Pregnancy Shots

My wonderful friend Dusti has wanted to take some pregancy shots for months now and I finally got around to it. She encouraged me and I am so grateful I have these. I just need to get over myself and get over my issues and treasure the special moments as they are happening. Thank you Dusti for being patient, understanding, trustworthy and most of all talented to take beautiful pictures. I really do like them!

The Puppy Spot

This is what Nathan made during his first day of kindergarten. He came out of the classroom beaming and handed it to Laura and said "Look what I made for you!". She clutched it and hugged and hugged and said "I love it, it is sooo special, thank you butter!". He even went on to say that he saved his snack to share with her. My sweet boy, if he only knew how much she needed that extra lovin after her hard day!

The kids also learned a poem about 'Spot the Puppy' and Nathan woke up on Friday morning reciting it to me. I am so overjoyed that he is loving school and that he will share little bits because asking about the day and what he did didn't get me very far this week. When he is relaxed and in the mood he shares little tidbits and I had better be ready with a pad and pencil to capture them! Here is the cute poem:

My little puppy's name is spot

he likes to go to school a lot

His ears flip flop and his tail wig wags

and when he walks he zigs and zags

Nathan's 1st Day of Kindergarten

My little boy isn't so little anymore. I can't believe the day finally got here - his first day of school. AND I literally mean his first day of school since he did not attend preschool. We have been talking about this for months trying to prepare him for what was ahead and he has been really excited and a little nervous. He loved picking out all of his yellow stuff, as you can see and a yellow shirt was the pick for the first day. He LOVED school! He didn't even say goodbye or kiss and hug me before he DASHED into the classroom. We were told last Monday that we would not be allowed to enter the classroom for the first two weeks (in fear of kids hanging onto legs and such) so I just had to watch from afar as he found his name tag and placed his backpack into his cubbie. He had the biggest smile on his face!

My poor little Laura didn't have such a great day. I wasn't prepared for how emotional this was for her. I held it together and didn't well up but she was a mess ALL DAY. I don't even remember how many times she said "I miss butter (brother)" or "is it time to pick up butter from school?".

I tried to make the day special by having a tea party with her and that seemed to help but she was really out of sorts.

All in all it was a great day and I am so glad he loves school.

Laura's First Haircut!

I can't believe that she is 2.5 and this is her first haircut! I have been so nervous to cut it and have been putting if off for months now (even though she was starting to look like a mushroom head). I finally decided to try this gal with Laura since she did such a good job with Nathan's hair. Now you have to understand, as a person with curly hair and many bad experiences with people cutting hair that don't know how to cut curly hair I was afraid my little daughter would get butchered! Laura was even nervous about it saying she didn't want to get her haircut because she likes her curly hair (I will be reminding her of this in high school). I assured her that getting it cut would still mean she had curly hair. I went in with camera ready and asking for a little lock of hair and found myself hopelessly picking up clumps asking to take an envelope of hair home. I think the girl thinks I am out of my mind, but I don't really care! It is a little shorter than I would have liked but honestly it looks pretty darn cute, almost cupie doll like, and all of that yucky weird frizzy long stuff on the top and sides are now manageable and hopefully will allow cry free hair combing sessions each morning.

As I was inside paying for the haircut my mom took the kids outside to wait for me and Nathan did add to the day by asking Laura if she missed all her old curly hair. She proudly responded NO, but apparently he asked a few more times just to make sure - don't you just love the older sibling thing. Now, the little devil sitting on my left shoulder would say he was teasing her trying to make her feel bad and the the little angel on my right shoulder would say he was trying to make sure she was okay. I know I will never know but I just think it is a funny little side note to the day.

I do particularly love the before and after shots. She was quite into smiling before and was like rolling her eyes as if to say 'what is the big deal, MOM' for the after shots. Oh, my little Laura Rose!

What is it with PEOPLE?

I have been meaning to write (read complain) about this for quite some time, but Wednesday was the last straw. What is it with people who think they can say just about anything to a pregnant person!?! I am so tired of hearing 'Wow, you aren't very big'. I mean it is not like I want to be told you are HUGE either but really it doesn't come out like 'Wow, you look great', it is always condescending with comments that usually follow with 'are you sure everything is okay', 'are you sure you know your due date', 'is there something wrong'. I mean really how exactly should I respond to these people? I feel HUGE and have gained more weight this time than with Nathan and Laura combined. I have 26 days left and I am not sure I will make it to tell you the truth. I have been having contractions daily and am more tired each day.

On a positive note I am really looking forward to my baby shower on Sunday. I felt a little weird having a baby shower for a third baby, but as Dusti put it, every baby should be celebrated. So I know she, Myla and my mom have a wonderful day with friends planned and I am looking forward to celebrating the baby, because lord knows I am done being pregnant!

One more side note that I have been meaning to share. Nathan was reading nighttime books with me in our bed a few weeks ago and I had to turn over and switch positions and said to him "Oh, Nathan, Mommy has to turn over my tummy just keeps getting bigger" only to hear his immediate reply "I know Mommy, it is tough to be a woman". I just don't know where he gets it from (probably Mike but he denies it). Either way, it was really funny and I am still chuckling about it!

Little Soccer Man

Nathan started soccer last night. He was so excited to finally be starting practices. It was REALLY hot though (triple digits!) and I thought I was going to melt. I was surprised that he is the tallest kid out there. He drank all of that water jug by the time practice was over and then we went and got a fruit smoothie after the practice. He really loved that part too. He said "That is sooo refreshing Mom!". The team still needs a team mom and can I just tell you how hard it is for me NOT to volunteer. I mean really can't someone just step up. I have to bit on my lips to keep from volunteering. I just know that I shouldn't take that on right now, especially since I don't even know if I will be at the first game.

We have been fighting the sickness cycle around here lately. Last week I caught the nasty stomach flu from Laura and ended up having to spend the night in the hospital because I was dehydrated and having contractions. SEVEN bags of fluid later and you can just call me MRS. PUFF! It was not pleasant but as soon as I thought we were in the clear with the flu Nathan and Laura have come down with colds this week. Honestly, I know it may sound bad but it is actually a good thing for me to stay at home and rest and try and keep them rested. I hope they both get better quickly so they can enjoy the last little bit of summer before school.

Nathan's 5th Birthday

I am finally getting some pictures up from the birthday party. It was a great day. I thought it was too hot but in reality I thinked we lucked out because it could have been even hotter. All the kids (and parents) have such red sweaty faces though! I would not even have any pictures if it weren't for my wonderful friend Dusti. She is so wonderful and the cake and cupcakes she did are so awesome people are still talking about them. She is such a gift in my life and I will say it again that I am blessed to have her as a friend.

The game is a pretty funny little side note to the party. Nathan woke up on Friday morning asking if it was his birthday party day and I said "No honey, but it is tomorrow". He then says "You know what my favorite part about birthday parties is Mom?". I say "No" thinking he is going to say presents or cupcakes or something like that. He then says "Games!" Now I think I am going to pass out or something because I was trying really hard (yes, I know it may be hard for some of you to believe that I didn't go all out) to keep it low key and just have lunch and let the kids play at the park. So I then gulp and put on as calm a face as I can and say "Honey, we aren't going to have games at your party this year, everyone is just going to play at the park and we will have water balloons". He then bows his head, sticks out the bottom lip and says "Oh". Okay, I mean really does this kid know how to work me or what - how can I refuse! So I then ask "If you did have games, what kind of game would you want?" He then says "Like pin the tail on the donkey" - now I will add another note that every party we go to has a totally cute pin the tail on the donkey themed game (Donna's "X" marks the spot treasure map and so on). So I start jamming all the synapses in my brain trying to think of something and I think okay I will just make a lego 5 just like the invite and have a missing piece for the kids to 'pin'. So Friday afternoon I am out at Michael's getting all the supplies stayed up until 1am trying to figure out how to do it and went to bed without it done thinking 'get a grip he will survive if he doesn't have a game' only to stay awake all night thinking I can put something together I DID buy all the stuff right? So up at 6am I was punching circles and trying to figure out measurements for this garsh darn thing and no I couldn't be happy just sticking circles on there I had to use pop up dots for dimension (I know I need help, the straight jacket is on order!)

So to make a really long story short, we had a game at Nathan's party. He stood smiling so proud the whole time and said he wanted to watch all his friends do it and then he would have a turn. When we got home I asked him what his favorite part of the day was and he smiled with 5 year old joy and said "The GAMES and the CUPCAKES!" So, yes it was worth it and I know I need professional help but hey, you only get a birthday once a year so I am happy (until the next one)!

The PlasmaCar!

Thank you Aunt Pam for the neat gift. Aunt Pam was not able to make Nathan's birthday party because she was under the weather and the following weekend we missed Jackson's birthday party because Laura was under the weather so we received Nathan's awesome birthday gift today. THE PLASMA CAR (notice it is yellow, so it will also go with everything Nathan has - or so he says)! What a neat and generous gift. He had a blast today playing with it and even gave Laura a ride on the back. This thing is cool how it goes with no pedals. Thanks again for such a cool gift!