Old Wives Tales...Boy or Girl?

BOY

GIRL

So... I have been trying to figure out ANY reason for the sever moodiness of my 1st trimester and ran across some really interesting Wives Tales. I always love to read these even though I know there is not a lot of merritt behind them. And come on I mean you have a 50/50 chance anyways right? So here goes a few of my favorites that I have read so far and based on these wives tales what I would be having! Let me know if these worked for you!

From Renee' . . . We told our UltraSound technician that we don't want to know in advance, but that we're having fun guessing. She told us to take a poll among 5-year old children. She says their accuracy is uncanny. If you can't trust the US Technician, who can you trust?!

(Well I have had a lot of 4 and 5 year old neices "predict" a girl, they also like to tell me what I should name "her")

From Beth . . . Here's another one for you... I found this when I was preparing my sister-in-law's shower. The Mayans determined the sex of the baby by taking the mother's age at conception, and the year of conception. If both are even or both are odd...it's a girl. If one is even and one odd it's a boy. This worked for most everyone in the group. I have tried it several places

(This means it would be a boy! Concieved at 27, Year 2008)

From Sheri . . . I am five months pregnant with my third child. I have two boys, and I carried them both differently. Trevor was low and all out front. Jacob was in the middle and wide. The one thing that I had in common while pregnant with both boys was I loved being pregnant. I was barely sick and never moody. I loved it. This time, my third, I am 22 weeks along and still sick. I am so moody that I could cry at a comedy if I wanted to. I am tired and not enjoying this pregnancy at all. I have heard that if you are sick more and moody, it is a girl. We hope so, but only time will tell.

(If the crying and moodiness are any indicator then it would be a girl!)

From Johna . . . I heard that if the mother-to-be trips or falls over her own feet during pregnancy, it's a boy. If the mother is graceful, it will be a girl. I don't see how it's true since my mother has two girls and one boy, and she tripped with the girls only

(This made me laugh out loud! When we were in Brown Co. Poor Lindsey Prather took a dive and tripped over her feet and landed flat on the sidewalk! I know it is not funny when someone falls but this fall was so dramatic it was hard not to laugh and lo and behold Lindsey is having a BOY!!! As everyone knows I have NEVER been graceful so again if this is true it's a BOY!)

AND MY #1 FAVORITE WIVE'S TALE.....

From Debbie . . . After a week camping with my 76 year old grandmother she told me she knew I was going to have a girl for this reason: when a woman is pregnant with a girl she will be crabby (to put it nicely) because all women are crabs and if you have one inside you are twice so. If you are pregnant with a boy you are happy and smiling because you have a little peter inside you for 9 months (her exact words)! She cracked me up she was embarrassed while she told it.

That is hilarious! I love old people! Time will tell! I just need an excuse for the moodiness! :)

"Daycare is Not a Dirty Word"

Well, I have been in quite a funk lately and can't seem to get myself out of it. I don't know if it is the pregnancy hormones or what but something is making me an emotional roller coaster. I just don't feel like my old self right now and each day I pray to wake up with a positive attitude and a new outlook but each day I wake up feeling tired, sad, and just plain overwhelmed.

I have been reading and reading and from what I understand lots of pregnant women go thru this especially those having their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc... baby :) So, keep your fingers crossed that at 12 weeks I will pop out of my shell and be my normal bubbly self again because if I don't I think the majority of people around me will want to start running!

One thing that has been weighting on my heart is the guilt I feel every morning when I drop Palmer aka "Mommy's little Angel" off at "school". For whatever reason he has been a complete mess every single morning I drop him off. Why oh Why did I ever want him to act the least big upset when I left? Was I a crazy person? I think I was. So, everyday I pray and hope it will be a "good drop-off" and everyday it seems to take a horrifying turn for the worse. IE: This morning we go in there and I already have an artillery of distractions which include food, milk, toys and I am thinking this is totally going to work! I bend down to let him go and the tantrum starts.... He throws his head back, lies on the floor, and cries like a 5th grader is sitting on him! So as my heartbreaks I try to "slip" (meaning I am backing out watching my child cry his eyes out and I am stumbling over every toy on the floor making more of a scene than he is) out of the room as Angel (his loving teacher) is consoling him. Usually I make it to the lobby where I can view the plasma and make sure he is doing OK. And USUALLY this works because in the short amount of time it takes me to get to the lobby he is fine and playing with his buds. Not this morning I got there just in time to see his desperate little body run to the door and bang on it as if to say "Come Back to Save Me, Mommy" So, I left with another piece of my heart gone and got in my mini and cried all the way to work just like I have done for the last 3 weeks.

This is pure torture. Is this normal? I know he loves his "school" but leaving him is becoming such a huge burden on my heart. So, I for some reason decided to "Google" feeling guilty for leaving your child at daycare. Seriously? Yes, I did. I felt desperate to hear other women's sob stories and to make me feel a little less alone and evil. But here is one that I found from another working blogger mom and it made me feel so much better!

As I come to work each morning with mascara smeared eyes I am going to open this up....

Daycare is NOT a Dirty Word!
I love daycare! Okay, childcare for those of you who feel opposed to the word daycare. I love childcare!!!I support childcare. I encourage childcare. I am proud of each and every parent that has taken the time to carefully review, select and enroll you children in childcare. And, that includes those of you who have talked one of your relatives into beginning a personal childcare service enrolling only your child "for the short term".I love and appreciate the time, patience, talents and dedication of childcare employees and childcare business owners. If you haven't thanked your childcare provider lately, it might be nice to remind them you really appreciate them today.If you are a parent who is feeling guilty about having your child in daycare while you are working, I would suggest spending a few minutes on your lunch break peeking in on them while they are hanging out with their fellow childcare buddies. Chances are pretty good that your kid is having a blast!When you these little kids all together in rooms with furniture just their size, playing with more toys than you would ever want in your home at one time, it is something funny to see. While you are at work feeling guilty, you child is dancing and reading and destroying other people's books! Together they learn to share, walk in a line and sit in a circle and play duck-duck-goose. In daycare, kids learn manners like "no hitting", "no biting" and taking turns.

Daycare also teaches kids trust, respect and mind other adult authority.You also get to enjoy the cute arts and crafts that your child brings home from "school" without the mess. Honestly, would you really make those cute little crafts at home? Would you really allow the use of tempra paint in your house? Do you even know where you would buy it in the first place? How about laminated place mats? Do you really see yourself making laminated construction paper place mats? But, that art sure looks cute in your cubicle!Believe me, daycare is NOT hell on earth for children. It is actually really fun! And, kids learn some really valuable skills that may benefit you in ways you may never think of! Take for instance, learning to take a nap on the floor in semi-loud and semi-bright conditions. That ALWAYS helps when you get stuck in an airport or when you are at a wedding reception that will never end and your tipsy husband refuses to leave because you lost at rock/scissors/paper and got to be the designated driver for the evening! Who knew?!?!?!Our country's employers, parents, grandparents and children need and want quality, safe, reliable and affordable childcare. And, not only is okay...it is GREAT!

Anyway, just so you know, I appreciate and admire the average 32 hours per week that you, trusted childcare provider, will spend watching the babies of new mothers returning to work. So, if I am doing my math correctly and there are 168 hours in a week and 32 hours per week spent with a childcare provider...that comes out to less than 20% of a seven day week! Well, I would hardly call that "raising" a child. Geesh! It is what I would call childcare!

My baby is 14 months!

Well baby, you are 14 months and I am starting to get a lot more of these looks :) I still think even though it is supposed to be your "mad" face it is the sweetest "mad" face I have ever seen! You continue to be such a joy in our lives it is unbelievable! Each day you do something different and funny and we can't help but be in awe of everything you do!

Currently you are talking up a storm and I mean that literally, you don't stop talking! It doesn't make a lot of sense but when you talk you are determined and to the point and obviously you know what you are saying :) I can only imagine the day when your words form sentences we are all going to be in trouble! I guess you were destined to be a chatter box with a mom and dad like us!

You also love pop music! You daddy doesn't approve and wishes you would like Bob Seger or Bruce Springstein but you seem to like the songs with a good beat IE: Chris Brown, Danity Kane, etc... :) You have this little move you do in your car seat where you bounce up and down and then you throw your hands up! It is great! I think you are trying to "raise the roof" :)

You are pretty much running by now and it seems as if no rock is unturned when you are around. You LOVE Molly with all of your heart and she has FINALLY warmed her heart to you and now you two are inseparable. That is probably daddy's favorite thing when his two favorite "kids" play together. You just hug her around her neck every time you see her! You are so gentle with her and so sweet, it makes my heart melt!

Of course you have no idea that mommy is going to have a baby but you have taken a liking to your stuffed animals. I have used this as an opportunity to teach gentleness and the word baby to you! You love to hug them and pet them all of the time! I know you will be such a good big brother.

You have the most magnetic smile and everyone around you can't help but to smile with you! You are such a happy, good natured little boy but you definitely have some determination and stubbornness in you! You have mastered stomping your feet when you are mad! How does this happen? You have never seen mommy or daddy stomp their feet :)

You and I have such a strong connection and I pray every night that I am doing right by you. You mean the world to your daddy and I and to watch you grow into this independent little person is the scariest and most rewarding thing I have ever done! I hope that you know everyday how much we love you and how proud we are of you!

I cry sometimes at night because I am just so content with this point in my life. I feel so blessed to have a wonderful husband and a beautiful son. It seems like everything right now going on in the world is uncertain but the one thing that IS certain is my love for you and daddy. You all hold me up and help me become the person I know I can be!! You have changed my life forever, and forever I am grateful to you. I love you

You know your a redneck when.....

So, this weekend was a pretty good weekend... It was probably the first weekend in what seems like forever that I had NOTHING to do! Usually when I say we have nothing to do we always seem to have at least 10 things to do but this weekend literally there was NOTHING to do!

Unfortanetly we couldn't go out of town if we had wanted to because Tex did have to work both Saturday and Sunday :( Did I mention I hate his busy season? So, anyways Friday was a fairly low key night. My morning sickness was in full gear so we didn't do anything but eat dinner and watch a movie (PS. Definitely, Maybe is such a cute movie!)

Then Saturday we woke up and P and I hung out while Tex went to work and we met Jamie at the pool which was nice! It was so hot here that is about all that you could do this weekend! After the pool we came home to decide what we were going to do next! Mind you, you would think that we would enjoy having a weekend to do nothing! But in all reality by Saturday night we up to our eyes with nothing to do and by golly we wanted to do something!

Bring in the hormones!!! I start crying like a baby cause I miss our families and no one is near us and I just want to go eat dinner at my mom's house or go to Owensboro, etc... Next thing I know I am laying on the floor crying and Palmer and Molly think this is fun so they climb on top of me and start hugging me and laughing so I had no choice but to pick myself up and end my pity party right then and there!

So to make a long story shorter :) it was too hot to go to a Bats game, or go to the zoo, etc... So Tex and I brainstormed and came up with a place we never thought about going before....

Chick-Fila's playground!





Yes, that's right folks by this time I was tired and hungry and a good chick-fila sandwhich and fries sounded like just what I needed. Palmer was thrilled to be there and it looked like it was turning into a pretty good little night until....

Palmer goes to play in the playground. Does no one read the sign 3 and Under? There are children in there as tall as me zooming past me and almost knocking Palmer over, where are their mothers? Well, apprently it wasn't the big kids that I would have to worry about!

So in walks what seems to be an innocent little 2 year old girl with Elmo on her shirt. Sweet enough, right? Wrong apperantly she has some anger issues and walked straight up to Palmer and screams "No, Baby" and shoves him into the neareast metal pole. I am proud to say Palmer took it like a man and was gracious about it but he was definitely at this point getting a pretty big bump on his head. It took everything I had not to yank this little brats pigtails and drag her out of the playland.

(Picture of Palmers wound, little red spot on the top of forehead:)

Then to make matters worse her mom insisted we stand there until Mrs. Crazy can say she is sorry.
It went a little something like this:

Mom: Little girl you better say your sorry to that little boy right now
Ms. Crazy: SCREEEEEAAAAAM
Mom: Say your sorry!!!!
Ms. Crazy: SCREEEAAAAAM
Mom: You are not going to be allowed to play anymore until you say your sorry
Ms. Crazy: SCREEEEEEAAAAMS LOOOOUUUUDER

At this point Palmers head was swelling and I politely looked at the mom and said we are going to have to leave, we don't have time to wait for her to say she is sorry!

I mean really! I would have been humilated! Someone needs Nanny 911 at their house for sure!

So the moral of the story for the night was you know your a redneck when your son gets beat up by a girl on a Saturday night at the Chick-Fila playground! :)

To say the least, the rest of our weekend paled in comparison to our exciting Saturday night! haha

8 Weeks and Moving Right Along....

I was 8 weeks Tuesday and I am trucking right along! I am still consumed with wanting to hear the baby's heart rate and wondering constantly if everything will be ok and if the baby is developing, etc.... I think it happens to every mother in that first trimester! I know once I hear the heartbeat my worries and fears will be calmed at least a little :)

I am feeling great so far. A few waves of nausea here and there and of course around 3 pm everyday I am ready to lay my head on my desk and take a quick cat nap, but who doesn' t feel like that :) I feel blessed to be pregnant again and I am trying to soak up all of my feelings and thoughts and take everything in this time!

Last time I was so consumed with that what if's and what will happen next that I don't feel like I got to live in the moment and this time I am really trying to do that! I got a wonderful pregnancy journal and I have started writing in it. I love that my mom wrote me letters on every month of my first year and every year after 1. I re-read those letters all of the time now that I am a mom myself and I love to see the simliarities between myself as a baby and Palmer. I love to read what she was thinking and going thru, there is such a connection between my mom and I when I read those letters.

I think the only big problem of these first few weeks is my hormones! When I am not wanting to bite someone's head off I find myself crying for any reason at all! I think if Tex gets one more call at 7 in the morning where I am crying he might dis-own me! These hormones have made me so guilty for some reason! Everyday I cry after I drop Palmer off at daycare because he is crying so hard and his sweet face is red and he just looks at me like what kind of person just drops there baby off and leaves? UGH! The agony of it all is going to kill me! I feel guilty when I am tired and don't have the energy to be on the floor playing but would rather watch from the sidelines (aka couch) while him and Tex wrestle on the floor. I feel guilty because my patience is wearing thin and if one more pea flys across the kitchen floor I think I am going to lose it! Last night I just held him while he slept and apologized to him for everything and anything. He wasn't even mad at me but I still apologized :)

I am trying to get this mommy thing right, and thus far I think I am doing ok! Palmer and I are forming this unbelievable bond that just keeps getting stronger everyday! He is my sidekick, my confidant, my friend, and my baby and I can't believe that I get to be so lucky all over again!

Here is an update with what is going on with Baby T #2 (what a lousy nickname, huh?) at 8 weeks!

Week 8: Fetal Development: From Embryo to Baby
At a length of about half an inch right now, your baby has graduated from blueberry-sized to raspberry-sized. Baby is growing in your womb about a millimeter each day, and not just in height: Spurts can occur in the arms, legs, back, and other parts of your baby's body.
How's your baby measuring up this week? At a length of about half an inch right now, your baby has graduated from blueberry-sized to raspberry-sized. But weekly growth is getting a bit hard to estimate, and here's why: Growth occurs at about the rate of one millimeter each day, but that growth isn't necessarily just in height. Spurts can occur in the arms, legs, back, and other parts of your baby's body. So, big changes will be occurring every which way in the coming months. What else is changing right now? A close-up view of your little embryo (say cheese!) would reveal a more baby-like appearance (and thankfully, a less reptilian one). You'd see an upper lip forming, the protruding tip of that cute button nose, and tiny (and very thin) eyelids. And check out those hands and feet! Your baby's webbed fingers and toes are differentiating now, so give your baby a round of applause.
All this growing is exciting for your baby too. How do you know? His or her heart is beating at the incredible rate of 150 times per minute. (That's twice as fast as your heart beats.) Your baby's digs are growing, too. Amniotic fluid increases at a rate of about two tablespoons per week to accommodate your womb's growing tenant.

THE FAMILY OF THE MONTH

I am going to try and spotlight a "Family of the Month" this may be one person or several people in one family that has had something exciting happen to them or just a family that I am excited for or want to acknowledge cause they mean so much to me!

The first ever "Family of the Month Award" goes to the Shelton Family!!! The Shelton's just welcomed there daughter Emerson Diane Shelton into the world on 07/11/2008 (What a lucky birthday!)

When I see these pictures I just can't help but to smile! There faces say everything! There joy is truly amazing and it seems like there family just became even more complete the day that Emerson was born.

As I embark on my second pregnancy I look to Whit and her family for inspiration and guidance. Whitney has been an amazing mom to Ava and I have full confidence that she will be just as amazing with Emerson! I hope that I will be as graceful having my second child as Whit has been!

We are so happy for you all and I am SO proud of big sis Ava! She has embraced her little sis Emerson from day one! You can't help but love this family!

Congrats!

My Family is turning into Celebrities!

Jeff, Sara and I (aka "the celebrities and me")

Ok the title might be a slight exageration but I think it's going to happen! So, last night I was sitting down to watch some great summertime tv (read prior post) and do a little knitting. It was Monday night so that meant Nashville Star was on! I LOVE that show! So, my mom called and asked me if I had heard of Nashville Star? Of course I heard of it, did she not read my summertime tv post? Then she told me that Jeff (my brother) and Sarah (his girlfriend) had just called and they were sitting in the front row at Nashville Star at that very moment!! I was so excited but didn't think we would "really" get to see them. Sure enough within the first 5 minutes I saw them 3 times!!! It was great! They looked great and were clapping and having fun. The best was when Shawn Mayer sang they zoomed the lighting in on Jeff and Sara! I was SO proud! :)

Sara is currently working on recording her own country album in Nashville. She has a lot of stuff in the works and I hope this isn't the last time we see her on tv, I am sure it won't be! I will keep you updated on her progress. Check her out on myspace.com go to Music and type in Sara Darling. She is great, Tex has banned me from listening to her CD since I play it all the time!

I am so happy for them, they have a lot of things to be excited about! I love reality tv, it is a weakness of mine that I can't get enough of and to see my family members on it, life can't get much sweeter! haha

Just Another Manic Monday....

This picture sums up how Palmer and I felt this morning. We were tired, we didn't want to get out of bed and we certainly didn't want to go to our respective places of work and or daycare. I totally could have stayed in my pj's all day and done NOTHING!

I loathe Mondays! I realized though that if I didn't work Mondays then I would loathe Tuesdays and so on.... I pretty much just loathe the weekend being over, I want to jump up and down and stomp my feet and scream, NOT FAIR, NOT FAIR at the top of my lungs!

We had a GREAT weekend and I guess that is why this Monday was harder than usual. Well, Palmer has reverted back to his "I love Mommy, she is the best I can't get enough of her stage" which I totally ate up all weekend!

We pretty much relaxed, went to the pool, church, grilled out and Palmer and I took 3 hour naps on Saturday and Sunday!! You can't get much better than that!

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS AND OR ANNOUNCEMENTS!!!

*Congratulations to the Shelton Family! Emerson Diane Shelton was born Friday around 1:40 weighing 8pds and 12 oz (as some of you may gasp at the weight may we remind you that her sweet big sis Ava was 10+ pounds so this was an improvement! haha) The Shelton family is doing great and we hear that Ava is adjusting well and LOVES her little sis! We are so happy for you all!!!

** The Templeton's replaced their digital camera so I promise there will be more pics to come!!!

*** We did lunch with Ernie this weekend since she was in town! She looks fab! She is 32 weeks and hanging in there like a champ! We can't wait for the shower in just a few weeks!

Hope everyone gets thru there own Manic Mondays!

Oh, the JOYS of motherhood...

Yesterday was on of those days that made question my mother skills! Was mothering children really what I was supposed to do because if so I needed to go to some mothering classes ASAP! :)

It started off yesterday with my pregnancy hormones raging and I decided that my sweet son no longer had an interest in his mommy! I tried everything to get him to love and hug on me yesterday but he was more interested in everything else around him including his own shoe! It was that bad, his shoe was more exciting than Mommy! So that marked the first teary meltdown!

The second teary meltdown occured, oh let's say 5 minutes later when I realized I was exhausted and wanted to lay down but then felt guilty because I needed to gain back some brownie points with the son that does not find me interesting anymore! The third teary meltdown occured just another short 5 minutes after the second teary meltdown when my innocent and sweet husband became the target of my emotions and was told that, "I NEED HELP!" I can't possibly carry a baby, take care of another baby, work full time, cook dinner and clean the house and I was just SO tired. He sweetly looked at me and told me to go upstairs lay down and hopefully be refreshed to go out to eat. (What he really meant was go lock yourself in the bedroom until you come out with a new attitude!) He is SO nice to me I swear!

So.... onto dinner with the Prather's. I was so excited about going to dinner at JB's Brewhouse. Tex and I had just eaten there recently and Palmer did great, we had a great lunch, etc... I just knew it was going to be a great dinner and it was until.... the server took FOREVER to bring out even our salds which as any mother knows you only have a good 20-30 minutes before the wee one gets aggitated and wants out to explore his new surroundings. Well, that 20-30 minutes was down the drain and we didn't even have our salads, we were in for a ride!

So, as a way to distract Palmer from getting aggitated and cranky Tex and I both thought feeding him would keep him slightly entertained. Well, feed him we did and apparently a little too much! He became incredily aggitated and proceeded to wiggle his way out of his car seat 3 times onto the floor! My patience was wearing thin at this point and my meal had lost all of its appeal. But then came the good part. Due to the overfeeding of dairy products (Way to go on the parenting!) Palmer started throwing up in his stroller. I yank him out as all eyes are watching my every move and start rushing him into the bathroom that is ALL the way at the other end of the restuarant. Just as we were passing the table of 4 next to us Palmer turns to look at me and out comes projectile vomit that lands on my hair, face, and clothes and the rest of it goes back on Palmer.

So, I turn back to our table cause at this point I wasn't sure wether to let him throw up all thru the restaurant or just let him puke in one spot. What's a mother to do? And then, oh no, I think I am going to puke so I decide to take my chances and dash off to the bathroom where I held in the urge to get sick myself and worked on cleaning up my little pukey monster. So, I stripped him down and soaked his clothes in the sink. I started cleaning my hair face and shirt off, getting us ready to make the walk of shame out of the restaurant.

So after the clean up, Palmer and I tried to conspicously leave the restaurant but I think people noticed that my son was now just in a diaper and tennis shoes and I was soaked from head to toe. As we got outside my nerves were starting to calm down even though I was embaressed by the fact that my now happy-go-lucky toddler was running around in nothing but a diaper and tennis shoes, oh well at this point anything goes.... until some snotty lady with her cute litte snotty daughter walked up, looked at Palmer and said, "Nice outfit buddy!" That is where I lost it and screamed after her that we had an accident and were waiting for his Father to come out! HOW RUDE! As if we hadn't been thru enough I didn't need any patronizing from some snotty stranger!

Finally after all was said and done we drove home redneck style.. Palmer naked in his carseat and me shirtless sitting next to my hubby in the pickup truck.

What a night! We have now vowed to not do restuarants until we feel P is ready to tackle that kind of social atmosphere again (maybe when he is 18!) For now we will be collecting all of the to-go menus in Louisville and anytime we have an urge to go out to eat we will be pulling one of those and eating on our back patio! With the second once I will probably just lay out some boxes of cereal on the counter and let the kids eat with their hands! I can only do so much :)

On a good note I have a due date! Went to the dr yesterday and she said we could plan it for 02/23/2009!! Only... 226 days, 23 hours, 5 minutes and 49 seconds until Monday, February 23, 2009 at 9:00:00 AM (Louisville time)

Summertime TV.....

I LOVE Summertime TV..... I know most people HATE TV in the summertime but I acutally disagree, there are tons of worthy reality shows (is that an oxymoron?) that absolutley entertain me during the summer! I think my entertaining standards have been lowered since we only have channels 1-26 now! But anyways... I am currently LOVING:

1. Nashville Star

2. So You Think You Can Dance

And coming soon..... BIG BROTHER!!! Big Brother comes on 3 times a week how great is that!!! It totally fufills my trash tv urge! There is always drama, fighting and if we are really lucky a totally scandalous "Showmance"

So, I know I can't be the only person in America that watches SYTYCD, who is your favorite? I hate to say it but my LEAST favorite couples are Kerrington and Twitch and Thayne and Comfort.

I really like Chelsea and Mark, Will and Jessica and Courtney and Gev but my favs are....

Josh

Katie

I LOVE Katie and Josh! You think Josh is a big tough guy but once he talks he is a big teddy bear in braces, it cracks me up! I really want to go see them on tour! Does anyone want to join me? :)

Hold on to your seats... We got a MINI VAN!!!!

The "MINI"

The "Mini's" Dashboard

The "Mini's" Front Seat

The "Mini's" Bucket seats (where the 2 mini's will sit)

The "Mini's" back bench where the fortunate souls who ride with us will be!

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder! While most normal people may view this above pictures as monstrosity and an"ugly, big, space ship" I view it as a convenient, easy riding little slice of heaven!!! I always thought I would "never" be a mini-van, but the minute my body was enveloped by the bucket/driver seat I knew I was home at last! I have transitioned very nicely from a Honda girl to the mini-van driving mom! I have used every excuse this weekend to drive this little stealth bomber everywhere!

This van must have been made with the mind of the ultimate mom! What convenience, what storage, what an incredible invention! Palmer even LOVES it and gets excited when we get to take rides in it! I am SO excited for our first road trip, even Molly has her own little area in the back to sprawl out on! Owensboro here we come!

I know that the definition of the American dream is different for everyone but I tell you what. I think Tex and I are living it.... 1 little boy, 1 on the way, and a silver Chrysler Town and Country what more could you ask for! Tex is putting up our white picket fence this weekend! (hint the sarcasm:)

I hope everyone had a GREAT 4th of July! We had a wonderful weekend with Palmer and he LOVED the fireworks. I was so glad that I didn't have "that" baby that was screaming every time one went off (My apologies to the mothers that did :)

If you all have any questions about the Mini, or how you can get on for yourselves just email me at theminivanmom@ yahoo.com! haha

I am thinking about getting a monogram sticker for the van, so not only will I be the mini-van mom but the monogram mini mom! How cool. :)

Palmer is going to be a big brother!!!!

Yes, that is right we have managed to take the plunge yet again! Somehow this second one is WAY more shocking than the first! You would think that I would have been more prepared seeing as how we have been thru this once but in fact I was actually more terrified than ever!!!

Before I knew I was pregnant with #2 I told myself that on this pregnancy I was going to wait SO long to tell everyone, heck I might even be showing before people found out! BLAH-HA-HA that lasted 1.2 seconds! I also had envisioned me taking my HPT and keeping it from Tex for the day in order to plan a perfect scene when he got home of balloons and Palmer running to the door with his big brother shirt on as I captured the precious moment on video. Can I get a second BLAH-HA-HA?

So, here is how it went down.... THE REAL WAY.... I have never been a patient one when it comes to HPT and testing... If I owned stock in EPT/Clear Blue Easy, etc... I would be a millionaire. I think sometimes it was my second hobby to just take a test "just to see". So, I had knowningly taken a few pregnancy tests WAY to early that were all negative. Just in case anyone is confused NO you can not get a positive the day after you try for a baby :)

Although I had several negatives I kept on having dreams of being pregnant. Crazy dreams that only crazy pregnant women have! I shared this with a few friends who thought there was still a chance. Well, fast forward to Saturday morning 7:00 am, I am downstairs in the kitchen warming Palmers bottle for the morning and I thought heck I have a good 30 seconds to spare why not take my 15th test, who's counting anyways. So, I proceeded to take the test, negative again! So I get his bottle and just for the heck of it pick up the test to throw it away and look again. Ok, now I am thinking I have really lost it because I am staring at this test so hard that there appears to be a faint, faint positive line.

I immediately dash upstairs where I proceed to stick my gross pregnancy test all tainted with urine in Tex's face and urge him to wake up and assure me that my vision was blurred. He kindly woke up took 2 looks at the test and assured me that line was so faint it meant "maybe" and fell back asleep! Are you serious? :) So, I gave him Palmer and the bottle and headed to Walgreen to buy more. As I took the second one and looked the same faint line showed up! This was no coincidence I was pregnant!

I then had to pretend my world hadn't changed in 3 minutes and had to get dressed and have two Saturday appointments at work!! What a bummer! By 10 that morning I think 50% of my friends knew, Tex's mom and who knows maybe some of the neighbors. By the end of that day most everyone knew but one of the most important people, my mom! Yikes what was she going to say? I knew she would be excited but I knew this was also so hard for her to be away for Palmer and here I was going and throwing another one onto the guilt train, what was I thinking?

So, Sunday we shopped and shopped until we FINALLY found a big brother shirt. Mind you it was a 4T (were the people at Babies R Us telling me I should have waited until Palmer was older?) So off we go to the mall food court, of all places to surprise my mom and Aunt Janet. So, we get Palmer all dressed in his over size big brother shirt and prepare him to walk out of the elevator to the food court. Mom and Aunt Janet immediately see him and Aunt Janet( the veteran Mii that she is...) notices his shirt right away. My mom on the other hand continues to stare and look between Palmer, Me, Tex and Aunt Janet about 3 times until she started crying and jumping up and down! It was great!!! I was so upset that the first time we had to tell her over the phone so it was great to see her reaction in person this time!

This is all very sudden and I don't think we were prepared for how quickly it happened but what a miracle! God has given me another chance to be a mom, how can you not be humbled by that? He picked me again to raise another child! I have to admit fear had taken over me for a few days. All of the what if's, all of the, can we pay for this?, and oh shoot I never lost that last 5 pounds ran thru my head continuously.

I didn't get excited until I went to my AA meeting on Monday and confided in my sponsor that I was pregnant. I thought she would be dissapointed because my timing wasn't right because I am going thru a huge process right now, etc... but she just looked at me and said, "See, See what God has done... He has given you a chance to carry life again and He has put you here with us in your life and this is exactly where HE wants you to be and exactly what HE wants you to be doing."

Also, I loved what Jamie said to me, she just told me plain and simple that "It wasn't just me who decided if I became pregnant" How great is that!

And here I was thinking that I had all of the control and yet again I find out that I don't have any at all! This is what is meant to be so I have decided to embrace it and enjoy this pregnancy with everything I have because I am now going to have two miracles to love and to make me laugh each day! What a blessing!

I am really early but I think I will be due around the end of Feb or very first of March! I will keep you all updated on the progress. My first dr appt is July 10th and I think that will hopefully ease my mind. I would love to have an ultrasound early, there is nothing like seeing or hearing the beating heart of a child growing in your belly to relieve your worries and remind you of what a miracle this is!

Thanks for all of the support I have the greatest friends and family a girl can ask for! I love you all so much!