Drama and Smiles

Today started out pretty crazy as I had to not only take Alec to school, but also take Aaron to my mother-in-law's house, because I had my 6 week OB check up this morning. I dropped the kids off and headed to the check up where everything went well. When I was leaving the OB office I had planned on heading to my parents house, feeding Ash, and then head out to do some errands, sans the boys, before picking up Alec from preschool. I had just gotten to my parents house when my cell phone rang...it was Alec's preschools phone number. Never a good sign. I answered the phone and it was Phyllis, the director, telling me that Alec had thrown up and I had to come and pick him up from school. Not to sound insensitive to my kid-o being sick, but I absolutely can not handle throw-up and I was SO bummed that my morning of easy errands was being cancelled. ARGH!

When I got to the school Alec was sitting in the office with a barf bowl in front of him, his hand holding a paper towel on his knee, and the saddest look on his face. I got the low down from the director about what happened. Apparently Alec was on the playground running around, fell down, and skinned his knee. Once he saw the blood on the knee he freaked out and proceeded to throw-up. After refusing a band-aid they took him up to the office and called me.

I thought it was strange that Alec was acting so normal this morning, which he would not have if he was getting sick. We got home and it was not even 5 minutes of sitting on the couch under a blanket before he was up and playing on the slide and with all his other toys. This was not a sick kid...just a dramatic one. Sigh...

Alec eating popcorn and showing off the "big scrape" that made him toss his cookies.

The one good thing about the drama that happened in the morning was that I was able to have a nice day with just Alec and Ashley. I decided after lunch to do a little photo session with Ashley and I was able to catch a few pics of her smiling. It is a rare event to see a smile, and much harder to catch on camera, so I was VERY happy to get it!!

What a sweet smile!! I can't wait until it happens all the time!

I had to throw this picture in also. It is a perfect example of just how much Ashley adores watching her brothers. Any time either of them are around she constantly is watching them.

By the way, anyone who guessed Aaron, Alec, and then Ashley from the pictues the other day were right! Good job!!

My Air-Bear

It seems that I always do a kids post and include all the kids in together, but I never seem to do individual posts, especially for my poor neglected middle child Aaron. I thought that I would dedicate one entire post to him today because we had a wonderful day together.

Being a middle child myself I understand how hard it is sometimes to just exist. You are not the oldest with all the responsibility, yet you are not the baby of the family either. My mom always did a wonderful job making sure that I had my own special place and because of her diligence I think I managed to avoid many of the typical middle child characteristics that you so often hear of. My mom always used to tell me that I was the cream in her cookie. I love that. :)

Aaron is such a cool little kid and is growing up right before my very eyes. He does not talk as much as Alec did at his age, but he does not need to since Alec NEVER stops talking. Lately his words have become much more clear and he is starting to put longer sentences together. Some of my favorites are, "Hiking boots please mama" pronounced "hike boos pees mama" and "I love you baby Ashley", pronounced "I yaya beebee A-lee." So stinking cute!!

Aaron is still filling the position in the family as the shrimp, but he is catching up a little bit. The hiking boots that he loves to wear so much are boots that Alec wore with his Halloween costume when he was 1 year old, and now at 2 years old Aaron is just now fitting into them. At his 2 year check up he finally made it up to the 50th percentile for height but was still stuck at the 5th percentile for weight. I asked Dr. Marino what we could to do help him gain weight and he replied, "feed him a hamburger!!" Wow, I need that medicine prescribed to me!! Actually, I would love to do just that for him, but he won't eat it. Aaron is incredibly picky (I have no idea where he gets that from) and he has a small selection of foods that he will consume. Adam and I constantly have the choice of whether we should make him responsible and if he does not eat what the family is eating then let him go to bed hungry, or to make something separate for him just so that he will get something in his stomach. I swore I would never be one of those parents who made a million different meals for their kids, but I can see how it happens. I think we have found a good balance and try to incorporate at least one of his favorite foods on his plate each night.

As I mentioned before, Aaron is such a little sweetheart. He is SO good with his little sister and absolutely loves petting her head and giving her kisses. With Alec in school three mornings a week I have been able to give some more individual attention to Aaron. We are in Miss Heidi's class this fall and Aaron has grown in leaps and bounds even since this summer. Unlike his older brother in the same class, Aaron LOVES sitting in my lap and listening to the stories and singing songs. He is actually one of the only kids in the class that sings out loud to the songs and it is so cute. His favorite song in class to sing is Three Little Monkeys and his favorite activity is the parachute.

Since we are telling all, there is of course the hot headed side of our little Aaron Michael. Aaron has quite the temper and will show it in a flash if he does not get what he wants. This of course rears it's ugly head the most around Alec. If Aaron has a problem with the way that Alec is playing or if Alec won't share with him then Aaron will just start screaming and hitting Alec with all of his might. It is one thing when it happens at home with his brother, but it is quite embarrassing when it happens in Miss Heidi's class or at the park with other children. The one good thing is that he is very good at taking his consequence and sitting his time in the penalty box. He is such a smart kid but he just needs to learn how to control that temper of his!

When I think of my little Air-bear my heart just swells with love. He holds such a special place in my heart and I can't wait to see what life has in store for him (my money is on him becoming a cop.) I LOVE that he is the cream in MY cookie!

What a smile!!

Aaron in action!

Mommy and her Air-bear.

How well do you know my children?

We have been getting so many comments lately on how much the kids look like eachother. Some have even asked if Alec and Aaron are twins (forget the fact that Aaron is almost a foot shorter than Alec.) I thought it would be fun to post pictures of all three kids at birth and see if people can guess who each baby is. I have to say, looking at them all lined up like this, it is hard to tell, but a Mother always knows, right? Please post your guesses and I will reveal the answers in a few days! Have fun!

Making Choices...

When I quit working about 4 1/2 years ago to be a stay at home mom to Alec I wondered on a few occasions what I would do all day and how I would fulfill my need to be intellectually stimulated. Since that time I have found my fulfillment in many different areas. I have taught Confirmation at church since the year 2000, I am the treasurer of our Mom's Club at church, I am on our Pastoral Council in charge of coordinating family events, I am in a Bunco group, and I am involved with the Family Assistance group at Adam's work. All of these are positions that I love and enjoy doing. Up until recently I think that I handled juggling all of these commitments quite well. I am sure you can guess the event that pushed me over the edge? That's right, a third child.

I made a decision this last week that something needed to give. I have been spending more time working on my volunteer commitments than I have on my house and my family. Obviously this had to change. As hard as it was, I made the decision to give up teaching Confirmation. Just today I attended my last class with my kids and said goodbye to them. Being sophomores in high school, I don't think that they were all that broken up about me leaving (too consumed in their own lives) but I will miss them. Looking back at the last 7 years of teaching it makes me proud to know that I have helped form the spiritual lives of so many kids. I still get to see many of my old students and am so happy to see them still attending Mass and living their lives in a Christ centered way.

Just wanted to say, thank you San Antonio Youth Ministry for giving me the opportunity to teach and be a part of so many kids lives. I know that as much as the kids may have learned from me (I hope), I feel that I have learned just as much, if not more, back from them.

Sing Sing

I think I mentioned in a previous post that Alec refuses to perform at school when standing up in front of people? Well, I was able to capture this video this last week of him singing in the car. Now if we could just get him to feel comfortable in front of others!

Ashley update

It is so hard for me to believe that it has been a month already since Ashley was born, yet it seems like she has been in our life forever! Ashley has been doing very well and is growing so much. I weighed her at my Mom's house tonight and she is 10 pounds already. Her awake periods are becoming more frequent and the night time sleep is getting a little better. Every few days she will have a great night where she does a couple 4 or 5 hour stretches. I love those nights!

Ashley is a very mellow baby and really only cries when she is hungry or fighting falling asleep. She is very content watching her brothers run around and seems to enjoy all the chaos. The boys are equally enthralled with her as well. They are constantly coming over, patting her head, and giving her kisses. The other day she was crying in her swing and Aaron took all of his favorite toys and piled them in the swing with her to try and comfort her. How sweet is that?

Ash still has the dark hair from when she is born, but in the sunlight you can see a faint halo of blonde hair coming in underneath. Her eyebrows are blonde as well as her eyelashes. It is so ironic that both the boys have long beautiful eyelashes and my sweet girl Ashley was born with hardly any. Looks like Mommy will be teaching her how to apply mascara someday!

I am enjoying having a girl SO much and am relishing every moment I have with her!!

Asher Basher in her ballerina costume for Halloween.

Happy Halloween!!

Since I am starting my blogging month I thought I would begin with October 31st and include pics of Halloween! This is one of my favorite holidays and it is SO much fun now that the kids are getting old enough to understand what is going on. It actually gives me a good excuse to go trick-or-treating again! :)

The day started with Alec going to preschool where it was grandparents day. Grammie, Papa, and Grandma all joined Alec in his classroom for some art projects and singing. The report I heard was that Alec decided not to sing, but to stand up with the class and make funny faces instead. Little goofball! Everyone had a great time and Alec was proud to show off his school! After that we had a nice lunch at Mimi's Cafe before heading home for naps.

Once Daddy was home we ate some dinner and then got the kids suited up in their costumes. The boys were Jedi's for Halloween. When I was making the costumes Alec was very specific that he wanted to be a GOOD Jedi, not a bad one. He ended up as Anakin and Aaron was Obi-won. The boys wanted me to make Ashley dress as Princess Leah but considering this was my first Halloween getting to dress up a girl, I just could not do it. She ended up as a ballerina instead and looked SO beautiful!

We all went out trick-or-treating and the boys totally scored on their candy. We let them have one piece each, which quickly became about 3 or 4 pieces each and then we all went to bed very exhausted. It was a wonderful day and I look forward to doing it all over again next year!!

Pretty girl Ashley in her Halloween shirt, snoozing at lunch.

Anakin and Obi-won getting ready to trick-or-treat

Two little jedi's waiting patiently for the door to open. Once they received their candy Alec would say to the people, "Thank you VERY much, have a VERY happy Halloween!!" So darn cute!

The boys got quite a stash! Now I just have to make sure and not eat it all myself!!

Challenge!!!

Alright faithful but few readers...I have been challenged by my fellow blogger friends to make a blog entry every day in the month of November. I have decided to accept this challenge, so starting tomorrow, things should be pretty active around here!

I have been so infrequent that it should not be hard to come up with fun stories or pictures to share with you! Whoever is still out there, keep reading, hopefully things are about to get interesting!

Ashley Marie Hawley's Birth Story

Wow, what an incredible week it has been! Ashley turned 1 week old today and it already feels like ages ago that I was pregnant and miserable. Life with this little girl is definitely interesting, especially when you add two little boys in the mix!

On Monday night Adam and I, following tradition, dropped off the kido's at my parents house to spend the night and then we went off for our last date night as parents of two children. We went to downtown Brea and went to Carnitas for some yummy mexican food for dinner. After that we headed over to the movies and saw The Borne Ultimatum. We had a wonderful night together and then headed home for a good night's sleep...course I was a bit nervous so sleep did not go so well for me, but I had to get used to that anyway, right?

The next morning we got up and got ready for the hospital. We stopped on the way in for some bagels and arrived at St. Jude around 8:00 a.m. Nurse Carol and Nurse Jean (she was being trained) were waiting for me and got me right into a room. Apparently it was not too busy that day so we got lots of nice attention from the staff. By the time they started my IV, got a baseline on the baby's heartbeat (strong) and contractions (none) then finally started the group B strep meds and pitosin it was around 9:30. They checked me to see where I was starting and I was at 2 cm and about 80% effaced. Not much change from the Friday before.

Contractions started up pretty much right away with the pitosin but were not really that strong. They kept uping my dosage about every 1/2 hour and asking if I wanted my epidural yet. When I had Aaron I was encouraged to get the epidural early and never really felt any contractions. This seemed to make the epidural much more painful. This time I wanted to wait until I was really feeling the pain before they got the epidural in. Around 1:00 p.m. Dr. Henderson came in to check on me. At that point I was about 4 cm so he decided to break my water. Soon after that the contractions got rolling even more so I decided it was time to throw in the flag and get the epidural. The anesteseologist, Dr. Wu, came in almost right away and we started. Adam was brave and stayed in the room, but we made him sit in a chair in the corner this time. My plan worked, and because of the stronger contractions the epidural did not seem as bad and it was a nice relief to have the pain go away. The nurses placed me on my side and left me alone for a while.

All afternoon my contractions were all over the place and they kept playing with the amount of pitosin they were giving me trying to make the contractions last longer without having them too close together. Around 5:00 Nurse Carol came in and checked me for dilation again...only 5 cm...ARGH!! I really had hoped to be up close to 6 or 7 at that point. The epidural had worked great on my left leg but did not really take much on my right side. I let Carol know of my discomfort (I was having to breathe through contractions) and she said she would send Dr. Wu back in. Soon after Dr. Wu came in and gave me a bolster shot on my epidural and that made me COMPLETELY numb in both legs. What a relief!!

By this time we had gathered quite a crowd down in the waiting room. Since it was dinner time I told Adam to go downstairs to the cafeteria with the family and get some dinner. I promised him I would call him if anything happened. When he left I snoozed for a little bit and read a little. It was so nice to have a quiet room after having visitors in and out all day. Around 6:30, about a 1/2 hour after Adam went down for dinner I started noticing some pressure in my bum. I was so numb from the bolster shot of epidural that I was not sure exactly what I was feeling. Adam came back shortly after and I told him what I was feeling and about the same time Carol came in. I told her I was feeling pressure and she said she would check me. Sure enough, I was at 10 cm and the head was right there.

At 7:00 p.m. Carol had me do a practice push to see how close I was. She quickly told me to stop pushing and called to the nurses station to send Dr. Henderson over. Things moved so quickly from there. They got the room set up and got me ready to have the baby. I was so numb still that they had to tell me when I was having a contraction so that I could push. It only took a few pushes and by 7:16 Ashley Marie made her entrance into the world!

Once the cord was cut (Adam actually did cut it!) they placed her immediately on my chest and that is where she stayed for about the next hour. She nursed and we took some pictures with her and bonded together. Finally around 8:30 Adam headed downstairs to get Alec and Aaron. They were both enthralled with their little sister and were very pleased with the gifts that she brought for them (Alec got a Thomas watch, and Aaron a new train.) The rest of the family came up after that and all got the chance to meet the sweet girl.

It's funny, by the third child you would think that some things would be "old hat" by now and not mean as much. This birth was just as amazing as when I gave birth to both of my boys, and I will cherish the memory always. Even though Ashley was a surprise pregnancy for me, I could not imagine having anything different in my life. I truly believe that God knew in my heart that I wanted a little girl to share my life with, and gave this gift to me. I could not be more honored that I have been given this opportunity to raise Ashley and give her the start to what I hope is an amazing, God centered life. I pray that our relationship always stays strong and that I have the same amount of friendship, love, and respect with her that I have with my own Mom.

It really is a girl!! Not that 4 ultrasounds could be wrong, but I did want to see her in person first just to be sure! Ashley was completely covered in in that white sticky vernix and the baby nurse guessed that based on the vernix as well as the lines on the bottom of her feet (?) she was closer to around 37 weeks rather than 39 weeks. At 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 18 1/2 inches long I am glad I did not carry her another 3 weeks, she would have been HUGE!!

Proud Mommy and Daddy.

Alec and Aaron meeting their sister for the first time. Alec was a little apprehensive about her and did not want to touch her. Aaron was VERY interested in her and kept looking at her, pointing, and saying, "Baby Ashley!!" over and over again. SO cute!

It is actually going to happen!!!

Well, I had a doctor's appointment this morning and I am 1-2 cm dilated and 80% efaced so the doctor felt comfortable scheduling me for a induction on Tuesday, the 25th! If I don't go on my own this weekend then we are all set for Tuesday! The next time I post it will be with some cute little girl pictures!!

Updates

Gosh I have been bad at updating this lately! There have been so many times that the kids have done or said something cute where I thought, I should sit down and put that in my blog. Did I? No! I have to get better at this when Ashley is here considering she most likely won't have a scrapbook so I need to journal somewhere.

I am currently just under two weeks away from my due date and I am SO ready to have this baby! The nursery is all done, the car seat is in the car (yes it fit, thank GOODNESS!) and my bag is packed. At my 37 week appointment last week I had not dialated at all which was a big disappointment. We were hoping to talk Dr. Henderson into a induction for next week but we will have to wait till our appointment on Friday to see if I have made any progress. Hopefully something will have changed and I will be able to get things moving.

Alec started school on September 11th (also Aunt Amy's birthday!) and he is LOVING it! I walked him to the classroom on the first day expecting him to be a little clingy to me. I signed him in outside his door and then turned to look for him but he was gone. He was already inside his classroom playing with his friends and getting on with his day. I had to pull him out just to get a picture of him outside the door. He announced on the way home that day, "Mommy, I like room 3 better than room 1." (Room 1 was where he was last year.) I asked him why, and he replied, "Because they have a better kitchen." That's my boy!! Once again, I really need to reconsider the amount of food network I watch around the boys! haha!

Alec was moved up one classroom due to a shuffle in age ranges this year so he is not in a classroom with all of his other friends from last year. I was wondering if this was going to be an issue for him but he seems to have adjusted. You might recall earlier posts about his girlfriend from last year, Carly. Well, that seems to have fizzled since she is in the next classroom up and has a different playground time than Alec. Being the savy 4 year old that he is, Alec of course had to move onto another girl. I found this out in the following conversation that was had on the way home from school last week...

Me - "So sweetie, who did you play with at recess today?"
Alec - "No one, I like to play alone."
Me - "Ok, did you play on the bikes?"
Alec - "Yep."
Silence for about 30 seconds
Alec - "But I did kiss Jacklyn in the sandbox today."
Me - "WHAT?? Why did you do that?"
Alec - "Because she is beautiful!"
Me - "WHERE did you kiss her?"
Alec - "On the shoulder."
Me - "What did she do?"
Alec - "She gave me a big smile."

Oh my gosh. I just about died when he said this! Needless to say, Alec is doing VERY well at school and hopefully the entire year will be just as enjoyable as the first two weeks have been.

Aaron has been quite the character himself lately. He is starting to talk and communicate much more clearly lately. He still has his own interesting way of pronouncing things, but I am a very good Mommy at translating. I keep trying to have him pronounce things the correct way when he says them wrong, but he has no time for that. Example...every time he sees a truck he has to point to it and yell out, "UCK!" No matter how many times I have him make a "T" sound (which he does) and then try to have him put it together with the "uck" sound, he will not say the word properly. I know I should not compare, but when Alec was his age he was so eager to learn how to say things the correct way. He is such a smart cookie, but he decides what exactly he is going to be smart about!

It is always interesting to see what kind of traits you are going to pass along to your children, good or bad. It has become quite clear lately just how much of me has been passed along to Aaron. Apparently when I was a little girl I was not only a picky eater (yes, even pickier than I am now) but I used to go into the backyard and suck on dirt clods all day long. Well, it is all coming back to me full circle with Aaron. He is such a little peanut, 50th percentile for height while only 5th percentile for weight at his 2 year appointment, but the kid won't eat food! There are certain foods that he will eat but anything outside of those certain food items will not be touched. He would rather starve and wait for the next meal to see if it is something that he likes better. I can't tell you how many times I have put him down to bed with him having only had milk and applesauce for dinner just for him to wake up the next morning and plow through 2 waffles for breakfast. I have actually taken to giving him pediasure drinks everyday just to make sure he is getting enough vitamins and calories in his diet. SO frustrating.

As I said before, I was a picky child so I certainly should understand. What goes beyond this is Aaron's oral fascination the rest of the day. EVERY time I turn around Aaron has something that he picked up off the ground in his mouth. It could be a dried up piece of food that I did not clean up from lunch (9 mos preggo here, I am not bending over after every meal to wash the floor) or it could be a rock from outside, or Aaron's personal favorite, Obi food. He won't eat the food on his plate, but heck, leave it on the floor for a day to dry out and he will give it a go! DISGUSTING!!!

The final straw came on Sunday when the entire family was going down for a nap. Alec was down in the office, I was on the couch, Adam in his chair, and Aaron in his bedroom. I asked Adam before I drifted off to sleep if he would go up and check on Aaron (he has had a hard time falling asleep for his naps lately.) Next thing I know I am woken up to Aaron screaming his head off while being brought down stairs and put in the penalty box by a very upset Daddy. I asked what happened and Adam just replied, "Go look at the window above Aaron's bed." Oh no. I ran upstairs and found that Aaron, instead of napping, had stood up on the headboard of his bed and eaten away huge chunks of drywall on the corner of the windowsill. Sigh. Needless to say there was a LONG penalty box served!

I seem to be focusing on the bad Aaron traits this post. I should also throw in some things about how freaking adorable he is also. One smile from that guy or having him come over and stroke my hair while saying, "I ya you mama" (I love you, Mama) and my heart just melts. He is such a sweetie bear and I honestly love that he is such a peanut because it makes it so much fun to snuggle with him (when he lets me.) Aaron is totally obsessed with airplanes and helicopters right now. You never realized just how many airplanes there are in the sky or on tv until you are spending time with Aaron. He is the first to point them out, but if you don't acknowledge what he is saying then he will just keep saying it until you say to him, "Yes baby, I see the airplane!"

I have so much fun staying home with my boys and thank God and my hard working husband every day that this opportunity has been given to me. I love watching them grow and discover new things and I look forward to watching them grow into young gentlemen. I am so looking forward to seeing what kind of an impact Ashley has on our family and how the boys react to her. I know that Alec will be ok (he is SO excited) but I do worry about Aaron a little. I just need to make sure that he knows he is still mommy's little boy and that nothing could ever replace him.

I guess I have spouted off long enough for one post. Hopefully the next time I post it will either be with a induction date or with a little baby in my arms and a very pleasant birth story!

Ashley at 30 weeks

Allie had gotten us a gift certificate for Prenatal Peek back in March and we were very excited to use it! We tried at 27 weeks but Ashley was breech and her face was completely covered with her hands and feet. Tonight, at 30 weeks, she was head down (good girl) and she only covered her face a few times with her hand. She seems to like sucking on her fingers quite a bit which was VERY cute to see!

We did not do a 3D ultrasound with either of the boys so it was SO much fun to do it with Ashley and get a sneek peak at her. I just can't wait to hold her in my arms!

Swimming Lessons

I have kind of slacked off in previous years with Alec and swimming lessons with the excuse that he would not remember anything between summers. This year I knew I had to get him going so we signed him up through the city for some sessions. Before the city sessions started we thought it would be a good idea for him to get a jump start with private lessons at our association pool. I found Seth to do those private lessons for us. We did a week and a half of private 1/2 hour lessons every day and Alec finally learned how to dunk his head under the water. Yeah, it took that long. Now he is an old pro at dunking and is moving on to other things like kicking and floating in his city lessons.
Our association pool in the morning. We did lessons early so that we would have the place to ourselves. You can see Aaron riding around the pool on his trike. I bring the trike to the pool when I don't feel like venturing in myself with Aaron.
Seth and Alec swimming away!
Alec and his first swimming instructor, Seth.

Miss Lori's Class

We have been attending Miss Lori's Kindergym classes since Alec was a little boy. This past year Aaron has been enjoying going just as Alec did. Aaron's favorite parts of the class are the bubbles and shaking the bells while marching in a circle. Alec attends class with us some of the time when Daddy is not available to be at home with him. When Alec goes he has a blast also!

I LOVE this picture of Alec coming through the crawl tunnel!

Aaron coming through the hoops in the obstacle course the last day of class.

Me and my boys. How in the world did I get so lucky to have two such handsome and good little guys?

Gardening with Grammie and Papa

On Saturday morning Alec and I went off to our Mommy and Me cooking class and left Aaron to spend some time with Grammie and Papa. When Alec and I came back we hung out for a while and helped Grammie and Papa plant some beautiful flowers in their front yard. We are so blessing having both sets of grandparents so close to us!! Alec and Grammie working together
Papa and the boys watering the newly planted flowers.
Baby Ashley at just six months pregnant. There is definitely a bump there!

Last day of preschool

Alec's last day of preschool was so much fun. All of the classes performed different "acts" and they put on a circus. Alec's class, being the youngest, were the banner wavers at the beginning. I did not put any pictures of that because Alec pouted through the entire thing because he did not get a doughnut on the way to school. He perked up after the show when we hung out on the lawn and had popcorn and ottor pops.

Daddy and Alec
Mommy and her big boy.

I can't believe his first year of school is done!

Last day of school pics

Alec's teachers Mrs. Shuplock and Mrs. Bouissiere. I could not have asked for better first teachers for Alec. They were warm and caring and gave him a great start in school!
Alec and Carly
Alec and his buddies from class, Adam and Lucas.

Star Wars Boys

Adam, Alec, and Aaron's new favorite thing to do? Play Star Wars on Adam's computer! I guess the boy stuff had to start ganging up on me at some point, and looks like this is where it starts. I have absolutely ZERO interest in computer games and my interest in Star Wars is not much better. I guess this is just one more reason that God gave me Ashley to play with! I am going to start buying Barbie Dolls now!!

Gettin' wet!

It had been getting so warm that when I came accros these swimming pools at Babies-r-us for $4.99 each, I could not resist getting them for the boys. Since they were so small I thought that two would be a good idea. I also figured it would save some arguements!

Alec's favorite thing to do in the water is to cook. Here he was making a white cake with green frosting. I of course had to tase it when it was done. I have to say, it was the absolute BEST pretend cake I have ever tasted!!

Aaron just likes to copy whatever Alec is doing at the time. Who knows what he was making??

My boys playing happily in their little pools. Life is good!

A late mothers day

For Mothers Day Alec's school put on a program for all the mommies. We met up in the church and then the kids came marching in. They stood on risers and sang songs for us which was very cute. My son, of course, just stood there waving at me or with his fingers up his nose the entire time. Go figure.

Alec is of course standing right next his main girl, Carly.

After the program we went outside to the grass area and the teachers had all set up different blankets for the mom's and kids to sit on. In class that morning the kids had helped make us a lunch of cookies and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We ate our lunch and then the kids presented the mom's with a special gift.

Alec is such a special little guy and I am so proud of him. I am wearing the gift he made for me in this picture. I have also worn it quite a bit since. Alec gets so tickled whenever he sees me wearing it!

Surprise!!

Adam came into town earlier than expected so we were able to get an appointment a week early for a gender determination. We went out to the place in Diamond Bar and I was quite nervous. I sat down in the chair and the tech started looking around. We could hardly believe our ears when we heard her say, "Yep! It's a GIRL!!" WHAT!?!? Seriously?! I made her check 4 times before the ultrasound was over and there was no denying it. We were thrilled!

The only person that knew we changed our appointment to a week earlier was Allie so I called her and told her the news. Everyone else was told on Saturday as a surprise. Right after we left the ultrasound place we had gone down to Target and bought two cute little dresses. On Saturday morning I went to my parents house (Adam was at school) and I gave my mom a gift as a early mothers day present. She opened up the bag and saw the little dress and looked at me. I told her that we had a ultrasound the night before and she just went NUTS! She and my Dad were so thrilled for us. We told Adam's parents that night in the same way and they were also thrilled.

As much as I hoped and prayed that I would have a daughter, a small part of me just never thought it would happen. I can't wait to meet this little girl and see what a different dynamic she brings to our household. She is certainly going to have to hold her own with her two big brothers!

We can't wait to meet you Ashley Marie!!

Field Trip Time!

For Alec's school they do a field trip every year down to the tide pools at Laguna Beach. I dropped Aaron off to spend the morning with Grandma and Alec and I made a day of it!

This was Alec's first bus ride and he LOVED it, despite his face in this picture. It was an old school yellow school bus so you can guess how a 6 foot tall pregnant lady fit in there....

Alec at his favorite part of the tide pools. He liked this spot because he could get close enough to the water for it to lap up over his feet.

We saw some crabs, lots of shells, and some other really slimy stuff. After the tide pools we went up to a grassy area and had a picnic lunch with the rest of the school. It was a wonderful day and I look forward to going on many more field trips with Alec!

Third time around...

It is interesting going through this pregnancy for the third time around. Not that I would ever expect pregnancy to be boring but I suppose I thought there would be a sense of, "I have done this two other times already, how exciting can it be?" Pretty darn exciting actually! We had our first ultrasound at 13 weeks and my heart just melted all over again when I saw that little heart beating along with arms and legs moving around. Absolutely NO sense of been there, done that.

We had our "big" ultrasound this last Friday before Adam left for his training up in Sacramento. We of course wanted to make sure that all the important parts of the body were working properly but we were also looking forward to hopefully finding out the sex. The ultrasound is usually done at 20 weeks but because Adam would be out of town for almost 3 weeks we decided to do it early. Thankfully everything showed up as being healthy with the baby but unfortunately they could not tell the sex yet. The ultrasound tech said that according to her measurements the baby was about 17 weeks 4 days instead of 18 weeks 2 days. That means that my due date has now been pushed back to October 1st! I guess 4 days does not seem like a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it sure sounds like a lot right now!

The boys have been so wonderful with me and this pregnancy. Aaron is vaguely aware of what is going on. He will come up to me, lift up my shirt, and say, "Baby!" So cute!! THEN he will lift up his own shirt, pat his own tummy and say, "Baby!" Still cute, but not quite accurate! :) Alec is the one that is SO much fun to watch this time around. For the first few months he was convinced that we were having a girl but the last few weeks he has changed to a boy. It will be interesting to see what we get! Alec loves coming over, putting his hand on my tummy and saying that they baby moved and that the baby is giving him hugs and kisses. I love seeing him get so excited about it. I just hope the enthusiasm stays as high when the baby is actually here!!

I am starting to pop out much more and actually look pregnant instead of that weird in-between stage where non one is quite sure. Despite a little heartburn things are feeling really good and hopefully it will stay that way. Adam gets back into town on the 17th of May so I have scheduled a outside ultrasound for Friday the 18th at 9:00 a.m. I will be 21 weeks at that point so there should not be any issue determining if it is a Ashley or Anderson...we hope. I will keep you updated!

Kasey and Aaron

On April 7th we met up with Brian, Carrie, and Kasey at The Whole Enchilada for dinner for Brian's birthday. It is always difficult taking the little ones to restaurants but it certainly makes it easier when Aaron and Kasey entertain each other!

Kasey and Aaron enjoying rice and chips together...this is how romances start, right?
OOHHHHH!!! Is that hand holding that I see?
Wow!! Is this a glimpse into the future? Alec and Kasey sitting in highchairs K-I-S-S-I-N-G!! Someone needs to tell Aaron that he is suppose to close his eyes when he kisses a girl!

Go Angels!!

On Friday, April 6th Phil, Natalie and Mya called and invited us to the Angel game. They had 3 extra tickets so we were able to take Alec to his very first game. Natalie's company owns the tickets so they were field level, right down the third base side...the perfect seats to have two 3 year olds in.

Alec and Daddy before the game. We got there early so that we could show Alec all around the ballpark. Alec was SO excited!
What is a child's first baseball game without a souvenir? Daddy went and bought Alec his very first official Angels hat. Alec did not want a child's hat, he wanted one JUST like Daddy's so he ended up with one that was about 10 sizes too big for him. Oh well, at least he will be able to wear it for a LONG time!!

Alec and Mya did very well at the game and had a blast playing together. After the game, which the Angels won, they had the Friday night fireworks. Alec was a little apprehensive at first since they were so close being shot off in the parking lot, but he really got into them during the show.

We had a wonderful time introducing Alec to the world of Angels Baseball and he can't wait to go again!!!

Camping with Daddy

At the beginning of April Adam took Alec on his first camping trip! They went down to Caspers Wilderness Park right by San Juan Capistrano. Alec was SO excited to be able to sleep in a tent and spend the day with Daddy. They did all things fun, including picnic lunches, long hikes, and playing on the playground at the campground. The only bummer with the trip was the blisters that Alec got on the back of his feet from the new hiking boots he was wearing...but that certainly did not stop him from having lots of fun with Daddy. They can't wait to do it again!

Long overdue update

It is so hard to believe that it is March 31st and I am updating the blog for the first time this year. So sad! Well, not to make excuses, but it has been quite busy. The Christmas season went by in a flash and we enjoyed spending it with lots of friends and family. In December we received the wonderful news that Adam was going to be assigned to a detective spot starting in January so we had to bust our butts and do some shopping! Since Adam was used to wearing uniforms to work and jeans and t-shirts on the weekends we had a lot to buy. Thankfully we found out early enough to put nice work clothes on Adam's Santa Christmas list!!

We welcomed in the New Year by having some friends and family over on New Year's eve. It was a nice night and we actually stayed up past midnight! Quite a accomplishment for parents of two young boys! New Years day we spent hanging around the house and enjoying our family. Adam was scheduled to start at the detective bureau on January 16th (which happens to be my parents anniversary) so we decided to head up to the mountains the weekend before with my entire family and have a nice snow weekend. Unfortunately we had a incident on the way up on Friday, putting on snow chains, where my Dad started having some chest pains. We immediately headed home and sent him to the hospital to get checked out. Long story short, my Dad ended up having triple bypass surgery on January 15th to repair a 98% blockage on his main artery. The doctor said that if the surgery had not been performed then he would have died of a massive heart attack within the next month or two. We could not feel more blessed that the blockage was found and fixed so we have many more years with my wonderful Dad! What a wonderful anniversary gift for my parent's anniversary!!

The week following the surgery was crazy to say the least. Adam started his new position, we were trying to visit Dad at the hospital and helping my mom out at home. To add to the craziness Adam and I found out on the Thursday of that week that I am expecting a baby! WOW were we shocked!!! It was certainly not something that we planned, but who are we to question God's will? The new little one is due on September 26th of this year and we are getting pretty excited! The most fun thing was telling everyone that we were pregnant. Since we were not even trying it was a shock to EVERYONE!!

The boys are doing wonderfully. Alec is SO excited about the new baby that he kisses my belly every morning and every night. He is convinced it is a girl and refers to her as Ashley. I keep telling him that it might be a boy (Anderson) but he is not buying it. Sure would be nice if he was right, but I would certainly take another little boy also...as long as it is healthy. Alec is enjoying school and I just registered him for next year's classes. He has made lots of friends and our social calendar is filling up quickly with play dates and birthday parties. His favorite friend at school is a little red headed girl named Carly. He calls her his, "sweet girl." I just about DIED when he referred to her as that the first time as that is usually his name for me. I thought it would be much longer before I had to deal with this stuff! Alec is so compassionate and smart and I am so proud of the boy he is turning into. I can't wait to see what the future holds for him!

Aaron is doing well also. He is still a peanut but he thinks he is about the same size (and age) as Alec. He wants to do whatever Alec is doing and play with whatever Alec is playing with. He has quite the temper and will not hesitate to let you know when you have done something that does not agree with him. Although whining is still is primary source of communication, he is starting to use more words. Popular ones are now...doggie, mammie (grammie), baby, peeees (please), and ah-ah-ah (his blanket). Aaron is completely in his element when he is outside, preferably on his scooter. If his scooter is not available then he will settle for sucking the dirt off of rocks in his mouth. Yes, this is a inherited trait...I used to suck on dirt clods as a child...but see how well I turned out!?! :)

Things look bright for the future and we are enjoying every second of it. Adam LOVES his new position and is drudging through school. He only has one year left and can't wait for it to be over. I am finally past my morning sickness stage of pregnancy so hopefully I will be able to take on projects that have been neglected over the past few months and get moving. I promise to update the blog more frequently and add some pictures. I hope all my faithful (but few by this point I am sure) readers are doing well and I will keep you updated!