My 35th Birthday

I turned 35 on Thursday, May 3rd.

My day started with terrific hugs and kisses from my three boys. Then Matt lovingly sent me back to bed to enjoy an extra hour of sleep (sigh - wonderful!). As I ate breakfast I opened my birthday card from Matt. Inside were words that made me cry, a Jamba Juice gift card to use this summer (yum!), and what I'm most excited about - the gift of Thursday evenings to myself this month!! (One Thursday night includes a date night with Matt while PopPop and Nana babysit the boys.)

Out the door we later went to the bi-monthly MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting at church while Matt went to work. At MOPS my tablemate/friend Beth announced to all the Moms present that it was my birthday that day. About 5 or 10 minutes later a box of 12 mini Cupcake Royale cupcakes was given to me. I later learned the cupcakes were delivered from my thoughtful husband for me to share with my girlfriends.

There were some mini cupcakes left over so after the boys and I returned home for lunch, we dived in and enjoyed one mini cupcake each. Below are pictures of David's enjoyment of his chosen cupcake.

 

For dinner Matt treated us to Pagliacci pizza and salad (I loved not having to plan dinner!), plus a regular sized Cupcake Royale cupcake for dessert.

I decided it was probably about time to post a mid-pregnancy photo, so here I am with my birthday cupcake at almost 26 weeks along (out of 40 weeks which is August 11th). YIKES! I'm sure I'll start hearing "you're due any day now, right?" But that's okay -- you just continue to grow getting big and healthy baby girl!!

Happenings Around Here

Here are some catch-up photos and a video from last month and this month.

Jay and David playing together on the kitchen floor with pop cans and toys. They are getting to be really good playmates (most of the time, that is).

David "hanging" on a Saturday in Daddy's golf visor hat.

This is a common sight. The boys take turns climbing up on this chair whenever their curiosity gets the best of them to look out the window at all the construction trucks and vehicles that have been working on replacing the sewer pipe on our street since last fall. Hopefully the project will be completed by the end of May. We'll see...it was supposed to be completed by the end of March.

Jay drew this picture for me last week. My face is the small round one at the top. He told me I've eaten a banana (the big shape in the middle) and it goes down, down, down for baby to eat (the line leading down to baby's face).

And yesterday I was able to capture this video of David singing "Jesus Loves Me."

Easter 2012

Coloring Easter Eggs!

On Good Friday, April 6th, we traveled to Nana and PopPop's house in Oregon for Easter Weekend. Saturday Aunt Shawn (Matt's sister), Uncle Mike, and Cousins Alex and Joshua joined us for a celebratory Easter dinner (at lunchtime). After dinner and before dessert, Nana and PopPop hid plastic candy-filled Easter eggs around the house for our boys to find. They had a blast!

PopPop's birthday was Sunday, April 8th, and Nana's birthday is coming up on Saturday, April 28th. Nana made PopPop a key lime pie for our Easter dinner dessert. Shawn and I conspired together for a surprise for Nana - I made and brought a secret marionberry pie to celebrate her birthday, too! Here are some pictures of them lighting their birthday candles.

Here they are joining in on the birthday song, singing it to each other. Aren't they the cutest??

And I captured the candle extinguish moment - puffed out cheeks and all!

And the following photos are ones Jay captured when he used the camera to capture his own Easter weekend moments. :) They made me laugh.

After dinner, it was time to put David down for his nap (and I took a nap, too). Meanwhile PopPop and Nana took Jay out on a little walk/explore near their home. When he returned Jay reported all the fun things he did -- throwing sticks in the little stream and watching them travel through a pipe and out the other side, etc. He also returned with a bouquet of yellow flowers which he gave to me with a "I love you, Mommy" and a hug around my leg. MELT MY HEART!! (Special thanks to Nana for helping Jay with that project.)

After church with Nana and PopPop on Easter Sunday we traveled back home. Later that evening we brought the boys to a favorite nearby park with waterfront access and I captured this sweet moment. It was a perfect, beautiful ending to a terrific weekend.

Our "New" Used Van!

We are now the owners of a 2006 Slate Green Metallic Honda Odyssey EX!

A bonus is that it is an 8-seater van -- it has a stowable 2nd-row seat if we desire. (We'll be storing it since we'll need Jay to have access to the 3rd row once baby #3 arrives. I like a good bonus item that we weren't expecting.)

It's a Girl!!

On Friday afternoon, March 23, 2012 I went in for my 20 week ultrasound to learn how this 3rd baby is developing and to hopefully get a glimpse about whether this little bundle of joy was a girl or boy.

My Mom, Amy, arrived on Thursday for an extended weekend with us (she left late afternoon Saturday). It was special to have her in the room to witness the ultrasound (just like it was special to have PopPop Jim and Nana Carol at the ultrasound when we learned we were expecting a boy as baby #2 -- David).

As we sat there in the room looking at the ultrasound screen, Mom told us it was 35 years ago (her birthday in 1977) that she had an x-ray taken to "see" my twin sister Molly and me for the first time (approximately 1-1/2 months before she delivered). The doctor 35 years ago wanted to make sure we were both head down (we were) in preparation for her impending delivery. They couldn't tell gender because of it being an x-ray, but she experienced her first look at her twin girls that day. I thought it was pretty cool that 35 years later (to the day) she got her first glimpse at her first granddaughter.

It was yet another reminder that God's timing is perfect in every way!


(The white blob seen above her eyes/nose is her right hand. The black blob in her chest is her heart.)

David's First Sentence - 20 months old

I've been terrible about recording David's firsts. Guess that comes with 2nd child territory, but I really want to be better about it.

We spent this three-day President's Day weekend in Oregon with Matt's parents (Nana and PopPop). David has been having quite the word explosion since Christmas time with several new words said each day. He has quite the vocabulary now. But this weekend was momentous in the fact that he said is first full sentence over and over again.

"PopPop, where are you?" was his first sentence when PopPop went upstairs. It was followed by, "Daddy, where are you?" "Mommy, (or Mama) where are you?" and "Nana, where are you?" Sometimes the words are crystal clear, other times not so much, but the intonation is always perfect.

It is also fun to hear David call his brother Jay, "Nay." And when we remind him to say "please" he puts in hand on his chin and sweetly says, "Peas." There are so many other fun sayings, but these are a few that come quickly to mind.

What a fun stage we are in (with both boys, actually). I just need to stop and soak it in from time to time. Blogging helps me do this, so I need to "get back on the blog-horse" so to speak, huh?

Kids' Christmas Program at Church

Tonight was Jay's first ever church concert performance. His age group was the first up in tonight's program since they were the youngest participants (and of course, they stole the show with all their funny antics).

This first video clip is kinda boring, but kinda humorous, too. That is why I've decided to include it here on the blog. Towards the end you hear David in the background yelling, "Mama." But he isn't calling me. He is actually calling out to Jay. Totally confusing, right? I've just recently discovered that when David calls "Mama" while putting his hand over his mouth, he is really calling out to his brother Jay.

"Joy to the World"

"This Little Light of Mine"

And we received this encore performance of the Alphabet Song on the way home (sung twice through).

It was so fun to have Aunt Traci, Uncle Keith, and cousins Samantha and Sydney there to support Jay's first concert debut, too. The evening was capped off with a Christmas cookie potluck. Fun! It was a memorable and successful evening. We just love our church and it was such a joy to gather together seeing our kids singing about the real meaning of Christmas.