I am here and the fog is lifting!

I have unintentionally taken quite the blogging break! I am here and I FINALLY feel like the fog is lifting somewhat. I will be 15 weeks Thursday! This has been by far one of the hardest pregnancies. I think I have still been fighting a lot of emotion and uncertainty from the move and trying to find my way around a new life here. The extra hormones for 13 weeks on top of being pregnant I think did quite a number on me as well! haha I don't need extra hormones that is for sure! With Ann Mason I was concerned because I felt "down" during the first half of my pregnancy and I can say with certainty that this pregnancy that feeling has been magnified. I am so grateful that I can recognize this, evaluate it and decide on some kind of action that I feel comfortable with. Don't get me wrong I don't feel "down" because I am not happy I am pregnant I just happen to think that the hormones that multiply when your pregnant cause different emotions in us all and this happens to be mine.

With all of that being said the night sickness is fading, the crying spells are becoming less and less frequent and each day my outlook seems to be a little brighter and more positive! Hallelujah! It is terrible to know that how you are feeling isn't "you" and I am not normally a sad person but when you are in the middle of it, it is hard to feel like you are going to come out on the other end!

I say all of this so that I can remember this time and I can look back on it and hopefully see how nothing lasts forever! I am already starting to feel less overwhelmed and am truly getting excited about SO many wonderful things happening including this precious baby growing inside me! 

We had a wonderful weekend! I had a girls night with my mother in law and sister in law Saturday. We went to church on Sunday (after a long journey, we have now gone to the same church two weekends in a row and are truly hopeful that we have finally found somewhere that we would love to call our church home!) that afternoon we spent time with friends at their farm and I watched my kids ride four wheelers for the first time and they LOVED it! I have tons of pictures but I have misplaced my camera cord (I will probably find it in the fridge right next to the tv remote control from last week, thanks pregnancy brain!)

Things are looking up each day and I am SO grateful. I know God has a plan and I know we all must face struggles and in the end it always, always turns out ok. I am heading to Louisville this weekend for a girls night. I can't tell you how excited I am to get there and laugh, relax and enjoy some mommy time! I promise I will find my camera cord before then :)

Pinkalicious!

Oh man did we have a pinkalicious weekend! Ann Mason had decided that she wanted a "pink"party months ago and thanks to the handy internet and pinterest I found a whole new world called Pinkalicious. Pinkalicious is a super cute book about a little girl that eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink herself and the only way she can get back to normal is to eat a lot of green veggies!! Ann Mason LOVES it so the pinkalicious theme was born! Buying pink was easy! Being pregnant and having no brain power trying to plan an indoor birthday party at my house for a bunch of kids was another task :) In the end everyone had fun and that is all that matters! If I happen to mention that I am having another winter birthday party in my house remind me that it might not be the best idea! ha! It was like a sugar filled Animal House for 3 year olds! I think if some of them (including mine) could have reached the ceiling fans or chandiliers they would have swung from them!

Here is the birthday pinkalicious princess. Thanks to Aunt Ashley for the super adorable "Annielicious"shirt it was a hit!

I love this kid!

So fun I was jealous and kind of wanted a boa and hair feather too!

Kroger came in handy for the cupcakes I found pinkalicious cake toppers and then they put some bling with fake diamond rings :) the girls loved them!

The pinkalicious book, plates and napkins

The main table. I didn't take pics of my tissue paper pom-poms in the back. I made some country time strawberry lemonade for the party and this prengnat momma and Ann Mason are LOVING some pinkalicious lemonade, as we call it! That stuff is addicting!

Here is part of the cupcake decorating station. Another one of my not so brilliant ideas! ha!

All of the goodies!

The birthday girl looking a little mischevious!

Well, this is how Ann Mason looked the ENTIRE time we sang Happy Birthday to her. Scared, with her hands plastered over her ears! AWESOME :) The boys even had to blow out her candle she was literally frozen.

And the girl racked up on some presents. Like some awesome, girly, mommy kind of wants to play with them kind of presents :) So fun! I am loving that she is starting to get into the arts and crafts stuff, I was totally the art kit kind of kid!

We had a blast and the kids were SO excited that Aunt Ashley, Uncle Joe and Bellies stayed the night with us (mommy was too). Bellies was definitely the guest of honor and the kids followed her everywhere and LOVED every minute of it! My house is still paying the price from the pinkalicious party but it is slowly getting back to normal! ha!

THREE

Three years ago today our lives changed forever. About this exact time last year I was in reocvery holding my sweet, sweet baby girl! I will never forget my ultrasound when they told me I was having a daughter, I don't think I have ever been as excited and nervous at the same time! You were such a blessing and great addition to our family!

Palmer was immediately in love and has stayed that way ever since! You all may fight hard but you love each other even harder! I LOVE how you two are best friends and want to do everything together, I hope it stays that way!

Oh I could just squeeze this pictures, it makes me excited about getting to have another baby in our house. I just love those babies! Oh I loved dressing Ann Mason up everyday it was SO fun!

This was our first family of four picture. My hormones were WAY better after Annie than they were with Palmer. I think I was able to enjoy everything so much more and be much more relaxed and focus on the joy of being a new mom versus the fear of something going wrong. I can remember feeling SO happy in this picture!

Annie, you were SUCH a good baby. You fit right in, you would go with the flow, fall asleep where I laid you, eat what I gave you, etc... A welcome change from your picky brother whom I love dearly! ha!

You two have made me excited to be a mom every day! The love you have for each other is priceless!

Girl, you are spunky! You get fiesier every day you get older! I know that the attitude and drama will just keep increasing, I am hoping I can handle it. You can make me laugh and fire me up within minutes :) You already know how to press my buttons! Watch out!

You are a happy, independent, baby doll loving, social butterfly! You crack me up, you LOVE a crowd like your daddy! Palmer and I could avoid them forever :) The more the merrier in your eyes, I love it!

You love, love, love friends! You ask them questions, you know about their lives. It cracks me up, you tell me things about your friends all of the time. I love that you are so caring and such a good listner (almost too good! :) Being around people makes you happy and you have such a mothering nature, you are always wanting to take care of people!

You might look sweet but you are also trouble with a capital T! You can instigate and manuvuer some pretty crazy situations! I always know who the leader of the pack is at our house :) Palmer follows your every move, he is not as much of a risk taker as you!

You have been my #1 cheerleader during this pregnancy! You are BEYOND excited. You are making this SO much fun for me because of your love and excitment. You talk to your baby bro/sis every day and even though you tell me daily that my belly has gotten SO big I still love that you care so much!

You are my beautiful daughter and I hope you always know how beautiful you are! You have been a bright spot in my day for 3 years and I can't wait to see what is in store for our family! You are going to be the best big sis in the world and I cant wait to watch you blossom in that role! Thank you for making me feel like one special and loved mommy! I love you!

Working Momma

I am doing a late link up at Kellys Korner. She is doing a Show Us Your Life - Working Moms... I hesitated to do this post because honestly I struggle with it so much! In all honesty my working causes probably 95% of all my "mom guilt". I realize that I do this to myself! I can remember when Palmer went to school for the first time I would sit at work those first few weeks and literally torture myself by adding up the hours that he was at "school" compared to the hours he was with me. The hours weren't in my favor and this caused me to go into my crazy mode thinking of how by me working this was going to effect him for the rest of his life in negative ways!

Palmer on his very first day of school 2007

Fast forward 4 1/2 years and I am not as irrational but I still have an inner emotional struggle with feeling like an inadequate mom for working. As a little girl I always wanted to be a mom and being a mom meant to me that I would stay at home because that is what my mom did and that was really the only way I knew. Well, God had other plans and right now staying home is not an option for our family as much as some days I wish it could be and I have to be ok with that and not beat myself up for having to work. Am I jealous of stay at home moms? Absolutely, most of the time. Do I think I have it harder than they do? No, not necessarily because I know that staying at home is a 100% full time job and to be honest I don't know if I would even be good at it. I think it is easy for me to make excuses sometimes and say things like "Well, if I stayed at home.... I would make homemade valentines and big breakfasts in the mornings and would have wonderful from scratch dinners made every night. The laundry would always be done, we would have a daily craft time, I would be in 5 mops groups, etc... haha Sometimes what I thought I would be like isn't always the reality of what I am. As I learn more about myself I highly doubt that it would matter if I worked 75 hours a week or stayed at home... I probably am never going to have all of my laundry done, or make from scratch dinners or be the most creative mom. It just might not be the mom that I am?

Palmer and Annie on their first day of school together 2009

I think there are a lot of misconceptions when we become moms. A lot of false pressure that we put on ourselves. What I thought or wanted to be like as a mom and what I am as a mom are different but I have come to realize that is not always a bad thing. I am not a perfect, eat your veggies, house is organized, lunches are packed, I don't forget anything kind of mom :) I am however, a real mom and I NEVER forget to hug my kids when I pick them up and ask them how their days were. We are the family that sits down together to eat every night even though we are eating hot dogs and mac-n-cheese and not  a healthy from scratch meal. I am a human mom that forgets pj day at school and does Walmart bought Valentines Cards but I do it with love and we do it together :) There are days when I think the grass would be greener if I could just stay home and it might be... but for right now I have to learn to embrace and own the fact that I am a working mom and I can be good at both, darn it :) Sometimes as a mom, wife, employee, etc.. I feel pulled in a million directions and I feel like sometimes I am only giving 5 different areas20% of myself and really wanting to be able to give one area 100% of myself, but that's life. That probably wouldn't change if I didn't work. In the end it's my attitude and outlook that are going to bring me down or bring me thru this. If I have an "I can" attitude life seems to truck a long easier. That doesn't mean that I love every single thing, every single day, it just means that I take what I am given with a positive attitude and vow not to be perfect but just to do better. I love that, we have to give ourselves a break and not expect that we can do everything, all of the time.

I am preaching to myself more than I am to the choir :) I can let myself have a pity party pretty quick if I don't keep things in perspective. I think as long as I keep my priorities straight and always make time for God, Family and then my job things will always seem to work out!

Well, I feel better! ha! For all of you working moms or stay at home moms we are all doing a great job and at the end of the day when our children go to bed feeling loved and safe that is all we can really ask for !

Valentines Day

Thanks to pregnancy brain I forgot my Valentines Pictures of the kiddos!  They were totally pumped today to go to school with their Valentines Cards and Candy and have their class parties! I remember LOVING valentines day at school and taking SO much time to make my shoebox, I would color and paste and bedazzle the heck out of mine, loved it! :)

Tex and I are real slackers this year, I hate to admit that I don't even think their will be an exchange of cards. I managed to pull out a last minute treat bag for the kids but that was about the extent of my festivities. Most nights I am good to get thru dinner and then I usually get sick and throw up my dinner and last night I just laid in bed at 7 until I fell asleep! Totally not normal, thank goodness Tex is such a great dad because last night I was DONE! :)

There might not be any fancy flowers or dinners this year but we do have tons of love to give in our house! Palmer came home the other day from school and was a little upset. When Tex asked him what was bothering him he said.... CUPID

Tex kind of laughed and said "why would cupid upset you"? Palmer told Tex that he wasn't ready to be shot and fall in love! ha! Tex told him that Cupid would certainly not shoot him or make him fall in love until he was really, really old. Palmer just looked at Tex and said "but he shot you"! Tex said, "how do you know?" and Palmer said, "because you love Mommy!" I guess that is the most important thing that Ann Mason and Palmer know that their parents love and respect each other and it melts my heart! We might not get to do a lot of fancy stuff right now but in the end there isn't anyone I would rather sit on the couch and eat popcorn with than my very own family!

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL and LOVING Valentines Day!

Dave Ramsey and 12 weeks!

OMG is anyone else SO glad its Friday? I mean I am ALWAYS excited about the weekends but this week has just been crazy and I am especially excited its the weekend!

So, I always have to share anything that I am loving or really passionate about. My sweet sister in law asked Tex if we wanted to take a Financial Peace University class at her church. I, being the nerd of the house was all for it. Tex being more of  the free -spirit, heard budget and immediately that boring and NO fun! :) I knew this program had to be motivating because I saw how the program impacted my sister in law and her husband, they had been able to make some wonderful changes within their own household. So Tex and I said we would go for it. It's a 13 week course for 2 hours each week. So far we are only thru 2 weeks but Tex and I both LOVE it. It is funny, entertaining, motivating, educational, etc... I especially love that it is teaching us tools to pass along to our kids. Tex and I are loving it because this is the first time we have both taken an active role in our finances, usually I did them and that was it and it is SO nice for us to both be involved and have a say in how things work out. I definitely recommend it to anyone! I can't wait to see what the next 11 weeks has in store!

The best thing about this week by far was I hit the 12 week mark and heard my sweet babies heartbeat! LOVE IT! The heartbeat was strong and beating at 160. I am SO horrible I can't remember if that is "fast" or "slow" based on the old wives tale?  Either way it sounded amazing and I was relieved to hear it and move past this first trimester! So the baby is as big as a lime... if you saw me you would already think the baby was as big as a Watermelon! ha! Weight wise things haven't been bad but man, my belly is out there! Rocking maternity clothes proudly at this point :) I don't want to rush things but I can't wait to feel those amazing little movements from the baby, I especially can't wait for the kiddos to get to experience that. Annie is on pins and needles every day to seem some progress!

And just because.... here is Miss Sassy Pants before gymnastics. She LOVES it. Poor thing she is seriously so NOT graceful I mean this morning she fell straight off the bed just from sitting on it. She probably bangs her poor head 8 times a day on some type of object, so I am hoping this class helps her coordination come out! ha! Love her!

And this sweet guy, I just want to squeeze him multiple times a day, even if he does wipe my kisses off! Palmer did gymnastics too. Him and Annie made a pact and wanted to do it together, so of course I said yes!

This weekend we are going to hopefully do some V-day projects! This is the first year that both kids get to do Valentine's cards in their class so they are super excited to go pick them out and get them organized! Everyone have a great weekend!

What' New

This past week has been busy and fun! I needed both :) I think in the next few weeks I will hopefully start feeling like myself again and then I can start looking forward to warm weather, everything seems better when its warm outside! Here's what we have been up to this week...

It was Tex's birthday weekend! I love this pic of my boys it makes me smile :) We went out to eat at a "fancy" (meaning no highchair) restaurant on Saturday night with some friends and had a blast! Sunday we did the family birthday lunch at the in laws and ate WAY too much food and ice cream cake! It was a great way to celebrate, I love any excuse to get together with friends and family!

Let the games begin.... This weekend we got Palmer signed up for Spring Soccer and Summer T-ball! I can't wait, he is at such a fun age and we are gearing up for some game time! I am super excited about t-ball this will be the first year he will play and it will be at his new elementary school so I am hoping he will meet some buddies before he starts kindergarten in the fall!

Ann Mason started her very first Gymnastics class this past Thursday! I think I was more excited than she was! She wasn't so sure about it at first and the gymnastics instructor was super nice and let Palmer come out there and do it with her! She looked so cute out there with her little shorts doing her little moves! She seems to love it she has asked every day when we are going back!

Sunday night we went to a friends house to watch the superbowl. I don't really care anything about the game but I have to admit this year the half time show ROCKED! I thought Madonna did a great job and loved every minute of it!

The Superbowl ending also meant that two shows started... The Voice 2! OMG I can't wait this season is going to be A-MAZING! 

and Smash.... this little episode is waiting for me on my dvr! I am going to watch it tonight. Based on everything I have heard so far this one is going to be great!

I also tried my hand at a new recipe of my mother in laws! Chicken pot pie. Let me just tell you it was DELICIOUS at least it was to me! New recipes don't go over so well in my house :) The kids balk at "foreign" food so while I was enjoying the new recipe Palmer and Annie were both crying and literally gagging at having to take a bite. Not to mention tex was trying to be a good role model to the kids but eating around all of his vegetables, it was just pitiful! I had, had enough of the gagging and whining so I told everyone that they could have mac-n-cheese and hot dogs for the next 10 years because I am retiring at cooking. Just about this time Palmer threw up on the table as if to add more drama to the whole situation! I mean he literally threw up because he didn't want to take another bite! I just walked away and took a bath... Maybe this 3rd child will be obident and appreciative of my hard work in the kitchen! ha!

This week is equally as busy some of the highlights this week are:

1. Tax TIME, bring on the big tax returns :)

2. Annie's gymnastics class

3. Going with my mother in law and sister in law to eat and see a friend in nun-sense

and the BIGGEST HIGHLIGHT is I get to hear my sweet, sweet baby's heartbeat tomorrow at my doctors appt! It always makes me a little nervous, especially since it has been a long 6 weeks since I have gone but I can't wait!

11 weeks!

I am 11 weeks today!!! Sooo much closer to that second trimester and I couldn't be more happy! This pregnancy I have had to take a progesterone supplement and I honestly can't say if it is the supplement of just the first trimester but I feel like my symptoms have been worse in this pregnancy but maybe I don't fully remember the other ones either (funny how we forget the bad parts! ha!) I wouldn't trade it for the world but I am also going to be SO glad to say goodbye to this exhaustion, vomiting and not being able to go to the bathroom! (I know TMI but seriously that has been the worst thing this whole 11 weeks! You would die at the lengths I have gone to try and make things "regular"!) :)

I am also blaming the extra hormones for looking like someone just stuck a water hose in me and filled me up with water, terrible! :) I DO remember always feeling not-so-cute during these first 12 weeks, I think that is standard for most preggos!

I know I promised belly pics, but I am tending to be a bit picky and not liking them! ha! So, here is our facebook "announcement" from last week. I wanted a cute way to announce #3 and Donald helped us out in a BIG way. I love this picture!

11 Weeks:

My Favorite Thing this Week: Every day when I come home Ann Mason rushes to me and lifts up my shirt and just buries her head in my belly and kisses and talks to the baby! She asks how her day was, if she is cold, tells her she loves her (ok notice that I am using "her" Ann Mason refuses to believe it could be anything but a girl!) This by far brings tears to my eyes everyday!

My Least Favorite Thing this Week: Probably getting sick and needing to go to bed at 7:50!

What I am missing: I know it is probably SO good for me but I am missing the LARGE amounts of caffeine that I took in pre-pregnancy! That is my vice and I miss it dearly! I still drink a small amount in moderation.

What I am loving: My lemon 7up cake from the post below! haha It has helped me get thru the week!

What I am wearing: I am sporting my bella band right now. I hate that I have to wear it at 11 weeks but that is how things are going at this point :) I just need to embrace it rather than be so worried about it happening to fast!

I did all of my blood work and other exams yesterday. Next Wednesday I go to the doctor to hear the heartbeat, I seriously can't wait! This 6 week wait has been hard! They did schedule my gender ultrasound for April 11th which seems like eons away and I will already be 21 weeks, I must discuss this further and try and get it pushed up :)

For the most part things are going smoothly and I am grateful to be able to experience this miracle again sickness and all :)

You will thank me later...

OMG!! Food is on my brain 24/7 and the worst part is, usually I make what I am craving and it tastes horrible to me! That always happens to me in the first trimester! Not this recipe my friends! On the first night we came back from Disney my sister in law had the most fluffy delicious lemon cake waiting for us! I of course asked for the recipe and was SHOCKEd when she told me not only how easy it was but how LOW FAT it was. Only 75 calories a piece and it was DELICIOUS!

Here it is my friends... Take 1 box of cake mix any flavor you like (so far I have done lemon and strawberry) add 12 oz of regular 7 up or diet 7 up (I used regular) and mix it with the cake mix, bake as directed on the box and top with light cool whip! A-MAZING! The ONLY thing you have to do is mix the 7-up with the cake mix! I don't know how or why it works but it does and it literally makes the best cake you have ever tried! Apparently you can use other sodas for instance someone said to do a chocolate cake with a can of dr pepper, sounds yummy! I can't wait to try all combos!

Make one today you won't regret it!