Best Time Of My Life

The other day a man asked me what I thought was the best time of my life.

"Why," I answered without a thought, "now".

~David Grayson

A loving husband - who is patient; faithful; supportive to every single one of my wants and needs; is the best father I could ever ask for for my children, which in turn makes me love him more than I can even put into words; and puts his family above anything or anyone else.

A beautiful daughter - who is smart; compassionate; can hug me like no other; loves to teach and mother; and makes my life worth living

A handsome son - who is independent; makes me laugh with all he says and does; has the best smoocher on the planet; takes my breath away; and makes my life worth living.
A baby in my womb - who is growing and moving all around; makes mommy very hungry; somebody (a belly) that Makayla and Mason are already loving and kissing; is going to be a baby sister and turn our family of four into a family of five.


So, yes - today is the best time of my life.
...as will be tomorrow and the next day and the next.
Your life is what you make it.


Taking some family and friends out to dinner a couple of nights ago, we announced the expecting arrival of our daughter.  Ordering fortune cookies ahead of time (a batch that said "It's a BOY!!" and a batch that said "It's a GIRL!!"), we asked our family to join us at a local Chinese restaurant.  We sneaked the cookies to our waitress and at the end of the meal she brought us our ticket and 'surprise' fortune cookies.  Passing out the cookies before we left, everyone opened and read their fortunes which shared our wonderful news!  What a a wonderful surprise to our guests!


We couldn't be happier that we are having a little girl - a healthy little girl.  We couldn't ask for more!
I, of course, am very emotional towards Mason...but that's a whole other blog in itself!


We are blessed.
So very blessed.
And today is the best time of my life.

A Bit About Each

First up is...Baby

Documenting the progress, we're 20 weeks along - halfway there!  

As we (me and the kids) pose along the wall and Kevin takes our pictures (a lot of pictures), it's really funny to go back through and look at all of the expressions that were captured.  

20 weeks along and feeling great!

• I don't have any particular cravings.  A couple of months ago, I loved hot dogs and ate 2-3 hot dogs a day - one for breakfast, one before bed, and one during the day as a snack.  This month, I feel like I have lived off of berries and french fries - blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and french fries with ketchup.
• For a few weeks now, I have been feeling baby move.  But being pregnant with my 3rd, I haven't felt near as much movement as I had expected or heard...just one more thing for me to be nervous about if I think about it.
• Tomorrow we have another doctor's appointment and we get to hopefully (fingers crossed) see what gender the baby is.  And yes, for all of those who question if we're finding out what we're having since we already have one of each, we will be finding out if baby cooperates!  It's just something I need to do for bonding, preparing, and organizing purposes!

Up next is...Makayla

3 years old and swings all by herself!

A huge accomplishment!
It was our goal to learn how to pump our legs and swing by ourselves before the end of summer...and look how much time we have left to spare!

"Soaring towards the sky,

I gaze at the tallest tree...

The breeze flows through my hair, 

My thoughts are simple and free..."

She gets so much joy swinging by herself and I get so much joy watching her face (and relaxing in a chair rather than standing at the swings pushing non-stop for an hour or more day after day)!

Finishing up with...Mason

1 year old and can put his shoes on!

Mason can put his own shoes on (thanks to Crocs)!

It feels great to be getting things ready and packed up to head out and I can tell Mason to go put his shoes on.  Not only does it save me time, but it gives him a sense of independence and something to be proud of.

Not only do I love watching him put his shoes on (and most of the time they are on the right feet), but I love watching his face as he looks up at me so proudly when he is done!

He is always so excited to put his shoes and he loves wearing his shoes.  He'll even put his shoes on at night after his bath.  Watching him play at night with his jammies and shoes on just gives me another reason to smile.

It's all kind of bittersweet to watch my kids grow and accomplish these simple, yet wonderful things - swinging and putting shoes on!  I love watching my kids grow, but it makes me sad that the days of learning these things for them are behind us.

It will be gone before you know it.  The fingerprints on the wall appear higher and higher.  Then suddenly they disappear.

-Dorothy Evslin

I'm Not Worried

The day Mason was born -

and do you know why I was crying?

Sure, it could be because of my "hormones" (don't hormones get blamed a lot during pregnancy/postpartum?), or it could be because of labor and delivery, and it could even be because I am holding my brand new baby, my beautiful son, in my arms...

but the tears in this picture are because of my heart.  

I remember being worried about bringing another baby into our family.

How could I share my attention?

How could I share my time?

How could I care for both of them?

How could I give to Mason what he needed without taking away from Makayla everything she had grown to known and expect?

How could I possibly love Mason as much as I loved Makayla?

 *and as i sit here and type this, i am beginning to tear up (eh, we will blame this on the hormones). such an honest feeling, it makes me sad to think that i was in a place of questioning my love for my child.

But in the picture above, where I am brought to tears, it was at that moment I felt it.  My heart, my body, my mind, my soul - every part of my being felt it.  My heart was over flowing with love for my children - both of my children.  It was amazing.  My heart was throbbing and my worries were gone.  It was absolutely amazing how I could feel  my body open up to something that I thought I was incapable of.  

Definitely a moment in time that will never be forgotten.

Bringing Mason into this world...it was divine.

I have given my kids different things and I have met their needs differently.  They are two individuals with different wants, different needs, different likes/dislikes, different desires...They are Makayla and Mason, my son and daughter.  They are their own person and I love each of them for who they are with all of my heart.  I love them to the moon and back -

and I can't wait to love their new brother or sister.

I'm not worried.

(i may be nervous about other things when having a family of five, but i'm definitely not nervous about sharing my love)

From Relay To Father's Day

Our weekend started out with Relay For Life and ended with Father's Day with

shopping,

eating and gaining weight,

visiting family from out of town,

falling and getting boo-boos and ouchies,

a birthday party for a one-year old,

swimming,

getting sweaty and dirty,

...and just having fun in between!

This was our second year for participating in Relay For Life.  It was just as amazing this year as it was last year - very fun and very emotional.  I won't go into as much detail this year as I did last year when I wrote about the relay, but you can definitely read about it by clicking here - The Tears At Relay - 2011, where I was a lot more detailed.  For an extremely quick recap this year, we remembered those we have lost to cancer, celebrated those who have beat cancer, and raised lots and lots of money to help those who are fighting cancer.  We walked, we clapped, we got our nails painted and our faces painted, ate lots of food, played with balloons, listened to the bagpipes, laughed, cried, and just had a lot of fun.  It was a beautiful night.

Throughout the rest of the weekend, we spent our time with family and friends.  We played hard and were on the go non-stop. 

...And then to end our weekend we had a wonderful Father's Day celebration. 

A great church service.

Lunch at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Dinner at our house.

Kevin worked hard all day Sunday smoking meat.  He smoked two different pork loins, a brisket, and ribs.  It was yummy and we had our wonderful family over to help us eat all of the delicious food, mingle, and celebrate Father's Day.  It was a beautiful night.

The moon was never so close as when I rode on your shoulders.

-unknown

Destin Diaries

We went down to Destin, Florida in February for daddy's birthday and loved it so much that we decided to go back for a little summer vacation.  We were joined by lots of family members (I think there were 28 of us at one point); spent hours out in the sun playing in the sand, pool, and gulf; ate at lots of yummy restaurants; and made some wonderful memories - none of which will be forgotten because we'll always have this 'blog turned into book' to look back on.

Friday June 1 -

Find what brings you joy and go there.
-- Jan PhillipsVacation starts!  Yippee!

Saturday June 2 -

After hours of driving, we safely made it to Destin.  We got in around dinner time and headed over to the club house for a family cookout and to celebrate Kyle's 21st birthday.  Burgers and hotdogs on the grill (and cake) is just what we needed after the long drive.  After eating and visiting, we of course had to head to the beach, because afterall, that's why we came all the way to Destin!

Our Sand Princess laying in the sand like Barbie,
and Mason riding safely on Grandpa Allen's shoulders.

Sunday June 3 -

We started this beautiful, warm, sunny day on the beach. 

We buried each other in the sand...

Played in water...

We did some people watching and enjoyed yummy fruit...

(he melts my heart) 

Played in the sand...
(he melts my heart) 

After we played on the beach all morning and part of the afternoon, we headed back to our condo for a little pool time.  The kids loved the pool! - Makayla loved jumping in on the count of three and Mason was extremely happy just peacefully floating along in his floatie.

After swimming we went inside and crashed.  The kids took a long, hard nap! 

While the kids were napping, daddy napped with them and mommy took her "nap" at the pool.

When the kids woke up we had dinner at AJ's, where I had the most amazing crab legs!!  Ooooh, they were so good, I didn't even need butter!

We ended our night by walking along the harbor and riding go-carts.

Monday June 4 -

We started our day with another early morning on the beach!

We ate peaches and popcorn...

Built sandcastles... 

This quote makes me laugh - the kids have it easy!

Babies don't need a vacation but I still see them at the beach. I'll go over to them and say, 'What are you doing here, you've never worked a day in your life!'.
-- Stephen Wright

And played, played, played...! 

After the beach, we headed to the pool!

(I think we always followed the beach up with the pool to help get rid of some of that sand!)

Mason loved jumping into the water.  He would stand there with a humongous grin on his face while we counted to three.  On three, he would close his eyes and grin with anticipation as he went into the air, waiting to land in our hands and slowly sink into the water.  Over and over again, we had to play this game!

After our morning of swimming, we headed out to lunch to Pompanos Joes! 

Delicious food and a gorgeous scenery - how I wish I could do lunch every day!

To end our night we watched the sunset at Dewey's in Destin

...had another family cookout and game night.  Below is a picture of daddy playing the Tea Bag game.  Without using his hands, he had to get both of the tea bags to stay on top of his hat.  We played other games like the Vaseline game (without using your hands, transport cotton balls from one plate to another by vaseline), the Panty Hose and Baseball game (put a baseball in some panty hose, put the panty hose on your head, and try to knock down water balls by swaying the panty hose), Ping Pong game (tie an empty tissue box behind your back filled with ping pong balls and bounce around shaking your booty until your balls are out)...among many other fun games to make us laugh. 

And when the games were over, we headed to the beach for some fun with sparklers.  Makayla waved sparklers and Mason waved glo-sticks! 

Tuesday June 5 -

 We skipped out on the beach today and went straight for the pool.

(the water was a tad chilly for mommy)

Then we headed to lunch at FudPuckers! 

Yummy food, fun atmosphere, and a gator beach!
Makayla got to hold Cupcake, a scary dangerous alligator who had her mouth tied shut, and then Makayla and daddy got to feed the alligators!

After lunch, most of the guys headed to the harbor to board Sweet Jody.  They were going to go out to sea for some fishing.  Unfortunately, after an hour out at sea, the waves were too big to fish.  At 8-10 foot waves, they had to make their way back to shore.

*Grandpa took some medicine to make sure he didn't get seasick, but just in case he did, he made sure to drink a tomato juice V8 and eat some corn.  He thought that would make for some interesting vomit in case he got sick.* 

We ended our day by playing in the rain on the beach...

...and eating at The Crab Trap with Grandma and Grandpa. 

 

...one last sunset at Dewey's in Destin!

(There's just something spectacular about watching the sun go down over the water) 

Another great trip had by all in Destin.  Makayla was so ready for this trip that she had had her bags packed for two months.  In her bag, she had every pair of underwear, her swimsuits, and a pair of pajamas.  She was soooo excited to go to Florida...and now that we've gone, she is sooo excited to talk about Florida.  When I ask her what her favorite part about her trip was, she'll say holding the alligator or swimming at the beach.  When I ask Mason what his favorite part of the trip was, he'll say wa-wa (as in water).  He is a swimmer and I know he definitely loved being in the water, moreso the pool than the ocean.

I thank God for some amazing children to travel well and easily go with the flow.  They definitely make life easy!  We had so much fun and watching my kids experience the white sandy beaches along the emerald coast was unforgettable.  We look forward to going back next year with another little one to experience life with.  Really.  We do!

P.S.  The kids didn't get a sunburn!