great ease now he loves to try and find us in other rooms that he thinks we are in, listening for sounds we are making and going in that direction. He can start crawling from a sitting position and sit back up from a crawling position when done. We still have not had much luck with feeding Smiley food. Everything gets spit back out. We think that he might prefer solids that he can chew rather than anything pureed, but he still needs time to figure that out.

Smiley being corralled by trucks, while Gaga and Junior dance around him

Found him standing up in his crib after his nap one day.

Guess I've been taking too many pictures of the little guy. He will flutter and then close his eyes when he sees me with the camera getting ready to take pictures to avoid the flash!

Got one with his eyes open!

Cookie Day 2011

2011-11-25T23:34:00.004-06:00

Our annual cookie day with my side of the family took place at my mom's house this year (to break in her new double oven). The kids decorated gingerbread houses, trains and Christmas trees with Great Grandma and Nana which is always a hit.

Slaving away at the stove making my chocolate mint cookies!

Gaga helping Aunt K put M&M's on her cookies

Oops! Got caught on that one!

Took a break during the day to celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday!

All the bakers and decorators with the finished products

The long day and commotion posed too much for Smiley as he rested comfortably with Great Uncle G!

7 Months Old

2011-11-04T23:04:00.006-05:00

A couple weeks ago, Smiley got his first two teeth. The ones on the bottom in the middle. He didn't seem to be extremely cranky or fussy the past week so let's hope that all the other teeth will come in with no problems also! Not much of an update this month, just a few cute pictures!

We are still not having any luck with feeding Smiley food. The only thing that he is maybe getting down are the little melt away puffs. Even then we thought one day he was eating a lot of them. And then we took him out of his highchair and found this...

When you aren't eating solids, the only thing left to do in your highchair is sleep!

Smiley found himself in the mirror recently. And he LOVES it!

Left Smiley in the living room one morning with Junior while I was in the bedroom. After not hearing Smiley for sometime, I asked Junior if he was ok. He replied, "Yes, he's just sleeping!" I couldn't believe it, especially how he is very particular on how he gets to sleep. And this is where he decided to fall asleep.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T23:16:00.002-05:00

Halloween this year was filled with fun from the Pumpkin Patch, Halloween parade at preschool, trick or treating and pumpkin carving (a day late). Click the picture below for more pics!

Halloween 2011

State Fair and Houston Weekend

2011-10-16T23:04:00.005-05:00

Daddy took the day off work on Friday and we made a long, fun-filled weekend out of it! Starting first at the State Fair. We all get a corny dog, funnel cake and one ride for each kid. We always enjoy the bird show, "working on the farm", and seeing the farm animals. Then we headed out that afternoon to Houston to visit Aunt K!

The famous Big Tex picture

Golfing in Houston

Kayaking

Visiting Granny Great

Old Tech friends and our growing families

Kids with Aunt K and the corn hole game Unckie J made

For these and all the rest of the weekends pics click below.

State Fair and Houston 2011

Junior's 5 Year Stats and Baptism day

2011-10-07T13:26:00.012-05:00

5 year old stats:
47 inches tall
43 1/2 lbs.

Celebrated Junior's baptism day with song, candle and his choice of dinner, spaghetti!

6 Months Old

2011-10-04T13:00:00.003-05:00

6 Month Old stats:
27.5 inches tall
16 lbs. 13 oz.

Half a year has gone so quickly but yet it feels like Smiley has been with us for so much longer! He is such a joy to be around and I am able to take the time to enjoy him. I think I am much more relaxed this time around which helps! He still loves his activity center as seen below and is sitting up all on his own. The biggest milestone recently has been his ability to get anywhere around the room he wants to now! He is not on his hands and knees but he army crawls (pulling with his arms and pushing with his legs). This position would most likely be his favorite now. He loves his new freedom, I on the other hand can not get much done with him next to me without him getting into it all. :/ He has taken to imitating Gaga lately. She will shriek and Smiley will follow with a high pitched shriek of his own. It's so cute to hear all his noises! He has also started to babble and talk to us so I'm sure mama will follow shortly!

Pictured here sitting with support

We also tried food for the first time and it did not go over well at all. He whole body acutally shivered in disgust each time the food entered his mouth. NOTHING stayed in so with advice from our pedi we will try again in a couple weeks. Here are a few pics of his first try at it.

A Busy Day

2011-10-01T13:24:00.005-05:00

Junior has been doing great on his T-ball team again this year. Daddy is helping coach again and loving the chance to be with Junior for the games and practices. Junior's friend is on the team along with the friend's dad as the head coach. I would say 90% of the time Junior can hit the ball to the outfield which he tries to do every time he's up to bat. Of all his activities this is Junior's favorite!

Head coach giving Junior pointers

Nice hit!

Running the bases

Rounding 3rd

Sliding into home

Playing defense and baseball ready (in the red socks next to 1st base)

At our church's annual courtyard carnival. Daddy and Mr. B playing on the "equalizer". Both attached to bungee cords and trying to get their basketball in their own goal. Pretty funny to watch!

Junior and his friend C's turn

Gaga's First Dentist Visit

2011-09-22T00:49:00.005-05:00

Gaga did great at her first dentist appointment. Although she was a little unsure of the dentist when he came to check her teeth. It took a lot of coaxing to get her to let him count her teeth!

Taking a ride in the chair...so fun!

Counting her teeth

Time to clean them with the "tooth tickler"

A job well done for us all...no cavities for any of us!

Keeping busy

2011-09-14T22:53:00.004-05:00

The older kids are in a few activities this fall to keep them busy, as well as me! Junior is playing soccer with the homeschool group we are in and they meet once a week and do a few drills the first half and then scrimmage the second half. He has wanted since the first day to be the goalie. I do not know why but he insists on playing that position. He really enjoys it because he cousins play in the group also.

Defending his goal

Gotta love that concentration and that tongue!

Gaga started a tap, ballet and twirl class with one of her friends from her preschool class. They have known each other since they were born! This is one of the things I just couldn't wait to do with Gaga until she was old enough. She still actually isn't old enough for this class. The age group is for 3-6 year olds and she won't be 3 until December. She is definitely the smallest in her class but she can keep up and the teacher says she is doing fine. And Gaga just LOVES it! Always asking if she can, "Go my dance class?"

My little ballerina before her first class

Showing off a skill they learned at the end of class (we have yet to buy any ballet slippers)

In other news with the kids, Junior was invited to one of his best friends birthday party. I just knew he would want to go so without asking him I replied to the mom and let her know that Junior would be there. I told him a couple days later that I had RSVP'ed him to the party and he replied with, "What?! You are going to have to cancel that!" I think he was just a little apprehensive because eventually he wanted to go and had a great time. The other day we were working on number recognition and I needed him to tell me the number 32. He said, "three...two, three...two, oh thirty-two like Josh Hamilton!" Daddy was so proud when I called to tell him that. I was also calling to make sure that was indeed Hamilton's baseball number! Sorry, I know players, you don't expect me to know their numbers also?!

Gaga has been doing so well at school and loving every minute of it. She is constantly asking if it's time to go to "my school" and was even waking in the middle of the night to come ask us if it was time to go to school. Thankfully the waking at night part was short lived. She still loves to ask when we are going though and will carry around her lunch box, nap mat or backpack at various times throughout the day. The teachers say that she is so independent, wants to do everything herself and acts like she's done this before. We moved her shirts in her room down to a lower bar in her closet so she could reach them. The good news is when she sees me getting ready in the morning to go somewhere she will go and get ready herself since she can reach everything. It sure is nice to have one less person to get ready in the morning. She will come back with clothes, socks and shoes on! The bad part about the clothes is that she will change her clothes multiple times a day whether they are dirty or not. It gets very frustrating when she puts clean clothes that she just took off in the dirty clothes hamper. I'm sure she is contributing to the more than usual amount of clothes to be washed! Gaga has been as stubborn and strong willed as ever recently. Just the other day we were driving down a highway (which reminds me, whenever something is high out of reach Gaga will say that it's "up highway" instead of up high) and she decides to unbuckle the top buckle of her 5-point harness. Junior tells me right away and I tell her to put it back on. She doesn't budge. After many attempts and threats to pull the car over, each time I told her to she would move the two pieces of the buckle closer together ever so slightly but still not completely together. ARGH! She finally got them close enough together that I was able to reach back and with one hand snap them closed. She then proceeded to yell, "NO, I do it!" Are you kidding me? And one last tidbit of info...Gaga put on a pair of Smiley's shorts the other day and they fit! 6 month shorts on a 2-1/2 year old!

5 Months Old

2011-09-04T17:43:00.003-05:00

Smiley is getting so big. Every time I pick him up he feels like a solid mass. We delight in his squeals and big belly laughs which are easy to get out of him. He's very ticklish and just like the other two gets the hiccups after laughing too much. He still gets thrilled when Junior or Gaga walk near him, look at him or play with him. His favorite spot after being held by Mommy is his activity center. When in a good mood (rested and fed) he can sit in his activity center for well up to an hour moving around and squealing with laughter playing with all the toys on it. The one place that he isn't too fond of these days is Daddy's arms. :( He can pitch a fit and careen his whole body around to find me in the room and will not calm down until he is back in my arms which is then instantaneous. Unfortunately this makes for long nights for Daddy when I am at work. Hoping it's just a phase and gets easier for Daddy's sake. Good thing I rarely work! And for a few pics of Smiley...

Gaga and Smiley

Working on becoming mobile

Trying on Junior's new baseball helmet

Three of my favorite people

Smiley playing with one of our friends

Happy 5th Birthday Junior

2011-09-03T18:14:00.002-05:00

Junior had another unforgettable birthday this year. Still can't believe he is 5! We spent the morning of his birthday getting together with a few friends and playing in some water fountains near our house. Then met Daddy for lunch near his office and then headed home for a birthday dinner, cake and presents. While at lunch there were other business workers there for lunch and Junior asked, "Do you work with them Daddy?" He thought that since they were all dressed up like Daddy, then of course he must know them and work with them, right?! For his birthday party we had a trash truck make a surprise appearance. For quite some time Junior has been obsessed with trash trucks and for his birthday last year I had heard that one could come to your house for kids to look at. I found out about it a little too late and was unable to get one last year, so I tried again this year and it sure was a HUGE hit! The best part was getting to ride in it and Daddy also got a chance to drive it! Not many people can say they have ridden in or driven a trash truck! Then for one last celebration we headed over to Aunt J and Uncle P's house to celebrate Junior's , mine, P's, Grandad's and great Grandad's birthdays. They had a bounce house at their house from P's earlier birthday party. See all the pics below.

Junior's 5th Birthday

First Day of School

2011-08-29T19:30:00.006-05:00

The much anticipated first day of school was more than wonderful! We all enjoyed it! Gaga was excited to finally be going to the big school where Junior had gone the past 3 years. Junior was excited to start his first day of school home with me. I was glad to have a break from Gaga for a few hours during the day and be able to have some special one on one time teaching Junior. Junior and I got all of his school work that I had planned accomplished and he was very attentive and eager to learn which made it very nice for me! Gaga returned home and didn't want to put her backpack or her lunch box away. She's been carrying them around everywhere with her ever since.

Junior and Gaga on their first days of school

Gaga with her backpack

Junior with one of his workbooks for school. He is not the least bit excited! ;)

Another excited child!

Junior helping Gaga put her backpack away in her cubbie.

Me with Gaga in her classroom

I had one of the ladies that works at the school run inside the classroom and take a few pics of the kids. They were getting ready to wash their hands.

Wash, wash, wash

Gaga waiting by her things, ready to be picked up.

Gaga running to greet me.

On our way after a great first day of school!

End of summer

2011-08-25T14:19:00.007-05:00

Told Gaga we were going swimming and to go get her suit on...she comes back like this. It's on backwards just in case you couldn't tell!

Had Nana and Great One over to watch Smiley while we took the big kids for an afternoon of fun. Junior showing us his golfing stance.

Gaga's turn

Gaga prefers to have her ball as close to the hole as possible

There much better.

I started potty training Gaga at the beginning of the month and she was fully trained by the end of the week. Below is a picture of her going to the bathroom around 8 times in the span of 10 minutes. She never really went to the bathroom any of those times but she thinks that every time she goes she gets to get a new pair of panties. :/

Junior has taken up kidding and joking around with us. He finds it entertaining to tell us something that is not true, wait for our reaction and then tell us he was just joking or kidding. It's cute to see him playing around with us but we will need to keep close tabs on it so he knows the difference between kidding and lying. On my birthday while I was getting ready in the morning, I asked Junior if he would take me to breakfast for my birthday, to which he replied, "NO, I can't drive!"

Surprise!!!

2011-08-06T22:58:00.005-05:00

I sure do have an amazing husband! Not to mention family and friends! Daddy and my sister were able to put together an incredible surprise party for me and some of my closest friends. My sister showed up on Saturday with a Happy Birthday balloon and said, "Happy Birthday"! She drove up from Houston for me! I was then told to get ready so we could leave to go somewhere. We drove to a place where upon walking I was surprised to see some friends there also. They were there to surprise me and we all got pedicures and manicures together. Thanks to those that were able to make it! On our way back home my sister told me that once home I only had about 5 minutes to get ready to leave again. As I walked in the house I heard some commotion and a few steps further I saw a huge group of my friends and they all said, "Surprise!" It sure was! I wouldn't have wanted to spend my 30th birthday any other way! Thanks to all who helped plan, to all who attended, and to all who couldn't make it but wanted to. Daddy...you're the BEST!

30th Birthday

4 Months Old

2011-08-04T22:28:00.003-05:00

4 Month Old stats:
26.5 inches tall
15 lbs. 7.5 oz.

In the past month, baby boy has been rolling over from front to back but still needs to work on rolling from back to front. None of the others were able to do it for quite some time so I'm not holding my breath with this one! He has either found his tongue or his bottom lip recently and loves to suck on it making the silliest noises. Finding his voice has been the most enjoyable sound. He seems to talk much more than the others did and lets out the cutest squeal when excited about something. It is so easy to get him to smile that you want to get him to do it all the time. Everyone that sees him also comments on how much he smiles! That's why we are going to call him Smiley on this blog. He is only fussy when he is hungry, tired or wants a change of scenery. He loves to watch us go about our day and gets excited when we walk by and talk to him. He smiles a little more with Junior than Gaga, probably because Gaga is always pulling on his extremities or laying on him.

Bahamas 2011

2011-07-31T23:01:00.002-05:00

Well, I had my doubts about taking 3 small children with us to another country for vacation, but we all did surprisingly well! We only has a couple meltdowns which was to be expected seeing as we had the kids up early in the morning, went non-stop all day, no naps and late bedtimes. We went with another family which might have contributed to all the good behavior because Junior and Gaga both had someone to play with. Junior and C played so well together. And likewise, Gaga played so well with K. It gave all the adults plenty of time to talk which made for a nice trip. We went to the beach one day to dig in the sand and play in the water. Daddy would have loved to go back a few more times since he loves the beach, but I was glad we didn't. I enjoy pool water much more. Baby boy just went along for the ride wherever we went. He ate, slept and if he was awake would splash around in the water. Despite a few hiccups with the hotel billing while we were there, overall we had a wonderful time! Thanks to the B family for allowing us to come with them.

Bahamas 2011

Update on the older kids

2011-07-25T23:53:00.004-05:00

Junior has it stuck in his head that he wants/needs a pet. Here is a recent conversation we had about it while I was getting ready for work:

J: Mommy, can you help me think of a pet I can have?
Me: A pet?
J: Yes, like a dog, or a cat, or an elephant.
Me: An elephant?
J: Yes, an elephant.
Me: Why do you want an elephant?

(All the while he is very serious with his answers and tells me like I am supposed to know these things!)

Junior: So it can water our grass with its trunk.
Me: How will he get the water in its trunk?
Junior: From the pool we build in our backyard.
Me: Junior, we don't have room in our backyard for a pool or let alone, an elephant.
Junior: Yes, we do!! Come see! (As he pulls me to look out the windows to our backyard, like I don't know how much room we have!)
Me: Well buddy, I'm sorry, but I don't think we have enough room for all of that.

I then go back to getting ready. Meanwhile, Junior convinces Daddy that they need to count his money in his piggy bank to see how much he has to buy a pet. Daddy and Junior count his money and then write it down on a piece of paper so according to Junior they can show the people at the pet store how much money he has to see if it's enough for an elephant. A few minutes before I leave Junior is so sure that he is going to get an elephant and I told Daddy that he couldn't let it go on anymore and tell him that he really actually couldn't have one. Junior was heartbroken! You could just see his little heart sink! So Daddy cheered him up by telling him that when Mommy leaves for work then they would go to the pet store and see what else was there to get. Daddy also told him that under no circumstances were they going to the store to buy a pet though without Mommy. He was satisfied with that and the next morning after I worked and had slept a little Junior came in to show me the list of potential animals. They were all reasonable and at the top of the list was a turtle. Daddy said they were on sale! We still don't have a pet and I thought he had forgotten about it. But this afternoon when Junior was asking me how many more days until we go to the Bahamas, I told him and then he said, "Oh, good and then when we get back we can get my pet!" Unbeknown to me, Daddy had told him that we couldn't get a pet until after our vacation because if we left then no one would be here to feed it. Well, there you go, he remembered. Daddy thought he would forget also!

Gaga has recently been telling me on the way home from the pool when we go swimming, "take nap get home. I lay down my bed." It is very odd coming from the girl who protests her naps all the other days! I guess the swimming is wearing her out. Her newest phrase, usually whenever I get off the phone is, "what you talking about Mommy?" Nana brought to my attention recently that Gaga is very independent. And I am just now realizing this. Everything she does if I try to help her she responds with, "myself, I do myself". She mostly says this with regards to going to the bathroom on the potty. She has started knowing when she needs to go and will tell me as she walks towards the bathroom. I will start to follow her and she wants me to "come out" (leave) because "I do myself". I am thinking she is really close to being potty trained! She hasn't pooped in her diaper in a week! Here's hoping for a quick transition!

Beating the heat

2011-07-21T23:50:00.004-05:00

It's been a hot one, but the pool does wonders at giving us a break from the heat, entertaining the kids and leaving them taking extra naps and sleeping in longer in the morning! Ahhhh! Now in only baby boy understood how to sleep in. Below are pictures from our most recent trip to the pool with Daddy. He was able to be in the water with the kids so I could get a few pictures of them showing off their new swimming skills.

Junior showing off his skills. At the beginning of the summer he was apprehensive to put his face in the water, but a few times swimming with a friend his age that does and he is a little fish! So excited that I can now start teaching him the finer arts of swimming (the 4 different strokes)!

Same thing with Gaga...she was not wanting to put her face in the water at the beginning of the summer or even for that matter let go of my hands and glide to me. I think seeing her brother having so much fun gave her that extra boost of confidence. Here she is gliding to Daddy. We have to constantly remind her to scoop with her arms and kick her legs. It's so cute to tell her that before she comes off the steps and see her demonstrate how she will move her arms. When she does remember she is quick to tell you that she "kicked" or "move arms".

And gliding back to the wall and maybe kicking.

And we can't forget about baby boy. I think he loves the water as much as his siblings! He can get his legs kicking so fast!

Me and the kids

4th of July in Austin

2011-07-05T11:17:00.002-05:00

We had planned towards the beginning of the year that we would come down to Austin during 4th of July weekend to spend some time with the B family and also participate in their neighborhood's 4th of July parade. Aunt K also made a short trip there to see them and us also. The kids did great in the car both there and back except for baby boy. He was fine until the last 20 minutes when he woke up from his nap. He was done being in the car, was ready to eat and he let us know! That was definitely not the right time to make a wrong turn getting there! Oops! But if that was our only little hiccup then I would say it was a great trip!

We enjoyed visiting with the B family, going to the pool, playing games after the kids went to bed, going to see Cars 2 and decorating bikes for the parade and being in said parade. We also had a couple visits from other family members that live in the area that stopped by to see us. We all had a wonderful time and can't thank the B family enough for their hospitality! More pictures below.

4th of July

3 Months Old

2011-07-04T00:22:00.010-05:00

This little guy's personality has really come out this month and is so fun to be around. He is almost always happy except when he is tired or hungry. He used to be fine reclining in his swing or bouncy chair but has now been protesting both of these until we pick him up to be looking over our shoulders or sitting up in his bumbo chair. I'm guessing he is loving the new views he has in that chair. It gives me a break while he entertains himself looking around or grabbing onto a toy. He is turning his head to follow the sounds of our voices and watch us walk across the room. He has found his feet and tries to grab them. He can easily get his fist (left one) in his mouth to chew or suck on and anything he grabs onto will go straight into his mouth. He loves to smile and talk as long as you will listen and has started looking up at me while he's eating to smile and talk! He is constantly moving his arms and kicking his legs like he hopes to get somewhere and gets great exercise from trying to stand while on our laps. He finally is enjoying his bath which makes giving them a whole lot easier. And finally, he has been consistently sleeping for a good stretch of 5-6 hours when putting him to bed around 8:30 or 9. Now if only I could get to bed that early and get a big stretch of sleep! Below are a few pics over the last month.

Tummy time

Loving the new views from the bumbo chair

Baby boy in bumbo at 3 months

Gaga in bumbo at 3 1/2 months

Visit from family up north

2011-07-01T11:25:00.006-05:00

I have an aunt, uncle and two cousins that live up north and they always try to make it down once a year to visit all the family in Texas. We sure do appreciate the time and travel they take to get down here and love catching up with them and playing a few card games. Some family south of us came up also to see them and visit. Thanks for coming down to visit! We can't wait to see you all again!

Gaga passed out at the water park we went to the first day they came in town. All the excitement posed to much for her.

Cousin A reading to Gaga (Aunt D with baby boy on the right)

Gaga reading to herself

Junior playing cards with my cousins (It's hard to believe that B on the left was the flower girl in our wedding. Now she is driving!)

Making pizzas for lunch with Grandma

Aunt V getting some loving in from baby boy

Independence celebration

2011-06-30T11:18:00.005-05:00

Our town celebrates 4th of July the weekend before the actual day. We always look forward to a family night out and watching the amazing firework show they put on. We missed it last year while we were in Tennessee for my cousin's wedding. So we were definitely ready for it this year. Nana, Great One, Aunt A and Unckie J joined us also. Junior and Gaga enjoyed the funnel cake (a must at events like this), live music (Gaga danced up a storm), and of course the fireworks. Baby boy was a little overstimulated by them, but never put up a fuss because of them.

Yum! Funnel cake!

Two of my three babies

My third baby

Gaga and her glow necklace

Busy summer

2011-06-29T01:05:00.001-05:00

Below are a couple pictures of Gaga just to show you how busy our summer has been over the last few weeks.

One night Gaga had come out of her room a couple times trying to avoid going to sleep. We thought she had finally given up and was in her bed fast asleep. Not exactly. She was fast asleep in the hallway outside her room with pillow and her pig.

While up in the middle of the night feeding baby boy I will occasionally go and check on the kids before heading back to bed. This one night I head out and find this girl asleep half on and half off the couch! I guess she tried to make it to our room but didn't! (She is notorious for coming into our bed in the middle of the night. Most of the time we don't even know she came in until we wake up in the morning and find her next to us.)

Junior took swim lessons the first three weeks of the month. But it wasn't until the day before the last class that he decided he wasn't afraid of getting his face wet anymore. We have been going to a couple local pools quite often to get the kids in the water more often to help them learn how to swim. It definitely helped and now Junior is a little fish. Jumping around in the water doing silly tricks, practicing his swimming and diving for rings.

This past week was spent up at church every day for Vacation Bible School. I volunteered to help in the nursery so I could keep baby boy with me and feed him when he needed. Gaga was also in the same nursery with me but occasionally spent some time in the older nursery doing a couple crafts and going to music time with them. I am told that she really enjoyed the music time, dancing and doing the hand motions to the songs.

The last few days of the month we had to say "see you later" to a good friend of mine I met through a retreat I went on at church as her and her husband moved back home to be closer to family. She had "adopted" the kids as her grandkids and they in turn had "adopted" her as their Meemaw. We will surely miss seeing her!

We can expect the rest of the summer to be just as busy with me going back to work in a couple weeks :( , swimming often at the pool, two week long mini camps for Junior to attend at church, a visit from family up north, a short trip to Austin for 4th of July and a trip to the Bahamas near the end. Whew!

And these last two pictures that I just love!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2011-06-06T23:10:00.005-05:00

Took Daddy to Top Golf for his birthday. It was a nice surprise for him and we both enjoyed ourselves and time away from the kids. Then off to a nice dinner and then back home for cake and ice cream! Happy birthday, Daddy! We love you and look forward to many more birthdays with you!

Nice swing!

Family shot

Make a wish!

Junior pretending Daddy's new grill brush is a back scratcher (Ow!)

2 Months Old

2011-06-04T12:37:00.005-05:00

2 Month Old stats:
24 inches tall
12 lbs. 11oz.

Our little man is growing like a weed! I am loving the new rolls of chubbiness I find on him now. He has found his hands and looks surprised when they flash across in front of his face. He still keeps them closed tightly except when sleeping and he loves to stick his arms straight out in front and move them around. Junior likes to think that he is boxing when he does that, so we will have little boxing matches that they all seem to enjoy. His smiles are very often especially when Mommy is talking to him! Everyone that holds him always comments on how well he holds himself and his head. He has been good at that from day one. He loves tummy time and being able to push himself up to see the toys in front of him. Here's a few pics from the last month. You can really tell from these pictures how big he is getting.

Baby boy at 1 month

Junior at 4 days

Catching up a little

2011-06-03T18:33:00.009-05:00

I realized recently that I have not been good about putting things in the blog that the kids are saying or doing. I am going to try and keep it more current but for now I wanted to catch up on some things that I have written down but have not gotten on here yet.

Soon after baby was born we were all sitting down to eat dinner and baby started crying. As both kids usually do, they alerted us that the baby was crying. I asked Junior if he could go and help his brother out and see if he could get him to stop crying. He was quick to reply that he could not because, "I don't have a big bra like you". More recently while driving in the car, Junior told me that we needed a bigger car. I asked him why and he said "because what if Jesus puts another baby in your tummy". (We take up all seats in our car as it is now.) We just recently started a book to teach Junior to read and hope to finish by the end of the summer. We will let you know how that goes! It will take a lot of patience on both our parts!

It didn't last long but in the first couple of weeks of baby's birth, Gaga would put toys in his crib. I am guessing that she thought he needed something to play with in there. I would find a new toy every time he went down for a nap. I have yet to get a picture of it, but many times I have found Gaga breastfeeding her baby dolls as I am told I also used to do when I was little. She also likes putting their hands together to say prayers and taking them to her bed to go to sleep. One of the parts to our bedtime routine with the kids is blessing them by "marking" a cross on their foreheads. Gaga one night touched her baby brother with her hands and then said, "bess (bless) you, aaaamen". Gaga is not potty trained yet, but one day when I found a dirty diaper and wipe on the bathroom floor along with the stool next to the potty with the potty seat on, I thought it might be time to start making the transition. Especially when I then found her in her bed "reading" a book with a dry/clean diaper on! The other day Gaga came up to me and was rubbing her eyes. I asked her if she was tired and she said "yes, owie in eye". Meaning her eyes were hurting from being so tired!

Mother's Day

Nana and Great One over for a visit

Playing in the rain

My favorite part of Saturday mornings

Memorial day spent at Nana and Great One's

Junior receiving his baseball trophy from his coach at the end of the season party. Junior was much more attentive this season and was able to hit the ball well into the outfield on numerous occasions. We were so proud of him!

Gaga did not like these slippers when I bought them during the winter and would never leave them on if I put them on her. One night while she is standing in the hallway of her bedroom to the living room trying to persuade us to let her have "2 more minutes" before she has to go to bed, she sees these slippers on the shelves of clothes that need to be put away. Apparently now she likes them because we later found her asleep with them on.

Our handsome little man looking at the toys of his play mat.

Reaching for his toys

Family weekend

2011-05-27T00:10:00.007-05:00

Daddy took Friday off from work that allowed us to spend a wonderful though exhausting day with him. First stop was the zoo. We started with a picnic lunch outside at the park and then headed inside to see the animals. Our last stop was the Rangers game. I was determined to see the fireworks they had after the game and the kids made it through 14 innings to make that happen. We made it back to our car at 12:30am and the kids were asleep before we left the parking lot.

A little too close for comfort!

The highlight of the zoo. Giraffes!

Train ride in the park outside the zoo. Of course we had to ride!

Gaga at the game

The kids after the fireworks before heading home.

And the tradition continues with baby sitting in a seat for a picture.

Junior this year

2010

2009

2008

2007

Junior graduates preschool

2011-05-24T22:32:00.003-05:00

Junior has come such a long way since the first day of his 4 year old preschool class. The biggest change has been the confidence he has gained. He is much more independent and has better social skills with other peers and adults.

The 4 year old classes performed the "Three Piggy Opera" during their graduation. They had been practicing during music class for a while and each time they would practice different parts so the teacher could see who was the best fit for each part. I had already prepared myself to see Junior as a butterfly or a tree. When I saw the program I couldn't find Junior's name because it was next to the part of the wolf. I could not believe my eyes. Junior surprised me when he came out dressed as the wolf. He did such a great job stomping across the stage and blowing the houses down. The music teacher told me later that Junior was the best fit for the wolf because he could remember all the different parts that the wolf had to do. She said he was the only one to remember to pick up the big fork and spoon at the right time. I was such a proud mother that day!

Junior's teacher said something for each child as she called their name to receive their "diploma". For Junior she said that every time he talked to her he would have the most adult faces/expressions. I can attest to him being pretty animated and I'm sure he gets those faces from me!

Junior on the right as the wolf

"I want a big, fat pig to eat!"

The graduates coming in

Junior's class with teacher and aide (Junior on far left)

Water park fun

2011-05-22T22:34:00.001-05:00

Our first summer outing was to a nearby water park. Junior enjoyed all the water slides he was tall enough for, Gaga spent most of her time shivering from the cool temps of the water and baby was just along for the ride, sleeping through most of it and waking momentarily to eat and then go back to sleep. It was our first time to this water park and would go back again without hesitation.

Junior and Daddy testing out the first slide

Junior braving this slide alone

Daddy and Gaga

Gaga "entered" a dance competition the DJ was hosting. She tried to imitate everything the other contestants were doing. The DJ gave out a few leis to the winners and Gaga was one of them!

Can you tell she had her shoes on the wrong feet? She was so good, it didn't matter!

Smiles to brighten your day

2011-05-19T23:49:00.008-05:00

Our little man smiled for the first time on April 26th at 3 weeks old. He was able to give us one or two good smiles a day when he was rested and fed. Now we are able to get several a day out of him and he also just recently started cooing while we talk to him! He has been very strong since day one, lifting his head up more than I recall the other two and just recently putting weight on his fat chubby legs when you hold him up. He will "stand up" for quite some time and only occasionally getting weak and bending at the knees to rest. We get such joy out of watching him smile at us and we thought by sharing a few smiles with you, they would brighten your day! Enjoy!

The best pic I could get of the day he first smiled.

Now that's better! 4 weeks old

5 weeks old

6 weeks old

6 1/2 weeks old...his tongue is ALWAYS going!

1 Month Old

2011-05-04T22:54:00.002-05:00

1 Month Old stats:
22 inches tall
10 lbs. 7oz.

Professional Pics

2011-05-04T17:48:00.002-05:00

While Aunt K was here we took full advantage of her help and got family and newborn pics done. Below are a few of the good ones.

SO proud to be holding his brother all by himself!

This one shows how concerned Gaga is whenever her baby brother starts crying! She is always the first to tell me when baby is "Ki-ing".

Ha! Caught him smiling!!!

Aunt K's visit

2011-05-04T00:44:00.000-05:00

Aunt K made a special trip up for baby's baptism and to help Mommy out for a few days. The visit could not have been any better than it was. Aunt K was a life saver while she was here. I was spoiled feeling like I had a live in nanny. She made dinner for us, washed dishes, played with the kids, watched the kids while I ran errands or had a night out with Daddy and helped us when we went to get pictures taken. She was just what I needed in those early weeks when I'm still adjusting to the new family size and totally outnumbered. When we were driving away from dropping her off at the airport, I still had tears in my eyes from saying goodbye and Junior asked if I was sad and I told him yes I was. He said, "Because Aunt K isn't here to help you anymore?" It made me laugh! He thought I was sad because I wasn't going to have any more help, not because she was leaving! So good to see you and thanks for all your help, Aunt K!

Baby taking his first trip down the slide with everyone's help

The three kiddos

Aunt K and baby...so sweet!

Girl time...Aunt K painting Gaga's fingernails

Boy time...Uncle J came over to visit with Aunt K and play with the kids

Last day of Aunt K's visit...on our way to the airport we stopped at a park to play

Baptism Day!!!

2011-04-30T00:44:00.005-05:00

We want to thank all our family and friends that joined us in celebrating baby's baptism. It was a special and important day for baby and we are so blessed to have you all in our lives. Thanks!

As we were getting baby dressed in his baptismal gown, Junior walked in and said, "Awwww, he looks like an angel!" I melted!

Baptism

Easter 2011 and then some

2011-04-24T00:43:00.003-05:00

Easter morning we made it to mass, enjoyed an egg hunt in our backyard (no pics), and then over to my parents to visit with family and another egg hunt. Junior was eager to get in bed the night before because he said he didn't want to be awake when the Easter bunny came. We think he was a little frightened as to what actually comes to the house!

Family photo

Egg hunt at Nana and Great One's

Baby's first bath in the infant tub

Junior and Gaga were eager helpers

Gaga loving on her brother

Awake and alert

Sound asleep

1st week home

2011-04-10T00:38:00.005-05:00

We adjusted quite well this past week getting to know our new sweet baby boy. We loved having Daddy home to help Mommy and to enjoy being a family of FIVE! It's going to be sad to see Daddy leave to go back for work. :(

Since we didn't know what the gender of this baby was going to be we hadn't been able to prepare the kids with a certain name. Junior has been able to easily switch and call the baby by his name. Gaga on the other hand has been a lot slower at catching on to the baby's name. She is still calling the baby, "baby". Even though when told to say the baby's name she can pronounce it really well.

Daddy and baby snoozing

Baby getting weighed at our 48 hour check up at home (7lbs)

Footprint time...he was not a fan!

First picture of our new family of 5

A couple pictures of a sweet sleeping baby

I am in LOVE with my baby!

Junior likes to get close to baby and say, "Look, we are twins!" He also has let me know several times that our family now consists of 3 boys and only 2 girls, so they win!

My three little ones in bed one morning. (I don't realize baby's jaundice until he's next to my other WHITE babies!)

Great grandma came to visit

So did Great grandpa

Nana getting some snuggle time in

Gaga "reading"her books to baby

The kids meet their new brother!

2011-04-04T20:02:00.005-05:00

Once we arrived home from the birthing center we tried to get some rest before our friend brought the kids back. That was not going to happen since we were so anxious and excited to see them meet their new brother and see how they would react.

Daddy's parents came over to meet their newest grandson and also brought us dinner. After we ate, we got word from our friend that she was on her way over with the kids. She also let me know that Junior had said, "t-h-i-k-k spells (baby's name)", which is very far from the truth. Gaga had said, "going to see baby sissy." She was convinced I was having a girl! I don't think she would have realized one way or another though. She just wanted a baby!

When the kids got home they had balloons and flowers for me and the baby. Junior walked in, didn't say hi to anyone and started walking through the house looking for something. We guessed he was looking for the baby. Gaga was next in the door and she was very excited to see us and say hi and give hugs. We asked her where the baby was and she came to me and lifted up my shirt. We told her that the baby wasn't in my tummy anymore and asked her if she wanted to see the baby. We had put the baby in his crib in Junior's room before they showed up so we could surprise them. So we walked into Junior's room and showed both of them the baby sleeping in the crib. I picked the baby up and showed the kids. We walked into the living room for them to sit on the couch because they both could not wait to hold him. Their smiles were priceless! They were both extremely cautious and curious. Both taking turns to hold him and checking him out from head to toe. They loved every minute of it...and him! Just see for yourself. The pictures show it best!

Baby meets Gaga...holding for the first time!

Baby meets Junior...holding for the first time and Gaga trying to steal him away

Junior's "too excited doesn't know what to do or how to act" face

She's smitten with him!

Checking him over

She doesn't want to put him down

My three sweet babies!

It's a BOY!!!

2011-04-04T12:00:00.000-05:00

Welcoming to the world our precious baby BOY!

Born on April 4, 2011 @ 10:46am
Weighing in @ 7lbs. 6oz.
Measuring in @ 20 inches tall

I woke up at 3:30am on Monday morning with a contraction. I had been waking up in the middle of the night for the last few weeks with a contraction. I would only have one, get up to go to the bathroom and then go back to bed. This morning I did the same and got back in bed. I listened to the storm blowing through outside while I lay in bed and a few minutes later I felt another one which would have made them 10 minutes apart. A couple more contractions at 10 minutes apart each and I rolled over to let Daddy know that I was going to get in the shower. I knew this had to be it since I never had any contractions with any pregnancies that would come together at certain intervals until I was in labor. 10 minutes apart seems like plenty of time, but in the back of my mind I was constantly worrying that I would be delivering quickly since Gaga was born 4 hours after the first contraction.

While in the shower the contractions seemed to be one right after the other with no breaks in between, almost like I was having one long contraction. When I got out I called the midwife to see if she thought we should head up to the birthing center. (At each of my last few appointments, the midwives would remind me to make sure since Gaga was a quick delivery to give them plenty of warning if I went into labor in the middle of the night so as to ensure they would have enough time to get up to the birthing center, especially since I was already dilated 3cm.) It was 4:30am at this time and the midwife told me she would meet us at the birthing center at 5:00am. Daddy and I continued to get ready and pack things up. We decided to call our friend and godmother of this baby to see if she could come pick up Junior and Gaga. It just so happens that we planned the week before for her to pick them up this morning to take them and give me a chance to run errands or just get some rest without them for the day. We sure lucked out with that! She said that she would meet us at the birthing center and get the kids there. I continued having contractions while getting myself and the kids ready and packed up and then we headed for the birthing center (bc).

It was pouring down rain as we drove to the bc. My contractions at this point seemed to be getting further apart and all I could think about was...I better be in labor or I got the midwife and our friend up early in the morning and in the pouring rain for no reason! We pulled into the parking area of the bc and our friend was there ready to take the kids. We had a quick exchange of hellos and quick goodbyes to the kids and Daddy walked me to the front door under the umbrella in the pouring rain. Once inside the midwife wanted to check me to see how things were progressing. At 5:30am I was dilated to 4cm, still about 80% effaced and at a 0 station. So at least the baby had dropped lower since the week before, although I was still a little disappointed that I had not labored a little more at home and was not further along than I was. The midwife told me to go ahead and have Daddy bring our stuff in and get settled in the room upstairs, but as for me I was instructed to walk up and down the stairs for 30 minutes to get the contractions coming stronger. During that time the contractions were coming every 2 minutes and were definitely getting stronger.

Around 6:30am I asked the midwife to check me again and I was at 5cm. Definitely not going as fast as I thought it would. The midwife told me that baby #3 can always throw you for a loop. They can either be faster labors than the others or they can be slower. I was realizing that this one was going to be slower.

For the next couple of hours I was working through my contractions bouncing/swaying on the birthing ball, rocking in the rocking chair or listening to my ipod. The bed was not an option as it gave me no relief during my contractions. In between contractions I easily carried on conversations with Daddy, the midwife, birth assistant or my mom (it kept my mind off them).

At 8:30am I was 6-7cm and the midwife gave me some tea with an herb, cohosh, in it. She didn't think that my contractions were lasting as long as they should be or coming as frequently as they should. The herb would "irritate" my uterus and help those things along. I drank the tea around 9:00am and 30 minutes later at 9:30am I was 8cm, but mostly complete. The midwife wanted me to move in a couple different positions to get that last little bit of cervix out of the way. I started getting a little nervous at this point thinking about the pain that I would experience as the baby was being delivered. The birthing assistant told me that I had to think past that part and think about holding my baby. It was hard to do.

At 10:00am the midwife said that I could go ahead and get into the birthing tub and to start out by getting in on my hands and knees. She also told me that if I wanted to have this baby then I could have it at any point. My body and the baby were ready but I was the one holding back. I alternated between my hands and knees and sitting Indian style with each contraction. They started to space out again and gave me good breaks between each contraction. At 10:42am my water broke and within a couple minutes the baby was pushing down which gave me no other option but to push with it. While on my hands and knees I gave one good push and the midwife had me stop to slow the baby down from coming out too fast. She then let me push one more time and the head was out. She had me stop again to check for a cord around the baby's neck and then she had me turn over and sit back against the side of the tub. Then with one last push our baby boy was born at 10:46am! Daddy was the one to look and announce the gender of the baby. When he said it was a boy it really didn't faze me. I had the feeling all along that it was a boy. Nonetheless, it was still an amazing moment to finally know for sure what our baby was and to hold it in my arms. We cuddled for a couple minutes and then Daddy cut the cord. The baby was wrapped up and handed to Daddy so I could get out of the tub and into the bed to deliver the placenta.

The next few hours we spent resting in the bed, eating (both baby and I), getting checked and rechecked, passing baby around to my parents or Daddy and enjoying our new little guy. Around 3:45pm, baby and I checked out fine and were on our way home! The whole experience was more than I could have imagined and would definitely do it again. The midwife and birthing assistant were amazing! We were able to have the birth that we wanted and the expert care all in one place!

Baby #3

38 weeks

2011-03-31T14:19:00.003-05:00

Nothing too exciting to report from this last appointment. Baby's heart rate was in the 150's yet again, my weight was fine, blood pressure fine and my measurements were consistent with the last few weeks. I had the midwife check me and I had only progressed to 3.5cm dilated, still 80% effaced, and still at a -1 station in a weeks time. I guess I was expecting a little more. Since I felt like this may be the last time I took pictures with baby inside my belly, we decided to get a few with the kids again. They really enjoyed taking turns rubbing on my belly and giving the "baby" kisses.

Getting ready

2011-03-27T16:22:00.002-05:00

Since finding out at my last appointment that this baby could be here sooner rather than later, we decided now was as good a time as any to get things out and ready when baby arrived.

Daddy, Junior and Gaga putting together the baby's crib

Gaga has decided that everything we have brought out for the baby needs to be tested out by her own baby including the crib, swing and car seat as seen below. She will tirelessly put her baby in and out of these items all day long.

We can't wait for baby to be here!

37 weeks

2011-03-24T16:04:00.003-05:00

Weekly check ups sure make the last few weeks of a pregnancy fly by! I found out at this appointment that I was GBS negative (a very good thing) that they had tested last week, that my blood pressure had remained good, that I was weighing the same as last week, that baby's heart rate was in the 150's and that I was measuring smaller again (34 weeks for being 37 weeks). No worries to be had though. The midwife still felt plenty of fluid and could tell that the baby was a good size. I was originally thinking that I would ask to be checked at this appointment to see if I was dilating (even though you can hardly tell when labor will start with this information, but was just anxious to see if the ball was rolling yet). Since my midwife last week asked if I wanted to be checked I thought this midwife would do the same, but she didn't and I was almost out the door when I asked if she minded checking me just for grins. Good thing she did! I was already 3cm dilated, 70% effaced and at a -1 station. We had previously been talking about me having to work that night and she strongly suggested that I did not (seeing as I was still a couple days away from being exactly 37 weeks). She did not want me going into labor at work that night with the possibility of not being able to go to the birthing center. (They highly prefer all patients be at least 37 weeks to birth there.) So I called into work that night and took it easy! Not at all a bad deal! Stay tuned...the ball is definitely rolling!

A girl and her shoes

2011-03-18T16:04:00.005-05:00

Gaga's recent routine when going down for naps has been that she requests her pants, socks and shoes be taken off. I tuck her in and leave the room. She then proceeds to get out of bed and play with toys for awhile before getting back in bed and tucking herself back in. I will go in and check on her later to find a good majority of her toys and clothes from her drawers strewn about. Only this time she only wanted her pants and shoes off. But when I went to check on her later she had put her shoes back on before getting back in bed. Silly girl! She LOVES her shoes!

36 weeks

2011-03-17T16:03:00.003-05:00

No exciting news this week, just stats from my appointment and pictures. I am measuring just a week smaller this time and I had gained weight. My blood pressure was still great and baby's heart rate was in the 140's just like last week. I have just started this past week feeling a lot slower when doing just about everything. Work was a bit more challenging and every day household chores and two kids running around accounted for a lot of it. Here's hoping I get a burst of energy towards the end and go out with a bang! (Start going for weekly appointments now!!!)

34 weeks

2011-03-03T12:55:00.004-06:00

Another two weeks, another appointment. Everything was looking great this time around again (good blood pressure, baby's heart rate in the 140's) with the exception of me losing a couple of pounds and measuring two weeks smaller (32 weeks instead of 34 weeks). Because of those two factors the midwife wanted me to get an ultrasound done to check the fluid level, size of baby and make sure the placenta was still functioning properly, just to be on the safe side. I did not worry too much about anything being wrong. I was actually excited to be able to see our little one once more before the birth. So we made an appointment a couple days later and the sono tech showed us from her perspective that everything was fine with the baby (fluid level, size and working placenta). We made sure to let her know that we didn't know the gender of the baby and still did not want to. She measured baby to be about 5lbs. 13oz. Which if I go to 40 weeks would make for a good sized baby over 8 lbs!

Sideways close up picture of the nose and lips (nose to the right and lips to the left)

Daddy made the sono tech a little nervous when he softly counted to himself "one, two, three, four, five, six!" The sono tech whipped around in her chair and said, "six?" We all got a good laugh out of that!

Junior's tonsils

2011-02-21T17:39:00.006-06:00

It all started over a year ago when I mentioned to the pedi at an appointment with Gaga, that I thought Junior's tonsils were bigger than they should be. The pedi looked in his mouth and reassured me that this was completely normal for this age and that kids sometimes need to grow into their tonsils. They never caused him a problem and the issue was forgotten about until about a month ago...

One random day I saw into Junior's mouth and noticed his tonsils were larger than they had been a year ago. We also noticed that he had recently started snoring loudly while sleeping. I put in a call to the pedi and they wanted me to try a dose of Motrin to see if they were just swollen for some reason and if this might bring the swelling down. They said there was no need to call back unless he was complaining about his throat hurting, they were red and pussy or he had a fever (none of which he had at that moment). About a week later Junior was complaining one night that he felt like something was stuck back in his throat and he continued to cough and gag to try and get it out. The next morning I called the pedi back and told them that he was complaining about something being stuck in his throat and they referred me to an ENT to go ahead and have them looked at.

We made an appointment for the following week and were told by the doctor within 5 minutes of being in the room that Junior needed to have his tonsils out. I thought it was a pretty rash decision made by the doctor that had only talked to me for a couple minutes about Junior's symptoms and spent even less time examining him. I just wasn't ready to put my "baby" under the knife if it wasn't a dire need. After talking to a few trusted friends at length, we decided that it wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion and see one more ENT. This time it would be a pediatric ENT recommended by my friend.

I made an appointment again for the next week and within a couple days Junior woke up with a fever. I took him into the pedi's office and he tested positive for strep throat within a few seconds on a test that takes 5 minutes to come back. Daddy and I both decided at that point this would be our second opinion and we should just get his tonsils taken out if they were going to start causing this to happen. We canceled our appointment with the other ENT and we were in waiting mode until Junior had finished his antibiotics and we went back in for a follow up with the pedi.

We finished up the 10-day antibiotics and a couple days later, one day before our follow up, Junior wakes up with a fever again. Another trip back to the pedi's confirmed strep throat again!!! We definitely had convinced ourselves at that point as soon as his antibiotics were finished we were getting those tonsils out.

So we come to the day of surgery and Junior was such a trooper through it all! From waking up early before the sun to get to the surgery center, to drinking the sedation medicine, to waking up after surgery with all the nurses in love with him, to eating two blue popsicles before we left the center, to never complaining about anything. Except for later that day when he wanted to eat chips and ride his bike (the two things forbidden by the doctor). Of course he had his moments of crankiness which was to be expected. He missed school on Tuesday, but was ready to go back on Wednesday and was upset when I picked him up early because I didn't want him running around at playground time.

Daddy and I did great also! We were able to leave our sweet boy in the care of the doctors and nurses as they wheeled him into the OR. We went to the waiting room and started a rosary. Halfway through the rosary the doctor came out to tell us that he was done and that Junior had done great and it was a good thing we took them out because they were extremely big. I thought for sure something was wrong when the doctor came out so soon. I was not expecting it to happen so quickly. We finished the rosary and then it was time to meet up with him in the recovery area. He looked so groggy and pathetic it made my heart hurt. The nurses said he was just the sweetest thing and two of them wanted to take him home. They said that most of the little ones do not wake up from the anesthesia so well. He was just laying there eating away at his popsicle when another little boy right around the same age came out of surgery and he was kicking and screaming. One of the nurses said, "Now that's the way they usually wake up!" After he finished his second popsicle and his bag of IV fluids had run the rest of the way in, we were good to go!

The night before surgery we took one last picture of Junior with his tonsils. (The two big balls at the back of his throat.)

The picture they gave us to keep of his tonsils. Had no idea we would be getting a little souvenir! The safety pin is to mark left and right for the lab when they are sent off.

Poor Junior, on the way home after his surgery around 10am. Blue lips from the popsicles. He was getting enough oxygen I promise!

Sometime around 8pm that night. Junior feeling much better and posing with all of his get well gifts and cards (and the picture of his tonsils).

Weekend Getaway

2011-02-20T17:34:00.002-06:00

Daddy and I took a much needed overnight trip to relax and have some time to talk just the two of us before we are pulled in three different directions come April. Thanks to Nana and Great One for keeping Junior and Gaga while we were away. The resort we booked was not what we expected, but it ended up being much better than we expected once we got used to being practically the only ones there. It is mainly a golf resort and since it is not golf season, it was pretty vacant. We definitely enjoyed that aspect while sitting on the balcony at night hearing one cricket and waking up in the morning to one bird (even the wildlife hadn't shown up for the season). We enjoyed dinner and breakfast at the resort's restaurant, massages at the spa and quiet time on the balcony while we were there.

On the balcony over looking the lake before dinner

Baby and I (thanks to my friend for letting me borrow the dress!)

Daddy enjoying the view

View from our balcony

32 weeks

2011-02-17T17:16:00.006-06:00

Baby and Mommy are growing! It seems like I have really "popped" out the last 4 weeks since my last appointment and pictures on here. I can definitely see little knees, elbows, hands or feet move around as baby stretches and gets settled inside. You can easily see my whole belly move sometimes when the kicks or punches are really strong. My appointment this week was pretty uneventful. The same checks, blood pressure, weight, measurements and any questions I may have (which I usually don't). The baby's heart rate was again steady in the 150's and I have been gaining the "expected" amount of weight. The midwife was certain that the baby is head down. The only thing out of the ordinary was the baby measuring at about 31 weeks instead of 32 weeks. There was not cause for concern and the midwife said we would watch it and of course recheck in two weeks with my next appointment.

Valentine's Day and more

2011-02-14T16:54:00.004-06:00

Making some heart-shaped cookies that day

Great helper

Flowers from Daddy for Mommy (took the picture right before they died)

Flowers from Daddy for Gaga

Gaga in her bed down for a nap

Gaga in Junior's bed down for a nap. Found her there one time after I put her down in her bed...guess she thought it was more comfortable. Lately, when I put her down for naps, she will quietly get back out of bed and either play in her room or pull everything out of her drawers and then put herself back in bed to fall asleep. I only find all of this after she wakes up or after I check on her when I know she's asleep.

My little helpers! I have trained them well!!!

Another snow

2011-02-04T16:19:00.006-06:00

They only predicted about an inch of snow after ice had covered the streets for the past three days. Well, we got 6-8 inches of snow instead. Daddy had carefully made it into work the other days with just ice, but this was the last straw. He decided to work from home that day...it was just safer.

Daddy taking a work break to walk to the donut store for us. It was much too dangerous to drive there and it's only across the street!

Our hero back with breakfast

Stuck inside...painting and playing with playdoh

The kids

2011-02-02T13:03:00.001-06:00

Junior:

When he wants me to read something out loud he tells me to "talk to it" (the paper)
Likes to tell us how things are going to go that day or if we give him the run down of the day he will respond with "well, let's do this instead"
Junior has been having some issues with his tonsils (that will all be in another post) and after school one day we were heading to an appointment with the ENT to have them looked at. While getting into the car, his classmate was doing the same in the car next to us. Here was their conversation:

Classmate -"Where are you going?"
Junior - "To the doctor."
Classmate - "Why?"
Junior - "Because my tonsils are getting huge."
Classmate - "What does that mean?"
Junior - "That means big!"

Ha! I couldn't stop laughing!

Gaga:

When we ask her to do something she will yell, "NO" at us (this was actually a problem a month or so ago and has stopped since...thank goodness!)
She seems to be getting the "time-out" punishment quite often now mostly because she will not listen and we know she understands us. She is just being defiant. Most of the time she will drop something or throw something across the room and we will ask her to pick it up and put it back. She stands there in front of that something, looks at us and then turns and walks the other way. It is very frustrating because what could take a couple of seconds to do turns into a 5 minute power of wills between the two of us to get her to pick it up.
She LOVES to read books to herself out loud and will spend long periods of time getting multiple books at a time; paper back books she will sometimes stick her finger in her mouth to wet it and proceed to turn the page (guess she's been seeing me do that)
She is a performer and will make the most unusual faces and poses to make us laugh
She wants to do everything Junior is doing and will try to repeat EVERYTHING he does
Loves opening and shutting doors
My favorite saying of hers recently has come about when she was needing to go to bed one night and I told her she had 5 more minutes, and then a few minutes later I told her she had 2 more minutes, and then it was bed time and we put her in bed. Since then whenever we tell her it's bed time she will tell us "two, five, two, five" as to be telling us that she needs 2 and 5 more minutes. Silly girl!

Gaga's 2 year old pics

2011-01-28T12:12:00.000-06:00

Better late than never...here are the pics we chose from Gaga's 2 year old photo shoot. Saying that she loved getting her picture taken is an understatement. She was a ham saying "more cheese (while smiling)" every time they stopped taking pictures to change the backgrounds. She didn't want to stop. The bad thing about that was trying to pick out just a few good ones.

Gaga's Baptism Day

2011-01-24T16:02:00.004-06:00

As always, we celebrated Baptism day with a dinner of Gaga's choice (spaghetti), dessert and reminiscing over her baptism pictures with candle and white garment. She had no clue what was going on when we lit her candle and took pictures. She did however do very well blowing her candle out! Happy Baptism Day, Gaga!

Cupcakes! Yum!

Unsure what was going on

Trying to get her to smile and wave at the camera

28 weeks

2011-01-20T16:01:00.002-06:00

Nothing much to report at this point. Baby is still doing extremely well growing bigger and stronger every day. Over the past few weeks the kicks have become stronger and more of movements then just little bumps I can feel every now and then. I am finally feeling baby higher up since it is getting bigger and finding more room in its house. My latest appointment with the midwife was exciting because I am now starting to go every 2 weeks and it just makes the last part of this pregnancy go by so much quicker. My belly measures right where is should be and the heart rate was again in the 150's...pretty consistent! The midwife tried to find out how baby was lying inside and said that it was close to head down but a little tilted. She then checked one more time and it had easily moved to a head down position. So there is still a lot of room in there! The kids are still very much involved in loving on the baby whenever they get a chance. Junior will pull my shirt up to "see" the baby, rub it and tell me how big it is getting. Gaga will usually mash on it and then pull my shirt down saying "baby cold". They are getting anxious to meet this little one as much as Daddy and I are!

Snow Day 2011

2011-01-09T16:00:00.001-06:00

Our first snow of the year took a few hours to fall and 6 days to fully melt. We only took part in playing in it the first day while it was snowing. Gaga is exactly like me, she wanted to be out in the snow playing and enjoying but all she could do when she was outside was complain about how cold she was. She would repeat over and over, "cold, cold, cold". Junior on the other hand is just like Daddy. They could stay out there for hours not even realizing it was cold. Daddy and Junior tried to make a snowman, but the snow wouldn't stick well enough.

Snow Day 2011

Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T13:21:00.002-06:00

Christmas 2010

24 weeks

2010-12-23T13:20:00.004-06:00

At my latest visit with the birthing center last week everything has been checking out great with baby #3! I measured right at between 22-23 weeks, the baby's heart rate was in the 160's and my blood pressure was great! I feel great as well! I remember with the other two that every morning I woke up, I could barely take a step without feeling like I was going to fall down in pain from my lower back. I have not had this problem with this baby maybe because of how down low it sits. Baby has been moving so much lately, I can't tell which way it is laying. Whether it's upside down, standing up or sitting down the only thing I know for sure is that it really likes to lay low at the bottom. I have all this extra room up top around my belly button, but never seem to feel it up there. The kids seem to really enjoy giving the baby (i.e. my stomach) kisses and stickers! Yes, stickers! Especially Junior. He loves to hand out stickers to everyone and baby always gets one...right on the belly button. That's where his kisses end up also. Gaga's kisses are everywhere on my belly! The Saturday after Thanksgiving the baby was moving quite a bit and I got Junior to come over and look at my belly and right then baby gave a huge kick that Junior was able to see and he thought that was the neatest thing! Junior asked me the other day if it was going to hurt when I pushed the baby out. I said it would just a little! His little mind is always thinking!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Gaga!

2010-12-16T12:54:00.006-06:00

I am still having a hard time believing that our sweet baby girl is 2 years old today! Although it started out ROUGH, I hope that by the end of the night with a few presents and ice cream we made it a little nicer than it started. Gaga woke up around 10pm, just a couple hours after we put her down for the night and was up screaming in pain for the next 2 hours. She did not want to lie down, she did not want to be held, she did not want to go back to sleep. We finally calmed her by having her sit up on the couch with us thinking that maybe the cold she just finished caused her to have an ear infection. After that we took her to bed with us and she woke up nearly every hour after that to whine a little more and let us know how uncomfortable she was. That next morning she woke up with a slight fever and since we had her 2 year well check schedule the next morning after that I decided we needed to take her in just to check her ears before we tried to come in for a well visit and be turned away. Of course the pedi's office didn't open until the afternoon (trying out a new schedule so they can be open on weekends) and the earliest they could fit me in was the same time as my appointment at the birthing center. So I was able to reschedule my appointment and get the one for Gaga at the pedi. Sure enough both her ears were looking "sickly" and we were given an antibiotic and ear numbing drops. I was greatly surprised once I dropped off the antibiotic prescription they had it ready in 5 mintues! So we rushed home and got her first dose on board and put her down for her second nap that day. Later that night we went out to eat and got her some ice cream, then came home and opened a few presents. By this time you could tell she was feeling much better already and she slept great that night! Thank goodness! Happy Birthday sweet girl! We love you so much!

(2 weeks later at our rescheduled well-visit)
2 year old stats:
34-1/2 inches tall
22-1/2 lbs.

The birthday girl!

Getting her much deserved ice cream

Opening presents...

Her new baby!

Gaga's 2nd Birthday Party

2010-12-12T12:47:00.002-06:00

We celebrated Gaga's 2nd birthday with a few family and friends at our house the Sunday before her actual birthday. As like last year, I made her another doll cake with a snowflake theme this year. We hung snowflakes around the house and wore blue shirts also. She had so much fun with all the visitors and chaos going on that day. She was a real ham opening her presents and taking her time to show everyone what she got, even holding out her cards for all to see. We saved the presents from us for her to open on Thursday, her actual birthday. Thanks to all the family and friends who came to help us celebrate our little girls birthday! Click to pic below to see the rest of the birthday fun.

2nd Birthday

Gaga's 1st Haircut

2010-12-11T15:30:00.005-06:00

It was easy for us to determine when Junior needed a haircut (when we could see a mullet forming in the pictures we took for his first birthday). But it was different with Gaga. Being she's a girl we can let her hair grow out long. So since she's been born, that's what we have been doing. Recently we realized that the ends of her hair just looked a little sad and strangly so we figured right before her 2nd birthday would be the best time to take the plunge and get a little trim. Just enough to get off the old baby fine hair at the bottom that she was born with and to help it grow out a little more. I took her with me the day I was going to get my hair cut and have my hairdresser trim it up. She did perfectly fine through it all...it only took all of 5 minutes. She had the smock around her and sat in the chair just as still as can be. So proud of her! Although you can't tell from the before and after pictures, it does look a lot healthier and straight across the back. It was much needed for sure.

Before we started...loving her smock!

Wondering what this lady and is about to do to her

Showing me the penguins on her

Sitting so still and professional like

All done and ready for her bow to be put back in

20 weeks - Half way there!

2010-11-28T22:54:00.006-06:00

I had my 20 week sonogram at the beginning of the week to check on baby and make sure everything is developing well. Here is what we found out:

The baby's 4-chambered heart was pumping away at 146 bpm
The spinal column had closed
The placenta is posterior (meaning towards my back - same with Junior; Gaga's was anterior - in the front)
The stomach was full so we know baby can swallow amniotic fluid
The bladder was full so we know baby's kidneys were functioning
The ventricles in the brain were a normal size
The umbilical cord had its appropriate 3 vessels and blood flow through it was normal
The hands and feet were accounted for

Here's what I look like from the outside

Junior loving on the baby

Gaga's turn

Here's what I look like on the inside

legs crossed with feet

hand above head

hand again above head with placenta below

profile with arm in front of face

one more profile with arm across face

Cookie Day!!!

2010-11-27T22:54:00.002-06:00

Another Christmas fast approaching means another "Cookie Day" at my aunt's house. We made it out there the Saturday after Thanksgiving to once again spend time with my side of the family since missing them on Thanksgiving which was spent on Daddy's side of the family to bake all day and take home some delicious cookies! Although there were only 6 bakers this year, we still had about the same number of cookies placed on the table. Junior enjoyed decorating his gingerbread house that ended up looking like a church with a steeple on top, complete with a snow covered ground. Gaga's first time to be able to attempt a gingerbread tree went rather well. At the end of the night the kids entertained us with songs and dance. They were hilarious!

Cookie Day 2010

Adding to our bountiful blessings!

2010-11-10T15:20:00.012-06:00

We found out on August 1st we were expecting baby #3! We are, of course, overjoyed to be adding to our family and watching it grow! My first appointment on August 25th was with the OB I used with Junior and Gaga. We were able to get a first look at our baby and hear the heartbeat at this time.

The first look at our new peanut @ 6weeks and 6 days (the white blob in the middle of the black hole)

When we told Junior and Gaga we were expecting another baby, Gaga of course didn't realize what was going on. Junior on the other hand had a couple of questions for us. One, would it come out tomorrow? And two, would we have to give Gaga back? That last one caught us by surprise. We laughed and told him that we would still keep Gaga and the new baby. The way he said it was so plain that we couldn't tell if he was going to be disappointed if we had to give her back or excited! I'm sure that he would have been disappointed if we said we would have to give her back. Aunt K called our house to talk shortly after we told Junior and Gaga. Little did we know that we should have told Junior not to tell anyone about the baby yet. He immediately got on the phone to talk and said, "Mommy has a baby in her tummy!" I could hear a little laugh on the other end of the line and then Aunt K said, "Were you supposed to tell me that?" Nonetheless, it was cute! We told family later by having Junior and Gaga wear big brother and big sister shirts. Most caught on quickly, but Great One had to have it spelled out for him.

I think I had been feeling baby move for quite some time, but finally pinpointed October 25th that I know it was definitely baby and not something else. I knew it would be a couple more weeks of growing bigger and stronger before Daddy would be able to feel baby and he finally did on November 8th. As soon as he can feel baby move it makes it more real to all of us.

At my first appointment with my OB she let me know that she was going to stop doing the OB side of her job and just take GYN patients. This was actually nice to hear because Daddy and I had already been thinking about using a midwife at the birthing center near our house for this pregnancy and birth that I was afraid to tell her I might not be coming back to see her. With Junior and Gaga I have pretty much had the pregnancies and births that I have wanted and planned for. It doesn't mean that I still would with this one so we opted, after much deliberation, to use the birthing center. Birthing there would give me many more possibilities of having the birth that I want including a water birth, that has always fascinated me. A few good friends have had their babies there and loved it! I have great support from them and my family which I am thankful for!

I have had a few appointments at the birthing center so far and they have been great! I am measuring right at my estimated week each time and the baby's heartbeat always sounds strong ranging from the 150's to 160's. My next appointment is next week and then another week after that is the big sono where they will make sure baby measures up to its due date and is developing normally. They will also be able to tell if it's a boy or a girl if it's positioned correctly. Before I even had Junior, I always said that if I had one child of each gender then I wouldn't find out with the 3rd one. Of course that is easy to say now because I haven't had the opportunity to find out. But I think Daddy and I are both on board with waiting until the birth to find out.

12 weeks

16 weeks

T-ball fun!

2010-11-06T12:37:00.003-05:00

Junior loved playing t-ball this season and practiced almost every night if Daddy was able to make it home before it got dark. Daddy even pitches to him most of the time to get him ready for the next level after t-ball. The first few pictures are from a night practicing in front of our house and the last few are from his last t-ball game. They celebrated with a cupcake, t-shirt and a trophy (Junior's first one!) He is proud of it!

Daddy pitching and holding Gaga (so talented!)

Gaga taking a turn (She's quite good!)

Daddy's turn...show off!

Great swing

Nice follow through

Last game...1st baseman ready for the ball

He gets a hit!

Waiting on first base

Team picture with coaches and trophies (back right with eyes closed...oops!)

Halloween Festivities

2010-10-31T15:57:00.004-05:00

What a whirlwind of activities we had starting a few days before Halloween leading up to it. It started out on Thursday with a Halloween party at Junior's school complete with a parade of all the kids in their costumes, games and a snack.

*Side note...Junior actually really wanted to be a trash man for Halloween and after I told him that I did not know how to make that happen, he had to choose between two other costumes we already had from my aunt. He was going to be spiderman up until the last minute when he decided that the SWAT team costume, to him, looked like Luke Skywalker. His best friend from school is really into Star Wars and teaches Junior all about it. His friend was going to be Yoda so therefore, Junior thought he could be Luke Skywalker. So this is what he really thinks he was for Halloween!

Saturday after a morning t-ball game we headed to the pumpkin patch and Nana joined us. We took pictures, rode a hayride, rode a train and bounced on a few bounce houses. Then went to my parents house to put Gaga down for a nap and then on our way home stopped by my company's "Family Day at the Park", same as we had done last year. We met up with one of my co-worker's, her husband and one of her kids. We played a few carnival type games, trick or treated in the suites upstairs, went through a bounce house obstacle course a few times, ran the bases on the field and watched fireworks at the end of the night. We were all exhausted by then! What a day!

Then on Sunday, Halloween, we enjoyed having our good friends, the H family, over for lunch and to watch a little football while all the kids played. For a while they all played baseball outside with the dad's and gave Mrs. H and I a chance to talk. It had been too long and was great to catch up! :) Later that night the same co-worker that met up with us at the ball park the night before, invited us to go trick or treating with her in her neighborhood. Junior was a pro saying "Trick or treat, please" and "thank you" at every house. He also was extremely good about asking when he was able to pick out his own treat if a certain piece had peanuts in it or not. I'm so proud of him! Gaga caught on quickly and you could just see her thinking, 'this sure is easy, all I have to do it go up to a house and they give me candy!' She never missed a beat wanting to walk all the way never wanting to be carried! I was able to get her to say "trick or treat" and "thank you" about 90% of the time and it sure was cute to hear! A couple of times her pumpkin was getting heavy and she was dragging it on the ground. We asked if we could take it from her to help her carry it and she replied "Noooo." Then we tried to at least take some of the candy out and put it in another bag to lighten her load and she replied "hey, hey, hey!" and was very worried she wouldn't see it again! Too cute!

All our pictures from the festivities are below!

Halloween 2010

Heard Museum

2010-10-22T15:24:00.002-05:00

We all took our first trip to a local museum, actually it was Daddy and Junior's second trip. We enjoyed seeing different snakes and frogs (yuck!), unusual animals you don't find in your local zoo, and walking a trail that had movable dinosaur replicas that also made sounds. We took a picnic lunch and although the weather got cloudy at one point, it never rained on us while we were outside.

Picnic lunch (we needed our energy before the walking trails)

Walking trail with our very own 4-year-old tour guide (he studied that map intensely telling us where we needed to go at all times)

One last photo stop with the T-rex (could not get Gaga to look at the camera, she was too busy making sure the dino was not going to get her...she did NOT like the trail with dinos).

Finally, got her to look!

Baptism Day

2010-10-07T13:48:00.006-05:00

We celebrated Junior's baptism day with a gift from his Godmother, reminiscing with pictures from that special day and the lighting of his baptismal candle. Happy 4 years, Junior!

Thanks Godmother, Aunt K!

Looking through pictures from his baptism. Love Gaga's expression!

Lighting his candle

And blowing it out

Courtyard Carnival

2010-10-02T13:31:00.001-05:00

Our parish holds a carnival every year in the courtyard full of games, bounces houses, food and music. The kids really enjoyed it this year because the older they get the more things they can partake in.

Bean bag toss...one of the only games Gaga could really participate in...well, this and the duck pond, but she didn't want to put the ducks back after she picked one.

Gaga and Junior in the bounce house. She did NOT enjoy this.

Junior did though.

Junior in action at the football toss

Getting help from Daddy at the 'free throw' booth...notice his arms are forward and the ball is above his head? The next throw actually went forward!

Junior showing off his snake he won at the 'go fishing' game.

Junior, snake and fire truck

Happenings around here

2010-09-25T17:23:00.001-05:00

Washing the car

Everyone helping

These kids love taking showers. They would stay in for hours if I let them.

Another shot of Junior always having to touch Gaga while riding in the car. This time they both fell asleep.

Gaga's infamous pout face

Great One brought this over one day for the kids to see what he had found. We kept it all of two days before taking it back to him and letting him find a place to set it free. The kids enjoyed watching it walk around our back yard in the early mornings. During the day it would just dig a small hole in the corner of the yard and set up camp.

Gaga trying on Junior's bike helmet

Bedtime stories on the couch

4 Year Stats

2010-09-17T15:47:00.006-05:00

4 year old stats:
43 1/2 inches tall

39 lbs.

Getting ready for his 4 year check up, I thought I would let him know a few weeks before hand that he would be getting shots at his check up and see if it helped make him less apprehensive. I was not thinking clearly that day because it was of course the wrong thing to do. Anytime we talked about the doctor whether it was for him or not, he would get all worked up again about getting shots and not wanting them. The day of his appointment I didn't even mention to him that we were going until we pulled in the parking lot of the doctor's office building. He quickly asked if he was going to be getting shots and I pretended I didn't hear him and for the moment it worked and we went in to the office.

He was very good about answering the nurses questions about his development and had his blood pressure taken for the first time. I think he was excited to be treated like a big boy! He had his hearing tested and passed with flying colors and also his eye sight tested. Before the eye sight test began the nurse had him up close to the eye chart to make sure he knew what all the symbols were that he was going to have to repeat later. The last one on one of the columns was a plus sign (+). He told the nurse that it was a cross. But later when the eye test was started and he was rambling off all the symbols, when that one came up again he said it was Jesus! The nurse smiled and said she had never heard that one before! Too cute! I wish I had my camera at the appointment because halfway through the eye test, Gaga had been standing by me off to the side and decided that she wanted to play the game Junior was playing also and walked over to the line, stood side by side with Junior, covered one of her eyes with her hand and repeated everything Junior said. Ex: Junior would say "star", she would repeat "dar" and so on. It was hilarious!

After the doctor examined him and gave him a clean bill of health and an A+ for Mommy, I told him that all we had left to do was get the shots and we could leave. You could see the fear in his eyes. :( The nurse wanted him to lay down on the table with his legs over the edge. He refused to lay all the way down and only did partially so he could still see the nurse giving him the shots. Usually they have both nurses give them all at once, but the other nurse went home sick after lunch so it was just one giving 3 shots. The first one was just an "Ow." The second one was a little longer "OWWWWW" and the third was the "I can't stay still on this table I am going to fly off it hurts that bad, OW"! Poor guy was stiff legged and walked with a limp out of the office crying big alligator tears. The doctor came out of his office to give Junior a small bag of cookies to help calm him down. It helped a little, but Junior was still racing to get out of that place. Thank goodness it's a LONG time until we do that again!

Passed out as soon as we got back from his 4 year check up...poor guy did not appreciate the shots that were given :(

Tee ball time!

2010-09-11T23:34:00.005-05:00

Besides garbage trucks, another passion of Junior's is baseball! (Daddy loves this!) We had his first practice on Friday night (postponed because of rain) and his first game the next day. Of course he looked so cute in his gear, but the smile on his face the first time he stepped up to the plate, hit the ball and started running to 1st base was priceless! He was on cloud nine!

He was at 3rd base for the first inning and never had the chance to get the ball. All the balls were being hit to the pitching mound or more towards 1st base. Junior must have caught on to that because in the second inning he was ready to head out to the field and asked his coach where to go. The coached asked him where he wanted to go and he pointed to the pitching mound. Smart boy! The coach said to go ahead and Junior was on cloud nine again running out to the pitching mound. He was able to retrieve about 80% of the balls hit and throw them fairly accurately to 1st base. I was one proud mommy! During the second inning Junior must have seen the coach's son all geared up as catcher behind the plate. This sparked his interest because the next thing I knew Junior was talking to the coach before the third inning and then the coach was suiting him up to go behind the plate. He looked hilarious! He was supposed to shag the balls thrown back to the plate and put them on the tee. Although he never did this because he couldn't move with all the equipment on him. After about two batters, he started to walk away and tell the coach that he was DONE!!! Can't blame him for trying.

First Tee ball game

Birthday boy turns 4!!!

2010-09-01T23:08:00.003-05:00

Now would be as good a time as any to explain how much Junior LOVES garbage trucks/trashmen. I know many little boys can become obsessed with one thing or another, but I never though mine would be head over heels for the garbage man/truck.

He wants to be a trashman when he grows up!
He can hear them coming from 5 blocks away.
He knows what day of the week they come (Friday). When he asks what day it is before we leave to go somewhere and I tell him it is Friday he is then upset for the chance that we might be gone when they come by our house.
He knows they do one side of the alley first and in about 10 minutes will be back to do the other side and will need the garage door left open so we don't miss it.
When we visit my grandparents or parents and he sees trash bags on the side of the road when we turn on their street, it brightens his day knowing that he will be able to see the garbage truck.
One day he asked me how many seats a garbage truck had. I told him probably just two. He was quiet for a little bit and then said, "Well, then Daddy will ride with me in the front and you and Gaga can hang on the back." (I don't think so, buddy!)
He likes to play garbage man at the grocery store and will JUMP onto the side of the cart as soon as we get there, JUMP off to grab an item I point out to him, THROW it into the cart and proceed to JUMP back on the side of the cart ready for the next "bag of trash". (Our garbage truck has the forklift on the side to pick up the cans, but the one at my parents and grandparents house has the men that stand on the back and jump on and off to get bags of trash. That's where he gets this from.)
All he wanted for his birthday was a garbage truck, not a toy one, but the real one. When I asked him where we would put it, he replied very plainly, "the backyard". Like that was a silly question for me to ask. Well, he did get his garbage truck, but just the toy one and it even had the forklift on the side to pick up a trashcan just like the one that comes to our house does. He pushes the lever and up goes the trashcan and forklift, dumps the trash and then pushes the lever back down. He loves it!
The only other request I had was a garbage truck cake. WHAT?! Are you kidding me...well, I got that done too. I am no artist, but I was pretty proud of that cake and so was Junior!

Happy 4th Birthday sweet boy! We love you!!!

Junior's 4th Birthday

First day of school

2010-08-31T22:55:00.000-05:00

This year Junior is in the 4's class going three days a week. He has 4 classmates from his 2's and 3's class the past two years so it made for an easy transition to start a new year. He is still attending speech twice a week for 30 minutes at the local elementary school. He's doing so well, that I don't think he will be doing that much longer, which I am so happy about. First because he's doing better, but second because it sure is hard to get up in the morning!

Ready to go!

Silly face

Gaga had to get in on the action

This picture was actually from his second day, but it was his birthday and he was sitting next to his friends.

Houston Trip 2010

2010-08-21T15:50:00.000-05:00

We decided to take a trip and drive to Houston to visit Aunt K and our college friends from Tech. Junior and Daddy had not been down there in over a year. Gaga and I had flown there last year for a "girls trip".

Aunt K had fun events lined up for us almost the entire weekend. We drove in Thursday night and got started early on Friday morning making it out to the Children's Museum. The kids really enjoyed themselves. There was so much to do and see. Later that afternoon we made it to our college friend's house to visit with them and of course meet the newest member of the A family. As from the pictures below, she is just beautiful!!! I couldn't resist buying her and Gaga matching shirts to wear that day. They were too cute! Then we went to dinner and met up with more wonderful college friends and headed back to Aunt K's house ready for another fun-filled day.

Saturday we managed to fit in a tour of Minute Maid park and take a short train ride around Herman park, but not before Gaga fell asleep in the car and slept through the whole train ride in my arms. It was so incredibly hot that we had to stick an ice pack from the lunch we had packed in between our bodies. It was completely thawed by the time the 20-minute train ride was over. Minute Maid park was exciting! I have never been on a major league baseball's field before. Then if it wasn't enough, attended mass and went out to eat.

Sunday before heading home we went to visit Great Granny (she always loves to see us and especially her great-grandkids) and then had lunch with Aunt K's good friend, her husband and their adorable baby boy.

Thanks for the hospitality Aunt K, can't wait till next time!

Houston Trip 2010

Zoo fun and a birthday party

2010-08-03T15:36:00.005-05:00

We were invited to a birthday party at a local zoo a few days ago. It was HOT outside but we still had a wonderful time! The best parts were the crafts in the party room and the animal visitors! Thanks to the M family for the invite and great party idea!

Elephants

Junior, Daddy and Gaga

HUGE alligator that Gaga would not get near...I don't blame her!

Large snake...eww!

Gorilla eating lunch

Baby alligator visitor

Penguin visitor (my favorite)

Junior with the birthday boy!

Beck Wedding

2010-07-31T16:51:00.000-05:00

A little over a month ago we traveled to Tennessee to see my cousin get married. The trip there was more overwhelming than I expected, but at least the trip back was not as hectic. I figured the kids would take a nap more easily if we were driving but Gaga had a really hard time falling asleep and I don't think Junior ever did (he was too busy watching videos on his DVD player). After a lot of crankiness and frustration we ended up having a great time at the wedding and reception. We made it in town the night before the wedding and celebrated Aunt K's birthday with a few presents and a cake. At the wedding the next day, Daddy and I took turns leaving the church with Gaga who apparently forgot how to be quiet even with a paci in her mouth. :/ After the wedding we stuck around for pictures, then got something to eat and then headed back to our hotel room to sneak in naps for the kids (we had a long break in between the wedding and the reception). Once at the reception the kids were able to let loose! They sure needed it after a long car ride and having to behave during the wedding. They rarely left the dance floor except to grab a couple bites of cake or a potty break. We all had a blast, adults and kids alike! Thanks for a great time and lovely wedding! Good luck to the new bride and groom! Click on the picture below to see all the excitement!

Beck Wedding

Keeping busy

2010-07-29T15:44:00.007-05:00

Talking to Aunt K on the phone

Still talking...this girl loves to talk!

Met up with some good old friends! We've known them for years! So good to see them!

Junior loved playing with the girls! Superman!

1st professional family photo in 18 months

Gaga riding a "horse". Junior thought it was hilarious!

Touching a boa constrictor at a wildlife presentation

Say "CHEESE"!

Junior started out in "quiet time" on our bed because he rarely naps anymore and then came out to find me and wanted me to wait a couple minutes and then come "find" him. I guess I took too long to seek him!

Junior's first swim lessons

2010-07-06T15:39:00.004-05:00

I always thought since being a competitive swimmer for most of my life I would be able to teach my own children to swim. Two years ago Junior would jump off the side of the pool with no coaxing, go under water and be pulled up by me and want to do it over and over again. Over the last two summers he had become more apprehensive about the water being too deep or as he would say "too much". He rarely would want to jump off the side of the pool and only if we were holding his hands and pulling him in. I realized then that I would not be able to teach this one how to swim. So I signed him up for swim lessons with my old high school swim coach and his daughter. They were excellent teachers! I also had a co-worker sign up her son (and Junior's friend) to be in the same class so he would have a friend and help ease the anxiety. He enjoyed every day he had class and did surprisingly well. I thought for sure he would throw a fit and cry if they asked him to do something he didn't want to do. He was 99% fearless. The teachers even had him swimming a few inches in between them while neither of them was holding on to him. That was a major milestone for him. Of course the fear returns anytime we take him to the pool and ask him to do anything that would make him have to let go of us in deep water. I'm sure it will just take some time and we will work with him throughout the year. Nonetheless, we are so proud of how much he did at his lessons!

Awaiting his turn

Holding his breath and going underwater

Kicking race!

Jumping (being tossed in) from the diving board! He loved it!

All done with his lessons!

4th of July 2010

2010-07-04T15:33:00.006-05:00

Enjoying some sparklers

Very serious and being very careful

Silly boy!

Waiting for the firework show to start

18 Months Old

2010-06-16T15:34:00.006-05:00

Gaga's stats:
Weight - 20 lbs. 10 oz.
Height - 32 -1/2 in.

Things she is saying:

mama
dada
Junior's real name
Nana
nooooo
no-no (while pointing and shaking her finger)
uh-ohhh
peek-a-boo
baby
shoes
sock
more
no more
all gone
all done
drink
cookie
cake
banana
cheese
grape
water
truck
car
ball
ant
bug
teeth
please
thank you
love you
night-night

Plus many more that I can’t think of…

What she's up to now:

Loves to play hide and seek; she's a very quiet hider!
When she gets excited she gets a surprised look on her face and inhales with a gasp and then exhales with a "oooooo"
She still loves when Daddy comes home and sometimes beats her big brother into get the first hug
Puts on pants, underwear, shorts (anyone's she can find)
Takes on and off anyone's shoes
Loves to help get our clothes for us when we are getting dressed and help us put our shoes on
Puts her dirty clothes in her laundry basket
Knows where her body parts are
Gives good kisses
Good hugs with a pat on the back
Loves to give Eskimo kisses
Loves books; bringing us a continuous supply for us to read to her
Loves her pig
Loves the outdoors
Becoming interested in drawing on paper
Throws a ball a couple of feet
Doesn’t like her high chair anymore – prefers the booster chair at the table
Loves to buckle the straps on the booster chair over and over as long as someone is there to unbuckle them she will continue to buckle them for long periods of time
Feeding herself with a fork/spoon is common for her and she is getting good at it
Likes to climb up on things especially tables and stands on top of them
Does not like to have her teeth brushed by anyone else except herself
She still HAS to have her pink pig and pacifier to go to bed

Parish Night at the Rough Riders

2010-06-11T15:03:00.004-05:00

The Rough Riders won, we enjoyed the all you can eat/drink, the fireworks were great and it was cloudy so much cooler than any other night would have been. Aside from a few spilled drinks and ketchup on Daddy's shirt and shoes (two separate occasions)...it was a good night.

All 4 of us enjoying the game

Gaga enjoyed talking and dancing with Father T and his grandson

Beating the summer heat

2010-06-09T14:57:00.004-05:00

While driving around some new shops by our house, we found a water fountain area for children to play in. I was looking forward for a chance to take the wee ones as soon as possible. We went a few days later and when we pulled up Gaga started kicking her legs frantically as she saw the water. It did not take either of them long as soon as we stepped foot out of the car to run for the water. They enjoyed it immensely. We invited our friends (the H boys) to join us a couple days later (no pics of this day). The only difference that day was that Gaga just walked in between all the water sprays and would not even put a pinky toe in. I could not figure that one out.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2010-06-06T14:52:00.005-05:00

We celebrated Daddy's birthday with dinner to a nice steakhouse (sans kids) the night before and a get together at his parent's house for hot dogs, burgers, cake and ice cream. Happy birthday, Daddy! Blessings to you for many more years!

This girl cracks me up!

2010-06-01T17:46:00.006-05:00

No, it's not a skirt...it's my underwear that was once atop her head and had made it down to her waist. Nice fashion statement though.

Frosted brownies for dessert! Yum!

One night she refused to let me feed her and insisted she do it herself. Of course it had to be spaghetti night. She first tried with her fork...

Then with her hands...

And then when all else failed she just tried to pour it in!

1st swim of the summer

2010-05-29T17:38:00.004-05:00

We took our first swim of the summer at our favorite pool on Memorial weekend. Junior is still apprehensive about going under the water or being in water he can't touch the bottom. We have him signed up to take classes with my old high school swim coach and his daughter. Hopefully they will be able to get him over this fear. He does however love the small water slide and both him and Gaga took turns going down it for about 30 minutes. At one point, he told me he was going to go swimming and he proceeded to wade around the foot deep water on his hands with his head barely above water!

Gaga on the other hand will either be different or has not realized she has fears yet. While holding her in the water, I counted to three, blew in her face to get her to hold her breath and took her underwater. I lifted her back up and after she sputtered a moment and blinked her eyes she said, "More, more"! Ah, my little swimmer! We did that quite a few more times and each time she would ask for more, until finally she was done. I asked her if she wanted more and she shook her head "no". I guess she was at her limit for the day! I was also able to get her to blow bubbles in the water and kick her legs which she did both very well!

my water babies

Birthday party

2010-05-22T17:41:00.004-05:00

Junior really took a liking to one of the girls in his class this past year. She and her twin sister were both in his class the year before also. Unfortunately they are moving to Singapore soon and had the girls' birthday party before they leave. They will surely be missed!

Junior jumping on the trampoline

Junior and his fav...he was not happy until he was able to sit next to her

The twins and Junior

I had to work the evening of the party and left a little early...Gaga ran across the room to give me a hug goodbye. Love her!

Last day of school

2010-05-20T17:33:00.005-05:00

1st day of school

Junior and his teacher on the last day of school

Same as the last school year, he grew so much over the course of the year. His teacher said that he is definitely ready for the 4's class next year. She also commented on him becoming quite the leader in the class, always helping when asked and making sure his friends are taking turns with each other. Through my eyes I have seen him really come out of his shell this year becoming more of an independent person around the house and out in public talking to other adults. He can also write his name, but still needs a little help every now and then to remember which letter comes next! We are so proud of him!

Cancun 2010

2010-05-19T16:36:00.005-05:00

This was our first trip away from the kids for more than one night and a lot further than 30 minutes away. I knew they would be in good hands (Nana and Great One were coming to spend the nights at our house so the kids would feel at home and be in their own surroundings), but I still stressed until the day we left over all sorts of things from, what were they going to eat (I pre-made dinners for every night), to would Nana get Junior off to speech and school at the right places at the right times, to would Nana know where to find the ONLY book that Gaga likes to read before going to bed. Thankfully, Daddy had typed up a 3-page "How To Raise Our Kids" paper. I proofread it, made a few minor changes to ensure every detail was there and we printed it out and also emailed it to Nana prior to leaving so she could read over it and ask any necessary questions that were left unanswered. Nana was in desperate need of every detail because she had been telling me for several weeks prior to leaving to "write that down so I know"...so we did! It also took a lot of the stress off me for Daddy to type it all up. He takes care of the kids all day on weekends if I work and on nights that I work so he knew every step to have them well attended. Thanks Daddy!

There is not much to tell about the trip except that we had a wonderful time doing NOTHING! We ate, slept, talked, read, laid on the beach or by the pool and exercised. Well, I exercised twice, pushed myself too hard and hurt my knee. I guess I need to do that a little more often. The weather was great the first couple of days we were there and then overcast and slightly rainy the next couple of days. It made it nice to have the clouds around to keep the temperature down. But what I enjoyed most was only having to take care of myself (aside from the one night Daddy had a small stomach bug and I had to run out and get some medicine). There were no kids needing to be cleaned, dressed or fed. We would do it all again in a heartbeat and maybe stay a little longer!

We sure were excited to see Junior and Gaga when we got home though. We came home through the front door and first rang the door bell. The kids were all ready for bed and came running to the door. Junior was all smiles when he saw us. Gaga was a little over stimulated by all the excitement and started crying but stopped shortly thereafter. We received BIG hugs and since they were fresh out of the bath, smelled so good! We sat with them and Nana and Great One in the entryway as we talked about our trip and all the while Junior's smile never left his face. We aren't sure exactly what Gaga was thinking as she gave Daddy a hug, then me, then Nana, then Great One and then made the rounds a few more times, but it sure was cute! It definitely was not as hard leaving them as I thought it would be! It will make the next time that much easier!

Cancun

Rangers Game 2010

2010-05-08T15:49:00.003-05:00

This year we decided with Gaga being a handful and more than likely not staying in her seat, we left her with Nana and Great One while the 3 of us went to the Rangers game. Just like last year Junior anxiously awaited the fireworks after any home run the Rangers scored. We made sure that if he left to get food or go to the bathroom that it was while the opponents were up to bat. That did not matter this time around because although the Rangers won (WooHoo!) they did not hit a single home run the whole game. Another disappointed little guy! :( We still enjoyed the rest of the night by getting a free Michael Young jersey, eating cotton candy, dancing to all the music they played and buying a new baseball hat (we lost the one he got for his birthday from Nana).

Daddy and Junior

Mommy and Junior

Groovin' to the music

After the game down by the field

We had the same seat numbers and one row closer to the field than we did last year so we were able to see Nolan Ryan again during and after the game...he is pictured below in a light blue shirt right below Ian Kinsler (ball player) who is being interviewed on the field.

2010

2009

2008

2007