"I lost my tooth"

Today is my birthday, and I'm 25 now, YIKES! That number makes me feel so old. I know it's not really old, but I feel it. Sean got me some cd's I'd mentioned that I wanted, and some oven mitts. I know oven mitts seem like a lame gift, but it's what I really wanted because our old ones are falling apart and I got burned the other day because of it. For dessert I picked up a Gooey Butter Cake. YUMMY! For those of you not from St. Louis and who have no clue what I'm talking about, you are missing out in life. Let me know if you want me to ship some to you to try. Of course then you'll be addicted and unable to get anymore, but at least you'd get to experience it once.
The other exciting thing that happened today was me being awakened by Emma coming in our room and saying, "Mommy, I lost my tooth this morning!" I was shocked because yesterday was the first day I remember her telling me that it was loose, and then this morning it fell out. She was so excited about it and didn't even ask to put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy. Instead she had Sean put it in a ziploc bag so she can save it and show Maddie the next time we see her. Of course this would happen just a few days before Laura's wedding, so now Emma has a big gap in her mouth. Thankfully it is on the bottom and not the top, but she still looks funny because it's right in front.

crazy busy

This past week was really crazy with something going on every night, and this next week will be more of the same. Last week I was lucky enough to be part of the gorgeous and amazing wedding day of Kelly and Mike. You can find pictures of the rehearsal and the wedding day here.
This coming week I have all the events for my friend Laura's wedding. I am so excited that her big day is finally here, and hopefully my wonderful husband will get some good pictures I can share with you all next week.
Thankfully this weekend we haven't done much, but I'm still exhausted. I swear it's unbelievable how some days I feel great, and other days just walking up the stairs wipes me out. I'm so glad the first trimester is almost over and I "shouldn't" be as tired all the time. I'm sure it would help if I could sleep decently, but I figure I've got a good year, at least, before I get a good nights sleep again.

telling my family

We told the kids that we were going to have a new baby just before Christmas and Emma and Nathan are really excited. When we told them Emma started jumping up and down and was saying "YAY!" Nathan said, "ok, I'm going to go play now," and off he went. Since then he has showed that he really is excited about the new baby.
Than when my mom came over Sunday I had Emma tell her our news. I whispered to Emma, "tell Grandma about our surprise." Emma just looked at me like I have no idea what you are talking about. So I whispered again, "Remeber the surprise daddy told you the other day?" She instantly lit up and said, "We have a new baby... in Mommy's tummy!" My mom looked totally lost for a minute and then it sunk in. Although she was definitely shocked, she seemed happy for us and excited to have another new baby in the family.
I would have to say shock is definitely the most consistent reaction, but people do seem happy for us.

16 months old

Megan is 16 months old today. She is definitely a toddler now who throws a fit at least once a day and can be incredibly stubborn if she doesn't get what she wants. The problem is she is still not using many words, so communication is a major issue for us, and probably the leading cause of most of the fits around here. She loves to play with Emma and Nathan and chase them around. Her latest trick is climbing the stairs, which she loves to do when our backs are turned. Yes, we are bad parents and we don't have gates blocking off all our stairs. Please don't call dcf on us, Megan rarely makes it up more than two steps without one of us, and she is never allowed anywhere near the tops of the steps without us. I wish I had more pictures to shre, but we've been crazy busy and just don't have a ton of recent ones.

Megan's first 4-wheeler ride. She loved it!

"What? I don't have anything in my mouth!"

Nathan's last day of school

Nathan's last day of school was Tuesday and they had a safari adventure party. The teachers had set up stuffed animals outside like zebras and giraffes for all the kids to find. They had also made them safari hats and binoculars. It was so cute, and the kids had a great time.

these glasses were one of the "prizes" Nathan picked after playing a game. He's such a goofball and he loves them!

here is a picture of Nathan from Emma's last day of school. I can't find the picture from his first day right now, but I will try tomorrow and then add it.

Emma graduates preschool

Tonight was Emma's preschool graduation. I tried really hard not to cry... I didn't make it through them walking in before the waterworks started. I'd like to blame it on my pregnancy hormones, but I would have cried anyway. She looked so grown up in her little cap and gown, and she's my first baby. Luckily I was not the only mom that cried. They sang some songs and then Miss Nancy handed out their littls diplomas. Then she made a little speech about what she loved about all the kids and she cried through the whole thing, so of course I teared up again. Afterward they had cake and ice cream and each kid got a dvd scrapbook of pictures from the whole year. I haven't watched that yet, but I'll probably cry again.
Onto the pictures:






and here is a picture from Emma's first day of school:

and here is a picture from today, Emma's last day of school. Look how much she has changed!

getting fat!

So I didn't really think I was getting any bigger yet. All my regular clothes still fit. It's not like I can get them on, but only if I'm laying down and not breathing. I still wear everything confortably. I guess part of the reason is my jeans were a little on the loose side, though they aren't tight yet, and I wear a lot of workout type pants with elastic waists. Anyway, I decided to try on my dress for Laura's wedding tonight just to be sure it still fit alright. Umm.... yeah, so I need it let out now. Crap! It is just fitted enough in the waist area that when I'm comfortable (not sucking it in), it get's that wrinkly look. It's not like I'm busting out of it, but you can tell it's tighter than it should be. Thankfully the dress has some awesome seams (yay for After Six designers), and hopefully can be let out enough for me. If not another bridesmaid had to order a little extra material and she should have plenty left over if I need it. The good news is I actually look kind of cute pregnant in the dress and not just like I've been eating too much pizza and ice cream, which I have been guilty of lately!

PS. I changed my look again, so all you google reader users come check it out!

Surprise

We're pregnant again! I know some of you are thinking to yourselves, "What are you nuts?"; and the answer is, yes we are. This baby is due December 16th, so our family will be getting an early Christmas present this year. We are both really excited. Sean of course is hoping for another boy just to even things out in the house, but I just want a healthy baby.

Here is a quick recap of our journey so far.
I had my first appointment on Tuesday April 15th, when I should have been just over 5 weeks pregnant. Dr. P did an ultrasound and said I wasn't measuring as far along as he thought I'd be based on dates. Since I was only a couple days behind he told me to come back in 3 weeks when the baby would be bigger and he could get an accurate measurment. He also gave me all the orders for standard blood tests and a ton of pregnancy magazines and prenatal vitamin samples. Since I was still nursing Megan I didn't need any new vitamins and even though I had Emma 5 years ago, all the magazines seem to give the same general advice.
The next week I started feeling awful. I am nauseous all day long, and completely exhausted no matter how much I sleep. The only thing I like about having these crappy symptoms is that symptoms like these are usually a sign of a halthy pregnancy. I know that sounds crazy, but even my doctor said that me feeling sick was a good sign.
Here is my first ultrasound picture at just barely 5 weeks pregnant:

I had my second appointment Tuesday May 6th, and that ultrasound showed the baby measuring 8 weeks exactly, which is where we thought I would be, giving me a due date of December 16th. That is still a couple days behind where the dates say I should be, but everything seems to be progressing normally, so I'm not too concerned right now. Dr. P asked me to come back in another 2-3 weeks for one more ultrasound just to double check one more time. He seems more cautious than normal this time, which does make me nervous, because he is normally so laid back, but I know if there was anything wrong he would definitely tell me. He is one of those "no news is good news" types and I like that. I know that would probably drive most people nuts, but with this kind of stuff, it works for me.
Here is my second ultrasound picture at 8 weeks pregnant:

I had my third appointment Monday May 19th, and had another ultrasound. This time the picture actually looks like a baby and not just a blob on the screen. I know it's horrible to call my child a blob, but that is really all it looks like. Now you can easily distinguish a head, and a body with arms and legs attached. We also saw the heartbeat again and Dr. P said everything looks great. He said I didn't need to come back for another 4 weeks, but he'll be on vacation that week, so I'll be going back for another appointment in 3 weeks. He also set my official due date as December 15th. I guess it's official because it's the date he finally put on my chart.
Here is the third ultrasound picture at 10 weeks:

my birthday

With my birthday quickly approaching Sean has been asking me what I want. Well, the conversation actually goes more like this:
Me: "so, what are you getting me for my birthday?"
Sean: "I don't know what do you want?"
Me: "I don't really need anything, so I don't know"
Sean: "Birthdays aren't about what you need they are about what you want"
Then I usually say I don't know, or I don't really need anything, so don't buy me anything. The truth is I really wouldn't care if Sean didn't get me anything for my birthday. I really just don't care about getting presents anymore, and as long as he aknowledges the special day and tells me Happy Birthday, or Happy Mother's Day, or whatever it is, I'm happy.
Tonight I actually thought of something I want, so I half-jokingly said I wanted to take a trip with no kids for my birthday. Sean said, "Me too, but why don't you give me an idea that is actually a real option?" But really I don't want anything else, so who wants to babysit the beasts, all 3 of them, for a WHOLE WEEKEND for us? You know you are all dying to volunteer!

Bad blogger

So I'm a bad blogger. Since my last post things have been busy, and they are just going to keep getting crazier as summer gets here.
April 25 & 26 was my friend Laura's bachelorette party. We had a lot of fun, and I wish I had some pictures, but I don't. Anyway, friday night we had a girls night at Lauren's, the maid of honor, apartment. Then Saturday we went to the noon cardinal game. That was a lot of fun, but pretty chilly because we were in the shade and at the very top and it was windy. Then Saturday night we went to dinner at Pietro's and rented a limo bus to go out to some bars. Because I'm old and lame, I only went to dinner and did not go out on the bus after until 3am, but I heard everyone had a great time, especially Laura.
We spent the next week and weekend trying to get the doors put up in our basement. This project is still not finished though. Partly because we are having to paint and cut down all the doors and door jambs, and partly because we have just been lasy and not forced ourselves to do it.
Then May 7 we headed to Cloud 9 for our first camping trip of the season. Sean's dad was down there as well and we all had a great time just relaxing and riding 4-wheelers all weekend. The weather actually turned out great and we only got rain at night and Saturday afternoon. Thank goodnees because I was not looking forward to being trapped in our camper with all the kids all weekend because of rain. I do have some pictures from the weekend as well as some pictures of the inside of the camper, I just haven't uplaoded them yet. Maybe I'll get to that today.
We came home Sunday evening and now I'm trying to get caught up on laundry and get our house put back together. It is a huge mess right now, and will probably remain that way for most of the summer since we have lots of trips already planned, and I'm sure we'll add some more.
Emma and Nathan will be finished with school next week. I'm a little sad about it since that means Emma is officially ready for kindergarten once she graduates from preschool. They are having a graduation ceremony for her class, and we bought her cap and gown and she looks so darn cute in it. We have already finished all Emma's registration stuff for school, and Emma passed all her screening tests just fine. They test for gross motor skills, and tested her hearing and vision, and then they also asked some logic type questions. My favorite answer from Emma was when the counselor asked, "If you walk into a room and it's dark, what should you do?" Obviuosly, they are looking for, "Turn on the light." But Emma's answer was, "Run back out!" For those of you that don't know, Emma is deathly afraid of the dark and Sean and I thought that answer was just hysterical. Another funny answer was when they asked Emma, "If you break something, what do you do?" Again, the obvious answer is "Fix it," but Emma said, "Say you're sorry." I told her that was a good answer because you should say sorry if you break something.
So that's why I haven't posted anything, and it's likely the posts will be scarce for a while. Although hopefully will all our travelling and vacationing I'll have a lot more pictures to post in the future.