Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Life in the fast lane

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind for me. We were so busy and to be honest with you, I was missing our day-to-day homeschool routine. Not that I have every minute of the day planned out, but there was a flow. With both of the kids participating in camps and VBS, we stayed extra busy. I have thoroughly enjoyed Monday and Tuesday of this week at home. Call me boring if you will, but I needed it!

Here are some of our happenings lately.
The kids are getting entirely too big. Tonight I reminisced through some old pictures from a couple of years ago and wow, the kids have grown so much. I couldn't help but smile when looking through them. What blessings they are.
Last week Jase went to VBS. He really enjoyed it. Everyday they had science, so he would come home and tell me what experiment they did that day. One day he told me "if I give you 3 pennies, you have to give me a quarter." Ha! He then disappeared up to his room and brought down a lego piece and his wallet and got a water bottle out of the fridge. He made a little scale and started putting money on each side and began balancing them. I loved watching him show me what he had learned and teaching me. He ended up putting 3 pennies on one side and a quarter on the other. Sure enough...they balanced. While they do not equal the same value in money (sorry Jase!), they do weigh the same. We both thought it was pretty neat. I loved hearing him sing about the Lord and learning new scripture to hide in his heart.
Saturday morning, a couple of close friends and I drove out to Alvin for a Ladies Fellowship. We shared life, listened to advice from experienced ladies and partook in a bible study together. It was a wonderful, relaxed time with like-minded sisters in Christ.
Before we left, we were shown how to make homemade bar soap. Can I tell you this is right up my alley?!?! I have made a few cleaners lately and am very much interested in natural products without all the chemicals.
Later that evening, we met up with great friends for some swimming and dinner. It was so nice to relax and visit while the kids played.
Sunday afternoon I took Ally to a birthday party at The Aquarium down in Kemah. Man, I have not been there in several years. I was taken back by how many restaurants and recreational activities they had. With all of the rides and games, I'm sure you can spend a pretty penny down there.
And this was Monday. Finn loves to look at pictures and videos on my phone and also take them! He is such a joy and is picking up on so many things. One more month until he is 2 years old!!
Like his older brother and sister, Finn loves books. He will bring me a book and start pointing to items he wants me to name. I know this time with him will pass all too soon, so I'm trying to soak it up as much as I can.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

20 Week Update & Ultrasound

Monday night I barely slept at all. I felt like a kid waking up on Christmas morning!! My 20 week ultrasound was scheduled for Tuesday morning. Not only was I excited to see what we were having, but I was also anxious to find out whether the baby was growing properly and that all the organs were normal.
The kids stayed the night at my sister's house, so Shawn and I went to the doctor appointment solo. It's not that I didn't want them to go, but this appointment can be very long with the ultrasound first and then a follow-up visit with my doctor. I think we ended up being there over 2 hours, and that could have possibly been disastrous with the little ones. Alisha sent me this video of the kids...they were telling me what they wanted: a boy or a girl. It is too cute!
We arrived at the appointment and I got changed into the latest fashion! Don't be jealous now!
During the scan, the baby was referred to as stubborn, wiggly, and feisty. I hope this is not a tell-tale sign of things to come!! It was actually a relief to hear how much the baby was moving, because to be honest I have not felt the baby a ton. Usually at night or when I wake up I can feel the baby, but that has been very recent. I know every pregnancy is different; however, with the other 3 I started to feel movement a couple weeks earlier and more often. Anyhow, it was nice to know that this baby is a shaker and a mover even though I am now feeling all the movements.
The doctor came in and checked all the measurements and organs to make sure all looked ok. He did not see anything that stood out in the ultrasound that would indicate that something was wrong. Praise God! For most of the ultrasound the baby was head down and face down as well. The technician had to go back and get additional pictures of the brain because the baby was hiding behind my pelvic bone. This is where the reference to stubborn came into play!

Ok, I know you're waiting for me to spill the beans already on what we are having! The technician was able to get a clear view of the gender!
It's a baby girl!! We were so excited to hear that our next little one would be a girl. A boy would have been just as great too, don't get me wrong. But I am excited that Allyson will have a little sister. The boys are 5 years apart and the girls will be 5 years apart as well. And besides the boy-girl-boy-girl pattern, there is another pattern as well. Before both Ally and this baby girl, I had a miscarriage just a few months before I conceived them. While those were times of sorrow and loss, I know that God's plans are higher than mine and I will praise Him in the valleys and on the mountain tops. God is good all the time, all the time God is good.

After the ultrasound I went into the boutique located in the building and had to take a picture with something girly!! So fun! 
Next, we headed upstairs for my normal monthly visit with my doctor. He is great. If you live in the Houston area and are in need of an OBGYN, I highly recommend Dr. Robert Anding with OGA. He is superb. My blood pressure was normal {125/62 I believe} which was good. The only concern my doctor had was that I had lost 3 lbs since last month. He said since I started this pregnancy at a moderate weight, that I needed to gain some weight, so he does not want to see this happen again next month. This was not on purpose, but we have cut out all the processed food, refined sugar, beans, and grains for the month of June and apparently I have some excess weight to trim {nah, not me!!}. I explained my eating to him and told him it was short term, but hope to keep most of these eating habits up the best I can, especially cutting out processed foods. He agreed that was a good idea. He then said that the guy who made the big push against gluten about 10 years ago has backed off of his claim recently. {And I was not eating grains because of the gluten, but because I've read that some people have trouble processing grains.} My doctor said that in the process of people cutting out gluten, that they cut out all the junk {processed, packaged food}, so at this point it is hard to pin-point if it was the gluten they cut out or the processed food. Good point. We are going to finish up our Whole30, but will probably add some grains back in our diet in July and see how we feel.

As far as the baby, all looked great. Her heart beat was 161 during the ultrasound and she currently weighs 11 ounces. She is measuring 19.9 weeks and I am currently 20.3 weeks. My due date is still 11/2/2014. The name. Well, we have discussed a few names, but it hasn't been a huge topic of discussion. A few weeks ago we had narrowed it down to a boy name and a girl name that we both liked. It it was a boy, his first name would be Lake. We both really liked it and it fit the outdoor theme with the rest of our boys and it was 4 letters. Ha! Not a prerequisite, but it worked. Since we are having a girl, we decided on Maebry {pronounced May-bree}. I came across this when I was pregnant with Finn and we both loved it then, so we saved it! And it's unique, we currently do not know another Maebry, but give it a year or so and I'm sure we will. We almost used Mae in Ally's name, but we opted for Kate, which I love as well. Mae was my Nana's middle name, who was so dear to me, so it is fitting. And for the middle name we decided on Leigh, which is my middle name. Finn Michael is named after Shawn and Maebry Leigh is after me. Can't wait until she is with us in four months or so!

Since the kids were not with us to find out, we decided to go ahead and tell them when I picked them up from my sister's house.
I was a little nervous about how Jase would respond since he was over the top on BOY, BOY, BOY! But he did great. And even later when we got home we talked about it and he is excited on the arrival on his baby sister. I think he told me something along the lines that he will definitely be the top boy now, the big brother! I just love him!

Friday, June 13, 2014

Summer fun has begun

This past week was a busy one! Summer has definitely begun for us! Jase started us off with baseball camp on Monday and it wrapped up on Thursday. He had a great time and learned some new pointers for the game as well.
Here are some video clips from camp, if you're interested! This one has two of his hits while scrimmaging.
Here he is practicing base running. The coaches were trying to get the boys to look to the right after touching the bag to see if the ball got passed the first baseman. That way they could head over to second if the situation permitted.
They finished off the week on Thursday with a little slip-n-slide action. 
Then on Tuesday, Allyson started up her Vacation Bible School, which ran the same time as Jase's baseball camp. She had such a fun time those three days learning and singing about the Lord.
Here are a short clip of two of the songs she learned words and motions for.
This basically sums up our week...exhausted. I went upstairs to check on Jase (and Shawn) and found Jase like this. He was passed out!
On Friday, Jase headed down south with his Grandma and Grandpa for a little cousin time. 
We decided to hit up the pool Friday evening. Both kids loved the water. Allyson practiced swimming on her and she didn't want to stop. Finn was fearless, which surprised me a little. I figured he would have been a little more hesitant, but nope, he was a go-getter!
The kids loved the water slide too!

Monday, June 9, 2014

Cowboy Randy's 1st Birthday

Saturday evening we headed over to Shawn's long time friend's home to celebrate his son's first birthday! It was a cute cowboy theme and you can really have fun with it!! 

The kids had a fun time playing with Randy! He was such a happy baby, so content.
Finn and Ally had fun playing with Randy's big sister, Reagan. She was too cute as well and the kids played well with her.
I had fun taking some selfies with my baby girl while relaxing in the backyard!
Daddy participated in some backyard fun too!
Randy digging into his cake below with his sister and parents standing by. Hard to believe that I remember Finn's 1st birthday like it was yesterday and now we are preparing for his 2nd birthday. Such a reminder to soak in all the time I can with them because it just flies by!
The birthday boy was too cute while eating his cake. He would take a bite and then say "mmmm". It was the sweetest!

Sam Houston Boat Tour

Last Wednesday, Shawn's parents took me and the kiddos on a tour of the Ship Channel. The boat tour is free, but you must preregister 24 hours in advance. I hear that they fill up pretty quick over the summer. You can find more information HERE and also register there as well.

Before getting on the boat, we stopped at this cool mosaic wall for pictures!
We boarded the ship and set sail. It was neat to see the Ship Channel from this perspective. I think the tour would have been a little more intriguing if they would have shared more facts about what we were passing. A few facts were given, but not many at all. 
The tour is 90 minutes long, so be prepared for that if you go. I had no idea it was that long and was not prepared with 3 young ones. I did read that large purses or backpacks were not allowed on the boat and mine is certainly that, so I left mine. Of course, once I got on there were bags as big as mine. I would have packed snacks had I known. Oh well. We had a nice morning and afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa.

My three blessings right here! Love them!

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

I survived

I'm 18 weeks pregnant now, almost half way done...that is crazy! So for the past 18+ weeks I have not been all that active. I am not a couch potato by any means, but I have not been regularly exercising. I know, I know some people run marathons at 38 weeks pregnant...c'mon let's not judge! Ha! 

With all that said we ventured out Sunday evening after dinner for a little family stroll. We headed to a nearby hiking trail to get some exercise. Now that I actually have some extra energy, it's probably time to get moving. Plus, we have some outdoor vacations planned this summer and I need to be ready for them.
Yes, she brought her purse...a true girly-girl at heart!

My sweet little family. They just make me smile! Allyson had to get off the trail to pick dandelions! And my boys are getting too big. They both got hair cuts last week and I think they look great on them!
I can still see my feet, so that's a good thing! My belly has really popped out this past month. Definitely feeling and looking pregnant at this point.
So I thought we'd get out and stretch our legs for a bit, let the kids run, but come to find out I was not in control of this walk (aka hike!). A ways into the hike I said "don't forget we have to go back" and Shawn responded with "ahh, just a little bit farther!" And farther we walked. By the time we got back to the car we had walked 2 miles! I was beat. I seriously think I hit the couch when we got home and did not get up until bed time! Not kidding. Shawn bathed and put the kids to sleep that night. Thanks honey! I am actually feeling a bit tired just thinking about it! Haha!! While I definitely need to start exercising more on a regular basis, I think I over did it for the first outing. Now that our activities with the kids have died down, I'm looking forward to more family walks in the evenings.

Oh and I want to mention that June 1st marked our first day on Whole30 again. The kids are even doing it with us this time. If we're at home, then they'll be eating whole foods right along with us. An exception to this go round is that me and the kids will have some dairy {greek yogurt and cheese}. 3 days in and it hasn't been bad at all. I will say that we are going through fruit pretty quick, but I'd rather them be eating that up than boxed, processed snacks. Anyhow, I'm excited to be doing it again. Here's to exercise and eating healthy! {C'mon, raise your glass of water with me!}

Dance Recital 2014

As the school year has come to a close, so has dance. While it has been a busy spring, it has been a memorable one.

About 2 weeks ago she had dress rehearsal and dance pictures. Sweet girl was all dressed up and ready to go!
While the recital was at noon, we had to get going pretty early that morning. I'm not going to lie...her bun gave me a run for my money. I don't think I've ever been so flustered over fixing her hair. My hair, probably so, but not her's. So glad I got it pinned back nice and neat. Oh and we will be working on simple commands this summer, such as "look up, look down, hold still." That was somewhat problematic while getting ready.
And now, it's show time!! Thankful my father-in-law brought a real camera to the performance to capture her dance. She did a great job and we are super proud of her!
Finn was showing Uncle JoJo the ball he found. Of course! If there is a ball in sight...he will find it!
Great job, Allyson! Congratulations on another successful season of dance. Until next year...

And since this post is about Ally, I'll going ahead and share that I posted the video of her doing sign language to "You are so beautiful" during her preschool end of year performance. It is super cute and totally worth the couple of minutes to check it out, but I'm not partial at all! You can find it in THIS POST about half way down.