Funny Wedding Story

This is the funniest wedding story I've read in a long long time. Check it out here.

In Honor of

our future SON....we have turned the blog background to Blue...for BOY.

Yep...that's right. My sweet and patient husband will now have a boy to throw balls at, teach to shave, wrestle with, and do other "manly" pursuits. Not that he couldn't do some of that with the girls (honestly...I'd LOVE to watch him teach the girls to shave their legs as teenagers, haha!)

Our ultrasound this morning went great. We did not get many pictures, just a few, and they would not give us a picture proving he's a boy. The ultrasound was not as intimate as I'm used to (in the past, my ob dr. office did it, but since I'm using a midwife from the very beginning, I didn't get any ultrasounds with them and we had to go to a radiology center with someone we didn't know), and with Hannah we got a 4-D ultrasound. This one was very basic, she showed us a bit of what she was measuring, a few profile pictures and that was it. However, almost immediately we saw it was a "Him" (very clearly by the way, he was in the perfect position) and after that, I don't think we paid much attention to the rest of the ultrasound.

So...here we go. 2 girls, 1 boy, 1 bedroom. It'll work for a few years anyway. Now...I've got to get rid of some pink and purple and bring in the blue.

I'm pretty sure Jeremy will be going shopping tonight for some baseballs and jerseys, hahaha

Just a few more hours to vote....

What do you think? Boy or Girl?

Hopefully we'll know soon....

It's never boring

or at least...if it starts to get boring, it won't be for long. Life always changes. I guess that's a good thing. It's fluid, constantly moving. It's never the same for very long. And, one of the best ways to see and be a part of the fluidity (is that a word?) of life is when you have small children. Just when you think you have a routine or a schedule, it changes.

It seems change is in the air for us. For the past week, Hannah has been screaming at her morning nap time, not the norm for her. She usually submits to her morning nap quite well,
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l
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in fact, into her crib with her blankie and stuffed dog. However, lately, she has been rebelling and will literally scream the entire nap if I let her. Now I'm not a mom who's afraid to let my babies cry. But, clearly, this screaming is signal that morning naps are quickly coming to an end.

So...why is this such a big deal? Why would I be writing a blog post about it. Well, it is a big deal to me for a few reasons...

1. Generally I can't go anywhere or do anything unless it's of great importance before 10 or 10:30 am (the usual time for Hannah to be awaking from her morning nap). So now...with no nap coming soon, this greatly frees up my schedule and morning routine. This is a positive I believe.

2. However the, sort of, negative...Hannah's morning nap has become a special time between Nicole and I. I truly look forward to it every day. We usually spend a few minutes cleaning up breakfast, making my bed and getting dressed. Then, this is when our "learning time" takes place. We spend 30 minutes or so practicing sounds, coloring, gluing, cutting and any other sort of fun activities that Hannah can't really participate in yet. I am jealous of this time and try to let very few things stand in the way of my short time with Nicole all by herself each day. We usually pick out the longer books to read and play games and put together puzzles. Obviously I can do those things when Hannah is awake, but my attention is split (and generally Hannah destroys our puzzle or games, which of course upsets Nicole). So...I'm a little bummed that Hannah will not be sleeping anymore in the morning to give Nicole and I some quiet time together.

3. I'm a little nervous about entertaining both of them through lunch time. It'll be a transition that may not always be easy, but I think it's time. I need to remember what sort of activites I did with Nicole when she was Hannah's age. I sure wish I would have kept better notes.

On a different note, here are a few pictures from today.


Hannah, looking cute

Nicole wrapped her doggies all up and cuddled up with them in the bean bag chair. Notice the bruise on her right cheek? She fell down going up the wrong side of the slide at church on Saturday night. She likes to tell the story and reinact it. She's fine though...she hasn't complained one time about it. I bet she won't do that again! haha

Today we did our (or at least my) favorite outdoor activity. I put up a cheap towel on our fence and filled three water bottles with paint and water. Then Nicole can "spray paint" the towel.

Hannah got in on the action too (this was after she screamed for 20 minutes in her crib). We cut up some sponges and she sponge painted the towel (or her face) since she can't do the spray bottles yet.

We had to run in and out of little rain showers. Finally, we gave in, and just stayed and tried to play during a 5 minutes shower. Nicole was freaked out at first, then had fun, the freaked out again. I was hoping to spend all morning outside, but we were back inside by 10:45 :-( maybe next time.

Pretty pretty pictures

We finally...after 2 years made it back to a professional photographer. This was Hannah's first experience (she wasn't impressed by the way, which is why there aren't many pictures of her). My friend Teri told me about Picture Innovations and I definitely liked them better than Wal-mart. However, if any friends of mine are able to afford the most amazing photographer in the world, then you should check out my very good friend Ashley. She does babies, families, weddings, engagements, senior photos and whatever you want. She is superb!!!! However, that wasn't in the budget, so we had to opt for a less personal more general approach. Maybe one day we can get some super cool pictures from Ashley.

Anyway here are some of my favorites from Friday for you viewing pleasure. Most of you will get a wallet in the mail sometime soon. Enjoy.

Morning Pictures

Hannah is at a really silly age right now. I remember when Nicole was doing a lot of the same things. Putting on as many jewels and accessories as possible and being incredibly proud of all her decorations. It's adorable.

Hannah looked like a gypsie today. She had her cute little shirt on, no skirt, just a diaper, one shoe, a zillion necklaces and a goofy grin. At one point she also had on a pair of sunglasses, but I think they got put away before I got the camera out.





Of course, adorable Nicki wanted in on the photography action.

I love mornings with them. It's the best time of the day as far as I'm concerned.

Coming Soon....

A week from today we'll find out if we are having a boy or a girl:-) I put up a poll....what do you think? Pink or Blue?

FUN night of Couponing

Publix
I had to go to Publix last night after our Clipper Chicks meeting because I didn't realize we were out of whole milk for Hannah AND there is a Fantastic deal on kids yogurt (read FREE!!!)

Here's my bill
2 Organic Valley whole milk 2/$7.00
4 Danonino Yogurt $2.00/1 and BOGO
4 Dannon Danimals $2.00/1 and BOGO
Turkey Pepperoni (needed for dinner)
Sub total $27.67

Coupons used
$1/2 any organic valley product
4 $1/1 Danonino yogurt (found in new Publix coupon book)
4 $1/1 Danimals yogurt (found in new Publix coupons book
$.55/1 pepperoni Q

Grand total $8.45 (almost a 72% savings)
By matching the Dannon Qs with a BOGO sale I got those yogurts for Free. Normall it would have cost me $16.00 JUST for the yogurt:-) Yipee!!!


CVS
Last night after our Clipper Chicks meeting, we headed to CVS. I already did most of my CVS deals on Sunday...but Teri found another GREAT deal that I had to do. Plus...I really needed Tide and there were 3ecb on it. Here's what I got.




4 Always Infinity (regular price $10.29) Sale $4.99/1
1 large bottle of Tide 12.99

Coupons used
4 $4/1 Always Infinity
1 $.35/1 Tide
Subtotal $17.59
Paid with 12 ecb and 5 ecb
Total out of pocket..... $0.59
And 3 ecb back:-)

If those Always Infinity weren't on sale (unadvertised by the way) the four of those alone would have been $41.96.

Camp Out

How do you camp out in hot, humid, bug infested Florida in the summer? Indoors of course. I used to love making tents in the living room when I was growing up. So, since the sheets were out today from our college night girls sleep over last night, Nicole Hannah and I decided to make a tent.

We read books under it, did puzzles, and even ate lunch. Nicole is trying to take her nap under the tent (although, if she doesn't fall asleep soon...I'll have to move her:-) Here are some fun photos.

The nap time tent...darkened a bit from the sun.

Nicole, getting ready for her nap

The girls playing under the tent before lunch time.

Oh...I have a funny story to share. Last night I had a bunch of girls over for a college group sleepover. There were 12 or so, and 6 spent the night. A few got here just before Nicole and Hannah went to bed. They were gracious enough to play with Nicole, because she was sooooo excited all these girls were over. Well, a few minutes after they had been here, the girls (about 4 or 5) were sitting in a circle on the floor talking (they just finished a puzzle with Nicole). When I hear Nicole squeal, "OOOOhhhhhh....we can play duck duck goose!" Oddly enough, no one heard her but me. But, it was adorable. I know JUST what she was thinking. She saw all these girls sitting in a circle. What better game to play??? She's so sweet:-) I Love Her.

Hannah's First Steps

FINALLY!!!! Hannah took her first few steps last night. She did it first to me. She took 3 steps to me on 3 separate occasions. The funny thing is...the look on her face. She was smiling really big, raised on eyebrow that almost seemed to say, "Oh mommy...I already know how to do this. I've just been playing you!"

Later in the night, she practiced a bit more at Jeremy's softball game. Finally, after the game, we got a few tries on video. I LOVE her face about half way through the video. You can tell she's excited, but she also looks a bit ornery. Really super cute!

Enjoy!