For Funsies

The other day I thought I had this great idea for a "game" on my blog and have a giveaway for the winner. After talking to someone that I know very well, "we" thought it wasn't that great of a game.
Today, while eating lunch at Chick-fil-a, I ran into my sister in law, Lindsay. I started telling her about the idea of wanting to have a giveaway and she mentioned to me what one blog mama does sometimes for giveaways. It was brilliant! Thanks Lindsay!
Whoever (or is it Whomever?), gives me the best caption for the second picture will become the new owner of these: They are Yellow Box sandals. The winner will have the opportunity to go here and select your favorite color. The only restriction is that they are one of the $21.99 pairs (sorry for the limitation, but I'm not a cash pinata.) These sandals are amazing and by far, the most comfortable ones that I have ever owned!

Here's the picture:
Since most of you reading this will be on my FB, please leave the caption in the comment box there.
Contest is over at 10:00pm cst tonight.

I will read the comments to Jeff and have him choose his favorite.

Good luck!

Life in my shoes

A blog that I read frequently had mentioned that she was going to blog about her daily routine for one week. She mentioned that one of the reasons she wanted to journal about her day, was so that she could look back on it one day and see how busy of a mama she was.
One of the reasons I really wanted to get back into blogging was for a very similar reason. I wanted to have something I can go back to, look at, read about what was going on in our lives, and see how much the boys have changed. For a while, I had been keeping a journal by my bed and would write things the boys were doing, something funny they did that day, or some of the funny things they would say, but I started to drift from writing because I was just too lazy and more times than not, I would get serious writers cramp!
So, today, I thought I would blog about my day(only today, not for an entire week) and all that we did. It's nothing extraordinary, but a pretty typical day around here.
For stay at home moms, it may be encouraging to know that you aren't the only one who doesn't get "me time" until 8pm at night or ever get to just sit and think, for the empty Nester's, it may be a walk down memory lane and may have you wishing for a second that you could have one more of these days back, and for those of you who don't have kids, well, this may be a form of birth control.

6:10 a-7 a: I wake up and C wakes up (but I go put him in our bed. I am NOT on mommy-duty until 7a), I do some laundry, have my quiet time.
7a-8a: J wakes up, I get dressed, make my bed, Nathan wakes up, change his diaper, make pancakes and bacon, we all eat breakfast, the older two watch cartoons.

(J's first outfit for the day)

8a-9a:I nurse N, get clothes out of dryer, put a load in the wash and another in the dryer, clean the boys rooms so I can vacuum, find a sippy cup in the older boys room (can't get myself to open it to see if it's water or milk. My hope is that it is water.), I vacuum the boys rooms,

What the boys room looks like when I pick it up and vacuum (this is at 8:35)

I continue vacuuming the entry way, N starts crying to be picked up, C wants a snack (I won't let him have one because he hasn't finished his breakfast),

What the boys room looks like at 8:45a

Vacuum living room rug, vacuum our room, get C dressed, brush boys teeth, do a short bible lesson with boys (and by short I mean about 15 minutes. After all, I have a 2 yr old and 7 month old in attendance).
9a-10a: Change a dirty diaper, load up and head to the Y, work out until 11a.
11a-12p: We arrive back home from the Y, get the older boys lunch, put N down for a nap, I clean up breakfast dishes, found out that it was milk in the sippy cup that I stumbled across in the boys room (gag!), load dishwasher, boys go off and play, I eat my lunch, N still asleep, clean up lunch mess, check my emails, change another diaper

Boys room at 11:57a

J in outfit #2

12p-1p: Put clothes in washer and dryer, do puzzles with the older two, N wakes up, change another diaper.

1p-2p: Feed N lunch, nurse, play with boys.

2p-3p: Have boys pick up toys in living room and kitchen, read books, older two lay down for a nap/quiet time, I fold and put clothes away.

3p-4p: Check emails, lay N down for second nap, read some blogs and FB, fold more clothes, unload dishwasher.

4p-5p: Boys wake up, have snacks, watch an episode of Word World, I read.

5p-6p: Change a diaper, N wakes up, I nurse, go outside and play, Jeff arrives home (hallelujah!)

6p-7p: Heat up dinner (leftover night is the best), eat dinner

7p-8p: Give N a bath, get him dressed for bed, nurse and put him to bed, go outside with older boys and Jeff, and play in the water.

8p-9p: Older boys get pj's on, teeth brushed and put in bed.

9p..................Free at last , free at last, thank the Lord, I am free at last!

I know, not that entertaining, but something for me to look back on and see how busy I was during this phase of my life. This is a typical Monday though, not a lot of drama (boys, for some reason play really well together on Mondays), stay close to home to relax from our very busy weekends and for me to get chores done. I like being able to get a lot of things done at the beginning of the week, so at the end, we can go places and have play dates.

The reason I took a picture of J changing, was because, lately, he has been going through this phase of wanting to change all day. One day last week he went through about 5 outfits. The following day, I put my foot down and told him he couldn't change anymore, but that caused, how can I say this?, DRA.MA! So we compromised: he can change throughout the day only if he hangs up his shirts and puts his shorts in the drawer. If I find a shirt or pair of shorts on the floor, he isn't allowed to change anymore for that day. Seems to have worked.

What's your schedule like?

Cars 2!

As you can imagine, we are excited about this weekend because.......







....has made it's way into theatres. Unfortunately, we have a packed weekend due to meetings, date night, church, grocery shopping, etc., so we don't know if we can make it this weekend to go see Cars 2. But we are super excited that this movie has finally come out.




One of the reason this movie is special to me is because Cars was the very first movie that Joseph sat through and watched (over and over and over and over and over). And, the Cars characters was the first thing that he started collecting. Ok, ok, lets be honest, Jeff and I got caught up in it to. We used the cars for rewards, got them just because we loved the little guy, and Joseph talked Mimi into getting half of the characters.
I remember having these conversations with him:
(At Walmart in the toy isle)
J: Mama, I want this Lightning McQueen.
M: But, you already have a Lightning McQueen.
J: But not this one. I don't have this Lightning McQueen with the dirt on it.
(Disney started to break our bank account by making hundred's of different McQueen's).

It all started with this particular McQueen. Joe had just watched the movie and soon after we started potty training. I went to the grocery store and while I was checking out, I saw this car. I purchased it to give to him as a reward for using the potty and from that moment on, he was hooked. (Now that I come to think of it, this might have been his first car, ever.)

We went from this one car to this............

58 cars total!

We know, it's insane!

I am nervous now about this movie and all the new cars they are going to come out with. We honestly don't have much more room in their car bucket for any new cars.

And to conclude, if your boys ever come over to play and they want to play with cars that don't have eyes on them (once a request from my nephew, Mark), you might have to BYOBOC (bring your own bucket of cars).

Whoa! A Post!

I know, I know, it's been about 8 months since my last post. I can't believe it either. I honestly, have been so busy with three boys, I don't have a lot of time to sit down and write a post. However, while I was on our family vacation, I had the itch to start up again. Now, I'm not making any promises to this being a regular thing again, but I would like to keep up with it more than I have been.
So, to kick off my first post of 2011, I am going to blog about our recent trip. The pictures are not in the correct order, which irritates the snot outta me ( I can never put them up correctly), I am going to tell the story of our trip through the order of my pictures.


Since Joe was 2 1/2, we started collecting the characters from the first movie he ever watched, Cars. We have been able to collect almost all the original characters over the past two years. Unfortunately, there have been two characters that we haven't been able to find out our local stores: Lizzy and Red. Sooooooo, you can imagine our excitement when we walked into the World of Disney store and found Red. (And you can imagine the irritation from me when I went to our local Walmart after returning from Florida, to find this exact Red on the shelves. Ugh!)


Jeff and Nathan at Cocoa Beach. This was a fun, but very challenging trip. You know have you have it in your head that everything will be fine and work out great, but forget you have a 7 month old that is going to hate everything about the beach? When we first got there, everything was great. Nathan nursed, we set up his pack n play under an umbrella, gave him some crackers, should be a happy camper, right? WRONG. When it was time for his nap, he protested his nice little pack n play (that he has slept in the entire trip) and got so worked up, that he couldn't be consoled. So, we had to cut our beach trip about an hour short.

This little man had a great vacation. He learned how to hold his breath and "swim" under water, he got to go to SeaWorld with Jeff, he did the boggy board at the beach (until he nosed dive on one wave and came up with a mouth full of salty sea water), he made me realize that he is at a great age to travel to Disney World with, and he made me laugh by having the following conversation:

We are at a Wendy's (somewhere on the road, in Florida).

Joseph, would have made a great caveman, because he hates to wear shoes. So much in fact, one time when I told him to go get his shoes on, he replied, "I don't need shoes, I have my feet."

So, we are at Wendy's eating and Joe, like everywhere we go, took his shoes off and is walking around the restaurant:

Me: Joe, please go put your shoes back on!

J: Why?

Me: Be cause we are in a restaurant, people are eating, and it's bad manners to being running around bare foot. Plus, it's disgusting."

J: (in his normal, deep, manly voice) Dada, I have to poop.

Papaw and C at Cocoa Beach.

The reason for this wonderful trip....getting see my cousin Elizabeth get married. I can't believe she is married. Such a beautiful person inside and out!

Okay, I have left out this little detail, until now. But the wedding was at the Grand Floridian, Disney World. That being the case, our little munchkins had their own kids menu at the reception. They also had a Mickey Mouse watermelon cut out. The boys loved it!

Nathan and my grandmother.

Christian boy has always been my best sleeper. From days old, he could and still can sleep anywhere. If he's tired, he will just lay his head down where he can, and catch some z's. Here at the wedding, he decided to curl up on Mimi and take a quick cat nap.

Here at my two oldest before the wedding. C, is honestly, my most smiley and happy child, but my pictures, nowadays, beg to differ.

Oh boy, we are at the age where we are going to make faces for the camera, rather than smile. *sigh*

(l-r) Christian, my nephew, Cooper, Joseph holding Nathan.

What your car will look like when you have 4 babies and 3 adults traveling. (Or maybe, your car always looks like this when you travel.)

Four very happy boys to be out of their car seats.

This little guy did great on the trip too. No lie, I am pretty sure the very first day we drove, he slept a good 5-6hrs out of 8hrs driving. Such a good traveler! On this trip, he became very brave and started jumping of the side of the pool, going under, popping up and swimming to the ladder. He also, decided he wanted to start using the potty and on several occasions, while in our room, used the potty. We are not, however, potty training right now. I am one of those mom's who likes to stay home an entire week, get it down, and then start going back out. It's too early in the summer for me to want to stay home for an entire week.

This little angel boy did pretty good. The first days of driving, both going there and coming home, he protested his car seat a little. Then the second day, he was like, "oh, this isn't that bad," and slept most of the trip. He did great sleeping away from home. The only rough days we had were at the wedding(which he needed a nap badly) and the beach day (which he, again, needed a nap badly). I realized on this trip how different all my boys are: J, he would always fall asleep nursing, catch about a 40 min nap on me, and be great. C, kid could/can sleep anywhere. N, ummm, yeah, he's a little more demanding. He has to be in his bed, on his belly, AC set at about 75 degrees, no blankets, etc. So, needless to say, he isn't as easy to take places during his "fussy" times.

When you've been driving in the car for two days, you start to go a little crazy. In some cases, you might smell your brother's croc, say "ewwww" and have everyone, including yourself, lol'ing.

That's all in pictures. We had a great time with family and our extended family. We stayed at this awesome resort that my mom was able to rent from a relative of a friend from work (did you follow that?). We stayed on Disney grounds at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort. If you are planning a trip to Disney World anytime soon, this is a great place to stay. They had about 5 or 6 pools, two of them with slides, 2 lazy rivers, putt putt, movies on the lawn, and different activities for the kids throughout the day. The condo we stayed in had 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, washer, dryer and patio. As I have become a stay at home mom, I have realized that hotel stays, or in this case, a resort stay, are ideal for you. I did cook a meal on this trip, but I love the fact that we had the option of not having to cook or clean for an entire week.

Some things I learned on the trip:

-Once you get into Florida, at every food exit you either have 2 of the 3, or in some cases all of three to choose from :Burger King, McDonald's and Waffle house.

-Don't every stop in Ocala, Florida because you will be afraid for the safety of your child and your own life!

-If you make a stop long enough for lunch, 5 out of 7 individuals will have to "take the browns to the superbowl."(Jeff's going to be so embarrassed that I wrote that)

-The further you get into Florida, the older people get.

-My wonderful husband set up a date for a place called Texas de Brazil. I learned if you eat your weight in meat, you will walk funny afterwards. (This place was awesome and I recommend it to everyone!)

-Disney World is not for a 2yr old or 7 month old.

-When at the beach and you are in a hurry to get your screaming infant out of the heat and into the AC vehicle, no one will tell you that you look like Marilyn Manson. (How did I find out that I looked him? I took Joe to the bathroom at a 7eleven, and when I looked in the mirror, I noticed. )

-When you haven't gotten a Slurpee in years and go to get one for the first time, you find yourself getting way too much and it spewing everywhere and now you have to clean up the counter, the cup, your hands and I think I had to wipe up the floor. (this was post Marilyn Manson look).

-Watching the Dallas Mavs beat LeBron and the Heat will be an NBA Finals that I will never forget!

And to conclude, I love my boys and my husband so much and enjoyed getting to spend an entire week with all four and not having any chores!

36 Weeks and counting

I feel pretty bad about not posting about or taking any pictures of myself throughout this entire pregnancy. Now that it is almost over, I thought, "why not share with everyone how this one has gone."



When I post this, I will be 36 weeks, with 3 more weeks to go. My Doctor wants to induce me again since I have had a history of post partum hemorrhaging with my first two deliveries. She will induce me my 39th week, which will be the week of November 15. I am quite okay with being induced. It really fits my personality style. I like things to be under control, I like to be able to prepare my mind with what is to come, and being induced allows that.



I have felt pretty good most of this pregnancy. The energy level hasn't been near the same as with J and C. I think part of it is that we got pregnant with baby #3 when C was 14 months as opposed to getting pregnant with C when J was 18 months. Four months makes a huge difference! Also, C is a much more active toddler than what J was. Sometimes I don't know if its because of his personality or because he has an older brother he tries to keep up with. When I got pregnant with C, my little man J was a much more peaceful and low active child. He would just sit and play wherever you plopped him....much easier to be pregnant with that kind of baby, than with one who likes to be held ( a lot!) and who is climbing on everything.



Things I have missed or am starting to miss and things I am looking forward to:

- I can't wait to sleep on my stomach again. I am really only comfortable sleeping on my right side for some reason and that is starting to get uncomfortable.

-Working out. I was only able to workout up to 32 weeks with this one as opposed to 36 weeks with the first two. My weight gain hasn't been as much with this one, but I feel so out of shape. I can't wait to get back into running and going to Power Pump again.

-After seeing a few people have some great success with weight watchers, I think Jeff and I are going to do that together once I have the baby. After some thought, I may postpone this until after the holidays. Seriously, start WW a week before Thanksgiving and four weeks before Christmas!? I enjoy my food too much to be that dedicated. But after Christmas...for sure going to do WW.

-Being able to sit comfortably on the floor and play with the boys. I can't wait to be able to jump up and on to my feet again. I am also tired of, and I am sure other people are to, of making a grunting sound every time I have to get up.

-My regular clothes!
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Some names we have on our list:
Nathan
Ethan
Thomas
Ryan
Michael

More than likely, we are going to use Ellis, my maiden name, as his middle name. This has been a middle name for the last two boys but just have never used it. We have talked about having four kids, but after this pregnancy and it being a boy, we thought we should go ahead and use this as a middle name while we have the chance.

*(Since I have started this post, I have had my 36 week check up) I am 1 cm dilated and some effaced. They did some blood work to check my platelet count. This will determine whether or not I will be able to get the epidural. Please pray that the numbers are above normal (So I can get the drugs ;-)) or peace for me if I am not able to have it (Cause it gonna hurt!).

That's about all I have regarding this pregnancy. It's been pretty smooth, but this was by far the hardest pregnancy of the three. A few people I have talked to during this pregnancy told me that their third pregnancy made up their mind that they didn't want anymore. Much more difficult having to take care of two other children as opposed to none or one.

If I could, ask that you please pray for our family. Please pray for a safe, smooth, easy (if that's possible) delivery. This is about the time of my pregnancy where I get anxious and worry about everything and I don't feel like I don't breathe a sigh of relief until I know he's healthy, I am healthy, we're both safe, and we are home as a family again.

Thank you!

Our summer in Review

This summer was a great one, but boy, we were busy! Looking back, we had a lot of fun, a lot of memories, but I am honestly glad that it has come to an end. The amount of traveling really took its toll on me this summer, so I am glad that for the next couple of months, we will be staying put.

I usually enjoy my summers now that I have kiddos. I love taking them to parks, spray parks, the zoo, the beach, and Schlitterbahn, but for some reason this summer we didn't do too much of anything because I just down right didn't feel like it. This pregnancy has been a little more challenging, so the inability to get up and go at the snap of a finger, having to hold Christian quite a bit still, and the heat, just made me miserable. Needless to say, I have been looking forward to Fall since we arrived back from our trip to Colorado. Hopefully, the cooler weather(whenever that gets here) will motivate me to take the boys to the park, zoo, basically anything that is outdoors, these next couple of months.


We started the summer off with a family trip to Colorado. We had a blast and we look forward to the opportunity to go again. We were able to join my sisters in law, Courtney and Lindsay and their families. We all stayed in a cabin, in the middle of the woods and enjoyed every minute of it. It was especially fun for Joseph to have all his cousins at the same place as we were. The weather was perfect when we were there. The first night and our second day, it wasn't cool, it was cold! I had to wear a hoodie and the kids had to wear jackets. It was perfect!

Highlights from Colorado: Seeing all the kids play together; playing and BEATING Jeff at ping pong ( I haven't done that since college); intending to scare Jeff, but scaring Lindsay instead; hanging out with the adults and playing games; Holiday World(I think that's what it was called, I can never remember); being out in the woods and admiring God's wonderful creations; eating pizza; seeing a hotel named "That'll Do Motel" and a restaurant called "Ain't Notin' fancy Restaurant" (two places that will never have my services).

After Colorado, the two boys and I made some trips to Dallas. One to welcome my nephew Cooper Layne and the other to see some family from Indiana. Both trips were a lot of fun, but very tiring since Jeff wasn't able to join us. One trip that we went up there for, my mom and I took the boys to a water park. It was a lot of fun and both boys had a blast. Joseph is at such a fun age for that stuff now. He can tell you what he wants to do and then he talks about it for weeks afterwards.

Highlights from our Dallas trips: Going to Splash Kingdom; Joseph "going" off my parents diving board; Christian and his stealthiness, making his way to the very top step of my parents stairs(about 30-40 hardwood floor steps, straight down= heart stopper); meeting baby Cooper; getting to see some extended family that we haven't seen in a while; Joseph falling in love with my sisters dog, Max, and ever since that trip, has wanted a dog....really, really bad!; The electricity going out both times we were there. Now what are the odds in that? Luckily, both times it was in the middle of the night, so we didn't get too hot.

To finish up our summer, we were able to finally make it down to Galveston and go to the beach for the day. I had been wanting to do this all summer, but, like I said before, our summer has been pretty busy. Joseph loves the water, so I knew he would have a good time, and Christian we haven't taken to the beach since he was 9 months, so I was curious to see what he would do. Joseph, as expected, loved it, but Christian took a while to warm up. It could have been because he had a virus accompanied with an ear infection and double eye infection a few days before. I don't think the salty water and sand in the eyes was very pleasing to him. After sitting in my lap for a while and some tasty snacks, he perked up and started playing.

This summer, my little C-bear hit the 18 month mark. I remember Joseph so well at this age and enjoying him so much. Not that the first 17 months didn't mean anything, but it all seems like a blur to me. For some reason, for both my boys, at 18 months their personalities really started coming out, they both started to turn into boys, and it seems like they both started really talking at this age. So much fun to watch them grow, change, and learn.

Christian:

Loves to smile

Loves to suck his thumb

Loves to touch my face and play with my hair

Loves cars and any kind of dump truck, excavator, fire truck, etc.

Loves to 'cook'

Picks on Joseph....a lot!

Hugs on Joseph...a lot! (this is usually his apology after smacking, biting or pinching Joe)

Loves riding toys

Loves to climb

Can say about 10-12 words (only Jeff and I can really understand them); my favorite being 'Mo.Mo' (for more), and 'eeessh' (for please)

Joseph, is now 3 1/2, and still makes me laugh. I was able to post about him a while back, so I won't bore you with all the intimate details of what it's like having a 3 year old, just some of his new things.

Joseph:

Loves Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ( We watch it so much, he can quote most of the movie and if you see Christian, ask him what baby Brent says..he too will quote the movie) and Cars.
Loves animals....still

Loves his Cars cars....still

Wants a dog

Loves Word World

Loves candy and his newest trick, he can chew gum WITHOUT swallowing it!

Such a good big brother. Has his run-ins with C, but most of all, pretty sweet to him. He is also super sweet to his unborn brother. He will kiss my belly and talk to him.

Loves tools

Loves helping Jeff or myself with anything and everything.

Really does say the darnedest things:

*Driving around in our new van (yes, I officially became a minivan mama this summer) for the first time, Joe said, "This is really neat."

*We have a book titled 'My Grandma is wonderful." He saw it one day and started singing, "My Grandma is great, my grandma is great." I then asked, "who is your grandma?"(Meaning for him to say Mimi or Marnie). To which he responded, "Yo Mama." (I am pretty sure he meant to say 'your', but it came out as 'yo'.)

*Jeff went to our room one night after work to get changed. He turns to both boys after getting dressed and says, "lets go". Joseph then says, "But..."

Jeff, "No buts,"

Joe, (looking at his bottom) "yes, we have butts."

One of my favorite words he says right now: smarshmallows (marshmallows)

We are looking forward to this fall and everything that we have in store: Mimi and Papaw visiting, some college friends coming to visit, County Fair, Fall Festivals, Houston Air Show, pumpkin patch, and of course, Halloween....(Joseph doesn't really care to be anything, he just talks about the candy. Easy enough, huh?)

Until next post.....

This just in...

Anyone who knows me, knows I H-A-T-E flying. I hate everything about it. I hate the stress of getting to the airport on time, going through the lines, waiting patiently for your flight, hoping that your pilots aren't drunk, hoping that I'm not attacked by a terrorist 1000 feet up in the air, the nausea from taking off , the nausea from descending, going down in a blaze of glory, etc, etc.
Last month Jeff and I ventured out on our own for the first time since we have had kids. Planning a get away has been something we have wanted to do since Joseph first quit nursing, but when you don't sit down and pick a date, it just doesn't happen. So, having Joseph weened, turned into having Christian and then waiting for him to be done with nursing, and we almost missed our opportunity again by having another baby due soon.
So when the opportunity came up for Jeff to go to New Jersey for a job interview and my plane ticket being payed for, we didn't sit around thinking too long about whether or not I should go and make this a couple trip. Since I was young, I have always wanted to go to New York(which was a 20 min train ride from where we were in NJ). I always thought it would be cool to see everything in person, and it turned out to be a great trip for us.
Leaving the boys was so hard for me and up until the night before we left, I asked Jeff if we could reimburse ConcoPhillips for my ticket so I could stay home. Leaving the boys for the first time and doing something I hate doing, flying, equaled stress and anxiety for me.
During this experience, I took mental notes of things you don't want to see or hear as a nervous flyer. 1.) I don't want to hear males who have thick Arabic accents come over the PA system at anytime. 2.) I don't want the guy two rows in front of me (who was Arabic descent) keep looking back over his seat throughout a 3 hour flight. I had my eye on him and was going to take him out if he tried anything. 3.) I don't want the pilot to come over the speaker and sound like he just woke up..."ummm, we uh, are about, uh, 30 mile...50 miles from Newark." NOT comforting. 4.) Am wondering if it is standard for all airline employees to have to hate their life and job...those people are never happy. And I am the kind of person who you aren't going to get moving faster by having an attitude with. 5.) Why are they always patting down the whitest male and female in line? 6.) Human error. It happens. I hate that feeling. Jeff got on the plane going to NJ with his 1 inch pocket knife in his bag and was never checked. That's how things happen. On the way back, he left it ,again, in his bag, but this time his bag was searched and the knife was taken away. (Christmas gift idea for Jeff, a Swiss pocket knife).
Once we landed safely in Houston and walked into M&P's house to hug our boys, everything was worth it.
While Jeff was at the interview, I did something that I have been wanting to do for a long time....lay in bed and do nothing. I was able to sleep in till 9:30 (almost missed the free breakfast), went and ate, came back to the room and layed in bed until 2 something. Feeling like I shouldn't let a day go by without doing a single thing, I walked over to Target, that was so beautifully located in the same parking lot as the hotel. I stayed there until Jeff called me and said he was done with his interview. I purchased my things, headed back to the hotel and got ready to go for dinner with one of CP reps. We were treated to a really nice Italian dinner. I wasn't too happy about the drive to the restaurant because the parts of towns we were driving through. Needless to say, I wouldn't drive through those parts of town by myself if we lived there.
The dinner was awesome, but seriously, I am still convinced this place was frequented by the Mafia. The waiters had super thick accents, the place was dark, fancy and there was depressing music on. Let me just say this, I was glad to have been sitting in a seat that I could see the entrance, just in case there was a show down.
After the dinner, we were pretty much on our own. Friday morning we woke up early and headed to Liberty State Park in NJ. We took a ferry to Ellis Island and then Liberty Island. Such a humbling experience. After, our stop at the Statue of Liberty, we dropped off the rental and took a train from Newark to Manhattan. Once in New York, we walked across the street from the train station to our awesome hotel, The New Yorker. Checked-in, and immediately started looking for a place to grab some pizza. Yes, the pizza we had was amazing! From there we made our way to Times Square, M&M store, and then down to ground zero. After these stops, we went to the hotel, freshened up and headed to our reservation at Del Frisco's. I highly recommend this place to eat! It was a nice steak house. Let me put it to you this way, I had maternity jeans on and when I left, the spandex was super tight on my belly....I didn't know maternity pants could do that!
The next day, we had only about two hours before we had to head back to the airport, so we woke up early, grabbed breakfast to go and ate in Central Park. I felt like a cow eating my donut and watching all the super skinny bikers and runners whiz by me.
This was a fun trip and will go back one day, but I enjoy the more laid back, not having the feeling of people breathing down my neck, kind of atmosphere.

(Pictures below are the same ones from Facebook)

Stages of Life and Conversations with Joseph

I have a 3 year old. Need I say more? This age and stage of life has really made me feel like a mom. I actually have to be a parent now and it's not like just having a baby around who you just have to make sure is fed, bathed, put down for naps, and make sure they don't get themselves in to too much danger. Having a three year old keeps me busy, tired, on my toes, holds me accountable, basically, I have to do my job.

I love my little big man, but this age has had its ups and downs. I remember my wonderful sister in law, Lindsay, telling me a while back that it wasn't the 'terrible two's' for her, it was the three's that were hard. I couldn't agree more. I once had a professor that told me that she loved having children because they cause you to go through so many different feelings and emotions. They can bring love, make you laugh, cry, and even make you mad. I feel like I have finally reached that point.

You know those phrases you have heard throughout your life and you wonder, "Where did that come from?" Maybe they were said to you or maybe you just heard them in passing. For example: (Some, I am not going to finish because I try to adhere to Ephesians 4:29, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up....") (FYI, I have never said any of these to any of my children.)

-"Don't make me break my foot off in......."

-"Boy, I brought you into this world, I can take you out."

-"Don't make me go country...."

-"Man, if I had a rubber hose, I would beat...."

I have come to the conclusion that these phrases were coined when these individuals were parents of three year olds. Just the down right defiance and sassiness can be challenging. But as much of a challenge this age is, I love being with him and can't imagine my day without him. Now as a mother of a three year old, I am seeing Proverbs 22:6 coming to life, "Train a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Before I had children I couldn't imagine at what age you would start pouring the word of God into a child's life, and now I am amazed that it starts at such a young age. As much as I want to say, "Because I said so," I am trying/learning (after all, I have only been a mother for only 3 years) to bring scripture to surface since that is more effective than the four words above.

Having a 3 year old has its challenges, but it also has its fun times, and one of those right now is the conversations we have. Below are some conversations that I wrote down the day he said them because I thought they were worth remembering.

Me: *opening up my birthday card which contained money* "Woohhooo!"

Joe:"What Mama?"

Me: "Mimi and Papaw gave me a lot of birthday money."

Joe: "You going to give it to God?"

Me: "Ummmm....."

M: *I see Joe taking bread into his room, which is a no-no* "Joe, take your bread back to your room."

J: "Huh?"

M: "Take your bread back to your room."

J: "It is!"

M: "No it's....oh, I mean take your bread back to the kitchen."

J: *See's a hummer* "Mama, look there's Papaw."

M: "That's not him, but you are right, he drives a hummer and Mimi drives a car."

J: "No, Mimi not drive a car."

M: "Yes she does."

J: "No, Mimi drives a race car."

(I tried posting a picture, but she drives 2009 Honda Accord...pretty sweet ride)

J: "Mama, can I have a drink of your coke?"

M: "Nope."

J: "Mama, you're not going to share your coke?"

I love this kid!

Here's the Hap-Hap

Howdy there. Once again, a nice long month before another post. Sometimes, as a stay at home mom, I don't feel like I much to say unless the conversation is about bodily fluids, tantrums, stages of life, or anything baby related.

We have been doing good. Life slowing down a great deal which is nice since the weather has been gorgeous around here and we are trying to go to parks and the zoo before the temps hit 150.
I took this below picture intending to do a post, "You know when? Part 2." But since I haven't taken a lot of pictures lately, I decided to put it on this post. Monday's are my cleaning/laundry days. I had all of Joseph's shorts folded and laying on the couch. Joseph asked me to go play, but I said, "Sure, right after I put yours and Christian's clothes away." My wonderful son replied, "Mama, can I help you?" You can imagine the excitement that went through my entire body for a little person and a boy, being so kind to help his Mama out. I said, "sure Joseph, that would be great. Grab your shorts and put them in your drawers , please." I go to Christian's room and put his clothes away. I ask, "Joseph, did you put your shorts away?" He responds," Yes Mama."
Well, as you can see he almost made it. The shorts are to go in that second drawer there. I will take it though, at least he got them to his room for me. Joseph is not changing too much, but he is talking more and more. He is really trying to understand everything that comes out of our mouths and is becoming very interested in learning about everything. Joe and I have started this new routine when C takes his morning nap. Starting on Mondays we sit down and read a Bible story and then read his memory verse for the week. Then throughout the week, we review the story, do memory work and play games/or something we can't play with while Christian is awake. It has been a nice routine and fun to play and interact with just him.

Christian has started walking this week. Last week he walked around the house like a mummy, but this week he is walking around like he owns the place. He has recently been upgraded from the baby of the family to a big brother. Yeppers, we are expecting again. I tried announcing on Facebook, but I kind of snuck the below picture in with some Easter Pictures and I think it was overlooked. The third time around is pretty fun so far. I remember being pregnant with Christian and telling Jeff, 'I am so afraid I won't love this baby as much as Joseph." At the time, it was so hard for me to imagine loving another baby as much as I did Joseph. Now knowing that you can possibly love two babies the same, it makes me super excited about this one.
Everyone is thinking girl, but I looked at the Chinese Calendar (Not that I'm into voodoo, but I was given a booklet at my first visit and it had the calendar in there) and it says boy and apparently is 90% accurate. We will see ;-). People are already asking what I want, and I really don't have a preference, I just feel so blessed to be having another. But, having a boy would be fun since my sister is having a boy, a close college friend and his wife are having a boy (Being a boy, these guys would be 4 months apart), and I wouldn't have to do a single thing...no showers, no changing the rooms, etc.
But if it's a girl, I get to have another shower and get some cute stuff, I will get to paint and pretty up her room (It will be like having your first baby again), and we could potentially have her marry our best friends son and we can finally be related!
So many things to look forward to!
So far, I have been feeling okay. I get these waves of feeling blah. Mornings are pretty rough. I don't have morning sickness, but I feel like crud. I don't want to go from laying down to getting breakfast going and getting ready for the day. As you can see, that's not really an option with a 3 year old asking for ,"break-est." and a 1 year old who likes to be held for at least the first 30 minutes of waking up. Oh, and he wants to watch me make his breakfast. A lot different from the first two pregnancies.
I keep looking ahead because I know it will get better each week, but I do wish I could fast forward to 13 weeks, since my last two pregnancies were smooth sailing starting that week.

Until next month.....

Update

Um, yeah, I know, its been a while since I last posted, but we have been so busy.

Some things that have taken place since my last post:

We celebrated Christian's First birthday. It was a nice little family party and we combined the celebration with my nephew Phillip since his birthday is two days before C's.

Took some random pictures outside St. Patricks Day.

This one makes me laugh because I kept asking Joseph to sit next to or behind Christian and this is what we could come up with.

Since my last post, I have begun to dislike our neighbor's dog. He has started digging under the fence and has gotten over in our yard twice. He is starting to leave a huge hole under the fence now and I'm not too happy about it. Here is Joseph checking Lincoln out. Joseph doesn't mind too much when he gets over in our yard.

Pitiful dog.

Have gone to Dallas to visit Mimi and Papaw. We visited the Dallas Zoo where we saw a chicken laying on a sheep. 100% cotton.

Not too much going on. Jeff is back in Mexico for business this week and hopefully this will be his last trip for a while.

I am tired and going to treat myself to a movie and popcorn. Hope to have another post soon.