Happy Birthday Mason!

My sweet, handsome boy Mason turned 4 today.

As he was sassing off today while I directed him to time out, I have to admit, this day didn't seem any more special than yesterday. But then at the very end of the day when I was kissed him goodnight, I remembered the emotions of gratitude and joy that I felt when I finally got that positive pregnancy test. YES, FINALLY! Whoa, WHAT?!

4 things I love about Mace:

-He is so shy and very sensitive. Totally like his mamma in that regard! While we are working on helping him better assert his needs, he is one of the most thoughtful and sweetest kids I've ever met.

-He checks and rechecks all the facts. "Mom, we live in Texas? Not Utah, but Texas? Grandpa lives in Florida? But we don't b/c we live in Texas?" It can be wearing but he is turning out to be one smart kid!

-He is so inquisitive and his questions are hilarious. "Why did Jesus give us 2 legs?" "Why do bums have a line in them?" "Mom, is it time to pump?" (Yep, talking about breast pumping...fun stuff!)

-He finds everything funny. We often call him "drunken sailor" because he will laugh so hard that his head is bobbing and he is stumbling all around...hence, drunken sailor. During his 1st soccer practice, he found the drills to be so hilarious that he was running up and down the field, stumbling around and in the paths of others b/c he was laughing so hard. Oh, and he was the only one laughing.

Mason is such a special boy and has brought so much joy to our lives. While I absolutely adore him, he absolutely adores Joe. Everyday, Samuel wants to be something different when he grows up. Mason's answer is always the same "I want to work with Daddy and fix teeth". One day I asked him what made daddy so much cooler than mommy, and he said quite simply "Daddy is a superhero. He is strong and I want to be like him." Well then.

Thank you Heavenly Father for blessing us with this beautiful, amazing little boy.

Woah, what a month!

So here are some quick pictures of my sweet, sweet Stella. Since my last post, it seems like things have never slowed down for us. Let's see, where to begin?

1. When the jaundice finally went down to low risk levels (took a month) Stella then caught RSV at 4 weeks. Holy cow, to hear your newborn wheez and cough like a smoker is horrendous. Although her oxygen levels were borderline, she responded really, really well to breathing treatments so she never had to be hospitalized. In that way we were lucky...but the breathing treatments, dr. appointments, trying to keep her hydrated, pumping b/c she wasn't eating, plus dealing with the boys meant a crazy, sleepless couple of weeks.

2. I love, love, love my Samuel but boy has has he become difficult as of late! While we were dealing with Stella, all of a sudden I began to get poor behavioral reports from everyone...speech therapy, preschool, sunday school, and friends who watched him while I drove Stella around to her appointments. Apparently it's his way or the highway these days and he doesn't want to follow directions. He's gotten into trouble in the past, but not from everyone all at once!! It's become evident that I am on a verge of a nervous breakdown...bursting into tears as his preschool director pulls me aside for a mini-conference to discuss his behavior. We are still wondering what to do next. Any ideas?

3. Mason broke his collarbone. Is it possible to catch a break???!! It's my fault. He begged me to take the rail off his bed to a be a big boy like Samuel. I initally said no and then looked into his beautiful big, brown eyes filled with tears. I am such a sucker and said yes. Well what happens? At 5 am, we hear screaming. He had rolled off his bed in his sleep, landed on his shoulder JUST right (of course) to break his collarbone. Great, another ER bill coming our way. He now has to wear this figure 8 type harnes around his shoulders for 4 weeks.

I apologize my writing is all choppy...I'm trying to hold Stella while I blog. This little girl does not like to put down at all. Nor take a bottle. We took a break from the bottle for only a few weeks and now she is completely opposed to it! She is totally attached to me in the daytime, but I can't complain because she is almost sleeping through the night already!

Alright! Phew...enough venting! I do realize there are still many things to be grateful for but I'm just looking for things to slow down and to normalize a little.

Early Surprise!

Welcome Stella SuzAnne Whitesides who came to us 4 weeks early:
6 lbs. 3oz. 19 1/4 inchesSo here's the labor and delivery story. People are right when they say every experience is different! It all started before we left to go visit the Rigby's in Austin for the weekend. Literally, right before I got in the car, I found out that I had some spotting. After talking to the nurse and researching the internet with Kristen it was decided that I lost my mucuos plug (I know, sounds gross and is) and that labor could still be weeks away. I decide to go the 3 hr. trip. That night, I had painful contractions that were consistently 7 minutes apart for an hour and I was about to die. Not from pain but from fear that I was going to give birth in Austin, away from home and our hospital! I prayed like I never prayed before and they went away that night. So that was Friday night. We had a blast with the Rigby's over the weekend and came back on Sunday. The painful contractions were still coming, but not consistently. Monday morning, I had heavy bleeding and decided to go to my OB who found that I was dialated at a 5. I was having contractions 10 minutes apart so they checked me into the hospital right then. They stopped again and after several hours of waiting and watching, my OB decided to send me home hoping that we could keep the baby in longer. This was my wakeup call and when I got home, I was in a "nesting" frenzy trying to get everything that I had put off into order before I really went into labor...hospital bag, laundry for baby, clean house, etc. Made back-up arrangements for the boys and so forth. At about 2ish, I started to have contractions again but waited almost 2 hrs. to make sure it was the real thing this time! I called my dear friend Jayne and she came over to stay with the boys and we headed over to the hospital! It was smooth sailing from there...labor progressed quickly, got my epidural and had Stella at 9:30 that morning. Coming home from the hospital. As you can tell, I'm a little excited to have a girl...there's lot's of pink in our house right now!

To help us survive this unexpected early arrival, we had help from so many amazing friends. I had it planned so that Joe's mom would be here 2 weeks prior to my due date so that the boys would be covered should I go into labor a little early. Obviously that wasn't early enough so thank goodness I have some amazing friends we were able to count on. I just wanted to give a special thanks to: *Jayne Klingler for coming over to my house at 4AM...4 AM! to stay with the boys and get them ready for preschool when I went into labor. *Kristen Rigby for driving up from AUSTIN to watch the boys all day on Wednesday while I was at the hospital and Joe was at work. And then, thanks to my sweet dad who left his obligations back home to fly out last minute and help me with the boys while I adjusted to having a new baby at home. The past 12 days of Stella's life has been a whirlwind. Although she was born a healthy size for being "near term", she's lost more than 10 % of her birthweight and has since struggled to regain some of that weight. She has also struggled with jaundice...she was under lights for a weekend, the biliruben count went down and has since rebounded up and is now staying level not going back down. I've taken her to the doctor's every other day to check her count and weight and to test for several things to see why her body is not taking care of the biliruben on it's own. I guess the hardest part of this whole thing is trying to force her to eat every 2-3 hrs. I nurse, supplement with formula for the jaundice, and then pump. By the time I'm done with that, it's time to start all over again!!
Well, hopefully on Monday we'll have good news and I can just relax and get more rest at night! Waking her up so often is starting to catch up on me and my poor boys are starting to notice how grouchy I am. Whatever the case, she's totally worth it and I am loving having a little peanut around again.

Curious about the baby...

Here are just a few of the conversations I've had with the boys that have stuck out in my mind. Of course Joe was no where near at these times so I couldn't just send them over to him. He's much better at improvising than me.

Samuel points to my boobs and says "Mommy, are you growing babies in there too?"
Me: "No honey, that's just part of my chest"
Next day...
Samuel points to my boobs and says "Mommy, are those the baby's feet?"
Me: "Honey, mommy already told you that these are part of my chest."
Samuel: "But they're getting bigger, like your tummy!"

Samuel: "Mommy, how will the baby come out of you? Your mouth?"
Me: "Yep. Hey, show me that picture you made at school today!"

Mason: "Will baby sister have a ding dong?"
Me: "Do girls have ding dongs?"
Mason: "No"
Me: "Then no, she will not have one b/c she's a girl"
Mason: "Aww, how sad."

Samuel: "Mommy, your tummy is getting so big!"
Me: "Umm, thanks hon. That's a good thing b/c that means the baby is growing."
Samuel: "How much BIGGER can she get? Geez."

Mason: "Mommy I can't see! Your big tummy is in my way!" (Apparently I was walking in
front of the TV at the moment)
Me: "Excuse me! Try again Mason."
Mason: "Sorry. Mommy, move your big tummy please"

Finally, last but not least:
Samuel: "Mommy, but how did the baby get in there?"
Me: my mouth opens but nothing comes out.

Ahh, the curiousities of toddlers. Very entertaining for sure. My self-esteem has never been better as they remind me that I am getting bigger almost everyday. Kids are much more observant than I've given them credit for. The best is that I am now referred to as a penguin (started by Joe, thanks a lot) since I am already waddling. Yep those, varicose veins are killer.
Hope everyone had a great holiday and will post pictures of ours soon!

Thanksgiving!

Before Christmas arrives, I thought I'd put up the Thanksgiving pictures first since we had such an amazing time with Joe's parents who came to visit. 1st, here are some fall pictures we took of the boys.

Here's babybump at 24 weeks. I am now 28 weeks and in that month my tummy has turned into a bowling ball that sticks far out and very low. I would definitely not post a picture of myself at this point...not so cute!

The boys had a blast when Tom and Suzy came to visit. On Thanksgiving, grandma engaged in the boys in a "turkey hunt" and "Pilgrams & Indians" game. We also saw Santa, visited the Ice show at Gaylord Palms, visited the zoo, and did some shopping.

I must make a note of our black Friday shopping early, early at Walmart. Joe and I went for the first time and it was CRAZY! I witnessed people turn into animals once the pallets were open...people trying to rip things out of our hands, etc. I had to guard my cart with my life! Anyways, we went for the $25 Leapsters and were lucky to score those, plus everything else on our list, but will we attempt it again next year? I'm not so sure!

While Suzy and I had some girl fun shopping, Joe and Tom took on the task of putting up the lights. Here's Tom anxiously telling Joe to get off the roof.

Here are the festive end results! Good job!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

October Fun!

Get ready for the overload of pictures. We wore ourselves out every weekend this October because the weather was fabulous!
-Of course we hit the pumpkin patches...altogether 4 times!

Every year Mason tries to lift a big pumpkin and is surprised it's too heavy. Always following the surprise is the frustration (meaning, mini tantrum)

So Joe puts Samuel on top of the maze next to the sign that says "No standing on the maze". He took him right off after I threatened that Samuel could fall and lose another tooth. No, not that!

-We went to the circus and during intermission the kids had an elephant ride. $8 per kid for 15 seconds...ouch. But how often do you get to ride an elephant?? We're such suckers I know.

-Boo at the Zoo 2 times: Our zoo is awesome here and they throw a pretty fun Halloween event. Samuel dressed as Peter Pan and Mason as Captain Hook. I thought Samuel looked pretty Shakespearean in this picture!

They played carnival games, danced with the witches, and marched in a costume parade. -We went to 6 flags twice this month. No pictures but we had so much fun! Samuel sang karoke "I want Candy" on stage (by himself!) and they both participated in the costume parade. They just wore their superman capes to the park and looked pretty funny among all the real costumes, but Samuel's dance on stage totally made up for it!

-Here we carved pumpkins with our neighbors next doors. The adults were more into it than the kids, but still fun!

-Ward trunk or treat: Samuel and Mason in their real costumes as Captain Hook and Captain Jack Sparrow. We had Samuel watch Pirates of the Carribean with us so he could become familiar with his costume and he loved it. Anything pirate is his thing!

Aren't Samuel's dreadlocks killer? Thanks again mom for the costumes! -Finally, trick or treating in our neighborhood. We went with our neighbors and the kids had a blast. I love how everyone, adults included, really get into Halloween here!

Joe and I dressed up to be the prisoners of our pirates. Then Joe took it further and said that truly we are prisoners of our kids everyday. Samuel is saying...no time for Halo tonight dad, you have to wake up early with us tommorrow morning!

Phew! That was our October. We literally did 2-3 major activities every weekend. We even suffered the flu this month! I just love the fall! My favorite time of the year by far. Any fun ideas for November?

It's a GIRL!

Yep, for those who didn't know, I am pregnant...with a GIRL!!! Holla! Our Vegas trip was a major success :) I was trying to find a more creative way to break the news but as weeks continued to pass I decided to just announce the news before I delivered a 3rd child without having told all my friends.

So, here are the facts: 20 weeks along, due March 17th (St. Patrick's day everyone tells me), a GIRL (did I mention that?), and my worst pregnancy to date.

I shouldn't say that since the baby has been strong and healthy so far, but my have I suffered this time around!! It's gotten a lot better but even at 20 weeks I'm still losing my meals here and there. I'm anemic so I lay around all the time with no energy and I've got painful varicose veins. Yep, just got my presciption for my compression hose...lovely huh? My next door neighbor is due the week after me and she is having the time of her life being pregnant. No nasuea, no veins, and full of energy as she zips back and forth to the gym.

Oh well. However miserable I have been, I cannot forget what a blessing this pregnancy is. It was a year ago that they found a tumor in my uterus. And now I'm arguing over girl names with Joe! (He's so opinionated at the wrong times!) Anyways, Trapnells...we're going to have to postpone our plans for a cruise dangit. One day when we're 50 I'm sure we can coordinate our lives and go!

Here's a picture of my cute boys. More to come!