TexasMacks

I've been shot by Cupid

2012-02-13T22:08:00.000-06:00

I think I live vicariously through my children when it comes to holidays. I'm making up for the days when we just gave Valentines (boring old paper and envelopes) and called it a day. Now there's so many options for Valentines out there that I have enough ideas for when they're freshmen in college. I'm sure they'll looooove that?!

Before you start with thinking I'm some rock star, I can't take credit. I just tweaked an idea I saw online and then put my husband to work on it. I literally bought the suckers and cut three slits for the suckers while watching Biggest Loser (can you say oxymoron?). That's about how much of a contribution I made besides taking the pictures.

Next, I had some fun making up some brownies for their teachers. I figure that I really do need some brownie points because I know these boys can be a handful at times. A little bribery goes a long way.

Easiest gift ever. I got these cute little Chinese take out boxes at Wal-Mart, threw some brownies in the oven and slapped some ribbons on the box. I think this might be my staple gift every year for teachers for Valentines Day. The tag? Another husband contribution. My poor husband....he's always sucked into my craft projects.

And I really needed a creative outlet this weekend to just get my mind off of things. People ask, "Where do you find the time?" But honestly, getting my hands all dirty with glue or doing something creative helps me get my non-stop brain onto thinking about something else. It's the next best thing I can do for an "off" switch.

So I made Nolan's teacher a mailbox. I made a little pedestal stand. But it was terrible. After an attempt to spray paint a ceramic candleholder (doesn't work by the way), and a light dusting of snow coming to town -that pedestal is rolling around somewhere in my backyard and I'm too lazy and it's too cold to go get it outside. Oh well, it turned out cute even without the pedestal.

And a certain someone is really excited to give it to her tomorrow.

Sure do love my family and doing these fun crafty things for them. Hope they let me do it again next year!

A conversation I had with Nolan tonight:

Nolan: Sarah asked me to marry her.

Me: And...

Nolan: I didn't want to tell her that I have five girlfriends. Actually, just four.

Me: So what did you say?

Nolan: I told her yes, but really I'm just going to marry Landry.

So many things wrong with that conversation...

Four months

2012-01-30T20:30:00.001-06:00

Yes, I said four months as in a THIRD of a year. I can't even believe it.

How is it that when I was pregnant time stood completely still and every minute seemed like eternity, but now that she's here with her crystal clear blue eyes and her porcelain skin, that I lose all track of time when I'm with her.

I could kiss that neck all day long...if I can actually find it somewhere in there. I promise she has one. We play hide and seek with it all the time. And don't act like you don't notice those thunder thigh rolls...go ahead, look at them. You know you want to squish her.

So now my newborn is officially NOT a....well, I don't really want to talk about it.

4 month stats:

Weight: 16 lbs. 3 oz (88th percentile)
Height: 26.75" (95th percentile)
Head: 42 cm (50th percentile)
Cuteness: Off.the.charts

And certain Missy just discovered she can roll with the best of them. Her big brothers better watch out....I see steamrollin' coming to our house in the near future.

Landry meets Kentucky

2012-01-22T22:19:00.001-06:00

We were brave enough to take our first trip as a family of five and smart enough to know that a car ride was not the way to do it! Landry took her first flight to meet the rest of her family (besides Gram and Pop).

Kentucky (horse capital of the world) + Campbell = Heaven

And that was just minutes off the plane.

Landry didn't hold back her cuteness for a second. She was full force meeting her Kentucky family for the first time.

And I think her cousins might have been the most excited of them all that they FINALLY have a GIRL cousin.

I gotta say that Landry was pretty darn excited herself to see that there were other girls in the family than just her mama!

Although her bitter beer face doesn't quite express that...

I gotta tell you this little girl was S.P.O.I.L.E.D with lots of holding and loving and she loved every.single.minute of it.

Meeting Uncle Casey for the first time was so heartwarming too. He's got a special knack for little girls and she seemed to really dig the fact that he looks so much like her daddy.

Our niece, Dory, was seriously born to babysit. I gotta fly this girl down for the summers asap. She's more mature than majority of my 5th graders and just completely enamored with Landry.

And this is what Dory will look like exactly in another 30 years or so. Meet Melissa, her mother, my makes-me-feel-like-a-little-person sister-in-law.

The rest of the week was filled with more love and hugs and meeting great Aunt Sug (And yes, it's short for 'Sugar').

I'm so in love with Justin's 91-year-old grandmother, Rosie. She's the real genuine deal that grandmothers are made out of. You can't help but love every bit of her.

She was the most gracious hostess letting us crash at her place and waking her up at 4:00 a.m to catch a plane home. It was fun having a slumber party at her house, although next time I could have used more of the "slumber" part.

Seeing these two girls together that are 90 years apart was so special. I think Landry might outweigh Rosie too soon if we're not too careful. We haven't even started this girl on cereal yet. Guess I've got some buttermilk flowing through my body!

All the time spent playing and lovin' was exactly what we needed to jump start 2012.

The kids were an absolute dream when it came to the airplanes. Thank goodness, we don't exactly have great luck when it comes to traveling so I'll take it without complaint!

Christmas morning

2012-01-11T21:29:00.000-06:00

Christmas morning...I can't believe that our kids slept in til 8:30. Actually, I can since they didn't go to bed until 10:30. Sleepy eyes, stuffed animals and goo goo in hand they were ready to see what Santa brought.

Santa didn't disappoint this year. Nolan got a new bike (without training wheels) from Santa. And I'm proud to say that on our last day of Christmas break that Nolan rode his bike for at least 10 seconds!!! WOOHOO! It's a crash landing every time, but we'll get there.

My favorite part of Christmas morning was opening our gifts from Nolan. Our school put together a Penguin Patch that allowed kids to shop for family members as a fundraiser for PTA. It was beyond adorable how excited he was that he went shopping by himself and it was a secret that he got to keep from us.

I'm not joking when I say that he was more excited about giving us our gift than he was about opening his presents. I absolutely love that about him. It was the first glimpse that I saw that maybe all those lessons about "it's better to give than receive" and "think about others" aren't falling on deaf ears.

He picked the most beautiful amethyst ring. Yes, it turned my finger green within an hour, who cares? It was my favorite gift because he was crazy proud of himself for picking it out.

His gift to Justin was a ornament that said "Dad" and we hung it right in front of our tree. I've come so far wanting my tree to coordinate. I can say that without a doubt that our tree might not have a theme or a color but it is full of memories and love.

Campbell got a bracelet and I think Nolan was looking for a better reaction, but as we all know...3 year old reactions are usually never in your favor.

Landry was seriously the best sport ever. She sat in her bouncer and was happy as a clam.

I think the poor thing was finally excited to see some pink toys and dolls. Of course that girl got clothes. I don't need Christmas as an excuse to get her more outfits.

New towels for the boys and seeing them wear these after bath time makes it really hard to resist running after them and kissing them.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand this is the bomb that went off in my living room and that was AFTER picking up some of the wrapping and tissue paper. Notice how after all the gifts were unwrapped and I needed up cleaning up, everyone got really sleepy suddenly.

My grandparents were in town from Amarillo and we spent the entire evening with them and the boys loved showing my grandmother their email from Santa.

My nieces came by the day after for a short visit and Landry was loving all that attention. She's going to love going to see them especially with all these boys in the house.

Christmas Eve and Christmas day were so full of non-stop action but that's how you know you've used every single second to squeeze in as much family time as you possibly can. When you're exhausted, it means you've loved hard.

It was such a great Christmas and believe it or not...there's more! At this rate, I'll finish up my blogging in February but I can't forget about our Christmas in Kentucky.

Fa la la la la la la la

2012-01-04T21:15:00.000-06:00

I'm finally catching my breath from the Christmas break. I can definitely say that we used every second for family time. This is the second year in a row that we've gone caroling with our youth group and others from church some of our home-bound members (or just members we can't get enough of) from our church.

It's so easy to get sucked into the insanity of Christmas and forget the true reason and this year was no different than last. It completely put me in the Christmas spirit. As Buddy the Elf says (and he ain't lying) "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."

Preach it, Buddy.

So we got our recorders fine-tuned, our baby snugli on, and our finest Christmas outfits to belt it out.

I mean who wouldn't love to see a big group looking this great with cymbals, recorders, and maracas in hand singing "Silent Night?"

We visited some of our sweet friends that joined the church at the same time that we did and either they're really good actors, or we really did make their day.

The second home is one I just love to visit. It's so beautifully decorated. I think it may be more of a present to us to see their home rather than our gift of singing!

Last, but certainly not least, we visited my favorite church couple. You know, those sweet couples that you see that are never without each other and are always holding hands? And the ones that you picture when you're talking to your spouse about how you want to grow up to be? And the ones that when you see them at church walk by, you can't help but say, "Awwwwwww!"

Yep, that's this couple. I mean, seriously, could they be any stinkin' cuter?

They are like this ALL the time! See, here they go again...

I'd like to say it was all sunshine and lollipops. That we all held hands and skipped as we sang carols but there were also moments that brought up something new our kids were exposed to and a new step to encounter in our parenthood journey.

We made two visits to nursing homes. One of the homes we went to, the people were clapping, playing piano and just oohing and aahing over Landry (they were wise people, if I do say so myself) but another home we visited was on the sadder side. There were hospital beds, wheelchairs and smiles weren't as abundant.

Nolan asked, "Why did those people look so sad and like they were about to die?" His observation is amazing and keen.

Wow. Deep stuff. What do you say to that? Probably not the best time to tell your 6 year old that we are all going to die.

The days and nights that followed were plagued with lots of questions about death and growing old. He kept telling us throughout the day that he didn't want us to grow old and die. Bedtime became quite a struggle, to say the least, for two weeks reassuring him that we're healthy and young. My poor Nolan has dealt with anxiety issues over the years. We've dealt with being afraid of the wind, fireworks, putting his head under water and the list goes on and on and on.

I pray, more than anything, that this experience is one that fills his heart with memories of spreading joy, feeling the spirit and doing for others.

Top 11 in '11

2011-12-31T23:51:00.004-06:00

2011 has been such a wonderful year. Finding the photos to best document our year was near impossible but I think I've got my favorites narrowed down but I could slip in another 30 or maybe even 100 easy.

I love this photo for so many reasons. I love how it shows what a hands-on dad my husband, Justin, is and how it perfectly captures how energetic and how much of a dare-devil our second son, Campbell, is.

Love this photo of the final months of my pregnancy with my boys. It was such a hard pregnancy during a record-breaking heat wave in Texas and with it being my third, but I'd say it was well worth it.

This photo was taken the same day and I just love how my oldest son, without us asking, posed like he's a natural model. This is right before he started kindergarten. He's such a sweet boy and says things that will absolutely melt your heart, especially his mama.

And perhaps the biggest news this year was the addition our one and only baby girl, Landry. She is the sweetest and easiest baby. She was our Labor Day baby...how wild is it that I was in labor ON Labor Day? I love this photo so much and it's one that will definitely be in her baby book. What joy and happiness it shows the day that our family was complete.

This was taken when Landry was only 7 days old. I took it while getting some professional shots done by a good friend. Hers were much better but I still love these that I was able to sneak in. Those lips are just amazing.

Landry is only 3 months now but knowing that she's my last just has me holding, snuggling and staring at her perhaps more than I did with any of them. It just makes me want to soak up every single second.

The only other person who stares at her as much as me - if not more, would be my husband....who is putty in her hands.

Every year we go to the pumpkin patch and every year I always get a favorite from the photos. The colors, the laughter, the feel of fall all make the perfect recipe for a great photo.

This was a photo tip I tried from Pinterest and I was just excited that it worked! I turned off all the lights in the house, maxed out my ISO, opened the aperture and used a slow shutter speed of 1/30.

I took this photo on Christmas Eve morning but this is a normal day. At least once a day I see the boys interacting with Landry in this way. I can't believe that they fight as much as they do but when it comes to her, they are unbelievably sweet. They call her "sweet baby girl" and will do anything to get a smile or laugh out of her.

And here's our Christmas photo this year. The funny part is that we used a tripod and I had wireless remote shutter release in my hand to take this picture. My husband is insanely talented when it comes to Photoshop (he's a graphic artist) but I looked like I had a man hand so we decided to put a big "M" monogram to cover up my hand. Pretty resourceful, I thought.

Thanks for looking at my favorites this year and I can't wait to see what photos and memories our family will make in 2012!

Twas the night before Christmas...

2011-12-27T01:15:00.002-06:00

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not one person was out of their jammies until 4:00 p.m. Don't mistake that for laziness. We made time for a little bit of snugglin' but we definitely had a full agenda on Christmas Eve.

First on the list, make cookies for Santa. Lesson learned a few years ago to get that out of the way on Christmas Eve...maybe one year I can even get it done earlier. My fear is that if I make them too early, we'll eat them and poor Santa won't have any!

Landry was the happiest spectator there ever was. I can't wait for her to join in on the fun.

Note to self, put tape over all the holes of the sprinkle container except ONE! That is plenty! Those were the crunchiest iced cookies I've ever tasted. After hours in the kitchen preparing for Christmas dinner at our house and Christmas Eve at my mom's we finally showered and got out of our pajamas.

Next up, Christmas Eve service at church. It's ain't Christmas Eve without it.

Multiple times this Christmas I think back to last year and we weren't even pregnant and here we are with this adorable, beautiful baby girl and I'm amazed again at how blessed we are and how much our lives have changed in just one year. God is so good. Can I get an AMEN?

I'm a sucker for candlelight services. I'm the one that is choking back tears every year as we sing "Silent Night." Throw in my children singing with candles in their small hands, with the candle glow on their faces while I'm holding and staring at my beautiful baby girl, and I'm a blubbering idiot.

We usually get a picture in front of the tree at church, but our ~~children~~ Campbell was fading fast so we settled for the advent wreath. Aaaand this is the best we got.

At this point, all I've eaten all day was breakfast and the few things I snacked on while cooking in the kitchen. My stomach was growling that embarrassing growl it does in church when you can only laugh because it's so loud.

Next up, my parent's house for homemade Mexican feast....tamales, enchiladas, beans, rice. Let's just say that I made up for being so starving and won't divulge how glutinous I was. It's too shameful.

For the past two years, Nolan has dressed up like an elf. He's finally grown out of his 3T shorts...skinny bean pole. So this was the closest he resembled an elf this year.

And I couldn't help but join in too. My dad sets up a Polar Express train under the tree and the boys literally sit and stare at it forever. They toot the horn and I just cross my fingers that they don't get that train off the track.

As an extra special treat, my grandparents came down from Amarillo and we got to spend the most time with them that we have in years. I loved that Great Grams got some time with Landry and Landry was so happy to be held and snuggled by everyone.

We finally made it home and my children were still going strong even though it was 10:00 at night!
I was so grateful to have happy children. Happy children = happy mama!

We let our kids open one present on Christmas Eve and it's always a new pair of jammies. This year I actually found some that matched! That's hard to do now that Nolan is in big boy size!

Landry even got a new pair of Christmas jammies and so did Justin. Could this picture be any sweeter? I'm running out of room on my walls because I have so many favorites now!

Once we had everyone in their jammies, we made a mad dash to get cookies, milk and reindeer food out. Notice how Campbell took the opportunity to sneak in my sprinkles before putting them on Santa's plate.

Final bedtime for the boys? 10:30. Then we had to make sure they were really asleep before getting everything out. We had everything set out and then discovered at midnight we had another bag in the closet that hadn't been wrapped yet.

Lovely.

Thank goodness for gift bags and stockings. The rest of the things were thrown into the Santa pile (Santa doesn't wrap in our house).

My favorite part of the night (besides the candlelight service, of course) was on our way home from my parents house, we were on the lookout for Santa and Rudolph. I saw a red blinking light in the sky and did my best Academy Award winning acting about it being Rudolph. The boys were eating it up, going nuts and even talking about how they could see it moving. Guess they were just falling for the illusion of our car moving.

Little did I know, that blinking light was getting closer and closer as we traveled. As we got closer, Nolan says, "Hey, that's just a tower!" RATS! Campbell starts somehow thinking that Nolan tricked him so he says, "NOWAN (as he lovingly calls him), STOP tricking me!" It was such a funny moment and I just loved how magical these years are.

I don't think I've ever been so exhausted after Christmas as this year but again...Christmas didn't disappoint. I'll catch up later on sleep....someday long from now. But these memories? They're what feeds my soul.

More Christmas coming soon!

Christmas smorgasbord

2011-12-22T16:17:00.000-06:00

I'm about to give you a full dose of our Christmas month of celebration...better known as Christmas smorgasbord. You know, kind of like when you have the most random meal ever known to man with leftover mashed potatoes, spaghetti, chicken noodle soup so that you can go one more night without cooking. Yea, just like that.

In an effort to not post Christmas pictures until February, I'm giving you a glutinous portion whether you're ready for it or not. Hope you've got elastic pants on and that you're in a Christmas mood because there's not room for any "Grinchiness" over here. Because when it comes to Christmas, we go full throttle.

We trimmed our tree Thanksgiving weekend. Yes, it took two days. But I'm pretty proud of the fact that it ONLY took two days. With the amount of Christmas we put out, hearing "I'm hungry" every couple of hours and nursing the baby every 3 hours, I'd say that's pretty darn good.

I gotta say, Landry looks like she's gotta fit right in lovin' her some Christmas.

And I can't believe that the tree has been left alone this year. Well, I take that back. Nolan makes ornaments almost daily (out of the most random materials). I'm proud to say I'm embracing the fact that our tree isn't "showroom" ready but it's definitely a showroom of our children.

I absolutely love the movie Elf. I'm not sure if my favorite part of this picture is the fact that they're captivated watching Elf or that they're snuggling while they're watching it.

Next year, I have a feeling a certain Miss is going to have her hands all over that tree. And in case you're wondering how many ornaments a baby needs to commemorate her first Christmas....we're at three and still counting.

The house and tree weren't the only things decorated around here. Nope, Landry was equally trimmed. I'm pretty sure she has an outfit for the 12 days of Christmas.

****

We've had a lot of fun with Pickles, our elf. I see all these posts on Facebook and Pinterest with all these elaborate mischievous things that others have their elves up to. We hardly have time to move the darn thing. One night we even forgot and had to do some major covering. And, my boys are mischievous enough as it is...I don't need to be giving them any ideas.

The elf is great but not as great as the big man in the red suit downtown. This was our second attempt to see him after seeing a line that was way too long and in the bitter cold.

Waiting really was half the fun. I think the kids thought they were in Candyland.

I'm so glad we waited. He beats any mall Santa any day.

Although, Cam looked like he could have waited a little bit longer...

My favorite part of this picture is that Campbell is surely thinking, "I got my eye on you, Santa."

Landry was such a trooper even though she could hardly see with her little crocheted hat. The things we put our kids through for the cuteness factor.

Grandma and Granddad joined in on the Santa fun and like always, we discover it's a good thing that they're coming for backup until we keep working on fine tuning our zone defense now that we're outnumbered.

Santa visit...check!

You know Santa has a lot on his plate and so we decided we better write him a letter just to make sure that he knew what the boys wanted. (And we had to get this down on paper...Christmas lists were changing way too much for this mama trying to get shopping done).

Yeah, my baby is reading. We grow geniuses in our family.

And we definitely grow sweet big brothers...well to their sister, at least.

I'm amazed at Nolan's ability to write nearly all of his letter. He has come so far from last year. We only had to help him with a few words but he was deep in thought over that list. We have the boys narrow it down to three things because the wise men brought Jesus three gifts and he has so many other children to deliver to. The rest will be up to us or the grandparents.

Campbell was able to draw what he wanted with a little help from his artistic older brother.

Pickles was watching the whole time from an ornament in the tree. So it was really convenient that he could just take the letters with him to the North Pole on his way.

But my favorite moment after all the craziness of seeing Santa, wrapping presents, and shopping are the sweet moments like this that no present can even compare.

I sometimes feel that all this "Santa is watching you" and accidentally touching the elf that causes a meltdown about his magic being gone might land my kids in therapy. I really hope not. I want my kids to look back at Christmas knowing the true reason we celebrate it, that giving is better than receiving and that their mama loved her some Christmas and did her best to make sure that memories were made.

Oh Sugar!

2011-12-20T23:46:00.000-06:00

There have been years that the second Black Friday hits, it's mayhem. We're shopping, baking, crafting, wrapping, seeing Santa and squeezing more things into a weekend than there are hours.

And every year I tell myself that I'm not going to do that to myself again the next year...and then I tell myself the same thing again the next year. Do we see a pattern?

Some things I think are fun, others are no where near the fun meter but off the charts on the beat down meter. One of those things that I absolutely love though and make sure we fit in, is our cookie baking. I remember cooking with my mom growing up and how it was so hard to resist the urge to eat the cookies right from the oven. The key was waiting until they were iced and the icing is what made them so soft.

Getting dressed for the part is half the fun. Who cares if that hat hasn't fit either one of them since they were 2. We grow ginormous heads in this family, thank you very much.

There were messes made and cookie cutting extremes so much so that you couldn't tell if you were eating a stocking or a tree...but c'mon, does it even really matter?

The attention span needed for cookies is pretty overwhelming for a three year old, but he was an awesome sport. He knew that good things come to those who wait.

Having my mother-in-love in town to help this year was an extra special treat and quite the lifesaver. It's amazing that it took 5 adults to wrangle three kids, keep the house from burning down and photograph the entire event. It takes a village, right?

My parents came over as well and my mom is the most prepared cookie maker there is and does have the best sugar cookie recipe known to man.

The sugar rush was definitely evident when nap times were dismissed. It was so much fun to see them concentrate so intently on each little cookie as if it was a masterpiece. The sprinkles were mountains on top and I had to shake them off as I would glitter but there was some serious love put into those cookies.

I might regret this baking session in January when we visit the dentist.

But for now, there are absolutely no regrets.

Merry Mail

2011-12-15T21:41:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that I didn't put our "official" 2011 card on my last post. Ugh....trying to juggle too much. So how appropriate is this picture to perfectly demonstrate that!

Yes, my daughter is a Christmas firecracker or Christmas vomit (as Justin lovingly calls it). I think Christmas firecracker or the human form of going Griswold sounds much nicer.

And here's the back. I gotta say that I'm pretty darn proud of them. I took the one of Landry in her nursery on a day when she was working that camera like a runway model.

Of course, none of this is possible without my incredibly talented husband doing all the layout work.

I think it might be my favorite card we've done so far, but maybe it's just the cute kids.

Christmas cheer

2011-12-09T20:19:00.000-06:00

I dread the family Christmas photo shoot. Normally, it involves meltdowns from both children and adults, snacks, bribery, and exhaustion. But I gotta say, that this year was pretty painless. We went to a park near our house which is more like a hiking trail and were there for 45 minutes...tops. Glorious.

The key? Don't do poses. Just go with it. Go with the silliness, the laughter and try to wrangle them in for a few family shots, but that's it.

I knew that our time was very limited, not only with the boys, but mostly because of Landry. That nursing schedule keeps you on your toes and there's no rest for the weary.

The silliness (and the promise of a beloved lollipop) help make things run smoother. But honestly, just playing around and genuine lovin' instead of posing helped make this one, one of my favorite shoots ever.

I've been on this whirlwind to get everything done before the end of my maternity which happened this week. My first official day back as a working mom was Monday. Ugh. So Christmas pictures were done earlier than ever before!

I began to adjust to this fake stay-at-home mom thing very quickly. I gotta say, it was really nice. I felt so refreshed picking up the boys from school even as a sleep-deprived mom with a newborn baby. Because at the end of the day, I had my family...

and had some one-on-one time with Landry that I will forever treasure.

The mother's guilt is all-consuming. If I stay home with Landry then I won't be able to see Nolan everyday in the halls and have that special mommy/Nolan time we have after school.

And before I know it, Campbell will be right there at school with me too.

I'm scared about the trouble those two will get in together.

They need to know that mama's just down the hallway to keep them in line.

But if I go back to work, then I'm missing out all my all day snuggles with her and she's my BABY!

So I decided that teaching really is the best of both worlds. It allows me to be a mom and work full time and the perk of the time off helps me sleep better at night.

The guilt never seems to go away when it comes to parenting. I seem to second-guess myself all the time.

And they seem to know a thing or two about what faces melt my heart and help them get away with just about anything. These same faces that make me want to quit my job just so I can stare at those adorable eyes all day.

But as I have this inner war with myself weekly if I'm doing the right thing, I just remind myself that what matters most is that they feel loved, validated, and important to me.

After that, everything else just falls into place.

Thankful

2011-11-30T20:43:00.001-06:00

Tradition.

I crave it every time this year. It's ain't Thanksgiving without certain foods or without starting our day snuggled in our jammies watching the Macy's Day parade. Our king sized bed is running out of room. And I love that our family is so big... means big family events when they're older. Don't worry I think their spouses will think it's too weird if we carry on this tradition after they're out of the house.

I don't know what it is about kids in jammies, but seriously, footed jammies??? Forget about it. I just want to snuggle them to pieces and apparently my boys have inherited this trait from me because they were given some serious lovin' to their sister.

And after a bunch of Landry lovin' we hit the kitchen to make some lovin' from the oven with some sweet potato casserole. Nolan loved helping.

Could Campbell's hair be any more ridiculous? Project growing hair out = disaster. Don't worry, a haircut followed a few days later.

Nolan's art projects from school made from some super cute photography props. I love these blue-eyed boys so much I can't stand it. Thankful doesn't even come close.

Nolan is my poser if you can't tell. I take out a camera and he works that thing like he's a runway model. Campbell? No way, he's either pouting (see above), eating a snack (see above), laughing (see below), or if I want a good shot I have to get a candid shot. Never fails.

I'm curious to see if Landry will have a love/hate relationship with the camera. So far, she's working that camera pretty darn well.

One last shot that happens every year....our family pic in front of our sweet gum tree that normally is the perfect shade of red but not so much this year. Actually this week, it's beautiful...maybe we can fake Thanksgiving and do a do-over.

Next up, we headed to my parents. It wasn't hard to find, we just used our noses and followed the scent. This year we were all in the kitchen lending a hand.

I leave the turkey to the professionals but can help with any side dish. Man, you know you're really a grown up when you have to cook the turkey. Until then, I'll enjoy being a kid and mooching some turkey.

Justin was a natural at carving and I, of course, am a natural at devouring it. My boys seemed to take after me...

My parents know how to set a table. I love everything about Thanksgiving. The food, the love, the traditions but most of all I'm thankful for who's sitting around the table.

These two special ladies mean so much to me. My sister, Tonya, who is battling for her life with Stage 4 breast cancer. It's been another rough year finding out that her cancer has spread to her brain. Chemo, radiation, chemo again, triple steriods, ER visit after ER visit...it's been one hell of a year.

We found out that Tonya's cancer spread just a week after Landry was born. Talk about emotional rollercoaster. Extreme joy, extreme sorrow were experienced daily with no warning of when each emotion would be felt.

There's nothing that has taught me more life lessons than my sister's cancer or having children. I'm thankful for the gratitude it's given me to be thankful for each and every day.

So this Thanksgiving, I'm more aware than ever of what and who I'm most grateful for. I still hate cancer and everything it's taken from her and our family, but cancer you can't take away love and you can't take away the lessons I've learned.

Dress Up

2011-11-21T22:57:00.001-06:00

It's happening.

Without meaning to, we're creating a diva.

Exhibit A:

We don't even ask him to do that but he does it for her. He can't stand her to be unhappy. Some days while I'm cooking dinner, I catch him doing this for her and it just melts my heart.

And to tell you the truth is SOOOO helpful and relieving to know that I have another set of hands to help with her while I'm frantically trying to jump in the shower, cook dinner, or get things ready to go out the door.

And while we're talking about divas....the clothes situation is beyond dangerous. When you open her closet it pretty much glows of pink and all things girly. It is seriously a good thing that I've only had one girl and not three or we might be homeless.

In my defense, I was very spoiled by friends and family buying Landry adorable outfits. I've discovered that people love to buy for little girls. I've even gotten some outfits from people I hardly knew. I think they just look for any excuse to buy for girls. I can't blame them. I remember my days before her and how excited I became when I was invited to a girl baby shower or birthday party.

You may be wondering why I included two pictures of this outfit. On the left you will see her adorable outfit full scale and on the right I couldn't help but include this because you get a sneak peek at her first two rolls. The other 8 are hidden by her diaper. Gosh those thunder thighs just make me want to MUSH them!

And I've been the worst lately about getting out the good camera and just taking quick ones with my iphone to capture her outfits. Not the best quality but at least you can see we've been having fun with our doll.

I have so many outfits that have either been given or handed down to us that we really look forward to big days out. Church is pretty much prom for us. Heck, even a doctor visit is! We have to get really good use out of these clothes. She's already outgrowing them so quickly!

Embarrassingly enough, this girl almost has enough Christmas outfits for the 12 days of Christmas! Stay tuned!

I think I might be more excited about decorating her for Christmas than our tree!

Sunshine

2011-11-14T18:57:00.000-06:00

You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are grey,

You'll never know dear

how much I love you...

Please don't take my sunshine away...

Freaky Friday

2011-11-11T14:03:00.001-06:00

I knew I wasn't crazy and here's the proof. My children are exact clones of one another. It's like my DNA mixed with Justin creates identical twin/triplets but years apart. It's so weird because Nolan and Campbell don't look alike now but all our children look so much alike when they're babies.

People say that they see Nolan or Campbell in Landry but honestly it's all just the same!

Can you tell Justin loves having this snuggle time on his chest with each of them? In order, Nolan, Campbell, and Landry.

This next one really blows my mind. Again, Nolan, Campbell and Landry...seriously?!

And I love those moments where I see Campbell slipping into those memories that I had of Nolan doing the exact same thing.

So what do you think? Freak Friday or what?

2 months

2011-11-09T20:30:00.001-06:00

As you can see I'm a little late on posting her monthly pictures. I'll blame it on the sleep deprivation. I wonder how long I can use that excuse?!?

Today was Landry's 2 month checkup. At birth, she weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. (soooo close to that 8 lb mark) and was 19.25 in. She dipped down to 7 lbs and developed jaundice a week later...darn milk not coming in for five days.

*Random side note...just two days ago we noticed that all of our children were the exact same length at birth. Guess that my uterus only allows for 19.25" babies.

2 month stats:

Weight: 12 lbs. 4 oz. (90th percentile)
Height: 22.25" (75th percentile)
Head: 40.5 cm (90th percentile)
Cuteness: OFF.THE.CHART

Everyone comments about how petite she is and that their babies were never that small but I beg to differ. I'm the one who sees her rolls unfold with every diaper change and these pictures show just how much she's changed in just two months!

I'm really proud of how much she's grown considering that we've been through jaundice when she was 1 week and that horrible case of mastitis at 5 weeks all of which really made me want to quit breastfeeding because it was so hard.

I go back to work in 3.5 weeks and the punch in the gut gets more noticeable every day that it gets closer. We'll see how long I last nursing. With the boys, once I went to work and started pumping, my supply slowly diminished.

I'm so thankful for everyday that I have home with her and wish that I could spend more with her. I'm thankful that I go back to work for two weeks then get another two weeks off for Christmas break and only another 6 months before I'm off again for 10 weeks.

It's not the same as staying home with her every day but it sure is a lot better than going back with no breaks at all.

I'm cherishing every single second.

Boo

2011-11-07T21:47:00.000-06:00

Remember my post just a couple of weeks ago about fitting it all in and keeping my sanity? Yea, well Halloween weekend might have been in the top 5 of craziest weekends ever. It was a very fine line. Insanity was only minutes away.

The morning started bright and early with a cold soccer game. Hard to believe the season started out with 105 degree games. I'll take a 50 degree soccer game any day over that. It was the end of the soccer season and so we squeezed in pizza at 10:30 in the morning before heading to Boo at the Zoo.

And as heartbreaking as it was, we went with store bought costumes this year for a number of reasons.
#1 Newborn baby...enough said.
#2 My appreciation for coordinating costumes is not nearly appreciated by my boys as much as it is by me. Guess I'll just have to reminisce about all the years past.
#3 Trying to convince your kid that a mad scientist is way cooler than ninjas is nearly impossible.

Don't you just wonder what those animals are thinking seeing my kid who, now that I'm looking at the photo, might look too much like a member of the Taliban than a ninja. Oops.

Costume and diaper changes in the parking lot are how we roll these days. I swear our swagger wagon is our home...at least on weekends.

Campbell's costume didn't come with a mask for some reason so I busted out my VERY limited sewing skills and made him a mask.

And you will notice Nolan's super serious ninja face in nearly every photo. Watch out.

It was perfect weather. Normally it seems like my kids are drenched with sweat on Halloween in Texas with their costumes but this year, we actually sported a layer of clothing underneath!

Boo at the Zoo really was a lot of fun MINUS the part where we lost Campbell for 20 seconds. Seriously, I'm completely reconsidering making jokes about parents who put their kids on leashes now that I have an escape artist....scariest 20 seconds of your life when you're in a huge crowd and can't find your kid.

Immediately after this, we headed straight to my nieces' roller skating party. I don't have any photos of that because I needed every ounce of balance to keep myself up after not skating for over 20 years.

The next day we headed to our church carnival which was so much fun for the kids. They loved every minute of it and I love hanging out with my Soul Sistas.

Generations of church members were there to support the carnival even the oldest and youngest.

The thing about church that I love it that every kid is your kid. You love them all, look out for them all, and even get onto them all when needed. I love that. It takes a village...

Next up? Pumpkin carving. We could've and probably should've skipped the pumpkin carving but our kids can't ever say "Why didn't we ever do that?" because the Good Lord knows that we push ourselves to the point of exhaustion to make sure we're making memories.

And I'm glad we did because we got some pretty priceless facial expressions from the whole experience.

And Landry and I were excellent spectators. In the next few years, Sister is going to be getting her hands on those pumpkin guts and holding her own with her brothers.

The most exciting news about Halloween this year was we were on TV! Good Morning Texas had a homemade Halloween contest and I sent the boys photos in from last year (remember we went store bought this year) and found out that we were finalists! I thought they were just going to show photos of the boys but we drove to Dallas in costumes and all at the crack of dawn and were interviewed on the show.

I started scrambling making sure their costumes fit from last year. Nolan's aqua socks for his scuba diver costume were completely a scene out of Cinderella and her stepsister trying on the shoes, but we made it work.

We didn't win but the boys were so great (WHEW, sweating that one!) and the boys LOVED that they were on TV. In fact, on the way home from church yesterday we heard Campbell talking to himself in the car and when we listened closer realized he was reenacting our GMT interview word for word. Seems like someone likes his celebrity status and 15 seconds of fame.

I can't find a clip of it online to save my life. I didn't wear a costume unless of course you count Spanx as a costume. If that's the case, then I was Super Spanx.

Next up, Campbell's school costume parade.

Seriously, there is nothing cuter than seeing little kiddos in costumes. It just melts my heart.

Don't you love how Campbell is making Nolan do all the work on the scooter. That is NOT an easy task with that kid, let me tell you.

Our little princess was too little for a costume this year but did we rock out about 2-3 Halloween outfits. I already have costumes planned for this girl until she's 30. Thank you Pinterest. Now if she'll just let me boss her and carry them all out. Fat chance.

And FINALLY, trick-or-treat time! Gosh, remember when that's all Halloween really was? Now it's turned into the 12 days of Halloween. At least we get good use out of costumes, right?

So I couldn't talk my boys into being a mad scientist but at least the hubs was a good sport and humored me.

It was another successful Halloween on the Halloween meter.

How do I know?

Because I was exhausted.

Til next year, folks. Better start soon now that I have three to dress!

FFF- pumpkin style

2011-11-02T21:54:00.000-05:00

Well folks, we were LONG overdue. It's been months that I've talked about FFF (Forced Family Fun -if you're new here). We used to have them at least a couple times a month but as the boys grew older, they became less frequent. Well, I've decided that FFF must coincide with younger ages, because now that Landry's in the mix again, we seem to see a lot more of these outings.

Every year, our annual pumpkin patch visit is always looked forward to. It's my opportunity to wave my fall freak flag with the best of them. The past two years, my cousin's daughter's birthday party has been at the patch and I think that's what made it so fun. We could inconspicuously take photos of the boys as they played and since we were there for a couple of hours for the party, time seemed to fly by.

Well this year, there wasn't a party at the pumpkin patch so we went on our own (with Grandma and Granddad in tow) now that we're outnumbered by our own children. We're calling on back-up more frequently these days until we get our zone defense fine tuned.

Sometimes, I'm still in awe that we have THREE children. Good thing we bought the swagger wagon!

We went during the evening thinking that would be the best lighting. It was good lighting but apparently everyone else got the same memo and the place looked more like the state fair than a pumpkin patch, it was crazy busy...mistake #1.

It made it really hard to get any pictures of the kids without 1,000 people in the background but we managed ok.

Mistake #2, I spent the last hour before we went frantically trying to make a tutu for Landry and a coordinating bow to match her shirt. And so I'm learning how high maintenance girls are compared to boys already. It ended up itching everyone like crazy and the tutu was shed within 20 minutes of being at the patch. And that stupid bow kept getting in her eyes and making her ears poke out. She does NOT have big ears contrary to what the bow illustrates.

I knew we were heading to trouble when we woke up Campbell from his almost 3 hour nap and he was a complete and total grump. Saturday naps are a blessing and a curse. They are glorious in that we get a little down time but when it comes time to wake up Campbell, we never know if we're going to be waking up the beast. This day, it was definitely his beast side. So all things considered, he was cooperative but only if we just let him be a total goofball which meant it was near impossible to get him to look at the camera.

And to add to the craziness, Landry was rooting on me every time we tried to take a picture even though I had just fed her. So the only way we could get a decent shot of the girl was when she was knocked out cold.

I've come to discover now as a family of 5 that pictures will not be perfect...they won't even be close, but those imperfections are what make us who we are. I will probably not have a photo of all three of my children looking at the camera at the exact same time for years.

Ok, well maybe I'll just make sure to take a lot of individual pictures in the meantime.

I think that's why I love candid photography so much, it's my absolute favorite because it's so true, so genuine. My children don't always cooperate but that's ok, because no kid does. But my kids sure do know how to entertain themselves and how to have a good time.

And those moments truly capture who they are, not some forced family photo but just being themselves.

So while I may not have the photo that goes on the mantle this year, I can definitely say that we picked some pumpkins and made some memories.

My best friend Angi says that I always put the "perfect" pictures on my blog. As I once heard, Van Gogh didn't paint toilets and dumpsters, so I choose to capture the best of our family because those are the memories that I cherish the most. But to show you the dozens of photos that don't make the cut because of their lack of beauty, here are a few I'll share with you because we're far from perfect.

Exhibit A: I DO have the most beautiful baby girl in the whole world, you can't convince me otherwise BUT Landry might have had an off day on a few of these pictures. Between the stupid head bow that kept Landry thinking Who turned out the lights? and poking her ears out, and her bitter beer face, we had a few that we'll probably keep out of the scrapbook...

And here is a smorgasbord of the best of the worst...crying faces, forced grins, head bow wardrobe malfunctions and all.

That's us.

Not perfect.

Just perfect for each other.

Fitting it all in

2011-10-27T10:34:00.000-05:00

I distinctively remember a particular Saturday about 6 months ago when the thought of, How am I going to do this with three kids? popped into my head. The soccer games, the birthday parties, grocery shopping, and laundry fill up our Saturdays and weekends to the point of feeling like I need another weekend just to recoup from the weekend!

And this particular weekend was just like that. First off, Nolan's soccer game. I went sporting my soccer mom shirt (compliments of my husband) to be the loudest cheerleader for my Nolie Polie.
I absolutely love that he looks over to the sideline after making a goal and I make sure to show my biggest you-are-a-total-soccer-rock-star-and-I-am-so-proud-of-you face.

I'm pretty amazed at Campbell's ability as a three year old to sit and watch a game for an hour. As long as we bring some snacks, the boy just acts like he's watching a movie. Having his Daddy on the sidelines doesn't hurt to keep him entertained during half-time.

And as for Landry...well, she seems a little bored at the games.

Soccer game...check! Next up, a birthday party that we're already running late for. But this is one that we can't miss. It's for some close friends of ours who have been so wonderful helping us with getting the boys to and from school while I'm on maternity leave. Plus, it's was a build-a-bear party!

Nolan since the time he was a baby, has been a very tactile child. He loves soft things and discovers things by touching them. So while stuffed animals are on my list of disgustingly dirty toys, we have a ton of them because he plays with them constantly and giving away one of them would be like giving away a family member.

Let me mention that while this party was going on, I was discreetly nursing Landry out in the mall. So I missed all the fun but glad that Justin was there to document it. And might I also add that Nolan, on his own accord, picked the TCU t-shirt for his bear and appropriately named him Froggie. GO FROGS!

Campbell must have had a premonition that the Rangers were going to the World Series. He named his bear Ranger, although he calls it "Tekas Rangers".

And whoever invented Build-a-Bear is a genius. Seriously, the possibilities are endless with these outfits and accessories.

It was a blast of a party and I'm feeling really cheap that we gave away Lego crayons and a coloring sheet for our party favors now.

Birthday party...check!

Next up, a quick nap and the pumpkin patch.

That's when we realize that the pumpkin patch is just not going to happen that day. After two big events, and waking up with a newborn baby in the middle of the night, this mommy and daddy are running on fumes.

So when I look back to that Saturday 6 months ago wondering how I was going to fit it all in, I had an epiphany, I'm not! I'm going to do what I can while still being sane and then call it a day. So far, my sanity is still in tact. Ask me again though on Halloween weekend.

We keep ourselves entertained

2011-10-25T12:19:00.000-05:00

I think I might have the funniest children ever. There are numerous times that they get me laughing so hard every day. Here are some really short clips that I was lucky enough to catch on the camera.

If there's one thing our family LOVES to do, it's dance. We break into dance at the dinner table (I know it's not the best example we're setting), in the grocery store, just about anywhere we feel the need to bust a move. So I'm happy to see my 6 week old daughter at the time can fit in perfectly with our family. Who cares if she's bobble head beat boxin', sister has some rhythm!

Both boys are extremely protective of Landry and seeing them into her just melts my heart. All those boyfriends better watch out for two older brothers and one tall daddy!

And here's my Campbelloni just loving on his sister. I just love his eyes. They help him get away with A LOT!My favorite part are those platypus lips of his puckering up for his sister.

Our new normal

2011-10-17T18:48:00.000-05:00

Adjusting. That seems to be the best word to describe the last 6 weeks of our lives. You'd think with it being our third that we wouldn't even blink an eye when it comes to sleep deprivation but I think even when it's your 5th or 6th (not that we'll EVER know), it still stings.

But seriously how can you hold it against her? Especially when you get this greatness and cuteness all wrapped up in one tiny little girl.

Houston, we have smiles and we are loving them. You should see how obnoxious we can be and how high we can both talk to get one of these toothless grins flashed back at us.

Hi, I'm Andrea and I'm addicted to dressing my baby girl up like she's a doll. Yes, it is an addiction. Yes, I need help. Yes, I will go bankrupt.

I'm in disbelief how much my boys love this little girl. I know, I know things will change will she starts grabbing their toys but for now, I'm enjoying every single non-fighting loving snuggle moment.

Campbell calls her "Landry girl" and runs to give her a pacifier (or "piece of fire" as he calls it) or pat her on the head when she's crying. He will not let her fuss.

And everyday day when I pick up Nolan, he asks how Landry's day was. Actually he asks how "Princess Poopy Pants" was. I'm sure she'll love that one when she grows up.

Their curiosity of her just melts my heart. Nolan in particular is fascinated with how he looked as a baby. So you know what that means...scrapbooks! For years I've been wondering why I'm doing this to myself trying to keep up with their books. I keep thinking, I just spent three hours on this spread and no one even looks at it and boys could care less about scrapbooks. Some days it's so much fun to scrapbook and other days it seems like torture and I'm just slapping pictures down not even caring, but seeing Nolan study each page intently makes me realize all those hours were worth every second. He even studies Campbell's scrapbooks...

I'm glad that Nolan looks at his because Campbell will take a two second peek and then take a break for a good game of bowling. The interest from Campbell hasn't quite gotten there yet...maybe one day.

One thing that's coming easy and requires no adjustment is the snuggling. The only adjustment required is the time lost to other things because of all the cuddles and staring. So my laundry is piling up, my scrapbooks are a year behind, and the dust looks like snow falling in my house but I can say that we're soaking it up, baby.

I look back at Nolan's years when all I had was my little point and shoot camera and I wish I would have taken more pictures. Although the kid has thousand more photos than me, it still doesn't seem like enough to remember how little he was and how fast it goes. So let's just say, that I'm making up for it now.

In the midst of all the adjustment, we're trying to find time for the normal things we used to do. I almost laugh when I say normal because I can't remember the last time we played outside because it's been so blistering hot this summer. You know it's bad when your oldest says, "I think our playground's feelings are hurt because we never play on it anymore."

Let's just say that our playground has felt the love lately.

And I'm determined to teach this boy to ride his bike without training wheels. One way or another, it's going to happen.

While I'm at it, I better get Campbell's feet to reach the pedals on this tricycle because my back is going to go out if I keep this up...

Some days our new normal seems like a piece of cake and I hardly notice the difference. Other days, I think I need three of myself to get it all done. It's a constant ebb and flow trying to figure out our new life. While there are hair-pulling days, the heart-wearming days far outweigh them.

Word of the Day : Mastitis

2011-10-13T14:20:00.001-05:00

Thursday night, Landry went a 6 hour stretch without feeding. Normally when I hit this milestone as with the boys, I'm doing a happy dance and singing Hallelujah Jesus! like I'm in the church choir because this mama loves her sleep. Well, not so much this time. My breasts were engorged so I nursed Landry and put her back down to sleep.

When I went back to bed, I started uncontrollably shaking for over an hour. Sweatshirt, t-shirt, pajama pants on with two blankets on shivering like it was 20 degrees in my room. Now looking back, it's apparent that I was running a fever but I didn't know at the time. After shaking and being tense for that hour, my back and head were starting to hurt. I woke Justin up and told him something was up and what was going on.

He got me a hydrocodone that I had left over after delivery. After a little bit, I fell asleep and he went to work because I was fine. I woke up at 8 a.m to feed Landry again, with no problems. I still wasn't feeling great so I went back to sleep again with Landry next to me in bed. When I woke up at 11, my back was hurting so before I could take another pain pill, I knew I needed to eat something or I would be dizzy.

Too late.

As I was pouring my cereal, I had to catch myself on the kitchen counter because I felt like I was going to pass out. I was home by myself with the baby, so I ran to the bedroom so that in case anything happened to me that I was next to her and not in the other room. I called Justin immediately and told him he needed to come home because something was really wrong and was crying. As I'm talking to him the pain in my back goes through the roof and feels like someone is stabbing me and twisting a knife in my back and I'm screaming on the phone. He asks if he should call 911, but I told him that I couldn't let them in the door even if they came. Unfortunately, Justin's work is a good 30-40 minutes away. He hurries home.

I called my sister to make sure that I'm talking to someone in case something happens to me and I'm screaming like a total lunatic because of the pain. I can't tell you how scary it was being by myself with her and being unable to take care of her. I'm sure that she felt so helpless, she was almost an hour from me and her phone was about to die.

When I called to check where Justin is, he's still a good 15-20 minutes away and I told him I didn't think I could make it. So he calls 911 whether I wanted him to or not.

Meanwhile, I was supposed to feed Landry right when I woke up but the pain was so intense that I couldn't. I knew as soon as 911 got there, they were going to want to take me in so I'm cried on the bed in pain trying to nurse Landry while lying down. I swear four minutes later, they're knocking on my door. I didn't want them to kick in the door so I'm literally trying to do a walk/crawl to the door and screaming, "I'm coming!"

When the EMT and firemen got to the house, I told them there's a newborn baby in my room and one of the firemen goes to get her and all these big, tough firemen and EMT men are oohing and aahing over my baby girl. It was priceless, but can you blame them? She has a way of making grown men turn into mush.

Exhibit A:

Moving on...

At this point we're all thinking that it's some epidural complication b/c of the severe back pain and the migraine (never had a migraine before but I'm pretty darn sure that was one). Justin comes home and has Landry.

So they take me in by ambulance because I'm in a fetal position in a chair right by our front door. And all the while I'm thinking, "OMG, how much is all of this going to cost us?"

When we get to the ER near 12:30, my temp is only 99.5. After I show him where the back pain is, he says that it's not because of an epidural because that's not even where I get an epidural. They run some tests and get my pain under control and the doctor looks at my breasts and says that it's mastitis. Meanwhile, now it's nearly 1:00 and I was supposed to feed Landry at 11:00. So there went another 6 hour stretch that Landry went without eating. I'm pretty much knocked out on the hospital bed and Justin maneuvering her on the bed to nurse on me.

The blood work came back that I had a slight infection but the doctor said I should feel a lot better in a day after being on antibiotics and make sure that I feed, feed, feed Landry but we were free to go. The nurse came to do one last check on my vitals. Everything looked good but my temp was 103.1! The nurse wasn't sure if the doctor would let me go but he said yes, I just needed to get it the antibiotic filled and in my system.

We had friends helping with the boys so we needed to get home to them and plus I had a crazy old lady next to me cursing at the doctors and hitting nurses so I wanted OUT OF THERE!

At 5:00 pm, we filled the prescription immediately and headed home after picking up some much needed food. I hadn't eaten all day! Once I had the hydrocodone in me I felt much better.

The next 48 hours, included fevers 103, 104 and even once 105. As soon as I'd take the hydrocodone, I'd be fine but as soon as it wore off, it would spike right back up. I called my OBGYN on-call doctor since it was the weekend and she said to alternate between ibuprofen and the hydrocodone. I took Advil and it did absolutely nothing so then I went back to the hydrocodone but taking two instead of one and that seemed to do the trick but I had to take it every four hours. I had to use a warm compress before every feeding, feed her for 45 minutes to an hour to make sure she emptied the breast, then put a cabbage leaf (to help with the inflammation), and then start the whole thing over again because it was time to feed her again. It was seriously the worse.weekend.ever.

Finally, it was Monday and I didn't feel any better and then was beginning to see a rash on my right breast. I called my OB and they fit me in. Of course they confirmed that it was mastitis. My two options were to go to the hospital to get IV antibiotics or get a rocephin shot, a high powered antibiotic shot. I chose the shot of course not wanting to bring Landry to a hospital if I could prevent it. She couldn't believe they let me walk out of the ER with a fever, much less 103!

The nurse gave me the shot and warned me it would really hurt and sting. NO KIDDING! I could hardly walk out of that office. I went home immediately and got on a heating pad because it hurt so bad but late that night I felt slight relief. Since that shot, I haven't run a fever. I now feel like an absolutely new person. Besides an epidural, it was the most painful shot I've ever gotten (believe me, I've had a lot of shots the last 10 months of my life) but it was worth the pain!

Right when all this hit, it also affected my milk supply. So now I'm trying to get my milk supply up. I'm the look out for fenugreek, eating oatmeal and drinking lots of water. If you have any other successes getting your milk up, please share.

That was a really expensive stretch of sleep I got from Miss Landry!

So I'm really behind on photos! Sorry! I'll try to catch up! And since I have a ton of pictures to catch you up on before all this went down, here are some of my recent favorites and me and my sweet girl.

She makes me forget all about this painful week. Again, another hardship in our lives but another thing checked off our "worth it" list.

The girl effect

2011-10-06T11:25:00.003-05:00

Embarking on this new journey of motherhood has sparked a lot of emotions. I'm about to experience a newfound relationship with a daughter that I haven't been able to experience with only having boys up until this part in my life. I have so many things that I hope to share in our bond with each other. I have a dream about our relationship that I want so desperately for it to be and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure it's a healthy, loving one.

There are so many things that I want her to know and I find myself already making mental notes of these to make sure I tell her through the years.

All photography below beautifully captures Landry at exactly one week old and were taken by the very talented Kim Martin. Kim, I will forever treasure these photographs and they will always have a special place in our home and in our hearts. Thank you for these pieces of art of our family and our beautiful daughter.

Here are some bits of random pieces of advice to Landry I want to share and a thing or two I've learned through the years...

1. The happy girls are the prettiest ones.

2. Don't be afraid to try something new and take a leap of faith even when you're scared. "You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore."

3. Expect the best from life and that's what you'll get.

4. Make snow angels, catch lightning bugs and wish on stars and stay up to watch the sunrise because life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

5. Do what you love. And if you want to know where you heart is, look to where your mind wanders.

6. Accept what you can't change, change what you can't accept.

7. Know that beauty has everything to do with how you feel about yourself and nothing to do with looks or other people's opinions.

8. God doesn't give us what we can handle, God helps us handle what we are given.

9. People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will NEVER forget how you made them feel.

10. Happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather recognizing what we do have.

11. Golden Rule: Would you like you, if YOU met you?

12. Apologizing does not always mean that you're wrong and the other person is right. It just means you value your relationship more than your ego.

13. Be thankful for what you have and you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.

14. Just because today is a terrible day doesn't mean that tomorrow won't be the best day of your life, you just have to get there.

15. Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seuss

The journey of being a mom of a girl is exhilarating and frightening all at the same time. There's something about knowing that I'm about to mold this little human and I want so much for her to be happy, self confident and compassionate toward others. Making sure that I have the right "recipe" to mold that human, so to speak, is a lot of pressure. While the pressure may be intense, the love just comes so easily, so I'm hoping that is the main ingredient.

And in honor of celebrating having a daughter, I want to share a video of the power of girls and all that the strength and power they possess. It's for a cause I feel strongly about...The Girl Effect. Just another reason to show that girls really do rock.

Nolan's 6th Lego party

2011-10-04T18:08:00.000-05:00

Something really really bad has happened. I mean really bad. I've had friends tell me over and over again that I need to check out Pinterest. First of all, I wasn't even sure how to say it. How was I going to find time to add something between being a mom of three, working full time, scrapbooking, photography, and blogging. I'm having a hard enough time finding time to use the restroom, frankly.

But sadly, I fell for one of those c'mon-everyone's-doing-it-mom-pressure moments. And I gotta say, you people are evil. I'm completely hooked and I don't have time for this!

But on the positive side, it streamlines what I was already doing by searching online for ideas when it comes to scrapbooking, photography, and the kids' parties. So REALLY, it's saving me time, right?

Hey, stop snickering.

Oh and it's been a little guilty pleasure of mine looking at my Pinterest app while I'm nursing at 3:00 a.m. and I've found myself staying up long after Landry has hit her milk drunk state of mind still looking at the darn thing!

All that to say, I have enough ideas for the kids' birthday parties until they're 21. Justin recently found the website called Let's Build it Again, that gives Lego instructions from the 80s and even further back. I think my husband has every single toy he ever possessed as a child in our attic. Can you say toy hoarder? So the boys have been going nuts building Legos with Daddy.

So I already knew I wanted to do a Lego party for him and then finding bags that looked similar to this got the whole thing going.

Figuring out party favors that weren't going to cost a fortune by buying every kid a Lego set was a dilemma until I found this cute mold on Ebay. Not only did it solve the problem of party favors. It helped solve the problem of what to do with the cake since our infamous cake lady isn't doing birthday cakes anymore.

Don't worry we did the Lego candies BEFORE we did the Lego crayons. My mother-in-law, Julie, unwrapped probably 100 crayons and we sorted them into like colors and broke them up. Poor thing is always put on duty when it comes to Nolan's party. Last year, she was rolling out cookies for me while I was at work.

Note to self: DO NOT microwave crayons for 10 minutes like the directions online said. There WILL be a crayon explosion in your microwave. It was more like five minutes. I microwaved them and then put them in the freezer to help turn them solid.

They turned out SO cool!

Justin took the Lego minifigure he created from the invite and made it into a coloring page.

And we slapped on a tag that said Thanks for "building" memories with Nolan. We also reminded parents that these were crayons since we had Lego candies on our cupcakes and didn't want any kids munching on crayons.

We packed up our goodies and headed to Let's Jump and the kids were loving it.

Campbell is going through this crazy phase right now with his hair. We discovered that he looked like a mix between Lloyd Christmas from Dumb and Dumber and Julius Caesar when he got his hair cut. So we're in a trial and error phase with his hair and we're growing it out. We'll see how it goes.

So they may not be cake lady worthy but there was a lot of labor and love that went into making these Lego candies for the cupcake toppers.

And I blinked again and just like that, my oldest blew out candles for his 6th birthday.

Nolan was completely spoiled with enough Legos to keep him preoccupied for the coming months. This boys is really good at following "constructions" (instructions) to put these things together. Wish he would follow my directions as well.

The kids were all so great and hopefully we gave parents the gift of nap time or at least down time after such an energetic party.

Landry didn't make an appearance to Nolan's party since she was not even 3 weeks old at the time. My mom and sister watched her for us. Bounce house places aren't exactly on the Top 10 of the most sanitary places on the planet. Good thing, because one whole family of five came down with strep along with Nolan for the second time in a month. I'm pretty sure that I might have it too.

Guess we're building up Landry's immunities REALLY early!

So it's another year come and gone in Nolan's circles of the sun and I'm in disbelief as he launches into his 7th lap.

Happy Birthday Nolie Polie!

Quarterly Top 5

2011-10-03T00:26:00.000-05:00

Here we go again. It's time for my Quarterly Top 5 of my favorite pictures. I'm linking up with Amber's Articles, Click it Up a Notch, and Nap Time MomTog. I gotta say that I love seeing when it's time for another one. But this one BY FAR was the hardest. I've been a Mamarazzi with the arrival of Landry so I've been going nuts with the camera. So with my oldest starting kindergarten and meeting my daughter for the first time, it was near impossible to pick my top 5 photos this quarter but these are my all-time favs.

This was actually taken by my husband. We were racing to beat the sunset and it was the quickest family photo session we've ever done. We did the whole thing in 30 minutes and I gotta say it was a lot less painful when we made it quick!

This one was also taken by my husband who was playing parent duty of capturing Nolan's first day of school while I played my other job...5th grade teacher! I love this perspective of how it looks like he's so small and about to take on the world.

Meet my daughter, Landry, and her Daddy who is putty in her hands. I think this one is going to be a treasured photo forever. I see it resurfacing in a wedding slide show.

And here are my boys. My boys who are already so protective of their baby sister and give me a play by play if Landry makes even the smallest whimper. I absolutely love Campbell's expression in this photo. If you know my Campbelloni you know that this boy is full of animation.

Ok, so maybe I cheated and threw in 6 photos. Sorry, people, I JUST had a baby for goodness sakes. These were taken by me but while we were getting professional shots done. I was that really annoying mom bringing my own camera while paying someone else to take photos too. I'm a loon, I know. But she was working that camera like she was a professional model. I absolutely adore all the pictures and the real ones by Kim Martin are even better.

The 9 month journey

2011-09-30T11:25:00.000-05:00

Here it is....what might have been the longest pregnancy known to man. And I made it! Little did I know in that Week 37 picture, that I was about to give birth the very next day. I gotta say, I was a little bummed that she was 1 stinkin' oz. away from being 8 lbs since the boys were both 8 pounders. We were supposed to go to a Labor Day party and I'm telling ya, I'm thinking I would have consumed enough goodies to push her over the line. Guess she didn't want to outweigh her brothers, don't blame her.

I don't want to make the pregnancy sound all horrible. There were things that I really did cherish about it. I loved that the boys were really into having a baby sister growing in my belly. They would pray every night for her and sometimes kiss my belly. It melted my heart. And feeling her move and kick was that subtle reminder telling me "I'm in here Mommy just growing away" in her own little baby language. They were sweet minus at the very end when she was doing her best kickboxing moves inside my belly.

I'm not sure if it was people feeling sorry for me or that I looked so insanely ~~miserable~~ large but everyone was so wonderful to me this pregnancy. My team at work was always looking out for me. They were constantly taking kids off my hands that were trying my patience, going out to recess for me on mega hot days, and watching the boys for me so I could make doctor appointments.

And don't even get me started on the load that my husband had to carry.

I think he's got to be the happiest of everyone that I'm not pregnant anymore...talk about stepping up his game. Countless dinners were cooked, boys were bathed and put to bed and swollen feet were rubbed. He deserves a medal as much as I do for enduring this pregnancy.

In some ways, I'm so relieved that I won't be pregnant anymore. I mean in a I-want-to-burn-my-maternity-clothes kind of way. But in another way, it makes me sad knowing that there won't be any more kicks or flutters felt and the thrill of delivery and all the excitement that it holds won't be experienced anymore.

But then I look at what we have, and how can I be sad? I'm so thankful for three healthy babies/pregnancies and especially when we didn't know if we would ever be parents at all. What a journey it's been.

My grandmother gave me a book signed by the author called Let me Hold you Longer by Karen Kingsbury. If you're ever in the mood to cry buckets, get this book. CRYFEST! It's a book that reminds parents to not only celebrate all the "firsts" but also the lasts. Don't miss out on the last days of kindergarten, the last drawing that your child makes for you...told ya, cry fest. Whenever I read it to the boys, it's one of those nights that I snuggle them in bed longer than normal. So here I am a mess knowing that it's our last baby. So Landry is being rocked longer when I have loads of laundry to do but I just look at it as celebrating our last. I think we're all holding on longer...

LOVE this pic...yes, my talented husband started painting these of the boys. He's not done yet but don't they look amazing?!

First bath

2011-09-28T14:30:00.000-05:00

Oh what started out as something boring....

sure did wake someone up.

In fact, I'd say she got downright mad at us. Let's just say she didn't exactly see it as a spa day.

We saw a little temper side of Miss Laid Back Landry we'd never seen before.

But luckily the pacifier came into save the day.

***SIDENOTE: we are pacifier challenged in our family. Nolan calls it a "firepasser" and Campbell calls it "a piece of fire" and I'm just in the middle rolling on the floor thinking of all the things we can call this darn thing!

She did get a little miffed again after we took the towel off her.

It was a family affair for sure.

But I'd say some of my favorite memories of my kids are when they are freshly bathed and the snuggle time afterwards. Yep, nothing beats it.

Except for maybe seeing your husband love it as much as you do. Yes, that tiny little finger has a 6'4" man wrapped around it already. Mush, people, I tell you he's putty in her hands. And I find it adorable.

Happy Birthday Nolan

2011-09-26T14:02:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if it's knowing that Landry is our last one or if it's knowing that Nolan is turning six but I'm having this freak out moment with how insanely fast life passes you by. How is it just 6 years ago he was this tiny?

Seeing the similarities of Landry and Nolan is blowing me away. It's like I've stepped into this tripped out time machine that shows me what my child looks like at birth and at 6 but in live action.

Landry sleeps JUST like this. So in an effort to stop time, I become a mamarazzi and take photos of my children like they are celebrities.

And with one blink, he turned a year. I remember that little orange carrot nose like it was yesterday.

When I had him, he made my love affair with fall only grow.

Who am I kidding? Let's just be honest...he made my love for all holidays grow.

And then I blinked twice and he was two. At two is when I began teaching so I could be with him more. Because let's face it, he was and is my world.

I remember crying so hard when I went back to work having the insane mother's guilt that I was leaving him with strangers at school. But I quickly realized that boys love their mamas and it was my first "a-ha" moment as a mother of what quality vs. quantity meant.

I remember loving him so much that I wanted another one just like him, another boy.

And I remember those last few months when we were just a family of 3 and savoring every last minute of it.

I was so nervous about how would this only child react to having a sibling in the house. He loved it and seeing him be the brother that he is, is one of my favorite things about him.

And someday it will break my heart when I don't get to coordinate their Halloween costumes (and it looks like a mighty big possibility this year).

His happiness is contagious. You find enough energy to muster, "DO IT AGAIN, MOMMY!" because you don't have the heart to disappoint him.

And his infectious laughter....don't even get me started.

What I'm most proud of him is his demonstration of love. His "I love you, Mommy" on his own accord melts my heart. And as much as they fight, how he loves his little brother without a doubt.

And I love his ability to make friends so quickly...a trait he no doubt got from his father.

But sometimes I cringe to look at these pictures and wonder if I've done the best for him. Have I given him enough confidence? Have I not spoiled him? Have I taught him to be a good person?

I know I've made mistakes in parenting, some that make me stay up at night....those moments where you think have I scarred my children?

We are all trying the best we can to mold these little people into humans that make not only us proud but others.

But one thing that I think takes care of all of that is...

Is he happy? Is he loved?

He is most certainly loved.

And call me crazy, but he seems pretty happy.

To my one day grown up Nolie Polie: I hope you know how much you are loved. Since you've come into my life, I've never laughed, never worried so much in my life. You are truly a gift of joy and I can never thank God enough that God picked ME as your mother. I am so proud of who you are already you've only started your journey. I will always love you to the moon and back.

They call me mellow yellow

2011-09-21T22:50:00.000-05:00

The first night home from the hospital with a new baby has got to be the most terrifying experience in parenthood....at least for the first one. I distinctly remember thinking I can't believe that they're going to let us take this baby home from the hospital when we have no idea what we're doing when we took our oldest, Nolan, home. That night I remember crying as much as Nolan did because we were literally up all night. Justin's parents were staying with us to help out but I was too ~~proud~~ scared to ask for help the first night home. So we waited til dawn (because technically it's not the first night anymore?!) and then brought Nolan to them in exchange for a few hours of sleep.

For some reason, the first night with Campbell wasn't as memorable but the first week with Campbell was VERY memorable. He had a terrible time the first week latching on during nursing and it was beyond frustrating and exhausting.

I've been ~~cursed~~ lucky enough with all three of my children to endure them having jaundice. While this isn't anything that we couldn't handle, it was enough to make the first week of their lives even harder than normal because they were hooked up to a "tanning bed" that only allowed us to take them within a 5 foot radius. It's my fault really. Apparently, something about my body doesn't produce milk until five days…happened with all three babies.

The Friday after we had Landry we headed to the pediatrician and when you have drawers full of cute clothes that this girl has been given, you get dressed up for the doctor like it's going to church.

I had a feeling she was jaundice even when we were in the hospital but they said her bilirubin levels were fine. By Friday though, she was really yellow to me. They scanned her in the office and poked her heel. She was exactly the level where the "tanning bed" is considered. So my dr. left it up to me. I asked her if that made me a horrible mom if we just tried the old fashioned way of putting her in the window and took her for walks. The vitamin D from the sun helps break down the bilirubin. Landry had lost nearly a pound in five days so until my milk came in, we had to supplement with formula to make sure she didn't lose any more weight.

So Little Miss Sunshine got her fill of the sun for a few days and luckily my milk came in the very day we took her to the doctor so we only had to supplement for one day.

Good thing she wasn't on lights because we had our first big wave of visitors that included my grandmother and Landry's great-grandmother…better known as Great Grams, all the way from Amarillo.

Four generations

All of Landry's living mothers and grandmothers (minus Rosie who lives in Kentucky)

After all the visitors left, we had some more time "laying out". Thank goodness the triple digit heat has subsided. Funny how that worked out…never got that break when I was walking around 9 months pregnant. The day I go into labor with Landry? It's 85 degrees and breezy. I just knew that a cold front was coming as soon as I gave birth!

The Catch 22 about jaundice is that it makes babies EXTREMELY lethargic and sleepy but the only way to get them to get over the jaundice is to eat and pee and poop it out but they're too sleepy to even eat. Landry was so sleepy that we were using cold wash rags to wake her up and even that barely made her flinch. One time it even took an ice cube to wake her up!

I felt like such a mean mom using an ice cube but the doctor really stressed how important it was to get her to nurse and eat.

When we took her back to the doctor on Monday, her levels had dropped two points! I was so thrilled and so happy that we were able to do it without being on the lights.

In the meantime, we had lots of sunshine time outside.

And lots and lots of love.

Home Sweet Home

2011-09-18T19:51:00.002-05:00

The first day in the hospital was non-stop, to say the least. It seemed like every 10 minutes there was a doctor, nurse, hearing test, someone wanting birth certificate information, newborn photos, lactation consultant, etc. It was hard to get much time to just take her all in. And to be honest, that's really all I wanted to do.

Family and a couple of friends came up to visit and see Landry for the first time. That part was the fun part.

The second day, however, was the complete opposite. No visitors, no doctors just a lot of time to snuggle Landry and just stare at her all day. I gotta say, it was kind of weird and lonely and nice all at the same time.

We found out early that my doctor wouldn't be there to come "dismiss" me until after her office closed. So we knew it would be evening before we were out of there. We asked the nurse if we could get things moving on everything else because we didn't want to get home too late and we wanted to make it home before the boys went to bed.

Well, even after being seen by my doctor, things didn't seem to move fast enough. We were ready to go home long before they were ready for us. So in the meantime, we played dress up. This is a first for me since I'm used to just throwing on t-shirts and shorts on my boys and if they're lucky, brushing their hair.

Finally we got clearance to pack up and go home. It seemed to take eternity. I couldn't wait to get home and get started on our new life as a family of five.

Landry seemed too tiny to even put in the car seat.

We almost made it to the elevators and Justin reminded the transport guy that Landry still had her ankle bracelet on. Good thing he reminded him because he said all the hospital alarms would have gone off. Glad we didn't have that be part of our going home adventure.

Just as we get her packed in the car and I'm about to take a sigh of relief that we're finally headed home, our car doesn't start! The battery was dead. We have to call the hospital security to come give us a jump. Really? Of ALL days? Luckily, we were only waiting a total of about 5 minutes and a jump was all we needed. This heat has caused us to buy batteries for both of our cars this summer.

We made it home just before 8:00 p.m. and the boys came running to meet us. I'm bummed because all the pictures turned out really blurry but they were excited to see Landry. After Campbell's reaction to her in the hospital, I wasn't too sure how he'd act once we brought her home.

Once we walked in, we couldn't find Campbell and Justin finally found him in Landry's nursery waiting for her. He was dying to show her her new room. I just thought that was the sweetest thing. We're all adjusting to adding a baby in the mix. I seem to be the one having the hardest time and that's only because of the sleep deprivation. Even though we just did the newborn thing with Campbell just three years ago, it still is a shock to the system. Everything else seems to be fitting in just fine. The boys are great with her, she's healthy, feeding great and such a good baby. What a blessed life we have.

a REAL Labor Day

2011-09-13T14:19:00.000-05:00

***WARNING***long post to follow. If you want a play by play of our Labor Day please read below. If not...here are the basics:

1. I got pregnant
2. I was pregnant during the hottest summer on record in the NATION (yes I'll brag and wear that badge of honor forever).
3. I was in Labor on Labor Day
4. I had the most beautiful baby girl that I've ever laid eyes on and we fell madly in love.

See, I told ya.

Ok, now for the longer story for those who are interested...

Last Thursday, I waddled to my appointment to see my OBGYN praying to God that it wouldn't be much longer. The number one reason I didn't one to go much longer?

Let me introduce you to my ankle roll.

And yes, it was as painful as it looked and I had a flip flop indentation long after I took them off. One particular night I asked Nolan if he could do me a big favor and get in his jammies and brush his teeth by himself because my feet were so swollen. Nolan innocently asked, "Where are your ankles, Mommy?" Exactly, my son.

My sonogram showed that Landry was looking great with her big noggin' and was 8 lbs! So my doctor said that with all my other issues of being on blood thinners, my platelets dropping near the level where I couldn't have an epidural, and her size, that it was time to deliver a baby soon. So the next Tuesday (the day after Labor Day) was the plan. Plus the fact that I was 3 cm, 70% effaced told her that Landry was ready. And it made my heart rest easy knowing that my blood thinner shots would be timed perfectly to optimize being able to get an epidural. Now, if only my platelets would cooperate. Two weeks before delivery I found out that my platelet levels were dipping too low into the range where it wasn't safe to get an epidural. I was so convinced that I was destined to have this little girl in agony with all the odds stacked against me.

I couldn't have been more relieved to have a plan in place. Knowing that an end was in sight made it bearable the last few days but then I realized that I sure did have a lot that I needed to get done. Like pack a bag for the hospital, get the play pen set up for our room, install car seats, and the list goes on and on...

Some of the list got accomplished, but not all. Labor Day was going to be our day to clean house and get everything finalized. So Sunday night we took it easy and watched a movie in bed. We even snuck in a last supper meal with just Justin and me while a sweet friend of mine watched the boys. She's a mother of three and knows those quiet dinners are few and far between. I even managed to get in one last pregnancy shot the night before I went into labor.

Justin was rubbing my back and feet during the movie but I just couldn't get comfortable. I decided to take a Tylenol PM to help me feel more comfortable. Normally just taking one helps me fall asleep within 30 minutes but it wasn't helping. And if I fell asleep, it would only be for 15 minutes. I wouldn't exactly call them contractions more like a constant cramp.

We finally decided to call the doctor on call since my doctor was out of town until my induction date. Knowing it was my third and all my other complications she said, "Looks like you're going to have a Labor Day baby!" We called my parents and they rushed over to watch the boys. Panic was starting to set in because I had taken my heparin shot at 9:30 pm and since it was only 4:30 a.m. this was really going to mess up my epidual plans since there's a 12 hour waiting period. For the first time ever going into labor, I was wishing I wasn't dilated too much.

They checked me in triage and I was still only a 3, but I gotta say I was a little relieved but my contractions were anywhere from 3-7 minutes apart. The on-call doctor came in and checked me about an hour later and said that I was a 4! Things were moving and then they officially checked me in. All the while, we hear a lady screaming down the hall about to give birth and the terror only grips me more knowing that could be me if this whole epidural thing doesn't work out. Turns out she barely made it to the hospital and had her baby 10 minutes after her screaming entrance.

The next step was doing lots of blood work and checking my platelets.

After getting a room, they told me that my platelet levels were 109,000. The cutoff for an epidural is 100,000 but there are other factors that they keep into account before they could let me know for sure if I would be able to get one. For the next hour and a half, I was sweating profusely mostly out of fear of the unknown of whether I could really do this if drugs weren't an option.

Finally, I got the relieving news that I could have an epidural. The build up of all that fear escaped me like a ton of bricks. From that point on, my anxiety completely lifted. I really wasn't in much pain just slight discomfort but decided that since I was already a 4, I didn't want to start feeling some major pain and have to be really still during my epidural, so I asked for one. I'm glad I did because it seemed like it took forever to get it started. Around 2:00 pm, I finally got one.

With both boys after I got my epidural, I went from a 5 to a 10 in 30-45 minutes. So everyone told me that your third baby always comes the fastest so I was thinking that within the next hour it would be show time. An hour later I was still a 4, an hour after that I was finally a 5, then a 5 again after that. Ugh! Finally I moved to a 6 by about 5:00 pm. At this point, I'm just getting pretty bummed out that everyone is waiting and I thought I'd have her by now. I kept feeling pressure during contractions and I was just so sure that I was a 10...nope, still a 6.

The interest and excitement of the hospital was wearing on everyone quickly, especially my boys. The entertainment bag was not nearly as exciting as the beginning of the day.

We decided that with this snails pace that we should send everyone to dinner and that the boys would get to meet Landry the next day since it was a school night. The doctor came in an I asked her what's up with me not dilating. All that talk from people saying that with your third you sneeze them out had me thinking that was all for the birds. She said that some times that just happens but she would bet it would be happening soon.

I was beginning to feel a lot of pressure with each contractions so they upped my "happy juice". It was just enough to make me relax more and sure enough within another 45 minutes I went from a 6 to a 10. Justin called all the grandparents around 7:25 to let them know she was coming soon.

This is just after finding out I was dilated to a 10 and everyone is prepping the delivery room.

Finally, it was time. The doctor said that her bet was two pushes and she was out. Well, she lied. It was actually three, but I'll take it! Within 10 minutes, Landry made her way into the world with a head full of dark hair. This was quite the shocker since my boys were bald and then blondies.

They put her immediately to my chest so I could see her and she was purple. No one was saying much and I'm sure that it was only a matter of 5 seconds but it seemed to go on for minutes. Finally I asked, "Is she ok?" because my boys came out screaming. They suctioned her out really well and sister let out the biggest scream ever. She couldn't be outdone by her loud brothers. And suddenly the tears came pouring from my face. I've never been so relieved, so thrilled, so thankful.

You think with every pregnancy that it would just be a routine by the time it's your third, but this pregnancy just about did me in.

From the scare of the miscarriages, the daily injections of blood thinners, the twice a week appointments, being in my third trimester during the Never Ending Story Summer of triple digit heat, to my ankle rolls, there were numerous times that I truly thought I couldn't make it. And worry just consumed me.

I was plagued more times than I can count with ideas of how can this work out three times in a row and we be blessed with three beautiful children. It seemed as if we were rolling the dice.

My parents were the in the waiting room anxiously waiting to be called back. Justin called his parents who were getting the boys ready for bed. We knew that they wouldn't be able to wait another day to come see her so we called up a close church friend to watch the boys and she graciously came to be with the boys while Gram and Pop came up to meet Landry. The next hours and day the grandparents passed her around and just smiled and stared. It melted my heart to see so much love already given to our daughter.

I love my boys so much and in a way that scares me because I worry about them so much and want the world for them. But to have this precious little girl, to experience a different side of motherhood, just makes me weep that this is MY life.

That I'm so undeserving but that God chose for this to be my life and be the mother to these amazing and beautiful children and to share it with the perfect partner for me in life.

All I can say is God is truly great.

Look who's here...

2011-09-10T20:40:00.000-05:00

I'm already finding it hard to say all I want to but here's a start and the photos say more than what I can say in words...

Introducing:

Landry Kate McDonald
Born September 5, 2011 (LABOR Day of course)
7 lbs. 15 oz
19 1/4 inches

Campbell was all smiles when he first got to the room.

But once everyone was looking to see what he thought of her, he clamped up really fast and didn't want to have much to do with her.

Nolan arrived a little bit later after school and immediately was curious about her and excited about meeting her.

I already know that he's going to be a great big brother just like he already is to Campbell.

As the night went on and people weren't watching as much, Campbell became more and more interested in Landry.

I'm just overwhelmed by God's love and grace that I'm so lucky to have this be our family.

I promise to give the real Labor Day Landry story very soon but had to post something to show she's here!

Hurricane Nolan

2011-09-02T22:50:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I wonder why I put myself through the things that I do when I already have so much on my plate. I was hesitant to put Nolan in soccer this fall with the baby coming, the school year starting and all that goes with that.

Memories of t-ball games flooded my brain with practices/games in 100 degree heat. But Nolan has really shown some major improvement this past season and just loves it. So I hated to take a break when he loves it so much.

So we signed him up... and this year we're the Hurricanes! And I'm liking this uniform a lot more than our maroon/gold uniforms for two seasons.

His coach is really great which is more than I can say for his t-ball coach who still didn't know his name at the end of the season and would just call him "Buddy".

Five of the kids on the team have been on the same team since last year and even some of them for three seasons now so we've got quite the team now.

Nolan scored FOUR goals in the game....an all-time high for him. He was on fire!

Gooooooo Nolan!

I got so into the game that I forgot that it was 170 degrees outside at 10 am in the morning. We tried to stay in the shade as long as possible but that quickly disappeared but look at my cute little umbrella boy coming to save the day and give mama some shade.

The scary part is that there actually was a mom that passed out from heat exhaustion! My umbrella came in handy to keep her in the shade.

Have I mentioned that I HATE this summer weather?!

Thankfully the game was over very soon after that and we headed straight indoors to drinks lots of water and soak in the air conditioning the rest of the day.

Nolan and his buddy Hank were in Pre-K together and are so excited to play together again.

Shower me with your love

2011-08-26T16:02:00.000-05:00

There was a time not too long ago when Justin and I were pretty much the only couple under 40 at our church. Don't get me wrong, we love and have always loved our church but it was concerning us that when we had kids that our kids would be the only ones in the nursery.

Then back in 2009 everything changed...a light switch was turned on. Rob and Beth Morris brought their family to our church and Rob became our minister and Beth might as well be a paid staff member for all the work she does for our church. Since then, our church has been growing and young adults and families have been joining and it all just makes me smile.

Us girls have made a new group and we're the self proclaimed "Soul Sistas" and we get together once a month for some much needed girl time fellowship. This month our get together as well as other women of the church, was to throw me a baby shower! And boy did they ever...

Let me introduce you to the cutest Christmas outfit ever...I wish she'd fit into it THIS Christmas!

One thing Landry will not be lacking in is stylish girly clothes!

And who doesn't need a purse for their pacifier?

And I gotta say it's the luckiest thing in the world having a BFF who can sew and has an embroidery machine. Love getting gifts from her.

We laughed so hard during the shower and everyone had a good laugh trying to fit my belly in the picture. It makes for a great pillow.

How's that for staring you in the face?!

It's too bad we never have a good time when we get together.

I'm so grateful for this group of women that support me, love me and love my family. They are truly beautiful people.

The first day

2011-08-23T21:20:00.000-05:00

He started school this morning,
And he seemed so very small.
As I walked there beside him
In the Kindergarten hall.

And as he took his place beside
the others in the class,
I realized how all too soon
Those first few years can pass.

Remembering, I saw him as
He first learned how to walk.
The words that we alone made out
When he began to talk.

This little boy so much absorbed
In learning how to write.
It seems as though he must have grown
To boyhood overnight.

My eyes were blurred by hastily
I brushed the tears away
Lest by some word or sign of mine
I mar his first big day.

Oh how I longed to stay with him
And keep him by the hand
To lead him through the places
That he couldn’t understand.

And something closely kin to fear
Was mingled with my pride.
I knew he would no longer be
A baby by my side.

But he must have his chance to live,
To work his problems out,
The privilege to grow and learn
What life is all about.

And I must share my little boy
With friends and work and play;
He’s not a baby anymore –
He’s in Kindergarten today.

Poem written By: Georgy

Meet the teacher - Nolan

2011-08-21T15:11:00.002-05:00

Meet the teacher was at my school last Thursday. It has been a crazy week to say the least. New school year, moved to a new classroom, trying to prepare for my long term sub, fitting in 3 doctor's appointments this week, car dying (TWICE!), and being 9 months pregnant. Whew, just typing that made me tired.

I raced to the doctor and came back just in time for Meet the Teacher. It was a great turn out. Normally the joke is that by the time they're in 5th grade, the parent involvement isn't the best but I was pleasantly surprised to meet all but one of my students in my homeroom!

Justin came too, thank goodness to document Nolan's Meet the Teacher. It's a Catch 22 when it comes to teaching at Nolan's school. I'm so excited about being part of his day every day while at school but I'm also a teacher and must wear my teacher hat. Since I was busy meeting my own students, Justin came to play the parent role.

And he got to meet Ms. Japhet. The funniest thing is that I had her daughter last year in my class. So now we're just switching and trading off. Although I haven't seen in her the classroom, I see her in the hall all the time with her kiddos and you just know when someone is made to be a kindergarten teacher and when they're not...like me! That's why I teach the furthest thing from kindergarten and teach 5th!

Ms. Japhet is such a sweet spirit and I've seen her exhibit nothing but grace and patience while interacting with her students.

Bonus: she's a mom of three herself and with two boys just one or two years older than Nolan. So I know she can fully understand how boys this age might be a little precocious.

Nolan is so ready for Kindergarten. He told me yesterday after a car ride to get an ice cream treat, that he was dreaming about it and he's so excited.

All this talk about Kindergarten has someone else talking about it a lot. He's still got a couple years. The first week at school for Campbell was a success minus three boo boo reports. He gets mad when we pick him up because he doesn't want to leave school. Poor thing has been the last one picked up nearly every day this week. I promise Campbell, mommy will get herself together pretty soon and you won't be the last one there everyday!

Here's to a great year and the beginning of Nolan's journey. I just hope I don't hear too many embarrassing stories from Ms. Japhet this year.

Another baby bump update

2011-08-14T21:51:00.001-05:00

We're finally in the homestretch of this pregnancy. Once summer came it seemed like things really slowed down. Nothing like being in the third trimester with two kids 5 and under at home all day by myself with a day full of entertaining and refereeing to do during the near record breaking triple digit heat.

On Tuesday, I will be 35 weeks! Operation Nursery is complete, thank goodness! I knew from the moment I took a pregnancy test and looked up my due date, that things were going to be really crazy right about...now. Tomorrow I start back and the following week, Nolan starts kindergarten. The beginning of the school year is always so insane for any teacher much less being 9 months pregnant and juggling twice a week appointments starting next week. Oh, did I mention that my OBGYN's latest appointment is 2:15 and school doesn't dismiss until 3:00? Thankfully, she just allows me to come as soon as I can get there.

I went to the doctor yesterday and you never know what you're looking at when it comes to the wait. It can be hours or one time I got out of there in 30 minutes. Justin's been great about trying to make my appointments when he can. He especially loves making it to the sonograms. So when I saw a room full in the waiting room, I texted him and told him how incredibly thirsty I was and to not rush. He was sweet enough to stop and get me a bottled water but at the expense of missing the sonogram. I felt so horrible! How was I to know with 30 people in the waiting room that I'd be called back in 10 minutes?

She's so big now (5.5 lbs) that it's hard to get much in the sonograms. But check out girlfriend's chubby cheeks. They rate high risk pregnancies with a test of 1-8 and Landry got an 8 out of 8! That's my girl! Amniotic fluid, heart rate, breathing and movement all look great. Overall she's measuring 1 week ahead but her head is two weeks ahead. Ouch.

My doctor said by law she can't induce me before 39 weeks but that with my blood clotting issues that we have a tiny bit of wiggle room. Therefore she made it seem like she might actually consider inducing me at 38 weeks IF things look good and it looks like my cervix is ready. So, if that's the case, then we're ironically looking at the week of LABOR day!!!

Feelings right now: exhausted, overwhelmed, excited, anxious, nervous, feeling like a house

Cravings: pretty much anything

Weight gain so far: 32 lbs (gulp)

Excuse the horrible iPhone pic but turns out this magazine doesn't exactly play up EVERY shape.

It's hard to play up a Buddha belly.

Campbell's Meet the Teacher

2011-08-12T15:18:00.000-05:00

Wow, and just like that summer is over. And when I say summer is over, I mean school is about to start because there is nothing about our weather that is anything BUT summer.Today was Meet the Teacher day at Campbell's school. Our school district provides a development center for teachers in the district. Both Nolan and Campbell were there last year. Now just my little Campbelloni is there because big brother is starting kindergarten...but I won't talk about that just yet. I'm hanging on to every last day of him still be a little boy.

Campbell was of course shy when we first got there and much to our surprise we found out that Nolan's teachers last year are now Campbell's teacher. Nolan was so excited about that. He went up and immediately hugged Ms. Sherry.

As soon as Campbell walked in his new classroom he was exploring. They had us doing a scavenger hunt finding all the important things in the room. What a cute idea.

When I asked him to find the bathroom, he did and as I walked in after him, I saw his cute little bottom. I guess he thought I meant to go use the bathroom!

He was busy checking off his checklist.

Shockingly, Campbell hugged Ms. Sherry and Ms. Ashley goodbye. He's my boy that takes some time to warm up but he warmed right up to them. I think it helped that he knew them from being Nolan's teachers last year.

On our way to the school, he was so excited to see all his friends but he thought he was going to have the same teachers. So we couldn't leave without Cam giving some love to his teachers from last year.

I must say that it's a much easier transition for him this year because he's been there before and he knows all of his friends and he has Nolan's teachers this year.

We are so happy with the Development Center and all that he has learned. Now in a little over a week, Nolan starts kinder.

9 month pregnant woman with rollercoaster hormones + first child starting kindergarten = an emotional basketcase

At least he'll be at school with me!

California Babymoon

2011-08-04T22:44:00.002-05:00

In July, we were able to go on our original plan of a babymoon...one last trip before baby comes. In May, we got super lucky and got another trip out of the deal and went to Santa Ana. This time our trip was to Santa Barbara.

What I loved about this lucky deal we somehow squeaked out, is that since we already went to California for a short weekend trip in May, we already knew some places that we wanted to revisit and knew that we'd be within driving distance. But we first enjoyed everything about the overcast day. It seems crazy to enjoy an overcast day but now that we're on day 34 of triple digit heat here with no end in sight, an overcast day was exactly what we needed.

We stayed an hour outside of Santa Barbara but it was great because it allowed us to be right smack in the middle of the two places we wanted to visit.

On one of our day trips to Santa Barbara, we took a couple of hours to walk along the beach.

Why yes, Texas friends, I was actually wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt in JULY! The high was 68 that day and my jacket even made an appearance a few times.

My back was absolutely killing me this particular day but I made myself just sit down and enjoy the view. The ocean air, cool temps and the amazing view helped me get through the pain.

Along our walk we found some surf schooling taking place. What must it be like to live in a place where this is offered. That's how they roll in California.

It was pretty painful walking up these stairs but it was worth every ache.

The next day, we made a day trip to visit Santa Monica beach. It was actually a complete accident that we went there. We thought it was Venice Beach but I'm so glad we stopped. It was so much fun, and quite a landmark...the end of Route 66!

The boardwalk was so pretty with the ferris wheel and the view of the mountains and ocean.

After our pit stop to Santa Monica, we headed to Venice Beach. We were warned, and it's a good thing we were. That was a pretty crazy place! We saw some men flipping over six people...

And saw some other things that I'd rather not have seen. But I was a big fan of the fresh fruit and the view of the ocean.

The waves against the rocks were amazing!

The following day we drove down to our same destination that we went to in May to see Laguna and Newport beaches, and Balboa Island. Crazy enough some friends, the Wakefields, from Dallas were there for their month long stay. They lived there for their first year of marriage but moved back to Texas. Still not sure why they moved but Reid says going back to visit for a month every summer is helping "ease the pain" and keep Emily happy....don't blame them one bit!

After our lunch with the Wakefields, we just sat on the beach for a hour and that's where we both got sunburned. Guess it helps when you don't leave the sunscreen in the car.

And it wouldn't be a complete trip to Laguna without some Casey's cupcakes! It was strawberry for me this time and I think I liked it even more than the cinnamon one last time.

Our trip was wrapping up but we were able to squeeze in seeing my cousin, Scott, and his adorable wife Mayra before we headed to the airport for brunch. It's been 12 years since I've seen my cousin. And there wasn't enough time to catch up on everything we needed to in just a couple short hours. We used up every last second before we had to be at the airport.

But he's coming to Texas hopefully this fall so now we won't let another 12 years go by.

I'm so so so grateful for both sets of grandparents that made this babymoon possible. They split up the days. While I was a worried mess, not that they couldn't do it, but that the boys were behaving.

My favorite text from my father-in-law while on our trip after asking how they were behaving..."sunny to partly cloudy." I'm pretty sure I know who partly cloudy was.

The boys loved every minute of their time with them. They talk about both sets of grandparents still three weeks later and the things they did with them. So just as much as we enjoyed this trip and our time alone before we're a family of FIVE (gulp!) our boys enjoyed making memories with their grandparents.

Looks like it's FORCED FAMILY FUN trips for a loooooooooooong time.

Photogenic boys

2011-07-30T21:34:00.001-05:00

These were taken the same day as my maternity photos but these were of just the boys and they are some of my favorites. This was all Nolan with this pose. Doesn't he look like he's 10 here?

Anytime I take their pictures when they're wearing blue or in front of something blue they usually end up being some of my favorites because their eyes just POP!

Love these boys!

Operation Nursery

2011-07-27T23:52:00.001-05:00

Drum roll please.....TA-DA! Sweet Moses this nursery took forever! This summer will forever be known as the "nursery summer" well among other things like the hottest summer on EARTH!

Things go a lot slower when you've got two energetic boys to run after and referee. Most of it was done during nap times or late at night after they were in bed. I have to say once again, it was Justin doing most of the work. I'm good at generating the ideas...just no follow through. Well, I guess I should say no energy for the follow though!

The Landry circle was compliments of my very talented husband. I couldn't find a vinyl one with just the right Laverne and Shirley "L" I was looking for, so he created this one and painted it...each little polka dot.

I saw this banner in one of my scrapbooking magazines for a party but I just loved it. So I copied it just using my cricut. What did I do before that thing? That was life B.C. (before cricut). I just hope that since it's made of paper it will hold up.

Majority of things were bought at Target....bedding, lamps, curtains, frames. The rugs and flower hook came from Hobby Lobby

Notice my bow hanger I made using scrapbook paper...can you tell that I'm hoping this girl has hair unlike my bald headed newborn boys?

Lucky enough, this mirror and lamp came from our old guest room and was just collecting dust up in the attic. I'm glad that we were able to use it again!

I took this picture at night so you can see the polka dots on the curtains better. The "you are my sunshine" above her window...another cricut and vinyl invention.

The lighting is not the best on this last one but wanted to include a bigger picture of her room. One thing this girl is going to know is her name! Her name or initial are blasted all over the walls! What can I say, I'm a sucker for monograms and fonts!

My mom is making a table topper for the little table next to the glider and I'm looking for a lamp for that table too, but other than that...I can say that this room is done!

Lord help me if this does not turn out to be a girl!

It was so hard painting over Nolan's old nursery and all the work that went into that room. Just for a walk down memory lane...here's what the nursery looked like before we started on Landry's room.

And I love that the room grew with him into having a big boy bed.

I even dug up this old photo of when I was pregnant with Campbell!

At least Nolan got 5 1/2 good years in that room so it wasn't a waste!

I loved you from the very start

2011-07-26T15:16:00.001-05:00

I loved you from the very start…

You stole my breath, embraced my heart.

Our life together has just begun,

You’re part of me, my little one.

As mother with child, each day I knew

My mind would be filled with thoughts of you.

I’m daydreaming of the things we’ll share,

Like late-night bottles and teddy bears.

Like first steps and skinned knees,

Like bedtime stories and ABC’s.

I’m thinking of things you’ll want to know,

Like how birds fly and flowers grow.

I’ve thought of lessons I’ll need to share,

Like standing tall and playing fair.

When I first see your precious face,

I’ll pray your life be touched with grace.

I’ll thank the angels from above,

And promise you unending love.

Each night I’ll lay you down to sleep,

I’ll gently kiss your head and cheek.

I’ll count your little fingers and toes,

I’ll memorize your eyes and nose.

I will linger at your nursery door,

Awed each day that I love you more.

Through misty eyes, I’ll dim the light,

And whisper, “I love you” every night.

As mother with child our journey’s begun,

My heart’s yours forever, little one.

-Author unknown

Lazy 4th

2011-07-25T17:00:00.003-05:00

I'm only 3 weeks late on this post! Ugh. Is this a preview of life with family of five? I can't keep up!

The 4th this year was pretty uneventful. I had just gotten back from my girls' trip and those nights of staying up to 3:00 a.m. had caught up with me for sure. In the early afternoon we went to our friends' house to go swimming. I so wish I would have remembered to bring the camera. They have a diving board so the boys think their pool is way cooler than our neighborhood pool.

Campbell was absolutely fearless jumping off the diving board too many times to count. Nolan was more cautious and not really into being such a daredevil. Funny thing is only a week later he was swimming (like really swimming) underwater, no floaties at all and jumping off the side. "In their own time" could not be more of an appropriate phrase when it comes to my oldest son.

Grandma and Granddad came over. We grilled out and had the traditional 4th of July meals...burgers, potato salad and all the fixin's. It was a scorcher, as always, so I brought the boys in the front yard to at least get a few shots of them on the 4th since I forgot it at the swim party.

Campbell was really into Bandit being a photo prop. These boys have become best buds with Bandit this summer. They just love on him all the time. Poor dog, we're so busy taking care of the boys that he just eats up their affection.

My mom recently had a bad fall and pretty much caught herself with her face. She had to have surgery. She's doing much better now. So with me being in my third trimester and needing to potty every 30 minutes and her surgery we thought it was a good year to be low key and not go see fireworks. In case you're new to the blog. We have the WORST luck trying to see fireworks. For years now, it seems like we can just never get it right.

I felt like I was disappointing the boys and was feeling a little bit of mother's guilt until we realized that we could go upstairs to the boys' room and see all the fireworks in the comfort our our a/c!

So even though it was uneventful, I was pretty darn exhausted so I guess it was smart that we didn't attempt to watch fireworks. The a/c was much better!

Making memories

2011-07-22T16:48:00.008-05:00

Our extent of outdoor play is limited, to say the least. The only time I go outside is if I'm in a pool or walking to my car. Even checking the mail waits until the sun is near going down. I thought it might just be me being pregnant and feeling like I'm in a constant state of "Stop, Drop and Roll" because I'm so on fire. But I know it's not just me because everyone's talking about how we're over 20 days in the triple digit heat and looking up the forecast is the biggest waste of time because there is no end in sight.

At the beginning of the summer, I ordered the boys to play outside right after breakfast for at least 20 minutes but they would only last 10 minutes and I gotta tell you, I don't blame them. It's brutal! One evening the boys really wanted to play catch with their daddy. It was after 8:00 p.m. and we actually made it outside to tolerate it. But these boys were craving some much needed outdoor time.

With the t-ball season over (THANK YOU JESUS!) it was good practice to throw and play catch. It seems now that the season is over, Nolan's actually got a pretty good idea on how to work that glove to catch the ball.

Campbell, on the other hand, just loves to make the meanest pitching face he can to intimidate the opponent. But for every mean face, he has a super sweet face.

I'm SO getting payback from the torture I put my mom through...my favorite phrase as a kid? "Mom, watch this!" But it usually was more like this...

"Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, MOM! Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Moooooooooooooooom, watch this!"

They loved getting to have that time outside because it feels like it's been months since we've done it. And getting some quality time with Dad was probably the best part of it.

Shortly after this, Justin took them to see a Fort Worth Cats game all by himself while I was on my girls' trip. I thought he'd lost his mind but he said that they absolutely loved it. Guess I just needed to be out of the picture and give them some male bonding time.

Of course, it wouldn't be a typical evening if someone didn't get hurt.

But that can easily be fixed by just acting like you're going to bite their face off. Silliness seems to work a lot better than being overly sympathetic in our house. It must be part of raising boys.

We're having a heat wave..

2011-07-20T22:56:00.002-05:00

You know what's pretty unlucky about this summer and almost every summer in Texas? The first week our a/c went out or almost always goes out. The triple digit heat beats on our little a/c unit and our unit tries its best version of "I think I can" that it can muster but the evil heat always wins.

I'm confident God knew exactly what he was doing putting me in this generation. He knew that I couldn't survive any other prior. This girl needs some electricity and a/c! And to take away any of those while pregnant would definitely fall under the "cruel and unusual punishment" category.

Right now, I sleep with the thinnest t-shirt I can find while still covering at least 80% of my body. Our overhead fan is on high and then I have a personal fan blowing on my face. Justin says that he can see my cheeks flapping in the wind....and that's WITH our a/c working. The night our a/c went out, one thing I knew for sure...I couldn't make it inside all day with the boys. We were out of the house by 9:00 and headed to use our museum pass in a big building full of coolness.

My boys can play in the grocery area for hours and on this day I was just fine with that.

This picture of another set of brothers gave me hope that even in a few years when we want to do the same thing with Landry that they'll still think the museum is cool.

Campbell is one territorial kid when it comes to his shopping basket. And if you even laid eyes on his basket while he was using it, he gave his best stink eye.

And on this visit, they had a giant Lite-Brite that the boys were digging as much as I did as a kid. I never had one as a kid but I so remember playing with that toy at all my friends' houses who did.

And once Nolan discovered he could make flowers, he was entertained for at least another half hour.

I think we made it over two hours in the museum and they would have kept going but this mama was busting out my best waddle and anytime that's starts happening, I know it's quitting time.

So on this particular day, I'm so grateful that I signed up for a museum pass and NOT a zoo pass.

Vacation Bible School

2011-07-17T20:38:00.001-05:00

Last summer I was cranking out posts at least every other day. I was editing photos almost daily and out and about shuffling between the pool, the museum and dozens of playdates. Fast forward a year later and after anywhere from 3-11 bathroom trips during the middle of the night, I'm ready for a nap after breakfast.

So needless to say, my posts are WAY behind but I was hoping the first paragraph might get me a few sympathy votes. Vacation Bible School was actually the very first week of summer. I have thrown all chronology out the window when it comes to this blog.

This year our VBS theme had to do with being good stewards of God's Earth. Justin played the guitar throughout the week and our VBS is for ages 3 and up. At the time Campbell was only 2 but about to turn 3 so they allowed him to come.

He put up a good act when he "caught a bubble" and made a duck tail down the hall that he was going to be good but the little stinker was a handful the first day but improved throughout the week.

Anytime there's an arts and crafts activity, I know Nolan's all in. Believe it or not, but Campbell actually was interested more than 2 seconds too!

The kids got to try a variety of fruits and vegetables from Farmer's Markets. Most they liked. Others...not so much.

They also painted ladybug houses.

This picture of Campbell with the red paint on his face reminds me of Tears of a Clown. Thank goodness for aprons and washable paint!

Later they released lady bugs in our community garden. Notice my boys, a step back from the ladybugs. Because you know ladybugs are so scary and mean and all.

They would rather watch from a distance.

A nursery across the street donated trees to every kid. Shhh, ours is still in the bucket. Picking up a shovel in 105 degree heat 7 months pregnant isn't exactly up there on my priority list.

The boys got to also help plants some trees at church. Getting their hands dirty didn't seem to be an issue with them at all.

Maybe once we finally get a break, we can put our tree in the ground and I can use them as child labor.

Until then, we'll just have to keep watering our tree everyday so it won't die!

Roller Derby Party

2011-07-11T08:17:00.002-05:00

My title to this post makes me laugh...because there was absolutely nothing "derby" about this rollerskating party. Our friends, Gabe and Andrea, had their daughter's 6th birthday party at a rollerskating rink. Let it be known that I haven't stepped foot in one of those places since middle school.

There are certain memories that are ingrained in my brain from those days. The smell of the rink, how the skates felt like they weighed 20 lbs. each and even the yearning feeling wishing I could be one of those super cool girls that could skate backyards to roller dance with their crush. I even remember that feeling of stepping on the carpet after skating for what seemed like hours and feeling like how forgot how to walk.

I love all things that look like they're made doll-like and toddler rollerskates are no exception. Seriously, I want a pair of these for him to keep, not all the bumps and bruises that go with them....just the skates.

The process of getting shoes laced was only about 10 minutes long per child it seemed.

Getting to the rink was even more of a feat and Nolan quickly learned that this rollerskating stuff was not nearly as easy as it looked.

With my lovely lady bump, skating was not in the cards for me although I wanted too so badly but there is not doubt that I would have fallen and busted my rump. So that meant double duty for Justin....poor guy. After one round with Nolan and a round with Campbell that took 10 minutes each, we went straight to the counter and bought a walker. Worth.every.last.penny. Where were these things when I was learning to skate?

And while Justin would take one for a loop, the other would keep me company. And after many-a-toe-smooshings, sitting was the best option.

We learned really quickly carpet was safe (mostly), using a walker, and sometimes just getting hauled like a sack of potatoes was the quickest mode of transportation with the least amount of injuries.

Pretty soon, all the moms and dads were really digging the walkers....so were all of our backs and sore muscles.

Of course Nolan now wants a roller skating party. He switches every other day between roller skating, a gymnastics party and a pumpkin party. By the time his birthday rolls around, Landry will be here so maybe I can make a fool of myself and try to skate backwards with my grown up crush, Justin.

Girls' Getaway

2011-07-07T16:27:00.003-05:00

I just got back from a girls' scrapbooking getaway. It was so so so much fun and exactly what I needed being 7 months pregnant and with no break from the boys all day this summer. Last year we went to Memory Lane Inn in McKinney, but this year we went to Tyler because McKinney was booked. It's owned by the same girl who definitely knows how to do things right.

Embarrassingly enough, I didn't take one stinkin' picture while I was there. Justin needed our nice camera for a photo shoot for work so I just had my point and shoot and so I stole some of these pictures off their website and some from my friend, Kelly.

My trip didn't start off so smoothly. Last time we ordered the chef menu which I HIGHLY recommend. Unfortunately, if at least 12 people don't want to order it, then it isn't available. Well, the six of us wanted it but the other group didn't. So that meant packing our own food and ordering out.

But when you have a kitchen that looks like this, it doesn't make it so bad to be in the kitchen.

But I'm a total airhead and forgot ALL MY FOOD at home! Talk about cutting off a lifeline for a pregnant lady. So I had to make a pit stop and do some shopping once I got into town and I mooched off the other girls too.

The accommodations were awesome. Everything you could possibly need for scrapbooking that I didn't even leave for 4 days.

There were six of us that stayed in the room. Only three came last year and we added three more girls this year. I was a little nervous about everyone getting along but everyone got along so great and we laughed with each other like we had known each other forever.

We found out that Tyler is quite the happening place and even got to order Chuy's one night. Yum!

The had great sitting areas outside but I was so busy scrappin' that I didn't really utilize any of it. I did take the trash out once but there was some monstrous thunder that scared the living daylights out of me and I hurdled about eight of these bushes. I think everyone got a kick out of my hurdle skills 7 months pregnant. Wasn't really thinking that one through, it was just instinct!

I think the latest we stayed up was 3:30 a.m. Not sure how I did that considering I can hardly keep my eyes open at 10:00 at night normally. I guess I was just in the groove and having too much fun. The best part...that I got 14 spreads complete! WOOHOO! I'm so behind and I'm still only caught up to August of last year. My goal is to get caught up at least through Christmas by the end of the summer.

These aren't even all of them but I figure I wouldn't bore you completely to tears! We're already planning our trip for next summer! Wish I could do it more often but with our third one about to make her appearance, I feel lucky to get away this much. I'm so thankful for a husband who knows that I'm a better wife and mother because of these trips.

Quarterly Top 5 photos

2011-07-04T08:44:00.003-05:00

Once again, it's so hard to pick my top 5 photos from the past quarter. Mostly because we've been so busy and we've had warm weather and I think outdoor photos make the best ones. I'm linking up with Amber from Amber's Articles, Click it up a Notch, Naptime Momtog for my Quarterly Top 5 photos.

I took this one last week when my boys were playing catch with my husband in the backyard and I just love my boys' blue eyes and some days they almost glow they're so blue.

I'm expecting in September and this time we're having a girl. We've been working hard on the nursery. It's far from being done but at least it's done enough now that I was actually able to get a photo in there.

We are so excited about meeting our sweet Landry in 9-10 weeks!

T-ball season is officially over and the Texas triple digit heat really made me second guess my decision to play this summer. But moments like this helped me know that I made the right one and that we're making these kind of memories.

My youngest son just turned 3 and we had a cookie monster party. This is my favorite photo from the party. We've been working on getting that third finger up for months and he finally got it and I just love that it's focused on his chubby little fingers with his face blurred in the background.

Lastly, we took this picture on a perfect evening having a playdate in beautiful weather with friends at a nearby park. In photography, you hear about how the "golden hour" is the perfect time to take photos and this picture was one of my best moments of actually capturing the sun kiss.

I love these quarterly top 5 contests because it forces me to take the time to go through what I've taken recently and really pick out moments in our lives that make me proud of being a mom and/or photographer...even if I'm an amateur.

Soul Sisters

2011-07-02T14:12:00.000-05:00

Sometimes there are things that happen in the universe that happen to freak me out a little bit. Some might call it coincidence or others, fate.

My best friend, Angi, and I have been best friends since 5th grade. We seems to live parallel lives and now I'm even more convinced. She was pregnant with her twins the same time as I was with Campbell. We were due two weeks apart. Her twins came a little earlier than expected and are 11 days older than Campbell.

She became pregnant again back in the fall and her due date was the exact same day that I had with Campbell (July 8th) and we found out that we were pregnant a week later. This time our due dates a week apart. Sadly, we miscarried but were pregnant again withing a couple of months.

Well, wouldn't you know that she had her precious girl June 28th, on Campbell's birthday. What are the chances?

Introducing...

Rylan Tate Tims

7 lbs. 7 oz

19 inches

Isn't she so beautiful? And I'm not just saying that because she's my BFF. I couldn't believe that now our children share a birthday. So here we are exactly three years later at the same hospital going to see her precious baby girl. By the way, it was a surprise what she was having (although my gut was a girl the whole time). And I couldn't be happier that we're both having girls just weeks apart from each other.

It was such a great trial run for the boys to see where Landry was going to be born and to get a sneak peek at a newborn. There were eating it up.

Campbell seemed to be the most intrigued by such a little person and even wanted to smell her.

It really got me excited about things to come and seeing the boys' excitement was priceless.

I couldn't stop staring at Rylan and all this coincidence led me to another discovery. We've finally decided on a middle name last week for Landry....Kate. I've always loved that name and just think it's so classic. I recently discovered that both Justin and my great grandmother's name was Katie. So it just fits perfect.

On my way to the hospital to visit Angi, I realized that Rylan Tate and Landry Kate will have rhyming names. I swear that we DID NOT plan that.

I recently read that the best way you can show your friends that you love them is by loving their children. Well, after holding Rylan today and staring at her like she was mine, Angi should have no doubt about my love for her.