16 weeks later

Well, 16 weeks into this pregnancy and I am finally getting around to blogging about it!  Sorry little baby-I promise that I'll do better once you are here (I was awful with taking pregnancy pictures with Ella, too, but I think I've been doing a pretty good job of making sure that her baby book/blog book is just as fat as Joseph's :)  We are so excited to welcome baby #3 into our family sometime early September of this year (due date is September 4th.)  

I found out that I was pregnant on Christmas Eve but decided to keep it quiet from Rich for a day and for Christmas I wrapped up a picture of the pregnancy test and wrapped it up for him to open!  He was quite surprised but excited!  Such a special Christmas present and can't believe that by next Christmas we will be a family of 5!  

The pregnancy has gone very well so far.  I have been feeling great, still working out 5-6 times a week, but just really tired for the first 12-13 weeks and many days would fall asleep when both kids were napping.  Joseph has pretty much officially given up naps but thankfully he waited until I was about 15 weeks along which really helped.One night right before I turned 9 weeks Joseph asked me, "Mommy, why is your belly getting big?"  I had my first official ob-gyn appointment the next day so wanted to wait until then to say anything to him so I just told him that I had just eaten dinner and it was full.  He bought it but then the very night night he just casually walked by me and patted my belly and said, "Big belly!"  I swear, I wasn't even that big yet!  I told him then that my belly was getting big because I had a baby inside it.  He got really excited and asked "a baby brother or a baby sister?"  I told him, "We don't know yet, only God knows right no if it is a baby brother and sister" and he replied, "I want a brother, I already have a sister.  I am going to ask God for a brother"  Since then he will continue to tell me that he hopes it is a baby brother because he already has a sister.  All of the Chinese calendars say boy so maybe he'll get lucky!  He really gets it though and has kissed my belly a few times and will say, "Ella there's a baby in Mommy's tum-tum-tummy!"  

We are going to keep the gender a surprise this time around.  Rich has been wanting to wait since we were pregnant with Joseph but I was able to convince him to find out for both Joseph and Ella but now that we have one of each I figured I can hold off and wait!  I found a doctor in The Woodlands who has performed vbacs recently so switched to her and really like her so far and am looking forward to delivering ten minutes away, instead of an hour away at the county hospital!  

So, here we are on March 20th at 16 weeks!

And one with big brother, too!  

 Can't believe that we are almost half way there now!  So exciting!  

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2014!

It was so fun to celebrate St. Patrick's day with our two little leprechauns this year!

St. Patrick's Day photo shoot follows...

I was doing the "robot" here to make him laugh so he decided to give it a try!  

Sweet peanut!

Irish kisses

 

Ella even lucked out with some St. Patrick's Day pajama hand me downs so we had to get a picture of her in them, too!

 
And a kiss goodnight!  Happy St. Patrick's Day 2014!

Spring Break Weekend

It was spring break for the week of March 10th-14th.  This was the first year that it somewhat affected us since Joseph's school was closed for the week.  We stayed busy through the week with boot camp, lots of visits to many of the parks in the area , getting things done around the house and playing with friends.  I wasn't great about taking pictures throughout the week but I did manage to snap a few throughout the weekend.  

On Friday after boot camp we had 13 kids who were excited about taking the trolley around Market Street and Waterway Square.  The trolley is free and crazy enough we have never been on it yet so we decided to check it out.  Well, lo and behold, all of the trolleys were out of service for the week so as we are waiting at the trolley stop an air conditioned shuttle bus pulls up with a sign on the side saying "This is the free trolley".  After trying to figure out if it was really the trolley or just some cruel prank we decided to hop on.  The kids didn't care at all and kept saying, "This is awesome!"  I think they were just excited to be riding not in a carseat and with all of their friends!  It wasn't quite the trolley experience the moms were looking for, but we'll try again when Nani comes to visit at the beginning of April and hopefully we'll get the real deal then!  

Joseph was tucked away in the last row next to Kolton.  

 Ella enjoying the ride with me in the front seat.

After the "trolley" ride we headed to Cafe Express for a fun lunch with everyone.  

Here is Ella having fun with Kason after the ride.  

On Friday night the YMCA that is about a mile from our house offered the movie "Epic" outside on the big screen.  We decided to check it out and had a good time.  Not quite the relaxing movie experience since Ella was more interested in climbing in and out of the chairs the entire night but Joseph had fun and it was a great setting for his first real movie.   They had popcorn and lemonade and although it was a late night it was a good time!

 Joseph and his buddy Elsie waiting patiently while snacking on popcorn for it to start.  Joseph kept asking if there were going to be "bad guys" in the movie.

 They were finally sitting (thanks to the popcorn) after close to an hour of rolling down the hill and doing somersaults and dancing in the amphitheatre.  He slept well that night!

 Fun night!

The next morning we had a birthday party at the fire station (what a fun idea!)  They do free tours here that we have done before for playdates but the mom decided to start the party there and then ended up at a park nearby for pizza and cake.  The kids had a blast!

 Joseph and his buddy, Tierney, checking out the inside of the engine.

 And, later that day, we went to 5:00 mass and then to Crust for pizza and ended the day at Baskin Robbins for ice cream.  (Daddy is strictly eating Paleo to help with his training for the Ironman but gives himself one cheat day a week and that means he goes all out!  Mommy, on the other hand, gave up desserts for Lent which has been very hard this year!)  I had gone into Kroger to get a few groceries and to escape the enjoyment of the ice cream (see previous sentence about Lenten sacrifice being very hard!)  but when I came back into Baskin Robbins this is what I found!  He loved seeing this picture of himself.  And, yes, he is wearing his rash guard over a long sleeve shirt.  He was so excited about his new rash guard that I didn't have the heart to tell him that he couldn't wear it out.

Quite a busy Friday and Saturday rounding out spring break but so much fun!  

Randoms from the beginning of March

Just some random photos from the first half of March...seriously, is the month half way done already?!?

The beginning of March continued with some of the crazy weather from this year so far.  Ice on the trees on March 4th and then in the 70s by March 7th. The ice looked really pretty though so had to snap a picture!

On March 4th we had a photo shoot to send a few pictures to the Conley family thanking them for the jersey that Carrie brought to Joseph last month.

And then Joseph snuck away so I snapped a few fun ones of Ella!

She must be up to no good!

 I tried to take a few pictures at the playground tree at the mall-they aren't the greatest but figured I'd include them.  They both enjoy sitting in the cars/planes/trains outside of the tree.  We've never put money in them so they move because they are content just playing in them.

 Well, somewhat content...I think Joseph wanted the plane to himself in this picture!

 They often pretend they are sleeping in the bath using the washcloths as pillows.  Finally snapped a picture of it!

 On Friday, March 7th we had our first picnic of the seaon at Towne Greene after boot camp which has been our pretty regular tradition with friends for the past two years.

Some of the crew there in the distance enjoying the beautiful day!

Ella exploring part of the park...she's fast!

On March 9th I just couldn't resist this ensemble that Ella put together so had to capture it!

 On March 10th, Joseph found Daddy's safety construction hat and glasses and wore them for half the morning!

I have been taking pictures of Joseph's masterpieces from preschool this year but rarely (if ever) include them on the blog so figured I would include a few of the recent ones here.  Just love all of the things that he is learning about and doing at school!

Every week they focus on a letter of the week which we follow up with at home.  This week was "B" for bowtie.  And, I'm not sure how the mouth with the teeth fit in but thought it was too cute not to include!

And finally, on March 13th, Joseph found a new hiding spot for hide and seek which he is pretty excited about!