Fin turned 4

My eldest baby turned four yesterday and while each birthday is sad for me because I CANNOT believe how fast they are growing, yesterday was such a fun and joy filled day, there was no time to be sad. Four is SUCH a fun age to have a birthday. He was enthralled with anything we did or he got and he was so sweet and grateful for everything. It was just a great day as family.
We woke up bright and early and had a new bike hidden for Fin in our bathroom. I sent him in there and he was beside himself. He looks so big here to me!

Then he got to eat the birthday cereal he picked out (fruit loops) and open a few more presents.

Of course we had to give him a spider man mask because whenever people talk about Halloween he tells everyone he's going to be spiderman and wear a spiderman mask. Message received :o)

Pat was pretty excited about it too.

We also got Fin a little remote controlled monster truck. BIG hit. Poor cole would run and run after it and not understand why it kept changing directions.

After we hung out at home some, we headed to our neighborhood pool for Fin's superhero swim party. We chose early in the morning so we'd have the pool to ourselves. It was a little chilly but the kids didn't seem to care. Pat was such a good sport playing with the kids in the water.

The spread

I made a cake out of stacked doughnuts for Fin and it was a big hit :o) It was pretty darn easy too.

Showing hold old he is.

I Love this pic of him. My sweet boy.

To say Cole was a fan of Fin's presents is an understatement. Homeboy had a little too much birthday before it was even 9 o'clock in the morning. And it wasn't even his birthday :o)

Doughnut face. He was double fisting them.

Pops kindly (??) regifted Fin with Hulk hands that Pat had given Will when he was a little boy and we were dating. Those things are SO loud and so obnoxious. Thanks Pops.

Hulk Smash.

At the end of the party we walked over to the playground for a water balloon fight. I don't know who liked it more, Pat and Will or the kids.

After naps the boys gleefully played with the new toys the rest of the day. I'm a big fan. Pat's a big fan of the instruments from David and Jamie. We now have a band. Please notice Pat's mask.

Fin's birthday dinner of choice was Happy Meals so we picked some up, tailgated at a park and let Fin practice riding his new bike.

At the end of the night I had to get a picture with the birthday boy. Love him so.

It was just a perfect day. At this age, with the boys being so young, we try to have no expectations going into  these days. Everything could go great or everyone could have a meltdown, you never know. But we just so enjoyed our boy and felt so blessed by all the family and friends that came out to make him feel loved. I think  four's gonna be a good one.

Filtered through morning sickness

Many o' person has told me to update the blog but to be honest, in the evenings as soon as the boys are in bed I hit the couch and then drag myself to bed from there. I'm a party animal. But I'm really hopeful that in the next 2 weeks I'll feel more like myself and less like someone with the stomach flu every.day. I am still enjoying my boys everyday though and they've been really sweet to be understanding when I tell them I don't feel good.
Here's some recent pictures of our doings...
  Fin tried on his Aunt Caits glasses when we went to have dinner with her on Hillsborough St. I think it suits  him :o)

My boys in the wolfpack ears on campus. I.love.this.pic.

Pool day with Annie. Three kids swimming (drowning?) in three different directions is equivalent to a water aerobics class.

We went to Happy Holly's with my nieces Emma and Grace to eat sno balls. Emma was so sweet and shared with Cole. She'd then turn to me after every bite and say, " Aren't I being SO nice??". She is such a pistol.

Twinsie Cousins.

Jamie and David had a wedding one night so we watched Noah for them. I found this to be the safest place for him.

All I have to say is this next baby better come out with running shoes on b/c his/her brothers may or may not smother it with love. They love them some babies.

Jamie and David brought us Krispy Kreme as a thank you for watching Noah. Cole downed one before I could sit down and asked for another. I complied and he downed that one too! When he asked for a third I put my foot down and offered him a banana instead. He refused and got down from his highchair. I went to switch the laundry and when I came back I found this...

He had climbed on the table and helped himself to a third (!) doughnut. I'd blame him but lets be honest...it's in his genes.

Pat took Fin and Will to a place called Defying Gravity which is made entirely out of trampolines and foam pits. I was sooo jealous. Fin died and wen to heaven.

This little imps favorite thing to do is find anything to color with and then go find a wall to color on. It's loads of fun, let me tell you. He will come running out of a room and say, "E-L-E" so proudly. He thinks he's spelling Cole. Fin never did this so I'm kind of at a loss but I have bought stock in Magic Erasers.

We're now gearing up for this guys 4th birthday this weekend. There will be a small party for his friends, there will be lots of tacky superhero stuff, there will be doughnuts, and there will be a little boy who has been looking forward to this for months. I can't wait to love on him but seriously, HOW is is he four?? I swear I was just swaddling him yesterday.

Please take note of his spiderman pj's with his webshooter in hand. Silly string is his newly discovered joy.

Baby Tres

Sooo pretty much everyone knows at this point that we're pregnant with #3. We were surprised to find out, but let's be honest, we are fertile myrtles and should not be surprised by that fact at this point. While we were not thinking in our mind that financially we were ready for another, God has better plans then us and we quickly jumped on board and are feeling very grateful, and nauseous. Oh wait, that's just me. I journaled about my first two pregnancies and since this is our family journal now I'll hopefully keep up with pregnancy tidbits on here.

How I found out

When we were at the beach one day I started to have heart palpitations during lunch. Granted, I was eating a  fried cheese hotdog with chili that my dad made, but still, it was unusual for me. And the only time I ever get heart palpitations is when I'm pregnant. Things that make you go hmmmm. So when we got back from the beach, I went to the dollar tree and bought a pregnancy test. When it turned up positive, I was SHOCKED.

How other people found out

Pat came home from work for lunch right after I found out. I couldn't not tell him, I can't keep anything from him, but I nervous for him to find out. I knew he'd be so nice but I knew he was NOT expecting this and he would immediately think about hospital bills, college bills, weddings, etc. Yes, he goes there in his mind. I put a big brother shirt on Cole that Fin had worn when Cole was born and sent Cole over to Pat. Pat picked him up and tossed him in the air and wrestled him for like 10 minutes and never read his shirt. I was dying...

Finally I said, "Babe, do you like Coles shirt?" And Pat glanced at it with a smile and then his face froze and I'm pretty sure he had a mini stroke. He asked me if I was serious and I nodded.  I told him to let it sink in and we'd talk about it later. He agreed but added, "I'm not upset!". Lol, love him.

With telling the boys, I was soooooo excited to tell Fin b/c he had been asking me daily for a baby. One day he even said, "I hope we get some money soon so we can put a baby in your tummy". Love his innocence. Since we have a miscarriage in our history though, Pat and I were firm that we wanted to see a heartbeat before we told the boys. Once we had our appointment and everything looked great, we sat the boys down. 

Pat gave Fin the pics of ultrasound and asked him what he thought it was.
Fin: Um, that's a hairy little thing isn't it? Ummm I squirrel?
Pat: No, It's a baby!!
Fin: It's a baby squirrel?!?!
When he finally realized we were having a baby, he hysterical laughed for like a full minute. He was sooo happy. Cole had no idea what was going on  so he just picked up my shirt and yelled, "BABY!" at my stomach. Poor fetus better get used to it now.
                                                           Our first appt
Let me just say I LOVE our OB/GYN. Love her to death. I would be Michelle Duggar just so I could see her every year because I love her that much, except hello, that's a lot of morning sickness. When the nurse came out to get me from the waiting room, she took one look at us and said, "Well this is such a fun reunion isn't it??". Can you get nicer then that? The whole office remembered us and were so sweet and kind.

So, that's where we are at now. 9 weeks, so very sick, but I think with Cole I started to feel a little better at 11 weeks so please God, let that be the case this time. We are already getting the "I bet you want a girl" comments but honestly, I'd love another boy. I really don't care about the gender at all, I just always get so nervous that the baby is healthy until we have that 20 week ultrasound.

Asheville weekend

Last weekend Pat had to be in Asheville for work so the boys and I tagged along. While it was challenging with the late nights, eating out so much with the boys, and walking up a freakin mountain to get to the dining room, we had a good time as a family enjoy cooler temperatures and a fun town. I'd never been to downtown Asheville and I LOVED it. SO, so cool.

Cole and I at the John Deere pool party. How is this child this cute?

The first morning we woke up there, I found the boys like this. They are SO affectionate towards each other lately and I love it. Cole will say to Fin, "Hands?" and Fin will take his hand and they'll walk together. It's the cutest.

View from our porch. It was such a beautiful resort.

The mountain we climbed up to our meals. It may not look big but it kept getting steeper beyond the picture and I had Cole on my hip the whole time. I earned my food.

The boys and I played in a little creek on the golf course until an old fogey pulled up in his cart and said, "You know golfers need quiet right??". Um yes, sir, but right now there are no golfers around. 'Bout to throw him in the creek.

Saturday morning we walked all around downtown. In the middle of the square was a sprayground. Cole walked around like he owned the place.

Fin tripped .2 seconds into getting out of the car and it took homeboy a looooong time to get over that boo-boo.

Pat took the boys running through the sprayground and they loved it.

Fin made a statue friend. Notice him still holding his shorts up to protect his cut.

You may think he's sharing his juicebox with her but no, he is picking her nose with the straw. Because he's a boy and apparently that's hilarious.

Riding piggies.

We took a picture for Grandma at this shop b/c Denise would have Loooooved it.