Almost 39 weeks?!?!

I NEVER thought I would get the 'chance' say that I was this far along! I would always ask women, "How do you do carry a baby full term?" and now I have the answer for myself... You don't have a choice. I've been having braxton hicks contractions like crazy and the other night thought 'This is it!' but the contractions slowed down to a halt, I fell back asleep and woke up not so happy :) If I don't go on my own before, the big day is Friday the 13th... ooooh, spooky huh?!? Cross your fingers for me and I'll keep you posted! P.S. Kendra won!

Halloween!

Halloween came and went so quickly this year! We planned to do fun fall family things on the weekends, but it seemed like every weekend someone got sick, and was usually poor Caden. Unfortunately we never made it to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. We were the ONLY ones on our street without pupkins... Cody was so embarrassed! We also missed out on Caden's anual school carnival due to him fevering, but he happily to chose to stay home and chill on the couch and watch a movie with our family instead! His cute friend felt SO badly that Caden missed out that he invited Caden to his school Halloween Party the next weekend. I am so grateful for his wonderful, thoughtful friends! It made Caden so happy!
This year, Caden chose to be Indiana Jones! We had his whole costume done by pulling out different things from closets. His sachel was complete with a map and a gun and around him hung a real whip! Trey changed his mind about 5 different times but once I pulled out Caden's old dragon costume, Trey's eyes lit up! DRAGO (or however you spell it) from Bakugan! Sweet, done there too! I figured Michael wouldn't mind how I dressed him up (if he would even let me dress him up at all) so I found Caden's & Trey's old Eeyore costume, grabbed a couple books to show him who it was and was done there too! Didn't have to spend a dime on costumes this year! Besides ALL the wrestling and fighting they do, it's kinda nice having 3 boys to use and re-use clothes, toys, etc :)
We went to the neighborhood Trunk-or-Treat a couple weeks before Halloween and it was a great way to give the boys practice for the big night! One of my sweet neighbors took Caden and Trey around with her son from car to car while I was able to spend the night holding the cutest little newborn, using my belly as a little shelf - how convenient that was! Trey absolutely LOVED it, refusing to say anything but "TRUNK-or-Treat" even on the 'real' Halloween! Michael 'helped' Cody pass out candy and I'm sure eating more than I ever would've let him! It was a fun night but such a long drive home! (haha!)
Now for the real Halloween night, we decided to go trick-or-treating at the mall. I have to thank whomever came up with this! We walked from store front to store front, filling 3 buckets of candy within an hour!!! So easy, convenient and WARM! "Trunk-or-treat" Trey would yell, Michael would pretty much grab the candy from the bowl and Caden would leave them with a quiet "thank you!" The boys had a perfect system and thought that was great! We had a fun night visiting family, grabbing some food, then sorting and eating all our candy - YUM! LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!

Baby's Room

Here's a picture of the baby's room! Yes, I've had it decorated since about a week after I found out I was having a girl... If you want to make fun of me for that, you should see all her clothes hanging up in her closet :) I've never had so much fun shopping, decorating, creating, crafting, sewing, washing and hanging in my life! I love to just sit in the beautifully recovered chair (done by my super talented sister-in-law) and look around! I never thought I'd be one of those 'pink' moms - I always thought I could re-use all my boys' clothes and just put a bow in her hair, but as I was looking through their stained, blue clothes... no way! Sadly, at negative 4 weeks old, she is already a very spoiled baby girl and I doubt, judging by the way her Daddy talks about her, will that ever change much. We can hardly wait!!!

Baby Belly

Here's my updated belly time-line! I love the pictures but can't decide if they're complimentive to myself. All I can see is how BIG I am!!! I can hardly squish in those tiny pants anymore and the shirt is being stretched to the limit... I guess that means it's time to have her :) Things are going good! She's growing well and her heartbeat is strong. I realized that she is due exactly 2 weeks to the day from when Michael was due, so IF she comes as early as him, I could have her in a week and a half! WOWIE! I've only had a 9 month break from nursing... can I do it again? (ugh!!!) To be demanded upon by another child, am I ready? First things first, Labor. I should be a pro but I'm already NOT looking forward to it more than the others. But then I walk past her beautiful PINK room that's all ready for her and look at all the tiny clothes with hearts, flowers and butterflies on them in her drawers - it's my favorite room in the house! I think about holding a sweet new baby, a gift directly from God. Such an Amazing, indescribable feeling! I get teary eyed thinking about it! Yes, I can do this again! Ready or not, she's coming in 5 weeks or less!!!
(Kendra, the race is on :) hehe!)

My Baby Boy is 2!!!

It's hard for me to believe that my baby is officially a toddler! We had such a fun day to celebrate! I woke up to my Mike-alarm yelling "MOM! OUT!" He let Caden get him out of his crib (which rarely happens - he usually wants Mommy), he climbed up on my bed, found my hand, started tugging on it while saying "Hugee (hungry). Eat." I realized what day it was and said "Happy Birthday Michael!!! How old are you?" and in his high, singing voice, he said "TWO!" We went out holding hands (I'm sure so he can be certain I don't get distracted on the way to the kitchen) and when he saw Trey in the living room, he said "Trey, Dirday, TWO!" The rest of the morning was filled with him making 'cakes' out of anything he could find to put on his little plates, singing Happy Dirday to you, blowing out candles, and carrying his cards from Aunt Kari and ones made by his cute brothers, all over the house. It was adorable! I got some videos I planned on posting but I had too much fun recording and all were over 2 minutes, more than what I thought people would like to watch :) Anyway, he had a great birthday nap and woke up to Daddy coming home early so we could go eat his favorite food "pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza and bead sticks!" He was so excited! We decided to try a new pizza place down the road, but I wasn't thinking very well about timing and ordering it beforehand and he got kinda ornery waiting for the pizza to cook - thus him refusing to look at the camera unless I asked him what he had in his mouth (sorry, the rest of the pictures were of the back of his head!). After the delicous dinner, we headed down to Gateway to let him pick out his own animal from Build a Bear. It was nice being a Monday evening, we were the only ones in the store. He picked out a "nice doggie" and was mezmorized by the stuffing machine. I think he could've sat there all night just watching it. He had some help from Daddy stuffing his doggie, hugging it to make sure it was perfect, then placed the heart in his doggie without kissing it... he had no idea why we wanted him to kiss a material heart and can you blame him? Then it was off to the bath for all the boys' animals. Caden brought his Police Bear andTrey brought his Buzz Lightyear Monkey. It was cute seeing them all lined at the bath, brusing and pusing the air pedal. Michael was so busy getting brushes and putting them away, he walked off the top step of the stool twice in a row, but just looked at us and kept going! Sure gave Cody and I a good laugh! We dressed his doggie in a Spiderman costume and went to get a certificate. I asked Michael what his Spider Doggie's name was - "WOOF" was his response. We bought his doggie, they packaged it up in a house and Michael proudly carried it out of the store, to watch the waterfountain then to the car. While heading home, I heard Trey ask Michael if he wanted his doggie out of his house. The next thing I heard was Michael whining "scaee, scaee" I looked back to see the Spiderman mask on his doggie (the cashier must've put it on while he was playing with a build a bear motorcycle) Awww, He thought his doggie looked too Scary with his mask on! I took it off for him and he proptly said "Hug. Kiss" and gave his doggie loves. We got home and it was past the boys' bedtime, but we HAD to give them a dose of sugar right before they went to sleep! We sang (again) to him and ate some cake and ice cream. I realized that this was his first time eating his own birthday meal! Last year he still refused to let anything in his mouth! WOW, we've come a long way in a year! He was not a fan of the cake (as you can see by the picture) but I think had 3 helpings of his ice cream (which he calls by making the sound like he's slirping it up! He LOVES ice cream!). Since both grandparents were out of town for the big day, we will be celebrating more this weekend - I'm sure he'll think his birthday is everyday for the next little while, but I don't mind hearing his cute 'happy dirday' singing all day! Happy 2nd Birthday Michael!

Family Picture

Our family
August 2009

Caden's First day

Caden started his first day of first grade two and a half weeks ago! He was up and ready early, which was perfect cause of course I had to take pictures of everything! Trey, Micheal and I took Caden to school where we walked him into his classroom and got him set up. I asked if he was okay if I left. He looked at me with a bit of fear in his eyes but gave me a smile, waved and said goodbye mom! I got the hint - no kisses :) We walked out, I turned at looked at him and my heart skipped a beat. I was willingly deserting my oldest son with strangers for the next 6 and a half hours! He was so cool and mature about things, I decided I better act that way too so I just waved goodbye and we drove away.
When Caden came home, Trey ran to him, gave him a hug and told Caden that he missed him! My boys make me so happy sometimes! Caden then informed me that this is his favorite school, even compared to playing at preschool! WOW! Not the reaction I expected! For those of you who don't know Caden very well, he is wired to be outside 24/7. I think he was really suppose to be born in the 1800's when all they did was work the field and minimal schooling. He can 'mow' the lawn with his Dad or Grandpa's, sweep, rake, weed, etc ALL DAY and never complain. (he once told his Poppa that he likes mowing the lawn more than going swimming!) On the other hand, you sit him down for homework and you'd think his world was coming to an end before we've even started. SO I am VERY grateful that he still loves school! He is making new friends, likes his teacher, reading so well and already learning much Spanish. I am 'muy' PROUD of my big guy.