Preschool, Memorial Day, Baby Update...And Grandpa

Wow!  Preschool, Memorial Day Weekend, and an update on our little baby that's growin' in my belly!  I'm behind again in updating, but that's no surprise.  May is still here and May is still busy! 

Yesterday, we spent our time at St. John's Hospital while Grandpa Curry underwent Triple Byspass Heart Surgery.  Surgery went well and now we can look forward and pray for a speedy and uneventful recovery.  I can't wait to watch him heal and discover how much better he is going to feel.  With his heart working better than it has in years, he is going to be filled with so much more energy and life.  The human body amazes me!

Makayla has finished up her very first year of preschool!  I can remember the first day I sent her - I was somewhat emotional, trying hard to hold back the tears - but, by the end of the year, sending her off to school and watching her learn and grow had just become a part of our life.  It's been a joy to watch her grow, mature, and learn. 

At her end of the year program she was given a certificate.  She was "promoted" from one preschool class to another.  She was so proud of her certificate that throughout her program she kept standing up, yelling out Mason's name out into the audience, and holding her certificate high above her head to show him.  She was proud!...and it made me smile to know how excited she was to share her moment with Mason!

We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, spending time relaxing and having fun with friends and family.

We had a yummy dinner at one of Kevin's favorite restaurants, The Burgery Barge, followed by a beautiful night on the Peoria Riverfront listening to our favorite band JammSammich.  We had a great night with some amazing friends, family, and co-workers!

We kicked off our summer by spending a couple of days at the waterpark, swimming in the backyard, and watching a Peoria Chief's baseball game.

At the waterpark, Makayla got to go down the "biiiiiiig waterslide all by herself with daddy"!...and that's exactly how she says it - all by herself, with daddy!

And my boy Mason has no fear.  The exact opposite of Makayla!  He loves the water, he loves swimming, and doesn't mind at all if he goes underwater OR if the water is freezing cold!  He laughs when he is splashed and cries screams if we take him out of the pool before he is ready.

Below is Mason swimming in the backyard and playing with a ball - his favorite things to do! 

 We celebrated a friend's birthday at the Peoria Chief's game this past weekend!  It was hot, sunny, and fun.  Makayla got her face painted like a princess and Mason ate a few cups of ice.  The kids waved their American flags (which was on the news) and enjoyed watching the mascot (a dog) dance on the field. We had a couple of hot, sweaty babies on our hands when we left the game, but the heat didn't seem to bother them as much as it bothered me! 

We had another visit with the Dr yesterday to check on baby and everything sounded great!  Heartbeat was in the 150's, I gained weight, had to get blood drawn, and as hard as I tried, I couldn't pee in a cup (but spent the rest of the morning running to the bathroom every 3-4 minutes).

Knowing that this is my third and last pregnancy, I want to embrace every part of it.  This time around, I am going to take pictures of my growing belly and with help from the kids, we're going to create a cute little timeline of pictures.  Every so often, we'll take pictures like the ones below.  Makayla will hold the "weeks" sign and Mason will hold the "days" sign. 

It was very difficult to get any decent pictures with both kids, but I think that is part of the fun of this.  Mason wasn't too interested in holding up his sign, so Makayla decided she would take over in the second picture.

...16 weeks, 4 days, and growing!
The human body amazes me!!

My Tears And Mason

Have you ever loved something so much it made you cry?

...Mason's laugh.

It had me crying.

The other night, I was rocking him in the darkness of his room (because I can still do that) and we were both loving it.  I dipped my head down to kiss his hand and out of the quietness of his room, he let out a quick belly laugh.  I whispered "I love you, Mason".

A minute later he reached his hand up and rubbed his fingertips along my lips, and again, he let out a giggle.  This game kept going on for about five minutes - from the soft sweep of his fingertips along my lips to his sweet, sweet laugh filling his room.

Mason and I holding each other, rocking in his rocking chair.  Just me and him, in the dark.

I couldn't help but let the tears fall.

His laugh.  I would die if I didn't have his laugh. 

Without my children's laughter, my heart would die.

***********************************************

And when I'm not busy rocking my baby in the dark (crying like a mother),  I'm admiring his little boy actions and LOVING the discovery of the type of person he is becoming.  He is growing more and more into his own person every day.

• Mason loves gum and popcorn.  He chews gum like a champ and devours popcorn like he hasn't eaten in days.  The child scares me to death.  
• He loves to repeat his sister!  Almost anything he can do that she does, he will.  He loves to apply lipstick, turn in circles, and repeat her words.  The other day, she was walking around the house practing the word "yellow".  She kept saying "Lello" and trailing behind her was a little voice saying "lello, lello, lello".  And just as Makayla says "bum" for "gum", so does Mason.
• But as much as he likes to repeat and follow in the footsteps of his big sis, he is also becoming more and more independent.  He loves to walk the stairs upright like a grown man.  I rarely let him do this and beg him to crawl up the stairs, and most of the time he just laughs me off and continues walking right on up the stairs.  Along with his independence is trying to take off his own shoes and trying to climb in and out of the bathtub without any help.  Like I said, the child scares me to death.

Mason is an an amazing little boy.

He's handsome, smart, and full of laughter.  He loves to be tickled and trucks are his favorite toys.  I love him to pieces and cannot kiss him enough!

It's a joy watching Mason and Makayla grow and I can't wait to have their baby brother or sister join them in the journey of this life!

Makayla's Moments

The month of May has been and will continue to stay overwhelmingly busy!  I even turned down going to a Cardinal's game this month because I didn't want to add one more thing to the calendar.  Yikes!  

As we go through our days, my kids are non-stop making me laugh and are constantly amazing me.  And with each act that leaves me in awe or each word that leaves my jaw dropped, I tell myself that I need to go write that down...and then I never do.  So, this morning, I am going to try to remember a few things that Makayla has done this past week that is worthy to remember.  Then, within the next couple of days, I'll write down some things that my little Mason has done recently that makes him so very awesome!

• Makayla asked daddy "If you mix your poop and pee, does that make your diarrhea?"  It makes total sense, doesn't it?!  Luckily, she was satisfied with just a simple "No".
• You can call it exhaustion from pregnancy or exhaustion from life in general, but at the end of the day, I'm drained.  Completely worn out.  Last week, I was putting a puzzle together with Mason.  It was a puzzle with animals and we kept repeating the names of the animals over and over again.  Every time I got to the "giraffe", I had a little twinge of confusion.  It didn't really look like a giraffe and I didn't feel right calling it a giraffe, but I could not figure out what else it could be.  Finally, about the fifth time of repetition, Makayla finally said "Mommy, that's not a giraffe.  That's a horse."  Duh.  The puzzle we were doing was made up of farm animals!  Why would there be a giraffe mixed in with the farm animals?!...and WHY couldn't I figure that out?!  It was a scary moment (and somewhat embarrassing), but I'm blaming it on the "exhaustion".
• Grandpa Allen got to take Makayla on her end of the year field trip to the Children's Discovery Museum followed with lunch at Monicals.  Then Grandpa and Makayla spent the rest of the day together - shopping at Lowes, visiting grandma at work, going to Wal-Mart, reading books, riding the four wheeler, and digging for worms.  We still have the worms.  It was a special day.  Just Makayla and Grandpa.
• Makayla is making progress on writing her letters.  Here's her name! -



She's smart.
She's pretty.
She's funny.
She's my daugher.
She's Makayla!

13 Weeks, 4 Days

I think baby wanted us to get a little sneak peak in at him/her today -

OR baby was just preparing us for the excitement he/she will be bringing to our lives!

We went in for our regular checkup today. 

Pee in a cup, check my blood pressure, and listen to baby's heart beat.

Everything was going great until Dr. tried to find baby's heart beat. 

He couldn't find it. 

He kept finding my heart beat, but never the baby's.

He kept trying and as he kept tyring, my heart beat became faster and faster.  Every time he came across my heart beat he had to grab my wrist to compare it with my radial heart rate (just to make sure it was definitely my heart beat and not baby's).

After a long, excrutiating 5 minutes, he finally said that he thinks everything is alright but that we need to do an ultrasound. 

He thinks everything is alright?! 

I was 13 weeks.  Why couldn't he find a hearbeat?!  Of course, the worst came to my mind and I immediately began praying/meditating/calming/ - I knew that whatever was to come, we could handle it.  When you're a pregnant woman, to come 13 weeks,  you've come so far. And to think for even a split second that it's gone and done - it's enough to take your breath away...

I was very scared and very nervous.  With tears in my eyes, I laid down on the ultrasound table.

The ultrasound tech and Dr were very calm, very soothing, and very positive. 

As soon as she put that probe to my belly, you could see that little baby jumping around everywhere!

*sigh*

*breathe*

That little stinker!

So, we've come 13 weeks and 4 days.

and we have a very active baby with a heart rate 156 beats/min.

It definitely took me all morning and a little nap to recoup from all of the excitement and stress at the Dr's office this morning!