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! 

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!