The year in review - Facebook style

Tanner photo book I made for the kids

The boys keep asking me to bring up pics on the computer for them to look at. they want to look back on their times with our dog. He died tragically on September 15th from epilepsy and it has been really hard on everyone. We did get a new puppy Jake who is helping us but nothing could replace Tanner and the boys want to hold on to that. I was thinking of giving them this for Christmas but I don't want it to be a sad item so am still thinking that part over.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Jasonisms

Today while Jason and I were in Target doing some shopping, he announced, "Wow, Mommy.  Your tummy is REALLY huge."  I think I let out an audible gasp.  I responded calmly, "Well there is a baby in there and saying that is not really nice."  I give up...defeated.

Jason thinks about this for a minute.  "Mommy, you must have a REALLY huge baby in your tummy."

It took a few days but I think the pain finally wore off.  So I picked up Jason earlier than normal from daycare and it went something like this: 
JT: "Mommy, did you bring me a special treat?" 
Hmm.....well, now that I think of it.... "Yes, I brought you me and I picked you up early."
With no hesitation whatsoever, JT responds,  "That isn't a special treat. I want a fruit snack." And that is the order of things.

Reflecting on my final pregnancy

It's amazing what pregnancy does. I am so incredibly happy and grateful every day for all I have. I cherish feeling her move and the changes in my body since I know this is my last pregnancy. It is bittersweet. I spend a lot of time laying down at night just feeling her move and focusing on the totally amazing little movements. And if she isn't moving enough for my liking, we start a game of poke and return fire. She really gets annoyed with that little game. There are other things she doesn't like...spicy food, riding horses, making stairs. She is more opinionated than the others and I am already so in love with her.

We were watching Ethan's soccer game this morning and Jason was sitting on my lap and being so incredibly lovable. Normally he wipes off my kisses or I have to beg for hugs. Today was different. He then announces that he wants to feel the baby move. We had been doing that at night sometimes so they could understand what was going on with Mommy. Well, she wasn't really very active that early in the morning, before my coffee and in the cool fall weather. So I told him to talk to her instead since she could hear him. He bent his head close to my stomach and proceeded to say hi to the baby and tell her "Well, yes, I love you too." Apparently she was talking back.

I love how the boys ask me every day how the baby is doing and if she is moving and growing, ready to come out etc. Ethan snuggles with me on the sofa in the evenings and rubs my belly like he is stroking his little sister. Today he told us that when the baby wakes up crying in the night, he is going to go in and rub her back and tell her everything is okay. You know...with a big brother like that, I know it will be and so will she.

For me, the best parts are these exchanges and when I get a chance to lie quietly and close my eyes...focusing on nothing but her movement. I can play the poke and kick game for hours. It is like affirmation she is there and knows I am wholly and completely enamored with her as I continually validate she is healthy and still a reality. I love the ripples across my pregnant body when she moves...the tight spot that might be a hand or a foot, an elbow or a knee. The awe when she can lean on my bladder and send me scurrying for the bathroom. I love all the changes in my body and the different milestones of pregnancy. I'm going to miss this and try to just hold on to every moment, every feeling, every nuance. I try to put it into words so I can go back years from now and remember even though I know words fail me. For today though, I am completely and totally happy, satisfied and blessed.

And both her brothers scored goals in their games today. Ethan also had some awesome defensive saves and Jason had 2 assists. Juliet was proud.

Our pumpkin patch

Halloween has always been a big deal in our house. It is even more so when you take Jeff's passion for it and combine it with the boy's love for anything related to their Dad. Jeff takes such great pride in decorating our place even though nobody comes. We get to see it every night when we come home and the boys enjoy it.  Jeff bought them an awesome Halloween CD to listen to at night.  They don't even fight over whether to listen to Bob MArley or Disney right now....it is all Halloween all night every night.  Jeff even does a Monster Mash dance that is very worthy of note....and a YouTube video but I prefer not to get divorced again.  I love him for doing all this for them and I get infected as well.  He takes them for their costumes and they talk about them for weeks before the trip, and beg to wear them around weeks after. I even bought a witches hat this year although in my condition, I will make it to five houses max! 

And then there is the pumpkin. It is not any ordinary pumpkin, you know. It has to be perfect...lean a certain way, have a particular shape. I don't get it but it is obvious the boys do. Our favorite place to go is to Ragan and Holly's pumpkin stand on our way to work. It is a country produce stand and it is self serve and honor system. And every pumpkin is perfect, bright orange and amazing. We take our time, surf every row, measure every one against the current candidates for purchase. Here are a few pics of our excursion.

A new beginning

With August comes a lot of changes in our lives....We are merging all the blogs into one and will not be posting to the boys blogs anymore. I plan to have books made from the posts and pics so they can have the memories to share once older.

Why the change? Another child is on the way and trying to figure out what posts to put on which blog is enough to drive any mother mad, especially a working one with 3 kids and bad organizational skills.

We are also preparing Ethan for kindergarten and Jason for being a big brother. We hope you enjoy following along on our journeys. Don't forget to refer back to the kids blogs for their early days and for a walk through history or look at the older years on this one since I imported the postings.

Jason's
Ethan's

Special moments

Not a vacation, or holiday or anything earth shattering. Just some amazing moments with my soon to be middle child. He came home with a fever on Thursday of last week. We spent 4 days together with nobody else. We read books, fed the animals together, made our lunch, giggled and snuggled on the couch when we felt horrid and basically just bonded over nothing. School has been hard for him this week. After spending all that time with me and at home, he didn't want to go back to pre-school. Add to that the fact that Ethan is not going there anymore, and you have one stressed out child. He has been clingy at drop-off and Jeff has been spending a lot of time with him at the center.

Tonight, Mom kept Ethan overnight since she is his childcare this week. That left us having some quality alone time with the child that never really had any. We ate dinner, played Hungry Hippo, took a bath, watched Caillou, did a puzzle and then played Wii. He loves the bowling and the golf and has such fun. We called Ethan to tell him good night and Jason told him how much he missed him and loved him. "He's my best friend", he tells me as he hands me the phone.

I then go upstairs to get him ready for bed. After we brush our teeth and get a drink, he goes to the potty and announces that his pee pee is getting a LOT bigger and soon would be "this big" and has his arms as wide as his body. I mentioned that was probably a little too big for convenience and he was perfect the way he was. He then mentioned his ears had boogers in them. I assumed it was a stall tactic and told him we would clean them tomorrow. He agreed that when we brushed his teeth in the morning, this would be our plan. "You can squeeze the toothpaste and then clean them with the white fuzzy things", he says. I nod and explain those are called Q-tips. He tries...cube - its, cleaning tips, and decides it is just too hard to say. "I can't just say new things all the time, Mommy." I know the feeling. New things daunt me too at times.

We climb into bed and get comfy. He tells me how much he loves to cuddle, that I am his best girl and tells me over and over how much he loves me. "I think I told you 25 times, Mommy." Well, I love it. So I tell him, "you can never tell someone you love them too many times." He agrees. He plays with my hair and asks me to tickle his back. We sing songs, talk about putt putt golf and our day apart. I ask about school and he tells me how much he loves naps, and circle time, crafts and when they do special projects. But that at free play time, he gets sad and would rather just be home with me. Yep, same thing happens to me when I am not kept really busy.

I get ready to leave and he asks me to tuck him in and fix his covers and to hold him one more time. His arm is tight around my neck. We give Eskimo kisses and he tells me, "I had a REALLY good time with you tonight, Mommy." My heart is so full it is going to explode.

Family Vacation

Jean and Russ came East this summer and we decided to do a summer beach trip and celebrate all the summer birthdays together. Jean was turning 40 so we really wanted to do it up big. Ethan celebrated his 5th birthday and his first lost tooth. Always a great experience. The house was amazing and we really had a great time for the most part.

Unfortunately, Russ got very sick for most of his stay and our oldest was a brooding nightmare. Luckily. I can remember not being too easy myself and we tried to hold it together.

Birthdays and baking, presents and family. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, the nightly poker games rocked too and so did having catered dinners delivered or going out to eat. I say it all the time...if I have to cook dinner every night it isn't a vacation for me. I do brekafast and lunch and then it is my turn to be waited on.










For Jason, the best parts were putt putt (he is an addict) and the pool where he finally learned how to let go and kick on his own a bit. We will take a moment to thank his flotation device and the patience of all family members involved. The pool was on the upper deck so you could sit it in and watch the people and the waves. Amazing.

We took a great day trip to Myrtle Beach and ate hotdogs on the boardwalk and played games in the many arcades. We rode some of the rides at Broadway on the Beach and did the Ripley's aquarium which was amazing although very crowded.

It is so hard to pick just a few pics to post given all the fun we had but here we go.












Beach fun. We were wary of the ocean but loved the sand and snacks on the beach. We lived for the Italian ice cart to come up the beach each morning. The boys got cream-sickle and I had mango.

We would go back to the sand in the evenings when the wind picked up to fly our kites, chat and relax, and look for shells. It was great fun and tired the boys out.










We could walk to the ice cream store and the miniature golf from the house so we took advantage of that a lot to keep the kids occupied.

Social calendars

We had a great day today but spent a lot of it shuffling kid schedules. What are we going to do when we have one more? Zone defense apparently since man to man is not going to cut it. We started at Nicholas's birthday, hit Uncle Mikey's pool and then Jeff took Ethan to Joshua's 5th Birthday party in the evening at Bounce U. My day planner needs more lines. :-)

Jason has really started getting brave with his swimming and will jump in and even dunk his head and try to take a few strokes himself. He is a bit like lead so we need to work on floating and buoyancy.

It is also my birthday tomorrow so Michael and his parents were nice enough to have an ice cream cake for me. My favorite boys helped me make my wish. Jason wished for a baby sister and a dump truck. I wished for patience, more time with my kids and a healthy baby. Could I be so bold as to ask for that much?

Ethan's graduation from pre-school

Yes, you read that topic correctly. They had a graduation tonight where they got little diplomas, did some skits and sang songs and got all dressed up. At first I was like, I can NOT believe they are doing cap and gown pictures and going through all this. Yet as I sat there tonight and watched, my eyes were filled and my throat was closed and I couldn't figure out where 5 years went. I even videotaped it with my antiquated camera. My parents came as well and we all went out to Squid's for dinner after the ceremony. I loved how proud he was and how excited he has been for weeks. I have caught him practicing his songs in front of the mirror although he wouldn't tell me which songs they were performing since it was all going to be a surprise. I know he is nervous too and my heart breaks for him. Leaving his friends, going to a new school, not having Jason with him. So many changes for one person. But tonight, I won't worry about it. I will just bask in the pride that is motherhood and think about how much more I will cry at his high school walk.











We love this center and have met some really special families along the way. I don't know how it will go keeping in touch but Ethan is so worried about being away from Cooper, Adam, Nick, Taylor and the sense of community and support we have found here. I'm so with him on that.