Third Trimester....Hooray!!!

I have entered in to the "home stretch" of this pregnancy. I get looks of pity and strangers asking me, "When are you due" almost every time I venture out. I have been in such a funk the past couple of weeks because I'm getting uncomfortable and I truly don't want to spend the next 3 months being miserable.

Christmas is coming and I want to be celebratory not fussy!

I have determined to change my state of mind. I was reading one of my regular blogs not too long ago and she is also pregnant. She said something that is hitting home right now. The fact of the matter is...my being pregnant is so obvious to anyone who looks at me but it's MY physicality that they are seeing. This baby has been and for the next 3 months, will be, my little secret.

I know my baby's sleep patterns.

I know when my baby has the hiccups and no one else does.

I am constantly reminded that he or she is getting stronger everyday! And will most likely be a soccer player :o)

I know that when Maggie or Rory are in close proximity to my belly, I get flutters.

How could I let a little physical discomfort steal the joy of this very precious bonding time God has granted only me with right now? This may or may not be our last child, but if it is, I want to experience it...not suffer through it!

***help me remember this in February when I'm desperate for my due date to arrive.***



On a side note...I love being pregnant with other people. You know what they say,

Misery loves company

My sister is usually my preggo buddy and she decided not to go this round with me but her sister in law is pregnant for the first time and we spent Thanksgiving hanging out and commiserating about our bellies together. She is having a little boy 5 weeks after me and she looks great! Here we are celebrating our bellies...

Cousins (again)

Here is a little photo shoot that we did for Grandpa & Mimi of their grandkids. I just love the way some of these turned out so I thought I'd show them off!

Genius? I don't know about that.

Get a Cash Advance

My friend, Lindsay told me about this site that will rate the 'readability' of your blog. You just enter in the address and their software reviews your posts and gives it a rating. I'm not sure what this rating says about my posts but I promise not to let it go to my head! Do I use a lot of big words or something? Just tell me to tone it down if I do :o)

Rate your blog if you have one!

I'm so Thankful...and so Full!

I sure do love Thanksgiving. It's a wonderful time to reflect and eat. I had a wonderful day surrounded by my family and my sister's in-laws (who I absolutely love!). We had so much food and I took the liberty of "eating for two". You can't be shy around food that only makes an appearance once a year!
I'm so thankful for:

• My Savior to whom I don't give enough credit to for blessing me every hour of every day.
  
• My wonderful family. A gracious, loving, caring husband who loves our two lovely kids. One precious girl and one sweet boy and one yet-to-be determined baby on the way.
• My extended family who all live so close.
  
• My home
• My health
• My happiness

What did you give thanks for yesterday?

Sisters & Cousins

I just love everything about the holidays! I can't shake the warm fuzzies this time of year and I know that my family all being together has a lot to do with that.

My sister and I were not close growing up. In fact, we were total opposites and fought/competed about and for everything. Something happened when we went away to college. I can now honestly say that she is my best friend and I miss her terribly (she lives in Lubbock).

We even had babies simultaneously...by sheer coincident, I assure you! But it is such a blast when she is here and the kids get to play together. Sometimes the big kids split off, sometimes the girls want to do girly things together. It's just fun!

Here are my favorite niece and nephew (ok, my only niece and nephew) and my babies together...

Maggs & Ellie

Rory, Luke, Maggie & Ellie

Tea Time

My friend, Sharla is so fantastically creative and I usually end up thinking, "Now why didn't I think of that" when it comes to her little girls' party themes. Her daughter, Carson's 4th birthday party yesterday was no exception. Maggie already thinks Carson is so sweet and just loved being a part of her precious Dress-Up Tea Party.

It was so fun to just sit back and watch all of these little girls feel and act like little ladies. Pretty dresses, earrings, hats, shoes, tea, sandwiches, cookies, cupcakes, musical chairs...what more could a little girl ask for?

Precious, precious, precious! Way to go, Sharla :o)

Here are some pictures of the little Princesses:

What have you done with Carly?

A few days ago, my pregnant friend, Lindsay blogged about not feeling like herself lately. I read it and thought, "Poor Lindsay. I'm glad I'm not in that place in my pregnancy."

Then today...I looked around and thought,
"Who is this person being so mean to my kids? Who is this girl in my house who is angry one minute and weepy the next? Who is this big lady who gets so completely frustrated because she can't get up off of the floor without making horrible groaning noises!"

...oh, wait! That's me!

Recently, I've dealt with Maggie's 'ugly' behavior by asking her to go up to her room and find my "Sweet Maggie" and to tell "Mean Maggie" to go home. I got a taste of my own medicine when she asked me to bring "Sweet Mommy" back! She also uttered a phrase that Casey wants to have printed on maternity shirts and sell...
"Mommy, why are you so angry when you have a baby in your tummy?"

Casey says that it makes him laugh when I look back on my pregnancies with fond memories because I'm miserable (I'm sure he meant to be around) most of the time.

I'm trying to keep it all together. After all, I do still have 95 days left in this pregnancy.

I'll give the same disclaimer that Lindsay gave:
If you cross paths with me in the next 3 months, I'm sorry! Say a prayer for me and I will be back at the end of February.

Sing a song...

Rory has been hard at work with his ABCs. He almost has the song down and wouldn't stop singing it yesterday so I pulled out the camera for posterity.

Maggie couldn't let him steal the singing spotlight from her!

She has been all over some of the oldies songs from the 50's show that I did not too long ago and it gets me tickled to hear her singing songs like, "Lollipop" and "Mr. Postman". One that she loves to belt out is the 40s/50s classic "Sincerely". So here she is with all of the feeling and timing (& key change, I might add) that she can muster.



Enjoy!

Blessed are the meek...

Today in the car, we passed a homeless man who had a sign that read, "Happy Holidays. Hungry. Anything will help. God Bless."

As we drove past the man, I saw Maggie starring intently at him.

"Mommy, that man was holding a sign"

"Yes, honey, he was"

"What did it say?"

"Well, it said that he was hungry and could someone please give him food or some money to buy food"

She was quiet for a minute...

"Well maybe I should have brought some money with me so I could give it to him."
[She found some spare change from her Daddy's pocket yesterday and has been keeping it in one of her play purses] "Because God tells us to share with each other and take care of people, right?"

I could utter no words except..."You're absolutely right"

she continued, ..."and that wouldn't be very nice if we had some money but didn't want to share it, right? Even though he's a stranger, that would be okay."

What do you say to such simple and unconditional love? From the purest of places, she felt compassion. No judgment. Just a desire to be faithful to love her neighbor as I have worked so hard to instill in her.

I'm so blessed to get to see the beauty of God in the children that He gave me.

Time Change

I honestly thought that by Wednesday, I would be used to this time change. After all, it happens every year, I knew to expect it and I've had the time to adjust.

Why is my entire family still operating on Daylight Savings Time?

Up at, what is now, 5:45 am

Hungry for lunch at, what is now, 10:30 am

Ready to nap an hour earlier

Ready for bed at 8:30!!!

Is anyone else having this issue?

Renaissance Festival

We went to the Renaissance Festival this past Sunday with my parents. They used to take me and my sister when we were growing up and being back there as an adult brought back so many memories!

The kids weren't sure what to expect even after a long explanation of what we'd see there. Maggie was wide-eyed, trying to take it all in pretty much the whole time that we were there. Everyone is very in character and shouts to get you to come and buy their wares and she didn't understand that.

"Why does everyone keep shouting?"

We sampled several Renaissance Festival staples like: turkey leg, sausage on a stick, corn on the cob, soft pretzels, apple fritter, and of course funnel cake. Yummy!

The kids rode on the merry-go-round and we all got on a giant swing that Maggie thought looked fun but regretted when they pulled us way up and then let us go. She was shaking so fiercely and couldn't talk. Evidently, that thrill of your stomach dropping is not appealing to her or her Daddy. We discovered that Rory (who only said "Whee" about the whole experience) and Mommy will probably be the ones to ride the rides at amusement parks while Casey and Maggie wait safely on a bench somewhere!

We saw a mud show, a joust in the Colosseum, a juggling act, some medieval singers, and rode on an elephant. What a fun trip back in time.

Where is your father?

Why do the incredible moments always take place when you're home by yourself in 'single parent' mode just trying to keep your sanity?

We'll start with Maggie...

She was having so much fun playing dress-up and came down in some very interesting outfits.
First, she was a doctor and gave me a full work-up complete with shots and blood pressure check.

She then told me that she needed to check on the baby. She listened to mine and the baby's heart and then said that I needed a "rescription". The paper had a heart drawn on it!

Then there was this...

Not sure what she was going for with this one!

Now for Rory...
I have cabinet locks on all of my cabinets except for the one that has tupperware and miscellaneous plastic stuff in it. My kids always rummage through there especially when I'm cooking. I saw Rory go and get something out, take it into the living room and then returned after a few minutes. This is what he said...

That's a boy for you, I guess. I'm just glad it wasn't a cup that someone was actually drinking out of!!!

He hunts...I shop

This past weekend, some girlfriends and I went to a very special place here in Texas called Canton. It was my first trip there but the ladies that I was with were pros and boy, did we shop!

Ironically, it was the opening of deer season and all of our hunter husbands had to stay at home with the kids while we went to spend all of the money. Aren't they wonderful?

We did a lot of walking and after two days of hard-core bargain hunting, I'm pooped. My friend, Lacey is due a week before me with her third baby, too. She knows what she's having and what she's naming the baby so she got to shop for a lot of really precious things. I suppose this not knowing helped save us some money on my shopping trip. I couldn't find much of anything for this baby that was neutral. Sorry, baby. having your name monogrammed on things will have to wait until you're here.

Halloween Hayride

We had such a fun Halloween. We went on a hayride through our friend's neighborhood. It was so fun to see both my kids so into running up to the doors, saying "trick or treat" (and remembering to say "thank you"!) and coming and showing us all of the goodies they got.

Here are a few pictures from the night and for a full slideshow, click here.

Dorothy & the Cowardly Lion

"Roar"y

Dorothy & Toto, too!

"Trick or treat!"

"They're...off to get some candy"