The Happenings.

1. I've felt the baby move for about a week now. Seems crazy, but definitely true... at least a few times a day.

2. Carter has many new words all of a sudden, and is repeating his brothers frequently. His latest word is "downstairs," but that may change by tomorrow. He loves to go downstairs to play with his brothers like a big boy.

3. Caden and Carson have been playing soccer like crazy lately. That could possibly be because Carson started practicing with his very first soccer team this week. He is #4. He picked his own number. I wonder if he'll keep it or if he'll want to switch to #5 next year. :)

4. When they are not playing soccer, they are playing pirates in full costume, and Carson makes Caden walk the plank (a lawn chair). SO FUNNY!! Especially because Caden LOVES it.

5. Our 7 Year Anniversary is next Monday. Is it possible we've been married that long? Sometimes it feels like we've been married WAY longer since we dated for nearly 5 years. In others, it has absolutely flown. But I suppose it's good we've been married for a good while since #4 is on it's way. :) It's been an awfully fun and adventurous 7 years, that's for sure! :) We rarely have a dull moment around here! HA! :)

6. 12 days until our (me and Cary's) trip to the Bahamas. IT CANNOT GET HERE FAST ENOUGH!!!!! :) I'm super excited. It's all I can do to keep myself from packing now. :) I've already picked out a solid list of books to read on the sand while sipping a cool drink.

10 Weeks

We're 10 weeks now, and I'm beginning to feel at least a bit of relief from first trimester woes.... read puke-iness.... This pregnancy has kind of hit me like a ton of bricks in comparison with my others....it's much more similar to my first trimester with Carson. That being said, it doesn't really make me very hopeful for a girl, because all of my pregnancies have been easy, but very different in regard to symptoms. I have a theory though, and it's that I feel more symptoms based on how long it's been since my body has experienced pregnancy hormones. This is our biggest gap, and it has left me much more puke-y feeling and much more tired than I was with either Caden or Carter. Thankfully, Cary has been super understanding! :) I do feel like it's letting up a little... at least I've had a few okay days this week, and that is an improvement!

We saw the doc last week, and had an ultrasound. We're measuring right on target, and the heartbeat was strong, and we could see both the yolk sack and the umbilical cord, which they said was a fantastic sign that all is well. We're officially due on October 20 (crazy that we will have a new baby before Christmas!). Because I stopped producing amniotic fluid towards the end with Carter, they will start monitoring me for that around 34-35 weeks or so...evidently that can happen again, which I didn't know... Also, because my labors get increasingly faster, it is likely that I will have an induction scheduled around 39 weeks, and I'm great with that... don't want to be on the evening news after all. :) We don't go back in until 16 weeks (that's the norm around here for uneventful pregnancies...always seems long to me) and I think everything will fly by from that point!

Here's one of the ultrasound pics (taken of the original with my iphone). The baby is head down. If you look super close, there is a faint ring above the head, which is the yolk sack, and a squiggly line around the bottom and feet which is the umbilical cord.

There IS a Reason

why I waited so long to post these pictures from Caden's 3rd Birthday Party.... Can you figure it out?

The party was at a place called My Gym. It was so much fun, and Caden was very funny in that he was trying to act super cool and unfazed when the attention was on him...which is totally out of character for him. All of the kiddos had such a fun time.

Lots of playing pics here...but pay attention! :)





















They gave us a chance to take pics of all the kids together... ha!




Did you see the reason?

Happy 3rd Birthday to My Sweet Fruit Cake!!

I love you so, and am so very thankful for you, my fun-loving, energetic, sweet boy!!!

Party pics to come!

String of Thoughts

Carter is a busy boy. And he thinks he's funny. He is funny. A crack up...yet all in body language and expression. He's a boy of few words so far, yet he has major comprehension. He handed me the tv remote this morning with one battery that he'd pulled out. I asked him where the other one was and told him to go get it. He grinned at me, walked away, and then came back with the battery. Funny kid. He does say a few words here and there, just not tons. He started walking (how bad is it that I never recorded this...) at about 15 1/2 months. I am still so thankful that I was kind of getting around before he was on his feet! Although he still toddles a bit, he is all over the place and even races the house with his brothers. As of this moment, he is working on 4 molars and all of his eye teeth. 2 of the molars have started to break the skin. It's made him crabby at times, but he is so much happier than I think I would be in that situation! He is just SUCH a laid back boy. Love him so.

Caden seems as old as Carson these days... aside from the education side maybe. Seriously, they seem so close in age. They are always up to something and acting out some sort of elaborate story...though he still loves sleeping and nap time and all that involves cuddling and holding on to whoever is closest. He's the sweetest cuddle-bug. Right now Carson and Caden are having a "concert" in Carson's room.

Carson keeps asking when he and Caden can have bunk beds... I don't know if this will happen or not... I suppose it depends on where we live when the next baby comes along... speaking of which, we actually made it past our goal of distance between children for once!! WOOT! :) Don't hyperventilate... I'm not announcing anything... but it's been the topic of conversation for Carson lately... that and "when I'm married..." conversations. That boy is a romantic all the way. Today when he asked me about the bunk beds, I asked him if he wanted us to have another baby, and he immediately said yes. I asked if he wanted a brother or sister, and he said both. You want twins? I asked him, and he said yep! That would be AWESOME! (Hear that, Daddy??) Then he proceeded to tell me, "When I'm married, I'm gonna have twins TWICE! Boys and girls." Way to plan that out, buddy. The other day, he said, "Mommy, when I'm married, will you teach me how to drive?" I suppose if he wants to wait to drive until he's 30 (because that's when he's getting married), that would be fine with me! :) He also told me that when he gets married, I can come visit him at his house. Nice to know.

I Heart Faces, Week 2: Photo Challenge - “Best Face Phot

I heart faces is having a birthday! (YAY!) Which means all kinds of fantastic gifts for their fans. :) For this month, their photo challenges are all around the "best face" theme, and this little face is my favorite this week. This little guy, and his adorable brothers brighten my life. :)



Anyway, for those of you who know me, you'll know I truly heart faces.... and I love visiting and being a part of iheartfaces.com, so swing on over there and check out some other participants best faces and enter your own if you're so inclined! It's a great place to be! :)

A Christmas Update

Picture Overload Coming. :)

We had Christmas at home this year because of my accident. We had originally planned to spend the holidays with some of Cary's family in Houston, but since I'm really just now walking on my own (albeit still in a walking boot), it just wasn't in the cards. We missed getting to see everyone, but it was nice to be home. That hasn't happened very often for Christmas. We had a Christmas Eve service at our church, and spent Christmas Eve evening at our house. It was laid back, and normal, and I loved it! :) My favorite part of Christmas was having the boys wake up here to have Christmas at our house and breakfast together. The boys had more presents than they knew what to do with, I think, but Carson and Caden kept up with it all and were super excited over everything they opened. It didn't matter if it was an awesome new toy or underpants, they were thrilled! :) Carter was just happy to be here. He opened a few things and messed with the toys in their packages and drank his milk, while everything happened around him. :) After that, we went to my Mom and Dad's for lunch/brunch and had Christmas with them. Then that evening we went to Grandma Lola's house for Christmas with my Dad's side of the family. It was a great day, and we were pooped by the end! :) This morning, Carson wanted to know if it was going to be Christmas tomorrow. I told him that Christmas was over, but that it would come again next year, and he got so excited! It's good to know that it made an impression. :)

Now for pictures...

Discovering stockings... Carson and Caden's super cool pjs are from DeeDee & Papa Tom....they even have capes!






Both of the boys got new underpants in their stockings, and Caden has since potty trained himself! Woo-hoo!!! :)


I love this tid *(Caden doesn't say the hard C sound at the beginning of words...so anything starting with a hard C is said with a T... Tarson, Taden and Tarter.... )



Carson with his juggling set.


like I said... this kid can CHUG his milk!


Checking out the new car collection:


See how excited Caden is??? This is approach to life! I hope he never changes. :)


Superman!!


Na-na na-na na-na na-na Batman!!


So, if any of you blog friends have boys, these playskool *I believe* helmet toys are the coolest! The boys love them, and they are by far the favorite new thing at our house... tied only with the super cool costumes they received from DeeDee & Papa Tom as well... seriously, coolest costumes.... I'll have to remember to pull out my camera when the boys are in one of their many get-ups. :)








Carter already has his cheesy camera grin down.... I didn't even ask him to smile, silly boy. :)


"hugs for brothers!" - this usually ends with them hugging each other so tightly that they fall over, at which time the wrestling match begins.


Once again, cheesy grin....




This is my brother and his girlfriend, Lo (Lauren)...isn't she a doll???




Dad & Carson...


Hope you all had a merry Christmas too, and that you are enjoying January!! It is FRIGID here!!! Like crazy cold. I'm SO ready for a normal Colorado winter...this is NOT it. :)

New Years Eve

We've had such a wonderful Christmas and holiday season! We are so incredibly blessed. It has been awesome spending time with my family while my siblings are here, although we miss our family that we couldn't be with this year. We've had an awesome 2009...the best year yet, I think, even in spite of my accident. God is always sufficient. I have lots of pictures from Christmas that I need to share, but I have yet to pull them off of my camera, so until then, this one will have to suffice, and I suppose it's fitting. :) It is from the back of our Christmas card this year. I hope you all have lots of fun ringing in the new year tonight!

From Our Family to Yours,

Christmas is coming....

And I am SO not ready!! In fact, I haven't really purchased any of the gifts on my list, give or take an odd thing I've picked up here and there. SO BAD! I know it's because I can't drive, and am dependent on Cary to get around that I have yet to even begin, but it is driving me crazy! So, tomorrow, we begin...and I plan to finish too! Then, I will wrap my heart out, probably just in time for the wrapping paper to be removed. I'm so thankful for Christmas gifts that arrived this week from Cary's family so our tree could serve it's purpose. :) It's allowed it to really feel like Christmas around here, in spite of my lack of preparation. In light of all of the holiday-ness, or lack there of... I am ever grateful for my life, and my boys, Cary especially....for the blessing of salvation and a life worth living that Jesus provided for us. I'm so blessed to have our family surrounding us, and so lucky to share the abounding blessing in Jesus with our boys. This year especially, even with my remaining gimpy-ness, I am aware of my thankfulness.

My brother and sister (and my brother's gorgeous and sweet girlfriend) arrive tomorrow, and I can't wait to spend the week with them! It will be so nice! We have many Christmas celebrations in store, so I know this week will fly, but I plan on treasuring every minute! Okay, off to bed for me, and it's far too late, but because a post is always better with a picture, here is a sweet quiet moment (they don't show up very frequently!) of Caden from Christmas pictures I took with the boys yesterday for our cards. I know...last minute like everything else this year. :)