Week 21

Mark is another week older! I was so surprised to find out that I can still zip up my regular jeans this morning. Wooh-hoo! I haven’t been able to for the past couple of days. I was doing the rubber banding trick to be able to put on the jeans. I was letting myself indulge on sweets last weekend so that could be the reason. I’ve toned it down a lot this week. I still want to shove my mouth full of cookies and candies, but the possibility of gestational diabetes scares me.


We have a Dr.’s appointment this Friday to see how Mark is doing. I can feel him kick, but right now, he does not seem to be very active so it will be a huge relief after we get him checked out to make sure he’s growing normally.

I want to write a little bit about the last weekend not because we did anything the was exciting, but because I’d like have it on record in case the boys ever wonder how we spend our weekends when they get older.

On Saturday morning, we got our morning started pretty early like usual. We are usually up by 6:30. We went to see the 10 O’clock showing of Judy Moody and the Note So Bummer Summer. The boys really enjoyed it, but I fell asleep for a couple of minutes. It wasn’t because of the movie because I thought it was cute. It was more because of the pregnancy hormones. After the movie, we had to get back to the house really quickly because Michael had a soccer game at 12:30.

The Star Jets won their first game of the season in indoor soccer. Woohoo! They creamed the other team 10-3. I didn’t feel too bad for the other team because the last time the Star Jets played them, they outscored us by about the same. Michael was awesome and I’m not saying that because he’s my baby. He scored 5 goals and had at least 3 assists. I’m so proud of him.

Michael had another game on Sunday with his Academy team and played well again. The team lost, but I think Michael played well.

Not too exciting, but we had a fun weekend! Not sure what we are up to for the 4th of July weekend, but I’m sure we will have fun. It will be the last weekend with the boys for awhile because they are off to CA for 3 weeks on Tuesday. I’m really dreading having to say good-bye to them and being away from them for that long. They are super excited about the visit though and I know that will have a blast!

TGIF

I can’t tell you how grateful I am that this if Friday. It’s not that I’ve had a bad week or anything. In fact, the week went by pretty quickly, but I just love the weekends. We are busy on the weekends, but I get to be busy with my family. Every morning I leave for work, I feel like I’m leaving my babies to fend for themselves. This, of course, is not true because they are with M or they are with the other kids at summer camp. I know that they will be well taken care of, but I just can’t shake the feeling that I’m leaving them alone. I miss them terrible during the day. Maybe it’s just my hormones acting up.


This is another weekend of soccer games. One on Saturday for Michael’s Rec. team and one for his Academy team on Sunday. He always gets so excited for his games even if both his teams have not won 1 game this summer. He just loves to play win or lose.

We have plans to go over to our old neighbor’s house for swimming and barbeque so I’m looking forward to catching up with Heather and her family. I miss living next door to them. They are such good people and I’m so glad that we’ve been able to stay friends after our several moves. I really enjoy their company.

On Sunday, I’ll try to squeeze in the Judy Moody movie with the boys, but it’s not looking good. Michael enjoys reading the Judy Moody books and he’s wanted to see the movie for a couple of weeks now. We just haven’t been able to get away to do so. This Sunday he’s got a birthday party and a soccer game, so it might be a bit too much.

Halfway There

I’m halfway through my pregnancy. I can’t believe how fast it has gone! I’m officially 20 weeks today. I’m definitely feeling him move around. I don’t remember when I can feel Michael and Matthew first start to move around. With this one, I’m pretty sure it was around the 18th week. He’s usually most active in the afternoon right around lunch time. I love to be able to feel that and think it’s so amazing to know that there’s a living being in my belly. I think it’s one of the best things about being pregnant. M just thinks it’s weird.


Not too much to update on the pregnancy front. I can still get away wearing my regular clothes. I look a little chubby in the belly, but not to the point where it’s obvious that I’m preggo yet. I’m starting to outgrow my regular jeans.

We have a Dr.’s appointment next Thursday. I’m hoping to get another peek of my little Marky, Mark. I’m getting more and more excited to meet him as we get closer. I can’t wait to find out how big he’s grown. According to BabyCenter.com, Nugget is the length of a banana. The past 20 weeks have gone by so quickly, but I think the next 20 will drag on a little longer.

I just wanted to give kudos to my little Michael. He’s been so helpful this past couple of weeks. He’s behaving so much better these days. We still have our moments, but I can tell he is trying to make it easier on me when Daddy is not home. He’s even telling Matthew to behave and be a good listener. He’s such a sensitive little man and I couldn’t be more proud of him.

I think he’s at the stage now when he starting to care what others think of him and I can tell that he’s looking for approval from us. This weekend he got really upset when we told him that he was not playing well at one of his soccer games. He thought we were mad at him because his team lost when all we meant to do was give him direction on how to play better. I felt horrible that we made him that upset over a stupid soccer game. Poor guy.

Getting Ready for Marky-Mark!

Summer has definitely arrived in N. Texas. It’s been in the 100s and upper 90s for the past few weeks and there doesn’t look to be any relief in sight. This weekend was all about getting ready for Mark’s arrival.


We spend almost 3 hours at the baby store trying to decide which stroller and carseat combo to get him. I’m surprised M had the patience to stick with me for that long. We did make a nice stroller and carseat purchase.

We also bought the crib bedding for the nursery, so I can move forward and start trying to get the room in order. I decided to keep the color of the room the way it is for now. I really want to do some white chair rails along the wall with the window, but for now, I am happy with just the color.

I’ll have to see if M will help me if I decide to paint a brown stripe along the wall instead. Once we clear out the room of the stuff that we’ve been storing in there, I will start putting in the storage baskets and other accessories. I’m still deciding whether or not to leave the ceiling fan. And we are keeping the ugly old glider that we’ve had for the last 8 years.

We had a productive weekend on preparing for Mark, but we did not do much of anything else. It was just too hot and I think we just needed a weekend to just catch up on our house chores because this will be another busy week.

This is the last week of summer camp for the boys. I’m a little bummed that I couldn’t get them in for next week because they seem to really enjoy it. I’ve asked Jennie to pick them up at 4 when M is not home so that they don’t have to be there for 10 hours, but they’ve requested to be picked up at 5 instead. I guess they have lots of fun! They are picking up new jokes and new games to play from there. They have friends to hang out with. And they have weekly field trips. Who wouldn’t enjoy that? Makes this Mamma feel a little less guilty about putting them in camp.

Happy 6th Birthday!

Dear Matthew,

Today is your Birthday! Six years ago you came into our lives at 3am in the morning. You were stubborn from the day you were born. I remember the nurse trying to get you to open your eyes to take a picture and you refusing to do so. She even sprinkled your face with water to see if you would cooperate. Let’s say in your first baby picture, you had your eyes closed.

In Matthew fashion, you came into our room this morning and said to me, “Don’t you have something to say to me?” Yes, my love, Happy Birthday. You are not shy about telling people what you want, which makes me so happy because I know that you will stand up for yourself.

Your sense of fairness is growing each passing day. When you feel that you have been wronged or cheated in anything, you speak up and plead your case. Just this morning you and your brother were playing slap jack and there was a question as to who had a slap jack. You were insistent that it was you and Michael said he had the slap jack. When I said it was Michael, you were so upset because you truly felt that you were the winner and that we were cheating you. No amount of convincing from us could change your mind. I hope you continue to fight for what you think you deserve as the years go by because if you don’t, no one will.

You have celebrated some big milestones this year. You’ve graduated Kindergarten. You’ve started to take the bus to school this year. You’ve started playing soccer. You are doing things that big boys do. While I miss you as a baby and every time I watch videos from your babyhood, I am so excited to experience the man that you will become. I have my thoughts about what you should become, but I will keep these to myself and let you determine the person that you are.

But I do have some hopes. After all, I did give you life. I hope that you will grow up to be compassionate and kind. I hope you grow to be strong to stand up for yourself and your brothers. I hope you grow up to be self confident and prove those who doubt you wrong. Most importantly, I hope that you always know how much mommy and daddy love you and how much joy and richness you’ve brought into our lives. Happy Birthday, my little Mattikins. We love you.

Weekend Round-Up

Exhausted is what I am after this weekend. End of Year party, sleepover that almost was, and a trip to the lake, oh my. It was fun, and the boys had a great time, but I need to remember that I am with child so I don’t have nearly the amount of energy that I’d like to think I have. I just hate the thought of letting my boys down if I can’t spend my time doing fun things. Plus, I enjoy spending time with them. I feel like most of our time together is wasted on me screaming out instructions for them to get ready for one thing or another.

“Hurry, you’ve got to finish your breakfast so we can brush your teeth

“Hurry , and put your shoes on so we can go”

“Hurry and brush your teeth so you can go to bed”

“Hurry and take a shower so we can get ready for tomorrow”

And so on….

So when the weekend comes I cherish our time doing fun stuff together. It’s 2 days out of the week that we are not on such a rigid schedule. This weekend, we went over to one of Matthew’s friend’s house to celebrate the end of the school year. It was very nice and much more than I expected. Nina, the hostess did an awesome job and I wish I was Martha Stewart like she was. The décor was all color-coordinated, the food was a little fancier than I expected. She had mimosas (for parents) for goodness sakes! I told her I was expecting vegetable dips and chips (neither were served). It was quiche, bagel sandwiches, fresh fruits, and assorted pastries. And, she passed out little cards with her information on it in case we people wanted to get together for a play dates. Seriously? Anyway, the kids had a great time swimming and playing around. I was left feeling inadequate. Whatever. I’ll deal.

After the party we went and had lunch at Grandpa’s house and had to leave a few hours later so we can be home when Michael’s friend Harry came over for a sleepover. Well, sort of a sleepover because at about 11 o’clock at night, harry come into our room and explained to us that this was his first sleepover and he was a little bit homesick. He decided that he wanted to call his dad and get picked up. Poor guy. The next morning, we woke up to Matthew calling out Harry’s name, looking for him. So funny. M and I knew that that was going to happen.

Sunday morning, we got up and was out on the road heading to Lake Lewisville. The Hoppes invited us out on a boat and even though all I did was sit there and maybe swim for a short time, I was exhausted by the end of it all. I would have taken a nap, but it was so darn hot. I was also afraid to close my eyes for fear of motion sickness. The kids took turns getting towed on this raft-like thingy. They had a blast. The looks on Michael and Matthew’s little handsome faces were priceless!

Oh and just a quick mention that we got to see the Mavs win the National Championship last night. I’m not a big basketball fan or any big fan of a sport for that matter. It’s just a lot of grown men making astronomical amounts of money for playing games. But, I always like to see an underdog get the victory. Go Mavs! By the way, M thinks that it was destiny that we name Nugget Mark because Mark Cuban is the owner of the Mavericks. Haha, he’s a funny guy.

Indecision

I am having a hard time making decisions these days. I’m a Libra so that may play a big part of it too, but I find it extra difficult to make a decision about anything regarding baby things. Which bedding, which stroller? Do I go for practical or should a splurge since this will likely be our last baby? Should I have a shower or I that tacky because this is our third child? Do I completely re-do the whole nursery or add touches? These are what’s filling my head these days and I don’t have the room for it. After all, I do have a full-time job and it has nothing to do with baby things.

What’s probably worse is that I feel like I need to decide these things soon or the world is going to end. Get some perspective, right? I know. It’s the hormones.

This?

Or this?



This?

Or this?



I know.  My life is so compliicated...

18 Weeks

Twenty-two weeks to go! I’m officially 18 weeks today. I am showing a little, but still not in maternity clothes yet. I can still wear some of my jeans that sit lower n the hips and if I wear a loose top, you can’t tell I’m preggo. Not yet, anyway. No cravings and no aversions. I’m trying to eat as much fruit as I can and I’m staying away from too much sugar. I don’t want to gain 60 lbs like I did with the boys because I’m a little older now so it is harder to lose the weight. I’ve gained about 10 pounds as of the last Thursday when we went to see the doctor. I can tell my appetite is getting bigger, so I really need to try to control myself.


Sometimes I think I can feel the little Nugget move, but it’s pretty irregular so I’m never sure if it’s actually him moving around or something else. I am really looking forward to feeling the movements on a regular basis. That’s one of the most exciting part about being pregnant.

I forgot to ask how big the baby is at the last Dr. visit, so I’m not sure how big he is. According to the internet, he’s the size of a bell pepper.

In other news, Michael and Matthew started summer camp this week. I think they are enjoying it. They don’t like going early in the morning, but when I ask them how camp was, they always say they have a good time. Yesterday, they went swimming at the aquatic center and today, they have a field trip to the Ft. Worth Zoo. I’m hoping the camp has enough planned activities to keep them busy so they don’t get bored. I also think they enjoy going because they see some friends from school.

On Monday, Michael told me that he met a little boy there who “had a disease and he had half an arm and three fingers.” I was a little taken aback that he referred to it as a disease. I tried explaining to him that it’s not a disease and sometimes people are born with different things; like the color of their skin. I don’t know if I addressed this correctly and I hope I didn’t make a big deal out of it. I just want him to grow up to be open-minded and have compassion toward people who are a little different from him.

Happy Fake Birthday to My Mattikins!

Matthew had a fabulous birthday party this Saturday! We had more kiddos attend than expected but that was OK. The more the merrier! We had it at Jump!Zone where the kids can run around and go from one bounce house to the next. It was a little crazy because not only were there 2 other parties at the same time, it was open play, so essentially, anyone can come in and pay to play. It was definitely chaotic and I was stressed out about the kids being scattered all over the place, but the kids did not seem to mind and most of the parents didn’t seem to care either.


After an hour of jumping fun, we went into a private party room to have pizza and cake. Matthew was busy mingling with his friends so he did not have time for me, but I was so happy to see him be the social butterfly and celebrate with his buddies. He tells me that this will be his 2nd fake birthday because he celebrated his 2st fake birthday at in his class a couple of weeks ago.

Other than the party, we didn’t do much but lounge around by the pool. It was even too hot for the pool at times. I guess summer has arrived. We have another 3-4 months of nothing but heat. I’m not looking forward to the summer heat, especially with being pregnant. It’s going to be uncomfortable.

Speaking of which, we are having another little boy! We went to our regular Dr. visit last Thursday and got to see him on the ultrasound. I love that my Dr. does an ultrasound every time we go in for a visit. I can’t get enough of the little Nugget. Heartbeat was at 153bpm and everything looks healthy and normal (yay!). I was upset and disappointed at first that I would not have a girl but I’m over it. I gave myself some time to wallow in my self-pity, but realized quickly that I’ve been blessed with so many people and this is no exception. I’m so blessed to have this little boy come into my life and I cannot wait to meet him and love him. I can’t wait to see him grow into his own person just like my two older brothers.

Matthew was very excited to have a baby brother, but Michael was hoping for a baby sister so he was a little disappointed, but like his mamma, he got over it. He is going to be such a caring big bro. I see that in him every day in how he tries to protect Matthew. I am beyond proud of him.

Now that we know little Mark is coming, we are going to be busy prepping for his arrival. I haven’t done much yet because of the partial bedrest thing, but I think I’ve got the bedding picked out. Once that arrives, we can put the nursery together. I’m so excited to get started.

Graduation and Author's Tea

This has been a busy week for us. Michael had an “Authors’ Tea” yesterday and Matthew had his Kindergarten Graduation this morning. I was able to sneak out of work to attend both events. I was planning on skipping the Tea, but felt horrible about the decision so I re-prioritized and made time for it. I’m so glad I did. I can tell it meant a lot to Michael that I was there. He was so proud to show me his “All About Me” book that he wrote. He would have been the only kid whose parent didn’t show up and I would have felt awful.

This was a big day for Matthew! My little man is now officially a first grader! I didn’t expect graduation to be a big deal, but they sure put on a show. I loved watching him sing with the rest of the Kindergartners. He was so cute that I can eat him up with a spoon! He knew all the words to the songs, did all the moves correctly, and was animated. So different from his brother. Michael never usually participated in any song and dance because he’s so shy. After the songs, each teacher went up and said a few things about her kiddos and then called them up for a hug and the “diploma.”

I don’t know whether it’s the hormones or what, but I have to admit, I did cry a little to see my little man up on stage poised to take on the world. OK, maybe it wasn’t just the hormones. I cried when Michael finished up his Kindergarten year too, but whatever…At the end of the ceremony, one of the teachers read this poem.

“I give you back your child; the same child you confidently entrusted to my care last fall. I give you your child back pounds heavier, inches taller, months wiser, more responsible, and more mature than before. Although your child would have attained this growth in spite of me, it has been my happy privilege to watch this personality unfold day by day and marvel at this splendid miracle of development. I have thrilled at each new achievement, each new success, and each new expansion of self. I give your child back reluctantly; for having spent nine months together in the narrow confines of a classroom, we have grown close. We have become a part of each other, and we shall always retain a little of the other.”

I thought it was so sweet and it made me cry again. Those darn hormones!

Getting a hug from Ms. Sheffield

Getting his "diploma"

Singing his little heart out

Matthew with Ms. Sutherland and Ms Sheffield

"The Boys"

Happy Boy with Grandpa and Jennie

Shooting the breeze with Sky after teh ceremony

This was the best picture I could get of us

Tomorrow, we find out if Nugget is a he or a she. I’m so excited! I can’t wait to start buying stuff for the nursery. I will be honest and say that I’m really hoping for a girl and I will be disappointed for a little bit if it’s not, but I know I will be in love whether it’s a boy or a girl. My first and foremost wish is for a healthy baby and healthy pregnancy.