Catching up with the blog

It's embarrassing to see how behind I am on the blog.  I refuse to ever say I'm too busy for anything, but the fact of the matter is that life has become too good to spend down time catching up on the blog.  Between happy children, a new home I have enjoyed making ours, helping run a ministry at church (MOPS), friends, exercise, books, and just being plain ol' tired (pregnant!), it's easy to see why I'd put the blog at the bottom of the priority list.

However, I don't print pictures, so the blog is the closest thing to recording our family life, so here it is -- pictures since September:

Just a sight I enjoyed turning back to in the car.  My darling girl with her John Deere hat she enjoys so much.

I turned 31 this year, and for my birthday I requested going out dancing.

Baby bump showing!

Our friends Chris and Shannon joined us for our evening fun.

Our men.

Then cousin Ames and Ezra came to River Pointe for a few days, which meant lots of playing.

And Mexico's Independence Day rolled around mid-September and I decided to make the traditional pozole and invite a few friends to enjoy the evening fun.

Preparing our yummy bowls of pozole.

And like I said earlier, we have two darling happy children who love and enjoy each other far too well.  And here is proof -- watching a Dora cartoon, on the same chair, sharing their blanket.  

And Byron is such a good sport basically agreeing to do everything big sister tells him to.  Here he is being put "to bed" on the floor.  Why not?!?!

And dinner picnics have become a common thing for us to do.  When busy nights come along, instead of running through the drive-thru somewhere, we end up packing a picnic and enjoying it as a family somewhere.  Here we are at the church, meeting daddy before he headed to Bible Study.  It seems like we end up doing one of these about once every two weeks or so.

 And then Halloween rolled around, and Emma spotted these "Halloween cookies" at Target, which were a hit with the children, and with mommy as well since it didn't require us to make such a huge mess in the kitchen.

And then I just love this picture of me and my Little Man.

This good-looking duo enjoyed our seasonal decorations all too well.

And on many occasions, this is how they choose to spend time with each other, snuggled together in the same seat, either reading or watching cartoons together.

October 19th rolled around -- daddy's birthday -- and we celebrated it the best way ever -- in our home with our little family.  The kids each got daddy a balloon, and a few gifts.

I made breakfast for dinner -- eggs, grits, bacon, and watermelon.

For our table centerpiece, the kids and I went outside and gathered flowers and weeds.  It looked so nice!

The kids' gift of choice for daddy.

Two days after daddy's birthday we found out the sex of our third child.

A boy.  And he's being named after my dad -- Naamen.

I found this kid's doctor's kit at a yard sale for 50 cents, and you'd think I'd bought the kids the Moon.  It has provided them with hours of entertainment.

Again, how they choose to watch TV.

And this pic does not do what's going on any justice, but the kids loooooove chasing lizards around the house.  The poor lizard in this pic was terrified, and eventually met his Maker by the end of the ordeal after Little Byron stepped on it :'(  We have been working hard to tell them that lizards are our friends and that we don't kill them.  It has also been fun for the children to watch the lizards they chase around change colors before their eyes.

Behind with the blog -- a month in review part 1

This blog has been incredibly neglected over the past month.  It's not as if nothing has been going on.  We sold our beloved home, did work on both our previous and new home, lived like nomads for about a month, moved in with the in-laws for two weeks, moved into our new home almost three weeks ago.  

Much joy was sprinkled in between then.  Like getting our first ultrasound for our third baby, due March 8th, 2016.  We also welcomed our friends the Kelleys from "up North," and witnessed my BIL marry his bride last weekend.

And so the recap -- 

Emma is introduced to "tea parties" with her cousins.

Mommy and now-big-brother LB doing some after-nap snuggle time.

Move-in day!

Blessed with many helping hands.

CFA lunch to thank our moving crew.

My Byrons.

Still a slouch. 

Kelleys are in town!

Saying goodbye to our home.

38 week belly picture

This picture was taken about 36 hours before LB was born (at Emma's fish party).

The crib adventures

Many ask if Emma will be transitioning into a toddler bed in time for Little Paco (btw, this is NOT his name, just what he is going by right now) to inherit hers.  The answer is "no."  And this is why -- Emma looooooves her crib!  

*If Emma is disciplined, or if she even becomes upset over something, she asks to go to her crib:  "cuna, cuna."

*Emma will spend about 3 - 4 hours in her crib every afternoon.  Sometimes she'll sleep the entire time, but many times she'll sleep some, but then also "read" her books or play with her babies a good portion of it.

*She is very content in her crib -- we put her down at 7:30 pm every night (unless we are out late with her) but won't actually fall asleep until 8:30 pm or so.  The best part is, she is as happy as can be to be left alone in her crib at night to play.  When we put her down, she always asks for the usual suspects (babies, Bunny, pom, and sasa -- blanket), but has most recently begun to ask for books.  So we place books in her crib for her to read before bed time.

Emma reading in bed.

Emma reading in bed.

On a side note, I am now 37 weeks and 2 days pregnant.  Emma was born at 38 weeks 4 days.  I began having some symptoms today that reminded us of Emma's arrival 2 years ago, so Byron made me go to the hospital to get checked.  They strapped me up and hooked me to all sorts of machines and checked my fluids and both my and Little Paco's heart rate to see if I had gone into labor.  About one hour later, I was told I was not in labor -- phewww!

I do think a part of this story is worth recording, though -- 

When I told Byron this morning that I had begun having some symptoms, he got so nervous he strapped his heart rate monitor (the one he uses when he runs) to check his heart rate.  Poor guy, he was so nervous!

34 weeks round 2

I am 34 weeks pregnant as of yesterday.  We had our third and last ultrasound today.  Little Paco is still very much a boy.  Sonographer estimates he weighs 5 lbs 6 oz.  She also said he has a lot of hair -- the most hair she has seen in a while.  Yikes! 

Everything looks great!  Based on the look of things, doctor believes I will go full term unless my water breaks before (like it did with Emma).

For record sake, I have gained 29 points.

Here is my 34 weeks picture when I was expecting Emma.

Family/Prego picture

To all who have been requesting a prego belly picture, I finally have one!

Indulge yourself with the lovely view of my lovely little family, and the sight of my 26 week baby boy belly.

Not sure what my exact numbers are for this week, but for the record's sake, at 25 weeks I had gained 17 lbs.

Atlanta Aquarium

Last Saturday we enjoyed a little family date by visiting the Atlanta Aquarium.  Emma had already been there, but had not really been able to appreciate it.  Now that she is obsessed with fish, we thought it would be fun to take her and watch her enjoy our time there.

I have been doing a terrible job taking belly pictures this second pregnancy, but this picture shows my 22 week belly quite well.  And just for record sake, my weight gain so far has been 15 lbs.

For the special occasion, Memma whipped out her sewing machine and sewed a "fish dress" for Emma to wear on her special trip.  Many people commented on how cute and appropriate her outfit was.  Sadly, we didn't take a good picture that shows off the dress.

If you've been around Emma long enough, you'll have noticed that she makes a lot of facial expressions, especially using her lips.  Who do you think she got that from?

A few fun short sentences that Emma developed during the trip were -- "pez gande" for big fish, "pez tico" for little fish, and "pez arange" for orange fish.  We did not teach her to say these, she just began saying them while we were there.