Happy Birthday to Me!

This morning Jeff got up with the kids - turned off the monitor, got Will, etc. I laid in bed, desperately willing myself to go back to sleep. I tossed and turned, thinking about yesterdays dr.'s appt ( apparently I have very low level of amniotic fluid, normal but low, and baby is breach, and Dr. is concerned about time left for him to move into position all the while he grows bigger in a low-fluid environment!) and still what to name baby, and that somehow this year's birthday feels harder than last years without mom, as if somehow this year was confirmation that she is really, really, gone, not just "away" or something completely ridiculous like that...
So, there I am thinking all these thoughts, when I hear Will say, "Yummy!" I now know some kind of tomfoolery is going on in my house. Found out later, Jeff was writing on the cake and Will, wanting to see, climbed up on a chair only to slip and in trying to catch himself, planted his hand in the side of the cake! Of course it was yummy to clean up his hand! I hear some more muffled talk of 'mommy', 'she's gonna love this' and something about 'how long do we have to wait to eat', so I open the door and walk out into the kitchen, apparently interrupting the finishing touches of the cake/card. I turn back around and crawl in bed with Will and a banana til I'm told I can come out. Awaiting me is my beautiful cake, and a precious card signed by all, with a Starbucks GC! WooHoo! I was informed that we would be eating the cake for all three meals, but seeing as how we were all slightly woozy from that much sugar first thing in the morning, I've managed to convince the crew that we should save some for dessert tonight.
Jeff is trying to finish up his lawns to get home to cook for me, but I really just want him to light the grill and we can all cook dinner together. I am really content this year in that regard, to just be home with my family. I have no desire to go out - rather tired and wanting to watch a movie with my husband after we tuck in the kids. I can wear my jammies, munch on popcorn that doesn't require my to harvest an organ to pay for it, and then fall asleep with the man whom I love!
PS - Yes Will did have on pajama pants but apparently had taken them off before Jeff got him out of bed this morning!

Slave labor & a new haircut

My sister and my dad got together for my Bday and paid for a haircut/color! Yippeeeeee! I have a ton of naturally curly hair that is NEVER cheap to color. Even if I just did an all over color it would still cost an arm & a leg - and yes I often do it at home, but with my hair, it often just looks better when someone can put some oomph in it with different low/highlights. Rationalize much? Anyway, last night was my appt and I am always amazed at how great I feel when I leave the salon - even if it's not the "right" color/cut, I just feel like a prettier version of myself. Sick, yes, but welcome to my world. L. did a great job on the cut and I do like the color, it may be a bit contrasty (I made that word up), but I like it too. Please forgive the wierd angle of the pic - Jeff was busy but I wanted to snap a pic for dad and K.

Now, on to the slave labor part of the post. Children are an amazing resource for free labor. Now that Jack and Ella-Kathryn are old enough to actually do some of the more difficult chores, we've been really putting them to work. Pick up dog doo. Check. Rake of yard clippings. Check. Now if only then could menu plan and grocery shop, I'd have it made!

Last but not least - the size of the giant beast growing inside of me and the love that one little boy has for his new brother and his dogs...

Going in for the smooch!

Pucker up lil' bro:)

Oh, how he loves his Hap!

Naming of the Offspring, Part IV

I am very indecisive. I am the one who can never pick a place to eat, movie to rent, name for a baby:) Actually, when it comes to food and movies, I am good at saying what I don't want, but often can't articulate exactly what I do. Or, and this may be worse, I am so afraid of being disappointed in my choice, that I would rather have someone else decide for me. Or, maybe I'm just that lazy. Tis possible, I have to admit. I definitely lean towards the lazy side of life. THe real pickle around here these days is the baby name decision. We landed on one, the kids loved it and were calling him by that for months, only to have it booed by the extended family. Now normally I don't give them that much voting power, but considering this is the LAST child I will be bearing/birthing (I am so serious here people) I have given their opinion some weight. The other problem is that in naming our other 3 we have used up the family names which I loved. Ok, so now I've admitted that I will be naming this baby something I don't love?? No, not really, but it has made this a very difficult process. I mean this boy will have this name forever. Names are defining in a way that is often intangible - i.e. someone was dumped by a "Tom" and will always think of "Toms" as jerks. You get what I'm saying. And yes, I am fully aware that this is completely unavoidable, there will always be someone with a negative association of your name. Nevertheless, I am burdened by this right now. Finding the "right" name for this, our last, boy. Names float across my subconscous as I'm falling asleep. When I make my nightly nocturnal trek to the potty, there they are, unfurling on the toilet paper roll and then swirling down the toilet. When Will awakens me shouting "Mom" through the monitor at an ungodly hour, I immediatly start trying out the names, "Will hush, you'll wake ____." Too much spare time you ask? No, just one mom trying desperately to get it right, so that I will not have to have this conversation when he's 13..."Mom, what were you thinking naming me *****, did you NOT realize how lame this name was and how many times in my lifetime I would get my butt kicked because of your glaring inability to pick a proper name?" I for one, am not going to be party to that kind of ridicule from my son, so I will just have to continue on searching for just the right name for this, MY LAST, child.

Playdate fun and VBS

Playdate fun! Ella-Kathryn's friend came over to play yesterday and the final activity was painting. The girls got along so well and after putting on makeup, dressing up, watching a movie, and more, it was fun to watch them concentrating so hard on their art. Will got to paint too - he loved it and kept signing "more" for mommy to get more colors on his brush. After every "stroke" he would look over at me, say "mom" and then direct my attention to his masterpiece! Very proud of himself:)

Last week the kids attended an awesome VBS and they had a great Family Night complete with an illusionist, cookout, and bouncy houses. I was so excited for Jeff to snap this pic, since I am very rarely in the photos with my kids! I'm always the one behind the camera. And, my belly doesn't look too big in this one!

CHEETO MAN! A good time was had by all!

How many kids do I have?

Jeff had as much, if not more fun, than the kids last night. We headed out to an empty parking lot so Ella-Kathryn could practice riding again - she did great! Will rode his big wheels and as you can see Jack rode his bike and skateboard when they weren't being used by the "big" kid in our family!

Jack's totally getting the hang of his new board, but still goes WAY to fast for me. I don't know how I am going to survive three boys!

Lil' miss bike rider!!!

This is SO and EK pose:)

Big Doins'

Ella-kathryn has been desperate to ride her bike without training wheels, and well, I just haven't had the time to help her, what with Will under my feet 24/7 and all. Sat. morning Jeff got the kids up early to take them fishing (just Jack & EK) and then when they got home she again asked if daddy could help her. Jeff took off the training wheels from her little bike (not the new barbie one) so that she could practice getting her balance - the bike is so little she can put her feet down flat to help stop herself etc. After a couple of practice runs with Jeff behind her, she just got it! They packed up and headed over to the parking lot by one of the local lakes to practice some more on a flatter surface (our driveway is sloped enough to make me catch my breath as the kids come tearing down into the garage!). When they returned home an hour or so later, Jeff announced that she was a pro! I'm so proud of her - she is typically so fearless and this is no exception - she just decides she wants to do something and that's that! I will say though that when I went back out with her later she rode around to the front sidewalk and then I hear this "AAH, Mommy!" I go running, well as much as I can run at this point in my whaleness pregnancy, only to find her half way down the grassy hill in front of the house, sprawled out beside her bike! She was fine, a bit shaken, but fine, and decided to take a break for the day:)
On another note, I have been fighting the insurance company all morning in an effort to get them to drop a certain charge from the bill from when Jack was in the hospital. UGH! It's a full-time job just keeping up with medical claims - a job I don't have time for. But, if it saves me literally 1,000's of dollars then I will fight the good fight. anyway, so I'm drafting this letter to send to the insurance co. and Jack starts talking to me, which I of course only partly hear, and since being severely convicted in church yesterday about how I have been parenting (let's just say yikes) I finish the sentence I was typing and then ask Jack to please repeat what he said, since I didn't really hear him. "So you were saying one time..." and he answers, "No, not one time, not even once upon a time!" That's my boy!
More to post on the parenting thing later....

Finally some pics

On the road! After my OB appt in June this was the shot I took of our hoopty as we headed out of town, bound for FL. Seriously, the DVD players, my cookie sheet contraption for Will ( he uses it as a tray for his cars when we're out and about) just the whole darn picture - we could have survived the apocolypse with all of the stuff we had in there! And yes they each have ring pops, courtesy of my OB - thanks Dr. Sarver-cause we all know that's exactly what kids need before the start of a long car trip...sugar!

My dear friend Laura and her kiddos met us at the Georgia Aquarium. As I said earlier, it was amazing! Her oldest is so bright and was quite the little tour guide (they go often and he knows that place like the back of his hand). Note: because my kids "slept in" at that morning, we got a late start and I was racing around to make up time. I forgot to put on a stitch of makeup!!!! NOw, in my normal-everyday life I often go sans makeup, but seriously, out and about in such a public venue - YIKES!! Oh well - at least the only people I knew there love me no matter how scary I look:)

My sincerest apologies to my friend - that first pic is not so flattering! We were desperately trying to get all the kids to look at me, and well you know how easy that is, particularly with the coolest beluga whales swimming around in the this cool tank behind me! The second is of our three and lo and behold, a happy second for Will - not a great morning for that little man. The other two, well, Jack looks like an evil scientist and EK is being her usual goofy self. But we survived and it was a good diversion for them before getting back in the car for the remaining 5ish hours to Poppy's house.

Here are a couple of pics of my sweet niece Lilly - she just turned one and is too much! while in FL with us she started walking and is just hands down the most contented little person I've ever met - hardly fussed a lick the whole time. Missing her so much!


Also while in Fl it became ubundantly clear that Will's hair was getting way too long. I was constantly brushing his "bangs" aside, and while he did resemble a cute lil' frat boy, overall, it was simply too shaggy. So above is the 'before' as Jeff just begins cutting and here's the after...

MUCH BETTER!!!! When he bites his lower lip, he actually resembles his cousin too! And after his nap the front was kind of flipped up a bit in a rather hip manner. Of course this morning a little girl friend of ours asked what he was wearing. I asked why she was asking me that, to which she replied, it looks like he has on a dress!!!! It was actually a one-piece John-John with surf boards all over it. OH well - hope he doesn't try to charge us for his therapy:)

Oh my - almost a month since my last post!

We survived the 2 semi-cross country trips to FL and back to see my dad, sister (and her fam) aunt and grandmother. WHew! the going out leg really wasn't that bad. THe kids did great for me and we made it to Birmingham in record time, stayed at a very nice motel which was superbly located right across the street from both and Wal-Mart and a Chick-fil-a - Praise GOD!!! tHe next day we headed off to Atlanta to meet one of my sweet friends from grad school, her two boys, and her mom at that Aquarium. it was amazing! If you ever get the chance to go - GO:) THey have actual whale sharks - and not babies - in this insane tank that not only has a walk through tunnel, but also a whole WALL that is just glass. crazy! Jack and EK had a blast - will, not so much. Oh well. By the time we arrived at dad's it was 8ish, but b/c of the timing we also managed to miss all of the bad traffic on 95. All in all, not a bad trip. Note to self, driving that long solo, pregnant, never do it again!
Once there, we enjoyed sand, sun, pool, being spoiled by Aunt LaLa and Poppy. EK is now officially a fish:) She amazed her daddy with her swimming when he flew in on the 3rd. Poor Jeff though, only 1 day on the beach and then RAIN! Yuck - and sadly we did not have one bad day before he got there. Thems the breaks people. He and I did enjoy our getaway to ST. Augustine though and he even managed to fit in a massage, so I think he's not too upset about the whole thing.
Here's the sad part though. I have maybe 2 pictures from the whole trip. My digital kept quitting on me, and there is apparently a huge scratch on the lens of our 35mm. I'm hoping that between the other relatives someone can post some pics for me to steal and put on here. In them meantime, I am feeling HUGE, happy to be home, and trying very hard not to wish the next 8 weeks away. I will post more later about the tougher aspects of the trip too - we scattered mom's ashes and had some good discussions about life from here on out, but right now I am going to lay down on the couch and try to nap for a few before my Dr. appt.
Peace out.