Baby Poll

I've added a poll to my sidebar and I would love for everyone to cast a vote for what you think the baby is.  I am getting more and more anixous to meet him/her and am so excited to finally know if I'll have three boys or enter a whole new world of girl-dom.

After Easter, the Man and I will come up with another contest (winner gets a prize) about the upcoming birth.  Probably something like what it will be, how big, how long, etc for the baby.  So stay tuned for details to come.

T-Ball is in full Swing!

This is our second week of t-ball practices and the Man (whose coaching) is very excited about the season. He has baseball fever that's for sure.  I think this might have something to do with the Mariners having a great line-up just as much as it does with this being Buddy's Fourth Year of T-ball. Four years. Its so hard to M.E. to believe this. 
Let's take a look back at his first season.  I think this is his second game, he is so tiny and has no clue about holding that bat.

The excitment of actually making it to base.   Fabulous!

We were talking the other day about how he turned 4 years old in February and started t-ball in March.  LG turned 4 in November and I can't imagine him playing ball.  Its crazy.  Although LG is starting to take interest and has asked to practice with Buddy.  I think this is awesome.

So yesterday it was super sunny and in the upper 70s, perfect weather for our practice.  I managed a few pics.  Look how he has changed.  Amazing.

Buddy is playing pitcher again.  He's pretty good at it and has the speed needed to chase down batters.

Here's M.E. - Chris was playing with my new camera, trying to figure out some of the features for M.E.  I figured Mamaw would like to see M.E. and how fat I am.

(4 weeks to go)

Buddy makes a stop.

Games should start next week.  woo-hoo! I hope I get to make a few before the baby comes.  Its always so exciting.

Spring Cleaning

I haven't been in the picture taken mode.  There's just been so much going on and plenty of things to capture, but its not happened.

Friday night, the Man grilled out yummy salmon again and we had company over.  I really like having people over and making our new friendships stronger.  We had a really good time and watched basketball.  Sorry about the HUSKIES!

Saturday, we had no obligations which is so unusal for us, so the Man decided it was time!  Time to spring clean and get ready for the baby.   We want to remodel our sunroom and make it more efficient and useful to us as a family, so first things first - empty the room. YIKES!  We spent over 4 hours, gathering, sorting, cleaning and moving furinture. The boys toys have been narrowed down to 4 little tubs, wow!  The spare bed made its way to the scrapbook room so that our baby help (i.e. Mamaw & Papaw, Grandpa & Nana) will have a place to sleep and watch tv.  Then we moved the second couch to the living room, which required the dining room table go to the kitchen, and the scrap table from the scrapbooking room, to the kitchen, to the garage. But before it could go to the garage the garage had to be cleaned again.  Grandpa & Nana did a wonderful job of this in November, but we had neglected it of course and so we had to do some maintanance on it.  The Man took an entire truck load of stuff to goodwill. An entire truck load, I tell you.  This I should have gotten a picture of. It was crazy that we had that much stuff just laying in the garage doing nothing.

Saturday night, the Man and Buddy went to a friends house to play guitar and LG and I watched the awful UK game. Please people make a 3-pointer!  Disappointing for sure.

We wound up finishing some of the projects on Sunday evening. We had the family from KY that visited about a month ago over for dinner.  They have moved here (the dad got a job at the Man's office) and I'm sure we will be seeing alot of them, as they don't know anyone and they have 3 boys, 7, 5, & 4 that love to play at our house.  Crazy. 

The house is still very much in a state of chaos, but at least we are settling into eating in the kitchen vs the living room.  I now have a table in the garage to help with laundry and the scrapbook room is really looking like a distinct place to sleep and hang out. Little scrapping will be happening anytime soon.

So much for taking it easy, yay!
It had to be done and I'm so glad to be moving in this direction. Getting the sunroom to be a den and more functional living space is going to be awesome!  Thanks hun for getting busy on that.

One Fabulous Picture

Aunt Cream cuaght this awesome pic of the boys over spring break and emailed it to M.E.  I just had to share it.

Babe Update!

I went to the doctor today and I've been told to take it as easy as possible.

I have been having a lot of braxon-hicks (practice) contractions for awhile and Sunday they really kicked in and I was having up to five an hour which - according to the book- is alot.  So first thing Monday morning I called the doctor and the nurse just said don't worry about it.

So today, I see the midwife and tell her what was up and she was like, "oh my, you should have talked to me."
Long story short, I'm not dilating anymore than that is normal for 34.5 weeks, but to make M.E. feel better she put M.E. on the monitor to see what the ole uterus was actually up too.  Turns out I am having practice contractions alot. I had 4 while on the monitor for 15 minutes.  She said they were big enought to register with the monitor, but far from big enough to start real labor.  She called it an irritable uterus.    whew! 

She wants M.E. to drink a ton of water and rest as much as possible, to keep this babe in the womb for at least a few more weeks.  Easier said then done, but I'm definitely going to try and I do feel much better knowing that this contractions are small and I can rest assured all is well with the babe.  

I'll keep you posted.

LG goes to Speech!

Many of you who know LG, know that his speech and language development has been a little bit behind.  He has his own words for certain things and while some of them are cute and endearing, it is really interfering with his progress at school.  It was been long in coming and lots of hoops to jump through, but we finally got him in. 
Here he is outside the building, being a big boy.

He did really well and I'm so proud of him.  They will be working with him twice a week until the babe comes and then a refresher during the summer, then all next fall.  They think by the end of the fall semester he should right where he needs to be.   They will be focusing on getting him to use words like 'is', 'he', 'she', 'will',  and so on and so forth, as well as, getting him to make the 's' sound.

Looking forward to him taking to this and communicating better.   After we left speech is was lunch time, so we called the Man and picked him up at his office (it was really close to the clinic).  We went to this deli that the Man loves.  I got this gaint, BBQ & Cheese Potato.

It was huge and I didn't eat but near half of it.  But that was more due to my tastebuds being dull from allergies.  I've been super conjested and sneezing for two days now and well, the BBQ just didn't seem to be that great, so I mostly just ate the potato. 

LG really didn't want his picture taken, but eventually agreed.

Its so fun to have lunch with the Man during the week.  It just makes my days!

Birthday Party

The boys were invited to a Star Wars Bowling Birthday Party.  Something that both the boys loved, loved, loved.
What a crew!

Check out this pic of Buddy.  He so much reminds M.E. of my brother.

LG scores!

Buddy in action.

Buddy scored 81, we are thinking that's an all time high, but we can't really remember.  He was pretty happy with himself.  LG had a blast too!

LG's Field Trip

Before Spring Break, LG had a class field trip to another firestation.  I assumed this one would be similar in not identical to the Cub Scout one, just more interesting as we were herding a bunch of 4 year olds.

But actually it turned out to be really cool.  They first took us into their dorms room.  A huge room with a vending machine, tv, pingpong table, couple of couches and twin beds lined up along the walls. They had the little ones sit in the floor and then they turned out most of the lights to simulate what it would be like sleeping at the firestation, then they had dispatch do a test call, so the kids could experience getting woke up for an emergency.  I thought it was cool.  The lights started blinking, an alarm sounding, a dispatcher came over the loud speakers, doors automatically opened, etc.   I can see why the fire department is almost always first on the scene.  They are so efficient.

It was also funny that the living room area, adjacent the kitchen had a big screen tv and 6 recliners in there.  I wish I'd got a pic.

The highlight for the kids was the trucks of course.  LG was being a bit grumpy and clung to my leg the major of the tour. 

He also got to go in the truck.

His class on the front of the truck.

Here he is jumping for joy as I told him he didn't have to go to school, but could go home instead.  I actually told his teacher and some of the other parents, I think he must be getting sick because he was so cranky.  A mother knows, and sure enough he had a fever most of our stay in KY. 

Sorry to post these so late, but better late than never.

I am almost embrassed to post this picture. Almost. 

As a proud Kentuckian, I can make fun of myself and hertitage, but often get offend when everyone assumes Kentuckians are dumb redneck hicks.  Well, there are such people who live in KY and during our visit we got behind one of these said pure breed Kentuckians on the highway.

Note, there are no windows in this vehicle and the driver is wearing a motorcycle helmet, I'm assuming to keep the bugs and wind out of his face.  His turn signals didn't work, but he gave the proper hand signals.  He never accelerated beyond 25 mph and I'm guess-a-mating the truck to be a late 70s to early 80s model Toyoto which has taken a lickin' and kept on clickin'.

Gotta love it! 

Spring Break Update

I've done a poor job of getting back into the routine of blogging.  There are several reasons, but I'll not make excuses.

We went to KY for Spring Break and it was wonderful.  I hadn't seen my family since our very brief Thanksgiving visit, so it was nice to be there more than one night and to really visit with everyone. 

Everyone is well and that's always wonderful.  The boys had a blast and really loved playing outside alot.  LG had allergies and a low fever the majority of the trip, so he really didn't get to enjoy it as much as he could have.

I did pretty good riding for that long.  When we returned Wednesday, my feet looked like two large grapefruits, I've never experienced such swelling before and it kind of made M.E. a bit nervous, but yesterday they were smaller and today they almost look normal, so I just all is well.

Here's some pics:

On the road... the Man did most of the driving. *sigh*

We made it to Little Rock, AR on Friday night.  We normally don't take I-40 but the weather was going to be so much better that route, so thus off we go.  We got to stay in a hotel which is always nice for all of us.  Here LG was just too cute not to take a picture.

Here he is hiding behind the curtain after he got out of the bath and dressed. Too sweet!

The boys were good as usual, I'm really amazed at how they can entertain themselves and/or just be for such long hours in the van.  Truely amazing.

Buddy happy to be crossing the Mississippi.  He knows we are getting close. (as in a few of hours)

Buddy brought along E.T. the movie to watch and although it was daylight outside, it still made LG nervous.  Here he hides behind his pillow.

On the farm out for a walk.

LG got tired.

A FIRST......  Papaw on the computer.  For years, he's been saying that he was going to learn, but he doesn't even know the first thing about them, let along use one.  But Uncle found a really good tractor website, so he got Papaw on the computer.  It was a major photo opportunity for all of us. 

We stayed up late most nights talking with Mamaw and Papaw.  This participular night, LG had to give it up and decided to snuggle with Buddy.  Too cute.

Mamaw getting LG out of the bath.  He normally only lets M.E. tend to him, so we were all surprised he let her help him.

I'm still trying to work out the kinks in my camera and picture taking, hopefully my next batch of pictures will be better. 

First Day of Spring

Not unlike last year we got snow on the first day of spring. 

So Friday night, we had company over and the Man grilled some yummy, yummy salmon.  It was 70 degrees and we were all bare foot, even though we were under a winter weather storm warning.  And sure enough the next day we got over 6 inches of snow.

With snow on the ground and the road questionable, we just hung around the house.  I played with my camera, trying out new settings. 
Here's the sports setting - catching Buddy in the action of shooting hoops in the sunroom.  Please ignore the flith and focus on the Buddy.

I thought they turned out pretty good.

Later the Man got these pictures of them sitting on the same chair playing on the computer.

Something on the tv must have caught their attention. 

 

We are definitely getting better with the camera.

A Conversation and a Book.

Last night in the van, Buddy was trying to talk the Man and M.E. into staying up late, not to watch tv, but to work on an art project for his art class. 

I proceeded to explain to the Man that this was not a good idea, because Buddy hasn't been the most pleasant person to get up in the mornings, and he has been sneaking and watching tv in the mornings with LG.  The Man thought there was nothing wrong with watching tv in the mornings, until I explained to him our tight schedule and Buddy standing around doing nothing watching morning cartoons was not part of the equation.  If he wanted tv time, he'd have to get up extra early to do so.   I remined the Man and Buddy that we leave the house at 7:40, not 7:41 or 7:42. 7:40. 

That's when LG chimes in,
LG: "no Mommy its 7-7-1"
ME: "no 7:40 is when we leave the house"
LG: "no 7-7-1"
ME: "buddy, that's a tv channel [nickelodean]"
LG: "no, it cartoons"
ME: "yeah, thanks buddy"

At 4 he already knows are cable tv channels and was glad to point out that if Buddy was going to watch tv in the mornings before school it was 7-7-1, not 7-40. 

Fast Forward to this morning:
6:45 Buddy is up and ready to jump in the shower.  I drag myself out of bed and ask him what's up?  Did my little speech in the van last night work and he's getting up extra early just to watch an episode of spongebob that he's already seen 100+ times?

Nope, he informs M.E. that he wants to work on that art project.  And sure enough that's what he did.  He wouldn't even let LG turn on the tv, because he said he couldn't help but watch it if it was on.  Bless his heart.

Here he is in the scrapbooking room working on his project - a book.

I snuck and took a pic of chapter 2.   He's not finished and says he doesn't want it on the blog until its done.

So I had to ask, what's this project about?  He proceeded to explaing that in art class yesterday (he loves art, just like M.E.) his art teacher challenged the class to create a story about animals through pictures.  There has to be 10 pictures and its ok if there is no words. 

Its not for a grade, its not even required, it was a challenge and let M.E. tell you he was all business this morning.  He got to chapter 9 before loading up in the van.  This afternoon, he's going to be outlining with markers then coloring with crayons, he says. Wow.  I'm so excited about it.  I'll be sure to publish it here when I have permission.  BTW, in the above pic, the two figures with glass domes on their heads are a cat and mouse in outer space meeting some aliens. Can't wait to see where this goes.

Baby Update

We had another ultrasound Monday to take a look at the babe.  I would post the picture she gave M.E. but its not much to look at, I can barely make out the profile, so I don't think you'd be able to see much.

Right now, its already flipped head down.  I knew it! 
It's approximately 4 and half pounds. woo-hoo!
My blood pressure's great, I only gained little under 2 lbs. another great thing. 
She says we are good to go anytime after Easter.   If it doesn't come on its own, she'll take it the 23rd.  Wow!  Its getting so close and I've got so much to do.  But it'll all get done and it will be here before we know it.

The Tooth Story - unabridged

1)  Ok, so the tooth photos were not high quality.  I just haven't taken the time to read the manual or play around with it - to figure out how to use the new camera.  The Man was disappointed to say the least that my photos were blurry.

2)  Anyhow, about that there tooth. Version M.E.
Monday morning Buddy getting out of the shower.
B: "you know what's going to happen today?"
ME: "no, what?"
B: "I think Nurse [school nurse] is going to pull my tooth today"
ME: "what?  Buddy that tooth isn't loose enough, hun it'll be another week maybe two before it comes out.  Don't rush it, ok"
B: "I really think today is the day"

Thus he proceeded to pull the darn thing out during his spanish class.  I'm sure it bleed alot because to be honest the Man and I both felt of it before bed Sunday night and it was not all that loose. 

3) I found out today that two of his best friends, who also retained all their teeth, have been discussing the issue at length about whose going to lose a tooth and when.  Turns out one of them lost a tooth last week and Buddy was determined that he was not going to be the last kid in his entire class to lose a tooth, thus he pulled it before it was ready.  What a guy!

4) LG was more excited about the tooth fairy than Buddy.  Before bed that night,
LG:  "I put [Buddy] tooth under his bed"
ME: "under his bed?  It's suppose to go under his PILLOW."
LG: "oh" {takes off running down the hall}
LG: "I put tooth under pillow"
ME: "thanks buddy"

Sure enough, it was LG who took care of business. Buddy didn't say a word about it.  We tried to get him to write a letter to the tooth fairy, but he said she could come, not come, bring what she wanted, it didn't really matter.  (because not being the last one to lose a tooth was its own reward I guess).

She did come and left 2 quarters.  Buddy wasn't that thrilled, but he thought it was pretty cool she came.  Again, it was LG up at 6:30, yelling for the "tooth fairy".

He can't wait to lose one himself.  But hopefully it'll be another 3 years before that happens.

Buddy Here!

Dear Blog Readers,
I used my nails to do this. I twisted my tooth and it was in spanish class.

And then, my tooth was on my desk and then my desk was bleeding alittle from my tooth. And then, I rinsed my mouth at the nurses office. And then, she put it in a holder.

It was time to go to P.E. And we played dodge ball. And then, I showed my Mom and then she was excited. She took pictures.

THE END!

Fire Station

The Cub Scouts had a field trip to a local fire station today and it was quite interesting.  I really think the boys loved it.

LG was pretty happy to be included in the group.

Buddy with his friends being very good listeners.

After learning about all the compartments they had on the truck, they got to get in it.

More listening... Buddy's getting tire.

LG was glad to explain that the fireman sounded like Darth Varder.

My favorite pic of the day.

They let LG sit in the driver's seat. It was too funny.

The whole group.