Saturday, March 26, 2011

Ooooops....



We did it again!  You got it, that’s right, baby number 3 is on the way!  WOOHOO!  We are super excited to share with all of you that we are anxiously awaiting our third child due in October.  Yes, that makes three kids with three birthdays within a month of each other.  We have just come to the realization that we will be on a budget BROKE from September to December every year for the rest.of.our.lives.  The girls are excited with Olivia the most excited.  She is full of questions and I apologize in advance to any of you who may be the recipient of her questioning....yes, it has been a little awkward but mostly cute questioning so far.
So they say every pregnancy is different and I just didn’t believe that until now.  My two girls…those pregnancies were identical really.  I wore sea bands, ate every cracker in sight, slept with an I.V. of Sprite pulsing through me, and was miserable.  I swear that is why it took me two full years to brave having a second child because they say you forget all of those things but they are LYING.  I remembered every second of sickness and delivery with Olivia and well, I was not let down with Addison…except the delivery part.  Much better.  Anyway, I patiently awaited the sickness and it did show its face, but not nearly as bad and it wasn’t 24/7.  It seems to have disappeared for good about a week ago, which led me to sit in front of the nurse practitioner with sweaty palms professing there must be some problem…this was not normal.  She calmly looked at me and asked, “What do you have at home?”  I said, “Two girls.”  She smiles real big and said, “Well perhaps you have a boy on the way.”  Well, only time will tell and for now she has calmed my nerves but not my stomach.  I also have this new passion for food.  Like, I can’t get enough of it.  Like, Nate had to go to Jack-in-the-Box at 11pm to get jalapeƱo poppers and the list goes on and on.  He now gives me a rundown of the leftover situation every night to assure me there is more food for later on.  He thinks that is cute with his little smirk and laugh….it is a totally out of control feeling…but he is cute when he does it.  Just wait till I have that 3am craving for something across town.  He won’t think it is so cute then.
Well, for now we wait… and grow.  Soon we will know if there is good reason for all of these different symptoms or if my body is just playing tricks on me….

XOXO,
Mama x3

P.S. Nate just thought I should clarify that this was not technically an ooops...he did not fully appreciate my creative writing a la Britney Spears for a moment.  Love ya hon.
                                                                                     
                                                                              

Military Life, Family Life, and A Little Sewing: Home Cookin'...Cause Nothin' Else Tastes the Same

Recipe- Honey Bun Cake! - Go ahead...eat every bite and don't feel guilty!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Santa Fe...Ho, Ho, Ho???


Well, I think all you parents out there can relate to how great it is when your baby starts to really talk.  I mean like convey a thought, since you wonder what they have been thinking for Y.E.A.R.S.  Well, our sweet Addison is in full communication mode at this point and it is so cute to hear how she "puts" things together.  We had been telling her for weeks we were going on vacation.  The closer we got to going we started telling her we were going to Santa Fe.  Of course, she would repeat that in the question format.  "Santa Fe?"  So, as we rode along Highway 287 she would occasionally remind us where we were going...in the question format...and we would agree.  When we climbed in the car for what we thought would be the last stop before unloading in Santa Fe (clearly we had a lapse in memory that there were two girls that potty frequently with us) we turned to Addison and said, "Where are we going Addison?"  She smiled real big and said, "Santa Fe HO HO HO."  Uh oh.  This may be a problem.  We look at each other, what do we do?  We quickly explain it is not time to see Santa Claus and he doesn't live in Santa Fe.  Pointless..she's two.  We will deal with that later.  After 11 LONG hours on our 7.5 hour trip...we arrived!




After a good night's rest we were off to a real Santa Fe breakfast recommended by Guy on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives.  Nate loves this show so I looked up the places for Santa Fe.  Tune-Up Cafe here we come!  



Just a few blocks from our hotel we pulled up and stepped into the cutest Diner ever, where the owners greeted most people by first name and served up the BEST Santa Fe breakfast.  We realized we just might be in trouble if all of the food in this town tasted this good.  Awesome stop and I recommend it to you for sure if you are swingin' through Santa Fe.  Check them out here Tune Up Cafe.  Next stop - Santa Fe Children's Museum...right around the corner.
We have been to two other children museums before, one in Columbia, SC and the other in W-S, NC.  We knew this would be a great time and it did not let us down.  The girls had a fun time exploring new toys and games with lots of Santa Fe friends.  After sitting around awhile watching all of them I began to wonder what style fit into this town.  When you move around, like we do, you realize that you sort of "adjust" your wardrobe for where you live.  With a quick scan of the 50+ kids running around I noticed one HUGE difference.  My two beauties were the only two in the place with bows in their hair.  Go ahead, laugh at me....but it was soooo noticeable because our bows don't exactly fade into the background.  Oh, well...I promise you (and if you know my children you know it is true) no matter where the military sends us we are taking our bows with us!  Check out some of the fun we had.
We decided to spend our second day really touring the Plaza area and the blocks surrounding it....since the train ride we wanted to do decided to take the week of Spring Break off for maintenance...what kind of business person does that?  Anyway...  We started with a stroll with FANCY (the camera) in hand.  Ok, where I come from and this includes, NC, SC, and TX, when people see you taking pics of each other with your kids they offer to take one of the family...right?  Um, not so much in NM.  They all thought it was so cute and would comment on the girls as I practically sprawled across the sidewalk to take these pics.  Whatever... we got the pics....


Part of our stroll included a beautiful church that was gorgeous inside and out!
It saddened me when the church bells rang and my girls did not know what that was.  Where have traditions gone?  Best and most precious sound ever is what I told them! Oh...I can still here them ringing....  Next up, we were off to see some Santa Fe ART.  You don't have to go too far.  It seems to be on every street corner and it is AWESOME!  
 

After touring around and a good lunch and rest we headed to the Santa Fe International Folk Art Museum.  WOW!  Totally amazing to see so much stuff of significance in one place from sooo many places.  We can highly recommend this experience and it was kid friendly with an art project and play area.  Plus all of the toys to look at were really cool for all of us.

One last tour around the plaza for the night time view and we were headed to bed before hitting the road for our journey home.  As Olivia put it, "They decorate there town so pretty."  It is true...twinkling lights adorn the buildings and it is beautiful.  But this is the most precious site I saw on the tour de noche....

Yeah, I know...melts your heart doesn't it?  This is what we hoped for...a bond, a friendship, and a true love for one another....ok, until they decide not to share in 5 minutes...but we can love it while it lasts...right?

A final night at the hotel...
and we were off to Amarillo...dressed in green for St. Patrick's Day of course....

Even our newest addition, Natalie, needed a green outfit...I was informed just days before we were to leave...AND it had to match her momma, of course.  To the sewing machine I went...again...at some awful hour, I am quite sure of it.  Love my Olivia!

Knowing that my patience would only be able to handle one long day of driving I planned a stopover in Amarillo for one night.  There was stuff to see don't you know?  First...the Cadillac Ranch!  If you have not been you must GO NOW..do not pass home, do not collect $200 dollars...just GO!
 This one is for you Popi!  You can thank Daddy for that artwork!

Next we were off for the 2nd largest canyon in the US.  The Palo Duro Canyon was just a short 30 minutes down the road...another MUST SEE!

Well, I must say I think we had a very successful trip.  We got to see new places and spend time together.  While I find myself complaining about many things "military" life hands us I have to say that living in these different places has afforded our family the most wonderful experiences and allowed us to meet the greatest people that we will know forever.  We found ourselves taking for granted our time in Las Vegas (first base ever) and said we would never do that again....and I don't think we have.  We have traveled every time our wallets would allow to as many places as possible.  We hope you enjoyed our journey to Santa Fe....be thankful you missed the car ride.  :)

P.S. There was no Santa Claus and no she didn't even remember once we got there!  Whew!

Want to see more pictures from our journey?  FANCY did a great job...check out her work by clicking here: Santa Fe

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage, Then Comes...

Remember the days when you looked at your knight in shining armor with all of the love lust your heart could stand?  Oh how you dreamed of his kiss, or the way he would hold your hand, what your future would look like with him?  Yes men, we do this.  We even have the first house decorated in our minds and the birth order of our children all lined up when you are just starting to think we seem pretty great.  We have already married you in our minds.  Once we convince wait around on you to pop the question we don't really need that year of planning 'cause, well, we did that part like 6 months ago.  But, we go along and then you.are.ours.
So after we fix enhance your place that we now share together, we start with our not so subtle hints for our love of children and talk of which room in the house will be the most precious baby room.  You begin to realize the trying for baby part sounds great and you are hooked on the idea too and then comes...baby.
Yes, we will admit that we definitely left out the part that YOU would be the one dreaming of our sweet kisses and holding our hands once our sweet angel came.  You probably have now even begun to wonder what your future is going to look like.  Well, we can assure you that it is filled with lots of sweet, tender moments with the most precious creation God has ever made and he made it just for you.
Jack
Anthony
Graham
Or sometimes he gives you 3 sweet blessings at once.  He knows you don't need that much sleep, and you have the love and joy to go around.




We promise it gets easier and you will get us back (as wife) shortly.  But, first we must do all that we can to love these little blessings because before long they will be all grown up and you will have them at your side forever more.  


As we watch you with your new "sidekick", we will, again, be dreaming about the sweet kisses that brought us together,  holding your hand through it all, and what our future holds...with our precious gifts.  We will love with all of our heart what you have given us and be so thankful we did it together.  We will be in awe of this miracle and how it has grown.

Chase
  One day we will turn around and they will be all grown up and we will no longer wonder about kisses or holding hands because we can do that all the time.  We will share sweet memories of no sleep, crying nights, baseball home runs, teen years, first cars, dates, and college.  We will wonder how we did it and will know it was because we remembered to love each other every.step.of.the.way.



**As many of you know I recently traveled to North Carolina to visit and help out with my stepbrother's newest addition of triplet boys.  It was my honor to be there and see such sweet miracles.  Their two year old, Chase, is the most adorable of all and I got to capture some of his fun times.  Click here for those shots with the fancy camera ;)



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...