A Big Brother

Just found out today that Easton is going to have a little brother. Ultrasound looks good and everything seems to be fine with the baby, an answer to prayers. We are really excited and I'm glad that Easton will have someone close to his age to be friends with as they grow up. I've been thinking about all the things he can teach his little brother. I'm hoping he will teach his brother to:

sing and play the piano (it's hilarioius to watch Easton sing with his keyboard he gets very into it)

say I love you mama/dada

"run faster" (that's his latest thing to do, he starts running and then says run faster run faster!)

play blocks

"help you mama" (he always wants to help with everything and if he can pass that on to little bro I would love it)

go to church (easton loves going to church, even if during the services sometimes you can't tell)

and many more...

Even though I know there are other not so great things he will teach his brother to drive his parents crazy, I think Easton will be a great big brother. This little one will be lucky to have him in his life. God has blessed our family so much and I can't wait to meet its newest member. Although now I am VERY outnumbered.

Christmas Day (ish)

All I can say is Easton got really spoiled this Christmas. It started a few days early when he received this present from Grandpa Andy. The thing that is really cool about this workbench is it has been through their two sons, and several of the other church boys. Each time getting a little more added to it, and now it has made it's way down to Easton. I LOVE this gift and he does too. He has played with it everyday since he got it. This doesn't even show the whole array of tools that came with the bench.




Ready to go to work!

After that Christmas continued on the 25th and Grandma and Grandpa's house. Where the family opened more gifts.

This pile of wrapping and gifts doesn't even put a dent in what was there for the grandkids that morning. They are very lucky indeeed.

Then after a morning at the grandparents house we went back home and opened our gifts. We got up too late to do it before we went to grandma's, which was totally worth it!

Here he is with his new sleeping bag and blanket from Grandad. He thought they were very cool.

Daddy and his boy their 2nd Christmas together.

Had to have one with mommy too even though I'm still in my sweats and haven't gotten ready for the day yet.

THEN we went to dinner with the in laws (well my in laws) it was quite a busy day.



Easton and his best bud Erik sharing a roll.

Here the boys are again hiding in the curtains. This was their favorite game till the curtain rod started to fall and they had to stop. (Don't worry we fixed it!)

Here the kids are listening to the Christmas story about the birth of Jesus.

Then what a shock....MORE presents. Seriously we could've given him nothing from mom and dad and he still would've had way more than he needed. He definitely got more from everyone else than he did from us anyway.

This one is just too funny not to post. Logan after he "smelled" his uncle's pie.

We had a great Christmas this year and as always I am reminded of how truly blessed my family and I are. I could've done without even one gift and still had more than most people do don't have enough room under their tree for all the presents. I have an amazing husband, a wonderful son, and a family (on both sides) that can't be beat. The greatest gift of all of course is the reason we celebrate this season in the first place...Jesus. I am overwhelmed when I think of the greatness of that sacrifice for us. We have all been given more than we could ever deserve, but is His pleasure to give, if we would just accept the gift.

Chrismastime!

We decorated our Christmas tree last night, much to daddy's dismay. He loves the fact that Jesus was born, but Christmas isn't his favorite holiday. He would be perfectly happy to not have a tree, do presents, or any of that. But because he loves me he puts up with Christmas music, ornaments, and presents under the tree. He even helped us decorate. He put on one ornament, and only because Easton said "Dada, help?" Not even he could resist that. Sadly I forgot to get out the camera until he had already fulfilled his decorating obligations so there is no proof of his involvement, but he was there behind the camera for the rest of these.


Taking the ornaments out of the box was more fun than putting them on the tree.


We made quite the mess before everything was all said and done.

He put this one up all by himself.

By the time we got close to putting up the star decorating had lost some of it's appeal. He was starting to get a little tired of ornaments and having his picture taken.

I didn't get a picture of it, but when we first plugged in the tree Easton went right over and started trying to blow out all the lights. The holidays have been so much more fun this year now that he's getting big enough to be excited and help out. Next, cookies!

Smells...

There are lots of fun things about being pregnant: seeing an ultrasound, hearing that crazy fast heartbeat, feeling the baby kick, having your hair and nails grow super fast, etc. One thing that is not so fun about pregnancy is this crazy increased sense of smell. I don't know how you normally smell sensitive people handle it on a daily basis I feel for you. Luckily I'm not one that's terribly bothered by smells, except when I'm pregnant.

So far I've had to buy new deodorant, body wash, face soap, lotion, and shampoo because everything I had I can't stand now. Too sweet, or too strong, or too gross. I had to go with all the sensitive skin unscented stuff so now taking a shower doesn't make me want to gag.

It's amazing what smells I notice now more than ever. Dirty diapers are a whole new experience, public restrooms, and driving by fast food restaurants can be killer. I also really notice people's breath, and you don't have to be that close to me. (Don't worry anyone who has been talking to me recently...I haven't noticed it in my friends) Cashiers and bank tellers, Walmart greeters...It's not fun to go shopping right after someone's lunch break :) There is no way I could go to the dentist right now and have someone that close to my face unless I could be certain they had eaten an entire package of breath mints before they came near.

Although it may seem like it, this isn't a complaining post. I actually find it more funny than anything. I was just thinking about it today when I took a shower and looked around at all my new products. I'm the one of the cheapest people you'll ever meet, but it was worth it to buy temporary replacements to give my poor little nose a break!

Wow it's been forever since I've posted!

I haven't been on here in such a long time, but today I was thinking about some things that just made me happy to be a mom. I'm glad I'm a mom everyday, but some days this kid of mine is just too cute and he makes me laugh even more. How can I not love it when...

He stops in the middle of playing runs over and says "Mama, hug. Kisses!" He gives me a big hug and kiss and then goes back to playing.

He is a little gassy and says, "PU mama, stinky" and then laughs and laughs. (Who taught him to think that was funny?? One guess!)

He really wants something (animal crackers, juice, etc) and he comes over says, "Mama, animal cackah, please" accompanied by raised eyebrow and cheesy grin.

I start to take out the trash and he drops what he's doing runs over and says "Help!" and grabs the recycle trash can to carry it outside.

At night when we put him to bed he says his prayers and we sing songs. Then when its time to lay down he whispers "Night night, love you." (It's the whipsering part that's so stinkin cute!)

I just love this kid of mine! I can't wait to see what kind of personality the next one will have. Hopefully a lot of it just like Easton. Never a dull moment when he's around and I love it!

Miracles of Modern Medicine...and of God!

Tonight I'm home thinking how very thankful I am for medication. (Just a warning this is going to be long so hopefully you can bear with me!) But let me back track. I need to begin by saying how very thankful I am for my concerned friends and family who remind me of what I should already know, but often don't. I spent last week being miserable, as you saw from my last post. I had been terribly sick and kept nothing, not even water down for about 4 days. I figured it was just part of the pregnancy curse and wasn't going to worry about it too much. Just whine and complain and wait for it to pass. Well, last Sunday at church several of my concerned friends told me I NEEDED to call my doctor. This wasn't normal and getting dehydrated would only cause unneccesary problems. I was also asked if I had been administered to. I hadn't, I was thinking getting administered to because you've got morning sickness is like getting administered to so labor won't hurt. It's part of the process and you just have to deal with it right?

Well, Monday came and went and I didn't call my doctor. I had an appointment on Wednesday anyway and thought I should just wait. That day I got phone calls and text messages from concerned friends making sure I had called the doctor. I sheepishly told them I hadn't, and knew they were still worried. So after promises to call the next day I went to bed sick again. The next morning I almost didn't call, but remembered my promise and decided I had better do it. So I did, and they called in an anti nausea prescription for me. The next day I went to my appointment and was told by my doctor I had waited much too long to do something about this. It was not healthy for me or the baby I'm supposed to be taking care of. Well, after a few days of being on the medication I haven't been sick once! My stomach still feels upset, but the pain level and nausea have decreased significantly. This is definitely bearable. Just goes to show I should've listened to my friends earlier and taken care of this. Would've saved myself a lot of grief.

Well, I listened to one piece of advice and called the doctor and got on medication, but I still hadn't listened to the second to be administered to. The first few days on the meds seemed amazing. I could eat crackers and sip broth and it stayed down. This seemed like a miracle in itself, but I really shouldn't spend the next few weeks or months living on broth and a few crackers. The medicine helped, but I still couldn't really eat. Wednesday night at church we were going through prayer requests before the season of prayer and I knew I needed to ask for administration. I was administered to that night and now I am able to eat small amounts of regular food without getting sick. I know the continued improvement is due to that administration.

I know God has blessed me tremendously already. He has blessed me by giving me people in my life who are concerned for me and who give excellent advice. He has blessed me with a doctor who is caring and knowledgable. He has blessed me with the child I'm lucky enough to be carrying. He has been with me and I know he will continue to be. After my last post I knew I couldn't leave it at that. I had to share God's blessings to me throughout this pregnancy so far.

Whining and Complaining

No cute pictures of Easton today. Today I'm taking a moment to complain about Eve. She messed up and part of her punishment was travail in childbirth. Did that really have to extend to the rest of us?? So many think this just means labor. Honestly labor really wasn't all that bad, and that is without an epideral. It's the prelabor part I'm whining about today. This morning I woke up feeling especially sick and I've been moping about it since I got out of bed. I know I was sick when I was pregnant the first time, but the puking didn't start till almost the 8th week. I was less than 6 weeks when it began with this one, and it has been going full force ever since. The last few days I have thrown up everything that has gone into my mouth within minutes of eating or drinking it. I'm very tired of looking into my toilet bowl. And I'm very tired of feeling sick to my stomach all day every day. I hate to be "that" preganant lady. You know the one...the one who looks completely miserable all the time, the one who moans and groans with every movement, the one who will talk your ear off about every little ache and pain, the one who got the pregnancy waddle the day they took the home pregnancy test...that one! I don't want to be her, but today I see "that" lady's face in my mirror (gasp!!) Where did she come from? Why am I being sucked into that temptation to complain? Well, to all my friends out there who will be spending the next few months around me I promise I will try my hardest not to continue being THAT preganant lady. But today, just for a moment I am her. I am whining and complaining and wishing I was one of those lucky women who never felt the pain of morning sickness. But now I say good-bye to the grouch and hello to the one who knows that no matter what the end result is completely worth it. I can't look at my son who is already here and think anything else!