Allright already! I get it!

If one more person asks me when I am due and their jaw drops when I say September 2nd, I cannot be held accountable for what I do! No, I am kidding, but really I hope I have never done that sort of thing to a pregnant woman. Just the other day at the grocery store in the check out line. The lady behind me, after watching me try to reach the little divider thingamajig with my giant belly in the way, asks me if I am nine months pregnant. "No," I had to reply with a laugh, "I am only 7 1/2 months." Since the kids were not with me, I quickly added, "This is my fourth," more to make myself feel better than anything. It seems I can't even leave the house without an inquiry as to when I am due followed by the shocked facial expression. Some days it is more than once. Maybe I need a t-shirt that says, "I am not due until September 2nd. Please, try to hide your shock."

No, really and truly, it doesn't make me mad or anything, just embarrassed to answer. If I was a good liar I would be tempted to just say "Yes" to those kinds of questions or tell them I am due in July which seems much more plausible from the looks of me. Brian thinks I should tease them by saying, "What do you mean due? I'm not pregnant." I don't think I have it in me for that either.

Speaking of being huge, I had an OB checkup on Friday, and I, for the first time ever, measured bigger than I was supposed to (32cms instead of 30cms.) With each pregnancy, I have measured right on target the entire time and always had doctors guessing a full two pounds less than what the baby ended up weighing when they were born. So, despite the fact that my midwife was "not concerned," I am! I do not want Speck to outdo Isaac from day one and weigh in at over 10lbs 4ozs! In fact, I don't even want him getting close to beating that. So, I continue to pray for a healthy baby boy who weighs no more than 9 lbs (and is a good sleeper!) Please God, have mercy on me!

The Promised Table

This was the promised reward for potty training. He has not had an accident in over a month so I guess it's official.

He has been wanting to play in his room, despite the heat (our a/c is out right now and his room doesn't have good ventilation,) a lot since we've been home. The girls have enjoyed it a little bit too.

Wow! My son is a lucky boy to have such a handy daddy! To brag on my husband a little, he built this and stained it from scratch. And he's even working on my bookshelf right now! What a guy!

That Girl!

We were reading The Princess and the Kiss tonight before bed and we haven't read it in a while. So I asked them what Prince Peacock's heart was full of after reading about how he said he could run fast and was so strong, etc. Instead of saying "himself" like the book says, Genevieve shouts, "Feathers!" without missing a beat. It took me a second to realize she said feathers because his name was Prince Peacock. I guess I am the slow one now, right? What a goose! She certainly has a different way of looking at things, that girl.

Splash park. Check!

There is one thing checked off my summer list. I say "checked off" because I doubt we will be returning. It was $25 for our whole family to go. We only stayed just over two hours. To top it all off, the kids did not really enjoy it most of those two hours. Hannah got cold and was shaking with blue lips. Isaac kept asking me to hold him and didn't really want to play after the first 45 minutes or so. Genna had the best time of all of them, but then she realized suddenly that no one else was playing with her anymore and tearfully confessed that she "felt left out because no one would play with" her. We even met friends there and their kids had all pooped out and weren't playing with Genna either.

After having a packed lunch, they went back out and had a half hour of fun before we left. I guess I am just a Cheap Charlie or something because I just kept thinking that these kinds of places are free in Texas and we should have just gone when we were there. Plus, every time I held Isaac I thought, "Man I am paying $25 dollars to hold my son when I could do it many other places for free." When did I get so cheap? That's what I'd like to know!

Airplane Pros

My little ones are airplane pros! I have to say I always get nervous the night before our flight when I am "flying solo," meaning obviously without any adult help. Not meaning flying alone because I can only dream of such a flight at this stage in my life. However, there is truly no need. It is a wasted worry if I have ever had one. I was thinking that the trip home would be more difficult since the kids have been spoiled by grandparents, aunts, and uncles and we had two stops this time which is never ideal. Despite those factors, they did better than great. There were three one and a half hour legs in this flight with no plane changes. Not changing planes is easier on me, but harder on the kids since it means longer time to entertain them on the plane with less of a break in between. As it turns out we had no delays on the ground and were able to take bathroom breaks and stretch our legs a bit which killed most of the ground time.

For the first leg, Isaac worked on a sticker activity that I made him, sorting construction trucks, cars, and trains into their appropriate locations. Then he started his Thomas the Train No Mess activity book, basically a water paintbrush thing. The girls sticker-decorated and colored a Hello Kitty print out that I got online.

The second leg, Isaac and I played four rounds of Memory and one round of Go Fish with his new Thomas cards. The girls worked on word searches with their new found "grandma" friend who sat next to them. Then they made a note for their daddy from a print out that I got online at the same Hello Kitty website.

The final leg, Isaac and I ate our packed lunch and he fell asleep after only half of his sandwich was eaten. He slept until we landed which was excellent. The girls ate their lunch and then they played Old Maid and Memory together.

I pried the rest of his sandwich from his hands and gave him his crocodile.

The girls played so nicely across the aisle from me. Love my little social bugs being so independent and friendly to their neighbors!

Sadly, adding baby Speck into the mix is going to make flying home much more expensive even when he is a lap child because we no longer can squeeze into anyone's car with four car seats and boosters. Therefore, we will have to rent a car which is not cheap if we go for a long trip. So we may have to start road tripping it, but we shall see.

On the beach

They all loved the waves this year! The girls spent most of their beach time begging various aunts, uncles, and grandparents to be taken out in the waves. They also enjoyed building and digging in the sand, especially Isaac.

Where was I during all this fun? When I wasn't taking pictures I was usually right here in my beach chair watching other people take care of my children!

Digging holes!

Isaac loves to dig in the sand!

Hannah faithfully carried water up to fill up a moat.

Uncle Brian shrunk!

Aunt Leah and Isaac

I only wish we could stay on the beach and in the sun forever without worrying about getting a sunburn.

Family Vacation

Our family vacation this year was missing one very important person...my husband. He had a change in his work obligations and has to save his vacation days until next summer. So the kids and I went to Port Aransas with my side of the family. My sister and brother and their spouses were able to join us and we all had a great time. Here are the pictures of the family in different combinations. The beach pictures will be in a different post because I have too many pictures.

Uncle Brian and Aunt Kristen with the kids

I like Isaac's expression in this one even though it's not the smile I asked for...
Uncle Kent and Aunt Leah with the kids

Mimi and Papa Boat with the kids

Isaac surfing

Genevieve surfing

Hannah surfing

Posing-they were stalling so they didn't have to go in the store!
Mimi and Hannah

Hannah was drawing a palm tree at the restaurant.

Mimi and Genevieve

My Mom and Me

Sisters

The whole crew for dinner

Papa Boat and Genevieve

Uncle Kent shows off the clam shell after Hannah tried her first clam. She loved it and wanted the world to know how much she loves seafood of all kinds.

More beach photos to come...

Father's Day

(In honor of the father of my children, I let the kids help me pick out their favorite pictures of Daddy with each of them. They all picked baby pictures, so I will label who is in each picture.)

Brian has been an excellent daddy to our children. I think he gets better every year. He is fun and loves to play with them. He is strict and yet has their total admiration and respect. I jokingly tease him that I get tired of all the Super Hero references and the "Daddy can do anything" comments fromt he kids, but really I am glad to have such a great helpmeet in this incredibly weighty reponsibility of raising these children to be holy and loving adults.

Daddy and Hannah

(Yes, I have the right kid. She really had that dark of hair when she was born!)

Hannah is very much a "Daddy's Girl" and thinks he hung the moon. I would say that she has him wrapped around her finger, but I really think it goes both ways. She will do anything to please her daddy.

Daddy and Hannah

Daddy and Genevieve

It was a long road for Brian to win Genna's heart. She was always much more of a "Mommy's Girl" and was for a while afraid of just about everyone else (except Hannah). However, he managed to win her over and when he was gone for a year, I assumed she would be the one I didn't have to worry about, but boy was I wrong! She had the hardest time with his absense and, since he has been back I think they have gotten even closer. I mentioned on our anniversary post recently that I think I have softened Brian up a little, but I think this little girl, with her heart of gold and her saintly character, has done more than her fair share of that.

Daddy and Genevieve (and Hannah too)

Daddy and Isaac

Despite the fact that Brian was gone for most of his first year, they have always had a special man bond or something. Although Isaac is a "Momma's Boy" to some extent, he needs his daddy for all the guy stuff. He likes to help his daddy on projects and go to the man store (AKA Home Depot.) Of course, Brian is also in charge of all rough housing and toughening up of this guy. Isaac loves his daddy and, I can tell he really wants his dad to be proud of him.

Daddy and Isaac

Happy Father's Day, Honey! We all love you!

And, on this Father's Day, I would be remiss not to mention my own daddy. I was quite the "Daddy's Girl" like Hannah. I lived to please my dad and make him proud, and from the way he looks at my own children I think I have. Love you, Daddy! Happy Father's Day!
My dad and me (I promise it's not Hannah!)

Oh, The Places We Could Go

I am compiling a list of places and things I would like to try to fit into our summer. Besides being a list-making addict, I am feeling that 3rd trimester laziness now and think if I don't have a list of goals that I might just end up wasting away our summer. I do not plan on doing all of these. The goals I set for myself are always way too high. Plus, some of them (marked with a ?) I need to look into further or get personal reviews to see if the kids would actually enjoy them.

Swim lessons for Isaac
Art Day Camp for Hannah and Genna (already signed up for this one)
Splash Park
Newseum ? (free admission for kids this summer)
National Gallery of Art
Butler's Orchard- picking blueberries or tart cherries
Science Museum in Baltimore
Fishing with dad
Nature Centers

Here's a few of our summer goals:

Maintain the vegetable garden

Teach the girls my cell phone number

Teach Genna to spell and write her full name instead of just GENNA

Training wheels off for Hannah (and maybe Genna too)

Make a school schedule

Reorganize school room

Mostly finish Speck's stocking (I am doing well on this so far!)

Embroider several sailboat pillows for Speck's room

Sew a pillow mobile for Speck's room

Make Speck a blanket (I have made blankets for each child when I was pregnant with them.)

Come up with a real name for Speck, so he is not called Speck after he is born!!!

Summer reading goals:

Me...

reread Natural Childbirth: The Bradley Way and Husband Coached Childbirth

read two classics

refresh myself with Babywise

read one more book on homeschooling (just finished A Thomas Jefferson Education)

Hannah...

1 saint book

5 chapter books/month

6 picture books/month

Genna...

1 saint book

1 chapter book/month

10 picture books/month

Isaac's way of making us smile

Here is a list of things Isaac says that make us all giggle. He is quite the dramatic boy with the ability to charm just about everybody it seems. Again it leaves me wondering how two quiet introverts could produce such outgoing, life-of-the-party children. Those hidden genes will surprise you everytime!

Sayings that we love:
"I will feel you better."
"the best mom I ever had"
"I love you 5 days!"
"I am not dramatic!" (while stomping his foot and enunciating every word)

Words pronounced incorrectly, but adorablely: (translation is in paretheses)
"Nightmirror" (nightmare)
"Tootat" (tatoo)
"Acting around" (playing around and acting naughty)
"Motor lawning" (lawn mowing)

And, finally, this doesn't fall into either category really, but it is hilarious. When you ask him who flies the airplane, instead of saying the pilot, he usually gets confused and says, "the pope."

10 Years and Counting

This is my sweet (and young) husband and myself in front of our first real house in Bryan, Texas. We had been married only one year and Brian was still in vet school. We had a parrot, a dog, and each other. Now, nine years later and ten years into our marriage, we have three kids, a baby on the way, a cat, a fish, and each other. We couldn't be happier with our growing family and each other. I think we have been very good for each other. He's toughened me up quite a bit, and I think I have softened him at least a little. :) Brian is a great husband, father, provider, handyman, landscaper, event planner, trip goer, and he's brilliant to top it all off. I love you, Brian, and here's to the next ten years! Happy ten year anniversary to us!

Whatever this game is called

They really enjoyed it, but each in their own way. Isaac throws the ball behind him and eternally frustrates Hannah. Hannah kept saying, "Genna! Watch the ball. What are you looking at? Now the ball is under the truck!" Genna spaced out every now and then. At one point she comes over to Hannah and says she wants to switch scoops. Hannah did this willingly since she knew all the scoops are the same and Genna just wasn't quite as good at catching it as she was. Genna caught the next one and was convinced she now had the better scoop. It was humorous to watch. I love all their unique personalities!

Here is the coach. After Isaac gave someone else a turn with the scoop, he decided to be the coach and would yell encouraging words to his team every now and then. His most common coaching words of wisdom were, "Win, guys!" or "Good try. Try again!" He could so be a coach or, better yet, a motivational speaker. He has so much energy, and he is very dramatic and entertaining.

Hannah does have an ear infection as it turns out. She has moments were she feels better, but is still having a lot of ear pain from time to time, usually when she's been laying down or when her fever goes back up. We are praying these antibiotics work fast so she doesn't have to be out of the water too many days during our vacation. When she is better, I am going to try to get her to keep ear plugs in that ear when she swims for a while.